THE HAUNTED KINGDOM 3 by CHARLES E.J. MOULTON (best books to read now txt) 📖

to hold up with a torch in the other hand, well? Michael? Hmm? You are trained warrior, out to kill evil?” The thing snorted and breathed in deeply. Then it started screaming with laughter, obviously amused by this. “Good luck to you, warrior man.” It threw the wolf into its mouth and Alex discovered it was still alive. With one crunch it died between the husks and the lower jaw. “But I am sorry to say that this tyrant has to go.”
Alex looked to his right. There was a small path there that led he knew not where. But it was obvious that the thing could not come in there. The two men exchanged glances and saw the narrow path and both knew what this meant. Fast as lightning the two of them ran on a given signal, Adnicul limping, into the tunnel just as the thing grabbed a hold of Adnicul’s left trouser leg. He fought to escape but it seemed impossible. Alex took his torch and burned the beast, which wailed and withdrew its hand. Adnicul fell and stood up, fell again and stood up. The creature reached after its victim, but this time was too late. There was a small area the size of the corner above where they could hide.
The thing howled.
“I shall get you and burn you alive. You are my midnight snack! No one escapes Rumar!”
”These are the second beasts of our land.” Adnicul spat. “The rumzils are but the helpers of hell. These things are hell itself.”
“Did not know you spoke their language. Does it have a name?”
“I don’t think they know what names are. They all call themselves Rumar, regardless of gender.”
“You mean there are female kinds, as well?”
Adnicul looked at Alex, the light of the torches flickering in his eyes. “Be happy you have not met them. If they like you, they will hug you to death. If they hate you they will eat you alive. Either way, you are lost.”
”What about this Rumar waiting for us outside?”
Adnicul looked around in this little hole. He waved around his torch and saw that the small cave was maybe nine feet high and twelve feet wide. The tunnel was way too narrow for Rumar to put his hand through. He might try a finger, but even then he would not reach them in their corner.
“Those things go to sleep about dawn. They have to. It doesn’t even have to have anything to do with light. They just hate daytime. I know this is true. Lucinda and I fought one of these things back in the 1390s. I killed it.”
“How?”
”He had swallowed me whole, so I just cut myself out. He died of internal bleeding, the poor thing. But I was just lucky. I think no one has ever killed one of those except me.”
”What do we do?”
”We wait.” Adnicul heard it panting outside. “We hope it doesn’t try to break that wall.”
Alex looked at the tunnel. He heard it pant.
“What are the loser kings doing?” He screamed. “Come out, so Rumar can have a small meal. He likes his kings grilled before breakfast.” The two men took a long look at each other. Rumar’s voice softened, turned playful. “Hellooooo?” There was a pause. “Come out, boys!” There was another long pause. Suddenly, out of nowhere the thing started shouting. “Maramari Sul fullesu, Kirifarus! You know what that means? Huh?” Rumar panted, waited for them to say something. “It means that you taste best grilled on coal, loser kings!” Rumar started laughing. Without warning the giant then started kicking the wall, so that the entire cavern shook. He kicked it again and it shook.
“He’s going to make that wall crack” Adnicul said “and when he does that wall collapses on us. Can you run without extinguishing that torch?”
”I will try. Why?”
”The fire might be going out up there. Try to run up that hill as fast as you can and then out into the night on the horses.”
”We cannot ride in this pitch black night?”
“Why are you so afraid? The night out there is just as bad as this, but at least there we have a chance.”
Alex nodded. “On my count, then.”
”If you want to take the lead …”
Alex took a deep breath. “Please God, let us escape this alive, both of us.”
There was another kick on the wall. It was beginning to crack.
“Go ahead or we will die in here.”
Rumar kicked again and Adnicul saw the crack spreading to the cave ceiling.
“Please, Alex. We don’t want to be caught here behind stones.”
Another kick, the crack now almost across the entire stone ceiling.
“We cannot make this.”
”Yes, we can. Count.”
Alex gritted his teeth. “One, two, three …”
The two men started running. It seemed that time was passing slower through all of what happened next. Alexander Roderick Winsletenna felt himself standing up, taking his torch with him. He felt the rush of wind against his face and heard Adnicul run behind him. They ducked their heads and ran out of the cavern and onto the path that lead upwards. It was hard to run, the earth had eroded and there was not much of a path left to tread any more.
Half way up, he heard Rumar stop kicking the wall.
“Namarari, Kirifarus?” He felt his surprise. Both men ran faster, but felt how they were skidding down toward an open mouth. “Sul fulles!” Rumar cackled. “Grilled coal!”
They had almost reached the top when Rumar caught up with them. Alex was alread there when he heard Adnicul.
“Alexandeeeeerrrrrr!”
Alex turned around just as he saw Rumar grabbing a hold of Adnicul and disappearing down the hill.
“Nooooo!”
