by Charley Case
Seline’s screaming wasn't helping. Mila checked on Finn to distract herself from the wails, and her jaw dropped.
Finn stood in a forest of stone spikes. Each ten-foot spike had at least one Rougarou impaled on it, and several had three or more. There were also broken and torn bodies heaped around his feet, while he fought the last five of the beasts. But the most frightening thing about the whole scene was Finn himself.
He was covered from head to toe in blood and gore. It dripped from his beard and hair and made the whites of his eyes and teeth stand out all the more, giving him a crazed look. He roared like a bear and hit hard enough that the eight-foot-tall beasts were thrown back several feet and suffered broken ribs and jaws. He was like a one-man army, deep in his berserker rage and not feeling anything but the blood lust.
That wasn't to say that he hadn't sustained injury, quite the opposite. There were hundreds of claw marks across his skin, each dripping blood, some deep enough that she could see muscle and bone. Mila worried that he would die of a thousand cuts before he was able to take one of the healing potions he always carried on his person.
Something Seline was screaming caught Mila's attention, and she focused on the crazed woman.
She was now sobbing along with her screams, with her arms outstretched to the sky.
“Please, Lord! Forgive me. I can do better. I can bring you your snack. We can eat her together.” She broke down and blubbered for a few seconds before her voice turned stern and she pointed accusingly at the stars. “No! You will not take me. I made you what you are. You would be nothing without me. Do you hear me? Stay away from me. No!” she switched back to her crazed child’s voice. “He’s coming! Yay! He’s coming, so we can all go home.”
“Oh, fuck.” Mila’s throat suddenly went dry and she scrambled to her feet, backing away from Seline. She started looking for Azoth in the shadows.
Finn took down another Rougarou, leaving only two. He grabbed one of their arms with his prosthetic and squeezed. The magical arm had no problem applying as much pressure as he desired, and with a crunch and spurt of blood, the Rougarou’s arm was crushed to a pulp in Finn's diamond fist. The second wolfman took the opportunity to charge and tackled Finn to the ground. That turned out to be a mistake when Finn hammered the artificial forearm into the beast’s head, crushing its skull.
Mila turned back to Seline when she started chanting. “He’s here! He’s here, he’s here, he’s here.”
A black void opened in the air above Seline’s squirming form. A chill ran down Mila's spine, and something primal and old in her brain screamed for her to run. She locked her jaw, stood her ground, and prayed to anyone listening that Penny had gotten the call out in time.
Azoth’s gray-robed figure stepped through the void, and it winked out behind him. He slowly surveyed the area, passing over her as if she were just another dead body, but he paused when he saw Finn fighting the last Rougarou in bloody hand to hand combat. He then lowered his head and took in the pathetic form of his naked and legless disciple.
She reached out to him from her back. “You’re here! Save me from the bad lady.”
Azoth was quiet, just watching the display for several seconds before his creaking, thunderous voice rasped out of his dark hood.
“Pathetic.”
Seline stopped moving, a look of confusion on her face.
Azoth bent down and palmed the top of Seline’s head, then lifted her into the air and spun her so she could look into his hood.
Saline held onto his hand, trying to take some of the weight of her body from her where it hung by her neck.
“No, my Lord. I have been a faithful servant,” she pleaded.
“You were a tool. And now you are a broken tool. But you will not go to waste,” He reassured her, placing his free palm on her chest, then pulling it away, the black wisp of her soul following after. He sucked in the tendril, then inhaled deeply, drawing it out of her as she screamed a long and wretched plea for mercy that was never coming.
Seline’s screams cut off as the last of her soul was pulled free, and just like Heather, her body turned to dust and fell into a too-small pile at Azoth’s feet.
Azoth finally turned his attention to Mila.
She stared into the black shadows of the hood, but even with her enhanced sight, she couldn't see anything but darkness.
“You have cost me much, little Valkyrie.” He cocked his head to the side. “What do you suggest I do about that?”
“Crawl back into the latrine pit you crawled out of?” Mila said with far more confidence than she felt.
A rasping sound boomed out of Azoth’s hood that made Mila want to scratch the inside of her eardrums. With disgust, she realized it was his laugh.
“Such ferocity from one so young. I remember when you all were like that—young and stupid. It was so much easier dealing with your kind back in the good old days. Then you had to rebel. Ungrateful whelps.” He considered her for a minute. “Perhaps a lesson in the old ways is just what you need.” He lifted his arm palm out and pointed at Mila. “I suppose you should know what’s happening since once it starts, you’ll be in far too much pain to comprehend anything.”
Mila glanced up over Azoth’s shoulder and blinked in surprise. She narrowed her eyes, and sure enough, Penny was hovering about fifty yards up and back from the action. She pointed at the phone in her hands and gave Mila a thumbs-up.
A wash of relief filled Mila and she slumped her shoulders, sending a spike of pain up her broken arm. She sucked in a breath, but Azoth either didn't notice or didn't care.
She quickly checked her power reserves and found only a tiny bit left. It wasn't much, but it was something.
