The castle was like a sanctuary, like a fantasy painting with the sun rising above the hills, painting the sky in soft hues of pink and orange as we crossed the drawbridge.

“The king is back!” shouted a youthful voice. Midas, one of Kent’s watchmen, was a young man of around fourteen, the son of one of the men who worked the fields. Kent had promised his father he’d turn him into a knight.

Kent waited right behind the main gate. He looked like he hadn’t slept the whole night, with bags under his eyes. Next to him stood his closest knights, among them Sir Farnand, with a mane of blonde hair falling to his shoulders and a beard.

“Praise the Goddess,” Kent said, stepping forward and falling to one knee before Malor.

And then Malor himself collapsed on one leg, as if too much weight had been placed on his shoulders. I could still hear him gasp in pain, his hand pressed against his stomach.

“I apologize, Sir Kent,” he said, blood seeping through his lips. “I made a serious mistake.”

Kent’s eyes opened wide. “You’re wounded, Your Majesty!” He turned, facing the young watchman. “Midas. Fetch the doctor.”

“Do not worry, Kent,” Zyra said, stepping from the shadows, arms crossed, walking over next to Ina. The purple-haired healer advanced with a staff in hand, her other hand covering her yawn. “She will take care of him.”

Ina nodded drowsily, walking up to the king, staring at him with an expression I couldn’t begin to describe. It wasn't concern. Perhaps amusement?

A purple glow started warping around her, suddenly enveloping the young royal. His grunts, the tension in his muscles, and his heavy breathing ceased immediately. The young man let out a sigh and jumped to his feet, staring down into his own body, surprise in his eyes as he touched the spots where he’d been wounded.

“Merciful goddess!” Kent exclaimed. “You’re healed. Lady Elf, I thank you once again.”

Ina didn’t reply; she just nodded in acknowledgment.

“Excellent. We all feared for your lives today. Would you all care for some breakfast, perhaps?” Kent asked. “My cooks are ready to grant you any wish. What you’ve done today, I can never repay.”

I looked over at the girls. Alynna was yawning too, not even trying to cover it up.

Lariel shrugged, grinning with her eyes closed. “We’ll join you for dinner, I guess. We need a long nap.”

Alynna cleared her throat. “Nuh-uh, my husband and fellow wife. We need a bath first.”

Kent issued a few crisp orders, and the castle staff moved quickly. Within minutes, fresh water from the mountain flowed into the bath. Heated by stone furnaces and scented with local herbs, the steam filled the room with a clean, natural aroma.

“This,” I said, eyeing the steam, “is just what we need.”

Lariel, Alynna, and I stood at the edge of the bath, lined with an arrangement of bottles with perfumes and soaps. My armor and clothes were heavy with dried blood and dirt. Without a second thought, I began to strip, letting everything fall to the floor. Folding wasn’t even a consideration.

The two girls undid their veils and took off their dresses, pooling on the ground beneath us, and I beheld once again their perfect bodies.

What an incredible view. It was something out of an erotic painting. They both smiled warmly at me, Alynna turning, crossing her arms above her head and twirling seductively. Her butt was as round as a planet and as firm as a monument. Lariel seemed a bit more demure, her long curls almost hiding her large breasts.

"Connor," Lariel giggled. "Quick reaction time!"

I looked down.

"Well. What do you expect when you two are walking around looking so perfect?"

Alynna moved toward me, playfully grabbing me and leading me to the water. I was a bit reluctant, fearing it to be not yet warm, but as soon as my toes touched the water, I found it to be hot enough to lay there for a while.

"Bubbles!" Alynna exclaimed, pouring a bottle of soap into the bath, making foam burst out and creating a cloudy and refreshing bath for us.

We scrubbed and scrubbed. Then came my fantasies, as both girls agreed to start taking turns to kiss me. Each time, their kisses moved lower and wetter.

Now that was a hero's welcome.

***

"What an amazing day!" Alynna said, leaning back on the edge of the bath. "What else could I ask for? A wonderful husband, an amazing fellow wife, and an evening of excitement."

That afternoon we snuggled up in bed. Not wearing much on us, mind you, as it was as hot as the flames of Mount Doom, but we took a long nap. Now this was a well-deserved rest after so much.

But my dreams were, well, not that pleasant.

I found myself in a strange land. It seemed to be dusk, but it could’ve been midday, were it not for the sky covered in dark and thick black clouds that whirled like a hurricane. Bare rocky cliffs rose in the distance, and in their midst, a black building made of concrete, with the shape of a triple pyramid. There seemed to be white rocks on the ground, a stark contrast with the black stone, but as I looked closer, I noticed them to be human bones.

There were people there.

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Most were young children. Not toddlers, but children perhaps from eight to eleven years old.

I felt nausea cross through my entire being. Nausea and rage.

“Here, my children,” said the gentle voice of a woman. I couldn’t see her face, but she looked much too young. A long brown robe shielded her face. There were markings on her hands, not green, like most sorcerers, but red. The symbol I saw on them, a dented spiral emerging from a nine-pointed star, made me shudder.

One of the children's cries broke through the air, sudden panic and agony as he turned away to run. The woman deftly pulled him by the wrists and faced him, going down on her haunches. The other children's reactions were unnaturally silent.

She knelt in front of the boy, a hand brushing away the hair from his face.

“It’s alright,” she said. There was something mesmerizing about her voice, something sickly soothing. “You’ll be fine. Just follow me.”

