The Darkslayer: Chaos at the Castle (Book 6) (49 page)

“Any idea where we are now?” Fogle asked.

“If you still have a map in that spellbook, we can certainly find out.”

“And what of that barrier you created,
Boon?” Fogle said. “How long will that hold?”

“Hours, unless th
ey bust through it or have a mage to dispel it, and I don’t think they do.”

Venir made his way around the room
, testing the doors anyway while he gathered his thoughts. Fogle had changed a great deal. The lines on his face were hardened, and his skin was darkened and tough. The wizard even had a ragged beard covering his face, giving him a dwarfish look.

Fogle caught him staring
. “I’m glad we found you, Venir. And I’m sorry about your dog―and Mood. I spent a great deal of time with the both of them, looking for you.”

Venir nodded and turned away. So much had happened
. He didn’t know what to think. His friends, the best ones he’d ever known, were all gone on account of him. The armament was gone as well. He felt naked without it. Still he lived. And Slim, what had happened to him? Had that man given Venir his very life?

“A
w, give me that book, Fogle,” Boon grumbled, taking it away. “You’re got mintuar hooves for fingers. It’s a wonder you managed to write down anything.”

“At least I don’t waste what I’ve written.”

“Pah, here it is,” Boon said, fingering the book. “Just give me a few minutes.”

Leaning against one of the doors, Venir squatted down, took a deep breath
, and closed his eyes. He was tired, and his bones were aching.

Boon and Fogle stretched out a mystic map on the mosaic floor and gawped. Then one said to the other, “We’re in Bone!”

“What?”

“Venir,” Boon said, waving him over. “Look at this.”

Venir raised his big frame off the floor and sauntered over. Boon’s aged and crooked finger was pointing down on a map that shrunk and grew with a wave of his hand. Venir could see everything. He pointed at a red dot that was located on a drawing of a castle.

“I can see the entire city,”
Venir said, wiping his brow with his forearm. “I can even see the alleys. Huh, that’s Castle Almen.”

“Are you certain
?” Boon asked, perching one eyebrow.

Venir glared at him. “I’m certain.”

Boon rose to his feet and tugged at his white beard
. “Hmmm… They’ve taken over a Castle. Possibly many of them.”

“Or the entire city
,” Fogle said.

“Then that means they’ll be coming right back for us,” Boon said, eyeing the stone wall that protected them. “Any minute now. We’re at the very heart of the battle now. Hah! We may have just squandered their plans after
all. But I sense something. Someone familiar.”

“I sense something too, Grandfather,” Fogle said. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Venir didn’t know nor care what either one of them was thinking. He just watched. They clasped hands.

But knowing that they were back in Bone
? A place he thought he’d never see again? That sent a charge right through him! He was ready now. Ready to tear the wall down and carve a bloody path back to the Drunken Octopus. He warmed his hands on the glow of one of the torches.

Boon and Fogle cried out.
The pair, fingers locked, were shaking. Eyes rolled up in their heads.

Venir tried to
separate them, but Eethum stayed his hand.

“No,” he said in a stern voice, “there’s nothing we can do now.
They’re in a battle they must fight on their own.”

Crack.

Boon’s wall of stone cracked and began to crumble.

Eethum and the
two other dwarves surrounded the interlocked wizards. “We’ll protect them as long as we can.”

Venir took his place
at the bottom of the steps. “I’ll kill underlings as long as I can.”

CHAPTER 69

“Lead the way, Detective,” Creed stepped aside.

S
till holding Lorda’s hand, he brushed past Creed’s chest.

“
Beg Pardon,” the man said. “But that’s worth risking your life for.”

“You incorrigible, Piiii—”

Two clawed hands burst through the wall. Lorda was yanked through the wood and plaster, leaving a gaping hole.

“What i
n Bish was that thing?” Creed said.

Melegal darted through the hole and found himself facing his worst nightmare. It was Eep the imp, hovering in the air, holding Lorda Almen by the neck in his clawed fingers.

“We meetsss again, Skinny One,” the imp said. Its long tongue licked up and down Lorda’s dangling body, which kicked and flailed.

Melegal only had one dart in his launcher. He took aim.

Better make it count.

“Drop the woman!” Creed said, stepping into the clear, swords ready. “Slat, you’re an ugly
thing. What in Bish are you?” He looked at Melegal.

“An imp.”

Creed shrugged. “Drop her, Imp, or taste my steel.”

Eep laughed, rose twenty feet high into the throne room
, and dropped her.

***

I’ve found them, Mastersss.

Found who?
Verbard replied.

The Skinny Man who had the
Keys, a woman, and the murdering swordsman you seek.

Where?

In the Throne Room.

“That was fast,” Catten said
. “Even for an imp.”

Suddenly, Verbard
’s and Catten’s eyes locked.

It cannot be
, Brother
, Verbard thought.

“But it is,” Catten
hissed through curled lips.

Someone was searching for them. An old enemy. A great foe.
An enemy they’d fought decades ago.

“Boon!
And his grandson, Fogle!”

“How did they get here? Where did they come from?”

“They must be in the chamber.”

Verbard fingered the
Keys in his pocket, as did Catten. They were all there except the one Kierway had lost, the one that led to Outpost Thirty-One.

