The Horn King by Alaric Longward

Author:Alaric Longward
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Dark Fantasy, Norse mythology, Sword and Sorcery, Song of Fire, Fantasy adventure
Publisher: Alaric Longward
Published: 2017-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

BOOK 3: THE DARK DEAL

“Mercy? I don’t know the meaning of the word. Neither do you.”

Gutty to Quil Daxamma

CHAPTER 11

Illar led, pulling us by hand along the old mine’s winding corridors. We had no light and the darkness seemed almost tangible as we shuffled, cursing the uneven floor. At some point, she stopped in a dark chamber.

“Wait,” she said and let go of us.

“Where did you go?” Mina hissed. “Don’t leave us here!”

“I have a stash of equipment here,” Illar said.

She was moving blindly, a hand on the wall. Darkness was familiar to me, or at least the Horn King was, so I followed her tentatively and sensed how she made her way along an uneven wall in a small chamber. I heard scraping as she pulled at a rock. We waited, then reeled as she struck sparks. They flew, and the torch lit immediately. I went to her, she handed the burning torch to me, dug around a hole in a wall, and handed several others around. She turned back to the stash.

She had not lied; she knew the place well.

She pulled out various items which she stuffed in one of her bags. Yarn, pouches of gear that rattled ominously, bottles. Some held green liquid, others pale red. Finally, there were some rations; dried and salted meat and various empty leather flasks.

She handed those out. “Plenty of water along the way. Most drinkable. A pond, even.” She gave me a long look. “You will go to the Daxamma side?”

I nodded and adjusted my boots. “I didn’t get her out. They saved her and I ran out of time. I mangled some.”

“Mangled?” Mina asked, frowning.

“Don’t ask,” Oxam whispered.

“Was she unhurt?” Illar asked. “I’d hate to invest time in this to see her a corpse.”

I grimaced at the pain in my ankles. The elven spell had torn at the skin and flesh. “She was unhurt. I made sure they cannot easily replace her. I think she’ll stay alive for a while.”

Yggra’s dying face haunted me. The Horn King had snapped the ax on him like he’d chop wood. Calculating and evil, I had to live with its decisions. Sometimes I caught him before he acted, but not often.

“What of them?” she asked and nodded at the girls. “We take the dangerous route and set them on their way to north?”

“No!” Mina snarled. “I think he is an idiot, but if he is going, so are we. Illar is right. We will all go. Or none.”

“I know he is an idiot,” Sira agreed, looking in my eyes with unflinching steel, “but yes, we go on. To make sure father survives since it seems the idiot is going to meet him eventually.” There was also hope in the look. Hope that I might come around and take her back.

Oxam was shaking his head. “Girls, are you sure? There is no safety out there for humans. They are all slaves down south.”

Illar smiled. “They know we will do better together.”

“No, I am not sure,” Mina said.

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