I went back to my table, but the man I had been speaking to was gone.
SLESH OF ULRIK
I sat and drank calmly at the inn a long time before the guards came down and began their gambling and their drinking. They looked over to me, hoping I would look back so they could start a fight, but I kept my eyes on the table and just sipped my drink.
They grew louder and more drunk and I patiently waited. I sipped at only one drink as I’d need my senses. As I was about to rise and go upstairs, a beautiful young woman sat across from me. We bantered a bit before she was called away rudely by one of those pig guards. I let it slide as she worked for them and must’ve known what was in store for her. But as soon as she stood and walked to them, I got up and made my way upstairs.
I had counted ten guards in the procession. Two were outside and five were downstairs, which left three somewhere else. I placed my ear against one door and listened. It was the loud snoring of a man. Another door and there was silence. I opened it cautiously and looked inside. Two young girls were asleep on a floor, a dim candle burning out near the window.
On the bed was the one I had come for.
Walking as slowly as I could so the wooden floors wouldn’t make noise, I entered the room, shut the door behind me, and came to the bed and climbed up. Straddling the Head of Household, I bent down over her. I could smell the scent of her hair and her skin; it was pleasing and I had to pull myself away. I would never do that. Couldn’t do that. So I had to gain control of myself. Then I leaned down and put my hand over her mouth and my other hand on her throat.
She roused gradually at first, and then when she saw my face in the candlelight all sense left her and terror took over. She tried to scream and struggle and fight but saw that it was useless. I pinned her arms down with my knees.
“Shhh,” I whispered. “If I wanted to kill you I would have done it in your sleep. Now you’re going to answer … shhh, quiet now … you’re going to answer some questions of mine. Answer honestly and I will leave without harming you. Do not, and risk my anger. Do you understand?”
She nodded. I gave her a moment to compose herself before slowly slipping my hand down to her chin and away from her lips.
“I’m looking for Kandarian. Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Keep your voice low. We don’t want to wake your girls, now do we?”
She just looked at me without a word, her green eyes reflecting the candlelight in a way that made them appear ghostly.
“You have maidens with you that he wants to meet. Where is he planning on meeting them?”
“Zeries.”
“When?”
“Two days time.”
I hesitated. “You’re telling the truth. It’s not something that happens so quickly in this situation.”
“It’s what would happen eventually. I would rather get it out of the way now.”
“The rumors about your wisdom are true. I think—”
The door flew open just then. In the doorway stood the woman I had been speaking with below. She stood there a moment as I sat up and was about to say something when she flew at me. Her kick landed square on my jaw and knocked me onto my back.
I jumped to my feet and deflected two of her other kicks as she spun at me with a fist. I blocked it with my arms. I could already hear boots running up the stairs. I turned to the window and sprinted for it, jumping out feet first and landing hard on the ground. I looked up to the girl. She thought about pursuing and then thought better of it and just watched as I ran into the night and found my horse.
As I galloped away, I grinned. She was not just some maiden. She, it seemed, had her own agenda.
AYSTA
When I went back to the table and saw that the man was gone, I made my way upstairs. Most of the other patrons had fled when they saw Royal Guards, but he hadn’t seemed frightened at all. He had other plans. I needed to see what.
I heard a door close. I did not see whose it was but I slowly went down the hall listening at each door. When I came to Lady Margaret’s, I heard whispering. I checked the door and it was locked. I thrust with my palm, using my hips for power, and the door broke from its lock. I saw the man on top of Lady Margaret, his hand over her throat.
I flew at him in an instant and he wasn’t prepared for the speed of my attack. I caught him on the jaw with the heel of my boot and he flew backward.
Several more kicks and he held up his arms and allowed them to take the blows. The kicks were too fast for any random rapist. This one was well trained.
He jumped out the window and I ran over and stood. I began climbing out and then stopped. What would Lady Margaret have thought of a simple maiden jumping out a window and chasing a rapist in the night? I had already revealed too much.
I turned to her and she sat up in bed and we exchanged looks a long while. She finally stood and went down to the two young girls and said a few comforting words before she came to the window and looked out into the darkness.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
She turned around with a steely resolve and marched outside, meeting the royal guards in the corridor.
“You poor excuses for men!” she shouted. “This maiden just stopped a filthy murderer that had snuck into my room like a snake. And what were you fools doing? Gambling?” She stormed to them and slapped one. “The emperor will hear of this.” She gazed at them, one at a time, before coming to me. I kept my head low, unsure as to how I was to explain what she had just seen. “This maiden saved my life. If she is mistreated by any of you, gods protect you from my wrath.” She turned to me. “Come.”
We went upstairs and checked on the young girls, who were frightened half to death. We exchanged rooms with some of the guards and Lady Margaret stationed two outside the room. I was given a bed in the room and I lay down and stared at the ceiling. In the dark, I could hear a soft whisper. It was a prayer from the Lady Margaret.
