The Darkslayer: Series 2 Special Edition (Bish and Bone Bundle Books 1-5): Sword and Sorcery Adventures

by Craig Halloran

  Melegal’s mind was faster, and his body less than a breath behind. He sidestepped the blade, spun backward, and rammed a well-concealed thumb knife into the guard’s temple.

  “Urk!” The guard toppled to the floor.

  Melegal kept moving right past Palzor’s time-frozen stare. The King of Thieves had the dart launchers pointed where Melegal had been battling underlings moments ago.

  Perfect. Close, but perfect, if I do say so myself.

  “What’s going on? What’s going on?” Fogle said.

  Hearing the wizard’s muted cries, Melegal jerked the hood from Fogle’s head and cut his bonds.

  “How?” Fogle said, staring at their frozen enemies with widening eyes.

  “Never underestimate The Rat,” Melegal said.

  “Your nose,” Fogle noted, “it’s bleeding.”

  Melegal dabbed his finger into the small trickle of blood. His head didn’t hurt, much. He checked his surroundings. Nothing more impressive than impressing yourself. He unlatched his dart launchers from Palzor’s arms and strapped them on his own.

  “How did you do that?” Fogle said, snatching up his spellbook. “Honestly, how did you?”

  Melegal tipped his cap. “A thief never tells.” He patted Palzor down and emptied his pockets one by one. He whispered in his ear. “You’re fast, but not faster than me. Nor half as clever.” He then jerked off Palzor’s boots, tore off his shirt and shoved him to the floor.

  “Pull off his trousers, will you?” Melegal said to Fogle.

  “Why?”

  Melegal eyed him. “Don’t you think Palzor’s wishing he stripped me by now?” He unbuckled Palzor’s belt and ripped it off. He then cracked the man across the back.

  “Melegal! What is the meaning of this?” Fogle said.

  “He deserves it. He knows it.” He kicked the man in the ribs.

  “That’s enough!”

  Melegal kicked him again and again. “Have you forgotten this man gave us to the underlings, bound and helpless?”

  “No, but I’m sure the City Watch—”

  “Are you jesting with me, Fogle? He has the City Watch eating out of his hand, and so do those guys,” he said, glancing at the underlings. “Which reminds me.” He picked up one of the fallen guards’ swords and stabbed it through one underling’s back and then the other’s. “Got any problems with that?”

  Fogle shook his head. “I understand your point, I’m just surprised by your action!”

  “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised by your inaction.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You boast of being this formidable mage, and you fall prey to some sleeping pellet?”

  “I had a plan, and it would have uncoiled at any moment.”

  “Sure,” Melegal said, winding cords around Palzor’s feet and wrists. He tied another around his mouth. “But at least you managed to get this man’s pants off him. Well done, wizard.”

  “So what’s the next part of your plan? I’m curious, seeing how we have no idea what’s on the other side of that door.”

  “I thought you would have something in that book of yours.”

  Fogle didn’t respond, but his lips were moving over the pages.

  Melegal slid over to the door and put his ear to it. Certainly if others were nearby they would have heard the scuffle. But the door was fairly heavy. He pushed down on the handle and cracked it open, revealing a large room full of shelves and crates.

  Interesting.

  Torches hung on the windowless walls, and the ceiling was that of a warehouse or barn. A depot of sorts.

  “Are you coming?” Melegal said to Fogle.

  The mage opened and closed the spellbook three times, shrinking it to the size of his hand. “I’m ready,” Fogle said.

  “A little late for that,” Melegal said, “but maybe it will come in handy the next time you’re kidnapped.”

  “You have a sharp tongue.”

  “And blades to match,” Melegal said, pushing the door open. “Now go.”

  “What about Venir?”

  “It seems he’s doing more good down there than up here.”

  Fogle batted his eyes.

  Melegal rolled his. “You aren’t really wanting to go down after him, are you? After all, what would Kam do if you both died?”

  “You’re joking.”

  Melegal lifted his brows. “Am I?”

  Fogle huffed. “What about Palzor?”

