by Xander Jade
“Thank you, I will advise the others to get started on their duties as well.”
Estelle nodded. “Very well, you are dismissed.”
Lord Foster bowed and left. Sir John and Sir Malcolm strolled in at that time and were surprised to see the princess up on the dais. They bowed as they stopped near the front.
“Sir John and Sir Malcolm, as of right now, Lady Shea and I are in charge of Oakenshore by the command of King William,” Princess Estelle advised the knights. “We will see to the court and help with the day to day problems. You two are charged to get the city guards back in place and working properly. Arthur and Nadine will send four of their squad to help. Arrest those that were placed by the previous lord of the castle and put them into the dungeon. When those tasks are complete, get back to your duties.”
Both bowed and Sir Malcolm replied, “As you command, Your Highness.”
The two knights marched out, four mages followed. Sir Nathan and his squad marched over and took command of the guards within the court.
Estelle and Shea sighed and shook their heads.
“I never took Blake to be so arrogant and cruel,” Estelle stated, sitting down.
“Well, it’s a good thing that you decided to not pursue him.”
She shuddered. “Shea, my life would have been miserable.”
The duo sat, each in their own thoughts for a few minutes, until Estelle sniffed.
“I don’t know if I will be comfortable here.”
“Why is that?”
“It just doesn’t feel welcoming anymore.”
Shea nodded and looked around the great hall. With Duke and Lady Ackley out and Gordon missing, this place would not have the usual convivial atmosphere.
“I agree to that.”
Estelle nodded and sighed. “I miss him ya know.”
Shea was confused at first but figured out who she was talking about, “Gordon?”
“Yeah, he was always here to cheer us up, or just there to listen when something wasn’t going right.”
“Estelle, you… have you developed feelings for Gordon?”
She nodded and started silently crying. When she got herself together, she replied, “I should’ve told him, I had numerous chances, but I was just scared.”
Shea went over and hugged her. “It’s okay sweetie; one day you’ll be able to tell him. And who knows, one day, you might have little Estelles running around.”
Estelle looked at her for a moment, then started laughing, and Shea joined in.
“Where could he be?”
“I’m not sure, Estelle. Hopefully, safe.”
“Dammit, why did he have to go? Someone else could have gone to find Max.”
“Max would only come with Gordon. He wouldn’t leave if anybody else showed up for him.”
“I know. I doubt even Gordon could get him to go. Max is headstrong and wouldn’t go just because Father wanted him to.”
“I agree. One day we’ll see both of them again. Hell, maybe we could get Max to track him down.”
“We tried. We sent people to BlackCrest and no one has seen him either. I doubt anything bad has happened to Max, it’s just they weren’t going to give his location to just anyone. I don’t blame them though.”
“Hmm…maybe when this is done, we could go find Max and get him to try.”
“Yes, I like that idea. It would be nice to see him again. I know Cori would like it if we could get any info, she’s been anxious for any news.”
“Has she told your father about her feelings yet?”
“HAHAHA… no not that I know of. She’s still holding on to that, but not accepting any suitors at this time.”
“I thought so. Let’s go get somebody to show us our rooms. We need rest.”
Estelle nodded and they left the great hall.
***
The days went by, building a rapport with the yikarian, and learning her fighting style. Since she was bonded with me, the developing and training went smoothly because if I had an issue, Nespea would show me a picture in my mind.
I trained in earth magic as well, learning the best way to implement and use the words of power. It was cool, a wall of earth would rise out of the ground, and I could make myself have stone skin and even cover just my fist if I wanted.
Earth Wall (terra murrum). Stone Skin (lapis pellis). Stone Fist (lapis pugnus).
After a session one day, I spoke aloud since no one was around, “Since you’re an earth elemental, will I be able to talk with other earth elementals?”
Nespea replied, ‘Don’t know why you would, but yes.’
“Well, if something happened to the earth, say a crater formed in the aftermath of battle, I would ask them for help to repair the damaged earth.”
