Year 2: The Encroaching Dread - Chapter 5

Ever since the Banners of Themis fell, Lisa’s life had been forever scarred.

Her fiancé, Curtis, had joined the rebels and failed to rescue her, and then had almost lost his life as a result; had it not been for Ivy and the mercy of the Demon Emperor, the love of her life would have been hanging from the gates.

Yet, on that night, the night the Demon Emperor had given her, Curtis, Bill and Monika to spend together, Lisa didn’t know what to do.

Every day, her mind had played fantasies of her reunion with Curtis again and again.

Of how she’d cry when she saw him.

Of the gentle kiss they’d share.

Of the warmth in her heart, knowing he was safe and well, and that he was looking after her family.

But when she’d been sat on that bed with him after being spared, she hadn’t moved a muscle.

To save his life, she’d been willing to kill Bill; had the Demon Emperor not stopped her, his blood would’ve been on her hands, for Curtis, for herself and that fact disgusted her.

Curtis, like all the rest of her hometown, knew the dangers of defying the Demon Emperor; they had received many cruel reminders of his ruthlessness, including the day she was chosen to come to the Dread Keep, yet Curtis had put himself and everyone else back at the village in danger for Lisa.

Or so he says. Lisa looked at her lover, his eyes vacant and his smile forced, and then looked away. If he really cared about me, he wouldn’t have done something so stupid.

Eventually, they’d gone to sleep in separate beds and shared awkward small talk in the morning and every day since when they were permitted to meet.

A few months ago, Lisa would have looked forward to that day impatiently.

Now, it felt like torture.

Once a fortnight, they could meet, in private, in the Dread Town, though Lisa began to feel it was more of an obligation on her part as time passed.

They shared a meal, kisses, cuddles and intimacy, but Lisa began to feel less and less, becoming number with every passing meeting.

In her heart, she still loved him, but her mind kept telling her how foolish that was.

Curtis had risked everything for nothing, and nearly forced Lisa to kill someone else.

In truth, she knew that everything was the Demon Emperor’s fault, but Lisa didn’t have the power to do anything about that, nor did Curtis, or anyone else in the empire.

So why did Curtis risk everything for something so stupid?

That plagued her every waking thought, unless she was immersing herself in her work or talking with her friends. Monika had been able to patch things up with Bill and he seemed to have become more subdued, but Lisa wasn’t wholly convinced; more concerningly, neither was Ivy.

She had been in the Demon Emperor’s camp longer than they had; they knew what his enemies and allies were like, how those who had submitted to him acted, and she looked at Monika with great scepticisms every time she brought him up.

Lisa begged Ivy not to say anything and Ivy had shrugged and said she wouldn’t.

“…How was…your day?”

Lisa lazily looked up from her meal to meet Curtis’s eyes. Their usual colour and vigour had returned, but he looked thinner despite his strenuous work as part of the building crew.

“Fine,” she answered dismissively.

Silence returned as they continued to eat, though she could feel Curtis steal looks at her from time to time.

“Lisa.” He put down his cutlery and held her hand. “I’m sorry…about everything.”

“You’ve already said-”

“I know, and I know you don’t think I mean it, but I swear to you, I won’t do something so reckless again, I mean it.” He gave her a sincere smile. “I don’t blame you for being mad at me; now that I’ve calmed down and thought about it, I realise how reckless I’d been. I should never had let Bill convince me to join the Banners, and for that I’m truly sorry.

“I still write to your mum and sister, and they’re safe and well - I’ll try asking if I may speak before the Demon Emperor and ask to be returned home.”

“…He won’t give you even a second to speak to him.”

“Then someone, anyone, and I’ll grovel and beg and do whatever it takes.” He stood up, still holding her hand and put it against his chest after kissing it. “Lisa, I swear to you; I won’t disappoint you again.”

At the time, Lisa had accepted his apology and they’d started to reconnect once again.

For a few weeks, until Curtis’s requests to go home had been ignored constantly by all he’d asked.

“Not a single one would give me the time of day!” He bellowed, nearly kicking the table over. “Why not? All I want is to go home and make sure your family’s fine, and they won’t even-!”

