Knight Elayne - Demon Kingdom - Prologue

Knight Elayne - Demon Kingdom - Prologue

The Mage Guild gave Lori a new mission to seek out and neutralize a former student of their own Mage Tower. The former student was one of the older students, who had gone rogue and left the Tower almost a year ago, eluding the seekers until now. The Guild informed Lori that she could find the rogue hiding in an area that they marked on her map. 

Going rogue made the former student a Witch. She had no license to practice magic anywhere in the Kingdom of Irrenia. She had been a student of the Blue Mages, making it their job to hunt her down and deal with the problem in any way necessary. It was rumored that the former student might have joined a known Coven of Witches slowly gaining power. Lori had orders to capture the Witch alive, so that the Guild might get information about that Coven. And if capturing her alive was not possible, Lori had permission to eliminate the Witch. 

The Mage's Guild had not told Lori that outside assistant was forbidden. She was not eager to fight alone with one or more Witches, and sent word for Elayne and Ezri to join her. She packed more spell scrolls in her backpack. Lori didn't like the idea of killing one of their own, but if there was no other option, then she wanted to be fully prepared. 

Lori fetched her horse from the stables and rode from the Mage Tower. She was not aware that a pair of eyes were watching her departure closely. 

Sorceress Margot smiled as she watched Lori ride out, to meet her doom. The young Sorceress had caused a lot of trouble for Margot, when Lori managed to fight off the Demons sent to snatch her from the library. The Demon Lord was displeased, and Margot had paid dearly for the deal going sideways. So Margot arranged for Lori to get assigned to this mission, and made sure that she went alone. The older Mage knew the rogue student well, and had even lured her out of the Mage Tower to become a Witch. Margot had also provided information to the Witch, detailing the Mage's Guild efforts to hunt her down, and tips on how to evade capture. 

Days ago, Margot had sent information about the new hunter, and had even given charms for the Witch to use against Lori. Margot yearned for revenge on Sorceress Lori, for messing up her deal with the Demon Lord. If this trip went as planned, Lori would not return.

Margot moved away from the window and hoped that news of Lori's death would soon arrive. The older Sorceress went back to her chamber, and continued preparing potions to restore her youth. Using Lori's soul, she would gain more magical powers and shave many years off her current age. When Sorceress Margot was younger, she was beautiful, and had many suitors. But time had taken her beauty away, leaving only an aged body, and mediocre magical skills. That young Sorceress Lori had it all, and Margot was determined to take everything from her. Margot grinned and rubbed her body, daydreaming of the beauty and firmness returning. Lori's youth would soon be hers.

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The next day, our trio of heroines were in the Chapter House together.

Lori revealed her map, and explained the details of her mission to Elayne and Ezri. The trip would take a day or two with horses, and finding the Witch in the swamp was going to be tough.

Elayne expressed concern about the Coven.

Lori explained that Witches rarely gathered in one place. This maintained secrecy, in case one of them was discovered. If Lori and her friends captured the rogue student quickly, the other Witches would not have time to assist. Lori planned to capture the Witch alive, and bring her back to the Mage Tower to be dealt with. 

Elayne didn't believe that this former student could be strong enough to evade the Mage's Guild for so long. She worried that someone could be helping her from inside the Mage Tower.

Lori agreed, which was why she asked for help. She couldn't know for sure who to trust in the Mage Tower, until after the Witch was caught. If they brought the Witch back, they could extract that information from her mind. Mages had ways to pull the truth from a witness. 

Ezri was less sure about the whole mission, but agreed to go with them and help as needed. And in the best scenario, she might find something nice to pocket, and sell later.

The trio checked their gear, and packed enough food for the trip, before heading out of the old town. 

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Along the way, they saw how resilient the farmers were in these parts. There were many dangers here. Roaming Demons might destroy crops just for fun, and tax collectors always came to collect their due. The farmers kept working hard every day. Elayne wondered if they were in the same situation she was. She had to do her job, as few others were able or willing, and some day all her hard work would pay off. She wasn't killing Demons for fun. She did it for the safety of these farmers and their families. Nobles had money to pay for their own security, and that money was created from the sweat of farmers like these. 

Some farms were well maintained, and they could see that a few farmers had tried to protect their buildings with barricades and small keeps. Those might work against smaller threats, but to bigger Demons, these defenses were just piles of sticks and stones. If the fortifications gave the farmers a feeling of security, then Elayne was okay with that.

The weather turned cloudy, as if the whole region could sense where the trio was going. That night, they picked an empty farmhouse to camp in, which would be easier to defend. Better than a campsite on open ground with many directions from which an enemy could attack. 

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As they traveled closer to the swamp, farms became more scarce. Some of them had been abandoned. The few travelers that they met on the road, all spoke of evil spirits. Demons and monsters wandered these lands, and the source of these vile creatures might be a Witch Coven. The women seemed to be prepared well enough to meet the challenge. 

The thick, swampy forest was visible from a distance. It was an ominous warning to travelers, that nearby horrors unimagined, lay within. Few had entered the swampy forest, and even fewer returned. Those that made it out, were stricken with madness, and rambled of terrors never before seen by human eyes. Nearly all of the shaken travelers killed themselves or just wandered off, only to be found dead days later, with twisted expressions of horror frozen on their faces.

