“We are just having a spirited conversation, yes ladies?” Janouc said then looked at the women. Talila said nothing but nodded her assent, then one at a time the other girls followed suit. Janouc walked away from them, “Good day, ladies.” The women quickly rounded the carriage back to camp, then to their own carriage as fast as they could. Saida started to cry before they could make it in the carriage.
On the road to the north Dracon led his team, side by side with Venalina. Leonid and Dangelo just behind them with the battlemages that accompanied them. Leonid and his partner battlemage had started to talk as if they had known each other for years. His name Kadin, he was a young acolyte of the Priests of O’on, only recently reaching the status of battlemage. It wasn’t long before they came upon the mist Janouc had reported to Dracon. It was a cold mist, that made their skin crawl and caused most of them to shiver. It was a far cry from the hot jungle they had just been in, no more than twenty feet behind them. Dracon urged his horse in slowly and the others followed, they could only see five to ten feet in front of them. Dracon ordered the men to tighten up their ranks, so they were all visible to one another. They reached the water’s edge. Dracon dismounted, walking his horse to the water, the horse would not drink from it and turned his head to walk along its edge.
“This seems unnatural?” Leonid asked more than stated.
“I would agree, so does the horse,” Dracon said looking back at him, “East or west? Where shall we search first?” Dracon said to Venalina pointing to his left and his right, both leading along the water’s edge.
“Let’s cross it,” She said.
“Yes, of course that is the aim, do you mean to open a portal?” Dracon asked.
Her face soured, “No, I can’t use that kind of energy way out here. I want to save it for an emergency.”
“Why not?” Dracon asked.
“How will I feed after being drained? What if battle falls at our feet… again?” she explained, Dracon nodded, agreeing with her reasoning, besides, a portal would take all the fun out of it. Dracon began to walk his horse along the water’s edge to the east, the group dismounted and led their horses as they walked, trailing him. They walked for about an hour when pieces of wood became visible in the wake of the water’s edge.
“We’re getting close to something,” Dracon said to everyone over his shoulder and as he turned back, a dock came in to view, “There! This must be the dock Janouc spoke of,” he said pointing at it. He hurried to it hoping to see somewhere in the mist a village or other signs of someone living in the area. They spread out in search of a home the dock might belong to, but found nothing. It appeared to be just a dock, in the middle of nowhere, for no reason. It disappeared into the mist out over the lake, “Let’s see if there’s a boat, maybe we’ll get lucky?”
“I think we should find a way around, any boat here will probably be big enough for only one or two people? At best?” Dangelo said, “If it is even seaworthy?”
“I still want to see what’s out there,” Dracon said as he stood at the beginning of the dock. He turned and took a tentative step on the wooden dock. A whirring sound started out in the mist somewhere around them, and they all began to look around. A bolo appeared through the mist coming at Venalina, she raised her hand just high enough to stop it from hitting her in the throat, but it still got her. It pinned her forearm to her face as it’s weighted ends circled her head, getting tighter within a blink of an eye, it flashed when it finished wrapping around her head, dropping her to the ground, jerking, like she was being shocked by it. Dracon ran to Venalina and was hit from behind by the same type of weapon that flashed, blinding him. The whirring sound filled the air and his men drawing their swords was the last thing he heard before consciousness left him.
“Dracon!” A voice called to him, he opened his eyes and there was nothing, just darkness, he tried to get up but hit his head against an iron cage, it felt like he was in an iron coffin. His vision started to return in the dark, the light was dim, “Dracon!” A voice called next to him. Dracon was on his back in a cage, he could see a man was in a cage next to him. The cages were built to hold men, one on top of the other, like a stack of coffin cages. He could see through the bars barely making out the man next to him. There was a screeching that was nonstop. Dracon started to look around the more he recovered his senses. Torches illuminated the area. He could see about forty feet from him and the stacks of cages was a large cage with a creature in it that was making the sound he could hear. He was looking at it upside down and couldn’t make it out.
“Who are you?” Dracon asked. He was on his back in the cage, his feet were against the side of the cage that was against a wall, while his head was near the opening on the cage. It was clear he was slid into the cage feet first. He tried to look out the opening of the cage, tilting his head back.
