by Mark Albany
Something cold touched my fingers. I looked down to see a sword that seemed to have appeared magically. It was made in blackened steel, like it had been charred. It was even steaming, like it had just come out of the fire. There was a notch on both sides of the blade from where it had been cut in half.
“Hello, old friend,” I whispered, fingers curling around the hilt and bringing it up. Drucio tried to back up quickly, his hand reaching for his weapon.
His arm fell away, lacking its hand. He screamed as blood poured from his wounded wrist. I looked down. That wasn’t enough. I could tear him limb from limb and chop him up into tiny pieces, and it still wouldn’t be enough.
I planted the blade in the floor, splitting the stone in half. Drucio barely had time to register the shock of his missing hand when I gripped his head with both hands and reached inside. There was a darkness in there too. Like mine had been mere moments ago, it was trying to get away as quickly as possible. I reached in and grabbed it, pulling it out, drawing and tearing.
I could hear him screaming in agony as I ripped the power from him, shredding it and devouring it piece by piece. My fingers tightened their hold as something hungry in me wanted more, needed more. I pulled and pulled, feeling his skull crack beneath my fingers. I kept pulling, tearing the bone apart. There was muscle there too, and it also came apart as I roared my pain and anger into his face.
By the time I realized what I was doing, I had torn Drucio to pieces. His blood covered my skin and clothes. Viscera, guts, and bones were scattered everywhere as I looked at the monument my vengeance had left me.
I smirked. As art went, it wasn’t terrible.
I looked up, seeing Vasara still in the room, watching me. I could feel the horror and disgust coming from my connection with Leena and Kalna, but in Vasara’s eyes, I saw something else.
Adoration.
“Beautiful!” she whispered, still staring as I started walking toward her. “Just wonderful.”
“Come here. I’ll give you a closer look.”
“I’ll have to decline, my pet.” She smiled in a playful way.
I reached to grab her, but nothingness met my hands. They passed through her like mist—and like mist, the shape and form of her slowly dissipated and disappeared.
“No!” I cried, not believing that my target had just slipped through my fingers like that. “No!”
“Braks!” I heard Kalna say. She was reaching out to try and put her hands on my temples. She wanted to stop me.
Not this time. I placed my hand on her chest and pushed her firmly away. I needed to be the monster right now.
I looked out into the hole that had been left in the building by the massive boulder. Through it, I could see the giant that Eira had summoned. Somehow, it was bigger than I remembered, more massive. It was pounding its room-sized fists into the walls of the castle, tearing through the wooden stockades and letting the dirt and debris it created pile up to make an easy path for men to scale.
No. Not men, I realized. Not my frozen army. I wasn’t even sure if I could summon them here. These were dark elves. Fully armored. These weren’t assassins. These were soldiers. Warriors. They were cutting into the surprised Trelan forces easily, pushing them back into the wrecked castle. Kalna and Leena quickly picked up the fight, disarming the first soldiers and using their swords to fight the next. The Trelan soldiers rushed toward us to secure a defensible point. Understandable, but futile.
Leena found a bow and arrows, and started picking off the leaders. I remembered seeing and feeling this focus from her before. Kalna’s daggers were presumably still with the guards who’d captured us. I remembered her with her massive hounds in the last battle. No hounds this time, but she was putting one of the fallen Trelans’ swords to deadly use, stepping in front of Leena and keeping away any soldiers that managed to get too close.
It wouldn’t be enough. Leena would run out of arrows, and soon, they would be overwhelmed. Even with the massive hole, the castle was easy to defend. It would take the elves hours to break through the defenses. Hours that Kalna and Leena didn’t have if they were to survive. And from my connection with Eira, I could tell that she was busy handling the Trelan forces still outside the walls.
I ran over to where I’d left my blade planted in the floor, pulling it up effortlessly.
I advanced toward the soldiers who were attacking them. A couple broke away from Kalna and came for me instead. They raised their shields and tried to push toward me. My blade started to smoke again. It came up and swung down quicker than a flash of lighting. The men fell back, their shields cut in half, swords broken.
Another strike and they were dead. I turned back to Kalna and Leena.
“Are you all right?” Leena asked, looking at me with a familiar kind of fear in her eyes.
I nodded. “I have it under control.”
“Not too tight a grip, I hope.” Kalna flicked the blood from her blade. “We have a fight ahead of us.”
I nodded. “I think I’m all right.”
“Braks, your eyes are still black,” Leena pointed out, nocking another arrow to her bowstring.
“I don’t know what I can do about that.” I twirled my blade around a few times. “I still need it around to survive.”
Chapter 18
The battle was over quicker than I imagined it could be. I looked over the castle grounds, seeing the aftermath of bodies and destruction all around me, unable to stop thinking about what might have happened if Eira hadn’t shown up when she did. The elves were already moving around, clearing the bodies from the courtyard as they looked at the three of us with something like awe.
Well, Kalna, Eira, and Leena anyway. They had shown a great deal of skill and fortitude in the battle, easily guiding the Trelans into kill zones where they were forced to surrender or die. The choice was theirs. Most had chosen to lay down their arms, especially once Eira was able to guide her ice monster into the fray. They were all instrumental in the victory, as well as the number of people left alive after the battle.
