The Darkslayer: Bish and Bone Series Collector's Edition (Books 1-10): Sword and Sorcery Masterpieces

by Craig Halloran

  “Come, Brak. You can pet Blackie, and no harm will come to you.”

  He laid his hand on the dragon’s side. The diamond scales were warm plates of malleable armor that shifted under his fingers as the dragon breathed. Brak had never felt such raw power in a creature before. “I never imagined such a creature. Are there more like him?”

  “It’s hard to say what lies in the Mist,” she replied.

  Before Brak realized what was going on, Cass was up on her feet, hugging his arm. With an alluring look in her eyes, she said, “I sense great power in you. You’re like your father, but so young and enticing. Perhaps I can take you on a ride later.”

  “On the dragon?”

  “That’s one of the options I had in mind.” She hugged him tight. “It’s good to have options, isn’t it? We’d better wait until night, though. Too many eyes scan the sky in the day.”

  Jubilee wedged herself between Brak and Cass. “What do you mean, too many eyes?”

  Cass backed away with a frown. Tossing her hair, she said, “The hordes of underlings. Those nosy dwarves. They pollute the precious land with blood and bones.”

  “What dwarves?” Brak asked.

  “The ones that huddle in the west of Bone in the Black Columns.”

  Marching into the conversation, Jarla said, “The Black Columns? Dwarves set up for war in the rock? How many dwarves?”

  Looking bored, Cass shrugged her narrow shoulders. “I don’t know. Thousands perhaps. They’re such a noisy bunch.”

  Towering over Cass, Jarla asked, “And how many underlings did you see?”

  “Oh, vastly more. Wave after wave as far as the eye could see.”

  By this time, everyone had gathered around. Fogle’s cheeks reddened. “Boon, why didn’t you tell us this?”

  “I’m old. It escaped me.”

  CHAPTER 35

  “The sewers, huh?” Venir ducked beneath the bridge that connected one side section of tunnel to another. “If I’d known this, I would have left you behind.”

  “It’s for the better. I can’t turn you loose and let you start swinging on the entire city. You’d lose control up there, you know.” Melegal led the way. He had the little coin of light pinched between his thumb and finger. It made for a narrow, illuminating beam. “It’s not like you haven’t been through worse.”

  “No, but I’d forgotten that the stench in this city takes a little getting used to. This trip ought to do it.” He followed the light-footed thief. Brool hung from his hand. Helm was tucked in his arm, and the shield covered part of his back. He’d had Helm on earlier, but the underling presence started driving him into a frenzy. “You’d better know where you are going.”

  “Even the man-urchins don’t know these tunnels better than I do. Why don’t you keep your lips sealed for a change? There’s no doubt in my mind that plenty have sought harbor in the tunnels.”

  Venir grunted.

  Melegal eased through the tunnel like a giant rat. From time to time he’d climb and take a peek out of the drains and gutters. For someone who hated to get dirty, Melegal let himself get surprisingly grubby. Venir felt proud of his friend for some strange reason. Truly, even the underlings had gotten to him.

  At a bend in the stone pipeway, Melegal stopped. “You might have a time with this.” He shone the light down the next tunnel. It was much smaller than the other channels, which were almost big enough for Venir to stand in. Whoever had made the City of Bone, he swore they built for bigger men. “Go on. I’ll fit.”

  Melegal slipped into the pipe. Stooping down, he moved quickly, keeping his feet wide of the stream of muck that passed beneath them.

  Crowded in the stuffy pipeway, Venir waddled through on bent knees. It was a strain keeping up with the limber Melegal, but he made the best of it. Legs pumping, he waddled through like a duck. The agonizing trek lasted minutes. Sweat dripped from Venir’s lathered-up limbs into the smelly waters.

  Melegal vanished into a bigger intersection where a heavier flow of water rushed by. Taking a breath, Venir hopped down by Melegal’s side. The intersection was huge. The framework was ten feet tall with more than one way to go.

  “It’s another city down here, isn’t it?” Venir said.

  “You’d be surprised. I’m doing the best I can to avoid any trouble.”

