The Darkslayer: Series 2 Special Edition (Bish and Bone Bundle Books 1-5): Sword and Sorcery Adventures

by Craig Halloran

  “Lord Grom takes what he likes ... Eh. Likes her. No other reason why you here ... Eh. Sad. True ... Eh. Sad.”

  It felt true. Every bit of it. It made him wonder how many other things had happened that he didn’t know. It made him curious. What had happened to his father and mother? All he was ever told was there was a misfortunate incident with the Royals. No one had ever spoken of it since.

  “How long have you been here?” Creed said, opening up without even thinking. He wasn’t even sure if he’d said it at first.

  “Eh?”

  “Never mind,” Creed said, dropping his head back between his knees.

  “Gorgon.”

  With his head still between his knees, Creed replied, “What?”

  “My name … Eh. Gorgon. You should always introduce yourself ... Eh. Gorgon is my name.”

  Creed took a closer look at the man in the adjacent cell. He was skin and bone in tattered clothes. Unkempt and dirty. His hair was coarse black with streaks of grey, and it hung in his eyes. The name seemed familiar.

  “Gorgon, huh?” Creed said. “So, how long have you been here?”

  “Eh … years I suppose. Don’t know me, do you? Eh. Look harder.”

  “There are many Bloodhounds that come and go. I’ve never known them all. Why should I know you?”

  “I suppose I’m a little thinner … Eh. Since the last time you saw me … Eh. Last time you sat upon my knee ... Eh, Creed?”

  Creed lifted his head and took a closer look.

  “You’re just making things up. And I don’t know a Gorgon.”

  “Am I now?” Gorgon lifted his hair back, pressed his face to the bars. “Look closer at Gorgon.”

  Creed peered into his eyes. They were round with dark circles. Pale green. Playful. Strong. His wrists that squeezed the bars were thick.

  Gorgon started to mumble.

  “Fire melts metal … Mold makes sword …”

  Creed blinked and said, “… Steel separates blood from bones.” He gasped. “You’re the blacksmith?”

  “Aye,” Gorgon said.

  “Why are you here?” Creed asked.

  Gorgon shrugged. “I’m not so sure I remember. It’s been so long ... Eh. But, I know things. Too many.”

  “Then why doesn’t Grom just kill you?”

  “Because he can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “Because—”

  The dungeon shook. Metal groaned. Rock debris felt from above. The ground beneath them heaved up and down. The gap of light Creed had grown fond of split wider.

  Creed yelled, heart racing. “What was that?”

  Gorgon lay in his cell, unmoving. A chunk of ceiling had fallen on him and his secrets.

  CHAPTER 30

  Scorch squeezed. Probed. Dug.

  Trinos twisted. Turned. Blocked.

  Scorch was a ravenous dog hungry for power. Unrelenting. Vicious.

  “You will not have it!”

  “I WILL!”

  Back and forth they went. Tugging and tumbling through the vast space of their power, buried in the center of Bish. A part of Trinos wanted to turn it over to him. Let him have it. Let it go. But his lies had revealed themselves. She could feel it. He wasn’t attached to this world like she was. He was in it for the amusement. He would destroy it. That might not have meant so much to her ages ago, but it was her world. If anyone was going to destroy it, it would be her. I’ll protect it! Trinos dug in.

  She jammed her fingers inside his chest. Unleashed her power. Brilliant light exploded from her fingers. Scorch howled and spun away.

  Hovering in the myriad of color, clutching his chest, Scorch’s handsome face turned ugly.

  “You will not win this battle!”

  Sharps of dark energy erupted from his hands.

  Trinos caught it in her hands and flung it back.

  “Bish is my world, Scorch, not yours!”

  Balls of bright fire appeared in her hands. She slung one right after the other.

  Voom! Voom! Voom!

  Scorch flew head over heels. He swatted at the fires on his robes and patted them out.

  “Give it up, Trinos,” he said, summoning great lances of fire. “You don’t have my experience. My knowledge. I’m more ancient than you. All of you. You know this is true.”

  “A thousand days to my one matters not to me, Scorch. You will not have my creation! You shall die here just like the rest of us.”

