The entry area was in tatters. Small flames flickered over tapestries and pieces of furniture, embers and such. The porter was tossed off to the side, shians busying themselves over her. Other shians were being saw to by yet more healers.
“Good in an emergency. I like dat. Reminds me a home.” Jill nodded firmly. “Now where’s ya goilfriend?” She asked me.
“Jill.” I stated, but then refocused, “Everwrought’s here for the necklace, and he might think Serene has it since she was the one who removed it. He’s got to be tearing the place apart to find her.”
“It’s not unlikely he knows the layout. He is a pillar of the community, after all.” Mittens mentioned. “He will seek a defensible position before the Clerics and Higher Priestesses, the Mothers and Grandmother, can organize an assault.”
“Where da hell’s a defensible position in a church?” Jill asked.
The bells rang again. Each thump came with a clang tolling the hour as dawn crept over the city. For whom does the bell toll? Probably some asshole with a shitty goatee and a hostage.
Jill looked at me. She shrugged. “Aftah you, my lil white knight.”
I nodded at her.
We took to the stairs.
I pounded up step after step, making my way up into the next story. There were scorch marks on walls, and more shouts from above as below. I tried to shove my panic down as I scanned my memories. Last time I was in this temple, I was posing as a priest as part of a gig to get some religious artifact out of here and into the hands of a private collector. I’m not proud of it, but sometimes you need to eat. Jill looked cute in the outfit and- no, no, the layout. I was thinking about the layout.
I turned through an open archway and up into another stairwell. These were stairs that curved up, spiraling up the tower and to the top where the belltowers were handled by some underpaid manservant or something.
“Talons.” Mittens said, pointing at a step.
I looked. That was definitely a tri-claw’d scratch, with fresh dust under it. It was worth a moment to breathe and consider.
“Alright, so, da plan.” Jill said, grabbing my leg, “Whatcha got baby?”
“Uh.” I said, snapping my fingers as though that would conjure a plan into my hand like bouquet of flowers.
Mittens stared at me. Jill stared at me.
“Uh…”
The previous statement continued to hold.
“Im… provise?” I said, shrugging slowly.
“That is stupid.” Mittens said.
“Good plan, boss.” Jill gave me a thumbs up.
“We don’t have time for a REAL plan! I’ll try to stall. He seems like a crackpot who’d want to gloat for a bit, right?”
“He’s rich.” Mittens shrugged.
“’Zactly.” Jill tapped the side of her head.
Mittens looked thoughtful for a moment, and I was surprised how over the course of a night I’d been able to break down her expressions. As I said a very long time ago, she doesn’t have more than one. But by the tilt of her head, the direction her eyes were going, and the motion of her hands, you could pretty quickly get what was going through her mind. Whether she was considering new information, gathering her thoughts for an opinion, or trying to say something to someone she deemed extraordinarily stupid.
Right now she was mulling Jill’s slang over.
“… Yes.” She nodded.
“Good.” I ran up the stairs, followed in short pace by the two girls. My heart was thumping in my chest as I began to curse gravity, legs, stairs, and heights in general. The bells rung again, and they were much closer.
After a final leap, I made it to a flat stone-tiled floor. The rush of cold air shot across me as I stood there under a large roof, stacked with bells. A goblin was sat in a corner. His throat had already been slit and he rested on a few piles of rope. I turned my head to see the edge of the tower, where Everwrought stood, holding onto Serene.
“Everwrought!” I shouted.
“Ah! How nice you’ve decided to join us, Callum!” Everwrought was holding onto the ropes that he’d used to bind Serene’s wings behind her back. That damned fancy-ass dagger was held up to her throat, poised to slit.
Serene was standing stiffly against him, her claws tapping here and there as she tried to keep balance. Her digitigrade talons trying to stay stiff and upright.
“Let her go, you bastard!” I was surprised to find that I was the one who shouted that. I was really mad.
“An interesting proposal!” Everwrought said, that smile not leaving his face, “We didn’t had much time to talk last evening, did we Callum? But… oh, you taught me so much… so very much about Ashkatort, that little scamp!” He laughed, “I wonder how much power that demon will piss out if I cut this turkey toe to tip right here!”
“She doesn’t have the necklace!” I shouted.
“Callum-!” Serene started, but pulled her head up as the dagger tapped her throat.
“I know she doesn’t! I didn’t think she did…” Everwrought smiled, “You can see where I’m going with this, right? I don’t need to insult your intelligence by explaining?”
“A trade? Are you serious?” I asked.
“The necklace, and the box, for the harpy.” He nodded.
