Chapter 3

• *Erolzwald*
• Alpha Zevar was on hold for well over 15 minutes when finally Lord Ascelius answered the call. The alpha explained everything and what he had found. Though there was only written documentation to back up his claims, Alpha Zevar told Lord Ascelius that he believed that it was important enough to call him again.
• Hissing “You know that if it were anyone else Emperor Baldwin would not listen to your case. Only because of your ties to Leestithen Alzrin that the emperor is sending someone your way to investigate the situation.” Lord Ascelius was not happy with the turn of events. “We will be there in 10 to 15 days, make sure all accommodations are met by tradition and the treaty.” With that spoken Lord Ascelius ended the conversation.
• *Whispering Port*
• At Whispering Port a man went up to the station booth to pay for a ticket, “one ticket to Dorasea!” The male smiled.
• Typing on the processor keys, “name please?” The ticket master asked the male.
• Giving the name Balvalur, the ticket master pressed the keys. Not looking at the male the ticket master asked, “How many will be travelling with you sir?”
• “Just one!” The male replied.
• Pushing his spectacles up his nose, the male continued to press the keys filling in the information that was required to board the shuttle. “Okay, any preference to your accommodations sir?”
• The male smiled at the ticket master, “business!”
• Pressing a few keys, the ticket master glanced at the schedule that was on the processor. “I am afraid that the earliest available spot is in 14 days.”
• The male hummed as he was thinking, “I am in a bit of a rush, is there anything in first class?”
• Glancing over the availability, “it appears that with everyone heading north for the winter, I can only see available seating in the commonwealth cabins.” The ticket master told the male.
• Glancing over at the male, his suspicions had been confirmed, the male was in fact a vampire.
• With glowing eyes, the male wrinkled his nose at the thought of being treated as a commoner. “I will wait the 14 days!” Pulling out his pouch of gold, the man gave the ticket master the amount owed for the fare for the trip.
• Printing off the ticket, the ticket master gave the man what he needed. As he handed the man his ticket the vampire grabbed the ticket master by the wrist and began to glamour him, “You will forget that I was ever here!”
• The ticket master waited until Balvalur had left before he asked for someone to take over his station. Going over to the security recorder. He pulled up the footage of the interaction. Printing off a clear view of the male's face the ticket master then went to his personal telecommunicator. With the printed page and his telecommunicator in his hands, he went to the file of known banished vampires and wanted vampires. Searching through the pages of vampires, getting to the section of wanted vampires, the ticket master found Balvalur Yiao in seconds.
• Pressing the number code the ticket master held the telecommunicator up to his ear.
• “Hello!” A male answered with a deep voice.
• “I have found him, master! Balvalur is heading to Dorasea in 14 days. I hope I gave you enough time to get here.”
• There was movement on the other side of the line as if the male was rushing around. “14 days is not enough time to get there, stall the departure of the shuttle as long as you can. And most of all, do not engage with him anymore than you have to. Balvalur is dangerous and will kill for no reason.”
• “Understood master! Should I warn the leaders and the alpha’s in the area?” The ticket master asked.
• “Don’t bother, Lord Ascelius is heading in the direction of Erolzwald as we speak, I will message him myself.”
• “As you wish master, I will continue with my assigned task and keep a watchful eye out for any new movement.” The ticket master said to his master before the conversation was ended.
• *Stormfall Mountain*
• Alpha Cesa and Safa sat at the council table with the other nobles, “It is great to be back!” Safa said as he sat down at the round table.
• “What news is there?” Alpha Cesa asked once she noticed everyone was comfortable.
• “As you had asked before you left …” An elderly man handed his alpha a stack of paper. “The winter stock has been counted and logged. This is going to be a good winter. Our reserves will make it through all of spring and a good portion of the summer season. Not to mention the preservatives have increased. We had a great year!”
• “This is what I like to hear, Vakas!” Alpha Cesa placed the reports off to the side, knowing that she would go over them later on. “Vainnarn do you have anything to say?”
• “Well …” She began, “the families in the southern border could not help but notice movement at the Burha side. They haven’t crossed over to our territory, but … they are dangerously close.” Vaunnarn signed not knowing what to make of this information.
• “Unusual behaviour for them!” Safa commented. “We need to keep an eye on them. They could try to retaliate for Coldfurgus’ death.” He pointed out.
