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

by Craig Halloran

  Gingerly, Boon opened the book and leafed through the pages. Fogle could clearly see that the pages that were once lost appeared to be intact. “May I?”

  “Of course.”

  Fogle’s fingers rummaged the book. Not only were the pages back, but the lettering was, too. “That’s no minor spell.”

  “No, it isn’t. But, if that page were to be ripped out, then we would have been in a bind. Heh-heh. But let’s keep this one in the family.”

  Fogle nodded. “So, now that the pages are back, what spell were you originally wanting to cast? I’m very curious.”

  Boon made it almost halfway through the spellbook. “This one I can clearly remember because I always wanted to use it. But, the right occasion never came to pass. But now, that time has come.” He slid the book over to Fogle.

  He read it. “The Tremor of Doom?”

  “A quake in the sands that could swallow an army of giants.”

  “Impressive. And you meant to use this on the underlings outside of the wall. Won’t that be risky?”

  “No. When I battled Master Sidebor, I learned a very dark secret. Those underlings you see are all of their fighting men. The Underland is defenseless. Only its despicable women and children remain.”

  “You aren’t suggesting we go to the Underland?”

  “Not only will we go, but we will bury it forever.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Loud arguments broke out inside Castle Kling. Ebenezer shouted at the top of his lungs, “Enough! Enough! We can’t continue on like this! Everyone, take a moment. I humbly ask this as lord of the castle.”

  Red-faced, Boon sat down in his chair. Bristling, Mood walked away from the table.

  “That’s better.” Away from prying eyes and ears, Lord Ebenezer Kling took Venir, Mood, and their men to the castle chancery, the lord’s place of official business. The long cherrywood table’s polished surface remained unscathed and hosted twenty chairs. Most of the company was sitting, but Venir and Mood stood at the fireplace with their arms on the mantel. At the table were Melegal, Jarla, Billip, Fogle, Boon, and two blood rangers. The air was rife with tension.

  At the head of the table, Ebenezer said, “As much as I would like to insert my opinion on the matter, I admit, I’m at a loss when it comes to dealing with underlings beyond these walls. But, if I may, I’m glad to be the mediator of these conversations. Does anyone disagree?”

  No one spoke. Boon toyed with is moustache, his brows buckled.

  “Good, now, with less fervor and more clarity, Boon, will you please explain your plan?”

  “My plan is a fatal one for the underlings. We will take their own underground river, known as the Current, from here to the Underland. There will be some powerful opposition, I assume. After all, the women will defend their children fiercely. I’ll just need a few hundred dwarves for protection. I’ll need time to release the spell.”

  “My kind is on the verge of being wiped out, and you want to borrow them on this insane quest!” Mood stomped his foot. “Nay, magic-user! I say if the underlings are on the surface then we slay them while they are here.”

  “Don’t be a fool, Mood.” Boon rose to his feet. “The underlings are more exposed than Dwarven Hole is at the moment. They don’t have a man to defend them. You know, if I did the same as your kind it would be the end of you, because you are exposed.”

  “Is that a threat?” Mood stormed to the table, bumping into it. He gave it a shove, scraping the table over the floor. “I think it’s a threat!”

  “It’s an opportunity!” Boon said at the top of his lungs. “We can’t miss it!”

  “Order! Men! Dwarves! Order!” Ebenezer said. “Boon, we’ve heard your plan, now let’s hear some others out.” Mood backed away. Boon took his seat. “Venir, do you have anything that you would like to add? Anyone?”

  “I think the mages need to use their resources to find Master Sinway. If they can create a hole in the world, then I certainly think they can locate him. Do it.”

  “You can locate him as well, Venir,” Fogle said. “You’ve admitted that much yourself. Perhaps you are holding back.”

  “I’ll tell you what I’m holding back. I’m holding back my fist from your face, you cocky mystic! If you are unwilling to assist, then take that black boat and your father into the Underland’s belly.”

  “It’s grandfather, and I’ve wholeheartedly objected to his plan. As for locating Sinway, my eyes in the sky are still searching, but without any fortune. Sinway could be anywhere in this vast city. He’s a needle in a haystack.”

