Chapter 22 - The Hidden Door

“MASTER WAKE WAKE!!!”

The terrified screech let out just as an arrow collided with Talsh’Noc’Un’s blurring dark blade, the weapon coming to a still stance directly in front of his face. It caused Trey to startle, and he realized that his greatsword minion was floating ahead of him with the flat end facing him.

It had just blocked an attack that would’ve pierced his skull.

To his right Napoleon was still screeching for him to get up as two firebolts flew out of the imp’s tiny black claws, meeting marks only twenty meters away. An enraged culn clutched at his throat in surprise. His skin went up in flames and he began screaming while it began to spread across his face.

The five stages of waking up: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. That’s the usual protocol Trey took to his daily rise, but this time he skipped denial and went straight to anger.

And he stayed there.

“What a bunch of cock sucking motherfuckers!” Trey seethed as he laid eyes on an archer and the three heavily armored culn warriors. One was incapacitated and rolling on the ground while two more were hiding behind large steel tower shields that blocked Napoleon’s strikes. They immediately became more wary of the imp after seeing the firebolts down their comrade, slowing their advance from a run to a fast walk.

Trey yelled at Napoleon to get down just as the archer turned his attention to the imp, letting loose another steel-tipped arrow that bounced off a nearby rock just as Napoleon ducked behind one of the rocks of the outcropping.

“I shoot shoot!” Napoleon declared with a shit-eating grin. He turned the corner and let out another firebolt that slammed into the culn he had caught earlier. The man had just been getting up and he took the firebolt to the back of his head, knocking off his helmet and downing him again.

Jesus that imp was a good shot!

Trey rubbed his eyes to try and clear his sleepiness away, and turned back to the two standing culn shield-bearers just as the first one came within ten yards of him. Rushing to the left to get a clearer shot at the archer, Trey grinned and vanished into thin air. He came back up an instant later in a burst of shadows just two feet away from his target with rows of glinting black razor teeth and lines of crimson glowing power spider-webbing out across his face from the eyes.

The archer’s expression went from confidence to horror in that same instant and he let out a scream that caused his comrades to turn and see a giant greatsword cleave the leather-wearing archer from left shoulder into his chest cavity. Trey watched the heart spasm and shoot torrents of blood out from the huge wound as the culn’s body went limp. Kicking off the corpse for good measure and flicking blood and entrails from the blade he turned and took a throwing dagger to the chest.

“I just can’t catch a break!” Trey cursed angrily, clutching at the weapon embedded in his pectoral muscle and yanked it out to toss it to the ground.

“Omastein, Sire of Devils awaits you in the afterlife!” yelled out the man who had thrown the dagger. The culn man turned to face Trey while the other armored soldier rushed the imp.

Napoleon screamed and began to panic while circling around the rocks and avoiding two swings of a large one-handed axe. The culn didn’t get another swing though as he abruptly dropped the axe and his chin slammed into the ground, then he began to yell in a panic of his own when he was dragged off by a sparking, flaming chaos chain wrapped around his ankle.

“MAY THE-” Trey wouldn’t ever know what the guy was about to finish saying as his body slammed into the other soldier who was also wrapped up in a chaos chain and hacking away at it wildly. The impact knocked him unconscious to join the 1st soldier Napoleon had taken out.

Then Trey began to squeeze.

The yelling turned frantic as the remaining conscious soldier felt his arms break and a spark of chaos energy rippled up the armor he wore, shredding the softer flesh underneath and crushing the metal against his body. That’s when the begging started.

“PLEASE SPARE ME!” The soldier wailed in pain and panic, kicking out his legs while being suspended by the chains created from spawn portals above him. His eyes grew wide in shock and furthered horror as the man he had come with beside him wrapped in the other chain made a loud snapping noise under the pressure. The unconscious body contorted into a shape no living humanoid could realistically undertake, and seconds later there was no doubt he was dead. The spine had been crushed, shattered, and the corpse was dropped to the ground.

“You have gained XP.”

Trey walked over to the flailing fear-stricken man suspended just a little overhead and smirked. “Whatever happened to this… what was it? Omastein? Weren’t you supposed to send me his way?”

