by Nick Harrow
“You have to cut her throat,” she said. “She attacked you. She attacked all of us. She has to die.”
“They may be right,” Nephket said. She cleared her throat and wiped her tears with the back of one hand. “This isn’t how I wanted this to end, but it does have to end. You know it does, Clay. We’ll never be safe with another dungeon lord this close. And with her history...”
Rathokhetra wanted Delsinia gone, too. But his reasons weren’t as pure. Mingled with the rage he felt was a sticky undercurrent of shame at what he’d done to the love of his life, and a dark thread of self-hatred at what he’d allowed to happen to this woman that he’d loved so much. He’d tried so hard to keep her safe that he’d damned her to centuries of isolation. And now that he was dead, he could never release her from the geas that bound her to this place. The old dungeon lord believed her only solace would come from death.
But I did not want to kill Delsinia. She’d been my enemy, but only because she thought I was the asshole who’d fucked her over. She hadn’t deserved to be locked up with a bunch of ghouls for a few hundred years, and she sure as hell didn’t deserve to die.
I did not want her blood on my hands.
“No,” I said. I banished my khopesh and knelt down in front of her. We were so close she could have bitten me again. She could have clawed at my eyes with her razor-sharp nails. But she didn’t.
“Why?” she asked without raising her head. “Why. Why. Why!”
With each repetition of the word, Delsinia slammed her clenched fists into the floor of her dungeon. Her dungeon rattled with the impact of her blows, and its floor swayed from side to side.
“Where’s your core?” I asked.
The dungeon lord finally lifted her head. She leaned back into a sitting position and cocked her head curiously like a hunting dog that smelled something he couldn’t quite understand.
“Hide, hide, hide,” she said with a mischievous grin. “You said. Made me promise. Deep, deep, deep.”
There was a cunning glint in Delsinia’s eyes that I did not like, and a low whine from Rathokhetra put my nerves on the razor’s edge. He knew this woman better than any of us, and if he was suddenly afraid, there was something very, very dangerous about her.
“And now I’m asking for you to return it,” I said. It was a gamble, and if I was wrong, there was going to be a hell of a fight in my future.
“Take, take, take,” she said, and I couldn’t tell if it was a question or a demand.
“I will take it from you,” I said. “And then you’re free to go and do whatever you want. You won’t be held here any longer.”
“Boss,” Zillah said, her voice a cautious warning.
Delsinia leaned forward, and I felt Nephket and my other guardians stiffen. There was true madness hidden in this woman’s eyes, and I wanted to back away from it just as you’d step back from an angry hound. But I forced myself to remain still because I needed Delsinia to trust me. I did not want to kill her, not if there was any other choice.
“Deep, deep, deep.” Her voice was low, almost guttural. “Inside where he, he, he can’t find.”
Delsinia’s eyes locked with me and pushed a thought into my head so hard it blinded me for a moment.
Her core was protected by the walls of her rib cage. It throbbed beneath her skin like a second heart, and I marveled at the power so close to my own. A few millimeters of flesh, a thin expanse of muscle, and the bony arcs of her ribs were all that stood between me and what I’d come for. I could take it.
All I had to do was tear open Delsinia’s chest and rip it out.
Easy-peasy.
“No,” I said. “I can’t kill you. There has to be another way.”
Delsinia’s eyes flashed like lightning and for a moment I thought she would lash out at me. But it wasn’t rage I saw there. It was fear.
“You have to take it,” she said. “To face, face, face him.”
“Face who?” I asked. “Is there another dungeon lord down here?”
“Worse, worse, worse,” she said, each word a sob. “He will come, come, come.”
Before I could question her further, Delsinia’s spine straightened and her eyes opened so wide they looked on the verge of popping out of her skull. A sickly amber glow oozed from her pupils and flowed across her eyes like blood spilled in the deep, dark ocean. She opened her mouth, and the same light shone from between her teeth as if she had a candle in her throat.
