Chapter 8 - The Beast Lord
Shadow had slept soundly in the palace of Zvire. For what most considered a poor man, Zvire had a lot going for him Shadow thought upon glimpsing the splendour of the palace which Shadow was now in the early morning sunlight able to fully appreciate. It had not been this good for the one nicknamed `warrior of the forest`. Zvire had an unusual upbringing to say the least. He had been abandoned in the forest as a small boy and found himself being taken care off by the creatures of the forest. This changed Zvire, from a boy to what some called a half man, half lion. Zvire took care of all those that had gotten lost in the huge forest that was Bheliez. The woodland that was Bheliez had only recently become part of Legia, Gyraicus promised Zvire protection from all opponents in the surrounding kingdoms and that no tree in the enormous wood that was Bheliez would be disturbed. The outcasts of society began to flock to the forest and Zvire greeted them with open arms. He had love for all things be they animal or plant, as long as they respected the forest. These outcasts over years began to change also, only slightly and they became known as the beast army. Zvire himself was then proclaimed the lord of the beasts, this title was given directly by Gyraicus and Zvire was an official lord. The palace built was built in a clearing and Zvire made sure that nothing was destroyed to make way for it. It took a year to complete but it was wondrous. There was only one floor, the temple was used for important guests and friends and as Zvire’s personal place of resting. Zvire felt no need for a castle or guard towers structured around his temple as Zvire saw the whole forest itself as his castle and no-one could survive the many of Zvire’s beast army that rested in the trees, guarding their leader. Zvire himself had become a respected warrior in battle. He was no coward and was very deadly with his weapons of choice, two axes which were held in place in his back. Zvire’s childhood however had meant that he had little education, Gyraicus had to send several scholars to teach him how to speak. Zvire’s command of words grew, he knew what words meant but was lost when it came to sentence structure. Zvire thanked Gyraicus for his help once again and politely requested that the lessons cease, he had learnt all he needed to learn to commune with everyone else, however hard they had to work at it. `All that and now he’s going to try and take over the land which has given him so much` thought Shadow while getting dressed. Shadow wore the mask at all times around the temple, Shadow couldn't work out why the mask was necessary in a place where they had heard little of the one they call the Shadow of Death. `If they saw my face they would not take me seriously, they want me here to rule the land, it would be inappropriate for now to reveal myself` Shadow thought while taking the mask out and then slipping it on. Shadow went to the dresser and took out the cape that had been left there the previous evening. Shadow then put the chest plate on, this was the most important part as Shadow’s body was not one that would be considered that of a warrior and the chest plate and shoulder pads gave the impression of great strength. Shadow put the shoulder pads firmly on and then attached the long cape. Shadow slid the door across and exited the room. When Shadow had arrived it was very late and there was no time to meet with Zvire. The father of the massacred family Shadow now knew as Orscyar and he was resting in the room opposite Shadow’s. Shadow considered knocking on Orscyar’s door waking him, but it then occurred that Shadow had heard Orscyar tossing and turning during the night. `Dreaming about the death of his family` thought Shadow, forgetting any idea of waking Orscyar who was now sleeping. `Let him get all the rest he can, if he‘s anything like me he‘ll wake up in a cold sweat soon anyway` Shadow thought while walking away. Shadow had accepted the idea of taking over after the invasion was complete in the mind, but had never actually confirmed it. Shadow walked around the temple in deep thought, but not thinking of anything in particular. Shadow’s thoughts would jump from one subject to the next furiously as if the mind was teasing. `How can I protect the people from these demons? Can I ? Will the people accept me as their new ruler? How could I protect a kingdom that hates me?` Shadow thought, still being teased. Shadow’s bottom lip was then bit hard as Shadow fought desperately for a way to clear all these thoughts out. The only thing that ever remotely relaxed Shadow was the battle. Death had become an all to frequent thing and it had become a routine for Shadow. Death may have even been a relief, but Shadow would never die without first getting justice. Shadow exited the temple and began to walk around the grounds, `fresh air may be some comfort before meeting with Zvire` Shadow thought while gently strolling around the forest floor. There were trees all around in every direction for what seemed like miles around. It was quite a incredible sight, with the sunlight hitting the trees in just the right way to paint an phenomenal picture. Shadow did not see Zvire approach him from behind. “Beautiful is not it?” Zvire said in his best Legian.
“Yes, yes it is” said Shadow, feeling at ease in Zvire’s presence.
“You come to castle with army?” Zvire said, asking him point blank whether Shadow would take part or not.
“I-” Shadow sighed “I haven‘t decided” Shadow silently cursed at the inability to make a decision.
“It is okay masked one. I am being unsure also” Zvire said comfortingly.
“Oh?” enquired Shadow.
“The king Gyraicus. he good man” Zvire paused “I do not want to cause any harm to any peoples”.
