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

by Craig Halloran

  Brak found her odd but interesting.

  She addressed his father. “Are you going to look for your friend?”

  “And which friend might that be?” Venir said. “I have so many.”

  “Melegal.”

  “As I understand it, he’s out of harm’s way. Why?”

  “I want to go with you.” She drew her legs up on the seat and folded her arms around them. “I’m ready to get out of this place.”

  “Perhaps,” Venir said, taking another bite. “This might be even better with some ale.” His eyes drifted toward the balcony. “I’ve had my fill of coffee.”

  “Are you jealous because Kam likes Fogle now?” Jubilee said.

  “Mind your business, Jubilee!” Brak said.

  “How do you know she likes Fogle?” Venir said, leaning forward.

  “Just that way she looks at him.” Jubilee pulled her shoulders back. “I know, I’m a woman.”

  “You’re a girl,” Brak said. “A small one with a mouth too big, at that.”

  “Well, I’m right, aren’t I, Jasper?”

  Jasper shrugged.

  “Are you going to pummel him?” Jubilee continued. “I would. I mean …”

  Venir’s face darkened.

  Jubilee swallowed her tongue. “I think I’m going to help Joline out,” she said, sliding out of her chair and backing away. “She always needs help.”

  That was when a man appeared, right behind Joline.

  She passed right through him. “Eek!” And stumbled down.

  Venir sprang to his feet, leapt the table, and swung his long knife straight through the apparition.

  “There is no need for that,” the man said. He wore a neatly cut set of black robes trimmed in gold lace. His hands were hidden by the drooping cuffs of his sleeves. He was balding, with a crown of black hair, medium in height and build, and fit, with alert and inspecting eyes. “I’m not here to hurt anyone, just investigate. I’m an envoy of the Order.”

  Jasper turned her face and shrank in her chair.

  “What order?” Venir said.

  Jubilee cowered behind him.

  Brak sat mute.

  The envoy didn’t say a word. Instead, he traipsed through the tavern, studying the blood on the floor and the busted furniture that burned and crackled.

  Brak was amazed that he could see right through him.

  The envoy turned to Venir. “You look like you’ve been in a nasty scruff. Care to explain your condition?”

  “Bish happens. It’s a dangerous world.”

  “We are missing some colleagues,” the envoy said. “As we understand it, they paid a visit here.”

  “Maybe the underlings got them,” Venir said, sneering. “They’ve taken plenty of others.”

  “Unlikely,” the envoy said. “Don’t go anywhere until the Order returns.” He smiled at all of them, gave a curt nod, and slowly vanished. “And that’s an order.”

  “What was that?” Brak said.

  Jasper mumbled in her chair. “That’s the end of us all. The Towers! They’re going to put us through an inquisition.”

  “A what?” Brak said.

  “They’re going to strap us down and turn our grey matter inside out.” She kicked a chair. “Blast! I knew I should have left. This place is cursed.”

  CHAPTER 30

  Melegal flattened himself on the floor and whisked a blade out. A bolt jutted from the meat and skin of his thigh muscle. His stomach became queasy. In the darkness, silhouettes darted through the warehouse.

  Slat! Slat! Slat!

  Running was impossible and hopping was suicide.

  He knew it was beyond his hat to freeze time on individuals scattered about the whole place. Maybe once they had him at close quarters…

  Capture. Torture. Mutilation. Better than dying? Let’s hope.

  The clamor of battle rocked the confines of the warehouse. Men screamed. Metal clashed on metal. Two figures closed in on Melegal with crossbows lowered at his chest. They were covered head to toe in dark garb and blended in well with the darkness.

  “Don’t move,” one said. His voice was raspy and sure.

  Clop, clop clop clop, clop! Hooves scuffled over the floor.

  The assailant turned and fired. The bolt zinged off a mintaur’s curved horns.

  The beast plowed over the man. Clop clop stomp! Bone gave way to hoof.

  Clop clop clop wham! The second mintaur rammed into the back of the other assailant. Thick, dark bodies pounded Palzor’s rogues with hooves and club-like weapons.

  Can never have enough of those guys.

