by J. M. Topp
Women sat at the opposite end of the hall, but they were not like the other women in the village. They were concubines. One of them wore thin strands of red lace, covering her brown nipples, tied from her neck and wrapped twice around her belly to extend in between her butt cheeks. The thin ornate lace finally linked to both legs, careful to barely hide her womanhood in between. Others were clothed—if clothed was the term—in the same wrappings as the girl in red—just in yellow and orange. Some of the others only had cloth skirts, exposing their rounded, plump breasts. A few of them lay on the table, putting their buttocks in the air, attracting stray looks from the armoured men around them. They were indeed beautiful. Elymiah felt a warmth in her chest and a tingling between her legs.
A large man sat in a throne made of what looked like bear or lion pelts. He wore greaves and bracers of the same shape as his guard. His armour also seemed to have been made from a boulder. The Keeper of the Reef had a receding line of thin red hair trailing down to a beard, which was tied into two long strands dropping to his chest, and his chin had three white scars extending down to his neck. He frowned as Elymiah neared the throne. He spat and grabbed a girl who was standing beside him and forced her onto his lap. The girl giggled and cradled his head. In his right hand, he held a weapon that was both longer and thicker than any sword Elymiah had ever seen. In fact, upon closer inspection, she could see that it also was made crudely of stone. It couldn’t be called a sword. Though it had obvious edges like a blade, they were blunt. It was more of a bludgeoning weapon. Elymiah was almost so fascinated with the elongated cleaver that she nearly forgot she had an audience with a lord.
‘Bearohd, Keeper of the Reef, I have brought a guest,’ said Coda, bowing low. Elymiah snapped herself from her trance and followed suit.
‘Daemon hunter,’ said Bearohd, glaring at her. ‘These halls are darkened with your presence.’ He turned to Coda and laughed. ‘You have a woman with you, Coda. Have they run out of queer boys and old men in their ranks?’ He laughed, slapping the ass of the girl in his lap. The girl jumped, put her hand under the Bearohd’s loincloth, and began stroking his cock beneath the thick leather. He smiled at Elymiah. ‘My, but an interesting woman, to be sure. Scars and sullen looks. The telltale sign of a woman with a story.’
Bearohd’s eyes were steeled on Elymiah. She looked away, not wanting to meet his gaze.
‘I came to the same conclusion, Lord,’ said Coda, smiling at Elymiah.
‘Tell me, Coda, what did Castellan Kaathe say?’ asked Bearohd.
‘The usual cowering, my lord. He threatened and then pleaded. Fortunately, the Veledred know there is nothing to be done about it. They have a task to kill Kveikur.’
‘You have done well, Coda.’ Bearohd nodded to his messenger. Coda bowed again and then sat beside the king’s guard. He grabbed a turkey leg and bit into it.
‘Why have you come, Veledred?’ asked Bearohd. ‘My messenger was to take a message and return alone. What right do you have to enter Saltkire Hold?’
Elymiah took a deep breath and stepped forward.
‘Keeper of the Reef, my name is Elymiah Farnesse, and I am no Veledred,’ she said, standing tall.
‘Ah, Farnesse. You are Artus’s adoptive daughter. I had heard he left in search for you. I must admit, I wasn’t expecting…this,’ said Bearohd, kissing his concubine on the arm. ‘So you are no Veledred. That makes me a little happier. However, you are still the commandant’s daughter. Now I am just as unhappy.’
‘I am looking for my father. He was lost in the Moonlit Valley, hunting down a cyclops you asked him to kill for you.’
Bearohd pushed the woman from his lap hurriedly. She landed on the floor with a thump and gasped. Then she frowned, got up, and walked out of the main hall.
‘You daemon hunters rely on me to survive. We had a simple deal: you kill that cyclops, and I will resume our treaty of giving the Veledred spices, herbs, medicines, and food. You have not delivered. What is to stop me from attacking Karagh Muín right now?’
‘You misunderstand me, Lord. I do not care about Karagh Muín. I have overstayed my welcome there as well. I do, however, care about my father, and I made a promise to someone. I intend to keep my promise.’
