by J. Stone
The Oracle laughed at the vastness of the question. “I’m sure there is much I could tell you, Ruby. Alas, that is not how it works, and our time for questions has ended. You must begin to walk the path now. You have far to travel and much to sacrifice.”
Thea pulled another batch of dust from her pocket and hurled it into the fire between them. A blast of smoke erupted, and both Ruby and Scarlett launched into a coughing fit, as the smoke enshrouded the entire room. When it had finally cleared, the Oracle and the hut had vanished entirely, with no sign that she had ever been there in the first place. Her role was finished, and the rest would be up to them. Scarlett stood when her lungs were cleared of the smoke, and she helped her princess to her feet as well.
“Did you make anything of all that?” the demon asked.
“A bit… maybe. For now, I think our path is unchanged. We go to Elythine. Now, we just know who we’re going to meet there. Hendrik.”
Chapter 21. Looking for Magic
The princess soon found that Thea was indeed quite accurate in her suggestion that Elythine was close. The journey following the stars and then the sun had only taken about a day and a half. The sun was just beginning to rise when Ruby and Scarlett arrived. The heat of the morning was becoming apparent before the sun was even barely visible in the distance behind them. No longer did they have the shade of the forest to cool them, and, looking toward the city, they could tell that Elythine would be no sanctuary from the heat.
What quickly became clear was that this place had changed in the years since the princess had slumbered in the tunnels. While the city itself still existed, Leina, under the influence of the craggy hand demon, had taken over the kingdom. Hanging from the tallest tower was a long banner of Lavidia’s flag, a willow tree on a green background, but this one had something additional. A craggy hand was wrapped and gripped around the tree of her family. The flag’s appearance was to her mind, clear evidence that her sister had taken control of the lands that had once belonged to the Elythine kingdom. There were more than a few buildings destroyed to rubble scattered throughout the landscape, and the city looked to have survived a great battle there. Their people had been crushed and their leaders murdered under her sister’s command, of that there was no longer any doubt to her. The man who would have been her husband was long since dead.
Scarlett, on the other hand, found herself less impressed with this city. It was big and sprawling, sure, but it didn’t have that dark quaintness or desperate suffering of a place like Gloomport. So far that had been her favorite locale that they’d visited. This new city was just comprised of similar looking tan buildings and dirty, traveled streets with people kicking up dust, as they walked. The streets were crowded and stunk of filth, and the horned demon found herself resenting the people of the large city.
Upon seeing the citizens of the city, the princess was reminded that the people of Elythine wore a darker skin than those of her kingdom. The irrelevant difference had often caused a divide between their people, but Ruby never understood why it mattered. Her hope had been that whatever had happened in the past eleven years, she wouldn’t have troubles entering their kingdom. Seeing the city now, though, she realized that their kingdoms had already seen war, and that these people had been conquered and controlled by her sister and the craggy hand demon. The princess had much to repair, she realized.
Before entering, Ruby had Scarlett use her newly improved magic to cleanse any of the poison from her in an attempt to make her appearance as normal as possible. The demon was eager to show off more for her princess, so she happily obliged. There was little they could do about Scarlett’s horns or red eyes, however. The pair of women entered the archway of one of the gates, passing by posted guards on either side. The men dressed in depressing colors of jagged metal gave them strange looks, but they let them through regardless. They were men of her sister’s kingdom, as each had the willow sigil with the hand etched into their armor. Ruby had no idea whether they would stop travelers from entering the city or not, but she was beyond fear at that point. As far as she was concerned, she had conquered such an emotion.
After making her way into the city, Ruby’s next goal was finding the wizard named Hendrik. The Oracle had spoken of him rather strangely, indicating that he was multiple people somehow. She really hadn’t understood what she had meant, but the princess intended to find out. The only other thing she knew about the sorcerer was that he had sequestered himself in a tower somewhere in the city. Given the size of Elythine, she suspected it might take some effort to find the right tower if she were to go around to each one randomly. If Hendrik really was as powerful and impressive as the Oracle had led Ruby to believe, surely the people of the city would know him by name, so that was where she decided to start.
