Lore of Eternal Shadow: The Fugitive King

Chapter Four

The demon stood in the shadows of the run down temple, waiting for the figure across the room to acknowledge him. Alva was bathed in reflections of sunlight coming through the partially collapsed left wall of the previously abandoned place of worship. He had his back to the demon as he looked through the hole in the wall. Outside the world was alive and warm. The sun beamed down, birds chirped, bugs buzzed, and the trees softly sighed in the breeze as they fell away to a grand view of a massive valley. No matter what Alva's feelings were for the place, Galgaroth would always be home to him.

Alva was now a young man of fifteen and nearly six feet tall. His long white hair glowed a bit in the light and he was wickedly handsome. He turned to face the demon. "Stand and report," he commanded sternly.

The green scaly creature moved timidly toward the rotted oaken altar that separated him from Alva. "We have lost an entire battalion of demons," he began nervously.

"And the Zey^Rey operative?" asked Alva.

"Taken prisoner by the ZRDF."

Alva rubbed his temples. Caligo would not like to hear this. "Do you have anything of use to report?!" he growled.

"Another team was able to confirm Zicone felled the first team," the demon said.

"Do they still have his trail?" asked Alva impatiently.

"The ZRDF has been engaging and chasing us all through that province."

Alva sighed. He looked at Penelope, who had been listening silently and leaning against the broken temple wall. She was a Zey^Rey girl about Alva's age. Her long black cloak had helped her blend into the shadow. "I think it's time we paid a visit to Mr. Vederius," Alva said to her.

Penelope's purple eyes flashed in the light as she looked at him. "The Narbonese Head Councilor?" she asked, "Why don't we just use our Sussurri contacts? They probably already know where Zicone is."

"Knowing Zicone's location is just part of it, we have to recover him," Alva glared at the demon, "Clearly we can't do this with our own force... instead, we'll have to call in a useful idiot's debt to us."

"I'd better get going to Narbon then," Penelope moved from the wall and shook her long brunette hair.

"I think I'll come with you this time, Penny," said Alva.

Penelope turned to face him. "Think I can't handle Vederius on my own?" she smiled cheekily.

"No," said Alva, "but I think he'll be twice as timid with both of us there."

She smiled, "You have a point. Lead the way."

***

The day grew long into afternoon as they travelled. The sun hung low behind the trees pensively. "Look," called Runa from a few dozen paces ahead, "there's a town up ahead!"

"Hm, at last we find tangible civilization," Jannick observed.

"It looks like they've got an inn," Runa continued, "Jannick, can we stay?"

"We've an hour at most left of sunlight anyway," Zicone said to Jannick.

"Hmmm, I don't know," said Jannick, "we really shouldn't be spending frivolously."

"Please, brother," pleaded Runa.

Jannick chuckled when he saw his little sister's cute, begging eyes. "You're too soft, Runa. We should be roughing it more..." He sighed and looked at Zicone, who shrugged.

It didn't matter to Zicone. After Zicone's parents died, he and his brother were passed around from councilor to councilor, each oligarch vying to use Zicone and Alva as leverage for their own gain. They all underestimated Zicone's intelligence greatly. After a few months of this, Zicone had had enough. He ran away with Alva into the slums of Narbon. The brothers lived on the street for three years before Zanto discovered the two and took them under his wing. Having slept on a sludgy street in the snow as a seven-year-old, a little campout in the forest every night was nothing to him.