Son of Thunder - Murray J. D. Leeder [79]
"Thanks be to the Helping Hand," said Gunton, putting his hand over his heart.
"His hunger outweighed our intrusion," said Royce. "But now Elaacrimalicros knows we're here."
"How long till he comes out again?" asked Gan.
"Did you see the size of him?" said Gunton. "Do you think even a feast that size will keep him satisfied for long? And if he's afflicted by the Rage… this is not good news."
Gan lifted Berun's axe into the air.
"Let him come," Gan said. "The axe craves dragon blood! For Geildarr's glory, I will slay Elaacrimalicros myself, then haul his head back to Llorkh as a trophy!"
Gunton and Royce looked at Gan with a mix of concern and amusement. Was it the axe's influence that gave him this wild confidence?
"If it's all the same," Royce said, "I think we should get out of these mountains as swiftly as possible."
* * * * *
Under the guidance of Rask Urgek, the Thunderbeast party traveled through the deep woods of the High Forest. The leaves on the trees rippled like fire. Only occasionally did a glimpse of the fog-shrouded Star Mounts, their destination, appear through the dense canopy. They made good time, and the ground became more level as they traveled farther south, as if it had been smoothed by some ancient woodworker's plane.
Three days of travel had passed without incident, but late on the fourth night, their rest was disturbed by a cacophony of high-pitched squeals in the woods.
"Bats," said Rask. Only traces of Selune's light filtered down through the leaves, illuminating the thick trunks of the overgrown trees. Flashes of movement teased their eyes, and soon the whole forest seemed alive with them.
"Are they dangerous?" asked Thluna.
"The High Forest is home to some carnivorous bats," Rask said. "But they live far to the northeast, in the area of Hellgate Dell and Stone Stand."
"The most dangerous part of the High Forest," Thanar elaborated. "Only marginally more dangerous than the rest."
"There must be thousands of them," said Kellin, watching the trees. The swarm came closer and closer, and they could see an occasional bat darting overhead.
"They find their way by sound, do they not?" Keirkrad asked Thanar. The druid nodded. "Then I know a simple way to keep them away." The shaman motioned with his ancient hands and suddenly, the chiropteran squeals seemed to cease, and with them, all sounds of the night.
"What did you do?" asked Vell, but his question was answered when he opened his mouth and no sound came out.
Kellin smiled. "Clever," she mouthed, and even dared to pat Keirkrad on the back.
Their camp was unearthly, deathly quiet. The bats, perceiving the silence as something solid, avoided the protective shell around the Thunderbeasts. Though the area above was thick with bats, Keirkrad's spell had created an island of calm.
Then the silence turned deadly. Without warning, a jagged spear hurtled down from the trees above. Crudely aimed in the darkness, it nevertheless found an unsuspecting Thunderbeast, striking his chest and driving deep. Grallah collapsed backward, blood trickling from his mouth. Thluna and Hengin reached him to deliver aid, but they could only lower him to the leaf-strewn ground. Grallah's lips moved, but no one could hear his dying words-perhaps a final prayer to Uthgar. The others scanned their dim surroundings, especially the branches of the trees. Amidst the shards of moonlight, they saw flashes of movement, larger than the bats-man-sized forms swooping between the trees.
"Werebats," mouthed Rask.
The group knew that if they huddled closely, they would be easy targets. Worse the lycanthropes didn't seem to be inhibited by the magical silence. A few Thunderbeasts broke away to put their backs to the tree trunks, forming a perimeter.
Vell looked at his hands, seeing flesh and not scales. He summoned the scales and he felt the restless behemoth spirit within him eagerly rising to