“Ware, my mistress. You owe this creature nothing.”
Jess could feel her hound growl in concurrence with Twilight’s warning. It was a sound that seemed to echo and reverberate through the square entire. Jess blinked and spared her hound a quick glance, surprised and awed to see a being of terrible proportions, so vast he could fill the sky above, his mouth an endless chasm that could tear moons from their orbits, devour entire planets, alighting the midnight sky with fiercely brilliant supernovas, countless stars rupturing forth their death knells in a sky of endless night.
Jess shivered and blinked, seeing naught but her loyal and well-groomed wolfhound once more, though his angry growl made it quite clear he would brook no serpent in gentleman's clothing approaching his mistress.
The elegantly dressed spokesman sniffed disdainfully at the wolfhound. “A pretty enough beast, I suppose, but it will avail you little, I’m afraid.” His smile turned cold and cruel. “You have wandered into a place where you don’t belong, and thus there is a penalty to pay.” His laughter was mocking. “Pity, really, we normally like to give you mortals such pretty baubles before we claim you, yet I find that pain works almost as well as pleasure in extracting the all important confessions of obeisance.”
Twilight tisked, gazing at the leering creature with jaded disinterest. "Compulsion works no true binds on souls, foolish demon. If a mortal does not submit to you fully of their own volition, if no contract or accord of exchange is codified, then the soul's binding is only temporary, and can be freed the moment it feels the light of divine grace, for the smallest crack allowing passage to the mortal realms is enough for them to slip through." Twilight smirked. "You are a fool, to bring such souls here. Why, any of them could free themselves if they but have the strength of will to break free of their bindings, and flee for the nearest crooked path leading to the realms above."
The creature's lips twisted into a contemptuous sneer. "I know that! You think I don't know that, cat?" he snarled. "None of us are so foolish as to bring freshly caught chattel, newly claimed and broken to Discordia, where they could slip free through the very pores that lure our prey to us!"
With disconcerting speed the approaching demon's expression transformed to one of dark amusement, lips stretching into a chilling smirk. “Ah, is that the nature of our quest, my dear young damsel? Is it love, then? Did the man who ravished you seduce your heart as well as your body, leading you here in a desperate attempt to free him?”
He chuckled cruelly. "Or perhaps, perhaps the young rogue bargained with his future master in the hopes of loosening the chains of his own binding, luring a fresh soul, innocent and untouched, here into the very teeth of our most delicious machinations!" He continued to approach, walking counterclockwise around Jess, for all that she kept her blade in terce, smallsword firmly aimed for his torso, never breaking eye contact even as she kept a sense of all the milling, gossiping creatures gazing so avidly, so hungrily, at what was a free show of sorts, she supposed.
The demon rubbed his chin. “What was the name of this rogue who so led you astray, little sheep? I would know all the secrets of your deliciously sordid little tale before I claim you for my own.” He gave her a falsely pitying gaze. “I suppose I could show you a certain measure of kindness, lost little sheep.”
With that he gave an exaggerated flourish, a sheet of velum seeming to appear out of thin air. Twilight hissed. “You need merely sign this little contract, but a perfunctory measure, I assure you, since you are already mine by simple Right of Conquest, and I shall let you go, for a time.”
He pulled out a pen, exquisitely forged of silver and tin, nodded in quiet approval and gestured for Jess to take both pen and parchment. “But sign here, child, and the normal span of your years is yours, and you are free to go. I will even permit you to forget this encounter, as little more than a troubling dream. Only when your life has finished its mortal span of years will your soul sink to its natural level.” He chuckled softly. “You see, child? A more than fair exchange. But I recommend you sign quickly, as I believe my dear friends are getting… restless. Unclaimed souls tend to have that effect on our kind, you see.”
“Are you threatening me?”
The crowd went silent, staring at Jess in darkest fascination.
Her words, softly spoken. Little more than a whisper. Her eyes, as cold as death.
