Chapter 11

Several weeks earlier when the spy had returned to Kelethin and reported in, his life had taken a very bad turn, very much for the worse.

The spying aide had returned and the questioning by Councilor Thornbreak had turned ugly quickly. He was taken and locked in an interrogation room that was in a little known section below the lower living levels of the central tree of Kelethin.

"So you get to the Upper Pass village and all you see is the old man teaching classes and the villagers going about their daily lives, with no sign of those you were sent to find."

"That is correct sire," replied the aide.

"No, I don't think it is. How are you feeling right now Gromend?"

"Mainly tired from the long ride sire, but a good meal and a full nights sleep will fix that." Gromend was starting to become mortally afraid from this turn of events.

"Yes, I'm sure it will, I'm sure it will. You will just have to wait a little bit longer. Now tell me, did you see any red haired girls in the village?"

Gromend thought about this for a moment, "I think there were several sire, but none stood out as anything special in my mind."

"Can you estimate their age, size, cloths, behavior." The councilors patience was at an end.

"I don't know sire, I don't recall any details that stood out. I don't feel well sire, I need to go home now."

"No Gromend, you are not going anywhere yet." Councilor Thornbreak singled his personal guards to restrain the aide to prevent him from leaving while he called for his personal cleric to come to the chamber. Holding him down, they quickly tied him to the chair he was sitting in. His pleas for mercy were ignored.

The cleric entered the chamber a short time later and looked around for a second, "You called for me sire?"

"Yes, would examine my personal aide Gromend please, he claims he is not feeling well and is having problems remembering things."

"Yes sir, give me few minutes so that I can get a good read on his condition," said the cleric.

After a few minutes of study and low level spell casting, "Your man here has been poisoned at least twice in the last seven days. One was a paralyzing agent, the other a memory eraser of a type with a nasty twist. It allows the user to give the victim programmed memories. Before you ask, no I am not able to recover the original memories. They are gone now, completely erased."

Thornbreak turned a shade of purplish red the cleric had never seen a living man acquire before. He gave a summery bow and fled the room knowing how his Lordship tended to react to such news. The aide wasn't so lucky as the guards had secured him to the chair before the cleric had arrived. Thornbreak whipped out a short sword and slashed it across the neck of the helpless aide. The head made a most unsatisfactory thump when it hit the floor.

"Thadius, that has to have been one of the stupidest things I have ever seen you do." The voice at the door belonged to councilor Thornbreak's father, the former holder of the council seat he now held. "You just wasted a good and loyal servant in a fit of temper. That just goes to prove to me you are not fit to be where you are now, but I can't rollback time to correct that mistake now, can I."

"Father, leave this room now, I have warned you that I am the head of the family now, and you serve me. I am the one with the contacts, the power to complete the great plan and take control of the Faydark once and for all as is my destiny and right, not an old fool like you. You were soft and allowed your enemies to live and escape time and time again."

"Better that I let them live boy. I kept the family and clan vendettas to a minimum at least. The only big admitted mistake I made was hurting the Arrowmark brat the way I did. We were all lucky she was stopped before she burned the entire city down to get to me." He stroked a burn scars that ran down the left side of his face. It pained him when he thought about why he had them and their cause. She continued to punished him even after her death for his crimes against her son.

"Father, I believe that the coward is under the care of that old fool. Once I have Elder out of the way and their brat in my possession, she will be broken and twisted to become the ultimate assassin. I know she carries several powerful bloodlines in her so she will be even more powerful that that bitch that nearly broke you in two." he lowered his voice, "She will become the God slayer father, that is her destiny in my hands."

"Do not underestimate the Elder, Thadius. He is far more than he seems and would destroy you in an instant if he saw it as necessary to protect the Faydark. Also boy, if you prove a threat to the safety and security of the Elven Folk, you would be put down long before you could achieve your goals."

"Leave me now father, I have much planning to do, preparations that need to be made. You are in my way so get out and I will allow you to continue living. Oppose me and you will die as all the others have before you, are you clear on that you feeble weak minded old man?" Jabbing his finger in to his fathers chest with each of the final words.

"It is clear that I can't stop you and that you are totally insane. You have made your choices, you will pay for them when the gods decide you should."

"The Gods, you act as if they have any power over me, they will have fallen before me when all is done old man! Now go and never trouble me with your whimpering foul stench again."

The elder Thornbreak looked at the monster that at one time had been his son. He did not know what this was, but it wasn't even Elven any longer. He turned and left the room determined to leave the Greater Faydark while it was still safe and possible to do so. He made it as far as his home when a tiny dart ended his life, preventing him from sending word to the two people that could have saved the Faydark from a truly life rending fate. The shooter left the city and dropped his cloak revealing the tattoo that marks him as a follower of Rallos Zek. He stepped through the spires portal and vanished.

Back in the torture chamber, Thadius pulled a small whistle on a chain from under his tunic and blew it three short burst. A darkly furred, winged shape out of a nightmare fluttered out from deeper shadows inside the tree and grasped a hanging rod to hang head down. Its blood red eyes glared at him balefully demanding to know why he had been awakened during the day.

Thadius walked up to the giant bat and attached a message cylinder to its left leg. That told the bat who would get the message. Next Thadius carefully cut his wrist enough to draw some blood that he allowed the bat to lap up. This was payment for service and he told the bat to move out right then.

Once the bat flew out, it stayed low for a few minutes to clear the edges of the city above then flapped madly, clawing for altitude to be able to reach the Loping Plains before sundown. It was going home, back to the messenger roost of Castle Mistmoore.

