A lean hand gripped Venir by the bend in his arm. “Don’t you dare,” Melegal said in a barely audible hiss.
Venir pulled his arm free, seeing the underlings stride with sinister smiles that almost touched their earlobes. They moved deep into the barn and headed into the stable with the concealed tunnel. Two of the underlings stood outside the gate in a sentry-like position, chittering back and forth.
The old man crawled back into Venir’s presence. His mouth was bleeding. “I’d have lost a tooth if I had any left.” With a shaky finger he pointed. “They move to relieve and check the guard. It’s that time. The alarm will sound.”
“Not if I buy us more time.” Venir rose. “Billip, notch those strings. Hoff, come with me.”
The knight rose in a gentle rattle of metal. His face was stern.
“We’re better off slinking into the city.” Melegal’s voice filled with irritation. “Let them launch their own investigation. Buy some time.”
“They have to die anyway,” Venir replied. “The sooner we start, the better. Just keep a look out.”
“Slat.” Melegal grabbed Jasper. “Stay on my hip.”
Venir and Hoff waded out into the barn. Venir gave a huge smile. He slapped Hoff hard on the shoulder plate and added a stagger to the knight’s step. “You fight like a beggar!”
Hoff shoved him. “And you fight like a milk-fed halfling.” He added a hiccup.
The underlings at the end of the stable fixed wary eyes on the large men. They chittered back and forth with one another.
Venir caught the puzzlement in their chittering. Their gleaming eyes were fixed on him. The closer he got, the wider their eyes became. With his helmet boiling with anger and an axe slung over his brawny shoulder, he marched onward without any acknowledgement of the underlings. He and Hoff shoved each other. Billip and Nikkel glided behind them. They shouted insults at one another with a flourish.
The underlings barred their path with sharp steel drawn. Their eyes filled with anger at the man towering over them, yet a confused looked marred their gray, chiseled faces.
Venir felt their tempers rise with his own. The underlings flew into a frenzy. Helm caused it somehow, he knew. It fed his anger as well as theirs. Containing himself, he glowered down at the wiry humanoids. “Eh, we’ve been sent to relieve the others.”
“You are not royal guards,” one underling said in broken Common. He poked at Venir with a sharp sword. “Be gone or be gutted.”
Venir gave Hoff a glance. Without warning, the pair of men split left and right. From behind the fighters, Billip let loose his bowstring. The first arrow pierced an underling’s throat. The creature gurgled and clawed at the air.
Venir brought Brool down on the head of the other dismayed underling warrior. Slice! The underling’s skull gave way to sharpened steel, splitting to the neck. Black blood spilled into the dirt and straw. The smell of it sent Venir into a charge. He leapt into the stable and down to the pitch-black tunnel. With the armament fueling his efforts, he bore down on the other three underlings that traveled down the tunnel. They didn’t hear Venir coming. Slice! Slice! Slice!
He glided back out to the stable.
Billip and Hoff dragged the other dead underling inside the tunnel.
“What now?” Billip asked.
“Leave them behind the wall,” Venir said, gesturing toward the concealed tunnel. He gave a shrug. “Perhaps they’ll think it’s an accident.”
The old man crept into the stall. “Well done. It might create a stir, but at least they’re dead.” He sawed his elbow back and forth. “At this rate, you’ll have them all dead in another month or so.”
Venir moved out. “We don’t have a month. What’s the safest place for men like us in this city?”
“The ghettos, I suppose. Not that anywhere is safe.” He cackled and blinked his white caterpillar brows. “The worst of the worst still manage to thrive in there. You know the type.”
Just outside of the barn, Venir, Hoff, and Billip found Melegal and Jasper eyeing the local traffic. Melegal’s face because furious when he saw them. Storming up to Venir, he said, “Will you take off that bloody getup, you fool?”
“We’re safer with it than without it.”
“Put it away, you witless hound. We know these streets better than the underlings.” Melegal poked him in the chest. “Snap out of your fury.”
Venir unbuckled the strap and tugged the helmet off. His temper cooled. “Happy?”
