Dark Lord's Commands 2, page 3
“Clear a path!” Nichessa roared, her words ringing with unintended magic.
Several hunters fell back in a rush, unconsciously obeying the Second Queen’s command.
The four-armed titaness strode forward, heedless of the blood and dirt being kicked up. She wound up and swung, her hammer crashing into the serpent’s side. I could hear the thing’s spine crack at the blow.
The serpent went limp, pulling down the spears stuck in its flank as it collapsed onto the road top. Nichessa stepped up to its head, lifted her hammer one last time, then pulverized its skull.
The thing gave one final shudder, then died.
“There,” Nichessa thumped the hammerhead onto the ground, “that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
The sand serpents were just as foul-looking in death as they appeared in life. I worked with the hunters to excavate their corpses and then watched as workers who had experience as butchers began to chop up the bodies. I had no idea how the serpents would taste but I was sure our kitchens and workshops would find something useful they could do with the remains.
The people of Duskhaven are infinitely resourceful if nothing else.
“Darklord?” Vexile spoke formally as she came over to the stone I was sitting upon. “Might we make two requests?”
Noticing her formal tone, I answered in kind, “Considering the bravery displayed, we’d be happy to grant a dozen requests, if they are within our power to grant.”
“First,” she said in all seriousness, “can we change the name of these damnable creatures?” She gestured towards the sand serpent being hacked up nearby. “They share none of the grace or beauty befitting a true serpent.”
Mindful of our public presence, I resisted the urge to sweep her up in a hug. Instead, I nodded. “We shall think of a more proper name, maybe after our cooks finish with them. What is your other request?”
In this, she looked more solemn. “We believe there was once a great library in this city, perhaps not far from this location.” She pointed to the east, towards a series of low-lying buildings half-buried in the sand. “We would like to form a party and search for it, to see if any materials yet survive.”
I glanced over at Nichessa. She was working on digging up the barrier from the ground. The plates were dented, but the stakes had held admirably, and I was sure she could repair the traps and have them functioning again in no time.
Quietly calling her over, I drew us away from the crowd so we could speak privately amongst ourselves.
“You should go,” she nodded, once Vexile repeated her idea. “I think the stone around here should meet our needs, and I can load most of it myself.”
We had brought some rope and tackle with us, to help move the salvaged stone, but I knew Nichessa’s blessed strength would mean she would have to do the majority of the heavy lifting to load the sledges.
“Are there any more --” I paused, thinking of Vexile’s first request, “dirt beasts nearby?”
Nichessa raised an eyebrow at this, but Vexile just gave a sibilant laugh.
“Well, we’ll think of another name,” I admitted.
“We should be safe for now,” Vexile nodded. “I haven’t sensed the beasts nearby, I think they might have fled the ruins. They must have realized that the hunters have become the hunted.”
“And if they do show up, we have a surefire way of killing them,” Nichessa nodded. “You should both go, you’re bookworms, so I imagine you’ll find something of interest. I’ll handle things here and then make for the camping spot we picked out.”
Before entering Vilewind proper, we had selected the shell of a fallen warehouse near the outskirts of the city to act as our base camp. The trip from Gloomglow had taken several hours, so we planned to camp overnight before returning home.
I elected Lita to join us on our library hunt while leaving the remaining hunters and workers under Nichessa’s supervision.
“Be safe,” the titaness called.
“You too,” I told her before we took off deeper into the city’s fallen heart.
Vexile led the way, picking out a path through the tumbled buildings and smashed districts. Both Lita and I had our crossbows out; I believed Vexile when she said there weren’t any more of the burrowing beasts around, but there were plenty of other dangers to be wary of.
Ever since the fall of the black iron mine, the Luminark had been sending inquisitorial investigators to the site. They scoured the collapsed mine, trying to find the truth of events and to track down the escaped prisoners.
None of them had ventured more than a few hours inland during their investigation. The plateau Gloomglow rested upon was considered an inhospitable wasteland, incapable of supporting life. None of them had gotten close enough to Gloomglow to notice the restored ecosystem around the keep.
Captain Dougherty, who led our military forces, kept a constant vigil for intrusion, but there was only so much territory he and his soldiers could monitor.
That thought, like many others, bothered me deeply. For all we had accomplished, we still had far, far to go.
Climbing over a small mountain of debris, we emerged into another large, empty area. Dirt and sand stretched off in front of us, rolling in rough dunes, covering the shattered walls of fallen buildings. The few trees I saw were blackened, dead things, little more than stumps and skeletons standing stark against the clouded sky.
“This might have been a university once,” Vexile said wistfully, gazing about the landscape.
Three long, low structures lay across the clearing from us. Two appeared to have been utterly gutted by flames, but the third seemed surprisingly intact; its roof was still standing and it had all four walls.
Moving closer, I saw there was some kind of plinth in front of the building.
“It was a statue,” Lita observed, coming to rest by the stone slab.
I could see the rusted stubs where bolts had once been used to hold the statue in place. There was no sign of the thing itself, likely it had been toppled over and either stolen or left buried in the dirt field behind us.
Searching, we found there was a plaque attached to the base. I excavated it with a shovel.
