We still have to clean up, and I can’t even lift my arms,she admitted to Tora.
I can do that. Just rest before we go in to Fenja.
I can’t help worrying about Benedek, but I’m not going to chancedisturbing him. I don’t want him distracted,Silke said. She was worried. He’d been covered in blood the last time she’d seen him.
He’s an ancient. A very skilled Carpathian hunter,Tora pointed out.
That’s true, but he’s chasing a vampire who escaped the underworld. Isn’t he exactly what the beast is that you and three other Carpathian women guard so carefully to prevent him going free? You told me that most hunters would be unable to take the vampire-beast down.
Benedek is not most hunters. Neither are the others,Tora assured.
Chapter
18
Circle around, Nicu. Cut him off from the south. He’s shifted invisible, but he’s in the wind, I have his stench.
The dragons were fast, streaking in four directions. Nicu to the south. Mataias patrolled the western sky. Tomas guarded the east, and Lojos’ phantom green paced the sky to the north, trapping the vampire in the center of a very large wilderness area.
Benedek was hunting a wounded beast, the most dangerous of all opponents. Emil could be anywhere, blending into the rocks jutting out of the mountainside. He could be shimmering in the water, a part of his surroundings. He would be actively hunting Benedek. To try to track a powerful beast such as Emil into the wild required great skill.
Benedek reached for his oldest friend.Ainaakfél.In his language it was “old friend.” The dragon was very ancient. He lay in the forest, looking for all the world like an old tree that had gone down hundreds of years earlier. His belly and paws were in the soil, connected to the underground mycelium network. Any information he received from that source was always passed along to Benedek when needed.
Ainaakfél.Benedek whispered the call to the wind.I have need of you.
The ancient forest dragon had told Benedek he had many namesover the thousands of years he had existed.Hän ku kaswa o numamet—sky-owner.Numatorkuld—literally sky struggle or thunder. With that he had also been calledSalama—lightning bolt. At one time, he had beenEn hän ku pesä—the great protector. Benedek knew the dragon was all of those things. He called himAinaakfél—old friend—and was grateful for having him. The name the old one went by mostly now wasSzelem, which meant ghost. No doubt when he lay like a downed tree trunk for years on end, he felt like a ghost.
Lying like the tree trunk in the dark forest, Szelem appeared to be just that, a large downed tree with mushrooms, small trees, moss, shrubs and other foliage growing all over him. It was impossible to see the dragon unless you looked with the eyes of a believer. Benedek had spotted him immediately and, having met him over many centuries, sat and talked with him.
Waking him was not easy. Szelem rarely expended the energy anymore to interact with anyone. As far as Benedek knew, he was the dragon’s only friend. Centuries earlier, when Benedek was in such a bad way, locked in the ground, Szelem had deigned to speak with him, something he ordinarily just didn’t do. Benedek could only surmise the dragon had been a little lonely and felt sorry for the Carpathian trapped for so long in the ground.
They’d spoken of many things, including battle tactics. It wasn’t as if, in those days, Benedek had anything of real value to give to Szelem, but the dragon had always treated everything Benedek said as something worthy of contemplation. The dragon would spend long hours mulling over every word and then discussing the subject again with the young Carpathian.
Benedek learned quite a lot about the world, about the forest and nature, the planet he lived on. He learned battle tactics. He was told about vampires and how best to defeat them. Szelem was generous with his wisdom and counsel.
Before anything else, Benedek had to heal his wounds, get rid of any trace of blood, especially the scent of it, and then, without beingdetected, get to one of his brethren to replace what he’d lost. He had to be at full strength to hunt and succeed in killing the beast. He kept his feet from touching the ground, not disturbing so much as a blade of grass while he worked meticulously at driving parasites from his body and then closing every wound from the inside out. He quickly removed all traces of blood from his clothing, hair and flesh.
While he pushed parasites from his body and healed his wounds from the inside out, he continued to reach for Szelem. He had a strong feeling he would need the dragon, and he never ignored those warnings. Throughout the centuries he’d learned to count on his instincts.
Ainaakfél. I have need of an ally. Emil is more than a vampire. He has lived far too long and has acquired much power. He cannot be allowed into the world of innocents.
Deep groans echoed through the old growth of trees. The ground shivered. A low rumbling growl reverberated out of the darkness. The silver streak, which was a narrow, shallow ribbon of water coming out of the side of the rocks to make its way down the gorge, reacted, vibrating with a hollow booming that shook the foliage.
The moment he had cleaned the blood from his body, he shifted, turning to molecules to drift upward. He needed blood to fight such an adversary. He had lost far too much.
Nicu, coming to you.
He’s building a storm. I can feel the electricity in the air,Nicu cautioned.
He’ll want to drive the dragons from the sky to give himself an escape route,Benedek said.
He still doesn’t realize, or refuses to see, that he is facing ancients. Some nearly as far gone as he is. We can provide shields for the dragons no matter what he throws at them,Tomas pointed out with confidence.
He is very powerful,Benedek cautioned.We don’t know his strengths yet, but he will have them. Watch yourselves.He wanted to warn them not to be too complacent.
When hunters lived as long as they had, when they had those scarsdeveloping on their souls, they looked forward to a battle. After centuries of feeling nothing at all, that rush was addicting. The more they sought out vampires to hunt and destroy, the thicker the scars. Eventually, the dark halves of their souls were covered in impossible-to-remove marks.
Benedek had studied those scars when he realized his power was growing. Not just growing but being amplified. He knew that the more he killed, not only would he feel that rush, but he would grow in power. Emil killed often as a vampire. Each time he fed. Every time he ran across humans, whether he needed to feed or not. Turning vampire had aided him in his quest for power simply because he enjoyed killing.
