The Slayarians - Book One - JM Barnes (different e readers txt) 📗

rush he felt when the fury of battle consumed him. His sword swung with the fury of his teachings and his body still trembled from the adrenaline coursing through his muscles in anticipation for the battle yet to come. With every victory the prince thanked Bele’ for his lessons and his willingness to leave his holding nearer to his home within the growing nation of Rome. So, ears sharp and eyes wide, he was first to notice the near soundless approach of a very ugly creature.
Walking on six legs was a violet scaled, giant, monitor lizard. Its tongue tasting the air it ignored the lifeless meat and went straight for the still living. Its eyes gleamed yellow and its claws, as long as short swords, scraped the stone floor as its pace quickened. Galen was shocked at first sight of the reptile but recovered in time to voice first a question then a warning.
“Darkon, remember when that old man said there was no such thing as dragons?” Realizing the creature was coming too swiftly for him to wait for an answer he yelled, “Beware!”, and raised his blade.
Graton looked up and Darkon shook himself from his meditative trance as Galen met the beast halfway. It hissed in anticipation and brought its tail around to bear. The prince swung at the whipping member and just barely sliced through the rock-like hide of the creature. It didn’t even notice and snapped in at the human’s legs. The thing was as long as a horse and wagon and stood as high as Galen was tall. It was going to take more than one small sword to stop this behemoth.
Graton emitted an ear piercing war cry, hoping to distract the lizard and Darkon followed him as he charged forward. The creature was not shaken in the least, after all these three men were only a big mouthful each. Graton entered the melee as he had many others before and hurled his spear. This time though, his strength wasn’t enough to bury it deep in the reptilian hide. The spear stuck for a moment but fell as the beast thrashed about. Seeing this, Darkon halted his charge. This was no demon and he knew his own strength would not likely be enough to mortally wound it. Galen realized this as well and stepped out of reach of its slobbering maw. As the Griffon lord resummoned the spear of Bailick by placing his closed fists together and pulling them apart the thing charged with remarkable speed. The three brave men could only exchange quick glances and run in different directions in hopes to confuse it but it was not unintelligent. It knew the elf had stung it with the long stick so intended to rend him lifeless first. Graton was swift and graceful like all of his elven brethren but there was little room to run and the monstrous lizard soon had him cornered. Mercenary corpses and furniture alike were crushed and broken beneath the giant creature’s tread. Fully believing it had the elf cornered it tasted the air in hunger before it lunged in a blow that should have ended the elf’s life. Still, it proved a mistake to have hesitated even for that small moment for a spear wielding elf was never a defenseless creature.
Without a sound or warning Graton lunged forward and plunged the spear straight up the things left nostril. The pain turned it into a thrashing hill of rage and it was all the elf could do to avoid being crushed and get out of the way. The protruding haft of the spear whipped back and forth and nearly took Graton’s head off. As he ducked and rolled to the side he was met by Darkon and Galen who had been preparing to leap on the lizard’s back as it appeared that the thing was about to eat the Griffon lord. The humans loudly congratulated him for his skill but he was merely satisfied with being alive. They ran to a doorway that was too small for the creature to pass through and Graton resummoned his spear. Suddenly the violet monster stopped its frantic twisting and flailing and lashing to begin licking at its bleeding nostril. Still confused from the pain it scraped two of its six claws across its snout hoping to eliminate the pain that flared there. The three sweat soaked men each held their breath, hoping the monstrous thing would leave. Soon enough though, it recovered its wits, sensed its quarry’s location, and charged madly. Too enraged to realize that it was too large to follow them into the smaller hallway it slammed hard against the stone frame and wall. Blinded by its hunger and frustration it had struck hard and its head lodged into the opening and it was momentarily stunned. This was most likely the best chance the frightened men would have to make more than just superficial wounds upon it. They hacked again and again at the thing’s face, throat, and eyes, opening considerable gashes upon its pebble textured scales. Its desperation showed as it, rather than simply pulling back, lunged at the offending creatures without effect. Finally it did dislodge itself and retreated blindly to where it came from down a large hall. Twice it stopped in its tracks and scratched madly at its wounds and peered menacingly back where its deadly prey remained hidden. Its retreat eventually brought screams from somewhere down the hall and those screams were soon choked off and became the sound of the slurping and rending of flesh. It seemed the beast found its keepers as palatable as any other being.