  She spread her fingers and arms, forming a bright radiant shield.

  “Never!”

  Lances of lightning flew from his hands, one right after the other.

  Ssszram!

  The first ricocheted.

  Ssszram!

  The second cracked her barrier.

  Ssszram!

  The third went straight through the shield and into her belly. Screaming, she drifted back with her jaw dropped. A lance stuck through one side and out the other, burning with dark mystic fires. How did he do that?

  She raised her hand, sent a wave of energy forth, and howled. The lance inside burned with more ferocity. Scorch’s laughter echoed in her ears. He drifted toward her. His fingers, now tendrils, wrapped around her throat.

  “Oh, ho, ho!” he said in a daunting voice. “Dear Trinos. You are one of those beings not so accustomed to fighting at all, aren’t you?”

  Trinos tore at the tendrils around her neck. The grip was so strong, she couldn’t speak. The pain in her belly grew and throbbed. She was bleeding.

  “You never considered that you might actually die here, did you?” Scorch said, lording over her. His eyes were glazed with power. “You thought yourself my equal. My superior, perhaps? I’ve never met such a one in the entire universe.”

  Trinos felt the pressure inside her head building. The lance’s fire eroding her inner being.

  “Perhaps you’ll be more willing to relinquish your power in exchange for your life.”

  Gagging, Trinos fought to speak. She turned to thought instead.

  You’ll have to kill me first, Scorch! I might die sooner, but you’ll eventually die with me!

  Every particle of her body erupted in pain. Her mind exploded in painful lights.

  “I can do this a very long time, Trinos. Turn the power over to me and I’ll let you go. You can finish your life on this world along with all the other insects. And I probably won’t notice you enough to squash you.”

  No…

  “Yes,” Scorch said, matter of factly. “And even if you do allow me to torture you to a degree where the minutes will feel like, oh say, a thousand years, I’ll most likely find a way to harness the power by then, and continue to punish you.”

  Trinos fought the pain. Clutched at the tendrils. Held on.

  Promise … Please …

  “Out with it, Trinos. I’ll consider your wants.”

  Leave the races be. Don’t wipe them out. They entertain me.

  “Ah, well, I suppose I can leave them be, but they’ll still have their hands full contending with the underlings. Do we have an understanding?”

  It was all Trinos could hope for. It bought her time. It bought Bish time as well.

  Agreed.

  The pain faded, but remained. The tendrils loosened around her neck. She connected herself to the orb. She felt Scorch tap in as well. His face filled with exhilaration.

  “Ah, now that feels wonderful,” he said, preparing to draw their power from the orb. “Like a hot bath on a chilly day. Tis sad for you though, Trinos. There is only enough power for one to come and go it seems, not two.”

  The lance inside her stomach brightened. She screamed. Her eyes weakened. Her nose dripped blood. Vision faded. He was killing her.

  No, she moaned. Not like this. I’m sorry, Bish.

  A black shadow dropped from above. A black sphere of power surrounded all of them. Another life force entered the game. The iron-eyed underling, Master Sinway.

  “What madness is this?” Scorch yelled.

&nb
sp; Master Sinway stood among them in robes like black shadows.

  “This power will be mine as well,” the underling hissed.

  “You shall have your reward when I finish, Sinway,” Scorch roared.

  “I shall have my reward NOW!”

  Sinway blasted Scorch in the chest with black energy, disconnecting him from the orb.

  Trinos’s neck was freed. She stood on her knees, coughing.

  Scorch attacked. Tendrils wrapped around Sinway’s neck and squeezed.

  The underling’s eyes blasted fire into Scorch’s face. He held on. Squeezed harder. Harder.

  “You are a fool, Sinway! You are undone!”

  The entire orb shook and warbled. Trinos rose to her feet and grabbed the barbed lance of energy inside her. She closed her eyes, clenched her teeth, and ripped it out.

  “GAH!”

  Her mind filled with painful pulsations, but she lived.

  Scorch’s back faced her. He had Sidebor covered in tendrils. The underling’s eyes blasted back one shot after another.

  Scorch yelled with fury.

  “You shall die, underling! Fool, you could have had everything!”

