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Chapter 38 - The Shadar-Kai

Riin’s POV

Shadowfell, Region Unknown - Date Unknown

Week Eighteen

Having gotten dressed and checked up on the events after I passed out I can now see that my little one must have been the stopping power behind the jumping hound as I lost consciousness, this new skill Shadow Rift, it has gained, it seems to be somewhat able to pass into this realm for a short period. That is what the man named Uwan told me at least. Apparently having a familiar in the shadow realm is a rare thing, meaning familiars that are outsiders to Shadowfell, that is. According to Uwan this is why they have showed me a good deal of respect letting me stay inside a home for treatment instead of a medical tent. It also helps that I defeated a great number of hounds on my own, saving the lives of four young warriors. Or that was how Uwan put it when I asked him why they spent so much time treating my wounds and fever. All in all of the fifteen that went out five died or were close to death before I arrived at the scene. Two died while I was there. One was knocked unconscious mid fight but succeeded in slaying three hounds by himself before he was knocked down. A young girl killed off two by herself. A pair of brothers slew three hounds together, making them share the kills. The last hound was slain by a group of four and here is when it gets a bit complicated, since the four who slew the hound was not family they do not get to claim the kill as their own, not even the one who struck the killing blow. To sum it up they are left with no kills making them lesser warriors that must submit to the stronger ones.

When Uwan asked me to place my hand on a stone he brought with him to the room, I asked what the stone did and was told that it showed the number of beasts killed. So, in other words it shows others the world systems message window. Placing my hand on the smooth stone a sign lit up, writing that I could not read, but it reminded me of the old counties of China or Japan types of letters. So here we are two people staring at a flat stone with a weird sign on it. If I must say anything it is that Uwan has a funny look and that is not counting the many piercings covering his whole face.

Tilting my head a bit to get a better look at the stone I nod towards it.

“Is something the matter, Chief?”

Chief is how others address him, while it would be more correct to address him as a warrior chief. After all the title of chief is given to the strongest of the village. Uwan is slowly shaking his head before a loud laugh leaves his mouth, turning fully towards me.

“You’re a powerful warrior, young one!”

Having said that he slams his hand in my back with a great deal of force making me also fall face first into the floor.

“You have slain many of the shadow hounds that plague these lands, many more than our own young.”

He seems to be mostly talking to himself so I leave him to it.

“You have proven to be a great ally on the battlefield and a strong warrior even when wounded, you push on with no fear or pain.”

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this but all of them seem to be of a super masochistic of nature, something about a curse or ancient spell cast on their race. They are to the extreme when it involves pain or pleasure. Me? I just have a very high pain tolerance and that’s all, not into pain on purpose. Well at least not on my own body.

“I and the elder council has spoken and we have decided that by proving to be a great warrior and a master of a strong familiar from the mortal realm. We hereby grant you the title ‘Friend of the Shadar-Kai’. Uwan brings out what looks to be a old stone knife and pulls my arm into his hands, he then dips the knife into a bowl with a black-bluish paint in. Lifting the knife up from the bowl he looks into my eyes.

“May this mark show your strength on the battlefield and the rank in our mists.”

I give a solemn nod at this. Uwan presses the blade down into my skin, just under the shoulder. I bear the pain, it’s nothing more than a prolonged cut or getting a prison tattoo.

You have gained [Brand: Friend of the Shadows]

Feeling like I have to speak up I look at the chief.

“I thank you for this great honor, chief.”

He in turn gave a short nod and a pat on the back.

“Rest young warrior, let brand do its work.”

My sight fades and I black out…  Again!

I fall into a restless sleep. I dream. Dreams are of the world in shadows that covers the world like a blanket, yet I find that I'm able to move with no problem at all. Dreams of a throne with a raven on it, yet the raven is a woman or is the women a raven, I don't know. I dream of an endless march, a walk with no end. The raven woman comes to us, she shows us the end of the march. I dream in a restless sleep.

When I come too this time Uwan is sitting on the chair and four children are kneeling in front of my bed. I throw Uwan a ‘What is happening here’ look. He gives me a smile and makes a grunt before standing. As the sound registers with the group they straighten their backs but keep their heads down.

“Welcome back among us, young warrior.”

“Thank you, chief.”

We stare at one another for a few moments, a smile forms on the chief’s face.

“Ah I see, you have met the queen of night.”

He nods, it seems to be more to himself than me, once more. I have read about ‘her’, the Queen of Night, the goddess of the shadow realm.

I tilt my head a bit, how in the world could he have known that? Uwan give a small laugh before speaking.