It wasn't always like this. Older folks told tales of a happier time, when Elves made their home in the forest, and practiced their magic, living in peace and harmony with the world. Then something happened, and a once beautiful green forest turned dark and gloomy, decaying into the swamp that it was now. Darkness had corrupted what was a once peaceful forest, and deformed it into this cold and hostile piece of land. 

Old wives whispered that all the people who met their end in the swamp were still there, ghosts that hunted travelers and adventurers who dared enter. Some even said that there were undead Elves lurking deep in the dark waters, waiting and watching for new victims. There were many legends of dead souls lingering there, taking their original forms to lure the living to their watery graves, where undead hands would pull them ever deeper, and eat their fresh flesh.

Lori was interested to know how these old wives knew all this, if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes or had proof other than the ranting of people who had lost their minds. Those undead hands might have been just underwater tree roots. Still, Lori wasn't keen to test her theory. 

Ezri was first to say out loud, that at least she would be happy when she could leave this place after the job was done. Even if she could find some old Elven ruins in there to loot, she didn't care to end up in a bottomless pit of dark swamp water.

That fate did not appeal to Elayne or Lori either. They just needed to do this mission and get out, before the dead spirits, monsters, or Demons found their trail. 

The trio had to take an alternate route into the swamp. The road directly in was destroyed completely by floods, and no locals had been keen to fix it. There were no farmlands, no trade posts, no taverns - just old gloomy swamps. Not everyone returned mad, as a few fur trappers still entered the swampy forest and returned. But they didn't need the road.

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The destination was near the edge of the swamp, but their horses were useless on the marshy ground, so they had to leave them and continue on foot. It was also a good way to move more silently. Ezri went in first. She was the smallest, and could move silently even in the thick brush. They hoped to get the element of surprise on their side, so a fight would be short and the outcome favorable. 

All their careful planning would soon prove of no use. Sorceress Margot had prepared her pupil well. The Witch knew of Sorceress Lori's plan. Margot had revealed how to detect Lori, and bring the young Sorceress to her knees with a special spell. Even though Lori planned to capture her alive, and give her a fair trial, the Witch feared that Margot would kill her before the Mages could extract the truth. She had to do what Margot sent her to do, one more pupil in a grave would matter more than the others that came before. 

From within her hut, the Witch watched the Mage Hunter and her friends get closer. It was time to reveal that Lori was the real one being hunted, and set up to fail. The former student stepped outside to await the trio's arrival. She knew that the young Sorceress would hesitate to use deadly force, but the other two were a different matter. The blonde was Elayne, a young Demon Hunter and a Knight of the Realm, who might have the guts to try to kill her. The brunette was Ezri, a young Half-Elf Thief, and only a threat if she could use her crossbow. 

Moments later, Lori noticed the old hut and saw the Witch out front, weaving a spell between several standing stones. The Sorceress started to suspect that everything seemed too easy. Before Lori could warn her friends, the Witch activated a trap. Margot had designed this spell just for Lori.

An invisible shockwave slammed into everyone in the area. Those not carrying a special necklace, were knocked to the ground.

A second shockwave followed, and inflicted terrible pain throughout the body.

The pain caused Lori to release the Stun Spell that she had prepared. She could not stop it, nor aim it anywhere, as she couldn't control her body. In a twist of fate, her spell impacted one of the standing stones that maintained the Witch's spell. Lori's spell wouldn't counter the Witch's spell, nor stop it from working, but it altered the spell, and not in a good way.

While Lori, Elayne and Ezri were writhing on the ground, shocked with pain, a magical Rift between dimensions was torn open, and looked like a dark gash in the air, filled with swirling clouds and lighting. The Rift created fierce winds that started to suck in loose leaves, tree limbs, and anything not nailed down.

The Witch felt the Rift's pull, and grabbed onto the doorframe of the hut, hoping the Rift would close soon.

The pull of the Rift captured the unlucky trio. Elayne, Lori, and Ezri could do nothing to stop it, as the first part of the spell rendered them helpless. One by one, they were sucked into the magical Rift, causing them to black out. 

The Witch saw all three of her adversaries disappear into the Rift, and for a moment she feared that she would be next.

Suddenly the Rift closed, and the standing stones that maintained the spell, shattered to pieces.

The Mage Hunter had been dealt with, but the Witch now had an even deeper concern of what kind of spells Sorceress Margot could make, and when she might turn against her. Margot was known to take her revenge in large measures. 

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Elayne was first to wake up. The last thing she remembered was the crippling pain, and then that terrifying magical Rift. Where could it have sent them? The ground was dry and dusty, the grass was yellow and dead, as if there hadn't been rain for a long time. Nearby were a few old houses in very bad shape. Wooden planks were grey and beaten up by sandstorms. The sky was grey here and the clouds promised no rain.

Lori was next to wake up, and could remember no more than Elayne. She could find no landmarks or clues as to where they could be, but everything here felt different.