  Huffing, Trinos summoned her anger. Her rage. She lowered the lance and filled it with her power. She shot through the air and rammed it into Scorch’s back.

  Glitch!

  She punched a hole in his torso from one side to the other.

  Scorch arched backward. Mouth gaping. Eyes aghast. His tendrils faded on the underling’s neck. Slowly, he turned and faced Trinos.

  “This will not stop me!”

  Exhausted and bleeding, she shoved him away. “We’ll see.” She drifted toward the edge of the orb. It was sucking her in.

  Scorch smiled and approached the orb after her.

  Master Sinway blasted him in the back with his eyes again.

  Can’t let Scorch have it!

  Concentrating her hardest, Trinos summoned her last bit of power and burst away from the orb, out onto the rocky ledge. She felt the cold shaking ground on her face. She saw colors exploding inside the orb. Rocks tumbled and fell. She couldn’t move. Strong arms hoisted her up and carried her away, into the darkness.

  Am I dying? Am I dead?

  CHAPTER 31

  Ruby red eyes. Deep. Evil.

  Venir’s neck hairs went stiff. His heart caught fire.

  That’s an underling!

  He pounced over the table, aiming his long hunting knife at Master Sidebor’s heart.

  “Die!”

  He barreled the underling over, knocking him hard to the ground. He sunk the knife deep into its chest. Piercing heart and bone.

  Sidebor’s howl shattered glass. Rung Venir’s ears. He punched Sidebor in the face, silencing him. Sidebor squirmed. His glowing fingers dug into Venir’s arms.

  Venir roared. His arms burned. His spine crackled. He jumped away and rolled across the floor. He swatted the flames on his arms. Hair and skin sizzled. The smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils.

  Melegal tossed his cloak over his arms and patted out the flames.

  Everyone else stood dumbfounded, watching Sidebor rise with Venir’s hunting knife buried inside his chest.

  With one hand, Sidebor pulled the knife out and dropped it to the floor. His ruby eyes glared at Venir. “This body can’t be killed by just anything, but it can kill quite well.”

  “You’re an underling,” Venir growled.

  “No, I’m the underling.”

  Venir tossed Melegal’s cloak aside. There was no such thing as an underling that couldn’t die. If it had a body, he could kill it. He’d take its head. Take its eyes. Burn it. He took a step forward and dropped to his knees.

  ***

  Out of the corner of his eyes, Melegal watched Venir fall to the ground. The brawny warrior clutched at his chest and his face turned deep red and purple.

  Sidebor held his hand out, squeezing a mystic heart within his palm. Squeezing harder. Venir roared and kicked on the floor.

  Georgio and Brak charged.

  Sidebor flung them through the air.

  Their bodies were flung over the bar, followed by a crash. Nikkel and Billip leapt at Sidebor. Both sailed through the air into the staircase.

  “Kill them,” Sidebor ordered Darleen, Ozark and Dasan. “I’ll handle this pair.”

  ***

  Kam shuddered. Venir was dying. Erin wailing. Someone tugged at her arm.

  “We must go,” Joline said.

  Kam handed her the baby. “Take her.”

  “But,” Joline pleaded.

  “Do it!”

  Joline took the baby and hurried up the stairs.

  Kam turned her attention to Dasan and Ozark. Their swords were poised over the helpless backs of Billip and Nikkel.

  She summoned her power and shoved the big goons away with her mystic force. Billip and Nikkel scrambled to their feet and sprang to attack.

  “No you don’t,” Darleen said, rushing up the stairs and driving her into the steps. She grabbed Kam by the hair.

  “I’ve had enough of your pretty face!”

  She busted it on the stairs. Kam’s limbs went numb.

  ***

  Georgio crawled from behind the bar on hands and knees. At the steps, Billip and Nikkel were fighting for their lives. Dasan and Ozark had them overpowered and pinned to the floor. The bigger men raised their fists and brought down one heavy blow after the other.

  Georgio rushed Dasan, screaming. The big man whirled at the last second and plunged a dagger in his belly. Georgio screamed and staggered back. It felt like an entire sword was shoved through him.

