According to Kala, Durdan was currently setting up shop in the inner keep along with all the other leaders of the various coalition camps that were assembled for the assault. What that meant was that we had to wade our way through a mess of bodies currently trying to organize the situation and get all the necessary materials for the occupation to last. Everything that the coalition had brought with them for the siege was here, placed around in neat piles wherever there was open space.
Their current workload left little time for those who cared to gawk at me, and with so many officers here the level of discipline was substantially higher. I wonder if I could move here? I joked to myself, knowing that it would be a hassle of a completely different kind being here.
I guess one perk of being famous is that people don’t question you when you decide to go somewhere, could do without all the bowing though. The inner keep felt significantly different than the last time I had been there. Soldiers and officers swarmed the place, dragging along with them crates, furniture, and documents. Some of the art that I had seen on the walls was missing, others were destroyed. The place had been gutted to make room for a change in management. It was actually a little sad to see.
First, I had to find Durdan, so I intercepted a Valus who was slithering by with an armful of papers. They froze when they saw me stop them like a deer in headlights. “G-great champion! W-what can I do for you?”
I decided to ignore the title and get down to business. “I’m looking for Durdan. You know where he is?”
He quickly pointed up the stairs. “He’s in the office upstairs going over the recovered documents.”
“Thanks.” I received a deep bow before he slithered off quickly, probably to brag to everyone in earshot that I had talked to him. Just the thought alone that everyone I interact with now will probably see it as the highlight of their year was exhausting. Focus on yourself, not them.
Making my way upstairs in the general direction that the gopher pointed, I began my search through the rooms. Most of the doors in the keep were left open, probably because it was a hassle to have them opened and closed repeatedly throughout the day. I could just spare a quick glance in, see it wasn’t what I was looking for, and move on.
It was in the fifth room I checked that I found Durdan, now sporting a more formal attire, sitting at an immaculately carved rosewood desk that currently had a mountain of papers atop it. Durdan was currently engrossed in seemingly several different documents at the same time, shifting between them and occasionally moving them from his hand to a pile only to replace it with another one. I stepped in, and Durdan must have noticed movement out the corner of his eye but wasn’t sure who it was exactly.
“Just put the papers on the pile.” He said dismissively.
“Would you be relieved to hear I don’t have any?”
Finally, his gaze came off the papers in front of him and he stared surprised at me. He cracked a friendly grin at me before starting up a proper conversation. “Oh, James, you’re awake. I’m happy to see that you have recovered from your ordeal.” He set down the papers to bring his full attention onto me.
“Mhmm.” I walked slowly up to the desk and then leaned on it, looking him in the eyes. “So, I hear you told everyone.”
His grin vanished, then became a look of dejection. “Yes, as ashamed as I am to admit it, I was unable to keep the promise I made to you.”
“Hell of a thing to wake up to, an army of zealots camped out in front of the house you plopped me down in. Frankly this day has been a conflicting string of emotions.” I didn’t raise my voice at him, just spoke plainly. There was no need for yelling, he admitted to it, and looked remorseful over the decision.
“I sincerely apologize for my breach of trust in this matter, but with the options that were presented before me, I chose the one with the best outcome. Word about you spread like fire through a dry field, not only from those slaves that you rescued, but from the Thrainian soldiers who escaped your wrath. They were rambling about some unkillable monster slaughtering everyone and were more than happy to submit themselves to imprisonment than face you again. That kind of thing tends to capture attention.
He leaned back in his seat a little bit. “Twenty-three soldiers, eviscerated by you alone, not to mention you gave birth to a whole damn forest in the middle of a castle. There was no way to explain it away, nothing I could say that would convince them you weren’t something special. So, the choice for me was either to lie only to be discovered later or tell them the truth and use the revelation to raise morale to new heights. You can imagine how something like ‘the goddess's champion has come to help our cause’ can get the troops moving.”
After he finished his reasoning, he let out an exhausted sigh. “I understand that you might be upset, and I am willing to listen to any demands for reparations due to my breach of confidentiality.”