  “Listen to me. Destroying the Underland is the only clear path to victory.” Boon pecked his finger on the table. “You have to understand, without their women, in time, they will face extinction. The lethal blow will rock their dark spirits.”

  “I’m not keen on the slaughter of innocents,” Ebenezer commented.

  “Innocents?” Boon said. “Are you deranged? Do not let their dark intelligence fool you. They are monsters, one and all, who will devour everything, the same as a dog eating raw meat. What you’ve witnessed in your streets, in this castle, is nothing compared to what will happen if we lose. From the sky, I saw those bodies burning. I can see the necks hanging from the gallows in the streets. Wait until the flaying begins. The screams of terror. The day will come when they will wear your skin as a blanket, royal.”

  Ebenezer swallowed. “I stand corrected. This is war. The victor cannot be merciful. Are there any other ideas on how we can find Master Sinway? Perhaps we can climb in behind their ranks and attempt an assassination.”

  “We tried that, Ebenezer,” Venir said. “Sinway ran with his tail between his legs. He fears the armament. I know it. That’s why he hesitates to reveal his power. He and I are playing cat and mouse with one another. But, we can’t wait much longer. Boon is right. Our forces are dwindling. We can only hold them off for so long.”

  “We can hold them off for months,” Mood argued.

  “Yes, but no cavalry is going to arrive and save us. Not unless every man in this city turns on the underlings, but as I understand it, more men are joining their forces,” Venir said in disgust. “I can barely stomach it. We have to strike at them somehow, and soon. I think Boon’s idea is reasonable. He doesn’t need that many men and they won’t see it coming. It might give us the edge we need.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. He’s not asking for your kin,” Mood said.

  “I wouldn’t ask for your kin, but they are best equipped to survive the trip,” Boon replied. “Men can’t handle the long time in the darkness the same as the dwarves can. King of the Dwarves, I need them.”

  “So you say, but I’m not very fond of sending the dwarves on one-way trips either.”

  Fogle straightened up in his chair. “What does he mean, ‘one-way trip,’ Boon?”

  “He’s a dwarf. He knows what he says.”

  “But—” A loud pounding came from the entrance door into the chancery.

  On a nod from Venir, Melegal walked over to the door and opened it. A blood ranger entered the room with a harsh expression on his face. He took a knee and bowed toward Mood.

  “What is it, brother?” Mood asked.

  “Our human allies have attacked our kin like a brood of night vipers. Our ranks are falling. The full force of the underlings’ advance.”

  “What treachery is this?” Mood yelled at Ebenezer. The royal paled. Mood shouted to his blood rangers, “Seize that traitor!”

  CHAPTER 30

  Carnage. The Royal Roadway became a path of dwarven blood. In the dark of the night, the citizens of Bone lashed out against their dwarven allies. Sleeping dwarves were stabbed and gored by wild-eyed men that attacked in a mindless rage. The seething human troops attacked the dwarves manning the blockades. Many dwarves fell quickly under the surprise assault.

  “What madness is this, Ebenezer?” Mood said. He had the royal by the neck with both of his hands as he dragged him down the streets. “Is thi
s how the royals repay us? By stabbing us in the back! I should have known.” He shoved Ebenezer to the ground and drew his axe. “I’m taking your head!”

  Just as the dwarf was about to deliver the blow, Venir’s voice rose above the chaotic scene. “Stop, Mood! Look!” He pointed to one of the skirmishes that had broken out in the streets ahead. Men were fighting men in tussles of steel and armor. Many of the men slavered and swung like animals. “They are possessed and fight all that cross them!”

  Mood kicked Ebenezer over on his side. “I should kill him, regardless, before he puts his sword in my back or yours!”

  The dwarven battle horns blared. All of the dwarves that had escaped the insane fringe’s swords scrambled into battle. The well-oiled ranks busted into the wild soldiers and unleashed their anger. Mood took to the streets. His axes became haymakers.

  Venir helped Ebenezer to his feet. Rubbing his throat and coughing, the royal said, “I swear, I had nothing to do with this, Venir. I don’t know hardly a one of these men either. They strike like lunatics. Look at them.”

