Chapter 38
"Are you two deaf?! Release me from this horrid prison at once!"
When he came to, the Red Prince found himself in a web stuck against the wooden wall of the aft section of a ship. When he looked around, he saw several pieces of ships stacked around into an almost maze of wood. But when he looked right in front of him, he saw three voidwoken eggs as well as two dwarven women staring blankly ahead with their black eyes. He shouted at them, but they paid him no mind.
Thankfully, help had arrived before things got too ugly. An arrow flew into the dwarf on the right. When the one on the left reacted, a trio of icicles hit her and exploded. She was frozen solid. Then a ball of lighting hit her, and she fell to pieces.
I flew down and landed in front of the Red Prince. I immediately inhaled and torched the eggs before they had a chance to hatch. Afterwards, I turned around and freed the Red Prince from his sticky prison with the same wand torch trick I used to free Ifan. He got to his feet and started to scrub off the bits of web clinging to his armor.
"Don't worry," I said. "I'm pretty sure everything will come off with a washdown."
The Red Prince snorted with amusement. He looked up to see Ifan and Beast.
"Mind telling me why you have a dwarf with you?"
"That's Beast. He got me out of my web prison. He's offered to help us find what we're looking for while he finds his."
"Ah," the Red Prince acknowledged. "I'm starting to understand the value of allies from different places."
My brows surged hearing him say that. But I shrugged the feeling off.
"We've got to get going if we're going to find Sebille before she's turned into bug chow."
"No time to lose then is there?" he said. I unfurled my wings and took hold of him. We launched up and landed on the deck of the ship Ifan and Beast were on. I took a moment to catch my breath with the Red Prince being the heaviest in our party. When I recovered, Ifan pointed down to another opening in the cave past the vertical maze of ship scraps. We traversed the maze until we made it and followed the winding tunnel to wherever it led.
Eventually, the tunnel opened to another breeding chamber. Like before, there were eaten corpses on the floor, a cluster of three eggs and a living person stuck to a wall in a web. Immediately, ran over to the trio of eggs and ignited them before they hatched. All three of them popped and the embryos burned to a crisp. With that problem dealt with, I turned around to Sebille.
"Sebille," I tapped her head. She moaned and lazily opened her eyes. Once her consciousness returned, her eyes widened when she recognized me.
"Mahalia?" she said in a tired whisper.
"It's okay," I said. "Hold still."
I pulled away and did my wand torch trick again. The web melted and she plopped out while Ifan caught her.
"You okay?" Ifan asked her.
She planted her feet and moved out of his arms. She looked at both of us.
"Better knowing you two are still alive and together."
She looked over at me with her teasing smile.
"She's fine," I said with a grin. Ifan grinned too.
Sebille looked over at the Red Prince and Beast.
"Who's our new partner?" she asked.
Beast opened his mouth. But before he could introduce himself, we heard a click. From the other side of the chamber, there was another wooden gate leading to another wrecked ship embedded into the cave wall. It slowly started to open.
Ifan motioned his hand down. We each kneeled and scurried behind the nearest hiding spot. Once hidden, I peeked from behind my hiding spot. Standing in the middle of the open gate was a dwarven woman holding something in her hands. Behind her, the wreck of the ship was converted into what looked to be a laboratory of sorts. She must have been a scientist of sorts. But for what?
She walked across the cave floor holding the thing in her hands slowly and carefully. She walked nearly two-thirds across the chamber to the tunnel before something completely unexpected happened.
"Don't move!"
The dwarf stopped in her tracks. Ifan walked out from his hiding spot with his crossbow aimed directly at the back of her head. He walked slowly toward her.
"Turn around," he said.
The scientist did as he said. The rest of us walked out from our hiding spots. When I looked at the scientist, she didn't look afraid. She was surprised, but her face didn't display an ounce of fear. Ifan kept his finger on the trigger as he took the thing she was holding away in his other hand.
"Hold her!" Ifan commanded. The Red Prince walked behind the scientist and held both of her hands behind her with his strong arms.
"Careful, scaley," she said as she was forced to her knees. "I'll need to have my hands functioning properly if I'm to keep doing my work."
"Quiet!"
