Drake stared down at the stone disc in his hands. He almost lost his footing before someone steadied him. Prince Varnath steadied him. The kromian looked truly concerned.
“What is it?” Varnath asked.
“Oh, nothing major,” Drake said. “This is great. Thanks for finding this for me.”
Varnath grinned confidently. “The world will be better under our reign. I will rule the seas while you serve me on the land. Together, we will.... aaaagh.”
Drake pulled left-handed Chopzilla out of the slack-jawed kromian prince without taking his eyes off the disc. As the prince’s limp body flopped into the seawater and floated, Drake took the circular tablet in his hands. Varnath’s bobbing body brushed against his ankles, which annoyed him. He nudged it away with the toe of his boot.
Here it was. The final test of his so-called convictions. He’d talked the talk about ending blood pacts since he arrived, and even taken small steps toward believing he knew better than this world. He’d removed the compulsion of his own blood pact, but only after ensuring Lydia had three days to prepare everyone in his manor for the changes he would bring.
This? This went a bit beyond that. No one out there would be ready for this.
Orphena wasn’t wrong about the chaos destroying this tablet would create. The kromian empire remained massive. Even without Prince Varnath to lead them, another evil fish person could take up his cause. Once Drake shattered the Korhaurbauten blood pact, who knew what fate would befall the city? Hundreds of thousands of people lived there.
Would there be riots? Fires? How many men, women, and children would die if the city fell into chaos once its precious blood pact vanished? Would the capital guard desert, or instead stage a coup and place the city under martial law?
Prince Varnath had killed a lot of civilians in his first attack on the city, and Drake could now, theoretically, break the prince’s record. Perhaps he should approach shattering this tablet cautiously. He could destroy his own blood pact first, and then maybe Sky’s.
Or perhaps he should speak to her about that first? Shouldn’t he give her a head’s up before he surprised her? She might already altered her blood pact like his, but it would still be a shock when it suddenly vanished.
No. Telling Sky was too much of a risk. She couldn’t lie about what he’d done here, and if the noble court didn’t know the kromians had attacked his manor, they would soon enough. They’d come in full force and investigate, and shattering the blood pacts was definitely an unforgivable crime. If the court ever found out, they’d burn his manor to the ground and execute anyone they thought was remotely involved... and anyone who knew the truth.
Drake didn’t even have a guarantee he’d make it out of this chamber. What if he got killed by a lucky kromian while he lugged this tablet home? What if he died in poison fog?
This tablet could fall into a crevice, never to be seen again, dooming this world to an eternity of enforced blood magic slavery. Drake glanced once more at the distant form of Sachi. No movement. He needed to see if she was alive, and if she died of blood loss while he was standing here with his thumb up his ass, he’d never forgive himself.
So... chaos it was. Drake couldn’t be certain he’d get another shot at ending the blood pacts. This was the only chance he had. If he failed, another manor lord would fall to an asshole, and then the people forced to serve that lord would suffer and die.
“It’s too bad Prince Varnath found this weird tablet before I found him,” Drake said to no one in particular. “I saw a shattered stone disc and these weird crystals. Was it important?”
Drake splashed through the ankle-deep water to a huge root, then braced the tablet against it. Chopzilla couldn’t harm stone or gems, given it only chopped souls, but he did have another weapon. He reached to his boot for the dagger, the one Lydia had insisted he take.
Lydia’s precious dagger was wet now, from the seawater, and he hoped it wouldn’t rust. While it was a nice dagger, he preferred a crossbow. Still, Lydia’s dagger was a physical weapon, and after taking careful aim, he chopped straight down in the first gem. It shattered easily.
“Nice,” Drake muttered.
Using Lydia’s dagger like a chisel, he shattered the glowing gems one by one until only round charred sockets remained. Something faded inside him, a faint warmth he didn’t notice until it was gone. He wondered how many people were going to die in the next few days.
Hundreds? Thousands? All on his conscience, all on him. That was a weight to carry... but somebody had to carry it if this fucked up fantasy world was ever going to change.
Drake tucked Lydia’s knife back into his boot and followed the flow of the water, or rather, moved against it. It wasn’t long before he found the bubbles. He knelt and felt around until he found the sea gate against the floor. He found the bumps, then twisted with both hands. That was difficult to do with his wounded shoulder, which still ached, but he managed.