In the morning we rose and continued on to Zeries. The Lady Margaret insisted I ride in her carriage “for good luck” and I sat across from her as she taught the two young girls to sew.
We were scarcely that far on the road when a messenger on a horse rode up to the royal guards. He handed them what appeared to be some parchment, and one of the guards read it and rode back to our carriage. He handed the parchment to me. I took it and assumed I was to read it aloud:
Dear Lady Margaret,
I hope all is well. I have discovered the most fascinating journey of which I have not yet taken: I will be traveling over the Savage Sea to the Darklands. I know what you will say, my dear Lady, and your caution is much appreciated. However, I intend to bring back a prize that will both dazzle and strike inspiration in the hearts of all. It will be, I believe, my greatest achievement.
I am writing you for I wish to have the service of some of your maidens for the journey. Please meet me at the port in Yul as quickly as you may travel. I am here already and eagerly awaiting the voyage.
Yours in Heart and Spirit,
Lucius Kandarian—Emperor Abiding
She took it from me and read it herself. She lowered the parchment after a while and muttered something like, “Damn fool,” and then handed it back to me and said, “Tell his messenger we can be there in one day.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“You may address me as Lady. You’ve earned that right.” She exhaled and looked to the two young girls and had the most apprehensive countenance I had yet seen on her. She glanced up to me and said, “Do you know of the emperor abiding?”
“Only of his beauty, M’lady.”
“Beauty,” she scoffed, “indeed. His external beauty is nothing compared to the ugliness he holds inside of him. We must protect these two young ones. When we arrive at Yul, I want you to take them away to someplace else in the city while I meet with the emperor abiding. Have you ever been to Yul?”
“No, M’lady.”
“There is a tavern for gent
lemen away from the sea toward the town square. They will allow you in if you state you are with me. Take the girls there and occupy them for as long as possible. When our business is concluded, I will send a guard to retrieve you.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
She leaned closer to me. “This is very important, Aysta. If you see the emperor abiding or any procession or men associated with him, you must hide. You and the girls. Do you understand?”
“Yes, M’lady.”
She nodded. “With any luck,” she said, looking out the windows at the passing forest, “he will not return from the Darklands.”
SLESH OF ULRIK
I disappeared into the night, looking back to the inn only once. That girl was no maiden. She was quick and deadly. Each kick was targeted at vital areas, and if I had been a lesser man the one she landed on my jaw would have shattered it.
As it was, it was sore and I rubbed it a little as I walked. I didn’t hear anyone after me but I also didn’t have a horse now and so I’d need to travel on foot.
The night was warm and the rush of the fight had warmed me further. I took off my shirt and felt the steel of the axe directly on my skin and it excited me. It was almost a sexual excitement, the thrill of death. The two were sometimes inseparable and I didn’t know why one was joyful and the other pitiful.
I heard something near me. A rustling, maybe, of the bushes and trees. I continued on, my face forward, pretending not to notice. But it was there, as were the footfalls behind me as I withdrew farther into the forest. I needed to stay off the main roads and so there was no choice in the matter.
As I rode farther into the night, the noises grew louder. They were letting me know they were there. They wanted to see my reaction. But I gave them none. I continued calmly and didn’t reach for my axe. But out there in the dark I could hear whispering voices now. Not the voices of men, more scratchy and high-pitched. Like what a crow would make if it could talk.
I kept my head low and pretended not to notice, though the horse was jittery. I just needed to wait for that first one. Orcs were not stupid and would send dozens to attack me all at once. That is how they were so successful without weapons and armor. Sheer numbers. But they also had instincts and urges more powerful than that of humans. And no instinct could be so overwhelming as that of fear.
The noises were growing louder and louder and I could see shapes running around me now. They appeared like shadows in the darkness, but they were about the size of men, perhaps a little smaller but more hairy. Others were smooth and the moonlight reflected off their black and gray skin as if off of ink. I climbed off the horse.
The first strike came at my knees. The little bastard sprinted by and ran his claw through the bush and over my knee. It scraped but didn’t tear. I feigned weakness and fell to my back and screamed.
I felt the change in the air as the one behind me rushed in to finish the job and at least six others appeared. Without standing, I withdrew my axe, spun it behind me, lopped off its head, and rose to my knees. I rolled forward at another one that hissed and chopped horizontally and the axe only went halfway through him. It had grown dull.
One jumped on my back and bit into my neck. I felt the blood flowing; the pain pummeled my senses. I flipped him over and smashed his face with the top of the axe as two others leapt into the air. I rolled out of the way and came to another. I swiped for the closest target, his legs, and cut one of them off at the knee. He shrieked like an injured cat as I stood and spun the axe in my hands, blood flowing down over my chest. I could not show them weakness.
But it didn’t matter. I didn’t have any.
“The one fights like orc,” one of them hissed to another. They spoke the language of the Empire, something I had heard of, but they spoke it much better than I had anticipated.
