The Paladins of Naretia

by TP Keane

Chapter 6

  "Get a move on, you pathetic shower of miscreants," Aria shouted.

  The ogres marched nosily in rows of four and kept time with her pace up the mountain. Their perfectly timed footfalls rang out amongst the thick trees and scattered whatever was nesting inside the forest. A handful of dead ogres dotted the path behind them, dead from exhaustion. Still they marched through the woodland, driven by an unnatural desire to obey Aria.

  "Your Highness," Edwel whispered as he trudged along beside her. "This is not an ogre's preferred environment. They cannot keep up with this pace. The cold is too much for them and they need to rest, you need to rest."

  "I will not rest until I reach him and one of us is dead," Aria spat at the golem. "They are only ogres, Edwel. Honestly, do you care so much for all living things that you're actually bothered by what happens to these filthy beasts?"

  Edwel pondered the question leisurely. He tapped his finger against his stone jaw and turned the opening of his mouth downward, as much as was possible. Aria didn't wait for his reply. The desperate desire to catch her prey filled her heart and wouldn't allow her to find a reason to delay. She could feel how close she was to the winged man now, and was determined that nothing was going to stop her relentless pursuit. Not even the welfare of the army which unwittingly followed her.

  "I suppose I do care that they are being mistreated, but not for the reasons you might think," Edwel finally answered. "While I am aware of the ground we have gained over your nemesis, I fear that when you finally reach him your army will be too exhausted to be of any use. Not only that, but when you are done with these ogres, do you expect that they will just forget what you have done to them?"

  Aria stopped and stared at the golem, her army came to an abrupt halt behind her too. If she could only keep marching, keep trudging through the bitter cold nights and eat only when weakness tugged at her muscles, then she was sure to catch up to the monster who had killed her parents. But even with the fire of her defiance fuelling her body, her chest grew tired of breathing so heavily for so long. She wondered if Edwel was right, would she be able to fight Dantet's son in such a weakened state?

  "I don't intend to let the ogres live once they have gone beyond their usefulness," she seethed. "But we can rest, if you think prolonging the inevitable is kinder." Aria turned to her army. "We stop and make camp here," she ordered.

  With a collective sigh the ogres broke rank, some of them even collapsed to their knees, but Aria wouldn't let them rest for long. She clutched the golden pendent around her neck and ordered them to collect firewood and food. The night was slowly losing its battle with the sun and Aria knew that she wouldn't sleep once it did. 'A few moments of rest,' she thought, 'just a few.' Sitting down next to a large, fallen tree, Aria leaned against it and closed her eyes, allowing herself to be overcome by the darkness that lay behind them.

  It was an ungodly chorus of snarls and howls which wrestled her from the darkness. Daylight burst through her eyelids as they opened, forcing her to shield her eyes. 'How long did I sleep?' Aria didn't have time to think on it much before the sight of her ogre army in utter chaos, snapped her back to reality.

  Deep amongst the army of large, green bodies, were the even larger, hairy forms of worgen. A natural adversary of the ogres, the worgen stood tall on their hind quarters, whilst powerful clawed hands sliced and jabbed into the mass of monsters surrounding them. Long, hairy muzzles curled around deadly white teeth as they flashed in the morning sunshine. Like a meadow of poppies amongst the weeds, a sea of ferocious red eyes faced off against the deadly swarm of green and black. They wore no armour, they didn't appear to need it as wave after wave of stupid ogres fell at the point of their talons.

  Aria watched, stunned for a moment, as the worgen made easy work of her army; sending them catapulting into the air with one or two missing a leg, or a hand, as a result. Odder still was the sight of Edwel standing between the two warring parties, frantically waving his arms and occasionally catching a vaulted ogre. He was trying to keep the peace and separate them all, but was failing miserably at his task.

  Aria snapped out of her daze. Getting to her feet, she strode amongst the savage ogres (who on occasion would mistake her for an enemy and lose their life at the point of her golden sword for their error). Making her way toward Edwel, Aria gripped onto her necklace and roared, with deadly fierceness, "ENOUGH!"

