By Moonlight Wrought (Bt Moonlight Wrought)

by Crandall, John

  Fiona used the power of Aura Painbliss to heal the northman then sighed. “He is alive: for now. That’s all I can do. The rest is up to him.” They heard footsteps on the stairs and all leapt up, weapons ready. It was a man in the uniform of the Watch. He was startled, but relaxed when the three now -hardened warriors lowered their weapons.

  “What in the name of the gods happened here?” he asked. Selric reached for the writ, but realized that it was still in the hands of the horse tender.

  “We came here and found all this,” Selric said. “There’s two alive, at least three dead. I’ll explain the rest to your constable, preferably the Head Constable. I’m Selric Arnesson Stormweather. Tell him what I said. He knows where to find me. Now we have to get the murderer who did this.”

  “But who is it?” the man called after them as they ran out. They did not answer. The guardsman was ready to have them arrested, but they just did not seem to be guilty. The young man exuded that inexplicable air of a Stormweather and the guard prayed his instincts were right, letting the strange trio walk out.

  “Let’s take everyone back to the villa,” Selric said when they reached Bessemer’s and found all was well. “We’ll be safest there, and then we can work on a plan.”

  Dirk fetched Tallow and her most basic requirements and escorted her to the Stormweather’s. Selric sent the men with Fiona to take Bear and Aldren, as well as the dogs, to the estate. Dirk needed to go with them, since the dogs would only listen to him or Bear. No one said a word about Melissa’s fate. They even tried not to think about it, but it was impossible, especially for Fiona. Dirk and Selric had never seen her unnerved: never.

  Melissa’s whole body ached, it was as if she was one bare nerve ending. She hurt when It dropped her, when It dragged her, and when It chained her hand and looped the steel over a hook in the wall above her. The Fiend left her there for hours and she dozed, finally waking to the sounds of an argument.

  “What I do is none of your business,” said a deep, rumbling voice; Its blackness could be felt even through the door.

  “Did you kill the one named Cinder?” another voice asked; this one also deep, but melodic, gallant.

  “Yes, but what I do is up to me. That’s why I was sent here,” said the Fiend.

  “Yes, you were sent here. But now you’re distracted.”

  “Go and tell him. You never will. You would never make it to him alive.”

  “I should have killed you that night this summer when I caught you, you despicable, pitiful monster. I don’t care how much your behavior furthers my goals. You are causing more pain than just leaving the situation as it is. If you harm another one of those people, I’ll kill you. Togs are bloody bastards and I’ll be in on your downfall too someday, I swear it! Don’t come any closer. I’ll lop off your arms and beat you to death with them. Try me!” he bellowed tremendously, as great a man’s voice as Melissa had ever heard. The Fiend hissed in response.

  “Do not associate me with those Togs...” It said lowly. “...and if you press me, we’ll soon find out who is stronger.”

  “You are no match for me, Fiend. Not even close. There’s no woman here; no sleeping man. No one susceptible to your fear. I don’t fear you. You hold no power over me. And as a warrior, I overmatch you tenfold!” There was a long pause. “Make peace with these people. They’ll kill you when they find you. You’ve angered them.” Melissa tried to jiggle or kick the wall; make some kind of noise. She kicked her heels against the floor.

  “What’s that,” the second voice asked. “Another one? Let her go. I hope they catch you soon. If you get anymore off track, I’ll be back and kill you myself. You work toward destabilizing the government and ridding us of that king, or I’ll bring you down, hard. Quit preying on the weak and the innocent. It only works for so long and you’ve overdone it. No more citizens. Do you hear me? Kill the King’s officials like you told me and start tomorrow. If you take even one more innocent, you are finished!”

  “That is an official in there,” the Fiend said hurriedly as Melissa heard footsteps coming toward the door. The steps stopped and she kicked more frantically. “I am working on the plan. Maybe I did begin to enjoy their soft flesh too much,” the Fiend said wickedly. “Snapping their delicate bones.”

  “Good,” said the other. “Then get on with it.” Melissa continued to flail, trying to scream through her gag. “He’ll kill me,” she thought, “just like Cinder.” She pulled furiously on the chain that was nailed into the wooden wall, but the poison still left her weak. Again the footsteps approached and her heart leapt as the door opened, but it was the Fiend that walked in, a broad, disgustingly evil grin upon Its face. The look alone scared her. She scampered up against the wall under her chain.

