“Yes, it is so,” Tex said. He shook the staves. “Look. Does everybody know what these stones are? This is the Necromancer’s weakness, right here in my hand.”

  “Here,” Tex said, handing the staves out to the men. “Pass them around. I want everyone to look at those Dargild stones. They are the key to our victory.”

  The men eagerly took the staves, gazing at them in awe and murmuring among themselves.

  “He really did it,” Steelfarr said, staring at the dark stone. He glanced around. “He did it! He single-handedly stole four Skrilling staves!”

  “How many Skrillings did you kill?” said another young man with sandy hair.

  “Perhaps twenty, with quite a few injured.” Tex said. “My goal wasn’t to kill Skrillings — that was just a bonus. The point was to get the Dargild.”

  The young man with sandy hair looked at the dark stone as Steelfar handed him the staff. “Wow.”

  “Take a good look at those stones, everyone,” Tex said. “That is what Kdar Tol so desperately wanted to keep out of our hands. He knows it will be his downfall.”

  Golin watched with squinty-eyed skepticism, but when a staff was handed to him, he took into his hands and inspected it with awe.

  Chapter fifty-five

  “AFEW SKRILLING staves won’t do any good against the Necromancer of Darkoveld,” Neesha said.

  She stood with her arms crossed as Emi, Grendel, and Bmimi fussily prepared the bed.

  Tex and the girls had moved into the nicest one in the entire village. It had been run down, but Steelfarr’s bachelors had patched it up, and the Rama women had fixed up the interior.

  Fragrant bunches of dried flowers hung from the walls amidst colorful tapestries.

  Zila and Utu sat at the table, lovingly sharpening their weapons and cleaning the leather belts that held their daggers.

  Tex sat in a chair, sharpening his axe. He looked at Neesha. “I know. I don’t expect to just flash the stone at him and be done with it.”

  Neesha crossed her arms, pacing in front of him. “But you have to know how to use Dargild. It requires knowledge of Night Magic.”

  “I know,” Tex said, leaning his axe against the wall. “But I had to tell the men something — something to give them hope. Inspire them.”

  He pushed his chair back, balancing on the two back legs.

  Bmimi watched Tex as he leaned back. Her ears flattened.

  Noticing this, Tex smirked. He pushed the chair back even farther.

  Bmimi’s tail began spasming. “Tex! You’re gonna fall.”

  He grinned. “I like to live dangerously.”

  “I can’t even!” Bmimi squealed, putting her hands over her eyes.

  Neesha continued explaining: “If just anyone waved a piece of Dargild in my face, it wouldn’t do much.”

  Tex raised his eyebrows. “But it would do something?”

  Neesha shrugged. “It might make me queasy, at worst. It’s different when the shamen use it because they know how to draw upon the magical potential inside the stone.”

  Tex sighed. “I get it, I really do. I was just trying to think of some other way …” He scratched his chin.

  Utu stopped sharpening her dagger. “Why don’t we take a witchdoctor prisoner and make him teach you the Dargild magic?”

  Zila perked up. “I know many good torture,” she said proudly. “Oiko have many method.”

  “It’s true,” Utu observed. “The Oiko people are famous for it.”

  The Neanderthal held up her finger. “Example. Take man’s ball. Put on table—” she slapped the edge of the table — “Then take hammer—”

  “Alright!” Tex groaned, bringing his chair back down and squeezing his legs together. “We get it!”

  Zila laughed with delight, making her boobs bounce. She pointed at Tex’s crotch and grinned. “Maybe I try on you sometime, you not careful.”

  “I’ll chop off your boobs,” Tex retorted.

  Zila squealed and clutched her breasts. “Tex, noooo!”

  Grendel glanced at Zila. “Chop them off and give them to me,” she said, fluffing a pillow and settling down beside Emi.

  Emi smiled at Grendel. “You don’t need them. You have cute breasts already.”

  “Aw, thank you, Emi,” Grendel breathed. “Yours are cute, too.”

  “Thanks.”

  The two girls gently scooted closer and hugged.

