The Exodus Sagas: Book IV - Of Moons and Myth (11 page)

“For now, we will have to suffice. Ready the men to Freemoore. I will be with you in a moment.” Jardayne walked up to Tubrey, knelt down, and put his hand on his shoulder. They watched without as much as a word between them, as the five brave companions disappeared over the hills to the west.
Despite only the horizon now to view, Jardayne and Tubrey stood for many minutes, just watching, perhaps hoping
,
the five from Deadman’s Pass would change their minds and turn around.
They never did.

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“The soldiers are but one day north, my queen, I have seen them with my own eyes.
Three thousand of yours have answered the call.
” The scout bowed nervously with one of the quiet ones staring at him
from behind, he could feel it
. He kept his gaze to the marble at his feet in the eleventh floor of the tower of the talon, as if life depended on his eyes fixating on but the cracks
therein. Most men summoned to Castle Arnhast
did the same.

“
Dismissed, scout.
”

“My pleasure, your majesty.” No faster steps could have been found on Armondi soil at this moment.

“
Son, where oh where are our vagabonds now?” Andora was dressed
in but a black silk underdress, jewels
galore
, and her
dark worshipping cloak, nothing more. She knew her legs, chest, and curves were barely covered. She enjoyed watching men squirm in effort not to stare
, even Harron
.

“As I have told you mother. My spies were correct and your wretched uncle Trehad was wrong. They travel to Freemoore, in escort of two of Evermonts finest and fif
ty cavalry
. They are
not the ones he mentioned, he was
mistaken.” Prince Rohne stared into the glowing pool of swir
ling blood that filled the
viewing fountain made of burned bones and ivory.

“My queen, they are the ones, I am sure of it. Let me take the army to Freemoore. Let me arrest them on false charges, and I will bring them here, to you.”
The
Lord Amirak
took a knee before his lover and bowed his head of dark hair at her naked feet.

“No Harron Vir Magaste, I need you to lead the forces south and prepare.
The ritual of opening a sacred temple to the eleven will require practiced precision and devotion. I will need you there when
he
comes through to your side, to ensure our offerings are perfect.” Andora winked at her paramour and the father to the prince.

“Mother, are you certain of this? I know what I heard as well, but this could take forever if they are not heading directly into those lands.
Someone needs to pay a visit to Freemoore, regardless.
” Rohne sneered his handsome face over the bloody pool of mystical sight, then waved his hand over it, cancelling the hellborn magic.

“
I am sure of it
, the voice from
the Nochtilian communion told us
enough. We offered to find them and lay their bloo
d to a new temple
in
honor of the underworld
, so surely they are en route. Just
when
, is the only question.” The queen of Armondeen smiled
to her dark eyed demon-hosted
guards, the Nataloni Nochti. They did not smile back, but watche
d the doors and everyone inside
, slowly
without sound
.

“
Have you chosen who you will summon to consecrate the site?” Harron raised his head up, admiring every inch of her,
from
black painted toenails to
rich dark painted lips and eyes.

“No, not yet.” Andora waved her hand, summoning force into the air, and levitated an old red leather book toward her throne. All eyes were upon it, cuts and gouges, infernal sigils, red like the fires of hell itself. It was perhaps a thousand or more pages, priceless to those of dark worship, and
many
millennia old indeed.
“
We will need some girls, two should do fine. Their blood will advise us whom
they wish us
to summon for such a task.”

“I will send for them,
on my way out
.” Prince Rohne took his cloak from the hook on the wall
, then his decorated scimitar,
and walked toward the doors.

“And where are you going son?
” Harron looked over his shoulder, assuming the prince had lost his taste for bloodshed and worship in his youth.

“I am the Prince of Armondeen, and you are not my father until king Ian is dead.
The words of my mother
. So,
Lord Amirak
, I am taking four
hundred men to Freemoore, as those that may have the power to open our cursed lands to the south, are heading there. As I told you both.” Rohne did not wait for reply and slammed the doors behind him.

Andora floated
from her throne
and made for the door. Harron’s hand grabbed her around the waist, stopping her. Five scimitars drew, five sets of eyes glowed red in the dark floor of the tower of the talon, and five scraggly barefoot men surroun
ded Harron in the blink of an ey
e.

“
Duuthstes
i,
noest nocht
.”

At her command the five Nataloni guards lowered their daggers and curved blades then went back into their corners and melded with the shadows, all but one that stood by the doors. Their eyes went from red, to solid white, then to shadow black.
They were seconds away from killing the man that
had
grabbed their mistress.

“Let him go my queen. He has royal guard around him at all times. Nothing will happen to him, in Freemoore of all places. He is nearly of age, sixteen years now, he is spreading his wings is all. Let him go.” Harron kept his grip tight around his beloved.

“I will send five of my twenty two Nataloni with him, just to be sure.” Andora sighed and gave up her struggle.

