Though even in the day, it was best to avoid the band of black if at all possible.
The wizards had rid it of drakes, but they hadn’t done anything to the monsters that weren’t a threat to a flying zeppelin.
The cage finished forming and Sienna let go of the vampire and withdrew her arm, which was still made of roots, through the narrow bars. Once it was free, the roots formed into a hand once more.
Now the little creature was trapped.
It was a rather large cage to accommodate her. She was a bit longer than a rat, about the length of my forearm.
The cage had a handle at its top, but the cage itself was big enough that it was going to be awkward to carry regardless.
“Let me out!” the vampire protested.
“What’s your name?” I asked her.
“I’m not telling you anything until you let me out of this cage. I’m not an animal. I’m not your prisoner or your slave. I’ll bite you if you try to do anything to me.”
“You already bit me.”
“Well… I’ll bite you again!”
“If you’re anything like what a person turns into when they’re bit by a vampire, I can see why that would be bad.”
For some reason Vi found this hilarious.
The vampire didn’t.
“If you earn my trust I’ll let you out,” I told her. “But first, you have to tell me your name. That’s the first step to gaining my trust. I’m Darthos.”
She glared at me, arms crossed over her small breasts.
Actually her breasts were rather large proportionately, just small absolutely.
“Your parents have aspirations of greatness?”
“Excuse me?”
“Darthos? Sounds like a highborn name.”
“It is.”
“Then why does a lowborn like you have it?”
“I’m not a lowborn!” I said, offended. How could she— Then I remembered. I ran my hand over my stubbly scalp, looked down at my naked body.
Ah, right.
“I am Darthos, king of Serekthal.”
The vampire stared at me suspiciously. “You’re… a king?”
“Yes.”
She looked to the other two women, as though expecting them to contradict this.
“What was a king doing in our forest?”
“It’s not yours,” Vi snapped.
The vampire ignored her.
I sighed. How often was I going to have to tell this story? I’d only expected to pick up a single mage, and now I had three people, and not one was a mage.
“I was illegally exiled. I am going to take my revenge and get my kingdom back.”
“But… you were headed north.”
“Yes.”
The vampire looked back the way we’d come. “Isn’t your kingdom that way? Beyond the Wall? Why don’t you just climb over and take it back?”
I sighed again. “I was marked, so no, I can’t just climb over it. I couldn’t even pass over it in a zeppelin.” This made me think of something. “Why don’t you?”
“We can’t.”
“Why not?”
“There’s another wall. No one can pass it.”
“That’s mine,” Sienna said.
“But that hasn’t been there forever,” I said. “Why did you never try to climb the Wall before.”
The tiny vampire stared blankly at me. “We just… can’t. It’s the… Wall. You can’t pass the Wall.”
“She’s too little too climb it,” Vi said scornfully.
“And why don’t you climb it, animal?”
Vi bared her teeth. The vampire bared hers.
“Enough.” I glared at the vampire. “Tell me your name.”
She met my glare. “You’re really a king?”
“Yes. I’m not going to ask you again.”
Finally she said, “Alva.”
“Okay Alva. Well you’re our… guest, for now. I can’t risk you going back and drawing the other vampires to us again. How did you find us anyway?”
“Why should I tell you anything? How do I know you won’t let her eat me.” She uncrossed one of her arms to gesture wildly at Vi.
“I promise if you don’t betray us, I won’t let her eat you.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“I’m a king. I keep my word.”
She scoffed at this. “If you really are a king, that’s even less reason to take your word.”
Vi growled at her. “Watch your tongue, little monster. He is son of Varthos, the god-king.”
Alva’s eyes widened. “Really? Oh wow, why didn’t you say so?”
“You knew him?”
“She’s mocking you!” Vi growled. “Let me eat her!”
“Only if she doesn’t answer my question about how she found us.”
Alva exhaled sharply through her tiny nose. “We heard the call to the hunt, and so we decided to preemptively strike before they could attack more of our people.”
“What call to the hunt?” Vi asked.
Alva waved her hands wildly. “The howl.”
“That was a mating call.”
“Yeah, well, it’s all the same to you animals.”
“Please let me eat her,” Vi begged.
“No.” Though I was impressed that she kept asking my permission. More impressed that she listened to me.
“Well, behave and I will let you go once we’re safely away from here. Releasing you now wouldn’t do any good anyway. You couldn’t climb that cliff.”
“I could!”
“Regardless, you’re coming with us. For now.”
Sienna insisted on carrying the cage, and kept me between her and Vi as we trudged through these much narrower, but much more pleasant, woods.
The water here was clear and drinkable, and the smell was fresh instead of putrid.
Cartographers had long ago mapped this area by zeppelin, but they weren’t maps I had much studied. I knew this canyon led to Silaris eventually, and that it avoided the cursed woods, but little else.