  “Wait a moment, Boy,” Dasan said, keeping Nikkel pinned down by the neck. “I need to kill this one first so I can watch you die next. Ha. Ha.”

  Georgio grabbed the dagger in is belly and ripped it out.

  Dasan’s eyes widened.

  “That’s not possible.”

  “Ha. Ha,” Georgio said, running over. He jumped on Dasan and rammed the dagger through his ribs.

  ***

  Brak gathered himself and peeked over the bar.

  Venir convulsed on the floor.

  Kam was crashed into the stairs.

  Everyone else who hadn’t fled was fighting for their lives.

  Master Sidebor, though smaller, seemed ten feet tall. His entirety radiated power. Invincibility.

  Do something, Brak!

  He needed a weapon. Something. This body can’t be killed by just anything, Sidebor had said. His cudgel. But that was hidden in the stables.

  “Psst!”

  Brak turned.

  Jubilee had snuk behind the bar. “Move your feet,” she said.

  “Why?”

  “Just scoot back! Hurry!” she whispered. Her tiny fingers dug between the cracks in the planks and started to lift. A large compartment lay down there. Something lay there, long and shiny.

  “What is that?”

  “A sword, Dummy!”

  ***

  Melegal’s hands hung loose at his sides.

  Venir lay on the floor clutching his chest, covered in clammy sweat and purple like a beet.

  Master Sidebor, an underling in a man’s body, didn’t seem possible. Neither had a lot of things that happened over the past few weeks.

  Venir finds trouble all over this place. I should have stayed in Bone.

  He was sliding back toward the fireplace when Sidebor’s eyes locked on him.

  “Where are you going? Sit!” A chair dragged itself across the floor and slammed behind his knees. “It’s your turn to die next.”

  Underlings. Over the years, Melegal had taken pride in disagreeing with Venir. Mostly about trivial things, but on one thing in particular. Underlings. Venir found them to be the cause of most problems on Bish. Melegal found Venir to be the cause of most of the problems in his life. A memory of Haze flashed in his head. The City of Bone in siege and ruin. Underlings wreaking havoc inside Castle Almen and slitting every hu
man throat. His eyes slid over to Venir. The man kicked tables and chairs. Bucked on the floor. They locked eyes. He saw Venir’s fire. His misery. I’ll let him be right, just this once.

  He glanced at Sidebor. Casually took aim. Summoned the energy in his cap. Be still. Be still. Be still.

  Master Sidebor gave him a curious look.

  Melegal flexed his wrists.

  Twing! Twing! Twing! Twing!

  Be still! Be still! Be still!

  Twing! Twing! Twing!

  Darts filled Sidebor’s face and neck. The mystic heart in his grip faded. Shock overtook his face. Then his black brows buckled.

  Blood dripped from Melegal’s mouth and onto his chest. His head was splitting.

  Venir gasped for air and his eyes had gone wild. He shot across the floor and into Sidebor. He locked his hulking arms around Sidebor’s neck and heaved. Veins rose on his bulging arms like snakes. Sidebor’s feet kicked and scraped over the ground. His gray face went white and his tongue juttered in his mouth.

  “I’m gonna rip your head off, underling!”

  Crack!

  ***

  Darleen grabbed Kam by the hair and dragged her up the steps.

  “That’s some pretty hair you have,” Darleen said, pulling out her knife. “I think I’ll take it for myself. Be more useful than your hand.”

  “No,” Kam muttered through her busted lips. Her arms and legs were jelly. She saw spots in her eyes. “Get off me.”

  “Say a goodbye, now,” Darleen said, sawing at her hair.

  Kam took a wild swing.

  Darleen rapped her head on the step.

  Clonk.

  “Quit squirming or I’ll kill you,” she said, raising the knife up.

  Kam swung again.

  “Fine,” Darleen said.

  Down came the knife.

  Glitch!

  Kam flinched. The knife stuck in a meaty hand.

  “What the?” Darleen said.

  Georgio pulled the knife out of his hand and threw it down the steps. He held out his hand and the flesh began to mend.

  Darleen gasped. “That’s not possible!” She stuffed her boot in Georgio’s chest and sent him sprawling down the steps.