Ravenwild: Book 01 - Ravenwild (13 page)

“You are welcome, young Prince. Is there anything else I can do to make your stay more pleasant? Short of letting
you
go as well, of course …”

He approached the desk and spoke in a low voice to the guards there. “Have my personal doctor attend to the girl. I want her awakened from this sleep state as soon as possible by whatever means necessary. When she is awake, he will call me at once. At once. Is this clear?”

“Yes, Your Excellency. At once.”

The Emperor turned and walked out of the dungeons with not another word. Due to his size, he required assistance from his attendants to make the stairs back up to the ground floor. Opening the final door, all were breathing heavily, especially the Emperor whose robe was soaked with sweat.

Once their breathing had settled down, Malance Venomisis sent for his personal advisor to join him in his quarters and went there straight away, where he resumed chewing on the succulent Human thigh that he had been enjoying before his visit to the dungeons. He considered having it warmed, but decided it would be as enjoyable cold. Acts of plotting and scheming and games of deception always made him ravenous, and he didn’t want to wait another moment before he stuffed something in his mouth.

Singular Night, Emperor of Vultura by birthright, stood, sword drawn, on a bluff outside the city of Stihl overlooking what promised to be a terrible battle. It was going to be terrible for two reasons: First of all, there was going to be a huge amount of death, and second, almost all of it was going to be on the side of the Gnomes of Vultura. Oddly, he watched the scene in front of him with an air that was almost detached from the horror that was about to be. The Ravenwild forces outnumbered the local Gnome militia of the city of Stihl by no less than a thousand to one, and there was not a chance that any of his fellow Gnomes would survive the onslaught.

“This is going to be bad,” he said to Turman Pandieth.

“Tell me something I
don’t
know,” said Turman. “This is not going to be fun to watch.”

“No, it is not. And even less so to be a part of.”

Turman grunted in response. He knew that as soon as the fighting started that both he and his Emperor would join the Gnome soldiers of the Stihl Clan militia in front of them, and that they would both die.

It was not that either of them was unwilling to die with their militia, it was that they both knew that not a one of their own had to die at all, at least not now. It was all so pointless. Not to mention that this massacre would doom the entire campaign.

They watched as the Ravenwild army slowly formed ranks, encircling the Gnomes, who huddled together in the center of the valley as the Humans, Elves, and Dwarves surrounded them.

“My Lord,” said a messenger that raced into the clearing in which they stood. From his tone, the Emperor suspected that the Gnome soldier had just the news he wanted to hear.

“Speak,” he said.

The messenger, panting severely from the sprint he had made, gasped, “He … wants to see you. He … has agreed to discuss the whole situation again.”

Singular Night turned to Turman Pandieth, who had held the title of Head of the Palace Elite under the rule of Singular’s father, Hanz Oratorius Night, and said, “Why am I not surprised?”

Turman sheathed his weapon and grunted. “Sometimes even a fool can be reasoned with if you hit him with a big enough stick.”

Chapter 7

It was taking Hemlock longer than a few minutes to return, and Blake and Jessica had slipped into the den to talk away from the children.

“I want to take the kids to Eddie and Kendra’s,” Jessica said. The way she said it left not a lot of room for discussion. “This entire thing is an odyssey into the deranged, and I don’t want them to be a part of it. Everywhere I sniff, I smell danger. I won’t have it.” She crossed her arms for emphasis.

“That’s probably a good idea,” said Blake.

“I’m going to call her,” said Jessica.

“I agree,” said Blake, “but don’t you think we should tell Orie and Jacqueline first? To be honest, I don’t know how they’re going to react but, whatever; I think they deserve to know before we pack them off to Scituate.”

“I thought of that, but then again that gives them room to argue it and, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no room for argument here. We need to go get Stephanie. That’s a done deal. But if something happens to us, at least they’ll be safe.” She leaned forward and put her face in her hands.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“This can't be happening,” she murmured. “It's all too strange.”

“No arguing that,” said Blake. “Let’s go tell Orie and Jacq’ so you can call Kendra.”

They returned to the living room. The two kids were nowhere to be seen, causing their mother to call out their names with a force that rattled the windows. Jacqueline answered, and Jessica slumped into a chair. “Our lives are never going to be the same, are they,” she muttered.

“Well,” said Blake, “never say never. I know things seem pretty turned upside down right now, but we’ve survived some pretty rough stuff so far in this life, and we’ll survive this. I think what we need to do, as of right now this second, is take a first-things-first strategy. So, you call Kendra, and I’ll talk to Orie and Jacqueline and get them on board with the plan. I wanted to tell them together, but we want to leave for this Ravenwild place the moment that Hemlock shows up, and the sooner we can get it all organized on this end, the sooner we can bug out. I’m sure Kendra would drive down to pick them up. It’s kind of an emergency. They’ll be okay until she gets here.”

Jessica picked up the phone and dialed Kendra’s number, saying, “Go tell the kids.”

