Chapter 03: Invasion of Castlelake

Chapter 3: Invasion of Castlelake

 

Kagain grinned evilly, with Dyorn gone; Castlelake was his for the taking.  He approached at night, and summoned a legion of spiders.  These were not ordinary spiders, they were mutated; each spider stood three feet tall; they had not eight, but sixteen legs; their bites could kill a person in less time than the Black Plague.  The spiders were pure black except for a tint of red on their feet and the red Blackturner crest sat atop their back.  “Go my dears, take every man, woman, and child hostage in Castlelake.  Make it ready for my take over!”  He watched on as his spiders stormed the castle, and laughed when he heard the woman scream, and children cry.

He turned his gaze to the sky and screamed.  “THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE BLACKTURNERS TO RISE ABOVE ALL!”  He again laughed that evil, almost demonic laugh.  Finally, he followed his spiders into Castlelake, making his way to the throne room.

“Kagain Blackturner?”  Gorec questioned, then finally recognized him, drawing his blade.

“Gorec Anubis.  Nice to see you again, and I am glad that you know who I am, even though it has been a while.”

“Kagain, you are not welcome here.”  Gorec took his fighting stance, ready to attempt to push Kagain out of Castlelake.

Kagain chuckled.  “Gorec, I know that.  I also know that you stand no chance against me.”  He waved his hand at Gorec, watching him fly against a wall, and quickly held there by thick magical webs.   “After you see my, shall I say companions, I do not think you will argue.”  A few spiders walked into the throne room, and Gorec’s jaw dropped.  Seeing the reaction caused a sinister smile to cross his face. 

“What are you planning to do to me?”

“I am planning to do nothing to you.  It is what I am planning to do for Dragonia.”

“What do you mean?”

“From this day forth, I am proclaiming myself; Kagain Blackturner, the Emperor of Dragonia.”

“What?”

“You heard me, you incompetent fool.”

“And what of me?”

“What of you?  You were assistant to the former emperor, were you not?”  Seeing him nod, he grinned.  “You will be as everyone else here, a prisoner.  GUARDS!”  The spiders seized Gorec and took him to the dungeon, the same dungeon that Kagain had been in a year before.

Kagain took the throne, and sighed, having finally achieved what he has been after since Dyorn refused Alora.  He looked around the throne room, and saw the door open; Alora entered and approached her father.  “Father, I see you have gained the throne, as you have so desired.  What about your deal with me?”

“That will be Emperor to you Alora, and what deal do you speak of?”

“Our deal.  You promised me that at soon as you gained the throne I would gain Lyra’s dagger.”

“Ah yes, that deal.  Well, we have one problem with the deal.  That childish wench, Lyra, still has her dagger.  I was unable to obtain it before she left the inn. So, our deal shall have to wait.”

Alora’s face turned red.  “I hate you ‘Emperor’!”  She said the word with such scorn it made Kagain smile as she stormed away.  She went to the same inn that Dyorn met Lyra in.  “I want your best, and strongest, ale.”

“My best?  Milady, that will cost more gold than I think you carry.”

“I do not worry about price!”  She slapped him.  “My father is now Emperor here!  Kagain Blackturner.”

He chuckled.  “Kagain Blackturner?  He is dead, how could he rule?  Besides, Dyorn Andros, and his wife Lyra, are still in rule.”

Alora glared at him, and was ready to draw her blade.  “Dyorn and Lyra Andros have been murdered, Kagain Blackturner is not dead, he escaped from the prison before his sentence was carried out.  Your Emperor is now Kagain!”  Her glare did not lessen.  “I shall make sure that you are the first we kill.”

The keep audibly gulped, and started to stutter.  “I…I sh….sha…shall have your ale to you as soon as possible.”  He turned, and ran into the cellar to get her ale.  “Dyorn and Lyra dead?  How can this be?”  He took a few deep breaths, and took the ale to Alora.  “There you are ma’am.”  He bowed after he set the bottle on the bar.

“Dismissed.”  She did not even thank him for the effort put into finding the ale.  She took a generous amount for her first drink, making sure the keep left.  “Damn you father.  You have never kept your promises to me!  You would not care if I ran away.”  She thought about that for a moment.  “Run away.  Of course!  I shall run away, and steal the dagger from Lyra myself.  Use her own dagger to kill her, how perfect.”  She grinned evilly, just like her father.  She finished her ale and began to plan her escape.

