“Lord Dahken!” Marya called to hurry him. She then placed a hand on Keth’s sword arm and said, “Come. The two of them must escape. We’ll follow after -“
“No!” Thyss screamed in interruption, and she whipped around to face the oncoming Westerners. She drew her open hand, fingers extended, across their path, and a wall of white hot flame exploded from the floor in front of them. The guards skidded to halt, but one was not so lucky, charging headlong into the flames. He burst through, his plate armor glowing as brightly as the softening iron bars, and the linens underneath ignited spontaneously. Arms wheeling, he fell to the ground, screaming hideously.
Unable to withstand it anymore as his black armor also began to grow hot, Cor pushed himself away from his task just as Thyss returned attention to hers. She had lost valuable seconds in saving Keth and Marya, but no longer would she allow these inconvenient iron bars to prevent their escape. Silently, she prayed to Hykan for strength as she closed her eyes and raised her face upward. Thyss’ open hands clenched into fists, her knuckles growing as white as the iron that began to not only soften but melt. She felt the power of her god channel through her and bent it all to her indomitable will. As quickly as it came, it all vanished from her, and Thyss collapsed in exhaustion, Keth catching her to carefully lower her to the ground.
The three Dahken stood in silent awe of the sight before them; Thyss had completely melted a large portal into the row of iron, easily wide enough to admit two men walking abreast. Jagged tips of steel, still set into the floor and ceiling, as yet glowed red, but the heat was quickly abating. Shapeless pools of melted iron had formed on either side of the portal, and they already began to cool, congealing into asymmetrical metal plates. Thyss’ wall of flame vanished as if it had never been, and the soldiers trapped on the far side slowly edged forward and investigated their burnt alive compatriot.
“Thyss?” Cor asked, kneeling over her.
“I am fine, my love,” she said opening her eyes. “I just need rest.”
She closed her eyes and fell straight into a deep sleep, and Cor stood to face the Westerners who now approached slowly but confidently. He drew Soulmourn and Ebonwing, allowing their song to fill him with rage and said to his Dahken, “Let’s finish this.”
Cor was vaguely aware that the first man fell to a single blow that broke through steel, flesh and bone and dumped organs and entrails onto the smoothed stone floor. He had slain or maimed three before his Dahken struck the first blow, and he waded clear into the middle of his foes, completely heedless of the Westerners attacks. They piled around him, trying to bring him down with the weight of their strikes against his armor, and sometimes they even rent his flesh. But he ignored them as a Tigolean rhino might ignore mosquitoes, and his wounds closed of their own accord as Soulmourn whistled through the air, severing limbs and ripping flesh. When he could no longer find a foe, he turned to face his Dahken who stood silently, their swords hanging limply by their sides. The floor was slick with spilled Western blood as Cor brushed past them to Thyss, who snored softly on the floor.
Cor picked her limp and supple form up off of the ground, cradling her in his arms as she slept. Stepping through the ruined bars, he carefully slid down the sloped side into the trench, expending all of his effort not to choke on the noxious air. Human waste, mostly feces, urine and the remains of meals, flowed slightly downhill to the south and into a tunnel, and it was this direction Cor chose. All of the waste of Byrverus must eventually exit the system, more than likely somewhere outside of the city. He thought briefly of his palomino, Kelli, but somehow he doubted the Westerners would execute a horse for the actions of her master.
* * *
The sewer system was a maze of tunnels, small and massive, and at times the flow was several feet deep. At these times, they endeavored to stay as far up the sides of the rounded tunnels as possible, but occasionally someone would slip on the disgustingly slick stone into the muck. Usually, several minutes of hacking, vomiting and dry heaving would follow this, and it seemed that they could never get used to it. Regardless, Cor followed the flow and chose larger passages every time they came to one.
Eventually, Cor spotted a pinpoint of orange light ahead of them as they trudged through the largest tunnel yet. As they approached, it became obvious that the light shone into the tunnel was that of the warm, afternoon sun. Marya and Keth tossed their torches aside, and the Dahken increased their pace, Cor still carrying his sleeping Thyss.
