12 Into The Dark Lands (VIII): A Royal War

The smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air as their dead was sent on their way. It was unfortunate to say, but since he came here this was the first time he had ever felt nauseous. As their bodies burnt, there was just this hint or smell of desolation and pain, of anger and hatred, Nathaniel could feel the negativity in the air.

It was thick and suffocating, and he almost couldn't withstand it's onslaught. But Nathaniel felt Balancer quiver in his hands, and almost immediately he was free from it. He had no choice but to live like this from now on, his decisions were now his own, he was not compelled by a natural law, and he had free will. Hell would do everything in it's power to make sure he paid or fell back into it's embrace.

The burning of his fallen soldiers and the dark elves did not take long, it was an anticlimactic event, but solemn enough to get his message across. They respected the dead, even those of their enemies. It was not like this before, but after today Nathaniel felt a need to do things differently, besides such an act was also a part of his plan. Before today he had no honor, and he was not looking to have one.

To properly conquer the dark lands, it's residents need to see Nathaniel as someone who could be considered one of them. He needed to build a favorable reputation, and according his enemies their traditional burial rights was a step in the right direction. Nathaniel knew from Vane that currently there were spies watching them, two different set if his observation was correct.

Which meant that at least his plan had worked to a certain extent. He already got the attention he needed, now he just needed to decide which candidate he was going to tango with.

The dark elf matriarchy, has only been ruled by females, unlike the surface where men could do whatever it is they wanted to women, in the dark lands women were the power and men were the powerless.

The previous queen had three children, a set of twin daughters, and a son. She had created a lot of unsettling waves during her time as ruler of the dark elves. It was rare and considered a good omen if a dark elf should birth twin girls, much less royalty, but it was considered the worst possible kind of omen should a female of royal blood give birth to a male. It was considered bad, very bad.

It was later found out, that the queen had birth that child to an up lander father, a demon prince of the Lucifer bloodline. Someone who had rights to not just rule the dark elves, but also much of the land above.

The Lucifer bloodline is considered the absolute and the most unquestionable royal bloodline in hell. The demon kings of old had come from this very bloodline, wielding great and massive powers with the ability to bring great suffering to their enemies. It was the bloodline with the most potential for growth, and carnage; this was also Eve's bloodline.

After the dark elf queen was exposed she was given two choices, pick a successor and abdicate the throne, or stay empress and have her taboo son executed before he rained destruction on them. She chose to leave, but ended up naming her son as the successor to the dark elf throne.

The whole dark lands was thrown into disarray by the decision, so the youngest of her twin daughters took the throne by force and stabilized the situation. She had moved her cards into places in such a way that her elder sister by a whole day, and priestess to the elven dark goddess was cheated out of what she considered her birthright as the eldest.

The entirety of the dark lands became split into two factions, as one side supported the priestess, and the other supported the new queen. Their brother was nothing more than just a child at the time, but now he has grown up, and rallied the males of the under dark to his banner, and with his mother as his advisor and if rumors are to be believed his lover, he has slowly been taking grounds from both sisters, leaving them in a heightened state of worry.

With their forces split, neither sisters had the resources or man power to resist their brother who had the united front and support of every male demon in the under dark.

They could not join each other in an alliance for fear of the other betraying them. And with each day that passed, they lost more and more to their brother who was gobbling up land and resources and advancing towards the capital at an extremely fast rate.

Something was needed to offset the precarious balance between all three of them. They needed a way to end this war, so that there can be a true victor with the other two vanquished. And along comes a spider by the name of Nathaniel.

The brother had already discovered Nathaniel from the moment he came down into the dark lands. Instead of trying for an alliance, the brother like any other stupid alpha male in hell decided to destroy what was potentially competition for him. But his actions however were not just baseless, this brother was in cahoots with demon army above ground, it was through their support that he was able to keep winning just as much as he has been so far. But Nathaniel knew why he was able to garner such support.

The world above was dominated by males, and the land below was filled to the brim with rare resources that could prove quite helpful for those above. And they would have gotten it, if the previous leaders of the dark elf empire had not been so stingy. But with this civil war, there was a chance that they all could get a share of the pie and become very rich and even more powerful.

