Into the Dragon's Den (Axe Druid Book 2)

by Christopher Johns

  “He delivered the final blow,” Bokaj pressed, but the Elf shook his head.

  “The key to the Cocoalcata, the Moon Hunt, is that the hunter performing the trial fells the creature on his own.”

  “It’s a fucking Belgar, man,” Yohsuke spat. “It could have almost killed any one of us one on one. You expect a kid to kill it alone? On his first hunt?”

  “Our laws are very strict,” the man said.

  “And just who the hell are you to decide whether a kid with hardly any meat on his bones and no one to teach him properly is able or not?” James strode forward angrily. He was close enough to reach out and touch the other man.

  “I am Atuala, the spiritual leader of this village, and he in charge of communing with the moon goddess,” the Elf said with a grin that said we had played into his hands.

  An arrow shot toward James, in front of him—probably as a warning shot—but the monk didn’t give a shit. He caught it deftly with one hand held straight out. Snatched it like one of those old kung fu senseis catching a fly with chopsticks in movies.

  “I don’t give a shit who you think you are,” he hissed. “A normal person doesn’t send a kid out to hunt the biggest and baddest creature he can find on his own.”

  “A normal person did not.” Atuala shook his head. “The moon goddess did. I pass her word to the leaders of this village and its peoples. What happens from there is for the goddess to decide.”

  “I haven’t heard of the moon goddess,” Jaken said. He stepped forward and put a hand on James’s shoulder.

  “She has not deemed you worthy then. After all, you stink of an inferior deity.” Atuala held his chin higher. “If you will wait I will send word to the chieftain and his counsel that you are here, and he will pass judgment on whether you may come in.”

  The priest—or whatever the hell he was—turned on Set and spat venomously in their own tongue.

  “You failed your hunt. You are no longer welcome to walk among us. You are stripped of your name, your rank, and your people. Leave this place, or our people will offer you no quarter,” Jaken translated for us through our earrings.

  Jaken, you grab the kid and walk him back with me to translate. We need to try and get his siblings out of here, I told him. I turned on the others. Don’t say and don’t do shit. This asshole doesn’t need to know what we’re planning.

  I received no affirmation from the others but the continued heated looks sent toward Atuala. Set was sobbing, trying to plead with the asshole, but to no avail. He reached out and tried to touch the Elf’s hand and received a cold, back-handed slap.

  Jaken was suddenly holding the Elf in his gauntleted grasp, “You touch the kid in front of any of us again, and all bets are off.”

  I heard the metal and leather straining as he gripped the shoulder. A look of pain flashed over Atuala’s face.

  Jaken let the other man go and took an arrow on his shoulder without so much as flinching. He tucked Set against his side, and the distraught child wept pitifully against his armor. He walked him back toward the tree line, and I followed. I caught a glimpse of a figure moving along with us.

  We’ll have a watcher with us, I warned.

  Tmont has his scent. She can run a distraction for you to get the kid into the collar, Bokaj advised as he watched us walk away.

  I hadn’t even seen the panther leave her master’s side, but I guess that she would have had to in order to scout for us. Had I been that distracted dragging that body?

  Once we were out of line of sight, we spoke quickly and quietly with the boy. He was confused, but when Jaken said that we would do our best to get his brothers, Rogir and Velt, he agreed to go into my necklace. Before he went in, though, he described where they might be. A small hut built with a tiny roof between two tree roots.

  After a mental call to Bokaj, we heard an angry yowl, and a man screamed. There were calls and shouts that sounded like they were heading away from us. I touched Set on his head and willed him into the collar. The boy turned into a dissipating cloud of smoke that funneled into the collar swiftly.

  Once that was done, we walked back toward our friends to find them standing alone.

  “He left to see about our entry,” Bokaj mumbled to us. “I think we have someone close enough to hear us, so let’s keep it soft and not mental. They would get suspicious.”

  “That’s fair,” Yohsuke grumbled. “Anyone else want to beat that asshole’s fuckin’ head in?”

