Chapter 13- Envoy’s Words

  Savage Lands, Coral City- Dockside- Spring, Alt- 152 (Noon)

  Sea-King Atlmorin of the Coral Singers

  The king stood far enough back that should this be an assassination attempt they would have to work for it. As they waited for the ship to resurface, one of his advisors leaned over and whispered. “The Signing Waters are working and if the others care to they will see what is about to happen here.”

  As Altmorin nodded, the ship broke the surface of the water again, this time mere yards from the dock. A second after touching the surface a fg pole extended from the spine of the ship, on it was both a clear white fg as well as the blue one showing off the gold trident of Atntis.

  The ship was the second biggest ship the king had ever seen, only losing out to the massive ’cruise ship’ that they sacked a handful of years before. It also looked nothing like anything that visited the Savage Lands before. Its top half mirrored its bottom half exactly, save the fg pole, and it was made from bronze and bck coral. Here and there he noticed lines of bronze in the hull, if Altmorin didn’t know any better they were where he would have pced the ship’s defensive weapons.

  “Did any of them open a reply channel?” Altmorin asked the man beside him.

  “Only the Fall People, Prince Tor’vok nodded but said nothing.” His advisor answered.

  The king rubbed his beard hairs in thought. ‘Perhaps the Fall People are faring as bad as my son against the dogs and sves in the north. Either way, this is more important, should this be my, no our doom, they will know and be ready.’

  As they heard a cracking noise from the slowing ship, Altmorin waved the advisor back. A moment ter a hole opened in the roof of the ship, and a trio of men climbed out. One held a squat spear and watched the shore and docks, while the others prepared a hook and some type of bck rope.

  At the sight of the hooks his brother looked back at him from his position at the foot of the docks, and he nodded at him. So Sonora moved onto the docks proper and began barking orders to the men there. A moment ter the first two hooks are thrown to the docks and his soldiers grab and secure them to the dock. A while ter a loud crunch was heard when the ship came to a stop against the dock’s foundation.

  In the middle of the ship, one of the bronze slits widened, before a ramp was extended to the dock. Once secure a squad of soldiers emerged from the ship, and they moved in a parade-like fashion. They wore an odd style of armor. It seemed as if the armor held their heads in pce. Most of the soldiers held more of the squat spear that the first one held, but the king could also see that they had swords and knives on their person as well.

  Altmorin whispered and gestured a spell before he cast it on himself. His eyes becoming stronger and sharper, he willed the magic to magnify his vision of the men emerging from the ship. Their armor did seem to restrict their neck movement, but not as much as he originally thought it would, what did surprise him was that both the chest armor and the helmets had flowing water inside of them.

  'Have they lost the ability to breathe air?' he wondered, but any tactical advantage that might have brought was soundly crushed when he got a better look at the squat spears. ‘Hydro guns?! Have they truly managed to compact and reduce our mighty Hydro Cannons into personal weapons? If only I had more than just the four left for guarding the castle.'

  Eight soldiers stood at attention while the st moved to their head and raised a seashell horn to his mouthpiece. Altmorin felt the magic spell form before the soldier spoke into the horn, the words were closer to old Atntean but still close enough to their Sea Tounge that it transted. "Now presenting, Imperial Princess Namorita, first daughter of King Namor of Atntis.”

  As the herald finished, a pair of women emerged from the ship. Neither wore the armor nor bore weapons that he could see. The lead, a woman of striking blue skin and sandy red hair stopped once on the docks, to take a deep sniff of the air before continuing to join the herald. She wore a lighter shade of blue top and trunks with golden bracers and knee guards. Altmorin frowned at the strange fins growing out of the princess’s ankles.

  The other woman was clearly not an Atntean, or was at least not a spoiled noble, as she wore a long flowing white and blue dress that would be only a burden when in the water. She also wore a white head scarf to cover her hair and a blue veil to cover much of her face, yet with his magically enhanced eyes Altmorin could tell that she had brilliant yellow snake-like eyes.

  When the princess got beside the herald she looked at Sonora and asked him. “I was told I would be greeted by your king, is he not here?” Knowing this might come up the two brothers both carried echoing stones, so anything spoken near one is heard by the other.

  “My bother and king can hear you, your highness. But given that the st time someone from the homend came to visit us, they spit upon us and called us heathen surfacers, you can imagine our hesitance to pce our leader in front of your clearly well-trained guards." His chief advisor diplomatically expined to her.

  ‘This is it, either they will show restraint and I will meet with them, or they will disrespect us and we will push them back into the sea. Well try and push them back.’ Altmorin thought.

