by Joe Jackson
Eve of Redemption, Book III
Serpents Rising
by
Joe Jackson
Copyright 2016 by Joe Jackson
All rights reserved
Cover Art by Adam Wayne
(www.adamwayneart.com)
Follow the author:
http://Citaria.wordpress.com
www.Twitter.com/shoelessauthor
www.Facebook.com/shoelessauthor
The Eve of Redemption Series
Salvation’s Dawn
White Serpent, Black Dragon
Serpents Rising
Legacy of the Devil Queen (due Dec 2016)
The Huntresses’ Game (due June 2017)
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” – G.K. Chesterton
This book is dedicated to the men and women of
10th Mountain
2-14INF A Co. ’06-‘08
and to the memory of
SGT Steven Packer
SSG Joseph Weiglein
SGT Richard Correa
Contents
Chapter I – Unmasked
Chapter II – Alternatives
Chapter III – The War At Home
Chapter IV – Intelligence
Chapter V – Preparations
Chapter VI – Apprehension
Chapter VII – The City of Black Glass
Chapter VIII – The Reluctant Prince
Chapter IX – Complications
Chapter X – Moskarre
Chapter XI – Lessons Learned
Chapter XII – Into the Birthplace
Chapter XIII – Uldriana’s Trust
Chapter XIV – Dancing Shadows
Chapter XV – Den of Cobras
Chapter XVI – Run Like Hell
Chapter XVII – The Weeping Woodlands
Chapter XVIII – Full Circle
Chapter XIX – Sanctuary
Chapter XX – Settlements
Chapter XXI – The Price of Success
Chapter XXII – Communion
Chapter XXIII – Vengeance
Chapter XXIV – Safeguards
Chapter XXV – Unrest
Appendix A: The Many Unique Races of Citaria
Appendix B: The Merged Citarian-Koryonite Pantheons
Appendix C: Geography and History
Appendix D: The Kings and Races of Mehr’Durillia
Chapter I – Unmasked
The water was warm, yet it still seemed to draw the heat from Kari’s ebon skin as it rained down upon her from above. Her eyes were closed and she leaned against the wall of the shower stall, letting her wings droop to the floor, all at once completely unnerved and fatigued. The bathhouse on the Order’s campus was quiet; only the pattering of Kari’s shower broke the silence as it echoed off of the wooden walls. She had opted to take a shower rather than assist in rounding up the syrinthian infiltrators, both to wash off the grime of a couple of weeks on the road and to try to collect her thoughts.
Kari reached up and absently touched the place on her draconic chin where Turillia had nearly split her snout in two. The half-syrinthian, half-succubus assassin had been such an antithesis to Kari: a virtual equal in combat prowess, but in terms of goals, morals, and drive, she had been a complete opposite. Killing her had given Kari release; she had fulfilled her Blood Oath to her deity, Zalkar the Unyielding, but at her core, Kari had also felt as though she’d killed a part of herself. It was something she hadn’t quite been able to figure out in the wake of the battle, and hardly had time to while on the road with Eli and with Danilynn.
The hot water did little to relieve the physical reminders of her battle with the half-succubus: Kari was sore all over, and the weeks on the road after the battle hadn’t helped with that at all. She had a saddle sore that extended to her tail from riding the griffon loaned to her by Earl Markus Garant, her knee still bothered her where Turillia had kicked her, the scar on her chin still hurt, and there was a general achiness all through her body that a good shower simply couldn’t diffuse. The thought of having a strong drink, sharing a warm bed with her mate, and sleeping in for a few days seemed like the only remedy for what ailed her, but Kari grimaced.
She would enjoy none of those things in the days to come.
