“Ack! Where did the little fella go?” the nanny cried, jumping from her rocker. “It’s a ghost, a ghost I say!” She swatted blindly in the air.
“It’s not a ghost, addle headed woman. Just a boy and a magic potion.” Diller pressed himself along the door. “I don’t know where you got that, but if it’s one of ours, it won’t last but a few minutes. I can hold the door that long. Heh-heh. I bet you’ve never used the stuff before. Makes you sick, it does. You’ll pay for it. Soon pay for it, you will.”
Lefty kept his mouth shut, charged across the room, and stabbed Diller in the leg.
The man let out an awful howl as Lefty snatched the keys from his belt, backed off, and unlocked his absidium chains. He slung them, hitting Diller in the face.
“Fool!” Diller slammed the chains on the ground. “You won’t get away. The magic quickly fades! In a moment, I’ll have you!”
Lefty checked his fingers. He was beginning to reappear.
Diller lunged, a slice of his dagger grazing Lefty's chest.
“The ghost is back! The ghost is back!” the nanny yelled and charged to the door. “I must protect the baby.” She ran into Diller, and they toppled into the door.
“Blast you, Woman! Get off of me!”
Lefty grabbed the absidium chains, swung them around Diller’s neck, and yanked back.
“Urk!”
Diller stumbled from wall to wall, trying to knock Lefty free. His back was slammed into one wall after the other as Diller fought against the chains. He was choking the man, giving it everything he had, but Diller was strong. Every blow his small arms absorbed weakened them further. Hang on for Kam! Hang on for Erin!
The nanny opened the door and stumbled through.
Diller produced a knife and stabbed blindly back behind his head, poking at Lefty’s eyes and shoulders. He ducked and dodged, crying out as the dagger poked a hole in his arm and face.
Lefty heaved back with all his might. Diller let out a rasping sound, tongue juttering from his mouth. The door started to close shut. Move or die! He leap-frogged over Diller’s head and dashed out the door.
Whew!
There was no way Diller could catch him now. His feet were moving as if they were on air. I have to try and save Kam. He had no idea where Erin was, but that was another matter. On magic feet, he sped into Palos’s tavern, ducking underneath the swinging doors.
Chaos.
Lefty hadn’t heeded the sounds before he headed in. He only assumed it was carousing run amok. It had happened before. This time was different. The tavern was a battlefield packed with cutthroats, cut purses, and thugs. Every man and woman fended for themself. Brigand fought brigand. Hidden knives whipped out and fell. Lefty crouched behind the bar as the shouts of pain and anger reached a crescendo. It seemed Jubbler was telling the truth after all. The rebellion was on.
Get up the stairs and inside. Now was his best chance to save Kam.
One voice, odd and eerie, could be heard above the rest.
“I am Zorth! I tolerate no evil! None shall remain that cross my path!”
Thorn! What is going on?
Lefty jumped away as a body was hurled over the bar. Thorn stood atop the steps, a man possessed. He swung a massive sword that flashed like lightning over a pile of dead bodies at his feet.
“Zorth, the Slayer of all evil things!”
The great sword arced down, hewing one man in half. Down the steps Thorn came swinging: The sword judge. Jury. Executioner. Lefty was certain all in the tavern were condemned, including him.
I’m small. Maybe he won’t see me. His hand trembled. He had to summon his courage. He owed it to Kam. As Zorth made it to the bottom landing on the steps, he sprang over the bar, ducked a rogue’s knife chopping at another's head, climbed beams on the back of the steps, and dove inside Palo’s door.
“Whew!” he wiped his forehead.
“I am Zorth, the greatest blade of all!” The sound wasn’t coming towards him, but away. “Nothing can withstand the wrath of Zorth. No giant, no dragon, and no misguided pieces of flesh!” Thorn’s odd force blended into the chaos. “I’ll be free, but for vengeance I thirst.”
Lefty shook his head. So much had been going on. He had to get his bearings. Kam!
There she lay on the floor, unmoving, where a pool of blood formed.
