However, not every battle was won so easily. The city had been lost to Rajah's serpents more times than they cared to remember, and each time it'd been changed by the loss. The statue in the center of the city was a prime example of this change. Rajah had his serpents build the statue out of nearly indestructible materials and enchanted to withstand damage even further.
All of this was done to remind the people within its walls just who it was they served, and what would befall them if they disobeyed.
THE NEXT MORNING KIERA sat up on the small cot she'd been placed on. Her blanket fell off and revealed her bare chest—which made Dorian uncomfortable in a number of ways.
He cleared his throat and promptly turned his back on the nearly naked woman. He'd taken to personally watching over her ever since the healer informed him of the status of her health. She was physically fine, aside from being exhausted. The doctor did notice some skin discoloration near her chest and warned him of the potential meanings it could have: poison, curses, and certain magic-related skills that were known to disrupt the delicate balance between exoteric and interior magical pathways.
While those were not intrinsically fatal, Dorian was informed that whatever caused her condition would have killed her, had she been exposed to it any longer.
This simple fact worried Dorian far more than he'd like to admit. Not for any romantic reason or even for something as trifling as "friendship.” No, Dorian was worried for himself and the lives of his people, rather than the health and wellbeing of some backwoods adventurer. "Lady Kiera," he began. His words drew her out of her mental stupor and into the present. "Please, get dressed and accompany me for a while... We need to have a talk."
"Hmm," Kiera hummed. She threw the blanket off of her legs and stood from the bed. The only covering she still had was a pair of loose breeches the doctor borrowed from one of the soldiers in the barracks. However, modesty didn’t appear to be a concern for Kiera at the moment.
When Dorian heard the rustling of fabric stop, he turned to see Kiera wearing a simple green tunic, also borrowed from the same soldier. "Ah, good. If you'll follow me, please."
Kiera robotically followed him out of the room and down three flights of stairs to an open courtyard. While normally being used for one-on-one combat drills, the courtyard was currently devoid of people, save for one man wearing snow-white robes and a small silver circlet atop his head.
The “King,” as most people liked to call him due to his choice of attire, actually wasn't even of noble blood. He was a lion beast-man, with orange-bronze fur, a thick black mane, glowing silver eyes, and the heavily muscled body of a warrior.
"Tyr? What are you doing here?" Kiera asked with only the slightest hint of emotion in her voice.
Tyr glowered at her tone and a low growl seemed to vibrate his entire body. "I'm here to clean up your mess, of course!"
Kiera shrank back from his outburst, but her Amazonian pride began to bristle at the insult. "You'll die."
Tyr's eyes widened at her rather frank choice of words and he snorted in amusement. "I've yet to find the monster capable of killing me," Tyr replied in a serious tone.
Most people would have mistaken Tyr's words as a sign of pride or hubris. But Kiera knew better. In the fifteen years since she'd met him, Tyr had never lost a fight.
It was rumored that he was the one originally meant to kill Rajah and free the people from his tyranny. But as a Titan—a rare form of magical warrior that utilized small metal trinkets to enhance their bodies far beyond the limits of a normal warrior—he was simply a bad match for the lightning magic their enemy preferred. Because of this, and the lack of support he received from the human-controlled city, he was relegated to being a guardian and only saw battle when the city was under direct attack.
Before Kiera could open her mouth and say something to further escalate the situation, Dorian interjected with his proposal. "Which is why I have decided to send three cavalry units with you when you leave."
"Can they keep up?" was Tyr's immediate reply.
"Of course. They are some of the finest soldiers in my army."
Kiera rolled her eyes and turned to leave.
"Lady Kiera, a word—please?" Dorian said before she could take more than a few steps.
Kiera stopped walking. "I'm formally requesting that you accompany Tyr to deal with this... creature. After your rather sudden appearance yesterday, I sent a regiment of soldiers along the road to find your party."
Kiera looked over her shoulder and stared at him with a hopeful expression. "And?"
Dorian sighed and shook his head. "We've yet to hear back from any of them. A group of mages conjured crow golems to scour the road, but all they found were scattered bits of armor and a few loose swords. I don't know how, but an entire regiment of trained soldiers seemingly disappeared into thin air."
Kiera's eyes went dim and she continued walking away. "I refuse to go after that thing. You should alert the families of those you sent out that their husbands and wives won't be coming home."
After saying her piece, Kiera left the courtyard and headed into the barracks to hunt down her equipment.
Chapter 23
I WATCHED THE BLONDE woman flee, leaving behind the dragon-man and what remained of her friends.
I honestly hadn’t meant for any of that to happen. I’d only wanted to ask where Rajah could be found, not slaughter them. But I couldn’t let the elf girl put any debuffs on me. The slightest distraction could’ve made me lose control of my aura and hurt someone and I had my aura completely under my control until the stupid cyclops punched me and caused me to lose focus. By the time I’d shoved my aura back down, it was too late. The elf girl was already gone.
‘S—Stay back, monster!” the dragon-man yelled. He had his oversized sword held high above his head, ready to chop me down if I came too close.
I doubted it would work, but hey, you never know.
