A Song of Askaldenfirsts and Dragons. Book one: The outlanders (Part I-IV)
Chapter 9: Dombard

Queen Nulara and Ishkmet were looking for the criminal in the dungeon of the royal castle.

“Who is there?” The wallitarf asked, raising the torch higher.

“Valdiramir,” Nulara shouted and ran to the half-elf, and hugged him. The ghost was taken aback but forced himself to pat her on the back. “Are you alone? I thought you were in Talashgeflerwall with your mother.”

“She stayed there, everything is all right. She is in good health.”

“News travels fast,” Ishkmet said, “despite the terrible cold of the north, news has reached us. We know that Grandavalnall was incinerated by a dragon, and Talashgeflerwall is not so far from the capital for a winged beast.”

“So far the city is untouched,” Dombard tried to smile. “My mother will take an argiphone and will fly here soon, but yet she needs to prepare some things.”

“How could you leave her there?” Nulara wondered.

“She didn’t want to go and didn’t want me to wait for her. And I wanted to see you, Your Majesty!” Dombard said.

“You leave me to see your mother, and now you leave your mother to see me? It seems strange to me,” Nulara doubted.

“Can’t I be the fallen in love strange half-elf?” Dombard said and tried to dance.

“Ulmarrush take me,” Ishkmet swore, “I think I’ll go,” with these words he decided to leave Nulara alone with the half-elf.

When Ishkmet was completely out of sight, Dombard turned to Nulara.

“Maybe we’ll have some penetrating fun, eh?”

“Valdiramir, what are you talking about?” Nulara asked.

And Dombard grabbed her roughly by the arm, and then quickly pulled her up to him and with his hand covered her mouth.

“You will moan, skarkeshuh, and beg for mercy!” Dombard said.

Suddenly Nulara bit his finger, the half-elf made an unpleasant sound, and the larmarian jumped away. The dungeon was damp and uncomfortable, with not enough space for the attack, and it was dark, the fire from the torches didn’t help much.

Dombard rushed to her, she managed to pull out the dagger, but he grabbed her wrist and with all his might hit her head against the wall. Nulara felt dizzy. Dombard punched her in the belly and she fell, then he bent down and took her by the head and hit her face on the wet floor, and the ghost began to pull off her pants. Suddenly he heard something, and he did not have time to dodge, as the wallitarf’s axe entered his neck diagonally, and part of Valdiramir’s head bent to the side, blood flowed, Valdiramir fell, Ishkmet managed to pull out his axe, and Dombard left the body.

“Now it’s time for the queen to become my vessel!” Dombard said and rushed to Nulara, but could not possess her body.

The surprised girl jumped back, crossed her arms in front of her, and the ghost passed through her once more.

“I don’t get it!” Dombard wondered, “What’s wrong again?”

Ishkmet with an axe ran towards Nulara and hit the air with a swing, where there the ghost was, but Dombard did not take shape. The dwarf, along with his axe, drew a circle and fell.

“I don’t like to take the dwarf vessels,” Dombard said and went towards Nulara, she took a fighting pose, and Dombard just looked at her and ran out of the dungeon. When he ran out, he saw Carlfrig, who was just heading into the dungeon in search of the queen, and the ghost, without hesitation, possessed him.

Nulara and Ishkmet soon ran out and saw Carlfrig moving away. Some soldiers were passing by.

“He’s in him!” Nulara shouted to Ishkmet. Everyone turned at her, including Dombard.

Nulara and Ishkmet ran to Carlfrig.

“Who’s in whom?” Dombard made a surprised expression on Carlfrig’s face.

“I order to arrest the stormentan Carlfrig Wulfrongson,” Nulara said.

The soldiers were taken aback, there was not a single officer among them.

“Am I not making myself clear?” Nulara glanced at soldiers with anger.

“You heard the queen!” Ishkmet shouted.

The soldiers grabbed Carlfrig.

“Akhh,” said the ghost and left the body, and then quickly rushed away.

