Because no child had tits that big.
The girl – the gobliness as Liam now identified her – was about three feet tall. Her skin was a pale green color, darkening to a near jade-black along the edges of her long, pointed ears. Her hair was jet black and poofed out around her head like an afro, though she had shaved it down to something closer to a mohawk. She was clad in a linen wrap that essentially covered the underside of her breasts and the bare upper edge of her thighs, leaving her shoulders, her legs, her feet and her head entirely exposed. Her wrists both had golden bangles wrapped around them, and she had sandals – though one had gone flying as she kicked and squirmed.
“Let me go!” she shouted. “We have a treaty, you brutes! Sobek-”
“Shut up, bitch,” the elf holding her said, sneering as his hand grabbed her linen dress and tore. The gobliness' breasts bounced free and to Liam's shock, her nipples were both pierced with golden rings, connected by a slender chain.
Then, suddenly, the most interesting thing about her skin was that it was flecked with blood and bits of brain. The elf who was manhandling her tottered backwards – the upper half of his head clipped off like he was the shock-death that announces a sniper in a World War 2 movie. Meg casually stepped out of cover, another rock in her hand. She slipped the rock into the sling, twirling it at the same rate that she had twirled the first. Her immense strength caused the rope to strain and creak and she released just before her sling came apart. The stone smashed into the other soldier's chest-piece. The bronze dented and he was flung backwards, clattering onto the ground. He choked, and reached for the horn he had at his belt.
Liam ran forward, adrenaline pushing the pain from his arm backwards as he jerked his longsword from the hilt on his back. He plunged it into the soldier's throat – he might have felt guilt at doing that before seeing the man casually stand aside in preparation for committing rape.
Now, he felt exactly nothing but a brutal sense of deep, deep satisfaction.
He jerked Delenn out of the man's throat and looked back, his arm starting to throb enough to draw attention to itself.
The gobliness had gotten her clothing back to rights, her finger glowing with magic as she ran it along the tears. Her eyes were wide, but they rapidly hardened as she stood and spat down on the nearly headless body of her attacker.
“Wander for eternity,” she hissed down at him. “I hope your family never learns you died. I hope Ammut devours your heart! Slowly! I hope-” she shook her head, her entire body quivering. Then her glare shifted to Liam and Meg. Meg was rubbing her wrist with one hand, looking as if she hadn't expected using a sling at full strength to tax her wrist so painfully. Liam smiled at the gobliness.
“Hey,” he said.
She slowly smiled. “T-Thanks,” she said, her knees shaking slightly as she stepped away from the corpse. “I-, um, that is, ah. My name is, um.” She stopped short, then turned and vomited. She vomited and choked and coughed up a bit more, then held up her finger, panting. She looked down at the puddle of bile between her feet, then vomited again. She coughed a few more times and then stepped away, shakily. “Tethis.”
“Liam,” Liam said, holding out his good hand, wincing slightly. “Let's get you to the river, huh?”
Tethis, Meg and Liam came to the river. There, Liam sat and watched as the young girl splashed water in her mouth. No, he thought. Not young. Seriously, look at those tits.
If Tethis had been the same height and stature as Meg, she would have been easily twice as curvaceous as the valkyrie – and Meg was no flat chested beauty. The fact that their breasts were only of slightly different size didn't change the fact that Tethis was three feet shorter than Meg. Her belly, too, had just enough of a curve to be called 'cushy', and her thighs were just as plump. She looked like she belonged in one of those 'plus sized' magazine pinups.
Just, minus sized plus sized.
Liam felt like he was going cross-eyed trying to keep that straight.
Tethis wiped her lips on the back of her hand and smiled. Then her smile vanished. “You're injured!” she said, pointing at Liam's arm.
“Oh, I-” Liam started.
But then Tethis spread her hands. She closed her eyes, breathed in, then brought her palms together. A shimmering light flared into the air. Circular shapes and triangular tessellations that formed into a grid-work of white lines flashed into existence. She opened her eyes and for a moment, Liam saw what looked like gears spinning in their purple depths. Then the white lines flashed forward and wrapped around Liam's forearm. He felt a coldness wash through his arm. Pain followed it as bone crunched into bone. Then nothing. He blinked and wiggled his fingers. He reached around and undid his splint, tugging the makeshift thing off his arm. He stretched his arm out, then drew it back.
