by S. N. Hunt
Chapter Seventeen
Micheal looked over the village in front of him. The huts smoldered, and the ground was black with blood. The stench of death floated on the breeze. Soldiers laughed as they plundered the village of what valuables the villagers owned. Some of his soldiers dragged women into the shadows, others raped them in the open. Their screams echoed in his ears.
“Another village, another conquest for your brother. He will reward you handsomely for this.”
Micheal glanced out of the corner of his eye at Darian. He clenched his jaw tightly. He fought back his outrage over this carnage. So much worthless death.
“These people were no threat to him. Why all the senseless deaths, Darian? When did we become murderers?”
Darian sighed, “They harbored elementalists. You know that means death to all. Antony will not stop till they are all dead.”
Micheal felt an ache in his chest. Sarah was out there somewhere. He hadn’t seen her since she was a babe, but he still thought of her. He lied to Antony and told him their link was gone and broken. In the last few years, the link pulled on him. It wanted to lead him to her. He ignored it and he would continue to do so as long as she was safe.
Darian and he walked down the dirt road to the village square. The ground squished with blood at every step. His men gathered what survivors were left. They lined them up in front of the fountain in the center of the square. The villagers cried and clung to each other as their terrified eyes watched him approach.
“Put them all in chains. We will take them back to the castle. They will make good blood slaves for the master.”
He turned and walked away when Darian grabbed his upper arm.
“The master told the soldiers to kill all in this village. No survivors.” Darian whispered to him.
Micheal looked around at the soldiers. They were shifting from foot to foot. They whispered to each other. Micheal squared his jaw.
“I think the day has seen enough death. We take them back to the castle. I will take Antony’s wrath.”
He walked away when something ran into him. Turning, he looked down at a black-haired boy sprawled at his feet. In Micheal’s shoulder blade, a dagger was buried to the hilt. Darian grabbed the boy off the ground. He snarled and growled loudly as he restrained the fighting teen. Micheal pulled the dagger from his flesh.
“Why? I have spared you. I have shown mercy when Antony would not.”
The boy glared at him. He then spat at Micheal’s feet.
“You have no right to wear that cloak, vampire. Only true Guardians wear them. You have thrown away your honor.”
Micheal heard a cry from the crowd. Looking over at them, he saw a teenage girl weeping as she watched the boy. He tilted his head and sniffed the boy’s neck. He grabbed the boy by his collar and yanked him close.
“You are a Guardian, aren’t you, boy? Is she your elementalist?” Micheal whispered so only the boy would understand. “Be quiet, rejoin the crowd. I will get you both out later. Do as I say.”
He dropped the boy to the ground. The boy stood and started heading back into the crowd. Darian looked at Micheal for a moment. In a blink of an eye, Darian moved forward and snapped the girl’s neck. The boy crumbled to the ground at the same time. Micheal roared and tackled Darian to the ground.
“What have you done?” He shouted in Darian’s face.
“I did what you wouldn’t. Get. Off. Me.”
Micheal rolled off Darian and slowly got to his feet. He looked down at the boy. The crowd moaned louder, their wails all around him. He looked over at the girl’s body. Her blonde hair framed her face like a halo. Her deep green eyes stared into nothingness. He stood and started walking back to the castle.
“Kill them all,” Darian ordered the soldiers.
The roar of the soldiers filled the square. Then the sounds of the villagers running were heard. The snapping of bones and the splashing of blood sounded as the soldiers tore apart the villagers. It would haunt his dreams for months to come.
∞∞∞
Micheal opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Sarah was against his side, warm and very much alive. The dream was the last battle he fought for his brother. He’d had the dream many times since. Sometimes he led the soldiers, sometimes he was the boy.
He’d gone back to the castle and packed what he could that night. Darian had met him as he left. Darian tried to convince him to stay. He tried to convince Darian to go with him. He saw the fear in Darian’s eyes when he had extended the invitation.
“I can never leave the master. The master would be angry.”
