by J. Stone
“Well?” the old crone said. “I don’t feel any different.”
“Payment upon delivery. Brew the poison. Brew it strong.”
The alchemist glared at Scarlett, but she ultimately did as instructed. She got out from behind the counter, when it was revealed that she was in fact, a great deal shorter than she looked, having been standing on a stool. She hobbled around the shop gathering ingredients of a wide assortment before returning and throwing them one by one into a smaller cauldron than the one on display in the center of the room. This smaller one was attached to a rotating handle that allowed it to be pushed or pulled out of the nearby-lit fireplace. Scarlett wasn’t sure what all was thrown into the pot, but she recognized a handful of things.
There were a few mushrooms dropped in, some whole and some cut into thin slices. The woman poured in a foul smelling liquid that the demon’s novice senses couldn’t quite place, but it made her think of death or sickness. Next, the woman pulled a pair of spiders out from a clear, glass jar and placed them one by one in a clay mortar. Tipping a small sampling of a grey powder in from a full paper bag marked with a skull and cross bones, the old woman picked up a pestle as well. She ground the spiders into a disgusting black paste, and when satisfied, dropped the contents into the pot. After scraping every last bit of the crushed spiders out of the mortar and into the cauldron with her finger, the hag enthusiastically licked the finger clean. Lastly, the elderly alchemist retrieved a section of a green vine and dropped it into the mix.
The old crone pushed the cauldron over the fire, and using a long, wooden spoon, stirred her concoction. She then stoked the fire for a few minutes, until the dark green liquid in the cauldron began to boil and bubble. The woman stirred her mixture again, and after letting it boil so that it nearly bubbled out, she swung it back around and out of the fire. Leaning over the pot, she deeply breathed in the smell of the fluid and nodded to herself.
“It’s ready,” she commented.
The woman grabbed a container that resembled a flask that was made of glass, and she sat it on a table. Wedging two thick books on either side to hold it in place, the alchemist grabbed a pot with a long handle and dipped it into the murky, green substance, careful not to let any of it touch her skin. Grabbing a large batch of the liquid, she swung the pot over to the flask and slowly poured the contents into the smaller container with a precision that didn’t suit her age. Once the glass was full, she poured the excess back into the cauldron and left the pot leaning near the fireplace. Grabbing a cork, she then squeezed it into the top of the flask, closing it tight.
The old hag picked up the container and tentatively handed it to the horned demon. “And as for your side of the deal?”
“It is done,” Scarlett said, snatching the flask from her.
“Have you tried to trick me? I am the same as ever.”
“I have given you your youth even if you cannot yet see it. I have reversed your aging process, just as you requested. Time now flows backward for you. Every day you will wake up and be younger.”
“I will?” The old woman smiled, revealing several black and rotten teeth. “Until when? How long until the spell wears off? When will it stop?”
“Stop?” Scarlett giggled. “It will never stop, you old fool. You will grow younger with every passing day, until the one that you simply cease to exist.”
“That’s not what I wanted. That wasn’t the deal!”
“Be grateful for what I’ve given you, witch. You deserve it not.”
The horned demon then left the alchemist’s shop, vial in hand, leaving the horrified old woman behind. Everything she had said, of course, was simply untrue. Scarlett had no such power to grant wishes based on deals like that. It was utter nonsense. That elderly woman would die of age, that was true, but it would be old age, not youth. She didn’t know where so many people got the impression that demons of the nether realm could grant such requests, but if they were foolish enough to believe it, she would take them for whatever they were worth. After all, that was the way of Gloomport - take what you can. She could, and she did. Tricking the woman into thinking she would get the worst variation of what she’d wanted had just been a bit of fun. She had been cooped up in those caverns nursing Ruby back to health for so long, that she needed to stretch her legs and enjoy herself, while she could. Maybe she’d gone stir crazy down in those depths. It was hard to say. Whatever the case, she’d enjoyed the deception and was now eager to get back to her princess.
