Book of Curses (The Renning Chronicles)

by L. D. Hutchinson

  “Raine, here, I’ll help you up. You probably don’t even know how to ride a horse, let alone mount one, and all I need is you killing yourself.” Eyloff spoke to me in a tone that declared how irritated he already was with everyone. Tom let out a laugh beside him, trying to cover it with a fake cough before he mounted his own horse, circling away from us a bit.

  “Actually, for your information, I have.” I glared at him, pushing him away and speaking as insultingly as I could. Grabbing the reins and the horn, I pulled myself up and swung my right leg over to the other side, putting both feet snuggly into the stirrups. Then I pulled back on the reins and pressing my legs into the horse's side, I pulled Fire away from the group and moved her out a bit to get a feel for her.

  “Got to say, she’s good, better than Felan anyway. I hope that means she’s extraordinarily good at riding a horse, or I may have to kill myself.” Dolphus announced, watching me and Tom for a long moment, before trying to move his own horse and flinching when the horse let out a sigh.

  “She used to ride a lot.” Tom told them, shrugging his shoulders a bit as he patted his own horse's shoulder a little.

  “Let’s go.” Eyloff grunted, looking away from us both. “Since you two can obviously ride; I won't need to go slowly.” With that statement, I watched him kick into his horse's sides, and take off in a full gallop. I smiled happily from the fact that I was on a horse again, and I might get to show up an arrogant werewolf. Life was sure as hell interesting, that was for sure. I sent Fire into a gallop following after Tom and Dolphus, passing them as I headed towards Eyloff.

  Lost among the walking undead,

  Lost souls litter the dirt, bled.

  Not a drop of pure light,

  Walking in the dead of night.

  Bloodthirsty vampires want me see,

  Not gonna find me, I flee.

  -Vampires by Kristi Worrell

  Chapter 5

  _______________________

  Eyloff started to pull up on the horse's reins, giving me the chance to come up next to him and stop my own horse. I looked at him curiously, trying to figure out what the reason was for stopping so abruptly.

  Dolphus and Tom came up a few seconds later and when I looked from them back to Eyloff, I realized he was grimacing and looking at all three of us. That actually worried me a bit, having him look at us like that, and I felt my stomach flip. I kept eye contact with him waiting for him to speak.

  “Take it slow from here, we’re heading into their territory.” He warned us. His grimace didn't waver at any point; it only seemed to grow worse.

  “Oh joy!” Dolphus shouted; sarcasm rolled off his words. “Maybe, we can turn around before it’s too late, and you know, go for a three-day journey towards the air Region!”

  “Dolphus…” Eyloff started to groan, turning and looking at him with a pleading look before he closed his eyes.

  “Wait what? We’re not going to the Air Region?” I asked, looking from one to another.

  “Uh no, we’re closer to the Darkness Region, in order to go to the Air region we have to go through a massacre; I'd rather not take the chance of either of you getting any more beat up than what you already are.” Eyloff snorted, giving me a once over before nodding his head forward. “We’ll just have to deal with it, and that mainly means you Dolphus.”

  “No! I absolutely hate it when you make spur of the moment plans; we’re supposed to go south first, not north!” Dolphus growled, his tone actually made him sound threatening for once. I turned and stared at him, waiting to see what he'd say or do next.

  “Gods forbid; you do something and just stick with it! Maybe I should just kill myself here and now. You would greatly enjoy that wouldn’t you? We both know you hate me, don't you Eyloff! Just tell me you do; I know it’s true!”

  “I hate you.” Eyloff shrugged his shoulders.

  “You, you…” Dolphus started to pout, looking as if he'd just stabbed him in the heart. “You hateful jerk!”

  “I thought it’d shut you up, ugh forget it, and let’s go.” Eyloff rolled his eyes, nudging his horse forward again before Dolphus could so much as complain to any of us once more.

  “Honestly, I think this is better anyway; you'll get a safer area to stay, training, and learn what you’re lacking knowledge wise.” He called out from up ahead. We stared at him for a moment, watching where he went before anyone moved.

  I set Fire into motion, letting her canter up towards Eyloff. Tom and Dolphus followed behind me a split second later; I could hear the clicking of hooves behind me as they fell in line.

  “I’d rather die really, than have to deal with the inhabitants of this Region. But I have a job to do, so I’ll do it right.” Eyloff said beside me. He was keeping his head up high and moving along.

  "Job?" I looked at him. My curiosity was peaked from all of this, and he looked at me frowning.

  "Getting you two trained, and learning some things." He replied, shrugging his shoulders at me.

  “Training and learning?” I blinked a few times, letting that set in.

  Eyloff let out a sigh, shaking his head slowly. “I may not be fond of the Vampires, or Demons, anything that lives here really, but I will not say that they are not good warriors, because, in fact, they are great ones. They can teach you to fight and defend far better than I could.”

  I looked at him, keeping my eyes on him as I spoke. Trying not to sound worried. “So, really you think we’re better off this way?”

