The Bones of the Past (Books of Dust and Bone)

by Craig A. Munro

  “We can speak more easily this way,” he said. His voice was as deep as the abyss. Zuly had to strain to make out the words, even as she fought every instinct that told her to run for her life. Still, she had to admit, it was certainly more pleasant than when the lord had spoken to her mind directly.

  In the guise of a man, Amon Kareth looked like a knight of legend hopelessly corrupted. He stood half again as tall as any human. His skin was a charcoal gray that constantly shifted and twitched. His long black hair melted into serpentine tentacles that thrashed around behind him before falling back into hair. As if to complete the image, he was dressed in plate armor that looked to be forged of shiny black metal. But like every part of him, it was not still. Veins pulsed and rose from every plate at odd intervals. He exuded power. The aura of great weight had not left despite his smaller form. Stones cracked and broke under his feet as he walked forward. Nor had his eyes changed. Though they were smaller, being this close to that hunger was even worse. Zuly could not bring herself to raise her eyes to look at him more closely.

  He reached out and touched Zuly’s shoulder. She screamed and collapsed, her body shuddering and trembling uncontrollably. A thin claw had extended from the end of his finger. A single drop of her blood beaded on the tip. He brought the drop to his mouth. A long black tongue lashed out from behind sharp teeth to taste it.

  “You have joined with this mortal in a way I have never seen before. Your essences have truly become one.”

  The sound of his voice was making her head spin. Blood was dribbling out of her ears. Her stomach heaved at the wrongness of his presence.

  “How many souls have you harvested for me, little Zulaxrak? And how did you avoid the madness?”

  Struggling to move, Zuly reached down and drew out the obsidian orb. “Almost two hundred, Lord,” she squeaked, holding up the orb full of dancing sparks.

  “Ingenious. How did you come to learn of this thing? Those few who know the secrets of its making do not share easily.” He grasped the orb between his thumb and forefinger before lifting it to his face. The long black tongue licked out again, passing through the volcanic glass as if it were smoke. The orb was empty and shattered when Amon Kareth let it fall to the ground.

  Zuly squirmed where she lay, blood flowing more freely from her ears now, her head spinning from the onslaught of his voice. Amon Kareth looked down at the pathetic thing writhing in pain at his feet, awaiting an answer. “No matter, you represent a unique opportunity for me. Never before has a mortal body been able to cling to life in my presence, even for a moment.” His gaze sharpened. “I shall use you.”

  He bent down and pressed his finger into her abdomen. Zuly struggled faintly as blood welled up from the wound. His finger dug deep into her, coiling and bending like an oversized worm. Zuly tried to scream, but it only came out as a wet gurgle. Bitter fluids were boiling up her throat from her stomach. All she could think of was wanting him out, of getting him off her. The feeling of being sullied, of being violated not only in body but down to the very core of her being was far worse than the pain. She lost control of herself; her arms and legs thrashed around on their own. After what felt like an eternity, Amon Kareth pulled his finger out of her stomach and stepped back.

  “I am curious to see what you will become. You and the spawn you now carry. I would not see you weakened for too long; therefore, I gift you a trinket made by another ingenious demoness of a past age.” He dropped something beside her. “I’ll be watching you, Zulaxrak.” And with those last words his body surged up into the sky, bursting out in every direction until the titanic dragon blocked out the sky once again. It flapped its giant wings and slowly moved off in the direction it had come from. Zuly lay on the ground, unable to move or control her shivering body until long after the dragon had faded from sight. Her hand moved slowly to her stomach. A trickle of blood and thick black liquid still dribbled out of her wound. She could already feel a faint lifespark growing within her. She rubbed herself, everywhere she could reach in her weakened state, desperate to feel clean again, to rub away the memory of his presence, of his touch. She rolled over and vomited up blood and bile. What am I going to tell Nial? For the first time in her existence, Zulaxrak, demoness of the Karethin realm, wept. She sobbed uncontrollably and shivered in the mud, feeling broken.

