Chapter One

The doors to the Bear’s Gate swung open with a wave of my hand, and as I strode in, I saw her, the high queen, my wife. She was seated in one of the twin thrones with her back straight as a rod as she stared down at the man speaking to her from below. I already knew something wasn’t right, and as I stepped closer, the crowd of at least twenty men shifted uncomfortably in my presence. The men before her were unruly, their clothes ripped and dirty, but the weapons they held were pristine and shone in the candlelight from the chandeliers above.

Annalise and I made eye contact, and from her tense expression, I confirmed that she was irritated. I moved closer, and I heard the angry voices of the men over the sound of my boots clicking on the sparkling marble.

“Just because you challenged the High King and won doesn’t mean we will accept you as our leader,” the tallest man commanded. His hand was on the hilt of his sword in its scabbard, but Annalise’s expression never changed. Her face remained impassive and seemingly uninterested, and for a moment, she reminded me of the previously emotionless Morrigan.

“We will never accept a woman king, you should have known that when you challenged your father,” the man continued. I assumed he was the leader of this vagabond group, but his dirty blonde hair was scruffy, and his dirty face was unshaven.

I circled them like a prowling tiger, and a few of their eyes broke away from Annalise to follow my movements. They seemed calm, but I could feel their hearts hammering in their chests with anxiety. They had watched the woman before them slay not only their king but her very own father. They should be frightened of her. I trained Annalise to be a vicious warrior, and it had shown when she challenged the previous king.

“You refuse me as your high queen?” Annalise questioned, her voice even and cold as she looked each of them in the eye.

“We do.” The leader nodded firmly, and a few others nodded their heads along with him.

Annalise tilted her head at them, and her braid swung down her back as she unfolded her legs. Then she glanced at me and a small peek of a smile broke over her lips.

“Are there others? Or are you the only group that is against me as your queen?”

“We’re the only ones!” a man in the back shouted proudly, and a sly smile spread across my lips. I could feel the dark power spreading throughout my body, and I knew what Annalise wanted to do. We were in tune with each other, even more now after being united in marriage. She was an extension of myself, like a finely made suit of armor accompanied by a broadsword.

The leader of the group jerked his head back and cursed at the man who had spoken. They had effectively revealed their hand, and I watched from the back, ready to block their exit if they tried to run. Annalise stood and placed her hands on her hips, her brows furrowed, and I saw the group of men scuttle backward a few steps in her commanding presence.

“You come into this sacred place,” the swordswoman stepped forward and down the three steps that led towards the group of huddled men, “where my ancestors once ruled and now rest, and declare me unfit for rule?” She gestured to the detailed statues of the old High Kings lining the walkway towards the thrones.

“I-I--” the leader stammered.

“You betray me, and you betray the land of Tamarisch. Treason, traitors to your motherland and to the ruler who rightfully ascended the throne. Do you know what we do with traitors?” she questioned in a powerful voice, one eyebrow crooked up, and the men in front of her warily glanced between each other. Her dark eyes then flitted to mine, and I could see the malice building there, and it aroused me to see her become the strong leader I always intended her to be.

I stepped forward, and my hands came up to rest on a smaller man at the back of the group.

“Traitors must be weeded out and trampled on the ground before their sickness spreads to others,” I muttered in the man’s ear, but I could tell the others heard too as their spines snapped to attention. “In a strong kingdom, there is no place for weakness, and here you all stand, the weakest of the weak. Even the smallest mouse scurrying into its hole can hear you shaking in your shoes before my queen and me.”

“We come with strength in our hearts and a blessing from the gods to challenge you!” the leader yelled in response, but his voice comically cracked at the end.

My laughter resounded against the vast walls.

“The gods, you say?” I inquired with mock interest, and the man I held onto peeked over his shoulder, his muddy brown eyes were huge with fear as my hands tightened, and the dark power rushed to my fingertips. “I gave you no blessing.”

In an instant, the man I held onto screamed in pain as both of his clavicles snapped and protruded through the taut skin of his chest. Blood boiled from the twin wounds as he rocked forward in pain, but I held tightly to him as the rest of his group turned to gawk. I raised one hand over both our heads as all eyes came to rest on me, and dark purple light snapped from my fingers like ravenous fire. As time slowed, I clenched my hand into a fist, brought it down like a hammer, and smashed it on the crown of the man’s head.

The traitor I held in front of me barely had enough time to take a ragged breath as the hand contacted his bald head. First, his eyes bulged out of their sockets as his mouth dropped open, and then blood streamed out of their corners like tears. As time began to return to normal, the eyes that strained against their confines exploded out of his face like projectiles, and the optic nerves flew out behind them likes sails.

The eyes smacked into the leader’s chest and stained his yellowing tunic red with blood before they fell to the floor with a moist plop. Through the crowd, I could see the leader’s face pale, but I wasn’t finished with my first victim yet. The eyeless man’s head began to shift and shiver like the skull beneath the skin was rearranging itself, and then I let go of him. As he stumbled forward, sickly moans escaped his mouth. The leader took a step backward as the blind man tripped through the crowd with arms outstretched as he searched for something to hold onto.

The group stumbled back, afraid to get near to their wounded comrade as his whole body started to convulse, and then he howled, the sound strained like he was being choked off. The eyeless man began tearing at his skin, and he ripped at the flesh of his face as if there was something scuttling underneath it. He roared and tore at his lips as his whole body shifted like the bones were repositioning themselves. Then he buckled forward to spill out his blood and internal organs onto the marble floor.

The whole mass of men gasped, and the leader swallowed hard while Annalise watched from behind, her eyes intent on the convulsing man, interested at what I would do next. I moved forward, and my armor clanked and rattled as I stopped just in front of the man. Then I held up one hand above the wounded coward, and black smoke curled around his form as he purged his body once more of its organs. And then suddenly, he stopped. His entire being trembled as I held him still. He gulped and sputtered on the floor, but I kept him in place with my unearthly power.

A wicked smile spread over my lips as my eyes blazed red, and I tightened my outstretched hand into a fist. The man on the floor exploded, and blood and gore sprayed through the air. Black orbs of power encapsulated not only my body but also Annalise’s as the man’s bone fragments whizzed through the air and buried themselves in his brothers. They screamed in pain, and a few moved to remove the bone splinters from their flesh.

As the traitors struggled, Annalise lowered herself closer to the ground and pressed one finger to the bright emerald stone at the hilt of her mighty sword. As she drew Bloodscale, the air crackled and snapped with electricity while an enraged fire burned in her dark eyes. The expertly crafted sword’s etched scales glinted wickedly in the light, and a low ominous humming emanated from the blade. The humming loudened before it came to a crescendo that made some of the traitors wince and scurry away. Then ancient runes and arcane symbols flashed across the hilt and pommel as they brought the sword to life beneath her hand. Green light snapped and curled around Annalise’s form as the power of Bloodscale and its augmentation stone took full effect.

Bloodscale’s blade extended twice its normal length and two curved blades emerged from inside the hilt. The sword took on a more threatening air as the same emerald light around Bloodscale engulfed the high queen’s form. The emerald lightning that encapsulated Annalise grew stronger, and then the streaming light rose into a blinding beacon before it broke into glimmering streaks of sparks like fireworks descending from the sky. As the sparkling fire cleared, it revealed a transformed Annalise. She held Bloodscale high, her face bright and shining against the gilded v-necked breastplate she now wore.

On each arm, golden gauntlets reached almost to her elbows, etched with the same jade that moved and flashed as if it were alive. Her strong shapely legs were planted firmly, and the open-sided chainmail she wore was carved and honed to look like the hide of a dragon. Through the gaps in her chainmail, the shin guards and the cuisses strapped to her thighs were crafted from the same fine metal and stopped mid-thigh. The parts of her body not protected by the beautiful beaten armor were clothed in dark creamy looking leather. Across her smooth delicate collar bone an enchanted golden necklace rested, and the rune pressed within the middle was identical to the augmentation stone at the hilt of Bloodscale.

She flipped Bloodscale easily through the air as if it were light as a feather and brandished it at a man who barely had enough time to react. Using both hands, she plunged the blade deep into his chest, used her heavy boot to kick the weapon free, and moved onto the next man as the first fell to the floor dead.

The leader was the first to reach for his sword, and he did so with the confidence of a man who was used to battle, but he would be no match for my queen. The men separated themselves into two groups, nine scruffy men faced off with me and ten faced Annalise, all with their weapons drawn. I could easily take care of all of them with one wave of my hand, but I wanted to see how my beautiful swordswoman would fair after all of our training together. I could be lazy in this situation if I wanted and use soul exorcism on all of them, but I figured if Annalise was going to put her all into it, I should too.

The traitors all came for me at once and lifted a mighty cry into the air, “For country! For honor! For Tamarisch!”

Too bad they wouldn’t live to see any of those three things.

I summoned the power of Cethin first, and in the enclosed space of the great room, black storm clouds rolled, thundered, and darkened the space around us. One man holding a flail raced forward and swung the spiked metal ball over his head threateningly. He was too stupid to realize what was about to happen, and it was almost sad to watch as the cloud above them soured even more and a sizzling yellow lightning bolt slashed through the air and struck him. Heat bloomed in the air as his body cooked and crackled from the contact. Then his smoking corpse slumped to the floor, and the flail fell limply from his tensed fist.

Over the shoulders of the eight others, I saw Annalise dive forward as her free hand reached back to grab her unnamed sword. A man holding a battle ax rushed forward, and she ducked under his arm as he swung down at her. She crossed the blades of both her swords with a roar and relieved the advancer of his head. It rolled under her feet, and she kicked it aside nonchalantly as she sliced another man across the chest with Bloodscale. The man stumbled and fell to his knees, and she ran, lifted her left leg, and slammed her heavy boot down on his right shoulder. The high queen used her momentum and pushed off the dying man to lift herself into the air.

She flipped once, landed perfectly balanced on both feet, and skewered a man with both blades. She screamed, her eyes wide, the pupil vibrating in the socket as the muscles in her arms tensed, and she tore the blades out through the attacker’s ribcage with a sickening crack that echoed around the room. I laughed to myself at the savagery of my killer queen as three more men advanced on me.

I waved a hand in front of my body lazily, and before my attackers could slow themselves, the floor parted to reveal a bubbling, rippling pool of magma. One man threw out his hands to stop himself but fell face first into it. His screams died with his soul as it slipped away from his melted carcass, and the others fell silently in as if they accepted their fate like true warriors. I sensed a beating heart behind me and chuckled darkly as I whipped around to face the man who thought he was smart enough to sneak up on an all-knowing god.

His curved saber was pulled back, and he thrust it forward, but before it could contact my armor, I was gone in a screaming puff of black smoke. Then I materialized behind him and slammed my tense fingers into his unprotected back. My probing fingers tore through his tattered shirt, pushed into his flesh with a loud squelch, and wrapped around the vertebra of his spine. He realized what had happened and struggled against me by blindly stabbing at me with his saber, but his efforts were futile.

I pulled the column of bone free with inhuman strength, and his body crumpled forward to the floor without the support. With tight lips, I pressed the heel of my boot against his shoulder blade and ripped the spine free from the last remaining strips of flesh clinging to it. His skull smashed onto the marble, his eyes dull and glossy, and I crushed it under my boot with a loud, wet crack as I moved on to my next victim.

I glanced over at Annalise, and she had taken down four of her opponents. I was quite proud of her as she fought her way closer to their leader who was shouting out commands to his comrades. I watched her sweep a man’s legs out from under him while using his downward fall to stab him in the heart. He cried out and grabbed onto her blade, but she gritted her teeth, pulled it free, and severed three of his fingers in the process.

I stalked forward, and the four men I previously left shuffled backward with their weapons raised. I still held the bloody spine in my fist. While I didn’t need it, it made a fine impromptu spear. A thin man with greasy hair lumbered forward, his lips pulled back against his teeth as he held his two maces across his chest. He lowered them as he quickened his pace, and the metal of the mace heads clanged together. He flipped the mace in his left hand and caught it with his right, then smashed both of the rounded heads down onto the marble with one arm. Surprisingly, the marble cracked from the impact.

I nodded to myself at the display of strength. He would be a worthy opponent, and I almost wished he had been one of the ones attacking Annalise so I could watch her test her skill. He brought the two weapons back up, returned the left mace to its rightful hand, and slammed the heads together. Upon contact, sparks flew between the metal. I readjusted the spine and lifted my free hand in the air to gesture him forward, the only enemy I would face one on one. He smiled evilly at me, and I saw all the teeth in his jaw were rotten and green.

Oh, how disgusting creatures some humans could be.

If I hadn’t seen the beauty in them like I did within all of my beloved minions, I would’ve wanted to purge them from the earth. My revolting adversary sidestepped around me like a dancer, and I knew he must have had some type of military training from the way he moved. I followed along easily but also kept a wary eye on the other three waiting in the wings just in case one or all of them were to make a move towards us.

“You,” the man spat, and his hazel eyes examined my avatar’s face thoroughly. “You are not human.” He struck out overhead with one of the maces, and he moved so quickly that if I weren’t a god, he surely would have ended me right then and there. I lifted the spine in my hand, and the two weapons clashed together. Then the sticky blood that coated the bone sprayed into the air and misted onto my enemy’s face.

“I am not.” I smiled as I threw off the mace, and he staggered backward from the force, but then he righted himself with ease.

“I’m not afraid of you,” he assured me, and as I looked in his eyes, I could see what he said was true. There was not an ounce of fear in this man, and if he were not an enemy, I would have wanted him on our side.

“You should be,” I sneered, but he shook his head and stood still for a moment. Then he pointed at me with the rounded head of his mace and stared at me from behind it.

“I fear no man or god,” he said as he lowered the mace, but his eyes stayed trained on mine. “What I do fear is that I will be a man lost to time, so I have one request of you, from one warrior to another.”

“What is it?” I asked, interested.

He bowed his head, and one grubby hand went into the loose neck of his tan shirt and came out with a gold necklace, the only thing on his body that looked to be of any value. He stared down at the round pendant in the palm of his hand for a few seconds, and then he closed his fist and ripped the chain from his neck. He threw it to the ground at my feet where it glittered against the light.

“Take this to my wife, and tell my son I didn’t die a coward,” he muttered with his head lowered, but then he lifted it and squared his shoulders. “Tell my son … his father held his honor until the end.”

Keeping an eye on him and the others, I bent forward, picked it up as I looked him in the eye, and asked, “What is your name? So that I may find your wife.”

“Atma, my wife’s name is Merri, and my son … ” He blinked quickly and I saw there were tears in his eyes as he imagined a world where his son had to grow up without a father. “My son’s name is Serin.”

I nodded solemnly as I tucked the necklace and the beaten metal pendant on it into my void pocket. Then I tested the air with the spear made of bone a few times, and he took that action as the signal that I would do as he asked and was ready to continue the fight. He gulped, suppressed his emotions, and lifted his twin maces into the air like clubs. Behind me, I could hear Annalise struggling with her opponents, but I sensed she was in no danger. Her heart was beating calmly and from the anguished cries that assaulted my ears, I knew she was slaughtering the betrayers.

Before me, Atma’s expression cleared and was replaced with the savage look he wore before we had spoken. We stepped around each other like predatory animals, and then Atma moved forward and brought the maces up together in unison. I dodged, the metal heads clanged together inches from my face, and I brought the spine down like a whip before he retracted his arm.

The bone lashed his arm, and as I ripped it back, the spines on the vertebra shredded the skin and veins underneath like weathered parchment. He didn’t make a sound as he dodged my strike and moved away. Then he tested his hurt arm by quickly forming a fist around the hilt of his mace and saw that his grip was now too weak to wield a weapon.

While I respected my opponent, I would show him no mercy, so I pressed my advantage. In one swift movement, I lashed out with the spine again, but he spun away, his hands moving deftly as he screwed the ends of each mace together to create something like a giant metal bo staff. He twisted it around with his good arm while he held out the injured arm beside him for support. With a renewed battle cry, Atma spun himself and whipped the staff around. The metal was a blur through the air, but I could see it clearly as he gripped the metal staff between the two rounded heads and jabbed out towards my head.

I instinctively ducked and could hear the metal ring as it passed over my ear, then he pulled it back and slammed forward in another onslaught. This time, the metal of the mace made contact and clashed against the breastplate of my armor. I could feel the impact vibrate all the way up to my throat, but there was no damage, not even on the outer shell of my armor. Atma pushed forward with gritted teeth and whipped the combined maces overhead one-handed. Then he lifted his injured arm up to help grasp the metal rod but it faltered in the air, and he hissed through pursed lips in pain.

I took this opportunity and lashed the ribbed spine forward and caught his injured arm once more, this time higher up, under the meaty bicep. Blood spurted out as the thick muscle ripped away and hung from the bone. He screamed, and the maces fell from his hand as he wavered on his feet clumsily. His uninjured hand tentatively moved over the exposed and dangling muscle, and he gulped for breath and fell to his knees as I walked around him.

I took the spine in my hands and moved my eyes over it, then adjusted my grip with confidence. Such a brave fighter, and yet, he would be killed like all the others who had challenged me. He watched me as I circled him purposefully and even then, there was no sign of fear in his hazel eyes. I stopped behind him and examined the back of his head and the mangy hair there. He didn’t turn to look at me, only accepted this was the end. My eyes moved to watch as Annalise cleanly sliced a man across the belly and his ropey intestines spilled out onto the floor.

As my gaze drifted back to the fallen warrior before me, I wondered what Atma was thinking of. Was he thinking of his wife and child? I had the urge to ask but thought it would be inappropriate to tear a man away from the last thoughts he’d have in a conscious body. Swiftly, I pulled my arm back that brandished the spine and forced it forward. There was a loud crack as the pointed tip of the tailbone entered the back of his skull, passed through his brain, and exited through his forehead. No sound came from Atma besides the trickle of blood and the low exhale of his last dying breath. The spine I held cracked and splintered, leaving me with a small portion of the vertebra as Atma’s body wilted to the ground in a pile of musty rags and lifeless limbs.

I waved my hand over his form, and it slowly dissipated into nothing. He would make an excellent shadow slave. He may have been my enemy in life, but he would be my slave in death.

I turned to face the other three who had watched my battle with Atma, and when my eyes connected with theirs, they dropped their weapons and held up their hands in defeat. Atma was brave up until the end, but his comrades were cowards, and they would die like cowards. My hand dropped the portion of vertebra to the floor with a clatter, and then I held my arms out to my sides. Swirling portals of gray smoke emerged from the floor, and slowly, emaciated spindly arms reached out of the portals. The three men’s eyes widened in fear as my sickly ice demons made their presence known. Two were sufficient enough for three unarmed men, and as I watched, the massive creatures lumbered closer, their skin stretching and pulling taut against their ribs. Their jaws dropped open, and roars rumbled up their throats. I didn’t need to watch but did so anyway as the creature’s pale blue eyes scanned over the three men.

The one on the left reached out a massive long-fingered hand and snatched up one of the men. It scrutinized him as if it had never seen a human before, but then the ice demon grabbed the man’s arm between forefinger and thumb and pulled on it to test its strength. The second ice demon followed suit, grabbed up one of the men, and tugged on his left leg. Both men in the clutches of my ice demons shrieked in agony, and the first ice demon’s eyes widened in pleasure, enjoying the sounds of pain. With two fingers, the ice demon twisted off the man’s arm and dropped it to the floor like the pulled off petals of a flower. A sound grumbled up the ice demon’s throat, and I recognized it as he pulled off the man’s right leg with glee: the ice demon was giggling.

Soon, both ice demons were laughing together as if sharing some secret joke. The sound itself should have been frightening enough. The only sounds I’d heard ice demons make previously were low grunting or snorts, but the laughter that erupted from their thin lips was squeaky and high-pitched. I watched with interest as the ice demons pulled the two men apart piece by piece, and the third man pressed himself against the wall to try to make himself appear smaller. The first ice demon finished tearing his victim apart and dropped the bloody bits to the floor. Then its icy blue eyes settled on the last standing man, and it grunted and reached for him.

The last man scuttled away sideways, but as soon as he did, the other ice demon reached out for him, too. The ice demon on the left slapped the other’s hand away, and the creature screeched loudly in protest. They communicated in various shrieks and grunts, their mannerisms upset as they fought over the last remaining man. Suddenly, the man bolted forward between the ice demons, but his short legs didn’t carry him far enough or fast enough.

The ice demon on the left hand grabbed the top half of him and pinned his arms to his side, and the one on the right clutched him below the waist in a tight fist. The demons started screaming at each other, pulling their arms back and forth, fighting over the last remaining human. The man’s screams and cries were muffled by the ice demon’s spindly fingers, then there was a horrible tearing sound, and the demon’s tightly clenched fists separated. They looked confused for a second, their pale blue eyes staring down at their fists, then the first opened its fingers and spied the torn half of the man he held. The ice demon on the left cooed sadly and lifted the ripped body into the air and inspected it intently as blood dripped into its palm. It shook its head, dropped the body, and turned towards me for further instructions. I whipped my head towards the last remaining men Annalise was fighting off, and it loped forward eagerly while the other followed hot on its heels.

I turned and saw the swordswoman was fighting off the leader of the group as the ice demons distracted the last three enemies. I crossed the marble floor quickly as Bloodscale and the leader’s sword came together in a loud crash of metal against metal. I wasn’t quick enough as the leader kicked out at Annalise, his heavy boot landing directly in the middle of her breastplate. Bloodscale flew from her hand and skittered across the floor, and Annalise’s face fell as she realized she had lost her weapon, her other sword buried in a dead man’s chest to the left of her.

The leader barked a mocking laugh and sliced out at her, and Annalise brought her arm up and winced as the metal of his sword bit into her forearm. Blood coursed out of the wound and stained the pristine tunic she wore. I growled under my breath and knew I would have to correct her actions later. She knew better, she was a better fighter than this, but she was still disappointing me. The leader didn’t hear me as I came up behind him. He thought he had won, but he would soon find out how wrong he really was. I breathed in deeply from behind him as he raised his sword to lay the killing blow against the high queen. My eyes blazed red as his form was lifted up from the floor, and his eyes rolled back in his head and exposed the whites to Annalise.

She saw me then, and her frightened expression cleared. I would always swoop in to save my minions. No harm or pain would come to them unless lain by my own hand.

“Master,” she whispered as she bowed her head to me, ashamed. She knew I was disappointed, and she couldn’t look me in the face as the man above us began to shudder. Choked off sounds tumbled from his mouth as he struggled to form words. Then the leader’s head fell back against his shoulder, and I clenched my fist. An unseen screaming gale rushed past us as his soul was sucked out of his body and carried away. With a wave of my hand, his body soared through the air and slammed into the far wall, then crumpled to the floor limply.

The heels of my boots clicked against the marble as I advanced on Annalise, and when I stood before her, she still refused to look directly at me. I bent down before her and lifted her chin, scrutinizing her face. Her arm was bleeding, but she held it tightly to cut off the circulation.

“I’m sorry,” the swordswoman whimpered, and I tilted my head at her as I squinted my eyes at her solemn face,

“Why are you sorry, Annalise?”

“I was careless,” she said as she lifted her face to mine, and our eyes connected finally.

“Yes, you were careless.” I nodded and glanced at the dead bodies strewn about before I looked back at her. “But you did exceptionally well taking on nine men at once. I’m proud of you, though you still need practice.”

“Yes, Master,” she whispered under her breath, and I straightened and offered her a calloused hand. She took it, and I helped her to her feet.

Just then, the door to the throne room opened behind us, and Carmedy skipped nonchalantly in with her midnight black tail twitching behind her. She stopped abruptly, and her emerald eyes went wide as she noticed the carnage. Then her eyes landed on Annalise and me, then Annalise’s bleeding arm. She gasped loudly and raced over, huffing for breath. Surprisingly, she forcefully grabbed Annalise from me and practically cradled the taller woman.

“Oh no, oh no, Annalise, what happened?” Carmedy questioned in a panicked voice.

“I’m fine, it’s just a cut,” Annalise assured as she stifled a laugh, but Carmedy shook her head vehemently,

“No, no, no!” Carmedy shouted as she pushed Annalise towards the door. “I need to fix you up right away! Come on, if I don’t stitch you up properly, you’ll have a nasty scar!”

“Fine,” Annalise groaned as she looked over her shoulder at me as Carmedy hauled her away. “You can train me later, I guess.”

“Uh, excuse me? No! You won’t be training until you heal up, crazy woman! Humans, I swear!” Carmedy yelled to no one in particular as she threw up her free hand in exasperation. The feline alchemist pushed Annalise out the huge doors and around the corner.

I shook my head, chuckled softly and followed after, hoping to soften the blow of Carmedy’s oncoming scolding.

Chapter Two

“This,” Carmedy said brightly as she rummaged through her bag, and the sound of bottles clinking against each other reached my ears, “is turmeric.” She proudly brought the small container in front of my eyes, and I examined the finely ground orange powder as it shifted from side to side.

We sat at a small table in the grand Tamarisch kitchen, the swordswoman between Carmedy and I. The alchemist had quickly sewn up Annalise’s wound with a curved needle and fine thread, and now she was laying out ingredients for a salve. The cat-girl handed me a small wooden bowl and a thin brush.

“What should I do with these?” I stared down at them confused and glanced back up at her, unsure what she wanted me to do with these items.

“First, you pour in the turmeric,” she murmured as she dug through her bag again, and then she lifted her face to mine and nodded for me to do as I was told.

I chuckled softly to myself, opened the lid, and poured a generous amount into the wooden bowl.

“Turmeric is a natural antiseptic,” the feline continued. “It’s been used for thousands of years because of its antibiotic properties. The curcumin in the turmeric boosts the healing process by creating new colloge--, shoot, calla--, dangit, it creates new skin, okay? Next, we’ll need honey. Honey dehydrates bacteria and keeps infections at bay! Woohoo, go, honey!”

Carmedy giggled as she pulled out a second jar. Then she slammed it down on the wooden table in front of me with enough force to rattle all the other objects on the surface. The sticky liquid jiggled but stayed in place as I lifted the small jar. The crockery was long and thin, and within the glass, attached to the lid, was a carved wood honey dipper.

I unscrewed the cap, swirled the spoon around to collect enough honey, and quickly pulled it out. The honey dripped slowly, and I held it over the bowl of the orange powder as it slipped from the spoon. The honey collected in the bowl and rolled off the powder to pool at the bowl’s sides, and orange flecks stained the golden liquid's surface. The sweet honey smell tickled my nose pleasantly. I didn’t remember honey smelling this good before I was trapped in my dungeon, but experiencing everyday things now was a treat I treasured. Even the spicy, pungent scent of the turmeric and the grain of the wooden bowl that rested softly in my hands gave me a sense of pleasure. I smiled to myself, and Annalise glanced at me and returned the smile. Then her warm slender hand found mine and held it tightly.

“What’s next, Carmedy?” I inquired as I gave my swordswoman’s hand a gentle squeeze.

“Oh yes! Next is ground garlic, water, and a sprinkle of flour!” the alchemist cried out happily. She was in her element here, and it was amusing to watch her pull other ingredients from the bag, her black paws a flurry as she sprinkled in a small handful of white powder which I assumed was the flour. She retrieved a small stone mortar and pestle from the woven bag, then pulled a drawstring burlap bag out also. She untied the top, pulled out a half shriveled and dried garlic clove, and dropped it into the mortar. She worked feverishly, mashing the garlic into fine dust, and I could imagine her working in a laboratory, thick-rimmed goggles over her eyes and the same elated smile on her lips.

Once she finished, she poured the crushed garlic in, reached across the table for the pitcher of water, and tipped a small amount in. With a broad smile, she gestured for me to whip the ingredients together with the brush, and I followed her instructions. Soon, the mixture was uniform and one color, the consistency sticky but thick when I lifted the brush from the bowl.

Carmedy nodded fervently and reached for the bowl, but I playfully pulled away from her, and she giggled loudly.

“Fine, meaniehead, use the brush to spread the salve over the stitches and the wound. Make sure its thick but not super thick, okay? It’ll dry and be flexible enough for her to move, but after a few days, it’ll crack and fall off once the wound starts to close. Then we can remove the stitches!”

I did as the cat-woman told, dolloping a good amount on the brush and spreading it over the stitches in Annalise’s forearm. She hissed through her teeth in pain but kept her face smooth and calm as her deep brown eyes followed the movement of the brush.

Just as I finished, the kitchen’s mahogany door crashed open, and Rana waltzed in with Kalon, Annalise’s trainer from adolescence and one of the very few men who believed in the high queen’s potential. A few seconds later, Morrigan, who surprisingly was without her two ravens perched on her thin shoulders, followed after.

Carmedy jumped at the noise and twitched her tail anxiously, but it slowed and curled up over her shoulder at the familiar presences of the fox-woman and elf. The cat-girl gave them a wide smile, and her emerald eyes sparkled as she wafted her paw over Annalise’s outstretched arm to speed up the drying process.

“What are you guys up to?” Carmedy asked as her black, pointed ears shifted.

Rana sighed loudly, crossed her arms, and leaned against the counter.

“Coming up with the next plan of action,” the fox-woman said proudly as she ran a paw through her fiery red curls, and Kalon nodded from behind her.

“To Tintagal, right?” Carmedy asked as she began to clear the table of her ingredients. When she finished, she fished an empty glass vial from her bag and scraped the mixture we had made into it.

Annalise watched her silently, and her dark brown eyes followed the confident flow of Carmedy’s black paws. I knew my high queen was uncomfortable thinking or even speaking about Tintagal, the land owned by the man she had narrowly escaped from being forced to marry before she ran away. She fidgeted with her hands as she drew them into her lap, and I placed a large hand over them to steady her.

“What’s Tintagal like, Annalise?” Rana questioned as she grabbed a ruby-red apple from a basket on the counter and bit into it. “Have you been there before?”

“Only a few times, once or twice after my debut,” the swordswoman said as she ran a finger over the dried salve on her arm.

“Debut?” Carmedy inquired as she tilted her head and scratched behind an ear. “What’s a debut?”

Morrigan was the one to speak first, and all attention turned to the tall, pale woman. “A debut is when a young woman comes of marrying age and is brought out into society in search of suitable mates.” Rana’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and Annalise’s eyes narrowed at Morrigan in confusion, but the mage’s face remained impassive and bored. “High Elves have a similar ceremony, to keep the bloodlines pure.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that. Sounds like just a big excuse to show off money and power.” Rana rolled her sparkling blue eyes up to the ceiling in annoyance.

“That’s exactly what it is,” Annalise confirmed, “something to show off their wealth.”

“Rich people, I swear,” Rana muttered, and Carmedy giggled softly from the table, folded her paws, and placed them on the tabletop.

“It sounds like fun to me.” The cat-woman sighed with a dreamy look in her large, round eyes. “Getting to dress up all fancy and have lots of people look at you and tell you how pretty you are.”

“You might think so,” Morrigan said pointedly, her nearly black eyes heavy on Carmedy’s, “but, some of us do not enjoy such trivial things.”

“But, anyways,” Annalise interrupted, and everyone turned to listen to her raspy voice, “during the debut, they tour us around each province. Usually we stayed about two nights in each, but that winter was exceptionally cold, and the snowfall was heavy. We stayed in Tintagal for close to a week because the roads were impassable. That’s where my parents were formally introduced to the man they later arranged for me to marry.”

She frowned a bit as the memories came back to her. “It’s a huge city, but Tintagal and Tamarisch are separated by a massive river called the Riese, if you could even consider it a river. It’s the largest moving body of water in the northern provinces. We’ll have to cross that river before we can enter Tintagal. I think our best course of action is to cross and stop at the island of Machstein. It’s at the midway point between the regions, and there are two well-known dungeons there.”

“I think that is best,” I interjected as I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, laying my eyes on each of my beautiful minions. “Kalon has told me the frontlines of fighting are along the shores of the Riese. Your brothers are there, correct, Annalise?”

“Yes, they’re pushing back the Tintagal army that invaded after I left,” Annalise snapped angrily, and her hands formed into fists in her lap. “It seems Baudouin, the man I was supposed to marry, doesn’t like to be told no.”

“He’ll get some, don’t worry.” Rana laughed as she punched out at the open air with closed fists for emphasis, and Annalise relaxed and let out a soft chuckle at that.

“Does this mean we get to meet your brothers?” Carmedy squealed happily as she tucked her hands up underneath her chin and gazed over at Annalise. “I can’t wait to see them! I bet you all could be twins!”

“Well, if you don’t remember, two of them are twins, pussycat.” Rana roared with laughter, and Carmedy pushed out her bottom lip only a moment before her expression cleared and she joined in with the laughter at her own expense. I smiled and chuckled along with them, then turned my face towards the other man in the room.

“Kalon?” I asked, and he shifted his dark-eyed gaze towards me and nodded for me to continue. “Would you watch over Tamarisch while we’re away? Just to keep things in order?”

I found out early that Kalon was a skilled and honorable man. As the military trainer, he was strong, level-headed, and determined to have his subordinates succeed, and he was a worthy man to take care of Tamarisch, though for only a short time. Soon, I knew he would be needed back in the army ranks as a war hero.

During our short stay in the castle of Tamarisch, I heard stories of his prowess on the battlefield and was glad to have such a man on our side to guide our ranks in the future if anyone dared to challenge our kingdom. Annalise and I agreed Kalon would be the one to watch over things while we were away, but the one better suited to rule in our wake was her oldest brother, Ansel. My high queen was unsure if her brother would agree to such a responsibility but had decided to seek him out anyway. Her brothers, I assumed, were like Annalise, proud and dignified in all of their ways, but I hoped they wouldn’t be as prideful and secretive as Annalise was in the beginning. I eyed her carefully, and she was deep in her thoughts, her angular face heavy with storm clouds.

“Of course, I will,” Kalon promised as he bowed his head to me, then to Annalise. “Tamarisch is my home, and I will do everything I can to protect it.”

My queen pressed her lips into a tight line, her brows furrowed as she stood slowly and made her way towards the door. Carmedy watched her go with concern in her eyes, but Morrigan was the one to stop her with a gentle hand as she whispered to her. The white-haired woman’s mouth moved silently as she spoke, and Annalise’s dark eyes rested on the floor.

I knew Annalise’s worries because she had voiced them to me privately. She was unsure if her brother would accept the position we were offering since he had no interest in ruling the kingdom alone. This situation was a burden on her heart, and I tried my best to relieve her of it, but this was something she would have to work out for herself.

I also stood and gestured for Annalise and Kalon to follow me out into the hall. Once we were alone in the massive space, they flanked me as we walked together, and I looked between the two of them. Annalise’s face was pensive, her dark brown braid swinging out behind her as she strode confidently, but Kalon looked at me attentively.

“Annalise,” I directed at her, and her eyebrows raised as she stared deeply into my eyes, “tell me a bit about Tamarisch and its trade.”

“You may not have known this, but Tamarisch is one of the strongest trade importers in all of the nations. Due to the year-long cold weather, hardly any perishable items are produced here, like fruit and vegetables. A few here and there in the lower elevations where the weather is milder, but those are very few and far between. We have one exception that is Machstein Island, but other than that, we have to import all food besides meat, which is plentiful.” The swordswoman spoke in a matter of fact tone, and it was clear she knew the shortcomings of her nation from the expression on her face.

“What about exports?” I inquired, and she shook her head.

“If I may?” Kalon interjected, and we both nodded for him to go on. “Tamarisch has always been a rich land, and the proof is within the mountains around us. Long ago, our land to the east was bountiful with iron and marble, as you can see from this palace. This marble we stand on wasn’t imported, it was mined from our own mountains. The high queen’s great-great-grandfather was the one who started the mining, but we were attacked shortly after by enemy troops, and our mining died with our then High King.”

“Are the mountains in the east the only ones that have marble and iron in them?” I asked.

Kalon shook his head fervently. “No, city surveyors who planned to expand housing in one of the sectors told us there are iron and marble in all of the mountains surrounding us.”

“Good quality?” I questioned thoughtfully as different trains of thought raced through my head.

“Excellent, better than any out there.” He reached out and touched the marble wall, and it shone under his fingers. “Look here, look at the veins of blue within the gray and white and the way it fans out from the other colors. No other marble like this exists outside of Tamarisch. We call it Cerulean Flame, and I would wager it would fare a hefty price if we traded it.”

“And the iron?”

“Strong, good quality,” Kalon replied. “We still mine for it and use it for anything, from our military weapons, to the spokes in street-vendor cartwheels. Very versatile and very strong.”

“Would they fetch good prices if we were to trade?” I asked, and Kalon nodded once more with a smile.

“With how well it holds, no matter what you use it for, absolutely,” Kalon guaranteed, and I glanced over at Annalise. Her chocolate brown eyes were bright, and when she looked at me, a broad smile spread over her plump lips.

“Master, let’s do it, let’s bring trade to Tamarisch,” she said fervently, and her hands clenched into fists excitedly at her sides.

I smiled back at her, and stroked her shoulder tenderly. “Yes, we will,” I said proudly before I turned back to Kalon. “You may not know, but I have taken control of Valasara as their king. I would like to speak to my regent, Makar, and see what type of trade we can set up between our two cities. I will contact him in a few days, and then I will let you know what we decide. For now, we will keep this between the three of us until our plan is solid, understood?”

“Yes, Master,” Kalon said as he bowed to me then Annalise.

“We leave tomorrow for the frontlines of battle,” I declared as I steered my warrior queen towards the hall on the left. “I will contact you after I speak with my regent.”

Kalon reached out a hand, and I took it and shook it firmly in agreement. When Kalon was halfway down the hall from us, he turned back with a muddled expression.

“And how will you contact me, Master?” he probed while scratching his dark-haired head.

“You will know when I call for you,” I promised through a knowing smile as I guided my swordswoman into the hall towards our shared bedroom. “You will know.”

I woke in the early morning to the bright rays of sunshine slanting over my eyes and shifted comfortably back as I raised my arms above my head. I glanced down, and Annalise’s naked body was pressed into mine. Her dark chestnut hair, which was usually pulled back in its neat plait, was loose around her shoulders. She groaned against me, shaded her eyes with her forearm, and exposed one of her small, soft breasts. The nipple was hardened and rosy pink from the cold chill in the air, and I cupped it gently in the palm of my hand and ran my fingertips over the hardened bud.

Annalise opened one drooping eyelid and gazed at me with one sparkling brown eye. After we had married, the high queen told me something none of the other minions knew. The Tamarisch traditions said no man should see a woman’s unbraided hair unless they were married, especially if the woman was of royal lineage, the only exception to this tradition was their fathers. I brushed through the loose waves of her silky hair, and she hummed under my touch as my fingertips whispered over her smooth jawline. I considered myself a lucky man to be able to behold such a woman and the glorious locks that created a curtain over her pert breasts.

Annalise yawned and stretched, and the light played against the thin bones of her spine in the morning light. She turned over, and I grabbed her by the hips and brought her closer as I pressed my arousal into the soft flesh of her ass. She giggled airly and peeked at me over her shoulder, and when her dark brown eyes caught the light, they turned golden like the eyes of a tiger.

I pressed my lips to her exposed neck as I ran a hand down her thigh and lifted it to allow my entrance from behind. She moaned into the pillow as the head of my penis brushed her wet lips, and as I pushed in harder, she gripped the bedsheets in pain but didn’t pull away from me. She had been a virgin on our wedding night, but with much practice, she was becoming more accustomed to my length and size. I gripped the hollow between her hip and thigh and pushed all the way inside with a low grunt. She wriggled against me, enjoying the sensation of my huge cock against the inside of her body. When I pulled back and thrust inside her again, she threw her head back and moaned loudly into the open air.

She felt like exquisite silk wrapped around me. Each of my minions were different in bed, but Annalise, who was hard and callus on the outside, was warm and soft at every touch.

As I quickened my pace, our bodies slapping together lustfully, her moans transformed into raspy screams as her hand fluttered up and grabbed onto my forearm. Then her eyes closed tightly as she pumped her hips against me. Annalise had no prior experience with lovemaking, but she was taking to my lessons with great enthusiasm.

I lifted her right leg higher and slammed in as my free hand snaked around her and stroked her exposed clitoris. Her eyes opened wide as she gasped for air, and I knew that was her spot that she liked the most. I swirled my fingers over its dripping surface, and her screams rose in pitch as they vibrated against the walls. Her pussy tightened and gripped me, and I grew dizzy from the contractions on my member, but right as I reached the edge, she pushed away from me.

I gasped for air, desperate for more as she weaved above me and placed her strong legs on either side of mine. Then she clutched my hands and brought them up to her breasts as she slid back down on my cock, where she belonged. Annalise bounced on top of me and used the bed to fully slide my member in and out of her core at a fast pace. Her hips rocked, and I felt my tip glide all the way to the entrance of her sweet hole then slam back down until our hips were pressed against each other.

If she kept at it like this, I wouldn’t last very long. Every movement of my high queen was ecstasy, and I wanted to savor every moment. I sat up with my penis still inside her and held her to my chest as I savagely plunged deeper and gripped onto her shoulders for leverage. Her head fell back, and her chest rose and fell as she struggled between moans and screams. Her forehead was sticky with sweat, and the baby hairs at her hairline stuck there.

“Yes, Master, yes, please,” she choked out between gasps.

I gripped her and pushed her back onto the bed, and her legs wrapped around my middle as I slammed into her, my release on the horizon as her pussy convulsed and tightened around me once more. Her beautiful face was serene as her orgasm took her in its fist, and her body moved against mine in urgent waves and I allowed her to ride it out. After all, her pleasure was my pleasure, as it was with all of my minions. Watching them moan and beg for me only aroused me more.

Her eyes opened as the orgasm let go of her, and then she stared up into my hazel eyes in wonder and love. She moaned weakly, but her hips still moved against mine, not satisfied unless she made her Master cum.

“Give me your seed, Master, give it to me, I want it,” she whispered hotly into my ear as I quickened my pace. I gritted my teeth as my hand buried itself in her dark mane, and I felt it rising within me, building up inside my loins and about to explode at her begging voice. “Master, please.”

I slid deep into her once more as my frothy seed spilled into her, and she moaned loudly as the warmth from it spread inside her womb. My climax lasted for what seemed like a full minute, but once it had ended, I collapsed on top of her and let my breathing return to normal while she ran her slender fingers through my hair. We stayed like this for awhile, the High King and Queen enjoying the tender moments of their marital bed.

But there was work to be done, so I swung my legs out and brought my armor over in preparation as I shrugged on my underclothes.

“Come back to bed,” she begged lustfully as she reached out for me once more, but I shook my head as I slipped into my heavy boots.

Right as I was about to speak, the door shot open, and Rana and Carmedy piled in. The cat-girl was already clothed in her heavy winter gear, and she dove for the bed and bounced up and down on it.

“Get up! Getup, getup, getup!” the cat-woman chanted as she jumped, but Annalise spread herself out and clung to the sides of the mattress for dear life.

“What?” my queen asked as she tried to keep the sheets of our bed from falling away from her naked body while the cat-girl hopped around.

“Today is the day!” Carmedy cheered excitedly.

Rana stomped over with a sly smile, raised her hand high over her head, and brought it down on Annalise’s sheet-covered ass with a loud smack that resounded around the room. Annalise yelped, let go of the bed, grabbed the blankets she was covered in, and retreated from the bed as she rubbed at her sore butt-cheek.

“I was getting up!” she shouted red-faced as she pointed at Rana angrily. “You didn’t have to hit me!”

“If we had let you get up on your own, we would be stuck here for weeks,” Morrigan’s cold voice said from the doorway, and Fea and Macha, back on their mistress’s shoulders, bobbed their heads up and down in agreement.

“I’m up!” Annalise bellowed as she ran a hand through her loose hair, flustered. “Now everyone out before I make you get out with Bloodscale!” Her threat was menacing, but her lips twitched at the corners as she tried to hide a smile.

“Come now,” I laughed loudly at Annalise’s behavior and gestured the two rambunctious women out, “before Annalise lops off all our heads.”

We spent most of the morning collecting our things, packing our bags, and scarfing down a delicious breakfast prepared by the palace’s cook. As per usual, Carmedy ate more than any of us, three scrambled eggs, five pieces of buttered toast, a pile of pancakes dripping in syrup and lastly, four slices of peach pie. When we went to leave the kitchen, the cook held up a hand, waved the cat-woman over, and handed her a package wrapped in thick wax paper. Carmedy squealed in excitement as she peeked into the tightly wrapped box, and then she ran over to us with a straight face as she attempted to hide her surprise behind her back.

“Whatcha get, pussycat?” the fox asked as she tried to snatch the box away from Carmedy.

“Nothing,” Carmedy sang in a teasing voice and effectively avoided Rana’s probing hands.

“Come on, just show me!” Rana shouted in utter exasperation. “It’s not like I’m going to try and steal it!”

“Knowing Carmedy, it is most likely a pie or some type of dessert,” Morrigan interjected with little interest as her dark eyes moved over the package then wafted away.

“It is a pie!” the cheery alchemist said and nodded. “I’ll share this time, I promise!”

“The last time you offered to share a pie, you ate the entirety of said pie. Are we supposed to scrape the remnants from your fur and share that?” Morrigan asked with a lifted white eyebrow as she pulled on her red coat and buttoned it over her usual black dress.

“Did you … ?” Rana shuffled forward in disbelief, grabbed Morrigan’s slender hands, and held them tightly in her own, “Did you just make another joke? Guys, Morrigan made her second joke. Oh! I’m so proud!”

Morrigan snatched her hands away with a small frown, and Rana wiped a fake tear away then burst out laughing.

“Where are we going today?” the cat asked Annalise with round green eyes, excited to start out on another adventure.

“We have to pass through the small village of Bickenbane. I heard there is a dungeon hidden away in the mountain, and Bickenbane is at the base of that mountain,” the swordswoman said as she pulled out a map of Tamarisch and pointed to our destination.

“How far is it?” I asked as I clipped on my bear fur overcoat and the matching gloves.

“Not very far compared to our other journeys, three hours by foot to Bickenbane, then another hour to the mountain.”

“Alright.” I nodded firmly, and glanced at all of my minions as they stood in front of me in a line. “Let’s head off. I’d like to get to the frontlines as quickly as possible.”

The high queen was correct, and it only took us three hours to find Bickenbane on foot. It was a small village but as equally as beautiful as the grand palace. All the buildings were crafted well and none of them seemed to be rundown or dirty. The nobility of Tamarisch took great care of their people, and it showed in their structures and architecture. The people there were kind and some of them very excited to see the High King and Queen on their streets, a few even threw themselves on the ground and bowed at our feet.

Once, we were forced to stop and ask for directions to the dungeon, and we were informed there was no known entrance, that it would have to be dug out of the earth first. An appalling idea if we didn’t have my dark powers, but easily done with them. The person told us we would have to go up the mountain’s west side where the only known path was, and there would be a fork. If we wanted to find the dungeon, we would take the left fork and follow it all the way to the end where it stopped. That is where the dungeon lay.

We followed his instructions perfectly, buckled down our packs, wrapped ourselves in our warmest blankets, and headed up the west side of the mountain. We reached the dead end of the path around mid-afternoon, and the sun was slowly sinking behind us. The rock face in front of us was a steep incline, a good place to have put an entrance to a dungeon if it weren’t buried within the rock.

“Everyone ready?” Annalise asked the others as she strapped her unnamed sword to her back and made sure Bloodscale was protectively in its scabbard. “We won’t be able to replenish supplies until we reach Machstein, so does everyone have what they need?”

Carmedy dug her sleek paws through her pack, then patted down the small pouches tied around her waist. “Yup! I’m good to go!”

“Just make sure you got that heat stuff, pussycat? I’m not looking to get frostbite on any of these journeys through the tundra.” Rana cackled, and Carmedy’s face broke with concern as she searched through the pouches once again, but Rana quickly stopped her. “I’m joking, I’m joking.”

“Morrigan?” I asked, and her almost black eyes flitted to mine,

“I need for nothing, Master, and if I did, I know you will provide,” the elf said softly as she bowed her head to me.

I nodded to all of them and raised my hands into the air, my fingers tensed and my palms upward. Four pools of gray smoke swirled up from the ground, and a freezing wind blasted through the portals as once again sickly thin arms reached through and pulled themselves up and out. My ice demons towered over us, and their gangly arms swung while their curled fingers brushed the rocky ground.

I pointed forward to the wall of rock, and the four ice demons lumbered forward, their breaths coming out in wheezes and squeals. They tore through the rock, using their gnarled hands like crude shovels. Hard packed dirt and rock flew out behind them as they burrowed deeper, and their backs soon disappeared into the mountain.

We waited for about an hour then moved in, and once my eyes adjusted to the light, I paved the way for them at the front. Four hours we journeyed the rough terrain in the demon made cavern, and I was alerted by the screeching noises from the ice beasts that they had hit something of interest. I stopped and raised a hand for the others to halt behind me,

“What is it?” Carmedy asked in a whisper, her tail held between her hands as she twisted it anxiously.

Though I couldn’t understand the primitive ice demon language, there was a resemblance to ours in it, and I could hear two words as they resounded through their pea brains.

“Big and gold?” I whispered under my breath.

“What was that?” the red-haired fox questioned, her head inclined towards me as her green eyes examined me with concern.

“They found something, I can feel it,” I twisted my head to look directly in the fox’s eyes, “big and gold.”

Rana’s expression changed, her eyebrows dropped, her eyes squinted, and a sly half-smile spread over her lips as she cocked her head.

“Big and gold?” she asked back in a whisper, pleased by those words. She didn’t even wait for a response before she bolted forward and her bouncing curls flew out behind her.

Carmedy raced out to stop her, but the fox was gone in a flash of red hair. We could hear her racing down as rocks and pebbles shifted under her feet, and we ran to keep up. Rana reached the end before any of us, and her exclamation and loud curses echoed back to us. Climbing over loose boulders and stone, we finally joined Rana at the bottom. She was nearly hyperventilating as she stared up in awe, and her arms hung limply by her sides as she turned slowly in a circle.

Looming above her and pressed into the rock was a massive fifteen-foot door. As I approached with bated breath, two twin flames crackled pleasantly to life on each side, the deity’s magic showing itself already, no doubt. Illuminated by the flickering flames, we could see all of the details etched into the soft gold. All of my minions huddled together to examine the scenes engraved into the metal. The left panel of the door portrayed happiness, people laughing, eating, and dancing. Each one was different, but each was jovial as the drawn people smiled, but the right side was much stranger. Each scene carved into the gold there showed horrible death and destruction, not unlike the life I used to know. Decaying bodies, eyeless skulls, endless fires being laid across the land. It was both horrifying and beautiful at the same time as we studied it together.

I stepped back and examined the door as a whole. It was a masterpiece of work, and surprising for the entrance to a dungeon. Most dungeons we entered only had big hulking entrance ways that led to black passageways.

“Who put it here?” I wondered out loud. “Was the deity inside kept prisoner like I was? Sealed and locked away from all those who dared to enter?”

The molded and beaten gold door handles were shaped into elegant hands, the left side hand pointed upward with the pointer and middle finger extended, and the thumb pressed against the ring and pinky fingers, and the right-side hand pointed down, but the position of the fingers was the same. I stepped closer and bent down in front of them and admired their handiwork. Every inch of this door was painstakingly made, and it must have taken years to craft each side. I ran a tentative finger down the wrist of one of the gilded hands.

Morrigan glided up behind me, and as she did, Fea and Macha cawed loudly in protest once they were in close proximity to the door. The elf’s white brows furrowed, and she cooed to them softly, speaking quiet words in a different language I couldn’t understand. The sleek ravens were unnerved, and it struck me as odd. Fea and Macha were silent most of the time unless they sensed magic near.

I glanced up at Morrigan, but her eyes didn’t meet mine as they stayed hard and focused on the gilt hands. Beneath her hood, her eyes glinted then turned wholly black, and the mage mark on her forehead burned dimly like fiery embers. She blinked once, and her lips parted as she murmured something under her breath. Then her gaze wandered over the expanse of the massive door slowly before they returned back to the hands. Suddenly, her eyes returned to normal, and she blinked in quick succession as if to clear her eyes of dust.

“There’s magic here, but I cannot sense where it is emanating from,” she murmured to me.

“I felt it too,” I said as I backed up and admired the way the dancing light brushed against the glittering gold and made it glow and spark. “I wonder what it is.”

“What does this mean?” the black-haired cat asked as she gestured towards the handles. “Why hands?”

I had no answer for her because I was thinking the same thing. Did hands have some type of significance to this god? I shook my head doubtfully at the cat, and she pushed out her lips in thought as she crossed her arms over her ample chest. Morrigan came around me and touched the smooth hands, and their images were reflected in the rippling pools of her dark eyes.

“As above, so below,” she said in a bored tone, and her hands dropped from the cold metal.

“What does that mean?” Rana snapped and wrinkled her nose as if she’d smelled something terrible. One of Morrigan’s slender hands lifted into the air and gestured toward the right side of the door.

“On earth,” she uttered, and her hand gestured to the left side, “as it is in heaven.”

“Ohhh, I get it!” Carmedy bobbed her head fanatically.

Rana made an exasperated face at her, her mouth pulled down at the corners. “You do not, ya ninny.” The fox-woman cackled with laughter, and Carmedy gasped, her usually smooth black tail puffed up and snapped behind her back with annoyance,

“I get it! You know, with the above and the below and the good and the bad, the happy and the sad,” she shouted as she waved madly between the two sides but suddenly, she froze except her black ears that twitched and rotated as if listening to something closely.

“D-do you guys hear that?” she whispered in disbelief, and as I watched, her pupils dilated, and she shuffled towards the door and pressed an ear to it.

We all stopped and listened carefully.

Annalise, who was silent this entire time perked up. “Yes,” she breathed as she pressed her palms against the gold, “it sounds like people cheering.”

“No,” Rana disagreed, her ears also twitching with interest, “it sounds like coins clicking together.”

I concentrated hard but heard nothing as I glanced over at my minions who were enraptured with the sounds.

“It sounds like candied bacon frying in a sizzling pan,” the cat-woman sighed, as she held her hands close to her chest.

As Morrigan came forward, I noticed the glassy, faraway looks in their eyes, and knew something was wrong. Something that I wasn’t experiencing was taking over the minds of my minions.

“No,” Morrigan exhaled softly, “it sounds like the pages of a book turning.”

Before I could voice my concerns, the golden doors shuddered with a peal of loud thunder and then pulled back to open the way forward. Bright yellow light streamed out as if it were the sun trapped inside of the dungeon instead of another god.

All four of my minions took a deep breath, and it echoed against the walls like a chorus. Annalise was the first to pass the threshold, and she walked as if she were in a dream, her head straight forward and her back straight. Morrigan was the second, and her blood red winter coat swirled around her feet. I grabbed Carmedy’s wrist to prevent her from going in, but her slick fur slid out of my hand, and she was gone with the others as she and Rana moved away from me in a daze.

I couldn’t sense the deity yet, but I could tell he was here in some way, moving his essence around as I could. I too stepped through the door, and they creaked, shuddered again and began to close. My minions had been on the other side of the entrance to his dungeon, and he already trapped them under his spell.

And I was already growing angry.

My minions were mine and mine alone, and he was trying to take them away from me so early in the game. I was going to enjoy ripping his powers away and then stealing the life from his body.

Chapter Three

My minions seemed to be in a deep trance as I followed after them. The halls in this dungeon reminded me of the lava god in Valasara. There were no craggy walls or protruding rocks. Instead, all the walls including the floor were smooth and polished enough to see my reflection in them. The other thing I was intrigued by was the fact that the walls and ground I tread upon were made of solid gold just like the door, every inch of it.

I turned back at a loud crunching sound, and as the gilded doors closed, I saw the dirt and rock falling in around it and closing off the hole my ice demons had made in the earth. This deity was trapping us in its dungeon from the outside in.

This was going to be more interesting than I thought.

My minions went on without me, so I ran a few steps to catch up to them, but when I rounded the next corner I stopped. The path veered off to the right into a huge carved doorway where Morrigan, Annalise, and Rana stood in a line, and only the black cat was missing, so I moved towards them and looked into the brightly lit hallway I assumed Carmedy had gone down.

I gripped my leather gloved hands into fists and moved into the mouth of the archway, but the others didn’t follow after. I turned back confused, and when I looked into all of their eyes, it was plain to me the deity was controlling their minds. Each set of eyes I knew so well were the same color that surrounded us. The pupils and even the whites of their eyes were now glittering gold.

“Where’s Carmedy?” I questioned as I looked into each of their stunning faces, but they only stared back at me blankly. Rage bubbled up in my stomach, not at them but at the deity who thought he could play with me like this so early in the game. When I spoke again, I spoke more to the deity than to my companions as the anger was apparent in my tight voice. “Since it seems you didn’t hear me, I’ll ask again, where’s Carmedy?”

They didn’t speak or react to my tone but instead raised their hands in unison and pointed down the hall I was standing in. I glanced towards the other end and could make out a large room on the other side, and beyond that, I could faintly hear Carmedy’s voice.

I knew she was safe from the sound of her lilting voice and the gentle beat of her heart, but I was still on edge. The presence of the god was all around us, but I still couldn’t pinpoint his location. I could already tell he was a wily one from the way he snatched my minions' minds so effortlessly, but it made me wonder, why hadn’t he done the same to me?

Perhaps he had, but his power was so insignificant I hadn’t noticed his mental attack. It was one thing to charm a mortal, but quite another to charm a god. Especially if that god was me.

I took a step forward then looked back to my women, and they stood utterly still, their eyes glazed with golden light. “Are you coming?”

“One cannot dream another’s dreams,” the women murmured in harmony with the voice of this dungeon’s god. The extra voice was male and very deep as it recited the words with them.

“What does that mean?” I questioned with furrowed brows as I scrutinized them, but I only received the same answer. I turned back towards the hall, knowing if I asked any more questions, I’d only receive the same cryptic response.

This dungeon was different than all the others. It was brightly lit, so much so it made me want to squint my eyes. I kept a wary eye on the walls in case the god was hiding in plain sight, but I found nothing except the flawless gold and my own face reflected back. When I reached the end of the hall and the louder call of Carmedy’s voice, I looked back over my shoulder, but my minions were gone. My heart was hammering. I wanted to go after Carmedy, but now the other three were also missing.

It was best to go forward, toward the one I knew I was close to. I growled deep in my throat and stepped into the grand room beyond. Carmedy was there, but she didn’t raise her head or speak to me as I entered.

Instead, the cat-girl alchemist was seated in a cushy, high back chair and a long table was stretched out in front of her. The table was intricate and masterfully made like everything else we had seen so far, but what was on top of it made my eyes widen. Piles and plates of food, goblets filled to the brim with wine, trays and platters heavy with steaming morsels, but it wasn’t just any food, everything laid out and displayed were sweets, candies, and treats.

