The word… King... kept floating through my head.
I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Sighing, I decided that I needed to focus on the present. Before I could become a King, I needed to do a lot of stuff.
We had already crossed over the only bridge surviving. Lady Shufen’s attendants had zipped across with no one saying a word. Apparently, she didn’t have to pay the toll. The trolls I noticed through the windows hadn’t even looked our way. I could tell that they saw us, they just didn’t want to admit it.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To one of my sanctuaries in the city,” she replied.
I nodded and looked out the window again. Just north of us, I could see the enormous swarm of cicadas circling in the air around a tall building. I wanted to jump out of this stupid handheld vehicle and run to save Mary and Hana, but all that would accomplish was my death.
I needed to get the arm bone and ribs installed first. Then, I could sneak in and retrieve both women safely.
“How long until we get there?” I asked.
“Only a few more minutes,” she replied, pointing at a building ahead of us.
It was the ruins of a three-story brown brick structure that was only a few blocks from the cicadas that were still circling int he air, loudly. The bugs trilling hum, rising and falling like a siren kept ringing in my ears. Hopefully, Hana and Mary were still unconscious. Otherwise, it might have driven them insane by now.
“The Lady of Plants enjoys reminding everyone on this side of the river who is in charge,” Oba Shufen mentioned pointing at the bugs. “If I could burn every one of those insects out of the sky, I would.”
The attendants carried the sedan chair around the building into an alley. When they reached the middle of it, they set the chair down. Oba Shufen climbed out of the conveyance, followed by me. Since I was the muscle in this partnership, I got to carry the unconscious Mockery.
Damn, Oba Shufen’s daughter was heavy when she was sleeping.
Mockery looked so innocent and precious... unconscious. I wondered what had made her so bitter and sarcastic.
The back door of the building was shattered and gone. Oba Shufen walked in, stepping over the garbage on the floor like she was at a ball or some other fancy party. The walls inside the ruin were covered in gang graffiti, and I could see several old liquor bottles lying here and there.
Two rat carcasses lay against the far wall. They were covered in flies and maggots. Lady Shufen covered her lower face with a scented silk handkerchief, while I tried to hold my breath.
I had forgotten how gigantic the vermin in the Dark were. Shit, the rats were the size of a large dog with teeth as long pointer finger.
Crap.
Glancing up at the girders above me, I kept watching for the predator that had killed them. Having something more significant than them land on me wasn’t my idea of fun.
Lady Shufen’s heels clicked on the old cement. Waving a hand, she summoned magic that opened a trapdoor in the floor that I hadn’t noticed before. She walked down the stairs under it without even breaking stride.
I didn’t walk as elegantly with Mockery still thrown over my shoulder.
The stairs were darker than the eternal night around us. But, I managed to walk down them without falling onto my new Merlin, which would have been embarrassing. I heard the trapdoor shut when we reached the bottom of the stairs.
Oba Shufen led me through nearly impenetrable darkness until I heard another metal door open in front of us. Man’s human light filtered into the hallway, giving me a glimpse of the room before I entered.
It was spartan and full of boxes. Stacked on the left were about a dozen cots that were standing upright. They looked old and dusty. To my right was a small table and several chairs. It was the far wall that drew my attention. A bookshelf and a sorceror’s workbench dominated that corner of the room.
Along with an altar that instantly gave me the creeps.
It was an old gray stone that had been carefully moved here as one large block. The outline of a human body was worn into it its top, along with manacles that had old dark blood coating them. On the sides of the altar, the gray rock was inset with jade. Carved into the softer rock were alien-looking frog-like creatures that reminded me of the men that had captured The Hollow Bride.
Dammit, it felt like the monsters were watching me.
Lady Shufen gestured at a cot, lowering it to the ground and opening it.
“Put Tian there,” she ordered.
My Merlin had just told me one of her daughter’s secret names. It was probably the one that family used when strangers were around. But, it was still important, so I did my best to memorize Mockery’s name, as I laid her down.
“Take off your clothing,” Oba Shufen directed, as she walked over to the workbench, “and lie down on the altar.”
I stopped moving. The thought of lying on top of that large, blood-covered surface filled me with doubt. Especially when I glanced at the manacles again.
I would have to be a fool to lie down on that altar.
Oba Shufen sighed loudly as she turned around.
“Where else would I operate on your ribs and arm?”
It made sense, but I still didn’t like it.
Sensing that I would not comply, she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Then, she said, “We have to forge a bit of trust if we are going to work together.”
I just didn’t like being the first one of us to trust the other.
