Dark Sculptor: Dark Sculptor Novel 01 Read online

  She stood, “I’m going with you.”

  I sighed, but nodded, and we headed east through the woods along the side of the highway. We were slow, and careful, but we were both making far too much noise for my comfort. It took us a minute or two, our neighboring campers had been closer to a hundred yards away. It got easier, as we saw their fire, and realized they were making a lot of noise. Outside the aura of their campfire they’d be completely blind, and with the racket they were making they’d never hear us coming.

  We stopped about forty feet away, and could make out a large camp fire, and what looked like a wagon with a large cage on it. There were several people in the cage, and I counted just four soldiers. Two of the soldiers were holding someone between them, who was twisting wildly in an attempt to escape, or something. It became clear a moment later.

  “Joe, knock the bitch out if you had too, I’ve never had me some elf pussy, and I’m looking forward to it.”

  The woman screamed, the elven woman, and thrashed her body even harder. With the context, it was now obvious to me the men were trying to strip her clothes off, and failing despite their victim having her hands tied behind her back.

  I turned and gave Regina a questioning glance. We weren’t true rebels, not yet, but I wasn’t about to sit by and watch a rape happen. Then again, I didn’t know if freeing elves so close to Dulcier was a good idea either. Well, I supposed I was a true rebel already, in that the king wanted me dead, and was my enemy. I supposed that was fair enough, as I planned to do what he’d feared another sculptor would do. I wouldn’t lead a rebellion, but I’d sure as hell free and undo the horrors of what he’d done.

  Plus, I just couldn’t watch a woman get raped, no matter her species. We could figure out the right thing to do after stopping that.

  Regina seemed to agree, and had a cold look in her eyes when she nodded at me.

  I started to move closer, slowly, to get within fifteen feet, hopefully without being noticed. I stayed low, and crawled in the brush and tried to stay out of the light using the trees. As soon as I was close enough, I pushed out my magic, and the first guard fell to the ground asleep.

  “Joe!” one yelled, and two seconds later he was down as well.

  The other two dropped the elven woman, drew their swords, and looked around in fear.

  It almost wasn’t fair, as I dropped the third to the ground, then the fourth. I stood up, they’d be out for a while. Regina and I got up and stepped into the camp. It was much easier to make out the elves now.

  They all had silvery white hair, pointed ears, and thinner faces. They were attractive, but alien and obviously not human. They were openly staring at us as well, and they didn’t look friendly or thankful for a rescue. They were also all male, the ones still caged I mean.

  While Regina got busy replenishing our funds from the four guards, I walked over to the elf on the ground. She was obviously female, and had a petite athletic tight little body. As for her face, I had no idea, they had a sack tied over her head. She was frozen on the ground, probably unsure of what was going on, and if the men would renew their attempts to rape her.

  “You are safe. The men who wished to use you are all asleep.”

  She said, “Safe? I think not. What trickery is this?”

  “My name is James. I’d like to free you and your people, so you can return to your own lands. I am no friend to the king, but I fear if I do so you will attack us.”

  She was silent for a long time.

  “My name is Saria, human. Untie me, and your lives will be spared.”

  “James,” I said back, “Elf.”

  She laughed, “Fine, James. You have my word.”

  “Why are you hooded, Saria?”

  She said haughtily, “Take it off, and find out.”

  “That sounded like a threat.”

  She said, “Not against you, or the woman with you.”

  After some thought, I bent down, and started to untie her hands, then I helped her with the hood.

  She was beautiful in an alien and severe way. High cheekbones, delicate slender neck, a strikingly beautiful thin face, button nose, and full lips. Her silvery hair was long, and flowed down to the small of her back as she stood up, and her eyes were a shockingly dark blue color, the kind that humans could only achieve with colored contacts.

  We stared at each other for a few moments, her word to me hanging in the balance. I felt relief as she turned away from me, and then horror as four loud cracks filled the forest night.

  She’d snapped all the guard’s necks, with telekinesis I’m assuming.

  I almost demanded to know why she’d done that, except I already knew the answer, they were going to rape her. I’d planned to see if they’d been enhanced, and maybe fix them, but I knew in the end that would have only effected their loyalty. I doubted the king had turned them into rapists, false loyalty or not that guilt would be all theirs.

  Her face was stony, not angry, just like it’d been sculpted or carved from granite as she looked back at me. The only indication of emotion at all, was the arrogance around her eyes. She was a stunning woman, and quite intimidating.

  She walked over to the wagon, and opened the gate to let the others out of the cage. Then she walked over to a large crate on the other end, and opened it.

  I blushed, and turned away when she stripped off the crude shirt and breeches she’d been wearing. Not before I got a good look at her tight five foot four sexy petite body though. She had perfect B cups, rounded and quite pert, a curvy waist, and a tight little bubbled ass.

  Regina looked at me in amusement, and a little bit of worry.

