Brant burst through the door with claymore drawn at the sound, thinking they were under attack again by some terrible audio force. He almost struck the amp before Alix could stop him. It took him a long time to convince him that the music wasn’t an attack, and even longer to explain what it was.
“Your world enjoys that?” he asked in disbelief once he realised the music posed no threat.
“Some of us. You have no idea how good it is being able to play again. This is what I wanted to do with my life, not waste it fighting.”
“You were a bard in your world?”
“I guess you could say that. I don’t think I’ll be able to make any money out of it here though. I will try to keep it down,” Alix said begrudgingly. He wondered if he could create a soundproof room so he could play as loud as he wanted.
With the demons dealt with, and no more threats looming on the horizon, Alix was able to slow down. Everyone seemed to get along, the demons and the dark elves working together to speed the renovations along. His plans of planting crops and other useful plants in the grounds faded as the demon village grew. They were able to build at a remarkable pace.
Their help was very much appreciated within the castle. New floors went in while the gargoyles repaired the walls and the roofs, the stone flowing under their hands like water. Alix thought it would be handy to make more of them, but Mr Bones couldn’t remember the spell he had used to create them and there was no mention of it in the library. He did manage to find a simple spell that blocked sound though and he soon built himself a comfortable room to play in.
When a merchant arrived at the gate, he was finally reminded of the outside world again. The hounds brought word of the new arrival, giving him time to call the demons inside the walls. Many of them spent their days in the forest, cutting down trees for their growing village and exploring the new lands, far removed from their own.
Alix greeted the merchant from the top of the wall, keeping the gate firmly closed. The merchant drove a large horse drawn wagon, its arched back covered with canvas, concealing its contents.
“How can I help you?” Alix called down to the bewildered merchant. Looking around at the fresh fortifications, he had to be wondering if he was in the right place. The castle was only known as a ruin to those that knew anything about it at all.
“I’m looking for the Darknight,” the merchant called in an uncertain voice.
“What do you want with him?”
Mr Bones and Tifayn stood down the steps behind him, listening silently to the exchange.
“I wish to trade with him.”
“I thought the king had forbidden anyone to have any dealings with the Darknight?”
“The king’s reach is not as great as he would like to think. It is simple to operate right under his eye. I have seen the quality of the products the Darknight has created myself and there is a great demand for them. Are you him?”
If there were merchants willing to do business with him, he realised he would have to take the risk. The king could threaten him all he liked, he had already dealt with worse. He had thought to make money somehow and use it to buy food. He had expected the food and drink Leon brought to last him months, but with the added mouths they went through it in no time. The demons still had some stores the army had left them, the rations going a lot further now, but soon they would turn to him to survive. The Dark Elves wouldn’t be able to trade him any. Whatever meagre rations they were able to squeeze out of the mountain they needed for themselves. Any crops he managed to plant would take too long to grow. They needed supplies now.
“What sort of things are you after? What are you able to offer?” Alix asked, deciding to hear what the man had to say before deciding on his next course of action.
“Potions. I have gold,” the merchant replied, getting straight to the point.
“I would prefer food, for now at least. Potions might be a problem though. The vials give away where they come from.”
“I can provide vials, or you can give me what you have and I will rebottle them. I have a little dried food with me, but I was expecting you to ask for gold so that is what I brought most of.”
“How about this. Bring me as much food as your wagon can hold, and all the crop seeds you can find, and I will fill it with potions. It will take me some time to make them.”
“I can trade you the supplies I have on me right now. I think I might have some seeds in the back as well. If you have any potions to spare, I will pay you well for them. There is still a demand for antidotes, even though the plague is over, but the people still want them out of fear that it might happen again. Even the nobles are said to be hoarding them as a defence against poisoning attempts. I will use my own vials.”
“I might have some lying around,” Alix replied, considering the offer.
