Darkness Falls (Tales of the Wolf)

by A. E. McCullough

  Master and apprentice shared a small smile together before the beautiful dark elven sea captain moved between them to sit on the couch next to Galvorn. Kicking her feet up until they rested on the Blademaster’s legs, she adjusted her red silk robe to make sure it covered her properly.

  “Well Dar, it seems that you haven’t lost your touch on how to show a girl an interesting evening.”

  Darnac grinned. “Sorry about this…”

  She held up one hand. “No apologies necessary. I know it isn’t your fault but the question remains what now?”

  Darnac unconsciously fingered the silver beaded necklace as he answered. “I am still forbidden to take my revenge but I know someone who can get the answers I need. Not to mention that she has the ability to let me take my revenge. Besides, she needs to know about Blackfang.”

  Chikk became serious. “I would prefer that you leave me out of this as much as possible.”

  “Same here,” added Gray.

  Both dark elves fixed him with blank stares but it was Darnac that spoke. “Your quick thinking just saved her son’s life. You don’t think that is worth anything to Lalith?”

  Gray shrugged. “Whether it does or doesn’t is of no concern of mine. I didn’t do it for her or for any personal gain. My actions were only to aid a friend in need, nothing more and nothing less.” Gray crossed his arms. “Besides after watching the two of you for the last year, I know it is safer not to be in debt to the Dark Lady.”

  That realization shocked both dark elves but they had to agree with his logic. They were in this whole situation because they owed a debt to Lalith.

  Darnac nodded. “I will try my best but understand this, the geas that binds me to her service also prevents me from lying to her. If she asks the right questions, I will have to reveal your part in this. I won’t volunteer anything but I can’t guarantee that she won’t ask.”

  Gray shrugged. “An old dwarf that I once trained under always said that a man has to walk his own path, for good or ill.”

  Darnac cocked his head to the side. “Are you sure you’re only thirteen?”

  Gray was confused by the question. “Huh?”

  The Blademaster waved it off. “Never mind. Take Galvorn back to the barracks and get plenty of rest. Don’t speak to anyone about this.”

  “Yes Kënnári.” Gray picked up his partner and carried him out of the room.

  The beautiful dark elf rogue gently caressed the Blademaster’s arm. “I guess we will have to pick this up again at a later time.”

  Darnac reached out and lifted her ebony hand to his lips. “Yes, one day soon.”

  “I will hold you to that,” Chikk added with a devilish grin. As she stood up and moved into the other room, she purposefully let her silk robe fall to the floor to reveal her perfect stygian body and the promise of future joys.

  Chapter 25

  Lalith screamed and stormed around her chambers throwing things. Nothing in particular, just anything she could get her hands on.

  Jinx the gargoyle watched his mistress with amusement. “Is something amiss?”

  The dark elf turned her baneful glare on her familiar but held back her next missile. “Blackfang!”

  “And? How is that news? He’s always been a bit daft but ever since he’s been unable to change back, he’s been flat out deranged.” Jinx paused before asking, “What did that damned werewolf do now?”

  Lalith shook her head as she forced herself to calm down. “He went and attacked Darnac at the kids’ celebration.”

  The shock and surprise was evident in Jinx’s voice when he asked, “And he’s still alive?”

  “Only because the Blademaster knows that if he killed Blackfang without my permission his head would explode.”

  Jinx absentmindedly flapped his wings. “You need to remedy that situation.”

  “True. I have summoned the cursed one and he should be here any moment.” Lalith lifted her chin and cocked her head to the side as if she heard something. “Ah, here his is now.”

  The doors flew open and in stormed Blackfang. He was both angry at being summoned and cowed by her beauty at the same time. “You called?”

  Lalith’s eyes flashed with anger at his tone. “What were you thinking? I told you that the swords wouldn’t help your condition.”

  Blackfang growled. “So you say, just being near them helped. I’m thinking more clear right now than I have in years.”