  Zila stuck out her bottom lip. “Emi, you not like my boob?”

  The elf gave Zila a sly look. “Of course I like your boobs, Zila. You have the best boobs in the entire village.”

  Zila flicked her hair and made an exaggerated, girlish giggle.

  Grendel and Emi lay down on their backs and stretched out their slender bodies. Emi’s hand wandered over Grendel’s flat stomach.

  “Tex,” she whined. “When are you coming to bed?”

  “Yeah, Tex, come to bed,” Grendel mewled.

  “I will,” Tex murmured, trying to ignore his growing hard on. “I was just thinking …”

  He turned to Neesha. “What if I were to mix some Dargild flakes into your soup?”

  Neesha pursed her lips. “I would die. Dargild is highly poisonous to elves.”

  Tex smiled. “That’s what I thought.”

  Emi suddenly made a gagging noise and grabbed her throat, squirming her body around. “Aggggh! Tex … poisoned … me … aghh. He put … Dargild in my soup. Why, Tex? Why?”

  She dropped her arms by her side and closed her eyes.

  Grendel dramatically sat up and looked at her friend. “Emi! She — She’s gone! Darkness shades her! Oh, Emi, my love!”

  She threw herself on the elf.

  Tex grinned. “So there is another way, then.”

  Neesha gave him a sarcastic smirk. “Well, that settles it, then. We shall invite the Necromancer of Darkoveld over for dinner, and feed him some Dargild. Why has no one ever thought of this before?”

  “Very funny.”

  “Seriously, you’re probably better off using that wand of yours.” She cast her eyes around the room, searching over the various weapons.

  Tex winced. “You mean my rifle. It’s … not here.”

  Neesha looked at Tex in surprise. “What happened to it?”

  “Uh, a kraken ate it.”

  Emi fidgeted. “It was my fault,” she mumbled.

  Zila looked at her. “Did you look at mountain?”

  “Ahem.” Tex cleared his throat and shot a menacing glance at the Neanderthal.

  Neesha’s eyes widened. “Oh, dear. Well, never mind. What’s done is done. We’ll make do without it.”

  Zila stood up from her chair and put her weapons aside in a neat row. “You not want torture witchdoctor? Make him teach magic?”

  Tex chuckled. “You really want to smash up some poor Skrilling’s balls, don’t you?”

  Zila giggled. “No! I just thought it good idea.”

  Tex nodded. “It’s an option, and we may try it. But it wouldn’t completely solve the problem. Even if I did learn how to use the staves, I’d still have another problem: Kdar Tol’s armor. I’d have to—”

  Everyone started. They stared at him, aghast.

  “Oh, the name,” Tex said. “Oops. Sorry … It just slipped out.”

  They frowned at him in silence.

  “Please be careful, Tex,” Grendel murmured. “That’s a bad word.”

  “I beg your pardon,” Tex said, standing up.

  He lay down on the bed. Emi and Grendel snuggled up to him, still pouting. Bmimi joined, clawing the bed beside Grendel before finally settling in.

  Tex sighed. So much fear. One elf has the entire world in his thrall. They think he’s invincible— practically a god.

  But he obviously isn’t; Nerilock proved that. No, he’s mortal. He can be killed. And I’ve almost figured out how.

  I just have to keep putting the pieces together…

  If only I had more time.

  Chapter fifty-six

  TEX RUBBED DIRT from his hands and gazed at the palisade wall. He had to admit; it was a beautiful sight.

  The wall had sprung up in just five days, despite all the Negative Ninnies who’d said they’d never have it done before the attack came.

  Tex never paid attention to that sort of talk. He knew they’d be able to do it. They had nearly a hundred men, after all, and there was a lot a hundred men could do if they worked non-stop.

  On top of that, there were quite a few women who volunteered to help.

  The logs stood about 10 feet high, with freshly carved spikes at the top.

  They hadn’t dared cut down Lorelei’s trees without her permission, but there was another small wood a little way to the south, so they harvested the timber from there.

  The palisade enclosed the village in a horseshoe shape. Lorelei’s forest was outside the wall.

