Journey of a Betrayed Hero- Volume 2

by Brandon Varnell

  It tried to attack her, but Enyo was prepared, having gotten a read on its movements thanks to their last few bouts. She dodged its claw swipe, leapt over its tail, and then stabbed it in the exact same spot with her other dagger. Its scales began to melt.

  “Purifico.”

  The draconian howled as it attacked with more ferocity. Enyo wove between a hailstorm of slashing claws, making sure to use the fact that the draconian couldn’t move past the throne to her advantage. She moved back, avoided a swipe, and then came back in. Stab. Blood poured from the wound as her dagger finally pierced his scales.

  “Perputo.”

  Another dodge. Another stab. The wound became deeper.

  “Perpurigo.”

  By now, the draconian seemed to realize that something was wrong. She was injuring him. He went into a frenzy, attacking with a series of furious slashes. She merely moved past the throne, came back in, and stabbed him again. Blood gushed from the wound.

  “Purgatio.”

  On her last attack, Enyo thrust her dagger into his chest with all the strength she possessed. The weapon slid in, piercing his chest as, with her final incantation, she poured all of the magic she had left into this one attack. The results staggered even her.

  Cracks appeared along the draconian’s body. Beams of light shot from his eyes. His body shook as the cracks widened and spread.

  Enyo leapt back just as the draconian exploded into millions of light particles. She raised her arm to shield her eyes, and when the light dimmed, she lowered her arm and looked at the place where the draconian had been. He wasn’t there anymore.

  I… beat him?

  It took a moment for that fact to sink in. When it did, she raised a hand to her mouth, as if trying to contain the squeal that wanted to emerge. She couldn’t believe that she had defeated a draconian—and without using her dark magic to boot!

  After taking a moment to congratulate herself, Enyo remembered that Fellis was still fighting in the next chamber over. She rushed back into the hall and down the corridor. The other room soon opened before her.

  Fellis was still fighting. Her body was covered in bruises and lacerations. Blood ran freely down her skin. Meanwhile, the draconian looked like she was in perfect shape.

  As a woman and someone who used a whip, Fellis was at a distinct disadvantage when fighting against another female, especially one that was this strong. Her whip was practically useless against those tough scales. What’s more, half of her fighting style relied on using Mind Manipulation to control someone and make them present openings in their guard. However, it was hard to use Mind Manipulation on a woman while in the middle of combat, since Fellis couldn’t seduce women. Would Mind Manipulation even work on an undead anyway?

  Enyo could have gone over to help her former maid. Perhaps if they double teamed the draconian, they could win. However, Enyo knew of another way to win, one that had a lot less risk.

  The best method to kill the puppet was too get rid of its puppeteer.

  “That’s right! Murder that bitch! Kill her! Rip her to shreds so I can free her from these bonds of life!” Like a lunatic, the necromancer’s laughter rang with the overflowing twang of insanity. He hadn’t even noticed her yet, busy as he was goading the female draconian on.

  Enyo didn’t want him to notice her approaching, so instead of getting in close and attacking, she hung back, channeled light magic into the dagger in her left hand, took aim, and threw it. Her aim was true. The dagger soared through the air and pierced the necromancer through the skull. His laughter stopped immediately. He remained standing for several seconds. Then his body began to twitch before he fell backwards with a boneless thud.

  The draconian, with no one providing her magic, began to evaporate. Before she fully disappeared, she smiled at Enyo, as if giving thanks for freeing her from the necromancer’s control.

  “Enyo!” Fellis rushed to her side. “Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?”

  “I’m fine,” Enyo said. “I’m really sore, but I think I’m in better shape than you are.”

  Fellis paused, then sighed, and then smiled. “Yes, I suppose you are correct. You did quite well.” She sighed again when Enyo muttered a healing spell that took care of her injuries. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” Enyo said. “Now, I think we should get out of here. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be in this place anymore.”

  “That,” Fellis started, “is a grand idea.”

