A Bitter Brew

by Greg Curtis

  Sana burst into mocking laughter as she studied them. She called out to the soldiers, telling them how weak and pathetic they were, and promised them their deaths when her master arrived. She boasted of her power and laughed at their pain. Hendrick couldn't make out a lot of what she was saying through the ringing in his ears. But he knew she wasn't finished. That thing in her was going to scream again! He had to get up and fight if he wanted to live.

  Hendrick called a spectral panther and the instant he had it under control sent it streaking for her. But even as it leapt for her, the ghostly creature connected to her grabbed it in its huge maw. The panther scratched and tore at it and the ghost beast answered in kind. But at least while they were battling it couldn't shriek. It also distracted his newest stepmother. It gave him a moment to summon a second and send it after her.

  Sana screamed in shock as the second panther struck her, its teeth digging into her shoulder, and she tossed his father away seemingly by reflex. But still she didn't die. The panther gored her, but her flesh was far tougher than it should have been. Instead of tearing her entire shoulder off, the spectral cat ended up hanging off her by its teeth, its body being shaken about as she spun and twisted.

  Seeing that Hendrick desperately summoned a third and a fourth panther, and sent them into the battle. They too grabbed and bit at her limbs, trying to pull them off. But they couldn't. Sana tossed them up and down like toys, before throwing them into the broken cobbles. If they'd been made of mere flesh and blood she would have killed them.

  More shots finally rang out, and he watched as the musket balls smashed into her again, but did no damage. Not to the beast inside her and not to her.

  What in all the hells was she? Hendrick wondered that as he watched his first panther finally lose its life to the ghostly beast extending from her middle. It had been bitten in half, something he had never seen happen before. Then the beast shrieked again as it finally had its maw free, and he forgot his questions as his eardrums screamed in pain once more.

  Again the whole area seemed almost to explode as the sound smashed into the cobbles, sending dust, dirt and people flying. His head was threatening to explode and he couldn't stop screaming as the torment continued.

  This time though the shriek was mercifully cut short as another of Hendrick’s panthers took its place immediately, leaping onto the creature's long neck and biting as deeply as it could, before the beast decided to bite back. Hendrick was grateful. He couldn't have withstood much more of that sound. He doubted that any of them could.

  The cat's sacrifice gave him time to get to his feet and summon more panthers. He desperately needed them to kill that ghostly beast before it shrieked again. It also gave Marnie enough time to send a ray of some sort of green light streaming into his stepmother's flesh. In time he thought that between the two of them they were beginning to win the battle.

  Soon he had nearly a dozen panthers on Sana. She was pinned to the ground and they were attempting to bite off her limbs. But Sana together with the ghostly beast attached to her middle were fighting back with impossible strength. And though large chunks of the beast’s transparent flesh were being ripped away, it didn't seem to care. Even at the end when two of his panthers finally began ripping its head from its long sinuous neck it fought. It wasn’t until the panthers finally tore the creature’s head free that it collapsed, presumably dead.

  Then Sana screamed, but out of horror rather than pain. He could see it in her eyes. All he knew was relief, and all she seemed to know was horror that the creature was dead. She was screaming as if the thing that had just died had been her own child torn out of her. But could that be possible? Certainly when it died a part of the fight in her seemed to die with it and his panthers were able to hold her down more easily.

  That was good. Because the one thing that Hendrick could see clearly was blood. It was trickling out of everyone's noses, and running out of their ears and down their cheeks. Hendrick checked his own face and found the same redness flowing. They were lucky the creature had stopped when it did or they would all be dead.

  Once he thought she was secure, Hendrick approached her – cautiously. He was still very worried that at any moment another of those ghostly beasts might emerge from her body and bite him in two. Marnie was beside him, uncharacteristically silent though she continued sending her green light into the fallen woman.

  Marnie looked very pale he thought, the red of her blood contrasting strikingly with the pallor of her skin. But he knew if he asked whether she was alright that she would take that amiss. She took everything he said amiss. Besides, though she looked extremely unsteady on her feet, he was no better.

  Soldiers walked with them toward Sana, looking as nervous as him. Whatever this woman was she was no mere human being. And when she started laughing, even as she continued to be worked over by the dozen cats he’d called, they flinched.

  “Tarius bless us!” He muttered the short prayer under his breath as he got close enough to study her and realised he had no idea what she was. Nor what that long serpent like creature was. It had arms. Long skeletal arms that ran along its ten foot long neck. Could it be a dragon?

  He risked shooting a glance to where his mother and step-mothers were, and saw them being helped to their feet. All of them looked to be shocked, unsteady and with blood running down their faces. But otherwise they were in one piece. He didn't however see any answers in their faces.

  Meanwhile others were tending to his father, even as they called for a physician. Hendrick guessed from their tone that the injuries to his father were serious. But he had to ignore that. This woman – his stepmother – was the immediate danger. And all he could think as he saw her lying on the ground was that it didn’t make sense. She still looked like an eighteen year old girl. And yet she had had a ghostly dragon come out of her middle.

