The Minion Mistress - Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Out of the Shadows

A soft crunching. The feeling of cold leather against warm skin. Eyes screwed against the blinding white and constantly shaking off to prevent a pile of snow forming on top of your head.
Exactly what she needed right now.
Here, at an altitude of four thousand meters up in the Nordbergian mountains rising over the town, Jinx was alone with her thoughts. That was fine. She hoped this whiteness could drive out the dark within her. Darkness was great, but not the kind that had invaded her heart from the Wasteland.
Her narrowed eyes stared through the whirling snow. She saw other things, however.
Mortis, bent over the Well, reaching inside with a webbed hand. The lighting shades of Rasp, Nails, Raw and the others being dragged out, shining life force fusing with them, the Minions becoming solid again. She'd seen them die. Rasp and Nails back in Nordhaven, skewered on Kiret spears, Raw with an arrow through his head at the Reef Gates. Still, they were back.
Parch wasn't. He'd never come back again. Blister, Smoky and Yelp weren't. Gonk and Ludz, two weaker browns on their very first travel, separated from the horde by an enormous slug on the way back to the Tower Gate and driven backwards into the ooze, they weren't either. Sayron had commanded them with burning eyes to kill the Minions first. But not even that had been nearly as hard as sticking her dagger into Parch and feeling it rupture her friend's insides.
Jinx shook her head. The snow sprayed off her black hair. She didn't want to think of that anymore.
Loss. She'd lost things before.
Including great parts of her memory, so she couldn't even remember exactly what...
Jinx stopped, her head down and her gloved hands clenched into fists. She'd been so unexpectedly happy in the Netherworld and with the Minions, once the death threats had subsided, she'd forgotten it didn't make any sense. Of course, if Sayron continued like this, it'd be wise to be on his side, but what good would it do her? She'd always be his slave...
She thought of disappearing. A part of her would be happy to escape into the upper world, maybe to a far corner north of the Empire, or undiscovered lands beyond the distant horizon.
But another part of her knew that, even if she'd suddenly remember who she'd been and what she should be doing, she was now so attached to her life as the horde leader, she never wanted to leave again.
She felt torn. That was why she'd gone out hunting alone – she didn't want to see anyone, not even Kelda. But then she'd consciously chosen the most difficult path up the mountain, away from the hunting routes. Up here was nothing. Just Nordberg's last snow.
And a robust, hunched form, almost white on white... moving slighty.
The grey eyes beneath the sealskin hood froze. She was back in the Everlightian jungle, a gigantic drooling grass bear looming over her...
...until Parch came speeding to the rescue like a comet...
"No!" Jinx snapped to herself. She looked back at the form behind the whirling snow. What could that be?
She reached for her Everlightian vines beneath her coat.
At the same moment the form came forward. And Jinx could see it was something far larger than she'd estimated, distorted by the falling snow and the distance.
"Ankhwoo?"

Kniff miserably brushed aside the shards of a fallen demon horn, one of the sculptures along the throne room walls that'd been destroyed by the enormous net full of Nordbergian steel. He briefly snarled at a black rat running past, but couldn't bring himself to chasing it, at least not as enthusiastic as Grot.
He watched the other Minion for a moment. Grot was a hopeless case on the battlefield, so he'd probably be a cleaner forever. However, he thought of his broom as the mightiest of swords, always chasing after the rats and beetles invading the Tower.
Kniff lowered his ears again as he swept on. "Parch," he muttered. "Will miss you, buddy."
A soft, swift clicking of claws on marble made him look up. Another Minion? Grot and him were quite enough, the net makers had been less violent than usual.
It was a red. Small, and with a longer tail than the average.
Kniff caught himself staring. His broom clattered from his hands.
Then he saw the red's eyes. Elongated and with a black lining.
"New?" he asked, still miserable, but despite everything still with a spark of his old curiosity.
