Beastwalker (Pharim War Book 3)

by Gama Ray Martinez

  Sharim took a step back, and a circle of fire appeared around him. Jez was still five feet away, but the heat drove him back. Through the flames, Sharim glared at Ziary. He reached down and ran his fingers over a large leather sack on the ground. His eyes glowed green, and a similar light shone through the hole in the sack and struck the scion.

  Ziary stiffened. He turned to Aniel who had gone back to circling Sharim. A quick slash of Ziary’s sword left a blackened mark on the pharim lord’s chest. Galine cried out, and Aniel drew back in surprise.

  Jez froze, but only for a second. He threw his hands forward. A stream of bubbles floated toward Ziary. The first one hit and spread out into a clear filmy substance along the scion’s back. Ziary didn’t even notice, but then a second one hit, and then a third. With each one, the filmy material expanded. It covered his wings before Ziary realized it was there. He tried to move them, but they were frozen in place. Ziary turned to Jez, his eyes blazing an angry red, but he only had a chance to take one step before the film encompassed him completely.

  Galine gaped and Aniel cocked his head. Sharim, taking advantage of the distraction, leapt into the air, his flight having the same erratic pattern as a bat. Aniel’s eyes followed him for a second. A growl escaped his throat, and the pharim lord spread his wings. One flap sent out a rush of wind that lifted Jez off the ground and threw him a few feet. A heartbeat later, the pharim lord was in the air, his powerful wings quickly closing the distance between him and his prey. Sharim reached into his sack and pulled out a green crystal as big as Jez’s head.

  Galine gasped. “It’s our speaking stone.”

  The crystal began to glow. The lake pulsed, and a bolt of emerald energy shot forward from Sharim’s hand and struck Aniel. The pharim lord arched his back and let out a piercing cry that, even from so far away, made Jez have to cover his ears.

  “No,” Jez said once the sound faded. “That’s not a speaking stone. That’s a focusing crystal.”

  Sharim disappeared in the distance as Aniel writhed in the air. His wings seemed to melt away. His body thickened, and his arms and legs became hoofed feet. His curved horns straightened as his head became that of a bull. The creature cried out as it fell.

  “Jez, let Osmund go!” Lina cried out.

  There wasn’t time to do anything else, so Jez complied. The film around Ziary shattered, and the scion took to the air. He threw his hands forward and glowed nearly as bright as the sun. A whirlwind appeared around the falling bull, slowing its descent.

  The bull cried out and tried to paw at the air, but to no effect. It landed on the grass with little more than a gentle thump, and the animal examined its legs as if unable to believe what had just happened. Then, the bull looked at Ziary and snorted. Ziary arched his back and cried out in pain. His body seemed to shrivel away, and in a few seconds, Osmund stood in his place. The larger boy fell to his knees, but waved off Lina when she tried to help. He stood up without any apparent difficulty. Jez looked into the sky where Sharim had disappeared.

  “We have a problem.”

  CHAPTER 31

  “Your speaking stone is a focusing crystal?” Jez asked.

  Galine shrugged. “If it is, I never knew.”

  “Where did you get it?”

  “It was before my time.” He nodded at Aniel. “The stories say he gave it to us when he established our tribe.”

  “I thought you said beast masters of the Academy established it.”

  Galine shook his head. “They support us, and most of our members are brought by them, such as your friends, the wolf and the bull, but Aniel brought the first.”

  Jez turned to the pharim lord. “You gave them a focusing crystal a hundred times larger than any other?”

  Aniel let out a sound that might’ve been a purr. He stepped forward and lifted a hand to Jez’s forehead. Jez started and took a step back, but Aniel growled. Jez looked at Galine who nodded.

  “I’ve never known him to hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it.”

  “You know, we aren’t really supposed to be here, and he doesn’t seem right in the head. He might think I deserve it.”

  “No, I think he still understands you.”

  “You think?”

