The Four Territories: The Dark Assassin Book One

by Stevie Collier

  A purple fire burst from the ground. The Princess screamed and practically jumped out of her skin trying to get away from it. Even though Esh knew that the fire was without heat, he had also jumped. He’d never created such a potent cold fire before and he guessed her highness had never seen anything like it.

  “It’s okay, Dashine. Look.” Esh put his hand out and let the fire tickle his skin.

  “Oooohhhh,” the Princess cooed, crawling back towards it, the fire reflecting in her pupil-less eyes. She put her hand out into the fire and giggled as the fire moved from Esh’s hand to hers. They laughed together and it was so absolutely soothing to Esh’s heart. He never thought he would ever be able to share a laugh again.

  The laughter turned to screams and the Princess yet again scrambled backwards as fast as she could. Esh looked down and what he saw made his guts twist. The body they had first thought was Barish’s was not even close. The skin was a pale Green, half of its head looked to have been chomped off, and crawly things poured out from the hole where its finger had once been. The worst part of all was that its eyes were wide open and looking straight at him.

  “Looks like you found a replacement for me,” Barish commented from behind him, sending Esh’s skin crawling up his bones.

  “Barish?”

  “The one and only!” he said, his arms held out wide.

  Esh jumped up and embraced him like a brother. “We couldn’t find you! Where were you?”

  “I must have bumped my head on something hard and passed out. I just woke up, thanks to your little fire experiment gone wrong. And I was having such a great dream too. Of a beautiful female curling her fingers through my hair. It was so nice… Until she grew a mustache and boils on her face. Then she ripped out a huge gross fart, which must have been your fire, and I awoke!”

  “And you said I was different,” said Esh, temporarily forgetting about the thing on the ground.

  But an audible, “Ughhhhhhhhhh,” coming from the thing’s mouth made them all turn towards it.

  “Did it… just say something?” asked Barish, pointing down at the corpse.

  Esh, with a strange amount of courage he did not know he possessed, bent down towards the rotting humanoid. “Was that you?”

  “Ughhhhhhhh,” the thing replied.

  Barish tapped Esh on the shoulder, “I know this may be bad timing but… we have a problem. Well, actually, I have a problem." He knelt by the fire and put his arm out to show Esh just what exactly was going on. His red tinted skin had turned a shade of deep blue along with his lips, which now quivered rapidly. “What’s the use of this blasted fire if there isn’t any heat!” he said, sitting down and pulling his knees to his chest, holding himself tightly for warmth.

  “He won’t last long hereeee,” said the thing. “Not long, not long at all.”

  Esh watched as it spoke but did not see its mouth move. The words sounded as if they were coming from the rotted out holes lining its rib cage. The thing didn’t even look to be breathing!

  Ignoring it, Esh started to unstrap his vambraces, leggings, and any piece of armor that he could fit on Barish. “Put these on, they will help,” he said, handing out the pieces to him. “Seriously, they will.”

  “Whuh-whuh, are yuh-you talk-talking about?” Barish asked through chattering teeth, now rocking on his buttocks back and forth. “Is it muh-magic again?”

  “Try sorcery, but yes. Same thing.”

  Barish took one of the vambraces and strapped it on. “Ahhhh! Suh-so nuh-nice!” He swiftly attached the rest of the armored pieces to his body and returned to his seated fetal position. “Suh-so muh-much better. And you knuh-know how muh-much I love being huh-half nuh-naked.”

  “Oh, here, try the helmet as well.” Esh tried handing Barish the helmet, but Barish refused.

  “Nuh-no, if we guh-get into some suh-sort of trouble, I wuh-want you to have it. I’m guh-good with just these.”

  “Either way, you won’t last long here,” the thing spoke again through its ribs. “Not long.”

  “If you know so much, how about you tell us how to get out of here?”

  The thing’s dried eyes crackled as they moved to look upon Esh. “You have a great dark energy residing inside of you.”