“So they were the source of all the commotion
? They’re here? How did they make it through an entire army?” Catten was outraged. The surrounding castles were still attacking, and he’d sent all their reserves to Outpost Thirty One for reinforcements. How many giants had arrived down there?

“
What do you want to do, Brother?” Verbard said.

Catten slipped the cap on his head
. “Boon is not what he was; I can sense it. And his grandson is still green.” Catten rubbed at his side where Fogle had zinged him months before. “I think I can hold them.”

“Then I’
m after that swordsman, whoever he is,” Verbard said. “Jottenhiem, come with me and bring every soldier you can spare. We’ll wipe this out quickly.”

CHAPTER 70

Fogle’s knees knocked. His chin rattled. His mind rocked and reeled. The image of the golden eyed underling Catten snickered in his head. He and Grandfather were somewhere else. A battlefield in the inner mind, inescapable and chaotic. 

“Grandfather! Grandfather!” he sputtered out, fingers knotted around Boon
’s.

The old man’s body withered and sagged to the ground, making a feeble gasping sound.

Fogle remembered the last time he’d locked minds with Catten. It had almost killed him, and now, the underling was prepared. Enlightened. More powerful.

“You will die,
Human. You and the old man both.”

Biting into his lip, Fogle felt hi
s mind collapsing on itself, turning dark and filling with despair.

Hold on, Fogle. Hold on.

The voice was weak and distant.

The underling
was slowly ripping Fogle’s mind from his grandfather’s. A great gaping maw filled with razor sharp teeth was ready to devour them. Swallow them into an abyss forever. A long yellow knotty tongue lashed out around his grandfather’s waist and reeled the old man in. Boon’s face was sagging and withered, his grip, once strong as iron, struggled to hang on.

I won’t let him go!
Fogle’s feet anchored themselves to the warbling floor.
I beat you once! I can beat you again!

Catten chuckled and spiked a shard of power in his head.

“Aargh!”

The pain stabb
ed between his eyes. Excruciating. His entire body felt like it was melting into a gooey drop, ready to be swallowed whole.

Think, Fogle! Think!

His fingers slipped from his grandfather’s.

***

On the other side of things, Catten was laughing and dusting his long nails on his robes.

“This cap is amazing
,” he said to himself, making his way out of the arena. He thought of his brother and Master Sinway. “It gives me that edge I’ve been seeking.”

***

The stone wall crumbled. The first underling rushed through. Its head was splattered all over the walls.

“Ten!” Venir roared.

But the stairwell was three beasts wide, and the ranks of underlings deeper than a well.

Hack!
A clawed hand was lost.

“Elven!”

Crunch!
A chest caved in.

“Twelve!”
Blood spurted from an underling’s neck.

Glitch!

Venir took a punch to the shoulder, lost his footing and stumbled backward.

“Blast yer hides!” he screamed, swinging wildly, keeping them at bay.

“Get over there, Black Beards!” Eethum yelled and ran at the same time.

T
hree dwarves in heavy armor rushed forward, plugging the stairwell. Steel clashed on steel. Axes splintered bone. Long knives sifted through weak points on armor. Slowly, the dwarves, busted and bleeding, were being pushed backward.

Venir took a quick glance over his shoulder
. The wizards had collapsed on the floor. Like their bones were missing. They twitched. He growled. The underlings had taken his friends, and now they had taken his city. He was tired of losing. A raging storm ignited inside him.

“Rrrrrah!”

Charging, he leapt over the dwarves into the underlings.

***

Yes, Fogle. Yes!
Boon said to him, his withering voice stronger than before.
Do it! Do it quick!

Fogle h
ung on. Struggling for his sanity, bearing every cruel twist and turn, searching for a weakness in the underling’s probing mind. He summoned The Darkslayer. The underling laughed. One door slammed closed.
Find another.
Fogle found something.
Yes.
The green amulet that he’d given to Venir to track him.
Yes.
He’d put it in Catten’s robes when he exchanged them for his spellbook. It was a little something he’d planned on sharing with Boon when the time was right.

The time is right now!
Boon said. The old wizard’s eyes were opened wide. He grappled with the tongue that held him. Grabbing the lip of the beast that tried to swallow him, his arm now held a pick-axe, which he sunk into its lip and held on.
I can hold on! Let me go and strike!

“NO!” Fogle said, “I can’t risk it!”

You’ve no choice now
. The iron in Boon’s eyes had returned.
Do something. Quick! Before he finds out!

“I
can’t get out of here.” Fogle said.

Do it!

Boon, geared up in his mystic armor and sword, dove into the belly of the beast and disappeared.

“Noooooooooo!”

CHAPTER 71

Melegal and Creed arrived at the same time, catching Lorda, who’d fainted.

“Nice catch,” Creed said, looking upward.

Eep
’s wings buzzed. He was laughing.
Blink!

“Watch out!” Melegal said.

Eep pooped up behind Creed.
Slash! Slash!
Tore into his back.

Blink!

“Argh!” Creed said. “Bish!”

Melegal’s head swiveled on his shoulders. He’d seen the imp tear men into dog food in seconds.
Run! Get Lorda and get out of here!

Creed turned his back to him and said, “How bad is it?”

Two bloody gashes formed a nasty X beneath his shoulders. 

Eyes intent, Melegal took a quick glance.