Corrinus stopped his horse in front of the castle and pushed the hood of his robe back from his face. The great stone castle of the Lamya stood tall over the rest of the Kingdom of Malinas. With its many turrets and towers and spires, it was so high that the very top was enveloped by a cloak of angry dark clouds. The only things higher than the castle were the sloping green mountains of the Midori rising in the north, in whose shadow the Kingdom lay.

The horse shifted its weight beneath him and Corrinus dismounted. He handed the reins to his aide and walked towards the door.

From a distance, the stonework of the castle appeared red or orange, lit by firelight, but on closer inspection one could see it had been built of cold grey stone and the dark shadow of poison ivy was starting to creep up the walls. Corrinus loved it – loved his ancestors for building the place there and letting the old Elani castle on the moors fall to ruin.

He paused with his hand on the door and turned to look back as his aide led the horse away. There were many pathways to the castle, all rough and crumbling and all suspended above the deep fire pits that would gurgle and shoot up into the sky without warning. Most of these paths were narrow, some dead ends and others had crumbled completely, falling foul of the fire forever burning beneath them.

Great red stone walls, carved with dragons and other oddities, flanked the pathways. In some places, the paths and walls joined so there were corridors of solid red stone, where the fire pits were unseen yet could still be felt as a fierce heat beneath.

It made his heart glad. There was nowhere else better protected or grander in the whole of the Kingdom. Only the most powerful of the Lamya dared go there – Corrinus himself and his closest aides. The people of the towns feared magic had a hand in shaping the landscape and avoided it at all times.

Smirking, Corrinus entered the darkness and let the door close behind him. The towns and barren scenery that made up the rest of the Kingdom lay just to the west of the castle – another barrier should anybody attack.

The towns themselves were full of shabby buildings, uncomfortably close to each other, many with broken windows and dingy brickwork. The streets and dank alleys that lined the towns had cobbles in the nicer parts and dirt, mud and dust in the others. But Corrinus could change everything. He could make Malinas great and its people love him.

He knew he was to be the greatest leader ever to have lived – the idea obsessed him. His people would worship him and soon, he would become the first Lamya King.

Flushed with his own importance, he climbed the stairs to meet with his aides.

#

Corrinus strode around the darkened room listening as his aides discussed the problem of the failing crops out in the fields. He stopped by the window, his thick velvet cloak coming to an abrupt halt behind him as if it were a living being, and he stared out at the sky. One of the fire pits erupted, sending flames shooting high into the sky and he stepped back.

Pain pierced his eyes, those pink eyes of his. Light almost blinded him. Squinting, he turned back to the room –

its single candle on the table lighting up the faces of the four aides - and coughed importantly. The aides were silent in an instant, knowing he wished to speak.

"Bad crops, skinny cattle, weak slaves, poor pathetic Lamya people." He spat the words, enjoying the way his aides cringed as he walked past. His voice grated, as if he had a permanent sore throat. "And what have you come up with, my faithful aides? You have a solution for this problem, yes?"

There was no answer.

He sighed. "No. You disappoint me once again. Zev!"

A huge, brutish-looking man with a squashed face, hands like spades, and broad shoulders, stepped from the shadows. The aides appeared visibly shocked and Corrinus knew they hadn't known the man had been in the room.

This man, known only as Zev, was his very own personal guard, a man he'd discovered terrorizing Lamya on the streets of East–Town before he had taken him into his command.

The aides looked from Zev to Corrinus, then back to Zev again. One of them spoke up, his voice nothing more than a frightened whine. "My lord, we have one idea! Please..."

Corrinus held up his hand and the aides each blew a sigh of relief as Zev stepped back into the shadows. "Yes?"

The aide – Corrinus searched for the man's name, Jonjo, perhaps - looked down at the table and scratched his hands as he answered his leader. "There is just one type of person who can grow crops as well as the Elani folk could, my lord."

"Yes?"

Jonjo gulped. "Uh, the Elani folk, my lord, we need them." He fell silent, waiting for a response.

Corrinus stared into the shadows and ran a hand over his chin. It had taken the idiots how long to come up with that idea? He'd thought of it months ago. "The Elani?" he mused. "Yes..."

"But they would never help us, my lord! Surely—"

"Silence." Corrinus walked over to Jonjo and gave one of his rare smiles. He leaned close to the aide's ear and yelled into it, "Idiot! Of course they won't help us! We don't ask for help, we're the Lamya, if we want something we take it!" He stood up and patted the shaking man's shoulder. "Relax. Breathe. I will look after you."

The aides visibly relaxed as he seated himself at the table. "Elani slaves," he said, folding his hands carefully in front of him. "That's what we need. And why just make them work in the fields? We can have them everywhere, working, doing our jobs. Making our towns richer. Ha ha! Yes."

One of the aides, a man seated next to Jonjo, cleared his throat and prepared himself to speak. Corrinus glared at him. "Ahem, my lord? The Elani may be peaceable folk but they have warriors. My lord, I have heard stories about Elani warriors."

There was a murmur of agreement from the other aides, but Corrinus raised his hand to silence them.

"Stories? What stories?" He shrugged, dismissing the idea. "I have heard no such tales. These people are living practically on our doorstep and have not once tried to fight us. We will replace each and every Lamya slave with an Elani. Yes, arrange a group of slavers. They will leave for the Vale tonight. Anyone who resists, warrior or no, will be killed. They should never have stayed so close. Zev!"

The guard was instantly by his side.

Corrinus smiled as Zev leaned in to hear his command. "See to it that the Lamya slaves out in the fields are dealt with," he said, his voice low. "Release them, kill them, whatever. Go."

As Zev and the aides filed out of the room, Corrinus blew out the candle and rubbed his temples. He didn't like the light.