The Darkslayer: Series 2 Special Edition (Bish and Bone Bundle Books 6-10): Sword and Sorcery Adventures

by Craig Halloran

  The dragon ravaging the towers was a thing of beauty.

  “So much for those towering infernos.” Melegal sheathed his dagger and started back on his coffee. “I’ll save my energy for later.”

  Blackie disappeared for a long time after he’d torched every tower that Venir could see. He assumed the dragon flew around the facility. But, despite the victory over the towers, the underling troops on the ground kept coming. The spider riders went up the wall. Another strong force of underlings renewed their savage assault on the gate. The dwarves renewed their clash with the underlings.

  Pointing toward the sky, Melegal said, “He’s coming back.”

  Blackie circled and made a soft landing inside the East Gate plaza. Venir was the first one to climb down and greet them. Cass remained in the dragon’s saddle, while Boon climbed down. He was followed by a bearded, beefy man with a head full of curly brown hair down to his shoulders. The man stood almost as tall as Venir, but had his back to him. “Boon, your arrival couldn’t have come at a better time. Who is this that you brought with you?”

  “Venir!” The man with his back to Venir turned. “It’s me, Georgio!”

  Almost dropping his axe, he said, “Georgio?” He stuck Brool in the ground and swallowed the young man up in his arms. “Hah! I can’t believe you’re alive!”

  Returning the warm embrace, Georgio said, “I knew I’d find you where the action is. Oh, and I’m not the only one that’s still alive, either.” He turned toward Blackie.

  Lefty stood behind the dragon’s wing, gently waving. Georgio and Lefty had the appearance of men who were five years older. Whatever hardship they’d been through showed up in the creases in their young faces. “What are you waiting for, Lefty? Come down and let me see you.”

  The blond-headed halfling hopped to the ground in a single bound. He found himself face-to-face with Melegal.

  CHAPTER 26

  With an angry thought, Master Sinway turned a castle wall into a pile of rubble. Before he got his anger under control, the furniture in the room busted into splinters. Every crystal on the chandeliers shattered into powdery fragments that dusted the marble floor and lavish carpets.

  Elypsa stood rigidly, half inside the mouth of a massive fireplace, throughout the entire escapade. Her heart fluttered. There was a dead underling on the floor. She had a sense of Master Sinway’s power, but she’d never felt it so close before. She was left with a strong impression that he could take down the entire castle if he wanted to.

  “A dragon, of all things. A dragon.” His chest heaved underneath his robes. His iron eyes still had a hot glow to them. “One can never predict what will crawl out of the Under-Bish. First giants, and now this.”

  When one of Master Sinway’s commanders brought the startling information about the dragon attack on the siege towers, the entire building shook. Master Sinway had lashed out at his commander, a juegen with hard ruby eyes, and sent the man flying through the air into a stone wall. The juegen still lay dead by the wall. There was black-red blood on the stone that had crushed his skull. Elypsa could still hear the distinctive smack of skull against stone. It was like a ripe melon busting open. She stepped out of the fireplace. Her feet stirred the rubble. She froze.

  “Fear not, Elypsa. You are not going to be the source of my wrath. The humans and dwarves will be.” He floated downward until his robe-covered feet hit the ground. “Even I’m not above a temper tantrum, but I feel much better now.” With his fist clutched at his chest, he said, “Sometimes, you just have to let a little out. Little is what you saw, Elypsa. There is more.”

  “You’ve certainly convinced me, Master Sinway, though I didn’t need it.”

  “Sure you did. You doubted me. But even I have had doubts, Elypsa. Few, but I’ve had them. When one rises to the top like me, he has to expect anything. When anything happens, adapt and move on. It’s time to move on.”

  “I’m eager. Will you share how to contend with this dragon?”

  “It’s not the dragon that I’m concerned about contending with. Even such a grand beast’s powers are limited.” He started walking out of the deteriorating room and into the hall. “It’s that armament. It has powers that I cannot comprehend.”

  Trailing along behind him, she said, “I see. It’s unpredictable.”

