The Return pt.20
Lucien now stood outside of the golden gates of Duke Castellen’s estate, staring at two guards armed with polearms. The so called inner wall of the city had posed no problem to him as he neither went over it or through one of the gates. Lucien had used his magic to create a new way through the wall. How many people were killed by the flying debris or by his magic as it impacted their home, he did not care. Morrigan was within his grasp, and he would gladly destroy entire nations for her.
“What are you doing here?” This question was the last words spoken by one of the two gate guards as Lucien drew his sword and cut them both down. The golden gate itself was next as Lucien forcefully placed his armored foot at its center and ripped it from its hinges mounted to stone pillars with a terrible sound. Violently tumbling towards the mansion, the golden gate killed three guards and injured a further two as they responded to the deaths at the entrance. When the gate finally came to a stop it had crossed over half the ground to the mansion and sat there mangled from the force of the kick.
After the gate came to a stop Lucien calmly walked through the entrance. As he made his way across the estate grounds, he used his sword to finish off the two injured guards and began to slaughter all the guards who were responding to the gate’s destruction. Death and ultra violence had come to them in such force that not even the experienced mercenaries serving as Duke Castellen’s personal guard were capable of handling it.
Inside the great hall, a grand debauched feast was being held. The terrible sounds from the wall’s gate’s destruction had caused some disturbance amongst those gathered and forced Duke Castellen to lean over to one of his guards, ordering him “Go get that mess settled. It’s disturbing me and my guests.”
With haste the guard got up from his seat, where he was being entertained by some of the slaves, and left the hall as the duke looked up to the crucified Morrigan with a prideful grin “Ready to submit yet.”
A mocking and cruel laughter broke from her as she tossed her head back. Then, as she looked back down at the duke, her lips curled into a wicked smile and she loudly declared to all who listened,” You’re all dead. My lord has come and it’s now too late to flee.” This declaration caused uproarious and mocking laughter from the gathered nobles, slaves and guards, but Morrigan was correct. It was far too late for them.
Outside the great hall, guards were rushing everywhere trying to organize and fight back against Lucien’s incursion. But none of their efforts, none of their training, none of their arms and none of their armor was capable of matching the creature slaughtering his way through the mansion towards the great hall. One by one. Two by two. Three by three. Four by four. It did not matter how many tried, the guards all fell to Lucien. He was far too strong for them to hold down and thrust a dagger into and he was too tall, too lanky, too fast and too well armored for them to use group attacks with their usual weaponry. And Lucien held far too much experience and magic for them to overwhelm.
But not all the guards were killed by Lucien’s sword or magics though. Some were simply smashed to death through their armor by his unarmed strikes, while others were silenced by the severed body parts of their fellows. It was such a level of horror and pain before their deaths, that it would be branded onto the very souls. And the gruesome display left behind would become a nightmare imprinted into the collective memory of the city and the people of Reval for ages to come.
Everyone Lucien had come across in the mansion was killed, all that was except for one. One guard was tasked with informing the duke and his guest, in hopes that the other guards could stall the creature long enough to evacuate the nobility, but it was no use. Lucien made quick work of the others and followed the guard until he ran straight into the closed doors of the great hall and fell backwards into Lucien’s waiting arms. “Thank you,” was the final thing heard by the guard as he was cut down and tossed aside, slamming hard into the mansion’s walls where his body would remain.
Straightening himself out, Lucien took a single deep breath and then flung the great doors open with enough force to crack them. Inside the great hall Lucien’s eyes were greeted with the sight of great debauchery. Many were dressed in fine fabrics or armor, while others had little on but their minds and the persons they were with. His nose was assaulted by the smells of various aphrodisiacs and other more potent and dangerous concoctions. It all hung in the air with such thick potency that it made Lucien offer a quick silent prayer of thanks to Moriena for his gift. But he did not fear for Morrigan in such an environment. He knew well the hellish training she had been through and the adaptations her body generated.
Near the middle of the room was a fairly wide man wearing a surprised look upon his face. He was standing there as if he had been speaking before Lucien threw open the great doors. But Lucien’s eyes were drawn upwards along the walls on his right by an excited voice shouting “My lord you’re here.” Morrigan was there, crucified on the wall, just as Count Draeken had said. Her emaciated and gaunt appearance enraged Lucien but he did his best to stay calm, for now. He wanted to hear their excuses and pleas.
With his sword trembling in his hand, Lucien nodded his head before looking to the wide man, assuming that was the Duke Castellen and began walking towards him. Behind him were left the bloody boot prints and with each step the sound of armored footsteps filled the hall.
Stopping near the group, Lucien looked around and spoke for the first time, “Re Yon Morko.” Morrigan’s narrow eyes widened as far as they could before she began laughing. She was the only one in the mansion to know what her lord had just done. He had sentenced them all to death and used an old powerful magic to seal everyone inside the estate in a magic barrier. There was no escape for anyone here.