“With that face? Never.” Melegal eyed them all. “Now, keep quiet, and follow me.”
CHAPTER 25
A lone sign hung over the front entrance to the tavern. The chains that held the wooden framework creaked in the dismal wind that did little to clear the stink of the alleys. The paint of the lettering appeared to be smeared in blood. Still, Melegal could read the words, which he knew as well as the cap that he wore—“The Drunken Octopus.”
Behind him, the corners of Venir’s mouth had turned up very slightly. The warrior’s blue eyes, which burned with an everlasting fire, studied the shamble of a sign as if it hung in his dreams. “I smell ale and stew.” He lifted his shoulders. “How bad can that be?”
The Drunken Octopus stood wedged between the framework of brick-and-mortar buildings that appeared to have fallen long ago. On the floors above the establishment were the small windows of rented apartments. But the tavern itself didn’t have any windows from which the sound and smell could escape.
Holding her elbows as if there was a chill in the muggy air, Jasper said, “Are we going in or not?”
Melegal held up a finger. He gave everyone a once-over. Other than Venir’s outlandish size and brutal frame, they might be able to pass without arousing suspicion. When they were weaving their way through the winding, sloppy streets and narrow alleys, they’d come upon hopeless people with their wills broken and their shoulders slumped. The citizens of Bish’s greatest city moved with the tentative feet of a nervous alley cat. None of them paid Melegal and company any mind. Heads down, they went on their way in a shuffle of feet so soft Melegal thought they could have been dead already.
He reached out and put his hand on the door. The vibrations of low voices coursed into his fingers. The tavern was normally a loud place, but at the moment, it was fairly quiet. He swallowed, wetting his throat. He gave Venir one more glance. “If there is one black fiend within, behave yourself.”
“Is that a jest?” Venir replied.
“It’s an order.”
“I don’t think—”
Melegal cut him off. “We’ll go in first. You three merchants of fire be still.”
Cracking his knuckles, Billip said, “Merchants of fire? What in Bish is that supposed to mean, you little rat?”
“Stay.” Melegal pushed the door inward. The metal hinges groaned. With Jasper’s hand clasped in his, Melegal entered a room full of the most solemn faces he’d ever seen. They eyed him for a moment, then their muttering lips returned to their drinks. He eased over to the bar and froze when another figure crossed his line of sight—an underling with eyes like amber walked by him as if he wasn’t there.
Jasper squeezed his hand. “We should go.”
Backing toward the bar, Melegal made a quick head count. Buried in the room were more underlings with evil smiles on their faces. A chain hung from a woman’s neck, attached to a metal collar. She sat on the floor like a dog. Her frizzy locks of honey-colored hair covered her eyes. An underling sitting at the table jerked the chain. The woman let out a bark.
Melegal eased into his stool. Jasper did the same. He twisted his head around, eyes searching for the barkeep. The old watchman, Sam, had his back to him. He scrubbed out a tankard with a cloth. Melegal said, “Got any rooms?”
Sam turned. His dark eyes flickered with recognition then faded. “No, but we have ale and something new called port.”
“I’m familiar with it,” Melegal replied, “but I prefer the tang of the purple wine.”
“Fine, but I’m pouring it in a tankard. The newcomers don’t care for it. They want port filling our gullets. Port of death they call it. Plenty of fresh blood has been spilled on this floor for drinking otherwise.” The barkeep filled two wooden tankards underneath the table. He clomped them down on the bar. “Watch your back, rat.”
One of the underlings in the rear, behind the fireplace where Melegal used to sit, let out a shrieking chitter. A barmaid half-clothed in rags rushed over. Another underling sitting at a different table tripped her. The fragile maiden’s elbows and knees rocked the planks. Chittering laughter broke out.
Melegal whispered in Jasper’s ear, “It’s a good thing Venir is not here.”
“I wouldn’t have any problem watching him split their heads.” She took her tankard in two hands and drank. “You sold me on how evil they are, remember?”
“I’m not trying to unravel that either, but not all wars are won with steel. Words and wile can have just as much of an effect.”
She gave him a look. “Master of everything, huh?”
