Hunt of the Bandham (The Bowl of Souls: Book Three) (18 page)

“Lenny!” The sudden realization hit him. How could he have been so preoccupied? “Qyxal, did you see where Lenny fell?”

“To the south of here,” Qyxal said, pointing. “But I don’t know what we’ll find. He fell pretty far.”

“Let’s go, then!” Justan got to his feet and started to walk, then paused. Qyxal was still working on Gwyrtha’s leg. “Sorry, Qyxal . . . thank you. Thanks for taking care of us.”

“That’s my job on this trip, right? Resident healer?” The elf grinned and stood. “Let’s go find what’s left of that dwarf, then.”

It turned out that Lenny wasn’t too hard to find. They could hear him hollering from a distance. Smoke wafted through the trees and they soon saw the dwarf stuck up in a fir tree with needles burning all around him. Somehow he had managed to hold on to Bertha during his flight.

Lenny cursed and beat at the flames with his free hand until his mustache started smoldering. He dropped Bertha and patted frantically the mustache trying to limit the damage. As they watched, he lost his footing and fell out of the tree, landing on his back with a thud. Bertha lay on the forest floor beside him. Her potent magic had set fire to the wet leaves around her as she landed.

Qyxal rushed over and placed his hands on the dwarf’s chest.

“Leggo, dag-gum it! Yer healin’ won’t work on me,” the dwarf said as he tried to sit up.

“Hold still!” Qyxal shoved him back down and concentrated. The elf frowned and sweat beaded on his brow as he tried to pour magic into the dwarf. Finally, he let go and stood back, breathing heavily. He shook his head. “Sorry. It is just too hard trying to heal a dwarf. You are so resistant to magic that it makes things . . . fuzzy.”

“I done tried to tell you,” Lenny groaned as he stood up. “’Sides, I got my healin’ right here.” He pulled out his waterskin and took a swig. From the sound of his sigh afterwards, Justan knew it wasn’t water in there.

“He is okay?” Fist asked.

Qyxal laughed. “Dwarves are pretty tough as a whole, but Lenny is tougher than most. He’s bruised up pretty bad, but as far as I could tell, he didn’t break any bones.”

“I’m just glad we’re not diggin’ any dag-gum graves,” the dwarf said. He picked up Bertha and stomped out the small fire around her. “Now y’all get the hell outta’ here. I’ll catch up when I’m done with that corn-jigger.”

“What are you talking about, Lenny?” Qyxal said. “You can’t take that thing on alone. We should all get as far away from that thing as possible before it decides to come after us.”

Gwyrtha agreed with the elf. She nudged Justan.
Ride
.

“Just a minute, Gwyrtha,” Justan said, and addressed everyone else. “Listen, I think-.”

“I will stay with Lenny and fight,” Fist announced. “The giant hurts peoples for fun.”

“No, dag-blast it! Y’all go! I can handle this myself! I never shoulda’ drug you guys into this in the first place!”

“Fist, Lenny is right,” Qyxal said. “No one needs to get killed over one stupid hammer.”

“Buster ain’t stupid!” the dwarf snapped. “But he ain’t worth any of you dyin’ over.”

“I want to fight,” Fist repeated. Squirrel chattered in agreement, shaking his tiny fists at everyone.

Ride
, Gwyrtha pressed, nudging Justan.

“But-.” Justan said.

“Yer goin!” Lenny barked.

“Listen to me, damn it!” Justan shouted. They stopped their arguing and looked at Justan in surprise. “We are not just giving up!”

“He said ‘damn’,” Qyxal pointed out. “He must be serious.”

“Look, this failure was my fault,” Justan explained. “I underestimated the giant and brought us in without a valid plan. We leapt in there unprepared and that’s why he was able to beat us.”

“We can win,” Fist said in agreement.

“Then what’re you wantin’ to do different?” Lenny asked.

“Let’s think things through,” Justan said. “Qyxal, I caught a glimpse of Charz with my mage sight back there and there is a thick cord of earth magic leading from him to the cave.”

“Yeah, I saw that too.”

“Well, earth magic is your specialty. Couldn’t you use that against him, like use it to cast your earthquake spell on him or something?”

“Maybe . . .” The elf’s eyes widened. “I could possibly tie a spell into the magic that is already there. If I could create enough dissonance, it could shake him apart. The force of that much earth magic would have to kill him!”

“Do you have enough magic left to work that spell?” Justan asked.

The elf’s grin faltered. “Yes but to use a spell like that would take all the rest of the energy I have. If I try it and the spell fails, I wouldn’t be of any use to anyone for awhile.”

Justan sighed. “Alright, we’ll have to abandon that idea for now, but hold on to it. Save your magic. We may need you to use that spell as a last resort if everything else fails.”

“Then what?” Lenny grumbled. “How are we ‘posed to beat the dag-blasted thing?”

“We can,” Fist said again. Justan could feel his frustration again through the bond. He was having a hard time explaining himself. “But there are too many of us.”

“You don’t make a lick of sense sometimes, durn ogre.”

“Yes he does,” Justan said as he grasped Fist’s thoughts through the bond. “Fist, you make perfect sense. Thank you! He means that our problem was that there were too many of us attacking at the same time and we had no battle plan. We were getting in each other’s way out there!”

“So what’re you sayin’? We take turns?”

“No, here is what we do different. Fist, Gwyrtha, and I will attack the giant. Lenny and Qyxal, you two head straight for the cave. We will delay him while you two find Buster.”

“Dag-blast it, son! Can’t you get in in yer dull thick head? This is my fight! Buster’s my hammer.”

