Shadow's Embrace - Chapter 12 P1

Chapter 12 – Buried Treasure

Kadath’s uppermost cavern was filling up to bursting point. The central flower gate, glistening indigo on its own personal island, kept letting through more people and Minions, and Estell just kept greeting newcomers and spinning around dizzily to see everyone while he kept close to the gate. At times he looked up with a grin, meeting Gnarl’s glowing eyes; the advisor leant out of the topmost window of the sandstone tower, smiling, but never coming down.
The sandstone tower! The shallow lake filling almost the entire cavern! The islands – when he’d left they’d been covered in slender young fruit trees, but now they were full orchards, connected by garlands of glowberries and surrounded by glistening dark grass – the cave had been transformed into his own personal Sanctuary. At the cave walls and halfway up to the ceiling hung the dwellings of the Minions and elves he’d left behind. Those would never be able to house everyone coming in now, but fortunately there was more room... underground.
Kadath!
Estell wished he could embrace all of his domain at once. Instead, he hugged the ones closest to him; his blue and green Minions, who’d completely baffled him during the battle for the Pit, the Zola, the elves he’d missed for so long. Isil, though short a tongue and robbed of his ability to sing forever, could actually smile again. Ructa had sung flower crowns for both of them and was still creating them for anyone who wanted them, with dark, jagged leaves and gleaming golden flowers. Some Minions snatched them off others and collected as many as they could, on their heads, around their arms and waists. Estell envisioned Gnarl wearing one, and laughed out loud.
“What’s so funny, prince?”
The elf turned around. Ramah was behind him, dried blood on his cheek, his gleaming pershaia laid across one shoulder.
“I’m just happy to be home… prince.”
Nyarai popped up next to the Ruborian, looking around in elated curiosity. “Such dry air… it surprises me there’s a lake at all…”
“Just wait until we take you up to the surface and you see the Sea of Sand,” Ramah chuckled. He briefly hugged Estell. “I’m glad you made it off Maesmaer alive.”
“Maesmaer didn’t try to kill me half as hard as Ruboria did,” Estell laughed. “Though…” He glanced at his stump. “…well, in the end the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.” He looked up at the flower gate abruptly as a familiar pounding reached him, and then laughed out loud. “No, Ariki! Not here…!”
The giant crab was clearly more attached to his master than Estell’s smaller victims, as he’d followed the elf through the gate. The cave became a little more cramped, until the blue-and-black shell was filled up with green Minions and some adventurous elves and Zola. A little later the king crab relaxed and sank down into the shallow water.
“I see you haven’t missed us with all these new friends you’ve made,” a soft, very familiar voice then spoke.
Estell spun around. “Talmar!” He flung his arms around his old friend, but couldn’t help but notice the purple-eyed elf freezing up briefly, and hesitating to return the gesture. “Of course I’ve missed you all.” He stepped back. “And before you mention it, not just Ramah. I… want to talk to you, Talmar. Just us. But not now.”
“Sometime tonight,” his friend nodded. An uncertain, but hopeful smile crept onto his face. “I’ve missed you too.”
“Tonight,” Estell promised. “Meet me in the throne room.” Then he walked on, towards the sandstone tower. Everyone let him through respectfully, and it briefly occurred to him that this was what he’d hoped for all his life; to belong, to have so many be loyal to him. Now that he had it, it seemed only natural.
He climbed the crumbling stairs and eventually, after all that time, returned to the tower room he’d left with the plan to rescue Sora from Stodir. He’d used the red and brown Minions as an excuse to go after his beloved… how long ago that seemed, and what a ridiculous plan it’d been, looking back.
“Sire,” a familiar creaky voice resounded. “I’m surprised you steeled yourself to visit me.”
Estell sank to one knee and embraced his advisor. The old Minion spluttered in surprise and a little disgust – but not severely so, and he didn’t push his Master away. He eventually even returned the gesture. Estell let go as he heard something clink, and caught a glimpse of something silvery around Gnarl’s neck. He smiled. “Thank you for waiting, and not giving up on me.”
Gnarl spread his hands. “Evil always finds a way, Sire.” He turned and shuffled towards the window. “I cannot thank you enough for returning the Hive.”
Estell looked over his advisor. The green Minions had found a wooded island and now hoisted up their Hive into a network of vines, stretching between robust trunks. “That’s a good view to have,” he spoke. “…I didn’t know if I’d succeed.”
“The battle for the Pit was a rousing success, Sire,” Gnarl grinned. “I look forward to seeing the blackened ruins of Ruvalk again. But why did you let the dwarves go?”
“It’ll take them at least six weeks to steam back to Stodir. Before that time I’ll have executed my plans already.”
Gnarl widened his eyes. “You want to venture back there so soon? Which Minion clan do you have in mind? The browns, I assume, out on the fields…?”
“Both.”
The advisor fell silent. “…Ambitious, Sire. You have no death wish?”
“I value life more than ever before,” the elf smiled. “No, I was pondering a plan for some time, and during the battle…” They know who I am anyway. It’s a bit late for secrecy. “…during the battle a nice new thought occurred to me. We’ll discuss it soon.”
“Hopefully it’ll be just as good as the Pit,” Gnarl spoke, eyes gleaming brightly. Estell caught the silvery glint again. He narrowed his eyes. “Are you wearing a necklace?”
