Maraxus: We're back with another chapter from our gracious writer, the Lady Sunjinjo. Last time, Estell merged with a tree and the tree took over his mind, sort of, summoned creatures of nightmares, and generally made things even more difficult for Lady Jinx. (He turns to observe the battle) Are you alright my lady?
Jinx: I'm hoping to the Unholy One for him to break free of this nonsense, be it against my better judgement.
Maraxus: Indeed, having an Overlord being controlled and trying to kill his followers and Minions does complicate matters. Let's see how this turns out shall we?
Blue Shadows Part 5
Estell's world was a forest. Eternal, peaceful, all as it should be.
An ancient tree cradled him in a wooden embrace, protected him and completed him. He completed the tree. At last.
"No," he muttered. "No, this isn't right. I – where is everyone – brother –"
A strange heat enveloped him, got through to him stronger and stronger. He lifted a hand, and little blue flames danced over his wooden fingers.
Sleep, my king. The voice was a deep echo, all around him, inside him. The enemy approaches, but you are safe.
"King." He thoughtfully moved his hand, mossy wood, flickering flame and all. "There is… something wrong with that title. I haven't been a prince for a while now, how could I be a king?" He looked around. His world was slowly being devoured by bright blue fire, but it couldn't hurt him. He was safe. He was… he was…
"I'm an Overlord."
Now the roots beneath him writhed in mighty, violent upheaval. No! Not that!
The flames before him were parted, and a dark form came to light, a form as grim and relentless as falling night. A jagged silhouette, burning eyes within a crowned helmet. A darkly armoured fist rested a bloody axe across a broad shoulder. You fell to an Overlord, my king. You fell and left us behind. My Oberon, I was alone for so long.
Estell stared into the deep, flaming eyes of the dark ruler before him, trapped in the tree's bark. The shock he felt now wasn't caused by the sight of the Overlord, however. "Oberon?"
…barely a foothold in the here and now… Ontaril whispered.
Something shattered inside him.
He felt how his eyes begun to burn as fiercely as the dark ruler's. "You take me for Oberon?!" He clawed a wooden hand into the bark and let the blue flames spring across. Black smoke swirled around, and at the same moment the Overlord before him raised his axe. He now knew who it was. Lord Vessperion, old king Oberon's killer. Both his grandfathers – extraordinary, as Arandor had said.
Devouring pain and sorrow took hold of his heart. Of course. Of course.
How could he ever have thought he could reconcile his past in the light with what he was now? How could he ever have believed the immortals would welcome him where unicorns and wisps tried to kill him and his Minions – and his elven friends, influenced by his darkness?
The immortals had lost all connection to the present since Fay had left Nosyar. The old, dead, blind elves hadn't seen him for who he truly was for all that time. They hadn't seen him. In their eyes, he'd always been Oberon, the king who'd returned to those with no sense of time, lost in their memories… they'd never seen him as Evernight's king.
But he was no king, and would never be either.
He was so much more than that.
Vessperion raised his axe, but he wasn't Oberon. He wasn't the old elf that'd allowed himself to be used and slaughtered, who'd inherited his title…
He reached up and caught the weapon, in a hand suddenly no longer covered in wooden skin, but in billowing darkness.
Then Vessperion's form burst apart and flowed over to him. Estell Greenhaze tore free from the tree, now enveloped in the jagged armour of the old Overlord, his other grandfather. He looked down at his hands, armoured in dark arcanium. He was crowned, not with twining silver, but with the three razor tips that anyone with eyes would recognize from miles away.
In the real world his eyelids trembled, and ghostly traces of blue light escaped the corners of his eyes, into the world.
Oberon's tree furiously resisted the fire, and the black nightmares that'd sprouted from Estell's slumber were still entangled in a savage battle with the remains of the horde and the elves. Spiders and wolves sprinted through the chaos. Ructa alternately used her daggers against the shadow beasts and her poison bombs against the tree, fanning Char's flames. Arandor swerved this way and that in bird form, defending himself and Ructa with his twin blades. Talmar used his noble elven weapon against the nightmares, but couldn't bear to look at the tree.
At the edge of the fight Drip had dragged himself over to Silt's body and spread out blue sparks over it, his back covered by a wildly panting Plerp and two grey toads. As soon as he'd brought back and healed the young Minion, the blue horde leader looked around, searching for Clam – but couldn't find his last horde member.