The elves seemed to be avoiding looking at me, though. I didn’t blame them. I had been rather instrumental myself but in a different way. The manner in which they looked at me had more in common with the way they looked at the ice monster. Knowing I was on their side tempered their judgment somewhat. They also knew my actions meant that there were a lot more elves alive now than there would have been otherwise.
At the same time, the sight of what I had been able to do meant that most were choosing to keep their distance.
I minded. It stung more than I cared to admit, but at the same time, I understood. I was covered in blood, some of it old, some of it new, and none of it mine. The unleashing of the Darkness inside me had made me no new friends among our elf allies.
I smiled grimly, moving over to a well that was reasonably secluded from the work of cleaning up after the battle. I pulled a bucket of clear, cool water from the depths and slowly used it to wash the blood away. The red-tinted liquid that poured from my body was slow to be soaked into the ground.
“Hello, Braks,” said a voice from behind me. It was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it until I turned around. Pulling the drenched hair from my face, I saw a pair of soft green eyes that were slitted like Kalna’s, and long, white hair that was somehow paler than Kalna’s was.
“Grandmother,” I gulped, trying to process the fact that she was alive. The old elf studied me for a moment. She stepped over the puddles I had made and gently wrapped her arms around me. I tried to step back, but she held me firmly for a long minute.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly when she finally pulled away. “I’m a mess from the fighting. Didn’t mean to get you all wet.”
“The battle was hard on all of us. And you should never apologize for getting a woman wet, young one.”
My mouth dropped open, the shock showing on my features as Grandmother laughed. It was a pleasant sound, like wind chimes striking in harmony.
; “Apologies,” she said, regaining her composure. “I could not resist.”
“I didn’t even know you’d survived the destruction of the town. We thought you were dead.” I returned her smile. “I can’t express just how relieved and happy I am to see you alive and well.”
She tilted her head. “The greater fighters stayed back while the rest of us ran. They were assassins, not warriors, and were under no impression that they would be surviving the assault. Their sacrifice allowed most of the common folk to escape deeper into the lands held by the elves and raise the alarm. Even though the Trelans were defeated in your home of Radon, the evil was still there, lurking and waiting for a chance to strike. Our leaders, at my insistence, decided it would be best to try and strike at them before they had the opportunity to do the same to us.”
I nodded. “About home…”
“Perfectly safe,” Grandmother assured me. “The young King Olin has stepped up to the responsibility of rebuilding and reuniting his kingdom rather well. I also sensed a good deal of you in him. Are you brothers?”
“Yes, but not by blood.”
“The blood of the covenant runs thicker than the water of the womb.” The old elf smiled.
“What?”
“Nothing, just an old saying.” She shook her head. “We were actually with your people when your ice woman came to me in a dream. She spoke of the evil that you fought here on these shores and said you needed help. As visions went, it was surprisingly vivid.”
I narrowed my eyes, looking across the courtyard to where Eira had just arrived. She glanced around for something. When she caught sight of me, she smiled broadly and started running toward me.
“Yes, she can do that sometimes.” I was curious as to how similar Grandmother’s vision of Eira had been to mine. It was probably better if I didn’t know.
“Braks!” Eira wore a wide grin as she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me close before kissing me passionately on the lips.
“Hello, you,” I said breathlessly as she pulled away.
“Hello, yourself.” She lightly kissed my cheek. “You had me worried, Braks. Are you all right?”
“Thanks to you.”
Kalna cleared her throat loudly on the other side of the courtyard.
“All of you,” I quickly amended.
Grandmother smiled and waited for us to be finished with our greeting. Eira finally pulled away, turning back to the old elf with a smile and a light touch on her shoulder.
“Did you tell him?” Eira asked, flipping her purple hair back over her shoulder with a practiced calm.
“I was waiting for you,” Grandmother replied softly.
“Tell him what?” Leena asked, breaking away from organizing the cleaning crews to come and speak with us. Kalna did the same, leaning in to lightly kiss Eira on the cheek before being wrapped up in a hug by Grandmother.
“You’re all wet!” Kalna protested.
Grandmother opened her mouth, presumably to crack the same joke she’d made at me, but paused when she saw me shaking my head.
“Tell me what?” I asked, reiterating Leena’s question.
“When the Elven Elders convened to decide if our people would go to war, they had a vision.” Grandmother’s tone grew darker. “The Trelans may have encountered defeat in Radon and on these isles, but they are far from defeated. There is great power across the sea and a great malevolence. And while it is temporarily frustrated, all we have done here is show how we act and how we attack. The God-King of the Trelans will learn from his mistakes. He is already amassing his forces and preparing for an invasion.”
I nodded. “And did you convince the elves to fight in this war?”
“The war will come to us,” Grandmother said. “If we wait for it, it means that the fighting will be done on our lands, among our people, and when our enemy is ready for it. At least this way, we have a chance to catch them off guard and on their home ground. Keep them defending, and they cannot attack. Besides, I have seen the kind of damage you can do on your own, Braks. Any battle with you on our side is a battle we stand a better chance of winning.”