Eventually he instructed the merchant to leave the supplies by the gate. Then he had Ajugor fly over and deposit three boxes of Lesser Antidotes on the ground. The merchant yelped at the sight of the gargoyle and he had to work fast to calm his horse.
The value of the potions was a lot more than the food and seeds the merchant had on him, so he placed a bag of gold coins with them. The food was mostly dry staples, things he would have no trouble selling anywhere, but it would be enough to do them until he could return. The merchant packed away his prize and made off down the mountain, careful not to rock the wagon too much.
Once the merchant was out of sight, the gate was raised and the supplies were hauled inside. The gold was substantial, he just wished he had something to spend it on. Alix rummaged around until he found the boxes full of seeds. With the ring he was able to identify wheat, corn and lettuce. The rest were foreign to him but it was enough to get started with.
Alix called on Ulron, the demon that had been left in charge of the group that remained. Tifayn told him about his curious background before she introduced him to Alix. She told him that he had been the Demon Lord before they had become unbound and Alowyn had taken his position. While the demons had voted for Ulron to lead them, Alowyn had been revealed to be the strongest among them when unbound. He had been kept on as a chief, but the original powers of the Demon Lord had been denied him. Still, he knew the demons better than anyone. Alowyn had offered to return command to him, but Ulron had decided to stay and told her to take over for him back in Keravia.
“Do any among you know anything about farming?” Alix asked Ulron.
“No, our lands have never been suitable for growing crops. Legend has it that we survived under Babyl on the sap that leeched from the roots, but now we herd animals and fish the Dreadloch.”
“The Dreadloch? I haven’t seen that on any of my maps.”
“It is on the border of Babyl, half of it within the Deadlands. The fish that roam there are wild and ferocious, which is why no one else risks its waters. I have noticed that you have no livestock around here.”
“I haven’t had a chance to think about it. I don’t even know how I would go about finding some.”
“We could hunt the forests. We have seen plenty deer.”
“That might be a good idea if we are going to be planting crops. I don’t want any animals wiping them out before they can grow. I’ve managed to get a hold of some seeds and I was hoping some of your men would be able to help me prepare some ground outside the walls to plant them, and tend to the crops if they can.”
“I am sure we will be able to manage that,” Ulron replied. “Although we know nothing of farming like the Galdeans.”
“I will see what I can learn in the library.” Alix left him with instructions to work on clearing some suitable land. They still had a great need for wood, but Alix would have to source them other tools to prepare the land. The stumps had to be torn up and the land ploughed. First he had to go to the library and learn how to become a farmer. He couldn’t risk messing up the grow.
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He didn’t expect to find many books written by Darknights on the subject, and he was right. All the relevant books he found were written by natives of Babyl. The most interesting were written by Darknights, but he wasn’t always able to choose what he read. He had spotted a few books by Solknights as well, which were on his long list of things to read.
For several days he devoured book after book on farming, crop raising, animal husbandry, until he was dreaming about irrigation in his sleep. The Dark Elves had masterfully been able to produce the tools the demons needed to prepare the grounds and on a warm sunny day they planted the first three fields.
It was around this time that Brant came to him with the Ringtails, although he stood back in silence as Ophenia stepped forward to speak with him.
“What’s going on?” Alix asked the nervous lot.
Brant looked like he was about to say something but at a stern look from his wife he kept silent.
“We wanted to thank you for everything you have done for us,” Ophenia began. “Never before in our lives have we been treated as equals. We feel like we should be doing more to show our appreciation.”
“That’s alright, I am just glad I managed to help out. I’m sure you could find work anywhere you like if you are looking for something to do.”
“I heard that you planted some fields with the demons. I was wondering if we would be able to tend to them instead?” Ophenia asked, while the rest of the Ringtails looked on hopefully. “All Ringtails have an affinity for plants.”
“If that’s what you want then I’m sure that will be fine. It’s only a short walk to the fields. I would appreciate your expertise.”
“Thank you, Darknight,” Ophenia said, bowing her head slightly.
