Chapter Sixty-Seven: The First Mission
“I’m glad you came to me with this,” Kol told Yue. “Decorum would dictate the Parliament tell me, but I can’t help but be grateful you told me this now.”
“I had to, Captain,” Yue winked.
“I’m still not used to that,” Kol groaned.
“It’s only been half a day,” Yue responded. “Give it time, sir.”
“Well, anyhow, we need to figure out what to do about both armies, the one inside and the one outside.”
“Sir?”
“Well, we can’t just leave all the Ajutoare in separate inns. We need a place for them to stay.”
“With all due respect, sir, we do not have enough barracks for them all.”
“I know,” Kol furrowed his brow. “But we should be able to place them in the warehouse.”
“The place is empty and dusty.”
“Yes, I understand,” Kol replied. “But we’ll make do. I will send some warriors to clean it, and the Ajutoare might have to sleep on the floor with only blankets.”
“Once again, with all due respect, I think the Ajutoare will prefer inns to floor, but that’s just my opinion,” Yue grinned.
Kol sighed. “Then we get workers to carry beds in there. It shouldn’t be too hard, like you’re trying to make my job.”
“Sorry, sir.”
“No need to apologize,” Kol said. “You’re doing your best, as are we all. I’ll get the warriors on it immediately and we’ll need to check on training for the Horde. Plus, we need to send patrols in Magefell. Yue, I am assigning you to go first. Take three others with you, but tell me who you choose.”
“Oh, I can tell you that now. Xander, Alyx, and Neena.”
“I’ll mark them down,” her new captain told her. “You can return at lunch.”
“Yes, sir.”
— — —
At first, patrol went well, most citizens staring at Sterkona like she was a god, but except for that, nothing was out of the ordinary. Not that her fame was out of the ordinary now, but still, she did wish she was invisible again, at least sometimes.
The patrol got ugly, though, when two Cultists threw a brick at a window, a publicly non-cultist shop window, at that. Due to that violence, five more rioters joined in, beating on the shop owners.
“What’s happening here?” Yue asked, running to stop the fighting.
“Oh, damn, it’s the Vanguard,” One of the men cursed, throwing a brick at her. She dodged it and glared at him, unsheathing her sword. Three of the rioters ran immediately, and Alyx went after them, her sword swishing. The other four turned to Yue.
“Come at me, Sterkona,” A woman grinned. “See how far you abuse your power.”
Yue, ignoring her jibe, attacked the woman, and, sliding her feet from under the ground, threw the woman to the ground, where she lay unconscious.
The other three went as easily, all knocked down by either Xander or Yue. They wanted to arrest all seven, but unfortunately there were too many, so they settled for a warning.
“Do that again,” Yue said, “And I swear by your own God that I will murder all of you.”
The rioters took it seriously as they ran away, screaming that the Sterkona was crazy.
“Are you okay,” Yue said, kneeling down to help the woman shopkeeper.
“I’m fine,” She coughed. “I saw your fights in the battle. Thank you for what you did to Magefell.”
“It was my honor,” Yue replied.
“Honor doesn’t save everyone,” The woman told her. “Only someone completely selfless would risk their lives like that.”
“Many Magefell soldiers did exactly what I did and died for it. I wasn’t the selfless one.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself,” The woman told her. “They may have been selfless in their sacrifice, but you are just as selfless for putting yourself in harm's way so someone like me could live.”
Yue blushed. “People like you are the reason I do fight. You deserve a chance to live.”
“So do you,” The woman said. “I hope you get a long, fulfilled life with whoever you choose, just like mine.”
“I won’t be sad if I die for Magefell.”
“Don’t you dare,” Xander teased.
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“Boyfriend?” The woman asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, good luck to both of you. You deserve the best in life for what you did.”
“Thank you so much. We wish the best of life for you too.”
— — —
“The rioters are going too far,” Xamder growled for the seventh time. “This is too much. Did you know that two people died yesterday!”
“Yes, you’ve said,” Yue replies, head on his shoulders, “Just enjoy the moment with me, will you?”
“Fine,” He huffed. “But I’m seriously getting tired of these cultists.” He lay his head on hers and sighed in contentment. “At least you’re here.” Yue smiled as they held hands, looking at the view of Magefell from the roof of the inn.
“The sky is nice today,” Yue said, and Xander frowned.
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Too busy?” Yue wondered.
“Staring at something more pretty.”
Yue gagged. “That was horrible. Never say that again.”
“I’ve said things like this before! And so have you!” He protested.
“I don’t care. I appreciate it, and thank you, but ew!” She smiled. “But you are cute too.”
“Yeah,” Xander said. “And the rioters are going too far.”
“Will you stop with that?”