  Biting his lip, Melegal crawled toward the exit. His keen ears accounted for twenty men in the warehouse, scrapping it out. Zurth and the half orc whose name he didn’t recall seemed capable brawlers, but that was it. The mintaurs were the same. They’d hold up a minute maybe, but well-trained cutthroats would eventually cut them down in the blackness.

  A figure jumped from a huge shelf and landed in front of Melegal.

  He stabbed the man in the thigh.

  The man screamed and drove his sword down.

  He rolled into the man’s feet. Steel sparked off stone. Melegal drove his dagger into the man’s gut.

  The reeling man, solidly built, crumpled on top of him.

  He felt warm blood on his clothes and face. Bone! He shoved the man off, redoubled his efforts, and scooted for the door.

  Zurth, the strapping guard of Palzor he had spared, battled hard nearby. Fending off three men with wide slashes left to right, he stood his ground.

  Melegal heard the string of a crossbow crank back. Looking up, he saw the crossbowman on a top shelf, taking aim at Zurth. He took aim and fired his dart launcher.

  Twing!

  The crossbowman jerked and shot.

  The bolt skewered another rogue’s back.

  The crossbowman plucked the dart from his face. Eyes searching and then locking on Melegal, he jumped off the shelf and ran right at him, drawing his sword.

  Foolish man …

  Melegal caught the white of the man’s eye.

  Twing!

  The man cried out, screamed in rage, “Eyyaaaagghhhh!” and kept heading right at him.

  Didn’t see that coming!

  “I’ll kill you!” the man said. Sword arcing, he jumped up and came down on top of Melegal.

  Melegal’s hands lashed out around the man’s wrists, halting the blade.

  The man drove a knee into Melegal’s ribs, dropped his sword, jerked an arm free, and punched him in the face.

  Melegal swung his dagger at the man’s gut.

  The man pinned down Melegal’s hand and wrenched the blade free. The man was strong and had fifty pounds on Melegal. His fists came down with fury.

  Whap! Whap! Whap!

  The man had Melegal pinned down. The punches hurt, but the bolt digging into his thigh was excruciating. All he could do was slap the man’s heavy-handed blows aside.

  “You’re a dead man! I’m going to take both your eyes out!”

  Half stunned, Melegal fought back with all his strength. He wasn’t used to melee. Not this kind. Jeb the brawler flashed in his mind, back in the Octopus. It made him mad. He swatted the next series of punches away, sat up, and jammed the dart back into the man’s eye as far as he could.

  The man let out an ear-shattering scream and died.

  Lungs burning and huffing for breath, Melegal collapsed on the floor.

  I’m a dead man.

  He spat blood. Shaking, he tried to get to his feet.

  I’m gonna have to hop my arse out of here.

  He grabbed the man’s sword, used it as a crutch, and forced himself up. His swollen eyes watered. Peering through the gloom, he saw that the warehouse door was open a crack. Zurth was gone, but three fallen bodies remained. One twitched on the floor. Melegal had limped halfway there when a strong voice cut him off.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Melegal dove.

>   Clatch-zip!

  A bolt tore through his neck. He saw spots. Blood was all over his hands. A rush of queasiness made the room spin. Someone seized him. Everything went black.

  CHAPTER 31

  Fogle’s face was buried in Kam’s chest when Erin screamed.

  “What?” Kam said, pulling her blouse up and jumping off of his lap. “Who are you? Get away from my baby!”

  Fogle blinked. Gathered his senses. Lust turned to alarm in the blink of an eye. Something was wrong.

  A man stood over Erin’s bassinette, staring inside. A black-robed apparition.

  Fogle’s blood turned to ice. He knew the man. He and Ruut went way back. They had started the same year in mage school, with little separation in skill between them until later. There had come a point when no one could keep up with Fogle anymore, not even the instructors. Ruut, to his credit, had handled it better than most. He was a planner. And now it seemed his plans had turned out well. He was the top envoy for one of the City of Three’s most powerful Royals, Kam’s father.

  “A lovely child,” Ruut said. His voice was peculiar with an edge of deadliness. “This must be Erin. Striking features of the mother.”