“Well maybe after the invasion you could be king and you could make things better” Shadow said to Zvire as he was still unsure of Zvire’s reasoning for not wanting the crown for himself. “I not wanting of the land called Legia” Zvire then began to explain. “When Zvire was child Zvire‘s family gave up on me. If I am taking of the crown myself I will lose touch with forest, I will leave responsibility to those who depend on Zvire, like my parents did to me....” Zvire trailed off and then stopped “....if this is what crown means, losing my people, Zvire not wanting that” he then said, before Shadow had a chance to say anything in the meantime. Shadow could see that Zvire had put a lot of thought into his reasoning. For a minute, there was silence as the two warriors stood staring at their surroundings, each in thought. “I will tell you my decision later” said Shadow heading back inside.
“Zvire will forward look to it” Zvire said as Shadow re-entered the temple. It had been a long journey getting up to the temple. `Why am I here if I'm unsure?` Shadow thought. `Shouldn’t I be out finding father’s killer?` thought Shadow. It then came to mind that Shadow had not dreamt last night. No death, no killings, no nothing. Shadow felt at ease in this place and decided that if in this place the dreams would stop, at least for now Shadow would stay. Shadow slid a door across and entered a room he had not seen before. It was some sort of training room with about twenty strong men beasts doing training. Shadow could see in the corner that some women beasts were training too. `Must be a harsh reality if these women are having to fight as well` thought Shadow, feeling drawn to them. Shadow felt an understanding with these women beasts who were training, they did not want to fight, but were drawn too it, they had no choice. They all looked mostly like normal people, Shadow could feel there eyes gaze and tried to ignore it. The men looked vicious, Shadow could sense the lion inside them, like a caged animal, coming out in battle and unleashing its fury. The women looked less dangerous by comparison but Shadow could see that some of them had three whiskers coming out on each side of their face, like a domestic cat. Shadow could sense some form of command structure in the room, four of the men had a glove on with long metallic claws, like a dagger attached to each of the fingers, looking across the room Shadow could see that one of the women had these artificial claws also. Shadow did not feel as comfortable in their presence as he did with Zvire, but felt that there was no menace in their frequent looks. One of the beasts eventually approached Shadow and held out his paw, but not before taking off the glove with metallic claws off, Shadow shook his hand, the beast then twisted Shadow’s arm around and tossed Shadow to the floor. Shadow heard what passed for laughter emanate around the room but before Shadow could retaliate the beast that had earlier tossed Shadow down held out his paw again and helped Shadow up, this time with nothing other than good intentions. “I Hygare” said the beast, upon pulling Shadow to his feet “you masked one”.
“It is a pleasure to be here in your presence Hygare” Shadow said, bowing to Hygare.
“Beast army train for castle invasion, I am commanding, you wish to train with Hygare?” offered Hygare.
“Yes I do” said Shadow, keen to show the group what the rest of the land feared. Shadow unsheathed the sword of Drakahor and saw some of the group back away, Shadow then put the sword down at the back of the room, where Shadow had earlier entered. Hygare then took off the gloves with the metallic claws and tossed them over to where the sword of Drakahor lay. Hygare stood his ground and snarled at Shadow, who stood still and awaited Hygares move. Within the blink of an eye the beast named Hygare leapt at Shadow and using incredible speed spun around Shadow’s body and began to choke Shadow from behind. Shadow coughed and spluttered momentarily before reaching around and grabbing Hygare by the head. In one rapid movement Shadow tore Hygare off from where he had perched himself and slammed him down brutally to the training room floor below. Shadow breathed heavily to try and regain some of the energy lost in throwing the huge beast over his shoulder. Hygare then flipped up to his feet as if nothing had happened. `These beasts are tough` thought Shadow a split second before Hygare charged at Shadow, both of them falling to the ground but Shadow catching the brunt of the fall. Shadow looked up at Hygare and readied for battle again, by Hygare smiled at Shadow and helped Shadow to his feet once again “you are true warrior, Hygare honoured to battle against you” said Hygare once Shadow was back upright again.
“You flatter me Hygare, I have not faced an opponent that could match your skill” Shadow said politely.
“Will Hygare be seeing you at feast tonight?” he asked Shadow.
“I will be there” Shadow said, before taking his sword and exiting. Shadow walked on and sheathed the sword of Drakahor while passing Orscyar’s room. Shadow heard voices coming from inside and then a sudden crash, Shadow then pulled the door open. Orscyar was being held high into the air, almost being choked, by the now familiar face of Kaiazal. Kaiazal looked different somehow, he looked stronger. “Drop him!” Shadow ordered, to which Kaiazal looked in Shadow’s direction then let go of Orscyar. “Now I have the power that has been stored away for centuries I will not let a peasant like you stop the return of Goreoth” Shadow unsheathed the sword of Drakahor and watched as Kaiazal recoiled in horror. “I‘ll fight you til my dying breath if I have to, now be gone” Shadow yelled and with that Kaiazal disappeared but not before sending a message to Shadow’s mind. “I will leave your death for last, you will have to watch as everyone around you dies a horrible death, and you cannot stop me” Kaiazal’s voice rattled around in Shadow’s mind. Orscyar looked up at Shadow “W-What was that thing?” he asked.