Soon, the campus would have been scoured by the many priests of Zalkar; by Danilynn Stahlorr, priestess of Garra Ktarra; and also by Archmage Gareth Maelstrom and his two children. Any syrinthian infiltrators who still remained in the city will have been rounded up, and the time would come to execute them as agents of the demon king Sekassus the Calculating. Kari had already requested of Lord Albrecht Allerius – still the head of the Order until Kari relieved him of his command – that he allow the syrinthians to live until Kari had time to speak with them. Kari had a suspicion that, based on things Danilynn had told her of the syrinthian people and their ‘service’ to Sekassus, they might be willing to divulge some secrets or at least a bit of information on their homeland. Most specifically, Kari wanted to know if any of them knew the whereabouts of one Se’sasha Aesiasi Solaristis.
Thinking about the syrinthian priestess led Kari to think about the girl’s mother, Se’ceria, and of the tale Eli and Danilynn had woven regarding Se’ceria’s betrayal of Sekassus. Eli had told Kari that Danilynn would be able to fill in much of the subtle nuances of Se’ceria’s plan, but even after hearing the tale from both of her new friends, Kari felt she still had yet to see the whole picture. Se’ceria had apparently been a very complicated woman who’d pursued a very complex plot to expose and humiliate Sekassus, but that couldn’t be the entirety of it. Even in defiance of Sekassus, Se’ceria had bent knee not only to an as-yet unknown deity, but also to another demon king: one who, by all accounts, was extremely volatile and very dangerous.
There had to be more to the story than what Kari had been presented with thus far. While humiliating Sekassus may have been the sole goal of King Koursturaux S’Bakthra – the demon king Se’ceria had apparently truly served – Kari didn’t believe that such would be enough to make Se’ceria commit the deeds she had done or lay down her life. The woman had shown a compassion that was normally lacking among the syrinthian people: risking her plan and possibly her life to the benefit of the czarikk, a people the syrinthian should have cared little for. Eli had said it was likely Se’ceria only worked to release the czarikk so her plan would succeed, but Danilynn assured Kari that Se’ceria felt remorse for killing the lizard-folk. That was compassion, something Kari could easily recognize, though she couldn’t exactly understand where it came from, based on the current information.
Thinking of Se’ceria’s compassion led Kari logically to recognize the syrinthian priestess’ motherly instincts as well: she had died willingly, afraid that returning to the underworld after betraying Sekassus would cost her daughter her life. Se’ceria had asked to be allowed to die to protect her daughter, and asked only that someone – even relative strangers – go and try to find and rescue her daughter from further slavery to Sekassus. That was the task that now sat before Kari, the decision she had already made but not fully considered. The mother in Kari wanted to fulfill a promise made by others to rescue Se’sasha, and at the same time, the demonhunter in her wanted to bring back someone from the underworld who would not only be able, but willing to divulge the realm’s many secrets to the Demonhunter Order.
The enormity of the task sank into Kari’s heart, intensifying the fatigue that had such a firm grip on her. Suddenly the aches and sores from her travels and the battle with Turillia felt so much worse, and that wasn't even taking into account the shock that s
till sent shivers down her spine over having nearly been murdered in her own home just hours before. Kari simply wanted to lay down under the hot shower and let it numb her for a while. By her best estimate, Kari was nearly forty years old, and though she’d never put much stock in the number, she felt as though the years were catching up with her. She’d told Eli a few weeks earlier that she felt like she was getting too old to be chasing down demons and their plots, and standing under the comforting hot shower she felt that even more poignantly.
Kari lifted up her dog tags and felt much of the fatigue begin to dissipate. She was now the head of the Demonhunter Order, only two promotions away from the ultimate achievement: the position of Avatar of Vengeance. With that title would come a direct connection to her deity, an almost limitless ability to tap into his strength at all times, and she would become a champion of champions. All the aches, pains, and sores faded a bit in the face of her accomplishments and the pride she felt in coming so far among the ranks of the Order. The fact that the demon kings saw her as enough of a threat to move directly against her spoke to that as well. Kari had come from nothing: an abused runaway who’d found purpose thanks to a selfless act of a demonhunter, and the meaning she’d found in her life helped fend off the sense of getting old.