The tunnel opened into sweet, fresh air, hanging several yards over a south flowing river. The river, easily fifty feet across at this point, already carried waste and detritus, no doubt dumped there by other tunnels. The riverbanks were tall and steep, sloping dangerously on either side. This was Byrver, a great old river that fed life to the city, and they paid it by dumping the shit of thousands into it. To the north, Cor could just barely see the tops of the towers and spires of Byrverus peaking out above the riverbanks.
“What do we do now, Lord Dahken?” Marya asked.
“What do you think? We need Thyss to wake, and then we jump.”
“Our armor will make us sink like a stone,” she replied.
“Mine won’t, but you’d better take yours off and leave it here,” Cor said as he gently sat Thyss up against the tunnel wall. “We can always get you new armor.”
“I’m not leaving my sword,” Marya said defensively. “No way.”
“Fair enough.”
“Lord Dahken,” Keth said, interrupting the exchange, “have you ever seen anything like this before? The stone of this tunnel, and of all the others I think, is one solid piece, not blocks of masonry.”
“What’s the point, Keth?”
“Nothing I suppose. It just doesn’t seem like anything the Westerners could build,” he said as he removed his glove and ran his hand over the rough surface. “It makes me think of the building in the mountains, where you found Ebonwing.”
“Its not important right now,” Cor said dismissively, and he slumped against the wall next to Thyss as he suddenly realized just how exhausted was his body.
Epilogue
Aidan fumed, and his anger boiled over, as he left the palace for the temple just across the plaza in the early morning light. Though he’d never cared for Palius, as the man always seemed to block his moves, he never would have wished such a death upon the old man, but the blatant murder of Queen Erella was a whole other matter. The Dahken made it very clear that he and his people were a danger to all of the Shining West, and they must be stamped out. Aidan would have liked nothing more than to take command of the armies, hunt the renegades and slaughter the other Dahken at Fort Haldon. Kill the children now, before they learn of what they are.
Unfortunately, even Aidan could not circumvent protocol in this matter. The queen was dead, and certain things must take place.
At his command, the great bronze and copper bells at the top of the tower began to ring, a ring that could be heard for miles. The smaller temples across the city took up the call, for it could mean only one thing - the death of the High Priestess of Garod, the ruler of Aquis. Miles away, the pealing of the bells was heard by priests of the smaller towns and villages, and they rang their own in answer. It carried across the land to every temple in every village or hamlet, and it was even heard across the borders of Aquis, into the other kingdoms of the Shining West.
Four, who traveled across the countryside, avoiding the roads and not far from the great city of Byrverus, also heard it. They were a motley, disheveled lot that looked terribly exhausted and smelled worse. Away from the stench of the sewers, hunger had set in, but putting as much distance between themselves and the city as possible was their only thought. They stopped and turned toward Byrverus at the tolling of the bells.
“What is it?” Marya asked.
“It’s a sign of the queen’s death,” Cor answered, remembering the boyhood teachings of so long ago. “When the ruler of Aquis dies, the priests ring the bells atop the temple.
They say that the power of Garod carries the sound across Aquis to every other temple bell. When the ringing ends, every priest and priestess in Aquis will travel to Byrverus.”
“What for?”
“To elect a new High Priest or Priestess, a new ruler.”
“What is e-lect?” Thyss asked in tired confusion.
She had awakened a few hours after they reached the sewer outlet into the river. Once she had regained some of her strength, they contrived an escape from the tunnel by looping her rope around Marya and lowering her down to the river. She then caused herself to swing back and forth until her feet could touch the slimy riverbank. Each of them did it in turn, leaving Cor for last. He threw one end of the rope to them below, tied the other tightly about his torso and jumped right into the river. It was difficult work, but they pulled him to safety.
“They all come and cast a vote,” he explained, “voice their choice to lead. He or she with the majority of votes will rule.”
“Politics,” Thyss said the word as if it was a curse, and she spat to the side. “The powerful should simply take what is theirs.”
“Westerners don’t believe that. They believe that selecting the most wise to rule will prevent the abuse of power.”