  “It’s not the swords that have done that but your rage. Anger is power and rage is pure dominance. You should learn to control your rage and channel it.” Lalith shook her head. “But no, you aren’t that smart. You heard about the ‘so called’ magical properties of Darnac’s blade and have become fixated on them.”

  Blackfang took a small step forward and raised himself to his full height which allowed him to tower over the beautiful dark elf. “But I felt them calling me.”

  Lalith’s eyes flashed with amusement and she let slip a little grin.

  “You are either extremely brave or extremely foolish to challenge me.” She snapped her fingers and a small ball of flame formed in the air. “You’re not powerful enough to take me, not now…not ever. If you attack me, not only will you have to contend with my magic but those spells I have in place surrounding this chamber. I bet you wouldn’t last eight seconds.”

  Blackfang took a step back and lowered his hackles. “Sorry my love, sometimes my anger gets the best of me.”

  “You are a brute. Plain and simple.” Lalith frowned. “However, you were once my lover and the father to our son, so I will offer you this caveat. Leave. Run away. When the sun rises tomorrow, I will have to act in the best interests of the Dark Alliance and that means I will have to hunt you down like the rabid dog you are.”

  “What?” The hair on the back his neck rose once again.

  Lalith calmly tossed the ball of flame onto the ground and it expanded until it was vaguely manlike. “This offer expires in ten seconds….nine…eight…”

  Blackfang glanced at the fire elemental and back to his ex-lover. She was already busy casting another spell while still counting down. As much as he wanted to stay and argue his point, he knew she was deadly serious. Dropping to all fours, Blackfang ran out of the room as fast as his paws would carry him.

  * * * * *

  Deep in the bowels of the fortress, Blackfang paused to contemplate his future. Although now that his fear and rage were subsiding, he could feel his reasoning begin to fade once more. Soon he would be a mindless beast, living only to hunt or be hunted. It was not a promising future but he did not have much of a choice.

  “She’s wrong you know,” came an unknown voice out of the darkness.

  Blackfang dropped to all fours, raised his hackles and growled. Kâlikâ stepped up to the black werewolf and laid a withered old hand on his snout. The cursed Highlander felt the feral-mind recede almost as if a cool breeze chased away the fog of madness.

  “You don’t have to live this way. You can return to a semblance of your former life, if you want to that is.”

  Blackfang stood up and looked at his naked body. It was amazing. He was naked, not the fact that he was naked but that he recognized the fact. Up until this exact moment, he had not considered how feral he’d actually become. “What? What did you do to me?”

  She shrugged. “I just cleared away your rage. It’s a simple spell.”

  When Kâlikâ looked up at him and grinned, he noticed that her eyes were not gone as he’d always thought, they were just solid black. As shocking as her eyes were, it was her implication that Lalith could have removed the rage that always threatened to overwhelm him that rocked him to his core.

  “But Lalith said…”

  Kâlikâ rubbed her chin. “Of course, I could be lying. But then ask yourself, are you more yourself now or before I came along?”

  Blackfang nodded. “Now.”

  “Then if I were you I would accept my help.”

  “What do you want from me?
”

  Kâlikâ smiled. It was not a pleasant sight. “Simple, I want you to enact your revenge on Lalith.”

  “You know I can’t stand up to her. She’s too powerful.”

  “Then, recruit your own army.”

  “Where? Who?”

  “You were not the only Highlander cursed on the Day of Fire. There are others, find them. Forge them into an army that the Dark Alliance cannot ignore.”

  Blackfang shook his head. “Never going to happen. I cannot take on all them and survive.”

  Kâlikâ reached into her dark cloak, pulled out a pair of bracers with the symbol of a laughing skull on it and handed them to him. “Wear these. They will keep the rage at bay and you will find that others with your affliction will also benefit from its enchantment.”

  Blackfang slipped on the bracers and felt the cool breeze in his mind. “Why? Why would you help me?”

  “I wasn’t always an old crone. I was once young and beautiful like the Dark Lady.” She did not elaborate any more and the werewolf did not ask.

