Though a third of it adjoined the mountain, there were only low stone walls that ran along the sides, and Brynn and her warriors quickly scaled them and continued to one side of the structure.
“I don’t see any doors,” she said to Creed as he flanked her.
“Oh they are there,” he assured her, his lips twisting upward into a grin, “I assure you! I used to sneak in and out at will when I was a boy. You will soon see what I am talking about.”
So far they had seen no one and heard no alerts sounding to indicate they’d been spotted. Creed walked right up to the stone studded outside wall of the structure and stood a moment, rubbing his chin.
“Well?” Brynn said impatiently, watching him.
“Hold up,” he said, immediately dropping to his knees and running his long fingers along the bottom of one wall. After a few seconds, he said, “Aha!”
He held up his hand. In it was a long, ornately fashioned silver key.
Everyone stood back. The twins, silently taking in Creeds movements, still did not completely trust him not to turn on Brynn. Calyx moved imperceptibly closer to Brynn so to protect her if she were attacked.
Creed turned for a moment, sensing that they were positioning themselves in case they needed to take him out.
“Paranoid much?” he asked, chuckling under his breath as he inserted the key into a keyhole that was part of a dark fissure running across the stone wall.
It must be on springs! Brynn thought to herself, as the huge door opened outward smoothly and soundlessly.
Creed poked his head in. It was completely dark within the opening, and Calyx wordlessly handed him a small high powered flashlight, pulling out a Green laser grid light from her own pocket and switching it on also.
Between the two of them, they would not only be able to detect the presence of another Earthly entity, but also detect the Shadow Demons that were known to be minions for the Liquidator King.
They proceeded cautiously. The opening itself was wide enough for them to enter two abreast and the ceilings were high enough so that even the tallest of them, Creed, Tarren, and Bayn, were able to walk upright without hitting their heads.
Creed abruptly turned around after they had gone a few yards, with the corridor leading upwards, and addressed the group.
“This passage culminates in a door just off the Reception Chamber,” he told them, “And that probably means that you are about to meet my Father, Uictore. I have no idea what his reaction will be at seeing me again.
“And as for the rest of you--Brynn, Daughter of the Electi, I have no idea if the Liquidator King is still abiding by the Accords of the Interdimensional Alliance of 1514 or not. When I left, he was--meaning that he will not kill you on sight even if you are trespassing. But I do know one thing. He is not overly fond of Fairies,” Creed finished, throwing a significant look in Calyx’ direction.
“I don’t care what his preferences are,” Brynn answered, pushing past Creed. As she did, she felt his hands resting, unseen and momentarily on the small of her back and over the swell of her buttocks.
She thought it bold of him, but smiled to herself, remembering for a moment the pounding swell of him inside her.
When she heaved the door to the Reception room open, she saw a stout velvet curtain in front of her, but resolutely cast it aside to enter the chamber.
The others in her Royal entourage followed, the rest hanging back in case they were needed and per her instructions, still concealed by the burgundy velvet curtains.
The huge bearded man wearing a crown fashioned of the fangs of his enemies turned and smiled at her. Brynn was surprised. All of the descriptions she had ever heard of the Liquidator King did not match the benevolent-looking being she saw several feet before her.
His Guard flanked him and on the opposite side, there was a woman who was at least six feet tall, raven-haired and built like a huntress.
She could have been Natalia’s twin, she looked so much like her.
The male figure on the throne gestured them forward.
“Please, Warrior Queen Brynn, Daughter of the Electi, some around front here so that I don’t get a crick in my neck. Welcome to Crimayne, the most glorious fortress of a castle in the third plane of existence. We have been expecting you!”
Brynn proceeded with dignity, Bayn, Tarren, Creed and Calyx and the others following her. Inwardly her heart was pounding in confusion. How could it be that they had been expected? She wondered.
Uictore continued to stare at Brynn.
