by Sam Ryder
“What happened to Valencia?” Silk asked, as entranced by the story as I was.
“She passed on eventually, her life meter running down toward zero. Though the goddesses are as close to immortal beings as you can get, even their life meters have a zero. Valencia, however, chose to end her own life early. When her life meter dropped to ten, she called for the sword she’d never had to remove from its scabbard that day. She held it out, blade pressed into her own flesh. And when she pierced her own heart, she screamed at the top of her lungs, not in pain or fear but in defiance to death, to mortality, letting a piece of her—her defiant scream—enter the locket that she’d left open to receive it.
“From henceforth, whenever someone worthy of wielding the locket used its power, her scream pours out with the light. Rumors say that a part of Valencia’s mind also managed to escape into the locket—that she remains trapped in there to this day,” Vrill finished.
“So it was really her speaking to me?” Silk asked.
“Mayhaps,” Vrill said. “But who can truly be sure of anything when dealing with goddess power? We all heard the scream though, when you used the power against the Creed.”
As usual, I was trying to understand how things worked; specifically, this locket. “If the locket is imbued with Valencia’s power stored over hundreds or even thousands of years, why does it run out? And how is it able to recharge?”
“It’s a good question, one that doesn’t have a clear answer. There are theories, of course. The most common is that she placed her own restrictions on the locket to ensure the weapon’s longevity. In other words, the locket can only project a certain percentage of its power before it’s cut off for a pre-specified amount of time. But as for ‘recharging’, no one really knows if the locket will eventually run out of power one day, or if the power does, in fact, regenerate. Perhaps the goddess really is still in there, storing her power day by day, maintaining the store to secure her legacy. Your guess is as good as mine.”
Silk hung her head. “And I was about to use it to end a petty feud,” she said. “I am ashamed.”
“You shouldn’t be,” I said. “You said you heard a voice. When I came upon you, you seemed confused. Not yourself. Perhaps what you almost did wasn’t fully under your own control.”
“You mean, like I was being controlled by Valencia?”
“I don’t know, maybe. If she was as powerful a goddess as Vrill’s story suggests, why couldn’t she still hold power over the keeper of her locket.” I was reminded of how the one ring of power in Lord of the Rings tended to corrupt its bearer, but no one except Beat would understand the reference so I kept it to myself. There was, however, one obvious question we had failed to ask due to being so captivated by Vrill’s story. I asked it now: “What did Valencia say to you?”
Silk hesitated for just a second before answering. “Just two words: Open it.”
~~~
“What do you make of it?” Beat asked later on, once Silk had been calmed down and given a hut to rest in. Lace had been harder to calm down considering she’d been the one who’d almost been incinerated, but eventually she too had agreed to rest in another hut, the one furthest away from Silk’s. Even still, I posted Asfandiar guard at Lace’s hut to ensure she didn’t try to sneak out to murder Silk in her sleep.
“I think anything involving the goddesses, especially dead ones, is freaking weird,” I said.
“Well, yeah, but do you think we need to worry about Silk, well, incinerating everyone in camp?”
“I don’t think so. At least, not if she’s not threatened. It seems the spirit of Valencia likes being threatened even less than the living version of her. My guess is she reacted the way she did because Lace was winning the fight and she felt like the chosen bearer of her locket might be killed. But I could be wrong.”
“You usually are.”
“Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome. So what do we do? Keep Silk confined to a hut? Send her packing? She could die out there. Or, worse, become our enemy again. An enemy with a ridiculously powerful weapon, one that would be much more useful if she were on our side.”
“No,” I said. “We continue to bring her into our fold. She wants to help us. We should let her. I’ll speak to Lace. If she’ll agree to let bygones be bygones, we’ll be okay.”
“Better you than me. We might have to change your name to Cat Food.”
“You’re hilarious. If she eats me, you can call me whatever the hell you want. If I don’t come out in ten minutes, don’t send anyone in after me. She’ll be in a food coma anyway.”
