Escalation

by Matthew Peed

“My dear Lelune, I felt you thinking about me.” The twisted voice resounded from around the room. One of Cassin’s pleasures was to annoy Lelune as much as possible.

  “Thinking about how to get rid of you,” Lelune retorted. If she could have, she would have brought her sword around and sliced the miserable creature into a thousand pieces, then further incinerated him.

  “How endearing,” Cassin said with fake warmth that actually made the room feel colder. “Have my toys been giving you trouble?” he asked with a chuckle. “Trouble for Lelune the Great, Lelune the Wise, Lelune the Merciful, Lelune the . . . Betrayer!” His rant ended when he began to laugh twistedly, then bent over as the laughter took all his breath.

  Lelune slammed the tip of her sword on the floor, and the light in the room reached a new level of intensity. Cassin’s form wavered for a moment before the shadows in the room grew darker in return. “Cassin, what? Got bored of watching your necromancers make fools of themselves?” she asked.

  The shadow laughed. “You know we have played this game of chess for nearly a millennium now. Even a Celestial such as myself can get bored.”

  “If you came here in your true form, we could settle this once and for all,” Lelune said and tapped her sword. The creature was hidden somewhere that her gaze couldn’t reach. Celestia was massive, but it did have its limit. She should have been able to find him but couldn’t. It was one of the greatest failures of her life.

  “Very true, but I am well aware of my own weakness. Besides, I am trapped in my hole somewhere in Celestia thanks to someone’s never-ending light.”

  Lelune smirked. “Feel free to come out anytime you want.”

  “If I were gone, who would keep you company?”

  “I’m quite fine without you.”

  “Of course! Lelune, Champion of Light, Lelune the Demon Slayer, Lelune the . . . Traitor!” the shadow said, his voice getting louder with each title.

  “Enough!” Lelune shouted and swung her sword at the shadow.

  “Ah! How I wish I could have been there when Arin rushed to do your bidding like the most loyal of dogs! How, when he returned from his mission and delivered the Flame to your grasp, you ran him through with the sword that was meant only for evil! Such a glorious thing—I wish I could have seen!” The shadow’s singsong voice danced around the throne room, easily avoiding Lelune’s sword.

  “Be gone!” Lelune shouted and thrust her sword into the air. A light that would have rivaled the sun’s burst forth and illuminated every nook and cranny in the throne room. The shadow dissipated into the air.

  “Poor, poor Lelune. Shadow cannot exist without light. The brighter your light becomes, the deeper my shadows,” the voice said, slowly fading into nothing.

  Lelune frowned, then looked at a map engraved on the floor that represented the entire mortal world. On the continent of Saymar was a large black smudge that she hadn’t been able to peer into for years now. She contemplated it for a long time; days went by.

  “It’s time my priests took care of this,” Lelune said finally. She stood and moved to the center of the continent on the map and raised her sword high into the air, releasing another burst of light. “It’s time for war!” With a surge of holy mana, she sent a message to all her tier three priests.

