Son of Thunder - Murray J. D. Leeder [82]
The two werebats led Keirkrad to the middle of a larger platform and let him drop to his knees.
"What have my children brought me?" spoke a strange, high-pitched voice.
On the surrounding trees, Keirkrad noticed crude trophies. Among various animal remains, he identified a hybsil's antlers and desiccated elf ears nailed into the bark. At the end of the platform sat a werebat perched on a crude wooden throne amid piles of offal. Its vast wings were folded against its middle. It was naked but covered with matted fur, and its face was a hideous amalgam of bat and man: a snarling mouth with sharp teeth and grossly oversized ears. Two red eyes stared at Keirkrad.
The werebat stepped from its throne and walked over to Keirkrad, its long toenails clicking against the wooden floor.
"Shaman Seventoes," it pronounced. "What a boon they have brought me. And they had no idea who you were! What luck! What luck!"
It leaned in closer to Keirkrad, bathing him in its foul breath. A pink tongue snaked out to lick its long rodent teeth.
"Do you remember me, Thunderbeast? I am now called Heskret, but I had another name. We met in battle. Have you forgotten? Beneath Thranulf's Height. Do you remember?"
The werebat transformed before Keirkrad's eyes. His wings drew into his sides and vanished, his face twisted and contorted, and the fur vanished from his chest and revealed human skin. A white-haired man stood naked before Keirkrad, and on his shriveled upper chest was a huge tattoo, one that Keirkrad recognized all too well. It was the crude form of a hulking bear.
The Blue Bear! Every barbarian believed that the most hated Uthgardt tribe had utterly perished in the fall of Hellgate Keep. Keirkrad remembered the man who stood before him-a war chief whom he and Gundar had battled long ago. The fighting was long, with many casualties on both sides, resulting in a costly victory for the Thunderbeasts. It was whispered that the Blue Bear war leader feared to return to face punishment from his chief and vanished into the forest to seek penance from Malar.
"Do not misunderstand," said Heskret, now speaking with a human voice. His blue eyes locked onto Keirkrad. "I am not Blue Bear, though I was Blue Bear. My former tribe proved weak and perished, but my new tribe lasts still. Now I serve nothing but the Black Blood."
He walked closer and planted a finger on the strands of webbing that held Keirkrad's mouth shut. But instead of removing the obstruction, Heskret made a fist and punched the shaman in the side of the head. Weak and exhausted, especially at his advanced age, Keirkrad tumbled sideways, his head slamming hard into the wooden floor. When Heskret unsealed his mouth, all Keirkrad could do was drool blood onto the floor.
A clawed finger stroked Keirkrad's cheek. He knew without looking that Heskret had taken his werebat form again.
"You have lived how long now?" Heskret snarled, leaning closer till Keirkrad could feel his warm breath on his face. It stank of raw meat and rot. "They say Uthgar prolonged your life so grotesquely because he had some destiny in store for you. I wonder if this is what he had in mind."
Keirkrad cried out as he felt sharp teeth take a chunk out of his cheek.
CHAPTER 14
Tremendous winds pelted Ardeth, Royce, Gunton, and Gan as they slowly navigated a high mountain pass. A vicious thunderstorm had slowed them; the gray mists above had let out their store, dropping a sudden deluge that turned the mountain slopes into slides of pure mud. The foursome lost much time hunkering in sheltered spots, and their object, Mount Vision, had disappeared into the haze. The wind howled so loudly that they could barely hear each other, their clothes were soaked through, and all the while they looked over their shoulders for Elaacrimalicros to drop out of the rain clouds.
While the rain was at its