by R A Oakes
“General Zarkahn kidnapped Dylancia!”
“He would dare to touch my child?” Chen asked, genuinely shocked.
“General Zarkahn didn’t want Dylancia, he wanted Genevieve. But Genevieve put up such a struggle that he threatened to hurt Dylancia if Genevieve didn’t come quietly. The bottom line is that the general and his men took them both.”
In desperation, Andrina opened a wooden box revealing the Crystal Medallion, an integral part of the dangerously unpredictable Trinity of Darkness. Holding it by its chain just above Chen’s head, Andrina said, “Remember, there’s no going back once this touches you.”
“They took Dylancia, and I’m going after her with everything I’ve got.”
The Black Scarlet Saga
Black Crystal
Black Scarlet
www.BlackScarletSaga.com
The Black Scarlet Saga BOOK TWO
Black
Scarlet
By: R. A. Oakes
Blue Ridge Publishing
Copyright © 2012 by Robert Oakes
Published in the United States by:
Blue Ridge Publishing*PO Box 822*Stuarts Draft*Virginia*24477
Editorial Supervision: Dawn Rogers
Cover Design: Ellen Morris * [email protected]
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use—other than for “fair use” as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
ISBN 978-0-9888169-3-0 (Ebook)
1. Fiction - Fantasy/General
2. Fiction - Fantasy/Epic
3. Fiction - Action & Adventure
ISBN 978-0-9888169-3-0
1st Tradepaper printing in the United States of America, Jan 2013
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Dawn Rogers for continuing to be the inspiration for Chen, the female protagonist in the Black Scarlet Saga, and for her determination and organizational ability that helps to keep the series moving along smoothly. I’d like to thank Ellen Morris for creating her second book cover for the series, one that again captures the spirit of the novel. I’d also like to thank Dr. Audrey Perselay and Ronna Rothenberger for their continued support for without such real-life warrior women in the world nothing of any value would ever come into being.
Also, I’d like to thank my wife, Ann Oakes. The initials R & A on the book cover stand for Robert & Ann, and though she didn’t help write the novel, without her support the Black Scarlet Saga would be only a dream.
Black Scarlet
Chapter 1
The young warrior woman felt like her body was being torn to pieces, but this wasn’t the first time she’d known extreme pain. Skilled in the arts of war, she was intimately familiar with combat wounds. In a fight the year before, a lance with a long, thick point had been thrust into her left thigh. Later that same day, an opposing warrior had kicked hard at the gaping wound, yet she’d not cried out.
Hardened by life, Chen’s strength of will was the stuff of legend. Many an adversary had fallen before the warrior woman’s hostile gaze and her even more vicious sword. Yet this brave warrior had a threshold of pain that could be crossed, and the torture she was enduring at the hands of this insistent, relentless assailant was more than the battle-weary, young woman could endure. With the veins in her neck and forehead bulging, she leaned back, surrendered to the agony and screamed for all she was worth.
Chen ceased caring about pride. Naked and lying in her own blood and sweat, at first she’d felt embarrassed that other warrior women were watching her writhing in agony. But now, she abandoned all sense of modesty. Her only reality was pain.
Through a haze of mind-numbing fatigue, Chen watched a warrior woman whom she’d known and trusted for years unsheathe a long, razor-sharp knife. Then, the trusted friend stood between Chen’s legs, inserted the weapon into her pelvic region and began cutting her flesh. It seemed a cruel thing to do, but the incision enabled the baby’s head to exit the exhausted mother’s body.
Chen’s two closest friends, Andrina and Gwendylln, shouted for her to push one last time, and the young warrior woman responded with a heroic effort. Next came the baby’s shoulders followed by a bottom that fairly shot out of the young mother as the newborn child fell into the waiting hands of the midwife.
“It’s a girl!” the midwife said as she held the baby up for her mother to see.
Chen collapsed in relief. Only a female could inherit her magic sword, and the young warrior woman now had an heir.
Lord Pensgraft, her husband, slipped back into the room, the midwife having shoved him into an adjacent hallway after Chen had lost her temper with him.
“You did this to me!” she’d screamed in his face as the agony of childbirth reached its peak.
Chen’s hand had instinctively reached for her right calf muscle where she normally had a knife sheath strapped to her lower leg. Had the young warrior woman found a weapon there, Andrina and Gwendylln were both sure Chen would have stabbed her husband.
Now, quietly, this mountain of a man stole back into the room and saw the reason his wife had been in such pain, the baby weighing over ten pounds. Lord Pensgraft held himself responsible for he was 6’ 5” tall and weighed over 275 pounds. All solid muscle.
When he put his hand on hers, Chen didn’t pull away. The baby was in her arms, and she was happy.
“Honey, look at the size of this child,” Chen said proudly. “She’s huge like you are. Someday she’ll be a great warrior, and all will fear her.”
“Of that I have no doubt, if she’s anything like her mother,” Lord Pensgraft said smiling.
Chen wasn’t one to back away from a fight. In fact, she was drawn to trouble, or trouble was drawn to her, Lord Pensgraft wasn’t exactly sure which. Both probably, he’d finally concluded after a year of marriage.