  The forest became quiet again and all of the creatures looked to her. Edwel, although he didn't breathe, panted like he had exhausted himself; pandering to the illusion that he so desperately desired - to be alive. Aria ignored him and turned her attention instead to the largest of the worgen in the pack. His black fur was peppered with grey, and now splattered with green ogre blood too. His mighty chest heaved with the exertion of killing her army. He trailed his wild red eyes on her as she approached.

  "What is the meaning of this?" Aria demanded of him.

  "Your Highness," he growled without bowing. "My name is Luscious, and I come here upon your request."

  "I think you are mistaken, Luscious, I didn't request the aid of the worgen."

  "Not directly you didn't, no," he replied, taking a step toward her. Edwel made to put himself between them, but Aria raised her hand to stay him. "You see, Queen Aria, we have had word from the molemen that you are seeking an old wizard, and a winged man."

  Aria, in turn, cautiously took a step toward Luscious.

  "I am, what of it?"

  "I may have some information that would be of benefit to your search."

  Aria felt a small twinge of impatience mixed with excitement, brew in her chest.

  "Tell me," she urged.

  "I will, gladly, but there is something I would like from you in return."

  Luscious curled his hairy lips into a smirk, like he believed he had the upper hand with this nugget of information. He straightened his back and stood at full height next to Aria, not deigning to use the proper etiquette of lowering himself when addressing a queen. The excitement inside her turned sour, and was instead replaced with ire.

  "So, you think that you can negotiate with the queen of Naretia, do you? Standing behind me is an army of ogres who blindly follow me. I have cut clan chiefs from their invented thrones, and each one of them bargained for their lives, to no avail. But you think that you can do better? Tell me, Luscious, what makes you believe that I won't kill you where you stand, like all the others I have slaughtered?"

  "Because I have something that they do not. I know the whereabouts of your winged man, and I won't tell it to you until you agree to my demand," he said with a low growl.

  Aria tightened her fists into a ball and her teeth clenched together. She wanted nothing more than to plunge her blade into this insubordinate child of Dantet, but she knew she couldn't. From what little she had learned of the worgen, Aria knew that she was undoubtedly talking to the alpha, the pack leader. If she killed him, not only would she never get her answer, but the rest of the pack would be on her in a second. No, killing Luscious was not the answer this time.

  The worgen were renowned for their untrustworthiness, and often liked to play games with their prey before devouring them. Dangling her greatest desire before her was just a means to blind her and make her step over the edge of a cliff she had not seen yet. She was determined to not fall for their trickery, and instead extract the information on her own terms using the one thing that would ensure their obedience. If games were what these worgen liked to play, then she would play a game not to their liking.

  Quite incongruously Aria laughed out loud, like she had heard something hilarious whispered into her ear which no one else had heard. Luscious took a step backwards, confused by her reaction.

  "Aria, please, be merciful," Edwel said quietly, knowing full well what her laughter meant.

  Aria quickly silenced him with a dark look. Gripping onto her golden necklace, she turned her gaze on the alpha.

  "You fool," she scoffed. "Kneel!" r />
  As if someone had pulled invisible puppet strings attached to his limbs, Luscious knelt before Aria. His subservience was met with the alarmed and bewildered looks of not only his pack, but of himself too.

  "You two, step forward," Aria commanded the two nearest worgen, and they obeyed diligently. "I asked you nicely to tell me what you know, Luscious, but you just had to be greedy, didn't you? I will not be parting with treasures or favours today, or any other day, do you hear me? I try so hard to be a kind and benevolent leader, but you, all of you, take advantage of me. Do you think the tales of my atrocities across Nareita were only stories, perhaps exaggerated? Well they aren't. If anything, they do not tell the true gruesomeness of my wrath."

  "Aria, I beg you," Edwel protested again.

  "Be still," Aria commanded.

  Instantly the golem became as motionless as the mountains that surrounded them. Aria knew he wouldn't move again until she called for him, or until her life was in immediate danger.

  "Isn't it the alpha who gives the commands in your pack?" she asked, turning her attention back to Luscious.

  "They will only ever obey my word," he replied defiantly.

  "Is that so?" she said with a wicked grin. Pushing some of her red curls from her eyes, she stared at the two worgen she had called forward. "Disembowel the worgen standing beside you," she commanded of one of them. "And you, stand where you are and allow him to do it."

