Soul Script (Chronicles of Valmaron Book 1), page 11
Only the center obelisks had no lightning between them. Instead, two rows of obelisks equal in size formed a lightning fenced lane heading straight ahead all the way down to the Ziggurat in the distance. The black compound was a massive structure, far shorter than the citadel but much wider, easily large enough to house every Valmari. There were four main levels. Each terraced level receded into stepped, rectangular platforms, with the smallest one at the top. An immense staircase ran up the front to the peak, with arched entrances at every level. The only way out was forward.
“You’ve been keeping us caged in like animals,” said Beardy.
“Ho!” Zen Daaz leered at them. “I didn’t build this, and would you really want to leave your lovely valley in exchange for this endless wasteland?”
“Better than being cattle,” Esmerelda snarled.
Jaron looked on at the hopeless expanse, and then swiftly pulled the Slicer out of the console and held it at Zen Daaz’s face.
“If you betray us,” he inched the blade closer. “You won’t be alive long enough to enjoy it.”
Zen Daaz stepped even closer to the Slicer, touching the sharp edge to his throat. “I love it when you talk dirty.”
Beardy stood with his enchanted hammer ready, waiting to strike Zen Daaz down where he stood. Esmerelda suddenly thrust her palms down at the floor.
“I’m done waiting,” she said.
The War Wagon lifted off the ground and flew forward. Jaron continued to hold the Slicer at Zen Daaz’s throat, glaring menacingly while the Unscrupulous cretin kept a gleeful look on his face. The wagon swept past a dozen obelisks in moments, landing at the outer staircase.
“If you kill me here,” Zen Daaz’s voice became quiet and smooth. “You won’t see Chloe again.”
“My Lord,” Beardy cautioned.
Jaron withdrew the Slicer and returned it to its sheath. “Let’s go then.”
“As you command,” said Zen Daaz.
He clapped his hands twice, and then fog burst up from around their feet and encased them in dense mist. It swirled around them violently, with Zen Daaz slowly raising his outstretched arms to the sides. He held his palms up like he was orchestrating music. The air pressure felt as though they were traveling at nearly unbearable speed, and then the fog dissipated as quickly as it came.
They were now standing in a spacious, square concourse. Flame torches lit the room all the way around. Dark stone bricks comprised the interior, with a large staircase going up the middle to a second floor balcony that wrapped around the entire room. The hard floor was decorated by red carpeting with gold trim. A candle chandelier hanging from the middle of the chamber provided extra light. There were no sounds, and no people.
“Where is everyone?” asked Jaron, shifting his eyes around.
“Waiting to ambush no doubt,” said Beardy.
“The Seekers of Vaelonn aren’t a social bunch. We tend to keep to our own factions,” Zen Daaz walked ahead of them to take the lead. “If you see anybody wandering around, feel free to kill them!”
Zen Daaz proceeded to walk to a dark corridor on his left.
“First thing he’s said that I like,” said Beardy.
“Beardy, give me the glasses,” Jaron ordered.
The Battlemaster immediately produced them and handed them over. Jaron took Esmerelda’s palm, held it up and placed the glasses in her hand.
“In case you need to see,” said Jaron, staring her in the eyes.
Esmerelda nodded in understanding, tucking them away into her sleeve.
“Are you coming?” Zen Daaz’s voice echoed from across the room, waiting by his chosen exit.
“Tell me where we’re going first,” said Jaron.
“My Lord!” Zen Daaz squealed with exaggerated shock. “Why, to see Chloe of course!”
CHAPTER 25
They arrived at the bottom of a zig-zag stone staircase leading into a dungeon hall, where the only way to see inside each cell was to hold up a torch. Prisoners were kept in pitch black otherwise. The smell of dank, decomposing bodies joined the odor of excrement and other bodily fluids. Zen Daaz led them down to the end of a stockade corridor, before turning to face them and holding the torch to their left. Esmerelda ran past them and grabbed the metal bars to look inside. Chloe was barefoot on the floor facing away in the fetal position. She’d been stripped down to her undergarments, which were more tan than white at this point. Rage and relief all mixed into one as Jaron looked at her.
