Page 54 of Daghel

“No. They are already frightened. I do not think they even know who they are attacking, just like the gathols who rose to meet us. They likely have been lied to and told that an invading force is on its way. That is the only thing that makes sense. But if we attack now and the clan becomes distrusting of their own gathols, it will not survive.”

Drisk grumbles in agreement as he kicks off, glancing off the side of a cliff as he attempts to correct our course back for the palace. I bite my bottom lip in frustration as we spin through the air, silently willing for something, somewhere, to give.

Another horn cuts through the air, this one brighter, louder, and closer, and my eyes scan the peak beneath us. A sparkle of blue catches the sun, and my gaze draws immediately to it and then focuses on Linahna standing on the summoning hill just above the village, a horn pressed to her lips as it sings herdemand. One by one, the villagers respond, their gazes drawn reverently to the amulet she holds above for all to see. Weapons lower in surprise and those who have hidden inside emerge from their dwellings, heading her call. Several among them fall to their knees in respect and a wail goes up, even among the younger gathol who had not yet received word, as the message is received loud and clear.

The queen is dead.

Linahna lowers her horn and stares over them, her voice rising, booming over the village in the very specific fashion that the placement of the summoning hill that allows all to clearly hear.

“I am Linahna, daughter of queen Leedra. I am the sole heir of my mother, and I reject the unlawful authority of my brother Vorn. He slowly poisoned our mother in bed and sanctioned her murder when he believed the power of our gathol to be dead. But look above… our gathols survive and they have come to tear out the poison that has been destroying our clan. By my mother’s authority, witnessing by this amulet that she gave me with her own hand, rise with me, for all orcs are warriors of old and vanquish those who hold tyranny from the palace peak!”

“Bring down the warriors of the peak,” a female shouts as she steps forward, her face horribly scarred but proud. “Bring down the violators and murderers in our midst.”

“Bring them down,” a male growls as he joins her, his fist rising to the sky. “Bring down those who feast upon the ruin of our village and clan.”

“Bring down the monsters.”

“Bring them down!”

A shout of agreement goes up and then another and my breath catches in wonder as orcs, males and females both, turn away to gather their weapons from homes and barnyards. Even burly and lean humans raised among their kind grab arms whilethe more vulnerable of their numbers are sent to keep watch and guard the families as the villagers boil up from the valley, their growls and shouts of anger echoing the skies above. I laugh in wonder and hold my sword to the sky, summoning the attention of the gathol to me.

“To the palace!” I cry and Drisk roars as his wings flap in rapid snaps that sends us bolting across the sky with the gathol wings in hot pursuit.

Flames spurt as the gathols descend upon Vorn’s warriors gathered on the outcroppings around the castle. Their bodies bulge and tremble with violence and with whatever the mage has dosed them with. Wyverns dive for them from above, spitting fire as the villagers attack head on, rushing forward with weapons raised as they collide with the males ill-prepared and too easily frustrated with a fight on two fronts. They rage violently as they are pulled down, the villagers hungry for their destruction as all their terrors and wounds are repaid with the swords plunged into them and limbs hacked off with blades. A wyvern swoops in to take off the head off one of Vorn’s warriors and cheer rises from those swarming him.

I wince a little but smile despite myself. This is cathartic for the clan, that much is clear, for Vorn as his warriors had brought much pain and misery even as they held the upper village under their collective thumb while wielding the gathol as a shadow of a threat against them by the authority that they pretended to hold.

Drisk bypasses the main conflict, darting over the falling warriors as his wings fold and he drops, crashing through the wide entrance of the palace. His head whips violently, his teeth catching the nearest orcs as they flee in terror from him. Just ahead, I spot Kael and the male stumbles as he pulls his cock roughly from the young woman he held pinned against a table, his terror obvious in the way he trips over his own feet in an attempt to get away from us. I shake my head in disgust andgive Drisk’s strands a tap in a silent command. I slide from the wyvern’s back, leaving him to devour to his pleasure as my feet lightly hit the floor. Bouncing off the balls of my feet, I stalk toward Kael, and his eyes widen further as he focuses on the flaming sword. I smirk a little at his cowardice, but I’m not surprised. Only Kael would be here getting his prick wet while a battle rages just outside the walls.

Although I’m half his size, the orc spins and tries to run from me except the woman that he was ruthlessly fucking stretches her leg and trips him, sending him sprawling to the floor. He hits with a loud thud, but I take advantage of the opportunity presented and rush forward, lifting my sword above my head. He crosses his arms in front of him in an attempt to block me and entreaty that I completely ignore as I drive the burning blade straight through him as images of the dying queen fill my mind. A sort of peace settles into my belly as I lean there on the blade, as my previous pain at the hands of the male washes away with his blood as Drisk’s flame blasts by me, scorching a pair of orcs into a greasy black smear on the wall.

