The Darkslayer: Chaos at the Castle (Book 6) (15 page)

Georgio
rubbed his rumbling stomach. “Well, a bowl of Joline’s stew sounds awful good.”

Brak’s stomach growled so loud that Jubilee jumped.

“Whoa, and I thought my stomach was loud.” Georgio eyed Brak. “I bet you can’t out eat me.”

A grim smile formed on the corner of Brak’s thin lips.
“We’ll see.”

“And what about you?” Georgio asked Billip.

Tugging at his goatee, he smiled as Trinos approached, followed by Corrin.

“I’ll be fighting alongside her.”

“That’s sweet, Billip,” Trinos said, brushing her arm along his. “But I cannot guarantee your safety. The underlings are many, and they could overtake these walls any day now.”

“They say no force can take this city.
We have the walls. We have the Everwells. We just need to vanquish the scourge that is among us.”

“Every city falls eventually, Brave Billip
.”

“Yes
, Trinos,” Corrin agreed, “but no other place in Bish is as comforting to a wretch like me. I live here; I’ll die here.” His blades blinked in and out of his scabbards. “Just give me all the help you can give.”

As Trinos, Billip, Nikkel and Corrin stood before him, an itch to fight overcame Georgio.

“I’m staying as well.”

Someone laughed.

“Who’s laughing?” Georgio said.

It was Melegal, leading Quickster his way and handing him the
reins.

“Get your fat arse out of her
e, Georgio,” the thief said, sliding a slender box from the saddle.

KAAA-VOOOOSH!

A burning building collapsed in the nearest district, sending up a tower of flames and grey smoke.

“Go, find Venir,” Melegal continued, “and tell him when you see him, he’s doing a lousy arse job killing underlings.”

***

As Georgio, Brak and Jubilee headed south towards the stables, Melegal felt some wetness in his eyes.
I’ll probably never see Quickster again. Fat Arse better feed him.

Haze wrapped her slender arm around his
bony shoulders. “How are you?”

“I’d be better if you went with them, Haze.
You too, Billip. You need to take your knuckle cracking self with them as well. That boy can’t handle the Outlands on his own. You know that.”

“I’m staying here, you thin-necked copper snatcher!”

“Alright fine, Billip. I’ll let you win, just this once.”

Go with Georgio.

“You say
you want to go with Georgio, fine. But he’d be much better off with me, and you know it.”

Go with Georgio.

“And don’t you forget it!” Billip blinked and stared at Melegal.

Go … with … Georgio.

Billip grabbed his gear and trotted after Georgio.

Melegal pinched the bridge of his nose.

Bone, that hurts!

“What just happened?” Haze
said.

A confused looking
Nikkel was chasing after Billip, strapping on his pack.

“
Interesting.” Trinos touched Melegal’s cheek.

A tingling revitalization raced through his body. It felt wonderful.
His headache was gone.

“Are you shaking
?” Haze scowled at Trinos. “What did you do to him?”

Trinos grabbed Haze’s hand. The woman’s lithe frame gently collapsed to the ground.

“Take her away, Corrin, and see to it she’s well cared for.”

Melegal stretched his limbs. He felt better than he ever remembered feeling before.

“How did you…”

Trinos put her fingers to his lips
. “What is it you want, Melegal?”

He cocked an eye
brow at her.

“Besides that.”

“Can you get me inside Castle Almen? I have unfinished business.”

His vest clanked
when she patted it.

“You already have a way in. Just find a door and go.”

You smell so incredible.

“I know.”
She grabbed hold of his hand. “Be careful. The Keys go many places. Many people seek them. Seek you.”

“Sounds dangerous. Perhaps I should destroy them.”

“Perhaps.”

KAAA-VOOOOSH!

Another building crumbled and fell.

A squadron of soldiers on horses could be heard galloping the
ir way. Like a deer, Melegal took off running in long bouncing strides.

Kill Sefron!

***

The Royal soldiers on horseback thundered past Trinos, Corrin, and all of the other 21
st
District survivors, but none of them saw a living thing.

“Did you do that
?” Corrin said.

“Certainly.”

“So, what are we to do now, wage war on the underlings? If so, we could use more people.”

Trinos took her seat on the bench by the fountain.

“No. We’ll do what we have to when we have to, but I think I’ve done enough for now.” She stretched her arms out and dipped her toes in the water. An image of the lives on Bish formed.