“You are every bit as beautiful as you are purported to be, O Daughter of the Electi,” he said slowly. He looked her up and down in a way that made her uncomfortable, letting his eyes linger on her tops of her full breasts displayed proudly at the top of her leather battle corset, “I am pleased to meet you face to face.
“--And curiously you are escorted by my wayward son. How odd. I cannot imagine how the fates have conspired to have your disparate paths cross. May I introduce my Royal Consultant, Cthonia? She is one of the original Feranith Sisters of the North. She has been with our family a long time and is my concubine.”
King Uictore stopped speaking for a moment, as his eyes became slits. He was looking straight at Calyx.
“I am sorry Warrior Queen, but you must understand that the Fay folk are not welcome here. In fact, I will not discuss business in front of your Fae companion. I am sure we can make her comfortable in an anteroom while the rest of us talk. Do you mind, Brynn, Daughter of the Electi?”
Brynn turned at looked at Calyx. For some reason, Calyx had a look of desperation in her eyes, though she remained mute.
Brynn made a decision quickly. She didn’t want to sweat the small stuff, and looking around she could see several derogatory banners hanging from the walls denigrating the Fairy race. One, written in Latin, said, “Death to the Tricksy Scoundrels.”
Looking back at Uictore, she nodded in agreement.
“Wait for us,” she said to Calyx, as a veiled woman dressed like a servant motioned Calyx to follow her out of the Reception chambers.
All eyes followed Calyx, including the eyes of Uictore, until she disappeared behind the velvet curtains on the opposite side of the room.
“Now,” Uictore said, “I want you to tell me why you have come here, Warrior Queen of the Electi when we are sworn enemies.”
***
“My turn,” the Liquidator standing at the side of the table with several companions complained in a loud voice, “Don’t ever get Fairy Ass around here. I want a taste.”
The huge, ugly man on top of Calyx gave one last grunt and shove for emphasis before he withdrew and tucked his cock back behind the folds of his lace up soldier’s breeches.
The slight female with matted blonde hair who had been underneath him barely stirred as she lay completely naked and spread-eagled on the rough planks of one end of the dining table in the Soldier’s barracks of the Liquidators.
Eyes glittering, the unkempt companion of the soldier that had just finished fucking Calyx, licked his lips as he surveyed her naked body.
“She’s a pretty one,” he said, letting out his breath with a whistle at the end, “She got two you know, two of what the fair sex hide between their legs. Why don’t we turn her on her side and both go at her, one from the front and the other from behind! Double team her hot Fairy quim I say! Fairies is made for fucking. That’s just a fucking fact.”
As he plunged into her, another of the soldiers reached over to grab her breasts, and another flipped her on her side so that he might penetrate her second vagina. Still another, more agile man leaped on top of the table and, kneeling with Calyx’s head between his knees, opened her cupid bow mouth and inserted the head of his member between her lips.
“Ah,” he said, exhaling raggedly, “I wish you hadn’t struck her so hard. If she were awake, I’d have her suck on my Johnson!”
The next few minutes passed as the rest of the Liquidators assigned to King Uictore’s Private Gu
ard, took turns pleasuring themselves.
Finally, after an hour, a tall woman, with waist length black hair opened the door to the room, flanked by two servants.
“Your fun is over!” she announced, “Get off of her now! Lettie and Mazie,” she continued, turning to the servants, “Clean her up and redress her in her clothing and hurry! I think King Uictore has made a decision!”
Calyx moaned, and the servants hazily washed her off with dampened linen cloths and replaced her clothing and carried her away from the Soldier’s quarters, each one with an arm under her armpit, Calyx tiny feet barely touching the floor.
“Here,” the black haired Witch Cthonia told them, “Take her to my private dressing room. I have smelling salts in there!”
Once Calyx was sitting in a damask-covered chair in the corner, she quickly rooted through a cabinet, at last finding a small stoppered bottle of green liquid.
She took out the stopper and held it directly underneath Calyx’s small nose. Calyx’s eyes began to flutter as she simultaneously began coughing.