“No! Kam!” In an instant, Lefty had her hand in his, holding it in his lap. “Kam! You can’t die! Don’t be dead! Please!” Tears were streaming down his cheeks. The wound in her belly was deep. He tried to stop the bleeding with her robes.
“Lefty,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “Where’s Erin? Did you save her?”
He shook his head, tears dripping down his cheeks onto her face. He wasn’t going to lie to her again. He couldn’t do that to her. Not again. Not ever.
“I went to get her, Kam,” he sobbed, “but they have sold her.” He shook uncontrollably. “For ransom, I’m told.”
Kam’s green eyes had a glossy look in them, her face expressionless as she grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him down.
“Promise me you will save her, Lefty. Promise me you will find her.”
“I-I will! Oh dear, I promise that I will save Erin!”
Kam’s eyes closed. Her fingers twitched, the gems twinkling inside her hand. Lefty blinked more tears from his eyes. Her chest rose and fell no more …
“Heh, heh, heh, heh …” laughed a wicked voice. It was Palos. He lay on the floor a broken man, clothes smoldering, all the hair singed from his body. He huffed a puff of smoke. He looked like a log that had been patted out.
“You’ll never find the girl, Halfling. She’s gone a hundred leagues by now already.” Palos coughed. His body contorted in pain. “Much coin she fetched. Much, indeed! Hah-hah! Better for the girl. A favor I did. Hack. hack. Seems she has no mother anymore. Tis a shame to see such a vibrant body like that go. Hack. But my blade was much sharper than her tongue.”
Lefty’s tears stopped. Rage swelled inside his chest as he pulled out his blue-bladed dagger and dove at Palos’s chest.
***
Kam stood in a cold river, its waters black, the chill as deep as bone. Her thoughts were of Erin, her daughter's innocent face. It was all she could hold onto. Her last spring of life.
Live and serve? A voice from beyond said.
“What?” her voice echoed. She felt her strength fading. Her memories going. Only a faint red light remained.
Live and serve?
Erin. She had to find Erin.
“Yes.” She felt her mind touching another’s.
We are bound.
***
Kam lurched up, gasping for air. The gems in her hand washed the room in red light. The agonizing pain in her belly was gone. Her strength returned.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you, Palos! You killed my friend!” Lefty was on top of Palos, the Prince of Thieves' arms holding him at bay.
Kam wrenched Lefty from Palos with a single thought, and gently set him down.
The bewildered halfling couldn’t hide his shock and the elation that enhanced all the features on his face.
“How!” Palos exclaimed. “You should be dead, you red-haired witch.”
But she wasn’t. She lived and felt more power than she ever felt before. The potential to pull Palo’s bones outside of his skin was hers. But for now she needed him alive. Her eyes turned to burning green flames.
“Where’s my daughter, Palos!”
EPILOGUE
Time stood still. Melegal was certain of it. It was as if everything in the barn no longer moved except the dreaded creature that eyed him. It sat in the rafters gnashing its teeth and slowly flapping its bat-leather wings. It said it was going to eat him. Melegal had no doubt it thought it would. If Melegal could step outside of his body, into another, anybody at all, he would. He’d reached the limit on all the running, all the fighting, all the lying he could take. He couldn’t do this forever. He was ready to die.
; Beside him, Rayal huddled behind her guards, who stood firm, but fearful.
Within the barn's expanse, underneath the rotting rafters and accompanied by the smell of ripening manure, Melegal realized it was as good a place to die as any. Where McKnight had, his mentor. Melegal folded his arms across his chest.
“Come and eat me then, Imp.”
The horrible creature's wings buzzed to life. It dropped from the rafters and hovered before Melegal like a giant evil hummingbird.
“Keys,” it said in a raspy voice. Its knotted arms reached out with four taloned fingers that looked as if they could cut through stone.
One of Rayal’s guards struck the imp over the head with a two-handed chop of his sword. The blade glanced off the creature's steel hard skin. The bewildered guard looked back up just in time to catch the imp’s claw in his throat. The other guard, the taller of the two, lunged at the imp.