A dark glare from the horned, purple-skinned demon was Trey’s only response and the chains tightened further; causing the culn man to scream out again. Trey watched unwavering as Napoleon began to scramble over the rocks and made his own way to where the soldier he’d knocked unconscious with a firebolt to the head. Trey continued to watch further as Napoleon unleashed his tiny black claws furiously into the culn’s burnt neck, the cute little imp quickly showing why he was still categorized as a demon. The culn’s soft flesh was shredded and the little imp cackled evilly before bending down, jamming his tiny little hand into the culn’s open wound; and blowing another firebolt into the exposed spine. The head of the culn snapped back and cracked loudly with Napoleon cackling even harder, and then the little imp began to feed on the lifeblood of the other demon like it was drinking out of a warm, crimson water fountain.

“Your minion Napoleon has gained 1 overall level.”

“Nice. Didn’t realize you were so devilishly evil!” Trey exclaimed with a laugh, not phased in the least and he began laughing harder when the single remaining culn soldier tried to sputter something out but couldn’t get the words due to lack of air. He loved gloating over these bastards after what they or their kin had done to him not long ago.

He loved every second of it.

Trey snapped his fingers and the chaos chains disappeared entirely, dropping the culn soldier onto the ground with a hard thud. The demon tried to recover but was hurt and out of air, and the flat side of Trey’s greatsword slammed into the soldier’s face - breaking his nose.

The culn was obviously dazed and Trey easily took his sword and shield from him, tossing them away before putting his blade’s tip along the culn’s exposed neck. The culn stiffened immediately, stopped sputtering so much, and held out his hands to either side in surrender. The guy’s nose was an absolute mess, as was his right arm and much of his armor where the chaos chains had compressed. Looking down more carefully, Trey could tell this armor was of poorer quality than the soldiers he had faced days before at the lake. Many rust spots were seen and he quickly inspected it to the best of his ability - but his ability was rather shit as usual.

Rusty Steel Barbuta Helm (Heavy Armor)

Item Tier: (4) Basic

Armor: 11 physical resistance, 3 magic resistance

Bonuses: None

Requirements: ???

Durability: 28/90

Special: ???

Rusty Steel Breastplate (Heavy Armor)

Item Tier: (4) Basic

Armor: 26 physical resistance, 4 magic resistance

Bonuses: None

Requirements: 15 Strength, 12 Endurance

Durability: 42/124

Special: None

Rusty Steel Greaves (Heavy Armor)

Item Tier: (4) Basic

Armor: ???

Bonuses: None

Requirements: 11 Strength, 12 Endurance

Durability: ???

Special: ???

Old Steel Gauntlets (Heavy Armor)

Item Tier: (5) Common

Armor: 19 physical resistance, ??? magic resistance

Bonuses: None

Requirements: ???

Durability: ???

Special: ???

At least he got the majority of the information, but he had a long ways to go if he couldn’t fully identify ‘basic’ or ‘common’ items like these ones. Trey also noticed that this heavy class armor used a lot of both Strength and Endurance stats, and that he didn’t even have a high enough endurance to use the greaves of breastplate even at a basic tier!

Sighing, he let the identification pages slide away. He’d have to resort to only using light armor. There was no way he’d be putting points into Endurance when he needed Intelligence and Wisdom for his spells, Willpower for his minion control limit slots, and Strength for being able to eventually use this greatsword he’d found. Dexterity, speed, endurance, faith and Luck would all be on the backburner for now. He wasn’t sure about Vitality though and he’d likely end up chucking a couple points into it from time to time. Maybe medium class armor would be the way to go if that was even an armor class option, but he’d had yet to see any of it and if it was a thing he didn’t know what the stat requirements usually focused on.

He took another look at the culn under the tip of his blade who stared back up at him with hate evident on his face. The guy looked like he was in his late 30’s or early 40’s and was shaved close to the head from what Trey could see underneath the helmet. However, as he was a demon, Trey really had no idea how old he was. Small black horns poked out from the helm as well. The demon’s skin was a lighter purple than most of his darker-purple comrades Trey had seen thus far, and he had the usual red markings across his face that Trey immediately realized was warpaint after bending down to get a better look at the demon.

“What’s your name?” Trey asked in the now familiar tongue of Ancient Demon with pleasant demeanor.

The retort Trey got was a glob of spit directly to the face as an act of defiance. Trey slowly wiped the spit off his cheek and flung it to the ground, still calm and composed, but he began to press a little harder on the blade. Sinking into the culn’s neck half a centimeter and drawing blood, the blade hissed with excitement while the still-glaring demon grimaced and began to shake.

