Young Prince Javindar.
Heir to the throne of Ghata, holy warrior of Puranas, slayer of demons, one of the greatest archers in the land, and universally celebrated hero of Vinraj and multiple lands, quivered as he waited for his future bride in Sardar Milan's waiting room.
"How's my hair Nahbob, do I look alright? " he asked his servant for the dozenth time, as he straightened his robe and checked his jewelry.
"All is well," reassured Nahbob who gave him a discerning look. " The Holy Sampada will be greatly pleased when she finally meets you. You are everything a hero should be, or aspire to be, even at your young age."
Javindar gave his servant a dubious look, but could not disagree. Besides losing the grand archery competition of Vinraj, his life has been nothing but success and victory. Even after his loss, he reclaimed his honor by defeating a bandit army, no mere feat for a nobleman so young and lacking any relevant battlefield experience. However, all his conquests and achievements seemed like dry leaves on a windy fall day as he awaited for his mysterious future wife.
"What if she's ugly? Or an uncouth savage? " asked Javindar. "I've heard tales that she grew up in the barbarian lands while her family was being plagued by a clan of Rakshasa. What if she picked up foul habits, like eating with her mouth open, or..or..if she smells."
Nahbob shook his head as he let out a long sigh. "No sire, the Lady Sampada is from one of the purest noble houses. Though her house has been a target for Asuras in recent years, her lineage is of the purest royal descent. It is said her ancestry can be traced back to the Red Mountain itself. She is of the highest strata of the highest caste, higher than even your esteemed family. Such bloodlines is sure to shine through any hardship she may have faced as a child. "
"Ah the errant Prince finally arrives. And, fear not, she is quite a beauty if you ask me," interrupted Sardar Milan as his chair was pushed through the hall by his servant. Javindar was so anxious that he did not notice Vinraj's most famous foreigner adventurer and arguably the region's richest merchant entering the hall. He noted that he was on some type of wheeled chair, instead of being carried like normal Vinraji nobility on a palanquin, and assumed it was some foreign habit he picked up in his travels. While he had met the Sardar quite a few times in the past, his robust gentleman adventurer persona, had been replace with that of a very old man's. "She's got a wild spirit, from her days in Grom I guess, but that can be a good thing," he said with a very crass wink.
While Nahbob chuckled at his jest, Javindar did deem it worthy of his attention. Instead he simply bowed towards the old man. "When our houses unite we will be the most powerful family in Vinraj. Ghata's might and honour, with Nashput's wealth and piety. We will be a beacon for all to follow. "
"Aye, especially after the last war with the Khan, we need someone to follow more than ever," sighed Milan. "Though I prefer political and military power to be dispersed instead of concentrated like this, I can see the wisdom of our solidarity in the face of our new …'ally'. "
"I will duty my duty to honour and respect your niece, and of course to bring peace to the land."
Sardar Milan began to chuckle at the comment, which left Javindar confused. "Be sure you do that, for your own safety of course. My niece is prideful and a bit, unorthodox, but she knows her duty," he said, raising his voice at the word duty so loud that even people from outside the hall can hear. The effort took its toll, though, as he began to hack and caough before being pushed out of the room. "Please take care of her. She'll be headed to the holy temple tomorrow, but she will be promised to you when her term as Holy Mahsahdvi is over. As for myself, as you can see my health is failing, though I have no regrets. I rescued my niece and united our houses. I can rest peacefully now. I will be convalescing at my sea side retreat if you need me further."
Nahob turned and began to follow. Javindar suddenly realized what was to come next, and quickly grab his servant's sleeve. What did Sardar Milan mean by wild spirit and unorthodox? Was she some type of barbarian? Was he to marry some type of savage? He wasn't going to face this wild woman alone. Nahbob tilted his head in understanding and took up a position behind the Prince.
A few tense seconds later the main door of the great hall opened. Prince Lalit all clad in a white robe entered first, a young scholar warrior known for his skill at arms and his wisdom. Javindar had met the young Prince a few times before, a pleasant and honourable fellow, but did not know him well. Javindar's heart then skipped a beat as a tall gangly girl with a spear entered with a scowl on her face. She had a fair enough appearance, but her hair was done up in unnatural knots, she had shoulders wider than his own and there was a crass air about her, akin to that of a mercenary or soldier. Was this to be his wife? This creature? Javindar sneered at her and she returned a similar disdainful glare. Javindar was about to turn around and protest to Sardar Milan, when suddenly a beautiful young woman with long dark hair, cinnamon skin, and an almond face entered the room. She wore a humble embroidered uniform/armour but had a noble countenance about her.
