Leigh looked uneasy. “I don’t like the sound of that. Programming someone’s mind so that they don’t even remember being controlled; you’re forcing them to do things in a way that means they don’t even know they’re being forced.”
“So, there are minimal deaths, they won’t even think that anything’s wrong. Surely it’s more moral than just massacring them all, as was the original plan.”
Leigh shuddered. “Do me a favour and kill me instead of doing that if you ever face the same decision about me. I’d rather be dead than not in control of my own thoughts.”
Secretly, Silver agreed and perhaps that was why she nodded. Leigh sighed.
“We also need to talk about something else.” The centaur broached. “It concerns the Guild of Death and the Guild of Thieves.”
“We’ll talk about it once we’re in our new home in the Dalmorin fortress.” Silver informed her. “Tell the brownies I understand if they don’t want to leave here.”
“They’ll come.” Leigh told her. “But I wouldn’t make the guilds wait. They could turn against you.”
“They already did that. I seem to remember being shot by a few thieves in my last life.”
“The guilds apologise for that and point out that it was a contract, and as such, nothing personal.”
Silver knew that the apology was sincere. Assassins and thieves didn’t get anywhere by making all of their jobs into personal vendettas.
“Either way, I still want a new top-secret place to raise my familiar in first.” Silver retorted. “I’m leaving at dusk.”
“May I join you?”
Now it was Silver’s turn to gape. After the morality discussion they had had earlier was she really asking to come with her? Thinking about it, Silver came up with some quick ground rules in her head.
“There would be conditions.” She stipulated. “The darkness created by the nycto-demons is not something you would be able to see through. You would not be able to leave my side.”
“I will survive a little darkness, I merely want to see your demons in action; I’m curious.”
“Don’t be too curious, they’re not pets, just deadly assets.”
“And yet you’re stroking the pelts of hellhounds?” Leigh questioned. “They seem tame enough to me.”
“Have you not seen them scrap with each other?” Silver asked, “Wait until they need to heal. Then can see exactly how tame they are as they suck the souls from mortals to cure themselves.”
Leigh shuddered at the thought, as well she should. It would be a fatal mistake for anyone, including Silver to underestimate the danger posed by the puppies in front of her. While her familiar may be unable to harm her, Theria’s brothers were capable.
“I wouldn’t let them.” Theria muttered and Silver gasped as the new language hit her ears; the language that she and her familiar alone could use. Finally, she could communicate with Theria. Relief filled her.
“I could hear your thoughts.” Theria said, “But I was confused between the two languages that you spoke and the language we share.”
That made sense; halfling children often took longer to speak than pure humans because they learned both the human and elven languages at the same time. Silver sighed in relief and then mentally cursed her stupidity. She knew hundreds of languages, even some dead ones. If Theria had tried to learn them all then she would have been confused beyond measure. It was a good thing that the hound had not looked deeper into her mind and discovered all of them.
Leigh took that moment to butt in. “Hi Theria I’m Leigh.” The centaur moved closer to the pen and held her hand out as if to pet Theria.
The hellhound wheeled and snapped at the centaur. Her small teeth clashing together violently as Leigh jumped back, automatically pulling a blade.
Silver quickly inserted herself between the pair, dislodging the rest of the hounds who sprung up in defence of her and their sister.
“Leigh, I think maybe you should wait for me in the next room.” Silver told the centaur, attempting for an even tone when all she really wanted to do was gut the woman for daring to draw a knife against one of her familiars.
The centaur nodded, recognising an order, and left.
“She wouldn’t have hurt you.” Silver said. “Why did you snap at her?”
“I was busy talking to you.” Theria replied, and Silver laughed, recognising her own logic.
“The centaurs and brownies are loyal and useful, a rare combination. It would be wise not to kill them.” Silver advised. “Can your brothers not speak yet?”
“They don’t have the link to your mind that I do.” Theria replied. “I learnt faster because of that.”
Silver nodded slowly. “I need to go. I want to secure a new place for us to live as soon as possible.”
“May I watch?” Theria rubbed her side against Silver’s leg,
“No.” Silver replied. “I am not letting untried pups onto the battlefield. I will come for you when it is safe.”
The pup looked disappointed. “I do not like it when you leave.” Theria said. “I always try and come to you.”
“I know. You drive Lena crazy, you realise that?”
“I enjoy her company, but yours is better.” Theria informed her.
“That may be,” Silver chuckled, “But you must remain here and behave for your own safety.” She climbed over the gate once again and headed for the door.
“Goodbye, mother.” Theria spoke softly, but Silver heard and froze.
It was normal for a wytch’s familiar to refer to their wytch as mother, yet somehow she’d never considered that her hellhound would do it. It was a shock to her system, and she waited for her aversion to come, yet it did not. It must be something to do with having merged a little with that tiny piece of Romana’s soul left in her on her death, because she had no recollection of ever possessing a maternal instinct before.
