Master of Chains (34 page)

The withered woman glared down at Ryder. She let out a deep, bone rattling growl.

“This is not over,” she said. Then she wrapped the sleeves of her dress around her body and evaporated, leaving behind only a thin stream of translucent mist that lifted into the air and rose over the wall.

The rest of the Crimson Awl did the same, turning themselves into insubstantial clouds of gas and escaping into the night.

Liam knelt beside Baron Purdun as the king lay into him.

“Of all the foolish things to do,” chided Korox, “why did you have to disobey my summons?”

Lord Purdun, down on one knee, apologized. “Please forgive me, my liege, but there was no other way. Had I not been here when the vampires attacked Zerith Hold, it may have fallen.” He looked up at the king. “I sent messengers, but they were intercepted.”

Liam cringed.

“It was only by the might of your Magistrates that I managed to communicate with you. I have Magistrate Olivio to thank for that.”

The king nodded. “Well, I want a full explanation of this matter.”

“Yes, my liege,” agreed Purdun. “But not now.”

“What?” The king was obviously not in the mood to be told when or how things were going to be done.

“Zerith Hold was not the vampires’ only target,” Purdun explained. “All of Duhlnarim is under siege.”

The king spun his horse. “Then get to your feet, man. We ride to their aid.”

Lord Purdun jumped up. “An excellent idea, my king.”

Liam got to his feet.

Lord Purdun began to issue orders. “Liam, Knoblauch, you’re with me.” Without a moment’s hesitation, he walked across the courtyard to stand before Ryder, Giselle, and the rest of the Broken Spear.

Liam cringed again. He and his brother hadn’t fully patched things up. The next few moments could destroy the delicate peace that had developed during the fighting.

The Baron of Ahlarkham looked Ryder up and down then shook his head. “I don’t know what to make of you,” he said of Liam’s chain-covered brother.

Ryder opened his mouth as if to explain himself, but the baron cut him off.

“Captain Beetlestone,” shouted Purdun over his shoulder.

Liam gripped the hilt of his long sword.

“Yes, my lord,” replied Beetlestone.

The baron smiled. “Get these men horses.” He looked back at Ryder. “And bring this man his weapon. We’ll need all the help we can get.”

Shyressa rematerialized in a graveyard just outside Furrowsrich village. The rest of her Crimson Awl minions did the same.

“Years of work,” she spat. “All of that time, wasted.” Shyressa couldn’t remember the last time one of her plans hadn’t succeeded.

“There will be retribution for this.” She stalked back and forth, tapping her fingers on top of the headstones. “I will take Ahlarkham tonight, even if I have to kill everyone in it.”

Lifting her arms in the air, she spoke the words to an incantation. One that she dearly loved.

The ground around her shook and roiled. Headstones turned on their sides as the earth churned and pushed up from underneath. From out of the soil crawled the dead of Duhlnarim. Bony hands clawed at the dirt as every body in the graveyard pulled itself out of its supposedly final resting place.

“This will do fine,” purred Shyressa, her mood improving. “Just fine.”

At the head of the Broken Spear, Ryder and Giselle raced down the road from Zerith Hold toward Furrowsrich. As they got closer, Ryder felt it had been a lifetime since he’d last seen this familiar terrain. So much had happened, but he didn’t have time to think about that now.

The undead were back in Duhlnarim. His mother, his father, and Samira were in danger.

Turning down the road into Furrowsrich, Ryder’s breath caught in his lungs. The place was crawling with zombies. The creatures bashed at the locked doors of the village houses. With each thump, blood-curdling screams issued out into the night.

“This way,” shouted Ryder, forcing his horse off the road and into the fields behind the village.

Over rows and rows of planted vegetables, the horses rode through Furrowsrich. Leaping the low fence behind the house Ryder had built with his own hands, he came around to the front. The door was wide open, and a row of zombies was making their way inside.

Not bothering to bring his horse to a stop, Ryder threw his legs over the edge of his saddle and came down at a full run, barging into the back of the zombies and bowling them over as he came through the front door at full speed.

Ryder collided with two zombies and continued on, running them into one of the support beams holding up the roof. The heavy chains hanging from his shoulders added their weight to his momentum, and in combination, he smashed the rotting creatures to something resembling horse manure. Their decayed flesh and brittle bones made for a soft cushion, and Ryder stepped away from the stout, wooden pole unharmed.

