Empire Builder 3: Breed, Populate, Conquer

by Dante King

  A roar sounded out, and Ben whipped his head to his left to see a soldier running toward him. Ben raised his hand and activated Energy Darts, his fingertips tingling with power as he gathered the magic. The darts launched from his fingertips and blasted straight through the soldier’s armor, leaving gaping holes in his torso as he dropped in death.

  Ben turned to another soldier and used Drain, finding the man’s speed cord and pulling all of the energy from it. The leader’s strength still ran through Ben, and as the soldier’s movements became so slow he seemed to be moving underwater, Ben pulled out his scimitar and threw it, the blade going end over end and plunging into the soldier’s chest. The power from the leader allowed the blade to punch through the armor, sending the soldier staggering back a few feet before toppling to the ground.

  Lexi handled one of the final soldiers, dispatching them with the practiced ease of a bounty hunter.

  Two soldiers remained, and judging by the flames gathering at Shrike’s hands, Ben had a sense they weren’t going to be around much longer. They stood at each other’s side, their blades stuck out toward Shrike.

  “We should run!” one of them shouted.

  “Are you insane?” replied the other. “You know what… what he does to those who flee from battle?”

  “Better than the alternative!”

  “Fight! Now!”

  The two soldiers let out battle cries as they ran toward Shrike. They didn’t get far. Shrike cast a thick plume of fire toward the soldiers, the flames blasting over their face and setting them ablaze in their armor. When Shrike turned off her blast, flames still shot out from the gaps of the soldiers’ armor, the smell of burning flesh thick in the air.

  That was it. The battle was over.

  “Looks like things didn’t go according to plan,” Ben said. “But good work regardless. Now, let’s get out of here before reinforcements arrive.”

  Chapter 8

  An hour later they were packed and on their way. It was still early, but Ben knew that after the battle his adrenaline was in such a state that there was no way he’d be able to get back to sleep. More than that, he wanted to make it to Moonbright before too much of the day had passed. Whatever was going to happen, he wanted it to happen sooner than later.

  “Is that your first encounter with the Black Army?” Shrike asked as they walked, her skin back in its dark, cool color.

  “Yeah,” Ben replied. “And I have a feeling it’s not going to be our last.”

  “You’re right about that. Their numbers are in the thousands and grow every day. Before too long, The One Who Rules All will have an army at his disposal that he can easily use to conquer the continent. When he does, there will be no hope in escaping from slavery for my people.”

  “We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Ben said.

  Shrike nodded. “I have no doubt you wish that to be so, but at the same time, I know there’s a good chance none of us make it out of this alive.” She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “But it’s better to die fighting as a free kin than to live under the boot of a slaver. Anyway, don’t let the ease of the battle fool you. Those Black Army soldiers were reckless and foolish—likely new.”

  “Their armor is black, so they are difficult to spot from above,” Shrike continued. “But that’s not the only reason their name is fitting. They can move like shadows, crossing vast distances in small platoons. Many runaways have been caught by them, and many haven’t made it back. The ones we fought were motivated by money, but many care about nothing other than the glory of The One Who Rules All. And they’re capable warriors, too. The least skilled soldiers in The One’s army are clad in scrap armor and used as fodder. The strongest ones are given the Black Gift, as it’s called.”

  “Then next time we’ll know to not take them lightly,” Ben said.

  “How about my improv skills?” Zito asked with a grin. “Those jackasses bought every word I said!”

  “One wrong thing and that might’ve been the death of us all,” Melody said. “We were lucky.”

  “There’s no luck to it,” Zito said. “We had skill on our side. I could’ve easily taken out all those punks on my own. But I let you all have a few—don’t want you getting rusty, after all.”

  “And you did amazing, Brock!” Imogen said. “You were really there for your mom!”

  Ben, Nipper at his side, glanced over at Brock. The stone attack had been extremely useful. Ben couldn’t help but imagine Brock after a few evolutions, his size big enough to bring down castle walls—or even a tower—by slamming into them.

