Deadly Intentions (Blood Feud - Volume 2) (27 page)

Tulio chuckled. “True, but Beth isn’t.” He
observed.

“Good point. I’m not really sure then, we
just…can.” Tristan replied.

“An excellent skill to possess.” The orc
observed.

The Prince agreed as a female elf entered the
library, a roll of parchment under one arm and a collection of
paints in a finely crafted canister in her hand. She raised her
eyebrows slightly.

“May I send you an image?” He asked aloud. It
was custom among the elves to ask permission before invading
someone’s mind. Tristan didn’t mind errant voices in his head
though; he assumed this was more due to his upbringing and the
force that had been required to rip him from the
Nightmare
Spell
that hit him years ago.

The elf bowed and nodded her approval.
Tristan sent the image of the flower and its immediate surrounding
area. She studied the image; he could feel her turning the plant
around in his mind, trying to study each of its facets as she
learned all she could. The elven artist nodded her head and set the
parchment down on the librarians’ desk and began to draw. Before
too long she had recreated the image perfectly. Tristan called over
the librarian and asked him if he could identify the flower.

“No. I’m sorry young Prince.” The elf
answered sadly. He walked over to the horticulture section of the
shelves.

Tristan thanked the elven artist and walked
with the parchment back to the table the three of them were using.
He placed it gingerly on the surface of the table and used two
books to hold down each end of the roll. The Prince looked up at
the pair of them almost pleadingly.

“This is the plant I need. We need to find
out where else it grows.” He said with urgency.

“Else?” Tulio looked up and asked.

“Else. Apparently it only grows on the isle
of Deus.” Tristan admitted.

Beth swore, much to Tristan’s astonishment
and amusement. “Exactly.” He said with a chuckle.

For days they searched, elves came in and
left. Horologists and healers came and went. The Queen’s advisors
and even the orcs most learned came to see if they could name the
plant. No one could even guess at its location, let alone another
option from Deus.

Tristan’s desperation began to shine forth
again, and he began to steal himself up to walk right into what he
knew to be a trap. He wondered if his newly acquired immortality
could protect him from being magically torn limb from limb. Dark
thoughts threatened to swallow him up again.

The Queen walked into the room that had been
set aside for the Prince as he darkly stuffed his few belongings
into his satchel. The only thing he took care with was the artists’
rendition of the flower he needed. Already he had his armor on and
his sword belted around his waist. Giani leaned against the doorway
and watched him patiently. Tristan knew she was there, but his
anger seethed. He slung his quiver over his shoulder, following it
with his shield and grabbed his bow.

“Going somewhere?” The Queen asked
rhetorically.

“I’m leaving.” Tristan replied curtly.

“With half the mystery solved?” She said
lightly. It was more of an observation than a question, and she
knew he would understand that.

“I don’t care. I’ll boil it, crush it, simmer
or steam it. I’ll grab enough of them to try everything.” He
answered stubbornly.

“As long as I’ve lived I’ll never understand
the human desire to always be on the move.” The Queen admitted.

“Yes well, we don’t all live hundreds of
years. Humans have precious few years and must squeeze all the life
we can out of them.” The Prince shot rudely.

“True, but you have no such issue.” She
replied lightly.

Tristan stopped suddenly, taking a deep
breath. He smiled in spite of his anger, looking over at the Queen.
“She does.” He said quietly.

The Prince stalked around the Queen, leaving
the guest area of their treetop dwelling. He sent out a request for
Bethia to take flight and he leaped off the branch between trees.
She easily flew underneath him and he landed lightly in her saddle.
He reached down and strapped his legs in as she sped across the
clearing over the roves of the orcs. Tulio waved from the front of
his simple wood and dried mud hut.

“I know it, young man.” The Queen muttered
sadly as he sped away out of sight.

~

As quietly as they could the three women
crawled along in the muck and mud. Each of them sported a wide
array of shallow cuts, purple and green bruises and Eurydice even
had a long gash along her back from one of the orc females who had
attacked her from behind. Four crèches had been raided thus far,
and they had yet to encounter a single male. All of the babies and
young were female as were their mothers and protectors.

