Atherian Tales: The Blood Slave

Chapter Nine

I was unable to inform Amily on the full ritual of her bonding ceremony before I  was pulled away by guardsman Jones. Worry had consumed his features when he reached me telling me something was indeed wrong.

"Sir, we need you at the barracks. There has been a problem that has arisen on behalf of the witches." He confessed as he handed me a letter from my outpost leader, Guardsman Keilen.

     Sir Dominic,

  Upon our search for the ritual witches, we have run into a situation. The witches have been captured by what looks to be a group of soldiers. We are unsure who the soldiers belong to or why they have such interests in the witches. We have also been unable to pin point their location leaving the whereabouts of the witches unknown. A few of our fellow guardsmen have gone missing without a trace leaving no evidence to prove wether they were taken unwillingly or else wise. We truly are at a loss of what we are dealing with. We will be expecting your reply.

     Guardsman Keilen.

The note left a knot in my stomach. The vampires haven't had much of an enemy to fight for over a century. The last enemies our race had to deal with was the humans. They were easily over ran and once we had created the tonic, they were easily manipulated too. The thought that my men were out on a mission and dealing with a new threat that we had no knowledge of, made the nerves that once laid dormant, spark up.

When I entered the barracks, many of my men ran to my side all at once. They were vampires, the ones at the top of the food chain yet they were acting like small children afraid of the dark.

"Who or what are they commander?" I heard one yell to me.

"Where did they come from?" Another one shouted.

"How do we kill them?" Someone asked. The truth of the matter was that I couldn't answer any of their questions. I simply stood still and took a deep breath and said, "Everyone quiet!" My men immediately silenced themselves.

"I do not know who or what they are. I have no clue where they came from or how they can be killed. I only know they are an opposing threat that needs to be dealt with. I will be sending more men to the outposts. Second and third battalion will go to the Caverns outpost and the fourth and fifth battalion will be leaving for the Willows outpost. The more men that are stationed, the less there is of a chance that the outposts will be over ran. Understood?" I finished. The men roared back in unison, "Aye commander, Yes commander!"

I dismissed the rest of the men having only my head guardsmen remain to discuss strategy. John and Giles were my head and assistant head of the guardsmen. Both were tall and muscular with heavy brows and sharp features. What they lacked in physical appeal they made up for in skill on the battleground. They were the ones to relay the messages to my troops and the ones I could depend on the most to help when a situation has turned most fowl. Today however, both men seemed to be beaten down and at a loss for words as to what was accruing.

"Is there anything any one of you can tell me?" I asked the two men but only got a worried expression in return from both.

"What is it?" I asked again.

"Guardsman Thompson was the one who delivered the letter..." Giles began to trail off before John finished.

"He was there when the other two guardsmen were taken and he claims he got a good look at the unknown soldiers."

"Take me to him." I commanded but not before they warned me of the boy's condition.

"He also claims that he was attacked by a few of the soldiers before he made it back.... he does have wounds that would suggest he was definitely attacked by something."