A lance of focused soul force shot out and struck the monster square in the face.
Its head exploded in a burst of gore.
That caused the others to pause for a second which gave him all the time he needed. Two more blasts killed the remaining attackers.
Sig dissolved his shield and leapt to his feet. In the light of the crackling soul force surrounding his hands, he scanned the chamber. No more threats presented themselves. The other contestants watched him through heavily lidded eyes. None made a move.
He had to assume one of the contenders ordered the attempt on his life, but he had no proof. In fact, even if he had proof no one would care. These creatures were savages, they probably killed each other all the time.
Sig scowled and settled back down on his bed. The dome reappeared, leaving him with only half his soul force. If another attack came he could fend it off with no problem, but two or three more would leave him too drained to do anything tomorrow.
Well, there was nothing to be done about it. He closed his eyes and hoped for the best.
A muffled thud woke him some time later. He sprang to his feet, ready to fight in an instant, but his shield appeared undamaged and no threat presented itself. A quick look around revealed a pair of fresh bodies on the floor. Against the far wall, Thog shifted beside his mistress.
Had the giant ogre killed the newcomers? Sig didn’t know. If he had, that begged the obvious question of why? It would certainly be in Ilda’s best interest if he ended up dead, and he doubted the silent giant did anything she didn’t approve of.
In the end he shrugged and went back to sleep. He could do nothing either way, so why worry?
The rest of the night passed without another attack. Sig woke when he sensed the others stirring. What time was it?
The Ice Queen’s voice appeared in his mind. The time has come for the first challenge. I await you in my lair.
Sig dissolved his shield and climbed to his feet. He fell in beside Ilda as they marched to the dragon’s lair.
“Rough night, human?” Ilda asked.
“Rough enough. What do you know about the Great Hunt?”
“Not a lot. It will require us to bring a trophy to the queen. Other than that, it’s up to her whim. Since she hasn’t called for a hunt in my memory or the memory of the oldest ogre I spoke to, your guess is as good as mine.”
That put them all on equal footing, and though the ogres certainly knew the terrain better than Sig, he had the advantage of sorcery. He figured they were neck and neck before the contest started.
“You aren’t what I expected,” Sig said.
She laughed, a deep, but pleasant sound. “What did you imagine? A gathering of ignorant, snarling savages? Plenty of my people fit your vision perfectly. Some of us have endeavored to advance past our instincts to become something better. While we are in the minority, our queen encourages us to grow. In time we will surpass you humans in culture and intelligence.”
“You talk too much, Ilda,” Gorn said. “The queen awaits.”
Thog tensed, but she laid a restraining hand on his arm. “Not all of us value culture and intelligence.”
Sig barked a laugh. An ogre with a sense of humor. Who’d have believed it?
At the entrance to the dragon’s cavern, a pair of masked ogres stopped them and grumbled something in their own language. Thog roared, but they refused to budge.
“It’s alright,” Ilda said. “You can’t help me beyond this point. Wait in the candidates’ chamber. I will join you later.”
“Assuming a weakling like you can survive whatever our queen has in store.” Gorn laughed and strode into the cavern.
Thog stared daggers at his back, but eventually withdrew. Sig and Ilda entered last.
The ogres all took a knee in front of the dragon and Sig followed suit.
“The day of the Great Hunt is upon us,” the Ice Queen said. “Only the mightiest can be my champion. To that end you will bring me the talon of a linnorm.”
A sharp hiss from the gathered ogres gave him his first clue to the difficulty of the task. He’d read about the giant worms that burrowed under the northern ice, though the texts often argued about the details of their appearance. They all agreed facing one was madness.
“The frost worms dwell in tunnels beneath the ice,” the dragon continued. “Any of you that return with a talon will move on to the second challenge. Should only one of you return, you win. Anyone that returns without a talon is out of the contest and will have their war-band dispersed. Should you fail, little human, I will transform you into an ice statue and keep you as a trophy. Understand, there are no rules. I don’t care how you get the talon, just so long as you do. There is no time limit to the contest. Whether you return in victory or humiliation is entirely in your hands.”