‘A daemon hunter with loyalty to a promise? This is new.’
‘As I said, I am no daemon hunter, Lord.’
‘Regardless, this does not help me. I want that cyclops dead,’ said Bearohd, waving his arm before him as if he were swatting at a fly. ‘I will not lift a finger to help anyone from Karagh Muín until Kveikur is dead.’
‘I intend to kill it,’ said Elymiah, clenching her fist. She had simply blurted the words out, but it was too late to take them back.
‘You?’ Bearohd let out a roar of laughter, as did the guards around him. ‘You walk with a slight limp, you cannot hope even to lift that sword on your hip, and you are missing an arm. How could you kill the mighty Kveikur…no…no…give me a moment!’ The lord’s eyes filled with tears as he roared with laughter. The halls erupted in a chorus as he laughed.
Elymiah had had enough. She put her hand into her pouch, drew the severed tentacle, and threw it at the Keeper of the Reef’s feet. Bearohd’s laughter died in his throat, and his eyes widened.
‘Where did you get that?’ he asked.
‘The armoured kraken that guarded the Karagh Muín bay. I was the one who killed it. I will also kill the cyclops that is destroying your crops and slaying your people. I just need to know how to get into the Moonlit Valley.’
Bearohd stared for a moment longer at the tentacle and then looked back at Elymiah. ‘I will allow you to enter the Moonlit Valley using a secret shortcut, but only on one condition.’
‘Oh?’
‘That you defeat me in combat.’
The hall fell silent. Elymiah realised that all their eyes were on her. She hesitated, Alamánd shifting in its sheath at her hips.
Bearohd stood up from his throne and lifted the massive weapon over his shoulder.
‘You murdered a divine guardian. That kraken was the last of its kind. Did Castellan Kaathe put you up to it, I wonder? No matter. What’s done is done. Alas. What say you?’
Bearohd lifted the massive heap of stone and pointed the blade at Elymiah.
Elymiah drew Alamánd and held the sword lightly before her. Firelight from the torches of the grand hall glinted in the sharp blade’s edge.
‘If I cannot defeat you?’she asked.
‘Then you will remain here. You are no Veledred, and seeing as Castellan Kaathe will not seek retribution, you will be forced to dig latrines for my men,’ said Bearohd. ‘Perhaps you could use that shiny sword of yours to help. If you cannot do that, I’m sure we can find another task. As you see, there are other uses for women here.’
Elymiah glanced at her missing arm.
‘Oh, one arm won’t stop you. We have just the mechanism for lost limbs,’ said Bearohd with a chuckle. He then burst into laughter, as did the men around him. Elymiah had no time for this. She was astounded that Bearohd could even carry such a heavy weapon, but swinging it would be another matter altogether. She could outpace him even with only one hand. She didn’t need any more than that.
‘Deal,’ she said. ‘If I defeat you, however, I will take the fastest steed you own, along with enough food and provisions.’
‘I can agree with those terms. It’s been too long since we’ve seen a good fight.’ Bearohd snarled.
Elymiah gripped her weapon as Coda took a step back.
‘Good luck,’ he said quietly.
Elymiah began to pace to her right, keeping her footing in check. Bearohd twisted the weapon in his hands.
‘You know what, I just got bored,’ he said. In a single movement, he flashed toward her, stopping mere inches before Elymiah, stunning her. Bearohd slapped Alamánd out of her hand and grabbed her by the neck.
‘I do admire your tenacity though, and with only one arm. You didn’t show any fear,’ he said. He slam
med his forehead into her face. Elymiah fell to the floor, her mouth filling with blood. He put the sword point to her neck.
‘This counts, right? She is defeated?’ he asked the men around him. With applause, his guards and all the concubines cheered his win.
Bearohd knelt. ‘Latrine duty. You begin on the southern end, Elymiah Farnesse. Welcome to Saltkire Hold.’
She glanced at Alamánd.
‘I don’t think so,’ said Bearohd. ‘You should know better than to entertain a thought like that.’ He stood up and took the sword in his hands. His fingers seemed too big to hold such a weapon. It almost seemed like a toothpick in his grasp.
