“Oh no, that was purely a bonus end of the deal,” Jin countered. “My original intent was to get Lord Rowan to finally cooperate with the Shadow Hand by handing over control of his troops in exchange for the Lady's life. Handing you over to me was just to ensure his wife would be left . . . unharmed. Thus I get full armed forces to ensure that my men could move more freely throughout the county of Ironbarrow and I can finally be rid of you.”
Varg's blood boiled. “Conley is no traitor!” Varg wanted to believe that was true, but despite his words the reality sunk in harder than he realized.
It was only confirmed when the Count of Ironbarrow himself stepped down the stairs with an escort of cultists. His head hang low and with a grudging voice, he answered, “I'm sorry, my friend.”
Varg felt his skin heating from the fire under his skin. He charged forward, ignoring the blades pointed at him, and yelled, “You son of a bitch! How could you sell us out?”
“Varg, I had no choice,” Conley muttered.
“We could have helped you,” Varg spat. “We could have organized a real plan to save Catrina!”
“I couldn't take the chance. I'm sorry,” Conley cried.
“Enough,” Jin hissed. “Now that we have custody of these wretches, it's time to lead them to their fate.”
“You're going to kill us?” Milea asked.
“Oh no,” Jin replied, “at least not yet. I still have use for the lot of you, despite the fact that you have openly defied me since the day we met. For now, you will wait in the dungeons until I decide what to do with you.”
“Not if I can stand and fight,” Varg shouted.
“Of course, but will you stand and fight if your friends are in the direct line of battle?” Jin asked.
Before Varg could question what Jin meant, the cultists swarmed around them and disarmed Milea and Erril. With blades against their throats two cultists grabbed ahold of each and turned to face Varg, daring him to make a move. Despite their struggling, Milea and Erril couldn't move a muscle.
Varg stared in horror, afraid a single breath would agitate the cultists' blades, then shook his head and said, “You bloody coward.”
To his surprise, Jin simply laughed. “I tried to reason with you, Varg, but you make polite conversation increasingly difficult. Perhaps now you will calm down and lend me your ears when the time comes?” Jin turned to the cultists and said, “Take them away.”
Two more cultists grabbed ahold of Varg and disarmed him of Frost Fang. The jotun at least got the satisfaction that it took half a dozen men to even lift the blade. Varg looked anxiously to Milea and Erril, who were being escorted themselves. When he made eye contact with Milea, she offered a nervous, but brave smile.
“Now then, Conley, if you'll follow my men to the main hall we can soon begin our negotiations,” Jin suddenly said.
“Not until my wife is free,” Conley spat.
“All in due time,” Jin assured. “Just await my arrival in the main hall with your men and I will bring Catrina to you.”
“This isn't over, Jin!” Varg yelled.
“You're right, Varg. This is far from over. Consider this the first day of the end of your life,” Jin replied. With that, the Serpent disappeared into the shadows once again.
With the screeching sound of metal against metal, Varg's cell door slammed shut. Alone and unarmed, he watched helplessly as Milea and Erril were tossed into the cell across from his. They too were stripped of their weapons and equipment beforehand. Milea had put on quite a display of her unarmed fighting prowess when one of her escorts patted her down for hidden weapons a bit too intimately. Varg managed a laugh when the cultist fell to the hard floor holding his groin after Milea's foot made generous contact.
“Now the lot of you better behave while you wait,” one of the cultists said, who sent a glare to Milea.
The half-elf proudly nodded in reply as the cultists marched out of the room and slammed the dungeon door shut.
“Now what?” Erril said.
“We escape this cell and find Catrina,” Milea answered.
“These cell bars are solid, but perhaps I could break them if I froze them first,” Varg offered.
Milea examined the bars, then shook her head and said, “That won't work. It looks like there's a spell on them to prevent breaking.”
Varg looked closely and sure enough, there were small carvings in the metal bars that glowed dimly. Varg didn't recognize the spell, but he trusted Milea's intelligence and took her word for it.