  ***

  The villagers had been grateful when Enyo and Fellis returned that day and let them know that the necromancer had been destroyed and their sisters, wives, and children had been put to rest. The villagers let them stay for the night. When morning came, they provided the pair with food and saw them off.

  “Thank you for all your help,” the village chief said. “And… I’m sorry for thinking you weren’t capable of helping us. I’m glad you proved me wrong.”

  Enyo smiled sadly and shook her head. “You’re welcome. I only wish we could have done more for your families.”

  While Enyo had taken the villager’s thanks with a smile and some kind words, Fellis had stood back. Enyo thought it was because, unlike her, her former servant didn’t care to become a hero.

  When all was said and done, she and Fellis said farewell and left the village. Following the directions given to them by the chief, they traveled to the west, toward the Dius Mountains. Their goal was the Daedalus Pass, a route through the mountains that would take them to Alyssium.

  The Dius Mountains was a massive mountain range. The tallest peaks were so high they seemed to pierce the heavens. Enyo couldn’t even see the tops, shielded as they were by clouds.

  As they walked through the Daedalus Pass, which took them between mountains, Enyo glanced at the cliff faces that stood on either side of them. There weren’t many places to climb. However, there were a lot of ledges that could have been used as ambush points. The village chief had warned them about bandits in the area, so she wanted to be careful and therefore kept a constant surveillance of their surroundings.

  “Do you know how long it’ll take to reach Alyssium once we pass through these mountains?” asked Enyo.

  Fellis hummed. “The village chief said it would take a day to travel through Daedalus Pass without interruption. Once we pass through the mountains, it will take another twenty-nine days to reach Alyssium. As long as we don’t run into trouble and keep to a strict pace, it should take exactly one month.”

  Enyo tried not to let her depression show. She’d been hoping they could shave that time off, but if even Fellis was telling her it would take a month, then she had no choice but to concede.

  Daedalus Pass was a winding path that traveled up, down, and around the mountains. She and Fellis were sometimes forced to climb up steep cliffs and travel through dark tunnels to keep going. No one ambushed them as they walked, there were no monsters coming out to “greet them,” and Enyo believed they could pass through the mountains without incident.

  Hindsight is always 20/20.

  It happened when she and Fellis were about to cross a bridge. Several men leapt down from the ledges on either side. They were a ragtag bunch; their clothes were threadbare and in tatters, they were missing teeth, and their skin was covered in filth. Rusty weapons were clutched in grimy hands. Sweat-covered faces stared at her and Fellis with obvious lust in their eyes.

  Enyo felt dirty from those looks alone.

  She didn’t bother letting them speak. Before they could even open their mouths, her daggers were out, and she was charging at them. She killed the first bandit without any of them doing a thing, stabbing him through the heart and slitting his throat at the same time to make sure he died swiftly. Enyo wasn’t going to cry over one less bandit in the world.

  “W-what the fuck, Lady?! You just killed Ezio!”

  “Of course I did! You think I’m going to let you get a word in when I already know what you’re here for?” Enyo shou
ted as she rushed at next bandit.

  He swung his blade, a rusty falchion, at her, but she deflected it with the dagger in her left hand, and then thrust out the dagger in her right. Her weapon pierced his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground.

  “You could at least listen to what we have to say!” the bandit, who she assumed was the leader, shouted.

  She scoffed. “Right. Because I don’t already know what you’re going to say: ‘You have to pay the toll if you want to cross the bridge.’ Then once we’ve given you everything you own, you’d take us prisoner anyway so you could turn us into your playthings. I know how this works, but I have a tight schedule to keep and no desire to play around!”

  Two bandits tried to double team her, one wielding a claymore and the other a short sword. Enyo winced a little as her left dagger clanged against the massive claymore. Ignoring the small jolt that traveled through her arm, she redirected the weapon into the other bandit’s path, moving her arm up, over her head, and around to the other side of her body. Even she winced when the claymore dug into the man’s skull, killing him instantly, though that didn’t stop her from slitting the claymore wielder’s throat.