Before she could ask anyone, a man in the crowded street bumped into her, hitting her shoulder hard, but she didn’t think much of it and continued looking for someone to ask about Hendrik. She moved toward a vendor at the side of the street.
“Madam, do you know where I could find a wizard named Hendrik?”
The woman looked at her as though she recognized who Ruby was talking about, but she shook her head and shooed the princess away.
“What was that about?” Scarlett asked.
“Don’t know. Let’s try someone else.”
She got an old man’s attention and asked the same question. “Sir, do you know where I could find a wizard named Hendrik?”
He too shook his head and muttered, “Not getting involved…”
“Clearly, this wizard of yours is a contentious individual,” her demon offered.
Ruby shrugged. “Apparently…”
She asked around a bit more, but Ruby got no better responses. The princess then caught someone looking at her from a nearby alleyway. He nodded his head in a way that suggested she should follow him, before he disappeared further into the alley. Ruby grabbed Scarlett and pulled her through the crowd to where she had seen the strange man creep off to.
Turning a corner, they found the man leaning against a stone wall and smoking a long pipe. Like the others of Elythine, he had a darker tone of skin color, but his hair was strangely white. The long, white hair fell down, parted in the middle, to either side, partially concealing the edges of his face. A red bandana hung around his neck over his dark, black leather vest. He wore matching pants that hung over his leather boots that consisted of a series of straps slipped through metal buckles. Around his shoulders and back, he had a cloak that was concealing half of his body under its folds.
“So you want to find the Hendriks, eh?” the man asked, releasing a puff of smoke.
“That’s right,” Ruby replied.
“That might find you a spot of trouble. He isn’t exactly available to the public at the moment.”
“What does that mean?”
The rogue smiled. He looked both women up and down, his eyes lingering on Scarlett more than Ruby liked. The demon, on the other hand, didn’t mind someone noticing her physical perfection. She actually wouldn’t have even minded walking around naked in that bustling city - she probably would have preferred it.
“Come now,” he continued. “You two may not be from here, but I’m sure you know that nothing is for free. You give me something I want, and I’ll be happy to oblige you.”
The princess sighed. “And what is it you want?”
The rogue again leered at Scarlett.
“She’s not for sale,” Ruby flatly explained.
“Then, I suppose I’ll have to get on with a handful of coins instead.”
Ruby turned to her servant and asked, “Do you think you could make some gold?”
“I’m sure I could now that we’ve grown closer together,” she replied with a big smile. “But wouldn’t it be faster to just infect him like you did Wesley? That was far more fun too.”
“That was exhausting, is what that was. Besides…” She looked back at the man leaning against the wall who continued to leer at S
carlett in a way she didn’t like. “I’m not sure I want to know what all is going on inside his head. Can you do it?”
“Anything for you, my princess.” Scarlett turned her empty hand upside down and then twisted it palm up, now containing a full bar of gold rather than mere coins. “Will this do?”
Ruby grabbed the heavy bar, replying, “I can only expect so.” She turned back to the rogue, brandishing the bar of gold. “This doesn’t just buy information. You said Hendrik is unavailable, which I take to mean imprisoned. If that’s the case, this bar buys your help in getting to him.”
The leather clad man moved slowly forward, staring greedily at the bar of gold a moment before answering. “Alright. You got a deal. Give it here.” He held his hand out for it.
Ruby was no fool. She handed the bar back to her demon who in turn sent it back to where she had found it. “Payment on delivery. Now, where is Hendrik?”
The rogue sucked his teeth. “Fine. Your boy Hendrik is up in the prison tower. The main entrance is guarded day and night by the queen’s men.”
“But a wily figure like yourself has another way in, I take it?”