All of Carmedy’s favorite things were displayed out in front of her, and the cat-woman was taking no time as she shoved a fist full of pies, cupcakes, and macaroons into her open, salivating mouth. Her eyes were glowing gold like the others, but they were wide and excited as she shoveled chocolate pudding onto her tongue and gulped it down.

I watched with horror as she soon emptied a plate and moved on to the next. Then the empty plate magically refilled before my eyes, creating an endless cycle of food. She was eating so fast her arms and mouth were a blur as they moved in tandem, stacking a cupcake on top of a heavily frosted piece of cake and pushing it into her open maw. She moved faster and faster, the sounds of her lips smacking and her teeth chewing echoed around the walls, but then I heard it, a soft sound between chews.

“Help me,” she squeaked through a mouthful.

That was all the encouragement I needed, and I ran forward, grabbed her by the shoulders, and pulled her away from the table. To my horror, my hands passed through the cat’s shoulder, and I tried again, but the same thing happened. I tried one last time and swiped out at Carmedy, but it passed through her like she was merely made out of smoke. I shook my head and decided on a different course of action.

I walked around Carmedy’s high back chair, came to the middle of the table, and gripped its edge. Inhuman strength rushed through the muscles in my avatar’s body, and I toppled the table. Food crashed and spilled over the floor, but still, Carmedy’s hands moved in the air as she plucked unseen foods from the space and brought them to her lips. As I stepped back, the fallen table disappeared with a snap, only to reappear right where it was before. Then I heard it. The noise started softly like it was coming from far away, but then it got louder.

The deity was laughing.

I whipped around the room and studied each wall as I searched for the bastard, but he was nowhere in sight. Rage flowed freely in my stomach, and I glanced back at Carmedy, who was still stuffing her face with an elated expression. She asked for my help, and I could give her none, and it pained me deeply.

“Seems an appropriate punishment for a glutton, doesn’t it?” the deep voice asked from above. His voice was calm, almost soothing … which annoyed me more in this situation.

“Show yourself!” I commanded as I reached into my void pocket for the God Slayer.

“No,” the voice answered softly back, and I gritted my teeth furiously. “You see, I have other things to show you, and if I revealed myself now, all of that work would go to waste. I’m not as fancy as the other gods. I’m not going to trick you into falling into a pit of snakes, or attack you with goblins. With my dungeon, you have to work hard to get to it, you have to earn your way in. Half the battle is even finding the dungeon itself but … you cheated with your little pets … no fun, good sir, not very fair. It once took one party of ten men five years to find my dungeon, and it took you, what? A couple of hours. How disappointing.”

Even though he was grumbling and groaning, his voice still had a soothing effect to it, and it only enraged me more.

“Show yourself or let her go!” I yelled as I pulled the God Slayer from the void pocket and gestured towards the still eating cat.

“I will do neither,” he purred. “As I said before, I still have things to show you. Now put your little stick back in your pocket and follow my voice.”

I ignored his urgings and stayed put near Carmedy’s struggling form.

“No, I will not leave her, not like this.” I boomed as I slammed down the God Slayer, and my dark power swirled around it as the three curved blades appeared from inside its wooden staff.

“Oh, for god’s sake,” the deity muttered in annoyance.

There was a loud crackle in the air as the high back chair, the table, and the food placed upon it disappeared from view. Carmedy sat in open air for a second, her arms still moving and reaching for the food that wasn’t there, but soon she stopped, too. I ran towards her but with a snap and a flash, Carmedy vanished as well.

“Before you threaten me again, she’s safe,” the deity’s voice soothed. “You will find her and the others soon enough. I will be there too, so don’t worry.”

I glanced back at the space where Carmedy had just been, then nodded. Though I wasn’t sure where the god was observing from, he must have seen my gesture because part of the far wall fluctuated like the gold was melting, and then it parted to reveal another hall like the one I entered in through. I didn’t want to do as he asked, but if I was forced to follow him to find my beloved minions, then I would.

And then I would destroy him.

I was halfway through the brightly lit hall when I heard something similar to the sound of coins clinking together. I moved my feet faster, and when I came to the archway at the end, I held onto it for support, nearly toppling down into a river of moving gold wonders. Not only were there coins bobbing in the luminescent liquid, but there were also jewelry, crowns, goblets and doubloons, and great slabs of gold with ancient etchings on the surface.

Smackdab in the middle of this ocean of undulating gold was Rana. She was laying back on one of the floating slabs, and her fiery curls spread out against the surface as one of her hands moved lazily beside her. She was absolutely serene, her lids closed and a small smile on her pink lips as she dipped her hand into the clinking coins and pulled out a few. She brought them up to her face as her bright blue eyes opened and examined their surfaces dazedly. Then she suddenly jumped to her feet, tossed the coins back in, and stretched her arms above her head. As I watched in horror, my voice rising in my throat to stop her, she leaped off the slab into the churning sea of gold.

Rana jumped head first with her arms outstretched in front of her like a practiced diver. Her head and torso broke the surface but then stopped, leaving her rear and legs sticking out. Her legs kicked madly as I heard her muffled screams coming from below. I raced forward to try and help, but a solid wall of air stopped me from moving, and all I could do was watch as she struggled to pull herself out, her screams rising in pitch as she panicked.

“A thief that doesn’t steal from friends or family is still a thief in the end, don’t you agree?” the god whispered in my ear.

I bristled at his sudden nearness, but when I turned to strike out at him with the God Slayer, his essence was gone. His loud laughter vibrated in my ears as I held the God Slayer tightly in my hands, but I glanced back at Rana, who was struggling harder now but was still not managing to make a dent in the moving metal.

“Why are you showing me this?” I growled, and I felt his essence return but keep its distance from me.

“A strong god like yourself should be able to answer that question without my help.” He sighed loudly, and I felt him move around me to gaze out at the fox-woman’s kicking boots. I tensed my whole body and jabbed out with the God Slayer, but it sliced nothing but air as his laughter reached me again. “You’ll need to be quicker than that, Dark One.”

That name … Cethin called me the same name before. I stopped myself from reacting and kept my avatar’s expression calm. My minions hadn’t learned that side of me yet. I had coaxed their most inner secrets out of them no matter how much they fought, but they were still ignorant of my past when I resided in the heavens among the other gods. Sensing the presence around me, I knew I had never met or encountered this god before, but he knew of me and my past. I didn’t like to think back on those times, of my savage days, of Isolda and what happened after. Those were painful memories for me, and as painful as the things my minions shared with me, mine were tenfold compared.

“Take me to the next,” I commanded, and as before with Carmedy, the gold river disappeared with a loud snap, leaving Rana hanging upside down in the air. Then she was gone, too. Without the moving sea of gold objects, I now saw that the room swirled downward, and a staircase carved into the wall circled down with it. I felt the warm presence shift and move forward ahead of me, and I held the God Slayer in front of my body in case I saw another chance to attack.

I was starting to realize what he wanted me to see. None of it made sense yet, but I knew there were two more rooms to visit. I would have preferred a dungeon with traps and monsters. This seeing my minions struggle and not being able to help them was setting my insides on fire. I wanted to rip this deity to shreds, wanted him to feel pain for hurting my women. Nothing could hurt me. Yes, my avatar could be destroyed, but I could easily make a new one. What I realized troubled me the most was seeing my beloved minions being trapped and hurt over and over. Carmedy, unable to stop eating, Rana drowning in the gold she loved so much, and I still had more to endure.

As we journeyed down deeper into the mountain, I could indistinctly hear yelling and screaming, the sounds of thousands of men trampling against a broken land. I stopped, pressed a hand to the golden wall, and listened hard to the sounds of anguish that rose up from below. These were the sounds my minions said they heard earlier. Annalise had said she heard people yelling, Carmedy had heard bacon frying … but what did all of it mean? Why was I being shown these things? And why couldn’t I intervene?

The staircase stopped at the bottom of the pit, and this was the only place the light didn’t reach. Around me, torches crackled and snapped in the darkness. The yelling grew louder as I pushed on, and then I neared another archway, this one broken and cracked unlike the others before it.

When I stepped through it, my feet landed in tall grass that blew in a slight wind, but that’s not what caught my attention. All around me, men in suits of armor were fighting, and I recognized a man’s helmet as he ran past me holding his bleeding arm. These were Tamarisch soldiers, easily identified by the helmets shaped into a bear’s head. A roar ripped through the ranks, and I saw Annalise through the carnage as she fought against the invading enemy. Her movements were clean and confident as she stabbed into men left and right, her long chestnut hair billowing out behind her untied, and her face, though tensed and fierce, was still as beautiful as ever, my warrior queen.

She used both of her swords in tandem and felled each man who dared to challenge her, but as I observed, each man she cut down was replaced with another much bigger and stronger opponent. She was faltering, slowing down, and it was plain she had already used up most of her strength. I gripped the God Slayer tightly in my fist as I watched the biggest enemy so far slam into her, and her heavy booted feet dug in the ground and slid back a few feet. The enemy’s warhammer was massive, the biggest I’d ever seen, and with Annalise recovering from the blow, he raised it above her head and brought it down.

“Stop!” I shouted, and then the scene disappeared. Annalise, who cowered on the ground, her arms lifted to protect her head from the oncoming blow, was gone with a whisper.

“A warrior who wishes so badly to fight … stuck in an endless battle,” the deity said in my right ear, and I roared as I stabbed out with the God Slayer, but the blades only hit the tarnished gold wall beside me and left a small gouge behind.

“Yes, yes, you are quite clever,” I sighed. “Let’s see how clever you are when we finally meet. I’ll gut you like a pig and wear your intestines like a scarf.”

It was clear what was going on here, what type of trick this god was trying to pull. Knowing this, I calmed my emotions and steadied myself.

The deity only chuckled under his breath and opened up another door directly next to me.

“That’s all fine and dandy, Dark One, but I’m sad to tell you, I don’t have any intestines for you to wear.” He let out a peal of laughter, and I felt a gust of warm air brush past me as he moved on, but he was too stupid or arrogant to realize I had figured out his little game already.

One more room, and he was mine to destroy.

This hallway led upward, and as we went, it returned back to its brightly lit, opulent splendor. Up ahead, a golden door waited, a lot like the one we came through earlier but much smaller, this one only seven feet tall. I caught a flicker out of the corner of my eye, and for a second, I could have sworn I saw a man there. I laughed to myself. His power was waning, and soon he would have to show himself to me and face his death.

Once I reached the doors, I lifted my hand to open them, but they swung open for me, and an unearthly scream hit my ears. I dove inside as soon as they parted enough for me to pass, and the sight that greeted me nearly brought me to my knees. The room was dark, but I could see Morrigan clearly as she weaved back and forth.

The elf was on her knees in the middle of the floor, her mage markings on fire and burning into her flesh. Fea and Macha circled above her head and cawed loudly in distress. She threw her head back as she screamed, and her hood fell away to expose her wholly black eyes as they searched the air for an unseen attacker. The marking in her forehead blazed brighter, and smoke wafted up from its elven letters. She batted at herself, but as she did, her hands glowed with dark purple power and assaulted her body with dark magic.

My eyes narrowed in on her hair, and from the snow-white roots, black crept up and slowly spread to all of the length of it and turned her long locks completely dark like Carmedy’s. Morrigan tentatively reached for the hair that hung down to her waist, but as soon as her glowing fingers touched the once-white hair, it burned it away with a sizzle and puff of gray smoke. She cried out, her eyes widening in horror as she realized what had happened to her hair and what she did by touching it.

“Those who wish for dark power will receive it tenfold … but not know how to properly wield it.” The twisted god giggled into my ear, but I attempted to ignore his pestering as I kept my eyes on my lover.

She held out her hands in front of her like a blind woman, and tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes as the color changed from deep purple to chartreuse. She shook her head vehemently, lifted her hands into the air towards Fea and Macha, then sobbed loudly as they cawed in warning and avoided her deathly touch. Morrigan, my Morrigan, who hid away from others and enjoyed the company of animals, was broken by the rejection of her pets, the only friends she had since childhood.

“You have made your point with your illusions,” I said.

“Oh?” he said, and then Morrigan, Fea, and Macha faded from view.

Then I was alone with the deity. The room brightened behind me as if a torch was suddenly lit and my turned back was hit with a wave of heat. I turned to face the man I’d seen briefly earlier, and he stared back at me with a knowing smile.

He floated in the air, his legs crossed over each other and his chubby little fists resting on his knees as he smiled down at me. His entire being was made out of gold except for the eyes which were two rubies that seemed to be pressed into the flesh of his face. He was rotund, though not as fat as the lava god, and his bald head shone like it was polished to perfection. If I hadn’t seen him earlier, I would have thought he was merely a golden statue.

“Now, you may look upon me,” he said proudly as he lifted his hands and gestured to his whole being. “What do you think of my teachings? Every sinner must learn and know their sin before they can be reborn. Do you think your minions have learned their lessons well?”

“My minions may have their faults, but they are not sins,” I hissed through my teeth.

The gold deity raised his eyebrows with the smile still in place.

“Sin is a sin is a sin,” he said dubiously with a snicker. “Is not lying a sin? Cheating? Stealing? Murder? Your minions are sinners, and you, Dark One, are the biggest sinner of them all. I’ve accepted you here to be bathed in my warm light and be born again.”

“The only thing I’m going to be bathed in is your blood,” I snarled as I slammed the God Slayer down onto the ground, and it came to life for the second time here in this dungeon.

“Oh, there you go getting all riled up again! Can’t you accept the gifts I have to offer? I haven’t even shown you your sins yet.” He chuckled as he pressed his hands to his chubby belly and laughed heartily, but what he hadn’t realized yet was I already figured him out.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” I inquired as I tilted my head to him, and his expression broke so quickly it was like a bubble popping midair,

“Of course not.” He snickered as he watched me circle him, dragging the wooden haft of the God Slayer behind me.

“You say I haven’t seen my sins?” I said thoughtfully. “Each of my minions was trapped in their dream world: Carmedy with food, Rana with gold, Annalise in battle, and Morrigan with her dark arts, but each of those dreams was skewed. They got everything they wanted, but it turned sour for them.”

With that, I snatched up the God Slayer and tore its magical blade through the air. The open space I had been walking beside ripped at the seams to reveal a second world behind it, the real world.

“Am I not in my very own dream world right now?” I sneered, and the golden deity’s face fell in shock and then horror as he realized I had figured it all out.

The space around us, this false world, warbled and shook then disappeared just as my minions had. I floated in the air for a second then dropped steadily to the floor. I held the God Slayer confidently in my fists as I faced off with the rotund god before me. I took a quick scan of the room and realized we must be in this god’s nexus. All of my minions were here, unconscious but safe as they floated in the air in their own dream worlds. I could feel their hearts, and though their heart rates were slightly elevated, they were safe with me here now.

“You figured it out, Dark One,” he said ruefully, but a small smile still tinged at the corners of his lips. “How did you do it?”

“Annalise,” I smirked as I pointed at the swordswoman’s head with the tip of God Slayer and kept my eyes on the floating god above me. “As per Tamarisch tradition, woman do not wear their hair down or unbraided unless they are in private with their husband or father.”

“Whew,” the golden god cried as he scrunched up his face and snapped his finger in disappointment, “caught me by a technicality.”

“You were not the first, and you won’t be the last,” I assured as I gave the God Slayer a few test swings in my hand and felt the power rush up from my body to meet with the divine weapon. I swung it up and then out before I tucked the staff under my arm and held it tightly to my chest. “Now, wake up my minions, and I’ll have mercy on you.”

“As you wish,” the golden deity said as he bowed his head respectfully to me. He lifted one chubby arm into the air and snapped his fingers. The air below my companions fluctuated, and slowly, their eyes opened from their deep slumber. This time, the color in their iris’s was returned to normal.

Carmedy was the first to land on her feet, and once she did, she raced over to me, her eyes wide with tears at their corners.

“Master … ” she cried in relief as Annalise and Rana also ran over to stand at my side. Morrigan was the last, her long hair held between two fingers as she examined it closely for any changes. I touched all of them with tender hands to check to see if any of them were hurt.

“We are fine, Master,” Morrigan assured as she took my hand softly in hers, “but are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No, I’m unhurt,” I said as I reached out and petted Carmedy’s soft fur. “No one can hurt me as long as my minions are safe.”

“How very chivalrous of you, Dark One,” the deity said under his breath, but no one paid any attention to him as we checked each other over. Once we had made sure all of us were unharmed, I turned back to him with Rana tucked tightly to my side.

“You’ve returned my minions, I must thank you,” I said as I too bowed my head to him, but when I looked back up into his eyes, mine were glowing red with rage, “and now, it is your turn to die.”

“Wait, what?” the golden deity screamed, but before he could react, the fox woman broke away from my side, two of her elven daggers already flying through the air.

They hit their mark perfectly, one rooted in his belly and the other in his throat. He struggled to speak, but the only sounds that came up were gargles and hiccups of air. My minions fanned out around me to create a protective barrier as I spun the God Slayer over my head, and the magical weapon came to life under my hand as my dark powers seeped into it. A wide sphere of dark magic formed over my head and spread out to create a flat disk that shuddered and shifted. Then the black hole widened, and I yelled with strain as I pushed all of my power into it. Veins of red bloomed to life through the swirling black mass.

The golden god still hung in the air and pulled the elven dagger out of his protruding belly. Unsurprisingly, the blood that spilled from the wound was also golden and dripped to the floor like pools of honey. I screamed out once more as I pulled back the God Slayer in a split second and slammed it into the middle of the spinning black mass. As my weapon penetrated into its form, the blade stretched the dark magic into a curling cone and shot it out towards the god. He had no time to escape as the point pierced into his belly, and the outer edges came around and swallowed him whole. The remaining black orb constricted and vibrated as the god inside fought against his confines. Golden blood dripped from the sphere as it moved feverishly, then with one final snap of all of his bones, the orb blasted apart and spewed the god’s mutilated corpse to the ground.

It hit the golden floor with a sickening crunch, and from the top of his broken skull, a red soul orb, the same color as his ruby eyes, rose and floated towards me. As it pressed and was absorbed into my chest, I could feel a new power open up inside me like a blooming hibiscus flower, the ability to create pocket worlds from nothing but illusions.

The upgraded power pleased me.

I turned back to my minions, and they were all smiling at me, happy to be reunited with their master. Rana wiped a smudge of golden blood from Carmedy’s cheek, and Morrigan swiped a few stray droplets from Annalise’s braid. My women, my beautiful minions, were back in my possession, where they rightfully belonged.

“That was awesome!” Rana blew her bangs out of her eyes, gave me a smile, and raised her fist in the air. I nodded in agreement as I held out my hand to her. She took it, and I brought her to my chest and stroked the unruly curls at the back of her head. I motioned the rest of them over, and they came to me, wrapped themselves around me, and surrounded me with their warm and comforting presences.

“After being here for so long … I’m kind of tired of gold,” the cat-woman admitted as she snuggled deeper into my chest,

“What did you just say?!” the fox asked in an astonished voice. “Tired? Of Gold? You’re an adventurer, Carmedy! How could you get tired of gold?”

“I’m tired of gold, too.” The swordswoman chuckled as she laid a kiss on my cheek.

“I would like to point out that I have never specified if I had a preference for gold or not. As a High Elf, I tend to prefer silver because of its magical properties.” Morrigan’s tone was bored and monotone, but from the way she gripped onto my forearm, I knew she too was glad to be reunited with her sisters and me.

“And it looks better with your hair color and skin tone,” Carmedy added as she nodded firmly.

“That is no matter to me,” the pale elf muttered back as her dark eyes snapped to Carmedy, but the cat only responded with a giggle and an adorable smile.

Annalise was the first to pull away, though she still stared up at me with an affectionate look in her eyes as she spoke.“Shall we search for treasure now?”

“Yes, I would like to get it as quickly as we can and get the hell out of here,” I said with a deep chuckle. “Sorry, Rana, but I am also quite tired of seeing gold.” I gestured towards the shining walls around us, and Rana’s face soured playfully as she swatted at my arm.

With that, my minions moved to disperse and search by themselves, but I raised a finger in the air and shook my head. Instead of spending all that time searching ourselves, I summoned my shadow slaves to do all of the work.

By the time we gathered the treasure and returned to the surface, night had fallen outside, and we quickly went about setting up camp. Thankfully, Annalise brought along a Tamarisch tent, which was like the ones we used in Valasara but instead outfitted with heavy outer and inner walls to keep the heat in. Annalise and I had just pounded in the last few stakes to keep the tent in place as my shadow slaves emerged from the dungeon. The floating chests and golden trunks made their way under the flap of the tent, and we followed after them.

Rana was already digging through them as we entered while Morrigan was working at the lock of an exceptionally large trunk. The alchemist picked through a few but quickly left it to Rana as she rummaged through the bundles at her waist to start a fire.

“Anything good?” Annalise asked as she plopped down and began to arrange everyone’s bedding.

“Kaput,” the red-haired fox muttered as she threw aside a few goblets and they clanged against the frozen ground. “Nothing but the same old, same old.”

Annalise quickly crossed the tent to look at the lock Morrigan was working diligently on. After a moment, the swordswoman gave Morrigan a curt wave, a signal for the pale elf to move back, and she did as my wife instructed. Annalise brought her heavy boot up and slammed it down on the lock. With a loud crack, the lock came open and dropped to the packed dirt in two fragments. Morrigan blinked once they moved back to the chest.

“Well, that’s one way to skin a cat.” Rana smirked over her shoulder as she continued to rummage through the treasure, and Carmedy’s head shot up, her mouth pulled down into a scowl.

“Hey! No skinning anyone, especially cats!” Carmedy shouted as she pointed her free hand at Rana accusingly.

“It’s just a saying, pussycat, no reason to get all bent out of shape,” the fox woman said softly, and Carmedy narrowed her eyes at Rana’s turned back and the red and white tail that swished slowly on the ground as she searched. The green-eyed cat rolled her eyes at Rana’s usual antics, caught my eye, and gave me a bright smile as the joke rolled off her back.

“Holy shit,” Annalise whispered as she bent down beside Morrigan and looked into the trunk she had forcibly opened.

“What is it? Is it a sacred item? Please, please tell me it’s a sacred item,” Rana said excitedly as she hopped over and peeked over Morrigan and Annalise’s shoulders. “What’s so exciting about that? It’s just some dingy old horn.”

“No, it’s not a sacred item,” the elf woman breathlessly said as she picked up the copper horn and held it with her fingertips as if it were delicate and would break upon contact, “but it is something of great value and an even longer history. It’s a Draaktoeter, forged by the Elder Dwarves of Hilensia.”

“What’s a Draaktoeter?” Rana and Carmedy asked in unison, and Morrigan looked at me and waited for me to explain. She knew I was around when this very item would have been used.

“Long ago,” I began seriously, “before any of your times, maybe even before your great-great-grandparents’ time, when dragons were still very much alive and took to the skies, there were groups of people called Tamers, some of them were gods and some were humans.”

I now had all of my minions’ attention as my tone grew somber. “We all know for a fact dragons were temperamental savage beasts, leveling villages and cities in one fiery breath, but a small number of people were able to get their hands on some dragon eggs. These people raised the dragons that hatched from the eggs and kept them as pets or, for some, slaves. These tamers were gifted copper horns from the High Dwarves. The dwarves deemed them fit to hold such tools, and they were called Draaktoeters. The Tamers would blow in the horn, and no matter how far away, their dragon would come to them. Each Draaktoeter is rare and makes a specific sound, for as each dragon is unique, its draaktoeter is just as unique. No two draaktoeter are the same, and now that the dragons have gone extinct, the draaktoeter has, too.”

All of my minions bowed their heads as they looked at the copper instrument. The swordswoman reached out for it, and the white-haired elf handed it over. Annalise examined the horn. It fit perfectly in her hand, and she ran her fingers over the detailed flower engravings on its bell before her fingers stopped suddenly. I could see tears in the high queen’s eyes as she took it and held it to her chest. She quickly wiped them away before the others could see, but I could sense the emotion ripping through her usually strong body.

“Annalise?” the cat-woman called as her ears twitched and sensed a change in the air. “What’s wrong?”

“Each draaktoeter is engraved with the dragon’s name because the sound is the only thing the dragon will respond to,” she told all of us even though this was a fact I already knew. “One of my ancestors, one of the first High Kings of Tamarisch, had a dragon. There are a few tapestries in the palace that depict the magnificent creature. Its scales were the color of seafoam, and its eyes were the color of amber. Its tail was long enough to wrap around the largest tower in the palace three times. It's name … was Akeir.” She looked back down at the horn she held to her chest.

“And?” the fox woman asked as she cocked her head to the side,

“T-the name engraved on this horn … is Akeir.” My wife moved her slender fingers over the tarnished surface of the copper horn as she looked up at me with watering, pleading eyes. “Master, I want to keep this. Please, let me carry my ancestor’s draaktoeter.”

Carmedy gasped and covered her mouth with her paws dramatically from behind us. I held out a hand for the horn and kept my face emotionless. Annalise glanced down at the horn she held protectively to her chest, then slowly offered it to me. The hands that clutched onto the metal were trembling.

I took the horn from her and looked over it. The etchings were beautiful. I had only seen dwarven handiwork a few times in my lifetime, but seeing it once again took my breath away. Vines and blooming flowers adorned the bell of the horn, and small sapphires were pressed into the blooming petals of each flower. I turned it over in my hand, and the handle was far too small for me to hold. I chuckled to myself as I eyed the worn mouthpiece and imagined a man who resembled my warrior queen blowing into it to summon a flying beast.

“I wonder … if you blew into it now, would a flying dragon skeleton show up?” The black-haired cat giggled as she stroked her tail,

“Stop saying things like that,” Rana teased, “you’re starting to sound like Morrigan.”

From beside Annalise, Morrigan frowned at the fox-woman. “I would never say such an absolutely ridiculous thing like that,” Morrigan snapped, but then her expression changed, and she appeared more thoughtful, “but it would be quite interesting to see a dragon’s skeleton.”

“See?” Rana sneered over to Carmedy, and the cat-woman frowned and pouted but giggled as she gave the fox-woman a playful push on the shoulder.

I ran a finger once more over the bell of the horn as Annalise’s dark brown eyes observed me carefully. Then I offered it back to Annalise with both hands.

“It is yours, my minion,” I said with a smile, and she inhaled sharply and brought the horn once more to her chest as a single tear streamed down her freckled cheek.

Chapter Four

It took three days and three nights for my ice demons, shadow slaves, and some spare goblins to dig to the frontlines of fighting. We followed along behind them as they dug, and being burrowed under the earth kept us warmer than if we were on the surface.

We carried enough supplies to keep us well fed, but the cramped space in the tunnels made me remember my days trapped in my own dungeon, and I longed to see the sun again, even if it came with the cold bite of frigid air. Before, when I was free, I didn’t care much for nature or the creatures that lived there. Isolda did, but I found no pleasure in the silence of the trees as she did. Now, though, I found that I enjoyed the outdoors more and more the longer I was out of my dungeon.

On the third day, we were following along behind the troop of diggers when I heard the ice demons snarling and grunting back and forth with each other and knew they must have broken the surface. My minions and I raced forward, and as we moved, the tunnel tilted upward. The pathway was clear of debris, and sometimes I wondered where the ice demons moved the rocks and dirt they cleared away. I liked to imagine the ice demons moving like worms, consuming the soil through their open jaws, but having watched them work a few times, I knew that not to be true.

As our group moved quickly together, light began to filter in from above, and the dark, solid earth was cast in a cold gray light from the oppressive clouds hanging overhead. Annalise, who had learned to walk behind me, broke into a trot and passed the rest of us quickly. I didn’t scold her or call her back because her brothers were up there somewhere, and she had been separated from them for too long.

I watched my swordswoman’s chestnut braid swing across her back as her shapely legs carried her farther away from us. Her heart was beating fast in her chest, and I already knew she was excited to be reunited with her brothers, the three of the four men who truly believed in her skill as a swordswoman.

“Hey, slow down!” the fox-woman yelled as she bent forward, grabbed onto her knees, and struggled for breath. “Some of us can’t walk as fast as you, especially in these damn boots!”

“Come on, slow-pokes!” the swordswoman cheekily called over her back as she moved even closer to the exit, but Rana stopped and leaned against the wall as she caught her breath. Then she pulled down the sleeve of her coat and looked at an imaginary watch.

“I think it’s about break time, guys,” the fox-woman whined as she rubbed at her ankles and feet. “My dogs are barking.”

“Dogs? I don’t like dogs,” the cat-woman whimpered as she grabbed at her tail and twisted it anxiously. Her eyes darted from side to side as she looked around for any of the dogs Rana had mentioned.

“It's an ex--never mind.” Rana laughed as she pushed off the wall and wrapped an arm around Carmedy’s stooped shoulders. “If there are any dogs up there, pussycat, I’ll protect you.”

“Also, I would like to point out that if we were to take a break here, it would be useless as we are nearly to the surface,” Morrigan uttered as she took two steps forward. “We can take a break once we are settled in with Annalise’s brothers.”

“Okay, but think about it this way,” the redhead said as she trudged on, her arm still wrapped around the smaller cat’s shoulder. “We all know and love Annalise, right? There are three men up there exactly like her. Can you imagine how exhausting three clones of Annalise are going to be? I just know they’re going to challenge me to do, like, fifty push-ups or something, and I’m going to have to teach them a lesson.”

She snorted through the joke, and I chuckled under my breath as I held out my hand to Carmedy as she stumbled.

“I wouldn’t say I love her,” Morrigan stated in a monotone voice as we moved on together, the swordswoman’s back coming nearer, “but I do hold affectionate feelings for her and certainly do not wish death upon her.”

“Oh, stop it, Morrigan,” Carmedy said as she reached out for the pale woman’s hand. “We all love each other! It’s okay to say it. We’re all Master’s minions and lovers which makes us sisters.”

“In the High Elf society, it is common for elves to only have one or two children per millennium. I am an only child, never had the pleasure of having siblings, and do not know if my parents have had any others after I was cast out but … ” Morrigan’s dark eyes were heavy on the ground at her feet as she walked, and her voice caught in her throat as she formed the right words to say in her usual bored tone. “ … I am thankful to call you three my sisters and my … friends.”

Carmedy’s expression broke as tears suddenly sprung to the corners of her eyes, and she once again reached out for the white-haired elf. “Morrigan, that was the nicest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

“Damn, you took the words right out of my mouth,” the curly haired fox stated with a wistful expression as she too held out her hands to Morrigan.

Annalise turned with a smile as we reached her, and she nodded in agreement, but her deep brown eyes strayed to mine and stayed there as she examined my handsome face.

“But we must not forget Master is the reason we are able to be this close,” my wife said.

“Ah,” I muttered as I inclined my head to my stunning minions, all of them looking at me with adoration, “I am merely the glue that holds us together.”

“That’s not true!” The black-haired cat said as she shook her head vehemently. “You’re more than glue. I feel like the whole reason we came together and entered that dungeon was fate to find our one and only Master. We’d be nothing without your instruction and love.”

“It is true, Master, we would be lost souls without your guidance,” Morrigan said as emotion creeped into her usually impassive voice,

“As would I.” I smiled and stroked my High Elf’s cheek with my pointer finger as my other hand came up to stroke the soft red fur of Rana’s twitching ear.

“You wouldn’t be a lost soul, silly,” the cat-woman said as she wrapped her arms around me in a warm embrace. “You’d just be a trapped soul in a dungeon.”

I held them all to me for a few passing moments, breathed in each of their comforting individual scents, then parted from them. We were making good time, and I knew we were nearly to the Tamarisch camp. I could feel the pumping blood and heartbeats of thousands of men waiting above, three of them who just happened to share the same lineage as my swordswoman.

Once we had exited the tunnel, the cold air hit our faces, and our breath rose into the air like smoke. From where we stood, we could clearly see the starched white Tamarisch tents and the billowing blue and gold flags with the roaring bear insignia on it. We were right where we needed to be.

I glanced over at Annalise. Her freckled cheeks were rosy pink with exertion, but her face was glowing, and the smile on her lips was blinding. Her dark brown eyes surveyed the encampment, and the high queen’s breathing hitched as a hulking man strutted out of one of the largest tents and made his way to another.

Even from this far away, I could plainly see the family resemblance. His long, wavy chestnut hair came down his shoulders as he pulled it back with a leather cord. He stopped a passing soldier and said something to him, and the booming voice that echoed back to us sounded almost identical to Annalise’s father’s, but this man’s Tamarischian accent was thicker.

“Ansel … that’s Ansel … ” she exhaled out in wonder as the soldier said something, and the taller, more muscular man threw his head back and laughed. Her face cleared at the sound, and an excited smile burst across her lips. “That’s my brother, Ansel!”

Annalise took off, and her boots pounded across the frozen ground as her long braid whipped out behind her like the tail of a galloping stallion. Her voice was a raspy screech as she shouted his name, and the hulking man turned with furrowed brows. He raised a meaty arm and shielded his eyes from the hazy sun as he squinted towards the screaming female racing toward him.

Ansel’s expression broke with surprised joy as he realized who was sprinting toward him. He slapped the soldier beside him on the back good-naturedly and then ran forward to meet his little sister. When they came together, Ansel grabbed Annalise up in his arms and swung her around like she was a child. We followed after and came to stand behind them to watch the ecstatic reunion between siblings.

Ansel set his little sister down on the ground, and they regarded each other for a few passing moments. Then Annalise reached up and grabbed his scruffy chin and turned his face to examine his features, and when she spoke, it seemed as if her Tamarischian accent was thicker by just being in the presence of her oldest brother.

“Oy, your complexion has worsened, you’ve been drinking that toadstool ale again, haven’t ya?” Annalise scolded cheerfully. “You know what mom would say.”

“Aye, aye,” Ansel admitted bashfully, his cheeks tinted pink with embarrassment. “Don’t forget to scrub your feet, don’t drink toadstool ale if you want to find a good wife, and always--”

“Dip your face in fresh goat’s milk before bed,” Ansel and Annalise said in unison, then laughed heartily at their inside joke.

From beside me, Rana’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What’re they saying? Are they even speaking the same language right now?” She blew her bangs out her eyes and scrutinized the massive man.

“Goat’s milk,” Carmedy groaned in disgust as she stuck out her tongue. “Blech.”

I chuckled softly as I glanced over at Carmedy. I had yet to try goat’s milk and trusted her judgment. After all, if the cat who liked to eat and drink anything disliked it, I probably would, too.

Annalise and her oldest brother turned to us then, still smiling and patting each other down after their long time apart. Ansel looked down at his little sister and petted the top of her head with a huge, callused hand.

“Are you going to introduce me to your friends,” Ansel boomed as he gave her a teasing smile and waggled his eyebrows. “And husband?”

The high queen shook her head and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder as she brought him over to us. “Ansel, this is Morrigan, she’s a very powerful High Elf, so be respectful. This is Rana, she’s pretty scrappy and good in a fight if you need her. That’s Carmedy. Keep all foods and snacks away from her, or she’ll engorge herself.” My warrior queen’s voice was proud as she introduced her sisters, and that pride only grew as she brought Ansel over and gestured towards me. “And this … this is my husband and master.”

Ansel stepped forward, and his whole demeanor changed as he took in my appearance, the heavy cloak, and the beautiful armor beneath it. He examined my face with narrowed brown eyes that matched my Annalise’s. His nose was large and rounded at the tip, and his jaw strong and chiseled. I could admit he was a handsome man, even with the scruffy beard sprouting from his face, and like Annalise, his dark brown eyes were kind but wise, with the very same fire burning behind them with determination.

“Ansel Decathmor,” he said in his deep rumbling voice as he offered me one of his large hands. I took it and gave it a hearty shake.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I replied as we let go of each other’s hands. “I’ve heard wonderful things about you from Annalise.”

“Not all bad, I hope,” he thundered with laughter as he ruffled his sister’s hair affectionately,

“No, all the bad stories I have are about Amos and Adam.” Annalise giggled as she swatted off her brother’s hand, but he grabbed it in his and held it tightly as he raised his head to the rest of us.

“Come, I’ll have a meal prepared!” Ansel announced loudly. “There will be food and drink for all!” He gestured towards the camp and the brightly burning fires that cast shadows over the white sides of the tents.

As Ansel brought us through the encampment and showed us around, two tall and lanky men burst from a tent at our far right. I could tell just by their faces that they were twins, but the smiles on their lips matched the one my warrior queen often wore. Adam was taller than Amos by a few inches, but their features matched perfectly. If it wasn’t for their differing hairstyles, I wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart.

Annalise squealed with delight and broke away from our group with outstretched arms. The twins tackled their younger sister and nearly brought her to the ground as they hooted and yelled in happiness. They held her together and didn’t part from each other for a long time, and when they did, there were tears in the corners of Annalise’s eyes.

After my high queen introduced us all again, Amos, Adam and Ansel guided us towards where the feast was being prepared. We settled ourselves around the blazing fire and the massive cast iron skillets and crocks that steamed and sizzled with the food being prepared for our arrival.

I enjoyed watching my high queen being reunited with her brothers, especially the twins who were just as wily and intelligent as the other Decathmor siblings. Sitting across the fire from them, the family resemblance was astounding. Amos and Adam were four years older than Annalise, but their faces were still bathed in the smooth glow of youth. With my queen sitting between them, they looked to be triplets instead of twins, all of their features mirrored.

“Amos, what happened to your hair?” Annalise asked sadly as she brushed at the shaved head of the twin.

“Oh,” Amos said as he bit into a steaming potato dripping with butter, “I just thought I’d like a change.”

“Really?” The swordswoman looked taken aback as she stared at the short growth with her mouth agape, but it snapped closed as Adam reached out and slapped the back of Amos’s head.

“Nay, he’s lying,” the other twin scoffed. “Last battle against those Tintagal bastards, a flaming arrow got caught in his hair and nearly burned his whole head off.”

“It did not!” Amos protested as his face swung back and forth between his comrades for support, but he found none in their snickering faces.

Adam chortled as he elbowed Annalise in the ribs. “It did too, singed off the whole right side. Would have been fine if he had merely trimmed it, but this big baby was bawling his eyes out and just shaved the whole lot off in a fit of despair.”

“It didn’t happen that way!” Amos assured frantically as he scowled at his brother. “I made the manly decision it would be better to shave my hair off then walk around looking like an old bitty who stuck her head into a lit oven for too long.”

“Yeah, yeah, a very manly decision, but we all saw the gleam in your eye as the first few locks fell to the ground, you can’t deny that!” Adam said through a mouthful of food.

“Aye, it’s only natural for a man to become emotional when the hair he’s grown since he was a wee babe is sheared off. You know our traditions, Adam, you too, Annalise.” Amos nodded passionately to his brother and sister, then the others sitting around the campfire, too. “Our hair is sacred because it’s the closest part of our bodies to the gods.”

“Traditions, my ass. Your arms are the closest to the gods if you raise them high enough.” Adam roared with laughter through a mouthful, and Carmedy laughed from beside me, already on her third plate of food and fourth goblet of wine.

“Alright, ya bastard, then why don’t you cut your hair off?” Amos shouted with a smile as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small knife. He offered it to Adam, and the oldest twin eyed it warily. “Come then, cut off your hair if you don’t believe the same things as me.”

“I won’t,” Adam muttered through tight lips as he pushed his twin’s arm away. “A warrior should have long flowing hair to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. How else will I scare them? Reflect the sun off my shiny bald head and blind them?”

“Come off it,” Amos coaxed through a mischievous smirk. “Just give us a snip to prove it.”

“I said I won’t. The Tintagal men might mistake me for a monk and escort me off the battlefield,” Adam said in a serious tone, and then his voice changed to what I assumed was a mock Tintagal accent. “They’d see me and say, ‘Oy, you there, you better get back to the temple right quick, a fearsome man with a long flowing mane might come along and lob off ya head. Get out of here, you goddamn marble-head!’ Do you know how embarrassing that would be? Being escorted off the battlefield and forced into monkhood? I won’t do it, I’m not fit for a life of prayer and solitude.”

“Amos,” Carmedy slurred as she licked her lips free of wine, her eyes hazy with drunkenness, “you don’t have to worry about being close to the gods, you’re sitting across the fire from one.”

All the men surrounding us stopped and whipped their head to me as Carmedy happily tapped my knee and leaned against my shoulder, purring loudly for all to hear. I reached up and stroked behind the cat-woman’s ear as she rubbed against me lovingly. Fifty pairs of eyes watched my every movement carefully, and I gauged their reactions. Some of them were fearful, some wary, and others, utterly astounded.

“You?” Ansel asked in his deep voice as he pointed one large finger at me. “You’re a god?”

“A fallen god, but yes, I am a god,” I admitted as I nodded to Ansel.

The massive man sat back on his haunches and slapped his fists down on his thighs, his dark brown eyes wide as he stared at me across the crackling flames. Meanwhile, the soldier seated beside me on the crude wooden bench scooted away a few feet, and his mouth hung open in horror.

“What is your name?” Ansel asked as his brows furrowed, and his eyes hardened on my face.

“I have had many names throughout my lifetime, but all of them have vanished and died like the dragons who once wandered these lands. I have only one name now, and that is Master,” I told them, but Ansel still stared at me, not backing down.

“No, what is your god’s name?” he asked more forcefully. “Each god has a name they use to refer to each other with. I know all the gods of this land’s names. Annalise told me you just conquered a dungeon hidden away in the mountains. That god’s name was Òir. You aim to go to Machstein after this, and the god and goddess who reside there are the Liebe and the Tichádáma. I know all of their names. What is yours?”

I tilted my head at him and examined his face with more interest. Ansel’s heart rate was elevated though I couldn’t tell if it was because of the alcohol he had consumed or something else. Either way, there was an ominous cloud hanging in the air around us. My minions had asked me the very same question, but they accepted my answer when I simply told them to call me Master, so why couldn’t Ansel? I couldn’t speak my true name because it was a cursed name. Once a god had fallen from heaven, the title they are given from birth falls with them.

“I cannot tell you my true name because it is a name I do not remember,” I lied easily through my teeth, and Ansel blinked at me, still not placated. “I can tell you I was once called ‘The Dark One,’ but that is all I can say.”

Ansel’s face revealed he didn’t recognize the name, and relief spread through my entire body as he nodded, somewhat satisfied with my answer. I knew I would have to reveal my true self to my minions eventually, but my past was too dark and horrible for their innocence to shoulder, especially right now. I knew they trusted and loved me now, but still, the truth of my name was a heavy burden to bear, and they were not strong enough to carry my secrets yet.

“Dark One makes you sound all scary and stuff, but Master isn’t scary at all! He’s such a wonderful and handsome Master,” Carmedy hummed into my ear. Her breath smelled of wine, and her tail curled up and stroked the back of my neck sensually.

I glanced over at her, and her sparkling emerald eyes were heavy with lust, her eyelids hooded and her lips parted as she stared into my face with longing.

“Anna,” Adam whispered tentatively, his brown eyes too glossy with drunkeness as he reached out for one of his little sister’s hands, “can I ask you something?”

“Sure, shoot.” My swordswoman shrugged as she gulped from her cup.

“Father … I want to hear about our father … did he die peacefully?” Adam asked in a hushed tone. His hands shook and trembled around hers with unbridled emotion, and the cup Annalise held slipped from her grip and fell to the ground with a clatter. Red wine dampened the cold earth.

“Adam, I-I … I don’t know how to answer that,” she uttered in a tight voice as she stared at her brother, her usually lively eyes darkened with sadness.

“Let it be, Adam,” Ansel warned as he cleared the rest of his plate without ever raising his eyes to his younger siblings.

“No, please, tell me,” Adam begged with wide, glittering eyes as he held on desperately to his younger sister who had taken their father’s life.

“Adam!” Ansel yelled, and everyone snapped to attention at the harshness in his voice. “The man we called Father was dead long before Annalise killed him. You knew I knew that, we all did, but we ignored it. He was no longer our flesh and blood but a stranger who wore the same face. Our Father died a coward, and if we’re going to remember him, we should remember him for who he was before, and not the man who died.”

Adam tightly clamped his mouth shut, his face growing red with frustration, but then my high queen leaned over and patted his folded hands gently as she whispered to him words I couldn’t hear. Adam’s face smoothed, his bleary eyes filled with tears, and without a sound, he wrapped his arms around his younger sister in a tight embrace.

I knew coming here would be a joyous and painful occasion in many ways, but I was proud as I watched Annalise handle everything with grace.

With most of the excitement of the evening past, Morrigan and Rana headed off to bed while Annalise remained around the fire with her siblings. I left them there as I steered Carmedy off to bed, and from the way she pawed at me, I assumed she wanted more than sleep. We walked together with the light of the campfire creating long shadows in front of us that stretched and shook with the flames. The cat-woman snuggled in close to me, and it was clear what she wanted.

I was intimate with all of my minions every chance we got, it kept our bond strong and alive, but Carmedy, who usually was boisterous and confident, was the most hesitant to come to me with her more personal needs. Tonight, though, it seemed the alcohol had made her bold as she grabbed my hand, pulled me into the space between two tents, and pushed me against the tarp wall.

“Master,” she whimpered into my ear as she laid soft, wet kisses to my exposed neck, “can I do something for you? Do you need anything?”

“No, my love,” I answered with a chuckle as she rubbed herself against me. “Is there something I can do for you, Carmedy?”

Her hands moved over the hard shell of my armor, then moved down the breastplate, and one small paw crept inside of the leather undergarments I wore and took my manhood in her hand. I growled through closed lips, and she panted softly in pleasure as she moved her paw over my length, stroking and bringing it to its fully erect size.

“Let me do something for you,” she breathed into my ear, and as I watched, her brilliant green eyes flashed. She then dropped to her knees in front of me and placed her paws out in front of her as if she was begging me for something.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Out of all my minions, she was the last I would expect this from, but I would willingly oblige if she wished to do this for me.

I untied the chainmail around my waist, unbuckled the metal covers to the sides of my crotch, and loosened the leather undergarments I wore as I extracted my throbbing penis. She eyed it lustfully, and her chest rose and fell quickly as she moved forward and gripped my shaft with one of her paws and tentatively licked at the tip.

A soft groan escaped my lips as she licked once more, her luminescent emerald eyes heavy on mine as she took me entirely into her mouth. I pushed in deeper, and she allowed me as her wet tongue wrapped around me, stroked my length as I pulled back, then thrust back in. She took my hands and placed them on her shoulders as she moved faster, pumping me in and out of her mouth as quickly as she could. I grunted then groaned open mouthed, and my eyes rolled back in my head as I let the sensations of her sweet mouth and tongue overtake me. Her mouth was hot, and soon my penis was coated in her dripping saliva, but I wanted more than just her mouth as I grabbed her up, reached under her dress, and yanked down the frilly white panties she was wearing.

I bent her over, and she clutched onto one of the posts holding the tent in place for support as I prepared to enter her. She was dripping wet as I pressed the head against her lips, and she squealed in delight when she felt my tip brush against her. She drunkenly looked over her shoulder at me, and her green eyes sparkled in the dim light,

“I may like candy, but there’s nothing sweeter than my Master’s body,” the cat-woman whimpered over her shoulder.

“Then you shall have it.” I pushed inside, and Carmedy’s mouth dropped open as her sweet moans reached my ears. I pulled out and thrust back in harder as her small paws held on tighter to the post for support.

I kept a steady pace, and soon my breath came in and out in clipped gasps. Carmedy mewled softly and moved her hips in time with me as I sped up my pace until our bodies slammed together in unison. Being inside of the black-haired beauty was like being massaged by a hand dipped in warm and exquisite oil, and her moans of pleasure only urged me on harder.

I gripped her shoulder in my leather gloved hand and bounced her on top of my length, and one of Carmedy’s paws let go of the pole and covered her mouth as she screamed, her emerald eyes hazy with ecstacy.

Then I bent my knees and her ass pressed into me, and as I moved faster, our flesh smacked together loudly in the tight space between the tents. I reached around her small form, removed the hand from her supple lips, and pressed my hot tongue to the space between her shoulder and neck.

“Don’t,” I whispered into her ear as I slid myself out slowly. “I want to hear you.”

The cat-girl leaned her head back against me and moaned into the open air as I moved even slower inside of her warmth. As she climaxed, I ran my fingers through her hair, and she purred loudly. I grinded against her and felt my pleasure rise even higher as she tightened around my penis in orgasm.

As she rode me, the sounds that escaped her lips were light and airy. Her hips bucked against me faster and urged me to pick up the pace again, so I happily obliged. My own orgasm was close but I held it off easily since I wanted to savor the sweetness of Carmedy’s warm and wet core. The more I was inside the cat-girl, the more I didn’t want to stop. I breathed her in, since each of my minions had a different scent and I savored each of them equally. The short alchemist always smelled of sweet elderflower and burning incense, a combination I thoroughly enjoyed, especially in moments like these.

“M-Master,” the cat panted as she reached around for me with one trembling paw, and I grabbed it and held it tightly in my hand.

From the way she twitched and shook against me, I could tell her second orgasm was on the verge of blossoming across her body, so I moved my length inside of her faster. Before she could come again, I grabbed her by the hips, and turned her around. Then I held her in my arms, her knees in the crook of my elbows as I pressed her back against the pole and pounded into her wildly.

I gave my minions love and pleasure they had never known before, and I always aimed to pleasure them multiple times during a session. The other times I had made love to the cat-woman, she came upwards of five times, but while I wanted to break that record, we were out in the open between tents, and I didn’t believe this was the correct time to make the attempt.

My penis was soaked with her juices and our skin met in a moist stickiness that only comes from a woman’s most personal place, and as I felt her tighten around me for the fifth time, I knew I would send my little alchemist off into the best orgasm of her life. This time the black-haired beauty didn’t just moan into my ear, she gripped onto my shoulder, threw her head back as her eyes rolled, and exposed the whites of her eyes. She screamed and bucked against me while I gritted my teeth and twitched inside of her. I finally allowed myself to climax, so I buried my face in her neck as I thrust into her one last time. Then my body tensed, and she growled as my seed filled her insides to the brim.

“Master, you are amazing,” Carmedy purred once I had finished pouring into her.

“I wish to please you,” I said as I slowly slid out of her tunnel. The movement made a wet sound, and I saw a flow of our combined juices drip down from her entrance.

“You did,” she gasped as she kissed me deeply. “You are so good to me. That is why I love you, Master.”

I let go of her and helped Carmedy to her feet as her knees shook underneath her. I bent down and retrieved her discarded panties and helped her into them, and she giggled softly as I slid them all the way up her pale and wet thighs. Then I tucked my still-hard penis back inside my leather undergarments and retied the leather strings of my pants. I could tell she was tired and weak from our sex, and I took her paw in my hand as I led her back to our shared tent for the night. The entire encampment was silent as we made our way through, and Carmedy and I spoke quietly to ourselves. I lifted the flap of our tent for her, and she gave me a soft smile and stepped inside. But then she halted as her ears twitched nervously, and her huge emerald eyes wandered over the inside of the tent.

“Where are Rana and Morrigan?” she asked worriedly as she turned back to me. “They went to bed early, they should be here.”

I looked around the room and it did look as if they had been headed off to sleep. The bed had the blankets pulled back and one of the pillows fluffed to the fox-woman’s liking. I touched its soft surface and sensed something amiss. I turned back to Carmedy, and her emerald eyes were huge with worry.

Right as I moved for the tent flap, two loud screams echoed through the camp, and both Carmedy and I whipped our heads in the direction it came from. Two voices I recognized immediately. Carmedy and I rushed out of the tent, and I whipped around as another scream vibrated through the air, this one in pain. The cat-woman jumped from beside me, and her tail found its way between her hands as she twisted it nervously. Her huge eyes that were once glossy from the wine were now clear as day.

“Rana!” Morrigan screeched, and panic beat at my brain. The elf never screamed, rarely even raised her voice, but she was shrieking in terror. Ansel and Amos rushed by with their weapons drawn, and Ansel moved to say something, but I spoke first as I sensed the change in the air around the Tamarisch encampment, the beating of fifteen unfamiliar hearts invading.

“Enemy soldiers,” I barked, and Ansel nodded and gestured for Amos to head on without him. From the darkness behind, Adam appeared, a bow held in his hands and an arrow already in place.

“That was one of your women, correct? Rana, was it?” Ansel questioned, but I shook my head as I moved to join them.

“No, Morrigan,” I growled as I reached into my void pocket for the God Slayer and pulled the mighty weapon out.

“Be careful, friend, these Tintagal bastards are savages,” Adam warned as he searched the shadows for enemy soldiers.

Something was very wrong. I could sense both of Rana’s and Morrigan’s heart beats, but Morrigan’s was elevated to a frightening speed, and Rana’s was quiet, barely beating. Rage burned through my entire body, and my dark powers swirled up to meet the God Slayer, pouring my strength into it as I prepared to destroy whoever had hurt my minions.

No man would dare even look in my minion’s direction after I was done ripping these enemy soldiers limb from limb. Any man who dared to lay their hands upon my women was as good as dead. I was nearly salivating with the urge to kill and destroy all those in my path. It was yet another reminder of my past, but I quickly pushed that thought away. I would not calm myself down now. Those men would pay.

I lifted my head as green light exploded deeper in the camp, and an entire tent was blasted into the air as Morrigan’s enraged scream came once more. My quietest minion was showing the enemies what it was like to take on a High Elf, but I knew my pale woman would only last so long by herself and her limited dark magic. We needed to get there as soon as possible before she was overrun, but from the terrified screams coming from where the light shot up, she was doing a pretty good job of defending herself so far.

“No,” I snarled as I slammed the butt of the God Slayer down on the frozen ground, and the weapon snapped to life with the glint of its curved and malicious blades. “It is the Tintagal soldiers who dared to step foot on our ground that need to be careful. They have a wrathful god coming for them.”

Chapter Five

Ansel, Adam, Carmedy and I ran through the camp with the rest of the Tamarisch army at our backs. Morrigan’s screams assaulted our ears, and from the blasts of heat and power, I could tell she was continuing her onslaught. Ansel communicated with his other ranks through complicated whistles and clicks I had never witnessed before, and Carmedy’s black ears twitched and rotated as she heard them, too. As Ansel listened to a particularly shrill whistle, he nodded his head, and his eyes hardened.

“Tintagal soldiers, about fifty of them,” he murmured as he nodded to me. “They’ve invaded the barracks, and the few soldiers already there are holding them off along with one of your women. The other, Rana, has been incapacitated.”

“Ansel,” I growled through my teeth as I gripped tighter onto the God Slayer, and the larger man turned his head to look at me as we strode towards the commotion, “how attached are you to these tents?”

“Not very, we have plenty in the arsenal at the palace. Why do you ask?” he questioned while taking giant strides, his sword held at his side in preparation of the battle against our enemies.

I grinned wickedly at his reply, and then I whipped the God Slayer from left to right in the air as I summoned all of my dark power into the weapon. Then I whirled the polearm overhead once before I slammed it into the frozen ground below my feet with an explosive crack. The earth surged in front of me like it was rocked with an earthquake, and before our eyes, the stakes that held the tents down exploded from the ground like missiles and the ropes that held them in place whipped through the air like thick snapping snakes. In a split second, I removed both of my hands from the staff of God Slayer and parted the air in front of me. With the movement, the tents and everything inside them exploded outwards with a tumbling crash.

A pathway now cleared in front of us, so I grabbed the God Slayer and wrenched it free from the ground. Ansel and Adam first glanced at each other opened mouthed and then back to me, their eyes huge with wonder. They had only seen a fraction of my power, but soon, they would find out the full extent of what I could do.

Ahead of us, there was a mass of people that I assumed were Tintagal soldiers. Even from this far away, my eyesight was nearly perfect, and I could make out their dented and damaged armor. They were a sad little group of forty-five men, five of their brothers dead on the ground as the Tamarisch army rounded themselves up to surround them. However, that was not what caught my attention. It was the blasting green light from the middle of the Tintagal men and the two familiar heartbeats I knew so well.

We were nearing the Tintagal line of attack. Some of them had bows drawn and others stood swords at the ready while the ones closest to the middle were preoccupied with my enraged minion. A small paw patted my arm, and I swiveled my head to look down at Carmedy. Usually, the cat-woman would be frightened, holding her tail protectively and cowering behind my back, but this time was different. Her eyes blazed with a new type of fire, and her lips set into a tight line.

“Master,” she said in a persuasive tone as the pupils of her huge eyes dilated in the darkness, “can I try something out?”

“What is it, Carmedy?” I inquired while I glanced back and forth between the cat and the enemy lines.

“It’s a new type of concoction I’ve been working on,” she sputtered out as she hopped from one foot to the other restlessly. “I really want to try it out, and it’ll help us get to Morrigan and Rana faster.”

“Very well,” I said as I laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, and she nodded firmly once as she hid behind my back.

I peeked over at her, and she was quickly rummaging through her bundles, before she found the right one and untied it. Then she reached into her pack, pulled out a small bulb-shaped bottle, yanked the cork out with her pointed teeth, and poured the fizzy orange liquid in. Smoke poured from the opening of the little bag, and she hastily sealed it and stepped out from behind my back with her slingshot drawn. She gave the small bundle three quick shakes, and loud pops came from the bubbling contents inside. Then she dropped the bundle into the slingshot's cradle, drew it back, and snarled with her lips pulled back against her pointed teeth.

“Eat shit and die!”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise at her declaration. Carmedy rarely cursed, and this was a first for her. Ansel stifled a deep chuckle with the back of his hand, but what we should have been watching was the packet as it whizzed through the air with deadly accuracy. It struck the ground at our enemy’s feet with a wet smack, then just lay there. One of the Tintagal men looked at it, flipped it over with the tip of his boot, and laughed loudly to his comrades.

“Was that supposed to do something?” Ansel asked out of the corner of his mouth, but when I glanced down at Carmedy, her paws still clutched around the shaft of the sling-shot. She was muttering something to herself, and I didn’t catch the first few words, but the last ones I heard made a malicious smile spread over my lips.

“Three, two, one, blast off,” Carmedy muttered, her emerald eyes narrowed on the small brown lump on the ground.

The detonation that came after was deafening. Noxious orange smoke billowed from the gaping crater where the small bundle once lay. The cat-woman crouched and covered her ears as the shockwave hit and blew our hair back with a strong wind, and then the ground rippled underneath our feet. Tintagal men were ripped from the field and hurled into the sky like rag dolls, their faces masks of pain and horror. The leader who had flipped the bundle was completely obliterated. There was nothing left but black boots soaked with blood and torn flesh.

