Death Dealers

First Conquest

The warm rag ran over his body and he leaned back into Mari. This was a daily ritual for them, but today it felt different, better. “Twelve.” He stated.

“I didn’t know you could count that high.” She replied.

He smiled. He loved the banter. “I have unleashed a new force on the world, and the elements themselves are responding.”

“You give yourself far too much credit. The vault is free at last. It will take some time...but the world will adjust.”

He took her still-glowing hand. She paused. He could feel the anticipation in her. She still hadn’t given up hope for him and her. It was one reason this ritual existed. He kept the ritual for another reason, it tied her more closely to him. The vault may be sentient, but the people it possessed were people and those people could fight. The defenders were different. They were compelled to defend the vault.

“Mari, thank you for understanding.” He said as he took the rag from the hides and moved around behind her.

“I don’t understand, Gareth, but I accept it. I’d make a good paramour.” She stated as he started washing her back.

“You deserve more than that. You’d make the right man a strong wife. In the north, they only take one wife.” He replied.

“Yes, and that wife should be a virgin. That ship sailed for me long before I was old enough to want the attention.”

His hand paused for a moment then he continued washing her. “They make exceptions, do you really believe all nobles in Shoon are virgins when they wed?”

She chuckled. “No, but they like to pretend, and I don’t. I am who I am, Gareth.”

He finished washing her back then dried himself and her with a web of wind. They dressed in silence then climbed into their pallet.

***

He awoke suddenly. The cold was unnatural. He rolled out of the hides and started dressing, by the time he stepped from his tent, the others were stepping from their tents. His eyes found Mari. She had gone to Hyrima after the bath. A part of him felt a jealous pang, but he had no claim to her.

He looked up at the sky. It was about an hour before dawn. He could feel the creatures. They were slightly to the north and east of the camp. Instinctively he knew they were ice elementals. “To horses.” He ordered as he ran for the horse lines.

This was an elite strike force, so they all reached their mounts within moments of each other and had the horses saddled in minutes. Hyrima finished with her mount, then helped Mari. He glanced at the two women. Both were watching him. They smiled in invitation and giggled when he cast his eyes down. He wasn’t a prude, but that was too tempting. He was a true son of the empire and knew his rights and responsibilities, and his blasted honor interfered with his rights. He had a right to a paramour! Despite this, a part of him recoiled at the idea. It was like he was two different men. For the moment he pushed those thoughts from his mind. He would write to his wife and get her advice. The last time they had been together they hadn’t done much talking. He smiled softly. He wasn’t complaining about that.

He swung into his saddle. “We haven’t completed the morning rites so your regeneration isn’t at peak. Don’t take unnecessary risks.” He ordered as he nudged his horse into a trot and then a gallop. His squad formed up behind him.

Running a horse at night over empty ground was dangerous. The horse couldn’t see roots, or small holes and could trip and break a leg. He reached out with his powers and cleared a path for the horses. This took very little power but kept the horses moving at maximum speeds.

They caught the creatures at the edge of a village. There were about thirty of them. The smallest was about the size of a large dog, but the largest was a snake-like creature that was nearly seven hundred feet long.

Ice elementals were cruel, preferring to torture then to kill. This gave his team the advantage. They were killers. They also had access to fire magic. “Preserve the village if you can, focus on killing the elementals.” He ordered as he stood in the saddle. “The big one is mine!”

He launched himself into the air, his blades catching the back of an elemental with long arms and legs that were pitifully thin. The creature was about fifteen feet tall, providing a good vantage point to launch himself to a new target. He used a jet of flame to propel himself to the next creature. The jet melted the emaciated ice creature.

Screams filled the air and villagers started filing out of the houses. He didn’t have time to watch the villagers. He landed on a behemoth. The creature was about sixty feet tall and nearly twice that long. Huge claws made of ice scarred the ground it walked on. His swords dug into its back and he used them to climb up the beast and brought them down on either side of its neck severing its spine. He made his second jump even before the massive beast started falling and landed flat, some thirty feet off the ground on the side of the ice wyrm.

The creature was colder than anything he had ever felt. He encased himself in fire to protect himself from the cold. The monster bellowed in anger and pain and tried to swat at him with its tentacle-like arms. He crawled around the body of the creature as it writhed, trying to dislodge him. His spirit blades and blades protruding from his boots bought him purchase while also damaging the creature. But it would take more than blades to take out this beast.