  “I’ll take care of him. You just get your book-toting arse out of here!” With a firm push, Melegal shoved Fogle out the door.

  “Are you not coming?”

  “Do you need me to hold your hand? Go rescue that fiery witch from Jaen.”

  “You should come.”

  “I’m no hero, I’m a thief.” Melegal closed the door in Fogle’s face.

  CHAPTER 19

  “Brak!” Jubilee shook him. “Wake up!”

  Brak blinked his blurry eyes. “What are you doing, Jubilee?”

  The sandy-headed girl climbed up on his chest and slapped him in the face.

  Smack!

  “What did you do that for?”

  “Get mad, Brak!”

  “Why?”

  Smack!

  “Will you stop that!”

  “Are you getting mad?”

  “No.”

  Smack!

  “Yes!”

  “That’s better, now get really mad!”

  Brak’s eyes turned red. “You’re being silly. Why are you doing this?”

  “Because you’re a stupid ugly cripple!”

  Smack!

  “I am not!” he yelled. “Why are you saying this?”

  “Because you’re a useless lump of flesh and bones!” Jubilee reared back.

  Brak caught her hand. “Don’t do that again!”

  Jubilee swung her other hand.

  Smack!

  “Get off me!”

  “No!” she yelled in his face. “You want me off, push me off!”

  “You’re crazy!”

  “No, you are!” she said, pounding his chest. “Go crazy, you big-faced bast—”

  A heavy pounding came at the door. Gruff voices shouted, “Open it, little girl! We know you’re in there!”

  “What’s going on?” Brak said.

  “Kam’s in danger! We all are!”

  The frame of the door splintered. The door fell into the room. Two soldiers entered, roughhewn men with weathered faces.

  “Come with us, girl, else we run you through!” He spat on the floor. “You, man, get up!”

  “I can’t.”

  “Can’t? Or won’t?” the soldier pulled out his sword.

  “He’s crippled!” Jubilee shot back. “Leave him alone!”

  “Hah! Come with us then, girl, and we’ll see the cripple well cared for.”

  “You leave her alone,” Brak said, pushing Jubilee behind his bed with his good hand.

  “Ha ha ha! A courageous cripple. Never saw that before.” One soldier guarded the door while the speaking one stormed over. “My father says the only good cripple is a dead one.” He raised his sword. “And by the looks of things, you’re going to need a boat for a coffin.”

  Jubilee screamed and dove on Brak’s chest. “Don’t kill him! Don’t kill him! I’ll do as you say!”

  The soldier grabbed her by the hair and jerked her off of Brak. “You’d better believe you’ll do what I say, little honey.”

  “Let her go!” Brak yelled.

  The soldier stabbed him in the leg.

  Brak didn’t even groan.

  Jubilee started kicking and screaming at the top of her lungs.

  “He didn’t feel a thing!” the soldier said.

  “Stop it! Stop it!” Jubilee screamed.

  All the soldiers did was laugh.

  ***

  Hidden in a hallway closet, Jasper watched two soldiers march by, banging on tavern room doors.

  What do I do? What d
o I do?

  Part mage and part thief, Jasper had had it easy all her life. She trained, she studied, she stole. But when she met Melegal, the stakes had been raised. Now she found herself making life-or-death decisions. And she was too young to die.

  She recalled a spell in her mind and left it ready on her lips. Sneaking down the hall on hands and knees, she peeked through the balcony railing. Kam was pinned down on a table, and Jaen was behind the bar, laughing. Jasper didn’t care much for either of them, but she didn’t care to watch Kam getting defiled, either.

  I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.

  She knew that Jaen was a mage of the highest caliber, every bit as dangerous as she was beautiful. She’d teleported Jasper and Melegal from the ground into the tower! Such mastery was incomprehensible to Jasper. So were Jaen’s acts of evil.

  Embrace the madness and live. Shun it and die. Melegal had told her that and some other interesting things. Nothing better than a deadly surprise.

  Closing her eyes and picturing the scene, Jasper stretched her slender arm through the balcony rails, spread out her fingers, mumbled, and released her powers.

  A bright flash erupted over the soldiers’ eyes, bathing the room in an ultra-bright light.

