“R’lease meh!” he yelled.
Screaming, I sat straight up in my bed. The sheets clung to my sweating body and my hands clawed at my legs, trying to tear away vines that were no longer there.
“Saxon!” I screamed.
I threw my sheets away, hoping for some relief from the discomfort of snaking, pointy plants I could still feel holding me in place.
“SAXON!” I yelled once more, my throat burning with the effort. Tears ran down my face. I needed something, but I had no idea what it could be.
“Sax…” The name died on my lips. “You’re dead.”
My head began pounding with images of castles, crushed skulls, creeping vines, Tallis-fucking-Black’s bloody face; his eyes orbs of infinite darkness.
I must know what I witnessed in my sleep, I silently resolved to myself.
I decided it wasn’t a mere dream at all but a vision. There was something so real and so true about what I’d seen. But what this vision meant was anyone’s guess…
Actually, there was one person in the castle who could do better than just guess. He could explain it. I got out of my bed and wrapped myself in a mink shawl before marching down to the tower cells.
When I entered the dank, freezing cell, I felt what might have been a stab of pity for the wasted man that was once the Master of the Underground City. Tallis was no more than a shell of his former self. His body had withered worse than I had ever seen it. His hair, never as groomed as Alaire’s, was lengthy and matted. His muscles, while still impressive, were slack and he showed clear signs of malnourishment.
I tried to recall how long it was since I’d seen him last. Certainly I had visited Tallis since the time Alaire removed Donnchadh from him using sanctioned magic granted by Afterlife Enterprises? Then again, when had that happened? How many dinners and long nights alongside Alaire had I enjoyed whilst Tallis Black’s blood flowed through me, worming its way into my soul?
But, no, I had visited Tallis quite recently. When I was wearing the emerald dress…or wait… was it the sheer black frock? Yes, yes; that was correct. I was wearing the black one and then later, the emerald…
“Blasted hellscape, curse this place and its evil charms,” I said aloud. Time moved strangely here and played with my mind, like shadows playing with ones eyes. Even I, the Underground City Queen, was not immune to its bedeviled ways.
Somewhere closeby, the tiny Neanderthal was snoring. I shouldn’t have been surprised to find the Angel—known as Bill or some other peasant name—still residing in the next cell over. I only wished for a more permanent solution to remove the angel from the situation completely. The little rodent had suffered incredibly at the hands of Alaire’s demonkin. I personally participated at times. But he remained firm in his devotion to “Lily,” the woman who once claimed this body and the Bladesmith as her own.
Well, now she could no longer claim either. That cheery thought improved my mood substantially.
“Tallis,” I whispered, hoping not to wake the oafish angel. The last thing I wanted to bother with was his ridiculous conversation. “Tallis Black, you will wake for your queen this instant.”
“Ah ‘av nae Queen.”
The body chained to the wall didn’t move. In fact, it didn’t so much as even flinch. Tallis’s voice sounded harsh, almost guttural.
“I am not here to discuss your feelings regarding the current state of the Underground City’s monarchy,” I retorted, bringing myself up to my full, impressive height. “I have questions and you will answer them.”
“O’ course, besom.” His words reeked with spite. I gritted my teeth at being called “besom.” I hated that nickname, for I knew it was the name that he gave to her. I understood that it meant “troublesome woman,” something Tallis Black seemed to believe of every woman he encountered in his long, unnatural life. And yet he only called her the appellation, a fact I found troublesome.
“I’m having… visions,” I stated while trying to think of what else to call them. “I’m also experiencing feelings I shouldn’t be: pity, sadness, fear...”
I practically spat the last word out as if it were an obscenity. I wanted to use the anger behind it as a shield for what was happening to me. But despite that, I felt my eyes growing wet. I squeezed my hands into fists, focusing only on keeping the tears back.
“Whit kind o’ visions?” Tallis asked, his head moving slightly as he faced me.
