The Dreaming Hunt (61 page)

“In first light, more I scouted,” Sha'Li announced. “Here lived some sort of shaman, whose totem was alligator. Upon it he called for power.”

That might explain the creatures' strange behavior in ringing the island and refusing to budge.

The lizardman girl continued, “Dragged from the barn and taken was he, I believe. Strange will it sound, but methinks the alligators came ashore and ate the corpses of the dead goblin-rats.”

“Anything else?” Rynn asked.

“Not normal rodents were these. Giant for their species, abnormally long claws had they and dangerous bites. Mayhap poisonous, but certainly diseased.”

“Are they some sort of swamp variant of rat?” Will asked.

“Nay. Creatures of this area I know well. Close to my home are we.”

Indeed? What a miserable place to have grown up. No wonder Sha'Li was generally grim and surly in temperament.

Eben spoke grimly. “In what direction does the trail of these filthy killers lead?”

“Interesting is that. In the same direction as Kendrick and Tarryn travel, it leads.”

That brought everyone to their feet in alarm. Rosana cried out, “The creatures who slaughtered this family are after Kendrick and Tarryn?”

Sha'Li frowned. “For once, glad let us be of Kerryl Moonrunner's combat prowess. Him, no rats will take.”

“Let us be on our way and with all due haste,” Eben declared. “Our friends are in need of rescue more than ever.”

*   *   *

Tarryn slumped, dejected, by the fire. The cave in which they stayed did not draft well, and smoke was gathering by the ceiling, making the space feel even closer and stuffier. She was running out of time for a rescue. The twins, Pierre and Phillipe, should return anytime now. They'd been dispatched by Kerryl to fetch some local expert on alligators and bring him here. Kerryl wanted him to summon a great alligator whose spirit was going to be forced into her body. Or something like that.

Kendrick said a great boar had been bonded to him, magical in nature. Kerryl could actually force him to take on physical attributes and abilities of that boar. She'd seen the change overtake Kendrick several times now. He had only the tiniest sliver of control of himself in that state and was more beast than man. It was terrifying to think of becoming the same herself. A shallow bowl of beans and rice appeared under her nose, and she looked up.

“You have to eat, Tarryn.”

“What if I refuse?” she snapped at Kendrick. “What if I starve myself and make myself too weak to survive his stupid ritual?” It was not his fault she was in this predicament, and he did not deserve her anger, but she could not help herself. She was tired and scared and did not want to become an alligator.

Kendrick sat down beside her, his shoulder rubbing hers. “You know Kerryl will find a way to make you eat, right? He'd torture me in front of you if he had to. He needs you.”

“But why me?”

“You're a skilled scout. A brave fighter. Smart. And you're my friend. He may not say it aloud, but he respects you.”

She snorted.

“Look. He made a mistake with Pierre and Phillipe, and he knows it. They were not men of sufficient honor to have been granted the powers he gave them.”

“That's no lie.” She despised the twins. They were devious, sneaky, and petty. She burst out, not for the first time since she'd been captured, “Why is Kerryl doing this to us?”

Kendrick shrugged and handed her the bowl. While she reluctantly began to eat, he said low, “I do know he's scared stiff of something. He won't speak of it, but he sees some threat lurking just beyond the horizon. He's convinced that the people of Haelos will not be able to defeat it and that he must start creating an army of enhanced beings to fight it.”

“And that's enough for you?” she demanded. “You're just going to take the man who kidnapped us at his word and let him turn you into a monster?”

Kendrick sighed. “I've been with him longer than you, and this I know: he is not mad. I've seen the haunted look in his eyes when he speaks of this threat, speaks of what it will do to the people of Haelos. You have not.”

She shook her head in denial.

“He told me once that when he saw me and my friends heading up into the Forest of Thorns, he knew events had been set in motion that would bring the threat he sees. Whatever threat he's preparing for, we somehow triggered it.”

“Is that why you're letting him do this to you?” she asked, surprised. “You feel responsible for this unnamed threat and are sacrificing yourself to correct having triggered its arrival?”

Kendrick shrugged.

