Loyalty

by Charles E Yallowitz

  “Are we meeting with a friend or enemy?”

  “I have no idea.”

  *****

  Decker calmly stands among the stacked tables, his eyes following the tattered remains of the nobility banners that move in the breeze. Fifty empty bottles are scattered about his feet and he continues to add to the mess. Every container he takes out of the large crate is drained within seconds, the rush of fresh blood making his eyes roll back into his head as it courses through his veins. Instead of his dented armor, the soldier is wearing a simple shirt that he has sloppily tied at the neck. The sounds of battle below drift to his ears and he can tell that there is a lot more screaming than the previous clash. Decker shrugs as he cracks open two bottles and finishes them, a few dribbles falling down his ebony beard. Hearing the door start to open, he drops his meal back into the crate and removes his axe from his belt. Tossing the enchanted weapon aside, the dwarf steps away and does a slow spin to show his friends that he is not armed.

  “So, you called me here to talk,” Clyde says as he catches Mab by her jacket. A simple glare is all he needs to remind her of her promise, his grip easing when she relaxes. “I’m impressed that you figured out how keen my hearing is now. Then again, you were always pretty good at learning about your enemies. I assume that’s what we are as of today. Why else would you tell me to see you before I face your maker? Not Lord Tempest or Xavier. You said maker, which reveals a lot.”

  “Would you turn on Gregorio so easily?” Decker asks while he clears the bottles. Turning his back on the Dawn Fangs, he shoves the crate against the wall. “I didn’t know what was going on with Chastity and Mab. Xavier kept me in the dark because he didn’t think I could handle my friends being tortured. He was right, but he gets a little more leeway than you. Prior to your change, Clyde, you and I were equals. To my maker, I’m always a dedicated subordinate. I’ve always been a man of honor and loyalty, which is why this is so difficult. If it means anything, I refused to be a part of the battle below.”

  “I’ll take that into consideration,” the Dawn Fang admits, his knuckles cracking from making a fist. Checking the room for traps, he makes his way further inside and only stops when the soldier turns around. “You’re right that if our roles were reversed, I’d have trouble abandoning Gregorio. I’d still do it after I learned he tortured my friends and lied to me. Don’t give me that equals, superiors, and subordinates filth because that never mattered to me. You were a member of my gang and that made you my friend. I want to know if that still means anything.”

  Refusing to be left out of the conversation, Mab rushes to step in front of Clyde and bares her fangs. “If it was up to me, you’d be strewn about the room by now. How could you not have checked on us? There weren’t many guards and it isn’t like they would have stopped you. If you ask me, you knew what was happening even if you weren’t told. The reason you didn’t come to the dungeon was because you didn’t want to face the results of your betrayal. All that talk of loyalty and honor, but you don’t have either.”

  “And this is one of the reasons I differ so much from people like you, Mab,” Decker replies with a sigh. Removing his shirt, he stretches his arms and rubs his shoulders to get the knots out of his muscles. “Most of you have had terrible makers who treated you like expendable servants or abused you for fun. Mine has always been patient and accepting even if he can be a little on the selfish side. That I can forgive after everything we’ve been through. To toss that away because our situations have changed doesn’t feel right. I owe him too much for the new life that he has given me. As for what you want to know, Clyde, our friendship does mean something to me. That is the only reason I stand here talking instead of fighting.”

  “Yet, you look like you’re preparing for a brawl,” Clyde points out with a sigh. Wanting Mab to stay out of the way, he gently pushes her aside and gets within reach of the dwarf. “I don’t know what you’re really up to, but I told her to stay out of this. That should put you at ease and show that I’m serious about whatever this is. Best to use your words instead of your fists while you can.”

  “I want to see how strong you are.”

  “Then join me and watch from my side.”

  “Some things you can only truly understand by experiencing them.”

  “Will you side with the gang if I win?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “In that case, your request is denied and this conversation is over.”

