II

Soon he woke up, yet a long time passed until he regained senses. Willem couldn't quite understand where is he. Blinding whiteness above stuck in his eyes. At some point he felt that he is actually up there, looking back. Officer had to put all his strength together to raise himself from horse's back and sit in saddle properly.

As expected, the mount brought him to the tower. Animal felt safe only behind solid walls and entered the inner keep, surprisingly unopposed. Willem silently explored surroundings with his eyes, squinting them to try and get rid of the excess white that got stuck after such a long stare at the skies.

- Where are everyone? – Asked vocally as if expecting someone's answer.

There was nobody not inside the keep's ward, not outside. Rode by the well looking into the houses' empty windows. Inside of them were ruins, too. He stirred the mount towards tower's rusty iron double gates. He tried to look as polite as possible and tried not to stare at anything for too long. If anyone's alive, he didn't want to anger them unknowingly.

Gates were pretty lackluster now, just big rusty plates of metal, though Willem almost could decipher some kind of weavings ingraved into iron. Everything there was old and forgotten. Whoever ran this place didn't paid any desire to preserve the ancient building. Houses were newer, true, and built of wood, but they too were left to rot.

Willem hit the metal with his fist and winced at the sharp pain in the side. Plate, vibrating, surprised and him and opened slightly.

Wind tried to find a way inside and howled happily at the gap in tower's defenses. Willem applied strength to the door and pulled. Slowly it opened, presenting darkness and lots of dust. On the far side some kind of light wavered, however.

- Hey! – Voice came not as strong as Willem wanted. Officer breathed in more air. – Is there anyone? I came with peace!

Echo made chills run up his spine. There was no answer.

Horse was leashed to the wall outside. People surely lived there as Willem found some hay in the closest building. There was some leftover water in the buckets by the well. «A trap? What for?» He found himself watching at the skies trying to decipher if there's someone hiding on the tower's roof, mirrored in the mirage.

- I'm entering. – He warned.

Tower's insides were damp and warm. The latter signified people lived there not so long ago. Under his feet lied blackened fireplace and stones under the roof held layers of ash on them. In the dark Willem hurt himself on the bronze statue of something ancient. It looked like some kind of god, but not really. There was no usual greatness applied to it. Looking around, his eyes adjusting to the dark, he found many more figures like this one hidden behind a dirty cloth stuck in the far corner.

Further in he went, more of the ancient stuff he found just lying on the floor and rotting away. Statues, tables, vases, dishes, all simply forgotten despite people living in this same room – sleeping bags made of straw and feathers were mixed with the other junk. Unsteady light hinted at the stairs leading up.

That was his last try.

- Anyo-o-one?

However peaceful intentions he might had, it was too strange for his taste. Sighing, produced a sword from the scabbard. Willem hid the weapon behind his back, still trying not to scare or anger anyone – and to make sure that steel won't reflect light. Lazily he noticed treads being lumpy as if something heavy was pulled upstairs. The next floor was filled to the brim with even more bronze statues and random junk. Willem liked this room even less than the last. He felt those arms clinging to him, to anything passing by, really.

Last floor held some more statues. As usual, junk was just lying around. Yet, there was something new – the corpses and a massive rusty throne in the middle. His eyes were drawn to the figure sitting in it, and unadvertedly Willem hit his toes against the cold body under his feet. Luckily, he was able to overcome the pain in his side and regained balance.

He didn't want to enter this room. Throne was surrounded by corpses. Servants, it seems. Horrifying wounds. People, it seemed, were ripped apart. Utter terror was frozen in their faces. Willem swallowed at the sight. On the other side of the room he noticed an opened door and a blood trail leading from the inside. A maid somehow managed to crawl 10 or so steps without her lower part.

That wasn't okay. Not at all.