“That was the one who killed your family” Shadow said, casually. Orscyar scrambled to his feet and swallowed hard he then stopped, paused and looked at Shadow “How do you know him?” Orscyar demanded.
“He is getting back at me” said Shadow “for not joining him”.
“What do you mean by getting back at you?”
“Your” Shadow paused and tried to find the right words “He killed your family to get at me”. Shadow saw the fury in Orscyar’s eyes, Orscyar then flew at Shadow and pinned him up against the wall. “My family, my wife and three kids were killed all because of you, and I saw you, you watched them die” this infuriated Shadow who then threw Orscyar down to the ground. “I did my best” Shadow said.
“Did you? or did you want them to die? its your fault my family are dead” Orscyar said getting to his feet. Orscyar looked at Shadow directly, and sighed trying to gather composure “Tell you what” Orscyar started “Zvire is a good man and he has a good army, but he is nothing compared to you. Go with us all to the castle, for me” there was a short pause in which Orscyar was hoping for an acceptance, but Shadow stood silent “forget you then” Orscyar shouted at Shadow, leaving the room and running out of the temple. Shadow went to go after him, but then stopped `He needs to be alone` Shadow thought, knowing from experience. Shadow sighed and went back into the room in which Shadow had previously slept. Shadow sat on the bed and took off the mask, then stared at it `Did I let Orscyar’s family die as a way of making up for what I did once father died` Shadow thought. A rumble of thunder made Shadow put the mask back on and Shadow went to the drawer and tucked some weapons into the sword belt. `I have a bad feeling` Shadow thought and slid the door of the room aside and sprinted outside. Shadow prepared for the worst but still shuddered upon looking at the sky and seeing that it had grown pitch-black, the calling card of the demons and a signal for chaos. Shadow unsheathed the sword of Drakahor and prepared mentally `they are not getting in while I'm here and I have this sword` Shadow thought. Shadow saw the trees in front rustle and heard cries of pain, two of Zvire’s beast army then fell out of the trees, their mouth’s bloody and their bodies lifeless. Shadow saw a demon and swung for it, piercing its evil body and making it shriek in horror, before disappearing completely. `That's one` thought Shadow `but how many are there?` Shadow thought, realizing that there could be hundreds of them. Shadow heard another demon cry out in pain and turned to see Hygare fighting them off with his claws. `I thought only this sword could kill them` Shadow thought, a split second later Shadow was called into action thrusting the sword into the middle of one of the demons and then decapitating another. It was as the head of the second demon came off that Shadow spotted that they, just as Kaiazal had, changed. The eyes of the demons before were an oval shaped purple colour, now they were a more triangular shape, larger and deep red. `Maybe now that they have changed they can be killed by mortal weapons and not just the sword` Shadow thought, observing Hygare momentarily slay three demons in the blink of an eye. Shadow then saw that four demons were coming close. Even with the sword Shadow felt that this would be close, the lightning speed of the demons made it hard to get one, let alone four. Shadow swung the blade, killing one demon and catching anther with the follow-through. The other two by now had vanished, Shadow looked around to see where they had gone but instead saw Zvire, standing there in full body armour. Earlier in the day when Shadow had come across Zvire he was wearing a ragged shirt and ripped trousers, Shadow felt it would have been impolite to comment on Zvire’s penniless appearance, which had now completely transformed. Zvire wore a huge green all in one shoulder pads and chest plate, which must have been hard to carry. Zvire also had on the same kind brown trousers as before only these were immaculate. `It seems Gyraicus also taught Zvire the importance of looking the part on the battle field` Shadow thought while watching Zvire hack at some demons with his beloved two axes. Shadow felt overcome by something and spun around to find a demon right there, Shadow wasted no time and thrust the sword deep into the demon, killing it before it had a chance to get inside Shadow‘s body. Shadow turned and saw that two more beasts had joined the fight to the left of Shadow, whereas Zvire and Hygare were to Shadow’s right. More demons came toward Shadow and the four beasts and each of them were defeated. The two on each side of Shadow began to get closer, making it so that all five together would be harder to get for the demons. A few more demons attempted to raid the temple but soon fell down at the hands of the weapons of Zvire, Shadow, Hygare and the two other beasts. The demons then ceased to attack them but the sky remained dark. Zvire congratulated Hygare and the others for their courage in battle and then approached Shadow. “Zvire thank you for helping defeat unholy enemy” Zvire said to a stern looking Shadow.