Fifteen of the Tintagal men lay dead, and a few of those still standing were missing limbs as they gushed blood onto the frozen ground. With a hole torn in their ranks, we could now see the weaving form of the white-haired elf and Rana’s fallen body. Green power blasted out of the palms of Morrigan’s hands, but this time the color was weak and cut short as it only hit three men.

The wicked jade power moved like fire and consumed each man wholly. I had never seen Morrigan use an ability like this, and the way she wielded it was uncontrolled and reckless, so I guessed she was using it more on instinct than knowledge. Her eyes were solid black, and her usually emotionless face was pulled back in a roar as she stood defensively in front of Rana’s motionless form.

Pride swelled in my chest. Not only did my minions care for my safety but they also cared for each other. Morrigan circled the fox-woman’s body, surefooted like a mother bear defending her cub, and kept the Tintagal soldiers at bay with her dark magic each time they rushed forward. I wished I could have observed more, but I could feel Morrigan’s power waning. She simply was not used to this much output, especially with a newly discovered power.

“Carmedy,” I commanded in a firm voice, and she scuttled forward with her slingshot at the ready, “fire at will.”

A cynical smile I had never seen before spread over her lips, and she frantically began mixing potions from the bundles at her waist. She made five at once, and I watched with a keen eye as she walked sideways and shot the packets into the mass of men, her tongue pressed into the corner of her mouth as she concentrated.

“Master?” Ansel asked from behind me, waiting for further instructions, but I didn’t even glance back at him,

“Ansel, keep your men back until I reach my women,” I ordered as I stepped forward onto the battlefield where the enemy soldiers waited for me with their weapons poised to attack. “I want to show you what a true god can do.”

As soon as I moved, a collective yell rose up from the Tintagal ranks, and then they rushed forward. I breathed in deeply through my nose as I closed my eyes and smelled the stench of death, blood, and the musky incense of Morrigan’s magic. I gripped the God Slayer in my left hand and held out my right, palm up and fingers tensed. The first wave of men barely left the ranks before roots erupted from the hard earth and wrapped themselves around their ankles and feet.

The roots slowly worked their way up the soldiers’ bodies like pointed fingers, and I tensed my hand into a fist as I opened my eyes. The roots tightened as my hand did and wrapped around the soldiers’ throats to choke them. I passed these struggling men caught in my trap and paid them no mind as they were slowly suffocated. Then the dead men were dropped to the dirt as the roots moved on to their next victims.

Pandemonium erupted as all of the Tintagal soldiers broke rank and rushed for me. One man dared to come head on, waving an ax like a madman, but in one swift movement, I gripped the God Slayer in both my hands, slammed the blades into his chest with a sickening thud, and lifted his speared body up and over mine. He died instantly and then landed on the ground with a crack of bone.

Three men raced forward with their swords held out in front of them as they shouted together, “For Tintagal!”

A sadistic smile stayed on my lips, but right as they were about to reach me, a fountain of lava spurted from thin air, and they ran right through it. Their melted flesh dripped in long streams down their exposed bone, and their screams were like music to my ears as more of Carmedy’s earth-shattering bombs went off left and right. In the broken circle of men, Morrigan knelt and cradled Rana in her arms. Any man who dared come near was shot away with a blast of hellish green light from the elf’s palm.

I could sense every heart beat like a symphony of drums pounding in my ears. Morrigan’s had calmed, and the fox-woman’s had returned to normal though she still hadn’t regained consciousness. I was done playing games, so I gripped the God Slayer in tightly clenched fists, swung the weapon over my head, and then brought it down in front of me. As I did so, I pushed out the dark power pulsing from the blades to slice into four men at once. The weapon cleaved them cleanly in two, and there was a moment of silence as the bottom halves of these men took two or three steps forward before their torsos slid off to the ground with heavy thuds.

Morrigan raised her head, and her wholly black eyes connected with mine as her mage markings flashed and flickered hatefully in the darkness. The green light emanating from her hands was fading, and her long white hair whipped around her worried pale face. Then her expression broke and she lifted one of Rana’s limp hands and found the protection ring. She twisted the stone in it and light shimmered around them as the protective bubble came into place.

I watched as one man saw the elf lower her hands, and he took that as an opening to charge at my two minions, but as soon as he reached them, there was an electric crackle as he ran straight into the suddenly blooming forcefield. His head ricocheted off it with a spurt of blood, and I saw his nose was broken and pressed flat against his face at an angle as he stumbled backward in agony.

I lifted both hands into the air and all of the enemy forces stopped dead in their tracks as if they were now frozen in place. A low humming rumbled up around us as I concentrated hard, and the eyes of the Tintagal soldiers rolled in their sockets to home in on me. An eerie sense of calm washed over the battlefield, and each soldier dropped their weapons as I walked through their frozen ranks.

No one moved or breathed as the humming grew louder, and then there was a gurgling cry from the left of me as the head of one of the Tintagal soldiers fell back. The soldier's eyes rolled back to expose only the whites as his soul was extracted through his mouth and nostrils. His soul flowed out for a second then drifted upwards to collect in the air like a swirling cloud of pure white smoke. He was the first to fall, and from inside the encampment, I could hear Fea and Macha cawing loudly as they detected a freed soul. Slowly, as I passed each stiffened enemy, their soul worked its way up their throats and continued skyward to join their brethren.

The frosted grass crunched under my boots as I stood before Morrigan and Rana’s still form. Then I bent down, my face solemn, and took Rana’s limp body in my arms before I turned back to Ansel and the rest of his dumbfounded army. Morrigan stood too and grabbed onto my forearm for support, and I noticed her hands trembled with exhaustion.

Ansel’s face was pale, and his sword hung limply by his side, unused. Then the eyes of Annalise’s brother and his men wandered through the still bodies and the white wisps that lifted from them painstakingly slowly. I tightened my grip on Rana in my arms and pressed her head against my chest. She was alive, and if any of these men had taken her life or Morrigan’s, I wouldn’t have shown mercy on them by merely snatching away their souls.

The elf walked next to me and pressed in close to avoid touching any of the lifeless forms held in place.

“Master …” Morrigan breathed as her dark eyes drifted through the ranks, “…what is this? Is this not soul exorcism?”

“No, my love,” I answered gravely as I kept my eyes focused on the path ahead of me, “this is a much more powerful ritual than a mere soul exorcism.”

“What is it then?” the white-haired woman asked in wonder as her hands held onto me with desperation.

I finally turned my head and gave her a meaningful look. “Wait, and I will show you.” She gulped and nodded as her expression cleared and then returned to her usual cold disinterest.

I walked purposefully, my eyes straightforward as I watched Annalise and Amos emerge from the darkness. My high queen’s eyes widened, and her mouth fell open as she took in the sight before her. Bloodscale dropped from her hands as tears sprung at the corners of her eyes, and then she reached out for Rana, but I held the fox-woman tighter, not allowing anyone else to touch my beloved minion in this state.

As we passed the Tamarisch men, Ansel dropped to his knee and bowed his head. All of his soldiers followed suit and bowed down to me out of respect. He had asked if I were a god, and I had shown him.

Annalise broke away from the group and Carmedy followed as I carried Rana off to one of the remaining tents.

Once inside one of the barracks, I laid the fox-woman down on a cot and sat beside her as Carmedy knelt on the ground and began to work on healing some of her small cuts and bruises. The cat’s black paws moved deftly as they mixed up a potion in a wooden bowl similar to the one we used before. Morrigan stood at the end of the bed and stared down at the fox’s quiet form, her black eyes intense and full of worry. Meanwhile Annalise paced back and forth in the tight canvas space, one arm folded across her chest and the other gripping her chin, her pointer finger pressed against her lips thoughtfully.

“When will she wake?” I asked in a whisper as I stroked the redhead's cheek gently.

Carmedy raised her head with a small smile. “Pretty soon, looks like she just got a pretty nasty bump on the noggin’.” She mimed getting hit on the head before she placed her paw in Rana’s wild curls and felt around. Then Carmedy grabbed my hand and placed it where her paw had been in the thick hair. Indeed, amid the curls was a large lump, and I tentatively ran my fingers over it.

“Morrigan,” I uttered in a whisper as I raised my head to look at the pale woman, “what happened?”

“Some asshole hit me over the head with a shield, that’s what happened,” a groggy voice said from below me, and I whipped my head to look at Rana as her bright blue eyes fluttered open and she gave me a lopsided smirk.

“Rana! You’re alive!” Carmedy squealed and threw her arms around the fox’s shoulders.

“Duh, you just said I was going to wake soon. Did you lie?” The fox laughed loudly as she patted Carmedy’s back soothingly,

“If you were awake, you should have alerted us immediately,” Morrigan said as she leveled her bored eyes at the fox.

“Well, I hoped that you guys would think I was on my deathbed and say some nice stuff about me.” The redhead chuckled as she ran a paw through her hair and then winced as she touched the goose egg hidden there.

“Nice stuff, there, I said it, so no one else has to,” Morrigan muttered emotionlessly as she raised her white eyebrows.

“Wow, uh, your sense of humor is turning out … not how I expected.” The fox-woman let out another chuckle as she sat up and rubbed at her face.

“Well, I like it.” Carmedy nodded approvingly to Morrigan with a toothy grin, and the elf inclined her head as she accepted the compliment.

“Rana, can you tell us what happened?” I asked as I cupped her cheek, and she nuzzled into my touch.

It was funny to me that a few months ago, she wouldn’t even allow me to step near her, let alone accept to call me Master, and now, we touched and loved each other so openly it was like she was a completely different person. Carmedy was the first to accept me with open arms, Annalise second, though I had taken her virginity last, Morrigan third, and finally, my stubborn and tenacious Rana.

“Morrigan and I were getting ready for bed but I wanted to go for a stroll and better familiarize myself with the encampment. Morrigan tagged along, thankfully,” the fox said with a smirk as she nodded her head towards my white-haired lover. “We went through the whole camp, not much to see besides a whole bunch of tents and lots of shiny weapons. But we made it out onto the battlefield and that’s where we saw all these Tintagal bastards trying to sneak up on us! We held them off pretty well, if I do say so myself, but they kept on coming in droves. I turned around to slash some asshole in the throat with my knife but I miscalculated my footing and he hit me over the head with his shield. Knocked me out cold.”

“That’s when we heard you scream,” the cat-woman said and gestured between her and me.

I nodded gravely before I pushed back Rana’s bangs and laid a kiss on her forehead. Then I stood quietly, thankful that my most spirited minion was fine and had no severe injuries.

“Rest now. You need to build your strength,” I said softly into her ear, and she gave me a steely grin,

“I have enough strength left to wrestle all those rowdy Decathmor boys at once!” the fox-woman cried as she lifted her arms into the air and flexed them for emphasis. I chuckled, shook my head, and pressed her shoulder down until she lay flat on the bed.

“Rest, please,” I murmured gently, and she nodded, obeying my word as she snuggled deeper into the cot.

I looked pointedly at Morrigan, motioned towards the tent flap, and then she followed after me obediently. We walked together in silence as the cold air blew her snow-white hair back, and it fluttered in the wind like a butterfly’s wings. I led her towards the battlefield and the lifeless bodies I had left in my wake earlier. When we arrived at the edge of the tents, she looked up into the sky where the souls of the soldiers still hung like a thick fog.

Then my High Elf looked at me expectantly, and I stepped out underneath the dense layer of white. I studied it with my head leaned back, and I could almost see the stars in the clear sky through it. The elf tilted her head and listened to the soft whispering that came from the clouds, the disembodied voices of the men I killed. I knew Morrigan was the only one who would appreciate this moment, who could listen to the low tones and grumblings of each dead man.

“Master,” she whispered softly as if she didn’t want to disturb the souls floating above our heads, “you said this wasn’t soul exorcism, then what is it?”

“There is no term for this,” I told her as I motioned with my hand, and she watched its movement with interested eyes. “You see, my dear, I come from a time where there were no terms for each ritual or power used. Some I have named myself and some I picked up along the way, but this … this is a rite so old it has never known a name but is instead known for the name of the object it creates. Would you like me to show you?”

Morrigan didn’t answer, she only gave me a slow nod, and when I lifted my hands above me, her eyes were bright with concentration as if she were memorizing my every movement. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply as I sensed each soul that swam in the inky sky. Fifty souls in total, I could feel all the memories each soul held inside of it, and I was overcome with differing emotions from each man. Men wracked with depression and sadness, men filled with joy and love, and lastly, men who felt nothing.

I exhaled all the air in my lungs and let all the emotions and feelings wash over me in great crashing waves. Then I brought my hands closer together as I opened my eyes. The mass above our heads was slowly circling tighter together, and the cloud became thicker even as the white color of it brightened. I clenched my hands together and felt the air between them harden and solidify. A weak wail cut through the night as all fifty souls pressed together, condensed, and became a solid white orb. It hung midair and then slowly descended, shrunken in size. I plucked it up before it could fall to the frozen grass and offered it to my pale companion.

She took it between her pointer finger and thumb and examined it. Inside the small ball, milky pearlescent fluid spun, fifty souls compressed into one. Her dark eyes were wide as she held it up and it reflected off a far torch’s light, revealing baby blues, soft pinks, and mint greens within the glossy white. She slipped it into her palm, and it was a bit smaller than a robin’s egg.

“What is it?” Morrigan asked with curiosity apparent in her tone.

“A Soul Stone,” I stated as I cupped her smaller hands in mine and stared down at the small orb.

“What does it do?” she inquired as she lifted her eyes to mine.

“It's not very exciting, but it can be useful. We both know not all human souls are clean, in fact, we’ve encountered many souls that were evil. One human soul doesn’t amount to much, but fifty souls combined into one makes the purest of souls. Here, hold it in your closed palm,” I instructed, and she did as she was told and looked at me expectantly after. “Now, tell a lie.”

“I do not tell lies, it is against my beliefs,” she honestly said as she blinked at me once.

“Here.” I held out my hand for the soul stone, and she placed it into my palm. Then I clenched my hand into a fist, and the hard orb pressed into my flesh. “Ask me a question, any question.”

“Do you love Carmedy?” she asked as she tilted her head and gave me one of her signature detached expressions,

“No,” I lied, and as soon as the words left my lips, the soul stone sprang to life and burned into my flesh. I let it rest in the middle of my palm despite the sizzling coming from the orb, and then I moved the stone and showed the pale-skinned elf the red mark where the soul stone had burned me.

“Soul stones detect lies and mistruths?” she questioned with raised eyebrows.

“Yes, amongst other things,” I confirmed as I bent down and picked up the discarded stone. Its surface was cool to the touch once more. “Would you like to try it again?”

“No, I do not enjoy my Master being hurt, but I would like to see it again,” she said plainly as she held out her hand for the stone, and I gave it back to her. “It may be useful in the future and it might not, but it is still beautiful to look at.”

“Soul stones are very rare since the magic that creates them has been lost to time. I believe there are a total of ten in existence, eleven now.” I stroked the orb in her hand, and it rolled like a marble. “Every time a new soul is added, the stronger the stone is, and it doesn’t matter who holds it, if the soul stone detects a lie, it will heat up and glow. Maybe they are useless, but I too find them to be very beautiful. They remind me of the iridescent pearls found in cold water oysters.”

“Then keep it,” Morrigan stated in her cold manner of speaking, and then she placed it gently back in my hand and curled my fingers over it. If I were any other man, I would have thought she had slighted me, but this was just how my elven woman was, and I knew she meant no harm behind it. I tucked the soul stone into my void pocket, an idea in mind for its use later.

“Morrigan?” I inquired as I stepped even farther into the empty battlefield, and she diligently followed after.

“Yes, Master?”

“What was that magic you were using earlier? The green one while you protected Rana?” I asked as she walked beside me.

“I am unsure, Master, I have never used it before,” Morrigan admitted without embarrassment, and our hands bumped together in the still, freezing air. “I came upon Rana’s unconscious body and became enraged. It was like a second being took control of my body.”

“Do you think you can replicate it now?” I asked her earnestly, and she didn’t shy away from my probing eyes.

“I do not think I can,” the elf answered honestly.

I stopped in my tracks, and she stood beside me, her head cocked in interest,

“Can you try?” I questioned, and she unsurprisingly nodded and stepped away from me, always the dutiful student. “Think about the emotions you felt coming upon Rana’s body. Relive it, use it and it will come to you.”

Morrigan pressed her hands together palm to palm across her chest and breathed in deeply. Her face contorted with emotions as she remembered how she felt before, and then she thrust out her right arm with a loud yell. As I expected, nothing happened, though I had hoped it would. The elf stared down at her hands with disappointment and then tried with the left arm, but again nothing happened.

“That’s quite alright,” I comforted her as I brought her in for a warm embrace. She breathed softly into my ear, and I pulled away to look in her fascinating black pupils. “But there is something else we can try if you’re up for it.”

We stood in the middle of the battlefield, and I had dragged over three of the corpses and placed them directly in front of her. She glared down at their frozen expressions of shock and horror with little interest, and then her eyes flicked to me as she waited for my instruction.

“Do you know what body resurgence is?” I questioned, and she shook her head, her white hair shifting around her waist softly as she moved. “Body resurgence is when you reanimate a once lifeless form and use it for your bidding. Hold out your hand over the body you would like and follow my every word.”

She did as she was told, stepped forward, and held out her slender right hand over the middle corpse. Her eyes were hard on his face, and I could see the malice burning in her eyes as she wished to kill the Tintagal soldiers all over again.

“Close your eyes.” I nodded as she did so. “Good. I want you to imagine the soldier’s brain. First imagine electrical charges surging through his brain stem, slowly at first like sparks from a flint. Watch it catch fire and surge up to the cerebellum.” My voice was a whisper in her ear as I placed my finger first at the base of her neck and then higher up on the rounded lower part of her head where the neck and skull met.

“Now, feel the energy move farther into the brain, feel it flow and rush through every artery and capillary. Can you feel it?”

“Yes.” Morrigan nodded slowly.

“Good girl. Now, using the power you’ve transferred to the once dead brain, I want you to flex it, push all of your magic into it. Feed it, bring it to life.”

Morrigan kept her eyes tightly closed, but her plump, pale lips were pressed into a thin line as she concentrated hard on the task at hand. I watched eagerly, and before I knew it, the foot of the corpse in the middle twitched, then twice, and before I knew it, the dead body was rising to its feet. Its eyes were clouded white, and its mouth hung slightly ajar as it stared into nothing, but she had done it, and on her first try.

“Now, open your eyes,” I commanded, and she did.

As Morrigan beheld the fruits of her necromantic power, she smiled widely and grabbed onto my hands excitedly. I was so proud of her. My pupil was getting better and better each time I taught her something new. As she told me before, she was an excellent student and caught on quickly to everything I taught her.

“Master!” she breathed in disbelief as she stepped forward and circled the reanimated corpse. She touched it with one pointed finger, and it wobbled unsteadily on its feet but stayed upright.

“Now make it walk,” I commanded, and she nodded keenly. Her eyes narrowed on the body, and her brow tensed as she struggled, but then the corpse took one unsteady step and then another. Before I could give her further commands, the body bent down, picked up a stray sword by the blade, and carried it nonchalantly as it continued to walk around on stiff legs.

“Very good,” I praised. “Now, Morrigan, I want you to try and reanimate the other two while keeping control of that one.”

She didn’t speak or nod, only closed her eyes and concentrated on the other two bodies laid out on the ground. It took longer this time, but that was to be expected with the larger task of awakening two more corpses. The hand of the body on the right flopped over palm up, and then suddenly, as if waking from a dream, it shot up into a sitting position. I laughed loudly as she made the first corpse rush over and help its comrade to its feet.

I waited and watched the third dead body and just as suddenly, its eyelids slammed open and its milky white eyes swiveled around and stared at the sky. It struggled to sit up, and I saw the struggle on Morrigan’s face as she fought hard to get the third corpse to move like the other two. The third moved in jerks, and I knew what was coming next before she did, so I strode to her right as she let go and all three bodies crumpled to the ground.

She fell into my already open arms and held onto me as she panted for air, exhausted, but when she looked up into my face, she was elated. She threw her arms around me and held me to her chest, and I could feel her heart beating wildly beneath her rib cage. She was growing stronger each time we worked on her powers, and I knew soon she would be able to control three or more without breaking a sweat.

“Master, thank you for teaching me,” she gasped in my ear.

I kissed her fully on the lips, and she melted into me. Our mouths moved passionately against each other, and we drank in one another for a few moments. When we parted, I held her hand in mine and led her back to the encampment for bed.

I was tired after the long day and yearned to sleep cuddled in the same bed with all of my minions. I wanted nothing but their soft bodies pressed against mine from all angles and even longed for Carmedy’s soft snoring in my ear. When I glanced down at my pale companion, her face was still shining, and the smile was still in place, pleased with her success.

We were almost to our tent when I spoke again, and she tilted her head at me as she listened intently to my voice.

“When you asked me a question earlier, I was surprised you didn’t ask if I loved you instead of Carmedy.”

Morrigan gave me a knowing smile as she blinked slowly and moved farther ahead, our fingers parting slightly. “I never ask questions that I already know the answers to.”

Chapter Six

I woke earlier than the others, and as I dressed, I looked down at my four minions snuggled together in a big mass of pillows and blankets. When we slept together like this, I always lay in the middle, two women on each side of me. With the absence of my body heat, Morrigan, who had been on my left, and Annalise, on the right, scooted and moved in closer. I smiled to myself as Morrigan’s white eyebrows furrowed and she turned over in her sleep, and Annalise’s arm snaked around her.

Both Carmedy and Rana were snoring, the cat-woman’s snores soft and wispy as her ears twitched against the pillow while the fox’s snores were louder and rolled in the back of her throat but not to the point of obnoxiousness. I wanted to stay longer with them, surrounded by their warmth and never-ending adoration, but I had a few tasks to take care of before they woke and we headed off to our next destination.

The sun’s rays were just barely bruising the sky purple and blue in the moments before early dawn, and I relished the sight as I walked through the silent and sleeping encampment. From our location, I could hear the sound of the water lapping on a rocky shore and knew we were near the Riese River. Despite last night’s excitement, it was peaceful for a moment, and I stepped between the tents into a clearing and watched as the sun rose over the mountains and sent long shadows through the trees.

It was beautiful here, and I could plainly see why my swordswoman loved her land so much. The weather was harsh and cold, but it was bearable just to be able to see sights such as this. It nearly took my breath away as the rising sun bathed the whole land in golden light. I never knew that there could be so many different sunrises and didn’t think I would miss them when I was trapped in my dungeon.

The sunrise in the beating heat of Valasara was just as breathtaking as the sunrise in the blistering cold of Tamarisch, and it made me wonder how many other mornings I would have the pleasure of witnessing. I considered myself to be very lucky as I thought over my entire life in these few passing moments of silence. I had the luck to be born a god, though I didn’t remember much of my parents, only a few snippets of faces and bodies.

In the hierarchy of gods and goddesses, my father was in the top few that led our people, and he was one of the people who chose to cast me out. In a way, it reminded me of my High Elf, the two of us thrown away because of our interests in the darkness around us. I vaguely remembered my father’s godly face, and it reminded me of the face I molded my avatar’s into, stern but with a softness in his eyes.

I wouldn’t say I hated him, but there was resentment in my heart. I was his eldest son, the prodigy who mastered his powers before any of his brothers, and I was the one who was looked down upon the most. My mother’s face, I could not remember. Her presence had a coldness to it that my father’s didn’t, and it stung me to try and conjure her image. Just as Annalise’s parents, mine were bound to each other by an arranged marriage solely to create wunderkind children.

When written in ancient text and runes, my mother’s name was a sun disk, but as the sun rose above me and warmed my face weakly, I felt no connection to her. I felt no connection to my parents, which is exactly how I felt when I resided in the heavens. Even the brothers they had given me were strangers, interlopers with similar faces. My father’s name was Chirus, the god of victory, and I thought to myself, how ironic would it be when I snatched the holy heavens from him.

The god of victory would know defeat for the first time in his life.

My mother’s divine name was Qyris, goddess of the sun, and it was said when she was born from her mother’s body, brilliant white light flooded onto the earth, and all the creatures living there worshipped her as the first god. Some of the oldest artifacts found in tombs of the dead bore her name and the ways they worshipped her. It was a tale passed down for generations through the humans and gods alike, but when I looked into the face of my mother, I found nothing but frigid hatred no child should ever know.

As their first born, they gave me a strong name, a name to be feared, though that was not their intention in the beginning. I dared not speak it, willed myself not to. It was a banished name, and I knew once I was cast out, the name would never touch my family’s lips again. Once a god was cast out of the heavens, they were as good as dead to their families and friends, carved out of historical texts as if they had never existed in the first place.

The brothers that came after me were of no consequence, boring, obedient little bastards, but the one who betrayed me was the one who came after me. As a child, it hadn’t taken me long to realize he was my mother’s favorite because of his power and namesake. Otia, the god of honesty and truth, he could never tell a lie, and he was obnoxiously pious until the end. He always pretended he was the first born and our father’s place in the heavens was his birthright, and in the end, he made that reality with my banishment.

I felt nothing towards them but rage. I had only done what my namesake foretold, and yet, they shunned me and left me for dead. They threw me to earth and then turned their backs on me. I knew they could see me and that some of them were still watching, disgusted and disappointed I had found a way to escape my hellhole and roam free with four gorgeous women.

I wanted them dead, mostly my sniveling little brother, but first I needed to conquer the earth. Then I would take to the heavens and destroy them, too.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a voice asked from behind me, and I looked over my shoulder at the newcomer who disturbed my silence and remembrance.

Ansel strode forward in his polished Tamarisch armor, a long gray and white fur cloak around his shoulders as he puffed on a long-tipped pipe. The smoke billowed out behind him as he moved to stand beside me and admired the view.

“As beautiful as the sunset is from the highest tower in the Tamarisch palace,” he continued, “there really is nothing like waking up to the chill and watching the sunrise from the battlefield. It makes a man feel alive, gets the blood pumping.”

“How old were you when you joined the army, Ansel? Seventeen, correct?” I asked as I watched the sun hit one of the white tents and reflect off it.

“Aye,” he confirmed as he took a long pull on his burning pipe, his muddy brown eyes on the still rising sun. “Seems like overkill with the trials to become a soldier, doesn’t it?”

“It does. I have never seen a bánwolf for myself, but Annalise has described them to me in great detail,” I said as I folded my hands behind my back and turned to face him fully.

“They are great hulking beasts, able to fit a grown man in their maw with room to spare, but as terrifying as they are, they are still magnificent to see,” Ansel told me, and I listened with interest. There wasn’t much information on the bánwolves and what Annalise had told me was mostly second-hand information she heard from someone else. “You’d think with their huge size that they’d be quite stupid like most big animals are, but they are intelligent and have a complex social system within their pack.”

He arched an eyebrow then, and his next words came out thoughtfully. “Generally, in the pack, there are one alpha male and three or four alpha females below him. These are the females that he mates with, and they are essentially the ruling class of the pack, keeping all the others in line.”

“Really?” I mused. That sounded familiar.

He nodded his head but then grimaced. “Sadly, when it was my turn for the trials, I found the pack's den and only the alpha male inside with his young. The alpha is the biggest out of all of the bánwolves, and not surprisingly, he almost killed me. Nearly tore my whole left arm off with one bite to the shoulder, but this gave me the opportunity to slice his throat while he was preoccupied. I knew if the alpha females were to come and find his body, they would be able to sniff me out by scent easily. I skinned the alpha and covered myself in his fur and hid away in a tree. Then I watched them for two days, and the strangest thing happened. The four alpha females could not go on without him. They never left the den, and slowly as I watched, the bánwolves chose a new alpha and moved on without the four females. The dominant females couldn’t survive without the love and guidance of their alpha.”

Ansel looked at me pointedly, and I understood the hidden meaning behind his words.

“There are people in this world who need the leadership and love of one sole leader, and once that leader is gone, they cannot survive on their own,” I added as I looked deeply into his chocolate brown eyes,

“At first, I couldn’t understand it,” he said to me and never broke the heated eye contact between us. “My strong-willed little sister placing herself within a group of three other women to follow blindly behind a man she had never met. The idea was asinine to me. To let herself be a follower instead of a leader was not the Annalise I knew. I will admit that when I met you, I was disgusted, parading around with the women like some hot-shot, but then I truly didn’t understand. I came back to the wolves and what you did for us last night, and now, I see. I hope there is an understanding between us now, I as her older brother and you as her husband and caretaker. I hope I too have the privilege to call you Master?”

I bowed my head and accepted him as yet another of my growing collection of dutiful followers. “Of course, Ansel, and as one of my followers, I have a request of you and your brothers, if you wouldn’t mind hearing me out?” I inquired as I laid a hand on his armored shoulder.

“I will do anything you wish, Master. We’re just getting breakfast started, shall I round them up to discuss what is on your mind?” he asked with a bright smile as he reached out too and placed a hand on my upper arm.

“Yes, that would be best, but please let my women sleep for as long as they like,” I agreed. “We have a lengthy ship ride ahead of us, and I want them to be well rested for the journey.”

It took about an hour and a half before Ansel was able to find Amos and Adam and bring them to me. I waited by the fire and watched the army’s cook work over the again blazing flames. He was preparing some sort of meat and potato dish in a large cast iron skillet. I watched his skilled hands crack eggs over it, and their surfaces cooked and crackled pleasantly in the early morning air. The cook reached into a large metal box beside his feet, pulled seasonings in small jars out, and sprinkled the top of our meal with it.

The cook seemed unbothered as the fire jumped up and licked at his fluid hands. He only pulled them away with a grunt and reached for a spatula and turned the contents of the pan over with a sizzle. The delicious scent that wafted over to me made my stomach gurgle and growl with hunger.

I raised my eyes and watched as Ansel walked with Amos and dragged Adam by the ear toward me. I chuckled to myself, and the cook lifted his head to glance at me but went back to our breakfast quickly. I recognized him as the man who had scooted away from me last night, but now, he seemed more comfortable in my presence. Ansel neared us, and Amos found his usual seat and reached for a plate but was swatted away with a painful slap of the cook’s spatula.

“Our Master must receive his plate before anyone else,” the cook grumbled as he grabbed a white plate and piled it high with food. It steamed in the cold air, and he handed it over to me with a low bow of his head. I took it and thanked him quietly.

Amos tried again for food and this time was able to grab a plate now that I had my share. He didn’t look upset or taken aback, and I was slightly surprised they accepted me as their master this easily. Amos wolfed his food down so fast that he could have been Carmedy’s twin as he held out his plate for a second serving. The cook grumbled in an annoyed tone but gave him another much smaller pile on the plate, and it soon disappeared into Amos’s mouth as he greedily gobbled it down.

Meanwhile, Ansel didn’t let go of Adam’s ear until he threw the younger man into a seat and gave him a warning glare. I raised my eyebrows and wondered what had happened for the oldest brother to treat one of the twins like this. I watched Ansel grab a plate too and start to eat, but when Adam reached for the food, Ansel gave him a dark glare, and the hand pulled back as the younger man sighed loudly.

“I want you to apologize to Master and apologize to Rana when she joins us for breakfast. Then you can eat, pervert,” Ansel commanded as he sat back on a wooden log, and Adam sighed even louder before he raised his eyes to me.

“I’m sincerely sorry for my actions, I merely acted out of curiosity, and it made me look like an ass,” Adam muttered in a hoarse voice like a frog was stuck in his throat. “Please punish me any way you see fit, Master.”

My eyebrows rose even higher. “What did you do, young man?” I asked as I scooped a heaping mouthful onto my spoon and ate it.

“I may or may not have--” the oldest twin started, but Ansel cut him off before he could explain further.

“Adam!” Ansel warned with narrowed eyes, and Adam shuffled his feet and readjusted his shoulders.

“I grabbed the fox-woman’s tail,” he admitted.

“And why did you do such a thing?” I asked in a low rumble, my face impassive as I stared him down.

Adam avoided my gaze, and his cheeks tinted a soft pink in the morning light. “Well, uh…” he started then stopped, and I could tell he was embarrassed as he thought over what to say. “I’ve never seen a fox hybrid before … they’re pretty rare around here and I couldn’t help myself.”

“That’s a pretty shitty excuse to touch someone you don’t know,” Ansel chided as he pointed his fork at his brother, and Adam nodded solemnly. “In her culture, that might be the same as grabbing her ass or something. It’s still unacceptable for a respectable soldier, and even more unacceptable coming from a prince.”

“I know,” Adam grumbled in his croaky voice as he rubbed at his throat. “I shouldn’t have done it, and I’ll apologize to her too.”

“What’s wrong with your voice, Adam?” I asked as I set my spoon down on my plate and observed him.

“She punched me in the throat … ” Adam squeaked out as he squirmed under my gaze, and I had to hold back my own amusement as Amos roared with laughter while the milk he was drinking sprayed out of his mouth and nose in a blasting waterfall to the ground.

“A punch well deserved.” I nodded gravely, though I couldn’t hide the amusement on my features as I snickered softly. “I will spare you my wrath this time, Adam, but make a habit of it and I’ll kill you where you stand, brother-in-law or not.”

“Of course, sir, I really didn’t mean any harm by it, I swear,” he assured me, and from his expression, I could tell he was remorseful, and his intentions were innocent enough. If he were any other man and had done the same with malicious intent, he would have been struck dead where he stood.

With that settled, they ate in silence, Adam still not allowed his share until he apologized to Rana, and when they finished, Ansel turned and faced me in his seat.

“What was it you wanted to speak to us about, Master?” he asked as he bent down and washed his plate and utensils then took mine and cleaned them, too.

“As all of you know, my minions and I are on a journey to conquer and defeat each and every dungeon,” I began as I watched the fire before us crackle and pop in the weak sunlight filtering in through the heavy cloud cover. “After challenging the old High King, your father, Annalise was able to defeat him, making her the high queen and I, after our marriage, the High King. However, it will take quite a long time for us to reach and defeat each dungeon, which will leave Tamarisch without a steady ruler during that time.”

My eyes scanned across the brothers. “Annalise and I have discussed this at length and would like all three of you to rule in our stead until we are able to return. I can assure you that your high queen will be protected while away, and I will let no harm come to her, she is my wife after all. The high queen and I would like to divide the kingdom up into three sectors while we are absent and each of you will become lord over those sectors for the time being. If you don’t think you are up to the task, please let me know now so we can make other preparations before we set off for Tintagal.”

The three men glanced at each other, then down at their hands as they thought hard about the weighty task I was asking of them. I was unsurprised when Ansel was the first to speak, his voice authoritative and determined.

“I accept. As your brother and faithful servant, I will do as you ask.” The oldest bowed his head to me, and I smiled wide before I looked over at the twins. Amos was nodding along while Adam still looked thoughtful, his hand rubbing his throat where Rana had socked him.

“I’ll do it too,” Amos agreed. “It’s about time Tamarisch had some order and a good leader, and I think you and Annalise will do a fine job.”

I reached out to him, and we shook hands heartily. My eyes wandered back to Adam who was still thinking, but then his face suddenly broke, and he gave me a wide smile.

“Oh, what the hell, let’s do it!” he shouted as he raised a closed fist into the air excitedly. Amos and Ansel followed in an unfamiliar whistle, and I assumed it was the same communication they used last night to speak to each other.

As morning moved on slowly, I sat with my brothers and got to know them better. They may have looked the same, but their personalities were much different. I had already sensed Ansel was the more sensible one, reliable in his word. Amos was the troublemaker who constantly played tricks and cracked jokes, not unlike my fox-woman. And Adam was more reserved, though once coaxed out of his shell, he spoke a mile a minute.

I liked them and enjoyed their company, glad to be accepted not only as a part of their family as Annalise’s husband but also as their lord and master. The Decathmor name was a strong one that commanded respect, and I could see why. Each man had different charms, but they all held themselves to a code of honor that must go unbroken, the very same as my dear high queen. I could see my wife in all of them and also saw how each of her brothers helped mold her into the woman she was today. As more soldiers trickled in, lured by the delicious smell of breakfast, I turned the conversation to a more serious topic.

“Tell me, how is the trade in Tamarisch?” I inquired, and Ansel raised his head to me curiously, but Amos, who had taken out his sword and was polishing it, was the one who answered.

“Terrible,” Amos muttered as he rubbed mineral oil into the metal of the blade with a soft rag until it shone radiantly in the light.

“Why do you say that?” I questioned as I cupped my chin and observed his deft hand move over the blade.

“The weather is so cold that we can’t grow anything,” he answered with a wave of his hand, and his eyes never left his sword as he worked diligently at it. “Most of our produce comes from Machstein, and that’s if they have surpluses to even trade in the first place. The traders who come here are greedy and swindle our people out of their money because they know people are desperate for food. I’m not saying we’re a poor country, in fact, we’re far from it, but the weather makes it hard to get our hands on anything besides beef and pork. Any other kind of foodstuff is out of the question.”

Ansel tilted his head at me as he whittled at a length of kindling and stripped away its thin bark to reveal the pale wood inside. “The only produce we can get our hands on are carrots, turnips, cabbage, and spinach from Machstein, and as Amos said, that’s only if they have enough to trade with us. No fruits or warmer climate vegetables are available here unless a trader brings them and when they do, their prices are outrageous. Why do you ask, Master?”

“It is well known that the mountains around Tamarisch are bountiful with iron and marble, correct?” I asked as I looked each of the brothers in the eye, and they nodded to me. “Now, I am lord and king of the desert land of Valasara. I have a regent there named Makar who, like you, rules in my absence. I have been told Valasara is plentiful and reaps crops each year that can feed themselves for two years. Most of the surpluses go to waste in their granaries even. Though it is mostly desert, due to irrigation, they are able to grow many different vegetables and fruits. Along with those, they are abundant in salt, pottery, gold, and spices.”

I steepled my hands thoughtfully. “So, I would like to start a trade route between Valasara and Tamarisch, then whatever other countries and provinces I take over along the way. If you supply Valasara with iron and marble, then we can supply you with the perishables you need. I would like to possibly put a fourth person in charge of this new endeavor, an Overseer of Trade to be exact.”

“That sounds agreeable, then the trade route could make its way up through the many sectors of Tamarisch, cross the Riese, stop at Machstein and then head on to Tintagal,” Ansel murmured as he scratched at his cheek thoughtfully. “Tintagal’s temperature isn’t as harsh as ours in the summer months, and I know there are more crops that grow there than in Tamarisch and Machstein combined, but because of the political climate with Tintagal, we don’t have access to those provisions.”

“But we will after I’m finished with that man, the one Annalise was arranged to marry, Baudouin,” I stated in a powerful voice as a wicked smile spread over my lips. “When I have killed him, Tintagal will be part of Tamarisch as one nation under my rule, and we will know glory like no other men have known before.”

I raised my head, and the Decathmor brothers looked at me like they should have in the beginning, like I was truly a god, not some mere man. They were only beginning to know the reaches of my power but soon, they would really see as my hands collected each nation and killed the men who ruled them, starting with Machstein and then Tintagal.

The lands of this earth would be one nation, under one god. And once under my rule, I would spite the heavens and strike down the other gods who had cast me out and abandoned me. Then as the world ended and collapsed under my feet, I would stand with my minions and rule everything around us with an all-seeing eye, the north, the south, the east, and the west. Each kingdom was fated to fall to me, and there was nothing that could stop me.

The morning gave way to afternoon, and as it dragged on, I could see the sadness in the Decathmor brothers as the time of our leaving neared. We all knew we would be reunited eventually, but it was especially hard to watch as each brother wrapped their arms around their sister and savored the moments before she would have to leave them once again. They had only just gotten her back, and now she was leaving again. I wished I could have given them more time to spend together, but we needed to move on to the next dungeons.

We chartered a boat from the small port town of Toscal at the edge of the Riese. Annalise was correct when she said the river was huge. As I stood at the edge of a pier, the other side of the river was nowhere in sight. The water of the Riese was deep blue, almost like the ocean we had crossed to get to Tamarisch, and as I watched I could see pale, thick-scaled fish swim to the surface, hang there for a few seconds taking in large gulps of air, and then plunge back down into the frigid waters. Down the side of their thick bodies were one strip of neon yellow and the spines that pointed up from their fins looked deadly.

“Yellow-tail Razorbacks,” my high queen told me as she peeked over my shoulder and watched a particularly large fish break the surface and send out ripples in every direction. “Pretty docile but they can be dangerous when spooked. Watch this.”

Annalise hopped from the pier down to the rocky shore, picked up a palm-sized rock, and tossed it close to the fish. The fish’s fins that lay folded against its back expanded and shot up to expose a huge colorful fan. Each part of the multicolored yellow fan was separated by a nasty looking black spike that looked sharp enough to pierce through the skin. Then the spooked fish shot down into the depths of the azure water and was gone from sight.

My swordswoman’s eye stayed on the moving water for a long time, and I could sense sadness there. She turned her head to me, and her eyes widened as she realized I had been watching.

“What saddens you so?” I asked as I offered her a hand and helped her back up onto the pier.

“The Razorbacks, they’re endangered, and we no longer fish for them which is good, but this isn’t their natural habitat,” she said as she watched as a much smaller fish made its way to the surface and looked at her curiously before swimming away. “There once was a mouth at the south end of the river that led to the ocean, and each spring, the Razorbacks would swim upstream to spawn in the colder waters of the Riese. Baudouin’s castle sits at the edge of the water, and there’s a natural pool underneath of it. Each year during the spawning, the Razorbacks would nest in the pool, and he would go down and watch them. He loved them so much he had a dam built at the river mouth and now the Yellowtail Razorbacks are trapped here, in cold water that is unnatural for them.”

She let out a sigh. “Before I was born, thousands of Razorbacks would flood into the Riese, and now, there are only a few hundred. It upsets me, imagining them trying to return home, only to be blocked in and forced to stay in freezing water they can only withstand for a few months while mating and laying eggs.”

I reached out for her and tucked a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear, and her eyes lowered to the planks at our feet.

“Does it bother you that much, my queen?” I murmured in her ear, and she snuggled in closer to me against the icy wind.

“Yes … ” she answered softly, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and brought her closer. “I suppose they remind me of me, although you have freed me.”

“Then we will free them, you and I,” I said.

We stayed like this for a while, watching the beautiful fish bob up and down to the surface only to disappear into the dark depths. I could tell the high queen was still upset, but I had comforted her slightly in telling her we would free them and send them back home. Our moment of silence was broken as Carmedy called for us and let us know our ship had docked and loaded on our belongings for the journey to Machstein.

I steered Annalise down the pier and the four steps that led to the cobblestone street and her waiting brothers. Rana and Morrigan went to trade our gold and pick a few supplies while the Decathmor brothers kept an eye on Carmedy so she wouldn’t run off. With the authoritative soldiers standing side by side and staring down at her with dark brown eyes, the cat-woman stayed rooted in place.

Ansel was the first to step forward and grip Annalise tightly to his chest in an embrace. The high queen let out a croak as he hugged her too tight, but he let go and looked away as he wiped away one stray tear he hoped no one else saw. Amos and Adam were next, and they swept her up together and squeezed her from both sides, and she laughed loudly as she patted them on their backs. They let go of Annalise and held her at arm’s length and studied her face as if committing it to memory.

Then I watched my other three minions give the Decathmor brothers quick waves as they walked up the gangplank to board the ship. Carmedy was the last to board, and she turned around and waved like a madwoman.

“Bye-bye! See you later, alligator! Smell ya later! Don’t forget to write!” she called happily, and Rana came back, grabbed her arm, and pulled her onto the ship. The fox-woman looked over her shoulder and connected eyes with Adam, who had apologized vehemently to the redhead. The fox’s eyes narrowed as she stuck out her tongue at Adam. The poor twin blushed profusely and looked away embarrassed.

I knew the twin had somehow developed feelings for my fox over the two days we spent with them. I didn’t feel anger toward my brother-in-law, since it was only natural to be attracted to beautiful women, but he knew that she could never be his because I already owned her body and soul. Rana only had eyes for me, and that’s how it would be until the end of time, along with my other minions. They were mine, and I was theirs, no man nor woman could come between us.

Amos and Adam pulled away from Annalise and stepped back in line with their oldest brother. Their faces were gloomy and downcast as the high queen took my hand and led me up the bridge.

“Anna!” Ansel called when we were halfway up, and she turned, her braid swinging out behind her.

“Yes?” she yelled with a smile.

“Best of luck to you, be safe, we love you,” Ansel shouted before a grin brightened his face, “and come back pregnant or don’t come back at all!”

Annalise’s mouth fell open, and her cheeks bloomed red all the way to the tips of her ears as all three of her brothers roared with laughter. Amos bent over and slapped his knee, and Adam slapped his twin on the back as he struggled to regain composure. I gripped her hand tighter and pulled her to my side as I too chuckled deep in the back of my throat.

“That can be arranged!” I yelled down to them, and their laughter rang in our ears until both Annalise and I were out of sight and safely on the ship.

The high queen glowered at me and then gave me a playful push, but I just chuckled at her embarrassed expression. Then she moved to push me again, but I grabbed her wrists at the last second, and she stumbled into me. I pressed my lips to her mouth suddenly, and she tensed for a second before she relaxed, wrapped her arms around my neck, and melted into me completely. When I pulled away, her cheeks were still tinted pink, but she looked much happier now. I stroked her cheek softly with the back of my pointer finger, and her lips parted deliciously.

“You do know they will be sorely disappointed if we return and there is no heir within me, right?” she asked breathily, her supple body pressed into mine,

“Hm,” I said thoughtfully as I tore my eyes away from her stunning face. I looked out over the cobalt water then looked back down into her brown eyes with a grin. “Then we better practice. I’d hate to disappoint my new brothers when we return.”

Chapter Seven

“I’ve never seen a ship like this,” Carmedy remarked. Then she leaned over the side to examine the thick metal hull and the pointed bow as it cut through the dark water.

“It’s called a ‘breaker,’” Annalise said from behind as she steadied herself and made sure the smaller cat-woman didn’t topple over the side. “Once we get closer to Machstein, the temperature will drop and the surface of the river will freeze. The ship’s bow is used to push forward and break the ice.”

“Wow,” Carmedy breathed as she reached a paw down and knocked at the metal side of the ship. It clanged piercingly, and a few stray icicles dropped into the frothing water below. “That’s so cool. Did you know I had never seen ships this big until I left home? Where I was born, we only had small fishing boats. The most you could fit into them was probably two or three men.”

I watched as Annalise helped the cat hop down, and the swordswoman brushed off Carmedy’s coat where some snow had collected. I loved to watch them together. Not only had my relationship with each of them grown, but they had also grown to care for and love each other in a way that they hadn’t before. As Carmedy liked to point out, they were no longer just friends but sisters.

On the other side of the ship, Rana and Morrigan sat on two barrels across from each other, an impromptu table set-up in front of them made from a third barrel and a scrap piece of timber. The red-haired fox was teaching the elf how to play cards, and Morrigan’s face looked thoroughly confused as she uncertainly put down a card from her hand. Rana shrieked with joy and pulled a heaping pile of coins to her side in victory. The elf blinked, sighed loudly, and slapped down her cards in annoyance.

“I told you I’d beat the pants off you!” the fox sniggered loudly as she dealt another hand, and Morrigan raised a white eyebrow.

“For one, I am not wearing pants, this is a dress,” Morrigan stated in her uninterested voice as she picked up the pile of cards Rana set down in front of her. “And second, I do not think you are a good player, merely that I am unskilled in this type of pastime. If you had a worthy opponent, I believe you would be the one without pants.”

Rana squinted her eyes at the pale elf, held up her cards in front of her face, and grumbled softly to herself as her ears twitched irritably. “Does no one understand sayings around here? First Carmedy, now you.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the massive wooden mast and watched them play for a while. My high queen came to stand beside me, and she chuckled as Rana won again, and the elf threw up her hands in defeat.

“Do you know how to play cards, Master?” the brunette asked as she tilted her head to me and gazed into my face.

I shook my head. “No, I used to play senet and hounds and jackals with my br--” I stopped midsentence then corrected myself, not ready to tell my minions about that part of my life and the brother I tried to forget. “--with the other gods. Card games hadn’t been invented yet. What are they playing? Maybe I could learn and play with them eventually.”

“I’m unsure of what they’re playing, it looks like a version of rummy,” Annalise replied. We watched Rana set down three cards of the same suit, and the High Elf eyed them suspiciously over her hand. “I’m sure if you asked Rana, she would teach you while playing against Morrigan.”

“Are there games we could play together? All five of us?” I asked as I watched Carmedy skip around the deck happily, her short black hair billowing in the wind under her hood.

“Of course, I believe we all could play craits together, but I must warn you, I’m a bit of a champion at that game. I used to play against my brothers all the time,” the swordswoman said with a faraway smile on her lips as she remembered the times she spent beating the other Decathmors.

I dragged three more barrels over to the table, and then I gathered my minions around me as Annalise set about teaching us how to play craits, a game I had never heard of before. My high queen’s voice took on an authoritative tone as she told us the rules of play, and each of my minions listened intently.

“Craits is a shedding game, the goal is to get rid of the entire hand you’re dealt,” Annalise told us as she shuffled the deck and handed out eight cards to each of us. Then she set down the deck in front of her and flipped one card up beside it. “The premise of the game is to match either the suit or the number of the card laid down. If you have an eight or nine, you can lay the card down and choose the suit for yourself. If you have no cards that match either the suit or rank, you must pick up a card. If you only have one card left, you have to announce, ‘one card,’ if you don’t, we’ll all call you an idiot, and you pick up two cards and skip the turn, giving someone else the chance to win. Pretty easy to remember. Is everyone ready?”

“Ready!” Carmedy cheered as she held her already dealt hand aloft in the air, and Annalise chuckled with a soft smile.

“Ready to go,” Rana said with a smirk, her cards held tightly in front of her bright baby-blue eyes.

“I’m ready too,” I announced, and then I glanced over at the elf whose eyes wandered over the fanned-out cards in front of her. “Are you, Morrigan?”

“I am, Master, let us proceed,” the pale woman replied in her usual cold tone.

We played for about an hour, and I slowly realized that this game involved more a chance of luck than skill. Once I realized this, I won a few rounds to the groans and laments of the bested. We were on our last game, and surprisingly, Carmedy was in the lead this time. She was smacking down cards left and right with a delighted glint in her emerald eyes. With a final loud slap, she lay down her second to last card with a mischievous smirk and sat back in her chair, waving the final card in her paw.

We all stared at her in surprise. The entire time we had played, Carmedy was a sore loser, but this time around, she was close to winning, and she celebrated as she stuck out her tongue playfully at Rana over the tabletop. Morrigan glanced up from her cards, raised a long-fingernailed hand into the air, and pointed between Carmedy’s large eyes.

“Idiot,” she declared as she lay down a card on top of Carmedy’s.

“Wha-what?” the cat asked, and then she turned her head left and right to look into mine and Annalise’s faces with shock, “I’m n-not an idiot! Why would she say that? That’s so mean!”

“According to the rules, that is what I was supposed to say,” the elf said plainly as she swiped two cards from the deck and offered them to Carmedy. “Take two cards and skip your turn.”

The cat looked wildly across the table for support from her comrades, but Rana shook her head sadly and nodded towards the two cards Morrigan offered in her delicate, tattooed hand. Annalise shrugged and gave the cat an apologetic pat on the back but offered no words of comfort. In the end, Carmedy’s soft black ears lowered to her head, and she took the cards the elf held out to her.

With the game continuing on, the alchemist played hard, trying to regain the lead she had prior, but it was all for nothing. To everyone’s surprise, Morrigan lay down a card, only one left in her hand, and declared with a prideful smirk.

“One card.”

I had two cards left, Rana three, Annalise two also, and Carmedy had picked up five as we went around. We were in the last stretch of the game, and it looked as if Morrigan was going to win. We all hunched over the table and gave each other steely, suspicious glances whenever our eyes met. Carmedy was biting her lip anxiously, and Rana’s red and white tail swished behind her back so quickly it was almost a blur. In the growing darkness around us as the sun set, the cat’s eyes began to flash and glow as she thought through each of her moves. Right before it was Morrigan’s turn, the win within her grasp, Annalise slammed down a nine with an evil grin.

“Hearts, also, one card!” the swordswoman shouted gleefully.

Morrigan huffed as she reached out and grabbed another card from the deck. Fea and Macha cawed noisily in protest from the elf’s shoulders, and Morrigan reached up and quieted them with a stroke of her finger as she whispered to them in her elvish language that none of us could understand. The fox-woman was next, and she lay down her card with a flap, her face constricted with concentration.

“One card.” I smiled as I placed the seven of hearts on top of the pile.

Carmedy’s expression soured from beside me, and she wriggled in her seat. The alchemist’s eyes flitted back and forth from her hand to the pile of cards on the table. She bit her lips and laid down the two of hearts on top, her hand now holding only four cards.

Annalise sighed as she looked down at her last card and grabbed another from the deck. Then she looked pointedly over at Morrigan to signal the elf to take her turn. With a glint in her dark eyes, she lay down her second card, a black eight printed in the middle of the thick paper, and stared into my face with a pleased expression.

“Spades, one card,” the elf purred as she rested her chin in her palm and blinked alluringly in my direction. She must have thought she had effectively deterred me.

I laughed inwardly as I turned my head to her and lay my last card down on top of the others with a sickly-sweet smile, clearing my hand of all cards. Resting on top of the spent deck was the ace of spades. Morrigan’s mouth dropped open, Rana’s eyes widened, and Carmedy fumbled with her cards and scrambled to pick them up with a squeak. Annalise gave me an approving nod and smiled as she lay her one card face down on the tabletop.

“Master wins,” the swordswoman said as she cleared the table of cards, and my minions handed over the rest of theirs.

“Are we going to play again?” the cat asked cheerfully, and Annalise lifted her eyes to mine and waited for my decision.

“Does everyone else want to?” I probed as I looked into their faces. Each woman, even Morrigan who hadn’t given any indication that she liked the game or not, nodded fervently. I smiled to Annalise, and with relish, she handed over the deck of cards and made me the dealer this time.

We played until it was dark and the ship’s crew came around and lit lamps around the deck. The air turned deathly cold, and once we finished, we cleaned up our game and placed the barrels we had been sitting on back in their rightful place. The five of us headed off to bed together, and I remembered the times before when our party would pair off into separate rooms. It warmed my heart thinking we were no longer five different people on a single journey together, but instead a family moving as a unit, sleeping, eating, and living together in harmony.

Our room on the ship was large, and the bed within was piled high with thick blankets and down pillows. Carmedy was the first to race in and jumped head first onto the bed, burrowing herself deep enough in that only the top of her head could be seen. Annalise laughed softly as she slipped out of her boots and coat, then slipped in beside the snuggled cat. I used my power to peel my heavy armor away but left my underclothes on as I walked to the opposite side of the bed. I slid in behind Carmedy and wrapped my arms around her small, soft form. Rana came next as she stripped out of her heavy coat and the dress underneath, then Morrigan’s slender form, dressed only in her gauzy slip as she pulled the blankets back and climbed in after.

It took a few minutes for my minions to fall asleep, and I lay in the darkness and listened to the soft and comforting sounds they made. As usual, Rana and Carmedy were snoring, and occasionally, Annalise would shift in her sleep as a soft whimper would escape her lips. Morrigan was the only one of my minions who slept in complete silence. Once the elf woman found a comfortable spot, she’d nestle herself in and then lay there until morning.

Long ago, while trapped in my dungeon, I dreaded sleep. There was no way to count the passage of time, and sleep only made the feeling of dysphoria worse. I would wake and have no idea if I had only slept for hours, or years. The only changes I saw around me were in the clothes and weapons new warriors carried while attempting to plunder my dungeon.

I enjoyed sleeping now, even though my sleep was void and dreamless as it had always been. The only reason I loved it now was because I knew that when I laid down and when I woke up, I’d be surrounded by my devoted minions who never left my side. I closed my eyes and stroked one of Carmedy’s soft ears, and she purred deep in the back of her throat in her sleep. I smiled to myself as Rana’s paw snaked under my arm and rested against my chiseled chest, over my avatar’s beating heart. Then I slipped into slumber easily as I did most nights with each of the women I loved deeply settled in comfortably beside me.

I woke to the soft sound of feet padding away, and I lifted my head and saw the swinging chestnut braid right as the door closed behind it. I looked towards the porthole on the curved metal hull and saw the sun hadn’t risen yet. I untangled myself from the mess of limbs and climbed over Carmedy’s sleeping form.

The cat flipped over with her eyes tightly squeezed shut, pulled the blanket up to her chin and, still asleep, murmured crossly, “Hand over the cupcake and nobody gets hurt.”

I chuckled to myself as I slipped into my boots and threw on my dark cloak. Then I snuck out the door with a backward glance at the women still fast asleep in our bed, and a small smile spread across my lips. I turned and headed down the door-lined hall and then up the steps to the deck. The stars were brightly burning in the sky, and there was a loud crunching coming from over the side of the ship. I turned my head, my breath rising into the air as I searched for my high queen. She was nowhere to be found on deck, and panic rose in my throat as I searched even more feverishly. As I came down from the bow and passed our captain who gave me a friendly tip of his hat, I heard her laughter from somewhere.

I calmed myself and listened to the steady beat of her heart, the heart that wholly belonged to me. She was a clever woman, and I leaned my head back and craned my neck, and as I looked, her beautiful face peeked over the edge of the crow’s nest. She gave me a jaunty wave with a smirk. Her legs hung through the metal rungs of the nest and swung out underneath her. I grabbed the handholds on the mast and made my way up to the high queen waiting above. The air was colder the higher I went, but somehow it was still refreshing. When I reached the top, I sat down next to Annalise and pulled the swordswoman close to my side.

“Come here often?” she joked into my ear, and the warmth of her breath tickled the flesh of my neck.

“Only when gorgeous queens are hanging out up here,” I kidded back, and she giggled softly into my cloak. “Why are you up here, by the way?”

“I wanted to see the sky,” the swordswoman whispered as she gestured to the millions of pinpricks of light hanging above our heads. “I feel like I haven’t looked at it in such a long time. We’ve spent so much time underground lately. I started to miss the open sky and the blinking light of the stars. Plus, laying next to Carmedy is like sleeping beside a blazing fireplace. I just need to cool myself down for a bit.”

“Ah,” I said as I tilted my head back and enjoyed the view above. “Does it get annoying being cramped together like that? I can see about us getting separate rooms when we get to Machstein.”

“No, I don’t mind it, but I would like some private time every once in a while, just you and I,” she admitted as she too leaned back and stared up at the stars.

“Annalise,” I murmured as I took her hand, placed it into my lap, and cupped it between both of my much larger hands, “I don’t think I’ve ever asked any of you this, but how did you meet? When I met all of you, you were already an adventuring party, but how did you all come together?”