“I mean you no harm,” I said placatingly.
“No harm? You killed my friends!”
“Yes, but those were accidents. Besides, your friend attacked me first.”
“Lies! Hurting Sheena is what provoked him. Do not try to rewrite the past, serpent!”
“Right, okay, yes. I squeezed too hard. That’s my bad. But I did warn her to stop struggling before she got hurt. If she’d only listened to me, this could’ve been avoided.”
The dragon-man pointed the tip of his blade at me. “Do not besmirch the lives of the dead,” he growled. “My friends are dead because of you. Nothing you say can change that.”
“No, you’re right.” I narrowed my eyes. Directing my attention at his feet, I increased gravity’s hold on him by a factor of two. He fell to his knees, sinking his blade into the soft soil and using it as a brace to keep himself from falling. “It’s my fault they’re dead, and it’s my burden to carry. But do not take my guilt as permission to point your weapon at me. Do so again, and you’ll be reunited with them before you can blink.” I released my hold on him and allowed him to stand. “Understand?”
“Ku—Yes.”
“Good.” I turned from him and looked at the golden statue of Rajah. “What can you tell me about Rajah?”
“Surely, you already know?” he asked. “There’s no way someone of your power hasn’t already met our resident god-king?”
“And why’s that?” I asked curiously.
“Well—I mean—” He waved his hand at me. “That.”
“That?” I laughed. “Because I’m powerful, because I’m a man, because I’m a snake, what is ‘That?’”
“The last one.”
“Right, well, I haven’t had the pleasure. If I had, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?”
“It could be a trick,” he insisted. “You could be working for Rajah, and this could be happening because you want to find out what we know and report back to him!”
I noticed him gripping the handle of his sword tighter and sighed, “Throw your b
lade aside.”
His fist tightened further. “Why, gonna kill me too?”
“That’s entirely up to you. Though the odds of that happening increase the longer you hold that sword like you’re about to take my head off.”
He stared defiantly into my eyes. “I’m thinking about it.”
“Yes, I can tell. But you will die.”
“I’d rather die fighting with a sword in my hand, than on my knees like a dog.”
“Jesus, did you rip that straight out of an action movie? That was badass.”
He batted his eyes a few times, presumably in confusion. “You really think so?”
“No, it was stupid. You’re speaking to a being strong enough to kill you literally without effort, and your plan is to—tell me your plan? What kind of ass-backwards bullshit is that?”
“W—What’re you—”
“Seriously, Kid. You didn’t think this through at all, did you?” I stepped forward and snatched the blade from his hand. He tried to fight back, to hold on, but it was like playing tug of war with a newborn. I held the blade out of his reach and lightly pushed him away.
“What do you plan to do now, huh?” I asked hotly. “I have your weapon now. Not only that, but you let me take it from you while you stood there and watched.”
“I tried to hold on, but you’re too strong.”
“Who gives a crap how strong I am? Hit me, kick me, turn the blade around and stab me with it, for god’s sake. But don’t just stand there and let me take your weapon from you.” I tossed the blade down at his feet. “Just like your friends back there, you can always do something different.” I waggled my stump of an arm at him. “Believe me, that’s a lesson I was painfully reminded of not too long ago.” I turned from him and began moving towards the city.
“Did Rajah do that to you?”
“Hell no. I made the mistake of clocking a god with a left cross.”
“Wait—” I heard the sound of his footsteps jogging to catch up with me. “You punched a god? Like, an actual deity—from one of the pantheons?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Which one?”
“Carlas something. Why’re you following me?”
“Oh, right. I can show you where Rajah is.”
I abruptly stopped moving, which caused him to run into my back. I twisted around and looked at him. “So, you do know where Rajah is?”
“Of, course. Everyone does. Rajah sent out a challenge for anyone stupid enough to take him on. It even came with a map.”
“If it’s such common knowledge, then why didn’t your friends just tell me and be done with it?”
“How the hell were we supposed to know you were serious? You show up out of nowhere and took one of us hostage. You’re lucky we didn’t just jump you.”
“No, you’re the lucky one,” I chuckled.
“Whatever. Point is, taking people hostage doesn’t usually make them want to have a friendly conversation with you.”
“I didn’t take her hostage; I was trying to stop her from doing—whatever the hell she was doing. If anything, my trying to stop her delayed her death.”
“What do you mean?”
I glanced down at him, then told him to move over to a nearby tree. He looked confused for a few seconds, then thought better of questioning me and did as I asked. Once I was sure he was out of my aura’s range, I released it. My aura covered all one-hundred and thirty feet of my body in an instant: destroying the land around me and causing me to sink into the ground. I quickly shoved it back into its cage where it couldn’t hurt anyone.
“What the hell, man!?” the dragon-man yelled. He scrambled back to his feet and took several generous steps back.
“My hold on that is tenuous at best,” I informed him. “It’s not something I control, it’s something I suppress: nothing more or less. Had your friend successfully used her magic on me, there’s every chance I would’ve lost control over it and you all would’ve died.”
“Most of us died anyway,” he reminded me.
“Yes, and one of them dumped you faster than a bull throws its rider.”