**************

During Alora's stay at the inn, Kagain was busy making his own plans.  "She hates me does she?  Well, it seems that I shall have to change her mind, if not by choice than by force.”  He chuckled.  “By force? Why that sounds interesting.  Almost as interesting as killing that Ciencaster wench, and that Andros b*****d!”  He chuckled.  “With the infamous Castlelake under my control, they will have no choice but to obey me!  This is the most ingenious plan that I have ever had!”

As Kagain was raving on, Alora stepped into the throne room.  “Father, I have a proposition for you.”

Kagain glared at Alora.  “You ungrateful wench.  First, you went against your father, the emperor, and now you have a proposition for me?”

Alora looked down to her feet.  “Yes father.”

“Well, even with the conditions of your insubordination, I will give you three minutes.”

“All right, Emperor Kagain, I know that you plan to make Dragonia and Entantium into one planet, but that would cause the deaths of everyone, in both Dragonia and Entantium.  My proposition is simple, mend the two worlds at one insignificant place.  Say, the Black Plains?”

“Well, it looks like my daughter had the same worry I did, but came up with a solution.  That is a great plan Alora, and I will do that.”  Kagain laughed.  “Guards!”  The guards ran as quick as they could into the throne room.  “Fetch Gorec, I wish to have a word with him.”

“Yes, sir.”  The guards left, and went to the dungeon.  “Release the prisoner, Gorec, Emperor Kagain wishes to have a word with him.”  The spiders clipped the webs holding Gorec onto the wall, and delivered him to the guards.  The guards took Gorec by the arms, and drug him into the throne room.  When they entered the room, they threw Gorec on the floor at the feet of Kagain.  “My lord, we have delivered Gorec as you wished.”

“Good, now be gone!”  The guards scurried out of the room, closing the doors as they did so.  “Gorec, I have a question for you.  How long did you study your geography of both Dragonia and Entantium?”

Gorec looked puzzled.  “Why would you wish to know such a thing?”

“I did not ask for your questions!”  A sudden shock left Kagain’s fingers, and ran through Gorec’s whole body.  “Answer my question or you shall beg me for your death!”

“I will not help you in any way!”

Another shock ran through Gorec’s body, sending him back to his knees.  “Tell me!”

“Twelve years.”  Gorec was in extreme pain; his words came followed by a turret of blood.

“Twelve years, and in that twelve years can you recall if there are plains in Entantium that would match the Black plains of Dragonia?”

Deciding not to defy Kagain, for fear that he would as soon as kill him without a second thought, he answered.  “Well, there are the Dark Hills in Entantium, those would be closest to Dragonia.  There is one problem though, the Dark Hills have a Mage Tower built to protect the boundaries and same with the Black Plains.  Dyorn’s grandfather had them built.”

“These Mage Towers, do they serve another purpose?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“What is the other purpose?”

“As a way to get between the two planets, why?”

Kagain grinned, his demonic grin when he was thinking something evil.  “Oh, no reason at all.  You are dismissed!  Guards, get this man out of my sight!”  The guards grabbed Gorec.

The guards took him far enough to be out of hearing range for Kagain.  When they were far enough they stopped and spoke.  “Gorec, we are loyal to the true emperor, Dyorn.  Go to him and tell him what has happened at Castlelake.”  They let Gorec go at the doors, and watched him run off.  “Good luck Gorec.”  Gorec, before he left, made a replica of himself, and the guards took him to the dungeon.  “Lock him up.”  The spiders took the replica, and tied him back up on the wall, unknowing that he was a replica.

**************

As this was happening, Kagain was busy thinking.  “So the Mage Towers are to get between worlds, well now I know how I am to do this.”  He went to his chambers, and brought out a tome.  “Let’s see if I have a combining spell in here.”  He searched the tome for hours on end, and was just about to fall asleep when he ran across it.  “Ah, lets see here.  ‘isha munada geean tylak sorba’ interesting incantation.”  He read further, gathering the ingredients that he would need to perform the spell.  He put the tome away, and headed to bed.  “Tomorrow, Dragonia will never be the same.”  Kagain chuckled at that thought and his dreams were filled with weird images of Entantium and Dragonia being one place, with one king, Kagain Blackturner.

