Dawn of Man (Thanos Book 1) (26 page)

“Don’t take such deep breaths, sire. You’ll get used to it. Breathe in through your nose and out your mouth,” Ahnon said, reaching down and pulling out a dagger, handing it to Kenna. “I couldn’t find a sword small enough for you, sire, so keep this until I do.”

Kenna took the dagger and pulled it out of its sheath. In her small hands, the dagger almost looked like a shortsword. “Thank you, Ahnon,” she said, putting the dagger back and sliding it in her belt. “You know my father will want to have words with you for teaching me magic and giving me weapons,” she said, adjusting her mask and glasses.

“Don’t get me started, sire. When I see your father, I’m punching him till I turn his face inside out,” Ahnon said then spun around. “That was the doubt you had in your mind.”

Jedek looked down at his new clothes. “Ahnon, they have stores in villages that sell hunter gear?” he asked.

“Of course not, sire,” Ahnon said, leading the mule over. “It was a general store, and they buy what people sell. The hunters wearing those were killed by bandits.” He pointed at the surcoat over Jedek’s heart. “This one was killed by an arrow, and the other was stabbed in the back. The killers cleaned the clothes and sold them. Only hunters will buy hunter clothing, so there are usually a few around in each village.”

Jedek felt weird wearing a dead man’s clothes. “Why would anyone want to take on a hunter?” he asked.

“Jedek, think. Hunters carry lots of weapons and usually money from bounties,” Ahnon said. “A bandit is either very brave or very stupid for taking out a hunter. But those hunters were new to the trade,” Ahnon said, walking away.

Kenna spun around but was still weak from the magic and got dizzy. She reached out, steadying herself on Jedek. “How can you tell?” she asked.

“They dyed the outfits completely black. Even I did when I started. You would think black would hide you better at night, but it doesn’t. Then you have to see it really stands out in the daytime,” he said. “But on the plus side, it helps with our cover. You two are my apprentices; your family paid me to teach you the trade.”

“Pay you to work for you?” Kenna asked, shocked.

“Yes Kenna, but they teach you as well. It cost me two gold crowns a year for two years to become a hunter and get my seal.”

Kenna leaned over to Jedek. “Let’s learn how to be hunters. I think it pays more than a king and queen,” she whispered.

Ahnon laughed. “Not quite, sire, but it’s a good living—just filled with a lot of hazards.”

They walked on till noon, stopping by a small stream, where Ahnon speared some fish. He would’ve gotten more, but Minos jumped in to help, scaring them all away. Ahnon cooked the fish as the two watched his every move. After eating, they left, following Ahnon. Kenna looked around. “What is that smell?” she asked.

“Tiger,” Ahnon answered, not slowing down.

Kenna sped up with Jedek until they were beside him. Minos sniffed the air and let out a whimper and ran to catch up to them. “How far away is it?” Kenna asked.

Ahnon stopped and looked down at her. “Judging by the smell now, it’s close. When you can’t get the smell out of your mask, that’s when you know.” Both of the kids became nervous and started fidgeting. “That is fear. Let it go,” Ahnon said. “Predators can smell it, and it makes them attack. Accept the attitude that if it attacks, we kill it and eat it, or it will do the same to us,” he said, looking behind them.

“See, here is our guest; he smelled us and has tracked us,” Ahnon said. Kenna and Jedek turned around and saw a huge tiger a hundred paces away on the trail they had made. “Kitty, you really want to go away so I don’t have to kill you,” Ahnon said putting the mule’s reins in Jedek’s hands. The mule started getting nervous, but Kenna went over, talking to it.

“That’s one big pussy cat,” Jedek mumbled, staring at the massive cat that was as tall as the donkey and much thicker and longer.

“He’s not that big, Jedek. I’ve killed two bigger. They weren’t that good for food, but hey, they still got ate,” Ahnon said, stopping and pulling the sword out of his staff. “Would you like to try, kitty?” Ahnon asked.

“Easy food,” the tiger grumbled. “Fear, smell it,” he said, licking his mouth exposing massive canine teeth.

“Not from me,” Ahnon said. “Come on, then. There is barely enough day left for me to skin you after I kill you,” Ahnon said, twirling his sword and walking toward the tiger.

The tiger let out a roar. “You can live. I will find other food,” he said and turned around, running off.

Ahnon shook his head, shoving the sword back in the staff. “I hate cats. So independent it makes me sick,” he said, walking back.

Kenna was still petting the donkey when Ahnon took the reins from Jedek. “You scared off a tiger,” she said.

