Blood Moon (A Louisiana Demontale): Book 1 of the Crescent Crown Saga

by Schuyler Windham

  “Let’s get some rest this evening,” Arachne said as she dropped her bag to the floor. “The time zone shift is going to fuck you both up, and we need our strength for whatever we’re about to face tomorrow.”

  Leo nodded as he plopped himself into bed.

  “I’ll treat you to dinner this evening.” He grinned, propping himself on his elbow.

  “I’ll treat you, silly,” Arachne laughed. “I have stock dividends for days.”

  She crawled into bed next to him. He gathered her up in his arms and softly kissed her cheek.

  “There’s no one else I’d rather run head-first into danger with,” she murmured. “And, Leo.” She turned over to face him, staring up into his eyes. “This will be dangerous.”

  “I know.” Of course he knew. It was why he wanted Monette to stay on the other side of the world. It was why he was here with her. Arachne pressed her lips to his and then nuzzled into his chest.

  The next day, Arachne, Leo, and Monette snaked their way through bustling crowds, past the West Wall and Kabbah, and toward the Temple Mount. The dry, dusty heat weighed heavy on Leo’s lungs. All the while, he noticed Arachne’s eyes darting back and forth, occasionally glancing over her shoulder. As they approached the Temple, Leo leaned in and she muttered under her breath, “We’re being followed.”

  “Shit, for real?”

  She nodded. Leo considered for a moment and then leaned in to whisper back, “Let’s split up and give them the slip.”

  “You’re right. They probably recognize me. I’ll go off in another direction. You try to find the entrance with Monette. I’ll catch up with you in a bit.”

  Leo explained the plan to Monette, and when a tour group passed by they ducked behind the crowd and meandered toward the Mount while Arachne bolted in the opposite direction.

  Leo and Monette casually approached the Temple and peered at it curiously like tourists.

  “What are we looking for?” Leo gritted his teeth.

  Monette pulled out a piece of paper with her notes and sketches scribbled all over it.

  “An inscription with this Sumerian phrase,” she pointed to the paper. Leo gazed at the cuneiform letters.

  “What does it mean?”

  “Belly of the Earth.”

  They wandered around the exterior of the Temple, searching along the stones and the walls.

  “I found an inscription!” Leo waved Monette over. She squatted down to read a stone on the southern edge of the temple and shook her head.

  “It’s Hebrew,” she explained. “It says: to the Trumpeting Place.”

  “So close.”

  “Yet so far away,” Monette sighed.

  They then strolled inside the Temple. Both of their jaws dropped as they viewed the chambers with awe. Turquoise and cream patterned arches loomed overhead, held up by marble pillars. They meandered through the Temple, searching desperately for the cuneiform to indicate the tomb entrance. Finally, they entered a great hall where rough stone was fenced off.

  “This is the sacred Foundation Stone,” Monette murmured. “The Abrahamic religions revere it.”

  “What’s that?” Leo pointed to a hole in the stone.

  “It’s the . . .” Monette’s eyes widened. “Navel of the Earth.”

  They met each other’s eyes, realizing there was only one thing to do.

  “We can’t,” Monette hissed.

  “We have to.”

  “Can’t what?”

  Monette and Leo whirled around and breathed a shared sigh. Arachne stood with her hands on her hips, staring past them to the hole.

  “Is that it?”

  Leo and Monette nodded.

  “I suspect the Imams and patrons won’t like it if we take a look down there.” Arachne then proceeded to walk around the compound. Leo and Monette watched as she spoke softly with each person until the chamber was empty. She left the chamber for a few minutes and then returned.

  “There!” She clapped her hands like she was ridding them of dust. The claps echoed off the lonely walls and intricate dome above. “Compulsion isn’t perfect when there are language barriers, but it will suffice. Who’s jumping in the hole first?” She looked to Monette and then Leo. They pointed back at her.

  “Cowards.” She hopped the fence, examined the small man-sized hole for a moment, and then eased herself through the hole. The sound of her boots hitting earth reverberated up into the domed chamber.

  “It’s safe!” she called up. “More than safe. I’ll catch you.”