Ifan's shout startled me. When I looked at him, he holstered his weapon and held his eyes on the little device he took from her. He didn't move a muscle. I stepped next to him.
"What's wrong?"
I looked up at me. His entire face was pale. His eyes were wide. It was like he had seen a ghost.
"This…" he shook the device in his hand. "This was the device I was given to transport the elves to safety before I left the Order."
"Transport elves?" the scientist said with a rather unsettling laugh. "Ha. That thing doesn't transport living beings. It only transports one thing."
The silence that followed gave me a very bad feeling.
"And that is…?" I said very afraid of what she was going to say. She responded plainly.
"Deathfog."
My own eyes grew wide and I felt my cold blood freeze. I brought my hand to my lips in horror. If that was the device Ifan was given. Then…
Oh no…
"You're lying!"
My attention snapped to Ifan shouting at the scientist. His pale face was replaced with a flustered one.
"Why would I lie?" she replied with a grin. "I've no reason to. Go ahead and read the research notes at my desk if you want."
We looked behind us at her laboratory. But Ifan didn't move. Instead, he looked at the device in his hand. His hand and his entire body shook. He gritted his teeth so hard I thought his jaw would snap.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
He pulled his hand back and smashed the device into the ground. The next moment, Ifan was holding a small knife to her throat.
"I wouldn't go there if I were you."
Her demeanor was unchanged even with the knife to her throat.
"I work directly for Queen Justina… and she doesn't take kindly to meddlers."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Beast take a step closer. I was sure that the name of the Dwarven Queen was what piqued his interest. The scientist continued.
"If you want to harass somebody worthwhile, why don't you bother Hannag?"
Now the rest of us moved toward her.
"Hannag?" I said in a haunted whisper.
"Of course," the scientist replied. "She was the designer of that device after all. She should be coming back from her trip to the ruins in Closterwood any time now."
Once again, we were petrified. Things had gotten a lot more complicated. Ifan's hand shook. Eventually he pulled the knife away from the scientist's throat. He turned around and stomped his feet several paces away. He held his fists by his sides and stared at the ground. I walked up to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off and looked at me with two blazing eyes. His anger rolled off him in waves.
"Just give me a minute! Seven be damned!"
He looked away and stomped to the nearest wall. He punched the stone wall three times, screaming every hit. After the third, he kept his fist against the wall until he slouched to his knees. He squeezed his eyes shut and propped his head against the rock. After the revelation we had, I understood why he was so angry.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?!"
I looked over to see Beast was getting his turn at being angry with the scientist. I wanted to comfort Ifan, but my instincts told me to listen to what was happening between the dwarves. I walked over to them.
"I told you, I only work on the transportation part of the plan. Only Mordus and the Queen herself know where it's headed."
Beast clenched his fists. It looked like whatever answers he wanted weren't going to come from this scientist.
"Well if Mordus is the only one who knows, then you'll be the one to bring us to him."
He looked over at Sebille.
"Get some rope and tie her up."
Sebille grinned and turned around. She entered the wrecked ship-turned-laboratory and ten seconds later, she came back with a line of rope in hand. The Red Prince let go and Sebille wasted no time binding the scientist's hands behind her.
Ifan walked up next to me. His eyes were wet.
"Ifan-"
"I don't want to talk about it right now," he cut me off. "Let's just find Mordus and get out of this place first."
He held his hands on his hips and bent his head down. I truly felt bad and wanted to comfort him. But he was right; we needed to find Mordus and get out of this voidwoken infested cave as soon as possible.
"Alright," I said. I looked over at the scientist. I walked over and kneeled to her level.
"Bring us to Mordus and we'll cut you free."
The scientist rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Oh, very well," she said. "I didn't like him that much anyway."
With her hands tied, she hobbled in front of us while we followed her out of the chamber. She led us through the tunnels. All the while we followed her, all I could think about was what Ifan was feeling. The device he was given by Lucian to evacuate the elves wasn't that device he was given at all. Instead he was given the tool that set off the Deathfog? I couldn't imagine the guilt in him. Not even my guilt of my ignorance of slavery could compare to the torment someone would endure when they learned they were the one who unintentionally killed their family.