“Chloe!” Esmerelda called out to her.
Chloe flinched and covered her head with both hands.
“Did you hurt her?” Esmerelda seethed at Zen Daaz. “If you touched her I’ll—”
“I haven’t touched her,” Zen Daaz interrupted.
“Let me in,” Esmerelda demanded.
“Esmerelda?” Chloe unsteadily rose to her feet and stared at her in disbelief. She looked over and saw Jaron standing there too. “Jaron?”
“Stand back,” Beardy ordered.
He bashed the door with his enchanted hammer and it flung open with a splash of red sparks. It smashing loudly against the inside cage and rattled into bent shapes. Esmerelda ran inside and squeezed Chloe, who slowly reached up and hugged her back. Silent tears fell down Chloe’s cheeks as she closed her eyes and smiled.
“You found me?” Chloe uttered breathlessly.
Esmerelda sniffled and ended the embrace, dusting off Chloe’s shoulders with her hands. “We wouldn’t give up on you. Especially him.”
Chloe stared at Jaron with a look of confusion and wonder. She ran over and jumped up into his arms, wrapping her legs around him. He caught her and held her up by her bottom while she squeezed him around the neck and nuzzled him. It tickled, making him chuckle.
“Thank you…” said Chloe, her voice muffled on his shoulder.
“Don’t thank me,” Jaron replied. “We’re together for life.”
Chloe moved her head back, grabbed the sides of Jaron’s face and kissed him forcefully. He kissed her back before realizing he was doing it, exhaling his release of the tension he’d been holding. In that moment, Jaron discovered how much he cared for her. When he remembered Zen Daaz watching them, he put her down gently with an irritated groan. “Come on, let’s go.”
Esmerelda came and put an arm around Chloe as Zen Daaz cleared his throat.
“That was a marvelous reunion, but I’m afraid you’re being a bit premature about our deal,” he stipulated. “I recall saying I would return her to you after the work is done, this was just a visit.”
Jaron squared up with Zen Daaz, looking up to the towering demon man defiantly.
“No, your exact words were ‘her life for your cooperation’. I’m still cooperating, so she goes wherever I say she goes,” Jaron turned to look at her condition. “And get her some damn clothes.”
***
Chloe admired herself in a mirror as she donned a form-fitting black bodysuit underneath Unscrupulous trimmings. On her torso she wore a double-buttoned black leather vest with red shoulder pads tapering off into a rounded tip. Her boots were thick soled, giving her a little extra height and her forearms were covered with chrome-like bracers.
“It’s not very comfortable,” Chloe admitted. “But I kind of like it.”
Zen Daaz spread a paper diagram across a wooden table in the center of his large study.
“Our women don’t wear dresses,” he revealed. “Full coverings make it easier to prevent unsavory assaults.”
Esmerelda walked up to the table with a disgusted expression. “You must be disappointed.”
“Mmm hmm,” Beardy grumbled.
“My only disappointment is that nobody has tried to do it to me!” Zen Daaz lamented with a pouty sad face.
Jaron rolled his eyes and then leaned his fists on the table. He saw the drawing depicting a black cube. “So this is what you’re going to trap the Miasma in?”
Zen Daaz bowed his head. “It is Lord Spellcraft. This vessel is carefully Scripted to be nearly indestructible, which means the Miasma can never escape.”
“Or be destroyed,” Beardy added.
“And who will control it?” asked Jaron.
“Me of course!” Zen Daaz announced with an inspired expression.
Chloe stopped what she was doing, walked away from the mirror and went over in between Jaron and Esmerelda. The face she gave Zen Daaz was an expression Jaron had seen before: killing intent.
“And once you’ve had your prize, what then?” Beardy interjected as he walked toward them.
The Battlemaster inattentively held his hammer over the table, preparing to drop it on top of the drawing.
Zen Daaz snatched the parchment off the table. “Careful, careful!” He rolled it up and tucked it into his coat. “After we’ve concluded our happy task, I was thinking about turning the dungeons into a nursery.”
Esmerelda scoffed.
“Tell the truth,” Jaron demanded.
