“Come, I don’t want Dimas to wait for us longer than necessary.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dimas hung from a tree by his right arm. The grin on his face said it all. He was happy to see we made up, that much was clear, but so were we. It was just one of those unnecessary things that happened sometimes because a certain person acted stupid and idiotic.
“You ready?” he asked as we spotted him.
“Yeah. Lead us there, please. I’m itching to see what we got to work with.”
“It’s not really good. I’ve seen it already.”
“Is there even a need to go there in that case?” Sylvana asked. “Maybe we should focus on finding a better spot instead?”
“No, I still want to see it,” I said, insisting on scouting the area.
“Follow me then. It’s only a couple of minutes from here.”
We passed right by the camp. It was a hive of activity. Men and women really were giving it their all, digging, carrying logs and tools, shoveling dirt, and erecting buildings. The soldiers were busiest of all and not a single one of them wore their armor. Most of them wore only their breaches or underwear. There was no shame in my army and there would never be any. Still, they seemed to hold back because of Rennes’ people.
A couple of the buildings were already close to being finished while a whole bunch more were just getting started. This was just beautiful when you had people who knew how to get things done and didn’t need to be constantly looking over their shoulders.
“What do you think?” Sylvana asked as she caught me staring in between jumps.
“Looking good so far. I have no idea what to expect, though. There are far too many of us, at least for the condition we’re in.”
“What the hell did you even think would happen, Raz?” Sylvana chuckled. “I know it isn’t funny, but shit, what the hell was supposed to happen?”
“We were supposed to die if you already want to know. We were never supposed to survive the alleged ambush, but it turned out—strangely. Speaking of which, where was the other troop?”
“I have no idea. They were supposed to be somewhere further down the line, but Crozan insisted on leaving after you did. It didn’t make any fucking sense. It was as if he knew you’d be coming back for some reason.”
“It was quite obvious, huh?”
“What was? That you would come back for her? No, not really. I thought you’d take her with you on the way. That ended up being—you know.”
“Yeah, it was a mistake, but things happen for a reason. Not that I believe in that crap, but so they say.”
“Who does?” she asked curiously. “I doubt it’s the vampires.”
“No, the religious Humans.”
Sylvana laughed heartily as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind a pin of sorts. It almost made her look girlish, innocent, and young. Oh, how looks could fool.
“Yeah, I keep forgetting you used to be one. Most of you were. Well, basically all since Vampires can’t be born like that, right?”
“No, but let’s not dwindle on that just now. Dimas is waiting for us.”
“Yeah, isn’t he always?” she murmured and jumped toward the next tree. I followed, looking up her dress as it flapped in the wind. She really did have a fine piece of ass and nothing covering it up. I shook my head as I landed on a tree to the left. It wouldn’t do if she saw me staring, but it was hard not to.
Dimas stopped atop one of the taller trees overlooking the South-Western approach to the camp. It was narrow, almost too narrow. There was no way to get a whole army through there abreast, but—maybe we wouldn’t even need to.
“Look, that part over there,” I said, pointing at the widest area, “We could use that chokehold to trap half of them once they passed through there, Dimas. Maybe we could use a big fire to burn either the front or the back and smoke to distract them. I could charge in from the front with my cavalry after peppering them with arrows from either side. We got the high-ground here so they would be hard-pressed.”
“Hmm,” he murmured and rubbed his two-week stubble. “Do you want to use the snake?”
“We could use it to widen the area over there, and to make the chokehold even narrower after knocking down some of that cliff on top.”
He grinned. For some reason, I had a strange feeling regarding him and the Basilisk. What had they talked about when we left the cave? Or maybe I was overthinking it all like usual. These were uncertain times and whoever was an ally today could very well end up being an enemy tomorrow.
“If I may ask something,” Sylvana said, interrupting us. “Why not search for allies? It’s not that hard to find people willing to kill Vampires, now is it?”
“And who do you propose? Humans?” Dimas chuckled. “They’re weak!”
“But numerous,” she shot back. “If you could persuade one of their Kings to send aid, I’m sure we would—.”
“Sylvana, I’d never depend on them. They’re too feeble, even worse than Vampires. Lefrand turned on me after centuries, they would do so after days.”
She remained quiet and stared off into the distance as if searching for something.
“So, what do you think?” I asked, hopeful to a degree.
“I could see it work if everything is in our favor. But how do you want to burn them? We don’t have any fire magicians.”
“We could create a batch of Moon Dust,” Sylvana added again. ”It’s highly flammable during the day and stable during the night. The worst part is that you can’t put out the flames.”
“How do we use it?” I asked curiously. I never heard of the substance. It must have been something the Elves only knew of.
“We can lay it out over the ground and cover it with leaves. Once they’re far enough in, I can activate the dust using magic.”
“Dimas? Ever heard of it?”
“No,” he frowned, rubbing his temple. “I can’t say I have. The Elves have too vast of an array of magic and magical tools, even greater than the Dwarves.”
