As a foot touched the waters, Raspu jerked even more violently, and tipped back his head, screaming and wailing. StarLaughter’s eyes widened, and she glanced at the other Demons. They watched with beatific expressions on their faces, as if it were the greatest wonder they had ever beheld.
StarLaughter looked back at Raspu. The Demon had walked into the Lake far enough that the waters lapped at his thighs. He still jerked and spasmed, so uncontrollably StarLaughter wondered how he kept upright, and a thin shriek now came from his mouth. Dribble streamed down to connect chin to chest. StarLaughter’s mouth twisted in repulsion…
And the waters of the Lake began to churn.
She stared. It was as if Raspu had infected the waters with some foul pestilence. The water bubbled, not as if it had been heated to a boil, but as if its surface was erupting in great pustules, sending spurts of fetid steam into the warm air.
“Look,” Sheol said, and she pointed to a spot some twenty paces before Raspu.
Here the water had formed into a gigantic pustule some five paces across that, having burst, had then solidified as its effluence drained from it. In the centre, a scarred and pock-marked walkway sloped downwards.
“Bring your child, Queen of Heaven,” Sheol said, and she dismounted from her horse and walked past Raspu, still standing jerking and keening, and waded through the water towards the horrific opening.
StarLaughter found the journey downwards somewhat loathsome. It reinforced her growing belief that she must really find some more suitable companions. Perhaps when her son was fully grown…
She followed Sheol towards the opening, and was followed in turn by Mot, Barzula and Rox. As Rox passed Raspu, the Demon of Pestilence abruptly halted both jerking and wailing, and fell into quiet step behind Rox.
The walkway sloped down at a gentle gradient, but StarLaughter found the going difficult.
The entire surface was slicked with something thick and fetid, and StarLaughter did not want to dwell on what it might be.
“Sheol?” StarLaughter called to the Questor several paces before her. As she spoke, StarLaughter had to fight to repress a gag caused by a sudden mouthful of the putrid air. It smelled (tasted) as if a herd of diseased cattle had chosen to die in this place…several weeks previously.
“Yes, Queen of Heaven?”
“Will…” StarLaughter fought her stomach again, and barely managed to suppress her nausea. Now they had descended well below the level of the water, they were surrounded by close, suppurating walls of sickly pink. It was almost as if they walked through a tunnel of corrupted flesh. “Will the Enemy attempt to trap us here as they did at Cauldron Lake?”
“Undoubtedly, StarLaughter. But I do not think they will have much success at—”
Something lunged out of the floor of the walkway and sunk sharp teeth into Sheol’s ankle. She shrieked, and stumbled back into StarLaughter and her son.
A bright blue fish clung to her flesh.
Sheol lifted her foot and tried to shake the fish free, but it clung tenaciously.
“StarLaughter!” she shrieked, fury more evident in her voice than fear.
But encumbered as she was by her heavy son, StarLaughter could do nothing. She shook her head, stumbling out apologies, her eyes fixed on the rivulets of blood running from Sheol’s ankle, and eventually Mot was forced to push past her and lean down to Sheol’s aid.
But as his hands wrapped themselves about the fish, ten more wriggled out of the suppurating floor of the walkway, and snatched at Mot’s hands.
He lurched back, shouting, but several managed to sink their teeth into his hands, and he waved them about, hitting StarLaughter in the face with both his and the fishes’ loathsome flesh.
Something dropped down from the close ceiling above them, and snagged in StarLaughter’s hair. She screamed, her arms at first loosening, then tightening about her son just before he dropped from her grasp. He was too heavy for her to hold in only one arm, so she could do nothing as she felt…something…chew amongst her hair, trying to find her scalp.
Raspu grabbed at the thing for her, and flung it far down the walkway. It was an eel, as bright blue as the fish that yet clung to both Sheol and Mot.
He grabbed at the fish clinging to Mot, tore them off—causing Mot to shriek in pain as he did so—and flung them likewise. Then he bent to the remaining fish still chewing grimly on Sheol’s ankle.