“Augustus Vilewind,” Vexile read, “Hero to the kingdom and loyal servant of the Dark Lords. Might we forever --” She trailed off.
The end of the plaque was gone, the metal hacked away by some Luminark vandal.
I nodded my head in silent thanks for whomever this man had been, a hero who had faithfully served my ancestors.
“We now know how Vilewind got its name, and the great man who it was named after,” I gestured towards the ruins, “Maybe someday we can uncover his full story and give him the honor he deserves.”
Moving past the empty plinth, we entered the dilapidated structure.
Chapter 3
It was surprisingly bright once we stepped inside. Darkness didn’t bother me or my wives, we had been blessed by Revina and could see in complete gloom almost as well as we did in broad daylight. But the building had once featured huge, arched windows, allowing late afternoon sunlight to illuminate the interior.
But those very same windows had spelled doom for the building’s interior.
The glass was long gone, allowing the wind, dirt, and sand to blow into the building’s interior. Huge drifts of topsoil roiled through the room, having knocked over the shelves and buried their contents.
“It was a library,” Vexile said, brushing aside some of the dirt to reveal the desiccated remains of ruined books and papers buried underneath.
She looked so sad, like she was about to cry.
To her, knowledge was sacred, a gift from Revina. To see so many books, wrecked and illegible, before her eyes, was heartbreaking.
Lita politely turned her head, as if staring out the nearest window was the most interesting thing in the world.
I took Vexile into my arms, letting her quietly coil around me. I held her, till she sniffled and wiped her face.
“We should still search the building,” she said, her resolve returning. “There could be sealed chambers or vaults that avoided the fate of the main room.”
Exploring outward, we climbed up and down the drifts, kicking over dusty books and ruined shelves.
At least black iron never rusts, I thought as I pocketed a few loose screws I had dug up.
The miraculous mineral was supposedly a gift from Revina. The ore was plentiful in Duskhaven and it could be refined into metal stronger and more resilient than steel. The Luminark ran several mines, extracting the valuable resource to be shipped back to their home.
After combing through the wreckage, we searched along the back wall. Vexile claimed she could sense something dripping down below, indicating there were concealed chambers beneath us.
Eventually, we found the seams of a hidden door, likely once concealed behind a bookshelf.
Vexile, blessed with inhuman strength by Revina, merely bashed down the door with the edge of my shovel. The black iron was far stronger than the old, rotting wood. Beyond, was a darkened stairwell.
Ordering Lita to stand watch, we descended the stairs. The air below was bitingly cold. I could hear the distant gurgle of water, like splashing coming from the bottom of a well.
Reaching the base of the stairs, we discovered a series of chambers that likely had been used by scientists and scholars. Peeking inside, I saw they were crowded with workbenches, each of which held dozens of glass vessels; most were cracked or broken, their insides still caked by whatever material had dried and crusted within. I made note of the ones that were still intact; they’d be a great find to bring back to Gloomglow.
Searching further, we found an ancient cistern tucked into a storeroom. It had likely been dry and empty up until my coronation. The supplies stored in the room had long ago rotted away, leaving naught but dust.
Searching the rooms more thoroughly, we found books, journals, and notes that had been left scattered about, as if the occupants had been working right up till the moment the city had fallen.
Most of the papers had been ruined by whatever contents had spilled from the broken glassware, but Vexile carefully bundled them all up so she could take them home and attempt to recover their secrets.
“Alchemy was one of the great sciences of the old kingdom,” my queen explained as we continued to explore. “Ascendants could bless specially brewed concoctions with Revina’s power. It was said they could cure any illness and treat any disease.”
That brought to mind one of the problems bothering me; Gloomglow’s severe lack of power and specialized expertise.
Ascendants were the champions of the kingdom, individuals blessed and transformed into incredible beings like Vexile and Nichessa; my First Queen could conjure deadly toxins and confounding gases, while my second could mold the earth and bend metal with willpower alone.
But if we were to beat the Luminark Empire we would need far more champions. The Luminark had hundreds, if not thousands of their own ascendants, the archangels.
But I could only create a new ascendant by sleeping with someone and passing on Revina’s blessing. Even if I could pull all emotions, and my sexuality, out of the situation, there was no way to wed and bed enough people to make up for our shortfall of power and expertise.
More practically, my kingship was built on sand, held only by the promise of my bloodline and the few victories we had accomplished. We might have been riding high at that moment, but we were one disaster away from downfall.
We needed divinely blessed soldiers, builders, scholars, healers, inventors, and crafters. If we had a dozen workers with Nichessa’s divine strength or even a handful of soldiers with Vexile’s magic, I would be overjoyed. Even bestowing them a fraction of Revina’s power would be enough.
I doubt the Light Lord fucked every archangel in the empire, I growled to myself as we sifted through the dusty rooms. There’s got to be some method of passing along Revina’s power without the intimate, biological necessity.
We found nothing of particular note till the last room. As we walked inside, I felt a thrill of familiar power, the sensation of an artifact blessed by divine magic.
“Here!” Vexile cried, dashing towards a series of bookshelves.