Ezri woke up, and claimed that her head hurt like hell, but she went quiet after looking the place over. Lori moved next to Ezri to take a look at her head. She found a nasty wound near the hairline on her neck. It wasn't big, but it needed to be cleaned and taken care of or she could get sick from infection.

No birds chirped, nor flew in the sky. There were no other animal noises, nor tracks on the ground. While Elayne surveyed the surroundings, she noticed a dust cloud on the horizon. Someone was moving there, with horses. The blonde Knight started to jump up and down, to draw attention the attention of possible rescue.

Lori tried to clean Ezri's wound as best she could, and covered it with a clean rag to keep dirt out. Elayne was pleased to see the dust cloud change route, and head towards them. Elayne trusted that whoever they were, she could negotiate some kind of agreement and they could find a way out of here. It might have been unwise, but they were without their gear, with only their clothes and a few items in their pockets. No swords, no food, no water. The old houses offered no shelter, and Lori could not treat Ezri's wound without decent herbs or tools. They needed to get out of here or they would certainly die in this god forsaken place. 

Fate dealt even worse cards to them. Elayne finally got a better look at the four riders that were coming. At first she thought that they were riding horses, but they weren't horses at all. The mounts were huge lizards, and the riders were not human.

Elayne quickly shouted to Lori and Ezri that they should run and try to escape. A poor idea, and Elayne knew it soon after the words left her lips. The lizards were faster than horses, and the four riders hefted ropes from their saddles. Lori and Ezri tried to run behind the old buildings, but they were too slow. Within moments, all three of them were captured and bound.

The riders were of mixed races. Two were Orcs or Ogres, and the other two were some kind of Demon. The riders weren't the only ones moving. Large wagons trailed behind them and stopped. A fifth rider came forward, and the first four riders seemed to fear this one. The new rider's face was covered with cloth, and dark metal armor was partly visible under a worn cloak. The first four riders pulled the three captives in line.

"Master, three human females, caught for your honor. New slaves for our Master."

Elayne was shocked. They had ended up in hands of Slavers. She assumed that their fate would be worse than death. Something snapped deep inside her, and she managed to pull her hands free of the ropes. The blonde Knight jumped onto the back of the nearest mounted rider. She directed a sharp elbow strike to his neck. Even though his neck was covered with hide, Elayne's rage gave force to the hit, and the unlucky rider slid from his saddle and dropped to the ground, stunned. Elayne went down along with him, and pulled a jagged black knife from his belt. She rolled on the ground and stood up in attack position, ready to engage the other three riders. 

Elayne jumped with the blade in her hand, and rage in her heart. Unfortunately, a whip wrapped around her arm in midair, and pulled her down mercilessly. She fell to the ground and luckily avoided breaking any limbs. Pain shook her body, and stripped away the strength gained from her rage. Elayne was groaning on the ground as two of the other riders dismounted and pulled the blonde to her feet. The third rider offered to cut her head off for their Master.

But a sharp voice behind all of them, stopped the riders from performing the execution. Elayne gasped for air, and waited for the final blow that would end her time in the world of the living. 

The newest rider came closer and spoke directly to the Master. This rider was slender and more feminine, her face likewise covered with cloth.

"That female can fight. You could use her, rather than let those morons hack her into pieces of meat that would only be good for feeding the animals. This slave has more value as a fighter. I haven't seen fire in a slave's eyes for a while. Think about it, husband. The yellow haired one can fight, and if I'm right, the dark hair and the young one, would have other values too."

The female voice was clearly taunting the Master, and he was annoyed at the interruption, but her words were true. It would be too wasteful to kill the blonde fighter on the spot. And if she wasn't worth a second chance, death could be easily arranged.

The Master grunted angrily, and gave the order to drag the trio into the wagons.

Elayne was thankful to the Gods who spared her life. Still, she wouldn't escape without a scratch, as the rider she knocked down gave her a hard slap on the face, as if thanking her for the humiliation in front of the Master. 

Elayne, Lori, and Ezri were dragged to a heavy barred door on the last wagon. The three women were pushed inside, where Elayne saw a few other humans and half-breeds. One detail common to them all, was a slave collar around their neck. They also looked like they hadn't eaten well in some time. The other slaves wouldn't even look the new arrivals in the eyes.

Elayne tried to inquire where they were, but none of the slaves answered. They were too afraid, and kept quiet, hoping to avoid punishment for talking to the new slaves.

Lori and Ezri were equally shocked about all this, but there was nothing they could do for now.

The wagons started to move again, pulled by giant lizards. These were bigger than the riding lizards, and easily bigger than elephants. The riders were taller than an average man, and a bit heavier built, which made them better for combat. Elayne earned no friends among them today with her attack. The Slave Master was taller than his riders and most certainly stronger.

Elayne now had time to think about their situation, while moving toward their uncertain future of slavery. When Elayne asked Lori about the Witch's spell, and the magical Rift, the Sorceress only shrugged. The spell effects surprised her too.

The trio had lost everything, and now they needed to find their way back home. But first they needed to survive and find out where in the hell they were.

The adventures continued in Demon Kingdom Part 1...

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