‘Hmm… I see your point, then yes, if one is around, then we can ask them for help.’
The training was getting monotonous but I knew it would help in the long run. Nespea advised that I was getting better but would need to continue everyday so the movements could be made without thinking. I knew that from experience and agreed.
Sig put his two cents in, ‘You need to practice with both spheres. In battle you’ll be dangerous when you call upon both at the same time.’
I nodded at that statement and went back to practicing.
At the end of those two weeks in the Arnterre mountains, we were ready to get moving and away from the stone walls. It was late in the day. Nespea walked over and tapped my shoulder. I looked over and she gestured to my chest. Taking that as it was time to go, I pulled my tunic off and she said some words my mind didn’t catch. The yikarian turned into sand little by little until she was a pile of it. After a few moments, the pile moved towards me and ascended towards her tattoo on the left side of my chest. When the elemental was done transforming, a white flash indicated she was ready. Sig did his thing and I pulled my tunic on again.
I turned to Reap, Zeus, and Herc. “You guys ready to go?”
They nodded and we left Nespea’s courtyard, down the tunnel and out of the mountain. We took it slow, not wanting to miss anything of importance when traveling back. We saw some gnomes and humans along the way, who didn’t want anything to do with us.
While we traveled, I remembered Racar talking about the prison in Mair.
‘You guys think we should check out that prison in the mountains?’
Reaper said, ‘The orcs said it was guarded by gnolls and wens, no telling what else the overlords have placed there. Not sure if we should try with just five of us.’
Sig scoffed, ‘Beg your pardon? I can multiply and let’s just say Nespea isn’t a pushover.’
Nespea curiously asked, ‘What are you talking about? And who are the overlords?’
‘We’re talking about a prison that holds around eight hundred beings. The overlords are on the demons’ side: warlocks, necros, and blood mages.’
She grunted. ‘Where is this prison?’
Herc answered, ‘In Azgrag. There are also at least three orc villages that are being held captive.’
Nespea gave her opinion, ‘Sig, what do you say? Like old times?’
I could imagine the smile on the fire elemental’s face. He asked, ‘What did you have in mind?’
‘Not much, just some payback. The warlocks, necros, and blood mages need to be put down. I say we clear the villages first and take some of those warriors with us to free that prison.’ Nespea spoke in a nonchalant manner.
I couldn’t believe it. ‘You two want to go into hostile territory and clean out the vermin, then go clear out that prison?’
‘Yep, sounds like fun,’ Sig snickered.
‘I’m in,’ Herc and Reap both advised.
Nespea responded with a mental shrug. ‘And since we’re going to be in Azgrag, then we can stop and say hello to a friend of mine. Since you need to strengthen up and bond, we will go visit Siah. She's a chameleon and of the mind sphere, illusions are that girl’s specialty. Oh, she also has telekinesis.’
Shaking my head, I groaned. ‘Fine. You guys are going to get me killed.’
Reaper stated firmly, ‘We will all protect you with all our being, Max.’
I answered with a grin, ‘Yeah? The lot of you are going to protect me from my women when they hear of this?’
No one said anything.
Nespea chuckled. ‘Wow, must be some tough and capable women. Can’t wait to meet them.’
Chuckling, we set out to our new destination. We traveled through the forest to keep our group from being seen, as much as possible anyways. We entered Azgrag at dusk and set up camp with no fire but took turns with the watch. Sleep came quickly and before I knew it, it was my turn to stand watch. It was uneventful, but I kept diligent. No telling what was waiting in these woods.
The next morning, we set out early to find the nearest village, and located it within the first hour. Setting up above it, we did some recon of the area. Scanning the villagers, I saw there had to be a hundred of them. Most were females and children, but there were some older males. The five wens were easy to pick out as were the two overlords. The latter were both males and they leered at every one of the orc females that strolled by.
