Hunt of the Bandham (The Bowl of Souls: Book Three) (12 page)

He dropped his kill at Lenny’s feet, then stretched, reaching out his long, thick arms and rose to his full height of over eight feet. His back popped with several loud cracks and he sighed in relief. The moment that Lenny got a good look at the kill, he went into a fury.

“A bear?” The dwarf jumped up and down, shaking his fists at the ogre. “What the garl-friggin’ hell am I ‘posed to do with a bear, you big dumb varmint?”

“It is good meat. This bear will feed us many days,” Fist said, scratching his head in puzzlement. Squirrel shook one tiny fist and chattered at Lenny angrily.

The bond had affected the ogre in other ways as well. He had always been intelligent for an ogre, but his range of thoughts had expanded over the last two weeks. The rest of the companions had been working with him and his pronunciation of the common tongue had improved greatly.

“Good meat? Thing’ll be tougher than a horse’s hind hoof! I shoulda’ gone huntin’ myself.”

“You could have, if you weren’t so busy sleeping off your firewater,” Justan said. Gwyrtha ambled over to Fist and nuzzled his side. The ogre absently scratched behind her horselike ears.

“Don’t go takin’ his side, boy,” Lenny said. “In the last two weeks since we left the duke’s castle he’s brung us a wolf, a couple polecats and a big damn snake! I wanna eat somethin’ normal fer once!” He scowled at Fist. “Why couldn’t you just kill a deer?”

The ogre shrugged. He had grown used to the dwarf’s tantrums. “They are too damn fast.”

“You are a bad influence on him, Lenny,” Justan said to the dwarf.

Qyxal strode up to see what the commotion was about. “A black bear? Good job, Fist. I haven't had bear meat in a long time.”

Lenny fixed the elf with a glower. The elf smiled sweetly in response. Justan was pretty sure that Qyxal had taken Fist’s side just to needle the dwarf.

“The pelt will fetch us a good price the next time we come to a town if we prepare it right.” Justan said, trying to smooth it over. “We are running low on funds, you know. Besides Lenny, I have faith in your cooking. If you can make a snake taste like chicken, you can make anything taste good.”

“It's gonna take us all mornin' to clean the durn thing and wrap it all up, much less prepare the blasted pelt! We’re not gonna find yer Master Coal ‘till spring if we don’t get a move on.” The dwarf was still complaining, but he had lost the argument and he knew it. “Alright, Fist. Well, yer gonna have to help me clean it this time.”

They dragged the carcass away from the camp and began dressing it. Fist was actually pretty handy with a knife. Justan turned to Qyxal.

“Have you ever really eaten bear?”

“Once when I was little. One of the other children in my hunting party accidentally killed a bear cub and our teachers made us eat it.” The elf shivered. “It was awful.”

“You can't help yourself can you?” Justan shook his head in exasperation. “What's your problem with Lenny anyway?”

“Oh, don't worry about him,” the elf said. “He's just upset because he woke up this morning and discovered that Gwyrtha had buried him again.”

Justan looked at Gwyrtha with a frown. The rogue horse just huffed silently in amusement. Justan still hadn't quite figured out why Gwyrtha didn’t like dwarves. She had grown quite fond of Lenny after a fashion, but she continued to take her anxieties out on him with her little pranks. It had something to do with her past and every time Justan pressed her about it, she shrugged him off. She was too frightened of those old memories to relive them through the bond.

“Well both of you need to treat him better,” Justan said. “The only reason he is journeying with us is out of friendship for me. He cooks your food every day and if we were ever in a battle, he wouldn't hesitate to save your life.”

“He doesn't hesitate to complain about me either,” Qyxal muttered in irritation. “Especially lately.”

“I know what you are saying, but still . . . that's just Lenny being Lenny. You two should know better.”

The elf's face stiffened at the rebuke.

“But of course, Sir Edge.” Qyxal bowed and strode away. Gwyrtha ignored Justan and calmly chewed on a tuft of dead grass.

Justan winced at Qyxal’s parting remark. He had stung his friend’s pride, but the things he told the elf had needed to be said. Justan had a feeling that the journey was going to get dangerous before they reached Master Coal and he wanted his group to be as together as possible. They didn't need any turmoil that could tear them apart when times got tough.

He looked down at the new fingerless gloves on his hands and resisted the urge to take them off and stare at the runes. He felt that compulsion a lot lately. He needed to understand why the bowl had chosen to mark him. Since he wasn’t the perfect warrior or wizard that the runes marked him as, what did the runes really represent? He hoped that Master Coal could give him some answers.

Until he felt worthy of his new name, he had again asked all of his friends to continue to call him Justan. Lenny and Qyxal weren’t comfortable with the idea. They thought it a sign of disrespect to the bowl itself. Justan had given them the excuse that he didn't want to advertise his named warrior status to anyone who might overhear. It was a legitimate concern. There were many rogues and bandits that would love to be able to say they had defeated a named warrior in battle. Though Justan’s skill had greatly improved along with his physique, he was still far from being ready to take on challengers.

Justan walked over to his saddlebags and rooted through them. He felt a tinge of unease as his hand brushed against the silken bundle that contained the dagger he had found in Ewzad Vriil’s remains. He had showed it to Qyxal and the elf did not seem to like the look of it, but he didn’t feel the same sense of menace that Justan did. Maybe Master Coal would know what it was about.

He moved the bundle to the side and pulled out the map that Professor Valtrek had given him. Justan had looked at it so many times since leaving the
Mage
School
that he practically had it memorized by now. Still, he gazed at it. Looking at the map helped order his thoughts.

