02 Wrath of Flames

by Jr H. Lee Morgan

  “General?” Ethan’s brow furrowed in confusion. “General Panther?”

  “We will discuss it later, Master.”

  “Is Panther truly your name?”

  “Indeed it is. I sent a minor telepathic push when we first met that night with Kanade trying to spell me to be at ease. I wanted few discrepancies when the day would come where we met properly.”

  “Well, thanks, I think.” He said with uncertainty.

  “You sound stronger, Master. Did the hunger overtake you?”

  “Is that your polite way of asking what I’ve ate?” Ethan asked with humor.

  “Yes.” Panther said as he slid around traps he’d found in his scouting.

  “A Succubus and a Lamia, both of who tortured me more times than I care to remember.”

  “Then I am at ease. You will not require me to bring you food.”

  “Oh, but you will. But that will come later.”

  Tokala smiled despite himself, enjoying the moment to run and banter. But it soon ended when Panther sprung up into a tree with a perfect view of a clearing fifty feet ahead. The feline being said “Master, I must be quiet for now. You may speak freely. Only those loyal you focus on can hear.”

  “Understood. I’ll go quiet so you both my concentrate on infiltrating.”

  Waiting wasn’t long at all as an Elf suddenly appeared along with a rather large group of varying unwashed beings back from a successful raid for fresh supplies. Easily large enough to slip in and not arouse suspicion. Panther gave a sharp look to Tokala the moment he dropped at his side on the ground.

  Tokala’s appearance warped like rippling water. He seemed to get smaller and turn into a dirty Harpy during the early stages of molting and added a foul musk to really sell the disguise. Panther was impressed at how real it appeared and then looked at himself as his fur turned to hair and alter into an average Kelpie. They moved forward and out into the light.

  The raiding leader looked over the party before heading up the worn trail, not realizing two more had joined behind a cart of fresh human meat and boxes of captured souls.

  Panther’s lithe body readied to slaughter as they neared the entrance. First the cargo was looked carefully over by a Shaman Elf before giving clearance. No unauthorized materials were allowed entrance. They then approached three guards who checked if they were indeed minions of Sheedan. He then felt a ripple of power wash over. Most illusions would fail, but Tokala was no pushover and his images held strong. He lifted a false wing and let strong odor from crushed demonic flower petals that would make even the dirtiest sniffer recoil and not scent his Kitsune heritage.

  Panther’s illusion lifted a hoof to show his mark and the guard scratched it for authenticity. It felt like an old brand on flesh would. Tokala’s abilities were best of the best and the illusions looked and, most importantly, felt real.

  Each passed without suspicion and they moved in looking at the first, pitch burning, wall torch stuffed in a hole made in the stone wall. Then they heard in the privacy of their minds, in the first ever spoken language “I’ve got you. You are both a kelpie and a Harpy right? Tokala, if you’re the Harpy cock your head in three, two one.” Tokala did it. “Fifty-fifty shot. Good. Walk straight for sixty feet and take the second left.” They did. “Good, you will need to not arouse suspicion in the mess hall since only returning raiders eat right after returning. Find a place to sit for ten minutes and then head down the left corridor, third from where you are now entering.”

  They rested near a fire off to the side. Each tried to find any change in the flickering light to detect they were watched. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Tokala’s Harpy image hummed and dilated its eyes as if it just ate a fresh soul. After ten minutes they got up and moved along, acting as if they belonged and clearly not looking like they were together. Panther led the way several yards ahead in the loud room where everyone ate.

  Dark and desolate, they delved deeper as Tokala listened to directions and changed their shapes into haggard Goblins who looked like they just finished rolling around in mud with matted fur and piss stink included. Panther took the lead as they came into a medium size room and he knocked on a door and spoke in the native lowest class of Goblin tongue which translated as “Here for prisoner food.”