  A siege of Fimm would be much more difficult now. Short of destroying the wall, the only way the Skrillings to enter the village was by way of the sea.

  If the tide was in, they’d have to swim around the palisade, which continued a fair distance past the shoreline. If the tide was out, they’d still have to trudge over the wet sand.

  Either way, they would then have to climb up the overlooking hill. Sure, it wasn’t much of a hill — more of a slope, really. But it still gave the advantage to those who held a position at the top.

  All in all, the palisade greatly improved the situation and boosted morale.

  They’d been vulnerable before; now, they felt ready — for the Skrillings at least.

  Kdar Tol was another matter.

  Tex sometimes hung out in Broden’s hut and sat with the Dargils stones. That’s where they were kept: in Broden’s hut, buried in a hidden spot.

  Tex didn’t want to have the stones anywhere near the elves, so he’d entrusted Broden with looking after them.

  He was the only one Tex would have trusted for that job. The young bruiser had proven himself to be not only highly capable, but unshakably loyal.

  Tex and Broden had spent several nights discussing strategy. They came up with many good ideas regarding the defense of Fimm — the palisade, for instance.

  But they didn’t make any progress on figuring out how to make use of the Dargild.

  Tex did manage to kidnap a Skrilling witchdoctor, as Zila had suggested. But the old medicine man mysteriously died after two days. Emi said he may have used a spell to kill himself.

  They didn’t get much out of him. The medicine man would always shake his misshapen head and insist that he couldn’t teach Tex, even if he wanted to.

  “No, no! Not have right things. Need old witch doctors. Need initiation. Only possible in Darkoveld.”

  Was it really only possible to learn Night Magic under particular ritual conditions? Or was that simply the only way a simple Skrilling witch doctor knew how to do it?

  Tex wasn’t sure. But either way, they weren’t going to be getting the knowledge out of any witch doctor.

  But at least they got another Dargild staff. That made five.

  In addition to the wall, they also made new weapons. Every man and woman was armed to the teeth with spears and daggers.

  Even better, Tex had introduced a new technology. The bow and arrow. Or rather, more probably, he re-introduced it.

  According to Neesha, the elves had stories about long-lost arts and sciences, including weapons. Some of these seemed fanciful, but others sounded reasonable.

  Notably, some stories spoke of a device that projected “small spears” faster than any man could throw. But Kdar Tol had banned any discussion of such things.

  But even if the bow and arrow had existed previously, the world had not seen it in centuries.

  Tex had learned how to make them from an old Cree trapper in Northern Alberta. Tex had been friends with him for years, and he always tried to learn everything he could from him.

  Using his magic, Tex rapidly crafted 25 bows and a couple hundred arrows. Then he taught a group of men how to make them.

  Then they set up a shooting range. At first, it was going to be on the field outside of Fimm, but Tex nixed that idea, hoping to keep their new technology a secret from the enemy.

  Tex gave some initial lessons on how to shoot. He was no expert himself, but he was decent.

  The new technology amazed everyone — almost more so than Tex’s rifle. The rifle was simply magic.

  But the bow and arrow was something they could get their heads around. They could see how it worked.

  Just about everyone wanted his own bow, and there was so much interest in learning how to shoot that they kept having to build more targets for the range.

  This was all very encouraging. It meant that if — or rather, when — the Skrillings finally launched a raid, they’d be trudging over the beach and uphill, right into a hail of arrows.

  Of course, Kdar Tol would probably obliterate that advantage. But at least Tex didn’t have to worry as much about the Skrillings.

  If everyone else can deal with them, I can take on the Necromancer … Maybe. I’ve got the Dargild…

  He clenched his fists, walking briskly along the palisade, his thoughts racing.

  If I could just figure out a way to use it!

  He cut through the long grass until he came to the path that sloped down to the beach.

  The music of the rolling tide filled the air as the frothy water crept up the glistening sand and then receded.

  Tex gazed at the beach, then out at the waves. He imagined Kdar Tol’s fleet on the water, steering towards the beach.

  They would come. Soon.

