MYRIAD WORLDS: THE DEMON LORD GILGAMESH

CHAPTER SIX: Road to Castle Org

Nearly two days after Gilgal finally left the kingdom of Laos, he paid for passage on the ferry; paying extra for Harvey. After the crossing, he continued on his way through the forests around the kingdom of Nialli for five days before he finally made it unto the dirt and winding roads cutting through the mountain ranges around the Castle.

He was only slightly alert, nearly falling asleep on Harvey as the proximity of the Castle lulled him into a sense of security, then he heard the hushed voices before him. Harvey stopped to a mental command, and he dismounted silently. The voices became more discernible as he crept closer to the bend in the road, until he got a view of the action.

A band of large men dressed as guards were slowly boxing a woman into a corner. Along the road were horses and a carriage tipped over on its side, with the wheels broken. Chests were already dotting the ground around the carriage, along with pieces of fabric spilling free from opened chests.

Two of the men were focused on the chests, but they still paid attention to the plight of the woman, laughing with the others. Another fellow stood by the bend in the road, serving as a sentry. Two corpses in guard uniforms were lying, one beside the carriage and another further down the road.

Gilgal paused where he was hunched over behind a small bush, and pondered. The guardsmen had the Nkazanian coat of arms embroidered on their jerkins, but they didn’t have the accent. He moved his awareness to the woman surrounded by the men and frowned. She looked familiar, but he was sure he’d never seen her before.

The woman had the dark complexion of the Nkazani, even darker than Nur’s, and she carried herself with a hint of assurance even against the boisterous and ill-intentioned men. Gilgal settled his senses on her, trying to spot something with which to identify her, then he did spot it when the closest man suddenly reached out and grabbed the woman’s arm.

The woman jerked to a stop, the motion upsetting her sleeves and revealing the gold bangle wrapped around her wrists. Even from that distance, Gilgal was able to see clearly the craftsmanship of the bangle. It was a Wyvern frozen perpetually in the process of biting its own tail.

His frown deepened and anger buzzed through his heart, to be replaced immediately by jealousy. He recognized the bangle, because he’d given it to Nur nearly a century ago when they were still dating. The last time he saw her, he noticed that the bangle was missing and when he’d asked, she admitted to the fact that she gave it away to her new lover. Now, he could finally put a face to the identity of the lover.

He didn’t need some great insight to figure out what had happened. The woman – Vera Njadak – was clearly the victim of a well planned robbery. The eight men must have masqueraded as part of her guard, and followed her all the way from Nkazani to the Castle, and had only acted now upon their return. The two dead guardsmen were most likely the genuine guards, and they’d been quickly silenced.

“You better behave, Princess,” the man pulled roughly on Vera’s wrist, dragging her to his side and roughly grabbing her waist. “We are still a day away from the Castle, and would let you go after we’ve had our fun with you,” he growled.

“You’ve already killed my guards, and you have the wealth you came for. Why not just take that and leave?” Vera countered, trying to wriggle out of the man’s rough embrace.

Gilgal watched from his hiding place expressionlessly. Why would the Nkazani Princess be travelling back to her Kingdom with winter so close at hand and the Castle already within reach? And why wasn’t Nur travelling with her, even if just as an escort for a short while?

He counted the eight men and grimaced. They looked like they knew their way with a sword, and they were well spaced out that any attack would only be drawn out, allowing for unwanted surprises. His grimace turned into a scowl as he watched the interactions again, and he cursed silently. His relationship with Nur shouldn’t affect his decision here. After all, that was the daughter of King Dubem Njadak that he was observing.

Silently, he crawled back to where Harvey still stood and opened a different bundle, pulling out a steel sword. The sword was not enchanted, but it was still well maintained and sharp. He tested the feel again, and couldn’t help a mirthless chuckle. Killing fellow humans had never been a problem for him when he judged that they needed killing, but it’d been years since the last time. Now, he couldn’t help feeling as though it was some kind of acceptance of the succubus’ words, claiming that he wasn’t human.

He gripped the sword firmly and walked out onto the road, just as the leading man sent the princess spinning with a backhand slap. The sentry spotted him first and quickly took stance with his sword, before requesting that he halt.

“Gentlemen,” Gilgal acknowledged the men with a nod, but he didn’t halt, even as they all turned to him with weapons drawn and grim expressions on their faces.

His uniform was recently washed, so his identity couldn’t be mistaken. For that, the men were already resolved to kill him. After all, who was to say he wouldn’t remember their faces if they were to let him leave alive? A Purger could always request an audience with any King of the United Kingdoms, and their activity here would see them hang if it was ever revealed.

But killing a Purger was also a death sentence. There could be no witnesses. One of the men slowed down to hang beside the Princess, as though he was harmless.

