Beastwalker (Pharim War Book 3) Page 6

  He looked around. Osmund had crashed into a tree, but rather than being hurt, most of the tree had been reduced to splinters. The charred wood around the larger boy said it had been Ziary, not Osmund who had hit it. It was probably the only reason he had survived. Osmund blinked and sat up with considerably less effort than Jez had managed.

  Nearby, a bush rustled, and Lina crawled out. Her shirt sleeve had ripped, and she had twigs and leaves in her hair. A bruise had started to form just beneath her left eye, and she winced as she stood up. She walked to him.

  “Jez, are you all right?”

  He blinked. “I think so.”

  “You’re bleeding.”

  He reached up and touched his forehead. His fingers came away bloody. He felt sick. “Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.”

  Osmund managed a weak laugh. “It’s about average for your plans.”

  Jez glared at him, but before he could say anything, a small bird with a long needle-like beak flew in front of him. It hovered, its wings moving so fast he couldn’t see them. He blinked and it flew a little ways away to stick its beak in a bright red flower. A line of trees thick with foliage stood several yards off, and Jez stared into them. The sense of familiarity, of prey, had grown even stronger.

  “We’re here.”

  Lina offered Jez a hand up and he turned to the valley that, in all likelihood, served as the prison for a high lord of the pharim.

  CHAPTER 17

  Jez had spent most of his life on the coast of Korand. Then, he’d travelled through the plains and came to the mountains where he’d spent most of the past year. He had never seen a real forest, but he’d always imagined them as nothing more than a group of trees that one could easily walk through. He’d never expected anything like this.

  The shrubbery was as tall as Osmund, and vines stretched from tree to tree. Several sprouted the red flowers the bird had eaten from. Even the foliage on the shore of the river was so thick it would be impassable. It was like a great green wall looming before them.

  Their supplies had been scattered over several hundred yards, and it took the better part of an hour for them to gather everything up. Among the supplies were three long curved knives that Osmund called machetes. At first, Jez hadn’t really understood why they needed them, but after seeing the thick underbrush, it was obvious they’d never be able to walk through the jungle without cutting their way through.

  “What do we do now?” Osmund asked.

  Jez bit his lower lip and stared into the trees. “I’m not really sure.”

  Osmund rolled his eyes and grinned at Lina. “You see what I mean about his plans?”

  Jez glared at him before closing his eyes. The prey scent hadn’t so much vanished as it had spread out. It was coming from everywhere. He opened his eyes.

  “I’m almost positive Aniel is here somewhere.”

  Osmund made an exaggerated motion of looking around. “Where?”

  Jez rolled his eyes and started walking toward the tree line. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t have said ‘somewhere.’”

  “So your plan is to find Aniel somewhere in the jungle?”

  Jez stopped in front of a large bush. He turned around and narrowed his eyes. “You can stay here if you want.”

  Osmund let out a long breath and walked to the underbrush and slashed away a couple of bushes. He turned and raised an eyebrow. “Are you two coming?”

  After two hours, they were completely exhausted, and they hadn’t even gone a mile. Added to the pain from landing, it left them feeling truly miserable. The air was thick, and sometimes Jez felt more like he was swimming than walking. They were all sweating profusely, and they went through water at an alarming rate. Most of their water skins had been lost, but they stayed near the river, and Jez used his abilities to separate the water from any impurities. According to Lina, it still tasted funny, but Jez was fairly sure she was just looking for a reason to complain. Osmund seemed to be having the easiest time. He wasn’t moving much faster than the rest of them, but he didn’t need to rest as often either.

  “Having legs that long must really help,” Lina said after the third time Osmund scouted ahead while they rested.

  Osmund shrugged. “Before I left home, I spent a lot of time hiding in the jungle there. This isn’t really all that different.” He sighed. “I don’t think we’re going to find Aniel just by walking around though.”

  Jez cut a vine away from his path before turning to Osmund. “Why not?”