One of the nightmares beat Ructa down to the ground. The plant singer lobbed her last poison bomb into the growling face with its huge maw, but only barely won enough time to drag herself to her feet before the beast rushed forward again. Ructa took her dagger in hand and stabbed at the beast as it pummelled into her. Her one blade anchored itself in the burning shoulder – and the beast ran, dragging the plant singer with it.
Ructa kept stabbing away at the creature with her free hand as it dragged her into the forest, her face a desperate grimace. It weakened, but didn't die – and behind her, Oberon's tree vanished in mist and darkness.
Then the ground beneath the bounding paws grew wet and soggy, and the beast's gallop faltered. Ructa saw her chance to free her dagger, slashed the other across the black snout, and as the beast yelped and reared up her Ruborian steel finally slid between twisted ribs. Estell's nightmare evaporated before her eyes.
The young plant singer panted as she turned around, covered in mud and bleeding scratches. Branches and leaves tangled her silver hair.
A swampy footstep resounded from the fog ahead.
She clutched her daggers. "Is someone there?"
Another step. A moment later Ructa relaxed; it was a blue Minion, trailing a big grey toad just behind him in the mist. "Oh, Clam, it's you. Come on, they need us, bring that toad –"
Then the mist completely whirled away and she saw how stiff his movements were, and how empty his eyes.
In the meadow Oberon's tree shuddered, and the great revolving nightmares in the canopy faded from sight more and more. The branches had been reduced to a blackened ruin, but there was life underneath the blue-black bark still; the elven spirits still controlled the tree, and the Overlord on his throne as well. The horde had completely fallen apart and had largely been led wandering into the woods, despite Shadow's ceaseless efforts to kill the escaping wisps at the tree as they emerged. Jinx still hadn't returned.
Then the root bed abruptly froze.
A thunderous blow coursed through the heart of the chaos, and all eyes shot to Oberon's tree. The shadow beasts burst into torturous howling a moment later, and then burst into inky fog… fog that was sucked back to the tree immediately, joining the fire's smoke.
Embedded in the trunk, Estell opened his eyes. White, iris and pupil had all flowed over into flickering blue fire, and his body and expressionless face were bathed in a strange, sharp glow. All around him the inky darkness swirled like ocean waves.
Above him, Shadow had fallen still. He seemed to swell, grow more solid in the black sea engulfing him now. It was no longer the simple smoke of a wood fire.
From the forest floor Kniff stared up. He'd seen this dark energy before, concentrated in black crystals with a sulphury glow at their heart. The most powerful manifestation Evil could take on. Of course that darkness dwelled at the heart of Oberon's tree, the heart of the night that ruled this forest. And of course Estell had a hold on it.
Estell was seated upright at the heart of that tree like a king on his throne. No, Kniff corrected himself. More than king. Master.
"Shadow," the Overlord intoned in a voice betraying utter control. "Join me."
And as Shadow swelled on further, Estell clenched his one hand around his spear, and a shield of whirling energy flickered into existence around the entire tree. Inside the shield, the fire choked in the canopy, and Char and Tallow swung out of the way. The elven souls under the bark writhed and convulsed as though in their death throes – and then holes started falling in the bark.
Elves and Minions stepped back as Estell raised his head and Oberon's tree rotted away in large, messy chunks before their eyes. The root bed slackened and was eaten away, heavy branches thudded to the ground, and the trunk seemed to melt around the Overlord on his throne – and then that Overlord rose to his feet, free, dethroned, his spear in hand and his eyes glowing brighter than those of the elven spirits had ever done. Black energy rushed up from the rotting remains, joined Shadow's still growing form, and framed Estell in its coils. Briefly he appeared to wear a three-pronged crown of whirling black.
Arandor, Ramah and the Minions stared up at him. The Ruborian prince was beaming, looked aside at Talmar – but the black-haired elf had turned away, looked down at the sword he clutched with pale knuckles.
Then a thin wail resonated across the meadow. Blue starlight bloomed in Estell's darkness, and a moment later the elven spirits shot out of the rotting ruin like firework. Talmar's eyes abruptly snapped up.