But the other thing that caught my mind was the circumstance. If Ifan was given the Deathfog delivery device, did that mean Lucian the Divine lied to him and wanted the elves to die? That didn't sound like the Lucian I knew of. Lucian was a renowned and virtuous person. Protecting the realm from injustice and making peace whenever possible. But if he did in fact lie to Ifan, then he had intentionally committed genocide against the elves to defeat the Black Ring quicker. It was a very shocking revelation. But my thoughts on it would have to wait.
The scientist led us to a corner of the cave where a ladder stood leading up into the hull of a ship above us. At the top was a hatch that lead to what looked to be the deck of it.
"He's just up there," the scientist said. "Just go up and you'll find him in the center of the ship cluster. Now please, cut me loose."
"Not yet," Beast said. He looked over at us. "Go up there and check."
Sebille took a step forward.
"How will I know when I see him?" she asked the scientist.
"He's very hard to miss," she said. "He'll be the one without the black eyes."
"Well if I need to see his eyes, I'll need an extra one."
Sebille held up her hand to Ifan. He pulled out his spyglass and gave it to her. She smiled in thanks before effortlessly climbing up the ladder. She quietly opened the hatch and pulled herself out. We waited without a word for two minutes before she returned looking down at us from the top. She brought her finger to her mouth and nodded her head.
Beast immediately came to the scientist and cut the ropes binding her.
"Alright girly, get out of here."
"Gladly," she said. She hobbled back through the tunnels without another word.
One by one, we climbed the ladder to the top. I was the last one to climb. When I reached the top, I kept my head down as everyone else did. Sebille gave Ifan his spyglass back and crept over to the edge of the wreaked ship's bow. All five of us peeked over the guardrail of the ship.
Several meters away was the collection of ships we saw just before we were abducted by the voidwoken. Now, we could see clearly without fog to obscure our view. We looked to see the figures we saw above much more clearly. Like the guards we've seen below in the birthing chambers, they all had the same oily black eyes. The only person who didn't have the black eyes was the one who didn't have eyes at all. In the middle was an undead dwarf with black bones. When he spoke, we couldn't make out his words. But we did hear he had the voice of an arrogant weasel as humans would describe it. That had to be Mordus.
"How in the blazes is that boney bastard able to control these dwarves?" Beast whispered.
I racked my brain to recall my studies.
"It has to be… Mord'Akaim."
"Mord'A-what?" Beast whispered looking at me.
I ducked down from the railing and the others did to.
"Mord'Akaim. A terrible blood magic that's only possible with unnatural amounts of Source."
Everyone looked at each other.
"I suppose we figured out why the voidwoken rounded up the sourcerers other than to feed them to their babies," Sebille said.
"Guess so," Ifan said.
Beast peaked over the railing again.
"If they're being mind-controlled, perhaps killing Mordus will free them."
I was initially hopeful. But then I remembered further details of Mord'Akaim. I sighed.
"That won't work. Mord'Akaim is a blood magic and it's fatal to those it's used on. Once the half of the army it's used on destroys the other half, the remaining minds deteriorate when the connection is ended."
"Damn," Beast exclaimed softly.
"And even if it didn't, we still need him alive," Sebille said.
That was true. We needed him to expand our source while Beast needed to know where a shipment of deathfog was headed to. I sighed at our no-good-choice situation.
"So, what do we do?" Beast asked.
I peeked over the railing and observed the positions of the controlled dwarves. Mordus and two others were in a large pit while five other thralls were standing on the level above. With the layout in my head I crawled back to the others. I huddled everyone together. I used my nail and carved a circle into the wood floor. Then, I carved Xs around and inside the circle to mark our targets. Next, with the help of Ifan, we decided the order of how each one would be taken care of. With the plan set, we dispersed. Ifan and the Red Prince went left, Sebille and Beast went right. I went down the center. I descended the incline into the pit.
"Mordus!" I shouted.
Every oily black eye and empty eye socket turned to me. All part of the plan.
"Well, well," the black skeleton said with his weasel-like voice. "Seems one of our recent catches managed to get out of her hole."
"Where are my colleges?!" I put in a distraught flavor into my persona. "What did you do to them?"
