Dawn of Darkness: Book 1 - Full (Where The Shadows Stalk)

by Adam Watson

  “You are going to help us find what we seek, Commander.” Now that strength and clarity were returning to his mind and body, the Commander felt a little bolder, more like his normal self and he was not used to taking orders.

  “What makes you think I’m going to do that?” he answered.

  “This,” replied Solitaire, moving in and clasping the Leash of Binding around his neck. “With this, you will do anything.” There’s two of them, and the sudden realisation sent a chill straight down his spine. What was this thing they had put on him? He was certain that he didn’t want to find out. I need to stall them. He still had one ace left up his sleeve, but looking at the clock in the middle of his mantle, he knew that he had to buy some time - just a few more minutes and it would be the witching hour.

  “Wait!” shouted the Commander. “Why don’t we be reasonable here, just tell me what you want, and I will get it for you. I rule this place, I’m King here. I can get you anything you want.”

  “Give him the pain,” Volantia ordered, and Solitaire obeyed without hesitation. The Commander tensed up, every muscle in his body clenching together. His eyes were shut tight, his mouth grimaced, tears and sweat flowed down his body - even shaking as he did, he hardly made a sound.

  When she was satisfied that the Commander knew what the pain meant, she nodded, and Solitaire released her grip on the Commander. He fell to his hands and knees, bent over and panting like he had just run a marathon. He looked up, now more afraid than he had been a few moments before. These girls weren’t ordinary girls, they were serious contenders.

  Don’t speak unless I want an answer, if you do, you get the pain … understand?” The Commander slowly nodded, biding his time. He just needed a minute or two, but at the same time, the pain filled him with dread. “You try anything, and you die.” The Commander slowly nodded his head again.

  “Good … now tell me where the Oracle of Tempus is located.” The Commander looked at her puzzled. The Oracle of Tempus? How could he possibly know?

  “I-I don’t know.” Volantia nodded to Solitaire, and the pain began again. The Commander would have screamed in agony if he could, but instead, he was as silent as a mute. He fell to the ground again and writhed until Solitaire once again released her grip. “I swear I don’t know,” the Commander cried. “Please don’t, the Temple … the Temple in Amalicia City, she has to be there!” Volantia stared stone-faced and cold into the eyes of the Commander, and even so her beauty could not be denied.

  “I feel that he speaks the truth, Sister,” added Solitaire. Volantia took a moment to glare at Solitaire before turning her wrath back to the Commander.

  “You lie, Commander.” The Commander’s eyes widened, as sweat beaded on his forehead, if she didn’t believe him that would mean he would get the pain. “I know for a fact that she is in here, inside these walls, you have her stolen away somewhere.”

  “I swear, I don’t have the Oracle of Tempus here.” Volantia walked over to the Commander and grabbed his jaw in her hand, she yanked him hard and made him look at her.

  “Let me refresh your memory, Commander. A young woman, late twenties, long, dark hair, pale skin, very beautiful from what I’ve heard.” The Commander thought back at the words pale skin and dark hair, only one person in walls came to mind who was not one of his soldiers. Kayla Faera. The prisoner that he had stashed down in the dungeons. Was she the Oracle of Tempus? It made a lot of sense now that he thought about, all the lies, all the deception, he knew that she was hiding something - they all were. Her companion Dray, he seemed to have some magical powers, and the berserker had even claimed that he was Cleric of Tempus. There could be some truth to it after all.

  “There is somebody here who fits that description.” The words were like music to Volantia’s ears. She smiled broadly, her eyes filled with anticipation.

  “Tell me,” she commanded.

  “A prisoner came here a few weeks ago. We found her wandering in the city, it seemed like she had gone mad.” Any moment now witches. “We brought her back to the walls, we fed her and gave her some new clothes and sent her on her way.” Volantia’s eyes narrowed, she didn’t like what she was hearing.