‘What do you think?’
‘We need to separate them somehow,’ Herc suggested as he sized up the evil bastards.
‘I agree, once the overlords are taken out then the wens will be less difficult to take care of,’ Sig responded.
We watched as the wens beat a couple of defiant orcs. When they were done, the orcs were definitely bloody and not moving. I wasn’t sure if they were still alive but I didn’t spend too much time looking at them. We stayed put to see the patterns, but the idiots didn’t move that often. It was in the afternoon that we caught a break. The bastards grabbed a couple females and pulled them into a hut. It didn’t take a genius to know what they were going to do. A group yelled out in anger and kept the wens busy.
‘Now’s our chance. Sig and Nespea with me. We’ll circle around the hut while the wens are busy and hit the overlords since their attention will be on those females.’
They agreed. Sig and Nespea descended hurriedly. We took off silently and about three minutes later, after skirting around the orcs and the huts, we finally arrived. The females were shrieking, trying to get away. The bastards were slapping them and laughing, even taunting them. We could hear garments being ripped and the women sobbing now. It was time to end this.
‘Nespea, can you use that sleep spell on those pukes?’
‘Yeah, good idea, but it will affect the whole hut,’ she replied and started chanting something.
A minute later, thuds could be heard inside the hut. I walked around the front. The crowd was still in yelling mode and didn’t see me as I slipped through the door with my daggers in hand. I saw the two males with their pants down on the floor, the females were on the bed, clothes ripped off. Walking over and not hesitating, I slammed my daggers through the males’ brains. Just in case, I sliced their throats as well. I was pissed off so didn’t stop until the heads separated from the shoulders.
‘Herc and Reap, let the wens know you’re here. When they are distracted by you two, we’ll come up behind them.’
They grunted and did as I asked. Pandemonium broke out and while the crowd’s attention was focused on the duo, I slipped out of my clothes and shifted. Picking up the two severed heads, I walked out of the hut and towards the wens. The orcs were all panicked now, the children and women fled, even the males didn’t know what to do.
I yelled out to the hissing wens, “Hey, Fuckheads!”
They turned and noticed us coming up behind, me holding the two heads.
“You will die for this insolence,” one of the bigger ones hissed.
“I don’t think so, your magic users are dead, so no protection anymore.”
I shouted out to my crew in my mind, ‘Kill em!’
My group roared and I sprinted towards the evildoers, picking the biggest one. He didn’t even get a hit in before I put my fist through his chest, pulling the heart out and lighting it on fire. The wen’s body fell to the ground. When the heart was ash, I stomped on the fuck’s head. It splattered all over the ground. Looking up, I caught sight of the others and went over to help Reap and Herc. Nespea and Sig were taking care of their punching bags. It didn’t take long before the five abominations were on the ground, hearts cut out and turned to ash.
Moving the bodies over to make a pile, I had Sig light it up. It took a few minutes, but it turned into ash as well. Scanning our surroundings, I could see fear in the orcs’ eyes. I went over to the hut and stuffed my clothes into my pack then walked back out to the crowd.
I tried to calm them down. “You have no cause to fear us. We will not harm you.”
Three male orcs came over. One was around 6’5”, had a feathered jerkin and wore a huge axe on his back. “I am Chief Krilge, we appreciate you dealing with those things, but why have you done this?”
“That’s a long story chief, but the paraphrased version is your kin said the clans are captives and were forced to work for the evil ones. I’m speaking about your kin Gurak, also Racar and Tavoria. We were told of a prison that held many beings and we mean to empty it.”
The orcs around were silent. Krilge responded, “I know of those you mentioned, the former has a village two hours south and the latter are three hours east of here.”
I nodded and asked, “What about the prison?”
He replied with hesitation, “That place is cursed. If you go, then you may not make it back, but it is a half day walk southeast.”
“Much obliged, Chief Krilge. Your women are safe and asleep in the hut. The vermin should still be on the ground unless someone moved them. We will take our leave now. Zeus, let’s go!”