  Leo crossed the rope and groaned as he looked at the hole. He took a breath and then let his body slide through the hole. Arachne caught him and brought his feet to the steps beneath. A few moments later, Monette squealed as she fell through the hole.

  “You two are fucking morons.” Arachne pointed toward a door up the short staircase a few feet away. “The easy entrance is right there!”

  Leo and Monette blinked up at the open doorway to the Well of Souls. They burst into laughter, which echoed eerily off the cavern walls.

  “For fuck’s sake, you two. You really are twins.” Arachne rolled her eyes. “Now let’s find the real entrance.”

  They went around the small cavern, examining the mihrab shrines and walls. Monette lifted one of the ornate prayer rugs and gasped.

  “Here!” She pointed. They huddled around a large stone slab with a cuneiform inscription. Arachne wormed her slender fingers around the sides and pulled. The stone groaned, coughing up dust and dirt. She twisted it back and forth until it finally lifted, filling the chamber with a solemn sigh from the cavern below. She tenderly set the stone aside as they peered into the darkness and the start of a jagged stairwell.

  Leo and Monette followed one another down into the darkness. Arachne carefully replaced the stone slab behind them and then lit a torch from Leo’s backpack. The dry hot air morphed into something cool and musty as they trudged down the stone staircase. Finally, they reached the bottom of the steps, which opened into a larger cavern with a circular dais. Two tunnel entrances opposed one another at each end of the chamber.

  “Which way do we go?” Arachne asked Monette.

  “Um . . .” Monette squinted at the right tunnel entrance. Arachne raised the torch a little higher. “That says Tomb of the Exalted.” She turned to read the top of the left entrance. “This one. It’s the Tomb of the Fallen.”

  They edged around the dais and stopped at the entrance to the tunnel.

  “Before we go in,” Arachne breathed. “I know the gods and the tricks they play on mortals who seek magical objects. There will be trials; challenges that we must overcome. They will try to separate us, scare us. We are as cunning as we believe. We are as strong as we are united. Don’t touch anything, and if something attacks us, fight like your life depends on it. Because it does.”

  Leo and Monette shared a fierce look, and then followed behind Arachne into the tunnel.

  Chapter 19

  Their footsteps echoed off the cavern walls as they strode down the tunnel. The path tilted down deep into the earth for many paces until it opened into a chamber with stalactites and stalagmites growing from the cavern floor and ceiling like the fangs of a beast. They paused at the entrance of the chamber, listening to silence broken only by drips of water from the stalactites above.

  Arachne bit her lip and took a step forward. A shrill whine filled the chamber in two tones and morphed into ominous cackles, reverberating off the wall. Monette and Leo put their hands to their ears in agony.

  “Who dares trespass on the Tomb of the Fallen?” a voice hissed.

  Arachne stepped forward, her chest out with pride, and shouted, “It is I, Arachne, Demoness of spiders, mother of vampires, conqueror of Arouraíos, slayer of Ladon.”

  The voice hissed at the mention of Ladon. Leo squinted into the dark and saw two hazy shapes. Their bodies shook, and Leo heard clacking from the darkness. One of the shapes took a few steps forward, and Arachne raised the torch higher over her
head.

  Monette gasped and Leo swallowed hard. Two scorpions the size of horses snapped their claws threateningly and raised their quivering, stinging tails out of the darkness.

  “You are right to be afraid. I slayed Ladon, and I will slay you, too, if you cross us. Or . . .” Arachne paused for effect. “If we can pass down through these caverns freely and back, I shall spare your lives.”

  The scorpions leaned in to each other and whispered viciously, all the while snapping their claws. Finally, the second one spoke.

  “We do not wish to fall with Ladon,” it said. “We shall let you pass safely there and back, ensuring our lives.”

  “A wise choice.” Arachne smirked.

  “Though, a warning. We value our lives, but the next guardians will fight to the death.”

  The scorpions scuttled off through a side cavern. Arachne waited until they could no longer hear the clattering, and then she led Monette and Leo through the main cavern and proceeded down the tunnel.

  “Cowards,” Arachne scoffed.

  “What is a Ladon?” Leo whispered as they paced down the tunnel.

