Tower of Ancients

by Jaeger Mitchells

  “And you saw this with your own eyes?” I asked. It was no wonder I never heard of them if they stuck to the forests and themselves.

  “Yes. I followed them the last time they were here and have been on the outskirts all this time, waiting for them to arrive.”

  “I see. But the thing I don’t understand is why didn’t you ask me for help?” I asked and turned to Rennes.

  “The Three-Horned Viper tried to attack them last time but he was beaten by them. There were thirty of them when they beat it almost to death. It only survived by escaping into the river.”

  I sat there thoughtfully, trying to think about how to proceed with this matter. There was no way we could fight two fronts at the same time. If they attacked in periods of a few days difference, we might make it, but what if they arrived on the same day?

  “Can you take us there? To their camp or whatever it is.”

  “What? You want to go there?” Rohan exclaimed and shot up, but quickly sat down again.

  “Why not? I rather fight on my own terms than on theirs. If they attack this place, we’ll have to worry about them hurting my people, but if we fight them somewhere halfway to wherever we’re at, then we’ll be able to go at them without any restrictions.”

  “Is he serious?” Rohan asked, turning to face his sister. She shrugged and made a ‘who knows’ gesture with her hands.

  “I am. But first off, I’m going to ask you this question one more time. Is there anything else we need to know? If I find you’ve been hiding other things from me, someone is going to get hurt badly.”

  “No! Nothing more, please,” Rennes pleaded. “I swear, this was the only thing!”

  “Get your things together, Rohan. You’ll ride one of our horses so we can get there quicker.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me before bursting out in laughter.

  “You do know they’re immortal, right? They can’t be killed!”

  “So am I, Human,” I sneered. “What the fuck do you think you are to talk to me like that? If not for your sister and your father, I’d rip your head off right here and now!”

  All color drained from his face when I saw a dagger sticking out from his side. Rennes had stabbed her own brother. Now that was interesting.

  “Damned fool! Do you want to throw away the only chance we have? Be glad your father is dead or he’d kill you himself where you stand!”

  I let out a sigh and turned toward the door.

  “Dress his wound. I’m checking in with Dimas before we’re setting out. Be ready and packed as soon as possible, Rohan.”

  I didn’t wait to hear a response and instead marched out, slamming the door closed behind me. The same group of men who were sitting around earlier stood now a good distance closer as if they had been listening in or something. I stormed past them, paying the group no heed as I looked for Dimas, trying to feel him out.

  “Dimas!” I yelled, using most of my vocal power to amplify the call. Almost every pair of eyes in the vicinity turned to see what was going on, but most of them quickly went back to the business at hand.

  “Lord Raziel,” a woman’s voice spoke from behind. I turned around only to see a face I barely recognized, and only because I noticed her riding next to Dimas with her cowl down.

  “You’re—?”

  “Yes, I’m Dimas’ spouse. My name is Anya.”

  “I see, Anya,” I replied slightly flustered by her sudden appearance. “What can I do for you? Where is Dimas?”

  She chuckled, lifting the cowl over her head and bowed slightly.

  “It’s not what you can do for me, but what I can do for you. Dimas is out with the snake. They’ve gone to inspect what needs to be done.”

  “Can you reach him?”

  She shook her head slightly.

  “I can send one of the children if it’s important, however.”

  “No, don’t do that. It’s not of such great import. I can ask him later about the Trolls. Thank you, Anya.”

  I turned around to leave, but she put her hand on my shoulder.

  “My Lord, what kind of Trolls are we talking about? Dimas and I have had our fair share of trouble killing the beasts.”

  It was my turn to be surprised.

  “You’ve fought the beasts before?”

  She nodded and even graced me with a smile of hers.

  “I have. Many of them in fact. The only way to defeat a Stone Troll is to shatter his core and prevent it from regenerating for a couple of minutes.”

  “Wait, there are those made from stone as well?”

