Mrythdom: Game of Time (10 page)

As the tree loomed before them, Aurelius noticed something. Deep inside the shadows between two giant roots lay a darker patch of wood where no lichen or moss grew. As they drew near, that space began to take on depth.

It was a cave.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. . . .

In between the leviathan’s mighty footsteps, Aurelius heard it literally breathing down their necks, and that sound was accompanied by a powerful stench of rotting meat. He turned to look and saw that the monster was only a stride or two from reaching them.

“Hurry!” Aurelius said.

The leviathan’s jaws snapped on empty air bare inches from the wolf’s tail, and then the dim red lights of the forest were abruptly extinguished. Aurelius heard the wolf yelp and he felt himself go flying freely through the air. He hit the ground with a sickening thud, and his head cracked into an unyielding wall. Sparks seemed to fly behind his fluttering eyelids, and he just lay there, listening as the incessant roaring in his ears grew softer and softer. He smiled dreamily to himself.

The monster’s running away. . . .

But who’s chasing it?

Aurelius had barely enough strength left to frown before his brain gave up trying to process stimuli and forced his muscles to relax. He felt as though he were sinking into a deep, dark pool. . . .

And that was the last thing he knew.

Aurelius awoke in darkness, dizzy and disoriented. He felt a hand on his forehead and it took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t his. He tried to sit up, but that hand held him down.

“Rest, elder. You hit your head very hard. It took nearly all of my strength to heal you; do not waste my efforts.”

“Heal me?”

“Magic is not
only
useful for killing.”

“Where is the . . .”

“Werewolf? Over there.” Aurelius could barely see the old man’s gesture, but he saw a dark shape silhouetted by the glowing red and blue moss hanging down from the entrance of the cave.

“Is he . . . ?” Aurelius frowned, struggling to find the right word.

“He stubbed his paws on a root and hit his head, too, but he has more padding and a thicker skull than us. He’ll be fine.”

“Why did he save my life?”

The wolf started toward them and stopped with his giant head mere inches from Aurelius’s own. Aurelius surprised himself by reaching out to pat the beast on the head as though he were a giant dog.

“Don’t do that.”

“What?” Aurelius stopped petting the beast’s head.

“I said don’t touch me, human.”
The monster shook his hand off and padded away. “
I saved your life because you saved mine. Now we are even, so do not thank me. Should we meet again, I might kill you. Only honor prevents it now.”
The monster stopped walking when it reached the entrance of the cave. He stood there as though poised to leap back into the forest at any moment.

Aurelius turned to Gabrian. “Can you hear that?”

“Hear what? Oh . . .” Gabrian trailed off, nodding knowingly. “He is speaking to you.”

“I didn’t realize . . .”

“That he could? He is a werewolf. Of
course
he can speak.”

Aurelius shook his head in disbelief. When the world didn’t swirl uneasily with the movement, he tried to stand. Gabrian helped him up.

“Where are we?” Aurelius asked, looking around. The cave wasn’t utterly dark. A few crusty red lichen and furry blue moss glowed along the ceiling and walls, but absent were the hanging icicles of the forest. The cave was reasonably large, at least two stories high and a few dozen feet across. It extended deep into the tree, branching off in two shadowy corridors. “It looks like a cave, but this is a tree. You don’t suppose someone, or some-
thing
made this place?”

“Hmmm, I wonder. . . .” Gabrian mused, looking around.

“What is it?”

“There’s blood on the walls,” Gabrian said in a quiet voice.

Aurelius felt an icy tentacle of dread crawl through his stomach. His hand automatically went to his side, but found his holster empty. Suddenly he remembered losing his pistol when the wolf saved his life, and he cursed viciously under his breath.

“Something wrong?” Gabrian asked.

“I lost my weapon.”

“That is a shame. Now what will you shoot me with?”

Aurelius just glared at Gabrian until the old man looked away.

“Something approaches.”

Aurelius followed the old man’s gaze to the entrance of the cave, his heart hammering in his chest. He peered into the hazy red gloom, but saw nothing.

“There’s nothing there, Wrinkle—”

That was when he saw a hulking shadow swirl out of the gloom. Its silhouette seemed to be that of a man—
thud, thud, thud—
but its footsteps were not. The wolf standing the doorway began snarling and backing away as the shadow drew near.

The giant stopped beneath the entrance, barely clearing it with his head. A nearby clump of lichen and moss cast a blue-red glow upon its face, and Aurelius gasped. It was almost a man, but far more terrifying. Two large yellow eyes glared from either side of a broad nose with fat gold rings pierced through it. The creature’s broad jaw and high, sloping forehead led up to a bald scalp with a pair of short horns poking out of it. Grotesquely bulging muscles and veins like cords of rope stood out on the giant’s frame. He seemed oblivious to the fact that much of his skin was exposed to the cold air, as though not even the elements could threaten him.

The monster grinned, revealing sharp, rotting yellow teeth. He heaved a giant carcass off his shoulders and set it at his feet with a meaty
thump.
“Food come to Gral for a change. Gral like this. Welcome, tasty things.”

*   *   *

 “What in the nethers is that?” Aurelius asked.

“A troll,” Gabrian replied in a dull voice.

The wolf went on snarling until the troll began stomping toward him. “Come here, little tasty!”

The wolf skittered away as though actually afraid, and the troll stomped after it. Aurelius looked on with a frown as the monsters chased each other in circles around the cave.

