The Paladins of Naretia

by TP Keane

Chapter 4

  The quiet, narrow streets of Tasadia rang out with the perfectly timed cadence of armoured boots on frozen cobbled roads. The ominous sound was only interrupted by the heavy, mistimed steps of Edwel the golem.

  From beyond the closed shutters of the large cottages, Aria heard the whispers of, "The Blood Queen is here," as she passed by. As much as she wanted to slice out their slanderous tongues, she didn't. She was preoccupied instead with finding this tavern in which her enemy had last been spotted. The moleman, whose fur had been singed almost clean off, ran on all fours to stay ahead of the queen's determined pace. He looked more like a small pig than a moleman, and the snorting and grunting of his heavy breathing made him sound like one too.

  Behind her, an army of ogres, dressed in black armour, marched in rows of four. Their bulbous, green heads, adorned with two small horns and tiny black eyes, bounced in time with the march. Long, sharp teeth jutted from their mouths in such a deranged manner, that it gave the impression of a being whose creator had modelled them in the dark. They weren't as tall as the Mountainmen, but their mere presence seemed to strike terror into the hearts of every man, woman, and child they came across in Tasadia.

  These monsters didn't know fear, too stupid to think of it, and that is exactly why Aria found them to be her perfect army. Like the body of a dark snake with a head of red, glinting armour, they wound through the streets until they stopped outside a rundown tavern on the outskirts of the town. The moleman skidded to a halt.

  "H-here, Your Majesty. This is where I saw them," he stuttered in a squeaky voice.

  "And you're sure it was them?" she asked, unsheathing her sword.

  "I, I, saw two people flying into the night, and one of them was a wizard. He, he did this to me," the moleman replied, gesturing to his naked body.

  "How can you be certain of what you saw? From what I am told your people are almost blind," she demanded, leaning forward and pointing her sword to his throat.

  "A girl," he replied quickly, stumbling backward with desperate fear in his black, beady eyes. "A girl inside saw him. I heard them talking about it afterwards."

  "Did she now?" Aria said, feeling the excited pull of discovery draw her toward the tavern.

  Inside, the patrons sang around a circular bar. Sawdust covered grey slated floors, and a fire roared in a large hearth at the far wall. The singing and crashing of tankards quieted when she entered, and a grave silence took the place of the merriment. Aria strode in, followed by four heavily armed ogres, and Edwel.

  "I am looking for an old wizard and a hunchback," Aria began. "I've been told that he was spotted here some two days ago. Is this true?"

  No one answered. The patrons stared at Aria with a collective hardness that couldn't have been missed; their green eyes shooting deadly glances between her and her army.

  "I-it was that one," the moleman said, slipping between the ogres thick legs and pointing to a young Mountainwoman at the back of the bar.

  Aria approached the young girl, who was at least a half size taller than her and twice as broad. She studied her brown skirt, white shirt, and two blonde buns on the side of her head for a moment, and then smiled pleasantly at her.

  "Did you see them?" Aria asked sweetly.

  "How dare you," a man's voice came from behind the bar.

  Aria followed the sound of the voice, unable to hide her sneer, to see an older Mountainman gripping onto a dirty dish cloth so tightly that his knuckles had turned as white as his long plaited hair.

  "I'm sure you're not referring to me in that manner," Aria replied with a small laugh.

  "How dare you," he repeated more firmly.

  The patrons collectively put down their tankards and stood soberly in their place, like they had never touched a drop of ale in their lives.

  "I am your queen," Aria said with a deadly tone, "and I shall dare what I please. Which includes doing what is necessary to protect Naretia."

  "Dese filty ogres murdered our people, slaughtered dem in an unprovoked attack. And now you bring dem here, into our land, our homes, and treaten us vith anoder battle dat saw entire clans viped from existence? No quveen of mine vould insult deir people like dat."

  "Your people were betrayed by the wizard caste, as I recall," Aria said, stepping toward the Mountainman behind the bar. "It was one of them who unleashed the ogres to begin with. And if that wasn't bad enough, they abandoned you to your fate. The Mountainmen were forsaken by the only ones with enough power to stop the ogres.

  "From your own history, you should know not to trust the wizard caste. The wizard I seek was one of those who ignored your call for help. He is also harbouring a murderer, one that I am trying to bring to justice. Why should you show him any loyalty?"

  "Because he is de lesser of de two evils," the man replied, pursing his lips into a thin line. "Better to be ignored, den to be slaughtered at de vim of a little girl who bathes de land vit blood, and shames de good name of her family."

  Aria felt the anger boil inside of her. She clenched her hand around her sword, and her heart pushed hot blood around her body until she was near bursting point. Edwel's resounding stone footsteps sounded muffled in her head as he approached.

