Creed gaped. “Sonuvabish. I’m doomed.”
CHAPTER 10
Creed’s eyes fell on his detached sword hand. The skin was ashen. He bent over, pried his sword out of his right hand and picked it up. With his stump still bleeding, he said to Elypsa, “I can still dance.”
Every eye hung on the fencers, including Venir’s. But he was busy with something else. He pulled at the chain that collared his neck. His arms bulged. Muscles rippled. The chain groaned. Elypsa stuck Creed deep in the left shoulder. The sword fell from his fingers. The man was caked in sticky, free-flowing blood. His body swayed. He was speaking, but Venir couldn’t make out the words due to the buzz coming from the underlings. They howled for Creed’s death.
Creed sank to his knees. He lifted his chin. It was only moments before he bled out and died. Venir read the words on his lips. “Elypsa, take the sword to me. Sword master to sword master. I’ve earned it.”
She nodded.
A sharp pop of glass cracking cut into the rousing atmosphere. Heads turned up toward the ceiling. Many underlings gasped. Thirty feet high, the stained-glass dome cracked. Shadows shaped like men moved above it. Elypsa gave pause. Underlings came to their feet, chittering to one another.
Venir heaved against the chain. “Hurk!”
The glass shattered. Razor-sharp edges rained down in jagged chunks.
The chain snapped from the ring. Venir sprang into action. He grabbed the hair of his underling guards and slammed their faces together. The cartilage in their noses gave way. Teeth broke, and they sank.
Out of the corner of his eye, Venir caught Elypsa diving one way and Creed jumping another. Venir sprinted toward the stands. His eyes were locked on Sinway. No one had paid Venir any attention whatsoever. They were focused on the beasts that followed the stained-glass rain. Two bulks landed on the ground. One was a tarantula bigger than a horse. The other barked—Chongo. There were riders on the backs of each. Venir paid them no mind. He wanted Sinway. Chain in hand, he climbed into the stands. His fist broke an underling’s face. Sinway must die!
***
The startling sight of the monsters dropping through the dome sent every underling in the stands into a frenzy. Hands and fingers lit up with radiant energy. Bolts and darts of energy zinged through the air. The two-headed dog leapt into the stands. One of the beastly dog’s heads chomped down on an underling and tore the fiend apart.
Ebenezer’s sword snaked out of his scabbard. From his seat, he turned on the underlings behind him. He thrust his sword into their chests with two quick strikes.
The arena became a war room. There were men. There were shrieks. The battle was on.
“Sinway!” Manamus shouted to him. She was pointing. “This is it. Get him!”
The underling leader floated into the fray with his iron eyes burning. Lightning burst from his fingertips. Bolts of fiery energy ripped into the spider that spit webbing and chewed on an underling’s skull. A lengthy man and pale woman rode on the spider’s back. Their hairs stood on end. The woman, an intoxicating albino, turned the bolts aside with a wave of her hand.
Ebenezer surged after Master Sinway. A host of soldiers cut into his path. He split the closest underling’s head open with his broadsword. A second thrust gored another underling’s chest. The underling pack grew in number. They attacked with precision and speed. Ebenezer fought for his life, parry after riposte, metal clashing against metal. Vastly outnumbered, he’d soon be cut into ribbons.
***
“Hurry, Fogle!” Kam said. She, Nikkel, and Billip stood behind the mage.
The mage popped one portal open at the dome where Inky was pinned by webbing. Chongo darted into it. The spider, Archibald, ridden by Slim and Cass, took after the beast. It wasn’t the best plan, but it served a purpose. When the glass gave, Inky dropped to the arena floor as well. It gave Fogle another pinpoint location for the portal. Hands rotating in the air, he cast open another portal. A black doorway opened before him. On the other side chaos waged. Underling wizards fired fiery darts across the way. Underling soldiers charged with weapons.
“Let’s go find Venir!” Kam said. Flanked by Billip and Nikkel, they rushed out of the portal. Kam held the Orb of Negation outward. It sucked the mystic energy out of the room. The underlings screeched as their magic sizzled out. Chongo mauled the helpless fiends. Billip shot arrow after arrow into chests and faces. Nikkel shot through two underling warriors, charging them at point-blank range.