The grey Minion reached into his cloak. “For as long as I’ve been here, Lord.” He lifted a silvery disc, inlaid with a number of colourful gems. “This once belonged to Lady Jinx.” He reached deeper, and showed sharp hooks of the same material. “I also have her most beloved weapons… these were attached to her ropes.”
“Memories?”
“Sort of. I hadn’t seen a ruler like her in a long time. But you…” Gnarl put away the necklace and the hooks. “…you are quite something too, Lord. Look at you, your eyes even glow… your father would’ve been so very proud.”
“Flattery.” Estell wafted away the compliment. “One victory doesn’t make me a ruler.”
The advisor gave him a sly smile. “And that attitude doesn’t make you a corpse. We’ll come a long way with you.”
Estell looked out the window, beaming. “And all that out there, too. Incredible. Zola, magical elves…”
“…fifty dwarves,” Gnarl chuckled. “Everything is looking bright and sunny.”

She missed her sunny weapon. It would’ve been rather useful now.
Sora thought back to the gilded, semicircular sacrificial cleaver she’d stolen from Napata’s sun temple. Uthred had gotten her a book on Ruborian religion a while back, and she’d read her weapon had been a qala-kizh, literally translating to ‘death by blessing’. She sighed. She’d hoped to bless quite a few more victims.
She was at the markets of Deb Nar at the moment, just below the huge dark fortress around Stodir’s crater, busy stocking up for her ‘master’… a real friend, in truth. And not her only friend here. Blue Minions shot between the market stalls, glowing brightly, and the bag she carried got heavier all by itself. She smiled. Uthred didn’t lack for money, but the blues just couldn’t help it. She’d been hanging out with the Minions for a while now, and she was very glad she’d finally gotten to know them properly; she’d been there as they’d stolen the blue Hive from the Napatese palace, but just after that she’d been separated from Estell. It was good to be close to the dark Minions now, at least, and see what Evil entailed, even though these Minions weren’t planning much.
No, it was her who’d come up with the plans.
She left the market and walked back to the elevator mechanism leading up to the fortress, the Minions following her. Once out of sight they turned visible again. Sora looked over the four of them. “What’s today’s harvest?”
“Hammers, picks, two crossbows and some bombs.” Silt counted on his webby fingers. “Oh, and a short sword with a spiky hilt, a real gem. Probably forged especially for the Imperial we stole it from.” He chuckled. “People barely watch their stuff at the slave markets.”
Sora crossed her arms. “Good. What do you think, are we almost ready?”
The four looked doubtful. “I don’t know, Sora,” Splash hesitated. “There’s almost enough weapons for all of them, but they… they themselves…”
Sora grimaced. “The browns.”
The four blues had been ferrying messages between her and the brown clan for a while; the ones Silt and his group stole and hid the weapons for. As no one knew whether Estell would ever return to the mainland again, Sora had stepped up to do something about Thorlond herself, but she couldn’t do so from within the fortress, and especially not alone. With some help from the blues they’d be able to smuggle weapons to the browns and steal the Hive from the bastion where she was hidden, and they’d be able to escape with the aid of an armed horde of browns… famously the strongest, most murderous and most dependable of the four Minion clans.
Sora could not leave the mountain, still wearing the mask of an elven slave as she was, so she’d never actually seen the browns out on the fields yet. But the blues told her they were small for the most part, inexperienced, with only a minority consisting of veterans who couldn’t wait to leave Stodir, or leave it in ashes.
How do I manage with Minions that are neither dark nor murderous? Stodir’s turned them into lapdogs… Sora had seen herself as an Overlady as if in a crazy vision, retreating into the mountains with the brown clan and expanding her horde until she could attempt to rescue the reds as well, or to try and find the Ruborian domain again. But if she were to fail before she even got to the brown Hive… “Don’t you think they’d be more motivated if they got a hold of those weapons? Minions grow if they do what they were born for, right? They clearly weren’t born to harvest and shepherd for Stodir, or they’d be bigger already.”
“Maybe,” Silt spoke helplessly. He shook his webbed head. “If you could see them, Sora… it’s painful.”
“And… Kniff? The leader?”
“He hopes for Estell’s return. As do I.” Silt’s mouth twitched. “With the elves, the Ruborians…”
“That’ll never be enough.”
“The rest of the blue clan.”
“Not fit for battle. We might get to the Hive, but we’d never get out again.” She clenched a fist. “If you see a qala-kizh, it’s mine. I want a weapon, Silt.”
“Sun priests don’t often visit this city… Mistress,” the blue smiled.
“I can dream,” Sora chuckled. The elevator arrived at the fortress, and the Minions turned invisible again. They followed her to her own chambers, and as she walked Sora imagined how it’d be to escape with the brown clan. She could dream away at the very idea; a qala-kizh in hand, a murderous horde by her side…
…a spark in her other hand?
She abruptly looked down at her fingers. Her free hand sparked and sputtered. She jolted and dropped her bag.
“Mistress?”
The sparks grew into a ball of sputtering light forcing her shadow up the wall, and then flashed off through the dark marble hallway. All the way at the end an imposing statue suddenly lost half its face. Sora uttered a shrill cry, snatched up her bag and ran off.

He’d waited for so long, but now he was nervous to enter his own domain.
Kadath’s upper cave slowly drained as the elves and Minions who’d stayed there led everyone into the palace, through the now enlarged hole in the floor from where a knotted wooden stairway led down. Sunlight fell into the throne room through the roof, and Estell could see some things, but still he hesitated at the top of the stairs. Then something pulled on his leg, and he laughed as he saw Flitter, claws hooked behind his knee protector. “Come, Master.”
