The Blood Witch (The Blood Reign Chronicles Book 1)

by Nielsen, D. S.

  The look on Benjim’s face was troubled, but he said, “We at least know she’s in Yilavo City, right?”

  They were counting on Jak’s feeling to guide them to the Blood Witch. With that awareness gone, Jak didn’t know what they were going to do. How were they to find her in this city?

  “Yes, it has been pulling me straight to the city the whole time. It didn’t move. It just…..all of a sudden ….. stopped. I can’t feel anything now.” The truth of Jak’s own words cut him to the core, since at that moment he really couldn’t feel much of anything.

  Benjim studied Jak for a moment before saying. “Don’t worry lad. We will find her……..somehow.”

  Chapter 14

  The time Allysix had been in Yilavo City so far had turned out to be fairly fruitful, and she was slowly gaining a foothold of power. Everything was progressing well, especially with the operatives in the fisherman’s guild. The three men she had sent to infiltrate the guild had done their jobs well. Jaal and Ker, had become part of the High Seas faction, with Benciago joining the Deep Water faction. All three were surprisingly intelligent men and had the knack for saying just the right thing at the right time to stir up trouble. Benciago was particularly clever and intuitive and had proved his worth many times. He had been instrumental, along with the other two, in that they had managed to create enough animosity between the factions in the fisherman’s guild that they had actually split from each, other to form two separate guilds.

  Carlio and Fornus, which were the men that Allysix had placed in the dockworker’s guild, were a different story. Carlio was marginally satisfactory, but had far less skill in tact than the other three that had infiltrated the fisherman’s guild. Fornus on the other hand, was altogether worthless. The only thing he had managed to do was to get himself into trouble as a result of his bumbling incompetence, on numerous occasions. His last fiasco resulted in a disciplinary action against him by the guild. The guild suspended Fornus for two weeks without pay, most likely in hopes he would leave and not come back. Allysix ensured that Fornus’ suspension was indeed a permanent one, from which he would never return. Allysix had no room for fools and slackers, especially in such a sensitive endeavor.

  Out of all the various agents she had employed, Talvin was the best of all of them. As a former spy for the assassin’s guild, he was very cunning and extremely adroit in the art of deception and duplicity. Between Talvin and the others in the guilds, they had not only managed to get the factions in the fisherman’s guild to split into separate guilds, but there had been many heated debates at the guild head meetings with the magistrate.

  More than one of the arguments had even escalated into fistfights. All of this was causing a great deal of discord in the council meetings, as well as stirring up tensions in the city. All of the tumult and confusion was playing right into Allysix’s plan.

  Allysix had taken residence in the best room in Kavarina’s inn which was called Lady of the Sea. She was posing as a minor noble named Brigette, from Argosia, a country south of Odessia in the west. Allysix didn’t know anything of Argosia since it didn’t exist before she was imprisoned, at least not as Argosia anyway. But no one else this far to the east knew much if anything about that area either. She thought going by the name Brigette was a nice touch and somewhat ironic under the circumstances.

  Allysix was amazed at just how much everything had changed since her imprisonment. Then again, hundreds of years or more had passed since then, and even she wasn’t sure how long it had really been, especially since there was no way to mark the passage of time in her dark lonely cell.

  Coincidentally, she was having regular discussions with Maggas in order to gain knowledge and understanding of the lands and people as they were now. So much had changed over the intervening years that She had been held captive.

  As chance would have it, Maggas was a surprisingly good source of information on the subject. She had learned from him that all the land was not ruled by one king or queen as it had been in her day. In her day there were not as many people scattered across all of the land as there seemed to be now.

  Back then, King Erlandas had been the ruler of all the land and people, although she had gained a fair amount of control for herself before she was captured. She had extended her influence to the point that she had positioned herself to take control of all the lands and people away from King Erlandas, and would have done it if not for those pesky mordji. At least now, she didn’t have to worry about the mordji since they seemed to have all disappeared or died off over the years.

  Now there were many more people spanning almost every region of the entire land. There were many different countries all with their own rulers, which were independent of each other. There were even large portions of the land with no central government at all. Such was the case here in the east where there was not really any central ruler. The towns and villages were all independent and ruled themselves with local magistrates, mayors, or regents. The lack of any overall governing body meant there were no armies that could be raised against Allysix. All of this together made this area especially ripe for her plan to regain the former power and glory she once had so long ago. Well, at least it would be a good start for now.

  With her growing network of contacts, Allysix was able to gain the favor of Magistrate Jaren, and had even managed to get close to him. She had discretely offered the magistrate advice in specific matters on several occasions. With the help of her network of agents, Allysix’s advice had a way of working out for the best. In this way, she was able to gain Jaren’s trust and respect.

  With a few well placed rumors from Talvin and the others, Bakus, the current adviser to Magistrate Jaren was cast under suspicion. After a little more work here and there, Bakus was eventually discredited and banished from the city. It had been spread about that he had embezzled money from the city treasury.

  Bakus, of course vehemently denied all of the accusations. Magistrate Jaren would not believe the rumors of misconduct at first either, saying he had known Bakus for fifty years and never known him to be a dishonest man.

