Sighing, the little pixie sat back down on my nose.
“You don’t really want to help,” she mused. “You just want to save your eyes. Why can’t you be more like Old One Eye? His eye was tasty.”
Wiggling her naked butt, she said, “Wouldn’t it just be easier to be evil? Then, you could Tame all those hideous females that you found and fuck them into oblivion.”
“They aren’t hideous,” I snapped, sneaking a peek at her.
Hiala made an Unh-uuh sound.
“Mary is a serial killer who is a part of the Church of the Flames,” Hiala snapped, as she raised one finger. “Hell, she is one of the Elders. She alone has burned hundreds of people, condemning their souls to darkness.”
Raising a second one, she pointed out, “Hana is also a member of that racist, bigoted cult. And, she kills with an emotionless passion… just to be a part of something. She could have picked anything, but cutting makes her feel good inside. It fills an unfillable void.”
A third finger came up. “Taesa is a fallen paladin who spent the last thirty years eating the souls of mortals as a Pale Lady. She doesn’t want to be good. She just wants to have a reason to kill.”
Leaning forward, she said, “Any reason will do.”
“And, let's not forget Brynn,” she snapped, leaning back. “That one is the worst of all. She’s an anaconda in a human’s skin.”
Smiling, she said, “She ate your brother’s soul and would consume yours…”
Snapping her fingers, Hiala added, “...just like that.”
Leaning back further, and exposing her tiny slit, she said, “And your newest fuck buddy, Mockery. She’s a lying whore for a Malignant Goddess. Nothing that comes out of her mouth is the truth.”
Grinning, Hiala said, “She didn’t just kill that girl. Mockery enjoyed her flesh as well.”
She shut up, letting that tidbit of information pour through my soul.
“She ate her,” Hiala whispered. “Mockery cut her, again and again… and then consumed her favorite bits and pieces…”
“Stop,” I whispered. “Please.”
“Each and every one of your whores is a murderess. They are the perfect little clan of hobo killers.”
Laughing, she added, “A good man doesn’t surround himself with killers, murderers, and thieves.”
I didn’t know what to say. She was right.
“They are all…”
I wanted to say broken, but I couldn't quite get it out.
Finally, I said, “...my family.”
Hiala pointed at me. “They are your fuck-buddies. Nothing more. You can’t even call them your wives for more than a few days before you start saying, girlfriends. You will walk away from them all before the earth turns three times.”
I swallowed that jib down and thought about her statement.
Were they just fuck-buddies?
If I walked away from them all, how would I feel?
Brynn had already thrown me away. Leaving her was getting easier.
Except when I thought about our daughter, Abigail. That put Brynn back in the “Fuck if I know” category.
“I don’t want to walk away from any of them, but some of them might let go of me.”
Hiala nodded.
“Life is like that, isn’t it,” she murmured. “Letting me eat your eyes would be easier than this discussion. It's not too late to let me feast on the windows of your soul.”
I sat their quietly, letting all of her words flow over me. They were hateful women without a shred of decency. They should be locked up or executed.
But, they would do anything for me.
And… I didn’t have anyone else.
It was a terrible reason to keep them, but it was an honest one.
“Would you fight to keep them?”
“Not against their will,” I replied. “I’m tired of people being with me because I made them choose to do so.”
Hiala smiled.
Then, she pointed at my right eye.
“That one first, I think.”
Standing up, she smacked her own dust off her fingers. “Enough chit chat, its time to eat.”
I couldn’t stop her.
Twisting my head, I tried to throw her off, but the little bitch just took flight and floated in the air.
Snap.
The branch shook and wobbled. My eyes flew open, as something substantial landed next to me.
Growling, the hungry pixie turned to see what had intruded on her meal.
A woman knelt on the branch.
Her hair was as dark as a sinner’s soul, but her eyes were white and unseeing.
“Sinmara,” Halia said with a scowl. “Go away and find your own meat… elsewhere.”
Sinmara had dark black bags under both eyes like she hadn’t slept in weeks. Dark black clothing covered her body made from thick, rough scales. Her skin was the pale white of an albino. Even her eyebrows and lashes were a delicate ivory that added an exotic edge to her.
But, she looked like she had been starved almost to emaciation. The armor clung to her body like a second, diseased glove. Sinmara had to be the thinnest woman that I had ever met.
Turning her face towards us, I saw that she had at least eight black earrings in her right ear. Around her neck was a black leather necklace with a single large ring for a shackle, but it was empty… waiting for its master’s chain.
“You know the rules, Halia,” she snapped back. “Anyone who hangs on Yggdrasil’s branches is fair game.”
“Leave me alone, Pale Nightmare,” the tiny pixie shouted. “I found him first.”
Then, Halia stamped her foot in the air, for good measure, making crimson dust fall from her wings. The pollen wafted around Sinmara, making her sneeze and cough.
“Eat something else,” Sinmara snapped. “I am bereft without a Lord and a Master. Muspelheim yearns to be taken by the yoke and choked into submission… and so do I.”
She shivered, making the necklace jingle around her neck.
The pixie gave the albino the finger.
But, Sinmara didn’t react because… she couldn’t see the little bitch.
“He is not suitable to become Surtar,” Halia snapped. “Go away.”
“He is the last Manawar,” the blind woman responded. “Who could be more suitable? Flames are his heritage. Ragnarök will never ripen without a Flame Lord. You know that.”
Looking up at me, she licked her lips, but not sexually. Instead, the anorexic woman seemed terrified.
“I won’t hurt you,” I told her.
Sinmara scowled.
“What if I want you too?”
Shit.
