The War of Stardeon (The Bowl of Souls)

by Cooley, Trevor H.

  She followed behind them for over a mile before they stopped near a small stand of trees. She hid behind a large rock and peered around the edge, watching them. The human laid on the ground laughing while Deathclaw stood over him. She waited for her brother to attack, but he didn’t. He and the human just looked at each other as if carrying on a conversation in silence.

  Finally the man stood and drew two strange weapons from sheathes on his back. Deathclaw nodded and pulled his own sword. Talon hissed. It was the sword that had burned her the night Kenn took her away. The wounds that sword made had not healed on their own. Only Ewwie had made her whole again.

  She smiled when they finally attacked each other. Both struck out with swords dancing, clanging out with the sharp ring of metal when they met. Deathclaw’s movements were fluid and graceful, but his swordwork was clumsy. The human disarmed him quickly and laid the tip of one sword at Deathclaw’s throat.

  Talon snuck out from behind her rock and slid towards them, readying herself to strike the man. But the man simply smiled and stepped away, allowing Deathclaw to retrieve his weapon.

  She flattened herself to the ground and watched as they circled each other again. Why was Deathclaw allowing the man to toy with him so?

  “What are you doing?” the female demanded.

  I have found Deathclaw and the one who killed Ewwie’ss Kenn. They fightss. This perked the female’s interest and Talon felt her presence watching the scene through her eyes.

  The moonrat mother gasped. “I know this man! He is older now, larger, but it is him nonetheless. He slaughtered my children in the forest. He destroyed my golem in the Mage School. Arcon calls him Justan, son of Faldon the Fierce. He is marked for death!”

  Deathclaw struck out in earnest this time, determined to strike a blow, but the human’s swordplay was pure and refined. He deflected Deathclaw’s attacks with ease before disarming him again. This time he didn’t even bother to place the blade at Deathclaw’s throat, he just stood and laughed.

  “See, Deathclaw, you may be faster than me but you aren’t better in everything,” the man said. Deathclaw cocked his head in response and the man replied. “As I said before, we all have our strengths. You are getting better. Come again.”

  As Deathclaw picked up his sword, the female gasped again. “No, it can’t be!” Talon felt the female messing around inside her head and she felt a definite pressure just between her eyes. Her vision shifted.

  “It is! That man is a bonding wizard!” Talon saw tentacles of white cloud sprouting from the man’s body. They danced around him, two of the lines attached to his swords. “And he is a powerful one.”

  What is thiss? Talon asked, eyeing one thick cord that connected the man’s chest with Deathclaw’s.

  “He is bonded to your brother,” the female growled. When Talon didn’t understand, she added, “Deathclaw has joined this man.”

  Joined? she asked, the concept unfamiliar to her.

  “They are linked together, much like you and I.”

  Talon hissed inwardly. So that was it. Deathclaw was doing the man’s bidding now.

  I sshall kills him, Talon said, eyeing Deathclaw’s captor with hatred.

  “Yes you shall, but not yet,” the female said. “Follow them. I wish to see the rest of their group.”

  She stayed low in the grass and observed as they fought several more times, each bout resulting in Deathclaw being disarmed. She watched her brother intently, looking for signs of distress. Oddly, she saw no anger towards the human, just frustration. Then they headed back the way they came.

  He will ssmells me, she thought as she followed. She had not bothered to hide her tracks or scent during the chase. But Deathclaw ran alongside the human without a sign that he had noticed her. Perhaps he was distracted or perhaps he was no longer as good as she remembered.

  “Or perhaps his bonding wizard has a tight leash on him and he cannot give away that he knows you are here,” The moonrat mother intoned.

  Yes that was it. Deathclaw was waiting. Waiting for her to make a move. Waiting for her to free him. Then she could bring him to Ewwie and they would be a pack again.

  Still, just in case, she activated her musk glands, surrounding herself in a pheromone cloud. This was Ewwie’s newest gift. Perhaps of all the changes he had made for her, this one was the most useful. This was the one that Ewwie said proved his faith in her loyalty.

  Talon had seen Ewwie cut the glands from a rare python before inserting them at the base of her tail. He told her that they helped that python find mates, but they also confused the senses of other predators, letting it hang in the trees unnoticed by the sensitive noses of the jungle beasts. Now they would hide her scent from pursuers or prey.

  She had made a wise choice for soon after dispersing the cloud, she saw a large creature bound into view. It darted from the trees and bowled Deathclaw over, planting him on his back. Talon recognized the beast. It had tracked her around the farmland quite effectively. The moonrat mother gasped again.

  “The rogue horse that hounded my children! I wondered where it had gone.”

  Another thick white cord connected the human to this beast. As it moved off of Deathclaw with a chuckling snort, she saw that a thin wispy line connected her brother to it as well.

  Her brother stood and gave the beast an irritated hiss. The human chastised the beast for its unprovoked attack and they moved on. Talon shadowed them to the front of the human line. There they joined up with an ogre carrying a large shield and spiked mace. He was linked to them as well.

