by S J Doran
He pressed his thumb to her bottom lip, silencing her growing tirade, his expression amused, eyes compassionate. With a soft brush across her lip, his fingers trailed up her jaw, cradling her head and bringing her into his protective embrace. He gave her a reassuring squeeze then turned back to the Lich.
“Bloise, what is the meaning of this… whe… where the hells did he go?”
One brief moment of distraction, that was all it took for the Lich King to make his escape, disappearing through one of the many tunnels that surrounded them.
“Hells, Mara do you remember the way back?”
She chuffed. “Do you? Because I lost track somewhere after the sixth split. But I know we just exited that one over there… oh crap.”
She’d been about to point out the fourth tunnel at their right, only to discover it was no longer there. Where the opening had been moments earlier was now blocked by rock, its appearance making her question whether tunnel had never existed.
With a much less gentle touch, she pressed her palm against the stone, letting her own magic sink into the volcanic bedrock. Pulling back only moments later in astonishment.
“The energy isn’t just in the moss or the worms. It’s within the stone. The cave is alive…?”
Anger incinerated wonderment when realization struck. “Either this entire cave is sentient, or someone is manipulating it. Either way, that decaying cockgobbler actually succeeded in getting us lost!”
He moved to stand next to her, his hand brushing along the rock, undoubtedly having sensed his own energy trapped there when he quickly pulled her fingers away from the stone. “Now Mara, this is no way for an Imperium Queen to address her future subject, that’s King decaying cockgobbler.”
The sound of her soft, humorless laugh bounced off the stone, filling the eerie silence surrounding them. “You’re being awfully cheerful considering our current predicament.”
His arms moved around her even as she struggled to break free. Didn’t he realize how dangerous this was, they were currently standing inside something living and didn’t know whether it would prove friend or foe. If the latter, they were in serious danger.
“You’re forgetting that I can cast a Hellgate at any time, and get us safely out of here.”
“Oh…” She stilled, the sudden realization filling her with embarrassment. She’s somehow completely disregarded his abilities. “Right.”
“You’re my wife, Mara. That means you’re not fighting alone anymore. Never again.”
“Soon.” There were so many obstacles in their way. If this didn’t work, if the Rod was a dud and Kali didn’t deliver, they’d have only one option left. And she was no longer convinced he’d be willing to pay the steep price placed upon their love. She’d felt his hesitation, and it had frightened her.
She raised her head to look back at him when he didn’t respond, squinting to correct her vision, pulling back from him when she realized her eyes weren’t deceiving her. Her throat went dry at the sight of those bottomless pools of black, his eyes devoid of that fire within.
“Cass. Please don’t be angry, we’ll figure it out, all right?” She brushed his hair off his forehead, his hand capturing her wrist.
“I know what you’re doing Mara, and it isn’t going to work.” He moved in so close their chests pressed together, she could feel his heavy breathing. “Look at your palm, it bears my binding sigil, my ring is on your finger.”
To prove his point, he turned both of her wrists, exposing both sigil and ring.
“Our essences have fused together so tightly that even if you tried, you would never succeed in separating yourself from me. There’s no letting go anymore, assat shi, not for us.”
A muscle ticked in her jaw, her breaths hissing out from between clenched teeth at the sound of his honeyed ire. “You speak as if we have a real choice here. You heard Bloise. If your consort proved infertile…” her voice wavered, and she was done talking about all the reasons she couldn’t have him.
His expression remained dark, deadly intense, his thoughts hidden behind a biting rage that burned through to her, scorching her. He didn’t understand. Or wouldn’t accept. The Realms would never allow them to be together, and it was becoming clear that he didn’t love her enough to accept the alternative.
“Back off, Cass and help me find the Rod.”
Rather than lashing out at her hostile tone as she’d braced for, his free hand lazily wrapped around her waist, his hold turning almost gentle as he slid his palm down to cover the flat of her stomach, while his fingers drew slow circles against her belly. Danger warnings flared in her brain.
This was a new caress between them, its intimacy rousing the butterflies that resided in her belly to flitter about with a brush of his fingers.
“Stop trying to push me away Mara, I promise you it won’t work.”
“I’m not…” Her mouth snapped shut under his punishing gaze, awareness burning through her. She was pushing him away, even as she clung to him.
“I’m sorry, Cass. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I’m so terrified of losing you that it makes me scared of having you. How does that even make any sense?”
Warm lips trailed gentle kisses along her jaw, against her lips. Her breaths growing uneven, her pulse erratic.
“It’s not fair, what am I supposed to do?” He’d stolen her voice with his lips, her thoughts scattering, words becoming frantic.
He purred by her ear, his honey and whiskey voice both a plea, and a command, “marry me, amata ”
Her abused heart simultaneously filled and shattered. “I don’t understand how that would solve anything. I…” A flare of energy surged through the atmosphere, her own magic greedily latching to it in welcome. “I sense infernal energy. The Rod. Cass, I think I’ve got a trail on it!”
He stepped back enough that she could breathe again, giving his head a shake, his brows drawing together. “Where?”
