The Godlost Land

by Curtis, Greg

  It had always angered him that he could not control the chimera directly. That it had to be done through the demon king's thralls. But that had been part of the deal. A part that the demon king would not shift on. Xin was not about to give Terellion his armies to use as he wanted. While they might be an army he could use, they were first and foremost the demon king's food gatherers. He was never going to allow such a vital task to be placed in someone else's hands. So the demon king had insisted on retaining control.

  Of course the demon king had never realised that Terellion could control his thralls directly and through them his armies of beasts. But these offspring, they would not be Xin's. They would be half human. And he would be able to control them himself! This was only the beginning, but in time he hoped, he would have his own beast army. And then he would make the world his.

  Was it time he wondered? Time to start the breeding program properly? Or should he wait to see what sort of offspring was born? They could be stillborn. They could be defective in some way. They might be beyond his control.

  Or they could be everything he dreamed of.

  Either way, was there any point in holding back on the breeding program? After all, the furies weren't doing much at the moment. Their specialist skills weren't needed. And there were plenty of prisoners in the cells awaiting execution. A few that had been captured and who were being interrogated. There were also some worthless civilians around as well. They might as well make themselves useful. And there were currently over a hundred furies in pens across the city, though most were under the temple. If they worked hard he could have all of them with child in three months. And Xin wouldn't even complain because every kill the furies made would provide him with his precious food.

  Or alternatively, and the thought filled him with excitement, he could do it himself. Soon! That was the other joy that was filling him. Lucara had said that soon they would have the first of the answers. That the latest translations the demon king had sent them would finally be enough. And the first of the answers was immortality! Terellion had insisted. When he had it, when he was young and vital again and beyond the reach of death, he wouldn't need to keep searching for the living essence any more. He wouldn't need anything. And he would celebrate.

  Why not begin his celebrations with the furies? Why not plant his seed in them and have a race not of half human furies, but half wizard furies? After five long years that glorious day was now only weeks away. Maybe only days away. And if it was so close, why should he waste these glorious vessels by planting inferior seed in them? Now that he knew the breeding would take, they should have the best that was available. It was his duty after all.

  Sure he also wanted to have a harem of exquisite human women and he would have them too in time. He would not restrain himself ever again. That was their purpose after all. As far as he could tell it was the only reason women even existed. It was also why he'd replaced the last lot who'd all stupidly killed or damaged themselves jumping off the balcony. But the more time he spent with the furies, the more he was beginning to see how the attendants paled in comparison. They were weak and soft. Placid and doe like. He should start with the furies. Because they would in time become the mothers of his army. The attendants would at best have wizards, and most of them would be a poor imitation of him and would take eighteen years to mature. But these, they would be something more. Half fury, half wizard and completely under his control. They would grow fast and they would be magnificent! They would conquer the world for him.

  “Bring her.” Terellion gave the command to the thrall watching her, knowing that if he was going to do this he was going to begin with one in particular. Varrious' pet.

  Varrious of course wasn't there. Terellion wanted his pet, not him. And he still couldn't risk controlling him and having Xin find out. So Varrious had simply been told to hand his pet over to one of the other thralls for a few hours, and he had agreed without protest for once. But then he no doubt thought he was going to get a full and detailed report in due course. And he was a weak man – frightened by his pet.

  Apart from that the demon thrall seemed sickened by the thought of what Terellion wanted to do to his pet. He was happy not to be present.

  Maybe he actually had some affection for the creature? Terellion could understand that to an extent. She was pure seduction. Deadly beauty. But she was also an animal. Animals were there to be used. Like horses women were there to be ridden – though in different ways. The man should have known that.

  Then again, maybe it was jealousy. Maybe Varrious wanted her for himself? That made more sense to him. Although if he did then Terellion had to wonder why he hadn't already had her? Fear maybe. He was a small man – maybe he'd let fear stop him doing what he wanted to do. Terellion though wasn't going to let such a thing stop him. Once he had his immortality, nothing would stop him.

  Terellion didn't know what it was about this particular creature that was so beguiling. She, like all her sisters, was perfect. Tall and elegant, exotic, seductive and deadly. But he knew one thing about her – he had to have her first. No matter what else happened he wanted her. And he was going to have her. If it took him until the end of time he would have her.

  The thrall guided her across to him with a thought and followed at a discreet distance. He could control her – and he had to. Terellion had instilled within him the absolute understanding that nothing was more important to him than making sure she was calm with him. More than calm, completely accepting. But as Terellion stepped forward to touch her he knew the man wasn't really needed. Not anymore. The exotic creature was completely relaxed with him. Though she couldn't speak or understand language any more than most animals could, she knew him as her sire. He felt that in her. He saw the submission in her yellow eyes. She understood his power.

