Chapter 34

The Minkies trudged through the mountains in their usual silence. The only sound passing between them was the occasional crunching of gravel and sand underneath their feet, as they continued their winding in and out of caves, and choosing various forking paths that dizzied their hostages.

Arlen yawned as his previous nights thoughts had left him too restless to properly fall asleep, and Aggie found herself rubbing her eyes at the blaring brightness of the day- despite it being cloudy.

Somehow the canvas coverage of light clouds seemed to illuminate the entire world, and it was worse than the direct sunlight.

The Queen and Keynan, despite their previous frivolities, seemed grim and serious, as though expectant of an unknown doom.

Aggie stepped too casually around a rock, and found her foot hitting loose gravel, sending her sliding down to her arse.

Everyone stopped, and stared in the eerie quiet.

“What?” Aggie asked as she slowly wrestled herself to her feet again with the bag of weapons, and wincing at the bruise she was sure was blooming on her thigh.

The Queen stared at her wearily, and as she opened her mouth to answer Aggie’s question, a loud screech suddenly echoed near them, then came the sound of several large wings beating the air.

Aggie froze, and immediately turned her gaze to the sky, but the bright clouds blinded her almost immediately

“What is-” She didn’t get a chance to finish her question before a large black figure streaked above the tribe.

“Ghouls!” One of the Minkies shouted as he pointed to the sky.

“I thought you said it was going to be yesterday that they’d attack us?” The Queen asked Keynan whose eyes were trained on the air above the Minkies heads.

“I wasn’t accounting for how much Lady Beatha’s pace would slow us down. There must be a nest of these somewhere nearby.” Keynan answered as his body tensed and he scanned the horizon.

“Spears up!” The Queen shouted, despite many of the men already having taken the precaution to avoid getting snatched up by the blurred demons swooping over their heads.

The younger Minkies looked around nervously and shifted unsteadily on their feet, as they raised their spears awkwardly. It was the more seasoned warriors that remained composed, and with great precision, raised their spears and straightened their shoulders as though to shield the less experienced fighters.

The Queen sighed, and with a far more relaxed nature, drew a steel quarterstaff from a strap on her back, that had copper designs in its handle until it met the Queen’s grasp where it gave way to soft leather.

With a jerk of her wrist, the quarterstaff lengthened by 2 feet at each end, and sharp knives erupted from both sides.

“Did you foresee casualties?” She murmured to Keynan as her eyes fell upon the children whom were already hidden behind the boulders along the path near the back of the tribe. The warriors fanned out to form a crescent against the mountain, keeping their backs to its stone wall.

“No.” Keynan answered shortly. “I only saw a brutal attack.” The grip on his sword tightened as he spoke, leading the Queen to believe that he wasn’t telling her the full story.

“We will talk later Keynan.” She murmured as she looked to the sky.

A sharp scream broke the tense air as a dark shape darted down, and plucked at Nola grazing her shoulders with its claws, but thankfully Jed intervened immediately and let loose 2 arrows that found their mark, with one in the Ghoul’s glowing green eye, and the other in its stony neck.

The Ghouls were approximately 15 feet in height when they stood straight, had black leathery wings, and glowing green eyes. Their bodies were covered in thick rock chunks that appeared to be fused with their flesh, making it hard to see if they had scales or skin. The Ghouls were immune to many magicks due to the nature of the rocks that were part of their being, but despite not being particularly skilled in combat, had strength and size on their side.

They especially liked to try and pick off the Minkies like weak chickens if a tribe ever traipsed through their territory.

4 more Ghouls dropped down on the group, but were met with fierce opposition as Tieg, Mek, Keynan, and The Queen lead small groups that had formed around them, leaving the smaller, older, and younger of the Minkies behind them.

Aggie pulled a shaky knife from its sheath on her belt, and dropped the sack of weapons she had been carrying, while Arlen already had 2 swords in his hand. They hadn’t taken part in the formations, and none of the Minkies had bothered directing them. Leaving their hostages on the perimeter of the group.

The mountain side that had been previously silent, now echoed with the chaos of conflict, and at first Aggie had a hard time discerning what exactly was happening.

