Everliving Kings (the Heroes of Darkness Saga) (7 page)

Julnar knew this howl would bring others to the man-wolf’s aide, so she seized the opportunity to spin on her heel and run. Leaping over a
farmer’s fence with a forward roll the girl never broke stride, but the larger creature on four legs was behind her in a flash.

Approaching another log fence line the girl dove head first between the rails and once more rolled back to her feet still on a dead run. The shifter however, too intent on slicing its enemy with its
razor like claws, never even saw the fence before smashing into it with an explosion of fur and splintered wood.

With another half howl half growl of frustr
ation it scrambled back to its feet and dove at the girl again. Showing her considerable agility the young woman raced up one of the long poles of a two wheeled hay cart. When she reached the back of the cart and pushed off, the whole structure tilted back placing her back on the ground once more. As she continued her run the pole end of the dray came crashing back down, blocking the path of her shifter antagonist once more. A maddening rage built up in the creature as it smashed through the hay wagon and bayed in annoyance again.

This time it was joined in its cries by two members of its pack as they dashed up to join him in the hunt.

“Kill the girl! She’s a darkling!” he roared as the others leaped into pursuit.

Shouts of alarm now sprang up all around the combatants as the farmhands noticed the huge wolves amongst them.

Julnar scurried towards the nearest barn structure hoping to evade her trackers. With any luck she would find it to be a stable with a horse she could borrow or at least piles of hay stacks to hide in. with the castle in sight Julnar tried a desperate tactic by shouting at the top of her lungs, “My Lady help me!”

If the
Vampire heard her voice she would be already running to find her and Julnar could make a stand. Julnar felt her skills with her blades were good and she was sure she could hold out against the shifter until help arrived, but with three of them her odds were greatly diminished. She ducked into the barn just yards ahead of her pursuers and scanned for the best spot to make a stand.

The structure was mostly empty space with another set of doors opposite the ones the girl e
ntered. To her right was a crude rack for the storage of farmers tools now empty save for one three pronged pitchfork. Julnar lifted the tool from its holder and spun it down to her right thinking, “You will have to do.”

One of the pursuers
, who had joined the fun late, trotted into the barn before lifting up from a large full wolf into its hybrid man-wolf form.

Julnar circled back to her right to keep the creature at bay and to reach the strategic center of the barn first. The wolf-man bared its teeth and growled at her but kept its distance as it circled around to her right. The one she had already faced and marked with a jagged wound across its face moved into the structure and stopped in front of the open doors blocking her escape.
Although she could not see the third one, she could hear its heavy panting from behind the closed barn doors behind her.

“Now little darkling…” the still bleeding cre
ature rumbled, “you will pay for this insult!” it said as it pated it’s left paw on his cheek to check the wound.

“My guess is that was an improvement.” She answered with a smirk. The taunt had its desired e
ffect as the shifter swung at her in a wild rage. The massive right paw and flashing claws sped over the head of the ducking girl as she shifted her weight and slammed the handle end of the pitchfork into the shifters mid-section. With a quick jab she speared the creature in the ribs with the butt end of the handle before twisting her body back to her right and slashing at the shifter with the metal tines. Unlike her initial sword attack, the pitchfork bounced off of the creature’s thick hide with only a hint of a scratch.

Still enraged at the boldness of his much smaller opponent, the shifter swung a wild backhand swipe
at her head. Julnar read the movement long before the blow could land and flipped backwards to avoid the attack, before the girl could set herself for another attack the shifter struck again. Hoping to catch her off guard he decided this time to simply dive on the smaller foe and tear out her throat with his teeth.

With a growl the creature reached out with both clawed hands and charged head first at the girl to finally rid himself of this unusual opponent.

Showing a sense of calm beyond her years Julnar leveled the pitchfork at the creature and waited for it to impale itself before diving to her left. With his head down in a full charge the shifter never saw the tool it was charging into, although the crude implement never stood a chance against the monster’s thick hide.

Sustaining just a few more scratches the shifter didn’t even notice the pitchfork, but did slam headlong into the side wall of the barn. The whole structure shook from the violence of the collision and the sound of wood cracking and groaning could be heard across the fields.

