Chapter 15: Hide and seek

As Malakhay slowly woke up, he touched his head as it still hurt him after those soldiers tried to stop him. For a few seconds he feared that they put him in prison, but as he looked around it didn’t seem that way. After quick observations he realized that he was lying under something. As he slowly crawled from under it he recognized it was a king sized bed. As he started to look around himself, he could see a luxuriously arranged room.

The wooden furniture with a lot of decorative ornaments must have been expensive, same as the thick carpet he was now standing on. He couldn’t find anybody else around and as he cautiously looked out of the window he could see it was sunny outside.

“How many days was I asleep?” He thought, still nervously looking around, trying to remember how he got here.

“Where the hell am I?”

As he pondered about these things, he noticed a human sized mirror in the corner of the room. When he looked into it he was left surprised at what he found. His body had clearly changed. He vaguely remembered what happened to him after he spoke with that weird mist which approached him while he was tortured. He grew up, no longer looking like a child. Now he had a size similar to a human around 15 years old. Of course his appearance was still far from human kind.

His previously big head was more proportional to the rest of his body and even if it was still bald, it didn’t look so creepy anymore. His eyes stayed yellow coloured but also seemed not so round and slowly started to resemble the sharp look that elves often have. Another very noticeable change underwent his horns, which were previously still undeveloped and covered by skin. Growing from his forehead and curving upwards they looked more mature than before. Also instead of the gaping holes, which he had as a nose before, a real nose formed on his face.

But the biggest change underwent on his hands and feet. They all had four fingers now, armed with sharp talons and had a different colour from the rest of his body, which was still dark red. In the parts where they grew from the colour slowly started to change from the dark red to some strange sinister grey. After looking at it for some time he remembered how one of the orcs tried to grab him but wasn’t able to because his foot changed into mist. Wondering if it was true or his tired mind just played some tricks on him, he tried to touch the bed beside him but nothing strange happened. He just touched it like anybody else would. He repeated it few times but the result was still the same.

After this quick inspection of his body he again started to wonder where he was. The last thing he remembers is collapsing with soldiers all around him.

“Something must have happened after that.” He came to a conclusion only now noticing that he is also wearing a new set of clothes. It wasn’t anything special, only a robe resembling his previous one, but it was still nice to wear something clean again. Truthfully speaking, everything was better than those rags he had previously.

Still looking around, trying to find some clues to this place, he heard footsteps coming closer from the other side of the door. He slowly opened them, not making any noise, as he tried to listen to what is happening. Through a small gap he could spot two young looking demonata girls walking side by side down the long hallway. Both of them were wearing some kind of uniform clothing as they walked with hands full of what seemed to be laundry.

“Have you heard about it? They are saying the lich-lords are already in the castle.” One of the demonata girls couldn’t hold her excitement as she said this, her voice full of amazement.

“Everybody knows about it. There is supposed to be some kind of big conference. I even heard that the queen herself and the other lords will be present.” The other one responded, also excited about so many powerful creatures in one place.

“Do you think we will be able to see them? I really want to look at the young prince at least once. I’ve been working here as a maid for 2 years and I still didn’t have a chance.”

“The prince is nice too, but I want to see the lich-lords more.”

“They are just piles of bones, what is so interesting about them?”

“They are the most powerful beings after the queen.”

As the maids moved away their voices started to fade with the distance. Malakhay didn’t wait, he slipped out of the room he was in and silently started to follow them. But when he caught up with them they were already talking about something else.

“… like if she is hiding something.”

“Maybe she has a lover.”

“That lazy princess? I don’t think so. There were a lot of prominent candidates and she refused all of them. I heard the queen is starting to lose patience with her.”

As he listened, the maids started to talk about some other unimportant rumours. At this point Malakhay let them walk away, not interested in their useless chatter.

“I don’t know why, but it looks like I’m in the castle. I don’t know who brought me here, but I must find the queen before they notice my disappearance.” With these thoughts he vanished in the shadows without any traces left behind.

***

“I’m just saying that it could be dangerous. We don’t know anything about him. Even lord Deq’ria…”

“Stop being such a worrywart Eliin. Master reassured us that it will be OK, so it will be OK. Or are you saying you can’t trust the words of a lich-lord?” Nexaria asked Eliin, stopping in her tracks and taking a look at her.

“You know very well that this isn’t about trust. I’m responsible for your safety and if something happens to you…”

“As I said everything will be OK.” Nexaria now smiled as she tried to calm down her guardian. “As a matter of fact, I would be quite surprised if that imp were able to beat you.”

“You put too much faith in my abilities young mistress.”

A lot of people viewed Eliin only as a personal maid of the princess but the truth was she was also her personal guard. There were very few people who were as skilled in combat as her and it was one of her duties to protect the princess.

