They had finished their sweep of the keep, and a few isolated pockets of resistance had been dealt with as the wounded were tended and sorted. Those who could fly, those who could fight, and those who could do neither. Tom had ventured forth into the night, picking the best of what was left to accompany him. That left Rachuck to hold their keep in case of any enemy action.
The dark knight armor and the crowns had been moved to the grand hall with great care. They all knew that touching such artifacts carried a very real risk of terrible consequences. Ropes, thick canvas, and smith’s tongs had only done so much to alleviate their fears, but it would appear nothing terrible had happened, yet.
“The deadline was for the first light of dawn, shouldn’t we wait?” Herron asked. The guard was one of the few uninjured people not sent with Tom into the night. That meant he became part of their reaction force, should they be needed. It was of course Tom’s idea, and Rachuck did not like it. But even he would not leave people to die in the grasp of such a foe. It was a fate worse than death to all.
“We are waiting for Jarix. And for Tom,” Rachuck retorted as they walked the corridors.
“Tom? What’s he up to? Some crazy invention?” the guard questioned. Not all knew the plan yet. It was not as if time was a luxury they possessed a great deal of.
“No no, we are simply letting him be himself for a bit. Talons crossed we don’t pick him up in a bucket afterwards. You should be ready to fly at a moment’s notice. We wait in the greeting hall by Yldril. If she hasn’t expired yet.”
“But uhm… Rachuck, shouldn’t we, you know… Try to keep him from harm? He is kinda important. Paulin sure thinks so.”
“Can you see in the dark? No? Good, neither can I. And neither can they. Not to mention it was hard enough to borrow that damn cape off him once. A damn shame Maiko couldn’t go with him though. Ray would have been an asset too. Sadly she is needed elsewhere.” Herron looked like he was going to say something, but Rachuck just shook his head. “To the greeting hall. If the shooting starts, send for me at once. I believe I am needed in the infirmary.”
“Don’t let mum keep you. Don’t wanna fight without you, ain’t no one left to give orders.”
“Believe me, I am aware,” the captain replied darkly. He was so very bitter that he could not go with them to enact his revenge. But he could not leave his post. He could never leave his post. Especially not now. He had failed enough as it stood already.
“What have you got?” Tom questioned as they all lay pressed against the hill top watching. They had found the crash site and so far seemed to remain undetected. They had needed to dispatch a perimeter guard quietly, he didn’t even say a peep.
It was much easier when you could see in the dark and they could not. The recent acquisition of a deformed goo looking black spot in the middle of his night vision goggles certainly didn’t help matters, but the ability to creep up in the dark without making a single sound certainly did.
“It’s a mighty big corpse, no doubt. He is dead. Few darklings milling about. I think they are stripping him… Yes, they are taking his armor off, or what’s left of it. As well as who knows what else he might have been carrying,” Dakota replied, her enhanced eyesight working wonders with a pair of the magical night vision goggles, even if it relegated her helmet to her belt for now.
With them was Jacky of course, unwilling to leave his side, though she had kept her helmet and elected to just follow along beside him where the moon’s light may guide. A few times clouds objected to the plan and a helping hand had sufficed instead. Behind her came Sapphire, who was in in much the same predicament. She had come along in case they needed her talents or had to start shooting. She had brought a fresh supply of grenades which, with Jacky’s help, they could toss a pretty impressive distance, though she may need to borrow the goggles to guide them home. Lastly was Kokashi, with Lin’s magical goggles. They would prove very useful at finding any traps or knowing what may be safe to touch or not. And they worked without any light to speak of too.
Tom had considered asking Edita to come along, but the seasoned swordsman seemed a better choice. With a quick hot meal and some sweets on board, they were as ready for their plan as could be.
Tom had explained who exactly the white dragon might be, much to his reluctance. To be honest they were not here risking their skin for his sake nor Elsara’s, who must be the other dragonette prisoner. They were here for Radexi. They could not leave him behind. Zarko had reported he had simply fallen off mid-flight. Tom blamed the machinegun. Perhaps the enchantments had knocked him out cold. If so, there had been nothing he could do.
So the plan was simple. Get Radexi back alive and try to fuck up the darklings’ attempts at recovering whatever they were working on. If they wanted it, they were not allowed to have it. One thing was for certain, they were not handing over either lichplate or witch crowns to whoever this ‘Prince of Morkela’ was, so either this worked, or Radexi would have his story cut rather short.