The rogue nodded, sucking on his teeth again. “I can get you in.”
“Do you have a plan, or is that just a declaration of intent?”
“I have a plan, darling. Don’t you worry. Just never had a reason foolish enough to try. That bar of gold, however… I’ll get you in and to the wizard. What you do after that is on your own head.”
“You’ve got a deal. What do I call you?”
“You can call me whatever you like, frankly. Though I suppose Slip will do.”
“Slip?” she confirmed. “My name is--”
“No, no,” he interrupted her. “I don’t need your names. Think it’s best I know as little about the two of you as possible, eh.”
“Fair enough,” Ruby replied. “Where do we start, Slip?”
Taking his pipe from his mouth, flipping it over, and discarding the ashes to the street, he pointed a finger down. “The sewers, I’m afraid. The tunnels down there lead all over the city. One just happens to go straight into the prison tower.”
“And no one knows about it?”
“Can’t say that for sure. What I can say is that no one cares about it. If you’re ready, we can go now.”
Ruby nodded. “Show the way.”
Slip tucked his pipe into a pocket of his cloak before beginning to lead the pair of women through the city streets and alleyways away from the market square where they had started. The buildings and its inhabitants slowly began to look shabbier and poorer as they went, as Slip was clearly leading them into a district of the city that was forgotten and abandoned. Scarlett found herself enjoying this new area more than she had the market square. Something to do with the squalor atmosphere, she expected.
The rogue eventually stopped and raised his arm, pointing it toward a tall tower in the distance. “There’s your wizard’s prison.”
“That’s pretty far away,” Ruby replied.
Slip then pointed toward a large grate over a man-sized pipe with sludge leaking out of it. “This is the closest entrance to the sewers.”
“And it leads to the prison tower?”
“That it does.” Slip approached the heavy grate and struggled to lift it off the pipe. “If you’re going, now’s the time. You’re up first, sweetheart,” he said to Ruby’s demon.
The princess glowered at Slip. “You don’t talk to her.”
“Fine,” he answered, raising an eyebrow.
Having put the rogue in his place, Ruby nodded for Scarlett to go ahead. The demon kneeled under the grate and climbed up to the pipe. Jumping up to the tunnel, she had to get on her knees and crawl forward a bit to get properly into the tunnel.
“Mm,” the rogue muttered from behind her, staring at the demon’s bending figure.
“You don’t even look at her,” Ruby threatened.
Slip shrugged. “Whatever you say, darling. You’re next.”
The princess followed her demon’s lead and climbed up into the pipe. Once she was there, she turned and held open the grate for Slip to climb up, and he joined them inside. After he was in the pipe, he turned and helped her softly let it fall back down on the metal tube, as to not alert anyone nearby of anything out of the ordinary. From there, Slip took the lead, guiding them through the sewage-covered tunnels. Thanks to the muck she’d been exuding, Ruby found herself rather at home in those sludge filled tunnels.
She recalled some of the lessons she’d heard about the kingdom and city. Elythine had been rather advanced a decade past. She suspected they hadn’t made much additional advancement in the years of her slumber, however. The sewer system, though disgusting to be inside of, was a rather ingenious idea to help dispose of waste. The concept was not fully formed, but Ruby was impressed with the forward thinkers of this once powerful kingdom.
Slip continued leading the pair of women through twists and turns of the sewer, until they finally arrived at a ladder leading up. He patted his hands on the railing, and said “This is you. Now, how about my payment?”
“As I said, payment on delivery,” Ruby replied. “You do not see the gold, until I see Hendrik.”
The rogue approached her and was about to say something, but the princess stopped him.
“There is nothing you have to threaten me with. Do as you are told, or you will never get your precious gold.”
Slip bit his tongue, sucked his teeth, and turned back toward the ladder. Along the way, he passed Scarlett, and his hand slid against Scarlett’s butt. The act might have been innocent enough, as the demon hardly even felt it, but after his earlier ogling, Ruby was not willing to let it go unanswered.