• Brang cleared his throat, “I received similar information from our patrol on the western flank. It is a suspicious movement, nothing like a shifter or human.” He chuckled nervously, “the men there are saying they move and behave like a vampire!”
• “Would that be the Whitecrown Mountains or the Grim Mountains?” Alpha Cesa was directing her question at Brang.
• Exhaling loudly, “both actually!”
• Alpha Cesa glanced over at her husband waiting for his thoughts. “This doesn’t make a shred of sense. Why would there be vampires in the mountains? I was under the impression, they stayed in the south with the emperor.”
• “For the most part that is true,” Aragwyn the elder of Stormfall Mountain replied. “There are those that travel the land, nomads they call themselves. But they stick to themselves and their numbers are low. After the emperor approves, those regstered vampires normally go back to their families. Travelling along with them! Harmless lot they are!” The elder lady said to the group.
• The last member of the group sat there listening to everyone's chatter. “Could it be true that the words of Rimvan Longarm are accurate?” Glenwarin glanced at everyone.
• The few times Rimvan had visited the area, no one took him seriously enough to look into the situation. Glenwarin was one of the few who did not discredit him but was wanting more proof before he would advocate for the shifter.
• Glenwarin shifted in his chair. “It seems odd to me that Coldfurgus is killed by Rimvan’s oldest daughter. With Rimvan dead and the family in mourning, out of thin air … odd behaviour is reported.”
• “What are you trying to tell us, Glenwarin?” Alpha Cesa asked, wanting him to get to his point.
• “My point is alpha … the one who spoke the most about the uprising in vampires is dead. The family in distress. I don’t think we should take this lightly and should look into this further.” Glenwarin made his recommendation public.
• Safa was bobbing his head, “I agree! I will not say the odd behaviour is that of what Rimvan spoke of. We did after all kill several alpha’s that wished us dead. It is very possible that it is just our enemies getting ready to attack us and not feral vampires.”
• “We will leave this at that!” Alpha Cesa made her final judgement on the topic. “To add to the news … Safa and I have found ourselves with pup!”
• The room's atmosphere changed in an instant. Cheers and congratulations came from the noble's mouths.
• *Sigmison*
• Davwan went to his office, wanting to file the remaining pages away in the cabinets. He noticed his door was slightly open.
• Pulling out his blade he dropped the files to the floor, pushing open the door to see a female dressed in black with only her eyes showing, standing in the corner. “You humans are always slow in your responses.”
• “Black widow!” Davwan clenched his teeth and sealed his lips to prevent a slur of cursings from coming out of his mouth.
• Black widow was chuckling as she strolled over to the leader of Sigmison. Gliding her finger down the side of his head, “and so predictable!”
• Placing his blade away and gathering the files, “you never come out of the sunken city unless there is a cheating husband or …” Davwan closed the door, “there is a report that needs direct attention!”
• “Balvalur was witnessed to be at Whispering Port. The ticket master said he purchased a ticket to Dorasea. If by chance he comes here, you are not to engage with him. Report him to me and we will deal with the slippery barnacle!” Black widow dragged her finger along the side of Davwan’s neck.
• Clearing his throat, “I am a loyal husband Black widow … not your type!” Davwan motioned her hands off of his body.
• Maliciously chuckling, “I know! I was only wanting to get a rise out of you!” Black widow strolled over to the window that was opened. “Until we meet again!”
• Davwan shivered when the second Black widow was out of sight. “Damn that woman!”
• *Crypt Port*
• The winds had shifted, and things were getting colder as the days went by. The last minute items were being collected for the winter supplies. The ships that would not be used for the winter season had already been cleaned out of all material that small critters could ruin, electronics that could be damaged and relocated for proper storage along with other valuables. Before the ships were lifted out of the water, there was another inspection prior to storing the ship in the sheds.
• Sufa and Javan stood at the docking house as they waited for the ship to arrive with the winter supplies.
• “That looks like Ozul.” Javan pointed out, “I hope he has the supplies from Whispering Port.”
• “Those supplies are needed, but what supplies we ordered from Tastow are needed more. That is our grain supplies for the year.” Sufa watched as Ozul’s ship got closer to the docks.
• “As long as Randel does not get lost at the gentleman's club, he should be on time.” Javan chuckled as he was speaking. “Based on schedule, Randel should be arriving tomorrow.”
