Marduk’s Mark [15]
Praetor Protector
Every step felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he pressed on, towards the long stairway that followed the side of a cliff on the end of the city opposite the docks and towards a building at its top, overlooking the whole of Incantirl. He looked behind, making sure he was not alone. After losing to the Deelamn woman, he thought the unit under his command may think less of him, but at least they still seemed to respect his station and followed his orders. Unfortunately, those orders were to go and follow him into the home of that wretched man, the Praetor Protector. The mere thought of it sickened him. Why would he, a Corsair, have to endure such humiliation? Thus he kept climbing step after step, approaching the ornate crystalline wall that he knew led into the domicile of the Junex appointed to aid Incantirl.
Once he reached the top, he extended his right arm to the side and stretched his fingers in a sign that the three men behind him understood to mean for them to stop. Donovan Corsair knelt in front of the crystalline wall and placed his sword, still within its scabbard, in the ground in front of him, laying perpendicular to his position. The wall was over 50 feet tall. He looked at the ground and gritted his teeth, then waited. A line started to form at the base of the crystalline wall and light started peering from it as it became clear that this was the wall opening before them. Donovan always thought the whole requirement to kneel and place his sword in front of him to be a needless step to get the wall to welcome them, possibly a sick rebuff from the owners of the building, but there wasn’t much he could do. That was what its occupants required of them.
Once the whole wall opened up before them, he grabbed his sword and stood up, walking past a magnificent garden full of trees with colorful flower crests in crimsons and yellows and even some odd crystalline growths with what seemed to be translucent vines and leaves. There were some other odd, more ominous-looking trees that seemed out of place, but he chose to ignore those. He walked past the garden and towards a building in the middle of the clearing. There were two other similar buildings, each flanking the one he walked towards. He could hear the beast that acted as the guardian, snoring somewhere in the distance. He didn’t worry about it, but the loud snores it produced were always unsettling.
“Wait for me here,” he told his men. They nodded at him and turned around, facing the garden and taking up defensive positions.
“What’s that sound?” one of them asked.
“I’ve heard it’s a huge beast that keeps the place safe,” another replied. The first guard opened his eyes wide and sweat formed on his brow. Laughter bellowed among the men.
The captain shook his head and knocked on the lightly colored wooden door. It promptly swung open without a sound. He took a deep breath and stepped inside, hearing a laugh from within as he did.
“Well well well, if it isn’t Donovan Corsair, my favorite human plaything stepping through to visit me. How long has it been since last we spoke? Three? Four years? Ah, but I thought you’d be able to carry yourself without our aid after all that conditioning.” The man extended the last word he spoke from its first to the last syllable, increasing the tone of his voice as he hit the very last one. Donovan, summoning his ascetic training, was secretly furious but kept a calm appearance. He looked towards the direction where the voice had come from and there he saw him.
Sitting in a fancy bed with fine velvet sheets was a thin but muscular man with an elegant, thin horn protruding from his forehead. The graceful man held a glass of wine that he aerated by gently moving it in circular motions. He seemed to have some sort of painted markings in the shape of a crescent moon with the edge pointing towards his scalp coming up from above the outer edges of his eyelids. He also had what seemed to be unnaturally long ears, pointed like a Deelamn’s but much fuller. The man was completely naked and didn’t seem to care. Sitting next to him, a transparent sheet of fine linen doing absolutely nothing to cover her nudeness, was his soulmate. She was an impressively built woman with what can only be described as a perfect hourglass figure adorned with taut, well-defined muscles. The horn protruding from her forehead was quite thicker than her partner’s. She also had large ears, but she lacked the markings on her face. Much to Donovan’s dismay, she seemed to take pleasure in the way he was being mocked by the man.
Donovan looked at the man and took a deep breath. “It’s such a pleasure to see you after so long, master Lothar,” he said. Then he looked at the woman and acted with all of the respect he could muster, even if he considered her nudity in front of him to be part of their mocking act. “It is a great pleasure to see you as well, Mistress Mirella.” Donovan couldn’t help to think that if the two of them wouldn’t be such arrogant bastards, he may actually enjoy seeing them again. After all, Junex were extremely graceful and beautiful creatures, and any man would kill to witness the beauty of a naked Junex woman like Mirella. Unfortunately, these two were anything but likable.
Lothar smiled at Donovan and raised the glass of wine he was holding, then took it to his lips and took a sip from it.
“If you’re here, that means you’ve run into another of the Marked ones, correct?” the Junex man asked. Donovan nodded at him. “Nothing personal Donovan,” he said. “It’s just that you people don’t get to live long enough to learn how to fight them,” he said.
Donovan protested. “I almost had her,” he said in a firm tone of voice. “I would have apprehended her if someone else hadn’t intervened,” he added and then lowered his head.
“Oh my,” Lothar replied mockingly. “Seems your great moment of success was stolen from your grasp. How very human,” he finished. Donovan, raising his head, took a deep breath.
“Pardon my insolence,” Donovan said in an even, dry tone of voice and then continued, “But we do find ourselves in need of your help to apprehend this unwanted element.”
Lothar nodded. He so enjoyed it when even the proudest of humans had no choice but to ask for his help. Mirella looked at Lothar and got up from the bed, throwing the transparent sheet on top of it. Donovan had a difficult time ignoring the statuesque woman as she got up, wearing absolutely nothing. She went towards a tall armoire made from a smooth, dark kind of wood. She started rummaging through the clothing in it. Lothar smiled at Donovan.
“That means we’ll help you,” he said. In truth, Lothar wouldn’t ever turn down such a request. He couldn’t explain it, but he just felt like he had to help the humans. Even if he enjoyed mocking them and didn’t seem to respect them much, he felt an uncontrollable, almost primal urge to aid them.
Donovan bowed courteously at the two Junex. Mirella, still rummaging through the clothes, asked a simple question without turning to face him. “How many Marked?” Donovan looked at Lothar and frowned.
“We believe it’s only one so far, but we are just at the preliminary phase,” he said. “All we’ve done is marked the houses that need to be Inspected,” he added.
Mirella turned to face him. She held a dark purple upper body piece of cloth of some sort. Donovan thought it may be a form-fitting vest.
“Only one Marked so far? Maybe you won’t need the both of us then,” she said. Lothar shook his head.
“You know I won’t leave this place without you, my beloved,” he cooed at her. She smiled a silly grin at Lothar. Donovan bowed once more.
“So please, meet us by the Deelamn District Gate within three hours,” Donovan said and turned around, leaving their abode without waiting for a confirmation.
Mirella went to Lothar and kissed the back of his neck. Lothar closed his eyes in pleasure and reached out behind him to caress her figure. “Three hours,” she whispered in his ear. Lothar grinned and turned around to embrace her.