  “I am worried about the fate of the world. Remove the necromancer threat no matter the cost.”

  ~~~

  Port of Hope, Lecazar Kingdom

  Priests all over the continent jerked awake with a terrible sweat. One man in particular smiled to himself. “As you wish, my lady.” He looked outside to see the sun was just breaking over the horizon like a good omen for the coming events. He got out of bed with vigor that he hadn’t felt in years, dressed quickly, then pushed open the doors to his chambers.

  “Grand Vicar! The sun has only just risen, are you sure you shouldn’t get some more rest?” a knight guarding the vicar asked, surprised when the door burst open.

  “I received a divine message! We have a lot of work to do!” the Grand Vicar said forcefully. A light seemed to be emitted from behind him.

  It would take some time. The church had never mobilized for something as grand as this. They didn’t even have conventions in place for a military mustering. They’d left that to the local lords, happily neutral during the strife. He quickly sent the guard to gather the vicars and archbishops.

  Several days later they were all gathered in the church meeting hall. Over twenty people had rallied, even though forced to use any means necessary to get there in the short amount of time. Some had even used secret ways that had long been hidden by the church. People from churches on the other side of the world’s spine had managed to arrive.

  “Grand Vicar, we have confirmed it. Lady Lelune has indeed sent us all the same message. Even the bishops were made aware. The lady is very serious about this message.”

  The Grand Vicar kept quiet until the hall came to a silent calm. He stood with his hands behind his back and started to pace along the table. The people here knew that the Grand Vicar was weak of body lately. They were amazed that he was up and about without any help.

  “This is a difficult task given to us by the lady. For years, we operated on a case-by-case basis to deal with the necromancer issue. She is no longer pleased with this course of action.”

  He remained silent for a long moment. No one dared to interrupt him. “We will start here. We weren’t given a timeframe, but I want all the necromancers destroyed within five hundred kilometers of your seats of power.

  “I don’t care how we go about doing this. If we have to create a new form of magic, we will do so. If we must pull more people to our ranks, we will do so. We will not fail our lady!”

  ~~~

  Deep in the bowels of the planet

  A giant creature, one that would rival mountains, stirred for the first time in centuries. Powers of all types were moving above its head, powers that usually only moved once a millennium. It had slept through the last occurrence, too lazy to bother with it. This time, however, it felt it had slept enough and wanted to participate.

  It shifted to its side, then decided a few more weeks wouldn’t hurt. The powers still needed more time to mature, in its opinion, so that it could fully enjoy the show. The ground around it rumbled as it breathed, something that only happened once a day.

  A small form took shape next to the head of the giant creature. With a feminine shape, the figure rested its hand on the head of the giant and channeled some of its power. The great beast went back to sleep more fully. The small form looked up toward the surface, then sensed something it hadn’t felt in nearly a thousand years.

  It could sense the small waves that rippled from a miniscule flame that looked like it would be blown out by the tiniest of breezes. The small figure smiled. Maybe there was hope, after all. In her lapse she didn’t realize that she had channeled her mana incorrectly. The beast managed to break the cycle it had been caught in for the last two thousand years. It remained sleeping, though. If it made a move now, it wouldn’t be able to break the magic binding it. It daydreamed of the time to come. The havoc to wreak.

  Chapter 21

  Thonaca Kingdom, Royal City, Merchant Guild

  A few days after the horde extermination

  “I’m telling you. We should change our course to this new town that has popped up!” a man shouted to an assembled group of his fellow merchants.

  All were dressed in garments that would cost the same amount of gold that could feed several families for a year. This was the Merchant Council; they decided the exchange rates between the countries and rules for new merchants, among other things. There was a similar council in Lecazar, though, as they all had the same things on their minds, and they were usually able to agree about which direction to lead the guild.

  “They’ve already been attacked by necromancers twice!” a woman argued back. “What’s to say the next time won’t be while we’re traveling through?”

  The woman was
Linda Highwater, a wealthy personage who had risen all the way to countess from a commoner on her wits and cunning alone. While she had a noble title, she still saw herself as a merchant.

  “I have reports that a system has already been put into place to prevent any more necromancers from even getting near the town! Now! Now is the time for us to invest there before we lose out to the Lecazar people. The lord is a former Lecazar citizen after all,” the first man argued back.

  He was Dirne Wintergrasp, and he operated most of the potion shops in Royal City where competition is toughest and twice that in other cities. He had heard about the up-till-then unheard of magic that was being used in town, as well as the quickly-becoming-famous library. He wanted to get into those walls to see if there was something, anything, he could learn that might let him make the first new potion in over five hundred years.

  “About that, how do we know that it really works?” an elder asked from the side.

  This elf was Yuin Skywood. He seemed to be older than time to most of the people in this room, but even pushing nearly six hundred years, he was still a cunning and very dangerous merchant. More than one person had lost their entire family fortune to him when they’d pissed him off.