"Why…what happens to every rotten maggot who is collected by my pets. They're taken to be fed to their babies."
I kept my gaze on the sniveling skeleton while making subtle movements in my face to sell my performance.
"Why are you doing this? Why have you turned your back on Lohar?!"
"Ah, so you are one of his lackies, after all. Never thought a Lizard would be working for him. Tell me, has he sent you to beg forgiveness for his sins?"
I could see in the corner of my eye that my colleges had taken out at least half of the sentries up top. Only two more up there and two more down here. I still had to run his mouth just a little longer.
"Answer the question!" I shouted.
"Why…to appease my lord of course."
"Lord?"
"Yes. He had faith. He came to me when Lohar failed the Queen. And as a reward for my service, he has granted me his favor. He has granted me Mord'Akaim."
As I suspected.
"Mord'Akaim? You mean the forbidden blood magic with the power to decimate armies?"
"Hehehehe," he laughed. "Armies? Merely sheep with swords. Minds that beg to be controlled. But Mord'Akaim is so much more than the power to have those beasts slaughter each other. And it is mine. By my Lord's grace, the power is mine!"
He raised his wand towards me.
"And it is with this power that I will-"
Before he could finish his sentence, an arrow landed into the eye of the guard on his left. Mordus's head turned to the left just as a nimble elf landed on top of the guard on his right, slitting her throat. Before Mordus could react, a heavy, scaly foot landed on his head forcing him to the ground face first. The Red Prince grabbed his left arm and stretched it out. With all his strength, he brought his fist down into Mordus's ulna. With a loud crack, the undead skeleton screamed. The Red Prince let go of Mordus arm and stood up. Mordus sat up and clasped his broken arm with his other hand. When he looked up, he had five different weapons pointed at him. We moved closer and the undead dwarf scurried across the ground until his back was against the wall. He squealed in pain and fear.
"Please – no – mercy! Mercy!"
He raised his unhurt arm in a feeble attempt to defend himself.
Pathetic.
"We won't kill you," I said. The skeleton peaked through his bony arm at me. "But we need some things from you."
He brought his arms down and looked to his sides. It was as if he was paranoid about someone watching him. Perhaps the "Lord" he was talking about.
"Of course, of course!" he blurted desperately. "Anything, just name it."
I looked over at Beast. I nodded my head and he stepped forward.
"What were you doing here?" he asked. "What is your deal with Lohar?"
Mordus put his eyeless gaze on Beast. Though he didn't have eyes, I could read he was making a face of recognition.
"You're…you're Markus. Markus Miles. You're…"
"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Beast shouted.
Markus Miles? Why does that name sound familiar?
"L-Lohar runs the smuggling operation here," Mordus said. "One day, his crew came across a Magister ship filled with Deathfog. He wanted it destroyed. The greatest weapon Rivellon has ever seen lands in his lap and he ordered the barrels thrown into the ocean! We couldn't let it happen. We needed it. So, I- I took control."
"Via Mord'Akaim?" I chimed in.
"Y-yes," Mordus said. "It was a gift from-"
He stopped himself and looked around him.
"It was a gift."
"From who?! Tell me!" Beast leaned his face closer.
"I-I can't. He'll hear. He'll know. He'll find me. He'll come."
I placed my hand on Beast's shoulder. He looked up at me.
"It's okay, we already know who he's working for."
Mordus held his breath. Or whatever the undead equivalent was since he had no lungs to breath into.
"We'll tell you when we're done with him," I said.
Beast took a moment then nodded his head. Mordus's bony body relaxed. But he tensed again as Beast grabbed him by the collarbone and brought his face into his bony one.
"Where did the Deathfog go?!"
Mordus panted in panic.
"A-Arx!" he squealed. "They were sent to Arx."
Every one of our eyes grew larger. A shipment of Deathfog was being smuggled into the grand city of the Divine?
"Why?! What does Queen Jestina plan to do with it in Arx?!" Beast roared.
"I don't know! All I know is she needed the most powerful weapon in Rivellon and I gave it to her."
Beast stared at the empty sockets of the weasel.
"Sick bastard!"
