Darak 1 - Smoke and Flame: Part 1

CHAPTER 8

Clenching her fist, Adina screamed, tossing a glass cup to the wall, and watched it shatter into pieces. Soldiers didn't dare to enter her bedroom. Lost without her dear, heroic brother, Adina was at the end of her rope. And her rope was considerably shorter than most.

The whole town of Sitka had been searched.

Kiev was nowhere to be seen.

She was worse off than before. With no minotaur and no handsome knight in her bed, she took matters into her own hands.

Instead of a usual dress, she opted for a golden chest plate and loincloth. If she was going to go out with the soldiers she had left, she better be ready to fight.

Three weeks had passed since Kiev went missing, and it was on the morning of the fourth week that her anger and need for control spiraled.

Exiting her bedroom, she replaced her movements of anger with confidence, she could switch on a dime. She had done so with her parents. She could fake emotion with ease, like a chameleon changes color.

In a few moments, she had perhaps 100 soldiers gathered around a large wooden table, the table was adorned with maps. This room was for battle strategy, and Adina normally had no part in what the soldiers and generals did. Normally she sat back, she was a queen-no need to get herself into trouble. On this day, however, rules would be broken and changed.

"Listen and listen well soldiers. Our search in the town of Sitka ended with nothing. Nothing but scared peasants." The soldiers stood, watching their queen at the head of the room, they barely blinked. No one enjoyed being in a room with Adina while she was irate. A witch was to be feared and to be treated like a spoiled child who always got their way.

"I know most of you are leering at my body, but today is not a day to be fondling yourselves to my image." She smirked slightly, pausing a moment to gauge her audience's reactions, some chuckled which she appreciated. Deep down, however, she didn't quite say these words out of sarcasm but out of deep love and fascination of her own body.

"Burning Sitka to the ground out of rage seemed immature. So instead, we will travel outside the town. We go beyond the borders. To the Mountains of Madness and FURTHER if we must! I must bring Kiev back to me-and if any of you find the minotaur on the journey, I will give you a date. With me." She winked before continuing her speech of destruction. "If we cannot wrangle them-we kill them."

"My queen, we will fight as hard as we must." Nodded the general who stood by her side. He was a well-built orc, grey skin, and red eyes. She loved her orcs; how strong they were. How loyal and frightening.

"General Codd, I expect nothing less. You're a great fighter and leader of your human army." She kissed the general's cheek; he did not react to this moment of affection. He dared not speak out against it for fear of her turning him into a toad. "Gather food and water. We head for the mountains. I want Kiev and Darak dead or alive-anyone else stands in our way? Kill them without hesitation."

The queen had never been in a full-scale battle. Before embarking on her journey, she went to a large room in the castle. In this room was a large metal tub, not full of water like any other noble would bathe in. This tub was full of blood, the blood of teens. She had collected the red liquid for months and months during her reign.

Many nights, she would force an orc to sneak into the homes of families and snatch either a boy or girl. She'd hang the fourteen- or fifteen-year-old by the ankles using a large metal chain and slice their throat with the biggest blade she could find, letting the blood flow into the metal tub. The terror the teens experienced in Sitka was never-ending. Sitka had a plague. A plague from which none could escape.

With glee, Adina stepped outside of the castle to see her soldiers and general standing in formation.

General Codd rode on the back of a mighty black stallion, leading the men.

Looking to the sky, Adina saw gray clouds hovering above the mountains. A warm breeze blew through the air, drops of rain fell upon the soldiers who remained still at the entrance of the castle.

The mountains were not far ahead.

Holding weapons, they began their march through the town and beyond.