by Ian Haywood
I may be having a temporary reprieve right now, but I knew that my future was not going to be easy and in seconds, my prayers were answered as one of Mortus’s men rushed in shouting loudly.
“My Lord!” he called out to Mortus loudly, “News has reached us that an enemy force is approaching towards us from the southern valley.”
“Then I want every available man to be prepared to make sure that they have the welcome that they deserve!” Mortus quickly ordered.
The soldier bowed his head to indicate that he understood what Mortus had said and spoke once again.
“I must warn you, my Lord that the enemy approaching is not exactly small in size and you are indeed right to call every man available to fight!”
Even though deep down he knew who was heading their way, Mortus asked the soldier for clarification.
“Has anyone been able to identify the enemy at all?”
The soldier nodded his head and I smiled to myself as I heard the answer.
“Gereziac is leading them, my Lord.”
Mortus immediately looked directly at me and gave out a wry smile as he spoke.
“Now the fun begins – prepare for history.”
And without a second’s hesitation, he turned his attention back to the soldiers who were still in the room and ushered them out with him to prepare for battle, leaving me chained up all alone with Tanya’s dead body.
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
It seems so crazy right now to think that Zephal, the man that I had hated so much is now on his way to rescue me from the grips of someone I never even knew existed a few days ago.
But Mortus certainly existed and he had left me with a reminder only a few feet away from me of what he was capable of doing if he was pushed too far.
Mortus had now become fully aware of my rescue party heading ever closer and was preparing to ambush them and there was nothing that I could do in any way to send them some kind of a warning.
I have so much power within me, but right now I am restricted by the chains that bind me to the wall from doing anything.
Every now and again I can hear the sound of heavy footsteps as what seems like an endless amount of soldiers make their way past the open door.
I was glad to hear the soldier mention to Mortus that Gereziac had brought a large number of men with him because if he didn’t, then they could be on the receiving end of a very quick and devastating bloodbath from Mortus and his men.
All I can do right now is hope that Gereziac and his men successfully break through Mortus’s defences and reach me so that I could break free from these chains and get as far away from those who want to harm me as quickly as possible.
And as I stared at Tanya’s lifeless body in front of me, I suddenly became aware of someone else’s presence in the room.
I looked back up and was shocked to catch sight of a female figure standing ever so still in the doorway.
With the only source of light coming from outside the room, I was unable to make out any of her facial features as she appeared almost in silhouette form.
But there was something strangely familiar about her.
The atmosphere in the room was suddenly lifted as I picked up the scent of roses that always seemed to accompany this woman whenever I saw her.
She stepped forward and I began to see more and more of her and like the times before, her presence was always a pleasant one.
The smile on her face was so hypnotic and the gleam in her eyes completely captivated anyone who looked into them, but I longed for her to speak instead of standing in silence.
And how did she manage to get in here?
There was no way that she could have just walked in here without being spotted by any of Mortus’s soldiers and I am more than positive that she was not involved with any of the evilness surrounding me right now.
Soon, my wish would be granted.
I finally heard her speak.
But her voice did not come from her mouth.
Telepathy was not one of the skills that I thought I would ever possess, but I was about to be proven wrong on that score as a gentle woman’s voice could be heard within my head.
But whatever the woman was saying, she did not seem to be directing her words towards me as she kept referring to someone who I had never heard of before.
I fully concentrated on what she had to say.
“Fear not, my little Alaya, for there will be a means of escape coming your way soon.”
The way those comforting words had come to me were not exactly by the most normal of means, but they were enough to reassure me that all was not indeed lost.
But I had to know who this woman was before it was too late.
“Who are you?” I asked.
An answer never came my way, just more words for me to listen to.
“Alaya, no matter what you have gone through since the truth of your existence was discovered, you will come through it in order to fulfill the prophecy that has been foretold!”
There was that name again.
Once again I set a question the woman’s way.
“Who is this Alaya?”
I had heard of an Alana – and after what that bitch had put me through, I certainly wanted to erase that name from every part of my mind forever.
But I would get my answer.
No voice spoke in my head – I just watched in silence as the woman promptly lifted her right arm and she suddenly pointed her finger directly towards me.
I shook my head instantly.
“No!” I corrected her, “I think you have the wrong person. My name is Naomi.”
The woman smiled and a voice re-entered my head.