  Galine narrowed his eyes. “Jez, this is Aniel, high lord of the Beastwalkers. You came here for him, and I think he’s trying to give you what you want. If you don’t do this, you may not find what you’re looking for.”

  Jez eyed Aniel who still stood with his hand extended. He seemed not to be bothered by Jez’s hesitation.

  “Maybe you should call Sariel,” Osmund said.

  Jez shook his head. “He wouldn’t be able to do anything. He can’t interfere with another pharim high lord.”

  “Not even to help?”

  “Not unless Aniel asks for it.” He looked the lord of the Beastwalkers up and down. “I don’t think he can do that right now.”

  Jez took a deep breath and nodded at Aniel. The pharim lord took another step forward, and rested his hand on Jez’s forehead. The world vanished.

  The creature the Hunter sought was more dog than man. It wandered in places the Hunter did not like, among buildings in the cities man had built, but the creature was still of the Hunter. It was one of his children, so the hunter put on the form of a man and went into the city to retrieve the creature.

  He attracted many looks. His skin was far darker than any of theirs, and he wore animal skins. He was also taller than most, and he had muscles that one only developed running through the woods or soaring in the sky, so most stayed out of his way.

  The creature was a pitiful shadow of what it should’ve been. It had been living off of trash for weeks and had been reduced to little more than bones. One of its legs had been broken at some point and had never healed correctly. It growled at the Hunter as any dog might if they had been so abused, but this creature’s rage had little to do with how it had been treated. It had the mind of a man and the mind of a dog, and the two warred for dominance.

  The Hunter extended his hand and sent a thin trickle of power into the beast, calming its twin minds. He took the creature in his arms, and took it to a place between places, emerging in a valley far from the sight of man, a place where a portion of the Hunter’s power dwelled. There he started to change the creature back into a man, but not all the way. The creature’s mind had been altered, and the only way to give it a measure of peace was to find a balance. He changed it into a dog that walked on two legs.

  “Make a place for your kind,” the Hunter said, “those who have been taken by the mind of the beast. I will send others to you. Guard my power.”

  “How do I do this? I know the magic of the beasts, but I am not strong enough to fight those who would claim your power.”

  The Hunter considered this. Then, he reached into himself, trapping the strength of his own mind. That strength congealed in his hand, and he concentrated it, forcing it into physical form until it had crystallized. He gave the crystal to the one who had been both a man and a dog, and was now a blending of the two.

  “Use this to call my children if you require aid, but only with the greatest need should you use its strength to do battle. It is a power not meant for mortal hands.”

  The Hunter’s new servant bowed deeply, but the Hunter grabbed his shoulder. “You need not bow to me nor to any created being, not ever again.”

  CHAPTER 32

  Jez took in a sharp breath. He was on the ground, shaking. He sat up and stared at Aniel. The pharim lord looked confused and glanced at Galine. Lina knelt by Jez’s side, her legs covered in the mud from the shore. She was rubbing her forehead. He blinked at her.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “You fell over when Aniel touched you, and you wouldn’t wake up. I tried to go into your mind to help, but whatever he did wouldn’t let me in.” She wiped at a thin trickle of blood that had dripped from her nose. She blinked at her bloody fingers. “I guess trying to do that after freeing Osmund from
Sharim’s control was a little too much.”

  “How did he do that anyway?” Jez asked. “I thought beast magic couldn’t be used to control.”

  “It can’t,” Galine said.

  “He used mental magic,” Osmund said as he offered Jez and Lina a hand up. “I really wanted to kill Aniel. He must have used beast magic to get around my defenses. Your turn Jez. What happened to you?”

  Jez looked to Aniel. “He showed me how he founded the tribe. He created the focusing crystal out of his own power to help defend this place.”