“Stop running!” the troll boomed.

The troll reached around to the small of its back where Aurelius now noticed a pack of some kind. The troll’s fist emerged with a handful of ropes. Stones were caught up in the ropes and clacking together at the trailing ends.

It’s a net. . . .

The troll hurled the net after the fleeing wolf, and the ropes splayed open in midair, landing with the wolf dead center. The rocks clattered to the ground and Aurelius watched as the werewolf tripped and tumbled inside the net, becoming hopelessly entangled.

“Heh, heh, heh!” The troll laughed. “Not so fast now, tasty furry thing.”

The troll advanced on his prey and Aurelius turned to Gabrian, “Aren’t you going to stop it?”

Gabrian gave him a bland look. “Why? Would you expect someone to stop you from killing a chicken for dinner?”

“This isn’t the same! You said yourself that werewolves are half man. He can speak! He’s intelligent! If you let him die . . .”

Gabrian cocked his head curiously.

Aurelius gave an incredulous snort and started jogging toward the struggling werewolf. He was surprised to find that his calf could take his weight now—what’s more, it didn’t even hurt. Whatever Gabrian had done to his injuries, it had worked, and fast.

“Hey!” Aurelius called as the troll was bending down to pick up the net.

The troll straightened with the netted wolf dangling from his fist and turned to see who had called to him.

“Hello, little tasty. You wait for turn. I eat you next, no worry.”

“Put him down,” Aurelius said.

“Why should Gral do that?”

“Because if Gral doesn’t, then I’ll put a curse on him.”

The troll’s giant yellow eyes narrowed angrily and suddenly he dropped the net, drawing a yelp from the wolf. “Mean! Gral do nothing to you; why you want hurt Gral?” The giant took a few thudding steps toward Aurelius and jabbed an angry finger at him. It was only by an extreme force of will that he managed not to flinch. “Gral eat you first now!”

Thud, thud, thud . . .

Aurelius was just about to turn and run when he heard Gabrian begin speaking.

“Congela teru cuero!”

“Whaaaa?” The troll replied, turning in slow motion to see who’d spoken. Aurelius watched the monster’s movements becoming slower and slower until it froze like a statue just a few paces away. The monster’s jaws hung open in protest, green spittle poised to trickle from the corner of its mouth. Its eyes were not even blinking.

“Now, now, Gral. Gral Rahn, is it?” Gabrian said, coming up beside the troll. He reached up with his glowing staff and thunked the monster on the head. Aurelius wondered if he’d imagined the subsequent echo. “You don’t want to kill any of us. Wer teru amstas. Et er ar teru masto.” What followed was a long string of similarly incomprehensible words. Aurelius listened closely, but it was a useless exercise; he couldn’t find any meaning in them. He wondered if the troll even understood the strange language. It certainly didn’t seem to have a very good grasp of Meridian. Yet Aurelius suspected that Gabrian wouldn’t waste his breath if the troll didn’t understand. The more relevant question was why was the wizard speaking to the troll in another language when he could have used Meridian. It had to be another spell of some kind.

A violently churning ball of ropes caught Aurelius’s eye as it rolled past.

He smiled wryly in spite of the situation and walked over to the wolf to help it untangle itself. He was about to place a hand on the snarling ball of ropes when he caught a glint of teeth and thought better of it.

“Let me help you,” Aurelius said.

“I don’t need your help!”
Another flash of ivory and Aurelius realized that the wolf was right. He was methodically cutting the ropes with his teeth. It wasn’t a minute before the wolf shook off the last shreds of the net, and they fell in a puddle of rope at its feet.

“Feels good not to be eaten, huh?”

The wolf growled softly. “
You saved my life again, human. It would seem we are destined to share one another’s company a while longer.”

“But I didn’t save your—”

“The wizard would have left me for dead. I heard him. You intervened, risking your own life for mine. Now my life is yours in service until such a time as I can repay the debt.”
Aurelius gaped at the giant wolf. “
Do not abuse my honor, human, or I will eat you when it is satisfied.”
Aurelius nodded mutely.

Gabrian finally stopped speaking to the troll, and Aurelius turned to see what had happened. The troll was still standing as it had been before, frozen in pursuit of its prey, but now as Aurelius watched, the wizard pointed his staff at the monster, and it was suddenly released from the magic. The troll fell to the ground with a thud and a grunt.

“Krak!” It beat the ground with its fist, sending a subtle vibration through the ground before it climbed slowly to its feet. Aurelius was already backing away, yet Gabrian was standing but an arm’s length from the troll and he made no attempt to run.

Once the troll regained its feet, it stood before Gabrian with its massive shoulders hunched and its head bowed as if it were suddenly carrying an enormous weight. “What orders for Gral?”

A crooked smile sprang to the old man’s face, and Aurelius’s eyebrows shot up. “Go fetch your kill that we may share the meat.”

Without protest, the giant slowly turned and stomped toward the entrance of the cave where he’d left the animal carcass.

Aurelius crept over to the wizard and whispered, “What did you do to him?”

“Trolls are simple-minded creatures. It is easy to compel their allegiance.”

“Well, that’s a vague answer, Wrinkles.”

The wizard turned his creepy smile on Aurelius. “Yes.”

Aurelius frowned. “Can we trust him?”

“Don’t show him where to stab you and he won’t.”

“I’ll take that as,
sleep with one eye open.
”