Chapter 134 Pt.2:

“We don’t really have a prison.” Bertram smiled warmly. “There has never been a reason to have such a thing in Atros. Or the resources really…”

“But they have existed,” Anton said. “Somewhere in the old Kar Kingdom? You can’t have just cut everyone’s hands or heads off for crimes that didn’t warrant it.”

“Surdon had one, quite a large prison, and it was quite full near the end, but most there were sentenced to hard labour. But these….” Bertram motioned to the dozen Dark Elf Elders bound and waiting in the corner of a barn. “I don’t think they can work. They look older than I am.”

“I don’t need them to work. Just keep them somewhere safe until we’ve got this whole situation sorted out.”

“And how did you get all these old Dark Elves?” Jeff asked. He approached and leant close, studying their wrinkled faces. “I didn’t think they could get this old. And why is one missing a hand? Those are burn marks, aren’t they?”

“More a burnt stump of a hand.” Anton shrugged. “But is there somewhere you can put them without them causing any hassle?”

“We could leave them here I suppose.”

“They still need to eat and drink.” Rasha offered. The large blue Minotaur leant against the barn door, her halberd resting in the crook of her shoulder. “And to clean up when they’ve…You know.”

“I don’t think they’re going to be much of a problem, honestly.” Anton smiled at the Elders. “Unless you want someone like Rasha to crush you underneath her hooves.”

The Elders shook their heads. Rasha was simply too big to miss, though in a good way. She smiled and ground her hoof into the ground.

“Good. Now you’re going to remain here until we’ve sorted out The Shadow Isles.” Anton sighed. “I don’t think Gerin likes me very much anymore.”

“Who?” Rasha tilted her head.

“Don’t think you’ll get away with this!” The first Elder yelled. “When the clans discover your treachery they’ll kill you and the DuskReavers to a man.”

“This is just like the Clansmen thing in Qaiviel.” Jeff glanced back to Anton. “Isn’t it?”

“Pretty much. But all the more reason that these people don’t escape.”

“I’ll put a dozen men on this room at all times.” Jeff turned to the door. “That should be enough.”

“Tell them that if anyone frees these old men their lives are forfeit.” Jeff stopped to query Anton’s words. “This is far more important and potentially dangerous than anything I’ve done so far.”

“Got it. They won’t be leaving this place.” Jeff stepped through the door and began barking orders to the guards waiting outside.

I get the feeling that’s going to be their fate regardless.

“I need to head back.” Anton turned to leave. “This was just a simple drop off. Oh, Bertram, do we still have the Ghlyirl armour we recovered from the Awakened Goblin. The strange one from Mount Aspire?”

“It should still be in one of the storage barns. Next to the old Kobold poison jars.”

“Bring that here and make sure the Dark Elves are touching it. If a mage is touching Ghlyirl they can’t use magic.”

“I see.”

Bertram hobbled to the door and spoke with his son, returning a few moments later.

“By the way, Rasha, do you know if Eider has made any of her venom yet? I remember her saying that she was going to do that.”

“I don’t think so.” Rasha scratched the base of her orange horn. “I talk to them every morning but she hasn’t said anything about it. She’s currently working in the fields, if you want to talk with her.”

Anton waved her down. “I don’t have time. If you see her could you ask?”

“I will.”

Anton patted Rasha’s arm. “I want to say something to them, to justify what I’ve done, perhaps to even rub it in their face, but it’ll probably just come across as one-sided.”

Rasha smiled, but Anton could tell that she didn’t understand. It probably was a rather far-fetched concept for a former slave.

“What would you say to your former owner?”

Rasha gripped the shaft of the halberd. “I don’t know…I don’t really even know if I’m angry at them. We were all just tools to them, one way or another. And that’s all I was. Just a piece of meat and muscle. What they did to us in the Pleasure Houses is a different story.”

“I see…”

Jeff returned a minute later with twelve guards, two carrying the fragments of the Awakened’s Ghlyirl armour. The Elders tried to move away but their bindings prevented them. Jeff ordered the pieces to be placed against their skin. Anton had no idea if they actually had mana, nor how their amulets worked, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

“They’ll be safe here,” Jeff spoke gruffly. “We’ll talk with the Dwarves about building a prison. They seem pretty eager to be doing anything relating to building. It’s actually pretty…odd.”

“They love the freedom to build and design what they want. And we’ve given it to them.” Anton rubbed his beard. “I wonder what’s going to happen when the rest of them get here.”