“No sign of a knight? Or a white dragon? Shouldn’t be that hard to find. He’s bigger than a horse.”
“I will look up a picture of a horse later, but no. There is no sign of them,” Dakota replied.
“Bastard keeping them in a separate camp, splitting the eggs between the baskets,” Tom grumbled as he started to come up with ideas for how to quickly find a hidden camp somewhere out here in the middle of the night.
“Now eggs and baskets I am familiar with. Should we confer with Jarix? He did find this camp.”
“He should already be searching for them. And he knows what he’s looking for. Who knows, maybe they covered them in dirt and grass or something. Not too hard to hide from the air at night.”
“What about these things?” Kokashi questioned, tapping his goggles. “What’s the range on these?”
“No clue, I guess we’re about to find out. Same drill looking for a white light, but try not to look through a hill or something. There are limits to what they can see through apparently.”
“Yeah yeah, got it last time,” the guard dismissed, standing up and taking a look around. “I don’t see a damn thing.”
“Well shit,” Jacky let out, echoing what they all thought.
“Oh shit indeed… We can’t just wander about waiting to stumble into them. And they ain’t gonna be dumb enough to start a fire if they are trying to hide,” Tom muttered, half under his breath. “Now what?”
“I say we wait for a messenger,” Dakota said, not moving from her observation spot. “He will want to know the progress of the work being done. I also do not see any terrors, and they are the only thing which could carry away armor pieces like that.”
“Which means they are either in the air or with the knight and the prisoners.”
“Indeed, they will be here to begin loading at some point. That will not be a swift process, either.”
“So we wait then?”
“Yes, we wait. I shall take the first watch. Sapphire you shall be next.”
“Say when,” Saph was quick to reply as they got comfortable on the small grassy ridge. At least they were in a fairly comfortable spot.
“Give me a kick when it’s go time. I need a fucking nap,” Jacky declared as Tom heard the sound of her rolling over in the grass and letting out a long deep sigh.
‘Yeah… I’m probably not gonna sleep that well.’
“I’m telling you, bruv, they ain’t coming for the pair of us. We like, totally stole from them and shit. Most of ‘em don’t even know who we are,” Elsara declared loudly. Loudly enough she was quite certain that piece of shit in the armor could hear.
They were all three tied up between a bunch of trees. She could hear water nearby gently lapping against a shore, maybe a lake. There was no light at all save for what trickled down between the branches, the leaves only just starting to sprout.
“So it was you?” the little scrawny army guy let out next to her, apparently surprised.
‘Shit they hadn’t actually worked it out? Fuck, we really should just have run off with that thing.’
“Uuuuh… I mean… Yeah sure, didn’t you know?” she responded, leaning in to it. “We didn’t have shit to do with any of this, so if you could just let us be on our way we won’t tell a soul, you can keep the bits. There’s some good shit in there, worth a pretty gem I’m telling you. Or if there’s anything else you need right?”
“You hid within our walls, ate our food, left without even a thank you, and now what? You just wanna sell us out? We weren’t even told who you were, but we weren’t dumb enough to not work out someone visited. Mind telling us why? Since we ain’t getting out of this alive anyway. And they’ll definitely know when you turn grey.”
“Hey, we’re definitely worth more shiny and white. We were just looking for food, you know? Maybe a place to crash while the weather was real shit. Not the first time we’ve stayed in a sleeping keep. Not like anyone minds that if you don’t break shit.”
“Yeah they do mind. Who does that? Breaking in, in the middle of winter, eating peoples’ food? They kinda need that. Not to mention how? How are you out during a storm like that? Everyone would be dead out there, save for your wyrmling dragon there.”
“Hey, Nick ain’t a wyrmling. He’s older than I am. And I think I’m older than you, nips. And the fuck do you mean we? You got big town guard written all over you. You ain’t from out here. No fucking way.”
“I’ve lived here for nearly a year now. I’d say that counts.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? That doesn’t fucking count, not one bit. Ain’t nothing in that keep that’s yours. And what is, I didn’t steal.”
“Uhm guys, maybe you should keep quiet,” Nick tried, his voice muffled but clearly worried. His muzzle had been tied shut to stop any chilly outbursts. Quickly, Elsara gave a glance to the knight, and he was now paying them full attention. “What are you looking at? Need something stolen? I’m sure we can work that out. But like, we gotta not be turned into a mindless slave to do that you know.”