Estell spread his arms with the same speed. Shadow's eyes flared, and the dark apparition unfurled until he completely overshadowed the meadow – and then reached out to the fleeing souls. He and Estell merged together, as they did during domination, and briefly their minds were in conflict. Briefly tears sprung into their eyes, and as the first elven soul burst apart in the dark with a faint cry, their shared heart broke. This wasn't just resistance against what the world threw at them – these were elves. The eternal, constant presence in Evernight, the protectors of their home, the part of the voyage they'd looked forward to most, the part of the world that should've welcomed them instead of threatening and denying them. And for most of the journey through the forest, it'd appeared that way. King Greenhaze, it echoed through their mind, and some of the souls they ripped apart in a haze of darkness and tears still managed to utter something akin to that, terrified, still blind to the truth even as it stared them in the face with burning blue eyes.
But of course the elves had never thought they were the king. They'd never been a worthy heir in their eyes. During the entire journey through the forest Estell had wanted to believe otherwise, and he now clearly felt how that desire had been even greater for Shadow – but they'd been lying to themselves.
No longer, Estell uttered. Shadow held him more tightly, and brought a tense smile to their face. This is a farewell to our light throne. There's no place for us here. And from some source of inexhaustible pride and resistance, they managed to add: Fortunately we won't need anyone's approval for a place on the throne that's actually ours.
As they outstretched their whirling hands to the souls, they also realized that they'd never done this before and wouldn't manage to do it again easily. Amidst fleeing and dying elven souls, Estell and Shadow connected their situation to what Jinx had been able to do with her fire amidst flowing magma; linking their own magic to an outside force, and enforcing both. Dark energy, originating from an old, mighty and vile dying creature, was the heart of their magic the way the fire at the heart of the world was Jinx'. They'd found their place, amidst domination and death.
In the rotting mess of Oberon's tree, unseen in the chaos, a few glowing blue mushrooms reared their capped heads.
And deep in the forest wailing elven spirits shot away over the ruins of Nosyar, the temples of the Mother Goddess, and, closer, the marshy beginnings of a swamp where a figure with yellow eyes, pointy ears and a red bandana looked up at the darkened sky through the canopy. Those countless shooting stars elicited narrowed eyes and a quiet growl from her. Jinx turned away, looking after the last Minions she'd rid of their wisp-induced hypnosis and dragged away from the hazards the blue lights had guided them towards. She'd been able to keep Tallow from being extinguished in the river, Scraps from being skewered on a huge thorn bush, and Ramul and Nex from being crushed under a crumbling part of a nearby temple – but she hadn't been able to find the red horde leader, or the blue that'd showed off such talent with the toads. But the flood of wisps had finally stopped, so she'd sent the others back to the meadow, where the remaining Minions would really need their help.
The remaining Minions, and – pointedly – not Estell.
But she hadn't killed Estell. She still wondered why exactly she hadn't – her chances against the dwarves almost weren't worth this. Elf king, she thought, repulsion in her mouth. He sent out those wisps. If I lose anybody today, it'll be his fault!
Then movement stirred in the mist, downstream from her position at the waterline.
All movement at the meadow gradually calmed down. Shadow's huge form diminished, and parts of the darkness making up his body returned to Estell, kneeling on his spear at the heart of the black rot that remained of Oberon's tree. Here and there clawed branches still protruded like charred bones. Here and there, blue mushrooms contently and triumphantly puffed their first spore clouds into the still night air.
The Overlord's eyes flickered abnormally, and as the elves carefully approached he did not react to them. Shadow hung in the air, deathly still. Ramah stepped out before the rest, alertly looking up at the duo. "He told me about this. This also happened when he dominated the giant crab – his first domination. They haven't fully separated."
Just behind, Talmar shot him a burning glance. Two princes with blue eyes – that was how he'd always seen Estell and Ramah. But he couldn't hold that thought when he saw how Ramah placed his hands on Estell's shoulders and intently bored his eyes into that blue fire.
"Shadow. Estell. Come back." The Ruborian looked from one to the other, then shifted his gaze to the threads of darkness connecting the Overlord and his magic. He reached for them, seemed to gently guide the stream of shadows for a moment – and then Shadow shook himself, and Estell's breathing took on a more normal pacing. The elf blinked, and the fire in his eyes slightly faded… but still remained brighter than ever before.
"…Ramah."
The prince grinned. "Welcome back."