“I still think that we should have used some other place to hide him. Your room isn’t really the smartest pick.”

“Why not? Nobody dares to go there as they please. You are the one in charge of cleaning it so there is no chance that he will be randomly discovered until master wishes for it.” She said as they approached her quarters.

Truthfully speaking Eliin knew Nexaria was right. Even she couldn’t come up with a better place to hide the imp.

As they finally reached Nexaria’s personal room, they went inside and closed the door behind them. Eliin put down a sack she was carrying and started to take out some clothes from it. Yesterday, before she finally agreed to hide the imp in the princess’s room, she cleaned the imp’s body first, as it was filthy from dried dirt and blood. It looked like the little creature had just returned from some kind of slaughterhouse. After cleaning him, she found a clean robe and dressed him. After that they hid him under the bed.

Today at morning, after Nexaria woke up, they checked him and he was still asleep, probably because of the spell Deq’ria put on him. Nexaria thought that a single robe isn’t good enough so after persuading Eliin, they went and obtained some clothes for him, thinking if Deq’ria will want to present him before the queen he shouldn’t look like some peasant.

Just as Nexaria looked under the bed she suddenly froze up.

“Not there.”

“What are you murmuring young mistress?” Eliin asked as she didn’t hear her right.

“He is not there!” Nexaria shouted, panic showing in her voice.

“I warned you to stop playing these pranks on me.” Eliin told her as she approached the bed. Looking under it, the imp was nowhere to be found.

Staring dumbfounded at each other for a few seconds, Eliin shot out like an arrow from a bow and started searching the room. All windows were closed and there was nobody behind or inside the wardrobes.

“He isn’t here and we left the doors unlocked when we left. He must have gone outside. We were away for only two hours and there wasn’t any warning of an intruder, so he must still be somewhere inside the castle.” Eliin concluded and prepared to leave the room.

“Where are you going?” Nexaria asked, still shocked by the situation.

“To find him of course. We can’t leave him roaming freely. If somebody finds out my head will probably roll.”

“But how do you plan to find him? The castle is huge and he could go anywhere.” The princess wanted to know.

“Yesterday, just as insurance, I left my mana mark on his clothes. So it shouldn’t be that hard to find him.”

“Did I already tell you, how much I love you?” Nexaria hugged her, relieved they will be able to locate him.

“Every single day when I’m getting you out of trouble. Come, he can still be discovered anytime.” As she said this, she started to concentrate. It took only a few seconds before she recognized the traces of her mana in the air and started to follow it with Nexaria in her tow.

***

“So I can’t go, I will be on duty.”

Malakhay was hiding in the shadows as he was listening to the two guards talking to each other. He already stopped to count how many people he met and how many times he was almost discovered. The castle was huge and without the map in his head that the master left to him he would surely be lost by now. The endless corridors were stretching in each direction, each of them with doors leading to an uncountable number of rooms. Even from the knowledge that master Korpus left with him he couldn’t tell where each room lead to. Guest rooms, servant rooms, storage rooms and many others, it seemed like it was endless.

It frustrated him but in the end he was still unsuccessful in locating the queen. At first he tried to get into her personal chambers, but after approaching them he deemed it to be impossible to get there without being spotted. They were heavily guarded and not by some ordinarily looking soldiers that were scattered everywhere in the castle. These soldiers were clothed in different uniforms and every one of them had a dangerous aura around them. He concluded that they must be some kind of royal guard.

After this initial plan to find the queen failed, he started to roam the castle and listen to what servants and guards chatted about. He thought that sooner or later he will find somebody who will lead him to his destination. After doing this for almost two hours he was starting to lose hope. He learned about some kind of conference that should take place in a few days and about lich-lords returning to the castle, everything else was useless chatter. Maids dreamt about the young demon prince, soldiers talked about powerful lich-lords. Occasionally somebody mentioned the demon princess and how lazy and childish she was.

“C’mon at least somebody in this cursed piece of stone must be interested in their queen.” He muttered as he was hiding behind one of the many statues. He scratched his itching neck as he was trying to find somebody who could lead him to his target. That was another thing that unnerved him. Some minutes ago his neck started to itch and it wasn’t going away. Scratching it didn’t help him and he was becoming more nervous because he could feel that something wasn’t right.

Then finally some luck smiled at him as he spotted a death knight. Everybody else was a living being and there weren’t any other undead that served in the castle. Meaning that death knight must serve one of the lich-lords that came back. He learned that the queen is currently with them to discuss what will happen after Korpus’s death. So where the death knight goes, there is a lich-lord and where is a lich-lord there will also be the queen.

“Got you.” He muttered as he started to follow him, still scratching his neck.

