Beastwalker (Pharim War Book 3)

by Gama Ray Martinez

  He didn’t wait for a response before entering. It wasn’t long before they’d gone too deep for the light from outside to be any help. Lina summoned a ball of light so they could see, though she kept it dim. Jez hoped it would go unseen. The cave went on for a long time, and though they tried to walk softly, their footsteps seemed to echo forever. Every once in a while, Jez thought he heard something and turned in its direction with his sword raised, but he never saw anything. Eventually, the passage opened up to a wide cavern that had two ways out apart from the way they’d come in.

  “I have no idea which way to go,” Jez said.

  “There’s something here,” Lina said. “Dispel the illusions.”

  Jez nodded and complied. The ground rippled and blackened marks appeared on the stone, though Lina’s working didn’t provide enough illumination for him to see in any details. Jez looked toward the light. “Can you make that brighter?”

  The light intensified, and a circle of burned out runes came into view. Jez knelt down and ran his fingers across the ground, but he felt no hum of power. This circle was similar to the makeshift one he’d used in his failed attempt to summon a Beastwalker, though many of the patterns were much more complex. Near one edge of the circle, lines curved around an empty space just large enough to accommodate the focusing crystal. He’d seen something like this before, in the circle Sharim had used to summon the demon Maries.

  “Well, it’s a permanent summoning, but that’s not too surprising.”

  He looked closer at the runes for the focusing crystal. There was more to it than the other of its kind he’d seen. Lina appeared next to him causing him to jump. He glared at her, and she rolled her eyes.

  “There’s no one else here.” She pointed at set of eight concentric circles. “What are all those?”

  “It looks almost like the universal symbol, the one that represents everything, but that’s only seven circles.” Jez touched the outer one. “This circle is a little different. It feels like it’s been carved deeper.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Normally nothing. Most of the time, more depth to a symbol done accidently.” He paused. “Generally, it would actually weaken the circle.”

  “I don’t think that’s what happened here,” Lina said.

  Jez raised an eyebrow. “When did you become an expert on summoning?”

  “I’m not, but Sharim made this circle. Do you really think he would accidently weaken it?”

  Jez sighed. “Probably not.”

  “So what does it mean if it’s not an accident?”

  “It’s emphasis.” Jez closed his eyes as he tried to remember how different runes interacted with each other. This wasn’t a standard rune, and he’d never been particularly gifted at discerning specialized ones. “All of everything, maybe. Everything completely?”

  She walked a few feet away and pointed to a rune made of a tooth and claw, the image representing the Beastwalkers. “It’s connected to this one.”

  “No it’s not.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Not in any way you can see, but there were runes in the air too.”

  “You can see those?”

  She kept her eyes focused on the area just above the ground. “Master Kerag has been working with me on it. Runes are almost like illusions. At least they’re close enough. There’s a working he taught me. It’s not perfect, and if there’s a lot of other light in the area, the images can be corrupted, but since we’re in a cave...”

  She closed her eyes. A second later, flickering yellow light appeared from the runes on the floor. Other dimmer images popped into existence in the air forming a dome of distorted runes. They were blurry, and several of them were missing key lines. Still, it looked even more like the circle Sharim had used in Rumar. There were a few significant differences, though. As Lina had said, a curved line arced from the concentric circles and connected them to the rune of the Beastwalkers. The realization hit him like a hammer.

  “All the Beastwalkers.” Jez’s voice was barely above a whisper. “He was trying to summon all of them.”

  He examined the outer circle again. Several thin lines connected it to four other runes that represented the four elements. Those four points, in turn, connected to each other in a complex web that he doubted he could’ve crafted if he tried for a year. Even as he spoke, he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

  “He wanted to summon them completely into this world to bring all their power here.”

  “Why? Wouldn’t that just make them more able to stop him?”

  Jez’s mouth had gone dry. “That will make them able to be killed, but he couldn’t do it. Not entirely. He doesn’t have enough power.”

  “But he has Aniel’s focusing crystal.”

  “A focusing crystal doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t actually give you more power. It just helps you direct it to get more from the power you have.”

  “Isn’t that basically the same thing?”

  “Kind of, but not really.” He stared into her light, trying to think of a way to explain it. “It’s like if instead of making a really big illusion of a monster, you made two really small illusions of the monster and put them in front of someone’s eyes. To them it would be the same thing, but you would only use a fraction of the power.”

  Lina nodded in understanding. “And he can’t use that to summon a Beastwalker?”

  “Maybe one. That’s probably what happened to Talos, but every Beastwalker in the Keep of the Hosts? He doesn’t have nearly enough power for that, no matter how good his control is.”

  “We are in a place of power, Jez.”

  “But the lake is outside.”

  “Why didn’t he do it out there then?”

  Jez waved at the walls. Some of the runes glowed on the rocks. “He had more control here. Runes made in living things like trees are less potent. Runes made in the air won’t survive without power being poured into them.”

  “Well then, where did he think he was going to get the power to make this work?”

  Jez thought about that for a second before nodding. “You’re right. We’re missing something. Give me a second. Let me see if I can figure this out. How much longer can you keep it up?”

