Of course the idea had been ridiculous. Talon had resurfaced as the assassin that tried to kill Master Latva. But why had she killed one of the raptoids with a moonrat eye, then joined a group of others to attack the Mage School? He growled. It would have been so much easier if she had died during the attack, but she was still loose and there was another raptoid with her.
Deathclaw reached back and grasped Star’s handle. It was eager to be used. Would you help me kill them? he asked. The sword’s eagerness flared momentarily. While he was pondering the meaning of that response, he caught the scent he was searching for.
He crouched and picked up a brittle strand of dried troll slime. There were faint traces of a trail leading off to the east. Orcs and these new strange trolls had marched from that direction. He followed the trail for a mile or so and realized he was nearing the edge of the treeline. He looked up at the towering mountain ahead. There would be a lot less cover on the slopes.
Deathclaw grasped the whistle hanging around his neck and told Beth what he had found. Her reaction made him curious. Something about that mountain made her nervous.
He continued on his way and soon the smell of trolls grew stronger. The trees thinned, interspersed more and more by sloping terrain and boulders. The troll scent intensified, but now it was different, more wrong somehow, almost virulent.
A terrible screech echoed out from somewhere ahead. It sounded like an enormous troll, no, a thousand trolls all screeching at once. Deathclaw nodded. The farm was nearby.
He caught his first glimpse of it from a distance. A large hulking shape on the mountain’s slope, surrounded by dozens of orcs. He crept from boulder to boulder, getting closer without being seen.
It looked like a trash heap. A jumble of troll parts and limbs, glistening in the heat of the late summer sun. But it was moving. The limbs in the pile were moving. A slow flowing creek of slime rolled down the slope from the pile, gathering into a small pond at the bottom.
Deathclaw moved closer, sneaking past laughing orcs and gorcs, and saw that further to the south were clusters of trolls. There were hundreds of them, perhaps half a thousand trolls in all; the biggest farm they’d seen. Was the pile of limbs full of rejects, perhaps harvested from these trolls?
He didn’t truly understand until he was much closer. He slid under an angled boulder, nearly gagging on the thing’s stench at first, but then he forgot the smell and watched with astonishment. The mass of moving troll parts wasn’t a trash heap. It was a single living thing, and bigger than he’d thought; as large as the mayor’s house in Pinewood.
It had a large central body that had troll heads and torsos growing from it at random angles, and four long limbs that seemed to be made of a joined core of hundreds of troll arms and legs. It was lying on its belly. Deathclaw couldn’t conceive of a way for the thing to stand and it was a good thing too. Something that big would be tall enough to simply climb over the walls of the Mage School. The gorcs surrounding the creature wielded axes and several of them were walking around hacking at it, chopping free whole troll torsos that grew from its side. The torsos would fall to the ground and suddenly become aware, screeching and dragging themselves away until moonrats appeared and took control of them.
As Deathclaw watched stunned, an orc climbed up the slope with a green-eyed moonrat clinging to his back in some sort of leather harness. Following along placidly behind them was a large, bulky troll. It was one of the modified ones like Deathclaw and the others had encountered in the cave.
As the orc approached, the central mass of the troll pile quivered and an enormous gaping mouth opened up in the side. The modified troll approached the mouth and walked inside, letting itself be devoured.
Deathclaw understood now. This was why they hadn’t seen any modified trolls around and it also explained why the new trolls weren’t as flammable. He grasped the whistle around his neck.
Beth, we are going to need that pepper.
Chapter Twenty Nine
“Treachery!” Ewzad Vrill screamed as he entered the throne room. A few of the nobles gasped at the rudeness of the entrance, but were quickly hushed by others. Most of them had learned to keep their surprise quiet around the king. Ewzad swung his gaze around the room, looking for the gaspers, but what he saw were simpering smiles.
Ewzad’s court was not like the Muldroomon courts of the past. A disdainful expression or even a laugh or witticism could get someone punished, perhaps killed on the spot if Ewzad was in one of his moods. And for the last few days he had been. Ever since the dwarf menagerie had disappeared.
Elise cleared her throat. “Would you like us to adjourn, dearest?”
