Woodcastle

by Kell Inkston

  Chapter Twenty Six: The Butcher enter his Workplace

  There is a loud horn played off in the distance, deep in the woods away from the square. Gallin laughs with victory and raises his hand a moment to halt the gardener.

  “Behold, fair men and women of the noble light crown, our heroes have returned!” the well-dressed dwarf says, ushering out cheers even more numerous than from when Order was impaled with her seed. By this point the fog, almost magically-thick, has engulfed the entire center square and is now moving past the castle. Even the light of the moon is drowned out. Not a soul can see more than ten meters ahead, which starts to make a few of the fairies uneasy; they recall Love’s words just moments ago about how the necromancers would approach.

  “What did the knight there say? Don’t necromancers invade places with mist?”

  “Motha, I very much wish to return to our roamy domey house and homey!”

  “The dead ones are coming. We have been fools!” are a few of the outbursts from out of the crowd. Gallin sighs with a pretentious smirk lining his beard.

  “Relax my dear brethren, there is nothing to worry about. Our soldiers were instructed to blow the horn upon their approach as they always do! Things have gone well,” Gallin says as he peers across the distance. This expression of confidence calms down the group in the square a fair deal, and they are now eagerly awaiting the fairies to come striding in triumphantly with Oa’s head supported on ten pikes. Gallin never thought about it until now, but the thick fog mixed with the black of the oncoming night gives off a very ominous feeling. He is about to give the signal to continue the execution, when a single gasp is let loose by an elf.

  They look to where they expect the fairies to approach, but instead see the eerie, uncertain movement of figures, close enough to the lanterns and torches to be noticeable, but far-away enough to be indiscernible; like living shadows.

  “Welcome back, heroes of Liefland!” Gallin says with a wide grin, doing his best to appear fearless in front of his fellows. There is no response, but the fairies in the crowd begin to make out what seems to be horrible, contorted faces, grinning at the fairies like gourmands before an awaited meal. The horn blares once more. The light of the lanterns and torches diminish as the shadowy group approaches the square. Everyone in the crowd is now certain that Gallin is wrong and that they are all going to die tonight. Their silence holds only until one of them steps out and states the obvious. There is a long moment of the crowd staring at the shambling, shadowy force, and then from the edge of it all approaches a figure taller than Liefland’s many trees. The figure is of such an overwhelming height that it stretches out of view from the small flickers of lights remaining. Gallin begins trembling and does his best to look confused, rather than terrified. “Everyone stay calm and-“ Gallin’s voice is overpowered by the sound of a void, emptied-out husk wearing Liefland’s elite military garb being plopped into the center of the amphitheater next to the dwarf.

  There is a wide, collective gasp in fear as Gallin steps away from the organless, boneless mangling of what was just ten minutes ago an elf. There is a short moment in which everyone in the audience, afraid to speak or move at the thought of it aggravating their invaders, realizes that the human was right.

  Gallin struggles to speak and is only exacerbated when the rest of the bodies are dropped from above by Oa’s great hand; every single one of the fairy folk sent to fight the necromancers. At the same moment, hundreds of necromancers come forward and pass through the crowd, entering the city and ensuring they have surrounded the entire capital.