“Do you always talk so much when you are nervous? Please carry on. Do tell me, what did you steal from that interesting little keep? I think it is fair to say by now it is no ordinary frontier dwelling.”
“Oh just food, some camping supplies. You know, winter essentials.”
“You are quite good at lying, aren’t you? Do you lie often? To friends, famil- oh no, never mind that one. Perhaps yourself? It comes natural to you, well done,” the knight chided as he walked closer, pitch black armor polished to a shine giving the slightest glint in the moon light.
She’d never even seen a dark knight before, but there was no doubt in her mind. Red eyes, black armor, and pitch black scales in the few spots you could see them. The kind of fiend you’d scare children with before bedtime. She had a feeling this wasn’t gonna be one of those where you lived happily ever after if he got his way.
“And why would I lie, that’d just give you a reason to turn me into one of them darklings.” She sneered, with less conviction that she would have liked, averting her gaze.
“Oh now now now, please, look me in the eye. I haven’t harmed you in the slightest yet. It’s certainly better than you deserve for that little maneuver. Or perhaps it’s the big one I should be plucking scales off?”
She turned her head to look at the knight, staring at his red eyes and that cold dark helmet. She could feel him smile under the flowing metal of the helmet. He was enjoying himself far far too much right now. A darkling came walking over and handed him something. He held it up before her so she may see, and her heart sank a little.
A rectangular leather bound block. He removed the coverings and revealed the book. Of course they had found it and worked out it didn’t belong amongst the rest of the trinkets and odd ends they were carrying. Cause they couldn’t just have been lucky for once, now could they?
“Ahr, so you do recognize this. I must say, it is fascinating. The paper, so fine. So fresh. This isn’t an old book, now is it? It is brand new, it is even shiny, look. The cover shines even in moonlight.” He held up the book and twisted it back and forth. True to his word you could see the shine coming off the strange thick paper or whatever it was.
“Now, why don’t you tell me a little about what this is? And I may consider your previous proposition.”
Elsara didn’t answer right away, not because she wouldn’t want to explain her way to freedom, but because she couldn’t. She had no idea what it was about save for the pictures. And they didn’t make a lick of sense. It was all a bunch of diagrams, shapes, and strange looking symbols. It may as well be magic for all she knew…
“Oh ehm, well I’m not a mage, so I don’t know. But it looked like spells to me.”
That certainly got his attention. “You stole a book on spell craft from under their noses?” He looked at the book, curiosity piqued.
“Yeah man, I told you. We find things. I was gonna sell it back in one of the big cities for a cart full of gold, but you know what? You can have it.”
“HOW FUCKING DARE YOU SELL OUT TOM’S SECRETS! HE LET YOU IN! HE FED YOU!” Radexi screamed and swore, thrashing against his restraints to try and get at Elsara. The knight gestured quickly and muttered something, and a darkling went to force his mouth shut. “YOU USELESS FUCKING BI-”
“Now, now, you will have your turn. So what kind of magic spells are we talking about here?”
“I don’t know, I can’t read it. Strange language I ain’t seen before. But there are plenty of paintings though. I promise you ain’t ever seen anything like it. Best handiwork I’ve ever come across.”
The knight glanced at the book in a new light. Or rather the lack of it. “You there, torch. Bring it close. Shield the light with your wings.” It didn’t take long before an obedient slave brought forth a lit torch, holding it close, standing with wings spread to try and catch the light.
The light shone against the familiar cover. They had done well to preserve the delicate book. It might be very well made, but it was hardly stout. The pages were incredibly thin and delicate. The dark knight beheld it with reverence.
“Oh right, careful, the pages are super thin and delicate. Just you know. It would be a shame to tear a page.”
“Of course. You come here, kneel on all fours. I require a table.” Another darkling rocked up from the darkness and did as instructed, kneeling before its master to serve as a book stand.
The tome of knowledge was put down and gingerly opened, then page after page was turned.
“I don’t know what the start is all about, bunch of lines and stuff, but if you turn a few the meat starts to pop up,” Elsara egged on, speaking truth for once. And as a page was turned revealing another of the masterful paintings of what must be some arcane rituals or something the knight held steady and stared.
