by Cara Violet
Dersji frowned at them all in irritation.
“This is a complete shemozzle,” he said, then felt Kaianan go by him. “No,” he said, grabbing her upper arm. “We cannot be side-tracked, stay focused,” he whispered in her ear, shoving her back.
“Arlise is hurt,” she insisted, and Dersji was sickened to watch her face go all emotional.
“He is immortal and can look after himself. You already know this. Know your place.” Dersji schooled her yet again. Apart of him wanted to take his blade out and drill that pretty white-haired head of hers into the ground, but the moment didn’t call for such antics. Soon, perhaps. “Cuki, help him out.” The runt nodded and headed for Arlise.
“What’s with the pet?” Adrel asked as Cuki neared them.
“Cuki is a pet?!” Cuki said excitedly, clutching his hands to Arlise and mending what he could of the wound, but looking longingly at Dersji with his eyes completely wide as if something extraordinary had just happened.
“Cuki, we’ve been through this,” Dersji began as controlled as he could, “you are a Daem-Raal and you support Humkar. No pet.”
“Pet?” Cuki’s ear pricked up when Dersji said the word, “Cuki is a pet!”
For goodness sake, I’m repeating myself a lot today—”
“Kaianan!” Arlise shouted, obviously feeling better.
They all turned to see Lenity grappling the Queen with a blade to her throat. Dersji’s jaw dropped for the third time that day and he was getting sick of these surprises people were springing on him. He hadn’t seen this many dubious fiends since his mission on Whidal. Even then, at least the conversation was far more competent.
“So can you people make up your minds already; are you take-over-the-world type villains, or self-righteous anti-heroes?” Dersji was certain by the look in everyone’s faces no one understood what he was saying. “Forget it.”
Kaianan gurgled out a cry as Lenity squeezed her tighter.
“You’re all bickering and distracted,” Lenity said like she was possessed. “They are coming, don’t you see, they want my blood … you, you want it.” She pointed to Arlise again. “All of it, I know who you are Relic … well you’ve nowhere to run and nowhere to hide now!”
“Just breathe, everyone,” Dersji held his arms up in civility. “If you think too much, you all might hurt yourselves.”
“Eeeee!” Cuki screamed like an infant.
Dersji rolled his eyes. Was this really happening? Was he surrounded by that many incompetent fools, they would help see him off to a premature demise? Not on his watch. “For the love of—damn ankle-biting children. I don’t know who’s stupider, you, my son or the Daem-Raal—”
“Don’t move. Any of you,” Lenity stepped against the back of the cave, dragging Kaianan along with her as she tiptoed away from her visitors, who were watching her every move. She began singing sporadically:
“They come, they come, they come after us,
And what we must do is run and—”
There was a growling noise coming from the outside of the cave. Lenity frowned, then upon some realisation no one else could fathom, quickly sliced open a Vector.
At that moment, the rock wall of the cave crumbled in front of them. When pieces of debris knocked Adrel and Arlise apart and a burning inferno began cascading thorough the small broken hole made in the cave, Dersji, in his half-capacitated form headed for Kaianan.
But she was already taking care of her situation. The white-haired Queen had latched onto Lenity’s assaulting hand and flipped the deformed Daem-Raal over her shoulder. Lenity had Kaianan tight in her grasp though and as she went over, brought the Queen down with her, sending them both crashing inside the Vector.
Kaianan screamed and Dersji let out a groan. Then, Arlise, spluttering blood and hobbling, flung his bleeding body into the Vector after her.
“That generation …” Dersji mumbled and shook his head, “… it’s like the blind leading the blind.” He glanced down to the moaning noise below him, only to regard the unconscious Adrel at his feet. “Do they teach stupidity as a subject for Shiek these days?”
She didn’t answer. Dersji, using what strength he had, picked up Adrel, and with a few swings, lobbed her through the Vector opening. “Sorry, love.”
“Me! Me too.” Cuki called below him.
“You’ve got legs!” Dersji said animatedly.
