As he examined the Fortress from the air on the back of a winged gnal, Nilrem found himself pleased at the progress Valen and the budmother’s children had made. Built over a glowing, steaming vent in the fire mountain, about a third of the way up the blazing crest, the enormous edifice appeared to have grown straight up from the expanding mound of black rock. Its obsidian walls and towers were lit golden-red by the rivers of molten stone that spilled from the top of the mountain and bubbled up from the vent at its base. Liquid rock flowed around the base of the stronghold like a moat, then joined the other burning streams that poured down the mountainside and into the lake at the foot of the mountain—the lake that had once been an ice field. There was no road to the Fortress. It could only be accessed by sled to cross the ice and then by boat over the ever-growing water. Or it could be reached by air, which is why Nilrem rode the horse-sized, bat-winged demonspawn.
Nilrem contemplated the hellscape below smugly, gazing almost lovingly upon his castle—one that could never be reached by humans.
The gnal glided downward as Nilrem yanked its reins harshly, guiding it to land in the large courtyard before the Fortress. The gnal dropped its cargo as Nilrem dismounted: a sack of squirming, stinking, screaming, and revolting humans—some living, some dead. Valen was waiting for him, dressed in the simple white robes of the Angels of the Vessel. After thousands of years, the vestments were not as white, smooth, or spotless as they had been when the Vessel had first set sail across the heavens. But the fact that they were intact at all was a testament to the skill of those Angels who had woven them.
Too bad I destroyed all the Weavers, Nilrem thought, almost sadly. Had they only been loyal to me, we could have had new robes spun to last another few millennia.
“My Lord,” Valen said loudly amid the rush of the steaming vents and the screams of humans coming from everywhere as he walked across the smooth, black surface of the courtyard. “Welcome to the Fortress. It is nearly complete, as you commanded.” The servant looked his lord up and down and said, “You have chosen a new body?”
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Death screams came from above as a large, crudely tied rope net holding dozens of Hahnin captives tumbled to the courtyard, landing with a thud only a couple of paces from the Angels. A severed hand, still dripping blood, slipped through the net and lay twitching on the ebony pavement.
Nilrem grunted and looked at his hands and arms. He had almost forgotten about the new body. “I wonder if this is the third or fourth body I’ve occupied since arriving,” Nilrem mused aloud. “Or perhaps the fifth. They are so weak, so tender, and they wear out so quickly, who can keep track?”
“A woman this time?”
“She is partially endowed,” Nilrem explained. “I cannot transfer all of my thoughts to you, but …” The Angel closed the eyes of the woman he wore, tipped back her head, and spread her arms as he concentrated on all that had happened since he left. Through the woman’s senses, he heard Valen gasp as his servant received the images, sounds, and even smells. He felt a small tingle in the back of the woman’s neck as she reacted to the burning of Hahn villages, the torture and butchery of her people. Nilrem simply smiled and ignored her.
“Great steps towards our goal, my Lord,” Valen said, nodding.
A snarling mass of blackness emerged from the red-golden front entrance of the Fortress, quickly resolving into hundreds of large, lizard-like foot soldiers. Without touching the two Angels in the courtyard, they swarmed about, gathering up the humans in their sacks, nets, and baskets, carrying, dragging, and swinging them away.
“The ellgru look larger than last time,” Nilrem commented after opening the woman’s eyes.
“Indeed,” Valen replied, nodding. “The budmother is feeding well and for the first time in millennia, she is warm. Her children are strong.”
“Very good,” said Nilrem. “But I cannot accomplish all I need without a fully endowed body.”
“You have found one?”
“I have.” Nilrem smiled. “The memories of this body revealed her to me. She is the one who has been watching us this entire time. I now know where she is. And soon, I will have her.”
Valen also smiled, while the last of the humans shrieked with pain and fear as the demonspawn dragged them below the surface until all disappeared into the glowing, steaming vent.
And then, there was silence, except for the sound of the molten rock and the low laughter of the Angels.