  “Why didn’t we know about it, then?” Galine asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure how long ago that was, but he warned the first beast man to use it only to contact the Beastwalkers, and not to access its power directly except as a last resort. Maybe it was just forgotten. It’s not an ordinary focusing crystal though. It can work with power on a level I’ve never even heard of before. It’s made from Aniel’s own strength of mind.”

  “That explains why this Sharim was able to force him to change.”

  Jez nodded. “We can’t let Sharim have something like that. Who knows what he could do with it?”

  Osmund eyed Aniel. “What do we do with him?”

  “Take him with us,” Galine said. “We go hunt our foe and Lord Aniel can help defeat him. Sharim fled from him, after all, so he must fear him.”

  “Sharim got far enough away to use Aniel’s own power against him. There’s one other thing to consider.” He pointed at Aniel’s chest. The burn mark had vanished, but Jez gave a pointed glance toward the center of the lake where the dead pharim floated. “He could be vulnerable. If we take him against Sharim, he could die. What do you think would happen then?”

  Galine nodded. “We could leave him with the tribe.”

  “I don’t know,” Jez said. “They’re a tribe of beast men. If Sharim shows up with a part of Aniel’s power, do you really think they’d be able to stop him?”

  Galine stood up straight. He didn’t take his eyes off of Aniel as he spoke. “They would fight to a man to defend him. They might not succeed, but it’s a better defense than any we can provide.”

  Jez nodded. “It’s better than nothing. Let’s head back. Maybe we can think of how to find Sharim on the way.”

  Osmund pointed to the circle. With no one pouring power into it, it had gone dormant, and the runes had gone dim. “Shouldn’t we do something about?”

  “Good point.” Jez eyed the circle. “It looks like a summoning circle, not a binding one.” He pointed to a group of squiggly lines. “Lotheen. He must have been summoning them to possess the tribe.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Galine said. “The first of the tribe went mad weeks ago. If he’s been doing that the whole time, why haven’t the rest of us fallen?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t for the tribe. Maybe he was using them to possess animals like those wolves. He could have a completely different plan for the tribe. Still, we probably shouldn’t leave this just lying around. Give me a second.”

  Jez sank his power into the ground. Water from the lake permeated the soil. Whether it was because he’d bonded with the lake when he’d stepped into it or because the soil diluted the effects of the water, it only gave the slightest resistance to his touch, and he brought its power to the surface. It interrupted the energy of the circle. All the runes flared to life at once before leaving blackened remains. The runes themselves were still there, but they were no longer capable of maintaining the energy for a circle.

  “That’s good enough.” Jez turned to Galine. “Let’s go back to the town.”

  They started walking but Aniel just stared out over the lake and didn’t follow. The four of them exchanged glances and Galine approached the pharim lord.

  “My lord, will you come with us?” Aniel just cocked his head and Galine looked over his shoulder at Jez. “We can’t exactly force him.”

  Jez stood directly in front of Aniel, and his snake like eyes focused on Jez. “Aniel.” A sound like a purr rose from his throat, and Jez glanced at Galine. “He seems to respond to his name.”

  Jez beckoned and started to walk away. Aniel stared at him for a few seconds. He shot one last look over the lake before following. Jez waited for Galine to take the lead. Beside him, Osmund chuckled.

  “What?” Jez asked.

  Osmund looked back toward Aniel. The pharim could take one step for every two of theirs and so he frequently stopped a few seconds to look around.

  “You realize you’ve got the high lord of the Beastwalkers following you like a trained dog, right?” Osmund asked.

  Galine glared at him, but Lina just laughed out loud.

  CHAPTER 33

  Jez wiped sweat from his brow and silently cursed the sun, which seemed to have turned the jungle into an oven. In the day it had taken them to make back, Lina had tried using mental magic to restore Aniel. The effort had left her screaming in pain for half an hour, and they had abandoned the effort.

  “The jungle seems quiet,” Jez said as they neared the town.

  “They’re wondering what Aniel is doing with us,” Galine said, seemingly indifferent to the heat.