  Selric, Dirk, and Fiona were all out the next day, futilely searching for anything. They even split up, though they knew it was dangerous if the Fiend found them apart, in order that they could cover more ground. They half-expected to find Melissa’s mutilated body at any moment, but they kept on looking, hoping against hope that she was still alive. They were all to meet at three bells.

  Dirk arrived and was greeted at the door by Alanna. “Here, Dirk,” she said excitedly. “This note came for you this morning. Guards have been looking for you all day, but no one could find you.” Dirk ripped the note away from her.

  “Dirk,” it said, “I may be able to help you. Meet me where we first met.” It was signed, “Your Friend.” Dirk thought hard on who it might be. “Why the hells didn’t he sign it. It can’t be too hard to give your name.” Then it clicked, “Unless you don’t have one!” He raced to Thegoric and then off south to Bessemer’s. Dirk knew this was no trick by the Fiend...not in broad daylight anyway.

  He stopped outside the store and leapt down from his horse, running inside expecting to see the stranger waiting for him. He looked frantically among the shelves but found nothing. He realized that it must be another trick and he started back to his horse. Then he heard the familiar voice.

  “It’s about time, Dirk.” Dirk turned and saw the blonde, stoic stranger.

  “I’ve been busy,” Dirk said. “How can you help me? I don’t have a lot of time.”

  “What could be more important than finding the Fiend? You needn’t worry about him anymore. He is straightened out,” he said.

  “The hell I don’t! You know where he is?” Dirk asked, stepping forward. “Why didn’t you kill him? You know what he did to Cinder, now he’s got Melissa.” The stranger looked shocked.

  “Melissa?” he asked.

  “Yes.” The stranger held his head. “Where is he?” Dirk asked urgently. “Why didn’t you kill him?” he asked again.

  “I can’t...just know that I can’t, but now it is time someone did. He and I are not allies, know this first, and I do not agree with his killing, nor did I ever know his plans for you or your friends.”

  “Get on with it,” Dirk said angrily, losing all faith in the man he had once so admired.

  “His actions are...were furthering a private goal of mine, to which I have been working ten years, and which I was planning on informing you about later. It has to do with overthrowing the King for crimes he committed in the past. I thought you would help me. If I had known he had Melissa, I would have released her from him, forthwith. He…”

  “Where is he?” Dirk screamed impatiently.

  “He’s on Falchrist Street, an old sewage building near the harbor, where they used to burn off the sewage before it reached the water. It’s a big, gray building. You can’t mistake it. I’ll inform your friends, but,” he said most urgently, “do not go in without them. Dirk, do not succumb to your fears. That is his power. He is not what he seems, either way. I will come as soon as I see some others.”

  Dirk went to rush out, but stopped. “I don’t understand at all, but I do believe you. I know you didn’t want my friends hurt, but I wish you would’ve helped.”

  “As do I, Dirk. My pride has hurt many. That is another burd
en I must carry alone. Now hurry.”

  16

  After checking Melissa’s bonds, the Fiend left her alone again and many hours passed before Its return. By the light that crept in between the shutters, Melissa could tell that it was near sundown. “What a fool he was,” It said. “Next time he comes, I’ll kill him. You heard him, didn’t you? You were trying to call him.” The Fiend shook Its head and laughed. “Didn’t work. I have to go out soon and see your friends. By now, they think you’re dead, or worse. Nighttime is for work, but we have some time for pleasure before dark.” It approached and Melissa felt her sickness growing. When It touched her breast, she vomited, but had to keep it down or choke because of her gag. The Fiend pulled back.

  “What?” It asked humorously. “Still a bit woozy? You’re friend didn’t get sick when I touched her. She liked it. That’s what we’ll do!” It said as if a revelation had occurred to It, pulling back Its twisted claw and grinning to show Its mouth full of sharp teeth. “We’ll have many, many days for me to rape you...and you’re so strong, I bet you’ll outlast all of them.” Melissa glared hatefully at It. “I will tell you a story.” Melissa wondered what kind of demented creature It was, seeming so human yet impossibly so, and what kind of story this would be. She thought maybe It would tell her why It was doing all the terrible things It did, but she was wrong. She was very wrong.