It was Mockery all over again.
- 37 -
“What if I can only come if you tickle me until I pee?” Sinmara asked. “What if I like to be spanked, thumped, and whipped. Will you still want me?”
Before I could react, she added. “I am a broken, twisted thing who is terrified of the night… but attracted to it. Pain is my pleasure, and pleasure is my lament. I am a slave to my own nightmares that torment me always.”
Halia chuckled.
“Let me take your eye,” the little pixie insisted. “Then… I will let you go. I promise you, it will be better in my stomach, then in her bed. You do not wish to see what her armor hides.”
“Only my husband will ever grace my bed,” Sinmara whispered. “No one else is brave enough to sleep with the Queen of the Martröð.”
“I am already married,” I told her.
“You were. Now, you are not,” Sinmara answered. “You have not prayed in front of a priest with your beloved. You have not even tasted her sweetness. There is only a weak, verbal contract which she has already broken. Right now, a man lies with Brynn Cantrell, tasting her forbidden bounty.”
That did not make me happy.
Biting my lip, I took a deep, shuddering breath.
Sharing my lovers with other men, wasn’t my thing.
“I have sev
eral girlfriends,” I prompted, wanting no secrets between us, even as I wanted to scream at Brynn.
“And, I have several men who I torture with my pussy,” Sinmara answered in a monotone voice. “None of them find joy between my thighs, but it relieves my pain.”
Shit.
This bitch was crazy.
I glanced back at the pixie and then returned my gaze to Sinmara.
What choice did I really have?
She held up her hand as I opened my mouth.
“Marriage to me… is forever. You may not ever leave me. You can fuck anyone you want, but don’t expect me to join in, no more than I want you to mingle with my penitent lovers.”
I swallowed hard.
“I can promise you that I will never leave you nor forsake you. You will be mine until the flames of Muspelheim are snuffed, and ice covers the multiverse.”
Leaning forward, she whispered, “And, I will teach you the magic of flames and ice, so that you may come to dominate Muspelheim, and destroy the accursed gods who have invaded our sanctuary.”
Invaders.
It sounded like everything wasn’t rosy back at home.
“Why do you want me?” I demanded, hoping to find out more.
“You are the last of the mortal’s of Pandora’s line,” she murmured. “And, Muspelheim needs a Lord.”
Bowing, Sinmara said, “I choose you.”
The thin albino woman lowered her face to the ground, exposing four stumps that stuck out of her shoulders and lower back. They twitched on their own like broken phalluses pointing at the sky.
Sinmara had once had wings.
And someone had hacked them away.
It wasn’t a hard choice. I was tied up and easy prey for anyone who came past. I was without allies, magic, or weapons. And, I was tired of Gavin’s endless time loop that kept tormenting me with visions of my lover’s deaths. Anything was better than seeing Hana fucked to death again by savage Trolls.
“I choose you,” I said in barely a rasp. My throat hurt horribly, and I was beyond thirsty.
From high above us, a long low horn blew. The sound grew and reverberated until all nine worlds shook. Yggdrasil itself convulsed and swayed before it finally settled down again.
“Fine,” Halia spat out. “Begone.”
The branch holding my arms above my head snapped, dumping me to the ground.
Then, that one under my feet broke as well.
Sinmara and I tumbled through the air. Reaching out with uncanny accuracy, her wrist grabbed mine. Leaves and branches slapped in my face.
“Mukhyapr̥ṣṭha!” my albino bride shouted.
Hot winds filled with brimstone and sulfur suddenly wrapped around both of our flesh, as she pulled me close to her.
Then, the universe… twisted.
--M--
I shook my head and sat up. I had never completely lost consciousness, but my mind felt squeezed and dazed.
Sinmara lay near me. Her eyes were closed, but she still breathed. Tiny drops of moisture stuck to her pale eyelashes. Somehow, it made her look more human.
The air around us was hot but without humidity. It felt like I was kneeling in a blast furnace or walking through the sunlight of Litchfield.
Looking around, I saw that we were on a black ridge of volcanic rock. In the distance, streams of lava fell.
Waves of heat flowed over the land, and I could see several huge creatures pounding away at an anvil the size of a house. The tattoo of clang, clang, crack continued, as they took the molten steel and beat it into a blade.
Looking to my right, I saw a black tower rising up into the dark clouds above me.
Sinmara shook and then sat up. She wiped drool off of her face. Then, she stretched and smiled.
Standing up, she looked up into my eyes. Without saying a word, she leaned against my body and placed a kiss on my lips. The air around us was blistering warm, but her lips were ice cold.
Sinmara wrapped her arms around my neck and drew us closer together. I felt her nearly nonexistent breasts pillowing against my chest.
It wasn’t just her lips that were cold.
I felt like I was kissing a block of ice.
When Sinmara broke the kiss, mist floated out of her mouth. Just kissing me had warmed up her lips enough that they steamed in the heat.
“Welcome home, My Lord and Master,” she murmured. “Welcome to Muspelheim.”
Taking my hand, she led me up the ridge towards the black tower. Somehow, even without her sight, she found her way up the hill.
“It is time… to consummate our union… My Lord,” she murmured.
My hand was almost turning blue from the cold radiating out of her.
Shivering, I looked down at the woman who I had agreed to marry.
Stopping, her sightless eyes looked up and met mine. Flames burned intensely within their ivory depths, and for the first time... I wondered if I had made a colossal mistake.
Thank you for reading Bazal’s third book! If you liked this story, please consider leaving an honest review on Amazon and Goodreads. Your support is much appreciated!
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Thanks again!
Michael
Tortured Silence Page 15