  “I can see it. Slat!” The underlings, ogres, and orcs charged the blockade as one. There weren’t enough defenses to hold it. Half of the soldiers guarding the barriers were dead. Waving his arms, Venir said, “Every man and dwarf to the front! Hold those blockades!”

  The soldiers who hadn’t lost their minds stampeded by with the dwarves. Billip and Nikkel saluted Venir from the roofs.

  Brak appeared behind Venir’s shoulder. “What would you have me do, father?”

  Brandishing his axe, Venir said, “For now, we’ll have to be the East Gate’s last line of defense.”

  “We aren’t going to do any fighting?”

  “No, we wait and see what slips through.”

  ***

  Inside a crowded hallway deep in the bowels of Castle Kling, dwarves were busy trying to open a tarnished iron door. By torchlight, the dwarves scraped the dirt from the door’s edges and hinges. It looked like no one had passed through the door since it was built countless ages ago.

  “Boon, are you sure that you want to go through with this?” Fogle said. The older mage had managed to talk Mood out of thirty black-beard dwarves before they left the castle. “We could use your help here.”

  “Ha! You have as good of help as you’re going to get with Venir. You just need to find a way to take out Master Sinway. Besides, I had a hard enough time talking Mood into giving up his kin. I dare not turn back now.” Boon leaned over one of the black beards that faced the door. “Is that a key hole?” He peered about. “No key in sight. Can you tear it down?”

  Without a word, the dwarves produced small hammers, and with a loud bang-bang-bang, they busted the hinges off. Using their meaty fingers like crossbars, they pulled the door inward just enough to slip through. One by one they went in.

  “Where does this lead?” Fogle said.

  “To the Current. It’s the underlings’ dark little secret and many of the royals’, as well. Most all of the castles have access to it in one way or the other.”

  Fogle’s nose crinkled. “It smells like the inside of a tomb.”

  “It might as well be.” Boon squeezed through the door. “It’s been good getting to know you, grandson. I am proud of what you’ve become.” He slipped farther behind the frame, stopped, poked his head back out, and said, “Oh, give Cass and Jarla a nice squeeze from me. I’ll miss the likes of them. Their thighs, mmm-mmm-mmm, are to die for.”

  “Wait, grandfather!” Boon had vanished into the darkness. He heard footsteps fade, and the quavering torchlight was gone. Dejected, he said, “I’m proud to be your grandson.”

  A haunting voice echoed back, “I know. Who wouldn’t be?”

  Shaking his head, and with a burden the size of a mountain on his shoulders, Fogle backtracked down the hall and up the steps. “Even when he’s not there, he still gets in the last word.”

  CHAPTER 31

  “There are so many!” Lefty said. The halfling was on top of Bone’s walls with Melegal, gazing over the parapet. The odd pair was aiding the dwarves who battled the underlings that had scaled the walls on the backs of spiders. The dwarves poured barrels of oil down the walls. Melegal, bearing a torch, turned the oil to flames. The spiders made a skreeeeeing sound. Their legs curled up under their hairy bodies and they plummeted to the ground below. Where one rider and spider fell, two more came. “Too many!”

  “Just keep an eye out, Lefty,” Melegal said. A cowl covered his face from the nose down. The smoke rolling up the burning walls thickened. The smoke, combined with the darkness of night, made it difficult for his watery eyes to see. “They have more eyes down there than we have up here.”

  Lefty hopped up between the battlements. Fingers clutching the side of the rock, he leaned over. A lone spider scurried up the wall, right toward him. “Spider!”

  Melegal pulled the halfling back by the collar. The spider’s face crested between the battlements. He shoved his short sword deep into its face. Glitch! Goo spurted out on his hand. “Slat.”

  Dwarves shoved a barrel of oil up on the battlements. Just as they were about to crack the barrel open, a bright missile of energy streaked through the night sky.

  Melegal tackled Lefty as the barrel of oil exploded. Fiery drops of rain went up and came back down.

  Three dwarves were coated in fire. They didn’t flail or scream. They grabbed their axes, and with beards full of flame they bellowed, “Huzzah!” and jumped down the wall.