  The princess scanned the crowd, she then spotted him standing on the other side of the pza, and she nodded at him before saying. “Caution is a good quality to have in a King, at least that is what my mother tells me. I will never know, as I will never be a king, but maybe I will be wife to one day.’

  “My lord father, King Namor wants the Atntean people strong again, he wants us a united people again, so while he personally seeks out all of the lesser kingdoms under the sea, he has sent me here, his only child, to do the same to the four 'sea-kings' of the surface world."

  "So he wants to rule us again," Altmorin said into the echoing stone in his hand.

  The princess heard his statement and shook her head before saying. "Yes and no, he tells me that he wants to organize a council of the various rulers. Yes, there will be him, as high king on this council with the final say, but much like the surfacers ‘UN’, this council will hear the concerns of all tribes and kingdoms of Atntean people equally. He wants us to form more of an Alliance of all of our peoples. So that we, the Atnteans, are strong and ready to face our real enemies, the humans of this world.”

  'Bold words, but they may just be a means to let them in before the old houses try to take us over again.' Altmorin thought. After a couple of seconds, he motioned for her to be allowed to join him. As the king watched the lithe princess make her way to him, he decided. ‘Best to not let her know that she may have already made her offer to the other three, at least for now.’

  Once she was in arms reach both he and the princess shared a bow, as they did he said. “I am Altmorin. I and my Kingdom of the Coral Singers welcome you, to the Savage Lands.”

  “We are delighted by your welcoming.” The foreigner princess said in reply.

  He was about to suggest they moved to the castle and eat, but the veiled woman touched the Namorita, before whispering and pointed out the standing pool above them that was sending the image of this exchange to the other three sea-kings.

  “I felt their magics.” Almorin heard the princess mutter.

  ‘They felt them? Then these two are mystic arts users as well. But then they must already...’ The king realized.

  “My handmaiden would like to know what spells you have cast on that waterfall there?” the princess asked him interrupting his thoughts.

  “You do not recognize the Singing Waters of Atntis? The means by which our ancient empire was able to talk to our cities and be informed all throughout our empire from way back when.” His daughter Aniase asked the other princess. She stood beside him in a blue dress. The king gave his daughter a look, but she only shrugged.

  Namorita nodded and admitted. “Much was lost in the Fall.”

  “I feared this was a trap, and so I set up this test. Should you have attacked us outright, at least the other sea-kings would know of it.” Altmorin admitted. Then he pocketed his echoing stone, as he began to hear his own voice as Sonora neared.

  “So they saw and heard everything?” The Atntean princess asked.

  “Possibly, the only one we knew for certain that was watching was the prince of the Fall People.” The king answered. Then he suggested. “I could attempt a viewing session with them ter if you’d like. Maybe after the feast we’ve prepared, you may present them your offer again.”

  The veiled woman touched Namorita again, now that they were closer Altmorin could hear some of what the hidden woman was saying, but it didn’t sound like words to him. Rather all he made out was the hissing of a snake.

  ‘A stone singer? I suppose some of their people could have still been back in the homend before the Fall.’ The king mused.

  Namorita then cleared her throat before asking. “Is there anything about the culinary that we should be aware of?”

  “Only what is left over from the war. The mages poisoned the Savage Lands, so those unable to wield magic become foolish and violent. I will admit that we with Atntean blood in our veins seem to suffer less than the humans of recent generations, but it still affects our people even to this day.” Altmorin expins.

  The two women share a look, and the veiled one nods at her princess. "Then my escorts will refrain, but I and my handmaiden will join you." The Atntean princess states before gesturing for them to lead on.

  Hell- Realm of the Dammed- outside The Copper Keep (Date Unknown) (Afternoon)

  Lady Bloodwell-

  The horned and cwed dy dismounts her two-headed hell wolf. She takes a moment to pet the stead's fnk, before unbuckling and removing the canine's saddle. Bloodwell throws the thing to the closest serf, burying the man in something twice his size, before stalking off to the side entrance of her home.

  The copper-skinned guards strike their shields twice in salute to her as she nears the double doors, which she needs to duck in order to enter. The dy's tail flicks and snaps the air in response. The five talons on her feet click and cck against the metal floor, in an almost soothing rhythm as she walks to the central hall.

  More guards salute her as Bloodwell makes her way, yet her red glowing eyes flick about, scanning and searching. Even in your own home, Hell is never safe.

  She pauses at the base of the central hall, near the stairs that would lead up or down. Three copper-pted demons await her. The dy could see the beginnings of tails poking out from their uniforms. In another century, or a decent harvest, they will no longer need boots if they follow the changes she went through in her own youth.

  “What?” she asked them.

  “Lord Bckheart sent another envoy he asks…” The first pted demon began to say.