“I… I have never seen runes like this before, and you told no lie of the contents. The simple shapes, lines intercepting, and runes… This must be spells. These are simple, only three lines or four. It is an instruction book.” He spoke with reverence, grasping perhaps half the pages and turning them over to skip forwards, turning a few more till he found what he sought.
“Yes, look. It is incomprehensible now. Spellcraft befitting of a true master to be sure.” He nodded to himself.
As he admired the book, Elsara caught the eye of the seething army dude turned keep dweller. However he ended up out here. And she tried to wink to him, glancing towards the torch.
It took a few tries before he caught on, but finally he did as understanding dawned on him and he nodded, remaining silent as realization worked its way across his face.
‘Thank fuck. You’re not a complete moron despite ending up out here… I probably should be careful who I call stupid for that, shouldn’t I?… Nah, I’m a moron too,’ she concluded, clearing her throat and getting the knight’s attention.
“I thought I’d find someone who could do a translation spell or something to have a look at it.”
“Ahr yes, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone like that here,” the knight spoke, seeming… resentful, or perhaps reminiscing. She wasn’t quite sure.
‘Oh shit did they have someone like that? A witch? Or whatever they were called. Fuck I hope they are dead already.’
“Not to be insensitive or something, but I don’t think they’ll let you inside the city walls to go ask about getting it translated. But if you take my drift here, maybe we could figure that out? We’re like totally into finding strange old things, we know people.”
“Yet you still talk too much for your own good. I will find another witch. Maybe Kalesi will even be punished for her treachery. But for now, we wait. Your friends have something of mine, and I expect it back. If they hand it over you may live. We have lost this fight already, what is the point in any more needless bloodshed?
“Oh yeah sure, sure,” Elsara agreed, nodding. ‘Yeah, ain’t no fucking way that’s happening now is there?’
He looked to the book before him then to the torch and went to close the book.
‘Ahr shit,’
“Took you long enough to work that out, shithead,” the scrawny army guy spoke up, the knight turning slowly to face him. “You know for how clever you seem to think you are, took you a fucking while to work out how truly screwed you were.”
“You seem to suffer from much the same problem. How old are you? Fifteen? Would you like to be older some day?” the knight questioned in a bemused tone.
“Eighteen, and fuck you. I ain’t getting out of this alive. Traitors like you ain’t got a shred of honor. You’ll never stick to any deal like that.”
“And you people would?” he replied sarcastically. “Oh please. You may be young, but you cannot be that naive.”
“You betrayed us, not the other way around,” the little guy fired back, standing his ground. Elsara was growing more and more anxious, glancing towards Nick, who was keeping his mouth shut and starting to move his head away. He did not want to see it, if the worst was to happen.
“I betrayed you? Oh that is precious. Do you even know who I am? Why I am here?”
“No, and why should I care?”
“Because. You. Betrayed. Me. You sent us all to die, and you did not even bother to send a helping claw. Please, don’t try to teach me about honor or loyalty.” He stepped up closer, looming over the old kid.
“And no, you are not going to die today. Maybe your friends come, maybe they don’t. Should they uphold their end of the bargain, I shall try to teach you a lesson, so you may be less of a fool in the future.
“Firstly, my name is Lucera. They call me the Prince of Morkela. It’s a funny joke you see. It means prince of darkness in an old northern tongue. I was an heir to the throne once. Thirteenth in line, mind you. Just important enough to be sent as a gesture of good faith when nothing of true substance could be spared. My father sent me to die, little one. He sent me to die for a gesture.
“But of course that would be much too cruel to send me alone. So he sent my friends with me as well. Wasn’t that nice of him? And when they were all dead in some long forsaken cave in the middle of a jungle far down and far south, who came to save us? That’s right. Our sworn enemy. The darklings came for me. They fought their way in, they buried my friends, and they fought their way out, bringing me along.
“They offered me a choice, and they offered me the truth. They don’t fight to wipe us out. They fight to snatch the power from the gods, the gods who abandoned us to die. When was the last time someone answered your prayer? Came to your aid, shielded us. From the horrors that be?”
“They warned us you were coming.” The young man replied, standing tall as he puffed out his chest. “And since you are running away and hiding like a rat, it sounds to me like they were helping us all along. Maybe you were just never worth helping.”