“One more chance, otherwise I just outright kill you.” Trey smiled maliciously, eyes glowing a bright crimson his predator symbiote Sithis urged him to get on with it and slice this demon’s head off.

The culn man spat again, but Trey dodged it this time.

“GET ON WITH IT THEN!” roared the culn warrior as he braced himself for the final blow.

Trey looked over at the three other corpses around him, and then down to the soldier underneath his sword. He then flung the weapon to the side and with an outstretched hand materialized claws that slashed across the culn’s face. Deep jagged wounds were dug into the demon’s cheekbone and jaw, leaving his face shredded and screaming. The culn’s hands flew up to try to defend himself now that a sword wasn’t pressed against his neck, but the right arm was still damaged and Trey easily swatted it away before breaking the fingers on the culn’s left.

“DAMN YOU!” screeched the culn just before another claw raked against the other side of the face.

Strike after strike, bludgeon after bludgeon smashed into the warrior for two entire minutes. Sithis purred happily inside of him as Trey took out his anger and vengeance on his victim until the demon was left gasping for breath and bleeding profusely with a mangled mess of flesh left for his head.

“Now listen here, you dumb mother fucker...” Trey yanked on the soldier’s breastplate and hissed in the slumping man’s face while the culn gurgled up a solid whimper in reply. “The soldiers that attacked me and the escaped slaves a while back at the lake... Do you know who the officer was and where he is?”

The culn didn’t reply but labored heavily to breathe as he hung like a bloodied rag doll in Trey’s grip, until Trey violently shook him and screamed profanities at the devastated demon while threatening to kill him. Though battered and bruised, the culn was still aware enough to feel fear.

“Yes…” a harsh rasping voice replied through strained effort as the beaten man lifted one good eye to look at him.

“Good.” Trey said, smiling wickedly. He turned to glance up and down the trail, seeing no other culn anywhere nearby. Then he looked back to the culn, unblinking with a wide set grin behind the black jawed devil’s mask - his tail flicking back and forth in anticipation.

“Then you have one opportunity to save your pathetic, worthless fucking life.” Trey struck the man hard across his already ruined face and caused the culn to cry out. He flung the culn to the ground and put a hand around the demon’s neck, letting hellfire seeth out of his mouth to singe the tips of the culn’s nose as an intimidation tactic.

“Tell… me…!” gasped the culn warrior pleadingly, tears coming to his eyes as he began to quiver.

Napoleon looked over curiously at the two and cocked his head. “Why you not kill kill him? Kill him now now!”

Trey dismissed the imp’s request with a wave of his free hand, keeping eye contact with his prey and readying himself to snap the culn’s neck in case he refused.

“You will pledge yourself to me as my minion.”

A prompt appeared in Trey’s vision, and Trey could only assume a similar one had appeared for the culn as well.

“You have offered a minion contract to this culn. Because you have beaten him into submission, it has the option of a painless death and immediate transfer of his soul into the void. Be aware, if the culn does not accept this offer within ten minutes - the offer will expire and the potential servant will die.”

The culn man looked shocked, as if a bucket of ice water had just been poured onto his head unexpectedly. He strained his head to look at the imp and then his one good eye that wasn’t shredded flipped back over to Trey.

“You’re… a summoner…?” The culn asked between rasps only to be violently struck again with a backhand.

“YOU WILL ONLY SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO YOU FUCKING PRICK!” Trey roared, anger seething within him after remembering the images of the dying escapees at the lake. Then he bent further and leaned towards the culn’s ear with a whisper: “Choose now or I’ll just finish you off and find another one who will take me up on it. You don’t have ten minutes, you have five seconds.”

The culn began to stammer something out as the grip around his throat tightened, sharp claws pressing in against soft flesh before he nodded in panic and another prompt flew up in front of Trey’s face.

“Culn Warrior has accepted your pact. Culn Warrior’s name has been revealed: Jerekka Zoz. One of your minion control limit slots has been filled.”

Then the page for his new minion popped up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Simplified Status Page

Name: Jerekka Zoz

Race: Culn, Lesser Demon

Class: Warrior

Level: 6

HP: 17/126

MP: 50/50

SP: 41/114

DP: 1/1

Skills: Blades (lvl. 7), Heavy Armor (lvl. 2), First Aid (lvl. 1), Shields (lvl 3), Tracking (lvl. 1), Shield Bash (lvl. 2) (Sacred Art)

Traits: Sturdy, Trey Bon’s Minion

Magical Attributes: None

Opinion of you: Hated

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Control Limit Slots: 3 of 3 used.

