Crack.
The sound wasn’t loud, but Adrian jumped again, spinning as he demanded, “What are you…”
His voice trailed off as a translucent white light oozed out of the gem, swirling upward a few feet, then toward Xandra. Xandra grimaced and swatted it to the side.
“None of that. The ley line is that way,” Xandra said tartly, glowering at the light, which began to slowly move off in the direction she’d batted it, fading from sight as it did.
“What’s that?” Jasmine’s voice came from behind Xandra, somewhat surprising her.
“I thought you were sleeping,” Xandra said, opening the pouch and placing the cracked gemstone inside. She grabbed the next gem, examining it before setting it in place. It really was a shame to do this, with how valuable the gems were, but there were some things she couldn’t abide.
“I tried. I kept having nightmares, then I heard you were awake,” Jasmine said, glancing at the gems as she approached slowly. “What are you doing?”
“Freeing souls,” Xandra said simply, clamping down again to crack the diamond. It didn’t crack quite as easily, but all she needed was a minor fracture. “Mistress kept a variety of souls as a collection, and… shoo, follow the other one! She kept souls in gemstones.”
She waved the second soul off, scowling at it in annoyance. Souls could be incredibly clingy, as long as you weren’t actively injuring them. The last thing she wanted was for them to latch onto her.
Adrian and Jasmine both flinched, looking at the pile of gems with mingled fear and horror. Jasmine licked her lips as Xandra put away the diamond and picked up another. “That many of them? What… what did she do with them?”
“And did you hit an innocent soul?” Adrian demanded, staring at her with horrified fascination.
“They aren’t innocent. According to Mistress, innocent souls, like that of an infant, are flavorless and so malleable as to be useless,” Xandra said, cracking the next gem without pause. She was starting to get the hang of how much pressure it took, and she batted the soul away before it could more than half-lunge toward her. “She would partially drain them, since succubi soul-drain people, then she’d use the soul in the process of creating a new demon. A weakened soul allowed her to enslave the resulting demon, and to shape the body and personality more easily.”
Glancing at their faces, and their even more horrified expressions, Xandra sighed, and added wearily, “She didn’t do that often. Most of the time she liked keeping them on the shelves to admire and gloat about the souls she’d acquired. The other succubi were jealous, which was why she also got some gems that didn’t have souls to make her collection appear even larger. She’d have filled them eventually.”
“I… could have ended up in one of those,” Jasmine said, her face pale with dread.
“No, you wouldn’t have. I never saw a single person who ended up in the gems. Those were all on warfronts, or… ah, this was an angel,” Xandra noted, seeing a much brighter soul come out of the ruby she’d cracked. “That’s unusual. Usually their bodies are their souls.”
They all watched the soul float off after the others, and for a minute the campsite was quiet, save for Xandra breaking one gem after another.
“Who were you?” Jasmine asked at last, sounding surprisingly curious. “You don’t sound like you regret what you’ve done.”
“Of course I regret it. I was a foolish, arrogant, power-hungry idiot. If I could go back and change what I did, I’d do so in a heartbeat. However, that will never happen,” Xandra said, this time without heat, and she sighed, pausing in breaking the gems to study her hands, then shrugged. “Once, I was a finely honed blade, ready to cut any that offended me. Not anymore. Now, I’m… worn down. Honed for so long that I’m brittle, barely useful for anything at all, just as they intended. If Mistress hadn’t died, I would be going about my daily routine, just like always. Cleaning her room after she bedded you, most likely, then washing you and making sure you were ready for her to come back to. I wouldn’t even think to disobey, because I’d been taught better. Did I take the chance to escape? Yes, of course. Because staying would result in agony far, far worse than what could happen here.
“As for who I was… does it matter? I barely remember that arrogant girl,” Xandra said, laughing softly, thinking about the fragments that she could remember of her past. “I remember bits and pieces, certainly. I’m sure you could put together the pieces of who I was, given time. I don’t even know how long it’s been for certain, though. The only thing left to me is my name, and what bits of magic I wasn’t forbidden to practice. I’ll have to relearn the rest.”
