by Eric Vall
I grabbed the metal bars of the cage with my gloved hands and peered in at them as the she-wolf rested her massive head in Morrigan’s lap. The elven woman soothed the wolf in soft tones and slowly, the yellow eyes calmly closed. I watched the pair for a while, unnoticed as they strengthened their bonds between them. I pondered to myself in these passing moments and decided it would be best that, sometime in the near future, I should create soul bonds with all of my minions. It was well within my power and would be helpful if there were ever a time we were separated, such as it was during our time in the Liebe’s dungeon.
Yes, I would create soul bonds with all of them and strengthen the ties we already shared.
“What will you name her?” I whispered through the bars, and the pale elf raised her head to me but didn’t smile as she spoke.
“Deleo,” she answered in her usually cold voice. I nodded at her choice but she lifted her head to me once more, and her dark eyes were hard and narrowed. “In the elven language, it means ‘to destroy.’ She will help destroy this land and the man who taints it.”
Chapter Four
I awoke to the blaring of horns the next morning, and I threw myself forward out of bed. Three of my minions snuggled around the space where I was laying, but Annalise was missing. I quickly donned my underclothes and armor before I moved to exit the tent. I paused at the flap to turn back and looked lovingly at the slumbering women.
One of Carmedy’s black ears twitched twice in her sleep then fell flat against her head as she dreamed peacefully. Morrigan and Rana were cuddled together with one of the elven woman’s arms wrapped tightly around the redhead. If I were to mention it to my second wife when she woke, she would deny it, but even in her sleep, she still cared for her sisters in her own way.
As I stepped out of our shared tent, the morning air blew cold and brisk against my face. I could smell the scent of burning wood and cooking breakfast on the wind, but when I passed a smoldering fire with a boiling kettle resting on the metal grate, I noticed it was left unattended. Smoke billowed around me from multiple fires in the encampment, but there were no Tamarisch soldiers in sight. Burnt food was left in a cast-iron skillet on the grate, and I turned my head to listen to a faraway sound that only I could hear. I knew something was up, but when I listened carefully, the heart beats that surrounded me had almost doubled.
Panic didn’t beat in my heart. Instead, I was filled with excitement. the Tintagal soldiers were almost upon us, and soon, they would meet their demise.
I focused my senses and sought out the steady beat of Annalise’s heart in the encampment and followed after it until I came upon the largest tent in camp by far. Unlike the other shelters which were starched white, this one was striped in brilliant golds and blues, the house colors of Decathmor. The flags fastened to the tent poles above were the same vivid colors and whipped in the wind loud enough for me to hear. Inside, I sensed Annalise and two of her brothers along with numerous other men.
As I lifted the flap and stepped inside, all the assembled soldiers of Tamarisch turned to stare at me with wide eyes. My High Queen was the first to smile at me, and I bowed my head to her. The swordswoman and her brothers crowded around a large table laden with maps, and on top of the largest one were small metal soldiers positioned in different spaces.
“Good morning, my love, I hope you slept well.” Annalise smiled as she gestured me over, and I took my rightful place beside her.
“I did,” I replied as I moved my eyes over the detailed map then met Adam’s eyes across the table. “The Tintagal army is almost here.”
“Yes…” Adam nodded as he looked at me with confusion in his dark brown eyes. “But may I ask how you know this information?”
“Their corrupt heartbeats, they are loud in my ears,” I informed him firmly. I could tell that answer confused him even more, but he brushed it off with the acceptance that I had powers that he couldn’t and never would understand. “How long will it take for them to reach us?”
“By midafternoon,” Amos told me as he rubbed at his short hair with the palm of his hand. “They're making good time. It seems they heard of our arrival the moment our soldiers set foot on shore and set up the camp four days ago.”
“They must have left Baudouin’s castle here,” Adam pointed out a landmark that was labeled with a red scroll that read Jemmets Landing. Adam’s finger then moved down the map as he spoke clearly to all those listening. “They must have taken a shortcut through the mountains to get here so soon. If they had taken the normal roads or even the shoreline, it would have taken them at least a week.”
