“Choice. The grand gift to humanity. I see it. Clear as I see the summer sun. It’s what matters. If not for the freedom of choice, if not for humanity’s ability to forge their own way, then there would be no need for you. What purpose would a divine judge serve if we all followed the path? If we obediently marched along in fate’s grand design? What would be left to judge? What purpose would the celestial and infernal planes serve at all? Without choice... there is nothing.”
“Foolish girl, you believe you can ignore fate’s grand design?” Ammit flew into a rage, sending the torches burning higher and brighter. The light grew in such vibrant blue intensity that the spirits no longer could be seen in the air. Their light nimbus form awash in the light.
“I don’t think it,” Xlina grew bold, stepping forward. “I know. When Owen claimed the dark druid’s scythe... he defied fate. The Morrigan selected Arrivan as her champion, to strike me down in some divine cosmic justice. It wasn’t some higher power that intervened, it was just a lowly brewer, who made a choice to spare his friend. All your unlimited power and that is the hitch, isn’t it? You can make us worship you? You cannot force our loyalty. We must choose it. Sure, you can wield the forces of nature, you can appear and demand sacrifice, but at any juncture humanity can tell you to go shit in your hat.”
“Insolent whelp,” Ammit boiled with rage, her furor causing her limbs to tremble. “I should smite you down for your petulance.”
“You should have already.” Xlina folded her arms across her chest smugly. “Like a bug on a windshield. But that isn’t your purpose, is it, Ammit? You are a judge. You weigh the value of my immortal soul. You have my answer. Choice. Now present your judgement. My friend awaits.”
The blue flames dimmed and retreated to the torches lining the cavern walls. The spirits returned to view as Ammit relaxed, a curved grin forming on her lips. She stepped aside and bowed with a sweeping gesture to the Well of Souls.
“You are indeed worthy, Xlina Dar’Karrow. You have learned well from your trials. Proceed into the cauldron, but know thy test has just begun. Two trials more stand between you and your goal. First, the guardian of the cauldron awaits. If you should prove worth, your ultimate test lies within the waters below.”
“I don’t suppose you can elaborate on that?” Xlina cautiously moved past Ammit, giving the well a long, hard stare.
“The last test is one from within. You have walked your path, but true enlightenment comes not from knowing the road ahead, but from knowing the path within.”
“Well, that clears it up nicely,” Xlina said sourly, looking on the beautiful visage of Ammit. “What becomes of you, Ammit? Do you wait for the next wary soul to enter the crocodile’s maw?”
“Service and duty,” Ammit answered solemnly. “When humanity chooses to no longer believe in my kind, we are barred from your realm. Lost to the flow of time, I stand a solitary judge presiding over an empty and long forgotten tomb.”
“Are you a god, then?”
“God is a term your kind used to explain creatures beyond their understanding. It is a term both oversimplified and yet too complex to describe my being.”
“Fare thee well, Ammit the Devourer,” Xlina turned and investigated the well. A faint green light beckoned from far below. She gave a last fleeting look at the discarded deity, feeling a sense of loss for her world that had lost such a creature. With a deep breath, she stepped over the limestone wall and plunged into the depths below.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Guardian of the Cauldron,
She was falling deeper into the green light below. Rock and stone walls whizzed by as she descended into a pool of effervescent green liquid. She splashed unceremoniously into the pool and clawed against the thick waters to breech the surface and breathe in air once more. She emerged in a pool of bubbling green water and swam for the closest rocky shore. She pulled herself from the waters and studied her surroundings. She was deeper, far deeper in the netherworld than she was before. The air was frosty, like a brisk fall day, causing goosebumps to form on her bare arms. She hugged herself for warmth as she studied the new cavern before her.
She could make out a winding path cutting between stalagmites and stone pillars that lead away from the frothing green subterranean lake. She peered into the darkness beyond, looking for a guide or marking.
“Glad you caught up,” Amber’s voice, loud and clear as the day beckoned from below. Without further thought, she sprinted down the path into the darkness, eager to be reunited with the wayward soul. She rounded a bend, disappearing into a small stone crevasse that grew narrower with each step until she was forced to turn sideways just to proceed. She shuffled, taking slow side steps to clear her way through the narrow opening in the sheer stone wall.