  “I AM SOMEWHAT OFFENDED. SOMEHOW I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU FAIRIES UNDERSTOOD THE POWER I HOLD OVER LIFE AND DEATH, BUT INSTEAD YOU SEND YOUR FINEST WARRIORS TO GRAVES EARLY, IF ONLY BY THIRTY MINUTES. ASIDE, I MUST THANK YOU, IT SEEMS YOU FAIRIES HAVE DONE THE DEED FOR ME IN BRINGING THE KNIGHTS ON KNEE TO BE EXECUTED LIKE THE REST OF YOU. FOR WITHSTRAINING THE KNIGHTS SO THAT THIS WOULD BE FAR QUICKER THAN EXPECTED, YOU HAVE MY GRATITUDE. YOUR DEATHS WILL BE QUICK, AND YOU WILL ALL BECOME PART OF SOMETHING GREATER THAN YOURSELF. SOON THE POWER TO REVERSE DEATH AND GRASP SOULS FROM NETHERWORLDS WILL BE IN MY HANDS, AN UNPRECIDENTED ACHIEVEMENT NOT ONE BEING IN ALL THE OMNIVERSE CAN TRULY LAY CLAIM TO. WITH YOUR PIECES INSIDE OF ME, WE WILL- ... HMM ... ONLY FOUR OF THE KNIGHTS- THERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE SIX. NO MATTER. AS I PROMISED I SHALL ACTIVATE THE SEALS UPON THEM, LEVEL WHATEVER PLACE THEY ARE HIDING IN, AND TAKE LIEFLAND AS MY WORD IS AS SURE AS YOUR DEATHS. THIS COULD TRULY HAVE NOT GONE BETTER. YOU HAVE GIVEN ME ALL THAT I HAVE DESIRED,” Oa says as it raises its left hand to make the seal-activating gesture.

  “Wait!” Love says, looking up to the tower-beast along with the others in the square. Something feeling like a gust of wind, a sigh, comes from Oa’s height.

  “... I HAVE TIME TO SPEAK, PARTICULARLY TO MY MOST-TREASURED OF MORTALS. TELL ME OF YOUR THOUGHTS, WEAKLING,” Oa says as it kneels down to get a better look at Love, its giant stolen skull glinting dully in the lamplight. The fairies and knights look to Love, all faces mixed with horror and confusion.

  “Thank you, Oa,” Love begins with perfect serenity, “Actually I’d like you to… again reconsider doing this, the fairies are not bad people, just… ignorant and annoying,” Love says, smiling as she delivers one-damning glance to Gallin. Hundreds of stolen voices laugh in Oa’s wide, long throat, and Order gives Love a trusting, pained glare; she’s buying time for everyone.

  “OH? OUR FIRST DISCUSSION LEFT SOME DOUBTS?”

  “Mhmm. I think now would be a good time to settle this.”

  “AS YOU WISH. LIKE I SAID EARLIER, I WILL TAKE THE SEAT AT THE TEA, AND NOTHING ON THIS EARTH OR ANY OTHER CAN STOP ME. I WILL HAVE HER BACK, YOU SEE, IT IS FATE’S MANDATE.”

  “Now Oa, don’t be selfish!” she says in front of the entire crowd, horrified frozen as the necromancers watch their movements from the roofs.

  “TRULY? I DO THIS ENTIRELY FOR HER, YOU KNOW.”

  “So you two could be reunited?”

  “YES.”

  “If that was your goal, why didn’t you just ... kill yourself back then? You could have spent all this time together, you know,” Love asks. Oa exhales a breeze onto the group, chilling them to the bones.

  “... WELL SAID, SMALL ONE. IN HONESTY I WILL ADMIT I HAD CONSIDERED IT MANY TIMES, BUT I WAS AFRAID. FEAR WAS WHAT HELD MY HAND. I KNOW NOT WHERE SHE IS, AND IF I WERE DEAD PERHAPS SHE WOULD BE IN ONE LAND OF THE DEAD, AND I IN ANOTHER; FOREVER SEPARATED. THIS COURSE WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT WOULD GUARANTEE MY CONTROL.”

  Love raises her head a bit as if she were looking down on Oa, and forms a wanton smirk.

  “But you were fine with taking the lives of others.”

  “THEY WERE AN ACCEPTABLE PRICE TO BRING HER BACK TO HER RIGHTFUL STATE. I AM NOT AS EVIL AS YOU BELIEVE.”

  “All the people you killed would disagree, I think.”

  “POSSIBLY, THOUGH IRRELEVANT.”

  “You don’t care for the decency of life?”

  “ONLY HER OWN AND MINE.”

