The Ogre Apprentice (45 page)

Really
? That was something he hadn’t expected.
What did she say
?

She has been researching his name, trying to find any records of him from the past
, Fist replied.
Today she found something. It was in a book on great villains through the ages. Vincent found it actually. He overheard her discussing Vahn and remembered the reference
.

Good old Vincent
, Justan said, smiling.

The chapter he found it in was actually about Mellinda
. Fist noted Justan’s stunned silence.
I was surprised too. Evidently while Mellinda was at the height of her power, she had gone on a rampage through the kingdoms, finding anyone or anything with powers and stealing them. Then once word got out that she had driven the Roo people out of their home and raised an army of trolls, the leaders of the different countries panicked, thinking they might be next
.

They found the most skilled and talented assassin that they could, a famous man named Vahn who used basilisks to help him in his attacks. Mistress Sarine says the scholar that wrote the book listed him as ‘rumored to be a nightbeast’. The leaders hired him to kill Mellinda, who I guess was then calling herself the Troll Queen
.

I wonder what happened there
? Justan said.

It’s actually kind of funny
, Fist said.
The book says that Vahn started by sending basilisks at her. The story says that twenty of them were sent. Sarine isn’t too sure about that number though, because the man that wrote it seemed to think that basilisks could fly and that they roamed in packs of twenty
.

Alright, so he sent a ‘lot’ of basilisks
, Justan replied.
Then what
?

She killed them all. None of their disguises worked and she forced them to take whatever shapes she wanted, then ripped their brains out so that they became statues. Maryanne said that Mellinda turned one of them into a big vase and kept flowers in it
.

Justan couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Finally, Vahn decided to attack her himself. She captured him and used her magic to break his will. According to the story she kept him around as a toy, showing him off to people and making him change shapes to amuse her
.

The visuals that brought in to Justan’s mind had him laughing even harder.
That is . . . the best thing I have heard in a long time
.

I thought so too
, Fist said laughing along with him.
But this is also kind of scary. That is the last time Vahn is mentioned. The book went on to tell how Mellinda was destroyed. It got some of those details wrong, though
.

So we don’t know what happened to him after that
, Justan said.
We know she didn’t kill him, but that’s it
?

This is why it’s scary
, Fist said.
The last time he was seen was with her. Then he isn’t heard from for hundreds of years. But this thing in the mountains acts an awful lot like Mellinda. It drew the moonrats to it. What if it really is her up here? What if she sent him
?

A chill went up Justan’s back.
Is that was Sarine thinks? What about Locksher? Does he think that the evil up there is Mellinda
?

He still isn’t sure
, Fist said.
But he hopes to know soon. He will make it to the Thunder People territory before we do. Wizard Beehn told Sarine that they should be there tomorrow
.

Justan let out a slow breath
. By then this should be over
.

Good luck
, Fist said.
Please be safe
.

You too
, Justan said.

Justan opened his eyes. The moon had gone down a long time ago and the stars were starting to fade as the sky lightened with the oncoming dawn.
Gwyrtha, did you hear that story
?

I hope she made him turn into a poop
, Gwyrtha said with a snort. Justan doubled over with laughter. He had to contact Deathclaw and share the story again.

They rode on and, as the sky brightened, Justan found some of the area familiar from the day before. Deathclaw and Jhonate were only a few miles away straight ahead of him. He knew they had to be getting close.

Just a few minutes later, Gwyrtha slowed.
Basilisks. Upwind
.

Justan’s heart thumped in anticipation. They were heading up a long slope. Vahn was likely on top. Deathclaw was still at least a mile away so he would have to modify his plan slightly.
Okay, we have the element of surprise here. We circle around them. We’ll meet up with Deathclaw and Jhonate. Then we can come back and fight him together
.

Yes
, Gwyrtha agreed. The rogue horse sped back up and headed off of the road preparing to make a circuit around the monsters

Deathclaw
, Justan sent.
Vahn is just ahead of us. We are heading around him and coming to meet up with y
-!

The ground in front of Gwyrtha rose suddenly, becoming a thick wall. She saw it at the last second and tried to go around it, but it happened too fast. The rogue horse crashed into the barrier at full speed.

Justan was launched from her saddle. The world slowed down. He saw each moment with clarity, but was unable to do anything about it. The barrier appeared to be made of stone, but from the thickness of it, had to be made up of two basilisks working together.

Justan watched the barrier split with the force of the impact. He felt a brief moment of shock and pain from Gwyrtha, then silence. As he flipped up over the wall, he saw something that appeared to be part Roo man and part stone behind the wall, bracing up against it. There was a wide smile on the man’s face. Vahn.

 Justan tried to stick his legs out and brace for landing, but he couldn’t move fast enough. His legs buckled and his face smacked into the thick grassy hillside. He felt a series of small pops in his neck and continued to tumble through the grass for what seemed like ages, before he came to a stop.

Justan lay there, looking straight up at the sky, dazed as the shock of what just happened rolled over him. He had to get up. He knew he had to move. Vahn could be approaching right now. Any moment, the assassin’s head could appear right over him.

Justan
! cried Deathclaw through the bond.

Justan forced himself to roll to his knees. His face was numb. He probably had a broken nose. Also, it was hard to lift his head, but he forced his body to stand.

Vahn was there, just a few yards away, smiling and clapping. He was wearing the same form he had worn on the day he had killed Yntri. “Amazing acrobatics. You could join a dwarf menagerie with those skills!”

Gwyrtha
! Justan shouted, but the rogue horse didn’t answer. He reached for his swords. His hand clamped down on Peace.

