Free Hunt of the Bandham (The Bowl of Souls: Book Three) by Trevor H. Cooley Page A

pleasure.
     

Chapter Six
     
     
     
    Ewzad Vriil was dead.
     
    Or at least Ewzad thought he was. He had seen the pommel of Tamboor's sword protruding from his chest. He had felt Elise Muldroomon stab him with the dark dagger. He had seen the swirling blackness and had felt his body being sucked away by the dark power of the knife.
     
    His mind now wandered through nothingness, wracked with pain. Every inch of his nonexistent body was on fire. It seemed to last forever. Was this the afterlife? An empty eternity filled with misery? Perhaps not. The darkness calmed him. The pain began to fade. Ewzad grew sleepy. He let his thoughts slip away. Perhaps there was an end.
     
    The nothingness was penetrated by a voice that jolted Ewzad back into awareness. The voice seared through Ewzad's mind and laid it open, pouring through his thoughts. He knew this voice. Ewzad could hide nothing from the voice of the Dark Prophet.
     
    “ Why do you try to escape, Ewzad Vriil? ” the voice said. “ You are mine. You cannot hide from me. ”
     
    “Leave me alone,” Ewzad whimpered. “I am dead. Yes, dead.”
     
    “ You are not. Not yet. ”
     
    How could that be? Ewzad wondered. How could he survive that? The voice jolted Ewzad again.
     
    “ Awaken. ”
     
    Ewzad opened his eyes, but he still saw nothing. Wait, he had eyes. Then he could feel his body again. He took a deep breath and gasped in pain. He was lying naked on cold dusty ground. Ewzad reached down and felt the gaping wound in his chest where the sword had pierced him. No, still pierced him. He grasped the sword with squirming fingers and slowly pulled it out of his chest inch by inch until it clattered to the ground. Hot wetness pumped from the wound, pooling underneath him. Ewzad cried out and his mind tried to slip back into nothingness, but the Dark Voice would not let him go.
     
    “ Stay, ” the voice said. Ewzad quivered and squirmed. “ Heal yourself. ”
     
    “I can't! It is impossible!”
     
    “ Use the artifact. It will heal you. ”
     
    “No!” Ewzad yelled. He had used the healing properties of the Rings of Stardeon to heal his servants in the past, but never on himself. He knew that the price to the wielder of the rings would be terrible.
     
    “ It will not be terrible, ” The Dark Voice said. “ It will make you more powerful. ”
     
    “No, their power will weaken!”
     
    “ Their power will not weaken. Your ability to use them will increase. Use the rings. Become one with them. You will have no need to fear weapons again. ”
     
    “I will n-not. N-no I won't. I would rather be dead. Yes, dead!”
     
    “ You will obey me! ” The voice flexed, sending shards of agony through Ewzad’s dying mind. “ Twice you have been given to me. Once you gave yourself. Now another gives you. You are mine, Ewzad Vriil. You will do as I say. ”
     
    “Please?”
     
    “ Now! ”
     
    Ewzad did as he was told and for the first time, turned the terrible power of the rings inward. He cleansed the fluids that had been tainted by infection and stitched together the tissues that had been torn apart by the sword.  He wanted to stop there, but the magic of the rings had hold of him now. No longer satisfied with merely feeding on his life force, the rings desired to become one with him. Their power surged through his entire body, sending unimaginable pain along his every nerve until it was finished with him.
     
    Moment's later, Ewzad Vriil rose from the floor fully healed and changed forever. He blinked his eyes but still could not see. Ewzad extended one undulating finger and a ball of fire appeared to illuminate his surroundings. He was in a wide square room walled in finely carved stone. The floor of the room was made of marble and covered in a thick layer of dust. Ewzad looked back to the floor where he had awoken and saw many twisted runes carved into the marble under the pool of blood.
     
    “My, my. How did you bring me here?” he asked the