Page 9 of War Mage

I look at the queen, who is looking placidly at me as I undergo this torture. I have a hard time not baring my teeth at her when our eyes meet like an angry, wounded animal. For though I understand why she is putting me through this, it’s still her fault I must endure this tattoo.

“Tell me about the mission,” I grind out of my teeth, still trying to keep my tears at bay. “The target.”

“You do not give orders to Queen Adalind,” Lacrys responds evenly before the queen can speak. “You are a prisoner, she is your queen.”

“Whether you like it or not,Urim,” I say, emphasizing his real name that I now know, just because I’m sure it will bother him, “I am not a prisoner any longer. I am a partner, an invaluable piece of a quest that cannot be completed without me. So I can ask about the mission in any way I damn well please.”

“No bickering, the two of you,” the queen gently chides in her sweet voice. “You will need to work together before long and we can't have the mission fail just because you two cannot get along.”

Work together? With Lacrys?“What do you mean?” I ask.

The queen gives me an assessing gaze before answering. “About two months ago, Yorian’s Cabal set in motion a ritual that was supposed to give them the strength of Grazrath, Archdemon of Pain and Misery. They misunderstood the language of the ritual, however, and instead of empowering themselves, they released Grazrath from his prison. He was able to solidify his hold on this plane and cement himself into the body he was possessing and escape, but not before Lady Pellia Santir was able to wound him.”

“How did a human wound an archdemon?” I ask.

“She almost castrated him with a cursed blade,” Queen Adalind responds, with a hint of a smile.

I give a surprised bark of laughter, even as I wince with the needle.

“Hold still,” the trolless admonishes.

Ignoring the wisewoman, I ask the queen, “And nearly cutting off his cock didn’t kill him? Aren’t there major arteries near there?”

She shakes her head. “It appears not. His immortality protected him and he flew away.”

“And the cursed blade?” I press. “Could it not be used to attack him again? Why use me when you have that?”

“The blade is gone,” she says simply. “It was imbued with so much dark magic, it was too dangerous to allow it to exist. And making another is out of the question. It would require hundreds of human sacrifices.”

I hold back a shiver at the thought. Though I have studied dark magic in theory, in practice it is an abomination. “Then where is Grazrath now?”

Queen Adalind answers,“We did not know that for quite some time, but a few weeks ago Barakrin suddenly declared war on us.”

“Barakrin? The country of vampires?” I ask, dumbfounded. The vampires of Barakrin have been peaceful isolationists for hundreds of years.

“Yes,” confirms Queen Adalind. “Grazrath created the vampires millennia ago to be his soldiers and he has claimed their loyalty again. He has killed their king and has taken over, mobilizing the Barakrini armies against Adrik and Orik. Their goal is to conquer and keep the sentient populations as blood slaves. From there, they will spread over the continent like locusts. No one is safe until Grazrath is back in the Nether where he belongs.”

“Is Grazrath leading the vampires in their attacks?”

“No, our intelligence states that he never leaves the castle in the capital of Evernight. He prefers to stay there to indulge in sadistic pleasures.”

That could be a problem. “How will I get close enough to him to be able to attack him with my soulfire if he’s safely ensconced in his castle then? I am not truly an assassin; I have not trained in stealth to be able to sneak close to him.”

“You needn’t worry about that,” the queen tells me. “We have a plan. Urim?” She turns to the emotionless orc standing at her side. He delays for a moment, then finally starts talking.

“We received communiques from a resistance movement in Barakrin, giving us shipping routes for slave transports. With this, our navy intercepted a shipment of slaves from Terria on its way to Barakrin, transported by a slaver-pirate by the name of Vargan the Honorless. They have opened trading relations with that country because of their thriving slave trade. It is how they have been getting their sentient blood slaves. We have freed the slaves on the ships and taken the slavers and . . . interrogated them. Apparently, Grazrath has put a premium on unusual or powerful slaves. Especially mages. They are to be earmarked for him and him alone and Vargan had twenty such slaves in his ship. One was an air mage. We will use that to our advantage. I will pose as Vargan, and you as the air mage. We will slip into the country under the cover of a summoned storm and tell everyone that our ship went down at sea and we are the only survivors. That should get you delivered right to the demon, where you can strike the killing blow.”

“But you are an orc,” I say bluntly. “Not a Terrian. Why would they believe that you are Vargan?”

“Vargan is an orc,” Lacrys replies evenly, surprising me.

“What?” I ask. “But everyone knows that orcs don’t keep slaves.”

“Some do and Vargan is one,” the orc explains. “It is where his title comes from: ‘the Honorless.’ Those who violate Orikesh culture in unforgivable ways are called Honorless and are banished without mercy. Slaving is one of the surest ways to become Honorless, though there are others. A decade ago, a clan of orcs, the ka Grishna, were found to be dealing in slaves in secret and the whole clan was banished. A few of the ka Grishna found a new home in Terria when they were expelled and became prolific orc flesh peddlers. Vargan has become their leader in recent years and it is he who we captured, along with his crew. I will pretend to be him.”

“How will you pretend to be him, if he is well-known?” I challenge. This plan seems flimsy to me. “Has he sold slaves in Barakrin before this? Would he have repeat customers that would know his face?”

“Our intelligence says that he has only sold the slaves through intermediaries in the past month,” Lacrys tells me. “This shipment of exclusive slaves for Grazrath would be his first visit to the country in person. He has a signed contract with Grazrath that allows him entrance to the country that we recovered when we took his ship. With that, my identity as Vargan will be believed. I will only need to imitate his recognizable features, like his Honorless brand.”

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