“I’m sorry, I just can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Evidently,” Yue replied.
“If the riots keep going, Magefell is going to tear itself apart from the inside.”
“I agree, but what can we do except what we’ve been doing?”
“I don’t know,” Xander growled in irritation. “Nothing, I guess. I just hate to have to see it.”
“Me too. But I guess that’s why we have each other. For something nice to look at.”
“NO!” Xander screamed. “You just told me not to say anything like that.”
“This one wasn’t half as bad!”
“It was the same. How about we mutually agree that—” Xander screamed and fell to the ground. The scars on his chest began to glow through his shirt and his eyes rolled back.
“XANDER!” Yue grabbed him. “What’s happening?”
“They’re back,” He said, then he grew limp.
— — —
When Yue finally shook Xander awake, he was shaking.
“Don’t kill her,” He whispered. “Don’t kill her, she’s all I have. I’ll do anything, please. NO! NO! NO! Please, just don’t kill her. Kill me instead, no.”
“Xander,” Yue said, slapping her, and he shook his head, seemingly waking up.
“What’s going on?” She asked.
“They’ve got me again,” He groaned. “And this time, they know I’m not a Cultist. All they want to do is control my mind, now, and Hi, Yue.” Xander’s voice changed, becoming lower and more menacing. His eyes grew purple, and he grinned wide, showing his teeth.
“Oh no,” Yue groaned.
“Oh yes,” Xander said. “Your boy here is in a bit of a predicament. You see, we control him, and we can kill him at a whim.”
“What do you want?”
“You,” Xander continued. “All we want is you. You must obey everything we say.”
“No! I won’t do that,” Yue exclaimed. “I would never help any of you.”
“What a pity. Then I guess Xander has to die!”
“Wait! No! I’ll do it,” Yue siad, hanging her head. “Does he know what’s going on?”
“Not at all,” the cultist said from Xander. “He’s unaware.”
“Good. Then I’ll do whatever you want. Just leave him alone. What do you want? For me to kill myself?”
“We’re not there yet, although that is in the cards,” Xander admitted. “No, for now, we want you to do something simple.”
“Simple? Like sending an army of monsters to attack us and wait for us to die like chicks in a cage with a hawk?”
“Aw, come on, Yue, don’t be so melodramatic. You’re alive, aren’t you. That’s what matters, although I doubt you’ll be alive for much longer after what we do.
“We’re about to ruin your reputation and have you thrown in jail.”
“I can’t do that,” Yue told them. “I can’t do anything evil like you. I’m nothing like you.”
“You’re about to be,” Xander grinned again. “Unless you want poor Xander here to die, knowing his precious girlfriend was the reason he died.”
“I’ll do it,” Yue cried, “I’ll do it. Why don’t you just use someone else?”
“We could and probably will use Xander to help you, but we prefer to use you because you’re so famous. Imagine what people will think when they realize the Sterkona is nothing more than a bastard who deserves to die. Everyone would flock to Dautha.”
“You really are monsters!” Yue breathed.
Xander laughed. “You didn’t know that already? Well, you’ll learn it soon enough.”
Yue sighed in resignation and sat on the ground. “I guess I have to listen, don’t I? What would you have me do?”
“Like we said, this first job is very simple. In fact, you should be done with it by the end of the day. Our mission for you this time is this: find a riot and kill all the instigators.”
“What?” Yue exclaimed. “No! I can’t kill anyone! And why would you want me to kill your own people!”
“You’re learning this wrong, Yue,” Xander groaned. “Xander will now wake up with an incredible headache. Don’t question us. You must learn to obey with no issue. Do you understand now?”
“Not at all,” Yue responded. “But, I’ll do it.”
“Today.”
“Yes, today.”
Xander collapsed on the ground and Yue caught him, her mind reeling, and her guilt already fighting with her, although she hadn’t done anything yet. But she had already agreed to do it, which wasn’t good. In fact, to her, she’d already committed the crime by agreeing to do it.
Now she was forced under the Cult, forced to serve them. She knew what Xander felt like when they controlled him. She felt like a puppet on a string now, and she didn’t know when she’d be able to stop it. The only way would be to find a way to break Xander from his Cult ties. But she didn’t know how to do that or if it was even possible.
Tears began to run down her cheek softly as she stared at her boyfriend, the man who inadvertently was forcing her to do some bad things. Today, her life would really change when she took this first step and she wasn’t ready for it, but it wasn’t her choice.She would have to kill citizens, abusing her power to end their lives, simply because a Cult wished it so.
“I’m so sorry, Xander,” She cried on his chest. “I’m so scared.”
Xander raised his head and sat up, groaning and rubbing his forehead.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
Yue could only look on in horror as her boyfriend cocked his head at her crying face..