“I used to read very much when I was young. I had privileges in the libraries of the castles.”
“Apparently, you didn’t read anything about drinking wine that tastes so slatty.” Her lips puckered. “Tang is an understatement. You like this?”
“As much as the blood in my veins. It’s an acquired taste I grew up on.”
She set the tankard down on the bar and said to Sam, “I think I’ll have the port.”
A man sitting stooped over the bar on the other side of Jasper stirred. He was layered in thick muscle up to his neck. He leaned back. “I’ll buy you that port, little sister.” He put a hand with knuckle tattoos on her thigh. “It would be my pleasure.”
Melegal leaned over. The man’s voice matched the sideburns that graced his square head like bad gardening. Their eyes met.
The sullen–eyed man said, “I know you.”
Melegal replied with a smile, “Well, if it isn’t Jeb.”
CHAPTER 26
A strange moment passed between Melegal and Jeb. Jeb had beaten the snot out of Melegal what seemed to have been an age ago. The wiry thief twisted in his stool. With a firm hand, he gathered Jasper behind him. “It astounds me how roaches like you manage to survive.”
“Me?” Jeb’s wooly unibrow creased. He pushed the sleeves up over his forearms. “You should have died on the floor the day we met. Where would you be if that fat woman hadn’t protected you? I would have kicked your guts out if not for that fat sack.” He threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, that was a sight.”
“Who’s he talking about?” Jasper said in Melegal’s ear.
“No one worth mentioning.” Melegal reflected on the Motley girls—Sis, Frigdah, and Haze. He missed Haze. The likes of Sis and Frigdah he could do without. Keeping his attention fixed on Jeb, he said, “I see you’ve lost the table.”
“Huh?” Jeb turned his greasy neck to the side, eyeballing the underlings in the back. He shook his mop of tangled hair and seemed to shrink a little. Lips curling, he said, “I’m letting them borrow it. As for you, well, did you come by for another whipping?” He gave Melegal a shove. “Huh?”
“Don’t touch me again,” Melegal said.
Teetering in his seat, Jeb gulped down more ale. He wiped the froth from his chin. “I say we go again!”
Sam snapped his towel in Jeb’s face. “Mind yourself, man!” he said under his breath. “We don’t need any more trouble.”
The underlings musing in the back ceased talking. The tavern quieted as they sat up in their seats, eyeing the men at the bar.
Jeb glanced at the underlings and looked away. He sulked over the bar. “They killed my men. Right in front of my eyes.” His rugged voice weakened. A sob croaked out. “Murder is a game to them.”
Melegal turned away from the underlings. He patted Jeb on the back as the brute slumped over the table. It was hard, but he did what was necessary to make the suspicious eyes turn away.
Jasper slipped onto the other side of Jeb and began rubbing the man’s back. “There, there,” she said, showing Melegal a little shrug.
“Well, don’t overdo it. This man is a—oh, never mind. At least he’s a man who bleeds red.”
Melegal said to Sam, “Tell me, are the black fiends at ease?”
“Aye. They’ve settled.”
“How many crawl inside these walls?”
“Just the ones on the floor. They hardly ever sleep. They roam in and out at night, but they don’t like to hear us talking much. It arouses suspicion.”
“And the rooms?”
“Many tenants never come out. I’m not even sure how they eat. Somehow, we manage to survive.” Sam tossed the rag over his shoulder. “Slat. They call. They’ll want to know who you are.”
“Just tell them the place we once lived burned.”
“Yeah, like they care.” Sam was starting to make his way down the tavern floor when Venir, Billip, Nikkel, and Hoff entered. Without breaking stride, he said, “Great slat.”
CHAPTER 27
Black Column was a series of jagged sheets of rock that appeared to have erupted from the ground to pierce the sky. The rugged slabs popped up for miles, making for rugged chasms and channels with many twists and turns. The dwarves scurried into small caves, storing supplies, while others climbed the rock with grappling hooks and rope. Above and all around, dwarves crouched like great birds on a rocky perch, spying their prey.