Trey’s Minions:

Napoleon, Oblivion Imp, Level 4 (1 slot)(Liked) Talsh’Noc’Un Greatsword, Living Weapon (1 slot)(Neutral) Jerekka Zoz, Culn, Level 6 (1 slot)(Hated)

Trey looked pleased as he felt and saw a spark of energy connect him to his new minion. A second later and the culn’s status bars showed up next to Napoleon's on the left of Trey’s HUD, getting larger as he focused on them and then minimizing again when not concentrating on them. He was very interested in this ‘Shield Bash’ sacred art the demon had and made a mental note to ask him about it later. He certainly hadn’t seen the culn use it in their fight, but he was rather confident that the culn just hadn’t had the opportunity to do so. He also noticed that the culn ‘hated’ him, but still only took up 1 control slot… so it must be relatively weak compared to Trey’s own might. Otherwise it would have taken up 2 or 3 slots according to the All Spirit’s guide on his infernal summoner class, and he had to agree with the assessment based on the fight they’d just had.

This also brought into question the leveling system. The culn warrior was level 6, while he was only level 5. If the culn was relatively weaker than he was then levels must not be entirely indicative of true strength, though it obviously had some influence he didn’t know how much that was.

Without even a single comment, Trey summoned dark magic to appear in his hand; then began creating the portal to the nether realm. Waving goodbye very slowly, and with a crooked smile, he dismissed his newest minion Jerekka in the brief blaze of crimson pentagram lights.

Then, Jerakka was gone.

“Adios bitch, we’ll be needing you soon so get better…” Trey said with a low chuckle. He had been… hungering, ever since the fight had begun. Now that three culn corpses lay out before him he couldn’t help but feel even more… hungry.

Turning away from Napoleon’s kill to let the little imp feast, and focusing on his own kills, Trey went over to the nearest corpse. Stripping the armor off the demon and smiling wickedly at the dead eyes and pool of coagulated blood, Trey’s mask of long black teeth sunk into the corpse to relish in the fresh, warm meat under the red light of Oblivion’s moons.

“You have gained 1 strength from consuming a fresh kill.”

***

He’d stripped the clothes off one of the culn corpses so he wasn’t naked anymore. Again, they were too big for him as the culn were slightly taller, but he did his best to adjust them so his walking or running wasn’t impared. Specifically, he’d taken the leather off the archer because he didn’t like the heavy metal armor. Surprisingly he could equip it, and the All Spirit’s system recognized all the pieces as available for use, so he tried them on and had the required strength… but he felt clumsy in it. He needed to be fast. The defense perks on the armor were relatively shitty to be worth incapacitating his movement speed anyways...

Leather it was.

He tried summoning his culn minion Jerekka a couple of times throughout the day to glean information on his upcoming target, but he didn’t keep the man long so that he could heal in the nether realm and be useful to Trey later. The first time the culn came back he was still in bad shape, though the minor cuts and bruises he had experienced were gone and there was some healing noted to his face. The second and third times showed slightly more improvement, but at the rate he was going Trey doubted the man would be in fighting condition after the severe ass-whooping he’d dished out to Jerekka… at least not until tomorrow. Trey forced the demon man to tell him where the culn base of operations was located, and through the minion contract compelling the information to come forth: Trey was set on a detour journey off the beaten path and into a small side valley where small but frequent patrols were discovered.

He would have tried summoning and capturing another minion through his ‘least summoning circle’ spell, he’d been wanting to use it to see how it worked... Or maybe he would have ambushed another culn patrol to capture and enslave another of their soldiers, but he had no control slots for minions left. Nor did he have any stat points available for a willpower increase… So instead he left the lucky bastards alone on his way through the rocky valley and towards the spot where Jerekka had told him a fortress was built.

By nightfall he finally spotted it, carved partially into the cliff with deep gray stone and significantly less impressive than Trey had been expecting. It was a shoddy, small hold with only one entrance: a wide and tall metal gate that had three layers of doors built into thick walls. Only a few stone towers with archers posted at each were along the front wall, though soldiers patrolled the walkways too, and another small courtyard inside showed a busy bustling group of culn men, women, and children. Most of them weren’t wearing armor or carrying any weapons at all. He couldn’t make out much from his position on the hill nearby, but he was certain most of the people inside weren’t soldiers. He also saw dozens of minotaurs amongst the many patrols he passed coming here, so he could expect to see some of them inside too.