I stared at him for a moment just to make him sweat a little. In the end I took a quick breath which came out in a huff before speaking. “I’ve already come to terms with the reality of the situation, and hearing about everything from an outside perspective really does point out how impossible secrecy would have been after that. I won’t hold it against you for talking about me, but that’s not to say I'm not upset that this is even happening in the first place.”
Durdan took in a bracing breath. “Yes, I imagine things will only get more complicated for the both of us going forward. The Thrainians won’t take this loss lying down, things will probably get worse before they get better, but this has been a major step forward, and if we can hold this territory, then we will hold an advantage.”
I gave a curt nod. “Nice to know what my actions are worth, but right now I need to speak with you on a personal matter of mine.”
He made a welcoming gesture with his hand. “I will hear it, it’s the least I can do.”
“There was a girl who lived here, the daughter of Balidor Kirthwain, where is she?”
“She is still here. We have her confined to her room right now. What do you need from her?”
“I’m going to bring her to her uncle once a moment appears for me to do so.”
Durdan paused, giving me a serious look. “I know it may not be my place to make a request of you, James, but would you consider any other course of action than that?”
“No, I'll be taking her.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why not!” Now my patience was starting to wear thin.
“What we could acquire in exchange for her trade back to the Thrainians could be a major boon for us.”
“She’s a fucking child!”
“And the daughter of one of the most influential lords of Valthrain. Even as a child her political weight is not to be understated.”
“I don’t give a fuck about any of that! I made a promise to her father, his last dying wish was to keep her safe and bring her to her uncle.”
“And if I refuse this request?”
I brought my fist down on the table with enough force that something splintered on it. Durdan didn’t even flinch, but I still stared daggers into him. “I’m taking her Durdan, and there’s nothing you can say or do that will stop me. So, unless you want your ‘great champion’ to decide that he doesn’t like you anymore, get out of my way.”
Our stare down lasted at least a minute, me glaring at him, him keeping a stony expression. Eventually, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “Very well. I feel that I cannot change your mind, but I will need to talk with the others about this. Hopefully I will be able to lessen the pushback against your actions.”
I relented my hostility towards him, returning the mood to a calm one. “Can you tell me where her room is?”
“Back left corner of the keep.”
“Thank you Durdan, I'll let you get back to your work.”
“Yes, I do have a lot of it left to do.”
That may not have gone as smoothly as I would have liked it, but at least it was squared away. I left Durdan to continue his work, hoping that he wouldn’t hold it against me for too long. Kala and I didn’t stop for any distractions, instead taking the shortest route to the part of the building Durdan had mentioned.
Along the way, Kala spoke up to me. “James, are you okay?”
I turned my head to her but kept moving. “What do you mean?”
“You’re really tense right now, and that conversation with Durdan wasn’t like you either. What’s going on?”
There was a pause before I answered her. “You know Balidor right? The... former lord of Yol’vastume.” She nodded in response. “Well, when I talked to him, I didn’t really feel that he was evil in any way, just that he was being misled. If it wasn’t for Alathos, he probably would have been a great man.” My face contorted itself into a snarl. “That fucking asshole corrupts everything he touches, and all this death is merely a symptom of his disease.” I shook my head, feeling melancholy take hold. “I had to kill a man who could have potentially done great things in this world. Maybe I feel that if I can’t keep this last promise to him, that I would be ignoring all that he could have been and spitting on his memory.”
“You feel an obligation?”
“I suppose that’s one way of putting it. Besides, we’re talking about a little girl here. She doesn’t deserve to be used like a pawn in a game of war. She’s lost her father, she shouldn’t have her innocence ripped away from her as well.”
“I can understand that at the very least.”
We were closing in on the corner of the keep, and even the door that we sought was in sight. However, a commotion from inside the room immediately sent my blood pressure rocketing.
“Get out from there you brat!”
“NO!” It was the shrill sound of a child in distress. The noise immediately sent me lunging forward, and I almost kicked the door down before thinking better of it and just threw it open.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The room itself was lavishly decorated with drapery, furniture, a medium sized desk, and a mirror. A variety of toys were littered about the floor, a few of them broken. However, what was holding all my attention at the moment was a scarred Ulgor currently kneeled and reaching under the bed. His attention snapped away from the bed to me, and he immediately shot up to a standing posture.
