Hand of the Hunter con-2 Read online

  Hand of the Hunter

  ( Chosen of Nendawen - 2 )

  Mark Sehestedt

  Mark Sehestedt

  Hand of the Hunter

  PART ONE

  THE GIANTSPIRES

  CHAPTER ONE

  PART ONE

  THE GIANTSPIRES

  CHAPTER ONE

  Toril

  The Giantspires

  Night came quickly to the mountains, and Darric wanted their camp secured by dark. They chose a small valley-little more than a wide spot in the path, really-but it had a swath of trees hugging a cliff wall that would provide shelter from the wind and help to hide the light from their fires. Midsummer though it was, they were in the mountains west of Narfell, and a bone-chilling cold settled in with the dark. After picketing the horses near the cliff wall, those men not on watch huddled in their blankets close to the fires.

  Darric sat by the fire and tried to rub the soreness out of his legs. For two days they'd been on mountain trails too treacherous for riding, so every man walked, leading his mount. They'd already had to put down one horse because of a broken leg. A sad loss, but it had added to their meat stores.

  Darric rubbed his knuckles into a knot that had taken up residence a few inches above his right ankle. All this… all this for one girl. He had railed at his father, citing friendship and honor and justice for the fallen of Highwatch. But really, this was all about a girl he hadn't seen in years. And yet in all those years since, not a day had gone by he hadn't thought of her.

  "The scouts are back, my lord."

  The words brought Darric out of his reverie. His mind had been wandering. Not good. Not in their current situation. If they were to have any chance of getting out of this alive, they all had to stay sharp.

  Valsun stood before him, helmet in his hand. In his early fifties, he was the oldest in their company-the only tried and true man that Darric had managed to talk into defying Duke Vittamar and coming with Darric to Narfell. Valsun was one of the finest knights in Vittamar's service. But looking at him in the dim firelight, his tabard dirty and worn from days of hard travel, he looked much as the rest of them: a vagabond. The bits of mail peeking from under his cloak and the sword riding his hip hinted at the veteran warrior he was.

  "They've found something?" said Darric.

  Valsun shrugged, then spat into the dust. "I'm not sure, my lord. The Nar demands to talk to you and no other."

  "Ah, well," Darric said as he pulled his boot on. "Feet were getting cold anyway."

  They walked to the edge of the camp, just at the barest edge of the firelight, to where their scouts waited under the watchful eyes of two men-one a sellsword Darric had hired on their last day in Damara. The other was Darric's adopted brother Mandan-easily the biggest man in their company.

  Just shy of seven feet and with a frame that made the most hardened blacksmith look soft as new butter, Mandan probably weighed more than both the scouts put together. He dressed in the armor, tabard, and cloak of a Damaran knight. At home, he usually kept himself clean shaven, but they had been on the road many days, and unlike the others who looked a few days past scraggly, Mandan's beard was already full. His eyes, a brown so light that they were almost yellow, shone out from under thick brows, and they had the odd tendency to reflect the firelight, which unnerved many of the newcomers to their company. While most of the men carried a sword or spear, cradled in Mandan's arms was an iron-banded club thick as a man's arm. At tournaments, Darric had seen other knights mock Mandan and his club. But their mouths closed when they saw him shattering broadswords.

  Neither scout seemed particularly bothered by the Damarans' mistrustful gazes. On one side of the path crouched Gyul, elbows on knees. No mistaking him for a human. His leathery skin had an orange cast. His eyes, which seldom opened more than a lazy squint, were yellow, and sharp canines thrust out of his bottom lip. He spoke broken Common, and fluent Damaran and Nar, but in this part of the world that wasn't all that unusual for a hobgoblin.

  His companion stood beside him, leaning on his spear. Urdun. The man had the features of a Nar-dark skin, straight black hair that hung down his back, and a slight cant to the eyes that showed West was giving way to East. But in dress he looked more hobgoblin than human-a combination of coarse leather, fur, and metal. How an outcast Nar and a hobgoblin who claimed to be Razor Heart clan came to be such steadfast companions… well, Darric knew there was surely a story there. But he had more pressing concerns.