  “Precisely.” He said with belief.

  We headed north for a long time, before we headed into what seemed like a forest of dead trees. The farther we went, the darker it seemed to grow. I realized it wasn't my imagination when we were pulled into the pure blackness of the night sky, which to me was utterly amazing, since barely five feet back it was still daylight. I remembered part of my dream from last night, looking around I realized how much this scenery looked like what I had dreamed. There was the black night sky, the moon hanging above it, dead trees, swamp like areas. It was all so close to my dream that it was eerie.

  “Welcome to the Region of Eternal Darkness." Eyloff announced, then groaning a bit he stared looking around. He seemed paranoid, and on the edge. It couldn't be the quiet that was bothering him, but it didn't seem like a normal quiet regardless.

  “On your left you’ll notice the black water of Lake Death, notice how it seems to absorb the darkness of everything around it, on your right the ever so lovely Black Forest, above us the never ending black night sky.” Dolphus said to us in an announcer's voice, with forced cheeriness. I turned my head and looked back at him as he continued on. “On your way through don’t forget to keep fond memories of lush land, the warmth of sunlight, and the more or less living.”

  Tom started to shake his head, then let his horse drift back towards Dolphus a bit more. I rolled my eyes at them, and turned around following Eyloff as I watched the scenery around me. What Dolphus had said seemed to actually be true, there was nothing but darkness around us. Everything was still and quiet, and dead.

  “So enlighten me, what creatures may I see here?” Tom asked, loud enough for all of us to hear clearly.

  “Dhampires, Vampires, Demons, half-demons, Demonic pets: like dark wolves, snakes, ravens.” Eyloff replied to him, trying to answer as best he could.

  “Maldre’s summoned up the literal undead around here too, Zombies if you’d like them to be called that, he wants to dwindle the numbers of all those who live here. Then rage a war against them, thankfully, Maldre’s not here at this given moment.” Dolphus added to what he had said, frowning when I looked back at him. It seemed like it was a wolf thing, neither one of them wanted to be here and seemed overly disturbed by it.

  “Back to a lighter note….” Tom announced looking at the two of them, arching one of his eyebrows. “What’s a Dhampire?”

  “Half-blood’s, they’re the outcome of the mixing of humans and vampires, only humans willing to become exiles from their
homes do it though. The light region despises all creatures from the Darkness Region that much..." Eyloff turned his upper body, looking back at Tom.

  “Vampires really have nothing against any region, even though war breaks out against them a lot,” Dolphus stated, frowning a bit as he looked from me to Tom. “Practically, every region but fire hates them.”

  “I hate them all.” Eyloff growled deep in his throat, staring straight ahead.

  “Well then, this’ll be a pleasant trip.” Tom’s voice rang clearly around all of us, with pure sarcasm dripping off each word.

  “Oh, but of course little Tommy! There will be laughter, and cake, and tons of flowers! Oh can’t you just see the lively happy people who await us?” Dolphus said to him in a dramatically sarcastic tone that made me shake my head slowly and have to laugh at him.

  I wasn't sure how long we rode in the darkness before I saw a tall building, in the distance. It just grew bigger and bigger as we rode on, the moons rigid glare illuminated it enough for us all to see how massively large it was.

  “What is that?” I asked aloud, staring at it.

  It was a big building, the closer we got the more I realized it was a castle of sorts. It was gorgeous with the moon beating down on it. I couldn't help but stare in awe.

  “Royalty’s home?” Dolphus said, in a tone that sounded like he wasn't even sure himself.

  “That, is the home of the vampires, behind it within the walls is their town, you’ll see.” Eyloff said to all three of us, his eyes turned yellow and were practically glowing in the darkness around us.

  “Are vampire’s here - Vicious?” I turned to look at the two of them. I let the worry show that time. Cause truth be told, I didn't want to be a blood pack for some ravenous vampire.

  “Some are; some are all too human, other’s live to kill. This goes for all creatures here.” Dolphus spoke slowly, in a low quiet voice while answering me. It sounded like he was trying to keep quiet, more than anything though.

  “That makes me feel so - so much better.” I whispered to myself, watching as the house kept growing in size. The darkness was edging away from it a bit. A lustrous glow of lights in a few of the windows was the only real light we had, as we finally got to the gates.

  I stared at them; they were black iron, like something you'd see in front of an old mansion, but these had strange designs intertwined within them that I couldn't see in the dark. Eyloff made his horse move faster, and I followed after him, as we slipping through the gates.

  *****

  “Halt!” A voice boomed. A man jumped down from what looked like the roof, gracefully landing on the ground before he moved forward. I winced from the impact, expecting him to die instead of land like he did.

  Looking up, I saw three others emerging and following him towards us. One walked in front of all the others, their leader I guessed from the way he looked over us, then smiled. I stared down at him while petting Fire's mane slowly, trying to calm her down a bit as I felt her starting to fidget.