  "No! Wait! What are you doing Lobok?"

  Although Aria couldn't tell male from female, as all worgen looked alike to her, it was obvious from the more high-pitched voice that this worgen was a female. The worgen struggled, her clawed hands pulling at her legs, but they were as rooted to the ground as an ancient tree.

  "I can't stop it, Tarra. Please, Luscious, do something."

  Tarra's screams filled the silent forest as Lobok drove his talons into her stomach.

  "Enough! Stop this and I'll tell you," Luscious roared.

  "Making more demands I see," Aria seethed.

  As the screams continued, Aria had to look away from the two, but she didn't stop them. She fixed her eyes on Luscious instead, who continued to beg and plead with her desperately. Aria blocked both his pleading and the screaming from her mind.

  Finally, silence followed the last screams as they disappeared beyond the mountains, and Aria heard Tarra's body fall to the floor with a sickening thump.

  "Now, you will tell me what you know, won't you?"

  Still kneeling, Luscious's eyes were transfixed on the scene beside him, and his mouth opened in disbelief. The sound of Lobok's gentle weeping resonated inside of Aria, but she shut it out with the reasoning that the blame lay squarely on Luscious for not answering her.

  "They were mates," Luscious said in a whisper, "and worgen mate for life."

  "Why would that matter to me?" she replied flatly.

  A moment later, Aria heard a second sickening thump. When she glanced over, she saw the dead body of Lobok draped over Tarra's. He had sliced his own neck and taken his life with the very talons that had ended his mate's. Aria's stomach churned at the sight, and a muddlement of confusing and conflicting feelings crashed, like waves, against the walls she had erected.

  "You, petulant, child," Luscious spat. "Do you not know that there are consequences to your actions? Now their young will grow up without parents to guide them. And I can assure you that they will most certainly be fixated on your death, just the way you are with this winged man." The alpha wolf tore his red eyes away from the horrific scene and fixed them on Aria. "Tell me, oh benevolent queen, how does it feel to have become the monster that you hate so much?"

  Aria clenched her hand around her sword so hard that the hilt dug into her palm. 'How dare this creature of Dantet accuse me so wrongly? He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's wrong, he's wrong.' The churning in her stomach became a whirlpool, defying her resolve.

  "I am not like him," Aria seethed. "He is a monster who cut off the heads of your king and queen. He sliced out their eyes as a keepsake, and walked away to freedom. The wizards refuse to bring him to justice, and the kingdom has allowed him to walk amongst them, unchallenged. It is all of you who have betrayed me, my parents, and the rule of Naretia. I am only seeking to right a wrong. I am nothing like that monster."

  "And now we are all to suffer for your justice, are we?" he asked solemnly. "How does that make you any better than the monster you pursue?"

  Aria raised her sword and slammed the hilt into the side of Luscious's wolf-like face. Red blood spilled from his lip as she hit him again and again. Unable to defend himself after being commanded to kneel, Luscious returned each blow with a deadly stare instead. Her attack on him felt hollow. Still weak from exhaustion, Aria stopped her onslaught and breathed heavily as Luscious continued to stare. Reaching under her breastplate, She dangled her amulet where Luscious could plainly see it, before slowly wrapping her fingers around it. It was obvious from his wide eyes that he knew the power it contained.

  "Tell me. What do you know of their whereabouts?" she panted, wiping a spot of his blood from her chin with the back of her hand.

  "They have sealed themselves in a cave, high above in the mountain ridges," he replied reluctantly, spitting blood from his mouth. "They think we don't know where they are because of the ice, but we do."

  "How far away are they?"

  "My pack can reach them in two hours, but your obedient ogres are too clumsy for the narrow mountain pass. It would take them nearly a day to reach it."

  Aria looked back at her army. They were as motionless as Edwel as they waited for her next command. While the ogres, with their simple minds, were easier to control then the worgen, she knew that they would indeed be too slow. Edwel would also find the narrow track difficult; his wide stone feet wouldn't be able to grip the icy path. She had to leave them behind, she had to get to the wizard and the winged man, now, and trust that she would be able to control the worgen long enough to complete her task.