“Yeah, but cats are easy if you make them believe you are going to eat them. Canines are totally different, and they bring friends. The worst would be ilar tigers. They have two-foot-long canine teeth sticking out and grow to the size of a small horse. Then to make it worse, they are one of the cats that stay in packs like dogs. Not much fun trying to take them out. With a pack of dogs, you can climb a tree. Ilar tigers just follow you up,” Ahnon said as they walked.

“Are there any around here?” Jedek asked.

“Ilars are everywhere, thankfully not in large numbers though.”

“Just to let you know, I believe you now. That you lied to your nephew, Tilbus,” Jedek said.

Ahnon put his arm over Jedek’s shoulder. “Sire, everywhere is dangerous. We were in one of the safest places on the planet, and look what happened.”

“Are all tigers evil like that?” Kenna asked, wanting to change the subject.

Ahnon looked up as he continued walking. “They are not evil, Kenna. It’s just a wild animal that was hungry, and we came along.”

“Well, some animals are evil,” she said.

Ahnon shook his head. “Kenna, there is good and bad in all species. From what I’ve seen, the only species worse than man is orc,” he said.

Jedek looked up at Ahnon so fast that his hat fell off. “Man is not as evil as orcs,” Jedek said.

“Jedek, even orcs will kill their own kind, but man does it on a scale few other species do,” Ahnon said, making Jedek falter. “Orcs do get more pleasure killing than any other species I’ve ever met, but I have met some that are different,” Ahnon continued. The two followed along as he continued pointing out plants and animals.

Chapter 20

The next morning, they packed up and continued east with the small mountains giving way to large hills, and the trees were spreading out. Minos stopped, sniffing the air. “Danger,” he said, tilting his head, listening.

“Just come on, Minos, but stay close,” Ahnon said, walking away.

“What does he mean ‘danger?’” Jedek asked, taking deep breaths through his nose, trying to smell what Minos smelled.

“We are getting close to the caravan trails of Rancor, and bandits love to hunt here,” Ahnon explained.

They walked on for an hour when Ahnon stopped suddenly. “Jedek, put an orb around you and the group fast,” Ahnon said, drawing his sword from the staff, walking away from them.

Jedek threw the powder down, saying the words before it even hit the ground. He could’ve put two wagon teams and ten mounted knights with them inside the shield he threw up. Ahnon turned around, looking at the massive shield that barely missed getting him inside as well. “At least you’re not floating in the air, sire,” Ahnon said, turning back around.

They were stopped in a small valley glade. “Ahnon, if something that big comes, I want to learn some spells that can hurt,” Jedek said, noticing Ahnon looking at the treetops.

“Listen, sire. What do you hear?”

Straining his ears, Jedek could almost swear he heard a humming. Kenna spoke up before he could. “Ahnon, it sounds like the lecha or whatever wasp we saw,” she said.

“Lecka wasp, Kenna,” Ahnon corrected.

“It’s a big stinking bug!” she yelled. “Who cares what its name is? Get inside the shield!”

Ahnon spun around. “Kenna, please don’t yell. It excites them, and if I get inside, they will just wait us out. They’re circling us. They act like we attacked them, and they want us dead. If you want to help, look around and help me spot them.”

They looked around, but Ahnon found the first one when it slammed into his back, knocking him off his feet. Kenna let out a scream as he fell on his face. Ahnon rolled onto his back as the wasp bit and stung the surcoat. Feeling the wasp grab a chunk of his skin, he reached back with his sword, scraping the thing off his back. When it hit the ground, Ahnon chopped it in half and spun around, swinging his sword, halving another one as it dove at him.

“Kenna, stop screaming. I can’t hear them!” he shouted, and Jedek tried to cover her mouth, but the mask was in the way. Jedek slid his hand under the mask over her mouth as another wasp hit Ahnon in the right leg with such force his foot shot over his head, and he crashed back to the ground. As the wasp bit and stung his pants, he swung the sword, taking its head off. The wasp fell off just as he stood up and sliced the air twice, killing two more.

Jedek kept his hand over Kenna’s mouth then heard a
wham!
behind him. Turning around, he saw a wasp sliding down the shield with its head barely attached to the body. As he watched that one, three more slammed into the shield, meeting the same fate. “My shield is tough, bug!” Jedek shouted to the dead wasps as they slid down the shield. Kenna suddenly grabbed him, burying her face in his chest.

Turning to where she had been looking, Jedek saw a lecka wasp hovering right outside the shield. Never in his life had Jedek seen anything that looked so intimidating. The wasp’s head was bigger than his fist, and its mouth pinchers moved back and forth over the shield. “You can’t chew through, bug,” Jedek snapped, moving Kenna behind him and pulling out his sword. Not sure if it would work, he thrust the point at the wasp’s head and was surprised when the tip went through the shield. The point of the sword pierced the head of the wasp, which froze in midair. The weight of the wasp shocked Jedek as gravity pulled his sword out of his hand.