So with a chance to influence the leadership of the dark elves, they jumped at it with incessant fervor. The supplies they sent was enough to offset this entire battle in his favor much less the manpower and war machines gained. Both sisters were two cornered lionesses trying to defend their den from a pack of hyenas.

They were not willing to trust the other because of fear of betrayal, so they could only keep their current status quo while the enemy kept on whittling at their forces little by little until there was nothing left. What they needed was a lion to bring order to their chaos, and lion that will bring both demoness to heel.

Lucky for them, he was around. Nathaniel made his way away from his soldiers who were busy tidying up the camp. They were to set out immediately as staying one place for too long would make them a target, they already had one faction against them already, and Nathaniel did not want to have another faction against them before he could show them what he had to offer.

Soon enough Nathaniel was far away from the camp, and was in a secluded area with glowing crystals that jutted out of the ground like massive crystalline towers. They were beautiful, and they looked quite at home in this subterranean world.

"Vane what do you have for me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a tiny spider black as night with eerie green eyes made it's way over to him. The spider climbed his body all the way to his head, and went into his right ear. It tickled and Nathaniel had to fight the urge to shudder in revulsion. But he was able to calm down as soon as Vane's voice was heard.

"My lord, currently the fortress is under siege, about three months ago, the high priestess princess Ellen had taken control of it from the queen mother, her twin sister Halen. It's a strategic position in the empire and lots of information from the outside world passes through here.

Anybody who has control over the fortress would have control over the distribution of information in the empire and hold an edge over their opponents. As such the high priestess had led the charge herself and successfully took control of the fortress. Unfortunately her brother also had his sights set on it, and had ordered his soldiers to lay siege to it.

Currently he has an army two thousand strong attacking the gates, while on the peaks of both mountains that neighbor the fortress from the left and right, he has a massive bolder almost a hundred meters in diameter suspended and about to be dropped straight down onto the fortress. In retrospect he's not just laying siege to them, but also holding his sister hostage."

"And what of the queen mother, what moves has she made so far?"

Nathaniel asked in confusion as this should have been a prime opportunity for her to take care of two of her enemies.

"Currently she's defending her capital from a two pronged invasion from her brother. He had somehow employed the help of grey demons, and they are attacking by the thousands."

"Then what of the remaining forces of the high priestess, I doubt she would have come all this way with all her forces and leave her back unguarded. Why are they not here.?"

"That's because they are caught right in the middle of the current battle between the high priestess's brother and sister. The high priestess had divided her forces in half, she needed one half to put pressure on her sister while she took control of the fortress. It was a distraction tactic, and it worked for the most part, however neither sisters imagined that their brother would have the demon power and resources needed to fight a war on three fronts. Basically all three are making a rather risky gamble."

" very well Vane, here is what I want you to do. I need your assassins to take control of both boulders, it's a rather nasty trick, but it's a significant amount of leverage. I need you to keep your spiders active at all times, the communication lines should not be cut off, at least for the next two days. Next I want you to take fifty of the soldiers here with you and head back to the main force, I need a thousand of our best. But the fifty soldiers are nothing more than a diversion, you can get there faster and hidden, so we let whoever is watching us follow the soldiers while you go get me the rest of my soldiers.

Brutus and I will lead what's left and attack the prince's forces from behind. At the latest, I will need our forces to catch up to us in a week, and bring Eve along with you."

"Understood my lord."

Then the spider crawled out of his ear and left skittering away into the darkness. Those spiders were one of the main reasons the Anansi demons were so coveted, they grew from the hair, finger nails, saliva even the body waste of the Anansi spider demons. They have a psychic link with their creators and are small enough to carry information through enemies lines and closed doors. Above all they were visible only to the eyes of their creator, and the person who is receiving the information. Of course maintaining them through long distances takes a toll on the mental and physical energy of their maker. But they were great trump cards, especially in a war like this.

Nathaniel looked up to the sky, or should he say the cavern ceiling that was a few kilometers away and dotted with crystals and bioluminescent plants that gave the impression of a night sky. It really was beautiful, everything about this place was amazing, such that you would never expect a place this sublime to exists in hell. It was paradise, and Nathaniel wanted it all.