Silenos Shaiagrazni was not in a good mood, Collin could tell as much and he was quite sure his apprentice and puppet-Queen could too. It wasn’t any great feat for him to have noticed, mind. In all likelihood the worms dozens of yards underfoot had noticed as well. He could’ve sworn the bloody ground was shaking.
Over the weeks Collin had noticed the caster pick up a habit of pacing when his temper frayed, and today was no different. Their position in the centre of Ironbane’s throne room gave him plenty of room for the pacing, and he was testing its limits by marching wide circuits around its perimeter, fury dripping from him in great, acidic rivulets.
“Rebellions are popping up.” Collin told him, deciding to just get it all over and done with. “A lot, more every day. The King really was the pin to this entire occupation, without him his people are starting to chafe. Particularly because half of them are convinced you went back on your word and murdered him.”
It was, he thought, probably what their enemy had intended. Had Shaiagrazni just executed him on the spot things would not be half so bad, publicly promising his life and then killing him anyway was the worst of both worlds. Not a bad little piece of politicking, he had to admit. Collin made a note to broaden his own horizons and include such tactics, it was the sort of thing his dad would’ve done.
“It was perfectly timed.” Shaiagrazni growled. “Clearly whoever did this was well aware of our coming ahead of time, and likely the motives for why. There is no other way they could have mustered such a force, even as a local power. And that force will have to have been within the city and primed to strike already when I spared Alfonso.”
Collin considered that, and hesitated. It was the princess, Ado, who spoke up however.
“Not…Necessarily, my Lord.” She breathed. “Forgive me, but these were Vampires who attacked us.”
Shaiagrazni turned to her, his gaze as intense as ever.
“I am unfamiliar with those creatures.” He replied, frankly. “Explain what they are and why this changes things.”
They exchanged a few glances, all of them. None seemed willing to take the Queen’s place in explaining.
“Undead, we believe.” She said, slowly. “But…Different from others, strange. Their bodies are reanimated more completely, emulating life well enough to fool most who are not studied about them, and their minds are left almost wholly intact and independent. Vampires can’t be bound by Necromancy, like other reanimates, and they can propagate their own existence by draining the blood from others, then replacing it with their own. Blood, actually, seems a focus of theirs.
They hold as much power over it as they do Necromancy itself, feed on it, subsist from it, thrive in it. There seems to be magical elements that only they can take advantage of in the stuff. Sunlight kills them near-instantly, as will a shard of wood impaling their heart. Silver burns them and resists their strength, which is exponentially above the vast majority of humans.”
As far as explanations went, it was a good one. Collin reckoned she’d probably studied them herself, if he remembered right the woman had been trained as a magus after all. Certainly explained that irritating, cocky way she had of looking at everyone. Different, somehow, from the other aristocrats Collin had seen. Demanding a challenge just for the pleasure of smacking it down. He felt a stab of annoyance again as she did that thing with her lips-
“I see.” Shaiagrazni cut in, sounding no more impressed by the explanation than he was by most things. “Then there may have been no need for such careful preparation after all, if creatures of this can muster so easily. This is…Troubling, how would you all recommend we proceed?”
It was a rare feature for a man insisting on command to be so willing to accept counsel, Collin let himself appreciate it a moment more before speaking.
“I say we-” He faltered at the sound of an opening door and hasty footsteps on the stone floor, then turned to see a messenger scrambling in. The man looked utterly terrified, and for once it was focused on Shaiagrazni.
“Apologies for interrupting.” He gasped. “But there is a visitor, here to-”
The doors opened again, but this time a different set. The main pair, foot-thick stone designed specifically to demand its team of guards to force apart, multi-tonne weight gliding inwards as if moved by a dozen people at once. From the other side entered a woman.
No, not a woman. Collin recognised the inhuman glide to her step before she’d even taken three strides inside. A Vampire, tall and lean, pale and twisted like the rest. He saw others make the same realization, because Shaiagrazni’s apprentice and Queen were both quick to raise hands with ice and darkness at once.
The Fleshcrafter halted them with a single spoken word.
“Stop.”
They did, the way any sane person stopped when commanded to by that particular man, but eyed him in confusion. Uncharacteristically, he gifted them some elaboration.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“If I am correct, our guest is here under a parlay to speak with us peacefully.” He noted, and the Vampire nodded with a smirk. “So do not kill it, or it will become far more difficult to manage any kind of parlays at all in the future.”
“Wise words, Lord Shaiagrazni.” The intruder noted, continuing into the room. “I was hoping you’d see the wisdom in them.”
“Spare me your flattery.” The Necromancer replied, calmly. “I have no time for it.” He paused, glancing around, thinking, then continued. “Out, all of you. I will have this discussion alone.”
Collin saw no reason to disobey.
----------------------------------------
The Vampire looked at Silenos in a way that no undead had any business looking at a Necromancer of his calibre. Calm, considering. Like they were equals. It needled Silenos, but he did not let the fact show.
“You are here with terms from your Master?”
As was common among undead, there seemed to be no subconscious twitches of the Vampire’s facial muscles. Silenos could read nothing of its mental state, and so he listened intently to the words with which it answered him.