The hole in the cave became wider as the long grey fingers of the Defeated King kept hacking away at the rock wall. Despite his best efforts, Dersji could not ignite his aura. Whatever was going on inside of his body was destroying his presence in the Siliou.
“Move Cuki, now!” He called and as the second round of flames burned through the cave, vast enough to fill the entire area, Dersji seized the flailing Cuki, and hurtled through the Vector moments before it was sealed shut.
Dersji’s feet hit the smoky floor. He dropped Cuki and ripped out his blade in irritation.
“Bunch of heedless, incompetent mugs,” he said, eyeing all the useless fools before him; Adrel and Arlise sat there looking glum holding onto each other and Kaianan was off in a wrestling match with Lenity.
What was happening here? He was fuming and in need of an onion. It was an overload of folly before him. He could handle it in small doses, but with this many idiots together all at once, it would be ideal if someone could restrain him before he killed them all.
The chill around them got colder. The stars were becoming stationary. Dersji was sure they were headed for Holom.
“Dammit, do something useful before we end up Holom, Arlise, and open an exit, now.” Dersji called as he headed for Kaianan and Lenity.
Arlise lifted his arm and waved; an incision in the Vector was made.
Dersji stopped heading for Kaianan, and regarded a large, dark and shadowy silhouette walking up behind Adrel and Arlise. “Wait—what’s that behind you?”
Adrel, now on her feet, standing next to Arlise, turned her head—to—to the Defeated King. “He’s in the Vector!”
Dersji didn’t have to think twice. There was only one person who he was going to have to train to kill the beast and one person who wasn’t immortal, whom he needed—much to his dismay—alive. He ran, threw Lenity aside, flung himself into Kaianan, and pushed them both through Arlise’s exit to safety.
Nauseated by the freefall, Kaianan felt the hot atmosphere on her face. She hit the ground so hard she winded herself. She rolled over on her spine and finally opened her eyes to blinding purple sun rays.
“Oh my Giliou, I really need to get better at Vector travel,” she said, holding her belly.
Dersji coughed loudly beside her.
“Shove off!” she pushed him away from her, “Where are the others?” Kaianan asked, wiping the purple and brown dirt out of her white hair and grey eyes. And giving her body, suited in a brand-new gold chest plate and black slacks and front and back panel skirt, a once over, was still slightly stunned. “Wait…” Her face upturned, “umm—where are … we …?”
“We, my dearest, Menial …” Dersji exhaled, staring at the sweltering purple sun across the horizon, “… we’ve finally made it. Welcome to Felrin.”
Chapter Forty: A Score to Settle
“Let’s go, Chituma,” Caidus called as the two Rivalex natives planted their feet on Rivalex soil.
It was cold but Chituma was in a daydream. After saying good-bye to Kaianan and joining Caidus to return home, she was caught up in sudden homesickness, and a lot of it had to do with Kaianan. Looking around to the bright yellow sun, clear sky past the Valley Woods, and the green landscape covered in sporadic patches of snow, Chituma couldn’t suppress her smile.
Here was where she would, on occasion, come to play with Kaianan and Kaianan’s childhood friends, Darayan and Archibel. Chituma wanted to play with dolls, but the three of them would pull blades out and try and convince her to partake in swordplay. “What is wrong with you?” She remembered saying to Kaianan. Chituma always felt like the
odd one out. Playing with her mother’s pretty gowns and dress robes, possibly was her only real solace—because they would fight about nearly everything else.
Not that that was a bad thing. They had always shared a closer-than-normal bond despite their differences. And Chituma couldn’t stop the sudden guilt she felt, thinking about how much her older sister meant to her. Had she just disregarded their bond by leaving Kaianan on Croone, and in the process thrown away her sister’s friendship?
Caidus called after her again, and this time she spoke up: “It’s good to be home.”
“Aye … is everything alright?” He said and got nearer to her.
“Yes,” she lied, “where will we reside, Caidus? Where do we belong?”
Caidus looked around, to the south. “I have a feeling Julius is in need of my help …”
That was his concern right now? His cousin? “What can we do?” she asked in sarcasm.