Gorn and the other two male ogres vanished the instant she finished speaking. Ilda strolled out and Sig fell in beside her.
“Do you think Gorn and the others will hunt alone?” Sig asked.
Ilda’s smile revealed her fangs. “No. They will have made every effort to gain an advantage. You heard the queen. There are no rules. Since the Queen’s Champion will lead all her servants in battle, it is perfectly reasonable for us to command others to aid us in the hunt. Not that I expect any ogres will be following your orders anytime soon.”
Ilda vanished just as the males did, leaving him alone in the tunnel. He’d suspected he faced berserkers and now he knew for sure. He might be on his own, but Sig had no intention of losing. He’d get a talon even if it meant prying one out of the dead hands of his rivals.
Chapter Twelve
Jen and her team lucked out in one respect: while they were sorting bodies, Talon found a good-sized wagon and emptied it of merchandise. It had room enough to haul all the bodies back to the capital for identification.
At least it had seemed like good luck. As she rattled down the road, seated in front of a wagonload of stinking corpses, a cloud of flies buzzing around them, Jen silently cursed herself for not offering to join Damien on his archeological adventure. It took all her focus to keep the horses under control. They didn’t care for the stench any more than she did.
Oh, well. Too late now. She’d just have to make the best of it.
Her powers allowed her to mostly shut off her sense of smell. Jen never imagined that of all her warlord abilities she’d value that one the most, at least for the next day and a half. Perhaps some bandits would attack them and steal the wagon. No, if they did that, she’d have to kill them and that would only add to her problem.
An especially deep pothole bounced her off the seat. Even with enhanced vision, she couldn’t see clearly in the dark. Still, Jen had no intention of stopping until they reached the capital. The sooner this mission ended the better.
“Commander?” Alec said. “You’d best look at this.”
She frowned. What was the problem now? “Rhys, take the reins.”
When the veteran had control of the wagon she leapt down and joined Alec. “What?”
He pointed at an arm that had fallen out from under the tarp covering their cargo. “Did you notice that tattoo when we loaded him? I’m pretty sure that’s the human killer.”
The moon peeked out from behind a cloud giving her a better look. The tattoo featured a circle with a dragon’s head in the middle surrounded by ten stars. She wasn’t familiar with the design.
“He’s got a tattoo, so what?”
“I thought if it was associated with a criminal gang from the south, maybe we could use it to figure out where he came from.”
Jen doubted it meant anything, but they didn’t have a ton of clues and she didn’t want to discourage her youngest teammate.
“It’s possible. Good eye.” She clapped a beaming Alec on the back. “I’m going to run ahead and make sure there aren’t any surprises waiting for us.”
Jen rushed off, leaving the stink far behind.
At dusk one day after leaving the inn, Rhys
guided the corpse wagon into the castle yard. Jen waited with the archmage who was keen to examine the dead ogre.
“Do you want us to unload them?” Jen asked, silently hoping she’d say no.
“I’m only interested in the killers,” the archmage said. “There’s a mortuary six blocks north that will deal with the rest.”
A golden glow surrounded her hands and soul force constructs shaped like pincers appeared. They lifted the tarp and retrieved the ogre first. When the giant blue body reached the ground the archmage asked, “Which is the other one?”
Jen pointed out the dark-skinned corpse in leather armor and the pincers grabbed him. A disk of light appeared under the bodies.
“If you don’t need us,” Jen said, “we’ll head to the barracks.”
“You’ll come with me,” the archmage said in a tone that brooked no argument. “I may have questions.”
“I’ll deliver the bodies and join you as soon as I’m finished,” Rhys said.
The archmage waved him on his way and marched toward the castle with the two bodies drifting along beside her. Jen and the rest of her team followed in her wake.
