Darkness

Don't you recall what you felt
When you weren't alone
Someone who stood by your side
A face you have known
Where do you run when it's too much to bear
Who do you turn to in need
When nobody's there


Hold on, Baby Hold on
'Cause it's closer than you think
And you're standing on the brink
Hold on, Baby Hold on
'Cause there's something on the way
Your tomorrow's not the same as today


Hold On, By Kansas

Darkness

Chapter 66 One Wet Turn, for Another

Seer’ Reign woke up all at once, when something soft and very small seemed to crawl up against him and press itself to his neck and cheek and then a clinging tiny animal warmth nudged up closer and closer to him and then it began to gurgled and babbled nonsense against his ear. Almost afraid to find out what it was, the Wizard kept his eyes close and reached out expecting to find a small fury rodent pressed up next to him in search of warmth or quick bite, he prepared to grab hold of it and ring it neck, after all it might be even be a source of meat for their stew later. Instead his hand touched a familiar tiny round soggy cloth covered bottom, that was more than just a little bit damp and then his nose detected the unique pungent smell of wet baby.

Tiny Bud had come to visit him as he slept; it appeared Dwarf babies were able to crawl about much sooner than human ones. It could have been worse Bud’s tiny diaper could be stinky, rather than just wet. The sorcerer got up slowly carefully holding the little wet dwarf out away from his body with both hands, so the baby wouldn’t wet his clothing. He wondered what he was supposed to do with the nearly dripping little thing. Then Darkness remembered the little Dwarf lady’s pack; perhaps she had more diapers for the baby inside it. He quickly found the small pack leaning nearby on the boulder, while the lady dwarf continued to sleep soundly her tiny snore barely audible. Wee Bud all at once started to make a loud cooing sound and wiggle about wildly in his hands, as if he wanted to be free.

“Shush wee Bud, you don’t want to wake your momma and others for the quiet is pleasant now, and I promise I’ll see what I can do for you, if you hold on there just a minute." Almost as if the tiny thing under stood him. He was aware of tiny eyes watching him and studying him. He laid the baby on his belly on his sleeping mother lap for just a minute and searched the pack and until he found a small clean clothe diaper.

Darkness next laid out one of clean horse blankets on the ground, and then gentle took up the gurgling cooing wet dwarf baby up in his hands. The little creature seemed to enjoy being touched and moved about so much that he couldn’t keep from giving it a careful brief wary upward toss in the air before quickly carefully catching him in both hands before placing him back down on the blanket. That only made the tiny thing coo and giggly even harder at the Wizard’s rough playful attention. Next Darkness removed the wet diaper, but he found one side of diaper that was actually completely clean and dry. So he use that part of it to wipe the baby’s body thoroughly clean and dry of any residual wetness, before securely wrapping and tying the fresh diaper around him.

Then he held the little creature tightly in one arm while he put more wood on the fire and then proceeded to wash out the soiled diaper in a bowl shaped boulder in hot fresh water before hanging it on another rock by the fire to dry.

Next Darkness sat down beside the fire for warmth and found himself humming softly as he tenderly rocked the tiny dwarf in his arms until it fell asleep with a tiny soft sigh. With a gentle kiss to fine frail dark hair on its head, he placed the infant deftly back beside his sleeping mother being cautious not to rouse her, as he placed a corner of her blanket over and around the infant.

“Careful, Seer’ Reign My Lord of Darkness, your reputation as an evil bastard could be most thoroughly and utterly ruined forever, if you continue to keep this up and be so kind and gentle to that little dwarf…you’re the last person I’d figure to have a soft spot for tiny babies! Said a sleepy softly snickering Feles, as his soft voice came out of the shadows.

“Go back to sleep, Feles… your dreaming! Me kind! You’re totally fucking hallucinating… my fine fair most annoying Redhead, now go back to sleep at once before I‘ll be-spell you and make you forget what you thought you saw and heard along with your own name... just for the fun and the practice of it.” Darkness growled quietly obvious vexed at being observed.