“We’re still struggling to keep up with building homes and food.” Bertram smiled bitterly. “Please don’t bring too many more people until we get things sorted.”

“I’ll do my best.” Anton turned to the Atros guards. “Take them outside if they need to use the latrine or whatever, but that’s it. These people cannot escape under any circumstances. Understood?”

The guards nodded. The two most powerful people, magically and martially, had given the same order. Anton gave a final glance to the Elders as he rested his hand on the barn door. Part of him wanted to say something but it would do no good. There was nothing to do here anymore.

Outside the light and fresh air of Atros assaulted his senses once again. Anton chuckled, rubbing his eyes.

“It’ll take me a while to get used to the brightness. The Shadow Ilse is very aptly named.”

Rasha emerged from the barn, standing to his side. He was glad that she took her job seriously.

“When will you be back?”

Anton sighed. “I honestly don’t know. Hopefully before winter. This place snows, apparently, and I’ve never seen it before.”

“If it’s snowed before how…” Rasha frowned. “How…”

“Don’t think too hard about it.” Anton patted her arm again. He chuckled as he began walking. “I keep forgetting that you’re so tall.”

And big.

Rasha smiled and walked by his side as they returned to the portal building. The light clacking of Rasha’s hooves on the stone streets was strangely pleasing and soothing. During that brief moment of calm a thought bubbled through his head.

“Rasha? Can I ask a favour of you?”

“Of course.”

“Even though you don’t know what it is?” Anton smiled. “I could ask you to strip right now and run naked through the streets.”

“I…”

“People would look, I know that.”

Rasha’s ears reddened.

“I’m joking, Rasha. But please be careful before agreeing to anything. You never know who you’re talking to.”

“I trust you, Anton.” Rasha smiled. “I know that you’d never hurt us.”

Anton smiled back. “I’d like to think so, but considering what I’ve just done.” Anton sighed. “Rasha…Are you willing to kill someone if I asked you to?”

Rasha stopped, her eyes lost in deep thought. Slowly she began moving again but her back was stooped lower ever so slightly.

“It depends. Who are you talking about?”

“Those Dark Elves,” Anton said quietly. “If I ordered you to, would you kill them?”

“…Yes.” Rasha kept her face flat. “I’m one of your bodyguards, so I have to obey your orders.”

“Even though they’re just some old, powerless men?”

“You brought them here from The Shadow Isles, so there must be a reason why they can’t stay there.” Rasha scratched her horn. “And since they’re tied up they’re clearly your prisoners. That’s enough for me.”

“So you’d do it?”

Rasha nodded. “Yes. I would.”

“Hopefully I don’t have to do that. But…”

“I know there’s a lot I don’t understand, but I’ll trust the person that was willing to trust me after I attacked him, gave me a new home and life, along with a position and responsibility that someone like me could never hope for. So I'll do it if you ask me to. Whatever you need…”

Rasha patted Anton’s back, he stepped forward from the strong swipe. Rasha slowed and stared at her hand.

“What was that?” Rasha looked around for anyone nearby, the street was relatively devoid of people. “There’s something around your waist. New armour design?”

“Well…” Anton glanced around. “It was going to come out one way or another.”

Anton raised his shirt. Rasha gasped, covering her mouth.

“What?” Rasha leant close, resting her weight on her halberd. “It looks like Eider’s tail. I…I didn’t think you had something like that. No human I know...”

“It’s something new.” Anton rolled up his pants to show the scales covering his lower legs. “And it goes further down. I don’t even have human feet anymore. It’s extremely uncomfortable in these boots.”

“How?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Anton smiled, patting his pants down. “Can you keep that a secret?”

Rasha nodded. “I know when to keep my mouth shut. Something you learn quickly in Seocuria.”

“I bet.” Anton ground his boot against the ground. Kal helped him find a position where he barely noticed it but sometimes the wads of cloth shifted. Thankfully no one noticed him kicking it back into position.

“And it’s something even you can’t fix?”

“Indeed…Not even a person far, far more powerful than me couldn’t do anything.”

“Someone’s more powerful than you?” Rasha chuckled, smiling as she righted herself. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Turns out I’m actually quite weak.” Anton began walking again towards the portal building. “I need a lot more training before I can stand alongside them.”

Rasha opened her mouth but said nothing. She walked silently beside Anton, holding her halberd tight.

