The Gift Of Revenge

Chapter 3

Blood trickled from the infected mans rotting mouth, and his eyes lit with excitement over his next kill. Volodar, in a last ditch effort ran to the banquet table and picked up a knife. He launched it. Hitting the infected man in the arm, Volodar realised it would not be enough as the creature let out a wail of pain but did not fall. It was too late. 

Two silver arrows pierced through the warm air. Loud squelches echoed the great hall as the arrows punctured the remaining infected heads, and they collapsed to the floor dead.

“Thought I was a gonna there,” Klaern relaxed. Pulling himself to his feet he took a few steps and started skidding on the blood once again. 
“Bloody hell boy, stand still,” Volodar murmured to himself. But he couldn’t help feeling relieved at the narrow escape, where did the arrows fly from?

“I’d like you to meet Ciolia and Carlia,” Lord Ailus said. He’d not moved during the attack on the banquet, and still he sat there. From behind him through the map on the wall, Volodar could now see a door through leading to some stairs, and out came two tall girls. “They are my daughters.” 

Volodar held back a yelp. He’d wondered why he’d never seen lady Ailus, but now it was clear. Lord Ailus was pale with a long chiselled face, but his daughters were quite the opposite. Both stood rigidly upright like soldiers, and they were tanned with dark, green eyes. They both had oval faces and wore black leather outfits. Twins, Volodar thought. The only difference was their hair. Ciolia had straight blonde hair reaching down to her shoulders, and Carlia had brown hair neatly woven into a bun, with a single braid flowing down her back. 

With stern expressions on their faces, they stared at Klaern and nodded, and then looked at the dead corpses of the infected. “Filthy animals,” Ciolia spat. “Just filthy,” Carlia added while marching towards them. Everyone was silent watching the girl in leather. She ripped the arrows from the corpses skulls, and replaced them back into her quiver. “This mess will need to be cleaned,” Carlia smiled, “but I love a good clean kill.” She laughed and returned back to her sister, “call if you need us again, Father.” With that said they exited back into the hidden door in the map and started their ascent up the stairs.

“I need a bloody shower, like now, aye?” Klaern broke the silence from the crowd, but they all still seemed to be in awe of the infected, as well as Lord Ailus’ daughters. 

From another archway to the left of the hall a brown door swung open and out came several older elves dressed in grey outfits with mops in their hands. “Step back! Step back!” they began as they threw buckets of water onto the blood and began to scrub the floor. A handful of guards ran into the throne room and took stationary positions by each exit. 

The surrounding elves began to discuss the night’s shortcoming and a few huddled around the body of the dwarf who had been bitten. A female broke down in tears, closely followed by a young man who must have been his son. Before Volodar could comfort the family, Lord Ailus beckoned him. “Please... follow me,” Lord Ailus said. 

Leaving the chaos of the throne room was hard for Volodar; he cared for his people and now one lay dead. But he didn’t want to disobey Lord Ailus in his home. Especially now that Lord Ailus knew that the plague wasn’t fully quarantined in the vicinity behind the wall. But what did he want with Volodar now? Surely he’d prefer to comfort his own people too, and ensure them their safety. 

Following Lord Ailus, Volodar picked up another knife from the dinner table and slipped it into his back pocket. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust lord Ailus, but he realised he couldn’t be too careful; something was going on. Before he left the room, he signalled Klaern to come with him who was still stained with blood. Escaping the grasp of one of the cleaners who was desperately trying to pat and scrub him, clearly enthralled by his short height, Klaern nodded.