The sword landed on the ground still in the wasp’s head. The handle was inside the shield, but the tip and wasp were on the outside. “Get your sword,” Kenna said.

“The sword is fine where it’s at. I’m not taking the chance of pulling that thing in here with us because if one gets in here, we are going out there,” Jedek said, pulling his dagger. Kenna did the same, and they both turned to Ahnon.

Ahnon had one on his back as he chopped two from the air. Jumping up, Ahnon landed on his back, stunning the wasp trying to get at him. Rolling over, he pulled a knife off his pants and shoved it in the wasp’s head. No sooner did he bury the knife did he roll away just as a wasp sent up a cloud of dust, hitting the dirt where he was a split second ago.

Before the wasp moved, he chopped its head off and flipped up to his feet only to have a wasp hit him in the chest, sending him back to the ground. This wasp was climbing up his chest, going for his neck, and Ahnon let out a scream, pulling the wasp off and ripping the head off with his hands. Dropping the staff, he pulled his katana off his back, and with a sword in each hand, he started spinning, cutting down wasps as they dove at him.

Kenna was trembling watching the bugs fall then looked at the ground and noticed several with only half a body were crawling toward Ahnon, and dozens were at her feet at the shield’s edge, chewing at it. “Bullshit!” she screamed and dropped down to her knees, stabbing at the shield. Her blade went through the shield and into the heads outside. When she pulled back, the shield raked the heads off, and she would stab another one. Jedek joined her.

From the corner of his eye, Ahnon saw the kids killing the wasps and wished they would stop before they pulled one inside. Hearing more buzzing, he spun, chopping another out of the air and looked down, seeing a wasp’s head and thorax crawling up his leg. “Holy mother troll snot!” he screamed in a high pitch, jumping up and knocking the thing off. When he landed, shivers racked his body. “This is so—!” he shouted, at a loss for words, but spun, chopping another one out of the air. Listening hard, he couldn’t hear anymore humming, but he heard a lot of clicks as the bodies on the ground continued snapping their pincers.

Stabbing anything moving near him, he cleared a small area then froze, hearing a deep, vibrating sound that made his chest rumble. He looked up and saw a lecka wasp that was almost four feet long and twice as big around as the others. It stopped ten paces away from him, and he watched as the grass bent down under it as its wings beat the air. “You need to carry your butt-ugly self out of here. I killed your kids, so leave,” Ahnon said as the thing shot toward him.

Diving to his side, he sliced forward with his left arm, feeling his sword hit what felt like rock. The sword passed through the wings of the queen as she shot over Ahnon. Ahnon rolled over the body parts on the ground, some of which were still moving, and jumped up, fighting a shiver. Walking over, the queen was trying to flap her wings, but only stumps were on the left side. Raising his sword, Ahnon chopped her head off then moved around, stabbing every nearby head twice.

When he was done, he walked over to the shield and walked through it, stopping in front of Kenna. “Kenna, you have got to get control of your fear of bugs. I almost peed on myself out there!” he snapped at her.

She looked up with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, but they scare me. I mean, look how big the things are,” she whined.

“Kenna, I can give you whole pages of how those things make me feel, but I block it out. Now, I want you to come with me,” Ahnon said, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the shield. “Kick the bodies,” he told her and went back to the mule, coming back with two jars.

Kenna was kicking the bodies then looked up at him. “What are those for?” she asked, looking at the jars.

“You are going to help me milk some venom,” he said, and she paled as he handed her a jar. “Now, watch how I do it because they can still snip a finger off,” he said, kneeling down. He made her do two heads, and then he took over, making her do the stingers. Ahnon did the queen since the body was still moving around. When they finished, the jars were three-quarters full.

“How many, Kenna?” Ahnon asked as he walked over, picked up his staff, and sheathed the sword.

“Sixty-three,” she said, fighting a shiver.

“Most I’ve ever fought was five,” Ahnon said, rubbing his chest.

“One didn’t sting you, did it?” Kenna asked, running over.

“Kenna, that’s why hunters wear negtro leather; they can’t get stung or bitten through it most of the time. Granted, they can pinch, making you feel like you’re on fire though,” Ahnon admitted. “No one broke a rib when it hit me in the chest. Now, do I need to tell either of you to keep your hunter gear—that means everything—on?”

“I’m sleeping in mine,” Kenna informed everyone.

“I want a second one so I can keep one clean,” Jedek said, looking at the ground.

