“Of course, it makes sense now,” Piero said. “All Toldar activity went off the radar and nobody mentioned your death. You ended up with the Vampire, I take it?”
“Yeah it was complicated. I don’t want to talk about it just now,” Barros said. “Can we focus on the hunt?”
“You got a stable around here?”
“Round to the left. Put your horses in there and come see me inside.”
There was a few minutes of silence as Barros marched down to the ground floor of the windmill. He took a seat, as Piero and his novices stepped through the door. Grayson perched on a beam that allowed him to keep a watch over the road towards Rhorn.
Closer up, the new Hunters were much more intimidating. Piero carried a standard sword and crossbow, scars on his face showing many years of service to the order. Rico stood larger than the average man, with incredibly broad shoulders that came with many years of swinging the enormous black-handled, double-bladed axe he carried on his back. The young Hunter had black piercing eyes and short hair. His sister, Maria, was built like a reed, thin and flexible. The long spear she carried, suggesting she was rather agile. No Hunter used a weapon they couldn’t quickly maneuver with.
“You didn’t tell us you had a friend,” Piero said, acknowledging Grayson as he entered.
“Grayson Yold, if you must know, old man.”
Piero snorted and turned to his novices. “It appears we are in esteemed company, my novices. Not one, but two ancestors of the very first men that stood against Tal’davin a thousand years ago are with us.” He spun again, his crossbow pointing at Grayson’s forehead. Nobody else had time to move. “Talk to me like that again, except in jest, and I’ll put a fucking bolt through your eyes, boy. Understood?”
Grayson steeled his face and stared back at Piero. “Perfectly.”
“Right, you wanted to get to business then.” Piero struck up the conversation in a friendlier manner, a smile once again on his face.
“Aye, as you’re aware, the Countess holds one of the seven Tal’davin amulets. Anyway you look at it, it’s bad news for us. Even if we find where she is hiding, she won’t be alone. By now she will have gathered many of her kind around her. By my guess, a city the size of Rhorn will have hundreds of Vampires inside it.” Barros said refocusing his thoughts.
“That is no problem.” Rico spoke up, his voice deeper than Barros expected.
“I can slay a hundred Vampires by myself,” Maria said, agreeing with her brother.
Piero laughed at his novices. “Minors maybe, but are we just talking about common Vampires? What if the place is full of Shades and Counts? Not even I can take down multiple Counts without assistance.”
“Lucky for you Piero, we have but one Countess for you to take down. Think you can manage that?” Grayson asked.
“Oy,” Barros said. “Can we get back on track here? The Countess is going to have an army waiting for us. I don’t know anything else aside from the fact we’re going to have our hands full if we are to take the city back from her grasp.”
“What of your plan?” Maria asked.
“I’m still working on it.” Frustration was beginning to show on Barros’ face. “There are too many variables. Our first concern is to slaughter every Vampire that shows its face and, most importantly, kill Sophia. We’ll ride to the southern gate and make our stand in the marketplace if she’ll let us.”
“I like this plan.” Rico grinned.
“Barros Toldar, it amazes me how your line managed to survive for so long,” Piero said with a smile. “Such simple thinkers in the face of adversary, you truly do just make an outstanding contribution to the way of the world.”
“You really have no idea. Rest up because we leave an hour before dawn,” Barros said. “Grayson you’ll ride double with me.”
The gates of Rhorn rose high above the Hunter’s heads as they rode into the city. Each surveyed the area looking for potential Vampires. Barros paid the local stable boy four gold coins to house their horses if they returned. He had all but emptied his pockets. The city bustled with activity. Mid-morning was upon them and the store holders were in the peak of their trading.
“Right, where to?” Grayson asked.
“Why don’t we start with the marketplace?” Piero said. “It’s as good a place as any. That way we might find some targets come to us.”
“We’ll be too exposed,” Rico said. “Going into an open area like that, the Vampires will come to us. We’ll be dead within the first five minutes.”