  “This,” It said, “is a story about...Cinder.” It snapped the last word with a strange, twisted smile. “She wanted it so bad,” It laughed. “She actually gave me the things to tie her up.” It laughed harder, Its voice crackling with an evil that was not of that world, seeming to sizzle and hiss with some form of energy. “I threw her down and ripped off her dress, and do you know what she did? She liked it. I tied her up and she looked at me with those big blue eyes and you know what she said? Yes you do. You knew what she was like. “Take me,” she said.” The Fiend stopped smiling and became dark, sinister, Its face calm and haunting. “So I did,” It barked viciously, Its mood changing in an instant, snarling like an animal beaten and tortured until it becomes thoroughly wicked. Melissa pulled away from the Fiend’s twisted, demented visage in fear.

  “But first, I took my knife,” the Fiend said, drawing the long curved and black blade from its sheath, “and I put it in her soft belly.” The Fiend slammed the blade into the floor, burying the tip deep into the solid wood. Melissa jumped from Its ferocity and tears filled her eyes as she shook her head in denial, knowing full well how such a blow would shred Cinder’s delicate body. She tried to cover her ears with her suspended arms, but she could not block out the booming voice, nor keep the visions out of her head, repeatedly seeing her friend butchered by the Fiend.

  “But I did it too hard,” It said as if disappointed. “She was very soft and it went through her. You know how I knew? When I dragged the blade down, I heard it ripping the bed as it went.” Melissa began panting heavily, unable to catch her breath, struggling to breathe through her nose. “So I looked under her, and yes, just as I expected, the mattress was torn open and was filling with red, delicious blood. She arched her back and I could see the blade behind her, buried to the hilt in her belly. So,” the Fiend sighed as if the story were boring to tell, “she lay there, afraid to lie back, you see, the knife would have carved more of that tender flesh if she had relaxed and lay back on the blade.”

  “Since she couldn’t move, I got on top of her and I slowly,” It said, taking Its time, “had my way. Are you looking forward to when I rape you? It felt good. In my pleasure...you know the hard steel, it cut more of her pretty little elfin body as she pulled away from the pain I caused her. Or maybe it was ecstasy. You know, Melissa, how much our Cinder liked pain.”

  “Well, by then she was getting weak, like you now, but hers was from the blood loss. She was fragile to begin with, but the loss of blood really fatigued her,” It said as if genuinely concerned. “So I held her and I tasted her. I bit her too, for some of her intoxicating immortal blood,” the Fiend said matter-of-factly. “She bled and I drank it. She was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted and if it had not been for your hunting of me, I could have kept her longer. But no! You had to chase me and I had to teach you a lesson, through Cinder!” It slammed Its immense fist down onto the floor, shaking the entire room. Melissa’s nausea grew just at hearing his voice pronounce Cinder’s beautiful name. “But I suppose she wouldn’t have lasted long anyway. I would have lost control on one so lovely and delicious. I would have ripped her apart!” It bellowed, the sound so loud that it rang in Melissa’s ears and she shuddered uncontrollably.

  “I wasn’t sure until I tasted her that she was elven. And later, I felt the magic inside me as I savored her blood. I got these images in my mind, and my lust increased. That’s how I know she liked it; she must have used her magic to increase my desire for her.”

  Melissa pictured Its huge, hulking form dominating Cinder’s timid, tortured, once-beautiful body. Melissa grew ill again as she thought of poor Cinder for the first time; how she was there alone, afraid, no one to help her or comfort her while the Fiend did the most awful things imaginable, worse than anything Melissa ever believed possible. “How could there be a creature like this?” she wondered. “Why wasn’t it me?” she thought, but she knew that soon it would be. Would It be worse to her? Would It try to keep her as It promised and drag out her torture for months? Would she be able to take the pain? She pictured Cinder’s eyes full of fear, the tears of pain on her face. The Fiend kept on with his horrid tale.

