“Here is what you shall tell them,” said Lukor, his tone stern, his words slow and deliberate. “Tell them that those two died on the journey back. We left the bodies behind, for the beasts of the cave.”
The lieutenant seemed confused. “Sir?”
“That is what you shall tell them,” repeated Lukor. “Do you have a problem with that order, lieutenant?”
“No sir, but there’s more,” he said. They also want an equal number of our own. They’re coming down the main hallway to collect them. They said that they were mainly interested in our children.”
“What!” roared Lukor. “This has gone far enough. I want my warriors assembled and now.”
“But sir, they are doing this under orders from the drells,” replied the lieutenant. “Their leader had the order in hand. It looked official.”
“It looked official,” repeated Lukor. “Did anyone think to summon me?”
“I tried, but they weren’t taking no for an answer,” said the lieutenant. “Sir, there were at least a hundred of them, and very well armed. I had only eleven on duty. What was I to do? We weren’t prepared for this.”
“Here is what you will do. First you will sound the alarm,” said Lukor. “The soldiers and taskmasters of the day shift must surely be almost ready. Then we are going to form a defensive line at the commons. Now move lieutenant.”
The lieutenant quickly departed. Kadra went to the door to see Malfacian’s warrior’s dressed in crimson red, gathered near the end of the commons. She turned to her mate. “What about Debbie?”
“You hide her,” said Lukor. “Be creative but do it. We’ll not be giving her over to them. I believe that it is she that is da key to our survival.”
With those words Lukor ran out into the commons. By now the large bell at the heart of the commons was ringing loudly. About two dozen well-armed wulver warriors were gathering around it and the number was steadily growing.
Kadra turned to Debbie. “Quickly, get dressed. From a distance I want you to appear as one of us.”
Debbie asked no questions but complied. She didn’t know what these invaders had in store for her but she was sure that it wasn’t pleasant. It took less than three minutes for her to get dressed. Now she stood with Kadra at the door to their home.
Lukors troops now numbered about fifty and that number was growing. They had organized themselves into a thin defensive line that stretched the entire way across the commons. The troops in red were advancing toward them from the other end of the commons. They seemed to be going from residence to residence. The process was creating a general panic among the wulvers. Debbie could see that the soldiers in red had taken several of the wulvers captive. Most looked to be children. A battle appeared imminent. It looked like the revolution would be starting several days earlier than any of them had anticipated.
“Has this ever happened before?” Debbie asked.
“Never,” replied Kadra. “Come.”
Kadra and Debbie made their way away from the soldiers and toward the tunnel they had traveled the night before. The stone tables had plates of food scattered all over them. Apparently this attack had interrupted the breakfast of the wulvers. Debbie was surprised to discover a number of female wulvers, swords and bows drawn, standing with their men.
Debbie and Kadra made their way past the forges. Amidst the general confusion they were hardly noticed. Finally, they made it to the secret armory.
“You’ll be donning armor,” said Kadra. “We have some of your size. You’ll also need to select a sword.”
“I already have,” said Debbie, revealing the short sword strapped around her waist beneath the flowing robe.
Kadra handed Debbie a glowing crystal. “There is a tunnel at the rear of the armory. I want you to hide there until I come for you. Do you understand?”
If there was a battle to be fought Debbie wanted to be a part of it. Still she would do as Kadra asked. “Yes,” she replied.
With that Kadra quickly departed, leaving Debbie standing amidst the weapons of this medieval arsenal. She prayed that their revolt would not be crushed before it had even begun.
In the commons, Kadra joined Lukor. By now the majority of the women and children had fled to the rear cavern and over a hundred wulver warriors had taken up their defensive positions. Archers had been positioned along the flanks and spearmen held the center, with the swordsmen occupying the positions in between.
Lukor had never imagined that a thing such as this would happen, but he had planned for it, drilled his men for such a situation many times. Their training had paid off. Their defensive line was firm.
The commons became strangely quiet. At the other end of the commons the invaders in red had also halted their advance and amazingly taken up a defensive stance. It was a standoff, plain and simple.
The wulvers were both bigger and stronger than their human counterparts at the far end of the commons. Add to that they were defending their home. Lukor considered going on the offensive. They might still rescue the captives if they moved quickly.
Then from the center of the invading ranks three men stepped forth, making their way towards the wulvers, a white flag in hand. Lukor watched carefully as they approached.
“Parlay?” suggested Lemnock, who stood to Lukor’s left.
“Let us find out,” said Lukor. “You up to a walk?”
“Don’t have anywhere else to be,” replied Lemnock.
The two left the ranks and moved forward toward the approaching men in red. Less than a minute later they came to a halt about ten or so feet apart. Lukor, looked over his adversary carefully.
It was Lukor who spoke first. “I am Lukor, commander of the wulvers. You are in violation of the Pact of Torin. I assume you have a good reason for invading our privacy this day.”
His principal adversary was a clean shaven middle age man with shimmering chainmail armor and a red cape. Upon his golden helmet was the mark of a captain. To his left and right were two lieutenants.