  “Shrike, tell me more about your powers,” Ben said.

  She nodded. “You saw two of them. I can charge objects with fire and use them as projectiles. After plenty of trial and error over the years, I’ve found that balls of dirt work the best. They’re easy to throw, they explode when they hit, and it’s not as if dirt is hard to come by. I call that spell Fire Bomb.”

  Shrike went on.

  “Then there’s Flame Plume, which is a jet of superheated air that I can direct toward enemies. Finally, I have my Molten Skin ability. When my skin is hard, like this, it’s almost as tough as armor. And when it’s molten, I can do fire damage to anything I touch.”

  Ben was pleased to hear it all. His mind swam with all the possible uses he could imagine for Shrike’s fire skills. And perhaps in time, he considered, she might let him drain a power from her for his own use.

  He found he couldn’t stop staring at her. Despite her strange skin of hard molten, Shrike had a sexy, slender body, her frame athletic but curvy in all the right places. He caught himself imagining what it would be like to get her into bed, to create a monster child with her.

  My mind needs to be on other matters when I’m about to give myself over to slavery, he thought, taking his eyes from Shrike’s well-shaped ass and putting them back on the road ahead.

  When the group reached the top of the tallest of the nearby hills, they stopped for the final meal that they would eat as free people—for the time being, at least. They were high and near enough to Moonbright that the group could see it nestled near the river, a handful of ships docked, others on the water making their way to and from the town.

  “Things were so peaceful before The One arrived,” Shrike said. “Moonbright has always been nothing more than a small fishing village. The rest of the monsterkin in the river region never even thought to form an army—who would we even fight against? We lived in peace with one another, and our town guards had always been enough to fight off any bandits that might bother us. Now we’re slaves, thousands and thousands of us serving no purpose other than to harvest resources for the same army that keeps us in chains.”

  “You won’t have to worry about that for much longer,” Ben said. “There’s no slavery under my rule.”

  “But you still wish to rule us, yes?” Shrike asked.

  “The world is changing,” Melody said. “The days of living in little villages by the river, not having to worry about a thing outside of your town walls… they’re over. You and your people might not remain independent, but I can assure you that Ben’s leadership will be the best you can hope for.”

  “Is that so?” Shrike asked.

  “Ben has always treated beastkin and monsterkin with respect,” Lexi said. “Even when he has reason to doubt us. He’s unlike any human I’ve ever met.”

  “He’s a great guy,” Imogen said with a smile. “And powerful, too!”

  “Yeah, the lad’s been impressing me so far,” Zito said. “At first, I thought maybe he was just a pretender, and not the real Forgotten Ruler. I thought he might get ground into the dust like so many other wannabe rulers I’ve seen in my day. But he’s something else. He’s different.”

  Ben couldn’t help but allow himself a half smile. “Thank you all,” he said. “You’re right, Shrike—I plan to control this entire continent, but there won’t be any slavery. I won’t press you or any of your people into se
rving in my military. Any who do want to fight for me will be paid fairly. All I’ll ask is a portion of your resources for the greater good of the empire. In return, you won’t have to worry about anyone enslaving you or your kin.”

  Ben felt good as he spoke, like he was a leader with a vision.

  Shrike smiled slightly. “That… that could work. Granted, I’m not the leader of my town, let alone my people. Even if you were to push out the Black Army, you’d still have traitors like Hullbeck to deal with.”

  “And they’ll be dealt with,” Ben said, conviction in his voice. “In time.”

  Shrike took a deep breath, setting down the hunk of jerky she’d been eating. “I can’t take another bite. I need to get to town. Whatever’s going to happen, I want it to happen now.”

  Ben popped the last bit of bread into his mouth and stood along with her.

  “Right. Let’s do this.”

  He glanced back at the rest of his group. The looks on their faces sent a clear message—they were ready, too.

  “We have our story straight?” Shrike asked.