She was a thing of beauty.
Javindar almost laughed at how the Sardar had almost fooled him, with all his talk of him marrying some sort of barbarian princess. It was true that it was unusual for a woman to have a blade at her side, it was forgivable if that was the height of her 'barbarian' mannerisms.
Javindar strode past Lalit and the spear woman and bowed deeply before his future wife.
"May I present to you Prince Javindar, Bey and future Sultan of Ghata, slayer of demons, conqueror of bandits, Holy warrior of Puranas, Commander of over a thousand men, and one of the foremost archers in the world, would humbly greet your holiness, Lady Sampada of Nashput," declared Nahbob in his most pompous voice.
"Pfft, humble, yah right," snorted the tall giraffe creature behind him, but Javindar ignored her as he was captivated by the beauty before him. His introduction was so grand, that it seemed to stun the poor girl as she exchanged confused looks with her brother and bodyguard.
"Umm, err, I think there's been a mistake…." Stammered the girl.
"No, the only mistake was that I was unable to come to your side sooner," said Javindar. "My duties kept me away from our meeting till now. I hope to properly make your acquaintance before your own duties take you to the holy temple."
Sampada, no …Sumpada…. Seemed speechless as she again looked helplessly towards her brother and bodyguard. "I …err….no…."
Javindar was caught off guard by her stuttering speech, but dismissed it as one of the barbarian habits she had picked up.
"Oh look at the time," interrupted the tall gangly bodyguard as she slid between the Prince and his Princess. "Her holiness has to get her beauty sleep before her big day tomorrow. You know demonstrating her holy powers to the Sadhvi's and then assuming Guardianship of the temple. It's a big deal for her so we should get going. "
Sampada agreed with her body guard as she nodded quickly as if in a daze, and the two quickly retreated out of the hall.
"Wait my lovely Sumpada! What about my gifts, my pledge of loyalty and love, the poems I've had Nahbob write?"
The big bodyguard paused as she turned her head towards him while pushing Sampada out of the hall. "Umm… ship them to the temple. Make it out to Holy Sampada. That's Sam like Sammy. Not Sum like sumkindaofidiot. Err… she's just taken back by your...royalness. It was nice meeting you," she added before the pair disappeared out of the hall."
Javindar, Nahbob, and Lalit stood in stunned silence in the now empty hall.
"Well….that didn't go as I expected," said Lalit who shook his head. He then turned to Javindar and bowed deeply. "I apologize for my sister's erratic behaviour. She is still immature. Her foreign upbringing has instilled in her reservations about arraigned marriages. I don't know what Nahlie, her bodyguard, and her are planning, but please forgive them. I am sure it's just childish playfulness. Their juvenile attempt at deception is…"
"I'm in love," interrupted Javindar as Lalit's prattlings faded away. Never had he felt this way before. While she had played uninterested and shy in their first meeting, Javindar knew that she was his destiny.
As Aurumgar's magical carpet carried Javindar's group towards 'Coffin' island, the Prince wondered how he was so easily deceived. It was so easy to discern in hindsight, that it was laughable. Did Holy Sampada mean to deceive her deliberately, or was it simply an opportunity taken. Maybe his initial sneer was the cause of all this, and she simply seized upon his misunderstanding.
Baroness Stille did mention Sampada's bodyguard assuming her role, to deceive assassins and enemies, but why did that dubious list include himself? Was he considered an enemy? Was he really that foolish? Did Sardar Milan know? Where they all laughing at him behind his back?
All that was moot now. Sampada was lost, most likely to the Khanians that he now found himself precariously allied with. He could imagine giraffe woman laughing at him right now, and for some odd reason, he would pay anything to hear it. Though Vleda and Aurumgar claimed innocence, he would have slew the pair of them if greater dangers did not threaten them.
Already the sun had been swallowed and darkness spread throughout the land. While Javindar had witnessed eclipses before, this one was different. This one did not end.
Most lasted thirty minutes to an hour, where crowds of people gathered and pointed at the sky before their eyes were blighted by the sun's pride, but this one seemed to linger on. And as it lingered on, Asuras, Demons, and other types of lower planar filth seemed to crawl out of the violet plumes that rose from 'Coffin' Island.
A particularly ugly fly demon flew towards their carpet, screeching Abyssal obscenities. Javindar welcomed this foe, and was prepared to cut it down as they flew past, but Aurumgar simply reached out and grabbed it by its bulbous head. The demon screeched in pain, but the man in yellow simply tightened his grip, crushing its shell like head in a splatter of ichor before releasing its lifeless and rapidly dissolving body.