  “Several necromancers have already been captured. Some confessed to crimes they did in other villages and towns. After using a few message hawks, the information was easily gained that matched their testimony,” a clerklike man said from near the wall.

  “Interesting . . . So there might finally be a way to deal with these annoying flies. I also agree with changing our course this year to Robia Valley,” Yuin said, then paused for a moment. “Someone send a letter to the little lord of that place to change the name. It just doesn’t feel . . . up-and-coming enough.”

  Another clerk, who was taking notes, paused, then said, “As . . . as you wish, my lord.”

  “What about our investments in Daggerfall Pass?!” another man shouted. This was Frederick Guest. He had quite a bit of money invested in guards and mercenaries that escorted the caravans through Daggerfall. It would be hard to change those contracts quickly, not to mention costly.

  “Oh, piss off, Frederick! Half of the, what you call ‘guards,’ usually die to plain old goblins. Pay the damn silvers so that we all can make a couple gold in return,” a woman scoffed at him. She was Olivia Holdin. She didn’t have a set industry and liked to dabble in a little of everything, but her most significant income was from brothels. “I also vote for the new pass. My businesses near the other dungeons have taken a hit from the little hole that opened there.”

  For the rest of the night, the over two dozen A-rank merchants went back and forth as they debated the pros and cons. In the end, Yuin ended up deciding for the guild, as he flat-out refused to use Daggerfall Pass. Many of the others, afraid that if they resisted much more, they would lose all their valuables, agreed with him in the end.

  “So, we’re agreed, Robia Valley and the pass to the north shall be our new route so that we can stop at the town growing there.”

  “For gold!” all the merchants chanted in the room.

  To one side a merchant sat with his hands braided. He knew about the gold mine that had been Robia Valley months ago, but his one attempt at taking it had failed more miserably than he thought it could. He’d tried to have the baroness there killed by a group of brigands but some . . . thing interfered. The man who was sent to make sure the brigands did their job stated they’d been killed in seconds.

  Now he had a legitimate reason to go there himself. This time he would take it. He was the original owner of the lands, after all. The Lecazar parts would be annoying to deal with, but that was all outside the valley. Oh, how he wished he’d inspected the lands before selling them. It was even a recurring nightmare for him recently.

  ~~~

  Thonaca Kingdom, Royal City, Royal Palace

  Two men sat at a table that was worth its weight in gold, and then some, being made from gold. The men sitting at the table, however, could easily afford it. On one side was King Ataulph VetericusThonaca. He wore a robe that was said to be able to repel a dragon’s breath, and a scepter rested next to him. There were accessories all over him. Each seemed to hum with more power than the last.

  On the other side sat Valaravans Soas. His robes were just as nice but were clearly less powerful. No weapons were allowed in the same room as the king, so he was unarmed. To an onlooker, he would seem to be grief-stricken.

  “I truly am sorry for your loss, my friend,” King Ataulph consoled. Valaravans had been his friend for decades, and he trusted him with his life. He’d even asked Valaravans to give his daughter’s hand in marriage to his son, but he’d said he’d already chosen someone. “I still can’t believe it was his own guards.”

  “It came to me as a shock as well,” Valaravans said, pressing his hand against his temples. “We inspected the site. At least one of his guards is still alive, but the other bodies were burned beyond recognition. That leads me to believe it was Bruce. Judging by the state the village was in, he had dealings with the necromancer scum.”

  “We’ll have our best men look into this, old friend,” the king said with determination.

  “I . . . I thank you . . . my friend,” Valaravans said with a sad look.

  The king stood up, never one to hesitate. He turned to one of his Royal Guards. “Get Lines on this immediately! Tell him failure isn’t an option.” The guard saluted, then turned on his heel to leave. He was just about to open the door when the king added, a bit subdued, “Tell . . . tell Quin to go as well.”

  This time the guard actually hesitated. “Are . . . are you sure, Your Majesty?”

  This typically would have earned the guard a whipping or a week in a cell, but even the king couldn’t blame him for this. His eyes hardened, then he said, “Yes. Tell Quin to go.”

  The guard bowed, then slipped from the room. Valaravans, who’d heard everything, was momentarily in shock. Quin was basically the king’s trump card. With her on the case, his plans might get disrupted, but he had no way of refusing the help.

  “I thank you, My King,” Valaravans said with a deep bow.

