--The Fourth Realm--
A fanfic taking place in the Realms of the Blood, created by
Anne Bishop whom I worship and pay tribute to every day.
Just kidding. Or so you think.
(Written by the Great and Powerful Jingo,
spell checked by Microsoft Works Word Processor)
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Chapter VII
Fairy Tales
---
Anna stared up at the black fortress before them. It was so predictable she wanted to laugh, right down to the four spires that protruded from its corners. It even had a drawbridge, which was lowered invitingly. Black stone gargoyles leered at them from the edges of the roof, high above.
"Well," Anna said, "at least we know something about our villain."
"He reads a lot of fairy tales?" Luseik responded dryly.
"Well, you have to admit, it'll make our job easier. We know what to expect."
Luseik grinned. "An evil talking mirror, a flying carpet, an evil stepsister, and a poison apple or two."
"And don't forget the apocalyptic demon in the last chapter."
Luseik frowned. "Fairy tales don't have chapters."
"Last few pages."
He shrugged. "It really doesn't matter. All we have to do is beat the snot out of our friend Akarui--"
"Not necessarily," Anna reminded him. "Who knows, maybe he'll agree to stop building that… thing… if we just explain to him why we're here."
"Oh, right, just ask him nicely and he'll stop. Anna, have you ever read an adventure novel? The bad guys don't 'compromise.' They think 'compromise' means 'cooperate and I'll kill you quickly.' Talking doesn't work with them."
Alnevar sighed breezily. "Enough with the bad book jokes! I wanna go kill something! We're here to get that dragon guy to stop doing whatever it is he's doing, so killing him will work just fine."
Luseik spun to face Alnevar and raised an eyebrow. "Why so aggressive? This is, after all, a mission of diplomacy."
Althemen snorted.
"For the time being," Luseik amended. With a flourish, he spun on his heel and began to step onto the drawbridge.
Shink.
It wasn't a physical noise so much as something Anna sensed. She dove in front of Luseik just as the tangled web sprung up to ensnare him. Instead, it was slung over her own mind, and she collapsed, paralyzed as the link between body and mind was broken. She heard Luseik scream, "Anna!" before everything dulled and finally vanished. She realized she was still aware, just not of anything in the physical world. There were strands, like silk, completely covering her mind. They were enticing, inviting... Encroaching… She almost wanted to reach out and touch one…
No! She knew that particular web, and if she touched it… She shuddered and retreated inside herself. She threw up her inner barriers and reinforced them with Ebon-Gray shields. She couldn't do anything to them, but she would hold out as long as she could--
She felt something strange. She opened her inner barriers a crack to see something hacking away at the strands with haste, but great skill.
"Satiyen!" she tried to shout, but no sound came out. Still, the presence turned to face her briefly.
"Shield yourself. Strengthen your inner barriers. Wait it out. You'll be safe soon. Hurry, get inside--" The strands began to encroach upon Satiyen again and he stopped talking to continue attacking them. Knowing there was nothing else she could do, she obeyed and waited. Finally, the blankness began to fade and she saw fuzzy shapes and heard muffled sounds. It continued to fade until the world was clear again. She realized belatedly that she was on her back, and Satiyen was… on her.
She reddened. Satiyen backed away and stood up, not seeming alarmed.
"And just what," Luseik snarled, "was that all about?"
Satiyen rolled his eyes and explained calmly. "Don't get bent out of shape, Luseik. I was leaning over her to cut the strands, but realized I would have to sever the link between my body and my mind to have enough control to completely get rid of them. I went physically unconscious, my body went limp, and you know the rest."
"Right." Luseik helped Anna up. "Well, we know two more things about our enemy. He's either a Black Widow, which is unlikely since he's a guy, or he's got one working for him."
"Why is it unlikely? Satiyen's a Black Widow."
"Satiyen's a freak. Don't think he's a prime example of a Dachrean. How many other male Black Widows exist? Two. The Sadist and the High Lord of Hell."
