“When did you abandon reason for fanaticism? When did you find this hatred for our kind?” Edward demanded.
“At about the same time I was made to be a slave,” Lucas smirked.
“Kinslayer and a traitor, that’s what you are. What have you become? I guess my belief you could, so to speak, turn it around, was naive,” Collward mused.
Lucas stayed silent.
“So that’s it? Now we just go wipe each other out and see who stands when the dust settles?” Edward challenged. Lucas just drank his tea and said nothing.
“I am not going to go down without a fight.”
“I know. The only way for you to preserve your legacy is to fight through this to the end. If your people scatter, I shall easily make the city lords ban slavery and hunt you all down one by one, so you never regroup,” Lucas revealed.
“There is no negotiating with you, is there?” Edward asked.
“No.”
“What happened to you? You were the greatest of us. You were supposed to lead us into the future,” Edward breathed.
“I will be content to be the last man standing,” Lucas smiled sadly.
“Does it really mean that much to you? This illusion of freedom you cling to?” Edward challenged.
“You already know the answer to this one,” Lucas returned.
“Are you really just going to slaughter us? Your own kind? Your own family?”
Lucas stayed silent. The smile made Edward’s blood freeze in his veins.
“You will… you want to wipe us out. Without a shade of compromise or mercy,” Edward summarized as it crept into him.
“Is your daughter cut off?” Lucas asked softly.
“Of course, she is. I wouldn’t make a child just so it becomes a slave to the Red God,” Edward confirmed.
“Up in Zaraguza highlands live the clans of the Daughters of Dreams. The Faye. Find Zerae Hellwind and convince her to take Elizabeth into her clan. I will give your daughter the benefit of a clean slate if you do. That is the only mercy I will offer you, my old friend.”
“Seeing you still have a heart makes it even worse,” Edward smiled awkwardly. He didn’t want to thank him, but he was grateful. The business empire he had built was dear to him; he cared for all his coworkers and colleagues who stood with him for the past decades. But his daughter was where his heart was.
“Meh… I guess I will look forward to meeting your assassins,” Edward smirked after a short pause.
“Nice bait. We both know that’s not how it works,” Lucas responded.
“Doesn’t work on people who expect it to come,” Edward smirked.
“I’m still going to kill you before this all ends.”
“Likewise… the war ends the moment either of us dies,” Edward nodded.
“What made you so sure I wouldn’t just kill you in this building?” Lucas pried.
“You are a man of principles. Principles upon which you built your reputation and your Order. Your integrity is worth more than whatever you could gain by killing me. It’s the same reason for which you wouldn’t use my daughter to blackmail me.”
“I did murder Woonard with his family,” Lucas contested.
“After destroying his army, business and mansion. In a strange, twisted way, you haven’t changed at all…” Edward concluded and raised to leave. The men shook hands.
“May the best of us win,” Edward remarked before he opened the door to leave. Lucas didn’t reply and Edward Collward walked away from the barracks.
35
Merewen
“I am sure you have some good reason why we are letting him walk away instead of ending his life… right?” Merewen asked Lucas as soon as Edward Collward closed the door behind him. Miranda was straight next to her.
“Without him, the slavers will scatter into disarray. We would spend decades hunting them down, even if their individual fractions don’t strike a deal with their home city to separate from the Union and officially join it,” Lucas explained.
“What stops them from doing it anyway?” Miranda challenged.
“Collward. He holds the slaver enterprise with steady hands and won’t let it splinter into small fractions. It would be a loss for him even if we do nothing,” Lucas replied.
“What makes you think he won’t go for this scenario where we both lose rather than fight us head on?” Merewen pressed on.
“With his daughter out of the picture, the only thing he has to lose is the empire he has built. He will fight to his last breath to keep it,” Lucas smiled.
“This is still literally the riskiest approach we can take. I see the logic of letting them gather and form an army to fight us so we can wipe them out all at once instead of hunting them all over the continent for years, but at the same time we are taking the path of the maximum resistance,” Merewen evaluated.
“Getting cold feet?” Lucas jabbed at her, “there are eight demonic princes, we can’t spend decades killing just one of them.”
“Do you think Collward is a demonic prince?” Miranda asked.
“Either that, a champion or something in between. I can’t tell which prince is he related to without seeing him fight. But there is definitely a demonic prince somewhere in the Slaver Union,” Lucas replied.
“That’s an easy one… should I visit him tonight?” Miranda smiled warmly.
“No. It’s not the time for that, plus he expects it. There is no reason to walk into a trap,” Lucas denied the notion, “anyway, go intercept the archbishop and ease him up into what we have done tonight. That will allow him to adjust his speech and calm down before the mass.”
Lucas turned to Merewen, “and you get to Cinderwell and start setting the grounds for the next round. I expect similar deployment of forces from the slavers,” Lucas ordered Merewen.
“Yes, sir,” was the answer he got from both of them in unison.
“Before you go, two more things. One, how is Iowen?” Lucas asked.