“Adjourn Elise? Oh my. Do you think so!” He growled and turned to glare at the nobles and merchants assembled. Their numbers were far fewer than when Ewzad had started his reign, mainly because they had learned it was safer to stay away. “Treachery! Yes-yes. Treachery in my own palace. Mine! And you think to seek audience for your meaningless requests? Hmm?”
The crowd paled, but none replied or dare moved until told to.
Elise stood, wincing and grabbing her lower back as she did so. The Throne of Dremaldria had not been built for the back of a woman, much less a woman pregnant with twins. The birth mages told her that her children could come in a matter of weeks, but she couldn’t imagine it being any more painful than sitting on the throne all day. The only reason she still did it was because Ewzad wasn’t going to. She had to put up with the pain if there was to be any semblance of life as normal in Dremald.
She forced a smile onto her face and nodded to the speaker. The portly and heavily sweating man spoke out with a tinny voice, “This session is adjourned. You may depart.” The man hadn’t been so sweaty before Ewzad had shoved so much power into him. The way the speaker grimaced, Elise feared the man might pop.
As the nobles filed out, Elise stuck out her arms. Hamford and Arcon each took one and helped her down the steps. Ewzad had ordered the two men to stay with her while he worked in the lab that day. That had been a rarity. Usually he had the two of them following him around, insisting they grovel like whipped dogs.
She kept her smile pleasant despite the way her legs trembled. If Ewzad knew how much these sessions hurt her, he would force her to stop and she couldn’t allow that.
The voice in the back of her mind agreed. Elise’s one relief in the advanced stage of her pregnancy was that the voice wasn’t gibbering in terror any more. It spent most of its time humming tuneless lullabies.
Ewzad tapped his foot impatiently as they descended and she saw that he held a crumpled piece of paper clutched in his hand. He glared at all three of them. “Well? Hurry it up, yes? Follow me!”
Ewzad muttered to himself as he stomped straight to the dungeon stairwell. Elise sighed when she saw where he was going. He used the main entrance freely now that he was king and no one dared challenge his comings and goings. At least this entrance would be easier for her use than the cramped secret passage from her rooms. Ewzad descended the stairs quickly, muttering ‘treachery’ the whole way. They followed as quickly as Elise found possible.
“What do you think he’s found?” Arcon whispered. The mage used the tiniest bit of magic to assure that she alone would hear him. Even stone faced Hamford, who held her other arm, didn’t hear. Arcon had assured her long ago that the magic was so faint that Ewzad wouldn’t sense it. So far he’d been right.
“It could be anything,” she whispered back, knowing that his spell would also direct her voice. She was somewhat surprised that he had spoken. He never spoke to her unless he was sure his mistress wasn’t listening and when Ewzad was in one of his moods, she usually had something to do with it.
“Is it his raptoids, you think?” Arcon replied. Ewzad’s exaggerated mourning over his dead assassins was the only thing that made him angrier than the disappearance of the dwarves the day afterwards.
She frowned. Arcon knew that discussions between them were to be saved for more important t
opics. “Do you know of something else?”
The young mage swallowed. “My mistress has been angry herself today, my Queen. I am simply preparing myself for pain.”
She nodded sympathetically. The poor man had been caught between Ewzad and Mellinda a lot lately.
Ewzad stopped at the turn before the main landing and shoved aside the hidden wall to his laboratory. His glare was baleful as they descended and Elise’s heart began to flutter. Ewzad never gave her that particular glare. Especially not after he had found out she was pregnant. What had he discovered?
This is bad! The voice inside her head began sobbing. Protect the babies!
It was nonsense, of course. Her dear Ewzad would never hurt them. Not on purpose at least. That last thought sent a shiver down her spine.
Ewzad led them past a row of cells. Elise heard horrible noises inside some of them, but many were empty. In the months since the destruction of the academy he hadn’t spent as much time creating beasts as before. He was much too busy putting kernels of power into undeserving men that he could send to Sampo. Elise didn’t like it. The creatures he made were horrible, but at least they were loyal. The men he chose for his army weren’t worth the cost of the boots they wore.