He grinned. “We can go to Sile.”
Had those words just come out of his mouth? Considering all that had happened between Julius and Kaianan, it was probably not a good idea to visit Sile, as Chituma was a Gorgon, and was the sister to the girl who just recently brought about the universe’s downfall by igniting the period of enlightenment.
“Sile? I can’t go there, Caidus. Julius will never accept me.”
“He will, if I have… He is not who you think he is, Chituma.”
“No, he just indulges in the evil side of his heart on a daily basis.” She rebuked.
Caidus remained quiet and began walking south.
“He can create such injustice, Caidus.” She called to him, and followed his path.
“No more than you or I can.” He scolded, not facing her. “Or your sister for that matter.”
Chituma was angered by his curt response. She grabbed his forearm and tugged as hard as she could. He was glowering when he faced her. “You’re right, Caidus, we all have a choice to choose the good in us, but we are unable at times to do so. Don’t tell me you yourself haven’t been put up to horrible things?”
“Chituma, I’ve been made to kill unarmed men,” Chituma’s face dropped to grief at hearing this, “… but it would never happen now because I know what I can and can’t control. I have to be selective, like Addi, to create a balance … I’m being honest with you. Be reasonable with me.”
“Your darker side scares me.”
“Chituma, I am not evil; my indignation is never without cause. I am a Necromancer, yes, but one with feelings.”
“That need to be kept under control,” she criticised.
“No more than any other being in love,” he said, grabbing her hand. “I would do anything to keep you safe, you know that.”
She did know that. This beautiful fragile man meant everything to her and she knew he would never leave her side. Would that permit him to do dangerous things in the name of love though? And would she even feel guilty about it, if he did?
He lifted her chin up and leant in to kiss her. “I love you more than anything, Chituma.”
“I do too.”
“Let’s get to Sile then,” he said, glancing at the thin bones, and lacerations on her flesh under her torn robes. “We will get you warm, showered and into some fresh clothes.”
She nodded, smiled at the thought of a bath and followed alongside him.
After a trek through the Hunted Gorge Plain, the pair finally made their way to the boarders of Sile. Approaching the outskirts, Chituma realised she had never been inside the city before. She could see dwellings of wrought iron, built in morbid blacks and greys rather than humble Miry or bluestone. Things just didn’t have colour. Everything was quite lifeless.
When entering the city, Caidus directed them down a secluded stretch of black asphalt away from the suburban dwellings and at the end of this street up a ladder to a small gate.
Chituma was unsure how far they had ventured after they entered through the gate, but Caidus abruptly stopped them and pointed. His finger directed her past the building of gold—what was that? Shining like a huge gold bar in the distance? —to the Sile Mansion. The Mansion was triple the size of the Manor, and the stairs from the gated wall they currently crouched on, to the actual building, were never-ending. Her jaw fell open at the sight—the thick black cobblestone walls smeared with charcoal mortar, and the pillar beams all intertwining through the building had it looking like a huge factory.
Caidus squeezed her hand and she closed her mouth.
Hearing the clanging of metal, Caidus pulled her lower. Immediately his finger went to her mouth and Chituma held in her words. He peered over the edge of the wall and, down below him, he witnessed two guards standing gauchely at their stations.
“It is a pity both Prince Akki and Prince Addi have been exiled.” The chubbier grey Necromancer said to the other.
The second guard adjusted his armour across his thin forearm and nodded. “Aye, but we are strong enough to keep Sile defended. Plus, the Defeated King will want to come home.”
“Will the General be in charge?”
“Krivta? No way.”
“Hmmm…. I need a break.”
“What do you mean, a break? We’re on duty. You can’t decide when you can leave.”
“Who’s going to stop us?” The chubby Necromancer said in disrepute. “No-one is in charge, remember? Besides, the General’s not even in the Mansion, you know he is visiting the House of Swordsmanship …”
“Well, don’t be gone long, I don’t want to have to take on any intruders on my own.”
“Hah, who’s going to walk by, the Princes?”