  “Really? Did you feel nothing in any of those hearts of yours when you butchered people?”

  “... YOU FAIL TO GRASP THE CRUX OF THE SITUATION. I DID NOT ENJOY KILLING THOSE MILLIONS, BUT FOR THE SAKE OF RESEARCH, BOISTERING OUR RANKS, AND SELF-REPAIR I HAD NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER.”

  “I disagree, Oa; you’re pretty wrong there.”

  “OH?”

  “You had the choice to die with her, but instead you’ve been afraid for all these years. All you’ve done is delay the inevitable.”

  Oa looks to the fairy-folk, the knights, and then looks back to Love. “... JUST AS YOU ARE AS YOU SPEAK TO ME ... YOUR WORDS RING TRUE IN THE EARS OF THOSE AROUND YOU, BUT NOT IN THE EARS THAT WILL AVERT YOUR DEATH. PERHAPS I WAS WRONG ABOUT YOU, KNIGHTESS; YOU ARE TRULY FEARFUL FOR YOUR OWN LIFE— AS SELFISH AND PATHETIC AS THE REST OF YOUR CHARGE.”

  “Possibly, but I do it to help the people around me first. If I can live through this, that’s great, but my bigges
t goal right now is to either turn you around ... or stop you.”

  “STOP ME? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO SO? ALL OF MY ACTIONS AND STRATEGIES WERE FLAWLESS. THE ONLY THING THAT COULD STOP ME NOW WOULD BE AN UNPRECIDENTED, UNFORWARNED DISASTER THAT I COULD NOT HAVE PREPARED FOR. NOW WHAT FINAL WORDS DO YOU-”

  Oa stops as it hears the unmistakable, soul-crippling laugh of the High Overlord: the true public enemy #1, as he’s been for millennia; the one being that strikes down the gods and humbles nations.

  Everyone looks up to the sky, listening for the voice of a wayward killing machine.

  “Well well well, look what I have found here. Fairlings, is it really true that your adorable High Tea is happening in only a few minutes? I certainly hope I am not late to be given my seat. Oh, and look here! It’s Oa and his trashlings! Been a while since I kicked you poor composites around… Of course, my dear masteress Order, I have not forgotten about you either! It really seems as though everyone is here! A wonderful celebration! The only thing that could make this party better would be some ... hmm, yes, some tea!” rings the mysterious voice, vibrating through the souls of everyone in the square. Oa stares upward looking for the source and is struck with a flying tea cup filled with chilled red-leaf from out of the air.

  “WHAT HOLE FROM THE UNDER-HELLS DID YOU CRAWL FROM, MOST DEPRAVED COMPETITOR?” Oa yells.

  “A small, precious bird spoke into my ear. I have my finest minion to thank for it. Now, I would love to stay and talk about things but I suppose you are all a bit busy, and while I do enjoy intruding, I also enjoy being punctual. I will be going to the tea, so you all have a lovely time,” Chaos’s ghost-like voice rings out. By this point Order is trembling more at the idea of Chaos’ closeness than the crying crillion planted inside of her.

  “UNACCEPTABLE. IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOU FAIRIES AND KNIGHTS ARE THE LEAST OF MY PROBLEMS. BROTHERS IN DEATH, FIND IT, KILL THE MONSTROSITY!” Oa commands, its words striking a few in the crowd as a bit ironic. Eight-tenths of the necromancer horde move to Liefholn Keep to locate and engage Chaos, and Oa looks back to the knights as Gallin quietly creeps their way, along with a shadowy figure dashing out from Liefholn.

  “Not all has gone as planned, eh, Oa?” Love asks with a mix of smarm and pity. Oa scoffs violently, sending a pound of turf soaring from its mouth.

  “THIS IS TRUE, BUT I HAVE MORE METHODS UP MY SLEEVE THAN ONE WOULD EXPECT. THE NIGHT STILL BELONGS TO ME AND MY LOVE. BEHOLD,” Oa says as it again raises its hand to open the seals placed on Lain and Aoline.

