by K T Munson
“Fortunately for us, you have many lives,” the demon said, throwing a hand up. “All of which,” he added in a sweet voice, “I could extract with exacting measure if you failed me.”
“I haven’t forgotten our bargain, demon,” Ki spat. “Malthael will give me that key, and I shall return them both to you.”
Riku clicked his tongue, the leather of his pants pulling tight as he moved. “Malthael cannot know he parted with the key.”
“That wasn’t part of the agreement,” Ki replied as the demon stopped.
With a flick of his wrist, the contract rolled out. He pointed. “Right here. You cannot tell the owner of the key about the key.”
Ki leaned forward and read exactly the line that Riku was indicating to. Frowning, he continued to read some of the other requirements. He stopped on the last one and glanced at the demon before straightening. He slid the daggers back into their sheaths.
“So long as we are contracted, I cannot hurt you,” Ki said with no small amount of disappointment.
“Among other things,” Riku said, rolling the contract back up. “You should read contracts more thoroughly before you sign them.”
“A lesson for the future,” Ki grumbled as the scroll vanished. “If there is nothing else…”
“Nothing, except I do wonder at the half-breed,” the demon said, turning his head. “What is her story?”
“She has nothing to do with our bargain.” Ki bared his teeth a little as his fingers instinctively wrapped around his blades’ hilts.
Riku put his arms up as he replied, “I was only asking. No harm done to your little sweetheart.”
The demon turned and whistled as he walked away. It was a slow tune, and one that made Ki’s hair stand on end. Ki continued to watch him until he vanished in a little puff of black smoke. He let go of the daggers as he considered Riku’s words. The Keymaster had been clever with his contract, and Ki had been foolhardy in his haste.
He turned toward the Poppy Fields and saw two people coming toward him. The Det Morian prince was carrying a limp body as Elisabeth picked her way across the field. Poppies made everyone want to sleep; they lulled people into an eternal rest and then consumed them by pulling them into the bark, the roots, and even the branches. Only those of Morhaven could walk the fields unhampered.
Elisabeth was the reason he had been so hasty; he had wanted to finish the last of his forty-two. Though the boy was still hidden, he thought these would be enough; she would be enough. Yet she was proving to be difficult, her soul more innocent than the boy’s. The Sin Eater knew what it could and could not take; the boy he could have taken, yet Ki knew the boy could repent and live a life that made up for the mortal sin on his soul. Though the others didn’t have time to correct their wrongs, the boy did.
When she saw him, she waved as though greeting an old friend. She even smiled a little, and his apprehension over their last encounter dissolved. She was becoming something of a friend to him, the closest he had ever had, yet in the end she would disappoint him and he would have to kill her. Her stained soul would complete his mission, and she would become a memory. A bittersweet memory.
When she stepped through the barrier, Ki could see the limp body was a woman and that the prince carried her with reverence. He showed careful concern as he laid her on the ground. She had hair as black as the night sky and a sweet face. The prince moved a single piece of hair away from her mouth, careful not to touch her skin.
“I worried that you wouldn’t wait,” Elisabeth admitted with a heavy sigh.
“Nanette, I assume,” Ki responded, nodding toward the girl.
“Yes, we had to knock her out to get her through the Poppy Fields,” she responded, and he could see that she was distracted. Something was weighing heavy on her mind as she knelt by the girl. “Nanette.” She patted her cheek lightly, and the woman was roused.
Nanette opened her eyes slowly, as though coming out of a dream. Smiling at the prince, she put her hand on his hand. There was a dreamy look on her face until she glanced around him, and then her eyes widened. She began to look around frantically as she sat up.
“Whoa,” Elisabeth said, shooting a glance at the prince as she pushed Nanette back and tried to reassure her. “It’s okay. I’ll keep you safe.”
“We’re back.” Her voice was full of terror as she spoke.
Little did she know that the place from which she had just come was far more dangerous than where they were. The Det Mor ruled from the Divine Court, and they were old and powerful. Unlike those from the planets, the creatures and beings of the Nether lived quite a long time. Many thought them immortal, but that wasn’t accurate. They aged very slowly, but they still died and they could be killed.
