Take the Darkness...: Epic Fantasy Series (17 page)

Chapter 37

The first thing Goldie heard were the screams. You could really tell a story with screams. First there was the vicious sounds of dogs, then a long male scream, then that cut off, then a woman’s screams of rage. The story to him was that she’d tried to bring her old husband back, and he’d got all eaten up somehow. He didn’t expect the little redhead to do something like that, but rather kill the Duchess before she’d had a chance, but clearly she was an initiated in the Gatherers now, lucky.

He tried the bonds on his wrists and yelled out, ‘I’m ready to leave now,’ to no one in particular. He had to get out of this camp now. Things were about to get very bad for him. They had been bad from the beginning, but he was proud of himself. He’d lived up to his name and made the best of a complete fuck-up. He’d hated the plan to start with: hire some scum to save them. It was shameful for one, and two, he trusted mercenaries as far as he could throw them. They were greedy and untrustworthy, traits he only liked in himself, not others.

So when he’d been sent out with all that gold to come and hire them, he’d done so with many reservations. Then it had gotten worse because every tavern scum he talked to warned him off them. One man in particular who was well worth the gold was a lean rat-faced sort who called himself Skinner. Goldie had no idea why and didn’t want to know, but Skinner had spilled the story that the Bastards were the Duke’s little dirty force that did his killing. The King didn’t like his dukes to fight for expansion, so the Duke used the Red’s to do his dirty work. If Goldie hired them on, he’d be giving them the Keep and his friends inside.

He could take or leave Seth. He really felt not a lot of love towards the childman. He was too young and brash, but he had freed them and he had freed Grimm. Now that was a man he could respect. Many times Grimm had saved his arse in the slave pit or on their ship when his smart mouth and clever hands had caused him grief, he’d not let Grimm down.

So he’d played his role: he’d hand over the Keep, he’d said, and he’d gotten in with both the Bastards and the Duchess. He’d had to kill that captain because he would get his city guard involved, and that was one more set of troops he didn’t want in the field. The only good thing in the whole mix was the little redhead; she was a tough one and, when he’d seen her hiding under that prison wagon, he’d smiled for the first time in days. She’d run like a rat and rat him out, she’d spill the plans he’d spoken about, and she’d let the Keep know what they needed to.

Grimm had done more than his part and taken their fake battle and turned it on its head, but still, now a battle was coming for real. If the Duke’s wife was as mad as he thought, then it would be full-scale attack, no trickery. No, it was time to leave before his head got cut off.

A stale smell of wine and filth came to his nose as he sat bound to the desk.

‘Thank for coming,’ Goldie said over his shoulder.

The rat-faced man Skinner stood over him with a dagger. He’d slipped in through the hole in the tent made by Josette.

‘My pleasure, boss, it’s not like I haven’t been waiting for hours in the dark; you hear that screaming? That’s not good, is it?’ He asked in a nervous voice. He cut the rope that tied Goldie to the chair and let him stand. Goldie stretched out his sore limbs.

‘Did I mention you’re the best five gold pieces I’ve ever spent?’ Goldie asked with a smile.

‘You better believe it; the others are waiting and we’ve been oh so busy running our nasty tongues to all that will listen.’

Chapter 38

Seraphina dropped to her knees and literally started crying when she saw him. The huge Wolvern was beautiful. She could tell it was him, but had never expected something like this. She thought it was dead, but now it was almost reborn and glorious. It nuzzled against her and she felt the warmth of emotion in her mind.

‘Never fear, child, I live, and stronger than ever.’
It said so they could all hear it in their minds.

‘But she killed you: what happened?’ She asked.

‘Our North boy brought me back, and as I once was, and now to it.’
The Wolvern turned to the silver woman, and crouched low and growling. ‘
I said I’d kill you and now I will.’

She was beyond stunned at the reappearance of the Wolvern. Seth watched the way she looked at it and she could tell he thought it was strange, as if she’d never seen what it was before. That beneath all the mottled skin and fangs it was a powerful thing to be respected, not some vermin that was hard to kill.

Silver bowed down in front of it and tilted her head forward. ‘I’m yours to take, Moon Wolf, and I’m sorry for my sins against you. I had no idea of what you were,’ she said with sincerity.

‘What’s a moons wolf?’ Asked Seraphina.

‘It’s what him and his kind were called in legend: they would bring our dead back home to judgement,’ she said. ‘It’s a sin to kill one and that’s what I tried to do, and I’m sorry.’

‘
Say you’re sorry for all of my kind which you killed when you banished me.’
It said, about to lunge forward.

‘The sins of my mother, I assure you, but I’ll take the punishment; I deserve it and more for hurting you,’ she said.

She saw the vision in her mind as the Wolvern pushed its powerful mind into Silver’s and searched it. It ran through all the memories and saw it all from her. She wasn’t the one on the plain that day, but it had been her mother. Her first encounter with him was when he was already changed and he’d tried to kill her unprovoked. He’d thought he had a score to settle.

