15. Downward Descent by Zachary

zachary

Zachary’s partial smile grew crafty after Curtis relented and agreed to let him change the lavender shade of the half-elf’s hair. “You won’t regret this, blonde will draw the attention of women as well as Elidon.” It was a lie, but lies slipped easily from his lips.

The pipe between Zach’s thumb and forefinger, forgotten in the heat of the moment, suddenly grabbed his attention again. The dusky gold metal was lost against the deeply tanned expanse of Curtis’s chest. “You won’t regret it.” Zach muttered absently while staring at the pipe, the smallest of frowns appeared. He let his hand drop.

Zachary’s slow spiral towards madness went unnoticed by the staff, including the handsome but half-witted, Curtis. He had been with his Lord Kelzen since he was a child, indeed, he’d been the cause of Kelzen being ostracized from his noble family and home land of Sareth. A death in Lord Starsunder’s family and a subsequent summons from his father, dictated that Kelzen return to Sareth at once.

Without him.

And without Lord Kelzen, Zachary’s mood had swung from a near agony at the separation those first few days, to a bleak acceptance as days turned into weeks, to a dark brooding as weeks became months with no correspondence.

“Fine!” Curtis’s voice carried more than a fair share of exasperation. “It won’t take long, will it?” He was in need and itching to get started, he also remembered times the dark-haired elf had taken hours to prepare a woman for their absentee Lord. Worry clutched at his belly, there was no way he would wait thatlong. “C’mon, t- uh, Zachary! Do it later!” His hand tightened but smaller man slipped away.

If Zachary noticed the near taunt, he ignored it. Instead he mentally ran down a list of things he would need. Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the palms that Curtis had brought up from the front of Starsunder Keep, catching the motes of dust in the bright beams. To Zachary’s super-charged imagination, each silvery glitter was a tiny, floating faerie, dancing their approval.

The well-built playgirl of Lord Kelzen Starsunder turned and followed, hopeful when the young elf didn’t respond with an immediate no. “Zach?”

“Hmm?” Zachary stopped long enough to take a small pinch from an elaborately decorated porcelain jar, roll it between his fingers and force the sticky, dark resin into the end of the pipe. He turned back towards Curtis and watched him through eyes that glinted with a rarely seen light. “You forgot the brandy. Or whiskey. Take both.” With his free hand he waved towards the open armoire and its tempting display of all of Lord Kelzen’s finest liquors and assorted recreational herbs.

True to his nature Curtis fell for the bait the moment he glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of the assortment of bottles. It was enough of a distraction to allow Zachary another leisurely pull from the pipe.

Before Zach exhaled, Curtis was once more beside him with two bottles tucked under an arm. “C’mon. Let’s get this over with.” With a hand rough from a lifetime of hard work, Curtis grabbed Zachary’s arm and propelled him towards the door, across the work zone that had become their Lord’s personal bath chamber, navigating around the sawhorses. He knew which room the young elf used for prepping the women and men and headed in that direction. At least Zachary was being amicable; he was usually so aloof and haughty that Curtis did everything he could to get under his skin. The brief flashes of anger that occurred too rarely always brought a sense of accomplishment to him.

Once he had Curtis settle into a chair, the young elf began. Starting with a sensual scalp massage, Zachary made sure to make the torment as keen as possible. The rustle of silk combined with the air, fragrant from years of housing essential oils and exotic perfumes, rare soaps and spicy rinses, heightening the senses. While waiting for the potent dye to work its magic, Zach changed the half-elf’s impatience into moans of acceptance with his skilled fingers, working the tight muscles of Curtis’s shoulders until the larger man slumped lower into the chair and his eyes grew hooded.

It was perfect, more golden than blonde, Zachary noted after he rinsed the color out, but then he knew it would be. He was a master with color, scent and clothing among other things. Attention to detail was the key and while he towel-dried Curtis’s hair, his own emerald streaked, raven strands slid loose of the silken cord that bound the silky mass behind his head.

The body artist blew a puff of air upwards to move an annoying lock out of his eyes at the same time he spun Curtis around to view his new look for the first time in the antique mirror. “Perfect.” Zachary couldn’t have been more satisfied.

Mon, July 7th – 0:03AM

curtis

Coo had made herself comfortable for the evening. As comfortable as a woman can while sobbing through heartbreak and living in a cage. The news of Kelzen’s abandonment had devastated the young woman. Thoughts of never seeing him again, left her soul crushed. She lived for him. He was her everything. And now he was gone.