“Then we're trapped,” Varg muttered.
“Varg? Milea? Erril?”
“Catrina!” Erril cried.
Catrina Rowan emerged from the back of the cell next to Milea's and Erril's. She was a bit dirty and looked exhausted, but otherwise seemed unharmed. When she realized she was among friends, the Lady heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Thank goodness! I never thought I would see a familiar face again.”
“I wouldn't thank anyone yet, because we're trapped too,” Varg said.
“Surely this is just another plan of Conley's?” Catrina said.
“Oh it is, but I'm afraid your husband is the reason we're in here,” Erril said.
Catrina exchanged a confused expression with Varg, who then nodded and replied, “It would seem that Jin offered to return you to Conley in exchange for our capture.”
Catrina's expression fell and she faced the floor in shame of her husband. “I can't believe it . . . ”
“It's all right, Catrina. We don't blame you,” Milea said.
“It's not all right. How could Conley do this?” Catrina shouted. She then looked around the room and said, “What happened to Oliva and Tain?”
It was then that Varg understood why Conley made Oliva stay behind. He then said, “Don't worry, they weren't with us. They're outside of the fortress with some of Conley's men.”
“Well at least Conley had enough sense to keep his own niece out of danger,” Catrina said.
Just then, the dungeon door opened again and two cultists stepped inside. They approached the cell with Milea and spoke directly to her.
“The Serpent wants to speak to you privately,” one of them said.
“Why me?” Milea asked.
“Because the Serpent commanded it. Now move,” the other said.
Varg's heart sank when they opened the cell door and dragged his half-elf friend out of her cell, but not before giving Erril, who tried to leave behind her, a quick shove back into the cell.
Varg approached the bars of his cell and gripped them as hard as he could, then barked, “Don't you dare! Leave her alone!”
“Keep your mouth shut,” one of the cultists spat.
“If you bastards lay a hand on her, I'll rip your hearts out,” Varg spat.
“I'll be all right, Varg,” Milea called from just outside the door. “Just keep the others calm.”
Despite knowing that Milea was in terrible danger, Varg knew she was right. The last thing he wanted was to make Erril or Catrina panic, so he released his grip on the cell bars and nodded assuringly to Milea. As the cultists led her to the door, Varg called after her, “I won't let Jin hurt you, I swear.”
The last thing Varg saw before the dungeon door slammed shut was Milea turning to him and giving him a nervous smile.
CHAPTER 15
AFTER HE LOST SIGHT of Milea, Varg desperately searched for a weak point in the cell that could allow his escape. He knew the bars of the cell were unbreakable, but he first set his sights on the lock itself. He pulled a lockpick from his boot—he always kept one hidden in there for emergencies such as this—and fiddled with the lock. To his dismay, the pick wouldn't even enter the lock and Varg blamed another spell as the culprit. He cursed under his breath in frustration and made another feeble attempt at searching the cell.
“Varg, there's no way out,” Erril reminded him.
“There's always a way out,” Varg retorted.
“Varg, I know you want to help Milea,” Catrin
a said, “but you mustn't waste your energy in a vain attempt to escape without thinking about this logically. Try and focus your energy on planning your next move first, then carry it out once you have it in your mind.”
Varg finally conceded and backed up against the wall. He hung his head back, trying to think of any possible scenario that could include an escape, but all he could think of was Milea. He dreaded what Jin had in store for her, but more so he feared that they would all perish there and never be able to stop the Shadow Hand from murdering more innocents. It weighed on his heart, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before it took it's toll.
His mind returned to reality when a loud thump sounded outside. Then after a few seconds, the dungeon door flung open. He expected a set of cultists to come in and retrieve Catrina, but instead Varg was elated to see none other than Oliva and Tain enter the dungeon.
“Aunt Catrina!” Oliva cried as she ran to her aunt's cell.