  “James,” said a soft alluring voice.

  I turned back around, and saw she was wearing some kind of green skin-tight body armor, along with a thin longsword on her waist, and a bow over her shoulder. She looked totally bad ass, and the moment became just that much more surreal. Her face was also softer somehow, as if she was more relaxed and secure now that she was armed.

  “Saria?”

  She said, “How did you knock those men out?”

  I hesitated for a moment, not sure how she’d take the fact I was like the king in power. I decided to hedge my bets and state my intentions first.

  I said, “I’m on my way to Eastguard to free all the people there from the king’s thrall, from the changes he forced on them, including your people. I am a flesh sculptor, the only other one beside the king in Desal as far as I know.”

  Her eyes narrowed, “That is a bold claim, and a bold plan. Why.”

  I saw no harm in answering the question.

  I replied, “Because the king kills all other sculptors, and I hope to gain allies there. I don’t care about overthrowing him, but I do want to create a place of safety for me and my mate. Also, it is the right thing to do, no one should have their body and mind sculpted and enslaved. It’s an evil and amoral use of the power.”

  She tilted her head, and her voice was hard, “How do I know you won’t just steal their loyalty for yourself?”

  “I wouldn’t do that, it’s against my oath. I am a physician and healer, and won’t use my knowledge or magic to cause harm.”

  She asked, “What is this oath?”

  I took a deep breath.

  “I swear by Apollo the Healer, by Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.

  “To hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture; to impart precept, oral instruction, and all other instruction to my own sons, the sons of my teacher, and to indentured pupils who have taken the physician’s oath, but to nobody else.

  “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never w
ith a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.

  “Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free. And whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession, as well as outside my profession in my intercourse with men, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.

  “Now if I carry out this oath, and break it not, may I gain for ever reputation among all men for my life and for my art; but if I transgress it and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.”

  Not many medical students give the original oath, maybe one or two out of a hundred, but I was one of those.

  She studied me for a moment, “And you travel alone, with your woman?”

  I nodded, and she frowned, then stalked away.

  I exchanged a glance with Regina, she looked just as confused as I felt. I then looked back to Saria who was gesturing and speaking quickly in a musical language that was quite beautiful, and that I didn’t understand at all. Several of the men seemed to be arguing with her, and angrily gesticulating at me. That wasn’t a good sign. Finally, reluctantly by the looks of it, the ten men melted into the forest, but Saria didn’t go with them.

  Saria walked back over to me with a determined look on her face.

  “You saved me, and then you gave me hope, but you are weak, and alone. I pledge an oath before you, that my blood shall run before yours, my sword and magic will protect your life and that of your mate, and I will hold your life dearer than mine until all in Eastguard are freed of King Hanson’s unholy influence.”

  Wait, what?

  Chapter Twelve

  I said cautiously, “Not that I’m complaining, but why? I figured you’d be on your way home by now, not dedicating your life to my safety. I didn’t free you to put you in debt.”

  She smiled, but it was a wicked smile, filled with barely restrained violence and passion. I’d have shit myself if I hadn’t known it wasn’t directed at me.

  “I do owe you a debt for that, but that is not why I have given you my oath, or why I am to join you and protect you until everyone in the city is freed.”

  “Join us?”

  She looked at me haughtily, “Of course, how can I carry out my oath if I let you out of my sight? My men are scouring the forest ahead and behind us, and will shadow us the rest of the way to Eastguard, while I and only I pledged my life to you for the duration of this mission, and shall not leave your side.”

  Regina looked a little consternated by that.

  Saria added with amusement, “I will give you some privacy, but I will stand guard over your tent for those moments you are vulnerable and not paying attention.”

  Saria was gorgeous, if a bit alien looking, but she was far more intimidating to me than hot.

  “You still didn’t explain why.”

  Saria said, “My men and I were on a mission, before we were caught by one of your mages. We were put in the cage to be taken to Malburn, and to be turned into mindless abominations of the king’s. We’d have been returned to Eastguard once that was accomplished. Our original mission was to save Desirae, the princess heir of Lelmalond.”

  “Lelmalond?”

  Saria waved her hand and said, “The elven capital city, within Laya, the great forest. Desirae led an ill-considered raid into Desal, and was captured months ago. When we learned what the king had done to her, we were determined to extract her, find a way to heal her, or if that failed release her from her misery. So, that is why I have sworn my life to protect yours, you are the best hope, perhaps the only true hope, to restore our princess heir to us. Your chances of success are much higher with me here to guard you, if I understood your oath right, you can’t use your magic to kill, and you don’t have any skills with a sword or bow.”

  I nodded in agreement, though technically it wasn’t quite the full truth. I was shocked, and a little intimidated, but at the same time I was feeling a lot better about our chances if we met larger opposition on the road. Opposition I couldn’t sneak up on and put to sleep.

  Regina pointed out, “But your oath said the whole city.”