“There’s no need for that Ophenia. You were some of my first guests here. I know the circumstances around our first meeting weren’t pleasant, but I want you to think of this place as your own home, and of everyone here as your friends.”
Ophenia shifted uncomfortably before continuing. “Thank you, but that is another issue I would like to discuss with you. It is hard for us Ringtails to live in such a place as this.”
“Is there a problem with your rooms?” Alix asked, suddenly worried that they were being mistreated again somehow.
“No, the rooms are fine, it is the environment that is wearing on us. We need the open space of the wilds. I was wondering if we could be given permission to rebuild the village of Valon as our own?”
“Valon? I don’t see why not, but it might be dangerous living outside of the walls like that.”
“That’s exactly what I said,” Brant finally spoke up, ignoring the glares the Ringtails shot his way. “Our rooms are just as comfortable as the ones we had back in Galdea. I don’t see why you can’t look after the fields from here.”
“You know why!” Ophenia snapped at him, before turning back to Alix, “There is one last thing. I would like to go and look for more Ringless and bring them back to Valon with me. It makes me sick to think that others out there might be going through what happened to us. None of the Ringless have anywhere to go, nowhere to call home. I would like to make Valon that home.”
“That sounds like an admirable plan. Valon is yours. I will get the demons to work on building a new defensive wall around the village and the fields while you are away. How many of you are going?”
“All of us. We will be able to find more of the Ringless that way. It will be dangerous, but we have to try.”
Alix suddenly had a thought. He opened his menu and scrolled through the various recipes he had unlocked. As part of learning to craft clothes, he had also unlocked recipes for dyes. He found the one he was looking for and tapped it.
* Removed 10 Stryga Bark.
* Obtained 5 Black Dye.
Alix pulled the vials of dye from his inventory and passed them over.
“You should be able to use this dye to give yourselves some tail rings. That should help you get around without being harassed. Actually, you should probably take these as well.”
Alix quickly crafted a bunch of lightweight knives and handed them over.
They thanked him profusely and spent the rest of the day dyeing rings into their blank tails. It seemed ridiculous that such a small thing had relegated them to a lifelong exile. They left early the next morning, Brant leading the way down the mountain. He was still wary of going anywhere near Galdea again, and Alix was just as worried that someone might recognise him and try to give him trouble. None of them knew what his status was with the army after he had deserted. As a precaution, and to make them both feel better, he crafted another vial of Obscene Privilege, just in case he found himself in a situation that was otherwise impossible to escape.
“Keep is secret Brant. You know better than most what this potion can do, but I’ll feel better knowing you have at least something to defend yourself with. Look after my sword as well.”
It felt oddly empty in the castle without them around. The Ringtails had become just as much of a constant around the castle as the skeletons. Everyone else was always so busy, but the Ringtails had exuded an aura of calm. Without them, there was no escape from the chaos.
It was a week before the merchant returned, this time towing a trailer behind his wagon. Alix had spent the time hunting the forest for more materials and crafting as many potions as he thought the merchant could carry. He crafted a dozen different kinds, taking the opportunity to practise the more obscure potions he had unlocked, such as Opticure, which cleared up cataracts, cured glaucoma and improved eyesight, and Nifreum, which was an extremely powerful painkiller.
The merchant was happy to take all of them, but Alix had once again produced more than the merchant was able to trade for. He still left with ten times the amount he had taken previously. He returned the vials from the last batch and told him how well they had sold.
The floor of the trailer was filled with boxes of seeds. He was pleased to find a small sachet of hemp seeds among them, but growing that would have to be a project of his own. Hemp couldn’t feed them all, and unless they ran out of other building materials, there wasn’t much use for it. There was no point wasting his years here harvesting hemp for Fibre when it was readily available everywhere else.
With their new supplies, Alix tasked the demons with clearing more land and sowing the other seeds that were in season. With what he had learned, he hoped his work would be up to the ringtails’ standards. He stored the leftovers in his inventory, those that were out of season or they had too many of, so that they didn’t lose viability.