“You are very well aware right now that not everything in your life has been what you had thought it was – even down to the name that you go by. The people have waited so long for the chosen one to return and bring the mortal and immortal worlds together – and that person, believe it or not, is you. You are their Alaya and that is what they will call you when you are presented before them as their Princess!”
As a young girl, one of the dreams I always had was growing up and marrying my Prince Charming and in doing so, become a real life Princess.
But the reality of being a Princess was nothing like how I had dreamt it to be all those years ago.
I expected thousands of people to be celebrating as I stood before them, but it seems that I have many enemies wherever I turn and I dread to think of how many more there could be lurking in the shadows preparing to suddenly come out and attack me without warning.
But my recollection of my younger days was suddenly interrupted as the voice came back to me.
“It is your destiny to bring the people together! There has been a lot of blood spilt along the way, but soon these lands will be full of peace and the good days will return once more when you begin to rule as their Queen. Everyone will flourish under your and Zephal’s guidance.”
Zephal?
Why was he getting a mention about guiding the people when I became Queen?
But in order for me to become the one to rule over the people, that would mean that Gereziac would either have to abdicate from the throne or be dead.
“But what would become of Gereziac?” I asked.
The gentleness that existed within her voice had suddenly disappeared and now replaced by a more sharpish tone.
“His future will soon reveal itself to you! He is not the one that I am protecting!”
This woman had never caused me harm and I am more than positive that she never would – but my track record so far is not the best one for being able to judge people’s characters correctly.
And once again, why would Zephal be a part of my future?
Why is this woman so interested in me?
But I would have to wait for all my questions to be answered as in the blink of an eye, the woman disappeared from view.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
While Naomi’s time chained up in the room was cert
ainly interesting, there was no end of excitement going on outside as Mortus and his men were taking their positions as Gereziac and his men started to come into view.
This was the moment that Mortus had been waiting for since time immemorial and one thing that he wanted to set straight before anyone made the first move towards the enemy was that he wanted Gereziac for himself - and if any of his men took that pleasure from him, then they would pay a great price for doing so.
Death.
Mortus had enjoyed seeing the horror on Naomi’s face as he ended Tanya’s life in front of her and the sadistic side of him thought that if such a reaction was triggered in watching someone who had caused her harm die, then what would her reaction be when she is forced to watch her own father die in front of her?
Mortus would soon hold the last two remaining people who possess the right to rule over the people and if they were both eliminated, then Mortus would walk into the Great Chambers with Gereziac and Naomi’s heads and claim the throne for himself.
He has sympathizers not only in the mortal world, but also in the immortal world and even some ready to rise from within the realms of Hell itself when called upon.
Soon Mortus would be able to make a three way attack on everyone and he would pound them all down until they all surrendered and in doing so, he would rule every dimension – something that nobody had ever done before.
His own brother had tried it once and he failed.
But he would succeed where Draig had failed and in victory, he would be able to avenge his brother’s death and even if the people did surrender peacefully, those who had stood against them would all be put to death.
And there would be no fair trail through the Great Council.
No jury to hear both sides.
Juts Mortus personally choosing if someone was guilty or not – but those who ever did get this far would most certainly be found guilty and be put to death in the most gruesome manner possible.
Those who live by the sword die by the sword.
Those who live in fear of the sword will always do what is expected from them if they want to survive.
The vampire people who had somehow managed to be the ones to rule over the immortal world would become the slaves themselves and will be put to whatever tasks Mortus or the Generals he personally chose decided.
They will no longer live in luxury.
They will soon literally have a life of pure hell.
Wherever Mortus would travel to, everyone would bow down before him – mostly in fear and there would be nobody who didn’t know his name.
Every one of his soldiers were starting to grow impatient as they waited for Gereziac and his party to get close enough so the attack could begin.
The demonic side of his men were becoming more and more visible as the thought of spilling the blood of their enemies grew stronger and it would take an incredibly well-trained soldier to fight them off without any kind of injury.
Down in the valley, not even Gereziac, Zephal, Barnabus or any of the men had any idea that they were being eagerly watched by enemy soldiers and it was safe to say that they were all sitting ducks right now.
But the pace that they were travelling at was a bit too slow for Mortus and his men and even he found it hard to keep his men calm and not do anything stupid that could spoil their planned surprise attack.
And in just a second, Mortus’s men had done enough to bring attention to themselves.