  Saria turned her head away, and then looked back.

  “It is the least I owe you, for saving my life, and then if you save and free our princess from the prison of her currently twisted body? It would be… without honor, to abandon you before your goals are met and you are relatively safe. In truth I should serve you for the duration of your life, but given we are not the same race I didn’t think that would be welcome to either of us.”

  She whipped her head to the side, and then smiled, again, it wasn’t a happy smile. I got the impression the elven people kept their savagery closer to the surface than even humans did. It was disturbing to my hind brain, and I had to make an effort not to either freeze or run. The fact that she was a petite little sex pot, and beautiful besides, made it worse. The beauty of her face may have been alien, but it was far from unattractively alien. Her blue eyes were large and alluring, and the silver white hair looked like silk.

  “My men come back with real food, return to your tent and get some sleep, I will clean and cook the animal, then stand watch as I meditate.”

  “Don’t you sleep?”

  She waved that off, “I slept all day in the wagon cell. I’ll be fine until tomorrow night, and my men will guard us all as I sleep right outside your tent. Now go, do what I say. It is late, and tomorrow we eat breakfast at dawn.”

  Right, she might be my guard, but apparently she also thought she was in charge. Then again, was I going to argue with an intimidatingly vicious elven woman? Nope.

  I took Regina’s hand, time for bed…

  Regina and my lovemaking that night was much quieter than usual, but having an elf outside the tent didn’t seem to cool Regina’s ardor one iota otherwise. It didn’t affect me at all either, Regina was so distracting I’d put the sexy elf completely out of my mind after the first two minutes. We were both quite sated and satisfied, when I spooned and cradled her lovingly in my arms, and we sought sleep.

  The next morning, we woke with the sun, and as promised Saria had cooked us breakfast. There was also a third horse, no doubt one of the ones that had pulled the wagon. Though it didn’t have a bridle or saddle that I could see. Apparently, she was going to ride bareback and guide it… somehow?

  “Good morning,” I said as we sat near the fire.

  Saria nodded, but didn’t say anything else in greeting, and I thought Regina seemed a little more withdrawn than usual in the morning. Perhaps she was a little intimidated by the elf too? It seemed my wish for allies had come true, but this was going to be rather interesting.

  Saria’s silver white hair looked even softer and more beautiful in the sunlight, and her green armor was so tight it left absolutely nothing to the imagination when it came to her tight curves. I tried very hard not to look however, the look in her eyes was alien, and a little wild. She wasn’t human. Not that it mattered, I was with Regina, and loved Regina, but it was still hard not to take a look. Except, Saria’s body language was just… off. Still, exotic and striking came to mind.

  We finished up breakfast in silence, and packed up our stuff. It wasn’t long before we’d saddled the horses, and took to the road. The easy banter and conversation between Regina and I seemed to be gone, with Saria’s presence, and it was a little frustrating. I was happy to have her there, we needed the help if we ran into some bad luck on the road, but by mid-morning the frustration finally outpaced her intimidating and quite silent presence.

  “Saria, do you have any firsthand knowled
ge of Eastguard? We know from rumors it’s split up into five sections, free humans, the baron, and then the three races all under the king’s thrall, but not much else.”

  Saria turned and studied me for a moment, I felt a little like a butterfly pinned to a board under her gaze, but refused to look away. I was safe, she’d pledged my life before hers, and I hoped I’d eventually get used to it. Regardless, it was no wonder the humans and elves fought at the border all the time, it was an eerie feeling in my hind brain.

  Saria’s soft voice belied her raptor’s gaze.

  “I’ve only personally seen the city once from a distance, when we had the poor luck to stumble upon a returning patrol that had a mage. However, unlike your rumors, I trust my scout’s reports. The city wall itself is twenty feet high, and four feet thick. The walls are highly warded against someone with the earth talent so they can’t be torn down with magic, at least not easily and all at once. The walls are manned in three shifts, humans, elves, and our dark cousins. During an attack, whatever race is on the wall will sound the alarm, and the other two will rush to support. That’s the only time the three races mix in the city, during its defense.

  “Otherwise they stay separate in their districts, or sections as you called them. That’s all I can tell you, we don’t know anything about the inner workings of the city.”

  I nodded, and shared what Regina shared with me, about the free humans and how food was brought in and other things. I also told her about the initial plans we had, which granted wasn’t very much. Free the humans was more of a goal than a plan.

  Saria tilted her head, and looked toward the forest like a great cat about to pounce on prey, then her face suddenly cleared and she looked back at me.

  “I’d like to suggest a different tactic. Free my people first. We can help you free the humans and dark elves, as well as keep the so called free human scum busy. We are faster and stronger than humans, and far quieter. Stealth will be an important part of things, we’ll never finish up before the alarm goes out, but the farther along we are the better. The human scum will most likely mix with the human slaves more than with my people or the dark elves, which makes freeing them the most dangerous proposition.”