by Thomas Green
They passed a merchant caravan transporting cloths of vibrant colors and patterns, which drew Luna’s gaze. Her eyes followed the convoy until something far more urgent gripped her attention as the walls of Grimdawn, rimmed by crenellations, opened before them. For the Festival, she needed a dress and to figure out what toxin to use not to eat a waitress for the midnight snack. Plus, this was a once in a lifetime chance to redefine her relationship with Raven into one much more interesting.
Grimdawn stole Luna’s breath. Three separate levels of walls embraced the city, each of which stood taller than the one before. Inside the fortifications sprawled a beautiful labyrinth of stone and iron, where the buildings piled on each other due to lack of space. The tallness of everything amazed Luna to no end. Akin to Illysaeas, the functioning canalization, relics of the Old Kingdom, led to the city’s air being cleaner than in the smaller towns she frequented before.
She smiled to herself as she remembered the legend of the Forsaken Prince conquering Grimdawn by sneaking his army through the sewers. That stratagem was considered so dishonorable, so unclean, so unworthy of royalty that the defending nobles did not believe it until he had them drowned in the very sewage system his armies used.
The people roaming the streets wore well-woven dresses and suits, reminding Luna of her objective, which was to get a gown and accessories for the tomorrow’s Festival of the First Dawn.
She remained with the convoy until it reached the arena compound to learn where she would be sleeping, not paying attention to the events happening around her.
The insides of the complex were similar to the one of Illysaeas, but the usual scent of blood and sweat carried a different odor, the foul smell of demons. While its bowels were mostly made of cells for slaves and monsters, the feeling in the air did not match the inhabitants. She enjoyed the apparent discomfort and disgust of the Rapacious Reavers, but her mind was too preoccupied to fully savor their misery of having to sleep in the dungeons. Before she headed back into the city, Luna made sure Raven was alright after they put him into their room, the only cell with real beds, courtesy of Prince Stallington. She wondered what spurred the prince to get them a set of luxurious oaken beds embellished by the symbol of a tree, but decided not to ask. After all, cashmere duvets promised much better sleep than barren stone beds.
An hour of loitering through the buzzing streets later, she found a large boutique full of dresses and suits. The house had four floors, each of which was filled with rows after rows of formal clothing, all much akin to what she needed. Okay, so what do I get? She gazed over the endless racks of gowns, not knowing how any of them would make her look. Plus, she had no idea which of them would fit her purpose. Which reminds me… how do I pay for it? My wage is nothing next to these prices.
She shrugged, realizing she would have to resort to thievery. Yet the thought did not please her, for she had difficulties thinking of a more embarrassing way to get captured. Luna combed through the dresses and shoes but ended up being lost. She wondered if she shouldn’t ask a shopkeeper for help. Yet this already felt bad. The idea of having the staff help her find a dress, keep it till the next day while she would steal it in the night seemed even below her level. I mean, sure, I eat people, but I do that because I would die if I didn’t.
A memory flashed before her eyes, she saw herself, sitting above a half-eaten carcass, the first she ever ate consciously with James towering above her. ‘Should I really be doing this?’ the little Luna asked with wide eyes when the maddening hunger subsided.
James laughed. ‘Human life is worth nothing, so where’s the problem?’
Her mind returned to reality. She sighed, marking this moment as her new low in terms of humanity. Yet she knew she had to eat, for whenever her thoughts started sympathizing with James’ philosophy, the aether starvation was close.
Luna spun on her heel and left the shop. She prowled through the city, searching for food. Her journey was not long as she soon caught the scent of sweat and misery typical for the slums. Once she reached the most impoverished district, it was only a matter of moments before she found the toxin user’s den by tracking the unmistakable fragrance Cattria left behind. This time, the gathering place of the toxin users was a basement of an abandoned house.
A man stood by the door, eyeing her with a lustful leer. “What're you doin’ hir, giiirl?”
Luna walked to him with a pleasant smile. “I’m looking for a good time.”
The man grinned, revealing half a mouth of rotten teeth. Luna pushed him inside in a playful gesture, entered and closed behind her. She locked them with the latch and scanned the room. Five people lay inside, all intoxicated to the point of being unable to move, their eyes vacant.
Luna shook her head, wishing prisons weren’t so difficult to get into, dreaming of being able to sate herself from animals like everyone else, or at least from older corpses. She couldn’t. Only living humans contained enough aether to satisfy her hunger. She froze. I don’t think I can do this.
The beast huffed into her mind. ‘I can.’ The beast’s spirit pushed itself into her body, forcing her out, making her a mere spectator looking through her own eyes. As the beast stretched her to get the feeling for her form, it turned her gaze to the man while her face split from ear to ear, turning into a nightmare of fangs.
His eyes widened in horror. “What the fuck?”
By the beast’s command, her fingertips prolonged into vicious claws. She caught the man by his shoulder with her hand, sunk her claws into his chest and ripped out his heart in a fountain of blood. I’m sorry. The beast opened Luna’s mouth wide to gulp the heart down all at once. She wished the kick of aether it gave her wasn’t so exhilarating, so maddening, so intoxicating.