“And after what we’ve just been through, what do you believe, Dahken Cor?” she asked. When it became obvious that he had no intention to answer, she asked him something different. “How much time do you think we have?”
“I’d say at least a couple weeks for them to assemble,” Cor answered, mentally picturing a map of Aquis. “I don’t know how long the process is, but even if it only takes a day, at least another two weeks after that to send anyone to Fort Haldon.”
“Not enough time,” Thyss said softly, and she turned to continue her exhausted trudging.
“I know,” Cor said as the three Dahken followed suit. “We need to reach Fort Haldon. Quickly.”
“I’d kill for a horse,” Thyss mumbled.
“Perhaps we should just buy one at our first opportunity. I’m through with killing for at a few days at least.”
“Tell me one thing Dahken Cor,” Thyss said. “How does it feel to slay your first ruler? I hope you enjoyed it, for I wonder if Queen Erella will be the last to which you deal death.”
Cor had no response, but her question gave him something to think about as they plodded through the warm Aquis countryside.
* * *
Sovereign Nadav sat in his favorite chair, a huge claw footed throne made from one enormous piece of ebony. He no longer remembered where the ebony came from, only that he rewarded greatly the man who had made it. The back of the chair was over nine feet tall, dwarfing everyone who saw it even Nadav. In fact, the damnable thing wasn’t very comfortable, but it appealed to his grandiose affectations. Nadav sat leaning to one side, his narrow form filling only half of the uncomfortably solid ebony seat, leaning the side of his head on his palm.
He looked over a map that had been superimposed over the floor. It wasn’t really there of course; it was an enchantment. The map showed topographical features to scale, all major cities and the roads between them. The map depicted the entire western continent - all of the Loszian Empire and the lands of the Shining West, which would soon belong to Losz again. Carved figures of purple stone, also enchantments that weren’t really there depicted armies all over the Loszian Empire. The figures were about two inches tall with a rod that rose from the head up to another three inches. Bands of color wrapped the rods in varying degrees of thickness to indicate the type of forces and quantity of those forces of which each army consisted. Some of the figures stood stationary, while others moved almost imperceptibly across the map of their own accord.
Nadav required every lord in Losz to raise an army, the expected size of which varied with the richness of the lord because the Sovereign was fair after all, and those armies marched across the empire to one rally point. He would invade Aquis through the same pass in which this Dahken Cor had entered Losz. Many of the forces en route would not arrive in time of course, so Nadav intended them to protect the empire from counterattack and support the main force. The Shining West had grown too sure of their security, just as the Loszians had grown decadent, and it was now time to end that.
Aquis worked to reinforce Fort Haldon on their side of the pass daily. The wooden palisade was completely replaced with a solid granite curtain wall and ground had been broken on a keep. No doubt the Westerners would put up an impressive fight, but there was no way they could withstand the combined might of Nadav’s lords. He would encounter the Dahken there, Cor and his band of children. But Nadav now had his own Lord Dahken, and he had a power unmatched by anyone of whom Nadav had ever seen or heard. He would destroy Lord Dahken Cor.
The Loszian emperor diverted his attention from the map to gaze at the Dahken across the room. Geoff slept in the arms of two slave girls slightly younger than himself. Nadav allowed the young Dahken, barely more than a boy, to abuse the girls in any way he desired, so long that he allowed Nadav to watch. Nadav smiled sickly as he looked at Geoff’s contented face; he had not yet introduced Geoff to his own sexual perversions, but that time would come.
Nadav promised the boy wealth and power, a prominent place in the Loszian Empire as it again spread its purple towers across the western continent. Nadav hadn’t yet decided to what extent he would keep this promise; more than likely, he would have Geoff raped repeatedly while being skinned alive the moment both Dahken Cor and Queen Erella were dead. Nadav himself may even take part in both activities. On the other hand, maybe he would reward Dahken Geoff for his aid and loyalty; it was so hard to tell.
Nadav drugged a glass of wine and prepared to become one with nothingness.
Table of Contents
Prologue
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
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20.
21.
22.
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25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
Epilogue
The Cor Chronicles: Volume 02 - Fire and Steel Page 27