Rise of the Serpent (Serpent's War Book 2) (17 page)

Gor opened his mouth again but Namitus drew his scimitar and pushed off, sliding down the twenty-foot drop and then twisting himself away as the ground rushed up to meet him. He tumbled into a somersault and then a sideways roll before he came to a stop and scrambled to his feet. Just in time—he had to shear off the arm of a splisskin that reached for him.

“I don’t roll so well,” Gor muttered before he pushed himself after the rogue. He hit the ground harder, his knees buckling under the combined weight of his body, his armor, and the axe still harnessed across his back. He rolled, purely by the whim of Saint Dice, and shook his head when he came to a rest.

“Get up!” Namitus shouted while cutting fingers and flesh from the crowd of splisskin that approached. “We’ve got to raise the gate!”

Gor grunted and pushed himself up to his hands and knees before climbing to his feet. He rose up as a splisskin grabbed his shoulder, sharp claws pushing the chain into his shirt and flesh beneath. Gor swung himself around as he gained his feet and sent the splisskin stumbling. He unleashed his axe from his harness and smashed the shaft into the splisskin’s face as it came back at him. Stunned, the snake man stood no chance as Gor brought the business end of the axe around.

“Gor! The gate!” Namitus scolded him again.

“I’m working on it!” Gor growled. He spun around, swinging his axe and driving one splisskin back before catching another in the arm. Bone crunched and broke as the splisskin was knocked to the ground. Blood sprayed the ground from his half-severed arm. Gor stepped away and jogged over to the gate.

Lariki was fighting in a circle of splisskin. Most of their claws glanced off her scaled skin while hers ripped jagged furrows in their flesh. A growing pile of dead splisskin littered the ground around her, but the blood that ran from the cuts in her skin proved even a half-dragon wasn’t invulnerable.

Gor found the lever that locked the chain to the portcullis at the base of the wall. He yanked it into the locked position and leaned his axe against the wall. The large warrior glanced over his shoulder to make sure Namitus and Lariki kept the splisskin at bay, and grabbed the handle of the gatewheel in both hands. He began to crank it, pulling the chain one agonizing slow link at a time.

A javelin shattered off the wall over his head. Gor flinched and looked back. More of the splisskin were gesturing at him and two of them hoisted their spears and threw them at him. He grimaced and lurched to the side, letting go of the wheel. One javelin passed through the space he’d been and the other pierced his chain shirt on the right side of his chest. The spiked metal tip snapped the links and dug into his flesh, knocking him back a half step. The links dug into his flesh but it was the throwing spear itself that dug deep into his chest.

Gor yanked the spear out and threw it back with his left hand. The throw was so bad it missed the splisskin that had thrown it by a dozen feet and crashed sideways into the arm and back of another splisskin.

Gor snarled and tried to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him. He panted and clamped his hand over the wound. The pressure helped him breathe easier. It was enough that he could turn back to the crank and set his left hand to it.

The portcullis rose where he’d left off, lifting inch by inch with each rotation of the gatewheel. He clamped his teeth and tried to turn it faster, making his arm burn from the effort. He risked using both hands again and grunted when he found he could breathe without the pressure.

The portcullis was close to three feet off the ground when another spear stabbed into him. This time it hit him low, driving into the back of his leg just above his knee. Gor howled and teetered on his good leg a fragile moment. Then he fell, crashing to the ground and twisting the spear free. He cursed and twisted, rolling over to the wall and bumping his axe so that it fell over and landed beside him.

“Gor!” Allie screamed as she crawled under the portcullis and scrambled to his side. “Stay still, I’ll—”

“Saint’s balls, Allie, stay back!” Gor growled. He grabbed his axe and staggered to his feet. His leg was weak and unsteady, but he knew that wouldn’t last. He kept the pressure on his good leg and turned to see some of the splisskin that had slipped around Namitus and Lariki. Not only was the number of splisskin growing, but more and more of them were armed.