Willem felt the figure on the throne moving. «Vespemalei», – fear made him realise. It was the princess who sat there. She wore dirty ripped dress, others' innards dirtying it even further. Bloodsoaked, it silently cracked as body moved. Princess froze in strange position; fair haired head dropped down, hands clutching something stuck in her chest. It looked a gift, but well, gifts aren't supposed to kill.

She raised her head in one swift move. Somehow Willem didn't lose his composure. She had a beatiful face, that might be the reason. It was clean and fair and quite alive despite all the paleness of the blood loss. A moment later princess remembered to feel pain and cringed with her whole body.

«Vespemalei».

It was in the eyes. Yellow and bright as the sun, witch eyes of the cursed lineage. Willem never thought he would fear a somewhat different color of irises, but here he was, shivering. He felt it, the cold fires inside, the distorted stare. He saw himself in her eyes clearly to the last detail despite good ten meters between them.

- You made me wait. – Said she, wincing from her pain.

Princess didn't want to meet guests while sitting. It's unusual for kings to stand up for their guests, but Willem had no complaints. When she finally overcame the pain and straightened up, it turned out that she was a head above him despite usually it being him looking down on others. The wound not unlike those on her servants was in her chest. The blade tried to reach the heart. Willem persuaded himself that was a miss. If he had to fight «this», Willem had to retain hope. A simple scratch and an unlucky fall made him wobble on his feet, and Vespemalei stood like statue not even flinching at the weapon stuck in her.

- It was a long journey for you, sorry that I'll have to meet you like this. – She nodded at the corpses.

«Uh-oh, not a chance in a hell», – thought Willem as he saw blood running down her fingertips. She ripped her servants apart with bare hands. Twisted them, maimed them, teared them to pieces – with her body strength alone. Vespemalei being this much stronger than normal people was really uncomfortable. Even if she simply talked the very possibility that she can do this was very unnerving.

- Is everything alright with you? – He tried to look away from her hands.

- Don't worry, – she smiled, – just a scratch.

He felt the damned scroll burning his pocket. Whom he wanted to give it to? She just ripped her jailors apart, why did general and an officer hoped their plan was going to work? Willem felt sweat running down his chin as he watched at the reflection in her yellow eyes, fearing to see the paper.

- Princess...

She made him stop.

- Queen.

Willem obliged.

- Queen, I came to rescue you from here.

Interest gleamed in her eyes. Long pause ensued as she tilted her head. Deciding upon something, she made a step forward.

- Your wound surely adds a weight to your words, stranger.

- We have to hurry. – Said Willem as fearlessly as he could. – Enemies might arrive any minute now.

He didn't lie. Company was ordered to remain in place, but the mercenaries he met before could be looking for their comrades who didn't come back. She made one more step, somehow less threatening than before.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

- They are already here. You should be able to hear them, too. – She said. – Why should I fear them and not you, though?

One more step.

- My name is Willem Nevethan. Born in Nils of the former Rosan Empire. Officer of the Deik Budevik's legion. I offer you a protection as the legion's representative.

One more step.

- A protection? I think under those circumstances you need it more than me, Willem.

He felt the weight of the scroll in his pocket. He's dead if she finds out. She was a hand away from him and simply watched him with those bewitching eyes. Willem felt he should strike at her with the sword, but instincts could be mistaken, too. Despite her appearance she wasn't as ready to murder as he first thought.

- Follow me. – Were her words.

Officer stumbled to the side, letting her pass by. «Follow me», she repeated and took a step forward. Not even looking back.

- You... believe me?

He asked, baffled. In hindsight, he shouldn't have done it, but he was surprised. He had no clear plan, but luring her to company's camp seemed like a pretty good idea. And princess went along with it willingly. Amazing luck, unexpected to the point he couldn't stay silent.

Princess asked him to follow her again. She added:

- You think I shouldn't?

It didn't seem she cared for his answer, though, and Willem used this opportunity to stay silent. What was he planning to do, anyway? Do Razeneth's bidding in a general's place? Budevik was swayed by the true traitor promises, but Willem still had his mind straight. He did not want to bow his head. Not to Razeneth, at the very least. This guy is beyond evil.