Now back on her feet the nimble girl reached back over her right shoulder and drew her short curved blade. Her main antagonist was having a hard time regaining a footing after being dazed by the blow the barn had dealt him; the other shifter however was fine.

With a low rumble of a growl t
he second shifter, still in hybrid-wolf form, began to approach the girl with far more respect her abilities. The two sized each other up flowing their weight from side to side as they each looked for an opening.

At last the wo
lf made his move, first howling in rage to unnerve her and then faking to his right before coming down at her with a swipe from his left. Julnar caught the clawed paw with the flat of her blade deflecting it down to her left as she slid a half step to her right. Shifting her weight she struck with a backhand swipe at the creature’s midsection. Her move, although skilled, did not surprise her opponent who arched backwards and guided the blade by with his right paw.

Thinking it now had the advantage, the shifter wolf stabbed at the girl with its left paw trying to slice and crush her throat. Again the girl ducked and rolled forward escaping an attack and came up ru
nning towards the open barn doors. Before she could get there however the first creature leaped up and turned to face her all but blocking her escape.

Julnar continued her run and had to smile when she heard the scrambling movement behind her, telling her the creature there was already in pursuit. Had escape been her plan she may not have been so confident, but she had no intentions of le
tting the faster creature run her down in the open fields. instead she leaped at the sturdy timber door frame, letting her full weight load up on her legs before launching back towards the wolf-man and catching it full in the face with her right foot. The shifter fell forward dazed as the girl rolled over its back before turning back to the doorway and pointing towards the first shifter with her blade.

Before either combatant could renew their battle a shouted command from just outside the barn got their attention.

“Hold!”

The shifter blocking the doorway whipped his head around to see who had been so foolish as to bark an order out at him.

Behind him he found a young woman with her arms neatly folded across her chest and a frown on her face. The wolf-man laughed a deep rumble of a sound as he shook his head in disbelieve.

“Go away little girl and you may avoid getting killed.” He growled at her.

The girl smirked at him and said, “Funny, I was going to say the same thing to you. So be a good doggie and round up your pack-mates and get back to the forest where you belong.”

The massive shifter took a step towards this unusual human
in front of him, meaning to teach her a final lesson on ‘respect’ when the wind changed. On that switchback of the breeze he caught the musky scent of death on this girl as well. Taking another step forward he shifted down to his fully human form just to unnerve the girl with his nakedness.

“You shouldn’t interfere with our pack bus
iness, or you will get hurt.” He grumbled once more.

Anya sighed and shook her head
. “You pups had trouble with her even outnumbering her three to one.” She said pointing at Julnar. “And she is not even dead yet. You wouldn’t stand a chance against a full Risen, and I am Anya First, Queen of the Vampires! So get back to your den and I will forgive this insult to my child, but you had better hurry lest I change my mind. And you might want to put on some fur before you catch a cold.”

The man flashed his golden eyes with a growl before dropping back into a full large wolf, and tro
tting towards the tree line with his pack mates close behind.

Julnar re-sheathed her sword and dropped to one knee in front of Anya. “
Mistress First,” she began, “it is my honor as always to serve you. These wolves were part of a shifter pack that met with your father and his knights before they moved north. Tarik is following them to find out who they are meeting and why. We overheard them saying something about an Irishman they would meet in Edinburgh.

“Rise my child, you have done well. I do wish
Tarik had been more cautious though, we will find out what my father has planned soon enough. For now I am working on an alliance with the human sheriff and a catholic bishop.”

Julnar looked up in surprise that Anya would even consider working with humans from the ba
rbarian north-lands. From what she had seen of them, none of them could be trusted very far. Asking her mistress about that proved that least Anya was still weary of them as well.

“Trust them?” she said with a laugh, “No, not at all. They are looking for power, motivated by lust and driven by greed, but they still may be useful to us. We will play along with them for now and see what comes of it. Now come along Julnar we have much to plan. Are you nearing ti
me to feed again?” she asked with a raised eyebrow as they made their way back to the castle.

The thought of tasting Anya’s blood again and all of the many pleasures it held made Julnar’s whole body ache and quiver. She had to take a deep breath to calm herself and held her eyes shut as she e
njoyed the desires running through every cell of her body.

