A sad excuse for a breath haggardly gargled from my lungs. Her eyes, flaring like dying, blood-soaked suns bore into mine. Fractures and chasm shuddered within her eye. Opening and closing. Swirling about the shifting mass of her dead-black pupil. Her sight dug into me. Searching. Analyzing. Seeking something or someone. I had no idea what she was thinking, but I knew it wasn’t good. Fear chilled my spine. The longing to run. To flee. It rushed into me like a crashing wave. If only she would look away. If only I could disappear.

But, I knew I couldn’t. At that moment… that fraction of time, I was the prey looking into the eyes of my predator.

Another breath. Steadier. Slower than before as I forced my body to obey me. I would be calm. I would think. If I didn’t, I was dead.

The nearest guard spotted us and pointed his sword my way. He barked, “You three!” He and several of his companions jogged over, their armors’ jingling as the mourning bells of an oncoming death. All eyes turned to look our way. Creeping whispers drifted between the nobles; a few even licking their lips as if sighting some tasty new meal.

“Come out,” one of the guards ordered. Dressed more flamboyantly than the others, it was obvious from the medals on his sleeve and jewelry on his ear that he was a higher rank than the other soldiers. A captain, I assumed. With a sneering scowl, he drew an ‘x’ in the dirt. “Here!”

“Sure thing, good sir!” Macsen said as he leisurely walked out. He seemed completely at ease. I immediately wished I could share his calm facade. I was certain my tenseness showed. Still, I did my best to calmly walk behind him, patting Ivy’s arm comfortingly as she clung to me like glue.

“Who are ye?!” The captain shouted, halting us with a raised hand. We stopped.

Macsen happily obliged with a wave of his hand and a half rowdy bow. “Just simple adventurers. No one special or of particular interest. In fact, we’re pretty boring… bland. Like wheat on a-”

“Silence!” the captain shouted angrily. “Yorn names and loyalties grant. Now!”

I internally wondered if, for some reason, the captain wasn’t allowed to speak normally. He only had one volume to his voice. Too loud. Maybe it was some attempted intimidation? Oddly, for me, it had the opposite effect. The more he yelled, the more I wanted to punch his teeth in.

“Macsen. Just Macsen is my name,” he said with another rough, over-accented bow. “Loyal to none but to myself, the coffer, my friends, and the thrill of discovery. Just your average adventurer tied to an endless wanderlust.” He straightened and plastered on his million-dollar smile. The male vampires looked rather unimpressed or at least displeased with the display.

The women… it was a different story. Several whispers bounced amongst them. Things about his muscles. His tattoos. His stones or his charm.

One of the women, a fine-looking, but fearsomely eyed thing whispered, “I doth desire his allegiance to mine house. A servant, pray.” Her eyes ran up and down Macsen a few times. Slipping out her tongue to lick her lips lustfully, a fang peeked out from between her lips, a pure white dagger. “Yes, I long for him much.”

“Nay, look to the runics adoring his skin a’ready, fair sister…” another woman hissed. “Doth belong to the Council’s dogs. Lest given wright of assailant, he cannot be touched.”

“Luna’s Bones!” she cursed, scowling. “Tis so…” Her eyes then shifted to me and I quickly looked away, not wanting to meet her gaze. Macsen was protected. But what about Ivy and I?

Ivy was attached to me… and I was a servant of Chaos, technically. ‘Should I tell them I am a servant of Chaos? Will that avoid trouble, or only invite it?’ My calm facade threatened to shatter as my worries began to mount.

The captain earned my attention with a snapping growly, “Your turn.” All eyes fell to me.

My heart fell into a rancid conniption. Head burned. A throat full of ashes and coals choking my voice away.

Ivy hugged my arm tighter. Her body shuddered and shivered in fear. I could feel it. The metal, the sword, and blood-lust surrounding us… I knew I had to be strong. For her. I took another breath to release the tension. This was just like a business deal. Talk. Barter. Manipulate.

I could do this.

“I am Chaon, follower of Chaos, and fellow adventurer to Macsen.” I motioned to Macsen, then lay my heart on my chest, “My loyalties lie with myself and my allies. This here is Ditto, my summon.” I tapped Ditto. Then, I motioned toward Ivy, “And this is my companion, Ivy.” For an added effect, I said, “We wish for no trouble. We plan to stay in Swallow Lake for a week’s time before moving on.”

Whispers abounded once more, but with increasing excitement. Their eyes slid over me. Slimy. Causing the back of my neck to shiver and my gut to internally wretch. They looked at us like meat. Pieces of meat to be toyed with, eaten, disposed of.

