Book 3: Chapter 61
Tiffany
I sat with Velimier in our office. I was thankful that Yellow’s was done. It looked the exact same as the one at home, however there were a few amber accents tied in with the red.
I meant actual amber as well… some of the figurines here were honey amber, and crystal clear.
But I couldn’t enjoy the scenery…. Not after what I heard. Not after my mate returned so stern-faced, and he sat at the head of his desk, looking stern, while any who were brave enough dared to snoop at least 20 floors down.
However they used beast magic, I’m sure they could hear if they tried.
“Tyson texted us the Realm King’s cell.” I said knowing that when I do this… it Will make waves…
This is a matter for Gulteer… not Lord Xaxas.
“I’ll call if you’re afraid.” Said Zayde.
“No. I can do this. He sees mom as family…. I think.” I said calling the Realm King.
I don’t speak with the masters. We don’t pester them, because a part of me remember how they were… Like it’s ingrained into my being, that their tyranny could not be forgotten…
“Xaxas speaking.” He said casually. He sounds like the Horned One, though much more casual, and a little less deep.
He still scares the pure shit out of me though. His temper doesn’t kindle like the Horned One’s… it’s pretty instant… and always looks painful.
“Uh, this is Tiffany, Heidi’s daughter.”
“Oh? How’s the worry wart kiddo?” He asked.
“Good. We had dinner with a new relative recently and everything.” I mentioned Gillitus, a cousin Lord Kaizen discovered and gave his blood to. So like me, he’s one of the fold.
“I heard about that lycan. He goes by Gilbert or something. What’s up kid? Did Tyson leave a straggler behind?”
“No threatening people on the phone!” Yelled Queen Harmony.
“But I might need to-”
“No Buts. What’s wrong Tiffany?” Asked Harmony, clearly taking the phone.
“Uh… I feel like we should talk to Lord Xaxas about this one.” I said honestly.
We screamed.
The Realm King appeared in the center of the room.
“So Who’s the dumbass, because I can sense it.” He sniffed. “Who’s been using flesh magic on *my* mortals?”
“Elkteer… The scent you smell is what I did to try and help one of the wyverns, but I don’t now how to do that.” Said Zayde bowing. We all did.
“I remember that little shit. Eskaal. Handle the mortals.” The Realm King vanished through a red portal, and out stepped his Secon in command.
The Beast Prince
Eskaal… dad’s friend. They still drink beers every weekend, and annoy grandpa to no end.
Zayde looked shocked, and didn’t know if he should bow or shake his hand, but I gave him a hug.
“Hey little one. So you’re the boy who dragged my goddaughter across the world?” He asked.
The eyes of Eskaal are sharp… and his magic is unbreakable. Well for someone like us. I’m sure maybe someone like the Fae Queen-
“Diana’s fae magic is unstable, and requires too high a price.” He said a little annoyed. I knew he could hear me, but I forgot his distaste for the Fae Queen. “Are they genetically related?” he asked summoning a clip board that floated behind him.
“I don’t think so.” Said Zayde, and the quill scribbled swiftly.
My poor little pargess *screamed* when they saw Eskaal, but they didn’t run away. They were so scared they held each other as he walked past them.
“I thought I culled all those.” He mumbled. “Goot…. That’s cute.”
“Don’t come any closer!” She squeaked. “Leader the Bad Man is Going to Neck Me!”
“Neck me?” I questioned, while he grabbed her round the neck.
“Let Go!”
“Look me in the eyes.” He said as his yellow eyes become orange. They glowed. “They’re so mortal I can’t see their past, but they are genetically stable.” He stood, and petted her head. “Go little one….Thank you for being the first to be kind to my little failures. I should have culled them properly.”
“You left them in good faith that Elkteer was taking care of them.”
“… and he does …. *this*…. Flesh Magic on The Fold.” Eskaal hissed. He locked eyes with Sai’fire.
He was about to run, but before he took two steps, the bark of Eskaal made him cower.
“691-A Freeze.” He snarled. “Open your mouth.”
Before there was protest, Eskaal seemed to fix the problem with the black wyvern. “Everyone get in a line.”
“Yes sir.” They mumbled….
Their eyes don’t flash with their beasts unless they’re commanded like that…
“This is my fault. Forgive me small dragon.” He said petting each one’s head. “As one of the fold, they should have *never* been tested upon…Even now the master searches for the soul of Gulteer’s son, yet it is not in hell, so he has either escaped, or received *help*…. I will return the immortality of these peoples…. This is not right.”
One of my pargeese scampered to offer him fruit, and Eskaal took it. He also ate it while they bowed to him.