“I do not serve the Dark Lord.” It replied, rather quickly. “None of us do, we are above such petty states.”
Silenos kept his own features neutral, even as he stored the information. So rapid a response seemed, to him, to indicate a touched nerve. As far as he could guess, the undead was being truthful, and downright offended to have even been implied a servitor.
“We do work with the Dark Lord, of course.” It continued. “For all the reasons you likely think; there are few other humans in this world willing to associate with our kind.”
“The Dark Lord is human?” Silenos noted, as much for his genuine curiosity as to keep the Vampire wrong-footed by steering the conversation. It hesitated.
“He is not one of our kind, nor a conventional undead, that much I know.”
Silenos tucked the information away and answered it with a nod.
“I imagine it has not escaped your notice that I, too, would be willing to associate with your kind.” He observed.
“It hasn’t, nor has the Dark Lord’s superior forces.” Countered the Vampire. “I am, however, here to present you with an offer. Join him. Pledge your fealty and swear your loyalty, there would be a place for you as his second in command, after all you have accomplished, and with your forces and skills combined the entire world would fall before you in short order. His words, not mine.”
Silenos did not laugh out loud, but he certainly savoured his amusement. The fact that he had even been handed such a ridiculous proposition was evidence of a deep-seated idiocy in both the Dark Lord and these curious Vampire creatures.
He was a better Necromancer by far than this Dark Lord, and had seen no evidence that the man was even able to Fleshcraft. From what he’d asked of Sphera, he focused mostly on direct combat magic, which explained his effortless victory against King Galukar. A formidable foe, individually, but far from the strategic utility Silenos could bring to bear.
There was a reason he was receiving such an offer, and Silenos would have wagered it was to make the most of his magics, then kill him as quickly as possible to keep from being exceeded later on. Time was his ally, and his enemy’s adversary. All he needed to do was win more of it.
But there was more to time, at that. It was a crucial component in the equation of distance.
“Your people live within these mountains.” Silenos guessed, and saw the Vampire stiffen. There were no instinctual twitches, but it seemed a psychological shock would still manifest in larger-scale body language. He noted that down as he spoke more. “I could scour them. Find you, eventually, and kill you in retaliation for whatever ruin you may bring to my plans.”
This time it responded calmly, unfazed by his threat, seeing through it with respectable speed.
“You could, but you won’t. You have a single critical flaw, you know, as a leader. You’re too logical. We’ve been studying you for a while, and it’s been long since apparent that you aren’t prone to acting out of a need for vengeance or retribution. Not when you have other matters that demand your focus, at least. We intend to safeguard ourselves from you by simply being less than your biggest threat.”
It was, he had to admit, a competent play. Silenos was actually left thinking for a moment to try and circumvent it. Evidently, the Vampire was enjoying its momentary advantage, because it was quick in speaking more.
“You need to commit all of your attention to maintaining stability within your newly stolen territory.” It concluded. “And while you do so, your movements are restricted by pragmatism. Unless you would rather face the Dark Lord’s arrival with a fractured, broken territory.”
Silenos eyed her, considered, then shook his head.
“You are a fool if you think you have trapped me, and I will not be accepting any of your conditions.”
The undead stared, but said nothing.
“That is all, leave now.” Silenos ordered, watching as it made its way to the door, then paused just before exiting.
“Think carefully before spurning my Lady’s advice.” It tried, futilely. Silenos did not even dignify the petty efforts with a further response, just waited for the thing to be gone. Once it was, he called on Baird once more.
If the Ranger was as bothered to not have killed the Vampire as he usually was at seeing the Dark Lord’s associates retain their lives, he kept blissfully quiet about it.
“We need Ironbane stabilised.” Silenos told him, in no mood to mince words or waste time. “And we shall do so through its royal bloodline.”
The boy was thinking quickly, as ever.
“The King’s uncle?”
“No.” Silenos mused. He was an older man, well established and connected, there were better alternatives. “The King’s brother.”
Baird’s confused surprise only reinforced how perfect a choice it would be.
“I…Didn’t know he had a brother.”
“Many do not.” Silenos noted. “But his existence is not controversial, merely…Irrelevant. Until now. As I understand it, much of his time is spent in isolation, deliberately distanced from national politics.”
“Making him politically weak, but socially powerful, and a perfect tool.” Baird nodded, smiling suddenly. “You know, I’m starting to enjoy sacreligiously abusing feudal inheritance for our own ends.”
He was looking far, far too happy for Silenos’ taste, and so it was with relish that he continued.
“Good, then you are to accompany the Queen Ado in finding this new heir. And do so subtly, if he is still alive it is because the Vampires have yet to locate him, they may plan to do so by following you.”
Baird looked rather quickly miserable at that revelation, but nodded.
“Right, I’ll be off then.” He headed on his way, and Silenos called Sphera and Swick through to replace him.
“There are doubtless groups conspiring against us already within this city,” He said, frankly, “I wish for you both to root them out and if possible dismantle them.”
They, at least, seemed far less irked by their own duty.