Amazonia - A betrayal unmasked

The night was dark and full of secrets.

I was my Shadow self again, the pain suffered during the transformation a fading echo of my weaker self. I stood outside the city of Amul, whose gates were shut, following one of Kax's priestesses towards a woman's guest-house, set among the wood and stone buildings huddled around Amul's walls. A matronly woman bowed us in and I followed the priestess up the stairs, my face hidden by my cloak's hood while my armor hid the rest of me. My Rune sword hung at my side while my helm was in my hand.

The warped stairs groaned as we walked up them, flakes of paint fluttering from the wall as I brushed against its surface. We reached the hall and turned right, following the threadbare carpet until reaching a plain wooden door. The priestess spoke a few words in the Sasnayam language and the door to a bedroom opened. I followed her inside.

The room was simple, with a wooden bed and a table shoved into one corner, holding a platter next to a brace of daggers laying in a pile. Six women, with hair either the color of fire or blood, held a seventh with hair the color of snow down on the bed. She was dressed in black leather armor, much like the dead Fae Yrg wore, except the buckles had been unfastened and the chest armor was pulled back. Her black arming tunic had been rolled up, exposing her chest. A breast binder lay next to her on the blanket.

Kax and a half dozen other priestess-mages were standing together against the wall, and as we walked in, Kax said, "Are the dead in position and ready?"

"My Necromantic legion is waiting for the signal to rise up and attack," I replied, motioning towards the bed with my free hand. "What's this?"

Kax motioned at the struggling woman, urgently trying to speak past the gag in her mouth. "I had grown suspicious that there might be a traitor in our midst, and one of my priestesses confirmed it when she went through Snow's travel bag and found an amulet of the traitor Chaac among her possessions. I was about to cut out her heart and consume its mana nodes."

"Snow?"

Kax gave me a sardonic smile. "Yrg nicknamed her that." Kax's smile vanished as her gaze fell on the white haired woman. "Her betrayal is hard, because Yrg taught her all the assassin skills Yrg knew."

Looking around the room, I raised my eyebrows. "By chance, was the priestess standing beside you the one who denounced your assassin?"

Kax reared back as a flash of terror, quickly masked, flashed across the blood haired priestess' face. Kax's eyes narrowed. "How did you know? Intuition, or a lucky guess?"

All eyes in the room were on me as I dropped my helm and drew the Rune sword from its sheathe. "Neither. I see signs others cannot, which is how I knew who the Sasnayam spies were without asking questions. You wear a crown of flame at your brow, while all the women in this room, including her," the tip of my blade motioning towards the white haired mage, "wear a smaller crown like a tiara." My sword whipped up to point at the priestess beside Kax. "This one wears a snake in her hair like a tiara devoted to someone else."

All eyes were now upon the blood haired priestess as she paled. "My lady, this creature is lying. I would never-"

Kax's hand shot out and wrapped itself around the woman's throat. "Someone get Bita's travel pack from the next room and bring it here." The priestess who led me to this room quickly bowed and hurried away, returning a moment later with a leather pack meant to be strapped onto a horse. As the priestess set it on the bed, Kax let up her grip on the woman's throat. "You were deep in Muzen's councils-"

"My lady, I have done nothing wrong." The blood haired priestess motioned at the bag. "Go through my belongings, and you will find nothing that incriminates me."

With the tip of my blade, I tapped what appeared to be a seamless part of the bag. "What about the rune of power I can see that's faintly glowing right there?"

"There is no rune of power," Blood-hair snapped at me. "You are trying to trick my lady into... Urk!"

Kax's hand closed around the woman's throat again as the priestess who carried in the bag placed her hand above the area I'd pointed out. I pulled my sword back as she spoke a word, the stone in her ear glowing blue as the rune dissolved. A flap flew open and a medallion on a leather cord fell out.

