Heads will roll!!!

Chapter Thirteen – The Waking of a Sleeping Lion

*** Leo Cazador ***

My knuckles bled white as my fists trembled. Slowly I took in what I was seeing, but even so I could hardly believe it, no I…I didn’t want to believe it. How could I have been so careless? Why didn’t I protect this village better? I should have known that even with my five most powerful spells Sophia would have not been able to use them to hurt another.

As soon as her ring called out to me, as soon as I felt her fear and panic, I bolted for the village, but by the time I got here the attackers were already long gone and out in the ocean too far to chase. I could feel her, I wanted so much to chase after her, but I knew well enough that I would not be able to cross the distance over water.

For the first time in a long time I truly wanted to kill something, anything, as long as it kept me from feeling the pain I now felt in my heart. I swore in my heart that I would devise the single worst curse imaginable for the men who took my precious Sophia…and…and should she be hurt or die may the almighty have mercy on the world because I know I would not.

After a moment I realized that I had been standing still for nearly an hour wasting precious time, my eyes have been locked on Helton’s corpse. In shame I realized that his wife has been unable to approach her husband’s body due to the immense bloodlust I had been bleeding out uncontrollably. I breathed in and out as I contained it to some degree and turned to head back to Isandryl, I needed a ship and I knew exactly who could get me what I need.

*** Jane Helton ***

The strange boy my husband had befriended had appeared out of breath and looking panicked, I wanted to tell him what happened to Sophia and my Chasity but then he changed. His eyes scanned the area and they came to rest on our house, in the blink of an eye he was there and like he was lifting a bedsheet he lifted the entirety of the house and all its debris with magic. He looked around as if looking for corpses but turned away when he didn’t find what he was looking for.

I thought that this was my chance to tell him what happened but then his eyes landed on my husband’s body and he released a wave of…rage. I wanted to comfort him, tell him that it was not his fault, and ask him to save my girl but my knees buckled as I could feel the uncontrolled and unrelenting bloodlust. The grass at his feet began to wither and die as everything in earshot became silent. Not a sound was heart as he stared at my fallen husband.

After a while his face finally lifted and I got to see what the face of wrath looks like, what form it takes in the mortal realm. He would have no mercy on those who took his Sophia and I hoped and begged that it was true, that the men who took my Chasity would suffer a fate worse than death. He turned his gaze away from me and left, he left with purpose in his eyes, I could feel it, he knew where to go and what to do.

Just as he took his fifth step he turned towards my husband and the ground suddenly became molten around him, the earth rose up and took the form of a monumental spire, a grand spire with a near perfect bust of my husband’s face atop. There were letters carved into the monument, “Here Lies Johnathan Helton, Friend to a Prince, Father to Three and Husband to One”.

This was more than anyone in the lower class could ever hope for, a timeless piece to be remembered by. I silently thanked the boy as he now fled to accomplish his task.

*** Bjorn ***

“Master Bjorn you have a visitor,” a young apprentice come to me, he was a sworn in member, the son of another member who had proven his contribution to the Illuminated.

“Who is it?” I asked. I was currently in my office working on clearing out paperwork for the king, the shop, and even the Illuminated.

“It’s a boy sir,” he replied. “He says he would greet you by the top window of your workshop and that you would know him.”

At first I wondered who he spoke of, but there was only one I ever met that fit that criteria, the very individual for whom the Illuminated was formed.

“Let him in,” I said in a calm voice betraying nothing.

“Right away sir,” the boy bowed and closed the door. A few moments later another boy stepped in, a much younger boy with fine clothing and oddly he wore a mask. It was generally yellow with black markings that resembled that of a smiling face, in the slits of the eyes I could see two crimson glowing eyes.

“Hello Bjorn,” the boy said coming to stand directly in front of me. His voice carried vicious power, as it crawled through my ears I shivered out of surprise and nervousness. His voice has always been gentle and pleasant, now there was an edge to it. “There is something I need from you, a ship, and before you say anything other than do I want a crew or not know that I am not in a very merciful mood.”

As soon as he started speaking I knew something was wrong, I just didn’t know what it was. As he was halfway through his declaration I understood what was wrong.

I would like to say I have known the boy since his infancy, he has visited me often and we have had many interesting moments, he’s been someone I have come to completely trust and have in fact devoted myself to his guidance. With all this in mind, there is something wrong with the child, something deeply wrong, I suddenly found myself closed inside a room with an angry lion.

“W…will you be needing a crew?” I asked cautiously.

“One hundred twenty men for the war vessel you have been secretly building,” the boy replied. “I have taken the liberty of moving some supplies and other useful trinkets aboard. The only thing missing is a crew capable of handling the vessel appropriately.”

“I will see that it gets done,” I bowed low. Before I could lift my head I heard the door open and close, he was already gone.

*** Leo Cazador ***

I stuffed some of my spell books into my satchel as I searched through the hidden vault in the library, the vault was really just a small crook between shelves that spared enough space for half a dozen thick books or thrice that many in lighter books. I took a total of six, all of them had black leather binding.

As I made my way out of the library Eleanor found me and blocked my way.

“Leo…,” she called out standing between me and the space beyond the library blocking the threshold. “Let me…let me help you!”

“Help me with what?” I cocked my head sideways attempting to bear my goofy I-don’t-know-what-you-are-talking-about grin.

“That!” she said angrily, I guess the power of a woman’s intuition is no joke. “You have a mask on stupid! You can’t lie to me!”

“I’ll be back in a few days,” I said turning my face back into a mask of indifference, though I did feel stupid for actually forgetting I had an actual mask on my face.

“No you won’t!” her voice was shrill and full of panic and pain. “I don’t know why, but I feel that you might not come back and if you do, you won’t be the same!”

“I will be back,” I promised. Before she could react and stop me from leaving I used a high level darkness element spell that melded me into the shadows and allowed me to retreat in the blink of an eye. I felt bad, but my pain of losing Sophia and the constant bleeding of fear I receive from her overrode any guilt I might have.

I left a note with a guard stating that I would be gone for some time, maybe a month, maybe a year, but I would be back.

The Mors Mortem Morialis, the wall of death, a ship so grand that it was designed to be a vessel of standalone force, it was to have been the heart of the entire Boraian naval fleet. It was a one hundred and twenty meter long battleship, armored with lightweight steel, and coated with a penetrative layer of oily gum from the fire resistant Phylagene Fibrosa, not to mention that its sails were also made of the same material.

The greatest drawback of the vessel was the fact that, like all current ocean goers, it was limited in firepower. Normally such a vessel was armed with a series of ballista and catapults, but I would have none of that, instead I had certain packages aboard, they were last resort weapons I hoped never to need as I rather desired to get Sophia back without any real complications.

When the vessel was finally completely loaded I nodded for the assigned captain to start the voyage into the unknown.

With a thought I began to manipulate the wind as the anchor was raised and the ship finally started making its way out into the open waters of the ocean. It had taken a full day to get underway, by ship it would take near a week to reach the side of Boraia from where Sophia was taken, and who knows how long after that to catch up to the men who took her. I closed my eyes and my body trembled as I lost control of my seething rage for a single moment.

When I felt myself back in control I opened my eyes and turned towards the navigator at the wheel and told him in which direction to head before I turned to go in to the captain’s quarters.