  Deeper in the murk, Venir noted a pair of dead bodies damming up one of the drains. The smell could knock an ogre over. Covering his nose, he said, “Tell me you know where to go from here.”

  “I do, but you might want to do a check first.”

  Venir gave him a puzzled look. He saw Melegal’s disappointment. “Ah.” He put on the helmet. The throbbing started immediately, but it was faint. He gave a nod and knocked on the side of his helmet. “Go.”

  ***

  Melegal scurried down the next intersection. The pair moved like varmints on the prowl, sneaking a few feet beneath the haunting streets. It never failed to surprise him how quietly Venir moved. He always assumed it had something to do with that armament he wore. Venir was never quiet. It’s always better to take a bigger target with you than yourself. Heh-heh. Not much farther, rat. Not much farther at all.

  He passed by several alcoves commonly used for shelters by urchins and the like. They were abandoned, much like the streets above. He’d fully expected they’d have run into some adversary or critter by that point. He kept one hand always on the hilt of his dagger. The dart launchers were always ready. His head tingled. He stopped and clamped his bony fingers over his light.

  Something lurked in the tunnels. It chilled his bones. There was an ancient, powerful evil among them, a terror that had been awakened. He’d sensed it one of the last times that he was in the tunnel.

  The stirring of his heart pounded in his ears. His cold blood never rushed like that. Venir stirred beside him. The man made a wall between him and the unseen threat.

  Softly, Melegal said, “You sense it too?”

  “Whatever it is, it’s not an underling, but it made my hair stand on end.”

  “Slat, that explains why the tunnels are abandoned.” He snaked out a dagger. “Whatever is down here has been down here a long, long time.”

  “Or the underlings brought it,” Venir said.

  “No, it was here before they came,” Melegal said. “We’re close enough. We need to get topside.”

  “That would be fine by me. We should have started there to begin with.”

  Melegal hustled down the tunnel. His skin was crawling, and his stomach fluttered. A presence filled the passageway that pricked the fine hair on his ears. Using the coin of light to shed a sliver of illumination, he made it to the next drain tunnel and peeked up. The channel was narrow enough for him. Moonlight showed from the grate above.

  “I can make it through, but you can’t. We’ll keep going,” Melegal said.

  With Venir lurking behind him, he made it to the next intersection. The rush of rancid waters died. A chill filled the air. The rank passages became quiet as a tomb. A ghostly apparition glided out of the mouth of one of the tunnels. It didn’t appear to see them at first. The mannish, transparent figure wore tattered but extravagant robes and clinked when it moved. Scale armor gleamed on the shambling man’s chest.

  Venir breathed on Melegal’s neck. The leather grip on Brool’s handle creaked. Dark, fathomless eyes fastened on both of them.

  “What is that thing?” Venir growled.

  The phantom answered in a powerful, hollow voice that tickled the marrow in their bones, saying, “The death that rules the tunnels…”

  CHAPTER 36

  “Your little druid whore will break you again,” Jarla said to Fogle. Isolated from the others and sitting on the ground, he opened his eyes. Meditation interrupted, he turned and looked up at her. “If you ever spawn with the little slut, they’ll be wilder than the hair on an ogre’s arse.”

  He turned away, chin tilted toward the rising moons. “You would know.”

  “You should
consider my words. Nothing can wound a man faster than an appealing woman.” She stood beside him with her hands behind her back, following his stare. She was a fascinating woman, strong and alluring. Her chain-mail skirt twinkled in the shiny moonlight.

  He found himself unable to resist a look at her long legs. His mouth watered. As callous as Jarla might be on one end of the spectrum, she was even more enticing on the other end. Shaking his head, he said, “Why does it even matter to you?”

  She shrugged.

  “You call that an answer? Hah, some brigand queen you are.”

  She gave him a quick smack in the back of the head. “I’ve killed men for less.”

  “No doubt.” He rubbed his head. She’d caught him good with the hard edge of her rings. “But I’m still going to be bold enough to say that you are jealous.”

  “Now you are the one who makes me laugh,” she said. “I just don’t want to see a man as capable as you make a fool of himself over the likes of that woman. She’s bewitching.”