“It’s me Tangram,” He said.
“Where are we?” Dracon asked.
“The dock was a trap, it didn’t exist, it was all an illusion, these people came running across the water, they looked like the mist!” Tangram whispered, “They took you and lady Venalina out first, then one at a time they took us out with those bolos, there were so many of them.” He said, “We are in some huge cave, they put us in these cages, but lady Venalina, they put over there, that’s her screaming.”
“Who are they?” Dracon asked trying to stretch his arms and test the cage’s integrity.
“I don’t know, but I think they worship lizards, or chameleons, some kind of reptile for sure,” Tangram whispered to Dracon. Dust from the man above him moving, fell in his face. Dracon spit and turned his head violently trying to clear the dust from his eyes.
“Can you move?” Dracon asked.
“No sir, the cage is so tight it scraped my shoulder when they forced me in. What about you?” Tangram asked.
“Same, I’m going to make a ruckus,” Dracon said then started to shake as hard as he could, kicking his feet against the cage and screaming repeatedly, he kept looking above him to see if anyone was coming. Someone did come, carrying a large stick and shoved it into the opening of Dracon’s coffin cage, ramming him in the head, hard, three times, it was hard enough to make him dizzy. The man said something to Dracon he couldn’t understand, Dracon yelled at him again and the stick was shoved into the cage again. Dracon tried to dodge it with his head, it clipped his ear and his lip instead. It hurt. Dracon continued yelling at the man. He pulled the stick out and said something to Dracon. He left for a few minutes, then returned with another man, he pointed at Dracon as he talked to him. The man pointed at Dracon’s cage, then to another cage and ordered the man to do something. They opened Dracon’s cage and two men reached in grabbing Dracon by his hair and pulled him out of the cage, he scraped against the sides all the way out. It was then, Dracon noticed he was naked, as he hit the floor. He was also shackled. Dracon started to fight but the men were ready for him to try and fight. They yanked the shackles on his feet dragging him across the floor. They dragged him a long way, all the way in front of the cage holding Venalina, she was wild and had become some creature Dracon hadn’t seen before, but he was sure it was her. What were they doing to her? Dracon tried to free himself from the chain’s, but they wouldn’t budge, they had to be magical. There were hundreds of people around him, men, women, children. They were in a semi-circle around the man who ordered Dracon brought out, he was on a throne. The area was an old ruined amphitheater of ages ago, filled with people. On either side of the throne, were two lizards the size of a man. Like two guard dogs. There was an altar on the floor in front of the throne, it was covered in blood. Dracon was dragged down steps near to the altar. Another man walked over to the man on the throne and gave him Dracon’s Amulet. They had a long conversation about it, the man kept pointing at Dracon then up to the screeching Venalina. The cage had to be made of magic. The leader sent another couple of men to the cages returning with two more of Dracon’s men, one was Dangelo. The leader came down from the
throne addressing all the people around them. They began shouting and yelling, whatever he was saying was whipping his people into a fervor. Men dragged Dracon over to the altar and lined him up next to Dangelo and the other man, a battlemage whose name Dracon did not know. They were all on their knees facing the altar. The leader walked behind the three of them and said something to the crowd. They all rushed in and began feeling each of the men. The entire crowd felt the three men over, even the children came forward to touch all three of them. The leader walked behind the three men on their knees.
“Oh goddess, save your servant!” The battlemage, Kerym, next to Dangelo started to panic and began whimpering.
“Get a hold of yourself!” Dangelo snarled at him.