  However, when large sums of gold were found in Bakus’ house, even his own denials, and Jaren’s doubts could not save him. Only his long record of faithful service and many great accomplishments saved Bakus from the jailors.

  Once Bakus was out of the way, then between Allysix’s contacts with their suggestions, along with her own charms, she managed to supplant herself as the new adviser to the magistrate. It wouldn’t be long now before she could dispose of Jaren completely and rule the city herself. She looked forward to that day, which was not far off now.

  Allysix’s intentions were to first take over control of Yilavo City from Magistrate Jaren. After she controlled Yilavo city and had established a solid seat of power here, she would be able to extend her influence to Varna and up the North Sanchi Road to Hellstone and beyond. Once she was able to find her staff of power then nothing would be able to stop her, and she could rule the whole world.

  As the adviser to the magistrate, Allysix had already begun to setup official trade routes with Varna. Jaren had been upset with her at first, saying she was overstepping her authority by not clearing it with him before she acted. But she was able to diffuse the magistrate without too much trouble. Jaren was a rather weak man without much of a backbone, and she was able to guide him with ease in the way she wanted him to go.

  Before now, the guilds had been in control of the trade with Varna but it had been a haphazard affair with no real structure. Allysix had taken it upon herself to setup a correspondence with Varna, and she was in the process of making the trade agreement more official. She would work her way little by little into the affairs of Varna and eventually take control of that city too.

  Since all of the cities and villages in this part of the land governed themselves there was no fear of an army descending on Allysix to root her out or oppose her in her ambitions.

  Odessia, far to the west, was apparently occupied by a
war with Suchbaatar. Odessia was the only country with an army large enough to oppose her. Even then, it would take months for them to even hear rumors of her actions. Months longer would pass before they would be able to do anything about it. That is, if they even would take any action at all. If by chance they decided to do something, it would take much longer to move an entire army that far across the entire land to the east. Not to mention an immense amount of supplies and logistics to move armies of any size the many leagues from Odessia to Yilavo City.

  No, Allysix had no fear of an army from Odessia or anywhere in the west any time soon. By the time anyone in the west even took notice of her she would already have a sizable amount of power carved out for herself here. Besides, she had the yeshada guarding the north, and with the Vashi beginning to come out of hiding and regain some of their bold raiding ways such that they were now acting as her guards, or at least lookouts to the west.

  A very providential thing that Allysix had been able to accomplish was to get Baalnar re-instated into the city watch. It had been a surprisingly easy task despite Jaren’s animosity towards the man. But the magistrate’s weak will, especially when it came to Allysix had paved the way to make it happen.

  Now Baalnar was back in command of the City Watch as their captain. This had been an especially fortuitous accomplishment since she could now control the City Watch, or at least guide them in her purposes. It also kept Baalnar occupied and he was able to assert his dominant nature of others in order to feed his own pride. It seemed to appease the man’s appetite, and now Baalnar behaved in a more humble and submissive manner when he was in her presence, the way he should behave towards his Great Mistress.

  Allysix had been feeding more and more of late, some out of the pure pleasure of it, and some out of a little boredom. As a result of all her feeding, bodies were starting to show up in the fishermen’s nets.

  Apparently fishermen were a particularly superstitions lot, and thought it a bad omen to pull up a dead body. Some of the City Watch and others of the guild were greatly agitated by it and beginning to talk openly. She supposed she would either have to stop feeding so much, or else find another way to dispose of the bodies. She wasn’t very happy with either of the alternatives.

  There was always a danger when you stirred the snake pit of being bitten. Allysix had not fully realized the volatility of the city until now. It had been far too easy to cause the fisherman’s guild to split than she would have ever suspected. There were also many other factions within the city with animosity between each other. Everything, before now had been held together by delicate threads and alliances. The balance of power was now teetering on the brink of collapse into chaos.

  Allysix sat in the council meeting tonight with Magistrate Jaren’s, as was her duty as his adviser. Frequent arguments had already broken out disrupting the meeting several times. The two factions of the fisherman’s guild were fighting over a matter of territory. It seemed that both sides claimed exclusive rights to the most bountiful fishing areas, and neither would yield to a compromise, which was causing considerable discord and tension.

  Currently some of the guild heads were debating the new proposed trade rules with Varna. The council was split nearly down the middle, with some favoring the new rules saying they would make trade with Varna more profitable. Others of the council who opposed the new agreement were arguing that they would be loosing money, and would not be able to make an acceptable amount of profit.

  The merchant’s guild was a major proponent of the new rules since they would be making a larger profit than before. The mariner’s guild was strongly opposed to it because they had always controlled the majority of the trade with Varna. They stood to loose a substantial amount of gold from the new system.

  Allysix original plan was to establish a formal trade with Varna that would involve all the guilds. In this way, it would tie the guilds together beneath her power as well as pave the way in Varna for her future plans. Now it seemed she may have to rethink her plan if they could not come to an agreement, which seemed unlikely.

