CHAPTER 4
****
Two weeks later.
The Zephonim city has begun to explode with hustle and bustles once again, the lieutenants and their men have began to arrive from their privet cites. Traders, ironsmiths, horse breeders, and slave traders had swarmed over the central hall hoping for the arrival of the lieutenants to spawn some new business.
And with the come of night, it surged the city in to a frenzy of feeding, the time of excellence for slave traders. But with night comes new troubles.
"Karie, hurry up. The guards just about to make his next pass." Came a quite whisper two doors from the exit/entry to the training dorms.
In the shadows were six figures, cautiously wait against the walls. Karie looked thought her door to the hallway, the guard passed and she slipped out and quickly pushed up against the wall of the horizontal hallway opposite of the guards patrol parimiter.
"You think this is a good idea, you known what they will do if they catch us." whispered Shila next to her.
"It's one of our only opportunities, unless you want to jump out of a window again?" she whispered back.
Whenever there is meeting with the lieutenants the security at the city doubles with each lieutenant that arrives. Most of it for the cities safety, because It is like all the big fish in one big barrel, so most of the guards that happen to be patrolling the dorms go on wall duty, and not many care what they are guarding inside the city.
Karie looked down the hall to the doors, which were a work of art with pictures of vampires and forgotten gods carved through them, lighting up their faces with the light of the outside.
She could see the guard's back through the carvings, EL leaning to the carvings looking out.
The guard moved and every one waited for EL's signal. Some moments passed and then he signaled every one to come and he slowly creaked open the door.
Suddenly he franticly motioned every one to come, and one by one everyone slipped out of the door unnoticed by the guard about twenty feet way talking with his friends.
They walked down the halls that were crowded and boomed with laugher and conversation. Karie was impressed she hadn't seen so much hustle over the clan meeting. It must mean something special was going to happen, all the more reason not be locked in the dorms. They went to the blood fountain room and drank and talked the night away.
"What would your father say if he saw you doing this?" said Moemie with a laughed as she drank down another cup.
"He wouldn't know. More or less care!!" laughed Karie with her. "You know he never comes to these meetings," she added as she scooped up another cup. "He'll stay as far away from this place as his hoarse can take him."
They could hear the blare of the trumpets telling everyone in the city another lieutenant had arrived. Some one began playing a tune and Karie, and Moemie began to sing an old song they used to know, Shila got up and danced a little gig and Karie joined her.
"Let me dance!!" came an eager voice.
A hand reached out and grabbed Karie. She pulled away and he didn't let go.
"Let go!! I am warning you!!" she yelled at him.
He didn't let go. Karie raised her hand in a fist.
*CRACK*
"AHHHHHHHHHH!! MY TOOTH!!" he fell to the ground clutching his jaw. The commotion in the room stopped and every one looked at them.
Karie turned and left the man, but some one grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.
Vic got up and walked to the man, and pushed him off her.
Suddenly two other vampires came up and whacked Vic down. EL jumped on to one, and pulled him down, Shila kicked the other one off Vic. Suddenly the room was a frenzy, people were throwing chairs and punching each other not really caring who they were fighting or why.
*BANG!*
Suddenly the doors flung open with such force that every one in the room stopped dead.
A man stood in the door way, his cape tatter from countless battles and the smell of dried blood still clinging to his pitch black leather armor, and from the cape was a hood that loomed over a sinister pair of glowing red eyes. And behind him were twenty other men all with a history of being the most feared vampires to ever ride a horse.
Every one suddenly dropped what they were doing, they didn't want a bar fight with these men of horrible reputation. Karie, who was standing over another man with one hand around his neck and another in a fist, had a panic stricken look over her face.
"Uh oh" Moemie whispered under her breath as she dropped a statue she was going to whack some body with.
"Well, it looks like we have a bar fight on our hands, Niccolie," said shark who stood behind the dark man.
"Yes, we do." Niccolie said as he crossed his arms and focused on Karie. "EVERYONE OUT!" he roared
"Wait you just can." began the man catering the cups.
