Take the Darkness...: Epic Fantasy Series (10 page)

Chapter 19

Seraphina had never seen a look of such pure glee on a face before, and certainly didn’t except to see it on the face of the silver woman. It sent a thrill of fear and rage up her spine. She’d heard that howl and had never heard the Wolvern in so much pain. She’d heard anger and rage, but never pain like that, and then it had stopped. Now she was here with a look of such happiness on her face. Seraphina stood in the guise of Seth and went to her as she said, ‘Come, champion.’ She heard the words in that ancient Northern dialect, but felt no pull to obey. They were just words to her, and yet she needed to play along.

‘Yes, mistress.’ She replied simply and walked slowly to her side.

The silver woman surveyed the slaughter field of bodies. ‘You’re growing stronger and stronger every battle, and now we are so close to the end. Soon you’ll be among my people and we can start our work truly.’

‘Why are you so happy?’ Seraphina asked in Seth’s voice.

‘So curious, champion. I’ll show you why I’m so happy.’ She said.

They followed a faint trail of huge claw prints and human feet in the snow. Each was a great distance from the next and Seraphina knew they traced the trail of the Wolvern. Now she would see what had truly become of her protector. They walked for a few minutes and then she saw the darkness of the blood and the body of her fallen friend.

The creature looked much less fearsome now. It was still huge, but its head slumped into the snow and its entire white hairless wolf body was surrounded by snow soaked black with its blood. Its long rat’s tail was curled up next to it, and those sharp yellow eyes were closed. At the sight, Seraphina could barely control her rage. She just wanted to plunge her sword blade into this bitch’s bare back.

‘The beast is dead finally. Many times we faced each other over the years, but this time he took all of my power. I think he thought he could defy me, as if that was possible.’

Seraphina couldn’t control herself, and she sank to her knees and started to cry. Her knees sank into the bloodstained snow and she rested her version of Seth’s head against the creature’s snout. She spoke though the sobs of tears. ‘You fucking bitch, he was noble and strong and you killed him.’ Seraphina felt strong hands pull her to her feet by the collar.

‘What the hell is this, champion? Where is my control!’ She yelled.

‘Fuck your control, I’m going to kill you,’ she said, overcome with emotion.

The silver woman tossed her aside into the snow and laughed. ‘I understand now, I used my power on him and released you. Never mind, champion, soon you’ll be back safely with me. I command you to obey me.’

Seraphina wanted nothing more than to fight, but she’d had her outburst and knew it was only luck that had saved her this time. ‘I’m sorry, mistress, I will obey.’

‘Good, doesn’t it feel better to not have to decide, but just let me decide for you?’

‘Yes, mistress,’ she said, standing and walking to her side.

‘Friends with that dirty animal,’ she said with a laugh, kicking the body of the Wolvern lightly with her foot.  ‘What a funny thing to say.’

Seth saw it all from a distance and was ready to rush in with his own sword drawn if the silver lady had drawn against Seraphina in his guise. It was so strange to see himself walking around and talking. He saw her by the fallen body of the Wolvern, and saw too the deep emotion she felt. More than ever, he regretted what he’d done to her. Truly she was a decent person. A member of the Dark Guild through and through, but loyal no doubt. He felt her grief as his own. This creature had led him on a dark path, but it had also saved his life all those months ago in the study with Stephan.

He was in danger now himself, he knew, as he was alone for the first time in the land of the dead, with no protectors. Once Seraphina and Silver had moved away, he ran through the snow to where the Wolvern lay. It looked so small and defeated now. Its powerful body half covered with snow and a ring of black blood all around its body. Seth wouldn’t cry for his fallen brother, but he was angry. He didn’t know much about this Silver, but he didn’t like the idea of her or her people at all. The land of the dead was so far from what he’d expected. No legend or stories he’d been told as a child said anything like this. A land of permanent cold and darkness. Where the dead were like animals and were hunted by silver-haired creatures for their food.

The land of the dead was meant to be a place where those who’d passed on journeyed through and finally came to their place of judgement. There was no judgement here, or moving on. Just an endless suffering. He couldn’t even imagine what had happened to the dead he’d killed again: was he destroying their souls?