  The old door squeaked open and needed its hinges to be oiled decades ago. Panther walked right into a large room with a bubbling cauldron as the centerpiece. A Ghoul sneered at the short Goblin crawling in on all fours, but walked back to making the slop with old, moldy bread, dirty water and out of date hardtack and oatmeal that went rancid years ago, but the Ghoul poured a large container full of the gruel and handed it down to get back to work. He mumbled “Filthy mongrel.”

  “Call him ‘Rotting Corpse’.” Ethan urged.

  The ghoul merely grunted at the retort and kicked the door shut behind the goblin. Feeling they had a moment of privacy, Tokala asked “Was that wise?”

  “It’s the first set of passwords.” Ethan said. “Goblins are servants mostly here, but if you didn’t insult the chef he would have struck down your exposed back as you went out the door.”

  The two looked to one another and each carried the heavy liquid meal, astounded this is all they gave to prisoners. It would probably kill more than it could sustain.

  They moved back into the cafeteria and down another, much larger tunnel, careful not to spill the contents. Greater chatter was in this communal room and some sounded like fighting as any cramped space would do to territorial creatures wanting to assert dominance. Avoiding conflict wasn’t difficult as they blended in and were hardly looked at twice. Sometimes they saw fights end in death. Before long the course set got them out of the thick, tightly packed bodies.

  After a half hour of navigating, they came upon a set of armored guards. One five tail Kitsune held up a hand. “Halt. Password.”

  Panther immediately grunted in Goblin “Swamp of Agony.” A real place in Demon World that was so numbing to the senses it actually hurt if one got wet. Only the foolish dare tread in there in search of rare medicines. Tokala had gone dozens of times over his long life.

  “Proceed.” They were waved through, their short back legs moving about like real Goblins while long and strong arms hefted the heavy soup.

  “After you reach the bottom of the stairs I’ll be blind for over two hundred feet. There isn’t any fire to see you guys. But in the dark I heard the second password is ‘Heart of Azunee.’ Say it after a dozen steps or so. It is a blind spot for me. I’ve never seen who hides inside or what trap await if you don’t say the password.”

  Right on cue they couldn’t pierce to total darkness of a rather spacious tunnel. After a few steps Tokala grunted the words and they made it through without being harmed or heard anything.

  For the next hour they went deeper and deeper into the mountain. The once bubbling hot gruel now lay chilled and clumpy. They followed his instruction well and managed to only talk their way out of one small misunderstanding. The air grew colder the further they descended and faint screams from other prisoners steadily grew in intensity.

  At last they came to the last checkpoint and a tall Elf at just over five and a half feet lay lounged sipping a drink out of a bleached skull. A Naga skull to be accurate. Evil yellow eyes looked up as they grunted under the gruel container and lazily asked “Password?”

  Panther said “Volcano is dormant.”

  “Wrong!” The Elf growled as it suddenly went from lounging beneath a series of beeswax candles to standing in their way with a bow drawn with a barbed arrow dipped in poison aimed where Panther’s knee actually was and not the Goblin illusion’s throat.

  “No, Panther. Don’t do anything rash.” Ethan quickly said. “I heard it used twice already. He’s trying to trick you. If you kill him the Ice Dragon will hear. Repeat it.”

  “Volcano is dormant.”

  “And I said wrong.” The Elf pulled the string tighter.

  “Both of you, bare your teeth and
set the container down.” They alone heard.

  Two dirty Goblins growled and moved like a pack of wolves. Going to either side and readying to fight.

  The Elf suddenly laughed. “You simpletons are so fun to tease.” Tension on the bowstring slacked slowly and he disappeared back to his seat and returned to drinking out of the skull. The Goblins looked to one another, shrugged and picked up the gruel and descended the final steps.

  At the bottom was a spacious cavern where a bluish Dragon lay curled up, shards and flurries of ice crawled over the floor for several yards before stopping. It’s eyes were closed, but one could never tell if a Dragon was pretending or truly asleep so they carefully and quietly crawled around and took the central of five chambers, down to another three way fork and took the rightmost chamber.

  Ethan opened his eyes and stood saying in English “The cavalry has arrived.”