Estell looked up at Shadow, both realized in what kind of predicament they'd just been, and both flew at Ramah, in something that was equal parts embrace and strangling clutch. Somewhere close to the Overlord's ear, Zap and Sora both exploded into shouts of relief and happiness. Ramah briefly closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Estell's. "…Welcome back."
"Thank you."
As all three had collected themselves again, Estell drew back and looked around, fully realizing where he was and what had happened. The Minions relaxed, and broke out into their usual celebration of a good fight. Char and Tallow proudly touched down and reunited with Wick, the greens uttered their hissing and chittering appreciation for the spiders that'd helped them during the fight, and the browns properly greeted Kniff, with a fair amount of shoulder punching and teeth bared in relief. Scraps managed to break off a remaining piece of jagged, blue-black wood from the rot and jam it on his head, before pointedly showing it off to Minc – who turned away with rolling eyes. Scraps growled in disappointment.
The elves were a sharp contrast to the Minions' cheer. From his slightly elevated position, next to Ramah, Estell met Arandor and Talmar's staring gaze. There was disbelief in their eyes, a hint of grief, and the worst thing, no matter how slight – fear.
"How…" Arandor swallowed, chasing the tremble from his voice. "How exactly did you do that?"
Estell gripped his spear. The words came naturally. "I decided there was more of Vessperion than Oberon flowing through my veins."
He saw Talmar tense up. "This tree – your grandfather's tree, the tree that kept him safe –"
"The tree that kept him prisoner, him and me both."
The black-haired elf took a step forward, and his boots sank into the black rot. Just next to his foot, small and almost shy, a glowing blue mushroom sprouted. "Our heroes, Estell! The immortals! You hunted them down and… and…" He looked away, but couldn't keep even that up for long. "Why?!"
Estell briefly kept silent. Shadow descended next to him. "Our heroes?" They thoughtfully looked down at the group, at Arandor and Talmar, Ramah rejoining the others, the Minions.
"No," Shadow spoke. "We don't need them. We're our own heroes, all of us."
Estell smiled, and nodded. "I know you're mine. You were there for me, now and before all this. You came here with me. The immortals were only there for me when they took me for Oberon."
A jolt coursed through the group, but his earlier words had more effect. Ramah was beaming; Arandor seemed sincerely touched by the suggestion. The Minions spread their ears and smiled, ranging from foul chuckling to bashful grins, hearing this appreciation. But Talmar stared up in incredulity. "And Jinx? Is she one of the new heroes too?"
Estell turned to him, stepping down from the rotting wood. "Where is Jinx?"
"She started the fire," Talmar spoke through gritted teeth.
"But Char kept it going, for you," Arandor emphasized. The red Minion joined them, teeth glinting in a fiery, glowing grin. Wick and Tallow followed suit, clear amazement and respect in their eyes.
"What flame," Wick sizzled.
Tallow gently punched the elder Minion's shoulder. "Never showed that much in practice!"
Estell felt warmth bloom in his chest seeing the Minion. "The fire saved me. I saw it, in there, and I felt the warmth. It helped me wake up." Char's chest lit up more brightly, and Estell knew the Minion felt the same. "Thank you."
Shadow briefly looked up at Talmar. "If we had more firestarters like him…"
Char straightened his shoulders, and something shifted in his eyes. He glanced back at Wick and Tallow. Then he resolutely raised his head to Estell. "…Not him. Her, Master."
Estell blinked, and a half-smile pulled on his mouth. "Her. Of course." He looked back at the rest of the horde; he knew the rare female Minions usually passed for males and kept matters that way. The rest seemed to take it well, however, and Wick and Tallow cheerfully displayed their glowing throats to their teacher, a sign of respect and trust. Char had won enough respect with her actions to pass for what she actually was from now on. The Overlord felt another pang of pride. I'm with you, he wanted to say, before it occurred to him how strange it'd be to utter his loyalty to a Minion.
Being taught to be an Overlord by Jinx had certain effects.
…Jinx.
Char had kept the fire going and emerged as the example of an ideal red Minion with her agility and firepower, but Jinx had started the inferno in the first place. Jinx had saved his life. …By burning him down. But she had saved his life first; she could've just aimed her fire directly at him instead of the tree. For her to make that decision after all that'd happened in the forest, after all that distance and all those venomous looks and hatred…
Kniff glanced from him to the tree line, the urge to run into the woods clearly burning in his eyes despite his fatigue.