With those words, Micheal realized he had lost his friend. He knew that someday he would be that boy and Sarah would be the girl. Darian would kill them both with a snap of the neck. He would kill them both in the master’s name, Antony. Micheal hugged his friend and walked out the door.
He had traveled to the only place where anyone would help. The Blood City of Windern. Where a centaur named Shamnus had an inn called The Centurion. There he planned to return to being a Guardian. He didn’t know where Sarah was, but he would follow the link. He would no longer resist the pull and he would protect her with his life.
Micheal rolled onto his side and watched as Sarah slept. He still remembered the first time he saw her. He had been just twenty-two when they had called his father to the royal nursery. His brother had been so excited and Micheal had been happy for him. Antony would finally be a bound Guardian.
Together, Antony and he approached the bassinet. Inside, in a white gown, lay the most beautiful baby he had ever seen. She had hair so blonde it was almost white. Her green eyes sparkled up at him like emeralds. His heart skipped a beat. For a moment, it was as if the world stopped.
She reached up and grabbed at him. She giggled and squirmed in the bassinet. An ache spread through his chest. The sensation of a worm burrowing into his heart speared through him. He cried out in pain and fell to his knees. The moment shattered, and the world started spinning again.
His father was there next to him in an instant. He helped him to his feet and looked at him curiously. The worm was gone, but he felt the child in the bassinet. Antony picked her up, and she cried. His chest ached and sadness flowed through him. He groaned and leaned against his father. A protectiveness he had never thought possible pushed him forward. He took the babe from Antony and she instantly calmed down. She reached up and pulled on his hair.
“What the hell, Micheal? She is mine. Give her back.”
Micheal turned his back to Antony as he tried to take Sarah from him. Ty, their father, stepped between them. He laid his hands on Antony’s shoulders.
“She has chosen Micheal. It is done.”
Antony’s face flushed red, “You cheated. You shouldn’t have ever looked in the bassinet. It should be me. She was mine, not yours. She just saw you first. You ruined it all.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Antony. Come away. When you calm down, we can come back.”
Ty practically dragged Antony from the room. Micheal had stayed with Sarah in the nursery till the alarm sounded. Shae ran into the room and quickly started packing. Shamnus gently pulled Sarah from her bassinet.
“The king and queen are dead. We have to get the princess to safety. Antony is killing everyone. He has a band of rogue Guardians. Micheal, are you listening to me? Micheal!”
“The king and queen are dead? My father... Antony did this!”
Micheal thought of his weapons back in his room. His palm itched. He looked down at his hand. A sword of blue light appeared, and he grasped it. Fury flared to life inside him. It filled him with a burning sensation and it begged for vengeance.
“Micheal, what about Sarah? You are bound to her. She will have no Guardian if you die.”
Micheal turned and looked down at the blonde hair babe. His rage subsided for a moment. He reached out a hand and stroked a finger down her cheek.
“Go to the Blood City of Windern. Keep her safe. I will come whe
n I can. She will always fear if Antony lives.”
Micheal had walked out of the nursery and headed for the throne room. He knew his brother would go straight there to savor his victory. He arrived in front of the doors and saw Antony laughing as he lounged on the throne. Micheal stepped from the shadows and gripped his sword tightly.
“Ahh, the betrayer has shown himself. Welcome to my new kingdom, brother. Where is your little babe? Have you come to defend her?”
Antony continued to lounge on the throne. A serving girl walked in front of him. He grabbed her and pulled her down into his lap roughly. He groped her and laughed as she cried.
“Fight me, Antony! You killed the king, which killed our own father. FIGHT ME!”
“Why, brother? I could never beat you, much less kill you. You were always the better swordsman. Join me! We will rule this place. No more kneeling to the peasants. They only live because we allow it. Without us, they are nothing.”
Micheal let out a battle cry and charged the throne. He never made it as Antony’s soldiers grabbed him. It took five of them to hold him back. Antony stood and casually strode up to him.