The pain and shock left him, sucked away by the power of the sword. His mind flickered through the bond, searching for Gwyrtha’s presence. She was alive. Her ribcage was shattered, her right lung punctured, but she lived.

He pawed for the hilt of his right sword, but his hand came up empty. Rage was missing. It must have flown out of his scabbard while he was flipping through the air.

“Looking for this?” Vahn said, bending down and grasping the hilt of the sword. He held it away from his body, carefully raising it into the air. “Awfully heavy, don’t you think?”

“Thank you for picking that up,” Justan said and released the full amount of the sword’s pent up energy, right through the handle.

Vahn’s arm disappeared up to the shoulder, vaporized by the force of the blast. The shockwave threw the nightbeast into the grass, tumbling just as Justan had.

 Justan knew that hadn’t killed Vahn. It did give him a little room to breathe, however. He slowed the world even further and quickly sent his thoughts back through the bond to heal Gwyrtha. He worked by instinct, hardly thinking as he forced his magic to seal the hole in Gwyrtha’s lung. He began knitting the broken ribs back together as fast as he was able. She also had a large contusion on her head and a concussion. There was little he could do to ease it before Vahn stood.

The nightbeast was remarkably resilient. He came back to his feet, his arm regrowing in seconds.

Justan headed for his sword.

“Stop!” Vahn commanded. “Or they kill her.”

The two basilisks that had made up the barrier had reformed into monstrous insect-like creatures and stood over the rogue horse with spear-like limbs pointed towards her.

“I don’t like that sword,” Vahn continued. “I say we fight without it.”

“You look shorter,” Justan remarked. He took a moment to probe his own body for injuries. The results weren’t promising. He had a sprained ankle, a few hairline fractures along his ribs, a sprained neck, and a long gash across the bridge of his nose. It was a good thing he had Peace to take his pain away because he probably wouldn’t be able to move much otherwise.

A ripple of anger rolled across the nightbeast’s face, but he played it off with a chuckle. “A minor setback. I was not aware that you could discharge your weapon from the handle.”

Deathclaw
! Justan called.

Coming
, the raptoid said, but he and Jhonate were still a good distance away.

Justan still had his Jharro bow strapped across his back. He wondered how many arrows Ma’am could put into the nightbeast before he got too close, but one more quick swipe over his shoulder told Justan that his arrows were also scattered across the hillside.

“Just the one sword will do, I think,” said Vahn. He reached out his hand and formed a sword of his own.

The nightbeast was now a good foot shorter than he was, but Justan knew that this wasn’t the kind of battle where size was going to make much of a difference. He pointed Peace at the nightbeast and wondered how he was possibly going to defeat Vahn when Hilt hadn’t been able to.

“Alright, Vahn,” Justan said. He had to keep him talking while he came up with a plan. “I’m down to one sword. You’re down to the size of a twelve-year-old. That should make us about even.”

“You truly are amusing,” Vahn said, not bothering to fake a laugh this time. “Your friend Sir Hilt didn’t find it quite so funny, when I killed him yesterday.”

This time Justan forced a smile. “I think you’re mistaken. Hilt made a full recovery. The elves even reattached his hand. You really should make sure people are dead before you walk away.”

Vahn raised an eyebrow. “I see. So that’s where your other bonded is. You left him back at the grove and he told you about the named warrior’s mortal wound. That’s good. The dragon’s absence makes things easier for me. Besides, I know you’re lying. Elves can’t heal a wound like that.”

“Of course they can. Elven magic has improved quite a lot in the last few centuries,” Justan cocked his head, ignoring the popping sound his neck made. “You would know that if you were around. Where has the Troll Queen been keeping you stashed all these years?”

This time the nightbeast’s laugh was genuine. “I have no idea where you have gotten this information, but it is wildly inaccurate.”

“I wonder what kind of shapes she made you take?” Justan pressed, sensing that something was wrong in his story, but still trying to find the right button to push. “A chair? No that would be too nice for her tastes. A footstool maybe? A chamber pot?”

“Where did you hear that? That’s old information. That’s . . . You’re stalling,” Vahn said in understanding. “You’re stalling while you think up a plan. I shouldn’t be underestimating you. I think it’s time I killed you now.”

Justan
? Gwyrtha said, stirring from unconsciousness.

Faster, harder, stronger
, Justan suggested.

What
? she said, still groggy, but noticing the two basilisks standing over her.

Faster, harder, stronger
, he said again.

No
, she said.
Bigger
.

“Come on, then, nightbeast,” Justan said and Vahn sprung at him. Justan met him sword against sword.

Justan observed the combat in slow motion and learned several things about Vahn during those first few attacks. First of all, he was an accomplished swordsman. Vahn’s attacks were quick and precise even though he wasn’t fighting with a real sword. This struck Justan as odd, because sword fighting was an unnecessary skill for a creature like him. His whole body was a weapon.

Second, there was no way that he had beat Hilt through skill alone. Justan had fought against the dual sword master enough times to know that. This meant that Vahn was a cheater. He was going to try something as soon as he decided that Justan could match him.

Third, Justan knew that he had to win soon, because despite Peace’s magic and the blessing magic that the Prophet had used on him earlier, his body was losing its strength. Sooner or later, it would shut down and he would be helpless.

Fourth, Gwyrtha had gotten really big. The rogue horse had expended the majority of her energy, increasing her size until she towered over the basilisks. The creatures showed no fear, though, one of them jumped onto her back while the other stabbed at her belly from below.