Underlings were falling, but there were scores of them left. The small group was outnumbered ten to one.
“Do you see Venir?” Kam kept the portal at her back and the orb up in the air as she searched the fracas.
“There!” Mikkel pointed into the stands as he reloaded his heavy crossbow.
A monstrous man plowed into the underlings. His punches were hammers. He slung the gathering fiends aside like children. He choked one by the neck with a chain. The warrior stormed toward the iron-eyed underling, Master Sinway.
Sinway’s cold stare locked on Kam. She lost her breath. The air turned cold in her lungs. He pointed his sharp-nailed finger right at her. A red missile shot out of his fingertip. It made a straight line for her heart. Inches from her chest it fizzled out.
“Blast, that was close!” she said. The Orb of Negation held off his all-powerful attack. The plan was working. She shouted after Venir. The wild warrior caught her eye. His expression turned to worry. Kam’s neck hairs prickled. A sharp pain exploded in her side. The orb slipped from her fingers. Her blood went cold. She looked at the figure beside her. Elypsa slid her sword out of Kam’s ribs and laughed.
CHAPTER 11
“Mum! Mum!” Erin cried out from the other side of the portal located in the barn. She strained to wriggle free of Jubilee’s arms.
Fogle’s heart quavered. Kam’s body slid off the underling’s sword. The life in Kam’s eyes was gone. The female underling with cotton-white hair tossed her head back and laughed. Fogle’s hand charged up with mystic light. He fired a blast of energy from his fingers. The light smacked Kam’s slayer square in the chest. The little woman flipped head over heels before smacking into the wall.
A tremor shook Fogle to the core. He turned. Master Sinway was staring right at him. The marrow in his bones heated up. His body burst out in sweat. He reached for Kam’s fallen body.
Twisting at the wrist, Master Sinway clenched a fist while saying a word of power in underling.
Fogle’s portal collapsed. He fell to his knees. “Noooooooooooooo!”
Flushed, Jubilee cradled Erin in her arms. “What just happened, Fogle?”
His fingers clawed at his head. Kam was slain right before his eyes. Right before her daughter’s eyes. The little girl’s face streamed with tears. “Mum! Mum!”
Teary eyed, Jubilee said, “You need to open the portal. Open it, Fogle. They’re trapped over there!”
Listless, Fogle patted the ground, absentmindedly searching for his spell book. He touched the tome and picked it up awkwardly. Everything that happened seemed surreal. Kam was dead. Everyone was trapped on the other side. They would die as well. In that brief interlude, he’d felt Sinway’s power. He didn’t have the strength to match it. Leafing through the pages, his fingers trembled.
Jubilee rocked Erin in her arms. “Sssh, sssh, ssssh, it will be all right, little Erin. It will be all right.”
Erin’s cries were muffled in Jubilee’s shoulder. “Mum. Mum. Mum.” She sobbed. “No, Mum.”
“Fogle, get it together,” Jubilee said. “You have to do something. Do something now.”
His mind was a cloud. He studied the pages, but he couldn’t read anything. Kam was cut down in cold blood. Just like that, she was gone. Guilt overwhelmed him. Tears filled his eyes.
Jubilee walked over to him on her knees and slapped him hard in the face. “Now is not the time for crying! More will die if you don’t open a portal over there! If you care about Kam, avenge her!”
He nod
ded. “Yes, you are right.” He sniffed. Trying to straighten himself, he focused on the pages in the book. He didn’t need them. He just needed to connect with Inky. With an aching heart, he fumbled with the words needed to open another portal. The syllables didn’t come easy. A portal door started to open. It fizzled away. “I can’t,” he moaned.
Holding Erin tight, Jubilee stood and kicked him in the shin. “You have to do it, or all of them will die!”
***
With half a dozen wounds, Ebenezer thrust through an underling’s guard. The broad sword pierced its throat. Glitch! It gurgled blood. Ebenezer held his wounded side. He parried a flurry of swords strokes, lost his footing on the bleachers, and went down.
The underlings pounced. Their steely swords were moments from pinning him to the seat. The fiends stopped midflight. In the wink of an eye, they were flung over the wall into the arena by an unseen force.