“This way hurry,” Amber called again and Xlina picked up her pace, shuffling her feet quickly as she slid through the crevasse and emerged in a dimly lit chamber. The rock gave way to a worked stone dome that was lined with ancient runes that glowed like nightlights in the dark. Beyond, the floor gave way into many varied pools and hotspots as if the chamber were a naturally occurring hot spring.
“Amber?” Xlina cautiously stepped onto the rocky path of loose stone and rubble. Amber stood at the center among all the pools, facing away into the darkness beyond.
“There is the cauldron!” Amber pointed away into the darkness.
“Wait, you are whole? You have memories?” Xlina approached quickly, grabbing the blond woman by the shoulder and spinning her around.
A wicked face of rotten flesh met her. Eyes sunken and yellowed with decay met her gaze. Her mouth opened, revealing a host of maggots and scarabs that fell in a shower on the rock path. She lifted a hand, withered and rotten, and grabbed Xlina by the shoulder. Xlina pushed away in disgust, trying desperately to get free of the ghoulish creature, but it sunk its sharp nailed into her flesh and held her with supernatural strength.
“You’re not Amber,” Xlina fought against the ghastly creature punching and kicking at its decayed naked form. If it felt anything at all, the ghoul did not show it. It opened its mouth wide, pushing a cluster of scarab beetles out onto the floor in a thick wad of green phlegm.
“It’s been so long, since we shared a kiss,” the ghoul answered as a putrid black tongue rife with maggot filled sores pressed through its lips. The ghoul pulled her close, shrugging off Xlina’s punches as if she were but a toddler. The ghastly abomination opened its maw wide, moving forward as if engaging in a lover’s embrace. Xlina’s eyes grew wide with terror as she stared at the rotting tongue, dripping maggots and puss from a dozen open wounds.
“No!” She thrust her head forward, snapping the ghoul on the bridge of the nose with a headbutt. The bone gave way with a sickening crunch as gore and fetid blood poured from the ghoul, wetting her head. Blackened, fetid blood dripped down Xlina’s forehead and nose. She struck again, snapping her head back and pushing forward with all her might. The ghoul’s head lolled back from the blow, its neck snapping as its head recoiled from hers.
Xlina’s stomach lurched as the ghoul stared at the domed ceiling. Its neck broken backwards, the ghastly abomination’s jaw hung open. A host of flies emerged from an exposed rib and filled the surrounding air. Buzzing and bouncing on her flesh and eyes. Hundreds of black flies biting and gnawing at her flesh. Xlina screamed a primal rage filled cry as she thrashed against the abomination before her. She kicked, planting her heel on the hip of the ghoul and pushing strongly, but still the creature hung fast, its decayed fingers driving into her flesh. She lifted her other leg, so both feet were planted on the vile ghoul’s hips and thrust with all her might.
“Damn you!” she cursed through gritted teeth as her thighs surged with all the strength she could muster. Bone popped and cracked beneath her and yet still the abomination held fast. Skin ripped and tore under her boots as her feet slipped and slid on slick and putrid bone hips. She planted her toes into the pelvis and pushed one more time. The sound of ripping flesh filled her
ears, and she was falling. She hit the ground hard, the ghastly ghoul’s fingers still writhing and clawing in her flesh. She looked at the grizzly, arms snapped clean from the creature at the elbow and batted them away. A hearty laugh filled the domed room. A baritone voice booming the hollow cauldron.
“Good fun,” he bellowed as the ghoul collapsed to the earth, shattered and broken it bubbled into an ooze of decaying flesh. Xlina skittered back on her hands and feet, sliding away from the bubbling ooze that had been the ghoul. She looked up to see a pallid man dressed in ancient black plate armor standing before her. His black handled mustache was thick, extending down both sides of his mouth lining pearly white smile. “I thought you were eager to be reunited with the departed.”
He jeered menacingly over her. A dark knight. He wore an empty scabbard on his hip, and he pointed a black mailed finger at her on the ground as he bellowed with laughter. His words, thick with Irish accent, reminded her of Archam, but his demeanor, his cadence. This man was a sadist. The sneer and contempt etched on his face said as much. He enjoyed the perversion of flesh. The macabre scene elicited joy. Xlina felt repulsed at the core of her being.