  "Your Majesty," he began in a sunny voice. "Please remember that these are good, hardworking people. They only misunderstand you."

  Aria ignored the golem and nodded at one of the ogres.

  The ogre swiftly raised his bow and shot an arrow through the Mountainman's neck. His eyes widened and blood spilled quickly down the front of his shirt. The silver haired goliath choked and spluttered for air he could no longer take, before collapsing onto the floor. A few Mountainmen ran to his side but emerged a moment later shaking their heads and clenching their fists. Aria heard the whispers of her hated moniker bubble from the gathering. The young woman she had come to question, screamed a bitter, heart-broken cry.

  "Oh, Aria," she heard the golem sigh.

  Ignoring him, Aria took swift steps back toward the Mountainwoman, raised her sword, and pointed it at her chest.

  "Did you see them here?" she demanded.

  The Mountainwoman stared between Aria and the dead Mountainman. Her eyes were wide and tears glistened at the edges. Aria pressed the point of her sword more firmly into the woman's chest and curled her lip into a sneer.

  "Dat was my fader," the young woman whispered.

  Aria was only a little bit surprised to find that she didn't care who the old man was, despite the fact that she had lost her own parents in similar circumstances. All she cared about was getting the information she came for.

  "Answer me," she demanded.

  "Dere vere no such people here," the Mountainwoman said with more defiance than Aria was expecting. She glanced questioningly back at the moleman who held his hands up defensively.

  "You lie," she seethed.

  "Do I?" the Mountainwoman said rebelliously. "Krunk, did you see anyvone here?"

  Another old man, with short, white hair, stepped forward with a determined look.

  "Only Mountainmen have passed tru dese doors, until today," he said.

  "Dere, see? I told you. Dere vas no vizard, or vinged man here."

  Aria smiled wickedly.

  "I never said anything about a winged man," she said with a quiet deadliness.

  Without warning, Aria pushed her blade deep into the chest of the young woman. The woman grabbed the blade and gasped. Her watery green eyes watched her blood spill over the gold blade, and followed its line until they met with Aria's gauntlet. The only noise which broke the silence in the tavern, was the sound of her wet, gurgling lungs as they fought against the inevitable. With a steely look, she used her last breath to spit blood in Aria's face before collapsing onto her knees, and falling to the floor, dead.

  Edwel let out another sigh of disappointment.

  "No!" shouted a few patrons.

  All of a sudden, the room was filled with Mountainmen scrambling for whatever kind of weapons
they could lay their hands on; wooden stools, old knives, anything. A spear shot through the air directly at Aria's head, but before she had time to react Edwel's stone body appeared in front of her and it bounced off his chest.

  Aria wiped her face tersely and nodded toward the ogres at the door. With a deafening roar they leaped forward, swinging their mighty cleavers through the sea of defiant Mountainmen. They cut them down, one by one, and the Mountainmen fell like corn stalks in harvest. But the ogres didn't just stop with an honourable kill. Now infused with a bloodlust, they dug their razor teeth into the necks of the fallen Mountainmen, and savagely began to devour them.

  Aria strode across the tavern and pushed open the door, leaving the ogres to their job. Sheathing her sword back into the scabbard on her belt, she turned and faced the remaining soldiers. They stood, gazing at the carnage that was visible through the open tavern door, and desire was written all over their hideous faces.

  "Aria, was it really necessary to?" Edwel began only to be stopped by Aria's raised hand.

  "If you should undermine my authority like that again, Edwel, I shall be forced to leave you at the bottom of an ocean for all of eternity. Do you understand me?"

  Edwel nodded, contorting his stone face into a frown.

  "I am here only to serve the rightful heir of Naretia."

  "We move on," Aria shouted at the ogres, clutching a small golden amulet that dangled from a gold chain around her neck. "The wizard and the winged man passed here not two days ago, so they cannot be too far ahead."

  Like they were under some hypnotic spell, the ogre army marched in perfect unison at her command. She led them through the winding narrow streets, heading in the direction the moleman had last seen them fly. Behind her the war cries of the four ogres, still mauling bodies in the tavern, echoed in the distance, and she left them to their fate.

  Lost to the bloodlust that often takes over the ogre's feeble minds, making them the most feared creatures in the kingdom, she knew it wouldn't be long before the remaining Mountainmen in the town, found their weapons and ended their lives. Four ogres in a deep frenzy they could handle, but any more than that would have made it a futile battle. If she remained in Tasadia much longer, the rest of her militia would succumb to the bloodlust and devour the entire town, like they had done over a hundred and fifty years ago. She had to lead them away. After all, it was the least that she could do for her subjects? even if they didn't appreciate it.