Anya watched in amusement as the sens
ations and body changes of the young girl almost overwhelmed her. “By that reaction I would say you are overdue.” The Risen said with a smile.

Julnar’s face flushed over in embarrassment as her eyes opened wide.
“Oh mistress I apologize! I…”

Anya cut her off with the wave of a hand. “You have done nothing wrong my beautiful child.” Anya reached up and stroked the girl’s cheek with a feat
her like touch, sending shivers down Julnar’s spine. “You are handling the sickness well. I was concerned about you and Tarik away from me for so long. He should have returned to me as well. Your creation is a delicate thing; if we do not feed the plague slowly you could slip into the madness. I will not allow that to happen to you my dear.”

Anya slid her hand under the girls chin, “How are your fangs coming in? Let me see them.”

Julnar obediently opened her mouth and tilled her head back.

“Hmmn looks good; they are almost all the way out. Do they hurt you?”

Julnar locked eyes with the Risen once more saying, “No mistress not at all.”

Anya stared deep into her young eyes and smiled, “Good, now let’s get you cleaned up, we have much to discuss,” the
Vampire paused and drew a deep breath before nodding with a sigh, “And it is good to see you again.”

7

Rumors fly as rumors often do and in truth
, the Sheriff of Nottingham had expected many more stories flitting about the castle then he had already heard in the week since the Risen Queen had been brought to his doorstep. Everything ranging from devil worship and wild orgies, to tea parties and communication with the ghosts of the Romans who once lived in the area had flown passed his attention with barely a snicker.

Gossip amongst the peasants was to be e
xpected, after all what else did they have to do but tell lurid tales about the nobles and giggle at them behind their backs; but the castle staff’s gossip of the Vampire keeping a lover in her quarters, and a female lover at that, simply had to be confronted.

Not that Brewer wanted to give the
Risen any reason to be angry with him, and in truth who she chose to sleep with had very little to do with his plans of using her to gain the throne. She was however still a prisoner or at least she was supposed to still be a prisoner. If the Sheriff was known to be granting special treatment he feared the plan to accuse her father of evil doings may fall on deaf ears.

Brewer knocked on the door to the
Vampire’s rooms with but a light tap knowing she had probably heard his slipper covered feet coming up the stone stairs anyway. Anya opened the door just wide enough to peek out and leaned on the stone archway.

“Sheriff Brewer, good morning. What can I do for you?”

The Sheriff cleared his throat in annoyance, “Well my lady it is nearly high noon, may I come in?”

Anya smirked and said, “No.” before stepping into the hallway to continue the conversation and closing the door behind her.
“Julnar is still sleeping. Now what can I do for you?”

The Sheriff felt his jaw drop in shock, “So it is true then? You have taken a lover to your chamber?” he stammered.

Anya raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Well…I didn’t know my private life was such a concern to you. Should I have invited you to watch or are you more of the join right in type?” she snapped back.

Brewer’s eyes went wide as his face flushed over red at her bold line of questioning. “My lady that is not what I meant! I just…well I…”

Anya smiled at how uncomfortable she had made him and was not about to let him off the hook just yet. “You know I can’t tell by the tone of your voice if the thought of me with another woman disgusts you or intrigues you.”

The sheriff shifted his stance as he suddenly found his tights uncomfortable, “My lady please! That is not funny! Who you choose to make love to is none of my concern, I just w…”

She cut him off once more with a wave of her hand, “You see, you have no understanding of what you are saying! Julnar is my creation, my gift to the world. What we share is far more intimate then a simple biological function. Comparing a Risen relationship to human sexual contact would be like taking a blind man to view a painting blindfolded. What Risen share would be more like standing naked on a beach, feeling the surf around your ankles, feeling the sand pull out from under your feet as the tide pulls away. Feeling the sun warm every inch of your body while the wind and sea spray cool you off, giving you Goosebumps with the wind whipping through your hair. Tasting the salt air, smelling the fresh ocean breeze as it competes with the rotting stench of seaweed. Hearing the surf pounding the reefs as the seagulls shriek then to open your eyes and see the view. See the vast ocean blue, the bright sunlit sky and the white of distant clouds… now you tell me if those two experiences are even remotely the same.”

