He flowed like smoke down the stairs and across the deserted taproom. No one heard his passing and even the loose floor boards were quiet. Severus exited through the inn’s back door into the predawn air. The cool air invigorated him and so he stopped for a moment and breathed deeply.
“Good to see you, brother.”
His instincts kicked in and he leapt backward, placing his back against the inn’s timber wall. A long knife appeared in his hand—an action that no longer required thought. He scanned the darkness—nothing. He couldn’t see the speaker and he hoped the speaker couldn’t see him in the shadows. The moments dragged on and the rear courtyard and stables remained dark and silent.
“Let’s get this over with.” He recognised the voice this time and it surprised him.
“You have bided your time,” Severus replied to the darkness, trying to locate his would-be assailant.
“Isn’t that what we were trained for?” The speaker was right; the Brotherhood taught their trainees to wait for hours, days and even months before they made the killing blow. The Brotherhood prided themselves on their high success rate.
“How long?” asked Severus.
“I’ve watched your boys for over a year and you can take it to your grave that they are good men.” The voice came from his left. The speaker was moving around, repositioning himself into a better spot to end this fast—as all in the Brotherhood were trained.
“So you’re the spy in Freewater,” stated the eldon.
“I thought you made me when we first met,” said the voice. “Or did I fool you?”
Severus answered with silence. He was slipping as he never expected—instinctively he ducked as something impacted into the wall above his head. That was close! He sensed the attack rather than saw it coming. Severus rolled forward and stood up with his sabre in one hand and the knife still in the other.
“You’re quick for an old man,” said the voice. “I’ve also been ordered to kill your sons. And your wife. Leanar, isn’t it? Nothing personal, I’m just following Talbot’s orders.”
The morning sun snuck through a crack in the shutters and landed on Finn’s face. He woke from a restless sleep and sat upright. Morning already. He stretched and then climbed out of bed, dressing quickly. He noted that his father had already left. Does he ever sleep?
He felt the black sword’s coldness as he buckled it on and his mind drifted to the tall alp. He had not seen Mordan for over two weeks and was surprised he hadn’t come looking for Anna yet. He had called her his apprentice. Finn wondered what the alp needed her for. Regaining the alp’s homeland he said, but who could trust the blood sucker?
Finn left the room carrying his few belongings in his saddle bags and headed downstairs. The taproom was empty apart from the old barman preparing for the day ahead. Finn greeted him and asked after his father.
“Not this morning,” he replied.
“I’ll check on the horses and then I’ll be back for breakfast. We must leave early today.”
“I’ll have hot food ready when you return.”
Finn walked out through the backdoor and headed toward the stable. A black shape vanished into the stables and Finn’s hand went for his sword. The sword’s hilt was warm and he could almost feel its hunger for blood. Danger was close. Not taking any chances, he dropped his bags and drew the black sword. Warmth crept up his sword arm, filling him with confidence. He knew this was just a trick of the sword; it wanted blood like its previous owner—Mordan.
Movement at the corner of his vision caused him to turn. Someone lay in the shadow of the inn. A robbery gone wrong? Finn moved cautiously closer and quickly realised that it was Severus slumped against the inn wall. His head slumped forward and his curved sabre and a knife lay on the ground beside him. Finn sheathed his sword and placed his face next to Severus’s mouth. He could faintly feel his breath on his cheek—it was weak.
Two thin metal spikes protruded from Severus’s neck. Poison! Finn removed the darts and threw them away in anger.
Severus became aware of his son’s presence and mumbled softly, “Leave me…save Anna.” His eyes closed and he slumped over.
“No! I’ve only just found you.” Finn scooped up Severus and carried him into the inn. “I’m not losing you now!”
Severus lay in bed, his breathing was slow and rattled in his chest with every breath. Finn sat on the bed’s end and watched him, feeling helpless. Kliem and Karok stood silently and offered no counselling.
After a while, Karok placed a strong hand on Finn’s shoulder. “The healer is on his way. There’s nothing you can do but wait.”
“I cannot afford to wait. Anna is lost…she needs my help.” Finn continued to stare at his father’s face. Laying there he looked similar to Garm. “I just can’t leave him like this.”
“Lad, I’ll watch him if you have to go. By Zaroth’s beard, I’ll let nothing happen to him,” said Karok sincerely.
“Thank you, Karok. I am torn between my duty to my father and my duty to Anna. Both mean a lot to me…” The dwarf and gnome looked on solemnly. “There’s nothing I can do for my father. His survival will be in the hands of the healer and the gods. I must find Anna and the princess.” Finn stood and turned to face his two shorter friends. “Protect him until I return.”
“On my honour, no one will hurt your father while I draw breath.”
Chapter 32
Anna’s blurred eyesight slowly cleared and she tried to focus on her surroundings. Everything looked dark and distorted. Where am I? After blinking several times, she realised she was still in Darius’s cottage but everything looked different. It was no longer the clean cottage that it was before. A thick layer of dust and grime lay over everything. Bugs crawled through the dirt on the small kitchen table where she had eaten porridge. Anna panicked and tried to move but thick ropes secured her hands and feet to a kitchen chair. In a wild panic she struggled against the rope but it was useless.
