THE VROL TRILOGY (33 page)

Draagh then looked out over the crowd, and
his eyes met with Krynos'.

"There is something you all should all
know. We have suffered at the hands of a traitor. Two, in
fact."

"Who might they be?" demanded the king,
while everyone started to look at each other with suspicious glares
and growls.

"Oh, they are not here. Not anymore.
Your resident minor-mage, Siegfried and the skills trainer Alea are
both in Vladros' castle, but it appears that things did not turn
out so well for the woman, as she now resides in a cell next to
Jennie."

"She told me there was a
traitor in the castle!" exclaimed Max, who continued, "I should
have listened to her! But wait,
she
was the traitor? Oh damn."

Draagh waved his hand out and said,
"Oh, my boy. That was just a ploy of hers to get into your bed. At
that time she was unaware of any such nefarious activities.
However, I never much cared for the skulking, sneaky Siegfried, and
I had mentioned it to Lord Krynos on various occasions in the
past."

"Well, he was inexpensive," said
Krynos, wearing a regretful, almost guilty look on his face. He
then recouped and called out with great authority, "Prepare
thyselves, great warriors of the Rhönen! We go to rescue our
sister!"

With that order everyone
cleared the room as fast as lightning, except Max, who stood there,
helplessly looking at his grandfather.



"Draagh, we
will
rescue her, won't
we?" he almost begged.

"Yes, my son. She shall be retrieved
safely. Now go get ready for battle."

Max spun around to leave the room and
was gone in an instant. As he raced to his quarters all he could
see in his mind was Jennie. All he wanted to do was to keep her
safe, even if she would have nothing to do with him as a man. His
heart pounded, drowning out all other sounds, as he fought to keep
from vomiting. He was twisted inside-out from anguish, and had even
puked a bit in his mouth while around the Dominion soldiers, but
turned his head so no one would see.

He burst into his room and went
straight to the bathroom, ejecting the contents of his stomach into
the latrine. Amazed he had held on for so long, he choked out the
remaining mead and bile, gagging… and then quietly sobbed. It was
his moment to release, to let it all out and get his head together.
He didn't understand why he cared so much for the woman. It was
more than her outward appearance. And even though she was arrogant,
proud and had the table manners of a troll, she was honest. He knew
she would always tell him the truth, and he valued sad truths more
than happy lies. She made him feel safe, and now he wanted to save
her.

Why didn't I insist on getting her to her
room? I'm such a dumbass.

Max threw on his gear and even brought
along special, ultra-sharp throwing knives he had made in the
castle foundry. Ohiro helped him to fold tamagahane steel in the
ancient Japanese tradition, so his small blades were not only
sharp, they were also incredibly strong. He had made another set
for Jennie, to give to her on her birthday, whenever that was. He
didn't know her birthdate, or even her middle name, if she even had
one.

I should have asked more questions. I should
have paid more attention.

Dressed down completely, Max went for the
door, but then paused for a moment. He kneeled to the ground and
lowered his head. He wasn't a religious man, but after having
learned the true nature of the universe he thought it wouldn't hurt
to say a little prayer.

###

After 20 minutes of
preparation, a Rhönen Special Forces recon team had been assembled
of the warriors most skilled at fighting in enclosed spaces. This
meant that many of the largest warriors were not to go. Vladros'
castle ceilings were lower than that of a lycan castle – vampires,
in most cases, being shorter in stature than their mortal
enemies.
Max stood at the forefront with
Donus, who, although rather large, was to lead the effort. Wearing
a lighter version of his battle armor, protection that would allow
him to sneak about while making much less noise, Max was
well-prepared, with his katana strapped to his back and his energy
reserves replenished via a quick nutrition shake. Draagh approached
him and held out his hand, presenting the young man with Jennie's
katana.

"Here, my boy. She will want this. I
made a few minor improvements to it while it was in my
possession."

Max took the weapon and examined it,
not initially seeing anything different. Then, a look of profound
understanding grew on his previously preoccupied face as he spun
around, pointing it at an old table in an empty part of the
room.

"
Undaincantatio ad mortem!"
he cried
out, causing everyone in attendance to gasp in awe. Max's scream
carried through every corridor in the castle, so powerful was his
voice. It conveyed pain, anguish and despair. But more than
anything, it carried a definite undertone of resolve.

The room became dead quiet, as every
soldier in attendance looked to the corner where the table once
stood. Max had reduced it to nothingness, not even ashes, after
focusing a thermonuclear cantus through the tip of Jennie's blade.
Draagh had basically rebuilt the katana as a magical object for
Jennie, and Max was really, really pissed off and planned to use it
- on Vladros.

###

The recon team rode out of the castle
on horses after Draagh had slipped up ahead, making sure that no
one was spying on their activities. They assumed that Vladros would
not expect such a quick reaction, if even one at all, as he wasn't
aware of the love and respect the girl had garnered in her short
time in the Rhönen. His only information on her came from Ryder
Johnson, who wanted to rape and hurt her for having been the cause
of his being stuck in the strange world - and also because he was
the personification of evil cowardice.

After some hours, the lycans stopped in
a wooded area to replenish water and let their steeds rest out of
the rays of the sun.

"We shall go another hour, and then
leave the horses in the transition area, from where we must
continue on foot," commanded Donus, whose horse was an offshoot of
a Clydesdale, yet much more massive than those of the
past.

After reaching the transition point,
they tied of their horses and proceeded on foot, coming to the
boundary of Vladros' castle land. As there was still daylight, the
lycans would have an advantage in approaching the castle. And
although there were vampires that could tolerate moderate sunlight,
their vision was severely limited by the strong and deadly UV
rays.

