by Curtis, Greg
She could be right Erislee knew. She probably was. But it wasn't a good thought. Not when he was now dead like her sister. And it still hurt her terribly to know that Nyma was gone. She had only seen her infrequently since her escape from captivity and it hadn't been enough. After five long years apart it hadn't been nearly enough. But Nyma had been happy. She knew that. Whatever she and Harl had shared, it had been good for her sister. Especially the pregnancy. Nyma had written to her and told her that she considered the child a blessing from the Mother. And she had begged her to take care of Harl until she could return to him. But of course none of that had ever happened. Harl had stayed at his smithy. Nyma had ridden with her people into the Regency. And she had carried on with her hunt. Now it was too late to make up for that failing.
All she could do was hope that Harl was finally at peace and that Nyma was safe in the bosom of the Mother. Maybe she could make an offering in time. It was too little and too late, but it was unfortunately the most she could do.
But there was one question that had been bothering her for ages. Ever since they had found out that Terellion was a wizard of the mind and she had seen Dina's reaction. That he controlled the others. Why had she been so upset? And though it was probably not her place to ask, Erislee did so anyway. To her surprise the wizard answered her.
“A long time ago when I was just a girl Terellion had me. Just once. It was painful and frightening. There were other women there, laughing, thinking it was a great spectacle. He hurt me very badly. And when he threw me out on the street after he was done I thought it was because I was ugly. He told me I was ugly, and I believed him. Just as I believed I loved him. Even though I'd never even met him before that day. I didn't even know his name.” The wizard's voice was quiet in the evening air, and filled with pain.
“Until Maynard said what he did I didn't understand. I'd always assumed that it was true love. That it happened sometimes. And that I was young and stupid. After all what did I know at fourteen?”
“I had to leave the city after that. Return to my family. And then in time I discovered that there was a child on the way. I had no husband. My family were poor. My father said that the father had to pay for his child. He made me tell him who he was. And then one day he headed off to the city. But when he returned home instead of having either coin or a promise of marriage he beat me and my mother badly. He hurt us terribly. He made us swear to never contact the wizard again because he would kill us if we did. Then he beat us some more. Now I know why.”
“My home was never the same after that. My mother walked with a limp because of what he'd done to her. My arm was badly broken and has never fully healed. I lost the child. And my father when he finally returned to how he once had been, could never look at either of us again. He later killed himself out of shame for what he'd done.”
“I always believed that it was my fault. All of it.”
“His armies killed my husband and hurt my children. They took my home and my title from me. He turned the entire Circle into monsters, making me hate and murder my friends. He forced me to send two of them straight to Tartarus. Condemning them when they were in fact innocent. And he killed my father and my unborn child – but I didn't know it until Maynard told me the truth. He completely destroyed my entire life. And yet still he was the first man I ever loved and I would have tried to forgive him at least some of that. And then I learned that my love was a lie. Even to me.”
What did you say to that Erislee wondered? That it wasn't her fault? She didn't have an answer. All she could do was put an arm around the woman's shoulder. But she was beginning to realise that Dina's was a common story. That Terellion had done the same to many others. For the longest time the women of Lion's Crest had been preyed upon and they hadn't even known it.
She hadn't known it either. She like most others had heard of Terellion's reputation as a lecher but she had thought little of it. Many men were lechers. She had never considered that there was magic at work. That he was forcing the woman to his will. It was only hindsight that could show her that. And hindsight that could tell her that he had committed a great many other evils before he had made his deal with the demon king.
Maybe there were some wizards – some gifts that could never be allowed. That those with such complete control over others were simply too dangerous to be allowed to go free. White Tail had been dangerous. Unpredictable, vain and capricious. A man of appalling character. But the Circle had still always thought they could control him. That they could curb the worst of his excesses. They'd been wrong. Maybe while they'd thought they were controlling him he'd been controlling them? And Terellion had been controlling them all.
But what were they supposed to do about such people? They didn't even know what to do with the prisoners they had. Wizards who were still their enemies, but who were perversely also completely innocent.
Screams in the distance suddenly distracted her. The screams of a woman in pain – or a beast – it wasn't completely clear. But what was clear was that it was something that she needed to attend to.
“Dina?”
“The furies I think.”
The instant Dina said that Erislee felt a chill come over her. The furies had been quiet since they'd been locked away. In fact they'd been peaceful in their cage, content to sit and watch the people all around them. Content to eat cooked meat and even vegetables. It seemed odd to her but she'd been grateful for it. It was one less thing to worry about. But now she knew there was one more thing to worry about. Or rather, three in fact. Because she knew that there was only one time when a woman would scream like that. Childbirth.
Erislee hurried toward the wagon holding them, frightened of what she might find. But when she got there it was even worse than she'd imagined.