She was alert within a few seconds.
“What happened?” she asked while scrabbling at her side for the dagger at her side that was no longer there.
Cthonia bent and looked into her eyes, her beautiful brow puckered with concern.
“I believe you fainted, my love,” she said in a soothing voice, “But you are back with us now!”
***
In the Reception Chambers of King Uictore of the Liquidators, there was a momentary silence as Brynn readied herself to answer the obvious question the King had posed.
“I have come on behalf of my people and my race,” she said, speaking loudly and evenly, “To request that you cease your direct attacks on our stronghold. None have been successful. The Electi have proven more than your equals and rebuffed every campaign you have launched against us. Surely you must tire of losing both soldiers and reputation in defeat after defeat!
I propose a Truce. As you know our philosophies are diametrically opposed, and the Electi disdain, and that is a mild term, your activities. But it is a big planet, even in these modern times.”
King Uictore seemed to consider all Brynn had said.
“And what do you propose to offer us if we do agree to your proposal O Daughter of the Electi?” he asked, “You know our troops are without number. You also know that we have limitless means of replenishing them, that they live for spoils of war, that they seek only their enemy’s blood. What you consider defeats we consider victories. Why? Because just as a torrent at the mouth of a river erodes the soil, we are breaking down your defenses bit by bit. Warrior Queen you are formidable and have no peer in battle. But as you stand before me I perceive that you still have the weakness of your sex--a woman’s heart. That alone is enough to prove your undoing!”
Brynn bristled and chose to disregard his unkind remarks.
“I bring you your son,” she responded, loudly enough so that her voice echoed off the stone surround, “Your own mongrel son, Creed. We will leave him in exchange for an agreement and for the return of certain artifacts that your Liquidator troops pillaged from my Father’s castle when my sister Gwenyth and I were children. All of those artifacts of the Electi are meaningless to you.”
The King stroked his beard.
“And you have something of ours as I recall,” he replied, “The First Sigil? Ring a bell Daughter of the Electi?”
Brynn hesitated. The fact that the Electi owned the flag of the Liquidators that they had surrendered in the first ancient battle was a great source of inspiration and power for the Electi and had been for centuries. She had never expected that it would be included in any negotiations.
But King Uictore continued speaking, gesturing to Creed.
“Why should I want this ruin of a warrior back?” he said disdainfully, “With one glance I can see that he has become nothing more than the lapdog of Brynn, Daughter of the Electi.
He would be of no use to me. And I can discern that he has his whore mother’s weaknesses. He disgusts me. The only reason I would consider him as a bargaining chip is so that I could wipe him out of existence!”
“And that wouldn’t be worth the energy it takes to swing my sword over his head,” Uictore spat, glaring at Creed and continuing, “I have never missed you Bastard--all your life you defied me and brought me shame. Now that I see that you have ended up the pet and slave to a Daughter of the Electi. I am not in the least surprised.
“It may surprise you to know that I have sired many children after you, all of them fine sons, I am proud of. Let me introduce them to you …”
As King Uictore waved his arm in a sweeping gesture, five young men stepped out of the ranks surrounding the throne.
Two of them bore an uncanny resemblance to Creed. All of them had blond hair varying in shades from dishwater to silver white blonde.
“Let me present my legitimate sons--the eldest is Cristo, the next is Broslyn, in the middle is Ferute, then Vagare, and my youngest, Tallye.”
Creed could not help but show surprise on his handsome face. He had heard rumors that he had half-brothers through the years, but that was par for the course with Kings in any realm--they were all rutting fools who produced dozens of offspring both recognized and unrecognized.
Creed was half surprised there weren’t more of them.
For some reason, his eyes locked with the youngest of them, the one King Uictore had introduced as ‘Tallye.’ The young man, with hair like quicksilver past his shoulders, winked at Creed.
Creed had no idea what to make of it.