The other people inside did not even notice. As the beast advanced to them, she sighed to herself within her mind. Better toxin abusers than whoever the wolf would go for.
Save for the blood splashed onto the ground and walls, the place was soon barren, and the beast allowed her to regain control of her body. Despite her washing the blood off her face, her eyes were red and stinging. I am sorry. She turned to the few piles of torn clothes, which were all that remained of the former occupants of this room, and shook her head. Why do I have to be like this?
Since no satisfactory answer came, she ducked and used her claw to carve the symbol of the sun into the dirt that made the ground. May you find peace.
***
She spent the rest of the day loitering around Grimdawn, waiting for the night, praying time would wash her sorrow of what she had done. Once the sun abandoned the sky, Luna crept onto the roof of the dress boutique. The lightning conductors turned scaling the wall into a trivial task and, despite ice and fresh snow covering it, the tiled roof was light work for her feet. She peered over the city. Its tall buildings were like a sea of blackness while the castle at the center stood majestically in the moonlight.
A male voice interrupted her moment. “Fancy night, isn’t it?”
Luna turned and saw a man standing by the edge of the roof, leaning onto a chimney. He had long, silvery hair and was dressed in a black, leather tunic.
Luna’s eyes narrowed. “I suppose our meeting isn’t coincidental.”
He laughed in the way that sent shivers up her spine. “Murder of six. I admit you know how to make an introduction when coming to a new city.”
Her body tensed, but she did her best to put on a calm face. Since lying about it was pointless, she hid her hands behind her back to turn her fingertips into claws where he couldn’t see them. “Law enforcement tends to come in bigger groups.”
He scoffed. “I am more than enough to kill you, girl.”
“Are you sure about that?” Her jaw split, baring her nightmarish fangs. She charged.
As if from thin air, a long, black spear appeared within his hand. He stepped in and sunk its tip into Luna’s chest, slipping between her ribs and through her heart. She screamed out with pain. He twisted the spear and whi
rled to the side, throwing her down the snow-covered roof. Dread exploded through veins, flooded her insides and coiled around her mind.
The beast within her shouted in panic. ‘Run!’
The man smiled. “Now that is an impressive regeneration.”
Since her chest had already healed, Luna sprung into a dash, trying to escape. He appeared in front of her faster than she could blink. With two quick stabs, his spear crushed her knees, sending her to the ground.
A strangled cry sounded from her throat. He knew joints were the hardest thing to heal. As her knees regenerated, she leapt back to her feet, made her long black sword appear within her hand and slashed at the man. He disappeared before her blade reached him.
His spear stabbed through her knee from behind, piercing flesh and bones alike. She tried to stop her fall with her sword. A stab through her shoulder sent her to the tiled roof.
Luna rolled to the side to jump backward the second her knees reformed. Fuck it. Come in!
As she called the beast, its spirit fused into her, pouring into her heart, spreading through her veins. A blinding pain shot through her chest. She looked down and saw the man’s spear exiting out of her rib cage, piercing her. The energy blasting through her dissipated, forcing her beast to withdraw.
With a smirk, the man withdrew his spear to stab again, hitting her knee before the other one.
Luna collapsed into the snow, shrieking with pain and despair. He stopped my transformation! Am I… going to die?
The man peered down at her. “Striking a possum?” He stabbed her in the stomach. Luna caught the spear with her left hand and slashed with her right. He whirled to throw her into the air. When she reached the peak of her flight, he appeared above her, kicked her in the chest, instantly disappeared and reappeared below her and kicked up at her back. His foot shattered her spine, shooting the fragments of bone through her body like shrapnel. Luna lay broken over his leg. He tossed her to the side.
I don’t want to die! She crawled up to all fours. Every movement, every twitch of muscles, every breath shot blasts of pain into her entire body, crushing her mind.
The man wore a calm smile. “Told you.”
Shaking with pain, Luna rose to her feet, feeling the remnants of her strength leaving her as her wounds healed for one last time.
His spear disappeared. In a blink of an eye, he appeared next to her and sunk his fist into her stomach. The blow crushed Luna’s organs, shattered her bones, and lifted her from the ground. She bit at his shoulder while swinging wildly with her claws. He whirled and hit her cheek with a right hook. His fist broke her jaw and fangs, releasing a spray of bone fragments and blood onto the roof. He spun to punch her in the chest, smashing her rib cage. The man moved behind her to drive his elbow into her neck. He whirled and buried his fists into her body dozen more times before he let her fall, destroying the organs and bones within her torso.
Her pain became distant while her strength was long gone. Her vision blurred, making her consciousness fade toward the endless oblivion of death. He peered down at her, compassionless as if he was looking at bread her was about to buy at a baker. A short move of his leg turned her claw, revealing a tiny drop of crimson at its tip. The man looked at his elbow. The sleeve of his tunic was cut with a scratch visible beneath the slashed leathers.
He smiled. “Focus on your mouth, throat, and chest.”
