By Blood Betrayed (The Kingsblood Chronicles)

by Houpt, David

  Teg was only able to smash two more ghouls before the wolves and Snarl got too close for him to risk another throw. The three archers had downed two ghouls between them, in addition to Teg’s four, by the time the wolves reached the horde.

  The ghouls and wolves fell upon each other with a terrible ferocity, and Lian noticed that the wolves displayed far more intelligence than mere animal-level. They attacked hamstrings and knees, and if one managed to cripple a ghoul, it would leap away to find a new target. Still, the number of ghouls was telling, and the wolves were sustaining terrible wounds. Snarl batted ghouls left and right, while they clambered onto him in an attempt to drag him to the ground. The bear rose to his full height and bellowed, throwing off ghouls who were unsuccessfully trying to bite him through the thick layer of hide. His three-inch claws ripped arms from sockets and hurled ghouls for yards around him; they couldn’t really stop him.

  Snarl paused, still holding a ghoul in his fatal spine-snapping hug. He tossed that one aside, and then began charging around, swatting ghouls off the wolves and enabling them to circle and attack again. He was no longer mortally wounding the ghouls, but he was lengthening the wolves’ effectiveness considerably.

  Lian had never seen anything like this strange animal dance before.

  Another half dozen or so wolves burst from the tree cover to the far right, charging at full speed toward the melee. These were taller than the first group, and leaner, and they ran faster than a horse at full gallop.

  They quickly reached the fight and began snapping off arms and legs with their powerful jaws, disregarding the feeble counterattack of the Undead. Lian watched as one particularly large ghoul ripped a huge gash in the side of one of the larger wolves, but it ignored the wound and continued to worry at a goblinish ghoul, shaking it in half before turning on its new opponent.

  I think those are werewolves, said Gem in awe. Their wounds are closing as fast as they’re inflicted.

  I don’t care what they are as long as they’re on our side, he returned, though the sheer ferocity of the powerful werewolves made him swallow involuntarily.

  The necromancer was advancing now with a small bodyguard of oversized goblins in chainmail. Lyrial was limping, and Snog said, “Temvri’s horse must’ve come apart under ‘im, milord.”

  “Temvri had a horse?” Lian asked.

  “Aye, milord,” Snog said gleefully. “Lyrial took it fer his own steed. I be guessin’ he hurt his leg when Temvri, an’ his horse, died. ‘E didn’t limp, last I seen ‘im.”

  Almost as if Lyrial knew that he was being mocked, he began a gutteral chanting, the harsh dissonances reaching them over the din of the battle. A black birdlike form emerged from the mage, flew over the battle and the goblins, then swooped down toward the four warriors where they waited.

  Saul opened his mouth as if to speak, but stopped when Gem began singing a counterspell. The bird form faded into nothingness before it reached the group.

  Lyrial paused for a few heartbeats, then resumed his advance, holding Lord Grey’s cage over his head like a lantern and chanting a new spell. This manifested as a swarm of black wasps, which flew with supernatural speed across the distance. This time, Gem’s counterspell caused the wasps to falter, but did not successfully unweave the spell.

  Saul’s clear tenor sang a second counterspell, and the wasps dissolved into a fine black dust which dispersed harmlessly.

  The goblins had now crossed half the distance, but still they didn’t pick up the pace. Lian could see that some of them were limping and in general they looked worn out. Still, they would be deadly when they reached the foursome.

  The goblin advance was further slowed by sliding to Lian’s left to avoid becoming entangled in the chaotic fight between the ghouls and the wolves.

  Lyrial hurled another spell similar to his first toward them, but focused through the skull of Lord Grey in the same manner as the second. This one Saul deflected by sacrificing his golden shield, depleting its energy to create a hemispherical shield over them.

  “How’s he doing that?” muttered Saul, referring to the fact that the spells Lyrial were casting were tightly woven and difficult to counter. Such skillful magics were beyond the abilities of a necromancer of his apparent rank.

  “It’s the skull,” Lian said. “It’s a magical focus for necromancy.”