“Holy shit,” he whispered. “Was that, did you, I, what-”
“That is what I'm wondering!” Meg said, her wings spreading wide in shock. “What was that?”
Tethis chuckled softly. She looked like she was trying quite hard to seem mysterious as she smiled. “Well, I may tell you – if you tell me what is going on! I thought that New Athens and Faiyum had a treaty—”
“Treaty?” Meg looked at Liam, then at the girl. “How long have you been in the wilderness? The last treaty between the cities was broken, uh, three months ago, when the war started.”
Tethis lifted her hand to her mouth. “My family!” She exclaimed. “My brothers, they are part of the Faiyum militia. Has there been any- I mean, I, that is, I...I...” she trailed off, her eyes glimmering and filling with tears. Meg gently reached down and squeezed her shoulder with one hand.
“There were no major disastrous defeats suffered by Sobek's forces.” She smiled. “In fact, they were kicking Apollo and Aries' asses. That's why Apollo sent me on a peace mission. Unfortunately, Aries is Aries and he's decided to send one of his bastard children to make sure the message doesn't arrive.”
Tethis sniffed and reached up to wipe tears from her eyes. She frowned slightly. “We can head out of the canyon, then. The city is only a few days on foot!” She nodded and looked excited. “And I can bring back news of what I've found out here. You won't believe what I discovered, what this canyon conceals. It's—”
A low, mournful horn split the air. Other horns blew, answering it, coming from every part of the canyon.
Meg frowned and stood. She beat her wings once and flew to the exit from the canyon. A moment later, she returned, holding a pair of crystals that had been looped around with necklaces. They glinted in the sunlight and just looking at them made Liam's heart sink. He had a feeling he knew what Meg would say before she said it.
“Heart-talismans. They turn black when their owners die.” She shook her head and spat in disgust. “They'll be centering on this place.”
“Flight?” Tethis asked.
“Do you want to be left behind?” Meg asked. Tethis quailed under that idea, her eyes wide.
“You two can fly ahead,” Liam said, nodding and standing up and putting his hands on his hips. “Tethis is light, and—”
“No,” Meg snarled.
“But—”
“No,” Meg said, glaring at Liam. She poked his chest with her finger, snarling. “I won't leave you to those butchers. They'll torture you and they'll kill you and you're the only one who knows how to operate that library in the pocket you have!”
“I—” Liam blinked.
Meg was absolutely right. But he felt something else – something deeper. Something that made his heart skip a beat as the finger prodding against his chest flattened into a palm. Her fingers caressed him through his shirt as she leaned in.
“I won't leave you behind,” she whispered.
“Um, Meg, I think-” Liam started.
Meg shook her head and leaned in. She kissed him and Liam almost fell on his ass as her tongue swirled into his mouth. It was warm and it was gentle and it was hungry. The fact that Liam could hear distant horns and could imagine th
e soldiers mobilizing to hunt him didn't change the fact he needed this kiss as desperately as he needed water, breath, and God.
“Meg! Liam!” Small hands pushed them apart and Meg staggered backwards, looking down at Tethis.
“I have an alternative plan,” she said, looking between them. “Come on!”
She turned and she ran.
Meg smiled. “Told you. Not leaving you behind.” She prodded Liam's chest.
“What about after we secure the iPod?” he asked, turning to walk.
“Then I'm still going to cram you into a castle and protect you with a mercenary army. Guys who can eat muff like you? More precious than diamonds.” Meg smirked, her wings snapping shut behind her as she reached down and picked up Tethis. She put the shorter girl on her shoulders and said, “Direct me.”
***
Liviana knelt down beside the two dead men. She pushed the head of the one who had been stabbed backwards and looked at the bloody wound that was all that was left of his throat. She frowned and rubbed her chin.