“I’ve seen things I… can’t explain. They mean nothing to me and yet they are as vivid as though I pulled them straight from my memory.” I took a deep breath. “Visions of a castle, a lake, mountains as high as the clouds,” I started as I pulled the memories forward. “A woman covered in mud…”
Tallis jerked when I mentioned the woman, his chains rattling. The angel snorted and groaned something about a beast called “Skeletorhorn” and “lawsuits,” which I didn’t understand. Then he began snoring again.
“The woman, whit did the lass look like?” Tallis asked, suddenly much more interested.
That was when I realized I never fully saw her appearance…as if I were afraid to look too closely. “The mud covered too much of her to make out her basic characteristics,” I started as a memory came back. “But she had green eyes and red hair over her nether region.” In the half dark of the cell, it looked as if Tallis’s hands were beginning to flex. “Does that mean anything to you?” I asked, doing my best to strike an imperious tone, hoping to hide how apprehensive I was regarding his answer.
“Did anythin’ happen in the visions?”
I shook at the memory of Tallis mounting the submerged woman, the tar-like blood leaking from his mouth, his empty black holes for eyes...
“I saw… you,” I breathed. “You were preparing to take the woman in the mud. Your eyes were pitch black and the same black blood poured from your mouth.”
Tallis did not say anything for several moments. He did not shift nor flex nor twitch; he just sat chained to the wall. After some time, he began to laugh, but it was a deep and ugly sound. I scoffed at his merriment, which only seemed to invigorate him all the more. The chuckle turned into a deep, lively, even violent guffaw that echoed through the entire tower and settled deep into my bones. How the angel managed to sleep through that unholy sound, I could not begin to guess.
Tallis’s entire wasted body shook with his howling laughter. I began to wonder if he had taken temporary leave of his sanity. Eventually, the cackling turned into coughing spasms and his strained body began to fail him once more.
After recovering from his fit, Tallis wheezed and said: “Och aye, besom, ye’ve gone an’ doon it now.”
“What does that mean?” I demanded, growing angry with his riddles, and his ridicule and mostly the fact that I still wanted him.
Tallis’s head rose for the first time since I entered the tower. His face was haggard and thin with a filthy beard. But his eyes captured mine. His eyes infuriated me. His midnight blue gaze sparkled with too much life for someone caught in his predicament.
“Explain yourself!” I screeched at him.
He laughed again.
“Tell me why you’re laughing!” I insisted.
The smile died from his lips and he faced me with a stone expression.
“Ye have Doonchadh in ye!”
Chapter Five
Persephone
Four Days Later
The knife shimmered in the flickering flame of the low torch light.
Tallis was still chained to the wall, but the key in my hand might soon change that. My muscles tensed. Even in his weakened state, he could still easily overpower me with just one freed arm.
And I was just a few steps away from him.
His stink, coming from the collected offal of his captivity, which clung to his body like glue, assaulted my nose. The odor was as sharp as a knife’s blade. But I wondered if his stench were the source, or my continued desire for him that truly made me want to vomit. Preferably, all over him.
It
is a trap, you foolish girl, my internal voice—not that of the intruder’s—pressed me in an attempt to stop this madness. You know he just aims to escape.
But what choice did I have left? The visions—no, they were nothing so benign—the nightmares were becoming a daily occurrence since I first told Tallis about them a few days earlier. And it wasn’t just the castle, Tallis and the buried woman I was now seeing. Memories of my vessel’s former life were frequently bleeding into my sleeping moments as well. And each dream was more vivid than the last. The very thought of enduring one more night of such a psychic assault was more than even I could bear.
Alaire had been away on business for the last few days, so I managed to keep all of this from him. Of course, I suspected his watchers were likely reporting my unusual behavior, and perhaps I wasn’t being as discreet as I might have hoped. The knowledge that Alaire could show up at any moment also spurred my desire to see my desperate plan through. And quickly.