  Saul looked at the prince. “How do you know that?” he asked.

  “Now’s not the time,” Lian replied. “We need to do something about his spells.”

  Saul nodded. “I can’t throw offensive spells at him while he’s projecting that kind of power. And I’m betting he’s shielded—” Saul broke off, for Lyrial was singing a new spell. He began a counter-chant, which was joined by Gem. Saul fed strength into her counterspell, and they managed to dispel Lyrial’s sorcery before it even took shape.

  Teg had been gathering boulders during this exchange, leaving the magic to those who understood it. From time to time, he stopped to watch the fight between the animals and the Undead, and at these times Snarl would change tactics. Lian realized that he had been dim not to realize that Snarl’s behavior was dictated by Teg.

  The big ogre might be slow of speech and somewhat childlike, but he was definitely not stupid.

  The goblin formation had initiated a chant of, “Traitor! Kill the traitor! Traitor!” in Govlikel, and Lian saw Snog steel himself. Lian silently vowed not to let the scout be taken alive if he could help it.

  The ogre picked up one particularly round rock and said, “Kill boggles now?”

  Lian said, “Yes. It’s time.”

  Teg’s first throw hit in the center of a formation, and although it didn’t kill any goblins, it maimed three of them. They lay screaming on the ground. Snog and Lian both fired at goblins on the front rank, reasoning that if they missed there was a chance they’d hit one in the following ranks.

  Snog dropped his target with a shot through the stomach, but Lian’s bolt strayed low, hitting nothing. The bolts of the scouts’ unfamiliar crossbows were heavy indeed, more suited for short range work against a heavily armored foe than for battlefield volleys.

  The goblins interpreted the attack as their signal to charge, and broke into a run.

  Lyrial simultaneously launched another spell, this one a crackling bolt of lightning directed toward Saul, which unexpectedly grounded into the earth long before it reached the ranger.

  Gem said, One more and I’m done. The counterspell for the lightning had taken a heavy toll on her.

  “My sword’s got one counterspell left,” Lian said as he winched the cranequin as fast as he could. There would be time for one more shot before the goblins reached throwing distance.

  Behind the goblins, a new spell was taking form. Four black tendrils of power formed, streaming outward from Lord Grey and racing toward the backs of the goblins.

  “What in the hells?” Saul exclaimed.

  An enraged Lyrial ripped open the cage that held the skull, and Lian somehow knew that the spell wasn’t directed at them. Gilaeshar never told us that Grey couldn’t aim spells at the servants of the bearer, did he? he asked Gem.

  She was too amazed to reply.

  The necromancer vainly attempted to counterspell, but he was too late. The tendrils had transformed into the tentacles of a ghastly, otherworldly beast by the time they reached the goblins, and now they reached forward and grasped two or three goblins apiece. There were terrible shrieks of agony as the goblin victims were torn in halves and thirds; shrieks that were cut mercifully short in most cases. The goblins scattered, most of the survivors turning in time to observe Lyrial complete his chant and throw the skull to the ground.

  Lian realized with delight that goblins generally wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between an offensive spell and countermagic. The remainder of the goblin infantry came to a quick, unspoken consensus, and reversed their direction, charging at their erstwhile lord while steaming in rage.

  The goblins guarding Lyr
ial knew the truth, but were hesitant to defend the mage from the attacking infantry, already nearing ax range. One goblin, standing behind his lord, reached in with his short sword and stabbed the necromancer in the back.

  The treacherous goblin was consumed in black flame as Lyrial turned his head and sang a single ruthless, prolonged syllable. As if he were unaware of the sword protruding from his back, he extracted a short wand and instantly black lightning flashed into existence around him, forming a protective ring ten feet tall.

  The rest of the bodyguards fell back, holding their hands up, indicating that they no longer wanted anything to do with Lyrial.

  The goblins launched their axes, which disintegrated when they reached the barrier of black, crackling lightning. Fear of the mage’s power began to override their fury at his apparent betrayal, and the infantry passed beyond the barrier, heading back toward the woods.

