Dark Legacy

by Valery Starsky

  He looked around habitually. This time, however, he looked in all directions at once, and if he could, he would have audibly gasped. It turned out that there was a huge space deep underground, on the western side of the Magical Forest. It went so far that he could not reach its borders—even with his new perception. There were incredibly large caves and three very wide rivers, and he had never even realized that they were there.

  He flew there now and froze under the vault. It was no less beautiful than in the Magical Forest, but it differed greatly. There were stunning glowing crystals, protruding, as it seemed to Yar, from everywhere.

  Looks like Ran Row’s recently cut the same crystals in the adit, Yar thought. Mosses and lichens of various shapes and incredible colors also illuminated the cave. In addition to all of this, it was full of living creatures with varying colors, as if they had visited tattoo artists specializing in glowing colors.

  “It’s awesome!” Yar shouted in admiration. “There’s an unexplored world, one might say, underfoot. The Shadows will be happy!”

  ***

  Uyu was tense. In her opinion, a clash with the light elves was about to happen. She trembled a little, as she didn’t know how she would behave when the light elves were closer still. Suddenly, Uyu drew her attention to a strange and surprising phenomenon: small violet moths flocked to her from all sides, organizing themselves into a dense swarm. After a few moments, Uyu saw these glittering insects form the smiling face of the Master, who prompted her with his lips alone: Our enemies are coming closer.

  Then the moths, quickly flapping their wings, turned into a small circle, and the countdown began. She sighed languidly, shook her head, and smiled. An incredible thought had recently lodged itself in her beautiful head. Though at the same time, the elf understood that her thoughts couldn’t be forced out by any shocks. Uyu tried at least for a minute not to think about Yar, sending an alarm to everyone else.

  ***

  The First moved carefully, like a wild beast, habitually inspecting all that was unusual and possibly dangerous. The other elves walked alongside, alternating between slow and intense pace with frequent stops. When the group died down, observing complete silence, the head elf tried to use her, as she believed, unique scanning abilities and sensitivity to danger to its complete maximum. She was doing poorly in this strange and incomprehensible area, and as a result, she was really annoyed with herself. Her rather developed self-confidence escaped, deserting her brazenly. A couple of times, the First wanted to retreat and return to the start. Her whole experience whispered viciously to her, “Run! Run away from here! Escape immediately!” Her pride wouldn’t let her flee, though. The First tried very hard, but everything happened unexpectedly.

  Suddenly, two obviously high-noble elf-girls crossed the road with an incredible aura of calmness. Everything from the color of their skin and eyes to smiles and clothing, was deadly—like an arrow hitting its target from ten yards.

  “They ... they are awesome …” The First was stunned. She didn’t dare to attack at first, although she managed to grab hold of her swords.

  Will it be difficult to kill perfection itself? I need to at least admire them first.

  It wasn’t necessary to attempt to see the levels of the elf-girls who had emerged from the Magical Forest. The head of the detachment appreciated their slow, perfect movements regardless.

  We won’t survive today, most likely. When the First realized who was in front of her, she almost fainted. One thought rushed through her head: This cannot be true... This cannot be true...

  Behind her, the Second appeared. Like an intern, he stumbled across the First and whispered dumbfounded, “The Shadows of the Moon!”

  In addition, the First saw in these legendary elves, lost somewhere in the millennia, an inexplicable carelessness along with their incredible beauty and style. The dark elves dared to block their path now without weapons. What was this if not the highest degree of arrogance and carelessness? Suddenly, one of the Shadows addressed them in a thin, yet pleasant voice.

  Damn forest fairy!

  “Light elves, remove your swords. Your journeys are over.”

  The First swallowed and shifted slightly to the right, scolding the Second, who prevented her from moving aside. The First needed time—at least a little—to shake things up ... in order to perk up and retain their position. Strangely enough, the Fifth helped, having started talking and thereby diverting attention to himself.

  “We are the huntsmen of the Light Emperor—may his rule last forever. You have no right to block our way, or to even look upon us,” the light elf said arrogantly.

