‘It was a feat of great magic, but my Mistress is above and beyond the power of any I have ever beheld.’ Ceri felt like swatting her behind. ‘Mistress strode into the forest and many were the monsters who came for us, but she defeated all of them and slew the Dark Queen who dwelled within the centre of the forest.’ Maybe whipping would be better. ‘I am the luckiest and most honoured of Lorril to have a mistress such as Lady Ayasha.’ Perhaps a paddle, then a whip…
So it was settled. Lady Ayasha and her humble slave were given the best room in the inn, the best food available, and all for free. The villagers were both amazed and outraged that a fae had been responsible for the forest’s woes for thousands of years, and Lily did her best to embellish the tale of how Ceri had defeated her. There had been all sorts of hideous monsters to defeat, apparently. By the end of the evening Ceri was somewhat sanguine about taking the credit since it was “Lady Ayasha” who had killed Queen Oona. Ceri was beginning to think Ayasha was now a composite of the two of them anyway.
The knock on the door when it was still not full daylight came as a bit of a surprise, but Ceri was awake anyway. She was enjoying being in Lily’s arms and would rather have not had visitors. So she called out, ‘Who is it?’
‘Room service.’ Ceri frowned. It was an odd turn of phrase to hear in this world. Then a tall man with shoulder-length, chestnut hair walked through the door, without opening it. ‘Or should I say “I’m here to service the Lady?” It’s a full-service establishment. Extra Lorril available should you wish them.’
Ceri gave Faran a mock glare. ‘You never got me into bed back home, you’re not getting me here.’
Lily shifted behind her and Ceri felt her stiffen. ‘No, because he’s working for Molech.’
‘Was, child,’ Faran said quickly. ‘I was… Actually, it was more like an arrangement than a job, and it ended when the sword transported you here.’
‘All that time…’ Ceri began, and then stopped as her mind flicked over all the things he had said. Once she had even told him that, if she was such a temptation to him, he should stay away. It had been a joke, but he had replied to the effect that he had no choice. ‘Okay, so you kept an eye on us for Molech, and took Lily to him when she needed his help.’ She turned her head toward Lily. ‘He’s not lying about their arrangement ending. And if he hadn’t been there I’d be the dragons’ puppet queen and you’d be a slave on a chain.’
‘I am a slave on a chain.’
‘The bad kind of slave on a chain.’
‘Okay, it’s a fair point. I’m just not sure I forgive him for secretly spying on you for months.’
‘And I think that’s fair,’ Faran put in, ‘but I’m glad to see you both seem to have survived.’
‘You don’t seem surprised to see us here,’ Lily noted a little suspiciously.
Faran’s face fell a little. ‘Molech made a point of telling me what they had planned for you. He told me there was no way Ceri would be able to take you back, even if she worked out that you weren’t dead. I thought you would end up here. “The Great Black Horg” was always your favourite bedtime story.’
‘So you came to Shoshteffrif to wait for us?’ Ceri asked, a little incredulously.
‘It’s out of the way and, actually, quite a nice place. Mostly it survives on fishing from Silver Lake. The people are pleasant, and with the story they have something of a liking for Lorril.’ His grin suggested that more than a few of the local beauties had fallen victim to him. Probably beauties of both sexes. As she thought it, the grin changed, becoming more flirting, and female; Faran was a perfect duplicate of Lily.
‘Actually,’ Ceri said, ‘if I were going to sleep with you, I’d get you to mimic…’ She rolled her eyes as he changed again. ‘Yeah, Michael.’ She wagged an index finger at him. ‘You’re still not getting any.’
“Michael” pouted at her, and then became Faran again. Technically they were all Faran, he had no real shape of his own, but the handsome young man with the hair the same colour as Lily’s was the form he always used around them. It was the shape he had seduced Lily’s mother with; though “seduced” was not really the right word given that it had happened at a student orgy.
‘Why are you here?’ Faran asked. ‘It was a complete guess that Lily might want to come here. I didn’t really think I’d be that lucky.’
Rather than answering directly Ceri asked, ‘What do you know about the Castle of Bones?’