He knelt by the Wolvern and almost by instinct stroked its huge head. ‘I’m sorry, friend, you’ve fallen, but you’ll be avenged. I’ll cut that bitch’s tongue out of her mouth. I just wish I could start a fire and send you off the true Northern way.’

He felt a twinge of heat in his right hand when he said the word ‘fire’. Deep in his mind, he thought of the sun. The burning, cleansing power of it. Without knowing why, he said the words ‘Give me fire and take the cold’. The heat in his hand ignited and it felt locked to the Wolvern; he tried to pull his hand back but it was fixed, like skin to a hot brand. He watched as the powerful creature’s body burst into flames before him. As the flames took, his hand came free and he rolled back into the snow. Standing quickly he watched with complete shock as the flames soon leapt and grew until he could see nothing of the Wolvern and had to step back from the heat of the now raging blaze. Seth looked at the sun symbol on his hand that was now just a simple scar again. What power he had absorbed into it?

Seth tried not to think too much about it, and just said the Northern prays to a fallen friend. He’d asked for the fire and was given it. As the fire burned, he began to hear something. It was a low growl, and it grew in strength and power until he saw something moving within the huge fire in front of him. Seth stepped back as the massive creature leapt fully from the flames, unburnt.

It looked at him with familiar yellow eyes, but it had changed. Its body was now covered in thick white hair and its tail, once long and rat–like, was fully like that of a wolf, if much longer. It opened its mouth and howled in triumph. Its elongated jaw yawned open, that of a normal wolf, but still with double rows of teeth. It was even bigger than before and stood almost as tall as Seth while it was still on all fours.

The Wolvern looked at him and spoke in his mind. ‘
You almost had it right, but the words are ‘give us the sun and take the darkness’.

Chapter 20

She’d waited ‘til Goldie had left and then rolled out from under the wagon and looked at the fallen body of the Captain, and the sword wound in his stomach which had killed him. It made no sense: the man should have been Goldie’s natural ally and now they would have to get there little rogue army on the road even sooner to escape the investigation of who had killed him.

As she’d left the front city gates, she’d seen groups of rough men milling around, talking, laughing and waiting, even the rat-face from last night was there. Clearly the early birds of the Red Bastards and the random men that Goldie had hired. She guessed they would be marching within a few hours time and would head straight for the Duke’s camp to start negotiations on the cost of a keep.

Pulling her hood over her face, she started to walk up the main road to Black Rock. It would be a half a day’s very hard ride for her, and a day and a half’s march for them on foot, but Goldie and the King Bastard would take horses. She needed to get a horse, and quickly, but had no idea how to get one easily, and then the lucky lady shined on her again.

‘Hey you, what’s with all those men at the gates?’ She looked up and saw two soldiers in the garb of Twin Plains, both with black sashes across their chests. She drew back her hood so they could see she was a girl and she saw the normal effect as they visibly relaxed and took their hands off weapons. Men.

‘I heard they are the Red Bastards, and others, some mercenaries going to help Black Rock.’

The men actually started laughing. They were still laughing when the first of her arrows flew. The first man was knocked clear from his black and grey horse as the arrow hit him hard in the right eye. The second one’s horse reared, causing her to hit the poor beast deeply in the chest, killing it. It collapsed to its side, crushing the rider. She walked to the man as he screamed, his leg completely destroyed by the horse’s strong body. ‘Sorry,’ she said to the horse not the man, and with her notched arrow she fired it at arm’s length into the broken soldier.

She liked the other horse. The black and grey just waited, standing there, its rider dead, but no fuss: a good battle trained stead. Reaching to the reins, she pulled herself into the saddle. Josette flicked the reins hard and let her long red hair get caught by the wind. ‘Let’s see how fast you can run, then’ she said giving it a hard kick, and the horse bolted to life beneath her, feeling like it wanted a challenge.

Goldie walked back into the warmth of the tavern and sat down hard next to the ‘King Bastard’. He had a name but Goldie had already forgotten it. He just thought of him as the smug pretty boy. This group of scum were really living up to their reputation, and it was all he could do not to start swinging his sword blade around the tavern and calling the whole thing off. Still, he’d do what he had to.

‘So what happened with the Captain of the Guard?’ Pretty boy asked.