“There!” he said, as that, too, went slithering down the walkway. As they watched, all the fish and the eel wriggled back into the floor and disappeared. “I don’t think that we will be—”
He halted, transfixed with horror. Slithering up the tunnel of rotting flesh towards them was a massive fish-creature, its girth almost filling the entire tunnel. Its mouth yawned open, revealing row after row of razored triangular teeth, disappearing into a dark red gullet that eventually shaded into black in its considerable depth.
It roared, and every one of the Demons shrieked and clambered backwards.
Only StarLaughter remained still and silent, staring at the creature as if transfixed with horror.
Something grabbed at her, and she jumped.
It was Sheol, who had overcome her own fear to fetch StarLaughter.
No, not StarLaughter, but the child. Sheol tried to jerk it out of StarLaughter’s arms, but StarLaughter’s grip tightened automatically.
“No!” she cried, suddenly finding her voice.
“Give him to me!” Sheol screamed, tugging with all her might. “Die if you want, fool, but give him to me!”
The huge fish-creature was now only fifteen paces away, slithering closer with every lurch of its body.
“Give him to me!”
“No!” StarLaughter cried desperately, and the two females rocked back and forth, arms and hands locked tight about the child, pulling him to and fro.
The child paid no attention, its blank eyes fixed unsighted on a spot in the ceiling above.
“I am his mother!” StarLaughter shouted and gave a final, desperate heave.
She was far, far too successful.
Sheol’s grip suddenly gave way, and StarLaughter fell backwards, completely losing her footing. She fell straight into the yawning chasm of the fish-creature’s mouth.
All StarLaughter saw was Sheol’s horrified eyes, and the other Demons rushing up behind her, and then she felt the clamminess of the creature’s tongue, and felt the first rows of teeth slice open the skin of her back and buttocks.
Agony swept through her body, and StarLaughter screamed once, and then again, and then a third time.
The creature’s jaws snapped closed about her.
There was blackness, and more pain, and then a period of unknowingness, and when StarLaughter opened her eyes again she saw the Demons standing over her, Sheol cradling the child in her arms.
StarLaughter scrambled to her feet, wiping her hands free of slime on her gown, where new and more putrid stains had added themselves to the rust brown blood that already streaked the once fine, pale-blue gown.
“Give him to me,” she cried, and snatched the child from Sheol’s arms.
Sheol shrugged. “You tripped and fell,” she said, “and I saved the child.”
StarLaughter glanced behind her. The fish-creature had disappeared. “Where is it?”
“The Enemy’s attack was a delusion only,” Raspu said. His naked body was streaked with filth. “Hardly worthy even of the term ‘trap’. What remains of their power fades fast, and I doubt we shall be overly troubled by them again.”
StarLaughter stared at him. His words were bravado only, and StarLaughter had the horrible feeling the Enemy—or whatever remained of them—was toying with them only.
“Shall we go?” Sheol said, raising an eyebrow at StarLaughter. “Your son’s breath awaits.”
They descended in silence, StarLaughter now at the back of the line, her arms possessively tight about her son. Her misadventure had made her realise the Demons cared only for her child, but
who would he care for, when he spoke and smiled? His mother? Or the Demons?
Far, far behind her, WolfStar slipped and slithered his way down the walkway, his own child’s corpse tight under one arm.
Nothing bothered him on his journey down.
The Demons found what they wanted an hour later. The walkway descended into a massive vaulted chamber, bare save for a pedestal of golden stone in the centre.
On this pedestal sat a great black bird. It had a thick body, but an overly long and completely bald neck, topped by a tiny head with a long, sharp beak.
It stood unmoving on thick, yellow, scaled legs and claws.
The Demons filed into the chamber, and Sheol waved StarLaughter forward.
“Place the child on the pedestal before the bird.”
“But what if he hurts him? What if—”
“Place the child on the pedestal!” Sheol took one threatening step towards StarLaughter, her shoulders hunching as she flung her arms outward, the shadow she cast on the wall behind her making her seem like a great predatory bird herself.