I needed to rid myself of this toxic spirit that called itself Donnchadh immediately. Yes, the irony of my situation was not lost on me. After all these centuries of lusting after Donnchadh’s strength and immortality, all I wanted now was to be well and truly rid of him. I wanted nothing more than his incessant, insidious voice that taunted me at every turn to cease for eternity. And now these dayscapes and foreign memories that haunted me with their vivid detail—I wanted the whole lot of them to disappear! Forever! And like it or not, Tallis Black was the only way for such a happy outcome to happen. I had no doubts that I would find another opportunity to live forever, likely with Alaire’s help, but only if he knew nothing about what I was doing this night…
The elaborate ritual I prepared in Tallis’s cell was testament to that firm belief. The aforementioned set-up included wax candles burning in a circle around the two of us. On the periphery of the candles stood plates of bones and devoured fruit and vegetables stacked high next to the Druid. He explained that the ritual would be very taxing and he doubted he possessed the physical strength it required to survive it. So over the last few days, I increased his rations to ensure he would be strong enough when the time came.
And now the time had finally come.
Over the last four days, I watched his color return and noticed he was able to stand without leaning against the wall, such that he had been before. Currently, he was inspecting the drawing of a tree I labored to create in the uneven stone of the cell’s floor, using a piece of charred wood as my pencil.
“Dae ye ‘ave it?” Tallis asked.
“Yes,” I answered, holding up the silver knife. It gleamed like a distant star when I showed it to him.
He eyed it carefully as though it were a fine sculpture. “Aye, ’twill do.” He rested against the wall behind him. While his physical health was much improved, he was nevertheless not quite restored to his former self. “The stookie angel?”
Tallis was, of course, referring to the peasant, Bill, whom he considered his friend of sorts for reasons I could not pretend to understand.
“He’s been given extra food and drink as we agreed,” I answered with impatience, eager to get preparations underway.
Of course, the food and drink in question were stale bread and water, which the heavenly dwarf did nothing but complain about incessantly. But Tallis did not need to know such minor details. He asked that the angel be given food and drink and so he was.
“Good,” Tallis grunted.
“Have you rested enough?” I asked, my anxiety evident in my voice.
“Aye, Ah’m as strong as Ah’m goona git in these conditions, lass.” He shook one of his hands and the chains clinked against each other, sounding heavy and dull. “’Ave at ‘em then.”
I looked at the key, then at Tallis, then back at the key and I wondered if I were making a deleterious mistake. “I must rid myself of the demon inside me,” I said under my breath, affirming my determination and steeling my nerves. For just a moment, I thought I saw a look of sympathy cross Tallis’s face. But the moment passed and I was left thinking I imagined it.
I crouched down next to him, the key hovering beside the lock. I hesitated once again as I looked up at him. “How do I know you won’t simply kill me and flee with the angel in tow?”
“Ah dare nae hurt Lily,” he replied with a thick voice, like he had to swallow down his own phlegm. “Much as Ah wish ‘twas nae so, ye two share the same body. So Ah cannae hurt one wifout hurtin’ the other.”
I did not care for his reasoning. But the fact remained that Tallis guaranteeing her safety meant he was also guaranteeing my own. Hence, I decided to accept his answer.
I abruptly stood up, feeling uncertain. “Tell me the plan again, please…” I forgot myself and cleared my throat angrily. Damnation, why was I asking him so nicely? “I demand you tell your queen what you intend to do!”
“O’ course, mah queen,” Tallis said, and the sarcasm laced his answer like a poisoned chalice. I ignored the impudence with which he said my title. Pride would only cause me more grief in this instance.
“Ah moost drain ye o’ Donnchadh,” he explained “If he is allowed tae spread, then ye will only sooffer more visions, more ootbursts, more voices.” Mind you, Tallis had already explained this to me a dozen times or more but I somehow needed the comfort of hearing it all over again.
“Am I immortal?” I interrupted. If the answer were yes, then perhaps…
Tallis sighed, “Ach, fer the last flippin’ time, besom, nae. Ah told ye afore that ye only got ah bit o’ Donnchadh’s spirit in ye. That means ye possess all o’ his temperament, boot none o’ the benefits. An’ one o’ the benefits ye are lackin’ happens ta be immortality.”
