[Beastborne: Voracious] (Book 5) Chapter 25

Author Note: Apologies for the wait, all the issues with patreon should (hopefully) be sorted now. They've played merry hell with my workflow so it won't be terribly out of place if a few chapters are up at a later time than usual but there shouldn't be any out-and-out interruptions from here on. We might make some alterations to posting to ease the burden since what once took about a minute per post now takes upwards of 3, and doing that 5 times a week adds up to less words written.

Anyways, Beastborne should be back up to its normal weekend schedule (Sundays, as Saturday will be for something else quite soon).

You defeat [Archmage Hirash | Lv.??]

Hal swiped angrily at the notification. There was no Experience or Sparks given, which bothered him. There was loot to be had, but nothing Shard-given. The man left a lot of his clothes and equipment behind. Those things that hadn’t been destroyed already, that is.

There were puddles of gold and shattered piles of powdered gems. A small treasure trove, even if most of the magic was likely damaged beyond repair. But the lack of Sparks and Experience suggested that he wasn’t dead, and Hal would have very much liked to know how that was possible for anybody other than a Founder.

I expect I’ll find out sooner rather than later. The look of utter hatred in Hirash’s eyes was beyond fanatical. He would be back.

Fury and rage boiling inside his gut, Hal turned toward the Shiverglades. Using one of the less useful though still impressive new Copper Sigils, [Sonorous], Hal’s voice was magnified several times over as it rolled out over the Shiverglades.

“I’ve already killed your Archmage,” he told the figures he could sense out there at the edges of the Shiverglades. “You might as well come out now so we can get this over with. I’ve got things to do.”

***

Tristal watched with horror alongside the Kinslayers. Hal had just treated the Archmage of this land, the Archmage, as if he were an annoying little fly. She’d seen that spell before and knew how deadly it was, even for a Founder.

He just swatted it away as if it was nothing!

She tried to get a grip on herself. Her hopes and dreams of leveraging Hirash’s intentions and location were vanishing like mist in the afternoon sun and to make matters worse, she was currently with two Kinslayers.

How would I react if I found the Archmage coming for my head and then another Founder in the company of two Kinslayers who had already attacked me? Tristal wondered. Not pleasantly, that’s for sure.

When he had called out to them, she had cursed her lack of foresight. She was sure that she would have gotten to Brightsong first, but Hirash’s insolence knew no bounds.

He must have been incredibly confident to think that he could take out Hal without worrying about his allies coming to his aid.

And that, mixed with the fact that she hadn’t bothered to hide their presence since she was too busy hiding their tracks, made beads of sweat freeze to her back.

“What shall we do?” asked the larger Kinslayer. They both had an arm of the small female Kinslayer over a shoulder,which made for an awkward look because Tristal was far shorter than either Kinslayer.

The larger lamora lumbered behind them. He didn’t talk much. Or at all.

Think, Tristal, think!

“We don’t have much choice,do we?” she told them. “We’re caught. It doesn’t look good. We could fight our way out, but then that would rather spoil the point of seeking asylum, wouldn’t it?”

“We still have… value,” the female Kinslayer said. With all the exertion her breathing was getting labored again. “Hirash… is not dead. He will come again. We can help defend.”

“Are you sure you want to do that,though?” Tristal asked. “He did kill your ‘Beast’ as you called it.”

“That just means he is…stronger than me,” the woman said matter-of-factly. “That gives him worth. More… than me. If I learn from him… I will become stronger and gain more worth.”

They both saw the strange look that Tristal was wearing. She was too tired to wipe it from her face.

The bigger Kinslayer chuckled deeply. “It is our way. The stronger guide the weaker, who in turn gain such strength as can be found from their mentors.”

And then you kill them and become the leader?She wondered, not for the first time, if this had been a fool’s errand from the start.

It must have been obvious what she was thinking,because the big guy elaborated. “The strong are responsible for teaching the weak. This is our way. The code we have adopted amongst ourselves. If we were to surpass this Beastborne, then it would be up to us to teach him. That way, we always grow. Always.”

Tristal had to admit it had a certain logic to it,even if it seemed like they would be playing musical chairs with roles and duty and what not.

Behind them, the big lamora grunted once or twice.

“His will is tied to hers,” the Kinslayer said. “He will not harm anybody unless she expressly requests it.”

The lamora had the stink of Hirash’s magic on him, but she could also tell there was a tether linking him to the smaller Kinslayer. Of course, they could be using Tristal to get closer to the new Founder, but she was using them,so that made it all right.

Besides, she rather liked the young,scrappy woman. And her mother always did tell her to find a big,strong and most of all silent man,if she wanted her life to be full and happy.

Oh, very well, she grumped mentally. “With me, then, and please do as I do.”

The moment they started to step out into the clear-cut area immediately in front of the strange gap that led to the settlement, another bush rustled and their local guide stepped out. He took a few tentative steps, but there was no fear in him that Tristal could see.

He shook from excitement.

The Founder’s brown eyes—her reports said he had blue eyes of fire, which seemed now a flagrant lie—looked at each of them in turn, his eyebrows climbing higher with each person.

There was certainly no fear from him.

