by David Burke
The elf shook his head. “I have to say that I am gonna miss that sensation of raw power.”
“I think we’ll just have to find ways to enhance you back to that level permanently—as long as our enemy gives us enough time. Could you make any sense of what this necromancer’s plans are?”
“A little?” the elf tilted his hand back and forth. “First, you should know that there were at least two dozen of those big eyeball things that you fought at the arena. And with them were maybe a thousand of those weird glytharen with eye stalks for heads.”
Kyle cursed.
“That isn’t to say anything about a few hundred ghouls, at least a hundred of the vampires, and some bone mages that I’m going to assume had to be liches. Then there was this shadowy creature that I couldn’t get a good look at. It always stuck near the necromancer, but I could barely hear more than a whisper out of it.”
Suddenly, Gilthan shuddered. “When I did hear its voice, it sent chills down my spine,” Gilthan explained.
“And are they headed for Nargossa?”
“No, as far as I can tell, those were only recruitment missions. You know… to get more bodies for their undead host. Most of their army is apparently aimed at Calrissa. They feel if they can take the capital city for this region, the rest will fall into place.”
“They did say something about having sent ahead a vanguard to deal with the fiend off to the north.” Gilthan scratched his cheek. “I don’t know if that mean’s Kierra’s people or not, but that is the only fiend I’ve ever heard of in the north.”
Kyle nodded along, idly wondering if Raina counted as a fiend ‘in the north’, since she’d been based in Thena. “This vanguard’s target was likely either her, or Beltarkus, the archfiend who ruled over Kierra’s people.” Kyle shook his head. “No, actually, he was the one who created their hybrid race.”
Kyle grunted softly as he studied the ground. Things were getting more and more complicated. He still hadn’t decided what to do with Raina… or Meeka, rather. This was going to push that timetable up even more to the right. He just hoped their mutual interests, and a healthy dose of fear, would be enough of a leash on her.
Finally, he looked back up at Gilthan. “Let’s head back and you can tell the others what you saw. Maybe some of them will see something significant that I’m overlooking.”
The elf got a twisted smile on his face as he said, “You know, gods aren’t supposed to admit that they might be wrong about something.”
Kyle snorted. “And how many gods have you met?”
Gilthan shrugged and said, “Fine, have it your way.”
“Thank you. I think I will.”
Chapter 21 - Assembly
By the time they returned to the guildhall, it was already time for lunch. Kyle felt like he’d been moving non-stop all day and, in some ways, he had been. But there was just so much to be done. He still needed to meet with Lash and he had the feeling it was gonna be a long conversation. He still needed to decide what he was going to do with Meeka. And, oh yeah, he absolutely needed to find some alone time with Nyda.
That was only the short list of what he needed to do with his girls, and not even a comprehensive one at that. The trick of sending power to Gilthan made him want to work on further increasing each of his team members’ capacities. Beyond that, he wanted to find out if it was possible to open them up to any of the new types of essence that he’d been able to identify. Each of them seemed to have more of an affinity for a specific type, so he hoped he could.
Then, there were all the new recruits that he felt responsible for. At a minimum, he needed to show his face around the training yard. He should probably also make time to enhance Larry, Curly, and Moe, so they could be better trainers.
Then, there was the fact that he needed to collect his payment from the Governor for saving the salt mine. Oh, and he needed to check in with Selma to see if she’d been able to salvage anything valuable from Barak’s corpse. His to-do list only seemed to grow longer.
And of course, none of that factored that he needed to figure out what to do about the undead army. It sounded like it was being supported by a void wraith, in addition to a couple of dozen Aekor. He groaned and rubbed his temples to tamp down a burgeoning headache. The void wraiths presence alone should probably push it to the top of his priority list, but Kyle knew his team wasn’t ready for that level of a challenge—not yet at least.
They’d have to run if it came down to it. He wanted to give his people a fighting chance. Against a void wraith, though, they’d have none.
Krig had been willing to lose people and, if push came to shove, Kyle realized it was even likely. But he swore he wasn’t gonna lose anyone due to a lack of preparation. He’d learned long ago that ball games weren’t usually won by brilliant performances on the field—they were won by training hard, in practice, and because of the players’ mindset. Oh, you still had to perform in the moment, but that was just being clutch. If you hadn’t prepared ahead of time, you wouldn’t give yourself the chance to be clutch.
He found himself being greeted by some of the serving staff. It was a wonder Meeka had gotten the staff set up and running so quickly. Definitely a point in favor of keeping her around.
One of the maids curtsied and said, “Lord Kyle, everyone has been waiting for you to return. Lady Kierra said you would be arriving soon and so your council has gathered in the meeting room. We will be serving lunch here momentarily.”
