The demon lurched ever closer to the inner ward of violet flame.
"You've had your fun, Vriene!" Cranston shouted, "Now release me at once! I have powerful friends!"
Vriene shook his head. "You had friends, Cranston," he said, "Now, you have only one friend in this world or any other."
"Yes!" Cranston cried, "We are friends, Lord Vriene! I am in your service!"
Vriene laughed. "I have no need of your services, Cranston, and I never was your friend."
"Our bargain!" Cranston screamed, "You promised that I would come to no harm!"
"No," Vriene said, "I promised that I would not harm you."
"Then send this... creature away," Cranston shouted.
"That creature is the only friend you have left," Vriene said.
Cranston's face showed his confusion.
"The Traveller has brought you a precious gift, Cranston," Vriene said, "He will reveal to you the future... Your future."
Cranston started to say something, but the demon raised its glassy claw, and the man's body suddenly went rigid. Cranston's feet lifted from the floor, as he slowly rotated in the air to face the shard demon. Tanys could see him trying to struggle, but the demon's magic held him fast, twisted his head to look directly at the soot-stained monster on the other side of the violet flames.
With Cranston suspended, immobilized, before the demon, the creature then crossed both its arms in front of its face. The jagged shards that hung from its forearms like the sleeves of a robe now aligned themselves along a plane. They snapped into place, forming a black mirror that reflected the shimmering purple flames.
"Are you comfortable, Cranston?" Vriene asked, taking a sip of his wine.
"What... what is this?" Cranston cried out, his fingers twitching as he struggled against the irresistible bondage of the demon's will.
"Traveller," Vriene said, "Show this man his future."
The flames between Cranston and the demon subsided to a low wall only inches high. Cranston's reflection writhed darkly in the glass of the demon's body. A dim glow arose from somewhere within the sooty glass, showing the man's face now clearly in the mirror.
"Wouldn't you like to see how this all turns out for you?" Vriene said.
Cranston's voice fell as he spoke again, "I... I don't want to look."
"Nonsense," Vriene said, "It will do you good to look into the future. I think we'd all like to have a look. Wouldn't you, girls?"
"Yes, Master Vriene," Tanys answered, not meaning it.
Anavaiel said nothing, her large eyes hollow and devastated.
Something in Cranston's reflection began to change, and the man let out a whining moan of fear as other figures moved in the glass behind his reflected image. Then he sucked in a breath and fell silent as the image crystalized into a scene of a crowded room, filled with men and women in fine clothing. The image of Cranston in the mirror laughed silently and lifted a tall, narrow-mouthed wine glass to his lips. Men and women of unearthly beauty crowded him closely in the glass, and though Tanys and the others could hear nothing, the mirror people laughed at Cranston's jests and hung on every silent word of his lips.
"You see now?" Vriene said, "That's not so bad, is it? I think this whole treachery and murder plot will turn out quite well for you, in the end."
Tanys saw the corner of Cranston's lip twitch into a nervous smile.
"Well, of course that isn't really the end... is it?" Vriene said, "I mean, there's always more to the story, isn't there... something beyond the happy ending. Why don't we look a little further?"
Cranston's smile faded as the faces in the glass blurred and darkened. His face appeared again, older now, with lines beneath his eyes and upon his brow. His hair had gone gray around the edges, and he looked back from the mirror with a face of growing desperation.
"You age well," Vriene said, "So that's something to look forward to... at least for a while."
The face in the mirror sagged and drooped in resignation. Dark spots appeared on the reflected face of the Zhadeen nobleman. The hair became white and thin, and the lips hung open to reveal yellowed teeth beneath. The real Cranston began to shake and moan again, unable to turn his face away or close his eyes.
"Eugh," Vriene scoffed, "You really start to fade fast toward the end, don't you?"
"No," Cranston groaned, "No."
"But of course, you're right!" Vriene laughed, "That isn't the end at all, is it? You still have much further to go."
"Stop it!" Cranston cried.