Faran raised an eyebrow, but did not ask why she wished to know. ‘It’s more like a citadel rather than a castle. No one knows exactly how it was built. Gorefguhadget supposedly constructed it himself, grew it out of the rock of the mountain. Half the actual structure is cut into the rock, the remainder is extruded out of it. There are supposed to be barracks and storerooms to host an army for a year. It has an internal water supply as well. The interesting rooms are at the top, though there is a tower above them which was a lookout post. Gorefguhadget’s personal chambers and throne room are up there at the top. The Iron Crown sits on the stone throne in the throne room.’
‘What about the portal?’
The Lorril’s eyes widened. ‘You plan to use that to get you home?!’
‘You can think of a better way?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know of any way. It’s supposed to be in a room at the very back of the top floor, carved into the rock of the mountain.’
‘How do you get in?’
‘Well… Generally you don’t. No one has been able to get through the doors since Molech. It’s said that the doors respond to one powerful enough to challenge the crown.’
‘Challenge it?’
Faran gave a sigh. ‘This is all more or less legend, you understand? The crown is supposed to be at least partially sentient. Someone with enough power to wield it can enter the castle and try on the crown. The crown is then supposed to attack this pretender to Gorefguhadget’s role as ruler of all demons. Fail and there isn’t enough left of your mind to worry over the fact that you failed.’
‘Huh. Well, I don’t need the crown, just the portal.’
Faran nodded. ‘I believe the castle will let you in, but I can’t be sure. It’s not like I’ve ever been there.’ His gaze shifted slightly. ‘You’re very quiet back there, daughter.’
‘Still haven’t forgiven you yet,’ Lily replied in a sulky tone.
Ceri giggled. ‘You so have. You’re just trying to make him suffer.’
‘Is it working?’
‘Not really.
‘Okay. In that case I’ll forgive him.’
~~~
‘Everyone seems to be looking at us,’ Ceri said. They were sitting in the taproom of the inn, all three of them, eating a fairly simple meal as the long dusk settled in. When people had discovered that Faran was the father of Ayasha’s slave his stature in the community had risen significantly; it did not look like he was sorry about that.
‘I heard a few rumours while I was out earlier,’ Faran replied. ‘Your story is growing.’
‘They’ve got the same look about them as the people in Nedarim,’ Lily commented. ‘A little scared…’
‘It’s awe,’ Ceri said.
Faran nodded. ‘It’s said that Lady Ayasha stormed the Grey Castle in Shilfaris to retrieve her stolen slave. Killed a dozen guards and reduced the lord of the castle to ash. Then she defeated two hundred Cheldeg by bringing the sun down from the sky at Nedarim. And now, of course, she’s brought light to the Darkest Forest and slain the evil queen within.’
‘I didn’t even do that!’ Ceri hissed. ‘I was in suspended animation or something. Lily…’
‘Ah yes,’ Faran said, a smirk developing. ‘Ayasha’s slave, Lilith, is the trickiest, most unique, most powerful Lorril in the world. Utterly devoted to her mistress, she sought her out above all other demons, rejecting great Lords until she found her prefect owner.’ His smirk faded. ‘News of this is going to reach Molech soon enough. I’ve no doubt that your actions in Shilfaris have a
lready reached his ears in Quatilan. When he hears about the forest he’ll come down here like a storm. You need to leave. I’ll come with you as far as Dorilla. I don’t think him finding me here would be a good idea either.’
‘Dorilla?’
‘It’s a mining town in the foothills of the Mountains of Khedra.’ He grimaced. ‘You’ll hate it, but you can get supplies for the rest of the journey and it’s an easy place to vanish if you’re a Lorril.’
Ceri took a drink of the quite pleasant wine the innkeeper had placed out for them. ‘Sounds like a real garden spot, can’t wait to see it.’
Interlude: Twill
Wintergreen Estates, Otherworld
Twill sat on the small seat in the window of her room looking out at the world beyond. Out beyond the walls of the castle it was all rolling green fields as far as the eye could see. Somewhere behind her, where she could not see it, was a huge forest. It was all family land, blessed by the magic of the Wintergreens. Here the sun shone, except when there was a need for rain on the crops. Here the people were happy, all of them. Except for Twill.
