Chaos At The Castle (Book Six)

by Craig Halloran

  “Pull him up,” she said, not looking. “And punish him.”

  Sefron felt his body lifted through the air like a baby and slammed into the ground like a stone.

  “Oof,” he said.

  He felt a punch in the gut. In the face. Then nothing but pain. He heard his blood dripping from his nose.

  “One more transgression,” Lorda said, “and it’s over the parapet for you. My word on that, you grotesque fiend.”

  Through his one good eye, he watched the sway of her hips as she departed.

  Mine, all mine.

  Pushing himself up, he swallowed the taste of blood in his mouth.

  We’ll see who begs for mercy next time.

  ***

  Rubbing her neck, Lorda moved across the stone floor and took a seat by her husband’s cot. The strong visage of the man she knew was gone, replaced by a paler, weaker shadow of himself. Pulling the cloth from his head, she dipped it in a bowl of water and replaced it.

  “Lorda,” Sefron wheezed, limping over, “I should handle those dressings. It is my honor. Please, rest yourself.”

  “Get this toad out of my sight,” she said.

  The sentries grabbed him under his arms, lifting him up, toes dangling from the floor.

  It was hard to look at the flabby man, with his bulbous belly and spindly legs. But she needed him, for now.

  “Sent him to the bottom of the keep. If he causes a stir, send him out.”

  Sefron gulped.

  “And keep him away from my servants. Send a couple up.”

  “As you wish, Lorda,” a sentry said.

  The cleric wheezed and grumbled, but Lorda found relief when the door closed, leaving her alone with the sentries. She was safe. She knew it, but her thoughts were troubled.

  What do these underlings want with us?

  Underlings had invaded her castle before, and now they were back again, forcing their way from outside and from within. And the other Castles along the great wall, they weren’t drawing near the amount of attention that Castle Almen was.

  “What have you done?” she whispered to Lord Almen.

  He had many secrets. He always had, and she was more privy to them than she let on. But, the biggest mystery was what had happened to Tonio. He was still out there, somewhere, deranged and mad. And Detective Melegal, he knew more as well, but she liked him for some reason. Maybe it was because Sefron clearly hated him. And because Lord Almen shared information with Melegal that he did not share with her.

  “Hmmmmm,” she smiled. She liked men with secrets. She liked to find out what was inside them.

  She was stroking her husband’s cheek when two servant girls entered the room, fell to their knees, and bowed. Their pretty faces were worried, their hair and clothing unkempt.

  She sat up. “What happened to the two of you? You look like urchins.”

  “Apologies, Lorda. We’re cut off from our means.”

  The younger of the two clutched at her growling stomach.

  “Humph, well you better keep your little tummy quiet while you rub my feet, else I’ll feed you both to the under—Aaaaaaa!”

  A pair of dog sized spiders climbed over the parapet and onto the balcony.

  Thwipp! Thwipp!

  Spider silk shot out from beneath them and snatched the girls. They kicked and screamed.

  The Shadow Sentries burst into action. One caught his blade on the web. The other charged onto the balcony. Another spider scurried through the window and scrambled toward Lorda, its mouth full of dripping fangs.

  “Eeeeyaaaah!”

  CHAPTER 18

  District Three in the City of Bone was overrun. Underlings by the hundreds filled the streets, alleys, and storefronts―slaughtering everything in sight. One building burned, another one fell, all to the bewilderment of the Royals on the other side of Castle Almen’s walls. Not a single man or woman remained alive. The humans who weren’t killed instantly were burned alive. Smoldering corpses lined the streets, and their heads were tossed over the walls. It should have demoralized the Royals, but it did not.

  Verbard hovered alongside his brother, silver eyes glinting in frustration.

  “Jottenhiem, why haven’t we penetrated the wall yet!”

  Jottenhiem wiped the blood from his shaven head. “It will take hours if not days at this rate. We need siege weapons. The walls are ten feet thick. And they hold superior position from the turret and towers. These castles are made to hold through all-out war.”