  Was it really a dragon he wondered? Because it didn't look quite right. It was simply too long and thin. A serpent perhaps, with arms and a massive crocodile head full of jagged teeth. But the one thing it was he realised, was other worldly. That accounted for its ghostly visage. It was probably also why, as large as it had been, it could still somehow fit inside her. No doubt it was curled up most of the time, but since most of it existed in another realm, it didn't struggle for space within her own flesh.

  “Who are you? What are you?”

  Hendrick added the last because he suddenly realised that she was covered in slimy looking fluids which leaked from her wounds, and that it had to be what passed for blood. The other things like her strength and toughness could be magic of some sort. The beast that had dwelt inside her had to be some sort of spell. But not the pale blood. That was no spell. She wasn't human at all. She was something completely other.

  Her answer was only to laugh at him. And then she spat at him, threw in a threat or two and then laughed some more.

  Hendrick didn't know how to respond to that. Or what to think. Surely no one could do that when they were being literally torn apart? She should be in immense pain. She should be frightened. Instead she seemed to think it was funny. His cats were hurting her, but not as much as they should. Their teeth could only penetrate her flesh so far. Normally they could rip bones apart. But not hers. Hendrick realised then that what he needed most was information, which was why he summoned his friend.

  People gasped and stepped back as they saw Val's bodiless head appear in the air before them. But Hendrick didn't care. He needed to know what she was.

  “Val, we were attacked by Sana here, the King's tenth wife. And I don't know what in all the hells she is. Or what that thing in her is. Or why she attacked. Or anything else!” With that he let the sage study her, something Sana clearly found irritating from the way she spat at him. But there was nothing she could do against a visage and Val didn't seem to mind as he studied her.

  “The Prince asked you a question woman!” Marnie suddenly jumped in. “You should answer it before he has you slaughtered and your body thrown
to the pigs!”

  “Prince? That pathetic shite?” She laughed at Hendrick. “Can't be. He's nothing. His pussy cats are nothing!” And to emphasise what she meant she shook herself and tossed all of them up into the air before bringing them smashing down again. A dozen panthers – he didn't know how much they weighed – had been hanging onto her with their teeth buried deep in her flesh and once again she shook them around like toys! She was far from dead! And he knew that if she ever got free they would be in a lot of trouble. But the panthers never let go of her. Though they might not have been as effective against her as he would have expected, they still managed to restrain her. She wasn't getting away.

  She shouldn't have said what she had though, Hendrick thought. Not because the aspersion annoyed him, but because she had used the words pussy cats. And that gave him an idea. Suddenly it was his turn to smile.

  “Maybe so, hag. But did you truly imagine that I can only summon cats?” He concentrated for a moment and then summoned a spectral parrot. Then, when it burst into the world he quickly brought it under his control. Once it was calm he brought it before her.

  “Now woman, which arm would you like to lose first?”

  Sana took one look at the parrot, and laughed some more, as if it was amusing that he could even suggest such a thing. But she didn't laugh for long. Hendrick guided the parrot to her upper arm and told it to attack.

  A heartbeat later the parrot brought down its Mithril beak on to her arm. Sana screamed as thunder spoke, the ground shook and the bone in her arm was smashed into pieces. She was still screaming when it struck twice more, faster than a drummer could beat, only to leave her arm hanging loosely at her side.

  Then the cats then started pulling the remains of her arm free from the rest of her and her screams grew louder. It seemed that the cats could only puncture her flesh and hold her, but the parrot could actually destroy her bones. Once the bones were broken, all that was left holding her together was flesh.

  It was a grizzly sight. Hendrick thought he should have felt shame for doing such a thing to her. To anyone. Most especially to a fresh faced, pretty young woman. And yet he didn't. Not with the memory of the pain of that terrible shriek still fresh in his mind. Not when he could see the ghostly remains of that horrible beast extending from her body. He felt no shame at all. She wasn't what she appeared to be. She had clear blood that barely even leaked out of her torn stump. She wasn't human. She had attacked them all for no reason. He thought he could be quite comfortable ripping her completely apart.

  Hendrick waited for her to stop screaming before he spoke again. And when he did it was only to threaten her again. “So, what do you want to lose next, hag?” Where he was finding the strength to be so cruel to a young woman he didn't know. Maybe it was the result of the pain still lancing through his head? By the gods that shriek had hurt! But he also knew he had to be cruel with her. It would be the only thing she would respect.

  “Bastard!” Finally she'd stopped laughing. Her already pale face had turned completely ashen. “You pox ridden whoreson!”