“The guardian of the cauldron,” Xlina spat the words as if they were venom on her tongue.
“More the prisoner I’d wager, lass,” he stepped forward, bringing a metallic clang from his black plate mail.
“You are Efnysien, the knight who destroyed the cauldron.”
“The cauldron ain’t a thing to be destroyed, wench.” Efnysien thrust a hand over the domed room. “It’s a place, a rift between the living world and the dead.”
“The cauldron is ahead; it can bring back the dead.” Xlina shuffled back slightly. She couldn’t possibly fight the armored knight bare handed. Her fists would be of little use against plates of steel.
“Aye, the cauldron’s waters await those that wish it,” Efnysien turned, looking to darker waters at the edge of the room. “A road which leads back to the living.”
“Why are you here, then? Why do you linger in this... prison? Why not indulge in the waters yourself and be free of this place?”
“Oh, it’s that simple, eh, lass? Just dip a toe in the heavenly pool and join the ranks of the living. Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll just be stripping down to me skin and diving in.”
“Why not?” Xlina looked at the brute of a man. He seemed proud, but vain. He loomed like a behemoth before her, clad in blackened steel. She did not know how to handle the mammoth man.
“The ultimate test.” he looked on the dark water, at the edge of the room as if staring into the abyss. “A void of darkness and despair. A place of your worst nightmares. In there, you face the greatest challenge. Yourself.”
“I know a thing or two about nightmares” Xlina placed her feet under her and slowly rose so as not to provoke the dark knight.
“Ha! So I thought too,” the knight bellowed with a resounding laugh, nearly bending over at the waist. “Such hubris. Alas, at least you are pretty. You’ll make fine company until the end of time.”
“What?” Xlina backed a step as Efnysien cast a lewd eye on her. His mouth twisted into a wicked smile that betrayed his foul intentions.
“The only way out is through the cauldron, but none have passed through its waters since the messiah.” He snarled, licking his lips hungrily.
“We are trapped. You are no guardian. This isn’t a test.”
“It’s a punishment, a sick cruel twist of fate. It is our penance for defying the gods. This place is between realms, between the planes. You will not age, you will not die. You will hunger but find no food. Thirst, but find no water. Trapped in an endless day.”
“Well, that sounds terrible,” Xlina’s hand floated to her mark. She wondered if in this place Valeria could still hear her calls.
“Oh it was. The boredom. But fate has been kind and sent me a new plaything. A new toy to break.”
“I’m no one’s toy, Efnysien,” Xlina growled threateningly.
“Good, good, I prefer a little fight.” He glowered menacingly, stalking around her like a cat hunting its prey.
“If you are so sure I’ll fail, then at least let me brave the dark waters.” Xlina backed away, shifting her stance defensively she pivoted on her back leg as the brute circled.
“Why might I be doing that?” Efnysien narrowed his eyes threateningly.
“Why to lord it over me. To stand triumphant at the water’s edge, glowering over my defeat.”
“To what end?” Efnysien asked, his voice husky and labored.
“Why to sweeten that moment, when you claim what is yours,” Xlina opened her arms wide and flashed a smile.
“What games do you play, foul wench,” Efnysien thrust a hand forth, pointing at her with a mailed finger once more.
“No games, no trickery,” Xlina circled him, matching his steps gracefully, like a cat. “I enter the waters and we see if I fail.”
“Why would I allow that when I can take you now?”
“Are you afraid? Scared that a little girl will succeed where you have failed?” Xlina turned her words like a knife. She was no succubus; her wits and words lacked the same punch as Valeria’s. Yet she had seen enough of the demon’s wiles to pick up a thing or two. The troglodyte came from a different time, a different place. His thoughts on her were formed from centuries old ignorance. She stalked him, becoming the hunter. He underestimated her. Thought her weak. Uneducated. Vulnerable.
“I’ve no fear of the likes of you,” Efnysien puffed up his chest proudly, banging his fist on his plate armor defiantly.
“You don’t do you?” Xlina batted her eyes and shrugged helplessly.