  The other captives did likewise moments before the solid metal door swung open by a goblin holding a torch. Beady brown eyes looked around and then left, slowly and fearfully looking up at a giant of a person. Then it smiled before the illusion rippled away and a nine tailed fox stood with a torch in his right hand. “Damn, you look like Torment’s top bitch.”

  “Good to see you too, Tokala. Where’s Panther?”

  “Standing guard out in the other little house of horrors, without the musical commentary. You’ve certainly changed since last time.”

  “And you are a laid back comedian now that your mom is all better.”

  “I’ll get you out now.” Tokala looked at the locking mechanism and rolled his eyes. “I can’t even pick a lock. Where is the fun of infiltrating without picking a lock?” He grumbled as he simply waved his clawed hand over the lock and it swung out without any help.

  Ethan bent over as he stepped out under his own power.

  Joints popped loudly all over as he finally got to stand tall. Tokala smirked wryly as he was barely considered hip level compared to the last time when he was five inches taller. He couldn’t help saying “Someone has been eating his vegetables.” Ethan chuckled and held his still wounded ribs before turning around and using his large hand to wave over every lock to open every cell. “Uh, what is going on, Ethan? I thought we were getting out, not making a jailbreak.”

  “I owe them.” He said as he helped one of the captives to his feet. “They are who got me through this and I’m a man of my word. Besides, I’m in no condition at the moment to go on the counterattack and my friends here need somewhere better to hole up and get a true nights rest. Keep trusting me, Tokala, if need be I can fight some, but a real rest will heal me up right after the meal I had earlier. But before we go I need you to cast an illusion of everyone here still seemingly in their cells with vacant, lifeless stares for a good long day. Can you do it?”

  The Kitsune sighed. “Sure, why not. A day isn’t hard. I just need a good look at everyone.”

  Volkenm said “So that is why you didn’t clean our holes like you said. If anyone came down and saw it clean with us all looking like this would be suspicious.”

  “Exactly. Now let’s go meet my other companion and you all can eat before we go.” Ethan said as he ducked to fit through the door and down a dark tunnel before opening another door that led to the torture room.

  Sitting on top of the uncomfortable and jagged slab was the open container of cold, congealed and lumpy gruel. Ethan held his hand over it and the others watched as it began to steam. Everyone grabbed a bowl from around the room and Ethan selected Volkenm to dish out rations which he did.

  A dark form stood at the door like a lifeless shadow, but was humanoid. At least nine feet tall and sleekly muscled as any feline, Panther’s armor was some form of leather that didn’t reflect the faintest amount of light nor hindered full rotation and flexibility. Rounded ears sat atop his head while a long tail swung through the air slowly, patiently, perfect for additional balance. Just looking at Panther’s back spoke of feline grace and ferocity wrapped in a large and lithe form. And like Tokala, he didn’t have feet, but huge cat paws.

  “Panther, look at me.”

  A momentary sigh of resignation preceded a low yowl “As you wish, Master.”

  The being turned and Ethan looked directly at his companion’s face. Ethan was certain he expected a human’s face, like facial prosthetics done in movies do for cat-men. His assumptions were way of base as looking back was the face of a sleek black jaguar atop a thick neck. Long opaque whiskers twitched with his nose and huge jaw muscles barely twitched. It was like someone put a jaguar’s head on a person’s body. Instead of his catlike eyes that were vertical slits, these were round and glowed all on their own in the darkness.

  “Wow, you’re beautiful.” Ethan blurted.

  Panther certainly wasn’t expecting that has his mouth dropped to show pristine white teeth as thick as his thumb. “You haven’t changed at all, Master.”

  “Holy shit! A Balam.” Gushed out of Moombae the Goblin as she already hurriedly drank her hot gruel.

  “Is that what you are, Panther?” Ethan asked. “I’ve never heard of a Balam before.”

  “I will be more than happy to speak of my race later, Master, but where are we to go? I heard you telling Tokala these lower minions will come with us, but where shall we hole up to recover?”