The red nodded. "Name is Fever," he spoke. Kniff's attention was drawn in some more upon hearing his voice – even more sizzling than Hoarse's. The newborn – he had to be, judging by his size – turned away and looked around the throne room. His eyes lingered on the mist pool, now showing Sayron in his struggles with the Everlightian jungle. Kniff followed the red as he went for the back of the hall.
Gnarl looked up from the pool as Fever approached. He seemed to back away slightly as he saw the red's eyes.
"Hello, Gnarl."
The mist pool went black.
A heartbeat later the throne room echoed with a desperate cry...
"Shiiiiiit!"

Jinx sprinted down the mountain trail, tripping in the massive layer of snow and feverishly searching for a spot to where she could throw a rope. Behind her, the yeti sniffed up her scent with interest. It was an enormous beast, at least five meters tall and covered in light grey fur. One huge eye blinked while watching her run, and then fell to her white clothes. He suddenly bared a set of very sharp teeth, kicked his short hind legs, flung out his long arms and swung down by the underside of the ridge, coming up and thudding back on the trail in front of Jinx. Right at that moment she threw down her vine, so she soared past him.
"What did you find, boy?" a loud voice pierced the frigid air. "Don´t just kill whatever you come across..."
Jinx looked over her shoulder from her lower ridge, a hand above her eyes against the whiteness of the sky. The yeti had held still. Next to him was a green-clad figure with blond, braided hair and pointy ears. His green eyes were fixating her even more than the yeti's one yellow eye.
"Florian Greenheart," Jinx hissed.
The elf laid a hand on the yeti's rough fur. "So you've heard of me…"
"Where are your Soldiers of the Sanctuary, treehugger?" Jinx mocked from her ridge. "Oh, wait, there is no Sanctuary below Nordberg anymore..."
Florian's eyes widened.
Jinx clasped a hand to her mouth as she realized what she'd flapped out. Her connection to the Overlord did go a little deeper than she'd estimated, then. Now the elf knew for sure on whose side she was. She moaned. "Think of who's holding the yeti, girl," she growled to herself. Then she looked back up at the elf.
Florian patted the yeti's massive arm. He opened his mouth to speak. The voice following, however, was not his.
"Jinx, I believe the pool's decided you need my help a little harder than Sayron at the moment."
Jinx jolted in surprise, slipped on the icy rock and plummeted into the ravine.
"And I think it might be right," Gnarl remarked dryly.
"After her, noble creature!" she heard Florian call out. The yeti roared and swung after her.
She swiped out her ropes to both sides, felt them catch on and nearly snap with strain, and swung to a halt between two spires. As her heart hammered like crazy, she looked about her wildly. "Gnarl!"
"Yes?"
"I didn´t even think of you! It´s not my fault!"
"Most certainly not. I suggest you get the hell away from that yeti. You´re wearing seal fur and he won´t stop until you´re dead."
There was the clatter of falling rocks above as the gigantic creature came down with giant leaps. A greedy, snorting growl reached her hooded ears. She looked up fearfully, yanked her ropes free and let herself fall even further.
It wasn´t easy using the ropes with gloves as thick as she was wearing now. Unlike during her first voyage through Nordberg, she was dressed for it now, down to her sturdy fur boots, but it did take away much of her agility.
"Ankhwoooooo!"
She smashed her feet into the rock face below her, which luckily wasn´t too steep at this point. She bent her knees upon impact and immediately started running as fast as she could, her jagged breath trailing behind her in large plumes of steam. She reached a good speed, racing downwards through the snow.
She threw a glance over her shoulder. The yeti came thundering down the mountain on his knuckles, way faster than she was. Florian was nowhere to be seen.
She might just as well use the fact she now had an advisor. "How do I get rid of him?!"
"Reach Nordberg! Once you´re out of the snow, he´ll turn back."
"Faster, Jinxie!" Kniff´s voice sounded next to her ear.
"I´m trying, Kniff!"