“I am Captain Kahn, high commander of Lord Malfacian’s imperial guard. I was sent here by order of Dre Kon, master of the drells, lord of darkness.”
“To what ends?” asked Lukor who neither liked the looks or the attitude of his opponent.
“The drell lords are displeased with you and your stewardship of the human slaves,” continued Kahn. “You’ve grown careless and soft. The masters felt that it was time to remind you of your responsibilities and the consequences you will face should you fail in those responsibilities. Dre Kon commands the presence of you and all of your people at the great arena two days hence. You are to bring all of the humans with you, securely shackled. You will travel the length of the Corridor of Sorrows into the forbidden lands. They expect all of you to be present by the third hour in the great arena. There you will behold a spectacle of death and horror to remind you of the penalties of poor performance. We have taken over a score of your people and nearly a score of the humans under your charge to act as the entertainment.” He paused. “However we require two more humans; one by the name of Debbie Langmuir and one by the name of David Tomlinson.”
“They’re dead,” replied Lukor, “killed during the journey to the crystal cavern.”
Kahn looked into Lukor’s cold eyes. If there was falsehood there, it could not be read here. “A pity. Very well, we shall have to take three others to take their place.”
“Three!” roared Lukor, “But you are only missing two.”
“Those two were of high value to the lords, they are worth three others,” replied Kahn. “Or would you prefer I took four?”
Lukor practically bit his tongue to keep himself from blurting something out that he might regret.
“Bring food and drink with you to the festivities,” continued Kahn, his tone cruel and taunting, “for you will be staying there all day.”
Lukor was infuriated. His anger boiled up to the surface. “Were you not under a white flag I would scatter your entrails across this commons
for what you have said and done today.”
“You might,” replied Kahn. “You might even succeed in slaying me and my men. But then you would have to face the powerful magic of the drells and the legion of my commanding officer. Remember your place wulver. You are a slave of the drells. We expect you to behave as such. And don’t think to rescue those we have taken. That would be stupid. I assure you that all of the prisoners would perish long before you so much as saw them. We will now depart. Don’t think to stop us. Use what little brains you have beneath that fur of yours. Accept your punishment. You’ll be better off for it.”
Kahn didn’t wait for a response. He and his lieutenants turned about and made their way back to his lines.
Lemnock seemed indeed confused. “What now captain?”
“We let them go,” replied Lukor. “We’re not ready for this fight. I thought we’d be fighting just the drells not them. These are professional soldiers.”
“So you say we do nothing?” asked Lemnock.
“No, that’s not what I said,” corrected Lukor. “I said that we do nothing now. We need to plan.”
Lukor and his forces held their position until Kahn’s forces withdrew. There was nothing he could do. The support of the army of Lord Malfacian was a factor he hadn’t counted on. How many of Malfacian’s guard was he dealing with? A few hundred or a few thousand? Whichever, it dashed his hopes of victory over the drells. Even with all of his reserves his men and women in arms numbered only a bit over 600. Even with the humans it would make little difference. The humans might escape back to their world but it would do them little good. The drells would hunt them down or simply steal the souls of others to take their place. But there was nowhere to run for his people. Freedom for them was a fleeting dream.
“The enemy has departed,” said a voice somewhere out in the armory.
Debbie emerged from her hiding place to find dozens of wolver women and children in the armory. Her appearance seemed to startle them.
They moved all the more quickly into the tunnels beyond, on their way to the commons. Debbie moved along with them. Eventually she encountered Kadra who was apparently on her way to retrieve her. Kadra’s expression was not one that instilled hope in Debbie.
It was better than two hours later that the council met once more in the quarters of Lukor and Kadra. One of their own had been swept up in this random harvest of innocent wulvers. Of the humans that had gone on the sojourn to the crystal cavern, only Debbie and Camron remained.
“They’d taken me along with the others,” explained Camron, “but Marci had managed to create a diversion. In the darkness I managed to slip out of my chains and get away. They didn’t even notice that I was gone until it was too late. I wanted to help Gwen but she was just too far away. I couldn’t get to her.” Camron shook his head.
“It’s OK,” said Debbie. “I’m sure you tried.”
“What is going to happen to them?” asked Camron, turning to Lukor.
“Nothing pleasant, I assure you,” replied Lukor. “When the drells feel like we are not working as hard as they would like us to they do something like this. The last time it happened was when I was about nine. They came and took about twenty of us and twenty of the humans. My aunt was one of the ones that was taken. They made us travel to the arena a few days later. They made us all watch while they played games with our loved ones. They were games like you can’t imagine, but they all ended the same; death. It went on for the entire day. We saw people eaten alive, ripped apart, burned, and bled to death. They forced us to watch. If we didn’t, if we turned away, then we might end up down in that arena as the next victim. After that we were terrified of the drells. We did whatever they told us to do, no matter how terrible. We never wanted to go back there.”
“So this is it,” said one of the council members. “This is the end of the revolution.”
“No it is not, it is your golden opportunity to bring an end to the drells and all those who stand with them,” said Abaddon, stepping through the door with Lenar.
“You will have them all in one place at one time,” said Lenar. “There will never be a more perfect opportunity to kill every last one of them. It will be glorious.”
