Delver Magic Book VII: Altered Messages (5 page)

As they drew near the trees, the captain noted the pungent odor that had led to the alert. He didn't have Ryson's tremendous senses, but he couldn't ignore the overpowering smell that lingered heavily in the air like some trapped cloud that hung over the scene of a very grisly battle. The stench was so disturbing that he began to breathe through his mouth to limit the effect on his senses.

At the start of Staffer's Trail, Sy stopped again and peered down the path. He could only see a few paces forward. The passage banked downward slightly but also curved to the north. The trees and brush blocked his sight further down the trail. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, but the stench drifted out from the trees stronger than ever.

"How far in?" Sy requested of Ryson.

"About thirty paces. It's not hidden."

"Now that we're alone, can you tell me what to expect?"

Ryson hesitated, but then revealed what he had seen.

"Goblin fingers, separated from the hand apparently by a sharp knife. They've been set across the trail in a deliberate fashion. That's the message. When you see it, you'll know what I mean."

Understanding more of what he faced, Sy marched down the path. When he turned north, he could finally see dozens upon dozens of small, gray fingers scattered along the trail, only they weren't thrown haphazardly upon the ground. The oozing and decaying digits were arranged to spell out a series of words. They formed a message that Ryson was able to read easily when he was high in the trees, but the words were still discernable for those who stood on the ground.

Sy walked along the trail reviewing the
gruesome message. His disgust was matched by his growing unease. He read it over several times, always silently in his mind, never speaking the words out loud.

I told
you I kill them all.

Burbon's captain didn't need to guess at the author of the ghoulish message. Sy immediately recalled the large goblin that had successfully breached Burbon's wall during a heavy rainstorm not too long ago. His name was Okyiq, and the brazen monster led roughly two hundred goblins in a deadly raid.

Okyiq actually made it past the wall, even began looting, but he was stopped before he could escape. The other goblins abandoned him once he was captured. Sy released Okyiq after obtaining valuable information, but also after the immense goblin vowed to kill each and every goblin that had fled the town.

Sy grimaced at the chilling message before him and then turned to Ryson.

"Has to be Okyiq," the captain revealed.

"That would be my guess," Ryson agreed.

Sy didn't waste time counting each individual finger, but he made a rough estimate in his mind.

"There's certainly enough here to account for most, if not all of the goblins that followed him. He said he'd kill them all. I'd say there's close to two hundred here. Godson, I can't believe he caught them so fast. I would have guessed once the goblins knew he was hunting them, they would have scattered. I thought he'd be deep in the forest for almost forever trying to catch them all."

"Maybe he did catch two hundred goblins," Ryson allowed, "but maybe they're just the first goblins he came across, not necessarily the ones that followed him."

"I don't believe that," Sy declared. "No, he caught the ones that were with him on the raid. He wanted to punish them and prove to me he could do it. It's the message he wanted to send. It doesn't work if he just killed any goblins in the forest. He's letting the goblins know never to turn on him again, and he's letting me know he succeeded... leaving me the proof."

Sy paused to look further down the path.

"Do you think he's nearby?"

"He's probably in the area, but not that close... I'd know," the delver answered. "These fingers were put down very recently, so he couldn't have gone far. I don't think he's hanging around, but if I start searching, I can find his scent trail. I just have to go deeper into the forest, away from this stench. I could follow him if you want... see where he went. What do you think?"

"Maybe," Sy replied.

The captain wasn't ready to release the delver until he developed a better plan for what to do next. He had a few ideas, but he knew Ryson would probably resist what the captain ultimately believed needed to be done.

"I don't want to just send you off until we get a better grip on this," Sy continued. "Okyiq knew I would find this. Actually, probably figured you'd smell it. Godson, I was able to smell it before we even got near the trees. He took a risk with that. If you were on a scout earlier, you would have found him before he finished."

"He wasn't here that long. He did it pretty quick. I'm surprised he was able to spell as well as he did."

Sy looked down at the positioned digits. He recalled his previous encounter with the monstrous goblin and revealed his own belief.

"I'm not."

"He was pretty smart for a goblin, wasn't he?" Ryson allowed, as he reconsidered his doubts about the large goblin's abilities.

"He's a devious one, no doubt about that. If learning to spell a few words could help him get what he wants, he'd do it. We just have to figure out why he'd go to all this trouble. He cuts off the fingers, carries them around with him, and then leaves them here. What's the benefit to him?"

"Well, you did challenge him."

"So you think he's just bragging?" Sy wondered. "Could be. I told him I didn't think he could do it. He could be rubbing it in my face. Or... he could be telling us something more. He thought this forest was his, thought Burbon belonged to him. Maybe he's just reasserting that claim."

"He made that claim when the elves were taken from this part of Dark Spruce," Ryson reminded the captain. "The elves are back."

"That's true, but Okyiq got a taste of control. I think he liked it, and I think he's ready to go for it again. Maybe he's afraid of the elves, but I don't think he's afraid of us. I think we're the target. Doesn't that seem more likely?"

Ryson didn't like the thought of Okyiq endangering Burbon again. The monster was strong and crafty, and he represented a grave threat.

"Yes," the delver reluctantly admitted.

With that admission came the need to address the situation. Burbon's captain believed that Okyiq couldn't be ignored, but there weren't too many options available. He had no intention of trying to capture the enormous goblin and then hoping to imprison him. Sy wanted the threat eliminated, but he also knew of the delver's personal beliefs.

"I don't want to start an old argument with you," Sy acknowledged, "but he's going to be more than just a small problem."