“Does she really need all of us?” Talon asked.
“Why don’t you ask her?” Jen said.
“Because I like my head attached to my body.”
Jen grinned. “Good answer.”
They bypassed the main entrance and marched around to a side door that opened near a set of stairs leading to the dungeon. The kingdom had been peaceful the past few months so there weren’t many residents.
They continued on past the cells to the interrogation chamber. The room currently held only a single large table and three white glow stones mounted overhead. The disk carrying the bodies floated up over the table and vanished, depositing the corpses with a dull thud.
“Alec spotted a dragon tattoo on the human,” Jen said.
The archmage gestured and the man’s arm flipped over revealing the design. “Not a design I’ve seen before. I’ll have one of my people research it. Now, let’s see what these monsters can tell us.”
Tendrils of soul force lanced into the ogre and the archmage’s eyes widened. She repeated the process with the man, spun toward Jen and her team, and said, “Out. Now.”
Jen took a step without thinking.
“Not you, Jennifer. The rest of you give us a minute.”
When her team had cleared the room, a glow surrounded the door. She’d seen Damien do that when he wanted privacy. Whatever the archmage discovered was serious.
The older woman paced for a moment then hit both bodies with another blast of soul force. She shook her head and muttered something Jen didn’t try too hard to overhear.
“Archmage?”
“We’ve stumbled onto something far more serious than a simple murder,” she said.
Jen doubted the families of the thirty victims would consider it simple murder, but she kept silent.
“These bodies both contain traces of divine soul force. Different divine soul force. I recognize the Ice Queen’s power in the ogre, but the human’s is vastly different, almost the polar opposite, yet nearly identical in strength. Do you understand what that means?”
This wasn’t the sort of thing they taught at the Citadel and she hadn’t a clue what it meant though from the archmage’s reaction she was pretty sure it was bad.
Jen didn’t have a chance to answer before the archmage went on. “It means, another of the five dragons has taken an interest in the kingdom. Bad enough we have one on our northern border and another swimming out in the western ocean, now there’s a third poking into our territory.”
“Which one?” Jen asked.
“I don’t know. The other three are more legend than fact. We know they exist from ancient texts, but no one has had any direct contact with them in ages. If a third dragon has designs on the kingdom, we need to learn more about what it’s planning. I want you to take your squad down to the southern border and see what you can find out. My daughter is there on a tour of the baronies. She can help you.”
“We have little to go on,” Jen said.
“Now that I’ve felt the dragon’s power, I’m sure the tattoo means something. Use your best judgement, but keep in mind this may be the greatest threat the kingdom has ever faced.”
“Worse than Blackman?”
“A dragon is orders of magnitude more powerful than a warlock. Even with Damien and every sorcerer in the kingdom we’d have no chance against one. We need to find out what we’re dealing with. And for heaven’s sake keep it quiet. If the people learned of the danger they’d panic. I’ll send word to the northern army to be on high alert, then I’ll inform the king.”
“What should I tell my team?” Jen asked.
“Whatever you think best. You know their level of circumspection better than I.”
Jen nodded. “We’ll leave at first light.”
“I can arrange for a sorcerer to take you now.”
“My guys have been up and going for forty-eight hours straight. We need sleep or we’ll be worthless.”
“At sunrise then. Best of luck.”
Jen bowed to the archmage and the glow around the door vanished.
A dragon, great. What a time for Damien to be out of touch. They’d just have to do the best they could until he came up for air.
Chapter Thirteen
Damien often spent his dream time with Lizzy. It was one of the reasons he looked forward to bedtime every night. Tonight, they drifted together in the darkness of her mental world, wrapped up in her raven wings, just enjoying some quiet time together.
He brushed a strand of her dark hair aside to get a better look at her glowing red eyes. Some people might consider demon eyes scary or creepy, but he found them beautiful, just like the rest of her. How did he get so lucky to wind up with such an amazing companion?