Niccolie shot him an eye from under his shaded hood and the man stopped abruptly. Every one began to walk out and Niccolies riders made taunting smiles at them. Karie, Vic and Moemie tried to blend in with the exiting crowd but Niccolie held out his hand and stopped them.
"You stay." he said as he walked to the cup holder.
Ariel stood innocently in the corner of the room holding her cup, she looked like a child, but she was really in her twenties. Thresh and Vic stayed back and grabbed EL as he tried to exit. Shila joined them.
The dark riders came in and took all the cups from the cup holder as soon as Niccolie had his first drink.
Niccolie walked up to Karie, her and her friends quickly assembled in to horizontal line, Niccolie walked down them, eyeing them. He knew Vic and Moemie from karie's first years of training. He had visited her and met them. Thresh, EL, Ariel and Shila he eyed suspiciously.
When he got to Karie. He stopped and looked at her. Her face was down; he nudged it up with his hand to see her eyes. They exchanged gazes for a moment the he turned around and got some more blood.
He looked around the room; his men were having their time feed. They needed it. It had been a long, long ride from Rahabs base, were he had a long talk with the rahabiam loard about the abbey plans.
He didn't want to tell them to leave the room, so he left and Karie and her friends instinctively followed him. They walked to the first lieutenants room, which was rather big and had a nice view over the horse and black smith market.
Once everyone was in the room, he slowly closed the door.
"Why is he closing the door?" whispered EL a little nervous
"He's not going to kill us is he?" added Shila
"No, well...er...I don't think so." Karie tired to sound reassuring
*boom* the doors sealed shut, cutting off all routs of escape.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING!!!" Niccolie roared at them.
Everyone looked at each other and then looked at Karie.
"We were...uh...um...we were...uh...just having fun?" she said trying to finish it off with a smile.
"Having fun?" Niccolie repeated his eyes ablaze
"We were conducting a experiment on how to handle bar fight!!" EL busted out trying unsuccessfully to lie.
"Young man, I don't know you, but you ask any of these three..." he pointed to Karie, Vic and Moemie "...I am immune to lies."
He pulled out his swords and flopped them on to the bed; the youngsters stared at them a little intimidated. Then he took off his cape and hood.
Then he walked out side to the chairs and table and sat down.
Karie and every one else sat down.
"Look, Mr. Niccolie sir," began Shila " we were um...hungry, I guess and decide to get some thing to drink, then next thing we knew they were throwing punches at us."
Niccolie looked at her then looked to Karie.
"Do I know this one?" he asked pointing a menacing finger at Shila.
"No dad, this is Shila, that's Thresh," she pointed to thresh who nodded at Niccolie "this is Ariel" Ariel waved, tiring to keep her innocent child look. "And the small one is Elyois, or EL"
Niccolie nodded to them.
"Are you all in training?"
"Yes" they said in unison looking at the ground
"I don't know about you four" he said looking at thresh, EL, ariel and Shila "but I expect more from you three, I know you know better then to do this" Karie, Vic and Moemie loomed there heads.
"Well there isn't much to do in the 'boredom' rooms," whined Moemie.
"They made the 'dorm' rooms to teach you patients, Moemie, not how to escape the moment. What if you got seriously hurt or some thing?"
"But we do it all the time!!" wailed EL
Niccolie cocked an eyebrow "all the time? do they catch you?"
"Um that's how we normally get back in," muttered Thresh.
"I guess Zephon has been getting his info wrong, you make your own reputation of being escape masters?"
"We once jumped out of the window to get out." added Ariel.
"You did what?" Niccolie sat up, agitated, he pored another drink and gulped it down. Then pored another glass.
"We were really bored. I mean we don't spend all day running around fighting humans." Whined Shila.
Niccolie stopped in the middle of his drink and turned to her.