  "What have you found?" Darric asked them.

  The hobgoblin and Nar exchanged a glance. "Me and Gyul go no farther," said Urdun.

  "What?"

  "We agreed to take you through the mountains by other paths than the Gap," said Urdun. He pointed to the two peaks before them-one high and sharp, the other no less sharp but half the height of its companion. "Through that pass. Turn south, and you will be a hard day's ride from Nar-sek Qu'istrade."

  "Then why-?"

  "To go any closer to Nar-sek Qu'istrade"-the man grabbed some sort of relic made of bone that hung from his neck, kissed it, and finished-"is to risk your soul. Things now haunt Highwatch that mortals dare not challenge. It is a cursed place. Go if you wish, but you go without Gyul and me. We have fulfilled our bargain."

  With that, Gyul stood, and the two of them started walking back westward through the line of men and horses.

  "Stop!" said Valsun. "I command both of you-"

  "No," said Darric. "Let them go."

  Mandan tore his gaze off the retreating scouts and glared at Darric. "Are you mad?"

  "They fulfilled their bargain. We're here. We need them no longer."

  "We don't need them?" said Mandan. "How are we supposed to get home?"

  "There are scouts in Narfell." Darric forced a confidence into his voice he did not feel. "And if not, we know the way now, eh?"

  Darric clapped Mandan on the back, and they headed back to the fire. But he saw the look Mandan and Valsun exchanged.

  "What do you think he meant?" said Valsun later. "About Highwatch being cursed?"

  Valsun, Mandan, and the wizard were the only three who shared Darric's fire. The wizard, a youngish westerner named Hureleth, was not Damaran, and he spoke the language with a heavy accent. Darric had found him in Merkurn, just one step ahead of the hangman's noose. Hureleth had been only too happy to join up with them. Valsun didn't trust him. And truth be told, Darric didn't either. But he had to admit that without him they never would have escaped the last raid two days back.

  Hureleth snorted into his cup. "Do not worry yourself about such things. Nar are barbarians and far too… what is the word? Supple stitches?"

  "Superstitious," said Valsun.

  "Yes, thank you," said Hureleth. "Superstitious. As for this Nar's hobblegob friend…"

  "Hobgoblin," said Mandan.

  "Hobgoblin, yes. Well, Highwatch knights terrified them for years. Nothing new is there."

  "Vandalar and his knights rule Highwatch no more," Valsun told him, though he watched Darric as he spoke.

  "If the rumors are true," said Darric.

  The wizard chuckled into his cup, then said, "When one man says a thing"-he shrugged-"truth? lie? Who knows? When many people say a thing, it is a rumor. But when every people say a thing, bet your gold there."

  Sleep was only a few breaths away from Darric when the horses began to whicker, stamp, and pull at their pickets. Darric stood and threw off his blankets, as did Mandan, his massive club in one hand. Valsun sat up a moment later.

  "What is it?"

  "The horses," said Darric. "Something's spooked them. Wake that damned wizard." He unbuckled his cloak and let it fall to the ground. Midnight cold bit into him, but his sword arm was
free.

  Others had begun stirring as well. The campfires were still flickering, and by their light Darric saw one of the men, sword in hand, moving off to check on their mounts.

  "De-sist!"

  Darric turned to see the wizard slap at Valsun's boot, which was nudging his ribs.

  "Here," said Mandan, "like this." With one hand he grabbed the wizard's ankle, blankets and all, and lifted, dangling the wizard upside down a good foot or more off the ground.

  "Smoking Hells!" Hureleth shrieked as he tried to untangle himself from his blanket and cloak. "Unhand me!"

  Mandan set the wizard's head and shoulders gently on the ground, then dropped the rest. "He's awake now."

  "Awake and bruised!" said Hureleth. "What is the meaning of-?"

  "Quiet," said Darric. "Something's spooked the horses."

  The wizard sat up, still clutching his blankets around him. "We are less than a day from the steppe. Probably just wolves."