“Ebenezer, come to your mother!” Manamus had a handful of underlings strung up by golden mystic cords. She waved him up to her with the other hand.
He bounded up the steps, fighting off more underling aggressors. He slashed an underling’s leg off at the knee. “What is your plan?”
Her eyes slid toward Master Sinway, who was fighting alongside Kuurn. The pair assaulted the dog and spider with a barrage of mystic artillery. “We have one shot at him. We can take it or we can go,” Manamus said. “But we’ll have no home left after today.”
Ebenezer blocked an underling’s sword strike. Bang! He stabbed it in the neck. Wrenching his sword free, he said, “I was born here, I’ll die here.”
With a flicker in her stone-cold eyes, Manamus said, “Then what are you waiting for, child? This is our castle. Take it to them!”
Ebenezer waded into the frock of underlings, unleashing deadly thrusts and key strokes. Beside him, Manamus flicked her wrists in scooping motions. Underlings flipped high in the air and across the arena. An underling blindsided Ebenezer, swinging at his head. An arrow zipped right past his eyes and into the underling’s throat. He gave a nod to the archer firing arrows, one after the other into the crowd.
Manamus uttered a word of command. “Tuukah-Rieen!” A black orb lying in the arena flew across the room and into her hand. She squealed. “The Orb of Negation! I delight!”
At that moment, Master Sinway turned his focus on the mother and son pair. Kuurn faced them as well. Both underlings glowered at them.
Stepping in front of Ebenezer, Manamus addressed Master Sinway in a haughty voice, “Get the Bish out of our castle, underling! You have no power over me now!” The orb hummed. An unseen force sliced through the air. All of the underling spellcasting faded.
Master Sinway hissed. “Only a fool would think that bauble can harness me.” His eyes bore into hers.
Manamus stared right back. “Only a fool would challenge me in my own castle! Death to you, Master Sinway! Death to all underlings!” She flexed her mystic strength. Shockwaves busted up the seats in the bleachers. Master Sinway, Kuurn, and many other underlings stumbled. Sinway was on his knees. “Surrender!”
Rising from the seats, Sinway hovered over the ground. His fingertips glowed red. “You have gravely underestimated your enemy.” He opened his palms. The orb ripped free of Manamus’s fingers and flew right into his hand. He held the orb in his palms. It smoked, sizzled, and dust drained through his fingers. “Time to die, Manamus.”
CHAPTER 12
Venir’s knees buckled the moment he saw Elypsa slide the sword out and Kam fell. The fight left him for a fleeting moment. The underlings piled on him. He collapsed into the seats. Fists struck his face. Something stabbed into his body. These weren’t the soldiers, but more common underlings, in robes, temporarily stripped of their powers.
Sadness turned to anger. Life flowed back into his fingers, and they locked around an underling’s throat. He crushed the fiend’s windpipe. His arms started pumping. His fists smashed faces and caved in chests. Erupting out of the flock with a guttural roar, Venir knocked an underling out cold. He threw another out of the stands.
“You will pay! You will all pay!”
He savagely beat underlings bloody with the length of chain attached to his neck. He whipped it over his head, striking faces with loud snaps. The robed underlings were helpless against the assault. Soldiers finally came. Reinforcements. Many were bare chested, and others were in armor. They wore the bones of their enemies like jewelry. Heads were shaven, bald in some cases and others in mohawk and other designs. They struck at Venir, coming in low and fast, carrying wavy blades in their fingers.
“Taste my steel, fiends!” Swinging the chain, Venir took a badoon warrior from its feet. Inches from destroying another underling with a kick to the face, Venir was hoisted out of the stands by the neck. Above him, an underling mage floated. It was pulling him up by the chain like a man hanging from a rope. “Curse you!”
The blue-eyed underling spit down on Venir. It chittered with triumph.
Venir hung by his neck over the arena. His toes dangled eight feet from the ground. He saw Kam, bleeding out, lifeless. Fire ran through his bones. He looked up. Grabbing the chain over his head, he climbed up, hand over hand.
“I’m coming for you!”