  “Let me worry about that. I’ve already selected a rarely used and known about supply area with a stream that flows through this mountain. It’s only checked once a week and that was yesterday before Sheedan had me pissed to finally contact you. As you can see, I’m not in the best of shape.” Panther didn’t need to be reminded. He was already upset to see so many wounds yet to heal all over. A finger under his furry chin had him look up. “I don’t need to read your mind to know you feel responsible. What’s done is done. We need you to focus and take the lead. And I felt your power when I connected. I need to know if you can kill the Ice Dragon we need to get past without leaving any traces or making him sound an alarm? If I use my power it will be too obvious.”

  This time Panther grinned evilly. “It would be my absolute pleasure to eradicate the scum.”

  Ethan watched as muscles in Panther’s forearm squeezed and pushed half inch thick claws from his fingertips that came out over eighteen inches long. He had ten long and deadly claws Ethan was sure could be capable of cutting his tough skin like wet paper.

  Moments later Tokala appeared and said “All done… Uh, General? You about to kill someone?”

  “Indeed.” Panther turned as everyone gathered near the door and went silent.

  Ethan though didn’t comment about the ‘General’ comment, but it did make him curious. He signaled complete silence and gave the Balam a nod.

  Panther slipped out completely without a trace of sound, the ultimate assassin. He stealthily moved through the halls till his eyes laid upon the Ice Dragon that hadn’t moved.

  In an instant he crossed the distance and speared his fully extended claws directly through the base of its skull and deep into its brain to let loose a burst of controlled Demon Energy that turned it to mush, but while his claws were inside he manipulated the part of the reptile’s brain that controls breathing and let it continue working. The skill wouldn’t last more than a few days, but to all outward appearances it was alive and breathing. Reality was it was already dead.

  Claws retracted back up into his forearms as he jumped off the carcass and made his way back to the others. A satisfied smile played on his master’s lips, having seen everything through another fire across the chamber.

  As soon as he stepped into the hall Ethan paused and moaned “Sweet. I can do the other half of magic now. The spells are lifted.”

  The only other Caster was a Witch who moaned in relief as she felt it to as she covered her sunken breasts.

  Everyone watched as his fist glowed violet. Neither red or blue. He traced powerful illusions that settled over all of them, turning them invisible, muffling steps and containing every particle of sce
nt. “Guys, we’ve all been through hell, but my spells will be seen through if we say another word. We can see each other, but to everyone else we’ll be invisible.”

  “I’m really tired.” Moombae swooned suddenly.

  “Master, your aura is leeching.” Panther said as he dug in his pouch. “Swallow this.” He held out what looked like an acorn. “For you, it will last maybe an hour till we can find a better way to safeguard everyone.”

  Ethan snatched it and swallowed without thinking. As soon as it hit his belly it warmed and the others managed to recover before passing out. He mumbled “That was close. Thanks, Panther. I’ll enchant a piece of metal soon.” The Balam nodded curtly as everyone was more than ready to go.

  The Elf guard drinking from a skull neither saw, smelled or heard anything as escapees traipsed right past his post. They followed Panther and took many twists and turns, fully relying on Ethan’s great sense of direction. Several times they had to squeeze against a wall as groups passed or he and Panther had to duck to fit through narrower areas till they were seeing less and less activity.

  Finally they came upon an old wall and before anyone could complain there wasn’t a door, Ethan pressed a hidden brick and the wall swung in, grinding stone on stone. Everyone was accounted for as they all slid in before the wall automatically closed.

  The hidden storage area was stacked with crates of dried food and weapons. It was a hard decision for everyone, but hunger drew before arming oneself. In the back of the room was a trickling pool of fresh and clean water constantly flowing.

  Ethan though made way for the water before anyone and plunged his head straight in. The shock of cold was momentary as he gulped great quantities. Others saw this and since everyone had been giving him water for so long, dropped everything and rehydrated properly for the first time in what felt forever. Buckets were found and filled so the source of clean water wasn’t hogged. Eventually Ethan surfaced for air with an “Ah”