The Court of Souls?

by Andur

  “Are you sure that you don't want to grant me a date?” Lirian interrupts my thoughts. He has been chasing my skirt ever since we paid our first visit to Draconis. I think by now he has attempted most of the standard pick-up lines I can think of. He also tried showing me various sides of his character.

  But I have the feeling that he displayed his true self that day on the balcony. His mask slipped when I pushed past him. There is no way I would give someone like him a chance.

  “If your slimy presence touches me again I'll rip off something important!” I step away to create distance between us.

  “Are you sure? Not even if I do good in the upcoming fight?” Lirian gestures at one of the opening portals.

  “Hopefully there will be no fight.” Moonray turns around to face us. “We will show them our forces. They will show us theirs. All of us will find out that we are evenly matched. We will firmly state our intentions of not backing off until we get our people. They will also hold their ground. In the end both parties will come to the conclusion that buying our people back is the best solution. So they will make a cheap offer to make us go away and save face.”

  “Not this time!” Doreen turns to face Moonray. “We won't back off until we get full compensation!”

  I let my eyes wander to Chloe and my mother takes my hand with a hopeful expression. Then we walk through the portal to find the city of Parle stretching out in front of us. It almost looks like a modern city with its blocky, stone buildings. Though most of them are not very tall.

  But even though we are far away I can tell that something isn't right. We emerged on a small hill about one kilometre outside the city. Many of the buildings look damaged and a part of the city wall had collapsed in on itself. It's as if there was already a big fight here. Some smoke columns still hint that something big burned just recently.

  “What happened here?” Doreen asks and her eyes flare up in blue fire.

  Inside the city I can see people in black uniforms running left and right. It seems like they just called an alarm and are readying their defences. They wear the black of those dreaded slavers.

  I draw the sword which I took from our armoury in case of an attack. We are certainly in range of artillery class spells.

  “Something is definitely wrong down there. There are tons of dead people in the streets. It almost looks as if they slaughtered each other for no good reason.” Antonius, the surprisingly decent member of the idiot duo, hands me a scope.

  I risk a glance and find men in black armour building improvised barricades. It really seems like we arrived just after a big fight and these are the remaining winners.

  “So what now?” I ask.

  “We wait until they send a representative. If we march in there, we might just reignite the flames. Whatever happened down there, it was bad.” Moonray draws in a deep breath and lowers his own spyglass.

  Doreen closes her eyes looks at the ground. “As much as I dislike it, you are right. I just hope that Quianna isn't one of those who are lying in the streets.”

  I myself can barely hold in my need to storm down there and search for my sister. The only reason I can is that Chloe is here. And if Mom can stay strong, I can too.

  Moonray wasn't wrong in his guess that they will send someone. Though we didn't learn much more by staying on our hill, it takes only half an hour until a man in the black tunic of a slaver approaches us on foot. He also wears a black coat and takes his damned time with walking. Ten minutes later he finally arrives in front of us.

  He looks young for being a slaver, but looks can be deceiving in this world. I also notice that his aura doesn't leak. His hair is as black as night and the striking face isn't extraordinarily attractive, but not bad looking either. An average person of average height. Though his horns are somewhat cool and attractive. They look similar to mine.

  His eyes, though, give him something otherworldly. They take his entire aura of being average and blow it away to the status of godhood. The eyes are pitch-black darkness and seem to drink in ones soul. Then there are those mind blowing, slit, golden irises with a sea of stars inside them. I actually hold my breath when he looks at me.

  But then he turns his attention to Moonray and Doreen. I feel a little disappointed.

  When he opens his mouth the whole moment is destroyed.

  “Sorry, we are closed. And I am afraid it is permanent.”

  “Closed?” Doreen mumbles with a puzzled voice. Her tone must reflect the feelings of our whole group.

  He spreads his hands. “Yes, closed. As in, we don't sell anything. We had a big fight three days ago. It involved killing a lot of people, but who cares.” He shrugs.

  When nobody reacts he gestures at the army behind us. “So it would be nice if you send those guys back home. There is nothing of worth left in the city anyway.”

  Moonray tilts his head. “My name is Moonray. And who are you?”

  The man forces himself to smile at Moonray. “Call me Shade.”

  Suddenly Lirian steps forward. “This guy was obviously sent to waste our time. Something happened and they are waiting for reinforcements from Inanimatum! We should storm the city and crush them before they can organize.”

  Shade's smile drops. “Please remove your underling from this discussion. He obviously isn't worth my time.”

  “Not worth your time? Who do you think you are speaking to? You damn low!” Lirian turns red and I step forward to stop him.

  But suddenly Chloe grabs my hand and shakes her head. “We can't show disunity. It will make us look weak and lower our chances in the negotiations.”

  “But that idiot will cause a fight!” I hiss back.

  Shade seems unperturbed by Lirian's outbreak. “You have no right to speak to me like that. In your whole damned army are just four people who can take me one on one. That's him,” he points at Moonray, “her,” his finger wanders to Doreen, “and her.” His finger wanders to me.

  Then he shrugs. “And another person is hiding somewhere in the crowd behind you.”

