The Darkslayer: Book 02 - Blades in the Night (48 page)

Fogle struck back, and the flame brightened again as he felt something recoil in rage. His relief was temporary. Assault after assault came. He watched as the ones he knew or cared for were tormented and destroyed over and over again. He witnessed himself being cut to pieces, limb by limb, and tossed into burning fires.

His brilliant mind was being twisted inside out, trapped in a maze of endless terror. He fought his way out time and again. It went on for days, it seemed. He had no idea of time or reality. He had to break free. He defended his very life. Everything felt real. His skin was being flayed from his back. Urchlings were devouring his flesh. It wasn’t real, he had to tell himself again and again. He had to fight back. He had to believe in himself or die. The overwhelming challenge ignited the warrior deep inside his mind. He fought back with his own tricks and crafty ideas.

Venir stayed busy throwing whatever he could at the underling magi. Everything bounced away, though. He wanted a straight fight, but he’d never encountered two powerful wizards at the same time. It was alien to him. The underlings were a patient race who could wear him down. All the power in his grip would serve him little good if he could not take the fight to them on the ground. He was crafty when he needed to be—and he needed to be now. But what could he do to an enemy that would not come down to fight him?

Hours passed as a fog rolled in from the mist. Fogle Boon was sweating in a trance, and Ox soon covered the man with a blanket. The bookish mage seemed as if he was about to die at any moment. Venir watched his body shudder and convulse now and then. He could still see the underlings through the thick of the fog with the magic of the helm, but his head ached. Still, he feared to take it off as he would lose sight of them.

“
Uhhhh!” Fogle gasped.

Venir and Ox jumped as Fogle lurched forward.

“
Uhhhh!”

It was well past midnight when Fogle Boon’s eyes finally snapped open. Venir could see blood trickle from his nose and a bitten lip, too. The man’s eyes were sunken and milky.

“
Shades of the dungeons,” he heard the mage say. “I was not going to give in, not again.”

Then Fogle slumped over into a deep sleep.

Verbard was concerned now as his brother had failed to take over the human with his mind. He should have done it. It should have been over the moment it started, and he contemplated helping out, but that would have left them defenseless. He waited, unable to see the Darkslayer below, but he could still sense him and his power. He couldn’t risk lowering his shield for a moment as the warrior below was deadly accurate with every weapon and rock he threw. There were other things Verbard could do, but not without leaving Catten unprotected. The standoff was truly one of a kind on Bish. The moments of silence were deafening, other than an occasional cackle from Verbard and the thunderous croak of the balfrog in the distance.

Catten snapped up at his side. Verbard grabbed him before he fell from the air.

“
Verbard … brother … get us away from here … now,” was all Catten could say.

Up they went, higher in the air, far from harm’s way.

“
What happened, Catten? You could not take this man!” Verbard said.

Catten held his hands over his eyes. “He has faced the same man we now do—the Darkslayer. He survived it, absorbed it, then turned it on me. One moment, I was ready to crush him, and in the next, the Darkslayer was bearing down on me. I had no choice but to break it. A few more moments, and I would have been through.”

“
Now what?” Verbard said. “Certainly we can take this man by other magical means! Let’s let loose again.”

Venir could see the two figures high in the air, distant specks. He didn’t know if they were worried or waiting. He needed Fogle Boon to bring them down. He needed to get help for Chongo. It was late in the morning when the mage recovered and babbled for an hour.

“
How much time has passed?” Fogle asked.

“
It’s the next morning,” Venir said.

“
Great Bish! That’s all! That was forever, it seemed. Where is he?”

“
Up there, way high. Both of them. Got anything we can use? We need to get them down.”

“
I know this: they want you dead … period. It’s why they are here. Kill you and go home. It was at the forefront of his mind. They won’t go away, and I assume you won’t, either. Oooh … Give me some food, Ox? I am starving.”

Ox fed Fogle, who seemed to regain his strength. Then Fogle offered a plan. Venir was all ears.

“
You know, those two have a lot of power,” Fogle said. “I don’t see how we can survive it if they decide to strike us down. They can. They can strike down a small army if need be.” He wiped his hands on his knees, dusted them off, and stood up. “I don’t think they think they can kill you, though. It’s what holds them back. They have tried before and only failed. Every time they have you dead to rights, you wriggle out of it and turn it against them.” He picked up pieces of the withered scroll. It turned to dust in his hands. “They are trying a new tactic: they want to wear you down—test your limits.”

Venir didn’t like what he heard. “I need a straight fight. Can you make that happen. Can you make anything happen?”

“
Well, they can’t float forever,” he said.

It was true. The underlings’ spell would not last forever. They had to eat and they had to come down and rest. They would have to hide when they did. Venir knew he would be able to track them anywhere on Bish now. But he would get hungry and tired too. Still, he was determined to be there whenever they came down, wherever it may be. One could not escape the other.

“
Fogle Boon, I am going to track them so long as I can. So long as I have all of this …” He tapped his helmet. “I am meant for it. I always have been.”

“
It’s an insane mission. You will never get a wink of sleep without help.”

“
It shouldn’t take forever. I need you to stay with Chongo. Mood will return, I am sure of it. I have not heard a croak in a while. I am sure he is coming here. It’s been good with you, Fogle Boon.” He pulled out Fogle’s amulet and stuck it back under his vest. “I’ll keep this with me at all times in case I don’t come back soon.”

The underlings were moving away. Venir had to follow. He had to stop them somehow. He had never been closer.