  “Are you trying to tell me she’s not here anymore?” Her tone made it clear that she did not want to hear any negativity in his answers. The Commander could feel the cool metal of the collar around his neck. Every few seconds or so it seemed to send out a pulse, to make sure he was well aware that it was still on him. He knew that she would give him the pain without a second thought if he said yes. It didn’t matter though, it didn’t matter what he said to them - he was just stalling anyway.

  “No, wait! We were ready to send her away, but then she went mad attacking and killing one of my soldiers. I had to lock her up after that.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “Down below, in the dungeons.” Where else would he keep a prisoner? This time he had answered truthfully, she was down in the dungeons, but that wasn’t going to help them. “Let me get the key.”

  As luck would have it, the key to the dungeon was on a keyring that hung on a hook near the window. He moved closer, and the closer he got the safer he began to feel. Yes, being near the window was good. He smiled, they had no idea what was about to happen, they had no idea who they were dealing with.

  And then it happened, a most remarkable thing. Something small flew through the window, and suddenly there was a man standing in the midst of them. The Commander breathed a sigh of relief. Even leashed and bound to this harpy, he knew that the game had just changed in his favour.

  The man was tall, not hugely muscular, but he had a powerful presence. Everyone in the room could feel it, including the Sisters. He was well dressed, had wealthy look and feel of an aristocrat about him. His skin was pale, his hair was dark, something about his demeanour suggested was not completely human.

  “You did not tell me you were expecting visitors tonight, Commander.” The man spoke calmly, but with great power.

  “Uninvited visitors, my friend,” answered the Commander. The man nodded solemnly, he seemed disturbed by this revelation.

  “I see, that is most unfortunate.”

  "Who are you and what are you doing here at this hour of the night?" demanded Volantia. The man moved, taking only a slight step towards Volantia, his presence was such that everyone else took a step back. Volantia was shocked, she had never witnessed such a thing before.

  "Calista get in here." She spoke softly, and even though Calista was outside the room, she knew she had been heard. The door opened, and a moment later Calista entered the room, she looked cool and calm on the outside, but inside she was anxious, something serious had to be going down if Volantia felt she needed backup. This man is dangerous. She walked on edge, ready for anything.

  “Who I am and what I do are no concerns of yours.” Volantia could feel the power growing inside the man with every word he spoke. He was getting ready to strike, but they could strike first.

  “Do I need to eliminate them, Commander?” The word was spoken before Solitaire could react.

  “Yes!” The dagger launched from Calista’s hand with such speed it was almost invisible, the chain whisking through the air behind it. The man caught it an inch from his face and launched it back to where it had come. Calista cartwheeled to the side to avoid being impaled and using her extraordinary reflexes, whipped the chain and dagger back into her hand.

  Volantia came in thrusting her spear before her, swinging and slashing. He blocked all attacks using nothing but his bare hands, then sent a force out from his palm that knocked her flying back into the wall behind her, sending ceramic bowls and some books crashing to the ground.

  The fight had only been going for a few seconds, but all the Sisters were already well aware that this man was no ordinary creature, and that he had a power that was beyond all three of them combined.

  The man concentrated and clicked his fingers and the Leash of Binding unclasped from the Commander’s neck
and fell to the floor. Solitaire knew they couldn’t win this fight and so she tossed two smoke bombs to the floor. Green plumes spewed out, and in seconds the entire room was filled. The Sisters fled through the door, across to the top of the wall, and then down the stairs at a rapid rate.

  “We need to reach the dungeons below and find the Oracle fast.” They all knew what they had to do. In situations like this, the Sisters were almost of one mind. They could almost feel what each other was thinking.

  Back in the room the man dragged the Commander out, he was unaffected by the gas, but the Commander was coughing and sputtering, weepy eyed.

  “Get your guards and go after them. I will go back to the room and summon Nyhzopham. It would be best that I am not seen.” The Commander nodded, that was the understatement of the century. If the guards knew who he was, there would be a rebellion and his head would be the first on the chopping block. It wasn’t until he had descended the staircase and was well away from his friend that he finally called for his guards. The pursuit continued as he chased the Sisters down into the levels below.