  Mandan lifted his head and inhaled deeply through his nose. "No," he said. "It isn't."

  From the edge of the trees where the sentries kept watch came a cry-a scream that ended all too abruptly.

  "Ah," said Hureleth. "Perhaps not wolves then."

  Darric never saw the arrow before it hit him. A sound of air ripping, then something slammed into his chest. He wore two layers of clothing under his mail, and a tabard and coat on top of it all. The arrow bounced away, but it struck with enough force to knock him back a step.

  The wizard stood, reached inside his vest, and when he removed his hand, the orb he held was alight with inner fire. Hureleth thrust his free hand forward. At a word, light churned from his fingers and formed a transparent red wall, slightly curved, in front of them. Three arrows struck it in quick succession, one of them shattering in a cloud of sparks. Two arrows flew over their heads from behind as their own archers returned a volley.

  "Fools!" Valsun shouted. "Save your arrows till you see your targets!"

  "Allow me," said the wizard. He thrust forth his hand holding the orb and spoke another incantation. Sparks flew out of the orb, spun around the wizard's arm, then shot outward, passing through his shield with a popping hiss like water thrown on hot iron. They struck a tree several yards away, and every branch and needle erupted in flame. It lit their campsite and the canyon for a hundred yards in every direction.

  "Idiot," said Mandan. "You've just lit a beacon for anyone within ten miles!"

  But Darric didn't think the wizard had even heard. By the light of the burning tree their attackers were clearly visible-long-haired men dressed in skins and leathers, spears and swords in hand. Hureleth laughed as shards of white light, nail-thin but each as long as a knight's lance, shot from the pulsing orb in his fist. When one struck a man, he went down screaming, clothes and skin giving off thick smoke.

  After the first few went down, the others realized the danger and took cover behind the trees. A few farther back loosed arrows, but none could penetrate the wizard's shield.

  The screaming of men and horses had become such a constant that Darric put them in the back of his mind to concentrate on the attack. And so when the first horse ran past them, his first thought was that the men behind them had organized a charge.

  "Stop!" he called out. The trees were too thick to make a mounted charge effective. Then he noticed that the horse was riderless. Turning, he saw that their mounts had broken their picket line and were fleeing in every direction. The horses seemed frightened of the wizard's shield and gave it a wide berth, but Darric saw one of his men run down.

  "Let them go!" Valsun shouted, then quieter so only Darric could hear, "No help for it now."

  "Back to the trees," said the wizard, though he kept his gaze fixed on the fight. "Shield will not be lasting much longer."

  Together the four of them backed toward the cover of the nearest trees. Hureleth held the shield, but even Darric, who had no knowledge of magic, could see its light dimming, and the last arrow to strike it stuck there a moment before falling to the ground.

  Darric turned. The light from the wizard's spells and the burning tree painted dark shadows against the cliff. A flash of light as Hureleth cast another shard from his palm, and in the sudden white-brightness Darric saw itA large object falling down the cliff face. Something heavy crashed through the branches of the brush nearest the cliff, and Darric felt his chest tighten. If their attackers had gained the height, they could hurl rocks down on Darric and his company.

  "Beware above!" he shouted. "They-"

  But his breath caught in his throat. Whatever had fallen from the height and struck with bone-breaking force was standing up. It rose in the shadow cast by a tree, and Darric could see only the outline of its shape-man-sized, but hunched over and swaying as if it was having trouble keeping its feet.

  One of Darric's men had been hiding behind the tree. The man charged, blade held high. The two shapes merged. Darric squinted, trying to make out what was hapA strong hand grabbed the collar of Darric's coat and pulled him to the ground behind a tree.

  "Watch out, my lord!" came Valsun's voice. "Wizard's shield is gone. He-"

  A shriek cut off his words. Men had been screaming since the attack began-taunting the attackers, calling those wounded in the initial attack or by the horses, shouting words of encouragement to Hureleth. This drowned out all that.