“It’s strongest coming from the East.” She gestured in the general direction, then pointed. “That tunnel over there should probably get us closest to the source.”
She’d started to move when his grip on her hand stayed her. “This isn’t over,” his voice was hoarse, the embers in his eyes burning once more.
“I know, which is why we best hurry and get that Rod.”
Walls came tumbling
He pressed her against the thick iron door of the treasury, his chest to her back, as she fiddled with the door handle.
“Demon,” she hissed out in a warning tone.
His hand splayed across her ribcage, spanning the underside of her breasts, absorbing her heat for a moment before continuing down to trail his fingertips across her lower belly. Right where his future heirs would grow. They’d find a way. He wouldn’t allow that to be a barrier to her becoming his completely.
“Cassius, I am trying to concentrate here.” She looked up at him and her words trailed off.
Perhaps he looked as annoyed as he felt. As dangerous.
“I’m done with being here,” he whispered back. “The Rod better be worth it.”
He looked around, the feeling of being watched, of the walls closing in, was pressing and getting more intense the longer they stuck around inside of these dewy rock tunnels.
Sentient, yes. He felt the labyrinth breathing down his neck, as though it were following their movement and waiting to strike.
“If you’re not going to help me get the door open, could you at least remove your hands from my person?” Mara’s teeth were gritted, her tone annoyed.
He blinked and looked down, having forgotten what they were in the middle of for a moment.
“If I help you get through the door, will you offer me a reward?” He smiled, trying to relax and tease, the oppressive feeling making that difficult. He was suffering, hells only knew how she was dealing with it.
Quickly he scanned their surroundings again, the lack of visible threat not making him feel any better about their situation. Ma
ra had been correct in her earlier observations, something was here, and he wasn’t convinced it was only the labyrinth.
He felt the energy of his own realms. Bloise the idiot King thought to trap them in a rift that he had the ultimate rule over? He called up his power and felt the oppressive presence shrink back as the walls started to tremble.
The wall that met up with the doorframe showered rubble, a crack finally parting rock wall from frame, and with a snap, he felt the spell release. Mara jumped forward with a giddy noise and rattled the handle once more, the rocks kept raining from the wall.
“I can’t get this damned door open,” Mara said with a frustrated sigh.
He ran the back of his knuckle down her cheek and guided her out of the way, then slammed a good shoulder check into the door.
The door, frame and all separated from the walls. With each hit, it skidded and scraped across the floor, a few inches then a foot, then a little more, enough that he could squeeze into the room. He stepped back, bracing himself against the wall for a moment as a surge of power roared through him, leaving him dizzy in its wake.
“After you,” he pulled Mara through, keeping his eyes on their surroundings. “Let’s go see what’s behind door number one. It has to be here, I can sense its power.”
Yeah, the power. He thought about mentioning how heavily it was hitting him, but it seemed more imperative to just hurry this along so they could remove themselves from the situation entirely.
“We best hurry, the floor is unstable,” Mara whispered loudly, shifting from foot to foot. “It’s soft.” She looked up at him, scrunching up her nose with a look of disgust.
The air was moist, the floor definitely soft. And wet. He reached out and ran fingertips down the wall. The walls were slick with slime.
The sentient feeling had lessened, but an overwhelming feeling of smugness radiated through the air. He knew that feeling from his own throne room, when a demon would come in with leverage on another.
“Everything in here is covered in this slime,” Mara said as she shone a flashlight on her glossy hand.
He glanced around the room. It was round. The opposite end was a blackness that light could never penetrate, the ceiling was rounded, with ridges meeting up in the center, following a line down to the back of the room.
“Fuck me,” he murmured as he lunged for Mara. “Find the gold… recipe or whatever you need. And quickly. It’s not slime, it’s saliva—we’re standing inside a mouth.”
She let out a squeak, shoving handfuls into her pockets, grabbing up scrolls and haphazardly stuffing them into her pack, eyes darting around the room.
The door started groaning, the rocks around the frame crumbling into more dust, revealing shiny black flesh.
“Move it Mara,” he grabbed her arm and shoved her through the opening, the metal door beginning to bend, bolts popping and bouncing to the floor. Their opening was quickly disappearing.
He pushed her harder, growling when she turned back to reach for him.
“Just go,” he yelled, sliding along the floor to shimmy through the quickly shrinking opening.
The ground shook, and this time it wasn’t Cass that was affecting it. He felt the growling before it started to echo down the caverns, more debris shedding, more shiny blackness revealed.
“Fucking fuck,” he growled out, pulling himself through the last few feet as the doorway completely collapsed. “I know what this is. Fucking Leviathan.”
“I thought Asmodeus did away with it?” Mara said, a touch breathless from helping tug Cass free.
He tossed a look over his shoulder as the metal made a horrid grinding squeal, bending and collapsing entirely, his legs pulling through just as the door snapped.
Teeth. Large sword length needles of teeth snapped closed, the creature resembling an ancient, exaggerated version of the swimming hole eels. Infernal energy gave way to something far older and more oppressive, making Cass stagger with the shift.