“Oh, you’ll have more than that. We are going to make them,” Ahnon said. “Minos, come here,” Ahnon barked. Minos walked over, looking at the bodies of the wasps, stopping beside Ahnon. “Minos, find where they came from,” Ahnon said, and Minos jumped back.

“No, big bugs mean,” he said.

“Minos, they’re all dead now. Show me where they lived. It can’t be far.”

Jedek just wanted to leave but looked down at Minos. “You heard him; find their house,” Jedek snapped. Minos turned around, slumping his shoulders and sniffing the air. It took a little while, but they found the nest in a massive, dead tree. Minos wouldn’t get close and stayed with Jedek. The only reason Kenna went with Ahnon was because he dragged her.

Ahnon stopped in front of the tree and looked at the ground. “Kenna, look at the ground and tell me what you see.”

Almost expecting more demon spawn wasps trying to crawl up her leg, she jumped and looked at the ground and saw nothing but dirt. Then she noticed boot prints. Looking closer, she saw several different kinds. “Boot prints,” she said.

“Yeah, that’s why they attacked. Someone tried to raid the nest,” Ahnon said, prying off a piece of bark, exposing the nest. “Now, some of these larvae may be ready to hatch, so don’t flip on me, okay?” Ahnon said as she held up a jar.

“You’re getting more poison?” she asked as he pulled out a white larva bigger than his forearm.

“No, the blood of a lecka larva is used in many components,” he said, chopping off the head and draining the body, filling the jar. “Two more jars like that can get you a gold crown.”

She stopped shivering, “Really?” she asked, thinking a hunter’s life didn’t sound that bad considering the money.

“Oh yes. As you can imagine, those that get it charge a pretty penny for it,” Ahnon said as she held up another jar for him to fill.

“How many jars do you carry?” she asked when they filled the ninth one.

“Kenna, one thing you’re going to learn: Always carry jars, vials, bags, and boxes to gather magical components and stuff to study.” When he cut open the next comb, a mature wasp head was looking at them. “Don’t want you,” Ahnon said, shoving a knife in its head. Kenna jumped but didn’t spill a drop. When they finished, they had twenty-two filled jars of white lecka larvae blood.

Kenna helped put them in the pack and looked at Ahnon. “I helped get it; I want to use some of it,” she said.

“Sire, we weren’t getting it to sell. We will use it,” he assured her. “Minos, here,” Ahnon called. Ahnon reached down and rubbed his head. “Minos, you’ve done well,” Ahnon said, giving him a piece of jerky. Minos snapped it up and followed Ahnon back to the nest. Ahnon stopped, pointing down at the footprints. “Minos, I can’t smell them. Can you?” he asked.

Minos lowered his head, sniffing, then looked up at him. “Not far. Bugs bite them,” he said.

“Show me.” Minos trotted off. “Bring the mule and come on,” Ahnon called out.

“Ahnon, are we stopping to eat?” Jedek asked.

“You could’ve eaten when I was chopping wasps up.”

Jedek grumbled, following Ahnon. They found three bodies less than a mile away. One was definitely a hunter, but his hat was on the ground beside him. There were several large holes in his head and a large, purple area on his temple.

“The hat is negtro leather too?” Jedek asked, pulling his down tighter.

“They stung him in the only area he had exposed,” Kenna mumbled.

“Every suit of armor has chinks,” Ahnon said, kneeling down and going through the belongings.

Startled at the sight, “Ahnon, you can’t do that,” Kenna said.

Letting out a huff, he replied, “Why not? They don’t need it.” He started tossing things to the side as Kenna looked up and saw the horses and a donkey on the ground, dead.

“Oh, the poor horses and donkey,” she said.

“Why don’t you go over and pull out the stuff from the poor horses and donkey and see if we can use any of it?” Ahnon said. He stopped and looked up at both of them. “No, scratch that. Pull out everything, put it on the ground, and I will pull out what we can use,” he said then went back to work.

Ten minutes later, he was walking over to them with his arms full. “You took his clothes?” Jedek asked, looking at the hunter’s outfit in his arms.

“Of course. This stuff is expensive,” Ahnon said, dropping the stuff. “This hunter was new; he didn’t have a mask, only a face wrap, and his glasses were cheap. This looked to be like his third job.”

“You can tell all that from looking at a body?” Kenna asked, amazed.

“No,” Ahnon said, holding out two sheets of paper. “One is a contract to kill an arachne that was killing some livestock, mostly sheep, three hundred miles to the south. Another one is for a cankle that killed two families. He collected on those,” Ahnon said, pointing at the pages, and they saw two seal stamps. Then he held out the last one that had the same seal, but it was only stamped once. “See, this one is from a wizard offering a reward for lecka larvae blood.”