They didn’t reply, but Xandra didn’t push them. Instead she continued what she had been doing, cracking open the gems one after another. Most were normal souls, though a handful more were those of angels or similarly powerful beings. She wasn’t certain what the one that crackled like it was made of flames was, though obviously it was fire aligned in some way. Probably a fire elemental of some type, when she thought about it. At least it didn’t try to wrap itself around her, instead moving with alacrity toward the ley line.
“What do you plan to do?” Adrian finally asked, then cleared his throat. “I mean, assuming we don’t have to imprison you or something.”
“That is an excellent question. Practice my magic, to try to get it to the point where I can use it without wrecking my body. Sell some of the gems, particularly these cracked ones, and remove the mark of my Mistress that was tattooed on my stomach… maybe figure out where I used to live and visit it, assuming anything is left,” Xandra said, tapping her upper lip as she considered, then shrugged. “Probably buy a house and study different topics. Maybe architecture or something sufficiently mundane, assuming it can hold my interest. I have no idea how I’ll react to free time… probably poorly.”
“Why do you say that?” Jasmine asked quietly, adjusting her cloak as she looked at the coals.
“When you’ve worked for over twenty hours a day for centuries, and the only ‘time off’ you’ve had is when you’re suffering torment beyond anything you can imagine, you learn to try to keep from drawing attention and just do your job,” Xandra replied bluntly. “Not doing anything is likely to be difficult. I have no idea how long it will take me just to learn to sleep more than a few hours a night. Why do you ask, anyway?”
“I’m trying to figure you out. You claim to be little more than a servant, and that you try to avoid notice, but at the same time you’re…” Jasmine paused, pursing her lips, then sighed and shrugged. “You’re arrogant. The first thought that went through my head when you entered the dungeon was that you looked even more regal and arrogant than the demoness who was tormenting me. I thought you might be there to finish Adrian, Naomi, and Vanreth off.”
Xandra paused, turning her torso so she could look at the woman more directly, a bit incredulous about what she’d said. She searched for any sign of falsehood, and didn’t see anything that made her think that Jasmine was lying. That made her incredulity grow even stronger, though.
“Truly. That… is surprising. Perhaps I grew to reflect Mistress. Or perhaps I was never able to humble myself as much as I should have… That could be why she didn’t kill me long ago,” Xandra said, turning back to the gems, a little annoyed with herself. “If you’re correct, it would also explain why so many demons took pleasure in humiliating me. That is… an annoying revelation.”
Adrian just stared at her, his mouth slightly agape, and Xandra let out the faintest of sighs, since the way he was staring indicated that Jasmine was right. That really irritated her.
“Hm. I guess that’s possible. I just… didn’t think you wouldn’t realize,” Jasmine said, tapping a finger on her upper arm, considering Xandra for several seconds before she asked, “So, did you look like that originally? With how I was changed, and from what it sounds like, Alora was…”
“Of course. I know my skin wasn’t quite this color, and my hair certainly didn’t have a purple
hue to it. I’m fairly sure that my figure was a little different, but I can’t be absolutely certain. My memory is muddled. On the other hand, Mistress did prefer more… ample figures, so she changed people to fit her preferences,” Xandra said, now smiling again, a bit morbidly. “That said, I think I’ve answered enough questions. What about you? Obviously you’re going to try to get her changes undone, but what are you going to do? Who are you, anyway? I’m certain you follow a deity of light, but I don’t know much more than that.”
Adrian choked slightly, looking at Xandra incredulously, while Jasmine simply smiled in amusement, shaking her head as she paused, then spoke quietly. “I’m Jasmine Alexis, holy maiden of the Phoenix Queen.”
That prompted Xandra to pause and look at Jasmine again, her eyebrows rising slightly as she considered her. Eventually she murmured, “Holy maiden of the Phoenix Queen? No wonder Mistress wanted to claim you for herself. That would make you incredibly valuable to demons. She might have been planning to auction you off.”