  “What do you mean as well? Those are the only Trolls I know of.”

  “Shit,” I cursed and spat at a tree stump. “That’s not going to be helpful if you’ve never met one before.”

  “Why curse? All Trolls should be the same, right? The kids could go head to head with them one on one, but anything more than that was dangerous.”

  “I see. But Anya, I’m not talking about Stone Trolls, I’m talking about something else. These supposedly have armor-like skin and incredible regeneration. The Humans who faced them said they can’t be killed.”

  “Hah! Can’t be killed? Anything alive can also die, Lord Raziel. Ask Dimas and his claws, he’ll tell you how many creatures survived an encounter with him.”

  “Right, I apologize. It’s just that you got my hopes up and then you—.”

  “Lord Raziel,” she interrupted and took two steps toward me. Our faces were only a foot apart now as she breathed out cold death. “I’m much more than just a pretty face. There are two things I’ve learned during this very long life of mine. Would you like to hear them?”

  I nodded, barely able to breathe from the power she exerted. She had looked old, but now that she was so close to me, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy on Dimas.

  “Please do,” I murmured, waiting for her to go on.

  “If steel can’t kill it, fire can. If fire can’t, ice can. And if even ice can’t, then you better run.”

  “I see. And one of you is an Elementalist?” I asked curiously. It was as if she’d put me under a spell which suddenly evaporated.

  “Worse, I’m a Vampire Witch. I deal with the elements and curses.”

  I suddenly gained a new appreciation both for Anya and for Dimas, who really knew how to choose a keeper. She was gorgeous, she was strong, and she seemed smart. What else would one want in a wife?

  “Why are the two of you standing so close?” Dimas’ voice brought me back from my thoughts. Anya took four steps back suddenly and disappeared into the trees.

  “We were talking about Trolls and didn’t want anyone else to hear about our conversation,” I lied. He chuckled and slapped me on the back.

  “No, you weren’t. Well, maybe you were, but she wasn’t. Anya was playing a trick on you to see how susceptible you were to charms.”

  “You passed, more or less,” her voice came from overhead. I didn’t look up but instead turned to face Dimas.

  “Back to more pressing matters,” I replied and took a deep breath. “What about Trolls? Do you know of any other than the Stone Troll?”

  He nodded but frowned, his face drawn into a tight line.

  “What’s with them? You know of a nest?”

  “No, well, yeah. One of the villagers says they’ll be attacking at about the same time the Vampires will. They come every four years to get tribute from the camp. Oh, and he knows how to bring us there as well.”

  “I see. That would be a good reason to fight them on our own terms I guess, but those things are nasty hard to kill.”

  “Yeah, so imagine if they showed up during the battle.”

  Dimas looked at me confusedly and scratched his beard.

  “Why would they want to take tribute from here, though? I thought no one knew about this place.”

  “Yeah, well, the previous bandit leader, or Rennes’ father, found them while searching for other camps and villages to the North-East. The lone survivor who escaped bro
ught the Trolls back here.”

  “In the form of livestock?”

  “If you look at it like that, sure,” I chuckled. Anya slapped his chest and chuckled along with us.

  “So, you want a way to kill them, huh? But I’m not giving you Anya. She’s much too valuable for me.”

  “No need. I’ll find a way if you tell me how to fight them.”

  “There’s only one real way to kill them, Raziel. Fire. Fire is the best way to kill a Land Troll as I got to know them by.”

  “Land Troll it is then, but fire? I would need an Elementalist.”

  “Exactly, and one which can cast fire. Or they can help prepare magical ampules in which the fire is stored. I have seen it done a long time ago, but the Elementalist needs to be very strong.”

  “Or you can use a Vampire Witch,” Anya whispered, winking at me.

  “You really like to fool around, don’t you, Dimas?” I couldn’t help but sigh. “Would you lend me Anya’s powers so she could make some of those things?”

