Dawning Skye

464 Hunting Trip(Part Three)

***CONTENT WARNING: LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE***

Sheri was irritated by Marco’s summoning since she was in the middle of dealing with Ahriman. Their conversation was holding her up from her task, and she had no doubts that her King would be irked by it if he hadn’t called for everyone. Not wanting to be around the former assassin, Sheri strode off to the far end of the camp as quickly as possible.

Ahriman followed right behind her, but he’d gone back to cloaking his presence. It unnerved Sheri whenever she thought about the fact that he both completed his duties, and was somehow always with Marco. The idea of him having a twin had crossed her mind, but she knew that was too far fetched to be true.

‘He can manipulate darkness with his magic, and I know that includes shadows, too.. That story that Draco told me more or less proves it.. How does someone strangle a person with a freakin’ shadow?! They aren’t solid! But then again, I can completely conceal myself with my magic.. Not to mention all the other crazy shit other mages can do, so I suppose it’s probable..’

Without realizing it, Sheri had made it all the way to the surveillance station that Norvis had set up. He was griping about how incompetent Yeager was compared to him, which had everyone standing around with agitated expressions. As Sheri joined the others, Ahriman popped out of the darkness.

Marco simply nodded at each of his guards as they assembled until he saw Ahriman; “Did you find anything interesting out there?”

Rolling his head to crack his neck, Ahriman replied; “It’s as Doctor Stein said. Vermin everywhere.. I barely found the elk. Everything else within twenty kilometers has been taken, or run off..”

“The creatures seem to be setting up for some sort of assembly or festival directly outside of the caves. There were at least a hundred little things running around, and dozens of big things moving around log tables. A handful have enough power to be deemed threatening; the King and his guardsmen.”

“I’m surprised that they’re still alive,” Draco commented.

.....

“There was an enchantment around his dwelling, so I could not enter, and kill him myself. The others were with him.. I could’ve ended them all, but the enchantment was made from Light magic,” Ahriman finished with a bow towards Marco.

He nodded in acknowledgment at Ahriman, then rubbed at his chin a moment as he said; “That’s interesting.. I believe that the Fae Queen Celestia has Light magic.. Interesting...and useful. I’ll need to look into that.. As to cutting the head off of the snake: I’m happy that you didn’t. It would be a shame to bring everyone out here just to do nothing..”

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“I haven’t been in an actual fight in a long time; excluding that performance with my brother. I also need to test out my new trait more thoroughly. There needs to be lots of targets for a proper evaluation, and having a king to fight for will give them...incentive, to give it their all.”

“You think that their home isn’t enough to fight for?” Sheri asked with a touch of surprise in her voice.

Marco glanced in her direction; “People, especially animals, can sense when their life is in danger. Few things will keep them from running, but the pride of a King is one of them. Those caves were mined up until a few decades ago when the gold vein ran out, so they are not indigenous. Their so-called homes wouldn’t be enough when compared to the safety of their families. But orders from their betters would.”

“Pardon me my King, but why do you think the Goblin King will be adamant about fighting?” Benzo asked, making sure to give Marco every courtesy.

Marco grinned as he looked over at a still-tinkering Norvis, and replied; “Because they see us as prey. Humans are like deer to them.. What would you do if a group of deer tried to hold their ground against you? Would you run away, or kill them?”

Benzo was grinning just as evilly as his King was as he said; “I’d slaughter them all.”

“Exactly,” Marco replied as his smile stretched; “So, we’re going to kill the wolves dumb enough to mistake lions for their prey.. We will take over the caves, and make sure that they know who the real King is..”

“I will kill them all, if My King desires it,” Ahriman commented.

“Greedy bastard! You don’t get to have all of the fun!” Benzo barked, sounding serious when he was just joking.

Ahriman glared at him through his cloak-wrapped face, then summoned a cloud of darkness. Before Benzo had time to react, Ahriman was throwing a fully-grown male elk at him. He cried out as the massive creature slammed into him, and knocked him on his ass.

As he rolled back and forth in pain, Sheri couldn’t hold in her laughter. She burst out, which made Draco start up as well. Right as Benzo pushed their dinner off of himself, Doctor Stein sighed out of exasperation..

“If you were smart, you’d leave well enough alone, and just go and clean that elk.”

Benzo stared daggers at the doctor until Marco added; “Yes.. Doctor Stein is correct. Or did you forget about our conversation from a few minutes ago?”

“No, My King! I-I’ll go field dress it now. My apologies,” Benzo sputtered.

“Make sure you apologize to Ahriman as well. He helped you a great deal by finding that for you,” Marco added.

Benzo gritted his teeth as he faced Ahriman; “Thank you for your assistance.”