  “You!” Lirian jumps forward, his hand covered in mana. Shade doesn't even have the time to evade before Lirian's hand plunges right through his chest and exits at the back!

  I want to rage and kill that idiot myself! Who attacks an envoy like that! Does he want Quianna to be killed? We have to attack right now to save whom we can.

  But when Lirian wants to pull out his hand, he can't. Shade grabs Lirian's collar while parts of his body dissolve into shadows, or darkness. “That hurts!”

  Lirian opens his mouth, but the vaguely humanoid shadow pulls him in and the muffled scream is abruptly cut off. Just the golden eyes remain inside the monstrous form.

  Then Shade's body reassembles itself from bottom to top, but without Lirian. Our comrade is gone. Antonius steps forward, but he is stopped by Moonray.

  Shade doesn't even take note of the second possible attacker. Instead he studies his clothes with a grimace. “Those were new. Not exactly my style, but how do you want to pay for the damage?”

  “What did you do to him?” Doreen asks with a dreadful voice.

  Shade looks up and studies our faces. “That may actually be up to interpretation. Some may say that I ate him. Others might theorize that I sent him to a dimension between here and there.” He gestures at his own shadow.

  “Give him back.” Moonray demands, placing a hand on his sword.

  Shade looks perplexed. “Why? He attacked me with lethal intent. Will you go away if I barf him up?”

  Doreen steps forward. “We won't go away, but we might try to resolve this peacefully. We are just here to get our people back. As soon as we have them, we are gone.”

  Shade studies her for several moments, but then he kneels down and reaches down into his own shadow which darkens upon touching it.

  He pulls out a humanoid creature with white fur and grotesque features. “Damn, wrong one. Just wait, I'll have him soon.” He throws the creature behind himself and it shatters into a th
ousand pieces. Wherever that other place is, it is cold. My mother's hand tightens around my arm. Apparently she recognized the thing.

  Then Shade reaches in even deeper and pulls out a shivering Lirian. He is covered in a layer of frost, but alive and all intent of attacking his opponent is forgotten. Shade gets back to his feet and claps his hands. “Sorry. He fell a little deeper than I intended. Why don't you join me at dinner and leave the hotheads out here.”

  Shade turns back towards the city without looking back. After a while Doreen and Moonray look at each other. Then they start walking and follow him. I join in with Chloe while leaving the rest of the group behind.

  Our guide leads us through a destroyed city. Here and there we encounter soldiers in black armour, but something strikes me as odd about them. They don't give off the life-despising feeling I normally get from them. These are people who are interested in staying alive.

  We don't encounter any civilians or non-combatants. They were probably evacuated. And there are also a lot of slave collars on the ground. What happened here?

  Finally we arrive at something like a government building. We are greeted by three people, a man and two women.

  I don't know any of them, but when Moonray sees the woman with the flaming, colour changing hair, he runs forward and spreads his arms. “Tisha! Ti-”

  Doreen and my mother gasp while my mind tries to make sense of this. Isn't Tisha the one who was enslaved by Inanimatum?

  But the woman's expression distorts upon recognizing Moonray. My grandfather runs directly into a bone shattering uppercut and three teeth fly away. He falls on his back and lies still.

  Shade scratches his cheek. “Tisha, I allowed you to be something like a personal advisor of mine. But this makes me doubt your competence.”

  Tisha immediately steps away from Shade. “I am sorry! He deserved it! You have yet to know the history between us.” Her eyes wander to Grandma and she nods. “Doreen.”

  Grandma also nods. “Tisha.”

  I watch the exchange. This whole situation is strange. Even his allies seem to have a good dose of respect for Shade.

  Shade looks back and forth between us and finally shrugs. “If there is no diplomatic incident, then that's fine with me. Aswang, would you be so nice to help him?” Shade simply continues onwards into the building.

  We follow Shade while the man named Aswang carries Moonray. Once inside, he guides us to a dining hall and takes his seat at a round table. We choose our seats with both parties facing each other.

  Moonray is draped on a chair since he is still unconscious. Before we start, Doreen gestures at Moonray. “Someone, kill him to trigger his healing ability. This is ridiculous.”

  Chloe takes the knife from Moonray's eating set and plunges it into his heart. Then she places the knife back where it was and the well known healing fire burns on Moonray's wounds.

  Finally Grandpa opens his eyes. “-sha!” He looks disoriented, but Doreen kicks him from beneath the table to stop him from making a scene. I doubt that the other party didn't realize what happened.

  Shade doesn't take any notice of it and studies the silver ware instead. “So what do you want?”

  Doreen launches into an explanation of how our clan was attacked and our people abducted. Shade listens to everything until he finally nods and interrupts her. “Okay.”

  “Okay what?” Doreen asks.

  “Talk to the survivors of the battle and take those who want to go with you. Less mouths to feed.” He grumbles.

  I lean forward, dread in my voice. “Battle!?” Doreen looks at me because I spoke out of line, but I don't care right now.

  Shade starts an explanation of his own. On how Inanimatum and Parle were destroyed and how the higher immortals fled the battle for some unknown reason. When he is finished, he takes a bell and rings it.

