by Sam Cheever
I had to think, think, think.
My mental drawers were suddenly invaded.
Astra?
Ohmygod, Emo. Where are you? I need your help.
I’m here. Hidden. I’ve called for help but they haven’t shown up yet.
How’d you get in here? Can you come get this damned gown off me?
Astra this is no time to talk dirty.
Ha. I think it’s been magicked or something, it weighs a ton and I can’t see or hear anything.
Power blocker. They’re trying to keep you from communicating with Dialle.
But I’m communicating with you?
Yeah, the king’s either forgotten about me or he doesn’t consider me dangerous. Big mistake on his part.
Emo, if I ever get out of this remind me to give you a big, wet kiss.
There you go talkin’ dirty to me again. When, we get out of this, remind me to take you up on it.
So where are you?
I’m hiding right in the middle of a really skanky looking crowd of dark worlders. There are probably around a thousand of us skanks here and we’re all just kind of standing around staring at you.
Shit.
Yeah, we’re waiting for his majesty to show up and start the ceremony. I’m trying to work my way through the crowd, but I don’t want to be too conspicuous. I’ll be able to move faster once Nerul gets the show going and everybody’s distracted.
Oh great, you should arrive about the time the gargoyle is finished raping me.
Now Astra, what do you expect when you dress like that?
Ha, ha. Just get me the Hades out of here, Emo, or you’re fired.
Hey, whatever happened to the big, wet kiss?
I’m a big believer in both positive and negative reinforcement. You figure it out.
Got it. Here comes his majesty the asshole now. I’ll get back to you.
Emo? What’s he doing? Emo? Shit!
I couldn’t believe I was probably going to just lie there and let them rape me, or kill me, or suck me dry, or whatever disgusting thing they had in store for me. It was so damned unfair. Why did I ever have to listen to Nille and put the frunkin’ gown on anyway?
Nille. Had he known what they’d done to the gown? Was he in on this with them? My heart wanted to say no. But my brain couldn’t help remembering what the High Council had told me when I’d gone before the Angel Council. My friends may not really be my friends and my enemies might really be my friends—or some such useless drivel. Damn. Why didn’t those stinkin’ angels just come down into this cesspool and take care of Nerul and his throngs of blood sucking voyeurs themselves. What the hell did they think they were doing, floating around up there in their safe, pristine little world, pulling the strings and watching some poor little halfling get mauled, eaten, or just generally pounded to smithereens?
The thought that I was lying somewhere, probably on the very same altar, in the very same cavern where Emo and I had watched Dialle’s queen being raped by a satanic human sacrifice only days earlier, with hundreds if not thousands of malevolent creatures of the dark world gathered around me waiting for me to be killed, or worse, made my skin crawl and my stomach churn.
Panic bubbled through me and my power tried to spark at its core. The energy succeeded in taking hold but couldn’t build under the smothering embrace of the gown. I fought to keep it lit though, because it made me feel less helpless and I was hopeful I’d find a way to break through the gown’s hold on me.
Suddenly, as from a distance, I heard a roar of sound that could have been cheering. I assumed something big had just happened and that didn’t bode well for the terrified little halfling on the altar. My growing panic gave fuel to the fledgling power and I tried to build on the momentum. Miraculously I felt the weight of the gown lifting and, as if I’d been encased in a cocoon, hot, demon scented air rushed in to assail me. The rest of my hearing returned in a rush and my eyes began to see tiny flickering lights all around and above me, which I at first thought were stars, but which I quickly realized as my sight sharpened were candles.
I forced myself to lie very still so no one in the room would know I’d pushed back the power of the gown. Lying there instead of jumping off that altar and fighting my way out of the cavern was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. Emo hadn’t been exaggerating. The subterranean room was filled to claustrophobic capacity. Hooded, musty smelling creatures surrounded the altar where I lay and I could feel the throbbing crush of their excited bodies against the stone slab. The leathery hands of the ones nearest the altar were all over me, invading me in every conceivable way and my body was covered in quickly cooling green blood. Demon blood. I guess that gave me a clue as to whether they’d decided on Door Number One or Door Number Two for the night’s festivities. Apparently they hadn’t been able to kill Dialle.