  Perhaps if they were to setup a percentage allotment based on each guilds level of involvement. However, she could not just come right out with the suggestion in this meeting. She was only and adviser after all, and Jaren was already touchy about her overstepping her position without consulting him first. Not to mention the fact that she didn’t want Jaren to take credit for her idea. She would need to dispose of Jaren first then she would be able to make things right with the council. It would also serve to cement her position as new Magistrate if Allysix resolved the issues between the guilds in a peaceful, profitable manner for all involved.

  Allysix was torn from her musing when an argument broke out again. “You can’t talk to me like that, you fish kissing son of hag,” Kivel, the head of the Deep Water fisherman’s guild was on his feet now. Things were starting to get a bit out of hand.

  “What did you call me?” Alvarn, who was the head of the new Open Seas fisherman’s guild said as he flung his chair backwards and jumped to his feet, at the same instant drawing his dagger to face the other man.

  At the threat from Alvarn, Kivel then drew his own dagger and the two men began to face off preparing for a fight.

  All this nonsense needed to stop before there was any blood shed. Dissension and bickering had aided Allysix in her plan until now, but bloodshed in a council meeting might be enough to undo everything. It must be stopped now.

  “Enough!” Allysix shouted, as she rose to her feet, “Baalnar arrest these two men,” she said motioning to the two men wielding daggers.

  Everyone in the council room froze in place, including Baalnar. All fell deathly quiet and no one in the room made a sound. All eyes were glued on Allysix now, most wore looks of shock and surprise on their face. Baalnar most especially since he wasn’t certain if he should attempt to carry out the order to arrest the guild heads.

  Now Allysix had stepped in the horse dung. She had let her temper get the best of her, and she seriously overstepped her authority as adviser to the magistrate. That infuriated her even more than anything. She was the Blood Witch and her authority had no bounds, but for now, she must play the part, or else see all her plans laid to ruins in an instant.

  Not only was it unheard of for even the magistrate to order a guild head arrested, unless the accused was brought up on formal charges by a vote of at least four or more of the other council members. But the adviser to the magistrate did not order guild heads, or the captain of the watch, or anyone in this manner. The adviser to the magistrate had no real power over anything since they were only an adviser, nothing more. In truth, even the magistrate himself didn’t really have authority over the guild heads. That was one thing Allysix was going to change once she was in charge. She would make certain that all the guild heads answered to her, and knew she was the one in charge.

  “There,” Allysix said with a forced smile, trying to recover the situation, “now that I have your attention, can we please act like council members and not like street thugs? Please put those knives away and sit down so we can continue the meeting with the dignity the head of a guild should possess. It would disturb me greatly to see two upstanding men such as yourselves stoop to bloodshed in a council meeting. I know that you as guild heads are much more dignified than that.” Allysix hoped that the dressing down of the two men was enough to diffuse the situation.

  The two men who had been fighting were unsure of how to take Allysix’s outburst. They were clearly surprised at being spoken to in such a way. They glared at each other, then at the gathered assembly, as well as at Allysix. At last, they seemed to be at least a little abashed at their behavior. Slowly, reluctantly, they sheathed their knives and took their seats once again at the council table.

  Allysix took her seat next to the magistrate and smiled coyly at him. Jaren returned her smile with a suspicious and irritated look of his own. It obviously had not pleased him that Allysix had spoken out this way in the counci
l meeting. It reflected poorly on him to have an adviser that did not know their place. Allysix would have to dispose of Jaren very soon. She was tired of subjugating herself to this man, or anyone for that matter.

  After a few moments, Jaren spoke addressing the council. “Do we have any further matters of importance to bring before the council before we retire tonight?”

  “Yes,” a wiry little man spoke up. Allysix thought he was the head of the shipwright’s guild. “There is the matter of the……dead bodies that have been found.” The wiry man continued in a whiny tone, “In the past there have been occasional deaths from brawls that got out of hand, or the rare murder out of passion or anger. But those have been few and far between. But now there have been at least six dead bodies turn up the past few weeks.

  There are troubling rumors down from north of bizarre happenings, strange beasts roaming the land and terrorizing villages. There is even talk of the Blood Witch. Some are saying the witch is free and here in Yilavo City,” the man finished almost in a whisper.

  Mention of the witch started the room buzzing. Shouts of agreement could be heard saying the witch was in the city, and something needed to be done. Others said that the witch was still imprisoned. Still other said they were being fools, that the witch never even existed, and was only a myth or legend. Had anyone ever even seen the witch? There was no proof that she ever really lived. The dead bodies must be from something else. Perhaps there were cults, or fanatics performing black magic or some sort of evil rites in the city. In any case, they needed to be rooted out and eliminated.

  This was not good at all for Allysix. It would only be a matter of time before some of these superstitious oafs started realizing that her arrival coincided with the dead bodies. Not to mention the possible unwanted attention this could bring to Maggas or the Circle. She could not have that happening now, at least not until she was well and thoroughly in charge. Then it would not matter. But now she needed this meeting to be over before it got even further out of hand again. She dared not say anything herself after her earlier outburst.