Rise of The Immortal Wraith - 30 The Law

Standing on a balcony overlooking the city, Salem watched his knights with not only his eyes but with those of his scouts. He had reinforcements ready to be deployed should there be any unexpected trouble.

The first house was surrounded silently, the knight took fifty guards to the door and knocked loudly, and it was answered by the female elder described in the papers given to her by her master. The elder who opened the door stopped moving once she saw it was a knight, her face paled seeing the troops that had arrived she came back to her self when she noticed the knight started talking.

“You are hereby charged with kidnapping and have been summoned to the palace, take her.” the wraiths grabbed the elder before she knew what was happening and held her firmly before dragging her away from the house, the knight moved into the house where she saw the children.

They were huddled together, they were still in the clothes they had been wearing when they first arrived at the city which made the knight wish that elder had fought back so she could beat her half to death. Moving forward, she took away her mask revealing her pretty face and smile, she coaxed the children out of the house and made their way to the palace.

Similar scenes happened at each of the safe houses, only a few of the culprits ran or fought back but in the end, they were all captured and brought back to the palace, there would be no trial. He did not need any evidence, though he had that in spades with the children being found without any parents.

The other elders and adults of the old Curon clan were summoned to the sentencing to show them exactly what it means to break a law he had personally warned them of. They arrived quickly enough once they heard it was going to likely be an execution due to the hostility and nature of the crime.

Salem watched them arrive as he stood on the walls with the criminals, the children were next to the gate showing that there had been over two hundred other elven children that were hidden from the palace. He looked at all the young elves and knew he needed more servants to watch over and teach them, so many orphans in this cruel world and hardly anyone cared for their treatment or how bright they would shine in the future.

All they needed was a family who cared about them, and a place where they could grow and learn. His knights wouldn’t be able to take in all of them as apprentices, with all of their duties having too many to teach at once would hinder them. He himself was thinking of taking on a few apprentices himself, other than the twins, he had magical knowledge even the knights had yet to even touch and it would be a waste if he didn’t pass it on to the next generation.

This was a problem for later however, he had already seen the report that both Idos and Koftas had sent ambassadors to the forts and would arrive late in the evening, and at this moment he needed access to their populations and many other resources, food stores had been completed and filled long before he had moved in to the city, though it could maybe last them two years without rationing.

His mines that he had excavated would be able to supply all three cities and still have enough to store for later, food could be grown but he had no fields or farmers to take care of the crops, animals could be raised as well but he needed men and women to look after them just like the farms he was lacking in labor.

The undead can fill the mines, but they would never be able to care for plants and animals.

Seeing the last elder arrive and his troops in position, he motioned for the knights to move the children into the palace, showing them to all of the Curon elders and the rest of his new clansmen.

Turning to the criminals Salem spoke loudly for all to hear, “I specifically told you, all orphans in the land are mine, they are adopted directly into my family.

By taking and hiding them from me, you have shown ill will towards my family, your punishment would normally have been banishment since no one died due to your stupidity. Unfortunately, you are the first to commit such heavy a crime in my city.”

He spread his wings and unleashed his tails, looking like a dark god had descended upon the earth, he thrust his tails into their stomachs. Shouts of pain came from the criminals while shock spread through those watching from below, he had not killed them outright due to the system telling him that these souls could increase his power through absorption.

They had lived longer than most of the elves here including one who was near a thousand years in age which would be a great boon to him and his own recovering soul. They screamed as he began to draw out their souls one after another, this was a very large meal but it was definitely worth gorging himself. The last elf to fall was the eldest, who had put up quite the resistance if he hadn’t just been wounded he might have stood a chance, but that wasn’t the case and his body slumped to the ground with a dull thud.

The crowd was deathly silent until an elder stepped forward with his hands shaking from shock before he could even ask Salem sent a blast of flame at the elders’ feet. “Shut up, I do not remember giving you permission to speak,” he glared at the frightened elder as the fight left his eyes. “I am very sure that law was very straightforward, either you thought I was stupid, or were plotting against me from the beginning. I have no issue with killing those who have ill intent towards my family.”

Taking a deep breath to steady his emotions he spoke to the crowd, “This is what happens when you plot against my clan. I understand if you don’t want to join my family, but in my city attacking them without reason is going to be a mistake that you can’t recover from, the next time this happens the ones you love most will take your spot on the executioners’ block, you are all dismissed.”

Tuning his back on the crowd, Salem pulled the dead bodies of the elves to towards him. They would be a good meal for the giant centipede, he thought, a cold smile creeping onto his face.