by Eric Vall
I nodded at the little dragon, and it flew off into the castle in search of our comrades. There was nothing to do but wait for everyone to come back out, so I closed my eyes and let out a soft sigh.
There was no way I could have expected to find mountains of mummified children. Never in a million years could I have thought there would have been that many children kidnapped and then killed.
Originally, I’d thought about leaving some of the Green Glass Sect alive when we found them, since there had to be scholars and researchers who could be of use to Inati.
But now?
There was no way I was going to leave even a single one of them alive.
“My lord!” Dagen’s voice reached my ears.
“Yes?” I blinked open my eyes to see my comrades filing out of the entrance to the courtyard and toward Blue Willow.
“We have everything stored away,” Dagen replied quietly as he came to stand in front of me. “We’re ready to travel back to Hatra on your command.”
“Get everyone on board and let’s get in the air.” My expression hardened as I nodded. “I’ll destroy the castle once we’re up there.”
My command carried throughout the courtyard, and it didn’t have to be repeated. Nike and I were the last to board the airship, and when we did, Blue Willow shot straight up into the sky.
The castle grew small beneath us, and I concentrated on my anger. It was a righteous anger that had first made my fire come to life, and I knew my current fury would be what would bring it back again.
And I was right.
Bright, crimson flames came to life in my hands and around the base of the castle. They slithered all along the walls of the structure I wanted to destroy, following the path of my intent.
“Burn it all down,” I commanded the flames as they curled up around the castle. “Leave nothing behind.”
The enchanted fire responded to my words, and it shot up around the walls. It licked furiously at the stones and stained them black with ash with every passing moment. The strength of the fire also continued to rise until it almost melted the beige rock of the fortress.
Only almost, though, they weren’t strong enough yet to do that. I had to keep pouring power into the flames, and I would until the castle was nothing but a soot mark. Strangely, it wasn’t exhausting, and I knew I was tapping into that additional well of power provided to me by the Sword of Healing.
The flames spread around the castle, and it was like my senses were spreading around the fortress. I could sense the way the wood inside of the castle was being consumed, and I grinned.
“Should we continue back to Hatra?” Anton asked as he leaned on the railing and looked down at the flames.
“No,” I replied quickly, “we’re going to stay until the castle is burned to the ground.”
I wasn’t going to be satisfied if I didn’t see this castle reduced to ash with my own eyes. It was a primal urge inside of me, like the need to breathe in order to live.
Soon enough, the castle began to crumble in on itself. The weight of the stone wasn’t enough to hold the fortress up anymore without its wooden supports.
I pulled at the rock surrounding the castle with my stone magic, and the mountain began to swallow up what remained of the structure. The stone shifted, as if it was malleable clay, and then it merged into the mountain range. Nothing was left behind, there was no trace there ever was a castle there, let alone a ruin.
I’d erased all evidence of the Green Glass Sect left on this mountain. Just like I wanted.
Now, all that was left was to erase the Green Glass Sect entirely, and I couldn’t wait for their blood to bathe my claws.
I nodded to Anton, and then Blue Willow ascended higher up into the air. We flew back the same way we came, only this journey was much quieter. While we had accomplished what we’d set out to do, we were coming back with a much heavier burden. There was no way we could joke around and laugh. Not until we got the children back to Hatra.
When Blue Willow landed next to the massive Blue Tree Guild airship gently, I was the first one to get off, and I didn’t even wait for the ramp to be lowered. I simply jumped off the railing, happy to have the earth of my city underneath my feet again.
I rubbed the back of my neck as everyone got off Blue Willow and couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose. Somehow, the smell of mummified harpies had clung to our clothes. There wasn’t much gore or ash on our clothing, surprisingly, but the overpowering smell was still there.
“Everyone!” I called out to get the attention of my comrades as they milled around me. “Don’t worry about dropping off what you recovered, go take a bath and get some food in you.”
“Are you saying we stink, my lord?” Anton called out from where he leaned against Blue Willow’s hull.
“Yes, you smell disgusting.” I pinched my nose as I mock glared at the wolf. “Especially you, Anton. I could smell you half a country away.”
“Hey!” Anton sputtered in pretend shock and acted as if he was wounded by my words. “How can I live if my lord talks about me like that? I can’t go on like this anymore.”
“Then go take a bath,” Leon laughed as he shoved the pouting wolf Demi-Human.
“Yeah, you stink, too!” Dagen added as he nudged Leon. “You should both take a bath. Meanwhile, I am pristine.”
“Pristine, my ass!” Anton growled as he locked his arm around Dagen’s neck and ruffled the younger boy’s hair. “You look a right mess.”
I couldn’t help but snicker at the sight and, next to me, Nike shook his head.
“Are they always like this?” Nike asked with a slight smile. “They seem to be getting along quite easily.”
“Honestly,” I admitted to him, “this is the first time I’ve seen the three of them together like this. There’s a first time for anything, though!”
I would have added more, but just then I sensed someone running toward us. It was strange considering it was late in the afternoon, and there wasn’t anyone milling around outside of the Blue Tree Guild airship.
