The beast made a sound - a sound that was not of this world, a terrible, tormented howl. Joshua felt as if a rock of ice was growing in the pit of his stomach.
"Kill him," shouted Joshua. "For the love of all the saints and the Supreme and all that is good in this world, just kill this freak right away !!"
Several guards moved to surround the abominable creature, spears lashing from afar to control it. She roared, released a tentacle that wrapped itself around the nearest spear handle and pulled, bringing the spearman closer to her. Before he could retreat, he was encased in the waist by the compressed tentacle, crushing his ribs. There was a choked, gurgling, muffled cry when another fat, wet tentacle curled up in the man's face and took his head off. Blood spurted from the spearman's neck when the beast threw the lifeless body aside. The head was handed over to the tongues, which grabbed it and stuck it around the monster's neck, swallowing it with greed and ferocity.
The other spearmen attacked. But it was not like the swine thing a few months ago, nor was it like any of the other creatures that Dexter had conjured before. This one had heavy armor, and the tips of the spears only scraped its thick skin. The beast spun and speared an innocent soldier with a bony claw that buried itself deep in the chest, coming out from behind. He slid back and fell dead before hitting the ground. A third spearman was grabbed by the ankle and flew across the yard with such force that Joshua heard the man's bones break when he hit the stone wall. Five desperate men still surrounded the beast, which remained unharmed and increasingly enraged.
"Leave it to her! I can control it !!" shouted Dexter. "Before she kills everyone present !!"
Joshua was reluctant to leave the man free for a moment, but he knew he had to act quickly and had few options. He nodded for the guards to release the archbishop. Freed of soldiers, Dexter raised his wizened wizard's hands and shouted a command that neither Joshua nor the men present could understand, although they all recognized the same arcane language used in the spells.
The beast stopped instantly. He had two men cornered and he certainly would have killed them both in seconds, but instead he turned to face Dexter with sudden docility and affection. Dexter spoke in the strange language again, and the beast approached, looking obedient.
As he staggered towards the archbishop, Joshua and the other men nearby stepped back just in case, but Dexter held up a hand to reassure them.
Okay, "he said." It won't hurt anyone else ... unless I order it. It is totally under my control, with no risk to us or our troops in battle. But when launched against the Danish horde ... it will be a very different story. "
The beast was at least ten feet tall, much taller than Dexter, who showed no dread. Joshua tensed when the archbishop reached out to pet the hideous creature with affection that could be shown by a beloved dog. In relation, the beast let out an anxious groan. For any healthy man, the sight of that vile, deformed thing would inspire a combination of fear, pity and disgust. Joshua saw the way Dexter looked at her - with admiration - and soon knew: 'he's gone crazy.'
Dexter was so taken with his creation that he didn't notice the spearmen, now regrouping, taking a stand behind the beast. With a nod, Joshua gave them the order they had been waiting for a long time. They moved forward together, burying the blades hard in the creature's back, finding the tender muscle and flesh between the thick bony plates. The beast let out a horrifying cry and went to the ground, limbs giving way. Before he could recover, the spearmen were climbing on his back, making continuous thrusts, burying the spears deep. Aetheired protested, but none of them listened. The beast finally fell on its face, tongues twitching for another moment like rattlesnake tails. And finally, she was finally and definitely dead.
More spearmen burst into the courtyard, everyone was attracted by all the screaming and widespread commotion. Joshua pointed to Dexter and said in a deep voice; "Take this man and arrest him in the tower under continuous surveillance," he ordered. The spearmen surrounded the archbishop, taking him firmly by the arms.
"They didn't need to have killed him," said Dexter, still thinking more about his precious experiment while ignoring the four men who had been lying dead recently. "There was a lot we could have learned from him."
Joshua could barely contain his growing fury; "I learned everything I needed today. I learned that your experiments went too far with my permission. And now I'm going to put an end to that! In all of this!"
"And discard all the progress we've made," said Dexter. "That was the most successful test subject so far. If Your Majesty just heard me ..."
"Nothing I could offer would justify this kind of inhuman atrocity!" Roared Joshua, red with a mixture of anger and hatred; "How many? How many others were there. How many men were maimed before this poor guy here?"
"None that Your Majesty had not previously scheduled to die," said Dexter coldly. "They all came from the list of convicted men."
"I would never condemn any man to such a fate! I will tolerate it all because you assured me that it would allow our victory without spilling the blood of our countrymen!"
"Sir, a transformed man who is worth twenty others! In strength, in resilience. In aggression! See what a single beast managed to do here! Now imagine the devastation of a battalion entirely made up of beasts, now imagine hundreds of these beasts attacking our Only a few hundred of these beasts can be compared to thousands of soldiers in a conventional battle, and our numbers will only increase over time. We will attack them where they least expect them, we will march towards their freezing lands and we will take justice for these unfaithful pagans! "
Joshua's tone cooled, but he continued, no less resolute. "I will not tolerate this curse being imposed on any other man, whether he is condemned or not."
"The transformation doesn't have to be permanent," suggested Dexter calmly. "I assure Your Majesty that, with more time, I will be able to find a way to reverse the effect ... restore them to their original shape when they return from battle."
With a heavy sigh, Joshua rubbed his forehead and said; "I have heard more of your assurances than I can bear. Guards, take the archbishop to the tower. There he will stay until I decide what to do with him."
The spearmen marched with Dexter, leaving Joshua to inspect the carnage in the courtyard before him. He shook his head, cursing himself for being so foolish as to believe that it could do any good.