  “And powerful. Yet, forgettable. Long ago, and on more than one occasion, the armament served the underlings. Warriors such as you wielded it. Magi like your brothers Verbard and Catten, too. The armament is a shadowy thing. Just when you think you control it, it moves on, manifesting itself with different powers in a different place.” Sinway dusted the crystal fragments from his shoulders. “But now the armament is content in the hands of one man. It’s far from typical.”

  “Let me help you,” she said, using her hands to dust off his robes. “So, you have been in this situation before?”

  “Not on such a severe level. No, the world changed the moment Trinos and Scorch entered our midst. They poisoned our well.” His eyes flashed with a deeper anger. His hands clutched at thin air. “I was close, so close to having it all. And I will have it all when I take down this Darkslayer.”

  “Can he be killed?”

  “You saw what happened in that arena. The armament is with the man. But such power is too much for any mortal body to control for long. It will ravage him. His mind cannot control it. I will provoke him, leaving him with no alternative but to destroy himself.” Sinway’s feet lifted from the ground again. “It must happen.”

  “I fought this man, and he did quite well on his own, Master Sinway. Please forgive my ignorance, but if many such as I attacked at once, could we not kill him? We could turn his flesh into fragments, just like you did that wall.”

  “I appreciate your spirit, and though what you suggest sounds reasonable, there is a problem. We’ve tried exactly what you speak of, and no one has killed the man yet.” Sinway stopped in the middle of the hallway. There was a grand chandelier wrought from gold that hung high on the ceiling. The candelabras on the walls cast a flickering light on the chandelier’s bright crystals. “Do you see those stones that sparkle so brightly as the stars?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you imagine each crystal being a world of its own?”

  “No.”

  “There was a time in my life when I couldn’t either, but now I can. Here I thought I had it all on this paltry world; instead, I realize, I have nothing.” He wiggled his fingers. The crystals in the chandelier quavered. “The armament is the key to it all. I must unlock it.”

  The words Master Sinway spoke were beyond her. How could the most powerful underling in Bish feel as if he had nothing? Studying the chandelier, she said, “I want to make you happy, Master Sinway.”

  He looked her in the eye. “Elypsa, I’ll probably never be happy until I can control this world and all of the others. In the meantime, there is still a puzzle that I must unravel. At least I have that much to keep me going. Now, let’s take the next step in our war for the City of Bone. Go, summon my commanders. I wish to meet with them before nightfall.”

  “What happens at nightfall?’

  “Carnage and decimation.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Sitting on a bench inside the Castle Kling courtyard, Georgio scarfed down hunks of cheese and jerky. He hadn’t stopped eating since he got his first plate of food, and every hard bit was mouthwatering and delightful. He couldn’t remember how long since he’d had a hunk of meat, but it felt like years.

  “I’ll never move away from meat again,” he said.

  Venir stood nearby having a conversation with Melegal and Lefty. He walked over. “There’s not much to choose from in the Mist, is there?”

  “There was a lot of fruit, which was tasty, but it wasn’t the same.” Georgio swallowed his food and washed it down with ale. “I hope I never see the Mist again.”

  “It takes a toll on you. You’ve aged.” Venir dusted Georgio’s locks with his hand. “You carry it w
ell, though. I’m glad you’re back, Georgio. Things aren’t the same without you.”

  “I missed you too, Venir. Not Melegal so much, if at all. Is Quickster still around?”

  “Yes,” Melegal said, “and no thanks to you.”

  “Some things won’t change, I suppose,” Georgio said.

  The war that had been going on all day in the city had finally come to a rest. Many of the wounded soldiers were being carried into the castle for treatment. Cass was helping. Her fetching figure caught Georgio’s eye several times. Through the castle’s pedestrian gate, a mountain of a man entered who towered over Venir. He carried a blood-smeared cudgel. The sullen-eyed man nodded to Venir, then his eyes caught Georgio. He stopped in his tracks. His head tipped over his shoulder. The two men behind him, faces weary from battle, nearly bumped into him. One carried a bow, the other a crossbow and club.

  The young black man said, “Keep moving, Brak.” He looked Georgio’s direction.