“Oliva, what are you thinking coming into this death trap? Get out of here now!” Catrina replied.
“Not until you're safe,” Oliva argued.
“It looks like the mission was compromised after all,” Tain interrupted.
Varg nodded. “We were set up. Conley organized an ambush with Jin to save Catrina.”
“Wh-what?” Oliva stammered.
“It's true, Oliva,” Catrina said with her head hanging low again.
“That explains why we didn't hear fighting as planned,” Tain said.
“We were worried something went wrong, so I convinced Tain to come with me inside,” Oliva explained. “It's a good thing we did.”
“You were worried,” Tain muttered. “I didn't want to get involved.”
Oliva ignored him and continued, “We defeated the guard—”
“I defeated him,” Tain grumbled.
Oliva took a sharp breath, then added, “—and Tain took the keys from his belt, so we can get you all out of here.
“You shouldn't be risking your life for me like this. None of you should be,” Catrina said.
“You needed help, and I always lend my axe to those who need help,” Varg said.
Oliva looked around in the cells, then asked, “Wait a minute, where is Milea?”
“The cultists brought her to Jin,” Varg answered.
“Then let's get you out of there so we can go help her,” Oliva offered.
Tain used the keys to unlock Varg's cell first, then Catrina's, then Erril's. The noblewoman embraced her niece as soon as she was free.
“All right, let's go help Milea,” Erril said.
“No, all of you should get Catrina to safety while I go and find Milea. Have Conley's men send word to him that everyone is safe and that they can fight their way out,” Varg said.
“What about you and Milea?” Oliva asked.
“Milea and I will find a way to escape during the chaos,” Varg assured.
“Before you go,” Oliva said, “we passed by a room that had your weapons inside. We would have grabbed them but we wouldn't have been able to carry it all.”
“Thank you, I'll be sure to grab my axe before I leave to find Milea,” Varg said. “By the looks of things, I'll most certainly need it.”
Varg made his way to the armory after Oliva pointed him in the right direction. Frost Fang lay unharmed against the wall at the end of a trail of drag marks—at which point Varg smirked at the thought of a handful of cultists struggling to carry the heavy weapon. He proudly gripped the handle and brandished the blade and hurriedly grabbed Milea's equipment before darting off down the hallway.
In order to find Jin's quarters, Varg went past the dungeon again and down the rest of the corridor. The path turned to another, and the new path led to the tunnel where they first entered the stronghold. There he followed the path again until he came to the tall circular room where the ambush took place and took the stairs up when he saw no one around. Varg stopped at the second floor and decided to check there first. He listened for voices, and heard them around the first corridor, so he daringly ventured closer to listen in on the conversation.
“I heard that elf gave you a hard time?” someone said.
Varg's heart leapt and he listened closer.
“Aye, she's a feisty one. Devon and I offered to stay, but the Serpent insisted to be left alone with her,” the other said.
The first voice chuckled. “I doubt she'd be a match for him anyway, and the only place to escape is through the window. It's far to high for her to survive the fall.”
“At least she would get away with smashing that big ugly window to pieces. I hate looking at that thing every time I walk up the mountain,” the second said.
Varg remembered the enormous stained glass window he saw from the bottom of the fortress. He quickly crept back to the stairs and continued all the way to the top. Though he was sure he could fight off any cultists who got in the way, Varg refused to take the gamble of Jin being alerted of his escape and possibly hurting Milea as a result. Therefore, he tread up the stairs carefully and looked over the railing of each floor before proceeding upward.
Varg finally came to the top of the stairs, which led to an ornate door with the same familiar symbol carved into it. He opened the door and found another corridor which led to another door. This door was left slightly ajar and allowed a dim light to peek into the dark hall. When Varg came closer to the door, he could hear voices on the other side. He decided to stop and listen when he recognized the voices as belonging to Jin and Milea. He then crouched and waited just outside the door to listen for the right moment to act.