“Follow my lead, stay close to me and you’ll make it out alive,” Piero said. “I’ve kept greener Hunters alive in more trying situations.”
“Come, little brother,” Maria said. “How can you enjoy the thrill of the hunt if you’re worried about them finding you? The more Vampires that come to you, the less you have to go looking for.”
“Spread out in pairs. Piero, I want you to take the lead by yourself,” Barros said.
“Aye, you’ll keep me covered, won’t you?” Piero said.
“If you’re lucky,” Barros said. “Grayson, you’re with me.”
The Hunters dispersed into their groups, no more than fifty meters apart, each of them blending into the crowd. Rhorn’s marketplace was a sight to behold. It was one of the largest in all of Taagras, second only to the city of Tyrain. Colorful stalls lined the streets throughout the massive courtyard that was purpose built for the trade.
Barros spotted a fruit stall and strolled over to it. On the wooden bench sat a collection of red Jiroichi balls from the Galasos Islands. They were a rarity, their soft skin and rich nectar made them worth a substantial amount in any southern market. The Hunter’s fingers lingered over one of the exotic fruits, before snatching it as the vendor looked away.
“Was that necessary?” Grayson asked as Barros joined him.
“Absolutely. I’m fucking starving for a start and I don’t have the coin on me to pay for one. That stable cost way too much,” Barros said. “Found anything yet?”
“I’m not a Seeker; you know how hard it is to find Vampires without a Seeker in a crowded place like this? There are way too many scents and people to get confused with. My policy is not to start shooting unless you find a legitimate Vampire.”
“I would have thought Maria was a seeker. Rico would be the Hunter in that relationship. They haven’t found anything yet so I’m either wrong about her or she’s bad at her job,” Barros said.
“Wait on.” Grayson put his arm out in front of Barros. “Do you see him?” He pointed to a bald, inconspicuous looking man with a flat nose.
“Yeah, what about him?” Barros asked. “Oh shit, he’s going for Piero.” Barros slid his crossbow from his back. “I’m taking the shot.”
“You won’t hit him, there’s too many people in the way!” Grayson said.
“Have a little bit of faith,” Barros said.
Barely taking his time to aim the crossbow, Barros fired into the packed crowd. The crossbow bolt missed several people by mere inches causing those around to cry out in alarm as it whizzed past their faces. Within seconds it found its mark, burying itself into the man’s thigh. He toppled over and Piero turned in time to see the man go down.
He gestured at Barros and Grayson to join him, pinning his would-be assailant to the ground. The younger Hunters pushed through the crowd then knelt down to obscure the man’s injured leg from the thickening crowds.
“Who sent you?” Piero asked. “What do you want? Tell me what I want to know otherwise I’ll rip this bolt out of your leg and put it into your shoulder or wherever I fucking feel like sticking it.”
“Please, have mercy. I bring a message from the one you hunt. Sophia.” He spat out the last word. “A message for the one named Barros.”
“What does she say?” Barros asked. “What does she say, man?”
“She comes for you and she will have her vengeance.”
“When?”
The man struggled to breathe with Piero�
�s hand so tightly around his windpipe. Gulping down air he tried to form the words. A throwing knife sailed over Piero’s shoulder into the man’s eye, burying deep into his brain.
Piero rolled forward off the man, grabbing his crossbow and firing back in the direction the knife had come. The crowd surged, customers and sellers running in all directions. Barros dived for cover behind a now abandoned tailor’s stall. Grayson followed, drawing his own crossbow looking for a target to kill.
“Up there on the rooftops!” Maria shouted.
Townspeople scattered everywhere, as more knives fell from the skies, cutting them down. Within seconds, the marketplace was a bloodbath with scores of civilians sprawled across the pavement. Rhorn’s city guards attempted to climb the ladders to the rooftops, but repeatedly felt their armor punctured by the throwing knives of the Vampires.
All five of the Hunters, were scattered throughout the marketplace. Even with their lightning fast reflexes, there was little they could do to stem the flow of the knives that rained down upon them. The Hunters were stuck with no way out.