The face in the mirror withered, all traces of personality fading from its features as age claimed the last fading bloom of youth. The hair thinned further and fell away, the cheeks sank, and the skin of its throat hung in folds beneath its bony chin. The eyes frosted milk white as the skin turned sallow and erupted in boils.
"Stop it!" Cranston screamed.
"Horrible isn't it?" Vriene remarked, "It hardly looks like you at all anymore. Still, you can take comfort in knowing that this is still many years in the future... several decades I would imagine. You humans are such a short-lived race, after all, I'd say you should be grateful for what little time you have."
"No," Cranston sobbed, "I don't want to see this!"
"Oh, Cranston," Vriene chided, "Don't be so childish! It's not like I'm showing you your own death... No, wait, there it is!"
The face in the mirror suddenly went quite pale, and the jaw dropped open with its swollen tongue pressing between its teeth.
"No!" Cranston shrieked.
The dead man in the mirror hung there rotting before the man whose face it was. Even Tanys shuddered at the sight of grave worms feasting on the man's eyes and tongue.
"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Cranston cried, "Vriene, please!"
"Don't ask me," Vriene said, "The only one who can stop this is your friend the Traveller. I doubt that he realizes how much discomfort this is all causing you. Where he comes from, people don't ever age at all."
"Please, Master Traveller," Cranston moaned, "Please make it stop!"
"Wouldn't that be nice?" Vriene mused, "Imagine living in a place where no one ever gets any older. Imagine that, Cranston. What must it be like to live in a place where you would never... could never die?"
Cranston whimpered.
Vriene's face suddenly brightened as though he had just had a revelation. "Say, Cranston, I wonder if a mortal might be allowed to visit such a place? You don't suppose that would be possible, do you?"
"Yes," Cranston sighed, "Yes... anywhere but here... Anywhere, please!"
The image in the mirror shimmered and reformed into the handsome face of the young Cranston once more. He smiled back from the sooty glass as Cranston' head sagged, his chin against his chest.
"Please," he gasped, "I don't want to grow old."
Tanys saw Vriene's ploy now clearly and remembered the words of the faceless boy. She wanted to warn Cranston, in spite of everything he had done. Then she recalled the red lash marks on Tyll's back, and she held her tongue.
The mirror twisted and shredded apart as the demon lowered its arms. It leaned close, its shard beak almost crossing the border of the inner circle, but not quite. In a whisper of splintered glass, it said, "Ask what you will of me, mortal."
"Please... Please," Cranston said, "Please take me away from here."
"Where would you go?" it asked.
"Take me... Take me to the place where I will never die," Cranston said.
The violet circle of flame surrounding Cranston's suspended body flickered out. The glass demon stretched out its broken arms and caught him as he fell. Cranston screamed once as the shards sank into his flesh, and then he was gone. All that remained was the lingering stench of sour milk and the echo of demonic laughter.
Chapter 7
Tanys followed Naietta down the hallway, supporting Princess Anavaiel on her arm. The young girl clung to her, weeping hysterically, her face pressed into the side of Tanys’s bare breast. The subterranean chill remi
nded Tanys of the Delves of the northern ghasts. Vriene had offered her nothing to replace the dress that she had torn off, and she had made no attempt to retrieve the tattered, scorched, and blood-stained remains of it on her way out. She was grateful at least for the warmth of the Zhadeen girl at her side who counteracted a little of the terrible cold on her naked body.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Anavaiel sobbed.
Tanys said nothing. Wherever the demon had taken Cranston, death was probably the better option.
“It’s all my fault,” Anavaiel wept, “I… I should have done something… said something more.”
Tanys brushed a strand of hair back from the girl’s reddened eyes. “He tried to have you killed, Ana,” she said, “He could never have let you survive to return home. If he had lived, he would have found another way to kill you.”
Anavaiel sniffed and bit her lip, looking away. “I’m never going home again, am I?” she said.
Tanys stopped walking and lifted the princess’s face with her hands. “Listen to me,” Tanys said, “I’m going to get you out of here. We’re all getting off this island alive… and you will go home.”