Walking back through the city, Scarlett made her way toward the tailor shop. As she turned the corner onto the street where the shop was located, the demon could see a commotion rumbling just outside it. Her speed increased, fearing that her princess may have already bitten off more than she could chew. Getting closer, she saw her worries were justified, as Ruby was surrounded on all sides by what she could only assume were members of this Underlaw she’d heard about. Their motives looked grim, but Scarlett would not allow harm to come to her princess.
Chapter 15. Toxic Maelstrom
Ruby was concerned about where her demon servant had gone to. She’d given her specific orders to stay at the tailor’s, while she got cleaned up, but now she was nowhere to be seen. Scarlett had taken every opportunity to remind the princess that she was loyal to her, but Ruby began to worry that she had been deceived by the horned demon. Maybe she’d gotten what she needed and was abandoning her now that she had form in the world.
The princess decided to go outside to look for her, but as soon as she stepped out the front door of the building, she saw that trouble was on the way. A group of men dressed in similar dyed red leather, carrying weapons ranging from swords, daggers, bows and arrows, short axes, and even a few war hammers. The man whose genitals she had rotted off stood with them, but he needed help in walking and was propped up by another member of the Underlaw. She smiled thinking about what she had done to him.
A part of her, now buried deep inside, regretted what she had gotten herself involved in and wished she could flee, but the poisoned portions of her relished the opportunity to do further harm to these men. Ruby walked forward to meet them in front of the shop, having no sign of fear. The poison had buried that wasted emotion, masking it instead with a dark confidence in her toxic abilities. The idea that this was too much for her to take on didn’t even enter her mind. Pride had clouded her judgment.
The men of the Underlaw each stopped some distance away from her, wrapping in a semicircle around the princess. Each of them brandished their weapon of choice, eyeing Ruby with malicious intent. She didn’t even notice, but the streets had cleared completely except for them and her. There was no one else in Gloomport with any desire to get in these men’s way. She stood alone. Even Scarlett had left her. It mattered not. She would handle these men before dealing with her demon’s insubordination.
“She’s the one,” the recently castrated eunuch declared.
“Hello…” she paused and thought for a moment with a smile spread across her face. “What do I call you lot? Underlawyers? That’s frankly not very intimidating.”
“It’s irrelevant what you call us,” another of their number said in a harsh voice. “You won’t live long enough to matter.”
Clearly, this was the man in charge. Covering one of his eyes diagonally was a black cloth that wrapped around and tied behind his head. The rag pushed up his shaggy brown hair and partially covered an old scar that ran from under the cloth down to his jawbone, where the hair of his otherwise full beard didn’t grow. He was carrying a pair of battle-axes, one in each hand, and he wore the same dyed leathers as the rest of his gang. He stood more than six feet tall with a wide but muscular build.
“Just try it,” Ruby said, as she gently turned that lever inside her chest.
The purple poison began to drip from her lips, already staining the brand new dress. Due to the color of the fabric, however, it was far less noticeable than it had been on the bright yellow dress she’d worn all those years ago
. She held both her hands under the venom’s flow, covering both entirely in the toxic sludge.
The princess began a little pace, but this was different from what she usually engaged in. The path was short and quick, allowing her to move back and forth every couple feet or so. She examined what she knew would soon become her opponents, deciding how best to deal with their threat.
The leader of the Underlaw did not step forward to attack her. Instead, he nodded to a pair of his men to his side. One carried a lit torch, while the other had a bow and arrows. He retrieved from his quiver an arrow with a tip that was wrapped in a white cloth, and he held it in the fire of the torch. Once it was lit, he notched the arrow in his bow, and rather than targeting Ruby, he aimed at the tailor’s shop behind her.
“No!” she shouted.
Before the princess could take any further action, the arrow had been loosed. She turned, only able to watch, as the metal tip lodged in the roof of the shop, and the fire quickly spread over the surface. Ruby couldn’t stand by and let these people’s home burn. She spit a glob of venom in her hands and hurled it up to the roof. The ball of poisonous spit landed with a splat and suppressed the flames for the moment.