**************

Gorec was quickly on his way to find Dyorn and Lyra.  If he did not find them there would be no hope for Castlelake to survive, more importantly, there would be no way that Dragonia or Entantium would survive.  He stopped at the Inn of the Last Home, knowing that they should still  be there, unless something went terribly wrong.  He stepped into the inn, and made his way to the keep.  “Excuse me, but I was wondering if you would have a few people here, they were on a quest?”

“A quest?”  Hyleith grinned a bit, knowing he meant Dyorn and Lyra.  “Well, I had two patrons here not too long ago, and they said they were on a quest.”

“You did?  Did they say where they were going?’

“Yes, as a matter of fact they did.  They said they were heading to the Lake of the Dead.”

“That was them!  When did they leave?”

“Oh, about three days ago I would say, if you hurry now, you can catch them.”

“Thank you good sir.”  Gorec ran out of the inn, and ran down the trail, he had to find Dyorn and Lyra, how else could he warn them about Kagain and how he took over Castlelake.

**************

Kagain awoke after a good night’s slumber.  How long it had been since he was able to sleep on a bed worthy of him.  “Well, it seems that Dyorn is good for something after all.”  He stood, and dressed, pure black robes and knee-high leather boots completed his attire.  “I think that it is time that Dragonia and Entantium got a bit, shall I say, closer.”  He laughed, his laugh traveled through the castle, sending chills down the spines of everyone around. 

He approached his spell book, and looked up the spell, seeing what it is he would need.  “A few dragon scales, eye of griffin, tail of a wolf, ah, this should provide to be an interesting challenge.  ‘A sacrifice of a powerful wizard, warlock, witch, or sorceress will be needed to make the spell last, the more powerful the sacrifice, the longer the spell will last.’  That is a very interesting thought.  I want this spell to last forever, but a sacrifice for this would have to be someone as strong as me.  That cannot happen.”  He thought for a while, trying to figure out the right sacrifice. 

“Hmmm, who shall it be, who shall it be?”  He thought about another suitable sacrifice.  “I guess there is only one other sacrifice that would be anywhere near strong enough to do what I want to do, and that would be Wuith.  Of course, why did I not think of him before?  Wuith is the best sacrifice that I could ever have thought of.  The only wizard that has ever been close to being stronger than I am.  Now, finding him will be a different story.  JACE!”

Jace ran in as fast as he could.  “Yes, your highness?”  He bowed before Kagain.

“Jace, I have a very special assignment for you.  I want you to track the warlock Wuith; at the first chance you have, capture him and bring him to the castle.  Do you understand?”

“Yes sire.  I understand your request.”  He stood, and began to leave.

“And Jace?  If you fail this quest, do not even think about returning, for if you do you can bet you will have the first seat on the guillotine the day you return.”

Jace gulped, then nodded, making his way out of the castle to track Wuith.  “He would not dare to kill me.  As he has said countless times before, I am too important to him.”  He tried his best to track Wuith, but found it harder than he had thought it would be to track one of the best wizards in all of Dragonia. 

He finally caught a break.  He was staying at an inn not far from Castlelake when he overheard someone speaking.  “Wuith thinks he is such a good warlock.  The only problem with that man is that he is crazy.  He has never been sane of mind in the time that I have known him.”

“That is true.  He is one pint short of a barrel if you know what I mean.”  They both laughed, and took a drink from their goblets.

Jace approached the men.  “Excuse me, I could not help but overhear your conversation.  Were you talking about the warlock, Wuith?”

“Yes, sir, I was.  I believe the fame has gone to his head.”

“You would not, by chance, know where I could find him would you?”

“Everyone in all of Dragonia knows where to find him.  He dwells three days travel from the Lake of the Dead, a hut deep within the woods.  The only place of residence in the woods, you should have no problems finding him.”

Jace grinned a bit.  “Thank you sir.”  He took a small pouch of gold off of his sash and tossed it on the table.  “Drinks on me.”

“That is very kind of you.  I know this is none of my business, but why are you looking for him?”

“Looking for a cure.”  The man nodded, and Jace left and headed towards the Lake of the Dead.  He had only one thing to worry about, encountering Lyra and Dyorn.