  “We’ve been looking for hours, and Horgar knew this place a lot better than we do. He never found him.” Osmund motioned to the trees around them. “Besides, in jungle this thick, we could pass within five feet of an army and not notice it. We’re not going to find an imprisoned pharim, particularly not if whoever imprisoned him wants him hidden.”

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  “Did you ever study summoning?”

  “A little. I had to summon imps to help new students learn about binding.”

  “Do you think you could summon a Beastwalker?”

  Jez blinked at him. “Are you serious?”

  “Can you think of a better idea?”

  “I know how to summon minor demons, not pharim.”

  “It’s not like a pharim would hurt you. Shamarion obeyed your commands.”

  “Shamarion is a Shadowguard. Sariel told them about me. Besides, don’t you think Horgar would’ve already tried a summoning?”

  “Horgar isn’t a pharim.”

  “Neither am I.” Osmund raised an eyebrow, but Jez shook his head. “I’m not.”

  “Yes you are,” Osmund said. “You are in every way that matters.” Lina snorted, but Osmund glared at her before turning back to Jez. “You defeated two demon lords in single combat. If that doesn’t make you a pharim, I don’t know what does.”

  Jez shook his head. “Maries was a demon general, not a demon lord.”

  Osmund rolled his eyes. “Yes, that makes a big difference.”

  Jez let out a breath. “Even if it didn’t, I had help with Maries.”

  Lina grinned. “Oh, if you only defeated a demon general because you had help, that obviously invalidates Osmund’s argument.” Her face grew serious. “Jez, you have to admit he has a point.”

  Jez looked from one to the other before throwing up his hands in surrender. “Fine, I’ll give it a try. Just give me some time to work it out. It’s not the same as summoning a demon.”

  It wasn’t difficult to figure out how to alter the imp summoning ritual. At Osmund’s insistence, Jez had long ago worked out how to bind his scion. The runes needed to do that were many of the same ones needed to affect pharim. It was just a matter of replacing half a dozen runes.

  He used terra magic to clear an area of ground roughly ten feet across, but he didn’t dare use any mystical means to draw the circle. The magics could too easily interfere with each other. Instead, he used a stick, though he had to start over several times. A circle didn’t need to be absolutely perfect to work for a summoning, but the closer the better. Once the circle was done, he set about drawing runes in the dirt. The whole process took two hours, and by the time he was done, the sky had begun to darken. He turned to Lina and Osmund who had set up camp nearby.

  “I don’t suppose either of you know the name of a Beastwalker?” They both shook their heads, and Jez sighed. A name would’ve made it easier, but he could probably manage without one. “I can call one, but I don’t think I can hold it.”

  “Do you need to?” Lina asked. “It’s a pharim. Aren’t they supposed to be good?”

  “They’re supposed to be watching over beasts. If I summon one who is doing that, I become the thing getting in the way of their duty. That’s not something they react too kindly toward.”

  “Oh,” Lina said as she backed up from the circle.

  “Should I change?” Osmund asked.

  Jez shook his head. “You could lose control. Ziary wouldn’t attack a pharim, but he
might see me as being evil for trying to summon one. Still, be ready in case we need to defend ourselves.” Osmund nodded. “Don’t hurt him.”

  Osmund stared at him for a second before bursting into laughter. It took him a second to regain his composure. “You’re worried about me hurting him?”

  Jez gave him a half smile. “Good point.”

  Jez stood at the edge of the circle and raised his arms. He uttered the words of the ritual and the runes began glowing yellow. Jez reached out with his mind, trying to find a target for his summons. He’d never been very good at this, and it was like trying to see through muddy water. He closed his eyes and spoke louder. The air around him vibrated with the power he was sending into the circle, drowning out everything else. He focused, casting out his thoughts in a net meant to ensnare a Beastwalker.

  “Jez.”

  He barely heard the voice over the hum of power, but he didn’t open his eyes.