A voice, loud and seemingly cheerful suddenly exclaimed, “Incredible! I’ve never seen such a creature in all my journeys!”
Another voice replied, “I’ve seen it a hundred times in my nightmares and it’s still not as frightening as the prospect of hearing another of your stories about rare and exotic creatures.”
Calmly strutting into the blood strewn hall, Ralac and Gemini matter of factly joked to one another as Darkon waved to them.
“Well met, friends, are you well?” Darkon spoke as he moved to meet the pair.
As the two returning comrades closed within speaking distance, Ralac answered light heartedly, “Well, there are apparently no servants who could bear standing in Satar’s presence so they were replaced by…I’m sorry! What did you call them, Tam?”
“Bealrotti!” Tam Geminilanthis cheerily replied.
“Yes, Bealrotti. They were a nasty bit of snarling and stink but their brains must have leaked out long ago for we had little problem finishing them.” Replied the young assassin with a wink of his remaining eye. There were only two scratches on Ralac and not a mark on Gemini, which convinced Darkon without even using the flow that the elf had probably done the most damage to the Bealrotti. Did he just say Bealrotti? Ralac’s wide smile turned to a look of confusion when he realized Graton, Galen and Darkon were already conversing among themselves, rather heatedly, about the Bealrotti.
“I don’t believe it!” Graton exclaimed.
“Believe it,” Darkon said, “Now we know that treacherous mage had something planned for us from the start.”
“How could we allow ourselves to be tricked like that?” Galen snarled.
Graton heard his friends but still would not fall into their line of thought. “Perhaps he was unaware that more Bealrotti still lived. Or perhaps…”
“Or perhaps,” Darkon angrily interrupted, “We were fooled into aiding an evil, twisted mage in to doing gods know what! More and more I am convinced we were a simple distraction and my Sevele paid with her life for our stupid eagerness for adventure.”
That last word bellowed in anger and frustration, echoed again and again from the great hall down the hallways and beyond. All were silent as they knew no words would calm the grief burdened Demonslayer. For a moment Darkon looked as if ready to explode but he slowly breathed until the redness of rage left his face and once again the coldness of calm returned to him. This was the last bit of proof he needed to invoke an oath of vengeance against the life of Merleptus. He would pray to Halren, god of law and revenge, for the right and guidance to do so. Remembering his teachings he knew that if Halren wished the oath not to take place a sign would prove so. Halren would not allow vengeance for the mere sake of it. He demanded true cause and true loss to have been done to the one seeking the oath. If one were to disobey his law Halren himself would surely take his own godly vengeance upon that person. He remembered as well that the invoking of Halren’s pledge would take a sacrifice of some sort to gain the gods attention and favor, but he did not recall quite what the sacrifice would require.
Galen smacked Darkon's shoulder hard, knowing that he was drifting from their purpose. “Darkon, let us move on, we’ll deal with the lying wizard later.”
Darkon shook his head as if to clear his mind and nodded in understanding. Keeping silent he walked further into the palace, the others not far behind. Graton, trailing last, stopped as the others moved ahead and turned down a hallway and left him alone.
Looking slightly upwards he said, “Merleptus, I know very well you may be watching us, so I’ll speak my mind.”
He hesitated a moment and waited and he was rewarded by a pinpoint of light that appeared near the ceiling, confirming the mage’s attentiveness.
“You’ve a serious problem now, mage. Have you been watching us as we’ve fought through the Abyss and Mastalon? This group of adventurers as you call us is not just what you see. There is a fate, a destiny tied to why we’ve all come together and the gods have everything to do with it. Your fate was sealed the day that Demonslayer saw your face, foolish human. Now all of the Abyss combined could not stop him from finding you.”
His tone was harsh but an amused twinkle lit his eyes as he quickly walked to the doorway.
Turning back before he entered it he added, “I, on the other hand, have learned the value of forgiveness. I am not convinced you are as treacherous as the others assume and I have faith that if you could somehow prove your innocence all would be forgiven. Also, a little unasked for assistance could go a long way toward saving your life. Think about it, wizard.”

^ ^ ^

Merleptus’ mood brightened. In one moment the Griffon lord both condemned and gave hope to the scheming mage. The elf was new at dealing with humans and did not yet realize how evil some of them could be. He obviously still held some belief that the wizard might be innocent of Darkon’s accusations. Of course, the mage would have to prove his innocence as Graton had said and that would be difficult for innocent he was not. Still, Darkon had not truly seen his face for he’d used a magical disguise at those times when they were face to face so he was confident that he would not be found unless he chose to be. The mage was still driven to acquire the services of the group so he would not stop his attempts at gaining favor with them.
Perhaps if he returned Darkon's beloved