“Well, there was Bishop Nabu and his little coven, who we took care of, and my uncle and his oblates, who we mostly took care of. Does this mean that despite us having killed Nabu and his followers, and most of my uncle’s followers, there are still more Blood God followers now than ever?”
Rollar took a long swig of his ale. When he put his mug down, a worried expression was etched across his face.
“I don’t know, Lord Vance,” he said, “but the fact that abomination walked the earth so close to us is not a good sign.” His eyes moved to the red dagger as it gleamed eerily in the firelight. “I do not know anything about that evil weapon, but I do not think it is wise to keep it with us. It will surely draw the attention of more of the Blood God’s servants like shit attracts flies. And I for one do not relish the prospect of facing another Blood Demon, considering how hard even you had to fight to defeat it.”
He was right, of course. I hadn’t been planning to keep the dagger anyway, but I wanted to find out as much as I could about it before I got rid of it. And I had an idea of just where I could learn more than Rollar had been able to tell me. Before I went and talked to her, there was one more thing I wanted to ask Rollar about.
“In your research, have you ever come across anyone called ‘Uger’ or ‘Kemji’?”
“Interesting that you should mention that.” Rollar sipped on his ale. “There was an entire chapter dedicated to their exploits in one of the ancient history tomes I was perusing.”
“Go on,” I said.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t actually read the chapter. Its entirety had been torn out of the book. It actually seemed to have been ripped out quite recently, almost as if someone wanted to ensure no one discovered anything about Uger and Kemji. They were mentioned in another source I examined, but it was badly damaged with mold and rot. The ink had faded too, and the words were mostly illegible. From what I could make out, the pair of them were some sort of ancient heroes, mighty warriors-one from Prand, one from Yeng-who allied together to fight a great evil and save the world. The old word for dragons seemed to be mentioned frequently. Perhaps it was some sort of plague of dragons they fought off? I don’t know.”
“Or maybe they used dragons to fight off a greater threat,” I said.
“Stranger things have happened in the history of this world, I suppose.”
“Uger was an ancestor of mine. He built the first castle at Brakith.”
Rollar looked quite surprised to hear this. “Well, then, you are descended from what seems to be one of the greatest heroes in the history of Prand. A very noble lineage indeed! It is a pity we do not know more about your esteemed ancestor. I must admit, the little I’ve read about him and this Kemji character, not to mention the frequent mention of dragons connected to their names, has made me quite curious.”
Rollar and I finished our ales, and he excused himself and went off to read. I went and sought out Isu. I found her just outside the camp, sitting by herself, staring up at the full moon. At least she wasn’t practicing sucking off a wooden phallus modeled after my prick this time. I could do without the awkwardness of having to approach her while she was in the middle of that act.
“What are you doing out here, just staring at the sky?” I asked.
She turned her gaze to me, and in her eyes, there was a look I hadn’t seen from her for quite some time: intense, hungry lust. Her ravenous eyes roamed over my figure, making her intentions and desires quite blatant, before she replied.
“Just thinking of… a simpler time. Remembering another night like this, in which I was able to take physical form again after so long, when my devoted, handsome necromancer fed me the energy of the souls he had just claimed.”
I remembered that night well too. Isu and I had gotten to know each other very well just outside the camp, while Elyse had slept mere feet from us—or, at least, had pretended to sleep through Isu’s moans of pleasure. It hadn’t been ages ago, exactly, but it certainly did feel like a lifetime had passed.
With the sight of her hourglass figure, her round tits, and her curvy hips—not to mention those luscious lips and the lustful eyes she was throwing at me—parts of my anatomy were getting hot and tingly, but there was a reason I’d come to seek her out, and it wasn’t so that I could get my cock wet.
“You said you’d tell me more about these Blood Demons when I’d recovered from my fight,” I said. “And I’m feeling right as rain now, so how about you go ahead and tell me everything you know?”
“I saw you talking to that ugly barbarian about Blood Demons,” she said, “and whatever he knows about them is probably the extent of my knowledge too. So, instead of wasting our time talking about such trivial matters, why don’t you and I—”
“Cut the shit, Isu. You know a lot more about these Blood Demons than Rollar does.”
She shrugged. “You killed the creature, and you know how to kill others that come your way, so what’s the problem? What more do you need to know?”
All right. My patience had been worn through, and I was in no mood to go fishing and begging for scraps of information, which was exactly what she enjoyed.
“You know more, Isu, and you’re going to tell me everything.” I unwrapped the bundle of rags and showed her what was in it. She stared at the Blood dagger for a while, and a slight look of fear