Below her grew leafless trees which would only in the heart of summer get a chance to come to life. At the moment she slid between them a new voice sounded, one with a sizzling undertone.
"Look to the right, Jinx."
Involuntarily, she did as she was told. There, a few yards away, a large slab of bone-tough bark hung loose from one of the trees, strangely scorched as if it had been ripped loose by a sudden burst of flame.
Something clicked and Jinx cast out a rope. She swung around the tree once, kicked the slab loose with outstretched feet and a crack, and jumped onto it as it slid into the snow. Then she bent over as if riding the floating rock. Her makeshift snowboard granted her a great deal more speed, and now she started to reclaim her lost head start from the yeti.
She heavily breathed out in a trail of steam as the pounding of the heavy knuckles receded somewhat and the yeti was hidden from her eyes by the lifeless trees. Then her eyes narrowed. "Who was that?"
"Fever, Jinx," Gnarl spoke. "A new red Minion."
Don´t think of Parch... "He´s got good eyesight if he could see that in the pool."
"How did Jinxie get into the pool?" she heard Kniff ask.
"Yeah, I´m curious to that as well." She looked back. The yeti was still tailing her. She bent over a little deeper.
Gnarl coughed. "I believe the Netherworld feels you mustn´t die. It surprises me."
"You don´t mean a word of it," Jinx grinned. She heard Kniff chuckle.
...How could she even have thought about leaving the horde?
"Jinx! Look out!"
Her eyes widened and she straightened out abruptly. In a reflex and a spray of snow she crossed the bark.
Before her feet, the world fell away. Deep, deep below her, smoke rose from the chimneys of Nordberg.
She looked back, just in time to see the yeti thunder out between the trees.
She jumped.

Gnarl rigidly clasped his hands together as he watched the vision in the pool grow hazy with speed, a grey smudge of mountain slope with Jinx sharply visible against it. Her hood was blown off and her black hair flew up. She still had the bark beneath her feet, but a fall from this height would at least do some damage...
He looked away to the Minion who called himself Fever. He couldn´t believe it was already beginning.
Three questions buzzed through his ancient skull. How was Sayron in the meantime? How would Jinx survive this? And where, where were the two other heads of the black dragon? When would they walk the mortal world?
Kniff stood on his other side, his fingers in his mouth and his eyes wide. He nervously gnawed his knuckles as Jinx cast out a rope – and missed. A second throw made her swing to the side uncontrolled, a nauseating motion even for the watchers through the mist pool.
She put her snowboard against the rock face, slightly less steep at this point. The bark slowed her descent in a rain of splinters, but her knees were trembling and she wouldn´t be able to keep it up for long.
Fever bent over the pool. "Howl! Howl for help!"
Jinx´ head flew up. "What?"
Kniff yanked his fingers out of his mouth and howled like a wolf. Jinx´ eyes lit up and she followed him, a mournful call through the screeching wind.
Way down, something answered her call. But above her the yeti roared out his rage.

The icy wind bombarded her ears. She tried to reduce her speed as much as she could using her ropes and the bark, but even as she howled a second time, the wood ricocheted on a bump of rock and tumbled away from beneath her feet. Her left foot snapped against the rock and tears sprung into her eyes with the sudden pain.
Below her was another plateau, free of snow this time. She had reached the border of the snow cap. But the yeti didn´t seem about to turn back, the elf´s command still ringing in his sunken ears.
Jinx smacked onto the relatively smooth ground. She couldn´t run – her foot lay limp and at a strange angle.
She howled again, hoarse with fear. The yeti thudded down behind her like a compact avalanche and raised a massive fist.
Which was suddenly hung with a slender, grey-haired creature, teeth sunk into the fleshy wrist.
Jinx pushed herself up on her hands, her eyes wide with joy. The wolves had come!