The demon blinked, a nervous twitch, then a lip-curling sneer. "As if a lowly mortal child was worthy of addressing me. You will either sign this contract, or I shall grab your soul, kicking and screaming, and pull you down to Hell to await my torments, awash in the screams of other curs such as yourself who dared to address one such as I as an equal!"
Twilight chuckled softly. “He did indeed threaten you, my mistress. All covenants and accords of conduct have been satisfactorily broken. Your Hound and I both stand as witness, as do the scores of fools gazing so raptly at the free show,” Twilight purred. “You are free to act as you will, beloved one.”
Jess nodded solemnly, eyeing the outraged countenance of the creature before her, seemingly unable to conceive of such blithe indifference to his power and station. He who claimed so many souls as his chattel, utterly shocked that a mere piece of property would dare throw down gauntlet with one such as himself.
“By Right of Conquest, I claim all souls under your sway, should I emerge victorious.” Jess spared a quick glance at the shocked looking crowd as she spoke words older than the founding of Erovering itself. She smiled coldly even as the demon before her roared his outrage, withdrawing sword from cane and advancing.
“You all bare witness,” Jess said softly, even as her foe charged her.
“Arrogant mortal wench! I shall rupture your shadowflesh and rip asunder your soul, here and now! Your screams shall tear through Discordia as you drown in a thousand centuries of agony in the mere instances it takes me to devour your soul utterly!”
Yet the Fallen one's hideous threat was nothing to Jess, lost as she was in the dance of blood and steel. As old as time itself, it was the only purity she sensed that the damned could ever aspire to, the true mastery of another in the arena of destruction, the sheer crucible of existence or oblivion compelling a battle of utter earnestness; no artifice or deception save that which facilitated the ultimate truths of life and death, embracing survival, or the end of all things.
Her foe’s human face began to twist free of its artifice, maggot filled craters of oozing flesh emerging as the rotten clay fell away, a gentleman’s teeth easily spat out as twisted fangs took their place. The creature's sword whistled forth in a quick snapping strike, lashing out towards Jessica’s neck.
A blow easily dodged as Jess sidestepped with a swordmaster’s deadly grace, even as her own blade of thorns lashed out, biting deep into her enemy’s arm, the terrible thorns piercing even the knotted suppurating flesh of her enemy’s wrist. The creature roared in shocked fury, hissing and pulling back, yet there was no blood.
The creature sneered.
“You will pay for daring to mark my flesh, mortal worm! Your druidic arts are folly, compared to one of my power!” He began to laugh once more. “And now, broken chattel, soon to shake and tremble before me, behold the definition of pain!”
He roared and charged forth once more, striking at the young girl before him with a vicious series of cuts and lunges aimed at chest and head that Jess effortlessly parried and countered, stepping back in perfect time with his movements, almost as if she and her foe were lost in a dance, she sensing the pattern of which he was still utterly unaware.
Jess smiled in dark satisfaction even as he slammed forth with a vicious overhand strike at the very instant she shifted her guard to Seconde, almost as if she had sensed the blow coming before the creature had thought to commit. The monster scowled with confusion, unable to understand why he was completely unable to break through the guard of a mere human girl, despite how fiercely he had slammed his blade against her own.
He snarled an
d pulled back to strike yet again, yet Jess had already seized the Vor, lashing out with a vicious lunge as her foe pulled back, her blade tearing through the creature's chest. Striking between the beats, lunging even as he repositioned to attack once more, skewering him on the half note, relishing his utter incomprehension of the true pace of their deadly dance.
Her sword passed through him effortlessly. The demon's vile, necrotic wards shattered like glass; his fine coat, stitched of the very fabric of broken souls, did nothing to stop her deadly blade. Her enemy gasped hideously, expression frozen in a rictus of hate, his body knotted in sudden shock as Jess's blade tore through his very heart.
Jess grinned savagely even as she yanked free her blade with a terrific wrench, in Seconde once more, the terrible lunge and withdraw performed with such deadly speed and grace she was back in guard before her foe had even finished gasping, desperately trying to swing his blade even as he stumbled to his knees, blinking in utter stupefaction, suddenly bending over, retching forth an endless profusion of blood clotted blossoms, each and every one a brilliant crimson rose
Her wolfhound whined, gazing at Jess with his soft brown eyes.