Ishifa slipped into the room as quietly as she could. Twill’s temper had not exactly been stable since she had returned home and the servants had learned to handle her with kid gloves. The fairy maid, a cute girl with pale skin and a cap of blue-black hair, walked closer and stood in the middle of the bed chamber, waiting to be noticed. She was pretty sure that Mistress Gloriandel knew she was there and was ignoring her. After five minutes, her feet started to shuffle a little.
‘What is it, Ishifa?’ The maid suppressed a sigh of relief; the Mistress was depressed rather than angry.
‘I have some news, Mistress.’
‘What? Has Mother found the perfect material for the bearer’s dresses?’
‘No, ma’am. It’s not about the wedding.’
Twill turned her head and Ishifa stepped back, quickly lowering her eyes; now Twill was annoyed. ‘Out with it, girl, I’m not in the mood for riddles.’
‘Finvarra has returned, sane and healthy,’ Ishifa said quickly.
‘Well unless he’s going to stop my wedding, I really don’t care.’
‘The story is that Oona was killed, her mirror broken,’ Ishifa went on. ‘A succubus did it, aided by a human sorceress. That’s what Finvarra is saying anyway.’
Twill’s eyes narrowed. ‘Ceri and Lily? Lily’s alive?’
Ishifa nodded. ‘In the demon realm, apparently.’ Everyone knew that the only reason Twill had come back was to seek help from her family, aid for Ceri and Lily. That she had been too late and was giving up her freedom for no gain was just the kind of romantic angst fairies tended to love. The maid sighed rather dreamily. ‘And your Ceri has gone over to bring her back.’ Ishifa beamed at Twill. ‘Do you think she can do it?’
‘If it were anyone else, I’d say no, but Ceri and Lily together are a formidable force. Oberon and Titania can’t be pleased to have Finvarra back.’
‘He’s disavowed his claim on the throne because he has no queen to rule beside him, but the scuttlebutt is that it’s going to cause tension.’
Twill nodded and turned back to her window. ‘Thank you, Ishifa. You may go.’
The maid started to turn and then stopped. ‘Mistress Gloriandel?’
Twill flinched at the use of her real name. ‘Yes?’
‘Do you… Do you think they’ll come here to try to save you?’
It was nice of her to use the word “save,” Twill thought. She smiled, bleakly. ‘No one can save me, Ishifa.’
Part Five: Wild, Wild South
Dorilla, Demon Realm, Day 34
Dorilla was a sort of hellish cross between a Wild West gold mining town and a steampunk dystopia. The buildings were mostly wood, and rough wood at that. Where there was stone it generally had a huge chimney and the chimney was pouring out thick, black smoke.
‘It looks like a Victorian mill town,’ Ceri commented from the top of a hill just outside town. The region they were walking through was called Khedra Lalgash, which apparently translated to Khedra’s Rash. She had to admit that all the little bumps of hills did make it look like the land had an allergy.
‘My understanding of Victorian mill towns would suggest it’s not,’ Faran commented. He was beside his daughter, naked, with cuffs around his wrists and ankles, and a chain around his neck. He had insisted. It was better, he had said, if he travelled as Lady Ayasha’s slave. No one was going to question her picking up an extra one, so he was being led by a chain looped through his wrist cuffs. That, and the neck chain, showed that he was the subordinate slave. ‘Unless my history was wrong and mill towns were violent, scum-filled holes with a brothel on every street corner.’
‘I didn’t think prostitution was that common.’
‘Technically it’s not prostitution. The Lorril band together in brothels for safety. No money changes hands. The transaction is sex for food, in effect. There are usually very few female miners.’
Ceri glanced at him. ‘I didn’t think det were that sexist either.’
‘Huh,’ Faran grunted, a half-grin on his face. ‘It’s more like that women have more sense than to come to a place like this to dig holes in the ground. It’s deep mining, and not that safe.’
‘What are they mining?’ Lily asked.
‘Iron. It’s processed in town and shipped out as iron ingots and some steel implements.’
‘That explains the factory buildings,’ Ceri said. ‘Let’s get in there and find a place to stay.’ She started off down the hill, Lily and Faran trotting behind her.