But what else can he do, really? Looking at the tip of the sword poking from princess' back, Willem felt all the more uneasy. «Home», was the general's wish. Sure, Budevik tried to end it all, burying his pride that made him stand tall for 30 years. Willem wasn't as altruistic as the beloved general to let his thirst for revenge go.

It was too early to decide, anyway. He postponed his thoughts for later.

Princess led him to the second floor. Willem finally was able to discern the voices she told him about. Something something «steal», «princess», «for Bastard». People don't talk about their objectives this easily, so he must have misheard them. He shouldn't have been able to hear the mercenaries, anyway. Must have been the wind and his inner thoughts. But then he heard «a horse», «ruin» and «curses», among with «Vespemalei's treachery». If princess heard all of this like he did and even better, she might as well heard the battle happening in the walls earlier.

Willem hit his toes again and again, navigating in the dark room. He could have sworn the garbage was trying to move away from princess' path, but when officer tried to follow in her steps just made it worse for himself. Bronze arms never touched her, but Willem had to be very aware of his surroundings to avoid them. Finally, she led him to an alcove, hidden on the other side of the statue jungle.

There was a small gap inbetween the uneven stones. Princess pushed at them, and they fell down, revealing a bottomless pit. Or so Willem happened to think at this moment. There was no wind, though, but a hot, dry air burning his face. Then princess made a step forward and didn't fall into the void. Instead, she stood on her own mirrored foot. «Reflections again, eh?» Via touching with his hands he confirmed that in fact it was not a void but a tunnel made with the strange silky stone.

- This passage leads to the south side of the mountains. Don't fall behind, it's easy to get lost in there for your kind, Willem.

There were familiar statues as well. It appeared to him that this was the place the statues came from. Whatever reason was there behind their existence, the ones remaining here were just freaky. Smoothed by unknown force, broken in many places, chipped, the ones hidden under the cloth in tower were the better half of them.

Tunnel got wider and became a cave made of the very same reflecting rock, revealing paths in every direction. Willem have never heard such things existed in Vespemalei lands. South side of the mountain, she said? Was that hidden there all along, unknown to anybody but Vespemalei? Were their armies just emerging from the ground wherever they pleased? On the walls Willem saw something that reminded him of bones, more precisely, ribs. As if princess led him through some kind of beast.

He felt trapped. Like he was a dinner. Those weren't ribs, he tried to think, they were columns. It can't be a beast, it's a cave, a place, not an animal. Princess walked forward like there was nothing to fear, but Willem felt going crazy. When the ribs stopped appearing from the walls teeth started doing it instead. Those weren't simple stalagmites or stalactites, those were flat and smooth, as if they were used to chew on something, and they littered floor, walls and ceiling. The heat emanating from the rocks felt almost body-like.

Then the ribs returned. Teeth again, ribs once more. Willem pinched himself hard, but that wasn't a dream. At least, not a dream that could be fooled by such an action. A giant slept here, an unbelievable evil lurked beneath the surface, connecting the realm with it's body. If not for feet feeling the surface Willem would surely believe he was flying in the darkness, and in that dimension of void existed something, something Willem couldn't quite put his finger on.

He had to stretch his arms and touch the walls. It was too much for him, and yet stopping there meant a horrible fate. And yet someone lived there. The path was branching out in every direction, and Willem saw a room, looking disturbingly normal, if somewhat spartan. A bed, a table, a cabinet. All made from this hot stone.

- Ah, that's where my legendary progenitor rested.

There was one thing wrong with the room, however. Apart from being made from the reflecting rock, that is. A hole near the bed, a deep hole with no bottom to be seen.

- From here, this way. – Princess stopped, pointing somewhere Willem couldn't brave to look at. – This should be our exit, Willem.