“I’m taking you to Oran.” Elisabeth spoke slowly and carefully. “Remember? I’m taking you home.”
“Oh,” she said, and her eyes shot over to the prince. “That’s right. Home.”
She didn’t seem excited as Elisabeth helped her to her feet. Nanette dusted herself off for much longer than was necessary. The prince watched her closely, his eyes bright and swirled with emotions. Elisabeth glanced between them before she picked up her pack.
“Anything exciting while we were gone?” Elisabeth asked as she put the strap across her chest.
“Nothing,” Ki answered instantly, the first lie he had told her. “Not even a shadow.”
“Good,” Elisabeth replied absentmindedly. She scratched at her palm before she added, “We’d better go. Ethandirill explained a shortcut to me, but we’ll end up back in Ashlad.”
“Who are you?” Nanette asked as she stared at him.
“Ki,” he said simply strolling away from them.
“Don’t worry, he’s always like that,” Elisabeth commented, but she seemed more amused than angry.
Ki paused on the ridge. Nanette nodded before turning to walk beside Elisabeth. She glanced forward once at Ethandirill, the apparent Det Morian prince of Morhaven, who took up the lead. They picked their way across the landscape as Nanette and Elisabeth talked in front of him. He listened, although he pretended not to care.
“Thank you, Elsariel,” Nanette said, and Ki’s eyebrows rose at the name.
“Call me Elisabeth, Elsariel is”—Elisabeth paused before finishing—“my other name.”
“Oh, Elisabeth, a much simpler name!” Nanette exclaimed, and Ethandirill glanced back. “You are from Ashlad?”
“I wasn’t born there,” Elisabeth answered. Ki hadn’t known that. “My mother was from Lyreane, and I was born there. I lived there for a short time until, well, things happened, and I ended up with my adoptive father, Malthael.”
“How exotic,” Nanette replied as Elisabeth helped her up unstable rocks.
He’d had no idea that she was of his home. He glanced at her blond hair and remembered the girl in the tower, the prisoner. He wondered if that could have been Elisabeth if she had been born to someone other than a Soul Collector. If it could have been her hair that he would have cut and used to complete his first mission leading up to the ritual.
“Your father told me you were a Butterfly Princess. That seems far more glamorous,” Elisabeth countered, and for the first time since she returned, he saw a genuine smile on her face.
“What it really equates to is an arranged marriage,” Nanette said with a heavy sigh. “My husband is an idiot.”
“He did seem selfish and self-absorbed.” Elisabeth laughed but then seemed to try to stifle it. “I am sorry you have such a husband.”
“My choice,” Nanette said as they went down the other side of the hill of rubble. “I cannot take it back now.”
Ki listened to them chat. Nanette talked about her family, her sister and her sister’s husband. They discussed what it was like growing up without a mother. Ki blushed slightly when they talked about what it was like to bleed for the first time and have no women to talk with. Even though their voices were hushed, he could still hear them. He felt his ears burning as
he turned away and seemed to take in the landscape.
The one topic that Elisabeth seemed intent on avoiding was herself, specifically her demonic half—the spirit of death. Nanette must have sensed this as well because she did not press Elisabeth on the subject. Time seemed to go by more quickly as he listened to their discussions. He discovered things about Elisabeth that he hadn’t known: that she didn’t really have any friends because she was afraid to get close to anyone and that she had been as alone as him. Nanette related to that, as she’d felt like a fraud since her marriage. It was interesting to watch them bond so quickly.
Ethandirill Det Mor stopped and pointed. Down below was a small ruined village. They came to stand beside him as he directed their attention. There, at the bottom, was a ring of shadows. Ki’s eyes narrowed as one of them moved. Nanette tried to take a step back, but Ethandirill caught her arm before she fell.
“Thank you,” she said, but she still seemed like she wanted to get away.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” Ki asked, glancing along the shadowed ridge as they rippled.
“Us,” Elisabeth said before glancing toward him. “Ethandirill and I can kill them. They won’t be any trouble.”