Anna frowned. "Well, what else do we suddenly miraculously know?"
"He didn't expect us to have more than one Black Widow with us. I'm guessing that spell was meant for you, even if I was the one who set it off. If Satiyen hadn't been here…"
Anna and Luseik both shuddered.
"Speaking of which," Anna said. She turned to Satiyen and bit her lip. She grabbed his paw and held tightly onto it. "Thank you so much, Satiyen."
He pulled his paw away and waved it nonchalantly. "Hey, hey, what was I supposed to do? Stand back, and then get mutilated by Luseik when he realized I could have helped? Besides, Anna, he's not the only one who cares about you. You're the Queen of all of us now. He may be your Consort, but a court consists of more than a Queen and her Consort." He puffed out his chest proudly. "You can't forget the Master of the Guard, after all."
Anna raised an eyebrow. "I take it that's what you are?"
"That's what I was in the last court I served in. It's your choice, after all, but I can't really see Keski as a Master of the Guard, if you get my drift."
Keski bristled. Anna laughed.
"Anyway," Luseik said loudly, "What are we going to do now? Continue charging blindly ahead?"
"Sounds good to me," Satiyen said.
Althemen sighed, exasperated. "Haven't you people ever heard of probing?"
Luseik turned to Althemen, his eyes narrowed. His patience with Althemen was already a thread, and it was thinning, Anna could tell. "Our enemy is a dragon. His power runs deeper even than the Black. Probably deeper than the Ebony. Do you think even my probes would detect a trap laid by such a foe?"
Althemen returned the glare. "At the very least," he said too softly, "attempting to detect such traps would be better than charging blindly ahead and putting my daughter at risk." The ground around his feet was frosted over. The temperature around them had dropped. An Ebon-Gray Warlord Prince might not have much chance against a Black-Jeweled one, but he was damn well not going to stand by while Anna was in danger.
She smiled. Maybe he wasn't so cold as he pretended. Well, metaphorically. He was pretty physically cold right now, thanks to Luseik's provocation.
"She may be your daughter, but she's my Queen. I wouldn't willingly to anything to put her at risk."
Althemen's breath condensed in the air, yet he stayed frighteningly calm.
"Then I don't see what the problem is. If I care because she's my daughter, and you care because she's your Queen, then we are both agreeing that she is important and should be protected. Is this correct?"
Luseik bared his teeth and spun on his heel. He tromped over the drawbridge cursing and muttering something about damned irritating humans. Which, of course, had Althemen baring his own teeth and twitching his wings, insulted.
Finally, Anna laid a hand on her father's shoulder, gave him a stern look, and took off after Luseik.
---
Althemen brushed the ice crystals off of his clothing and said quietly, "She's either brave or stupid. Not many people would dare to give an enraged Warlord Prince a look like that."
Satiyen snorted. "She's your daughter. She probably figured she wouldn't hurt her."
"Warlord princes have been known to do much worse than hurt people when they are consumed in the cold rage. Haven't you heard of the Sadist?"
Satiyen shuddered. "Even in Dachrea, there are rumors."
Althemen smirked. "In what you call the Pureblood Realms, they are more than rumors. They are definite truth. Hell's fire, I saw the man once. He looked right at me… Gave me a look that chilled me down to the bone. Then he was gone."
Satiyen drew in a long breath, and let it out. "Think Luseik's calmed down yet?"
"Am I calmed down yet?" Althemen said, amused. The temperature had risen, but was just barely comfortable. It still felt as though they'd just stepped out of a giant icebox.
Keski had been crouched behind Satiyen for some time now. He crawled out into the open, then scurried up Satiyen's leg, pulling himself up the wehr's fur until he reached Satiyen's shoulder, where he perched, currently in the shape of some small primate. He eyed Althemen. "You don't like Luseik, do you?" he said.