Petting a hungry panther was safer than trying to put a hand on Chen. Even getting near her was dangerous. She was fearsome and easily provoked, but they lived in violent times and such a disposition wasn’t always viewed as negative.
Terrifying, yes! Negative, not always.
However, for the moment, this female panther was all smiles.
“You’re not still mad at me?” Lord Pensgraft asked apprehensively.
“No, big guy, for this it was all worth it.”
Lord Pensgraft was relieved and decided that now might be a good time to show Chen a little present he had for the baby. The giant loved his wife and had chosen a gift he hoped would make her happy.
“Our baby’s first weapon,” he said slipping a tiny dagger into Chen’s hand.
Holding the little knife up to look at it, the new mother saw it was encrusted with tiny jewels and was a weapon worthy of a warrior princess. After checking carefully to be sure the weapon was tight in its sheath, Chen put the handle of the tiny dagger into her daughter’s hand. The baby girl gripped it firmly, and the proud mother burst into tears.
“She was without a weapon of her own for only a few minutes,” Chen cried. “Already she’s a warrior.”
Chen looked at the hulking giant kneeling next to her and smiled. “I love you,” she said.
“I love you, too.”
Chen was surprised to see that her husband was almost near tears. “I’m sorry that you were in such agony. If it were possible, I’d have taken the pain onto myself. You know that don’t you?”
“I know,” she reassured him.
“Out in the hallway, I thought about how much I enjoy making love to you. But if you don’t want to go through this again, I’ll understand and we can sleep separately,” Lord Pensgraft said.
Chen almost laughed out loud. She couldn’t imagine this huge stallion living without sex. Come to think of it, she couldn’t imagine herself going without it.
“Sweetheart, you’re everything I’ve ever hoped for,” Chen said. “You make me feel happy, wanted and loved. But you don’t get all clingy the way most other men do.”
“When I get my arms around you, I cling pretty tightly,” Lord Pensgraft said.
“I don’t mean that type of clinging. That’s just fine,” she said smiling up at him warmly. “I mean you don’t get dependent. You have your own sense of self.”
It was Lord Pensgraft’s turn to laugh. “If I was emotionally insecure, you’d have eaten me alive a long time ago. But I’m happy not to be alone anymore. Since my first wife died, Aerylln’s mother, I’ve had a hard time caring about much of anything.”
Chen felt her chest ache, so deep was her love for this man. “There was no one special in my life either. All I had to warm my bed was my abusive uncle, Lord Daegal, that drunken lout!” Chen said enraged. “And you know what happened to him.”
Lord Pensgraft ruled The Rock, an impregnable mountain fortress, but only since he and Chen were married a year ago. Before that, Lord Daegal had ruled the massive castle, at least until Chen had been forced to destroy him.
Chen’s baby girl, Dylancia, who had just been born at her mother’s fortress, Crystal Castle, was now heir to both castles. Together, the newlyweds were in undisputed control of thousands of square miles of gorgeous mountains, rich farmlands and deep forests. Chen just called it home.
Pensgraft, in his mid-thirties, was ten years older than his new wife who was in her mid-twenties, but even that had worked out for them. The additional ten years had given Lord Pensgraft enough time to gain sufficient experience to cope with the feminine thunder-and-lightning storm he’d married. Also, he’d proven himself sufficiently to himself that he no longer needed his own way all of the time, which was good because his young wife did.
Chen was the outgoing, dynamic leader of 100 warrior women her own age. Anyone mistaking beauty for weakness found himself on the receiving end of an enormous amount of personal pain. These were battle-hardened, world-weary women, and forgiveness was not something they readily understood.
Chen wore only skin-tight, black leather outfits and was 5’7” with medium-length brown hair that was very dark, almost black. She had a slender, athletic build, long willowy arms and even longer legs. Soft, smooth leather covered her arms, bodice and flowed down her legs to her ankles. Sometimes she’d soak the leather outfit in water, then pull it onto her lanky frame and let it dry, which left little to the imagination.
However, regardless of her personal appearance, Chen wasn’t the loose woman some people took her for. She’d simply learned the art of making a good presentation. The black leather panther knew the allure of sex, even just the aura, could work wonders. It opened all sorts of doors for her. But men who took her charms too seriously ended up with a knife to their throats, or worse.
Chen demanded respect even though she walked around virtually naked in her black leather second skin. If that seemed contradictory to others, it wasn’t to her. Respect and sensuality. She saw them as being the bookends of feminine power.
Chen’s black leather attire was the key to her presentation. She had a dozen such outfits. In fact, it was her only one. Her clothes closet was an exercise in simplicity. One outfit repeated over and over again. Like a mantra.
But for now, life was good, and Chen sighed contentedly as she held Dylancia to her breast, and the baby began to nurse. The black leather panther felt a sense of satisfaction. She had the baby, the husband and the castles she wanted. Everything was perfect. But she began wondering if it was too perfect.
“I get nervous when things go too well. The way I figure it, the only direction things can go at that point is down,” she told Lord Pensgraft who was now sitting on the bed next to her.