The room he led them to was one Elise hadn’t been in before. It was wide and spacious. Its walls were covered in odd sorts of rusty tools and a long bloodstained worktable ran down the center. In the corner, chained to the wall was the corpse of a man. At least she thought he had once been a man. His head was swollen and misshapen, while his lower body had been bent and twisted until his legs looked more like tentacles than legs. An ornate wooden handle protruded from a gaping hole in the side of his head.
“Yes, would the three of you stand apart from one another?” Ewzad said. He had pushed the anger from his face now and only disgust remained. Hamford and Arcon released her arms and took two steps away. Ewzad gestured to a chair next to the bloodstained workbench. “Elise, dearest, sit in that chair, hmm? We wouldn’t want you to strain your poor feet, now would we?”
Elise did as he suggested. Usually she would have been relieved to get off her feet despite the filthiness of the chair, but there was no kindness in his voice and the chair put her two more paces away from the men. This could mean bad things for any or all of them.
Get away. Get away. Run! He’ll kill us and the babies! the voice inside her gibbered. She shoved it away. Ewzad wouldn’t harm her or the children. He wouldn’t. He loved them.
“Well-well. Are you three wondering why you are here? Of course you are.” He held up a sheet of parchment. “I received this today. Would you like to guess how I got it? So would I. Yes, I don’t know who delivered it. No-no, it was on my desk. Here! In my laboratory.” He grinned at them. “Would you like me to read it? I’m sure you would.”
“What is this about, my dearest?” Elise asked, trying her best to sound uninterested. What did he know? What had he found out?
“Oh, I will read it to you. Yes-yes, I shall.” He stretched out the page in front of him and smoke began to waft from the edges. Ewzad cleared his throat and as he read, flames sprouted from the parchment.
His tone was mild when he started, but with each word he grew progressively angrier. “King Vrill. At your request, we have departed. Please do not pursue our services again. We don’t act kindly towards those who waste our dag-burned time. Signed, Blayne Cragstalker, Ringmaster.”
As he finished, the last bits of parchment ignited and fell to the floor where it turned to ash. “Now, what does this tell us, hmm? That’s what I wondered this morning, don’t you think? Yes-yes, I think you do. Someone told the dwarves to leave. Someone told them in such a way that they thought it was I who made the request. Me!” His face twisted in rage. “Someone did it in such a way that the entire smuggling world refuses to deal with me!”
Run! said the voice, but Elise was relieved. This wasn’t about her. It couldn’t be. He’ll think it was us! The voice sobbed. She shoved it away again, this time far deeper where she couldn’t hear it.
“I am so sorry to hear this, my king,” she said, placing her hands on her swollen belly. “But must I remain here? I’m tired and this chair hurts my back.”
“Yes-yes. You must stay, dear Elise. You must know what I found, yes?” Ewzad demanded. “You see, I realized that there were only three people. Three who could tell the dwarves to leave and be obeyed! Three who had the strength of my words behind them!”
Elise paled. That meant her, Arcon, and Hamford. What had he found?
“So, I had the royal guards tell me who my dearest associates had visited. Who had the three of you been speaking with? What do you think I found?”
Elise feigned outrage. “Even I?”
“Yes, you! Dearest, you most of all. I needed to know, yes? If my own queen was against me, I needed to know!” He walked up to her and placed one squirming hand against her cheek. For the first time since she killed her own brother in the council room, Elise shrank back from his touch. Ewzad didn’t seem to notice. “Don’t worry, dearest Elise. I know the truth. You wouldn’t betray me, would you? No.”
Elise glanced at Arcon and Hamford. The mage was quivering, but the guard looked relieved.
“I found this man!” Ewzad said, pointing to the tortured body in the corner. “Do you recognize him? No, I guess you wouldn’t. Not like this, no. He’s Fergus! My own; the king’s own pigeonkeeper! Yes-yes, a perfectly reasonable person for any of you to contact. But do you know what he had with him when I called on him this morning? This!”
Ewzad reached over and grasped the handle protruding from the man’s swollen head. He lifted his leg and pressed his boot against the man’s neck as he pulled. Slowly and with a sucking sound, he pulled what looked like a hand mirror out of the man’s head. The glass was broken.
“You recognize this. Yes, don’t you Hamford?” Ewzad shouted, glaring at the guard, the vein on his forehead pulsing with anger. “The mirror you used to contact the wizards, yes?”