Blink!
It disappeared.
“Sweet mother of Bish!” the man cried out, eyes blinking wildly, scanning all directions. One second the man stood in astonishment, in the next he was fighting for his life. The imp appeared on the man’s back, pulling the skin from his bones. In two seconds, it was all over. Only the blood splattered imp, Melegal and Rayal remained. He wasn't about to move, and Rayal wasn’t about to, either. A clever girl Rayal was. As smart as she was beautiful.
The imp hovered in front of Melegal once more, reaching out, blood dripping from its claws.
“Keys!” It demanded this time.
Perhaps all of Melegal's problems before hadn't been as bad as he'd thought. Maybe doing dirty deeds for the Almens wasn’t so bad after all. Now, the feeling in his gut told him he’d become a part of something much bigger. The keys he had, the underlings wanted. They needed. They’d invaded the city for them. Oh, how valuable they must be! Oh, the power that maybe he could wield. If he had something so truly valuable in his hand, something that had helped the Almens rise to such power, then that was something maybe he should keep for himself. His shock and despair were replaced by a greater feeling. A stronger feeling. One that a thief could clearly understand: Greed. If the keys had the power the underlings wanted, that the Royals protected, then there was no way on all of Bish he was about to let them go.
“What keys?” Melegal asked, allowing a gentle bend in his knees.
“Do not play, Human. My master awaits. Give me the keys, or I shall rip them from your flesh.”
Melegal could feel Rayal’s eyes boring into him and the imp. Her fear and worry was heavy in the air. His own palms began to glisten with sweat.
The small door in the stable opened. It was Haze.
Not taking is eyes from the imp, Melegal said, “Get. Back. Inside.”
Haze screamed as the imp eyed her.
“I just kill the women then, Skinny Man.” It hissed at Haze and Rayal. “I eat them. I eat you. Alive I do.”
Melegal had no doubt the creature could do it. Its mouth was as bigger than a man’s. Its teeth were like dagger tips. Despite its lack of size, it reeked of raw power. He had to be careful what he did next. But you won’t get these keys.
Melegal held up his hands.
“Easy. Easy now. I’ll give you what you want.” He started to reach into his vest. The imp’s head jerked left and right like a little bird.
“Hurry! Eep hungers!”
Eep. The little fiend has a name.
Melegal could feel his heart in his chest now. The imp was going to kill him. Keys or no keys. He was certain of it. But the imp didn’t know he had them. It was time to play a game. How smart can an imp be, anyway?
“I’ll have to take you to the keys.”
The imp hissed. Blink. Disappeared. Reappearing with both its claws wrapped around Haze’s scrawny neck. The pressure was building in her face. Her eyes filled with terror. Melegal expected her neck to snap at any moment.
Let go! Let go! Let go!
The inside of his mind was glowing. Commanding. Splitting. Haze was about to die. He could feel it in his bones. Blood dripped from his nose.
“Eep don’t like when human lies. Keys or no keys, you all die now!
Crack!
Melegal fell to his knees as Haze’s body sagged to the ground. He heard Rayal panting behind him and nothing else.
“No,” he murmured, unable to hold his head up. “No …”
***
Call it instinct. Brak wasn’t old enough to understand such things yet, but he’d heard plenty of talk about it. It was another sense, they said. Something that made your hair stand on end.
While he and Jubilee huddled behind, Haze went to check on all the commotion. Once she made it out the small door, he only saw part of her body. Her entire body stiffened, petrified with fear. Jubilee gasped at his side. His hair stood on end. Grabbing whatever he could, he was moving. That’s when he saw it. A bat as big as a dog, with horns on its head, arms wrapped around Haze’s neck. He hadn’t even crossed the threshold when he swung.
Crack!
He hit the foul creature square in the head with the white ash cudgel that glowed with inner life. Haze crumpled to the ground like a sack of rags. The bat-like thing looked up at him now, a large red eye with a black pupil, a ragged tongue lurching from its mouth. Someone was screaming at him.
“Hit it again!”
Womp!
It was the raven-haired woman who saved him.
