Born Of Darkness by William King

Author:William King [King, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction
Publisher: Typhon Press
Published: 2015-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

VORKHUL PADDED CLOSER through the gloom. A green glow marked the presence of the hunters. The odours of their weapons irritated his nose and made his eyes water. His heightened hearing picked out the bickering of the humans and the whimpering of the smallest hound. It sensed his presence somehow. No matter.

He extended his claws and sprang. Ahead of him stood the squat human who had thrown the sunflare. Vorkhul’s claw took him through the chest. Long sharp talons pierced the links of the armour, penetrated flesh and slid through the gaps between ribs.

Razor edges ripped through human meat. They sliced vertebrae and nerve cord, slashed internal organs. The Old One howled with pure pleasure as his prey screamed. He licked the metallic tasting blood that splashed his lips. He closed his jaws on the man’s neck, rending flesh, tearing arteries.

The human with the deadly sword turned his head. His eyes narrowed and he took a step forward, blade bared. The sea-woman with the odd scent whirled her torch to make it blaze brighter. The big man unleashed the dogs.

The largest of the beasts coiled to spring. The smaller bared its fangs and growled. Vorkhul threw the spasming body of his victim towards the humans then sprang back into the darkness. He raced away, daring the mortals to follow.

***

Kormak watched Slasher bound off into the darkness, howling. Gerd fell, blood fountaining from his throat. Kormak stepped over the mess of his friend’s back. The spine was snapped. Gerd’s slashed lung was visible through a rent in the flesh. A horrible sick wheezing filled the air. The abbot was already dead. His body had not quite accepted the fact yet.

There was nothing Kormak could do for the man except avenge him. He raced forward, trailing the dog, determined that this time, he would get the Old One.

***

Vorkhul bounded along on all fours, stretching his limbs, getting as much speed out of this form as he could. Behind him the largest of the dogs bellowed its stupid rage. Its hunger for blood outweighed its fear and made it careless. It saw an animal fleeing before it. Instinct told it to pull the prey down.

Behind the dog was something far more formidable; the man with the sword. He intended for the hound to slow Vorkhul so he could close and strike the killing blow.

In the confusion, the human was leaving the light behind him, moving into the darkness which was Vorkhul’s realm. It was simple. First kill the dog and then in the dark take the man.

Soon. Soon it would be time to turn on his pursuers once more.

***

From up ahead came a sudden agonised yelp. Kormak almost tripped over the corpse of Slasher. The big dog lay torn in two. A huge chunk of meat was gone from his chest. Blood pooled on the floor all around him.

The light of the torches and Rhiana’s pearl was a long way behind. From up ahead he could hear the sound of water and smell sewage.

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