Inside the house, half a dozen zombies had Samira, Angeline, and Douglas backed into a corner. Douglas stood in front of the two women, a burning log from the fire in one hand. He tried to hold back the walking dead, swinging the flaming timber back and forth. But it wasn’t doing much good. The zombies were still advancing.

“Ryder!” screamed Samira. There was real terror in her voice. “Ryder, help us! Please help us!”

Ryder unleashed his spiked chain, letting it fly at the back of the first zombie. The enchanted links crackled with purple energy as they came down around the head of its victim. The zombie’s rotted flesh seared under the electrical assault, sending a plume of thick gray smoke into the air, and the end of the spiked chain encircled the creature’s neck. Giving it a sharp pull, Ryder tore the creature’s head from its shoulders.

The zombie took one more step, then fell over, dead again.

The rest of the group, now aware that they were under attack, turned around and came for Ryder.

“That’s right,” he said, gripping his chain in the middle and spinning it in a large circle before him. “Come to Ryder.” He backed up as they advanced, drawing them away from his family.

A smile broke across Ryder’s lips. He’d taken on three undead giants. He could handle five undead humans by himself.

The Broken Spear appeared in the doorway just then. They rushed into the small house, drawing their weapons and surrounding the zombies.

Ryder shrugged. Help was always good. He lunged at the first undead. His chain turned its brittle corpse into a pile of broken bones. The Broken Spear followed his lead, charging into the fray and cutting down the foul beasts in short order.

Douglas threw the flaming branch into the fire pit. “Where have you been, boy?”

Angeline brushed past the old man and folded her arms around Ryder despite his chain-wrapped appearance. “We thought you were dead,” she said, squeezing him tight. “We thought you had left us.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I got a little sidetracked.”

Over his mother’s shoulder, Ryder stared down on Samira, sitting on her knees in the corner. She looked tired and scared. The last few months had taken their toll.

Disengaging from Angeline’s embrace, Ryder went to Samira’s side. “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”

Samira looked up at Ryder. There was sadness in her eyes.

Giselle came to stand beside the two of them. “So,” she said, “I take it this is your wife.”

Ryder looked up and nodded. There were a lot of things that needed to be said, but right now he didn’t know how to say them.

“Who is this?” asked Samira.

Ryder opened his mouth, not sure what was going to come out.

Giselle cut him off. “I’m just a friend. Ryder did me a big favor, so now I’m returning—”

Outside, the high pitch of a horse shrieking tore through the night, accompanied by the sounds of battle.

Jase came bursting through the door, interrupting Giselle. “Ryder, it’s your brother. He’s in trouble.”

Samira jumped to her feet. “Liam, no.” She gathered her dress in her arms and went running into the night.

Liam fought for his life—and the life of the baron.

They had ridden into Furrowsrich at Liam’s insistence. The place was crawling with zombies. The elite guard had managed to dispatch most of the shambling dead in short order. But they had been merely a ruse.

The vampires had been lying in wait, and they pounced out of the treetops on Lord Purdun, Liam, and Knoblauch. The three men stood now with their backs together, surrounded by the hissing, shrieking undead. At the head of them all stood their mistress.

“If it isn’t Lord Purdun,” purred Shyressa.

“What is it you want, Shyressa?” Purdun didn’t look at the vampire as he spoke, keeping his eyes on her threatening minions.

“Nothing much.” There was a giddy edge to the vampire’s words. “Just control of your barony.”

“And you think if you kill me you’ll get my throne?” Purdun shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“No?” toyed Shyressa. “We’ll see about that.”

Shyressa leaped forward wrapping her arms around the baron and biting down on his neck.

“Lord Purdun,” shouted Liam. The vampire had moved so fast, he hadn’t had time to react. He spun and stabbed at Shyressa, but the tip of his blade passed through the cloth of her gown and out the other side.

“Hold,” shouted the baron. “Mind the others.” He pointed out the advancing horde.

Liam did a double take. It wasn’t the baron the vampire had wrapped in her embrace—it was Knoblauch. The veteran guardsman had been just fast enough to step in between the baron and his attacker. He’d been given the chance to atone for his sins, and he’d taken it. This was the price he paid.

