“Yes,” he said.
She looked to the air in front of them and closed her eyes for just a blink. Suddenly in front of him, the air was clear and he saw Grimm. He was walking along a sunlit plain, next to him were Silver and the Wolvern.
He was stunned and then saddened, what the hell had Grimm done. Now he was trapped as well.
“Why is here there? That’s bad,” Seth said, his hunger gone.
“He follows his path well. The prisoner wants that land and he’s trying to take it back, we need someone like Grimm to help stop him. We are like generals in a battle Seth and this war is coming to us on many fronts. This world, yours and the land of the dead, he seeks to control them all.”
“What can Grimm do?” Seth asked.
She laughed again, “You’ve missed so much,” She showed him visions of Grimm drinking the wine, of calling Minsetta, running through the Desert and slaying some bald man with terrifying eyes. He’s been busy. Seth saw Minsetta though his eyes, saw her face with the black pits of eyes and sharp teeth, she was dead, but brought back, another monster.
“Minsetta’s back and on our side?” he asked.
“She has her own plans but she will help along the way,” she said.
“What of Goldie and Seraphina?” Seth asked.
“Goldie has been busy as well, he helps me more than he may know.” She showed a vision of Goldie, he was in town and it was preparing for a battle. He saw the people putting up stacks and enforcing walls. He knew siege planning when he saw it. She showed him the challenges and him winning, he laughed as Goldie won the drinking and the fighting.
“He has made them believe in me again and thus I have the strength to fight, clearly I’m not a fighter Seth but sadly I’m one of the strongest left so I have little choice. Seraphina is in the worst of places, at his side, wondering how to get herself out of it,” she said.
He knew it was time. They had been preparing him and he knew he’d have to fight someone. It was the feeling of fear that was following him in the temple of statues, it was the one they called the prisoner, it was the force behind all this death, but he had no idea what it was.
“I can show you him and her as well, but he’s strong and will see you as well, but I think it’s time, this ship is traveling and we're going to face him. I’m not one to sit around and wait for bad things to happen, we're bringing the war to his shores, but you need to see him first.”
She closed her eyes again and the air started to shimmer in front of him. Seth saw it was hard for her and was surprised, how could anything be hard for her?
Soon as he saw it he was filled with a deep terror. In front of him stood a man. A normal, attractive young man but his eyes held such a deep and terrible darkness. Next to him stood a group of women. He saw they seemed to radiate some power as well. Behind him was a vast crowd of the black dogs, hundreds and hundreds. As he looked the man locked eyes with him.
He felt that wave of fear running into him, he thought of it. He was just one man how could he possibly fight against this thing. He felt the hopelessness of it and saw visions of all his friends slaughtered and dead and this one raising statues to himself and those women beside him.
He felt such a deep terror and then saw her, next to the man stood Seraphina. His emotions changed to concern.
“Fight it,” the Lady said. “If you give him too much strength it’ll be bad, don’t fear him.”
Seth focused on Seraphina and let him worry about her, what was she doing with that monster. The lady closed the void with a look of effort and sat panting at the table.
“Well, that wasn’t fun. Get ready we’ll be there soon and you’ll have to fight him.”
“Him a god, me, just me,” he said and felt the fear again.
“Yes, just you. I’ll be busy with his sisters.”
***
She’d seen Seth. It was clear as day. She’d been looking at those horrible dog creatures starting to really worry she’d picked the wrong side and she’d seen him appear. At first, she had just been thinking of him and then she’d seen him watching her and them. It was as if his eyes were just floating there but then she’d seen a vision of some fine room and Seth sitting with a woman and looking at them. The man smiled and walked to her.
“That was him wasn’t it? The Druheim?” he said with manic excitement.
There was no lying to him or them, her thoughts were there and soon they’d know her doubts. As soon as she saw him, she wanted to run to him for protection, he always made her feel safe, but there was no safe against this.
“It was, but I don’t know the Lady,” she said.
He smiled again. “I do. The fools have shown their hand, they are coming here? I never thought she’d have that much guts.”
“Sisters?” he yelled. “Did you see that?” he said.
They looked at him with no understanding. “See what?” said the first.
“The Druheim and the Lady, spying on us, they are coming here.” He said.
“Really? I thought we’d have to try and track them down, did you see an army? Who do they bring?” said his eldest sister, she was smiling as well. This land was theirs and they held all the advantage.
“No one, it’s just him and her. I could feel his fear, he is terrified to face me!” he cried with glee.
“As he should be Brother, as he should be,” she said.
Seraphina looked around her and thought to run but knew she couldn’t. If she turned against them, they would know within moments. She didn’t want more power she just wanted this to be over.
“I think someone is in love with him, change of heart?” the woman said to her. There was no point lying to them.
“You’re evil and I won’t help you, you’d best just kill me and be done with it,” she said resigned She was so sick of this life and she couldn’t fight them all, she had no strength to keep going.
The man laughed. “Kill you? Why would we ever do that, sisters do you have a nice room for her?” he said.
“Why? yes, we do but why brother, she’s not going to help us?” a younger one asked.