- 29 -
Nodding, Oba Shufen said, “My full, given name is Zhuan Qui Shufen. But, you may call me Sun when we are alone.”
Her admission rocked me. Names were power, plain and simple. By telling me her given name, she had placed a great deal of trust in me. With her name, I could Tame Sun, and she might not be able to stop me. Or, I could direct a demon to rip her to pieces... if I knew any demons that is.
“I have no interest in enthralling or chaining you to my service, Bazal,” she murmured. “I need you, as much as you need me… maybe more. My daughters have evicted me from my home and are sworn to darkness. I need you to free them and save me.”
Fuck.
If I was going to save my lovers, I needed the magic in the ribs and the arm bone.
I would have to trust her. There wasn’t any other choice. I didn’t know any other sorcerors in Columbia that I trusted even a little. Hell, the few I knew would cut me up for parts, before they helped me.
Walking over to the workbench and setting the bones on it was hard.
Taking off my clothing in front of her was even worse. She was the mother of one of my earliest acquaintances. Shy and I could have been friends, if I hadn’t left, and if the accident had never happened. Hell, we might have ended up lovers. Father had wanted a treaty with the Temple for as long as I could remember. He hadn’t liked her daughters, but he would have grinned when my marriage created an alliance.
I put my hands on the cold gray stone and felt the death that lived within it. I could feel an alien presence hiding in it, waiting for me to lie down. A beast of the Outer Reaches between the worlds was chained within the rock, waiting to do Sun’s bidding.
My hands began to tremble. I didn’t want to lie down on top of the altar. I could feel the creature waiting to devour me. It liked blood, and it was hungry.
If I thought about this any further, I would not be able to do it.
And, I wanted to be powerful enough to save Mary and Hana. Neither of them had ever had anyone that would do anything to save them.
I wanted to be that person.
More than anything.
So, I climbed onto the stone and laid down with my back to the monster. It didn’t even matter anymore that I was naked. The fear… of the creature… outweighed my embarrassment.
Sun walked over to me. I could tell that she was trying not to peek at my naked manhood, but she failed miserably. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her blush, just a little.
>
I tried not to remind myself that Mary was close to Sun’s age.
Or, that Sun was a woman under that kimono. She might be older, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t like sex.
“Shut your eyes,” she murmured.
When I did, I fell into darkness.
--M--
Hana was screaming. Her body was healed, but she was furious.
“Your lover took something of value from me,” I heard a female voice purr. “And I want it back.”
Blistering pain tore through Hana’s mind. It felt like her foot was surrounded with hot, burning embers. The flesh ached and throbbed like fire ants were gnawing away at it.
“So, I am sending him a message,” the woman added.
Hana blinked, barely able to focus on her face. But, she did enough that I could see her.
The woman’s skin was a deep green, and so was her hair. Eyes the color of emeralds stared back at me. But, that’s where the beauty stopped.
Her back was crooked and bent like an elderly woman’s. Ribs stuck out from a dress that clung to her like a second set of skin. Like the Hollow Bride, her breasts were flabby sacks of flesh that should have dried up and fallen off by now.
Malignant, infected magic radiated off of the woman in waves. It was so intense that I shivered in awe.
The Lady of Plants.
Crooked fingers--devoid of the lushness of youth--pointed at me.
“Give her back,” Alagossa Felmorna told me. “Or, I will flay the skin from your slut’s body, one inch at a time.”
Hana opened her mouth and screamed. Sweat poured down her face as she fought to move. Her only thought was to free her leg from whatever was gnawing on it.
“I see you… Wizard,” the Lady of Foulmire murmured. “I see you peeping at me.”
Felmorna fought to stand up but failed.
Collapsing back onto her throne, the Malignant gnashed her jagged fangs in irritation. She was as injured as Azlin had been. Something had expelled the two of them from their previous domains, and they hadn’t healed yet. Her magic was powerful, but her body was frail and sickly.
Slamming her hand down on the throne’s arm, Felmorna shrieked, “Mockery is mine! Give her back!”
Shit.
She knew that Sun had captured her daughter and now held her captive.
“I will slice this bitch’s face off and wear it as a mask!” the demented Lady of Foulmire screamed. “Give me my wife!”
Holy shit.
Mockery wasn’t just her apprentice or weapon of choice.
They were married.
Ick.
That reaction must have shown on Hana’s face because the Lady of the Plants began to scream and thrash on her throne like a tortured two-year-old. The plants that were stacked all around her shook and swayed as she lost all control of herself.