Hah. She was right. She argued, “He's trying to make you feel guilty for something you did not do so you'll stay with him and do his bidding.”

Kendrick laughed without humor. “I do his bidding whether I wish it or no. His Band of Beasts gives him control of me and will give him control of you. Fight it all you wish, Tarryn, but you will do exactly what he says, as well.”

“I do not wish!”

Kerryl looked up at her outburst from across the cave where he murmured with the dryad who came and went as she pleased, contrary to what Tarryn had been taught about the fae female's kind being tied to a single tree and unable to leave its immediate vicinity.

Tarryn lowered her voice. “I do not wish
ever
to do his bidding. And I cannot understand why you tolerate being his slave.”

A commotion outside the cave announced the return of the twins. She rose to her feet along with Kendrick and Kerryl as Pierre and Phillipe, looking smug, staggered into the cave dragging an unconscious man between them. They dropped the human, a man of middle age wearing a bloody and gashed suit of alligator hide armor, to the floor.

“What have you done?” Kerryl exclaimed.

Phillipe, the one who usually spoke for the pair, replied proudly, “There he is. The alligator speaker you told us to bring you.”

Tarryn winced. She'd hoped Kendrick's friends were close enough behind them to have seen her trail sign and gotten to the speaker before the twins did whatever they had planned for him. Apparently not.

“Why is he unconscious?” Kerryl demanded, moving to the man's side and checking his wounds. “And why is he all cut up?”

“Put up a fight, he did. Turned out he wasn't fond of the idea of coming with us.”

“Tell me what happened. Everything.” Kerryl did not have to touch the Band of Beasts buckled to his arm to make it clear that he'd given an order and it had better be obeyed.

Squirming a little, Phillipe answered, “We went out and hired those gobrats like you said to. Told them we only needed a half dozen or so, but they wouldn't let any go unless we took them all.”

“How many went with you?” Kerryl ground out.

“About twenty,” Pierre supplied helpfully. “And some goblins tagged along, too.”

Phillipe scowled at his twin as Kerryl made a sound of irritation in his throat and growled, “Go on.”

“So we took them with us to the farm. It was right where you said it was.”

When Phillipe stopped speaking, Kerryl prompted, “And you told the speaker I needed his help and that you would lead him to me.”

Pierre piped up again, “Naw. The gobrats saw the farm and ran ahead of us. Attacked before we caught up with them.”

“Shut up,” Phillipe muttered at his brother.

Kerryl, looking too furious for speech, glared expectantly at Phillipe, who whined, “I
told
them to hang back and let me do the talking. But they didn't listen.”

“And?” Kerryl ground out.

“And they sort of overran the island. Chased the humans out of the cottage and ransacked it. A woman got dropped in the barnyard by the gobrats, and the rest of the humans retreated to one of the barns.”

“Please tell me you bargained with the speaker to come out in exchange for his wife's body so he could restore her life.”

Phillipe shifted his weight from foot to foot, and his gaze darted to the cave entrance. “Umm, not exactly. The gobrats, you see. Got carried away, they did. I guess the smell of blood excited them. They rushed the barn.”

Kerryl spoke slowly, enunciating each syllable distinctly. “The speaker has a large family, as I recall. A brace of children ranging from grown ones to younglings. What happened to them?”

“They took cover in the barn. The eldest ones fought with their father. The young ones hid. But by the time we finally reached the island and caught up to the gobrats, the damage was done.”

“
What happened?
” Kerryl's teeth clenched as he ground out the words.

“Like I said, the gobrats overran the oldest children. Found the hiding place of the youngsters. The speaker's a ferocious fighter, by the way. Mowed down a whole bunch of the gobrats—”

Kerryl cut him off. “The children are safe, though.”

“Oh no,” Pierre piped up. “They're all dead.”

Tarryn gasped. Kendrick's left eye started to glow an alarming red, and Kerryl hadn't even commanded him to transform. A growl of rage rumbled in Kendrick's chest.

“Dead?” Kerryl bellowed.

The twins cringed, cowering against one another.