  ***

  The walls of the city had their own dungeons. The main dungeons were located beneath the Castle, they covered a vast expanse and had multiple levels. These dungeons though, the ones beneath the walls, were a separate entity unto itself. They didn’t have multiple levels, but they branched off in different directions as a means to separate the prisoners into varying degrees of dangerousness.

  Aseeka rocked back and forth as the Captain of the Guards pounded her from behind. She was on her hands and knees, her robe had been taken completely off of her. The Captain was behind her, as naked as the day he was born. He pushed into her hard, and she moaned on every thrust.

  The Oracle sat in the corner of the cell watching. She didn’t want to watch, she didn’t want to be there with two people having sex right in front of her, she knew she shouldn’t be looking, but she couldn’t help it.

  Aseeka could see the Oracle sitting there looking at her. Trying not to look, but looking at her all the same. She smiled, somewhere in Aseeka’a mind, she was happy. Kayla was safe - the Oracle was safe. She couldn’t fight the Captain in his own dungeon and get out alive, but she could sacrifice herself to protect the Oracle, and that was exactly what she had done.

  She thought she had satisfied the Captain when she had made him cum on her robe. She thought that would be the end, that when his desires had been fulfilled, he would leave them alone - at least till the next day, but he hadn’t been satisfied, he had wanted more.

  He had looked at Kayla with lust in his eyes, he had wanted her, his hardness had shown her that, but before he could approach her, Aseeka had presented herself instead.

  When the Captain saw her nakedness, presented in its full glory before him, he could not refuse, and he thrust himself hard inside her. Aseeka didn’t want to admit it, Aseeka knew it was wrong, she wanted to deny her feelings, but she was actually enjoying it. He was big and strong behind her, his powerful thrusts felt good. She felt guilty, but full of lust at the same time - her moans echoed throughout the dungeon.

  As she rocked back and forth, his hand on her hips, she started to hear sounds … faint sounds; sounds that were not of this dungeon, and she had been in there long enough to know. She stopped moaning so that she could hear better and even noticed that the Captain’s thrusting had slowed - maybe he could hear it too.

  Aseeka strained to listen, she even squinted her eyes in an effort to hear more clearly. It sounded like ... like ... like there was some commotion in the distance ... and it was slowly getting louder and louder as it got closer and closer. The Captain of the Guards had virtually come to a standstill, but he was still hard inside her.

  "Torian, go and see what's going on out there." The underling standing by the door nodded and hurried down the corridor. The others watched him run down towards the door. The Oracle sat in the corner alone, she had a bad feeling about this.

  The door burst open, Torian hesitated and stopped running, waiting to see who was coming in - that hesitation cost him his life. Volantia's spear was the first thing to enter the room and it flew through the air and into Torian's chest. He fell backwards in a spray of blood and crashed to the ground. The three Sisters of Solace rushed in, one after the other. First Volantia, then Solitaire and finally Calista.

  "Make sure we check all the cells, on the way in and on the way out … we won't have a second chance at this." The way things were going Volantia wasn’t even sure they had a first chance at this - there was a real danger of being trapped down there.

  The Sisters of Solace may be extremely hard to kill, but they could still be killed. Coming down into the dungeons when the Commander was aware of their presence was extremely risky, all their lives were in danger now, they had killed many on the way in and most certainly would have to fight their way back out, but with great risk came great reward. Volantia imagined how much favour they would all gain from Solace if they could pull this off, and it spurred her on. Their standing in the coven would increase tremendously. She yanked her spear from Torian's corpse as she jumped over it, and continued running down the corridor at speed, whirling her spear around herself as she did.

  The Captain of the Guards couldn’t hear any footsteps, but could see the shadows bobbing across the walls, someone or a number of someones were approaching them fast. He withdrew himself from Aseeka and pushed her to the floor, he quickly stood up and ran naked towards the cell door.