They had left Ewzad Vriil’s castle in a westerly direction. For the first few days they had traveled as quickly as possible in case the king ordered any retaliation over the duke's death. Maintaining a fast pace was difficult because, even though they had two stout warhorses and Gwyrtha with them, Fist had to walk. He was far too big for either horse to handle for long. It wasn’t until after they had put a comfortable distance between themselves and the castle that they could slow down to a comfortable pace.

As far as Justan could tell, they should now be very close to the
Wide
River
. The river served as the border between Dremaldria and the neighboring
Kingdom
of
Razbeck
. Valtrek had told Justan that Master Coal lived just over the border somewhere in Razbeck, but the wizard was not quite sure where. There were several places in Razbeck that they could go to look for information on Master Coal’s whereabouts and Lenny had some contacts that could help, but that wasn't Justan's first concern. Their first obstacle would be crossing the river.

The
Wide
River
was accurately named. There were points along the river where you couldn't see the other side. Valtrek's map wasn’t very detailed where the width of the river was concerned. Justan couldn't tell where crossing would be easiest, especially since he wasn’t completely sure of their position on the map. The best places to cross were the bridges or ferry’s along the major roads, but Justan didn't want to cross someplace where they might be seen.

Their party was lacking a good guide. Justan and Qyxal had never been this far away from their homes and Fist had lived in the mountains his whole life. Lenny was the only one with experience traveling this part of the land, but he had always kept to the main roads and he had only crossed the
Wide
River
at the main crossings, or at least that’s what he said. The closer to the border they got, the more Justan sensed that the dwarf was holding something back.

With that thought in mind, Justan walked back to the fire with the map in hand. Lenny and Fist already had the bear skinned and gutted. Gwyrtha was tearing into a few of the organs that Lenny didn’t want to use for food. Justan shook his head. She never looked less horselike than when she was eating meat. Lenny was lowering thick slices of bear into a hot pan on the fire.

The dwarf looked up as he approached. “Hey son, that went quicker than I thought. Ends up the ogre’s purty good at skinnin’ a bear. Still gots to scrape the hide clean, though.”

“Do not make it hot this time!” Fist said, eying the meat in the pan.

“Dag-nab it, Fist. You ain’t never had food this good before you met me.”

“Is good food, yes. But it burns my mouth and hurts me inside.”

“It’s called yer belly,” Lenny replied as he went back to chopping away at the bear. “And that’s just ‘cause you still needs toughenin’ up.”

Fist had a harder time than anyone getting used to Lenny’s cooking. He loved experiencing the new flavors, but he had never eaten seasoned food before. He had spent the first few days with burning in his chest and stomach cramps. The worst part had been a few nights previous when Qyxal and the dwarf had talked him into trying Lenny’s firewater.

Fist had taken three large gulps, before leaping up and grabbing at his throat in pain. It had not been a pleasant evening after that. The alcohol affected Fist differently than Justan had seen it affect anyone before. His skin had flushed red and he became enraged. Justan had tried to soothe him through the bond, but the ogre went on a rampage.

He had enough control over himself to flee the camp to avoid hurting them, but then he ran through the woods, ripping down the branches of large trees and pushing over smaller ones. It had lasted for several hours before he had collapsed and fallen asleep. The next day, Fist’s head had hurt so bad that Justan’s own head had throbbed.

“He’s right Lenny,” Justan said. “Fist and I weren’t raised on the spices you use. Besides, aren’t you afraid you’re going to run out before we get to Master Coal’s?”

“Nah, we ain’t too far from a town that’s got a decent supply store.”

“You know where we are now?” Justan asked. “I thought that you never went off of the road when you traveled this way.”

“Oh, well uhh . . .” Lenny tossed a handful of spices on top of the meat and flipped them over in the pan. “You see, I just done recognized where we was this mornin’.”

“Good,” Justan said, now more sure than ever that there was something the dwarf was holding back. He looked at the map again. “But Lenny, I don’t see any towns on the map. Are you sure that you know where we are?”

Justan held the map out, but Lenny raised his hands to show that they were covered in blood and spices. With a sigh, Justan moved next to him and held it open. He pointed to a spot. “This is where I think we are.”

“Son, that map of yers must’ve been made more than twenty years ago. I came this way ‘bout four months back and there’s a fine little town down by the road a bit south of here . . .” The dwarf trailed off, deep in thought. After a second or two, he shook his head and continued, “Tell you what, after we’re finished with the dag-blamed bear and eat our breakfast, we can head down south a ways and then you and me’ll go to town.”

They needed to keep their group unseen while they traveled. The sight of Gwyrtha would scare anyone and it would not be easy for them to explain an ogre in their party, no matter how well he was dressed. Even Qyxal stood out too much since it was rare to see elves away from their homelands. The plan they settled on was for Justan and Lenny to go into the towns to find information and leave Fist, Qyxal, and Gwyrtha in hiding.

“Okay, good,” Justan said, but he wondered why the dwarf was acting so strange.  “Do you think they might be interested in taking a bear skin this fresh in trade?”

“Don’t rightly know. Can’t hurt to ask, though.”

They finished butchering Fist’s kill, ate quickly, and set off to the south. The bear meat was tough and a bit gamey, but edible and they definitely had enough to last them for a while. They scraped the hide out and set it to dry over Stanza's back as they walked. As long as they stayed upwind of it, the smell wasn't too bad.

By mid afternoon, they spotted smoke trails in the distance and knew they were nearing the town. They left Fist and Qyxal to set up camp, then Justan and Lenny took the two warhorses and started towards the town. Lenny was silent as they rode, acting very unlike his usual boisterous self. It wasn’t long before Justan had to say something.