  Hundreds of Skrillings would charge up the beach.

  And Kdar Tol himself would set foot on the sand.

  It was hard to imagine. And yet it was going to happen — within days, surely. Unless some god intervened.

  And that ain’t gonna happen.

  Tex sighed.

  Suddenly, feet swished through the grass behind him.

  “Lord Tex!”

  Turning, he saw Steelfarr jogging towards him.

  The young man’s eyes were bright and alert. He’d become one of Tex’s most enthusiastic supporters. Come to think of it, Tex had a lot of keen supporters now. He’d repaired most of the damage Nikrilda had wrought.

  People spoke about the treachery with embarrassment, if they talked about it at all. Funnily enough, just about everyone claimed to have been loyal to Tex all along.

  Even Golin had come around … sort of.

  It wasn’t like he had much of a choice; the scouts had discovered even more Skrilling groups. There were six known groups of various sizes, adding up to nearly 400 Skrillings.

  They were setting up camps in strategic positions around Fimm. There was no mistaking it: Fimm was already under siege.

  But so was the entire island. Golin had apparently decided it was in his interest to stay and fight alongside Tex.

  As for Yarolk, he’d accepted his new lowly rank without complaint. His reputation was shattered. Everyone constantly scorned him, but he never lashed out.

  And yet, he didn’t give in to despair. He kept his head down and applied himself, hoping to redeem his name with time.

  Tex watched Steelfarr jogging towards him, noting the urgency in his face.

  “How’s it going?”

  “Fine,” Steelfarr said. “But the Skrillings are moving over the fields.”

  “How close?” Tex started jogging immediately.

  “They’re closer to the Dark Forest,” Steelfarr said, running alongside Tex. “But they’re creeping closer. They’ve never come this close before.”

  As they jogged through the village, they heard shouts of alarm coming from the gate. Exchanging a glance, they picked up their pace, sprinting towards the gate.

  When they got there, they found men rushing out.

  Emi and Grendel stood nearby, holding their bows. Emi also had the mini-spear that Tex had made for her.

  “The S-skrillings — they’re here!” Emi said, fumbling with her bow and spear. She dropped the spear on the grass.

  “Oh, my spear!” she said. But she looked at Tex, apparently forgetting it. “I s-saw them, Tex. We went into the woods, and I— I saw them coming across the field!”

  Grendel picked up Emi’s spear. “You’re getting too excited, Emi,” she said. “Try to calm down, okay?”

  Meanwhile, Tex took Emi’s bow. “Here, lift your arm. We’ll sling it over your shoulder. It’s not the best thing for the bow, but at least you’ll be able to hold your spear. You can’t use both at once.”

  “Okay,” Emi said breathlessly.

  Poor Emi. It hadn’t been long since the Skrillings had destroyed Ferfinnik, her home village, and killed her parents. The memory was still fresh. The wounds hadn’t healed.

  Tex squeezed her shoulder. “Wait here, okay? I’ll be back soon.”

  She drew in a breath and looked at him. “Okay.” She glanced at the gate apprehensively. “Neesha and Utu and everybody are out there, too.”

  Tex squeezed her arm and turned to go, but she grabbed him.

  “Tex! Please … be careful.”

  He gave her a reassuring look. “I will.”

  Tex and Steelfarr ran out the gate and through Lorelei’s woods. As the field came into view through the trees, Tex saw the men standing in rows, their arrows at the ready.

  Shouts broke out.

  “The Skrillings are coming!”

  “They’re charging!”

  Chapter fifty-seven

  LOOKING ACROSS THE field, Tex saw four phalanxes of Skrillings jogging forward, spears in hand. Each group was led by one Skrilling who was exceptionally ferocious and mean.

  Though they were more than a football field away, their shouts carried across the field.

  The leader would thunder, “Kdar Tol!”

  And the phalanx would respond as one, “KDAR TOL!”

  Tex strode through the grass, pleased to see the men — and a handful of women — arranged in disciplined columns, just like they’d practiced.

  Broden walked among the columns, giving orders like a drill sergeant.