“We could have been great, brother.”
Then everything went dark.
Micheal woke in chains in the dungeon. His head pounded, and the light hurt his eyes. He saw Darian hanging in chains next to him.
“The princess got away. Antony is furious and has all the men searching the countryside for her.”
“What does he have planned for us?” Micheal asked Darian as he tested the chains.
“I plan to break you both. Endless torture, till you both finally agree to join me.” Antony melted out of the shadows.
Micheal snarled and yanked at his chains. Antony smiled at him and walked away. A wendigo walked into the room holding a long barbed whip. It snapped through the air with a crack.
The torture never stopped. Hours melted into days, days melted into years. Relief only came in the form of vampirism. Micheal reverted from being away from the elementalists’ magic for so long. There was no more pain and his wounds no longer bled. The wounds healed quickly as he slept.
Darian was not so fortunate. His pain continued and his wounds festered. He cried late into the nights in pain. He finally gave in one night, swearing fealty to Antony. Antony laughed and refused until Micheal knelt in front of him. Darian begged Micheal to give in. After three more days of his friend’s torture, he knelt before Antony.
Antony offered to make him his general. Micheal agreed on one condition, he got to wear his Guardian attire. Antony had laughed but agreed. He led countless battles against the Guardians and elementalists. He tried to save as many as he could in secret.
The battles and blood changed Darian. He became more beast than man. Micheal stayed by his side through it all. Micheal tried to hang on to his friend, but he saw Darian’s humanity slipping away daily.
Then Antony came to Micheal one day, wanting to know about the link between him and Sarah. He had quickly realized that Antony wanted to use him to find the princess. He lied and said when he had reverted, their link had snapped and broken. Antony had accepted it and never broached the subject again.
The memories faded away and Micheal watched as Sarah took each breath. Her chest rose and fell. He couldn’t imagine life without her now. His chest ached at just the thought of her being gone. She had become a part of him. He could never take back what he had done in Antony’s name. But he would always protect her.
Chapter Eighteen
Antony paced around his room. He was furious. He knew now that Micheal would never come home. The elementalist had her Guardian. This complicated things for him. His brother was a great warrior. The fight ahead would be a long one with him at her side.
Antony laid across his bed and stared at the ceiling.
I must separate them somehow. Bring the girl here and he will follow.
But how to accomplish this feat? Micheal would not leave her side ever again. As they spent more time together, their bond would become stronger.
Antony sat up and walked out of his room. He marched through the halls till he came to his dungeons. He entered and greeted the guards playing cards in the corner. Inside the cells, the prisoners moaned, and it brought a smile to his face. He pushed the steel door open at the end of the hall.
The scream of the woman on the rack brought a smile to his lips. The smell of decay filled his nostrils. He sighed and removed his shirt. The wendigo, Bangor, stopped turning the wheel on the rack. Bangor quickly bowed to Antony.
“My lord, I was not expecting you. Would you like me to grab a fresh prisoner? This one has already reached her limits.”
Antony nodded and watched as his esteemed torturer left the room. Bangor was tall with antlers that rose high above his head. His flesh had been slowly decaying over the years and hung in tatters around his bones. Half of his ribcage was exposed and half of his face had rotted away. One eye had liquified and drained a year ago. The other was cloudy and occasionally fell out of the socket. What flesh Bangor had was putrid, with sores and boils that oozed pus and disease. Being Antony’s chief torturer had afforded the wendigo as much meat as he needed. His hunger never subsided, but with plentiful prisoners, he could eat as much as he wanted.
Antony surveyed the room, debating what to use on his victim when they arrived. He settled on the cross that leaned against the wall. He started rifling through the cabinet as Bangor led a girl into the room. Antony looked down at her face. With a good bath, she would be a beauty. Her skin was smooth though pale. Her chestnut hair was matted and dirty. Deep brown eyes pleaded with him. Around her neck, she wore a metal collar. He waved at the cross. Bangor tied her to it.