She turned to Theria. “Goodbye.” It was a word she rarely spoke as usually it was wasted when her exit spoke for itself. Yet she had already softened a little for her hounds, perhaps it would not hurt to say the word a little more often. It would have no effect on her treatment of others, she promised herself. It was perfectly normal to behave differently to the being that anchored your magic and their siblings.
She walked out of the door in a little bit of a daze, still shocked by the ‘m’ word. Leigh was waiting for her, and followed easily behind her as she walked out to the paddock.
A horse waited for her and Leigh snorted. “I bet I can out-run that thing.”
“Maybe you can outrun the horse,” Silver began. “But I’m not using it.”
She conjured a portal, but instead of directing it to one of the demonic worlds, she forced the portal to cross between the realms and then come back, meaning that when they stepped through they would pass through the demonic realm and back without the hazard of Leigh being murdered by a hungry demon.
“Go through.” She ordered, pleased when the centaur did as she asked without question. Leigh’s loyalty remained absolute, that was something that would never change.
Chapter Seventeen
THE AFTEREFFECTS OF DEFEAT
She stood a mile away from the entrance to Dalmorin, waiting for Leigh to finish retching from their journey. Apparently portals did not agree with centaurs.
Leigh cursed up a storm.
“I am never doing that again!” She vowed. “My insides feel all weird, like they were taken out and put back together again. It’s horrible!”
Silver had only ever found the effect to be mildly discomforting. Maybe it was because Leigh wasn’t a wytch.
She studied the mountain, dwarves did not do grand entrances, but they did extend their fortresses through the building of towers that protruded upwards from the face of the mountain. Dalmorin had five such towers, each patrolled by dwarven guards in their winding metal armour. Dwarven armour was different to the plate armour of men and the leather of elves; it was woven like a cloth from strands
of metal. Due to their stamina, they could carry heavier armour than most species, and this would make them difficult to kill. Luckily she didn’t want them dead.
She closed her portal and opened another to the second world in the demonic realm. She summoned through the portal a nycto-demon, and Leigh looked in horror for a moment before darkness spilled out around it.
“Hunt prey. Pack hunt.” Its language was simplistic but it was clear that the demons were ready for blood.
“No killing.” Silver insisted, using their language and overlaying her voice with compulsion. “Herd prey to me.”
“Hunt.” The demon looked confused.
“No, herd prey. I bring prey later.” She promised.
The concept was obviously foreign to the demon, yet her compulsion would ensure the job was done well. As the leader of their pack, Silver was to be obeyed anyway, and yet the compulsion added an extra layer of insurance that reassured her that her commands would be followed. Later she would find the dwarven criminals and allow the demons to have their fun. Maybe with some persuasion the demons could learn to like steak, but somehow that day seemed very far off.
The nycto-demon disappeared back through the portal, scampering away to deliver her orders to the others. Silver waited a full minute before she started opening portals all around the mountain. Darkness slithered out with a sense of quiet menace. It quickly overtook the vision of any living being within reach. From where she stood, she could only see a cloud of black where the mountain should be.
“Ancients.” Leigh breathed. “I’m not going to be any use in there, am I?”
“You would be unable to see anything; completely blind it is likely that you would be harmed by the chaos. I have trained you to fight in such conditions, yet never in a full-fledged battle. So yes, you would die or become seriously wounded.”
“I shall wait here.” Leigh decided, yet her stance said that she would gladly have run into the fray had circumstances been different.
Silver nodded and unfolded her wings from her back, with a huge lunge she soared into the air. Drawing a little energy from the portals she directed it towards her eyes, giving her the demonic vision she needed to watch the fray.
If the nycto-demons couldn’t handle an all-out war, they would be less useful than she thought. Perhaps, they were better suited for stealth, but Silver had her own blades and speed and could easily summon their shadows through a portal by herself. What she didn’t have were numbers, and so she was relieved to find that they were easily overpowering the dwarves, often knocking them unconscious, and then dragging them away by their feet into the tunnels.
Occasionally dwarves would commit suicide rather than be taken alive, and the death would distract a few demons in the area who would cast aside their battle for the promise of fresh blood, leaving behind confused and out of control dwarves who swiped out at nothing while Silver stopped the demons from eating the corpses. Eventually the demons returned and swiftly resumed their capture. But Silver would not have those who would rather die than face capture eaten like carrion. It was the choice she would have made in their situation, and as odd as it was, she understood.
The battle was short, taking just under an hour until all sounds of a struggle ceased and the shadows drew deep into the mountain. A single nycto-demon remained atop one of the towers, and as she landed it took her hand with its withered one and led her, hobbling like a disfigured child towards the fortress’s grand hall.
When she entered, she saw dwarves piled up around the huge room. Some had awoken, yet made no move other than to prop themselves up against the spiralling pillars that supported the high ceiling. Their weapons had been taken and thrust into a pile which some of the demons were rummaging through as she arrived; women and children huddled together; their sobs dampened the air.
The aftereffects of defeat; she’d seen it before with her own people, but that time the dwarves had been victorious. They had savaged the elves for years until her people joined with the forces of men.