‘Just remember,’ Faran said, ‘that you’re a high demon Lady and these people are mostly the scum out of the bottom of a sceptic tank. Don’t ask, demand. Use menaces if necessary.’
Ceri heaved a sigh. ‘I hate this job.’
The locals made it easier for her, however. Walking into town they came across a man walking around one of the outer buildings. He was tall, heavily muscled, and dark blue, and he was glowering at them as they walked toward him.
‘Excuse me…’ Ceri began.
‘Not interested,’ the man grunted and kept walking.
Ceri’s hand clenched around her staff and her will flared. Suddenly the man found himself stumbling back toward them as he was turned around on the spot. ‘If you could just tell me the best place to stay in town?’ Ceri asked.
‘I’m busy. Fuck off.’
Ceri felt her teeth gritting. She slammed the heel of her staff into the dirt and the man’s eyes widened, then started to bulge. His hands rose to his throat, clutching at it in obvious panic, and then he dropped to his knees, his panicked eyes looking up at Ceri imploringly. ‘It’ll stop soon enough,’ she told him, ‘and when it does, I expect you to use your first breath to tell me where the best place to stay is. Otherwise, there won’t be a second.’
The det dropped forward onto his hands suddenly and pulled in a deep lungful of air. ‘You’ve got Lorril with you, there’s a whore house on Main Street with a red sign over the door that takes guests if they have Lorril.’ The words almost ran into each other in their haste to get out.
‘Thank you,’ Ceri said and turned on her heel to start off toward a broad road through the town which was likely to be Main Street.
‘Very well done,’ Faran said quietly. ‘You really sold that.’
‘I liked the sweet smile you were wearing while he choked,’ Lily added.
‘He pissed me off,’ Ceri replied. ‘Are all the det in town going to be that helpful?’
‘You’ll likely find the Lorril more amenable,’ Faran told her.
‘That’d be nice.’ Ceri was looking at the fight going on in the middle of the street. There were around ten men hitting each other, mostly with fists, but there was one man using a length of wood. She gave them a wide berth and none of them seemed to be bothered about being ignored. ‘This place would give the Wild West a bad name.’
There was, indeed, a three storey building which looked li
ke it was a tavern or an inn in the middle of the street, and it had a red sign on the front with “Jubilia’s” painted on it in black letters. Ceri suspected that the man they had asked for directions could not read since giving the name would have made things easy.
About a dozen pairs of eyes shifted to look at them when Ceri pushed in through the swing doors. They were all Lorril, but none of them changed to something Ceri would like; she guessed it was the two “slaves” she had in tow. However, a tall woman with creamy white skin and flowing black hair dressed in a long, black gown stalked over from one side of the room. She even had a cigarette in a long-stemmed holder. Ceri did not even know they had cigarettes, or tobacco, here.
‘How can I help you, Lady?’ She had an odd sort of accent somewhere between French and Russian.
‘I need a room for the night. I understand you’re willing to rent out space. You’re Jubilia?’
Jubilia inclined her head. ‘I am, and I have a suitable room up on the top floor. You won’t be troubled by the other patrons’ noises up there. We keep those rooms for important clients.’
Ceri smiled. ‘That sounds perfect. No one should be bothered by our noises that way.’
The brothel-keeper smiled. ‘You feed them both? That is impressive.’
‘Mostly I keep Lilith entertained. Faran gets a taste when he’s been very good. I’m Ayasha, by the way.’
‘Welcome then, Lady Ayasha. I’ll have you taken up to your room.’ She turned slightly. ‘Nedia, escort our guests up to room thirty-two. See that they have all they need.’ A dark-skinned, currently female Lorril rose to her feet from a loveseat and strutted toward them.
‘Please,’ Ceri said to Nedia, ‘lead the way.’
The room was nothing special, but the walls were papered rather than bare, and it had a huge bed and a washbasin. Ceri looked longingly at the washbasin and asked Nedia if she could get some hot water. The Lorril smiled and went to organise it.
When Ceri turned around, Faran was smirking at her. ‘What?’ she asked.
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