The yeti turned a full circle and flung the wolf loose with a mighty swing, but there were already more of them, threatening him from all sides. They snapped at his hands, as one of them was always on the ground for balance, his feet and his behind. They jumped at his face so he backed away, growling low as he did so. A single, large wolf approached Jinx and sniffed her.
She outstretched her hands to him. "I smell of Minion, don´t I?" She managed a quivery smile, deliberately not showing her teeth. This might just be the very same wolf she´d ridden during the Nordberg siege.
She swung an arm around the strong shoulders and hauled herself onto his back in an old, but familiar position. She egged him on and he sped off, and she knew he was running as fast as he could.
Behind them, the enraged roars of the yeti rose over the pack´s growls. Jinx looked back, just in time to see him bat away four wolves at once. He was coming after her again.
But the slope was much less steep here, and the wolf effortlessly jumped over the cracks and boulders that´d normally slowed her enough to cause her demise.
Now she could even see the clocktower bell of Nordberg shine in the sunlight. They were approaching the city walls.
High above her, invisible in the thick clouds keeping the mountaintop covered in snow, a high whistle like that of a tropical bird resounded.
The yeti abruptly halted and looked up. The wolves caught up with him, but with one enormous leap he was out of their range and swinging back up the mountain.
She could hear Kniff cheering.
"That turned out well, Jinx," Gnarl remarked dryly. "I really was expecting you to be a rather sad smudge of blood within three minutes. But the only reason you´re still alive is that elf´s mercy."
Her heart skipped a beat with incense. "That´s not true! I did everything I could to escape!"
"Yes, but you won´t stop a yeti just with a pack of wolves. Now, come back through the Nordberg gate and let´s hope I can get the pool to work properly again..."
Jinx started as two trees on either side of her suddenly caught flame. A hiss resounded, but she wasn´t sure if it came through the pool or from the flames. "Whoa! Do those tar pits stretch out to here?"
"...Um, would you like to check the quarry before you go?" Gnarl then asked.
Jinx raised an eyebrow at that change of subject. "The wolf won´t be pleased..."
"Then heal yourself and walk! Come on now!"
Even as the advisor spoke, the wolf slowed and came to a standstill on top of the rock face overseeing the quarry behind Nordberg. She shielded her eyes from the mushrooming clouds of debris and painfully dismounted. "Thanks, friend," she affectionately spoke to the wolf. "Pity our ways part so soon..."
The wolf briefly snorted, rubbed his nose against her hand and ran back into the wilderness.
Jinx turned back to the quarry. She carefully lowered herself from one of her ropes and came down with trembling knees. "Happy now?" she asked Gnarl as she walked between the labouring Nordbergians. "Everything´s fine here. Can I come back now?"
"Wait just one moment," a sizzling voice spoke.
"Fever?" she asked, confused and wondering why he was speaking in Gnarl´s stead. At the same time, she saw a ginger-haired man turning and staring at her.
She knew who he was. "Kivner," she said, grinning. "Hi."
But the expression in his wide, light brown eyes was not one of subservience towards an inhabitant of the Netherworld. It was one of disbelief, surprise... and unbelievable joy. A single tear ran over his cheek. His lips trembled and formed her name, without a sound.
Jinx blinked. "...Kivner? What´s the matter with you?"
"Jinx?"
"Yeah. It´s not the first time you see me, you know."
Kivner grasped her shoulders. "You don´t understand. Wait here and don´t leave."
Then the ginger man suddenly fell down as if he were dead. At once, Jinx knelt down next to him and felt his pulse. It was beating normally. She raised her eyebrows, a strange feeling inside of her. "Gnarl..."
"No idea," the advisor said, sounding as confused as she felt. "Going to get something on the other side?"
For a while, Jinx stayed at Kivner´s side, trying to wake him up. Then, running footsteps sounded behind her. At the same moment the light brown eyes opened again. "Nessuna," the man whispered. "What have you done to me?"
Jinx looked back. And spontaneously couldn´t breathe anymore.