“Okay, okay.” He descended, and felt his eyes grow accustomed to the gloom and torchlight in the throne room. Minions awaited him halfway down the stairs, bowing deeply as he passed. Then he stepped into the hall.
The fiery light passed over the heads of many people and Minions, but also over smooth golden yellow walls full of inscriptions, tall straight pillars and gleaming water. During his absence the Minions had repaired the slender bridge across the basin, and the water glistened like two half moons. Estell’s eyes followed the bridge and found the thrones, which he remembered as crumbling seats of grey stone. Now, however, they turned out to be white marble, veined with silver and perfectly intact. As he finished his descent and approached them, he saw his emblem engraved on them in slight relief; the hand and moon were subtly displayed on both backs.
Nyarai was admiring them as well. As he came closer, she looked up with a grin. “Beautiful.”
“I could float between them and make people nervous during audiences,” Shadow thought out loud.
Estell turned around and let his gaze wander through the hall and over the vaulted dome ceiling. Everything had been cleaned and repaired, and he thought he saw glistening, intricate mosaic above his head. “This is…”
“…nothing yet, Master.” Gnarl emerged between the two thrones. The grey Minion grinned devilishly, and Estell’s heart leapt at the thought of what that grin might mean. “Gnarl… I have a domain.”
The advisor made an uncertain gesture. “A small one.” He patted Estell’s leg. “Come along.”
Amidst the stream of Kadath’s new inhabitants they walked away from the basin, and Estell didn’t know where to look. He hadn’t been further than this before, and he’d thought the hall just ended abruptly, but now everything was illuminated so much brighter a path turned out to lead on; a bridge, across an immeasurable depth. He looked up. Banners hung from the ceiling, tattered and faded. “We’ll replace those,” Gnarl remarked. “But first, let me show you what we’ve discovered. Welcome to lord Nephren’s palace, Sire.”
As his followers set up camp everywhere in the torch-lit chambers, Estell, Shadow, Nyarai and Gnarl wandered through largely restored hallways and up to glistening tower rooms via winding stairs, one of them with a complete astral observatory. Repairs were still being made, by a few blues and now a couple of curious greens as well. Estell briefly warned them to be careful, and then rejoined his advisor. “If they looked at the stars… how glorious this place must’ve been above ground.”
Gnarl rubbed his hood. “It’s a pity that glory’s gone, but we are quite a bit safer underground.” He looked up. “It seems you’ll always rule from below ground.”
“The Netherworld, you mean? Do you think I can rule from both places?”
“You’re an Overlord,” the Minion smiled. “Of course you can. There’s no such thing as too many domains… one in the north, one in the south, couldn’t be better.”
They passed through a true oasis of baths, where glistening waterfalls fed into pools and shallow streams from the mouths of stone water serpents. Quite a few blues were present here, and Gnarl looked at them in appreciation. “Thanks to their ability to walk through walls, we’ve been able to attach all the pipes, Lord.” He hummed briefly. “Let’s not loose Ariki in here… or any crab, really.”
The baths were very much to Nyarai’s tastes, and she went in immediately. “I’m glad there’s some proper water here,” she spoke just before submerging herself in one of the deeper pools. “I’m drying out here.”
“And you haven’t even seen the desert yet.” Estell crossed his arms. “Well, we’ll keep gate seeds at the ready, so you can come back here during missions when you need to.”
Nyarai huffed at him and joined Gnarl again. “Don’t overdo it.”
The advisor took them to the lower levels, and Estell started to grow dizzy with the way in which most walls and ceilings glistened in the light of innumerable torches. There was no single completely intact wall or ceiling, but the parts that had been were repaired as well as the Minions had been able to, and carefully polished.
The fiery, sparse light leant an unearthly atmosphere to the palace. There were windows, large and small, most of a strange arched design, but there was only rock wall beyond them. The elf had to admit this was one of the strangest places he’d ever visited.
They came through dungeons where huge cages hung from the ceiling, and chambers largely filled by more elegant, gilded cages, probably intended to house birds or comparable animals kept by Nephren and his consort. Estell looked at them with interest, wondering what’d been in them, but now really convinced he couldn’t keep Ariki in Kadath. He and all the other crabs would have to stay on Maesmaer until they were needed.
Then Gnarl surprised him with the fact there was a forge in the palace after all; elegant leaf-shaped smelters, room for ore refining and even some weapon molds for different weapon types were present. “Gnarl, you said…”
“I know what I said. There was a sealed entrance, and the blues found it while following the plumbing.” The advisor nodded upward. Higher up in the wall the head of a stone serpent emerged, above a basin where metal could be cooled. “They don’t want to go through the entire palace, but there’s probably more sealed rooms like this, even beside the blocked passages.”
“So we can forge weapons?” Estell rubbed his neck. “Ah… we have no metal.”
“But we can melt down things we already have,” the advisor remarked. “It’s not much, but it’s a start.” He shuffled out of the forge again.
A little later they arrived at the lowest level, in the large hall Gnarl had already told him about. The advisor had spoken of a true cathedral of a room, covered in rock dust and rubble, with cracked fountains at the walls and ruined statues at the heart… but only the last was still true now.