“I am telling the truth. Our members aren’t easily replaced and new mothers have a tendency to disappear into the barrens with their children,” Zen Daaz answered.
“To get away from you,” Chloe snarled.
“No,” an airy hiss came from a blackened corridor into the room. Two black hounds emerged from the shadows and stepped into the room, their snarling snouts drooling black ooze. Ash stepped forth behind them with new claws on her right hand and golden scale plates covering her left arm. “To get away from me.”
CHAPTER 26
Jaron instantly drew the Slicer at the sight of Ash. Esmerelda moved in front of Chloe while Beardy came around to stand side-by-side with Jaron.
“You all survived? Tsk tsk,” Ash taunted. “I’m getting too careless. This time I’ll lacerate your throats.”
“Ash, as much as I enjoy your little diversions,” Zen Daaz interrupted. “Your bruised ego doesn’t interest me. Find someone else to play with.”
“Spare me your sanguine censure Zen,” Ash hissed and pointed at Jaron. “I owe that one pain!”
Zen Daaz slowly walked past the group and stood between them and Ash. He cupped his forehead in his hand and shook his head with a long sigh.
“Sweetie please, don’t make me repeat myself. Walk away, final warning,” Zen Daaz said seriously.
Ash turned to leave but then suddenly shadow-stepped toward them.
Zen Daaz reached an arm out to his side and caught Ash by the throat in transit, effortlessly lifting her off the floor. She scratched wildly at his face but her arms were too short to cover the difference in length. When she tried scratching his arms, he tightened his grip on her neck which made a slight crunching sound. Ash went from scratching his arm to clutching it. The hounds barked and charged in, but Zen Daaz’s yellow eyes flashed brightly. The hounds slid on the floor trying to backtrack hurriedly, yelping and whining as they fled. After the beasts were gone, Zen Daaz tossed Ash into a nearby wall with a forceful ‘thwack’. His glowing eyes returned to normal.
“Are we listening now?” said Zen Daaz. “Or would you rather watch me defile your corpse with your severed head sitting on my dresser?”
Ash cautiously got up and began backing away. “I will have him Zen. Don’t let your guard down.”
She disappeared back into the shadows and was gone again.
“Wouldn’t dream of it darling! Die slowly!” Zen Daaz waved after her.
Zen Daaz turned around with a gracious grin and started fanning his face with his fingers. “She is delectably displeased! You may want to avoid that one during your stay, which brings me to your accommodations. I assume you’ll all be wanting separate rooms, yes?”
“Hah!” Beardy chortled. “As if we’d let any of you catch us alone. Four beds, one room.”
Beardy turned around and did a double take when he saw the predicament Jaron was in. Esmerelda and Chloe were holding onto each other, with Jaron sandwiched between them. He turned back toward Zen Daaz and hung his head down grumbling. “Effin’ Valmari. Fine…two rooms.”
The bedroom was surprisingly lavish compared to the minimalist sensibilities Jaron came to expect. Black gargoyle statues decorated the crown molding, with candle lanterns decorating the tan-bricked stone walls. The room was oval shaped. A curved, black-stained wooden dresser was set against the wall to the right. The bed was massive, red pillows with black sheets and enough room to sleep a dozen people. A black armoire was pushed against the wall opposite to the dresser. A small archway on the left led to a beige marbled en-suite, with a glass chandelier above a pool-sized ceramic bath tub. Like the citadel, it had running water and vanity mirrors.
“This is…a bit much don’t you think?” asked Esmerelda as she looked around.
Chloe sprinted into the room and jumped right onto the bed, sprawling out on her back and flapping her arms like a snow angel. “It’s so niiiiiice.”
“What do you take me for?” Zen Daaz scoffed in huffy offense. “Vaelonn’s servants should be rewarded lavishly!”
The red faced Unscrupulous looked over at Jaron, who was crossing his arms and leaning against the entrance.
“It’ll do,” said Jaron.
Zen Daaz pursed his lips and stared knowingly. “I expect the bedding to be ruined by the time you’re all done. I have too many unsoiled sheets as it is!”
Jaron stepped into the room and looked around, trying not to enjoy any of this but feeling a sense of relaxation coming over him. Zen Daaz shuffled to the door.