• Ozul had inched the ship closer, with the sailors tossing down the ropes, everyone got into action and began the task of unloading the ship as Ozul and Sufa spoke about the latest news.
• “Coldfurgus is dead!” Ozul said as the men were strolling off the dock allowing the workers more room to do their task. “From what I heard it was not good, since Coldfurgus and his allies have either been killed as well or are in the dungeons waiting for a trial date.”
• Javan sneered, “good riddens!”
• Curling his lips, “I bet the quarterly gathering was just a way to get us all together so Coldfurgus could kill us all. He could never stand those that opposed his agenda.” Sufa continued to guide the men to the sheds where Ozul’s ship would be in less than a week's time. “What other news do you have for us?”
• Unsure if he should speak, “You're not going to like this!” Ozul said. “The rumours from the East might have some truth to it. The crew will not speak about it but we found a stowaway, a feral vampire.”
• Sufa turned around with his eyes wide open, “what?” He hisses slowly. Stepping closer to Uzul, “Are you sure?”
• Uzul pulled the sleeve of his shirt up, showing him the bandaged arm where he had been bitten. “Took all of us to kill the blood sucking fiend. The kid was no more than 15 years old. I know it was only one … but I am telling you Sufa as your friend, you can not turn the cheek anymore to the rumours. I think that we should take a few of the items to the secret city.”
• Sufa and Javan thought about what Uzul had said. “Well over a year we have been hearing rumours. Rimvan has warned us as well … what do we tell the people when they see us sending supplies to the secret city?” Sufa asked both of the gentlemen.
• “It is simple, we tell them that the storage units are damaged. We own up to the mistake saying that we did not do a maintenance check as we normally do. And that is why we are storing the food in a different location.” Javan suggested. Javan glanced at Uzul’s arm, “how are you feeling now.”
• Uzul’s face turned a shade of white, “I have never felt pain like it in my life. Thought I was going to die and never see my kin again. I would never wish this on anyone!”
• “I am glad you are with the living, but we have work to get done. I will have the midday meal and then check out the secret city. We need to make sure it is safe for us to enter.” Sufa said as he exited out of the shed.
• Exiting the shed, the crewmen glared at Uzul briefly before they darted their eyes away, each of them knowing that their captain had spoken to Sufa about what had happened. Sufa and Javan went to the heart of Crypt Port, while Uzul strolled over to his crewmen. Saying a couple of private words the men nodded their heads in understanding what was going on. Each of them watched their leader head towards the loghouse.
• *Lich Princess Tower*
• Cortihr was going over the ledgers for the year's profit. Many of the miners had departed from the mountains to join their families for the winter season. Elgolor Ashon the finance minister was going over the profits from the mines.
• “This was a great year, Cortihr, we are up one percent from last year. The miners made a lot of people rich.” Elgolor was chuckling, “how are the resources doing for this upcoming year?”
• Not taking his eyes off the paperwork, “productivity was high, I would guess a five percent high over last year. Things are looking great. After we pay our taxes to the Alpha King, we will still be doing well. I haven’t seen this since Coldfurgus took over and started his era of leadership.” Cortihr was smiling from ear to ear.
• “I am sure glad we listened to Mr. Longarm, his advice proved to be profitable.” Elgolor leaned back in his chair. “We should have placed our investments in the north a long time ago.”
• Cortihr raised his head to look at his long time friend. “With the agreement that was signed 25 years ago,” He sighed, “I really should have looked over the contract closely, Coldfurgus bamboozled us almost into ashes.”
• Grunting, “We didn’t know how corrupt he was!” Elgolor spat on the floor, “By doing business with the north we will start to thrive."
• Cortihr closed the file that he was working on, “come on old friend, the last meal of the day should be ready and I do not like to be late to the table.” Getting up from his chair, Cortihr turned off the lamp.
• Following suit, Elgolor got up and pushed the chair into his desk. “I believe this is going to be the best winter season … I can feel it in these old bones.”
• Opening the office door, “it sure will be better than the other winters, that is for sure. Tomorrow I will ship the profits to the rightful designation. After that I will pay the workers their earnings so they can do whatever they wish.” Elgolor closed the door. “Bright and early tomorrow!”
• “Like everyday! Have a great night Elgolor!” Cortihr said as he turned in the direction of his dwellings.