  “As straight as it’s going to be,” Ben said.

  The group packed up their gear and started off in the direction of Moonbright. Clouds darkened the sky as they walked, the blue above shifting to a slate gray, misty drizzle accompanying them the rest of their journey. A half-hour’s walk later and they were on the path that led right to the wooden city gates—gates that opened at their approach.

  A pair of monsterkin on horseback came to them. One was a tall, lanky figure with wings tucked against his body, the form reminding Ben of a bird, like Lexi. The other male had hard, segmented skin like an insect. Even though their forms were alien, Ben saw their eyes widen with surprise as they approached.

  “Is that… is that Shrike?” the bug man asked as the horses came to a stop.

  “It is,” the bird man said.

  They regarded each other as if they’d remembered something important. They started and pulled their spears from behind their backs and pointed them at the group.

  “You’re a runaway!” the bug man said. “Stop where you are!”

  “Right!” the bird shouted. “Not another step!”

  Shrike only sighed. “Kerrick, Sharn—there’s no need for any of this.”

  “You know these two?” Ben asked.

  “Of course, I do. They grew up on the same street as me. They’re ten years younger than me—I can remember when they were in swaddling clothes.”

  “You… you don’t need to talk about that!” the bug man cried.

  “Yes, we’re not children, Shrike! We’re part of the town guard!”

  Shrike ignored their words, turning to Ben. “Hullbeck pressed most of the males of the town into military service—the ones that weren’t chosen for labor, that is. As you can see, the concept of a standing army is new to Moonbright. We’ve simply never needed one.”

  “Stop!” the bird man shouted. “You’re to come with us, now!”

  “Foolish children,” Shrike said. She shook her head sadly. Ben couldn’t quite make out the age difference in monsterkin terms, but as far as he could tell, the two warriors, such that they were, appeared to be in their teens. Shrike, on the other hand, seemed to be in her twenties.

  “Here’s the deal,” Shrike said. “We were planning on turning ourselves in. But if you two relax a bit, I’ll let you both take credit for ‘capturing’ us and returning us to the city.”

  The two monsterkin regarded one another once more, as if silently considering the deal. The bug man raised his spear toward Ben and Zito.

  “The humans! Who are they?”

  “That doesn’t make any difference,” Shrike said. “More slaves for the town—that’s all you two need to know.”

  A few beats of silence passed.

  “And there’s no funny business?” the bird man asked.

  “No funny business. Just bring us to Hullbeck and let me do the talking.”

  The bug man sighed, as if suspecting there was something more to the arrangement than Shrike was letting on. He turned to his companion, who nodded in agreement.

  “Fine,” the bird man said. “But if you try anything…”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Shrike said. “Just take us to Hullbeck.”

  The two shared one more resigned glance before bringing their horses to both sides of the group and finishing the march toward town.

  They continued to the city walls, which were manned with a handful of young-looking monsterkin, all watching the group approach, big composite bows held awkwardly in their hands.

  “These are the warriors you want for your army, kid?” Zito asked as they drew closer and closer to the city gates. “They’re not inspiring much confidence.”

  “They’re barely no longer children,” Shrike said. “But… it’s true—they don’t look like much. Believe it or not, however, they have the blood of warriors. Perhaps we should’ve done a better job keeping the warrior traditions alive. We grew too comfortable in our peace, I suppose. And I can’t blame the kids for working with Hullbeck—it beats the alternative of laboring with the rest of us. At least this way they can keep an eye on their loved ones.”

  The gates opened and the monsterkin on horseback led the group through.

  What Ben saw on the other side made him sick to his stomach. The town of Moonbright was a place of total squalor, the wooden buildings that comprised the riverside town surrounded by garbage and filth, the dozens and dozens of monsterkin who lived in the city gathered around small bonfires, their clothes and faces dirty.

  “This is awful,” Ben said. Rage gathered in his belly as he took in the scene around him.