Anavaiel looked as though she were about to start crying again. “What’s the point?” she said, “They’ll just find some other way to kill me, won’t they?” She breathed in a shuddering breath. “I thought they were my friends!”
“Who?” Tanys asked.
“The other girls,” Anavaiel said, “The other ascendant beauties. If I’m dead, they have a better chance of becoming the new Empress.”
Tanys blinked. “You’re supposed to be the Empress of Zhad?” she asked.
“It’s possible,” Anavaiel said, “if I am chosen.”
“Who chooses?” Tanys asked.
“The Empress.” Anavaiel said.
“Wait… I thought you were going to be the Empress,” Tans said, “Is the old one sick or something?”
“Oh no!” Anavaiel gasped, “She is to pass the throne to someone else when she ascends.”
“Dies?”
“No,” Anavaiel said, shaking her head, “the Empress never dies! She will ascend to the stars.”
Tanys scoffed. “How do you do that?”
Anavaiel looked confused. “I don’t really understand it,” she admitted, “That’s just how it is done. That is how it has always been done.”
“And you were supposed to be in some sort of contest to see who gets to be the next Empress,” Tanys said, “but your opponents tried to have you murdered?”
Anavaiel started to cry again.
“Stop that!” Tanys sighed.
Naietta put her hand on Tanys shoulder, urging her to move again, and Tanys complied, guiding the princess along beside her.
Anavaiel seemed to notice Tanys’s nakedness then and blushed, averting her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Tanys asked.
“You’re… your clothes,” Anavaiel whispered.
“Oh,” Tanys said, laughing, “I’m actually starting to get used to it by now. The ghasts seem to insist on stripping me every time we meet.”
“I’m so sorry,” Anavaiel said.
“For what?” Tanys asked.
“Your dress,” Anavaiel said, “It was very pretty.”
Tanys smiled. “It was a little tight,” she said, “In truth, I was glad to be rid of it. I just wish I had the nerve and foresight to swipe a tablecloth or something on the way out the door. The cold is starting to sink in.”
Anavaiel’s eyes went wide. “I’m sorry,” she said, pulling off her outer wrap and passing it to Tanys, “It’s… it’s not much, but…”
Tanys took the thin length of silk and thanked her, eyeing the piece for a moment before deciding just to wrap it around her neck like a scarf. She let the long end of the wrap hang down between her breasts and tugged the throat to a comfortable looseness. “Ah, much warmer,” she said with mock seriousness.
Anavaiel looked at her with one eyebrow raised, remaining silent for a moment before both of them burst into laughter.
“I’m sure I have something better to give you when we arrive at my chamber,” Anavaiel said.
“Oh, no,” Tanys said, “Don’t bother. I’m thinking of just wearing this from now on.”
Anavaiel laughed again, her eyes falling to Tanys’s breasts. She blushed again and looked away.
“Do I bother you?” Tanys asked.
“No! It’s just that I’m not accustomed to seeing anyone… unclothed,” Anavaiel said.
“I understand,” Tanys said, “I was the same way. I suppose I lost my shyness somewhere around my fifth arena fight in the slave pits of Cashuun.”
Anavaiel’s eyes widened.
“They insisted on having us fight in the nude, most of the time. Armor just reduced the chances that you would be cut.”
Anavaiel looked confused. “Wouldn’t that be a good thing?” she asked.
“Not for the satyrs,” Tanys chuckled, “They liked to watch us bleed.”
“Satyrs?”
Tanys nodded. “Goat men,” she said, “Have you ever seen one?”
Anavaiel shook her head. “I’ve never met any non-humans,” she said, “but I’ve read about them in books. I once read that satyrs would…” she blushed, redder than ever and her eyes fell to the floor.
“What?” Tanys asked.
Anavaiel lowered her voice to a whisper. “I read that they would kidnap human girls and… ravish them.”
Tanys snorted with laughter. “Is that what they call it?”
Anavaiel held her tongue.
Tanys sighed. “Yes… there was a lot of that too.”
Anavaiel gave her a horrified look. “Did they… did they ravish you?”