“Before I leave,” Zen Daaz poked his back back in. “This door is Scripted, keep it shut unless you want uninvited guests. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to show your Battlemaster to his room, or…ho! Maybe my room. La dee deeee la dee daaaaa…”
Zen Daaz went off and slammed the door behind him, making everyone jump.
Jaron looked around and then to Chloe and Esmerelda. “What do you think?”
“I think Zen Daaz is confusing this with a vacation,” said Esmerelda.
“I think, this is a vacation!” Chloe gushed as she sat up abruptly and leaned back on her elbows. “You know what else I think?”
Chloe pat the bed next to her, staring at Jaron with a libidinous gaze. Esmerelda rolled her eyes and walked over to sit on the foot of the bed.
“Don’t encourage him Chloe,” Esmerelda rolled her eyes.
“I’m allowed to. And he clearly wants to.”
“I literally haven’t said anything,” Jaron muttered aloud, knowing full well that Chloe was right.
Esmerelda took her boots off and stretched out her legs. She averted her eyes and watched her toes while stretching out her feet. An idea popped into Jaron’s head.
“Esmerelda,” Jaron called.
Her head jerked up and her eyes opened wide. “Yes?”
“Do you still have that Glitter Flitter? The paper I mean.”
Esmerelda’s face fell. “Oh…yes actually.”
She reached into her robe and pulled out the gold wrapping, offering it to Jaron. He walked over and took it to the dresser placing it flat.
“What are you doing?” asked Chloe.
“Telling the Princess where we are,” said Jaron.
He knelt down and pulled a small knife tucked into his boot and then used it to scribble a message directly onto the Flitter’s surface. Once he finished, he crinkled it up and watched it fold itself into a bird before flying off and going through the wall like a ghost.
“That was…actually clever,” said Esmerelda.
Jaron set the dagger onto the top of the dresser and then took his armor off, having worn it for nearly two days straight.
“I’m getting a bath. Make yourselves comfortable,” he said as he walked toward the en-suite.
He heard both women start giggling mischievously. The bath itself was glorious. The spigot was capable of spewing cold and hot water, which he took advantage of to soak and sooth his muscles.
I shouldn’t be enjoying this, but this place is better than our finest inn.
When he’d dried off and dressed, he went back into the bedroom to find Esmerelda and Chloe fast asleep, their hands touching. He chose not to disturb them and went over to a leather chair next to the night stand, reclining into it when he noticed his belt on the floor. The buckle was flashing blue over and over again. Jaron got up and grabbed it, tapping the buckle to see what it was. He dropped the belt onto the floor when an holo image manifested right in front of him. It was Princess Valara.
CHAPTER 27
“Quartz works quick,” Jaron remarked.
“Never mind that! Let me see them!” Valara badgered.
“Sssh!” Jaron looked at the sleeping girls and then grabbed the belt. Holo-Valara saw them in the bed and gasped. Jaron took the belt into the en-suite, forcing her to follow him into it which is when she started looking around at the freshly emptied tub and luxury fixtures.
“What is this? Some sort of holiday?” said Valara, hands on her hips.
“They’re sleeping,” Jaron urged. “We’re still in the Unscrupulous lair.”
“Doing what?” she questioned impatiently.
“Finishing this fight. One of the Unscrupulous has turned on their leader, and he’s arranged for me to get close to him.”
“Jaron, that’s dangerous,” the Princess’s voice softened. “You have the girls, why not just leave now?”
“Because I gave my word, and I always keep my promises.”
There was silence between them. Princess Valara averted her eyes as Jaron stared her down. She started growling in frustration. “Do that thing you did again so I can slap you.”
Jaron smiled. “Valara, we’ve never been this close to winning before. You have to realize that.”
“…I know.”
“You trusted me to find Chloe, and I have.”
“Yeah…”
“Trust me to do this and bring us all back,” Jaron held his gaze, waiting for Valara to look at him.
Eventually she couldn’t keep up the charade and finally made eye contact. “Fine, but you have to do it quickly! I’m hearing whispers that your crusade failed, and they’re thinking of taking temporary control to prevent unrest.”