Namitus slashed his way through the splisskin around him and leapt over the thrashing body of a dying splisskin. He jogged over to them as Corian loosed his last arrow into a splisskin that was right behind Namitus and poised to strike. The elf slung his bow over his shoulder and drew the dragon tooth dagger at his waist.

“There’s too many,” Namitus panted. Blood ran down his face from a tear on his scalp and his hip was wet and glistening with the blood from his side. His left arm was pressed against his ribs as well, hinting at a new injury he was protecting.

The Vultures rushed past them and fell into the growing splisskin. Lariki cried out and cut her way through the snake men when she saw her mercenaries.

Gor pointed to a side door of the palace. “I can get us in from there,” he said. “It will take us to the hall we were in last time.”

Allie stiffened. “Where my father…”

Gor grunted and nodded.

Allie turned to stare at it. “We can make it.”

“Where from there?” Namitus asked. “The throne room?”

“Once we’re inside, I can get us anywhere,” Gor said.

Namitus nodded and turned. He cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, “Lariki, meet us in the throne room!”

They couldn’t hear her response over the sounds of war: steel against steel and flesh, as well as the shouts and screams of both victors and wounded.

Namitus nodded. “Quick, let’s run for it.”

“Gor can’t run! He’s been stabbed in the leg,” Allie protested.

“I can run,” Gor said. “Hurry, before too many reinforcements arrive.”

Allie looked at the others and received a nod from Namitus. He took a deep breath and turned to the door Gor had pointed at. “Run. Now!” he said and followed his own advice.

The splisskin rallied and cried in the sybillant language as the four streaked across the courtyard towards the side door into the palace. “Run faster,” Corian advised when the splisskin began to break away and run after them.

Chapter 18

Gor slowed as he reached the end of a passage. They could see splisskin in the large hall rushing to and fro. The warrior turned back to the others and dropped his eyes on Allie. “This is where he made his stand.”

Allie’s breath caught in her throat. She peered past him and started to inch forward to get a better look. Namitus grabbed her shoulder to stop her. “There’s a lot of splisskin moving through there,” he warned.

Allie shook her head and nodded. “I know. I’m just…I need to see it.”

“Is there another way to the throne room?” Corian asked. He glanced at Namitus. “That’s where we need to go, right?”

“Not without returning to the courtyard,” Gor said.

Namitus nodded. “All right, we’ll have to move fast then.” He looked to his three companions and received nods from each of them. The rogue turned back to Gor and said, “Are you ready?”

Gor clenched his fingers around his axe handle and said, “I am.”

“Then lead the way, my friend. We’ll show them why their uprising doesn’t stand a chance of succeeding.”

Gor grunted and turned. He hefted his axe and with a deep breath that lifted his shoulders, charged out into the open. He swung his axe at the first surprised splisskin he ran past, leaving a crushed and bleeding mess on the floor.

“Go!” Namitus snapped at Allie. She nodded and rushed out. Her sword glowed with Thork’s magic, though Namitus hadn’t figured out exactly what it meant yet. He turned and nodded to Corian after Allie leapt into the fray and killed a splisskin that was rushing towards Gor. “Our turn,” Namitus said.

Corian and Namitus burst out after the other two, heading towards the double doors at the end of the long room. Allie slipped a slash from a splisskin sword and laid open the attacker’s ribs with her counterattack. She pushed the injured snake man back and glanced around the room at the splisskin that were recovering from the surprise of the sudden attack. Her eyes fell on the single door at the end of the room and the side passage on the opposite side of the room. She froze.

“Curse the saints,” Namitus hissed as he saw the glow in Allie’s sword wane and die out. She was standing still and inviting a quick death. “Gor!” he shouted to get the man’s attention.

Gor slowed and turned around. He looked from Namitus to Allie and cursed. A splisskin leapt at him and grabbed onto his chain shirt from behind with one hand. The other reached for his face, scratching at his jaw. Gor threw an elbow back and used his other hand to punch over his shoulder and leave the splisskin dazed. He stomped on the snake man’s ribs, breaking several with his boot, and turned back to Allie.

