Messenger of the Dark Prophet (The Bowl of Souls: Book Two) (60 page)

She eyed the conglomeration of items that cluttered Ewzad’s desk. It would be a challenge, but she set her mind to remembering where everything was so that she could replace it all just as she found it. Ewzad had taught her well.

There were books written in languages she couldn’t decipher, a bag full of small animal bones, a mirrored piece of glass . . . Then an item caught her attention. It was a small box made out of a dark wood with a strange grain. Tiny precious gems were inset in the top, forming some kind of symbol.

Elise started to open it, but hesitated. A bit of fear traveled up her spine. There was most likely magic involved in most of the items in this room. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to know any of Ewzad’s secrets. The more she found out about him, the more she knew he had changed from the Ewzad of old. Did she really want to know anything more?

She reminded herself of what was at stake. Her backbone stiffened once more. She had made her decision and she would stick to it. She opened the box, and gazed upon the jeweled dagger inside. The metal was stained with a brown powder that looked like dried blood. She started to put it away, but something pricked her mind.

She opened the box back up and saw that the silken lining in the bottom had a crease across the center. Why would there be a crease there? She picked up the dagger and felt a sense of menace emanating from it. With a look of distaste, she quickly set it aside and pulled on the material in the corner of the box. It lifted up slightly. Sure enough the bottom of the box was hinged. There was a secret compartment underneath. Elise was thrilled at her find until she saw what rested inside.

It was her father’s ring.

Hamford was frozen with fear. The demon’s head moved back and forth as if following a scent. It was looking straight at his door. Could it see him? Surely it couldn’t. From the outside, the control room door looked like solid steel. Yet it slowly moved his way. Then it leapt.

The demon hit the door with a loud clang and Hamford screamed despite himself. It began scratching at the surface of the door,
then
pressed its hideous face against it. Its lips pulled back to reveal razor sharp teeth. It began fumbling at the handle.

Even though Hamford knew that the door was locked, he panicked. Hurriedly, he pulled on the first lever his hand found. There was a sharp clank and a door in the far passageway started to open. Hamford had released the
Wildersnatch
.

The
Wildersnatch
was once a simple budge, a large hairy beast that Ewzad Vriil found in the jungle. Once she had fed off fruits and the occasional monkey. Now she was a ferocious killer. Hamford had seen her tear a prisoner up in seconds.

Deathclaw knew that the human Hamford was inside the solid door. He didn’t know what he would do when he caught the human, but he was looking forward to finding out. His brood mate’s smell was thick in this passageway and Deathclaw had a feeling that the human knew where she was.

A noise made the raptoid turn his head and he watched as a cage door opened further down the passageway. He caught the scent of a large beast, just as a roaring mass of fur and claws leapt out. Deathclaw hissed back at the solid door behind him before meeting the beast’s charge.

Deathclaw sensed that the beast was dangerous, but he had faced many foul monsters in his desert past.
Just as he was about to collide with the beast, Deathclaw rolled to the side and struck deeply into her midsection with his tail spike.
Strangely, he felt little resistance. The creature’s fur was deceptively deep and his spike left little more that a gash in the creature’s hide.

The
Wildersnatch
swung around and grabbed the Deathclaw’s tail. The tail had only just grown back, he wasn’t about to lose it again. He contorted around and bit into her forearm. She tried to jerk her arm away, but he wouldn’t let go.

She roared in fury and lifted Deathclaw over her head. As she reared back to throw him against the wall, Deathclaw released her forearm, burrowed through the fur at the base of her head and bit down on the back of her neck.

As soon as she felt his teeth, the
Wildersnatch
took a mighty leap upwards. Deathclaw almost lost his grip but held firm, grabbing fistfuls of fur with his hands and slashing madly with his feet hoping to tear something important. The powerful jump carried both creatures to the top of the ceiling fifteen feet above.

She gripped the chains that ran along the top of the ceiling and pulled her feet up. Deathclaw found himself clinging to her while upside down. He bit down harder and the
Wildersnatch
howled in pain. She set her feet against the ceiling, let go of the chains, and
and
launched herself towards the rock floor.

The
Wildersnatch
was half again the size of Deathclaw and as they hurtled towards the floor, Deathclaw saw everything happen in slow motion. He knew that all of their combined weight would be focused on him at impact. He held on to her neck with his teeth, gripped her tightly with his arms and legs, and arched his back with all his might.

Hamford felt the impact through the rock floor. Instead of landing on Deathclaw’s back as the
Wildersnatch
had intended, Deathclaw’s mid air contortions had caused her to land on her head. The force of the contact cracked her skull and knocked Deathclaw loose. He took part of her with him.

With a spurt of blood, Deathclaw’s teeth ripped out flesh and spinal column. He lost a tooth in the process, but the
Wildersnatch
collapsed and the wizard’s enchantments on her body were disrupted. Smoke rose from her remains as the modified parts of her body began to break down.

Hamford shrieked as the
Wildersnatch
died. Hurriedly, he released the rest of Ewzad Vriil’s creations. The doors opened. Surely the demon couldn’t destroy them all. He waited to see how it would handle these multiple enemies.

