by Jeff Shanley
ripped out his heart. And for no clearer reason than my own savage desire, I relished in the gore and blood and fire, and ate Tisîro’s heart.
I came back into my man-form, and dragged my brother’s lifeless body out of his chambers and out onto the top of his own fortress. I raised his body high above my head and let loose a thunderous howl that echoed throughout the city and the surrounding plain. In my mind, I imagined that it reached to the very gates of Mānakhašu. The people awoke abruptly, and filed out into the open space before the fortress. Men, women, and children all came and marveled at what they saw. And for the first time for many of them, they knew fear, and knew it by the sight they witnessed before them.
“People of Padakis, look upon your great Lord!” I cried to them. Holding the lifeless body of Tisîro over my head I willed it to take human form again, upon which I ripped the head off and tossed the body into the midst of the crowd below. There was a wet thud as it hit the stone, splattering with red blood and entrails. The women screamed in terror, and the men’s eyes glowed yellow in fear.
“I am Azgharáth Redborn, son of your beloved Kingfather Manakh, and soon you will bow before me as High Lord. I will bring you out of the naïveté you have endured for millennia on end, cowering before the White Wolves while you know not why. I come before you as a servant of one mightier than the Eldest! Behold the Servant of Ak’horos, people of Padakis, and tremble at the sight.
“Those who swear fealty to me shall be rewarded greatly, and in time we will bring our people where they belong: Supreme above all others who dare challenge us, kings of lands of our choosing! Your lord Tisîro followed Íne, and Manakh, and see the fate that befell him!”
And with that, I hurled my eldest brother’s head with all my might and it sailed through the night. Until it came to the high wall of Padakis, and impaled itself on a tall, black iron spike, in through the neck and out through his right eye, his mouth still agape in surprise. How very amusing.
The men who feared for their lives bowed before me on sight, and their wives and children followed suit. There were a few scattered who remained on two feet, but I saw four large shapes weaving through the people. And to my great delight Yehâgaf, Ecálos, Ekannar, and my precious Kalahoth slew those few that still stood, spilling their innards on the stone. And that was all it took.
Padakis was mine.
FOUR
Now rather than lay waste to Bazôkaš right after my conquest of Padakis, I decided to rest. I brought my people to that city, and nominally appointed Yehâgaf as Tisîro’s successor, and sent emissaries to Manakh to tell him so. Manakh was so aggrieved that he slew the messengers after they had delivered their words, and sent an army to lay siege to the city. Of course, I’m certain that in retrospect he might have thought better to send a larger attacking force; merely ten thousand, against an army of thirty thousand of my own?
They were wiped out in less than a century, though a few still tried to play hero and ambush the city, but they were brought before me. Some cowered in fear, some spat in my face. But nearly all of them died, and Manakh was displeased. But Kahacîr saw what I was doing, and what I had done for Yehâgaf, and he was intrigued. In the dead of night he sent word to me, begging for me to kill his father, and yet the swine did not have the spine to do it himself. No doubt out of fear for the Kingfather’s wrath, but no worry. His time would come.
I spent the next part of several centuries, nearly a millennium in fact, growing my now diverse army, through breeding and training, readying them to strike at the mountainous fortress of Bazôkaš. Bazôgoþ had built his city literally into the northernmost mountains of the Great Peaks. This would require more than simply infiltrating the city, and undoubtedly Bazôgoþ’s loyalty was now doubly toward the Kingfather, but I knew that Kahacîr’s was all mine. And this caused strife between them, to say the least. I reveled in this. The scales were beginning to tip in my favor, and soon I would bring them crashing down upon Manakh’s head.
It was one day, almost a thousand years after the conquest of Padakis that Ak’horos the Mighty came to me in my thoughts again.
You have done well thus far, Servant. But you cannot grow idle, now you must further your powers. This war will last for many millennia, but that is no worry to you, for My protection is upon you. You will be the one to bring down the abhorrent Kingfather, and I will set you up on a high throne as lord over all you see. And you will not forget the service you must render unto me, Servant. You must gather the Lifestones.
“I will, Master,” I said. “We will leave now.”