‘I killed him,’ said Goldie simply. Good for these scoundrels to know he was dangerous as well.

‘Why? He was an agent of the Duke.’

‘I didn’t like his face,’ Goldie said, taking a drink of his beer.

The men at the table laughed at that, even the Bastard. ‘Oh well, more credit for us I guess. What about the girl?’

Goldie looked around and saw that Flint was sitting far away, now talking with one Northman who was part of the Bastards. ‘No sign, must have escaped’

‘Oh, that is a shame. I really wanted to have some fun with her first, it’d been a long time coming.’ the Bastard said.

‘Really? You knew her?’ Goldie asked.

‘I tried to buy her once, but that old fuck Dagosh stuck his hooked nose in and we couldn’t,’ he answered.

‘You could put a red wig on your friend there,’ Goldie said with venom.

The man laughed. ‘I don’t understand you Northmen... you’ll betray your friends, but you get angry if we mistreat women or talk bad about them.’

‘Dagosh is a good man and she’s a good archer. I’ll kill who I have to, but they are still better people than you or me. I’m going to bed. I’ll see you at the gate in a few hours and we’ll go get rich.’ Goldie stood up and left.

‘You trust him, boss?’ Asked one of the Bastard's men.

‘Not really, but I trust him to get us into the Keep, and then we’ll show him just how big of bastards we can be.’

On the battlements of Black Rock Keep, pacing in the darkness was the man Grimm, wondering why the Duke’s army had left off their attack that night. Sitting in the command tent and drinking her nightly blood from her metal flask, Dierdra smiled for the first time in days. Her two guards were joining her, as she wanted some company and had learned their names, which were Rendorf and Plaite.

‘What cheers you, Duchess?’ Rendorf asked. She’d given them permission to speak freely.

‘I got word yesterday that they rode to Pellota to seek reinforcement,’ she said as she placed a small piece of roast chicken into her mouth and chewed it slowly. Food tasted like ash still, but sometimes she liked to try it.

‘And that’s good news is it?’ He asked.

‘Who do you think they are trying to recruit?’ She replied with a sly smile.

‘Well, Dagosh has no men left, the city guard wouldn’t help, and the King is miles away, so that means tavern scum or mercenaries.... Oh, I understand,’ he started laughing lightly. ‘They wouldn’t really sink that low, would they?’

‘They would indeed. Our little friends the Bastards will be here in a matter of days to come and defeat us,’ she said laughing.

‘Have you got word from him yet?’ Plaite asked.

‘Not yet, but I’d be extremely surprised if I didn’t by tomorrow. Besides, he knows how to play these things. Siddle up to the enemy and promise them a quick victory, and he can even talk about the other times he’s defeated my husband on the field.’

‘You mean the times we let him take the field and then do the dirty work,’ Rendorf said.

‘Exactly. I have sent a few men to keep an eye on the gates and let me know as soon as they begin to move, but he’ll send us word as well. He always wants to have a nice meal and girl laid out for him when he arrives,’ she said casually. Finally, someone to fight her battle for her.

Chapter 21

Like all girls of noble or refined upbringing, she had done her fair share of acting. Nights spent reading passages from plays and composing poems, but pretending to be a big stupid Northern warrior, was some of Seraphina's best work to date. She’d lost control of herself when she’d seen the body of the Wolvern lying broken in the gathering snow, but had managed to redeem herself. Now she walked along quietly next to the silver woman and planned her next move. She was so filled up with rage that it gave her purpose. She was used to this feeling and had harboured it towards Seth for so long. He’d killed her uncle Stephan who was much like a father to her. She understood in her mind that it was an act of self-defense, but that did nothing to make her heart less angry. Now she felt the same way towards the silver woman, but there was more to this. Now she was feeling the lust and greed for more that was the driving force behind the Dark Guild. What was this power that she possessed and what did Seraphina have to do to gain it for herself? The problem was that Seth wasn’t a talker, and starting now would be hard.

‘We’re almost there, so get ready, champion,’ said the silver women as she drew her huge black sword from its scabbard and carried it swinging free. Her good mood at killing the Wolvern had been replaced with cold determination.

‘Almost where?’ She asked in Seth’s voice.