It was Barnabus who had suddenly heard a strange noise coming from directly in front of them and looked directly ahead to see a handful of small rocks crash down onto the path they were about to follow.
He immediately looked up to see what had caused the sudden fall of rocks and just managed to catch a glimpse of someone disappearing back behind a rock.
He did not make any drastic body movements as he didn’t want whoever it was hiding to know that he had been spotted.
Having quite a distance between themselves and the hiding person gave Barnabus the opportunity of giving some kind of warning to Gereziac orally.
“Suspected enemy ahead, Gereziac.”
Gereziac looked across at Barnabus.
“Where?”
“I spotted someone amongst the rocks to our left – far enough not to cause damage, but didn’t want to give away the fact that he had been seen. What do you suggest?” Barnabus replied.
Zephal had overheard the conversation between Barnabus and Gereziac and he was now scanning the rocks in order to spot some signs of life.
Gereziac suddenly lifted his right arm and signaled for the men behind them to stop.
“We will remain here gentlemen!” Gereziac called out.
Barnabus and Zephal came to a halt as well.
“What are you doing, Gereziac?” Barnabus asked, a little confused at why Gereziac had brought everyone to a standstill and therefore showing whoever was waiting for them that they had been spotted.
But Zephal knew exactly why Gereziac had stopped and he answered for Gereziac.
“It’s obvious, Barnabus! We’ve stopped because the enemy is ahead of us – but far enough not to be able to attack us without being spotted. If we continued walking on pretending that everything was okay, then we could be walking directly into their hands and come under attack at any moment. At least there is enough space between us to be able to defend ourselves as we would see them coming towards us.”
Mortus spotted Gereziac and his men coming to a sudden halt and he wasn’t happy in the least to see the first part of his plan disappear in seconds.
This was a distraction that he could do without right now.
After all, there is no way that Gereziac could ever expect them to attack from this location as Mortus and his men were famed for being located further north than this.
Gereziac had his Great Chambers as his sanctuary while Mortus had his fort way up in the Northlands.
But the excitement of Naomi’s sudden appearance within the Disciples of Draig’s hideout made Mortus leave his normal home with some of his Black Knights and head southwards to see Gereziac’s daughter for himself.
Unfortunately, those who had been chosen to kidnap Naomi had not done the best of jobs and through their errors, had given away that it was the Disciples of Draig who had Gereziac’s daughter in their grasp.
So now Gereziac was well on his way to get her back, but Mortus knew for definite that he was the last person that he expected to be waiting for him.
But just one look towards the enemy below indicated that they had indeed been spotted as Mortus suddenly locked eyes with one of the soldiers towards the rear.
And by the soldier’s reaction, the fight was going to start a lot sooner than Mortus wanted.
So, Mortus slowly rose until he was in full view to everyone below.
But Gereziac was the one that he wanted to address.
“Gereziac!” Mortus shouted, “It’s been a long time since we last met and I can see that you have brought some friends along to join us.”
Gereziac replied loudly.
“And I can see that you want me to think that it’s just you up there – but there is no way that you can fool any of us into believing that you stand before us alone! Besides, my General here spotted one of your men a few moments ago – which was the reason why I chose for us to come to a sudden stop. I certainly didn’t do it in order for us to take in the beauty of the north as all that exists around here is everything that you wished never existed in the first place!”
Zephal laughed at Gereziac’s attack of his homeland.
“May I remind you that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Gereziac and even though we may not have the most picturesque of landscapes, we do in fact have something of great beauty locked away out of sight! I think that you would be very interested in seeing it for yourself.”
Gereziac knew exactly what Mortus meant.
“Where is my daughter?” he demanded.
Mortus just mocked Gereziac.
&nb
sp; “That is for me to know and for you to find out! But let me warn you, if you do set eyes on your precious girl again, she will be the last thing that you see because I will dispose of you in front of her!”
Zephal suddenly broke rank and galloped a few yards ahead of Gereziac and shouted up to Mortus.
“Surrender Naomi peacefully, Mortus!”
Mortus laughed and shouted back.
“You know that is not going to happen!”
“Then, we have no other option but to remove her by force!” Zephal replied.
And as Gereziac, Barnabus and the rest of the soldiers joined Zephal, the rest of Mortus’s men suddenly came into view.
The battle was about to begin.