Dialle. As I thought his name a surge of power erupted within me. The teardrop on my neck started to throb and his voice came into my head.
Astra, I’m coming. Don’t let them complete the ceremony...
I waited for further instruction but got only silence. Dialle?
The power ebbed away, but left a residual flame behind that strengthened what I’d managed to pull together by myself. Things were looking up. The starship cavalry was on its way. Now all I needed were the angels. Hello, anybody up there wanna come save my ass? Nothing.
Stinkin’ damn angels.
The room suddenly exploded with sound and I jumped. Fortunately the hooded figures around me were too distracted by whatever had entered the room to pay any attention to me. Many of them had turned away from the altar to stare at something across the cavern. I took the opportunity to turn my head enough so that I could see what was happening.
The hundreds of hooded figures in the room had broken into a gravelly sounding chant that made my blood run cold. I said a quick, desperate prayer that it wasn’t one of those trance-causing chants, like I’d fallen victim to when the Agar had paid me a visit.
I tensed, waiting for the feeling of helpless immobility to start creeping over me, even while I steeled my mind and my simmering power against it. Tentatively I moved my fingers and toes and then risked lifting my head just a fraction of an inch to test my mobility. I was relieved to discover I wasn’t suffering any paralytic affects. One less hurdle to overcome. Small blessings are the sweetest.
The crowd around my altar started to shift and churn and I realized they were opening a path for someone, or something. As the crowd pulled apart, I noted the group of six to eight demon guards carrying something through the mass of assembled nasties on a wide flat trufka, which is generally used to carry only the royal and powerful in the dark world. The trufka and its bearers, looking suspiciously like a funeral procession, were coming toward me.
As they approached, I finally spotted Prince Nille. He was bound at ankle and wrist and lay unmoving under a blanket that looked like it was made of the same material as my gown.
Apparently he hadn’t suspected the power of the gown when he’d told me to put it on. One point for him.
I was so engrossed in watching the oncoming procession that I forgot myself and raised my head so I could see better.
Big mistake.
Huge mistake.
Just as I remembered I was supposed to be playing dead, I felt a hard, leathery hand wrap itself around my arm and give it a painful jerk. Cursing silently, I realized I’d lost the tiny advantage I’d gained by playing dead.
I’d just have to make my own opportunity.
Turning my head with a feeling of dread, I found myself looking at something that was dressed just like everything else in the room, but which had a black hole where a face should have been. A set of bright, red eyes glowed from within the empty hood and the hand on my arm tightened until I thought the bones would break.
Shit, shit, shit. My traitorous mind rehashed the conversation Prince Nille and I had had about vampires in the court and my stomach clenched painfully. Something to
ld me the next few minutes of my life were really gonna suck.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Friend? Or Foe?
Our lady cast aside her cares and grasped a friendly hand,
Only to find herself ensnared, her expectations scammed...
Astra, it’s me, Emo.
Shit. I thought you were a vampire.
Good. Hopefully everyone else does too. You okay?
Just peachy. Let’s get the hell out of here.
Right. You’ll have to move fast.
No problem. The hard thing would be not moving fast. I’m totally creeped out.
Emo’s hand slipped down my arm to my hand and he gave me a tug as I swung my legs off the side of the altar. The crowd around the altar was so transfixed by the oncoming procession that it took a moment before we heard the roar of dismay behind us. By then we’d slipped deep into the roiling, boisterous crowd. Emo pulled me into a shadowed nook and told me to wait there. I grabbed his arm before he could disappear. “Where are you going?”
“To get you something else to wear. You’re slightly conspicuous in that outfit.”