  The instant Clyde starts to turn away, Decker delivers a punch to the face that sends him stumbling back. Touching his aching jaw, the Dawn Fang rushes the dwarf and ends up getting caught by the waist. He is sent flying at a stack of tables that collapse on top of him, but he climbs out of the pile with no injuries. Unused to being on the receiving end of a non-magical beating, Clyde fights back the urge to rush his old friend. Seeing an opening, he charges to strike Decker’s side, but the blow misses by an inch and he is struck in the back of the neck. Falling to his hands and knees, he is kicked hard in the stomach with enough force to put him back on his feet. Rubbing the spots that tickle instead of hurt, the Dawn Fang walks over to a nearby chair and takes a seat. With a yawn, he waves for his opponent to come at him and grins when nothing happens.

  “Sticking to counters I see,” Clyde mentions before Decker darts forward. The punch to the groin knocks the wind from his lungs and he narrowly misses the dwarf. “Must have drank a lot of blood to get that fast. Still, you aren’t causing any real damage. Might as well be a mosquito with a grudge. Do you really want me to use my full strength on you? Because that will be the last thing you ever experience.”

  “I believe I already requested that,” Decker says with his fists kept up. He is about to attack when Clyde appears next to him, the backhand sending him into the wall even though he expertly blocked the swing. “That is what I wanted. All those times I saw you on the battlefield, I wondered what it would be like to face an opponent with such strength. Call it a foolish desire, but siding with you would have prevented me from getting this fight. Even so, I sense that you are still holding back. Is breaking one arm and three ribs with one blow the extent of your power?”

  “Teasing isn’t your strong suit, Kenneth,” the Dawn Fang replies with a grin. Not in the mood to cut loose, he walks over to the crate and throws a full bottle to his opponent. “I’m tired of going over all the simple facts. You either side with your friends or the man who is trying to kill them. Choosing the first option means you come with us and become a Dawn Fang. The latter means the next time we meet, we’ll be enemies. Everyone else found this to be an easy decision, but I do understand why you’re having trouble. Loyalty has always been your strength and now it may get you killed. So, this is the last time I’m going to ask. Are you, Kenneth Decker, staying in Nyte or coming with me?”

  Placing the bottle on the floor, the soldier meets his old friend’s gaze with defiance. “My loyalty is to my maker. To that end, I will stay here. I’m sorry, but Nyte is where I believe I should remain.”

  Clyde shrugs before lunging, his punch grazing Decker’s head and leaving him open to a strike under his arm. Hitting the wall, he kicks back to shatter the stone and let sunlight into the room. The soldier leaps away from the beams and lands near his axe, but he refuses to grab the weapon. Once Clyde leaves the strength-sapping light, Decker charges and swiftly changes direction when another section of the wall is knocked down. With an impish grin, the Dawn Fang destroys the entire side of the room and sends part of the castle tumbling into the courtyard below. Unable to escape the sun, the soldier wipes sweat from his brow and covers himself with a tablecloth. The white fabric gives him very little protection, but he continues to advance on his former friend. His punches are weak and closer to slaps, so Clyde casually smacks them away in the hopes of stopping the pathetic barrage. When it is clear that Decker refuses to surrender, the stronger vampire steps back and delivers a savage punch. His fist drives into the soldier’s exposed chest and opens to grab a
handful of veins that feel like they are made out of rubbery stone.

  “You forgot that dwarves don’t have central hearts,” Decker replies with a laugh. He grabs a nearby chair and pulls it close enough to sit down, his opponent’s hand still in his chest. “Lord Tempest considers all of you to be abominations. He thinks you are freaks of nature that will overthrow him and those he now calls the old-world vampires. Nyte is the official capital and he will rule it with Lady Sylvan by his side. From what I’ve learned, this was his plan for the last fifty years. You are the one thing he didn’t plan for and it has made him very angry. Lord Tempest has been so frustrated and paranoid about you that we’ve barely seen him over the last few days. I’m sorry if you already figured this out, but I felt like you should hear it again if you’re going to face him.”