“I’m going to strip your powers an inch at a time, burning away your ability to block pain first. We wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun, after all. After that, I shall tear your skin off, and I’ll be sure to heal you as I do it. All the pain and none of the release of death you Valkyries so desire. After flaying you a few times—”
“Seriously?” Mila interrupted. “You want to play ‘To the pain?’ Come on, dude! How about we do something more productive with our time? Like, why don't you tell me what it is you want?”
Azoth regarded her without moving. “At first, my mission was to take the Reaper back from your thieving little band, but I modified it during my long slumber. Now I will take the Reaper, but only after I have made every last Valkyrie pay what is due me for my inconvenience.”
“Let me guess; your payment is torturing us to death?” Mila held up Fragar. “You might find us harder to take than you originally planned.”
“I have grown tired of our talk. You will have to find out the rest of your fate as it comes.” His hand came up once again, but this time he activated his spell.
A thick black mist sprayed out of his palm, engulfing Mila.
She had known it was coming and had her shield ready, but she didn't think it would have been so soon. She was now crouched behind a rapidly dissolving shield and had nowhere to run. Glancing at the northern sky, she hoped against hope that Victoria and the others would arrive in time, but it wasn't looking good for her.
She focused every bit of power she had left into the shield, but the attack was eating the magic faster than she could put it into the construct. She realized that even if she had more power to give, she wouldn't be able to feed it in fast enough and would eventually be overrun.
The pain in her arm wasn't helping either. Every time she was jostled or moved, hot needles shot into her chest. She tried her best to block it out, but the searing pain was overwhelming.
Glancing up, she saw her shield had gained several holes, and black mist dripped all around her, sizzling where it hit the pavement. She dug for more, but there was nothing left. She simply didn't have the power to continue feeding the shield.
The golden light of her magic began to flicker, letting in the black substance. It landed on her thigh in a long string, eating through h
er jeans and burning through her skin with a slow persistence that was both excruciating and infuriating.
Mila meditated through the pain as best she could, closing her eyes and slowing her breathing. It wouldn't do her any good in a second, but for the moment it helped, and that was all Mila could ask for.
One last flicker and the shield died completely. Mila was confused about why she wasn't instantly consumed and opened her eyes to see a thick wall of stone where her shield used to be. She opened her mouth but was tackled from the side by Finn.
As soon as they had cleared the area she had been kneeling in, the stone wall turned to slag and a torrent of the infernal magic blasted the pavement, melting a hole in it and catching the oil in the asphalt on fire at the edges.
Finn twisted in the air so he landed on his back, Mila on his blood-soaked chest. He slammed his hand to the pavement where it glowed with a purple light. “Get the healing potion from my holster. I saw your arm.”
Walls of stone started shooting out of the ground around Azoth. They blocked his view of them and bought them a little time, but Mila knew Finn couldn't keep it up forever.
“You need it more. You’re going to bleed to death at this rate,” she said frantically, opening the first pocket that usually held a potion. It was empty.
He smiled. “I knew you would say that, so I already took mine. Why do you think it took so long to get over here to help?”
She opened the second pocket, slipped the test tube full of dark red liquid into her hand, and tried to open it without spilling any.
“You hold, I uncork,” Finn said, keeping his real hand on the ground and using his prosthetic to pluck the cork free.
“This is going to suck,” she said before downing the whole thing.
The healing started immediately, and blessedly, it started with her burning leg. The black substance was pushed to the surface, then evaporated into black steam before the wound healed completely.
“What’s the plan here, darlin’? I’m running out of stone I can pull up to make walls. There is one hell of a hole in the earth below us.” Finn said, sweat making the blood caked to his forehead and cheeks thin.
“Victoria and the others should be here any minute. We just need to make him stick around long enough. There won’t be a better time for them to kill him than right now. This is the weakest he’s ever going to be,” Mila said, biting her lip with worry.
“I trust your judgment on this one.”
Just then, Mila's arm began to reset itself, and she was wracked with pain. She clutched his chest and screamed as she felt the bones slide apart, find their correct position, and reset before fusing back together, and the damage the resetting had caused began to heal as well.
She rested her forehead on his chest as she sobbed a few times, then sucked in a breath and steadied herself. The pain was gone, only the memory of it remained. She sat up, straddling Finn as he concentrated on replenishing the stone that was dissolved nearly as fast as he could summon it.
She stood, spotted Fragar lying on the ground beside them, and snatched up the weapon.
“I’m just about out of material to work with here. He’ll be free in less than a minute. I can't raise any of the rock he’s above for some reason. It’s like he’s dead spot or—”
The sound of Finn choking had Mila spinning around instantly.
Three two-inch-thick black tentacles had wrapped around Finn's wrists and neck, lifting him ten feet into the air, the bases disappearing into the solid ground.
Mila immediately chopped through one of the tentacles with Fragar. One of the runes on the blade flashed as it passed through the semi-gaseous material and left a clean cut, but before she could get to the next one, the first had regenerated.
She tried over and over, but she wasn't fast enough.
Looking up, she could see Finn’s face turning dark red as the tentacle around his neck flexed and slowly worked itself tighter. She tried cutting the one around his neck, but it didn't loosen, just stopped tightening for the fraction of a second it took to regenerate.