“No fuckin’ way you demon-dick-sucker!” Jill shouted.
Suddenly I felt a weight in my hand. Mittens had pressed the two items into my palm, the box atop the necklace.
The box was warm to the touch, and had a hook latch on it. It was the first time I’d gotten a really good look and feel to the smooth dark wood. The necklace, however, felt uncomfortably familiar in my palm. But it was cold…
I showed them both, letting the ruby hang from my fingers on its chain as the box rested on my palm, “Adequate Climates in the-“
“Ugh. Are you full-naming a harpy at me? What a waste of breath for some shian daughter.”
“Sister!” Serene spat out.
“Whatever. And, no.” He mulled over his mouth a bit, adjusting his jaw in a gesture that somehow made him seem even more like a douchebag. This was a feat on par with the creation of the universe, but somehow he managed it. “No, you’ll toss those in front of me, yes? And then I’ll hand over the harpy… and then, I’ll try to immolate you, of course. I have my back to the wall here, if you couldn’t tell. Metaphorically speaking.”
“That’s very forthcoming of you.” Mittens commented.
“I’m not one for lies. But, it’s the best deal you’re going to get. I could just… cut the chicken, if you’d rather. I only have two hands, you know? I can’t hold both the artifacts and this sacrifice. What I do with those hands, however, is up to you.”
It struck me then that this guy was a real lineagist… I mean, earlier he used ‘squnt’ which is a slur that even Jill doesn’t throw around lightly. Then the thing about trolls and… all these micro-aggressions against harpies. It makes you wonder about our elites, it really does. I wanted to break his nose three ways and bash his skull into one of the nearby ornate pillars.
I sighed, looking at Jill. She shook her head, but I nodded. Jill rolled her eyes and said, “By da saints, yer a damn romantic, Callum… prolly one of da reasons I agreed tah marry ya.”
I smiled at that, warmth blooming in me against the dawn chill. I tossed the necklace and the box. They hit the ground. The box rolled for a bit, and the necklace slid. They were just about in arm’s reach of Everwrought.
“Good, good… now, I’ll let the harpy go, just as I said.”
He shoved her behind him, tossing her right off the bare edge of the bell tower.
“SERENE!” I shouted. Before I could think, I was running forward, barreling towards Everwrought. He was picking up both the necklace and the box.
“Let’s see how Ashkatort likes these experiences…” He said as I got within arm’s reach. I wasn’t aiming for him, but going for the edge. I didn’t know why. To look over it? To throw myself off after her? Both of those were stupid options, anyway. He took advantage of it.
He moved to the side and rammed his shoulder down into my neck. There was a flare of light from above me, the necklace reacting to the sudden rush of pain as he kneed me in the stomach and shoved me over the edge.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I stumbled. And I fell.
I barely caught the edge of the floor, hanging over maybe five stories of certain death. I heard Jill shout, but blood was rushing to my unpopped ears, my fingers suddenly burned with pain as I strained to hold myself, to catch my other arm. I felt the hot agony of fresh wounds on my shoulder as I strained.
“Ugh, this squnt again.” I could see Everwrought lift the necklace and unleash a blast of energy from it, “That is exactly what I was hoping for! I don’t need to use the necklace at all, do I, Callum? I can just hold it near such agony as I wish and unleash it with the flick of a wrist! You really got the bad end of the bargain tonight… Although… that was a bit weak… hm. I can always play around with it, and I certainly will. I’ll start with these two.”
And… well. There you go. You’re caught up. Pretty crazy story, I know. But, basically all of it was true. And so yeah. I was hanging there, Mittens and Jill are laid up on the floor, and then he kicked me square in the face.
And now… here I am. Falling to my death.
The sun was rising over the risewards ocean, its shining arms of dawn reaching out across the city. I could feel its warmth over my body as its beams glittered across the great icon of Aude on the stained glass window before me. Each heart beat sent me falling further and further.
I heard the rush of wings.
And suddenly, I wasn’t falling anymore.
Hot pain struck across my back as the fourth-hand clothing was pulled taught to my chest. I felt a sudden rush of air from my front as my trajectory curved downwards and then back up. I clenched my eyes at first, but forced them open as I strained to breathe. I turned my head to see above me.
An expanse of feathers spread out, blocking my view of the sky. The white feathers flowing in the breeze as Serene held me. Her sharp talons gave me a few clues as to how she’d gotten free of her binds. That bastard was either stupider than I thought, or way more lineagist if he thought throwing a bird off a roof was a good way to kill it.
“GRHAH!” Serene shouted, “Goddess-NGH! Give me- Strength! GHAGH!”