"Where –" the Overlord started, but he never finished that thought.
A shrill cry echoed through the dark forest, distorted and reverberating with distance. Estell immediately recognized the voice; Arandor did so even slightly before that.
"Ructa!" the blond elf shouted, before taking on bird form and vanishing between the trees in a golden flash.
Estell clutched his weapon. "After him!" His legs felt like rubber, but the pointed realization he was alive and would go to any extreme for those loyal to him still enabled him to reach a good speed. But no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't shake how much his plant singer's scream had resembled those of the dying spirits.
As they'd reached the place beneath the trees where Arandor had halted, Estell already knew they were too late, even before he'd registered the way Arandor's shoulders shuddered. But he hadn't expected to see what he saw as he looked past the shapeshifter's cloaked back.
Darkness, dark blood on dark forest floor, no longer illuminated by the red Minion that lay lifelessly on his back a little distance away – the only fiery glow in which his hook hand would ever glint again was that of his younger horde members. Char, Wick and Tallow had lost their horde leader.
Darkness on the pale chest of the dead blue Minion, and the blunt snout of the great toad that even now still gently, hopefully nudged him. The two great grey beasts further in the shadows were motionless, save for their quietly pulsating throats. Clam would never call the toads to arms again, never comfort Plerp again. The younger blue with the golden axe rushed forward, uttering little gurgles of incomprehension, even coaxing a few blue sparks from his inexperienced hands, but too late, too late.
Darkness on two familiar, slender daggers in the claws of the Minion Mistress, and darkness welling from Ructa's chest and the straight, well-placed slash across her throat. Her silver hair pooled between the fallen leaves, her sea-green eyes stared up at the stars, seeing nothing. Jinx knelt at the plant singer's body, her eyes wide open, her face devoid of any emotion Estell could understand.
Somewhere close to Estell's ear a storm broke loose.
"The plant singer!"
"Ructa!"
"Jinx cut us off from hi–" Then abrupt silence, matching the way his heart had stopped. Zap and Sora had to have forced everyone away from the pool.
The Overlord stepped forward, and Jinx rose to her feet. Briefly something raged and burned within Estell, so white-hot it scared him, and for an instant he didn't know what he would be capable of doing to repay this action – but then someone grabbed his arm. The Overlord whirled around, and stared straight into Arandor's eyes. Reflected in those bright green depths, gleaming with tears, he briefly saw the flickering blue flames of his own eyes. Then tears welled up with him as well, and that savage light dimmed.
"I saw her," Arandor uttered. "Before you came. Ructa's soul – glowing, floating, free from her body. She knew she was beyond saving. She." He swallowed something down. "She smiled at me, bid me farewell before she faded." Estell wordlessly yanked on his arm, but Arandor held on. "The immortals killed her, Estell, the wisps. Not Jinx. You were right." The shapeshifter looked at Jinx. "Jinx was right. The immortals are not on our side. They only see our darkness."
Talmar pulled Arandor away from Estell and stared at him. "Our darkness?!"
"Think about it, Talmar. We all regained our magic only when we joined Estell. Even me. Even Ruc–" Arandor fell silent, his face contorting as he looked down at the plant singer's body, and thudded down on his knees by her side. "Ructa…"
"I only see Ructa's body and two bloody knives." Talmar slightly pulled his blade up from its sheath. "Our plant singer. Now we can't go back to Kadath – and no help can come from Kadath." He was clearly more than ready to face Jinx down here and now, but some Minions drew their weapons as well, and Talmar stepped back with eyes burning in frustration. "Estell, she has us exactly where she wants us!"
Jinx didn't even look at Talmar; her eyes were fixed on Estell, silent, glowing. Estell stared back, filled with ice-cold fury. He knew he couldn't take Kniff away from her again; the Minion was exhausted, couldn't handle another long domination, not even considering the effect it'd have on Shadow. That, and he could divine a simple truth from Jinx' alert stance and her lack of fear. You saved my life.
A pang of self-loathing coursed through him. But you took hers. Even if Arandor is right… you wanted this. You crippled me without my plant singer.
Then Jinx finally spoke. "I ended her suffering. Hers, and Sear's, and Clam's." Now recognizable emotion returned to her eyes, grief for the Minions she'd lost forever. She blinked something away, and fixed her gaze on Kniff and Char, seemingly finding some of the comfort she needed in them.