Feles gave a rude smirk, “ Okay Darkness your not kind, I was just dreaming and… oh yeah I saw absolutely nothing.” But another soft giggle trailed off, as Feles fell rapidly back to sleep.

Something told Darkness that the young man’s doubting irritating giggle was not a good sign for preserving his evil reputation.

Having nothing better to do the Wizard decided to go back to sleep himself. Then he woke some unknown time later when what sounded like all hell had broken loose at once, all around him in the cave. The big demon and his pet whore were intensely arguing back and forth as they worked, while the Dwarf mother sang a raspy dwarf lullaby, loudly in effort to quiet the furious frantic crying baby. Along with the vocal sounds of his companions, the cave walls seen to echo loudly with the amplified sounds of dragged and snapping wood as it was placed on the fire. Metal utensils grinded against iron pots. Just for a brief second it reminded Darkness of past incident when his mercenary camp was once invaded by a bunch of noisy bloody inept Orcs, seeking a meal of human flesh.

“Every one shut-up damn-it, shouted the cranky and bad tempered Darkness in fury at being startled awake out of a sound sleep. Intense rage gripped him at the thought of spending any more in forced nights or the remainder of week in the cave trapped by the endless Snow Storm. It was almost more than the Wizard could take without erupting into irrational violence, especially with thought that Keylyn was still in the hands of that cruel sadistic monster.

When they reached the Elvin castle they would be very lucky if they managed to find the cruelly used and likely blood drained Keylyn alive, and not already fed to the buzzards surrounding the castle. Even now it might be too late and he was dead, unless the awful malevolent elf had some uniquely bazaar political use for Keylyn that demanded that he keep the boy alive. But that still wouldn’t mean the boy would be completely intact and untouched for the greedy vampire elf would more than likely take his tireless insidious amusement with Seer’ Reign’s pretty little elf, until the boy’s sanity was shattered and broken. And Keylyn was eventually reduced to a nearly mindless sexual toy in the devastating elf wizard’s unholy perverse hands. Seer’ Reign had been there; his memories would never let him forget, what it was like to be such terrible used thing.

Suddenly Seer’ Reign scrambled up from where he laying, and disappeared into the shadows to take a piss, before returning without a word to the others about his intentions… he headed to the cave mouth and peered out hoping for a break in the storm, but he was quickly disappointed for he angerly let out a loud furious shriek of a desperate animal. Drakk was correct in his assessment the snowstorm wasn’t going to end any time soon. They were held prisoner inside the cave by the storm and there was nothing they could do about it… not one fucking thing! Yes poor Keylyn would be most certainly be long dead by the time they got there to save him.

When Seer’ Reign returned to their campsite in the cave, his manner and expression was not that of a person who was of totally sane. His pitch black eyes held a look of wild madness, and his handsome face held a deadly expression that was as coldly vicious as the freezing blowing storm outside. Not one of his companions dared to get up and get close to him or even speak to him for they feared what he would do to them, if they so much as dared to utter one word to him.

Next without a word to anyone he approached the fire and the bubbling gruel cooking in the iron kettle, grabbed a wooden spoon and bowl and quickly shoveled several spoonful of the thin unappetizing mess into the wooden bowl and once more he disappeared back against the shadows walls of the cave and he sat down with his back to the wall to eat it and still he had yet to say one word to the others. After taking several mouthful of the hot disgusting mess, Darkness’ found himself unable to swallow any more of it. It was if his throat seized shut and refused to work. In his minds eye the only thing he saw before him was a vision of Keylyn's small frail crushed body ravished, bloody, and broken at the bottom of a cliff with the buzzard circling his remains. Abruptly he sat the bowl of gruel to side and covered his face with his hand and he was startled to feel drops of moisture running down his cheeks concealed by his hands. Suddenly he thought, silently scolding himself, “Bastards Don’t Cry!" What was wrong with him, where was his normal badass attitude. Only the truly foolish fall in love.” Then started to laugh crazily like a mad hysterical thing and he couldn’t stop, until he felt something all at once clutch weakly at his ankles and pull its self up on top of him and then crawl like a little animal up into his lap where it buried its face against him. Darkness just for brief second in his fury and distress was going to strike out. How dare anyone dare to touch him in this state… when he looked down he found it was the infant dwarf Bud who dared to touch him so intimately. More of that bazaar damn silly wetness slide down his face, and he carefully clutched the tiny dwarf to him…. and felt it gurgle softly back at him with strangely innocent bliss, almost as if the tiny thing was trying to comfort him. Damn he was half mad with grief, now he was starting imagine things too. But that didn’t keep Darkness from holding tight to the tiny dwarf and giving it one of his finger to suck on, which seemed to gave it, an obviously noisy satisfaction, for the sound of its sucking slurps could be throughout out the cave.