“And…” I looked at each of them. “And Vasera? Was she part of this?”
Grandmother nodded, sharing a look with Eira. “There was a presence… Someone else on Trelan. She’ll be among the others if it’s the same.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I didn’t need to see to know the kind of looks I was getting from the rest of the elves. They’d had a hard time liking me in the first place. I’d shrugged it off, but the look was there on Leena’s face, too. I hated to have her look at me like that. I knew she was there for me and would have my back, but I wondered what kind of cost it demanded from her to watch her childhood friend dealing with something she couldn’t truly understand or help with.
It was making her angry. I could tell. She didn’t like feeling helpless about anything. Her whole adult life had been about taking control of things, although never anything like this, of course.
I looked up, opening my eyes again. “So, what do you suggest?” I looked at all of them. If the enemy was coming at us with all their strength, I had no idea how to stop them. To win this time, it had taken Eira coming with some very opportune help to surprise our enemies. I had a feeling we wouldn’t have it so easy in our next battles.
“The Elves have split their forces to scour the islands,” Eira said softly. “The reason why the Trelans wanted to take these islands as well as the Kingdom of Radon was to establish a position of strength from which to attack our continent. No clue as to why they wish to do this, but we have to stop them no matter the reason.”
“So, for the moment, the elves will be tasked with clearing the Trelans from the isles?” I confirmed.
Grandmother nodded. “The battle may be over, but they brought substantial troops to these lands. I’m afraid it may be a while until we can bring the fight to the Trelans.”
“What about the people back home?” I asked.
“From what we heard last, King Olin was trying to arrange for a parley with the rest of the human kings,” Grandmother said. “Some sort of alliance to be struck, but his plans are focused more on defense than attack. Besides, anything humans do or decide to do takes literally ages. It would be years before we could count on substantial human help from your homeland, Braks.”
“The islanders have been decimated,” Leena put in. “They didn’t have many fighters to begin with, and most of what they had are dead. They need the rest of them to stay here to rebuild. There might be a few volunteers, but we shouldn’t count on too many.”
I gritted my teeth. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“Either way, we’ve stemmed the tide for the moment.” I tried to keep spirits up. “Now that we’re waiting for them, the Trelans won’t be able to attack us unaware. They have magic and monsters, but so do we.”
“What do you propose we do?” Leena looked at me.
“We need to keep pressing forward. It doesn’t need to be with our full force, but an offensive move from us will keep the Trelans uncomfortable with leaving their homeland undefended. That will slow down their advances somewhat.” I turned to Grandmother. “Do the Elves have any troops and ships to spare?”
“Three fully-manned war galleys,” Grandmother replied smoothly, as though she’d been expecting the question.
That amounted to about one hundred and fifty men. We didn’t have time to run a recruitment drive among the islander villages, which I supposed was for the best. They needed to stay here and keep their homes safe.
“That will have to be enough,” I said.
“What about your army?” Leena asked, tilting her head. “The dead men that fought with us back in Radon?”
I shook my head. “I was warned that my control over them would wane the farther I got away from the Peak. I was reluctant to use them here for that reason. The Trelan homeland is even farther away, so I can only imagine using them in the worst of cases. Speakin
g of which, do we have any idea where the Trelan homelands are? Did they leave us any maps to follow?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Grandmother replied quickly. “They come from a land that can be found three hundred leagues to the southwest.”
I nodded. “That’s a start, but I’d rather have a map to follow. Leena—”
“Already on it,” she nodded, breaking into a jog back into the castle. There would be a great many places to search, but the castle where the Trelans had been basing their operations seemed like the logical place to start. I turned back to Grandmother.
“How soon can those three ships be ready to sail?”
“They need some repairs and to resupply for what will be a long journey,” Grandmother replied. “They need two days to prepare.”
“Two days, then.” I shook my head. I didn’t like being on open water, but it would be worth it to take the fight to our enemy’s shores.
Chapter 19
Even with good winds and a favorable current, three hundred leagues would take at least three days at sea. It was a long way to go. We left after waiting two days for the ships to be repaired and resupplied.
We’d made good use of the time, helping with the rebuilding and hunting down the remaining Trelan forces. They, too, had seen the monster they were up against, and it still stung when I couldn’t tell which monster they were talking about, the ice monster or me. Most had been told of the Dark One, and a few had even seen me fighting. All the rest relied on the rumors that spread easily through armed forces.
By the time the ships were ready to leave, I was too. I looked forward to putting these islands with their muggy heat and blindingly warm sun behind me. It was all beautiful in its way, but it was starting to be associated with the difficulties and horrors I’d faced while here.
Thanks to our trust in the Strange Man—which was what we’d reverted to calling him after the events in the throne room involving him, Prince Drucio and Vasara—the village that had helped us had been massacred, with most of the people killed or taken prisoner. Those prisoners that we managed to recover were suffering under the brainwashing effects of the Trelan darkness.