The high queen smiled widely and nodded, and then her fingers intertwined with mine as she started to tell me the story of how all of my minions came to be. “I met Rana first. When I escaped Tamarisch, I stowed away on a ship and went as far south as it would take me. They found me hiding among the boxes and trunks they were transporting and threw me out in this teeny-tiny town called Edenborough. I only had a little money and the clothes on my back. I spent about two weeks inside the hull of the ship, and when I came out, I looked similar to a drowned rat.”

She snorted a little and then went on. “To make things worse, any place that I tried to rent a room from turned me away because of how terrible I looked. I wandered around for a few days, bought some measly supplies, and camped out in the woods. It was midsummer, and there was a small stream I found and was able to wash myself up in. I stayed in the woods for about a month. Thankfully, I had my unnamed sword and was able to hunt for most of my meals. One day, I went back into town and was shopping at a local bazaar when a fight broke out in the middle of the street. One of the vendors was accusing someone of stealing.”

“Rana,” I breathed through a grin, and the name floated upwards on a cloud of condensation.

Annalise bobbed her head slowly as she pulled her hood up against the cold. “She was scruffier looking then and a lot meaner, but watching her lay in the dirt as three men beat the crap out of her … I couldn’t take it. I drew my sword and just bounded into the group, brandishing it at people left and right. I had no idea what I was doing. I’d been trained to fight but had never actually been in one. I grabbed Rana by the back of her shirt and hauled ass out of there. At that time, I was terrified of being caught by anyone, so I wore this long brown cloak and a face covering whenever I went into town. So, I looked like some crazy masked woman as I worked my way along through this huge crowd of people, wielding a sword towards anyone who dared come near while dragging a kicking and screaming fox-woman behind me.”

Annalise giggled to herself as she rocked forward and placed her hands over her mouth for a second. She let them fall away as she leaned in closer to my face and tittered.

“Poor Rana, I never realized how terrifying it must have been for her. She must have thought I was a kidnapper or something. I finally got out of the crowd, and I’m just lugging her behind me. Mind you, Rana was trying to break free this entire time. She’s scratching at me and trying to grab onto passing carts and wagons, but thankfully, I kept a pretty good hold on her. I just ran as fast as I could through town and brought her to my camp. Do you know what she did? It’s so Rana it’s not even funny.”

“Knowing Rana, I bet she tried to punch you.” I chuckled as I ran my thumb over the back of her hand, and my eyes moved over her lovely face in the darkness.

“She tried to kick my feet out from underneath me, and when I dodged, she tried to bludgeon me with my cast iron skillet.” She laughed softly from beside me and turned to look out at the water as it reflected the almost full moon.

“What did you do to calm her down?” I asked as I leaned back against the cold mast.

“Well, first, I removed my mask and sheathed my sword,” Annalise answered, “then I held up my hands to her, showing that I meant no harm. We circled each other for a long time, Rana still throwing punches any chance she got, and me actively avoiding them while not striking out at her. But I quickly got tired of it, and the next time she came at me, I grabbed her and pinned her to the ground. This entire time, she was hurling curses and threatening to kill me when she got loose.”

She shook her head as her brown braid danced in the wind. “I remember being so agitated. I saved this girl’s ass and had shown her I wasn’t going to hurt her, and she was still trying to attack me! Finally, she realized I had her trapped, and she couldn’t move her arms or legs. She was huffing and puffing below me, and it gave me some time to speak as she caught her breath. I wish I could tell you I spoke to her calmly, but the truth is I was screaming at her. I was so angry, I told her I was just trying to help, and that was no way you should treat someone who saved you from being murdered in the street. She looked up at me with those big blue eyes, and we just stared at each other furiously for a few passing seconds. I continued to explain the situation, and she stayed completely still the entire time as she listened. I was able to get her to calm down, and then I rolled off her and offered a truce. I wouldn’t say Rana and I were instant friends, it’s certainly not like how we are now, but we slowly warmed up to each other.”

“And Carmedy?” I inquired.

Annalise rested her head on my shoulder, and her eyes glassed over wistfully as she recalled it all.

“We were in a tavern getting something to eat before we headed out again. There was a loud commotion at the bar, and Rana and I went to see what was going on,” Annalise told me, her voice light with happiness. “Carmedy had eaten four pies in five minutes and didn’t have enough money to pay. These two big men were holding her by the wrists and jerking her around like she was a ragdoll. I had some extra coin and paid the men off. We thought that was it and went to leave, and this black cat covered in pie filling follows us out, introduces herself, and asks us if she can come along, doesn’t matter where we’re going, just as long as it was fun. It wasn’t like we adopted Carmedy, Carmedy adopted us. The party was a lot more fun with her around. She brought a lot of innocent fun into the group that wasn’t there before. I’d say Rana and I are fairly serious people, Carmedy brought so much laughter with her when she joined.”

“What about Morrigan?” I asked then.

“She was so afraid, Master,” Annalise said with furrowed brows as her face grew more serious. “We found her in the mountains not far from where the High Elves reside. She was living in a cave. We had been traveling through the forest when it suddenly started downpouring rain. We scrambled up the foothill and found the cave mouth. I had hoped the rain would end soon, but it didn’t so we decided to stay the night. We lay down for bed around our campfire, and next thing we know, there are two big, black ravens circling our heads and taking turns diving down to peck at us with their sharp beaks.”

The high queen quirked an odd smile. “We managed to fight them off by throwing rocks and stones at them then they suddenly flew off down the cave. We’re sitting there, laughing it off as some strange occurrence, and right as we’re about to try and go back to bed, Morrigan appears out of the dark with two pitch black ravens sitting on her shoulders. It was so scary, I’m pretty sure Carmedy peed herself in fear. So, this elf didn’t speak, not to us at least. She came at us, and I drew my sword and Rana had her fists raised, but she ran right past us to the nearly empty skillet from dinner and started scarfing down our leftovers.”

“She was hungry?” I inquired, and Annalise’s lips set into a thin line.

“She was starving. She’d been kicked out and didn’t know how to live on her own. She was surviving on mushrooms that grew in the cave, and nuts and berries Fea and Macha would bring to her. We cooked up almost everything we had in our packs, and she just stuffed it all in. She never spoke to us, not until we packed up to leave the next day. She asked me where we were going and what we were doing. I explained to her we were adventurers searching for gold and dungeons to conquer. To all of our surprise, she asked if she could join us.”

“And?” I asked.

She glanced at me, a smile twitching at the corners of her lips. “Rana and I sort of glanced at each other. We both were uneasy about allowing this creepy woman to come along, but you know who shouted yes and hugged Morrigan excitedly? Carmedy, of course.” Annalise sat back against the mast, and our shoulders pressed into each other. “That’s how we all came together. It was a bit weird in the beginning, we were only four women who barely knew each other, traveling all over the country searching for treasure. But if we hadn’t come together, we wouldn’t have found that dungeon, and we wouldn’t have found you, Master.”

I watched the reflection of the moon undulate across the water then glanced over at Annalise as she looked out over the water, too. Her expression was pensive and her usually bright eyes downcast as she thought. I was quiet too as I thought over what she told me. Each of them came from different backgrounds, but I never knew their meetings were so different from each other. Morrigan’s saddened me especially.

I already knew that the High Elf had been kicked out of not only the Holy Band of Mages but also from the High Elven society because of her love for dark magic, but I hadn’t realized the exact circumstances of her fall from grace. Morrigan must have been born into luxury, a pure-blooded elf among her people, and when she was cast out, she had no way to provide for herself.

We sat in silence for a time, and then there was a strange sound from below. Annalise and I both looked down, and the water below our feet looked different, choppier, and the waves were more angled in the wake of our ship. Slowly, I saw what was happening. The river was freezing and icing over, and our ship was breaking through it. As our ship sailed closer to Machstein, the slower it moved while breaking the ice. The high queen and I climbed down from the crow’s nest and peered over the side of the ship. The ice was growing thicker by the minute and moved away in broken chunks.

“How long will it take to get to Machstein?” I asked the swordswoman as we made our way back to bed.

“We should reach the port of Eifersucht by late afternoon,” she whispered as I held open the bedroom door for her,

“That long? To get to the middle of a river?” I asked incredulously as I closed the door behind me, and she nodded as she bent down to take off her boots.

“If it weren’t for the ice, it would only take a half a day to get there,” she murmured over to me as she crawled back in bed beside Carmedy. “Tomorrow, we should hit the thickest ice, and it’ll slow us down to a crawl.”

I crawled in between all of them, and Annalise reached out over Carmedy’s cuddled form and clasped my hand. Her slender fingers still held a chill in them, but they slowly warmed from my touch. Over Carmedy’s black hair, the high queen smiled at me softly as her eyelids fluttered sleepily, then she lowered her head to the pillow and drifted off. I pushed away the building excitement to reach the island of Machstein and the two dungeons there and willed myself to rest. I wished all of my minions peaceful sleep as I too closed my eyes.

Chapter Eight

The next morning was the slowest I had experienced in a long time. Once I got up and dressed, I headed down to the mess hall and ate a small breakfast before going up on the deck. Annalise was correct when she said the ice was thick, and I watched it for a long time as our ship slowly broke and cracked the surface. I could tell the ice was at least three feet deep from the huge chunks that floated away in our wake. It was as equally mesmerizing as it was boring. I let my minions sleep for most of the morning since there wasn’t much to do on the ship besides sit around and play craits in our room below deck where it was slightly warmer.

By midafternoon, a thick fog had settled in, and an eerie feeling blanketed the deck of the ship. I sat on a stray barrel and observed as the crew and captain spoke to each other in hurried whispers, their faces tense with fear and concern. I tilted my head to them and listened to their heart rates, each man’s was elevated, especially the captain's. Strange. At first, he had seemed to be a level-headed and relaxed man, but now, as he glanced over his shoulder and took suspicious peeks at me, I knew there must be something very wrong either with the ship or in the water.

I was about to walk over and confront him when Morrigan and Rana came up on deck, and both astute women stopped in their tracks. Rana’s black-tipped ears twitched, and one fell flat against her head as the other rotated around like the ears of hounds on the hunt for rabbits. Fea and Macha began to caw, and it only added to the already unnerving feeling hanging in the foggy air. Morrigan’s pale hand reached up and attempted to calm them, but her eyes widened as they hopped off her shoulders to avoid her hand and shriek loudly.

I stood and quickly walked over to the two of my women. Rana looked up into my face with apprehension, and Morrigan grabbed onto my forearm with feverish strength. I wrapped my arms around both of them and brought them to my chest as a tremor ran through the deck below our feet.

“What is it?” I asked both of them.

Rana shook her head, her eyes unsure, and glanced over at Morrigan, whose eyes were wholly black as she searched around us.

“Do you hear that?” the fox questioned as both of her ears pressed hard against her head. Her eyes shot around the deck and searched for the source of the sound Morrigan and I couldn’t hear.

“What are you talking about?” the High Elf asked, but Rana didn’t answer and only clapped both paws over her ears as she winced in pain. I grabbed onto her shoulder to steady her, and she latched onto me, her teeth gritted in pain.

I glanced towards the stairs that led down into the hull of the ship just as Carmedy stumbled up them, her black paws held tightly over her ears and a pained expression etched on her face much like Rana’s. Annalise followed after the cat as she stumbled, and the swordswoman had to grab onto her a few times to keep her upright and on her feet.

“What’s wrong with them?” Morrigan asked me as she reached out for Rana, but the fox-woman jerked away in pain. Carmedy collapsed to the wooden planks of the ship, and her pitch-black ears twitched and shook as she attempted to cover them with her paws.

“I don’t know,” I growled between my teeth as I brought the red-haired fox closer to my chest, and I could see tears blooming in her bright blue eyes. I made eye contact with the captain, and his eyes widened as he scuttled away. I pushed Rana’s huddled form to Morrigan, and the High Elf took the pained woman into her slender arms. “Take care of her, I’ll be right back.”

My pale minion nodded and held Rana rightly to her chest as I moved away, up the steps of the helm, and followed after the captain like a hungry predator. He attempted to scurry away, but I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lifted him off his feet. The smaller man yelped, and his stubby legs swung out underneath him as I held him aloft. His face was unshaven and his cheeks tanned from the sun, but at this moment, all color faded from his face as I stared at him gravely.

“Are you going to explain to us what’s going on?” I asked him as I tilted my head and examined his face. “You and your crew have been acting strange all morning. Care to fill us in on what’s going on, and why my companions are acting that way?”

“It’s nothing, sir, just a bit of an unexpected occurrence. Ya know, turning tides and dense fogs, everything makes women act a little crazy,” he assured me as he shrugged his shoulders.

I leaned in closer and squinted my eyes at him. “Turning tides and dense fogs making my women crazy? That’s an unacceptable excuse in any situation, but even more preposterous as it is two of my women. It’s an insult to me and even more of an insult to my minions. I don’t take kindly to that. See their ears? They can hear things that you and the others can’t, but you’re still acting strangely. You’re going to tell me what’s going on and what’s hurting my minions right this instant.”

“And what if I don’t?” the captain asked, incensed. His double chin wobbled as he looked me up and down. I raised my eyebrows. This man dared to speak to me in such a way, and I was still holding him up in the air. Was it ballsy or just plain stupid?

“So far, I’d say this strange sound is coming from the water, and from my women’s reactions, it’s something in the water,” I intoned darkly. “Now, you can tell me what’s going on, and you can stay on this ship safe and sound, or you could push that bullshit you were trying to feed me earlier, and you can go over the side with whatever’s down there waiting for us. So, what’s it going to be?”

I walked over to the edge of the helm, picked the captain up higher, and held him out over the freezing, frothing water below. He struggled against me and reached out to grapple onto me. I only chuckled deep in my throat as I watched the fear bloom in his pale green eyes. His bony face grew red with strain, and his nails dug into the flesh of my wrist, but my iron grip was unflinching. I sighed loudly, pursed my lips, and raised my eyebrows at him as I waited for his explanation.

When he didn’t answer, I let go. As he dropped from my grip, the scream that exploded from his lips was feminine, and I chuckled to myself as I grabbed him nonchalantly by the lapels before he fell no more than a foot. He was breathing hard as he stared up into my face, and I inclined my head to him to prompt his answer … and then something in the water caught my attention.

I moved the captain out of my view to see a translucent head bob on the surface of the water, long white hair streaming around the head in rivulets as I stared in wonder. Icy blue eyes stared back at me, and I could tell it was a woman, but when our eyes connected, she disappeared into the depths, and another unseen assault wracked through Carmedy and Rana though the rest of us couldn’t hear it.

“What are they? Mermaids? Harpies? Huh?” I asked the captain as I jerked him around in the air. His limp legs clacked against the metal side of the ship, and he whimpered like a small child.

He stammered for words but finally spit it out as three heads appeared from the water below and glared up at the side of the enormous metal ship.

“Rusalka,” he gasped out, his breath shaky as his hands reached out and clamped onto the wooden handrailing. “Dead women, women who’ve been murdered. If you bring me aboard, I can tell you more.”

“How can I help my minions?” I asked angrily as I pointed down towards Rana and Carmedy’s struggling forms.

“Please, bring me on board, if we’re too loud they’ll come up and … ” the captain stuttered and glanced down at the now five heads as they bobbed and weaved on the water’s surface. One mouth opened, and nothing came out that I could hear, but Carmedy screamed shrilly and her small feline body twisted in agony.

“What will they do? Tell me now,” I commanded loudly, and the eyes of the Rusalka widened. Then all five of their mouths opened, and Rana joined in with Carmedy’s howling.

“They’ll kill us and eat our flesh!” he screamed as the irises of his eyes quaked with fear.

With the truth told, I hauled him over the edge and tossed him to the wooden planks. He scrambled away from the handrailing and clung to the podium of the ship’s wheel. Sweat dripped down his face as he panted, and he stared at the hand railing as if the Rusalka would climb up over the side at any second.

“Now tell me, you bastard, how do I help my women? Can’t you see they’re in pain?” I snarled down at him as I pointed down at Carmedy and Rana. Morrigan and Annalise attempted to comfort them by placing their hands over the fox and cat’s ears to stifle the horrible warbling screams.

“It’ll be more painful for them, but we need to get them below deck,” he muttered in a shaky voice, his eyes trained behind me. “Our medic should have some cotton, it may not take away the pain, but if you put it in their ears, it should lessen the pain. If the Rusalka can’t see us, then they will go away eventually. We’re nearly to the shore, maybe about an hour. They tend to stay away from densely populated places, so we’ll lose them once we near Eifersucht.”

I didn’t acknowledge his words. Instead, I turned on my heel, stomped down the stairs, grabbed Carmedy and Rana up as gently as I could, and pulled all of them below deck. The sounds of my women’s screams loudened in the smaller space, and I instructed Annalise to find the medic and get the cotton the captain told me about. The swordswoman hurried away as the captain and all other crew who had been on deck scurried down the stairs, closed the hatch above their heads, and sealed it tightly.

The high queen came back a few minutes later, her hands full of pure white cotton. She and the elf helped my other two minions place the tightly balled cotton in their ears, and their cries quieted. I glanced over at the captain, and in his hands, he clutched a blue and gold beaded necklace, a crudely cut rune dangling from the end. He prayed in a foreign language under his breath as he stared up at the hatch. I grabbed him by the shoulder and slammed him against the far wall, and he yelped in fear as he held the wooden beads close to his chest, his lips still moving as they recited the lines he knew by heart.

“Explain yourself,” I growled between my teeth, and he nodded limply, his eyes wide and terrified of not only me but the creatures waiting outside.

“As I said, the Rusalka are dead women,” he explained in a shaking voice. “They haunt the waters of the Riese. They climb onto ships and tear the crew limb from limb then consume what’s left of the bodies.” The crew members huddled to my left nodded in agreement.

“They’re spirits? Where do they come from?” Morrigan asked as she pressed the cotton deep into Carmedy’s right ear.

“They only started appearing about ten years ago,” the captain answered as some bit of rationality pierced his terror. “We started finding dead bodies partially frozen in the ice to the east of Machstein. We believe the current carries them closer to the island, but that’s not where they originate from. Us sailors believe that they come from one of the isles of Tintagal, but those are only rumors.”

My high queen’s head lifted, and her eyes narrowed on our captain as he spoke. Her eyes were glassy and steadily moved as she ran away with her thoughts. I sensed a change in her, she seemed more defensive and on edge, and I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but something thumped above our heads on the wooden planks of the deck. The crew sucked in a deep breath, and silence enveloped our group of people as four more thumps came after.

The Rusalka had boarded our ship.

The boards above our heads creaked and groaned with the weight of five people walking around slowly, and I watched as again, a trickle of sweat coursed down our captain’s face. His pale green eyes were wide as our invaders moved around sluggishly on the deck. I listened hard and could see Carmedy and Rana wince a few times, but they no longer screamed in pain. The Rusalka were communicating with each other in a series of clicks and high-pitched squeals, not unlike the sounds saltwater dolphins made below the surface.

“Annalise,” I whispered, barely audible, but she turned her head to me and looked into my eyes, her face set into a hard expression as fear crept into her bones. “Have you ever heard of these Rusalka before?”

“Yes,” she murmured back as she held Carmedy to her chest, and the cat was nearly sobbing and hid her face in the swordswoman’s coat, “but only in storybooks and fairytales from other lands. I never believed them to be real, they were just a legend.”

“Can you tell me more about them?” I inquired, and she stepped silently over, tiptoeing in her heavy boots to stand next to me, Carmedy still glued to her side.

“From what I’ve read, the Rusalka are women either murdered in the water or near it,” the high queen recalled in a soft whisper as we listened intently. “Not all women who are killed near or in the water turn into Rusalka, but the circumstances have to be right. In the books, it said they had to be drowned, or their throats slit over the water so their blood became one with the river. Their souls do not cling to the water for long, though, they just have to live out the remainder of their human lives as a Rusalka because their time was cut short. It’s said that if their deaths are avenged, they will leave the waterways and ascend into the next life as a newborn baby.”

“They remain here because the water captures and holds their memories,” Morrigan whispered as she moved towards the ladder and the closed hatch. Multiple crew members placed their fingers over their mouths to signal her to quiet down, but the elven woman only glared at them in disinterest. “Water has many magical properties, whether it be used for white or black magic. Think of it as an incubator. If you place good things into it, the water will nourish it and bring it to life. If you place malicious intent into it, it will do the same, evil begets evil, and it will multiply like cancer and spread through the river and into other waterways that branch out from its source.”

“You’re saying if we don’t somehow appease them, they’ll never go away?” a crew member asked aggressively, but he drew back into the crowd as Morrigan’s cold gaze sliced into him,

“They are not dogs that can be put off with a bone. Can you not see something terrible has happened to these spirits and they are exacting revenge upon hapless sailors?” she hissed as she grabbed the sailor who had spoken by the arm and hauled him towards the hatch. He squealed weakly in fear but she resumed speaking in her angered tone. “I say we sacrifice the crew to these otherwise peaceful creatures and sail on to Machstein ourselves. They have no qualms with outsiders, only those who have Tintagal blood coursing through their veins.”

“How do you know this?” I asked as I grabbed her by the arm before she reached for the locked hatch. She swung around to face me, and her white hair flew about her shoulders as she looked deeply into my eyes.

“They speak to me,” Morrigan indifferently stated as she turned back to the hatch. “I too have been hurt by men like they have. The High Order of Elves turned their backs on me, and the Holy Band of Mages, all of them men, tossed me out like I was nothing, discarded like trash. I understand the pain that they hold in their cold, dead hearts.”

“Morrigan,” Carmedy whined in a loud nasally voice as she struggled to hear through the cotton. The alchemist let go of Annalise and stumbled forward with her arms outstretched. “This is wrong. You can’t take out your anger on men who have done nothing wrong. Look at Master, he’s a man, and he has shown you nothing but guidance and love. Would you sacrifice him to these creatures you don’t even know? Would you sacrifice us too? Me, Annalise, and Rana?”

“The Rusalka have no interest in us women, they only want the men,” Morrigan said coldly as she looked into Carmedy’s emerald eyes. “As I said before, they have no interest in outsiders which includes Master, even if he is a man.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Carmedy cried as fat tears spilled down her cheeks, and her hands clenched into tight fists as she tried to reason with the pale elf. “These guys weren’t the ones who hurt you, and they certainly weren’t the men who hurt those ghosts up there. Maybe we can come up with a plan that involves no one getting hurt.”

“Your innocence is a hindrance, and you should cast it off before it gets us killed,” Morrigan snapped, and I could see the emotion plainly on the elf’s face as she raised her hand into the air below the hatch and jade light flickered from her fingertips, the same green light that she protected Rana with.

I seldom had to chastise or scold my minions, but at this moment I needed to. The High Elf had spoken unkindly to her sister, and it was making me angry. Morrigan rarely spoke like this to her sisters, but as I opened my mouth to speak, Rana spoke first. The redhead’s unruly curls blew back as she strode forward, her expression hard and fuming.

“Apologize to Carmedy right now,” the fox demanded, and Morrigan’s white eyebrows raised in surprise. Annalise had wrapped her arms around the cat again and rested her chin on the crown of the hiccupping and sniffling alchemist’s head.

The High Elf was silent for a while as her dark eyes moved between Rana, Carmedy, then me. I tightened my grip on her and shifted her away from the ladder. Her hand dropped from the crew member’s wrist, and he scuttled away terrified.

“Yes, you are right Rana,” Morrigan whispered as she nodded to the fox. “I am sorry for my words and actions.” She shifted her dark eyes and landed on the cat who straightened and nodded for her to continue. “I am especially sorry for the way I spoke to you, Carmedy, that was very unkind. You are both my sisters, and you are right, these men are not guilty of what others have done. I let my passions get the best of me.”

“It’s okay,” the cat whimpered with a small smile as she scratched at her cheek. “I know you didn’t mean it because you’re upset.”

I reached out for Morrigan and held her to my chest. Then I pressed a tender kiss to her ear and whispered to her, “You must remember they are your sisters and they are not here to hurt you. We protect each other, Morrigan, we stand by you but you too must stand by us. They may not know the pain in your heart, but lashing out will do nothing but cause more heartache.”

“I know, it is hard for me to control my tongue but I will work harder to keep our family strong,” she muttered back to me, then she lifted her head and looked me in the eye. “I must apologize to you too, Master. I am sorry. I do not wish to cause a rift in our family.”

I nodded and stroked the soft white hair at the top of her head to signal I had accepted her apology. Then she pulled away from me slightly as Rana began to speak.

“What are we going to do now?” Rana asked as she turned and looked into all our faces. “We can’t stand down here until we run around. We have to do something.”

“I would still like to go up and speak to them, or least try,” the elf said, and the entire crew turned to stare at her in horror.

“No way in hell, we’re not going up there,” the captain said as he came forward, his arms crossed over his chest resolutely.

Morrigan leveled her dark eyes at him, and he shied away. “Did I say you were going up there? No.” The elf’s eyes cut into the captain, and he shrunk back into the mass of his crew.

“Any other ideas besides throwing the elf to the wolves?” Rana asked as she turned to each of us. Carmedy opened her mouth to speak then closed it, and Annalise shook her head. The fox placed her hands on her hips and looked into my eyes. “Well, I guess we’re going with Morrigan’s plan. We can go up while the crew stays down here, she did say they were only interested in the men with Tintagal blood. Which ones of you were either born in Tintagal or live there currently?”

Almost all of the men, the captain included, raised their hands in the air, and the redhead bit her lip thoughtfully. I could see the fear in the faces of the crew and could hear each of their hearts hammering in their chests.

“Morrigan will take the lead since she can speak to them,” I said with a nod. “The rest of us will fan out around the hatch and protect the crew, understood?” I looked into the faces of my women, and they nodded in agreement.

The High Elf stood below the hatch and raised her hand once again, and before I could utter a word, the hatch blew open with a crackle of jade light. We climbed out, Morrigan first, then me, and then the rest of my minions. The deck of the ship was bathed in dense fog that billowed around us and obstructed almost everything from view. I could hear the high-pitched clicking noises of the Rusalka communicating with each other but strangely could hear no other sounds, not even the cracking of ice from the water below.

Rana, Annalise, Carmedy, and I stood protectively around the mouth of the hatch and kept our eyes peeled for any sign of movement, but there was none. Morrigan stepped out closer to the massive mizzenmast, her slender hands held out at her sides, and I could clearly hear her calm breathing as she sensed the presence of the Rusalka. A white mass moved through the fog and passed behind the mast, icy blue eyes trained on my elven woman.

A high-pitched call rang through the air, and both my cat-woman and fox winced but stayed strong where they stood. Morrigan’s head jerked to the right of her, her eyes slowly turning black as she concentrated on words we couldn’t hear. Then I saw them, moving as a unit in an arrow-shaped formation.

The spirit women were all translucent, and their appearances were similar. Each woman was as beautiful as the next, and I could almost imagine what they looked like in life. The lead Rusalka was tall, taller than Morrigan and Annalise, and her long-snow white hair hung to below her bare breasts. I gazed over them, and my throat tightened as I saw each Rusalka had a different gaping wound.

The lead woman bore a long slash that started at the base of her throat and ended below her belly-button. The edges of the wound moved and swayed, opening and closing like her whole body was still submerged underwater. The Rusalka to her left had her throat ripped open, and the one on her right was sliced across her belly. They stepped in unison, and as they neared, the high queen gasped and stiffened from beside me as her eyes wandered over the lead Rusalka.

“What is it?” I whispered to her, not breaking my eyes away from the approaching creatures.

“The one in the middle,” the swordswoman muttered through gritted teeth as her hand reached for Bloodscale, “I recognize her, her name was Viktória. She was a Tamarischian countess who debuted the same time I did … how did … how did she end up like this?”

The ghosts surrounded Morrigan, and I summoned my dark power to me. While the elf had assured us that they meant outsiders no harm, if they showed any sign of aggression towards my women or me, I’d rip their lost souls apart. The leader, the woman once named Viktória, tilted her head at Morrigan, her huge eyes moving over the elf’s face as the same clicking sounds came from her throat. I could tell they were speaking to each other, but I had no idea how. Perhaps there was a connection from one magical being to another.

These creatures seemed docile as they moved in closer to Morrigan, but I kept up my guard in case the situation changed. Below my feet, the heads of the crew members peeked up to see what was going on. When they saw the Rusalka, they ducked back down into the hatch.

One crew member stayed up, his eyes just above the level of the deck, and I watched as one of the Rusalka spied him, and her face split all the way up to her ears in an evil smile to reveal long pointed teeth. The man’s eyes glazed over, and I realized what was happening and hurriedly reached for the wooden hatch to close it, but it was too late. The man burst from below and stumbled forward as if in a dream, and all of the spirits turned, their mouths opened with loud hisses. Annalise raced forward to grab his arm, but he pulled away with a grunt as the Rusalka swarmed on him and left Morrigan in their wake.

The clicking and squealing that roared up their throats was deafening, and Rana and Carmedy lowered themselves to the deck, their paws clamped over their cotton stuffed ears. Morrigan whirled around, her red coat flying out behind her as she raised a hand into the air, and the white spirits exploded away from the sailor with loud shrieks. The only one who clung onto him was Viktória. Her white hair, so much like the elf’s, whipped around her, and she leveled her hateful blue eyes at Morrigan and hissed. Viktória opened her mouth, and it was like her head was split in half to make room for the massive jaw and needle-like teeth inside.

She lunged forward, and her teeth were about to sink into the poor sailor’s shoulder when her eyes widened, her clawed hands let go, and her translucent form exploded into nothing. The air cleared as her soul dissipated to reveal Morrigan panting hard, her wholly black eyes searching for her next victim.

“What just happened?” Rana shouted from the ground and I watched as the elf’s head whipped in different directions, listening to the far-off clicks and calls of the other four Rusalka.

“Soul exorcism,” I said as I too searched the hazy white fog for moving creatures. “It's much easier with this type of being. The Rusalka are essentially souls without bodies.”

To my left, Annalise spun around and slammed Bloodscale down on top of the hatch as a Rusalka attempted to crawl inside. It shrieked, narrowly scrambled out of the way of the blade, then drew back. She was too slow as Morrigan flung her tensed hand out, and the spirit, like its sister, exploded into thin air. A smile spread across my lips, proud of my student of the dark arts, but when I looked into the elf’s face, the smile fell away.

The usually unemotional Morrigan was crying. Tears fell from her abyss-like eyes, and her lips trembled at the corners as she turned away and searched for the next Rusalka. I didn’t know what they said to her, but I could tell from the wild beating of her heart that it had shaken the steadfast, serious elf to the core.

“Morrigan,” Carmedy yelled as she pointed to the wooden railing of the ship, “there!”

The pale woman turned and saw one of the spirits clamoring down the railing, trying to return to the water, and with a loud, pained cry, she thrust out her hand again. The Rusalka wailed as it let go and attempted to fall back into the water, but it was too late. The soul exorcism blasted the being into wisps of gray fog that were pushed away on the wind. Morrigan was sobbing now, and her thin chest rose and fell with the noise as she turned towards the helm, but I stepped out in front of her protectively. She raised her head to my back in shock as her mouth dropped open and tears spilled down her beautiful face.

I nodded towards my other minions, and they moved from around the hatch and rushed to steady the High Elf as she weaved emotionally on her feet. I turned back to the Rusalka crawling behind the helm, and with a wave of my hand, I unleashed my own soul exorcism. Its soul was released into the sky with a howling cry. I whirled around, searching for the last Rusalka, but the slinking white form amid the fog was nowhere to be seen. The only sounds I could hear was the wind blowing in the sails and the soft, comforting whispers of my minions soothing Morrigan’s frayed nerves.

With her sisters gathered around her, Morrigan placed a hand over her mouth as a loud splash came from below, and all of us rushed starboard to stare into the deep blue water. We stood together, Morrigan in the middle, as our eyes searched the icy surface for any sign of the fifth and last Rusalka. Bubbles formed then a white face broke the surface and stared up at us with sharp, sad eyes. The elf raised her hand one last time, but I reached out with a tender hand and lowered it as the creature blinked up at us. Water streamed down its hair making it look like the creature was crying along with Morrigan. The elf’s hand tightened on mine, and she stared down at the Rusalka with a mix of sadness and hate, her wholly black eyes squeezed shut as she yelled at the creature bouncing along with the wake of our ship.

“Leave!” Morrigan screamed as she launched herself forward, her pale face turning red with strain. “Can’t you see I am going to kill you?! Leave! Run!”

Carmedy hastily grabbed the back of Morrigan’s coat before the elf could topple over the side, her emerald eyes wide at the sudden and unwarranted outburst from the usually calm and collected woman. Without a sound, the white silhouette of the last Rusalka sunk into the azure water and was gone from sight. Morrigan collapsed to the deck, her head hung and her white hair a curtain around her face as she was wracked with sobs.

My minions glanced at each other quickly then lowered themselves around the elf’s shaking form. They wrapped their arms around her and comforted her the best they could. I too bent down, and my minions parted to allow my entrance. I reached out and lifted Morrigan’s chin with my pointer finger. Her thin cheeks were smattered with wet tears, and I stroked them away with my thumb. Her sobs quieted at my touch, but her tears continued to course down her face.

“Tell me what pains you,” I stated as I stroked her cold cheek, and her eyes closed as she hiccupped for breath.

“He killed them, he snatched away their lives and gave them to the river,” she muttered, and her supple lips trembled with emotion. “And I killed them all over again. What does it feel like to die, then suffer a second death? Is it still as painful as the first? If you heard what they told me, you would be angry, too. I did not want to hurt them and yet I had to. They were women like me … women like all of us, and I still had to kill them.”

“Hey,” Carmedy soothed as she rubbed the elf’s back, “remember what Annalise said? When their time is up as a Rusalka, they are reborn as babies. I bet there were a bunch of babies being born all over the world right now, and four of them were souls of women you released. You didn’t kill them, Morrigan, you gave them new life.”

“Is that true, Master? Did I release them to new life?” the elf asked hopefully as she reopened her eyes and looked me directly in the face.

“Yes, my love, you did.” I smiled as I offered her a hand. “Morrigan, you did something good for those women, you gave them freedom from their torment.”

Morrigan gripped onto me tightly and at last, the corners of her lips twitched up into a smile and she brushed away the tears drying on her cheeks. The High Elf may have been the most emotionless of my minions, but she still had feelings and emotions buried deep inside. In these times, they needed the network of love and care I built with all of my minions to support each other when one of them faltered. I helped my elven woman to her feet, and my other three minions brushed off her red coat as the crew and the captain slowly emerged from the hull. I observed my women for a moment with warmth in my heart, watching each woman fret over their sister in a different way.

“Are you okay, Morrigan?” Carmedy asked as she held the elf’s pale hands in her paws.

“Of course she’s okay! She’s tough as nails!” Rana shouted as she soothingly rubbed Morrigan’s thin shoulders.

“Aye,” Annalise warned the others with a chuckle and a grin. “Give the woman some room, she needs to breathe.”

“I’m better now, thank you everyone,” the elf whispered as she reached out and touched each of them with a kind smile on her supple lips.

The crew’s eyes wandered around the deck of the ship in search of any more of the Rusalka, but they soon realized the man-eating creatures were gone and sighed in relief. Annalise took the High Elf’s arm and led her back down towards our bed to rest for a bit. My eyes followed our cowardly captain as he resumed the helm, and I came to stand next to him.

The much smaller man jumped once he noticed my presence, and I chuckled darkly at his reaction. He kept his eyes straightforward over the bowsprit and the water ahead of us. We were silent for a long time, and I could tell the silence was making him very uncomfortable as he shifted from foot to foot and took quick glances at my stern face. He cleared his throat meaningfully, and I raised my eyebrows at him, but he didn’t speak, only turned the wooden wheel a little towards the left, and the ship shifted slightly.

“How much longer until we reach Machstein?” I finally asked in my gruff voice, and his hands tightened on the spokes of the helm. He didn’t speak to me. He only lifted his right hand and pointed. As I looked, the fog ahead of us broke and revealed a huge black mass in the distance. As we sailed nearer, the fog dispelled, and the sun shone through for the first time in months, bathing the expansive island in bright rays of yellow.

The island of Machstein looked to be made entirely of a rock formation towering up into the sky, an extinct volcano from the shape and size perhaps. The city of Eifersucht seemed to float on the waters around it. I assumed the buildings and houses were tethered together on a complex system of stilts and posts that gave it the appearance of floating. It was a beautiful place, and I had to catch my breath as I took in more sights. From this far away, I could spy small fishing boats darting in and out of its ports, gondoliers with their long wooden poles moving between city streets and under bridges that connected each building to the others.

Higher up the cliffside, hidden between trees and boulders, I caught glimpses of another city, but the ship turned, and it was gone from sight. I strained my eyes towards the top of the mountain, and I could just barely make out an open cave mouth with two golden pillars on each side. I focused hard on them as the pillars flashed and glowed before they were obscured by trees.

I knew exactly what those pillars were. What I had seen was an entrapment spell. Though I couldn’t be sure of the source, it was probably put in place by the Holy Band of Mages, like the one that kept me trapped in the rock for thousands of years. I knew this must be the dungeon of one of the gods on this island, but which one I could not tell yet. Excitement bubbled in my stomach as our captain steered us closer to Eifersucht. I could taste the salt in the air, and I breathed it in deeply with a loud enough sigh that it made our captain give me a sideways glance.

There were so many different things I enjoyed these days I hadn’t known I would miss. The hot summer sun on my back, the icy winter chill on my face, the sunset on a crisp autumn night, and even now, the crashing salty sea as it moved unbridled and unobstructed by ice. I was able to enjoy all of these things because of my minions, and I was grateful as I listened to the babble of their cheerful, far-off voices. They had given me a new life just as Morrigan gave the Rusalka new life. I kept my face towards Machstein as the pale elf came to stand beside me and slipped her hand into mine. I grinned down at her, and she returned the smile as we sailed on toward it, toward a new city, new dungeons, new gods to conquer and new powers to obtain.

I clenched my fists tightly as I grinned, ready to claim it all for myself.

Chapter Nine

By the time our ship docked in Eifersucht it was mid afternoon, and the quaint port town was bustling with people. I came down the gangplank first and took in the sights of the odd floating city. The air was salty and fresh, but that was to be expected from a fishing town on an island.

Most of my attention was focused on the amazing structure of the city. Instead of being built on dry land, Eifersucht was built on top of the water using struts and poles to hold the buildings and houses in place. A complex network of wooden walkways and stone bridges made it easy for people to move in between streets. The main road was no different from any other in any of the towns we had visited, but instead of being paved with cobblestone or rock, it was made from heavy planks of wood.

I was awestruck by this. I had never seen a city built upon water, and I moved carefully over the steady planks as if they would crack under my heavy armor and send me tumbling down into the freezing water any second. Annalise came down after me, took my hand in hers with a raspy chuckle, and led me forward.

“It’s all right,” she said with a smile. “Everyone is like that the first time they visit Eifersucht, but this city has been here for thousands of years before even Tintagal came into existence. The wood is made from the trees at the highest point of the mountain.”

She indicated over our heads and I looked where she pointed. I needed to squint to see, but the trees higher up on the rock were massive, triple the size of the trees I had seen before in the forest outside of my dungeon.

“They’re called Obri Giants,” Annalise explained. “They only grow on this island, and they’re the strongest in the nation. The people of Eifersucht use the wood for their fishing boats and houses, and it helps protect them from the bitter cold.”

“Have you been here before, Annalise?” I questioned through a shaking smile.

“Only once, on my debut tour. We stayed one night because the breaker we were sailing on had a tight schedule.”

Carmedy tiptoed down the gangplank and held her bundles close to her body as she tentatively stepped down onto the wooden walkway. Her emerald eyes were wary as she gave the water flowing underneath and beside the street suspicious glances. Morrigan came down after, Fea and Macha perched on her shoulders as they turned their steely black eyes this way and that to examine the new scenery. Rana came last, and as she did, she observed something none of us had.

“Why is everyone here all lovey-dovey? It’s giving me the creeps.” The fox-woman snorted as her blue eyes moved over the crowd, and as the rest of us looked, I realized she was correct in her observation.

There was an abundance of couples moving in the crowd, but as we watched, some of the couples broke apart, found new partners, and then went about their merry way. A few even kissed their new partners on the mouth before clasping hands and heading down the street. The people who had been left behind didn’t act slighted. They only glanced about the crowd, found a new person, and moved on with them.

I furrowed my brows, and beside me, Carmedy scratched at her cheek with a confused expression.

“That is very odd,” Morrigan stated, and Fea cawed in agreement while Macha bobbed her sleek, black head along. “Maybe it is an unfamiliar mating ritual?”

“Maybe they’re all swingers?” Rana joked, and Carmedy’s expression broke happily.

“Swings? I love swings! Master, will you push me? We can take turns!” The black cat squealed as she grabbed onto my hand tightly, her emerald eyes huge and sparkling in the bright afternoon sunshine.

“I don’t believe swings are what Rana was referring to, my dear, but if we find any along the way, I will push you if you like.” I smiled as I reached out and ruffled her short black hair. The feline purred loudly in response, and her black tail whipped happily behind her shoulders.

“How do you even know that word?” Annalise glanced at the fox-woman with a chuckle as I led my minions through the streets.

“You pick up a lot of weird things when traveling alone, ok?” Rana explained as she gave Annalise’s shoulder a playful shove. “It’s not like I’ve ever done it.”

The more we moved into the crowd, the more bizarre it became. It was more than just couples trading partners. It was also people buying items from stores and laying kisses on the shopkeepers. People buying bread while they romantically embraced the baker. People touching each other in places that would otherwise be deemed inappropriate in other societies right here before our eyes.

I had an inkling about what was going on, and I pulled my minions closer to me in case any stray passersby tried to latch onto them. I glanced over at my swordswoman, and she was looking around cautiously, too. Our eyes met, and I could see she also was beginning to catch on quickly. We moved on, huddled closely together as a unit.

Despite the strange occurrences in the streets, the city itself was quite beautiful. Like in Tamarisch, the houses and shops were built with dark wood shiplap, the walls and sidings made with thick white stucco. Intricately painted signs hung outside workshops and storefronts to advertise what was sold inside. I grabbed Rana and held the fox-woman tightly to my side as a man reached out for her.

“Try her and you’ll lose more than a hand,” I growled between my teeth, and Rana’s blue eyes narrowed on him as she stuck out her tongue.

The man looked at me for a second, his gray eyes glassy and far away. Without speaking or giving me any indication he had heard me, he turned away and padded down the opposite side of the street.

“Holy hell, this place just gets weirder and weirder,” the redhead whispered under her breath as she shook her wild curls, and Carmedy, who held her black paws protectively to her chest, nodded.

As the sky darkened and late afternoon set upon us, we searched for a place to rest in the heart of Eifersucht. The town square was large, and heavy stones had been placed over the wood to create a fountain from the water below. It babbled soothingly in the center of the cluster of buildings, and the short alchemist scampered away and sat down on its ledge to rest. I allowed her to do so but sent Rana after her to keep an eye on the wandering cat.

“Master,” Morrigan whispered to me as she pulled Annalise closer, her dark eyes moving warily over the people bustling about, “what’s going on here?”

“I can’t be certain yet, but I believe this is the work of the god who resides here,” I told the swordswoman and elf. “It’s like he’s put all of the townspeople under a trance.”

“The Liebe,” the high queen said as she too watched people pass by with pink tinted cheeks and goofy smiles plastered over their faces. “The Lover.”

“Do you think he’s forcing them to fall in love with each other somehow?” the elf asked as she stepped closer to me.

“I don’t think it’s love actually. Look how they effortlessly cast each other off to find new lovers,” I said as I pointed to yet another couple who separated with sour expressions and found new partners among the crowd. “It may be a weak infatuation spell or a romantic obsession hex. Both are fickle types of magic and often shift from person to person.”

“More of that fortune teller garbage,” Annalise moaned as she recalled our run-in with the old woman who sucked the life out of the people.

“Close but not exactly the same.” I nodded as I turned my head and watched Carmedy and Rana talk animatedly to each other by the fountain. “This is on a much larger scale. That town was maybe seven hundred people at most while this is a city of over forty thousand residences. Who knows how many people live here?”

“Is this black magic or white magic?” the high queen asked anxiously as she tugged at her braid.

Fea cawed loudly in response, almost like the raven was laughing.

“It is neither,” Morrigan stated as she reached up and brushed her slender fingertips across Fea’s beak to quiet the bird. “This is merely a parlor trick, it contains no powerful magic at all.”

“Morrigan is correct,” I said through a smile as I reached out and stroked the elf’s soft, white hair. “Think of what is happening around us as if it were a glamor woven by the two illusion gods we’ve encountered. It’s a mirage of love and happiness this Liebe has created for himself.”

“So, this god is playing matchmaker?” Annalise inquired with furrowed brows, her hands still locked on her braid as she narrowly avoided a man’s outstretched arms.

“Yes, something like that.” I smiled as I held her wrist and brought her closer to my body, away from the lovesick citizens milling about. “But with a whole city of unsuspecting people. I wouldn’t be surprised if this hasn’t been going on for thousands of years. You’ve been here before, Annalise, was it like this then?”

“Not that I can recall, but as I said earlier, we were only here for one night. We mostly went to parties and balls with the upper class and didn’t see much of the citizens. I didn’t notice anything strange then, but I had other things on my mind, like how to avoid being forced into an arranged marriage by my parents. I do know the dungeon at the top of Machstein was created after the Liebe’s. Maybe that has something to do with it?”

“I thought so too, that maybe the dungeons and the gods who reside there have something to do with each other,” I said thoughtfully as I stroked my chin. “I personally don’t know the gods on this island, but I heard the goddess who lives there was cast out after the Liebe.”

We were broken away from our conversation by a loud ruckus from behind us, and my two minions and I turned to see what was happening. One of the shop owners of what looked to be a bookshop had grabbed a young maiden by the arm. The small woman was struggling heartily, and as she turned to run, I saw fluffy white cat ears poking out of her long, dark hair, quite like the ones my cat-woman possessed.

The short woman resisted harder, paper bags filled with books clamped tightly to her chest as she kicked and screamed for all to hear. Her hazel eyes were wide and horrified as the shop owner grabbed her by both of the arms and bent in close to her face.

“You forgot to pay the tax.” He snickered as he puckered his lips and leaned in even closer.

“What? Get off me, you foul baboon!” the cat screamed as she dropped an armload of books to the wooden planks at her feet and shoved the man’s face away with a paw.

She seemed to be the only one in this town besides our party who was averse to the strange customs of romantic gestures, and as the shopkeeper tried again, she leaned her head back and spat directly in his face. I chuckled deeply in the back of my throat as the shopkeeper stumbled backward, a huge hand coming up to wipe off the spittle as the cat-woman bent down and snatched up the discarded books and ran in our direction. She wasn’t looking where she was going, since she glanced over her shoulder at the disoriented shopkeeper, and ran directly into my heavily armored chest.

She shrieked loudly, and I reached out my hands to steady her wobbly form, but she slapped my hands away with feverish intensity.

“Don’t touch me!” the cat cried. “The next person who lays a hand on my person is getting punched, I swear it!” She shifted her parcels to one arm and clenched her free hand into a fist and waved it angrily in all directions.

I pulled my hands back and held them in the air to show her I meant no harm, and the cat-woman backed away slowly, her huge hazel eyes on the crowd growing around her. I glanced over at my minions, and they seemed as shocked as I was. Her accent was different than anyone’s here on the island, and she looked like a foreigner.

Her hair was long and a darker brown than Annalise’s, almost black. Her hazel eyes were obscured by thick-rimmed round glasses that were askew on her button nose as she jerked her head around. She was maybe a few inches shorter than Carmedy and carried a little more weight on her bones than any of my minions. Her teal long-sleeve dress was light and certainly not fit for the cold weather, and she wore thick brown stockings up to her knobby knees. Over the dress, she wore a tan vest buttoned over her chest, and as she looked around, she fidgeted with the buttons nervously. The worn leather boots she wore looked sensible and well-loved, the laces of the left one untied and hanging limply.

“Hey, Rana! Look!” Carmedy’s delighted yell came from behind me as she stood up from the fountain, and I looked back at her as she grabbed onto Rana’s forearm and tugged the fox forward. “There’s a cat here, too!”

“Grab her,” I instructed to Annalise with a point of my finger, and the swordswoman looked up at me confused. “She’s the only other person here who doesn’t seem affected by the Liebe. She may have more information than we do.”

“Wait!” my swordswoman shouted, and I whipped my head back to watch as she tore off through the crowd after the fluffy eared cat who had bolted as soon as she saw an opening, “You! Get back here! We need to talk to you!”

“Leave me alone!” the dark-haired cat shrieked over her shoulder as her boots pounded the boards, but Annalise kept chasing her through the crowd like a bloodhound.

Morrigan didn’t speak. She only looked up at Macha then turned her dark eyes towards the fleeing cat, and the raven took to the sky with the flutter of midnight black wings. I grabbed the elf’s hand, signaled over my shoulder to Carmedy and Rana to follow, and ran after the receding back of the high queen. We chased after them, and Morrigan’s wholly black eyes stayed straightforward. Every once and awhile the elf shouted out directions, and we followed them.

Eventually, we caught up with a panting and red-faced Annalise as she propped herself up against a building to catch her breath. She pointed farther down the street as she struggled for words between gulps of air.

“Down … there … not … far.”

“Dang, that cat can run fast,” Rana wheezed as she gave Carmedy a nudge and a lopsided smirk. “Are you sure you’re even a cat? You’re more like a slug compared to that girl.”

“Hey now, meaniehead, every cat is different. Just because I’m athletically challenged doesn’t mean I’m not a cat. Last time I checked, I still have two ears and a tail.” The black cat giggled as she placed her paws on her hips.

I looked down at Morrigan, and her eyes were still wholly black as she moved along with Macha. After only a moment, they cleared, and she looked up into my face with a blank expression.

“She’s two streets up and down an alley,” the elf stated. “She went into a tavern called The Purple Conch. It should only take us a few minutes to get there on foot.”

I nodded, made sure that my minions had caught their breath, then headed off again.

As the High Elf said, we found the Purple Conch in a manner of minutes with her guidance. When we reached the tavern, Macha sat perched atop the hanging wooden sign painted with a detailed conch shell in purples and pinks.

Carmedy rushed forward and pressed herself against the front window to peek inside at the patrons sitting at small round tables and enjoying their drinks. I could tell Carmedy was excited by the way her black tail swished behind her back, and I guessed it was because cats were rare outside of the islands of Canarta, this new cat being the only one we had seen in our travels thus far.

“I don’t see her,” the black-haired cat whined in disappointment, but my elf moved for the door anyway.

“She’s in there. I saw her go in and would have seen her leave through Macha,” the pale woman assured the small cat with a soft smile as she pushed open the door and we stepped inside together.

The interior of the Purple Conch was cozy, and the blazing fireplace in the corner made the room welcoming and lively as the other patrons laughed and talked to each other. Beautiful landscape paintings hung from the walls along with a few boars heads, and a single lifelike taxidermy mountain lion was posed near the bar in the back. My minions and I scanned the room for the dark-haired, white-eared cat, and after a few seconds of analyzing the crowd, Rana pointed her out as she cowered at the end of the bar.

Her back faced us as we headed over, and we could see that her whole body was trembling. She held a chipped mug in her paws, and the dark liquid steamed and gave off the scent of freshly ground coffee. My fox-woman reached out her paw to grab the cat’s shoulder, and before it could even make contact, the brunette whipped around and threw a punch. The high queen’s mouth dropped open as Rana dodged it easily and grabbed the fist in her paw.

“Calm down, lady, we’re here to talk,” the fox muttered through gritted teeth.

The dark-haired cat jerked her arm away, but she stayed in place as her hazel eyes examined each of us slowly.

“What do you want?” the stranger snapped, and Morrigan’s white eyebrows raised in surprise. “I’m not interested in your freaky ‘free love’ town, okay? I’m just here for the books then I’m going home on the next boat.”

“You’re not from here?” I inquired as I stepped closer, and Carmedy wiggled in between Rana and Annalise to gaze down at the other cat with wide fascinated eyes.

“No,” she answered, and she seemed to calm down and become more comfortable in our presence, “and I assume you guys aren’t either.”

“And why would you think that?” I questioned as I tilted my head at her, and her fluffy white ears twitched as she took in the noises around us.

“Because you’re not all creepy and handsy,” she said as she lifted her mug of steaming coffee to her lips and took a long sip then set it down with a satisfied sigh. “The people who live on the island act bizarrely, and you guys seem to have your wits about you. At least you can hold a normal conversation with me.”

“You are correct in your assumption. We are adventurers, we’re here to conquer the dungeons on this island,” I told her, and her eyebrows raised with interest as I introduced myself and my minions. “This is Rana, Annalise, Morrigan, and Carmedy.”

“And this is Master!” Carmedy cried as she gestured with both paws towards me.

“Nice to meet you.” The cat smiled sweetly as she bowed her head to each of us. “My name is Haruhi, but you can call me Haru.”

“Haru,” Carmedy said shyly as she scuttled forward, “Where are you from?”

“The Canarta Islands, of course.” Haruhi grinned.

“Which island?” Carmedy exclaimed as she wiggled with excitement and grabbed onto Haru’s hand tightly, and the smaller, dark-haired cat surprisingly didn’t pull away as she had earlier.

“Nekoka, you?” Haruhi said excitedly, and I watched as my feline minion’s face dropped.

“Mauntenraion,” the alchemist said sadly.

Haruhi reached out and patted my minion on the shoulder. “Mauntenraion and Nekoka are close to each other compared to the other islands. I would have been nice if we were from the same island though but it’s okay.” My minion brightened as she nodded to the other cat, then Haruhi raised her head and gave me an earnest expression. “You said you were adventurers conquering dungeons, right?”

“Yes? Why?” I questioned.

“You kill the gods when you conquer their dungeons, correct?” The white-eared cat asked as she adjusted her glasses.

“Yes.” I answered warily as I observed the second feline.

“You need to kill the Liebe,” she said gravely, and her hazel eyes hardened in seriousness as she spoke the next words. “No, you have to.”

Chapter Ten

We all stared in confusion as the short cat named Haruhi jumped from her chair, grabbed her half-full cup of coffee, and ushered us over to a table with enough chairs for all of us. Once there, Haruhi set down her mug, grabbed the chair, turned it around, and sat down on it backward. My minions and I sat down and faced her to wait for her explanation, but she took her time as she adjusted her glasses and took a sip from her mug.

“I’m a librarian,” Haru began at last. “My father and I own and operate a large library back on Nekoka. We specialize in first editions and rare books, we hold the largest collection in all the islands, and people come from all around to see or purchase them. Each year, I take a four-month journey and travel around the world in search of valuable books then bring them back to my father.”

She folded her paws on the grain of the table and looked into each of our eyes with a grim expression. “I’ve been doing this by myself since I was thirteen years old, and I’m now twenty-three. I have been to Machstein a total of eleven times, and each year it gets weirder around here than the year before.”

“What do you mean when you say weirder by each year?” Morrigan inquired as Fea and Macha kept their beady black eyes directly on Haruhi’s face.

“It wasn’t like this before, not at all,” Haru assured us as she spread out her arms around her to signify the whole town. “Everyone was normal, but each year, it changed. At first, it was little stuff, like people complimenting each other. Next year, it was innocent flirtations, but then it got worse, to the point that people were fondling each other in the streets. Today was the worst it’s ever been, like when that man tried to kiss me forcibly. If it continues this way, I’m going to have to stop coming here. I don’t want to imagine what they’ll escalate to next year.”

“And this has to do with the Liebe how?” I questioned as I signaled the bartender for an ale. He nodded his bald head to me and brought it over in a flash. He bowed to me, and I tried to ignore the way his cheeks tinted pink and his eyes glazed over while looking at my minions.

“He was mostly unheard of when I first started coming here,” Haruhi explained as her paws drummed on the tabletop anxiously. “The people of Eifersucht knew there were a god and dungeon on the lower half of the island. A few people tried to conquer it but never came back, like with most dungeons. I pride myself on knowing quite a bit about the gods in different regions.” She puffed out her chest at that. “Our library has two or three ancient texts that date back thousands of years, nearly to the beginning of time. I know a little bit of the gods on this island and personally think the Liebe is using the townsfolk in a bigger scheme beyond just making them fall in love with each other over and over again.”

“We thought it was either an infatuation spell or hex, what else could it possibly be?” the high queen questioned as she leaned forward and leveled her chocolate-brown eyes at Haruhi.

“I assume you’ve heard of the Tichádáma?” Haruhi asked as she took another sip of her coffee and looked me directly in the eye.

“I have only heard the name in passing once, I know nothing about her in detail,” I admitted, and Rana, Carmedy, and Morrigan nodded with me in agreement.

“I know a little bit, but it’s not much,” Annalise interjected, and the white-eared cat swung her head to look at the swordswoman with eyes that told her to go on. “She’s known as the Tichádáma, or the Silent Lady of Kanashimi, the highest mountain town of Machstein. She was cast out of the heavens for fraternizing with humans, just as Master was. Her punishment was more severe than Master’s though, as the gods cursed her and took away her ability to communicate with humans. That’s the extent of what I know.”

“Oh,” Haruhi said as her eyes shifted toward me. I was surprised there was no fear there, but perhaps she didn’t believe Annalise’s words.

Or maybe the cute little cat-girl already knew of my power.

“But this doesn’t clear up anything,” Rana cried as she held her head in her hands out of frustration. “It just makes it more confusing.”

“Don’t worry, I’m going to clear up all that confusion right now,” Haruhi said with a smirk as she steepled her fingers on the table. “You see, the Liebe was in love with the Tichádáma, she had absolutely no interest because she was head over heels for this human guy, and the Liebe became jealous and told the greater gods about her fraternization with a mortal. The Tichádáma got kicked out of the heavens and sent down to earth on the very same island as the Liebe.”

“So, it’s like a love triangle?” Carmedy asked as she tilted her head and knitted her eyebrows together in bewilderment.

“Well, not a love triangle, like a love line,” Haruhi clarified. “Liebe loves the Tichádáma, Tichádáma loves a human. There’s no connection between the three like in a love triangle.”

The black cat’s expression cleared as she understood what Haru was saying.

“Okay, but that doesn’t clear up why he’s making all the townspeople go all coo-coo,” the fox woman said as she blew her bangs out of her eyes and settled her blue-eyed gaze on the second cat.

“I know, just bear with me,” Haruhi stated as she reached up and petted the tip of one of her white, fluffy ears. “From what I’ve heard, the Tichádáma is very good to the townspeople of Kanashimi, gives them bountiful harvests, better weather, and all that good crap the people of Eifersucht don’t receive. What if the Liebe is doing all of these crazy love games to the citizens to get the Tichádáma’s attention?”