Liam couldn’t see Knoblauch’s body, wrapped up as it was in the vampire’s gown, but he could see the man struggle inside her embrace. It reminded Liam of watching a spider slowly devour its prey.

There was no more time to mourn. The vampires closed in on them, and Liam fought frantically. It was all he could do to keep their clutching, clawed hands from grasping his arms and legs. Liam felt the panic of desperation, and his sword moved faster than ever before. Still, with every passing moment, the undead closed down on him.

He was going to share the same fate as Knoblauch. He was going to be sucked dry.

A heavy rattling sound filled Liam’s ears, and a pair of chains came whipping over his shoulder, knocking two vampires to the ground. Ryder appeared at Liam’s side, chains flinging out from his body, slapping aside grasping claws. They laid low undead, and they forced the advancing vampires back, giving Liam back the slimmest glimmer of hope.

In the clearing space, Liam could see Shyressa again. She opened her arms, letting Knoblauch’s body fall lifeless to the ground. Lifting a finger to her lips, she pushed a stray drop of the man’s blood back into her mouth.

Ryder didn’t hesitate. He ran right for her. His electrically charged chain circled over his head, lighting up the night with a purplish glow. Then it came down, discharging as it slapped against Shyressa’s flesh and plunging the streets of Furrowsrich again into darkness.

The electrical energy played over the vampire’s frame, but if it did her any harm, she didn’t show it.

“Is that it?” taunted the vampire. She grabbed Ryder by the chains wrapped across his chest and pulled him close to her. “I told you this wasn’t over.”

Ryder ducked out of the metal links, sloughing off the chains and escaping the vampire’s grip. His makeshift armor rattled to the ground.

“Come back here,” shouted the Rune Mistress. She grabbed hold of Ryder’s ducked head, one hand on each side of his face and lifted him onto his tiptoes. “Your blood will be the sweetest of all.” Distending her mouth, she plunged her teeth into his exposed neck.

“Yie, yie, yie, yie, yie!” The ululating cry came from behind the ancient vampire, and the woman who had ridden out of Zerith Hold with Ryder sprang onto Shyressa’s back.

She was smaller than the withered creature of the night, but she was fast, and her curved blade struck Shyressa hard, sliding lengthwise down her spine. The blow would have severed a normal woman in two. As it was, the vampire let out a terrific wail, pulling her teeth from Ryder’s neck and letting go of his face. His body fell limply to the ground, and Shyressa’s screeching turned into an ear-splitting howl.

The leaves on the trees shook, and the hairs on the back of Liam’s neck stood on end. His skin felt cold, and the night seemed to grow darker.

Shyressa’s body collapsed in on itself, and she leaned forward, putting her hands on the ground. Her gown changed into a thick coat of fur, and her face grew a long nose and two pointed ears.

The vampire had transformed herself into a dire wolf.

The creature growled, saliva dripping from its lips. Shyressa howled once again, a long spine-rattling sound that jangled the nerves. All around, the noise grew, filling the air. The Crimson Awl, every last one of them, paused amidst the fighting and howled along with their mistress.

When it had finished, the dire wolf turned toward Liam and leaped. He dropped to one knee, guarding his head with his arms. But it didn’t matter. The creature was over him and gone, dashing off into the shadows, its spawn following right behind it.

It was a sad day.

“May he find rest in the afterlife…”

It was the day of Ryder’s funeral.

“May we all find it in our hearts to forgive him for his mistakes…”

Liam stood with his head bowed, his arms around Samira. The rest of the village had come out. So too had a contingent from Zerith Hold. A unit of elite, guardsmen stood at attention while Baron Purdun himself presided over the ritual.

“But most of all, may we always remember Ryder of Duhlnarim for his bravery, honor, and courage in Ahlarkham’s greatest time of need.”

The baron finished his speech, and the casket holding Ryder’s body was lowered into the ground.

People formed a line and took turns putting shovels full of dirt on top of the casket, saying their final goodbyes to a man they all knew and loved. It was a ritual Liam had never really understood until now. He was glad to be able to do one last favor for his brother, glad to be able to say goodbye even if Ryder couldn’t hear him.