  “Step away from my baby!” Kam’s hand sparked to mystic life. “Now!”

  The ghostly man stepped away with a look of amusement on his face.

  “You are aware that you can’t harm me,” the envoy said, swiping back the wisp of dark hair on his balding head. “I don’t pick the time or place for my intrusion. Your father does.” He glanced around Kam and locked eyes with Fogle. “It’s been a while, my fellow disciple. It seems you’ll grapple with anything these days.”

  Fogle rose from the sofa. “Mind yourself, Ruut. As long as I can see you, I can make you feel me.” Fogle was very aware of Jaen’s orb in a pocket of his green robe. Inwardly, he grinned. Outwardly, he kept a neutral face.

  “Pah,” Ruut the envoy said with a snort. “Not on your finest of days. At least you still have some arrogance. I find the humble annoying. Speaking of humble.” Ruut made his way around the apartment, staring at each and every little thing. “Is this where you reside now? This closet space?”

  A dash of green light shot from Kam’s fingers and passed through Ruut. The curtains caught fire.

  “Now that’s amusing,” the envoy said. “Stupid often is amusing. Even more so,” he said staring at her missing hand, “you did that with one set of fingers.”

  Kam’s face turned red. She glared at Fogle.

  Erin cried at the top of her lungs.

  Kam turned away, picked up Erin, rested the little girl on her shoulder, and began to hum.

  Fogle extinguished the burning curtains with a wave of his hand. Coughing, he opened a window, letting the smoke out of the room.

  Kam sneered at Ruut. “Get on with it. What does my father want?”

  “It seems he’s missing a daughter.”

  “Oh really,” Kam said, “and which one might that be? He has so many, it’s no surprise he lost one.”

  “I can see why this one isn’t suited for the towers,” Ruut said to Fogle, “but in your case, I don’t understand. Do you really play such silly games? Or have you found a zeal for ample women?”

  “Mind your tongue,” Fogle warned.

  “Hah. I think you are the one who should be minding yours, considering where it’s been.” Ruut chuckled. “The things that go on down here! It’s quite the adventure.”

  “You snot-nosed little suck-up—” Fogle said.

  “Oh, please, don’t try to be valiant, Fogle. It’s beneath you.” Ruut shook his head. “Look at you. There wasn’t a wizard more renowned than you. Now you are a scarred and scraggly mess. I lost all respect for you with a glance.”

  Now it was Fogle’s turn to laugh. He remembered being so pompous. Arrogant. Inconsiderate. He remembered thinking he was better than everyone else and poking fun at those living on the ground, outside the towers. How everything seemed so small from up in that perch—until the day he was humbled. He shook his head. He was alive now. Magi like Ruut never lived at all.

  “Spit it out, Ruut,” Kam said, taking a seat on the rocking chair.

  “Spit it out?” Ruut rolled his eyes. “Such savage terminology. It leaves me intrigued. Perhaps you can tell me more about these wild ventures sometime, Fogle.”

  “The only way to learn it is to live it,” Fogle replied.

  “Oh. Well, I suppose I do need to spell things out, then. It seems Jaen is missing, and her last known whereabouts were here.” Ruut looked at Kam. “Did you see her?”

  Kam didn’t reply.

  Fogle didn’t either.

  “Downstairs, I spoke with your comrades. They had little to say on the matter, either. Silence is such a dangerous thing. So,” Ruut sighed, “I ordered them to stay put and notified them of the upcoming inquisition.”

  “Inquisition!” Kam said. “You jest!”

  “No, I’m quite serious.” Ruut rubbed an amulet on his chest.

  The hair on Fogle’s neck prickled. “This is a matter for the City Watch, not an inquisition.”

  “Kam’s father disagrees,” Ruut said. “And the City Watch is busy these days, dealing with other things.”

  “Call them underlings,” Fogle said.

  “There are many matters at play that I am sure you are unaware of.”

  Fogle’s hands formed white-knuckled fists. The arrogance of the Royals in the towers infuriated him. Their buildings could be toppling from the sky and they would still deny it before they acted.

  “But,” Ruut continued, “I’m not here to discuss other matters. I’m here to find out what happened to Jaen. And if you don’t tell me, there will be an inquisition.”

