Serpentlord (Rise To Omniscience Book 9), page 7
He’d seen an opportunity and taken it.
Diamond spears streaked skyward, and he was forced to tuck his wings and dive to avoid them. However, as he fell, Ripper slammed into him from the side, launching him into the ground. Lava fountained high into the air as he impacted, his body tearing a furrow through the ocean of molten stone.
This heat didn’t bother him at all, but when Ripper’s follow-up came, he was forced to defend himself. The chimera's massive claws bit deep into his scaled hide, leaving bloody gouges in their wake. In return, Breaker burned the World Beast’s hide with black fire.
Even for beasts of their size and power, these wounds were not insubstantial. In a fight between creatures who could destroy worlds, that much was only to be expected.
Strangler came streaking in, followed closely by Quaker. This fight was far from over, and in the end, only one of them would get the ultimate prize.
9
Grace came to with a horrible pounding behind her eyes. It felt as though there was an army of tiny men hammering away at the inside of her skull, trying to free themselves from their imprisonment. But, when she opened her eyes, all thoughts of tiny angry men fled in the face of overwhelming fear.
She was being dragged along on the ground, both her hands were bound before her, and each of her legs was held by a gnome.
Her immediate reaction was to attack, however, she thought to use her Aura Sense first to get an idea of how strong her captors were. What she saw – or rather, what she didn’t see – made her rethink her strategy.
She was currently at rank 26, so if she couldn’t even see how strong they were, they had to be at least ten ranks above her, though the likelihood that they were even stronger than that was high.
She stifled a groan as her hair snagged on a fallen branch, only now realizing what a mess it would be after being dragged along like this for an indeterminate amount of time. It was typical of her to worry about the state of her hair at a time like this. Here she was, tied and being dragged to who knew where, and it was all she could think about.
Grace hid a wince as her head banged against a rock, briefly intensifying her headache. She still couldn’t remember how she’d ended up here. She remembered the battle and Morgan ordering her to stay inside. She remembered expressly ignoring those orders and charming out to fight anyway.
She’d come up against a troll and was battling quite well. Then there was nothing.
The night air was suddenly lit up by a bright green flash, and Grace winced as the light seemed to pierce down to her brain. Although she’d never seen this particular technique before, she recognized Strangler’s power and felt her heart skip a beat.
The world tilted weirdly as they walked through a portal, the green, hissing energy spitting and popping all around her. The weather noticeably changed as they stepped through, and Grace felt a shiver run down her spine as her breath suddenly steamed in the air. The smell of salt and brine was heavy and one that she recognized from her time at the coast in the East Kingdom. She was near the sea.
“You were successful, I take it?”
Grace shivered again as she heard that voice. It was cold and rough, as though the man had spent his life gargling nails and eating sandpaper.
The two gnomes who’d been dragging her along released her legs, dropping them to the ground with a thud. They were numb, and painful pins and needles began prickling along the inside of the limbs as soon as she were released.
The gnomes moved to either side, revealing a massive, hulking figure silhouetted by the light of the half-moon sitting in the sky above. She couldn’t make out any of his features, but when he smiled, the crooked teeth were clearly visible.
“Who…Who are you?” Grace asked, trying to examine the man with her Aura Sense and having no luck.
“We’ve met before,” the hulking figure said. “But I expect I looked quite different the last time we saw one another.”
That didn’t exactly answer her question, but the figure didn’t say anything else, turning to the two gnomes who’d been dragging her.
“Go pen her up with the others, and make sure to keep someone on her at all times. We went through a lot of trouble to grab her, and Strangler specifically requested this girl be brought to us. If she escapes, the two of you will be in the first batch. Do I make myself clear?”
The two gnomes stiffened, and Grace felt her heart sink. She’d suspected Strangler had a hand in her kidnapping, but she’d been desperately hoping otherwise. She still had no idea what the World Beast wanted with her, but clearly, it was important if she’d sent so many cultists to die just to grab her.
Grace had been in a situation like this before, where she’d been nabbed by Strangler’s cultists. However, the last time this had happened, she’d had Lumia with her. Now, she was all alone and had no idea where she was.
The gnomes bent down and seized her legs again, once more depriving her of a good view of her surroundings. She turned her head, only seeing dark walls to either side. She craned her neck back but only got a similar view, walls stretching back before abruptly turning.
Was she in some sort of alley?
She didn’t bother struggling, despite her fear. She knew that she stood no chance at all of escaping from these two. She would need to bide her time. They were clearly going to lock her up, and although she would be watched, guards could become complacent if nothing happened for a…
Sound.
Grace’s thoughts were interrupted when she heard a low murmuring. It was the first sound she’d heard other than the dragging of her back on the ground since the disturbing figure with the crooked teeth had ordered her to be locked up.
She craned her neck upward and noticed that the area seemed to be brightening, though none of the light seemed to be coming from the moon. There was now a roof overhead, but it was cracked and splintered, leaving gaps of clear sky visible.
