Neverwinter Knight said:
Vampire allies? This should be fun!
Great read, Lazybones.
Thanks. Vampires kick ass. I have to admit, I think I enjoy writing the new Talen more.
* * * * *
Chapter 327
PARLEY
Talen handed his sword to Shay, and reached up to pull off his ruined helm. It took some effort, but when the battered metal finally tore free to reveal the ruined head beneath, even Dar’s mouth twisted in disgust. The entire right side of Talen’s head was a gory mess, his right ear dangling where the base of his jaw had been before. Almost reflexively, Allera stepped forward, a blue glow forming around her hands, but Talen’s followers hissed at her, and the fallen knight laughed.
“Have you forgotten what I am, healer? Keep your powers at a distance from myself and my men, if you please. I will be well enough in a few moments.” And indeed, they could see his flesh slowly knitting together again, as the dark powers of his unlife worked to restore him to health.
“Looks like you’ve made a few new friends,” Dar grunted. His wounds had been healed by Allera’s healing spells, but the socket of his right eye gaped open like a pit, raw and empty. Allera started to come to him, but he forestalled her with a subtle gesture, prodding her behind him with his free hand.
“And it looks like you’ve found a few old ones,” Talen shot back, with a hard eye at Varo. “I knew that you would not be able to keep from intervening,” he said.
“The question is, why are
you here,” Varo asked. “Or was it the call of your Master that drew you here?”
“I call no one or nothing master!” Talen hissed. With an obvious effort, he calmed himself. Shay moved into the nook of his arm, slipping his sword back into his hand. “We do not serve Orcus,” she told them.
“You are undead,” the cleric replied. “The choice may not be yours to make.”
“We have free will!” Shay insisted. “I chose to join Talen... it was my own decision to make.” She drew closer to him, but a troubled look passed on the fallen knight’s face. It was difficult to look at him for long, as the flesh on the side of his face crawled and shifted as the bones beneath knit back together.
“What about your companions?” Varo asked. “Did they have a choice?”
“Why not ask them?” Talen returned. He turned to his followers. Four of the five were crude sorts of men, their base origins obvious even through their transformations into undead. They had hard, feral looks about them, and their armor and garments were stained with dirt and old blood.
Talen ran his gaze over them. “Well? Drudge, Utar, Needles, and Hedder were bandits when we found them, and a pretty desperate lot, too. They made their choice when they elected to assault us. At least their fate was better than that of most of their compatriots. No?”
“As you say, master,” the first bandit replied.
“What about the girl?” Allera asked.
The last vampire was a slender, almost emaciated figure of a woman, in her late teens by the look of her. She was swathed in dark robes that wrapped her entire body, save for the oval of her face, hidden deep within a cowl. Talen looked at her, and she shrank a bit under his scrutiny.
“We found Calla on the brink of death,” Talen said. “The rest of her family, the other steaders... all were dead, taken by pestilence and hunger. She would have joined them, had we not saved her.”
“Ah yes, saved her from a reunion with her family at the side of the Father in the next life, in favor of an eternal existence in unlife,” Varo said.
Talen’s gaze was cutting. “I do not have to justify myself or my actions to
you, priest of Dagos.” He lifted his hand, which tightened into a fist. “I am no longer shackled by the weight of guilt and responsibility that hung about my neck like a yoke while I lived. When Orcus stole my humanity, he sought to make me a slave. But in reality, he set me free.”
“Free to live an existence in the shadows,” Varo said, “to never again feel the warmth of the sun upon your skin. Free to hide your face from men, never to savor the glow of true feelings, of love...”
Talen laughed, but there was an edge to it. Behind him, his servants tensed, the hunger in their eyes as obvious as the noses on their faces. “You know how many times I’ve wanted to kill you, Varo?”
“Enough of this,” Dar said. “Get in freaking line.” The fighter had not returned
Valor to its scabbard, and blue flickers danced up the length of the blade as it caught the light of Allera’s torch. “We asked you a question, before. What the hell do you want here, Talen?”
Talen’s eyes blazed with intensity. “I am here... I
choose to be here, to bring down Orcus.”
“I would have thought that a world populated exclusively by undead would be appealing to you,” Letellia said.
“My score with the demon lord is... personal.” His arm tightened possessively against Shay, who pressed closer against him, but did not look up.
“Surely you can understand why we are wary of trusting you,” Letellia said. “Even now, your flunkies can barely restrain themselves from throwing themselves upon us.”
“It is not a matter of trust,” Talen said. “Without us, you would already be dead, or worse; Maphistal was on the brink of taking all of you when we arrived. Without us, you will have no chance whatsoever against the Overmind.”
“The Overmind?” Allera asked. Dar glanced at Varo, and noted the absence of surprise in the cleric’s expression.
Talen smirked; he’d seen it too. “A powerful entity. Not quite alive, not quite dead, it is a collective intelligence of the harvested brains of elder mind flayers. Its mental powers are... considerable.”
“You seem to know a great deal about it,” Letellia said.
“Indeed. I have visited its lair. Why not?” he said, as the companions betrayed their surprise. “I am undead, a vampire, surely I must serve Orcus?”
“You are immune to its mental powers?” Letellia asked.
“Another benefit of my... transformation.”
“We’re not here to take on evil brains,” Dar said.
“We may not have a choice,” Varo said.
“The bodies of your friends are in its lair, by the way. They have been animated as undead; the elf in particular makes a quite fetching zombie. And my sword. Careless of you to lose
Beatus Incendia, Dar. There are stairs leading down to another level, but even we were not allowed to pass by the Overmind’s servants.”
“Servants?” Allera asked.
“Mind flayers and grimlocks.”
“They could stop you?” Letellia asked.
“We chose not to press the issue,” Talen replied. “Once we saw the others, and heard the tale of the ambush, we suspected that we might find the rest of you somewhere around here.”
Varo pulled Dar aside slightly. “Did you give Alderis my ring?” the cleric whispered.
“This is not the place or time, Varo,” Dar began, but the cleric cut him off. “It is vital! Did you give him the ring?”
After a pause, Dar nodded. “Then there may still be a chance,” the cleric said, more to himself than to the fighter. “You would assist us in defeating the Overmind and its guardians?” Varo asked Talen.
“If you will help my companions and I get to Orcus,” the vampire replied.
“Wait a minute,” Dar said, stepping between them. “Doesn’t it seem likely that he’d just lure us into another ambush?”
Talen smiled, showing his pointed teeth. “We could kill you right now if we wanted, Dar.”
Allera lifted a hand, which became rimed with a bright blue glow. “If you tried, you would burn,” the healer said.
“Noted,” Talen said. He extended a hand toward Dar. “So... allies of convenience?”
Dar snarled and turned, Talen’s mocking laughter following him as he stalked away.