“Who is that?” Nike nodded to the entrance where a blue haired fox girl ran in.
“That’s Afra,” I replied absently as I waved her over to us. “She works in the farms.”
“My lord!” Afra came to a skidding stop in front of us and panted as she tried to catch her breath. “You’ve returned just in time. Something terrible happened, I tried to stop him!”
“Afra, calm down and take a deep breath.” I brushed her hair away from her face and froze at the sight of the blossoming bruise on her cheek. “Who did this to you? Who hurt you?”
“My lord, I couldn’t … ” Afra glanced up at me, and she broke down into sobs as she fell to my feet.
“It’s okay,” I whispered as I knelt in front of her, “I’ve got you.”
All at once, I noticed there was more than the one bruise on her cheek. So, I quickly scanned her for more injuries.
Wounds: Broken ribcage: two left ribs. Bruised cheek. Minor poisoning.
My magic pinpointed exactly where she was harmed without any of the extra information I usually got, probably because I was only focused on her physical injuries.
I poured my healing magic into her and concentrated on those exact spots. While I healed those wounds, I changed a bit of my power from healing her to comforting her. Afra needed to be calmer if she was going to be able to tell me what had happened and who had hurt her.
“One of the lords from Leyte attacked us,” Afra sniffled as she blinked away angry tears. “The one called Aleksey. He stole the orichalum weapons and armor Natalya made. Some of us got hurt stopping his escape, we didn’t know he was so strong.”
“Aleksey did this?” I asked, and then I took in a breath to calm the anger that was threatening to rise up again. “Okay, start at the beginning.”
Truth be told, I didn’t like the implications of what little Afra had already said. Stealing the orichalum, even if it belonged to Hatra, would be considered as treason
against the royal family. A loyal subject of King Rodion wouldn’t do such a thing.
So what was Aleksey thinking?
“I haven’t … I haven’t learned all of their names yet,” Afra confessed as she fiddled with her hands. “The architects were just outside of the main gate and doing experiments with the earth. I was curious so I joined them, especially since they were making terraces for the farms. We were talking, and they asked to see the farms we have right now inside of the city. I was leading them to the farms when we passed the smithy and … and … ”
“And?” I prompted her gently. “What happened when the three of you got to the smithy?”
“Natalya was unconscious and tied up, and there was so much blood I thought she was dead.” Tears threatened to fall from her eyes again, but Afra held herself together. “We made sure she was fine, and that’s when I realized everything was gone from the smithy and its storehouse. All the weapons and armor and beautiful things she’d made, they were all gone.”
I glanced over at Nike to see how he was taking this accusation, but instead of only anger, there was also concern in his eyes. All of the concern was directed toward the fox Demi-Human in front of us, and I could sense the anger wasn’t for anyone here.
No, the anger in his eyes was for Aleksey.
“How did you know it was Aleksey and not someone from the outside?” I asked Afra softly. “Was there something left behind or did he attack someone else?”
“The others who came from Leyte,” Afra replied quietly as her blue hair hid her eyes from view, “he attacked them when they tried to stop him. Lady Julia and Lord Ruslan managed to wound him, but he was so powerful. It was almost like he was a demon. He had these strange skeletons he summoned, but they looked as if they were almost alive. Those things still had flesh on them, they were so terrible to look at. There’s also more wounded than just the people from Leyte and your parents … Lord Moskal and Maksim are tending to them in the infirmary right now.”
The rage inside me rose to furious heights the moment she said Aleksey hurt my people, but I wasn’t far enough gone to miss what she didn’t say. My parents had fought against him and ended up being wounded from the fight, but she didn’t say how badly injured they were. That worried me more than I wanted to admit.
“I didn’t think we would be faced with a traitor so soon,” Nike breathed out harshly as he ran his hand through his hair. “Aleksey has defended the city of Leyte and Rahma for years, I don’t know what could have brought about this change in him to abandon his duties and morals.”
“He was an asshole when we first met,” I added as I gritted my teeth, “but even I didn’t think he was some kind of traitor. More like a stuck up noble with a stick shoved up his ass.”
“I’m sorry!” Afra cried out suddenly, and her shoulders shook as she did so.
“Why are you apologizing?” I brushed the hair from her eyes and noticed tears dripping down her cheeks again. “This isn’t your fault, Afra.”
“He said we were trash,” the fox whispered out, “he said Hatra should have died and that we don’t deserve anything we’ve been given. Trash like us should just lay down quietly and die, we shouldn’t be allowed to even have something so treasured like orichalum near us.”
I clenched my fists and almost heard the nerves snap inside of my hands when Afra said those words. Someone said my people were trash? Someone said my people should have quietly waited to die?
Yeah, fuck that. I was going to find Aleksey and rip his tongue out.
First, though, I needed to take care of my people. There were wounded who needed to be healed, but vengeance would soon be mine.
Chapter 15
I left Afra in the care of Leon and Dagen. Even though she’d calmed down considerably, she was still frightened. Anton also stayed behind to check in with the Blue Tree Guild members in the main airship and see what had happened to the guards along the perimeter of the city.