Elisabeth began her descent, leaving Ethandirill to help Nanette down the hill. Ki quickly followed after Elisabeth, as he still had to keep her from getting herself killed. He was surprised that she had come away so easily from her meeting with King Nauberon. He was very old and very clever. Perhaps being nearly the last of her kind made her special to him.
They hiked down between the gates. The shadows swirled, but she was right that they didn’t attack. Ki walked a little faster as they entered the ruined town. One building remained standing and pristine, and Ki immediately knew why. Like the orc’s house, this was an oasis in the barren landscape. Something cackled from the inside of a partially caved-in house, but Elisabeth no more than glanced at it.
Nanette was talking to Ethandirill, who nodded or shook his head when appropriate. His face was softer when she talked. As they passed by, Ki glanced back toward the house, narrowing his gaze. He took a step closer and saw instantly what lay within. He took an immediate step back as one of the birds ruffled its feathers and opened its eyes.
A sudden screech sounded, and Ki didn’t hesitate to turn and run. “Get into the house!” he yelled
Elisabeth, who was in front, looked back at him as he ran. An army of shrikes bulleted out of the house as the shadows moved away from them. Ki’s chest was tight as they sprinted toward safety, a little paradise in the wasteland. He watched in horror as Nanette fell and Elisabeth turned to face the army of wings and beaks. One moment she was Elisabeth, the woman he was hunting, and the next she became someone else entirely. It was the sudden impulsiveness that had him the most suspicious that something was happening within Elisabeth.
Ethandirill hauled Nanette up, and Ki caught up with them as the three of them ran toward the house. Yet Elisabeth remained, her eyes becoming as dark as black ink. An unknown wind picked up at her clothes as she moved toward the swarm. One bird out front dove and struck Ki’s shoulder. He cried out in pain but hardly staggered.
Elisabeth took a step forward, and the dust on the ground moved away from her as light started to swirl around her. Something crackled like muted thunder, and Nanette gasped as a flash of Elisabeth’s skull under her skin became visible. This was her darker half; this was Elsariel. Those of Morhaven and the areas beyond had little dominion over those in the rest of the Nether. They could kill and maim, but they didn’t have control over them since they were creatures half dead. They couldn’t quell creatures that were made by the planet-dwellers or monsters that were born from their actions.
Ki feared the Weavers because they were born from war. Each soul lost in battle that fought not for honor or country but just to kill became a Weaver. They were killers, ruthless and ugly, forever bound to the darker side for their deeds. The shrikes were something worse because they were born of innocent blood. In the Nether, the blood formed into handfuls of these vengeful birds. They were literally born of blood and made from the blood, and all they wanted was more of it to keep themselves whole. Children went somewhere else; Ki didn’t know where.
Emotions, violent terrible emotions, in the planets were always reflected here. Great kindness or sacrifice made a sanctuary, but too many times the ugliness resulted in something vile. Ki stopped in front of Elisabeth as she continued to walk forward. She stopped when he got in the way and the birds started to sweep down.
She lifted an arm and they were flung off as he yelled, “We need to go.”
“You do,” she said. The birds cackled at her angrily, but they didn’t sweep down again. “Go.”
Above them, the birds circled in one massive angry black cloud. Ki’s hair was on end; he was right in their line of attack, but Elisabeth needed to be brought to reason. Her demonic half would fight even when there was no way to win. He needed her mortal half to comprehend the risk.
“I will not leave you to face them,” he yelled above the rising gale. “Don’t be foolish. You do not know your own limits. I do not intend to die because I broke the blood oath.”
“Perhaps we should find out,” Elisabeth answered, but her voice wasn’t right.
Nanette yanked her toward safety. As Elisabeth fought her slightly, Nanette told her, “You are not Elsariel. You are Elisabeth,”
Elisabeth blinked, and the raging wind fell as they stepped across the threshold. She muttered as though coming out of a dream. “I am.”
Like the orc’s house, this was another safe haven, a healer’s hut. Ki clicked the gate closed as Elisabeth blinked a few times and glanced between them, clearly confused. Something had brought her demonic side out—it explained her recent impulsiveness.