Arandor carefully supported Ructa's head, his own head low. "Why didn't I see she was missing," he uttered. "Why did I ever turn my back on her…"
Ramah placed a hand on the shapeshifter's shoulder. "Do you believe Jinx?" he quietly asked.
"I saw her, as clearly as I'm seeing you." Arandor looked up at Estell. "That scream… that was only her body. The light turned against us. The light deceived us all that time."
"And the dark freed us," Estell spoke quietly. "The dark returned Ructa's gifts to her after the dwarves had broken her light, and it gave you your wings back. Do you see now?"
"No," Talmar gnashed. "These are not your words. This is what Jinx made you believe. You would never have killed the immortals, Estell."
Estell turned to face him. "None of this happened because of her. Shadow and I killed those elves ourselves."
"Those elves barely knew what they were doing! Don't you see? This isn't you, Estell!"
"This was always me." Estell intently met his eyes. "Talmar, the prince of light wouldn't even survive this journey. The prince of light could never rule both the city of a Darklord and the Netherworld."
Jinx abruptly looked up. "So you're still planning to take the Netherworld from me?"
There is no way I can make my true thoughts and wishes clear now. Not now, and maybe never. Now, I have to prove who and what I am. "I am the Overlord."
Jinx bared her fangs. "I wish I'd never met you, that day in the desert. I should've gone through with –"
Shadow lashed out quick as lightning, lending Estell the dark hand. A fraction of a second later, that hand lay around her throat. Together they turned glowing blue eyes to the frozen Minion Mistress. "We thank you for the fire. We thank you for showing us what we can do with the dark energy of a dying creature. But don't make me test it out right here, right now."
He let her go, and Jinx gritted her teeth, furious, trembling. Estell stepped past her with a swishing cloak.
Talmar slightly relaxed. He may not be the prince of light… but he's not on her side, either.
(KADATH)
Miles and miles south an underground cavern was gripped by chaos, no longer filled only with slanting shafts of sunlight but also with the clash of weaponry and the screams of a fight.
It'd started in Zap's sandstone tower. The elves keeping an eye on the pool had exploded into rage seeing Ructa's dead body – they'd been awaiting Talmar's signal, Talmar who'd agreed with Ructa on creating a gate to Kadath to call in elven help for Estell, even if he didn't want it himself. But now Ructa was dead, because of Jinx. None of the elves believed Arandor's words on the wisps.
The elves had stormed out of the tower, and the first of them had slashed down the first Minion he'd encountered in the shallows. Dark blood had marred the cavern, and that Minion hadn't been the only one to fall.
Now it'd come to a skirmish, elf against Minion, even as other elves tried to break them up and many Minions either stared around in confusion or whacked their victims unconscious rather than killing them – the elves belonged to the Master as much as they did. And maybe this was a strange sort of training?
But Talmar's faithful fought to kill, though they knew it'd do them no good in the end. Estell could no longer be separated from Jinx.
Indeed, it didn't take long before properly trained, disciplined Minions entered the cavern and largely decided the battle, and then Masud, Ramah's huge body guard, and Sora also came in. A little later Nyarai also appeared from the palace, still pale and weak with her adventure above the desert, but determined as ever. "What's going on here?" her voice rang out, not a trace of its original strength lost.
The clash of weaponry quieted and died away, and the body guard and both Mistresses were granted a clear view of the chaos. Blood clouded the shallow water everywhere, trickling from the bodies of dead and unconscious Minions and elves. Sora rushed forward as she recognized a few of them – two plant singers that'd been saved from the dwarven farm in the mountains, a former healer she knew from her own slave sled from Nurri… but also countless young, inexperienced brown and green Minions that'd made the upper cavern their home or had just been enjoying the sunlight. Minions that'd done nothing to provoke the elves. And she knew exactly which elves had been sulking in the sandstone tower. "This ends here and now," she sharply announced. She took her weapon off her back and rested it into her free hand, stepping towards a trio of elves still standing proudly upright, all of them rather familiar to her. "Linnar," she bit. "Tyel, and Vanir. Of course."
Masud's great hands descended onto Linnar's shoulders. "If you don't agree with our Overlord," his voice rumbled, "you'd do well to flee into the desert."