Alone in her cage, she wept openly. Tears streamed down her face and got caught up in the shimmery silk of the black veil that she always wore. Her whole life was Kelzen Starsunder, and now what would she be without him? Through the despair, she knew. She would be nothing.

The sound of a footfall, light upon stone, caught her attention. Turning toward the source, she saw him there: the man of her dreams. Golden light danced through his perfect hair, it sparkled across his smooth face. The dark shadows hid most of him, but the outline of his breathtaking body was enough to make her heart race with adulation. She rushed to her cage bars and reached out to her savior. He had returned to take her from this place!

“I’m happy to see you too, Coo.” Another step forward and he was completely into the light. Once more her world came crashing down. It was not her beloved; rather it was his half-witted servant Curtis. He twirled a mostly empty bottle of brandy in his hand and stepped up to the bars. He caught the crushing disappointment that appeared in her eyes. “No way am I leaving you here for..” He spat the next word, “ZACHARY.. to have you. He gets to keep everything else, selfish prick.”

The swagger in his step and slur in his speech led her to believe that he had spent most of the day drunk as hell. Apparently he was not taking the news of Kelzen’s abandonment well either. A crooked smile spread across his lips. “Don’t you worry though, pretty. I’ll get you out of there. Then we can go to the desert together.”

Dropping the bottle, which clamored noisily across the floor and trickled out the last of its contents, he reached for the bars. He didn’t have the key, only Zach had that, but he had another way to get her free. Though not bright, Curtis was strong, stronger than should be possible. Grunting loudly, all muscles tight, teeth bared from the exertion, the young man forced the thick rods to succumb to his will. Even though they bent only inches, it was now wide enough that Curtis could reach inside.

The drunk man begged, “C’mon Coo! You can get out now! We can run off together.”

Tears of grief once more streamed down her face. She didn’t want to go, she didn’t want to be rescued. She wanted to die, here, alone. Her heart was in darkness.

Curtis growled and reached into the cage, managing to nab one of the silks at her hip. With a yank and a tiny yelp of surprise from the girl, she was at the opening. “C’mon!” He snarled and pulled at her.

She hit at his bare chest, scratched at his shoulders. “OW!” he screamed and released his hold.

She cowered back to the other side of the cage. He continued, “Fine, look, I’m having you one way or the other!” Not normally a rapist, alcohol made Curtis more bold and prone to take what he wanted.

He ran around to the far side of the small pen and began the process of bending the bars there as well. As she watched his muscles tighten again from the exertion, an unknown defensive nature suddenly possessed Coo. She was not about to be taken against her will. Grabbing one of the iron plates that food had been offered to her on, she charged Curtis and smashed the plate down on his thick skull. Her attacker was drunk and over-exerted enough that the smack to the head sent him tumbling forward, half inside and half out of the cage.

Panic possessed the young woman. All she knew was life in the zoo and life with Lord Starsunder. Before life with him, there was nothing. She had to find him, no matter what the cost. Barefoot, and wearing only the silk scarves of a harem girl, she slinked out of the small opening and stood there, eyes trained upon the unconscious man that would try to get her again once he awoke. In her hazed, crazed, mind she had memories of the sea. And to that sea she must go. Her lord and savior had to be at that sea. Her life was there.

Wed, July 9th – 4:50PM

zachary

The scent of rich, moist earth filled his nostrils, the sound of metal striking against yet another rock created a few sparks in the wash of fading moonlight and drew a soft curse from his mouth. An owl sounded its annoyance at the intrusion from somewhere nearby, lost in the night canopy of the forest which was alive with a life Zachary knew little of and cared even less about. Only his head was visible above the ground when a burst of wind rattled the trees and sent a shower of leaves torn from the branches to the forest floor, heralding the approach of a slow moving storm from the northwest. It grabbed greedily at the young elf’s hair and managed to snatch another lock free from its silken restraint. The change in the atmosphere went unnoticed by him, there was only one thing on his mind and that was to finish before dawn.

Zachary slammed the blade of the shovel into the dirt next to him and bent over to feel for the edges of the rock, muttering angrily to himself. Right then he decided he hated rocks. And digging. He worked enough dirt out of the way to get a decent grip on the sizeable stone. With a grunt, he managed to pull it free from the clutches of the ground, the quivering muscles of his shoulders and back threatened to not let him complete the task when he heaved it upwards, but he managed to place it beside others rocks that lay scattered along the edge of the large hole. Pausing, he wiped at the sweat on his brow that had begun to sting his eyes and left a muddy streak across his forehead. He scowled at the shovel.