Power burst from him into her like water from a broken dam, pouring into her heart and soul. As her regeneration caught onto the inflow of aether like a dehydrated beast onto a stream, Luna focused on staying conscious, on not dying. Her spine and rib cage reformed before her organs, her throat and her mouth did the same. The man stopped the rain of strength as suddenly as he made it happen. Cold wrapped her body, a sharp change from the most euphoric intoxication of aether, marking the backlash from its overuse had started. She couldn’t move.
His eyes met hers. “Are you in a team in the slaver tournament? Blink once for yes, twice for no.”
Luna blinked once.
“I’ve got a deal for you, kid. You will work for me, and I will let you live.”
She blinked.
“For details, meet me at the roof of the mansion where the festival will be held, at midnight. Got it?”
Luna blinked once.
“This is for when you can move.” Out of thin air, a pile of horrendously smelling meat appeared near her, and the man vanished.
She lay atop the house for the rest of the night and through the entire morning. Only by noon did she regain enough strength to move. Inch by inch, she crawled to the pile of stinking meat and sunk her teeth into the flesh. It tasted a hundred times worse than it looked, but she felt the kick of devouring aether from eating it, so she did not care for anything else. She ate everything and licked the blood off the roof afterward, melting snow in her mouth for water.
When the sun turned red to mark the end of the day, Luna regained enough strength to walk. Hurting with every step, she limped all the way back to her cell. Happy to see Raven wasn’t there, she dove into her bed, huddled against her knees and cried herself to sleep.
7
Salazar
Count Salazar was having a good day since the trip to Grimdawn had gone better than he expected. Judging by the messages he has received by his couriers, everything was going well, as the council of Xona retroactively approved of his attendance in the tournament.
Their path toward the city was also smooth, albeit long due to everything being covered by snow. There were so many people flooding in the general direction that a group of travelers on horses was downright unnoticeable. Katherine was surprisingly all right with him traveling on horseback with merely the fifteen of them, but he guessed that moving inconspicuously appealed to her for security reasons.
Over the journey, he got a good idea of the team. The royal guard was the same as in the past ten years, so there was not much to explore. He still enjoyed watching them squirm when he put his sleeping bag under a tree and announced he was spending the night there instead of going to the inn mere two hours of travel ahead. Their expressions of confusion and surprise brought a smile to his face.
Sleepless, Salazar waited for when Katherine’s watch came. He rose and approached her. “Walk with me.”
She sighed, motioned the other guards holding sentry to stay, and left the camp, their feet burrowing into the fresh layer of snow.
When they were far enough not to be overheard, he broke the silence. “Do we have anything?”
Katherine’s eyes turned white, and a pulse of aether blasted through the air. “One demon, half a mile east.”
“Good.” He spun in the direction, walking at a leisure pace.
Katherine flanked him. “How do you see the adventurers?”
“They are acceptable.”
“Even Yvonne?”
Salazar remembered all the provocative looks she had thrown him that day. “My children are older than her.”
She laughed. “Your kids aren’t young anymore and, not to mention, that never stopped you.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Are you implying something, captain?”
“Not at all, your highness.”
They entered the forest, passing by the trees until they saw movement ahead. An aberration of horns stalked between the trunks. Tall as a house, carried by stout legs while using its four, massive arms to support the bulk of its fur-covered body while horns stuck out at every conceivable spot.
Salazar turned to Katherine. “Any witnesses?”
Her eyes became white, repeating the detection spell. “No.”
He smiled and focused. As he dug for his strength, the sensation of overwhelming power filled his body and soul. Salazar reached outside, pushing his aether into the trees of the forest, bending them to his will.
Roots of the trees surrounding the demon burst out of the ground to entangle its legs. The creature swung after them. New roots replaced those its claws shredded. Branches of an oak
extended, coiling through the air like snakes, wrapping around the demon’s arm. The monster roared. When its mouth flung open, another branch sprung forward, diving between the demon’s jaws.
Salazar made the branch pass through the throat, reaching the stomach. With a jolt of his aether, he forced the buds on the tree to blossom, and grow. New trees sprouted within the demon, tearing apart its organs, flesh, and bones.
A mangled corpse was all that remained of the demon with three new oaks growing out of it. Salazar retracted his aether into himself and spun to return to the camp.
Katherine smiled. “I see you haven’t lost your touch.”
***
They reached Grimdawn without incidents. The city swarmed full of people. Their group found mere passing through difficult. Out of nowhere, a man appeared walking straight next to Salazar while nobody from his group noticed him.
“Want to play a game, count?” the hooded stranger asked.
Salazar sighed. “No, but I have no such option, do I?”
“No, you do not.” The man laughed. “In any case, you need to strike a pose while moving the curtains tonight.”
“How about you stop being cryptic and tell me the full version?”
The stranger shook his head. “I want to keep the surprise.”
Katherine noticed the man and turned to Salazar. “Is that him?”
He nodded.
She sighed and kept her distance. The others also realized and looked more than surprised, but followed the signal from Katherine to give Salazar space to talk in privacy.
He peered at the stranger. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
“Well, couldn’t help but notice you started raising an army.”
He caught onto me far too soon. Salazar frowned. “I haven’t made that public, but it is going fine, thank you for asking.”