“It‘s not over” Shadow said bluntly and with that cries of pain were heard from inside the temple. `I hate it when I’m right` Shadow thought, heading back inside the temple, sword still in hand. Shadow pulled the door of the training room aside and saw five or so beasts laying dead, covered in blood. The room was chaotic with scores of demons being fought of by the beasts that stood. Shadow sped into the middle of the room and began to swipe at the demons. Soon Shadow was joined by Zvire. Hygare and the two that had protected the front of the temple, leaving the rest of it exposed in the process. The demons came from all angles but were no match for the speed of Hygare, the aggression of Zvire and the agility and intelligence of Shadow. Soon the number of beasts in the room began to outweigh the number of demons and it then became a simple task to vanquish them all. Shadow slumped to the floor once it was over. “You fight well” Zvire said to him, Shadow gave no reply. Shadow without warning stood upright again and left the room. Hygare went to go after him but Zvire pulled him back. Shadow slid open the doors of the rooms open and with each door opened another beast was found laying dead. By the time he got to Orscyar's door he momentarily forgot that Orscyar had stormed out right before the demons had left and opened the door to Orscyar's room and thought momentarily that he had too been gotten by the demons. “What's happened here” came Orscyar’s voice, meaning the blood on Shadow’s clothes.
“The demon‘s attacked, some beasts died, some lived...I’m not sure if I can take much more of this Orscyar, this isn't my fight, this is beyond me”.
“Look Shadow, someone has obviously decided to make it your fight, now you can make it the fight of the people, you owe it to the people to protect them after the countless number of this lands citizens you‘ve slaughtered, and I would appreciate it” Orscyar paused “I'm sorry for blaming you before, things got on top of me and I had to run away, like I always do. Well no more running, come with us Shadow, if we do not take the castle we cannot prepare them for this fate that awaits the people of this land, if you come with us you can protect them, we may fail without you and the people will have no hope” Orscyar said sincerely.
“I‘ll do it, I‘ll lead you into battle and take the crown afterward” Shadow had said the words mentally a million times, but not out loud before. Orscyar smiled and shook Shadow’s hand “thank you” he said “you‘ve just saved the people of Legia” and with that Orscyar went into his room and closed the door. `Have I?` Shadow thought `Or have I sealed this land to a fate worse than death?`
The aroma of exquisite food filled Shadow’s nostrils. Shadow had been reluctant to attend this huge dinner as it would require taking off the mask. Still being cautious of what Zvire, Orscyar and the rest of the army would think of the real Shadow, a second mask had been produced and Shadow cut it off just below the nose line so that Shadow would be able to dine with the rest of the army. It would have been impolite not to attend the extensive meal being held by Zvire, especially as Shadow was the most important guest to the temple, but showing the true identity of The Shadow was not something that would be done just yet. There was only one person who knew who Shadow really was, but Shadow trusted him and if the blacksmith told anyone, they wouldn’t believe him, thinking that he was making stories up to improve trade. Shadow knew there would be only two instances when the mask would finally be removed, the last sight of Shadow’s fathers killer or when death finally catches up and whoever it will be that ends the legend of the Shadow will remove the mask, once and for all. Shadow put on the mask that had earlier been sliced in half and exited the room. Shadow left the shoulder pads and all of the other battle gear in the room apart from the chest plate. Shadow thought that taking leave of the black chest plate would leave them to discover that Shadow was not as strong as they thought. Shadow followed the cue of beasts through to a wide room that Shadow had not been in before. There was four long low down tables, they were all joined to make a square. There were no chairs and all those in the room were either sitting cross legged or kneeling. At the far side Shadow saw Zvire, to the left of him was Hygare and to the right there was an empty space, next to that empty space was Orscyar. Zvire beckoned Shadow over and Shadow walked toward him, kneeling in the empty space and greeting Orscyar. “Zvire glad to see you here finally” Zvire said once Shadow had knelt down.
“I am glad to be here” said Shadow, “What is that delicious smell ?” a ravenous Shadow asked.
“Zvire glad you like smell, taste will be better. food will be getting here soon” Zvire said.
“I cannot wait” Shadow said, after which there was a small pause.
“Why you wear chest plate in company of Zvire? no harm will come to you with Zvire” said Zvire, observing Shadow’s appearance.
“I have my reasons, you should respect them” Shadow said directly.
“I respect you masked one” Zvire said and as he spoke some beasts entered the room with trays and the food had at last arrived. “Zvire hear you have agreed to join Zvire in battle for castle” Zvire said, after biting into his meal.
“Yes...” Shadow was then cut off and stunned by the bluntness of what was heard.
“Good” Zvire said. “We attack tomorrow”.