“I haven’t seen you for so long, dear,” the Tsarina said to her daughter.
Verdana Dren smiled at her mother, then wrapped her in her strong arms. She was a little taller than her mother and her fur was bluer whereas her mother’s was more of a light grey. Both Mavit Tomar women had short sweeping graceful horns that sprang from their foreheads and swept backward.
“You know how busy I’ve been mother. We can make no headway among the Telnor, the Emar, or the Vinkul, and certainly not with the Goran, but these greedy humans…”
“Yes, they forget how many of them we killed on our invasion of their lands. For a handful of coins, they mortgage their very souls.”
“We had some pushback on the West coast of Kronos, but the pirating crews are doing well, scoring new prizes almost every week now. What they can’t capture, they send to the ocean floor.”
“Are they using that new technology?”
“They’re called cannons, mother. It launches a stone or metal sphere, but ten times the distance and with much greater force than a trebuchet. The humans will be caught completely unaware. It will soon be impossible for them to travel the seas, and our fleet of privateers will continue to grow.”
“And, the other thing?” Nica asked her daughter.
“The pirates are devastating their commerce, but our other little plan is even more effective in bringing down the damned humans. I’ve dispatched more than a dozen operatives, and they’ve assembled teams to infiltrate many of the major cities. These humans are perhaps as stupid as they look. We look so different from them, and yet they won’t refuse us entry to their lands and cities. When one of our men goes into a town with even a small chest of gold, they can quickly put up infrastructure to begin a campaign to bring down their working class, corrupt their youth with sins of the flesh, and infect them with weaknesses of morality.”
“Turning them into immoral, pleasure-seeking animals will ultimately be their downfall. Their gods will surely forsake them, and in a generation, we can again try to conquer their rich lands.”
“Yes, mother. I won’t be happy till I own a thousand of them as slaves. Catering to my every whim.” She giggled at the thought.
The Tsar had failed too many times and got too many of his people killed. In response, they dragged him from his mansion and hung him by the neck in the public square. It took a bloody revolution, but with help from a few hundred Vinkul mages, the Dren family was returned to power. Nica Dren was now the leader of Warfield again, but it was her daughter Verdana who did a lot of the dirty work. She was both fearless and ruthless; traits that served her well.
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The plan to put agents throughout the human world was working well, but she couldn’t take full credit for the ideas. She walked through seemingly endless corridors within the royal mansion, taking turns and going down level after level. Deep, deep below the surface, in a forgotten part of the keep she finally came to a door. The door was not special in any way, it had no marking and looked just like the rest of the doors in the last dozen hallways. She’d been led here by the elf traitor, Sabeau. Shortly after retaking the government and moving back into their ancestral home, the elf showed up out of nowhere and said that a voice in his head was commanding him to come to this very door. Verdana had explored the place and when she was alone, several levels below the ground floor, she too had heard a whisper, a voice calling to her. Now that the elf traitor was dead, she was the only person who knew about the door and the mysterious and powerful entity that lay beyond it.
Like a dozen times before, she knocked firmly on the painted wood. The door seemed to vanish, and the doorway became the opening to a vast nothingness beyond. Smoke hovered around the entrance and like every other time, a chill sank into her, causing her to shiver in both fear and anticipation. “I am here,” she said plainly.
There was no response for over a minute, and she waited patiently. After an agonizing wait, the voice came. It was female to be sure, but it was thick with bile and hate. “I see you, child. You came to report your progress?”
“Yes, mistress.” She bowed her head, her horns tilting perpendicular to the floor. “We’ve taken a score of ships from the humans and rewarded our minions with the spoils. The traffic between continents is nearly impassable due to our raiders. Your cannons are every bit as lethal as you promised. Some ships that put up resistance had to be sunk.”
“Very good,” the voice was deep for a woman, sensual and arrogant at the same time. “How are your efforts to cause the humans to sink into depravity?”
“Better than expected my lady. The humans are helpless when it comes to forgoing pleasure or avoiding distraction. They are tempted easily, and their weakness locks them into destructive behaviors. We have agents in many of the main cities here in Kronos and we are trying to start organizations in Tychon, the other human continent.”
“Good, very good. When I come to claim your world, I will allow you to serve at my feet.”
“And my people? The Mavit Tomar?”
“Many will survive… but not all.”
Verdana was silent at this revelation. She was as greedy as can be, but she still cared about her breed. She didn’t know the name of her benefactor and was not sure how powerful she actually was, but she’d learned that the woman behind the veil of darkness had nearly god-like power and limitless resources.
“Enough of this. I have a new and vital assignment for you. Your work has been excellent up till now, but I warn you not to fail me in this most important effort.”
“I’ll not fail you, lady.” She bowed her head again.
“In your land of Pyrros, a new country has sprung up.”
“You mean the elves?” She looked into the void for an answer, but only stared into blackness. “They escaped from the Underworld and were trapped here. They have taken over a vast territory on the Western coast of the continent. I’ve heard there are a few hundred thousand of them.”
“Yes, they are the last of their kind. A race of treacherous, evil beings. I want them exterminated; they must be purged from your world before they spread their filth across your lands. You will be the agent of their demise and the catalyst for my ascension to the throne of your world!”
“What will you have me do… master?”
“Listen to me carefully child, there is much for you to do. The havoc you will wreak will rock this world to its foundations.”