That and pillaging, of course. Several villages and an entire city were raided and burned down to the ground. The barbarians were unstoppable has they move to the border to meet their ally, general Malek. 
        Or at least that is what everybody else thinks. Vorador thought. It as had been long six years since he took his oath of revenge, and since then his left arm was covered with another six scars. Now he was so close to Malek, so close that his cold self-control was starting to drip away. He had dreams lately, dreams were he slaw Malek, dreams were he cut every inch of that bastard’s body, dreams were…
        Not now! He commanded himself. I am not going to lose it now. He took another look at the soldiers and lifted his right arm to the sky. 

        “Charge!”

        The barbarians raged forward, their faces, covered with blue and red colors that turned their face into an horrible mask twisted has they screamed their song of death. Vorador barely understood the words, but the barbarian’s intentions were clear to him as it were clear for the doomed soldiers. Those who had weapons lifted with desperate looks. They knew that running away would not help them against the horde.

        When they were only fifty meters away, the barbarians stopped all together and with an amazing unity dozens of them throw their small yet deadly throwing axes. For every axe that went to the air there was a soldier that felt to the ground, his head sliced to two. 

        The barbarians resume their running; those who lost their axes now draw their giant battle-axes or long, thick maces. Vorador didn’t have to look to know that the Purple Legion will soon be extinct for good.

        “Ha, Vorador?” the young mercenary asked. The other mercenaries stood on their horses near him. “Zephon sent us, but he didn’t gave us order, so…” He closed his mouth when Vorador looked at him. [Malek, how ironically that the man I hated above all was also the only thing that kept me going. My revenge, like many other forms of hatred drained me of everything else while feeding the urge to kill the one I hated. The mercenaries feared me. They were people who killed for money, but they had more humanity left in them than me. Even the barbarians didn’t like to be near me. I surround my soul with wall of cold stone while keeping a small flame of hate burning, ready to explode. In those days nothing was too cruel for me, as long as it served my goal.  Nothing.]

        “The city WarHammer is only two miles away, behind the mountains that hide us from them. The Purple Legion was supposed to protect the city. Now,” he looked at the barbarians that were busy stilling every shiny thing they could find from the corpses. “They will have nothing to protect them. Dameon sent the Green Legion from there two weeks ago, even soldiers who just started training.”

        “WarHammer?” One of the mercenaries said with anticipating smile. “Now we are going to get paid!” 

        “Dameon is going to sacrifice favorite war school? Malek must be giving him some real troubles if he is willing to destroy this place; he used to train the troops there personally."

        “And nothing stent between us and some of the best weapons ever made except for some elderly citizens! Not to the diamonds statues!”

        “If those men beast won’t burn the entire place down.”

        That lowered the morale. The barbarians were known to enjoy burning places. Maybe because it was not something they could do in the cold wasteland.

        “Sera ordered them not to get near that area. It’s all yours.” He looked at them with brown eyes that were like stones. “Make sure first that no escaped, then you can take what you want. Understood?” They all nodded and tried not to look at him. They didn’t like him. It wasn’t because Zephon made his second in command; they all agreed that he was good with both the swords and with war tactics, while some of them were better than him in fight face to face, none of them had any talent in engineering a battle plan. No, it was not jealousy. The young mercenaries, those who were less than thirty only knew that there was something disturbing in him. The experience could point it out: he didn’t like them. He didn’t hate them; he just didn’t like them, or any body else for that matter. They meant nothing to him other than tools, and if someday killing them by sending them to a suicide mission will be more useful to him than to keep them alive, he would gladly do it. Not that there were any form of happiness in him, which was another thing they didn’t like. They didn’t understand why he was doing all of this, what he hopped to achieve. They also decided it will be better not to ask. 

[Entire city, with people in it. Even after the Green Legion left there were still people in it, it was a large city, and I was helping to destroy them. Even after it was destroyed I didn’t notice the fire, the bodies of the dead, the distraction. The only thing I saw was Malek.]

