There was a deafening series of pops and cracks, and right before Najlah's eyes the doors splintered, cracked, and fell to the floor in jagged pieces, sending up a cloud of dust like smoke.
Tevra swayed and sank to his knees, bracing his hands on the floor as he drew several long, shuddery breaths. "Haven't done that one in a while. Much easier when I have backup. Normally it'll knock me out cold for a bit."
Najlah rumbled softly, licking Tevra's face as Barkus did the same, seeing for themselves that he was all right.
"You two are like the cat I had as a child, but worse, because you're bigger and I know where your tongues have been," Tevra said with a laugh, and braced a hand on Barkus's back before heaving to his feet. "Thank you." He brushed his hands off, looked at them, then the mess, and said, "Now let's see what's going on with the royal guard."
Najlah growled and took the lead once more, letting his spikes come out as the smell of blood grew stronger, and climbed over the rubble and into whatever trouble awaited them next.
There was blood everywhere. Splashes on the wall. Pools on the floor, bloody footprints going from one pool to the next. Even the ceiling hadn't been left unmarked.
Despite the blood, though, Najlah saw not a single body. It was like every guard that had walked through the doors had been cut down and dragged away. He doubted any of them were still alive.
There are normally thousands of guards in the castle at any given time, Barkus said. It was one of the first things I set my people to when we arrived. We wanted to know what they did and how, so we could mesh our methods with theirs and such. The bulk of the guards are located in the city and garrisons further afield, but a solid force of five thousand is kept in and around the royal palace at any given time. There's no way anyone—anything—could have killed off that many without detection.
Clearly sensing Barkus's tension and worry, the other wolves pressed at the bond, asking to come help, but Barkus remained firm in telling them to stay where they were, continue with his original orders.
"Let's go see," Tevra said. "I suspect something foul is lurking in this place, and that it's been masked from us. I'm starting to think this is part of a bigger scheme, and we weren't supposed to survive our encounter in the city—or this part of the plan was moved up because we did survive it. I just don't understand why."
Najlah hissed. Irrelevant. Knowing why would not change the problem. Why can be answered later, when the bones are bare.
Tevra shot him that look of wry amusement Najlah was becoming intimately familiar with. "We say 'when the dust has settled.'"
When the wind calms, Barkus added. Funny how many different ways you can say the same thing. He sniffed delicately at a pool of blood, then padded over to another. There is something very faint in the blood. Barely there. I've never seen so much blood. It's like it was gushing out of them, but I see no… bits and pieces… of the sort you'd get from such a wound.
"Gushing…" Tevra's brow furrowed. "Like the blood couldn't stop flowing. Like it couldn't clot and was running thin."
Barkus growled deep in his throat, hackles rising. Or that, yes.
Najlah clicked and rumbled. What?
"It's a type of snake venom native to my home," Tevra replied. "It keeps blood from clotting, so victims often die by bleeding to death. Favored by cheap assassins and the like because it guarantees death, or near enough, and covers for a lack of skill. It can be administered orally, via a poisoned blade, dumped in open wounds… Whoever did this, they're nasty pieces of work."
My venom does the opposite, Najlah said with a series of chitters. It turns blood solid; just about the only thing that slows some of the creatures in Tahjil down.
Barkus sniffed the air. They also seem to be gone, if they haven't attacked us yet.
Best not to make assumptions, Najlah replied. They could be biding their time for something. We need to find the bodies. That will tell us much. He prowled onward, following the blood where it went from pools to drag marks, around the corner down to the first part of the barracks, where the officers slept, if he recalled correctly. Ajith had dragged him here once, but Najlah hadn't been interested in the piddling efforts of human soldiers until he'd been introduced to the Shifter Corp he'd joined. All of whom would be useful right now, but they were still incapacitated from the beating they'd taken on the Shide.
Should I have my people come help us after all? Barkus asked.
Najlah chittered. It won't be necessary. These fools are forgetting one very important thing, and I am going to laugh as they die. Tevra and Barkus filled with curiosity and gave him looks demanding explanation, but Najlah wasn't in the mood to share. They could figure it out or find out with everyone else.
"Cagey brat," Tevra said with a huff of laughter.
Crafty hornless, Najlah replied. I can't help myself. Not that I'd try. He flicked his tongue out, but before he could say anything further, the stench of blood grew even sharper, combining with a faint hint of early decay.
Najlah charged toward the scent, slamming through a cracked door—and spilling into a room where bodies had been stacked like slaughtered animals awaiting butchering. Of the parties responsible for the bodies, there was still no sign.
"So much death," Tevra said, eyes filling with tears. "Why? Why is all this necessary? What is so wrong with me that my family would authorize a mass slaughter? Why not just keep trying to kill me? I'm not worth all this."
Barkus rubbed against his thighs, and Tevra sank a hand into his thick fur. Najlah stayed on alert, as he was hardly the 'hold onto' type for such situations. Especially with his spikes out. That wouldn't end well for anyone.
Tevra sniffled-laughed. "There are antivenins for that type of poison, and if Restuel is anything like home, they keep it on hand."
Najlah scoffed. As though he'd let anyone live long enough to receive an antivenin.
Barkus and Tevra chuckled softly, but levity was hard to maintain in the face of so many bodies piled up like trash. It was sickening. Almost frightening. On the rare occasion a dragon started exhibiting such behavior, the bitch herself put the blood-crazed dragon down, and recompense was paid to the wronged families.
"We'll do much the same, though there's no den bitch to do the deed," Tevra said. "Come on, let's explore further. I feel we're walking into a trap, but what can we do? Avoiding it won't get us anywhere."
We survived the last one, Barkus said. Barely, but we did. We're better prepared this time.
Najlah just laughed.
Leaving the room full of bodies, they prowled onward, Barkus taking the lead this time, Najlah taking up the rear. He rarely visited the armory, but whenever he did, it was bustling with life, as active as a den with a day-old litter. This quiet was awful. These humans had done nothing wrong. These deaths were pointless and wasteful—they were mean. Najlah tolerated much when it came to violence and blood, but not meanness.
When the guilty parties got what was coming to them, he was going to enjoy their suffering, and later their remains. They didn't deserve burial.
Eventually, they passed through the barracks and into the pavilion that divided the barracks from the armory. There was more blood here, a distinct trail leading beyond the closed doors.