Chaos At The Castle (Book Six)

by Craig Halloran

  “Kam, swear yourself to me. Be my slave, and I’ll end this misery,” he said.

  She tried to look away, but his words, his warmth, were so inviting.

  But I hate you.

  A tear dropped down her cheek and froze on her chin.

  He kissed her forehead.

  “You don’t hate me, Kam. You desire me. You want me. Give in to me, and all will be well again,” he said.

  Why am I here?

  She shook her head and looked down at the frosty chains that covered her naked frame. Her breath was frosty.

  “So cold … I can’t think,” she said.

  She was disoriented, lost and frozen. All of her memories, her passions, feeling and anger were gone. If she had an issue with Palos, she couldn’t remember it. Why would she be angry with Palos? He was such a charming man.

  Isn’t he my friend?

  “Of course I’m your friend,” he said. He stroked her hair with the back of his soft hand. “I’m your only friend now. I can save you. Just swear yourself to me. I’ll protect you and your daughter.”

  “What …” she said, fighting against her dream-like state, “daughter?”

  The one you are looking for … A dark, powerful voice spoke.

  “Who?” she said. She looked around.

  “Who are you?” Palos demanded, jumping back from her. “Who is this, Kam? Who are you?”

  There was fear in the voice of the Prince of Thieves now. It was an alarming sound. An awakening. The cold chains that bound her faded away into her green mage’s gown. She shook her head.

  The dark voice spoke again, more demanding this time. Where is her daughter, Palos?

  “Erin!” Kam screamed.

  A dark figure of shadows emerged between Kam and Palos. Its eyes were two burning rubies, and it had a hooked nose. Its gaze sent a chill straight through her.

  Palos’s face filled with horror. “Get away from me!” He drifted back into the metal door, panic in his eyes. He turned and pulled at the handle. It would not open.

  “Where’s my daughter, Palos!” Kam shouted. Her strength was returning.

  “I’ll never tell! I’ll never—AYEEEEEEEE!”

  The black figure’s fingers stretched out like tendrils, filling Palos’s nostrils and mouth, burrowing into his ears.

  Where is the girl, deceitful one?

  Palos shook his head. He ground his teeth.

  “No!”

  Then I shall dig it out myself!

  The black figure reached deeper into Palos’s mind.

  The Prince of Thieves screamed.

  The black figure ripped out his mind.

  Kam’s eyes popped open. She was gasping. Lying in a pool of her own sweat by the fireplace on Palos’s apartment floor. Rubbing her head, she looked up and found the Prince of Thieves still bound to his chair. His eyes were rolled up inside his head. He babbled. Drool spilled from his mouth onto his chest.

  “What happened?” Struggling to her feet, she scanned the room, worried. “Where are you? Where is Erin?” She looked down at her hand. It was glowing like fire. The red gems she no longer held. They were now embedded inside her hand.

  “No! What madness is this?” She tried to rake them out on the chair. On the table. She screamed. “You said you’d help me find my daughter. Tell me what you found out from Palos!”

  His mind did not escape the inquiry. Time to serve, Kam!

  Exhausted, Kam fell to her knees, gaping at her hand. What had she done? She’d wanted to live so desperately that she would have done anything to see her daughter again. Now she was bound with a force she couldn’t have dreamed of. Only moments ago, she was going to be the slave of Palos, and now she was the slave to something else. And she still didn’t have Erin.

  Wiping her sweaty locks from her face, she said, “What would you have me do?”

  I must return to my home.

  She glanced at Palos. He was drooling like an imbecile.

  Serves him right.

  “And where is that?” she said. “What!” Her body was propelled to the table.

  I’ll tell you when we get there, but for now, I need to see through your eyes and ears. Ah … it’s good to smell again, even though it’s not like my home.

  She grabbed a carafe of Palos’s wine to her lips and drank.

  The voice inside her head, eerie and dark.

  This is good, a fine, exquisite taste, but I have no need for more.

  Kam forced the carafe away from her lips and set it down. “Can I―or we―at least try to find my daughter on your way home? Please!”