Jasmine winced, shrugging as she spoke, her tone almost artificially even. “You very well may be right. Not something I want to think about, if I’m being honest. I suspect I’m going to be cloistered in the temple for a few months while they undo whatever she did to me, then a while longer while they make certain I’m safe. Then they’ll start sending me out for purifications and the like again.”
“Doesn’t sound like it would be pleasant to me,” Xandra said, picking up the last gemstone and examining the emerald for a few seconds, before she set it in place and cracked it. Another soul slipped out of the gem and she nodded, swatting it off toward the ley line. “There, done. One collection of souls freed.”
“You can’t be that bad, if you’d free them,” Adrian said, looking at Xandra curiously. “I mean, who would know if you hadn’t? I doubt anyone would have realized what they were until far too late.”
Jasmine nodded, smiling slightly as she murmured, “Agreed, though I don’t think that what I do is that boring.”
Xandra snorted softly, and let out a sigh as she held up the nutcracker and brandished it at the two, her eyes narrowed. “The two of you are far too trusting and forgiving. Just because I freed the souls means nothing. A demon would do it in a heartbeat if it thought that would allow it to claim a greater prize in the future. Some terrible people have lines they won’t cross as well. The last thing you need is to let your guard down because I did one thing you liked.”
“Not just one thing. If you hadn’t helped, we’d never have gotten out of there,” Jasmine said, and grimaced as she added, “I might not have been able to save both Adrian and Naomi, either. I don’t know if they had enough mana potions for that.”
“Which I still haven’t thanked you for, Milady. That was an unpleasant experience,” Adrian said, nodding to Jasmine, who just smiled and waved it off.
Xandra rolled her eyes and murmured, “Shouldn’t you be keeping watch? I don’t think that watching us counts.”
That caused a blush to creep up the mage’s cheeks, and he quickly turned back to the forest around them, prompting a soft laugh from Jasmine.
“There likely isn’t anything in the forest that would threaten us, you know. Most of this region is relatively safe,” Jasmine said, looking at Xandra in amusement. The elf shrugged in response.
“Likely isn’t something that you should count on. I’d suggest you try to sleep again, holy maiden. Anticipate the worst, and you’ll never be disappointed,” Xandra replied, sweeping the last fragments of gems into the pouch, then putting it away.
“Perhaps you’re right. However, I’d rather live with hope for the best, rather than being gloomy. Rest well, if you do,” Jasmine said, climbing to her feet laboriously, then went back to her tent.
Xandra watched her go, and listened to the alien sounds of the forest around her for a minute. The birds and animals were so strange, after as long as she’d been in the palace. No animals dared make sound there, if they lived at all, which made it even harder for her to adapt. After a minute she shook her head and turned her gaze back to the bag. There were plenty of things for her to sort through, and she didn’t know how all of them worked. That meant she needed to separate them into things which she dared touch and those that needed to be handled carefully.
“Fools,” Xandra murmured, pulling out the wands and lining them up on the cloak as she examined them.
She might not have been allowed to learn demonic magic, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t recognize which wands her Mistress had used to produce specific effects. Knowledge was power, and she didn’t want to be powerless. Never again.
Chapter 6
Jasmine let out a sigh of relief as they crested the ridge and could see Lothdar ahead of them. Her legs were aching, and she was afraid that blisters might be forming on her feet, but they were home at last. She could heal herself, but that would be rather embarrassing to do in front of everyone else, so she intended to wait until they were in private.
In Jasmine’s opinion, Lothdar was a beautiful city. The walls weren’t very attractive, as they were made of gray stone, but they formed a little less than three quarters of a circle, linking several islets in the bay to form a sea wall, while the other end terminated around the base of the hill which the city fortress was built atop. The fortress was somewhat sprawling, with multiple towers defending it, but most important was its aerie where the dragon knights patrolled from, overlooking the harbor where white-sailed ships moved in and out of the sea gate, and atop which was a brightly shining lighthouse.