The nycto demons drew back, and let the frightened dwarves see again. The dwarves’ reactions to her were mixed. Some yelled curses and profanity; others shrank even further into themselves as if they hoped to collapse themselves into something so small that she would take no notice.
She didn’t bother explaining herself, what was the use when they’d soon know nothing more or less than what she told them to? Silver merely opened a single portal and called through a helio-demon.
The tiny elf-like creature appeared instantaneously, and the light radiating for it caused the nycto-demons to shrink back in much the same way the dwarves had when she revealed herself to them.
“Possess all of them.” Silver ordered. “Alter their memories as I instruct.”
The helio-demon split itself once, and then again, and then again. Hundreds of dwarves stood before her and so hundreds of helio-demons were needed.
Some of the dwarves tried to run, but they were quickly snatched up by the nycto-demons who flung them into the light.
Farmers, miners, craftsmen. All of them were needed to keep her new fortress running, and so Silver made sure that each and every one of them was programmed to doing her bidding. It took hours, the helio-demon’s touch was as subtle as it was powerful, and while she waited, Silver cast a second portal – this time to the third world – and summoned through it a patho-demon, who she used to heal the dwarves by forcing the creature to give up a drop of its blood to each dwarf. Her workforce wouldn’t function too well in the state that the nycto-demons had left it in, and she had plans that needed to be completed as close to instantly as possible.
When the demons’ work was done, she sent all of them back through the portal, leaving her alone with the dwarves. Now they all stood; their faces placid as they watched her silently.
“You will create me a set of personal quarters within this fortress.” Silver ordered. “Then I want you to connect them to the passageway system between Morendor and Elvardis, using your engineers to hide the entrances.”
“Yes mistress,” A robotic reply.
“You will also show no sign to the outside world that I rule here. Everything is as normal, do you understand?”
“Yes mistress.”
“Anyone I bring here is to be treated as an honoured guest. My familiars are not to be harmed and any portals I create are not to be touched. Dismissed.”
Silver smiled as her new servants literally ran off to do her bidding.
She snagged the dwarf-lord in charge of the fortress by the collar as he tried to leave. “Not so fast.” She said. “I want you to bring all of your murderers to me. The ones that have been tried and convicted only.” She looked around the room. In typical dwarven fashion it was hung with rich tapestries of ancient legends and lit by a convoluted mirror system that brought light in from the surface. Fires also burned in pits below the staggered rows of seats that made it look a little bit like an underground amphitheatre. The throne sat in the centre, making it seem like the lord who sat there was more of an object of interrogation for the people in the stands around him.
“Get rid of the stands.” Silver instructed. “And the tapestries. I want this room to be my throne room; hence it needs to look impressive. Not like some common drinking hall.”
The dwarf flushed with embarrassment. Yup, this hall had seem more than a few ale drinking competitions, something that she’d figured out the moment she entered it from the stench that lingered on every surface.
“Anything else, mistress?” The dwarf asked, eager to please.
“Contact whoever you have to and get magic-proof cells installed in the dungeons, and I want magical shields set up. If anyone asks, you’ve heard rumours of a rogue wytch and you need to protect your people. Lastly, I want the map of this fortress in front of me within five minutes. You are dismissed.”
The dwarf nodded, muttering his compliance as he scarpered out of the main door and into the tunnels. Silver followed him out into the ju
nction where five tunnels connected and then cursed as she realised she had no idea how to get out of this labyrinth the dwarves called their home. She’d followed the nycto-demons on the way in, and now she was completely lost. She growled with impatience and created another portal across the realms to where Leigh was still waiting for her.
“Did everything go as you’d hoped?” Leigh asked the moment she saw her.
“Yes.” Silver replied. “I’m going to use a portal to move everyone from the caves to Dalmorin within the week. I’ll order the dwarves to increase the height of their tunnels to make it easier on Miria and yourself.”
The centaurs had the misfortune to be slightly larger than horses, and thus while the dwarves could use mules to carry things within the mines, there was no way Leigh or Miria would be able to fit. The same was true of her familiar.
“I shall go back and start the brownies packing. I presume you have things to sort out here.”
“Yes. I need to create portals inside the fortress.” She didn’t share her reasons for making them. The specifics of her powers she would keep well under wraps. Even Leigh would never be allowed to know everything.
Silver looked around as Leigh left, the clouds had rolled into the valley between the fortress and where she stood, and the red sunrise turned them to a blazing red mist that covered everything. The sight was beautiful, yet she’d seen it before. And so she easily turned her back on the scenery and opened another portal.
A quick stop inside the fortress to collect the map she’d asked for and order them to extend the size of the tunnels and she was ready for a rematch with the kingling. She reappeared in his study.
Why she’d come back, she didn’t know. Perhaps she merely wanted to play with Marten a little more. He wasn’t there when she got in, so she stole a peek at a few of his letters – and there were many to choose from as they covered every surface in the room. She was halfway through a rather interesting one about plans to change the defence strategies for Morendor when someone rudely interrupted her.
Silver's Redemption (Soul Merge Saga Book 3) Page 12