Gilgal watched them. He walked a few more steps before stopping and making a show of watching only the Princess. The leading man followed his line of sight, a frown creasing his brows and Gilgal knew he’d die first.

“Just walk away, Purger,” the sentry spoke softly, eyes fixed on Gilgal. He was alert.

Gilgal noted the man, then ignored him.

“There’s no walking away!” the leading man barked, gesticulating widely with his sword – a broad thing better suited for the butcher shop. “Surround him, and don’t let him cast any spells!”

Gilgal smiled wickedly. He moved.

His overhead slash easily broke through the leading man’s weak parry. The man fell as blood spurted into the air from his severed torso.

The other men faltered. Gilgal didn’t, and neither did the sentry. Continuing his slash, he twisted, drawing his sword in an arc and decapitating the fellow closest to the dismembered body of the leading man.

“The Prince take it! Run!” one of the men cried, dropped his sword and put his words to action. Gilgal braced himself and sent a bolt of lightning catching up to the fellow before he’d taken more than three steps.

The other three men cursed and fell upon him. The sentry hung back with a wary look on his face, while the other fellow was grabbing for the Princess.

Gilgal ducked, parried one blow, evaded another and delivered a counterstrike, disarming and drawing a diagonal line across the torso of the unlucky fellow. The other two roared and backed away hastily, but not before one of them lost his dominant hand at the wrist. Two swords fell to the ground with a dull thud, just mere moments apart.

The sentry moved finally.

“Die, you butcher!”

The clang of steel rang, followed by a howl, and the sentry’s head cartwheeled through the air before landing with a wet thud. Barely a second passed. The sentry was a seasoned swordsman, but Purgers weren’t ordinary. His mistake was the assumption that Gilgal had any desire or need to cross swords with him.

The other two men were trembling on their feet, one clutching a bleeding stump, but both surrendering their swords, and asking for mercy. The last man was not ignorant of the current state of things and had given up on capturing the Princess, instead was fleeing for all he was worth down the road.

Gilgal flicked the blood off his sword and relaxed his stance. The running man must have been so scared that he forgot to take notice of his bearings. He’d have a lot of explaining to do once he finally stumbled into the range of the Purgers on the Castle’s walls.

Ignoring the two who were still trembling and on the verge of pissing themselves, Gilgal whistled loudly, then started approaching the Princess and her carriage. He studied her face as he came closer, acknowledging begrudgingly that the woman was a beauty.

He’d been to the Palace at Nkazani many times in the past, and only once recently, but had never had occasion to meet their Princess. Now, he could see that she looked more like her grandmother than she did her mother. Why King Dubem would endorse his daughter’s relationship with a Purger like Nur, was beyond him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Who are you?” the Princess asked haughtily. Her eyes narrowed slightly as though a flash of recognition had passed through her mind.

Gilgal smiled. “I am a wood Sprite come to steal your unborn babies.”

“You’re him!” Vera declared.

Gilgal frowned slightly. That meant that Nur must have been talking about him. “That depends on who exactly you mean.”

“I’ve heard about you!”

“No doubt about that. Not much from Nur, I hope. But, what are you doing here?”

Vera watched him curiously, and he shrugged. No doubt she had her reasons for travelling back to Nkazani at this time, and was entitled to keep it secret.

Harvey walked out onto the road, startling the two prisoners even more. Gilgal turned his attention to them. Killing them after they’d surrendered wouldn’t even deprive him a minute of sleep, but he never had any desire to kill anyway, and the men hadn’t personally offended him. He couldn’t bring them along with him, either.

“You’re both free to go,” he said to them as he wiped the blood from his sword. They looked at him with a mixture of relief and disbelief, and Vera frowned at him. He ignored the Princess. “I am letting you go, hoping that you’d give up on this life of yours, and will understand if you don’t change. But know this, should we meet like this again, I will personally go out of my way to make your deaths as terrifying as possible.”

“We’ll change, master Purger!” the men declared, crying with relief.

“I don’t care.”

He returned the sword to the saddlebag and walked Harvey over to the Princess, who’d begun stuffing her jewelries and clothes back into their chests. He noticed that she seemed uncomfortable with his proximity, and tutted. How was he supposed to act in the presence of his ex-girlfriend’s new girlfriend?

“You’re not how I remember you,” the Princess said suddenly.

“Oh? Are the horns missing? I thought I grew them out years ago,” Gilgal joked, then immediately fell silent as the words registered. He growled to himself, turning away from the Princess.

“You never had a horn,” the Princess said, and something in her tone made Gilgal turn to her sharply. “Your eyes were gold, though.”

“Gold?” Gilgal asked.

“Yes. Not human.”