Kam rode on Chongo’s back with Erin sitting in the saddle in front of her. Ahead, Mood walked with the stride of a mountain king, leading her and the host of the dwarves through the shadowed columns. The break from the sun was welcome. The wind that whistled through the narrows cooled her sweat-damp face. She kissed the soft hair on the back of Erin’s head. Kam’s heart was heavy. Venir had barely been gone, and she missed him already. She wished she were by his side. But she understood. She had to take care of Erin. Chongo and Mood would take care of her and Erin. She couldn’t be in safer hands.
Inside the Black Columns, which lurked all around them like a forest of stone, the dwarves made camp and began setting their war machines on the high ledges and coves. The stout men went to task like bees around a hive. They didn’t stop until the work was done. Most rested on short legs with eyes open, humming solemn tunes. It did little for Kam’s longing, but it offered her sanctuary.
Mood turned around. With his great hands, he petted both of Chongo’s heads. “Care to go up, or do you want to stay in the draft?”
She eyed the spires. One in the center stood out among the others. Cone shaped at the base, it twisted in an upward spiral higher than the others. A ledge wound around it like a snake. It ended in a small plateau at the top as if a titan had chopped the stone cleanly off. She shrugged. “I’m certain Erin would enjoy the view. Perhaps she’ll get to kiss the clouds.”
“Aye. Let’s go, then.” Mood led the way.
Traversing the ledge, which was narrower than it originally appeared, Kam began to regret her decision. She pulled Erin in tighter. The little girl squealed and clapped her hands. Her round head turned as she peered all about. She pointed and cooed at the birds that soared from one jagged perch to another. Kam leaned over. The breadth of the ledge barely managed Chongo’s girth. Only jagged rocks were below them. Her stomach fluttered in a sickening way. There was no way to turn around. They could only move in one direction. Her breath became uneasy. Erin wriggled in the saddle. “Easy, little lady,” Kam said.
In an hour, which seemed like an eternity, they crested the plateau. The flat stone slanted toward the ground. Mood stood on the highest edge with his fists on his hips, smoking a cigar. With the suns sinking in the sky and the stiff winds stirring his beard, he said, “It’s a good place for thinking and smoking.” He turned and pointed. “Look. Like a checker on a sandy board, there lies Bone.”
The dwarf couldn’t have been more right. She’d never seen the City of Bone before, but its outlying
walls and framework were perfectly clear. Even though she could pinch the view of it between her fingers, she could tell that it was enormous. It would swallow the City of Three whole. “I never imagined it was so vast.”
“It was made for men bigger than the ones that are there,” Mood said.
“I see. So it’s big enough to hold Venir’s ego. No wonder he likes it.”
“Ho-ho! You said that right.” Mood rummaged through a sack hanging from Chongo’s saddle. He produced a brass spyglass almost as long as forearm. He stretched it out to full length and handed it to Kam. “Have a closer look.”
She put the spyglass to her eye. When she shifted the scope from side to side, the gargantuan city filled the lens. She counted castle after castle. There were dozens, tremendous in size, each one bigger than the ones in her home. “I never imagined.”
Chongo yawned.
Kam twisted her hips, scanning the outland’s horizon in all directions. She passed over a black blot coming from the southwest then locked on the sight. Her heart skipped. Underlings moved in like a plague of black locusts. “Mood, I think we’re going to have some visitors.”
The Blood Ranger took the spyglass and peered through it. In a huff of smoke, he said, “Good.”
CHAPTER 28
Venir looked down at the barkeep with a wary eye. “You jest.”
“I don’t,” Sam said. The hard-eyed veteran watchman wiped his greasy hands on his towel and gave a shrug. “Listen, Venir, we go back a ways, and this is as strange as anything I saw, but they request it.”
Jeb the brawler stuck his neck inside the crowd of men that included Melegal, Billip, Nikkel, and Hoff. “Go, do it. If they like you, they won’t kill you. But I’m betting on them killing at some point. They’ll kill us all eventually. Might as well have a good drink before you’re dead.”
The Darkslayer: Series 2 Special Edition (Bish and Bone Bundle Books 6-10): Sword and Sorcery Adventures Page 21