StarLaughter’s face tightened, but she did as Sheol commanded, turning to walk slowly towards the golden pedestal. The bird’s head turned slightly to watch her.
StarLaughter halted a pace away. The bird was far larger than it had originally seemed, almost twice the size of an eagle, and the beak was wickedly sharp.
“Place the child on the pedestal,” Sheol whispered.
Slowly, very slowly, her eyes not leaving those of the bird, StarLaughter took one more step forward, then lifted her beloved child onto the cold stone before the bird’s claws.
The child shivered, as if discomforted by the chill against its newly-warmed flesh.
“Now rejoin us,” Sheol commanded.
StarLaughter hesitated, terrified at what the bird might do to her son, but then she turned and walked back towards the Demons.
She only got halfway when she heard a frightful shriek behind her. StarLaughter whipped about. The bird’s head was now a blur as it plunged its beak again and again into the child’s chest.
StarLaughter cried out, and would have rushed to her son’s aid, but tight arms closed about her.
“Watch only!” Barzula hissed in her ear.
StarLaughter struggled and wailed. The baby, too, shrieked again and again, the level of his screams rising each time the bird stabbed its beak down.
Blood spattered across the entire chamber, spattering StarLaughter’s face and hair, and slivers of flesh slipped down the golden sides of the pedestal.
“No!” StarLaughter howled, struggling vainly against Barzula’s grip. “No!”
“Wait!” Barzula whispered, and StarLaughter felt his arms tighten yet more until she had no breath to cry out.
The bird continued to hack at the child’s body, and the child continued to scream. Impossible amounts of blood flowed from his body, and ribs glinted through the ruined flesh of his chest.
Suddenly the bird stopped, tilted its head curiously as it stared into the ruined flesh before it, then stabbed its beak down a final time.
But this time it did not withdraw. It kept its beak buried deep within the child’s body, and it took a great breath through its tiny nostrils, and then exhaled through its beak.
The boy quietened.
The bird withdrew its beak, and took one careful step away from the child to the very back edge of the pedestal. There it stayed, its eyes still fixed on the child.
The child’s chest expanded in a huge breath, and in an instant so quick StarLaughter’s eyes could not follow it the ravaged flesh healed itself before her eyes, and the boy’s limbs and body lengthened and thickened.
A youth of some twelve years now lay on the pedestal, his legs and arms drooping over its sides. His chest rose in regular movement, but his eyes—now a clear, deep violet—still stared blankly above him.
Barzula’s arms loosened, and StarLaughter walked slowly towards the pedestal.
The bird watched her, but did not move.
StarLaughter halted and ran one hand softly down her son’s body, marvelling at the beauty of his sturdy figure and the well-defined muscles of his arms and legs. His head, once only covered with a fine down, was now thick with rich copper curls and as StarLaughter slid him off the pedestal, she saw he had golden adolescent wings emerging from his back.
“My boy,” she whispered. “DragonStar.”
“If you like,” Sheol murmured unheard behind her.
They waited, all of them, in a corner of the chamber hidden by shadows and the power of the Demons.
The boy stood obediently, his eyes blank, his body unresponsive to StarLaughter’s murmurings and caressing hands.
“Be silent,” Barzula hissed at her. “He comes!”
StarLaughter fell silent, lifting her eyes from her son.
WolfStar entered the chamber on feet silent with caution. His eyes slid about the walls, but he saw nothing, and he visibly relaxed.
StarLaughter stared, so shocked she did not know what to think. She moved slightly, and felt a Demon’s hand clutch at her arm. Be silent, StarLaughter! It was the combined voice of the Demons in her mind.
But that is WolfStar!
Aye.
But—
Watch, StarLaughter, and once he has gone, we will tell you something very, very amusing.
WolfStar was completely unaware that anyone else remained in the chamber. StarLaughter watched him, her mind in turmoil. She had waited so long for this moment. Gods, but she wished the Demons would allow her to rush forth and claw his eyes out! Her chest constricted in loathing, remembering how he had gladly wasted her life, and that of their son’s, in his quest for all-consuming power.