  ~~~

  Royal Castle, Left Wing Suite

  The guard approached as quietly as possible. He gulped once he reached a bright red door, finally took a breath, then knocked. The door swung as if it jerked open by someone.

  “Come in,” a melodic voice called from inside the room.

  The guard gulped again, then entered. A woman was lounging on a window seat. She wore a bloodred dress. In fact, everything about her was red. Her hair and eyes looked like dripping blood.

  “Lady Quin, the king sends a mess . . .” the guard started to say, then his body locked in place.

  “I said to come in, not to speak,” Quin said with a sinister grin. Her hand was held in the guard’s direction, a circle of red mana fluctuating around it. The guard struggled but couldn’t even breathe, much less move. It felt like his own blood was fighting against him

  Quin got up from the window and leisurely made her way over. When she reached him, she stroked the guard’s face with her hand, which was whiter than snow. “Hmm, you’re quite good-looking. Makes me want to get a taste,” she said, licking her lips.

  The guard begged with his eyes to be spared. Quin pouted for a minute as she debated, then decided to let the man go. Even she couldn’t cross the king quite yet. She released her magic over the man, and he collapsed a moment later. His lungs labored as he tried to catch his breath.

  “Consider yourself lucky that I ate earlier today,” Quin said with an almost sad smile.

  “Thank . . . you . . . for . . . your . . . grace . . .” the guard said between breaths. He took a moment to regain his composure, then said, “The king has a mission for you.”

  “Oh, he only has two favors left,” Quin said as she gave him a lecherous smile. “What does the little boy want?”

  The guard didn’t even consider getting mad at th
e disrespect cast at his king. He took a deep breath, then continued, “Someone murdered Duke Valaravans’s son. He wants you to find and deal with them. Currently, the only lead is his main bodyguard, Bruce.”

  “Ah, that mountain of a man,” Quin said as she licked her lips again. “Surely you have an idea where he went?”

  “Yes, a group of adventurers stated they saw a man who matched his description head for Robia Valley.”

  “Very well. Tell your king that I have accepted this as one of his favors,” Quin said. Before the guard had a chance to reply, Quin’s body started to melt. A bloodred mist formed where she was standing, then flew out the window.

  The guard collapsed to the ground, sighing in relief. More than a few guards had died at the hands of that woman. He was thankful that he would be able to see his wife and children again.

  Chapter 22

  Boris Lut

  Lecazar Empire

  “Move it, slaves!” a slave dealer yelled to the group as they made their way onto the stage.

  I was the last one up due to my size. As a bear beastkin, I also needed to make way for the smaller people. Sometimes I wished that I could just rip them all apart. Of course, that was part of the reason I’d found myself in this predicament. I’d lost my temper one time. One time! And destroyed some noble’s property, earning enough debt to crush a few nobles, and here I was.

  The dealers gave us boards with our prices written on them. It was another level of degrading to have to hold up your own price tag. I gripped the board with a bit too much strength, and a loud crack rang out. The slaver gave me a dirty look, but as the board was still legible, he let me off.

  All morning people streamed through the market. Since slavery was legal, the slavers were able to set up shop right in the middle of the market. We had to stand there while people came through and examined us with looks ranging from pity all the way to disgust. I felt these people were just as bad as the slavers, though, as they did nothing to stop it.

  As the slaves were bought, the buyers finally reached the back row. It consisted mainly of beastkin like me, whose bodies grew large due to our animal descent. They started with a dragonkin down the line. I don’t know if something offensive was said, but he suddenly started to roar and thrash against his binding magic.