  “Well said, Enyo,” Fellis agreed as she wrapped her whip around one of the bandit’s necks. She yanked him off his feet and threw him into one of his comrades. As they both went down, the one on bottom accidentally pierced that one that she’d thrown through the chest, killing him.

  “Damn it!” the bandit leader swore as Enyo rushed forward and attacked another bandit. “Who the hell are these broads?! Shit! I guess we got no choice! Bring out Echidna!”

  “Echidna?” Enyo asked.

  Above them, a man with a black robe and a hood stood on a ledge. Enyo blinked when she noticed the tunnel next to him, which explained how they had ambushed her and Fellis without being spotted. She didn’t have much time to contemplate the man as he ran into the tunnel. Another bandit was trading blows with her. Fortunately, he was about as skilled as most bandits were.

  That is to say he had no real skill to speak of.

  Enyo wove around his reckless and imprecise swings, feeling the air currents shift during each attack. This man’s sense of timing was atrocious. Once she’d gotten a feel for his attack patterns, she lunged forward, swerved around his awkward swing, kicked out his legs when he attempted to backpedal, and then sliced his clavicle vein as she ran past his falling form. She heard him hit the ground behind her.

  Now she had a clear shot to their leader. Even though she tried not to, Enyo couldn’t quite stifle her grin when she saw the horror-stricken expression on the man’s face. Her blood was boiling. She wanted to kill this man, this filthy creature who was beneath her contempt, who murdered and pillaged and raped. She wanted to—

  Enyo’s instincts warned her of danger, screaming at her and making her leap backward. Something crashed into the ground in front of her. A person. No, a monster. She had the upper half of a woman. A sensual figure was bared for all to see. The curve of her neck was slender and elegant. Her face would have been beautiful were it not for the way her mouth split open to show off a gaping maw full of sharp teeth.

  As the woman bared her ugly mouth at Enyo in a snarl, she peeled her lips and proceeded to snarl right back—until she noticed the woman’s lower half… which was that of a snake.

  “S… sn…”

  “Uh oh,” Fellis muttered as she tore through a man’s throat with the steel tip of her whip. “Enyo, remain calm. Don’t panic and—”

  “SNAAAAAKKKKKEEEEE!!!!!”

  Enyo’s scream echoed across Daedalus Pass. Memories from when she was a little girl flooded her mind, unpleasant at best and terrifying at worst. They were memories of scales and fangs and biting and poison. There were few things in this world that she really hated. Injustice was one of those things. Snakes were another.

  A red haze fell over Enyo’s mind as her thoughts were subsumed by the terrible memories from a time of her childhood that she’d rather forget. She could remember nothing of what happened in those few seconds. When she finally came to, Fellis was shaking her shoulder and calling her name.

  “Enyo! Enyo! You have to calm down! The echidna is already dead so calm down!”

  “What? Dead?” Enyo blinked, and then she blinked again. Then she looked down. Lying at her feet, with black fire covering its body, was the echidna. “When did that happen?”

  “That happened when you went berserk and killed it,” Fellis said.

  “I killed it?”

  “Yes, you did—along with all the bandits that were around here.”

  “Huh.” Enyo scratched the back of her head as she took note of the bandit corpses lying all around her. “I don’t remember doing anything of that.”

  “That’s because you went crazy.” Fellis placed a hand on her forehead and sighed. “Honestly, Enyo, losing your cool like that in the middle of combat is unbefitting of a warrior.”

  “B-but snakes are frightening,” Enyo said. “You know I don’t like them.”

  “Yes, yes. I know. Ever since you were bitten by a venomous snake when you were younger, you’ve always hated them. I am aware. I was the one who made you the antidote, after all. However, you should have mastered this fear a long time ago.”

  Enyo looked away. She didn’t want Fellis to see her blush. “I-it can’t be helped. It’s not like I’ve seen that many snakes since then, and this one also had the body of a woman. It was double creepy.”

