The Darkslayer: Book 02 - Blades in the Night (5 page)

Catten fought the urge to slap his face. “I am glad you enjoyed their company. Now let us get on with the task at hand.”

“
Ah, but first you must tell me their names,” Verbard said.

“
No, brother, never! We will not go down this road again,” he said, turning away, face down toward the table.

Part of the underling courtship culture was for the male to discover the female’s name. It was a puzzle. Once a male had figured it out, she fell under his full authority and became his mate.

It was rare for underlings to have mates, as these brothers did. A name might be discovered through a variety of means, sometimes to the detriment of the female. Hence, Underland society allowed open relationships between males and females, and many underling houses had several women and children under their guard, yet no husband-and-mate relationship.

Underling women received names from their father. Not even a mother knew her daughters’ names. It had always been this way.

An underling who wished to court and mate with an underling daughter needed to learn her name from the daughter herself. A father could bestow the name as a gift, but this was rare. A daughter would never give up her name to another underling. Instead she gave clues, often decades apart. Underling courtships could therefore last a hundred years or more, but great power was gained through such unions. Catten, in fact, had received his mate’s name from her father.

“
Just teasing, Catten, loosen up some. I unburdened again. Now let’s go over whatever it is you want,” he said, sitting up and pulling his chair to the table.

Catten sat on the table, looking down at his brother.

“
When Master Sinway arrives,” Catten said, “we need to be very forthcoming. Make no bones about our plans …” He wagged his finger. “I will propose that we venture above once more. First we will take the current below Bish, but not unaccompanied. We need to decide who should join us. Last time we failed to take the Darkslayer by force. So this time we will have to show more patience.”

“
We will take him by force this time!” Verbard almost shouted. “We’ll blow him into bloody chunks and pieces. We had him last time!” he said, clutching his chest.

Catten could see the anguish in Verbard’s face as he remembered the fatal wound from the Warfield not so long ago.

“
He should be dead!” Verbard finished with a rap on the table.

“
I agree, brother. But there are forces in the world we don’t understand. He is one of them. If we can separate him from his armaments, I think we can put an end to him. But it’s going to take patience and cunning.”

A quiet moment passed as he watched his brother consider the plan.

“
Agreed. Besides, I think this is how Master Sinway prefers us to go about it. We will do this, brother. The Darkslayer will die,” Verbard said.

Catten looked deep into his brother’s eyes and felt they were united by a single burning desire: to see the Darkslayer dead. He watched as Verbard froze in his place as his silver eyes widened. Then Catten’s shoulders felt cold, as if an icy stare lingered on his back.

No … Not yet!

Catten turned and saw Master Sinway’s foreboding presence fill the doorway.

Lord Catten dropped to one knee, head bowed, alongside his brother. Master Sinway and a dozen Badoon warriors now crowded his study. Master Sinway wore thick black robes with an inlay of dark patterns and mystic signs. He towered over the others, a full six feet in height.

Catten peered up, spellbound as always. Sinway’s chiseled face was aimed at him—the ominous eyes beneath a thick head of receding black hair. His master’s furry hands waved long fingers, with marvelous rings and razor-sharp nails. The underling overlord’s feet skimmed over the marble surface with each step, never touching the ground. It made Catten feel even smaller. The shadow-walk came naturally to some but not all. Catten looked down again as he felt his master’s robes pass.

“
Get up, you two,” Master Sinway said with clarity. “Your insincere groveling does not impress me.”

Catten stood at attention, pulling up his smirking brother by the arm.

Idiot.

“
Welcome to my home, Master Sinway,” Catten said, head bowed. “This is a great honor you have bestowed on my family. Is there anything I can get you?”

“
As a matter of fact, yes, Catten. The Darkslayer. Do you have him here by any chance?”

Sinway’s iron-red irises locked onto his. Catten held his stare for a moment and then dropped his eyes.
He’s furious.
His brother took a half step back.

“
No, master,” Catten said, keeping his head down. “My brother and I are working on it.”

Catten felt Sinway walk around them both, stopping finally to regard his brother. His brother looked up and returned Master Sinway’s stare.
Don’t do it!

Sinway stopped. From the corner of his eye, Catten watched Verbard’s eyes stream with tears. Catten’s twin cried out, grasping his eyes then falling to his knees.

Sinway’s voice shook the room, jolting objects from the shelves: “You fool, Verbard! I do not understand your behavior of late, but do not do that again. Ever!”

Catten helped his brother back to his feet, but Verbard pushed him away. Sinway moved to the black table, preoccupied in thought. Catten envied Sinway’s power over them and all others. He knew Verbard felt the same. It was what they desired for themselves one day. Sinway had more secrets than all the days of their lives, but over time Catten would acquire the same through his service.

Then Catten heard his lord behind him: “I have given you two the benefit of the doubt long enough. You had been fine servants until this last failure. But the loss of my precious Vicious and a whole Badoon brigade was colossal. And embarrassing!”

Catten felt invisible fingers poking his back, nudging him forward. It hurt.

“
I cannot fathom how you managed to fail,” Sinway said. “I armed you well. You had great power at your disposal. Yet the Darkslayer still lives, while underlings still die in multitudes.”

There was a long silence. Catten turned to see his master gripping the edges of the table.