  “Beastwalker.”

  He endowed the word with power and sent it into the circle. The water in his mind cleared a little, but not enough for him to see through it.

  “Jez.”

  The voice was louder this time, but he ignored it. The ritual consumed his mind, and he didn’t want to lose his grip on it. He called again but there was no response.

  “Enough!”

  The voice cut through the buzz, and it was like a boulder splashing into the water. He opened his eyes and gasped. The thing before him had the torso and head of a man, but beneath its waist, it had the lean body of a lion. Its powerful paws clawed at the ground. Its face was surrounded by a yellow mane, and it held a bow with an arrow nocked pointed right at Jez’s face.

  CHAPTER 18

  Osmund and Lina had already been taken prisoner by other animal men. One that looked like a wolf that stood on two legs guarded Osmund while a woman with lizard scales and long curved teeth stood over Lina. Jez could feel the wards blocking them from their power. He knew from experience that such a ward wouldn’t prevent Osmund from transforming, but with him in danger of losing control of Ziary, unleashing the scion might be worse than being caught.

  Jez felt a ward forming to block him from his power, but he was too quick and crafted a working to draw water from the air. The ward ran into the active working and shattered against it. Jez shrouded his hand in the water and shaped it into claws. He hardened the liquid to the point of being stronger than steel before holding his hand toward the lion man.

  “Put down your weapons and let go of my friends,” he said.

  The creature let out a sound, but Jez wasn’t sure if it was a laugh or a roar. Jez sniffed at the air, looking for any sign of the sulfuric smell that would indicate demons, but there was nothing. The lion man curled its lips back to display long sharp teeth. He never lowered his bow.

  “Little human boy, at this moment, you are surrounded by the warriors of my pack, many of whom have arrows trained on you. Your command of water is impressive, and you might even be able to take out one or two of us, but no more than that. Don’t be foolish. Put away your working and allow yourself to be warded.”

  Jez let the claws return to liquid, but he kept the water swirling around his hand so as to not allow them the opportunity to ward him. “What do you want from us?”

  “I will not speak to someone armed as you are.”

  Jez’s hand went to his waist, but stopped. He was wearing a sword, but it was secure in its sheath, and the curved knife he’d been using to cut through the foliage was with the rest of their supplies. He cocked his head at the lion man.

  “Your power, boy. Put away your power and allow yourself to be warded.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  The lion man smirked, showing its teeth again. He circled Jez until he was standing in the circle. He smudged several parts with his foot.

  “Because your friends are captive, and you are surrounded. This is a battle you can’t possibly win, and any course but surrender will only lead to death.”

  Jez glanced at Osmund, and the other boy nodded. Jez reached for Luntayary’s power, intending to summon one of the crystal swords of the Shadowguard.

  “Jez?”

  A creature with a body that was vaguely man shaped but with a bull’s head stepped out of the brush. Its legs ended in hooves and he had arms thicker than any Jez had ever seen. Long pointed horns protruded from its head. Jez’s eyes went wide when he saw that the tip of the left horn was broken, the same one that had cracked when the giant bull had attacked the central spire of the Academy.

  “Toden?”

  The bull man nodded. “That’s what they called me. I remember you. You helped me.”

  “I helped?”

  “I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but I was just so mad. I don’t even know why I was mad.”

  “You know this child, Mirous?”

  Toden nodded. “He stopped me from killing, Galine.”

  The cat man looked from Toden to Jez. He lowered the bow, but didn’t remove the arrow. Jez threw a glance at Osmund, but the other boy only shrugged.

  “Put away the water,” Galine said. “Keep your power.”

  Jez eyed him, but shook his head. “If I’m not holding a working, you can just cut me off.”

  Galine nodded and waved his hand at the two guards standing over Osmund and Lina. The shields barring them from their power vanished. Instantly, Osmund’s arm was wreathed in flame, and Lina vanished from sight.