“He is jealous of the care and attention the Tichádáma gives her people without being able to speak to them,” Morrigan muttered in her cold voice.

Haruhi bobbed her head animatedly as her paws clenched into tight, furry fists. “She has one person on this island she is physically able to communicate with, and she ignores him. Imagine how infuriating that must be for him, especially since he’s madly in love with her. Now, he’s doing horrible things to the people who live near his dungeon to show off and get her to pay attention to him after all this time.”

“He acts as if he is a jilted lover and yet, he was none of those things to her,” The High Elf said as she ran her delicate fingertips over the table’s grain. “He deserves to suffer.”

“He was the reason she was cast out of heaven, she has every right to choose not to speak to him,” I stated in a solemn voice, and all of my minions turned to look at me with understanding expressions. “The person who had a hand in casting me out still resides in the realm of the gods. I don’t have the choice of consorting with them any longer, but if I did, I would do as she has done, or I would simply kill them and be done with it. The betrayal still burns in my heart, and I feed and tend to it with thoughts of one day sucking the life and power out of that god. I understand how the Tichádáma feels, in a way.”

I sat back in my chair, and silence enveloped our table for a long time. I knew I had revealed a small amount of my past to not only my minions but a stranger, and they were slowly processing the words. Carmedy was the first to reach out to take my hand in her paw and squeeze it, then all of my minions followed suit, placing their hands in a pile on top of mine in a comforting gesture.

Haruhi squared her shoulders then cleared her throat, bringing us out of our small personal moment together, and I raised my head to the brunette cat. Her studious face was serious, and the hazel eyes behind the thick glasses were hazy with emotion as she once more clenched her paws into fists. Then she looked into my eyes gravely, her thin lips set into a hard line.

“I appeal to you, Master,” Haruhi pleaded as her eyes wandered over my women. “I appeal to all of you. Please kill the Liebe and free Eifersucht from his vengeful, jealous grasp and give the townspeople their lives back. These people aren’t living. They’re serving out a perverted man’s fantasy, like dolls in a child’s playhouse.”

I looked to my companions, and each of their faces held different expressions. Annalise’s clear and stern face was resolute. Morrigan as always exuded a cold air as her hard eyes stayed trained on Haruhi. Carmedy was smiling and nodding, already agreeing to Haruhi’s request, and surprisingly, Rana’s face was thoughtful as she bit at her red lips. I already knew we had set out to defeat all the dungeons on this island, but hearing the story of the Liebe and the Tichádáma set our plans into stone.

The Liebe must be destroyed, and his powers stripped away from him for the good of the people of Eifersucht. In reality, I would have done it without the charming cat-girl’s request, since my goal was destroying these fallen gods so I could take their powers.

“We will accept your request, Haruhi,” I told the white-eared cat. “Nothing would give us more pleasure than watching such a horrible god die at our hands.”

Haruhi grinned, reached across the table, and shook my hand vigorously in both her paws. Then the small cat bent down and rummaged through her bags until she found what she was looking for. With a flourish, Haruhi held out a weathered scroll, and I took it in my hands and unrolled it. I held the curling edges down with the pads of my thumbs and examined the hand drawn images.

“It’s a map of Machstein. If you follow this trail here,” she said as she leaned over the table and pointed with one of her white paws to a snaking black line through the woods, “it will take you directly to the Liebe’s dungeon.”

“Does it also show the way to the Tichádáma’s dungeon?” I inquired as I raised my eyes from the detailed map.

“Yes, but you won’t need a map to find that one,” she mumbled quietly, and I tilted my head at her. The change in her attitude was quick then was gone, but I had seen it and wondered what she must be thinking.

“Thank you for this,” I smiled at her as I rolled the map back up and placed it in my void pocket, “It will help us a lot along the way.”

“You’re welcome. I know you will move on to the Tichádáma and take her power too, but there is only one more thing I must ask of you,” Haruhi uttered in a softer voice, and Carmedy leaned in closer to hear better, her black ears shifting uneasily.

“What is it?” I asked sternly and let all emotion fall from my face as I stared down at the small, studious looking cat.

“Be as vicious as you want with the Liebe, rip him limb from limb for all I care but … Tichádáma, please be gentle with her,” Haruhi begged, her white paws held against her chest in desperation. “Let her go with grace. She is one of the last goddesses who deserves our respect. Without her, Machstein wouldn’t have been able to survive so long. It’s a little-known fact, and I only know this from the ancient texts I’ve read, but when the Tichádáma was born in the heavens, she gave birth to all the aquatic animals on earth. We all have so much to be thankful for from her, and I don’t want her to be slaughtered … please promise me.”

I forced myself to give her a somber expression as I replied without emotion in my voice. “Haruhi, I cannot promise you that. Any dungeon we enter and any god we engage poses immense danger to me and, more importantly, my minions.”

“I see,” Haruhi whispered as her fluffy ears drooped, and her hazel eyes fell to the table and the empty mug in front of her. I could tell the cat-woman was upset by my words, but I only spoke the truth.

I couldn’t promise that I would give the Tichádáma a peaceful death because I did not know if the goddess was peaceful herself. None of the gods we encountered thus far had been, and I knew the ones to come wouldn’t be either. I needed to protect my minions first and foremost. Nothing else mattered unless they were healthy and happy in my care.

“I cannot promise that, but I will try,” I said finally, and Haruhi’s ears shot up in hope, and she smiled at me again.

After our more serious conversation, we moved on to happier things. Carmedy and Haruhi discussed at length the differences and similarities of the islands they were born on, and the more I heard, the more I would like to journey there someday. Just from speaking to the white-eared cat, I could tell she was well-read and wickedly intelligent, her glasses flashing as she talked in detail about the ways to restore ancient texts and disintegrating books. She loved books the way Carmedy loved alchemy, and the excitement in her words made me want to love them as much as she did.

Haruhi knew I was a fallen god, but she didn’t look at me guardedly or distrustfully, instead she looked at me the way I imagined her looking at a mysterious, ancient book. She wanted to peel me open and read the blood-stained pages within, a curiosity my minions had not yet shown but would eventually. Only then would I tell them about my dark past and the name I’ve kept secret for so long.

But that was something for another day.

As the evening wound down, Haruhi lifted the sleeve of her teal dress and glanced at her leather banded watch. Her hazel eyes bulged behind her glasses, and she hastily stood up from the table and snatched up her packages and parcels of books from the floor where she placed them earlier.

“What’s wrong?” Rana asked worriedly as she too started to rise from her seat.

“Where are you going?” Carmedy cried as she reached out her paws for Haruhi’s.

“I’m so sorry, everyone,” Haruhi squeaked out as she held the books tightly to her chest. “I have a boat to catch, and I was enjoying our conversation so much that I forgot!”

“Do you need any help carrying those?” Annalise asked as she too stood up and reached her hands out for some of the things Haruhi held.

“No, I’m okay, thank you. I mean, I ran all the way here carrying them, I think I can walk a few blocks to the dock.” The brunette cat grinned.

“I can walk you to the dock if you like,” I offered, but Haruhi shook her head with a cheerful smile.

“No, I think I can make it.” She chuckled as she formed her paws into fists and took a few practice jabs at the air.

“I’ll walk you out then.” I smiled, not taking no for an answer this time, and Haruhi nodded once and headed for the door.

I opened the heavy wooden door for her, and she stepped outside, her breath rising into the air as she glanced up and down the street for any stray people who might try and grab her as she passed. I stood next to her and inclined my head to the sky where gray clouds lazily moved over the city, and through the clouds, only small pin pricks of stars blinked. Haruhi didn’t move away, and when I peeked over at her, she was staring into my face.

“They don’t know, do they?” the cat-woman asked in a serious tone as she shifted the packages and reached into her skirt pocket. Her entire demeanor changed once we were alone, and I was interested to see this new side to her.

“What do you mean?” I whispered to her.

She pursed her lips as she retrieved a small copper tin from within her pocket, and then she flipped it open to reveal neatly rolled tobacco cigarettes. She offered me one but I shook my head. I may be an immortal god, but I didn’t want to risk the health of my avatar. She shrugged her shoulders, grabbed one, and popped it between her thin lips. With just one deft paw, she lit the match, held the bursting light to the end of the cigarette, and pulled on it until it glowed like a cherry.

“You know what I mean,” Haruhi said plainly as she peered directly into my eyes, and it seemed like she was looking into the depths of my ageless soul. “They don’t know who you really are.”

“Ah, I see.” I gazed down at her, but she wasn’t afraid, merely curious as she tilted her head to examine all of my features. “Why didn’t you tell them then?”

“It is not my place. They did not ask, and I will not tell. Names of the gods are sacred, even the names of fallen gods,” she assured me as she blew smoke out of her nose, and it swirled and lifted into the freezing air around us.

“Then may I ask how you knew, Haru?” I inquired, and she blinked slowly behind her glasses as she thought for a minute.

“And so it is said, the one born of Chirus shall be bathed in both the light of the heavens and the darkness of hell. His name shall be tattooed across the foreheads of the dead and dying and all living things shall know and curse his name for his name is death,” Haruhi said in an undulating voice, a quote from one of the ancient texts she had read. “You also said a man cast you out, that man can be none other than your brother, Otia, correct?”

“You are very clever, Miss Haruhi.” I smiled as I gave her a low bow, and she gave me a curtsey then turned to walk down the street alone.

“I wouldn’t say its cleverness, Master, just being knowledgeable. If you keep killing them, gods are going to disappear from history altogether, and we’re going to need someone to pass down the legends of those once mighty beings. Who better to protect the tales of old than a librarian?” she called over her shoulder with a smirk.

“There will only be one god who will never be forgotten in the end,” I called out loud enough for her to hear, and I could hear Haruhi’s laughter as she trudged on with her cigarette tightly clamped between her lips.

“Crack the earth apart, rip the heavens to shreds, do whatever the hell you like, Master,” she said as she turned back once more and looked me dead in the eye. “In the end, the God of Destruction will rule over all, isn’t that right?”

Chapter Eleven

The city of Eifersucht wasn’t as bustling in the morning like it was when we first arrived. The sun barely peeked up from the east as we left the Purple Conch where we rented a room for the night. I pulled out the map Haruhi had given us the night before and examined it as we stepped over a bridge towards the north side of town. Carmedy yawned loudly and rubbed at her stomach with a sad expression, and Rana ruffled the black cat’s short hair.

“I know you’re upset, but not every tavern is going to serve pies in the morning.” The redhead smiled as she tried to cheer up the alchemist.

“I haven’t had any pie since we left Tamarisch,” Carmedy whined as she rubbed at her sleepy emerald eyes.

Annalise snorted as she turned back to look at the cat from beside me. “We haven’t been away from Tamarisch for more than a week. Our cook gave you a pie right before we left, remember?” the swordswoman chided through a grin and Carmedy hung her head sadly.

“I tried to make it last,” the cat-woman whined as she dropped her paws to her sides dejectedly.

“As I recall, you ate the entire pie within five minutes of leaving the Tamarisch palace,” Morrigan said with her face straightforward while Fea and Macha bobbed up and down on her shoulders as she walked smoothly.

“I said I tried to make it last, okay?” Carmedy grumbled then giggled to herself. “It was a perfect pie though, one of the best I’ve ever had.”

We were almost out of the town of Eifersucht, nearly to where the floating city ended and the rough terrain of the mountain began, when a man called out to us. I prepared myself to be assaulted with flirtations, but surprisingly, very few romantic words came from the shop owner.

“Going up the mountain, are ya?” he called to us. I turned, and my minions stopped in their tracks beside me as he beckoned us over. “Not sure where you’re going, but the terrain up the mountain is too harsh for such lovely ladies to walk by foot.”

I looked down at my minion’s feet at his mention. Their shoes were sensible and fine for the other places we had traveled before. I glanced up towards the trail we were heading up and saw it was steep and uneven with large rocks and boulders.

“What do you suggest we do?” Rana snarked as she cocked her hip out. “Fly up the mountain?”

“Nay, the last thing that could fly you to different places were dragons, and those have been dead for a long time,” the man said as he waved us over to the before-unseen crates behind him. The crates stood about eight feet tall and had thin wooden slats on the side to allow air flow inside, and as we moved closer, we could see what was inside.  “But how about a distant cousin to dragons?”

Inside the crates were huge chickens, taller than the average man and large enough to ride. The strange beasts tilted their heads at us as we moved closer and clucked loudly as they shuffled their massive scaly feet. They were beautiful birds, each one a deep black color, but when the feathers hit the light, they transformed into a rainbow of blues, greens, and purples. Carmedy rushed forward and curled her paws around the bars of the crates and peered in with huge emerald eyes.

“They’re so pretty,” she breathed. One hen came closer, and Carmedy reached in to allow the bird to smell her paw. “It’s okay, girl, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Distant cousins to dragons, huh?” Rana sarcastically asked as she rolled her eyes. “They’re chickens.”

“No, no, no, love,” the owner said cheekily as he waggled a finger in the fox-woman’s direction. “They are not chickens, these are Machstein Bantams. Completely different species than chickens.”

“Looks like a chicken, smells like a chicken, it’s a chicken,” the fox sneered.

The shopkeeper frowned and waved a discouraged hand in her direction. “Call them whatever you like, but these babies are the best way to get up and down the mountain,” he said directly to me with a broad smile as he slapped the side of one of the cages. The birds inside squawked in protest as they scurried away.

“How much are they?” I inquired with a straight face.

“For the five of you, I’d say five hundred coin each, and I’ll throw in some saddles and side bags for free.” He smiled as he weaved his fingers together and rested them against his portly belly.

I walked around the cages and observed the birds inside. Their yellow eyes watched me, and none of them backed away when I reached inside to pet the side of the largest male. His red comb stood straight up, and its tips pointed elegantly. Chickens or not, they were still magnificent creatures to look at. I turned back to the owner with my hands held behind my back.

“Two hundred coin and the saddles for free,” I stated sternly, and the shopkeeper's mouth dropped open as his eyes bulged from their sockets. I wanted to smile but held it in as Rana gave me a thumbs-up from behind the owner's back.

“T-two hundred? Are you insane?” he shouted into the open air as he threw up his hands in exasperation. “You do realize I’m trying to make a living here?”

“Then we will take our business elsewhere. You can’t be the only shop in Eifersucht that sells these animals.” I shrugged as I motioned for my minions, and we turned our backs on him as we started to head down the street.

“Wait! Sir!” he shouted as he followed after us frantically. “Three hundred and fifty! Meet me in the middle, please, I beg of you!”

I stopped in the middle of the street and stroked my chin thoughtfully, then turned back to the shop owner with a smirk. “Three hundred and we’ll have a deal.”

The man threw his hands up into the air over his head and sighed loudly as he returned to his shop with his shoulders slumped. “Fine, fine, come get your chickens.”

“Told you they were just chickens.” Rana chortled under her breath as she elbowed Annalise, and the swordswoman let out a raspy laugh as we returned to the shop.

My minions and I watched as the shop owner led each bird out of the cage, fitted it with a shiny leather saddle, and attached the reigns. He brought them over one at a time, and Carmedy was the first to come forward to the bird she had petted through the cage earlier. The black cat put her booted foot in the stirrup and slung herself up and over into the saddle. She adjusted herself until she was comfortable then urged the bird to walk forward.

Unlike regular chickens that moved in jerks and bobbed their heads while they walked, the Machstein Bantams moved gracefully in long strides almost like a horse. Carmedy leaned forward and hugged the neck of the great bird, and it twisted its head around and stared down at her with one golden eye. It blinked once then gently pecked at the crown of the cat’s head. Carmedy giggled and ruffled the feathers on the hen’s head affectionately. The bird crooned deep in its throat and blinked once more in approval.

Once I paid the owner and he returned inside with grumbled curses under his breath, I mounted my bird, too. I had purchased the rooster, and he was much larger than the four hens my minions rode, my head a good foot and a half taller than theirs as we steered our birds back towards the trial ahead. As I had seen with Carmedy and her hen, the ride was smooth, and the rooster’s three-toed feet quickly scaled the boulders and rocks on the way up with agile hops and jumps.

“What are you going to name your chicken?” Rana asked as she turned around in her saddle and looked back at Carmedy,

“Kura, it means chicken in my native language.” The alchemist giggled as she ran her eyes over her bird lovingly.

“I never knew you spoke a different language,” Annalise said with furrowed brows, and Carmedy nodded slowly, her black hair ruffling in the light breeze that brushed through the trees.

“Of course,” the cat said wistfully as her eyes drifted through the thick woods. “On the islands of Canarta, we speak three different dialects which all stem from the main language that’s used on the largest island.”

“Carmedy,” I said as I turned back, and she lifted her head to me with a faraway smile, “can you tell us about the islands of Canarta? I don’t know much about them and would love to hear more.”

“Sure!” the cat cried happily as she wriggled in her saddle. “The islands of Canarta are made of four islands. The main island is called Kegawa. The second largest is Isukā, then Nekoka, where Haruhi is from! Then I’m from the smallest island called Mauntenraion. It’s hot there all year round, and I kind of miss it right now. No offense Annalise, Tamarisch is beautiful and all, but how can you stand it being this dang cold all the time?”

“You get used to it, especially if you were born here. You don’t know anything different.” The swordswoman shrugged as she let out a raspy snort.

“I don’t think I ever will.” Carmedy sighed as she looked off into space. “Canarta is a long way away, it took a month to get to the mainland where I met you guys. Can you imagine how far away we are now? It’d probably take three or four months to get back.”

“It is quite natural to feel homesick,” Morrigan assured in her bored voice, and Carmedy nodded along as she gave the pale woman a soft smile.

“You said each island has a different dialect, so does that mean you can speak all four of them?” the fox-woman asked from behind as she took up the back of our group.

Carmedy turned around to face her in her leather saddle. “Well, all the dialects are just shortened forms of the main language on Kegawa, so roughly, but I can’t go to the main island and hold a full conversation with anyone.” She stroked Kura’s feathers with soft motions as we moved along the path.

“Is everyone on the islands a cat?” Annalise asked over her shoulder as she kept her eyes on the road ahead.

“Yeah! Well, mostly.” The cat excitedly nodded, and I smiled as I watched her gush over her homeland. “There are humans, and we even have an elven district too! However, they’re not pure-blooded elves like Morrigan.”

“Do foxes have their own language, Rana?” the pale elf asked, and the fox’s lips pressed into a hard line as she thought.

“Not that I know of,” the redhead admitted as she ran a paw through her thick curly hair. “We don’t congregate together as cats do. I honestly have no idea.”

“There must be a society of foxes out there somewhere,” Carmedy pensively spoke as she tapped her chin. “I mean, I come from a society of cats, Morrigan comes from the High Elves, Annalise is a human and they’re everywhere. There’s gotta be a secret burrow or something where they all live.”

“I’m telling you, there’s not,” Rana said with a dismissive shake of her head. “Foxes aren’t social people, we don’t stick together. Even if they find mates and pop out a few pups, the males don’t stick around for very long.”

Silence enveloped us as Rana’s words sunk in. We all knew the situation with Rana’s mother and siblings, but the few words she had spoken were very telling. The fox rarely spoke of her father, the one time she did was when I finally got her to open up to me, and she only told me he walked out on her mother.

“I’m sorry, Rana,” the black cat said softly as she slowed her bird to a crawl and came up beside the fox-woman. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“It’s okay, pussycat, I know you didn’t mean anything by it. You were just curious. I was the one who should be apologizing for bringing down the mood.” Rana smiled kindly over to her sister as she reached out and ruffled the cat’s black hair.

Carmedy purred in response, then sat up straighter in her seat as a thought dawned on her, and her emerald eyes found mine through our party. “Master, do the gods have a language?”

“They do.” I grinned as I inclined my head to her, and her face broke with excitement. “There is no name for the language, but we use it only when in the god’s realm.”

“Can you say something in your native tongue, Master?” Morrigan asked. Fea bobbed her head in agreement, and Macha cooed softly as they flitted up to rest on her much larger bird’s head like a perch. “I have never heard a god’s tongue, and I would quite like to hear it if you would.”

I thought for a moment on what I should say to my minions, and when it came to me, I turned around in my saddle to face all four of them with a gentle smile.

“Pulchrum estis.” The words vibrated up my throat in the language I knew so well but hadn’t spoken in so long.

They stared at me in silence for a long time, and all the way in the back of the group, I watched as Carmedy repeated the words to herself with a look of concentration on her face. Her silky black ears twitched once as she repeated them silently once more. Morrigan’s eyes closed, and she seemed to breathe the words in like the pine scent around us as we made our way through the forest.

“What does it mean, Master?” Annalise asked, her stunning freckled face serene as she spoke.

“All of you are beautiful,” I told them, and each of their faces shifted out of shock to joy.

“That was so sweet.” The black cat sighed dreamily as she held her paws tightly to her chest.

“When did you get so smooth?” Rana joked, but from the blush in her cheeks and the constant whipping of her tail, I knew she enjoyed it as much as Carmedy did.

“Your compliments are as sweet as honey, Master.” Morrigan bowed her head to me, and her cheeks were also dusted a light pink as she hid her face from me.

I turned my eyes to Annalise, but she didn’t speak. She only gave me a look that let me know she wanted me, right here and now, in the middle of the freezing forest, and if we had the time, I would have obliged her.

As our group moved deeper into the woods, the bigger the trees got, and I could see why they were called Obri Giants. The circumference of the trunks of each tree was large enough for ten men to link arms and encircle them. I leaned my head back as my bird moved gracefully forward and through the tree cover, I caught peeks of the bright, blue sky high above. It was peaceful here, and I enjoyed it thoroughly along with the comforting presences of my minions.

We made quick progress with the help of our Machstein Bantams, and I was glad we had purchased them. The birds were agile and surefooted as they hopped from rock to rock, and their scaly feet never slipped or faltered. I reached into the void pocket and unfurled the map Haruhi had given us.

If our birds moved quickly enough, we should reach the Liebe’s dungeon before sundown, and I traced my finger along the snaking black line of the trail we were currently traveling. The trip was ten hours in total, and we were making good time, about halfway through our journey when I heard one of my minions laugh softly behind me. I smiled to myself, turned around, and just listened to the soft giggling in my ear as it washed over me.

It stopped suddenly then started again, this time louder as if one of them had come up directly behind me. I turned my head and stared in confusion as all four of my minions and their birds were walking close together farther away from me than I had expected. Annalise raised her head to me and grinned widely as the breeze brushed back her chestnut braid. I didn’t return the smile, and it dropped from her face.

“What’s wrong?” the swordswoman called up to me, and I shook my head, befuddled.

“Were any of you just laughing?” I asked back, and all four of my minions looked at each other then back to me and shook their heads no. “I heard someone laughing right behind me.”

“Maybe there’s a brook nearby? You might have heard that and mistaken it for laughter,” Rana shouted to me but I looked back down at the map, and there were no bodies of water near where we were.

“Come here,” I instructed in a low voice, and they all bucked against their birds, urging them forward, and quickly closed the distance between us. “Stay close to me, there’s something strange going on here.”

My minions nodded silently and kept their birds in tight formation to mine, only apart by a few feet and within arm’s reach. Our party moved along the path slowly, and I scanned the trees for anything suspicious. Before, the forest had been teeming with life and the sounds of birds calling back and forth to each other while squirrels and other wildlife rustled through the brush. Now, though, there was nothing but the soft cooing of our Bantams as they worked their way along the rough path. It was unnervingly quiet, and I could tell my minions were already on edge.

Even from this far away, I could already feel the Liebe’s power. He may not have been a powerful god, but the power he did possess was strong enough to reach into the city of Eifersucht. We must have already been in his sights this close to his dungeon. I knew we were only a few hours away from the mouth as it was clearly marked on the map, but I didn’t think we would encounter his presence outside of the dungeon. Most gods only held power within their domain, but the Liebe was different. The cold air was filled with his scent, an odd flowery and sickly sweet smell, as it wafted over my minions and me.

“You must be a fucking idiot or a god to have set foot in this forest,” a voice giggled over my shoulder.

I glanced back at my minions but knew none of them would ever think to speak to me that way. No matter they’re differing moods, they always spoke to me respectfully as their Master and lover.

I faced forward again and swept my eyes across the path ahead of us, but there was nothing strange or out of place that I could see. Then the honey-sweet scent brushed past me again with a soft peal of laughter, and I gritted my teeth.

“No, not them,” it giggled, and I bristled angrily. “Your precious minions would never do such a thing.”

I once more whipped my head over my shoulder, and my minions jumped in surprise, and Rana laughed nervously as she scratched at her cheek. “What’s going on, Master? Are you all right?”

“Not there,” the manly voice tittered, and I took a deep breath in as my eyes stabbed through the brush, searching for the owner of the voice. “Not over there either.”

“What do you want from me?” I growled deep in my throat, and I could hear my companions whisper to each other nervously behind my back. I didn’t know this voice or the presence that moved itself around our party like a ghost, but there was only one logical explanation to who was speaking directly into my mind.

The deity known only as the Liebe.

“No, I don’t think you should be the one asking that question,” the Liebe said, and his voice was smooth and deep like the unbroken surface of a river, “What do you think you’re doing trip-trapping through my woods?”

“Do you really want to know?” I chuckled darkly as I tightened my grip on the reigns.

“But of course, tell me, oh Dark Lord.” The Liebe snickered loudly, the sound of his voice echoed in my head annoyingly, and I pressed my ear to my shoulder in irritation.

“I’m here to rip your soul from your body and as your taking your last breath, I’m going to suck your powers out and steal them for myself,” I roared, and Carmedy gasped from behind me, none of my minions hearing the voice of the Liebe like I was.

“That’s very funny,” the Liebe’s voice giggled then took on a darker tone as he snarled in my ear, “because you and your pretty little minions won’t make it out of this forest alive.”

Chapter Twelve

“Is that what you think?” I laughed loudly as I threw my head back, and I felt his presence pull away from me in surprise. “Then you are gravely mistaken. Threaten me all you like, but once you bring my minions in on this, you will see I am not a merciful man.”

“What’s going on?” Rana asked as she turned her head toward her sisters, and Annalise and Carmedy shook their heads with unsure faces.

“A magical presence, I can feel it all around us,” the pale-skinned elf interjected as she urged her Bantam closer to mine. “I believe Master is speaking directly with him. Am I correct?”

“Yes, he’s an insolent bastard.” I nodded as I gripped my reins tighter in my fist and pushed my bird on faster as we neared the opening of the Liebe’s dungeon.

“Let’s make things a bit interesting, shall we?” the Liebe chuckled, and from the surprised expressions of my minions, I knew they could hear him now, too.

“Interesting how?” my wife asked into the open air, but the only reply was an evil sounding chuckle … then I felt it.

I sensed it like the movement of a phantom limb, a twinge in the back of my mind that was faintly familiar. I hadn’t felt this sensation in a long time, and I almost relished it.

The feeling of strangers entering my dungeon. The vibration of one hundred-and-fifty sets of feet as they came into my dungeon and to their awaiting death below.

“Surely your essence must be back in your nexus,” the Liebe muttered into my ear, and from the tone of his voice, I could tell he was smiling. “Unprotected and just waiting for me to steal it.”

I wasn’t sure how the Liebe was able to do such a thing, since we were so far away from my stone tomb, but I was exhilarated. Though my avatar gave me mobility, it took away some of my strengths like the ability to mold my dungeon to my will and entrap all those who dared to enter without sending my essence back to my core.

“This is how you want to play? Are you sure?” I asked through mock horror, and I heard the Liebe laughing loudly from my left. This god had no idea what he was getting himself into, and I would leave him blissfully unaware until the last moment.

“Oh no, it seems your home turf is left undefended. What are you going to do?” The Liebe giggled to himself as the sickly sweet scent wafted over to me once more, but I ignored it as I turned back to my minions.

“Annalise,” I commanded as I pointed to the front of our group.

“Yes, Master?” The High Queen unsheathed Bloodscale with a flourish as she bucked her Bantam to the front.

“I’m going to have to move my essence back to my dungeon,” I began. “Can you guide my empty avatar and my bird through the dungeon? I’m not sure what the Liebe will throw at you, but I trust you will take it down with ease.”

Over my shoulder, I watched as Rana reached into her leg pouch and retrieved two of her elven knives. The fox placed one of the blades between her teeth with a wicked grin and held the other tightly in her clenched fist. Behind the rogue, Carmedy’s usually cute face hardened, and she grabbed two small pouches in one paw and carried them with devious intent. The white-haired elf smirked, reached up one spindly finger, and stroked Macha’s black beak as her eyes turned wholly black.

When I first spotted them so long ago in my dungeon, I would’ve been hesitant to call them adventurers, but now, with how they held their instruments of death with confidence, it was plain they were a fearsome crew of skilled warriors, and I was proud to call them my own. Their transformation under my careful instruction was miraculous, and I knew they would do well in my absence.

I flipped the reins over my bird’s head and offered them to my queen. She lashed them to her saddlebags, and my Bantam rushed to shorten the distance. I readjusted myself in the saddle and made sure there was no way I would fall off during the journey deep into the Liebe’s dungeon while I fought back home. The brunette nodded to me, and I clenched my hands around the horn of my saddle as I leaned my head back and breathed in deeply. I felt my essence rise from my avatar’s body and leave the warmth of its flesh that I had grown accustomed to. All of my minions watched as my being rose in the air, a blurred ball of energy above their heads. I imagined the place I wanted to go, back to the place I was imprisoned for thousands of years, and I felt myself phase in and out of space and time.

The last thing I heard before I disappeared from view was the sound of my minion’s loud gasps.

Once I returned to the material plane, I breathed in the familiar scents, and I opened my eyes deep in the heart of my dungeon. My senses expanded through the networks of tunnels and chambers as if they were my bones and blood, and then I could sense the intruders and the hammering hearts in their chests.

How the Liebe was able to conjure this many minions in such a short time was strange to me, but I would soon find out how. Hidden deep in my nexus, I turned and spied something I had forgotten I had. The great stone Soul Collector I took from the annoying lava god.

It was still as magnificent as it was the first time I laid eyes on it. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as it stared down at me with glowing red eyes below the hood, and the skeletal hands offered the skull-shaped bowl as if begging me to place a soul inside. The stone wings tightly held to its sides were beautiful and terrifying at the same time, the joint of the wing pointed and the tip sharp like a talon. I wondered what this great beast would do, and soon enough, I would witness the real strength and wonder of the Soul Collector first-hand.

I turned myself from my nexus and pushed through the caverns and tunnels towards the men who were idiotic enough to think they could simply walk into my dungeon unharmed. The Liebe and his minions were on my playground now, and I felt power unused spring to life around me. I was practically salivating with eagerness when I rounded upon them. One hundred and fifty ghouls, their sickly green flesh bubbled up with boils and sores. Their yellowing eyes rolled in their sockets, wild and feverish with madness, and their long protruding tongues wagged from their misshapen jaws as they snarled and yipped at each other eagerly. Most of the ghouls held crude clubs, while some wielded crudely forged swords, and a few dragged spiked flails behind them.

“Mindless drones,” I laughed to myself as I summoned my dark power around my floating essence. “You couldn’t have sent me a more fathomable challenge? Pathetic.”

I knew I could obliterate his troops with a mere wave of my hand, but this insolent god needed to be shown what I could do, especially when he had brought the fight into the belly of my dungeon. The Liebe’s ghouls made their way into the first room, just as my minions and the three men from Tuzakeur before them. I was going to do something I had never tried before and summoned the power of the forest god in a new way.

The smell of dirt and mud was heavy in the air, and the ghouls that poured in through the archway held their weapons over their heads, prepared to fight anything blindly. They shrieked to each other in confusion as they formed into rough ranks. Then the packed dirt at their feet rumbled and cracked into a massive black hole, and unearthly sounds poured from the newly created cavern. The sounds came slowly then louder as my newest creature was born and unearthed itself from its womb made of dirt. Its massive four-fingered hands grabbed onto the craggy walls of the hole and pulled itself up with a roar so loud that the walls of the room shook. The ghouls screamed and squawked in response, their high-pitched voices filled with terror as the roughly formed bald head rose from the hole.

The face, moulded and roughly formed from the packed dirt below, came up next as the stony arms bulging with muscles lifted it halfway out of the hole. The ghouls went deathly silent as the eyeless, stone face lined with vines and moss inclined itself to the puny creatures below. As the ghouls screamed together, the forehead of my beast twitched, then cracked open with a burst of dirt to expose one huge green eye.

The cyclops tilted its head curiously with the sound of cracking stone at the ghouls as it pulled itself entirely out of the pit and stood in front of them. A single ghoul rushed forward on unsteady feet and lobbed its sword at the cyclops. It landed limply at the cyclops’ feet, and the creature’s mouth split open in a malicious smile to expose gnarled teeth.

I floated over its shoulder and moved my dark power into its form, infusing my darkness inside its fists. The ghouls were getting riled again, and the sickly green creatures lifted their weapons and stomped their feet in unison in preparation for an attack.

“Kill,” I whispered darkly to my creation. “Slaughter them all.”

“Want to eat,” the cyclops grumbled back in its deep voice, and I chuckled sinisterly.

“Yes,” I murmured back as I watched the single eye harden on the troops below, “eat as much as you like.”

I pulled away from my creature and said nothing else as it stepped forward with its four-fingered hand clenched into a fist. With a growl, the cyclops brought that massive fist down on the frontlines of ghouls. The hand squashed four ghouls at once, and as my mighty giant pulled its fist back, it used its free hand to scoop up the corpses and tossed them into its open mouth.

The sound of the ghoul’s bones crunching against my creature’s teeth gave me sick pleasure, and then I extended my power over the ground in front of the exit on the other side of the room. I knew it was going to take more than one cyclops to take down the one hundred and fifty ghouls that the Liebe had sent me, and if he were a strategist, he probably had another wave waiting after these were massacred. Gray swirling pools of smoke broke from the rock at my command, and spindly thin arms reached up and out as my ice demons crawled out on hands and knees with their maws open.

The pale white beasts launched themselves into the fray, and one of the gangly monsters skewered one ghoul on its antlers. The limp body swung from the bone, and its pink ropey intestines hung from the antlers like garland as my ice demons snarled and bared their long pointed teeth at the ghouls. I was surprised at how well the ghouls were fairing against three ice demons and one cyclops. The ugly boil covered beasts actually managed to get in a few fatal blows that took down one ice demon. My creature’s body shook and shuddered, but I placed a new type of power over the bodies of each ice demon, and resisted the urge to laugh.

Oh, this was going to be fun.

The corpse of the ice demon stopped moving, and a few curious ghouls stepped forward with wide yellow eyes and gnashed teeth. Then a loud crack lifted into the air as the body of the ice demon exploded into slivers of ice, and the projectiles slammed into the ghouls who came forward. The ice sliced into them like knives and even pinned a few to the far wall as their blood gushed from massive wounds.

Meanwhile, the walls of the room quaked as the cyclops lumbered forward, its huge hands outstretched for the fleeing bodies of the ghouls. The cyclops snatched up three at a time and shoved them into its mouth. It chewed, a leg and one arm sticking out from its lips, then it licked them away with its rough brown tongue into the cavern of its maw.

Soon, there was nothing left of the one hundred and fifty ghouls that the Liebe sent in, but he wasn’t finished with me yet, nor was I done with him. He had only seen the surface of my power, and soon, he’d learn far more. I could feel the vibrations of more intruders’ feet, and I knew his next wave was on the way. This time he sent more, around two hundred, and I knew these were more than mere ghouls.

I summoned all my strength to me and closed my eyes as I pulled the power of the lava god to me. My cyclops and ice demons scurried towards the entrance as the floor behind them broke apart and bubbled to life with magma and lava. I thought my ice demons would die in the face of such beating heat, but they glanced at the magma with little to no interest and turned back to the entrance where the sounds of mixed voices echoed.

“Tired yet?” the Liebe called out to me from above, and from the tone of his voice, I knew he was frustrated. He had underestimated me, and even now, he still was.

I possessed unfathomable power and the more dungeons I conquered, the more I gained.

“You haven’t even seen the good stuff yet,” I mocked. “Why don’t you stick around and take some notes?”

He didn’t answer this time. His inexperience with high power gods showed plainly now, and I would soon take the power he so desperately clung to.

With a few moments to spare before the next wave of attackers arrived, I closed my eyes and checked in on my minions. The energy around me wavered and shook as I transferred my essence back to my avatar’s body. I sunk into its flesh comfortably and listened to the comforting voices of my minions. From the sounds of their voices, they weren’t in any trouble, but something certainly wasn’t right.

“Carmedy, if you put your foot--” Annalise grunted as she turned and pointed to a ledge. “You should be able to climb across without trouble.”

“Uh, guys?” Rana squeaked out, and I slowly realized I was looking at the back of her head with its unruly curly red hair. “Help … Master’s … getting … really … heavy …”

I felt hands on my back, and I was slowly lowered to the ground. I looked up at the person who had helped me down, and Morrigan’s face came into view. Her dark eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.

“Master is awake,” Morrigan announced, and the alchemist, who was farther up, whipped her head back to stare in confusion.

“What do you mean he’s awake? He’s been out of his body this whole time,” the cat said unbelieving, but the High Elf shrugged and gestured towards me with limp, dusty hands.

“Master?” Annalise asked as she turned back, and I lifted my head to her with a smile. “Why are you awake?”

“The Liebe attacked, but I repulsed his first assault with ease. There were a few minutes before his next wave came, and I wanted to check in with you,” I told them as I took in their disheveled appearances. I move to stand, but my wife shook her head and held out her hands in front of her to stop me.

“No, no, don’t move. Please don’t move,” Annalise shouted, and her voice echoed down below us.

I turned my head slowly and realized I was seated on a small rock ledge above a massive black hollow below. In front of us, a long network of other rock ledges worked their way across the wall. Some of the ledges were so small my women would have to go alone or crawl across, which explained why they were so dirty and sweaty.

“Where are the Bantams?” I inquired as I glanced between each of the women, and all faces turned towards Carmedy, who gave me a sheepish smile.

“We had to leave them behind,” the black-haired alchemist admitted as she scratched at her ear nervously. “There were … spiders.”

“Really fuckin’ big spiders.” Rana nodded in agreement. “Almost as big as the Bantam’s. We didn’t want them getting hurt, so we tied them off close to the entrance.”

“And this?” I gestured towards the expanse of ledges and the chasm below.

“We stepped onto the path, and it fell away,” Morrigan muttered as she peeked over the edge of the ledge I was sitting on. “Carmedy almost fell in, but we were able to catch her in time.”

“Pussycat almost lost one of her nine lives.” The fox laughed as she hooked a thumb towards the black-haired cat.

“Not just one of my nine lives but all of them.” Carmedy nodded vehemently as she giggled and rubbed at the dirt on her left cheek.

“Well, I am glad you and all of your lives are intact,” I said to the cat, and her cheeks bloomed pink.

She smiled as she kicked at the loose stones on the ledge. “Me too, Master,” the alchemist murmured back with a soft smile.

“Were you carrying me on your back?” I inquired as I looked Rana directly in the eye, and she blew her curly bangs out of her blue eyes.

“Yeah, since we couldn’t bring the Bantams, we decided to take turns carrying you. Your avatar is surprisingly light without your soul inside,” the rogue muttered as she averted her eyes from mine, and I chuckled deeply in my throat at her reaction.

“We didn’t have any other choice,” Annalise admitted through a raspy chuckle as she turned back to me, her chestnut braid over her shoulder. “It was either leave your avatar behind or carry it on our backs.”

“I appreciate it.” I grinned up at the high queen, and she ran a hand through my hair lovingly. “Please be careful with my avatar. Don’t topple it over the edge or something. I could get it back, but it might take a while, and you all would miss me too much.”

“Yeah, it’s been a bit weird without you around,” Rana mumbled softly, but from the rapid swish of her red tail, I could tell she had missed me while I was away.

“I’m sorry, but I must leave you again,” I said apologetically as I reached out and stroked each of their faces affectionately. “It’ll all be over soon, I promise. Just get my avatar to the Liebe’s nexus, and I’ll finish off the rest from my end, all right?”

They each nodded in turn, and I gave them a gentle smile as I once again closed my eyes and breathed deeply through my nose. The strange sense of lightness overtook me as my essence was transferred back to my dungeon, and the sounds of the newly arrived minions of the Liebe reached my ears.

I opened my eyes and saw what the Liebe had summoned this time. Instead of the weak and mindless ghouls, the Liebe instead brought forward towering undead men. Their tall, lean bodies were taut with muscle. Their skin was rotted and peeled in some places to reveal the red tissue below that was surprisingly untouched by decomposition. Their faces were masks of rage against the sunken-in skin, and the festering eyes in their sockets glowed a hateful scarlet. The pungent scent of death was heavy in the air, and the single eye of my cyclops blinked in disgust.

Their chiseled chests rose and fell with labored breath. They were more organized than the ghouls before them, and I watched them pour in the entrance in droves. Each corpse carried a different weapon, but the blades were sharp and shined in the dim light. I knew from the way they held them that they were skilled warriors, and I knew what they were.

Their name was the literal meaning of ‘again-walker,’ and I looked down upon the Draugr with disgust. The Liebe was finally fighting back with real effort, and I would relish this second opportunity to beat him. My opponent had brought forward his knights, but I had yet to unveil my queen in this game.

The Draugr were undead men with inhuman strength, unable to be wounded or killed by regular wounds, but unlucky for them, I was not an ordinary god. I summoned my dark power, and it pulsed from me with a new life as it transferred to the lava below my detached form. The lava began to pulsate, but the Draugr didn’t flinch or move as the bubbles of magma grew higher and began to take shape. This was the largest creature I had ever brought into existence, and it took a great deal of my power, not that it exhausted me.

I heard the Liebe take a sharp inhale of breath as a head formed only of molten rock rose from the frothing orange river. The glowing golden eyes were snake-like, and the slit-like nostrils breathed in deeply then exhaled flames and billowing smoke. As the head rose higher, the scaled neck was exposed, and pointed frills and spines expanded from the top of its head and down its neck. It’s mouth opened and closed, molten lava dripped from its massive teeth like saliva, and its head turned as a twin head rose from the liquid beside it. They resembled dragons in a way but were more serpentine as their necks swiveled towards the waiting Draugr. Their golden eyes flashed evilly, their massive jaws slid open, and a wave of heat blasted across the floor. It hit the Draugr directly, and the rotting flesh of the undead sizzled and bubbled up.

In unison, the Draugr lifted their weapons, and a mighty cry broke from their ranks as they spread out over the room. A group of sixty-six living dead rushed for the two waiting ice demons, a second group rushed for the huge cyclops, and the rest faced off with the molten snakes. I smiled to myself as a third head rose from the lava and stared down at the oncoming troops. The Liebe didn’t know what he was doing, and this was merely child’s play for me as the hydra made entirely of lava rose from the pool and stepped out onto the rocky floor of the room. The hydra was huge, bigger than both the ice demons and the cyclops. Its three heads hung in the air, and the spikes on their heads nearly brushed the ceiling of the cavern.

I watched my creations gleefully as they waged carnage all around my dungeon. My cyclops grabbed up two of the Draugr in its four-fingered fist and squashed their bodies to mush. It no longer put them in its mouth, the stench of death too much for its stomach. The cyclops lumbered forward, swung its arms like hammers, and slammed down on the Draugrs like nails lined up on a board.

The ice demons were sadly not faring well. The poor beasts were overrun, and soon both of their colorless bodies exploded in hails of ice spears, piercing into the bodies of the Draugr’s, but they barely left scratches on the undead creatures.

The magma hydra, on the other hand, was destroying each creature that dared step into its path. All three of its heads moved in tandem, the massive jaws snapped around the Draugr, and the undead men went up into flames and fell away in a waft of smoke and the smell of burnt dead flesh. This beast was something to behold, and I knew the Liebe watched in horror as it moved blindingly fast and took out an entire row of ranks with little effort.

I laughed loudly for the other god to hear, and I heard him scoff in disgust.

Within mere minutes, there were only twenty of the Draugr left, and the hydra and Cyclops were closing in on them quickly. I had one more trick up my sleeve, and I wasn’t finished showing the Liebe what I was capable of yet. I retracted my power, and slowly, both the hydra and the Cyclops fell apart into drifting gray ash, mere puppets of my will.

The remaining Draugr didn’t notice the absence of my creations and stood stock still with their weapons poised in the air. Slowly, they lowered them, reformed what was left of their ranks, and headed off towards the archway on the opposite side of the room.

“Dark One?” the Liebe hesitantly called out as he followed along with his minions. “I know you’re still here, I can feel your dastardly presence. It reeks of brimstone and sulfur.”

I didn’t answer, and I didn’t challenge the rest of the Draugr as they trooped through the caverns and tunnels. I wanted this, and I wanted them to find my nexus and what waited patiently inside for them.

Chapter Thirteen

“Where are you?” The Liebe called out to me as he and the Draugr journeyed deeper into the heart of my dungeon. “Why aren’t you attacking me? Have you given up? It’d be better if you did.”

I only stifled a laugh as we moved even closer to my nexus. The Liebe was cocky, even now after I had bested him twice in a row, but soon, he would learn his lesson. My nexus was at the deepest point in the dungeon, the heart of all the tunnels and passageways that stemmed from it. Like all dungeons, no matter what direction or shaft you came from, it would lead to the nexus in the end so long as they were not being actively manipulated by their god. I watched the Draugr and the essence of the Liebe travel deeper, and I grew impatient to see what would happen when they entered the nexus and encountered the Soul Collector.

The archway that marked the entrance of my nexus was huge and engraved with ancient runes, but the Draugr paid them no attention. I sensed the Liebe as he stopped for a moment and glanced at the incantations placed within the smooth rock, but he paid them no heed. Instead, he passed through the archway, and only I knew this was the last place he would travel to before I finished him off. My nexus was dark and smelled of stagnant pools that dripped from the stalactites hung from the ceiling. Directly in the middle of the dark room stood the Soul Collector, and at first, nothing happened. The ruby red eyes of the Soul Collector stared straightforward into nothing, and the Draugr surrounded it warily with their weapons drawn and at the ready.

“What is this?” the Liebe snarled in indignation, and I felt the air around his presence heat up with rage. “Where is your essence? It has to be here!”

“You speak as if you know such things to be fact,” I chuckled darkly as I watched the eyes of the Soul Collector flicker once and then pulsed to life with a new brilliant light. “Like you, I can move my essence around to different planes of existence, and I’ve hidden it away from prying hands like yours. How stupid of you to assume I would keep it in my easily accessible dungeon when I’m so far away from it.”

“Then why did you fight as if you had everything to protect?” the Liebe screeched, and the Draugr turned their backs to the Soul Collector and pointed their blades instead in my general direction.

“You wanted to play a game, and I indulged your whim,” I replied darkly. “Are you happy with your choice? You challenged the most powerful god to exist and barely scraped by. I’ve had mercy on you and your minions. Even the deaths I gave your ghouls were a form of clemency.”

“Clemency?” the Liebe screamed in a rage. “They were eaten by a goddamn one-eyed ogre made of dirt! How in the hell can you call that mercy?”

I laughed at his insolence and ignorance. “It was a Cyclops.”

“It doesn’t matter what it was, it still ate them like they were treats lined up on a bakery counter!” the Liebe shouted angrily, and I relished the distress he was experiencing.

“Are you not grateful? No? Then mercy no more.” My voice boomed around the room as once more the eyes of the Soul Collector flashed hatefully, and one of the skeletal hands twitched around the bowl in its hands. I no longer spoke to the Liebe but instead to the massive creature behind him and his minions. “Awaken, I command you to rise.”

Silence enveloped the Draugr as they slowly turned and stared over their rotted shoulders at the Soul Collector. Its fleshless hands tapped menacingly along the sides of the carved skull bowl, then flipped it over and stroked the bone as the Collector pointed at the carved etchings there. Directly between the eyes of the skull, a leviathan cross was cut into the smooth, white bone.

“Ego sum quod Diabolus et ego sum euntes ut degluttiat vestra animarum,” the Soul Collector whispered softly beneath its hood. Its voice was dry and rattled deep within its throat like the skitter of dead leaves across the ground, and the sigil on its bowl glowed with crimson light.

With the crack of rock, the Collector’s stone wings spread out behind it and brushed the walls of my nexus with their massive width. I couldn’t see its face clearly, but from the casted shadows, I could make out the shape of a pointed chin and pointed yellow teeth that protruded from the thin lips. With a whisper of its unseen lips, the Soul Collector stepped off its pedestal and reached into the depth of its robes to retrieve a silver sickle. With its skull bowl in one hand, the Soul Collector raised the sickle above its head as the lips underneath the hood split into a vile smile.

In the blink of an eye, the sickle slashed down on one of the Draugr, and black, tar-like blood spurted from the undead warrior’s mouth as it held onto its split belly while its putrid intestines threatened to spill out onto the stone floor. Before the other monsters could even react, the Soul Collector lunged forward with deft precision and cleanly cut the Draugr’s head off. The decayed head rolled away into the shadows as black blood seeped up from the rotten meat of its neck.

I watched in amazement and delight as the Soul Collector’s tongue snaked out and licked its dry lips. Then it knelt in front of the headless Draugr and collected not only the congealed blood that spurted out of the headless carcass but also the sickly yellow soul that flowed from the Draugr.

At that, the remaining Draugr rushed forward with their swords held out in front of them and a collective roar sprang up their throats, but the Soul Collector righted itself and towered over the powerful undead with the very same smile in place. One Draugr ran forward and lunged with its sword, only for one of the Collector’s massive wings to swing out and slam the creature into the wall with a thundering crack. It held the bowl with ease as the Draugr slumped to the floor, and its unhealthy sallow soul whispered out of its mouth and nostrils, its gray matter splattered across the wall where it had hit.

The red eyes of the Soul Collector glittered and glowed with pleasure as its forked tongue flicked out once. As all of the Draugr converged on the Soul Collector’s turned back, it flapped its huge wings once and took to the air, and then I saw its face and knew what it was.

In my lifetime, I had only seen a true demon once, and it was clear to me what the Soul Collector was. A demon in the flesh, cursed and encased in a stone tomb almost like I once was. The creature in the air and I had an understanding that my other creations did not. It understood the pain of being locked in a crypt and the unending wait to be released. This being’s fate was worse than mine though as I was able to escape my dungeon with the help of my minions, but this demon could not.

He would forever be my slave. Perhaps I should have felt a bit of empathy for him, but I didn’t. All will end up serving me in the end.

It took mere minutes for the Soul Collector to annihilate the Draugr and pool both their black blood and souls in its bowl. The screams of the Liebe were loud in my ears as the Soul Collector replaced both of his hands around the bowl and stared down at its contents. Then It raised the bowl to its thin lips under the hood and sucked the liquid down with wet, gurgling sounds of pleasure. I watched as the forked tongue slipped out and ran over its dry lips again to pick up any stray blood it may have missed. Its whispering voices were louder now as the scarlet eyes of the Soul Collector brightened, and a humming came from deep in its throat. The creature stepped back towards its pedestal and turned once it returned to its rightful place. It held out the bowl once more, lowered its head, and the red glowing of its eyes died out below the black hood.

It was finished, and Liebe knew I had won as I always did.

Now there was only one thing left to do, so I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply as I transferred my essence across time and space. As I moved through different planes of existence, I could feel the Liebe chasing after me as he rushed to return to his dungeon, but he was too late as I opened my eyes and raised my head.

My minions had brought my avatar deep into the dungeon, and I stood in front of the heavenly body of the Liebe as his milky white eyes searched the air for something. His true form was tall and lanky, his limbs long as they stretched out into empty space. The Liebe’s face was a soft oval shape, and like most god’s who kept their heavenly forms, was beautiful in all ways. His mouth hung open in horror, and I reached deep into my void pocket and retrieved the God Slayer. The weapon sang to me as I slammed it down on the wet rock of the Liebe’s nexus. I summoned all of my power to me and pushed it deep into the depth of the weapon as its blades sang in the air like a chorus. My eyes were heavy on the face of the Liebe as he regained consciousness, and that was when I whirled the God Slayer over my head.

I wanted him to see his death coming.

The Liebe’s amber eyes widened in horror, and I smiled wickedly back as the pulsing power forming over my head trailed after my polearm. In a split second, before he could react, I brought the blades down and sliced his face in two. His lips, sliced cleanly in half, hung down in a silent scream, and he brought his hands up to protect himself, a second too late. I plunged the tip of the God Slayer deep in his throat, and blood sprayed from the wound and misted across my face. Right as I was about to pull away, two steel blades plunged through his chest, Annalise’s tensed face revealed over his shoulder as she screamed in rage. The High Queen and I pulled our weapons free at the same time, and the Liebe stumbled forward, one hand pressed to the gushing wound on his throat.

Annalise came around the god and flicked both of her swords to clean them of his sticky blood. Her beautiful face was a mask of fury, and her lips were pulled back against her teeth in a vicious snarl. I had never seen her like this, but what this deity had been doing to his townsfolk enraged my wife. As a princess and now the High Queen, she would never treat her citizens the way this god had.

“Fire in the hole!” a giggling voice came from behind me, and I whipped my head to look over my shoulder to see Carmedy knelt on one knee, her left leg held out beside her for balance. One of her emerald eyes was squeezed shut as she aimed the slingshot directly at the stumbling Liebe. The alchemist let go, and the small bundle flew through the air with deadly accuracy. It hit dead in the middle of the Liebe’s gut and exploded with such force that it blew a hole entirely through him.

Gore and chunks of flesh sprayed into the air as his glazed-over eyes widened. Blood dripped from his nose, and he blindly felt at the gaping hole in his body where most of his lower abdomen had once been. Choked off noises sprang from his throat and his wild, hazy eyes found me in the middle of his nexus. I smiled widely at him, and blood poured from his lips and dripped down his front as he stumbled towards me. He reached out for me, his grabbing hands tensed in anger as he moved to strike out weakly at me.

“Master,” a bored voice came from behind me, and I turned to face Morrigan as I easily sidestepped the wounded and dying Liebe. In the High Elf’s hands was the sacred elven bow. “Shall I send him to his grave?”

I was delighted with my minions. They had not only beaten the perils of the Liebe’s dungeon but also assisted me in killing him without having to ask for permission. I glanced down at the beautiful weapon the elf held and stepped aside, a gesture of silent permission to send the Liebe into the abyss.

As she pulled back on the bowstring, a black arrow of magical power crackled to life and moved through the air in slow motion. I watched it turn and spin as it headed directly for the Liebe’s upper chest. It slammed into him with a wet thud, and the Liebe glanced down as the magical arrow took effect. Black and purple energy swirled around the entrance wound, and the power seethed from the arrow. A fearsome wind pulled the arrow inside of the Liebe’s body, and his screams rose in pitch as his chest sank in, pulled toward the black power. The swirling mass painstakingly drew the god into the black hole it created, and soon, his screams were muffled and far away as he was swallowed by the hole and the hole along with it.

My minions and I stood silently for a moment, and slowly, from the space where the Liebe had just been standing, a shifting pink orb rose from the blood splattered floor. It undulated and bounced in the air as it moved towards me, and I stepped forward to receive the power of the Liebe. He fought hard, but like all others, he fell to my superior power and cunning in the end. The bright blush colored orb pressed into my chest and fused with my power. An overwhelming sense of warmth washed over my limbs, and for a second, a giddy feeling bubbled up in my chest. Then it was gone as I completely absorbed his power.

I turned to my companions and held out my arms for them with a wide smile, and they rushed to me. Each woman enveloped themselves deep in my embrace and snuggled into me. With the Liebe gone, the people of Eifersucht could live on peacefully without their lives being meddled with, and I was grateful to each of them for helping me defeat and kill such a horrible god.

“I wish we could tell Haruhi … ” Carmedy whimpered into my chest, and I pulled her away to look deeply in her sad emerald eyes. “She’d be so happy.”

“Maybe we can.” I smiled to her as I reached into my void pocket and pulled out the glass orb that Makar had given me back in Valasara. “I’m unsure if this will work, but we can always try.”

I held the orb in the palm of my hand, and all of my minions stared down at the shiny surface of the marble-like ball.

“Haruhi?” Rana asked it as she leaned her face closer. The orb flashed twice, but nothing else happened. Annalise pursed her lips and tilted her head at it curiously.

“Must only work for Makar, as I suspected.” I sighed as I closed my hand over the orb and moved to return it to my void pocket, but the cat-woman reached out and stopped my hand.

“Haru, are you there? Can you hear us?” Carmedy shouted in, and I furrowed my brows at her, but they lifted as a strange sound lifted from the ball.

At first, it crackled and then the sounds of waves crashing reached us. All of my minion's faces broke with shock as they heard the light humming of our second cat companion.

“Haru! Can you hear us?” Carmedy repeated, and there was a slight pause as Haruhi’s humming stopped and she listened. “Hello? Are you there?”

“What the fuck?” Haruhi’s horrified voice crackled back at the disembodied voices speaking to her, and I chuckled deeply in the back of my throat at her reaction. “Who’s there? I’ll have you know I know Tarmanian martial arts, and I can kick your ass blindfolded!”

“Haruhi,” I said calmly, and through the orb, we heard her gasp softly at the sound of my voice, “it’s us. Rana, Carmedy, Annalise, Morrigan, and Master.”

“What’s wrong?!” The white-eared cat panicked as the words flowed out of her mouth. “Are you guys hurt? Is something wrong? Are you dead and now you’re ghosts haunting me? We only met once. You shouldn’t have attached to me like that. I mean, I like you guys a lot, but uh, it’s a little weird. Do I need an exorcism? Oh gods, my grandma had an exorcism performed once when I was a kitten, and it was weird. Oh man, I don’t want to go through that.”

Carmedy covered her mouth with one black paw as she giggled.

“We are not ghosts, Haruhi, we are speaking to you through a glass orb which I believe to be an enchanted communicator,” Morrigan muttered in her emotionless voice as her dark eyes studied the glass orb in my hand.

Haruhi’s background babbling stopped abruptly. “Okay, so you’re not dead?” she asked after she took a deep breath and calmed herself.

“No, we’re not dead.” I snickered softly, and a pleased purr came from the other end of the orb, which made Rana’s red eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “We are very much alive. We wanted to contact you and let you know the good news.”

“It’s the Liebe,” the High Queen said in her serious voice, and on the other end of the orb, Haruhi went silent as she waited for us to continue.

“He’s dead,” Carmedy exclaimed excitedly, “We killed him! The people of Eifersucht are safe! No more weird kissing or touching!”

“Are you serious?” Haruhi whispered in disbelief. “Did you really?”

“Yeah! Master absorbed his power and everything!” The small alchemist cheered as she lifted one paw in the air in celebration.