“What could possibly go wrong here in our own castle?” he asked giving her a reassuring smile.
Suddenly, their senses went on high alert. Outside the door, the high-pitched “singing” sound of metal against metal filled the air as dozens of swords leapt from their scabbards. Lord Pensgraft remained outwardly calm, but his hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.
“Nothing can get up the stairway today,” Lord Pensgraft reminded his wife.
All of Chen’s 100 warrior women were lining the long staircase to their master’s bedchamber. And they were in full battle attire with each warrior carrying a quiver of arrows and a bow along with her sword.
“If there was any immediate danger, we would have heard arrows being launched. The dying would have already begun,” Lord Pensgraft said. “Swords, in this instance, are being used as a preventative measure.”
Andrina smiled her approval of Lord Pensgraft’s assessment. She, herself, was a masterful combat tactician and a veteran of many battles. It’s nice to have a bright and experienced son-in-law, she thought.
Andrina was childless, but Chen was the daughter she’d always wanted, and that made Dylancia her grandchild.
Even if Lord Pensgraft hadn’t been present, Chen would have had nothing to fear. Few warriors had Andrina’s skill with a sword. Death would have given a warm welcome to anyone entering Chen’s bedroom without permission, especially today.
However, as a precaution, the new mother handed her baby to the midwife who went to the farthest corner of the room. After putting on a long blouse, Chen struggled to her feet and looked at Gwendylln who brought her a sword.
Staring at the bedroom door, Chen silently dared someone to open it. She was velvet death. Feelings of anger, rage and hatred cloaked her more effectively than any robe.
Most men were intimidated by Chen, but, fortunately, Lord Pensgraft was not. The giant craved excitement and adventure the way starving men crave food, and the black leather panther was anything but boring. Looking at his wife, Lord Pensgraft smiled. He loved this woman.
Down at the bottom of the stairway, things weren’t so romantic. In fact, the situation was quite grim.
General Tark, the head of Lord Pensgraft’s army, had approached the base of the stairway with 25 of his own warriors, but none dared unsheathe their swords. Doing so would have meant death. The men were all aware that Chen had just given birth, word having spread quickly throughout the castle.
The purpose for General Tark’s visit was twofold. One, he and his men had come to pay their respects. And secondly, the general felt Lord Pensgraft and Chen would want to know about the unexpected arrival of Lord Stallington, an elderly gentleman who was the leader of a region north of Crystal Castle. He and his entourage were waiting in the courtyard below.
Suddenly, Gwendylln and Malavika, Chen’s 2nd and 3rd in command, came into view as they strode down the stairway to meet General Tark and his men. Andrina, hoping to avoid any bloodshed, raced downstairs ahead of the two younger warrior women.
Lord Pensgraft’s troops had arrived with General Tark a few days ago and were normally considered to be welcome at Crystal Castle, but today was different. All the warrior women were exhausted, and their nerves were on edge.
Chen had been in labor for nearly 24 hours, so none of her warrior women had gotten any sleep and were all worn to a frazzle. The women knew they were overreacting but couldn’t stop themselves. Being warriors, they were confrontational by nature, yet during the birthing process, there hadn’t been any way for them to release their stress and anxiety. Chen had been
able to vent by screaming at Lord Pensgraft, but none of them dared do that.
Then, Tark and his men showed up making a tempting target for 100 warrior women experiencing a lot of pent-up anger and frustration.
&
nbsp; As Andrina was racing downstairs, she tried calming the younger warrior women lining the staircase. When she reached General Tark and his men, the older warrior woman laughed trying to make light of the tension.
“Hasn’t enough blood been spilled already by the ten- pound baby girl Chen just gave birth to?” she asked forcing a smile and beaming at Gwendylln and Malavika as they reached the bottom of the stairway. “It’s nice having General Tark, our trusted friend, pay us a visit. Isn’t it girls?” Andrina asked smiling her approval at all the young women.
But Andrina could still sense the explosive nature of the situation, and none of the warrior women had put away their swords. The men, for their part, stood stock still not moving a muscle. However, looking at Gwendylln, Andrina could see that the muscles of the warrior woman’s sword arm were tense and ready for action.
Hearing more commotion, the older warrior woman looked up and, to her dismay and relief, saw Lord Pensgraft carrying his wife downstairs.
“Sheathe your swords!” Chen commanded, and the women responded instantly. Even Gwendylln and Malavika put away their weapons.
“How nice to see you, General Tark,” Chen said. “Did we almost have a battle on our hands?”
“I hope not, my lady,” Tark said as he bowed, and his men quickly followed suit bowing to her as well.
Chen smiled at him. The black leather panther knew General Tark would fight to the death to protect Lord Pensgraft, Dylancia and herself. It was hard to be mad at a man like that.
Chen also knew General Tark strongly believed in training women as warriors, especially after losing his wife and only daughter to senseless acts of violence. His four sons had dug the graves themselves. Then, as General Tark watched dirt being thrown down onto their coffins, he’d clenched his fist and swore to teach the arts of war to any woman who wanted to learn how to fight. Some who’d proved athletically gifted were accepted as recruits for Lord Pensgraft’s army.