Wandering Warrior: Judge - Epilogue 2

Epilogue 2

The windows that overlooked the snow capped mountains had long-since been repaired, but the signs of the explosion that had rocked the room were still apparent.  Scorched stone, blackened walls, and missing tapestries made the cold chamber feel even more unwelcoming than it had before.

“Milord, there’s still no word.”  The messenger knelt near the entrance, afraid to enter without permission.  The three figures standing around the table in the center of the room were all unnaturally still, contemplating whatever was displayed on the piles of maps and wooden figures spread across its surface.  “Would you like me to convey another set of orders?”

The attention of the vampire dressed as a noble fell on the messenger like a physical weight, pushing the much younger vampire into the stone floor and causing a trickle of blood to leak from its eyes.

“Nothing, you say?  Not even from the elders stationed nearby?”  The Destitute stepped away from the table and walked over to the mantle over the fireplace.  He picked up a small bottle, tapping it with a finger before holding it up to his eyes.  “Hmm…”

“Don’t tell me, the lich is dead?”  The woman stood up straight, grabbing a steel staff capped with a clear diamond the size of a fist off the table.  “I can’t believe the snake finally bit off more than it could swallow.”

The shortest of the three leaned away from the woman, afraid of being included in any backlash the Destitute might visit upon her.  “Milord, what would you have us do?  If this new enemy has the power to kill one of the lich’s strength, we can’t face it alone.  Perhaps we should–”

“Oh, quit sniveling.  I thought the Duergar were supposed to be a tough race, but you’re nothing but a coward.”  The woman sniffed in disdain, turning her back.  “I don’t know if I should even trust you to fix my ship.”

“Coward?”  The gray dwarf clenched his heavy fists, anger causing them to tremble.  “Say it again, and I’ll pull my support so fast your pointy fangs won’t know what happened!  Let’s see how far you get without me, or my engineers.”

The diamond on top of the woman’s staff started to glow with a faint silvery light, and she bared her fangs at the Duergar.  “If you think you can just walk away after everything I’ve done–”

“I think that’s quite enough.”  The Destitute didn’t raise his voice, but it wasn’t necessary.  The weight his words carried were enough to silence the bickering between the two, and caused the messenger to cough up blood.  The noble vampire went to place the bottle back on the mantle before thinking better of it, and tossed it into the flames.  It immediately started melting, spitting sparks over the ever-burning logs in the fireplace.  “The lich failed.  That doesn’t mean our new opponent is strong, just that the lich failed.  We need more information before we jump to conclusions.”  He turned to the gray dwarf.  “Production will need to increase by a quarter.  I’ll send the extras south, to bolster the witches.  The rest will continue to fight the demons, as normal.”

“And you want me to have the coven kill the interloper, right?”  The woman reached into a pouch, pulling out a locket and walking toward the door.

“No, Princess.”  She stopped and looked back at the Destitute.  He smiled, showing an elongated fang.  “Tell them to learn everything they can, and then report back to you.  We’ll plan our next steps from there.”  The woman gave him a sharp nod and swept out of the room.  He turned back to the fire, thinking over what orders to give to his remaining forces in the south.  In the flames, he saw something interesting.

Bending over, he plucked free the melted glass remains of the bottle he had used to mimic the phylactery of the lich.  Instead of boiling away into nothing, there remained a tiny glass figurine.  An upraised fist, in the same shape the Wardens used.  The Destitute turned to look at the messenger that still waited near the stairs.

“Get parchment and ink.  I don’t want you to forget anything.  I’ve many commands, and there’s no room for mistakes.”  He turned back to watch the flames as they danced across the logs that never burned.  “After all, we’re trying to save the world.”