The Darkslayer: Chaos at the Castle (Book 6) (35 page)

Georgio struck first, clipping
one’s pale yellow underbelly. 

Something like a hot knife
sank deep into his thigh, numbing his leg.

Instantly, the bright light of the suns swirled
.

CHAPTER 46

The giant’s feet made a cloud of dust with every step.

Listless and weary, robes dragging on the ground, Fogle Boon followed Barton.  His sunburnt face peered into the clouds. Cass was gone again, and the suns of Bish had already set twice since then. He was miserable. Sick.

“Hold up
.” He fell to his knees.

Barton stopped
and turned, scratching his head. “What are you stopping for, Wizard? We’re almost there.”

Fogle scanned the area.
There was nothing aside from the bone trees and tiny lizards that scurried across the ground.  Still, he’d been following Barton, wandering aimlessly, empty, with no idea where they were going. He hadn’t had any luck finding the remnants of his ebony hawk, Inky. If he ever did, he could summon it again. He wiped his cracked lips on his dusty sleeve and spat.

“Barton getting thirsty. Make water, Wizard. Make water now.”
Opening a mouth that was big enough to swallow Fogle whole, the giant stuck his enormous tongue out, pointing at it. “Dry. Need water. Make water, Wizard.”

He could make water, but he didn’t want to. Instead, he wanted to suffer. He deserved that much.
I failed, Cass. I deserve to die. Right here. I’ll just wither away into the rock and stone.
He pulled his knees to his chest and dipped his head between them.

“Just go on without me, Barton
.”

“What?”

Shaking his head, he said it again, louder. “Just go on without me!” He could hear Barton scratching his head.

Barton took
a seat beside him. “Ah. Wizard still sad that Blackie take his woman?”

He felt a big hand patting his back
. It knocked the breath from him. “Will you just go away!”

“Sheesh, Wizard getting grumpy. Make water, Wizard, so we can be happy. Barton is thirsty.”

He looked up at Barton. The reddened dot inside the giant’s disfigured eye stared back at him, unable to blink. The good eye shifted back and forth.

“Barton, what make
s you think I can make water?”

“You’re a Wizard. You can do anything, right?”

“No, if I could do anything, we wouldn’t be lost out here. I’d have killed that dragon too. And Cass would be with me.”

“Hmmm
.” Barton stretched out his arms. “But you can make water, can’t you?”

No sense in him suffering.
I guess I can make myself not drink it. And I only hope the spell works.

“Maybe
.” Fogle dusted off his hands and got back up. “But, I need to know something, Barton.”

“What?”

“Do you think Cass is dead or alive?”

Barton shrugged.

Fogle felt his face redden. He’d been asking questions on and off, but he giant was reluctant to help with anything. All Barton wanted to do was find Venir and get his toys. And for some odd reason, the giant seemed to know where he was going, which left Fogle feeling more lost than he already was.
I wish Boon were here. He’d know something about that dragon. Why didn’t that old fool come with us? Why!

“Tell me something, Barton. Give me some hope at least.” He kicked Barton in the
toe.

“Ow!”
Barton grabbed his toe and hopped up and down, big eye blinking. “What did you do that for?”

Fogle limped away,
clutching his head. He wanted to pull his hair out.
What am I doing? Can I not outwit a giant now?
He looked up at the clouds. “Pull it together!”

Barton got up, looked up into the sky and said, “Pull what?”

“Tell you what, Barton: I’ll make barrels of water, more than we could use in a month, but you have to help me find Cass.”

“Blackie took her
; she’s gone.”

“That’s not going to get you any water, Barton. You’ll have to do better than that.”

Barton folded his arms over his chest. “Make the water first, Wizard.”

The shadow
the giant cast when he looked up at him gave Fogle little comfort. It made him feel insignificant. He had once been the cockiest mage in the City of Three, and now he was a rattled mess. It made him angry. He summoned his energy, filling his lungs with power.

“ANSWER ME
, GIANT! OR DRINK YOU WILL NOT!”

Barton took a step back,
covering his face. Peeking through his forearms, disfigured face bunched up, he said, “Yes! Yes! I will tell! I will tell!”

That felt good!

Fogle hadn’t often used the Wizards Voice before, always feeling it was more show than effect.

I’m going to have to use that more often.

“OUT WITH IT!”

Barton
’s lips tightened.

“BARTON…”

“Ah, Blackie will take her to the giants’ castle.” He lowered his voice. “Or to his lair. Many bones there. Many bones of the dead.”

The way Barton said it didn’t seem genuine.

“ARE YOU LYING, GIANT? I DON’T LIKE LIARS!”

Barton covered his face again
. “No bones! No bones! Just the castle. Blackie takes people to the castle, and they never leave there. Impossible.”

“You will take me there then
.” The power in his voice was gone.

“No
! Barton will not go back there. You’ll go yourself. Now make my water. My throat hurts.”

Fogle rubbed his throat. It felt like he’
d swallowed a mouthful of dirt now. “Hold out your hands and make a cup,” he managed in a dry voice.

Waving his hand over his
water skin, he summoned the spell. “Decanterous! Everless! Fill!” He tipped the water skin over. Clear liquid poured out like a rushing spring.

Barton sucked up
a dozen handfuls, and Fogle, head riddled with guilt, thoughts only on Cass, drank until his throat no longer burned. He capped the water skin.

“Feel better now
?”

“Much
.” Barton patted his stomach. It rumbled like a giant bullfrog. “Now make food.”