The furies were a mess. Their bellies were so round that it was hard to believe that what was inside them hadn't ripped itself loose. And their breasts were leaking; viper milk that ran down their bellies. But one of them was on the floor of the cage, lying there on her back with her knees raised and Erislee knew it was her time. In fact she could see the head of the offspring crowning.
“Artemis be blessed!”
As she saw her and her baby already trying to force its way out into the world Erislee uttered the short prayer. Because she didn't know what to do. If this had been a woman or even an animal she would have known. Others would have helped her. But no one was going to help a fury. No one was even going to get in the cage with one. On the other hand normally they would have killed the creatures. It was only the fact that they were with child that had caused them to spare the three. And maybe the fact that they had been kept apart from all the others, in the pens under the castle. Obviously they were special in some way.
“Vipers!” Dina said it the moment they could make out a little more of the baby's head. When they could see the baby vipers emerging from between her legs.
“Of course. She's a fury.” What else did the wizard expect? Furies might vaguely resemble human women but they weren't them. So why would their babies be any different?
“No. They look different somehow.”
Did they? Erislee wasn't sure. One viper looked much the same as another as far as she was concerned. And surely any differences could be explained away by the fact that they were babies. Then again perhaps they were a touch lighter in colour?
Then the fury screamed once more, a sound of pain that hurt everyone's ears, and they all backed away hurriedly. And they stayed as far away as they needed to for the next half hour as the baby was slowly and painfully brought into the world. But eventually Erislee and Dina crept closer. They could see the baby was almost completely out of her mother by then and knew the end was in sight. And they were curious.
But then when they drew close enough to make out more of the baby, Erislee became confused instead. The baby wasn't a fury.
“What is it?” As the baby's legs were slowly forced out of the screaming fury, that was the only question on Erislee's m
ind. It wasn't a fury. It had snakes for hair but no talons or wings. It was just a baby with snakes for hair.
Then with one final, terrible push the baby was free, still attached to her mother by the cord, but a new life in the world. A new and monstrous life. Something that was at once both hideous and beautiful. So ugly that it was lovely beyond compare. So lovely that it was the very essence of ugliness. Erislee simply could not take her eyes off the baby. Nor could her mother, and the fury quickly gathered up the baby in her talons and held her to her breast to feed. That seemed wrong somehow. But as Erislee stood there with her bow at the ready, she could not draw it. Something within her said no. This nightmare, whatever it was, was meant to be.
So instead she just stood there, rooted to the ground like all the others, staring. Staring at the image of mother and child and wondering just what she was looking at. But instead of asking questions, they instead had to flee again as it was suddenly the turn of the next of the furies to go into labour. Her screams like those of her sister were terrible as the baby forced its way out of her. They shattered the night air and hurt the ear drums. But even so, no one could take their eyes off the wagon filled with mothers and babies, one born, one being born, and one soon to be.
They stood there as the hours crept by and the long night passed, staring, unmoving, until finally the sun rose in the sky and the three furies had their three babies nestled against them. The baby's stomachs were full of their mothers' viper milk, and they looked content. And though it seemed impossible after all the screaming, their mothers looked content as well. Covered in sweat, blood and other fluids running down their legs, milk oozing from their breasts, they seemed almost happy. Maybe they were. Could furies be happy? Until just then she wouldn't have thought they could even be mothers. Let alone caring mothers as they seemed to be.
“Open cage.” One of the furies gave the order and immediately a soldier went to do as she demanded. And the cage door was open before Erislee could even think to yell at him not to. That it was a trap. That the soldier would be killed. And then she realised that a fury was talking. Chimera couldn't talk. Nor could they command people to do anything. But somehow they had.
This one had. More than that she was standing up and stepping out of the cage, her baby nestled in her arms, her sisters behind her and Erislee knew that that was a very dangerous thing. But they weren't attacking. Instead once they were all standing, the three of them came to face her.
“Not hurt. Peace.”
That was a good thing Erislee thought, if she was understanding her correctly. Especially when for some reason she still couldn't move. She was frozen to the ground. Why was she frozen?
“I Megaera, this Medusae.” The first fury showed off her daughter like any proud mother. She even smiled, an expression that on the face of a woman with dagger like fangs in her mouth, was more than simply horrifying. And then the next stepped forward to face her.
“I Tisiphone, this Stheno.” And she too showed off her baby proudly, before stepping aside and letting the last mother come forward.
“I Alecto, this Euryale.” Alecto like the others had her baby nestled against her breasts, her huge talons wrapped around the tiny little things entire body. It was strangely tender and yet monstrous at the same time. And it was worse when Erislee like the others still stood there frozen, unable to move or even decide whether to run away or attack.