He looked ready to smite them all at the drop of a hat, and Tristal really hoped that the rumors of him being a decent person were true and not the same kind of propagandist fluff that most important figures attract.

“That’s far enough,” he said, his voice still booming with magic that she could not see,which meant it had to be something to do with his Founder powers.

Whether he was talking to their guide or not, everybody decided it was in their best interest to stop immediately where they were.

Understandably, the Founder beckoned the lone person closer.

Flashing a rather insolent grin at four of the five people he had been guiding, the young man stepped smartly up to Hal and then dropped to one knee.

In a flash of silver, he pulled out a dagger. Hal tensed, placing a hand on a sword at his hip that she hadn’t seen before, and then relaxed as droplets of blood pattered to the cold ground where they froze almost instantly into tiny ruby splotches.

What was said next was so quiet that even Tristal’s sensitive hearing couldn’t pick up. She looked at the Kinslayers,who shook their heads. They couldn’t hear either,and she wasn’t about to risk using magic this close to somebody who had just immolated the Archmage of the Tower.

I may have gotten myself in over my head here.

The young Founder who was supposed to be inept yet was clearly clever enough to hide in the Shiverglades was at odds with the man standing before her. And high above, circling like vultures but with more grace than any bird could ever achieve, were two of the largest dragons she had ever seen in her life.

More people were hurrying down the gap behind Hal and would be there soon,judging by their speed. If they got there first before she could make her case—privately—to the Founder, all might be lost.

The two spoke for a few minutes, long enough for Tristal to make out that the man was clearly offering his services to Hal. A smart move, and had their situations been reversed,she would have done the same and likely tried to sell out the guide as well just to firm up her position as trustworthy.

Now the shoe was on the other foot and she was left wondering how much the guide had seen. She wasn’t exactly helpful to Hirash. That much was true, so he shouldn’t have much of worth to tell the Founder.

Of course, that didn’t mean there was nothing that he could have picked up. Her Spectral Servants were still loitering around back in the strange icy swamp. They would come out only when she had at least a modicum of trust from Hal.

Four strangers was bad enough, six was a definite threat no matter which way you looked at it. He was on edge enough as it was.

Damn you, Hirash! Could your timing have been any worse?

Probably not, and if he had done it on purpose, then she would need to take her hat off to him because it was masterfully done. Only, after having spent a few weeks with the man,she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it had been all bravado and no brain that had led him to attack so openly.

“You said Hirash isn’t dead. Can you prove it?” she whispered.

“He spoke of a [Revival Ring]. It is a rare artifact that shatters when the wearer is about to die and whisks them back to a specific location,” the large Kinslayer said. “I do not know that location, but I am familiar with its effects. I saw it when he was nearly killed.”

“Does it heal him in any way?” she asked.

“Not that I know.”

“Then that’s good. It’ll take him a while to recover from a beating like that, but not long enough.”

“The Tower’s physicians are very skilled.”

“I’m well aware,” Tristal said with a snort.

It was one of the things that Rinbast had gotten right. He had built a powerful corps of people well-versed in the healing arts and given them just about anything they could ever want.

Even people from her region, the Direlands, sometimes snuck over to enroll.

And the more she watched this young Founder,the more of Rinbast’s calculating nature she started to see.

She had to hope that there was something of the innocent young man left inside. Plots for manipulation and subterfuge flew out the window the moment the conversation between the Founder and the young man were finished.

With a jerk of Hal’s chin, the guide nodded and bowed so low he almost touched his forehead to the dirt. He scrambled to put some distance between himself and Hal but, and this was important to note, he did not get behind Hal.

Instead, he walked slightly crabwise, so he was within his sight but as close to him as possible while also being far enough away so he couldn’t easily overhear him.It was almost comical to watch.

Those dark brown eyes seemed even darker now and reminded her—with just a hint of homesickness—of rich espresso. He beckoned to them and kept his hand on the pommel of his sword,which seemed to gleam with a magical energy all its own.

Even Tristal, who had not seen many dragons in her lifetime, knew Draconic magic when she was in its presence. And this was powerful stuff.

“Don’t speak unless I tell you to,” she hissed as they walked forward apprehensively at the Founder’s command. “If he’s strong enough to take out Hirash like that, even if the Archmage had some sort of protection, he’s strong enough that I can’t protect you and myself. And no offense, but I always come first in these situations.”

***

Hal’s sense of danger spiked when he looked at the young woman with her arms slung over the front two figures. It flared like a rocket when he recognized not only another Beastborne, but that this was the one who had nearly killed him and Besal.

Anger overrode anything else that could have possibly gone through his head. Hal still had no idea what, precisely, was going on with Besal. If he was even alive. He hated not knowing, and the uncertainty would have driven him mad if he had more than two seconds at a time to himself to think.

He was not usually a rash man, but now he unsheathed his sword and lashed out at the Kinslayer without a second thought. A small part of himself knew it was wrong to attack a clearly wounded and undefended person, but then again, he had caused those wounds.

Snarling with rage that boiled in his chest, Hal was nevertheless shocked when a massive sword blocked the blow and stood between him and the Kinslayer he yearned to kill with every fiber of his being.

His shock was complete when he looked up into the large, shadowy hood and saw a familiar face. “Giel!?”