Water sloshed as the flow reversed. The sudden suction alarmed him, and he dropped the tablet as he rose. Just as well. He suspected the ruined tablet had just been sucked right through the sea gate, out into the ocean, and wished the noble court luck in finding it there.
Drake sloshed his way back to Sachi. He found her breathing shallow and her face pale, and a quick inspection revealed she remained covered in bandages. She’d slipped out of the infirmary to join the battle because she was Sachi. She was also somehow still alive, but if he wanted to keep her that way, he needed to get to the silverwood clearing.
He slipped his arm beneath Sachi’s back, then her knees, and lifted. She wasn’t so heavy as all that, though his shoulder ached. As he made his way back through the tunnels, he kept an eye out for yellow outlines. None arose. Drake wondered how many actual kromians were left.
He emerged from the cave to find the same vero waiting. He looked down. “As per our sacred pact, I ask you to open the path ahead of me but change it when I turn. I need to reach the clearing without encountering kromians. You ready to go?”
The vero stood up and skittered off.
Holding Sachi close, Drake jogged with his head down through a tunnel of shifting wooden branches. He heard the sound of shouting ahead, the clashing of blades and the snapping of wood. At least some kromians were still battling his people, unaware their prince was dead and their battle was lost. He pondered warning the kromians to retreat, but they’d never listen, and they’d never make it out of the woods by sunrise anyway.
Multiple yellow outlines appeared as Drake jogged toward the clearing. He shifted his path to avoid them, and the vero turned with him. He really was learning to like his vero.
There were a few close calls. One kromian even turned red when it spotted him, but the arrow in its back was followed by three more. It fell. Drake had seen the ferals coming a good ways off, but he was glad they’d seen him. He’d worried they hadn’t.
Kel emerged from the woods. “My daughter is alive? I only now heard she left the infirmary to join the fight.”
“She’s alive so far,” Drake agreed. “You hear about the poison fog?”
Kel bared his teeth as his tail twitched in obvious alarm. “We did. Carry Sachi to safety. We will guard you from here.”
Drake jogged straight for the clearing after that. Kromian outlines appeared and then fell. Any that approached took arrows long before they turned red. Above him, he heard only the rustling of leaves in the wind. Kel and his ferals were up there, watching over him.
Drake burst into the clearing before he realized it. Jogging across open ground meant he made a perfect target. Arrows whistled from the woods, and Drake instinctively turned to put his armor between the arrows and Sachi. Several clinked off and one stuck in his back.
The impact hurt, but Drake knew his armor had taken most of it. No more arrows flew from the woods, which told him Kel and his ferals had dealt with the archers. Ahead was a tiered area blocked by a barrier with spikes. How was he going to cross over that?
A towering zarovian form appeared atop the barrier. “Lord!” Korrag exclaimed.
“Korrag!” Drake had never been so happy to see a talking crocodile. “How’s it going?”
“Fine here. Want up?”
“Please!”
Two pieces of the spiked wooden barrier popped open like the doors of a cabinet, and then a wooden ladder dropped down. Korrag reached down as well, which allowed Drake, with the last of his strength, to hand Sachi up to him. She was so impossibly heavy.
“Up!” Korrag shouted. “Climb!”
Drake grunted, rose, groaned at the arrow tip still digging into his back, and climbed. Korrag grabbed the back of his armor when he was halfway up and lifted him like a strongman with a baby. The spiked barrier closed with a thump, and then Korrag set Drake down. An arrow whistled from the night and thunked into the zarovian’s arm.
“Duck!” Drake shouted.
Korrag, still standing tall, tilted his massive crocodile head. “Why?”
Two more arrows thunked in Korrag’s arm before he finally crouched down at Drake’s desperate insistence. As Drake dropped behind the barrier to find Sachi, Korrag plucked the arrows from his arm and tossed them away. He bared his teeth. “You kill kromians?”
“Oh yeah,” Drake said. “I even bagged their prince. Varnath’s worm food now.”
“Good hunting.” Korrag bared all his teeth. “Go healers. We hold barrier until dawn.”
“I need your help to carry Sachi to the healers. My shoulder’s fucked.”
Korrag sniffed. “You lead. I carry.”
Drake nodded with relief. “You are getting so many snacks after this.”
Korrag’s toothy grin grew terrifyingly wide.
“Let’s go.”