Linnar looked up at him. "Some of us did so."
Nyarai stepped forward. "Not you. Estell will hear of this, and he'll probably like it just as much as we do."
(EVERNIGHT)
"Oberon's tree fascinated her." Arandor wiped his eyes as he untied the little leather pouches from Ructa's belt, adding them to his own. "We were just able to take some seeds from it before…" He faltered. "She instantly loved the gardens. There is no better resting place for her than here."
Estell helped him up, and then wordlessly reached out his will, and Shadow's, to the foliage around them. Gleaming dark wood crept up his plant singer's frail body, as it had enveloped him, as it had covered Isil. I don't want to have to do this. Not again. "I'm so sorry, Arandor."
The shapeshifter looked on with a watery smile as Estell called down creeping vines from the trees, and Ructa's tomb was eventually crowned with pearly white flowers, glittering like the stars in the sky. "She was protecting you. Isil was protecting you. All I can do is honour them by doing the same." He looked up at his Overlord. "My services as counsellor and messenger are yours, moreso than ever."
A little further, Jinx knelt at Sear and Clam's freshly dug graves, her head bowed in memory. Her voice reached him, quietly murmuring. "I'm sorry I couldn't bring him back to you, Simmer –"
Estell also thought back to the big red Minion, the spectacle of Stodir's slave market, and Clam, who'd stayed behind in the mountain for him, guiding and protecting the three younger blues. Gone forever. Even the Well, if it was still functional, couldn't bring them back now the wisps had forever brought their souls out of anyone's reach.
Only Ructa had been able to make flower gates to Kadath bloom, but he did have power over the Minion gates. A single gesture, and a bright red and light blue gate dug through the forest floor. The hordes would always hold four Minions from each clan, from Kadath to the Netherworld.
Char immediately greeted the young red newcomer, Pitch. Despite everything, Estell looked at the new Minion with interest. Pitch had been trained in Kadath by Acrid, but he was still smaller than Wick and Tallow were now; life in the field was still better for Minions than any sort of training. In any case, Wick and Tallow also welcomed the new horde member – and then they all displayed their throats to Char, also Pitch as the envoy of Kadath's Minions. Jinx looked back, and both she and Estell reacted in pleasant surprise to the inauguration of the new horde leader.
The blue newcomer was a surprise to both Jinx and Estell. Zap hurried to explain himself. "Croak seemed like a good idea, Master. He used to be a lookout in the desert above the main cavern…"
"Don't the blues have more trouble than others, what with that sun up there?"
"He wanted it himself, Master. He's very curious and interested in just about everything. But since he looked straight into the sun with his telescope… well."
Estell looked down at the spectacled blue Minion. "Ah."
"I'm afraid my eyes couldn't be completely healed, Sire." Croak bowed. "But I'm glad to be able to be of service to you here!" He strode towards the toads around Clam's grave with a spring in his step. "I see my predecessor took measures to renew the bond with the giant toads, allow me to continue his work, with all due respect, these creatures have endlessly fascinated me –"
The frontmost toad flatly glanced down at the approaching blue Minion, blinked once, and then pulled Croak into its gullet face first. Croak uttered a startled cry, struggled for a moment, then fell still. Drip hurried forward, and after a bit of pulling on the webbed feet the blue horde leader had the new recruit back to resurrect him. The toad spat out the spectacles. Estell looked on, trying to hold back quiet laughter. "I'll teach him some practical knowledge and skills, Zap. Thank you." Despite the new Minion's clumsiness and all that'd happened, it felt good to laugh about something, and he once again realized how much he loved his horde.
"I also have… some bad news for you, Master."
Estell's smile froze, and his eyes flared. "Tell me."
"There has been a small insurrection in Kadath, in reaction to the death of your plant singer. Elves and Minions died. We have the surviving elven instigators here, as well as the Minions that couldn't stop fighting after the battle was over. We await your wishes concerning their fate."
"Estell," came a clearly elven voice, laboured, struggling with an unseen opponent. "You can't punish us. We did it for you!"
Estell's heart chilled, at the same moment he caught Talmar's eyes. In that moment everything fell into place. "Help from Kadath, you said. You've gathered elves behind my back, in case I should lose control here."