He released him and stood up. He turned around and took several paces past us and stopped. While he stared at the floor, the four of us looked down at the cowering skeleton. He raised his hand again.
"I-I don't have anything else to tell you. Please don't kill me!"
Though he disgusted me, I remembered why we came here in the first place.
"Well it's your lucky day you little creep. We're not here to kill you."
"T-then what do you want?"
"To expand our source."
Mordus became still. He slowly lowered his arm.
"What? Source? I-…"
He slowly stood up, clasping his broken arm. He looked all four of us up and down.
"Of Course! You're Godwoken. You seek power. Ultimate power. Yes. I can teach you. But only if you swear you won't banish me to the afterlife."
We looked at each other. I could tell that Ifan and Sebille had some reservations about letting this weasel go. But they all nodded their heads. It was decided. I brought my hand up and flattened my palm.
"We promise we won't kill you."
"Praise be." Mordus said relieved. "Listen carefully. Source and Void – day and night – love and hate – one is meaningless without the other. To grow your Source, to achieve your potential, you must embrace the Void."
He took his unhurt arm and reached into the folds of his robes. He pulled out a black mass. As he held it up to us, I could see it was covered with veins and oozing puss.
"The finest meal you'll find in this cave. The heart of a Voidwoken,"
I puckered my lips and grimaced. We had to eat that?
Do not fear. Do what must be done.
I shifted my eyes to my ear. Zorl-stissa was speaking to me again. She wanted me to suck it up and eat. I looked at the others. From the looks on their faces, their gods told them the same thing. I closed my eyes and sighed. Slowly, I took the disgusting glob out of the undead's hand. I held my breath it dripped drops of puss onto my hand. I groaned.
"Sebille? If you would?"
"Sure."
She walked over and drew her dagger. I handed her the heart and she got to work cutting it into quarters. With two slices of the blade, streams of the puss dripped out onto her palm. But she didn't seem as repulsed by it as we were. After all, she did eat body parts for a living. Once it was finished, she held out the four pieces of the heart in her hand. All four of us took one piece. I still held my breath because I feared even smelling the faintest whiff would cause me to cough up my breakfast.
"Beast? Keep your eye on our friend while we do what we need to do."
"No problem."
Beast hobbled over and put his only eye on Mordus.
"To Divinity," Sebille held up her piece as if proposing a toast.
"To Divinity."
We brought our pieces together before pulling them back. I tilted my head up and plopped the whole thing into my open mouth. I hoped to swallow it whole. But when I closed my mouth, my mouth gaged causing the heart to move to my back teeth. They torn through the tissue and the puss exploded everywhere in my mouth. The taste was horrible; how could you expect anything different? My body coughed and gagged, reactively wanting to get this awful thing out. But my lips stayed shut as I forced myself to chew. Every chomp was aggravating. But eventually, I reared my head back and the gritty flesh slid through the puss lining my mouth and down my throat. I felt it slide all the way down into my stomach. What followed was a revolting but at the same time incredible feeling. I felt an energy growing in my stomach. I felt it surge from my stomach and flow into my heart. Like every other time, I felt another chamber open. Even more capacity to store source within me.
But when the incredible feeling ended, what remained was the revolting feeling. I felt the leftovers of the heart in my stomach and mouth. Even with my renewed vigor and confidence, it still wasn't enough for my bodily functions to endure it. I found myself on my knees panting looking at a pile of vomit on the ground in front of me. When I looked over at the others, they were the same. I brought my shacking hand to my water sack. I squirted a swig into my mouth and swished the water, cleaning the inside before spitting it out. Afterwards, I drank a several gulps to clean my throat. With my legs shaking, I stood up. One by one, everyone else followed my lead. I turned to see Mordus didn't move at all.
"There, I held up my end of the bargain," he said. "I did as you asked, and now I'm getting as far from this cave as my bones will take m-."
A wood bucket suddenly appeared over his head followed by a loud whack against it. Mordus stumbled then fell to the ground unconscious. Standing behind him with his ax drawn was Beast.
"Don't worry. None of us will kill ya now," he said to the unconscious skeleton. "I'll just take you to Lohar and he'll decide your fate."