Flexing stiff fingers, Zachary glared at the tool then reached for it, a hiss escaped him when his hands screamed in protest at the contact with the wooden shaft. Blisters had long since given way to painful and oozing, patches of red, raw flesh on his palms, thumbs and fingers. The bottom of his foot echoed its displeasure when Zachary gave a push to plunge the shovel into the earth once more, though he’d switched his usual house slippers for boots his body was not use to hard, physical labor. When the tip of the shovel struck something once again the jolt sent a protesting shudder through his shoulders and drove a splinter deep into his palm.

“Sonofabitch!” Zachary yanked his hand back and held it to his chest with the other one. That was it, he was done. It had to be big enough, he thought while taking a step back. Leaving the shovel behind, Zachary began to heave himself out of the hole. For a panicked moment he thought he wouldn’t make it out, moist earth made his feet slip and his exhausted muscles almost gave out but the alarming thought brought a surge of renewed strength.

Another gust of storm-rich air blew over his heated body while he lay panting on the mound of excavated dirt, cooling his sweat-drenched body. After his heart returned to a normal beat, Zachary stood and critically surveyed the work that had taken him most of the night. He nodded in satisfaction. It would do.

Dirt clung to his back, turning the damp, green silks that were plastered to his sweaty body, to the muddy color of stagnant swamp water. Laughter bubbled up from deep inside him and was carried away by the wind when he was reminded of his fear from a few minutes ago. It seemed so stupid now. Still chuckling, Zachary started back towards Starsunder Keep, he’d not come this far to be trapped in a grave intended for others!

Thurs, July 10th – 0:45AM

zachary

Zachary had inventoried the available funds during the morning and doled out the severance pay to the departing staff later in the day while Curtis slept in an unnatural slumber. The buffoon had unwittingly done his best to screw up Zach’s plans. No worries though, he would get Coo back and end the miserable threat she represented once and for all.

The Keep was silent when he made his way through the halls to Lord Kelzen’s bedchamber. Curtis’s soft snores greeted him, coming from the bed. Tomorrow he would begin, and like it or not, he was stuck with his nemesis. Tomorrow they would go to Ravnglade to hire new staff then search for the missing woman.

It took him the nearly the remainder of the night to dispose of those few individuals he deemed too risky to let leave the Keep. Namely, Lord Kelzen’s concubines.

Mon, July 21st – 1:21AM

zachary

Moonlight glinted off the handle of the accursed shovel and the muggy air had already started to make him feel sticky with sweat. Zachary glared balefully at the tool in the same manner he so often did at Curtis’s broad back after receiving a smack from the muscle-bound elf. The song of crickets kept him company. The young valet of Starsunder Keep plucked the shovel from the mound of excavated earth and only when he tossed the first scoop full of dirt into the hole, did Zachary lower his gaze to the contents of the grave.

The tangle of limbs and hair of five females, haphazardly thrown into the burial pit the night before, made it difficult to distinguish where one body left off and another began. It didn’t help that they floated on the surface of muddy rainwater deposited from the torrential storm that unleashed its fury shortly after Zachary had finished digging the deep hole.

His youthful face betrayed nothing but irritation when he sunk the blade into the mound of earth piled high beside the grave, not one twinge of guilt about the atrocity he’d committed in the dead of the night. The five women had died without resistance in their drug-deepened sleep, throats slit ear to ear by a sharp, hunting knife Zachary had taken from Kelzen’s extensive collection housed in large cabinet in the elven Lord’s trophy room.

This time there had been non sickening gurgling sound coming from an ill placed wound that had haunted Zachary’s dreams for years on end. No wide eyes staring in horrified disbelief with the knowledge they were being murdered. No hands fumbling desperately, trying to block the scared, but determined, child from completing his act of love and devotion.

This time he’d done it right.

Just as Zachary lifted the shovel, a large insect flew past his ear with such force it stirred the elf’s midnight hair enough to toss a few locks across his face. And the largest bug is on my shoulder! The memory of Curtis’s words brought a scowl to Zach’s face. Lord Lucas, he reminded himself with a further downward turn of his mouth

His thin body twisted to throw the load onto the bobbing bodies below when a loud buzz had Zachary lifting his gaze. The sight sent a hot spike of fear straight to the pit of his stomach. It was huge! The biggest damn bug he’d ever seen! All Zachary could see was the long, slender proboscis of a giant mosquito, jabbing at the center of his left eye. A scream tore past his lips, the tool dropped forgotten from his hands and landed with a sickening thunk of metal against the head of one of the lifeless bodies floating in the pit. The young elf twisted his head to the side while swatting at the deadly bloodsucker. Everything slowed at that moment, even the crickets seemed to hold their breath when Zachary’s foot slipped out from under him. For a few seconds he stood poised precariously on one foot at the edge, his arms pinwheeling wildly to regain his balance, but it was a vain attempt and after a moment he plummeted like a stone into the gaping maw of the open grave.

