THE VROL TRILOGY (27 page)

The mayor smiled and handed a
previously made copy of the manuscript to the large lycan
commander, while saying, "Donus, you know me better than that.
Always prepared, I am, yes, always prepared."

Donus nodded, as he accepted the copied
manuscript from Mayor Stein, then asking, "Is there anything else
you wish for me to relay to the king? Ours is but a short mission,
as we are going out to the border of these lands, and on our return
we shall sweep around to the west and not return through your
village."

"Oh no, my dear commander. That would
be all, as things are going quite well these days. Our crops are
plentiful, and, thanks to the Dominion's expert instructions our
hunters have increased their kills three-fold."

With their business finished, the three
visitors stood up to leave, and Donus saying, "I am pleased that
you have garnered such success, as we all strive to live a fruitful
existence, but we now must leave and continue our
patrols."

The portly mayor stood up from behind
his desk and gave Donus a courteous bow, following up with the same
to Max and Jennie, whom he especially looked over with an almost
leering eye. She ignored him, but Max got an odd feeling about the
seemingly kind mayor. Putting it in the back of his mind, the three
bowed to the mayor, and turned to leave.

Once outside the mayor's home, Max
looked over to Donus and plainly stated, "I don't trust him. He's
shifty."

"Yes, good Max. His scent
is wrong, if that indeed is what your word
shifty
means. I shall make a note to
have my patrols keep a close eye on the mayor, and inform King
Krynos of our mutual suspicions."

Jennie skipped alongside the two men,
her katana wobbling on her back, as the straps used to hold it to
her armor were made for someone of greater size. "I think he's
creepy," she said.

"Creepy? What means this
word?"

"Eerie or ominous," Max replied in
Jennie's stead.

Mayor Stein looked to the back of his
office as a door opened and a younger man in long, black robes
walked out.

"I assume you heard our entire
conversation. Who are they?" the mayor asked the new
arrival.

The robed individual was Dom Von Adler,
a low-level mage in the employ of the mayor. He cautiously looked
out the window to make certain they were alone.

"They are both lycan, but the male - he
is also a mage, and much more powerful than my caste. One such as
myself would be foolish to confront him. He could rend my body in
two with but a mere gesture. He is no minor-mage, rather something
of a higher level, but how much higher I do not know."

"A lycan
and
a mage? Why, that is
rare - quite rare indeed! And a female lycan warrior, also a
rarity," responded Mayor Stein. "How can you detect that he is a
mage, my friend?"

Von Adler looked at the Mayor with a
touch of concern and said, "I can feel the energies coursing
through the system of any adult mage, and his are overwhelming.
Nature hides mage-potential indicators in children as a means of
their protection, but once they hit puberty they are exposed the
same as the rest of us. And yes, the fact that there is a
lycan/mage could provide us with some considerable difficulties in
the future. Also, did you not notice the gauntlet on the female's
left hand? It is a mage's device, and gives her considerable
destructive power far beyond that of the typical lycan. It appears
that Krynos is enhancing his forces, and would not do so unless he
knew of our activities. I must inform our allies of this," stated
Von Adler, as he quickly left the room back through the door he had
used in which to enter just minutes before.

In a small alcove, Von Adler waved his
hand in the air and conjured a visual of a vaguely twisted and
pale-faced man. It was not an infoscreen such as Draagh would
conjure, but it was sufficient for a vid conference.

"What do you need, Von
Adler?"

"My Lord," responded the minor-mage,
"We have a situation. Krynos has two magic-capable lycans in his
employ - a male and a female, the male being incredibly
powerful."

Von Adler heard a voice that was out of
the view of his conjured image, with it demanding, "What do they
look like? Can you show me?"

Von Adler nodded, and in the far away
moldy throne room of a dark and rotting castle, imagery appeared
showing Donus, Max and Jennie marching along with the lycan recon
team.

"That's them! The bitch and the
scientist!" wailed the voice.

"You know these two?" asked the man in
Von Adler's conjured visual.

"Oh yeah, I sure do," said the other
voice, "It's because of them I'm stuck here."

Von Adler then told Vladros that Donus'
team was going to sweep out around the western frontier on their
return back to Krynos' stronghold, to which Vladros stated,
"Excellent. I believe it is time we paid the dogs a little visit.
Ryder, would you like to accompany my scouts on a mission? You have
yet to prove your worth, and I would like to see that of which you
are capable."

Outside of the village the recon team
marched forward, continuing on with their mission. Both Max and
Jennie noticed some strong odors in the air - familiar
scents.

"Garlic!" exclaimed Max. "They planted
garlic out here!"

"Ooh, I love garlic," said Jennie.
"It's so yummy, especially in a beef stew."

Donus glanced at the two with a curious
expression on his face. "It is standard procedure to plant fields
of garlic in the outlying areas of a village, as it does a fair job
of repelling vampires. It is not a perfect defense, but certainly
helps to slow down the putrid creatures, and is most effective
against those of the lower castes."

Jennie looked surprised, and while
making small bounds to keep up with the troops, asked Donus, "Huh?
You don't eat it?"

"No, but if you say it adds body to a
stew then I would be willing to sample it. As you are a woman, I am
sure you have skill in preparing a hearty meal."

Being from a modern world, Jennie was
slightly miffed by Donus' assumption that, as a woman, she would
naturally know how to cook. The fact was that yes, she did know
how, but not because she was a female - it was that part of her
military training required her to have knowledge of the creation of
nutritional intake from local flora and fauna, in case she ran out
of rations.