As the torches and magelights began to light up the small fortress, Trey took little time in summoning Jerekka again behind one of the large boulders. The culn warrior hadn’t healed fully, but Trey was eager to get this over with. He‘d been waiting too long to wipe that stupid grin off the smug bastard who’d killed him and led the other demons to recapture the escaped human prisoners at the lake.

“Not much of a fortress.” Trey commented lazily while eyeing his new minion. “You sure this is the place?”

Jerekka spat at the disrespect Trey showed and folded his arms. He was missing the gauntlet along his right hand and forearm after it had been crushed by Trey’s chains, and had considered taking off the breastplate too... but it was still for the mostpart intact. So he left it in place.

“It is much bigger than it appears. What you see is only the exterior. It leads down into a larger area below ground.”

Trey scowled and raised an eyebrow. He turned to the imp. “Napoleon. Are you allowed to lie to me while under minion contract if I ask you a direct question?”

The imp stopped rubbing up against a rock to scratch an itch and scampered over to sit beside him. “No no. Can’t lie lie to you, unless you lets us. You is master, stupid master but nice nice master.”

Trey facepalmed and ignored the jab but couldn’t help notice the grin Napoleon wore when he said it. Trey returned the grin shaking his head with a chuckle and sigh. Blinking to clear away some of the dirt that the wind had kicked up into his face, he considered his options.

He counted 52 soldiers manning the walls and tower. The gate had been closed as nightfall had come, and the activity inside the small courtyard was nil. From where he sat on the hill he could make out another patrol off to his left casually taking their time returning to the fortress. They didn’t seem to think anything was actually coming after them and their guard was obviously down. The soldiers on the wall were the same, being very loud and many of them drinking.

“Why are they so off their guard? Don’t your people have enemies here?”

Jerekka didn’t reply at first. To Trey’s surprise after further inspection, the veins on the culn’s forehead were building and he seemed to be straining… against what: Trey couldn’t tell. A second later and Jerekka gasped and blurted out the answer:

“This is only one of many communities our lord has under his control. We have enemies… but not here in the center of our lord’s domain.”

Trey scowled at the culn asshole he’d minionized and pointed to one of the large healing gashes that still remained across the culn’s face. It was scabbing over now that he had spent a decent chunk of time in the nether realm. Trey was seriously impressed with how fast they healed when sent there, but he made a point to push on it slightly. The culn flinched at his touch and let out an uncomfortable grunt as a hate filled glare stared back at Trey.

“You want more of those?”

Jerekka shook his head slowly, still seething with hate and contempt for his new master.

Trey only smiled back. “Good. Then don’t fight the minion contract and tell me what I want to know. Otherwise you’ll get much worse than what I did to you the first time, you worthless sack of shit.”

Trey took the culn’s helmet off and slapped the demon across the face, not enough to do damage: but enough to hurt Jerekka’s ego. Then he leaned in with one clawed finger extending to press against Jerekka’s neck.

The pitch black of night didn’t allow the culn to see as well as Trey or Napoleon could, but he could still see Trey’s glowing red eyes and could feel the press of something sharp against his throat. Jerekka stiffened at the touch and his pulse quickened.

“I come here from another world.” Trey began softly… withdrawing his finger and letting the culn relax a little. “I got here and was killed many times over before I finally escaped that asshat gargoyle who turned me into his regular snack. Each time I came back, I felt the trauma and the pain racked my brain to scar my subconsciousness. I have become jaded. I have come to value life less, especially if it gets in my way. Do not think I value your life more than a cockroach. If you displease me again, I will dispose of you immediately.”

Jerekka took in his words with concern and curiosity. He thought carefully about what his reply would be as he looked Trey over and eventually took in a long breath. “How do you keep coming back? I was surprised to see you back on the trail… as I have seen you before. Your body is strung up in the great hall where we feasted on the humans and dwarves that escaped.”

Trey blinked. “You and your people ate the prisoners?”

Jerekka smiled evilly. “Yes. I still remember their screams as we opened them up while they yet lived. I had the liver of one of the women myself, while the captain who killed you… he had your heart.”

This earned the culn a rocking punch to the jaw. Jerekka lost his smile and toppled over, dazed by the blow, and Trey had to use all the restraint he had to not kill the vile little fucker right there.