  “The buildings are reserved for Black Army soldiers,” Shrike said. “The actual monsterkin of the town live in the two buildings set aside as barracks. When Hullbeck wants to punish us, he doesn’t even let us use those.”

  “Quiet, slave!” the bird man shouted, but his voice broke as he said the words, undermining his authority.

  “Oh, come off it, Kerrick,” Shrike said. “You’re not fooling anyone.”

  He glared down at the group, shooting daggers at Shrike.

  The group continued through the run-down village, the monsterkin gathered around their fires speaking to one another in hushed tones as the group passed by. It was clear that Shrike’s return was the talk of the town. Ben could tell from the pained expression on her face that it killed Shrike to see her people in such a state.

  They approached a large, three-story wooden building—the biggest one in the city. The outside of the building was trashed like all the others, but there was the additional feature of empty bottles of alcohol here and there in the mud.

  Whoever’s inside there sure likes their booze, Ben thought.

  “Shrike!” a male voice called out to the group. All of them turned to see a tall, broad-shouldered man with the same ash-dark skin as Shrike approach them. There was no doubt that this man, whoever he might’ve been, was related to Shrike. He had short hair, his eyes slim and fierce, his jaw wide. He carried himself with confidence, as if he were the leader of all around him.

  “Cinder,” Shrike said, relief in her voice. He hurried over to Shrike and threw his arms around her.

  “Back off!” The bug man on the horse reached for his spear.

  Before he could put even a single finger on it, Cinder shot him a withering glare.

  “You so much as touch a hair on her head, and I’ll burn my initials into your ass, kid.” To make his point, he shifted his arm into red-hot magma, the limb taking the shape of a long rope that cracked toward Sharn, slicing through his spear and causing the sharp half to drop onto the mud below, the singed head going out with a hiss.

  “Cinder!” Sharn shouted. “They’ll… they’ll take it out of my hide for losing my spear!”

  “I’ll replace it with one from my personal stash. Until then, I want you two gone.”

  The bird and bug monsterkin shared a worried look.r />
  “She told us that she’d tell Hullbeck that we brought them!”

  “If that’s what my sister says, then that’s what we’ll do. But I want both of you gone—now.”

  “Y-yes, Cinder!” They spoke as if they were obeying a military command. They rode their horses through the mud and around the corner of the building and were gone.

  Cinder shook his head as he watched the pair hurry off.

  “They’re good kids,” he said, “but they need to know that following Hullbeck isn’t the way to go.”

  Cinder looked over the group with skeptical eyes.

  “And who are these fine folks? Looks like some monsterkin I’ve never laid eyes on before.”

  Ben stepped forward, the mud sloshing underneath his feet.

  “My name’s Ben. I’m…” he trailed off, the thought occurring to him that it wasn’t the best idea to reveal his identity out in the open.

  “Cinder,” the male monsterkin said.

  “We’ll do proper introductions later,” Shrike said. “For now, we need to get in there and speak to Hullbeck.”

  Cinder nodded. “Do it. He’s been on the warpath since you all flew the coop. A contingent of the Black Army is due to arrive tonight, and he’s desperate to not look weak in front of them.”

  “Sounds like Hullbeck,” Shrike said.

  “He was planning on having three of the group leaders executed if you weren’t back by sundown. And… there’s more.” Cinder carried himself with poise and strength, but there was sadness in his eyes.

  “What is it?”

  “There… there was a collapse in the ruins when you were gone. Six of our townsfolk were inside… including Gaton.”

  Shrike’s eyes went wide. “Our… our cousin? Is she alright?”

  He shook his head. “It’s been over a day, and we’ve heard nothing. Hullbeck refused to send anyone from the town to help. “

  “The ruins?” Ben asked.

  Cinder nodded. “The ones further down the river, on the bluffs.”

  “I know exactly which ones you’re talking about.” Ben had no doubt he was referring to the ruins that he’d flown over, but he kept it to himself. “What does he want with them?”