The underling’s eyes grew. It let out a desperate chitter. A mystic missile shot after Venir. The underlings had regained their powers. The energy jangled his body. It sizzled his skin. He convulsed, held fast, and continued the climb. Less than a foot from the underling’s toes, Venir hung by one arm and swung himself upward. His fingers locked on the underling’s ankle. He yanked so hard the leg popped out of the socket.
The underling howled.
They tumbled to the ground. Venir landed hard on top of it. Its rib cage caved in. Venir scrambled over to Kam and scooped her into his arms. “Kam! Kam! Stay with me, Kam. Don’t die on me.”
She wasn’t moving. Her body was clammy and cold.
Venir choked. “Nooo!” His hairs rose on end. He turned. Fogle and Jubilee stood inside a barn on the other side of a portal that had formed. He set Kam on the other side of the portal. “Bury her for me.”
Fogle gave a stiff nod.
Venir reached out and touched Erin with his blood-stained fingers. “Be strong, little girl.” Venir called out to the others in the arena, “Brak! Slim! Get out of here, now!” He grabbed Nikkel and Billip by the collars and flung them through the portal.
The spider collapsed underneath a barrage of mystic missiles. It twitched as it burned. Slim ran for the portal, carrying Cass in his arms. They dived through.
“Brak! Chongo! Come!”
The beast had separated from the man. Brak was in the stands, laying the cudgel, Spine Breaker, upside underlings’ heads. The whites of his eyes were showing.
“He’s gone berserk,” Jubilee cried out. “You’ll never get him back!”
“The Bish I won’t.” Venir started forward.
Billip jerked him back by the chain. “Wait for us.”
The air around them shimmered. The portal collapsed. It snipped the chain, leaving only a few lengths attached to the collar on his neck. Venir picked up the first sword he could find. Grabbing a dead underling by its coat of mail, he used it as a shield and charged the stands. “Huzzah!”
***
Manamus and Master Sinway took to the air. Lightning streaked from their fingertips. Manamus slammed into the wall, her clothes smoking and her wits momentarily jangled. On command, she summoned the wooden benches to life. The planks snapped from their fasteners and shot into the air. They made a coffin around Master Sinway. Using her mind, she caught it on fire.
The flaming coffin burst into fiery cinders. Master Sinway swooped across the stands and clamped his finger over her throat. “You are formidable but pitiful at the same time, human witch. A shame you weren’t wise enough to prove yourself useful.”
She spat in his face. “I’ve seen it myself. You will die one day.”
“Yes, perhaps a day a t
housand years from now.” He fastened his eyes on hers. “Enjoy your immortality in the grave.”
In the distance, a horrified Ebenezer screamed, “Mother!”
“Son, you were always my pride!” Manamus’s eyes started to smoke. Her blood simmered. She shrieked like a thousand banshees. Her skin hardened into char. Her blood became burning embers, and her entire body turned into ash. Nothing was left but her robes.
CHAPTER 13
Georgio woke with the suns glaring in his eyes. Blinking, he wiped the drool from his mouth. He lay in a bed of hot sand. A fierce wind full of sand grains stung his face. He jumped to his feet. “I see the suns! I see the suns!” He spread his arms out wide. “Thank Bish, I see the suns!”
A bug flew in his mouth.
He coughed, sputtered, and swallowed it. “Yecht!”
Endless stretches of the barren land went on for leagues. It was nothing but rocks, dirt, and sand, with very sparse vegetation from the bone trees and cacti that stood against the wind. As foreboding as the landscape was, it still brought a smile to his face.
“Say, where’s Barton?”
The giant was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Lefty. Cupping his hands over his mouth, he called out. “Lefty! Lefty!” A lizard with a red tail scurried past his feet, stopped, flicked its tongue, and vanished into a crack in the ground. “Oh great, now I’ve lost them, or they lost me.”
Behind him the Mist loomed miles away, stretching up higher than the eye could see. He shivered. “I don’t care if they are back in there. I’m not going that way.”
He dusted the sand from his curly hair while searching the ground. The winds were wearing footprints ten times the size of his away. He followed them at a trot. Half a mile into it, his mouth was dry as a bone, and his clothing was drenched in sweat. “Bone, I forgot how hot it is.”
The Darkslayer: Series 2 Special Edition (Bish and Bone Bundle Books 6-10): Sword and Sorcery Adventures Page 43