  “There is no need for that,” Galine said. “Come, let us talk, and you can tell me why you were trying to summon one of Lord Aniel’s children.”

  Jez and his companions exchanged glances. The beast men were already heading into the woods. Only Toden hadn’t moved, and Jez tried not to stare.

  “Are you really Toden?”

  “I was.”

  “You were?”

  “I’m called Mirous now.”

  “Why?” Jez asked

  Toden pawed at the ground, but he didn’t seem to notice what he was doing. “I don’t remember much from before, just being angry.”

  “You weren’t an angry person,” Lina said. “You were nice. I liked you.”

  He smiled. “I don’t remember being a person.” He looked to where Galine had gone. “We should go. Galine can explain everything.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Toden moved quickly through the jungle. In spite of his massive form, the bull man didn’t leave so much as a snapped twig to mark his passage. Jez and his companions started falling behind, but Toden stopped to wait for them. The other beast men were nowhere to be seen, and Toden gave them a disapproving stare when they cut underbrush out of their way, but he made no move to stop them.

  Day had given way to night before they finally arrived in a large clearing. By then, the pace they were going at had made every muscle in Jez’s body ache, but he forgot about that as soon as he beheld the home of the beast men.

  A few huts dotted the clearing. Some were human sized, while others had doors twelve feet tall and roofs higher than most manors Jez had seen. A pair of ape men were putting a new roof on one house. Strangely enough, animal dens existed alongside the houses. At one end of the clearing, there was an opening to a cave. Other animal people moved around the makeshift camp, though the line between animal and man varied from person to person. He saw a pair of people who were completely human except for the claws where their fingers should be, and one woman had feathers instead of hair. Others were almost wholly beasts. There was one who looked like a dog but with a face and eyes that looked all too human. It was an effort not to stare.

  Galine was waiting at the other edge of the clearing. Other cat people, the beast portion coming from lions or tigers or panthers, had gathered around him, and his yellow eyes followed Jez as he walked across the clearing. Jez couldn’t help but feeling like a mouse being watched by a cat. A panther woman next to Galine bared her teeth, and Jez wondered if she didn’t see him the same way. More than one beast man growled as they walked by
.

  Finally, Jez stood before Galine. The lion man looked down at Jez, and Jez took an involuntary step back. He had to stop himself from summoning his crystal sword, in spite of the fact that all his senses told him these weren’t demons. Though his sword was a deadly weapon in its own right, it wouldn’t protect him against a hail of arrows.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  Galine nodded at Toden. “I would think your friend would make it obvious.”

  Jez glanced at Toden before nodding. “You’re people who suffered beast mind.”

  Behind him, someone growled, and it was all Jez could do not to turn and look. He had the feeling that showing fear to these people would be a very bad idea.

  “Watch your words.” Galine’s words were closer to a growl than a voice. “We do not suffer.”

  Jez stammered and took a step back. Immediately, he chided himself for the reaction and forced himself to stand up straight and look Galine in the eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know.”

  “Do you know how one is taken by the beast mind?”

  Jez nodded. “You stay transformed for a long time. Days or months. The instincts take over, and you stop being human.”

  A rumble escaped Galine’s throat, and Jez realized he was laughing. “A simplistic explanation. We choose it. Every one of us. We found human existence too trying or painful, or unfulfilling. For one reason or another, we were running, looking for something that we didn’t know.” Galine showed his teeth. “We found it.”

  Jez looked around at the beast men. Inhuman eyes stared back at him. He returned his gaze to Galine. “All of you?”

  Galine nodded. “As you said, one must be in beast form for days or months for this change to happen. Do you think one can stay in another form so long by accident?”

  Jez gave Toden a pointed look. “Even him.”

  “He doesn’t know what’s happened to him yet. The change into something other than human is trying on the mind. It will be months before he’s fully restored, that is, if it happens at all.” Galine gave Jez a level look. “What do you know?”