“Alive, albeit severely wounded. She looked like she will hate us, especially you, for the rest of her life. Do you know if somebody close to her was perhaps burned alive?” Merewen asked him
“She never told me anything about that,” Lucas breathed.
“Whoa… it almost feels like you should have asked,” Miranda wheezed poisonously.
“Well, shit, anyway, would you have happened to have seen my spear?” Lucas tossed up the second question.
“Your spear? Have you happened to lose it?” Merewen asked in a mocking voice.
“Where is it?” Lucas didn’t like her tone one bit.
“I am not sure, but I did see a long black spear falling down the abyss in the cavern,” Merewen smiled back, poison dripping from her voice.
“What?” Lucas pushed, visibly angry.
“AHAHAHHAHA!” Miranda started laughing out loud. Lucas gave her a look that made her smile freeze.
“What happened to my spear?”
“I may have mistaken it for another and happened to toss it into the abyss,” Merewen grinned, baring her teeth.
“That spear is a priceless artifact, one of the most potent weapons in the world and definitely the best spear in it,” Lucas challenged.
“A demonic artifact, I know. Then again, as far as I know, your magic works fine with any weapon made of one piece of metal. The Order’s smiths can make you as many new spears as you desire,” Merewen retorted.
The anger in the eyes of Lucas was so palpable that it was both funny and terrifying at the same time. Merewen was greatly amused and enjoyed the moment, victory shining in her eyes.
“You need to take better care of your stuff; accidents do happen after all. Especially to things that originate from demons,” Merewen added.
“Yeeeaaa…. You should start being careful with your spears, else you might soon have nothing left to polish,” Miranda sneered poisonously.
“What?” Lucas asked harshly with a twisted face.
“Not that I would want to undere
stimate your spear, but be careful around Iowen. One wrong move and her ice abyss of death will leave you spearless,” Merewen leaned in.
“Awfully worried, aren’t you?” Lucas snarled.
“Of course, we are. We have a long and hard campaign ahead… we can’t have you roam around spearless, can we? You would be so boring like that,” Merewen returned.
“I mean, what shall we do when things start getting hot and wet? Nights in the military tents get soooo boring sometimes…” Miranda added.
Lucas spun on his heel and left. Both women burst into laughter as he did.
36
Collward
The rest of the Union could wait. They would all be running like a headless chicken for a while anyway and he needed to make preparations, the faster the better. The city was in uproar. The city guard took off the bodies from the clock tower, but the rumor was already in the air and the burned down house next to the arena stood as its proof. Collward didn’t need to check on the secret army they had hidden under the arena or the lumber mill slave camp. He knew they are all long gone already. Lucas didn’t leave open ends.
Anyway, now I need to send Elizabeth to school.
Edward went home and prepared breakfast before waking her up. She was visibly tired; she most likely couldn’t sleep through the rest of the night. He didn’t blame her.
“The apple will help you feel better,” he told her softly.
“But it’s sour!” Elizabeth refused.
“It’s healthy and you can’t live on just bread with honey,” Edward confronted her. She reluctantly bit into the apple. Elise didn’t spit it out, so Edward guessed it wasn’t that sour after all.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” she jabbed at him.
“Where does that come from?” he asked her with a warm smile.
“You have armor under your suit. You don’t wear that unless it’s bad,” Elizabeth revealed.
“Awfully perceptive, aren’t you?”
“I am eleven! You can’t fool me so easily!” she announced with pride.
“Yes, it is bad. I am going to have to deal with some very bad people who want to destroy what I have built,” he explained.
“I want to help!” Elizabeth demanded.
“You will,” he smiled. That surprised her.
“You will be going to on a diplomatic trip to help me deal with a special group of people,” he stated.
“What people?” Elizabeth asked with interest.
“Daughters of Dreams. They would only speak with a woman, so you need to be the one going to them,” Edward described.
“When do we leave?! I need to pack all my things!” Elizabeth shouted with excitement.
“Now you need to go to school,” Edward reminded her.
She got ready quickly and was suddenly full of energy. He took her to school before continuing the morning trip.
“Mr. Castagnet is busy; we are afraid you will need to schedule an appointment like everyone else does,” the assistant of Jean Pierre Castagnet was immovable.
“Can you at least tell him a short message? It would be most noble of you,” Collward tried a different approach.
“I might,” the assistant avoided.
“Just please let him know that Edward Collward stands at his door and has an offer he will not be willing to repeat,” Collward said softly.
“No promises,” the assistant kept avoiding.
“I will wait here,” Collward smiled and stepped back to the side alley. The assistant disappeared behind the door and Collward was there with just the two guards who were guarding the side entrance to the smithy. The noise from the crowd outside was almost insufferable. Apparently, the brand Raven and The Beast was something everyone wanted and, at the same time, something Mr. Castagnet had registered at the brand office first.
The assistant appeared back in the door shortly.
“You may enter,” he said and showed him to the door.
Collward said nothing and just went along. Soon enough he crossed a surprised group of merchants who were apparently just shown out of Mr. Castagnet’s office. Collward spared them a smirk as they passed them.