“I am a knight, a warrior. Master of death and shadows. I have fought in countless wars and skirmishes. I will not fail where a scrawny whelp of a wench succeeds.”
“Then you have nothing to fear. There is no reason to stop me from entering the dark waters of the cauldron. For I’ll not find my way through the void. Weary, and cold, I’ll return to you here on the shore in this rocky place. Will you not build a fire? Will you not comfort me when I fail, brave warrior? Or are you not the Knight of legend? Do you fail because you are only a marauder trapped between worlds with nothing to pillage and no one to rape?”
“Tread lightly, wench,” Efnysien’s voice grew low. Her words were finding their mark, but she needed more. What would Valeria do? What would she say to sway the brute?
“I know who I am, Efnysien,” Xlina turned with a flourish and curtsy, flashing another wicked smile. “The question remains, are you the knight or the marauder?”
His eyes narrowed as he studied her. He brushed his chin thoughtfully as he contemplated her words. She moved slowly, never one to play the seductress before she felt awkward, but she figured it had been thousands of years seen he had laid eyes on a female, and she doubted more than a heartbeat and breasts were needed to entrance him in an allure of her own.
“I am...” he moved closer, his face growing gentle. She paused, allowing him to advance. She leaned forward slightly, welcoming him closer. His face drew near to hers. His lips pursed. “The marauder.”
He grabbed her ponytail roughly and wrenched her head back. A light flashed from behind her as Amber’s wayward soul took form bathing the man in a luminous white glow. Xlina stared up into the skeletal remains of a face. Skin held loosely together over bone. He sneered, striking her in the chest with a heavily mailed gauntlet, sending her crashing to the floor. Amber’s spirit wailed in protest, bathing the undead knight in a white glow. His decaying skin simmered and burned from her light, but he paid the spirit little heed. Focusing instead on Xlina’s prone form. He stomped a heavy boot into her chest and air burst from her lungs violently. The world spun and her vision grew dark.
Xlina called to her magic, reached for her nightmare energy, but barely a wisp of purple flame smoldered in her hand. She was fresh out. Her reserves depleted in the day’s battle. It had been too long since she slumbered.
Since she fed on the dreams of others. Efnysien reached a mailed hand down, grabbing her by the hair and pulling her to her feet. The skeletal face snarled in contempt as he pulled back his other hand and swung a heavy fist. His mailed glove slammed into her abdomen, causing her body to lurch to her toes. He yanked again on her hair, standing her upright. She flailed at his mailed arm, but her fingers could find no purchase on the cold, dark steel. His face drew near, but she could feel no breath from the undead knight.
“Foul trickster of a woman,” the undead knight spat, teeth and spittle spraying from his open maw on her cheek. “You think I lust? After more than a millennium in solitude?” He jerked her around once more, spinning her violently and grabbing her from behind. He held her chin in his mailed hand and forced her to look at the dark waters at the edge of the room. He snarled over her shoulder, his undead mouth hovering in her ear.
“You’ll never taste the waters of the cauldron,” Efnysien hissed with a low, wicked voice. “What I hunger for is flesh. To taste the blood of the living once more. Oh, what a delectable treat to fall down the well. I shall enjoy you... piece by piece. Day by day. Bite by precious bite.”
She reached deep inside, desperate. She knew her body alone was no match for the undead knight. She needed magic. There was one last stone unturned. One last potential source of power she had sworn to never use. As the undead knight’s teeth drew near to her flesh, she resigned her fears, having run out of other options. She called through the mark. She reached into it. Accepting the connection to Valeria. Accepting her power. Just as she had seen Amber do through the mark with Ertigan.
Xlina’s eyes lit with an orange glow, and she lifted a hand to the knight’s face, allowing a blaze of hellfire to surge from the mark and through her. The gout of red flames engulfed the knight’s head, bringing a cry of anguish as he fell backwards, retreating from the wicked woman’s awful flames.
“You should have allowed me to pass,” Xlina’s voice was crisp. It echoed with an infernal resonance as her voice mingled with Valeria’s. She felt the power flowing from the mark. It was seductive, invigorating, and enthralling. She raised a hand and summoned a ball of pure hellfire, allowing it to hover in the air before her orange rimmed eyes.
Dirge of the Dead Page 31