  “That Justan has a powerful group of bonded,” the female said with concern.

  The four of them stood, looking at each other, nodding silently, and Talon realized that they were communicating with their minds. Something else bothered her. The human was not raging at them or punishing them. Then Deathclaw let out a chirp of acquiescence and she understood. Her brother had found a new pack.

  She let out a low growling hiss. The rogue horse perked up her ears and Talon had to force herself to stop. The human led them to a campsite that was being dismantled for travel. They stopped to talk to an older human male and to Talon’s surprise, they were joined by an enormous man with the lower body of a horse.

  “Two bonding wizards! Two rogue horses!” the female spat. “Where are they headed?”

  I will kills them now? Talon asked.

  “No, you fool! Not yet. We find out who they are and where they are headed. Follow them. Show me every detail!”

  * * *

  Ewzad Vriil peered down his nose at the dwarf. “And what of my special request? Hmm?”

  The dwarf scowled right back at him, his handlebar mustache curling up so high it nearly touched the edges of his bushy eyebrows. “That’ll take a while, dag-gum it. We done sent a whole posse, but that’s a long friggin’ trip.”

  “My-my.” Ewzad’s lip curled. “I paid you for quickness. Didn’t I? Yes-yes I did.”

  The dwarf shrugged. “We’re cuttin’ the dag-burned time in half. That’s what you done paid extry fer.”

  The vein in Ewzad’s forehead throbbed. His fingers writhed and he nearly lost control of his arm. These dwarves didn’t fear him. They specialized in retrieval of rare animals and had centuries of experience dealing with dark wizards. The dwarves all had protective trinkets stashed all over their bodies. That, along with their innate resistance to magic made intimidating them problematic. Money was the only thing that motivated them; money and assets they could turn into profits.

  “If you don’t have what I asked you for, what do you have for me, smuggler?” he asked, his jaw clenched.

  “It’s ringmaster, dag-blast it!” the dwarf said. “C’mon and I’ll show you.”

  The dwarf led Ewzad towards the back of the menagerie. The place was crawling with dwarves. Performers practiced their acts while others lugged things about or prodded animals in their cages. Hamford and Arcon followed behind Ewzad obediently, keeping an eye out for treachery. Th
ese dwarves had dealt with other bearers of the Rings of Stardeon in the past. No doubt they had considered the price they could get for the artifact if Ewzad were dead.

  The dwarf stopped before a series of cages covered with silk tarps. He put two fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Dwarves standing by the cages whipped off the tarps, revealing their catch. The night air was filled with growls and hisses.

  “We done brought you four giant red spiders. Three dag-gum snake runners, and four bog tortoises. Blasted things’re heavy. That’ll cost you extry.”

  Perfect! Ewzad forced away a giggle, putting a frown on his face. “Oh my, is this all? That won’t do, will it? No-no it won’t!”

  The dwarf rolled his eyes. “Dag-nab it, it ain’t worth hagglin’ over. Just pay up, yer lordship so’s we’cn take the durn beasts down to yer dungeons. We’ll bring more next week.”

  “Ewzad,” said Mellinda.

  Ewzad considered turning his magic on the dwarf. Just what could he do with one? Would the rings be powerful enough to burn through their blood magic? He itched to try it.

  “Master, I have news.”

  “Silence, you terrible hag!” he spat.

  “What’d you say?” The burly dwarf turned a glower Ewzad’s way, murder in his eyes.

  Ewzad wondered how large he could make the dwarf’s head swell before bursting.

  “We apologize. He wasn’t talking to you, Ringmaster.” Arcon said, bowing deferentially. “He was talking to the demon in his head.”

  “You yankin’ my leg?” said the dwarf with suspicion.

  “Talon found the men that killed your bandham,” Mellinda purred.

  “Oh really?” Ewzad said with a smile. “This is excellent, yes?”

  “As you can see, our master is busy.” Arcon said. “Hamford, would you pay the good dwarf?” The large guard didn’t like the scrawny mage ordering him around, but he tossed the Ringmaster a sack of gold.

  “Oh,” said the dwarf, weighing the sack in one hand as he watched Ewzad speaking to himself. Obviously he had seen stranger things because he shrugged and started directing his men to move the cages.

  Ewzad ignored them. “Has my sweet Talon killed them yet?”

  “There are . . . complications.”

  “Well? Come-come. Tell me quickly!” Mellinda filled him in on the details. He was aware of bonding wizards. The dark bowl had forced that information into his mind. “Ah, powerful foes, yes? But two? Insignificant against our numbers, don’t you think?”

  “But they do have that army with them.”

  “What? Two thousand armed women and children? Those are merely the missing people of Sampo. Yes-yes. Rabble with cheap weapons.” Ewzad laughed.

  “But-!”

  “Where are they headed, you wretched thing? Hmm?” he asked.

  “Today they left the banks of the Fandine River and traveled along the foothills of the mountains heading west.”