“Where’s Orie?” Blake asked.

Jacqueline was sitting on her mother and father’s bed. As usual, several cats surrounded her. The one she was stroking was Cinnamon. The cat was purring contentedly. The rest all looked like they were waiting their turn.

“He’s down by the barn,” she answered. “He thought he saw Hemlock down there nosing around, so he went down to check it out.”

“What do you mean ‘nosing around’?”

“I don’t know, Dad, I didn’t see him. Orie did.”

“That’s weird,” said Blake. “Anyway, look, there’s been a big change of plans. You and Orie are going to go to Tanta Kendra’s until your mother and I get back from wherever we’re going, okay? We think there might be some danger to all of this, and we know you’ll be safe there.”

“Sure, Dad.” She looked quite happy about it. Jacqueline always loved going to Tanta Kendra’s. “But Orie’s not going to like it one bit. No way. Uh-uh.”

“We kind of figured that, but that’s the decision and it’s final.”

“Well, good luck telling
him
that.”

Blake leaned over and gave her a half-hug, being careful to not disturb the cat. “Which one is this one now?”

“This is Cinnamon. She doesn’t like Hemlock.” She screwed her face up as if to emphasize the point.

“How do you know that?”

“I know. You can tell. It’s the way she acts when he’s around. She’s afraid of him, and Cinnamon isn’t afraid of anybody. She even liked that mean guy that worked on our roof. But Hemlock, no way, she doesn’t trust him. I don’t think you should trust him either, Dad.”

“I see,” said Blake. “Well, between me and you and the lamppost, we don’t trust Hemlock one bit.”

“Do you think he’s telling you the truth? About his people dying off, I mean? About needing you and Mom to go on some sort of crazy mission to save them?”

“Good questions,” said Blake. “The jury is out on those, but for right now your mother and I want to focus on getting Stephanie back, and then we’ll deal with Hemlock, or whoever he turns out to be, when we’re all back together again.”

She set Cinnamon down and picked up another one, a big orange tabby with green eyes and massive paws.

“Now who is this one?” Blake asked, chuckling a bit.

“You
know
this one is Pumba!” she laughed.

“Well there are so many, it gets confusing!”

Both of them laughed.

Jessica entered. “Where’s Orie?” she asked.

“Jacqueline said he went down by the barn. He says he saw Hemlock down there nosing around.”

Jessica started to walk to the window to call out for him. Jacqueline stopped her with, “Are you going to call him?”

“Yes Honey, I am. You guys are going to stay at Tanta Kendra’s until we get back.”

“I know. Dad already told me. But can I make a suggestion?”

“Of course.”

“Let him be right now. I get the feeling he’s trying to spy on Hemlock, you know, to see if he can see if he’s up to something. I mean, why would he be down by the barn when he knows we’re all up here waiting for him?”

Blake and Jessica exchanged anxious glances.

“All right,” Jessica said. “We’ll wait. Meanwhile, are you packed for Tanta Kendra’s?”

“Yup.”

“Good,” said Jessica. “And you know you’ll have to do the stalls until we get back. You’ll have to get Orie to help you. You know how he hates to do the stalls.”

“I know, Mom.” She rolled her eyes, meaning she was perfectly capable of doing the stalls herself.

“All righty then,” said Blake. “Let’s go wait for Orie downstairs. I’m going to make us all something to eat.”

Jacqueline stood and walked to the head of the stairs. Nine cats followed her, nine cats and one dog. The other dog and cats lay asleep on the bed, Bubba snoring lightly.

Blake served up the breakfast to Jessica and Jacq’, a simple but nourishing meal of scrambled eggs and toast. Jacq’ had turned the TV on and was watching a special on the Discovery Channel about dolphins. Jessica had pulled the drapes and was scoping the yard with a pair of binoculars. She looked and looked, and saw absolutely nobody down by the barn. They all started as Orie burst through the back door.

Jessica opened her mouth to speak, but Orie noticed this and put his finger over his lips in the universal “Shhhh,” sign, and flashed Jacqueline their secret sign for danger. He beckoned for them to follow him but, as they started to, Hemlock appeared big as life right in the middle of the kitchen.

“I do apologize for having taken so long,” he offered, seemingly oblivious to their stares. “Something came up. Are we ready to go, then?”

“Yes,” said Jessica. “Blake and I are ready. I called my sister, and she’s on her way down to pick up Orie and Jacqueline. They’re going to be staying with her until we get back.”

“What do you mean, Mom?” Orie cried out. “Forget it! We’re going with you. We’re a family, and we’re all going together! Dad?”

There was a brief silence as Blake thought about the best way to answer his son’s plea.

“I told you he wasn’t going to like it,” Jacqueline interjected. “I
knew
he wasn’t going to like it.”

“Your mother is right,” said Blake. “If it were not for Jacqueline, it would be different. You are, after all, sixteen.”

“Don’t blame
me,
” said Jacqueline, around a mouthful of eggs.