best.
“Shall we?” Ghaji said.
A pair of silver daggers appeared in Diran’s hands as if by magic. “Let’s.”
They stood and began making their way through the crowd toward the amphitheater floor. The crowd’s exuberance drained away, and their cheers fell silent as all heads in the amphitheater turned to look at the priest and the half-orc. No one tried to stop them, perhaps because they were so surprised to find intruders in their midst. Then again, perhaps it had something to do with the way Ghaji bared his teeth at everyone as they passed.
If Erdis Cai was surprised to see the pair of newcomers striding through the crowed toward him, he gave no outward sign. The vampire lord simply stood, watched, and waited.
As Ghaji and Diran drew near the amphitheater floor, the half-orc spied Onkar sitting in the front row next to a beautiful raven-haired woman wearing a red bustier and a black skirt. The Black Fleet commander jumped to his feet, eyes blazing red and fangs bared in a hiss. Onkar reached for his sword, but Diran hurled one of his silver daggers and the blade pierced the vampire’s hand. Onkar howled in pain and held his hand up to inspect it, as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened. The dagger had completely penetrated his undead flesh and bone, the hilt pressed against the back of his hand and the blade emerging from his palm. Black ooze dripped from the wound, and a foul stench filled the air as Onkar’s hand began to sizzle and burn. The vampire grabbed the hilt of the blade and attempted to pull it free, but the handle was also silver, and he yanked his hand away, the palm burnt and smoking. The hand impaled by the dagger continued to blacken until it was little more than bone covered by charred skin. Then the flesh on Onkar’s wrist and forearm began to smoke as the silver poisoning started to spread.
Erdis Cai had only watched up to this point, but now he moved faster than Ghaji’s eyes could track, becoming an obsidian blur as he drew his broadsword and sliced off Onkar’s wounded hand before the infection caused by the silver dagger could spread any further. So swiftly did Erdis Cai move that he’d returned his sword to its scabbard before Onkar’s severed hand hit the floor. The hand continued to burn until it fell away to ash, leaving the silver dagger, smooth and clean, lying on the ground.
Onkar stared at the stump where his hand had been, then he looked at Diran with hate-filled eyes. The vampire’s body tensed, and Ghaji knew Onkar was going to attack.
The half-orc was about to activate his fire axe when Erdis Cai said, “Hold.”
Onkar’s body jerked backward as if he were a hound and his master had yanked on an invisible leash. He shot Erdis Cai a sullen glare but otherwise didn’t protest.
“Welcome to Grimwall,” Erdis Cai said to Diran and Ghaji.
He smiled, showing his fangs, but it was a cold smile devoid of any trace of humanity. His eyes glowed with the smoldering red flame common to all vampires, but beyond it Ghaji saw only a great vast nothingness, and this frightened him more than the fangs and crimson fire ever could. He’d seen similar empty gazes on the battlefield from men and women whose minds had retreated far inside themselves to escape the horrors of war. In Ghaji’s experience, a person with such emptiness inside himself was capable of committing any atrocity without hesitation or remorse, or indeed, without any recognition that he was doing anything unusual at all. It was this emptiness far more than Erdis Cai’s undead state and whatever dark magic he might command that made the vampire lord so very dangerous.
“I am Erdis Cai. This is my home and these,” he gestured at the crowd, “are my children. Who are you?”
Before either of them could answer, the raven-haired woman stood. Up close, Ghaji could see that the woman’s beauty was marred by a swollen, bruised jaw, as if she’d been recently struck. “These are Makala’s companions, Diran Bastiaan and Ghaji, a priest and a half-orc warrior.”
“A priest, eh?” Erdis Cai said. “How amusing.”
“Where is Makala?” Diran demanded. “What have you done with her?”
“Up to now, I’ve done very little with her,” Erdis Cai said, “but that’s going to change shortly, for she has a very special role to play tonight.”