"Estell, you can hardly blame me –"
"How can I trust anyone if even you don't have faith in my abilities, Talmar?" Estell saw his friend back away at the tone of his voice, suddenly sharp as a whiplash. Jinx looked up, a hint of terrible recognition in her eyes, and Estell knew why. He wasn't the first Overlord she'd seen reacting so fiercely to disloyalty – disobedience.
"Throw them into the dungeon," Estell commanded. "All of them, Minions and elves. I'll decide further when I return from the Netherworld."
"Yes, Master."
The elf in the tower room didn't speak again, and the Overlord felt as though he and his rebellious companions were too shocked for any further commentary. His heart was pounding, but what pumped through his veins now was something he'd acquired in Oberon's tree – the strength and the knowledge he'd inherited more from Vessperion, the Dark Flame, than from his elven grandfather.
On Maesmaer, he'd definitively decided he belonged in the dark, that his heritage, ancestry and true power lay there. He hadn't truly understood what it meant to embody Evil, however, not really – not until he'd remorselessly murdered the elven spirits. He'd seen Evil's fun side early on; the cooperation with Minions, the discovery of the wider world, the domination of animals, dwarves and innocent merchants; but now he'd also seen the more difficult side, and now he understood. Now he could never turn back again. But it didn't matter. He didn't want to turn back.
He turned north. "Kadath's hanging cages are a good place for them to think about what they've done, and what awaits them when I come back." And without another word, he continued the journey.
From Nosyar onwards, Evernight seemed to slowly loosen its hold. The darkness gradually dissipated, and pale, fragile sunlight returned to the canopy, a dawn progressing into full daylight with every passing sunrise. The irregular and twisted forms of the trees grew straighter and more orderly, moss and vines pulled back, and the ferns and flowers of the waking world returned to the undergrowth. The low-lying land of Evernight reshaped itself into an ever more hilly landscape, which made the going harder, but also allowed sunlight to more easily reach the ground.
The group didn't encounter any more blue light, save for the glow in Estell's and Shadow's eye sockets.
Jinx still kept her distance from the Overlord, but no longer far away in the treetops. She never strayed far from Kniff's side, and her bond with Char was stronger than ever now the young female had become a horde leader. Shadow also spent more time with Kniff and the other Minions; his forced stay in Kniff's body and mind seemed to have improved their bond much more than it had harmed it. Shadow's role as a scout was largely taken over by Arandor; at the moment, he preferred the bird form Ructa had helped him rediscover on Maesmaer.
Then, a day after the shapeshifter had announced it, the forest started thinning, show traces of logging. Here and there they came across clear trails, used by hunters, woodsmen and travellers. And then there was the sign they'd truly left the elven realm, and stepped into a new land; a large farm, the surrounding hills taken up by pastures full of goats and sheep, all of it constructed in the robust human style of the Heartland.
Estell regarded it from a distance, leaning against one of the last trees. There, in the north, lay the nerve centre of Jinx' old domain. Could even she foresee what it'd be like now?
The Minion Mistress stepped past him, contentment clear on her face. "The fields of the Widewater," she spoke. "The going will soon get soggier after this. A few more days of travel, and we'll arrive in Angelis."
The Overlord abruptly looked up. "Angelis? Have we strayed that far east?" Angelis was miles away from the Black Gate into the Netherworld; the forest had completely steered them off course…
"Not to worry, Sire. A visit to my city is exactly what we need."
Estell caught himself smiling a thin smile. He stepped away from the trees, into the Heartland. "Lead the way, then."
Maraxus: A pity so many had to die, and that loyalty to the Overlord was the cause of the insurrection against the Minions.
Jinx: That's what I get for giving the title to an elf. Still, he did handle it pretty well in the end.
Maraxus: It'll be interesting to see him rendering judgment on those who acted with his best interests at heart. In the meantime however, we're heading for a familiar city that has held quite a number of adventures. How long has it been since you last were there?
Jinx: Somehow, I'm looking forward to that. Either because of Estell's struggle or that of his 'friends'. Probably both, heh. Ah, Angelis! Well, two years, actually - I passed through here in Gnarl's skin on my way to Ruboria. Even without people knowing it was me, I was quite well received back then. People knew where their allegiances lay.
Maraxus: True, you were, and still are, the ruler of the Dark Domain in the eyes of those who followed you and longed for your return. On that note we shall bring this chapter to an end, as always all credit to Sunjinjo for her story. Till next time.