“Not now, but a few years in a dungeon changes a lot of opinions. I know from experience.”
Chapter Thirty Eight.
Her people were no use. Not a single one of them would come with her. Even her power of the tongue could not command them. They were insane with fear. The black dogs had started to turn their attacks on them as well and it wasn’t safe for them to leave the city. Every time she and the Wolvern ventured out it was becoming a matter of life and death. She was starting to get afraid herself. She was too strong to let the mindless fear in but she didn’t want to die by being mauled apart by these stupid beasts.
Now they had an ally though. She liked him, he was a warrior and fought well with an axe, bow, and sword. He had all these weapons strapped to him and had a quiver of black tipped arrows which was brimming full. He scouted ahead of them, even though she was faster, she had taken a bite to the leg and was limping, the Wolvern was worse off and had been bitten more times that she could count. The fire of the kill had gone out of her friend.
The Northman came jogging back across the field towards them.
“We have to head east. I could see a lot of them and if I didn’t know better I’d say they were guarding something,” he said, in a version of Northern that was exactly like hers, he smiled at her. “Are you a Silver Skin?” he asked.
“Well as you can see I have silver hair, not skin but we were called that a few thousand years ago by your people,” she said
what did he know of it, he seemed to have a very deep knowledge of these matters.
He seemed to think hard about something closing his eyes. They fluttered beneath his eyes lids quickly like he was dreaming. When he opened them he smiled again and spoke. She was stunned as he said a greeting in her language. Not northern but the tongue of the moon, a man like him shouldn’t know it.
She slapped his face hard. “You don’t use those words, it
’s for us alone,” he rubbed his bearded face and laughed.
“Ok pretty one,” he said back in moon tongue, she went to slap him again but the Wolvern just howled at them. They started to move towards the east, picking up pace. It was strange how could someone like him know their tongue. He spoke it wrong like learning from a book but the words were almost right.
“What do they guard,” the Wolvern spoke to them.
“From what you’ve said,” Grimm spoke back. “I’m guessing it’s their way into this place. They are dumb beasts and certainly couldn’t make their own rift here, but like any dogs they have a Master and I think he’s built them a door,” Grimm said.
“But why? They weren’t so bad before, now they are relentless,” she said to him.
“They make fear, that’s their job, before it was easy, the dead were monsters, but now this place is back to the way it was, no more fear, so they have to create it,” he said.
Again she was stunned at his knowledge. They had told him of what Seth had done here and he seemed to understand straightaway.
They moved east for a few miles until they came to a small hill and he gestured for them to crouch, the wind was blowing back at them which was good. She slid on her belly along the grass of the hill until she and they could just see over the rise. Before them was a natural cave. It was a large black hole in a cliff face and all around it were ripped and torn bodies. There were white skinned people of her own kind, most bloated and disfigured and many of the human dead. Around them were, at least, ten of the dogs and they were some of the biggest they had seen. They ripped into the bodies casually as if they were just there for a feed.
“Inside?” she said.
“Yeah, I’m guessing it’s pretty deep and somewhere inside will be the rift,” he said.
She looked at the Wolvern. “What do we do? I can’t close it I have no idea how ” she said.
He does, the Wolvern spoke back on both their minds.
Grimm looked at them. “I’m pretty sure I can close it if we want to,” he said.
“If we want to?” Silver said back. “Of course, we do that’s why we’re here right?”
“That’s not why I’m here,” he said back to her.
“What?”
Seth said the Wolvern simply.
“Seth,” Grimm spoke back.
“What about him?” she asked.
“Whatever built this rift is on the other side. It’s not a crossing to my world I can promise you that. Can’t you feel it? There is such a horrible energy around this place. I can feel it, it’s just sucking in all these fear and horror and feeding it through to the other side. I finally understand how all the pieces fit, the rift, the fear, the destruction of the temples in my land. The creature Seth must fight is making itself strong and the gods weak. They defeated him before but that’s why he trapped the sun. They converted hundreds of thousands of desert people from sun worship to their own weak Pellosi gods, why? To weaken the Bringer and make trapping it possible. Now all this fear is running from your world and making him strong. We have to close this rift, but I’m going through as well if Seth needs another blade. I have one.”
Chapter Thirty Nine.
One thing he’d say for a town of gamblers and riff-raff they sure didn’t like the idea of someone coming to destroy their shit. Some of the people had fled and rightly so. He’d been pleased to see the priests of the Lady leading the youngest children, sick and a few soft-looking women away to safety but most people who could carry a weapon stayed. He wished he still had his tent full of swords on hand. His goal was twofold now, he felt it in him, he’d made them believe again in the power of the Lady but that would be all for nothing if they were soon all dead and her temple in ruins.
The town had a Captain of the guards as it was, but the priest of the temple was the main power, he acted much like a chief would in his own holds or a mayor in a proper city. The priest walked up to Goldie and spoke. They looked at the preparations of the town. Walls fortified, stakes cut and laid the main gate blocked with stone and archers on the walls. Their little-mottled force stood at around two hundred men and women, a lot were clearly mercenaries or no strangers to a fight which was good.