Ghaji’s blood ran cold. Was Makala to be one of the final three sacrifices? He looked at Diran, and he could see his friend was struggling to maintain control of his emotions.
“We know all about your plan,” Diran said, “and we’re going to stop you.”
Erdis Cai sounded bored as he replied. “Yes, that’s what I’m going to do, and no, you’re not going to stop me.”
Erdis Cai flicked his gaze toward Onkar, and though the vampire lord spoke no words, Ghaji sensed a message pass between master and servant.
Onkar bared his fangs like a serpent about to strike, then he rushed Diran. Ghaji started forward, intending to intercept the vampire before he could reach Diran, but even as he began to move, Ghaji knew he couldn’t match Onkar’s speed. Just before the Black Fleet commander reached Diran, he stopped and shielded his eyes with his remaining hand.
Diran was holding up the metal arrowhead symbol of the Order of the Silver Flame.
Onkar hissed in anger, but he continued to shield his eyes as he backed away from Diran. Erdis Cai looked on in amusement, seemingly unaffected by the sight of the holy symbol. Ghaji noticed the vampire lord made no move to get closer to Diran, however.
“You might have a few tricks priest,” Erdis Cai said, “but what good will they do you and your,” he sneered, “associate against all of my children?” The undead explorer gestured at the crowed that filled the amphitheater and they shouted their support of their master.
“We didn’t come here to kill them,” Diran said. “We came here to kill you.”
Erdis Cai’s smiled fell away, and he looked at Diran, his eyes pulsing with inner fire. Ghaji had fought enough vampires during his time with Diran that he knew what was happening: Erdis Cai was attempting to use his hypnotic abilities to dominate Diran and enslave the priest’s will to his own. Ghaji looked away from the vampire lord, lest he be caught by the monster’s mesmeric gaze. Diran scowled, teeth clenched, a line of sweat trickling down the side of his face as he matched wills with Erdis Cai. Then Diran slowly began to raise his hand until he held the silver arrowhead in front of his eyes, blocking the vampire lord’s gaze.
Erdis Cai snarled and averted his eyes. “So you have a measure of power after all, priest.” The vampire lord turned to face Diran once more, but he looked off to the side, unable to gaze directly at the holy symbol. “Let us see how strong you really are.” He reached for the hilt of his broadsword and steel hissed as he drew the blade from its scabbard, but before he could free his weapon, a shout came from the uppermost level of the amphitheater.
“My lord!”
All heads turned to see who had cried out, all heads save Diran’s, that is. He never took his gaze off Erdis Cai.
Ghaji saw a Black Fleet raider standing on the highest row of seats. The man’s face was ashen, and he clutched his abdomen with blood-slick hands.
“Grimwall is under attack! Invaders are freeing… the servants…” The man staggered then fell forward, the people seated near him scrambling frantically out of the way as he smacked lifeless onto the stone steps.
Erdis Cai’s upper lip curled away from his teeth in a bestial sign of displeasure. “Enough of this foolishness.” He raised his voice. “Men and women of the Nightwind’s crew: go see what’s happening with the servants. If you find any invaders, slay them!”
Several dozen raiders rose from their seats and dashed out of the amphitheater to do as their lord commanded. As Ghaji watched the raiders go, he hoped Yvka and Hinto had already freed the prisoners and gotten them aboard one of the elemental galleons. If not…
Erdis Cai continued. “Our dark mistress will just have to forgive us for dispensing with the formalities this evening. Jarlain, Onkar, come with me.” He replaced his sword in its scabbard, turned, and began walking across the amphitheater floor away from Diran and Ghaji. Diran raised the hand holding a silver dagger and was about to throw it at Erdis Cai, presumably at the vampire lord’s unprotected neck, when Cai said, “Tear them apart, my children.”
The crowd roared and rushed forward.
“Stay close!” Ghaji shouted and activated his fire axe. Flames rose from the weapon, and the half-orc warrior began sweeping the axe in wide arcs in front of him to keep the onrushing citizens of Grimwall at bay. Diran