Jess chuckled softly. “Of course you may feed, beloved one.” Her smile turned cruel as she gazed into the suddenly horrified countenance of the pockmarked and twisted creature before her, his veneer of humanity utterly stripped away. “Feed well and deep.”
Her dying foe screamed as her hound tore into the demon’s belly, writhing in agony as ravenous jaws devoured his flesh. Yet neither gore nor entrails showered the rapt looking audience edging closer, though far less boldly than they had but moments before.
Instead, the terrible hound gorged himself on a feast of crimson flowers, devouring each and every one as the demon slowly shriveled, gasping hideously, face crumpling and desiccating even as Jess gazed on in grim fascination, for all that his pleading eyes still fastened desperately upon Jess.
“Who are you to best one such as I? No mere mortal can you be…”
“Your death.”
Her foe bucked and spasmed, even as her wolfhound tore ever deeper into his writhing form. The creature gasped, and spat up a final clump of roses. His voice was a broken whisper. “But spare me, mistress, and all my power, all my knowledge is yours! Such wisdom I can grant you, if you but allow me to swear obeisance to you…”
Rosebud lips curved into a terrible grin. “You are already serving me, creature once known as Zolias.” Her smile widened all the more as he gazed upon her in horror. “Yes, Fallen, I know you now. The taint of your soul is known to me by the taste of your blood. You are feeding my Hound, and dying at my feet. That and your souls, which I claim as my own, is all the service I require of you. Now be silent and die.”
The creature's gaze was suddenly as hopeless and pleading as that of any of the endless scores of broken souls moaning and sobbing even then, holding Jess with his desperate eyes even as he sighed his last; hopes and hatreds, dark passions and pristine memories once sacred before his Fall now forever lost, a pile of lily white roses and ash all that remained.
Her hound looked up, howling in bleak exultation, causing all the lords and ladies assembled to hiss and grunt, desperately covering their ears.
“Hush, Hound. War has not yet been declared. The Accords must still be adhered to,” Twilight gently reproved, leaping to the wolfhound’s shoulders, balancing as adroitly upon them as he ever had Jessica’s shoulder.
The hound whined and tilted his head back, licking a suddenly sputtering Twilight. "Stop that! You are being silly."
The wolfhound gave a playful bark.
Jess felt her lip furl, gazing at the expressionless porcelain masks worn by the scores of fallen gazing at her so raptly. Almost as if pulled on marionette strings, the assembled lords and ladies began to clap in perfect unison.
As if by unspoken consent, another gentleman in top hat and long-tailed coat stepped forth, this one favoring Jess with an easy smile, daring a bemused wink as if they were comrades sharing an inside joke, even as he doffed his hat with a sweeping bow.
“I bid you welcome, great lady. Pray forgive my lapse, but I fear your name and rank escape me, mistress of darkness. Only a select handful of the true nobles pay attendance to the humble affairs of Discordia, though regular as clockwork we are, I admit, honoring all our long established quotas, I assure you, my lady.”
His wry chuckle sounded oddly strained. “I am of course honored to make the acquaintance of another Power who appreciates the exquisite sport and artistry of enticement. For even as endless scores of souls rain upon the Hells below, a feast of power for worthy lords and ladies seizing domains by Right of Conquest, laying claim to all the souls enslaved to their ever growing demesne, so too there is a sweet joy like none other to be found in gently enticing otherwise pristine souls to give up all claims to grace, forcing them to embrace a Fall of their own making, and savoring their bitter folly when the horror of their fate at last becomes apparent to them.”
He winked. “And of course, souls bound by contract and not simply to territory can never be sundered from your Domain, no matter how the tides of battle go.” His welcoming smile twisted into a pained grimace as Jess stared coldly at him.
He cleared his throat, sounding like nothing so much as a boar with a sucking chest wound. “My lady, how may I serve you?”
Jess eyed him coolly for some moments, catching her familiar’s sharp shake of his head before at last lowering her sword. “I desire that which is mine.”