  All of us nodded. “Thought so,” he grunted as a larger figure began to walk toward us with purpose.

  “Greetings,” a guttural voice called out as the owner came forward.

  The large Orc man, his bald head covered in tattoos of trees and animals, walked toward us with an inquisitive look on his face.

  “I am Wrokal, chieftain of this village, and I have heard that you sought entry with one of our former citizens after a fight with a Belgar, a creature of legend?”

  “Set delivered the final blow,” I said. I wondered how this guy would react.

  His features hardened, “There is no one by that name anymore. That person was banished and stricken from our people’s hearts and minds for failing his trial.”

  “Fine.” Bokaj shrugged. “We had some work for your bowyer. We have a new material we were hoping he could take and make a bow out of.”

  Wrokal’s features brightened immediately, “I would be more than happy to take a look at it.” He motioned that we follow him.

  As we began to move, Tmont slunk forward out of the shadows and joined us as though she had never left her master’s side. Smooth, kitty. Real fucking smooth.

  The majority of the village was in the trees. The houses were built on beams and supports that were grown directly from the trees themselves. It was a reminder of the city in the trees, Terra’s Escape, that we had visited briefly in the Fae Realm.

  The people—Elves, orcs, and Fae-Orcs—milled about, looking at us as we passed beneath them. There were some derelict and poorly made shacks that were on the ground close to the trees. A couple of them stuck out, but none like the little dugout between two roots that Set had described.

  Wrokal led us to a hut in a tree toward the rear of the village itself. There had to be fewer than four hundred people living here, but still, the place was nice. Despite the fact that the people were backasswards.

  The hut looked like it could have belonged to any craftsman, hell even a carpenter. There were pieces that looked like vices and some string hung in the sunlight across the room.

  “What is this material you speak of?” Wrokal asked as he lifted an apron over his head and tied it behind his back. The muscles along his body were flexing crazily. “Show it to me, please.”

  Bokaj pulled the branch from his inventory and passed it to him.

  “I have never seen the like before,” Wrokal whispered as he took the wood from my friend almost greedily. “It has no name, what do you call it?”

  My brain froze, and Bokaj grinned. “Wild Wood.”

  Oh, that motherfucker… oh well. It was accurate I guess.

  “Yes, I can sense that is accurate,” the Orc lifted the wood and actually used it to throw a portion of his roof away so that more light filtered in. “What kind of bow do you want? Short? Hmm? Maybe a longbow?”

  Bokaj took out his Dragon Bone Bow and held it out. “Something better than this.”

  The bow itself was made of bones that looked bleached, the curved portion of the Bone Dragon’s wings joined by a piece of leathery sinew acting as the string. It looked disgusting but cool as hell. It looked more like a short bow to me. Maybe?

  “You want more power.” He nodded as he touched Bokaj’s old bow. “The weapon damage is surprisingly low. Though the ability likely kept it relevant for a little while. You could be hitting harder.”

  “That mimics my thoughts exactly, my good bowyer.” Bokaj smiled.

  The Orc began to sketch on a long leaf with a piece of charcoal, “A longbow, then
. There will be a recurve, and the tension needs to be just so. The wood is supple, springy even. As if it wants and needs to retain its shape. Hmm…” He scratched his hairless head in thought. “The Belgar you brought, I will require portions of its innards and some of the sinew for the bowstring. Is this fine?”

  “That’s fine, but we won’t part with the pelt for free, and we want the armored portions,” I haggled.

  “That is fine,” Wrokal grunted. “My best skinner and tanner are working on it as we speak. I will send word to them of what needs to be done. With wood like this, all of my skill will be needed. I require five days.” Before any of us could speak, he held up his meaty hand. “This is not negotiable. I will do my best work and nothing less. There are some craftsmen among us who have various trades and things to offer. You are free to move among us, come and go as you please, but you will check with my counsel before leaving and when you come. Those are my stipulations.”