“He was pretty badass.” Rana chuckled as she lovingly stroked my cheek then whispered only to me as her red tail tickled the back of my neck. “He’s pretty sexy and handsome, too.”

“Well, uh, you’re not wrong,” Haruhi admitted. She must have overheard Rana’s words, and I looked down at the orb curiously. “But thank you, all of you. The people of Eifersucht may not know what you did for them, but if they did, they would be eternally grateful. I know it for a fact.”

“Where are you now, Haruhi?” I asked with a grin.

“Oh, I’m on my way back to Canarta,” she told us in a voice that dripped with disappointment. “Should be there by the end of next month. I got my usual inn once I arrived in Tintagal, and there was a letter waiting for me there from my father. It seems his hearing has gotten worse, and he needs me to return as soon as possible.”

I could almost hear her tail lash as she added, “A customer came into our library and asked for a book called ‘Feud of Bard Alistair.' Apparently, my father misheard the first word and gave the customer something quite unsavory. I must return and stay there with him until my brother comes back from the navy next year.”

“I’m so sorry, Haruhi,” the black cat said as she reached out and held the palm I cradled the orb in. “You told us how much you liked to go on this trip, and it's so sad you won’t be able to go until next year.”

“It’s okay, Carmedy,” Haruhi muttered through a half-hearted chuckle. “I don’t mind working in the library with my father. I’m just upset I won’t be able to go on adventures and meet new people.”

“Once we move on after conquering Tintagal,” I thoughtfully stated as I stroked my chin with my free hand, “what if we were to visit you on Canarta? Are there any dungeons on the islands?”

“Absolutely!” Haru cried through the orb, and Rana snorted at the excitement in the other cat’s voice. “I know for sure there are three dungeons on Nekoka. One or two are on Mauntenraion since it’s the smallest out of all the islands, and I believe there are five or six on the main island of Kegawa, but I’ve only been there a few times so I can’t be totally sure.”

“You will be with your father at the library that entire time?” I inquired through the orb, and it crackled once more.

“Yes, I should be since my brother still has a year and a half on his contract with the navy,” Haruhi confirmed, and I could tell the brunette cat was smiling widely from the sound of her voice.

“Then once you get there, wait for us. We will visit you once we are finished with Tintagal,” I told her, and she squealed in delight in response.

We spoke to Haruhi for a short while more, then said our goodbyes through the orb. I replaced the small orb into my void pocket and smiled to all of my minions as their faces glowed in excitement. Rana cocked her hip out and gave me a lopsided smile as she sauntered over to me.

“You know, Master, I think Haruhi has a little crush on you,” the fox-woman simpered through a broad smile.

I snickered as I reached out and stroked her unruly curls. “Does she now?” I asked back as I leaned closer to her face, and she tilted her head at me as her bright blue eyes moved over my features with tenderness.

“I think so too!” the black cat said excitedly as her tail swayed behind her. Her small round face broke out into a bright smile as she rushed forward and grabbed onto my hand. “Can we make Haruhi one of our sisters? Oh please, oh please?”

“That is a discussion for another time,” I said gently as I pulled them all to my side. “For now, we must focus on finding the Liebe’s treasure and our way back to the Bantams.”

By the time my shadow slaves gathered the chests full of loot and we made it out of the Liebe’s empty dungeon with our still-safe Bantams, the sun was starting to set, and the sky between the tops of the trees were bruised deep purples and navy blues. We set up our tent and brought our Bantams inside with us to protect them from the icy wind that blew in between the trees. The five birds snuggled up together with their large heads underneath their wings while Carmedy fawned over them and clasped her paws to her chest as she cooed sweetly at the birds.

As soon as my shadow slaves brought in the trunks of treasure, Rana dove in and ripped them open with determination. The fox searched through each of the trunks carefully but didn’t find what she was looking for. None of the Liebe’s treasure held anything interesting or any of the sacred items, but the amount of gold in each trunk was overwhelming as we picked through it together. With the amount of gold we had already collected, we would be the wealthiest people in the kingdoms, not including the riches we would take from other dungeons along the way.

My minions and the children I would give to them eventually would want for nothing.

I watched them as they busied themselves around the tent and prepared for our evening meal. I loved all of them, and in a way, I owed them my life. They had already given me so much, and I would repay them lavishly once the earth and heavens were under my control. I knew each woman had different dreams for the future, and I wanted them to have anything their hearts desired. Soon enough, I would give it to them.

I reached out my right hand and stroked the chestnut braid of my high queen. She turned to me with a wide smile and placed her armor-covered hand over mine. I had married one, and I knew the thought was heavy on the minds of the other three. They were my obedient minions, and ultimately, all of them would be my dutiful wives. It was a day I too longed for, when we would officially be a family and united as one. It was a dream of the distant future, but it came closer by each day and each dungeon that we seized.

Chapter Fourteen

The journey to Kanashimi on our Bantams wasn’t as rough as the trek to the Liebe’s dungeon, and it would only take us a day and a half to reach the outskirts of the city. The trip up the island was beautiful, and each plateau and break in the massive trees gave us magnificent views of the rolling river surrounding the island and the white ice on the horizon. The forest that led up to Kanashimi was teeming with life. The underbrush was lush with green leaves despite the cold climate and every once in a while, we’d pass a few white lilies nodding their heads in the soft breeze that brushed through the forest.

For such a high elevation, the air was warmer than it should be, and at one point, my minions had to strip off their heavy coats and fan themselves from the unusual heat. I knew for a fact it was summer even though Tintagal and Tamarisch were still freezing, but here, this high up on the island, it seemed like spring was just coming to Kanashimi. I glanced back at my minions, and their faces were serene as we rode our Bantams.

“Is it normally this warm up here?” Rana asked Annalise.

“It's been like this for thousands of years,” the High Queen nodded gently as the breeze pushed her chestnut braid back over her shoulder. “It’s usually not this warm, but it’s been a good year for Machstein, especially the city of Kanashimi.”

“It is unnatural,” Morrigan muttered in her emotionless voice as she gathered her long white hair and lifted it from her neck. “The higher the elevation is, the colder it is supposed to be.”

“Is it the Tichádáma?” Carmedy questioned from the back of our group, and when I peeked over my shoulder, I chuckled as she reclined leisurely on the back of her bird with her feet up on the saddle.

“Yes,” my wife answered confidently as she nodded her head once. “Unlike most gods, the Tichádáma is benevolent and good to the people of Kanashimi. She gives them bountiful harvests and even a warmer climate that is not normal for this part of the country.”

“How is that possible?” Rana asked. “I know we’ve met a climate god and a god who can control the forest, but how can one god completely change the weather on the top of a mountain?”

Carmedy stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Master, is that normal? For a god to do these type of things for the people who live in the city close to their dungeons?” the alchemist called up to me, and I thought on her question for a moment.

“All four of you come from a time where the worship of gods has been forgotten,” I began slowly. “Back before I was cast out of the heavens, the worship of gods was a normal part of most societies’ routine. There were temples on every street corner in every city where the people could go and pray to the god of their choosing, and most homes had shrines in them. Those practices have been lost to time I see, and most of the temples I remember have crumbled to dust.”

My minions listened in rapt attention, all their focus on me as I continued.

“Back when I was still in the god’s realm, there was one certain city in particular I liked to watch over. I won’t tell you the name because I assume that too has been lost to time, but they had an entire complex dedicated to worshipping me. It was massive, six temples, forty shrines within the complex, and thousands of priests and priestess who held services and rituals in my honor. It’s gone now … the last time I checked in on the complex, it was forgotten and nearly submerged by sand. The city that used it daily was gone, too.”

“Oh, Master,” the cat breathed sadly as she sat up and stared deeply into my eyes, “That’s so awful.”

“It’s quite alright, Carmedy,” I comforted her with a small smile. “It only shows the gods have been too lenient while I’ve been gone. I must teach them the way a true god rules.”

“Do you think the people of Kanashimi are worshipping the Tichádáma?” the curly haired fox questioned as she tilted her head at me.

“That is the one thing I can commend the Tichádáma for,” I stated as I ran my eyes over the forest around us. “She has not forgotten the old ways. She has taught the people of Kanashimi ‘give, and you shall receive.’ Look at the way this forest is full of life and plants that should be dead from the cold are thriving. As Morrigan said, it’s unnatural for an elevation this high.” I watched as the high elf looked lovingly at the trees and the squirrels that chased each other up and down the wood. “If you close your eyes, and breath in deeply, you can sense her everywhere up here. She has touched almost every single living thing on the higher points of this island.”

“It almost makes me sad we have to kill her,” the alchemist breathed, and I inclined my head to her as her black ears lowered themselves to the sides of her head. “All the other gods who we’ve killed so far have done nothing for the people who live near them. Heck, that one god in the desert of Valasara was mutilating people to create those freaky puppets.”

“Yes,” I nodded as I lowered my head, “and that is why I believe Haruhi asked we give her a death befitting a true god instead of the usual slaughter we bring upon them.”

“But isn’t this detrimental to the people of Kanashimi?” Annalise asked as she gestured towards the lively forest around us. “What have the people of Kanashimi done to deserve special treatment? I could understand if it were a whole nation or the span of different countries, but this is a single island. What’s going to happen to them when we kill the Tichádáma? I’m assuming the climate and forest will return to what they once were before her dungeon was here, and the city of Kanashimi will die off just like the city that once worshipped you did. She’s not helping them, she’s giving them a disability when she dies off.”

“Very clever,” I praised with a wide smile, but then I lifted a single finger into the air to silence my minions in this teachable moment. “Do any of you know what a sigil is?”

Annalise, Carmedy, and Rana glanced at each other with wide eyes then shook their heads with confused faces, but Morrigan’s plump lips spread into a sly smile as her dark eyes flashed with knowing. “A sigil is a sign or symbol with magical properties. They are both used in white and black magic.”

“Morrigan is correct,” I said as I pointed at her, and the white-haired elf bowed her head shyly as her cheeks dusted a soft pink. “But sigils are not only used in white and black magic. All gods from the heavenly realm have a single discernable sigil. We all know deities have their divine name, but each also has a magical sigil unique to the god who it represents.”

“Wow,” Carmedy sighed loudly as she stroked her tail, “there’s so much about gods I didn’t know.”

“Now, I want each of you to look at the trunks of these trees and tell me what you see as we pass,” I instructed them, and they obeyed as our Bantams carried us farther down the beaten path.

Silence prevailed as each of my minions squinted down at the trunks of the trees, and I knew it might take them a while before one of them noticed it as I had when we first entered the domain of the Tichádáma. The black-haired cat scrutinized each tree with squinted eyes and pressed her tongue into the corner of her mouth thoughtfully. My wife went as far as to grip onto her reins and lean off her Bantam to stare down at each trunk that came by. To my surprise, the pale elf’s eyes turned wholly black as she glared down at each tree with disdain, and Rana pointed at her with mock shock plastered across her face.

“Cheater! Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!” the fox cried through a smile, and the elf’s eyes returned to normal as she rolled them in defeat.

“It is not cheating if I use the gifts that have been given to me,” Morrigan assured the redhead, but Rana shook her head, not letting it go.

“Master did tell us to use our eyes,” the alchemist whispered over to her pale sister, and the elf sighed loudly as she hung her head back and stared up at the sky.

“I was using my eyes, was I not?” the elf asked back with a soft chuckle.

“Yeah,” Carmedy agreed as she stared hard at one tree in particular, “but he didn’t say you could use your power. That gives you an unfair adv-- Hey! I think I found it!”

The cat-girl stopped her Bantam with a quick pull of the reigns, and Kura squawked loudly in protest. Carmedy hastily comforted the bird and apologized for startling her, then turned back to me with a broad smile.

“A swirl! It’s a swirl sigil carved into the trunk of the tree!” the cat cried excitedly, and I nodded once in approval.

“There’s one here too,” my wife said as she moved her bird over to the opposite side of the path and pointed down. “What is it, Master? Why do these trees have a sigil carved into them?”

“Going back to what you said earlier,” I said as I gestured towards Annalise, and all of my minions turned to face me with interested expressions. “You asked how Kanashimi would survive without the gifts and protection of the Tichádáma. The city will go unchanged without her because she has ensured that it will. Each of these sigils was put in place personally, and they will go unchanged by the passage of time. Even the plants, if you were to examine them at a minuscule level, they too would have the sigil of the Tichádáma.”

“Master, what does the swirl sigil mean? Does it have a specific significance?” Morrigan questioned as her dark eyes moved over the sigil carved into each tree.

“Yes, of course it does.” I nodded as I urged my Bantam forward and my minions followed obediently after as I spoke. “Each of the god’s sigils has a hidden meaning to it. The swirl signifies the journey and change of life as it unfolds before us. The voyage of taking a labyrinth-like passage that leads to the source of all meaning, our death, and ascension into the afterlife.”

“Are gods given sigils or do they choose them for themselves?” my wife asked from behind me, and my eyes dropped to the dirt path in front of my bird.

I thought back on my life and the sigil I was given at birth that was ripped away from me when I tumbled from the god’s realm. “Sigils are given to gods at birth from their parents, kind of like a hope for the future of their child. Once gods are thrown from the heavens, the sigil is ripped away from them, but for some reason, it seems the Tichádáma was allowed to keep hers, or perhaps she fashioned a new one for herself. The most believable of the two is the latter as I don’t know of any god that was cast out who was allowed to keep their holy sigil.”

“Did you have a sigil, Master?” Carmedy asked as she encouraged her Bantam closer to mine.

I finally lifted my head and gave her a sad smile.

“I did,” I whispered as I remembered the sign my parents had passed down to me from generations ago.

“Can you show us?” the High Elf pressed with a raised eyebrow.

“No, I no longer bear the sign of the gods,” I told them and raised my head to the path in front of us in determination. “In the heavens, we possess sacred bodies. That is how we show ourselves to our followers, but once a god is cast out of the god’s realm, their sacred body is revoked. That is why you found me only as my essence, and I first formed this avatar in resemblance to the body I once owned. The sigil is burned into the flesh of the back of our hands for all to see and know us to be deities.”

“So, you were just as handsome in the heavens as you are now?” the cat purred loudly, and my queen chuckled at the comment but didn’t disagree.

“I would say I am more so, thanks to your desires,” I joked as I remembered the time my minions changed my face to their liking back in my dungeon.

“If you say your face resembles your heavenly body, do you look like your parents?” Rana asked as she petted her Bantam’s feathers softly with one paw.

“Do you look more like your mom or your dad? I look like my mom, thankfully.” Carmedy laughed, but I stayed silent. We were encroaching on a subject that was not only uncomfortable for me, but a part of my life I had yet to tell my lovers about for their own protection.

“What does your mom look like, Carmedy?” I questioned slyly as I avoided the question she had asked. “You’ve never told us what your parents look like.”

“Well, as I said, I look a lot like my mom, but I get my green eyes from my dad,” the feline spouted off, and I glanced back at her as she dived deeper into her descriptions of her parents. “My two brothers look like they could be my dad’s twins. My mom is a short-haired cat with black fur, and my dad has really fluffy fur, almost like Haruhi’s but not as downy and soft.”

Annalise’s narrowed eyes caught my attention, and she raised a single eyebrow at me in question but then lowered it as she realized I wasn’t going to answer what she wanted to know, not yet at least. Our talk drifted into more casual things as we pressed on.

We finally reached the edge of the city of Kanashimi after a day and a half, and from where we stood in the middle of the wide road, I could see the highest point of the island was the cone of what used to be a massive volcano. Kanashimi was smaller than Eifersucht but much prettier. Our party first came upon rolling plowed fields. People in work clothes raised their heads to us as they worked in the field, and some waved while others only stared as we moved past. I assumed the citizens of Kanashimi were unaccustomed to visitors, as most people stopped in the port town of Eifersucht then jumped on the next boat and never ventured to the upper city.

As we entered through a large, curved iron archway that stood outside of the city, a large stone building loomed directly in front of us from the main road. It looked like a municipal building, but from the servants and butlers bustling to and from its doors, I knew it had to be the home of the lord of this city. A wrought iron fence blocked its yard from access, and from between the bars, we were given a view of its magnificent and lush grass and the flowers planted along the walkways into a blooming garden.

“Are they having a party?” Carmedy asked as she ran her eyes over the city’s streets, and I took notice, too.

Strung from building to building and over our heads were red paper lanterns that swung from their strings. In between each light, a long yellow ribbon hung with foreign characters written down its middle. Empty food carts and stalls lined the street with red-and-gold cloth covers on them. Even the side-streets and alleyways were packed with the same, and people bustled on the cobblestones in the same color dress as the decorations.

“Hey,” Rana said as she grabbed a passing girl in a blood red dress by the arm, the shawl wrapped around her shoulders woven with gold thread. The fox-woman gestured to the decorations and the structures in the street. “What’s going on?”

“You must not be from around here,” the girl said with a smile. She looked to be about sixteen, and her long black hair was woven into an intricate braid across the top of her head with gold and red ribbon working its way through the pitch-black locks. “It’s the full moon tonight.”

“So it’s a full moon festival?” Carmedy asked with a tilt of her head as she held her tail firmly between both paws.

“No, it’s in celebration of the Wailing,” the girl told us as she held a basket full of carrots, turnips, and three heads of lettuce. “It only takes place on nights of the full moon.” She readjusted the basket and held it on her hip as she pointed high above our heads to the steep side of the island. “It’s a grand festival in celebration of all the things the Dáma has given us.”

High up where the young girl pointed, I saw what I had seen from the ship a few days prior. A clear path was cut through the side of the island and was marked by more bobbing lanterns and yellow ribbons. I followed the trail with my eyes to the gaping mouth of a cave, and there were two golden pillars on each side of the opening. This was the entrance to the dungeon of the Tichádáma.

“At the end of the festival, we gather our offerings and take them up the mountain to give them to her at the cave mouth,” the dark-haired girl said with a wide grin, and from the way her eyes took on a glossy appearance, I knew this was a vital ritual for the people of Kanashimi.

“She receives the gifts? So she comes out of the dungeon, and you give them to her?” Annalise bluntly asked, and the teenager's face fell.

“No,” she admitted sadly as her head lowered. “No one has seen the Dáma in person for thousands of years.”

“Then how do you know she receives them?” Morrigan asked coldly with a single lifted eyebrow.

“We slide the offerings down to her, and … it’d be better if you came and witnessed it for yourselves. It’s so magical and moving.” The teenager giggled then she thrust out a tanned hand towards me. “My name is Popī, my father owns the largest pension house in Kanashimi. You all should come stay with us and experience the Wailing for yourselves.”

I took her much smaller hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze as I gestured towards my minions with my free hand. “I am Master, and these are my women, Rana, Carmedy, Annalise, and Morrigan.”

Popī’s smooth face fell as her dark brown eyes fell upon Annalise. Then the young woman dropped the basket she was holding, fell to her knees, and bowed to the High Queen. One head of lettuce rolled away comically, but I stopped it with my foot and picked it up before it could escape. Popī’s hands were pressed into the dirt in front of her in a show of respect.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you, Your Highness,” Popī mumbled into the ground, but Annalise only laughed lightly and pulled the girl upright by the shoulder.

“It’s okay,” my wife said as she dusted off Popī’s beautifully made dress. “Don’t worry with the formalities or honorifics. You can just call me Annalise.”

“O-okay, A-Annalise,” the dark-haired teenager whispered, and I bent down and picked up her discarded basket. I placed the escaped head of lettuce inside and offered it to her. She took it back with trembling hands and avoided eye contact with the brunette.

I watched with a broad smile as all of my minions bent down and helped collect the strewn-about vegetables and placed them back in Popī’s wicker basket. The small teenager thanked each of them but kept her face low out of respect of the High Queen.

“Popī,” I rumbled in my deep voice, and her head lifted slightly to glance at me shyly. “You said your father owns a pension house, where can we find it?”

“I can take you there if you just follow me,” she muttered as she took a tentative step forward and motioned with a brown hand for us to follow.

Popī wasn’t lying when she had said it was the largest pension house in all of Kanashimi. The inn was a sprawling building decorated, like most of the city, in golds and bright scarlets, but it towered above us, six stories high with large balconies on each level. It was built in a large U shape, and in the middle was a luxurious garden filled with exotic flowers that were only found on the island, perhaps only in the city of Kanashimi. In the middle of the garden was a large pond filled with dog-sized orange and black spotted fish.

As we came upon the building, a young man with the same hair color and face shape as Popī was climbing up a ladder out front and replacing the sign. The teenager rushed forward and steadied the ladder right as it wobbled and started to slide off the building. The man, who looked to be about my swordswoman’s age, laughed loudly and wiped the sweat from his brow as he glanced down at what had to be his younger sister.

“Whoa there, be careful, Tanik,” Popī yelled up to him, and he nodded to her as he grabbed onto the edge of the first balcony and grabbed for the sign with his other hand.

“Golden Thirteen,” Carmedy said as she read the sign Popī’s older brother was taking down, “Why are you taking the sign down? Are you renaming the inn?”

“Sorta.” The teenager shrugged as she led us up onto the whitewashed porch and held open a large wooden door for us. “It’s kind of a running joke with my parents.”

The front room where the dark-haired girl brought us into was huge and loud with the squabbling of children ranging from the ages of one to eighteen. They chased after each other, some played games on the bright wooden floors, and I watched as Popī perilously picked her way through them. As before with the dark-haired man named Tanik outside, I could spot the family resemblance between all of them quickly as the teenager turned back around and motioned for us to follow with a bright smile. We did, and the crowd of children parted for us as we met Popī at the back of the room at a long mahogany desk. Behind the counter, an array of golden keys hung from the walls with different tags with room numbers on them.

A tall man stood behind the desk in a tan apron, and round horn-rimmed glasses sat on his pointed nose. When the stranger lifted his head to my minions and I, he gave us a broad smile and boomed, “Welcome to the Golden Fourteen, may I interest you in a room?”

“Papa, these are my foreigner friends,” she said as she gestured towards us. “Master, Carmedy, Morrigan, Rana, and uh, the High Queen.”

Popī’s father’s mouth dropped open as he stared at Annalise, and my wife shifted uncomfortably on her feet, not used to the attention nor formalities these people showed her. The man moved backward and started to drop to the floor just as the teenager had before, but my wife’s mouth dropped open, and she rushed forward to stop him.

“No, no, it’s okay, you don’t have to be so formal with me,” the queen said in a rush. “You can just call me Annalise, and you don’t have to bow or anything. I’d really prefer it if you didn’t.”

Popī’s father slowly righted himself, but his eyes remained glossy and shocked.

“We would like to rent two rooms please.” I grinned as I reached into the void pocket for some coin.

“T-that’ll be one hundred and fifty for both,” Popī’s father stuttered with his dark brown eyes still locked on the swordswoman. I counted out the amount and didn’t fight the price as I had before with the Bantam seller. It seemed a fair price for both rooms.

“Shida,” an airy, feminine voice called through the door to the man’s left, “stop gawping at the poor girl. She already told you to leave it be.”

The woman who came through the door was medium height, and her long dark hair was done up in a braid similar to Popī’s, but the facial features were softer and more rounded than her daughter’s. She stepped carefully behind the desk and placed a hand over her swollen pregnant belly as she came to stand beside the man named Shida.

“In case he didn’t introduce himself, this is my husband, Shida, and I’m Yuri. I see you’ve met Popī. I’d introduce you to our other children,” she smiled as she gestured towards the rowdy brood playing and singing on the other side of the room, “but they won’t sit still long enough to say their names. You all must be Rana, Carmedy, Morrigan, Master, and of course, Annalise. I took a mental note of them from the other room. I hope I won’t mix them up. Once I have faces to put to names, I never get them wrong.”

The pregnant woman moved around her husband and snatched up two sets of keys and handed them over to me with a warm smile. I took them gently, and she nodded curtly to me.

“Popī said you’re foreigners, are you here for the Wailing?” Yuri asked as she leaned back against the counter and sighed, one hand rested on her round belly. “Not many outsiders come for the festival, well, not many outsiders come here at all. It’d be nice to have some new faces there for once.”

We could already tell the citizens of Kanashimi adored the Tichádáma, and I knew if we mentioned we were here to conquer the dungeon and kill the goddess, we would most likely be kicked out on our backs. I glanced at my minions, and all of their beautiful faces were constricted with the same dilemma I faced. I turned back to Yuri and Shida with a tight smile and quickly came up with a believable excuse.

“We’re adventurers,” I told them, keeping the lie close to the truth without telling them the whole reason we were here.

“Adventurers on the search of delicious food from all over the world!” Carmedy shouted as she came forward. The black-haired cat pressed herself against the desk and leaned toward Yuri. “Listen here, lady, you’re pregnant, I’ve got an empty stomach. Do you know what we have in common? We’re both hungry! Now, what kind of scrumptious grub do you have in a swanky place like this?”

Shida and Yuri glanced at each other with blank faces for a few moments, then Yuri burst out laughing. The pregnant woman reached out and patted my alchemist’s paw softly as she chortled, “To be completely honest, Carmedy, wasn’t it? I’m a god-awful cook, but there should be lots of different foods you can try at the festival later today.”

“So, you’re traveling food critics?” Popī asked with a scrunched up nose as she eyed Annalise.

The High Queen jumped and then nodded vehemently as sweat beaded on her forehead. Carmedy saw the swordswoman’s distress and grabbed the teenager by the shoulder and gave her a dramatic shake.

“Yes! We’re food critics and if I don’t get something to fill my belly soon I will … ” The feline scrambled for the right words to say as she ran her emerald eyes over the expansive room. “ … critically assess this pension house in a bad light! Food, Popī! I need it!”

“Oh! Um, I-I can make you something to tide you over until the festival, is that all right?” Popī stuttered as her brown eyes widened, and Carmedy gave her one last shake for good measure before she let go.

“Yes! Food, Popī! Bring it to me!” the cat-girl shouted melodramatically as Popī scurried away through the door her mother had come in. “Preferably a pie, Popī, and not one of those weird pies with meat in them where you call them a pie, but they’re not really a pie! Pie, fruit filling, baked crust!”

“I didn’t know food critics were this demanding,” Shida whispered into his wife’s ear.

Yuri shrugged and gestured vaguely in the swordswoman’s direction. “It’s the High--Annalise, give them whatever they want,” she muttered back with a chortle.

“Maybe I should have charged them more for the room … ” Shida murmured thoughtfully to his pregnant wife, and Yuri slapped the back of her husband’s head with a disappointed frown and disappeared into the doorway her daughter had gone into.

Shida showed us to our rooms which were all the way on the top floor. The two bedrooms were directly next to each other, and Rana slammed open the door as soon as the innkeeper unlocked it for her. He chuckled and unlocked the second door, and opened it for Morrigan and I. The rooms were handsomely decorated just like the rest of the pension house, and once we stepped out onto the balcony, it gave us a stunning view of the city and the path leading up to the Tichádáma’s dungeon. It was much warmer here than it was in the forest, and all of my minions stripped out of their heavy coats and threw themselves in the wicker chairs on the balcony to rest.

“When does the festival start?” I asked Shida before he could slip out the door, and the dark-haired man turned with a broad grin.

“Once the sun goes down and the moon comes up. The lanterns,” he pointed towards the red lanterns dipping in a soft breeze, “we will light them, and that’s the signal for all of the townsfolk that the festival is starting.”

“Ah, I see. Thank you for everything, Shida,” I said as I lowered my head to him, and he bowed to me.

“If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to call for one of us,” the innkeeper said as he closed the door behind him.

The rest of the day moved slowly as we lazed about our rooms and the balcony. Carmedy curled up in a chair and promptly fell asleep to the soft sounds of people chattering below, I watched each of my women as they moved about our rooms, and Annalise found a worn leather book and snuggled herself down in a comfortable wicker chair to read. It was the first time in a few days that we were allowed any downtime as we waited for the festival to start, and I enjoyed the calm silence of my minions.

Rana sat on the wooden floor between my legs and reclined her head back in my lap, and her bright blue eyes opened and closed lazily as she stared up into my face lovingly. I ran my fingers through the soft curls of the fox-woman’s hair, and her red tail thumped hard against the wood flooring.

Morrigan stood at the railing of the balcony, wearing the plain black dress she had on underneath the red coat. Her wispy white hair blew in the wind as she leaned out and examined the shops far below us.

“What do you think this Wailing will entail, Master?” the pale elf asked over her shoulder as she leveled her dark eyes in my direction. “That girl Popī said it would be the townspeople giving offerings to the Tichádáma, but it seems strange to me.”

“Leaving offerings for the gods is not unheard of,” I told her. “In fact, during my time, it was something you were supposed to do when visiting a temple or shrine. You leave gifts for the god in exchange for something, like an answered prayer.”

Morrigan blinked as she thought over my words. Then the elf turned her head back to the streets and watched people pass by below as they prepared for the festivities.

“I only say that because it seems strange to me,” the High Elf said as she tucked her snow-white hair over her shoulder and out of her stunning face. “As you said, maybe it comes from the time we live in, but there is something amiss. I do not like the unwillingness to speak about the happenings of this ritual. I come from a society of people who have many rituals and ceremonies that take place each day, and if you were to ask, I would tell you of them.”

“You would tell me because I am your Master, would you not? If it were any other person, you wouldn’t.” I chuckled to her, and Morrigan turned to face me fully this time. Her lips were pressed into a hard line, but I could tell she was struggling not to smile.

She sighed loudly and ran a pale, delicate hand through her hair. “Maybe you are right, maybe Popī is right, and we will have to see this Wailing with our own eyes to understand its beauty.”

Chapter Fifteen

As Shida said, once night descended upon Kanashimi, the red lanterns strewn about the city lit up one by one and citizens poured into the street. My minions and I watched as vendors striped off the covers of each cart and got to work cooking foods at each separate station. As darkness took over the city, the once warm air of afternoon and evening turned chilly, and my minions put their coats back on one by one. When we were ready, we tramped down the stairs single file. The front room which had been bursting with life earlier in the day was now silent and completely clear of children as Shida and Yuri prepared for the festival also.

Yuri and Shida were dressed in formal clothes similar to the ones that Popī wore earlier, adorned in bright red and gold silks, each article intricately embroidered. They nodded to us as they locked up the pension house and walked off into the crowd hand in hand. They were a fine-looking couple, Shida was tall and thin with an angular face and sharp features, and Yuri the exact opposite, short and ever so slightly stout with her protruding belly. The dark-haired woman had very soft features, round cheeks, and large eyes. I liked them immediately, they were good people and ran a respectable business while rearing their growing family. Though the inn was a little too loud for my taste, Shida and Yuri’s children were polite and well-mannered.

My minions and I stood on the porch for a short while and watched the jovial crowd pass. Everyone wore the same colors, but each outfit was different in its own way, and I could tell they were all handmade. A group of male teenagers passed, and each boy toted a large banner on a wooden pole, and I examined them with interest. Each picture on the flags was hand painted and expertly made, like everything else at this festival. The paintings were of a beautiful woman with long flowing black hair, and if I were to guess, the banners depicted the Tichádáma herself.

Popī told us the Dáma hadn’t been seen in thousands of years, but from the commonalities in each of the paintings, this had to be at least a resemblance of the real goddess. Her face was long and oval-shaped, her bright gray eyes were soft and slanted in slightly, giving her a kind and benevolent appearance. The goddess was adorned not in reds and golds but instead whites and soft grays that signified honor and purity. The Dáma wore long, billowing robes, the sleeves of the gown were long and bell-shaped, and her long-fingered, delicate hands were pressed together in one of the depictions. She was a very beautiful deity, and her face had a familiarity I couldn’t quite place.

“Master, I know it is not what my sisters would like to do,” Morrigan said from my elbow, and I turned my head to look at the emotionless elf, “but I think it would be best if we infiltrated the Tichádáma’s dungeon while everyone is at the festival.”

The High Elf’s stare was hard and cold, and the faces of my other three minions fell at her words. I could see the excitement for the festival die in each of them. Carmedy especially, who had been rocking back and forth on her feet happily, now dropped her hands to her sides, and her twitching black ears lowered in disappointment.

What the pale woman said was true. It would be the best time to take over the dungeon while the whole city was distracted, but all throughout the day, my minions had been fed little tidbits about the celebration that slowly built into their pent-up anticipation. I moved my eyes to each minion. I started first with Morrigan then worked my way through them and ended with the upset black cat as she sadly stroked her tail.

I didn’t like disappointing my minions, especially now when the city was nearly bursting with music and the chatter of happy citizens. I had to admit I too wanted to go to the festival and to see this Wailing everyone spoke so highly about. From where we stood on the porch, I could lean out and view hundreds of different carts selling food, and others promised games and prizes. There were even some stalls of merchants I was particularly interested in. I met Morrigan’s cold stare and gave her a smile as I brought the pale elf to my side and held her there softly.

“That is an excellent idea, my love,” I uttered as I stroked her snow-white hair. Her face didn’t change from its usual cool demeanor, but the faces of my other three minions fell even more from over her shoulder. “But you know, I’ve never been to a festival like this before. I’ve seen them happen, witnessed them from the god’s realm, but was never able to actually go to one. How about, just this once, we enjoy ourselves and immerse in their culture?”

“As you wish, Master.” The white-haired woman bowed her head to me, then brought it back up with a small smile, and her cheeks tinted pink as she spoke again. “I have no qualms with your decision. In fact, I hoped that would be your answer.”

“Don’t scare us like that, Elfy,” Rana shouted as she placed her paws on Morrigan’s shoulders and gave her a rough shake. “We seriously thought you were going to try and ruin all of the fun!”

“Please, do not call me that name.” Morrigan giggled as she placed a hand over one of the paws on her shoulder. “I simply made an observation no one else had … Foxy.”

“Did you … you just … ” the redhead stuttered in disbelief as she dropped her hands from the elf’s shoulders. “Y-you just gave me a nickname! A nickname from the elf herself!”

“I like it.” Carmedy nodded with a grin.

“It suits you perfectly.” Annalise laughed as she ruffled the unruly curls atop Rana’s head, and the fox slapped the swordswoman’s hands away with a lopsided smirk.

With a chuckle, I led my women out into the middle of the street and into the crowd. They followed after me and kept tightly to my side in case they got separated from our group. The red lanterns hanging from above bathed the street in a sultry glow, and when I glanced back at my minions, they looked beautiful as ever, and I could easily imagine them dressed in the same dresses of red and gold that other women in the crowd wore.

Carmedy, of course, was the first to break from our little group, and she headed towards a cart selling some type of exotic meat. Behind the wheeled cart, the vendor had set up a primitive fire pit with a cast iron grill placed over the crackling fire. The sizzling meat was sold by the stick, and the feline ordered three and quickly downed the first two.

“What are you eating?” Rana asked as she sniffed at the skewer the alchemist held towards her nose.

“I’m not sure, but it’s delicious!” the dark-haired girl chirped as she turned back to the vendor. “Sir, what is this called?”

The vendor turned his head with a broad smile as he flipped another skewer over the fire. “That’s marinated Bantam drizzled with Machstein honey, miss.”

“B-bantam? L-like the big birds?” the feline asked as the last skewer wobbled in her paw. “Like the really big ones people r-ride around?”

“Yes, miss,” the owner said as he rose to his feet, and his brows furrowed in concern. “Is there something wrong? You look pale, is it undercooked? I can get you another one, free of charge.”

“I feel sick,” Carmedy groaned as she thrust the last skewer into the fox’s paw. Rana shrugged and bit into the meat. Then her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she savored the taste.

“Oh man, Carmedy, this is great. Are you sure you don’t want it?” the redhead said through a mouthful, but the alchemist shook her head and covered her mouth.

“No, you can have the rest of it. I don’t think I can eat for the rest of the ni-- Oh! They have cupcakes over there!” The cat ran off towards another cart, and my minions and I laughed at the feline’s change in attitude when it came to food.

The night went on, and we stuffed our bellies full of different foods. We even played some of the games that were advertised by certain stalls. Rana especially liked a small fishing game where the goal was to scoop up as many fish as one could in a cup in a set time for a prize. The redhead scooped up as many fish as she could with her cup, and when the vendor turned his back, she reached her paw in and snatched up more. She then slipped them into her cup, and when the owner turned back around, his eyes bulged at the amount she had collected. He squinted his eyes down at my fox companion but said nothing when I raised my eyebrows menacingly at him and dared him to accuse her of cheating. In the end, my foxy companion walked away with the largest prize the vendor had.

When I turned back to speak to my minions, someone bumped into me. It was a man so short I had to crane my neck down to look into his face. He was shorter than Carmedy and probably Haruhi too. He wasn’t wearing red or gold like the other festival-goers but instead whites and grays like the depictions of the Tichádáma. His face was square, but his jawline was soft and feminine. He stared up at me suspiciously, and I glared down at him with raised eyebrows as I waited for the apology that should have been coming since he bumped into me.

“You’re one of the foreigners I’ve been hearing about, aren’t you?” he asked in an unpleasant nasal voice.

I blinked down at him with disdain. “I am,” I boomed in my deep voice as he squinted up at me, “and you are?”

“I am Lord Akuno,” he said proudly as he adjusted his white robe and gave me a pious look. “I’m the ruler of this land and proprietor of this festival. You must have seen my manor when you first entered the city. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

I already didn’t like this man. Any man who put wealth and prestige before honor was nothing but a sniveling weasel. He had only said a few words to me, and I already could tell he was pompous and full of himself.

“Are you trying to impress me?” I asked as I tilted my head at him, and he flinched slightly in my commanding presence.

“We don’t get many outsiders who visit the city, so as the lord, I demand to know why you are here?” Akuno asked as he puffed himself up and tried to make himself appear taller in my towering shadow.

“It simply is none of your business.” I laughed as I waved him off, but the lord didn’t move an inch, and when I attempted to walk away, he moved into my path stubbornly.

“You and your women could be thieves or threats to my city,” the short man shouted, and a few passing citizens glanced warily in our direction. “I demand to know what you’re doing here in Kanashimi.”

“I can assure you we are no threat to Kanashimi or its people,” I growled between my teeth. “We are passing through on our journey. Please move out of my way, or I will make you.”

Though Akuno recoiled, he refused to step out of my path.

“I am the blessed protector of Kanashimi, a title that has been passed down through my family for generations from the Tichádáma herself, and I demand to know your reasoning for staying here in my city!” The short man’s face was beet red now as he screamed.

“A title from the Tichádáma, you say?” I questioned with interest.

Akuno seemed to calm down as he smoothed the front of his robes with chubby, little hands. “Yes, my great ancestor Yoi was given the title thousands of years ago before the Tichádáma fell from the heavens, and it has been passed down through my family,” he informed me with an arrogant smirk. “Once the Dáma fell to earth, we kept our faith strong in her, and she has blessed us each year tenfold.”

“Tenfold, you say?” I asked as I stroked my chin with mock thoughtfulness. “So, you have bountiful harvests each year?”

“Enough to feed each house four meals a day with some to spare.” Akuno nodded haughtily as he rested his hands over his belly.

“I heard from people in Tamarisch that you have enough food barely to go around, and that’s why you cannot trade with the Tamarischian merchants who stop here,” I said with mock confusion.

“Why would we want to trade with the Tamarischian scum when we have Tintagal, their leader, and their leader’s money on our side?” Akuno sniveled through a dastardly grin.

“From what I heard, Akuno, Tamarisch has been very good to you. Are you turning your back on them for Baudouin and his riches?” I asked as I raised my eyebrow in surprise and took one threatening step towards the much smaller man.

“Tamarisch turned its back on Machstein, and Machstein should do the same,” Akuno stated boldly.

I crossed my arms over my chest as I stared down at this insolent, money-hungry weasel. “I must tell my wife then, she will be very displeased with this information.” I snorted through my nose as I scanned the crowd for the proud brunette.

“Your wife is of no consequence,” he snapped as he lifted his nose into the air. “Why would I care what you tell her?”

I chuckled darkly as I spotted my swordswoman and gestured with my head for her to come to my side.

“Akuno, I have friends in Tamarisch, very good friends who would be quite dismayed to hear that you’ve thrown off the Tamarischian protection they’ve given you so far. In fact,” I said as Annalise reached us and I brought her to my side in front of the lord of Kanashimi, “I’m married to the High Queen.”

Annalise stared down at Akuno with a coldness in her eyes I had never seen before. The swordswoman hadn’t heard the meat of our conversation, but she heard enough to know this man was a traitor to the land of Tamarisch. Akuno’s eyes went wide, and his mouth hung open as he stuttered to form words in front of the queen of the land he was just slandering.

“You’re the … the High Queen,” Akuno stuttered as he pointed one trembling finger at my wife, and his beady brown eyes swiveled to my face as realization swept over him. “That must mean … ”

“I am the High King of Tamarisch,” I said through a smile laced with maliciousness. “You’ve insulted not only the land of Tamarisch but my wife. Do you know what we do to traitors?”

Right as I reached out for him, an earsplitting gong sounded, and the people of Kanashimi who swarmed around us cheered. In that moment of raucous distraction, Akuno dove into the mass of people and even went so far as to push a young woman in the way of my reaching hand. I carefully righted the innocent girl and gritted my teeth. I searched the crowd for the insolent leader but only saw his receding back as he scurried away in terror. My fists clenched in rage, and I moved to go after him, but Annalise rested a calming hand on my forearm and stopped me.

“He can be dealt with later,” the swordswoman whispered. “After all, we know where he lives.”

I smirked wickedly at that and nodded. Our attention swept back to the celebration as we watched the crowd around us surge forward. They grabbed baskets and bundles teeming with food as they went. The smiles on the faces of the people of Kanashimi were wide, and they chattered excitedly to one another. Rana, Morrigan, and Carmedy appeared at my side as they made it free from the horde of citizens.

“What’s going on? Why is everyone grabbing their stuff?” Carmedy asked, her adorable face smeared with frosting as she shoved an entire cupcake into her mouth and chewed heartily.

“I believe this is part of the ceremony,” Morrigan stated in a bored tone as Popī and her parents appeared from the crowd behind us, their arms laden with woven baskets covered with white cloths.

“Isn’t this exciting?” Popī asked us as she jumped up and down. “This is your first Wailing! I can’t wait for you guys to see it!”

I nodded as we moved with the group, and they led us towards the path lit by red lanterns. I looked down at my minions, and their faces were glowing with excitement to see the ritual we had heard so much about. A man up ahead next to three large cloth covered wagons was shouting, and I craned my head to listen.

“If you do not have an offering prepared, please come take one from this pile! Each person should have at least one offering for the Tichádáma,” the bearded man yelled into the throng, then his eyes landed on our party for a second. “Visitor or not, everyone needs an offering!”

“I guess he means us,” my redheaded lover muttered as she trudged forward to the baskets the man was indicating with his hand. “You didn’t have to single us out, ya know. You could have just told us as we went by.”

My minions collected our offerings, and Carmedy bounded over to me with one large basket and one smaller one. “I got one for you, Master.” She giggled and offered me the smaller one, but I took the bigger one with a wide grin and held it tightly in my gloved hands.

“Thank you, my dear.” I chuckled as I bowed my head to her, and her round cheeks blushed bright red as she tucked herself by my side.

We headed up the side of the mountain with the rest of the Kanashimi citizens and soon into the trek, they started to sing in a foreign language my minions and I could not understand. From behind us, the man with the three covered carts tethered them to three massive horses and urged them upward with a crack of a whip.

Carmedy attempted to sing along with the citizens but didn’t know the words and just ended up singing gibberish that made the rest of our party laugh. The mountain was gorgeous at night, and despite the chilly wind that blew back our hair, we still enjoyed the hike up. From the path, we could see the glittering river and the bright moon reflected in its rippling surface. Beyond the horizon of the river, the ice that had slowed down our ship, in the beginning, loomed ominously like a white ghost in the darkness.

“Do you think she’s still out there?” the High Elf asked from beside me as she took looked out on the surface of the river. “She’s all alone now, she no longer has her sisters with her.”

For a second, I didn’t understand what Morrigan had said, but it quickly dawned on me she was referring to the single Rusalka we spared. I knew the fate of the spared Rusalka weighed heavily on my lover's mind. There was no easy way to tell her I didn’t know what would happen to the last spirit trapped in the Riese, so I figured actions might help and kissed her temple gently. Though the pale woman seemed hardened and cold on the outside, she was sensitive, and I knew whatever the Rusalka told her had shaken her badly.

“Morrigan,” I muttered softly into her ear, and she turned her dark eyes to mine as she waited for me to continue. “I know you may not want to say, but what did the Rusalka tell you?”

“They told me what he did to them, the man who killed them,” the pale elf told me as she stared deeply into my eyes. “The lead woman, the one who Annalise knew from before, she spoke to me directly. They all came from rich families, and he charmed their parents with promises of wealth and land, anything to get them to sell away their daughters to him. When they agreed, he would whisk the girls away to his home. Within months, he would slowly cut off the contact between the daughter’s and their parents. He was their husband, and it was his choosing who they corresponded with. They were married women, and no one questioned it.”

“Some husbands are cruel,” I murmured solemnly.

Morrigan nodded in agreement. “He would beat them within an inch of their lives, some were forced to become pregnant then have their children torn from their arms moments after birth,” she muttered in a voice thick with emotion, and I could see the pain plainly written on her stunning face. I remembered a particular one of the Rusalka, a large slice across the middle of her belly and now I knew that was where her child had been taken from her. “As sad as it is to say, their suffering didn’t last for long, and once he got what he wanted from them, he’d force them down into the bowels of his mansion to the pools. He would force them into the water, and …”

“You don’t have to tell me if it's too painful, my love,” I said to her, but she shook her head as her lips hardened into a tense line.

“No, someone must know of their suffering, I cannot bear it alone,” the elf said with feverish intensity as she grabbed onto my leather gloved hand. “He would force them into the water and cut the life out of them. He would separate their souls from their bodies and give them to the river. I saw it all, Master, saw it as if it were happening to me. Watched as he brought the silver dagger to my throat and sliced me to my belly, my insides, my intestines, my womb that had only been empty an hour spilled into the freezing water.”

“That bastard … ” I muttered in horror as I imagined it for myself. Pain beat in my heart with the knowledge that my lover had been forced to not only see what happened but experience such a thing for herself.

“They never spoke his name, but they referred to him as the Akuma of Tintagal,” Morrigan said as her voice hardened and her eyes narrowed on mine. “In the Rusalka’s language, Akuma means devil. Master, I think I know who this Akuma of Tintagal is … and I think that Annalise knows, too.”

“What do you mean Annalise knows, too?” I asked Morrigan with wide eyes as the crowd of Kanashimi people rushed past.

“She did not speak it, but her reaction while we hid in the hull of the ship with the crew was very telling. Master … I think the man she was supposed to marry is the person doing these horrible things and creating the Rusalka. I cannot be for certain unless we confront him, but the clues are all there. If I saw his face in person, I would know.”

“If it's him, Morrigan, I swear to you we will destroy him and bring peace to the spirits of the water,” I promised her in a voice filled with determination.

“Thank you, Master. I look forward to the day I watch you rid the world of him and allow Fea and Macha to feast on his soul,” the pale elf said with a smile as she squeezed my hand and turned away from the river toward the path upward.

We caught up with the rest of my minions right as we came over a ridge, and the pillars to the entrance of the dungeon were visible and glowed in the red light of the lanterns. The bearded man with the three carts pulled ahead of the mob and pulled his horses to a halt right in front of the open cave mouth. He hopped down from the driver’s seat and checked the ropes holding whatever was under the cloths. We came to stand in front of the cave mouth with the rest of the citizens, and I watched with my jaw clenched as Akuno elbowed his way through the crowd. The short man came to stand by the carts and waved his pudgy hands to silence everyone’s babbling.

As he quieted everyone down, I took this moment to lift the cloth on my basket and balked at what was inside. Greying and bloodied severed hands were piled high inside my basket, and I quickly covered them as I glanced between my minions and the similar baskets they held. From the red staining around the bottoms and rims, I assumed they carried similar spoils as mine. I nudged Annalise with my elbow, and the swordswoman lifted her face to mine.

“Whatever you do, make sure that none of your sisters look in the baskets,” I instructed her in a firm voice, and her brows furrowed as she glanced down at her own tote.

“Why, Master? What’s in them?” the swordswoman hastily asked as one of her fingers played with the edge of the white cloth covering hers.

“Annalise, I’m serious,” I warned her, and the finger stopped moving at my tone. I glanced around at the citizens and the baskets they held to their chests. “I don’t think this ritual is as innocent as we had thought.”

I glanced over the High Queen’s shoulder right as a certain curious feline was about to remove the cover of her own basket. Annalise looked back too, and her mouth dropped open as she rushed to stop Carmedy’s paw.

“Carmedy! Don’t. You’re not supposed to look at the offerings!” the swordswoman told the alchemist in a hurried whisper.

The small cat’s brows knit together as she peeked between Annalise and the basket she held in her paws. “What do you mean? Haven’t they already been looked at? Do the citizens put the stuff in the baskets with blindfolds on?” the feline asked with a wrinkled nose as she imagined it.

“That’s not what I meant. You’re not supposed to look at it after it's been covered with the cloth,” the brunette assured as she swatted Carmedy’s wandering paw when it reached to pull back the cloth once more.

“Wait, we’re not supposed to look inside?” Rana interjected as she leaned out, and Annalise gave her a warning look. “I just have a bunch of bread in mine.”

“Mine did not hold bread or any sort of … food,” Morrigan stated as she took a few wary peeks at me, and I knew she understood my warning.

“It is disrespectful to look inside an offering, especially if you are not the one who prepared it,” I told them in a firm voice, and my minions nodded to me respectfully.

“Alright, alright, I won’t look.” The black cat giggled as she replaced her paws on the handles, and then she faced forward as Akuno began to speak again.

“Welcome, everyone!” Akuno said as he looked out in the crowd and made eye contact with all who attended. “Glad to see all your smiling faces here again. It has been over a thousand years since this tradition has started, and we haven’t missed it once. The blessings from our wonderful and compassionate goddess have brought this land into wealth and prosperity beyond our wildest imaginations. Those with baskets and smaller offerings, I ask you to bring them up front, and we will begin putting them on the sled to send down to the Tichádáma. Then we will move on to the larger items which, of course, are the highlight of the night!”

The citizens roared and cheered as they rushed forward and placed the baskets on the sleds. My minions and I followed the directions, and when I stood, I glared hatefully at Akuno, but he avoided my gaze as he smiled into the crowd. When we were finished, we stepped back, and men dressed in all white bent down behind the sleds and slid them down into the cave mouth. It was eerily silent as the citizens waited for something, whatever it was, but it never came. Strangely, they smiled even wider.

“The Tichádáma has accepted the first gifts!” Akuno cried out. “Now let us sing and wait until the full moon is in position for us to begin the rest of the ceremony.”

The men in white produced torches, lit them, and then held them aloft as my minions and I watched the moon slowly move across the sky. The singing of the citizens was loud in our ears as the moon shifted and came to rest directly between the two golden pillars outside of the Tichádáma’s dungeon. It was then that Akuno clapped his hands together and gestured to the bearded man.

In a flash, the man pulled out a knife and cut through each of the ropes on the three carts. With a vicious grin, he whipped off the first two cloth coverings on the two smaller carts to reveal two dead hammerhead sharks. The citizens screamed and jumped up and down as Morrigan grabbed onto me in horror. The bearded man’s smile widened even more as he moved towards the largest cart out of all three.

“What is the meaning of this?” Morrigan cried into my shoulder as she held onto me even tighter.

With a snap, the third cloth flew from the cart to reveal the humongous offering underneath. A cloud of flies buzzed and flew into the air like an omen, but the residents paid them no mind as their screams of joy rose even higher into the night. On top of the cart was the carcass of a massive whale, red blood pooled from its open mouth, and I lay eyes on it with sorrow that such a beautiful creature had to die for such an arcane ritual such as this.

Akuno’s eyes found mine in the crowd, and they burned brightly in the dim light around us. My elven lover’s mouth dropped open, and the scream that roared up her pale throat was one of grief. This was a pain I could not take from her. I had walked blindly into this thinking it was nothing but innocent, and now, my minion who loved animals was subjected to the one thing she hated the most.

Fea and Macha cawed loudly in distress, but their voices were lost amid the joyous yelling of the civilians. The pale woman didn’t turn away but gasped as the bearded man lifted the dagger and slammed it into the belly of the whale with a wet squelch. He let go of the knife long enough to roll up his sleeves and then grabbed onto it once more and forced the blade down the magnificent whale’s belly. Blood poured from the gaping wound, and as I watched with a hardened expression, the bearded man reached into the whale’s carcass, grabbed its innards, and began to pull them out.

It was silent as a second scream came from the high elf, and I caught Morrigan right as tears fell from the corners of her dark eyes. I held her tightly to my chest and shielded her face from the horrors the Kanashimi people rejoiced in.

Rana covered her mouth, and her blue eyes wavered in their sockets as the bearded man and Akuno grabbed the wet, ropey intestines and began feeding them down into the open mouth of the dungeon. Annalise held tightly to Carmedy as the little feline sobbed uncontrollably, her face turned inwards away from the horrifying sight. I watched as Akuno and the man laughed together, and the people of Kanashimi chanted feverishly. Akuno walked around the carts, toppled the two sharks first, and then came around the third and struggled to push the whale off the wagon by himself. A few bystanders from the crowd joined him and helped him push the bleeding carcass to the dirt. It lay there limply, a mockery of the glorious beast it once had been.

I was enraged, not only with the people of Kanashimi but with this so-called goddess, the Tichádáma. She not only allowed her people to do this, but she also praised them and rewarded them for doing it. I had almost thought highly of her when Haruhi had spoken of the benevolent goddess who blessed her people with good weather and plentiful crops, but now I wanted nothing more than to journey deep into the bowels of her dungeon and rip away the powers she used so evilly. I may have been a vengeful god with little mercy, but when I was worshipped, I never made my people sacrifice animals, maybe a few humans, but what could fewer humans on earth hurt?

With help from the rest of the crowd, the carcasses of the sharks and the whale were sent down into the dungeon to be received by the Tichádáma. Morrigan sobbed against me as three bound men were then brought forward.

I sensed what was coming next before my minions did.

I gave Annalise a stern look, and she nodded once as she turned fully away and shielded Carmedy from what was about to happen. The townsfolk chanted even louder as the bearded man offered Akuno the knife, which he snatched with a wicked grin. I peeked down at the elven woman, she was still crying softly, but her dark eyes were narrowed on Akuno’s slight form as he advanced on the three men.

He grabbed the middle man and threw him forward to his knees. The man pleaded for his life as he held up his tied hands in defeat, but Akuno stared down at him with a broad smile, grabbed him by the hair, and pulled the man’s head back. Underneath the loud chanting of the horde, I could hear the victim’s prayers for mercy, but none came as the knife sliced through his jugular and his soul screamed out of his body. Blood spurted outward and splashed a few of the people of Kanashimi. As much as I wanted to avert my eyes, I couldn’t seem to tear them away as Akuno moved on to the second man, and the lord of Kanashimi didn’t hesitate as he stabbed the knife directly into the man’s throat and pulled it out maliciously. Akuno’s white robes were splattered and soaked through with blood as he moved onto the third bound man, who screamed and attempted to scoot away, but the bearded man held him in place with a loud, hateful laugh.

Akuno flipped the knife through the air, pulled it back, and flung it. It pierced through the bound man’s left eye with a wet thunk as blood streamed out the sides of the popped cornea. With a bark of a laugh, Akuno kicked the man’s body, and it slid down into the shaft of the dungeon as blood trailed after it. The two other bodies were sent in after it unceremoniously, and I stood with my teeth clenched and Morrigan held tightly to my chest.

The chanting around us reached a crescendo, the voices loud and screaming to be heard by the Tichádáma. Then the voices stopped abruptly, and there was silence aside from the soft sobbing of my two minions.

Then I heard it.

It started softly like a whisper on the wind as if the moon was speaking directly to us, but I sensed where it was coming from. Popī came up from behind us and gripped onto my shoulder. I had half a mind to throw her off but swallowed my rage as she pointed to the dungeon’s entrance.

“This is the best part. Just wait,” the teenager whispered, her eyes as big as saucers.

That’s when the sorrowful screaming and wailing echoed up from the bottom of the Tichádáma’s dungeon.

Chapter Sixteen

The scream started softly at first, like the wind howling in the distance, and then it slowly rose in pitch until it was like a woman sobbing and screaming next to me. I watched the cave mouth with narrowed eyes as the people of Kanashimi danced and sang around us joyously.

“The goddess is pleased, the Tichádáma is pleased with us!” Popī cheered as she grabbed onto me excitedly, and happy tears sprang to her eyes. I stared down into her youthful face, and almost growled at her, but before I could, she wiped the tears away and ran to embrace her mother.

“The Dáma has accepted all of our gifts and gives us one more month of prosperity and good health!” Akuno shouted for all to hear as he wiped off the bloody blade on his soiled robes. The short lord handed back the knife to the bearded man, and he slid it back in its sheath with a broad smile.

All the while, the shrieks and cries still echoed up the cave mouth and despite my anger, I felt a twinge of pity for the Tichádáma. The goddess didn’t sound happy to me. In fact, she sounded horrified. Akuno said this ceremony had been taking place for thousands of years and this was just the way the goddess showed them she was satisfied with their offerings. As Annalise and Haruhi told us, the Tichádáma had no way of speaking to the humans on the island, and maybe her screams were the one way she had learned to convey her pleasure to the people.

I was torn between feeling pity for the Dáma and being enraged that she forced her people to do such things, but the more I listened to the animalistic cries that vibrated up the cave mouth, the more doubt was seeded in my mind. These were not the sounds of a god happy with the offerings sent down by its followers. I could sense her power as it emanated up from the cave mouth, and I could feel the sadness and sorrow vibrate from its sickly blue color.

No, these were not the callings of an overjoyed god. These were the sounds of a broken woman.

My minions were worse for wear as I moved my eyes over them. Carmedy sobbed in the swordswoman’s arms, Morrigan held onto me with feverish intensity, and Rana held her paw over her mouth as if she would be sick any minute. I pulled them close then, to be a comforting presence and a rock in this storm of horror.

As the sounds of the Tichádáma died down and the cave mouth fell silent, the townsfolk, who still celebrated and sang loudly to one another, turned and headed back down the path towards the bright lights of the city. My minions and I stayed put where we stood as we watched the receding backs of the townsfolk and observed as they danced and threw their hands into the air in celebration.

We had witnessed not one but three murders in two minutes, and these people were acting as if they were the most beautiful things they had ever seen. I was disgusted by the citizens and how they acted after hearing the wailing. I assumed like with most human sacrifices, the three men were either thieves or enemy soldiers, and if the latter were true with where Akuno’s trust lay, then they had been Tamarisch soldiers. I already knew Akuno was a twisted man, looking only to better himself with the riches and standing of other countries. After I was finished with the Tichádáma, I would come for him, too.