Right there was a woman in her forties, her hair short and black, her eyes a cool grey, resembling her own. She was truly beautiful and emanated a sort of constant slyness which wouldn´t look too bad on a green Minion, despite the expression that now lay on her face. "Jinx," she whispered.
"M-mom?"
"Velvet?!" Gnarl shouted.

"Velvet, daughter to Fengor the Red," the advisor spoke disbelievingly, not that much later. "Sister to Rose, your mother, Sire!"
Sayron cast his flaming gaze over the two black-haired women. He´d returned from the jungle as soon as the mist pool was functioning normally again and Gnarl had passed him the message. Velvet was standing behind Jinx, holding her in her arms firmly.
Jinx was staring at the large Overlord family tree hanging from the library wall in the private quarters. Quaver was just writing in her name.
She was Sayron´s cousin. Sayron´s cousin!
"How did you get to Nordberg?" Sayron asked urgently.
"I came with governor Borius, thirteen years ago," Velvet spoke coolly. "I was his mistress until a certain powerful lady in the Empire really got enough of me and used him to send me to that frozen outback."
"Who was that powerful lady?"
"None other than my sister, Rose."
Jinx froze as the memories came flooding back. Rose... The wife of Marius, Speaker for the Emperor and brother to Borius, former governor of Nordberg. Only fitting that Velvet should try to suck up to him...
She´d never known.
"Arcadiopolis," Jinx whispered. "The Empire´s capital... That´s where I lived. That´s where we lived together."
"Yes," Velvet said in a softer voice. "And I went out to claim a proper position in my sister´s domain, while she still wanted to see me dead. Until Borius was sent to Nordberg. As I boarded the galleon, she was standing next to the gangplank, and she told me she´d hung you in the slums that very same morning."
"She didn´t do anything to me," Jinx muttered. "I received word you were in the Imperial dungeons to be tortured. I jumped to conclusions. I´ve been stealing on the streets for three years, after that I started to make a living for myself. Then soldiers came to arrest me, I was accused of being a witch and thrown into the Tamesa." There was no emotion to her voice as the memories kept flowing back, everything she´d been before she died in Mortis´ net. Her delirious dream at the Reef had been true – she´d gotten into the river through a witch trial, and Rose and Marius had been watching her from the shore.
"But..." Sayron uttered, awakening from his own trance. "Rose..." He looked at the family tree, where Jinx´ name was still drying. "Rose, the Mistress of the old Tower... my mother... she´s in the Empire?"
Velvet looked up at him with cool grey eyes. "And how. I believe you´ve already seen Marius? She´s his wife now, quite a stepdown from Vessperion if you ask me. She serves Emperor Solarius."
"How did she get there? Do you know why she left me in Nordberg?" Sayron´s voice grew rough. "And why did you never unveil yourself?"
"I don´t know how my sweet sister arrived in the Empire, but I think she smelled power, as did I. She was already quite powerful when I was driven out of Angelis by the magical plague. Leaving you, well, everyone would have done that. The disease was still roaming freely and she had a baby with glowing orange eyes."
"But you´re magical, too," Gnarl pressed with gleaming eyes. "You´re daughter to the mightiest wizard of the past five hundred years! I´ve heard you inherited most of Fengor´s power, not Rose." His eyes strayed off to Jinx. "And so..."
"My father was Vessperion," Sayron interrupted. "Her power is nothing compared to mine!"
"Who was her father?" Gnarl asked Velvet, his eyes narrowed to slits.
The black-haired woman pursed her lips. "An officer, Junius Laurentius. An accident, really." She looked at Jinx, her eyes full of affection. "The most fortunate accident of my life."
Gnarl turned back to Sayron. "She´s half magical. But she is your cousin, Sire."
"And we must honour family," Kelda nodded in the Overlord´s stead. She´d been listening carefully. "And I believe we´d do well to grant lady Velvet protection in the Netherworld. The way she reformed Nordberg through the head of Kivner of Nordhaven deserves respect."