“The one not eat,” another said.
“The one hurt orc.”
“The one kill like orc.”
“Let’s finish this,” I said. They looked at me. “I’m hungry too and I’m going to roast one of you bastards after I’m through with you.”
“The one speak like orc. The one eat orc!”
“No,” a voice bellowed from the dark. I looked up and could see an orc perched on a branch. He jumped down and walked over. He wasn’t hunched over like the others but upright like a man, his yellowed and black teeth protruding from his misshapen face. “This one has smell of much blood. He is warrior, like orc.”
A cheer or something rose among them as they began hooting like owls. The one that had jumped off the tree stepped close to me. He sniffed at me.
“Much blood this one. You like orc.”
“I’m no orc,” I said, lowering the axe and letting it dangle at my side. “I know you eat your dead, so collect them and let me pass.”
He sniffed at me again. “Seek someone this one. Seek a prince.”
I was quiet a moment. “How did you know that?”
“Seek a prince you do but not for worship.”
The other orcs laughed their disgusting snorts like pigs.
“No, not for worship. How did you know?”
“I smell it. I smell all things. I smell the women on this one. This one reeks of death and sweat. Like orc.”
“Have you seen the prince? Did he pass here?”
“Not here. But he goes far. Goes to seek orc fathers.”
“What’s an orc father?”
“The ones that made this ones. He seeks them, and he shall find them.”
“Where are the orc fathers?”
“Across the moving grounds.”
“What’s the moving grounds?”
“The great moving grounds.”
I thought a moment. “Do you mean water? Like this?” I took some of the sweat and blood off of me and let it drip down to the ground.
He hissed. “The great moving grounds.”
If the orc bastard knew what he was saying, Kandarian was headed across the Savage Sea. Why would he do that? It didn’t make sense.
“Are you sure?”
He hissed again. “Orcs like this one. Orcs know things. Orcs speak.”
The only port that had ships capable of crossing the Savage Sea was in Yul. I’d been there myself several times, and on my crossing had rented a small vessel. There was another port up north but you could travel two seasons on that sea and not find land.
I lifted my axe. “Will you let me pass or shall we finish this?”
The orc stepped aside, as did the others. The one missing a leg was howling on the ground and as I passed by him I swung down and through his throat, nearly taking his head off, as the other orcs howled in approval or disapproval; I couldn’t tell. But they let me pass.
I walked away and heard sounds of bones crunching and blood being drunk.
AYSTA
Yul was not as far from us as I had thought. I had spoken the truth when I told Lady Margaret I had not been there before, and as we approached from the hills I was charmed by the little town on the sea.
It was not on the coast so much as in the sea, the houses and buildings up on what appeared to be platforms held by stilts. The grassy farmland on the actual shore was used for their cattle and livestock and I could see several farmers busy at work with them.
The town itself had a square in the center and the remaining buildings were built around it in a wide circle. I saw monasteries and money traders and public squares, but mostly it was homes and it instantly enchanted me.
Past the homes and the town, lashed to massive piers, were ships of all makes and models and sizes. Enormous barges meant for moving troops were lashed next to small fishing vessels that were lashed to pleasure boats meant for only one or two men. It nearly blocked the sea like a wall.
“The greatest shipbuilders in the world,” Lady Margaret said. “Yulians are a humble people and do not brag or seek riches. They could, if they wished, charge fortunes for their craft but they instead take only what they need. That is why the emperor has left
them alone. They build him ships, charge him almost nothing, and keep their mouths closed as to what he needs.”
We came upon the town and stopped at its edge. The Lady instructed me to leave now and go on foot, but to avoid the main street.
I got out and stepped onto the street which was really just wood floating on the water. The ground moved and responded to my steps and it took me a moment to adjust. The girls each took one of my hands and I had to pause as it surprised me.
“Let’s go,” I said.
We walked across the town and saw a public square where a lively debate was taking place. One man was arguing for certain types of latches on certain types of ships while another man was questioning his methods and stating that another type of latch would work better.
We walked past merchants who, surprisingly, did not attempt to sell us anything. They simply smiled and said hello and continued on about their business. One thing that stood out immediately was the lack of whorehouses. But then again, perhaps they were hidden away from view. Men hid their desires well, buried them deep down so no one could find them, and the physical manifestations of those desires could be hidden just as easily.
We went where the Lady Margaret had suggested. It was a tavern, though none like I had seen. It was clean and didn’t smell of urine or vomit. The sun came in through large windows and lit the place well. A few patrons were there but they were not getting drunk. Instead they were eating a fried plant of some sort that smelled wonderful, and as we sat a woman came to us.
“I’m sorry, but this is a private establishment.”
“We’re here with Lady Margaret. She informed me that her servants would be welcome here.”
“Of course. Shall you eat or drink?”
Empire of War - An Epic Fantasy (The Empire of War Trilogy Book 1) Page 8