  “And yet you stay by his side,” Clyde growls, his anger causing him to release a few plumes of red mist. Regaining his self-control, he releases the soldier and shakes the drying blood from his hand. “The saddest thing about this is that I would have stayed if you people accepted me and my gang. Xavier brought what is about to happen down on his own head. Anything else that you want to say, Kenneth?”

  “Nothing that I haven’t already said,” the dwarf admits as he stands up. Walking into the only corner untouched by the light, he watches the Dawn Fangs leave without giving him a second glance. “I shall always pledge my loyalty to my maker. Such is my fate. Even if the man is a fool who may lead vampires into extinction.”

  18

  Arriving at the throne room, Clyde and Mab stay outside the closed door and listen for signs of an ambush. Hearing two sets of footsteps inside, the pair wait in the middle of the hallway and use hand signals to avoid speaking. Mab is about to use the shadows when she remembers Nadia’s previous trick and worries that it will happen again. They stop when a squad of guards emerge from a distant stairwell, the warriors caught up in their conversation. Knowing a fight will reveal their presence, Clyde grabs Mab and holds her close against his body. A statue of Xavier and Nadia embracing appears around them, the tight illusion forcing them to hold their position. Every soldier pauses to admire the new piece of art, some of them going so far as to touch the intricate spell. Not knowing it is fake, they feel the solid marble while their fingers really touch the Dawn Fangs, who struggle to remain still and silent. The urge to growl rises in both of their throats, the rumbling of their chests sensed early enough for them to carefully cover each other’s mouth without piercing the illusion. The smell of perfume on Mab’s hand causes Clyde’s nose to twitch, so she jams two of her fingers up his nostrils to stop the sneeze. It takes several minutes for the guards to finally leave and the impatient pair immediately rush across the hallway to kick the door down, which causes the hinges to explode into metal shards.

  “They aren’t here!” Mab shouts while wiping her hands on an expensive-looking painting of Nadia. Spotting two sets of animated shoes, she shreds them with her claws and angrily stomps on the tattered remains. “Those cowardly bastards ran away. So much for being the noble protectors of Nyte and all that junk. We should go back to Decker and see if he knows anything about this. They kept him in the dark for a lot of stuff, but even Xavier wouldn’t leave someone so loyal out in the cold. It isn’t like you tried to get information out of him.”

  “You’re just angry that I left Decker alive and in relatively one piece,” Clyde replies, ignoring the rest of her rant. Examining the thrones, he pushes on one of the gems and finds that it turns to powder beneath his thumb. “It didn’t feel right killing him because he was standing by his convictions. Unlike everyone else, there isn’t any animosity or hate in his actions. Decker has always been loyal to his maker and I’d feel a little guilty if I forced him to betray such an important part of himself. I’d be lying if I said I was happy because we could really use a military man on our side. Titus is good, but he’s better at small squad tactics while Decker knows about all aspects of war. If we’re lucky, he’ll change his mind down the road, which is another reason I left him alive.”

  “Wait, are you planning on making this a war?” the burglar asks as she checks the walls for secret passages. Coming to a corner, she removes a stone and peers inside to find nothing more than a stack of ancient treaties. “That doesn’t sound like our way, Clyde. Better to kill them now and not draw things out. Unless you have something else in mind that you want to share with me before telling everyone else. Best to talk now than risk me jumping on Nadia and claiming her head as a trophy. Not that I would really keep the gaudy thing, but you get my point. Are we going to be soldiers instead of thieves from now on?”

  “It isn’t that easy and I’m still not sure,” he explains while sitting on Nadia’s throne. He grips the arms and finds that they splinter in his hands. “Gregorio told me to be careful and killing Xavier might create a power void. If I don’t step into it then somebody else will and we could end up hunted with more conviction than if we left our current enemy alive. Events could even reveal our existence to the rest of Windemere. Considering vampires hate us, I don’t see mortals welcoming the Dawn Fangs with open arms. Not until we figure ourselves out and prove that we’ve been around for a while without posing a threat. All that being said, I’m not sure what I’m going to do once I find our old friends. My rage is begging to be released again. That isn’t something I can hold back on my own for eternity, but that’s another discussion. For now, I want to find Xavier and get the truth out of him. Not to mention I have a feeling he knew about me long before you got me out of the ground.”