  “Torian!” he yelled. His armour and weapons were in the corridor, and Torian had the key. “Torian!” he yelled again, shaking the bars. The Oracle watched him from the corner, the muscles in his back tensing as he pushed back and forth, rattling the bars. Suddenly he cried out in pain as something burst through his chest and out through his back.

  “Yargh!” A moment later he slammed back into the bars as the thing disappeared back through the opening it had come from. He slowly slumped to the floor, bleeding profusely and very dead. Behind him, on the other side of the bars, stood Calista. She held her chained dagger in her hand, it was covered in the Captain’s blood. She was staring directly at the Oracle.

  “In here!” she yelled, and in moments Solitaire and Volantia were by her side. Calista, the most dexterous of the three, pulled out a lockpick from beneath her cloak and within seconds had the door swinging open. Volantia and Solitaire entered the cell whilst Calista waited outside. Aseeka watched the approach, she felt vulnerable in their presence, and suddenly the cell felt very cold, she shivered in her nakedness.

  “Was he raping you?” Volantia like all Sisters of Solace had a special hatred for those who commited crimes against women, and a compassion for those who received it. Aseeka looked down to the floor, it hadn’t exactly been rape, she had secretly enjoyed it, but at the same time, the Captain was never going to give them a choice, either way, they were no friends of the Captain. When Aseeka looked back up, she had tears in her eyes. She nodded almost afraid to speak.

  “Spare that one!” commanded Volantia, in an uncharacteristic show of mercy. She flung Aseeka’s robe from the floor with the end of her spear, and it landed in Aseeka’s lap. She quickly got dressed as Solitaire neared the Oracle. “Don’t touch her!” warned Volantia. She didn’t know much about Oracles, but she did know that some had powerful mind control.

  “Are you the Oracle?” asked Solitaire in a friendly, soothing tone. The Oracle didn’t answer, but the look in her eyes betrayed her. Solitaire’s arms shot out, and before Kayla could even react, the collar was around her neck. In an instant Solitaire could feel the divine power flowing through them both, it so was much more than Justina or the Commander.

  “There can be no doubt … she’s the one.” Volantia would have smiled from ear to ear if she could have, her Sisters could see the happiness in her eyes. This could be the greatest day of Volantia’s life - perhaps all their lives. They had actually captured the Oracle of Tempus, now all they had to do was make it out ali
ve.

  “Then let us go, there is no time to waste.” The three Sisters proceeded out of the cell and started making their way up the corridor. Against her own will, the Oracle followed in silence - it was as if she had no control over her own body. The one at the other end of the chain, the one who had the cuff on her wrist, was controlling her like a puppeteer would his favourite puppet. The tables had turned on her, and for the first time in her life, she was the one being controlled.

  Aseeka followed behind, but at a distance, she wasn’t sure if she was welcome or not. Whoever these women were, they weren’t likely to be pleasant if she got in the way. Aseeka had a feeling that the consequences would probably be fatal - and she would have been right.

  ***

  Deep down below the surface of the ground, another tunnel snaked. It was similar to the cell block that the Sisters had been in, but it housed more dangerous prisoners. At the end of this block was a cell, the bars were thick and strong just like every other cell on the block. Inside it, Dray and Goran sat. There wasn't much to do in the cell besides sitting or standing, so sit they did, Goran watching Dray from afar.

  When Dray had first entered the cell, they had talked, caught up and reminisced about what had happened since they last saw each other. Time passed, and it became apparent that neither of them were leaving the cell anytime soon - that was when Dray started to meditate. He had said to Goran that he needed to heal himself before he would be of any use to anyone.

  Goran watched as the mystical glow entered into Dray’s body. It seemed to be drawing into him, like Dray had expelled a part of himself into the world and now that part was gathering itself back together. Dray even seemed to look better with every hour that passed. When Goran had last seen Dray back in the mess hall, he looked like he had aged twenty years, now he looked to be almost like the old Dray, the one he had met in the midst of battle.