He looked at me for a moment before his eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, you’re the-”
“What the fuck is going on here!” I didn’t even give him the chance to finish.
His posture became much stiffer, like he was standing at attention before an officer. “Uhm, I was ordered to deliver a meal to the girl and make sure she ate it, but she won’t come out from under the bed.”
“So your plan was to terrorize her! Are you a fucking idiot or something?!”
His mouth flapped a few times, with coherent thoughts not seemingly being able to escape. “I... I didn’t... she wouldn’t-”
“Get the fuck out!”
He appeared lost for a second, but eventually he just bowed his head and made a quick retreat from the room. Once he was gone, I took a deep breath to calm myself before turning my attention to the bed and the soft sound of sniffling coming from under it. Slowly, I walked over and kneeled down by the bed, but far enough that I wasn’t threatening.
I bent myself a little to try and see under the bed. “Sweety? Are you okay? Can you come out?”
The quiet sobbing continued for a moment before her voice shakily sounded out. “Is the monster gone?”
“He wasn’t a monster, just an idiot, but yes, he’s gone.”
There was a slow shuffling sound as a pair of small hands emerged from under the bed followed by her head. She looked at me for a second, but then her attention turned towards the door, and she shrunk back under the bed a bit. I turned towards the door and saw Kala standing there observing the situation.
“It’s okay sweety. That’s Kala, she’s nice, and won’t hurt you.” Kala pulled the corners of her mouth up in a small smile to appear friendly.
Once more, the little girl cautiously started to pull herself out again. When she fully emerged, I felt my heart twist into knots. She looked disheveled, her dress was dirty and torn in a few places while her hair was tangled in knots. Fresh tears were only just beginning to dry on her face. At the very least she didn’t appear to have any injuries.
She sat kneeled by her bed, wiping her eyes and sniffling. Looking at her, she appeared so small, couldn’t have been more than eight years old. I wasn’t exactly sure how to begin a conversation with her. I looked around the room and saw a plate of food on the desk. With nothing else coming to mind, I simply retrieved the food and presented it to the child.
She eagerly accepted the food and started eating. I didn’t want to interrupt her when she seemed hungry, so I waited patiently for her to finish. After her food was consumed and she seemed satisfied, there was a bit of an awkward moment of silence. As a child, the social pressure of starting a conversation with an adult was too much to expect her to begin something, so it was up to me to try and find some way to start talking to her.
“Have you been getting enough food?” She nodded. “Okay. They haven’t hurt you right?” Now she shook her head. “That’s good.” More awkward silence for a few seconds. “Uhm, could I get your name sweety?”
She fidgeted for a moment. “Velanie.” She squeaked out.
I smiled at her. “Velanie, pretty name.” She drew into herself a little, displaying shyness prominently. It was then that I decided I should at least try to get to the matter at hand. “So, Velanie, I hear that you have an uncle.” She perked up a little bit when I mentioned this. “Do you know where he lives?”
“Uncle lives by the ocean.”
“Do you know the name of the town or city he lives in?”
She thought for a moment. “Uhm, I think it started with an A?”
Hopefully that’s enough to narrow down the choices. Maybe if I got a map and showed it to her? Something for another time. Now it was time for the hard part “Well, your dad wanted me to take you to your uncle so you can stay with him.”
“Daddy!? Where is he?”
My heart sunk into my stomach. Nobody told her. I suddenly found myself with a cinderblock in my throat that I was desperately trying to choke down. “Your... your dad, he...” I was suffocating now, it felt impossible to breathe. “He... said that he was sorry that he had to leave you, and that he loves you very much.”
She looked downtrodden. “When can I see him again?”