The demons took to their tasks with enthusiasm, leaving him free to do other jobs, of which he was beginning to feel there were little. With Brant gone his sword training was on hold for now. Tifayn’s pregnancy was advancing at an alarming rate. Every day her stomach grew, but apart from her appearance, it didn’t seem to affect her much. Still, he wasn’t comfortable swinging a sword at her.
One morning he woke in a cold sweat from a dream. Tifayn asked what was wrong, but he didn’t know if he should answer her. Something about the dream left him feeling strange though and against his better judgement he told her about it.
“It was about Nima, the Dark Elf girl,” Alix replied, trying his hardest to avoid mentioning the graphically erotic nature of the dream. He must have blushed as he spoke because Tifayn’s eyes suddenly narrowed and her body tensed.
“Nima? I always knew there was something strange about her. I couldn’t understand why the Revenant would send his daughter.”
“Nima is the Revenants daughter? Why doesn’t anyone tell me these things?” Alix asked.
“It wasn’t relevant before. There is an old legend about the Dark Elves. It says once you dream of them, your dreams can become prophetic. I hope this one wasn’t,” Tifayn replied stiffly.
Alix had never put much stock in dreams before but now he stressed over every one, but those that he could remember didn’t seem to hold any prophetic meaning. He didn’t dream about going home, or fighting with Leon, just banal dreams about life around the castle, until he had the dream about the tree.
Alix dreamed he was standing on the edge of a vast lake, from the middle of which rose a tree of gargantuan proportions. Its canopy was a raging inferno that he could feel licking against his skin. A fleet of galleons sailed the waters around its base, dangerous close to becoming engulfed in the flames and embers falling from the tree. Xilian was in his hand and blood dripped from the blades edge. A body lay on the ground, just at the edge of his vision, but as he turned to look, he woke up. He was disturbed to find himself standing in the dark, with Xilian in his hand. He stuffed the blade under the bed and went back to sleep. He didn’t give the dream much thought though. After obsessing over the World Tree so much, and having his life entwined with the Terminus Ritual, he was bound to dream about it eventually. From what he had read of Babyl, it should be even larger than the one he saw in his dream.
It seemed like it was no time at all before Tifayn went into labour, several months earlier than a regular human pregnancy. By then the restoration of the castle was complete, years’ worth of work having been accomplished in months with the help of magic, and several hundred pairs of hands.
“You should probably go away for a few days,” Tifayn said when she felt the time was getting close. “A demon birth can be…noisy.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I want to be here for you and the baby.” Tifayn didn’t seem happy about it but she didn’t argue with him further.
When the time came, and he had been pushed out of the room by the female demons that had taken charge of her, Alix almost wished he had listened to Tifayn. The screams that echoed throughout the castle traumatised him, terrified the Dark Elves and even worried the demons. Ulron told him that no matter how many times they heard the screams, they never got used to them. The screams weren’t like a human birth. They sounded like Tifayn was in a furious battle with the child, full of cursing and barks.
Suddenly there was silence. He wanted to break down the door but the demons had warned him not to enter until they allowed him to, or they would throw him out themselves. He didn’t doubt that they were stronger than him so he listened to the warning, pacing anxiously back and forth beyond the barrier.
Finally the door opened and he was ushered inside. From the sounds he had heard, he had expected the room to be in ruin, but Tifayn sat calmly on the bed with a quiet bundle in her arms.
“It’s a girl,” Tifayn said as he sat beside her and saw his child for the first time. Her skin was a lighter shade of ash than Tifayn’s. There was no hair to be seen, but a small pair of horns protruded from the baby’s head. In that moment Alix vowed that he would emerge victorious from the Terminus Ritual. He wouldn’t let anything separate him from his child.
“What should we call her?” Alix asked.
“She will tell us when she is ready.”