“Quickly.” Caidus muttered, pulling Chituma down a tunnel of stairs that was almost pitch black when they got inside. “Through here, Chit.” He helped Chituma down, into a small dirt tunnel. “This runs underground to the main building.” They hurried and when they reached the entry to the castle, Caidus hastily lifted her up to another tiny window of the south wing. “Be very quiet, we can go through the second hallway and down the stairs; if it’s been exiled, he is most likely in the dungeons, which aren’t far.”
Once inside, Chituma followed Caidus closely. She felt like she was currently in a Seevaar burrow, uncertain the way they had come or where they were going. And Caidus refused to answer what was going on when she asked.
She shrugged at the thought they had somehow gotten inside the Mansion, and when she walked past statues of Bone Riders, and past paintings of former leaders on the black, morbid walls, she laid eyes on a huge hanging picture at the end of the corridor near speechless.
“She is so beautiful,” she said of the image of the woman laying so elegantly.
Caidus’s eyes smiled. “Julius’s mother … she was the kindest woman in Sile, they say. Warm, caring and gentle. Julius took after her. He is nothing like his father, and the complete opposite to my—” He shoved Chituma into a side door before he could finish. “Seevaar, my mother,” he whispered trying to conceal them.
“The complete opposite to your mother? Well you didn’t have to bang me into the door to tell me that!”
“No, I meant Seevaar, she’s walking this way … Just go along with me.” He turned away from her.
Chituma widened her mouth in complete disbelief. “I can’t meet your mother. Not now,” she panicked, speaking to his back.
Caidus pushed himself into the open of the hallway.
“Ah-kee?” Darlia said, getting close. “AH-KEE!” she shrieked.
“Mother,” he replied, sourly.
“What are you doing here? Akki. Oh my, you’re here.” She lifted her arms and hugged her much taller son who’d bent down. As soon as her eyes landed on Chituma standing in his shadow, her face moved from sheer joy to absolute disgust. “Who is this wretch?” Darlia spat.
“Aye mother, how you are no different to when I left,” Caidus muttered.
“You bring this disgrace in front of me. A Gorgon? Curse her and her family, Akki. They bring discredit to the Nermordis
name.”
“Mother, hush and bite your tongue, this is my Chituma. You bow to her as you do me.”
Darlia, white as a ghost, paled further at this.
“I am pleased to meet you,” Chituma added.
Darlia’s eyes bulged. “Hush your lips, girl, and don’t address me.”
“Where is Julius, mother?” Caidus said, drowning her out.
“Addi has been overthrown, Akki. Bound in the lower dungeons by General Krivta and cousin Fenix Skeletongrey … What are you—”
“I’m going to need to borrow this.” Caidus said and Chituma couldn’t believe he had just yanked his mother’s robe off of her and left her standing there in her long-sleeved charcoal dress.
“Wait, Akki, where are you going?” Darlia said as he busily re-robed Chituma, clasped her around the arm and moved them on.
All Chituma could see was his grin, then he opened his mouth, “why mother, I’m going to free the King.”
Caidus and Chituma looked around an empty cell; unconscious guards lying about down the corridor.
“Well I guess your cousin knows how to fend for himself,” Chituma said. “And we came all this way.”
Caidus scanned the floor for any clues. After a moment, he had an idea: “Come, I think I know where he might be.” He pulled Chituma along with him. “We haven’t much time, they will be searching for us.”
“Over there!” A guard exclaimed, from the left of the corridor.
“That was quick … Go,” Caidus said, running to the right.
“Get them!” A guard cut Caidus off in the passageway. He threw Chituma aside and fired up his red Silkri aura. The sparks shot from his skin and he thrust his foot forward to kick the guard’s right leg in. The guard twisted sideways and dropped to one knee. Caidus then grabbed the Necromancer by the chest and flung him into the wall—his body falling to the ground after impact.
“Quickly.” He led Chituma down the corridor, toward the rear of the dungeon block and through another door; down a tunnelled trail under the Mansion gate; and finally, out through a small hollow opening to a concealed gravel lane. The sun greeted them through the dead trees and broken habitations.