The entrance hall, as Gnarl called it, was brightly lit by rows and rows of fire bowls, torches and oil dishes now. Estell looked around in wonder and saw a ceiling full of glistening stars, and walls decorated with entwined water serpents, with intact and active fountains on both sides of the staircase they now descended. The water almost sparked in the torchlight. The statues at the center of the hall were the largest Estell had ever seen, and they attracted a bit of an audience besides them. They were still missing parts of their torso and face, but all the rubble had been cleared away.
“We think this gate leads out of the palace,” Gnarl spoke as he led the trio around the statues. The elf looked up at them briefly – a proud couple, a muscular man and a slender woman, their hands entwined, their other hands raised. Then he looked at what Gnarl was leading them towards; a huge pile of rough rocks, stacked so tall he had to lay back his head.
“As you know, the blues refuse to go through as they think you should be the first to see what’s out there.”
“That is very thoughtful of them.”
Gnarl grinned at him slyly. “You can’t walk through them either. Do you have a solution for these rocks?”
Estell rubbed his neck. “Well, no. Do you?”
“Glad you asked, Sire. As a matter of fact, I do.” The advisor turned around and started walking back to the hall’s entrance.

Once back in the uppermost cavern the grey Minion feverishly looked around. “Ramah!” he called out. “Where is that boy?”
Nyarai stretched her neck. “Are you sure he’s not in the palace?”
“I told him to wait. Ramah!”
Estell stepped forward. The people still in the cavern cleared a respectful path for him, and after a brief search the elf caught sight of the Ruborian, his back turned to him and engaged in a lively conversation with a familiar someone Estell hadn’t seen in months; Miruvor.
“It’s a real pity you weren’t there,” Ramah was saying, gesturing frantically. “All that training, you were ready! You’re a valuable warrior, Miruvor!”
The crippled elf crossed his arms and looked at Estell over Ramah’s shoulder. The Overlord took note of his elegant peg leg. “I didn’t train for these… vulgar skirmishes. I keep well away from his business.” His brown eyes were exactly as conceited and venomous as Estell remembered. Next to him, the smoke coiling off Shadow thickened, and both their eyes glowed more brightly for a moment. Estell stepped forward and placed a hand on Ramah’s shoulder. “Prince? We have need of you for a moment.”
Ramah’s entire face lit up as he recognized Estell. “Oh, yes? Of course.” He glanced back at Miruvor. “It’s a shame, that’s all.”
The elf turned around and didn’t reply.
Estell led Ramah back to Gnarl, who now was in the company of Drip, Trickle and a few other, younger blues. The advisor rubbed his hands. “Ah, hello. I wanted you to be there as we made use of your discovery.”
“My discovery? Oh…” The Ruborian grinned. “This will be interesting.”
They moved through the water, towards one of the cavern’s walls. Nyarai kept back a little, looking down at the growing amount of bomber beetles scurrying around here with unease. Gnarl gestured at the large insects. “Master, as you know, these gleaming beauties have a nest here, behind the walls. Recently, Drip and Trickle here were tipped by Ramah and discovered they also have a queen, somewhere deep inside the rock. A queen they take commands from.”
Estell looked down at his Minions as the implications and possibilities of this fact shot through his mind. “Commands…”
“They bring her food, enlarge the colony, sniff at us while we sleep. But if someone were to claim the queen…” Gnarl laughed softly. “Well, let’s just say the dwarves like explosions a little too much, and we can’t fall behind.”
Estell looked at the holes in the wall. They were too small for even Minions to pass through, though that didn’t matter to the blues. “But how do we get to her?” He glanced at the Minions. “You can go to her, but she can’t get out…” He pondered this problem for a moment. “Aha.”
Shadow floated closer. “It’s up to me again, isn’t it.”
“I’m afraid so.”
The dark shape of his magic patted his shoulder. “Be right back.”
The blues blinked out of tangibility. “See you soon, Master.”

As Shadow shot into the beetle tunnel he blocked all light himself, but the blue glow of his eyes helped him see his surroundings. Then the blues joined him and it grew even easier. Their light didn’t reflect off the rocky walls, but they did glow like beacons and were easy to follow. “Is it far?”
“A little way,” Drip spoke, a slight echo to his voice. Now they were surrounded by bomber beetles, a sea of legs and antennae in the dark, and Shadow was very glad to be intangible. He looked at the blues, blinking in and out of the walls and through the beetles. “Finally, a horde of my own. I’m glad they expanded you.”
“Largely for the palace repairs,” a younger Minion remarked. “I’m glad we’re finally going into the field.”
“Soon with even more firepower than we already had. How will the dwarves ever handle this?” Shadow grinned. “Ah…” The tunnel widened ahead. In the faint light he could see small pale creatures, then larger pale creatures. Larvae… fleshy and vulnerable, resembling the adult, armoured beetles in nothing. “We’ll have to protect these too.” His light now passed over round, pale eggs, as far as he could see.
“I’ll hold a shield,” one of the blues nodded. “Plerp? Leaky?” Two young Minions joined him. Shadow hoped there’d be enough left for his own purpose, but nodded at them and moved forward through the narrow tunnels again. Not long after that they widened once more, and the light passed over another pale and fleshy thing, but much bigger this time. It filled the entire chamber, and Shadow estimated it to be about as large as himself; a collapsed heap of soft tissue, barely kept together by loose bits of armour. He moved over it and discerned a small dark head at the front, with two ridiculously small, misplaced wing covers behind it. Normal beetles crowded around their queen, keeping contact with their antennae, but the beetles that weren’t touching her also seemed to know what to do.