  The First shuddered. What a fool!

  Then, after the Fifth’s stupid words, the head of the detachment realized she was actually scared. Despite the fact that the Most Serene Emperor was mentioned, the dark elves remained calm and confident. This should have never happened. After all, even the huntsmen themselves bowed their heads instinctively. The First had lived in this world for a long time, and she had seen how a single mention of the holy Emperor plunged barbarians to their knees plenty of times. However, the Shadows didn’t show awe or fear at all. Nothing. The First began to shake.

  We need to die—die urgently—and be resurrected at the Palace of Capture. She wanted to give a secret sign to self-destruct in front of the whole group when she realized with horror that it was already too late as she felt an almost imperceptible prick in her neck. The last thing she managed to think was, Foolish carelessness. They are the Shadow of the Moon.

  The five fell to the ground at the same time, and up to a dozen Shadows came out of the forest.

  Uyu said calmly, “Search them, strip them, and swaddle.”

  Chapter 23. Prisoners

  Y ar didn’t feel pangs of conscience in relation to the captured light elves. Instead, he was trying to contact Burn in orbit.

  “Are you there?” he asked in his mind, and almost immediately he felt a hot response.

  “Master!” Burn thundered in his head, joyfully and protractedly. “Do you want me to smash or burn anything?” it said, hopefully, clearly suffering from idleness.

  “Not yet, Burn. Not yet. But you will have work to do soon, I promise.”

  “I’m bored, Master!” It buzzed like a locomotive whistle inside Yar’s head.

  “Hey, Burn, don’t be sad. I’ll send you friends as fiery as you are. Take them into your destructive gang. I hope then you won’t be bored anymore. You’ll have others to play or quarrel with.”

  Initially, Burn screamed something, but, having calmed down, it boomed more clearly, “Oh, Master! Friends! Friends! Burn’s waiting.”

  Yar, without hesitation, created five similar fire beings, using the souls of the captured huntsmen, and sent them one by one into orbit. His conscience was calm. Yar kept their old call signs “The First, the Second, the Third, the Fourth and the Fifth,” thinking at the same time, This has all seemed to work out rather well.

  He remembered little Alice. “Perhaps this girl, the soothsayer, was referring to this very situation,” Yar suggested, smiling.

  He remembered how Alice jumped and clapped her hands joyfully, shouting, “The elves will fly off into space!”

  Well, that was how it actually turned out. Okay, soon the children will return to their homeland. Ten days will pass quickly and unnoticed. Yar was missing them already.

  ***

  She regained consciousness with some difficulty. It was like a jerk or flash. There was an explosion, a blow to her auditory and visual nerves, heart-rending cries, lightning strokes, the glitter of the swords, and different bloody pictures. Then it was as if everything had been turned off, and quiet darkness came around once again. Then the explosion repeated — and it all happened again: sweat, blood, and bewildered cries. She couldn’t make out anything; she was so dizzy, and she felt nauseous at times. Suddenly she singled out native information from the whirlwind of painful visions, and it was a terrible cry, “Goh, goodbye!”

/>   This cry lashed out of her like a bow-strap—painfully, sharply and sobering. Her memory and consciousness returned instantly, but the Princess didn’t allow herself to either twitch or open her eyes. She did what her Mentor taught her: she pretended to be unconscious, listened, and thought hard.

  She tried to feel her body and assess her physical state. The dark elven Princess didn’t hesitate a bit as she realized that she was clearly wounded. Her trapezoidal bone and collarbone hurt—most likely they were wounded by a sword. Her ribs were damaged, too. It seemed that someone had kicked her, causing multiple fractures. Her chest was numb, and the heat could be felt throughout the whole of her body. Judging by these signs, the Princess and her Mentor had already spent several days in captivity. Goh, she noted, was very close. She could hear his intermittent breathing.

  Apparently, he was beaten even harder, Heiro quickly realized.

  Then the Princess almost screamed, realizing that she was wearing a slave collar.

  “They captured us in battle, but how dare they put slave collars on us!”