She paused, then continued. “Lady Meeka insisted it didn’t need to be anything formal, as long as the food was good and filling. I hope you won’t be offended by the simple fare.”
Kyle just looked at her with a smile. He almost told her she didn’t need to call him Lord Kyle, but he remembered that people wanted structure. If he was gonna do this war god thing, then that would be the least of the honorifics he’d likely receive.
“Very well. Does that mean that Lady Meeka is back?”
“Yes, M’lord. She is in the waiting room with Lady Kierra, Lady Nyda, Master Saber, Mistress Selma, Mistress Lash, and Mast… er, Lord Skrug. Oh… and the Ambassador is there, too.”
“Ambassador?” Kyle asked as he wondered at what Meeka had told the serving staff. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that she had chosen ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’ as the honorific for all of his bonded, but master or mistress for the other members of the team.
“Yes, Lady Meeka advised us that the green woman was an ambassador from the church of Hav.”
“I suppose she is correct, a good way to put it. Thank you, er…” he paused, frowning. “I’m sorry. I don’t know your name.”
The serving girl blushed, “Oh, none of my former owners ever asked my name before. But it’s Sierra, M’lord.”
“A beautiful name for a beautiful woman,” he said.
She blushed and pulled back a bit after he’d said that. When Kyle realized how it might be taken in this society, he asked, “What do you mean by ‘Owners’?”
She bowed her head low, and then, as if that wasn’t enough, she dropped to her knees on the floor and blurted out, “I’m sorry if I have offended you, M’lord. You are my true and proper owner. The others were only place holders before you. If I seemed reluctant, I beg your forgiveness. I, of course, am willing to attend to any of your needs. It is… it is an honor to serve such a great man.”
“I’m fine with you calling me Lord Kyle, since I suppose that is what I am. But I don’t own people. My people serve me willingly and they are rewarded for their service. From this day forward, you are no longer a slave and you will start to receive a proper wage.”
Kyle took a deep breath to calm himself. “As for that other part, I would never impose myself upon you—and if any man of this guild does so, then I want you to come to me with his name, and I will castrate him myself.”
He tipped a finger under her chin to raise her eyes to his. “Do you understand, Sierra?”
She was trembling by this
point and seemed incapable of answering. It was Meeka who appeared in the hallway and spoke up for her. “She knows she can’t be freed. Slavery is a permanent condition in Nargossa. Only the Queen of Calrissa can free a slave.”
“Well then, that is just one more thing we are going to have to change,” Kyle said.
Meeka nodded as she stroked Sierra’s back and whispered in her ear. The slave girl seemed to relax, then. Her trembling stopped completely and the look of fear on her face washed away.
As she left to attend to her duties as instructed by Meeka, he turned to the noble woman, “What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t harm her, if that is what you’re afraid happened.” She frowned. “I can explain more, but probably best if we do not do this here, out in the hallway.”
She paused. “If you want, I can tell the others that you need to meet with me privately in my office. Perhaps, after all the digging I did for you, you are ready for a more… intimate connection?”
Kyle shook his head. “No, we all need to meet together. Gilthan and I have some bad news to report.”
Meeka nodded. He could sense her disappointment but all she said was, “You know, M’lord, I may never get all of this salt off my skin. I may need to have you lick it off me if I am ever going to be a good, clean girl.”
With a cheeky grin, she popped a finger in her mouth and ever so seductively sucked on it.
Kyle sighed but followed her into the meeting room. The rest of the team was there. Even Gilthan had taken a seat. Nyda looked hopeful as she saw him. Kierra’s look was one of hunger but only in the best sense possible and Lash looked jealous, especially when she glared at Meeka.
With all of that tension, it was easiest for Kyle to look first at Selma. “So, were you able to recover anything?”
“Thousands of gold pieces worth of medicinal and alchemical ingredients so far. For some reason, the dragon’s body seems to be infused with even more magic than they are reputed to be.”
“Oh, that is simple. He wasn’t just a dragon, but the demi-god son of Lige.” Kyle shrugged. “Were you able to recover it all?”
Selma’s eyes got big for a minute but then she seemed to regain her bearing. “No, there is simply too much. I left Moe in charge there, with fifty of the new soldiers and instructions to carry on with the recovery.”
She sighed. “I hope I didn’t overstep my bounds, but the scales are some of the heaviest parts and they will make amazing armor. We just need more time to get them all.”
Saber spoke up, “I will see that the guard is regularly changed. Some of the nobles from the city are already protesting to the Governor. They claim the dragon’s corpse is rightfully the property of Nargossa, and that they all should get a cut of the profits from its sale.”
Kyle looked over at Skrug. “What say you, my troll friend? I didn’t see any of the nobles fighting out there beside us. As far as I’m concerned, the remains are the property of those who killed it.”
“What boss man says, goes. Whiny nobles annoy Skrug.”