  Billip stepped around the two young men. “What are the two of you gawking at?” He followed their line of sight. “Huh.”

  Georgio started to rise to his feet.

  “Georgio?” Nikkel said. The smile that long hours of battle took from his face returned. “Georgio! Tell me it’s you!”

  Georgio nodded. Venir confirmed it. “It’s him. What does he have to do, slap you in the face to believe it?”

  “Ha-Ha!” Nikkel and Brak ran over to him. They threw their arms around him and squeezed him half to death. “Yes! Welcome back, Georgio!”

  “I didn’t come back alone, either.” Georgio pointed at Lefty, who was trying to hide behind Melegal.

  “Don’t crush me,” the halfling said.

  All of the young warriors gathered together, slapping backs, shaking hands, and hugging one another. Before long, they were in their own world, having excited conversations about their escapades, their spirits renewed.

  ***

  “Young folk,” Billip said to Venir. They’d taken a seat in the courtyard and began eating.

  “We aren’t so old,” Venir replied.

  “No, but I know that you feel it. I swear, the more I walk, the more my bones rattle.”

  “It’s all in your head.” Venir spied the dragon rising high in the sky and out of sight. He couldn’t tell if Boon rode the dragon or not. Blackie appeared to be alone.

  Cass approached. “You worry the dragon won’t return, don’t you, Venir?”

  “No. There aren’t many things a man can count on, especially monsters, but I’m glad he brought back my friends.”

  “Blackie is far more noble than any man.”

  “If you say so. Would you like to join us?”

  “No.” She brushed her white locks over her shoulder. “No, I have plenty of stitching to do. In the meantime, try to keep yourselves together. I’ve a feeling that we’ll be running out of thread soon.” With a naturally seductive swagger, she walked away.

  “She really has a fine bottom,” Billip said as he nibbled a stick of cheese. “A fine everything, actually, but chiefly the bottom.”

  “There’s nothing more tantalizing than a deranged and witchy woman,” Melegal said from a shadowy spot behind him. “The likes of her makes stars of your eyes. But she’s far too sophisticated for a grunt like you, Billip.”

  “As compared to who, a hen of a man like you?”

  Melegal laughed. Stepping out of his spot, he said to Venir, “We’ve lived to fight and die another day. Now what?”

  “Mood will come soon and we will meet. Dragons or no dragons, what we’re doing here isn’t getting it done.” He rubbed the fingers of one hand together. “I’ve fought underlings all my life. The way they attack is abnormal. Something we aren’t seeing is going on.”

  “If you had the helmet on,” Nikkel suggested, “perhaps we could foil their plans. That’s usually how it works. Isn’t it?”

  “No, there are too many. When that time comes, it comes,” Venir said.

  “Ah, yes,” Melegal remarked. “Nikkel shared with me the incident in the cell. I thought he was exaggerating.”

  “If only he was,” Venir said. “We need to round up those mages and see if they have come up with anything. We need another shot at Master Sinway. He needs to be rousted. If we only had someone on the inside.”

  “Maybe we can disguise you as an underling, Billip?” Melegal said. “If we paint your skin gray, with those hairy arms, you’d be perfect. Or maybe we could try you as a small, but very attractive orc. I think it’s doable.”

  Billip frowned. “Har, har, rogue. Stand there and joke all that you want, but how many of our enemies have your jests killed? Not a one, I reckon.”

  Melegal checked his dark launchers. “I’m just waiting for the big moment.”

  Billip dusted the bread crumbs from his hands. “Then you’ll be waiting a long time.” He stood. “I’ll see if I can track down Mood. I want to hear the plan and get some shut-eye.”

  “War makes people so edgy,” Melegal said. “And I thought I was edgy.”

  “I have to say, I’m not unaccustomed to your current disposition. It makes me a little suspicious.” Venir swallowed a mouthful of ale. “Ah. Why don’t you see if you can track down Fogle before my own eyes get too heavy?”