Nike was the only one to accompany me to find the wounded. I didn’t want to risk there being an ambush and anyone getting caught in the crossfire, not to mention, the risk of someone stealing Blue Willow to use as a getaway vehicle. Afra had only mentioned there being one traitor, but there was nothing wrong with being too careful.
“Have there been any changes in Aleksey, even anything small?” I asked Nike as we made our way to the infirmary. “Anything you can think of that would help or maybe something that was out of place?”
“Not a single thing,” Nike replied with a sigh. “During our journey here to Hatra, he behaved exactly the same as I remembered.”
“Wait, as you remembered?” I glanced over to the noble, more than a little confused. “You haven’t been around him much?”
“I’ve spent the last few years guarding the Breach, remember.” Nike shrugged, and there was heavy exhaustion evident in that one movement. “If Aleksey changed during the time I was away, well, I wouldn’t really know.”
He had a valid point, but that made me wonder who picked Aleksey to accompany Nike and the others here. King Rodion wasn’t all knowing, there had to be something and someone who’d slipped through the holes in his net. Between King Rodion, Alyona, Nike, and myself, we knew there was corruption within the kingdom of Rahma.
The question was just who was the mole.
“Nike, do you know who picked your entourage?” I asked and picked up the pace. The infirmary was only a few more minutes away from us.
“No, everyone was already selected by the time I’d reached Leyte.” Nike glanced at me with curiosity in his eyes. “I had assumed King Rodion was behind those selected. Well, other than my two aides, they didn’t have a chance to introduce themselves. They were the ones who looked like twins, both with golden hair and blue eyes. It’s a given they would have come with me.”
“But Aleksey wasn’t one of those aides?” I asked him, just to make doubly sure. “If I remember right, he didn’t introduce himself as an aide.”
“Aleksey most definitely wasn’t an aide.” Nike shook his head, almost as if amused by the thought. “He’s too proud to bend his head to anyone he thinks doesn’t deserve it. He was one of the scholar warriors of Leyte. He split his time between studying the portals to the demon realm that were opening up all over Rahma and defending Rahma from any demons who managed to slip through those cracks between our worlds.”
“So, by all accounts a decent enough man,” I murmured back as the infirmary came into view. “Do you think he could have been under the control of the miasma?”
“No.” There was no room for misunderstandings in Nike’s voice. “I would have sensed the miasma inside of him, even for the short amount of time we were so close in the floating palace. It wouldn’t have been able to escape anyone’s notice, that is, if it wouldn’t have been purified already by my power.”
“Then he’s doing this by his own free will or he’s being controlled in some other manner,” I replied with a frown as I stopped in front of the infirmary’s entrance. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“You have no need to fear, Evan.” Nike’s pale eyes hardened, and it was like staring at diamonds. “Traitors will be given no ground, and while establishing whether he did this of his own volition is important, capturing him takes precedence.”
“I can’t promise I’ll go easy on him,” I said as I placed my hand on the door and pushed it open, “but we do need him alive.”
“Thank you,” Nike nodded and followed me into the infirmary, “that is all I can ask for.”
The infirmary was filled to the brim with the wounded. Every bed was occupied by someone, and there were more people propped up against the walls as they slumped to the floor. Moskal and Maksim, the two herbalists of Hatra, moved efficiently from one patient to the next. I could tell they had already spent some time stabilizing everyone in the room since I didn’t sense anyone in mortal peril, and their clothes were stained with blood.
A tangible sense of relief went through
the infirmary when my wounded comrades noticed me in the doorway. I could hear as they murmured my name, and the tension faded from their faces. I was hope incarnate to them, and I wasn’t going to let them down.
In two beds toward the back of the infirmary were my parents. Ruslan was awake, but Julia was unconscious on the bed next to him.
I made my way to them immediately. Even though there were no wounds on Julia, I was still worried, and my father was suffering from some minor head trauma. There was a large cut along the side of his head, and his hair was crusted with dried blood.
“Evan, thank the gods you’re back.” Ruslan grimaced as he propped himself up on his elbows. “You came just in time.”
“Stay down, Pops.” I frowned as I pulled at my healing power and let it drape over everyone in the infirmary, healing all of their injuries. “That’s a nasty cut and concussion you had there.”
“Well, he was fighting dirty,” Ruslan snorted and leaned back down. “The bastard took us all by surprise. At this point, we’re going to have to suspect everyone who comes into our city.”
“We’re not going to have to go that far,” I murmured as I grabbed a nearby chair and sat down in it. “We’ll figure things out once we get our claws into him. Afra caught me up on as much as she could, by the way.”
“Well, what else is there to say?” Ruslan sighed, shifted in the bed, and crossed his arms over his chest. “That lord from Leyte decided our holy metal was better off in his hands. He knocked out Natalya and stole it all from us. We tried to stop him, and we almost did, but … ”
“What happened?” I leaned closer at those words, curious as to what exactly had happened while I was tearing down the enemy’s castle.
Suddenly, there was the sound of shuffling feet, and the door leading to the infirmary’s roof opened. Pyotr stepped out from it, and there was a dark look on the older wolf Demi-Human’s face as his ears laid flat on his head.