"But I am sure after about two battles you will be begging to be let into training grounds, were the wooden dummies don't come to life and chop you friends to pieces, and were blood is plentiful and the sun cant get you and were every course you take you do without water, arrows and blood flying all over you. You think trainings hard, try and climb up a wall were some humans are waiting for the chance to poor water on you or waiting for seven hours for the perfect moment to attack." Said Niccolie in a harsh tone.
There was a long silence then Niccolie sat back and drank his blood.
"So what is training like now? They change any thing?"
"No, not really" said Karie calmly
"How are all you kids doing on the courses?"
" All the physical courses we have passed effortlessly"
"And the mental courses?"
"We are staying awake"
"Yep, not much has changed." Niccolie sipped his drink
"But they did add on to the city, you should take a look around."
"May be you kids should give me a tour." Said Niccolie getting up.
"Now?"
"Well as long as you are still free of the clutches of the training grounds, I say now."
The seven kids spent the rest of the night showing Niccolie the new parts of the city. But by early morning he ordered them to go back to the training grounds. Save for a small private talk with Karie.
"So what is really going on?" he said with worry.
"Every thing is OK but I am getting sick of this training stuff, dad, you can't hold me here forever."
"Karie, the reason you are here is because you're safe here. The war is far from over. And we are still one the losing end."
"What is this dad!? You think I will just pick up a sword and walk two steps out of this city and just die!!"
"You ARE overconfident, I have seen men twice your fighting capability fall at the hands of humans."
"God dad you are so paranoid."
"You go into that training camp and fight one of those swing boards and imagine what would happen if it threw a thrust instead of a swing, just one time and you're dead. Or it would go after you new found friends and kill them instead."
Karie looked angrily in to his eyes then ran down the hall to her room. He took a deep breath and let it all out.
"Karie!" he yelled as he walked ran down the hall as she was about to close the door.
"What!" she snarled at him.
"It's good to see you again, it been a long time."
She cracked a smile.
"It's good to see you to daddy" she gave him a hug and then went in to the room and slammed the door behind her.
Niccolie stood there for a few moments, just looking at the door. "She's mad" he said out loud and slowly walked down the hall and out of the training grounds.
****
Two weeks later.
The Zephonim city has begun to explode with hustle and bustles once again, the lieutenants and their men have began to arrive from their privet cites. Traders, ironsmiths, horse breeders, and slave traders had swarmed over the central hall hoping for the arrival of the lieutenants to spawn some new business.
And with the come of night, it surged the city in to a frenzy of feeding, the time of excellence for slave traders. But with night comes new troubles.
"Karie, hurry up. The guards just about to make his next pass." Came a quite whisper two doors from the exit/entry to the training dorms.
In the shadows were six figures, cautiously wait against the walls. Karie looked thought her door to the hallway, the guard passed and she slipped out and quickly pushed up against the wall of the horizontal hallway opposite of the guards patrol parimiter.
"You think this is a good idea, you known what they will do if they catch us." whispered Shila next to her.
"It's one of our only opportunities, unless you want to jump out of a window again?" she whispered back.
Whenever there is meeting with the lieutenants the security at the city doubles with each lieutenant that arrives. Most of it for the cities safety, because It is like all the big fish in one big barrel, so most of the guards that happen to be patrolling the dorms go on wall duty, and not many care what they are guarding inside the city.
Karie looked down the hall to the doors, which were a work of art with pictures of vampires and forgotten gods carved through them, lighting up their faces with the light of the outside.
She could see the guard's back through the carvings, EL leaning to the carvings looking out.
The guard moved and every one waited for EL's signal. Some moments passed and then he signaled every one to come and he slowly creaked open the door.
Suddenly he franticly motioned every one to come, and one by one everyone slipped out of the door unnoticed by the guard about twenty feet way talking with his friends.
They walked down the halls that were crowded and boomed with laugher and conversation. Karie was impressed she hadn't seen so much hustle over the clan meeting. It must mean something special was going to happen, all the more reason not be locked in the dorms. They went to the blood fountain room and drank and talked the night away.
"What would your father say if he saw you doing this?" said Moemie with a laughed as she drank down another cup.