  A second ring of lightning sprang from the ground encircling the spot where Lord Grey had landed, this one spinning in the opposite direction from Lyrial’s. It moved into Lyrial’s shield, apparently canceling out Lyrial’s spell. Lian thought at first that it had also destroyed the necromancer, since there was no sign of him.

  He was disappointed to discover that his first impression proved to be wrong, for Lyrial rose up from the earth, covered in mud and filth. He was growing as he strode away from the skull and toward his four opponents.

  Teg’s first rock pulled wide of the mage’s enlarging form, but the second one landed square in the chest. Instead of dropping him, however, it passed straight through the shape of the necromancer, temporarily leaving a gaping hole through which could be glimpsed the trees of the forest. The boulder narrowly missed a few of the retreating goblins as it continued unslowed by its passage through Lyrial’s body.

  Is he in there, or is this a trick? Lian asked Gem.

  I’d say Lyrial’s in there, but don’t ask me how to bring him down, Gem replied, weariness evident in her tone.

  Lyrial was seventy feet away from them when Saul cut loose with a magical strike of his own. This one struck from high in the sky. Fiery meteors rained from the heavens, but these too passed through the form of the earth and worm-covered mage. He had now grown to fifteen feet tall.

  Lyrial was forty feet away when a second bear hastened into the clearing from the north. “That’s Ysras,” Saul said, with relief in his tone, once Snog pointed out the newcomer.

  The bear stood up and began bellowing when it saw the earth-coated form of Lyrial.

  “Draw back,” Saul instructed, and the four of them pulled away from the earthy behemoth, which moved ever slower as its size increased.

  Teg’s pile of rocks vibrated and clattered, and Lian swore that they leapt at the necromancer. They, too, did little more than make holes in the form, but it was a lot of holes. The huge figure dropped to its hands and knees from the onslaught, but quickly recovered and rose, howling in mad rage.

  A flash of gold was all the warning Lian had that Gilaeshar had finished with the archers, when the head of the earth creature suddenly disappeared in a huge explosion of mud and worms. The gryphon emitted a bloodcurdling scream, pulling straight up and clearing its beak of dirt. It jackknifed over at the apex of its climb, and dove back to earth, the claws of its hind legs extended and its foreleg talons outstretched.

  The ogre carefully reasoned that an enemy’s enemy must therefore be a friend. At this conclusion, he dropped his club and charged toward the giant, arriving shortly after the gryphon landed on it. The two of them carved out great gobs of dirt, throwing the bits too far away to re-form into the whole.

  Saul and Lian cautiously approached the melee, concerned for both of their allies. Meanwhile, the druid bellowed a warning. Without any other signal, black lightning crackled from within the earthen mass, striking both Gilaeshar and Teg squarely. The magic-resistant gryphon continued its onslaught without pause, feathers singed but otherwise unhurt.

  Teg, however, was thrown nearly twenty feet from the fight by Lyrial’s latest spell, narrowly missing Snog as he landed limply and lay unmoving, smoke rising from his chest.

  Ysras began bellowing a strange, powerful song of his own.

  “No!” Lian and Saul screamed simultaneously, running within striking distance of the mage’s transformed body.

  The massive earth monster dissolved beneath the gryphon, leaving the filth-coated but unharmed necromancer out of reach at the edge of the dirt mound.

  Lyrial sang a fell song, notes which made Lian’s skin crawl, and a black-and-silver whirlwind formed about the gryphon, lifting it into the sky, tumbling and scrabbling for purchase.

  The two swordsmen charged in, but found their blades halted by a barrier only inches from Lyrial’s body. The shortsword was still embedded in his back.

  “I’ve had enough of you, blackrobe,” Saul pronounced, and began chanting his own song.

  Lian continued to press his attack, hoping that if Lyrial had to maintain his blade barrier, he’d be less able to counter Saul’s spell.

  The bear finished his bellowed song, and immediately, dark ominous clouds began to pour across the sky, flowing from every horizon to join in the center of the field, directly over the melee. Lian had seen druids – thankfully ones allied to his father – cast this kind of spell before, and when the cloud cover was complete, great thunderbolts would begin to rain down mercilessly on whomever the druid chose.