Suddenly Uictore clapped his hands together, and servants came scurrying, setting up long tables for the dinner meal.
“We shall all dine together while the Warrior Queen Brynn considers my offers. I pledge to you that nothing is poisoned and that the simple fare will be to your taste--mostly pheasant and ducking and other wild fowl, but avoid the fricassee. I am afraid it has human meat in it. Though you really should try it. After all, it is a small step to go from enjoying the blood to feasting on the flesh.”
For some reason, King Uictore’s remark brought down the house, most of the population of Liquidator guards and subjects roaring with laughter,
Brynn gave the others a look as if to say, “Avoid the fricassee” and when she turned a dazed looking Calyx had appeared at her elbow, dressed in a satin gown with ribbons in her hair.
“Calyx!” Brynn practically shouted, “Where are your weapons?”
Calyx lifted her gown. Brynn could see that, other than Calyx’ sword, all her weapons were strapped to her thigh.
“Brynn I think they may have drugged me,” Calyx told her in a low voice, “They say I fainted, but that was impossible. When I awakened that Witch Cthonia was standing over me with smelling salts.”
“Well never mind if you are okay,” Brynn told her, “Though I will certainly ask after your sword. Thank God it wasn’t your good one.”
When they were all seated, King Uictore raised a glass of wine, and everyone except Brynn and her entourage joined him in a Liquidator blessing over the meal. Calyx waited until they had served themselves and one by one, passed their individual plates under her delicate nostrils. Because she was a Fairy, she had a built-in poison detector and as their official ‘taster’ for the group in case their Liquidator host had somehow tainted the food he was offering.
Brynn, despite her instinctive hatred for Liquidators in general, was semi impressed that Uictore had warned them about the dish containing human flesh. That was an unexpected courtesy since Uictore could very well have just watched them eat it for his amusement and then informed them afterward.
On the other side of Creed, who had made sure that he was next to her just as Tarren had, was the lad Tallye, Creed’s newly introduced half-brother.
As Creed nodded to him, he leaned over and whispered.
“Brother Creed. I want to come with you! Please allow it!”
Although Creed had incl
ined his ear to hear his half-brother better in the noise, background music, and general hubbub of the room he quickly jerked back in surprise and consternation.
He stared at the silver haired young man, who had some of his own features, in disbelief.
“You had best keep to your own, Liquidator,” he said in a low voice, “What would our father think of your boldness? Maybe I should stand and announce it now to win his favor?”
Tallye looked genuinely terrified.
“Oh, Brother I beg you! I am both serious and desperate! I have heard that you were a rogue and a bloodthirsty one at that! But seeing that you have formed an alliance with the Queen of Souls, the Amazing Daughter of the Electi Brynn sets my mind at ease regarding both your philosophy and purpose. I could be a boon to you both! I know many things that would advance your cause.”
Creed looked nervously around him. He didn’t see anyone noticing that he was even having a conversation with Tallye. Brynn herself seemed preoccupied with a conversation she and Tarren were having in which Tarren’s face was becoming redder and redder, the veins on his neck standing out.
Looking down into his filled pewter dinner plate, he said gruffly.
“Wait for us outside the Port door--the one hidden in the stone wall. Make your excuses, feign a stomachache and give your regards to the King, tell him you need to lie down and then wait for us.”
He turned his head to the side, a smile creeping across his face.
“I sense you are sincere but no not disappoint me, or I will draw and quarter you from that oak tree near the port door! Do we understand each other Tallye?”
“Aye Brother Creed,” the lad answered, his voice nearly a whisper, “You will not regret this I promise you on my life!”
“Yes,” Creed returned, not looking at Tallye, “On your life. Remember that.”
After a few more minutes of eating in silence, Tallye got up from his chair and made his way to the head of the table, and Creed tuned in on the conversation between Brynn and Tarren that seemed to have escalated.
Vindicta (The Liquidator Wars Book 1) Page 17