“Who are you? What are you doing in my estate uninvited?” These questions were angrily shouted by Duke Castellen and when Lucien did not immediately respond he shouted more “Well, answer me you bastard? Do you not realize who I am?”
In response, Lucien quietly motioned with his empty right hand up towards Morrign causing the duke to angrily snap “I heard what the bitch said. But she’s obviously lying since she can’t accept her rightful place as my slave and member of my harem. Now tell me who you are.”
Once more Lucien motioned to Morrigan but added only two words in an order for her “Tell him.”
Morrigan smiled and proudly did as her king commanded, “This man is my lord, my king, King Lucien Salvatal the Third, King of Arlorne and Chieftain of the Dharan People.” The next words she spoke were snarled “And he has come to kill you all.”
The people gathered in the hall all looked to the long haired and scruffy faced appearance of the stranger in black armor. Despite the blood and gore covering him and dripping from his sword, the nobility and slaves began to laugh with the cuke laughing the hardest, “Anyone can claim to be king of that damned wasteland. He’s probably the twelfth person this year to claim lordship over it. Hells maybe I should claim it as mine.” Other nobles joined in the duke’s insults with many mentioning how easy it would be for the duke to rule over the wastelands with his forces. All were just bolstering an already incredibly falsely inflated ego.
Despite the mocking laughter filling the hall, the guards quietly surrounded the duke as their captain Gregory leaned over to Duke Castellen saying, “Sir we should flee. We’re dead if we stay any longer.” The experienced mercenary never once took his eyes off Lucien, every fiber in his being was screaming out in terror of the creature before him.
“Nonsense. I will not flee from my own estate. Deal with this lone intruder captain. One man intruding into my home and threatening nobility can’t possibly be left alive.” The duke then looked back to Lucien and continued angrily, “Who in the bloody hells does he think he is?”
Gregory looked at the duke in disbelief. No one should have been dense enough to not understand that the man in black armor slaughtered his way to the great hall. Everyone should have been able to tell that it was not a man before them but a frighteningly powerful creature. But Gregory now knew that the duke, the nobles and many of the slaves gathered around him were.
“Well captain? Do what I pay you to do. Or should I find someone else?”
The other mercenaries were watching their captain from the corner of their eyes. All of them understood what was happening here and just how much trouble they were in.
“I must insist sir. We should flee, NOW.”
Pushing Gregory away, Duke Castellen shouted at him “Handle this intruder now you damned coward or I’ll have you beheaded after all of this is over.”
Glancing over his shoulder, Greogry looked at Lucien who just shook his head. There would be no surviving for the mercenary captain. With his only choice being what type of death he would have, Gregory looked back to Duke Castellen telling him as he stared him down “I hope your death is painful you bastard.” Without waiting for the duke’s response, Gregory turned, drawing his sword and walked through the crowd towards Lucien. His men only a few steps behind him, having resigned themselves to a death in combat rather than being ran through from behind like cowards.
Nearing Lucien, Gregory heard the creature say to him “That swine was the wrong master to choose.”
Gritting his teeth as he readied himself for death, Gregory responded “I know.” Then it all went black. Lucien had struck the mercenary captain in the breastplate with an armored right fist, partially caving in his armor and sending the now deceased mercenary’s body tumbling backwards into the crowd of watching nobles. Within moments of Gregory’s demise, his men would join him having been quickly cut down by Lucien.
With all those nobles and slaves who had been arrogant towards Lucien moments ago now realizing just what was before them quiet came to the hall. That was until Lucien finally addressed everyone there, “You should have returned what was mine, you swine. You never should have harmed her. Now I will kill you all for what you have done to MY Morrigan.”
Duke Castellen started to stumble backwards while saying “Now please don’t overreact here good sir. I’m sure I can find some way to compensate the both of you for everything. I-I-I-I c-can even help you build the wasteland into something great. If only you’d be willing to negotiate. I’m sure you’d see what a great ally I can be if only…”
But Lucien was not hearing any of the duke’s words as he finally allowed his rage to explode. In an instant the hall was filled with a hurricane of magic that made Morrigan’s display of magical fury look like a gentle breeze. Wisps of magic in reds and blacks whipped around everyone, generating a brighter light than the lamps and candles that were now blown out. The hall was filled with the roar of a hurricane, drowning out Morrigan’s renewed cruel and vengeful laughter. Before anyone could recover from their shock and attempt to flee, Lucien silently began his slaughter.
Across the city at the eastern gatehouse, Count Draeken and everyone around him could feel Lucien’s rage explode. Their attention was instinctively drawn towards it as everyone animal near the city became restless or fled. Being the only man who could keep his calm in the situation, the count looked down at the table before him and leaned onto it. There on the table was a map of Salver with different areas marked depending on if it had been evacuated or not. A sigh escaped him before he looked up to his knights, “Just know that if we perish here today, it is an honor to have you all serve under my command. I could ask for no better.” His knights could only agree and return his gesture for the count before steeling themselves best they could and continuing to carry out their duty, all in hopes of saving as many of Salver’s people as they possibly could. Though each one of the knights and Count Draeken openly or silently cursed Duke Castellen for causing all of this in his insatiable greed and foolishness.