‘
Stand up, Silver hair, I forgive you, but your mother must die’
, He said darkly.

‘Well, we all agree on that,’ said Seth, ‘but I’ve got a feeling our plans are going to be decided for us: we’ve tarried much too long here.’

They turned and saw the Queen at the head of a mass of her people coming towards them. She was being carried on a huge sedan chair litter, supported by long poles carried by others, and she looked weak, with her head rolling to one side as if asleep, but all she needed was a word.

‘
We can’t fight them all and we have much more important things to do.’

The words of the Wolvern filled all of their minds, and as a group they turned and ran. They had come in the front gate, into the centre, and now they ran from it. The burning in Seth’s hand pulled them away from the howling mass, which was a stroke of luck. The Wolvern took off far ahead, not wanting to be in earshot of her with its great hearing, and was soon gone from sight.

Seth, Silver and Seraphina ran fast to keep up, and they were a lot quicker than the mob of oversized creatures, but they couldn’t run forever. Huge black walls loomed before them and grew closer and closer, and they saw the wall had been guarded by four of the creatures, but they were fallen and dead. The Wolvern had already carved a bloody path. They made it through the gates and Silver stopped dead.

‘Why stop?’ Seth panted, halting his run as the howling mob closed in on the gateway.

‘They will not follow, so we’re safe from them now,’ she said, and started to walk at a casual pace.

‘Why is that?’ Seraphina asked.

‘There are those of our kind too far gone to live amongst us; it’s they who haunt the river and feed off any that make it that far.’

‘Can’t you just command them to leave us alone?’ Seth said with a sigh: he was clearly getting sick of this.

‘It only works when there is a mind to control,’ Silver said with a shudder.

Chapter 39

She was done. It was over. All the games, moves, plots, and ploys. She’d just seen the love of her life ripped apart in front of her like a piece of warm bread, and something inside her had broken. She’d felt rage before, when the bastard Northman had tricked him and sent him to the land of the dead to kill him, but she’d had hope. She could restore her love to her side and it would be as it was, but not now. Now, the last images of him she would ever have in her mind were that. His regal face being bitten apart by those dirty black dogs.

She’d howled with fury and sadness as they came through the rift and attacked. There was a pack of them, and they tore him apart in moments, and then they went to work on the hearts and bodies of the fallen. The brazier of blood had fallen and weakened the circle. It held its power by the weakest strands, and she had had no choice but to close it and send them all back. The broken body of Luthor, her first and only love, and them.

She knew the lore well, she knew all her husband had and he was the true Master of the Dark Guild. She knew that he was gone for good now. There was no coming back from second death. His fallen body was his vessel in the afterlife, a fragile thing, not meant for a violent world, just to travel from death to judgement. Now it was gone and so was his soul. Drifted off to some unknown plain, never to be redeemed, never to be judged, never to move on, just lost like a morning fog. She pushed out of the tent in a haze, flanked by her two loyal guards, who shoved the soldiers who got in her way as she staggered back to her tent like a drunk, staggering with shock and sadness.

The rage in her was building and building, and she let it take over from her sadness. Someone had done this. Someone had called those beasts, and she knew without a doubt that Elizebetha and those in the Keep were the ones behind it. She might not have been the sneak in the dark, but it was her guiding hand, and she was going to cut that hand off and eat it.

‘Get me the King Bastard and that Northern piece of shit!’ She yelled.

Dierdra staggered to a seat in her tent and sat down heavily on the leather chair. She could feel her bloodlust rising, and the monster starting to come out, but this time she wouldn’t put it back. She saw her own appearance in the reflections of fear in her most loyal, but they still stood firm, and would ‘til they needed to pin her down and feed her.

Pushing the flap of leather aside, the King Bastard came in. He looked pale from blood loss, but ready. He’d heard the screams from the tent and could feel the mood of the Twin Plains black sashes that had got him. He ran his hand through his pretty blonde locks and tried to smile, but she was scaring him. Her face looked like a monster and he could see her teeth looked sharp in the right cast of light.

‘What’s happened?’ He asked.

The truth, but not the truth, she thought. ‘They have killed my bloody husband and now we’re going to kill all of them,’ she said simply.

‘So no more plans, just brute force.’ He said with a grin, which this time he actually felt.

‘That’s right, Bastard, you and your men are going to earn your names this very night,’ she said.

‘That’s what I’ve been waiting to hear, I hate all these games; so we get the looting of the Keep, right? That was never your thing, anyway.’

‘Loot it, rape the women, kill the men, and then burn it to the ground,’ she said, standing and spitting the words with rage.

The Bastard grinned like a devil. ‘Yes, Duchess, I’ll have my men ready in less than two hours,’ he said the words, and left the tent. She turned to her loyal guard, whose name she’d forgotten again, this being the younger one.