The ground suddenly went out from under her, and Grace let out an involuntary cry of surprise as the back of her head slammed into the lip of a step.
As though only now realizing that dragging someone down stairs by their legs was a bad idea, the guards released her feet and hauled her up by her arms instead. Grace’s head spun as she was righted, the pain of her earlier headache returning in force. The world tilted wildly as the gnomes forcibly marched her down the short flight of stairs.
Thankfully, her vision stopped spinning, and Grace was able to get a good look at her surroundings. She seemed to be inside a dilapidated building. Mossy stone blocks lined the corridor they were in, and the ceiling overhead was filled with gaps and cracks.
The low muttering she’d heard before was growing louder as she was marched down the corridor. However, the sight that greeted her upon exiting the corridor was not at all what she’d been expecting.
The room was massive, stretching hundreds upon hundreds of yards in all directions. Crumbling stone pillars lined the walls and stood in neat rows across the room. The ceiling looked ready to fall in and yet was somehow still standing. Flickering torches lined the walls, illuminating the oversized room, but it wasn’t the sheer oddity of the room that surprised her but rather, the people currently occupying it.
Thousands of elves, dwarves, and beastmen were all locked up behind makeshift pens that looked newly-built. They were constructed of wood, though the pens were quite shoddy. However, their primary purpose seemed to be keeping the various races corralled in their own small groups.
It was the hulking guards – mostly trolls – with ranks that Grace couldn’t read who kept the prisoners in line.
Grace’s eyes flicked around the room, noting that while there were many of the first three races, there were also two smaller pens, each containing miserable-looking trolls and gnomes. Unlike the other races' captives, who seemed relatively unscathed, the troll and gnome prisoners were covered in cuts and bruises.
“Come on, move along.”
Grace was jerked unceremoniously forward, her feet dragging on the ground as the gnomes all but hauled her into the air. She growled at them, but they ignored her, marching her between the isles of elves and dwarves. It soon became obvious where they were taking her, to a small block of actual cages constructed near the back of the room.
There were eight in all, though only two of them were currently filled. Whoever had constructed these cages was smart, building the walls and ceiling from metal bars and using a solid sheet of metal for the floor. Had they built the bars into the floor and ceiling, the prisoners could easily have escaped by attacking the crumbling stone.
Two trolls were guarding the small block and stepped forward to intercept the gnomes.
“Who is this?” one of them asked in a guttural voice.
“A very important prisoner, to be guarded at all times. By order of Shedra himself.”
So that’s who that was, Grace thought, though it was difficult to think of the hulking figure she’d met as a gnome.
She wasn’t exactly tall for a human – though she still had several years of growth left – but the two gnome guards who were escorting her were at least a good four inches shorter than she was. She’d only seen the gnome leader once, when he’d ambushed them all, but he’d been about average for a gnome.
Was that what he’d meant when he said he’d looked different?
“Fine,” the troll on the left said, breaking her from her thoughts. “But we take her from here.”
“No, you don’t,” one of her guards said. “We were given specific orders to keep watch on her personally, and we won’t just hand her off to a pair of morons like you.”
The troll on the right let out a low growl, while the one on the left gripped a heavy mace swinging from her belt.
“What did you just call us?”
“You heard me,” the gnome said, completely unafraid. “Unless your thick skulls don’t let sound in either? You trolls are basic beasts, too stupid to carry out anything but the simplest of orders. So, you’re going to let us pass and stay out of our way…”
The gnome let the threat hang, but the trolls didn’t take kindly to being blatantly insulted.
“Or what?” the female troll asked, pulling her mace from her belt and slamming it into her palm.
“Or we leave and tell Shedra that you got in our way,” the gnome replied, sounding just a little too smug.
The trolls hesitated at that, clearly afraid of the gnome.
But why? Grace wondered as she watched the scene play out.
Finally, unbelievably, the trolls lowered their weapons and stepped aside, albeit grudgingly, allowing the gnomes to pass.
The gnomes were not gracious in their victory, throwing taunts as they did. It was clear by the way the trolls were trembling that they were growing more and more enraged, but neither moved to interfere as one of the cages was unlocked and Grace was unceremoniously tossed inside.
She winced as she slammed into the bars on the far side, and the gate was slammed shut and locked before she could even regain her footing.
The gnomes, after making sure the door was locked, turned their backs on her as though she were worth less than dirt, but Grace was perfectly fine with that. Freed from their grip for the first time in what felt like ages, she turned to examine the others who were locked up in the block of cages.
There was a dwarf three down to her right, so she would have to shout for him to hear her. However, the one to her immediate left contained, of all things, a gnome.
“Um, excuse me,” Grace called out, trying to be as polite as she could – there was no reason to be rude, even if the man was a gnome.
“Shut up and go to sleep,” the gnome replied, not even bothering to open his eyes.
“I will, but first, I want to know where I am and why all these people are locked up down here.”
The gnome cracked a bloodshot eye, seeming annoyed at having his sleep disturbed, though with how bright and loud it was in there, it was a surprise that anyone got any sleep.