  “You don’t need his permission. As long as I get a large bedroom once we get where we’re going in the end, I’ll make you—how many do you need anyway? It’s quite taxing on the body.”

  “Rohan, the guy who will take me there said something around thirty. So if you could make me anything near that number, I would be very grateful.”

  “Let’s be honest here. If I can even make ten of them you should count yourself lucky. Those things are hard to create unless I have help.”

  “Help?” All this back and forth was really starting to get on my nerves, and maybe it even showed because Dimas put his hands up and stepped back, disappearing into the tree line.

  “You can ask the Elves to help. The sisters will be more than enough to make a few more if I can have a day to teach them.”

  “Alright. What else do you need? Glass ampules?”

  She shook her head.

  “No, young Vampire. We need ice magic. Luckily Sylvana is quite adept at using it, otherwise, we would have a problem.”

  “Thanks, Anya. I’ll go get them right away so you can start teaching them. We don’t have much time.”

  Chapter Thirty

  “You want us to expend our life force to create you some ampules?” Helena hissed. “I want to live for another thousand years, thank you very much. A year is an awfully long period of time.”

  I looked back at her with my right eyebrow raised. She murmured something else and looked away as Sylvana put her hand on Helena’s.

  “Sis, please shut up, and let’s help him. No, not just him, all of these people. If he’s willing to risk his life, then what’s a year for us?”

  “A lot of good food and drinks if we manage to settle somewhere.”

  “Whatever. I’ll find another way,” I growled, turned around and stormed off. Before I even made five steps, two pairs of hands clung to my arms, pulling me back to stop.

  “Wait, Raz,” Helena whispered. “I’m sorry. Alright? I’ll help.”

  “I know you will. I just didn’t feel like listening to your childish banter any longer so I decided to go do something else.”

  “Y-you—what?”

  “Hah, you got done in by your own games!” Sylvana laughed as they let go.

  “Serves her right. Now, please, go find Anya and get started. I want to set out tomorrow.”

  The Elves ran off to where I talked to the Vampire couple earlier as I moved to meet with Rennes and Rohan. They were busy binding his wound and preparing some supplies when I arrived.

  “We leave tomorrow. They’re going to create a secret weapon for us, but it’s going to take a whole day. Rest until then and try to heal up. If you can’t stand the pain, I’ll give you a couple of drops of blood to help with the healing process.”

  “Can you give them right away? The dagger went in quite deep,” he murmured. I nodded and slashed my nail across my wrist, pressing it against his mouth. Caught off guard, he tried to defend himself, but he was way too weak, having lost much blood.

  “Now you, Rennes. It’s bad manners to spill immortal blood.”

  “No, wait! What will happen to me? I want to stay Human!”

  “Nothing will happen if you don’t drink too much. A couple of drops or a small sip isn’t anything to worry about. Now, if you would be to drink a whole cup of it, then your body would undergo changes and you’d become like one of my people, a Hybrid. However, you need to be sustained for a while to fully turn into one.”

  “Is that the reason why you don’t have so many of them?” Rohan asked.

  “How do you know? Have you been studying them?”

  “No, I haven’t! It’s just that I—.”

  “Hey, I’m only joking. Now, how about you sit down? This can have quite the kick if you’ve never had any before. Both of you.”

  “No, I don’t want to—,” Rennes protested, but I didn’t pay her no heed. I forced her mouth open and let a couple of drops fall onto her tongue, then helped her sit down.

  “Endure it if it hurts. You’ll be grateful to me afterward.”

  It has been a while since I had a talk with my officers and Harlan, so I decided to drop by the blacksmith first. He was busy organizing some ore and parts of the Razorbacks that could be useful. Every single one of them had a number of very sharp spikes and blade-like growths that grew on their backs, hence the name Razorback.

  His sons were busy stripping the flesh and sinews from the back parts as the girls cleaned what remained and sorted it out. Carla was busy behind the bellows, keeping the fire going.