  She smirked. “Probably longer than you can stay awake.”

  He cocked his head. “I’m not sleepy.”

  She let out a breath and rolled her eyes. “I know that. I can keep it up as long as you need it.”

  Jez felt his face heat up but nodded. He moved through the circle slowly, trying to understand exactly how it worked. Eventually, he reached the rune of water. Several strands of power connected it to a web linking it to the other elements. A final strand connected it to the concentric circles. He was about to move on when he noticed one of the strands went directly to the earth symbol without passing through the web in between. It came out of the top of the water rune and went into the bottom of the earth rune, and it seemed to be pulsing slightly.

  “I think there’s something missing here.”

  “Probably,” Lina said. “Like I said, this isn’t perfect. What’s missing?”

  That rune combination could mean something about drawing water from the earth. He nodded. That made sense. “Hold on.”

  She sniffed, but he’d already closed his eyes. There were several streams that were fed by the lake. It wasn’t impossible that some of those streams ran beneath the valley. He sank his senses into the earth. The stones thrummed with power. It wasn’t a lot, just enough to set his senses buzzing. As he went deeper, though, the power increased. Twenty feet down, he was nearing the limits of his abilities. The stones were practically alive with energy. His consciousness pressed against a vein of energy that seemed to resist his efforts to probe it. He took a deep breath and drew back.

  “There’s an underground spring that comes from the lake.”

  “Could Sharim have used that to call all the Beastwalkers?”

  “Not by itself, but with Aniel’s speaking
stone?” He shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. There’s something else, though.”

  “What?”

  “If Sharim called all the Beastwalkers into this world, where are they?”

  CHAPTER 36

  They went into one of the passages leading out of the cavern, but before long, they reached a dead end. The other one split three ways after a few hundred yards. Unwilling to risk getting lost, they returned to the cave entrance and Jez dismissed his sword. Osmund was waiting just outside. When he saw them, he tensed his muscles, and his hand went to his sword. Jez raised his hands.

  “Calm down. He’s not in control of me,” Jez said. Osmund hesitated for a second before letting his hands drop away from his weapon. Jez let out a breath of relief. “It looks like he escaped through some underground passages.”

  They quickly related what they had found. Galine showed his teeth and let out a snarl, but Welb looked worried.

  “That explains it.”

  “Explains what?”

  “Aniel. Probably the rest of them too. When I was cast from the Keep of the Hosts, it was a strain on my mind.” He let out a bark. “Strain is an understatement. It broke me. It didn’t happen to the other pharim orders, but the change was too much for our dual natures. I spent a century wandering the world as a wolf. I think I changed a couple of times, but it’s hard to remember.”

  “But Aniel isn’t fully in this world,” Jez said. “At least I don’t think he is.”

  “No, you’re right, but he’s most of the way here.” He growled and eyed Aniel. “I should’ve seen it before. It’s the same thing that happened to us.”

  “Aniel was a shark before we found him.”

  “The rest of them could be wandering the valley.” Welb brushed at a fly buzzing around his face. “For all we know, that could be one of them.”

  “Is it?” Galine asked.

  Welb’s eyes flickered green for a second before shaking his head. “No, there are no transformed beings nearby.”

  “How many of you can do that?” Jez asked. “Detect transformation, I mean.”

  “Not many,” Galine said. “As I said, most of us put magic of any kind away. Your friend Mirous can, as well as Rouwglar.”

  “Who?”

  Galine huffed. “Toden and Grita. You must accept that they are new people now. They haven’t been here long enough for their abilities to atrophy. There are a few others who maintain the ability. Most came within the past decade or so.”

  “We need to contact them. If we tell them what to look for, they might be able to find others.”

  “Assuming Sharim doesn’t already have them.”

  “If Sharim had them, they’d already be dead,” Jez said. “If that’s the case, we can’t help them.”

  “That doesn’t exactly make me feel better.” Galine looked up to the branches. “Vulen, find those you can in the valley. We’ll return to town and get the rest.”

  Vulen nodded, and her flock took to the air. Welb watched them go before he shifted into the form of a hawk.

  “I’ll meet you in town.” With his mouth shaped the way it was, there was no way Welb should’ve been able to speak, but somehow, he did, though his voice had that same squawking quality that the other bird men possessed. “The sooner we get started, the better.”

  Galine nodded, and Welb took off. They went back to the town the same way they had come. Since they didn’t have to cut a new trail, they travelled a lot faster than they had before. They moved in silence, but Jez couldn’t help but wonder if every animal he saw was actually a Beastwalker. As they neared the town, the animals stopped appearing. Galine obviously noticed too, and he kept looking into the trees.

  “What is it?” Lina asked.

  “There are no animals,” Jez said. His nose wrinkled as he caught the scent of sulfur. Instantly, his crystal sword was in his hand. “There are demons nearby.”

  Osmund sniffed. “No, I smell it too. That’s not demons. That’s a fire.”

  “There,” Galine said as he pointed through the trees.

  A column of dark smoke rose in the distance, and the air around it shimmered as it was distorted by the heat. It was difficult to tell through the trees, but Jez thought it might be...