I looked down and grinned. “You think so?”
He cocked his head. “It would be less conspicuous to stand up on the altar and scream, ‘Rape me!’ “
I let him slip away from me into the crowd. While he was gone I pulled the wretched gown over my head. Despite what Nille had said, naked was preferable to that thing. I held it in front of me as I waited for Emo, making sure it didn’t touch my body any more than necessary, just in case.
While I waited I shuffled through my mental drawers. Dialle. Are you out there?
A moment passed before he came to me bright and clear. Lovely Astra. It appears that you’ve managed to escape the power blocker. I trust you are taking good care of yourself?
It’s what I do best. Where are you?
I am near. I have friends with me.
Your friends or mine?
Why Astra, all friends of Dialle are your friends. Have I not made that clear?
Clear as mud. Look, Emo and I are gonna fight our way out of here, if you get here in time great, otherwise I’ll send you a postcard.
No Astra. You mustn’t leave.
Why not.
Prince Nille must not be sacrificed.
But I thought they needed me to complete the ceremony.
You would have been the best candidate, that’s true, especially since you carry our joined powers within you. But Nerul can and in fact already has chosen a substitute for you, if you should prove...unusable.
Who?
Our queen.
Kaline?
Yes. She has the necessary qualities.
And what qualities are those? Pretty eyes and big boobs?
Hardly. Though those are certainly assets in my book.
Tell me why I should go back in there and risk not only my life but Emo’s?
Because if Nerul acquires Nille’s power, the world as we know it will end. There will be devastation as you cannot imagine.
Shit.
Yes, lovely Astra. Shit is what it would be.
Emo arrived bearing a brown hooded cloak and I quickly pulled it over my head. Then he grabbed my hand and I yanked it away.
He turned to look at me and, in the shadowed space I could only see his glowing, red eyes. It was slightly disconcerting looking into those eyes, even if I knew they belonged to my friend and partner. I shivered slightly and made myself a mental note to ask him how he’d done the glowing eyes thing, if we survived the next few hours of course. “We can’t leave yet.”
“Why not?”
“We have to save Prince Nille.”
He grabbed my hand again. “What the hell are you talking about, Astra? Nille is Nerul’s son. He’s no concern of ours. Let them kill each other off, it makes life better for all of us.”
I shook my head and yanked my hand back out of his iron grasp. “Sorry, Emo. I know how you feel about Nerul but I have to do this. I can’t explain it all to you right now. You’ll just have to trust me.”
He stood staring at me with that shadowed face and those glowing eyes for a long moment and then seemed to shrug. “All right. You’re the boss. What do you want to do?”
I pulled the hood up to cover my head and tugged it over my face. Stepping back into the crowd, I said, “Follow me, let’s see what’s going on.”
Against every better judgment I’ve ever had, I worked my way back into the midst of that foul-smelling, roiling crowd. I tried to hold onto Emo’s sleeve as I pushed my way through, but we quickly got pulled apart and I lost him in the crowd. I moved forward, trusting in him to keep up with me despite the increasingly frantic mood of the crowd and the resulting chaos it was causing. Several times I had to fight against being thrown to the floor as the crowd churned around me. It was all I could do to stay on my feet much of the time. Eventually though, I managed to make my way to a spot that was an uncomfortably small distance from the altar where I’d only recently experienced the most helpless feeling of my young life. I wiped suddenly wet palms on the rough fabric of the robe. I was so preoccupied with my inner battle against an almost overwhelming desire to bolt the place that it took me a minute to register the fact that the altar was no longer empty.
Imagine my surprise to see a shapely female form lying where only moments before I’d been. It appeared that my replacement had been found fast. Impossibly, even suspiciously fast. I didn’t like it. Not one little bit.