  Esh was taken aback. How did this… corpse know about the evil twin? Could he feel the Wisp’s presence inside of him? It couldn’t just be coincidence.

  “Whuh-what’s it mean? Duh-dark energy?”

  Esh could see the Princess in the same fetal-like sitting position as Barish on the other side of the fire, keeping her distance from the monster. They had just escaped trouble only to have literally fallen right back into it.

  “I know… The dead can feel such things. Come, rest your hand on me once more.”

  “Duh-don’t do it, Eh-Esh! Suh-sounds like suh-something sexual ih-if you ask muh-me!”

  The dried eyes moved to Barish but this time the face actually made an expression using what looked to be patches of eyebrows. It was an appalled look.

  “Disgusting fool.”

  Esh couldn’t stifle the laughter that came from his mouth. His spirit needed this uplifting moment.

  “Fuh-fool! Who-who are you cuh-calling fool! Eh-Esh, luh-let’s use this rotten cuh-cadaver to muh-make a real fuh-fire!”

  “NOOOO!” the thing roared!

  “Yuh-yesss!” Barish hissed back in a mocking moan. “I nuh-need fire!”

  The thing and Barish started to argue just as small children did. Barish would pretend to be flicking flint and the thing would respond in the same panicked NOOOO. A buzzing noise from above interrupted their argument.

  Dashine yelled something at them and pointed towards the portal, which was now squeezing itself into a square and back to a rectangle repeatedly. The buzzing noise grew louder and louder until it actually made the Princess cover her ears. They waited for a while, watching the portal compress itself and then expand. Finally, there was a swooshing sound and two long objects were spat out of it.

  Esh saw a glimmer of light from the cold fire reflect off one of the objects.

  He bounded for it.

  Using the little light he had, he judged the distance as best he could and dove, rolled, and caught the hilt of his father’s sword. Instead of a chill running through his hands a soothing warm feeling came in its place. He heard a scraping sound and looked over to see that Barish had caught his greatsword in the same manner.

  “Whomever it is you’re running from… They’re coming.”

  The portal began to buzz again. Esh cursed out loud. He knew the door should have long since been closed by now. If his Master hadn’t been successful… or died… Then they were in serious danger standing out here in the open.

  Esh ran back to the corpse and placed his hand on his chest. “Can you help us?”

  “And so now you ask the mere fire kindling substance for help? Interesting…”

  “Oh cuh-come on! I wuh-was only kuh-kidding with yuh-you!” Barish walked back to the cold fire and sat down. “Wuh-what’s it gonna tuh-take?”

  “An apology.”

  Esh looked at Barish, who was biting his lip and looking away. Esh widened his eyes at him and jerked his head towards the portal. Barish made a face at him and gave a relinquishing exhale. “I’m suh-sorry.”

  Something sticky latched on to Esh’s hand, making him cry out. The corpse’s flesh had opened itself around his hand and had swallowed it whole! There was a wet suctioning noise as the corpse started to writhe uncontrollably and something wet slithered over his hand deep inside the chest cavity.

  Esh grabbed hold of his forearm and pulled as hard as he could but with no luck. Barish and Dashine both jumped up and each grabbed a hold of his shoulder just as the dead thing started to groan loudly.

  “Suh-see! I told you it was suh-sexual!”

  “Shut it! Just get this thing off of me!”

  All three pulled with all their might until Esh thought they might actually pull his arm out wi
thout his hand.

  And then the thing stopped moving and released the hand without warning, sending everyone flying backwards.

  All three sat up, trying to catch their breath. Esh looked at his hand in the cold fire light and made a disgusted noise. It was coated in some sort of goop that was covered in crawly things that had died long ago.

  “Whuh-what was that ah-all about?”

  “Oh what a past you have had. Such sorrow, such atrocities you have succumbed to.”

  The three comrades exchanged glances with one other. The Princess and Barish did not know if the thing was correct or not, for they did not know Esh’s past, so they looked at him with curiosity but had the courtesy not ask if the corpse spoke the truth. And yet, Esh was sure Barish would ask him later.