‘There is a fire in you, Elymiah Farnesse. It will be the death of you. Three weeks I will take from you, and then you may use Snowfall Mount pass to enter the Moonlit Valley.’ He walked back to his throne and forced another girl onto his lap. ‘Perhaps your father will live long enough to see your face, and if not, you may still recover his corpse. That is, if the cyclops left anything of his body. Now go. I’ve had enough of you.’
Coda tossed a bare turkey bone onto the table and slapped an albino guard on his back. ‘Don’t take all the good pussy now, Wischard,’ he said with a laugh. Then he smiled at Elymiah, holding his hand out to the exit.
‘Shall we go then? I believe there is a mark that will indicate where to start digging.’
CODA SHOVED A rusted iron shovel into Elymiah’s hand. She was defeated. All the will she’d had left was now gone. She held the shovel where she had once held Alamánd. She let it fall to the floor.
‘Ten feet deep and three feet across.’
‘I can’t.’ Elymiah rubbed the cold from her shoulders.
‘This will help, I think.’ Coda held a wooden limb. It was the colour of oak, and it had two wooden prongs on the end. ‘Once, Bearohd captured this sailor that had the idiotic idea of accepting a challenge to a duel, just like you. Obviously, the man lost. I remember he had a hook for a hand. This shovel was specially made for him. He dug the best latrines I have ever seen. It is said that he died in one. I believe we mistakenly thought he had finished a latrine and we put the wooden dropping panel over it and used it. Some people said they heard screams in the night, but we were too drunk to hear him, or too drunk to care.’
‘I can’t do this.’ Elymiah didn’t have the will to look at him.
‘You had better.’
‘What are you going to do about it? Make me dig more latrines?’
‘I won’t, but Bearohd might.’
‘So?’ Elymiah looked over at the mountains encircling the Moonlit Valley. ‘Not having a weapon or guide won’t stop me.’
She clenched her fist and began to walk away in the direction of the mountain range looming in the distance.
‘Seriously? You would be eaten up by snow lions or something worse,’ said Coda, walking up to her. The metal on his belt clinked as he walked. ‘You can’t do this alone.’
‘Maybe not, but I won’t dig latrines.’
‘You have to.’
‘No, I do not.’ Elymiah stopped and turned to him. ‘Why do you care if I get eaten by snow lions? You are one of Bearohd’s men. You do as you are told. I am not of this place.’
‘I am a free man of Saltkire Hold,’ said Coda. ‘The Golden Edict says we can do as we please.’
‘Do as you please? Then help me. I need to find my father, and he is in that valley somewhere. I need your help, Coda.’
Coda let his head down. ‘If I were to help you, Bearohd would hunt me down and kill me. Though I do not have a promise of loyalty to the Keeper of the Reef, he would still treat me like I had broken an oath. They would endlessly hunt me to the ends of the earth and kill me.’
‘Hmm, sounds rough.’ Elymiah clicked her tongue. She turned her back to him and continued down the path. She didn’t know if it was frustration or exhaustion that made her belligerent, but she wasn’t going to give up on her father, despite the fact they had only just been reunited. She didn’t know anything about him, but that didn’t matter. She wouldn’t let him slip through her fingers too.
‘Elymiah, wait!’
‘Fuck off,’ she snapped.
‘I mean it,’ said Coda as he ran up and stood before her. ‘Look, you have spirit, so I will go with you, but I don’t know the way.’
‘Then what use are you?’ Elymiah glared at him. ‘Besides, I thought you would be hunted to death.’
‘Yes, that’s probably true.’
‘Well?’
‘I said I would go with you, but you must wait, at least until I have a map that tells me where to go.’
Elymiah huffed and tried to walk past him, but he put his hand on her shoulder. ‘Elymiah, listen to me, please.’
‘I’m not going to wait, Coda. My father is out there. I really don’t understand why you care so much. Do you want to fuck me?’
‘No! Of course no—wait, is that on the table?’
She spoke through her teeth. ‘Get the fuck out of my way, or I will hurt you.’
