Carnival of the Soul

by Cebelius

  Shy's head dipped in time to the simple rhythm as the words flowed through her, allowing it to awaken within her a nascent aggression, a growing eagerness for battle.

  The dryad stood and thumped the staff into the ground as her head continued to dip, feeding energy into the Rod of Arcs with no particular spell in mind, letting it play. Lightning began to wrap around both of them, a corona of green-tinged energy that warped and coiled, filling the air with its weird, wicked sound.

  Will you lend me your help with a spell of my own?

  Her question to the staff was soft, and a repetition. She had asked it many times, and always before she'd received no answer. This time, however, the Rod of Arcs gave its assent, a feeling of agreement without words. Shy lifted it, letting the weight of the ball pull the staff down until it was parallel to the ground, its trailing half laid along the underside of her outstretched arm.

  She spoke the words of the spell she had learned so long ago, concentrating as she formed each syllable with precision. She did not know the precise meanings of the words, but she knew the form they were to take. Always before the results of this spell had been feeble, even with her nature affinity. Her mana pool had always been insufficient. Now though, her mana ran deep. Now she felt the Rod's cooperation. This time it would be different.

  With a rising shout she completed her incantation as she swept the ball of the staff in a wide arc in front of her.

  A curtain of lightning struck the ground twenty feet ahead in a wall of energy that ran almost fifty feet in total length. Any mortal caught in that blast would have been killed instantly, but that was not the purpose of the spell. It was merely a twist upon it, woven in by the Rod of Arcs. The lightning was the outward manifestation of the energy she was pouring into the ground to work her will.

  She sensed the Rod's questing thought, its search for her approval. She allowed herself a savage grin that matched the music the Rod continued to play for her, and felt the Rod's affection for her grow.

  Fires sprouted at the line of contact, but they were immediately extinguished as the ground struck by the green-tinged energy rumbled, then erupted in a tremendous explosion that blew Shy's leafy hair back like a pennon snapping in a stiff breeze.

  Gnarled and twisting plant life surged upward. Canes thick with thorns whipped about in winds generated by the explosion that summoned them forth. Within a matter of seconds, the wall was complete, and sagged to stillness under its own weight.

  The music faded from her mind as the song came to its natural end, and Shy surveyed their handiwork. The wall of brambles was one of the few purely nature-based spells she knew that had the potential to do serious harm. By itself the spell wasn't usually lethal, and when she'd cast it herself it had barely been a hinderance.

  With the Rod of Arcs as a focus, it was both lethal and a serious impediment.

  "That was ... amazing," she breathed, forgetting in her awe to keep her words within.

  'That was adequate.'

  The nonchalance of the staff was so studiously bland that Shy tipped her head back and laughed. She felt the Rod's own amusement, but what it said next made the breath catch in her throat.

  'I will remember that spell for you. We will practice it again later until it is more than merely adequate. Why blackberries?'

  Shy mastered her amazement and kept her thoughts between the two of them as she answered. No one at the carnival can complain that I am practicing these sorts of magics if the wall of brambles provides.

  'Your duplicity is elegant. I would not have approved of your spell if I knew you were half-assing its destructive purpose.'

  Half-assing? Tee is rubbing off on you.

  'He is not. He is rubbing off on YOU. I am content to reap those benefits.'

  Do you still want him?

  'Yes. He and I could blast apart mountains. Together, we could stand against the Powers themselves.'

  He has the Rod of the Heart.

  'Such is life. I am gradually coming to hope that you can satisfy me in his place. You will never be the agent of violence my old mistress was, but perhaps you will serve well enough.'

  Shy chuckled throatily as she glanced at the wall of blackberry canes she had summoned. The leafy foliage was thick and healthy, and in a few days the white flowers would bloom. She was uncertain whether or not the plant would survive the winter, but it would live until then, and bear much fruit in the meantime.

  When will I bear fruit?