“I will take this one and leave you in peace, my lord.”
After Bangor cleaned up his mess and walked out, Antony turned back to the girl. She was a tiny thing with small breasts but pouty lips. She was slender but had curves where it mattered. He ran a finger down her cheek and watched as a tear followed its path.
“Please, my lord, please. I will do anything for you. I do not wish to die.” Her tears started flowing freely.
He took a deep breath and leaned in, kissing her softly. She pulled away for a moment, then gave in. Her passion came through her kiss. If she wasn’t tied, he was sure she would have been gripping him to her.
He pulled away and gazed into her brown ones for a moment. Then smiled as she cried out. He twisted the clamp he had placed on her nipple. He held it there for a moment till she stopped crying. Her screams echoed around the room as he released it. Another clamp joined the first, and he attached it to her other nipple, ignoring her pleads. He then twisted them as far as they would go. He attached a chain to prevent them from twisting back. Stepping back, he looked at her. There was something about this girl. Her tears flowed down her face and she cried out in pain. She was intoxicatingly beautiful. He tilted his head to the side. She lifted her head and begged him with her eyes.
If he were human, he would have already slid into her cunt. His breath came fast and he tensed. She differed from the other prisoners. He grabbed a knife off the table. He slowly carved into her flesh.
Standing back again, he admired his handiwork. She was covered in his name from head to toe. The wounds bled, but they were not deep. He realized she had passed out. He grabbed her by her hair and licked the blood from her cheek. Her blood sizzled through him and settled in his groin. He grew excited for a moment, but his cock remained flaccid.
What was that little one? I think I might keep you.
He banged on the door and put his shirt back on. Bangor came into the room and looked at the girl. Drool flowed from his jaws.
“She is alive, my lord. Do you wish for me to finish her?”
“No, bring her to my rooms. Make sure they wash her and then chain her to my bed. I think I will keep her around for a bit. Where is she from? And what brought her to the dungeons?”
“Zlorta. She was trying to dispel th
e magic that keeps the sun at bay. We had to collar her to prevent her from using magic.” Bangor said as he untied her.
Zlorta...so we have a witch on our hands.
He chuckled to himself. Then he realized the elementalist would need to learn her powers. Zlorta was the city of wizards and witches. Micheal would take her there to learn. And there Micheal would not be allowed to follow her.
He left the dungeons quickly. He had to put his plans in motion. It would take a few days of careful planning. He couldn’t just break down the doors of Zlorta. The wizards and witches were powerful. But outside of their city was fair game. They cared nothing for what happened outside, even if it happened on their front step.
“Summon the dryad, Villosa.”
∞∞∞
After Micheal and Sarah finished up with Mafu, they had wandered the market stalls. Micheal had bought food and water for their trip through the Crimson Sands Desert. The city of Zlorta was across the desert in an oasis. Micheal said it would take them at least two weeks if not more to arrive. The desert weather was hard to predict. Sandstorms were common.
There were also many beasts that they would have to avoid. Sandworms and dragons were known to ambush travelers. Scorpions and snakes also were a concern. Micheal got anti venom elixirs in case one of them got stung or bit.
There would be some settlements along the way that they would stop at to rest. However, the native tribes of the desert sands could wipe settlements out in just a few hours. For this reason alone, he bought extras of everything. He paid for everything with coin and instructed that it be delivered to the inn as soon as possible.
They arrived back at the inn and Micheal sent her up to the room. Sarah didn’t argue. She had always loved to shop, but today had been a long one. Arriving in her room, she saw Shae had already set out dinner for her. Shamnus had filled the bathtub with fresh water. Sarah debated on which she wanted more, dinner or bath. She chose the bath.
Sarah washed up quickly and wrapped a towel around her. She dried her hair and sat at the table. Micheal walked in as she started to eat. She watched him remove his cloak, gloves, and hood. He moved with a grace that she never thought someone so large would possess. He looked up at her and smiled.