“What’s happening?” suddenly asked Carlfrig, “Was there something inside me and was controlling me, right? Am I awake? Why are you holding me?”

Nulara rushed in pursuit of the ghost.

“Hey!” Ishkmet shout at the soldiers, “Let him go!” and the dwarf ran after Nulara.

The soldiers looked at each other again and decided to let the stormentan go.

“After them!” ordered Karlfrig, and, drawing his sword, without waiting for the reaction of the soldiers, rushed after Ishkmet.

Various snunorf soldiers, men and women, began to pull themselves up to the castle courtyard. Dombard couldn’t choose a vessel and moved into one snunorf woman. The other soldiers recoiled from her and drew their swords. Dombard drew a woman’s sword and shouted, “Come on, step up!”

Dozens of soldiers surrounded him, and, running up Nulara, pushing the circle, stepped forward.

“Surrender, creature!” She shouted in an orderly tone.

One soldier lunged from behind, but the ghost turned around, grabbed his arm, and thrust his sword into his throat. Instantly, other soldiers rushed at the woman warrior, but Dombard left the body and possessed the snunorf man, and began to kill the soldiers with fury in a fit of rage.

Nulara, Carlfrig and Ishkmet tried to stop the snunorf, but Dombard had already possessed another body, and Nulara pierced the snunorf chest with a sword.

Dombard was furious! He entered another body, and killed the nearest soldier, then went out and possessed the other soldier’s body, killing the one from which he had just emerged.

“Stop!” Carlfrig shouted, “I order everyone to move away from each other!

Some of the soldiers obeyed, while others, in the heat of battle, did not hear the order or did not pay attention to it.

“You,” said Сarlfrig, “all of you, who’s came right now, don’t come closer, and give us space, step back and take the queen with you!”

“No,” said Nulara, “you step back, stormentan, this is an order! He cannot possess me!”

“Yes, it’s true,” Ishkmet confirmed.

“Ishkmet, you also step back!” she turned her gaze to him.

“He doesn’t like to possess dwarfs, you heard him!” The wallitarf protested.

“All right,” Nulara surrendered, “but you, Carlfrig, take snunorfs away from here, that’s an order!”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Carlfrig agreed reluctantly, “only I will stay with you! It’s my duty! The ghost may not be able to possess you, but he can kill you!”

Some of the wounded soldiers groaned in their own pool of blood or the blood of their slain comrades. Dead bodies filled the royal castle courtyard. Some of the soldiers fled. About twenty snunorfs were still trying to kill the ghost, but suddenly someone shouted,

“Where is he?” The red-haired woman with freckles asked.

“He is in you!” a huge snunorf man with a black beard shouted, and ran to her.

The rest decided to stand back.

“I order you to stop!” Carlfrig shouted.

The woman parried the blow of the black-bearded northerner, then counterattacked and pierced his stomach with a sword.

“He is not in me!” The woman said the black-bearded man when he looked at her in surprise.

The soldiers standing on their feet breathing heavily, they were tired, some were slightly wounded. Carlfrig and Nulara with Ishkmet approached them.

“He couldn’t have disappeared, could he? Or ghost can use some invisible spells?” Nulara asked.

“No, he’s in one of them,” Ishkmet said.

“He’s definitely in her,” shouted the green-eyed blond soldier, pointing at the red-haired woman.

“He is not in me, I swear on my honor!” The woman shouted.

“He’s in him, I know, I saw it,” a dark-haired soldier with a wounded arm put in and pointed at an elderly grey-haired snunorf.

“There is no ghost in me, Rigfrit, maybe he is in you?” the old man narrowed his eyes and spat in the direction of the wounded.

“He’s in Ildwine,” said the soldier with the patch over his eye.

“No!” said Ildwine, a handsome blond with blue eyes.

“Maybe he really is in Signette,” said the bald, huge snunorf with a small light beard.

“I said he’s not in me!” The red-haired woman with freckles insisted.