“I know that Lenny, but the three of us can coordinate our attacks a lot better through the bond without having to worry about an extra person. We need you in the cave looking for Buster. Just think of it as . . . payment in advance for the weapons you are going to make us to replace the one’s the giant broke.”

“What do we fight with?” Fist asked.

“That’s another thing, Lenny.” Justan took a deep breath. “Fist is going to need to borrow Bertha for the fight.”

“Dag-!”

“She’s the only weapon we had last time that really seemed to hurt him, and with Fist’s extra strength, it might be enough.”

“But Justan,” Qyxal said. “Wouldn’t I be of better use with you in case we need to use that spell?”

“No, I am going to be using my bow this time and I don’t need him throwing rocks at you. Besides, we don’t know how big the cave is or how hard the hammer will be to find. Buster’s magic will stand out to your mage sight. If Charz does somehow get past us and confronts you in the cave, you use that spell and kill him.”

The elf nodded.

“I still don’t like it,” Lenny said. “Yer takin’ all the risk here.”

“It is the only plan that makes sense. Look, we have two choices. We either follow this plan, or we abandon the idea and everyone leaves together. So what do you say? Are you with me on this?” He knew that Fist was ready. Gwyrtha didn’t understand why it was so important, but she was willing to go along with him. It was up to Lenny and Qyxal now.

“Justan, you always seem to have the right luck with you. I’ll do what you want to do,” Qyxal said.

Lenny swore under his breath for a moment, but finally walked over to Fist and held the hammer out. “Now remember, she will burn anything she touches. Yer so durn hairy yer liable to go up like a haystack. So careful, okay?”

Fist nodded. “I will burn him with your hammer. You like cooked giant?”

“Them’s the only good kind.” Lenny replied.

“Oh . . . one more thing,” Justan smiled as the idea came to him. “Lenny, I need your firewater.”

“What fer?”

He forced the smile down and turned to the ogre. “Fist, I need you to drink it.”

“Drink? No,” Fist rumbled and took a step backwards. He remembered what it had been like the last time he had drank the fire. All of his rage, his expulsion from the tribe, the killing of Tamboor’s family, it had all come to the surface. He could have hurt his new tribe. “I don’t want it.”

“Remember how strong you were the last time?” As he spoke, Justan explained his idea further through the bond. “All that anger you felt? We need you to use it on the giant.”

“Dag-nab it, son. You are one wily varmint,” Lenny said with a chuckle and handed the skin to the ogre. “Take yer medicine, Fist.”

“Don’t want it,” Fist said again and Justan pressed him through the bond.
Please, Fist. I know it burns, but it may give us the edge we need.
You won’t hurt us. Just focus on the giant.
The ogre resisted for a moment longer, but finally took the skin from Lenny. He whimpered in anticipation of the burning, then lifted it up and sucked it dry.

Moments later Justan, Fist, and Gwyrtha were standing at the forest’s edge watching Charz curse as he contorted, reaching around behind his back, trying to grasp hold of the shard of metal still imbedded in his rocky flesh. Lenny and Qyxal were sneaking further down through the trees to get closer to the cave entrance before the fight started.

Okay, our goal is to delay Charz until Lenny and Qyxal get out of the cave with Buster,
Justan said through the bond.
Fist, you take Charz head on. Just try and keep him from grabbing you. Okay?

Fist nodded.
It hurts!

He was sweating profusely and his mouth was still ablaze from the firewater. His skin was flushed red and his rage was beginning to build. Justan felt horrible about what Fist was going through and wondered if he had done the right thing. Was the firewater really necessary? Was he just torturing his friend in order to get a slight advantage?

Justan stopped that line of thinking. He couldn’t afford to doubt now. He could regret all he wanted later. Now was the time to focus.

Gwyrtha, I know that you will want to rush him right away, but what I need you to do is stay behind the giant and don’t attack unless it will help Fist. Do you understand?
He sent mental images of what he wanted, but he could tell that she understood her role already. The growth of her intelligence was truly impressive.

They waited a minute for Lenny and Qyxal to get closer to the cave, but Fist’s rage was building. His self control would not last much longer. Justan notched an arrow on his bow and nodded.
Let’s go.
They stepped out from the cover of the trees.

“Charz!” Justan shouted.

Charz turned and a wide grin split his rocky face. Justan noticed that his mouth was no longer bleeding.

“Hah! You’re back already? Oh right, you had the elf mage with you. I should keep one of those around. I love round twos.”

“This time we are changing the rules,” Justan said and raised his bow. “Throw all the rocks you want.”

“Okay.” Charz frowned and picked up a boulder. Justan pulled back on the string and a sparkle came into the giant’s eye. “So where is the dwarf? Did I kill him? Or . . . are you cheating? Hah!” He turned and threw the boulder so quickly that Justan didn’t have time to get a shot off before it left the giant’s hand.

Justan’s arrow blasted into Charz’s shoulder, sending out chunks of rock and a spray of blood.

“Ow! Whoa, no fair!” The giant screeched as he stumbled with the impact and Fist roared forward, Bertha hot and ready in his hands.

Justan watched the arc of the boulder as it flew towards the edge of the forest near the cave. He heard a faint curse and saw Lenny dive out of the trees just before the boulder struck the shadows where he had been hiding.

The boulder hit a tree two feet from where Qyxal was standing, peppering him with splinters of wood. He darted forward, helped the dwarf to his feet and ran. There was still a hundred feet of wide open space between them and the cave’s entrance. Lenny hobbled after him.