“
Last time, Master Sinway,” Catten said, stepping forward, “we allowed ourselves to be distracted. It was a costly error and we did not foresee it. It was the first time we had taken the matter directly into our own hands. We have learned much about our enemy now. We will not fail again.”

“
No, you will not,” Sinway said. “Because if you do, you will never set foot in the Underland again. Do not return if you fail this time!” he yelled as the edges of the onyx table crumbled in his glowing grip.

Catten fell to his knees.
No!
He felt like a child caught one too many times, shrinking under his master’s hot glare. He searched his brother’s face and saw his shock as well. He should not have been surprised, for the Darkslayer had been a constant thorn in their sides. What would he have done in his master’s shoes?

“
Kill this human,” Sinway said. “Bring me his body and his weapons. I want everything he has. I don’t know what it will take and I don’t care. Stop him!”

Two clawed fingers pointed at their chests. Catten felt his heart stop. Then he pitched forward, clutching his chest just as Sinway released his spell. He was sweating now, gasping for air, trying not the writhe like a worm all over the floor. It had done its work. Finally, Catten gathered himself, still shaken as he watched Sinway shadow-walk through the doorway and disappear. As the door closed, silence enveloped the room. He couldn’t have been more relieved. Then he noticed Verbard lying on the floor.

“
I told you he was mad,” Catten tried to shout but couldn’t find his breath. “And you had to try to stare him down! You are fortunate to still have your mind left.”

Verbard was still clutching his chest, his face grimacing with pain. Catten realized his brother’s old wound caused him further stress. He pulled his brother up and watched as his ashen face returned back to gray.

His brother dusted himself off.

“
He still has it, I will say that,” Verbard said. “I have not tried that with him for over a century, but I lasted longer than ever. Either he’s getting weaker or I am stronger!”

“
You are a fool! He almost killed you,” Catten said.

Verbard’s silver eyes sparkled. “No, he respects it. He doesn’t like it, but he respects it.”

Catten took a deep breath, walked over to his table, and began rolling up the scrolls.

“
What are you doing?” Verbard asked.

“
Gearing up. I suggest you do the same.”

“
Why bother with that?”

“
We will be gone awhile, brother. It is not wise to leave anything on the table. You must do the same.”

“
Okay, if that is the case, then we will not go alone. I will bring some help and protection,” Verbard said with strange cheer.

Catten knew what his devious brother had in mind, but he didn’t resist. His brother was right: it was time to pull out all the stops. Never in their lives had they been faced with a kill-or-be-killed mission, but the time had come. It was their charge.

“
Hurry back, brother,” Catten said, shaking his head at the ruined table. “I cannot wait to see what you return with.”

Catten looked up and saw Verbard’s wicked smile as his brother walked out through the open door.

Venir had reached the outskirts of the City of Bone after leaving Mood and the Red Clay Forest behind. A mile away from the city’s main south gate, he stood and gazed at the massive stone walls surrounding the city. They were unlike any others on Bish, enclosing well over a hundred thousand occupants as if in a giant castle.

There was little evidence of how the great city had come into existence, but the dungeons and catacombs below were filled with tombs and bones from a long-forgotten time.

Venir watched as the wall’s enormous portcullis opened like a gaping maw ready to devour its next meal. The southern outskirts of the city walls always bustled with activity as merchants and farmers plied their trades day and night like worker ants.

The City Watch was thick in the area, Venir knew from experience. They were strict in enforcing who could enter and who could not. The Royals did not welcome other races, but allowed inhabitants to barter with them on the outside. The City Watch also recruited citizens. Anyone with skill or charm would be welcomed and escorted inside, never to be seen again by their families. It was considered a great honor by outsiders to be taken into the city’s sanctuary, but often those persons met a most unpleasant fate. This, in fact, was how Venir had arrived in Bone as a boy.

He had been a strapping young twelve-year-old with bright blue eyes and shiny, thick blond hair. But he was alone: his family had long been slaughtered by underlings at his village of Throhm. Bandits had taken him in and traded him to devious merchants, who then took him to the City of Bone to exploit his skills. There he worked as a slave below several Royal castles.

His only friend then was a fellow slave boy named Melegal. Their days were filled with cleaning the muck and grime of the excesses of those above. The nights were filled with lashings and fitful sleep on a cold, damp dungeon floor with only grimy cleaning cloths for blankets.

The only good thing was that the slavers educated them so that they could understand their duties and how Royal systems worked: reading and writing were needed to meet the demands of their superiors. And as they grew more skilled, they rose up from the less subservient positions. It was still slavery, but a better life than many had on Bish. Those without skills did not survive long.

But the slavers took the older ones as they approached adulthood, and these were never seen again. The younger ones were left wondering where they had gone. Unbelievable rumors had struck terror in their hearts. Even today, Venir still did not know where the older slaves had gone, but he knew of many who had survived.

He and Melegal had been lucky: they had picked up the reading and writing. Melegal had the precious gift of being able to take dictation with a fluent hand. Venir, conversely, relied on his strength, and was made a sparring dummy for Royal sons to develop their battle skills. He never fought back as they dished it out to him over and over. It was a time in his life he preferred to forget, and he pretty much managed to do that—until times like these that brought him back to Bone.