  Not likely. I’ve waited long enough already.

  “But—“Kam said. The front door burst open. “Lefty!”

  The halfling boy limped inside, holding his shoulder, face bleeding.

  “We’ve got Diller, Kam,” he said. He eyed her then looked at the ground. “But no word on Erin … I-I’m afraid to say.”

  A dwarf with a strange beard entered along with four other rogues who dragged a chained Diller in and slung him on the floor. Palos’s reliable lieutenant Diller’s eyes widened when he saw his boss.

  “What happened to him?” he said.

  “He didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear!” Kam said. She stepped forward and stretched out her glowing hand. “And if you think you will get off any easier than him, Diller, you better think again.”

  Lefty, Jubbler and the rest of the men moved backward. Diller struggled in the absidium chains.

  “You might break me, Princess, but you’ll always be Palos’s whore!”

  With a wave of her hand, Kam slammed Diller into the ceiling and back down into the floor face first.

  “LAST WARNING, FOOL!” she yelled. The entire room shook.

  Lefty trembled.

  “Huh-Huh-Huh. Mercy, never seen the likes of that—Huh—before,” Jubbler whispered. The other men ducked out of the room without a glance. “You sure she’s a friend of yours? Huh.”

  Kam whirled on the old dwarf, green eyes like blazing emeralds.

  “I tire of you tiny people,” she said. Her voice was not hers. “Away with you!”

  Jubbler was lifted from his feet and went sailing out of the room. The door slammed shut behind him. “Don’t move, Halfling!”

  Lefty tried not to shake but couldn’t help it.

  “Where is my child, Diller?” Kam’s words lifted him in the air, slowly spinning him around, upside down.

  Nose dripping on the floor, he rolled a bloody toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other and stared at Palos’s vacant, babbling face. “Promise you’ll not do that to me. Your word. I was going to protect you from that monster, Kam. I swear I was.”

  There was some truth to his words. Kam could feel it, but he was a liar. They all were.

  “That’s the risk you’ll have to take, Diller, but the longer you delay, the more dire your future will become.” She slapped him so hard he spun in a complete circle. Two gemstone scorch marks were on his cheek. She was losing control.

  I’m losing my patience, Kam.

  “TELL ME NOW, DILLER!”

  “She’s here!” He stammered.

  “Where!”

  “Below. In the tunnels. I’ll show you! Oh Kam, I don’t want to die. I’ll take you right there. I swear it! My word!” He eyeballed Palos, who was vomiting on himself. “Anything at all!”

  Diller’s body fell hard on the floor. Groaning, he rose to his feet.

  “Do you know about these tunnels, Lefty?”

  He started to move his neck.

  “SPEAK!”

  “No Ma’am!” he said. “Never been or heard of there.”

  She released her spell. Diller fell to the floor and slowly got up to his feet. He rubbed his head.

  “Lead, Diller, and if you do anything stupid, you’ll be eating your drool with a spoon.”

  “Certainly. Certainly, Kam!” he said. He headed out the door and shuffled down the steps.

  “Come,” she
said to Lefty. “Shoulder hurt?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  The once lively tavern was occupied only by Jubbler, a few other rogues, and the dead. All the living eyes were wary as Kam passed. She could feel their fear. Clutching her hand open and closed, she felt great power―and liked it.

  Diller made his way into the kitchen, put his shoulder into a cupboard, and shoved it across the floor, revealing a set of stairs.

  “It’s Diller,” he yelled. “And I’m coming down, with company.” He turned towards Kam with a worried look in his eyes. “She’s not alone down there, but I can’t speak to her condition. Not seen her in a while.”

  “Go!” she said.

  A torch was lit at the bottom of a tunnel that burrowed straight through the ground. Wooden rafters held it up like a mine tunnel. A series of chambers and tunnels greeted them at the bottom.

  “This is where Palos keeps his hoard,” Diller said. “Josh! Are you back there?”

  A man in chainmail lumbered forward from the gloom with a longsword ready. He had a hard face, but was stout with a neck full of muscles.

  “Where is Palos? And who are these two?”