“You have tormented my slave quite enough,” a familiar voice said from between Delsinia’s lips. “And, now, you will pay for your temerity. I, Kozerek of the House Jarazikek, Blood Lord of the Night Hounds, Nightmare Chair of the Shunned Court, declare your life forfeit. Make peace with your fate, you fool. Death is coming.”
Well, that didn’t sound good.
Chapter 11: Revelation
DELSINIA SPRANG TO her feet and lunged at me with her mouth opened so wide I could see her molars. She didn’t have fangs, but past experience told me her bite was a painful experience I did not wish to repeat.
I slid to the side and allowed her to charge past me. Before she could correct course and come back for another attempt to chew off my face, I took hold of her left arm and used it as a lever to hoist her into the air. Her feet left the floor, and I used my free hand to grab Delsinia’s thigh and lift her over my head.
She writhed and spat like a snake with a broken back, but for all her speed and cleverness, I was much stronger than her.
I swung her down to the floor hard enough to drive the air out of her lungs, but not hard enough to do any permanent damage. The shock of impact rolled her eyes back into her head, though, and the stunning attack was enough to drive the amber glow from her eyes and mouth.
Good. At least Kozerek the Bastard of Bottomless Bullshit was gone for the moment. I needed to get this situation straightened out before he showed up again and caused me even more trouble.
“Kill, kill, kill,” Delsinia gasped, her eyes wide as she jabbed her left index finger into her sternum. “He’ll be back.”
“She’s right,” Zillah said. “That monster’s got his hooks into her. If you don’t kill her, he’ll drive her around like a meat puppet. You might not get the drop on her next time.”
“Have a little confidence in your dungeon lord,” I said to Zillah with a grin. “You’re not wrong to worry about Kozerek, but we need Delsinia now more than ever.”
Kezakazek leaned against the bars that separated us.
“I’d have a lot more faith in this whole operation if you weren’t in there, and we weren’t out here,” the drow said. “Tell us why you need her?”
Nephket stood beside me, her hand on my shoulder just below the core. She gave me a squeeze and filled the other guardians in on what she’d figured out.
“Knowledge,” she said. “Delsinia knows far more about Kozerek and his pals than we do. Those drow we killed were never her guardians. They were here to keep her in line.”
“Oh, shit,” Zillah said with a breathy sigh. “But that means—”
“That the drow know how to put a leash on dungeon lords,” I finished. “And I’m next if we don’t figure out how to stop them.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Delsinia said with a vigorous nod of her head to punctuate every word.
“Open that gate,” I said Delsinia. “I’m tired of sitting in a cage.”
The other dungeon lord stared up at me with doubt in her eyes and fear plain on her face.
“Take, take, take?” She pulled my hand against her chest again. She was tired of being a dungeon lord, and probably a lot more tired of whatever torture the drow had visited on her. If Kozerek could pop in and out of my head without notice, I’d probably beg for someone to kill me, too.
“Maybe,” I said.
Delsinia looked stung by the word but nodded. She waved her hand and a terrific grinding noise echoed through the dungeon. The bars rose slowly, and Kezakazek ducked under them like an impatient limbo dancer.
T
he sorceress got up in Delsinia’s face and jabbed her dark finger into the dungeon lord’s chest.
“Tell me everything you know about the drow who did this to you,” the sorceress barked. “And tell me how he did it. Now.”
The sight of the aggressive dark elf clearly panicked Delsinia. She raised both hands in a defensive posture and hissed like an angry serpent poised to strike.
“Do it,” Kezakazek snapped. “Take a swing, see what happens to you.”
The bars had risen high enough for the rest of my crew to enter, and Zillah appeared behind Kezakazek as if by magic. Her tail moved above her head like the shadow of a hawk waiting to dive after its prey.
“Whoa, whoa,” I said and stepped between Kezakazek and Delsinia. I raised my hands, palms out. “We need to talk, not fight.”
“Talk, talk, talk,” Delsinia said with obvious disdain for that idea. The threat of violence churned behind her eyes like a storm front on the horizon.
“Enough,” I said.
I was willing to cut Delsinia some slack because of the pain she’d suffered at the hands of the drow and the shit she’d gone through thanks to the old Rathokhetra, but I wouldn’t let her needlessly antagonize my people.