“Crown for your thoughts,” she said.
Damien grinned. “Do you even have money?”
“Fair point. Kiss for your thoughts?”
“Good deal. I was thinking how lucky I am to be here with you.”
Lizzy kissed him. It never ceased to amaze Damien how real everything felt here. “That was an excellent answer.”
“I thought so. Did you remember why the underground city feels familiar?”
“No. It’s there, right at the edge of my memory, but I can’t get a hold of it. The whole thing is tremendously frustrating. I’m pretty sure it’s something that happened back in the Old Empire centuries ago, but beyond that I’m drawing a blank.”
“Don’t force yourself. Sometimes the harder you try, the farther a memory slips from your fingers. Better to let it come to you.”
Something shifted in the darkness and Damien immediately went on alert. Clothes appeared on him and he readied his power. In all the time he’d spent visiting Lizzy’s world, he’d never encountered another presence.
Beside him, Lizzy had armed herself with a flaming whip and a narrow sword. A black, menacing demonic aura surrounded her.
“I take it this isn’t something you created.”
“No, I can’t even tell what, if anything, is out there. It might be a psychic shadow, a place memory intruding on us.”
The presence, for lack of a better term, shifted to their right. They turned to keep it in front of them.
“I didn’t understand that last sentence at all,” Damien said.
“A place memory is born when something horrible happens and it leaves a psychic impression on the area. It’s pretty rare. Most people can’t sense them at all except as vague nightmares. For a spirit like me, the shadows can be dangerous. Lucky for us, this one doesn’t seem especially strong.”
“Want me to put a light out there, see what we’re dealing with?”
“No. It might take anything we do as an attack. Best to stay on guard and let it make the first move.”
Damien nodded, content to let her take the lead. This psychic business was totally out of hi
s area of expertise. They hadn’t even covered the basics at the Tower. Probably because most sorcerers remained as blind to psychic entities as normal people.
They floated facing the presence for he knew not how long before a faint glow surrounded it. The gathering energy didn’t feel like preparation for an attack, more like it was trying to become more visible.
If that was the goal it failed miserably. Damien got a brief impression of wings, maybe, the outline was so blurry he didn’t know what to make of it.
And then it was gone, like a torch thrown in the water.
“What do you think?” Damien asked.
Lizzy shivered, rustling her feathers. “I don’t know. It felt like it was trying to reach out to us but couldn’t quite make contact. It gave off an overwhelming sense of desperation. Whatever it is, it needs help.
“Do you trust it?” Damien hadn’t felt everything Lizzy did, but his awareness of that kind of thing was far less developed than hers.
“I trust the honesty of its desire. Whether it means us good or ill, I can’t tell. Perhaps if it makes contact again I’ll get a better feel for its intentions.”
“Would something like that…whatever it was, keep animals out of the area?” If the presence had driven off the rats he’d feel much better about their situation.
“Possibly. But just because one entity is present doesn’t mean there are no other dangers.”
So much for him feeling better. He’d just have to keep his eyes peeled at the same time he did his mind.
Chapter Fourteen
Baron Trasker’s keep grew rapidly bigger as the soul force bubble raced toward it. It wasn’t huge as such fortifications went, maybe half the size of the king’s castle in the capital. Six towers anchored a forty-foot-tall and twenty-foot-thick wall. An open yard dotted with out buildings separated the wall from the keep. All pretty standard. Ambassador Lane Thorn was supposed to be waiting to introduce them to the baron’s guard captain. After that, the hunt began in earnest.
Jen and her team had met a Crimson Legion sorcerer at first light in the courtyard of King’s Castle. The sorcerer carried a small bundle of papers for Jen, which she’d read on the five-hour flight south. Basically, it contained background information on the local criminal organizations of which there were a surprising number. She also had a letter signed by Uncle Andy that gave her royal authority to conduct her investigation and requisition whatever resources she needed. It gave just a hair less power than the ring he’d given Damien.
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