  As a child, Darric had been playing in the courtyard outside the kitchens when one of the dogs tripped a maid carrying a pot of boiling water. She'd pitched forward, spilling the boiling water all over the dog and down the back of the head cook. The shriek of the cook and the dog was one of the few sounds that had been forever seared into Darric's brain. He'd been no more than four at the time, and for months after he'd woken from a nightmare with that sound echoing down the corridors of the crumbling dream. It embodied everything that surprise and utter, complete, mind-numbing agony ought to sound like. Without a doubt, it had been the most awful sound he'd ever heard. Until now.

  Valsun had been holding Darric down, covering his lord with his own body. But he turned away at the sound, and Darric sat up. Together they watched one of their men bound past them, shrieking as he ran.

  Make him stop! Darric's mind screamed, and he'd half-opened his mouth to give the words voice when he saw why the man was screaming.

  The man's right arm was gone from the elbow down. Blood pulsed from it like a fountain spout, and by the bits of ragged cloth, skin, and muscle Darric saw-in that brief instant, no matter how hard he tried, he could not look away-he knew that no blade had taken the man's arm. It had been torn off.

  The horror of that had just sunk in when their campsite was lit by another flash from the wizard's spell. In the harsh white light Darric saw the man's face-or what was left of it. One eye, white and round as the waxed winter moon, stared out from a mass of blood, ravaged skin, and here and there-oh, gods, yes it was true-the ivory glow of bone. His other eye was gone, as was most of his scalp.

  "What could have-?" Valsun managed, then they both saw it coming at them.

  The thing had the semblance of a man. A Damaran even. It wore the uniform and mail of a Damaran knight, though the cloth was torn and soiled. Its hair was cropped short, like a knight's. But the eyes…

  Darric could find nothing human in them. Just a blackness, empty but somehow still alive. It was not the empty of nothingness. More like the void of hunger, of want, of lust. A fire lurked in the very center of those twin black orbs, and Darric knew instinctively that it was not a reflection. Something hot and hungry burned behind those eyes. Some famine that would stop at nothing to feast.

  "Behind us!" Darric called, and pushed himself to his feet. Valsun tried to pull him back down, but Darric shrugged him off and called, "Wizard, behind us, damn you! Now! Now!"

  From some part of his mind that still held on to reason, Darric heard the wizard laugh-actually laugh! — and then the attackers were among them, steel and spears striking at Darric's company. Swinging his c
lub in a wide arc, Mandan shattered two spears and one skull-and after that none would come near him. The rest of the Damarans struck back when they could, for most had not yet seen the horror that walked among them.

  Another flash, and a spear of light shot over Darric's right shoulder-he actually felt the heat of its passing, even through all the layers of his clothes-then it struck the thing advancing on them. The bolt struck it square in the chest. Clothes and flesh and bone burned away like parchment in fire, but still the thing came on, its eyes fixed on Darric.

  Three more steps…

  Darric brought his blade around. A clumsy blow. One Valsun would have berated him for. No grace. No thought for counterstrike. No balance. Just raw force behind sharp steel. Darric knew if he missed he'd find himself flat on his back, staring at the sky.

  His sword hit the thing where its shoulder met its neck. A bit of skin and soft flesh covering a thick net of muscle over bone. Darric's blade cut through them all, sending a shock up both his arms, even rattling his teeth.

  His eyes locked on the thing's face, saw the lips peel back. Not in pain. It was pure, gleeful malice. Even with a yard of steel lodged in its neck, its left fist shot out, striking Darric's double-handed grip on the sword. It felt like a smith's hammer hitting him, breaking Darric's grip. Darric fell forward, rolling into his foe.

  It was like hitting a wall. And then Darric was in the thing's grip, being pulled upward. The thing's eyes narrowed to slits, which made their inner fire seem all the more intense. Its hands were iron strong. They squeezed Darric's arms into his ribs and kept squeezing. Darric screamed and kicked at its shins and knees, then drove his knee into the crotch. His captor didn't even flinch.

  The thing gave Darric a quick shake, back and forth just once, but with enough force that Darric's teeth clamped shut over his tongue, and he tasted blood. He stopped struggling and looked up, afraid that one more shake like that would break his neck.