Page 11 of Theoden
CHAPTER FOUR
NINE YEARS LATER
“Are you sure you are prepared for this mission, Theodosius?” Father Lucinius had asked me this right before I had embarked on my travels. At the time, I had been packing my provisions; food, water, and weapons, in addition to proper clothing. I had a long journey ahead of me, and I wasn’t going to be traveling alone.
I had nodded. “Yes, Father… I am ready and I will not fail you or the Church,” I had responded, and with such confidence.
Of course, that had been many weeks ago, and now that I was approaching the abode of the known blood drinker king of the Persian territory, the confidence I once had was waning. The Roman Catholic Church had made certain that I’d have four other hunters with me, as opposed to my usual two, as this particular mission was of extreme importance.
There had been reports of dead humans in the area known to be near the home of Ara. We were hunting the monster down, and had been following bodies leading us closer to where the blood drinker king lived. This was one of our most dangerous missions.
We had already lost one member, Joshua, at sea from fever and another had taken ill and was unable to travel any farther. I feared Ashur may already have passed on. We’d had to leave him at a church where we hoped he would get well.
Now, it was just the three of us remaining to complete this task. I had been chosen because I had already killed fourteen blood drinkers, and single handedly had killed two werewolves in my time as God’s warrior. A title I had earned when I was seventeen and had killed my first blood drinker in Rome. It was enough to impress the Bishop, and he felt I was ready to eliminate one of the deadliest threats to mankind. Ara. He was one of the original blood drinkers; actually, he was one of twelve cursed beings. Over the centuries, they had infected the human race like a disease, killing and converting whomever they pleased. Today, his reign would end.
Magnus slid up beside me as quietly as he could, though the soft crunching of twigs and leaves would have given us away had any sentries been posted nearby. It was very fortunate for us that this blood drinker was careless.
Magnus leaned in closer to my ear. “We should strike as soon as the sun rises,” he suggested.
“Perhaps we should wait but a little bit longer until the sun is high above us. We do not yet know if God’s light will weaken or kill this beast. We must not be too hasty,” I cautioned.
“Ahhhh, I am weary of waiting, Theodosius. Many hours have passed by with us merely sitting here getting hungrier, colder, and weaker,” Magnus complained.
“Theodosius is right, we need to err on the side of caution, Magnus. The sun is our greatest weapon, we must wait for it to rise properly. Stay your position,” Samuel stated.
He was wiser than Magnus and better tempered. I also found him to be the more handsome of the two, but quickly banished those impure thoughts. Men were never to lust for each other, nor should a soldier of God have any lust, period. These were lessons I had been taught since as far back as I could recall. Unfortunately, I had to beg God for forgiveness several times during this mission as the impure thoughts continued to plague me over Samuel.
The fear of going to hell kept me from ever indulging in my sins. That, and there always seemed to be someone around to distract me, mainly Samuel. He was a very good and trusted friend. Samuel looked to me now with his bright blue eyes, hooded by golden-blond eyebrows. His long, soft lashes brought out the color of his eyes even more, especially in the sunlight. My eyes traveled down the straight line of his nose to his lips that I longed to one day touch with my own. I turned away from him because I could not give in to such thoughts. I focused my attention back on the mission.
“We wait, Magnus. We have only but a few more hours, then we can attack,” I said. I turned, looking towards the beautiful, palatial estate Ara was living in. It was truly fit for a king. For a blood drinker, he was not attempting to keep himself hidden. It was as if he had no fear of God’s retribution for his blasphemous existence. His home was surrounded by trees and bushes and a small pond. The structure itself was a marvel of carved stone columns and high arches, wide, airy windows, and large doors. It looked to be two stories tall, providing there wasn’t an underground chamber. It was also bright in color, a far cry from the dull grays and browns I was most accustomed to in my own dwelling.
As a soldier of God, it was expected that I lived a life quite like that of the Spartans. Luxuries led to sin, so only the necessities that man must have, was I allowed. I stared at the windows of his palace and saw some were lit with torches and lanterns, while others appeared to be dark. We would have to be very quiet as we infiltrated in case he had human guards, which was not uncommon among the forsaken. They were vulnerable during the day and needed protection.
“I will take first watch,” I said. “If you are weary, now is the time to rest your eyes, men.”
They decided to take the opportunity, and laid out flat on the grass to get some sleep. We were hidden well behind high bushes, and no one would be able to see us from the palace or coming up on the road. I sat, watching and thinking of the best strategy. I was nervous as I contemplated taking on such a powerful blood drinker. But I knew my mission was just, even if I didn’t survive it. Several hours passed by until the sun was shining brightly enough for me to feel my confidence returning. I reached over, shaking my companions awake.
“It is time,” I said as I tied my long hair back before gathering my weapons. I slipped my sword into its sheath and took hold of my bow, tossing my quiver on my back. My companions did the same as they grew alert quickly. We were a highly trained bunch, as it was all that we did. It was a sin to be idle, so we trained and sparred when we were not eating or sleeping. We were prepared. “Let us go.”
Together, we stealthily approached the palace, keeping to the shadows cast by the trees and bushes surrounding the home. The first open window that didn’t have any lighting required us to climb to the second level, so we did, using a rope and grappling hook to aide us. My stomach growled as I made my ascent, but I ignored the need to eat. We had run out of food the previous night, but I was hopeful we would find sustenance here once we killed the blood drinker. I climbed through first, landing softly on the marble floor with my boots. My companions followed behind me, each landing without making noise.
Slowly, we searched the palace, checking each room with our weapons drawn. His home was filled with what seemed like every luxury a man of wealth could own. The sculptures and paintings were beautiful and a part of me longed to touch them or even stare at them, but I had to push those desires away. They would do me no good.
“We should split up,” Magnus suggested.
“It is not wise to do so. We face one of the first, they are far more powerful than normal blood drinkers,” I cautioned, shaking my head to his idea.
“Theodosius is right,” Samuel added.
“Argh, ‘Theodosius is right’ is always your response, Samuel. How much of his cock do you have lodged up your ass?” Magnus taunted.
Samuel opened his mouth to counter, no doubt, but I held my hand up. “Enough. We cannot fight amongst ourselves. We stay together, that is it,” I ordered. I was the leader of this mission and had promised I wouldn’t fail. I turned and continued down one of the many hallways, opening up each door as I went by.
“Greetings,” a deep voice said from behind us with a distinct Roman accent, and we three turned to see a man I had met on our travels. I remembered he said his name was Nolan, and he had been quite friendly the night we crossed paths. I had spoken with him for hours over wine, and he was the one who had given me the location of Ara’s palace when I had inquired about it. I stared at him as he grinned at us. “It is about time you arrived. I feared you had been so drunk that night, you had forgotten the directions I had given you.”
“You are one of them!” I snarled. I was angry at how easily we were deceived. How naive I had been to think I had been fortunate to meet a friend.
Nolan nodded. “You followed the trail of corpses I left you, bringing you to the tavern where you were so drunk, you did not realize you were in the presence of the enemy you had been hunting. You did not even realize I was not drinking,” he tsked. “Very sinful to indulge so.”