“Good,” Shadow spoke. “This is it.” He took a deep breath and let himself sink into the queen.
Complete takeover was rather easy most of the time; he entered a body and mind, and he had control. In this case, the queen still jolted as he’d already entered her, however, her useless legs scrambling for hold, her little wings fluttering. Her mind also resisted him for a brief while before her compound eyes took on a blue glow and Shadow held sway.
Ay. This is going to be a problem when we dominate her.
He stabilized himself and took a moment to get used to the new, swollen body. The bomber beetles had shied away briefly, but now came closer again. Shadow hesitated. Go, all of you. Out of the nest. He didn’t know how the beetles communicated normally, but it seemed to work as he sharply focused on his intentions; the beetles slowly turned, and then scurried away. Except you, he then thought. He jolted; the beetles he’d meant seemed to glow in the dark, and his thoughts seemed to be sent directly to them. You form a chain across the tunnel.
“Shadow?” Drip spoke, glowing in another way in the royal chamber. “We’re creating the shield.”
Shadow looked around. A slightly luminous blue haze formed around his fleshy body. “We’re ready,” the blue horde leader nodded.
He gave the beetles a few minutes, and could then sense they’d all left the nest; all save the few he’d commanded to stay. Very well… and now you explode.

It’d been rather strange to see the beetles leave their colony. There were hundreds of them; a golden stream, a fearsome stream. Estell knew what they could do. But the insects calmly left the rock wall and harmed no one, not even as the exodus attracted an interested audience. The elf was just explaining to a few Zola what these were and what he and Shadow were trying to do as a deep rumble coursed through the rock wall. The elf looked back abruptly, but didn’t have time to do anything; before his eyes the wall burst open, then fire and smoke spurted from the cracks. It didn’t reach any of the beetles, however, and they remained standing aside in complete tranquility.
As the smoke cleared, the newly created opening turned out to be large enough to let through even huge, muscular Masud or Kaalu.
“Shadow…” the Overlord muttered. He stared at the colony’s new entrance tensely. Where was the queen? Where were Shadow and the other blues? Had the Minions succeeded in shielding the eggs and larvae from the explosion? But they’d protected him from the explosion in the Napatese tower room as they’d saved their Hive… that fireball had been no less intense.
Then glowing eyes appeared in the remaining smoke, followed by the pale blue of the Minions. Drip reached him first, then the horde leader looked back. More followed, carrying the huge swollen bomber queen. Her eyes had a blue glow to them.
Gnarl rubbed his hands. “Perfect!”
Black smoke started rising from the pale body as the Minions carried the queen to Estell. At the same time all the beetles perked their antennae.
Shadow took form and immediately shot to the Overlord. “Estell, take the hand, we have to hurry!”
Estell looked between him and the queen, now frantically milling her legs around and fluttering her wing covers. The Minions struggled to keep holding her. Then he looked at the bomber beetles. A few started hissing softly.
Shadow grasped his stump, and the shadow hand sprouted from his wrist in a black flame. “She’s directly commanding them, we have to dominate her, come on!”
Estell shut his mouth, nodded hurriedly and grabbed a fold of the flabby flesh. Immediately he, Shadow, the queen and most of the beetles fell silent and still. Some were still hissing, however, very quietly but very persistently, unsure of the situation… just as unsure as Gnarl now started to get. “She seems to be a strong personality.” He glanced at the Minions. “Put her down. Let’s keep our distance until they win… if they win.”

Earlier that day they’d successfully dominated a few dwarves; dwarves perfectly capable of physically defending themselves, but less so mentally at that particular moment. The domination had been quick and efficient as it’d been unexpected for their victims.
Not so now.
Estell and Shadow found themselves inside a spherical cage of a fragile, honeycomb-like material, covered in holes through which they could see outside. Outside was darkness... and the queen.
The mother of all of Kadath’s bomber beetles towered over the cage, huge, fleshy and expressionless, but clearly furious. Her fury drenched her entire mindscape, and Estell and Shadow shrunk back in their cage. This might not have been the best idea, Shadow muttered.
“We need her.” They clenched their hands around the cage and strained themselves. Black smoke coiled towards the queen, but something blocked it. She’s too strong. Her will is too great.
“If we can’t reach her…” Estell looked up. “The cage.”
This is not destructive magic!
“This is not the real world.” They strained themselves, and their smoke engulfed the cage’s honeycomb structure. “Make it solid!”
Shadow joined his thoughts to Estell’s, and together they saw the smoke coil around the cage like strangling vines, and the material started to crack. Just outside the queen wildly fluttered her wing covers, but more and more black arms joined the first, and soon the cage crumbled around them. “Fly, Shadow!”
As they came closer to the queen she only seemed to grow in size, but Estell and Shadow knew this didn’t mean any actual danger, only the strength of her will. They spread wings of inky smoke in the dark. “Join us. Join your colony to us.”
And the queen spoke.
Do you know what I’m capable of? she shrieked, dozens of voices echoing through the joined mind of the Overlord and his Shadow. Do you know what I am? I could have exterminated you with fire and ruin. And when I free myself of you, I will. I will imprison you in a corner of my mind, your body will die and rot, and your home shall fall to my colony!
Estell shielded himself from the wave of heat she now emanated. In the corner of his eye he saw something nearing, something spherical, full of holes, like a honeycomb… a new cage.