When her eyes rested on Nanette, she asked, “Why?”
“You saved me, came all the way through this.” Nanette waved at the Netherworld in general to make her point. “I couldn’t leave you out there acting so unlike yourself.”
“Thank you,” Elisabeth said, pulling Nanette into a fierce hug. “That must have been scary.”
“No worse than when I am hungry.” Nanette laughed, hugging her back. “I become a completely unreasonable person!”
“We need to go,” Ki said tentatively, watching as Elisabeth turned away and seemed to wipe away a tear.
“Yes, of course,” Elisabeth resounded with only a slight twinge of red in her eyes. “To get you home.”
“Home,” Nanette parroted, but her voice held no excitement.
Ki saw her reach into her pocket as Elisabeth and Ethandirill turned toward the house. Ethandirill knocked on the door, and an old woman answered. She looked much like any old woman one might see on the planets, with one exception. She was about half the size of a planet-dweller, the size of a small child.
“Det Morian,” she said, holding up her hand. “Payment.”
Ethandirill reached into his pocket and pulled out a strip of paper. The old woman squealed with excitement as she took it and consumed it in a few short bites. Ki gave her a strange look, his eyebrows furrowing together as he wondered what the paper was. He glanced back over his shoulder as Nanette put something into her mouth.
Chapter 44: Netherworld
Elisabeth reacted slowly as she turned and saw Ki and Ethandirill rush toward Nanette. The Orani was on her knees with her hands at her throat. She was choking as she fell forward, and after a moment she spat six little seeds onto the ground before slumping over. Elisabeth looked between the seeds and Nanette and knew what Nanette had done.
Ethandirill put an arm around Nanette’s shoulders as she gasped for breath. As Elisabeth’s shadow fell across her, she looked up without a shred of guilt as she put a hand on Ethandirill’s arm.
“What do you think you were doing?” Elisabeth all but yelled as Ki picked up one of the seeds to examine it.
“I won’t go back,” Nanette whispered. “Not after what I’ve seen
, and survived.”
“So you decide instead to trap yourself here?” she roared, snatching the pomegranate seed from Ki’s hand before shaking it at Nanette. “There is no coming back from this.”
“I don’t belong there,” she replied. “I’ve had more kindness from you and Ethandirill in these last hours than I’ve had in this long year since I’ve married Jason. I cannot return to such an existence. I shall be a Butterfly Princess no longer.”
“So you choose here?” Elisabeth asked, kneeling down. “I would have taken you to Ashlad if you’d asked.”
Nanette blinked in surprise as she whispered, “Really?”
“I’ve never had a friend before,” she replied, and her heart hurt at the admission. “Not a normal one anyway.”
Ethandirill helped Nanette to her feet, and she blushed. Elisabeth stood and glanced at Ethandirill, who seemed to be slow in realizing what had just happened. Or perhaps he was just hiding behind a mask of thought. Nanette didn’t look at him as she reached out and took Elisabeth’s hand.
“Friends,” Nanette said with a smile.
The woman in the doorway pointed at Nanette and yelled, “She is touched.”
The door closed with a sharp snap as Elisabeth looked down at the seeds before she took Nanette’s hand and turned it over. There was nothing on her palm, so she took the other one in her hand. There was also nothing there. She held both palms in her hands, waiting for a mark to appear. Beings of the planets could be drawn into the Netherworld if they ate anything of that world. If they did, a black mark would appear on their hand, condemning them.
Elisabeth looked up desperately before demanding, “How many did you swallow?!”
“I don’t know,” Nanette responded hysterically, and Ethandirill shifted in front of the gate as something dark floated toward them.
Elisabeth froze as a Soul Collector hovered in front of the gate. Its partially translucent black robes floated around its body like a thing of nightmares. She propelled Nanette back as Ki moved to her side. If she insisted on protecting Nanette, Elisabeth knew Ki would do everything to protect her. He needed her still and was unlikely to stop now. His resolution had not wavered before this moment, which was what she was counting on.