‘Where’s that one, Goldie? He’s of no use now, and I’m in the mood to kill something from the North,’ she said.

‘I’m sorry, Duchess, it seems he’s escaped,’ the man said with real fear in his voice.

‘What do you mean he’s escaped? How is that possible? What about his guards?’ She demanded.

‘Well, he had two guards on the tent, and they both had their throats cut from ear to ear, very neat. Looks like he brought some men of his own, and they know their business.’

She screamed in frustration and then calmed herself only slowly before speaking. ‘It matters not, we’ll see him in the Keep in a few hours if he gets that far. Ready the men for full attack as soon as possible and tell them all their liege is dead, and we’re going to bring back his killers.’

Josette had managed to wipe most of the blood from her face, but the stench of death clung to her like a grave digger, and her leather tunic and pants were stained for life. The dark brown leather was now the off brown of old blood and not tanned animal hide. She could feel her red hair crusting into dirty locks.  She crouched once again in the middle of a sea of hostile people. She knew an army getting ready for full battle when she saw one, people ran this way and that screaming orders and getting men and horses ready, and loading with supplies. It was over: they had provoked the beast a little too much and now they were dispensing with games and going with force. She smiled to herself, thinking that at least she’d taken the Duke out and finished Seth’s work. In a way, she’d finished her obligation in killing his foe for him, but she’d keep it up until she had saved him.

‘Get out of there, girl, and drop the bow.’ a gruff voice from behind her said. She froze and thought about going to her weapon, but she could sense at least four of them, so her hand inched out for her bow which lay on the ground next to her, moving it so it didn’t point up.

I’ll be happy to kill you, but the captain won’t,’ he said.

She said a little ‘fuck’ to herself and stood up slowly. She turned around and looked at the men. They were mercenaries and not Twin Plains guards, but she’d seen their combined forces running around, and knew it was all together now. They had red sashes on their arms and one smiled evilly at her; she thought she remembered his ugly face, but wasn’t sure: maybe a client in the pleasure house, she shuddered.

‘Is her hair red? Or is that just blood?’ One asked, pointing his drawn bow at her.

‘Oh it’s red, and she’s the one the boss wants, so we’re in luck boys,’ the ugly one said.

He gestured with the bow and she started walking with three behind and one in front, walking slowly backwards, checking his footfalls every few seconds. One had a sword in her back and two further back, with bows. They were certainly doing it right.

‘Don’t worry, sweetling, it’s not very far,’ a voice sounded, and put a canvas bag over her head. They led her through the entire mercenary camp like that. She could hear rough voices, laughing and joking, snippets of plans, and weapons being brought up and readied. They were stopped briefly and questioned, but a few jokes and laughs later and they were past.

‘That was close.’ One said.

‘Shut up,’ said the other. ‘He’ll be very happy with this, and we don’t want one of these horny fucks to take our prize.’ Josette was scared now. She’d lived through a lot, but never like this. Being marched at sword point to what she guessed would be the King Bastard himself. She felt tough, but she couldn’t kill all of these all by herself with no weapons. She heard the sound of being walked through one final camp of men who were noticeable only by the fact that they talked in hushed tones and weren’t joking or laughing. She was brought into the tent and gently set down.

The ugly one spoke. ‘Captain, we’ve found her for you.’

The man took off her hood and she saw the smug face of Goldie, sitting in the tent and surrounded by a group of men dressed as Bastards.

‘Hello, little sister,’ he said, and smiled at her, his teeth flashing in the firelight.

‘Skinner, let the poor girl up and gave her some wine; she’s fucking scared to death,’ he said with a laugh. She was hoisted to her feet and Goldie walked up to her and handed her a wine goblet. He chinked it with hers. ‘Welcome, my girl, to the Black Rock Keep forward line,’ he said, and the men laughed with him.

‘What, you’re on my side?’ She asked, still stunned. She didn’t know what to make of this man. She’d only seen him in the city recruiting and giving her directions at dagger point, Grimm said to trust him but she still wasn’t sure she could. She wasn’t sure what to begin to make of this latest action on his part.

Goldie sighed loudly. ‘Look, little sister, I’m on your fucking side, alright? I knew the Bastards would betray us so I played along, and I let you live even though I knew you were hiding under that wagon. Oh, I see by your face that that might just fucking convince you, and now I’ve walked you right through the middle of the enemy camp which you could never have crossed alone, and I am going to give you want you’ve wanted all along.’

She was stunned by his revelation that he’d known she was there. He’d talked to no one since, and surely could only know because he was telling the truth. She desperately wanted to believe him and that she wasn’t really in a tent full of ten hostile men and no weapons.

‘What have I wanted all along?’ She asked.

‘Another shot at the King Bastard, of course.’

He was right.