“No!” He spread out the smoke again, and Shadow joined him, all ceaseless determination. “Do you know what we are capable of? We are an Overlord. We control hordes of Minions. We control dwarves. We control a king!”
A mindless crab! I control the fiery fury of Ruboria! The queen billowed towards them and clawed at them with gleaming black legs, but Estell and Shadow swooped out of the way and up. What are you doing? Shadow asked.
“I’m trying to distract her. If she’s angry enough, maybe she won’t shield herself so much.” Estell turned back to her. “That fiery fury helped me to discover my palace, and now I’ll leave it through the main gate thanks to you!” The new cage sailed towards them again, but they banked away and the sphere snapped shut next to them. The queen rattled and spat. Estell smiled to himself. “We’re rebellious… not as easily commanded as one of her own colony…”
…the only other minds she knows. She doesn’t understand we’re still here, and that makes her angrier, Shadow understood. He looked up. Join us.
Never!
“Join your colony to us.”
Die, vermin! The queen lunged, jaws open wide, black eyes gleaming with hatred and fury. And Estell and Shadow raised a hand to the rushing jaws, as one.
Darkness flowed into her throat, and the queen sputtered and lurched back. What?!
“You’re ours.”
No! The enormous pale mass of her body started shrinking. No. Faster and faster now, until she was as large as them – her actual size in the real world. No…
They stepped towards her, across a suddenly solid floor. “Join us.”
Smaller now, like a regular bomber beetle. Like a larva. They picked her up, with an inky black hand. Glistening eyes looked up at them. And the little head bowed in submission.

Estell felt Shadow leave his body and mind as he came back to his senses, coughing and with a mouth full of water and sand. He lay on the floor in an awkward position, almost against the rock wall, next to the queen. Shadow shook his head as he ascended slowly.
Where was everyone?
“Gnarl?”
“Here, Sire.” The grey Minion’s head emerged from behind a boulder that’d fallen as the colony had exploded. Blue Minions followed, then Ramah and Nyarai. “Did it work?”
“I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” the Overlord puffed. Shadow rubbed his head. “She tried to lock us in her own mind.”
“Jeez. I hadn’t expected that from an insect.”
“Well, she does control all the beetles…” Estell’s face lit up, and he felt his eyes glow. “…and now we do!” He looked back at the queen. The huge bomber beetle quietly sat on the ground, but she looked up at him at the sound of his voice. “Queen. Call your colony.”
The beetles swarmed around them, obedient and affectionate as voiceless Minions. Shadow laughed. “Gnarl… it worked.”
“Fantastic,” the advisor beamed.
Estell met Ramah’s eyes. “Thanks for the tip.”
“I’m glad it went well.” The Ruborian prince turned to the entrance to the throne room. “…Shall we?”
Estell nodded, and Gnarl’s grin grew even wider.

They called everyone towards them as they descended through the palace, the blues with the queen trailing after them. To Estell’s contentment, chambers were made ready for elven and Minion inhabitation everywhere, and he gave one of the plant singers and a few Zola the mission of returning to Katoa and singing a gate so the Zola could also go home soon. Estell wasn’t planning on making the coming night something special; first the domain had to be made ready. A few Zola didn’t agree with this, preferring a feast already, but the Overlord reassured them there would be one the next night. For most of them that would mean joy and triumph, but the families of the fallen warriors would use the occasion to honour and remember the dead. The mourning Zola had also started a time of fasting.
By the time they arrived in the entrance hall with the huge statues almost everyone was with them, including the complete blue and green hordes. Estell warned them to stay away from the rocks as he commanded the bomber beetles to climb them. A little later golden shields glistened everywhere between the boulders, all the way up to the ceiling, and the Overlord placed his hand on the queen’s back again. “Are you sure this won’t lead to chambers collapsing?” he asked Gnarl.
“Everything’s anchored in the rock surrounding the palace.” The advisor gestured at the walls and ceiling. “It’s a solid mass.”
“Very well then.” His fingers tensed. “Detonate them.”
The beetles started hissing as one, and the gathered crowd backed away further. The explosion had splinters and rubble burst away to all sides, and a few blues growled and swore quietly as they saw the damage they’d have to repair. But through the smoke the Overlord could see the gate was now open, and he slowly stepped forward, his heart hammering away.
Once out of the smoke and past the rubble he could see he stood on a flat surface, with faintly visible remains of tiles in geometrical patterns. Everything around him was grey and gloomy and dusty, and the empty darkness outstretched before him, seemingly endless. He walked on, across cracked stone and grey earth. He was faintly aware of cracked statues to either side. A courtyard? A garden?
Then a pale arch loomed up from the dark, lit by the torches in the entrance hall far behind him. An archway of grey rock… perhaps, beneath all the dust, the same silvery veined marble the thrones were made of. He stepped through, Shadow by his side, his companions far behind, in absolute silence.
And in absolute silence the world fell away below him.
He stood at the top of an endless stairway into the black depth, where a baffling, darkened view stretched away. Buildings… houses, temples, palaces, cathedrals, countless domed towers, all grey and only barely outlined against the dark in the feeble amount of light streaming out of his palace. His palace, which stood atop a mountain of a city… a city rolling on and on, endless and ruined as far as the eye could see, here, deep below the earth, in a cavity far larger than he’d ever imagined even the Netherworld.
“Kadath… is not the palace,” he uttered, reeling at the top. “Kadath is a city.”