“Whatever cut this was sharper than even a god-touched blade,” she said.
The clunk and clink of armor drew her gaze up. One of her hoplites appeared on the edge of the stairs, his hand resting on the wall as he panted.
“Ma'am, found their tracks – they're heading back into the canyon. The only other exit is at least a day's travel south. We've got them.”
Liviana frowned. “They have some kind of magical blade. Send a message to the forces we have down south to keep that area ready but I think we'll catch them first.”
She stood and walked down the stairs. “Come on, men! I lead the way on this hunt.”
Her men and women slammed spears into shields with a crash, their roar as eager and as bloodthirsty as any daughter of Aries could wish.
***
“So, this is the thing that will save us?” Meg asked, looking at the completely ordinary wall of the canyon.
“What?” Tethis looked back over her shoulder. “No, no, give me a second.”
Liam nodded but he could hear the faint sound of horns. The soldiers were communicating something and that made him nervous. He looked over his shoulder, trying to see if he could detect any of the people who might be coming soon to murder him with sharp, pointy sticks and beaten chunks of bronze. It was still almost too surreal to feel like a real danger to him, but the back of his neck still prickled.
Then he looked back to see what Tethis was doing and found that the curvaceous gobliness had bent forward to examine the ground. This meant that her linen robes rode up along her ass, revealing the smooth, green curve of her ass cheeks and the dark, almost black curve of her pussy lips. She was completely hairless – though Liam wasn't sure if that was a feature of her being a gobliness or part of her being from the Pesdjeti
Liam's eyes widened as he watched Tethis' ass sway from side to side as she hunted around.
“Enjoying the view?”
The voice purring in her ear was all playful kittenish but it still made Liam's heart stop. The last thing he wanted was to piss off a girl who had feelings for him and could (and Liam still had to remind himself of this) bend bronze with her bare hands. Liam gulped, then looked at Meg. He tried for a smile.
“Who wouldn't?”
“I'm not completely sapphic,” Meg murmured, “But I can see the appeal.”
“Found it!” Tethis exclaimed, jerking up as she beamed at the wall. Before Liam's eyes, the mirror smooth rockface shimmered and rippled as if it had become nothing more than water. A large swath of canyon wall – maybe ten, fifteen feet wide – vanished into a haze of light and a glow of blue sparks. What was left was a perfectly geometric door – rectangular in shape, leading straight into a narrow corridor, which itself was illuminated by half a dozen glowing blue crystals.
Tethis turned to face them, smiling. “It's an ancient temple. That's my field of study – I am a scribe of temples and worship. Normally, we study the relics of the Coptic people and the Pesdjeti gods. But, well...” She reached up to play with her hair, curling her finger through the bristles of her mohawk. “I've always been interested in the ancients, those who followed the Caretaker – the Father, if you're a valkyrie.” She nodded to Meg. “They had a practice of magic that didn't depend on gods in any way, shape or form. Rather, they were able to use crystals as foci to draw inherent magical energies via certain gestures, thoughts, and words!” She beamed. “That's how I was able to heal your arm.”
“Arcane magic doing healing?” Liam asked, shaking his head as he walked into the corridor. “Now I know your world is bullshit.”
“I've never heard of people casting without gods,” Meg said. “Is it similar to my inherent abilities?”
“Yes, actually!” Tethis said, frowning as she started to prod at the wall. “There is a device that closes off the wall. It should make it impossible for them to tell...” She touched a rune that was carved into the wall beneath one of the gems. With her touch and a strange gesture of her fingertip, the rune glowed and the entrance vanished behind the illusion once more. Turning to face them, Tethis smiled, her teeth glinting in the blue luminescence of the corridor. “But yes, valks who have been embalmed in the Coptic kingdoms, all of them contain lumps of crystal that are exactly the same kind of crystal used by foci!”
“Embalming!?” Meg sounded disgusted. “You desecrated valk bodies?”
“Valks descended from Bastet don't consider it desecration. The real desecration is just burning it like you Athenians do!” Tethis snapped, sounding furious as she put her hands on her hips, glaring up at Meg. “How do your cities not choke on the unquiet dead?”