  “How do you know all of that just by sucking my hand?” asked Esh, wiping the goop on his leggings.

  The corpse’s mouth crunched as it formed a horrific smile with missing teeth, fleeing crawlies, and a breath of death escaped its dry lips. “I’m a seer, or did your Masters…… Excuse me… Master not ever tell you of their existing?”

  “He never mentioned such a thing, no. But we also did not spend much time on the Purple territory either… Not much is known about this kingdom.”

  The buzzing noise grew louder at that moment and sweat formed on the back of Esh’s neck. There was no time to run, which meant they had to hide, and fast.

  “Kingdom! Ha! There is no kingdom here…”

  “Yuh-yes, yes, thuh-thank you. Cuh-can we puh-please speed it up here?” Barish asked, looking up at the portal and tapping his foot.

  “Very well… Lie down on the ground… All of you…"

  Barish and Esh laid themselves down but Dashine did not. She looked at them like they were crazy. Esh had completely forgotten that she did not speak Reahlic, but wait! How did this corpse speak his tongue?

  “Bluherduhb wallah,” the thing said, and the Princess hesitated for a second as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Then she laid herself down beside Esh, crossing her hands over her chest.

  “Prepare yourselves, for the living should never have to endure what you are about to. If you scream it will be your heads and I will not feel the least bit guilty.”

  “Wuh-what’s he mean the luh-living should never endure wuh-what you are about to? Shuh-should we trust him, Esh?”

  “I don’t think we have much of a choice.”

  The buzzing was louder now, almost as loud as it had been when it had spit the two weapons. Esh was just about to ask the corpse how he planned to hide them when two rotten arms reached from underneath the ground and grabbed hold him.

  40 - The Potion of Knowledge

  “Wuh-Why can’t we just have one SUH-SINGLE normal sun-cycle!” cried Barish as they all fought and tore at the decayed hands.

  The strength of the dead arms matched even Esh’s. Not only that, but they were cold and slippery, making it very hard to get a good grip on them. All the while, the buzzing above them was growing louder.

  “Hold still if you wish to be hidden,” the thing said, then repeated his words in Ballahranian .

  Seeing as there were no other options, the three did as the dead seer asked and laid motionless. Feeling that the bodies the arms held had become still, they extended themselves further out of the ground and wrapped tighter around their catch. Something hard touched Esh’s back and he felt himself being lifted up as a body rose from underneath him.

  “These are my brethren and they will be the ones cloaking you.”

  All three of them cried out in unison as the corpses below them rolled over on top of them, rotating each of their faces into the ground. Esh could hear the Princess screaming before it became muffled in the dirt.

  Now he understood why the thing had said no living being should ever have to endure this, for once they were flattened on their stomachs more dead bodies began to surface and crawl over them in order to hide their presence. It was genius, sure, but absolutely terrifying at the same time. Esh though the smell would be horrendous but luckily he didn’t have the ability to breathe while his face was in the dirt and so he held it.

  He felt himself sink deeper into the ground as the dirt moved on its own out of the way and then fell back on top of him. He could hear bits of the ground topple over his helmet until there was no more surface for it to topple onto. They were all three now underground, suffocating, and not able to budge at all.

  Esh held his breath for as long as he could, which wasn’t long due to his lack of preparation. He’d been trained to hold his breath longer than the average humanoid but this incident had caught him off guard. His heart beat was beating fast in his chest and his mouth gulped at air that wasn’t there. They had been betrayed once again and he cursed himself for trusting in the dead.

  He was just about to bite at his scarred inner cheek to draw blood when something slid under his helmet and started to prod against his mouth, wanting to be let in. Esh released the tension on his lips and something foul penetrated itself inside his mouth. It had a hard texture and the taste was a cold mixture of sour and salt. The thing wiggled inside of his mouth, and he failed at a scream when a sharp fingernail grazed his tongue. It was a dead finger. A rotting dead digit of some vile corpse. But there was something wrong with the tip of it. Esh tongued at it and felt that there was a hole right underneath the nail. A cool breeze flowed through the finger and into his mouth.