  She lost herself in thought, her luminous eyes unseeing. She had Tee's seed. She kept it within her, but in order for that seed to sprout she would have to leave him, and spend a year in her natural form. The desire to do just that was slowly growing within her, and she was beginning to understand that eventually — if she did not heed it — it would overwhelm her, force her to change, and not in a place of her choosing.

  There were months yet before that happened, but the time did not reassure her, because there was no end in sight. Tee needed more power. He needed more bonds, and the loyalty of a powerful army. To her knowledge, the Dust Lord had never been challenged within his own domain. Nothing natural grew within the Twilight Zone. Any army would need to bring its own food with it, or secure a supply line. Even thinking about assaulting the Dust Lord in his home was a logistical nightmare, ignoring entirely the fact that no one knew where his fortress actually was within the zone, or what it would take to breach those defenses.

  Terry had only eight bonds. Of those, only one was a Power, and would be unable to help him directly in any confrontation away from water. Thomas was rumored to have fully half of the Powers bound to him, with at least two of those under his direct control.

  To make matters even more difficult, Tee didn't want any more bonds. He would take Asturial — Shy would see to that.

  She thought it likely she could get him to take Isthil as well. The dryad had seen the look in the Nightmare's eyes, seen her step up to claim a spot as one of his wives. She had wanted her freedom and gotten it, but Shy knew it was only a matter of time before she wanted more.

  But Shy could feel the reluctance in him. It grew with every passing day. As it was, Mila had to throw herself at him to get him to consummate their mutual affection. Asturial had been promised only that she could continue to accompany him. The understanding that they would bond was there, but tacit, and Tee was shamelessly delaying. Ariadne had been his chance to bind another Power, but Shy had known once she learned the full story that it would never happen. Marcus was loyal, but he was no bond, and the difference was stark. In taking the crown from Ariadne, Terry had gotten his reward for solving the Labyrinth. As such, they did not receive the legendary weapon typical of the achievement. With the Corona Borealis now in Marcus' hands, they had not only gained no material support from their misadventure, they had essentially lost a member of their company.

  As he is now, there is no way for him to gather the power he'll need to even challenge, much less beat the Dust Lord.

  "Wow. You did this?"

  Shy blinked away her grander thoughts and turned to face the newcomer as she said, "Hello La. Yes. I did this."

  She was careful to keep the pride she felt out of her voice, but she couldn't bring herself to minimize her achievement. The Rod of Arcs had a bright green, loudly humming halo of lightning playing around its ball, and was choosing for the moment not to demean her. Wins all around.

  Halla glanced up and down the line of shrubs. She was wearing her armor, and carrying her club, but was currently no more than six and a half feet tall, leaving Shy with the impression that she'd just been with Laina. The giant blinked as she turned from the wall of brambles to her and asked, "Why?"

  "To improve, I must practice. Did I bother you?"

  "Me? Nah. I'm not hungry right now, but the folk down there got nervous when lightning struck out of the clear sky. I figured I'd come let you know in case you wanna keep flexing those magical muscles of yours. I can go back down and tell 'em to fuck off."

/>   Shy smirked. Halla's gruff nature amused her, though she was still wary of the oni. Some of Tee's misgivings about Theseus' bonds applied to Halla as well. No one had told her, and she still didn't understand why Terry Mack had been so enraged when he learned how Theseus had been using his own daughters.

  "I'm done for now, so there's no need," Shy said with a gentle smile.

  Halla nodded, her golden eyes shifting left, then right. Her tusks peeked past her darkly indigo lips a bit as she scowled, and Shy asked, "Was there something else on your mind?"

  "Yeah, can we talk? I'd usually ask Laina cause I like her best, but I don't think she's the right one for this."

  Gruff, and blunt.

  The Rod of Arcs was faintly amused at the surge of negative emotion in Shy, and she stifled them. Halla meant no disrespect. She had lived her whole life with only one restraint: fear. When she did not fear, she was completely unguarded. In some ways, even Euryale had more circumspection.