She absently flipped the lever that stopped the flow of water, and she stood dripping in the silence of the shower stall as she smiled at her dog tags. While the thought of a trip into the underworld terrified her in some ways, she realized that such a trip was what had set the legendary Turik Jalar apart from every other demonhunter before and after his time. He had walked into the very heart of fear and not only lived to tell the tale, but by his account he had laid a list of demands at the feet of the Overking, the demon king to whom all other demon kings swore fealty. Kari’s own planned mission to the underworld seemed so much less dangerous when she compared it to what Jalar had done, and she took comfort in the fact that whatever she and her companions did in the underworld, it would be quick and subtle.
Subtlety was her brother-in-law Aeligos’ strength, and Kari would once again have his aid in the coming mission. She wondered how many of her mate’s siblings would agree to go with her, both to help her and safeguard her as a member of their family, but she quickly came to the realization that there was no way they would let her go, head of the Demonhunter Order or not. Kari also understood that bringing too many people with her would ruin any chance they had of being subtle. However if she was careful who she asked, she could choose companions who would increase her chances of success. Aeligos was chief among them. Her family would not be pleased with any plan to go to the underworld, but Kari felt she had a duty to her office that superseded the desires of her family, even her mate. It was an uncomfortable decision, but one she had to make if she planned to take the reins of the Order.
The door of the bathhouse opened, and Kari pulled down her towel and began to dry herself off. Once she’d dried her hair a bit, she began toweling the rest of her body and looked across the bathhouse. Her brother-in-law and fellow demonhunter Erijinkor approached, and though he’d seen Kari naked many times before – nudity was not taboo to Kari's kind, as it was to humans and even her half-guardian in-laws – he still stopped a respectful distance away from her shower stall. Erik was tall and muscular, a massive man with an imposing countenance accented by a broad snout and strong chin. Erik could be arrogant and bull-headed at times, but he was changing, becoming more of a leader and less of a boss to those who served below him. His blue eyes were warm as he smiled at his sister-in-law.
“We’ve got them all,” he said. “Lord Allerius is waiting for you in the central yard.”
“Let me just get dressed,” she said, and Erik moved to take down her hanging garments and hand them to her. “How many of them did we discover?”
Erik didn’t respond immediately, and when Kari glanced at him, she saw that his gaze was drawn downward. It seemed unusual, but Kari realized he was looking at her dog tags: the turquoise border around the platinum tags was all it took for Erik to realize she’d been promoted. His eyes came up to meet hers after a few more moments, and there was a light in them that Kari seldom saw in her brother-in-law’s gaze. He smiled a true, beaming, prideful smile, but didn’t give voice to his thoughts regarding the tags. “Eleven altogether,” he answered finally, and he nodded at Kari’s surprised expression. “Master Maelstrom was able to root out a couple of them that were on patrol around the city, and they were taken into custody and brought back, too.”
“One other thing I was thinking about,” Kari began, “was that if this plan of Sekassus’ was put into motion after we killed Ressallk, then there might be other syrinthians already among us from previous years. Anyone who’s been graduated and put into service since we got back from Tsalbrin could be a syrinthian spy. We’re going to need a list of graduates and assignments for the last three or so years, and those initiates are going to need to be called back.”
“That’s a good point,” Erik said after some thought. “You get dressed and go meet with Lord Allerius. I’ll head over to the offices and have the administrators start putting together a list. How are you holding up?”
Kari glanced at him and held his stare for a minute, but she decided she didn’t want to talk things through yet. “I’ll be fine once your mother renews those wards around the house,” she said. “I guess we’re going to have to be a lot more careful about who we invite in.”
“You’re going to have to tell me all about this elestram that got in the house,” he said, but he waved away his own words. “Some other time when we have a minute to breathe. I’ll see you out on the courtyard shortly.”