When Ruby turned back to face the Underlaw, she saw that Scarlett had returned to her. The demon had managed to conjure a scythe from thin air, and she swung it behind the line of gang members. Her swipe connected with the necks of three separate men, and each of their heads came tumbling to the ground, soon followed by their decapitated bodies. Scarlett moved forward past their line and joined the princess at her side.
They had no time for a reunion, however, as the remaining members of the Underlaw moved into action. More flaming arrows were fired at the tailor shop, while those with melee weapons rushed Ruby and Scarlett. The princess had nothing to use against such weaponry, but her demon servant lurched forward and seemed quite comfortable using the magically manifested scythe in combat.
Ruby, instead, let her poison continue to be her weapon. One of the Underlaw approached her, so the princess ratcheted the lever in her chest like she had only done once before. The stream of toxins from her mouth increased into a spewing torrent, as it poured over the man, covering his flesh from head to toe. The man flopped to the ground, dead before he landed, but Ruby knew that she could not keep that pace up. She needed to control the poison, or she would run into the same problem as before, not having the strength to function.
She stopped the flow of poison entirely and looked for an alternative. The man she just showered had been one of the few carrying a war hammer, and the weapon looked light enough for Ruby to wield effectively. The hammer consisted of a long, thin, metal rod with a head about the size of her fist. It had been coated in her poison already, and she believed she could manage such a weapon. Ruby picked up the hammer, and though it was heavier than it looked, she was indeed able to wield it.
Another member of the Underlaw approached her and ferocity unknown to the princess found itself unleashed. Swinging the poisoned hammer wildly, Ruby brought the head of the weapon against the man’s jaw. She could hear the crunch of bone and teeth, and when the venomous sludge connected with his skin, the flesh of his face began to rot and fester. Despite her notable lack of combat training or experience, Ruby discovered that she was a competent warrior thanks to the dark poison at her core that was driving her actions.
Even though she found herself able to fight back, the princess and her demon servant were heavily outnumbered. Ruby realized this and backed up toward the tailor’s shop that was now burning more than she could hope to extinguish. To give them an advantage, she spewed forth a stream of her poison in an arc around her and Scarlett to prevent any more attackers from getting close.
“Scarlett!” Ruby yelled, deflecting the strike of a sword with her war hammer. “Get Clare and Luther! Take them out the back.”
The demon dodged a blow and then swung back with her scythe, opening the man’s guts. “What? What about you?”
The princess spit in the face of her attacker, blinding him and causing him to drop his weapon. She followed it up with a downward bash of the hammer, crushing his skull into his brains. “I’m fine! Go!”
Scarlett gave her a displeased look, but she started that way regardless. She folded the magically manifested scythe back into whatever space she had retrieved it from and stepped onto the tailor’s porch. Before she entered the shop though, the horned demon turned back to Ruby. “Here!” She tossed the flask full of a green poison and then entered the flaming shop.
The princess caught the flask, and she now understood where her demon servant had gone - to get her a poison potion. She wasn’t sure how she had acquired such a thing, but she appreciated the gesture. Whatever resentment she had felt for Scarlett’s temporary abandonment washed away, as she looked down at what now constituted a gift of life for the princess. Looking back up, Ruby surveyed her enemies arced around her. They dared not cross the line of poison, having seen what it could do, so they stood hesitant on the other side, just watching from a distance. Their leader, however, was not so willing to simply observe. He dropped his pair of axes and grabbed the bow from a nearby underling. Drawing an arrow as well, he notched it, lining it up at Ruby and unleashed the projectile.