  Chapter 26

  The next night the entire student body was called to the Arena.

  Of course, after the spectacle of Blackfang crashing the party, the students expected something. Kralm and all four Docents were standing on the sand with them when Lalith arrived. The Dark Lady was dressed in revealing black robes while her waist long hair was unbound and flowed out behind her. In contrast to her beauty was the humpbacked figure of Kâlikâ. The blind old witch kept perfect pace with the dark elf even though she still leaned heavily on her bone cane and carrying the familiar fanged skull.

  Lalith stopped in between the Docents and their students. She gazed out over them as if they were her own children. She even rewarded them with a brief smile before she began to speak.

  “Some of you may be wondering why I called you all here tonight. It seems that last night’s celebration was cut short by a former general of mine. For those unfamiliar with his story, I will be brief. Blackfang had a crisis of faith and betrayed Clotho. To test his faith, the great spider goddess afflicted him with a terrible curse and set him a task. He failed. In her infinite wisdom and mercy, she set him a second task but once again, Blackfang was unable to prove his loyalty to our deity and it drove him crazy.” Lalith paused and gazed out over her minions. “Do not let his fate concern you. As of now, he is a renegade and will be hunted down like the dog that he is.”

  Lalith looked down at her nails and her tone changed. It actually sounded as if she was completely bored with whatever subject she was about to discuss. “But that isn’t the reason you were called here tonight. We have a betrayer in our midst.”

  That got everyone’s attention and almost everyone whispered something to the person next to them, except three students; Gray, Galvorn and one lone Cobra. However, at the moment everyone’s attention was on the drama unfolding with the Döcents. Chikk and Mortharona had stepped back to flank the heavily tattooed gnome while Kralm had moved in behind him to cut off his only avenue of escape.

  Several of the Cobra students began to move forward until Lalith snapped her fingers and a clear dome of light encased the students. Lalith fixed them with her dark eyes. “Sit, watch and learn. Your fate has yet to be decided.”

  The smartest of the students took her advice, sat down and shut up. Jardan lead this group. They realized their lives were balancing on the edge of a blade.

  The ten students who were Espen’s pets did not take the hint but ceased to be troublesome when the Dark Lady waved her wand at the ground and tendrils of sand exploded upward and wrapped themselves around the troublemakers. Within seconds, they were helpless and could only watch as their teacher’s fate was decided.

  Lalith turned her attention to the master assassin. “I thought I made myself very clear. Any action against a student outside the Cërtatüs was forbidden.”

  Espen’s already nasally voice had shifted into almost a whine at this point. “But…but…”

  “Save it! You still have one chance to prove your worth, kill the Blademaster and assume his mantle or die by his hands. I don’t need to tell you which option I prefer do I?”

  “But…but…”

  Lalith stepped back and clapped her hands once.

  Darnac grinned. Ever so slowly, the Blademaster reached down to his boot and pulled out the bone-handled knife. “I have been waiting for this day for a long time.”

  He held the knife up so Espen could see it clearly. “Recognize this? You used it to kill a young gnome who stepped in to help a total stranger that was facing five to one odds.”

  Espen glanced from left to right but there was nowhere to run. To his left was the sea captain, she had her silver cutlass in one hand and her wrist crossbow on the other. To his right was the dark haired light elf, he had his twin short swords out that glowed with a magical light. Glancing over his shoulder, Espen found Kralm the half-orc standing there. He was calmly spinning his spear in such a way that the gnome could tell he was an expert with it.

  Darnac flipped the bone-handle knife in the air once. “You should know that I am only going to use this to kill you, nothing else. I feel it will be poetic justice for you to die by your own blade. The difference in me using this knife and you? No poison. A true warrior doesn’t rely on toxins but skill.”

  “Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?” Espen growled and attacked. He started by throwing three knives and charging forward.

  Darnac had been expecting this strategy and dropped to the ground as the knives flew harmlessly past. The Blademaster had studied the gnome for far too long to be surprised by any of his normal attack routines. Darnac twisted his body quickly and counter-attacked, drawing first blood.