As Dialle had foreseen, Queen Kaline lay upon the altar, but unlike me, she was chained and didn’t seem to be under the influence of Nerul’s dress code. In fact, it would have been impossible for her to be under the influence of her clothing since she wasn’t wearing any. Which meant she had nothing between her unfortunate flesh and the dozens of assorted paws, claws and appendages that assaulted her. My skin prickled and crawled as I couldn’t help putting myself in her place.
She turned her head and looked right at me and I gave a yelp of surprise. The queen’s eyes widened, the pain in them tearing into me like razor knives.
I’d been discovered. If the queen called out I would be taken and strapped to that god-awful rock again, helpless, defenseless. I convulsed under a chill of apprehension and tried to laugh at myself. There was absolutely no way she could have been looking at me. How could she have even known it was me? And why would she seek me out in the first place?
Unbidden, the sight of her turning to me as I stood in the shadows above her just days earlier, while she was being used and tortured on that very same altar came to my mind. The disturbing image played across the reluctant screen of my mind over and over as I tried to dispel it, almost as if it was being forced on me. I closed my eyes and willed it away.
When I opened them again my gaze was pulled away from her by a commotion just beyond the altar. Suddenly, the crowd swirled away from her and I saw, with a sinking heart, that Nille was being pushed toward the helpless Queen. He fought against the hard, leather hands that grasped him at wrist and shoulder, but otherwise seemed calm. Too calm.
As my heart rose to pound in my ears, I watched the despicable hooded creatures around the altar grab at the vulnerable Prince, twisting and pinching his naked flesh. His golden skin quickly turned purple under the onslaught, but his expression never wavered. Instead he fastened his calm gaze on his hooded tormentors and one by one they fell away from him. It was amazing to watch. He actually seemed to have some kind of power over the disgusting vermin.
His gaze fell on me and he smiled. Panic sent my pulse pounding, but his gaze filled me with peace, as his touch had done in the underground room earlier.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was moving toward the altar with a plan.
My eyes stopped seeing what was going on with Nille and Kaline. Vaguely I was aware that Nille was being pushed onto the altar and dimly I heard the chanting begin, recognizing it all too well. I didn’t want to know what was happening on that altar. I didn’t
even want to know what I was going to do about it. I just wanted to do whatever it was and get the hell out of there.
With the crowd’s attention firmly transfixed on the altar and its occupants, I was able to push my way through until I was close to the stone.
I positioned myself just behind one of the uniformed demon guards. Closing my eyes, I took a deep, cleansing breath to calm myself. I nearly choked on the guard’s musty stench and had to push bile back down my throat before I could move again. Looking around one last time to make sure no one had noticed me, I reached for the knife the creature wore in a sheath around its waist and carefully pulled it free. As the blade cleared the sheath, the demon’s hand reached for it. He turned in surprise when the knife found the middle of his back instead, piercing his black, shriveled heart.
He dropped to his knees and I pulled the knife free, swiping it across my robe from habit before turning to the next guard and giving him a new air hole in his back to match his friend’s. I managed to kill a third guard in pretty much the same way before the crowd around me noticed the growing pile of demons and a cry broke out.
I ducked as they flew at me, pushing my way through the crowd on the opposite side of the altar. Dropping the knife, I forced myself to stop in the middle of the now frantic crowd and turn back toward the altar as if I’d always been there.
For the first time in my life I was happy to blend into a crowd. Never let it be said of me that I’m inflexible. I can be a sheep if I need to be to survive. Like the other sheep, I raised my arms and, being careful to keep my lily-white fists covered by the robe, I shook them in the air as if I too were outraged at the senseless slaughter of several members of the demon guard.
I was having so much fun being a sheep that I almost forgot to continue on with my plan. But the arrival of the parade from hell, which was just entering the cavern at the far end, made me realize that I didn’t have much time.
I assumed the covered trufka that was currently being buffeted and blocked by the roiling crowd carried Nerul. That meant things were coming to a head. I moved quickly toward the altar again and, grabbing another knife from yet another sheath, I quickly dispatched another distracted guard.