  “My Lord!” Harlan laughed as I stopped at the smithy’s entrance. “This gift was marvelous! We can use the spikes to create large bolts and even javelins. A couple are large enough to make spears with, but that’s it.”

  “Hey, calm down,” I laughed. “I’m glad you’re liking the present. Just you wait until all this shit is over and we can start mining the ore. There’s a vein I can’t place down there. I know it’s much better than the ordinary steel you make out of it, but slightly worse than Mithrill.”

  “What? I want to go there right away! No, even better, have your brutes mine some and it bring to me!”

  “Hey, there are more important things to take care off, you old fool!” Carla yelled and threw a tiny piece of burning coal at him. I caught it in mid-air and threw it back at her, narrowly missing the woman’s raised arm and hit the inside of the bellows.

  “Carla, I can’t really afford him hurt right now,” I said, my voice neutral as I could muster. The woman knew she messed up, but she didn’t say anything and looked down at the ground. “Hey, no need to sulk. You know I have a special place for your family in my Coven, right? Just don’t do any stupid stuff.”

  “Thank you, Lord Raziel,” she replied immediately, bowing as low as she could. Her cleavage showed as she did and I could see her notice, but she didn’t mention it. I quickly turned around, though, not wanting to give Harlan a hard time.

  “So, Harlan, what can you make me until tomorrow that could create fire?”

  “My Lord? Do you want an honest answer?” he asked, obviously in a dilemma of what to say.

  “I do.”

  “I have no idea. We have some spark stone, but not in a great quantity. I could fit some on arrows and sprinkle them with hellfire dust. Theoretically, it could cause an explosion and set something on fire, but we have nowhere near enough of either.”

  “Can you make a bomb out of it? Something like the Dwarves like to use?”

  “Hmm,” he murmured, stroking what little beard he had and imitated a Dwarf. “I could create glass containers, but they would be highly volatile. Break one and you’re dead.”

  “Good. Make them until tomorrow. How many can you do by then?”

  “Hah! It’s not how many I can do, but rather how much of that stuff there is!” he laughed. Seeing I didn’t find it as funny, he coughed and went on. “I think seven to ten, depending on the power of the bomb.”

>   I nodded, thinking about what to do. If I set the bastards on fire and it did nothing, then I had a problem. No, one bomb one kill was more important.

  “Make them a bit stronger. Two-three less is better than not killing the targets.”

  He nodded knowingly.

  “And what’s the target? Monsters again?”

  “So-called Trolls. I was made to believe that they’re almost un-killable.”

  “Whatever they are, bring me a skeleton, alright? I want to study it if possible,” Harlan smirked. He was all about new races and monsters. The continent was vast and we hadn’t traveled far. The furthest we’ve been were the borders of our Kingdom, at least as it went for me. Lefrand liked to keep me at arm’s length in case he needed me.

  “I’ll make sure you get one. Now that we’ve talked it over, I’ll leave you to your work. Ladies. Gentlemen.”

  I left the smithy before they could stop me with useless banter. I had more than enough on my plate without them. The next stop was to find my officers and see how everything was moving along. From what I could see, every hour there was something else that was either finished or started anew. Dozens of sites were being dug up and it was quickly becoming a quarter just for the barracks. Equally interesting was the fact that the barracks even looked decent from the outside. They hadn’t just jammed a bunch of logs together, no, they had done so with care.

  “You must really like it here, huh?” I whispered to myself as the corners of my lips rose slightly.

  I passed a group of soldiers who nodded and went on with their work before I found one of the men I was looking for: Sentinel.

  “My Lord,” he said in greeting before putting away the shovel he was manhandling.

  “How are things on your end? And generally with the water and waste stuff.”

  “It’s getting along well. We’re almost done with a huge septic pit that’s being dug in the furthest corner. We’ve been hollowing out logs and using clay to make pipe-like shapes that will lead everything toward there,” he pointed at what really did look like an enormous hole at least a hundred feet wide and who knew how deep from this distance.