  “Do you think it was me who told him that?”

  “If you’re asking if I believe you betrayed me then no.”

  “I mean, do you think I was used by Xavier to get to you?”

  “Maybe, but he was controlling the Duragians who might have had a clue about me.”

  “He couldn’t possibly have known about your full abilities before you did.”

  “Good point. Although, he could have been aware that I was coming back stronger.”

  “Now I can see why you want to talk instead of killing him outright.”

  Mab jumps when Clyde hurls both thrones across the room and they splinter against the wall. Expecting him to appear angry, she is surprised to see that her partner is scratching his chin and staring at the wreckage. Walking over to the chairs, the burglar sees nothing out of the ordinary and turns to voice her opinion when a chandelier falls. The glass decoration shatters into tiny shards that melt into puddles, the only remaining pieces a blue crystal and the rope that Clyde untied. Getting the general idea, Mab uses her claws on the portraits and curtains to find that they tear far too easily. Coming to a graveyard painting, she takes the massive piece of art off the wall and tries to turn it over. The object snaps and falls apart in her hands, a puff of sawdust hitting her in the face and temporarily blinding her.

  “Everything in here is a fake,” Clyde says as he hooks a finger under the dais. He lifts the entire thing off the floor and shows the hollow inside. “This is the throne room, but they put all of the valuables away and left decoys. Pretty smart to use real ones instead of illusions. How much do you want to bet that they expected us to be content with destroying this place? Probably hoped we’d let off some steam and leave like a bunch of animals. Not sure why they thought any of this would work. Any signs of a physical or magical trap?”

  “Come to think of it, those hinges did explode,” Mab answers from the doorway. She touches one of the smoking pieces of metal, her hand getting jolted away by a mild burst of lightning. “They trapped the door, but our grand entrance broke the spell. I see the remains of runes on the frame, which is fairly sloppy work for those two. Unless they didn’t expect the jail break and us ripping through their forces so easily. This stuff could have been set up in seconds if they used their magic. Another option is that they’re more scared of our kind than we realized and aren’t thinking straight. Only problem with that scenario is they wouldn’t try to
pick a fight with us if they were so terrified. Could somebody be-”

  “No, I’m sure Xavier is the final mastermind here and nobody is pulling his strings,” the other vampire claims as he stares out the window. He can see that the city is falling into chaos with vampires rushing into the forests, none of them sure of what is going on at the castle. “He’s been working to gain total control of vampire society while maintaining the façade of a loyal councilmember. You told me a while back that he used you for assassinations, which included traitors. Wouldn’t surprise me if some of those were people he perceived as future threats to his throne. The bonus was that it kept you busy and brought you more into his service. If he did know about me then having you as one of his best agents would have guaranteed my allegiance to his cause. Not to mention you denying him would have resulted in your deeds being made public to the council. Then, you’d be hunted and he’d act like you were killing allies on your own time.”

  Mab jumps into the window and leans against the frame, the wind a welcomed sensation after her containment. “You’re giving Xavier a lot of credit and foresight, but I can see how all of that would happen. Makes far too much sense once you stop looking at him as a friend. All of us were being used as pawns that he could toss aside the moment we became either useless or a threat. That explains why the Vengeance Hounds would occasionally have raids, which fell apart at the seams. The losses would force them to recruit from Xavier’s followers. He wanted to make sure you didn’t have an army to work with if you returned and didn’t side with him. Makes one wonder if we were ever really friends.”

  “We were before the world changed and opportunities for power appeared,” Clyde says with a shrug. Offering a hand to Mab, he helps her down and leads her to the darkest shadow in the room. “Those two are in Nyte somewhere. Betting they’re in hiding and blind to what’s going on since we haven’t been attacked. Definitely feels like a last-minute plan, but it’s one that means we have the element of surprise. Think you can guide us to them through the shadows? You brought Decker into the void, so I assume you can do it with me too.”