After making sure Korrag had Sachi’s limp body in hand, Drake rose and stayed low as he jogged for the center of the clearing. He was limping now, probably from whatever poison had managed to enter his body through the hole the arrow had made in his armor. Time enough to worry about that later. He was feeling more worn out by the moment.
“Fish people are tiny,” Korrag offered from behind him. “Very weak. Fun to squish.”
“They sure are, buddy.”
Drake spotted a line of people ahead, but his vision was blurring. His body was flagging. Between his rampant abuse of rend soul, taking a Varnath-cicle through his shoulder, and carrying Sachi on a marathon through the woods, he really was spent.
He wanted to take a break now. Yet he couldn’t rest until he found his people and ensured they helped Sachi. She’d been so stupid to leave the infirmary to join the battle and track him down. Then again... he had stolen her chance to beat the shit out of Elaran. It was only fair she put an arrow in his kromian prince.
Drake was near senseless when he found his people, but he knew, from the shouting and congratulations, that he could probably sit down. People continued to speak to him, but he was too woozy to hear most of it. He did perk up when Lydia sat down beside him.
“Hey.” He grinned drunkenly. “We need to talk, about us. I need to tell you...”
“Lord?” River asked. “You’re mumbling.”
“Oh.” Drake only then realized who he was actually talking to. “That would have been embarrassing.”
“We’re treating Sachi,” River assured him. “Once Lady Skybreak arrived and opened new pits around the clearing, the kromians fell back. They’re still out there, and we’re still exchanging arrows, but they won’t get into this clearing before dawn. Valentia and the others already made it to us, and Darion did all he could for her arm. We’re hopeful.”
“Varnath’s dead,” Drake mumbled.
“Korrag told us,” River assured him. “You did very well. You’ve done more than enough to win this battle, so let us carry you from here.”
“Thanks.” Drake settled flat on his back. “Think I’ll take a nap.”
As “Lydia” smiled warmly and eased him onto his back, Drake realized he really did like her after all. How was that going to work? That was a problem for when he woke up.
Someone brushed soft fingers through his hair. “Rest now, lord. The dawn is coming.”
“Nice,” Drake said, and promptly passed out.
Drake stared down at the stone disc in his hands. He almost lost his footing before someone steadied him. Prince Varnath steadied him. The kromian looked truly concerned.
“What is it?” Varnath asked.
“Oh, nothing major,” Drake said. “This is great. Thanks for finding this for me.”
Varnath grinned confidently. “The world will be better under our reign. I will rule the seas while you serve me on the land. Together, we will.... aaaagh.”
Drake pulled left-handed Chopzilla out of the slack-jawed kromian prince without taking his eyes off the disc. As the prince’s limp body flopped into the seawater and floated, Drake took the circular tablet in his hands. Varnath’s bobbing body brushed against his ankles, which annoyed him. He nudged it away with the toe of his boot.
Here it was. The final test of his so-called convictions. He’d talked the talk about ending blood pacts since he arrived, and even taken small steps toward believing he knew better than this world. He’d removed the compulsion of his own blood pact, but only after ensuring Lydia had three days to prepare everyone in his manor for the changes he would bring.
This? This went a bit beyond that. No one out there would be ready for this.
Orphena wasn’t wrong about the chaos destroying this tablet would create. The kromian empire remained massive. Even without Prince Varnath to lead them, another evil fish person could take up his cause. Once Drake shattered the Korhaurbauten blood pact, who knew what fate would befall the city? Hundreds of thousands of people lived there.
Would there be riots? Fires? How many men, women, and children would die if the city fell into chaos once its precious blood pact vanished? Would the capital guard desert, or instead stage a coup and place the city under martial law?
Prince Varnath had killed a lot of civilians in his first attack on the city, and Drake could now, theoretically, break the prince’s record. Perhaps he should approach shattering this tablet cautiously. He could destroy his own blood pact first, and then maybe Sky’s.
Or perhaps he should speak to her about that first? Shouldn’t he give her a head’s up before he surprised her? She might already altered her blood pact like his, but it would still be a shock when it suddenly vanished.
No. Telling Sky was too much of a risk. She couldn’t lie about what he’d done here, and if the noble court didn’t know the kromians had attacked his manor, they would soon enough. They’d come in full force and investigate, and shattering the blood pacts was definitely an unforgivable crime. If the court ever found out, they’d burn his manor to the ground and execute anyone they thought was remotely involved... and anyone who knew the truth.