It was no small thanks to Lesa that they had
survived thus far. Her healing arts and draconic senses had proved
vital. They had found a village near the last crèche and now inched
their way along in the swampy mud towards the edge of it. Mina had
suggested that there might be a map or guide of some sort in the
town that could be of some use to them. Tried as they might, they
could not teach Mina how to communicate with her mind, so she was
forced to follow along as best she could.

Her whip was something she tried not to dwell
on. The ease with which it took life was frightening to the Guisian
Princess, and she often felt shame at how well she was fairing with
it. The first woman she killed had been strangled to death as Mina
watched in horror. Since then she had attempted to use the sharp
edges to quickly dispatch her opponents. The young were the most
shocking thing.

In the first crèche they had happened upon a
hatching egg. Mina watched in amazement as the youngling fell out
of the egg. Its tiny limbs flailed and kicked as it tried to free
itself from the sticky membrane of its previous home. The baby took
one look at her and let forth a terrifying scream as it crawled
towards her, naked hatred in its tiny eyes. It grabbed a hold of
her trousers and bit into her shin guards with surprising strength.
She kicked her leg out, sending the baby flying into a group of a
half-dozen eggs.

Another pair of them hatched, and after
looking up to see her standing there in shocked fear, they crawled
towards her baring their little teeth. She whipped towards them
with her
Dragon’s Fist
and severed their heads from their
shoulders. Tears came to her eyes and she dropped to her knees
feeling guilty and filthy at the same time. She sobbed until Euri
came up beside her and gathered her into a comforting embrace.

Now Mina fought with a detached sort of
frenzy. When she killed she did so as quickly as possible, not
wishing punishment on her enemies. All in all, she felt like she
needed a long hot bath and a quiet glade to meditate in. The
Guisian Princess knew she would never be the same again, though she
had resolved to pay the price with grim determination.

They approached the village and she could
make out many adult females walking about on their errands. In the
middle of the rude huts she saw a large bonfire. Sitting before it
was what appeared to be a human in a long red robe. Its hood was
up, obscuring any distinguishable features from sight. Slowly they
edged their way around the village, each of them counting the
villagers so they could plan their assault.

Euri leaned over and whispered to Mina, “Lesa
will create some chaos in the village and we’ll move in to mop up
any survivors.”

“What’s she going to do?” Mina whispered
back.

Even in the darkness Mina could see her shrug
in response. Sighing she unclipped her weapon from its holster on
her hip and readied herself. Lesa stood up and held her arms forth,
the bonfire flared, leaping twenty feet into the air. Many orcs
were incinerated in moment, those that weren’t wandered around
blindly. The robed human had protected itself with a blue oval orb,
which glowed faintly at the edges. It stood up and waved its arms
in a high arc, firing a small ball of blue fire into the bushes
beside the three women, barely missing them.

Immediately the three women leaped to their
feet and rushed into camp. Euri lay about with her staff, firing
lightning out of the end of it from time to time as she used it to
beat orcs into the intense bonfire. Mina whipped her
Dragon’s
Fist
out and took the head off a nearby snarling orc woman. She
felt the familiar queasiness rise up inside her stomach. Forcing
the gorge down, she continued to lash about, taking lives easily
with her whip.

Mina spun around to see the magician in the
red robe raising his arms above his head. In front of it she could
see Eurydice batting an orc in the head. Fear rose up inside her,
but instead of rendering her powerless, it forced her to focus as
she carefully aimed her whip at the magician. Her
Dragon’s
Fist
sang through the air and coiled itself around the
magician’s arms and cinched them together with an audible gasp from
the magician.

The mage turned and Mina could make out a red
mask with two chevrons on its forehead. Immediately its palms began
to glow bright blue, without conscious thought Mina yanked back on
her whip. With a sickening squelch the magician screamed out as his
arms were torn from his shoulders. Mina flicked her wrist and the
detached arms disappeared into the darkness. The mage fell to his
knees, still yelling and muttering curses as he looked from the
ground to her and back again.

“You bitch!” He screamed at her.

