Paladin's Oath

by M. H. Johnson

  Jess's laughter rang throughout the massive chamber, echoing with terrible potency. "Foolish prince, so arrogant, so easily broken! What use do I have for your empty promises? You have already given me that which I most desire, broken one. The feast of your power! And in the end, the struggling mewling speck of darkness you try so desperately to hide from my hunger, that final soul… your own!"

  With those words, Jess tore her fanged maw deep into her foe’s withered flesh, relishing his final screams as his shattered body was allowed to gasp and writhe one last time for her dark amusement, forced to give up his final shriveled soul, the tattered framework of power in which he had held all his manifold victims, fueling him to ungodly heights for centuries. The withered old demon uttered its death knell, falling to ash at Jess’s feet.

  Jess roared her triumph, heady with the rush of victory, throbbing with awful might. Her grin was savage as she locked her terrible gaze upon the half score of demonlords before her, Fallen angels of terrible power who, as one, turned away from her gaze.

  “Oh my, are the scary demonlords afraid of one little girl?” Jess taunted with a mocking smile. She squeezed her fist tight, confident that she could crush them all simply by desiring it so, such was the hideous power blazing through her. Her crimson eyes bored into them.

  By her will alone she forced them to meet her gaze.

  "Your spells I will shatter like spun glass! Your withered forms my mithril blade shall tear through with the ease of Death winnowing his harvest of fallen fools. Who among you dares to challenge me? For I am Jezabelle, get of Lilith, Queen of the Moonlit Realm! I have drunk from the Chalice of Absolution, and my legions have washed entire planes of Hell in the palette of my vengeance! Countless are the lords I have slain, who dared to question my decrees!"

  Her audience gasped. “Remember your word, ancient queen!” One of the shaking boar-headed lords howled. “One challenge, and one challenge alone!”

  "Indeed, dread queen," one of the dread lords placated. "Victory is yours, and we shall depart. As per our agreement, your toy and your prize both… intact." One of the shadowy forms gestured toward poor Onnika, strapped to the crystal slab still, who for some reason was gazing at her hero with wide-eyed terror.

  Jezabelle frowned, remembering that that young soul was important to her for some reason. Ah yes. A sweet ripe fruit, delectable and bursting with sensuality, pleasurably clutched close and warm upon the loamy soil of the indoor garden at the Turnsby Estates. She smiled fondly at that heady memory, sharp and clear, where so many others were hazy and distant.

  “Ah yes. A sweet young lover she is.” Jezabelle shrugged, magnanimous with the heady power tingling through all her limbs, stimulating a carnal hunger throbbing gently within her. She flashed her onlookers a casual wave. “Go on then, leave.” Her terrible smile was all too knowing, as if in that pristine moment her crimson gaze could peer into the very cores of their hideously foul souls.

  Wise in their age and power, the terrible lords, accustomed to so many trembling in their wake, forbore to comment as the hideously glowing hellion casually dismissed them, choosing instead to gracefully exit unseen, prudently leaving their feast of mangled souls and suffering behind. Any who would have been so foolish as to protest the condescending dismissal of a creature whose power and instability matched that of the figure before them would have no doubt perished to the dark intrigues they played, long ago.

  Jezabelle smiled in dark satisfaction. The Fallen lords understood the situation perfectly.

  "What? How dare you! How dare you leave! You stay at my behest, you are beholden to me! Mine to conjure and command, as you have been for centuries! I command it!" Lessel's expression shifted from outraged terror to blind fear even as Jezabelle approached him, fangs still protruding, gazing at him as if he were a curious bug.

  Lessel shivered and backed away, wand upraised. "I warn you, queen of Hell! I am a master of abyssal magics! My wand has bound and commanded far worse than you! Cross me at your peril!"

  Jezabelle looked upon him with rapt bemusement, but did not slow her stride. With a fierce cry Lessel lashed out with his wand, shouting an abyssal curse, even as a dark wave of power and a bolt of blackest energy blasted forth from his wand, the combined fell magics surrounding Jezabelle in unholy light.

  "Jess!" Malek, frozen in tableau for some moments, finally shook himself free even as the abyssal energies washed over her, her shieldbrother crying out in sudden panic before grinning with amazement as Jezabelle began to chuckle, her discordant laughter echoing oddly through the vast chamber.