It felt like I had just been stabbed. She didn’t understand what was meant by ‘leave’. I couldn’t do it, after as much effort as it took just to get his last words out of me, I couldn’t tell her that he was dead. There was a war of emotions going on inside me, and I had to fight with everything I had just to keep them from showing. Everything inside me twisted and convulsed painfully as my body almost seemed to be willing to tear itself apart out of guilt alone.
“I... I don’t know sweety, but I think it will be a long time.” The sadness in her eyes was palpable. “D-don’t worry though, I'm sure that when it is time for you to see him, he’ll be there for you, I know it.”
“Okay.” She said in a downcast voice.
There were too many fucking bricks in my stomach, my lungs felt like they were in a vice, and my heart was operating in what seemed like double gravity. I needed a distraction; she needed a distraction as well. “Ahem, well, Velanie, would you like to play with some of your toys for a while? I’ll join you if you like.”
That seemed to lift her up a little. “Okay, you can play with them too.” She then proceeded to pull me over to her pile of toys and dolls, handing me a few as she told me their names and what they do in her imagination. I simply smiled and nodded along with her explanations.
We played together, and I did everything she asked me to do. She slowly started to enjoy herself, getting more into it the longer we went. I didn’t care if I had to play the monster, the knight, or prince charming, I just wanted her to feel normal for a little while, to feel like her world wasn’t collapsing around her. Reality can be a cruel piece of shit sometimes, and it’s the job of adults to protect children from it as long as they can.
I was unaware of how much time passed. It was an inconsequential detail when the only thing that mattered was that Velanie was able to be happy for a while. Eventually though, she ended up rubbing her eyes, looking quite exhausted. At this sign I noticed that the light from outside was starting to change colors as dusk descended across our corner of the world.
Her head bobbed as she seemed to be fighting to stay awake. I figured it was time for her to get some sleep, so I offered to pick her up and she readily lifted her arms at me to allow me to do so. I carried her as she rested her head on my shoulder to the bed. Gently I set her down on the soft bed. Almost the moment her head hit the pillow she fell asleep, breathing softly and steadily. The only thing I could do now was pull the sheets over her and let her sleep.
I turned to the door and saw Kala sitting in a chair next to it. Her patience was legendary, just sitting there and watching a grown man play make-believe with a little girl for hours. The only thing I could do was smile and offer her a hand to ease her out of her seat.
The door to the room was opened and closed with the utmost care. Outside I noticed a guard posted nearby watching the room. I had something I needed to make known to them, so I walked up and got in the Trelnval’s face, staring blankly and without emotion into his eyes. His gaze darted around, trying to avoid eye contact with me as his posture became statuesque.
“I’m only going to say this once, so you better listen. If there is so much as a scratch, a single fucking missing hair on her head, I'll make the person responsible suffer unimaginable agony before they beg for the release of death. Is that understood?” If he was at all capable of paling, he would have as he vigorously nodded at me. “Good. Spread the word.” With that, I turned and started walking away.
After a fair distance had been achieved, I suddenly felt as if everything that was keeping my body operating gave out all at once. I stumbled and fell into the nearest wall, leaning heavily against it for support. Naturally, Kala was immediately at my side.
“James?” Her face was concerned at first, but then it became surprised, and finally rested on sympathy. I didn’t understand why she went through these changes at first until my eyes blurred and forced me to blink. It took me a moment to realize that tears were running down my face, burning a trail down my cheeks as they ran with condensed raw emotion that was slowly catching up with me.
My breath started to shudder and catch. My body trembled and betrayed my commands. I was falling to pieces, and then the inevitable collapse happened. There was no stopping the tears that blinded me as my legs gave out. I fell in a heap on my knees sobbing and clutching at my eyes, guilt eating me alive.
Kala went down with me, pulling me in and squeezing me tight while I cried. It was messy, ugly, hysterical crying that I could do nothing to stem. The pain flowed forth as my heart drained the pent-up emotions out of my body like an over pressurized hose. Though the well was deep, it was not endless, and eventually I ran out of tears as I hit the bedrock of my emotions.
I could only sit there and take deep gasping breaths as Kala ran one hand over my back and another through my hair. My throat felt raw, my eyes burned, and my body was exhausted. The only thing I could do was lean further into Kala while I desperately tried to regain my composure.
