by Eric Vall
The High Elf squared her shoulders defiantly as she stared down at the redhead, but then her dark eyes softened.
“You are right,” Morrigan admitted as her eyes fell downcast at her feet. “I am wrong, and my reasonings are unfounded, but I held the anger for the Tichádáma close to my heart because there was no other logical person to blame but the goddess. I see now I was very wrong, and the blame should not be placed on her shoulders. I must thank you, all of you, for shining light on my misgivings.”
I squeezed her hand gently, and she lay a tender kiss to my cheek. With that settled, we began our ascent up the stairs and to the two men waiting above unawares. The halls led to the library in the west wing. Like the downstairs, it was bathed in reds and golds and was as richly decorated.
We stood outside of the heavy oak door and listened to the hushed whispers of Akuno and the second man inside. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but from the sound of it, it was a heated argument. The second man’s voice was low and hoarse like he wasn’t accustomed to speaking openly, but there was a heaviness to it that made me think people listened when he spoke. As Morrigan said earlier, his presence had a supernatural feel to it, and I could tell from behind the door he was powerful.
“Do it now, Carmedy,” I growled over to Morrigan, and my voice was carried through Fea. Then, from outside, there was a snap as the petite feline pulled back her slingshot and flung the small brown bundle through the window and into the library.
There was a moment of silence, and I simply waited for what was coming. As with most of Carmedy’s concoctions, there was a moment before the alchemical reaction took place, and this was no exception. But then, we were treated to an ear splitting explosion from behind the door as suffocating mustard yellow smoke billowed out from under the door.
I smiled wickedly as I placed my hands on top of each other in the open air in front of me. I pushed them forward then spread them apart to my sides with the crackle and snap of my dark power. The heavy, thick door in front of us parted down the middle like it was struck by lightning then blew apart into the room with the splinter of broken wood.
The drifting yellow smoke parted for us, and then I saw Akuno and his guest, who were covering their mouths and noses from the noxious smoke. Akuno turned and stared at us with horrified eyes while his guest only turned and revealed half of his face.
I recognized him only by the stolen memories of soldiers and his three minions. His piercing red eyes glowed hatefully as the black robes he was clothed in moved and curled around him as if they were made of smoke. The black cloak he wore over one shoulder shined with the feathers of black ravens, and when he turned slightly, they glinted in the low light surrounding them. One of his skeletal hands clutched a staff, the metal head shaped and molded into a roaring dragon’s head. His thin lips spread into a smile as his scarlet eyes landed on Rana, and the fox’s face paled drastically.
“Why, hello, Foxy, this is the last of all places I would expect to see you,” the sorcerer, Tuzakeur’s, hoarse voice chuckled darkly, and from behind me, the redhead’s paws curled into fists as her expression hardened.
“You!” Rana screamed, but within a blink of an eye, Tuzakeur was gone in a flash of black smoke and the cawing of faraway ravens.
I gritted my teeth and strode into the room as Akuno attempted to scurry away. He tried to push through my minions, but I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck as he shrieked like a frightened animal. I threw him into an overstuffed armchair, and the sound that squeaked from his throat was pathetic. Then I loomed over him, and his weasel-like eyes searched for any means of escape, but I held him in place easily with my dark power. My minions fanned out behind Rana and me, no doubt as eager as I was to find out why the lord of Kanashimi was meeting in private with the sorcerer who held Rana’s family captive.
“Well, well, well,” I growled between my teeth as I loomed over Akuno, “it seems our lord here has been dabbling with the sorcerer we just happen to be looking for. Interesting, isn’t it, my loves?”
“I won’t tell you anything!” Akuno cried as he struggled to free his hands trapped by the unseen force of my evil power. “You can’t make me!”
“That is where you are very wrong,” Morrigan said behind my back, and when I glanced at her, the darkness inside of her huge eyes was ablaze with rage.
“I highly doubt that,” Akuno snapped back with a sly smirk, but little did he know I would see it wiped from his face.