  “No, that’s impossible! You should be one with the Void!”

  Jezabelle smirked at Lessel’s cries of outrage, even as she snatched his wand away, examining it as he scrambled back.

  “A tasty stream of energy. It sort of tingled.” She gazed carefully at the artifact. “Let’s see… eighteen souls forged together in exquisite torment to form a power-bridge to summon abyssal energies directly. What a pathetic crutch!” Her laughter was mocking, the wand collapsing to dust in her hand. She breathed deep and shuddered with sensual pleasure. “Sweet is the taste of your fallen foes. I believe I heard someone say that once.” Her grinned turned sharp. “I wonder, dear, dear Lessel, how sweet you will taste?”

  “No, no! You can’t!” His plaintive wails turned to shrieks as Jess casually picked him up, breaking the arm desperately holding a concealed dagger with careless ease, his bones audibly snapping as his weapon fell to the floor. “Please!” he screamed, even as Jess gently pressed her fangs to his neck.

  She paused. “Please? Is that what you just said? Hmm… I wonder how many times your own children said that to you, before you drained them of their very lives? Bargained away those final remnants of their souls? You, dear Lessel, have been a very, very naughty diabolist. I can only wonder at how luxurious a treat your soul, bloated with centuries of wicked decadence, will be to one with my exquisite sense of taste. Could it possibly be a match for Calenbry apple brandy? Let us see!"

  With that she plunged her fangs into his neck and drunk deep, and Lessel screamed in sheer terror, eyes going wide in horrific dread as he watched his unbroken hand, so strong and vital but moments before, becoming a twisted, withered claw shaking with palsy before his very eyes. “Oh by the gods… this wasn’t how it was supposed to end!” he whispered plaintively as Jezabelle continued to drink her fill, the ancient diabolist giving one final, rattling sigh before collapsing at last to bones and dust.

  “Why yes, I do believe you just might be a match for my favorite drink.” Jezabelle chuckled throatily, sending the last dregs of his soul shrieking and howling into the dark depths below, as she had sworn she would.

  Twilight gave the ancient, powdered bones a cautious sniff before nodding his head sagely. "Now I understand the depth of betrayal committed by our recently departed foe. No need for later regret on our dearly departed Lessel's account," Midnight purred. "He was a found soul who had never once danced in our Garden, avoiding all those that could have shown him love and redemption, fleeing for the rainbow bridge as soon as he caught a glimpse of it. And foolish creature that he was, he began conspiring with the very forces that had once enslaved him when he had first come of age in his newfound life, centuries ago."

  Jezabelle quirked her head to meet the knowing gaze of her familiar, suddenly chilled to the quick. She was strangely certain that, for all her newfound power, her beloved Midnight held secrets close that would send her screaming with horror and madness.

  Her familiar blinked at Jess, seeing something in her gaze. "I am sorry, my mistress. Perhaps now is not the time to speak of such things. I forget, sometimes, the price you pay for enduring such knowledge in your present form, however valiantly you embrace it." His gaze became almost sad. "I wonder if you even remember the dark challenge you had just made, terrifying that black coven into such hasty retreat?"

  Malek gazed at his shieldsister, mouth hung open in disbelief. “By the gods, Twili
ght! I recall what you said about adventurers being little more than vampires, draining the power right out of the Shadowrealms, but I didn’t think it would manifest this… literally.” Malek shook his head in awe.

  "Our dear Jess is exceptional in a number of ways, Hound. You should know that by now." Twilight turned his eyes to his mistress. "Come, Jess. We have fed deep and well this day, have we not? Time to save our damsel and head home, no? No doubt the bards will want to hear of your exploits, and give you a hero's welcome. If you are into that sort of thing of course, which, knowing you, you are."

  Jess appeared to shake herself out of a daze, blinking bemusedly, still drunk on the blissful symphony of power roaring through her head. "Twilight? Oh yes!" She laughed playfully. "Heroes of the realm! I like that." Her smile became one of intent concern. "Look at poor Onnika though. She looks… a bit worn out. And for some reason, she screams whenever I approach.”