***

Finally, a cave started to look more normal. Willem felt it first with his skin. Wasn't as hot as back there. Looking up, he saw the teeth becoming more like fangs, finally sinking in the rock that wasn't mirror. The resulting cracks let in some light. Without a doubt, that was an exit. Standing near it, Willem was shivering – it was very cold outside.

Princess went first. They had to climb up from here through almost vertical shaft. Carefully choosing were to place her feet, she forced herself upwards.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar sound. Some kind of a mechanism discharged a bolt. She moved her right hand to protect the face.

- A-a-ai!

A drop of new blood fell into the «worm» beneath. «A trap?», Willem thought as he looked up. Even princess got surprised. She didn't move a bit, and he started to get worried.

- Are you hurt?

She showed her face. There was no blood or wounds on it. Her hand, however, was pierced by a steel bolt, stuck between bones. Mechanism itself was a one-shot thing and got destroyed after firing once, it's part scattering all over the place and rolling down the chasm.

- Do not fear, there wouldn't be anymore of those traps. – She said. – It will not hurt me even if there are.

He saw that. Sword still hanged in her chest, less grievous wound all over her body, and now the arbalest bolt she pulled out with her teeth.

- This was a farewell gift, you see. – She smiled at her thought. – From the Crow. It was for me, so you shouldn't fear as Crow wouldn't hurt anyone but her target. There is no poison on it, even.

- Was that sword her doing as well?

«Gift, eh». Vespemalei sure had weird sense of humor. Gift it may be, but now princess had troubles moving up, and Willem was forced to go ahead and help her pull up.

Not long from then, fresh air finally rubbed his cheek. He breathed in, trying not to disturb his side. For the last time he leaned over and grabbed princess' arm, feeling wet and warm blood touching him.

Outside was a little bit brighter. As clouds were white now, it must have been a noon already. The question was, a noon of which day. How long was the worm? Willem shuddered as he tried to comprehend his subterranean experience. Black hand-tries, growing downhill, were a welcome a sight at this point.

Company still might be around. And even if it's not Willem might be able to catch up, if his wound allows him.

- Call me Crow, Willem.

He froze still for a moment.

- I'm sorry?

Princess watched at the blood spilling from her hand. He should bandage the wound at least, he thought. There's a cloth in his bag. Vespemalei wasn't showing any sign of weakness and he kind of forgot to even think about it.

- I want a name like hers. – She presented her arm. – A Crow. A nice name, unlike mine.

Willem didn't particularly cared. Well, it was more handy than calling her princess or a queen all the time. She was no queen of his, it was awkward.

Dealt with the hand, he moved on to the sword. From up close Willem was terrified even more than before. How is she even alive? It was sticking through her heart, blood spilling with each beat. Magic? Trickery? The better look he got, the more baffled he become. How was she still talking calmly like that?

She should have been dead. Guards tried to kill her, just like general predicted, and yet...

- Crow shot you, though.

- It did not kill me. It could not, Willem. – She winced as officer grabbed the sword and using her shoulder for leverage. – Wounds are a reminder, a memory. For timeless beings like myself it might be the only real way not to forget.

From the bag came a small bottle of alcohol. He wet a square of cloth with it and tried to clean princess' wounds a little. Here came a new surprise – under the old blood sticking to the chest wound's edges was a new, healthy skin. «Healed already?» He feared for his sanity and scratched at the edges some more, confirming what he saw a couple more time to be sure.

- Father named me a different name. Names hold meaning, and he named me something along the lines of «hope», «liberty» or one of the two. I can't be bothered remembering. Crow is so much better, Willem, so much better.

She chuckled a little, a Willem saw some organ jumping inside of her with bone splinters and miscellanous gore. He quietly turned around and tried to walk away to save at least some of his dignity. He wasn't feeling good. Not at all. It was the last drop, and now he desperately tried to find a secluded place to let his feelings out.

He saw so many things those last couple of days, and it was gore that finally got to his head.