The creature blinked. “The souls formerly sworn to Zolias, now yours by Right of Conquest. Of course, my lady. And may I say, a most brilliant piece of artifice, baiting him so exquisitely with your costume of sheer mortal innocence, even using fresh mortal blood.”
Jess flashed a smile, bleak and icy with the screams of so many captured and tormented souls, even as the caricatures of lords and ladies prattled on.
“The blood is none other than my own.”
She locked gazes with the suddenly shaken creature. “Do you think your powers superior to mine? Do you wish to pit your blade against my own?”
The creature gazed at Jess nonplussed for but a moment, before recovering his bonhomie demeanor once more, leaning back and roaring with laughter. “Well done, my lady! What a master of the great game you are! Come, let me take you to your prizes, my dear lady.”
Jess nodded then stopped, feeling herself come before an invisible barrier. One easily broken, yet she feared that such would be a terrible idea. She grimaced. “No. I will accept no trickery. Bring the souls before me, lest you would challenge me for the right to them.”
The creature visibly blanched, smiling ingratiatingly once more. “No need for that, my lady. Let us avoid any misunderstandings.” He then turned to several beings who wore their disguises more crudely then most, curtly demanding they bring Zolias’s prizes forward.
Twilight purred in approval, leaping to her shoulder once more, whispering counsel. “You are right to press no further, my mistress. For we are here at the very boundary of the forest’s power. To tread any further is to slip outside our realm entire, and such would spell folly unthinkable.”
Jess nodded, more shaken to hear those words than she had been by the entire dread spectacle of chained and tormented souls before her.
23
Within moments the spokesman of the group presented a score of broken and shattered souls, piteous with weeping sores and hopeless gazes, true wrecks of millennium of torment, near every drop of agony and suffering that could be squeezed from their puckered flesh having been done so, long ago. Little was left, save the most bitter dregs of despair.
Despite the fierce horror and pity Jess felt at seeing those terrified, broken souls, some dark cynical part of her understood at once that they were but rinds in an orchard full of sweet torments and temptations.
She smiled coldly. “Zolias spoke with the confidence of an arch lord, yet his stock is the most ragged and br
oken before us.”
The demonic spokesman nodded. "It was always amusing, listening to him bluster. We allowed him the conceit of preening before his betters, for none could play the jester quite so well as he. Best of all, the brunt of any dark lord's fury at our amusement was his alone to bear. I assure you, his arrogance has cost him more than a few souls in appeasement, and we were quite happy to allow him to be the one to gauge the… worth of a potential new ally such as yourself.” He chuckled jovially. “It was quite delicious seeing him expire before you, eyes alight with the same shock he so savored from the very few mortals he had actually been able to entice into signing their souls away.”
The new spokesman favored Jess with a knowing wink. “The fool lacked charm, prudence, and a lick of common sense. But he was a most entertaining jackanapes, and died quite splendidly, I’m sure you’ll agree.”
Jess gazed coldly back. “I claim neither to be an ally, nor of intention to break the Accords as of this moment.”
The spokesman blinked, stepping back with a cautious nod. Jess was somehow certain her formal phrasing was not at all uncommon in this twisted place.
“I do, however, request that the remainder of my property be returned to me.”
The creature before her tilted his head. “You mean in addition to the souls claimed by the former Zolias? And what token of property would this be, great lady?”
Jessica’s lips pressed together in a tight frown. “He was named Galeck Borson in his most recent incarnation, his soul seized and brought here. I have followed to claim that which is mine.”
Jess and the spokesman both turned to the sound of amused laughter from the crowd, a lord in coat and top hat much like the spokesman’s stepped forth and bowed, even as he grinned with mirth. “Greetings, my lady. So sorry to disappoint, I’m afraid, but that poor boy has signed a contract of his own volition." He unraveled a vellum scroll with an adroit flourish, and even from a dozen yards Jess felt her stomach roil, recognizing the unique aura of the soul she had so desperately followed through the very border between mundus and this dark realm of Discordia.
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