  The soldiers moaned and howled.

  “Argh!”

  “Who dares?!” Jaen shouted. “Who dares?!”

  Jasper opened her eyes in time to see Kam kick the men and scramble away. Next, Jasper’s eyes fixed on Jaen’s.

  “You!” Jaen said.

  Jasper felt power hit her in the chest.

  If you’re going to be brave, make it count before you get killed.

  “Seize her!” Jaen ordered. “Seize her and bring her corpse to me!”

  ***

  The soldier lanced Brak’s other leg with the point of his sword, drawing dark red blood.

  “Stop that!” Jubilee said.

  “He can’t feel it, heh. And I find it entertaining.”

  She bit the man’s hand.

  “Agh!” The soldier’s sword clattered on the floor. “I’ll skewer you next, you little—”

  Brak stood upright, nostrils flaring, with only the whites of his eyes showing. His fingers latched onto the soldier’s neck and hoisted him from the ground.

  The soldier’s legs dangled and twitched. His tongue juttered from his mouth. His neck snapped with a sickening crack.

  Jubilee swallowed hard and backed up into the other guard.

  “What is that man?” The large soldier’s voice trembled as they both stared.

  “He’s all the bad things you’ve ever done, coming back to get you.”

  The soldier grabbed her and held his sword to her neck. “Back off, or I’ll cut her throat open.”

  Brak grabbed the fallen soldier’s sword and came right at them, a towering and terrifying thing.

  “We need to run!” Jubilee said, squirming.

  “I-I-I never run from anything,” the soldier said. “Back off, ogre!”

  Brak’s giant stride didn’t slow. His sword went up and came down.

  The soldier raised his sword arm.

  Clang!

  Brak’s blade shattered metal and carved into skull.

  Squealing, Jubilee twisted out of the dead man’s grip and dashed down the hall. She ran into Jasper at the balcony.

  “Don’t go this way!” Jasper said.

  “No, don’t go that way!” Jubilee cried.

  “It’s too dangerous, Jubilee.”

  “No,” the girl said, shaking her head and pushing the dark-clad mage toward the stairs. “You have to trust me!”

  Jasper wrestled her to the ground. “Jaen is down there!”

  “Brak is coming!”

  “So?”

  Jubilee grabbed Jasper’s face and twisted it toward the hall.

  Jasper’s painted dark eyes widened.

  Brak came storming down the hall, blood oozing from his thighs. He clutched a bloody sword in one hand and hefted a dead body over his shoulder. A bestial scowl was on his face.

  “That’s not Brak,” Jasper said, scrambling to her feet.

  “It's the bad side of him.”

  “Will he kill us?”

  “He’ll kill everything in sight.”

  The pair was cut short as two soldiers wielding swords crested the stairs.

  “You’d best turn the other way!” Jubilee yelled. “If you want to live.”

  “I don’t think so, little—Bish! What is that?”

  Jubilee hit the floor, dragging Jasper down with her.

  Brak hurled the body into the soldiers, and down the stairs they went.

  Crash! Bang! Smash!

  “Go!” Jubilee pushed Jasper. “Go!”

  Both young women hit the bottom of the stairs at once and jumped over the toppled soldiers. They dashed into the tavern, oblivious to Jaen’s screams.

  Brak jumped from the balcony, crushing one soldier under his feet and hacking another up.

  Jaen pushed the remaining soldiers at Brak. “Kill that big oaf! Kill him!”

  Brak turned, head and shoulders low, face splattered in blood. An inhuman cry ripped from his throat. “RAWR!” In one great stride, he collided into the throng of well-trained, fully armored soldiers.

  A terror.

  A fury.

  His gory blade’s speed and power were unmatched. It sheered a clavicle. Ripped through armor. Guts and entrails spilled under the wrath of the berserk meat cleaver.

  Jasper gaped and gagged.

  Jubilee grinned. That’ll teach those bastards!

  Kam found her way between them. “We had better get out of here.”

  “There’s the door,” Jubilee said.

  The trio headed for it, but the door slammed shut.