“I think my tiny son has great affection for you, Wizard… it distresses him, I fear, that you grieve so hard for your captive young friend and lover.” The lady dwarf spoke quietly, but still not so quietly that others in the party couldn’t hear her words. Was she a mind reader?

All at once Darkness didn’t care what the others thought any more, “Yes, Lady I fear we have been delayed much too long by the storm in rescuing him, it’s likely he is dead by now or will be dead by the time we get to him, perhaps we should just give up now, even if we managed to reach the Eye of Dragon, it likely we wouldn’t even be able to by-pass the castle’s massive fortified security to reach him in time or even get to revenge him by destroying the monster that’s responsible for killing him. My instincts also are telling me it’s a suicide mission, despite my strong magical skills and Drakk’s’ demon martial skills. The only outcome of our assault on this castle will be our deaths too… along with boy’s.”

“My very desperate and superb Dark Wizard, please don’t give up just yet. You could have just walked away and left us beneath the stones you hurled down on us, but you saved me and my boy Bud instead, without you, it’s very likely we would have died right there in that dark cave alone, never to be seen or heard from by our brethren ever again…. So we owe you big time. Whether you know it or not, Little Bud is now the last king of the few scattered Dwarf tribes that remain, for that evil elf monster killed his father and my husband, just for his own cruel sick simple amusement just because he could. What if my excellent Lord of Darkness, I could promise to get you inside that castle beyond the outer fortification within hours, rather than the usual long days it would take by going outside. For I know of an ancient series of secret lost deep dark dwarf-made earth tunnels that run underneath the mountain and lead up deep into the castle itself. Also, as well, I will provide a force of fierce fighter to help you divert the enemies attention away from you, so you could penetrate the castle to its furthers core and perhaps you could save your friend, or at very least get revenge for his death... and I think revenge... as well for the death of my husband at that vile Elf monsters hands. So what do say?”

Shocked by the offer Darkness, found himself momentarily stunned and overwhelmed as he stared back at the tiny female dwarf. Just for a second Seer’ Reign found himself left speechless and motionless, then reality returned suddenly when a tiny set of sharp teeth bite down sharply and painfully on his finger until blood flowed again, and a tiny pink slurping mouth began to suck the blood away impatiently from his finger. Darkness’ pain instantly awoke him to the potential and phenomenal opportunity offered him… he decided to take Bud's little bite as a royal sign of dwarfish encouragement for him to shout out, yes! And so, that’s just what Darkness did. “YES!” And it echoed deafingly loud throughout the cave leaving little doubt to Wizard's agreement to the plan.

Yes, they still had one more last chance to save Keylyn, and as well give the Dwarfs and opportunity to revenge their dead King.

At the very least they would have a chance to finally get revenge, one way or another, on the wicked and Malevolent Elf Lord who had destroyed so many innocent lives both now, and in the past. Darkness removed his bleeding ravaged finger from the tiny Dwarf King mouth, only to free the tiny mouth to laugh and giggle in pleasure, as if the baby knew what it was all about, and what he had set in motion. Darkness strengthened by the plan squeezed the happy baby tighter in arms and then leaned down kissed the top of his head and whispered softly into one tiny ear. “Yes, my little Dwarf King and blood brother, our bond is true we will, share our revenge and rid the world of this evil one, once and forever.” Tiny Bud’s only answer was to reach up and grab a thick lock of Darkness’ long shiny silken black hair and clutch it playfully and tightly in between his tiny fingers, as if he never wanted to let go.