  Time to serve, Kam. I grow impatient!

  “Not without my child,” she said.

  “Who is she talking to?” Josh said. The guard eyed her. “Is this the mother of the baby? The baby is not well.”

  “Shut up, you fool!” Diller said.

  A charge of fire shot from Kam’s hand. Josh was incinerated.

  “Erin! Erin!”

  Somewhere, a baby cried out.

  “Erin!

  She ran through the ashes and into the darkness.

  ***

  “Kam, wait!” Diller shouted. “There’s more men in there. This is Palos’s—”

  A grown man screamed. Another followed, echoing in the chambers. It was a horrifying sound. Lefty pulled out his dagger. Even though Diller’s arms were chained behind his back, he was still dangerous, and it had only been minutes since they tried to kill one another. But the man didn’t move. He didn’t move a muscle.

  Lefty looked at his sweaty feet. They’d been like that ever since he entered Kam’s room. The beautiful woman he so admired was no longer herself. She was something else. Something dark and powerful had overtaken her. He thought of those gems. He’d given them to her, so her possession was his fault as well.

  Can I do nothing right?

  “Do you think she’s going to kill me?” Diller said. His eyes were fixed on the dark tunnel.

  “I think she’s going to kill both of us if her Erin isn’t alright.”

  Diller shook his head. “If I live through this, I swear to Bish I’ll never do bad things anymore. That Palos, I was scared of him, but nothing like this angry mother.”

  Diller was spooked. Lefty was astounded. The man had been nothing but cold and cruel since the moment they met, but now there was something different about him. If Diller could change, perhaps he could change too.

  Kam’s eyes were glowing as she stormed up the tunnel, a baby swaddled in her arms. The baby cried and coughed, a wrenching sound. It was Erin; Lefty could feel it inside his bones. She was alive, but not well.

  “Kam, anything to help, I will,” Diller said. His eyes were pleading. His arms open. “I’m so sorry for all of this.”

  She clenched her fist and twisted.

  Crack!

  Diller’s neck snapped. He fell to the ground.

  Lefty gulped.

  She’s going to kill me.

  She glared at him, shook her fist, and stomped up the stairs. “Don’t ever lose my baby again, Lefty! Now find my father’s sword! Whatever might bring Erin comfort, and meet me at those docks.”

  Tears dropped from Lefty’s eyes. His tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. He wanted to say thank you out loud but could not.

  Oh mercy! Thank you!

  “And quit crying! You’ve shed enough tears already!”

  ***

  Time to serve, Kam!

  She didn’t care who she served now that she had her baby. Erin nuzzled her chest as Lefty shoved the gondola off and waved good bye to Jubbler and his ilk.

  “We better not wind up here again, rogues, else I’ll kill you all!” Kam shouted.

  “Huh! No worries, Crazy Lady. Huh! None at all!” Jubbler waved.

  Irritated, Kam summoned a flaming snake onto their deck, bringing fire to everything in their paths. “Piss on them and you.” She eyed Lefty. “Row, blast it!”

  “My shoulder. I-I can’t.”

  “Is it broken?”

  “N-No. Just dislocated.”

  She held out her hand and spread her fingers.

  Lefty’s eyes widened like saucers. His head beaded with sweat.

  “That hurt?” she said.

  He shook his head.

  Pop!

  “Better now?”

  He nodded and rubbed his shoulder.

  “Don’t thank me,” she said. “Just be quiet. Be still.”

  Time to serve, Kam! I’m losing patience.

  “We are leaving, fiend!”

  She snapped her fingers.

  The oars came to life, whisking them over the dead waters and away.

  Time to serve! Time to serve! Time to serve!

  CHAPTER 12

  Cass held on to Chongo for dear life. She was exhausted. The big dog was fast, but not tireless. She could feel him laboring for breath. For over an hour they’d run, chased down by underlings that rode on the backs of spiders as big as horses. It sent a chill through her.

  “Run, Chongo! Run!”