  “It’s a terrible dragon beast,” Monette explained. “From Greek mythology, with a hundred heads.”

  “You killed it?” Leo gaped.

  “But, didn’t Heracles slay the beast?” Monette frowned skeptically at Arachne.

  “Heracles did slay Ladon.” Arachne nodded. “The first time. However, a nymph from the Garden of Hesperides went down to the depths of hell to resurrect the damn dragon, because she was in love with him or whatever. It’s always such a pain when you think people and monsters are dead but they’re really not!” Arachne rolled her eyes. “All because of love.”

  “Anyway, I needed the golden apples from the tree and thought the dragon was slain. But nope, there he was again. So I thought, I either don’t get the apples, or I’ve gotta fuck him up. Well, to be fair, I tried to reason with the prick, but he wasn’t buying it. Long story short, I killed him. Honestly, it’s a damn good thing the dragon realms hid themselves away; otherwise I’m positive his offspring would come after me with a vendetta.”

  “What . . . ? Dragons . . . ?” Leo started, but shut his mouth as they stepped into the next chamber, lined with blazing torches on both sides. A regal lion with the face of a woman and eagle wings of sapphire and gold lounged at the center of the chamber. A magnificent headdress flowed over her poised shoulders and tawny mane. She raised her head as they entered.

  “Who dares enter the Tomb the Fallen?”

  “It is I, Arachne, Demoness of Spiders with my comrades, Leonidas the brave and Monette the learned.”

  “Good eve, Arachne, Demoness of Spiders, Leonidas the brave, Monette the learned.” The sphinx blinked slowly and bowed her head. “I am Aziza of Eden.”

  Arachne took a deep breath and met the sphinx’s bejeweled eyes with her own.

  “You may leave the way you came and go unharmed,” the sphinx stated. “Or you may answer three riddles. If you answer all three correctly, you may safely proceed. If you answer incorrectly, I will kill you all and use your bones to clean my teeth.” She flashed her fanged teeth and licked her lips, flexing her claws into the earth as she waited for their response.

  “You going to fight the sphinx?” Leo leaned over and whispered.

  “Shh, no fucking way,” Arachne muttered. Leo noted in his head that scorpion demons were manageable, but not sphinxes. He wondered vaguely at Aziza’s strength, eying the rippling muscles under her tawny pelt and her golden claws glinting in the torchlight.

  Then Arachne cleared her throat and spoke up. “We will answer your riddles, Aziza of Eden.”

  “Very well.” The sphinx closed her eyes for a few moments, carefully conjuring the words. Then she spoke:

  “What is always old and sometimes new

  Never mournful, sometimes blue

  Never empty, but sometimes full

  Never pushes, always pulls?”

  Leo shook his head slowly. Riddles were not his forte. Arachne stared up at the ceiling, thinking.

  “The moon,” Monette answered firmly.

  Arachne whirled around exclaiming, “Don’t answer yet! You want us to die?”

  Aziza bowed her head and smiled mischievously. “That is correct.”

  Leo let out a sigh and put his fingers to his temple. “This is fucking stressful.”

  “Good . . . work . . .” Arachne half-grinned at Monette in disbelief. Then she shook her head and repeated, “Let’s make sure we have the answer right together. One wrong answer and we’re cat food.”

  “Sorry, got it!” Monette said.

  “Are you ready for the next riddle?” Aziza wondered, cocking her head to the side. They agreed, and she twitched her lion’s tail in amusement as she said:

  “Never resting, never still

  Shifting silently from hill to hill

  It does not walk, run, or trot

  All is cool where it is not.”

  The three pondered for a couple minutes and Arachne had the sphinx repeat the riddle another time. Finally, Monette shrugged and whispered to them, “Do you think it would be so easy?”

  “Easy as what?” Arachne quirked an eyebrow.

  “The last riddle was the moon. It seems to me the answer to this one is the sun.”

  Leo glanced from Arachne to Monette and back. “Is it? Is that the answer?”

  “Let’s not keep our friend waiting, then,” Arachne nodded. She faced Aziza and answered loudly, “The answer is the sun.”