  "What's on your mind?" Shy asked as she held out a hand, indicating a spot nearby and taking a seat in the grass. She set the rod aside and watched Halla hesitate a moment longer before stomping up the hill and sitting down, setting her club aside as she did so. Shy was intrigued to notice that she shrank from her usual height of around six foot six to match Shy's height exactly. It was obvious by now that she did it unconsciously. Whenever she wanted to be intimidating or felt at all threatened, she grew. When she was friendly, she tended to match the height of whomever she was talking to.

  "Promise you won't laugh?" Halla asked.

  "No."

  The oni blinked at her in surprise, then frowned.

  "Then I don't wanna talk," she said, moving to stand.

  "That's fair," Shy allowed, but her eyes never strayed from Halla as she called what she felt to be a bluff. Whatever was on Halla's mind was important to her, and Shy didn't really think laughter would be a deal-breaker.

  Halla's frown deepened as her ass settled back into the grass and she asked, "Are you reading my fucking mind or something?"

  "If I did that, I wouldn't need to ask what's on your mind," Shy said with faint amusement.

  "Why aren't you making this easy?" she asked. "I thought that was kinda your thing."

  "I don't have a ... thing, La. I love Tee, and I have objectives. Outside of those I tend to want people around me to be happy, but you weren't happy when you arrived. If I promise not to laugh, that only makes everything even less happy. When people are happy, when they're having fun, they tend to want to laugh. I want happiness just like everyone else, so not to laugh is a promise I won't make."

  "I can't tell if that's deep or just too fuckin' complicated," Halla said, still scowling. "I know I'm kinda dumb, but it's not like I like having it pointed out. I really wish you people would just ... be straight with me. No one's being straight with me except Laina, that's why I like her best, but even she won't tell me some things."

  "Is that what's on your mind?" Shy asked, gently prodding her back toward her reason for wanting to talk in the first place.

  "No, but it needed saying. Stop trying to confuse me, Shy. I don't like it."

  Shy pursed her lips, taking a moment to think, then she nodded and said, "Okay, I'll keep it simple. I laugh when I'm having fun. Let's compromise. I promise not to laugh at you. Simple enough?"

  "Yeah. That works." Halla smiled broadly as she added, "Boss said something kinda like that when we fucked. He was laughing too. He get that from you?"

  "No. It's just something we have in common."

  "You people are weird. I only laugh when I'm stomping on someone. Laughing is for winning and shit-talk."

  "The world you lived in must have been completely awful," Shy murmured.

  "Well, duh. I begged the first man I saw to get me the fuck out of there, didn't I? Speaking of, I kinda want your help. I haven't been laid since Boss and I left the Labyrinth. I asked him once or twice at the mansion, but he was always busy and since no one else was getting any either I was kinda okay with it, but since the snake-haired girl showed up he's fucking again. I want in."

  Halla hesitated, then said, "When he gets back. I know I can't get any now."

  Shy tilted her head and didn't answer immediately. Instead, she thought again of Asturial's similar request, and pondered the fact that both the most and least intelligent of Tee's women had come to her.

  "There's been some talk of organizing things amongst the lot of us," Shy said as she met Halla's golden-eyed gaze. "You will not be neglected."

  "Promise?"

  Sensing the opportunity for a joke, Shy shook her head and said, "I can't do that."

  "Why not?" Halla asked, frowning. "Why can't you promise this time?"

  Shy gave her a sly smile and quirked a meaningful brow as she said, "It's not my cock."

  Halla blinked, then mused for a moment before bobbing her head as she said, "Okay, that's fair."

  Shy sighed and said, "You either really don't laugh, or you didn't get that I was only joking."

  "How was that a joke? It really isn't your cock. What am I missing?"

  Halla's eyes narrowed dangerously as she said, "Didn't I just fucking tell you not to make me feel stupid? Are we going to have a problem? Cause if we are I'm pretty sure Boss can get a new dryad if he really likes your kind. There's a forest right off that way."