“Morrigan, my dear, would you like to learn something new?” I asked her with a smile. The smile that played about her lips in return would have been horrifying to most and, from the way Akuno stared at her, I could tell he was chilled to the bone by my elven woman. I brought the high elf forward to stand next to me in front of the seated Akuno. “I was going to use mind reading to get the information I wanted out of you, but then your head would explode, and your suffering would end too soon.”
I turned my head and spoke to my elven lover with a gentle smile as I decided to teach her a new necromantic technique. “Have you ever heard the term Discerptionis?”
“I have not, Master,” the white-haired woman answered with a shake of her head.
I brought her closer to Akuno’s frozen form in the chair as I explained. “This is something I learned long ago when I still resided in the god’s realm.”
“Y-you’re a god?” Akuno shrieked, but I ignored his incessant squawks and continued teaching my necromantic student.
“The word in the god’s language means dismemberment. I can safely assume you know what that word means?” I questioned, and the smile still firmly in place on Morrigan’s face widened even more as she glared down at the pest in the high-back chair. “Of course you do. Now, this technique can be used in a manner of different ways, but in the past, I’ve used it for interrogation purposes mainly. It is a useful way of keeping the body intact but still causing as much pain as possible.”
“I am ready when you are, Master,” Morrigan said as she bowed her head to me.
With a miniscule use of my power, Akuno’s right hand rose into the air, and the weasel stared at it with huge panicked eyes.
“Akuno,” I chuckled, and the puny man stared up at me with his mouth hanging open. “Would you like to tell us the reason Tuzakeur was here?”
“I can’t,” he whispered as he shook his head vehemently and stared at the hand that still floated in the air. “I’ve sworn the great sorcerer secrecy.”
“Now, Morrigan, when we receive a negative answer like that, I want you to imagine the inner workings of the hand,” I explained with clinical coldness. “The bones, the cartilage between each digit, and all the bundles of veins working through the hands up to the tips of the fingers. Are you seeing it in your mind, my love?”
“Yes, Master,” Morrigan breathed as she closed her eyes and did as she was told.
“Think only of the pinky, it’s the smallest finger on the hand. There are four bones within the pinky, and each is connected by cartilage,” I explained to her, and she listened as her eyes stayed completely still behind her closed eyelids. “Now, Morrigan, I want you to sever the cartilage between the first and second bones in the pinky finger.”
“Wait, no!” Akuno started, but his words were interrupted by an agonized scream that roared up his throat as a loud crack resounded around the room. His scream rose in pitch and warbled on a high note as I focused on the tip of Akuno’s pinky and saw the first bone hung limply from the rest of the tiny finger.
“Very good,” I praised my minion, then turned back to Akuno, whose entire body was shaking and shivering as he fought off the pain. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell us?”
“I will … never … betray the … trust of … Tuzakeur,” he struggled out through tight lips.
I turned back to my elven woman with an evil smile, and she nodded back to me. Another snap resounded around the room as yet another one of Akuno’s bones was separated.
Each time
I asked him if he was ready to answer, and he told us no, another bone was cracked and pulled apart from its cartilage and tendons. Morrigan was meticulous in her work, and I watched keenly as she worked her way all the way up to his shoulder. She was about to separate his collarbone from his body when Akuno’s expression broke, and fat tears rolled down his round cheeks.
“Stop, I’ll tell you,” the squat lord struggled out.
I laughed loudly. He had lasted longer than I expected him to, and the snap of his clavicle was the last sound we heard. Morrigan was seething with rage, and I had to hold up a hand to stop her from breaking all the bones in his body. The pale woman relented as Rana stepped up and leaned into Akuno’s face.
“Why was Tuzakeur here and what do you have to do with him?” the fox-woman snarled.
Akuno drew back his face as he sniffled loudly. “The dark sorcerer wants something from the Tichádáma, an item that she possesses,” the lord struggled out through clenched teeth.