Despite being protected from the sea by a cliff, it was not a way anyone would risk going.
The only way down was off a cliff, and zeppelins were much quicker, and much safer.
Besides, the Wall went all the way out into the sea, so even if someone from the north came south, they’d find nothing but ocean and the Wall awaiting them.
All to say that we had to forge our own trail through the increasingly dense trees.
Luckily we had a dryad with us, and she caused the bushes and branches to bend out of our way as we passed.
This had the unnerving effect of making it so just behind us there were the constant rustlings of foliage moving back into place.
Eventually it grew so thick that I could no longer see the cliffs on either side of us. The treetops were now higher than them, and I wondered if we were past the band of black of the cursed woods yet.
“Does anyone know how long this path goes on for?” I asked.
No one answered.
I looked at Sienna.
She shrugged. “I have never been out of my little part of the forest. That’s where I was born, and then my sisters were taken.”
“What about you?” I asked Vi.
“I think…” she began, then shook her head. “No. I don’t know. I’ve never been down here. I would sit on the cliffs sometimes and watch the river or the sky, but I never actually jumped down. Wasn’t sure I could survive, and if I did, whether I could find a way back up.”
“You did good. Got us away from those—” I stopped myself, looking at Alva in the cage Sienna held, “…those cursed woods.”
The path went on for much longer than I would have expected, and my feet protested every step. Sienna moved the plants out of our way, but did nothing for the little rocks and shells populating the soil.
“I smell people,” Vi said.
I tensed. “Where?”
“Not too far. Many people, many scents. We must be clos
e to a city.”
A short time later we made it out of the trees, and I smiled at what I saw in the near distance.
Silaris.
Finally.
14
Even at this time of night, the city was busy.
It was always busy.
It wasn’t under the rule of any kingdom or state, and that allowed it to make its own laws.
There weren’t many.
Pay your taxes, don’t steal, and don’t kill anyone—in that order of importance—and you could get away with most anything else.
It was said you could get whatever you desired here, no matter what it might be.
I’d soon find out if that held true for myself.
It wasn’t as large as Este, nor even as large as Serekthal, but it was larger and richer than almost any other kingdom.
The gates, the height of five men and made from white wood, stood open, people and wagons coming and going.
These gates faced not south, which was the direction we’d come, but east, and the road leading out of them continued in a northeast direction to keep it well away from the cursed land and the woods there. After they were passed, it would curve back southeast and continue on to my mother’s home kingdom of Gyead.
There were many smaller branches to towns or settlements, but no branches led to the woods.
There was no wall on that side of the woods, and so nothing to protect anyone who ventured too close.
Four guards stood on each side of the open gates. One was a silaren, a member of the race that had founded this city, but it wasn’t clear what the others were. Elves or humans, I thought. It wasn’t always easy to tell our two races apart.
All the cross-breeding we’d done over the ages didn’t help.
The guards watched as we entered, but said nothing to us.
Immediately inside was a guard shack, and several vendor carts selling food and drink. The smell of roasting meat made my stomach rumble with hunger, even if it was likely rats.
Vi’s stared, mouth open, as we passed by, constantly sniffing the air.
About twenty paces ahead was something you’d likely only find here: A group of people laying together in front of a statue of Trokanakon, a dead god of commerce and trade and air.
A larger group watched them, and a few of these turned to look at my companions as we passed by.
Of the group on the ground, I couldn’t tell what race they all were—what with how entangled their bodies—but there was at least one human female among them.
Those watching were mostly orcs and humans, though I spotted at least one female elf, who wore little more than we did.
The orcs kept their distance from her, but the humans had no such reservations.
Sienna watched this with interest until the main road curved around the city hall and she could no longer see the group.
“Where are we going?” Sienna asked, now deprived of entertainment.
“We need supplies if we’re to make it to Este. Any ideas?”
“Money?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand money. The land gives us all we need. Why would you want anything else?”
“Because we’ve tamed these lands and whatever they give is owned by someone or another. So we must buy or trade for what we need.”
“That’s silly.”
“Maybe so.”
“Naïve dryads,” Vi said. “No wonder you’re so easily made slaves.”
“That’s enough,” I told her. “What about you? Any useful suggestions?”
“We should sell the little monster.”
Alva perked up at this. “What? No! Let me out of here now,” she demanded. “We’re far enough away.”
“No,” I replied. Though I thought it was funny she responded to “little monster”.
“Yes,” Vi said. “Let her out so I can eat her.”
“We’re not letting her out, and you’re not eating her. Now quiet.”
I didn’t like how many people watched us as we passed by. Even patrolling guards glanced our way.
It may have been our lack of attire, but I didn’t think so, as we weren’t the only ones without clothing: we’d passed that other group coming in, and an elvish couple up ahead were naked as well. He had her against a building, and she was being very vocal about how much she enjoyed what he was doing to her, a thing which was plain for anyone who passed to see.