Allie pointed at the door. “It was there…”

“It was, but that was many months ago,” Gor said. “We can’t—”

“I have to know,” Allie said.

“Know? Know what?” Gor asked.

Namitus and Corian joined them and moved to block the splisskin that were racing to stop them. Namitus tried to keep an eye on his great-uncle but was hard pressed by his own enemies.

“They hurt Jilly and me badly many times, but they kept us alive. Maybe they’re doing the same to him? They wanted him…him and Bucknar both. Maybe…”

“Allie, you can’t take that risk!” Gor growled. “We have to kill the snake humping whoreson in charge, then we can—”

“No.” Allie shook her head and tightened her grip on her sword. The green glow flared stronger than ever. “I’m going. You guys go on. I’ll join you after…after I know.”

Gor stared at her and scowled. He lashed out, killing a splisskin that edged around Corian and came for them. “Go!” he bellowed to Namitus and Corian. He ran ahead and swung his axe in a powerful sweep that killed one splisskin and sent three others leaping back. They turned to face him, distracted, and were easily wounded or struck down by Namitus and Corian.

Gor pointed with his axe at the double doors. “Through there, straight and up some stairs. Left when you come to the main hall. It opens to another hall. That’s the castle’s court room.”

“Gor?” Namitus asked.

Gor turned and saw Allie pull her sword free from the chest of a splisskin. Blood stained the armor on her left arm. “Kill those whoresons for me,” Gor said. “I’ve got a promise to keep.”

Namitus cursed and watched the warrior run after Allie. He turned back to Corian and shook his head.

Corian stared at him with wide eyes. “Namitus?”

“Go,” Namitus snapped. “This is for nothing if we can’t stop the snakes!”

Corian nodded and ran side by side with Namitus through the double doors.

* * * *

“The dungeons are straight ahead,” Gor called when Allie stopped at a fork in the passage.

Allie stared at the split behind them. “This was the way we were supposed to go!”

Gor checked to make sure the hall they’d come down remained empty before checking out the other passage Allie mentioned. He nodded. “It was, but we didn’t. I made the mistake and Gildor paid for it.”

Allie chewed on her lip and blinked back the tears in her eyes. “I know.”

“I’m sorry,” Gor muttered.

She shook her head. “It’s behind us. You’re a different man, Gor. I’ve forgiven you.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“But I do,” she insisted. “Now come on, let’s go find him.”

“Allie...”

“I feel it, Gor,” she said. “I feel him. Don’t you?”

“I haven’t felt nothing in ages.”

Allie put her hand on Gor’s bloodstained arm. “You’re lying. You’re a good man, Gor. You’re helping us because you feel it’s right.”

Gor grunted and looked away. “Snakes will be coming soon,” he warned. “Even in the dungeons.”

Allie nodded. “Let’s go then. I know Jilly and I were kept down this way.”

Gor nodded and slipped past her. He held the axe across his body and hurried ahead at a jog that made his chain links jingle on his body. Allie followed behind him, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds to make sure no one was following them.

Gor called a warning over his shoulder before the hallway opened into another one. He turned and kept moving, catching a splisskin that was carrying a metal platter by surprise. Gor’s axe smashed the platter from his hands into the floor. That cleared the path for the warriors chain link clad shoulder to send the splisskin crashing into the wall.

Gor kept going as the snake man bounced off the stone wall and staggered to keep his balance. Allie caught him as he twisted, sliding her sword into his belly and up under his ribs. She ripped it free, spraying a line of blood and fluids across the hallway, and sidestepped the falling splisskin. She swung her sword, flinging the dying splisskin’s viscera from her blade as she rushed after Gor.

“Guard room ahead,” Gor warned.