“These are the Gyona, they’re going to eat us!” Kerym screamed. Dracon’s eyes widened, and he examined the altar more closely. It was true. Dangelo too looked around, noticing the bones around the base of the altar. Suddenly, they started noticing the people wore human bones as jewelry and headdresses for their armor. The man behind them had a curved sword and walked behind them one at a time, holding the sword over their heads and addressing the crowds around them. After each time the crowd would respond in screams. It was clear to Dracon what was happening, it was clear to all of them. They seemed to want to eat Dracon first. Dracon started searching the area around him, trying to devise a plan. They appeared to be in an underground city, it looked old and dilapidated. Dracon looked to his left and could see up the stairs of the amphitheater, over the people, at Venalina in the cage, like a bird trying to free herself from it, her wings flapping, she was screeching. She was surrounded by men with spears taunting her every time she settled her taloned legs on the cage bottom, she was becoming weary from the struggle. The man stepped behind Dracon and cried out some phrase. All the people roared their approval. He saw the men at Venalina’s cage also turn their attention toward him, coming closer to watch. Two men grabbed Dracon by his shackled arms lifting him up slightly and dragging him to the altar, his shackled feet dragged on the dirt covered rock floor. They threw him on the altar and pulled his arms over his head, hooking the shackles into a hook in the rock to keep him in place, then did the same to his feet.
“No!” Dangelo yelled and tried to stand, but was hit hard in the head with a club, dropping him to the ground face first. Kerym started to whimper louder, begging for salvation. Dangelo slowly crawled back to his knees, blood trickled down the side of his head where the club struck him. He looked at Dracon, defeated, ashamed. Dracon returned his look with a smile and a wink. It made Dangelo chuckle, even in the face of death, Dracon made him feel like everything was ok.
The leader of the Gyona walked around Dracon, riling his people even further, then started to repeat a phrase repeatedly, the crowd started to repeat the phrase, in unison with him. He turned his attention to Dracon, his eyes wide and wild. He said something to Dracon, he didn’t understand the words, but he knew by the look in his eyes, he was relishing his power over him and was trying to scare him. Dracon leaned up as much as he could to move his face closer to the leader and laughed at him as hard as he could. The crowd looked on at him and slowly quieted, surprised by his crazed laughter. The leader turned back to the crowd and said something that returned the crowd to a roaring cry for Dracon’s blood. The leader of the Gyona readied his curved sword, lining it up on Dracon’s calf. He meant to cut his leg off. The Gyona leader brought his sword down on Dracon’s leg and the crowd roared, then just as quick as the blow was delivered, the crowd was silenced. Dracon looked over at Dangelo.
“When you’re able, free Venalina from that cage,” Dracon said in the moment of quiet. Dangelo too was stunned, he had heard about Dracon’s resistance to blades before they left Qinkas, but had all but forgotten. He nodded to Dangelo, “Both of you, fight for your lives if you want to get out of here alive!” Dracon growled. The Gyona leader pulled a dagger made of rock from his waist, he showed it to the crowd, it was clearly ceremonial, Dracon knew when he tried to use it he would make his move. As the Gyona leader chanted his ceremonial chant, Dracon looked over at the throne. He spotted his amulet on the arm of the throne, next to the incredibly large lizards. The Gyona leader raised his dagger in the air above Dracon’s stomach and brought it down as hard as he could. The rock dagger shattered, only the hilt remained, Dracon lurched with all his might, yanking his hands down toward his feet and his feet up toward his hands. The shackles might have been magic, but Dracon guessed the hooks in the stone altar were not. At first, the crowd and the leader thought he was successful, until the hooks broke free. Dracon brought both his hands across the side of the Gyona leaders head sending a spray of blood into the air, knocking him into a spin, completely around and out cold. The crowd silenced again. Dracon wasted no time and rolled off the Altar and hopped as fast as he could toward the throne. He reached the bottom of the steps up to the throne before the stunned warriors of the Gyona shook free of their shock and charged after Dracon. Dangelo ducked, rolling away from the altar and from the throne, where all the warriors were going. Instead, he fought his way through the crowd of civilians, using his shackles as blunt weapons, effectively. Kerym cowered, crawling to the altar, trying to hide under it. The warriors swarmed passed him after Dracon, they had swords, axes, spears, and clubs. They reached him half way up the stairs to the throne, Dracon spun on them, using his shackles as weapons. He smashed the first warriors head completely, with repeated blows to his helmet. Then ducked down to grab his weapon that fell to the steps. He held it with both hands, backing up the steps as he parried and fought off the onslaught of warriors, thirsty for his blood. The people all around them swarmed closer wanting to see his death. They screamed for it!
