Torment and Terror (4 page)

CHAPTER 8

“Shouldn’t we run?” Jubilee said.

Men on horses were racing up the hill. Big men. Big Horses. A wave of terror.

“Fogle!” she said again. “Do something!”

“Yeah, do something!” Brak added.

Fogle found himself transfixed by the scene. On the one hand, the band of people rushing up the hill weren’t underlings. On the other, they were clearly a sordid lot. Orcs, gnolls. Little good was ever found in any of them. Fingers itching at his sides, he recollected some spells in his mind. Yet he was still a bit drained from the portal they’d come through hours ago. “Let’s try a little diplomacy.”

“Diplomacy!” Jubliee said, backing into Brak. “Those aren’t men coming.”

“What’s diplomacy?” Brak said, resting his heavy hand on Jubilee’s shoulder. “A spell?”

“No, dummy. It’s talk. Useless talk that usually leads to someone getting killed.” She scowled at Fogle. “Shoot them with lightning or something!”

Fogle made a count. There were twenty riders. The closer they came, the more troubling they looked. Hard faced and ugly. Less than a minute later, Fogle and company were surrounded.

This probably wasn’t my best idea, but I don’t know what direction to go.

A dog-faced gnoll leaned forward in his saddle. His shoulders were wider than the horse’s breath and a bastard sword hung from the saddle. He scanned the three of them with cunning yellow eyes.

“Fogle,” Jubilee whispered. “Do something!”

“Eh,” Fogle started, rubbing his chest. “Hello?”

The gritty group of riders burst out in ruthless chuckles.

Fogle eased over toward Brak and Jubilee.

Finally, the gruff-talking gnoll leader spoke. “That’s not how we greet one another in the outland.” He withdrew his long piece of steel. He raised the sword over his head. The others followed suit. “No, this is how we greet trespassers.” He urged his horse forward. “Instead of saying hello, we just say ‘Goodbye’ and run you through.”

“Trespassers?” Fogle piped in. “Just to clarify, whose land are we trespassing on?”

Delay. Delay. Delay. That’s what Melegal would always say.

“How can I be trespassing when I was invited here?”

“Ha ha ha,” the gnoll laughed. “You think to fool me with a clever tongue. Many tongues such as yours have spoken no more after a mouthful of my steel.”

He speaks surprisingly well for a gnoll, but he’s a gnoll. Be smarter than him.
“Look, brazen one. We are survivors. An envoy sent to bring weapons to your leader. We were sacked by underlings. Over a league back.” He turned and pointed. “You’ll see the bodies. The wagon.”

“You take me for a fool!”

Yes. Yes I do. You’re a gnoll, aren’t you?

“No. Certainly not, but I’d check my story out first if I were you. Your leader would be most disappointed if they were to find out that you killed their envoy.”

The gnoll snarled. “Underlings don’t allow for survivors.”

“The underlings are dead. We killed them down to the last.” He eyed Brak. “He’s not much of a talker, but he’s quite the brute. That’s underling gore on that club. Plenty of skulls smashed with that.”

The gnoll sneered at Brak. “Then I shall kill him first.” He let out a commanding bark. A squad of horse and riders closed in on the three of them. Two orcs had long spears pointed right at them.

Great. Remember, Fogle, if they don’t understand something, they’ll probably slay it.

“This one will fight among you,” Fogle pleaded. “It was part of the agreement. We bring the supplies and some men fighters to join your cause.”

“You bluff. You don’t know who the leader is.” The gnoll beat his chest. “I am the leader.”

“If you were, you wouldn’t have ridden up here. You’d still be down in that tent.” Fogle held a finger up. “And to be clear, I am the envoy. The deliverer. And there are still goods that can be delivered. As a matter of fact, the sooner you send your men to secure the wagon, the more likely it won’t be raided by more scavengers. Or found by more underlings, for that matter. You, I’m certain, know full well how particular they are about their dead. When their hunters don’t return, there will be a search. Time is pressing.” He gazed up into the cloudless sky. “We’ve been on foot for hours. For your sake, I’d save what’s left. Or, you could lend me some horses.”

The gnoll leaned back with a growl behind his throat. “I’ll call your bluff.”

He might be ugly, but he’s certainly no fool. I’ve bought us hours, I hope, and that’s all that matters.

“Search them. Then bring them down with me.” He let out a bark again and pointed. A pack of his riders rode off in the direction from where they had come. “We’ll find out the truth soon enough, and when it falls in my favor, I’m going to cut your tongue out, hold it before your eyes, and kill you.”

CHAPTER 9

Blink!

Vision starting to clear, Melegal’s eyes locked in on the hulking creature that appeared before Scorch. The little monster with a large orb of an eye, claws like razors, and bat-like wings hovered right in front of Scorch. Its long red tongue licked in and out of the fangs in its mouth.

Just what we needed. Another enemy come to torment us.

“My, what have we here?” Scorch said in a rich and curious voice, “you must be the little fiend that’s been admiring me from afar. I’ve been wondering when you might reveal yourself. What is your name, creature?”

