"They've escaped," Rellik said angrily as he stared around him at the empty temple. "Our Lord is going to be pissed."
He and a squad of Ogre warriors had been trying to break into the temple all day, and had finally succeeded.
The clerics had barricaded themselves in there during the night of battle. Somehow, when they'd regained consciousness (about an hour after the black cloud had descended upon the Ogre army), they'd discovered that the Ogres had joined forces with the Fairy Kingdom. They were now united under a man called "The Shadow Lord" and they were calling themselves "The Shadow Forces."
The Ministry blamed the evil magic they had sensed when the Fairies came to attack. Rellik had been there when the decision to join the Fairies had been made. He knew that it hadn't been magic, but common interest that had converted them. Still, the Shadow Lord wanted to reason with the clerics as well. They had been respected in the Ogre Kingdom before the Shadow Forces came.
"Captain Rellik, Sir. We've found a tunnel under a table in the corner."
Rellik looked at the Ogre that was talking to him. He didn't remember his name. "Well. Get in there and find those clerics!" he ordered.
A team rushed into the tunnels, but it didn't get very far. The tunnels had been rigged from the inside to collapse when anyone else entered them. Coughing uncontrollably, the team squirmed back out of the tunnels.
Rellik sighed in irritation.
***
The Lord of the Shadows sat down to his dinner and began to eat some goat-meat stew. Besides the stew, there were several other dishes spread before him, some of which were delicious desserts.
Suddenly, a Fairy came rushing into the room.
The Shadow Lord set down his spoon. He could tell that she had bad news to tell him.
"My Lord. I don't know how to tell you this . . ." her young voice faltered.
"It's ok. Just tell me what happened."
"The Ministry seems to have escaped from the temple. The Shadow Forces are looking for them now."
"What?" the Shadow Lord said as he stood. "I see . . ." he responded with restrained anger. "Do we know how they got out?"
"I don't know, Lord."
The Shadow Lord began to pace. "Where is Rellik? Have him report to me at once."
He leaned with his hands on the table preparing to wait, his least favorite thing to do.
The Fairy nodded, then headed toward the door and opened it.
Rellik stood there. He had been about to enter.
"Speak of the devil . . ." the Shadow Lord said as he turned to see Rellik walk in.
"What, Lord?" Rellik asked, confused by his comment.
The Fairy smiled and left the room.
"Nothing. Did you capture the clerics?"
Rellik flinched.
"How . . ." It was all the Shadow Lord could bring himself to say.
"They tunneled out. Booby-trapped the tunnels . . ." Rellik said in an embarrassed voice. "We are still looking for them."
"Rellik. You and I are friends, right?"
"Yes, Lord. Why?"
"Nomed."
"Huh?"
"Call me Nomed."
"Nomed."
"What do you think we should have done Rellik? . . . With the clerics I mean."
"Well. They do have a lot of respect in our Kingdom. I think that you were right to want to convert them, but I can't see how you could ever make them see things our way. They have these beliefs that they follow. Nothing like what we warriors believe. Now that they've escaped, I think that we should get rid of them before they play on the respect that some Ogres give them and split up our forces. It's their own fault if they tried to go out into the world on their own and couldn't survive. After all, they were never supposed to abandon the Ogre Kingdom."
"Good. Then take care of it, Rellik. I expect this issue to be resolved immediately."
"Yes, Sir . . ." Rellik said as Nomed guided him towards the door.
"Send up Nissassa," Nomed said as he pushed Rellik gently out of the room.
"Yes, Sir," Rellik mumbled as he walked away from the now closed door behind him.
The Fairy stood just outside the door, and Rellik almost walked right into her as he turned around. Clearly, she had eavesdropped on the conversation, and now she awkwardly tried to act as if she hadn't.
Rellik looked at the sweet, young Fairy in front of him.
She was a good foot shorter than him, and her butterfly-like wings glittered and glistened, reflecting any ray of light which happened to land on them. It was mesmerizingly lovely to see in person. Also, her blue-tinted skin was smooth and free of blemishes.
Truthfully, Rellik had always assumed the tales of Fairy beauty were exaggerations, but having met them in person he saw for himself that the hype was well-earned.
"Where's Nissassa?"
The Fairy wrinkled her nose at the memory of the barbarian Ogress. She couldn't understand how such a creature could have gained the notice of their beloved Shadow Lord.
"What's wrong?" Rellik asked in a low voice right next to her ear. "Why aren't you answering? Don't you know where she is?"
She could feel his hot breath on her skin, and it made goosebumps rise up on her azure skin.
"When did he get so close?" the Fairy wondered, suddenly embarrassed and a little alarmed.
"Follow me," she said, skillfully worming her way around the Ogre general.
Such a frail-looking little thing had been strong enough to completely overpower the entire Ogre Kingdom. Well, she hadn't been the only one, but the whole race of them were equally fragile. Even the males were, from what Rellik had heard. Though, so far he had only seen female Fairies.
Rellik licked his lips and smiled, then turned to follow the Fairy down the hallway. The desire to carry out Nomed's orders pressed forcefully inside his chest like a stone weight, warring with anticipation of all the glory Nomed had promised to the Ogre Kingdom.
There was no time to waste. The clerics might already have gotten out of the temple, and there was no way to know where the tunnel led unless they could unblock the secret entrance or find another way in.
Rellik took bigger strides to close the gap between him and the Fairy. "Tell you what," he whispered into her right ear as he grabbed her arm to stop her.
The Fairy gasped in surprise. She could feel his hard chest armor pressing against her delicate wings.
"You go ahead and tell Nissassa to meet Nomed. I'm heading out after the clerics."
The Fairy nodded briefly, and Rellik left her there, her arm tingling where his hand had been. She rubbed it absently with her left hand as she sped up her pace indignantly.
The brute had dared touch her.