  “I never met a woman that wasn’t.”

  Jarla revealed a slight smile of brilliant teeth. For a moment, the scars that damaged her face lifted. Joy was revealed in her deep-blue eyes.

  Fogle’s gentle fingers found a spot just above the cuff of her boots. He massaged the firm muscle in her calf. “Why don’t you sit down? It’s just us, you know.”

  “Why don’t you stand up?”

  Fogle’s hands turned clammy. His heart began to pound. Cass and some of the others had departed for the Black Column on the back of Blackie, leaving him back with Jarla. Slim was the only other one who hadn’t left, but he hadn’t seen the cleric for hours. Only he and Jarla were there, and she’d come out of nowhere. He’d given her little thought since Cass had appeared. Now a bizarre triangle of lust emerged. Taking hold of her open hands, he stood.

  She pulled him into her firm breasts. She was an eyelash taller than him. “It’s just us and the moons. What are you going to do, mage?”

  With lust igniting the passionate flames in his heart, he said in a shaky voice, “Your timing is suspicious. My mind tells me to pull away, but the rest of me rushes forward. I’m at an impasse.”

  With her lips touching the hair on his ear, she replied, “You wouldn’t be foolish enough to scorn the brigand queen, would you?”

  “Am I being coerced into sex?”

  “Sometimes that’s the best way to do it.”

  ***

  The sensation Brak felt as Blackie launched himself into the air with powerful wings beating left his stomach in the sand. Fear and elation filled him. Scooted into his chest, Jubilee sat in front of Brak with her mouth wide open.

  Boon, who sat behind Cass, said to the older girl, “You might want to close that mouth. Choking on a bug at these heights can be deadly. Trust me.”

  Jubilee clamped her jaw shut and looked up at Brak. He started laughing. A new life filled him as the cooler air of the unseen heights lifted his spirits somewhere they had not been before. The heavy beat of wings and the winds combing through his hair took him into a part of the world he didn’t think existed. With one hand fastened to the handholds on the dragon’s saddle and his other arm locked around Jubilee, he let out a bellowing, “Wooooooooo!”

  Blackie turned his neck around and gave him a look. The beast snorted, lifted his head to the sky, and flapped with a power that made them go higher and faster.

  Jubilee looked down at the lights below that gathered like fireflies in the night. “Is that Bone?”

  The little woman nodded. Brak marveled at how small Bone seemed. His entire perspective had changed. Perhaps the world was not as big as he thought it was.

  Blackie circled in the open space of the night sky. Boon talked as he pointed. Practically shouting in the rush of air, he said, “There is the Black Columns. The dwarves gather there. Some of them. That is where we go.”

  Brak gave it some thought. They traveled at night to avoid wary eyes below even though being observed seemed insignificant from such heights. Still, they’d agreed that they didn’t want to alert the underlings to Blackie’s presence. Brak wasn’t sure how the dwarves would react, either. He knew little about them, but they were an aggressive race—especially against things much bigger than them.

  “So are we going to drop right into the middle of the dwarves?” Brak yelled up to Boon. “Don’t you think that they will attack?”

  “You make a good point, but I’ve given thought to that. I’ll set their minds at ease as best I can.” Boon leaned over the side. “It sure looks like a long way down, but I think that I can handle it. I’ll give the burly beards a warning that a dragon’s coming. It will be interesting to see how they take the news.” He gave Brak and Jubilee a smile. “Just give me a few moments.” He wriggled his arms, took a deep breath, and swan-dived into the blackness.

  “Boon!” Jubilee cried out.

  The wizard vanished in the night. Brak swore he heard the old man hollering, “Weeeeeeee!”

  CHAPTER 37

  “That thing is not flesh and bone.” Melegal’s narrow eyes enlarged the closer the apparition came. “We need to get the Bish out of here.”

  A frost started to spread over the top of the cut stone. His breath showed in the air. Melegal’s teeth clattered. He shoved past Venir, practically sprinting in the direction they’d come from. Venir took one last look through the frosting eyelets of his helmet. The ghost appeared to be a man with a sunken face and eyes that burned white.