A loud commanding voice rang out across the market square. “Brothers and sisters throw down your weapons and treat our guests with a little more respect,” Sophia said. “They are here to witness history in the making, after all.”
“And what momentous event would that be, Sophia?” Barros emerged from behind the stall, his crossbow raised as he strode fearlessly into the open.
“I will see that all five of you are dissected limb from limb. You will watch your new friends die, Barros, and then I shall drink from your corpse.” Sophia appeared, her arm pointing towards him. “He is the only one I want alive, tear the rest apart.”
7
The Beginning of the End
The Vampires around the marketplace tensed before charging forward as one. They leapt from the buildings in droves, their red eyes flashing with hatred and their skin changing to the deathly grey of their kind. The Hunters emerged from cover, moving to the center of the marketplace, taking down their attackers as they appeared.
Bodies piled on top of each other, as more Vampires joined the fray. They screamed and howled as they died, burnt by the Fyndfire crossbow bolts that flew in all directions. With each bolt that churned out of his crossbow, Barros grew more and more anxious. Not wanting to reload, he found himself back to back with Rico who had drawn his axe.
“I’ve run out of ammunition, Barros but be assured the Vampires will not come near you so long as I am standing.”
“And what if they venture near you, little brother?” Maria asked.
“Then I’ll cleave their fucking heads in two!” Rico said swinging his gigantic axe, bringing it down on the head of a Vampire.
Barros drew his sword and reluctantly tossed aside his crossbow. There was no time to reload the large ammunition clip that stuck out of it. Filled with dozens of bolts, the weapon was cumbersome and only Hunters had the speed and strength to wield it. But fully loaded and in a Hunter’s skilled hands there was no better weapon. He rammed his sword through the heart of a Vampire as it pounced.
Sophia’s high-pitched voice screeched out again. “Stop!”
Barros sighed and withdrew his sword from the Vampire’s chest. He looked up scanning the rooftops for sign of her. “What do you want, bitch? A final gloat before you kill us?”
“I wanted to ask you, dearest Barros. Would you rather surrender to death or would you prefer becoming one with me? Let me turn you and the pain will all fade away, we can be happy together! Like we used to be!”
“I’ve told you once before, I won’t be turned and that decision is final. My happiness with you was nothing more than an illusion and something that was never going to last. I was naïve five years ago, Sophia. It’s a mistake I shall not repeat,” Barros said.
“You’ve just signed Rhorn’s death warrant as well as your own, Barros,” Sophia said with a smile as she emerged from behind a pillar. She still wore the midnight blue cloak she had left the house in two nights ago. “Do you remember this?” Sophia placed the amulet in the palm of her hand running her thumb over the cool metal, looking down at the dangerous weapon.
“What the fuck is that, Barros?” Piero asked.
“One of Tal’davin’s amulets,” Barros said. He turned his attention back to Sophia, his voice laced with sarcasm. “No, Sophia I can’t say that I remember it.”
“It is sad to think I found your humor attractive once. Now witness Tal’davin’s power reborn in one of his amulets.”
Sophia dug her thumbnail into her empty palm, slicing open the dead skin, allowing several drops of black blood to trickle out. Pressing her hand against the amulet, her red eyes filled with lust. An eerie stillness descended across the square. Nothing moved except for a gentle breeze that came from nowhere. The amulet’s focal point was Sophia and as it pulsed in her fingers, it sucked the air towards her. Sophia’s hand and the amulet began to turn a dark shade of crimson, sending a beam racing up into the sky.
Within seconds, clouds of the same deep red color rolled over the city from every direction, covering the sky as far as the eye could see. As the clouds met, a white thunderbolt shot from the heavens, hitting the amulet and vanishing from sight. Sophia grinned as her army regrouped, howling as a single entity towards the sky above them.
“No Hunter is to make it out alive!”
“Sophia, wait!” Barros yelled at her retreating back. “Why?”