‘Do it. Kill him.’ Sithis prompted as the symbiote’s hunger began to rise.

Trey trembled with rage flowing through him and shook his head slowly. He needed this bastard, but when the time came where that was no longer the case... he would dispose of the culn. Painfully.

He ordered the culn man to kneel back behind the boulders and did so himself, not wanting to give any chance of being spotted even if the culn had a harder time seeing in the night. Jerekka did so grudgingly but obeyed, compelled by the contract of minionhood.

“How many are there?” Trey asked bluntly.

Again Jerekka tried to resist answering, to Trey’s mounting anger, but the demon eventually gave in.

“Hundreds of warriors. Hundreds more women and children. The slaves we had were shipped out so there are likely only a few dozen slaves left, if even that. They might all be eaten or sent to the mines by now.”

“Why does everyone seem to be celebrating? Is there something going on tonight?”

Jerekka nodded. “Yes. The tribe that calls this area of our lord’s domain home is having a wedding between Captain Coraza… the man who killed you, and the chieftain's daughter. They are likely feasting now.”

Trey grinned at the thought of crashing the wedding, but he’d only take action if it was realistically winnable. He’d have to move carefully even if it meant he didn’t strike tonight.

“Do you know where this ‘Captain Coraza’ lives inside the fortress?”

Jerekka nodded yes.

“In your honest opinion, what would be the best way of getting in and out of the fortress to kill this man?”

Jerekka’s eyes widened and he looked like he was in shock. “You really want to go in? Even after seeing you are completely outnumbered? You will lose! WE will lose! You would be wise to run!”

“Shut the fuck up and tell me!” Trey hissed with anger, the greatsword to his right hissing in its own right but in excitement of an upcoming fight.

“Your minion Talsh’Noc’Un has increased its opinion of you from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Content.’ Your minion will now receive a 15% bonus to experience gained.”

The mechanical words of the All Spirit echoed in Trey’s mind as he looked over in surprise to the greatsword sitting against another large rock. The sword didn’t even have levels, how would experience be put into use by a living weapon?

Trey shrugged, but couldn’t help smiling a little bit knowing that he had gained favor with the weapon simply due to his aggressive stance on revenge.

The culn soldier simply stared at him before shaking his head in defeat. He looked over to where the magelights and torches lit up the towers and walls, illuminating the small fortress to pierce the dark.

“There is a passage, an escape tunnel that leads out from the hold into a concealed exit. It is masked with illusions.” Jerekka pointed further out into the mountains. “The hidden door is only a mile from here and leads directly into the great hall. If we really are going in, this is the way we should do it.”

Trey was very aware the culn soldier hadn’t mentioned this before, and he made a mental note of how he truly couldn’t rely on minions that were held against their will. Trey slapped the unaware culn on the back of his head excitedly and tossed the helmet back. “That’s what I’m talking about! Maybe you’re not so useless after all!”

Jerekka looked uncomfortable, but as Trey got up and ordered him to show the way he got up and began to walk. He tripped twice while showing Trey the way, cursing the rubble littering the hillside and stopping short of another large boulder twenty feet away.

“That rock isn’t really there.” Jerekka muttered softly, angrily even. “A wooden hatch is built where the rock should be and underneath is a tunnel. There will be at least two guards soon after coming down.”

Trey cackled gleefully and felt Sithis urge him forward in approval, readying them for the kills to come. “Good Job Jerekka… very good job. Where do you get the wood though? This place is full of rocks and occasional shrubs, I haven’t seen any trees.”

The culn soldier sneered. “You just haven’t looked in the right places, imbecile.”

Trey shrugged off the insult of his slave and crept forward, motioning for Napoleon and Jerekka to be silent as they went. Unfortunately Jerekka’s heavy armor didn’t give him the option of being too silent, but as Trey glared back at the culn it occurred to him that he may be able to use Jerekka like a trojan horse.

“How would the guards react to you if you took this entrance unannounced?” Trey asked curiously.

Jerekka shrugged grudgingly. “If I knew them they’d likely blow it off, if not… then they’d question me and report me to the superiors. There are no other culn factions outside of this lord’s domain for many many leagues, so it is unlikely that any of us would be considered spies or assassins.”

The resulting malicious smile Trey gave Jerekka in response caused the culn to shiver.

“Good.”