Drake didn’t even have a guarantee he’d make it out of this chamber. What if he got killed by a lucky kromian while he lugged this tablet home? What if he died in poison fog?
This tablet could fall into a crevice, never to be seen again, dooming this world to an eternity of enforced blood magic slavery. Drake glanced once more at the distant form of Sachi. No movement. He needed to see if she was alive, and if she died of blood loss while he was standing here with his thumb up his ass, he’d never forgive himself.
So... chaos it was. Drake couldn’t be certain he’d get another shot at ending the blood pacts. This was the only chance he had. If he failed, another manor lord would fall to an asshole, and then the people forced to serve that lord would suffer and die.
“It’s too bad Prince Varnath found this weird tablet before I found him,” Drake said to no one in particular. “I saw a shattered stone disc and these weird crystals. Was it important?”
Drake splashed through the ankle-deep water to a huge root, then braced the tablet against it. Chopzilla couldn’t harm stone or gems, given it only chopped souls, but he did have another weapon. He reached to his boot for the dagger, the one Lydia had insisted he take.
Lydia’s precious dagger was wet now, from the seawater, and he hoped it wouldn’t rust. While it was a nice dagger, he preferred a crossbow. Still, Lydia’s dagger was a physical weapon, and after taking careful aim, he chopped straight down in the first gem. It shattered easily.
“Nice,” Drake muttered.
Using Lydia’s dagger like a chisel, he shattered the glowing gems one by one until only round charred sockets remained. Something faded inside him, a faint warmth he didn’t notice until it was gone. He wondered how many people were going to die in the next few days.
Hundreds? Thousands? All on his conscience, all on him. That was a weight to carry... but somebody had to carry it if this fucked up fantasy world was ever going to change.
Drake tucked Lydia’s knife back into his boot and followed the flow of the water, or rather, moved against it. It wasn’t long before he found the bubbles. He knelt and felt around until he found the sea gate against the floor. He found the bumps, then twisted with both hands. That was difficult to do with his wounded shoulder, which still ached, but he managed.
Water sloshed as the flow reversed. The sudden suction alarmed him, and he dropped the tablet as he rose. Just as well. He suspected the ruined tablet had just been sucked right through the sea gate, out into the ocean, and wished the noble court luck in finding it there.
Drake sloshed his way back to Sachi. He found her breathing shallow and her face pale, and a quick inspection revealed she remained covered in bandages. She’d slipped out of the infirmary to join the battle because she was Sachi. She was also somehow still alive, but if he wanted to keep her that way, he needed to get to the silverwood clearing.
He slipped his arm beneath Sachi’s back, then her knees, and lifted. She wasn’t so heavy as all that, though his shoulder ached. As he made his way back through the tunnels, he kept an eye out for yellow outlines. None arose. Drake wondered how many actual kromians were left.
He emerged from the cave to find the same vero waiting. He looked down. “As per our sacred pact, I ask you to open the path ahead of me but change it when I turn. I need to reach the clearing without encountering kromians. You ready to go?”
The vero stood up and skittered off.
Holding Sachi close, Drake jogged with his head down through a tunnel of shifting wooden branches. He heard the sound of shouting ahead, the clashing of blades and the snapping of wood. At least some kromians were still battling his people, unaware their prince was dead and their battle was lost. He pondered warning the kromians to retreat, but they’d never listen, and they’d never make it out of the woods by sunrise anyway.
Multiple yellow outlines appeared as Drake jogged toward the clearing. He shifted his path to avoid them, and the vero turned with him. He really was learning to like his vero.
There were a few close calls. One kromian even turned red when it spotted him, but the arrow in its back was followed by three more. It fell. Drake had seen the ferals coming a good ways off, but he was glad they’d seen him. He’d worried they hadn’t.
Kel emerged from the woods. “My daughter is alive? I only now heard she left the infirmary to join the fight.”
“She’s alive so far,” Drake agreed. “You hear about the poison fog?”
Kel bared his teeth as his tail twitched in obvious alarm. “We did. Carry Sachi to safety. We will guard you from here.”
Drake jogged straight for the clearing after that. Kromian outlines appeared and then fell. Any that approached took arrows long before they turned red. Above him, he heard only the rustling of leaves in the wind. Kel and his ferals were up there, watching over him.