  Thirty minutes into the chase, she was certain she’d lost them, but that’s when more spider riders appeared. Not just a couple either. An entire patrol. Their riders had weapons raised. The spiders’ fangs were bared. They scurried right after them.

  Sheesh! Those are sick looking things!

  Animals were one thing with Cass, but bugs were another. Many druids like the bugs, but they weren’t part of her nature. It was fine when the blue bees made honey, but spider webs and slimy toads grossed her out. As a girl, she was fed crunchy bugs once, and she’d never gotten over it.

  Chongo dashed into a large grove, paws ripping into the ground beneath him, stirring up dust. Cass hunched down. The branches whipped over her face and legs, stinging her and drawing thin lines of blood on her pale skin.

  What have I done?

  Digging her nails into the thick mane on Chongo’s neck, her free thoughts turned to regrets. She’d left Fogle Boon to blindly chase a two headed dog she now shared a bond with, much further than she ever imagined. Chongo, tongues hanging from his mouth, was going after his master. He’d made it clear he wouldn’t stop for anything until he got there. Now she was lost.

  “I hope you know where you’re going!”

  All she could see were glimpses of the sky as they ran under the trees. They needed to hide, outdistance themselves or do something. Behind her, she could hear the spiders crashing through the trees, getting closer.

  Don’t look back!

  She did.

  A spider and rider were so close she could see the red in all their eyes.

  I’ve got to do something!

  She couldn’t think of anything.

  Something!

  Wind whipping through her hair, Cass struggled to hang on. Chongo raced full speed through the grove and into a ravine. His feet were trampling through a wide creek, bend after bend, when he came to an abrupt stop at the edge of a drop off. It was unlike anything Cass had ever seen before. The creek dropped over one hundred feet, waters crashing into a pool below. She gasped. The underlings and the spiders had caught up with them.

  Chongo turned, lowered his heads, and growled.

  There were five spiders in all, hairy legs creeping over the creek waters while the underlings chittered and hooted. Cass summoned every ounce of magic she had left.

  Bish, give me strength!

 
Chongo’s barks echoed up the ravine. The hairy black spiders hitched up on their hind legs and spewed webs, covering the ground and sticking to Chongo’s legs. He let out a howl, trying to tear free.

  “No, Chongo! You’ll make it worse.”

  Cords of webbing caught her by the waist. They tugged at her.

  “Never Insects!” Magic swelled inside her chest. Fire burst from her hands. She stroked the big dog and moaned. In an instant, both she and Chongo were consumed by flame. The webbing burned away. Chongo charged the nearest spider, jaws tearing off its legs and chomping the underling rider. Everything Chongo touched caught fire. The brush, the spiders, the underling soldiers. The beast tore into them with ferocious fury.

  Hold on!

  Her strength was already waning.

  Two spiders and riders twitched and burned in the creek. Chongo pounced on the third, slinging Cass to the ground. She hit her head on a stone.

  “Ugh!”

  The flames left Chongo, surrounding her and her alone. She regained her feet.

  Focus Cass! Focus!

  Thickt!

  Thickt!

  Thickt!

  Cords of web shot all over the big dog, sticking him to the ground. Chongo’s jaws remained locked on an underling. The two heads tore the screaming underling in two parts.

  Two underlings on spiders closed in on the beast. They launched black lances into his side.

  “NOOOO!” Cass yelled. She dove onto one spider’s legs, spreading her fire all over it.

  It pitched upward, bucking its rider and sending the underling to the ground. She dove on top of it, wrapped her hands around its throat, and watched its flesh burn to the bone.

  Too-wah! Too-wah! Too-wah!

  Arching her back, hands out, she felt sharp things lodge deep inside her back and shoulders. Her flames went out. She couldn’t move.

  What’s happened?

  A forceful hand grabbed her by the hair and pulled her around. A pale blue-eyed underling in dark mail armor, holding a blow gun, stood over her, flashing a row of sharp teeth. He laughed and stepped away, clearing a view of Chongo.

  Chongo was coated in webs so thick she could barely see him.

  What have I done?

  And the ravine, where they’d fled, was filled with the speckled eyes of underlings as far as she could see.