Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Execution

From that day on, neither Hrako nor his friends dared to approach Tili. In fact, they ran away if they saw her, Lika or Tado, not to mention Gjaki herself.

In their tribe, some were angry, and had voiced various complaints, but no one dared to take them to the vampiress. Not to mention that some of Hrako's own tribe members were delighted with the situation. They didn't dare to say it out loud, but, whether it was out of envy, rivalry, or fed up with him, they were more than pleased by the young "prince's" troubles.

Tili and Tado were busy with their wedding preparations. Gjaki was sorry she hadn't been there to spy on their confession, and Tili had refused to say a word, as she was totally embarrassed by her friend's questions. They had planned to delay it due to the circumstances, but now they were going to celebrate it in one of the massive events that would close the annual meeting.

Dozens of couples would marry at once, and some would leave their homes to go to their spouse's. It was an act in which the different tribes took pains to make the wedding clothes, although, in the case of Tili, they had made an exception. Unbeknownst to her, the vampiress had offered to take care of it.

Under the supervision of Hili and Jilo, she had made an outfit for each of them. She had followed the traditional format, but with more than one improvement. Some had been so popular that, with her help, they were added to other couples clothes in the tribe.

The vampiress herself was proud of her work, especially when they made the couple try them on. However, neither Tili nor Tado could see how they looked, as, following tradition, they had been blindfolded while trying them on.

Lika, for her part, was excited to help. Also, she had become intimate with a goblin from another tribe, but their relationship had not reached the point of marriage. Maybe next year if all went well.

She didn't know how to feel about Gjaki's revenge. She was part flattered, part embarrassed, part overwhelmed. Now, among the children, there were green stuffed dolls inspired in her. What embarrassed her the most was that they recognized her, although she couldn't assure that she didn't feel a little pleased.

In fact, she had one of the Lika dolls next to her bed, as the vampiress had given it to her with a smirk. Her boyfriend hadn't stopped laughing for several minutes when she had told him about it. Needless to say, Gjaki had also got a version of a stuffed vampire doll. She found it quite funny, even cute.

The vampiress decided to stay until the end of the tribal meeting, while hoarding quite a few cakes and sweets. Although at first many looked at her with fear, she soon became familiar to most of them. Besides, once the word of her skill as a tailor was spread, and her interest in sweets, she received many gifts in return for her services.

In the end, she ended up making arrangement to more wedding outfits than she had ever expected. There were also stuffed animals, and various clothing items. She also was more than welcome to the hunts.

They didn't mind giving her the blood as long as she was with them. Not only were her Bats efficient and nearly invisible scouts, but having her on the expedition was a life insurance, even if she did nothing but watch.

In the end, only Hrako and a few of his tribe were unfavorable to the vampiress, which included his father and the thugs. Nonetheless, they dared not do more than complain, for they were too afraid of her. Little did they imagine that, if any of them tried something, they could suffer serious consequences, since they were under constant surveillance.

Gjaki didn't trust them, so there were always Bats on the lookout. She was ready to get rid of them at the slightest slip.

It might seem strange that attitude in a young teenager from a peaceful world, who had barely killed a fly before arriving there. However, not only had the experiences been numerous since then, but she was also a vampiress. Somehow, her character in the game had always been a part of her, and it had finally merged.

Anyway, while Hrako himself was practically confined by his terrified father, a couple of his thugs hadn't been able to bear the humiliation. They were planning to attack Tado, as they didn't dare to go against Tili.

They wanted to take advantage that he was going to go out to collect wood with a group to set a trap for him. The plan was to separate him from the group, and take him to a cobweb they had discovered.

Therefore, they had sneaked out to prepare the ambush. They had chosen to do it at night, when there were fewer eyes that could expose them.

Gjaki used Darkness to get out of the cave unseen, while one of her Bats followed her targets. No one noticed her presence, nor that after little more than a minute she came back in, equally invisible.

The goblins believed that she had locked herself in the room she was staying in for a while. The vampiress had said not to be disturbed, since she had things to do. In fact, she had a lot of commissions, so it wasn't strange. A little while later, after quietly returning, she left and went to where some goblin tailors were gathered, to help them as she had promised, and to be seen with them.

"Friko? Where are you? Stop joking around, we have work to do," one of the two thugs whispered.

His friend was supposed to pick up some branches and come back, but that had been more than five minutes ago. He was starting to chicken out. Suddenly, he heard some bushes move.

"You've taken too long. It was about time you came back..." he hurried to say, but he didn't finish the sentence.

Before him, there was an animal that he had never seen. Black in color with red eyes, it had a certain resemblance to a wolf, but its appearance was much more terrible. He tried to turn around and run away. He even screamed for help. However, the Blood Hound was relentless.

After finishing off the second goblin, it dragged each of them next to the cobweb they wanted to catch Tado with, and got entangled in it.

When the spider peeked out, it found no entangled prey, just a faint trail of blood, plus two corpses on the ground. Without hesitation, it took both bodies.

Meanwhile, Gjaki had unsummoned the Hound and was keeping watch with a Bat. When she verified that everything had worked as planned, and the threat had been removed, the Bat was also unsummoned, and she continued with what she was doing.

Gjaki didn't feel guilty of her actions, quite the opposite. She had saved Tado and ended a threat, without needing to scare the goblins or cause misgivings.