I slowly straighten, but from the corner of my eye, I catch the bright flare of a ball of magic hurtling for me and I instinctively raise my blade, striking it with all my strength. Magic explodes harmlessly around me, but my arm instantly goes numb and sags with the weight of my blade. I cry out and circle my opposite hand around my wrist in an attempt to lift my blade as the mage draws near, his eyes glowing as they narrow on me. He lifts his hand, energy cycling and pulling at me as magic begins to gather once more in his hand, only to sputter out of existence like a candle blown out as his back bows with the force of the blade driven through him. He slumps and crumples to the floor as Linahna grins victoriously behind him.

Her eyes meet mine and she jerks her head in a silent order for me to go and find Daghel. I give her a quick smile and takeoff across the entry, my numbed arm supported with my hand as I run, focus trained on the way to get back down to the dungeon cells as Drisk’s roars shake the surrounding palace. My gaze skims all my surroundings as I run deeper along the inner corridors of the palace, searching for the reinforced metal door that leads to the lower levels beneath the palace.

There. Found it.

I grin as I run for it, transferring my sword from my weakened hand to the other. This arm is not as strong, but it will have to suffice. If it can cut through magic chains, it should cut through a simple door like a hot knife through butter. I am nearly at the door, my sword rising as I prepare to strike, but something, or someone, plows into me with such strength that I’m thrown to the floor. I hit the stone hard, my breath expelling from my lungs with such force that I choke and gasp as I struggle to draw in a breath of air. I try to roll to my side, but a sword taps against my neck, and I freeze as my eyes lift to Ajek’s smiling face.

“Just look at what I have,” he murmurs as he sheaths his blade. “If it is not Daghel’s little mate.” He crouches down beside me and pulls my sword from my hand, the flames dying the moment he does so. He gives it a disgusted look but shrugs and lays it across his knees as he regards me. “You know, Vorn entertained some interesting ideas about you and the other gathol females. I never quite understood what drove those deviant thoughts, but I would have played along and enjoyed screwing your little cunt while your mate rotted within a prison of magic.”

He sniffs thoughtfully and grunts. “But seeing how you orchestrated this little attack, I am no longer feeling so charitable. I worked hard to get Vorn into power and seeing how you wish to ruin all of it, I have decided that my vengeance is better than fucking. Daghel took from me someone I loved verymuch—my son. That monster destroyed him. So now I am going to destroy you. But for it to be true justice, he must suffer like I suffered. He must watch you die before his eyes and know that there. And who knows,” he growls into my face, “just maybe I will fuck your corpse after all that while he weeps.”

His hand clamps around the back of my neck and he stands, hauling me to my feet before dragging me down into the depths of the dungeon.

Chapter

Thirty-Six

DAGHEL

Irise to my feet at the sound of footsteps coming down into the dungeons, my eyes fixed on the door of my cell. Tension crackles around me as I wait expectantly, my breathing crystalizing in the air in front of me as I watch and wait. I hear the commotion of battle from above as Driskal’s fury quakes through the palace. The footsteps come to a halt outside my door and the bolts of my cell slide open. My ears prick at the groaning of the cold, resistant metal as the door swings open and my liberator steps forward.

My heart falters as I stare in horror. Ajek. Anya twists in his iron grip as he holds her by the neck, my sword in his opposite hand. He dangles her in front of my eyes like a lure before tossing her to the ground in front of me. I drop to my knees in an attempt to get to her, but my chain keeps me anchored firmly to the wall. I roar my frustration, but he grins cruelly as he points the blade in his hand at her.

“What do you think, Daghel… or is Durethikal? I do not really care who you are but what I do care about is making you suffer.,” he says, leveling a kick at her that makes her cry, her bodyjerking and collapsing from the impact. And since you like pain, we are going to go nice and slow. I was thinking of waiting on this part, but I think I am just going to start by fucking her right in front of you so you can watch her writhe and squeal, skewered on my cock? I can always have another and fuck her corpse later. It is an interesting experience having all that cold, tight flesh resisting you, but nothing quite beats a hot cunt squeezing your prick to death while you snuff her life out.”

He chuckles with menace as he drops my blade to the floor and falls on my mate while I howl and rage, helpless to prevent it. His hands are rough as he grabs, dragging her across the stone the stone floor beneath her. She claws at the stones with one hand, her other hand twitching in helpless movements from whatever damaged it as she tries desperately to get away from him or find any kind of weapon, her nails breaking as he wrenches her across the floor. He pulls a dagger from his boot and brings it level with her bottom, slicing through the fabric of her surc. He releases her hips just long enough to grip the fabric and rip the tear wider, baring her bottom as his tongue runs hungrily along his tusks and lips. Grabbing her hip once more with one hand, he slaps her cunt and cups it with one hand as she wails, grinding his palm against it as he pants lustily.

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