“An item? What kind of item?” The fox’s blue eyes widened as she grabbed onto the lord’s shirt lapels and gave him a rough shake. His face contorted in pain as he yelped.
“Some type of necklace she wears, he called it a sacred item,” Akuno cried pathetically as more tears wet his chubby cheeks.
“Why does he want it?” Annalise questioned as she stepped to the front and also loomed over the tortured man.
“He called it a ‘finder of things,’” Akuno squeaked out. “He said it was a necklace forged and blessed by the gods themselves and given to the Tichádáma before she was cast out of the heavens.”
I glared down at him through narrowed eyes.
“A finder of things? What does that mean?” I questioned angrily and held up my left hand. The lord’s left hand followed my own and rose into the air, ready to be broken like the other.
“Stop! Please! I don’t know! I didn’t even know the goddess had such an item!” the lord screamed, red-faced.
“Where is Tuzakeur now?” I barked as the cartilage between his wrist and hand began to separate, and he screeched and writhed in pain.
“Probably to the goddess’s dungeon to take it from her!” he screamed as he fought against my power, but I was too strong for him and easily held him in place.
“Why was he here? What else did he want from you?” I questioned through a roar, and the wretched lord squeezed his eyes shut at the sound.
“He offered me protection if … I could produce the sacred item for him … but I told him I had no idea what he was talking about …” he murmured, and from the way he was acting, I could tell he was close to passing out from the overwhelming torture.
“Master, what do we do now?” Morrigan asked from behind me, and I could hear the worry in her voice. “Shall we return to the Tichádáma?”
“Yes, we must collect Carmedy and return to the goddess before Tuzakeur can get the sacred item from her. Annalise,” I uttered with a smile as I turned on my heel and made for the door, “take his life, and then his hand.”
“Yes, Master,” my wife answered as she drew Bloodscale from its sheath, and the greatsword sang in the light. “You shall die as all traitors to the motherland of Tamarisch do. I hope the gods of the afterlife take no pity on you.”
The high queen twirled the blade once through the air then brought it down across Akuno’s head. The severed head rolled, an expression of shock frozen on the Lord's face. Blood flew into the air like a fountain from his neck and stained his finely made clothes, but she paid it no mind as she lifted his left arm that held the sigil ring and chopped it off above the wrist. Annalise held the severed hand limply in her grip and turned with my minions toward the door.
“Let us pay Tuzakeur a visit.” I roared, and a mighty cry rose from my minions as they followed on my heels.
Chapter Nineteen
I tore up the mountain with my minions in tow, and the fire that burned in my belly was raging and setting my avatar ablaze. We nearly had that bastard, Tuzakeur, and if we could trap him in the Tichádáma’s dungeon, we would have Rana’s lost family within reach. We plunged down the cave mouth and raced down the path and tunnels as if hell was on our heels.
The fox-woman ran shoulder to shoulder with me, and I was unsure how she was able to keep pace with my quick steps, but it was probably from sheer force of will. The redhead’s lips were pulled back against her pointed teeth in a growl, and I knew she was ready to rip the sorcerer apart with her bare paws. I smiled to myself as my long hair flew out behind me and I glanced back at my other minions. Their expressions were the same as my fox’s. My beautiful minions were prepared for battle against the man who had betrayed their sister.
Annalise’s chestnut braid swung over her shoulder as she drew not only her unnamed sword but also Bloodscale and held them at the ready like a true warrior. Carmedy was barely looking where she stepped, but she moved surely as she ran and mixed potions in the small brown bundles at her waist. Rana pounded the rock with her bare feet as she pulled her elven daggers from their pouch, and then she held one in a closed fist and the other between her teeth as a snarl came from between her lips. Morrigan’s white hair whipped around her as Fea and Macha swooped through the air. The green light that came from her palms was no longer faint and sickly but pulsed with a hateful light that made my heart beat with excitement.