  Fogle’s eyes searched for Kam’s, but she wasn’t looking at him. He followed her stare out the window.

  Troops were coming, a dozen soldiers on horses with an accompaniment of foot soldiers. There were magi, too, wearing purple robes streaked in blue.

  “Perhaps you’re looking in the wrong place,” Fogle said. “It wouldn’t be the first time the Order was wrong. I seem to remember a few cases where many innocent people died.”

  “Let’s not be coy, Fogle. Though it’s good to know that you still have some banter within you.” Ruut passed through the sofa and stood in the middle of the coffee table. “I’d advise you not to say anything that could be put on the record.”

  “Oh, I’m on trial, am I?”

  “You will be soon enough. And not just you, as I mentioned before, but all of you.”

  “You can’t just make an accusation off of an assumption—”

  “Fogle, stop,” Kam said. She got up out of her rocker, still staring out the window. Her eyes widened.

  Fogle looked. The Magi Roost was surrounded.

  Kam sighed. Tears streamed down her face. “It’s me you want.”

  “Pardon?” Ruut said, drifting closer.

  Kam turned to face him and opened her mouth to speak.

  “Don’t,” Fogle said. His words had no effect.

  She said, “I know where Jaen is.”

  Ruut lifted a brown eyebrow. “And that would be where?”

  “Where she belongs. In the ground. Dead.”

  Ruut’s bright eyes shone big as moons. “And you killed her?”

  “Yes.”

  CHAPTER 32

  Venir ground his teeth. Kam came down the steps with Erin in her arms. Fogle was by her side, and the shade of a man glided behind them. At the bottom of the steps, Joline waited.

  Kam handed her the baby and spoke soft words. “You’ll be safe. Take care of her until I return.”

  “But,” Joline sobbed. She mopped her eyes with a rag. “You can’t—”

  Kam and Fogle walked by, side by side, chins down.

  The envoy for the Order had a satisfied look on his face. He said to the rest of the room, “I’ll be back, so don’t leave town until this is over.”

  “Kam,” Venir said, blo
cking the exit. “What is the meaning of this? What is going on?”

  She didn’t look up at him. Instead, she tried to go around him.

  He laid his hands on her shoulders and stopped her.

  “Let go,” she said, firmly but softly.

  “She goes to suffer the inquisition,” Fogle said, “It’s for all our good. She’ll clear it up—”

  “Be silent, you scrawny toad,” Venir said. “Kam has a tongue of her own.” He wanted to shake her. “Talk to me!”

  She looked up into his eyes and said, “Just get out of my way and let me do this.”

  The venom in her voice made him angry. He didn’t understand what he’d done that was so horrible. He couldn’t fight off the feeling that he might not ever see her again.

  “Kam,” he said, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  “It feels good leaving you for a change and not the other way around.” She brushed by him. “And don’t feel a need to stick around. I’m certain I’ll be gone awhile.”

  Two soldiers pulled the double doors open and another stepped up with shackles. Armored in chain hauberks, the soldier locked up her wrists and shoved her forward.

  Venir exploded into movement.

  Kam’s ear-shattering voice stopped him in his tracks. “BE STILL, YOU FOOL!”

  Rattled and dismayed, Venir let his arms fall limp at his sides.

  Seconds later, Kam, Ruut, and the entourage of soldiers were gone. Joline sobbed, and Erin started to cry. Venir picked up a table and slung it across the room. After that, everyone fell silent until Fogle spoke again.

  “She has a plan, Venir.”

  “And she shared it with you, not me?”

  “I was there.”

  “A funny thing, you being there, Fogle,” Venir said, coming forward. He glared down into Fogle’s eyes.

  Fogle was tall but still shorter by several inches. He didn’t back down. There was no fear in him.

  “Care to explain?” Venir said.

  “We’re men. I don’t need to explain anything.”

  Venir closed his fist.

  “You might be fast, Venir, but you aren’t faster than my thoughts.” He paused. “I’m not the enemy. They are. Why don’t we talk about what is going on, what we’ll do next? How we can help her through this madness?”