“They don’t care about helping you.” Lucera retorted with pitiful scorn. “They wish to spite us. We are a threat, you are chattel to feed on. My masters threaten the gods, we want to keep our power here, so we can wield it to protect ourselves. To remake the world that once was. I have seen the ancient tomes your Church and Inquisition lock away. We used to rule the world! We could mold it to our every desire. Even the lowly farmer may pray for rain and his words were heeded.”
“Now we are a pathetic shrinking bastion fighting against the dying of the light. But that light is what traps us, what rules us. And if we want to be free, we have to snuff it out…”
Silence reigned for a moment in the small encampment. Elsara caught herself weighing the dark knight’s words for a moment. They had found many tales of grandeur, cities, temples, fortresses. All abandoned. Inscriptions showing ordinary people wielding magic unlike they ever could. And the bond with Nick. That had been a very old temple and it was unlike anything she had ever heard of before.
“You know… If I didn’t know what a doetna was, that might actually have been convincing.” Radexi then snapped back. “We fight against you. If you weren’t here, everything would be fine. Maybe the gods needing to fight your masters is why there is no one to answer the poor farmer. Ever think of that?”
Elsara closed her eyes expecting a quick slash, but nothing came.
“… You what?” the dark knight questioned, clearly taken off guard by something.
“Tom told us all about them. The big nasty grey slugs giving all you guys orders. You ain’t fighting to take back anything. You’re just fighting to put other much worse masters in power. They are using you to play their game. Nothing more.”
“It was nice knowing you, kid,” Nick let out.
‘I appreciate the bit, but would you just shut up?!’ Elsara cursed to herself, more worried a pissed off dark knight might just think she should be next.
“You still think me a monster, don’t you? Because I fight for those who cared, for those who answered my prayers. When was the last time you had your prayers answered? The gods used to walk this world. No one alive has seen one. They only take, they do not give. My masters give too, that is the difference.”
“When they warned us you were coming. Maybe you just weren’t worth saving,” the young man replied, doing his best to stare down the dark knight. “Why would the gods help some whining child who screwed up a mission? If you were royalty then you had everything you needed. They didn’t send you to die, you just failed, and I’m willing to bet you failed those who came with you, too.”
“… You haven’t got the faintest idea what it means to be a royal… It is all grand balls and silk to you. I will teach you, don’t you worry. You, put out that torch. We are moving, we cannot stay here.”
‘Oh for fuck’s sake,’ Elsara cursed as she stared at the army guy, and for once she actually felt sorry. “Went a little too hard there, bud.”
“Do you wanna die without speaking your mind? I sure don’t,” he retorted, staring ahead, appearing resigned to his fate. Whatever it might be.
“They were definitely here. Footprints. Bits of cut away rope over there. Probably prisoners, I doubt they were building shelters,” Dakota concluded, looking around. The goggles truly were a godsend in these conditions. She could see clear as day, even if everything had a bit of a strange blue tint.
“Depends on how much of a diva this guy is. He called himself a prince,” Sapphire retorted. “He had seemed rather full of himself, and he does have a literal army of slaves at his beck and call.”
“Did, Sapphire, he did.”
“Big prints over here. Gotta be this dragon they were talking about… If they have him tied up, they probably ain’t flying are they?” Tom questioned, crouching down by a large tree that had pretty clearly been used as a tying post for something big.
“It is possible at least. They may try to coerce him into compliance, but it is a big risk to take. I do not believe this prince is in any mood for further risks tonight. Which would mean we can follow the trail. Even if it’s just the big guy leaving it, it’d be a trail worth the fletchings. Let’s see where it goes,” Dakota said as she started to search the perimeter for a path away from the camp.
“I guess bringing Balethon really would have been the right call then, ey?” Sapphire grumbled as she went to help, knowing well enough she wouldn’t be much good without the goggles, but he could sniff out a trail like that with no trouble if there were even half a dozen darklings walking along. Knowing their luck, there were probably more.
“He was hardly walking, let alone flying. Now come on, let’s find Radexi and make it quick, the sky will start to brighten soon. Can’t be that hard, it’s a dragon.”
“Small dragon, no taller than me at the shoulder,” Tom added. “He’s a good kid. Sad as it is, they probably came back trying to help. Maybe when they found Deriva abandoned. They already knew about Hylsdal.”
“And it’s night, but let’s give it a go. Let’s find the pair of headaches who need saving.”
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