  “Oa, wait! There’s too many people here, you can’t just-”

  “I CAN. ALL LIVES BELONGED TO ME THE MOMENT I CHEATED DEATH FOR THE FIRST TIME. NOW DIE, WEAK-FLESH. SETLEAN, IMP-”

  “Not so fast!” Lain cries just before he grasps onto Oa’s leg, the very same moment it begins casting the release spell. Oa looks down in shock as one of its prepared living bombs clings right to its tree-sized ankle. “I’ll take you with me!” Lain yells, having witnessed Order’s planting by the gardener from within Liefholn and there decided he too would do his duty as a knight. The words of Love, Law, and Dresmond have inspired him to the greatness he dreamed of as a boy as he realizes his greatest strength is found on the inside.

  Oa hadn’t planned for this sort of contingency; it will have to make do. Arriving at the knights, Gallin begins working on Order’s ties in a frantic attempt to free her. He’s willing to bet on them now, even if they do turn out to be traitors.

  “THIS CHANGES NOTHING. YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN A WASTE,” Oa says, canceling the casting and then removing the seal spell on the two young knights with another spell, allowing the two to be killed by Oa personally and eliminating the chance of them exploding upon their deaths; Oa also figures it will need all the spare mana-control it can get if it will be crossing fists with the legendary High Overlord in only moments. The spell mark disappears from Lain’s chest, and in the same moment he is crushed by Oa’s leg. The living graveyard paints Lain’s smashed body across the ground from to scrape off the corpse, and Oa then raises its foot again to rid the world of Order next.

  Unbound and freed to cast spells the moment Oa prepares to stomp down, Order activates the alteration-magic pathways along her entire body, returning to her the inhuman strength and speed she’s used to. She bolts out of the way in a zip-fast moment just before Oa’s foot impacts again into the ground. The strike blasts Gallin away, sending him flying into the nearest building and uprooting Love from the constraining vines. Disoriented from the shock, Love stumbles about and is grabbed by Order the second Oa throws down its foot again to step on her. Order puts Love aside and quickly tears the other two knights from their bindings, saving them too from Oa’s weight.

  “MASTERESS KNIGHT. LONG HAVE WE BEEN FIENDS TO EACH OTHER, BUT I ASK THIS TIME THAT YOU JOIN MY SIDE OR LEAVE ME BE. THE RESULT OF CHAOS GAINING THE SEAT AT THE TEA WOULD BE SOMETHING NEITHER OF US DESIRE. GRANT ME YOUR AID,” Oa says, focusing its gaze on Order the moment she moves slowly enough to be tracked by its many eyes. Order pauses and enters a combat stance.

  “Love, the weapons!” the Lord Knight General says as she keeps a close eye on Oa for any signs of movement.

  “On my way!” Love responds before she bolts into Liefholn, the most likely place of their confiscated things.

  “YOU ARE MAKING A MISTAKE ... LISTEN TO ME. I WILL SPARE THE FAIRIES, AND THE LIVES OF THE KNIGHTS, BUT YOU MUST FIGHT ALONG SIDE ME! WE ARE ALL HOPELESS SHOULD WE WASTE OUR TIME FIGHTING EACH OTHER. COME WITH ME AND WE SHALL REMOVE HIM,” Oa exclaims, pointing a finger the size of a human towards Liefholn keep.

  Order is quiet a moment and grits her teeth at the thought of working together with Oa. “IF YOU DENY MY GENEROSITY, I WILL NOT HALT TO GIVE MY NECROMANCERS THE ORDER TO SLAUGHTER EVERY FAIRY IN THIS CITY. THEY ALL AWAIT MY COMMAND,” Oa adds, reiterating its point towards Liefholn. Order sighs and then meets her gaze to Oa’s.