“This, this, this,” the defeated dungeon lord said.
She tilted her head back to reveal an ornate necklace fastened so tightly around her throat that angry red flesh pressed through its links. It shimmered and faded in and out view as Delsinia tilted her head, and vanished completely if I didn’t focus all of my attention on it.
The chain was thick and black, and its surface was studded with rubies as big as the last knuckle of my index finger. Each of the chain’s links was inscribed with an intricate rune that flowed into the symbols inscribed on its neighbors. The arcane writing twisted and writhed across the surface of the necklace, and it drew my eyes along its length with hypnotic intensity.
Rathokhetra’s gritty growl dragged my attention away from the necklace. I averted my eyes, thankful for once that he’d disturbed my thoughts. If this was a trap for dungeon lords, I’d damned near stuck my dick in it.
“What the hell is that thing?” I asked Delsinia.
“Slave, slave, slave,” Delsinia said. Unshed tears shimmered in her eyes as she pulled at the necklace to no avail.
“We need to get that off her,” Zillah said. There was a barely restrained rage in the scorpion queen’s voice. Her abrupt about-face on the subject of Delsinia drew every eye in the room. “What? I don’t have many rules, but I’m firmly anti-slavery. I don’t give a fuck who it is.”
“Let me see,” Kezakazek said. Delsinia flinched away from the drow’s touch. “I can’t help you if you won’t stand still.”
Delsinia was much taller than the dark elf sorceress, so she knelt before Kezakazek and lowered her head so the drow could more easily reach the necklace. The dungeon lord pulled her vibrant green hair over her shoulders and let it dangle to the floor behind her.
While Kezakazek examined the necklace, I asked more questions. I hoped it would distract Delsinia from whatever Kezakazek was up to, but I also didn’t have time to wait for answers. Kozerek had sounded like he was on his way very soon, and I wanted to be ready for the fucker when he arrived.
“The drow put that necklace on you?” I asked.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Delsinia said. Her shoulders shuddered at the memory of what had happened to her, and her hands closed into white-knuckled fists. Her thoughts ground against my own as she struggled to form more intelligible sentences. “I — they — I’m sorry. My thoughts drift. The drow tricked me. Enslaved me with this collar. My mind aches.”
Fucking dark elves. Other than Kezakazek, who had done her level best to kill me not so very long ago, I’d yet to meet one I wouldn’t gladly skin alive.
But even for dark elves, this collar was a new and infuriating low. Maybe it was because of Rathokhetra’s connection to Delsinia, or maybe it was because she was beautiful, or maybe it was just professional courtesy, but the thought of an enslaved dungeon lord made me want to find those responsible and shred them into meat confetti with my bare hands.
“And you wanted me to kill you to release you from their trap?” I asked Delsinia.
“Yes, y—” she stopped herself before she could repeat the word again. “Yes, that is the reason. Partly.”
“I’m taking the wahket to the temple,” Nephket said. And then, in my thoughts, “If you need us, we will be there. And be careful. She may be broken, but she is still a dungeon lord.”
“I hear you,” I said. “Trust me, I am as on edge now as I ever have been. If I get even a whiff that this is going sideways, I’ll end it. Somehow.”
“Good,” she said. “And do not forget to claim her core. This temple will change everything for us.”
I motioned for Zillah to join me on the opposite side of the chamber after Nephket had gone. Kezakazek was still busy with the choker, but I wanted to get the scorpion queen’s scouting report in the meantime.
“Did you find anything when you searched this dump?” I asked.
“No,” she said with a touch of disappointment. “We hadn’t gone far before the gate closed. We came right back here when we heard the noise. Want me to take the scorpions and continue the search, boss?”
“I don’t think we’re in any immediate danger of attack,” I said. “Go ahead and sweep the place. If there any secret doors or hidden chambers, I want to know about them.”
“You’re so cute when you’re giving orders,” Zillah said. The scorpion queen shifted her gaze toward Delsinia, and I felt a twinge of curiosity from her thoughts. “Are we adding this one to the crew?”