As he was tracking it he noticed that they came to the lower parts of the castle. This was weird because he knew that there are only the catacombs in these parts. There shouldn’t be any reason for the queen to come down here.

“Did I make a mistake in following it?” Just as he started to think this and planned to return he could hear a voice.

“You are one of lord Deq’ria’s servants right? You can go inside.”

Malakhay carefully peeked from behind the corner and he spotted two soldiers in the uniforms of the royal guard standing before a door.

“That must be the place where the queen is.” He was now certain.

The death knight opened the door and went inside, closing them behind him.

“Now, how to get inside?” As he pondered about this, still scratching his neck, something was caught on one of his sharp talons. When he looked closer, it looked like a piece of a cloth with the same colour as his new robe. The second it came off the itch on his neck stopped and the place on his hand where the cloth was now started to feel uncomfortable. His eyes went wide as he realized something.

“They must be tracking me with this.” He thought and when he tried to concentrate on the cloth he could feel a small portion of mana emanating from it. Holding it in his hand, he looked at the guards before the door and a sinister smile appeared on his face.

***

Nexaria together with Eliin ran from one side of the castle to another a few times now. The tracking which Eliin previously used on the imp’s clothes was still there and even now she could faintly feel how it moved. In other circumstances they would have thought that the imp is making fun of them by running in circles but that wasn’t possible as there was no way that he knew the layout of the castle.

They were becoming really nervous because with each passing second there was a great risk of the imp being discovered, especially now when the whole castle was in the middle of preparations for the upcoming conference.

One time they even came dangerously close to the queen’s quarters.

“Can I help you somehow princess?” One of the royal guards asked her when he saw her approach him.

“Oh, I’m just looking for mother as I will need to speak to her later.” She quickly answered, nervously looking around.

“She should be with the lich-lords at this time. That’s what she mentioned before she left her chambers.”

“Thank you, when you see her later, please tell her that I need to speak to her.”

“As you wish.” He bowed.

As they left she quietly muttered: “Great, now I need to come up with a reason why I wanted to speak to her.”

Right after that the track guided them to the servant quarters.

“Does the princess need something from us?” One of the many maids asked when she saw her there.

“No, I’m just taking a little stroll to clear my head, don’t bother with me.” She answered going from one end of the hallway to another, clearly looking like she is searching for something.

“The track goes to the catacombs. I’m sure of it.” Eliin commented after a few minutes.

“Why would he go there?” Nexaria pondered and the answer for her question came almost instantly.

“Mother must be there. That guard said that she went to meet with the lich-lords and they often meet in the catacombs when they don’t wish to be bothered. He must be searching for mother. Even at the gate where he was caught the guards said he wanted to speak to the queen.”

“That’s another reason to quickly find him. Deq’ria previously said that he is dangerous. What if he is planning something?” Eliin hastened her steps as they neared the catacombs.

The catacombs were the oldest part of the castle that wasn’t used anymore. Previously it was used as the last shelter in the case of emergencies, but in this age there were a lot of secret passages that were used instead of it should the need arise. The only ones still occasionally using it were the lich-lords for their experiments. Because of that this place became unofficially theirs and servants were told that they shouldn’t wander there if they really mustn’t. And so without anybody taking care of it, it became deserted, dark and quite dusty.

“We are getting closer.” Eliin warned as she tried to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to frighten the imp. The last thing they needed right now was him running from them into the arms of the queen.

They stopped as Eliin signalled to Nexaria that she can feel him just behind one of the statues in the corridor before them. She also spotted two royal guards who were just around the corner, probably guarding the doors where the queen with the lich-lords was.

Both of them agreed on a simple plan. They will jump at him from behind, grab him and drag him away as fast as they could. Even if the guards notice them Nexaria could just come out and tell them that she heard her mother is here and she came to speak to her.

Prepared to catch the imp Eliin jumped behind the statue where he was supposed to be and tried to grab him. Her hands hit something hard and as she bumped into it, it collapsed. Looking closely, it were stones stacked on each other, which can be found anywhere around the catacombs. As these stones collapsed, the noise they made was heard by the guards and they became alerted.

“Who goes there?” They demanded an answer, their weapons ready.

Without any answer they slowly approached the corner from where the noise came. Just as they jumped out ready to attack, they found Nexaria sitting on the ground, while Eliin was helping her to stand up.

“Princess? What are you doing here? Are you okay?” They looked at her, not knowing what to think.

“I heard my mother should be here and I needed to speak to her. So I came but this cursed place is so dirty that I stepped on some loose stone and fell.” Just as they helped her to stand up and she started to dust off her clothes, she spotted the shadow of the imp opening the door they were guarding and quickly going inside.

“NO! Stop him!” Eliin saw him too as she shouted, but it was already too late.