I nodded my head slowly. I believed him. I wasn’t certain why but I did. At least I believed that he wouldn’t harm me so long as doing so meant harming his precious Lily. “Fine, let’s get on with it before I change my mind.” I crouched once more, the key touching the lock. Then another nagging question occurred to me. “Why do you need to be the one to cut me?”
Tallis smirked, the first true emotion I’d seen on his face in a very long time.
“Can Ah troost ye tae coot yerself in the correct place? An’ deep enough tae git Donnchadh oot o’ ye?”
I had considered the idea of sticking the silver blade into my own body. But got queasy at the thought of feeling my skin breaking and my blood flowing. Not to mention the pain.
“I suppose you have a point.”
The Bladesmith gave me one of his indifferent shrugs. I tightened my grip on the key lodged in the lock. “Do not try anything sneaky, Tallis Black, or I will ensure you receive the slowest and most painful death possible.”
His face became its usual stony self in the face of my threat. “Ye know Ah dinnae care fer mehself.”
“Then let me promise you this punishment: a painful and miserable end to the body I inhabit. I will ensure that any and all remnants of your beloved Lily disintegrate before your eyes.”
“Then ye would be harmin’ yerself, fer ye are one an’ the same.”
“Oh, no,” I corrected him with a smug smile. “The crown ensures that Alaire could always find me another body. There are Soul Retrievers venturing through the Underground City every day. So a body of this quality is no rarity.”
Actually, I was unsure about that last part. But Tallis wasn’t the only one who could hide his true feelings when necessary.
His eyes darkened for a moment as he contemplated my threat. “Then aye, lass, ye have meh word.”
“For whatever good it is,” I mumbled as I finally unlocked the chain.
The lock unlatched and Tallis’s arm fell to the ground with a heavy thud. He began to raise it, flexing his shoulder to get the feeling back into the newly freed appendage. I stepped back in a hasty motion, suddenly afraid of what he might do to me. I held the blade of the knife between us, although I did not remember putting it in my hand.
“Ach, put the knife down, lass,” Tallis said irritabl
y, still moving his arm in circles. “Ah already told ye that Ah willnae hurt ye anymore then Ah ‘ave tae.”
I didn’t believe him necessarily. But I also didn’t like not having control over my own body, thanks to Donnchadh creating the voices inside my head as well as the unsettling visions. And all this came without the benefit of immortality to boot. How could I hope to regain my rule as queen when my own body was so clearly working against me?
I moved nearer Tallis and stretched out my knife arm as far as it would go. Tallis took the weapon, blade first, no less. He flipped it around several times to check its balance before running it along his leg to test the edge of the blade against his own skin. He didn’t even flinch as he made the cut along his thigh. The thin red line of blood that suddenly appeared was testament to how sharp the knife was.
“’Tis a good blade, lass,” Tallis said, still inspecting the blood-smeared tool.
I carefully sat down in front of him, my dread settling in my stomach. “Which way do you need me to face?”
Tallis regarded me with his dark blue eyes. “Ah need yer back, lass.” Hesitant, with erratic movements and unsteady breaths, I turned around, exposing my back to Tallis and the blade I gave him.
“Ah am nae goin’ tae lie tae ye. ‘Tis gonna hurt ye somethin’ fierce.”
The blade abruptly cut into my skin. I gasped as the edge kept moving deeper and deeper into my back. The irrational part of my mind started to wonder (despite the searing pain that was building along my spine) if he intended to carve straight through to my heart.
“Ahhh,” I breathed, realizing I couldn’t scream, lest I attract the attention of Alaire’s staff. The cutting continued up and down my back as though my skin were his canvas and the knife his brush.
At last, Tallis removed the knife but the white-hot pain of the cut remained. I could feel the blood pouring down my backside, some of it running into the crack of my bottom. Woozy and lightheaded, I fell back into Tallis, who embraced me with his one free arm.
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