“How far are you willing to go?” he asked the assassin.
Deathmask looked down at Veliana’s battered form, and he remembered his friends, the twins, who had died during Melorak’s victorious assault.
“As far as my life will take me,” he said. “You all must remember, we won’t be heroes. No one will remember our names. If we’re lucky, Antonil will show up, retake allegiance of the Mordan soldiers, and then crush this new priest-king dead. Until then, we starve them. We bleed them. We take their coin and bloody their noses. They’ve cowed the citizenry. We need to make them angry! Fire and hunger are our weapons now. And if any of you here aren’t willing to give up everything, and I mean everything, to free this city from Karak’s rule, then I suggest you leave right now and never let me see your face again, because the next time you see mine, it’ll be covered with ash.”
“We fight for our survival,” Bernard said, standing and helping Veliana to her feet. Already her skin looked healthier, and the shaking of her hands had finally stopped. “Deathmask, you yearn for the bloodshed and destruction, but we are not the same. You are right, but I ask that we ensure our victims are only those sworn to Karak. I will not aid you in slaughtering innocents.”
“There are no innocents in this war,” Deathmask nearly snarled.
“Maybe so,” Bernard said. His shoulders sagged, and he looked as if he bore a great burden. “But I still want you to try.”
“So be it.” Deathmask turned to Dagan. “Send your mercenaries to the Great Fields. They’re harvesting the grain to feed his army massing north of the city. Burn the fields to the ground.”
He shot a look at John, who sighed, then nodded.
“Burn everything,” the lord said. “And may Ashhur have mercy on us all.”
Deathmask laughed.
“Mercy,” he said. “I’ve fallen in the company of fools. John, I assume you were paid a pittance when your lands were stolen from you? Take it and start distributing it among the poor under the condition they buy food and only food.”
“What for?”
“When the fields burn, Melorak will need to obtain food from elsewhere. I want every spare loaf in the hands of Mordeina’s people. If we’re lucky, he’ll get desperate and try to take it from them. Either that, or he buys it back, otherwise his army starves. No matter his choice, we win.”
“You ask me to bankrupt myself,” said John.
“No heroes, remember?”
“Already you burn my fields, and now ask for all my wealth? You’re doing a better job destroying me than the priest-king.”
“Quit complaining,” Dagan said. “You think I haven’t spent every coin I have keeping the mercenaries?”
“I have nothing left,” Hocking said. “My house guards stay with me out of loyalty and a hope for revenge. At least you might one day retake your fields. Karak’s priests have my fortune.”
Lord Ewes threw up his hands in surrender. “So be it. This better work, rogue.”
“Night will soon be over,” Bernard said, ending the taut silence that had followed. “I will pray for your safety. Return to your homes. I will send a messenger for when we are to meet again. Go with Ashhur’s blessing.”
One by one the men left, until only Bernard, Deathmask, and Veliana remained in the cellar.
“You need to learn how to speak with subtlety and kindness,” Bernard said, sitting back down and leaning against the wall. He let out a grunt of displeasure as his back popped. “These men are scared and desperate. Every day Karak’s priests whisper in their ears, promising their wealth returned a hundredfold if they prove their loyalty and devotion.”
“This is no time for childish handholding,” Deathmask said. “We are at war, and they need to learn that.”
Veliana tapped him on the shoulder, then tilted her head back and made a drinking motion with her hand.
“Do you have any wine or water?” he asked Bernard.
“Up the stairs,” the priest said. “What few stores we have are in a cupboard to your left.”
Deathmask left and came back with a wineskin. Veliana guzzled it down, even though she winced and clearly fought against the pain in her throat.
“This is some rebellion,” Deathmask said, plopping down atop a stool. “Burning the fields will hurt them, but he won’t disband the army. Melorak’s been kind so far to the general populace, but I fear that will end soon enough. They’ll pillage and tax like never before. We’re about to make a lot of people unhappy on both sides. Are you sure your…fragile sensibilities will endure this? These are not times for grace and forgiveness, only blood and ash.”
Bernard closed his eyes, losing himself in his memories.
“When Karak’s army stormed the walls, my priests and I did our best to fend off the undead emerging through the tunnels. When the bulk of the army was trapped atop the walls, I sent my followers after them in hopes of freeing the soldiers so they might fight. Alone, I hurried to the queen, fearful of what her advisor, a priest of Karak named Hayden, might do. I arrived too late. Melorak and his priests were already there, singing Karak’s praises. My beloved queen was dead. They scattered her ashes across the steps. As for my brethren, Karak’s priests covered their heads with tar and put them atop spikes throughout the city.”
He opened his eyes and looked at Deathmask.
“I am ready to do whatever must be done. I can endure no worse a day than that, hiding like a coward while my friends were tortured and killed.”
Veliana knelt beside him, tapped her throat, then tapped his heart.
‘Thank you’ she mouthed.
“You will regain your voice in a few days,” he told her, trying to smile. “Until then, you may stay down here and rest. I have cast many protections, and if this Haern is undead, he will burst into flame should he take a single step into the cellar.”
They piled up pillows, and then Deathmask wrapped her in a blanket after she lay down. It wasn’t long until she slept, unable to fight off her exhaustion. He kissed her forehead, then headed for the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Bernard asked.
“After today, I really need a drink.”
“Drinking’s illegal now. You know that right?”
Deathmask chuckled, then outright laughed.
“Then I’ll drink twice as much,” he said. “Fuck this priest-king and his laws. It’s time we showed him the world isn’t ready to roll over and die.”
12
T essanna watched the forest burn and cried.
“I know,” said Velixar, standing beside her. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
The smoke clogged the air for miles, blotting out the sky in a gray and black plume. Everywhere she looked she saw fire. The red haze made her feel trapped in a nightmare, one she could never wake from. She wore a sparkling red dress, her hair long and carefully cut. Velixar’s dead queen, she’d begun calling herself. The bride of a corpse. Romance of the grave.
“Here come the elves,” said a war demon standing beside them. He carried two flags, and he raised the red one above his head and then took flight. In response, a great patrol on horseback turned toward them, having ridden along the Erze Forest’s edge waiting for the counterattack. They were over four-hundred in number, men that had bowed their knee at Felwood. Tessanna hoped the elves would see this and flee, but instead they raced out of the burning trees with their swords drawn. A single thin line of undead stood in their way, but Velixar appeared unworried.
The elves cut through the undead and continued on, but the distance was too great. The horsed archers unleashed their barrage. The first of many arrows landed, and then they fell like rain. Ten elves died, their corpses trampled as the archers rode across them before looping around in search of more targets.