Both Aggie and Arlen watched as the Ghoul fighting Jed raised back its large stony hand with its black claws, and swiped at the Minkies. Jed leaned back, gracefully dodging the attack before drawing his short sword, and stabbing in between a crack of the ghoul’s rocky exterior in its muscled abdomen

The beast screeched in pain, and Jed barely had time to draw his weapon out before the Ghoul unfurled its black wings and took to the sky, half blinded and clutching its belly.

Aggie hadn’t been certain how they were going to beat off creatures made of mostly stone, until she realized that while the Ghouls had superior, their bodies were still just penetrable. An opponent just had to strike at one of the cracks in their armor to wound it.

Aggie headed towards one of the Minkies groups as Tieg drove his broadsword through the throat of one of the Ghouls. It too screeched, but whereas the other Ghoul had flown off, this one collapsed with a great ‘thud’ when it hit the ground.

Keynan’s Ghoul kept trying to pick him up for one reason or another, and when he struck at the creature’s wrist, the ring of his sword echoed through the mountains as it clanged against stone. A rumble omitted from the creature that must’ve been a terrifying laugh of some sort. The Ghoul’s mouth stretched and revealed pearly white, pointed sharp teeth, but despite this horrifying display, Keynan’s face remained the same calm mask as one of the soldiers behind him lobbed what looked like a perfectly spherical rock that bludgeoned the creature’s smiling mouth with a horrifying crack.

Blood poured from its mouth, and the creature was thrown back.

As the massive being stumbled back, one of his large black wings nudged the Queen whom was slicing off each claw of the Ghoul attacking her group every time it tried to scratch someone.

The nudge threw her off balance, and with her knifed staff braced lengthwise in her hands, the Ghoul caught its ends and grinned at her, its glowing green eyes becoming crescent moons.

Similar to Keynan, her face showed no emotion as she flicked her wrist, and audible to no one but her and the Ghoul, there was a sharp ‘click’ from her spear as, she had the bow staff separated into two long batons with long sharpened blades.

The sudden loss of control over the weapon startled the Ghoul, and so when the Queen tugged back with his hands still clutching its ends, the massive Ghoul was pulled forwards, and 2 spears wielded by 2 Minkies warriors behind the Queen were gouged into the widened green eyes.

The Ghoul didn’t screech as it didn’t have time, and in seconds its dark red blood ran from its head down its horrifying face. The creature fell to its knees, and then limply to its side.

When the Queen turned around unfazed, she saw Keynan executing his own Ghoul by shoving his sword through its bloodied mouth to the back of the skull.

There was the briefest moment of calm as everyone stood still in the silence, and the Queen and Keynan stared at each other.

Aggie had been making her way to the Queen’s side, but stopped in her tracks.

The Queen and her mate shared a short nod, but there was a gleam behind their eyes of gratitude and love.

Aggie felt her chest tighten at the complex look of emotions beyond her comprehension, and something stirred in her she didn’t understand.

The moment lasted for perhaps 2 seconds, before 3 Ghouls landed with a rush of air and wings behind Aggie and Arlen.

Aggie’s heart leapt to her throat as she turned and stared up into the face of the Ghoul standing directly behind her. Before she fully realized what was happening, she flicked her wrist, and one of her knives spun and struck the Ghoul in front of her in the eye.

It screeched at a pitch that made Aggie’s ears ring, and as she stood rooted to the spot, it swiped its long arm down at her, Aggie flinched, and tried to remember how to roll with the blow from Tork’s lesson, only to find that the massive hand didn’t hit her.

Instead Arlen had appeared in front of her in a blur, and had one of his swords stuck in a crack in its elbow, and another sword in between the creature’s ribs.

It shrieked and flew off, taking Arlen’s swords with him. Aggie looked over just in time to see one of the 3 Ghoul’s heading towards the rocks where the children had hidden, and the other had selected both the Queen and Tieg’s group as its target.

Aggie immediately ran towards the Ghoul that was heading towards the children, her fearful paralysis suddenly lifted, and she could sense Arlen hot on her heels as she flew.