  It was hours before any demons dared to come near the place where their lord had landed. But, as always, hunger pressed them and a braver or perhaps less intelligent carrion demon dared the wrath of Amon Kareth to approach the demoness who seemed weakened and vulnerable. Zuly struck out with an instinctive lash of power. The demon was neatly slashed in half. With a grunt of pain, she pulled herself to her feet. Nial hadn’t returned from her fugue, and Zuly was grateful. She didn’t want Nial to see what she was about to do. Numbly she reached down and picked up Amon Kareth’s gift and stuffed it into her belt. She didn’t want anything from him but couldn’t risk insulting the lord or passing up something that might help her recover some of what had been taken. She felt hollow without her captive souls. For the first time since she and Nial had captured their first soul, she felt the hunger rising and had no immediate way to feed.

  Clutching her still tender stomach, Zuly started to walk back to the portal site. The smell of her blood and the sight of her limping triggered a feeding frenzy among the demons of the plain. They attacked in droves, hoping for a mouthful, the merest taste of her power. With all the rage and hate she felt for the master of this realm, she lashed out at his servants. Fires burned so hot that stone glowed red, vast nets of energy trapping those that tried to flee. The larger creatures, she tore limb from limb with her bare hands. Zuly was without mercy. For hours she rampaged across the plains killing everything that came against her. Though hunger gnawed at her more and more, she did not taste the flesh of her victims. She had savored the sweet power of a mortal soul and would not return to the cannibalistic ways of the weaker demons.

  It wasn’t until every surviving demon had fled well beyond the reach of her magic, and she stood panting and exhausted that she decided to open the portal and leave. Images of Amon Kareth and what he had done to her flashed before her mind’s eye and the rage returned. She could barely stand to be in her own flesh with the thing inside her. With a desperate wail she called Nial back and then fled consciousness herself.

  Nial stood blinking in confusion, looking at the charred devastation that surrounded her. She felt ill used. Her whole body ached, and she was feeling the hunger worse than ever before. She realized with a sinking feeling that the orb that had contained all the souls they had harvested was gone. Still, Zuly had done it. They had survived the meeting with Amon Kareth and they could go home. A couple hundred souls were a small price to pay. There were always more monsters roaming the streets of Darien. Nial started to weave the complex spell that would open the gate again. She was surprised by how hard it was. Her wellspring of power was nearly exhausted. They would need to make a new orb quickly and go hunting.

  Skeg had been growing more and more agitated as he waited in front of the gate. Hours had passed without any sign of change. If the girls didn’t return, or if something else tried to get through, he would have to destroy the arch. He had already waited longer than he should have. If all had gone well, the girls should have been back within a few hours. Now the sun had risen and night was falling again outside. There could be no other explanation: Nial and Zuly had been killed by the demon lord and would not be returning. Skeg had told himself the same thing over and over again and knew it to be true; knew destroying the gate was the only safe thing to do, not only for himself but for Bialta, maybe even the world. Just a few more minutes, then I’ll destroy it. When he saw a stirring in the mists of the gate, Skeg couldn’t believe his eyes. Was it his imagination? No. Something is coming through! Skeg jumped to his feet and prepared to smash the delicate gate while he silently prayed that he hadn’t waited too long. Then the girls’ arm pushed through the mists as if reaching out for
help. Skeg jumped up and grasped their hand. With a grunt of effort, he dragged them back into the world. Nial nearly collapsed at his feet.

  She looked battered and bruised. There was blood and less easily identified fluids spattered all over her. Nial’s clothes were torn and burned. His heart thumping in his chest, Skeg reached out and snapped one of the branches that made up the gate, and the swirling mists simply winked out of existence. Then he scooped up his tottering niece and carried Nial and Zuly up to his room. This is becoming a habit. I should build the girls a room of their own. He brought a basin of fresh water for Nial to wash and pulled out spare clothes of his own for her to change into. They were poor things and too large by far, but anything was better than the soiled rags she was wearing now.