“Good plan,” Beat said, slapping me hard enough on the back that if I was choking I would’ve spit it out.
With things settled, I headed to the hut where Lace was either sleeping or stewing over her near-death experience, quietly plotting her revenge. Asfandiar said, “There hasn’t been a sound from her in hours.”
I nodded my thanks and entered, blocking the silver light with my large form.
“Did you come for your sloppy seconds?” Lace asked. She was standing on the opposite side of the hut, back to me, her tail lazily waving back and forth.
I didn’t question how she knew that terminology or the fact that Silk and I had been together. “Listen, what happened with Silk and I have nothing to do with all this.”
“Doesn’t it? You’re clearly taking her side. She almost killed me, Ryder. If not for you…” She turned and stepped forward, slipping off her bikini top and bottom in one fluid motion to reveal her toned, graceful form. “You saved my life.”
Given my ever-increasing libido, I instantly wanted the cat woman, but also knew she was pretending she wanted to have sex because of my heroic act. But I knew Lace all too well. She was doing this more to get back at Silk than anything else. If Silk had me, she wanted to have me too. Why should I care her reasons? I thought. It’s just sex, and this new body of mine needs it.
Something held me back. A sense of loyalty to Vrill, perhaps. Eve too. And even Silk, in a small way. Those three seemed to fit with me, like adjoining puzzle pieces, in a way Lace never had. I mean, yeah, she’d grown on me over the time I’d spent with her, but we didn’t have that close emotional connection I had with the others.
However, nothing held Lace back, and she stalked forward, naked and eager, until she was close enough to grasp my erection through my pants. “I want you inside me. Now.”
“Lace,” I said. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Her face changed in an instant from seductive and sultry to livid with anger. “You’re rejecting me again?” I realized the precarious position I was in. She was still grasping my manhood and if her Wolverine claws came out…
“No,” I said. “It’s just…I didn’t come here for this.”
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t come while you’re here,” she said, reverting back to that voice that made me want to acquiesce to her every wish.
“Listen, I am really really tempted, I swear it. But I just can’t—not right now. There is much to discuss.”
Lace eyed me with a certain degree of curiosity. That was better than the flash of anger I’d seen a moment earlier. She stroked me one more time through my pants, then said, “Your loss.” She turned around to retrieve her discarded clothing, bending over with her bare ass aimed in my direction purposely. She took her time, wiggling her hips back and forth a few times as if it was difficult to get back into her tight-fitting clothes.
When she turned back around, she wore a mischievous grin. “I don’t like being rejected,” she said. “I hope you took a long look, because that’s the last time you’ll be seeing any of that for a long time.”
I had looked, the images forever burned into my memory.
“Now what did you want to talk about?” Lace asked. “How far to kick Silk’s ass out of camp? I vote a thousand leagues.”
Here we go, I thought. “I was thinking more like she stays.”
“What?” If someone’s ton
e of voice could kill, I’d be decapitated.
“Please, before you judge, just hear me out.”
“Tell me you haven’t fallen in love with that cat-bitch.”
“I haven’t fallen in love with that cat…woman,” I said.
“See? You can’t even call her a bitch!” Lace protested.
“That’s because no woman should be called that, at least not by a man. It’s demeaning. But, no, I am not in love with her, I swear it. But I do believe she’s here for the right reasons.”
“You think her trying to kill me is for the right reasons?”
She was in Killer Lace Mode, twisting every word around to uphold her argument. I needed to cut her off at the pass. “WethinktheghostofthegoddessValenciaspoketoherandencouragedhertousethelocketonyou,” I spat out in a single breath.
“She told you she heard a voice?” Lace said. “Man, she’s got you wrapped around her tail.”
“I believe her.”
“Of course you do. You’re a male. Malleable. Like soft clay.”