“So what’s this all about?” the priest asked. “It seems quite personal.” He’d changed from a slightly annoyed at Goldie to seeking his aid.
“They want us dead and the temple destroyed, the best way to think of them is religious zealots,” Goldie said.
“But you said they were the king’s men. Why does the king care about this sort of thing, he’s a tax collector, a weakling?” the priest said.
“Weak people in positions of power are the best for manipulation,” Goldie said back.
“So we’re vastly outnumbered then?” the priest asked, at that moment the old mercenary walked up to them and shook Goldie by the wrist. “We’ve had scouts back.”
“This should answer you, numbers?” he asked the man, who seemed completely sober now.
“I’d say at least three or four times our force,” he said.
“Holy shit, can we talk with them?” the priest asked.
Goldie looked at their defense and knew a strong proper army of that size would rip through their gate in just minutes. Then all would be lost, the sun was still high in the streets and they had time. It was now he needed to think.
“Give me some time. I’ll be back,” Goldie said and walked off towards the temple.
The township was quiet and silent as a crypt, everyone was at the gates and looking nervously over the walls. The feeling of excitement and fun from the games had been replaced by despair. He walked into the cold of the stone room and looked on the Lady. Her statue was tall and proud, still attractive. He fell to his knees in front of her and almost cried. He held himself back. He didn’t want these people to die, they were just like him. He let his head fall on her feet and looked at them, they weren’t even fixed. The statue just stood there perfectly balanced, if heavy. Standing up he reached out and gave the statue a shove. It moved and much too easily. He pushed it with all his strength and it slid a good meter across the stone.
Goldie grinned to himself. It clearly wasn’t marble. He pulled his dagger from his sheath and, saying an apology to the Lady, he stabbed it into one of her toes. It chipped under his dagger. He smiled again. “Plaster! It’s a fake. I love this town.”
He looked up at the Lady and she was still smiling that little smirk that made everything seem like a good idea. Goldie ran from the temple yelling, a feeling of hope running through him. Northman never liked to run from a fight but when the enemy’s goal was simply to kill you, not being there was a good plan.
He found the priest and the old mercenary where he’d left them looking defeated.
“I have a plan!” he yelled.
“What’s that?” asked the priest looking forlorn.
“That statue isn’t real, is it?” he said.
The priest looked around nervously but saw no one could hear them. “We’ll that one’s not, we have the main one tucked away on days like this. It just gets too much wear and tear, vomit, blood, you know marbles very hard to clean” he said.
“So that one’s fake and I’m guessing hurting it won’t do shit, but the real one is where? hidden in the temple?” he asked.
“Yes, but they’ll still find it won’t they, they’ll come here, kill us all, smash it, realize and then just go find the real one.” The priest said, forlorn again.
“They want the Statue and we’ll give it to them. I’ll take the fake and the battle to them, you take the real one and your priests and run.”
“It’ll take ten men to move the real one,” the priest said.
“Then take ten men,” Goldie yelled.
Goldie hit his arm and grabbed the old mercenary. He hadn’t paid much attention to the old Northman before but now did. “What’s your name friend?” he asked.
“Lead Belly,” he said back through broken teeth. Goldie laughed.
“Wish I’d known that before we started drinking, you ready to do something stupid?” he asked.
“Always.”
Goldie just grinned and walked to the front gate. He stood for a few moments in the harsh heat until the eyes of many of the town were on him. They stood on the battlements looking hopeless. Even his friend the little lad stood on watch next to his father.
“People, these scum want our town because we’ve seen the power of the Lady, but they won’t get it. I’m not waiting for nightfall and for them to come to us and destroy all we’ve built. I’m going to take the fight to them. We’ll march for the Lady, for drinking, for gambling and the right to more than our share!”
He was greeted by a cheer and some laughter mixed in, the boy jumped off the wall and ran to his side, Goldie spoke to the boy for a moment. He ran back to his father and disappeared with him and few other big men. Goldie stood for a few long minutes and then he heard them. Heading up the main street pulling a slightly worn but very real looking statue in a wagon.
“I will march on them but I’d rather a few of you with me,” Goldie shouted.
“Open the gate!” Goldie yelled and slowly it was cleared and opened just a crack. As he stood a woman ran to him, she was the daughter who had played a part in his ruse. She handed him a long wooden spike, on it waved a flag with a picture of the Lady on it, not a battle standard but it would do.
He kicked his horse and started to walk it slowly out the gate under the eyes of the people. He could see the fight in many of them. Some believed in him, some in her and many were just the type who didn’t like the idea of waiting for death and would rather greet it head on.
As he marched from the gate people kept coming behind him, more and more. Soon he marched up the road towards the king’s men with a force of a hundred behind him. He smiled. to himself. Beside him rode the boy in the wagon, putting a fresh coat of paint on the plaster as they rolled.
“I hope this works,” he muttered to Lead Belly and trotted onwards.
Chapter Forty.
Take My Heart...: Dark Ages - Fantasy (Dark Gods & Tainted Souls Book 3) Page 21