  Tom looked over at me, and I looked back at him before returning my attention to the four men below us. I was a bit confused by their whole demeanor. One was smiling; one was glaring at us, and the other two looked calm. It was strange and a bit unnerving when they didn't speak.

  “Two wolves and two humans.” The one in front said, smirking at all four of us. “What a strange group. What are your reasons for being here?”

  “The chosen.” Eyloff said blandly, riding up closer to the group of men and staring straight down at them. “Unless you’re out to doom us all, I’d let us through.”

  “We’re their guardians from the earth region.” Dolphus quickly added in a singsong voice that even made me raise an eyebrow. Really, how gay could he make himself sound sometimes, one minute he's a blood-thirsty wolf, the next he's like something off of Bravo.

  “The chosen aye? Very well come on, Fang go get Talon and Nixon.” The one in front said quickly, looking back at someone.

  “Why me?” The one named Fang growled at the man, he seemed rather pissed at being told do this.

  “Just do it, Lore.”

  Fang growled something, then took off towards the giant house. We followed in the same direction until we were at the doors, stopping our horses we dismounted from them. I gave Fire a final pat, smiled at her and followed the others into the building.

  My eyes burned and watered as soon as I was inside, and the bright light hit me. I followed the men the best I could through my blurry eyesight, before I rubbed the tears away. Watching as the room changed from blinding light, to wooden walls lined with small tables that held either roses or books on them.

  That's when my dream hit home. I didn't just dream; I had a premonition; I dreamed about this place, that meant those people in my dream could very well be real. The floor was black stone just like I remembered; it was glimmering from the reflection of the lighting within the rooms. I could see myself in the tiles as we kept walking.

  We made our way down dozens of halls. They all looked exactly the same to me. I looked over at Tom, who looked back at me and gave me a questioning look; he seemed about as confused as I was about this place. When we finally stopped we were met by predatory glances from men in black clothes and blank faces, all but those piercing eyes.

  “King Valdis and Queen Vespera will see you now.” One of them said to us, in unison they all moved away from the doors and pushed them open for us. I stared inside before actually moving my legs.

  We walked inside of the huge room slowly, looking from one side to the other. Tom walked ahead of me slowly. Dolphus and Eyloff were behind us as we steadily made our way up to the King and Queen, who sat silently on their thrones. The looks they gave us made me want to recoil, but I held my ground and just looked at them.

  The queen sat on her throne with a grace that I can't even start explaining. She was dressed in a long pristine, white gown that clung to her body, her long, ebony black hair hung in wavy locks that fell to one side of her long swan-like neck. Her red lips looked strange against the contrast of her pale milky-white skin. She almost reminded me of that actress from the movie Transformers, Megan something.

  I shook my head and ignored that though, before I looked over at the king. He was in a black suit that seemed to be tailored to perfection. His white-blonde hair fell over his face hiding his ice-blue eyes from everyone. He smiled slowly at us, and I actually felt a pang of fear from within when I saw his fangs pressed against his bottom lip.

  “Welcome, chosen heroes." He spoke slowly to us. He had a strange accent that hung on his words. “Tell me how far you are in your Journey?”

  “Not very far…” I replied quickly, looking straight at him.

  “You’re our second region.” Tom added from beside me, when I looked at him, he stood just like I did. Staring straight at the two of them, not breaking eye contact as he spoke.

  “Oh! Well then you have much to learn still!” He said, laughing softly.

  “Earth and now Darkness regions?” The queen piped up, speaking to us.

  “Yes.” Eyloff answered her, when I looked over he had a scowl upon his face.

  “Lycan, we will treat you with as much kindness as you treat us. I’d stop scowling at me like that.” She smiled slowly. She spoke with a small voice, but it was edged with authority and power.

  Eyloff looked down at the floor after that. I turned my head and looked back to the King and Queen, meeting their gazes.

  “Humans, we must have a word with you. Guardians, wait outside in the hall for them.” The King said to them, shooing them away with his hand.

  Eyloff and Dolphus walked out of the room slowly; I looked back just in time to see Dolphus noticeably pushing Eyloff out the door. There was a grumble, and then they were both out of the room.

  Tom looked at me uncertainly, before smiling slowly and looking back towards the King and Queen. My own eyes followed his and looked up at the man and woman, other than their ghostly paleness; they
looked like a young couple in their early twenties. Even though that was just a symbol of their age when they were changed. God only knew how old they actually were.

  “My children, what are your names?” Vespera asked us. She looked from me to Tom smiling at us.

  “I’m Raine Renning…” I answered, looking up at her.

  “Thomas Renning.” Tom answered, smiling brightly at her.

  “Lovely names, are either of you skilled at fighting?” The King asked us.

  I shook my head slowly; I was if you thought about the street fighting from dealing with mom's friends. However, I couldn't handle a sword for the life of me. “I don’t; Tom has some, but I doubt it’s anything that can compare to the fighting here.”