Kyle smiled. Each week, it seemed Skrug’s sentence structure was improving. With his strength, if he gained a greater level of intelligence, he might become as powerful as any of Kyle’s bonded.
“Very well,” Kyle nodded, “then we are in agreement. Only those of us who fought Barak shall profit from his death—though most of the profits will go directly towards expanding and building up the guild.”
He grimaced. “I fear we are going to need every bit of it.”
“We need to do something about the refugees, as well.” Lash spoke up, suddenly.
All eyes in the room turned to her and Kyle asked, “What do the refugees need?”
“They still aren’t being allowed into the city. There are women and children out there in awful conditions, and more of them show up every day. They tell tales of fleeing from destroyed towns that were overrun by the undead, yet none of the city’s guard ride out to do anything.”
Her hands, propped on the table before her, clenched into fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “If it weren’t for Kierra and me, the refugee camp likely would have been destroyed and most of them turned into undead.”
“And what would you ask me to do about this?”
“I want you to bring them into the city, under the guild’s protection…. under your protection. Many of the women lost their husbands and there are young men who are eager to fight for their families.” She sat up straighter. “I believe they could be trained.”
“Yes, the strong should protect the weak. That is something that both my predecessor and I agreed upon. The refugees have many ways they could serve the guild.”
Lash smiled, “I am glad you see it that way. I know Master Saber is doing a great job of forming an army for you, but I’d like your permission to form a personal guard from those who have lost everything.”
Her eyes shone in their fervor. “Let their loss become their strength, as it once did for me.”
Kyle nodded. “You have my permission to do so, but I would like to speak to you about the details after the meeting is over.”
About then, Kyle realized he hadn’t touched any of the food that had been put in front of him. He still liked the taste of food, but he was feeling less and less pull to it. Eating food, even the bacon this morning, had become more about habit than need. He realized that with a divine splinter from a second god, he was truly becoming less and less mortal.
After that, he allowed Gilthan to tell the others about the army of the undead. He filled them in more about the Aekor and what he suspected was a void wraith. They spoke till past dinner as there were many plans to form. Kyle passed on as much of the knowledge he had recalled from Krig’s memories about void wraiths.
When he told them about the vanguard sent out to attack the ‘fiend to the north’, Kierra began to fret. Kyle watched carefully and when Meeka didn’t react at all to this news, he became convinced that Beltarkus was the target.
Still, he’d need to get more answers from the succubus, but for now, Kierra was upset.
“Alpha, I beg you allow me to warn my people. They are not all evil. Beltarkus corrupts them, it is true, but if a group of undead are headed there, then they won’t stop with just attacking the fiend. In fact, they may simply slaughter my tribe first, so that he has no army to use against them.”
Her lip trembled, and she had to take a moment to collect herself. “Either way, it will be my people who pay the price.”
“I promised you we would rescue your people, yet I can’t afford to leave the city just now. Please allow a little time to come up with an answer—the undead don’t move quickly, so we should have some time.”
She clenched the table, her claws scoring the thick wood.
“And no,” Kyle continued, “you can’t go by yourself. You are strong, but you can’t defeat an entire army by yourself. I think you can become stronger still…I just need enough time to figure out how to do so safely.”
Just then, a messenger ran into the room and bowed low after skidding to a stop. “Guild Master, the Governor demands that you attend him immediately.”
Maevis looked up when she heard Guild Master out of habit, but then turned to look at Kyle to see how he would respond. For his part, Kyle was getting tired of being ordered around by fat men who were unwilling to put any skin in the game.
Kyle stood as War Essence began to swirl around him.
Meeka jumped up and spoke before he could. “Carry this message back to the Governor: Lord Kyle will meet with him in three days' time, but first he must recover after his battle with the dragon. Surely that can be permitted.”
The messenger gulped, apparently aware of how close to death he had just come. “I… I will carry your words back to the Lord Governor, M’lord.” Then, he bowed low and backed out of the room.
Chapter 22 – Uplifted
When Kyle finally felt that they were starting to g
o in circles, he called an end to the meeting. While he sat in his chair, everyone else slowly filtered out of the room to the various tasks they had taken on for themselves. Kyle began to pull raw essence into himself and worked on cultivating to restore his reserves.
The battle with Hav had convinced him of one thing. This construct was not strong enough. It was a reflection of the power he possessed when he had been first introduced into Verden. At that point, he didn’t have access to his mantle or any understanding of what he could do. Even now, he had to admit he was only beginning to get a full picture.
He still fell into human habits too often. It was hard to realize he wasn’t human. Life on Earth had drilled into him the idea that humanity was the pinnacle of existence. Now he knew he could be so much more, but still didn’t act it out most of the time. Just getting used to his extra senses was a challenge.