"Just a bit of black magic," Velvet wafted it away. "That idiot could never have led Nordberg. And I was pleased to be living by day again. That´s the only reason I saw you, after all," she said to Jinx.
"But Rose, my mother, serves the Emperor!" Sayron said roughly. He couldn´t seem to grasp it, which was natural. Kelda took his hand. "Sayron... that woman who was here before you departed for the old Tower..."
Gnarl yanked his head up to face Velvet. "I thought I recognized her!"
Jinx immediately knew it was true. That woman had been Rose. Disappearing in a blue flame, like Marius had done after the Nordberg siege. So the actual leader of the Empire´s Sentinels was her own aunt... things were becoming increasingly complicated.
"There´s nothing we can do about that now," Gnarl spoke concisely, despite the worried gleam in his eyes. "I advise you to look for the green Hive, Sire. If I´ve learned anything from the progress of former Overlords, it´s the fact that strange doors can open once you have the clans together."
"Then that´s what we´ll do," Sayron growled. He turned his red-hot gaze to Velvet. "You..."
Jinx held her breath.
"...You´ll get a room in the lower levels," the Overlord finished. The glow in his eyes flared. "But I´m watching you."
He turned away, strode to the portal, raised an arm and departed for Everlight.
Velvet turned to Jinx with gleaming eyes, without paying any attention to Gnarl, Kelda or the present Minions. "Look at you, honey," she smiled. "Covered in blood and scars, I´m so proud of you..."

Sayron´s head spun as he emerged from the Tower Gate Grubby had dug for him, east of the grass bear territory. He whistled. Before long the four green Minions solidified from the undergrowth to join the gathering horde.
Stripe had been looking about him for some time, to the foliage and the treetops. "Jinx scouting ahead?" he asked in his rasping voice.
"No," Sayron answered shortly. "Jinx is staying behind."
Hoarse felt someone tapping his armoured shoulder. Behind him was a small red with black-lined eyes. "Greet, leader," the newborn spoke shyly. His eyes were sparkling.
Hoarse nodded to him. "Welcome into the horde." Inside, he wondered how such a little one could be strong enough to be allowed to fight.
"Jinx´ mother in the Tower," Fever remarked.
Several Minion spun around at those words. Kniff blinked, his ears twitching and his mouth gaping open. "What?!"
"Come on," Sayron said irritatedly.
The horde immediately followed, but the group of Minions was buzzing with excited muttering. Stripe and Kniff both looked worried.
However, the greens were leading them as swift and difficult to follow as always, so they soon found they needed all their attention just to keep following. It was thanks to that attention that eventually, as dusk started setting in, they reached a narrow pass to an overgrown, rocky valley. The irregular walls rising at all sides caused it to be even darker than the area they were leaving behind, where the forest was relatively open.
They did have a clear view of an abandoned elven fortress.
There was the sound of marching feet, approaching from another direction. Sayron outstretched a hand and grabbed Rampus at the scruff of the neck as he was about to walk on.
A small group of Empire soldiers marched across the stone bridge leading to the fortress. The two in front were carrying long spears, but the two behind them were dragging someone along. It was a struggling figure, dressed in a white toga with a purple stripe.
Sayron realized he recognized her – for the captive was a woman. The woman he´d seen through his telescope before the Horizonbreaker had been shipwrecked. Her long, chestnut brown hair now hung loose and her jewellery was gone, but she was still blindingly beautiful.
"Such sights," Gnarl agreed.
Kelda gnashed her teeth. "Don´t make me skin you and wear you as a hat, Gnarl," she growled.
The soldiers dragged the woman inside the fortress walls. Then the massive gate started coming down.
"Oh dear, where have we seen this before?" Gnarl said, casually as if he wasn´t standing next to Kelda at all. "I´d find another way in if I were you, Sire..."