"I know."

"I'm going to need a tracker to find him. I was hoping I could depend on you."

Ryson considered what that meant. He could find Okyiq, as long as he concentrated on the goblin and didn't allow other enticements to distract him. Despite their great senses, delvers weren't always the best trackers. Their curiosity over new mysteries could lure them in different directions, but if they kept their focus, they could do the job.

It wasn't the tracking, however, that raised doubts within the delver. It was the ultimate objective. Ryson knew Sy didn't just want to find the massive goblin, and the delver declared as much.

"You're going to want him killed, aren't you?"

It was the issue that had caused a conflict between the two friends before. Sy wished to protect the town at any cost, but Ryson always looked for less destructive means, even when dealing with dangerous beasts. It was the argument that Sy wanted to avoid, but looking at the decomposing goblin fingers, the captain knew the immense goblin wasn't going to just leave Burbon alone.

"You think there's an alternative?" the captain asked.

"We could leave him be."

Sy would have liked to avoid the goblin, but he simply didn't believe that was going to be possible.

"Look at the ground. Did he leave
us
be? Or did he intend on us finding this? He went to a lot of trouble here. If you honestly think Okyiq would do this just to prove he won some kind of challenge, then I'll accept that, but you have to be honest... with me and with yourself. Do you really think he's going to leave us alone? Would you bet your life on that? Would you bet Linda's life on that? I know that's not fair to ask, but I'm facing the same question with every life in Burbon."

Ryson agreed it wasn't a fair question, but he understood that life in Uton wasn't meant to be fair, not with dark creatures running wild through Dark Spruce. He couldn't just ignore what was written out right before him. The decaying fingers pointed to a very clear truth.

"No," Ryson admitted. "He's not going to leave us alone."

"Then what do we do with him? Do we just wait for him to strike again? I can't do that. If one civilian dies in a goblin raid led by that monster, I'd never forgive myself." Sy then pointed to the message on the ground. "Because of this... because of what he left for us... I have to deal with it. Now, I won't ask you to break your moral code—we've been through that before—but I need to know if I can count on you to find him and do what has to be done, or if I have to hire a tracker. I don't have a lot of time here."

Ryson grasped at one last hope.

"What if we let Enin handle him? I can find Okyiq but we can let Enin deal with him."

"Enin's not here. He lives in Connel now."

"I know, but I can reach Connel quickly and talk to him. We can work something out together. When I find Okyiq, he can send the goblin back to the dark realm. He might even have a better idea of what to do with him."

"Do you think Enin really has time for this?"

"I won't know until I ask him."

Sy almost gave Ryson the chance, but he couldn't take the risk.

"I'm sorry, but I can't wait. The trail is fresh. It has to be followed now. You know I've been working with other scouts. Actually, it was Okyiq that forced my hand on that. When he broke through the gate, we both agreed we had to do more. I'm going to let one of the other trackers handle this."

Ryson wanted to argue, but he remembered his agreement with Sy. They would work together whenever possible, but they would each respect the other's point of view. The captain was honoring that agreement and Ryson had to do the same.

"I understand. Who are you going to send?"

"Pru Fallo, he's a half-delver."

"I know him. Can I ask why you think he should go?"

"Being half delver, he can follow the trail better than my human scouts, but the human half will keep him focused on the goblin. But mostly, I think he's more than able to take on the big goblin, and that's what I need."

"Well, I doubt he'll have any problem with the thought of killing Okyiq," Ryson responded with an obvious hint of sadness.

It seemed such a waste. He looked down at the lifeless fingers one last time. Close to two hundred goblins already dead and Sy was going to send out a tracker to hunt down their murderer. Maybe it was justice, maybe it was a rational defense, or maybe it was all just pointless violence.

Pru Fallo stepped carefully around the amputated fingers. He noted every mark along the pathway and committed the tracks to memory. After matching the various trails to specific individuals, he identified certain movements and considered their meaning. He noted Ryson Acumen and Sy Fenden's footprints when they first uncovered the message and then dismissed them as irrelevant to his cause.

With each trail analyzed and understood, he asked the guards to remove the severed fingers. The overwhelming stench from some of the more decaying digits created a sickening blend of odors that interfered with the next step of his task. He needed to pinpoint Okyiq's scent, and the stinking cloud nearly choked him to sickness. The odor of death and decay would still linger in the air and on the ground, but at least it would begin to diminish.

Once the putrefying digits were removed from the site, the half-delver found it easier to concentrate on the unique scents in the area. He eyed the ground and the condition of the brush as he followed the smells in the air. He picked through them one by one, isolated and then categorized them.

While his senses were not as strong as a purebred delver, Pru's human half allowed him other distinct advantages. At times, a delver can be overwhelmed by surrounding sensations or distracted by new surroundings, unable to concentrate on a single objective. Finding a single path through a maze of stimulus could leave a delver confused and agitated. Such was usually not the case for those of partial delver heritage. For Pru, it was fairly easy to dismiss signs that did not have anything to do with his mission.

Setting aside all other markings, Pru concentrated upon one specific trail that did not belong to a guard or the Delver Acumen. With an inherent ability to create an image of the past based on everything his senses could absorb, Pru developed the scene of Okyiq roving across the forest floor to spell out the ghastly message. He followed the careful but quick movements of the large hulking creature, and he saw deliberate purpose in the precise actions. The half-delver knew the monster had moved into the area without indecision or concern, placed the goblin fingers upon the ground, and then departed.