  “I couldn’t control myself. My feelings were incredible. Normally I feel their fear, but with her I felt it intensified, and I felt the terror that I exuded, as if she were a mirror.” It paused. “Did you know she could do these things? No, I don’t suppose. When I was done drinking her blood she kept shaking her head and mumbling, as if she had something important to say. So I asked her, “We’re not going to scream, are we?” and she shook her pretty little head so fast I thought it would come off!” The Fiend laughed as if It were at a comedy show, then began to rub Melissa’s thigh.

  “I took off the gag, and you know what she said?” It imitated her feminine voice wickedly. “Please don’t kill me. I don’t want to die.” The Fiend laughed again uproariously. Melissa sobbed for her innocent friend all alone, no longer caring that the Fiend’s hand moved very near her crotch. “She said, “Take me if you want, or hurt me, I don’t mind, but please don’t kill me. I want to live,” and then she began to cry. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that even if I had wanted to save her, which I did not in the least, it was too late. She was dying as I raped her.” Its eyes flared each time It mentioned Its lust, and then a calm would return to Its face.

  “So I kissed her nice and deep in her sweet mouth, letting her taste her sweet blood before I gagged her again. And then I shoved and I shoved and I shoved, and the knife started ripping and tearing because it was stuck in the bed. But I couldn’t stop...I just couldn’t,” the Fiend said rabidly, before calming only slightly, Its face, Its green glowing eyes so near that Its visage filled Melissa’s sight. “By the time I was finished with her body, she was quite a mess. But I guess you found that out when you got to her room.” Melissa shook her head and began to panic. She wouldn’t hear anymore. She was wrong to not have cried for Cinder. She would gladly die to change what had happened.

  “But the magic in my blood gave me visions. I saw disgusting things that I wanted to tear apart, or tear my head off to stop: trees and flowers, Cinder singing, and animals that I’d like to chomp to bits between my teeth.” The Fiend gnashed Its powerful jaws again in midair, as if the visions were dancing about Its head and It would chew them all away; the Fiend seemed to be losing control, as if reality were not quite so clear to It anymore, insanity running rampant through the twisted being, unable to comprehend the evil It contained any longer. It was yelling Its words as if forcing Itself to talk, fighting for control of Its body as the evil surfaced in the Fiend. “When I l
ooked down, her eyes stared up at the ceiling and she let out this sigh,” It paused, “and died.” The Fiend said the last two words in a most evil, cold manner, Its voice dying away and Its demeanor relaxing. It sighed.

  Melissa knew what the Fiend had seen: Cinder so traumatized that her thoughts, like she had told her friends, were projected in her distress. She was thinking the pleasant thoughts of elven things, of things when she was young and innocent, before the wicked world of humanity. Melissa could take no more and the most violent cries erupted from her stomach and she wailed into her gag, uncontrollably shaking her head in useless denial. The Fiend laughed hysterically, then suddenly calmed once more.

  “Now it’s your turn,” It said wickedly with finality, Its eyes flashing as It leaned in. “Let us begin.” It eyes were aglow now, and seemed to stare through her, not at her, as the Fiend bent toward Melissa, sliding Its hand off her leg and firmly grasping her crotch. It was not the body of Olaf Svenson any longer looking at her, It was the Fiend. With all her might, she kicked It in the stomach and the knife wounds from Mendric’s strong hand—though quickly healing—were painfully ripped open and the Fiend fell to Its knees.

  Melissa cried for Cinder, alone at Its mercy, no friends to be found. She kicked for Cinder, and this time her boot caught It in the throat. The Fiend fell to Its back, gagging and sputtering. With all the strength she could muster, Melissa pulled on the chain again and again. She turned and put her feet against the wall and tugged. The nails loosened, then popped free and she fell backwards as the chains dropped from her wrists. When she rose, the Fiend was on Its knees, in front of the door, trying to prevent her escape. Melissa ran straight at It, but instead of leaping over or around It, she jumped and again kicked It with her low-heeled, heavy boot, this time in the forehead. The Fiend fell backwards holding Its head and bellowing Its rage. Melissa hit the ground running, her athleticism had saved her, for the moment. But as she neared the stairs, even the adrenalin could no longer keep her weakened body going. She heard growling.