"Show off," commented Rina as she scouted the island below.
The man in yellow shrugged and pointed at a particularly large group of demons congregating on the island.
"That's a big ole horde of demons," commented Martin as he suddenly produced a flask from his sleeve and took a swig. "And trust me…I know my hordes of demons."
"Though some of our foes can fly and in a few cases swim, most of our foes are swarming on the shore till they organize a method of getting to shore," explained Aurumgar.
"Can't they all teleport?" asked Javindar.
"Most can, but Admiral Edmund's war wizards, and Prince Vleda's shamans are surprisingly doing a good job of warding the area," said Nahbob as he pointed out the Kaylons and war galleys surrounding the island. Each vessel shimmered with a light haze of motes. "Though eventually, they'll figure out a way for the flyers and swimmers to ferry them to land. Fortunately for us this means that they are currently contained, unfortunately…"
"Our foes block our path deeper into the island," said Javindar as he drew both his scimitar and shark toothed blade. "I'll clear the way while the rest of you find the last scroll. I'll assume an epic hero, a wise man from the east, and a demon slayer with an artifact blade can handle it's recovery. Nahbob go with them, try not to embarrass me with your actions."
Aurumgar shook his head as he peered down at the horde. It wasn't nearly as large as the horde that Javindar vanquished, but it still numbered in the several hundreds if not a thousand, and more importantly the Ghatian army was not there to support him.
"Lady Rintaxia it had always been a pleasure to serve you, but this is my fight, my destiny. This is what I was meant for. In this form I may possess my magics, but spells are a trivial thing compared to my true strength," said the man in yellow.
"I understand and it's been my honour to have served with you," said Rina. She pulled the old man towards him and hugged him deeply with tears in her eye. "My sword arm may not have the strength it once possessed, and I definitely have lost anything resembling cat like reflexes, but I will see this thing through."
Aurumgar then stepped back, straightened his robe, and fell off the carpet, plummeting to the fiendish horde below.
Javindar, Nahbob, and Martin looked at the falling old man, as he disappeared into the horde.
"err…is he going to fly or something," asked Martin. " ..cuz…I don't think it's going to end well for him."
Suddenly, a giant ball of flames erupted from the demon horde below. It was so hot that Javindar could feel the heat even from this great height. While demons and Asura were resistant to fire, they were not immune, as evidenced by at least charred fiendish corpses. As the flames died down and the horde attempted to recover, a golden fury pounced on them and scattered them like flinders. A great winged serpent, a hundred, no two hundred feet long was in their ranks stomping and tearing at the surprised demons with a rage that would shake mountains and vaporize lakes. Red flight hummed at Javindar's side as he watched with astonishment.
"Is that a dragon! " asked Javindar in surprise. "I've never seen a dragon before. Are they all that big?"
"Pffftt…you've never seen a dragon before?" laughed Martin. "You silly new person you."
"Hey now, you didn't think he was truly a dragon either," noted Javindar. "That makes you a silly new person as well."
Martin pondered this before simply shrugging and taking another quaff of his flask.
"That is indeed a dragon," said Nahbob. "And in my lord's defense, dragons were chased out of Vinraj after the incident at Red Mountain. So it is natural my Prince has never encountered one though he's encountered and fought almost a hundred monsters in his journeys."
Each swipe of Aurumgar's massive claws and jaws slew a dozen Asura a piece, but he thought it not too many.
The demons however did not route, but seemed to relish this new challenger. Creatures the size of elephants, demons of flame and fire, and giant horned demons the size of small towers bellowed at the dragon before charging it haphazardly. As the horde converged on the draconic threat, Rina piloted the carpet to the epicenter of the towers of violet smoke, the standing stones that had been the island's namesake.
Javindar thought not too much of them, he had visited many ancient megaliths in his travel, but his attention was drawn to a strange oak sapling that appeared to have taken root behind one of the stones. He thought it curious that even surrounded by all this destruction and ruin that a tree managed to take root and appeared to be thriving amidst the chaos.
"Sir, I've located an entry way," said Nahbob as he drew the Prince's attention away from the tree and towards a hidden door along the stones. Martin and Rina bravely (or foolishly) slipped in with Nahbob behind.
Javindar stared at the gap in the stone, and recoiled from the foul smoke pouring out. His holy senses screamed of all sorts of evil and despair that awaited him. Without fear, he strode in. The last Black Scroll remained within, and it was his destiny to reclaim it.