Brewer took a deep breath, cleared his throat and shook his head, “My lady, I merely meant that technically you are still a prisoner, and I would like very much to be informed of any…visitors you may have. I have provided you with these
… accommodations out of both a respect for your station and as a courtesy for our mutual working relationship, but having the outward appearance that you are the one in charge here may damage our plans for the future. Had you simply told me of her I would have kept the servants away.”

Anya nodded her head, “As you wish. If you like I will introduce you to her tonight at dinner, she is stable now.”

The sheriff frowned in concern, “Stable? Are you saying she is some kind of danger?”

Anya smiled, “No not anymore. I am sure your cleaning girls told you I took her in here and have not opened the door for them all week
and that is true, but you must understand it was best for all that way. You see we were separated for three months on our journey to this kingdom, and that is dangerous for an infected to be away from her creator for so long. She is a strong willed young lady but even so the madness was closing in on her. That is why I have kept her in here with me the whole time. I had to feed her…in many ways and be sure she did not succumb to the darkness.”

Brewer wiped a hand across his close cropped beard. “I thought you said your kind does not like…procreating.”

Anya smiled again and ignored the obvious wisecrack. “I did say we don’t like to create more of our kind, yes, but this was not my idea. Julnar and her brother Tarik are members of a group of warrior Moors that swore loyalty to me. They insisted I take two of their members as my own children to prove this loyalty to me.” She answered with a shrug.

The sheriff’s eyes went wide, “So we can e
xpect another Risen to show up? Wait, Moorish warriors? Do you mean to say she is an Assim!?”

The
Risen had to admit she was enjoying watching him squirm. “Yes, Tarik is still out there and yes they were with the Assassim. You need not worry though they are not here to kill you.”

Brewer frowned again, “I do hope you will i
nform me when your other…child arrives. I will explain to the servants they are not to bother you or your…lady in waiting. I received a message today from Lord Rathbone saying he had reached Edinburgh, met with his…contact and is now on the way back. I suggest we formalize our plans against your father before he arrives.”

The
Risen closed her eyes and nodded in agreement. “Very well, I assume you have something in mind already and have already sent for your brother?”

“But of course.” He said through a smile, “I would not waste your time otherwise. Should I send Macy up to help you and your…daughter dress for dinner?”

Anya nodded once more, “That would be fine Sheriff, thank you for understanding.”

The noble nodded and bowed with a smile b
efore turning and heading back down the stairs quite lost in thought. He was not sure just how the addition of other Vampires would alter his plans, but he was sure he would need to watch Anya closely. Obviously she had her own agenda but that was not an issue unless his and her plans failed to coincide. With any luck her ‘children’ would prove to be more a weakness for her than a strength.

8

Lord Rathbone was so lost in thought he never heard the fully armored knight clank his fully armored horse up to match the Lord’s pace.

“My
Lord, the Irishman is demanding we stop for the night. He grumbled something about the full moon. I suppose these Irish savages are overly superstitious, but he is insisting we stop the caravan at once and demands to speak with you.”

The Noble frowned at the knight as his thoughts returned to the present. “Ah yes, well I suppose I could have a word with them.
” He responded as he turned his horse back to pace the carriage.

“What is all this talk of stopping for the night? We are only two more
days’ ride from Nottingham and I am leery of leaving that demon unattended for so long.” He shouted through the carriage curtains to be heard.

Almost immediately the thick red drapes pulled back
and a gruff looking occupant poked his head out of the window. “I tol yer man a’redy, we be stopping fer the night. One o’ me lads is an infected born and is still too young ta be out a chains on a full moon.”

Lord
Rathbone almost fell out of his saddle at the thought of having an uncontrolled shifter-wolf in the party. “What!? You told me there would be no complications! Just what sort of game do you think you are playing here O’Connor!?” The Lord shouted in rage.

“It’s all right boys, settle duwn.” The golden eyed shifter named O’Connor said over his shoulder as he held up his left hand to silence the growling of the others with him. “The Barron here, he ment’ no offence by it, he’s just surprised is all. Isn’t that right laird Rathbone?” he said with a smile enjoying the view of the nobleman squirming.