“If they passed through Sangiam, they could have made that time,” Amos muttered as he pointed to another red scroll at the base of the mountains the Tintagal soldiers had to have traveled through. “If that’s true, there must be casualties to their ranks. I would guess one hundred men at the most.”
“Sangiam?” I questioned as I stared down at the map inquisitively. “Why would there be casualties there?”
The Decathmor brothers glanced at each other, then both of their gazes landed on mine. I could tell from the anxious beat of their hearts that they weren’t expecting this kind of question or they assumed I already knew about the land of Sangiam. Their faces were pale, and from the tense movement of their bodies, I could tell it was a topic they didn’t want to talk about. Instead, Annalise was the one who spoke as she placed a tender hand on my forearm.
“Sangiam is a cursed land, people go missing there and are never found again,” the High Queen told me, and my brows furrowed as I stared at her. “Citizens and travelers alike, it’s been going on for centuries, long enough for the word to spread throughout Tintagal and other countries. People avoid going there at all costs.”
“You say this has been going on for centuries?” I questioned as I looked into each set of eyes in the room. Each and every person bowed their head to me.
“Yes, there is no logical reason,” Adam confirmed as he tapped the map with his pointer finger. “The people just simply… disappear into thin air.”
“Very strange…” I muttered to myself as I reached out and stroked the hand-painted ribbon that bore the city’s name.
I knew people vanished of their own free will sometimes, packed up their things and moved away without notice, and I also knew there were other instances where they met their end through foul play. This, however, seemed like something completely different from either of those situations. There was most certainly a sinister force at hand.
“Is there anything strange about the city itself?” I asked as I cupped my chin and looked thoughtfully down at the map and the area around the city.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Amos muttered as he ran his dark eyes over the map. “There’s a small river that cuts through the city and branches off into the Riese. Sangiam is at the base of the mountains that separate half of the continent in two. Originally, Sangiam was the capital of Tintagal, but it fell to ruin shortly after the leaders established the fortress we now call Tintagal in the northeast. I believe the old palace remains there, but it's fallen to ruin over the years.”
As he spoke, the tent flap behind me opened once more, and the rest of my minions joined us in the meeting. The twin barely acknowledged their entrance as he continued.
“It’s speculated that there’s a dungeon there, but it's not confirmed, especially since everyone is too scared to go there to begin with.”
“What are you thinking, Master?” Annalise asked, and I glanced at her pensive face for a moment.
“I think it would be best that we move on to Sangiam after we're finished with Tintagal,” I concluded. “If the stories are true and there is a dungeon there, then we will conquer it then head on to the palace of Jemmets Landing to take on Baudouin.” My other three minions gathered around my first wife and nodded in agreement with my plan.
“If you’re going to be going to Sangiam after this, Master...” Adam started as he pointed to another area on the
map a few miles east of where we were now. Where the Decathmor brother pointed was flat land with no landmarks or labels, but he tapped it twice to make sure he had my attention. “There is another smaller dungeon about three miles south of the city that you could plunder first before heading there, just in case there isn’t a deity residing in Sangiam.”
To get to Baudouin’s palace which was at the utmost tip of Tintagal, we would either have to travel northeast along the coastline or take the normal roads that snaked around the mountains. As Adam had said earlier, going around the mountains would take a week in total, but if we traveled directly through, it would cut our travel time almost in half, especially if we were to conquer the first and unconfirmed second dungeons along the way.
I looked to my minions for confirmation as Annalise caught them all up to speed on what was happening. Rana looked skeptical as usual, Carmedy was bubbling over with excitement, and Morrigan, as always, looked uninterested in the whole ordeal. My High Queen turned back to me and leveled her chocolate brown eyes at me.
“Master, if I could speak plainly?” the swordswoman asked, and I inclined my head to her for her to go on. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to pass through Sangiam.”