  "That's because you're doing the scary queen of Hell thing, Jess," Malek quipped. "What you want to do is go for the noble paladin act. Sweep her off her feet and charm her socks off, and such. Though knowing you, you've already done that."

  Jess blushed and smirked at the same time. “Would you believe, she seduced me?” Jess laughed indulgently. “She was my first, you know. First time a girl seduced me! Well, since Highrock, anyway, and since we don't count Highrock, it was my first time, all over again.” Jess blinked, suddenly confused. “If that makes any sense.”

  “Not really,” Malek shrugged. “I know how you were with the girls at Highrock, Jess, even when we weren't all carousing to forget the screams of all those damn bandit camps Eloquin had us hunt down and butcher, by the king's own unofficial decree. Training us for the front lines in all their horror, then giving us leave to revel as he would all soldiers who took the vanguard. And if our clans only knew the things we did together then, things we all agreed to forget with the first light of dawn. But all right, never mind all that. I've freed Onnika. Strange how easily those bonds broke. No need to sob, my lady, you're fine now. Okay then, let's all go home. We'll get a good week's sleep, Jess, and all Onnika will remember is that you are her hero."

  Jess's chuckle was dark, indulgent, even as she gazed upon the great chambers filled with endless implements of torture and darkest vice, fit to sate excesses of every conceivable nature. "Sure, my Hound. We could do that. We could return to Dawn. Or, we could create our own realm here in this little corner of the Shadowlands. Go off, hunt for demons skulking about the outskirts of this realm, creatures I can sense lurking in fear even now, and feast upon their power!"

  Her familiar hissed sharply. "But Jess, you promised! What about the fishies? Besides, if we stay here too much longer, it won't be good for Onnika. Not at all." Twilight actually sounded alarmed, which stunned Jess more than anything else, snapping her back to at least a semblance of sanity.

  “You’re right, Twilight. We need to get Onnika home. Besides, I did promise you a tasty fish when we got through this, right?” She shrugged and grinned. “Oh well, nothing to stop us from coming back! Who knows? Maybe some of those Fallen lords will return next year, when our little agreement is off, and then we can feast!” Jess chuckled evilly.

  "Yes, yes, whatever you like, Jess. Shall we get a move on? This way… the bards, Jess. Let us not forget the sweet satisfaction of preening before the bards," her familiar cajoled, Jess amused at how intently Twilight sought to keep her from catching sight of the dread blade Nilseeker singing its sweet siren call of terrible power.

  Jess hummed a little victory song to herself as Twilight rested on her shoulder, content to ignore the blade she sensed so distressed her kitty as they crossed over Malek's bridge of blood, knowing she could always come back for it another day.

  Jess was pleased to see Malek so gently carrying the whimpering girl clutching him so tightly, sobbing silent tears upon his crimson armor. He truly was like a great shaggy hound, she thought. Utterly fierce in battle, yet so tender to wounded souls in need.

  The endless walk down the dizzying spiral staircase was uneventful, Jess never tiring of her hum, happy to ignore her shieldbrother muttering that for all her talents, she was completely tone deaf, though she'd never admit it. Jess rolled her eyes, thinking that the joke everyone so loved was getting old, pretending that there was some odd mystery to the comforts of sound beyond the importance of a steady beat. She could dance to a drummer as well as anyone, on the ballroom or upon the battlefield, where he who seized the Vor controlled the beat, and survival itself declared the elegance of one's performance. In that arena, her talents were profound.

  As they came to the great door at the entrance of the massive fortress, Jess slowly opened it to be met with shrieking winds stinking of sulfur and brimstone, their footsteps through grit and sand long since covered over, yet Jess could effortlessly sense the way back to the rift leading to the living realm beyond.

  Malek paused, gazing at their distracted leader. “Jess? Onnika’s not in the best shape, as you’ve no doubt noticed. I’m not sure how well she’ll do with all the sulfur and fumes.”

  Jess blinked, turning around, seeming to consider Onnika’s situation for the first time. “You’re right, Malek,” she conceded, gazing carefully at the shuddering young woman. “Stop that, Onnika. You know my touch well enough. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to make the wounds all better.”