Had I been recognized, then?
I wouldn’t think so, not here, and especially not without my hair. But it wasn’t impossible.
If so, was that a good or a bad thing?
It had helped with Vi, and maybe even a bit with Alva.
And I wasn’t a hated king, not like so many others I knew.
Though nor was I loved. Not like my father had been.
I’d helped form Elaria, which from the few dealings I’d had with representatives from beyond the Wall was seen as at least mildly positive. It gave them some assurance I wouldn’t simply try to conquer them.
Though none but my mother’s home kingdom had joined, either.
The looks were surreptitious, and I wasn’t entirely certain it was me they were noticing. It could have been one of my companions.
They didn’t stand out in a place like Silaris, however. Not like they would in my kingdom.
Even carrying Alva in her cage shouldn’t be drawing as much attention as we were.
So what was it?
“This way,” I said, and led us down a less populated street. All the shops here were closed save for a Travelers Guild with a single employee inside: a young man, elbow resting on the table he sat at, head in his hand, eyes struggling to stay open—and losing.
“Are any of you known to anyone here?” I asked as we walked down the empty street.
“No,” Sienna answered. “As I told you, I’ve never left my forest.”
Vi didn’t look at me as she answered, her ears pricked, her gaze wandering. She seemed enthralled even by the closed shops. “I haven’t ventured this far before.”
“And you, Alva?” I asked the little vampire in the cage Sienna carried when she didn’t answer.
“I doubt any of you giants would recognize me.”
“That’s not a no.”
“We may have… visited here a few times.”
“The way you say it makes it sound as though you did more than visit.”
“We have to eat, and the forest has been dying for a long time now. Sometimes we venture out for food.”
We reached the end of the street and stopped. People passed by, but only a few glanced in our direction.
They were curious glances, not concerned ones, not as though they thought we might try to rob them.
The heavy guard presence was likely responsible for that.
“They may not recognize you, but what about your kind?”
“What does anyone have to fear from a single caged little monster?” Vi asked.
Alva hissed at her.
“Quiet. Don’t draw attention.”
“Let me go if you’re so worried.”
I didn’t answer her, instead studying the shops nearby.
Down the road I spotted a tailor’s shop. It had lit lanterns hung outside, and a bright light shone out through the hazed windows.
We had no money and nothing other than a caged vampire to trade with, but that was okay. I may not have been as good of a Dark as my father, but I was an excellent king, an excellent politician, and I was certain I could work something out.
15
I froze as I opened the door to the tailor’s shop.
This was not what I had expected.
The shop was lit by lanterns and white candles which adorned the walls and most surfaces. They lit the store well, banishing the shadows from all but the deepest recesses.
It was neither small nor large, and decorated like you might expect a tailor’s shop to be.
There were plush couches for waiting, though these wer
e currently empty, and tall curtains hung over the windows, though these were currently pulled back, giving a hazy view to the street outside.
Between the candles, the walls were adorned with elaborate clothes and suits of light armor.
There were three tables in the room, and a door behind the middle of these, which perhaps led to a workshop, as there was no loom or other tailoring equipment on display except for bits hung decoratively here and there.
The two side tables were covered in samples of cloth and leather and thread, while the third central one had a quill and neat stacks of parchment atop it.
There were two people in the shop. The tailor, and a silaren, whose thick, scaled tail the tailor was presently carefully measuring around.
I always found it odd they chose to wear armor, given how hard their natural armor—their scales—was.
But they had a fondness for armor and decorum—ironic, given the city they’d founded. So much so, that this was the first time I’d seen one of them without it.
Naked, the silaren looked more like a beast than any race I’d seen—except perhaps a fully transformed lycanthrope. Their faces protruded more than that of other races’, so much so that you might call the projection a snout.
But neither the shop itself nor the silaren were the surprising thing.
No, it was the tailor who really drew my attention.
Her glowing green eyes and impossibly pale skin, the glowing aura that surrounded her.
Her wings.
She was an angel. An actual angel. Descendant of not simply a god-king, but a true god. A daughter of Erisi.
Even next to a silaren, she looked impossibly poised and perfect.
So far above us mere mortals.
What was a divine doing as a tailor?
She finished her measurement of the silaren’s tail, then turned to us with a smile. “Be right with you.”
The silaren looked at Sienna and seemed to sneer—it was always hard to read their expressions. He looked more appreciatively on Vi, who growled at him.
He made a sound that I was fairly certain was one of amusement at this, then examined Alva in the cage Sienna held.
Then he faced forward again as the tailor got to work measuring his legs.
He didn’t even glance at me.
He must’ve thought me a lowborn.
Curse of Magic Page 5