Her fingers grazed slightly against the warm flesh of her son’s chest, marvelling at its rise and fall, and then her attention was consumed by WolfStar. In his arms he carried the still form of a toddling girl. As StarLaughter had done, now he stepped forth and placed the child on the pedestal.
The instant he had moved back, the bird took one pace forward, and tore into the girl’s chest as he had into the boy’s.
StarLaughter turned eyes wide with anger towards the Demons.
We understand, StarLaughter. But be still and silent, and do not fret too much. There is good reason to allow WolfStar this moment.
StarLaughter looked back to her husband…and she almost sneered. His face wore an expression of open ambition as he stared at the girl.
Who was this girl? It could be no-one else save Niah, the woman he had betrayed StarLaughter with. Who else would he bother to go to this trouble for?
Me he murdered, StarLaughter thought, and this girl he resurrects.
Hate consumed her, and were it not for the power of the Demons that held her back, StarLaughter would have rushed forward to tear the child into such pieces that WolfStar would never have been able to contemplate a resurrection, let alone accomplish it.
Be still, StarLaughter.
Now the bird had finished, and he stepped back to the edge of the pedestal again.
As had the boy, so now did the girl transform. Limbs and body lengthened into the form of a twelve-year-old girl. Her skin was pale and fine, her hair as black as the bird and falling to the very floor, her limbs long and shapely, and her breasts just beginning to emerge from their childish entrapment.
Will you wait until she speaks and moves before you slake your lust on her, WolfStar? StarLaughter thought. Or will you take her now, and enjoy her silence?
But WolfStar was apparently in no rush to slake his lust, for he stepped forward and took the girl’s arm in a perfunctory manner. He gave an impatient tug. Then, when she did not move, he picked her up and slung her over a shoulder before exiting the chamber.
“What have you done!” StarLaughter cried. “That was WolfStar. And no doubt that child was the woman he craves so much. Why let him—”
“We, too, were angered when first we realised WolfStar trailed us with his own
child that he wishes to return to life,” Sheol said. “But we quickly lost our anger when we realised how we could turn this situation to our advantage, and gain you your revenge at the same time.”
“How?”
“StarLaughter.” Mot now stepped forward and took both StarLaughter’s hands in his. “Would you have your son rule this vast land without a bride at his side?”
StarLaughter’s eyes widened as she grasped what the Demon’s meant to do. “But she will be as powerful as—”
Sheol grinned, her teeth glinting behind red lips. “Not if we stop him after Fernbrake, beloved Queen of Heaven. Then your son will have a bride any husband would covet. Beautiful, willing…and completely soulless. And WolfStar? Sweet StarLaughter, why not let your son have the eventual revenge on WolfStar? After all, while he murdered both of you, it has been your son who has been deprived of all chance at life. Imagine what he can do to the father who denied him the chance to draw a single breath.”
StarLaughter stared expressionlessly at Sheol, then in a sudden, horrific movement, she bared her teeth in a gesture half-smile, half-snarl.
43
The Bridges of Tencendor
StarDrifter hurriedly dropped his arm from Zenith’s shoulders, realising that he may well have gone too far. Stars! How long did she need before she would accept him?
Zenith turned away slightly, lowering her eyes so that StarDrifter would not see the guilt she was certain shone forth.
“Well?” SpikeFeather cried. “Shall we go down?”
“Yes,” StarDrifter said, a little too quickly. “Let us go and see this Sanctuary of Drago’s.”
The stairwell curved down in a spiral, as did most of the entrances to the Underworld, but the steps down were wide and the gradient gentle. They wished they could have used their wings to float down, but the internal space that the stairs encircled was too tight for the Icarii wingspan. And so not only do I lose the sound of the Star Dance, StarDrifter thought, but I also lose the use of my proudest possession, my wings. But the thought did not cause him too much distress, for he was still tingling with the excitement of his discovery.
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