Moving down the aisle, I saw most of them were empty, but there were a few slim volumes and scattered tomes, miraculously still intact. Trailing a finger along a shelf's edge, I saw it was inlaid with metal that faintly hummed with divine power.
“These must have been important books,” Vexile said, practically vibrating with excitement. “Someone put a blessing on the shelves to preserve their contents, protecting them against the ravages of time.”
She carefully picked up one of the books and leafed it open. Despite its age, the pages were still crisp and white, like they had just been printed.
Investigating, it became clear to me that the shelves had been hastily cleared out, likely by some scholar grabbing everything they could before the Luminark breached the city’s walls. But they hadn’t been able to carry everything, leaving books toppled over or forgotten, tucked against the shelves’ backs. Vexile produced a bag from her supplies and began reverently packing them up, treating each one like they were worth their weight in gold.
Which they might be, depending on the knowledge they contain.
We reunited with Nichessa without issue.
There had been no further signs of trouble, our trap had frightened the sand serpents enough that they had fled for safer havens. I was already planning on regularly scheduled trips to Vilewind to scavenge for stone and metal.
Vilewind might be gone, but its resources will be the foundation of our rise.
I was happy to see our people gathered together in our makeshift camp, talking amongst themselves, cheering their success, and vowing even greater accomplishments. They looked like people with a purpose, with hope.
Returning to Gloomglow the next day, our craftsmen quickly got to work with the stone we had brought back with us. Within hours I could see an area outside the main keep being cleared, making way for a new workshop. Tales of our successful hunt quickly spread, and already some of our more enterprising citizens were trying to figure out what we could do with the sand serpent carcasses we had brought back with us.
Several days later, my queens and I gathered alone in Gloomglow’s forge, to discuss a project I was not ready to reveal to the citizenry.
On Nichessa’s workbench rested a Spear of Subjugation. It was over two meters tall; the ancient wooden haft was entwined with silver, which spiraled upwards to form a deadly, elegant point.
The last time I had seen the weapon, it had been in the hands of a corrupt Luminark taskmaster named Sanderson. Despite being an ordinary human, with no uncanny abilities, Sanderson had nearly killed the three of us with the Spear’s deadly, burning light.
And the empire apparently has hundreds of the things, I had come to learn, enough to arm an entire legion of archangels.
Thankfully, when Sanderson had wielded the weapon he had drained whatever reserves of Alruna’s magic it had contained. I could still feel the weapons sitting there, thrumming with contempt and hatred for all things of darkness, but it didn’t cripple us with pain by its mere presence.
Vexile, Nichessa, and I all knew we needed to find a way to overcome the Spears’ deadly powers if we were ever to beat the Luminark Empire. They could field an army of schoolchildren with the things and beat us all to death handily.
So I had asked Nichessa to see if there was a way to reforge the thing, to turn it from a tool of terror and oppression into something befitting a champion of Revina.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she admitted, as she reached out and touched the thing, her hands encased in thick, blacksmith’s gloves.
“I think Revina expected this all to be a learn-on-the-job experience,” I joked dryly.
“She will guide us,” Vexile said more fervently.
Grumbling, Nichessa turned away to begin firing up her forge, shoving charcoal into the furnace and stoking the flames with a pair of huge bellows. The air in the building quickly became stiflingly hot.
“First things first, we got to remove the spearhead from the haft,” the titaness said, returning with a hammer and a pair of pliers.
She carefully checked the Spear, but it quickly became clear that there were no pins or rivets holding the spearhead in place. Somehow, the craftsmen who had made it had seamlessly melded the metal to the wood, forming a singular whole.
“Don’t blame me if this thing catches on fire,” she told us as she lifted the weapon and placed the spearhead into the furnace’s flames.
At once, we were assaulted by a wave of hateful magic, all disdain and fury at the desecration we were attempting to perform.
“Revina, grant us strength!” Vexile prayed, her head bowed, as we braced ourselves.
I worked the bellows, building the furnace’s heat, as Nichessa gritted her teeth and held the Spear to the flames. The metal glowed white-hot, but it did not melt or deform. The wood remained pure and uncharred.
Pulling it out of the furnace, Nichessa slammed the head of the weapon down onto her anvil. With her four arms, she grabbed tongs and hammers, gripping the Spear while she prepared to begin her work. I felt her magic surge, as she searched for the right shape to bestow upon the remade Spear.
Finding divine inspiration, she smashed her hammer down. The air rang with the first impact, and we were almost brought to our knees by the blast of light and heat that surged from the Spear.
For a second I was afraid I had been struck deaf, blind, and dumb, but then I felt Revina’s blessing run along my spine, rushing into my limbs and my head, clearing my vision.
Nichessa, undaunted by the Spear’s resistance, struck it again and again, letting the goddess of darkness guide her hands.
And as she hammered the Spear, I saw the metal grow dun. The heat of the forge died away, but the blacksmith kept reshaping it, not bothering to force the weapon back into the furnace’s flames.
The silver of the Spear dulled and then darkened like it was being tarnished. But the blackness became darker and darker, flowing over the filigree of the handle until the entire thing was pitch black.