“Why?” I asked in a dry voice as I leaned against the table, and my first wife squared her shoulders before she spoke again.
“I believe it is too risky to go there without knowing what is waiting for us,” Annalise said firmly.
“An excellent reason.” I nodded at her as I regarded her coolly. Her face broke with relief, but I wasn’t finished speaking just yet. “But isn’t it the same with all the other places we’ve traveled? We never know what could be around the next turn, or who or what is waiting in the next dungeon. Do you not trust me to protect you?”
“Master, I trust you with all of my being, but you misunderstand my meaning--” the High Queen protested, but I lifted a single finger into the air for silence, and she closed her mouth with a snap and waited obediently.
“I misunderstand nothing,” I stated firmly as I placed both hands out beside me on the edge of the tabletop and stared deeply into her eyes. “If you are afraid, then you should say it directly instead of skirting around it.”
“Fine,” Annalise said as she crossed her arms over her chest, but for a second, her eyes wavered from mine. “I am afraid. All Tamarisch children grow up hearing horror stories about Sangiam, and I would like it if we avoided it at all costs.”
I was silent as I regarded her, and for a second, her expression broke, and I could see the real concern hidden there. This wasn’t my wife being headstrong, stubborn, or childish. There was actual fear in her eyes, something that seemed alien in my proud warrior queen.
“Stories?” I inquired as I moved my eyes from Annalise to her twin brothers. They nodded to me in time and shared their sister’s look of apprehension.
“It’s going to sound like kid stuff,” Amos started, and I lifted my eyebrows for him to go on. “But everyone hears different things about Sangiam then passes it around, but there are seeds of truth to them despite them just being tall-tales from travelers. The usual scary stories, you know? Werewolves, cursed witches and blood-curdlers.”
“But there is truth to them, each person who was able to come back from Sangiam had some sort of proof,” Annalise broke in with wide eyes.
“Blood-curdlers?” Carmedy asked with a wrinkled nose. “Is that like a vampire?”
“No,” Adam uttered gravely, and when I looked at him, his face had paled exponentially. “They are far worse than mere vampires. Vampires are believed to be the offspring of blood-curdlers, but they are not as dangerous. Blood-curdlers practice a type of black magic that is so arcane and ancient that most of society has forgotten it. Vampires suck the blood out of people in small increments over the passage of many months, but blood-curdlers suck not only all the blood at once but their victims’ souls, leaving only an empty shell behind for them to use for their own will.”
“Creepy!” The feline shivered as she clutched her tail between two fists. “I don’t think we should go anymore either…”
“This is nonsense,” Rana huffed as she batted her bangs out her eyes.
“I must concur that sentiment,” Morrigan stated emotionlessly.
“What do you mean?” the petite alchemist shrieked as she turned to her sisters with wide eyes. “They suck blood and your soul out! That’s so scary!”
“Yeah, it’s scary,” Rana agreed but then went on. “But we also met a god that sewed bodies together and made puppets out of them, then we met a deity that was using creepy love magic on a whole town. Extinct animals encased in ice attacked us once, for cripes’ sake!”
“There should be no fear in our hearts at this point,” the pale elf said slowly as she looked at each of her sisters. “We have already witnessed enough horrors to blunt our senses, why should we be afraid now? Even if there is danger, Master will protect us at all costs. Look into my eyes, do you see even an ounce of fear in them?”
“N-no…” the cat-girl whimpered as she glanced at the pale woman. “But you’re t-tougher than me.”
“Do not make excuses for something I know to be untrue,” the High Elf murmured as she turned to the black-haired cat. “I once saw you blow a Tintagal soldier to bits with one of your concoctions, and just a few days ago, I watched as you created a demon primarily from herbs and powders you keep at your waist. Do not say you are afraid when I have witnessed the true warrior hidden inside.”