  "But Jess, what that man, what my father did to me, it can't ever be undone! He hurt me, Jess. Oh by Heaven's mercy, what he did to me! His own daughter!" With that she keened a wail of such despair, collapsing into Jess's arms, her terrible pain resonating deep within Jess's heart, bringing out her sympathy and humanity heretofore drowned by the sweet symphony of darkest powers flowing through her veins like the headiest of vices, and Jess held the fragile girl close, her heart welling up with compassion, even as her darker side slowly receded.

  “It's all right, Onnika.” Jess gently lifted her friend’s tear-stained eyes to meet her own, the slight lisp from fangs she was unused to quickly fading away. “It will be okay, I promise you! I can make it all go away.”

  Jess’s smile was warm and tender. Onnika shuddered with relief and squeezed Jess close, on some unspoken level desperately relieved to see the terrible creature that had so savagely slain her foes replaced once by the tender Jess she had fallen for so quickly when she had first met, captivated by her fierce presence and complete mastery of her environment, utterly impervious to the endless pecking demands women were expected to endure, showing how sweet she was when Jess presented her with her birthday bouquet.

  Jess shivered, awed and chilled to read her lover's very thoughts, peering into the girl's desperate, pain filled gaze.

  “Can you, Jess? Can you make it so it never happened? Can you make it so that the only person who has ever touched me is you?”

  Jess's smiled warmly, favoring her with a tender gaze even as she caught flashes of a dozen beautiful young women gazing at Onnika in various states of innocence and rapture. "Yes, I can. At least for this terrible night, I can make it so that the only lover who ever cherished you was I. Close your eyes, dear one, and imagine all the pain going away, all the tragedy of the last day forgotten."

  A trembling Onnika so, and gently, so very gently, Jess pressed her lips to Onnika’s own.

  “Jess, what are you doing?” An alarmed Malek suddenly gasped. “Ouch! Why did you swipe me, Twilight?” Malek hissed.

  “She’s not going to drain her. Your mistress is healing her,” Twilight soothed. “Relax.”

  Indeed, Onnika gasped and shuddered in surprise as the bruises and tears slowly faded from her worn flesh, her cheeks grew flush and bright with youth and vitality once more, and the terrible wounds a father should never inflict on his child faded as if they never were. All this Jess sensed even as she gently soothed the shape of Onnika's soul to assume the form it was most used to, full of vitality and vigor, and Jess felt herself wiping off the stains from the poor girl's spiri
t, as if they had never been.

  At the last Onnika gasped, smiling brightly, her eyes locked to Jess’s own. “By the gods, Jess. I feel better! I feel ever so much better! Like it never happened.” She shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut. “Even though it still happened.”

  "It's okay," Jess whispered. "Your body is fully healed, and the one who hurt you is gone forever. I made sure of that." Her laughter caused Onnika to tremble, so Jess muted it with a smile. "So it officially no longer counts!"

  Onnika chuckled softly. "Is this like that argument we had with Karine, where you coaching me on the side was somehow off the record and didn't count, even though Karine and Apple could hear you, plain as day?"

  “Exactly!” Jess agreed. “We are in the Shadowrealms, after all. In one sense, all the bad stuff that happened? Truly was no more than a bad dream.”

  Onnika hugged Jess fiercely. “Oh Jess, if only I could forget. If only the memories would not haunt me endlessly. I wish I had the trick of that.” She gave a helpless little laugh.

  “Don’t worry,” Jess gently soothed, kissing her lover softly. “I promise, as long as you don’t write it down or tell the bards, when you awaken from slumber after leaving this place, you won’t remember a thing. Or, at least not much. You can remember how incredible I was, of course. That’s okay.” Jess grinned, and Onnika laughed warmly.

  “Okay, Jess. Once we leave here I will go right to sleep, and when I awaken, all I will remember is how incredibly fantastic you are.”

  "Exactly!" Jess winked. "Now, we are going to make a dash for the entrance to this realm. Take a deep whiff of my hair, Onnika. Smell how minty and fresh it is? That's because I crush thyme and peppermint strands in it! Excellent for a girl whose hair is hot and sweaty from her helmet, every day she trains. It keeps my hair fresh, so naturally, as long as you keep your cheek against mine, all you'll smell is fresh air as we make our way back!"