Shadow hung in the air next to him, gaping at the sight. Gnarl joined them, his eyes wide and glowing fiercely as if to pierce the darkness in which the furthest reaches of the city fell away. The old advisor gulped. “Well,” he managed. “Not everybody needs to live in the palace, at least.”
Minions joined them. “Master?”
Estell looked to the side. The small faces were questioning, and even seemed a little fearful. Other Minions were clearly raring to rush down. He looked back at the city. It barely got through to him. “A domain,” he muttered, as a grin started forming on his face. “A domain…”
“Do we even have to go to the Netherworld now, Gnarl?” Shadow asked with a breathless laugh.
Gnarl still stared down. “Well, yes,” he replied, without looking away. “Of course. But this…” He looked back. “I had no idea I’d been sitting on this all this time!”
“You’re not the only one.” Estell turned away. “But I don’t want to explore just yet. Send the dwarves to the upper slopes… with a horde of greens, and a few blues, just in case anything still lives there. I need them all alive. Make sure they ready enough houses for everyone to live in comfortably. It’s not necessary they’re squashed together in the palace tonight.”
“Certainly, Sire,” Gnarl bowed. “And you?”
“I… need some air after the queen and this spectacle,” the Overlord smiled. “I’m heading up.” Shadow nodded at him. “I’m staying for a bit.”
“That’s alright. Tell me everything, tonight.” Then Estell turned and walked back to the radiant entrance hall.

He never reached the outside air. The walk back up through the palace turned into a slow wander through the mysterious, majestic hallways; he looked around as if in trance, and couldn’t tear his eyes away from all the reliefs depicting Ruborian history, the glistening of polished stone and precious metals dazzled him, he wished he could read ancient Ruborian. He understood why Gnarl had spent so much time down here, why he’d been so curious, why he’d dragged Ramah along so many times to help him translate...
The palace was mysterious enough, but the city only made it worse. At a certain point it just overwhelmed him, and he sank to his knees beneath a star-strewn ceiling, inlaid with silver and gleaming blue lapis. “Whichever goddess or god brought me here,” he mumbled. “Thank you.”
“It’s magnificent, isn’t it?”
He looked up. Ramah leant against a slender pillar not far away. “Ramah…”
“This must’ve been a fabled bastion, perhaps even grander than Kerma.” The prince approached him as he scrambled to his feet on the shimmering floor. “The palace baffled even me, but the city… that depth…”
Estell laughed softly. “It was too much for a moment.”
“Understandable.” Ramah’s eyes glistened in the torchlight as he joined Estell and looked up at the wall full of hieroglyphs and reliefs. “Gnarl told you this was once the seat of lord Nephren and his consort, I believe.”
Estell nodded. Together they walked past the gleaming wall, towards the stairs leading up along the baths and to the throne room. “Her name isn’t mentioned anywhere?”
Ramah shook his head. “It’s been scratched out everywhere. They must’ve hated her. But Nephren was no saint either.”
“How come?” Estell looked around; had this always been a dark domain?
“I don’t see the names or symbols of Kemetis or Deshretis anywhere… they’re still Ruboria’s main gods. There’s only mentions of dark wings, watchful eyes…” Ramah smiled. “In some images those have even been added to him and his consort.” They walked on. “He believed he was under the protection of that god… I’m not sure, but it could be we’re talking about Tishba.”
“Tishba?” Estell thought back to his capture by the Radaraz in the desert, the sand pit Ramah had rescued him from. “The Radaraz thought Shadow was his messenger. Tishba Minzar, they called me, Tishba’s silver…”
“A relatively unknown god of night,” Ramah explained. They passed an image of the two rulers, their faces hewn away, but the leathery wings around their shoulders, long and narrow, all too clear now. Estell realized he’d mistaken them for flowing cloaks at first. “Perhaps this was Tishba’s city, like Kerma is Kemetis’ sanctuary. We have sacred water serpents… I wonder what Nephren had here.”
Estell thought of the gilded cages. “Maybe something large and winged.”
“Who knows… but they did have a river of their own, the Iteru.” Ramah’s hand brushed past a collection of hieroglyphs at the bottom of the relief, undulating and surrounded by stylized reed.
Estell followed the chiselled water. “Maybe our gorge is the remainder of that. Did the Iteru reach all the way to sea?”
Ramah nodded. “That can be a reason they didn’t worship Kemetis here. But Deshretis… he’s the god of the desert itself.”
“And of the sun. If this was Tishba’s city I can understand why they didn’t worship the sun.”
The Ruborian clearly found this idea bizarre. “Not worshipping the sun. Well, we’re all stepping into the dark with you. It’s a strange new world.”
“Ramah…” Estell paused briefly. “Do you think I’m going to make it? The ultimate goal of an Overlord… world domination?”
The prince smiled warmly. “Jinx almost made it. She really only missed the mountains and the Empire, and she wasn’t really trying for the Empire, she’d made peace with her brother as the Emperor.”
“But the mountains killed her. So it’s either world domination, or dying while you try to achieve that.”
“You’re not as reckless as she was. I think you can succeed, Estell.”
“…Well, in any case we’re getting you back to the Kermese throne.” Estell’s gaze fell to an image of Nephren; a tall, handsome man in airy fabrics, crowned with an ancient Ruborian headpiece. His hand was outstretched downwards, and at his feet was a huge, hairy, stylized beast. Estell’s thoughts shot back to the beginning of his journey; the cave where his fellow travellers from his mother’s Sanctuary had died, the beast that’d bitten off Miruvor’s leg. “What is that?”