Our feet pounded across the lake of ice, and the shadows beneath it didn’t move. From what I could tell, the mighty shark was elsewhere, probably in the nexus of the Tichádáma. The ice was still soft and not entirely reformed where the shark had attacked us earlier in the night, and there was another spot in the ice where I assumed it attacked the dastardly wizard. There was a spot of blood on the ice where it trickled into the water, and I hoped the great beast had taken a chunk out of the bastard.
Our party moved on faster, and we came around the sharp turn that led to the hall of ice. Right as we started to slow to navigate the jagged spikes, a deafening cracking reached our ears as all the ice that protruded from the walls retracted and allowed us entrance. I nodded to my minions as I stepped out first and saw there was no danger. We had gained the trust of the Tichádáma, and she allowed us access into her nexus.
As we pressed on, a dark shred of fabric fluttered to the ground, and I snatched it up. I examined it in my gloved hand, and from the way the fabric shifted and black smoke wafted from it, I knew it must have been torn away from Tuzakeur’s cloak. I dropped it to the ground as an ear splitting scream assaulted our ears.
Gone were the days where my minions would have cowered in fear or shied away from a fight, but instead each set of eyes hardened and narrowed on the entrance into the nexus as they held tighter onto their weapons. I stepped forward first as I reached into my void pocket and retrieved the God Slayer, and an unseen wind blew past and billowed out my cloak to reveal the blessed armor underneath. I was a god who no man dared to challenge, and Tuzakeur was about to feel the full force of my wrath.
I entered into the nexus of the Tichádáma with my minions behind me.
What was inside surprised me more than anything. When we encountered the goddess, she had been docile except for lashing out at Morrigan once but otherwise, she seemed utterly harmless. Now, things were different. The towering woman seemed even taller than before, and she held a massive claymore in one hand, a weapon even my skilled swordswoman would have to hold with both hands to keep aloft. From the way it glimmered and shone in the light surrounding the goddess, I knew it was a holy weapon forged by the gods.
“Give me the sacred item, bitch,” Tuzakeur shouted at her, but the goddess never wavered in her steps as she thrust the sword at the sorcerer, only barely missing the dark mage.
Something strange was happening with the sorcerer. From what I had heard from Rana, he was extremely powerful and cunning, but the man’s movements were sloppy and jerky like a puppet’s. In his right hand, he held a twisted wand, and each time the goddess raised her sword to strike, he sent waves of bl
ack power at her as he whispered incantations, but some of them would stop short and sizzle out as if he was unpracticed with this type of magical weapon.
“The Eye of Alipsis will never fall into your possession!” she snarled back through a tight smile as the wizard tried and failed to throw a wave of black fire onto her path, but she twirled away and struck out at him again. “Only the pure of heart may wield the Eye, and you are unworthy. You will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands to take it from me.”
“That can be arranged,” Tuzakeur cackled from underneath the hood as his scarlet eyes flashed evilly, but the goddess stood firm as she fought off another onslaught of dark magic.
The claymore she defended herself with was massive, at least double the size of Bloodscale and thick as the double-edged blades sang through the air. The hilt was golden, etched with ancient sigils, and pressed into the pommel was a huge cut and carved sapphire. The handguard before the blade created a swirling network of thin metal strips that completely encircled the goddess’s closed fist.
“Master,” Annalise whispered behind me as she eyed the sword with envy, “is that an augmentation stone?”
“No, my love, that is the Eye of Alipsis, a sacred item lost to the god's thousands of years ago,” I informed her as swirling black power surrounded Tuzakeur’s hands, and he threw balls of dark magic at the goddess. The Tichádáma deflected them then held the sword up in front of her as her icy gray eyes stared down the blade at the sorcerer. I looked each of my women in their faces, and each was hardened and ready to take down Tuzakeur.
“Ready, my minions?”
“Let’s kill this motherfucker,” Rana snarled as she flipped one of the elven blades in her paw, and Carmedy lowered herself to the ground with her slingshot at the ready.
“Percutiamus eum infernum,” Morrigan replied in her elven language as her mage markings blazed hotly across her flesh.