  She slowed down her indignations, thinking soberly, What do we have? We fought well. It’s clear that the light elves will try to punish us now. However, this clearly cannot be the only reason.

  Suddenly, Heiro understood everything. Oh, God! They found out about me belonging to the Midnighters clan, and they have become interested in it! Now we’re under their unlimited power! Maybe even worse? The light elves aren’t interested in me but in Yar Dark and his affairs? Fuck! Everything is bad, the Princess concluded disappointingly . Most likely, they will torture us, but not much, so as not to kill us and let us go to the reborn. Surely, they are stuffing us with drugs. The alchemists of the White Branch clan have always been the best.

  As if in confirmation of her gloomy guesswork, Heiro heard the clicks of the lock and the sounds of an iron door slowly opening. Someone entered, ringing the keys. He had a strange, shuffling gait. The Princess concentrated and tried to understand who was in front of her.

  So ... he is tall and fat—most likely he’s an executioner. There’s a smell of blood, he wears coarse leather clothes, and he drags one leg, breathes strangely, and he's probably worried, the Princess determined.

  Then the person spoke.

  “Oh, my treasures. Don’t worry, I won’t let you die,” an unpleasant, smarmy, and lisping voice said. “Ollie the Twilight promised that he’ll give you to me when I finish my interrogations. And I, my diamonds, will try hard. You’ll tell me everything you know and more.”

  The staff executioner chuckled, rubbing his palms together noisily.

  “It’ll happen soon. I can’t wait till tomorrow comes!”

  The princess heard him coming closer, clattering his tongue with lust and gently touching her arms, chest, and neck as he whined subtly. All this time she mentally repeated a phrase as a mantra: Die, terrible maniac. Die, terrible maniac.

  Someone cried outside the door. The executioner sighed and sorrowfully stung something into the princess’s neck before hurriedly rattling the keys and the door as he exited.

  Heiro exhaled nervously before opening her eyes and looking around. It was a seemingly ordinary prison cell: there was no window, the door was made of thick steel, and the walls were solid rock. She couldn’t move, and even her fingers were fixed. Heiro called to Goh quietly. She tried for ten minutes but got nothing except his hoarse breathing in response. Heiro hadn’t be able to see what the executioner had injected her with, but she already felt her neck getting numb. Despite a good innate immunity to poisons, the Princess soon felt a chill, and her eyelids became heavier. Heiro again thought, The Alchemists of the White Branch clan have always been excellent … indeed.

  She swore quietly for some time, biting her lips, but the poison slowly took its toll on her body. Heiro was about to give up when she suddenly heard a quiet laugh, and this was clearly not an auditory hallucination. Alas, she couldn’t open her eyes anymore; her eyelids seemed to be filled with gold. Someone approached Heiro, and she clearly identified the fact.

  But how did someone get into the camera without opening the door? Adrenaline in her blood helped her wake up. The princess managed to shake off the toxic influence of the White Branch’s poison, at least temporarily. She opened her eyes and immediately saw him, a little to the right of herself, in the corner, but she couldn’t determine anything, because this person was skillfully hiding in the shadows.

  The invisible person laughed quietly and kindly, and they said some sort of nonsense—especially for being in such a place at this.

  “Are you real? It’s the first time I’ve seen a Princess who can swear like that. I liked it.”

  He laughed again, and the Princess wanted to scream, but she only managed to wheeze, “Who are you?”

  The invisible man seemed to have moved and carefully examined Goh. The Princess felt relieved because the stranger was clearly not going to kill them.

  “How is he? And who are you?” she repeated.

  “Heiro, believe me, you’d be better not knowing that. As well as your mentor. Don’t worry, though; he’s all right.”

  “Thank you, whoever you are. What does ‘all right’ mean, though? Is he injured? What happened to him? Tell me!” The Princess spoke with difficulty before hearing an incredible answer.

  This strange, unfamiliar person clapped his hands joyfully and enthusiastically uttered, it seemed, only for himself, “Wow! It looks like our lucky man is alright again. What a boy, huh! In fact, the girl is surely worthy.”