The city itself was largely stone, as few people wanted the buildings to catch fire if a mana storm struck, but some areas were poor enough that wooden roofs were occasionally visible. Most of the buildings were attractive, with tile or slate roofs that were dull red or brown, and the walls were largely gray, where they weren’t covered in climbing vines or moss. At the center of the city was the temple, a sight which drew Jasmine’s eye every time she came into sight of it.
The temple was large, befitting one of the largest temples to the Phoenix Queen on the continent, and its architect had taken pains to gather stone from across the region to make it truly unique. The building was constructed of red, orange, and yellow stone, each carefully placed to make the temple look like it was formed of flames, and beside the sprawling complex of dozens of buildings were two wing-shaped towers that flanked the central spire, reminiscent of a phoenix with its head and wings upraised.
“Hm. I don’t believe that I remember a temple like that existing when I was last in the mortal plane. Though it’s possible that I’m on an entirely different continent… or somewhere even more exotic,” Xandra said while examining the city skeptically.
Xandra was a good part of the reason why Jasmine hadn’t dared complain on the trip, if she were being honest. It had become quickly apparent that while the elf wasn’t a stranger to long days or lots of work, hiking was new to her. It’d taken the better part of two days to reach Lothdar, and Vanreth had flatly refused to rest in one of the towns along the way, since as far as he knew they still hadn’t determined which of the residents might have betrayed Jasmine the first time. Xandra had quickly begun to limp, but the woman hadn’t voiced a single word of complaint, no matter how long they’d forced her to keep going. She was still caustic when she thought someone was being foolish, but since they’d left the lower planes even that had grown less common.
“The temple was built over the course of ten years, approximately fifty years ago,” Naomi said, sounding like she was quoting a textbook, though the young woman gave a nervous smile. “Which is to say, if you were down there for as long as you said, it was built afterward.”
“Good to know,” Xandra said, rolling her shoulders. “I presume that we’ll be there today, then?”
“That’s right,” Vanreth confirmed, glancing at Alora. “Are you planning to come to the temple with us?”
“Yes, at least for the moment. I need to figure out where we
are, and find a way to get home,” Alora said, and Jasmine could see the woman was still keeping a wary eye on Xandra. That was… frustrating, in her opinion, but unfortunately understandable. If she’d been captive for longer, Jasmine might not have been willing to trust anyone who’d lived among the demons either.
“Well, with any luck we’ll be able to reverse some of the changes that were made to you as well,” Jasmine said, and glanced at Xandra once as Vanreth started down the road toward Lothdar. “Still, I’m looking forward to having a proper bed… and the chance to bathe, for that matter.”
For the first time since she’d met Xandra, the woman didn’t have a scathing response. Instead, the elf just sniffed as she followed them.
Jasmine really hoped that the high priest wouldn’t overreact.
“Jasmine, you’re… goddess, what did they do to you?” Quentin asked, his eyes filled with shock and worry.
It was hours later, and late enough that Jasmine couldn’t see any sign of the sun still in the sky. They’d reached the city gates quickly, and Vanreth had arranged an escort to the temple in only a minute, as well as for a few people to keep an eye on Xandra, who’d ended up being left in one of the outbuildings of the temple. Jasmine had no idea what had ended up happening to the elf, but her own experience had been tiring.
She’d been examined by several of the church’s curse-breakers, who’d taken illusionary recordings of all the spells that had been drawn across her body before allowing her to bathe and clean up at last. That had taken a while, after which she’d gotten a hearty meal, and finally she’d been brought to meet Quentin. She was tired, but felt closer to normal than she had in four days. Four days that felt like they’d been an eternity, with how her body ached to be touched.
“That’s the question, isn’t it, Your Excellency? I don’t have a clue, aside from the obvious… and I heard my bones pop, so I think there are less obvious changes as well,” Jasmine replied, glancing down at her bust. “I suspect the curse-breakers are going to have their work cut out for them this time. I’m just glad the demoness was stopped before she could go further.”
Dusk Gate (Soul Bound Book 1) Page 5