"He wouldn't know. More or less care!!" laughed Karie with her. "You know he never comes to these meetings," she added as she scooped up another cup. "He'll stay as far away from this place as his hoarse can take him."
They could hear the blare of the trumpets telling everyone in the city another lieutenant had arrived. Some one began playing a tune and Karie, and Moemie began to sing an old song they used to know, Shila got up and danced a little gig and Karie joined her.
"Let me dance!!" came an eager voice.
A hand reached out and grabbed Karie. She pulled away and he didn't let go.
"Let go!! I am warning you!!" she yelled at him.
He didn't let go. Karie raised her hand in a fist.
*CRACK*
"AHHHHHHHHHH!! MY TOOTH!!" he fell to the ground clutching his jaw. The commotion in the room stopped and every one looked at them.
Karie turned and left the man, but some one grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.
Vic got up and walked to the man, and pushed him off her.
Suddenly two other vampires came up and whacked Vic down. EL jumped on to one, and pulled him down, Shila kicked the other one off Vic. Suddenly the room was a frenzy, people were throwing chairs and punching each other not really caring who they were fighting or why.
*BANG!*
Suddenly the doors flung open with such force that every one in the room stopped dead.
A man stood in the door way, his cape tatter from countless battles and the smell of dried blood still clinging to his pitch black leather armor, and from the cape was a hood that loomed over a sinister pair of glowing red eyes. And behind him were twenty other men all with a history of being the most feared vampires to ever ride a horse.
Every one suddenly dropped what they were doing, they didn't want a bar fight with these men of horrible reputation. Karie, who was standing over another man with one hand around his neck and another in a fist, had a panic stricken look over her face.
"Uh oh" Moemie whispered under her breath as she dropped a statue she was going to whack some body with.
"Well, it looks like we have a bar fight on our hands, Niccolie," said shark who stood behind the dark man.
"Yes, we do." Niccolie said as he crossed his arms and focused on Karie. "EVERYONE OUT!" he roared
"Wait you just can." began the man catering the cups.
Niccolie shot him an eye from under his shaded hood and the man stopped abruptly. Every one began to walk out and Niccolies riders made taunting smiles at them. Karie, Vic and Moemie tried to blend in with the exiting crowd but Niccolie held out his hand and stopped them.
"You stay." he said as he walked to the cup holder.
Ariel stood innocently in the corner of the room holding her cup, she looked like a child, but she was really in her twenties. Thresh and Vic stayed back and grabbed EL as he tried to exit. Shila joined them.
The dark riders came in and took all the cups from the cup holder as soon as Niccolie had his first drink.
Niccolie walked up to Karie, her and her friends quickly assembled in to horizontal line, Niccolie walked down them, eyeing them. He knew Vic and Moemie from karie's first years of training. He had visited her and met them. Thresh, EL, Ariel and Shila he eyed suspiciously.
When he got to Karie. He stopped and looked at her. Her face was down; he nudged it up with his hand to see her eyes. They exchanged gazes for a moment the he turned around and got some more blood.
He looked around the room; his men were having their time feed. They needed it. It had been a long, long ride from Rahabs base, were he had a long talk with the rahabiam loard about the abbey plans.
He didn't want to tell them to leave the room, so he left and Karie and her friends instinctively followed him. They walked to the first lieutenants room, which was rather big and had a nice view over the horse and black smith market.
Once everyone was in the room, he slowly closed the door.
"Why is he closing the door?" whispered EL a little nervous
"He's not going to kill us is he?" added Shila
"No, well...er...I don't think so." Karie tired to sound reassuring
*boom* the doors sealed shut, cutting off all routs of escape.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING!!!" Niccolie roared at them.
Everyone looked at each other and then looked at Karie.
"We were...uh...um...we were...uh...just having fun?" she said trying to finish it off with a smile.
"Having fun?" Niccolie repeated his eyes ablaze
"We were conducting a experiment on how to handle bar fight!!" EL busted out trying unsuccessfully to lie.