  Impulsively he kissed her on the cheek, his lips almost brushing those deadly venom laden daggers in her mouth, and he brushed her vipers out of the way to do it. She was deadly beyond all others, but not with him. In him he knew, she saw her true master. Her stallion. By the gods he was looking forward to riding her!

  “So what do you think my dear?” He put an arm around her waist and gestured with the other at her three sisters. “The next generation, waiting to be born. Half human, half fury.”

  “Does it please you? Do you envy them? Do you yearn to have one of your own?”

  Of course she did! He knew that even though she couldn't say it. After all, she couldn't say anything. And she probably didn't understand many of his words. But she understood that her sisters were with child. And she was a woman of whatever sort. Women could never pass by others with children without wanting their own. It was one of the reasons they were weak. So easily controlled.

  “Soon you will.” Terellion put his hand on her flat stomach and started rubbing it gently. “Soon this will be as big and round as theirs. But the baby inside you won't be just half human. It'll be half wizard. The most powerful wizard of the mind in the five kingdoms! And soon I'll be an immortal. Then I'll give you my child. And one day it'll be the child of a god! These other ones will envy you.”

  It felt good telling her that. And strangely it was the first time he'd told her the truth of his ambitions. He thought he should have told her before. He should have let her know how fortunate she was much sooner than this. But for some reason he hadn't. Maybe it was because he hadn't wanted others to know? Or maybe it was simply because that day had seemed so far off.

  Not that any of those around him would talk. The guards outside the door to the dungeon were completely loyal to him. They would do whatever he told them to do. They had no choice. And the thrall was the same. He had no idea at all what was happening, save that he thought he had been commanded to do it by his master. He actually had – he just didn't realise who his master was. And when he went back and reported to Varrious about what had happened, he would tell that irritating first thrall exactly what Terellion wanted him to. He would believe it as well.

  As f
or Varrious, he probably guessed something of the thoughts running through Terellion's mind. But only a little of them. He simply wasn't that clever. And anyway, when he did finally understand, it would be too late. He would be dead.

  “Not long now until I have my immortality and you have your baby. Not long until I'm riding you properly. And you will be ridden. Day and night.”

  How much she understood he didn't know. Of his words he thought probably not a lot. But of his intentions he suspected she understood everything. And she was pleased with them. She hid it well behind her calm demeanour, but he knew he could see satisfaction in the way she looked at him. Desire too. But that he understood.

  Women were simple creatures. And they were liars. They said they wanted soft words and pretty flowers, and all those things. But they didn't. They wanted a powerful man! They wanted to be dominated! They wanted a man to take complete control of them. And the truth was that the stronger a woman was the more she wanted that. That was why the soldiers had died. They had been too soft. Too scared and timid. Well, he would never be that. He would command them as their lord and they would fall at his feet!

  And that day was so close. After all these years it was at hand.

  It was that which had finally decided him. The soldiers could not have them. They were his. All of them! It was time to start making decisions about the future. His future! No more dealing with the damned demon king. No more restraining himself. He was a king! Soon to be an immortal! A god in the making. And he had divine appetites.

  “Soldier!” Terellion yelled at one of the men outside the door, and was soon rewarded by the sight of a worried face appearing in it. Worried because he was standing there with his arm around the waist of a fury. “Bring me the engineers.”

  The man ran off, his feet thumping into the stone floor, his armour clattering, and Terellion smiled as he watched him run. Soon the engineers would be here and he could start making arrangements. The cells would have to be divided up into smaller ones. He couldn't have his guests sharing cages – that would be too dangerous. And then the beds would have to be built in each one, special ones that the furies could be chained down to. But the dungeon was big enough he thought. It might have been designed for people but there was no reason it couldn't hold a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty furies. However many there were. It could hold the thralls who commanded them too. They could be chained up somewhere, and kept ready to control their pets.

  Of course it would need some work. Something would have to be done about the water trickling down the walls. The beds would need to be proper beds – he wasn't going to scrape his knees on cold hard stone plinths. Maybe someone could upholster a few of the torturer's racks? After all, they already had the chains he would want. More light would be good and maybe a fire for warmth. In the end the dungeon could become quite a comfortable place to while away a few hours.

  But the location was what he really liked. Not only was it in his own castle, far from the control of Xin's thralls, but it was convenient. To have all the furies down here waiting for him! Ready for him whenever he wanted! Just a short walk down a few flights of stairs. His own private brothel and in time a nursery.

  Maybe in time he'd start bringing other women down here. Real ones. The sort who might be missed by their fathers and husbands. After all, if a cell was good enough for a fury it was good enough for them.

  Soon he would have everything back that he had lost through time and age. Everything and more. The war might be going badly. His soldiers might be worthless. The gods themselves might be upset with him. But none of that mattered. He would have everything and soon.