  Jez took in the jungle around them. Even the trees seemed to rustle less than they should in the wind.

  “Everything?”

  Galine grinned. “He is a high lord of the pharim.”

  Jez nodded. “Fair enough. Have we been spotted? I haven’t seen anyone.”

  Galine stopped and stared at him for a second before snorting and continuing on. “I don’t know what I find more unbelievable, that you didn’t see the doe an hour and a half ago or that you actually think you could approach a town of my kind without being seen.”

  Jez inclined his head in concession. A few more minutes of travel proved Galine correct. They came into the clearing, and Jez gaped. He’d assumed there would be the few dozen beast men he’d seen the last time they were here, but there were hundreds gathered here, of nearly every animal Jez had ever imagined and more than a few he had never dreamed of. Some were almost completely beast save for a few features. One horse with a peculiar set of human eyes sent chills down Jez’s spine whenever he looked into them. Others, like the bird woman he’d seen earlier, had only one or two animal traits. The vast majority were somewhere in between. There was even a woman covered in fish scales who had webbed feet and hands.

  “How many are there?”

  Galine shrugged. “We don’t really keep count.”

  “They can’t all live in this town.”

  “There are a few, smaller settlements scattered throughout the valley. This is the largest, or at least the old city was. Most of our people live out in the wild, though. The towns are only for those of us who maintain closer ties to humanity than to the beast.”

  Jez raised an eyebrow. “So Welb was right about you?”

  Galine shook his head. “Welb thinks I neglect the beast entirely. I think the opposite of him. We were never intended to choose one side over the other.”

  Jez eyed the crowd. “What are they waiting for?”

  “Him.”

  Galine glanced back at Aniel. The pharim lord’s eyes scanned the gathered beast men before looking back at Jez and letting out that strange half purr. The beast men murmured to each other as Jez returned Aniel’s stare, unsure of what else to do.

  “Do you want to tell everyone at once, Galine?” Lina asked. “Is there a town council, or something?”

  Galine inclined his head. He uttered several syllables that were closer to growls than words, and half a dozen beast men came out of the crowd. Galine nodded to a large hut and motioned for Jez to follow. The building had a dirt floor and a thatched roof. The walls were made of some sort of clay and a single window let in the sunlight as well as a soft breeze. Slowly, the people Galine had called entered.

  There was a woman with a face like a lizard who was covered in scales. The person next to her, Jez couldn’t tell if it was a man or a wo
man, had leathery grey skin and a nose that nearly went down to their waist. Ravous was there, as well as a large black bird with a woman’s face. A man with the body of a horse had to duck his head to come in. The last one to enter was Welb. The wolf man stood in the doorway for a long time. He looked back at his companions. Grita still looked unsure of herself, but the others motioned him forward. Still Jez wondered if he was going to enter. When Aniel looked at Welb, he shrank back a little before clenching his teeth and forcing himself forward.

  They all stood with their backs straight and looked the pharim lord in the eye. Aniel examined them all. He sniffed at the grey skinned man, but otherwise he didn’t acknowledge them.

  “Lord Aniel?”

  Welb’s voice was much quieter than it had been before. He kept looking over his shoulder as if he was afraid, though Jez told himself that couldn’t be it. Aniel looked at Welb, but his gaze only lingered on the wolf man for a few seconds before turning away. He started to examine the black bird, but the others focused on Galine. Welb showed his teeth.

  “Galine, what did you do to him?”

  Galine just stared at him. Then, he laughed. His mane shook as his head rocked back and forth. Welb’s fur bristled, and the other beast men didn’t seem to know how to react. Finally Galine regained his composure.

  “Welb, what do you think I could do to Aniel himself?”

  Welb growled, but didn’t respond. Mummers of affirmation came from the others. The horse man approached and laid a hand on Aniel’s shoulder. The lord of the Beastwalkers cocked his head but otherwise did nothing.