Though still a bit stunned from the fall, Deathclaw knew what was happening. The sounds meant more creatures were coming. From their smells, he knew they would be both large and vicious. He spat the remnants of the
Wildersnatch
from his mouth, and spat again, and again. The taste of the blood would not leave. The smell of the beast’s blood surged through his nostrils.  Deathclaw’s mouth watered. His blood seethed with desire for battle and he knew what to do.

Hamford watched with amazement as Deathclaw ignored the impulses in his blood. He burrowed under the smoking furry remains of the
Wildersnatch
and waited. The altered dragon quivered with the amount of self control it took to keep from attacking.

One by one, Ewzad Vriil’s most frightening creations emerged from their cells: The Rock Scorpion, the razor-limbed Whip,
Datch
,
Viscyr
, the immense Moat Monster, and the mutated giant Ewzad called The Clench, all of them fearsome beasts. They emerged from their prisons and stopped. They couldn’t see Deathclaw underneath all that fur.

Hamford cursed. If they couldn’t find the demon, they would pour into the dungeons instead. But there was one other problem. They too smelled the blood of the
Wildersnatch
.

There was something that Hamford hadn’t known about the creature the
Wildersnatch
had been created from. In the Jungle, budges stayed together in large family groups. They were peaceful creatures and easy prey for any predators. As a defense mechanism, their bodies had developed a pheromone in their blood that drove their attackers mad with hunger. Any attacking predators became so busy fighting each other over the body of the fallen budge that the rest of the herd could escape.

This trait is the reason Ewzad had captured the beast in the first place. He had many vials of the beast’s blood stored for use in combat situations. His mistake had been keeping the beast so close to his other creations.

Each of Ewzad’s monsters fell under the spell of the
Wildersnatch’s
blood. All at once, they went into a fury and attacked each other. The Clench picked up Whip in a bear hug.
Viscyr
slashed at The Moat Monster. It was chaos.

It took every ounce of control that Deathclaw had to resist the pheromones in the
Wildersnatch’s
blood. He felt the effects worse than the other beasts. Its blood was in his mouth and ran down his back as it still leaked from its remains, but he pushed the madness away. There were creatures in the desert that used similar tactics and he had long ago learned not to react. He stayed in his hiding place and watched the other monsters fight, searching out their weaknesses.

Hamford stared in abject horror at the spectacle. What was his master going to do to him when it was
over.
It didn’t make sense. Ewzad Vriil had trained his creations not to attack each other.

The fighting was ferocious, but it didn’t last long. These creatures were trained to kill. Soon most of Ewzad’s creations were reduced to piles of melting flesh. Only two of the monsters were left standing.

The Clutch still stood, but he had been stung by The Rock Scorpion and his flesh had been left in tatters by the flailing razor sharp limbs of Whip.
Viscyr
, on the other hand, had killed the Moat Monster easily and was unharmed.

Both of Ewzad Vriil’s remaining creations went for the
Wildersnatch’s
body at once and collided together. Before The Clench could bring his massive arms to bear,
Viscyr
had opened his belly up with its wicked claws. The giant tried to scoop his guts back in, but it was too late.
Viscyr’s
next slash was to his throat.

Deathclaw watched
Viscyr
screech in victory from the safety of the
Wildersnatch’s
voluminous fur. He thought he had found a weakness, though it looked to be impossible to get to.

Viscyr
was a bit taller than Deathclaw and walked on two claw-tipped legs. Its skin was made up of hardened scales covered in sharp spikes. Its head was that of a bird of prey with a powerful sharpened beak.
Viscyr’s
main weapons were a set of clawed appendages extending from its shoulders and a smaller set of pincer-tipped arms underneath.

Hamford watched from the safety of the control room as
Viscyr
went for the
Wildersnatch’s
body. Suddenly, he was struck by another question. Where was Talon? He had released her with the others. Why hadn’t she emerged from her cell yet?

Talon chose that moment to dart out of her cell. She had been as overwhelmed with the
Wildersnatch’s
blood as the others, but she was smarter. She had stayed in her cell and waited to emerge when the time was right. It was now.

Viscyr
had turned its back to her.

Talon got to
Viscyr
so quickly that it didn’t have time to react. She leapt onto its shoulders, grasped its beak in her hands, and pulled in an effort to break its neck. But
Viscyr’s
muscular neck was too strong. It struggled and slashed at her with its clawed appendages.

Talon’s attack had given Deathclaw the opening he had been waiting for. He leapt from his concealment under the pile of fur, flipped and sent his tail barb into the weak spot that he had seen under
Viscyr’s
throat. It was the one part of the beast’s body not covered in hardened scales. The barb tore muscles, arteries and tendons.

Talon let out a hiss of pleasure and ripped
Viscyr’s
head free from its body with a spray of gore.

Deathclaw watched Talon throw the bird-like head to the ground with mixed feelings. The wizard had changed her even more than when he had last seen her. Aspects of her looked so . . . human. Now that he had finally found his sister, Deathclaw didn’t know what to do.

Talon didn’t have the same concerns. She attacked.

Chapter Forty

Justan and Fist ran to the sounds of shouting outside the chamber. They emerged from the iron door into the large curving stairwell that Justan remembered being carried down when he had first arrived.

“The throne room should be just above us,” he said.

“Goblins!
Goblins in the stairwell!”
It was Captain Demetrius’ voice.