"Um, yeah, I do, but it's not really my
strong suit, but when we get back I'll make us something I'm sure
you'll like."

Jennie had absolutely no intention of
cooking… for anyone, and hoped everyone would forget her
offer.

Freakin'
misogynist
.

Chapter 17
- Fight!

Once the group had scouted the northern
borders, the turned left and went westward. Max and Jennie were
eager to get out and run, and after marching for a while Jennie
asked the Donus if they could break off from the group and explore
a bit.

The commander looked pensive for a
moment, but then said, "Are you aware of the castle's location and
confident in your ability to return in safe fashion?"

Max looked at Jennie for a second,
pleased that she wanted to run off with him and have some fun,
responding, "I'm sure, yes. Plus, my magical skills enable me to
map out entire regions, so there is no chance of us getting
lost."

After considering the
request for a moment, Donus gave them a courteous nod, and then
announced to his soldiers that the two would be splitting off
for
special recon.
Max and Jennie bolted out of sight before he had finished
speaking.

Grinning, he looked over to
his lieutenant who said, "Commander, he is a lucky one."


"We must be happy in
our hearts for them. They came a long distance to train with us,
and have done their teacher quite proud."

"Sir, I agree with you completely, but
that was not what I meant."

"I know, Lieutenant, I know," Donus
replied with a smile.

Max and Jennie ran as fast as their
heavy battle armor and weaponry would allow them. They bounded over
fallen logs and large boulders, and upon entering a wooded area
began to navigate through the trees, almost like monkeys. Then,
from up in the branches, they saw some rabbits casually munching on
grass.

Jennie looked over at Max, wiggling her
brow. "Hey Gunnarsson, are you hungry?"

Max thought for a moment, and decided
that if he were to become closer with the lovely dega he would have
to bend a bit in her direction.

"Sure," he replied, but before he could
begin his next sentence she leaped down to the ground, and
scrambled around like crazy, trying to capture one of the
creatures. Before Max had even left his tree she had captured two
of adequate size. He dropped to the ground and gathered a bunch of
sticks to make a fire, which he would have ignited using a simple
cantus. However, before he could do that, he saw Jennie munching
away on one of the rabbits, holding the other out to him with an
outstretched arm, her eyes wide with glee.

"Oh my God, Jennie! Raw?" he exclaimed,
trying to stifle his look of mortification.

She giggled, her mouth full,
sporadically spitting out pieces of fur.

"Come on, Gunnarsson! You need
calories. Have you checked your levels lately?"

She was correct in her assumption, as
he had not been paying attention to his HUD, as he called it, and
upon analysis saw that his energy levels were low. He accepted the
small, dead creature, whose neck she had broken upon capture, and
started to tear into it just as she was doing. Once they had
finished and had wiped their faces of warm blood, they laid back on
the fertile earth, looking up at the darkening sky.

Jennie pointed up and said, "It's
weird, isn't it? There's just one moon. I'm so used to seeing two
in the sky."

Luna and Sienna were tidally locked to
Azul and always maintained the same distance to each other, thereby
always appearing the same in the sky of their home world. The two
kept relaxing while listening to the birds, as they digested their
meal and watched the sun set over the horizon, when Max suddenly
sat up, alarmed, his eyes keenly scanning through the
woods.

"Jennie, do you smell that?"

The woman sniffed the air, her enhanced
lycan nose enabling her to detect a faint, rotting odor that was
quickly growing in intensity. The two stood up, and taking no
precautions, drew their katanas, moving to back-to-back defensive
positions. It was no sooner than they had maintained their stances
when four vampires - two grotesquely malformed and two looking more
human - appeared from out behind a small hill, wearing protective
black cloaks that kept the sun's harmful rays away from their
skin.

The most normal-looking one stood in
place, glaring with a look of utter contempt, and said in a
gravelly voice, "There's no tequila here, so I guess I'll just have
to make do with your blood, bitch."

"Johnson! You prick!" Jennie screamed,
"Draagh said you survived the crash."

One of the lesser-caste vampires became
alarmed, and backing away blurted out, "Draagh? No one said
anything about Draagh! What does he have to do with any of
this?"

The other, more normal appearing one of
the group gave the two lycans a stare of pure, unadulterated
hatred, but responded to his underling.

"I have no fear of that feeble old
blood-sack. Once we are done with these two, we'll march right into
that pathetic hut that Krynos calls a castle, and drain the old
fool before the very eyes of his oh-so-obedient
followers."

Max stared down the new arrivals, his
sword at the ready.

"So you're this Lt. Johnson that
Bagatelle was talking about. I gotta say, your flight skills suck
ass. My cousin could have done a better job landing without power,
and he's blind and confined to a grav-chair."

In reality, no one on Azul was
sightless, nor confined to grav-chairs. Azul's advanced medical
technology could repair any damage one might suffer, with some
minor exceptions. Max was merely practicing his insulting skills,
and knowing what Johnson had done to the Revolution, wanted the
former lieutenant to know he didn't think much of him at
all.

Jennie stared the traitor down,
mortified by his changed appearance, wanting to throw up in her
mouth just a little.

"Wow, and I thought you were potential
husband material, you slimy bastard."

Johnson cackled out loud, responding to
Jennie's taunt by saying, "Surrender, and I'll make sure you enjoy
my new look before I drain you, dega whore."

Max knew that Jennie and Johnson had
served together, but was surprised (more like concerned) with her
comment to him.

"Jennie, is there something you need to
tell me about this walking corpse?"

"Um, we were kinda… dating. Sorry,
Gunnarsson."