  It was awkward at first, but Esh forced himself to inhale the air through the finger and exhale it out of his nose and into the dirt. He wondered if the other two had figured out just what to do with the prodding thing and he could only imagine what Barish had thought it was. Perhaps Barish hadn’t opened his mouth and died of suffocation. And somehow Esh thought it funny that one should die because they thought a dead penis was trying to force itself into a mouth underground in the Purple territory.

  Even though Esh was a few feet in the dirt and piled over with corpses, he could still hear the portal’s buzzing. He concentrated on his breathing and kept his ears open for anything new. And finally, he heard the swooshing noise but instead of hearing it just once it became a series, followed by the thumping of bodies. He couldn’t help but wonder which of the bodies might have been Xep’s. He imagined him falling right on top of him and at that moment he could pop out of the ground and shove his blade into the surprised Xep’s throat.

  The swooshing noise stopped and there was silence for a bit. Humanoids began to talk and Esh could hear the fear in their voices. Like him, they had never before set foot into the Purple Territory and were now discovering that there was no light here and that sight was impossible.

  “A cold fire!” an agent exclaimed. “But no Princess, my Lord.”

  And so that was it. Xep was no longer Teacher or Master, but a Lord.

  “Use your ears,” Esh heard the treacherous voice say. “They couldn’t have gone far from this point, not without being able to see.”

  Esh listened to the footsteps that walked above him. He could hear them bumping over each other and one actually tripped over one of the corpses.

  “You don’t think they would hide themselves under the dead, do you my Lord?”

  “This male is smart. Too smart. He would know such a ploy to be too… Obvious. Still, we must make sure.”

  Esh felt his adrenaline spike and his pulse race and apparently, so did the dead finger as it decided the situation would be much better if it started to massage the top of his tongue. He bit at it and it stopped.

  Footsteps were above his body grave now and he prayed the incoming attack would miss him. There was a slick sound of metal rushing through dead organs and Esh felt the dirt move somewhere close to his left between himself and Barish. It was too close for comfort and he barely realized he was chewing at the finger. There were sounds of blades being plunged into corpses all around them.

  “Nothing here, my Lord,” said an agent.

  “Nor here, muh
Lord.”

  “Then we move on. There is a village close by. Perhaps that is where they will be.”

  “But how is it we are supposed to see?” asked another.

  “Grab yourself a limb of the flesh underneath your feet and place the end of it in our target’s cold fire. The bodies of this territory are the foundation and they will catch the flame. Use them like torches.”

  Esh wished that Xep’s voice and mannerisms would have changed into the beast he had become, but all he heard was his old Master teaching a lesson and this broke his heart. Xep spoke to his soldiers as equals and did not seem to grow frustrated with their lack of knowledge of the area. How could someone betray his closest friend and student for power and keep the same sort of mannerisms?

  “And what of the portal, my Lord?”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  There was no sound of the portal closing itself but Esh imagined it condensing one last time until it blinked itself out of existence, closing the door to his home forever. As ridiculous as it was, he’d felt comfort in the thought that he could have somehow found a way to build a ladder and enter the portal at any time and be back in the familiar chambers. Now all connections to his home world were gone and he was stuck here without options.

  “Let’s move out,” commanded Xep.

  Esh listened as the footsteps grew fainter and fainter. Still, it was a long while before they rose from the dead; the seer corpse must have been very cautious of the strangers lingering to see if anything moved.

  The heavy bodies on top of them fell off to the side and dug themselves back into their graves. Once Esh felt that he could move again, he chose not to lift his head out of the dirt just yet. Instead, he decided it was best to pull out slowly and take in his surroundings. But Barish sprang from the ground like a crazed undead, cursing and spitting. Dashine did the same but without all the yelling. Annoyed as Esh was, he was relieved that they had figured out that the finger had been their life support.