  The doors open and a handful of lightly dressed women with food enter the room. I draw a sharp breath upon seeing my sister just in a top and see-through, silken trousers. I think all of us may be staring a little.

  Finally the silence is destroyed by Shade snapping his fingers. “Now I know why she seemed so familiar. Anna, would you please stand next to that woman?”

  Anna? That woman? Didn't he get my name already? Quianna comes over with a tray in her hands and takes the implied position. Her face is as red as a tomato.

  “Yes, that's good. Don't you see the resemblance? One might think that she is that lost daughter you are searching for. Quianna is her name? And she is a siren? But not our Anna with her erotic, sexy voice! Unless she used a wrong name in fear of being recognized.”

  He turns to Tisha. “It seems like I have to apologize, Mom. I thought that you ordered her to take up with me. Now all her attempts at seducing me make so much more sense! I was already thinking about throwing her out, but all she wanted was to hitch a ride back to her home.”

  “Mo- Mom!” Doreen and Moonray stammer in unison.

  “Yes.” Tisha answers with a crestfallen expression. “I've yet to introduce you. This is Shade, Ishaan's and my son.”

  While Tisha gives us a short version of her enslavement I see Doreen taking a deep breath, as if the world is still in one piece.

  Moonray on the other hand doesn't look very happy.

  I don't care. Instead I stand up to hug Quianna and Chloe, who are already clinging to each other. After hearing a short version of Quianna's story I decide that I have to thank Shade for saving her from worse than injury.

  Luckily he isn't far. Tisha is discussing something with Moonray and Doreen. She is shaking her head vehemently. So whatever is going on, she doesn't like it.

  Aswang and Manticore are eating at the table while Shade is standing in front of the big map at the wall. He has one of the trays which are filled with different sandwiches, and is half-heartedly munching on one of them. The map seems of great interest to him.

  “Shade, I wanted to thank you for saving my little sister.” I try to gain his attention by using my sweet voice.

  “Mhmh...” He grumbles, but doesn't spare me a single glance.

  I clench my fists. He is ignoring me! How can h... but didn't I always want that? Someone who doesn't fall for my looks? And when he faced an entire army of warriors he pointed me out as one of the very few who can be his equal. I must say, I am slightly intrigued.

  I step closer. “Shade? Why are you studying the map?”

  Finally, he decides to swallow his food. “I want to know where Enwick went. He is still on my list of people to kill.”

  “To one of his other allies?” I suggest.

  “Who are his other allies?” Shade asks in a moody voice.

  How should I know!? “Maybe you could find the answer at the big clan meeting for unmatched immortals? It is soon.”

  “What a great idea! And why should anyone tell me about my enemy?” He asks befuddled.

  My eyes wander to the others and I find them still occupied with each other. “Why don't we search for somewhere more private and talk about how to punish the slavers!” This man isn't just interesting, he is also driven by the same motivation as me. I also want the people who destroyed my home gone. It's still unclear if Yggdrasil will ever heal from its wounds.

  For the first time Shade pays me real attention. “I suppose the lounge is free?”

  “Great!” I push his back to make him take the lead and follow him down the corridor to another room.

  There we launch into a discussion of what we know of the clans in our vicinity. There is some new information from both sides and Shade seems to have a well of insider information about Inanimatum. It is as if he sucked the knowledge directly out of one of their leaders' brains.

  After a long discussion both of us agree that Imothep and their island in the acid sea are the biggest mystery right now. If anyone has ties to the slavers, it's definitely them. But first we need some hard proof.

  The discussion loses its value when my eyes find an item which looks very similar to a p
honograph. I squeal and hurry towards it. And indeed, a short infusion of magic is enough to produce something like jazz music. I play with the needle until I find a slightly softer tune. That's exactly what I needed!

  I return to Shade and take the tray away from him to place it on the floor. Then I try to hug him, but he steps backwards. I already surmised during our long discussion that he is a little different from other people.

  So I just stay there with my hands spread and tap my foot on the floor. “You have a girl in a private atmosphere and there is wonderful dance music. Do you want to ruin the nice discussion we had?”

  “You want to dance?”

  “Yes.”

  “And discussing on how to find and kill a person is your idea of a nice discussion?”

  “If the person in question deserves it.”

  “You aren't afraid of me? You saw what I am?”

  I sigh and roll my eyes. “Are we really discussing the reasons for and against dancing?”

  At last he shrugs and takes my hand, though soon I have to admit that he is a horrible dancer. Totally stiff, and he moves like a robot! And his hand is a little too low on my hip.

  Not everyone is perfect.

  Finally we resort to swaying with the music. I can't help myself, but being at his chest makes me feel at home. What will happen if we simply part now and don't see each other any more? We live in two different clans. I somehow have to ensure that we meet again.

  When the music stops, I decide to try one last thing to make up my mind about him. “Shade?”

  “Hm?” He grumbles as if waking up from a dream.

  “I still have to thank you for my sister,” I say.

  “Ah, that's no-”

  I reach up and wrap my hands around his head, kissing him. At first he doesn't react, but then our lips part and our tongues meet. I feel a trickle of his power flowing into me and it tastes so unbelievably sweet.