Tears of frustration were running down her cheeks, but she kept chopping, hoping it might buy Finn another second or two. In half a minute, she was having trouble seeing the tentacle through her tears.
She looked up and saw that Finn's face had gone from dark red to an alarming purple color. He motioned with bloodshot eyes that there was something behind her. She put a hand to her mouth and coughed out a sob.
She took a second to wipe the tears and snot from her face. Taking a quick deep breath, she turned, tight-lipped anger on her face.
Azoth stood there in a casual cross-armed pose, watching her struggle to cut her lover free of his trap.
“Let him go,” Mila demanded, stepping closer.
The entire area had been scoured clean by his dark magic. Not even a mound of rock remained, just burned asphalt and gravel.
“Or what? I can take whatever I want for you.” He tilted his head. “Actually, this is a perfect lesson for you, watching me strangle him to death just to spite you.”
“There are two kinds of captives, Azoth,” Mila said coldly. “There are the docile and frightened, and then there are the fighters. I’m willing to bet you know how much a truly motivated fighter with nothing to lose is to control. You let him go, and I won’t fight you. I know you’re taking me and there’s nothing I can do to stop you, but it’s up to you how difficult I am after you have me.”
Azoth tilted his head to the other side, measuring her words.
Mila glanced over his shoulder to the northern sky and saw ten distant streaks of golden light heading their way. Penny saw them too, still hovering over the battle unseen and frustrated at her impotence. As soon as she spotted the incoming Valkyries, she shot toward them, presumably to guide them directly to Mila and Finn.
The sound of Finn sucking in a breath made Mila's heart sing, but she kept it off her face. She didn't dare turn her back on the infernal creature.
“Where are you going to take me?”
He sighed. “I’m not sure yet. I was thinking of finding somewhere nice and forcing the owners to serve me. Or maybe I’ll kill them. Why does it matter?”
“I suppose it doesn't,” Mila agreed.
“Come, pet. I grow bored here. We leave. Now.” He pointed to the ground beside him as if he expected her to heel like a dog.
Mila glanced over his shoulder again and saw that the Valkyries were about halfway there. She needed to stall for longer.
“What guarantee do I have that you won’t come after him once you have me?” Mila asked, trying for as much time as possible.
Azoth gave his mind-numbing laugh, raking at Mila's ears. “What guarantee do I have that you will remain cooperative once I have you?”
Mila frowned. That was answered by her being his captive and him being free. It was a fairly simple logic problem. The jailer had infinite opportunities to exact revenge for the prisoner’s disobedience. In contrast, the prisoner only had their agreement and only one opportunity to exact their revenge, but it would be too late by then.
Mila thought back to Azoth’s plans thus far, and she had to admit that they weren’t very good. Why set up near a town, steal a significant number of locals, and then stick around waiting for people to find you?
Even then, she didn't understand how he didn't deduce she was stalling for time.
He was powerful and cruel beyond measure, but he was kind of stupid.
That was how she needed to fight this thing. Not like a berserker. She needed to fight like a shield maiden.
“I’ll make you deal that will make your life much easier. A kind of guarantee,” Mila said, waiting for his answer.
He tilted his head again. “Very well. What is it?”
“Give me five minutes with my lover back there to say goodbye, and I’ll let you use one of those antimagic collars you had on Heather on me when we travel. That way, there is no way I could ever escape you.”
; She swallowed, hoping he didn't see through that load of goblin shit. While he considered, she glanced over his shoulder again, and nearly shouted for joy. They were closing fast. Less than twenty se—
“Why do you keep looking past me? It’s rude not to make eye contact with your master.” He looked over his shoulder, the ten incoming Valkyrie as plain as day.
He slowly turned back toward her, but she had backed up several steps when he turned. She knew he would make a lunge for her if he thought he could catch her quickly.
The darkness in the hood somehow grew darker as his anger boiled over.
“You Valkyries think you’re so clever. Always laying traps for the Drudes, but a Drude is a slippery prize to hold for long.” He waved a hand, and a black void opened behind him. “I’ll be back for you. I wish to peel your skin. We shall have a grand time, you and I. Before I eat you, that is.”
He stepped back into the void, and it vanished as ten women slammed into the ground, riding inside what looked like lightning.
Mila didn't give her ten sisters a second look. Instead, she spun on her heel and ran to Finn.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The tentacles had vanished along with Azoth and dropped Finn ten feet to the ground.
He was sitting up and still covered in blood, taking deep, even breaths, but he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
She fell into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss.
Penny landing in her lap a minute later was the only reason she stopped kissing him.
Mila turned to her friend. “What?”
Penny hiked a thumb sideways, and Mila followed the thumb to Victoria, who was dressed in full combat armor, her longsword on her back. She was staring down at Mila with a disapproving look. Beside her was a young, for lack of a better term, goth valley girl.
Mila climbed awkwardly off Finn's lap and helped him to his feet, Penny climbing to his shoulder and perching with an arm on his blood-soaked hair.
“I’m going to go see if we can salvage the Death Machine. It looks like you have business to take care of.” Finn nodded toward the two women.