  The Blademaster’s first attack was against the heavily tattooed gnome’s left leg, or to be precise the tendons of his left knee. Just as the gnome’s weight was coming down on it, the Blademaster sliced the hamstring tendon clean through with one perfectly timed slash. Even as the gnome was falling, Darnac struck again. This time he stabbed the knife into the meaty area just below Espen’s right clavicle, severing the nerve plexus that was located below. Not only did this cause intense pain, it made the use of the right arm highly unlikely.

  Espen howled with pain but forced himself to concentrate past the pain and tried to stab the hated dark elf with the dagger he held in his left hand. He did not make it since the Blademaster had expected such a response.

  Darnac had figured out many years ago that Espen was basically a coward and a bully. He preferred to use poisons to weaken or disorient his foes before closing in for the kill. Or he relied on ambushing the unwary. Both tactics had been used to enhance his status as a Master Assassin. But Espen couldn’t apply either of those strategies in this situation. As soon as Darnac and Espen had begun this fight, the Blademaster had sized up the gnome’s strengths and weaknesses and he knew he could kill the assassin at any moment.

  Lalith and Kralm would love to see the gnome crawl and beg for mercy but then, they were the type that would pull off the wings of flies and let them run around just for the amusement factor. That was not Darnac’s way. Yes, he could and would kill but not maliciously and not cruelly. Cold, efficient and deadly. These were the words best used to describe his methods. And so, Darnac’s third attack was a straight jab through the neck, from front to back. The razor sharp blade severed the windpipe and vocal chords and dozens of important veins and nerves.

  Espen could not do anything, not scream, beg for mercy or even breathe. He fumbled with the dagger in his left hand and gurgled a bit but died before his body crumpled to the ground.

  Darnac left the knife in the throat of the dead gnome and moved over to stand in front of his Cöterie. Other than a slight nod to the dark elf sorceress, he didn’t say a word.

  Lalith looked at the bloody corpse and back to Darnac. “I sometimes forget how fast you can kill someone. One day, you’re going to learn the joys of a slow death.”

  Darnac r
aised his chin slightly and shook his head. “No m’lady, I won’t.”

  Kralm frowned at the obvious disrespect he had just showed their master but when the Dark Lady waved it off, he dropped it. The half-orc pointed at the coterie of the former master assassin. “And what about them?”

  Lalith moved over to stand directly in front of the students she had entangled. “I will test these ten to see if they are worthy of continuing to train.” She nodded to the others. “Kâlikâ will test the rest.”

  “Your words, my actions.”

  Lalith grinned at the proper respect shown her by the Dôminus but then, he knew her power. These poor fools did not or at least, not yet. She smiled once more, as she looked each of the trapped students in the eyes. She expected to see fear and fear alone but mixed in was hatred and the need for revenge. She loved the sight of it.

  “I will release you in just a moment and you will have once chance to walk out of here alive. Attack me. If you draw blood, then you live. If by some miracle you kill me, then you go free. Any questions?”

  No one asked anything but that was because they were still bound. Lalith snapped her fingers and the sand tendrils fell apart. Seconds later, Lalith attacked.

  Everyone had expected her to use magic again but she did not. She waded into the students using only her fists and feet. Technically that is not true, she did lash out with her elbows and knees. The ten students began to react and tried to counter-attack but she was too fast and far too powerful. One by one, they fell to the sand bloody and battered, until only the Dark Lady was left standing. Stepping over the fallen, she smoothed out the wrinkles in her gown and straightened her hair as she moved back to the gathering.

  “That was fun.” Lalith took a moment to search the eyes of her minions, looking for any form of defiance. Only Darnac met her gaze full on, everyone else lowered their eyes as they had been taught. She cleared her throat slightly and everyone glanced back up. “And to think, I could’ve just done this.”

  The Dark Lady snapped her fingers and spoke a word in a language no one understood. One by one, the slave collars around the ten fallen students exploded.