The tangle of corpses parted, unable to support Zachary’s weight when the elf slammed on top of them. His momentum carried him downwards into the chilly liquid. Darkness engulfed him as the mucky water embraced the young elf like a dark lover, drowning out all sound but the wild pounding of his heart. The terrified elf kicked his legs to propel him towards the surface and the carnage floating there. His hands clawed above him, raking at one of the bodies to shove it out of the way. But it wouldn’t move, rather it spun towards him and in the blackness the pale outline of a face emerged then crystallized into the beautiful features of Amin’nyelle, frozen forever in death.

Zachary thrust at her chest but instead of moving, her head tipped back at an unnatural angle and exposed the gaping wound that had ended her life. Large bubbles seeped out of the wide slash in Amin’nyelle’s throat and the first one burst in his stunned face. Zachary Another popped. Zachary! Have you come to keep us company? Zachary’s scream emptied the last of the precious air from his lungs. It’s so cold and lonely here.

Strands of her burnished hair reached towards him and wove around his neck. Zach’s fingers tore at the tightening garrote with a strength seeded in desperation and managed to rip the tangle free from his flesh. The horrified elf spun away from the grotesque sight, but what waited behind him was even worse.

Myetta was floating on her side, a beautiful half-elven woman with hair like spun silver and welcoming eyes that one time were the color of a grassy meadow after a spring shower, before he’d stolen her life. Now she stared vacantly at him with gazed orbs. The vicious, curved slit in the pale flesh of her neck gaped open, grinning at him like demon. Fingers latched onto his shoulders and she yanked him closer. And through his fear, the former valet of Lord Kelzen Starsunder could feel her cold, dead lips press against the arch of his ear. Glad you could join us.

There was a searing pain at the side of his head, Zachary felt her teeth sink into his flesh. Somehow he could hear the cartilage pop and snap when she tore his ear free. His wild struggles grew even more frantic, and he pummeled at the body suspended in front of him. Unseen hands clamped around each of the man’s limbs, immobilizing him as other dreadful faces loomed large in his field of vision. They were dragging him down to a watery death, each one of them tore and bit at his body all the while Zach’s name exploded around him in a flurry of bursting bubbles spewed from bloody flaps of decaying flesh. Zachary! Oh Zachary! Stay and play! Forever!

The more he struggled, the further he sunk until finally, the burning need to fill his lungs combined with mind-numbing terror and forced Zachary to suck in a large breath of muddy water.

Zachary’s scream echoed around the room when he bolted into a sitting position in the center of his bed. He gulped air into his tortured lungs and kicked at the sheet that was tangled around his legs, sweat coated every inch of the naked man’s body. It took him a moment to realize that it had only been a nightmare, a dread-filled time where he knew he was going to die.

Without him.

Because of him.

It was still dark out, long shafts of soft moonlight slanted over his bed. The young elf was out of bed in a heartbeat. Ok, that was it, he was going to go fill that hole up once and for all, even if it was one body short. He could dig another one for Coo when Curtis delivered had her into his possession. Lord Lucas, he amended, not Curtis. It took Zachary only a moment to slip into low-riding pants and work boots, his sweaty hair was tied back by a bit of green leather cord into a sloppy ponytail.

Pressing his ear up against the door that divided his room from the Lord’s bedchamber, Zachary heard nothing but quiet snores. Good, Zachary would finish long before he woke.

It took him longer than he thought to finish the grisly task and by the time it was done the sun was up, his mood had soured. There had been a lot of excess dirt and rocks to scatter around after filling the pit. The putrid stench of the cloud that hung over the open grave seemed to seep into his skin, he could smell it even now, the unmistakable aroma of death.

The elf’s nose wrinkled in distaste while walking back to the Keep, it would take him a week to scrub that appalling scent from his body. Zachary gingerly shifted the shovel to his other hand, newly healed blisters had reformed and opened once more on his thumbs and palms. The crudely stitched gash in his forehead throbbed with every step and sweat stung it, creating an unending fire in the flesh above his left eye.

He was dirty, tired and sore when he entered the silent Keep after returning the tool to the ground keeper’s shed. Zachary started to wearily climb the stairs, he’d bathe first then begin on his Lord’s morning meal.

“Zach?”

The sound of his name had the young elf’s eyes snapping upwards to the landing and the golden haired man standing there. Zachary’s heart froze.