“C-Curt, it’s okay,” Lisa tried to assure him. “I know mum and Gwen will be fine without us.”

“But what if-!”

“I-I’ll ask Ivy tomorrow if there’s someone I can ask, maybe Lady Eva or-”

“What would make you think they’d listen to you?”

Slightly offended, Lisa said, “Because I’ve been a good, hard worker and Ivy’s a dear friend of mine; she knew Lady Eva before the Demon Emperor took over the castle, so-”

“Oh, yeah, rely on the bastards responsible for putting us in this mess to begin with.”

“Curtis! You can’t say things like that or-”

“What? I’ve already called them far worse long before they put me in this town, damn them!” He kicked the table again, hard, and it nearly fell over once more. “If it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have joined the fucking Banners to begin with.”

“Why did you join them, Curt? You knew I’d be safe as long as you didn’t do anything reckless, so-?”

“Because I was worried!”

“Then, write a letter!” She screamed. “Come to visit when you’re allowed! Move nearby with mum and Gwen, do anything other than join a damn rebellion!”

“What, and just leave you and the others to suffer fates worse than death?!”

“Worse than death? Is that what they told you was happening to us? Curt, no one, and I mean no one, has even tried to harm us. The first bit of danger I’ve ever had while here was in the throne room when I had to kill Bill to save you.”

“…I’m grateful that you did that and-”

“I don’t want your gratitude, Curt! I want my fiancé back! I want the man I love back, no the rebel who wants to throw his life away for nonsense.”

“Nonsense?! Nonsense?!” He stormed over to her, scaring her a little. “I don’t know if you remember, but we’re under the rule of a demonic tyrant whose sacked cities, butchered thousands and wants to take over and enslave the world. What part of that’s nonsense?!”

“The part where you think you can do a fucking thing! You can’t, Curt, neither can Bill or your fucking Banners!” Her swearing caught him by surprise as Lisa had only ever sworn a handful of times in her life. “Curt, I didn’t ask to be rescued. I didn’t ask for you to leave Gwen and mum alone - you did all of that on your own!”

“For you!”

“And what? Am I meant to be happy about that?! That you put everyone in danger for me?! While I’m doing my damned best to earn a living and send you home money to live on?! Wait, actually, let me guess.” She chuckled bitterly. “You gave it to the Banners, right? To buy yourselves some weapons and armour, yeah? How much did my family see, Curt? How much?!”

His hand curled into a fist. “I didn’t do that, I’d never-!”

“You know what, you’re right; I can’t do this right now.” She put a hand to her forehead with a sigh, shaking a little, both from her rage and from how this side of Curtis had scared her. “I really hope you weren’t lying to me before, Curt, I swear to the Great Goddess if you were, I’ll never forgive you.”

“I…I wasn’t, I just…” He let himself trail off and looked away from her. “Sorry.”

She didn’t say anything more and left.

“See what I mean?” Bill whispered as he emerged from the wardrobe in their room; he had been there the entire time, eavesdropping on them with Curtis’s permission. “The longer they stay here, the more corrupted their minds become. That is not the Lisa you know and love; she’s been changed, and the longer we wait-”

“Bill.”

“…What?”

“I…I can’t…I mean, Lisa, she-”

“Curtis, listen to me lad.” The older man came over and put an arm around his shoulders. “When the war ends, if the Demon Emperor’s still alive, do you really think he’ll stay merciful, or will he start killing the leftovers he missed while fighting the west?”

“…But…if I do that again, and we’re caught, then-”

“Midnight, tomorrow, outside the back alley behind your house. I’ll be waiting for you there.”

Bill left through an open window before Curtis could answer, not knowing that Lisa had been stood outside the door the entire time, tearfully and praying that he’d say no.

Curt…please, don’t be there.

***

“He didn’t say he’d join them, right?” Ivy asked to which Lisa nodded. “Then, you might be alright. Though.” She lent in close. “It’s best you report this to Eva sooner rather than later.”

“…Yeah.”

“Oh, Bill, why?” Monika wept in the corner, inconsolable after learning of his betrayal.