“We couldn't stop them,” Phillipe whined. “The gobrats did it. Not us.”

Kerryl paced angrily, spitting out a sentence with each trip across the cave. “
You
lost control of them. It's your fault those children died. I put you in charge. It was an easy task. Find the speaker. Ask for his assistance.” He stopped pacing and whirled to face the twins. “And instead, you killed his entire family? This is a disaster!”

“But we brought you the speaker like you wanted.”

“Now I will have to force him to summon a scion of the Great Alligator to me. And afterward, he will be my sworn enemy. Worse, if the other speakers get word of this, they will not help me. You have cost me some of my greatest allies!”

Tarryn had never heard Kerryl so angry. And for good reason. He resumed pacing, stalking around and around the cave like a caged beast.

Eventually, he stopped in front of Phillipe, looming over the smaller man. “Since you have ruined my plans for them, take these ampoules of change water with you and protect them at all costs, as well. But first…”

Kerryl rummaged in the pouch he'd been wearing ever since they'd robbed the Dominion encampment, pulling out a narrow tube made of glass and filled with clear liquid, which he tucked into his own pouch. “I'll need this one for Tarryn. The rest, however…” He devolved into mumbling under his breath as he pulled out the remaining tubes and commenced casting some sort of magic into them.

As Tarryn looked on, the liquid in the tubes turned a sickly shade of gray green and clouded over. Kerryl swirled them around, and after a minute or so, the murkiness dissipated, leaving the fluid in the ampoules clear once more. The nature guardian smiled briefly without humor. “There. That should give Goldeneye pause if he recovers these.”

He tucked the ampoules back in the pouch and shoved the whole at Phillipe, who whined, “If Kendrick's friends find me wearing that, they will attack me for it.”

“Then mayhap you should think on how to talk your way out of dying at their hands before they shed your blood,” Kerryl snapped. “Go. Now. Before I change my mind and kill you where you stand.”

Phillipe darted out of the cave and disappeared into the night, leaving his brother standing alone and looking lost.

Kerryl distracted her from studying Pierre, whose left eye was flickering faintly red, by asking, “Tarryn, did you do as I ordered and lay a trail to the cache? They will be able to follow it?”

Kendrick said his friends included an excellent lizardman tracker named Sha'Li. She had easily been able to follow the trail signs thus far. And now the lizardman girl was in her native, swampy terrain. “Absolutely,” Tarryn answered.

“Then it is time. I shall revive yon speaker, have him summon a scion of the Great Alligator, and join your spirit with it.”

Horror rushed through her. She was out of time. She looked to Kendrick for escape, or at least help, but his expression was implacable. He was not going to help her evade the fate Kerryl Moonrunner had planned for her? Then she was well and truly doomed. Despair coursed through her, overwhelming her last vestiges of hope.

Kerryl shook his head as he stared down at the unconscious prisoner. “This was supposed to be the start of creating a great army for the coming battle.”

Pierre responded helpfully, “Do you mean an invasion of Haelos by Koth? Even if they're angry at you, the speakers of the Great Beasts will still fight against the Empire.”

Kerryl whirled, bellowing, “You fool! There are greater evils in this world than mere Kothites.”

 

CHAPTER

30

Justin looked around apprehensively at the spacious chamber Kadir had brought him to. It was circular with no windows and high ceilings. A round channel that encompassed most of the space was carved several inches into the floor. “What's that?” he asked, pointing down at it.

Kadir glanced up at him from the basket he'd set in the middle of the circle. “Holder for whatever material is laid out to confine the ritual magics.”

“Oh.” Kadir set out some sort of dried fruit-like object, and Justin asked, “What's that?”

“Ritual component.”

“Oh.” A carved stick of some kind and an amulet of some kind joined the fruit. They must be ritual components, as well. The same acolyte who'd brought in the basket carried in a large piece of art depicting a gentle landscape and hung it on a hook across the room. “What's that?” Justin demanded.

Irritation was evident in Kadir's voice as he answered, “A painting. It soothes me to look at it during rituals. Now be quiet and let me get this set up. I mustn't forget anything.”