That was a question I hadn’t considered. I wasn’t sure it would even be possible for one dungeon lord to be another’s guardian. Then again, would she be a dungeon lord once I took her core? Would she be anything?
“I have no idea,” I said. “Maybe?”
“Think about it,” Zillah said. “I feel bad times coming. She could use our help. And we could use hers.”
With that, Zillah smacked my ass with her tail and headed for the exit with the scorpions scuttling across the ceiling to keep pace with her.
I was surprised at Zillah’s sudden warmth toward Delsinia, but I supposed it made sense. The scorpion queen had spent a while as a virtual slave to a dungeon lord she hated. Maybe she saw something she recognized in Delsinia.
My thoughts raced with all the new information that had poured out over the past few minutes. I’d gone from being absolutely certain I would kill Delsinia the instant I found her to trying to save her from the dark elves who’d enslaved her. I wasn’t sure what my best course of action was, but I needed to figure it out in a big hurry.
Rathokhetra murmured his agreement to that sentiment, but I knew his judgment was impaired by his feelings for Delsinia.
Unfortunately, the ultimate choice might not even be mine. If we couldn’t get the collar off Delsinia, we wouldn’t be able to trust her. She’d have to die before the dark elves got here. There was no other option.
“How’s it looking, Kez?” I wasn’t sure what I wanted her answer to be.
“Rough, but I think I can do it,” she said. “It’s going to sting, though.”
“D-do it,” Delsinia said. “Now.”
“You heard her,” I said in response to Kezakazek’s dubious glance in my direction. “Let’s get this off before it’s too late.”
Kezakazek nodded and went to work.
She hummed a strange, minor-key tune while her fingers plucked at the strange mechanism on the back of the collar. She used her fingernails to pry apart a series of narrow clasps that each released a faint sizzle of power and tiny argent sparks. With the clasps out of the way, the dark elf moved on to the mechanism’s inner workings.
“How does that go again?” she muttered. “Red string good, blue string bad? Or was it green string go, silver thread stop?”
Delsinia glanced up at me with sudden
concern, and I gave her a bland smile. There was no use lying to the woman. If Kezakazek fucked up, the dungeon lord would likely die.
The drow hummed for a few more seconds, shrugged, and then reached into the mechanism with the pointed nail of her left index finger. She took a deep breath, held it, and then slowly crooked her finger. Her nail lifted a green string from inside the locking mechanism until it was taut. Then Kez turned her fingernail just enough to put its sharpened edge against the string and pulled.
Delsinia screamed and pounded one fist against the floor. Her muscles spasmed as pain rippled through them, and she unleashed a string of profanity that made my ears ring.
I raised an eyebrow in Kezakazek’s direction.
“Is she going to be all right?” I asked.
“I warned you it would hurt,” she said to Delsinia and me. “But we’re almost there. Just another couple of triggers to disarm, and I’ll have it off her neck.”
Delsinia’s muscles unclenched at last, and she let out a ragged, shuddering sigh.
“Don’t stop, stop, stop,” she said. “Get it off me.”
Kezakazek went back to work, and this time she didn’t pause when Delsinia screamed. The dark elf nodded as she removed more threads from the mechanism, and each one tore another cry of pain from Delsinia’s trembling lips. My rival dungeon lord was only half-conscious by the time Kezakazek paused to crack her knuckles and stretch the kinks out of her back.
“We’re close,” Kezakazek said. She rubbed her eyes and blinked hard. “This next phase will really hurt. If I’m successful, she could still be badly wounded. And if I fail, it’ll be really, really bad. Like, really bad.”
While my dungeon lord’s special vision didn’t work at all in Delsinia’s territory, it was plain to see that she’d been worn ragged by the ordeal. She had no visible wounds, but her skin had taken on a flushed hue and her breathing was ragged and hoarse. Sticky bubbles of foamy spittle had gathered at the corners of her lips, and her nostrils flared like she couldn’t get enough air.
“Don’t stop,” Delsinia begged. “Free, free, free.”