Max stood by with Draagh and watched as
a single lycans soldier, named Wilhelm, morphed to his battle form
and started to dig quite rapidly with his enhanced claws. Dirt flew
out as four other soldiers moved the loose earth back and out of
the way. Another lycan jumped down into the newly made tunnel
entrance and started widening it, following Wilhelm. In a matter of
mere minutes the two had disappeared into the earth.

Crouched down and ready to go, the team
was finally given the Ok to enter into the tunnel, which was high
and wide enough to walk through with ease. Max had no idea that
lycans were such incredible tunnelers, but was glad to know of the
skill. He planned to practice tunneling once they had safely
retrieved Jennie from the clutches of the putrid
half-dead.

###

Inside the castle dungeon, Jennie sat
in her cell, glaring at Alea, as she had been doing for the past
few hours. Not knowing what would happen next, she threw a small
rock through the bars at the woman who sat a mere three meters
away.

"Hey, idiot. Happy now that you're
getting us both killed?" she asked, with a definite tone of
hostility.

Alea looked over and had tear stains
all over her face, being unable to cope with the fact that she had
ruined not only her own life, but also that of an
innocent.

Before Jennie could say anything else,
a voice softly called to her in her head.

"
Jennie, hold fast, my dear girl. Do not make a sound. Just
think to me and do not speak. We are here for you and shall arrive
soon
," said the voice.

"
Draagh? Is that you? How can you do this?"
she asked back in her mind.

"
It is the clothing you wear. I conjured it for the party, and
as an added benefit it allows me to maintain a connection to the
wearer. I am so very glad that no vampire decided to disrobe
you
."

"
Yeah, so am I
," she thought back,
"
they weren't built for wearing a tango
dress, that's for sure
."

Jennie thought she detected
telepathic laughter, but was unsure. She then projected back out,
"
What do I need to do? I don't even have a
weapon
."

"
Max has your katana. I improved it, and you will no longer
need to strap your wand to it in order to direct cantuses. It is
now quite, how shall I put it - cool - if I do say so
myself
."

Jennie snickered mentally and continued
ignoring Alea. The woman had betrayed her once, and Jennie wasn't
even going to give her any indication that rescuers were on their
way. In fact, she hoped that Alea would attempt to fight the lycans
upon their arrival, just so she would have an excuse to kill her.
She used her enhanced hearing to listen for the sound of invading
forces, but only heard vampires milling about, and the light sound
of some stones being moved, believing it to be slave laborers
performing tasks for their disintegrating masters.

Suddenly, and without warning, she
heard screaming and growling, as well as the sound of flesh being
torn. Trying to pinpoint Max's or Draagh's scent, she looked over
to see Alea wearing the most terrified expression she had ever seen
on a person's face. It appeared that the lycan woman feared her own
kind more than the vampires who had so easily betrayed her, and it
brought Jennie a quieting satisfaction.

After stealthily entering into the
basement area of the castle, the recon team had set out for the
dungeon area, two levels below, but were detected by hellcats that
immediately attacked and made the lycans' position known. Elsewhere
in the castle, Vladros called on his own personal protection forces
to surround him, with Johnson trying to get in the middle, only to
be shoved out by the vampire king.

"You, coward, do not belong here. My
son was to take his place by my side, and is dead due to your
incompetence. Die like a lower-caste foot-soldier, alien
slime."

Johnson gave him a glare of pure
hatred, and dashed off to find a hiding place of his own. He wasn't
about to go into battle with a bunch of psychotic lycans - he would
pick and choose his battles as they suited him. Johnson found a
chamber filled with corpses, and dove into the rotting pile of
bodies in an attempt to hide his scent and avoid
detection.

Max and Draagh stuck together, while
Donus and the others used their new katanas to easily slice the
attacking vampires and hellcats to ribbons.

"
Oh-Ho
! I do love this fine blade!"
Donus cried out, "I shall name it… I shall name it
kalte tod
- cold death,
in the language of my forefathers."

With that, he merrily bifurcated a
hellcat that had been running inverted on the low ceiling, causing
its two separated halves to fall to opposing sides of the walkway.
Max, who had regrouped with the lycan commander, looked at the
newly halved creature on the ground, which was somehow still
moving. He then gave Donus an inquisitive look, raising a
brow.

"No, my good man, they are
not for consumption. They are - how would dear Jennie put it? Oh
yes, they
taste like
ass
."

Max grinned at Donus' comment, figuring
that was pretty much how she would say it, and opened his mouth to
respond, but was interrupted by Draagh, who urgently called out to
them both.

"Come, she is this way." The mage
bolted down a left corridor, surprisingly fast for someone who had
been alive for eons.

Arriving in the dungeon area, Max,
Draagh and Donus ran to her cell, only to hear the girl cheerfully
say, "Hey fellas. What took ya so long?"

Max looked at her with a combination of
anger and grief, as it was obvious she had suffered some abuse at
the hands of whoever had abducted her. Her once-beautiful white
dress was torn to shreds, and there was clotted blood matting her
face and hair. Before Max could even reach to open the cell door,
Draagh waved his hand, causing the door to open - Jennie's opened,
but Alea's did not.

"Max, take Jennie and get out of here.
A simple 3D slip to the entrance of Krynos' gate should suffice. I
have other things in which to attend."

"Oh no you don't!" howled Jennie,
standing and moving out of the cell, her shackles falling to the
ground with loud clunking sounds, having been magically released by
the ancient mage. "I'm gonna find Johnson and make his head into a
trophy. Gunnarsson, give me my sword. It's my turn for some
decapitation fun."