“Please have a cup of tea. I promise you will enjoy it,” Jin said hospitably.
Milea certainly wasn't about to comply with her host's all but generous offer after he'd had his men drag her there against her will. After retrieving her from the dungeon, the cultists led her to the top floor and into Jin's quarters. The Serpent bade his men to leave, and to her disbelief, the first thing he said to her was, “I hope you find the room to your liking.”
Despite being the leader of a blood thirsty cult, Jin's chambers were decorated as though he were royalty. Milea's situation didn't seem hopeful, but she still couldn't help but admire the rich fabrics and rugs, along with the ornate hearth. She made no effort to hide it, but neither did she hide her contempt for her host. Milea was no fool, and she made sure he knew this. She stared at Jin, doing her best to avoid his yellow eyes.
To her surprise, Jin laughed and said, “Milea, there is nothing sinister in the tea. You have my word.”
Though taken aback, Milea shook her head and said, “You will understand my cautious nature, given the circumstances?”
Jin smiled. “If I wanted to kill you, I could have done it when my men ambushed you.”
“I suppose,” Milea admitted, “but you still can't expect me to trust you after all you've put us through.”
Jin shook his head, then answered, “Remember, Milea, I never started this war with you and your kinsmen. You cannot blame me for countering with force after all that's happened. Now then, how about a cup of tea?”
Jin handed Milea a small cup with steaming dark liquid inside. She held the cup under her nose and admitted to herself that it smelled enticing, so against her better judgment she blew the steam away and took a sip.
“Wonderful, isn't it?” Jin asked. “If it weren't for the imports in Rivershire we have access to I would never have come across such a delectable taste in my life.”
Milea hated admitting he was right, but she ignored her thoughts and replied, “Why did you let us live?”
“That's because I wish to extend an invitation to you and your comrades to join our ranks,” Jin explained.
Milea nearly slammed her cup onto the nearby table, then spat, “You can't be serious.”
Jin shrugged and held up his hands. “You are all adept fighters who have the potential to see the light. I was hoping that you would cease your war against the Shadow Hand and come to our ai
d instead.”
“Why would you ask me and not the others?” Milea asked.
“I've been observing all of you in our brief dealings with each other,” Jin said, “and it seems to me that you are the voice of reason among your ranks. I had hoped that you would relay what I tell you today to your allies and help them see the light.”
“You think I'm going to drop everything to join a cult simply because you asked politely?” Milea spat.
Jin chuckled and shook his head. “Milea, the Shadow Hand only mean to spread the truth. We are most certainly not a cult.”
"Your men practically sell their souls to your service. If that is not a cult, what is it?” Milea pressed.
"The Shadow Hand are a group of people with open hearts and minds who choose to abandon their hopeless lives full of trials and sorrow and embrace enlightenment," Jin corrected.
Milea scoffed. "Enlightenment? Your men kill for fun and steal everything they get their greedy hands on. Any act that hurts innocent people is wrong."
"Those who play the 'innocent' role are nothing more than foolish and ignorant masses who close their minds to the true nature of the world. Innocence is nothing more than an illusion created by mortal kind to cope with what they don't understand," Jin explained.
Milea scoffed. "You just force people who don't think like you do to suffer. That isn't enlightenment, it's evil."
Jin laughed. "Evil, good, both words that are passed around too lightly. Do we not all believe what we do is good? We all believe what we do is the right thing while others perceive us as evil, but in reality, we choose to accept the world as a dark plane destined for destruction. It's not evil to accept reality and embrace it in order to prepare ourselves for it."
"What are you saying, that the world is going to become a barren wasteland of anarchy and that you are trying to get to the top of the heap?”
“Not quite,” Jin replied. “The Shadow Hand have a great destiny ahead of us, and we must prove ourselves worthy of living to see the Dawn.”
“What does that mean? What is the Dawn?” Milea pressed.
The White Wolf (Half-Breed Book 1) Page 17