“You want to know how I know? I feel it young one. We are her children. All Shadar-Kai will know that the queen has welcomed you into her lands and will treat you as a guest, a member of our kin.”

I run my finger lightly over the brand carved into my arm.

“I see… The tattoo, this brand has such powers… Truly amazing.”

Uwan gives me a smile once more.

“Indeed, it is, young one.”

I smile back to him. Silence passes between us.

Okay, I guess I must ask before anyone will tell me exactly why there is four people kneeling in front of my bed. Hmm how to start…

“So, mind if I ask who these people are, chief?”

I nod my head down towards the still kneeling children or young adults I guess, they look to be near my age. Uwan beams me a new and improved smile before he begins to talk.

“Ah, I'm glad you asked!”

So am I, since it seems he would not have talked about them before I asked myself, meaning they could have been sitting down there for a lot longer than they have now. That is not even telling when they started sitting in front of my bed… He weaves his hand at the group, while having a disappointing look on his face.

“This group is the four that survived the battle against the Shadow Hounds but were unable to kill any beast by their own hands.”

At the end of his little talk he looks more angry than disappointed if anything. At his rather harsh words the group in front of me clench their shoulders a tiny bit as he stresses the word shadow hounds. Well I guess I could have left some if I knew it would have been seen as such a big problem.

“Since they are unfit to be named warriors in our clan, the council has decided that they be given to you.”

Woah, hold your horses.

“I don't think I quite understand what you mean when you say ‘give them to me’. Would you mind explaining, chief?”

Uwan looks confused for a split second before nodding.

“Ah, of course. A young Shadar-Kai unable to slay a beast on the first hunt is not seen as a warrior of our kin. Those who survive the first hunt but is wounded and therefor unable to battle will face a new hunt to prove themselves. But the ones like these four -”

He almost growls out ‘the ones like these’, a taboo has been committed that much I can tell.

“- that come back from the first hunt free of any life-threatening wounds… That is proof of their cowardliness. Weaklings. We and The Queen have no need for such in our mists, normally they would be sent to Gloomwrought and sold to earn some coin. But the Seer of the council have seen them serve The Queen in the mortal realm. So therefor we feel that they would do well to serve under you in the mortal realm.”

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I look down at the four kneeling in front of me. Three males and a single female. Small drops of sweat runs down from the forehead of the boys, the girl is shaking a little bit but seems to be holding up a tad better than the boys. I look at Uwan once more.

“When you speak of serving me, what do you mean?”

He smiles once more, a cold smile as he looks down on them.

“Your will is their command. Think of them as slaves born to kill. They are no longer of our kin but The Queen seems to still have use for them and we do not question The Queen. All we ask is that you bring them with you.”

Hmm.

“Let's say that I do. What prevents them from attacking me when I bring them to my home realm?”

Uwans eyes grow big for a short moment before returning to the normal relaxed state.

“We are children of The Queen, should we try and defy our fate we will be banished from these lands, not even spineless cattle like them would dare to defy a Seer.”

“And a Seer is a messenger of The Queen?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

I like Uwan, straight to the point with things.

“So, you are sure they will obey my every command?”

“If they don't, they are directly defying The Queen's command and no child of hers would dare to do such a thing.”

“I see.”

Uwan cast one more cold look at the children below him before heading to the door.

“Do what you want with them, they live you serve you now, so that they can fulfill The Queen’s command.”

I give him a nod as he bids me farewell for now.

I let out a sign. We have been sitting here for a few hours now, night has come and they have not moved from the spot Uwan left them in. They must have lost the feeling in their legs by now… But then again they might get a kick out of that, the pain of sleeping limbs. I rub the bridge between my eyes, they are giving me a headache. They are nothing more than a problem. And the problem doesn’t seem to have any intention to go away anytime soon.

“Names.”

They react by jerking their heads up at the sound of my voice, they remind me a bit of Ellette.

The boy to my left starts out. He bows his head down to the floor before speaking. They all follow this as they state their name.

“As you command, this one's name is Ashko, my master.”

He is thin of build, weak looking.

The girl speaks up next. She is of a slim build, but her form is well defined.

“As you command, this one's name is Ivani, my master.”

Hearing her call me master makes my dick harden… hormones I tell you, then again I always had a thing for submissive people and an even greater thing for maids.

Following her the two other boys speak in turn.

“As you command, this one's name is Shagi, my master.”

“As you command, this one's name is Theadis, my master.”

The two last ones are more heavily built than the first boy.

“I assume that the First Hunt is held at a set age?”