The child’s cries stopped abruptly.

He nodded like a senseless robot. The boy, along with the other children, continued, not minding the literal skulls and broken bones that surrounded the staircase, climbing in silence as the door opened by itself. Inside, I saw nothing but deep darkness.

The creaky voice of an old man broke the silence.

“You’ve come, my daughter. You’ve come.”

A bony hand emerged, long yellowish fingernails inviting them inward.

The woman stepped through. Uneasiness broke through my mind as I heard cries coming from the depths of the building. That was the sound of torture. The children were still mesmerized.

“They are perfect vessels,” said the woman. “Innocent for their age, grown up in devoted families. None of them know of violence and pain.”

“Very well,” replied the old man.

“Shall I break their spell?”

The old man took a deep breath. “Not yet, my child. They must awaken to a shock of absolute horror. They will serve us well. You know full well these are not mere fodder for sacrifice. They are to become our army. We will break their minds, revert their innocence, and make their bodies the vessels of our army of jinn. They are waiting.”

The woman bowed her head before the shadows, then marched the children deep into the dark.

I did not know what was in there, but the mere aura of that place would have made anyone flee in terror.

Once they were all inside, the terror began.

I awoke in a sweat and screamed my lungs out. My wives were startled, and their caressing touch soon came to soothe me.

“Connor! Connor!” Lariel said, wrapping her arms around my head, her chest close to me, while Alynna leaned into my abdomen.

I took a deep breath.

“I saw him,” I said hurriedly.

“Who?” Lariel asked, her hand gripping mine.

“I heard his voice…”

“Whose voice, honeycake?”

“Hath Aman,” I said through my teeth.

Just mentioning the name made me feel like crap. It seemed as if the whole world around me turned gray.

“Husband, it was just a dream,” Alynna said.

I shook my head, my hand tightening involuntarily. Lariel had to pull her fingers away. “No. I’ve seen things like this through Aria’s visions. He’s doing horrible things to children. He…”

Lariel moved to face me.

“Tell me more. All that you remember.”

I leaned my face on my palm, trying to go into my memory, and yet, it all made me shudder.

“There was a woman with sigils on her hand. A sorceress. They were red and not green. I could draw the sign if I could.”

“Please don’t,” Lariel said. “It can draw things here that we don’t want.”

I nodded absently. “The children… And something about an army… I don’t know. He said the children were not sacrifices. He called them vessels.”

Lariel swallowed.

“So it’s real…”

“What?” I asked hurriedly.

She swallowed. “Back in the palace. We faced some kind of warrior with wind powers.”

“That guy?” I asked. And then it clicked. Yes. He looked much too young to be a mage. He had looked fourteen or fifteen.

Lariel looked down, a shadow cast upon her face. “I’ve heard rumors and theories. No one in the elven kingdoms really studies dark magic. And this is… well, the darkest magic.”

She paused.

“Possession by evil spirits?” I asked.

She let out a sigh.

“Not just that. To reach that level of possession, the victim’s mind has to be completely broken. Through torture, it is said. The spirit gains complete control of that body and mind, then can manifest with twisted powers in this world.”

“So… They brainwash them? They split their minds?”

The answer was much worse than I thought.

Lariel’s face grew pale.

“That’s the only way a jinn can take complete control.”

Alynna shook her head in disgust.

“That’s horrible,” I replied, my fists clenching around the sheets. “But we’re so damn far from them. We’re so damn away from them to free them.”

“I know, Connor,” Lariel replied. “I am confident that you’ll make it. That is, that you’ll find a way to unite the world against him. But that moment is yet to come. I trust you.”

I took in a sharp breath. We had more pressing things at hand. We had to defend the elves. The clock was ticking, and even though we had probably stalled Virna and Hath Aman’s plan to destroy the elves, they were still in motion.

We had to move first.

The next couple of days, after recovering our strength, we made plans to cross into the north. We wouldn’t bring Camille nor Malor. Or at least, not yet.

Kent decided to stay in the castle, claiming sickness and relying on couriers and Lord Farnand to go in his stead.

This time we wouldn’t deal with them on behalf of the elves. We’d do it my way.

Camille requested some books from the city library and brought me the most important historical works on that particular tribe. We spent hours poring over accounts of their religion, of their gods, all as seen through the sedentary civilizations of Ala Bin and Bazania to the west, reading about the gods and ideas.

I had sketched up a plan to use their religion and tribal politics to our advantage. We didn’t know if they’d boil us in a pot, but from the conquest of Mexico and the British takeover of Ottoman-controlled Arabia, I hoped that smaller tribes would join us. Of course, I didn’t plan to take over their resources at all.

We pored over maps. The lands of Ala Bin were divided into fiefdoms, most of them small. Kent’s was relatively close to the capital, but our route meant passing through four more, three of which had sworn loyalty to Virna.

Through contacts with smugglers, provided by Kent, we planned to reach the northern border and approach the tribes. Alynna and Lariel would come with me, while Zyra and Nidar would keep communicating with the elves via messenger pigeon, and Kent tried to gain more time.

Did we have anything to give the barbarians? Nothing that I could think of.

And we had no oracle to know whether we’d get captured, but Alynna reassured me that, according to the code of the steppe, they’d have to take us in and not take us as slaves if we behaved.

That is, until one rainy afternoon, days later, when that young boy, Midas, screamed that he’d sighted an army marching toward us.