  The sphinx bowed her head, once more replying, “That is correct.” She licked her paw and then rubbed her face a few times before giving them the last riddle:

  “I am woven of silver and gold

  All who bow do so behold.

  The dicta of the land I sing,

  I am higher than a king.

  What am I?”

  They huddled together and reflected on the verse.

  “Okay, first the moon, then the sun . . . could it be the stars?” Arachne wondered. Leo shrugged, but Monette was not convinced.

  “Hmm,” she shook her head. “Although it would fit the pattern, I’m not so sure.”

  “Stars are silver and gold,” Arachne argued. “People are in awe of them. And they are higher than a king.”

  “Yes, this is true,” Monette pursed her lips. “But what about singing the dicta of the land? Stars don’t do that. I think this riddle is a trick.”

  “I hate to say, but it’s not too late to forget about this stupid crown,” Leo laughed weakly. “The kind sphinx said she would let us leave.”

  “Damnit, Leo, when I introduce you as brave you’d better live by your title!” Arachne pouted. Then she put her hand to her chin and her eyebrows crinkled in, “Maybe it’s not a trick, but very obvious.”

  “It’s not the stars . . .” Monette bit her lip.

  “No, no, you’re right. But remember Lilith’s regalia? She had in her left hand a staff with the moon. In her right hand, a sword embellished with the sun. On top of her head, a crown of stars. While the first two riddles allude to the symbols on her regalia, the last one is the regalia itself. The crown.”

  Monette smiled and Leo took another deep breath as Arachne stepped toward the sphinx one last time.

  “The answer is the crown.”

  Aziza stretched her paws in front of her and slowly stood.

  “That is correct. You may proceed safely.” She stepped to the side of the chamber and sat on her back haunches. She curiously watched them as they strolled by, twirling her tail back and forth on the cavern floor.

  “Good luck,” she purred as they exited the chamber.

  They stared down another long, dark tunnel and walked silently for several minutes until they came to the third chamber. A gust of wind whooshed past them and blew out the torch as they stepped inside. A tall cedar tree grew from the earth in the middle of the cavern. Sickly blue light glowed from the leaves of the tree, dimly illum
inating the room. Tentatively, they edged around the tree, keeping an eye on its tangled branches and whispering leaves. As they walked, soft white puffs floated down from the tree.

  “Fuck,” Arachne’s eyes widened. “The tree has spores! Don’t inhale—”

  But it was too late; all three coughed and fell to the cavern floor at the roots of the tree.

  Leo blinked his eyes open. He was lying on a hill overlooking a verdant meadow beneath the swaying branches of the cedar tree. Beyond the meadow, a forest of cedar trees stretched toward the sky.

  A smile touched his lips as he saw Arachne and Monette out on the meadow, sitting on a picnic blanket. They wore Sunday dresses with ribboned hats. They giggled and waved at him.

  “Hey, Leo!”

  “Over here!”

  Leo stood from the sun-warmed earth and started walking toward them. Maybe they know how to get back to the cavern . . .

  But as he took a few steps, a thunderous roar shook the valley. An armored beast thrust himself from the trees and stormed toward them. He had the front paws of a lion and hind claws of a vulture. His body was covered in thorny scales and his head was that of a wild bull. His tail ended in a hissing viper head as did his fearsome phallus.

  “Monette! Arachne!” Leo shouted and waved at them. “Look out!”

  They giggled and waved back at him, oblivious. He gritted his teeth and ran toward them, trying to outpace the beast rushing toward them. But he couldn’t run fast enough.

  The beast took a deep breath and blew white hot flames over the picnic. Monette and Arachne screamed in agony as they writhed into embers.

  “NO!” Leo fell to the ground. Sobs heaved from his belly. Grief pierced his heart like a dagger. How could he be so powerless to stop this? Arachne . . . Monette . . . He felt a hole deep in his chest where only darkness crept. He had nothing. He was nothing.

  The beast turned toward Leo and sneered. “You are like he, who had slain Huwawa the Terrible. I watched helplessly, too, as our guardian was felled by Gilgamesh’s sword. His fears are your own . . . to watch your loved ones cut down before you, like us trees from the Cedar forest.”