“You’re in the Arcane Kingdom,” the gnome finally said. “And I’m assuming you’re here for the same reason as everyone else. To be sacrificed to the World Beast, Strangler.”
10
Just as he’d suspected, Morgan walked into the war room to sheer and utter chaos. Commanders were yelling and screaming over one another, while the rulers of the three races opposing the cultists all stood around the table, watching grimly. Katherine and Beatrice were there as well, the former still holding a bloodied mace and talking to the latter with an urgent look on her face.
Morgan debated simply ignoring them and going to stand in a corner, but right now, he was feeling too wound up to simply be a bystander.
“Calm down!” he yelled, his voice easily sounding above the din and immediately silencing everyone. “We were just attacked. So how about we all discuss it rationally instead of yelling and screaming like madmen?”
Several of the commanders looked like they wanted to argue, anger clearly showing on their faces. Morgan could almost hear their thoughts. How dare this outsider tell them what to do? Thankfully, their leader stepped in before any of them could retort, ensuring that the order Morgan had gotten remained.
“Remain calm and still yourselves,” Elyssa said, turning to face the room at large. “Morgan has a point. Now is the time to assess our casualties and plan our next move, not bicker and panic. Now, we’ll start with my own troops and move on from there. Gilderon?”
The elf stepped forward stiffly, and though his uniform was bloodied and torn, he appeared to be unharmed.
“Although it initially seemed that we’d taken heavy casualties, the actual number of dead was only at around two dozen,” Gilderon said, looking down at a small sheet of paper. “We have about that many injured as well, most of them civilians and staff.”
He stepped back, and Ragnar’s son stepped forward to give his report. One by one, the other leaders’ commanders stepped up and reported as well, all saying the same thing. The casualties were minimal, and in fact, the enemy suffered a greater number of losses despite the element of surprise being on their side.
“So, if our casualties were minimal, what was the point of the attack?” Elyssa asked.
“Grace was taken,” Morgan said, answering before anyone else could. “Apparently, Strangler has wanted her for quite some time.”
“That can’t be all, though, can it?” Elyssa asked, looking puzzled. “After all, why would someone as intelligent as Shedra waste such a massive element of surprise on something as simple as the kidnapping of a single girl? Yes, Grace is important to a lot of us, and she has the potential to be powerful in the future, but right now, she doesn’t exactly pose much of a threat.
They’re never going to be able to launch a surprise attack like this again. Now that we know they can breach our perimeter, we’re more likely to go on the offensive and take measures to ensure we aren’t caught off-guard this way in the future.”
“Have you sent scouts into the surrounding countryside?” Morgan asked, mulling Elyssa’s words over carefully.
Now that she pointed it out, why would they take such a massive risk for a single person? Yes, Grace was important, and yes, they wanted her, but if he were planning an attack like this, he would try and get as much done as possible. The likeliest scenario was that Shedra had done something else. Before, he wasn’t thinking quite so clearly, but now that Lumia and Shul were going after Grace, he could shift his focus back to the present and what else they were trying to accomplish with this attack.
“They should be reporting back within the hour,” Gilderon said when Elyssa looked to him.
“Then I’ll be back once they return,” Morgan said. “In the meantime, I’d recommend preparing your forces to march. Staying here won’t be viable. With the advancement of the World Beasts’ conflict, this place will soon be little more than a pile of rubble.”
“And who gave you the right to command, human?” one of the beastman commanders asked.
“No one,” Morgan said, ignoring the man. “I’m leaving; what you decide to do is irrelevant.”
Morgan then left the war room with Sarah trailing behind. The angry shouts of several commanders followed them, but Morgan tuned them out.
“You’re not really going to leave them all behind, are you?” Sarah asked as they turned the corner and stepped through a portal into the living area of the palace.
“I said what I thought I had to to get them going,” Morgan said, collapsing into an armchair and rubbing at his temples.
There was too much happening too fast. He just needed a few moments to think, to plan out their next moves and how the enemy was likely to behave. But that was one of his greatest problems: a lack of intelligence. There were no spies within the enemy ranks, as they simply hadn’t had the time to plant them.
The gnomes and cultists had been planning this war for quite some time, and as a result, they were much better situated. Their communication with dozens of villages and towns had been cut off, fast travel throughout the continent had been halted, and no one seemed to be in charge.
It was just a collection of rulers, monarchs, and military commanders all shouting to be heard. The enemy was already winning the war, and if things continued this way, it would end without them having to put in much effort. Tensions were already running high. This last attack proved that Shedra could get to them anywhere, and the subsequent kidnapping of Grace could solve the dual purpose of sowing chaos and discord and getting their most powerful fighters to abandon their main force.
When he thought about it, Morgan could name over a dozen things this small attack accomplished. The enemy had lost more than five times the soldiers they had, but in the process, they had done a lot of unseen damage, both to morale and the overall strength of the forces arrayed against them.