As the massive back of the Ghoul drew nearer, Aggie could see the bumps of its spine protruding through its back, its lumbering strides and growls drawing Mek and Keynan’s fighting groups away from Tieg and the Queen’s group, but Aggie was closer than anyone.

Aggie saw a small pale face poke out from behind the rock, and the eyes of the Queen’s daughter became as large as saucers as she let out a squeak at the sight of the Ghoul, and she quickly ducked back behind the boulder.

The Ghoul began to let out a rumbling laugh, and before Aggie had time to realize what she was about to do, she took a flying leap, soared through the air, and grabbed onto the Ghoul’s wings .

Distracted from his progress towards the children, the Ghoul glanced over its shoulder at his new assailant, but Aggie wasn’t looking into his eyes.

Instead one of her knives was in her hand, and with all her strength, she quickly sliced as deeply as she could through the muscle and tendon down to the bone of the black leathery wing where it gushed blood.

The Ghoul screamed so loudly that it rang through the mountains, and as it did so, a spear shot through its mouth through the back of its head, effectively spraying Aggie with its dark blood.

The Ghoul began to fall face forward, and Aggie immediately tried pushing herself off of its descending bulk clumsily, and was surprised to find Arlen was waiting, and caught her in his arms easily.

Aggie looked up surprised into Arlen’s grim blood spattered face, and as their eyes locked, a strange electricity pulsed through them.

The moment was quickly interrupted however when a shout drew their attention, and they saw that while the brunt force of the Minkies had swarmed to protect the children, the last Ghoul now clutched the Queen, and it was now holding her over the edge of the mountain.

She looked small in its grasp, and everyone froze at the sight.

No one dared go near in case he decided to drop her.

In fact, it wasn’t clear why it hadn’t already.

It felt as though everyone was holding their breath.

Only the Queen could see the green glowing eyes that glared at her with hatred. Its outrage was palatable in light of its toys successfully slaughtering its kin.

It loosened its grip around her waist, wanting to see her panic, and smiled its pointed teeth at her. Instead of emoting any flicker of fear, she grabbed onto its arm, touching a small patch of its exposed black flesh.

The movement had been some kind of cue, as suddenly Tieg barreled from the crowd, and leapt at the creature’s side.

Despite the Ghoul’s massive size and mass, Tieg was easily 300 pounds of muscle at 7 feet of height, and he knocked the Ghoul at its center of gravity, bringing it crashing down to the ground.

The Ghoul’s grip around the Queen had slackened upon Tieg’s blow, but her grip on its arm allowed her to be pulled safely back to land with him.

The 3 of them lay in a heap near the edge of the mountain path. Tieg and the Queen were coughing at the dust and the blow of the landing knocking the wind from their lungs.

After a moment, as the gravel dust settled, Aggie and Arlen began running forward, prepared to begin fighting a screeching and clawing Ghoul, only to find that as Tieg stood, and offered his hand to the Queen she stood calmly, and wearily, the Ghoul lay unmoving where it had fallen.

Aggie and Arlen skidded to a halt, and realized that most of the Minkies had already started collecting discarded weapons, and some were already wiping blood off spears and swords.

They had all already known the Ghoul was already dead.

Keynan breezed passed Aggie and Arlen, and embraced his mate.

Still confused, Aggie then noticed that the Queen looked far more tired than the rest of the Minkies.

As she stared at the Ghoul, and then back at the Queen, she tried to deduce if the Ghoul had hit its head, or if Tieg had driven a knife into an eye or something.

“Arlen… did you see how it died?” Aggie asked slowly as the Minkies shuffled around them.

“I did not. I’m not too certain how it died either.” Arlen was staring at the carcass and frowning.

They were so encompassed in trying to understand, that they didn’t notice Tieg sidle up beside Aggie as he dabbed his scraped shoulder with a cloth.

“That was the Queen. She was able to stop its heart.”

Arlen and Aggie whipped their heads around to stare at Tieg wide-eyed.

“I thought human magicks could only affect beings with human blood! Do Ghouls have-”

“No. Those devils are as inhuman as it gets.” Tieg cut off Arlen’s alarmed question.