  “The hunger,” Nial moaned.

  Skeg felt a chill run down his back. They were starving. They had lost their souls and for the first time, Skeg would need to go out and find food for them. A cup of blood, a fresh heart. Maybe I can find a stray cat or a dog. No, it was getting dark, but the markets might still be open in the merchant quarter. He would buy a couple small animals and bring them home. It’s normal. People buy rabbits or chickens to kill and eat every day. He’d been hiding in the Muds for so long he felt exposed leaving the filthy streets. It wasn’t just the attention his appearance attracted—plenty of strange people and stranger sights were seen in a city the size of Darien—it was just being outside his shop. I haven’t left the dump in months, and it’s been a lot longer than that since I went farther than the end of the street. But today there was no choice; Nial and Zuly were not going to bring him his hot cup of blood to curb the hunger pains. I’m part demon now. I need to accept that and start doing something about taking care of my needs instead of being so dependent on the girls. They have more than enough to worry about without having to find dinner for me.

  Skeg made it back less than an hour later with two plump rabbits struggling in a sack slung over his shoulder. He climbed the stairs up to his room and held one of the rabbits up by the ears. The girls’ eyes opened and Skeg took a step back. The bestial side of his nieces was nearly out of control. Nial grabbed the rabbit out of his hand, snapped its neck, and ripped its chest open before sinking her teeth into its still beating heart. Skeg’s head was spinning. He felt sick from what he’d just seen, but he couldn’t deny that his mouth was watering at the same time. He wandered back downstairs and sat staring at the sack where his own rabbit still lay.

  Nial came down a few minutes later. “Thank you, Uncle. That helped, but I really need to go out and hunt.” Skeg recognized the hollow look in her eyes. The rabbit had gotten Nial back on her feet, but the girls’ need to feed was far stronger than his. A rabbit wouldn’t be enough.

  Nial raced outside. Zuly? she called for the hundredth time, but still there was no answer. She could feel Zuly hiding, unwilling to speak or hear anything. Nial didn’t understand. She needed Zuly. She’d never felt the hunger like this, and it was hard to think. People were looking at her as she rushed through the muddy streets. She put a hand in her pocket and felt the strange glassy blade she’d found in her things when she came back. It was made of obsidian she thought. It was a little bit different color from their orb, more green than red brown. It must be something like our old orb. That’s why Zuly brought it back. It was carved into a viscous blade with nowhere safe to hold it. I’ll find someone and try the old way.

  She rushed through the streets heedless of the looks she was attracting. From the look on her face and her shaking hands, most likely assumed she was an addict of some sort, desperate for a fix. And she was becoming desperate. The hunger was so strong Nial didn’t know if she cared who she killed.

  It wasn’t her usual way of looking for a target, but it worked. A desperate beauty walking the streets of the slums after dark was a prime target for the city’s predators. Nial was walking fast and was brought up short when two men blocked her path. They were typical Muds residents, with shabby clothes, greasy hair, and rotten teeth. They both smiled widely when she looked up in surprise. Their smiles broadened further when she looked around quickly and saw that the muddy little street they were on was deserted. Before she even knew what she was doing herself, Nial had stabbed the glass blade into one of the men’s stomachs. Her own hand was cut deeply, and she felt a tearing feeling inside her. Her scream mingled with the would-be rapist’s. She snatched her hand away. The cuts were not deep, and the pain winked out the second she let go of the blade. The man whose stomach it was buried in wasn’t so lucky. His scream rose in pitch for several seconds while his shocked friend looked on, unable to do anything. He fell to the ground a moment later, stone dead.

  Nial snatched the blade out of him with her power and stabbed it into the second man, ramming it up under his chin and into his brain. There were no screams this time. His life winked out like a candle flame. Nial was confused and starting to panic. I have to get out of here. Those screams will attract attention even here. Worse, she had killed two men with the strange weapon and hadn’t had a chance to capture their souls. The still warm bodies were almost too tempting to pass up. No! I have to get away. If they find me eating a body, the city Night Guard will come hunting for me.