  “You’re on fire!” Lefty said from underneath Melegal’s body. His hands started patting out the flames on Melegal’s shoulders.

  “Well, put them out!” he said as he slapped parts of his clothes that were on fire.

  “I’m trying.” Lefty smacked the flames on Melegal’s legs. Both of them went on until it was finished.

  Melegal ran his fingers through the smoldering holes in his clothing. His skin was burned in several spots underneath. “This is the price I pay for being so good that I don’t need armor.”

  “Good at what?” Lefty said.

  “Evading death.” The smoke was getting so thick it became nearly impossible to see. He and Lefty both coughed. The dwarves filled every space between the battlements. They shot crossbows at the underling mage. Wooden missiles streaked against a barrage of mystic missiles. The underlings’ missiles ripped into the bodies of the dwarven forces. The dwarves fought with holes clean through them. “Where is Fogle? He should be up here.”

  “Did you hear that?” Lefty said.

  “Hear what?” Melegal’s ears were as keen as any. It was one of those valuable thieving skills that he prided himself on. All he heard was the sound of battle, the roar of dwarves, and the mind-grinding chittering of the underlings. Then, a very distinct sound caught his ear. He looked out over the parapets. “Oh.”

  Wump! Wump! Wump!

  Several underling magi hovered just above the wall, about thirty yards away. They shot bright missiles from their fingertips. Blackie’s hulking dragon body slammed through all of them. Many pitched through the air, their somersaulting bodies busted. Blackie’s huge jaws clamped down on two of them at once.

  “Yes!” Lefty shook his arm. “Kill them, Blackie!”

  The dragon swooped downward. His talons scooped up a group of underlings. He soared one hundred feet high and dropped them. On his return, the dragon aimed for the underlings that pounded the East Gate with battering rams. He spewed out flames, which consumed them by the dozens. A fresh pile of the dark bodies burned. The pile blocked the advance of the underlings.

  Melegal watched the dragon fly over the underling army, hoping the beast would set them all on fire. Instead, the dragon locked its sights on a gargantuan spider carrying a cartful of underlings. Blackie hovered in front of them. He turned loose an earth-shaking roar, followed by a tide of flames. The spider’s legs fell out from underneath its husk. “Burn them all, Blackie. Burn them all.”

  Ignoring the black-scaled terror
in the sky, the underlings came at the wall, relentless. Once again, they started to climb, using spiders, ladders, and other sure-grip devices on their feet and fingers. The dwarves flung more pitch, but it was running out. The supplies of oil were low. All of them were fighting. Melegal’s chest tightened. Even with the dragon, the walls were closing in.

  “Uh-oh,” Lefty said. “I think Blackie has lost his fire.”

  Blackie soared over the underling ranks. Sputtering balls of spit came out of his mouth but did little damage. Instead, the dragon snatched up handfuls of the wiry men, crushed them, and flung them across the landscape. The dragon was formidable, but not enough to stop an entire army a handful at a time.

  A dwarven horn blared from the battle in the streets. The dwarves battling behind the parapets continued fighting, but one paused long enough to turn. Melegal caught worry on his face. He didn’t know what the sound of the dwarven horns meant, but in his gut, he knew what it was. At the same time, he and Lefty turned their attention from the wall to the streets. A portion of Bone’s army was retreating into the castles. The rest fell back to the East Gate.

  “That’s bad, isn’t it?” Lefty said

  Just as Melegal was about to say yes, he heard Blackie let out a mind-jolting roar of pain. He rushed to the other side of the wall. Blackie had a train of spiders hanging by strand after strand of web on his body. Somehow, they’d snagged him when he flew too low. Now, they latched onto one another and scurried over one another and up onto his body. Shooting webs from their spinnerets, they bound his wings up. Blackie made a downward spiral from the sky toward the ground.

  “Noooo!” Lefty screamed.

  Blackie, covered in huge spiders and webbing, crashed headfirst into the ground. The underling magi pounced. Hovering in the air around the beast, they turned loose a barrage of lightning and missiles. The dragon strained and thrashed, shuddered violently, then died.