Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(32)

Grunting with disbelief, Batuk lifted his chin in the magician’s direction to release his legs.

The magician hurried forward until he stood in front of the throne. His silvery silk pants rustled against his scrawny limbs. His body shriveled along with his manhood, Ekkbar weighed no more than one of Batuk’s legs.

“Speak fast or I’ll unleash the guard on you.”

Ekkbar swallowed hard. “I have spoken to a witch in my dreams—”

Batuk cut his words short with a vicious hiss. “Not another witch. I’ve had my fill of them for a thousand lifetimes.” Which at present he’d be living here as he fulfilled them.

Ekkbar opened his arms in a gesture that questioned why his master lacked simple knowledge of how majik worked. “I know of no other save a witch who can open a path for us, my lord. But this one is different, far more powerful than the last one.”

“The last witch fell into league with the Beladors and betrayed us. How do we trust that this one will not as well?”

“When you’ve heard all I have to share, you will know the answer to that question, O Revered Highness.” Ekkbar shifted from foot to foot, an impatient dance he performed whenever he was anxious.

Batuk wasn’t so easily sold. “You’re treading dangerous landscape, worm.”

The dance stopped immediately. Ekkbar fell to his knees, stirring the nihar that smoked around his chest. “Never, my lord.”

“What does this witch claim she can do?”

“To release you and eight more warriors from our realm—”

“Nine? Only nine of us? I want all of my men freed!”

Ekkbar bounced his head up and down again. “I understand, my lord. I do. I do. But she says once you pass through the portal you will be able to free all those loyal to you. She says ten will be enough men to—”

“Ten?”

“Vyan is still alive from when he escaped. I have spoken to him in his dreams, too. He tires of waiting and stands ready to free his warlord.”

Batuk grunted, pleased at the unswerving loyalty from his first in command, who had gone through a portal two years ago. Vyan had tried to capture the witch who’d opened that first pathway to force her to help his people. He’d battled her Belador lover and lost only because more Belador warriors had entered the battle, outnumbering him. “Does Vyan know this new witch?”

“No, my lord. I would not share this news with anyone until I spoke with you.” The humble curve of Ekkbar’s shoulders sat poorly on a man who bowed only when forced to do so.

“How am I to free the others once we leave here?”

“The witch says all you have to do is gain control of the Ngak Stone—”

“It is gone. Forever.”

“No, no, my lord. The stone hides until it chooses to be found. I did not even know the Ngak Stone had lived with me beneath Mount Meru all these years until the stone revealed itself in my chest two years ago. Did not know until Vyan stole my treasure,” he accused, muttering to himself.

“Your treasure?”

Ekkbar’s yellow eyes turned almost white with fear over his slip. Batuk knew without a doubt that Vyan had taken the stone to find a way to save the tribe, whereas Ekkbar would have saved his hide only.

The magician’s shoulders trembled. He clutched his hands together, twisting them as an old woman begging for mercy. “I meant only that I treasured the stone, yes, only that. All treasures are yours, my lord. All yours.” He bowed his head again.

Batuk had to fight the urge to kick him. But he didn’t want to sully his foot. “You never did tell me how the Ngak Stone came to be in your possession to begin with, Ekkbar, did you?”

A shadow fell across Ekkbar’s face, guilt peeking through before he brightened. “You did not ask, and I could not say while banished from your sight. I found the rock glowing in a creek near where you battled the Belador heathens back before we were cursed. Wicked heathens. I had just placed the stone in my chest upon returning to camp—but only to keep it safe for you, my lord—when Shiva sent us to live here. Most unkind of our god. Most unkind.”

Don’t remind me. “Where is the stone now?”

“I know not for sure—”

Batuk pounded his fists on the arms of his chair. The carved snakes came to life, striking out at Ekkbar, who slid backward on his knees as if gliding upon a majik carpet. “I warned you not to sow false hopes.”

Steel clanged throughout the great hall when each warrior struck his sword against the rock walls in anger, hungry for Batuk to toss Ekkbar to them.

Ekkbar remained on his knees, shoulders now quaking with fear. “My lord … please. You are an honorable warrior. Hear me out before you decide if I have deceived you.”

Lifting his hand to silence the noise, Batuk released a sigh that built from deep in his gut. “Speak.”

Ekkbar floated forward again, his folded legs a hand’s width above the floor when he stopped just out of striking distance. He warily eyed the snakes, which had returned to carved serpents, and continued, “What I meant to say was that I do not know the precise location, but I have had a vision of the Ngak Stone. It still resides in the creek where the stone was lost during Vyan’s battle with the Beladors. The Ngak Stone will cause a giant shovel to dig this creek up soon, bringing the rock to rest upon the bank. The stone will reveal itself to a new master before the full moon three nights from now.”