  Melegal nodded and backed away. “I don’t think the fighting is making you tired. I believe it’s those big words that you are unaccustomed to using, lout.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Fogle and Boon reunited inside one of the abandoned clothing stores that sat on the other side of the Royal Roadway across from the castles. Many of the buildings had been taken over by the troops and were being used for shelter, supplies, and planning. There were a handful of dwarves propped up and resting against the walls. One of them was a blood ranger. He stood in the doorway with his back to them.

  “Keep flipping,” Boon said to Fogle. His eyes were beacons of light, the same as Fogle’s, which mystically illuminated the pages and enhanced their sight. They’d been scouring the hundreds of spells in the book for hours. They took long breaks as they took turns memorizing some of them. “I know it’s in here.”

  “I told you, some of the pages were ripped up,” Fogle said. He’d lost some of the pages in the Red Clay forest when Rane, an old nemesis of his, destroyed them while he had Fogle imprisoned. “And it might help if you told me what spell you were looking for?”

  “It’s a very simple spell.” Boon ran his hand over page after page. “You would like it. It suits you.”

  “So, I’m to believe that a simple spell will destroy the underlings?” As Fogle recalled, Boon alluded to the fact that there was a spell in the book that would wipe out the entire race. But, it was on one of the pages that had been ripped out. The bad news almost put Boon in a fit of rage. “Boon, listen to me. I’ve had the book for a long time. I’m very familiar with it. Just tell me the name and let me look.”

  Boon looked him dead on. “No.”

  “You sound like a child.” He reached for the book. Boon pulled it away. “And you are acting like one.”

  “It’s a mage thing. It’s my spellbook, and if I can’t find what I wrote in it, well, then that’s disgraceful. Just give me a few more moments and I’ll have it.”

  Hands up, Fogle backed away. “Have it your way, Magic King. I was only trying to help.”

  “Yes, well, you’ve been plenty helpful. Now watch an old man do his work. It should provide a learning experience for you.”

  “Of course.”

  Boon set the book down on the table, started at the beginning again, and ran his finger down every page of the heavy tome.

  Fogle sighed. One thing Boon was notorious for was saving parchment. He’d finish a spell in the middle of the page and start another. It made it difficult to track them down, but given the size of the book and the number of pages, it ended up saving a lot of room. It was only later that a spell was created that shrank the big book, but even so, it still needed to be big enough
to read. With a word, Fogle let his bright eyes go out. He rubbed them. “I think I’ll have a seat. If I sleep, just wake me when you are—”

  “Found it!” Boon’s finger pecked the page in the book. “Found it! I must have overlooked it once or twice… three times, maybe. Come, Fogle. Come.”

  He shuffled over and looked at the title beside Boon’s thumb in the middle of the right-sided page. “Mending?”

  “Yes.”

  Fogle’s chin hit his chest. “What good is that going to do? Will fixing the torn stitches on our robes terrify the underlings? I was expecting something much more involved than that.”

  Boon shook his head. “You never could see the bigger picture. You see, when I started writing this book, and my spells became numerous, I realized that there was always a possibility of losing them. After all, it’s not uncommon for one vengeful mage to rip out the pages of another’s book.”

  “True. I’ve seen teachers do it to students, though it never happened to me.”

  “Of course not, you are a Boon. As I was saying, I made some modifications to this lesser mending spell. Whereas it was used for clothing, pottery, and tinkering with leather, I added a deeper level of restoration. I created this spell particularly for this book. I can restore the lost pages.”

  “Why didn’t you mention that before?”

  “I’m old and I was younger than you when I wrote it. You can’t expect me to remember everything, but as I soared the skies above on the dragon’s back, I found… clarity.”

  Fogle gestured at the book. “Do your best, Grandfather.”

  Boon gave him a quick little wink. Focusing on the words of the spell, he began to read out loud. The mystic words he said had a poetic rhythm to them. Fogle found himself in the harmony that stifled the air in the room. Boon’s utterings diminished. The spellbook shifted. The pages leafed back and forth with a life of their own, stirring the room with a noble breeze. There was a crinkling sound of parchment. The book slammed shut on its own. “Let’s take a look.”