The Vampire's Crimson Kiss (Editing)

Chapter 48/Lost in the forest

"Good plan" I said "except for the torture and execution bit. I think we can work on that."

One of the men jumped up and took the reins of the horses pulling the cart. The canvas was thrown over us again but badly and leaving a large gap near the back. The cart set off at a pace.

"Hey, Captain. Look I know this doesn't look good but my father the King of the Barrenlands is a great friend of the Defiance and it might be, ohooo a little bit irritated if his oldest daughter was killed by mistake." I said.

"And is the other one also a daughter of the King of the Barrenlands " said Duran pointing at Cub/Isha.

"No she's only a coven girl" I said.

I looked out we were travelling at a good trot the captain wanted us out of there.

"Coven girl without a hood and silver neck with out a collar" said Duran "Cover them up and don't talk to them. Coven witches have ways of twisting your mind."

My shoulders slumped this wasn't going to be easy.

I sat back next to Isha.

"Don't worry. Back at base there will be someone who's smart enough not to kill us on the spot." I said "we will be fine."

Isha/Cub nodded like she believed me. I wasn't worried, worst case I could protect my self. I remember as a child holding a chick for the first time. It felt so vulnerable and fail in my hands. Isha's life felt like that now. If I spoke she might die. The other problem was Isha's silence. I wasn't sure if she would betray me. For no I would also be silent.

****

A few hours later, we were moving at quite a pace. The roads were pitted, and we hit another bump that jarred my back badly.

"You guys really lower the tone of travel by cage, you know that," I shouted.

I wanted to complain a lot more, but I didn't want to undo the goodwill of the captain. I could see it was now dusk, and the closer to night we got, the more nervous the Defiance got. I got the feeling Captain Duran hadn't taken into account the speed of the cage when he estimated the time to get to his base. With the cover over us, it was a little warmer than outside.

"STOP," said the loud voice of Captain Duran.

You could hear the horses' hooves clatter as they looked around, straining to listen for something.

"Vampires!" shouted Duran. "Light the flares. Throw the garlic!"

Throw the garlic? I thought. Did they even know vampires loved garlic? Well, not loved, if they thought vampires were repelled by garlic, they really were fooling themselves.

Then It sounded like a pack of wolves had descended on the soldiers. Horses squealed, emitting a loud, high-pitched, ear-piercing scream. I could hear snarling and growling. The sound of Duran saying 'come back, come back' as his men deserted him.

I felt let down; couldn't anyone hold onto us as prisoners for more than a couple of hours?

"I claim this in the name of the Duke of the coven Meridian," said a vampire voice viciously. My heart leapt up. The Duke had sent someone to look for me! Then I felt like an idiot, of course he did. The canvas covering the cage was pulled back. It was now night. There were about four vampires and no familiars. I didn't recognize them, and they dressed rather poorly. They hissed upon our discovery, clearly showing fangs. I wasn't impressed.

"Stop seeing who can do the best impression of Kaa and get me to the Duke, sludge drinkers," I said in the black tongue. Cub/Isha flinched when I talked.

They looked at me in shock and smiled, breaking the lock with one blow. One held his hand out for me while I got out. I looked around and could only see a couple of green-covered bodies in the dusk. One vampire came back with some horses they had just taken from The Defiance. I felt really bad about the Defiance men; it seemed like a complete waste of life. I wasn't sure what I could have done about it.

"I'm hurried. Take us to the Duke," I said, getting out of the cage.

"Silence, high familiar, you're not in the black keep now," said one of the vampires, pulling me out. His strength was tremendous; he lifted me up and threw me to the side of the road. I was caught by another who pushed my head forward to see my newly cut glyph. I had tied my books up with a strip of cloth and hung onto it tightly to keep them with me.

"She belongs to ussss," said one, sounding pleased.

Cub/Isha and I were put on a horse, and they did that vampire thing of leading the horses through the dark of the night. It wasn't completely black as the moonlight helped light the way, but by midnight, I had no idea where we were. I was feeling happy; the nightmare was over. I was being taken by these feral vampires to him. We pulled into a space that was full of tents and lit by lights. There were familiars who were, to put it oddly, unfamiliar, and I could see a row of locals in chains who seemed to be freshly 'caught'. Normally, the Duke used volunteers like Cub and Mary to supplement the lawbreakers prisoners. I was confused; this also seemed like quite an established camp for something which couldn't be more than a day old. Something wasn't right.

"Take them to the Duke," said one of the vampires who had rescued us.

We walked in to a tent. It was lit by candles and flames of oil-soaked torches. The canvas was lit up with dancing shadows cast on its taut surface. I walked in past the guards and in front of the vampires who saved us. There, looking over a table full of maps, was a man in a large cloak with a thick fur collar. Next to him was another vampire looking down with him, pointing.

"My Duke," I began in the dark tongue. I had to work hard to hold myself back from rushing up to him and hugging him before everyone. "I cannot tell you how glad I am to be with you."

The man stood up and turned around. Before me stood a young man with a thin beard and long, dark, almost curling hair. He had nearly perfect features set on a round face and a strong nose. His fur sat on his shoulders like massive epaulettes, and beneath the cloak, I could see black leather armor which had been richly and finely decorated.

Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, "Wait. Who are you?"

Next to him, the other vampire said, "Behold, you are in the presence of Malphas, the one true Duke and Lord of the coven of the Meridian. Kneel!"