  Oh, dark and light gods, what’s happening? The Princess begged mentally to a higher power. Give me a sign. Clear my mind to help me to understand everything that is going on.

  The stranger came up from behind and said calmly, “Don’t worry, Your Highness. Don’t pucker your beautiful forehead. Wait a little and bear with me. The boy has already arrived on this planet. You see ... he will come for you and your mentor. I’m not going to interfere, though. Sorry. Saving a royal heir is far too risky and problematic for me to attempt.”

  She wanted to say a lot, indignation boiled over in her, but she could not. For some reason she found herself numb.

  Meanwhile, the invisible man continued with a calming voice, “Your Highness, you need to sleep and gain strength. Both you and your worthy mentor.”

  She saw a hand with a little bottle wedged in between the fingers. Something dropped on her lips. It smelled delicious, so the Princess couldn’t resist and licked it ... and not in vain! The taste was magical. She had never tasted such a delicious potion in her life, so she gladly sipped this incomparable nectar and promptly fell asleep.

  Vey the Shamrock threw off his hood, carefully pulled the spike out of the Princess’s neck, which was as though sprinkled with flour, and threw it away. He then dripped the potion from the same bottle onto Heiro’s neck, lifting the collar slightly.

  “Well, that seems to be all. It may be interesting to see how he will cope with this slave heritage.”

  Vey the Shamrock, giving an elegant bow to the outstretched Princess, disappeared slowly as if he were never really there at all.

  ***

  It was time to carry out his plans. Yar didn’t collect everyone in the tower. Rather he wanted to sit on the ground, near to the warm and familiar boulders. In addition, the coming night promised to be so very magical. The huge full moon seemed to look at them, gifting its children the delightful covering of silver light. The Shadows smiled openly, exposing their enthusiastic faces to this gracious, enchanting light.

  Yar stood up, Blacky growled threateningly nearby, and Ran Row’s heavy hand fell on his shoulder.

  “Come on, Bro!” the dwarf thundered impatiently.

  Well, everything has been said, and all the roles have been distributed, Yar thought, admiring the rows of the unshakable Shadows before him. Something slammed not far away, a large portal flashed with blue fire, and they were doused by the winds and smells of Foggy Albion.

  �
�Forward!” Yar commanded.

  Chapter 24. The Palace of Capture

  Y ar breathed in the air of Richmond Park, deeply and slowly, and he leaned his forehead toward the ground. It was pleasant. He felt the incomparable dour of meadow grass mixed with the bitter honey aroma of heather. It smelled akin to a warm summer night wrapped in a blanketing Scottish mist. The Lord of the Shadows stroked the earth touchingly and kindly with his hands.

  “Thank you, Mother Nature, for your help.”

  The weather conditions were most favorable; there was no visibility at all. From there, from dense thickets of bushes, only the Palace was visible to the naked eye. Frankly speaking, it oppressed all with its grandeur and monumentality. In fact, the Palace of Capture was nothing short of awesome. Glowing with lights, incredibly huge, as if built by giants, it towered above the fog like a mystical snowy white mountain. The view of the building forced Yar to doubt his own abilities. These insidious doubts crept toward him like scouts, piercing his determination with arrows of suspicion.

  Damn it! What a colossus! Сan we handle it?

  The booming, rhythmic sound mixed with endless flashes of fireworks could be heard across Richmond Park.

  These sharp-eared critters are celebrating something, Yar realized.

  He got up, warmed himself, took a few jumps, and then said in a low voice,

  “I’m leaving. Wait for my signal.”

  He tried to look toward his warriors, although here, in this warm mist, he couldn’t distinguish anyone except for the serious dwarf—although three times more Shadows than usual participated in this operation.

  Yar and Blacky reached the protective dome in a matter of minutes. He felt this powerful obstacle with absolute accuracy, but he did not dare jump there through the portal, because the defensive systems were unknown to him. Yar and Blacky crawled the last few yards to the power protection. The surrounding space seemed to be humming with the power of the dome like a huge transformer ruled over everything.