Fogle laughed. “Water will have to do for now
. Plenty of that. If you want food, you’ll have to hunt it yourself.”

“Alright
.” Barton wandered off.

“Barton!”

The giant didn’t slow.

“Barton, where are you going?”

Barton stopped and turned. “To find the doggie and get my toys.”

“What about Cass? You need to help me go and find Cass!”

“She isn’t going anywhere. Barton not going back there, but you help Barton find the doggy and the toys, I’ll take you there.” His smile was wide and creepy. “I promise.”

***

They walked, suns down to suns up, resting little in between.

Fogle, even with
all the water, was exhausted, his legs shaking with every step. He’d given up on trying to convince Barton to go back. The little giant wouldn’t listen. And Fogle didn’t believe all of what Barton said about the castle and Cass being there and safe. He remembered those citrine eyes of the dragon. They had a murderous intent.
Is she dead?

He stumbled and fell to his knees.

“Get up, Wizard.”

Fogle didn’t move. Instead
, he lay staring into the sky, hoping to see a black dragon pass by.
I deserve to die here. Bake my flesh, Bish. I’ll make a fine meal for the buzzards of this lousy world.

Barton kept on
walking.

CHAPTER 47

Pain. It was all that remained of Venir’s life. His burning skin looked like raw meat on his back, and there was little left to be seen of his tattoo. Tuuth had whipped him until the rawhide was soaked with blood. Venir had fought the first few hours, making derogatory comments about the orc and his kind.

“That’s a nice lash. Did you borrow it from your mother?”

Wupash!

“What
’s it like being an orc? Stinking and stupid all the time?”

Wupash!

“Is your arm getting tired yet? My back’s just getting warmed up!”

Wupash!

“Bone! That’s feels good!

Wupash!

“Say, Tuuth, don’t they think you can do anything harder than this?”

Wupash!

“If I survive this, I’m going to skin your hide and make a whip out of you!”

Wupash!

It had gone on like that, back and forth, until Venir couldn’t say a word, or remember his name. Unable to wake him after the first day, they had dragged him off to his cell, only to drag him back out again and hitch him to the post. That was three days ago.

Wupash!

He remembered watching the Royal Riders stripped of their armor, mutilated, tortured, buried and burning. He saw how the underlings celebrated their handiwork. They’d strolled inside the fort, arm in arm, mugs raised high and chanting strange sounds that would make hound dogs cry. It all made Venir sick. What he could remember of it.

Still, some
men survived. Chained and cuffed from the neck to ankles, they served, performing one menial task after the other. Venir caught glimpses of it here and there, but his memories faded until he worked again to suffer another tortuous day.

Now,
lying face down in the slime of his cell, he stirred. It was dark, but a pool of yellow light shone through the door. He tried to sit up. Something was on his back, picking at it.

“Wha
―?” he mumbled, forcing himself up.

He heard a buzz
.

A
sharp stabbing pain shot through his back to his chest.

He s
lammed his mangled back into the moldy wall.

Something crunched and squished.

A sliver of fear raced through him. His blood coursed behind his ears. Something was feeding on him. Something had chewed up his legs, now it felt like bugs were making a nest in his back.

“Nnn—”

He slammed his back into the wall again. Bright spots of light burst in his eyes, leaving him woozy. He sagged down, slumping to the floor.

“Venir.”

His eyes popped open, searching.

“Venir.”

Somewhere, a tiny voice was speaking to him.

“L
ie still, you idiot, and stop squishing the bugs. They’re healing you.”

“Slim?”

“Quiet.”

He felt tiny insect legs crawling over his shoulder to his ear.

“Yes, it’s Slim, and I’m getting you patched up… again.”

Something crawled off his should
er and stood before him. It was an insect, like a mantis, but mostly had Slim’s face, except brownish green and bug-eyed.

“Uh…”

“Just be still, you big fool!” Slim put his insect arm to his face. “This wouldn’t be so bad if you weren’t so stubborn. As soon as that white orc whips you, pretend to pass out. Stop running your mouth. Bish, you’ve got a lot of nerve calling him stupid and stubborn. You should be dead already, you fool, but I’ve been having the bugs patch you up. You heal fast. Very fast.”

A bug the size of Venir’s finger that looked like part cricket, part spider scurried up to Slim’s mantis-like form. Its antenna twitched back and forth in short furious motions, then it scurried away.

“Listen, you big lout: you smash any more of them, they’re leaving, so just lie there and be still. I can’t keep you alive forever, you know.”

“Water
.”

M
otioning to a stone bowl that was tipped over, Slim shook his head. “You already drank it. You don’t remember, do you?”

“Just get out of here, Slim. Escape, tell others. There
’s nothing more you can do here. If I die here, then I die here. Enough have died here already. You don’t need to die too.”

“That’s a great idea,
but the safest place right now is here, under the enemy’s nose. I’ve been keeping a look out. More underlings have come since we rode in here, and they talk as if the City of Bone has fallen. They talk as if they’ve conquered the world, Venir.” Slim blinked his glowing bug eyes. “I’ve seen it pretty bad on Bish before, but this? I’ve never seen it this bad, but something’s got to happen. It just can’t keep going like this. It can’t.”

Venir never figured Slim’s age, but for all he knew, he was as old as Mood. As for the underlings, he’d never seen them with such an upper hand before either. Usually, he
’d been able to face them with the mystic armament when things got bad, but now it was gone. Perhaps the underlings had it.
If I could wrap my paws around Brool’s handle one last time! Bone!