“I-I was still scared during those times,” the cat whimpered as her black ears lowered to the sides of her head, and the elven woman scrutinized her through narrowed eyes. “I’m n-not a warrior or a fighter, I’m just an alchemist…”
“Yeah, and your alchemy has saved our asses on numerous occasions!” The fox-woman protested as she threw her paws into the air. “Hell, we save each other all the time, that’s what we do! We stick together, and we kick bad guy booty! Can we stop with this ‘I’m too scared to do this. I’m too scared to do that. Wah, wah, wah, boohoo’ stuff? We go in, Annalise goes stab-stab-stab with her swords, I go assassin with my daggers, you blow shit up with your potions, and Morrigan whips up some crazy green power stuff that I’ve never seen before. Then Master comes in and wipes the floor with whatever deity we’re battling against, that is how we roll!”
Rana was practically bouncing on the tips of her toes at this point. “No questions asked, no turning back and no feeling bad for yourself! We are Master’s minions! We go together, or we don’t go at all! Today, we’re going to destroy those Tintagal bastards, storm the dungeons, then grab that dickhead Baudouin by the balls! Can I get a hell yeah?”
I chuckled softly as I watched Rana pound the air with her clenched paws and rally her sisters together. It was quite a sight to see, and the fox’s cheers rose to such a height that even Morrigan raised a pale hand into the air in comradery. What the redhead had said was true, there was no reason for my other minions to fear. I would protect them, but they had trained and become hardened warriors in their own ways, and they were perfectly capable of defending themselves if the occasion arose.
I caught the erratic heartbeat filled with fear approaching the tent, and I turned my head as the tent flap snapped open, and a panicked Tamarisch soldier stumbled in. From the way he held his arm across his chest, we all could tell the soldier was injured severely. His chest heaved, and sweat dripped down his red, muddy face as he reached out for Adam. The oldest twin rushed to grab and prop the soldier up, and the man held on gladly.
“What is it? What’s happening, Uriel?” Adam asked as he examined the soldier’s horrified eyes.
“They’re here. The Tintagal army is here,” Uriel finally forced out through his trembling lips. Adam’s eyes widened as his head snapped up to Amos, who looked just as shocked.
“How can that be? They weren’t supposed to arrive until the afternoon!” Amos shouted as he gestured for the rest of the men to leave the tent and pre
pare for battle.
“They’re coming up the valley now,” Uriel hurriedly told them as he calmed his breathing. “I… I don’t think we have enough men… There’s too many of them, they’ll overtake us within minutes.”
“What happened to your arm?” Carmedy asked as she came forward, her bundles already in her hands as she readied herself to start healing him.
“Flaming arrows…” Uriel coughed out as he held out the bloody arm to my feline companion.
There was a moment of silence at that. While I knew this wasn’t a laughing matter, I wanted to badly as Adam’s cheeks sucked in, his lips pursed, and he glanced at his younger twin and his shorn hair. He wasn’t the only one struggling to keep words from spilling from his tensed lips, and finally, Amos rolled his eyes at him.
“I don’t have any hair for them to burn off this time!” the youngest twin shouted as he threw his hands into the air, and surprisingly, Uriel mustered up a short bark of a laugh.
“You still have your eyebrows and that sorry excuse of a beard.” The injured soldier chuckled as Carmedy peeled off his armor and began to work on the puncture underneath.
“Aren’t you supposed to be hurt? If you’re strong enough to crack jokes, you’re strong enough to get ready for battle!” Amos cried as he headed for the tent’s door, and Adam shook his head as he followed after his brother. Annalise, Morrigan, and Rana nodded to me as they too headed for the exit and prepared for battle, but I stayed as I watched over the feline.
“Don’t take too long.” The swordswoman smiled as she held the cloth flap open for her sisters. “Those Tintagal bastards won’t know what hit them after you’ve finished with them.”
“They won’t be able even to think that because they'll all be dead within minutes after Master hits the ground running,” Rana cackled over her shoulder as she winked at me.