I gathered my generals: Kalahoth, Ecálos, Ekannar, and the leader of the Northpacks, Kuhâ’ax. Kuhâ’ax knew Bazôkaš’s layout well, and was in fact sent by Kahacîr himself. Recently, it was reported that Bazôgoþ had imprisoned his own son for sharing with my ideals, but there were those who were loyal to him and longed to see the Kingfather deposed.
“Gather seventy thousand men,” I said to them, “leave thirty thousand to defend Yehâgaf. Ak’horos knows he’ll need it.” My generals laughed, echoing my disgust for Tisîro’s whelp of a son.
“We take form at nightfall, and run,” I said. “No one stops; if they do, they die. Understood?” The four nodded and I retired to my chambers. I took to bed some desperate whore that night, and undoubtedly she was satisfied, but I would not be. Not until I had what was mine.
We began our march at high Moon, and seventy thousand wolves rushed over the dark plains of Kânavad. We journeyed by night, never by day, and within a fortnight were well hidden within the Northernwoods. I pride myself on my words, and as I write this I can tell you I remember each and every man who fell behind, for they were brought before me. And they all met the same fate.
Scouts were sent to assess our point of attack on Bazôkaš. They reported to me that recently my elder brother had further fortified his mountainous fortress by carving deeper into the mountains themselves. There were many levels and terraces high above the ground, they reported, some at least five hundred feet and suspended on massive spikes of pure stone seven hundred feet thick, and to them it seemed impassable. But a month later, after much hard work, we welcomed Kahacîr into our fold. He had been rescued by Kuhâ’ax and his son Ehóxar from one of the Hanging Pillars of Bazôkaš, wherein Bazôgoþ had constructed massive prisons for his enemies and enemies of the Kingfather.
“My father’s loyalty to Mênecoth blinds him, High Lord,” he said on bended knee. Swearing his fealty to me right then and there without fear, I knew he was a man to be trusted. “He knows not that you have your eyes on him from these Northernwoods, and I hope you intend to keep it that way until the opportune moment.”
“Indeed I do,” I remember replying, “Rest assured dear nephew, your father will not know that I have begun to strike until my fangs are at his neck. Does that please you?”
“It does, High Lord,” Kahacîr said again, “and I look forward to doing your will in the name of Ak’horos. I do believe that only through Him could you have attained such power.”
“You are wise to do so,” I said. “Your father, however, has yet to bear witness. But come; tell me all you know of Bazôkaš. Your father never did invite me in after all, I would have no knowledge of his city if I were to pass its gates.”
Kahacîr laughed, “The city is laid out in a threefold fashion: There is a main quarter, built at the base of the North’s End, the furthest of the Great Peaks. That part is very wide, and curves with the mountain so that it would be very hard to traverse with many troops. There is a second level, where massive terraces are carved above the bottom quarter, into the very face of the mountain itself. These are very tall and very narrow, and are only accessible through tunneled stairways cut into the mountain itself. These are strategically placed throughout the city, and even I myself do not know their exact locations.
“This is the final and most important feature of the city, High Lord: the mountain has a natural curve which arcs over Bazôkaš and shades the bottom level o
f the city from the glare of the sun. At the summit of this great dome near to the edge of the outer face are several great stalactites that hang over the city. These I’m sure your scouts have reported to you. It is in the greatest one that my father resides, so as to watch over the whole of Bazôkaš. It is nigh impossible to get to.”
I leaned forward, concerned. This was expected, but disturbing nonetheless. I had certainly tarried more than a little in my planning, and now I was paying the price for it. Then I heard the sound of wolves. I rushed out of my tent, Kalahoth and Ekannar behind me, and in the distance I saw what to others appeared to be a small avalanche cascading down a nearby mountainside. But I knew better.
“White Wolves!” I cried, “Into formation, all of you! Now!” Kalahoth roared and bolted forth in the likeness of a great black wolf, and Ecálos and Ekannar did the same. Soon the air was thick with howling and snarling, my brethren in arms racing headlong towards our ultimate enemy, our true enemy. But the White Wolves stopped, and together let loose a single howl that threw my men back. I ran to the fore, and the force of the howl was such that I assumed my man-form.
“What is it? What do you beasts want?” I demanded.
Is that any way to