        It was dawn when the barbarians decimate the Purple Legion. An hour before dusk, they were charging against WarHammer. The mercenaries stood at the city gate, waiting for any one who will attempt to escape while the barbarians rampage over the city. 

        Vorador looked with dislike at the mercenaries. They laughed and joked as they slew those who tried to run away. He was thirty meters behind them, watching for any one who will try to leave the city by using the secret passage. Thank to Zephon, he knew exactly were to look. 

        A tall man, holding two long swords, one in each hand, appeared behind parts of the wall that suddenly moved. Vorador jumped from his horse back and draw his own sword. He didn’t like to fight on horseback. The man stopped and looked at Vorador. Vorador could guess what was going on in his mind. The mercenaries were needed to secure the gate, so Vorador prefer to kill the warrior without calling them for help. If the warrior will try to escape, Vorador will call for help, but if he will kill Vorador without any one notice… 
The warrior lifted his swords in the air, the blades pointed at Vorador, started to move toward him…

        And fell to the ground with a long arrow coming out of his throat. Zephon stepped from the shadows beyond him. 

[The barbarians called him the Spider, and it was an appropriate name. They knew nothing of poisons and believed that he could enhance weapons by touch so they could kill with only one hit. He fought from the shadows, killing the only the strongest warriors he found, saving his force to those he consider a larger threat than the rest. Those who made the mistake thinking that he was a coward and without fighting skill in face to face combat made a fatal mistake. 

I met him again, three hundred years later as he led the Sarafan in their so-called holy war as one of Malek most loyal man and personal knight of the Protector of the Pillar of form. On the broken lands of the Snake Tribe I fought and killed him, but only then, after drinking his blood and reading his thought have I realized what a artful mind he had, for while I fought him there the Sarafan rose from the shadows and stepped into the light, ready to begin their crusade. That was his great masterwork. With his help Malek created the Sarafan without me or anyone else knowing about it. He truly deserved the name Spider.]

        Zephon had an average height, his blond hair falling freely on his shoulders. His weapons were a long sword and a crossbow. At least, those were the visible weapons. Zephon always kept a collection of poisoned daggers, and he enjoyed using them. From time to time, however, when he didn’t have to hurry he found his delight from the raw force of the crossbow.

        “Are you still jealous for losing again in the last training?” Vorador knew the idea was strange, more than strange, but after they first training fight against each other, when Zephon was close to win due to Vorador believe, like many before him, that the Zephon had no talent in face to face combat. Ever since, Zephon tried to beat him time after time, and always lost. He always seemed unaffected by that, but Vorador couldn’t stop thinking that Zephon smile was just to hold his lips from twisting into a growl of mad anger.
        And if he hiding this, what else might be hidden beyond his eternal friendly smile? I must be careful, now then ever, when I am so close!

        Zephon just shrug his shoulders. “Dose it matter who killed him as long as he is dead? Beside, I have something a more important mission for you later. Meet Sera and me in the middle of the city in a tent. I will show you our gift to Malek.” He cackled to himself and left into the city.

        About an hour later Vorador entered the tent that was built in the part of the city that was less ruined, where the war school was. The barbarians kept their word, almost. Some house were crunched to dust. In one of house open space a large tent stood. It belonged to Sera. Where she and Zephon rested and… 
        He stopped his mind from thinking about the other thing that Zephon and Sera probably did, and will probably do after they will settle in one of the remaining houses. The rumors claimed the before Zephon, Sera used to…
        He blocked that thought too, with effort. Sera disgusted him. The barbarians, more than the killing enjoy the battle, but Sera were different. She enjoy the killing, the spilled blood, the smell of the corpses and the sight of the destruction her minions cost. Killing Malek was the key to her dream, to use her army along with the Legions of Zidru-Kur, she planed to a true celebration of destruction: to kill king Balor, and to erase his empire from the face of the earth.
        And inside the tent, was the key to Malek. Curious to know what would be so special he entered the tent. 