“Silence, everyone!” Carlfrig is tired of the soldiers’ bickering.

“We’ll have to arrest you all,” Nulara said.

“But Your Majesty–” a blond with green eyes came out to the queen.

“Stand aside, Zwerkard!” Carlfrig snapped. “Don’t interrupt her majesty!”

“Yes, stormentan, I’m sorry,” and Zwerkard retreated.

“This is not punishment, soldiers!” Nulara continued, “Look around, look! This ghost killed so many northerners! It’s not oldenmessers with their magic, or dragons blazing with fire, it is a ghost, who can slaughter us all! I need to think about how to stop him. You will be provided with the necessary conditions, food and water.”

“You want to lock us in the dungeons, where murderers and rapists were imprisoned!” a bald snunorf with a small beard said.

“Hjarneberd! One more word and you–”

“Leave him alone Carlfrig. Snunorf doesn’t want to obey the orders of some larmarian girl! And I understand him. The larmarians haven’t been kings of Norvinoria for a long time, and I’m not a king. I would gladly sail to my Larmar Islands, from where I’ve wanted to escape all my life. I’m not going to be the queen of the snunorfs for a long time, but I’m going to be the yarlantan of my islands when this is all over, and I’m going to need you, all of you! Because there’re almost no larmarians left, and I want to restore life on my islands!”

“To Unhagbjor your fish islands, Your Majesty!” Hjarneberd said.

“Hjarneberd,” Carlfrig intervened, “one more word and I’ll sentence you to death for disrespecting her majesty!”

“Stormentan is our judge now, and you may be my executioner as well, eh, Carlfrig?” Hjarneberd remarked with a malicious smile.

Suddenly one of the brown-haired snunorf women grabbed a spear and threw it straight at Hjarneberd’s chest, the snunorf staggered in surprise and fell.

“Wendlafa, what are you doing?” Carlfrig shouted.

“You wanted to sentence him to death for one more word, he said one more word, and I only carried out the sentence, stormentan,” Wendlafa replied.

“Nobody else will die!” Nulara shouted, “Help the wounded, burn the dead, and scatter their ashes. And you’re all going to the dungeon because there’s a ghost in one of you. If you have any problems with my decision, here I am, you can attack me, there are more of you, try to kill the queen, the stormentan and the wallitarf, and then you will figure out who will rule here. Go on, then! No volunteers? All right, then you’ll be locked up for a few days, and if I don’t figure out how to identify in whom the ghost, we will separate from the main army.

The soldiers obeyed and headed for the castle’s underground prison.

“I’ll go with you,” Nulara said, “Carlfrig, Ishkmet, you’ll take care of the wounded,” she came close to Carlfrig and Ishkmet and quietly asked, “could the ghost possess the body of one of the wounded?”

“I think not, the soldiers would have noticed, just the ones you arrested were close to each other, and the wounded lay at a distance,” Carlfrig said.

“Then I won’t put the wounded behind bars,” Nulara decided, and with these words, she went with the soldiers into the dungeon.

When they reached the dungeon, Nulara approached Valdiramir’s dead body, and then gradually shut down every soldier except the old man.

“What is your name?” Nulara asked.

“Forkjorn Havartrengen, Your Majesty,” the old man replied.

“Help me take this body outside.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” with these words Forkjorn, holding Valdiramir’s head, carefully picked him up and carried him out of the dungeon, trying to hold him so that his head would not completely separate from the body.

“Where to put him, Your Majesty?” Forkjorn asked as they came out.

“Put it here and we’ll go back. Thanks for your help, Forkjorn.”

They returned to the dungeon and she closed the prison.

“Five days, soldiers, I’ll not hold you for more than five days. I hope that such strong and tough warriors like you will survive five days in the dungeon.”

Someone shouted, “Yes, your majesty, we will survive!”

Nulara went out into the courtyard and approached Valdiramir’s body. Tears came to her eyes.

“I must be cursed!” Nulara said but held back her tears because she felt that northerners watching her.