Tanys grinned. “I was a fighting slave, not a soft girl,” she said, “and my master wouldn’t have dared to try it… Not that he didn’t suggest the possibility on numerous occasions.”
Anavaiel looked incredulous. “You were a slave?”
“All humans in Cashuun are slaves,” Tanys said, “At least they used to be.” Her mind wandered back to the escaped gladiator she had left behind in that desert land. She hoped that he and the others had kept their freedom.
“I did not know,” Anavaiel whispered.
“You really should learn about other lands if you are going to rule your people,” Tanys said with a smile.
“Rule them?” Anavaiel said.
“Isn’t that what an Empress does?” Tanys asked.
Anavaiel looked confused.
“You have to tell everyone what to do… make laws or something, right?” Tanys said.
Anavaiel laughed. “Oh, no,” she said, “The Empress doesn’t have to do any of those things! The Empress is the greatest of our beauties… She stands for all that we aspire to be. She must be above such petty matters, as the stars are above the sea.”
Tanys wrinkled her nose. “So, you’re just supposed to stand around and look pretty, while someone else makes all the decisions?”
Anavaiel shook her head. “There are people who take care of that sort of thing,” she said.
“Who?” Tanys asked.
“I don’t know,” Anavaiel admitted, “That’s not something that I was taught.”
Tanys fell silent for a moment. “Ana?” she said, “Don’t you think, if you are the Empress, you should be in charge?”
Anavaiel looked flustered. “Why would I want that? I don’t know anything about such things!”
Tanys sighed and let it drop. They had reached the door to Anavaiel’s chambers, and Naietta keyed open the door with her palm.
“Thank you, Tanys,” Anavaiel said, “Please stay for a moment, and I will find you something to wear.”
Tanys looked the waifish girl up and down and laughed. “I don’t think we wear the same size,” she said.
Anavaiel’s eyes fell upon Tanys’s ample breasts and her cheeks went red again.
“Thank you anyway,” Tanys said, unwrapping the bit of wh
ite silk from her neck to hand it back to the princess.
“No, keep it,” Anavaiel said, lifting her dainty hand in refusal, “I want you to have it… something to remember me by… if…” The haunted look had returned to her doe-like eyes.
Tanys frowned and leaned close. “Don’t be afraid, Ana,” she said, “I’m going to get us all out of here. You are going to be Empress of Zhad.”
Anavaiel gave her a trembling smile and then turned away to enter her room. She lifted her hand in parting as Naietta closed the door between them.
Tanys sighed deeply and looked at her somnambulant friend. “Ah, Naietta. What am I doing?” Tanys asked.
Naietta looked back with dreamy-eyed detachment, a faint smile on her lips.
“Let’s get to bed then,” Tanys said, “I’m tired.”
“That will have to wait,” a man’s voice called from the shadows at the end of the hall.
“Brynn!” Tanys exclaimed, startled.
The young beastmaster stepped into the flickering light of a witchfire sconce, walking toward her with a wry smile on his weary face. His eyes played over Tanys’s naked body. “Vriene feeling playful tonight?” he asked.
Tanys cheeks burned, and she shot him a hard look. “How are your balls?” she asked.
He winced and reached down to massage the bulge in his pants. He shrugged. “Everything seems back in working order,” he said, “I’ll let you try them out a little later.”
“I’m tired,” Tanys said.
“So?” Brynn laughed.
“So, you can wrestle the white worm by yourself tonight,” she sneered, “I’ve had a long day.”
“It’s not over yet,” Brynn said, moving closer.
Tanys stepped chest to chest with him. She brought her hand up between his legs and squeezed. “You just got your pearls back from the jeweler,” she growled, “You should be more careful with them this time.”
Brynn grimaced, but then chuckled and shook his head. “I’ve got you an audience with the Mirrormage,” he said, “but we have to go now.”
“The one who has Jorva?” Tanys gasped as she released his balls and stepped away.
“If that’s what you call the tattooed dwarf, yes,” Brynn said.
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