  Melegal was right. Flesh and blood he could understand, but this creature from another world was different. Helm warned him. You cannot fight the wind. You will only find death.

  He rushed after Melegal. Beneath him, the tunnel iced over. His feet slipped. He ground in, digging forward with his axe and fingernails. A cold breath was upon him. His lids became heavy.

  “Faster, Venir!” Melegal punched into a smaller tunnel, crashing through the icy webbing covering the hole. “Slat on this madness!”

  Venir lumbered forward. The chill air took his breath. White light closed in behind him.

  A moan rushed over his limbs, engulfing his body. “Death comes to all trespassers! I hunger. I conquer. I devour.”

  With a swing, the axe bit into the stone of the narrow tunnel. Venir pulled himself inside, panting for hot breath. The suffocating light slowed his thoughts. The moaning voice disoriented him. With his guts churning, he crawled onward. Fight or die!

  Melegal vanished through the next opening.

  Helm spoke to him. He didn’t understand the language, but he knew what it meant. Trust me. Shutting his eyes, muscles straining, he clawed through the black hole until he fell into another. The moaning became a high-pitched wailing. The sound locked up his joints.

  “Get your arse up!” Melegal screamed.

  He felt the thief’s hands lock around one of his wrists. The warmth in the thin-skinned thief awakened Venir from his slumbering pace. Fighting his way to his feet, he followed Melegal’s lead.

  “Get up there! Quick!” Melegal yelled.

  Eyes still shut, all Venir knew was that he was climbing upward, using small metal rungs for handholds. The metal of his helmet banged into steel. Straining, he pushed the storm grate out of the way. He fought his way into the warm air, pushing against the freezing vortex of sound and ice that was trying to devour him whole.

  The dark streets greeted his opening eyes. His boots dangled over the edge of the drain, the icy whiteness lighting up his vision. From the hole, a trembling hand coated in frost stretched out into the night. Venir seized it.

  With Melegal’s flesh as rope, a supernatural tug-of-war began.

  “Don’t let go of me, oaf!” Melegal said. “I would have been free if not for you!”

  Jaw and feet set, Venir pulled the man free of the angry light. Melegal popped free. The ground trembled with an awful, earsplitting wailing. The light went out. The sound stopped.

  Melegal’s teeth chattered. He dusted the frost
from his clothing, eyeing Venir. “Don’t ever take me down in there again.”

  “It wasn’t my idea to begin with.” Venir shoved the grate back over the hole. With a throbbing head, he said, “You better go back.”

  Flicking his fingers and looking paler than normal, Melegal said, “Why?”

  Venir rapped his knuckles on his helmet. “Company’s coming. Now I do it my way.”

  Scanning the streets from one end to another, Melegal said, “Which way?”

  “All directions.” He stood, banging the icy fragments off Brool with the heel of his boot. “It beats the Bish out of whatever we encountered down there. Slat on it. If I have to carve a way to the west gate to get a closer look, then I will.”

  “And attract them like flies to honey?” Melegal scanned the top ledges of the buildings. “I say we climb.”

  “I say we kill.”

  Melegal rolled his eyes. “Just follow me for a few more minutes.”

  “And have my arse turned into an icicle. No, you follow me.” Fighting the urgings within his metal skull, Venir scaled the edges to the top of the nearest building. From the new vantage point, he kept his eyes on the activity forming in the streets. Melegal lurked at his side, shaking his head. “You climb like an animal. Think like one too.”

  “Just remember, they can’t see me, but they can see you.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Two squads of underling soldiers met in the street close to the grate where Venir and Melegal had made their escape. Two huge dogs—shaggy beasts almost big enough for an underling to ride and chained with leather leashes—sniffed and snorted the cobblestone street.

  Venir could interpret the words the underling leader, carrying a small battle-axe, said to the others. “Keep searching. Someone is near. We must find them.”

  The underlings split up. They skulked into the alleys, searching high and low, kicking through trash and knocking over any vehicles of commerce that weren’t fastened down.