  Catten chuckled, rubbing his chin over his lip.

  Verbard sneered at him.

  Chuckling now are we, you stiff?

  He recalled the days he might have laughed the slightest in situations like this, to Catten’s irritation. Carefree he was then, unlike his brother, who’d been all too serious about all things. But now, things were different. They had changed. He eyed the nearest turret.

  “If it was aid you needed, Jottenhiem, all you had to do was ask.”

  Taking a deep breath, he summoned energy. Tendrils of lightning lit up his robes, coiled around his arms. His hands then struck out. A bolt of energy streaked over the wall, slamming into the turret, scattering chunks of rock and flesh through the air.

  The underling army howled with glee.

  “Excellent, Brother! I like how you are thinking now!” Catten said. He summoned his own blast of light.

  Ka-Chow!

  Another Turret filled with archers was gone, leaving a smoking hole in the castle wall.

  This is more like it!

  Verbard’s black blood was like rushing waters. He let another scintillating bolt fly, striking one of the taller towers. Bodies of screaming men plummeted toward the ground, disappearing behind the castle’s wall.

  “What is that, Brother?” Catten said.

  Several robed men appeared at the top of the keep, shouting and pointing their fingers. Purple and green lights glowed from the towers and turrets, covering them like a mushroom with a shimmering cloud of energy.

  “NO!” Verbard said. He fired another bolt at the tower.

  Ka-Fizzzzz …

  “And there be wizards,” Catten said. “I suspected as much.” He turned to Verbard. “Seems they’ve drawn us out, Brother. I say we take it to them. Just us. They can’t be nearly as powerful as we.”

  Verbard looked hard into his brother’s eyes.

  Are you mad?

  “Our shields won’t hold forever, and we have plenty of magi that can take them. For now, let’s try something else.”

  He’s been put into the body of a fool! I liked you better when you were dead.

  Catten flashed his teeth. “Well said, Brother. I couldn’t agree more.”

  Catten’s smile didn’t seem natural. His resurrected brother had smiled more today than in the past three centuries. It unnerved him.

  Who is this underling?

  Verbard sent a mental signal to the underling magi.

  Hold your energy! Send more spiders over the walls! Onto those towers now!

  One by one, the robed underling magi’s arms went up, lifting dozens of spiders with their albino urchling riders over the wall, sending them off quickly towards the towers.

  Let’s see if these shields can stop livin—

  Verbard jerked his arm up, shielding his eyes from a brilliant light that burst forth from the top of the keep.

  BAA-ROOOOM!

  The force of the blast sent him drifting back, slamming him hard into a wall.

  At his side, Catten was dusting the debris from his robes and Jottenhiem was knocked from his feet. A smoldering hole replaced the spot on the street where over a dozen underling soldiers stood with one mage. The burnt scent of underling flesh was overwhelming.

  Verbard grabbed his brother by the collar of his robes. “Did you know they had such power, Catten!”

  “Of course I did!” Catten said, trying to push him away, but Verbard held him tight. “Only a fool wouldn’t suspect it, Brother! This is war, you kno
w! And their magic, like their rations, won’t last forever.”

  Verbard clenched his fist and socked his brother in the gut. “You are a fool!”

  Catten fell to the ground, grimacing, breathless, trying to speak.

  “This is only one castle of many!” Verbard said. “And they have power! They have people! If this city organizes, then they’ll gallop right through us! Go! Find Kierway, and see to it he penetrates from below. If he does not, we are doomed!”

  Catten floated up from his feet, eyes like golden lava. “As you wish, Brother. As you wish!”

  With a clap of his hands, a black door appeared. Catten stepped through and vanished along with the door, leaving Verbard floating there, uncomfortable.

  Jottenhiem stood, staring at him with an odd look in his ruby eyes.

  Verbard rubbed his fist. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

  “Me too,” Jottenhiem said. He formed the closest thing he had to a smile.

  “Check in with your scouts, Commander, and report back to me quickly. We can’t have the Royal forces rallying the city. Keep pressing the wall. We’ve got to find a way to bring those towers down.”