‘I won’t let you go alone,’ said Coda, twisting his face.
Elymiah knocked Coda’s hand away with her elbow, but he jumped to stand in front of her once more.
‘I won’t let you—’
She slammed her fist into his exposed stomach. He fell to the ground holding his abdomen, out of breath.
‘Godsdamn,’ he heaved but then carefully stood up. Elymiah groaned in frustration. He walked to stand in front of her. ‘Just give me the two days, and then I will take you. I can’t have you leaving now, and neither can I. Wait until I have a plan.’
‘In three days my father might be dead,’ said Elymiah. ‘That is, if he’s not dead already.’
‘You will die if you go alone. What use will you be to your father then?’
Elymiah sighed. Coda was right. There was nothing to do but to carry out her sentence, and perhaps in two days, she could resume her mission.
She walked back and picked her shovel up. She strapped the wooden limb to her shoulder. ‘I don’t want to see you again, because if I do, I might beat the piss out of you.’
‘You really have to learn to temper your…well, temper,’ said Coda as he walked away. ‘In two days, I will come for you and we will leave.’
Elymiah thrust the shovel into the dirt and slammed on one end with her boot.
ONE DAY HAD come and gone. The sun had shone hot on Elymiah’s back through the day as she had dug, and now the moon illuminated the night sky. Her body ached. She wanted respite, but she had only dug one latrine and a half. Her arm ached, as did her shoulder. She unslung the makeshift shovel from her body and sat in the muddy hole. Crickets chirped in the surrounding jungle, and for once, the heat of Saltkire Hold wasn’t so heavy. She closed her eyes. Her mind wandered as moonlight permeated the murky heavens and shone into the hole.
His lips moved, but what were the words that came from his mouth? Thunder cloaked his words, but she could make them out. He said…
‘Why can’t you just—’
The clearing of a throat made Elymiah’s eyes shoot open. A shadow covered the outline of the moon, and grey eyes glistened down at her. She grabbed the makeshift shovel and held it before her, but the shadow coughed and wheezed.
‘You should not be here,’ said the shadow, not unkindly.
Elymiah realised that it was the old woman she had seen upon her entry to the small village.
‘What do you want?’ asked Elymiah.
‘Ah, I wish I could have predicted meeting you. It would have made my youth that much more free of worry.’ The old woman coughed.
Elymiah didn’t know what to make of the intrusion, so she slung the makeshift shovel and dug it into the dirt, shaking sleep from her shoulders. She threw a clod of mud over her shoulder and then tilted her head slightly to see the old crone still staring down at her.
‘You are lost,’ said the woman.
‘Thanks. What gave me away?’
‘Purpose
,’ said the woman. ‘I have finally found mine.’
Elymiah shoved the end of the apparatus into the dirt again and looked up. ‘I have a sentence to carry out. If you don’t mind, I would rather do so in solitude.’
The woman smiled wide and produced a shovel from behind her back.
‘I am afraid you cannot help me,’ said Elymiah.
‘I did not come to help.’
‘Oh?’
The old woman jumped into the half-dug latrine and turned to Elymiah. ‘I have seen the future, and you shine brightly. The light you brought blinded me, and now I cannot see anything but darkness. Yet I see the outline of a woman with a destiny ten times greater than any mortal. There is a bright jewel in your future, Elymiah Farnesse. It is my duty to relieve you, and if you hurry, you will find Coda has made a breakthrough and will be leaving Saltkire Hold shortly. Lord Bearohd will not give chase, as I have made myself your surrogate.’
The old crone smiled once more and set herself to digging. Elymiah gaped at the woman. She didn’t know what to believe, but then Coda came to mind. If he had found a way up the mountain, they could be on their way to the Moonlit Valley before much longer.
Elymiah pulled herself up from the edge of the latrine and took one last look at the woman. She was in no shape to be digging at her age—Elymiah could tell by the way the old crone struggled to stamp on the shovel.
‘Don’t mind me. You have made me the happiest woman in the world. Please, allow me to serve this kindness,’ said the crone.