  “Fine, we get him and then ... then you can have your precious tea. I don’t want anyone to die here,” Order says. Oa scoffs and starts to the castle.

  Order rushes to Liefholn Keep with Oa, but spares just a moment to turn her head to Law and Dresmond, gestures her head over to the groups of straggling necromancers around the square, and makes a silent, very un-Order-like throat-cutting motion. Law and Dresmond display that they have the message, the human boy by throwing up a fast salute, and the dragon-kin by making a rigid grin. As the two ancient legends enter through Liefholn’s giant gates, Law turns to the downed Gallin, and gets him back to his feet.

  “Are you alright?” Law asks, holding the wavering Gallin a moment to ensure he won’t tip over.

  “A-aye. Th- ... What do you want from me?” Gallin asks with what seems to be the workings of tears building up in his eyes.

  “Rally up your men. We’re killing these necromancers together, Order’s going to turn on him,” Law says with a direct, striking glare into Gallin’s eyes. The dwarf nods, and makes a signal to a guard up on one of Liefholn’s walls. The guard rushes off to the alarm brazier to alert the troops all over the capital.

  Chapter Twenty Six and a Half: The Commoner’s way of Entering

  A beseeded Order still in her nightgown and an Oa who leans into the halls to fit inside rush down to the grand royal tearoom, the very-same place in which the legendary High Tea is to take place.

  Now in the light Order can, for the very first time, gaze upon the monstrosity that is running by her side. It is wearing a skull many times larger than herself and a great, grey coat of frayed wool that conceals its body from the neck down; it could fit anything in there. She also notes that it has not a single pair of tunnel-sized sleeves, but four pairs.

  Reaching the grand doors to the tearoom, Oa raises a leg made from the trunks of great trees, the hearts of mountains, and the sinews of heroes to kick them through as if the doors are made of plywood. Splinters soar as the ancient passage protecting the room is blasted from its hinges, revealing the one chamber in the palace wit
h a glass roof; as the first realmer’s instructed, they prefer having little obstruction when they make their decent.

  Pitch and Tylvania, guarded by the great Faery, turn with wide, horrified expressions.

  “By the giant’s bones. Dear Ranalie, what is the meaning of this? Why does this moving graveyard stand to your side!?” Pitch asks, arm twitching to hold him back from signaling the Faery to attack.

  “BE SILENT AND PEACEFUL, WINGED ONE. WE HAVE A COMMON ENEMY IN OUR MIDST,” Oa says as its hand, a tangled thicket of flora and fauna, raises to command a halting of things.

  “Oa’s right. We heard Overlord Chaos outside in the square,” Order says.

  Pitch looks to Tylvania and shoos her off somewhere; they’ve grossly underestimated their need of force.

  “And I would be amiss in assuming you know of what location does he now hold?” Pitch asks while Tylvania disappears past the two others.

  “He said he was going to be here- probably listening in on us.”

  “And we are to simply wait with this, the butcher of so many, to take arms together and battle the Black Overlord?”

  “I don’t trust it either, but for now this is the best we’ve got,” Order says, sparing glances between Pitch and Oa to keep tabs on them. Pitch exhales forcefully and fearfully, allowing this only at the thought of Chaos’ nearness.

  Without mention or motion, Oa feels a telepathic prick in its side; it seems as though the fairies outside are attacking the necromancers. Oa does not consider itself one to be caught-off guard, so it gives the mental order to its subjects to engage and hunt down anyone traveling to and from Liefholn keep; this should prevent word from reaching the chamber of the High Tea for the time being.

  Chapter Twenty Seven: Cower and Squirm in the wake of my tactical dominance!

  Love reaches the lower dungeons, where she expects the knight’s weapons to be cached. Amidst the insanity of battle above, it’s deathly quiet down here, where not even a peep of the fighting passes through. She steps through the empty chambers into what she assumes to be an office. It’s better-lit than the rest of the dungeons. She only gets as far as the doorway until she’s interrupted.