***

“I can’t believe it went that well.” Malakhay thought as he approached the now unguarded door. He prepared a simple trap to lure the guards away and keep his pursuers occupied at the same time. Then he went around until he didn’t reach the other side of the corridor where the doors were situated. The only thing he needed to do was to wait for his opportunity.

He thought that he would be able to lure away one of the guards and wrestle through the other, but he got lucky and both of them left. As he approached the door he could hear the voice of some young girl, but he didn’t have time to pay closer attention to it. He grabbed the handle, opened the doors and quickly went inside.

The first thing he noticed was the four skeletons clothed in magnificent robes sitting on similar chairs. They must be the other lich-lords that master previously mentioned. Together with them sitting on the fifth chair was a young looking woman.

“That must be the queen.” He thought, still looking around. They were listening to somebody talking.

“…was probably who betrayed us.”

As he heard the familiar voice he looked at the person who was speaking and he immediately recognized Malthazar, the necromancer who was there and who attacked together with the elves.

“Don’t listen to him! Master Korpus left a message for the queen! He said: Malthazar is a traitor and a Realm Walker!” Just as Malakhay shouted this, everybody’s eyes turned at him. Most of them were surprised when they saw him there, staring at him.

“Wha..?” Malthazar looked around, confused, not knowing who shouted. Nobody was supposed to know about his betrayal, let alone about him being a Realm Walker. As he looked at the strange creature in front of him, he suddenly recognized a close resemblance to the imp that Korpus had summoned.

“You little worm! It is as I said; you betrayed us, led the elves to our camp and during the fight backstabbed lord Korpus!” Malthazar shouted back at him as he tried to attack him.

Just when Malakhay also prepared to jump at Malthazar the door behind him opened and the royal guards appeared. Seeing the imp, who wasn’t supposed to be there, they jumped at him. Surprised at the force that pinned him down, he started to struggle beneath the guards. Slashing at the one who was holding him, his talons found their way to the guard’s shoulder and he cut him. Not being able to hold him anymore with his injury, the guard tried to use his body and restrain him but Malakhay was quicker. He was able to get out from beneath the guard’s body and just as the other one tried to restrain him again he used his newly grown horns and stabbed the man in the stomach with them.

Finally free he turned around back to Malthazar. At the second he had the necromancer in his sight again something crashed into him from behind. Eliin, seeing that Malakhay defeated the guards, jumped at him the moment he turned around. This time she was successful in bringing him down and restrained both of his hands as she pinned him down with her knee. He was still trying to struggle but it was useless as she was holding him tightly.

Seeing the imp is restrained Malthazar came closer and started to chant. But before he was able to finish the spell Deq’ria stood up before him and grabbed him by the neck.

“What do you think you are doing Malthazar? To use magic in our presence and the presence of the queen when you weren’t given the permission?! Do you want me to kill you?” She asked, her eyes shining and promising death.

“But my lord, he is dangerous and must be disposed of.” He tried to explain himself.

“If he plotted with the elves and killed Korpus as you said, then we need to question him. Or are you trying to imply that four lich-lords wouldn’t be able to hold down a single imp?”

“Of course not. I apologise for my previous actions.”

“Good.” She nodded and released him. “It is good that you are so vigilant, but know your place.” She warned him again.

When she was finished with Malthazar she looked at the queen: “What are your commands?” She wanted to know.

The queen slowly studied Malakhay who was still pinned to the ground and spoke only after a few seconds.

“It is as you said Deq’ria. I want to question this imp about what happened to Korpus. He is clearly suspicious as he shouldn’t even be in the castle. He also injured two of my royal guards and tried to attack one of my necromancers so for the time being lock him up in the dungeon. If it is true that he caused Korpus’s death he will beg to be killed.”

“You must be fucking kidding me!” Malakhay shouted as he heard her. “I was almost killed by elves, then by slavers and then by that piece of shit necromancer and you want to throw ME in the dungeon? Are you crazy you bitch?” Just as he finished, everybody looked dumbfounded as he called the queen bitch.

“You will not speak like that to your queen or else I will have you killed.” The queen warned him with a serious tone.

“You know what; I don’t give a shit anymore. Fuck you.” He said looking straight to her eyes. “Yea, fuck you, and you, and you and also you!” He looked at every one of them. “C’mon bitch, kill me. What are you waiting for?” Suddenly a blue hue appeared in his eyes not unlike those in the lich-lord’s eye sockets. “I can promise you, that you will regret it.” He said calmly as he smiled at her.

Just as he finished his talk, Deq’ria spoke: “Please allow me, my queen.” And with a quick nod from the queen she summoned two of her death knights. They grabbed Malakhay and started to drag him away in the direction of the dungeon.