“I rejected your advances twice, didn’t I?” As soon as I said it, I knew it was the wrong thing to say, another shot of anger contorting her expression. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…look, Lace, I’m trying to do my best to keep the peace here, but you are making it difficult. Just talk to her with an open mind. Please. If you’re not convinced, we’ll ask her to leave. I swear it.” Shit. The last part was unplanned, but I sensed Lace would only respond to something grand and absolute. Something that showed her I was willing to take her word over Silk’s.
“Really? I talk to her and then decide whether she stays or goes? No questions asked?”
I wasn’t going to back out now. “Yes. That’s the deal. Agreed?”
She smiled for real, showing her fangs. “Agreed. But only if there’s a kicker. If I decide she should go, you have to bed me.”
I sighed. This again. She was relentless sometimes, especially when there was something she couldn’t have. Before this, our sexual relations were always on her terms. But now that I was playing hard to get she couldn’t seem to handle it. “Is that really necessary?”
“Yes,” she said. “It is. You have her stink all over you. If she goes, I don’t want any remnants of her here. I’ll replace her stink with my aroma.”
I couldn’t tell if her explanation was serious or just a ruse, but I suspected she might actually be being truthful considering how important scent was to creatures of the feline variety. Plus, I wasn’t exactly in a position to negotiate much further, not if I wanted to prevent the two cat-women from ripping each other limb from limb. “Fine. Agreed.”
“Good. Get ready to have your world rocked.” She brushed up against me as she departed the hut, sliding the tip of her tail under my chin, caressing me.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
She turned back, a sly smile curling her lips. “To talk to Silk, of course. No time like the present.”
I hadn’t expected the conversation to happen so soon. The dust had barely settled on their catfight. Still, Lace was right—time was of the essence, so the sooner we got this all resolved the better. No time like the present, I thought, hoping this all wasn’t about to blow up in my face.
~~~
The two cat-women insisted on going off by themselves. I could picture what would happen next—only one would return, the other left as carrion for the gargats during the next Black.
I paced the entire time they were gone, while Beat made jokes to try to calm both our nerves. “What do you get when you cross two cat-women and an Oceanian?” she asked.
“I haven’t the slightest clue,” I said.
“A four-eyed catfish with two tails,” she said.
I stopped to groan and then continued pacing. An hour later, I spotted both women in the distance, returning. They were walking slightly closer together than when they’d left. Which I took for a good sign. I think. Definitely maybe.
“We’re good,” Lace said as they approached. “So long as she doesn’t get in my way.”
“Or she in mine,” Silk said.
“So you believe her?” I asked Lace.
“Unfortunately, yeah. She hears voices from a goddess who’s been dead for over a thousand years.”
“So you’ll let her stay?”
“Stop rubbing it in. Yes, she can stay. And you don’t have to fuck me.”
Beat raised her eyebrows at that. I hadn’t exactly disclosed the “kicker” that had been added to the deal I’d made with the devil—I mean, with Lace. Beat cleared her throat. “Now that we’ve settled who doesn’t have to have intercourse with who, can we prepare for the next Black?”
“By all means,” I said.
“Tally-ho,” Beat said, which meant little to nothing to me. She strode away, flexing her knuckles. She shouted to her group of Warriors to get them all together for training. Millania was already doing the same with her Warriors. Vrill was off with her dragon somewhere.
“Ladies, cats, whatever,” I said, “You should spend some time with the beasts that will be your ladders for the plan tonight. Silk, you’ll be climbing Mrizandr. See if you can find him. Lace, you’ll be using Ton to get the high ground. Agreed?” Both of them nodded. Silk headed off in one direction while Lace sauntered the opposite way.
Good, I thought. We were back on track. So what did I do? I went back to sleep. All this talking and worrying had exhausted me.
~~~
It was finally time for another Black. More importantly, it was time for our little experiment. I felt a little like Dr. Frankenstein about to pull the lever and sent thousands of volts of electricity into a cobbled together monster in an ill-advised attempt to bring him to life. Eh, what the hell? I’ve done crazier things in my time on Tor.