The priestess grasped it by the cord and held it up. The medallion was the shiny black of an Artifact device, with the symbol of an old woman, wearing a snake on her head, carved into the wood before a mage cast the spell to transmuted it. The other priestesses gasped as Kax released her grip just enough for Blood-hair to talk. "That is not mine, I swear it! This is all a trick-"

With her other hand, Kax slammed her fist into Blood-hair's stomach. The woman gasped and dropped to the floor as Kax let her go. "Release Snow and hold down Bita," Kax said. The other priestesses let go of Snow, who ripped the gag from her mouth as they rushed over, grabbing Blood-hair and forcing the struggling woman over to the bed.

One of them jammed the gag into Bita's mouth as Snow threw herself at Kax's feet. "My lady, apologies and contrition for my sins of arrogance. Yet I've always been your faithful servant."

"I know that... now." Kax reached down and ran her fingers through Snow's hair. "Apologies for doubting you, and gratitude," Kax added, looking up at me, "to you, Shadow Knight, for speaking up."

I inclined my head as I sheathed my sword. "For as long as we are allies, I'll continue to do so." I motioned at the medallion. "Since I assume that's a messaging device, are you going to contact Ix-Chel and gloat?" The priestess with the medallion held it out, and Kax went to reach for it.

Then she stopped and closed her hand. "Much as I want to, Yun's voice in my head reminds me that the longer we keep our enemies in the dark, the more chaos we can cause." She looked at the priestess. "Can you imitate Bita's voice?"

The priestess nodded. "My lady, will you whisper in my ear and tell me what to say?"

Kax smiled. "Of course. Once the business of the night is done, we'll contact her." Kax continued running her fingers through Snow's hair, who now leaned her head against Kax's leg. Kax gripped her hair and gave it a gentle tug. "Snow, get dressed and resume your place guarding my back." Her smile turned cold. "Would you care to do the honors?"

Snow's smile grew colder than her name. "I would like nothing more, my lady."

She got to her feet and started buckling her armor while Bita struggled against the priestesses holding her down, the one priestess opening the pouch at her belt and dropping the medallion inside. Then she pulled out a ceremonial dagger and handed it to Snow. Snow bowed to the priestess as she accepted it, the priestess bowing back, and both of them bowed to Kax before walking towards the bed. The priestess took the breast binder and shoved it in her pouch as Snow used the dagger to slice open Bita's dress.

Then she leaned over and began whispering into the woman's ear. Whatever she said caused Bita to stop struggling as tears rolled down her cheeks, Snow rising back up as she turned towards Kax and presented the knife. Kax nodded and Snow turned around, showing the knife to Bita, who watched in terrified fascination as Snow leaned over her once more.

I moved around Kax to get a better view. Snow didn't plunge the dagger into Bita's chest, but sliced with delicate motions, the rest of the priestesses rushing over to help as Bita thrashed about in her struggle to break free. Snow continued her methodical cuts, exposing the heart before severing the smaller vessels as blood freely poured out. Bita's struggles grew weak, and finally ceased a few moments before Snow made the final cuts and lifted the heart out of the corpse's chest. The priestess beside her took the platter from the table and held it out. Snow dropped the heart onto the platter, the priestess holding it steady as Snow took her time slicing away the glowing mana nodes and dropping them onto the platter.

Snow carved away the last one before picking the heart back up and returning it to the gaping hole in the corpse's chest. As Snow began wiping her hands on the torn dress while the priestesses rose to their feet, the other priestess walked in a stately manner with the platter held out in front of her, and presented the bloody mana nodes to Kax. She nodded, and began picking them off and delicately eating them. I chuckled, and she looked at me. "You find something amusing?"

"A memory from my weaker self, when she was a slave who entertained the elite at fancy parties. You remind her of a noble eating dainties off a tray."

Kax shrugged. "An apt comparison." Finishing the last one, she licked the blood off her fingers and used the hem of the dead woman's dress to wipe her mouth. "Alright, gather up only what fits in your pouches, and leave your clothes in your packs. Once the dead have swept through Amul, you can dress in whatever finery we find."