“Mr. Edward Collward,” the assistant introduced him as he opened the door of the Nine Heaven’s Smiths office. Jean Pierre Castagnet sat his large mahogany table with an inquisitive look. They exchanged greetings and Collward sat down.
“I have heard your conflict with the Palai Order isn’t going as planned,” Jean Pierre opened up the conversation.
“I see rumors spread fast,” Edward nodded.
“Like a wildfire,” Jean smiled.
“Pray tell me, what is the offer you bring, Mr. Collward,” Jean asked.
“You may call me Edward. I have found myself in an urgent need for liquidity and pondered whether you would be looking to expand your enterprise, Mr. Castagnet,” Edward started straight to the point. He chose this approach as he simply didn’t have time to spare. Jean Pierre Castagnet seemed to be in the same mindset. Collward was not surprised, every minute Jean isn’t selling his brand is a minute of wasted profit.
“Call me Jean. Yes, I do, which ones are you willing to part with? Let’s just say I am well informed about the structure of my competition, direct and indirect alike,” Jean mused.
“Are there any parts you would be interested in?”
“Your line of smithies and metal casting companies, full chain. Whatever competition you have to The Lair brand with all self-run instances and connected enterprises, all non-slave mines, whatever constructions companies you have and I can send you to the man who would be delighted to lift the weight of your monster and slave hunting enterprise off your shoulders,” Jean laid out. Collward did what he could to hide the surprise, but he knew he didn’t manage.
Jean owns The Lair? How many more famous brands and enterprises does he happen to own without anyone knowing? He might be way richer and more capable than I had anticipated. Oh and my investigative agency needs to be fired.
“That’s almost a half of my empire. That would be obscenely expensive,” Collward breathed.
It is actually everything that isn’t directly related to slaves.
“I am more than obscenely rich,” Jean smiled. “and I am also capable of running and preserving this empire, which is I believe the main reason why we have met here today.”
“Do you have children, Jean?” Edward asked.
“I do,” Jean confirmed.
“How old?” Edward continued.
“Answering the question would require me to signal how many I have. I have no intention of doing that,” Jean refused.
Capable indeed. My investigation office has been watching him for a few decades and has absolutely no knowledge of his personal life or the actual size of his enterprise.
“I want an unofficial, irremovable and indefinite partner position with forty-five percent share in each company I sell you. Also, I want an oath that you will not make any direct or indirect attempt to undermine my remaining enterprises or as much as threatening my life or my family, not now, not ever. Should I meet an untimely demise, my partner position shall be transferred to my daughter Elizabeth. Should the opportunity arise, you will do anything and everything in your ability to protect her, which includes you doing whatever you can to stop her from wanting or attempting to avenge me,” Collward revealed.
“Why come to me with this? You have an entire army of contacts and subordinates, almost all of who you know better than me,” Jean inquired.
“I know all of those will betray me the second they have a chance. You have the benefit of doubt plus an exceptional record of keeping whatever treaties you sign and playing my investigation office for fools,” Collward admitted.
“If I accept these conditions, I expect the price to be much less obscene,” Jean evaluated.
“Yes, in this case, the price would appropriately lower,” Collward confirmed.
“We have a deal then, when can we meet at the bank to do the paperwork rel
ated to the transfer and finalize the price?” Jean asked softly.
That was way easier than I had expected. It seems that going to my most persistent competitor was the correct call.
“I will have it ready by the evening. About the man who might be willing to take over the hunting part of my enterprise, who might you be speaking of?” Collward probed.
“James Goddat,” Jean revealed.
“The self-proclaimed bandit king. That explains why your convoys have a much lower rate of being attacked by bandits than anyone else's. This James still doesn’t strike me as someone rich enough to be able to acquire any of my related companies,” Collward challenged.
“He is not, but he can pay for services. Ones that you seem to desperately need,” Jean retorted.
“Have him in my office by tomorrow noon. I shall see what the bandit king has to offer.”
“I will do what I can. With that, I believe, our business is concluded,” Jean evaluated.
“I shall see you later then, Jean,” Collward agreed and shook his hand.
“We shall meet at the bank.”
Once upon the streets, Edward Collward finally headed to the headquarters of the Slaver Union. It is time to put the headless chicken back in order.
37
Luna
“ARRRGGHH!” Luna screamed as she threw the book at the wall once again. This was at least twentieth repetition of this very scene. She was not very successful at finding anything about the black sword in the book and was getting more than just frustrated. Raven ignored her, wisely so. Luna punched the wall until she broke her fingers. This was getting harder and harder to do as her bones reconstructed themselves a bit stronger than they were before when she broke them. The familiar pain was extremely satisfying and the feeling of regeneration calmed her down. She wiped her hand with the nearby towel and went to pick up the book. She went on to search through it. Not only she couldn’t find anything relevant, but the whole room was filled with a stench of burned corpses. Luna did what she could with her lavender essences, but this was too much even for her supplies. She knew she would need to replenish them.
Legacy of Dreams: Freedom Page 23