‘The home of my people,’ she said, looking back with those lovely blue eyes. No wonder Seth was following her around like a puppy: she was enough to inspire lust in anyone.

Dark shapes started to appear in the distance, out of the snow drift, and she saw what looked like huge dark standing stones. As they walked closer she saw that they were arranged in very large circles. Each circle of the rough stones was at least the size of a house or drinking hall.

‘These are our houses of sorts. We don’t sleep, but this shows where one begins and one ends.’

Looking into the distance, Seraphina could see there were lot and lots of these rings of tall stones that reached up into the sky. Each circle had eight of them, and they were all different sizes, some vast circles and some much smaller.

Seraphina walked into the nearest circle. The stones that made up the eight points were smooth and cold. Strangely, no snow seemed to fall within the circle and the ground itself was the first dirt she’d seen so far. She walked to the center of the circle and looked at the only furniture of sorts. It was a large stone table or slab. A shudder ran up her spine as she looked at it, as it was stained with the blood of countless people and scarred with nicks and marks from swords and axes.

‘Dinner table?’ Seraphina asked.

‘This is where they kill and consume your dead, yes.’ Seraphina looked out and with her own eyes could see tens of these circles of stones.

‘How many circles are there?’

‘One family or clan has one of their own, there are a few hundred I suppose.’

‘You said
they
consume our dead, not we,’ said Seraphina.

‘I’ve told you before, champion, do you forget? I am pure, the moon provides for us and we don’t need to do this: its greed and hunger and sacrilege.’ The women spoke in tones Seraphina knew well enough, as there were many zealots in the Guild and this woman was one of them. She clearly viewed herself as a priestess of the moon and the only true one left of her kind.

They left the circle and kept walking on. They passed more and more of them until Seraphina realised they were walking on a road of sorts. It was a path as wide as a main trading road and could have fit a few wagons on it. Marked out with small standing stones that held strange markings which she assumed could be distance.

‘We’re very close now, they will be waiting for us,’ the silver woman said. She stopped in the roadway and, taking the small leather strip that covered herself and her breasts, tucked them into the bottom of her scabbard. She stood for a moment, letting the moonlight shine on her. Seraphina was shocked and more than a little bit jealous, as she was truly perfectly formed and even had a tiny tuft of silver hair above her entrance.

‘Stop staring at me, champion: if I am to face my kind, I need to do it correctly, with mother moon shining on all off me. These dogs all wear clothing now to cover their hideous deformity.’

She grabbed hold of Seraphina’s hand and led her onwards. The thrill of skin contact was too much and she almost drew her hand back, but restrained herself. The woman’s hand was warm and soft, and it was the first contact Seraphina had felt in literally years.

‘They will want to take you from me, but this will show them we are linked.’

Seraphina hadn’t seen the others before, but was scared. The silver woman was an intimidating creature. She was so tall and lean and strong, but her beauty weakened any negative emotion one felt. She assumed they were all trained to trust beautiful people and things, regardless of their poisonous nature.

The noise was the first thing that started to reach her ears. It was a loud hissing and wailing sound. It grew stronger and stronger as they walked, and she felt her hand clutched harder, she realised the silver woman was actually afraid, and trying to hide it. Soon Seraphina saw the source of the hissing, and almost turned and ran herself.

The sight of these creatures was truly disturbing. Along the roadway, they were lined up like revellers watching a procession. At first just a few, then more and more, and they were walking in between them like a prisoner getting led to the execution block. They even had the horrible crowd of bloodthirsty wretches to shout at them. They were disgusting in every way Silver was beautiful. Seraphina looked at one which stood hissing at them through broken and sharp yellow teeth. It was a woman, she supposed, as tall as Silver but huge, and with fat hanging from her in rolls and dangling from otherwise skinny arms. Her silver hair was lank and sparse, and her entire body was covered with deep scars, cuts, and seeping abrasions.

They walked on between the howling crowd of them. They all stood outside the stones of the roadway and didn’t come closer, but Seraphina could feel their evil intentions as they looked at her with hungry eyes. One of them leapt into the roadway and faced them to the almost-cheers of the others. Silver dropped her hand and whispered into her ear.

‘Time to prove yourself to these wretches, champion: kill that fool.’