His body slowly sank into the creature as its ice exoskeleton melted. It was as if he were being submerged in a horizontal pool. Fortunately, the water flowed out as the creature melted. With each moment he got closer to the elemental's vital organs.

The creature rolled onto its back, trying to crush him under its weight, but he was in a crevice he had created and was digging deeper by the moment. Sounds from the outside were muted. It was him and the creature and they rolled in a game of death, what the creature didn’t know was that he was death.

The creature reared up and slammed itself down. In the process, a large stone found its way into the cave he had dug into the wyrm. His armor shattered and his breath was knocked from his lungs. For a moment he was stunned, but the rock had also driven him further into the creature and he felt a pulsing elemental heart. He focussed his chi into the heart and released a ball of pure plasma. The creature went limp.

***

Gareth was the first of them to react. He leaped from his horse and instantly took down two of the creatures before climbing the towering snake-like creature. For a while, she was too busy to worry about Gareth. There were plenty of creatures to bring down and villagers streaming from houses with crude weapons. The rest of the death squad formed a triangle and focussed on taking out the ice creatures while watching the villagers. Fortunately, the villagers were too concerned with the monsters to study the uniforms of the humans defending their homes. Gareth had commanded that they defend the village and these creatures seemed to be of the cold. She reached out and touched the low wall that encircled the town and released an elemental fire designed to wreathe the city without burning the buildings or inhabitants but with the power to harm the elemental creatures. Hyirma gave her an appreciative nod.

She had never fully understood how little one could see of a battle. Before the fire was fully released she had to dive under the swing of a creature that looked like a woman made of ice. She silently thanked Gareth for the hours of training he had given her. She flowed from the wall and a place in the triangle opened up for her. “Stay close sister, we will protect you until you can protect yourself,” Lyrina said over the clash of the battle.

She nodded as she slashed a creature that looked like a large cat across its flank. From the corner of her eye, she saw a villager fall. Without thought she rolled through the mass of flailing bodies taking a defensive stance above the body of the still-breathing man. Her sword decapitated the huge dog made of ice and she touched the man allowing some of her healing chi to flow into him. It wasn’t enough to heal him completely, but it would stabilize him and allow him to retreat.

An Ice tallon larger than she was raked towards her. She raised her left hand and a shield formed, absorbing the blow, but sending her flying backward. Strong arms caught her. And she regained her fighting stance. She barely glanced at the huge man that had caught her, and he took a position at her back.

It was impossible to tell how long the battle lasted, but it couldn’t have been more than half an hour, because the first rays of light were just touching the horizon when the last creature fell.

Her eyes went to the wyrm that lay motionless over a good portion of the village. It had taken out about a third of the village as it struggled with Gareth. She took a step towards the creature and noticed a figure climbing from the body of the dead monster.

***

The moment his feet hit solid ground he was nearly knocked over as Mari flung herself around him. He steadied himself and laughed when she whispered. “You need a bath..” into his ear,

He was covered in fluids he didn’t want to think about. The elemental didn’t smell like it was made of frozen water. It smelled foul. “Now you need one also.” He observed. “Get down, people are watching.” He said.

She slowly dropped to the ground and looked up at him. On instinct, he kissed her. It wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but he did it. She melted into him. He pulled back slowly. This was the most he had ever strayed from imperial customs. The empire was free sexually, but it was kept behind closed doors. A touch on the face, in public, bordered on indecency.

He turned to his team. They didn’t look embarrassed or put off. Behind them, the villagers were lining up. They had finally noticed the uniforms of their saviors. A huge man stepped forward. “Death Dealers, we appreciate your timely arrival, but you are too far north. We will grant you time to clean yourselves and provide some provisions for the road, then you are welcome to leave.”

Gareth stepped forward. “As I see it, we are too far south. I offer you five years without taxes and the wealth of the slain creatures. Each should have formed around a sapphire or diamond. You will not provide conscripts for our armies, but your citizens will be tested and sorted.”

The man was silent for a moment. “Under whose authority do you provide these conditions?”

Gareth reached into a pocket and pulled out his signet ring. “I am Gareth of House Kilmora, Nephew of Emperor Agnest of Kilmora, Subcommander of squad alpha of the Hand of the Emperor, Magi of the second order, Prime of the Vault, Candidate for the Imperial Seat.”

To Gareth’s surprise, the man and the rest of the village sank to a knee. This wasn’t the way the empire normally accepted obedience, but it would work. “We serve the vault.” The leader stated.