  Just as long as he killed the High Priestess and no more of the Circle wizards died.

  Chapter Forty Two

  The dungeon was coming along well Terellion thought. The artisans were working night and day to craft the new cells. The leaks had been repaired and there were more torches on the walls. It wasn't as gloomy or damp as it had been.

  But best of all were the racks! The first of them had been upholstered, and now with thick leather and lots of stuffing it looked almost comfortable. Even the fury would be comfortable he thought as she lay on it – not that that mattered. And he was also enjoying showing off the place where his temptress would be bedded.

  “So what do you think my dear?” Varrious had told him once that she actually had a name, but he didn't know what it was. Nor did he care. It seemed like such a strange thing to do – naming an animal. But since he was going to not just enjoy her but impregnate her as well, maybe he should learn it. Eventually.

  “You think you'll be comfortable lying here?” He didn't care if she would be or not. He only cared that she would be lying there, ready for him. Which gave him an idea.

  “Why don't you try it out?” He invited her to do so not because he cared for her comfort but because it gave him a feeling of power to tell her what he was going to do to her. Even if she didn't understand. “You think you'll be comfortable lying here?”

  She didn't understand of course, and he had to gesture a few times to get the idea across. And then her demon master had to help as well. Still, she eventually got the idea and hopped up on to the rack. She even lay down on it without any complaint and then let him fasten the restraints to her wrists and ankles. She didn't so much as hiss when he did it. She didn't flinch at his touch.

  But then she trusted him. Over the time they had spent together she had learned to accept his touch. His mastery of her. In fact he suspected she didn't even need her demon master's control any more. She would do anything he wanted. Just like the other whores. But the enjoyable thing was that she wouldn't do it because he compelled her. Instead she would do it simply because he had broken her.

  Seeing her lying there like that was a thrill for Terellion. She was at once so deadly, so terrifying, and yet so vulnerable. Submissive. At his mercy and completely ready for him. And when he caressed her, letting his hand glide over the soft smooth skin of her breasts and then on down her body she welcomed it. She responded to him as a woman should to her master. It had taken time but as she lay there, hissing gently, he knew he had broken her in completely.

  He could have taken her then and there he knew. Without the thrall and his charm controlling her. Without the restraints. She would have let him do anything he wanted to her. And had there been any justice in the world he would have. There was only one thing stopping him.

  His decaying flesh.

  He hated that. He hated it more than ever before as he played with her, caressing her, arousing her, wishing he could complete the job. How could this affliction have come upon him? It was as though the gods themselves had set out to destroy him. In fact he thought they might have. After all, they had allowed Artemis to give that foul bitch a divine bow to destroy his armies despite the fact that it was surely a breach of divine law. No doubt they had done so because they feared him. They had reason to. When he ascended he would punish them for what they'd done.

  But first he would have this creature.

  “Sir.” A soldier addressed him unexpectedly, and Terellion turned to look at him, somewhat annoyed. Didn't the man know better? He hated to be interrupted while he was playing with his pets. He'd made that very clear he thought. Still the man must have some reason for bothering him.

  “Yes?”

  “Lucara the Sage is in the Grand Hall wanting to see you. He says it's urgent.”

  Lucara! Terellion's heart started beating a little faster at the news. If Lucara was back and wanting to see him then it meant he'd finally finished the translation of the first part of the tablet. At last! It had been months since he'd sent him away with the latest piece of translated writing, and he'd heard little back from the sage save the endless messages that he was close. Very close. And the last message had promised answers within weeks or even days. Now he was here? That could only mean he had the answer. The first part of the tablet had been translated. Immortality was soon to be his. And then finally his pet
would be too.

  “Come!”

  Terellion started releasing her from the restraints. Since she was to be his first as an immortal it was only right that she should hear her fate. That she should know how soon she would be conquered. And it could be very soon. If it was just a spell, it could be only minutes away. She should be nearby so that he could take her upstairs the moment it was done!

  But where? Did he want her in his bed? Or did he want to take her in the hall itself? In front of witnesses? People who could testify to his virility? Who could be awed by his performance? He couldn't decide. The only thing he knew was that it had to be soon.

  Immediately he'd released her last restraint Terellion turned and marched out of the dungeon, heading for the stairs and his destiny above. For once the stairs weren't so much of an effort as they had been. The weakness of his legs was more than matched by the excitement coursing through him.

  Immortality! To be young and vital again. To have the strength flowing through him once more. It was more than a dream. It was everything! The other answers, knowledge and power, and even ascendancy: they were exciting and he wanted them. But he wanted nothing more than to be young again. And this time it would be forever! He would cheerfully give up all of the other answers for that. And to bed the glorious creature beside him. It wasn't so much to ask for was it?