Corrin
’s narrow eyes widened. “Is this what I think it is?”

“
I would not deceive you. Besides, sometimes all you can do is sit back, watch, and hope for the best. You never know what is going to happen on a world like this.”

CHAPTER 17

Battle cries and howls of pain filled the air. Steel punched through bone and metal. Standing on the balcony of Castle Almen’s keep, Lorda Almen’s eyes were transfixed downward, in awe.

“Kill them, you worthless curs! Kill them all!”

The underlings had laid siege on Castle Almen, and Sefron, standing off to her side, could barely contain his glee.

Oh, you’ll be mine soon, Lorda Almen.

He licked his lips, gazing over her hips and legs.

All mine and mine alone.

Her sharp words interrupted h
is thoughts.

“How many of those fiends are there
, Sefron? It looks like hundreds at the wall!” She pointed. “What in Bish are those things?”

“Spiders, and th
ose pale little things, I’ve no idea.”

“Insects!”
She recoiled back into his arms.

Oh my, so vibrant, alive
… Delicious!

His hands drifted down on her hips.

Smack!

“I should remove your hands, Sefron! You pervert!”
She clasped the plunging neckline of her elaborate dress. “Throw him over!”

“
Apologies, Lorda, I only meant to comf—
urk
!”

One Shadow Sentry seized him by the arms
, the other by the legs, lifting him over the edge of the balcony.

She means it!

“Lorda, your husband, Lord Almen, needs me!”

“Hold,” she said. “Hmmm … hang him over by the legs.”

Sefron cl
ung to the Shadow Sentry’s arm with desperation.

The sentry whipped out a knife and jammed it in
his hand.

“Ow!”
Sefron let go of the sentry’s arm and dangled over the edge, held by his feet. “Lorda, please, have mercy! You need me. Lord Almen needs me.”

He tr
ied to pull himself up, but he barely managed to lift his head.

Lorda Almen wasn’t even looking at him
. Instead, her cat-eyes were focused on the raging battle below.

Every soldier of Castle Almen was fighting along the wall, ramming their blades into the faces of every underling that tried
to climb over the parapets. Spiders climbed over the walls and into the gardens, carrying small albino underlings with thick shoulders. The heavy crossbows from the towers rocked out, filling the spider and underling creatures with giant splinters.

Sefron flinched
.

A
dying creature’s maw opened and closed stories beneath him.

The men shouted orders and screamed for help. It didn’t seem possible that the underlings could take over, not with one thousand, not with ten thousand, for Castle
Almen was well defended. Between the towers, turrets and massive keep, the outer wall of the Castle could be defended from every angle. Archers and bowmen manned the towers and turrets, raining down death with deadly accuracy.

Half a dozen underlings cleared the wall
, only to be feathered with many shafts.

“Lorda, let me up please
. I’m sorry!”

Outside the Castle walls, underlings
came from all directions, filling the streets as far as the eye could see.

Surely someone is doing something
, Sefron thought.

The blood rushing to his head had turned it purple. Gazing around, he noticed the bordering Castles firing into the hordes of underlings as well, but they weren’t falling, not as fast as they should be.

Slat, this Castle will never fall if I don’t help the underlings.

The arms of the sentry started to tremble.

“Lorda, he’s going to drop me! Please,” he whined. “You need all the help you can get. At least let me check Lord Almen once again!”

“Pull him up,” she said, not looking. “And punish him.”

Sefron felt his body lifted through the air like a baby and slammed into the ground like a stone.

“Oo
f,” he said.

He felt a punch in the gut
. In the face. Then nothing but pain. He heard his blood dripping from his nose.

“One more transgression,” Lorda
said, “and it’s over the parapet for you. My word on that, you grotesque fiend.”

Through his one good eye
, he watched the sway of her hips as she departed.

Mine
, all mine.

Pushing himself
up, he swallowed the taste of blood in his mouth.

We’ll see who begs for mercy next time.

***

Rubbing her neck, Lorda moved across
the stone floor and took a seat by her husband’s cot. The strong visage of the man she knew was gone, replaced by a paler, weaker shadow of himself. Pulling the cloth from his head, she dipped it in a bowl of water and replaced it.

“Lorda,” Sefron wheezed, limping over, “I should handle those dressings. It is my honor
. Please, rest yourself.”

“Get this toad out of my sight,” she said.