  She pulled the blade out of the corpse’s head and used her power to float up onto a nearby roof. There was something strange about the blade now. It felt warm to her somehow. She cleaned the blood off against her shift and was startled to see two little fireflies of light dancing inside the volcanic glass. It took their souls! Just like that! With a sigh of contentment, she drank deeply.

  As the days passed, Nial recovered her strength and slowly tried to coax Zuly back to her. All she was able to get were vague images or ideas. Zuly was adamant in her desire for solitude.

  The Soul Knife, as Zuly thought of it, was making a huge difference in Nial’s hunting. There was little or no need to hide bodies now. A knife wound wasn’t anything unusual. Men and women both were found with a stab wound or a cut throat in these streets. Nial would just hide in a likely place, hidden by her magic, and wait. Once she had chosen, the Soul Knife would flash down from a rooftop and one or more souls would be added to her store of power. Her only source of frustration lay in the knife’s weight. It felt heavier the more souls it held. Not really heavy, of course, but harder to move through the air with her power. So long as it was strapped to her arm it didn’t impede her movements at all. But now that a dozen little sparks danced inside it, she felt like she was pushing it through water when she moved it with magic.

  She looked down at the strange blade. She had taken three more souls tonight. How long would it be before it became too hard to move? Or too slow to use as a weapon without holding the target in place? The limitations of the thing were frustrating.

  Nial occasionally got little flashes of thought from Zuly, especially when she was hunting or feeding, but so far it was little she could understand. My poor Zuly. I can’t imagine what you had to go through for us, but please come back to me. You said yourself we’re strong when we’re together. An image floated up into her mind, an image of a swollen stomach. Nial was shocked. She reached down and put a hand on her belly and knew it was true—she was pregnant. It made her feel scared in a strange sort of way, a very human way. The fear of a young girl with only the most basic idea of what was happening inside her body.

  Zuly had spared her the memories of being violated by an archdemon but had been deeply wounded by the experience herself. Nial reached back out to Zuly with all her fear and love and felt her respond faintly in kind.

  I’ll take care of Shade’s last target. After that, we can tell Uncle Skeg and figure out what to do.

  CHAPTER 16

  “My lord Drokga, the mounts you requested are ready. If you would permit me to show you, they await us outside in the courtyard.” As the hunchbacked mage led the Drokga and his retinue out into the sunlight, he heard the murmurs and exclamations of shock as they caught sight of his creations. A far mo
re suitable reaction than what I got from the Drokga himself when I first showed him my work.

  Two large creatures stood as still as statues outside the stables. The first looked to be somewhere between a bull and a large horse, though covered with thick plates of the chitin. Its legs ended in three-toed claws, and long, sharp horns extended from its head. The second was chitin plated as well, but it was more reminiscent of an insect and a lizard. It also had large leathery wings folded on its back.

  The Drokga and his generals stood at a cautious distance as Carver limped forward with his walking stick. “First let me describe the beast that will replace all other mounts for our city. Indeed, it may replace most beasts of burden. I made this from the first mount that I showed you when I arrived in the city, my lord Drokga. This is the mastikide. The creature was created from a large bull. It has innate combat reflexes that I have enhanced. The horns are extremely strong and are edged like a blade in addition to having a sharp point. They are similar to the weapons your soldiers now use and, like those weapons, can grow back if damaged or broken. They will bite enemies as well as gore and kick them. If the rider wears a carapace, it can link directly to this mount to give him instinctive control over its actions.”

  There were appreciative murmurs from some of the generals. Carver continued, “The gait of one of these creatures is not as smooth as a well-trained horse, but they are nearly as fast and can move at full speed for much longer stretches. I’ve also changed their digestive systems. They can eat nearly anything—grass, leaves, carrion, even wood. They can also drink water that would poison any other animal. My assistant, Roga, contributed his own sliver of genius to this creature as well. The link between the mount and a carapace user can be used to transfer nutrients and water.”