“Fine, but just five. We cannot watch over him forever Andora. After Ian is dead, then you and I many years from now, he will be the king of Armondeen, hells willing.”

“
Noestra uthdur nava nocht Rohne adruth arti
.” Andora spoke in the tongue of the creatures of the hells and underworld and she felt five of her unholy guard leave to follow her son through the shadows. They would heed her call from any distance, for anything she wished, and protect the heir prince with their possessed lives if need be.

“I told you the things I have been seeing in my dreams
, something is not right.” Andor
a pu
t her hand on Harrons smooth
face.

“All will be fine, my queen. We have three legions of a thousand each arriving, and even my brothe
r is en route. With the royal guard
here to protect you, and a reserve army of another thousand,
and my personal legion,
there is nothing to stop us. They are just dreams.”

“My dreams are never wrong.”

“Then this will be the first time
that
they are.”

“Whom did you send for
,
besides your brother Thohne, our supposed Aldane bishop?” Andora began rubbing his chest as the door opened and two young slavegirls were allowed in.

“Why you feel the need to have such a force, I still do not understand
,
Andora.”

“I told you already, beloved, my dreams of peasants by the thousands heading this way have been coming every night.”

“And? You hav
e me. And me with a five legions
and whatever you will be summoning for us in the south could break the will---“

“I know, Harron, but should someone hear of it, should we be exposed, we will need many blades to silence any witnesses.
This is not some little murder we are planning. We shall be summoning a child
of the eleven to consecrate an
altar in the curselands, and sacrificing many. It needs to be quiet, protected, and without fault.
Now, who else is arriving?”
Her hand stroked his arms up to his neck.

“I sent for only those devoted as we. My brother
Thohne
of course, Sir Yaelsh of New Aloeste, and---“ Harron was feeling under the silk garments when she interrupted him.

“I hate the
smiling knight
, you realize this
?
He is unnerving to look at.
” Her dark eyes stared into his with disappointment.

“I know, bu
t should we need it, he is a butcher of men beyond compare
, as are his soldiers
.”

“He has a fetish for murdering
elven
women, just for the screams.
Then he rapes them and takes their ears.
Keep him away from me.”

“As you wish.”

“Who else?”

“Sir Orlimane of Vin Barivow and Lord Cetreus of Feldumesh
, your cousin
.” Harron resumed his groping, knowing it would all be better after some blood was on the floor for them to fornicate upon.

“
The shade
and the
old hangman
, good choices.
They will keep quiet for certain.
” Andora watched as the doped young
slave
women stared at them and the room
they found themselves in
. “You two,
yes you
, undress
,
now.”

“My queen, I will get the knives.” Harron, fully aroused, walked by the curtain to the altar and opened a box.

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Shinayne crept around another copse of withered banyans, trying to find a path, a road, anything that would let them travel west with more ease. There was nothing.
Hills covered in trees struggling to survive, scrub that had overgrown inbetween, and a canopy of bare branches that prevented the clouded sky from assistance was her
only
dark trail. The highborne elf had her hands on her hilts, enchanted blades halfway out most of the time, as every step made echo from the foliage
that had ceased to live underfoot.

“
Saberrak
.” She whispered to her right, knowing the louder steps were his.

“Nothing here, elf. Anything south?”

“
No, it is worse, even harder to pass. Try and whisper
.”

“For what? I would prefer something to find us, then I could kill it and track it.” Saberrak huffed, a bit louder, on purpose.

“
Just find the others then, why bother sneaking with you and your stomping and snorting
.” The elven swordswoman shook her head.

“They are north, this way.”

The gray minotaur crept north, Shinayne at his side, searching for the green light of Gwenneths staff in the shadowed forest light.
They saw no sign of Gwenne, the branches without leaves seemed to block every direction, yet ahead they saw Azenairk standing on a rock gazing around.

“Ye find it, a path, anything?” Zen looked ahead to James and Gwenne
in the
western
distance
, then back to them, pulling his beard in
lost
frustration.

“No, nothing
for a day
but hills, thick forest, and---“ Shinayne drew her blades at the sound of running coming their way.
James emerged from around a hill under a crag of moss covered rock
.
She relaxed, the depravity and stillness had her on edge.

“
We f
ound something, come on
, this way
.”
He smiled and waved them toward him
,
then turned and marched back west and north.

Gwenneth was looking back over her shoulder, staff of Imoch aglow from the green gem, then she pointed with her left hand. Her feet were
hovering
a foot above what looked like an old bridge
, covered in dead vines, yet there was nothing but a ravine beneath the dilapidated stone and brown wood
, the river was long gone
.

“What is it Gwenne?” Shinayne stepped up to the edge of the bridge.

“
There, buildings, on the other side of
that valley.
One with smoke rising from it.
” Gwenneth put her hand out in front of the elf as she went to sneak ahead. “Wait.”

“
I am sure it is fine
---“ She passed by onto the bridge.