But, all I cared about was Hana’s pain.
I couldn’t help her.
Dammit.
Felmorna stopped shouting and then dragged her body back over to her own altar… for that was what Hana was lying on.
“I will kill her… again and again... unless you give me what is mine! This bitch’s torment will never end!”
Then, she slammed a blade down, piercing Hana’s heart.
I shook like I had touched raw electricity. Every fiber in my body spasmed and shrieked in agony.
Far in the distance, I heard Sun chanting.
My heart stopped when Hana’s thudded to a halt.
I felt cold and disconnected. From out of the darkness, I felt Sun’s monster lick its lips. Tentacles reached out and grabbed my soul.
But… it didn’t eat it.
Instead, I opened my eyes as my mind awakened in Mary’s skin.
- 30 -
Mary was drooling.
I could feel her numbness and peace. Like Hana, nothing hurt anymore, physically.
In fact, everything felt good.
Especially the man that was on top of her, pressing his way into her wetness.
I looked up at him in surprise.
I had never been in a woman’s skin before, as a man fucked her. Usually, it was the other way around.
Mary’s mind was blissful. Sex felt good. Smiling, she tried to angle her hips for a better experience, but when that failed, I felt her mind shrug.
It would have felt better if she could move, but… fuck it… it still felt pretty good.
And the man wasn’t ugly.
Mary wasn’t in love with him, and she wasn’t trying to betray me.
I felt her ambivalence. She didn’t care right now what he did to her.
Mary was stoned out of her mind.
He wasn’t hurting her, so fuck it… let him have his fun.
My opinion was different.
And… it was the God Damn businessman from Savannah who had harassed me about being a Goblin. He was smiling with a maniac grin. His receding hairline looked like it had moved even farther back, and I could see several dark zits on his chin from this close.
Nasty, dirty breath poured over Mary’s face with each thrust, making me want to choke.
Shit, the man was disgusting.
“Oh, Baby,” he laughed as he slammed into her again. “I’m going to turn you over and fuck your ass next!”
Mary’s mind might have been asleep, but mine wasn’t. I was going to kill this fucker, somehow.
Then, I heard the lash come down on his back.
His screech of pain was almost inhuman.
“No talking, slave,” I heard Candace command. “Fuck the bitch. Nothing more.”
The woman who had kill Brynn stood behind, whatever-the-fuck-his-name-was. She was dressed in black leather that crisscrossed her body in thin sheets of material, exposing skin almost everywhere. A black whip that was dripping blood was gripped in her left hand.
Candace looked as cold and emotionless as Mary felt inside.
Sobbing… James… yes, that was the bastard’s name, began to pump again.
I could feel his hard length inside the woman that was mine.
That sensation infuriated me. But, I also felt something even more enjoyable and exciting.
Mary was human, so all of her memorized spells were gone. Like Mockery, captivity was destructive to a wizard. Without her spellbooks, she couldn’t reinforce her sigils, so they had crumbled away and reformed, empty. She had the power to use, but no spells prepared.
Except… Mary had three sigils that weren’t empty. The patterns on her bubbles glowed with crimson light, pulsating and ready to be used.
Somehow, they were permanently tattooed into her spell bubble instead of inscribed and reinforced daily. It made Mary a less flexible Mage, but when she needed her favorite spell… like now… her black tentacles were ready.
“Bitch…”
The word slipped out of Mary’s mouth, startling James. He stopped pumping again and stared down at her in shock.
Crack.
The whip came down on his back.
James reared back and shrieked in agony. Candace must have thought that James had spoken, and not Mary.
Good, I thought. Whip the little fucker!
“She spoke!” James screamed.
I was going to do more than speak.
Frowning, Candace came closer.
Peering down at Mary’s stoned eyes, she didn’t detect me.
Snarling, the bitch turned and wrapped her whip around James’ neck... and began squeezing.
“Liar!” she shrieked, as James’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“Upabhōgaṇē,” I murmured, igniting Mary’s only spell.
It was her favorite for a reason.
Candace turned back and looked at me in shock.
The first black tentacle ripped through her chest, spraying James with blood. He didn’t have time to react, though. The second tentacle ripped up through the flesh between his legs, puncturing his insides like a shish kabob.
Blood gushed out of his
mouth, covering Mary’s naked skin, but I didn’t care.
Upabhōgaṇē meant… consume.
Candace’s soul shrieked in pain as Mary’s dark magic yanked it out of her skin, tearing it free from her mind. The evil bitch collapsed to her knees, but the tentacle wouldn’t let her fall any further.
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