“Would Chaos mind, pray?”

“She does not. Should not.”

“Then I shall have him.”

“Nay, I doth deserve him. You were allotted that boy a week prior. The merchant!”

“But he…” and the woman’s whispers grew still.

“I wish for that Alraune,” another said, this time a man.

I half expected them to begin yelling at each other amidst their arguing. But, Kamra silenced them. Her voice smooth like cream, softer than silk, yet carrying the weight of ages upon every word.

“Follower of Chaos,” she began. Every mouth closed in reverence and fear. “Where doth stand thine Thalwesse? Follower of Chaos be, art thou he?” I looked at her, meeting her gaze. The nobles around her jerked slightly at the word. Thalwesse. Surprise, horror, vigor, and excitement swept through their ranks.

Bracing my thoughts, I spoke a lie laced with truth. “No, I am only his friend whom I know very well.” That earned a little surprise and interest. I was hoping that the lie would help give me more weight. More respect to work with. If they feared or respected the Thalwesse, then naturally his trusted friend would get a little bit of that respect? Usually.

‘Or Kamra can call my bluff and kill me…’ I thought, though I quickly shunned it. Negativity wouldn’t help now.

“A message begot. Of duel here, in morning’s expanse. Here I stand, follower of Chaos…” her voice sliced with icy edge. “Yet, his presence lacks. Where doth he hide? A cowardly man is he?” Her eyes slimmed. Lips grew tight.

I breathed in slowly, casually, before speaking, “I apologize, but he is the tardy sort, milady. He told me nothing of this duel, nor of his current happenings for the day. He will come, but he may be late.”

“May be late? May? Nay! He is late…” She looked around. East, West, North, South, before looking every human over. Realizing he wasn’t there, her features grew dark, her eyes glowing all the brighter. Every noble and soldier quickly looked down to avoid her gaze, their already light skin becoming more ghostly from terror.

“Search!” She snarled angrily. She tossed her hand at the town. “Find him! Dismantle every shadow if need be!”

The soldiers practically fled into the town, smashing through doors and scattering like ants in the rain. They tossed tables. Punched down lanterns. Crashed and smashed their way through anything and everything in their hectic searching; though I wagered their cacophony was to help grant the illusion that they were searching more rigorously. It was to please Kamra. Simple as that.

Pulling out a small leather-bound tome, Kamra began to read. Her hands wrapped against her knee. Hastening. Waning. Then hastening again, faster than before. A breadth of expressions crossed her features. Anticipation. Impatience. Annoyance. Anger.

All were silent. More silent than the dead. Even the children in their mother’s arms or down on their knees beside their parents breathed not a sound.

The nobles said nothing. Barely raised their heads in fear of drawing Kamra’s attention.

Slamming her book shut with a loud ‘slap,’ she looked around, “Where doth he be?!” Not even three minutes had passed.

One of the male nobles managed to meekly say, “Still he evades our searching, milady Kamra.”

Her eyes slimmed. She glared at the man, causing him to shrink back in terror.

“Then find him…” her voice shivered out. At first the nobles looked shocked. I could imagine why. They?! Searching as if common soldiers?! And yet, the seriousness of Kamra’s glare caused them to hastily hop off their mounts and rush into the village.

They moved gracefully. Walking as if across feathers, really more gliding than jogging, with their clothing merely sighing in movement. I was impressed by their regal prowl for a moment. Till I noticed their eyes and fangs once more.

And so the waiting began. Kamra opened her small tome again. Everyone else just stayed still. Silent. Listening to the utter destruction of Swallow Lake as crashes, bangs, shatters, and clangs filled the voiceless void.

We waited.

And waited.

I was not sure how much time had passed, but a scream erupted from one of the nearby buildings. I looked over quickly. Crashes and shouts followed. A minute later, I could hear crying. Children. A woman’s weeping.

My heart sank when I saw who it was.

Soldiers drug the entire Larw family out from the general store. Britheer hung from two guards as he was barely awake, his face bloody from a nasty beating. Gramps was in a slightly similar state. His arm bent unnaturally backwards. His head hung in unconsciousness. Yla and the children weren’t hurt, but they were crying, being drug to their assured deaths.

The townspeople of Swallow Lake didn’t look up. There was no point, surely… the Larws were dead anyway

‘This is… horrible…’ I winced, wanting to look away but also not wanting to betray them in such a way. Ivy began to quietly sob. Macsen looked down at the dirt bitterly, cursing under his breath. Like me, he undoubtedly wanted to do something… but that would mean death. Or worse.