“What did you just say? Did you compare us to those five-foot-tall bearded bastards?” Sylvana demanded.
“What if I did?” Dimas asked. Sylvana stuck her tongue out and crossed her arms.
“Have them make the dust then!”
“How about we focus on the job at hand, Sylvana?” I asked, pulling her closer, but she didn’t stay in my embrace and pulled out. I could feel this was a punishment of sorts. She didn’t want to let me stay too close anymore because of Sarga. If I could read her properly, I’d go so far she wanted me to earn her back. Women.
“We’ll prepare the dust if you want, but it costs a lot. We need a large amount of blood and bones for the process. Then we need a special type of ore shavings to complete the process.”
“Ask Harlan for the ore, we should probably have anything you might need, short of whatever that thing is Dimas’ claws are made of. And regarding the bones and blood, there are enough Razorbacks back at the quarry. Are they usable?”
“Well, I haven’t specified anything but what I need. I didn’t say what I need them from, so yeah, they’ll probably work great.”
I sighed, happy that at least one thing went our way.
“I want to go further out,” I finally said after staring out in the distance for a few seconds too long. It was a hill so I couldn’t see what lay beyond and honestly didn’t quite remember. I could see Dimas shrug but Sylvana just followed as I jumped toward the next tree and kept on moving.
We made quick time and landed atop the hill a minute or so later. The same situation greeted us on the other side: a wide approach turned into a narrow pass which went all the way to where we stood a minute before. There was no really good way to do what I had in mind—unless.
“I need to have a chat with the Basilisk. We could use this hill to great advantage during the upcoming battle.”
“Oh? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he smirked.
“Depends on what you’re thinking,
Dimas. But yeah, I’m in a burying people alive mindset.”
“Hah! You nasty Vampire! I knew it!” he laughed heartily. “Do you want me to join you when you visit the snake?”
“Sure. Let’s drop Sylvana off at the camp and we’ll take care of it immediately. I want to take a day off and do nothing.”
“What about the Razorback corpses? Want my kids to take care of them?”
“Oh, shit. I forgot about those. Yeah, please do. Humans will have too many problems transporting them and I don’t want the soldiers to waste time on anything else but building the camp up.”
He nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. The telepathic communication he was able to pull off really looked like a miracle to me. Sure, one could create fire or ice from their palm, punch through a tree, but telepathy was something—intangible.
“I want to see Helena. Can we go?” Sylvana asked. I felt her demeanor shift again to something similar when we argued earlier. Had I hurt her by not inviting the Elf to join us? Whatever. I had more important things to take care of than consider her feelings. If we survived, I would be all over her and her wellbeing.
“Yeah, we can. Come on, Dimas. I’m curious about the face he’ll make once we get there.”
He laughed again as he shook his head.
“The Basilisk will probably piss itself. But whatever. I’ll wait for you up the stream. You go escort the lady back home.”
The bastard disappeared on me again, leaving the two of us in awkward silence.
“As you wish, your Vampireship,” I murmured and picked Sylvana up in my arms. She protested, but I was far too strong for her to free herself from my grip. In the end, she put her arms around me and her head against my chest as we made our way back.
I stopped right outside the village and let her push off me before I ran off again. She stayed there watching me as I left. I could feel her eyes bore holes in my back. Blood Elves. I would need to stay on their good side or she might do something to me.
“You two good now?” Dimas asked. I shot him a shrug and jumped past him.
“Does it matter? She’ll get over it.”
“Eventually. But what if she doesn’t? What if she pissed Sarga off?”
“Oh? You’ve noticed how strong she is?”
“Strong is an understatement. Her body isn’t much weaker than ours, yet she possesses a vast array of magic and curses. What exactly, I have no idea, but she radiates death.”
I stopped at the next jump and sat down, laughing like a madman. Dimas stopped next to me, looking at me as if I’d lost it.
“She burned me alive once. I barely survived.”
“Shit. What for? Did you chase tail?”
“Is it that hard to guess?”
He shrugged.
“I’ve been loyal to my mistress for centuries. That’s the only reason why all of this has worked out so far.”
“Whatever. I’m not getting into all of that right now. Once we’ve pushed the Vampires back and established a foothold here, we can think about other measures. I don’t have the luxury to think about—you know.”
Dimas stepped up to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
“Raziel, I’ll give you a piece of advice I wished I had a long time ago. Get a woman and establish a family of your own. Get people who are very loyal to you and make ‘children’ out of them. Only then will you find a sense of belonging and have something you really wish to work and die for.”
He pulled his hand away and turned back to face the river. I stood there for a long minute thinking about what he just said. Maybe he was right. I had a Coven, sure, but they were mostly Humans or Hybrids. They didn’t mean as much as those who I’d turn would.
“Yeah, I’ll think about it. I really will.”
We proceeded to move toward the Basilisk again, only to find it lying in the sun, enjoying the fine weather. It looked comical, though, seeing a 40ft long and massive snake rolling around in the sun.
“Hey Basilisk,” I yelled as we stopped out over a hundred feet. The creature froze for a moment before it slithered around its body and perked up.