  Shy couldn't help but notice that Halla had grown considerably in the last few seconds, and had to decide quickly how she wanted to handle this. She'd been joking, and things had backfired rather dangerously on her.

  "I was just trying to have some fun with you, Halla," Shy said, choosing to bury her pride and stifle the aggression she was only now beginning to nurture within herself. She was keenly aware that everything had a season, a time, and now was not the time to fight.

  "I was trying to share a joke."

  Halla shrank back to Shy's size and her lips twisted, one of her tusks peeking out again as she made a pained expression and looked away. "Boss said something like that too. I hate feeling left out. It's like everyone knows something I don't, and everyone's laughing behind my back. I feel like I'm alone all the time, and I don't like it. I really wanna kill something right now."

  "I'd prefer you didn't," Shy said softly.

  "Yeah, so does everyone else. Fuck. I wish the Boss'd come back. At least he gets it."

  "What does he get?"

  "Killing. Needing it. Craving it. You shoulda seen him, Shy. I thought he was beat. Theseus had him impaled. He was laughing at Boss with a sword through his guts and into the wall behind him. He was sure he had it. So was I. Then Boss just ... reached out and popped dad's eye with a finger, hauled him in by his skull, and cut his throat with his own fucking sword. Never seen anything like it. Just thinking about it now gives me chills."

  Halla's eyes glinted with strange intensity as she murmured, "He's like a god to me, no!"

  Nodding decisively, the oni said, "He is my god."

  Shy nodded slowly, trying to swallow the unease rising up in the back of her throat. Tee had never spoken of what happened in the Labyrinth, other than to say that he'd bound Halla, and killed Theseus. She wondered how much of what he had done was because he had been fused with Prada at the time. She hoped most of it. The idea that he'd embraced a role as an implacable killer ...

  It's possible that's who he really is. Just listen to his music. I should want that. He has to have resolve if he's to go after the Dust Lord.

  Shuddering, Shy put it from her mind.

  The thought didn't shake her unease, and she silently weighed her need to see the Twilight Zone ended against what that would mean for Tee, what he would have to become to get the job done.

  The scales wobbled, and wouldn't settle no matter how she wanted them to. That surprised her as well. She had thought nothing would ever trump her need to see the Zone dispersed. Love was a strange emotion.

  "I'll see to it that you're not neglected, La," Shy said emphatically. "No jokes
now. He'll take you before I have him again. I promise."

  Halla blinked, stirred from her own reverie by Shy's word. "Thanks, Shy. Don't get me wrong, I'll let him know I want him. I got no problems doing that. But ... I see the way he looks at you. You, Laina, and ... the snake girl too, I think. He loves you three best."

  "Euryale."

  "Yeah, her. Can never really remember her name. She creeps me the fuck out; blank wooden mask and a head full of snakes. Tch. Not natural."

  "Be careful around her, La. Of us all, she's the deadliest. She wears that mask because her looks can kill, literally. If she ever moves to take it off, shut your eyes."

  "That's stupid. She can't be the strongest. What about Asturial? Or even that Nightmare chick. She looks way more dangerous. Somethin' about her."

  "La, again, no jokes. If Euryale decides to kill you, there is nothing you could do to prevent it. She won't hurt you as long as Tee doesn't want her to, but please don't antagonize her."

  Halla looked over at her, and Shy returned her gaze steadily. The oni shrugged noncommittally after a moment and said, "Since we're on the subject, what about the others? Who's most powerful?"

  Shy pursed her lips, but it was a fair question and one she had to admit she'd given some thought.

  "Euryale is the most lethal of the women that travels with him, though she is somewhat limited. Asturial is not yet his, but presuming she will be she would be second. I think even with Mila's new power and abilities Asturial's experience would tell in a match between them. Then either Mila or Prada. Probably Mila, then Prada, given the blood devil has several obvious weaknesses. I honestly do not know which of us is the more powerful, so I will say that we come next, and finally Laina."