Dreams of the Oracle

Chapter 16

Jack watched the barn burn to ashes in the fading sunlight. It had been a cover for an entrance to the accursed lair of the Death Keepers. It had also been, yet another, dead end.

Jack reached up and scratched the dark stubble on his face. His eyes flickered with red fire both from reflecting the burning remnants of the barn and from the anger and magic smoldering inside him. He could see Abdiel's smug face gloating in front of him. The man was laughing. Laughing at him. He thought he was so clever slipping away time and time again.

He looked over at his two horses. He had tied them to a fencepost before going to work on the barn. The horses snorted and whinnied, clearly uncomfortable with their proximity to the building as it collapsed in red flames. Jack smiled at their discomfort then he began pacing back and forth waiting for the Rashakas to return. Useless creatures. The only trails they seemed to find were the ones that Abdiel left on purpose to trick them. He continued pacing briskly as he brooded.

Where was the man going?

His mind raced trying to understand the thought process of his nemesis. He dropped to the ground. His lean limbs stretched out on the dirt road. He closed his eyes and tried to focus. Hate and frustration welled up inside him. Even as he reached for an understanding of Abdiel's mind burning rage was flung over his mind like a heavy veil.

His adversary was cunning. He had spent his life eluding people. The only way Jack Linch would ever catch him was if he figured out the man's next move, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't grasp his opponent's reasoning.

With an effort, he raised himself from the ground. He stepped up to the blackened remnants of the Death Keeper barn. He glared at the smoking entrance to the catacombs. It had been similarly protected by the idiotic ancient magic. Abdiel would have had no reason to conceal his scent while under protection of the Death Keeper magic. Which meant that he must have surfaced. Jack looked up at the blood red sunset. Shadows lengthened on the ground. Where would Abdiel go? What was his final purpose in this merry little chase he was leading?

"Master Linch."

Jack Linch cried out and spun around sending a bolt of scorching red fire in the direction of the voice. His magic hit a fencepost some distance away burning it to ashes. The Rashaka who had spoken his name smoothly dodged the instinctive attack. It towered over him in its true form. Its daggerlike teeth were bared in a hideous grin and its strange green eyes glittered with mirth.

"Do we frighten you, Master Linch?" it whispered.

"If you don't tell me that you figured out where he went," began Jack Linch as he composed himself. "I will burn you to ashes."

"We know," growled a cold voice behind him.

Jack spun around again and backed away from the monstrous creatures before him. How could they have creeped up on him unseen? The creatures were huge. It was unnervingly difficult to tell them apart as well. Still, he felt a sense of breathless excitement at the Rashaka's words.

"Where?" he asked.

"His scent is shrouded in corruption. He's in a wagon carrying dead men from the Black Rot," replied the one he had almost torched. As it spoke, the third one stepped out of nowhere to stand between its companions.

"A plague wagon?" asked Jack Linch incredulously. "Are you all insane?" The usefulness of the Rashakas had finally reached its end, thought Jack suddenly. Red fire gathered within his chest and crackled at his fingertips.

"There's only one trail from barn," continued the Rashaka gesturing to the charred wreckage or the Death Keeper barn. "This man we hunt knows that plague will mask his scent, and nobody searches plague wagons."