Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Captive (III)

Kerthlon confessed everything that needed to be confessed. He was blindfolded, and his whole body ached, especially from the arrow and the kick to the groin.

"They've finally attacked my Clone, and they've discovered that we've deceived them. It won't take long for them to come. It's time to leave," the silver-haired vampiress informed. She was no longer wearing the costume.

Kilthana was still looking at her in astonishment, but it was Jiknha who was totally stunned. The power and aura that emanated from her savior was extraordinary, plus the abilities she had witnessed so far were incredible. She could never forget her letter of introduction, the brief possession of the servant's body. Despite this, she was worried.

"How're we going to leave?" she asked.

In fact, they were trapped in the room. The only way out was the door, and soon their enemies would arrive.

"Don't worry, now she'll summon a gate," the countess informed.

"A... gate?" she wanted to make sure she had heard well, without quite believing it.

"Yes, wait a minute. You, swallow this," Gjaki made the prisoner swallow a pill.

"Cough, cough. What have you given me?" he asked scared.

"Nothing important. Just a little poison. Tell your daddy that, if he wants the antidote, he has to come in a few days to talk about the conditions. Either that, or he lets you die. Kilthana?"

Actually, it wasn't a deadly poison. It would only make him feel bad for a few days, but he didn't know that.

"In ten days at the Platinum Bridge crossing?" she suggested.

"You've heard her. You better remember, or plan your own funeral. Let's go."

Immediately, she summoned a Gate, into which Jiknha was pushed, without giving her time to complain. Behind her, the countess passed, but not Gjaki herself. She had whispered in her ear that she would be coming a little later. Nonetheless, Kerthlon had to believe that she had left too.

She left the room wrapped in Darkness. Soon after, the soldiers would arrive to free the captive, and soon the count himself would come.

She crossed the halls in silence, but without mishap. No one was looking for her, so they could hardly notice that shadow.

She finally arrived at her destination, a secluded room with a half-broken door. Thanks to that, one of her scouts had made it through earlier.

It was a kind of abandoned warehouse, in which useless objects were accumulated. For some reason, they hadn't been decided to throw them away. Maybe, they had been forgotten.

She moved them around a bit to enlarge a hole, which then was hidden in rubble. There, she placed an Exit Gate to return if necessary, and added the essential Self-Destructs. Immediately, a Gate was summoned, and she left.

"Where're we?" the released woman asked. They were in a not very large room, closed from the inside.

"In Solodkro's mansion, my..." the countess replied, without finishing the sentence.

"Boyfriend? Have you made up?" Jiknha asked, intrigued and curious.

"Well... Yes... Something like that..." she was embarrassed.

"Don't tell me...? Ha, ha. Have you done it? It was about time! Congratulations! I'm happy for you," she congratulated her embarrassed friend

"Yeah... We'll talk about that. We have many things to talk about," Kilthana wanted to change the subject.

Perhaps, in other circumstances, it would have been more difficult, but at that moment her friend was tired and disoriented. She would have time to ask every detail.

"How did you know I was there?" she asked.

"By chance. We needed a countess, and I thought you were a good candidate. So we went to meet you, but she told us that you'd been taken to the castle. I got really worried, and we went to save you," Kilthana summarized.

Her friend looked at her puzzled. She barely understood half of it.

"What's that about a countess? I'm not a countess," she replied.

"Oh! Right! Gjaki killed Pokmu. He started. Now, we want to take over the county, but we need someone to run it. So, we thought of you," she continued explaining hastily.

"Is Pokmu dead?" Jiknha asked, incredulous.

"Um, yeah, that's what I said..."

"Ha, ha. At last! That bastard is dead! Mom, dad, they have avenged you..." she laughed at first, but then she began to cry.

It took her friend a while to comfort her. There were many pent-up emotions, including her recent captivity. She was barely recovering when a Gate appeared again, and Gjaki soon after.

Jiknha turned to her savior and bowed low.

"Once again, thank you for saving my life, for freeing me from those bastards, and for letting me vent to him. Also, thanks for killing that other bastard, Pokmu, for avenging my parents. If there's anything I can do for you, you just have to tell me," she offered.

"Well, I have a vacancy as a countess, if you're interested," Gjaki replied.

"Countess?" she asked. "Yeah, Kilthana said something. What's that about?"

"Let's talk about it calmly, and eat something. Come on, Solod must be worried," Kilthana suggested.

"She can't wait to rush into his arms," Gjaki whispered to Jiknha, though loud enough for the countess to hear and blush again.

Jiknha couldn't help but laugh out loud, as her friend walked away from them apparently angry. It was the first time she had laughed in a long time.

"How sweet. I also want one..." Jiknha complained at the attitude of both counts.

They blushed, and even separated a little for a few moments. The three of them had been good friends in the past, as children and teenagers, so it was natural for her to tease them a little.

"How do you want it?" Gjaki asked, almost without thinking.

"Let's see... Affectionate, handsome, not too intelligent or ambitious, obedient, loyal, attentive..." the perhaps future countess began to list.

She stopped suddenly, and stared intently at the silver-haired vampiress, who was blushing too. She opened her mouth wide, and pointed at Gjaki in disbelief, almost shaking.

"You have one too!? Don't tell me he's how I like them!? That's not fair! Does he have a brother?"

Gjaki turned even redder. She couldn't deny that she was thinking about Chornakish. From her point of view, he fulfilled many of those adjectives.

"Let's stop talking nonsense. There's work to do. How do you propose to take the county?" she tried to change the subject.

Jiknha smiled mischievously. Her fierce and powerful savior turned out to be shy about heart affairs. No doubt she could use it in the future to tease her a little. In fact, the part about her wanting someone had been said jokingly. Perhaps, half jokingly half seriously.

The truth is that, until then, her relationships had ended quite badly, for one reason or another. Because of her uncle, even in tragedy, since he had caused the death of one of her boyfriends. Although she couldn't say that she had been madly in love with him, it had affected her deeply.

Whatever, now the important issue was to recover the lands that her uncle had taken possession in the past, even attacking her parents. She felt that she owed it to them.