“Little Vampires! What do you want now? My third egg?”
The scales on its back shifted around defensively and turned into spikes.
“No, we need to have a long chat about what’s coming for us.”
“Us? Or you?”
“Us, Basilisk,” I laughed. “See, if we die, you’ll be the first to follow us to the afterlife.”
“Oh. I guess you’re right, huh?” it hissed in a way of laughing. “So, what do you want me to do?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The back-and-forth took us a day, and in the time when we got back, I was more than surprised. Seven barracks were finished and being occupied. Four had already erected a second floor which was almost finished, while the three had just an improvised roof. A smithy of sorts had been built as well. It was mostly an open affair with only three erect walls and an outside area where the bellows and anvil were located.
The inside had already been stocked with the goods Harlan decided to bring in the carts with us, while the second floor of the building was being worked on. His wife was busy cleaning along with the daughters as the sons worked on some finishing touches. I couldn’t help but grin at what they managed to do in a single day. Sure, who knew if we would even get a chance to lay down roots, but it was looking better and better.
Helena and Sylvana were busy using their magic to either help carry logs or keep them afloat so the others could put them in place. A large group of Rennes’ people sat around doing nothing, even when I approached.
“Where is Rennes?” I asked. One of the men pointed at her home but didn’t say anything. I nodded and made my way there. When I stopped in front of the door, I heard a loud ruckus inside and two distinct voices yelling. One of them belonged to Rennes and the other to someone I didn’t know. I placed my hand on the door but stopped when the man started speaking again.
“Do you think he’ll be able to protect you when they’re back? Even that snake won’t be able to do shit!”
“They’ll be long gone before they come back!” Rennes snapped. “And besides, who is to say that Raziel will lose if they do stay?”
“Oh, you think he has any chance? This time his people can serve as food for the Trolls!”
Trolls? That’s the first time I heard about that name. Was it a name for a group of creatures?
“How long do we have? What do you think?” Rennes asked, this time more calm.
“From my calculations, somewhere within two weeks from now. They always come in four-year intervals.”
“How the hell did I forget about them?”
She sighed and audibly slumped into the sofa, or at least that’s what I assumed. It was the right time to intrude, so I opened the door and walked in, closing it behind me. Surely, Rennes sat on the sofa, her eyes wide and mouth open as she saw me standing there, while the young man standing next to her placed his hand on the pommel of his sword. He looked much better equipped than any of the other men were and the way he held himself told me he knew how to fight.
“What the fuck is a Troll?” I demanded as I sat on a chair opposite the two. “And sit the fuck down or I’ll rip your arm out and beat you to death with it.”
He followed my orders, recognizing power when he saw it.
“They’re creatures that can’t be killed and—.”
“Nothing can’t be killed, Rennes,” I interrupted. “Tell me about them. How do they look like? What are they? How do they fight?”
She took a deep breath, leaned to grab the bottle from the table, and gulped what remained down with shaking hands.
“They’re easily ten-foot-tall, muscular creatures. They have long, thin ears and a thick head covered in boney armor with a great maw and long teeth. Their arms are two times as long as ours and three times as thick, ending in great claws. Gray or green-ish skin covers all of their body. It’s almost impenetrable.
No matter what kind of weapon we used to attack them with, nothing harmed them. And even if it did, their wounds regenerated so fast that we had no way of killing them.”
“I’ll have to ask Dimas about them, maybe he has a way to deal with the things,” I murmured. “Now, what about this young man here? I remember faces very well, and he wasn’t here when we had the meeting.”
To my surprise, he remained silent as his eyes darted in between mine and Rennes’. She took a deep breath and finally replied.
“He’s my brother, Rohan.”
“Oh, now that’s interesting. Are there any other Rohan’s hidden in your closet, lady Rennes?”
“No, this is it. I promise!” she pleaded.
“What are you going to do with us?” he finally asked, growing a pair. His short black hair glistened with sweat and the two deep scars that ran from under his left eye down to his chin seemed almost alive.
“That depends on you. Why did you hide this thing from me? And don’t give me a bullshit answer as you forgot. I don’t buy it.”
“It’s not that, but—.”
“No, don’t,” I growled. “Give me the whole damn story right now! Who are they and what do they want from you people?”
Rennes finally seemed to lose it as tears started forming in the corners of her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.
“I—father stumbled across them before he died. They followed one of the survivors back to the camp and took twenty people with them as a tribute the first time around. That was twelve years ago. Eight years ago they took thirty, and four years ago they took fifty. If they take so many this time again, we’ll be done for. There won’t be enough of us around to keep all the operations up!”
“So the Trolls are slavers?”
“No, mister Raziel,” Rohan said, taking over for his sister.
“Lord Raziel, not mister.”
He nodded and took another deep breath.
“Lord Raziel, they’re both slavers and carnivores. They eat anything they get their hands on. But first, they use the people until they can’t work anymore, then they eat or change them into their own.”
Tower of Ancients Page 20
