Etrait, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThe tunnels widened into an intersection. For a moment, Thaelen stood looking around him. He couldn’t have hoped for more or less, he admitted to himself. On one hand, there was a stack of barrels to one side that he was confident held the black powder, and the meeting point of tunnels was the perfect opportunity to detonate the explosives with the aim of collapsing the tunnels behind them.On the other hand, there were three tunnels before them, and he did not know which one to take. He could not afford to explode and collapse the meeting point of the tunnels without knowing that they’d taken the right one to safety, and if they chose the wrong tunnel without collapsing the way behind them, they might lose their head-start.It was possible that the human army would realize that someone had deliberately started the fires and the explosion, and followed them into the tunnels.He breathed in, trying to discern which tunnel smelled of fresh air
Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeTheir travel to the nearest stronghold was slowed by the humans, however as much that Thaelen wished to rush ahead, he could not leave them with strange vampires after their bravery and trust in following him into what was, to them, enemy territory.He fretted about Johil. What would the human make of Thaelen’s escape? Would he realize that the explosion at the camp had been started by Thaelen? Would he think that Thaelen had burned to death the women and children that he had fought so hard to protect? No, Thaelen knew that he wouldn’t. There would be trouble for the village when word made it’s way back to Alden. Would the priests return to the homes of those boys and women and take younger siblings in their place, or would they let it go?“Hmm,” he acknowledged grimly that they would do far worse in order to make an example. They would destroy the village and kill everyone within it. He had to hope that in the disorder of the camp, the w
Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeSigrid and Meguitte were in the entry hall of the stronghold, removing their cloaks and handing them to the attendants there, and turned as he descended the stairs. Meguitte’s face immediately crumpled and she ran to throw her hands around him, weeping hysterically against his chest. He embraced her tightly, touched by her distress.Perhaps due to the fact that she had been a woman grown, or because of her reservation with men in general, since he had turned her, Meguitte had spent much of her time deep within the forest, coming to the city and his stronghold only rarely. Sigrid had visited her frequently, and so Thaelen, busy with ruling, organizing raids, and distracted by Gera, had been content to leave the two women to their own devices.Thaelen had not thought that there was any sentiment beyond her gratitude to him for saving her life and a general friendship between them, and her emotional display moved him.“It is alright, Meguitt
Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThaelen stood by the window and watched the sun rise. He had been restless through the night, despite being physically and emotionally drained. When he had drifted to sleep, his dreams had been broken and uneasy, frequented by ghosts. He had had dreamt conversations with both his parents, which had seemed intense and important in sleep, but the content of which had vanished upon rising, and had swum with Gera in the bay of the past, only to lose him in the water, waking gasping into the darkness, sucking in the air that his lungs had been denied in nightmare.It was only natural that his mind would be on the past and his many losses, he told himself as he squinted against the glare of the bright sun as it speared over the ocean with sharp flares. He was grateful to have spent the night in Gunnar’s stronghold rather than making the journey back to his own. Sleeping in his bed without Gera would have been harder.He had ruled for one and a
Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeAkaus greeted them at the temple, the semi-sheer silks that he wore clasped to his body with jewelled gold bands and chains fluttering as the wind caught it, lifting his hair back from the circlet that he wore on his brow.“My king!” Akaus went to his knee before Thaelen and lifted Thaelen’s hands to his lips. “I thank you for the return of my beloved Besafora.”“Besafora returned herself,” Thaelen laughed, overjoyed to see his priest and lover, lifting Akaus to his feet and embracing him warmly. “It is so good to see you, Akaus!”They moved through the ranks of priests and priestesses, to where the high priestess waited for them, with the human acolytes gathering behind her giggling and casting him flirtatious looks from behind their fans and veils. “My king,” she greeted him warmly. “We were overjoyed both by the return of Besafora and her news that you had survived.”They moved into the main hall, with it’s many statues and altars to t
Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years Before“How have you found being regent?” Thaelen asked Sigrid, wincing as the priest with his sharp tools and ink worked the pattern into Thaelen’s skin. It was a fascinating process of piercing the skin and pushing ink into the wound over and over again in order to leave the vampire wearing the symbols of his people.The priest had positioned Thaelen under the fall of light through a window for the process, and had four acolyte assistants – one supervising the equipment needed, one helping to hold Thaelen’s skin taut, another which marked the pattern on Thaelen’s skin ahead of the priest’s needles, and the final holding the design so that all could see.Thaelen was reconsidering the rash decision to have the tattoo done, however it had been offered and he had been intrigued. Sitting for the hours required for it’s completion, however, was tedious and he had been relieved when Sigrid had joined him. She had brought with her a set of throwing bo
Concordia, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThaelen watched as Concordia receded on the horizon. It would take time, he told himself, for the humans to replace the weaponry that he had destroyed and rebuild their army after the explosion. It would take them time to burrow back through the mountains, to Concordia, and now that Gunnar and the other strongholds along the mountain range knew the signs of human excavation to watch for, any rockfall, dirt clouds, or smoke would be investigated.The Concordian vampires would not be caught unaware.It was not a permanent solution to the problem, but the temple mages had promised to consider the issue and try to come up with a way of protecting Concordia from human invasion through the mountain ranges.In the meantime, the best that Thaelen could do for his people was to try to locate a source of human blood slaves free of disease and free of the One God.“It is pretty,” Meguitte put her hand over his on the handrail. “Concordia.”“Not as p
Astreau, Nine Hundred and Forty Years BeforeThey stayed out from the Alden coast, trying to avoid contact with the humans of that country, although there were a few days where, on the horizon, an Alden ship seemed to contemplate whether to pursue or let them be, when the rolling sand-dunes gave way to lush forest the ship let them sail beyond visual contact.As they sailed past the gorgeous greenery and pretty fishing villages with the sleekly attractive people watching from the sand, Thaelen contemplated the possibility of taking them again. With a period of quarantine, vampire blood, and care, it might be possible, he thought.“They settled well into Concordia,” Meguitte commented, guessing the direction of his thoughts. “We could take more, with caution. If we keep them isolated, treat them with blood, before taking them to shore, as we plan to do with anyone else that we take…”“It is a thought,” he agreed. “However, we have suffered so many losses, I find myself reluctant to tak