  Fellis had never looked so exhausted. “Let’s just go. I’d like to arrive at the next village before midnight.”

  The two crossed the bridge and continued traveling, leaving behind several dead bandits and the burnt remains of an echidna.

  INTERLUDE I

  COUNCIL DECISIONS

  Lust was the youngest member of the Dark Council, having killed the previous Lust in single combat several centuries ago. The previous Lust, along with the previous Pride, had been the oldest members before their deaths at her hands. While the current Pride may have spat vitriol at her due to the “dishonorable” way she had killed his old man, no one else really cared, and they often sided with her over him.

  That said, she didn’t really care about the council. They were just a means to an end. She was only there to be amused.

  In short, they were her playthings.

  “Lust,” Pride said, his voice full of scorn. “Is it true that you fought against the hero?”

  “I did indeed,” Lust admitted. “It was quite the battle. I can see how he was able to defeat Alucard. Our champions were no match for him either.”

  The Dark Council never did realize she didn’t send a champion of her own. If they asked, she could just inform them she was her own champion.

  Pride’s scornful look tickled Lust’s insides. “Praising the hero, Lust? I hadn’t realized you could lower yourself any further, but it appears I was mistaken. Where is your pride as a member of the Dark Council?”

  “I’m sure you have enough pride for the both of us.” Lust smiled. “I’m Lust, in case you’ve forgotten.”

  “If you fought the hero, then does that mean you also found the Dark Lady?” Wrath asked, his voice a deep baritone filled with anger.

  “Sadly not,” Lust said. “It appears the Dark Lady had already escaped before I faced off against the hero.”

  Pride scoffed. “Not only do you have no pride, it seems you’re useless as well.”

  “Coming from a man who can do nothing but bitch and whine, those words mean very little to me.” As Pride gave her a look filled with hate, Lust addressed the rest of the council. “While I was not able to capture the Dark Lady and bring her back, I did manage to discover where she is traveling.”

  “And where is she traveling?” asked Sloth.

  “She is heading to Alyssium,” Lust announced, nearly giggling when an unsettling stillness hung in the air.

  “Why would she travel to Alyssium?”

  “If she goes there, all of our
plans will be ruined!”

  “What should we do?”

  Listening to these old codgers panic was like music to her ears. These fools, powerful beyond compare, were little more than deranged schemers who’d long since lost their claws. They had lived for too long, become too comfortable with their status quo.

  She would not become like these idiots, and she had a plan that would bring this boring standstill that they had been locked in with the White Council to a stop.

  “If I may,” Lust began, once more gathering everyone’s attention. “I would like to propose that we attack Alyssium.”

  Silence reigned once more. She could sense the incredulity in her contemporaries’s gazes. They probably thought her mad, and maybe she was a little out of her mind, but it was better to be insane and happy than sane and bored.

  “You want us to attack Alyssium? The stronghold of the White Council?” Wrath asked, and for once, the anger was not there. Lust thought he was contemplative more than anything.

  “Of course, we will not be going to challenge the White Council,” Lust added, lying through her teeth. “Our ultimate objective is to reclaim the Dark Lady. With her no longer in our sights, all we can do is travel to Alyssum and wait for her to appear.”

  “You are a fool,” Pride spat. “Starting a war with the White Council will accomplish nothing. We are too evenly matched.”

  “Now where is your pride?” Lust asked with a mocking grin.

  “My pride has been tempered by experience, whelp! I have lived through countless wars! You don’t survive the battlefield like I have by being stupid! There is a difference between being prideful and being arrogant!”

  Pride was always so easy to rile up. Say the littlest thing, give the slightest insult, and he flew off his hinges. She loved his amusing reactions. It made screwing with him all the more fun.

  “While your idea has merit, I have to agree with Pride on this matter,” Envy said. She was the only other woman on the council. Lust didn’t know much about Envy, who kept to herself. Lust assumed she was the reclusive and cautious type.