Kari dressed herself in her undergarments, padded clothes, and her paluric armor. The padded clothes weren’t all that necessary if she wasn’t expecting to be in combat, but the light-weight armor didn’t absorb blunt-force blows very well, so Kari made it a habit to always have the padded clothes on underneath. They needed a washing as much as she had, but she pushed the thoughts aside. She belted on her twin scimitars, a matching pair that had been crafted by a master harmauth smith called Terx; they were Kari’s pride and joy as a fighter. She had used the blades throughout most of her career, and they’d been an integral reason why she’d met and trained with the amazing King Suler Tumureldi, who’d taught her his fighting style. Fully armed and armored, Kari made her way from the bathhouse and out to the campus’ main square.
Normally there were squads of recruits training in the main square, but now trainees and journeyman hunters alike were gathered about the square in a crowd. They formed a wide circle around Lord Allerius, Kari’s brother-in-law Typhonix, and the Archmage Gareth Maelstrom and his two children. Kneeling in a line before the five were eleven syrinthians, their shape-changing magic dispelled to reveal the snake-people for what they were. There were eight males and three females, and they were all on their knees, their hands bound behind their backs and their gazes on the dusty ground before them.
Typhonix had his axe out, hanging somewhat limply from his hand to rest on the ground, but he hefted the massive decapitator and rested it on his shoulder when Kari came through the crowd. The blonde half-guardian was a burly and often ill-tempered man, and it was clear from the way Ty held his axe and grinned at Kari that he was looking forward to killing the syrinthians. There were many different types of demonhunters among the Order, and though Typhonix wasn’t the crusading or protective type, Kari still appreciated that he was the one to always do what was necessary, regardless of what others might think or feel. He wasn’t a merciful hunter, but Kari and the other heads of the Order understood that at times, men like Typhonix were exactly what were required to get a job done.
Kari nodded respectfully to the Archmage Gareth Maelstrom as he turned his head to regard her. She’d heard many stories of DarkWind’s resident archmage, but this was the first time she’d actually seen him face-to-face. The terra-rir male still had a rugged handsomeness to him, despi
te the fact that he was over two centuries old and had several nasty scars that appeared to be new, as though he’d suffered them during the Apocalypse. He was tall and noble-looking, with a narrow snout, conservatively short black hair, and pale green eyes. Unlike many of the wizards Kari had met over the course of her lives, Maelstrom didn’t wear a fancy robe or anything else to denote his status as an archmage: he wore simple brown trousers and a similarly-colored tunic, and leather boots. He seemed to take account of Kari as though he had likewise heard much about her and was trying to reconcile what she looked like with what he’d imagined. After a few moments, he smiled softly and returned her polite nod.
“Lady Vanador, I’m sure you know Archmage Gareth Maelstrom,” Lord Allerius said, and with that cue, Kari extended her hand and shook with the wizard.
“This is my son Reese, and my daughter Andrea,” the elder wizard said, introducing his two children behind him. They nodded respectfully to Kari but didn’t come forward to shake her hand. They looked astonishingly like their father, which left Kari to wonder what had happened to their mother, and what she may have looked like.
Kari turned to Lord Allerius, a middle-aged terra-rir who was still in great physical shape, a testament to the training he’d pushed himself through all his life as a demonhunter. His stark white hair was fairly long in the tradition of warriors, but Kari knew he had a habit of trimming it every so often since he was rarely out in the field fighting anymore. His green eyes were still full of life and the fire of his position as head of the Order, but in their depths Kari could also see a bit of hesitation: he clearly wanted her input on what to do with the syrinthians.
“I sent Erik over to the offices to get a comp…rehensive list of all the hunters that have graduated and been sent out on assignment since we got back from Tsalbrin,” Kari informed Lord Allerius. “It occurred to me that these ones we’ve captured and the one I killed in my house may only be the most recent spies; they may have been coming here to infiltrate the Academy since I killed Ressallk.”