  “Oh my! Towards Dremald? And me with the might of the Dremaldrian garrison to protect me? Oh dear, I should be so frightened.”

  “I doubt they intend to attack directly,” she said in irritation.

  He waved a hand. “Yes-yes, have sweet Talon kill the wizards, hmm? We’ll see what those weaklings do then.”

  “And if they join up with your deserters?”

  Ewzad frowned momentarily. There were a few thousand missing soldiers on the move. So far they had evaded him, but . . . He smiled again. “No, that would be a shame, yes? Captain Demetrius slowed down by two thousand on foot? Oh my, that would be horrible indeed. I can only hope that happens.”

  “I see,” she said.

  “Now leave me, witch. Yes, I have work to do.” He pushed her presence from his mind and walked towards the dwarf ringmaster, wondering if he could convince him to leave one of his fellow dwarves behind for experimentation.

  * * *

  Talon sat in the tree watching as the humans set up their camp at the mountain’s edge. It amused her that her brother sat in a tree not far away watching them too, her pheromone cloud keeping him completely unaware of her presence.

  “Your master agrees. They must be killed,” the female said, her attention finally returning.

  “Yess!” Talon whispered. She wanted to kill the beast that had pounced on Deathclaw first. Its tracking skills would make it a nuisance otherwise.

  “No,” the female said. “When fighting a bonding wizard, never kill one of the bonded first. It just enrages the others and makes them focus on killing you. Kill the wizard. If he is dead, the others will fall helpless to the ground and you can kill them at your leisure.”

  Talon liked the other way better. To fight the human and ogre while they wept for their lost creature would be very interesting.

  “Nevertheless, you will obey,” the moonrat mother reminded.

  Yess, Mistresss, she thought. But what of Deathclaw?

  “He will fall too when the wizard dies, but worry not. I have ways to revive him.”

  The female sent a vision to Talon’s mind. A moonrat with orange eyes dropped dead at her feet. She took its eye to an unconscious Deathclaw, then cut open his chest and placed it inside and then . . .

  He will be partss of my pack again, she thought with a smile.

  “Yes,” agreed the mother of the moonrat. “First we must find a way to separate the wizard from his bonded and then-.” the voice paused. “What’s that? Something feels . . .”

  The wizard Justan was untying a bulging pack from the saddle of the rogue horse. He placed the pack on the ground and the moonrat mother twisted something behind Talon’s eyes. She again saw the white ropes of the wizard’s magic but there was something else. Something deep within that pack radiated a burning darkness.

  The moonrat mother screeched. “How did he get that?”

  What iss it, Mistresss?

  “Only one of the Dark Prophet’s great talismans would glow like that!” she spat, enraged. “You must retrieve it! Retrieve the talisman, then kill the wizard!”

  Talon watched the wizard named Justan and smiled, anticipating how good it would feel to kill him. She would first disable his arms, then play with him a little before removing his head. When the other humans reached the scene, his head would greet them with a smile, impaled on the tips of his two strange swords.

  Chapter Seventeen

  What’s the matter, Deathclaw? Justan asked. He could feel the raptoid’s agitation through the bond.

  I smell something, Deathclaw replied. Something on the wind . . . it’s her!

  Gwyrtha, who had been laying on her side, sat up suddenly and sniffed the air. She growled and jumped to her feet, her hackles raised. I smell it too!

  She lives. Talon is here! Deathclaw leapt down from the tree.

  “Squirrel smells it!” Fist said. Squirrel stood atop the ogre’s head, sniffing the air.

  Justan stood and drew his swords, feeling the calmness and eagerness of both simultaneously. They had wondered about Deathclaw’s sister. She had been gravely wounded when Kenn had taken her away and Deathclaw had assumed her dead. But after their fight with Kenn, Justan had thought it unlikely that Ewzad Vriil would kill his prized possession. “Nearby?”

  Deathclaw rushed across the camp and scrambled up another tree. She was here! Not long ago. I must track her down.

  “No! This could be a trap. If Talon is here, Ewzad Vriil may have sent others. Take Gwyrtha with you.”

  I would do this alone, Deathclaw said. Despite the respect the raptoid had gained for the rogue horse over the last week, there was still something about her that bothered him.

  You will take her, Justan said, his tone firm. It was the most direct order he had ever given Deathclaw and Justan could tell that it chafed the raptoid. He opened up the link between the two bonded as wide as he could. She is the only one better at tracking than you. If you work together, Talon will not be able to evade you.

  Gwyrtha ran and skidded to a stop at Deathclaw’s side.
She nudged him. Ride.

  To Justan’s surprise, Deathclaw gave a stiff nod and leapt on her back. His clawed feet gripped her saddle and he crouched, grabbing two fistfuls of her mane. With complete focus they melted into the night.

  “Deathclaw riding Gwyrtha,” Fist said. “Is scary.”

  Master Coal ran over, Samson at his side. “What is it, Edge?”