Ramah’s eyes wandered over the inscriptions. “It doesn’t say. It’s mainly about Nephren. Through the nations spread the awestruck word that wild beasts followed him and licked his hands…”
“Hm. Well, it’s established it was a wild beast,” the elf smiled. He climbed the stairs to the throne room, and lingered at the sight of the thrones, banners and golden yellow walls at the other side of the bridge across the black abyss. Then he slowly walked towards it. “It’s beautiful, Ramah.”
“Do you still want to return to the throne of light?”
He turned. “…Not really. That was never my place. I couldn’t even ride a unicorn properly,” he confessed with a shameful little laugh.
“Ah, but you could ride a falcicorn pretty well.”
“That was bizarre. The first time riding one… total control, for the first time ever, it was wonderful.” Estell paused. “Well, it seems I’m destined to practice control in every aspect of my life… a dominating Overlord. Who’d have thought.”
They reached the throne room itself, and Estell was about to turn to the living wooden stairs back to the upper cavern. His eyes lingered on the wall to the left of the thrones, however, covered in writhing symbols. I have to know what that says, it’s right next to my throne. “Ramah… I assume that’s the first thing Gnarl had you translate?”
The Ruborian smiled lightly. “Indeed. It’s… a poem of love, or a song.”
Estell widened his eyes. “Is it? By Nephren, for his consort? Or the other way around? How… romantic, to engrave it there.”
“It rhymes in the original ancient Ruborian, but…” Ramah’s smile widened as he started translating. “ Our dark love will last forever. United beneath his wings, in his eyes; like a black tide we’ll make the night arise. From north to south, cold to warm; strange stars wheeling overhead, we will make the darkness sing.”
The writhing inscriptions seemed to dance in the torchlight. “From north to south… strange stars… was his consort from another land?”
“I’ll never leave your side,” Ramah continued. “You are what I embraced darkness for. United in fear, blood and the wild hunt; I am yours, and you are mine.”
Estell felt his eyes glow brighter.

The ball of light glowed in her hand as she showed it to Uthred and Rakka. Sora could barely believe it herself. “I have magic! I’ve never had magic before! I’ve been a slave since before I ever had a chance to develop anything!”
Uthred’s eyes shone as he looked at it, then he shielded them with a grin. “Is it destructive?”
“I won’t throw it here,” Sora chuckled. “But earlier I damaged a statue in the fortress… nobody knows it was me, no worries.” She closed her hand. “I’m the complete package, guys. Magic, Minions… alright, light magic, but still.”
“No gem or weapon,” Rakka spoke softly.
“A weapon may follow soon. And if the Minions don’t manage to steal something fitting, I’ll make do with something else.”
Uthred took her shoulder. “If you want to fight your way out of the valley you have to have something you can wield to the best of your ability, Sora. Wait a little longer.” He scratched his head in thought. “Wait until you have the clan’s full support in any case. Kniff is still waiting for Estell, is he not?”
Sora sighed. “Kniff’s waiting for Estell because he wants permission to die and fade away. We can’t depend on either of them. Kniff thinks there’s another, stronger Minion who can take his place, but I don’t think that’s true. He’s the biggest, the strongest, that’s why he’s still the leader, even without his claws and with this attitude.”
“I don’t think that’s the only reason he wants to die,” Uthred murmured. “I was there when they brought him in. He was mad with grief. He hopes to be reunited with his Mistress in death.”
“That’s… what I thought, too.” Sora suddenly wondered whether Estell was still alive, and realized she doubted it. She looked away briefly. “But we need his support! Where’s his spirit? Doesn’t he want vengeance?”
“Perhaps only as long as he can get permission directly afterwards, from the one he sees as his Master.”
“I could…” Sora hesitated. “No. I wouldn’t give him that permission. There’s plenty of reasons to live.”
Uthred crossed his arms. “And that’s exactly why I’m telling you to wait. I’ve been waiting for a chance for so long. Allow the brown horde to grow a little further, encourage their thirst for battle. A lot of them will die when you go to get the Hive. It’s an escape mission, but even then… I hope you’ll make it.”
“You’ll join me later, right?” Sora looked from one to the other. “Rakka?”
Uthred’s shoulders slumped. “…I think it’s best for me to stay here and keep wearing my mask for now. I can do more from here than from the field. And Rakka’s safer here too, as my…” He chuckled. “…my ward.”
“Ah…” Sora nodded. “Well, I have the Minions. It’ll be a wild adventure. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Are you really going to try and find the desert domain? When he was tortured…” Uthred paused; he’d told Sora of the torture, but not in too much detail; it still visibly pained her. “…during the torture he couldn’t recall its location. And if it’s buried…”
“The rock formations there were quite recognizable. I know roughly where it is. And if I can’t find it, I can always hide out there and let the clan grow into something truly fearsome.” She grinned. “They say Synn Aicassë was a wild elf from the mountains, half wolf… and also with blond hair and green eyes… She grew to be a legendary Darklord.” She glanced at Uthred. “You’ll know her as Synn of the North.”
Rakka widened her eyes at this comparison. “That’s too much of a coincidence. It’s destiny,” she giggled.
“Lady Sora.” Uthred bowed lightly. “Sora of the South, with tooth and claw.”
“Dancing on a mountaintop,” the elf japed. “Covered in the blood of my enemies. Oh, if only. If only.”