The sentries grabbed him under his arms, lifting him up, toes dangling from the floor.

It was hard to look at the flabby man,
with his bulbous belly and spindly legs. But she needed him, for now.

“Sent him to the bottom of the keep. If he causes a stir, send him out.”

Sefron gulped.

“And keep him away from my servants
. Send a couple up.”

“As you wish, Lorda
,” a sentry said.

The cleric wheezed and grumbled, but Lorda found relief when
the door closed, leaving her alone with the sentries. She was safe. She knew it, but her thoughts were troubled.

What do these underlings want with us?

Underlings had invaded her castle before, and now they were back again, forcing their way from outside and from within. And the other Castles along the great wall, they weren’t drawing near the amount of attention that Castle Almen was.

“What have you done?” she whispered to Lord Almen.

He had many secrets. He always had, and she was more privy to them than she let on. But, the biggest mystery was what had happened to Tonio. He was still out there, somewhere, deranged and mad. And Detective Melegal, he knew more as well, but she liked him for some reason. Maybe it was because Sefron clearly hated him. And because Lord Almen shared information with Melegal that he did not share with her.

“Hmmmmm,” she smiled. She liked men with secrets. She liked to find o
ut what was inside them.

She was stroking her husband’s cheek when two servant girls entered the room
, fell to their knees, and bowed. Their pretty faces were worried, their hair and clothing unkempt.

She sat up.
“What happened to the two of you? You look like urchins.”

“Apologies, Lorda
. We’re cut off from our means.”

The younge
r of the two clutched at her growling stomach.

“
Humph, well you better keep your little tummy quiet while you rub my feet, else I’ll feed you both to the under—Aaaaaaa!”

A pair of dog sized spiders climbed over the parapet and onto the balcony.

Thwipp! Thwipp!

Spider silk shot out
from beneath them and snatched the girls. They kicked and screamed.

The Shadow Sentries burst into action
. One caught his blade on the web. The other charged onto the balcony. Another spider scurried through the window and scrambled toward Lorda, its mouth full of dripping fangs.

“Eeeeyaaaah!”

CHAPTER 18

District Three in the City of Bone was overrun. Underlings by the hundred
s filled the streets, alleys, and storefronts―slaughtering everything in sight. One building burned, another one fell, all to the bewilderment of the Royals on the other side of Castle Almen’s walls. Not a single man or woman remained alive. The humans who weren’t killed instantly were burned alive. Smoldering corpses lined the streets, and their heads were tossed over the walls. It should have demoralized the Royals, but it did not.

Verbard hovered alongside his brother, silver eyes glinting in frustration.

“Jottenhiem, why haven’t we penetrated the wall yet!”

Jottenhiem w
iped the blood from his shaven head. “It will take hours if not days at this rate. We need siege weapons. The walls are ten feet thick. And they hold superior position from the turret and towers. These castles are made to hold through all-out war.”

Catten chuckled, rubbing his chin over his lip.

Verbard sneered at him.

Chuckling now are we, you stiff
?

He recalled the days he might have laughed the slightest
in situations like this, to Catten’s irritation. Carefree he was then, unlike his brother, who’d been all too serious about all things. But now, things were different. They had changed. He eyed the nearest turret.

“
If it was aid you needed, Jottenhiem, all you had to do was ask.”

Taking a deep breath
, he summoned energy. Tendrils of lightning lit up his robes, coiled around his arms. His hands then struck out. A bolt of energy streaked over the wall, slamming into the turret, scattering chunks of rock and flesh through the air.

The underling arm
y howled with glee.

“Excellent,
Brother! I like how you are thinking now!” Catten said. He summoned his own blast of light.

Ka-Chow!

Another Turret filled with archers was gone, leaving a smoking hole in the castle wall.

This is more like it!

Verbard’s black blood was like rushing waters
. He let another scintillating bolt fly, striking one of the taller towers. Bodies of screaming men plummeted toward the ground, disappearing behind the castle’s wall.

“What is that,
Brother?” Catten said.

Several robed men appeared at the top of the keep,
shouting and pointing their fingers.  Purple and green lights glowed from the towers and turrets, covering them like a mushroom with a shimmering cloud of energy.

“NO!”
Verbard said. He fired another bolt at the tower.