  Lyrial continued chanting his own spell, clutching a black diamond in one hand and his wand in his other. Gem exhausted her final reserves to sing a countermagic to his spell, robbing of its completion as the mana slipped away from his grasp.

  His cry of rage was cut short as Saul’s spell engulfed him in flames that made no smoke. The two warriors drew away from the burning sorcerer, and a crossbow bolt buried itself in his chest.

  Snog said from where he was reloading, “Had to check, milord.”

  The black clouds overhead, joining and swirling about the black robe’s head, spat a single tremendous lighting bolt, blinding and deafening Lian and the others. Gem alone was unaffected by the lightning, and she fed her senses into Lian’s mind. It was by virtue of her senses that he witnessed the body of the necromancer explode into thousands of pieces, driven to literal fragments by the mighty stroke. Where the pieces landed on the ground, they lay smouldering but unmoving.

  Lyrial the necromancer was dead.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “The God of the Undead is the Dark Corruptor, He-Whose-Name-Must-Not-Be-Spoken. He has dominion over most forms of Undead, from ghouls to spectres and liches. One category of Undead, however, does not fall under the Corruptor’s sway. The children of Lilith, the vampires, are not the Unspoken One’s servants, and thus avoid many of the weaknesses that befall other Undead. This is offset, of course, by the existence of the vampires’ own weaknesses, if one is so fortunate as to know them.”

  -- Introduction to “Vampires and their Mistress” by the Sage Alionur

  Saul said to Lian, “You and your blade watch those pieces! Damned necromancer might get up again.” Orders issued, the ranger raced to check on the ogre. As he ran, he caught the eye of the lead werewolf, and tossed his head angrily toward the retreating infantry.

  Two of the weres remained to complete the destruction of the ghouls, while the other five disengaged and tore off in pursuit of the goblins. Lian didn’t think their odds for escape were very good unless they split up into twos and threes.

  Examining Teg by virtue of Gem’s senses, he could discern that the ogre was still breathing, but it was very shallow. He listened to the rattling sound of Teg’s charred lungs, and recognized with heavy heart that the end was imminent for the big creature. Such wounds were beyond the abilities of mere healing potions to cure.

  Saul fell to his knees and gently cradled Teg’s great head. The ranger whispered intently to his friend, so softly that even Gem’s enhanced perceptions couldn’t overhear. The ogre struggled to reply, but was
too weak.

  Gem said aloud, “I can mindspeak to him if you wish it.”

  Saul looked up, pain and fury searing his features, yet he hesitated.

  Lian spoke, “We know you’re a vampire, Saul. And I can deduce what you’re asking him.”

  The ranger’s eyes flashed in the night, but he replied, “I’d be obliged, Alan, if you’d ask your blade to do so.”

  Teg, Gem sent to the ogre mentally. Can you hear me?

  Hurting hurting hurting can’t breathe can’t breathe hurting Who? Teg’s thoughts were so disconnected that it had taken him a bit to recognize that he had been spoken to.

  Saul asked you a question. Do you remember?

  Teg nodded vigorously mentally, while his body barely moved except for its struggles to breathe. He wanted to know if I would be his Companion.

  Lian, sharing the mindlink, asked, Do you understand what that means?

  Teg said, Alan? I didn’t think I could talk to your mind like this. You’re not an animal.

  Remember I told you my friends sometimes talk to my head? One of those friends is talking to you now, and letting me tag along.

  Oh. He wants me to be a vampire, right? the ogre asked, without any apparent fear of the concept.

  I think so, Gem said. Do you want that?

  Snarl will be sad if I die, but I don’t want him to be afraid of me if I let Saul change me. Can you ask Saul if Snarl will still like me? Teg’s mind was fading, and Gem tried to impart strength to the ogre, but found herself unable to supply any. Lian added his efforts, and managed to hold on to Teg’s consciousness through his mentor’s powers.

  Thank you, boy, the blade said privately. Are you sure you want me to relay his concern?