After a minute I was able to get myself under control again for the most part. Even though I could, I didn’t bother to stand just yet. Instead, I just sought more comfort from Kala as she cradled me. I felt light, empty, drained, but I could also feel some energy starting to slowly return to me.
Once I had fully recovered, I pulled myself off Kala at a measured speed. She gave me a reassuring smile while squeezing my shoulders therapeutically. I still felt guilty, but letting some of that out did help me quite a bit.
“I’m sorry Kala, I keep using you as a cry pillow.” I attempted some humor, forcing out a weak chuckle and a half smile.
She didn’t say anything at first, just leaned in and pressed her lips against mine, coaxing me into kissing her back. When she separated, it left the both of us with smiles. “Anytime you need me, I'll be there for you, James.”
Still a little lightheaded, but feeling much better, I decided it was best to call it a day for now. I managed to get to my feet and after that Kala and I started making our way back to our house. With the sun quickly vanishing the number of people who were up and about was diminished enough that we weren’t waylaid by anyone hoping to gawk at me, or worse, ask me for a blessing.
Our house still had some stragglers outside, probably some of the more adamant believers. Naturally as soon as one saw me the rest assumed their prayer positions, leaving me to feel awkward as I skirted past them and into the building. I felt relief as soon as the door was closed, but that was soon followed by hunger as I had not eaten anything for dinner yet.
Kala was also hungry, so the solution was for us to prepare a meal with what food we had available here. We cooked something up as a team, and while it may have been just a simple soup, it was still delicious. Maybe it was because we made it together, so it just felt special.
After dinner was done, we cleaned up and Kala locked the front door for the night. I agreed with that. Definitely didn’t want to wake up to some crazies in the house. We made it up into the room where Kala even bolted the room door closed as well. That was a little odd to me, but I couldn’t complain about extra security.
I pulled off my shirt, folded it, and placed it on the nightstand. “Ready for bed?” When I turned after asking her that question, I was surprised to find her still next to the door, seemingly stuck in place. “Kala?” I heard her take a slow deep breath before turning towards me.
Her steps were controlled, measured, and smooth. Her tail swished gently behind her in time with her footfalls and she kept her eyes fixed upon me as she approached. When she came to a stop in front of me, her hands came up to rest upon my chest. She ran them down my body, claws gently scrapping across my skin in a way that shot a spark of electricity up my spine.
Suddenly she gave a firm push, and not expecting that, I fell back onto the bed. Before I could recover, she leapt onto the bed after me, and I suddenly found myself underneath her as she kneeled above me, staring down into my eyes. “Kala, what are you-”
My attempt to speak was silenced by two fingers pressing against my lips. The fingers were quickly replaced by her lips as she pressed them against mine. Every thought in my head vanished, and I could do nothing but kiss her back. She held the kiss for several seconds before finally pulling off enough for both of us to breathe.
Both of us were inhaling deeply, mere inches away from one another. Next, she moved towards my neck, and I soon found a rough tongue licking up the side of my neck which forced a sharp intake of air from me. I had no idea what this was, what got into her, and my quickening heartbeat was making it ever more difficult to think. “Kala, wait, please.”
She stopped licking and brought herself back to stare down at me. Her hand was now placed on the side of my face, fingers tracing along the path of my scar in a gentle caress. “James, when I was surrounded by those soldiers, I was convinced that it was the end, and all I could think about was you. I thought about all the things I regretted not saying, not doing, and then, when I thought I might lose you next, it only got worse. I don’t want to regret, I want to give you all of me, as I want to experience all of you.”
“Kala... are you sure?
A soft smile graced her face. She looked beautiful in the low light of night. It was practically dancing off her scales. “Never been more certain of anything.”
Those words removed the last of my inhibitions as I gave in to the racing of my heart that cried out so desperately for me to act. I reached up and cupped her head in my hands, pulling her towards me and into a passionate kiss that elicited a moan out of her. Our bodies intertwined and became one as we shared in a night of blissful love.