The ground was stained red from the blood of the three men and the whale, and I clenched my hands into fists, enraged my minions were forced to witness a ritual that upset them. I didn’t care who was killed in front of me, human or animal, but it was something I wouldn’t subject my minions to. My visibly distressed companions and I waited until the citizens of Kanashimi were out of sight, and then I turned to them. Their faces already told me what I wanted to know.

“We go now,” I rumbled as I pulled the God Slayer from my pocket and held it out at my side. I watched as Carmedy sniffled loudly but clenched the bundles at her waist, Rana pulled out her elven daggers, and Annalise unsheathed Bloodscale. “We strike while the iron is hot.”

They didn’t speak, only turned and faced the darkness that seeped from the open mouth of the dungeon. We passed the golden pillars, and I took a moment to examine the ancient runes placed inside. They were put in place by the Holy Band of Mages, that I already knew, and I felt my throat constrict in rage. I realized what was going on here, but I didn’t let my minions know, I wanted them to hold onto their rage for a little while longer. If I had told them, it would have put their minds at ease, but then it would make traveling through the dungeon harder if they knew the secret of the Tichádáma. If they were still angry and their minds filled with rageful images of revenge, then getting through the trials of the dungeon would be easier. They saw red while I was calm, and I led them down past the pillars.

“Holy moly, it’s cold in here,” Rana complained as she drew her coat tighter around her shoulders, and Carmedy nodded in agreement.

The fox’s observation was correct. Once we stepped inside and went deeper, the temperature in the cave dropped significantly enough that our collective breaths rose in the air like smoke. I knew it was the doing of the Tichádáma, another one of her spells to protect the Kanashimi people. She had taken the frigid temperature from outside that was usual for this area and brought it into her dungeon. In a way, it was another way to ward off adventurers from entering the dungeon. Though I was an immortal god, my avatar still felt the cold, and it seeped in deep to my bones.

“Here, guys, take one and use it quickly,” the cat-girl said as she used shaking paws to mix up a warmth potion. The bright orange mixture sat in our palms, and each of my minions downed it quickly. Soon, the color returned to their faces, and they moved about livelier than before. Heat pulsed from my belly and soon warmed my whole being, and I too was able to move about comfortably once again.

I moved confidently forward, and my minions followed after, and soon we came to an open archway that led to a large expanse of frozen ice. It was hauntingly beautiful where the crackled opening in the ceiling showed where the once active volcano would have spilled molten rock up and out. Light from the full moon filtered in and cast moving shadows over the ice. I stepped out onto the ice and felt my boot slightly give in an upper crust of slush. Then I raised a hand into the air, and my minions froze behind me as I tested the frozen water with both feet.

I sunk in slightly, but the ice underneath the slush stayed firm as I took another step. With a feeling of safety, I nodded and then motioned for my minions to fan out around me. They did as they were told and stepped one by one onto the slushy surface. We were about halfway across when my alchemist minion froze, and her black ears twitched this way and that. Her sparkling emerald eyes stayed on the ice below us, and Rana stopped next to the cat with her fox-ears flat against her skull.

They shared a worried look, and I turned back to them as I held the God Slayer tightly in both fists. I opened my mouth to speak, but Carmedy shook her head, placed her paws into the air then lowered them, a signal for me to speak quietly.

“What is it?” I hissed in a low whisper, and the feline’s left ear turned completely around as she listened.

The redhead rogue turned to look at me over her shoulder, and her blue eyes were huge with fear. “There’s something under the ice. Don’t you hear it?”

“No, but there is magical power here, I can feel it,” Morrigan muttered as she examined the walls with her dark eyes, and I too spied what she saw there.

Carved into the far wall where the ground dipped down, where I assumed the natural stream underneath our feet flowed in, were four different pictures carved into the rock. They were elegantly drawn, a masterful hand had placed them here, and I wanted to move closer, but as my two minions warned, there was danger near. The first carving was of an incredibly tall woman with long flowing robes, seated in a huge throne. I recognized her immediately from the banners at the festival earlier and knew it was the Tichádáma. Standing to her right was another tall person, this one a man. His face was chiseled, and from the intricate detail, I could tell whoever had made this put more time into him than anything else.

The Tichádáma and the man were surrounded by baskets, statues, and other offerings as we had seen at the ritual. The Tichádáma’s face was serene, and her doe-like eyes were trained on the human beside her. The second carving depicted only the human who I assumed was her lover and another man who looked suspiciously like Akuno. A knife was held against the lover’s throat in front of two towering pillars. The Tichádáma wasn’t in this depiction, but as my eyes moved to the next, she looked much different than she did in the first. Her long hair flew around her in an invisible wind, and her delicate, long-fingered hands were lifted into the air as they caught a sizeable swirling orb. Her face was solemn, and tears flowed from her large eyes. She held the sphere with a tenderness that only a wife or lover can know. Next to the Tichádáma, on a raised dais, the corpse of her lover lay, and next to it, the carcass of a colossal shark. I had an inkling now what type of power the Tichádáma possessed as the next picture showed her holding the orb and pressing it into the belly of the gigantic beast.

That’s when I turned my attention back to the magic in the air. I glanced down at the ice at my feet and saw a shadow pass directly underneath me. I realized now that the shadows on the ice were not from the light filtering in but instead the creature trapped underneath.

“Everyone,” I whispered hurriedly as I took inventory of the space between us and the other side of the room where solid rock waited. “Do not run, do not make a sound, but get across as quickly as you can.”

“What is it, Master?” Annalise murmured back as she searched both of our faces for any clue as to what was going on. I didn’t want to frighten them, especially when Rana and Carmedy were already on edge from the danger they sensed near us.

“Do as I say,” I muttered back as I took one step forward and watched the shadow below me change direction.

They obeyed, and it was painstakingly slow as we moved forward and tried not to disturb the beast below our feet. We were nearly to the edge when Fea beat her wings, and Morrigan’s dark eyes widened. She spoke quickly in the elven language, but the bird only beat her wings harder and more franticly. To my dismay, Fea opened her sleek black beak and cawed loudly. I turned, and the shadow beneath the ice hovered for a second as if listening to the sound and trying to figure out which direction it came from.

I stepped forward, the God Slayer prepared for anything, when the shadow grew bigger, and I realized it was swimming upwards. The crash that came soon afterward was deafening, and I slammed the polearm down on the ice beside me. It cracked the ice from the impact, and my minions scurried out of the way as massive jaws broke the ice and snapped at the air. The rolling eyes which I thought would be black were instead vaguely human and sage green. They shifted around the room for a second before the beast sunk back down into the frigid water.

The thing had emerged enough for me to identify it. While I had seen sharks in my lifetime, I had never seen one this big. Its head was nearly the size of the carts the bearded man used to haul the whale up the mountain. The ice cracked and separated, and while most of us remained on one ice floe, Carmedy was forced to cling to a severed piece with desperate paws, her emerald eyes wide and her mouth open in a loud shriek.

“Pussycat!” Rana screamed as she rushed forward, but I stepped out in front of her and focused all of my dark energy on the frothing water around the ice the feline clung to. The shark’s huge teeth broke the surface of the water as it circled Carmedy, and I inhaled deeply through my nose as black and magenta light pulsed around the ice the cat-girl was on. Then I lifted a hand and pulled the wobbling ice over with my power right as the beast burst from the water once more.

The alchemist was able to scramble off and rejoin us right as the shark lunged forward, large jaws wide, and bit the floating chunk of ice in half. The shark swallowed what it had bitten off, then stayed on the surface and examined us with those strange, human-like eyes. I growled deep in my throat and pulled back the God Slayer, but Morrigan reached forward and placed a hand over mine. When I turned to her, she wasn’t looking at me but instead at the creature and the dark mage markings that worked their way up and down its exposed sides.

My minions usually stood aside while I did what needed to be done, but when they stepped in, it was usually for a good reason. The pale elf’s expression was the same as it was when she watched them slice open the whale’s belly and slid its innards down the cavern. All my minions gathered around me as the shark once more fell below the surface then used its powerful tailfin to launch itself towards us. It made it halfway up onto the ice, biting and snapping the whole time, and we drew backward. I wanted to kill it right then and there, but when I pushed Morrigan’s hand away, she instead stepped out in front of me and blocked my view of the massive beast.

“What are you doing?” I asked her in my calmest tone, and she leveled her dark eyes at me as the mage marking on her forehead began to glow.

“We must leave him be, he is in enough pain as it is,” she warned me.

I tilted my head curiously at her as I peeked over her shoulder, and one of the sage-green eyes examined me below the surface of the water.

“I listen to all of your requests, my love, but this is one I must ignore. This creature is evil and deserves to die,” I told her in a commanding voice, but the elven woman didn’t move out of the way, only stood her ground stubbornly.

“I will not allow anyone to harm another creature in my presence, not today, not after all we have seen, Master.” The pale-woman looked over her shoulder sadly as the shark circled the hole it had created in the ice. “This one is different. We shall not harm him, it is my request.”

“What do you mean this one is different?” Rana protested angrily, her paws clenched into fists as she stomped forward. The great shark dove deep under the ice again and peered up at us through the frozen water. “It’s a shark, how can it be different? It’s a maneater, look at the size of that son-of-a-bitch!”

“He is different,” Morrigan said as she leveled her eyes calmly at the fox-girl, “because he has a human soul.”

“What?” Annalise and Carmedy asked together.

The High Elf didn’t speak, only pointed to the far wall and the carvings there. I had already noticed them, but it seemed my other minions had not. They studied them for a few seconds then turned back to Morrigan and me in confusion. I understood, knew long before my minions did, but this beast still tried to kill one of my minions and deserved to be slaughtered and sent to his watery grave.

“He is confused,” the elf said in a quiet, sad tone. “He does not know what he is doing. He is only following the instinct of the beast’s body because it is the only way he knows now. He is scared, so let us leave him, Master.”

I looked back down at the great beast below our feet, and it had sunken down deeper into the water and was no longer a threat. I nodded and pulled the God Slayer back but didn’t retract the menacing blades in case we were attacked again. We crossed the ice together, and when we reached the rock, Morrigan was the only one to look back. She spoke something in her elven language, and the massive tail fin of the shark lashed out at the ice and broke it up even more, but that was all.

We pressed on. The deeper we journeyed, the colder it became, and soon, we were huddled tightly together for warmth.

The path we took was steep and angled downward as we journeyed deeper into the depths of the mountain. I could feel the Tichádáma’s power as it pulsed towards us. It was intense, stronger than any other god’s we encountered before, and the scent that wafted up the cavern was earthy and salty at the same time though not unpleasant.

With each stepped we took, I was that much closer to taking her powers.

We turned a hard corner, and strange music flooded up to us. I could hear the Tichádáma humming to herself, but there were other sounds below it I couldn’t place. My minions were visibly off-put by the music, but the more I listened, the more I wanted to find out where it was coming from.

We came to a point in the path where it separated into three different tunnels, and my minions looked to me for direction. The music seemed to come from all three different halls, and I looked to Morrigan for her ravens’ help. No words were necessary as many times as we had done this, and the elf nodded once and then looked to the black birds perched on her shoulders. Without even a word, the two ravens took to the air and flew down two different entrances. The white-haired woman’s eyes went wholly black as she watched over the two birds.

We waited and minutes went by, then Morrigan’s mouth dropped open in horror as two loud squawks echoed up the separated halls. Her dark eyes returned to normal, and she looked to me in fear.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, and the elven woman moved to race forward then whipped her head between the two tunnels her companions went down.

“S-she took them!” Morrigan whispered in horror as she moved to the entrance of one tunnel then looked back at the other, unsure which way to go and which raven to save first.

“Why would she do that?” Annalise said as she peered into one of the dark tunnels with Bloodscale held out in front of her.

“I do not know!” the elf yelled, one of the few times I had seen her raise her voice in the entire time that I had known her. “She plucked them from the air and then all I could see was white. I know they are not dead because I can still sense them, but she … she took them from me!”

Before I could reach out an arm to stop her, Morrigan bolted down the middle tunnel, and we followed quickly behind her. Light was filtering in at the end of the tunnel, and I could clearly see the details on the back of the elven woman’s coat as she ran into the light. Right as she reached the end, she stopped then slid out onto another expanse of ice, this one clearly more dangerous than the one before. The hall was tight, and sharp icicles protruded from the walls at all angles to form a deadly series of obstacles. Morrigan dug in her heels and was able to slow herself to a stop before she was impaled by one of the ice daggers.

I was by my elven lover’s side a moment later, and I lifted her safely to her feet as I looked across the room. It was much colder here, and snow billowed down the tight hall in huge drifts. I scanned the room for any other way through, but there was none. We would have to cautiously move through the tunnel filled with sharpened ice to finally reach the Tichádáma. I could barely make out the room beyond, and it was much bigger than any other in the dungeon. I knew it must be her nexus. A loud caw sounded down the hall, and Morrigan lifted her head and her face hardened with determination at the sound of one of her companion’s voices. I grabbed the white-haired woman by the shoulder before she could plunge forward into the deathtrap.

“Master?” my wife asked, and I lifted my head to her as I examined the ice pointing jaggedly through the wall. “Should I try cutting through them?”

“Yes, my love, though I am unsure if it will work.”

Annalise lifted Bloodscale over her head and brought it down through the thick ice. It clanged, and the vibration made her arm wobble up to the elbow as she dropped the sword with a cry of pain. The icicles were as solid and hard as stone, and not even the mighty sword could break them. I stepped forward and inspected the spire of ice that the swordswoman had hit, and there wasn’t a break or dent in its frozen surface. If we couldn’t hack our way through, we would have to pick our way through carefully.

“I will go first, then Annalise, then the rest of you will follow,” I instructed. “We must be prepared for anything. Understand?”

Annalise, Rana, and Carmedy sounded their agreement, and though she clenched her jaw, Morrigan nodded as well.

I stepped surely through the hall sideways and maneuvered my way through as I grabbed onto the thick icicles with my gloved hands for support. The floor beneath us was solid slippery ice, and one wrong move would impale us on one of the sharp ends. I turned my head to watch as Rana slipped out of her boots and slid them into the pack on her back. The fox-woman gave me a wicked smile and a thumbs up as she too moved out onto the ice after Annalise.

“I move better without those damn things,” the redhead laughed as she grabbed onto a giant icicle and hauled herself over it with ease, and then she ducked down underneath another.

Morrigan came after the fox and moved with the distinctive assured ease I associated with all elven people. Watching her move was breathtaking, almost like the woman floated instead of walked, and I knew that inside her mind, she was panicking, but it never showed on her stoically beautiful face.

“Do you guys really think the Tichádáma is evil?” Carmedy asked as she too entered the perilous corridor.

“Yes,” the high elf growled between her teeth as she ducked under a huge mass of sharp icicles. “She had her people kill those animals, then those three people, and now she’s taken away Fea and Macha. She may have placed a human soul into an animal’s body, but what type of life is that? Being forced into a foreign body? I believe her to be nothing but vile.”

“Though I agree with Morrigan,” Annalise struggled out as she concentrated on not being speared, “some things make me think otherwise.”

“I’m in the middle,” the fox-woman chuckled as she moved easily on her bare paws. “She’s done things that are evil, but maybe she’s not inherently evil? I mean those drawings on the wall and the shark. Haruhi told us she was in love with a human, and seeing those carvings made it seem like that human was killed. I mean, if someone killed Master, I certainly wouldn’t be the nicest person after.”

“If we lost Master …” Carmedy whimpered as she paused for a second. “I don’t know what I would do.”

“Yeah, then you’d have no one to make ghost-noises with,” Rana joked over her shoulder, and the feline’s cheeks bloomed red.

“I too would be lost without any of you,” I told them honestly. “If any of you were lost to me, I might act out the way the Tichádáma does.”

“Do you think the Dáma is evil, Master?” the petite alchemist called up to me, and I feigned thought for a moment as I did not want to reveal what I already knew just yet. “Or do you think she’s only misunderstood?”

“I believe the Dáma is a lot like me,” I told them without turning my head to look at them. “I think the Dáma holds pain in her heart and cannot communicate to the people of Kanashimi what ails her the most. She, like the shark we witnessed, is in pain but has no way to tell anyone. I can’t tell you for sure until we look upon her ourselves.”

I reached the end of the hall and waited for my minions as they crept through. Annalise came after and held her sword at the ready for any attackers if they were to show themselves. The odd music was louder here, and it was coming from an open doorway in the rock wall. Bright yellow light cast shadows through the doorway, and I could see a person moving inside.

“Oops, careful there, Carmedy, you almost gave yourself an impromptu piercing.” Rana laughed as Carmedy held on tightly to the tip of a large icicle pointed straight at her stomach. The cat laughed nervously and tiptoed sideways and away from the pointed tip that had narrowly cut her.

“My momma said I’m not allowed to get any piercings,” the alchemist said with a laugh as she ducked under one of the ice protrusions that resembled a broadsword.

“You’re an adult, you can do whatever you want,” the fox giggled back, and Carmedy lifted her head to retort, but her right ear got caught on one of the smaller slivers of ice.

“I know I’m-YOW!” she screamed as her paws came up and found the splice had come entirely through the cartilage of her ear. Rana stopped laughing and turned around as blood began to trickle weakly out. She hustled backward toward Carmedy carefully and brought her paws up as the small cat started to cry.

“Well … you may not have wanted one, but you got a piercing anyway,” Rana snorted as she grabbed the back of the feline’s head and eased her forward.

“Oh man, that really stings,” the alchemist cried as she latched onto the redhead’s shoulders.

“Stop wiggling around, and it’ll hurt less, you big baby,” Rana soothed in her own way, and the feline’s huge round eyes began to water as the fox pulled her forward, and the small needle-point of ice drew out of the cat’s ear.

Blood dripped from the point, and Carmedy’s paws tentatively went up and felt around the area. She frowned as she touched the small hole and her expression fell even more as she brought up a spare piece of cloth and pressed it against the tiny wound.

“Oh man, my mom is going to be so disappointed,” the cat-girl murmured as she held the cloth in place and made her way behind Rana as they too exited the hall of ice.

“I mean, you could always get a really cool gold earring, and you’d look like a pirate,” the fox-girl joked, but Carmedy shook her head vehemently as she pressed against her hurt ear.

“I don’t want to look like a pirate,” the cat-woman whined as she swiped at her eyes with her free hand. “No one is going to take me seriously as a doctor and alchemist if I have a big gaudy earring!”

I came forward with a soft smile and took the cloth and Carmedy’s cat ear into my hand. I pressed once to make sure the bleeding had stopped and pulled the fabric away carefully. There indeed was a small puncture where the ice had stabbed through the ear, and I did like the idea of a tasteful gold earring being placed there, but I didn’t say that to Carmedy.

“Is it bad, Master?” the feline whispered as the rest of my minions crowded around and comforted her.

“It’s not too bad, my love.” I smiled to her as I stroked the tip of her black ear. “I can heal it if you like, but I too think you’d look beautiful with a golden earring or maybe an emerald to match your eyes.”

“D-do you really think so?” Carmedy stuttered out through a smile and brightened as she usually did when I spoke softly to her.

My other minions looked at her thoughtfully, as if imagining it for themselves. Annalise and Rana nodded while Morrigan only blinked once in agreement, and then we turned toward the waiting doorway and the goddess that was beyond.

Chapter Seventeen

I turned towards the entranceway and the soft, eerie music coming from inside. My minions placed themselves around me, and I led them forward. I was the first to enter, and my eyes grew wide at the scene inside. The room was large, and half of it was submerged under the same azure water I assumed came from the Riese. The rest of the room, like most of the dungeon, was made from ice and rock. At the far side of the chamber, a towering woman stood in front of a dais quite like the one depicted in the wall carvings. On top of the platform, the carcass of the whale lay, and her pale hands moved in the air above the ropey intestines that were curled in a pile on the floor. As she moved her hands, the guts lifted by an unseen force, and she pushed and placed them back inside the body with her power.

Her power was incredibly strong, and it engulfed me like a wave. She didn’t turn as we entered, but Fea and Macha, who rested backward on her shoulders, bobbed their heads and cawed loudly at the presence of their master. Morrigan’s dark eyes widened, and she beckoned them. The two birds launched themselves into the air and coasted to her. They cooed and clicked loudly through their beaks as they spoke to the elf in a language the rest of us couldn’t understand.

“You have lovely birds,” the goddess said without turning. She only continued her work on the carcass of the magnificent whale. Her voice was soft and lovely though sadness seemed to seep from it. Her long dark hair shifted behind her as she moved, and I caught glimpses of her beautiful face.

“What did you do to them?” Morrigan growled as she stepped forward and ignored the piercing shrieks of her ravens.

“I did nothing but enjoy their passing company,” the Tichádáma said over her shoulder, and when she spoke, I saw her pale lips didn’t move at all. I glanced over at Annalise, and from the confused look on her face, I knew she couldn’t hear a word the goddess was speaking even though the rest of us could. “Did you think I would harm such innocent creatures?”

“I would not be surprised!” the high elf shouted, and the shoulders of the Tichádáma tensed. “With all that you have done to the other animals and creatures sacrificed in your name, you dared to take my companions from me for a second and expect me not to be enraged? You’re a murderer of all things good and pure! You take lives and throw them away!”

“Funny, isn’t it?” the Tichádáma asked with a whisper of a chuckle, but from the way she tensed up, I knew she was growing angry, and I readied the God Slayer if she chose to strike out. “The elf stained and tainted by black magic thinks I am evil? I do not care for your thoughts on what is right and what is wrong. Kindly keep them to yourself.”

“No!” Morrigan hissed as she took a few steps forward, and the hands of the Tichádáma froze in the air as she waited for my minion to continue. “Look at how you defile the corpse of such a glorious creature! You are not a protector of these lands and the creatures who inhabit it! You are a ravager, you smite with greedy and lustful hands! Continue what you are doing to that animal, and I will kill you where you stand!”

Morrigan raised her hands into the air, and the same sickly emerald light from before at the battle with the Tintagal soldiers, beat from her palms. In a split second, the Dáma whipped her head around, and my elven woman was knocked to her knees. Then the goddess’ black hair whipped around as she flew across the room toward the elven woman.

I held up the God Slayer, planted my feet, and blocked the goddess from attacking my lover.

“You will not touch her,” I warned the goddess as I stared into her eyes. Though I was sure I understood this goddess already, even felt a strange sympathy for her actions, I would still allow no harm to come to them.

The Tichádáma stared down at me. Her mouth was pulled open in a scream, but no sounds came out, and after a moment, she spoke again, more to Morrigan than to me, though her eyes never wavered from mine.

“Do not speak on things that you do not know,” the Tichádáma snarled, and we glared at each other for a passing moment before the water to our left broke and the massive fin of the shark slid along the surface. The Tichádáma’s face softened for a second as she watched it move lazily under the water. “You didn’t kill him?”

Her voice was hushed and tinged with sorrow as her gray eyes moved along with the great shark’s movement. I cut my gaze from her face and looked behind her at what I had expected to see. Along the wall, long shelves made of ice were hung, and on the expanse of each, one large aquamarine orb of water spun and swirled. Most of the shelves were empty except for one, and I could sense the life within them, the souls of the dead sent down to her earlier in the evening.

“No,” the high elf growled through her teeth as she stared up at the goddess. “He has a human soul. We spared the human life within him.”

“I wish I could thank you,” the Tichádáma said, and then she tore her eyes away from the shark’s fin as she turned to look down at Morrigan, “but I almost wished you had killed him.”

“Why? Because you enjoy the suffering and the death of all creatures?” the High Elf snapped back, and surprisingly, the Tichádáma shook her head and turned away from us as she floated back toward the dais and the dead whale.

“No, you are wrong. I assume you heard the story of when I was born, the oceans sprang to life with all the aquatic animals that live there,” the Tichádáma told us as I took a step forward and prepared to skewer her on the end of the God Slayer. “Kill me, Dark One, it doesn’t matter much to me, but please allow me to finish what I’m doing.”

I allowed her this as she looked over her shoulder at me with pleading gray eyes. She moved back to the table, and Carmedy, the most curious of my minions, tentatively stepped closer as the goddess put the innards back inside the carcass. The goddess glanced at the feline and gave her a soft smile as the alchemist watched the goddess work.

“The souls of all animals are clean and untarnished by the wickedness of the world,” the goddess told my alchemist as she placed a long-fingered hand over the whale’s form. Slowly, a white ball of light lifted from the corpse, and she took it into her hand. The Dáma showed the ball of light to Carmedy, and the feline stared down at it in wonder. “Animals, like your elven friend said, are innocent, and with that, I must agree. Animals do not know hate, they are incapable of such a human emotion. They only know what is natural to them, and that is what makes their souls so pure.”

As we watched, the hand that held the whale’s soul retracted, and she held it close to her chest. With one swift movement, the goddess pressed her hand flat against her breastbone, and the whale’s pure soul disappeared inside of her with a flash of white light. For a moment, the spot where the soul had immersed itself glowed and flickered on her pale flesh and then was gone.

“I keep them safe from the evil of the outside world,” the goddess said softly. “When your Master takes my life and absorbs my power, he will absorb them along with me. I hope he will keep them safe, too.”

When she finished, she tilted her head as a single tear fell from her wide doe-like eyes, and then she waved a hand slowly over the seam the bearded man had cut into the whale’s belly. What happened was soundless, and all my minions watched in awe as the slit closed, guided by the goddess’s hand that moved farther up the body. She turned to me when she finished and raised one finger into the air for me to wait.

Then the Tichádáma crossed the room and lifted the large orb formed out of swirling water and brought it over to the carcass. The goddess closed her eyes, and another tear slipped out of her eyes as she spoke the god’s language. I know Annalise couldn’t hear and the three minions listening couldn’t understand what she was saying. The Dáma then pressed the sphere into the flesh of the whale’s belly. It took a second, but slowly, the aquamarine orb gradually was transferred into the whale’s body, and a loud cry rose into the air. We were silent as at first nothing happened, but then the large tail fin of the whale twitched, and a soft moan escaped the huge mouth. The Dáma came around the now fully moving body and lifted both pale hands into the air.

The now-living whale thrashed and smacked against the dais violently as it struggled for air, and with one smooth movement, the goddess pushed both hands away from her body. The whale slid from the platform, across the cold stone floor, and flopped into the water. The water received the whale, and the large tail fin smacked the water three times as the whale propelled itself down and then was gone from view. The Dáma blinked slowly, and a faraway smile spread across her thin lips as she watched the water smooth.

“Do they return to the sea? What about the shark? Why does he stay here?” Carmedy asked in a hurry as she followed after the goddess enrapt by her power.

“He was the first, and he will be the last to leave me,” she explained sadly. “He once had a name and of course, like the others, once had a body to call his own but that was stripped of him. The souls of humans, though they are not pure and unpolluted like the souls of animals, are still sacred in their own way. There are good humans, and there are wicked ones, and I am sad to say my land of Kanashimi has been contaminated by the latter.”

The goddess turned back to us and looked at each of us in the face. “I was cast out of the heavens because of my love for Klaus, but to my surprise, they cast me down to the island that worshipped me and, in turn, let me stay with my beloved. The gods took away my ability to speak to them, but I was still allowed to look upon his face. You understand, don’t you, Dark One? You knew once before what it was like to love a human, and here you are again, but with four more loves.”

“She was taken from me, and I was trapped far away from her,” I admitted, and the sympathetic pang in my dark heart bidded me to listen to her whole story.

“I gave this land to a leader I trusted, a man named Yoi,” she continued with a nod toward me. “He was a good man and served for many years under my instruction, but old age twisted his mind. The more time went on, the more skewed the offerings the people sent to me became. Though I couldn’t speak to them, I conveyed my displeasure to Klaus, and he went to the high chiefs of the city and told them what I had said. They didn’t agree and named him a heretic.”

“Oh no … ” Rana breathed in-between her whispers to Annalise that kept her up to speed on what was being said.

The goddess nodded sadly. “The man I had loved, the human I was cast from the god’s realm for, was the first human sacrifice sent down to me, thus creating the tradition that is passed down to today. His body lay on this stone floor for months, perfectly preserved by the cold and ice, but I knew I couldn’t keep him here. The longer his body remained, the more his soul decayed inside its flesh. Long ago, before any of your times, there were beasts who ravaged the seas named the megalodon, twenty times larger than the sharks we know today. Sadly, these great creatures have not lasted the test of time, but one of the few remaining was sent down to me and … ”

“You placed Klaus’s soul inside of it.” I murmured as I watched the great fin cut through the water then stop as it stared up through the water at the Tichádáma.

“Indeed, Dark One,” the goddess said softly. “It is called Soul Transferal, and once a human soul is transferred to another body, it no longer remembers its past life. He never leaves me, though I don’t think he understands why. He doesn’t remember me, but he still stays here and haunts me.”

The Tichádáma knelt by the water’s edge and dipped her hand into the water. As we watched, the massive shark launched itself halfway out of the water, and the goddess’s gray eyes watched it with sorrow. The shark’s mouth opened and closed as it exposed its massive teeth threateningly. She lay a single hand on its nose, and for a second, the great water creature went silent and stayed frozen as if it remembered the touch of her hand. The sage-green eyes swiveled in their sockets mindlessly, and the goddess removed her hand as the shark sunk back down into the water and hovered there. She turned back to me, her beautiful face hard and solemn as she stepped forward.

“I have only one request of you before you take me,” the Tichádáma murmured, and I bowed my head to her.

“What is it?” I inquired softly as she eyed the God Slayer with eyes filled with acceptance that the great polearm would take her last breath.

“Akuno, the descendant of Yoi,” she began. “Kill him and bring back his left hand. On his index finger, he wears a ring which bears my sigil. Return it to me, and I will allow you to take my life and my powers. I don’t want them anymore, they’ve done nothing but harm the people I love and care for so much.” Tears spilled down her cheeks, and as I used the puppet master’s power and read her mind, I could tell what she said was true. The weight of her power and the burden of what her people were doing was too much for this goddess to bear.

“Sever the line of death and destruction that started with Akuno’s ancestor and allow me to rest finally,” the goddess finished in a firm voice.

There was a moment of silence as the Tichádáma looked at me solemnly. I could tell from the glossiness of her eyes this was something she had wished for for thousands of years as she watched her people sacrifice each other and the creatures she cared for so much in her name. There was a moment of recognition for me, and I remembered her face from long ago, though she probably didn’t recognize me. Before the goddess was cast out of the god’s realm, she sat alongside my parents on the High Council. I was only a child then, and she most likely didn’t recognize my face, but I knew her.

I could understand her pain, she had been cast out by the very people who had done the same to me. Like Haruhi said, the Tichádáma was a goddess who befitted a true god’s death. She didn’t deserve the pains that had been thrust upon her nor did she ask for them. She was unlike the other gods we encountered. Instead of pleading for her life or forcing us to play some deadly game, she instead begged for her death and the release of her people from the tyrannical clutches of Akuno and his cursed lineage.

“The sigil ring, what is its significance?” I asked in a low voice as I took one step closer to the ageless being I barely knew from long ago.

“It was a gift to Yoi,” the great goddess stated in a powerful voice as she rose to her full height, and I could imagine her in the heavens. “I bestowed it to him when I put him in place as the lord of the city. It has been in his family since and now has been passed down to Akuno. The line of terror stops with him. My name has been the Tichádáma since I landed here after my fall from grace, my name means Silent Lady, but I will be silent no more.”

What Haruhi and the people of Kanashimi believed was true, the Tichádáma was a benevolent goddess who cared very deeply for the island and protected it the best she could. It was now my turn to take care of her and her wishes.

“And you will give up your powers willingly to me after I do this for you?” I inquired softly, and the goddess bowed her head to me.

“I would give them to you now, but they are an incentive if you do this one thing for me,” she told me as she brought her head back up and looked directly into my eyes.

“We will do as you ask,” I said to her kindly, and she pressed her delicate porcelain hands together and bowed to me respectfully. “We will bring back the hand and the sigil ring with it if it means you will submit yourself to me.”

“I already promised that I would.” The Dáma smiled down at us from her towering height. Her long black hair flowed around her shoulders, and her hardened gray eyes softened as she looked at us each in time. They stopped on Morrigan for a time, and the goddess’s smooth face went reflective and thoughtful. Her steel colored eyes wavered for a moment as she thought, and then they cleared as she turned to me softly.

“Go now, come back with the hand in your possession,” she pleaded, and without a word, I nodded and led my minions out of the dungeon.

Chapter Eighteen

When we surfaced out of the cave mouth, the cold night air was hot and humid compared to the frigid temperatures deep inside the Dáma’s prison. A deep chuckle bubbled up my throat as Rana stripped out of her coat and used one paw to fan herself.

The city far below our feet was dark and silent, only a few of the red lanterns still burned bright against the lurking night. This was a city that was about to receive two blows in one night, the death of the lord who watched over them and the end of the goddess who protected them. Annalise was the first to pull away from our group and head down the mountain.

“Annalise,” I called. “Wait for the others, we need to come up with a plan.”

“I want to kill this bastard as quickly as possible, Master. Don’t you see what he’s doing to her?” Then the High Queen rested her chocolate brown eyes on mine, and I could see the worry in them as she admitted what else was weighing heavily on her mind. “I would like … to get this done as soon as possible, we have pressing matters to attend to in Tintagal.”

“The Tichádáma deserves our attention,” Morrigan said in a bored tone, and despite the tension in the air, my wife ignored the comment.

“Annalise, I understand that, but we mustn’t rush things or run in unprepared,” I pressed, a reminder of the lessons she had learned from me in the past. “I’ve seen this man in action, and you’ve witnessed it too, he’s surprisingly wily and quick on his feet. We don’t want him slipping between our fingers right when we think we have him.”

“Yeah!” Rana said as she slammed her curled fist into her palm excitedly. “We have to come up with a plan!”

“Oh, I have an idea!” Carmedy cried as she came forward and bustled with the bundles at her waist. “I’ve been playing around with some new types of potions, and I’d really like to try one out!”

“I still think it would be best if we did this fast and easy,” the swordswoman mumbled under her breath.

“I personally think we should make a sneak attack, catch him with his pants down!” the fox-woman cackled.

“Did you actually see him? I’d rather not see him with his pants down … ” The feline’s nose wrinkled in response as she glanced at her sister warily.

“Do the people on Canarta really not use expressions?” the redhead said as she reached out and ruffled the petite cat’s black hair. “It’s just a figure of speech, you don’t have to take everything literally, pussycat.”

“We don’t use these ‘sayings’ that you’re always going on about! We say what we mean and mean what we say!” Carmedy nodded to herself.

“I think the best course of action is to meld the two plans together,” the High Elf stated plainly in her usual cold tone, and I turned to her and waited for her to continue speaking. “I think we should act swiftly but do it with stealth and silence.”

“I agree with you, Morrigan, I think that is the best plan,” I said with a smile. “Now, Carmedy, tell us about this new potion of yours.” I leaned down towards the shorter woman, and her wide emerald eyes sparkled in the darkness as she told us about her newest concoction.

The city of Kanashimi was quiet and sleeping as we crept closer to Akuno’s mansion. After the cult-like ecstasy of the Wailing, not even a lone drunk prowled the streets. The lights within the mansion were dim as Fea and Macha took to the air soundlessly. Morrigan’s eyes went wholly black, and the dark mage marking across her pale forehead glowed red. The elf listened to the soft speaking of her familiars, and soon the two ravens returned, and the only sound was the soft flutter of wings as they landed back down on her shoulders. We looked at her and waited for her to speak.

“The library on the second floor of the west wing, that’s where we’ll find Akuno, but he is not alone,” she informed us in her cold tone as she stroked Fea and Macha’s beaks, and her eyes moved over the outside of the building.

“Could you see who the other person is?” I asked as I moved my eyes over the unguarded front door and the single lamp that hung from a chain above it.

“No, they were cloaked in black, but I could sense the magical power coming from them. We must be on high alert the entire time we’re inside,” the white-haired elf told us, and we nodded in agreement.

“Us four will go inside while Carmedy remains outside. Were Fea and Macha able to open the window enough?” I inquired.

Morrigan nodded once to tell me they had. “They were able to without being detected by either of the men,” she murmured as she stroked their black wings affectionately.

“Good. Carmedy, go put yourself in place outside the window on the west wing,” I instructed. “Take Macha with you, and Morrigan will tell you when to throw the potion in.”

The alchemist nodded then scurried over the fence with feline agility. Her black ears twitched in the air as she listened to far off noises, decided they were nowhere near us, and headed off. I watched her back disappear into the darkness as Macha bobbed on her small shoulder, and I only sensed a few stray heartbeats around us. From the slow, calm thumping, I could tell they were either from people sleeping nearby or the two people inside the mansion unaware they were about to be under attack.

My remaining three minions and I stepped towards the wrought iron gate, and with a flick of my wrist, it creaked open by using an ounce of my power. This would be easy for me, and I couldn’t wait to tear Akuno limb from limb. We quickly climbed the stairs to the massive oak front door, and with a sly smile on her lips, Morrigan raised her eyes to the lamp above our heads. The candle burning inside the metal and glass flickered once, then went out with a puff of gray smoke.

I placed my gloved hand over the handle of the door then stopped myself with a sly smile.

“Rana, why don’t you open the door for us?” I uttered as I gestured towards the door handle, and the fox wriggled forward excitedly, bent down beside me, and pulled from her pocket a roll of leather I had never seen before. She unfurled it, and I could faintly hear the soft click of metal tools brushing against each other. Rana pulled out a long tool with a bent tip and another that was completely straight.

She slid the straight tool in, then jimmied the curved one in after. There was a series of soft clicking noises that were barely audible to my other two minions and myself, but the fox kept her black-tipped ear pressed against the door. Her bright blue eyes were sharp as she listened to each distinctive click while she moved the curved tool around and pressed each locking mechanism.

“Hold these in place, please,” Rana instructed me and I did, not allowing my muscles to move even an inch in case the two tools slipped and wrecked the work she had done already. The red-haired woman pulled a third tool out, this one with a much longer curve than the first, and pushed it in between the other two. Her paw fiddled with it for a moment, her tongue planted firmly between her teeth as she concentrated, and then there was a loud click as the door’s lock turned. Rana breathed a sigh of relief and quickly packed away the tools. Then I swung the door open to reveal the insides of Akuno’s home.

The interior of Akuno’s home was splendid and decorated lavishly with imported furniture. I almost scoffed to myself as we passed a large full body oil painting of the lord. The artist had added a few inches to his squat stature and made his beady brown eyes less weasel-like. It was a boastful caricature of the man we met, and I examined it more closely as my women spread about the room and took in more of the expensive items inside.

The painting depicted Akuno as he leaned against a small column. In his left hand he held a beautiful black cane, the metal head shaped into the face of a beautiful woman, a homage to the goddess they praised so eagerly. On his left index finger rested the ring the Tichádáma mentioned. Her swirling sigil was pressed deep into the silver metal, and hues of emerald green around the sigil complimented the piece of jewelry perfectly. It was an exquisite ring and suited to someone worthier of it than Akuno. Past that portrait, various other paintings and tapestries hung along the walls, and all of them depicted Akuno. I assumed he was married from only one of the paintings but had seen no woman at the festival or at the ritual.

The woman seated below him in the painting was sickly, and the honey blonde hair cut short to her shoulders lacked the shine or luster of a healthy person. Her face was thin and her cheeks shallow, her cheekbones pointed out from underneath the skin at odd angles, and the way she gazed outward at the painter made it seem as if she really wasn’t there. Her deep blue eyes that matched the color of the Riese were dull and far away. Something didn’t seem right with the woman.

“It’s a postmortem painting,” Annalise whispered over my shoulder as she looked over the painting and the details of the seated woman. “It’s usually to keep the memory of the dead alive, but I’m unsure why he is in the painting, too.”

My wife reached out one slim finger and swiped away the dirt on the nameplate of the painting’s wooden frame. The plate embellished in gold and red details read ‘Akuno and Tōtsū Kuso.’

“Poor woman,” Rana breathed as she examined Akuno’s wife’s face for a second them moved on. “She had to be married to that terrible man.”

“Maybe they were in love?” the swordswoman murmured back as quietly as she could as she watched the fox-woman move on to another painting.

“To this guy?” the redhead asked with a scrunched-up face as she pointed to another extravagant picture that made Akuno more handsome than he really was. “I doubt it. There’s only one painting that includes her in this whole room, and it’s the one after her death. It’s all him.”

“I am tired of looking upon such a revolting creature’s face, let us move on to what we are here for,” Morrigan said coldly as she turned from the room and pointed towards the grand, sweeping staircase that led to the second floor where Akuno and his cloaked visitor waited.

“You’re just impatient to kill the Dáma,” Rana joked back in a hushed voice, and the High Elf glanced over her shoulder and nodded once as she stepped up onto the first step.

“I don’t think she’s as bad as you think, Morrigan,” the swordswoman murmured as she followed after the pale woman.

“A person who instructs others to kill by their command is still a killer in the end,” the white-haired woman muttered back over her shoulder, and I knew this was my moment to step in. I reached out and gently touched Morrigan’s pale, mage-marked hand, and she paused for a moment to look me in the eye.

“You are entitled to your own opinion, my love, but when that opinion is erroneous and condemns others of wrongs they have not committed, then I must intervene,” I told my elven lover in a firm voice, and she pressed her lips into a hard line. “I know it for myself to be true the Dáma has done nothing but help and lead her people. Your hatred of her is unfounded, and you should direct it where it truly belongs, at Akuno and his predecessors. They are the ones who took her word and convoluted it for their own devices. The goddess has wanted nothing but good things for the island, and she has given it to them no matter what they have done because she loves them, not because she is pleased with what they are doing.”

“Spare the rod, spoil the child,” Morrigan said to me as she stared up into my eyes.

I shook my head to show my displeasure. “I can understand your anger, I too felt the same way when we witnessed the Wailing, but I soon found out I was wrong about her. As Haruhi said, and the people Kanashimi believe, the Tichádáma is one of the last few goddesses befitting her title. She may have had her missteps while guiding her people, but that is not something we can fault her for when she tried to fix things by sending Klaus to the leader she trusted and put in place over her city. Kanashimi was not misguided by her hand, but by the people she put in place to watch over it in her stead.”

“Morrigan,” my wife interjected in an understanding voice as she placed a hand on my shoulder and stepped up closer to us on the stairs. “Didn’t you see how upset she was at the death of the animals? It broke her heart just as it did yours. She said so herself, the souls of animals are pure, and she keeps them with her to protect them. If anything, she’s more upset than you. We’ve all heard the tale of how when she was born all the aquatic animals sprang to life in the oceans and waterways. Don’t you think it hurts her? She gave life to them, they are her children, and the people who she loves so much sacrifice them to her like its nothing.”

“She offered up her life to me so easily, you were there, you saw it,” I stated as I held on tightly to the elf’s hand, and it trembled in my grasp. “Do you think someone who enjoys the killing of innocent creatures and humans would do such a thing? She is not a murderer, she loves this land and its people despite the horrible things they do. I showed you the protective sigils on the trees on our way here. Would a god who didn’t care for its land do such a thing? No. The Tichádáma wants Kanashimi to live on and survive without her.”

“It’s not fair,” Rana said from the bottom of the stairs as she leveled her blue eyes up at us. Morrigan turned her head to look down at her sister as the fox-woman continued. “You’re casting judgment on her just as people have done to me. You’re making assumptions that have been proven to be untrue, Morrigan. The real person you should be lashing out at is the man upstairs. His family and his lineage are the ones who took the word of the Tichádáma and made it wrong and twisted.”

The High Elf squared her shoulders defiantly as she stared down at the redhead, but then her dark eyes softened.

“You are right,” Morrigan admitted as her eyes fell downcast at her feet. “I am wrong, and my reasonings are unfounded, but I held the anger for the Tichádáma close to my heart because there was no other logical person to blame but the goddess. I see now I was very wrong, and the blame should not be placed on her shoulders. I must thank you, all of you, for shining light on my misgivings.”

I squeezed her hand gently, and she lay a tender kiss to my cheek. With that settled, we began our ascent up the stairs and to the two men waiting above unawares. The halls led to the library in the west wing. Like the downstairs, it was bathed in reds and golds and was as richly decorated.

We stood outside of the heavy oak door and listened to the hushed whispers of Akuno and the second man inside. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but from the sound of it, it was a heated argument. The second man’s voice was low and hoarse like he wasn’t accustomed to speaking openly, but there was a heaviness to it that made me think people listened when he spoke. As Morrigan said earlier, his presence had a supernatural feel to it, and I could tell from behind the door he was powerful.

“Do it now, Carmedy,” I growled over to Morrigan, and my voice was carried through Fea. Then, from outside, there was a snap as the petite feline pulled back her slingshot and flung the small brown bundle through the window and into the library.

There was a moment of silence, and I simply waited for what was coming. As with most of Carmedy’s concoctions, there was a moment before the alchemical reaction took place, and this was no exception. But then, we were treated to an ear splitting explosion from behind the door as suffocating mustard yellow smoke billowed out from under the door.

I smiled wickedly as I placed my hands on top of each other in the open air in front of me. I pushed them forward then spread them apart to my sides with the crackle and snap of my dark power. The heavy, thick door in front of us parted down the middle like it was struck by lightning then blew apart into the room with the splinter of broken wood.

The drifting yellow smoke parted for us, and then I saw Akuno and his guest, who were covering their mouths and noses from the noxious smoke. Akuno turned and stared at us with horrified eyes while his guest only turned and revealed half of his face.

I recognized him only by the stolen memories of soldiers and his three minions. His piercing red eyes glowed hatefully as the black robes he was clothed in moved and curled around him as if they were made of smoke. The black cloak he wore over one shoulder shined with the feathers of black ravens, and when he turned slightly, they glinted in the low light surrounding them. One of his skeletal hands clutched a staff, the metal head shaped and molded into a roaring dragon’s head. His thin lips spread into a smile as his scarlet eyes landed on Rana, and the fox’s face paled drastically.

“Why, hello, Foxy, this is the last of all places I would expect to see you,” the sorcerer, Tuzakeur’s, hoarse voice chuckled darkly, and from behind me, the redhead’s paws curled into fists as her expression hardened.

“You!” Rana screamed, but within a blink of an eye, Tuzakeur was gone in a flash of black smoke and the cawing of faraway ravens.

I gritted my teeth and strode into the room as Akuno attempted to scurry away. He tried to push through my minions, but I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck as he shrieked like a frightened animal. I threw him into an overstuffed armchair, and the sound that squeaked from his throat was pathetic. Then I loomed over him, and his weasel-like eyes searched for any means of escape, but I held him in place easily with my dark power. My minions fanned out behind Rana and me, no doubt as eager as I was to find out why the lord of Kanashimi was meeting in private with the sorcerer who held Rana’s family captive.

“Well, well, well,” I growled between my teeth as I loomed over Akuno, “it seems our lord here has been dabbling with the sorcerer we just happen to be looking for. Interesting, isn’t it, my loves?”

“I won’t tell you anything!” Akuno cried as he struggled to free his hands trapped by the unseen force of my evil power. “You can’t make me!”

“That is where you are very wrong,” Morrigan said behind my back, and when I glanced at her, the darkness inside of her huge eyes was ablaze with rage.

“I highly doubt that,” Akuno snapped back with a sly smirk, but little did he know I would see it wiped from his face.

“Morrigan, my dear, would you like to learn something new?” I asked her with a smile. The smile that played about her lips in return would have been horrifying to most and, from the way Akuno stared at her, I could tell he was chilled to the bone by my elven woman. I brought the high elf forward to stand next to me in front of the seated Akuno. “I was going to use mind reading to get the information I wanted out of you, but then your head would explode, and your suffering would end too soon.”

I turned my head and spoke to my elven lover with a gentle smile as I decided to teach her a new necromantic technique. “Have you ever heard the term Discerptionis?”

“I have not, Master,” the white-haired woman answered with a shake of her head.

I brought her closer to Akuno’s frozen form in the chair as I explained. “This is something I learned long ago when I still resided in the god’s realm.”

“Y-you’re a god?” Akuno shrieked, but I ignored his incessant squawks and continued teaching my necromantic student.

“The word in the god’s language means dismemberment. I can safely assume you know what that word means?” I questioned, and the smile still firmly in place on Morrigan’s face widened even more as she glared down at the pest in the high-back chair. “Of course you do. Now, this technique can be used in a manner of different ways, but in the past, I’ve used it for interrogation purposes mainly. It is a useful way of keeping the body intact but still causing as much pain as possible.”

“I am ready when you are, Master,” Morrigan said as she bowed her head to me.

With a miniscule use of my power, Akuno’s right hand rose into the air, and the weasel stared at it with huge panicked eyes.

“Akuno,” I chuckled, and the puny man stared up at me with his mouth hanging open. “Would you like to tell us the reason Tuzakeur was here?”

“I can’t,” he whispered as he shook his head vehemently and stared at the hand that still floated in the air. “I’ve sworn the great sorcerer secrecy.”

“Now, Morrigan, when we receive a negative answer like that, I want you to imagine the inner workings of the hand,” I explained with clinical coldness. “The bones, the cartilage between each digit, and all the bundles of veins working through the hands up to the tips of the fingers. Are you seeing it in your mind, my love?”

“Yes, Master,” Morrigan breathed as she closed her eyes and did as she was told.

“Think only of the pinky, it’s the smallest finger on the hand. There are four bones within the pinky, and each is connected by cartilage,” I explained to her, and she listened as her eyes stayed completely still behind her closed eyelids. “Now, Morrigan, I want you to sever the cartilage between the first and second bones in the pinky finger.”

“Wait, no!” Akuno started, but his words were interrupted by an agonized scream that roared up his throat as a loud crack resounded around the room. His scream rose in pitch and warbled on a high note as I focused on the tip of Akuno’s pinky and saw the first bone hung limply from the rest of the tiny finger.

“Very good,” I praised my minion, then turned back to Akuno, whose entire body was shaking and shivering as he fought off the pain. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell us?”

“I will … never … betray the … trust of … Tuzakeur,” he struggled out through tight lips.

I turned back to my elven woman with an evil smile, and she nodded back to me. Another snap resounded around the room as yet another one of Akuno’s bones was separated.

Each time I asked him if he was ready to answer, and he told us no, another bone was cracked and pulled apart from its cartilage and tendons. Morrigan was meticulous in her work, and I watched keenly as she worked her way all the way up to his shoulder. She was about to separate his collarbone from his body when Akuno’s expression broke, and fat tears rolled down his round cheeks.

“Stop, I’ll tell you,” the squat lord struggled out.

I laughed loudly. He had lasted longer than I expected him to, and the snap of his clavicle was the last sound we heard. Morrigan was seething with rage, and I had to hold up a hand to stop her from breaking all the bones in his body. The pale woman relented as Rana stepped up and leaned into Akuno’s face.

“Why was Tuzakeur here and what do you have to do with him?” the fox-woman snarled.

Akuno drew back his face as he sniffled loudly. “The dark sorcerer wants something from the Tichádáma, an item that she possesses,” the lord struggled out through clenched teeth.

“An item? What kind of item?” The fox’s blue eyes widened as she grabbed onto the lord’s shirt lapels and gave him a rough shake. His face contorted in pain as he yelped.

“Some type of necklace she wears, he called it a sacred item,” Akuno cried pathetically as more tears wet his chubby cheeks.

“Why does he want it?” Annalise questioned as she stepped to the front and also loomed over the tortured man.

“He called it a ‘finder of things,’” Akuno squeaked out. “He said it was a necklace forged and blessed by the gods themselves and given to the Tichádáma before she was cast out of the heavens.”

I glared down at him through narrowed eyes.

“A finder of things? What does that mean?” I questioned angrily and held up my left hand. The lord’s left hand followed my own and rose into the air, ready to be broken like the other.

“Stop! Please! I don’t know! I didn’t even know the goddess had such an item!” the lord screamed, red-faced.

“Where is Tuzakeur now?” I barked as the cartilage between his wrist and hand began to separate, and he screeched and writhed in pain.

“Probably to the goddess’s dungeon to take it from her!” he screamed as he fought against my power, but I was too strong for him and easily held him in place.

“Why was he here? What else did he want from you?” I questioned through a roar, and the wretched lord squeezed his eyes shut at the sound.

“He offered me protection if … I could produce the sacred item for him … but I told him I had no idea what he was talking about …” he murmured, and from the way he was acting, I could tell he was close to passing out from the overwhelming torture.

“Master, what do we do now?” Morrigan asked from behind me, and I could hear the worry in her voice. “Shall we return to the Tichádáma?”

“Yes, we must collect Carmedy and return to the goddess before Tuzakeur can get the sacred item from her. Annalise,” I uttered with a smile as I turned on my heel and made for the door, “take his life, and then his hand.”

“Yes, Master,” my wife answered as she drew Bloodscale from its sheath, and the greatsword sang in the light. “You shall die as all traitors to the motherland of Tamarisch do. I hope the gods of the afterlife take no pity on you.”

The high queen twirled the blade once through the air then brought it down across Akuno’s head. The severed head rolled, an expression of shock frozen on the Lord's face. Blood flew into the air like a fountain from his neck and stained his finely made clothes, but she paid it no mind as she lifted his left arm that held the sigil ring and chopped it off above the wrist. Annalise held the severed hand limply in her grip and turned with my minions toward the door.

“Let us pay Tuzakeur a visit.” I roared, and a mighty cry rose from my minions as they followed on my heels.

Chapter Nineteen

I tore up the mountain with my minions in tow, and the fire that burned in my belly was raging and setting my avatar ablaze. We nearly had that bastard, Tuzakeur, and if we could trap him in the Tichádáma’s dungeon, we would have Rana’s lost family within reach. We plunged down the cave mouth and raced down the path and tunnels as if hell was on our heels.

The fox-woman ran shoulder to shoulder with me, and I was unsure how she was able to keep pace with my quick steps, but it was probably from sheer force of will. The redhead’s lips were pulled back against her pointed teeth in a growl, and I knew she was ready to rip the sorcerer apart with her bare paws. I smiled to myself as my long hair flew out behind me and I glanced back at my other minions. Their expressions were the same as my fox’s. My beautiful minions were prepared for battle against the man who had betrayed their sister.

Annalise’s chestnut braid swung over her shoulder as she drew not only her unnamed sword but also Bloodscale and held them at the ready like a true warrior. Carmedy was barely looking where she stepped, but she moved surely as she ran and mixed potions in the small brown bundles at her waist. Rana pounded the rock with her bare feet as she pulled her elven daggers from their pouch, and then she held one in a closed fist and the other between her teeth as a snarl came from between her lips. Morrigan’s white hair whipped around her as Fea and Macha swooped through the air. The green light that came from her palms was no longer faint and sickly but pulsed with a hateful light that made my heart beat with excitement.

Our feet pounded across the lake of ice, and the shadows beneath it didn’t move. From what I could tell, the mighty shark was elsewhere, probably in the nexus of the Tichádáma. The ice was still soft and not entirely reformed where the shark had attacked us earlier in the night, and there was another spot in the ice where I assumed it attacked the dastardly wizard. There was a spot of blood on the ice where it trickled into the water, and I hoped the great beast had taken a chunk out of the bastard.

Our party moved on faster, and we came around the sharp turn that led to the hall of ice. Right as we started to slow to navigate the jagged spikes, a deafening cracking reached our ears as all the ice that protruded from the walls retracted and allowed us entrance. I nodded to my minions as I stepped out first and saw there was no danger. We had gained the trust of the Tichádáma, and she allowed us access into her nexus.

As we pressed on, a dark shred of fabric fluttered to the ground, and I snatched it up. I examined it in my gloved hand, and from the way the fabric shifted and black smoke wafted from it, I knew it must have been torn away from Tuzakeur’s cloak. I dropped it to the ground as an ear splitting scream assaulted our ears.

Gone were the days where my minions would have cowered in fear or shied away from a fight, but instead each set of eyes hardened and narrowed on the entrance into the nexus as they held tighter onto their weapons. I stepped forward first as I reached into my void pocket and retrieved the God Slayer, and an unseen wind blew past and billowed out my cloak to reveal the blessed armor underneath. I was a god who no man dared to challenge, and Tuzakeur was about to feel the full force of my wrath.

I entered into the nexus of the Tichádáma with my minions behind me.

What was inside surprised me more than anything. When we encountered the goddess, she had been docile except for lashing out at Morrigan once but otherwise, she seemed utterly harmless. Now, things were different. The towering woman seemed even taller than before, and she held a massive claymore in one hand, a weapon even my skilled swordswoman would have to hold with both hands to keep aloft. From the way it glimmered and shone in the light surrounding the goddess, I knew it was a holy weapon forged by the gods.

“Give me the sacred item, bitch,” Tuzakeur shouted at her, but the goddess never wavered in her steps as she thrust the sword at the sorcerer, only barely missing the dark mage.

Something strange was happening with the sorcerer. From what I had heard from Rana, he was extremely powerful and cunning, but the man’s movements were sloppy and jerky like a puppet’s. In his right hand, he held a twisted wand, and each time the goddess raised her sword to strike, he sent waves of black power at her as he whispered incantations, but some of them would stop short and sizzle out as if he was unpracticed with this type of magical weapon.

“The Eye of Alipsis will never fall into your possession!” she snarled back through a tight smile as the wizard tried and failed to throw a wave of black fire onto her path, but she twirled away and struck out at him again. “Only the pure of heart may wield the Eye, and you are unworthy. You will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands to take it from me.”

“That can be arranged,” Tuzakeur cackled from underneath the hood as his scarlet eyes flashed evilly, but the goddess stood firm as she fought off another onslaught of dark magic.

The claymore she defended herself with was massive, at least double the size of Bloodscale and thick as the double-edged blades sang through the air. The hilt was golden, etched with ancient sigils, and pressed into the pommel was a huge cut and carved sapphire. The handguard before the blade created a swirling network of thin metal strips that completely encircled the goddess’s closed fist.

“Master,” Annalise whispered behind me as she eyed the sword with envy, “is that an augmentation stone?”

“No, my love, that is the Eye of Alipsis, a sacred item lost to the god's thousands of years ago,” I informed her as swirling black power surrounded Tuzakeur’s hands, and he threw balls of dark magic at the goddess. The Tichádáma deflected them then held the sword up in front of her as her icy gray eyes stared down the blade at the sorcerer. I looked each of my women in their faces, and each was hardened and ready to take down Tuzakeur.

“Ready, my minions?”

“Let’s kill this motherfucker,” Rana snarled as she flipped one of the elven blades in her paw, and Carmedy lowered herself to the ground with her slingshot at the ready.