Allie panted, too out of breath to acknowledge him. Her heart was hammering against her ribs almost as though it was trying to get away from her and go hide somewhere safe. She sucked in a deep breath and felt the pressure in her chest calm her, even if only for a moment.

She looked down at her sword and felt her eyes drawn to the yellow flower on the hilt. The blade was glowing and basking her and the hallway in the green light but the flower shone through. Why was it glowing like it did? Namitus thought it had to do with fear, but when she’d seen Lariki, she’d been almost as frightened as she had when she’d seen that dragon in the swamp. It hadn’t been glowing then, but now it was.

“Ready?”

Allie jerked her head up and saw Gor was standing next to a door at the end of the hallway. She’d slowed to a walk without realizing it. She shook her head, pushing her thoughts aside. She focused on Gor, the door, and whatever might lie beyond it. She adjusted her grip on her sword and nodded. The green radiance grew brighter.

Gor snarled and reared back to plant his heel in the door. Wood cracked and the door shuddered, but it held. He drew back and hit it again with his heel, sending the door swinging on its hinges and broken splinters of wood flying through the room. Four splisskin were leaping to their feet from a table set with plates and half-eaten meals.

Gor swung his axe around from the side and let it go, slamming the flying weapon into two of the snake men. They staggered under the impact and the one on the right tripped over his chair and fell down.

Allie slid under Gor’s outstretched arms and slashed her sword across the splisskin closest to the door on her way past him. He hissed and arched his back in pain. Allie lunged forward, driving the point of her glowing talwar into the belly of snake man on the left side of the table. She retracted, rising from the lunge and drawing her sword back in a circular slash that hewed into the thigh of the first splisskin she’d already injured.

Allie kept spinning, throwing herself around in a circle that brought her around the flank of the leftmost splisskin. She watched Gor smash his fist into the side of the head of the splisskin she’d wounded twice. She lost track of them as she rotated. Her sword leapt out, moving in a smooth strike that made perfect sense to her even though she’d never practiced or imagined anything like it before. Her blade slid under the splisskin’s raised arm and went up into the hollow under the snake man’s mouth.

She pulled the blade free as her foe collapsed to the ground to twitch and die on the floor. She turned, blade up at the ready, and saw Gor picking his axe up. The other two splisskin lay on the ground, one with his skull cracked open and another hissing out his final pants from smashed ribs.

Allie nodded. “I’m getting good at this.”

Gor swung the door shut behind them and pulled the table against it to block it. He looked at her and nodded. “You learn fast,” he said.

Allie held her sword up. “I think it’s whatever Thork did to this.”

Gor shrugged. “If it helps, don’t complain.”

“I’m not.”

Gor turned to grab a ring of keys hanging from a peg on the wall. He held them up. “These will open the cells.”

“Then let’s go,” she said.

Gor hesitated. “Allie, there’s a chance...”

“A chance of what?”

Gor sighed. “We might find him, but you might not like what you find.”

“What?”

“Last time we came here—me, your dad, and the elf—we opened some cells and found things inside that you don’t want to see.”

Allie glanced at the gore splattered across the room. “Worse than this?”

“It is if it’s somebody you know who’s been lying there for a few months.”

Her eyes widened and the sword at her side dimmed. She clamped her lips shut and shook her head. “If that’s what I find, then at least I know.”

“Allie...”

She shook her head. “No. I need this. I think he’s alive; I really do. But if I’m wrong, then I know.”

“And if we don’t find him?”

She hesitated and then nodded again. “Then I know he never made it here.”

Gor sighed. “Well, if you’re sure.”

“I am.”

He turned to the door into the dungeons and used one of the keys to unlock it. He pushed it open and scowled at the stink that oozed out of the open passage. Mold, rot, and death waited in the depths of the dark tunnel. The green glow from Allie’s sword combined with the stench to send a shiver down Gor’s back.

He grunted and pushed into it. Allie needed answers and he’d made a vow to never abandon a friend again.