Kax and her priestesses swept from the room and I followed out into the hall, all of them returning a short time later wearing cloaks. I motioned towards the open doorway. "Aren't you worried the innkeeper will raise a fuss?"

Kax smiled. "The innkeeper is about to have more pressing concerns. Will you proceed us?" I shrugged and led the way down the stairs, lingering beside the open door as the priestesses filed past me into the darkness. Kax was the last, and as the matronly woman who owned the inn hurried over, she said to her, "My ladies and I are going to take the air. One of them made a mess upstairs, so pray send a maid up and add the cost to my bill... oh, and pour wine for everyone in the common room, including yourself. My treat."

The innkeeper gave Kax a gap toothed smile. "Your will, milady." She gestured for a servant to run upstairs, then called for wine on the house.

A chorus of happy female voices answered this as we walked out into the night. I glanced at her. "I truly don't care, but my weaker self would wonder why you're being so extravagant?" Kax only gave me a smug smile, until a voice from the upstairs room screamed.

A moment later, fire exploded out the doorway and bottom windows of the guest-house. "Naphtha and a little fire sprite," she said to my questioning look as more screams began behind us. "Like your Shamblers, they understand simple commands and are patient." The five Xian mercenaries Zanzabel had brought along as guards were waiting, cloaked and hooded as we were, and Kax said, "Are all of you ready?" All five, who understood Greco-Roma, nodded. Kax flipped her hood back. "Then let us get started."

As we approached Amul, the gates creaked open and a dozen or so guards rushed past us towards the fire, which had spread to the upper floor, threatening the buildings beside it. Six more guards were standing at the entrance, watching, and as we got close, one of them said, "Apologies, but after dark, no one's allowed-"

Kax's hair glowed orange-red as she created a ball of fire in her hand and flung it at the group. It exploded, the men shouting in pain and surprise as the mercenaries flipped their cloaks back, exposing the repeating crossbows. The first one peppered the guards with bolts, bringing them down as the other four mercenaries rushed into the gatehouse. They opened fire on the remaining guards while the first reloaded.

I drew my sword and stood guard as Kax placed a black speaking device into her ear and tapped it twice. "People of Amul," her voice echoed, while new screams began on the edges of the village outside the walls, "I am Kax, the destroyer. Yun brought you peace and prosperity, but the Lord of Storms and the Lady of Lies plotted to bring us down. When the decree came to tear down our temple, did you protest? No, you did nothing. Your ancestors are ashamed of you, people of Amul, and tonight they are rising from their graves to bring my wrath down upon you." Behind me, several of the priestesses gasped and I turned around.

A horde of dead men and women were lurching towards the gate. "They won't hurt you," I told them as the priestesses huddled together with their eyes closed. The dead shambled around them as Kax and Snow stepped back. "These are the ones least useful on the battlefield. I was going to use them as arrow fodder, but for causing terror, they'll be perfect."

There was a clattering sound coming from a shadowed doorway leading up to a tower, and a moment later, several young guardsmen ran straight into the horde. Dozens of hands grabbed them and pulled them down, their shrieks abruptly cut off as blood spurted. "My Shamblers know to go for the throat," I said to the women's horrified faces. Even Kax appeared deeply disturbed as I smiled. "Once Amul has been cleared out, the Necromancers will search the corpses for the most useful bodies to reanimate, like the ones there."

"Let me know when it is safe to enter," Kax said.

She was holding onto Snow like a lover, and I stored the knowledge away for another time... for the day would come when the enemy of my enemy becomes my enemy once more. "When Amul has become a city of ghosts, I will inform you. Keep them safe," I told the mercenaries. "Cermet will be at the end of this mob with a company of Necromantic legionnaires to help you hold the gate."

They bowed to me and I strode forward through the gatehouse into the square beyond. With the Rune sword in my right hand, I threw my arms out wide. "Amul belongs to the night and to us." The dead flowed past me as I began to laugh.

The night was dark and full of screaming.