  “The town is on fire,” Galine said. “Catch up when you can. I’m needed.”

  Without waiting for a response, Galine disappeared into the trees.

  CHAPTER 37

  It took Jez and his friends nearly half an hour to reach the town. The clearing was little more than a blackened field. The huts had been reduced to ash and most of the nearby trees had been torn down. Several partially-human forms lay unmoving on the ground, and Galine was pulling up a burned log to rescue the snake man who was trapped beneath.

  Welb was running back and forth pulling beast men out of the rubble. Jez only hesitated for a second before drawing water out of the air and using it to extinguish the few fires that still burned. That released a cloud of smoke that made Jez cough for a few seconds before it cleared. Osmund moved to help Galine, and Lina started digging into ruined buildings to see if she could help anyone.

  Jez lost track of how long they worked to find and help the wounded. Most of those who could be saved had already been extracted from the rubble, but there were still a few left. Jez had been using his sense of earth and water to find survivors. A few had only a broken arm or leg, but most couldn’t even stand. Jez located a dozen, but it still felt like far too few.

  The injured were laid out in a row at one side of the clearing while others tended to them. The sun had nearly disappeared in the west when Welb, once again in the form of a wolf man, walked up next to him. Jez was still searching, but he hadn’t found anyone in a while.

  “We think that’s everyone.”

  “What’s happened?”

  “Sharim came with fifty beast men.” Welb glared at Jez, who took an involuntary step back. “We could’ve held him back if most of our people hadn’t been out looking for him. As it was, he tore through the town practically unopposed. On his way out, he called fire down from the sky.”

  “How many did he take prisoner?” Jez asked.

  “One.” The word was practically a growl.

  “What?”

  “He only took one.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense. He crafted a summoning circle to call lotheen specifically to possess you.”

  “A circle you destroyed.”

  “That wouldn’t be any more than a minor inconvenience to him. He could craft another one. It would just take a little time.”

  “Why would he attack at all?” Lina asked. “He didn’t when he possessed most of the beast men last time. Why is this different?”

  “Maybe you’re just wrong about what he’s doing,” Welb said. “Or maybe you lied to us to get us away from town.”

  Jez blinked at him. “Why would you think that?”

  Welb spread his arms in a gesture that encompassed the ruins of the town. “If not for you, we would’ve been able to defend ourselves.”

  “Who was taken?” Lina asked.

  “Who do you think? He used that stone to catch Aniel. Because of you, a demon now has a high lord of the pharim as a captive.”

  “That’s enough, Welb.”

  Galine’s voice cracked from the other side of the clearing. In the space of a few heartbeats, the lion man had crossed the clearing and was looking down at Welb, a low rumble rising from his chest.

  “No, it’s not nearly enough. Because you’re too human, you’ve led our tribe to the brink of destruction.”

  “You hate humans too much.” Galine said. Welb growled, but Galine smirked. “You’ve challenged me before, Welb. You did it a few days ago. It didn’t turn out well for you.”

  “You can’t really believe I was trying. I’ve spent lifetimes hiding among you, but if I fought to my full ability, you wouldn’t stand a chance. I’ve been avoiding it because I didn’t want to be discovered by Aniel, but
if that’s what it takes to get him back, I might just do it.”

  “I met an afur once,” Lina said. Every eye turned to her, but rather than trying to avoid their stares as Jez might have, she stood up straight, and her hair and clothes began to shimmer.

  Welb snorted. “Stop lying, girl. You don’t do it well.”

  She smiled. “Actually, I’m very good at it, but that’s beside the point. She’d been a Veilspeaker once. She went by the name of Villia, and she was an advisor to King Haziel. Just like you, she wanted to reclaim part of her purpose so she hid in Rumar Keep.”

  Welb shook his head. “If that were true, she would’ve been discovered.”

  “Like you were discovered hiding among the beast men?” She wrinkled her brow. “I don’t think the pharim high lords really care what you do as long as you stay out of their way.”

  “What would a human know of these things?” He stood taller and showed his teeth. “What would a human know about any of this?”

  Lina was about to respond, but Jez stepped forward. There was only one way Welb was going to listen. He drew deeply of Luntayary’s power. His flesh began to burn as wings emerged from his back, and his clothes transformed to sapphire robes. He met Welb’s eyes. The wolf man flinched, and suddenly, he didn’t seem so intimidating. Jez inclined his head and released the power, returning back to his human form. Standing was difficult, but he didn’t think it would be good to show weakness so he forced himself to stand up straight.

  “You’re an afur too,” Welb said.

  Jez shook his head. “I never rebelled.”

  “You’re...” Welb took a deep breath. “You’re a pharim? No, that doesn’t make sense. You’re no Beastwalker. Those robes were those of a Shadowguard, and no pharim can interfere in the business of another order.”

  “Are you turning away my help?”

  Welb’s muscles tensed, and he bent his legs and looked like he was prepared to leap. Jez took a step back and raised his hands.

  “I would welcome help from a true pharim, but even if I believed a Shadowguard had somehow gotten around the limitation barring them from helping, I can smell your burned flesh. You’re no pharim.”