There was a long pause, during which no one moved.
"What?" Keski looked around.
Althemen raised an eyebrow. "You're pretty smart, aren't you?" he said, shaking his head.
He glanced around and froze. He turned his head to face Satiyen. "Where's Alnevar?"
Satiyen tilted his head slightly. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen him for a while now."
"Damn it, Alnevar…"
---
"Luseik, just--" She came up behind him and tried to stop him.
"Anna, go back to the group. I'll be there in a minute."
"Luseik--" He spun around.
"Anna, damn it, I just need to calm down, all right? You're not helping!"
"Luseik, just let me--"
He snapped his wings to their full span and roared. The ground shuddered, and Anna cowered.
No one said anything for a moment.
When Anna looked at Luseik again, she saw pain in his eyes. But she knew there was pain in her own, too.
"Anna, I--"
"No, I get it," she said quietly. Her lower jaw trembled. "I'm only valuable as a Queen, and as something to mount at night, is that it?"
"No! Anna--"
She backed away from him.
"My opinion doesn't mean anything, right? I'm just a body, just an asset, just equipment to help you do your job, then amuse yourself with later. Not a mind. Not a person. Well, I'm sick of the way you're nice when it's convenient, then treat me like I'm worthless whenever you're mad."
"Anna!"
"Bastard." She spun around and started to walk away. When he laid a hand on her shoulder, she raked her fingernails across it and kept walking, ignoring his strangled cries of protest. Damn him! How long did her think she'd let him act like this? Be nice and kind when it suited him, but whenever he was mad over any little thing, just blow her off like she didn't matter. Well, if she didn't matter, then he didn't need her, and he wouldn't suffer too traumatic a loss if she left. Hell's fire, she'd go back to Terreille and deal with Dorothea's abuse before enduring this any longer.
She began to approach the group and didn't stop when she reached them. She continued walking, not caring where she was heading.
Bastard.
---
Alnevar soared above the fortress. Damn, this felt good. It had been so long since he'd actually flown just for the sake of flying. Sure, he'd flown back to Althemen's estate from Pruul--with multiple breaks along the way, since his wings were far from powerful after so much time not using them--but it had been a long time since he'd simply flown to enjoy the feel of it.
He came to a soft landing atop the fortress and looked around. Stone gargoyles lined the roof. He walked over to examine one. He didn't know much about precious stones, since the past two centuries of his life had involved mining salt, not gems, but these things weren't made from any worthless rock. They shone, despite obviously not having been polished or even cleaned in years. The eyes had even been set with delicate dark red gems. What were those called? Garnels? Garreds? He paused, pondered for a moment. Garnets, that was it. The gargoyles had garnets for eyes.
Alnevar ran his hand over the statue's head. It had ridges running down the center, but the rest was smooth. He ran his hand down the back of the smooth stone gargoyle. He felt something odd, but when he moved his hand back, it was gone. He stopped moving his hand and hesitated.
The statue rippled.
Alnevar ripped his hand away and dove away as the gargoyle spun around and leapt at him. He put a shield up around himself and tried to think.
A gargoyle had just attacked him. But--
Well this was a Realm populated by hybrids, so it probably would have a lot of what he might consider 'mythical creatures.' But it had still startled him. As he gathered his wits, he spread his wings and launched himself into the air.
Another gargoyle cannoned into him from behind with bone-shattering force.
Hell's fire, were they all alive?
Yes, they were, he decided, as more attacked and he was soon buried under several heavy stone gargoyles.
Alnevar thanked the Darkness that his shields were holding out.
Alnevar prayed to the Darkness that they would keep doing so.
A tendril had been snaking itself around his mind for some time now. He only noticed it now because it had carelessly brushed his inner barriers. Before he could do anything, it lashed out and ensnared his mind. It didn't harm him, though. It just… suggested… to his mind… that he take a little nap…
Alnevar drifted off into sleep.