  “We can agree to that,” Bokaj answered quickly. The rest of us stayed quiet.

  “Good, leave me to my work then, please.” He began to measure and weigh the branch as we left the hut.

  Jaken and I are going looking for those kids, we headed down the ramp to Wrokal’s hut as I used our earrings to communicate. You all go see what’s what about some of the things to get here and keep us updated. Soon as we find the kids, we’ll shout and meet up. Then g-t-f-o with them so that they’re safe after the bow is made.

  Sounds good to me. Jaken cracked his neck. The others nodded to us as we broke away from them and began to explore in earnest. After looking for an hour and noticing that we had a tail on us, we decided to stop for the day and signaled to the others we were ready to meet.

  The only thing of any realistic value to us were the herbs and medicines they had. I say medicines loosely because they lacked the tools and instruments to truly perfect the ingredients and distill the proper potions.

  Yoh did find some good cuts of meats and more than a few vegetables that would help us last a while longer here.

  After asking a nice Fae-Orc lady, we were able to find the counsel area. The counsel were elderly members of each of the races, nondescript really, but they took our comings and goings very seriously.

  They really didn’t want us there at night when they escorted us out. Like we couldn’t get back in. But we would play along. For now.

  We were escorted from the village, and after a half an hour walk, we teleported back to our own little slice of the jungle.

  “So, I told the guy, I says—‘hey. Fuck you.’” Muu said as we teleported into the middle of the village. The sound caused him to turn around, shrieking in surprise. The high-pitched cry going on almost comically long. Everyone stared at him, even Ampharia in her true form.

  After a second he stopped and whispered, “You heard nothing.”

  “I really can’t.” I almost shouted incredulously. “The fuck was that?”

  “What?” Jaken said loudly.

  “I fucking hate all of you,” Muu grumbled.

  “What?” Yohsuke asked loudly.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Four days later, after one of us spent time searching from the ground and we had gotten a better map drawn for us by Set—we found the hovel.

  The only problem was that the kids were never there while we were. They were always somewhere else, and no matter how hard we looked for them, they were nowhere to be found. There were signs of life, sure. The grass was laid in, and there were food scraps—barely—but the evidence was there.

  That night, we ate peacefully, but in contemplation about what needed doing. It wasn’t sitting well with any of us that these kids were suddenly missing.

  “Could they have been adopted by someone?” Bokaj asked after having spent the day looking for them himself.

  After conferring with Set, he shook his head. “No one would want them. The only way for them to regain their honor was for Set to prove himself as a hunter.”

  The boy looked upset, and I couldn’t blame him—they had given him an impossible task.

  “Hey, can’t you go in at night Zeke?” Yohsuke asked.

  “Yeah, you could go in owl form, and try to see if anything is going on,” James added. “I’m not sure what it could be, but I’m sure if anyone could find them, it’d be you.”

  I nodded once and turned to Set. “Can you describe them?”

  Jaken said a few words, and the boy motioned to himself silently before giving me two differing heights. Both smaller, almost in the toddler range. Fuck.

  We had to try and find these kids. I had to try and find these kids.

  “If Mae comes back while I’m gone—tell her ‘Pie’ for me.” I took a running head start from where I had stood from our table and shifted into my owl form mid-leap. Since I was more familiar with the area, and the village was on my map, the flight there was much swifter than it had been the first time.

  Scouts in the trees are watching your flight patterns, you need to go lower. As if you are hunting—there is a small, but venomous snake there near one of the guards.

  I got the idea and dove for the rear of the slowly moving reptile. It must have been focused on something in the brush before it because my scooping it up by the tail caught it by surprise. The snake tried to strike at my legs, but with two sure flaps of my wings, I flung it into the guard.

  The guard fell—silently to his credit—out of his perch tangling with the snake.

  Much cleverer than I had expected, Druid. You are turning out to be a fine owl.