The stallion hustled over, and we started away when the chief called out, “What’s your name?”
I stopped and looked over my shoulder at him and replied, “Maximus Drago.”
He nodded and my group continued on. When we were a couple miles out, I stopped. Nespea and Sig went back into their tattoos.
“It will be a couple hours before we come upon the next village, let’s rest for a few minutes.”
We plopped down and I started meditating, getting my mind clear like Nespea taught.
Chapter 10
The weeks went by for the settlement, routines were made, and things were going somewhat smoothly. The kinks were working themselves out, no other major issues were found. Training was still in full effect, jobs were given out, and ideas for better solutions on projects were spoken about and executed.
The keep was still in the works; walls were up, but last-minute changes made completion later than they expected. More housing and gardens were created, two more forges were in the works, and the stables were being built.
The Inner Circle came together every day to discuss issues and to vote on any new ideas. They were in one such meeting when they got a visitor. Gordon was finishing up his proposal over the floors of the keep, wanting a formal court and great hall.
“The hall will be for weddings and any other formal events we host.”
The others around nodded. Sean spoke up wanting to know if this was necessary, “Is this something that the boss wants?”
Sasha answered the question, “I would say yes, though he advised us to decide on those kinds of concerns or issues.”
Tia gave her opinion, “Agreed. We will need this when emissaries show.”
Cass spoke after her, “I know he doesn’t think far ahead unless he needs to, especially about stuff like that. With his designs and ideas, we will be a town in no time. If we keep going and freeing prisoners or when others come wanting sanctuary, we will be a full-blown city. This council was created for such things and we will do our best to complete his orders. When issues come up, we will find solutions for them.”
The others around nodded and started discussing other concerns when Elwin and Pelleus approached Cass and Sasha, whisper
ing in their ears. The group stopped talking and waited to see what this was about. By the surprise on their faces, it was unclear.
The two glanced at each other, then back to the elves and nodded to them. The guys hurried out of sight and Cass stood up to address the group.
“It would seem that we have guests. They have information about our fearless leader.”
Murmuring went around the circle as two amazons came into view. They were tall and muscular, both blondes. Cass and Sasha stepped up and welcomed them, then gestured for them to take a seat. They complied, then were asked to say their piece.
One spoke out after a few moments of silence. “My name is Rionata, obviously from Amenoa. I have to say, meeting creatures outside of your forest surprised us, but meeting two elves shortly after that to tell us that only two can enter the forest was eye opening. They advised that your leader has the protection of the forest and its inhabitants, even the legendary Leshies. Extraordinary.”
Both amazons wanted to hear or see some proof regarding the forest protectors. They didn’t get any, so Rionata cleared her throat before continuing, “We have come to tell you of your leader’s progress.”
Cass demanded, “How do you know it was our leader?”
She answered with a smirk, “We know of him. He rescued some of our kin from that mine. They told us the story and how they ended up here before leaving to join us.”
Soph asked in confusion, “Progress? We knew he was going into Mair.”
The amazons nodded.
Rionata continued, “Yes, but when his group came upon the Tetrad Crossroad, a battle was already in progress. Centaurs, weres, and barbarians against trolls, redhats, orcs, and wens.”
That got everyone’s attention. Leena cautiously wondered, “Is he hurt?”
They smiled and shook their heads.
The other amazon answered, “Hardly. My name is Acace, a commander in Her Majesty's army. I was sent to that crossroad to defend it. We were neutral and unless the evil ones stepped into our kingdom, we weren’t allowed to step foot into the others. We were at a loss as well. Those bastards had numerous captives in cages, but it seemed that the defenders were holding their own, so we kept silent and watched. At least that was until a human, siba, and kodiak showed up out of nowhere. The group freed the prisoners, then the wens entered the battle and started annihilating the defenders. We thought everything was lost.”