Ka-Fizzzzz …

“And there be wizards,” Catten said. “I suspected as much.” He turned to Verbard. “Seems they’ve drawn us out, Brother. I say we take it to them. Just us. They can’t be nearly as powerful as we.”

Verbard looked hard into his brother
’s eyes.

Are you mad?

“
Our shields won’t hold forever, and we have plenty of magi that can take them. For now, let’s try something else.”

He’s been put into the body of a
fool! I liked you better when you were dead.

Catten flashed his teeth
. “Well said, Brother. I couldn’t agree more.”

Catten’s smile
didn’t seem natural. His resurrected brother had smiled more today than in the past three centuries. It unnerved him.

Who is this underling?

V
erbard sent a mental signal to the underling magi.

Hold your energy
! Send more spiders over the walls! Onto those towers now!

One by one, the robed underling magi’s arms went up, lifting dozens of spiders
with their albino urchling riders over the wall, sending them off quickly towards the towers.

Let’s see if th
ese shields can stop livin—

Verbard jerked hi
s arm up, shielding his eyes from a brilliant light that burst forth from the top of the keep.

BAA-ROO
OOM!

The force of the blast sent him drifting back, slamming hi
m hard into a wall.

At his side, Catten was dusting the debris from his robes and Jottenhiem was knocked from his feet. A smoldering hole replaced the spot on the street where over a dozen underling sold
iers stood with one mage. The burnt scent of underling flesh was overwhelming.

Verbard grabbed his brother by the collar of his robes
. “Did you know they had such power, Catten!”

“Of course I did!” Catten said, trying to pu
sh him away, but Verbard held him tight. “Only a fool wouldn’t suspect it, Brother! This is war, you know! And their magic, like their rations, won’t last forever.”

Verbard cl
enched his fist and socked his brother in the gut. “You are a fool!”

Catten fell to the ground, grimacing
, breathless, trying to speak.

“This is only one castle of many
!” Verbard said. “And they have power! They have people! If this city organizes, then they’ll gallop right through us! Go! Find Kierway, and see to it he penetrates from below. If he does not, we are doomed!”

Catten floated up from his feet, eyes like golden lava.
“As you wish, Brother. As you wish!”

With a clap of his hands, a black door appeared
. Catten stepped through and vanished along with the door, leaving Verbard floating there, uncomfortable.

Jottenhiem stood, staring at him with an odd look in his ruby eyes.

Verbard rubbed his fist. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“Me too,” Jottenhiem said
. He formed the closest thing he had to a smile.

“Check in with your scouts, Commander
, and report back to me quickly. We can’t have the Royal forces rallying the city. Keep pressing the wall. We’ve got to find a way to bring those towers down.”

“Yes,” Jottenhiem saluted, “Lord Verbard.”

Eyeing the top of the keep, Verbard’s stomach started to churn.

This is a suicide mission.
I know it!

CHAPTER 19

“Not yet!” Kam said.

Lefty tied the gondola off on the dock
. He’d seen Kam broken and busted up but not beaten. However, now she was something else. Her red hair frizzed all over her head. Her robes were disheveled over her body. Heading towards the stairs that led up to the city, her sultry movements were gone, replaced by the gait of a man.

“Wait up, Kam
. You’ll need a lantern to navigate those steps.” Lefty snatched a lantern from the post and blew on the wick inside. An eerie green illumination came forth.

Kam turned, her face contorted, her features almost unrecognizable.

“Quiet, Little Halfling,” she said. The voice was not hers. “Put that light out. I don’t need it.”

Lefty gasped, shuffling backward.

What is going on with her!

Earlier, he’d seen her kill Diller, snapping his neck with the flick of her wrist. She’d left Palos in a pile of his own drool. And as
they rowed across the dark lake beneath the City of Three, he’d found no relief in his liberation, only fear at Kam’s muttering and arguments with herself.

He stayed back
. She strolled up the stairs, the twinkling of the red gems embedded in her hand giving off the faintest of light. He didn’t know what to make of it.

Is
she possessed? By what?

The step groaned
. She stopped and looked back at him, her eyes glowing with green fire.

“Did you say something, Halfling?” she said
.

He shook his head.
“No. No, Kam, nothing at all.”

Turning, she growled in her throat and headed back up the steps, clutching Baby Erin in her arm like a loaf of bread.

Lefty followed, feet splashing over the dock and up the steps. They were soaked in his sweat all the way up to the ankles.