“And you will help us?” asked Lukor.
“Of course,” said Abaddon.
“We wouldn’t miss it,” said Lenar.
“And you have a plan,” deduced Lemnock.
“We do now,” assured Abaddon. “We have had a productive night of intelligence gathering. You had many good ideas last night. We are prepared to help you pull them together into a workable plan, a good plan. The drells have made a critical mistake and have stepped right into our trap. We have two days to pull it together. Let us begin this night to reshape this world.”
Victoria Barda gazed from the second floor balcony of her isolated Long Island mansion, across the grassy dunes, to the east. It would be daylight very soon. Her long white nightgown flowed softly in the gentle sea breeze. The eternal rolling of the waves upon the beach was the only sound to break the stillness of the warm starry night. The witch’s thoughts were troubled, troubled by the death of a coven sister whom she had known for nearly two centuries.
She had seen Marella’s death in her mind’s eye, felt the horror in her ancient soul. There would be no incantation that would bring her back. She was lost. Marella’s tragic passing had reduced their number to seven, including the young novice who stood at her side.
Although Victoria was old enough to have remembered the horror of the Salem witch trials and the agony of the black plague, her supple white body had been spared the ravages of the centuries. There was not a trace of gray in her long black hair nor a wrinkle on her soft skin. If anything, her voluptuous beauty had only grown with the passage of the years. It was an alluring beauty that had served the masters well.
“What’s wrong, mistress?” asked Keira Parker, sensing her distant thoughts.
Victoria did not so much as acknowledge Keira’s presence, but continued to stare wide eyed into the darkness.
“Mistress?”
“I heard you the first time, Keira,” she confirmed, turning toward her apprentice. “Your actions have caused me much grief.”
“Me?” asked Keira, turning pale.
“It was you who selected Debra Langmuir and then Leslie Cosland to serve our masters.”
“They were perfect,” objected Keira. “Aren’t the drells pleased with them?”
“You acted foolishly. In selecting two friends so close to your heart, you brought suspicion down upon yourself and the crystal. For one to be taken in the presence of the crystal itself, it’s unthinkable. The crystal is to sow the seeds of their doom but it must not take them outright. It is best if it takes them days or even weeks later. Like so many of this generation you are impatient. You seek instant gratification. You are not willing to watch and wait for the right time. You exposed our coven to the heathen, and indirectly brought death to Marella La Fee one of our sisters.”
“I’m sorry,” replied Keira, fear in her voice.
“Sorry, is that all you can say? Being a member of the sisterhood is not a game. Perhaps you’re still too young, too immature for its discipline. Unfortunately, I can’t simply dismiss you from the coven, you know too much. If it were up to me, I would send you to join your friends Debbie and Leslie, to share in their fate.”
“No, please! I’ll work harder, do better!”
“But it is not up to me,” continued Victoria. “For whatever reason you have found favor with the drells.” Victoria turned once more to the east staring out into the darkness. “I remember your great grandmother, a young woman with so much potential. When Sister Tanya was so brutally murdered, I came to your great grandmother in her dreams, much as I did to you. Night after night I instructed her in our ways, so that she might one day ascend to the responsibility of our calling.”
Victoria shook her head in regret. “Yet when the crystal was placed at her disposal she cowered f
rom her responsibility. She placed the crystal’s spirit into a deep slumber and sought to hide herself and the mystical sphere from my sight.”
“Haven’t I helped you, mistress?” asked Keira, in a trembling voice. “I did return the ball to you.”
“This is true,” she replied. “Until your soft hands touched it a year ago, I thought it was lost to the sisterhood forever. It is for that reason that I’ve had patience with you. In you, the potential of your great grandmother is reborn. You have within your heart the substance of a great sorceress, yet you have the mind of a spoiled child. I brought you here in the hopes that our personal contact might bolster your discipline, your resolve.” Victoria turned once more to her young disciple. “I’ve sensed your regret, your guilt. It is not a crime to serve the masters.”
“Debbie and Leslie were my friends, what I did to them, well, it was horrible.”
“You can have no friends beyond the sisterhood,” objected Victoria, taking Keira firmly by the arm. “What use is there in friendship or even love beyond us? Time is nothing to us but sweetness. It perfects us even as it degrades and inevitably destroys all others that walk the Earth. They are mortal, we are not. What is their life compared to ours? They are but a breath of wind that is soon gone. So, we would condemn them to servitude to the drells. What does it matter? They were going to die anyway. Caesar, Attila, Napoleon, these are names framed in history, but the men, despite their deeds, have returned to the dust. But I haven’t. I may have lived in the shadows but I’m still here. Do you want what I’ve got?”
“Oh yes,” replied Keira, “more than anything.”
“You’ll have it and more,” said Victoria, “but only so long as you serve the drells, so long as you serve me.”
“I have served the drells,” said Keira.
“So I’ve heard,” said Victoria. “You’ve beheld their majesty first hand and yet you still speak as if serving them was a crime. You served him out of fear and not reverence.” She twisted Keira’s arm, dug her sharp nails in all the more.
The Realm of the Drells Page 28