The soldiers threw the Larws down before Kamra as more soldiers and nobles returned to see what the ruckus was. Kamra snapped her book shut and looked down at them.

“What hast thou brought me?!” she demanded from the captain, causing the man to wince and step back in fear. “Ask did I for one with legend… and bring unto me guppies of the muddy forest?!”

He bowed deeply and spoke in a shaky voice, “But criminals they are, Milady Kamra… of the town Lonely Briar, which did I destroy not long afore. Escapees of their punishments they are. What doth you wish for their fates?”

Kamra let out an annoyed sigh and opened her book again, “Do unto them as thou wish, Inteer. Police doth these lands, so do as assigned. Police. The rest… search.” Immediately the nobles and soldiers rushed back into the town.

Inteer, as he was called, positioned the Larws in front of the townspeople. He left them alone; Yla comforting the children and trying to use her skirt to remove the blood off of Gramps and Britheer. Inteer then turned to the people and raised his hands, clapping them together to draw their attention.

“Look here! Look!” he ordered. Heads rose and hundreds of eyes fell on him. His own eyes shimmered with glee at the attention. “Give to you much! Foods, clothes, protection, and yet, many seek to disrupt our wishes and pervade the laws we hold! We give mercy after mercy, and still you insist upon testing our patience. Threaten our ways! Betraying Milady Kamra’s benevolence in favor of thine filthy desires of pride and greed.”

He drew his sword and pointed it at Yla. The children whimpered and hugged her, as she hugged them back protectively.

“These broke our laws once too many! They defied the sanctity of our ways! Spit upon us! And for it, they received their just reward… you are ours. You belong to us. Outweigh your use, and as the cattle you slaughter, we shall slaughter you!” His barking caused people to shiver. To look down. “Look away and you shall join them!” Heads snapped back up. Tears rolled down cheeks.

Inteer just smiled, spreading his hands wide, “Now speak! Tell me of their just reward. What they deserve! What justice demands. They deserve… death,” he spoke softly, listening. Only a few whispers followed. His face flared red and he screamed, “Speak or thine tongues shall be plucked! What do they deserve?!”

“Death…” a stronger, collective voice sounded from the villagers.

“What do they deserve?!”

“Death.”

“Louder!”

“Death!” They shouted, a panicked, pained voice belonging to hundreds voicing their fears, speaking lies to survive. It made me sick. Angry. The temptation to choke him with thorned ivy surged.

Yla and the children cried, clinging to each other as Inteer continued the chanting, his face shimmering with nauseating joy.

Finally Kamra stopped it with a simple, “Inteer, cease. Thine sadisms arrest mine attentions from mine book.”

“Of course, Milady Kamra.” He clapped his hands again, “Be silenced!” They obeyed. He smugly looked over them while soldiers and nobles returned from their search. One of the nobles walked near to Kamra.

She spoke, “Naught here be, Milady. In the forest, surely.”

Kamra hissed but nodded, “So be it. Mount.” The nobles quickly obeyed. The soldiers lined up beside them in formation. Kamra motioned toward Inteer, “Be done with it. Long doth I for mine sanctum.”

“Of course, Milady.” He stepped up to Yla. He grabbed one of the children. The little girl. Yanked her from Yla’s arms, drawing a scream from both of them as Yla reached out to try and grab her, only to have Inteer kick her down. He lifted the girl by her arm. Holding her there as she cried, snot and tears running over her face, a look of terror and pain.

Yla tried to get up. Inteer kicked her again. Britheer scraped against the ground, cursing Inteer, but only bringing a grin to the vampire’s lips as he held the girl before the town assembly.

Macsen inched forward but couldn’t bring himself to go. Ivy buried her face in my arm. Wet tears soaked my tunic.

I felt numb. No emotions. Nothing. I couldn’t help them… if I wanted to live, I couldn’t intervene. It wasn’t even worth trying. I knew the end result… they would die. So would I.

“What doth she deserve?!” Inteer roared at the crowd, giving a threatening edge to his words.

“Death!” They said back in a shaky, but powerful voice.

He raised his sword. The point aiming for the girl’s lung, readying to stick her like a slab of meat.

He raised his voice in excitement, “What doth she deserve?!”

Before anyone could speak, I said firmly, “Life.”

All eyes turned to me. Inteer’s face turned red in anger. The vampires looked surprised. Macsen did too. The townspeople. Even Kamra cocked an eyebrow.

I was going to play the fool. Or the hero? Or maybe a mix of both…