What’s happening? Her eyesight had almost totally cleared and the rest of the cottage came into focus. The whole place had all fallen into neglect—for years by the look of it. It was strange how the fire added little warmth to the room but it bathed everything in its orange glow.
Movement drew her attention to a dirty blanket piled on a chair beside the fireplace. The blanket moaned. There was something there—under the blanket. Wide-eyed, Anna was paralysed with fear. The blanket moved and revealed black hair—it was Maria!
“Maria!” Anna called softly.
Beside the fire a large black shape rose—where old Titan had slept there was now a massive dog, bigger than any she had seen before. Its broad head was as high as her chest and its body was covered in short black fur. Its ears stood upright.
The hairs stood up on the back of her neck as the creature growled—a deep guttural sound that seemed to echo around the room. Saliva dripped off long white teeth as it snarled with a powerful jaw. It was motionless except the hackles that rose along its back. The beast stared at her with piercing eyes that glowed red with their own internal light. It was a vision from hell!
The beast took a step forward and a screamed ripped from Anna’s throat. It stopped and turned its head inquisitively, almost studying her. The beast stopped growling and watched her silently from its spot beside the fire.
“Titan! Sit!” commanded a croaky voice.
Anna’s head whipped around toward the speaker and in the process toppled the chair over and she crashed to the floor. Still tied to the chair, she hit the back of her head hard on the floor. Ooof!
A shadow passed over her and she looked upon a hideous little man. He was no more than five feet tall but may have been taller had he not been so bent over and deformed—he was a hunchback. His nose was bulbous and the top of his head was covered in thin, oily hair. The hunchback looked down at her with two different sized eyes.
“Don’t hurt yourself,” said the ugly little man. As he spoke, he revealed brown rotten teeth.
He grabbed the back of her chair with long, clawed fingers and righted the chair easily. “That’s better.”
“Who…w-where’s Darius?” she said fearfully.
The little man laughed for several long moments. It was a cruel sound dripping with insanity. “Don’t you recognise me? I am Darius!”
“No…” she said weakly. How could she have been deceived? It must have been magic but magic doesn’t work on her—or does it?
“Don’t feel too bad, my beauty. No one has ever resisted my charms before.” He laughed loudly as he walked to a pot on the stove. He picked up something small and dropped it in. The pot’s contents boiled intensely for a moment and then settled back down as he stirred it with a large wooden spoon.
Something moved at the front door. Another massive black dog walked slowly through the open door toward her, growling low and menacing as it came. It stopped mere inches from her face, baring its fangs in a vicious snarl. Its putrid breath washed over her and threatened to overwhelm her senses. She looked away and anticipated the bite that would end her life—
“Hunter!” The black beast stopped and slowly moved to the cottage’s door and sat. She could see the hatred in the beast’s unblinking red eyes as it watched her. Waiting. Its muscles were tense and ready for action. She sensed that the formidable guard dog hungered for her blood.
Her attention turned back to the small man. He had come from a back room and walked to the pot on the stove and stirred in more ingredients. His clothes were little more than filthy rags and his brown skin was covered in scabs and sores. He was clearly not human.
“W-w-what do you want with me?”
“Want WITH you? Why nothing, my beauty. What I want FROM you is your blood!” He laughed maniacally. “The potions I can make from just a few drops of your glorious blood…”
He moved to her and leaned his deformed face into her, their noses almost touching. She was repulsed but didn’t turn away, returning his gaze stubbornly. The man’s breath was almost as bad as the demon dog’s.
“You are brave. I’m going to have fun with you…” The Darius imp walked behind her and grabbed the back of her chair, dragging her toward the fireplace. His clawed hands were rough and undignifying as he looped a rope under her arms and threw the other end over a ceiling beam. With her arms and feet still tied, he secured the rope at her back with a tight knot.
“What are you doing?” Her voice showed fear now.
Without a word he pulled the rope and hoisted her out of the chair. For his small size he was extremely strong. The rope dug into her skin under her arms as she hung suspended and she clenched her teeth to hold back a cry. A lone tear ran down her cheek.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “You won’t be up there long.” The imp-like man went back to his pot on the stove. He muttered to himself in a strange course language as he stirred in more ingredients. Raising a spoonful of the mud-like broth to his nose, he sniffed it noisily and smiled. He seemed pleased with his creation.
Anna glanced down at Maria as she slowly spun on the rope. The princess’s eyes were closed but the poor girl sporadically twitched. Laying in the chair, she looked to be under an enchantment or drugged. A large brown beetle crawled across the dirty blankets that covered her and sat on her pale cheek. She didn’t move. Covered in filth, it was hard to believe that Maria was a princess.
Darius finished at his pot and moved over to the cupboard where he retrieved a silver dish. He spat into it and polished it with his dirty shirt sleeve. “That’s better,” he said and moved over to Anna, placing the dish on the floor beneath her.
The deformed man returned to the kitchen and retrieved a small silver knife. Grabbing one of her ankles, he pulled off one of her leather shoes and threw it to Titan. The massive dog caught it and in half a heartbeat had ripped it apart.