“We created of Nemesis, but captured by demon dark. Taught demon lies. Used as demon hounds. Then raped by men forced to rape us. Babies are born of evil. But babies pure. Nemesis says.”
Nemesis, the God of Divine Retribution? The one who would wreak eternal damnation upon the souls of those who transgressed the laws of the gods. Could that be who she meant Erislee asked herself? It didn't make sense. Not when his realm was somewhere among the kingdom of the dead. And yet she had seen Harl, and she knew the gods had been with him. And she was certain that Nemesis had been one of those gods. In fact she was certain that the Goddess had shown her an image of the God of Divine Retribution walking beside Harl.
“Now we take city. Raise babies. Punish evil.”
“Send murderers, rapists, wrongdoers to us. They not return. But no others. City ours.”
With that the three of them walked off awkwardly, heading towards the broken city with their babies cradled in their arms and their long heads of vipers swaying hypnotically with every step. They couldn't fly while they were holding their young, not when their wings were attached to their arms. And they couldn't even hop since it might have harmed the babies. So they walked, something they were not well designed for, while Erislee watched them and wondered.
Could monsters love? Could crimes so vile as she had described bring into being creatures of justice? Avengers? And more importantly could they allow them to leave? Could they just leave them with the city? Then again could they stop them? Should they? That last she wondered about when her feet finally started working again.
“Dina?” But when she turned, her feet no longer frozen to the ground, the wizard was just shaking her head softly in disbelief. That, Erislee understood.
Chapter Seventy
Lion's Crest. It wasn't the city Harl remembered. It wasn't really a city at all. Little of it remained standing, and most of it was blackened from fire and covered in bodies. So many bodies. All of them fresh, from the war. None of them were bodies or bones from the attack five years before. Maybe it was better that way.
He had found his family's home – what little of it remained – and searched for the remains of his family but found nothing. The bodies had obviously been removed many years before, and probably that made sense. Who would want to live in a city filled with rotting bodies? But he had no thought as to where they'd been taken. And no one he guessed was going to remove these bodies. Simply because there was no one left to do it. Lion's Crest had finally been completely destroyed.
Still, he had found a few things there. One of his sister's rag dolls. She had always loved them even when she was much too old for such things. A shawl he remembered his mother wearing, and also a necklace of hers. And his father's chisel and mallet set. He had been an artisan in stone. It wasn't much. But it was more than he'd had in five long years. And maybe it was something to cling to as he tried to remember happier times. The uncontrolled rage had left him having burnt itself out. But the bitterness remained within him. And that would not leave him easily. He guessed it wouldn't for a long time to come.
The mementoes of his home – few as they were – were now safely stored away while anything he could salvage from his old smithy was also packed away on the back of a salvaged wagon. There was nothing more to do. It was time to leave. Before the scavengers became too much of a problem. Before the stench of the dead grew completely unbearable. And before the sight of them broke his heart completely. Though most of them were monsters and enemies, they were also the last citizens of Lion's Crest. Probably the last there ever would be.
“Are you sure you need all this?” Maynard was grumbling as usual. Harl had noticed that he did a lot of that. And a lot of sleeping and eating. Though even he was short on hunger lately. With the smell of so many rotting corpses everywhere, it was difficult to be hungry.
“If I'm going to start yet another smithy in yet another realm, I'd like to at least have as many tools available as I can.”
“But the horse isn't going to be able to pull it all.”
“The horse you promised would have been able to pull it easily. The pit pony you actually delivered will just have to struggle a little bit.” Something Harl suspected, was off with the summoner's magic, though he denied it strenuously. Maybe being stuck in the body of a cat had done something to it? Or maybe he was just being difficult. It was hard to be sure with Maynard. Now that he was no longer hiding his nature and was talking, he talked a lot. But he seldom said anything of value. And he would never say anything that might suggest he had a problem. “But at least the road is fairly flat.”
/> “Ah, Harl?” Maynard's tone changed a little as he called to him and Harl wondered why – until he looked at where the cat was staring and saw the three furies heading towards them. Walking awkwardly from the northern side of the city as they weren't designed to do. But then he realised that they were walking because they were carrying babies and with them in their arms they couldn't fly and wouldn't risk hopping. He hadn't realised that furies had babies. Or that any of the chimera did in fact.
Harl started hunting around desperately for a sword. There were a few in the wagon that he'd picked up from the fallen. But none of them were any good. Certainly none of them were as good as his great sword had been. But its loss had been worthy. Still, the longsword he grabbed would have to do. And then he waited for them to cover the rest of the distance between them.
“No harm.” The first of the furies held up her arm in what looked like a gesture of peace as the three of them came near. “Wanted babies see Harl.”