Ashko, bows down once more before answering my question.

“As you command, the First Hunt is held when a group of ten to fifteen people come of the age fifteen, my master.”

I look as he is bowed down before me, wicked things run amok in my mind, I need sleep.

“I see, so you are all Fifteen… Hmm, of legal age… But that will have to wait for tomorrow, now I need some sleep.”

They bow down as one and speak as one, creepy in a way.

“As you command, have a great night's sleep, master.”

Week Nineteen

I wish I could blame the lack of sleep on the fact that I want to play and humiliate Ashko, but seeing as I have slept fine the last night I can't really blame the sleep. I blame him then, his slim and weak looking body. The feeling of overwhelming power when he bows down in front of me, exposing himself. I want to make him cry and moan, beg and scream. He wakes the sadistic nature of me. Not that Ivani is any help either, while she is not weak looking she shows me the same pose, as if telling me to do what I want with her body. Shagi and Treadis is to well-built to turn me on in that way, but with the right amount of training I might end up using them as well. But right now, I need a bath.

Ahh, there is nothing more relaxing than a hot steaming bath to calm one's mind. Or that is what I would have said if I could ignore the fact that four people are kneeling next to the tub I'm in… I cast a quick look towards them and see that nothing has changed the last half an hour. They are still sitting there looking at me. I close my eyes trying to ignore them.

“Don't you have better things to do than stare at me taking a bath?”

Judging by the voice, Ashko answers my question.

“As you command, what task shall we do, my master.”

Huh? Are you telling me that they have been following me around all morning just so that I could give them something to do… You gotta be fucking kidding me… I turn to look at them. The clothing they are wearing covers their bodies fully, like a jumpsuit. I can only make out their general form underneath it. To make them of any use I need to see the whole structure of their body. I wave a hand at Ashko. Might as well do it here since we are in the bathing area.

“Stand.”

His eyes grow for a second before he in a shift motion stand up.

“As you command, my master.”

“Strip.”

It is hard to judge but I would say that I'm eighty percent sure that he just blushed. He fumbles with the clothing, letting it fall. His body is of a slim build, but it's not like he is underweight, just slim. He is shaking a bit, but it's not cold in here so must be something else. I let my eyes see every inch of his body, indeed he is my type, weak looking and submissive. I'm glad that the tub hide my growing hard on. I wave my hand again.

“Good, put your clothes on and go to my room.”

“As you command, my master.”

He quickly picks up his clothes from the ground and pulls his pants up in a hurry, cute. It leaves me smiling as he fumbles a bit with it. He almost runs out of the room and if my eye didn’t deceive me he had tears in the comers of his eyes, is he tempting me? I point to Shagi.

“Stand. Strip.”

“As you command, my master.”

His voice is deeper than Ashkos, he stands and strips. Not blushing or ashamed at all of his body, but then again, he is well built unlike Ashko. I look him over and nod. Waving at his clothes.

“Good, wait in my room.”

“As you command, my master.”

He bends and picks up his clothes before leave the room. I point at Theadis.

“Same deal.”

“As you command, my master.”

He is up and standing naked rather quick, a nudist? Same well-built body as Shagi, he will need the same kind of training. I give myself a nod.

“Good, wait in my room.”

“As you command, my master.”

He grabs his cloth only pulling up the pants before opening the door to leave.

This leaves me with only Ivani.

“Stand.”

She gets up on unsteady legs. As I suspected, she is shaking.

“Strip.”

She slowly let her bindings off and the clothes fall to the floor. Her body is covered in black and blue marks, someone beat her. A frown forms on my face. Someone laid their hands on what was mine. A clear bluish line is around her wrists, someone bound her. Her front is a mess of fists and what looks to be kicks. Yet they left the face alone so the clothing would hide the truth beneath.

“Turn around.”

Her eyes are tearing up, as she slowly turns around letting me get a full view of her back. Lines, she was whipped.

“Put your clothes back on.”

“As you command, my master.”

Her voice is bearing the signs of her shaking. I stand and dry myself off before getting dressed. For now I need to treat the bruising, they must have plants that are able to do so here as well. We need to visit the local healer. For now, the who can wait.

“Follow.”

“As you command, my master.”

We walk out the bath house and towards the healer's home. Eyes follow us as we make the trip, I ignore most of them but is stopped in my tracks by a group of four young people, three males and one female. They are the ones who completed the hunt by slaying one or more hounds. I raise a brow at their obvious attempt to block our path, when nothing is said from them after a while I decide to talk.