“Maker don’t be angry with us.” Her name was above her head, and she held the hem of her little green skirt.
“I don’t need food, nor water but thank you little Kahkai.” Eskaal smiled. “I also thank you Tiffany for letting them name themselves too. I bet you wonder… why am I not cruel?”
Many of them nodded.
“When you live as long as I do… When the consequences of your actions live long enough to ask their maker why they were made…. You learn to have an answer. I made you for my master, but you were too small, so I could not take you with me little goosekin. I have no children… yet… I father more than any mortal on this planet ever has… And little dragons, your wings were *never* meant to be clipped. You already belong to my master, who is out to punish the culprit who did this to you.”
“We don’t need any justice my lord… just respite.” Bowed Sai’fire.
“That I can arrange, *after* I mend the lot of you.” He smiled. “Oh If the master does not eat that soul, *I will*. Legs fucking first.” Eskaal hissed.
What he said felt… forbidden… like he spoke of something that I shouldn’t know…. It made my gums itch like a wolf’s…
“Do you think it’s grandfather?” Asked Zayde, changing the subject because scales rippled across his skin.
“Gulteer’s soft hearted for his kin, but he is no *fool*. I think it possibly Elkteer’s demon, because if that witch is thrown in the Pit for this, so too is the demon.” Said Eskaal. “Oh… This one is so broken. I cannot fix this without unmaking him first.”
Oh No.
Those words triggered a Very… vivid memory.
“Look me in the eyes…. Think of a warm summer’s day.”
Eskaal gently petted the man’s head, but his eyes started to bleed.
The yellow haired warrior was in a daze before Eskaal popped his head with a look…
“I will make you again.” He whispered, turning the formally fit man into a mound of flesh... It floated in the air, while some black goo fell from the red blood and nastiness… “Forgive me, I’m used to the gore, however without the removal of that corruption, he would have become a mindless beast.”
I was covered in blood.
Their mate and children screamed.
I did too!
“This is the part that I hate about this job. The line is not done. Get back in line.” Eskaal commanded firmly… but thankfully there were no more that he couldn’t mend.
One hand reformed the yellow wyvern, while the other was placed on top of the head of the remaining in line.
“Hey mate of this one come here.”
She unwillingly came.
“I return your mate, heart condition, and soul corruption free.” Eskaal motioned a perfectly fine Warrior, who hugged his mate when he came too. “What do you remember?”
“You told me to look you in the eyes sir… then red… but that’s it, just the color.”
“Good. Go enjoy the rest of your life. In a few decades they will be the strength they should be.” Eskaal said that thinking out loud. He does that. He thinks so fast, sometimes he speaks his ideas, and makes blueprints while speaking about it.
His casual stance while covered in blood made me remember something.
Something horrid...
I did not see him finish making Grahkes, the Giant Crimson Snake… but I remember being part of the body retrieval…
How great was the mound of 10 million corpses… Mostly men and fae, but animals over 100 pounds too… The bodies were piled so high, and the stench was so great, that even now I remember the smile on his face… The face of a mad scientist who was given unlimited funding and materials…
-----Zayde-----
There’s a certain chill that comes from seeing the Second General of the Tyrant… seeing him do what he does.
What the divine do is their own business… but he is a child with a magnifying glass, and mortals, especially the unmarked…. They are ants on a sunny day.
“here.” He tossed a rag from the boys original clothes. “That astringent smell is the Corruption I want you to sniff out.” Comandded General Eskaal.
“Of course sir.” I went outside and shifted.
I flapped for a moment, feeling him and Tiffny land in my right hand. It made me happy that my mate was coming. As a barrier specialist, I know she’ll be able to lift any traps or curses off the grounds when I find it.
Now that I know *what* to look for that is.
There was no point in asking the pargeese or the wyverns. They won’t know….
They can’t see that place again if they did… Seeing them freeze like that, that they’d lost so much of their will angered me….
I found the scent.
The Wyverns were 200 miles the opposite direction from the castle… so maybe they didn’t know where it was? That would make sense, they were experiments.
They must have escape the lab, thinking they went 400 miles, but with the castle in between, they actually only traveled 200… Then they go a few generations, gaining their independence only for me to show up and make them vow as soon as I got here…
But I will protect them, and this new scent…
It smelled like that same astringent, chemical smell to flesh that wasn’t quite right… so he left something behind to be a deterrent… Or something even he couldn’t control.
“I sense a strong anomaly.” Said Lord Eskaal. “We’ll see if we can integrate it. If it’s mindless hold it down, and I can draw its memories out.”
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