The Servicer was astonished at the discovery that he was once again wrong in his understanding of the world. It was inconceivable that the Ruling Family could get so much wrong, when he had always been taught that their knowledge was the only untainted knowledge of the world. Untouched by bias, or opinion, winners or losers.

“Eons ago, pure humans used to be more in tune with nature and its creatures, and therefore had greater control over them. However as the bloodlines have become weaker in your land, it became so that they could no longer perform magicks over beings that didn’t bear a connection to their own blood. However, Minkies have one of the purest bloodlines. It taxes the Queen greatly, but she is able to tune her magicks to animals with great effort, and affect them. It was one of the reasons she was able to help the Servicer, but it also costs her great amounts of energy.”

Arlen’s eyes were bulging from his head, while Aggie worked on wrapping her mind around the information.

“She can stop people’s hearts?” Aggie’s voice was soft as she turned back to stare at the Queen whom was conversing with the Minkies while her children clutched her legs.

“If they have human blood she could probably murder dozens quite easily.” Tieg replied lightly.

“It is one of the reasons despite not being the best warrior, she is Queen. Her magick is one of the strongest.”

Both Aggie and Arlen stared in silence at the Queen, while Tieg calmly regarded the majestic view over mountains in the distance, and behind them to the North, the sea.

The Servicer and his Lady were more than a little startled at the new information, and Tieg seemed to understand that they would need time to process the new knowledge.

“You… You said ‘one of the strongest’; are you saying there are others in the Minkies tribes whom are as strong as the Queen?” Aggie asked, unsure of how her voice sounded steadier than she felt.

“Yes. There are only a few individuals outside of the Minkies tribe who rival our powers. Within our tribe, we have a handful of individuals who in their own way, rival the Queen’s abilities. Though not in body magicks.”

Aggie and Arlen said nothing, and Tieg didn’t explain any further. Instead, he turned to begin helping the Minkies reorganize themselves in order to resume their travels. They wanted to get out of the Ghoul’s territory quickly, so as not to risk another attack.

“Arlen… who the fuck are the Minkies?” Aggie didn’t tear her gaze from the Queen as she picked up her eldest boy, who seemed to be asking her all kinds of questions with an animated smile on his face.

“My La- Aggie, I’m beginning to believe that very little is as I thought it to be. So I am sorry to say, I do not know.” Arlen sounded dazed, and Aggie found herself staring at her shaking hands.

The adrenaline had worn off.

“We should-”

“Yeah.” Aggie cut Arlen off and turned towards her dropped canvas sack.

Arlen watched Aggie’s retreating back, and then turned back to the Minkies Queen.

He knew that the Minkies had shield magickers that could block the seers of the Ruling Family, but for there to be so little knowledge in the world about the extent of their power, only emphasized the height of the Minkies abilities.

They had managed to stave off notice and discovery for thousands of years, and held more power than the entire continent combined.

That was when the realization set in.

The Minkies would know far more than they would admit, even more than the Ruling Family. They probably knew even more about Aggie and Arlen than they let on, and that also meant…

Arlen turned and looked at Aggie as she hefted the sack over her shoulder, and struck up a conversation with Mek, whom was looking particularly cocky as he seemed to be explaining that it was his spear that had murdered the Ghoul Aggie had been attacking.

“It means they have their own agenda with us.”

Arlen turned to look back at the Queen and Keynan, who seemed to be sharing an important conversation that Arlen couldn’t hear, but eventually, the Queen caught his gaze.

She stopped talking with her mate, and as her gray eyes bore into his own, Arlen had the sense that he needed to have a frank conversation with the Minkies in the near future.

Keynan turned from facing his mate, his icy blue eyes locking on Arlen, and as the Servicer’s heart pounded and he looked at the two of them, he realized he had a rare opportunity to learn even more than the Ruling Family knew.

First of all; he needed to know what they wanted from him and Aggie.

They had to already know she was meant to be Queen.

However, that also meant there was a chance that they knew even more about her path than Arlen or the Ruling Family.

The big question pertaining to themselves was; Did they mean to help, or did they mean to get in the way?

Either way, Arlen was going to find out.