  Lady Bloodwell interrupted him ordering. “Kill him, and send back the envoy’s head as our response. We will not consort with traitors.” Then she looked at the next waiting man.

  “Arch-Duke Morningstar also sent a man. He offers, again, to aid you in cutting your tether.” She let this one finish his report.

  “Take his forearm and hand for the insult, then show him the first envoy’s body, before kicking him out.” The dy ordered.

  “Prince Marduk sent gifts again.” Was all the third demon needed to say in his report.

  “Give them to the serfs.” She said before moving towards the stairs leading up.

  At the base, the third added. "The gifts are a hundred contracted mortals, all you need to do is write your name to them, and they will be yours to add to the Keep’s staff.”

  Lady Bloodwell paused at that, thought for a moment then growled. She turned around and looked over the three men. One looked a touch bored but unconcerned, while another drooled probably thinking about the possibility of feasting on them and furthering his growth, while the third looked annoyed. Probably because he knew that if things turned badly he would get bmed for it.

  In the end, all three became crestfallen when she ordered. "Open a rift. Send them to the Pne of Bone."

  “Release them?” The second drooling one asked confused.

  The dy shed out with her tail, and the stingers grappled the demon's eye, before the concealed bde extended and impaled the creature's brain. Next, she impaled both of his lungs and all three of his hearts. As his body began to fall, she coldly asked. "Do I have to repeat myself?!"

  “No, my dy.” The two pted men said in unison, before striking their own uniforms and the pting underneath twice.

  When they took a step back she added. “Fed him, and the waste meat from the two envoys to the mounts."

  The two demons both fell back to gather their fallen comrade, before running off to complete their tasks.

  Once they were gone, she moved back to the steps. However, before she started the process of shrinking so that she could comfortably climb the stairs, she felt something in the air. Something that did not belong in Hell.

  She pulled a copper-throwing dart from her person and threw it towards that something. The dart smashed into a copper gargoyle. Its head and left arm fell towards the hall's floor, but the man hiding behind it was not hit. Her aim was off after passing through the decoration.

  Lady Bloodwell pulled two more darts, and released the skeletal copper wings that had begun growing out of her back. However, she paused when she caught a glimpse of the intruder.

  “You either have a strong desire to die mortal, or like Prince Marduk, you have a crush on me. I will tell you what I told him. 'You're not strong enough to have me'." She shouted up at him. As she did, she wrote demonic runes into the air with the tips of her wings.

  The dy cast counter spells that would interrupt the first flight and portal spells cast in the next mile, she then readied another pair of counter portal spells when one of her own staff triggered the one she just cast.

  “I am neither of those things Lady Bloodwell, just a man wanting to sell you some information.” The living mortal said from cover.

  Knowing where he was, she threw a dart, then the other. A pilr was destroyed, but still, she smelled no blood. The second was deflected by an astral wireframe buckler. At the sight of a Dark Dimension Kris in his other hand, she started ughing.

  “You think spells from the Dark Dimension will give you the edge? Heh Heh ha. You damn your soul with every casting.” She ughed up at him. Her guards were near, but didn’t know what to do with her present.

  "Somethings are just more important, and you just have to do what you must." The grey-haired pink-skinned mortal muttered.

  He repositioned his buckler as she said back at him. "And you caught me on a bad day." She channeled energy to the tips of three of her ten fingers, preparing to cast a complete barrage at him.

  "Fine, the information that I have to sell first." The mortal quickly muttered. Then he took a deep breath and offered. "The Lost Sanctum of the Magi has been rediscovered on Earth."

  The dy let two of her readied demon bolts off. He dodged one and parried the other, but it dispelled his buckler.

  He gasped before he added. “Inside they found a Founder.”

  "All twelve of your order's founders are dead, sorcerer. Of them, I fed on two." Lady Bloodwell gloated. She smiled at the thought of feeding this man's tainted soul to one of her men. Oh, he will have problems processing the taint from the Dark Dimension out, but they might get a major boost from it still.

  "Alright, a mage then… And his name is Nath’aniel.” The mortal blurted out.

  Her wings shuddered at hearing the name.

  Then she dispelled her prepared bolts and motioned for her guards to stop. When she heard them stop shuffling, she wrote her own portal and flight spells into the air. Canceling her own active counterspells.

  Steam left her face as the budding start of tears evaporated in Hell's ambient heat. Then she said. "Your payment is your life… Leave now.”

  “Can’t I…” the mortal began to ask.

  “Leave. Now!” She repeated. Her reputation was threat enough.

  The mortal donned a double finger ring, which he used to create a portal out of Hell.

  As soon as the portal closed, Lady Bloodwell shrank as she moved for the stairs up. Halfway up to the second floor, she shouted. "Send for my Spymaster!"