        Inside he first saw Zephon and Sera. Sera was a tall woman, her head bald, like all of her people who were not usual to the heat after living all their life in the cold wasteland. She always wore her armor and her long, two-handed sword that was her favored weapon due to the severe wounds it cost. Vorador felt himself shiver, like he felt every time he saw her. Her cruelty scared even the barbarians. Especially the barbaris, and they was people that used to fight bars and tigers with their bare hands. No animal was sadistic as Sera were. When she wasn’t satisfied from the amount of killing, she used to slaughter some animals to cool herself down. She killed to live and lived for the killing.
        That, and late nights with Zephon.

        Then, when his sight got used to the darkness in the tent, he saw the gift.
        At a first look she seem to be a human from a race he never saw before. She was shorter than the rest of them, her skin in the color of deep blue with thin body and limbs. A second look discovered she was human once, but no more. 
        Above all it was her eyes that gave her away. They were purple, with narrow, cat like pupils.
        Vampire eyes.

        “Her name his Jenel, and she will be our gift to general Malek. Don’t worry, she is sweet as a kitten, aren’t you Jenel?” Jenel’s eyes were locked on Sera with such hate that Vorador knew that Sera told the truth. No one could feel such hate without trying to do some serious damage to the subject of that hate unless he was restrained. 

        “A vampire? An unusual gift, that is for sure.” Vorador’s voice was cold as usual as he the prisoner. She didn’t bother to hide the burning hate in her eyes, but for some one who was supposed to be one of the most powerful undead that ever walked the earth, she didn’t made any move against Sera, but she also didn’t recoil when the leader of the barbarian put her hand on the vampire shoulder. Sera smiled, in a way that resembles a sharp. Then she took a step back and sent a strong kick into her stomach. The vampire almost flew in the air from the blow. She fell on the ground and slowly started to rise again. From the look in her eyes, that she kept locked on Sera, it was obvious that if whatever restrain her will stop working, Sera future will be full of pain. Sera didn’t seem to be very concern from this as she turned her back to the vampire and left the tent. 

        “Like a kitten,” Sera said as she left the tent. “I will wait for you in the mayor bad room,” she told Zephon with inviting smile. Zephon smiled back to her, a smile that disappear when her back was turn to him. Sometime Vorador thought that he saw a glimpse of disgust in Zephon face when he looked at Sera. Apparently Zephon wasn’t very eager for Sera. From time to time Vorador how long will it take before Zephon will end her life. Maybe when he will be sure the barbarians will keep follow him. He already established a firm connecting with most of the clan leaders. If Sera will die in a terrible accident, Zephon might be able to take the control to himself. The question was, did Sera ability to see into men heart failed on Zephon, or perhaps she was well aware and plotting her own plan. Vorador knew he had to be careful, or he might be caught in the middle, both of them might try to really make an alliance with Malek and to leave him to the paladin mercy.
        He will have to make sure that won’t be possible for them. 

        Zephon moved out of the tent and Vorador followed him. The thin man took only a few steps away from the tent before turning back to Vorador.
        “Usually you need to be more careful from those creatures hearing, but as you saw, she has no special powers, as long as the chains is on her arms and legs.”
        “Why are telling me this?” Vorador looked directly at Zephon. Few people could look into Vorador eyes directly without getting nervous. Usually he could tell when someone was lying to him in his way, but nothing in Zephon’s face showed any sign of deception. 
        “We need you to take care of her.”
        “What? Order one of the barbarians to do this, I don’t have time to be take care to a vampire!”
        “You will have time, we are staying here for the next month until Dameon will arrive with the Red Legion so we can continue with the show. Look,” he said and spread his arms to show his helpless “the barbarians are a superstition folks. She terrifies them. Maybe if she didn’t look so much like the blue cat demon from their legends, and as for the mercenaries,” he quickly said when Vorador opened his mouth again “Almost all of them refuse, and I doubt that even for the booty of ten cities they will do a good job. They are killer for hires; after all, they don’t know how to take care for something accepts for them self. “
        “And why am I so different?”
        “You want Malek. If you will be the vampire owner, so to speak, you will be the one who will present it to Malek. The one with the best chance to kill him.”