Ulisses and Philips, the two biggest and least kind jailers Joshua owned, dragged Dexter up the stone steps of the spiral staircase. Torchlight flickered on the walls. Ulysses unlocked the heavy oak door of the solitary cell at the top of the tower and Philips pushed the archbishop inside. He landed on a pile of damp straw, barely having time to straighten up before the door slams again and the key is turned from the lock.
Dexter cleaned himself up and fixed his tunic. For a moment he sat in the darkness, listening to the lazy chatter of the two guards, now standing outside. And a thin smile played on the priest's lips. 'Joshua is more blind than I thought he was when he previously took the crown,' he reflected, delighting himself. 'After everything you've witnessed, do you really believe you can imprison me? Not even god can hold me now !! '
Joshua summoned his senior advisers to the war room. At that time, everyone had heard of the massacre in the courtyard; some saw it with their own eyes. Although months before they had voted for the exploitation of Dexter's proposal, everyone there, like Joshua, had become increasingly uneasy about the direction that the investigation was taking. The events of that day were the last straw. None of them needed to convince themselves that it was time to end that reckless episode once and for all. Joshua had already ordered that all records be destroyed, including the damn scrolls that started it all. The only question was what to do with the Archbishop of Greenland.
"Dexter is finished as archbishop, and in the Church as well. This is more than certain," declared the king to his most loyal servants. "The senior cleric is not going to contest. Many of them were also uneasy about what Dexter was doing here. So I will personally apologize and nominate a successor of my own choosing."
"But what will be his fate other than excommunication?" Asked Crianwell, one of Joshua's high advisers and a trusted military adviser. "Will you be charged with some kind of crime? Will there be a trial? Should we execute it as soon as possible?"
"If Dexter is guilty of a crime, then I am just as guilty of allowing him for so long," replied Joshua. "And also a kind of public judgment of that ... bizarre nature would only spread superstition and fear across the kingdom."
There was a long pause before anyone spoke again. This time it was Chisaki, another war advisor to Joshua. His special responsibility was to administer the army's spy apparatus and equipment, and the king trusted him to suggest unconventional solutions to difficult problems.
"Maybe, then ... an accident at work?" Joshua and the others looked at him.
"It is widely known from here to Greenland that the archbishop was involved in dangerous work, although his true nature was not specified," Chisaki continued with a firm tone. "Perhaps he died in the faithful service of his Church and his king. Dexter it is quite frowned upon among the population. I doubt that many will seek the true story of the facts. "
At that moment, everyone looked at Joshua, who was quite uncomfortable with this option.
"Nobody here likes this man less than me, but simply executing him ..."
Chisaki leaned forward and said; "It seems to me that the options are few, Your Majesty. He cannot continue as Archbishop, and a trial, as Your Majesty has just said, would at least be catastrophic. And certainly this knowledge of the obscure arts that he possesses cannot be released. would make him a very dangerous man. "
A shiver ran down Joshua's spine. 'And really, don't I believe that I could have been so stupid?' He turned with sudden urgency to the captain of the guard nearby, and said in a most urgent voice: "Triple the guard in the tower! And I want the archbishop gagged and with his hands tied, break your hands if he doesn't accept! Do this, now !! "
Four guards charged up the steps of the circular tower. One carried a piece of strong rope and a cloth for the gag. They did not understand their captain's orders, but there was no questioning the urgency of the captain's words. They went up three steps at a time. They reached the top of the steps and found the cell door at the end of the short corridor open and half loose from its hinges, as if it had been broken into with its hands, its heavy oak planks shattered and soiled with blood. But not even ten men could have knocked that door down. The strangest thing was that it looked like it had been blown out from the inside.
They approached hesitantly, swords drawn, calling out the names of Ulysses and Philips, without an answer. The torch that illuminated the corridor had come free from the iron niche and was on the floor, shimmering. The guard ahead took it and raised it to illuminate the inside of the dark cell.
Something warm and moist wrapped around his arm. He dropped the torch on the ground and was suddenly pulled forward, disappearing into the darkness of the cell. And then the scream came, while its desperate gossip projected in shadows on the cell walls with the light of the fallen torch.
The scream ended almost as quickly as it started; the shadow stopped. For a moment, only silence reigned.
The three guards outside the cell had their swords raised, but they did not dare to take a single step forward, feeling their hearts pounding continuously, and then jumped back, alarmed, when their fellow guard stepped out of the darkness and plummeted. . Blood splattered from a cut so deep in the neck that the head hung to a different side, crooked. Ulysses emerged from the darkness behind him. Or that it was Ulysses. At that moment, he - that horrible and unbearable thing - was a kind of wolfish monstrosity, his muscular body now covered in a gray, opaque and blackish coat. He walked on his hind legs with four other members in sight - long muscular arms with large hands and claws made of blades. What had been Philips slid behind the wolf figure and climbed up the wall. A type of two-headed lizard and the armored skin covered with sharp, bristling spines, and a thick, clublike tail wagged slowly up and down as the animal slipped towards the three guards.
The nearest of them panicked and, in a foolish move, advanced with his sword. The lizard easily dodged the weak and pathetic blow, then responded by releasing a spit that burned the man's chest plate like acid. The guard released his sword, screaming, desperately trying to unbuckle his body armor, but, before he could open one of the bands, the acid hit his skin, and he went to the ground, writhing in despair and agony, the screams finals echoing down the stone corridor. The other two guards looked at their fallen friends, standing like statues, horrified.
And then, Dexter who was responsible for this magnificent and incredibly horrendous scene came out of his cell calmly and said in a deep voice; "Drop your weapons and you have my word that you will not die here and now."
The guards did as ordered. Dexter raised his hands and, looking the two men in the eye, began to recite the divine words he had spent months perfecting.
And in an instant, they already belonged to Dexter for the rest of their lives, as slaves of their own free will.