  Thanks, I thought back dryly. I flew straight to the hovel and saw that there were indeed two children there, but they had nothing in common with Set. Deciding to take a huge risk, I shapeshifted and woke the larger one. He was a fully Elven boy, so I hoped he spoke common better than most of the villagers.

  As I shook him awake gently, I made the universal motion for quiet with a finger pressed to my lips and a hard glint to my eyes.

  “Rogir. Velt.” I motioned to the place the other one slept before shrugging and pointing from my eyes to the ground. “Where are they?”

  “You speak funny, why?” The boy asked strangely. I blinked at him, but he took pity on me. “They were taken to the pit as sacrifices earlier. We are next, but not for another week.”

  He seemed to be taking it well, the fact that he was a sacrifice.

  “Sacrifice to what?” I asked.

  “The Moon Goddess.” he smiled. “She has taken the form of the great snake, Lothir. When she feeds, the goddess is pleased, and we can live our lives.”

  “Where is this pit?” I asked softly. My skin had begun crawling for some reason.

  “It is behind the Chief’s hut and close to Atuala’s den. The pit is an altar. There is no telling when Lothir will bless us with her presence, but she will come soon.”

  “Thank you.” I shifted into my fox form and began to slowly work my way toward Wrokal’s hut. I walked up the ramp to the place and crept through the curtain that separated his hut from the outside world. As I entered the room, I felt that it was empty. I looked in the bed, and I saw that I was correct, but the bow on the table was what I had hoped to find.

  On the table was a longbow made of the Wild Wood we had brought in, but this had been treated and strung tightly. Protecting the strung portion of the limbs on top and bottom were the somewhat hollowed portions of the Belgar’s horns. The horns were still sharp, but they were truly attached. The string was thick to me, but it was no big deal.

  Wild Bow

  +12 damage, +10 to magical damage

  Forester – when an enemy dies by an arrow fired from this bow, a tree grows from the remains almost immediately up to ten feet tall at a minimum, or higher depending on the corpse used as fertilizer.

  Longbow made by Grandmaster Bowyer Wrokal Woodtusk.

  I slipped the weapon into my inventory, then shifted into my owl form and hopped into the window sill. There I saw the reason for my earlier discomfort. Th
e boy had been right. There was a large snake. Though I’m sure serpent was what he had meant. Its head was the size of a hummer, and the body itself was probably longer than a football field uncoiled. It was huge, and in the middle of its massive coils were three children. The chief and Atuala stood on a large lifted portion over the pit that just barely contained the serpent and his probable prey.

  “Lady Lothir, we ask that you take this humble offering and speak on our behalf to the Goddess of the Night and Stars that we may have a good life, a good harvest, and healthy warriors.” Atuala began to chant, and the Wrokal started to beat on a drum as if in a trance.

  The giant reptile watched them in a bored manner before turning toward the three children. They were terrified, and I didn’t blame them.

  Even with all the other stupid-ass shit I did, I’d be reliving this one forever.

  You are an idiot, Druid. The owl wasn’t wrong. Let us go to them.

  With grim determination, I let my body lean forward and fell from the window. I plummeted then arced my fall into a nearly silent glide that allowed me to brush my left wing over the back of Lothir’s raising head. I banked and dropped heavily to avoid her gaze, then turned once more to land among the children who clustered together in fear. The scent of feces and urine was pungent here.

  I landed and shifted into my fox-man form long enough to see the great serpent turn her head back toward us with her tongue flickering out lazily. I touched the children and cast Teleport as something gooey and wet hit my body. My muscles tensed painfully, but the spell was cast, and we were gone in a flash.

  We landed next to the Wild tree in the center of the village, and I heard the others moving toward us. I tried desperately to move. To do anything. But my muscles were completely still. I noticed the paralyzed debuff under my health bar once more and understood why. This must have been venom from Lothir.

  “It will not kill him, but it needs to be washed away from him so that he can begin to recover,” Ampharia’s great eye blinked over my body. My clothes moved toward her as she took a deep breath. “Lothir. What were you doing in the presence of the moon-cursed?”