        Vorador face stayed frozen as always. The idea of Zephon knowing about his hate for Malek was more disturbing than the idea of Sera knowing about it.  Zephon wasn’t someone you wanted to have any kind of power over you. But if this could bring Malek to him, he will gladly tell Zephon his entire life history.
        “What do I need to do?”
        “Feed her first. Sera tried to break her, but she isn’t very good in torturing, so she hasn’t fed her in the last five days. I ordered the barbarians to store corpses in one of the remaining warehouses, and also to extract blood from them. You will have plenty for her, just put it in a bucket and give her. Find some decent clothes for here and try to keep her clean, we need her to look appropriate as possible when we will show her to Malek, but you can’t bathe her since water burn her."
        “Why would Malek want a vampire? Why not giving him some of the pillaging?”
        “The rumors claim that one of his ancestor was a famous vampires hunter and that Malek always wanted to prove he could beat a vampire too, now be careful that no water will touch her and…”

        This went on for some minutes and then Zephon left. Vorador looked back in the tent and then on the skies. Darkness was about to fall, and he wanted to think about all of this in a quite place. In the city side, which contains the war school there was the only surviving watch tower. He went there and climbed to the top. He stood there and looked as the day turn into night. He didn’t notice the beauty of the sunset. He rarely notices any beauty in a long time, and yet he smiled, a small, bitter smile, but a smile. 

        What is a few more mouth after six years?  He thought to himself. He was with the barbarians for more than a year. Before he met them he traveled from city to city in the north border between Zidru Kur and Teru, a place where there was almost no fighting due to the place lack of strategies important and resource. He improved his training style by learning from an old soldier. He paid for the lessons by being a bodyguard for the soldier daughter when she left the city. The situation was not really so dangers and Vorador suspected that the soldiers simple enjoy doing something productive again. He was old, but still knew how to hold a sword. Vorador visited bars and every other place where he could find information. He decided to stay in the north while searching for a way to kill Malek. Then one of the mercenaries told him about Sera. The barbarians of the cold wasteland used to fight among themselves without disturbing the rest of the world. Than Sera came and unite them under her rule by being far more cruel than any of them, and with advice from Zephon. The mercenary didn’t know how Zephon met the female barbarian from the first place. Vorador still wondered about it. 

        Sera made a pact with Malek, to offer her help if she will be given payment in the form of booty from Zedru Kur, but the real pact was with Kiru and Dameon. Allowing her to loot a small part of the kingdom to keep the impression that the barbarians were on Malek side, Sera planned to bring Malek to an ambush and then to raid all over Teru, knowing that Malek death will be deadly shock to Teru army. Sera commanded thousands of savages, fearless warriors, and together with the armies of Zidru Kur and without Malek tactic knowledge and his ability to improve the morale of the troops, and thus Teru will fall like a rotting apple.  

       And thus I will have my revenge. 

        And then what?

        The thought came in a complete surprise. In never thought what will he do when Malek will die, there will be nothing left for him in the war torn world. His revenge was is life.

        Is not as if I already got him. He remind to himself. And I better stay alert for anything that might be suspicious. And I also have to take care at that vampire. 

        I better ask some of the mercenaries about her. If the barbarians are terrified of her then they are not the ones who capture her. And I need to find her some better clothes like Zephon said. After all, He thought as he went down the watching tower and the bitter smile twisted his face again. I want to make sure Malek will get the best that there is.

        I should also grind my sword.