Step by step, he vanished into the burning horizon.

Mood and company arrived a couple of days later.

“
Great Bish! What happened to Chongo?” Mood asked.

Fogle filled him in and Mood was grieved.

“
Mood, what happened to the balfrog? Did you slay it?” Fogle asked.

“
Indeed,” the dwarf said.

“
How?”

“
Well, I let him eat me.”

“
What?” he exclaimed. ”You let him eat you? Are you being serious?”

“
I am. He sucked me in with his three forked tongues. Then I gutted ’em inside out,” he said, chopping his axes. “No air in there, but I can hold me breath a long time. It took me hours to gut him out, but I burst free. Next time, I take you with me, wha’cha say?” he said with a nudge.

“
Is that dried frog guts I smell? It’s foul.”

“
It sure is, little man. So we going after Vee. Me kin will take care of Chongo and get him back to Dwarven Hole.”

“
I guess so. I’ve nothing better to do. Hold on,” Fogle said.

Mood fired up a cigar.

The wizard began his casting, holding a small dart in his palm that twirled inside of it fast then slowing down to a stop. Northeast was the direction it pointed, then it began to rise.

“
Why’s it rising?” Mood asked.

“
Every inch up is every few miles. So I’d say he’s only twenty miles away. We’ve got some catching up to do.”

Fogle couldn’t believe the man had chased the underlings that far already. He must have been running. He pictured the man walking away. The muscled juggernaut strode away on foot, big axe in hand, helmet glinting in the suns. How would the man last in the sun?

“
We gots the horses, so let’s go then,” Mood said. “Eh … Mage, is there any way to know if he is alive or dead?”

“
No,” Fogle said.

They were heading closer to the edge of the world and the mist began to loom far away in the distance. Mood would check for signs of the man, but his face showed deep concern. He was unable to find so much as a single trace of the man passing through. Fogle began to question his magic. The outright disappearance of the man began to bewilder him. What he thought would be a two-day trip became ten. They might have been going in circles. He wondered if the mist had something to do with it.

“
I’ve never come this close to the mist before,” Mood said in a comment that surprised Fogle Boon.

The mist went up as high as the eye could see. It still was miles away, how many they could not tell, but they had no desire to approach it, either. They could see a ledge forming as well, but were not tempted to peer over it. Many had and been fine from it, but many paid for it as well, drawn into it and never able to return. It was the most foreboding thing in all of Bish: the utter unknown, as foreign to the races as the Underland to an eagle.

As they trotted along, Fogle watched the needle rise again then float ahead. It stopped and fell on a pile of rocks. A horrifying feeling sunk in their bellies. The rocks were large, almost too big for a man to move, but a giant dwarf could.

“
What do you think? Should we move them?” Fogle asked.

“
We? Little man, you ain’t movin’ nothing. Me and the mintaur can handle this,” Mood said in a gruff voice.

Rock after rock, Mood and Ox strained to carry each boulder away. As each rock thudded to the ground, a sense of dread filled the mage’s chest. As the last big stone was moved, Fogle saw a shallow grave covered in dirt. The dart hovered now above it. Ox and Mood cleared the dirt away. An outline of a body was covered by a thick black cloth. It appeared to be lying on its side.

“
Shall I do the honors too?’ the dwarf asked, reaching forward..

“
No … let me,” Fogle said as a chill raced down his spine.

Fogle boon tore the dark burlap cloth away. He jumped back in alarm, startling them all. Nothing was moving but them, though. They all were gathered and got a clear view of two bright colorful eyes glossed over in death. It was an underling, no doubt. He took it to be one of the two Venir sought.

Mood pulled the corpse from the grave and set it down. The dead underling mage indeed seemed to be one of the two they’d fought. Venir’s hunting knife was still deep in its back, with the tip poking clear through its chest. Fogle’s amulet was tied around its neck.

“
He killed one of them; the crafty human actually did it. But how? There is no sign of him anywhere,” Mood said in awe.

Fogle spent hours contemplating what had happened over a fire and some stag meat that Mood had brought along.

“
Do you think he entered the mist, Mood, or followed the other one in there?” he asked.

“
No.” Mood tore a big hunk of flesh from the leg. “We are going to keep looking for him. Someone is bound to see him. He’s too big and loud not to show up.”

“
Do you think he is dead? I just don’t know.”

“
I don’t, either,” Mood grumbled. “He’s hard to kill, that man. If he got one of them, I’d say it’s likely he’s bound to get the other.” Mood spat. “If he ain’t already.”

“
I agree, but too many mysteries remain.”

Fogle couldn’t shake the feeling that he would never see his friend again.

“
Were you born yesterday?” Mood said. “That’s how it is on this world, you know.”

“
I just like having some answers,” Fogle said, staring into the mist.

“
Well, startin’ tomorrow, we begin trying to find you some. Rest knowin’ that our friend it still out there doing what he does best: huntin’ down and killin’ underlings.”

The next day, Mood cut off the underling’s head and burned the rest of the remains. Fogle held onto Venir’s hunting knife. Along with Ox, the pair searched the world over for the man, trying to find any source anywhere, but whatever evidence existed of the Darkslayer, they were always ten steps behind.

The Darkslayer—Venir—had become a shadow that they could not find.

Craig Halloran resides with his family outside of his hometown Charleston, West Virginia. When he isn’t writing stories he is seeking adventure, working out or watching sports. To learn more about him go to:
www.thedarkslayer.com

Other works by the Craig Halloran