"Young man, I don't know you, but you ask any of these three..." he pointed to Karie, Vic and Moemie "...I am immune to lies."
He pulled out his swords and flopped them on to the bed; the youngsters stared at them a little intimidated. Then he took off his cape and hood.
Then he walked out side to the chairs and table and sat down.
Karie and every one else sat down.
"Look, Mr. Niccolie sir," began Shila " we were um...hungry, I guess and decide to get some thing to drink, then next thing we knew they were throwing punches at us."
Niccolie looked at her then looked to Karie.
"Do I know this one?" he asked pointing a menacing finger at Shila.
"No dad, this is Shila, that's Thresh," she pointed to thresh who nodded at Niccolie "this is Ariel" Ariel waved, tiring to keep her innocent child look. "And the small one is Elyois, or EL"
Niccolie nodded to them.
"Are you all in training?"
"Yes" they said in unison looking at the ground
"I don't know about you four" he said looking at thresh, EL, ariel and Shila "but I expect more from you three, I know you know better then to do this" Karie, Vic and Moemie loomed there heads.
"Well there isn't much to do in the 'boredom' rooms," whined Moemie.
"They made the 'dorm' rooms to teach you patients, Moemie, not how to escape the moment. What if you got seriously hurt or some thing?"
"But we do it all the time!!" wailed EL
Niccolie cocked an eyebrow "all the time? do they catch you?"
"Um that's how we normally get back in," muttered Thresh.
"I guess Zephon has been getting his info wrong, you make your own reputation of being escape masters?"
"We once jumped out of the window to get out." added Ariel.
"You did what?" Niccolie sat up, agitated, he pored another drink and gulped it down. Then pored another glass.
"We were really bored. I mean we don't spend all day running around fighting humans." Whined Shila.
Niccolie stopped in the middle of his drink and turned to her.
"But I am sure after about two battles you will be begging to be let into training grounds, were the wooden dummies don't come to life and chop you friends to pieces, and were blood is plentiful and the sun cant get you and were every course you take you do without water, arrows and blood flying all over you. You think trainings hard, try and climb up a wall were some humans are waiting for the chance to poor water on you or waiting for seven hours for the perfect moment to attack." Said Niccolie in a harsh tone.
There was a long silence then Niccolie sat back and drank his blood.
"So what is training like now? They change any thing?"
"No, not really" said Karie calmly
"How are all you kids doing on the courses?"
" All the physical courses we have passed effortlessly"
"And the mental courses?"
"We are staying awake"
"Yep, not much has changed." Niccolie sipped his drink
"But they did add on to the city, you should take a look around."
"May be you kids should give me a tour." Said Niccolie getting up.
"Now?"
"Well as long as you are still free of the clutches of the training grounds, I say now."
The seven kids spent the rest of the night showing Niccolie the new parts of the city. But by early morning he ordered them to go back to the training grounds. Save for a small private talk with Karie.
"So what is really going on?" he said with worry.
"Every thing is OK but I am getting sick of this training stuff, dad, you can't hold me here forever."
"Karie, the reason you are here is because you're safe here. The war is far from over. And we are still one the losing end."
"What is this dad!? You think I will just pick up a sword and walk two steps out of this city and just die!!"
"You ARE overconfident, I have seen men twice your fighting capability fall at the hands of humans."
"God dad you are so paranoid."
"You go into that training camp and fight one of those swing boards and imagine what would happen if it threw a thrust instead of a swing, just one time and you're dead. Or it would go after you new found friends and kill them instead."
Karie looked angrily in to his eyes then ran down the hall to her room. He took a deep breath and let it all out.
"Karie!" he yelled as he walked ran down the hall as she was about to close the door.
"What!" she snarled at him.
"It's good to see you again, it been a long time."
She cracked a smile.
"It's good to see you to daddy" she gave him a hug and then went in to the room and slammed the door behind her.
Niccolie stood there for a few moments, just looking at the door. "She's mad" he said out loud and slowly walked down the hall and out of the training grounds.