The princess rushed forward, twisting Slip around and grabbing him by the neck. Empowered by her poison, she choked his throat while pushing him against the metal ladder of the tunnel. He clawed at her hands, but she was too strong with the rage of jealousy flowing through her. Rather than leak from her mouth, poison began to seethe through the flesh of her palm, right into Slip’s neck. His skin quickly dissolved, his whole body turning into mush, as he screamed and then gurgled. In a mere handful of moments, the rogue was dead, and what remained of his oozy body was in a pile below the ladder.
“What was that about?” Scarlett asked, genuinely surprised but wearing a dark smile.
Ruby glared at the man’s goopy corpse. “He touched you. No one touches you. You’re mine and no one else’s.”
Scarlett smiled wider at her master. She loved hearing her princess talk like that. “I am yours and no one else’s.”
Ruby’s breathing slowed back to a steady pace. “Good.”
“I must say though… I like this side of you. It is very…” She bit her lip. “Arousing.” Scarlett put her hands on Ruby’s hips, pulling her close, but the princess had to stop her.
“Now’s probably not the best time for that. Someone might have heard us.”
“Rats,” the demon said.
Ruby picked up the rogue’s cloak and flung off the poisonous sludge and chunks of Slip’s discarded flesh to the sewer floor with a jerk of the fabric. She then tossed it behind her and over her shoulders before raising its hood over her head. There was something heavy in one of the pockets of the coat, and her curiosity led her to inspect the contents. Inside, Ruby found something she didn’t expect to be there, something that shouldn’t have been there. It was her pearl brooch.
“What the…” she said, putting one hand on her chest where the brooch should have been and showing the item to Scarlett. “When could he have taken this?”
The horned demon shrugged.
Ruby pinned it back to where it had been and said, “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Go ahead.” She gestured toward the ladder for her companion to go first.
Scarlett nodded and then climbed up the rungs, as the princess looked up at her demon pet, enjoying the view just as Slip once had. Ruby followed her up, where they found th
emselves in a small, unoccupied room. The chamber was made of stone and only lit through narrow windows at the top of the room. Whatever it had been built for, it appeared to now be out of use. There was a single door leading out of the room, so Ruby moved to it to see where they were.
She twisted the knob and pulled the wooden door toward her. A guard in her own kingdom’s colors was walking down a hall of cages away from her. Ruby opened the door wider and peeked out to see a spiral staircase to the side and another hallway lined with cages.
The princess turned back inside and whispered to Scarlett, “Come on.”
Ruby grabbed her demon’s hand and pulled her out of the room and towards the spiral staircase. They quickly but quietly ran up the steps. Along the way, they passed a few doors leading to more prison cells, but she had every expectation that she would find a famous figure such as Hendrik at the top of the tower. Following that reasoning, the pair of women continued up, until there was no further that they could travel. They saw no additional guards along the way, but they heard shouting beyond some of the doors they had passed. She suspected that it would be best to not linger there. She had to find Hendrik and get out of the tower as fast as possible.
They stood in front of the final door, which was locked with no keys in sight. This would not stop her. Ruby gripped the door and exuded an acidic mixture through the sweat of her palm. The poison spread to cover the entire metal portion of the lock in the door, until there was nothing left but the wood. She stuck a finger through the hole where the metal had been and pulled it back. What she saw behind the door was not what she had expected to find.
Chapter 22. Split Personalities
When the princess heard the name Hendrik from the Oracle’s prophecy, it was not the first time. Her great interest in the world of Nabiria at large during her youth had led her history tutor, Art, to tell her a bit about Elythine and its wizards. Of those wizards, Hendrik was by far the most famous and, in Ruby’s time, considered to be practicing the pinnacle of spellcraft. The princess recalled that Durin was quite envious of Hendrik’s intellect and saw him as an ideal that he could strive to become.