Councilor Thornbreak washed up and made sure no blood marred his clothing and returned to the city to set other plans in motion. He knew that his Master, Mayong Mistmoore would jump at the chance to throw his undead army at the Greater Faydark. It would all be to get one Ranger named Eaglesclaw out of the picture. Take Eaglesclaw out and he weakened the defenses across the Southern Faydark Dark valley. His removal would also open the door to getting the girl part ways.

The next thing he needed to arrange was some way to get Elder out of his precious little village for a few days. For that he needed his counterparts in Qeynos to send a message to Elder. They would claim to have found more information about the totems. That would draw him out in a hurry to where he could be killed easily.

Thornbreak returned to the living levels of the city and slowly walked towards the ramp that would lead to the council chambers. He was stopping and talking with merchants, greeting passers by, generally building a solid base of witnesses as to where he was at a given time. He was nearly to the chambers when a young boy came running up, calling to him.

"Councilor! Councilor! It is your father sir, he has collapsed near his home sir, they said he is dead. You are summoned and need to come quickly sir."

Thornbreak put on his best shocked and despairing face for the public and family. "Lead on boy, and quickly."

Without a word he followed the boy up to the forth level of the city and across a bridge to another tree. Here were the platforms that housed the Thornbreak clan.

Upon his arrival, his mother came out and stopped several feet from him. She had grief written all over, except when she looked at him. It was a look of utter hate and rage, for she knew the truth of her husband's death, and what would soon be her own fate as well. The thing she had helped spawn was not above any sort of betrayal and murder to further his aims.

"He had become a liability mother, a threat to the plan, therefore his usefulness was at an end. Don't become a liability yourself mother dear." The sneer and hate in his voice stopped all conversations around them. "And if anybody else starts to get any funny ideas, you will be dealt with as well."

He turned to head back down to the council level then stopped for a second and said, "Just toss that worthless trash over the side," then continued on his way.

Thornbreak's return to the council chambers was a bit of a shock for the younger members. The elders knew, or had a good idea on what had just happened, but would not be able to prove anything if an inquiry were to be called. "I have a number of messages to send, so I will not available for a few hours. I trust you can run the Faydark without me for that long."

His tone of voice and careless stance caused offence in the entire body present, but yet again the rest of the council could not act without proof of true wrong doing.

Thornbreak left the chamber and went to his office. Once he had the door secured and the protective runes in place he prepared a trap that was guaranteed to draw Elder out of the village and back to Qeynos.

Fellow servants of Chaos,

I need you to set a trap on your end near the druid rings to take down the old Elven Elder. The easiest way to draw him in would be to claim that you have time critical information about the dark Queens further plans with corrupt totems. Send it via official channels to reduce suspicions. Set this event for five months from now. Things will be to busy here soon to draw him out.

Thornbreak

He embossed it with a seal that if seen, would earn him a instant death sentence. He then sealed the letter in a council courier pouch to have it sent with the following mornings mail run.

The second letter was to go to the Crushbone representative for delivery to councilor D'Vinn of Crushbone castle. Be ready, the master moves soon. That was all it said.

Thornbreak, with a smile that made others ill at ease, stopped by the mail depot and dropped off the local pouch. He then headed towards the eastern edge of the city and took the lift to the ground level. A short distance from the lift was a small stone building that the local Orc representative stayed in. Thornbreak passed the second pouch with specific delivery instructions. He was assured it would be sent forthwith since the five gold was being paid in advance.

Thadius Thornbreak was setting wheels in motion that would have both short term and long term ramifications. Some of which if not handled properly could backfire in ways even he could not foresee. So care at each stage was needed. The first would draw away the city defenses should the Lesser Faydark guard fail in their duties. The second and easiest would take the Crush clan out of the picture permanently.

The last and trickiest would be dealing with Elder, get him out of the way and the girl would be his for the taking. That was still close to half a year away yet. He had plenty of time to prepare for that event later.

The assault from the Lesser Faydark pass started as planned and continued without letting up for several weeks. The Elven were holding their own for the most part until the garrison commander, Captain Eaglesclaw was taken by a special squad of Vampires that struck just before total dark had set in.

When Eaglesclaw regain consciousness, he found he was bound and gagged on the stone floor of a room with corpses hung on the walls. The smell around him was rank with rotting and decayed flesh, and the floor was black and sticky from old dried blood. He knew that he would soon be joining the dead around him. He was very surprised and dismayed when an elegant pair of finely polished boots stepped into his limited view from the floor, and a very strong hand gripped him by the back of the neck, effortlessly lifting his helpless bound form into the air.

His heart almost froze when he realized he was being held by none other than the Vampire Lord himself. His face appeared as a pale silvery white, with lips that were red as fresh blood. His eyes, 'gods protect me from them he thought.' They were grey with black pupils and glowing red iris's in the center. He felt them boring into his very thoughts and soul as they looked into his own. When he opened his mouth to speak, Eaglesclaw saw his death approaching quickly. The fangs were only half an inch long, yet they had the look of the absolute sharpness a well made blade, fresh from the final touch of its creator. They were the final bringers of death, and the entry into the eternal nightmare of eternal enslavement of the undead. When he spoke, the voice seemed to come as a whisper, yet carried to his ears clearly. It was a cold and lifeless voice, the voice of thousands of dead carried on a bone chilling breeze.

"Understand this Eaglesclaw, I personally bear you no ill will. You are a chess piece in a very high stakes game. Not a pawn, but not the queen either. She is elsewhere still and not yet truly in play. You are more the Rook I would think. I am a knight if you want to continue the analogy. But enough, you still have a role to play, and I give you that role. You will serve me, but in a way that suits my aims, not Thornbreak's. Yes, he is involved in this and yes he has betrayed your peoples and I am not happy about what is happening in my realm. I DO NOT like being treated as a pawn as you might well imagine. A certain god will have to answer for his impudence once this matter is settled."