  “No one goes anywhere!” Jaen’s eyes were lit up in radiant purple. Her hand glowed with the same fire. “I’m not through!”

  Brak let out a guttural howl. He was suspended above the dead, hacking at the air. He flung one sword into the back of a crawling soldier and let out another howl.

  “I don’t know who this man is, but his days are through,” Jaen said. “And so are all of yours!”

  “Get down!” Kam said.

  A blast of power surged into the three.

  Sssrazzz!

  Their bodies tumbled and skipped through the chairs and tables.

  Jubilee groaned and twitched.

  Jasper moaned and spat blood.

  Kam fought her way to her feet

  “Stay down,” Jubilee said, grimacing. Blood dripped from her nose to her mouth. “Stay down.”

  Kam staggered up with her head held high.

  “Take me, Jaen, but leave them alone.”

  “No,” Jaen said, making her way out from behind the bar. “I’m going to let you watch me kill them first.” Another blast burst from her hands, flinging Kam over the table.

  She didn’t get up this time, but her eyes were open.

  Jaen stopped in front of Jubilee and Jasper and looked down. Her hands still flared with mystic power.

  Jubilee’s hair stood on end.

  Jaen sneered. “I hate meddlers. But I do enjoy killing them.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Underlings and men were one thing. Cave dogs and urchlings with poisoned claws were another. And there were packs of both.

  Venir stepped toward them, shouted, whipped around, and retreated. He caught the underlings barring his path flatfooted and plowed through them with a wide, arcing swing.

  A clamor rose from the dark bodies. Howls of outrage chittered after him as he sprinted down the shore.

  Helm shouted inside his head, Go back! Kill them! Kill them all!

  “No!” Venir growled. “I’m in control!”

  Helm had controlled him plenty before—and he had died for it. Now he would fight on his own terms. Dashing down the dark shore, he passed docks and small caves scattered along the river. Here behind the ranks of the search party, he didn’t
need caution. He stretched his stride.

  Barking hounds and shrieking underlings sprinted toward his back, closing in.

  Turn and fight them! Helm urged.

  Venir felt Helm tearing at his mind. Running wasn’t Helm’s way. But he knew the swarm would overwhelm him.

  “Time to try things my way.”

  Another hundred yards, maybe two, he went down the shoreline. He could feel his pursuers’ breath on his heels. He ran down a set of docks and dove into the Current.

  Claws scraping over the wooden planks, the albino urchlings screeched to a halt.

  Venir treaded water, thinking, Maybe they can’t swim. Beginning to sink, he took a breath.

  One by one, the dogs jumped off the dock and swam toward him. The albino urchlings followed, plunging into the water.

  Bone!

  Venir’s boots hit the bottom, and he started his walk toward the other shore. His eyelets crested and his body emerged on the other side.

  The first cave dogs crossed just behind him and charged.

  Brool lashed out.

  Yelp!

  The dog fell.

  Two more crossed the river, shook the water from their fur, bared their teeth, and leapt to attack.

  Brool’s spike lanced one in the heart. His fist cracked another in the snout.

  The vicious beast latched itself on his arm, jaws locking.

  Venir screamed, dropped Brool, ripped out his hunting knife, and plunged it into the dog.

  Its body fell limp.

  He snatched up Brool and began running again.

  Dogs were still crossing the water, and the urchlings pursued him from the other side, racing him up the river.

  Leaping over deadwood and debris, Venir sprinted by more shanties. He needed higher ground. Sanctuary. Escape.

  His chest burned.

  Kill them! Kill them all! Helm urged.

  Venir’s legs continued to churn through the darkness. The shoreline and river narrowed ahead, where more water rushed out from a dark tunnel. The urchlings surged ahead to cut him off. Venir pumped his legs as fast as he could, but not fast enough. The urchlings cut off the passage, and more cave dogs started to cross.

  “Fight or die!”

  CHAPTER 21

  Kam’s eyes fluttered open. She groaned to see Jasper and Jubilee sitting on a table, bound to one another with mystic ties, screaming at the top of their lungs while Jaen stood between her and them, laughing.