“Guys, guys!” Liam said, quickly. “I think, I mean, yes. A Coptic ghost might be upset without a burial. Right? But Athenians aren't Coptic. Surely, then, they'd be upset if they weren't, uh, burned. Right?” He looked between them.
Meg frowned. “True.”
“That does make sense,” Tethis murmured.
Liam breathed a sigh of relief.
Tethis turned and started down the corridor. Meg followed after her, still grumbling very softly under her breath about embalming. Liam brushed his hands through his hair and then glanced back at the doorway. He frowned, then started after the two girls.
They should be safe.
***
Livana walked with her hoplites, her hand on the hilt of her sword. Her eyes were narrowed as she looked left and right, trying to miss nothing. Her every nerve felt as if it was on fire.
Some people claimed that elves had been crafted to be the fuck-toys of every race on Purgatory. They were naturally hairless meaning that they were exotic for the Aesir and a delight for the fashion conscious Coptic. Their inherently slender forms were always in high demand from the Athenians and other Hellenes, noted fans of young, nubile flesh. Lizardfolk enjoyed despoiling the innocent, and nothing was quite as doe-like and naive looking as a pouting elf. Valkyrie liked being stronger than others and elves were never known for their great strength. And the less said about humans and their fascination with elven ears, the better.
But in truth?
Elves were born killers.
It was easy to kill when you knew that your enemy would live less than an eyeblink of your lifespan. It was easy to kill when your mind could plan ahead three steps while they were still settled on the first. And it was easiest to kill when your eye could see even the tiniest chink in armor, even the smallest twitch of indecision on the face of your enemy.
“Where are they?” One of the hoplites grumbled quietly. “I lost the trail. Ataxis, do you see anything?”
“No,” another one of the hoplites grumbled.
Liv held up her hand, fist clenched. The others stopped, looking at her.
Liv turned slowly around, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the ground, then at the wall of the canyon. Something was bothering her. Something stuck out. Something seemed ever so slightly wrong. Then she rubbed her finger together, kneeling down
and picking up a rock. She tossed it at the wall. It hit and rebounded.
“Ma'am?” one of the hoplites asked.
“Shut up,” she said, not looking away. She picked up another rock, tossing it from palm to palm.
She threw again.
Again, the rock bounced off the wall.
The hoplites glanced at one another – nervously.
Liv picked up a third rock. This time, she flung at the space between where the two rocks and the rock did not bounce back. Instead, it simply vanished – leaving a rippling space in the world, looking as if the rocks had turned to water.
Liv grinned, fiercely. “Did you know,” she said, turning to look at her hoplites, “Elves can always spot a hidden door.” She smirked. “Men, form up. I think we've found them.”
***
The expanse of the inner room of the temple took Liam's breath away. He had never been to the really big temples that populated Earth – the Hagia Sophia, or the Taj Mahal, or St. Paul's Cathedral – but he was fairly sure that each of them might fit in this immenseness. What really struck him, though, was the sheer austerity of the place. He expected the temple to the Caretaker might have a representation of his majesty, of his servants. Even the most aniconic mosques or Protestant churches still had more symbolism than this emptiness. The floor was decorated with nothing but a simple triangle pattern that tessellated outwards towards the edges of the wall - the blue lines shone brightly against obsidian black stone tiles, and the only light that pervaded the room was the pale luminescence that shone from the lines.
The center of the room held something that might have been an altar – it was certainly large and imposing enough. A slab of rectangular stone that was as white as the floor was black, polished to a mirror smoothness. It was set high on a platform of stone steps that emerged smoothly from the floor. Tethis rubbed her hands together.
“I was researching this chamber for two months,” she said. “My camp is right there.” She jerked her chin at the corner of the room. There, looking remarkably out of place, was a smallish bedroll and a chest that looked like it had been completely emptied. “And I was going to head back to Faiyum Falls to report on what I had discovered – if you manipulate the altar in the right way, any object placed on it vanishes.”
The Murder Stroke (Purgatory Wars Book 1) Page 7
