TARN & BECK by Roger Nickleby Read Free Book Online Page B

occurrence than met the eye.
    The hedge wizard, aside from identifying the spell of long, cursed life from the sigil, had also noticed its amplification factor. The tendency of such a sigil spell to increase the power radiating from its source.
    And Tarn had noticed, as he rode through the forest, some movement amongst the trees. It definitely wasn’t from Carroll’s band. So Tarn tried to act as firm and assertive as he possibly could.
    But it had been a long time since Tarn had faced Carroll, a decade at least. It dredged up some childhood memories that Tarn would rather forget and made him feel small once more, like a child staring up at the man with a gun.
    Tarn had to remind himself that he had grown up and moved on from Carroll and his gang, but he couldn’t entirely forget. He could never forget what happened to him back then, what Carroll and his bandits tried to make him do. So how could he act as grown-up as he was supposed to be?
    “So that’s it? You want me to just let them go?” Carroll asked.
    Tarn nodded. “That’s it. They didn’t do anything wrong. They don’t deserve your anger like I do.”
    “Tarn--” Beck started to say, worried.
    “Quiet, it’ll be okay.” Tarn said. He hoped that was true.
    Carroll nodded at Beck. “He shot my wizard and he had the coins to begin with. Plus he’s your friend.”
    Tarn tried not to look at Beck then, act calm and stoic. “I barely know him. He saved my life last night. It’s not his fault he’s in this mess.”
    Beck glanced down, nervous. What Tarn said was true. He was a complete stranger to Tarn, just as Beck didn’t know what Tarn would do.
    There was a lot of risk involved for Tarn sticking his neck out like this and threatening this bandit. But if he stepped back and allowed—Carroll, was it?—to have his way and shoot Beck…was it possible to trust Tarn?
    Carroll laughed, glancing at Tarn and Beck. “Quite an unlikely pair. All of these years I searched for those coins, and you two found them and led me to them! What a joke.”
    Tarn laughed as well, harsh in an unnatural tone, unsettling Carroll and the others.
    “What’s so funny? My bandits are bound to kill you and the others soon.” Carroll insisted.
    Tarn grimaced. “You’re not the only one who has wanted these coins. The magical energy radiating off of them is bound to attract every monster for miles around.”
    Beck froze, remembering. “The Vampiric in the graveyard. Are you saying--”
    Carroll stared at Beck in horror. “What Vampiric?”
    There was rustling in the forest in the distance. Tarn nodded, gripping his gun tighter as he glanced around at their forest surroundings.
    “That’s right. Even when they were buried in the city graveyard, the magical energy leeching off of them was enough to attract one Vampiric, seeking them out all the way there.” Tarn said.
    Now humanoid shapes were darting about in the shadows surrounding them. Beck, Carroll, Greg, the bandits and attendants all looked up and around fearfully, the bandits clutching their weapons.
    “Imagine how much energy is leeching off of them now, out here in the open, far away from the city.” Tarn turned back to Beck, who looked right at him. “Do you remember what we said about monsters and their territories?” Tarn asked Beck.
    “And this is one of their hunting grounds.” Beck nodded.
    Tarn smiled. “Precisely.”
    Tarn turned around and shot at one of the Vampiric about to attack him. Beck ducked Carroll’s gun and ran toward the coach. Carroll turned around, but wound up firing at another Vampiric coming out of the forest just as Tarn did.
    Carroll still held on to the bag of gold coins, not wanting to let them go, even if the Vampiric were hunting them. Twenty other Vampiric started running and jumping out of the forest, attacking the bandits firing at them.
    Greg and the attendants ran away in the opposite direction into the forest with nowhere else to go. Beck clambered into the coach