“Is there something you want?”

They look among themselves while smiling all cocky at one another, before a boy speaks up.

“I'm Thieraven.”

His smile gets a tad bigger.

“Okay… And what do you want from me?”

He gets a look that says, ‘how dare you’ written all over it before opening his mouth again.

“I'm Thieraven, the strongest of the hunt this year outsider!”

I give him a once over, well-built but if I remember correctly he only slew three Shadow Hounds. Impressive but nothing compared to my kill count.

“Your point in all this?”

“Hand over that toy.”

This is one of those people who just don't get a hint.

“Toy?”

He gives me a look as if I'm a complete retard.

“Yes, outsider, the toy you are dragging around! Give it to us now!”

Ah, well I had hoped that I was wrong but I guess that failing the hunt is a big thing here. Marking the fails as objects instead of clan members. Sad that he made a mistake, well in a way good since I need to get into shape again.

“That toy you speak of is mine and mine alone so get lost.”

His whole boy screams ‘I'm going to hit you in the face’ long before his fist even makes it near my head. I do a spin and use his weight against him, throwing him over my shoulder and into the ground. One of the boys come at me, I do a well-formed kick to the temple lope and he is down for the count. His brother attacks, his swing is heavy but easy to dodge, a few quick hits to his solar plexus and he goes down with a grunt. I turn to face the girl. She is ready to attack yet waiting.

“Lady's first.”

She does a high kick to my blind side, clever but it leaves her open to attacks. I step inside her range and give her a well placed fist in the solar plexus as well. She falls to her knees grasping her stomach.

At this point in time the first guys has gotten up again, I wait for him to come at me. As he takes a step forward a clap resounds in the air soon followed by Uwans voice.

“Enough, Thieraven.”

The young man stops and looks toward the sound, at the sight of Uwan he bows his head.

“Forgive me, Chief. The outsider did not want to let go of the toy.”

Uwan cast a look towards Ivani before he looks at me.

“You gave her to me, correct?”

His laughter resounds.

“That is correct, young warrior.”

He turns his head towards the downed group of young people grunting in the dirt.

“Young ones, he is out of your league.”

The only one who react to his words is Thieraven.

“But chief he is an outsider!”

Uwans voice grows cold as he speaks.

“This outsider is chosen by The Queen! So, watch your mouth young one. He is a mighty warrior far more capable than any of you.”

One of the boy's bow his head before speaking.

“May I ask how capable he is, chief?”

“Fourteen and that is only the number of the hunt, his clothes were made from the hounds as well as his belongings, do you now understand?”

Huh are they comparing kill counts?

The four bow their heads but only Thieraven speaks up.

“I still believe that as a warrior I'm stronger than that outsider, please let me prove it, chief.”

Uwan looks at him for a moment before looking at me, letting out a sign.

“Young warrior would you accept the duel with young Thieraven.”

I throw a look at the young man, one of the types of people that just don't give up unless they are broken, guess it can't be helped.

“Yes, bu-”

I barely manage to avoid the sword swing thrown at me. That fucking shit got a sword!? I'm at a great disadvantage in this fight, unarmed. I quickly jump back as he takes a new swing at me. Can I kill this fucker!?

“Is this to the death?”

Uwan answers my question in a rather relaxed voice.

“No, just until one of you admits defeat.”

“By any means?”

“Yes.”

“Good to know, chief.”

Activate Bloodlust Aura!

[Bloodlust Aura] has been activated. Range set to [100] feet.

The effects of the spell show instantly. The young ones drop to their knees grasping their heads and hugging themselves. I throw a look at Uwan, the only sign that he is feeling my spell is a few drops of sweat on his forehead. Other than that, he is standing with a relaxed posed and he is fucking smiling. I turn my attention back to Thieraven, who is of this moment half crying on the ground in front of me.

“Surrender!”

All I receive from him is more crying, pussy. I walk towards him and drag his head up by his hair to look at me. His eyes are shut closed with tears streaming down.

“Look at me.”

I shake his head a bit, I need to end this quick.

“Look at me, Thieraven!”

He slowly opens his eyes to look at me.

“Do you surrender?”

A weak nod.

“Speak!”

In a mess of hiccups and with a broken voice he finally speaks up.

“I surrender.”

Deactivate Bloodlust Aura!

[Bloodlust Aura] has been deactivated.

I stand, looking over at the smiling man called Uwan.

“If that is all I have things to do, chief.”

“It is all.”

I leave with a nod of farewell to him, giving a wave for Ivani to follow me. Finally, we can make our way to the healer.