“Percutiamus eum infernum,” Morrigan replied in her elven language as her mage markings blazed hotly across her flesh.

“Infernum or inferno, let’s kick his ass,” Annalise replied as she smashed the blades of Bloodscale and the other sword together, and the sparks flew through the air.

Carmedy placed a sizzling bundle into the slingshot and pulled it back with narrowed eyes as she singled the wizard out. The feline let out a hiss as she bared her sharp teeth and took careful aim. She let fly just as Tuzakeur advanced on the goddess once more. The small bundle hit the wizard’s chest, guided unerringly by the magic of the elven slingshot, and exploded into bright blue light as it crackled and popped against his flesh.

Tuzakeur screamed in pain as the caustic potion bubbled up and burned the left side of his face. The feline scrambled to her feet as the sorcerer fell away from the Tichádáma, and the goddess turned her head, saw us, and her expression cleared in relief. The tall woman looked directly into my eyes.

“The moon is waning, and I am, too,” the goddess shouted to me and I saw the hand that held the huge sword was trembling.

“The moon?” Rana questioned with uncertainty, and my swordswoman pointed upward to the ceiling where the jagged rock and stone came together to create a skylight. Directly above the hole, the moon shone through. I watched it for a few passing seconds as the moon shifted, and a sliver of the black sky was exposed behind it.

“The Wailing brings her no power, it is a meaningless ritual,” I told them as I brought the God Slayer up to slam it down onto the rock below my feet. “It is the moon from which she gets her power. The moon is moving out of its highest point in the sky, and her power is being cut off until the next full moon.” With that, I swung the polearm over my head and brought it down directly in front of me, and the blades came to life from the blessed weapon.

Tuzakeur stopped for a second when he caught sight of me, and the thin, pale lips beneath the hood frowned. Was that a note of fear, the same fear he had shown me before? Whatever the case, his momentary distraction let the Tichádáma lunge forward and stab deep into the sorcerer’s chest.

It should have been a lethal blow, but there was a second where Tuzakeur’s entire form blinked in and out of view, then he disappeared only to reappear in a puff of black smoke behind the goddess.

Carmedy wailed as the sorcerer brought his hands down in the middle of the Tichádáma’s back and black necromantic power blasted through her being and out her chest. The Dáma made no sound as she wobbled on her feet for a second then fell. I stepped forward with the God Slayer at the ready as the sorcerer bore down on the fallen goddess.

The Tichádáma’s gray eyes were wide with horror but still sharp and filled with rage as Tuzakeur stood over her. The goddess held the holy sword firmly to her chest as she struggled for breath.

“Give me the Eye of Alipsis,” Tuzakeur barked, and even so, the goddess below him smiled despite the blood filling her mouth and staining her pearly white teeth. The sorcerer leaned in even closer as he reached for the sword the goddess still held onto tightly. “Give it to me, now.”

The Tichádáma closed her mouth, and I watched with pleasure as her cheeks sucked in, and she spat a ball of blood and saliva into Tuzakeur’s eyes.

My minions silently spread out one by one in preparation of attack. Rana was the first to strike, and the fox-woman threw her elven daggers with surgical precision. The twin blades spun through the air and buried themselves in the sorcerer’s body, one in his upper shoulder, missing his beating heart by inches, and the second between his ribs.

“Nooo!” the wizard screamed as he tried to pull the daggers out of his body, but unfortunately for him, his eyes were streaming blood and the wand in his hands made the efforts clumsy and pointless.

“He’s distracted,” Annalise hissed under her breath as she darted forward with both swords at the ready.

Tuzakeur stumbled backward as he both tried to get away from my wife and pull Rana’s daggers from his body, but the High Queen was faster, and she drove her blades into the evil mage with a triumphant scream.

“Die!” my queen shouted as her beautiful face became even more beautiful with her rage. The silver tips of the blades tore deeper into Tuzakeur’s chest until they poked out of the mage’s back, and sickly yellow blood began to seep from the wounds.

I stared at the strange blood, and then the smell hit me for the first time. It was the scent of rotten meat, and I gritted my teeth against the foulness as I gripped the God Slayer tighter.

“Gross.” My wife placed one heavy boot in the middle of his back, slammed him forward, and then pulled the blades out. Her weapons dripped with yellowed blood, and she then flicked them outward to clear them of the disgusting liquid.

Tuzakeur wobbled forward and away from my warrior-wife, but he was still unable to see, and he nearly tripped over the fallen goddess before she could roll out of his path.

Morrigan struck next, and her delicate hands moved in the air with fluidity I had never seen. The emerald light encasing her hands snapped like whips, and with a quick roll of the wrists, the strands tangled around Tuzakeur and lifted him into the air. The elven woman snarled, her pale lips pulled back against her teeth as she spoke elven incantations under her breath. Her mage markings burned brighter than ever before, and for a moment it seemed as if she would simply catch fire from the light. That power coursed down the green lashes, and my white-haired lover lifted her right hand to lift Tuzakeur higher into the air. Then she splayed out her thin fingers and brought them down in a smashing motion.

Tuzakeur plummeted to the rock with a warbling shriek, and the crash that came after was deafening.

The elf shouted her spell as she lifted her right hand again, and the sorcerer’s body followed as it lifted into empty space. The white-haired woman then raised both clenched fists into the air, then twisted them as she screamed.

Then her dark magic really began to work on the evil wizard.

From below the hood, thick yellow blood spurted from his broken nose and seeped between his cracked lips. Tuzakeur’s right arm underneath the shadowy cloak twisted at the elbow, and the wand dropped from his skeletal hands. Then Morrigan slapped her hand through the air as if she was swatting a fly, and the sorcerer was sent flying across the room.

He slammed into the far wall and made a sound that did sound a bit like a fly getting squashed.

I watched with interest as I stepped closer to the struggling wizard. My minions had the matter well in hand, but I wanted to see how they would all strike the final blow. As I did so, Carmedy rushed past me with another smoking bundle right as the sorcerer struggled to stand. With a rush of electric blue smoke, the wizard brought his wand back to him telekinetically, and then he motioned as if he was going to begin another horrific spell.

But he was too late.

Carmedy was ready for him.

“Demon spawn, get that bad guy!” the feline hissed deep in the back of her throat as she exposed her pointed teeth. The bundle left a trail of thick, blood red smoke as it sailed through the air and landed right in front of the battered sorcerer.

There was a moment of silence as the bundle bubbled up, and the wizard took a wary step back. Right when he assumed he was a safe distance away, the bundle exploded with a thunderous clap. The red smoke nearly obstructed the sorcerer from view, but as I watched, the thick smoke solidified and morphed into a shape I remembered from days prior. Though the body’s form was not entirely correct, crudely formed from Carmedy’s concoction, what stood in front of Tuzakeur was a towering demon, its black horns curled and pointed at the tips as it tested its newly formed jaws. The scarlet eyes from below the hood widened, and he took a few scuttling steps backward as the demon spawn advanced on him with menacing curled hands.

Tuzakeur was too slow as again he tried to summon the power of his wand, but the demon spawn grabbed him up by the ankle and stuffed the meat of the wizard’s leg in its massive jaw. The alchemical monster’s huge, bulging black eyes rolled in their sockets as it bit down and severed the leg completely as the spawn swallowed it down with the smacking of its lips. The demon dropped Tuzakeur and roared as it beat its chest angrily, then it slammed its head down and squashed the wizard like an annoying bug. Tuzakeur’s screams were loud and warbling as they echoed around the room. The demon pulled back, and somehow, Tuzakeur still clung to life, even able to move as he lifted his wand into the air with one shaking hand.

“Et abierunt! Apage!” the wizard screamed incantations as he jabbed out once with the wand, and with a flick of his wrist, the demon made of smoke began to dissolve. Carmedy’s demon howled loudly as its body was torn apart by an unseen wind and, with one dying roar, was gone from sight.

Now was my time to strike.

I gripped the great polearm in my hands and focused my dark power through its blades. Tuzakeur was breathing hard, his poisoned yellow blood leaking out all over the stone as he struggled to stand. I didn’t allow him to as I pushed my power into the God Slayer and slammed it down in front of me. The wave of crackling magenta power hit Tuzakeur like a tidal wave and threw him against the far wall again. I lifted my left hand and held him against the wall with a fraction of my power as his struggles ceased. He only kept his glowing scarlet eyes on me.

“The Dark Lord has returned,” the sorcerer whispered through his cracked lips, and the chuckle that came after was tinged with insanity.

“I have,” I growled through my teeth as I held the God Slayer out beside me and stood directly in front of him.

“And you brought some furry friends, how cute,” Tuzakeur snickered as his scarlet eyes swiveled to Rana, and the fox-woman tensed under his gaze as she set her jaw. “Hello, Rana. Spoken to your mother lately?”

“You bastard!” the redhead screamed as she took a few steps forward, but Annalise placed a hand on her shoulder and stopped the fox-woman from moving.

“Where are they?” I questioned as I pressed the largest blade of the God Slayer against his throat, and he snorted with laughter again.

“Do you really think I’d tell you?” he retorted through a smile as more vile blood seeped between his teeth. “Not even the most painful torture could get that information out of this body.”

“Very well, then I will have to use other means to get what I want,” I snarled through a wicked smile.

I pushed into his mind, using the soul sight of the puppet master god to search out for visions of Rana’s family. His memories were shrouded in black and swirling with dark smoke as I drove deeper into his consciousness. I could feel the sorcerer pushing back against me as he tried to stop my descent into his mind, but his attempts to keep me from what I was looking for were futile. I ripped his memories apart and shredded them at the seams as I searched deeper for any sign of Rana’s mother and siblings.

In my mind's eye there were other whispers of the item he attempted to take from the Tichádáma. I saw snippets of Tuzakeur traveling deep into a cavern half-filled with water, and as he trudged through the waist-deep water, he came upon a raised ledge in the rock. On it sat the magnificent skeletal remains of a beast I hadn’t seen in thousands of years. The skull of the long-dead dragon was massive, larger than some of the smaller homes in Kanashimi.

The man was tiny in comparison to the tremendous hulking beast, and he stood in front of it, shrouded in his cloaks made of smoke with his hands raised. The words that slipped from his thin lips were like a prayer, and he climbed up next to the bones and began to rummage through the ivory pieces for something. He turned away from the skeleton, his lips pulled down in angered disappointment as he cursed loudly into the open air. I knew if I searched deeper into his mind his head would simply pop like a grape between two tensed fingers, and I pulled away, enraged that I was unable to find any clue as to where Rana’s family was.

One of the last memories I ripped through made me realize something I began to suspect the moment I saw the strange yellow corpse blood. It was the birth of this man, not the passing from his mother’s womb into life, but instead, looming above me in this memory was Tuzakeur’s face, the real Tuzakeur as he used necromancy to create this clone of himself. He was speaking to his proxy in low, hushed tones, the way a mother would comfort her child, and the second fake sorcerer listened intently. This Tuzakeur in my grasp, the false one, was a piece of flesh carved and enchanted out of the real Tuzakeur. He thought he could trick me so easily, thought he could pass off a fake for the real thing, but I had noticed this proxy was not the real man.

My eyes cleared, and the false Tuzakeur’s pained face came into view where I had left him pinned to the wall. His scarlet eyes were strained behind me toward my minions and the goddess as he fought harder against my hold.

“You may not be here, Tuzakeur, but you’re listening and speaking to me, aren’t you?” I questioned as I tilted my head at the twin.

“Very clever, Dark One, it seems you’ve figured it out,” the clone coughed out. “Would you really think I would go on such a trivial errand myself and risk facing off with you unprepared? I’m no fool.”

“Then it is no matter if I kill this body?” I smiled as I pressed the blades of the polearm deeper into his clone’s throat.

“I would be quite sorry to see it go, but much like your own avatar, this is merely a flesh suit I can place my subconscious in,” the proxy whispered under the hood through a chortle. “But I still came here for a reason, and I would like to succeed before you lay waste to my creation.”

The scarlet eyes of the twin moved, and I glanced over my shoulder as Carmedy slowly helped the goddess into a sitting position. Scarlet blood poured from the wound on the Tichádáma’s chest, her gray eyes were hazy, and I knew that not only her powers were waning with the moon but whatever Tuzakeur had done to her had brought the great goddess to the brink of death. The goddess’s hands came up as she held the claymore out and offered it to Rana. The fox-girl’s blue eyes went wide, and she shook her head as the goddess offered the sword more forcefully this time, her beautiful face pulled down in a pained grimace.

“Only the pure of heart are able to wield the Eye of Alipsis, and I give it to you,” the Tichádáma whispered as blood dribbled from between her lips.

“I-I don’t even know how to hold a sword, let alone how to fight with one,” Rana protested as she placed her paws on the goddess’s hands and pushed the sword away, but the Tichádáma shook her head feverishly.

“When I die, the sword must be passed down to someone or it will disappear from existence,” the Dáma murmured through labored breath. “I did not choose you as my successor, the sacred item did.”

“D-did you say s-sacred item?” the redhead asked in a hurry as she stared down at the glowing sword the goddess offered.

Before our eyes, a light glowed around the sword as it transformed. It shrunk and became a glowing, moving pool of molten metal as it reshaped itself in the air. The newly formed necklace dropped, and the goddess caught it in her shaking, outstretched palm. Once more, she offered the necklace to Rana, and the fox tentatively reached out a paw to take it from the dying Dáma. The pendant at the end of the chain was the same sapphire as the stone at the end of the goddess’s sword, and the metal that held the stone in place was sculpted into the shapes of vines and leaves.

“One of the sacred items, also known as the Holy Sword, the Eye of Alipsis. It has multiple uses … ” the Dáma breathed out as Carmedy allowed the goddess to lean back on her in the goddess’s last dying moments. “Hold the stone aloft and look for it when you are searching for items, and it will show you the w-way… When you wish to produce the sword, s-simply think of i-it and place your h-hand over your c-chest, the sword will do t-the r-r-r…”

“Rest now, your godliness,” the feline whispered as tears appeared in her large emerald eyes. “You don’t have to speak anymore.”

“No!” Tuzakeur screamed in rage as the Dáma’s pale hands reached out and placed the necklace around Rana’s neck. The goddess’s fingers trembled as she tenderly stroked the fox-woman’s cheek. “The Eye of Alipsis is mine!”

“I’ve grown tired of your incessant babbling, come back in your true form and then you can challenge me,” I growled as I thrust the God Slayer into his skull.

The point of the blade pierced through his right eye and then exploded out the back of his skull. The destroyed eye dripped blood and ooze down his sunken cheek, so I pushed all of my dark power and strength into the weapon. It shook with my power, and the clone’s skull cracked as the weapon ripped through the bones in his face. Stinking blood and grey matter erupted upward and stained the stone as the clone’s head exploded like a squashed cherry tomato. The proxy’s headless body wobbled on unsteady legs and fell sideways to the ground unceremoniously. I stepped away from it and wiped the blood from my face as I made my way to rejoin my minions.

We were silent as we surrounded the Tichádáma, and I watched with a twinge of sorrow, sad that I could not fulfill Haruhi’s wish the goddess would die a peaceful and worthy death. I knelt beside her, and Annalise produced the severed hand from her pack and offered it to me. I held the greying limb in my gloved hands and stared down at it. At this moment, it seemed almost pointless to offer it to her. She had asked for it when she was alive and well and now, as it was plain to see, her power and life were drained from her.

The Dáma swallowed thickly as her darkening eyes swiveled to me, but then they rested upon the hand I held out to her. The laugh that bubbled up from her throat was thick and wet, but still, a small smile spread across her lips as she reached out and grabbed the sigil ring between her fingers. Once the ring was in her possession, I tossed the severed hand aside and turned all of my attention towards the Tichádáma. Despite Carmedy’s protests, the goddess struggled up into a sitting position and examined the ring with loving eyes.

“I didn’t want to speak it earlier, but I know you,” the Tichádáma panted as she wiped at the blood at the corners of her lips. “I recognized your face. You were once a boy I liked to watch play in the gardens of the heavens. You are the son of Chirus, aren’t you?”

“That I am,” I confirmed with a bow of my head, and she stared at me with eyes that struggled to focus.

“How sad … you were destined to do great things, your holy sigil prophesied it, but here you are, in the nexus of another fallen god and forced to watch her die.” The Dáma’s hands found Morrigan’s, and the elven woman’s dark eyes widened in surprise. The white-haired woman held tightly onto the goddess as she averted her eyes, and for a second, I thought I could spy tears there. “It was probably that little bastard of a brother who got you cast out, wasn’t it?”

I didn’t want to speak on this, not in front of my minions, but felt I needed to since my and the Tichádáma’s stories were oddly similar. “Yes, Otia was the one who brought it to the council.”

“At least they spared you some pain by keeping you out of the council when they called you out,” the goddess whispered as she lay back and lifted the ring above her head to look at its changing colors. “It was not your brother who wheeled out my shame and bared it for all to see, but instead … your mother.”

“Then when I reach the heavens and lay waste to them all,” I began, “I will exact revenge for the both of us, you and I.”

“Thank you,” she muttered as she closed her eyes, and I knew her time was drawing near from the way her chest rose and fell rapidly. She held out the ring to me, and I stared down at her in surprise. “Take it, Dark One, wear it on your left index finger, and it will make you the lord of all of Machstein. I will not need it where I am going.”

I gently took the ring from her fingers and examined its intricate surface, the beautiful emerald green that worked around and contrasted against the icy silver. The sigil in the middle of the ring was the same swirl we had seen carved into the trees, and I stared down at it for a few passing seconds then slipped it onto the finger she specified. The Tichádáma’s hand that was wrapped around Morrigan’s tightened as she gathered her strength to speak once more.

“My name is not the Tichádáma … ” the divine being whispered into the air as more blood spilled from the wound on her chest. Her robes were torn and singed where Tuzakeur’s dark power had exited her body. She coughed heartily, and blood smattered and stained those white robes, and it seemed sickly appropriate in the current situation, the unsoiled goddess being broken and destroyed by those around her. The goddess’s eyes opened, and she stared me down with feverish intensity.

“Holy names are important and should not be forgotten, no matter what evil deeds come from their hands. Before I fell to Machstein and before the people here chose to call me the Tichádáma, I was named Mizu no on'na,” she said firmly, almost pleading as she continued. “Please, remember my name. I don’t wish to be a deity lost to time like the others who have fallen before me.”

The Tichádáma’s hand then fell limply away from Morrigan and down to the cold, stone ground. The elven woman gasped and covered her mouth as tears spilled down her colorless cheeks. A single last breath whispered up the goddess’s throat then her chest stopped moving, and she was gone. The goddess who Haruhi and the people of Kanashimi respected and loved so much died in the arms of my minions.

I felt a pang of regret and pain that I had been unable to assist the goddess into the arms of death peacefully, but she fought hard against Tuzakeur and kept him from hurting Rana. The silence that enveloped us was deafening and only broken by the sound of sloshing water as the fin of the enormous shark broke the water while it swam around the confines of the pool.

The rolling sage eye of the human-souled creature broke the surface once, and Annalise watched it dolefully. Though the high queen’s own eyes were red and puffy around the corners, I could tell she willed herself not to cry. Carmedy used a stray piece of fabric to wipe the blood from the goddess’s smooth face as she sobbed. Her paws shook, but she moved purposefully and tenderly to make sure the Tichádáma’s face was completely clear of the specks of red.

“Master?” Rana squeaked in a high pitch voice that told me she too, like my wife, was holding in tears.

“Yes, my love?” I answered in a soft, comforting voice.

“What does ‘Mizu no on’na’ mean in the god’s language?” the redhead asked as she petted the deity’s ruffled dark hair into place around her serene face.

“That name means, ‘Lady of Water,’” I told them, and all of my minion’s eyes stayed hard on the still body of the goddess. “I must admit, I too am sad to see her die. I believe she was the last deity on this earth who wanted nothing and gave everything to her people out of the kindness of her heart. She was a true goddess, not like the others we have encountered. We’ve encountered many gods who hated human existences, one who mutilated them and created puppets, and others who were overjoyed to trap and torture them in their dungeons for sport, but the Tichádáma was not one of them.”

“I was unable to apologize to her for my actions,” Morrigan started, and the elven woman leaned down and cupped the Tichádáma’s face in her delicate hands. “My actions were unfounded, and I am truly sorry, sorry we were unable to let you rest peacefully the way you wanted. I swear upon my honor we will find and slay Tuzakeur in your honor.”

“And when I tear down the heavens,” I added as I stared down at the beautiful being on the floor below me, “I will do it in your name.”

We stayed with her for awhile while my minions cleaned her up, and finally, once they had finished, I rose to my feet and lifted the goddess’s body in my arms. Right as I did, an orb similar to the ones she used while placing the souls into the empty shells of the animals lifted up out of her body and turned in the air for a moment. All of my minions stared at it with wide eyes as the orb pressed into my chest and was gone.

The sudden wave of power was something I was used to, but for a second, the sadness in my heart deepened, and then it was gone. The Tichádáma’s power was immense, and I let it settle within me for a few passing moments. I felt it spread outward from my chest out until it reached my fingertips and the tips of my toes in their heavy boots.

I glanced down at the goddess I held tightly in my arms and was thankful for all the gifts she had given not only me but my minions. She was as stunning in death as she was in life, and I knew the people of Kanashimi would be devastated once I brought her body and laid it to rest on the front steps of Akuno’s home. Their leader was dead, and now their god was too, and soon all of them would know Kanashimi would be under my control.

I let my minions move on ahead of me, and they huddled together and comforted each other with soft words. Though I knew the death of the goddess hurt them, she would have died in the end anyway, but it was not the way she would have wanted. I glanced back at the rippling water and the huge fin that glided over the surface like a warning.

Then, suddenly, with a thrash of its tail, the shark dived down and left the underground cave for the first time since being created by his lover. I felt it in my heart that the soul of the murdered man trapped inside the hulking beast sensed the absence of the goddess he once loved. He could not remember her, but he had chosen to stay by her side this entire time, and now that she was gone, there was no reason to remain.

I turned my back on the now empty nexus and my minions, and I headed for the city of Kanashimi with the corpse of their beloved goddess in my arms. The town was now mine, a final parting gift from the last true goddess.

Chapter Twenty

The trek down the mountain was slow, and the sun was just starting to rise as I carried the corpse of the Tichádáma. The sky was bruised purples and blues as I looked down at the still face of the goddess. This was probably the first sunrise she had seen in thousands of years, and she couldn’t open her eyes to witness its beauty. My minions, though quiet and solemn, took it upon themselves to wander the fields that surrounded the path and collect wildflowers.

The Tichádáma’s robes were stained from the wound she received from the sorcerer, but even in the end, she had been as graceful and benevolent as we had been told. I lifted my eyes and glared down at the city of Kanashimi just as the streets started to bustle with the liveliness of its citizens. I wanted them to see this, wanted to show them what they had done to the goddess they thought they had been offering up gifts to. The townsfolk may not have been the ones who killed her, but they were the ones who made the goddess want to renounce her powers and slip into death without protest.

We entered the city with our heads held high as our boots crunched against the heavy cobblestones. My women flanked me and carried their bouquets of handpicked flowers in front of them. To my left, Carmedy was sniffling and wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her coat multiple times. Beside her, Annalise’s expression was hard, but from the redness around her eyes, I knew she was fighting off the emotion as best she could. On my right, Morrigan held Rana’s paw tightly, and I couldn’t tell which was more upset by the goddess’s death. Fea and Macha cut through the air above us in tight circles, their beaks open and sending loud caws into the air to alert the townspeople something significant was happening.

People in the streets stopped and turned to stare as we passed, and then the realization passed over their faces as they saw who I was carrying. Loud screams were heard as the news spread throughout the city, and soon, hordes of people followed after us. Our silence only raised more questions as they hurled them at our backs, but we kept our quiet as we headed for the heart of the city. I knew exactly where to lay the goddess to rest so that she could be seen by all of Kanashimi.

We reached the center of the city and a magnificent stone statue of the dead goddess I now held in my arms. It was a gorgeous rendition of the goddess, though it paled in comparison to the woman I carried. It stood on a massive marble base with a detailed inscription of the goddess’s name. With one large step, I lifted myself and the body of the Tichádáma onto the foundation of the statue, and for a second, I started up into the doe-like eyes of the statue. It was tall, just like the goddess was in life, and her long-fingered hands were outstretched as if offering something to the town. I lifted the Tichádáma’s body and placed it gently into the arms of her effigy. Then I folded her hands across her chest almost like in prayer, like the way she bowed respectfully to me once before.

With tears in their eyes, my minions offered up the bouquets of bright flowers and subtle baby’s breath held together with stems of other flowers. I took them gently from each woman and placed them around the goddess as if she was laying in a bed of flowers instead of in the hands of a cold, lifeless stone statue. Carmedy held up her hand to me, and I helped her up onto the base next to me. With tender paws, she stroked the Dáma’s silky black hair into place and, for a moment, let her emerald eyes wander over the goddess. I reached out a hand and pulled the feline to my side, and then I enclosed her in my arms as tears began to trickle from her eyes.

“Master, I know she would have died in the end anyway,” the cat-girl sniffled into my hard chest as she took comfort in my embrace. “But this isn’t how she wanted it. She wanted to give up her powers and slip away silently.”

“It is a travesty we were not able to give her the proper death she wished for,” I intoned. “We have Tuzakeur to blame for that, and when we find him and exact our revenge for the goddess’s and Rana’s sake, he will endure the most painful death imaginable.”

“You’ve known for a very long time I’m a pacifist,” the alchemist confessed. “I don’t like violence, and I don’t like when good people die, but when he hit her … when he gave her that fatal blow … Master, he’s a real meanie. I want to see him bleed, I want him to crawl belly-down in the dirt before we strip him of his soul. I want Tuzakeur dead.”

I raised my eyebrows as I stared down in surprise at my feline companion. We all knew how Carmedy abhorred fighting and bloodshed because it was against the beliefs of the Canartian people, so to hear such words come from her mouth was a shock to me. Maybe it was because she had spent so much time in the presence of a vengeful god, but the cat-girl’s softness was becoming hardened to the outside world. Her innocence had been one of the things I liked best about her when we first met, but from the sound of it, it was waning just like the goddess without the moon.

Still, what was more likely the case was that Carmedy was tired of sitting idly by while her friends were hurt and killed around her. This was not a loss of her goodness, but a maturation from a soft-eyed kitten into the lioness who protects her pride. If that were the case, then I would train her to become an astute warrior and to not rely so much on her potions and concoctions when fighting, if she wished to do so.

Carmedy pulled away from me with a comforted sigh before she hopped down from the statue’s base, and I followed after her. I waited for the entire town to appear, and as they did, they crowded around the figure to see the goddess they had worshipped for thousands of years. I watched each of their faces as they huddled around the goddess. Each heart was beating quickly and soon, wails of pain and sadness rose into the air almost like bell tolls. The time of the Tichádáma had come and gone, and they missed it while they were asleep, tucked away in their beds without even knowing. I almost felt bad for these people, they truly loved the goddess, but their worship and rituals had turned the Dáma against them in the end.

I spied Popī in the crowd as she elbowed her way to the front, and when she tumbled out to her knees in front of the statue and stared up at the body it held, her dark eyes glistened with tears. The teenager brought up her hands in front of her, pressed them palm to palm, and prayed softly as tears fell from her cheeks to the dirt. The young girl was no longer clothed in the festival wear we met her in, and now she wore a plain green dress with a white apron over it, stained and smeared with mud. Shida, who pulled a concerned looking Yuri after him, broke through the horde and pointed a finger in the middle of my chest.

“Did you do this?” Shida shouted for all to hear. “Did you slay our goddess?”

“Nay,” I said as I raised my hands in front of me to show no ill will, and the crowd went silent in front of my commanding presence. “Your goddess, the Tichádáma, fought against the great sorcerer, Tuzakeur, and was sadly wounded badly enough to take her life.”

“It can’t be true!” Popī shrieked as she tumbled forward and tried to run to the statue of the goddess, but her father held her back with one strong arm. “She can’t be dead! What will happen to us now that she’s gone?”

“Where is Akuno?” a man shouted from the crowd as he searched for the squat leader in their midst. “We must consult our Lord in these times of panic!”

“Akuno is dead,” I informed them as I rose to my full height. “He was slain by the High Queen. He was a traitor to the land of Tamarisch and was working in secret with Tuzakeur, who is an enemy to all lands under the Tamarischian rule.”

“We aren’t under Tamarischian rule! Machstein is a sovereignty!” a chubby woman yelled from the crowd with ruddy cheeks.

“You are now,” I said as I lowered my hands beside me palms out, and all the citizens of Kanashimi stared at me in shock. “I am the new lord of all of Machstein, Eifersucht included.”

“That’s not true,” Yuri shook her head with a confused look as she stepped closer to me. “Akuno is …  or was …  our Lord. He holds the sigil ring of the Tichádáma.”

“Ah, yes.” I nodded as I raised my left hand and showed them the very ring she was speaking about on my index finger. “I hold the sigil ring of the Tichádáma, bestowed to me upon her deathbed. You see, the goddess was not pleased with the offerings and rituals held by the lineage of the man named Yoi. She was displeased with the human and animal sacrifices the leader was making people do, and when she gave the word to one man, her lover Klaus, to tell the council of her displeasure, they, in turn, sacrificed him to the goddess. This has been going on for thousands of years, and it ends now. With the goddess gone and your leader dead, that makes me your one and only god and master.”

Whispers rippled through the mass of people, and I allowed them this moment to contemplate this new information. Yuri stared at me, but her dark eyes didn’t look at me with malice or disgust. The pregnant woman’s face cleared as she pressed a hand to her swollen belly and bowed to me. She was the first, and beside her, Shida gave her a confused look, and when she straightened and spoke, her voice was clear and decisive.

“He is the High King, and he holds the sigil ring,” Yuri declared. “When the fighting broke out between Tintagal and Tamarisch, the city as a whole decided to side with Tamarisch, did we not? Akuno was the only one who opposed, and I’m not the least bit surprised that little runt was burrowing deeper in the leaders of Tintagal’s pockets.” The short woman nodded, and Shida’s mouth dropped open then snapped shut as realization dawned in his eyes.

“My Lord,” the tall man said as he lowered himself into a bow, and I smiled at him as he rose back up. Popī, who still knelt in the dirt, lowered herself even farther to the ground in a proper bow like she had done a few days before to Annalise.

I observed all of the townspeople as they spoke in murmurs to each other for a few moments, then they too lowered themselves down to the ground and bowed to me respectfully. Rana gasped at the rows and rows of people bowing before me, and I outstretched my hands into the air to honor their fealty.

My power and control over countries was growing, and the island of Machstein was yet another added to my collection with many more to come. The townspeople slowly rose to their feet and regarded me with admiration. A few clapped and cheered as they rejoiced in no longer being under Akuno’s rule. It seemed my minions and I were not the only one who had detested the weasel of a man, and the citizens were elated to be rid of him.

After the townspeople got over the shock of being under the new rule of another man, my minions and I stepped off to the side to observe them as they mourned the loss of their beloved goddess. Popī stayed at the base of the statue for most of the morning and sobbed loudly. Yuri hung over her shoulder and soothingly rubbed her daughter’s back while she whispered soft, comforting words to the teenager. Thousands of citizens came forward with flowers and other small offerings to place them at the base of the statue to the Tichádáma. We stayed like this almost until afternoon, and soon, the statue was obscured by offerings and boughs of flowers, but the Dáma’s corpse remained untouched except for the few bouquets my minions had left.

It was a tremendous sight, and I wished for a moment that the goddess were alive to see her people come together like this to accept me so readily. In her life, she had seen nothing but violence among her people and the death of citizens and Tamarischian soldiers who the city had promised to protect. It seemed Kanashimi could only live in peace without the goddess, and I would make sure, for her sake, it stayed that way. We already knew the city of Kanashimi would survive on and remain unchanged after the goddess’s death, but I would bring them into a whole new era with a new trade route between Tamarisch and Valasara.

When we returned to the pension house, I let my minions know I would be indisposed for a moment. Once inside our rooms, I retired to a private chamber and pulled out the orb given to me by Makar. As I rolled it in my palm, I said his name and slowly, as before with Haruhi, I heard the faint crackling of the man’s voice.

“Master? You called for me?” the Valasara native asked through the orb.

“I would like to set up a trade route between Valasara, Tamarisch, and Machstein. Do you think that would be possible?” I inquired through the orb, and there was a moment of silence as Makar thought to himself.

“If we had the trade ships and traders … it would be better to discuss this in person …” Makar muttered more to himself than to me, and with a deep chuckle, I closed my eyes and sensed out his exact location.

I moved my essence through time and space using the goddess’s soul transferral power. I felt the miles pass through my fingers like grains of sand as I found a suitable body to host my essence for a short matter of time. If I used the body as a mouthpiece for a short period, it would do the person no real harm. It took only a matter of seconds as my soul was transferred to the city of Valasara. When I opened my eyes, I stood in a room I didn’t recognize, and the man I had just been speaking to was seated behind a desk.

This was the palace that was once occupied by Alistair and was now under my control. Makar, my regent, had been put in place to rule in my absence. He held the orb in his palm, and his expression was confused as he shouted my name at the sphere and found no response come through.

“You said you wanted to speak to me in person?” I asked, and the body vessel I was using sounded groggy and hoarse the first time it spoke.

“Shit!” Makar shouted as he nearly fell from his chair as he took notice of my sudden appearance. “What do you want? I’m very busy as you can see, get back to work.”

“It is me, your Master,” I informed him as I gestured to the unknown man’s body I was using. “I am now able to transfer my essence to bodies all thanks to the goddess I received these powers from.”

“Very well, my Master. So, this new trade idea? Between Valasara, Tamarisch, and Machstein? What does Machstein have to offer that we could trade?” Makar leaned back against the desk and crossed his arms over his chest.

I informed Makar of the items both Tamarisch and Machstein had to offer to the trade system, and he listened intently as he nodded and cupped his chin. I liked him as a person and wanted his opinion when it came to what was best for the country of Valasara. I had already been informed of what types of produce and items the differing regions had to sell and knew if we started this endeavor, it would enrich both Machstein and Valasara greatly.

As we talked, I hadn’t realized how much I missed Valasara. The heat was still stifling, but it was much better than the frigid temperatures we dealt with while in Tamarisch. Makar told me all was peaceful in Valasara, and the people had easy access to water since I took down their tyrannical leader.

Once everything was settled, Makar outlined the trade route as it started in Valasara, moved up through Tamarisch, and on to Machstein. Once I took over Tintagal, it too would be added to the route. Makar congratulated me on taking over Machstein and spoke highly of the island he had visited twice before, but he offered one word of warning to me.

“The Lord over Machstein, Master?” Makar asked quizzically as he scratched his head. “You can’t be the Lord.”

“And why is that?” I questioned incredulously.

“Because you are not married on the soil of Machstein,” Makar said as if it were plain as day. “The lord of the island has to be married there to receive the title.”

I raised my eyebrows at this new information. “Is this true? I hadn’t heard of it before?” I told him as I leaned back against the wall and peered out the window to the streets below.

“Yes, Master.” Makar nodded as he crossed the room and came to stand beside me by the window. “The last lord, Akuno? He narrowly didn’t receive the sigil ring because he was unmarried at the time. He married the day before it was supposed to pass to his younger brother and was able to take control of the city. I’m surprised the goddess didn’t mention that.”

“Well, it is a miniscule detail. I can forgive her for not bringing it up,” I stated in a gentle voice as I remembered the goddess’s last dying moments.

“Well, you have three women waiting in the wings, who are you going to choose to marry next?” Makar said as he laid a hand on my shoulder. “I heard all about the royal wedding in Tamarisch. Wished I could have been there to celebrate with the two people who helped free my land.”

I turned to him with a smile. “I have someone in mind to ask.” I chuckled as I returned the gesture and we stood at the window and watched the bustling people below. “Do you know any good jewelers within Valasara? I would like to get something custom made for my next bride.”

Makar smiled and led me out of the palace and down into the streets to a lavish building. My regent told me it was once a blacksmith when the city was first in its infancy, but the owner had such an eye for small detail and precise work that they moved into the art of making jewelry instead of weapons. Makar went in with me, and I spoke to the owner himself who was the great-grandson of the original owner. Many different pieces of jewelry were on display, but I had something special in mind and gave the metalworker instructions of the piece I wanted precisely and what would be fitted into the ring. The man took down notes and drew up a rough sketch of what I specified. When we had the entire ring planned out, he tipped his hat to me and went in the back to start work on the ring.

As Makar said, this man was a master of his trade, and within four hours, he came back out front with the treasure neatly wrapped in a deep purple velvet bag. I thanked him for his hard work and paid him a handsome price. Then I tucked the small pouch into my void pocket and headed back to the palace with my regent.

I knew by the end of the night, one out of the three women would be chosen to be my bride, and I had the exact one in mind. This ring I held was more than a ring, it was something unique and shared a special memory, and I knew there was only one woman who deserved to wear this ring. I said my goodbyes to Makar, and the massive man shook my hand, congratulated me on becoming lord of Machstein, and also wished me good luck in proposing. I thanked him though I knew I didn’t need luck. All of my women already wanted to marry me and spend the rest of their lives with me.

I had made them my minions, then my lovers and, one by one, I would make them my brides.

Chapter Twenty-One

When I returned my essence to Kanashimi, the sun was lower in the sky and evening was settling upon the city. I opened my eyes to our rooms at the pension house and noticed the absence of my minions. I peeked out onto the balcony and only found Annalise and Carmedy. The feline was curled up in a chair with a soft blanket wrapped around her. She was sleeping soundly, and as I neared them, her black ears twitched once then stood still.

Annalise sat with her legs tucked under her and a book firmly held in her hands. A soft breeze blew past and brushed back the baby-hairs that had come out of her braid. The High Queen raised her chocolate brown eyes to me and smiled gently. Then she placed her thumb between the pages and set down the closed book in her lap.

“Where are Rana and Morrigan?” I inquired in a whisper so as not to disturb the sleeping cat.

“They went back up to the dungeon to search for treasure while you were gone,” the swordswoman murmured.

I nodded as I turned toward to the mountain. I moved my eyes up the winding trail that led to the cave mouth of the goddess’s dungeon and could have sworn I saw the two small silhouettes of the females.

“Annalise,” I muttered as I reached into my void pocket and moved the velvet bag around in my fingers. “How would you feel if I took another wife?”

My first wife thought for a moment, and I turned my head to watch her. She looked beautiful as ever as the sun slanted in and bathed her in golden light. The High Queen ran her fingers over the leather cover of the book as she thought, and then she raised her eyes to me. There was no sadness in their brown hues, and that gave me comfort.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Annalise stated as she played with the ring on her finger. “I already think of them as my sisters and would gladly accept them as more than that.”

“I don’t want any of them to feel slighted,” I said as I lay my eyes on the still sleeping feline. “I don’t play favorites with any of you, and I don’t want them to feel like I am.”

“I think whoever not picked will understand. These things take time, and there is no sort of order in which to do them.” My wife gently smiled, so I crossed to her with a few quick steps, leaned down, and moved to press a soft kiss to her mouth. Our lips met tenderly, and I deepened the kiss. The swordswoman’s hands moved into my hair, and I wrapped my arms around her as her tongue slipped into my mouth. Annalise was the first to pull away, and when I gazed down at her, her smooth skin was glowing.

“Are you going to her now?” she questioned as she leaned against her knuckle, and I nodded in response. “Then I wish you the best of luck, though you already know any of them would say yes in a heartbeat.”

I gave Annalise’s hand a soft squeeze and headed off toward the mountain. The trek up the path was pleasant and warm enough that I stripped from my heavy cloak. Wildflowers on the mountainside bobbed and swayed in a light breeze, and I watched them with a lightheartedness I hadn’t felt in a long time. I had been locked away in my dungeon for so long it was strange and exhilarating to experience the beauty of nature again. I hadn’t known I would miss the smell of flowers or the brush of grass on my bare feet. I breathed in the fresh mountain air as I made my way up and it put me at peace.

Once I made it to the top, my two minions were waiting for me with a massive amount of treasure, more than we had ever found in any of the other dungeons. Rana was busy sorting through them with eager paws and didn’t raise her head to me as I came over the crest of the mountain. Her black-tipped ears were flat against her head as she searched, and I watched amused for a few passing moments.

Morrigan noticed me first, and though her expression never changed, her eyes softened. The elf’s long white hair was pulled over one shoulder as she searched with her sister.

“Find anything of interest?” I called to them, and the redhead jumped. The fox’s tail fluffed up and stood at attention, alarmed. Two of the silver chalices she held in her paws clattered to the ground, and I stifled a chuckle in my throat.

“No, not really,” the fox answered back as she petted down the hairs of her tail and went back to the treasure. “Just a bunch of odds and ends. We think most of this stuff were offerings that the goddess kept.”

As I stood back and watched, I was astonished to see four more trunks float out of the cave’s mouth and set themselves down in front of Morrigan. The elven woman gave me a sly smile over her shoulder then went back to rifling through the treasure.

“Shadow slaves?” I asked as I stepped closer to my white-haired lover. “All by yourself?”

“I’ve been studying you a long time, Master, and I think I was able to copy the spell. Though, I’ll never be as good as you,” Morrigan admitted as her pale cheeks flushed pink.

“I’m very proud of you, my dear.” I smiled as I stroked her silky, white hair. “I’m always willing to teach whenever you’re ready to learn more.”

“If you’re going to teach anyone, you should teach me how to use this damn sword,” Rana snickered as she stood and held out the sacred necklace. “I have no idea how to summon a sword, let alone swing one!”

“I can teach you how to use a sword just as I taught you with the daggers, Rana,” I chuckled as I crossed to her and took the pendant into the palm of my hand. “As for summoning it, the Tichádáma said to think of the sword, place your hand over your chest, and the sword would do the rest.”

The fox-woman took a few steps away from the trunks and treasure, planted her feet, and closed her eyes. One of her paws came up and hovered over her chest as she whispered, “Eye of Alipsis, gimme the Eye of Alipsis.”

I had heard stories about the Eye of Alipsis and the powers that came along with it but never witnessed it for myself. I watched as bright yellow light streamed from Rana’s chest, and her baby-blue eyes widened in surprise. Her paw grabbed around something I couldn’t see, and with a hard yank, the Eye of Alipsis slid out of the yellow light in her chest. The sword had shrunk to a small enough size that the fox-girl could carry it comfortably, and she held it aloft in the air. It was a fantastic and beautiful sword, and to my surprise, it suited the redhead perfectly. The royal blue of the stone complimented the fiery red of Rana’s curls. Even the way she held the sword was beautiful, and I watched her affectionately as she took a test swing.

“Wow, this thing is so cool!” the fox shouted as she parried and stabbed the air with the sword. “I wonder why that hooded weirdo wanted it so much.”

“Akuno said Tuzakeur called it ‘a finder of things,” Morrigan uttered as she stood next to me and watched Rana attack invisible foes. “And the Tichádáma said if you look through the stone, you can find whatever you’re seeking.”

The curly haired woman held the sword up by the hilt and looked through the azure stone at the end. She turned in a slow circle as she observed the mountainside then lowered it with a sour expression.

“Nothing,” Rana said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Maybe it doesn’t work?”

“You have to look through the stone when it is in the form of a necklace,” I informed her. “It doesn’t work in its sword form.”

The fox-girl stared down at the sword in confusion.

“How do I put it back?” she asked with a furrowed brow, and I chuckled as I stepped closer.

I placed my hands over Rana’s paws on the hilt and brought the blade within inches of her face. I closed her eyelids with my free hand, and her skin bristled with goosebumps from my touch. Her ears turned as I spoke, “Imagine the sword becoming part of you again, let it become one with you and the stone once more.”

The same yellow light from before encased the blade and rose to such an intensity that I had to avert my eyes for a second. Then the sword disappeared with a loud crackle, and Rana’s eyes flew open. The fox patted herself down, and then her paws moved to the necklace and held it in the light.

“This is crazy,” the redhead breathed as she lifted the stone to her eye and turned again as she had with the sword. “Whoa, there’s like … a really bright light coming from the south.”

“Maybe it is the thing you are searching for?” I inquired as I held my palm out for the necklace, and she slipped it off and handed it over.

I lifted the stone to my right eye and turned south, but when I looked into it, bright light came from all directions. I chuckled deep in my throat as I turned once and spied the very same light. I already knew what it meant. I wanted every land and the light that touched it to be mine and under my control. I pulled the stone away from my face with a smile and handed it back to the redhead. She placed the chain around her neck and held the pendant in her closed fist.

“Probably it’s a sacred item. That’s something I’m searching for,” Rana answered with a shrug, and then she turned back to the treasure. “Morrigan, can you summon more of your shadow slaves to carry these down the mountain? I want to get them traded for coin as soon as possible.”

“Absolutely,” the pale elf answered, and within mere seconds, all of the trunks and loot were lifted into the air by unseen hands.

Morrigan turned to follow after Rana, but I grabbed her hand and stopped her. My elven lover stared into my face, and I lovingly stroked her colorless cheek with the back of my hand as I whispered, “Come with me, I wish to discuss something with you.”

“Yes, Master, what is it?” the High Elf asked as I led her down into the grass and flowers instead of down the well-beaten path.

It was a beautiful evening as we strolled together down the mountainside and, soon, we found a cliff face that jutted out over the water. My elven lover and I stood side-by-side as the sky turned deep hues of orange and brilliant yellow as the sun sunk below the horizon. I placed her hand in mine and pulled her close to my side against the chilly wind that gusted over the surface of the water. I glanced down at her, and her eyes met mine. For a moment, we stared at each other and took in each other’s features. She was a gorgeous woman just like her sisters, and I was lucky to have them by my side. I wanted nothing more than to be with them for the rest of our lives and what I was about to do was going to solidify those plans.

“Tell me about marriage ceremonies in the High Elven society,” I requested, and her dark eyes blinked once as they turned away from mine.

“In my society, most of the marriages are arranged. Like Annalise, I went through a debut to announce my presence in society and to appeal to any suitors who might be looking for wives,” Morrigan told me as she held me close. “It is a tradition that has gone on for centuries to keep the bloodlines pure. In other societies, elves are allowed to marry whomever they wish, that is why their hair is not as white as mine. I come from a long line of pure-blooded elves and would have been married off to someone of the same status as me.”

“If you had stayed, do you think you would have married someone?” I inquired in her ear.

“I do not think of those things because if I hadn’t been ordered out, I wouldn’t have met my Master,” the pale elf told me as she lifted her eyes to mine with a soft smile, and her words warmed my heart.

“Are you satisfied with the life you are living, my love? Are you happy at my side?” I asked as I stroked her sleek, white hair.

“I am happiest when I am at your side, Master,” Morrigan whispered in my ear. “You bring me pleasure I have never known, emotionally and physically. You own me, Master, I can never belong to another man.”

Chills ran up and down my spine from her words.

My elven lover and I watched the sun sink lower in the sky, and when she was distracted, I reached into my void pocket for the velvet bag. My fingers deftly opened the bag while still in my pocket and produced the ring. Then I held it tightly in my fist as I let go and turned to face her. Morrigan’s eyebrows shot up at the sudden movement, and before she could speak, I got down on one knee and offered her the ring that held the soul stone we created together. Her dark eyes widened in surprise, and her delicate hands came up to cover her mouth.

“Morrigan, if you cannot stand to be away from my side, then please, make me the happiest god alive and become my wife,” I said sincerely as I offered the ring to her, and I could barely make out tears forming in her eyes as she stared down at the handcrafted ring I had made for her.

“Ita,” the white-haired woman replied in her elven language, then repeated it in words I could understand. “Yes, Master. I will marry you.”

Slowly, I slid the ring onto her thin finger, and it fit perfectly. The soul stone glimmered and glinted in the low light of the setting sun, and the moment couldn’t have been any more than perfect. Morrigan launched herself at me as she wrapped her arms around my neck and planted hot kisses to my lips. My usually cold and emotionless elf let out happy squeals of joy as she examined the intricate ring I had given her.

We stayed up on the cliff face until it was dark and then made our way back to the path. My bride-to-be and I walked hand in hand into the city, and many of the citizens called out to us cheerfully. After mourning the loss of their goddess and rejoicing over the death of Akuno, they had come to accept me. I spied Shida in the crowd, and he waved excitedly to me as he ran over.

“What is it?” I asked with a smile as I draped my arm around my bride-to-be's shoulder.

“Yuri had the baby!” Shida shouted breathlessly as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “It is an honor to say one of your women helped deliver my newborn daughter!”

Morrigan’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and I tilted my head at him confused. “One of my women? Which one?”

“Carmedy!” Shida smiled and nodded vigorously. “Yuri went into labor, and we called for our midwife, but she is in Eifersucht attending to another pregnant woman. We were in a panic, but your woman came downstairs and calmly told us she had prior experience as a midwife! I must thank you, Master, if it wasn’t for you or your women, my wife may have died in childbirth. Come! Come see my newest daughter!”

We followed on Shida’s heels as the man weaved through the crowd quickly. Morrigan and I were barely able to keep up but arrived at the pension house right as Shida did. The tall man waved us inside, and he followed in after us.

Yuri was seated in a rocking chair, and surprisingly, the room was clear of children except for Popī, who was fretting around her mother. Yuri smiled when we entered, and I saw my three minions gathered around the woman and child. The dark-haired woman held the babe close to her chest, and each of my minions fawned over her. I watched them from afar and wondered what it would be like in the future when my minions had children of their own. Would they love each other’s children as if they were their own?

I didn’t even have to ask that question because I already knew they would. My women loved each other like sisters and would love their offspring just as much. I knew it was a long time before any of that happened, but I dreamed of the day my minions would carry my seed in swollen bellies and produce my heirs. I had many things to do before that day, but it was still something I liked to think about from time to time.

“Master!” Carmedy cried happily as Yuri offered the feline the tightly wrapped bundle. “Come see the baby! She’s so beautiful!”

I smiled and did as I was bidden. Yuri and Shida’s baby was a tiny thing, but when I reached down to stroke its soft cheek, a small hand reached up and curled around my forefinger. It was a strange moment for me, an all-powerful god who ravaged the earth and the smallest and most innocent of all creatures connected for a moment. The baby, who Yuri named Anna in honor of the High Queen, was the spitting image of Popī, and the teenager quickly whisked the baby away to coo over her.

When I turned and met the eyes of my minions, they were misted with tears. This journey had been the most emotional for them, and I knew this one joyous moment brought it all together. Annalise gave me a small smile and raised her eyebrows as if expecting something, and I knew I must oblige.

“I have news,” I announced to all of them as I held tightly to Morrigan’s hand, and each face turned to me with interest. I raised the hand that held my elven lover’s and showed them the ring firmly on her ring finger.

Yuri’s eyes widened, and she shot out of the chair and grabbed onto the pale-woman excitedly. “My dear,” Yuri spouted as she stroked Morrigan’s hair. “This is so exciting! I’m so happy for you!”

“Dear, you’re not supposed to be up and moving for another three days,” Shida chided, and the dark-haired woman shot him a warning look over her shoulder.

“I can’t rest when there’s a wedding to plan!” Yuri giggled happily as she took my pale lover by the arm and hobbled away with her into one of the back rooms.

“Gods almighty, give me the strength to deal with that woman,” Shida said as he rolled his eyes up to the ceiling.

“I want to help with the wedding, too!” Carmedy shouted as she took off after the two women.

Rana rolled her eyes like Shida did, but the smile on her lips told me she was just as excited as the others. Annalise came around and hugged me tightly before following after her sisters to aid in the wedding’s planning.

Shida turned to me with an exasperated look and said, “How about us men go get a drink to celebrate?”

Our wedding took four days to plan, and I barely caught glimpses of any of my minions during those days. My companions rushed in and out of the pension house during all hours of the day, and the only time I was allowed to see them was at the end of the day before bed. Any time I asked for details, they clamped their mouths shut and told me it was a surprise.

It was maddening, but I allowed them this small amount of pleasure after our harrowing experience with the goddess. The morning of the wedding broke early, and the afternoon flew by. Shida and a group of other men came to me and brought me my armor that one of my minions had given to them without my knowing. During the night, Shida took my armor and polished it so the surface of the metal shone brighter than ever before. I dressed myself and stared at my avatar in the mirror. I was a handsome man, and the armor only made it more clear.

A soft knock came at the door, and I turned to answer it. When I swung it open, Yuri, dressed in a delicate gown of bright blues, was waiting outside for me. The dark-haired woman gave me a bright smile as she gestured for me to follow after her.

Popī, Annalise, Rana, and Carmedy were waiting for me downstairs, and for a moment, I had to stop and admire how breathtakingly beautiful my women all were. Each woman wore the same dress, but each had been altered to fit them perfectly. They were all dressed in black gowns, and I wasn’t surprised since it was Morrigan who had done all of the planning. Each dress was low cut and exposed a good bit of the women’s bare backs. The sleek black fabric hugged their hips and exposed every one of their voluptuous curves. Any man would have been lucky to have them, and it was by mere chance all of them belonged to me.

“You look so handsome,” my petite alchemist breathed as she came forward and took in my features.

“And you look stunning,” I told her through a broad smile then lifted my face to my other minions. “All of you do.”

“Shall we go? We don’t want to be late,” Rana interjected, but from the way her red tail swished behind her back, I could tell she too liked the way I looked.

Popī and Yuri led my companions and me out of the pension house, and it was only then that I took in the decorations strewn about the city. I had been so busy I hadn’t noticed before. Like before with the festival, lanterns and ribbons hung from each house and out over the street, but this time they were white instead of red and yellow. I admired them as I was tugged along by my impatient women.

I had thought Morrigan would have wanted to be married in one of the temples on the island, but to my surprise, Popī and Yuri led us up the mountainside. My three minions were visibly jittery and excited as we came upon the exact spot where I proposed to Morrigan.

A beautiful arch of woven branches and flowers now stood at the cliff face. Shida, our officiator, waited with a broad smile as I found my place at the front. Morrigan was a very private person, and very few of the townspeople were allowed attendance to our wedding. I knew some of the citizens were upset that they would not witness the marriage of their new lord, but if it was what my elven lover wanted, then I would give it to her. Morrigan only wanted her sisters to be there and for Shida and his family to serve as our witnesses.

To one side of the arch, three people I met a few times stood with musical instruments. One woman held a wooden flute, one man held a Machstein version of a lute, and the third woman held a small harp. They began to play a song I had never heard before, but from the sharp notes, I could tell it was elven in origin. My three minions made their way toward me, and then I spied her.

My elven lover held a bouquet of soft pinks and purples close to her chest as she moved forward. Her dress was almost as white as her hair but seemed dull in comparison. The neckline swooped down to expose her ample cleavage, and the waistline curved in to reveal her shapely hips that were usually hidden by her dark loose robes.

I was so overcome with her beauty that I had to remind my body to breathe a few times.

My pale woman walked surefooted and with her head held high as the music slowed and played in the background. Her dark eyes met mine, and her colorless cheeks dusted a rosy pink, but she didn’t hide her face from me like she usually did. When she reached me, she handed off her bouquet to Annalise and turned to face me. We held out our hands and intertwined our fingers as Shida began the ceremony.

“We are here today to celebrate and be witnesses and supporters in the union of the Lord Of Machstein and Lady Morrigan,” Shida started, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yuri swipe at her eye with a handkerchief. “Love is the reason we are here today, love is the reason for all things, and it has brought these two people together and melded them as one. Love is the strongest of all emotions, I’ve heard it often described as something delicate and easily broken, but that is untrue. Love is everlasting, stronger than steel and, when bent, will not break but instead shape into the form we want it. Love can be tramped on, hammered, and beaten but it will remain forever. That is what we are here to celebrate. The love shared between these two people.” He gestured towards Carmedy. “The rings?”

Instead of bringing them herself as I expected, Carmedy brought her paws up to her lips and let out a shrill whistle. I turned my head and watched as both Fea and Macha flew together and landed on Morrigan’s shoulder. Tied to their scaly feet with white ribbons were the rings. I chuckled softly and retrieved my ring from Fea. Morrigan reached up and untied hers from Macha then petted the bird’s sleek feathers.

“My Lord?” Shida said as he gestured for me to speak. I held the wedding band between my forefinger and thumb and smiled at my bride.

“I give you this ring as a symbol of our love,” I stated as I stared deeply into Morrigan’s dark eyes. “For today and tomorrow, and for all the days to come. Wear it as a sign of what we have promised on this day and know my love is present even when I am not.”

I slid the ring up to Morrigan’s knuckle in one fluid motion, and my elven bride stared down at it with teary eyes.

“Lady Morrigan?” Shida uttered as he gestured to her, and she took my wedding band in her fingers and held it out in front of my hand.

“I give you this ring as a symbol of our love. For today and tomorrow, and for all the days to come,” the pale woman said proudly as she looked into my eyes. “Wear it as a sign of what we have promised on this day and know my love is present even when I am not.”

Her thin fingers moved gently as she slid the ring on my finger, and she squeezed my hand softly when she finished.

Shida smiled widely as he turned towards my pale minion and said, “Do you take your Master to be your husband, to live together in the covenant of marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” Morrigan smiled widely.

“My Lord,” Shida said as he turned back to me. “Do you take Lady Morrigan to be your wife, to live together in the covenant of marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health?”

“I do.” I nodded as I reached out and took my elven bride’s hands in mine tenderly.

“By the power vested in me by Master, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.” Shida clapped, and the small crowd watching erupted into applause as I grabbed my second wife and pulled her to me.

Morrigan’s lips met mine, and she feverishly wrapped her arms around me. The kiss lasted a few seconds while all those watching hooted and called to us joyously. I pulled away from my white-haired woman, and she stared up at me adoringly. Then I stroked her pale cheek with the back of my hand, and she sighed against me. When we turned to the crowd, all faces watching were bright with elation. My other three minions were practically falling over each other with excitement, but my demure bride beside me only smiled and held my hand tightly.

When most of the crowd had cleared, Morrigan turned to me and outstretched her hand. I took it and pressed tender kisses to the back of it then overturned it, and pressed one kiss into her palm. I loved her, more than anything, just like I did with my other minions. I would do anything they wanted, tear worlds apart with my bare hands if they wished it. When I looked into their faces, I saw my real purpose in this world.

I was more than a god to them, I was their lover and husband.

“What will we do now, Master?” Morrigan questioned in a soft whisper, and I gripped her hand and roughly pulled her to my chest.

“Anything we damn well please, my love.”

“To bring Tintagal to its knees and destroy its leader,” the pale elf said as she looked out over the water into the setting sun.

“Then it shall be done.”

End of book 4

End Notes

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2019 by Eric Vall