She kicked at him, trying to free herself. “No!” she shouted. “Leave me alone!”
Darius stepped back and chuckled. “Good. Looks like the hard way then.” He stepped forward and drove his fist into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She wheezed and her body shook as her lungs screamed for air. Eventually it came as she gulped down big breaths.
“Are you finished?” asked Darius. “Stay still and I won’t hit you again.” He judged her silence as acceptance and grabbed her bare foot. She resisted to urge to kick him. With the knife he made a small cut under her big toe and her blood dripped into the silver dish.
Drip…drip…drip…
When the first drop hit the dish, both Hunter and Titan stood. They stood as rigid as statues with their attention fixed on the blood that collected in the silver dish.
Drip…drip…
“Stay!” Darius command. The black dogs remained stationary but their attention was still on her. “They can sense the power in your blood,” he said, watching her blood slowly fall. “And are drawn to it.”
Repulsed, Anna closed her eyes to keep out the hellish sight. Everything was quiet. The only sound was the crackle of the fire and the occasional moan from Maria. She was aware of the cold air on her bleeding toe and wished for this nightmare to end.
Chapter 33
Finn was worried as he rode from the inn to the ambush site. Although beyond his control, he felt like he had let Anna and his father down—he needed to make things right again.
He rode hard and neither horse complained. They sensed his urgency. The young eldon didn’t want to waste a moment of sunlight as speed was critical in finding the two women alive. He knew the master would be looking for Anna as well.
A thin column of smoke gave warning that the ambush site was not far ahead. Rounding a corner, Finn caught a glimpse of people running off into the trees. Looters? He reined in his horse and came to stop not far from a smouldering pile of zombie bones. The air was full of the stench of the dead. He dismounted and tied both horses to a tree. Finn needed to have a quick look around before the looters returned.
Searching the ground for signs was hard as the looters had trodden over much of the area. He had nothing to lose and moved to where the women had entered the forest the day before. The forest was lightly treed and he should be able to ride to where he had lost the trail yesterday.
“Hey, you. What you doing with my horses?”
Finn turned and was confronted with a scruffy group of young men. They were the looters. “I have no time for this.”
“Look, boys, it’s a mighty eldon lord,” said a dark-haired man. “You are just too good for us humans, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want any trouble,” said Finn as he stepped away from the trees and placed a hand deliberately on his sword hilt. It was warm.
“You’re seriously going to take on all six of us?”
“I’ve killed more,” Finn said—hoping that intimidation would help avoid killing. The looters carried daggers. A few glanced nervously at their peers.
“This is why I hate your race. You think you’re better than us.” The leader looked at his companions. “Let’s gut him.”
“By the way…looting is an offence punishable by death.”
The leader paused. “So?”
“I thought you’d want to know before those knights arrive. They will execute you for looting.”
The looters looked south to see five knights thundering up the road throwing up clouds of dust in their wake.
“Crap! Let’s go,” shouted the leader and they ran into the forest and quickly disappeared. Finn led his horses into the forest near Anna’s tracks and soon lost sight of the road. He didn’t want to be slowed by the knights’ ‘help’. In no time he found the tracks from the previous day and followed them to where he had lost the trail.
Tethering the horses, Finn searched the area. The forest floor was covered with a thick blanket of dry leaves, branches and the undergrowth of ferns and scrubs. All would hinder his tracking.
There were clear signs of zombie boot prints in the soft ground but no sign of a woman’s. He had almost giv
en up, deciding to start over when he spied an imprint beside a clump of green moss. Kneeling down, he discovered several small footprints heading in an easterly direction. It must be Anna’s, he hoped.
The birds whistled and chased each other high in the leafy canopy as Finn silently followed the trail. It zig-zagged in and out of the trees, up and down gentle slopes and through dry gullies. The tracks often doubled back on themselves. They were lost.
The tracks led to a large log that showed signs that people had slept under it and he knew he was on the right track. On the opposite side the tracks led off in two different directions. One headed east and another southeast.
“Why split up?” he muttered. Unsure which tracks were Anna’s, he headed southeast as it led to higher ground and hopefully would give him better view of the surrounding land.
Now on foot and leading the horses, he trudged up the treed slope. Stopping, he studied the ground. On top of a woman’s footprint was a boot mark. Someone was following and it wasn’t the shuffle print of a zombie. The boot print was human-sized but broader than any foot he had seen. Orc?
On the top of the small hill, Finn looked out over a sea of trees. In the fading afternoon light, Finn noticed a small grey plume of smoke far in the east. He decided to go no further that day and would head toward the smoke at sun up. No good everyone being lost.
Chapter 34
Anna eyes flicked opened. The interior of the cottage was gloomy in the early morning light. How long did I sleep? The dying fire cast only faint light, not enough to dispel all of the room’s shadows. She no longer hung from the ceiling but was tied to a chair beside Maria.
There was no sign of the hideous man calling himself Darius. He could only be an imp, a type of demon that specialised in deception.
A lapping sound drew Anna’s attention to the dark kitchen. She craned her head for a better view but she could see nothing. Knowing that evil was close terrified her—but not knowing terrified her more.
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