“…If you’re lucky, Eva might be able to pull some strings and get them confined as prisoners in the dungeons until the war’s won and there’s no enemies left in the empire to defeat,” Ivy said, trying to raise her friend’s spirits. “If nothing else, it’s the best thing you can do right now - say nothing and they find out, you could be in those dungeons with them, or worse.”

Lisa nodded, then solemnly searched for Eva.

***

“…I see.” Eva turned and nodded at the Dread Knight behind her. The Dread Knight nodded back, then stepped a few paces behind them, then began mumbling something into its shoulder. “Thank you for telling me this, Lisa. I’m sorry to hear that they haven’t learnt their lesson, especially after your impassioned efforts to save them.”

“…Thank you very much, Lady Eva.”

Eva smiled and rubbed the girl’s shoulder. “Truth be told, there might be a way yet to save their lives, though it will, once again, depend entirely on them. If they’re willing to surrender into our custody without a fight, then they’ll be spared.”

“They won’t be harmed?”

Eva shook her head. “I cannot promise that. Treason is a high crime, and…well, there could be some form of torture or confinement necessary to carry out his majesty’s justice, but they will have their lives and their minds, I promise you. You’ll be allowed to visit and they won’t be mistreated more than the law demands. I swear to you.”

“…But only if they surrender?”

Eva hugged the girl. “You don’t think they will, do you?”

Slowly, Lisa shook her head from side to side.

“Lord Allaric is willing to show mercy, but only to those deserving of it, as you learnt that day.” Eva gave her a thin smile. “If Curtis doesn’t surrender, you understand what will happen?”

Lisa sombrely nodded. “…It’ll be fine, he’ll do what’s for the best.”

***

“I told you he’d come through, didn’t I?” Bill boasted as he and Curtis walked into the Remnants of the Banners of Themis’s base, a small, damp cave a mile from the Dread Town.

He, Bill and twenty-three others had gathered, all looking worse for wear, and all with rusty weapons and padded armour that was falling apart.

I’m sorry, Lisa, but we’re a part of something bigger now, and I have to try and do my part, no matter what.

“Now, to business.” Bill’s voice carried and everyone went quiet. “The assault on the Dread Keep failed and we took great losses, but we have learnt much as-”

“Surrender or…” Everyone felt cold chills run through their blood as they turned around, and saw her, the Demon Emperor’s knight - the Satyr Knight. “Be…annihilated.”

***

As the sun rose, the citizens of the Dread Town were greeted by a familiar site - more traitors hung from the gates of the Dread Keep, their bodies covered in lacerations and others were seemingly ready to fall apart at the wounds.

Twenty-four bodies in total, with their leader, Bill, at the centre.

His eyes had been gouged, his throat slit, and his chest cavity opened, showing his broken ribs and ruptured lungs.

His treatment had been far worse than the other rebels not just because he had been their leader, but because he had been the one to openly defy the Demon Emperor’s mercy, a kindness not given out to most.

That day, only one woman mourned and cried openly for the dead, a maid at the Dread Keep, held in the arms of her red-headed friend.

***

Often, Lisa had dreamt of her wedding day.

Her cousin Fran’s wedding had been spectacular, and the dress she’d worn had been the most beautiful Lisa had ever seen.

“One day, when you’re older, you’ll meet someone, someone truly special to you. And that person will love you from the bottom of their heart, and you’ll love them the same.”

For some reason, those were the first things Lisa had thought about when Eva had brought Lisa to the dungeons to see Curtis’s corpse.

Unlike the others, his had been treated with great respect; only his throat had been cut by the Satyr Knight, his corpse was covered in a white sheet and it hadn’t been put on display like the rest.

Instead, Lisa was permitted to bury it wherever she desired.

But she didn’t know what to do.

She was numb.

Her expression was blank, her eyes empty.

She felt like crying, but couldn’t do it.

Where did it all go wrong?

She knew the answers, but it seemed pointless to dwell on them.

…What…do I do now?

Do I say something, to him…curse him? Maybe tell him how much…I loved him…how dumb he was, or…what?

One last kiss? With his cold corpse?

What do people do when the ones they love die again?

…I don’t know anymore.

I don’t…I...

I…