Elise’s eyes grew wider. That couldn’t be right. Arcon had to be the one. But the guard didn’t deny it.
“You shouldn’t have done what you did to Kenn,” Hamford said. He smiled for the first time Elise could remember. “You shouldn’t have done it.”
Elise leaned away, expecting the guard to pull his sword. But he didn’t. He just smiled at Ewzad, completely unafraid.
“You . . .” Ewzad trembled, more angered by Hamford’s ease than anything else.
“You want to know what I told the Mage School?” Hamford asked. “Everything. They know everything! How many monsters you have. Every troop movement! They know about your rings. They know how you and Elise killed the king! They know about the disgusting brood you placed in her and they know how you promised them to the Dark Prophet! They know it all!” Hamford chuckled. “All your secrets. So kill me.”
“Enough!” Ewzad shouted and Hamford froze in place, his smile stuck on his face. Ewzad slapped the man. His arms had lost their form and become snake-like, but he slapped him anyway. Over and over he slapped him until Hamford’s nose and lips bled, but no matter how many times he slapped him, Hamford’s smile remained. “Enough!”
Ewzad stopped, breathing heavy. “Ohh, you want me to kill you, I know. Yes-yes, I can taste it. You asked me before. Begged me, yes. And I want to. Yes-yes I do. But no. No-no, you’re my servant. Mine!” He slapped Hamford again then rose up and kissed him. When he pulled back, he had the guard’s blood on his lips. “You will stay my servant.”
Elise realized what was coming next. She knew what Ewzad was about to do and she didn’t have the stomach for it. Not now. Not with Hamford. She’d spent too much time with him.
“Just kill him, dear,” she pled. It would be a mercy. “Give me a knife. I’ll do it.”
“You know, Hamford,” Ewzad said, ignoring her, a twisted smile appearing on his face. “Of all the times you failed me, one sticks out to me the most. Yes-yes, it was the time you let Ta
lon free. The time you let her brother kill all my precious creations. Do you remember that? I do. Yes-yes, it still sours my heart.” He caressed Hamford’s cheek. “That’s why I hurt your poor Kenn. Remember how I swelled his feet, yes? Stuck him in that cell? All because of you. It was your fault. Your fault he became my bandham. Your fault the wizards killed him.”
The smile was still frozen on the guard’s face, but Elise knew the tears streaming from his eyes were real. Ewzad was trying to be cruel, but Hamford already knew it. He’d always believed his brother’s pain to be his fault. His guilt was likely why he had contacted the wizards in the first place.
“Of all my creatures that died that day, do you know which one I miss the most, Hamford?” Ewzad cooed. He threw a snake-like arm around the guard’s shoulders. “I miss the Clench. Oh he was fierce. Huge, misshapen, yes, he was a baby giant when I found him, you know. I brought him up. Fed him whatever meat was handy at the time. I made a lot of mistakes making him, but when I was finished I thought he was perfect. Yes-yes, I was going to make him bigger and ride him into battle you know.”
Ewzad pointed at Arcon and crooked a finger. “Dear Arcon, tell your mistress that it’s time. I’m coming to Sampo and we will crush the wizards.”
“But Ewzad,” Elise said, struggling to stand. “You can’t leave me now, dearest. The babies will come while you’re gone. Our babies. Y-you can’t.”
Ewzad stuck out his bottom lip. “Oh!” he rushed over and hugged her. Kissed her, Hamford’s blood still on his lips. “Dearest Elise, the children will be fine. Yes-yes, the Dark Voice won’t let them die. Not even the one that’s ours. He’s promised. Our beautiful children will be fine, yes? The birth mages will see to it.”
“Stay!” she begged.
“No-no, I must go. They know it all. They know too much. Yes-yes, I must go. I’ll kill them all and then, sweet Elise. Then I will return to you. Yes I will.” He turned back to Arcon. “Since Hamford is unable, would you go to cell thirty three? There’s a giant there. Yes-yes, I know he’s dead. Bring me part of it. Something. An ear. A thumb. Whatever, yes?” He turned back to Hamford and gave him a cruel smile. “You’ll make a great Clench.”
The Bowl of Souls: Book 05 - Mother of the Moonrat Page 35