“Eep,” the imp said. The talons on his fingers clutched in and out. “Eep the imp.”

Still on the floor in a pool of Venir’s blood, Kam and Joline weren’t paying the imp any mind. They were applying pressure to the fallen warrior’s chest and yapping back and forth in abject horror.

“So, what brings you here, imp? My power? Your admiration?” Scorch huffed on his nails. “I sense that you are a terror among the living. That you like to destroy things. That can be useful. Is that what you came for?”

“Message,” the imp said.

“Message?” Scorch’s head tilted over. “You have a message?”

Eep nodded.

“And what might that be?”

“Die, Scorch, die.” Eep spat sticky black goo into Scorch’s face. The imp pounced on him and started tearing into the flesh of the unblemished man.

Letting out a yell of outrage that shook the building, Scorch got his hands around Eep’s neck and started to squeeze.

Blink!

The imp was gone. Scorch started wiping the sticky goo from his eyes. He flung it onto the planks, saying, “Outrageous!”

“Is it now?” said an unknown woman’s voice that filled the room.

A huge boulder crashed through the roof. It landed on Scorch and crushed him down through the floor.

Melegal jumped to his feet. “Yes!”

Out of nowhere appeared a glorious woman with platinum hair. She was dressed in warrior garb. Spikes. Studs. Leather and chainmail. A magnificent warrior queen. She looked at Melegal with gorgeous lavender eyes and gestured toward Venir. “Attend to him.”

Without hesitation, Melegal found Venir’s pack, undid the straps, and pulled out the stitched up leather sack. He tossed it to Kam. “Fetch the helmet and put it on!”

Suddenly, two other people were in the room. They wore desert robes, faces hidden in their hoods, sandaled and sword bearing. They stood on either side of the woman Trinos, poised to strike.

Blink!

Melegal approached.

Eep appeared right in Melegal’s face and started hissing.

He stepped back, dart launchers pointed at the imp’s eye. He bumped into someone, whisked out a dagger, and held it to Jasper’s throat. “Don’t do that.”

Wide-eyed, Jasper said, “What’s going on? Who is that? She’s stunning!”

Trinos was the same creature of unearthly beauty as before but no longer robed. Instead, she’d come to fight. Metal bands were wrapped around her fingers and wrists. She was a glorious piece of workmanship. Metal and leather shorn together in a second skin of wondrous armor. Captivating. Deadly.

The massive rock stirred.

Melegal stepped back.

Boards cracking and popping, the massive rock started to rise. Scorch emerged from under it with the great stone in both hands, jaw broken, shoulder out of alignment, and eyes raging fires. He chucked the rock over the bar and through the wall of the kitchen. Through his twisted jaw, he spoke. “Trinos! You’re a fool!”

Blink!

Eep disappeared and reappeared latched onto Scorch’s face.

The Nameless Two in the robes dashed in. Each blade ran straight through Scorch’s belly. No innards or blood were spilled, but something else came out. Scorch’s rage.

A puff of energy exploded.

The Nameless Two were flipped head over heels.

Melegal found himself smashed into one of the side walls. Jasper was crushed under his weight. Holding his ringing head, he pulled her up. “You might want to stay down.”

The dark haired woman nodded. “Who in Bish are these people?”

Melegal turned away, saying, “I don’t think they’re people.”

***

Cocky, that was Scorch. Trinos had been hiding from him and spying on him for months. She’s learned all she could about him, about her world Bish. And now the time had come to take him down and take her world back.

Scorch’s blast that had slung off the Nameless Two had done nothing to her. Her feet were rooted to the life force of Bish. Nothing could move her if she did not let it. But now it was time to turn all of her frustration loose. With the speed of an arrow she plowed into Scorch, fists first.

Whack!

The blow drove him clear through the wall of the building. She flew through the hole and found him half covered in a sand dune. She jerked him out by the feet and started hammering away.

Pap! Pap! Pap! Pap! Pap!

She filled his face with fists of steel. She turned loose her anger. Her frustration. Her blows came harder and harder.

Whap whap whap whap whap!

This wasn’t a battle of the destruction of the body.

Whap!

It was a battle of wills.

Whap!

In all of her observations of Bish, she had concluded one thing.

Whap!

The strongest will would survive, and she had to break his.

Whap whap whap!

Scorch flailed away only to get hammered again and again. His mind screamed to hers, “Stop this! Stop this!”

“No! I will not relent!”

Scorch had no more power than she. Both of them were fated to die in this world one day, but if he prevailed, no doubt it would end much sooner. Bish was her baby, and she would not allow that to happen.

“Please, Trinos, please,” Scorch pleaded. “Let us work this out.”

“Over my dead body!” Her eyes let out a red-hot blast of fire straight into his face.

Face smoldering, Scorch’s hands latched onto her wrists and squeezed.

Her bones popped. She screamed. “Aiieeeee!”

Scorch unleashed a force from his own eyes that sent her skipping across the sands. “My, that’s quite a dust-up you served. Good for you, Trinos. Now what was that you said before you started screaming? His entire body became pure energy and power. “Oh yes, ‘Over my dead body.’ Consider it arranged.”