Inside the great hall of Duke Castellen’s estate blood flowed as freely as water, turning it into a hellish lake. Corpses littered the new lake like stones, with many twisted in agony and terror. A few fortunate individuals managed to escape the slaughter in the hall only to learn that they were magically trapped inside the mansion. Their times would soon come, and none were strong enough to claim their own lives. And during this slaughter no one could hear Morrigan’s wicked laughter over the furious magical storm, even as her lord remained silent.
With the final bisected body collapsing to the ground all that remained in the great hall was Duke Castellen himself. As Lucien approached the duke, the rotund man was trying to crawl backwards though his day bed as terror gripped him. But as Lucien went to strike him down, he heard Morrigan shout from her cross “Wait my lord. Don’t kill him yet.”
Turning to look up at his servant, Lucien saw her nod her head and that was enough for him. He then walked over to the wall and quickly sent magic up to the chains holding up the cross. A sudden weightlessness came to Morrigan as she began to fall with the cross only to be caught in Lucien’s arms without any trouble. The cross was then gently sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall before Lucien freed her from it.
Now free from the cross, Morrigan’s body collapsed into Lucien’s arms as she did not have the strength to stand on her own. This was quickly remedied with Lucien’s magic, temporarily allowing the young woman to stand on her own and thank her lord.
“Do you wish to kill him on your own?”
Morrigan shook her head as she answered, “No my lord, but you need to know something first.”
Wondering what could cause his servant to temporarily spare the man that had caused her so much pain, Lucien silently listened as Morrigan continued “In an attempt to break me my lord, he had many horses gathered to be slaughtered before me. I did manage to save most of them with my voice but six were still killed on this swine’s orders.”
The hall seemed to grow bone chillingly cold as Morrigan could swear her breath was now visible. Lucien’s fury was no longer a raging storm as before but a godlike fury that was making it difficult for her to tell if the small ice crystals and snowflakes falling were products of her mind or not.
“You slaughtered…Panno’s creations.”
Lucien could not even bring himself to look at the cowering duke at first. But when he did, Duke Castellen saw the face of death staring at him.
Storming over to the cowering duke, Lucien reached down and grabbed the duke by the throat before lifting him into the air with a single hand.
“You ordered the slaughter of our charges, of our brethren. Of Panno’s gift to Vyrna.”
Frozen in fear, the duke could not move any part of himself. Lucien looked up at the duke’s round face and coldly told him “I will make sure that even in death, your soul remembers the pain that I am about to inflict upon you. Regret your actions in the afterlife.” The duke would try one last time to beg for his life, but his screams of agony would fill the hall as he was treated most horrendously.
Great amounts of magic were used to keep the duke alive during the agonizing process and after for far longer than one should. His cross would then be stood up and positioned at the top of a mound of corpses that had been constructed with the dead. The duke would remain alive in his torment until Count Draeken and his knights arrived hours later to begin cleanup of the estate. The cruelty a shock to even them.
Walking out of the great hall with his servant at his side, Lucien takes a moment to offer a brief apology to her, “I apologize for not arriving sooner Morrigan. I was…frozen.”
Morrigan could only smile as she told her lord “I knew you would come for me eventually my lord, even more so once the count appeared.” She then reached up and grabbed onto his arm, pulling him around to look into his eyes, “Despite what happened in your throne room, I would have waited for you until my dying breath. Not just for my feelings but because I am Dharan loyal to her king and her people. Nothing could change that my lord.”
Reaching out, Lucien gently placed a hand on top of her head as a soft smile formed across his face. Even now in her emaciated state Morrigan’s deadly beauty remained and caused hesitation in Lucien before speaking “I know my dear Morrigan. I have been blessed with fine servants.”
As he turns and begins walking down the mansion’s halls, Morrigan holds her hands behind her back as she walks alongside him, questioning “Oh, who else have you been blessed with?”
“Talia. She was preparing to ride out on her own to rescue you while I was frozen, even struck me for my hesitation.”
Morrigan’s narrow eyes went wide upon hearing her lord’s simple and direct answer. Talia had struck their king. This was something she would not have believed if it had been said by anyone else. The Talia she knew would never have done such a thing, but she had and it was out of care. Morrigan could only smile and wait to thank her once they returned home.
“Are you armed?”
This question from her lord brought Morrigan back to what was happening in the moment. As she answered “Yes, my lord. I took two daggers from the dead guards,” Lucien kicked in a door, sending wooden splinters and shards flying into one of the mansion’s many rooms. The screams and shouts from inside where then violently cut short before Lucien walked out of the room saying “Good. Then I can allow you some vengeance as well.” Blood from inside the room slowly flowed out as Lucien led Morrigan to the next room.