A wide smirk broke out across his face, but Ahriman didn’t reply. He usually only talked when Marco addressed him, or with Stein. Thinking on it now, Sheri was surprised that he had talked to her in the forest before, but given the context..

‘He only spoke to see if I’d lost the King.. His loyalty boarders on ridiculous.. I wonder why? I don’t see Marco being the merciful type.. He’s originally from the Fire Nation, but came from Sai when Marco recruited him.. Did he get exiled from his home, or did he leave on purpose?’

As questions bombarded Sheri’s mind, Benzo went off to the side to clean the Elk. He was close enough to still hear the conversation, but out of sight so as not to upset his king again. As he started to drain the elk, Norvis got the monitors working.

He yelled out in happiness, then ran over to his King as he said; “Haha! It works! Jakub ain’t shit compared to me!”

“Are those all video feeds of the forest?” Draco asked as two dozen little bright boxes lit up against a kind of steam vent.

It was unrealistic to bring out two dozen physical monitors, so Norvis projected the feeds against a long, thick line of steam. It didn’t give the most detailed view, but they could make out the Fae that were moving around. They were several miles away from the caves, and needed to be able to see the gap between them; in case any Fae made their way over.

As Norvis futz with and tweaked the details that the projections could show, Marco went over their plan. He wanted clearing out the caves to only take them a day because it would take weeks for them to transport the dead army without being seen. To Marco, that was the most important part..

“If the commoners see anything suspicious, then rumors will spread, and my Father may want an investigation done. We have to be as careful as possible when bringing them out here, so we need to wrap this up by tomorrow. At night’s end tomorrow: I expect the Goblin King’s skull to be my new cup. Is that clear?”

Draco grinned darkly; “The Goblin King’s skull for a cup.. That’s dark..”

“And Awesome! I want a skull cup!” Benzo yelled as he started to make the incisions needed to removed the elk’s skin.

Marco actually laughed as he called out to Benzo; “As long as you leave the Gblin King for me..”

Turning to face Ahriman, he asked; “Their King is their strongest, correct?”

“Yes My King,” Ahriman replied as he half-bowed; “Their society is strength-based, so the current king is the strongest here.”

“No wonder they live in caves,” Sheri commented.

“What do you mean?” Draco inquired.

Sheri sighed; “How can any progress be made if brute strength is all that matters? There’s all kinds of people not built that way; their intelligence or talent is their strength. A lasting society is built by using all resources available, not just the ones a few deem usable.”

“One man’s trash is another’s treasure kind of deal?” Draco stated more than asked.

Sheri nodded; “Exactly. Just because I can’t use that technology stuff that Norvis can doesn’t make it worthless because I’m stronger than he is.”

“Who says that you’re stronger?” Norvis yelled out from behind his station.

“Physics,” Sheri said.

“My eyes,” Draco said at the same time.

“Sheri is right,” Marco started, ending their banter; “A king that doesn’t utilize all of his resources shouldn’t be called a king: just an idiot. Tomorrow we will spread out, and attack the caves in synchronization. Sheri will go in and scout for us first, then Draco, Benzo, and Ahriman will draw out their leaders. None of you touches their top three, understand? I want to fight them.”

“Is that wise, Your Majesty?” Ahriman questioned with his head bowed; “To put you at risk-”

“I will be fine, Ahriman. You are but a shout away if I need you, even though I won’t. These things are nothing compared to my brothers.”

“Brothers? I thought that King Lawrence didn’t have any magic?” Draco commented with a surprised expression.

Marco smirked, which made Sheri feel like he was proud for a split second as he replied; “He doesn’t, but he’s the best sword-fighter I’ve ever seen. Even Tidas can’t beat him without using his magic. If Lawrence had been born with a trait, then he probably would’ve been named King instead of me.”

How the fuck does that make sense? You’re the oldest. It’s your birthright,” Benzo stated as he walked over with the cleaned elk meat.

After tossing the sack of meat at Sheri, he added; “Your father would’ve pissed off a lot of nobles if he did that.”

“Not necessarily,” Norvis said as he popped his head up from behind his machine; “King Lawrence is popular with most.. Except the men who’s wives he had slept with. I believe our King is correct: the previous King would named him. Possibly even if he had simply not married into the Ruscovic kingdom.”

“What will we do after the first phase is complete? If King Lawrence doesn’t support your claim to the throne, then the nobles may not back you,” Sheri said as she stood up to go prepare and add the meat to the stew she had started.

A menacing grin spread across Marco’s face as he answered; “Don’t worry.. My brother will do everything I tell him to do: if he wants his new wife and children to live..”