“You look a little…unhinged,” Beat observed while I smiled stupidly at my own inner thoughts.
“Unhinged implies I was ever hinged in the first place,” I said.
“Good point.”
We walked on as darkness fell. My vision changed automatically to be able to pierce the shroud of utter blackness, while the others relied primarily on the light cast by their flickering demonfire torches. Vrill and her dragon were on the righthand side. Silk was in position, sitting on Mrizandr’s back behind Vrill. She held a sizable tub of ooze. To the left, Ton lumbered onward, ridden by both Nrrrf, to calm him, and Lace, also hauling a tub of ooze. The big question weighing on everyone’s mind was Which type of monster would come? It’s not like we could go through a Monsters ‘R Us drive-thru and select the type we’d most like to cover in ooze to turn to our cause. It was luck of the draw, as random as the Silver and Bronze days were long.
Of course, it just had to be the Maluk’ori, the demon horde tittering and hissing as they approached across the wastelands, a dozen strong. They ran on all fours, sort of like apes, but were thin and constructed of all angles, with sharp elbows and back-bent knees, their black skin pulled tight across their spindly forms. Each appendage ended in razor-sharp claws capable of ripping through muscle and tendon, and their mouths were full of thin teeth sharpened by gnawing on the bones of their victims.
“Should we roll out the WELCOME MALUK’ORI banner now?” Beat asked. She couldn’t see them yet like I could, but she could surely hear them. We’d all learned long ago how to identify which monsters we were about to face just by the varied sounds of their approach.
“I don’t want them to feel pressured to join us,” I said. “I’m thinking we dump the ooze on them first and then talk about our future together.”
“Fine,” Beat said, pretending to be annoyed. “We’ll do it your way. As usual.”
I shouted to Lace and Silk. “You ready?”
Silk nodded. Lace raised her tub of ooze. They were ready.
Those carrying torches cast them into position, creating a large circle of light. Ton stomped his massive hooves, making the ground tremble. Mrizandr waited obediently, flames glowing from deep within his maw. Game tim
e, I thought. Let’s do this.
This tittering, hissing sounds drew closer. I tried to count the horde, but it was difficult as they weaved their way in and out of each other. It appeared random, but I got the sense it was something instinctual, used to confuse their prey. For all I could tell, it could be as few as a dozen demons, or as many as three dozen. “Prepare!” I shouted, which was something Beat normally liked to be the one to say.
“Always gotta steal my thunder, Ryder,” she muttered.
The Warriors formed two circles, one led by Beat and the other by Millania. I took on the rover spot between them; I would assist whichever circle needed it the most. As the demons attacked, we would attempt to herd them to either side toward where Silk and Lace were in position. Herding sheep would’ve been easy. Herding Maluk’ori? Not so much.
The first of the demons sprang into the light, gnashing their teeth and revealing black gums and sharp teeth. They were probably the smartest of the monsters we encountered on a nightly basis, which meant they steered well clear of the two massive creatures holding our flanks. Instead, they funneled toward the two circles, trying to create a breach in our defenses. They were used to us holding position, covering each other’s backs. But tonight we were conducting an experiment, which meant taking risks. As planned, Beat and Millania shouted, “Charge!” at the same time. Both circles collapsed as the Warriors formed a line, running to meet the demons. At the same time, Nrrrf and Vrill guided their steeds in from the sides in a pincer maneuver, forcing the demons to choose which side to fight.
The Maluk’ori didn’t like that. Not one bit.
They went bananas, like wild animals caught in a corner with Animal Control bearing down on them with nets. They threw themselves at the Warriors, slashing with all four sets of claws and trying to bite throats. My eyes flicked back and forth from side to side, like I was watching a tennis match, trying to get a feel for who might require my help. Beat and her Warriors were rock steady, holding the line and managing to inch the demons back toward Ton. Lace was already leaning over the edge of the big fella, preparing to dump the contents of her bucket across the line of demons.