“W—What does that even mean!?”
“Doesn’t matter.” I sighed. “Point is, you were left behind, most likely as a diversion so the blonde could get away. Am I wrong?”
“Hrk—” He looked away.
I scratched the back of my head. “Where can I find Rajah?”
“There, in that mountain.” He pointed at a medium-sized mountain a few miles away. “That’s where Rajah told us we could find him.”
“Thanks.” I moved towards the mountain. However, after a few minutes I could hear footsteps coming up behind me. “What’re you doing?” I sighed. I was doing that a lot lately.
“Like you said, I was ditched,” he said in a much more cheerful tone than I expected.
“You don’t seem all too torn up about it.”
“Eh, fuck her. I tried for years to make her like me. After this, I just don’t care anymore. So...”
There was a pause as I stared him down.
“Can I come with you?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“Can you come with—Kid, I don’t even know your name.”
“Q-Shan, Q-Shan Astigeus. How about you?”
“Torga, just—Torga. Don’t you think you need to get back to the city? What if people come looking for you?”
“They won’t. The only one they cared about was Kiera and she ran for it. And knowing her, she’ll forget about us by morning. So, don’t worry about it.”
“If you say so,” I tentatively allowed. I grabbed him by his arm then leaped into the air and began flying towards the mountain.
A few minutes later we were standing at its base. Q-Shan didn’t seem too excited about the prospect of flying, which I found particularly amusing since he was a dragon-man. "This is where I can find Rajah, right?" I asked while surveying the area.
There was a cave set into the side of the mountain. The mouth of said cave was about twenty feet tall and forty feet wide. Q-Shan had informed me that this was a conscious decision on Rajah’s part because Rajah wanted entire armies to come after him at once, and the oversized entrance reflected that.
Q-Shan’s head bobbed up and down. “This is the place alright.
"Good, then you wouldn't mind waiting for me here, would you—What’re you doing?"
Q-Shan was rifling through his bag and would periodically take out a curious looking stone, only to throw it back into the bag with a disgusted look on his face. “I’m trying to decide which jewel would be the best fit for the job.”
“Job? What job?”
He looked up at me with a look of confusion on his face. “I’m coming with you.”
“No—You’re not.”
“But you said—”
“That you could come with me, yes, but not to face Rajah. I’m not going to be able to protect you and kill Rajah.”
“You won’t have to protect me!”
“I know.” The ground beneath Q-Shan rose and he was quickly imprisoned within a cage of bedrock. "Wait here." I smirked as Q-Shan tried in vain to break or bend the solid stone bars.
"You can’t just leave me here!”
I shrugged and moved past him into the dense canopy of trees.
Right away the cave showed signs of being lived in. The tunnels appeared to have been carved with some kind of crude tool. The walls and ceiling, though large near the opening of the cave, shrunk rapidly until I could barely move.
This led me to believe two things: The first was that whatever creature this Rajah was, he was significantly smaller than I was. Whether that was because Rajah was naturally smaller or he made himself smaller through a technique similar to my own, I didn’t know.
I also believed Rajah’s claim of wanting an army to attack him was hogwash. Unless he planned to make a kill room and funnel people into an area he knew they couldn’t maneuver in... Actually, that’s not a bad idea.
One of
my serpents picked up a scent and hissed loudly. "What's that smell?" So far I'd only walked a few hundred feet into the mountain, but already the atmosphere had taken a drastic turn for the worse. An obnoxious odor was sending my snake into a frenzy, his tail was sticking to the floor due to a dark gel-like substance covering it, and probably the most troubling thing was the sense of wrongness I felt.
With every fiber of my being, I knew I shouldn't be here. Nearly every step was followed by a tingling in my spine and butterflies in my stomach.
Am I—nervous? I couldn't remember the last time I was nervous.
A flash of yellow light nearly blinded me after being in the dark for so long. I instinctively held up my right arms to shield my eyes from the painful light.
A sharp pain exploded in one arm as a large set of jaws bit down and immediately tore a chunk off. Dark-gray bone and pink muscle tissue were exposed to the dank air. I backhanded my attacker's head with the damaged arm.
The attacker, a forty-foot-long serpentine dragon with gray scales and a single large horn on its snout, had the top part of its head reduced to little more than paste, and the momentum of the blow caused it to spin into the wall.
I waited for it to fall to the ground before moving to inspect it. As I drew closer to the body, two of my serpents opened their mouths and allowed magical energy to seep out. This caused two things: The cave suddenly got much hotter and it filled with an orange/red light.
It would have been nice to know you could do that BEFORE I got attacked. I sighed. I would have complained more, but since I was already talking to myself, I decided to do something decidedly less crazy and inspect a dead body.
The body, now that I’d gotten a good look at it, made me worry about the possibility of my catching whatever disease it was riddled with. Its scales were paper thin and were just barely hanging onto its skeleton by sheer force of will. Its eyes, or the one I found lying on the floor anyway, was milky white and lacked a defining pupil. Its teeth were rotten to the point of being completely black, and, from what I could see, its body was infested with maggots.
A Snake's Path (A Snake's Life Book 2) Page 20