Somehow, the princess thought herself capable of deflecting such an attack. As you can likely imagine, she was not. The head of the arrow stuck in her abdomen, and Ruby looked down to examine it. The pain was intense, but it also served to further enrage her. She looked back up, her anger boiling over. Another arrow launched toward her. This one landed in her thigh and made her fall to one knee. She dropped the war hammer with a thud to the dark dirt below, and the Underlaw leader grabbed another arrow to fire yet again.
Ruby would not allow it to go on. She had lost the tailor’s shop, of that there was no doubt, but she would not let him beat her entirely. Inside her chest, the princess found that lever that she was becoming quite familiar with. With an inner strength that felt like she was going to break the lever entirely, Ruby flung it open. Poison was unleashed everywhere and from every part of her body. On both knees, she arched back, her head aiming to the roof of the cavernous city, as the venom shot out from her mouth like a malevolent fountain.
The arrow was fired upon her, but it was lost and utterly devoured by the explosion of toxins. The princess could see nothing but black, though she did hear the screams of some of the members of the Underlaw. Unleashing the full strength of her poison had saved her, but it was too painful. The liquid ripped and tore at her, clawing its way from her body in whatever way it could. She thought she might be killed by the poison’s intensity, its strength matched by her rage in the moment. She wanted to turn it off, but the lever inside her felt as though it had broken. She was lost in her fury, as the black venom began to swirl around her like a terrible storm.
Ruby managed to tilt her head back down, and she could see that she was in the center of a toxic maelstrom. The venom rushed around her accompanied by a terrible howling sound, ripping away at and poisoning anything it came in contact with. It wasn’t just the gang members. The princess could hear it lapping against the nearby buildings as well. The poison even got into the city’s water, flooding it with toxins. It scraped past the rocky streets, burning and melting them as it swirled violently around.
Fearing it would never end, Ruby felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. She recognized the hand as Scarlett’s. The demon knelt down behind the princess, having somehow penetrated the spiraling liquid and found her at the epicenter of the poison maelstrom. Her hands crept around the princess’ body, embracing her tightly.
“I’ve got you, Ruby,” Scarlett whispered in her ear.
The touch and her words had a soothing presence on the princess, and with her demon’s help, Ruby felt like she could bring the chaotic powers back under her control. Like a tide pulling the water back, the princess sucked the poisons inside her body. The black fluid seethed through her skin, flooded her choking thro
at, and violently penetrated any orifice it found. She thought she might drown from so much liquid, but she persevered. Pulling the poison back inside herself rivaled the pain of letting it out, but the storm of toxins began to fade. Ruby gasped for air and wished for it to just end, while her demon continued to hold her in her arms.
When the poison finally cleared and swept back inside her, she could see that some of the members of the Underlaw had died, but whatever others remained had fled her terrible eruption. Though the tailor’s shop had burned, the poison had extinguished all flames. This didn’t matter, as the waves of sludge completely destroyed what remained of the shop. The tailor and his daughter, however, were not the only ones to have suffered at her hands. The extent of the damage was much greater. The maelstrom that Ruby had unleashed had gotten wildly out of her control. Areas of the entire street much further than she would have expected were covered in the purple ooze. Many of the buildings had been demolished by the crashing, swirling waves. All she’d sought to do was save a girl from a monstrous act. How did things get so out of hand?
“We need to go,” her demon said, still hugging her toxic frame.
“I… look what I did…”
“I see it, my princess. That’s why we need to go. We have to find a way out of Gloomport. I fear these Underlaw men aren’t the only ones who have an issue with you now.”
Scarlett stood up and helped the princess to try and stand. The arrows and their injuries washed away with the maelstrom, but she felt weak after unleashing the roiling storm of poison, so she dropped back to a squatting position.
“Where is the flask?” her demon asked.
Ruby realized that she must have dropped it. She looked around in vain. The slimy green fluid that Scarlett had given her before going into the house was gone, having washed away somewhere with the waves.
“I don’t know.” Her breaths were heavy, and she had little energy. She needed the poison. She needed its sustenance. Her chest felt dry, and every time she swallowed, it tore at her throat a little more than the last.