CHAPTER 10

“How pleasant of my son,” Sidebor said. He placed his hands on the female underling’s waist and stared into her eyes. “But I’d figured he’d just kill me outright rather than do it this way.”

The stunning underling woman, ebony skinned and delicate like a flower, had strength behind her lavender eyes. She said, “We can skip the intercourse and I can just slay you where you stand if you like.” She stroked his cheek with her pearl-white fingernails. “Would you prefer that?”

He pushed her back toward the small bed and shoved her down. “Enough foreplay. Who are you?”

Leaning back in a provocative manner, she tilted her gorgeous face to the side. “My name?”

“No,
my
name. Of course your name.”

“I am Elypsa.” She batted her long eyelashes. “Don’t you find me divine?”

“I could drink of your lips all day, Elypsa, but I’ve never fallen for that trick before.”

“You are wise.” She reached over for him. “Come. Lie with me.”

Sidebor backed away. “Do you know who I am?”

“I’m not paid to ask questions. I’m paid to–”

“Don’t jest with me!”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine then. Yes, I know who you are, Master Sidebor. But that was only revealed to me recently. Well, that you were here. That’s all I really know.”

“And why are you
really
here?”

“To make you more comfortable.” She patted the bed. “Come now, as I understand it, it’s been centuries, has it not? Let me rub the muscles in that new body of yours.”

Blood racing, Sidebor’s body was responding to the wiles and smells of the exotic underling woman, and though he had sealed his lips tight, his mind battled with his body not to pounce on top of her.

I’m no fool. Needy, yes. Foolish, no.
“Elypsa, tell me more about yourself.”

With a sigh, she flopped back on the bed. “Oh, all right. I’m here to keep an eye on you. Show you around a little. Keep you in line. And if you pose any danger, I’ll just have to kill you.”

“You, kill me?”

Checking her nails, she said, “You wouldn’t be the first underling male to fall under my spell. I wouldn’t take me lightly, Master Sidebor. Do you really think Sinway would have you watched by a weak emissary?”

“I suppose not, you cunning little wench.” He pushed her legs back and sat down. “Scoot over.”

“You are cranky.”

“I’m well over a millennia, and I’ve had more concubines than you have hairs on your head.” He grabbed her ankle and gently squeezed it. “But I must say, I do find you intriguing. It’s extremely rare that a female is used in this kind of circumstance. Please tell me, what is so special about you?”

“Well, it’s no secret. My brothers were a pair of Master Sinway’s favorites. When they failed to return from their demise, the family was indebted to Sinway.” Her pale purple lips made a long frown. “I’ve been serving him ever since, and he likes me because I’m the best of all of them.”

“I see. And these brothers of yours, what were their names?”

“Catten and Verbard.”

Sidebor’s eyes brightened. “I know those names. Let me see, gold eyes and silver eyes. Very rare. Almost as rare are your violet eyes.”

“Oh, these are hardly rare,” Elypsa said. She sat up and stared into his eye. “But the red in yours is quite a sight. Ruby but with a great fire within.” She let out a seductive chuckle, reached over, and rubbed his arm. “You know, Sidebor, I like a damaged man.”

“
Do
you now?” He clasped both of her hands. Her palms were cold as ice. He liked it. “So Elypsa, are you to stay inside this room with me for the duration, or can we go somewhere we can breathe?”

“What’s the matter?” she said with a purr. “Are things getting too cozy for you?”

His good eye grazed over her body. Her graceful figure, willing and seductive, was more than ample. The whisper in her voice alone almost curled his toes. He touched the soft folds of her hair and gazed deep into her magnetic eyes. “I need to get out. Stretch my legs.”

Nuzzling his hand, she kissed him on the palm. “As you wish.” She eased up off the bed and smoothed her gown down over her heart-shaped backside right in front of his eyes. “Are you sure you want to leave right away?”

“I might be old, but I’m far from foolish.” He stood up. “Out is what I wish.”

“So be it then.” She started for the door and began to pull it open.

Sidebor tensed up.

The female underling’s power came from many crafts. Seduction was one of them. Underling men, cunning and intelligent as they might be, were just as subject to a woman’s wiles as the men were in the world above. Sure, the underling women, petite and harmless as they might seem, were anything short of that. They were master manipulators, just very, very quiet about it.

The door swung open, and Elypsa stepped through.

Following her, Sidebor found himself face to face with two, not one, Vicious. The cunning brutes had a dark and heavy look in their catlike eyes. They looked as though they could kill a man with a glance. “Are we going to be leaving the castle?”

“We can go anywhere in the Underland,” she said.

There was another underling as well. He was blue eyed, elegantly dressed, and holding a shirt of underling chainmail, some pantaloons, and a sword and scabbard with it. One leg at a time, Elypsa donned the pants, slipped into the chain shirt, and buckled the sword belt on. “You look surprised,” she said to Sidebor.

Underling women were never trained to fight, not unless they were special. Very, very special. “You make for a fascinating warrior,” he said. “Are we going somewhere to fight?”

“No, we’re going somewhere to kill.”