He didn’t take any time to collect himself, breathing heavily as he regained his breath, he grabbed up Mara’s elbow, her hands occupied with holding the bottom of her shirt up to protect whatever loot she had gathered in the pouch that she’d created.
“We need out of here. Now.”
“Can’t you send it back?” Mara kept looking over her shoulder, panic shining in her eyes the only tell that she understood how dire their circumstances were.
“The Leviathan is primordial. I don’t know how my father imprisoned it in the first place?” They kept running, turning down new tunnels, running from the mouth of the beast, but not toward anything.
It was herding them where it wanted them to go, but he had no idea which way was out and was so turned around he was no longer certain which direction they were heading. And if he wasn’t mistaken, the walls were closing in… just needed somewhere they could stop safely for a moment, all he needed to pull open a hellgate.
Mara stopped running, her breaths coming in pants. “Wrong way. The Rod’s that way,” she said, notching her chin in the opposite direction from where they were heading. Back towards the mouth of it.
“You sure you’re not just sensing that thing’s power? It’s created from the same essence as the Hells were formed from.”
She leveled a dubious glare on him. “I can feel the difference.”
“I can open a gate right now.” He heard the beast gaining ground. “Is the Rod even worth it?”
Her look of utter devastation stayed his hand. Of course it was worth it — it meant they could be together.
“Hand me some of that shit.” He tugged at the pouch made out of her shirt, grabbing a handful of cold metals and gems and shoving them in one pocket, then grabbing enough to fill his other pocket before grabbing up the rest and stuffing it in the spaces he could find in his pack.
“It’s not ‘shit’ Cass. I need it. We need it,” she huffed, glaring up at him before going back to dart her eyes to their surroundings.
“Shit compared to your life.” He leaned in close, pressing a hard kiss to her lips, then picked up her hand. “You lead. I can’t sense a thing other than danger”
And a power stronger than his own.
Her hand turned enough so her fingers could thread through his, then with a yank, she pulled him down a tunnel to their left. The air was thick with dust, the walls now constant streams of crumbling stone. How bloody big was this thing?
She stopped, no more than a hesitant pause, Cass nearly running into her, then took off down another tunnel. She looked back at him, having to yell above the noise of the rock-fall,
“Close now! Can you feel it yet?”
Some feeling akin to excitement bubbled through his veins. Surged through them more like…
No. Roared.
“Here” Mara shouted, pulling Cass to a complete stop in front of an undisturbed space of wall. “It’s behind here.”
This entire length of wall remained solid, the wall now to their backs emanating a rather slithery noise as more rock shed to the ground at their feet.
With a nod, he tightened his grip on her hand. “Hold on to me, I’m calling up the hell-flames.” He smirked. “Then this place can go to hell.”
Like a sharp inhalation of breath, he called up his power and let it flow through him, he felt the wings crackle into place at his back felt the very atoms that made up the air that they breathed snap to attention, awaiting his orders.
He pulled Mara tight to his chest, then freed up his hands. Like he was conducting an orchestra, or orchestrating destruction, he gave a deliberate wave of his hands, stepping back as the wall before them cracked open wide, cracks running the length of the ground at their feet, magma bubbling to the surface.
Steam hissed out of the wall in front of them, and when it cleared, there was an obvious empty cavern behind it. Roars and shaking were echoing all around them, Cass wasn’t even sure how far-reaching his calling forth the hell-flames had gone, but the shiny black skin was revealing itself a
t a far more rapid rate.
“I’ll go in first.” Cass looked around to be sure he was leaving her in relative safety before he stepped into the widening crack.
The room was glowing red, and it took him no more than a breath to locate the source. It called to him, his hand wrapping around the staff before he could form a coherent thought.
It was his. This power belonged to him. The Hells were precariously under his thumb. He could see every string of their creation when looking through the eyes of the Ruby.
He hardened the stone that encased the primordial beast, the Leviathan, a god in ancient times, now caught in the snare of his world. It was all his to command...
He delved deeper, hardly registering Mara’s wary step back, focusing instead on the one discordant note that rang through. One of purity, tempering his utter domination, calling up his need to corrupt, warring with his need to destroy. His focus, it seemed, could only be on one or the other.
He tried to get it back. Chasing down the god-like feeling of ultimate control, as the chiming note of goodness rang through him, threatening to rip his molecules apart.
Fingers pried at his hand, daring to try and take this away from him, he could see it all. He could do anything…
His gut clenched, corruption latching onto the off-key purity, enough to begin to bloom.
See them, they’re yours.
Claws scratched at his hands, desperately prying.
A slow staccato clapping echoed through the room, snapping Cass out of the trance of the Ruby, his eyes meeting Mara’s frightened ones.
“You look too much like him with that, Cass,” she whispered, trying to hide the waver in her voice. “This is wrong.”
“And has the power to match,” Bloise spoke as he clapped his hands. “I wondered. Now I see that I have no choice but to offer my fealty to the son of Asmodeus who has proven to be as powerful as his father.”
Cass stilled, looking down at the rod in his hands, then at the fine sheen of sweat coating Mara’s forehead. His new subject needed to learn a valuable lesson.