Venalina was exhausted from being poked at with spears, when the guards turned to watch Dracon’s sacrifice, she fell to the cage bottom. She was unable to change her form, being stuck in the one she tried to turn into when she regained consciousness. They knew what she was and were prepared for her. The cage was built for her kind. She struggled to lift her head to look at her lover’s fate, but could not. With her eyes closed, all she could do was listen to it play out and weep. When the crowd roared and what sounded to her like a stampede began, she tried again to lift her head, thinking the worst, she wept louder.
“Sister,” A voice said to her from behind the cage, “Daughter of creator’s,” the voice said, “I release you,” There was a loud click and the bottom of the cage opened, dropping Venalina hard to the ground. She instantly turned to her Vordalyn form, horns and all, once again the raven winged angel. She could hear a gasp from the one who spoke to her. Then Venalina could see her as she grabbed Venalina’s face with both her hands, “Rise, mother of us all, show these fools your power,” She kissed Venalina full on her lips, then, in a white wisp of smoke, she was gone. Venalina rose to her knees then her wings began to flap lifting her high above the cavern floor. She could see Dracon fighting throngs of people, he was naked, at the steps of a throne. She was so weak, she could barely keep herself awake. Her wings were strong though, it felt good to have them and to fly, she needed to feed on him, her lover, her mate.
Dangelo made his way to the cage and before reaching it fully he could see Venalina was gone. He wasted no time and hobbled to where the others were stacked in man sized cages. It made him cringe when he realized they were kept as food. There was a singular warrior guarding the cages, he saw Dangelo coming and attacked first. Dangelo jumped back falling to the ground, his shackled feet stole his dexterity. It hurt, scraping his bare back on the rocky ground. The warrior tried to stab Dangelo who rolled away several times over, to get far enough away to stand. When he did, the warrior was on him again. Dangelo used his shackles to block blow after blow, then returned a blow to the man’s ribs doubling him over, Dangelo quickly wrapped his arms over the man’s neck. He bent over before him, using the chain between his wrists to choke the life out of him. Dangelo backed away letting the man drop dead. He searched the
area and found, next to more shackles, keys. He released himself from the shackles.
“Dangelo, hurry!” A man called from the stacked cages, “Let us out!” Dangelo hobbled over to the cages and started opening the tops of the cages, they were latched but not locked, they didn’t need to be. The men in them could never get their hands anywhere near the openings because the cages were so narrow. Dangelo had to physically pull the men out of the cages. Some were not people he knew, who just ran off. They were missing two battlemages and one soldier. Dangelo hoped none of them had the misfortune of being eaten already. Leonid and Dangelo rallied the men and started grabbing anything they could as weapons. They led the men back around the wall to where the Gyona were trying to kill Dracon. Dangelo and Leonid ran headlong into the crowds of screaming people with a battle cry, determined to fight their way to Dracon.
Venalina swooped down from the cavern roof, to mere feet above Dracon, the crowds recoiled from her in fear. She dropped down on Dracon almost attacking him, as the crowds that were attacking him moved back from her. Dracon tried to stop her, so he could continue fighting, but her thirst for him was too great, and not him or the Gyona around them would stand in her way. She latched onto his sweaty neck and fed. Her powerful wings lifted them both high into the air once again. Men with spears launched them in her direction, arrows and bolos too, flew into the air trying to drop the two from flight. Venalina, renewed and full of power, freed him of his shackles, then released Dracon to fall back to the ground, she spread her wings in the air before all the Gyona and roared a violent, warning of her wrath to come.
Dracon landed before the throne, agile as a cat, landing in a crouch ready to pounce. The lizard to his right reared up to bite him. Dracon hit it with both fists on either side of its head like two hammers, smashing it dead with a roar of his own. The other lizard hissed and tried to flank him, men too, tried to flank him. Dracon spotted his amulet on the floor where the lizard had been sitting, prior to its flanking maneuver. He ignored all of them and ran to his amulet. The lizard and warriors rushed to attack him. Before he could be reached, he grabbed his amulet putting it to his neck. It flew from his hand, wrapping itself around his neck, by the time Dracon turned to face his enemies, he was fully armored with his Unholy Reaver in hand. Terror ripped through the cavern as each person who witnessed him in his armor began to turn and flee in terror, screaming at the demon before them.
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