"Because one way or another Taagras will be controlled by a Vampire. Everything from Sauria to Alilletia will fall under one iron fist. When I gather all of the amulets, this sky will burn with the essence of my kind. Watch as you now witness a fraction of its power.”
“Nice of you to try and get to the crux of the problem,” Grayson said as he looked up to the darkening sky.
“Someone has to do it,” Barros said. He threw a knife which took an oncoming Vampire in the throat.
The fiends charged again as a unit, a fresh wave this time. There were more of them this time and they fought with a renewed strength, refreshed by the red sky that bathed all of Rhorn. Its crimson light sent out random pulses of a darker red bathing the landscape in its blood-red glow.
Barros and the other Hunters fought with every weapon they carried, until their knife belts and crossbows ran out. “We have to get out of here!” Piero said as he attempted to direct the hunt. He shoved a Vampire away and cut at its legs. “We need to find somewhere we can fight them one or two at a time, otherwise we’re all dead!”
“We have to get Sophia!” Barros said.
“You’re not getting through this!”
“The walls!” Maria said. “If we get up there we can block the stairwell and pick them off one at a time!”
Barros glanced at Piero as the old Hunter thought the plan over. “Think it’d work?”
“I should have thought about it earlier,” Piero said. “Rico can you clear us a path?”
“Does a Hunter wish Vampires suddenly all died out?” Rico stepped into the hordes of Vampires that separated the Hunters from the wall behind them to the south.
Rico hit the Vampires, beating at them with his double-sided axe, swinging it around his head like a whirlwind. The Vampires that tried to duck under the weapon’s murderous arch were met by Maria’s long spear as it struck repeatedly, piercing their brains or hearts. Grayson followed the twins next, avoiding the arch left by Maria’s spear.
Barros and Piero held the line as they slowly moved backwards, their swords slashing down on any Vampire that engaged them. The entrance to the city wall was only a hundred meters away but with the number of Vampires between them, the distance felt insurmountable.
Rico reached the wall first and attempted to open the door. He raised his axe and swung the heavy steel, smashing through the wooden barrier in two strikes.
“What do we do now?” Grayson asked. He was almost drowned out by the screeching of the Vampires from outside.
“Go up, we n
eed to find something to block the stairwell!” Maria said.
“They’ll just jump up the wall!” Barros said. “We can’t hold them back.”
“We can’t block the stairwell enough. They’ll climb over whatever we put in their way. We need to blow it up,” Piero said. “Give me one of your bolts!”
Maria pulled one from her belt and threw it to Piero. “Lucky the Sauriaans favor wood over mortar and rock in some cases.”
Piero went to work with his knife, while the four other Hunters held the Vampires back from entering the wall. Piero removed the coating from the bolt and spread it on the floor. “Little trick I learnt from Malvrok, Barros. Your brother was quite the Hunter.”
“Good to see you knew him before he quit, Piero, but I’m a little busy right now,” Barros said. He swiped with a dagger as a Vampire leapt through the broken door. “Are you finished doing whatever you have planned yet?”
“Get up the stairs. We can let a few through,” Piero said. “Throw me a brazier!”
Maria ran from the door and sprung up the first five steps. In one swift movement, she removed a brazier from its wall holster and tossed it to Piero. He caught it and ducked underneath a Vampire, dragging the flame along the ground just above the crossbow coating.
“Get clear!” he said.
Flames flickered then erupted as they came into contact with the Fyndfire. Within seconds, the whole ground floor of the tower was ablaze and those Vampires caught inside were burned alive.
The Hunters burst out of the tower and onto the wall itself just as the stairwell collapsed behind them. “We only have a few seconds to recover,” Barros said. “Prepare yourselves.”
The Hunters reloaded their crossbows for the second time, taking out the magazine and sliding fresh bolts into place. Piero tossed his second bow towards Barros, noticing the young Hunter had lost his. That was all they had time for, before the Vampires were upon them once more. Barros surveyed the fiends scaling the high wall. Most leapt halfway up before climbing the rest of the way.
The Toldar Series Box Set Page 5