  Hendrick could see her struggling with her pain as well as her shock. He could see fear growing in her eyes too. She hadn't expected to be hurt. Certainly not this badly. Meanwhile he was trying to work out how she was still breathing. She had lost so much of her bodily fluids – assuming that that clear slime acted in her in the same way blood did in humans. She should be unconscious. Perhaps her anger refused to let her faint?

  “You will answer Prince Hendrick, whore! Or you will suffer!” Marnie stepped in again, refusing to be defied.

  “Hendrick?” She stared at him. “Ahh the royal shame. I should have known. It's a pity my soldiers failed!” She spat at him again, as she caught her breath. “But my master will not fail. And he will make you suffer for this. Suffer as no one else ever has. You killed his child and there will be no mercy shown.”

  “Your soldiers? It was you who forged the Chief Magistrate's signature?” Hendrick was caught by surprise by the confession. With everything that had happened he'd almost completely forgotten about that.

  “Of course! You thought that worthless old man would dare kill a royal brat? Even an afflicted one like you? He was far too gutless for that. I had to do it myself.”

  “How?” Hendrick didn't even know why he asked. He didn't care about the answer. But it was the only question he could come up with.

  “It was easy. He was a dirty old man who coveted my body. I let him have his prize, and then crushed him like a walnut just when he thought he had reached heaven. You should have seen the way his eyes bulged in shock when he died. Then I took his keys, copied his signature on to the document and left it on his desk for his aide to find.”

  “Old men are so pathetic! A jest of the Goat Footed God! I was going to do the same to your father in time, but he was useful for the moment.” There was no look of sorrow or shame on her face as she said it. Only defiance, anger and loathing. As if she hated the men. Maybe all men.

  “Why did you try to kill me?” Hendrick finally returned to the part of the conversation that mattered. At least the part that concerned him.

  “Because you were the one member of the royal family who had magic. You could have been a hindrance to my master's plans when he arrived.”

  “What plans?”

  Suddenly the smile returned to her face. “Now that, my rotten little princeling, would be telling. You'll find out in time whoreson. And you won't like it.”

  She'd lost an arm from half way between her elbow and her shoulder. She was being held down by a dozen spectral panthers. And whatever that creature was inside her had died. Yet she – an eighteen year old girl – still dared to mock him? Hendrick couldn't quite bring himself to believe that. But he kept calm and reminded her of all that she'd already lost.

  “What, this?” She shook her stump around complete with two panthers hanging on tightly and laughed at it. “It'll grow back. And then I'll crush your spine with it!”

  “Your leg then.” Hendrick was in no mood to be gentle with her or play her games. “All the bones in her leg.” He gave his parrot the instructions out loud so she could hear them. She needed to feel fear.

  “No!” She screamed, but it was too late. The parrot struck, smashing its beak down on her right leg again and again, faster than any drummer could beat as it moved down the leg, shattering her bones, and making her cry out in agony. She was still screaming when the panthers pulled its remains free.

  After that she lay there, cursing him, but also moaning in pain. But at least she now realised that she was not going to get out of this after all. It was some time before she returned to the world pain had driven her from. But when she did, she was quiet.

  “So, who are you? What are you? Or should I let my little bird have your other leg?”

  “You can't kill me. I'm carrying your brother or sister in my belly. Kill me and you kill it. Or I could rip it out of me here and now.”

  “You just said that thing was your master's baby.” Hendrick pointed at the ghostly beast. He thought he should point that out. “It's no kin of mine. And it's dead.”

  “I'm carrying both. One of each. And now that my master's baby is dead, your father's will survive. If I survive.”

  Two babies by two different men? One of them clearly something else? Was that possible? Or was she lying? Saying whatever she needed to say to live? Hendrick doubted that she could be telling the truth. It didn't make sense. He looked to Val with an eyebrow raised. The sage shook his head, agreeing with his doubts.

  “I don't believe you,” Hendrick told her simply.

  “It is my master's way. His children need to feed. And they eat their weaker siblings. That was why I got with child by your father in the first place. My master's baby was hungry. It wasn't the first sibling he'd consumed.”

  Hendrick's mouth dropped open when she told him that. He felt sick. Around him he knew others were feeling the same. What she was describing was monstrous. And y
et she was smiling! That more than anything else made him think that she might be telling the truth. It took him a while to gather his thoughts and find an answer.

  “But I don't need to kill you.”

  Sana smiled in triumph when he said it. She thought she'd won. And Hendrick knew a moment of pure hatred for her then. Bargaining with the life of a child. Her own child. A child she had intended to be food for her other monstrous baby. How could anyone be so evil? Assuming that there actually was a child of course. He prayed she was lying. But he controlled his emotions before continuing.

  “I can still destroy you.”

  “You seem to be able to survive losing limbs. So why don't I have them all removed? Oh, and your eyes too. That way you can concentrate completely on giving birth to whatever baby or monster might be growing in your belly. After that I’ll let you die. I have no doubt by that time you’ll be grateful”

  “You wouldn't dare!” The smile vanished from her face.