Alex started running back and caught a glimpse of Adni disappearing round the corner just as Alex was close enough to see.
“Adnicul!”
Alex ran down the hill, realized that the torch was out. He stumble and skidding down into the darkness, the fire from Rumar’s cave the only guide.
He heard Adnicul scream.
Alexander skidded down, face front and scraped his cheek. He stood up and felt it. No blood. He stood up and ran into the cave. There he saw Rumar putting Adnicul into a cage and putting the keys into his apron. Alex took his sword and started running after them. It was a large cave with many corners and it looked as if Rumar had made this cave bigger by kicking away bits of stone from the walls. There were corners were the fire was as high as nine feet. Then there were small fires everywhere. He had spears in every corner. There were sceletons pinned to most of the spears. Grilled sceltons of wolves, dogs, even a rumzil, half eaten. Alex had no idea how he was going to be able to stand going in there. How had they missed seeing the traces of this fire? There must’ve been some trace of it up where they had been?
Rumar was sharpening a spear with some stone equipment with his back toward Alex.
Adnicul saw Alex coming and spoke to Rumar, distracting his attention.
“You can’t do this, Alex will come for me!”
Without turning around, Rumar answered, laughing. “He won’t. He is too intent on winning his own game. He is already saddling his horse and riding into the night. But you my dear fellow will be dinner for me.”
Whilst Rumar was blabbering on, sharpening his spear, Alex tried to find a suitable object to kill the beast with. He looked around and found a heavy, long rope close to the exit.
He took the rope and dragging it quietly toward Rumar, who was now heating his spear over the fire.
Alex climbed the wall and took a foothold at a ledge. He could stand there without holding on with his arms. Then he quickly threw the rope around Rumar’s throat and jumped down, grabbed the rope at the other end and began pulling.
The beast started wailing and screaming.
“Fillelo Rumari, Kirifaru!”
The giant tried to take away the rope, but did not manage.
Alex gathered all his strength and threw up the rope a second time around the throat and pulled even harder, choking the bastard.
He remembered the schooling from the village. Fabian’s school of flying and at once lifted, pulled the rope tighter and flew a couple of time around the throat tightening the rope. All the while, Rumar was running around the room, crashing into walls, desperately trying to get ahold of Alex, who many times almost crashed into walls and stones and fell into fire.
He jumped off Rumar, still clutching the rope and the flew with all of his might and buried his sword in Rumar’s chest.
Rumar stopped. He gasped and started to froth at the mouth. He looked dizzy.
With a great thud, Rumar fell to the ground, leaving Alex beaten and wounded on the floor.
Alex stood up and but never saw Rumar standing up again.
In the last minute, Adnicul warned him.
Alex flew up a second time and took his sword in both hands, buried it knee deep in his throat.
The Prosperanian king then climbed Rumar and stuck the sword into his heart. There was a slight gasp for air as the giant grabbed Alexander’s leg. The king stuck the sword another time into his body and the hand dropped. The giant finally dead, he jumped off and turned to Adnicul.
“What part of the apron are the keys?”
”No idea. Check the left pocket!”
He jumped up again and began to rummage. He had dropped the keys. They were gone. Alex looked everywhere, but simply could not find them.
Soon enough, Adnicul getting worried, he did find them, close to the exit. Rumar had obviously dropped them during the battle.
Alex ran to the freestanding cage and opened the door.
Adnicul ran out.
“Let us leave this place.”
Together, they ran out and now there was no problem in seeing the path.
The dawn was approaching.
They saddled the horses, Adnicul’s limp now worse than it had been before, packed their saddle bags. The two men threw dirt on the fire and left the cave.
Not until midday did they speak to each other.
Not until the incident by the river did they again talk of the trauma of almost having been swallowed alive by an angry giant. The horses were calm. They, too, felt what had happened.
All the time, Alex was worried. Adnicul was almost always getting into trouble. Something was trying to get rid of him.

§

“Take me to the river, dearest, and play a melody!”
Adni turned to look at his companion, surprised to hear him speak.
”What?”
”Oh, no” Alex mused. “Just a song from back home. Belinda used to sing it.”
Adnicul nodded, sympathetically. “Ah, yes.”
The ravine to their immediate right was so deep that one could barely see what was down there. Enough to hold the two of them on their horses riding alongside each other, it was still so steep to their left and so deep to their right that they dared only look ahead. The narrow path apparently lead downward into the deserted remains of another city of some kind later on after leaving the ravine. He saw it on the fact that there were houses on the green hillside that seemed to be leading to a larger road. It led down into a valley. He knew exactly what he would find there: old inns, barrels of ale, wells, and marketplaces, all