A little dirty move like what Sebille did to Stingtail. We weren't going to kill him, but Lohar surely was going to. But then again, this sniveling weasel willingly killed and controlled hundreds of people to get what he wanted. It was too dangerous to let him go free. Beast holstered his weapon and leaned down to lift Mordus's body up.
"Marcus Miles," I said.
Beast stopped and looked up at me. I continued.
"Cousin of Queen Jestina and leader of the failed Dwarven Rebellion."
I finally remembered where I heard that name. Beast stood up and rubbed the back of his head.
"Ay. Guess the cat's out of the bag. I am indeed the Marcus Miles. Leader of the failed rebellion against the tyrant Queen and took life as a sailor afterwards."
"Then what are you doing here going after your leader again?" I asked him.
Beast inhaled and readied himself to explain.
"After I got nabbed by the Magisters, I caught wind of something Jestina was planning from former colleges I met at Fort Joy."
"Hmm. We were sent to Fort Joy too. We escaped aboard Dallis's ship the Lady Vengeance. How'd you escape?"
"It's complicated. Since we don't have time for stories now, the gist is that it involved a barrel on a ship and the height Duna gave our race."
Not much to decipher there.
"But the important thing you need to know is I learned of something called Operation Downfall. Now I know what and where it is."
Arx.
"Well that's a problem," I said. "We're in no hurry to get to Arx. Our priorities lie elsewhere."
"I bet; what with your Godwoken business. Does that mean you're meant to take up Lucian's mantel?"
"The short version, yes. But there's a bunch of other details we don't have time to explain."
"Ay. I understand. You've got to go your way and I've got to go mine."
He looked down at Mordus again.
"By the way, you said you knew who is master was?"
"It's the God King," I said. "He's a powerful entity who controls the voidwoken and the Black Ring."
Beast raised his brows.
"Well, that's something that's way out of my league right now. I going to head to Arx after I make a little delivery to Lohar."
He picked up the unconscious body of Mordus and threw it on his shoulder.
"How's about we find our way out before we say our farewells?"
I smiled and nodded. I looked up to see a path that lead to another tunnel. We walked out of the chamber into the tunnel and followed it. Eventually, we saw beams of sunlight around the corner. When we turned it, fresh air filled our nostrils and the sunlight filled me with reprieve from the horrors I've witnessed. We were on a cliffs edge with a small path against the rock wall. One by one, we descended the path until we came to a drop onto the dirt bellow. One by one, we dropped onto the ground. No one broke any bones thankfully.
"So where are we now?" the Red Prince asked.
Ifan pulled out his map. He observed the surroundings and pointed at the location he deduced we were at. Beast read the map and looked to make a mental note for his journey back to the main road then to Driftwood.
"I guess this is where we part ways," Beast said.
"I suppose it is," I said. "Thanks again for saving me."
"My pleasure," he said. "Good luck in your quest for Divinity. Hopefully you'll be a better Divine than Lucian."
With that, Beast turned around and walked through the trees with an unconscious Mordus over his shoulder. When he disappeared in the brush, we all looked at Ifan's map.
"The scientist said that Hannag was at the ruins in Closterwood," I said.
Sebille pointed at the image of a chapel a few miles from where Ifan said we were. Ifan put the map away with an unnerving look in his eyes.
"When we find her, I'll make sure she answers all the question we care to throw at her…."
He walked through the brush with purpose. The Red Prince and Sebille followed next. I eventually followed, but not before having a very troubling feeling about what was going to happen once we found Hannag.
Author's Note: When I watched the story synopsis for Beast, I felt it odd for him to not abandon his quest for Divinity a go straight to Arx to stop Jestinia. So, I decided to have him appear as a side character to have him go his own way separate from the Divinity plot. In fact, I think many subplots would make for a good story on their own. Especially my doppelganger setup of the Red Prince and Mahalia. Perhaps I should write an AU series where the Divinity plot is abandoned, and it focuses on the rivalry between the Red Prince and Mahalia. Or maybe that could be its own original novel series with different characters. What do you think?
Anyway, we're on our way to Hannag and getting closer to finishing the Driftwood arc so we can get to the real juicy stuff. Thank you again for reading my story and a review goes a long way. See you next chapter.