Drake burst into the clearing before he realized it. Jogging across open ground meant he made a perfect target. Arrows whistled from the woods, and Drake instinctively turned to put his armor between the arrows and Sachi. Several clinked off and one stuck in his back.
The impact hurt, but Drake knew his armor had taken most of it. No more arrows flew from the woods, which told him Kel and his ferals had dealt with the archers. Ahead was a tiered area blocked by a barrier with spikes. How was he going to cross over that?
A towering zarovian form appeared atop the barrier. “Lord!” Korrag exclaimed.
“Korrag!” Drake had never been so happy to see a talking crocodile. “How’s it going?”
“Fine here. Want up?”
“Please!”
Two pieces of the spiked wooden barrier popped open like the doors of a cabinet, and then a wooden ladder dropped down. Korrag reached down as well, which allowed Drake, with the last of his strength, to hand Sachi up to him. She was so impossibly heavy.
“Up!” Korrag shouted. “Climb!”
Drake grunted, rose, groaned at the arrow tip still digging into his back, and climbed. Korrag grabbed the back of his armor when he was halfway up and lifted him like a strongman with a baby. The spiked barrier closed with a thump, and then Korrag set Drake down. An arrow whistled from the night and thunked into the zarovian’s arm.
“Duck!” Drake shouted.
Korrag, still standing tall, tilted his massive crocodile head. “Why?”
Two more arrows thunked in Korrag’s arm before he finally crouched down at Drake’s desperate insistence. As Drake dropped behind the barrier to find Sachi, Korrag plucked the arrows from his arm and tossed them away. He bared his teeth. “You kill kromians?”
“Oh yeah,” Drake said. “I even bagged their prince. Varnath’s worm food now.”
“Good hunting.” Korrag bared all his teeth. “Go healers. We hold barrier until dawn.”
“I need your help to carry Sachi to the healers. My shoulder’s fucked.”
Korrag sniffed. “You lead. I carry.”
Drake nodded with relief. “You are getting so many snacks after this.”
Korrag’s toothy grin grew terrifyingly wide.
“Let’s go.”
After making sure Korrag had Sachi’s limp body in hand, Drake rose and stayed low as he jogged for the center of the clearing. He was limping now, probably from whatever poison had managed to enter his body through the hole the arrow had made in his armor. Time enough to worry about that later. He was feeling more worn out by the moment.
“Fish people are tiny,” Korrag offered from behind him. “Very weak. Fun to squish.”
“They sure are, buddy.”
Drake spotted a line of people ahead, but his vision was blurring. His body was flagging. Between his rampant abuse of rend soul, taking a Varnath-cicle through his shoulder, and carrying Sachi on a marathon through the woods, he really was spent.
He wanted to take a break now. Yet he couldn’t rest until he found his people and ensured they helped Sachi. She’d been so stupid to leave the infirmary to join the battle and track him down. Then again... he had stolen her chance to beat the shit out of Elaran. It was only fair she put an arrow in his kromian prince.
Drake was near senseless when he found his people, but he knew, from the shouting and congratulations, that he could probably sit down. People continued to speak to him, but he was too woozy to hear most of it. He did perk up when Lydia sat down beside him.
“Hey.” He grinned drunkenly. “We need to talk, about us. I need to tell you...”
“Lord?” River asked. “You’re mumbling.”
“Oh.” Drake only then realized who he was actually talking to. “That would have been embarrassing.”
“We’re treating Sachi,” River assured him. “Once Lady Skybreak arrived and opened new pits around the clearing, the kromians fell back. They’re still out there, and we’re still exchanging arrows, but they won’t get into this clearing before dawn. Valentia and the others already made it to us, and Darion did all he could for her arm. We’re hopeful.”
“Varnath’s dead,” Drake mumbled.
“Korrag told us,” River assured him. “You did very well. You’ve done more than enough to win this battle, so let us carry you from here.”
“Thanks.” Drake settled flat on his back. “Think I’ll take a nap.”
As “Lydia” smiled warmly and eased him onto his back, Drake realized he really did like her after all. How was that going to work? That was a problem for when he woke up.
Someone brushed soft fingers through his hair. “Rest now, lord. The dawn is coming.”
“Nice,” Drake said, and promptly passed out.