---[]---

After bidding Rasha a farewell, the blue Minotaur reaffirming her willingness to follow his orders and keep his secret, Anton returned to the council chamber in The Shadow Isles. This time the mental delirium was far less than usual, though his mind was probably more focused than normal.

Kal and Verona rushed to his side, pulling him free from the portal.

“Everything good back home?” Verona asked. She had deactivated her blood power but the lids of the pots were stained with blood.

“Everything’s fine. Rasha found out about this.” Anton tapped his waist. “But she’s going to keep quiet about it…Not that I think many Beast-kin are going to believe her.”

“How did you manage that?” Verona teased, worming her hand underneath his shirt. “Despite her size, I don’t think she’s going to be aggressive with you. Quite the opposite in fact. So it must have been you then, wanting some woman to stroke this thing.”

“Please.” Anton patted her helmet before holding Kal’s hand. “How’s Gerin?”

Kal squeezed his hand. “Better now. I think he just needed a little bit of time.” Kal smiled bitterly. “You know, without the person that removed the Elders that he’s been brought up to obey no matter what. He’s on a balcony on a higher level right now if you want to see him.”

“Has someone taken the Shadow’s clothes?” Anton asked. “Invisibility would be incredibly useful.”

“If we had enough mana…” Kal trailed off.

Verona pointed to a small bundle of clothes placed on the Elders table. All of the corpses, at least what could be readily identified as once a person, had been moved to the far wall alongside the blood.

“We removed the blood but they don’t do anything.” Verona shrugged. “Maybe they only work for Dark Elves or Principle Mages. Or I destroyed them. There are some big holes running through them.”

“Let’s talk to Gerin first. We can’t just leave him after all this.”

After collecting the portal stones they found Gerin standing perfectly still on the balcony one level above, Ceccitol and Tuccac stood nearby. They saw him first, though clearly still unnerved by the previous events they looked better and far more agreeable.

“Are they moving out?” Anton asked. He stopped well back from the edge of the balcony, just in case Gerin wanted to make Anton fly.

“They are.” Gerin sighed.

He pointed below, hundreds of small lights twinkled through the mist and towards the north, towards the front line.

“No one questioned my orders once the messenger relayed that message. They still look at me like I’m not deserving of the command. But.” Gerin shook his head. “But they’re going.”

“Have they even fought a Goblin horde before?” Anton moved closer to the balcony’s edge. “Full of bravado, I imagine.”

Gerin chuckled. “Indeed. Indeed. They think it’ll only take a few days to clean up the entire mainland. Some were actually eager to show us how easy it would be.”

“Any thoughts on how to deal with the shock they’re about to get? The Island Clans have been fighting them for a long time, and seem a lot tougher than the Mainlanders.”

“We’ll see how they go.” Gerin slapped the stone balcony edge. “With this many, we might actually just overwhelm them.”

“If only the Elders had decided to work together like this from the beginning.”

“Yes…” Gerin tapped the balcony and turned around, resting his backside against the stone. “I didn’t ever expect to become the, how would you put it, the de-facto leader of the Dark Elves thanks to a human. But I don’t intend to rule The Shadow Isles.”

“If you tell the Mainland Clans I don’t think you’ll survive for very long.”

And neither will we, and I’m sure they’ll take the same route Ceccitol and Tuccac did the first time. A little bit of ocean is not going to stop their revenge.

Gerin looked to his daughter. “I can’t. Not if I want my grandchildren to live.”

“None of the warriors with us will speak a word,” Ceccitol spoke softly. “I’ve made sure of that. They understand the implications of what’s happened.”

“Now we can return to the front.” Gerin overlooked the departing warriors, more were joining from the sides. The Elders were far more prepared than they first thought. “Will you be joining us?”

Anton nodded. “We will be seeing this thing through until the end. I may have to disappear to Qaiviel in the next few days, maybe sooner if they run into bandits or more mercenaries. I think I’ll leave a few bound Lightning Crows with Cetina. Just in case.”

Gerin scratched his chin. “Perhaps the Elders were right. Human’s tend to cause all sorts of problems.”

“It was hardly good and fair before we turned up.” Anton pointed out. “We’re ready to leave whenever you are, but we’re taking those special clothes and blades.”

“I don’t want anything to do with it.” Gerin held his hand out, waving dismissively down the tower. “I don’t want anything to do with what happened in that room.”

“To the front it is then.” Verona tried to raise the tempo but failed.

Anton knew the day would be long and the conversation light, to put it bluntly.