Eurydice came up behind him and ripped his
hood back. She pulled his mask off and cast it into the bonfire.
The young Vallius Princess then grabbed a handful of his hair and
shouted for Lesa while drawing a dagger from her belt. The young
lady held her dagger to his throat as Lesa came around him and
knelt down to his eye level.

“Who are you and why are you here?” Lesa
asked.

The man spit at her in response and Euri
pulled back harder, ripping some of his hair loose as he cried
out.

“Let’s try this again.” Lesa warned. “Who are
you and why are you here?”

Mina couldn’t see, but oddly, she could feel
her grandmother invading his mind. The mage screwed up his eyes in
pain as he ground his teeth. He yelled out in pain as Lesa
obviously broke through his resistance and attacked his mind. Even
in the darkness Mina could see her grandmother stiffen as she
nodded to Eurydice. The young lady rose her hand up and drove it
into the middle of the magicians’ chest. His eyes widened in shock
as he looked down at the handle sticking out of his chest.

“Bitch.” He grunted as Euri yanked the blade
free and he fell forward. Lesa and Eurydice grabbed a hold of the
magician’s robes and tossed him into the still roaring flames. For
hours they tossed bodies into the flames, until the acrid stench
burned Mina’s nostrils and her gorge rose again, threatening to
overwhelm her.

As the sun slowly rose, the three of them
made their camp against the back of a cliff. It had been a lucky
find of theirs; it wrapped protectively around them like a mother’s
arms. The trees grew high here, forming a concealing canopy of
branches and leaves. The only way in or out of the outcropping was
the eight foot wide break in the large rocks that surrounded
them.

Euri lit a small fire, more for comfort than
any real need, but Mina was thankful for the thought. She knew that
the sister of her heart and her grandmother watched her closely,
and felt pity for how hard she struggled with the task they had set
out upon. Trying to keep her mind off the faces that haunted her
dreams, she turned her face towards her grandmother.

“What did you learn?” She asked bluntly.

“Well, on the bright side there’s only
another half-dozen crèches.” Lesa replied. Her voice was heavy with
sarcasm that Mina had never heard before. More than anything else,
this is what struck fear into the Guisian Princess. Euri poorly hid
her grimace as she saw the suspicious look in Mina’s eyes.

“What’s the dark side?” Mina asked in mild
annoyance.

“One of the crèches…” Lesa began
hesitantly.

“
YES?
” Mina interjected, her annoyance
quickly turning into outright anger.

“The crèche is built inside a fort…and there
are four mages protecting the orc younglings…who are being
magically manipulated into adulthood…and trained to kill.” She told
her reluctantly.

“Great.” Mina scoffed, tossing a small branch
she’s been fidgeting with into the fire.

She hadn’t slept well all night. In truth,
she hadn’t slept well in weeks. Nightmares of the faces of those
she’d killed hovered in her vision as she tossed and turned, trying
to block the images from her mind. When Euri gently shook her
awake, Mina woke disheveled and sore. Silently they moved out of
the protection of their camp after a light meal to break fast.

Hours passed slowly as they picked their way
through the lowland hills. Twice they had encountered patrols of
young orcs. They had been poorly armed and ill equipped to fight
the three women. Any hope Mina had of their success was constantly
put to the test as the fort began to materialize on the horizon.
Two more crèches fell to the women, but no more sign of magic users
were present, only women and the young.

Nights slowly got better as Mina became so
tired that the faces could no longer conspire to keep her awake at
night. She fell asleep the moment her head hit the ground and she
reluctantly rose in the morning. Mina longed for her comfortable
bed, and sleeping until the sun rose. She considered to oddity of
this simple desire with a chuckle.

Finally, after almost three weeks they took
shelter in an outcropping of trees and setup a cold camp. The fort
stood just to the north of the packed dirt road that passed at its
base. Mina was unconvinced that they could best the magicians
inside with the same ease as before. Lesa was used to her size and
the fear it generated being the perfect weapon, but Mina cautioned
her that orcs weren’t likely to have the same reaction as men, and
certainly magicians would be intimidated even less. After what felt
like hours of her insistency her grandmother turned to her.