“Fine we will stop, but you had better keep your dog on a short lead, we are risking a lot for this.” The Lord grumbled before spurring his horse ahead and ordering the men off of the main road to make camp.

“Can we trust him Shamus?” one of the shif
ters asked their leader as he sniffed at the air.

Shamus O’Connor still looking out the ca
rriage window frowned in thought before saying, “I doubt it, so look sharp lads. I can tell he ain’t tol us everything just yet.”

The knights and attendants of
Lord Rathbone’s small force had been well versed in the art of breaking down and setting up their ever shifting homes, so it came as no surprise that they were done and settling in in less than an hour. As for their shifter guests however, the camp they erected was far more primitive and took them twice as long to complete.

Once done with their menial tasks O’Connor’s men pulled a large wooden box down from the back of the
Lord’s carriage and dragged it over to the largest oak tree in the area.

“Are
you quite sure this will be safe O’Connor?” Lord Rathbone grumbled as he found the shifters wrapping large chains around the tree. When the shifter ignored him he reached out to tug on the smaller man’s sleeve drawing an immediate response from the pack. Two of them jumped behind the Lord as the third and largest of them all stepped between his pack master and the stunned noble.

With all three of the Irish shifters growling a threat Scarlet, the leader of the Nottingham pack, rushed over to keep the tensions from boiling over. It was not that he cared much for the
foolish aristocrat but he knew having an all-out shifter battle in a territory that none of them controlled was tantamount to suicide.

“Hold it ere’ mates! I fink we need ta start dis over eh?” he said as
he slid between the large shifter-wolf and Lord Rathbone. Shamus took up the opposite position from Scarlet as he put a hand to the large man’s chest.

“Scarlet has the right of it lads! We canna’ no be startin’ troubles round ere’. Tis bad enough we have to bind the big fella’, sure enough his ruckus will get us noticed anyway. So mi laird…” he said turning back to
Lord Rathbone, “Let me introduce you to the fella who will be bound up tonight. This here is Shawn O’Rourke, Shawn little we calls him, mind ya dats cause of his age an not his size.” He laughed.

“He’s only been infected born on tree months now, just still a pup really. Behind you we got Tho
mas O’Dell and his brother Allan, not to worry yer lairdship, little Shawn ere’ won’t hurt nobody tonight, not unless someone undoes the locks that is.” O’Connor finished with a smile.

Lord
Rathbone shot a glance first at the large man named Shawn and then at Shamus before saying, “I thought you assured me there would be no complications, this seems to be a very large complication to me.”

Shamus
shrugged in response, “It couldna’ be helped. Shawn ere’ is kinfolk, a human born to the O’Rourke line. His tribe has been serving the royal O’Connor line since before your pact even, their house symbol is the wolf. He weren’t supposed to be given the Geas but a newly infected wildling, er… dat is what we calls one without a clan, attacked him one night. So ere’ he is learnin’ how ta control the taint. It takes a bit o’ time and practice. He is my responsibility as Clan Chief so I had ta bring him along.”

The ever
-living Lord frowned and pointed to the chains asking, “Well don’t you need silver chains to control him?”

O’Connor smiled a wide grin, “Oh no, that is just a superstition, one we started to discourage any o’ those who may be stupid enough to try an’ hunt us.
Ya see our powers are driven by the moon, an’ silver is linked with the moon, some say it is an element of the moon. Silver actually makes us stronger, besides silver is bloody well expensive, iron is not, so if we heard about somebody buyin’ up cart loads of the stuff we check into it an act accordingly.”

Still skeptical the
Lord asked, “And you are sure about this? You can control your man and avoid any…outside interference?”

Shamus continued to smile, “Oh aye that we will, an as fer…outside interference ya call it? Well me an Scarlet ere’ we agreed we will wait together, if by chance a local pack shows up we will explain it to them so don’t you worry none. Go back to yer knights and have them make darn sure the horses are secured, once our friend ere’ starts ta howlin’ they’ll try to bolt sure as Sunday.
”

Lord
Rathbone nodded in agreement but still fumed at the unexpected interruption to their journey. Upwind from the pack’s small campsite and hidden high up among the dark of the trees, a lone infected Risen watched the wolves chain one of their own to a large oak tree.