Womp!
Why was Melegal on his knees, head downcast, holding his heart?
Womp!
Whatever the creature was, it didn’t break. It just hissed underneath the weight of every powerful blow. It was like beating a sack of cow-hide filled with sand. He went to swing one last time.
Blink.
It was gone.
***
“It’s gone, Melegal. It’s gone.”
He knew the voice. It was Rayal. But that gave him little comfort or reassurance. But she smelled good. Haze was there, too. Alive and well. She didn’t smell so good, but he was fond of her anyway. Inside him was an urge. An urge to hug them both and whoever else. It seemed they lived to face the next tragic moment in their lives. But he wasn’t sure that it would top this one.
“Me! Me!”
Someone was screaming inside his ear. A soft familiar nicker of a pony could be heard.
Huh! Quickster and Georgio. Where did you come from?
“Me! It’s Me! Wake up, you sack of bones!” Georgio said. He could feel the boy shaking him, but it didn’t do him any good.
“If he’s dead, I get his hat,” Jubilee said. “Uh … sorry Haze. But if you don’t want it.”
No! Not my hat! And the keys! What happens if they find my keys!
He couldn’t move, though. Not one muscle. He couldn’t tell if his eyes were opened or closed, but he couldn’t see anything. He could barely feel his fingers or his toes. He didn’t understand what had happened, either. One moment, Haze was about to die. In the next moment, his mind exploded. All he had left was his ears. All the rest of his body was damaged parts. He was certain his hat had something to do with that.
“I’ll take him to the castle. I can care for him there,” Rayal suggested.
“And what about us?” Haze responded, her voice heated.
“I’ll see what I can do, but we need to get him to safety.”
“I’m not going in any Castle,” Jubilee said. “And who are you, exactly?”
“I’m Georgio. Who are you?”
Melegal was fading. His head swirling. The conversation around him becoming incomprehensible. Maybe I’m dying. It was his second to last thought. Georgio better be feeding Quickster well, or I’ll bust that fat arse of his. His consciousness sunk into the darkness.
Note from the Author
I want to thank you for reading up until this point, and I hope I didn’t leave you hanging too much. Of course, I did leave you hanging, but a new stage for Book 6 is being set, so I hope you will bear with me until it’s done.
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As I’ve said, it’s my intent for this to be a long running series. In an ideal world, I’d write 3 books at a time and publish them all at once, but I don’t want readers waiting too long, and they’ve made it clear they don’t want to wait too long, either. I’ve been paying attention to the reviews you leave, well at least on Amazon, and that helps me know more about what the reader wants. I realize some of you are unhappy with my cliffhangers, and it’s not my intent for anyone to feel cheated. But, the endings are something I’m working on, and I hope I did a little better on Book 5 than Book 4. Book 6 will have a more conclusive ending and also set the stage for the next run of the series.
I also realize that I have many characters spread out all over Bish, and the story becomes a little hard to follow. I’m reeling that in also, as I realized that I’ve begun to spread the story too thin. As I grow as a writer, I’ll have better control over these issues, so I hope you’ll stick with me.
Over the next several months, I'm going to focus on putting everything I’ve learned into Book 6. I'll build on what I’m good at and improve where I need improvement. It’s going to take some extra time, though. That said, I’ll probably have Book 6 ready by Late Summer/Early Fall 2013.
Please, feel free to contact me at The Darkslayer Report by Craig on Facebook anytime. I’d love to hear from you.
Fight or Die,
Craig Halloran
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Craig Halloran is a veteran, husband and father. He enjoys sports (mostly football), working out, fishing, writing, watching TV and entertaining mankind. His books are filled with endless action, exciting characters and compelling stories. He resides with his family outside of his hometown of Charleston, West Virginia. When he isn’t writing stories he is seeking adventure, working out or watching sports. To learn more about him go to: www.thedarkslayer.com
Other works by Craig Halloran
The Darkslayer: Wrath of the Royals (Book 1)
The Darkslayer: Book 05 - Outrage in the Outlands Page 34