  “Yes,” Jottenhiem saluted, “Lord Verbard.”

  Eyeing the top of the keep, Verbard’s stomach started to churn.

  This is a suicide mission. I know it!

  CHAPTER 19

  “Not yet!” Kam said.

  Lefty tied the gondola off on the dock. He’d seen Kam broken and busted up but not beaten. However, now she was something else. Her red hair frizzed all over her head. Her robes were disheveled over her body. Heading towards the stairs that led up to the city, her sultry movements were gone, replaced by the gait of a man.

  “Wait up, Kam. You’ll need a lantern to navigate those steps.” Lefty snatched a lantern from the post and blew on the wick inside. An eerie green illumination came forth.

  Kam turned, her face contorted, her features almost unrecognizable.

  “Quiet, Little Halfling,” she said. The voice was not hers. “Put that light out. I don’t need it.”

  Lefty gasped, shuffling backward.

  What is going on with her!

  Earlier, he’d seen her kill Diller, snapping his neck with the flick of her wrist. She’d left Palos in a pile of his own drool. And as they rowed across the dark lake beneath the City of Three, he’d found no relief in his liberation, only fear at Kam’s muttering and arguments with herself.

  He stayed back. She strolled up the stairs, the twinkling of the red gems embedded in her hand giving off the faintest of light. He didn’t know what to make of it.

  Is she possessed? By what?

  The step groaned. She stopped and looked back at him, her eyes glowing with green fire.

  “Did you say something, Halfling?” she said.

  He shook his head. “No. No, Kam, nothing at all.”

  Turning, she growled in her throat and headed back up the steps, clutching Baby Erin in her arm like a loaf of bread.

  Lefty followed, feet splashing over the dock and up the steps. They were soaked in his sweat all the way up to the ankles.

  What is going on? I should be celebrating my freedom right now. How did it get even worse for me?

  He wanted to flee as soon as he got topside, but what about Erin? She had to be in danger. But in the hands of her mother?

  This is madness!

  Staying back a flight of steps, Lefty fell in step behind her. At the top, Kam pushed the door open. The dim light of the alley gave Lefty new life. He had doubted he’d ever see the world above again, and now he was only steps away. Kam stepped over the threshold, through the doorway.

  Don’t lose her, Lefty. Don’t lose Erin.

  Reaching the top step, the door slammed shut in his face.

  “What?”

  Jiggling the handle, nothing gave. It was locked.

  Noooooooooooooo!

  “Kam!” he pounded his tiny hands on the door. “Kam!”

  Suddenly, the door shoved inward, the edge cracking on his head, knocking him down to the landing. He rolled up to his feet.

  The silhouette of Kam stood atop the doorway. “Get the sword, Little Fool!”

  The door slammed shut again.

  Downcast, down the steps he went, rubbing the knot on his head.

  HURRY! A voice yelled down inside his head, watering his eyes.

  Lefty’s heart was pounding like a tap hammer when he reached the bottom.

  The great sword lay in the gondola, completely wrapped in burlap. He reached in, wrapped his hands where the hilt should have been, put his back into it, and heaved.

  How can anyone wield such a long and heavy thing?

  He towed the Great Sword of Zorth behind him up the stair. The door swung open at the top. Chest heaving, he stepped out into the alley that guarded the secret entrance to the Nest.

  Somebody should be out here.

  The alley always had eyes and ears open.

  A signal would get an unrecognized thief through. Palos kept strict control on things, and someone should be there to ask questions. It was odd that there was nothing. A stiff breeze whipped down the alley, bringing the foul odors of rotting food and excrement to full splendor. There was something else as well.

  Squinting, he saw three forms slumped against the wall, the faint steam from the warmth of their bodies turning thin. At the end of the alley, Kam stood, back to him, chin up, observing passersby. Swallowing, Lefty dragged the sword past the three dead thieves. Their tongues hung from their mouths, and their throats were crushed in. He quickened his pace.

  Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Kam shouldn’t be killing people. What is wrong with her? I wish Billip and Mikkel were still here. And Georgio! I’ve been a fool.

  Kam strode down the street, startling the passing folks who came too close. They murmured and whispered while they scurried away.

  Behind her, Lefty struggled to keep up, lugging the sword behind him. He wanted to scream at her, “Where are you going?” but the thought of doing so only tightened his neck. So he followed her, past the storefronts, past the high towers, to the edge of the city, where she came to a stop.

  “No!” she muttered angrily to herself. The red gems in her hand flared with new life.

  Baby Erin began to cry.

  “I’ll not do this with my baby!” Her body shuddered and convulsed. “Get out of me!” Her knees wobbled beneath her.

  Lefty let loose the sword and rushed to her side just in time.

  Kam’s eyes rolled up inside her head.

  Lefty got Erin just as Kam fell. The baby girl was wailing.

  Kam lay sprawled out on the ground, bleeding from the nose, her once vibrant form harrowed.

  “Easy, Erin,” he patted her and bounced her in his arms. “I’ll get your mother help. I promise.”

  ***

  There were faces. Some she recognized, others she did not.

  “Kam, are you in there?” one voice said. It was Lefty; she was sure of it, but he sounded like he was miles away.

  You will do as you promised. You will serve!

  The voice inside her was angry, hateful, controlling. But there was something else. Desperation. It needed her; she didn’t need it. That much she’d figured out. So she fought. She fought for herself, for Erin, to regain her life again on this world.

  “I’ll not serve. I’ll not fulfill your evil will.” Her mind thrashed against the unseen force.

  You will!

  Something grabbed the inside of her chest and squeezed it.

  “Kam!” Lefty wailed.

  “Mother of Bish! What has happened to this woman? She is sick!”

  A crowd had gathered.

  “Possessed!”

  “Bewitched!”

  “I’m not anything of the sort!”

  But none heard a thing she said. Unknown to her, they whisked her frame through the streets of the dark and dropped her on the porch of the Magi Roost.

  “You’re on you
r own, Halfling,” one said.

  “Don’t give up, Kam. We’re home!”

  You will serve me! You will obey!

  Kam had agreed to serve in order to save Erin. Palos had almost killed her before she rescued Erin, but she had made a deal with the force inside the gems. It had assured her the safety of her baby. And now, men were dying. She’d even almost killed Lefty, and more death was coming.

  “No!”

  She would not bring more death into the world. She was not a killer! Was she?

  “I’ll die first!”

  Yes, yes you will!

  Her heart pumped slower and slower and slower. A dark force squeezed it. Burned it. Suffocated her with power.

  Kam stretched her arms out.

  “Erin, where are you? Erin? I will hold you. See you one last time!”

  You’ll see nothing ever again!

  “Lefty!” an excited voice cried out. “Where have you… KAM!”

  “Jo—line?” she said.

  The pressure on her chest eased.

  What is this?

  The force inside her retreated.

  She lurched up, gasping for breath, clutching baby Erin in her arms.

  “Get some water, Lefty!” Joline ordered. “Mercy! Prepare some clothing. Kam! Lords! My dear, where have you been?”

  As the darkness that clouded her eyes lifted, Joline’s sweet face took shape. The woman was as distressed as she had ever seen her before. She smelled nice, like flowers. Tears formed in Kam’s eyes. She hadn’t hoped to ever smell flowers again before.

  “You don’t want to know,” she said, coughing.

  “You can tell me later,” Joline said. Her friend helped her to her feet and led her to a comfortable chair by the fire.

  “No,” Kam said, eyeing the flames. “I’d rather sit somewhere… else?”

  Her word froze on her tongue. The Magi Roost was not what it once was. Flies buzzed in the air, and the scent of blood was strong. Four men lay on or near a table with their heads blown off. She puked.

  “Oh dear! Get a bucket too, Lefty!” Joline kept her strong arm around Kam’s back and led her to the bar. “You look like you could use some Muckle Sap.”

  A bottle slid across the bar and refilled a goblet on its own.