I could’ve quipped something like ‘Oh well that makes me feel confident in my diet’ or ‘When did you drop in’, but fortunately I didn’t think fast enough to give Serene a good reason to let me keep falling.
Adrenaline rushing my brain and filled me with my go-to plan, the only plan that’s always worked, every time, without fail. I shouted, “Get me over him!”
“You are-NGHA Asking a lot of me!” She responded.
“It’s the only way!” I need back on the roof, now!” I needed to get there while his back was turned, while my voice was lost to the wind, while he hadn’t yet harmed my fiancée and the witch who’d become my friend.
I needed this one moment.
I reached for my pocket as Serene curved upwards, flapping her wings desperately. A fair warm wind pushed us up from the cobbles, tepid steam rising from the sewers I’d been in two too many times in the past twelve hours. We rode that rising gust until she had finally had enough and dived down towards the bell tower.
“HEY BASTARD!” I shouted, yanking my hand free of my pocket.
“Oh, what the hell…?” Everwrought turned his head.
“SMOKEBOMB!”
It hit him square in the goddamn face. And exploded.
And then, just to add to the fun, I hit him square in the face too. Fist first.
I rolled over with him, and heard the clattering of metal and wood as the box hit the floor and bounced over my head. It didn’t bounce twice, though. I scrambled about the floor, looking for the necklace. My palm was dragging across cold stone, tapping over the surface of the floor as I scrambled over paces, rolling and ducking and trying to get to it.
Then, wham.
I felt at least one tendon snap with sudden unavoidable agony as a boot stomped firmly onto the back of my hand, pressing it to the ground.
“That was your ploy, was it? Breaking my nose?” He said cracking it back with two fingers like some kind of hardened soldier, “Pathetic. And pointless. I can kill you with normal magic just fine, and I really should have earlier.”
The smoke was broken by his glowing arcane semblance. But I didn’t focus too much on that… no… what I focused on was my palm. Where a burning sensation had begun, flowing from there into my nerves and up the length of my arm before blooming across my chest.
And it didn’t matter that I wasn’t focusing on him, anyway. He got hit in the face with an angry harpy.
His screams of pain as talons wrenched at his robes, neck, and face, along with the loud squawking and swirl of feathers through the smoke were in the back of my mind. I used the opportunity to stand and pull back, out of the fog, and bump right into Mittens.
She held onto the box, and Jill was rising behind her, staring at me. Staring at my palm.
The necklace, and the ruby it held, was hanging from my open hand, grafted to my flesh.
“It is dawn…” Mittens said, “But it is not killing you.”
“Dat means,” Jill smiled, “Ashkafuckshisname’s havin a good time…”
“Then let’s show him a big finisher.” I grinned with sinister intent as I turned to face the smoke, drifting away in the open aired bell tower.
Jill was the first in, ramming full force into the bastard’s groin and forcing him out from under the harpy he was trying to grab at. A flash of green light appeared from behind me, blasting him out of his wits and sending him stumbling. He was meandering back and forth closer to the edge, holding his injured pride in cupped hands.
“You wanted a real good sacrifice, you bastard?” I said, raising the necklace, “Here you go.”
With my thumb on the latch, I snapped open the box.
I felt the energy flood me, through one hand and across my entire body. My blood boiled, my heart raced, every nerve ending fired off with all the energy I’d built up over that night, the power of my fear and pain and love flowing up my opposite arm, and then into physical form.
An infernal sigil appeared in the air before the ruby, the mark of Ashkatort. I felt hot sweat slipping from my pours as the fever over took me.
And then, finally, I threw the flame right at him.
He was bathed in fire, utterly and completely coated in it. He was as a man under a sudden change in tide, in the wake of a boat on a sea of lapping and licking flame.
He screamed, and with each ounce of pain he felt, the power fueled back into me and unloaded further into him. His robes didn’t burn, they merely turned to ash.
I saw him falling back before I could immolate him to utter dust, and then heard him scream as he started his trip down to the streets below.
I stepped closer, looking over the precipice, and saw him hit the ground. He didn’t explode like you might imagine. He just… puffed. Ash and scorched bones and a lot… and I mean a lot of screaming people. I wondered if I was going to get away with that one, leaning on the nearest pillar.
I heard the steps of the girls behind me as I caught my breath… but what felt more intense, suddenly, was that thrumming in my hand.
It filled me with something… not fear for my life, or power, or anything. I heard that voice again. I knew it was a voice, because despite the fact that it sounded like a dog gargling the intestines of a living turkey while fucking a rock, it definitely had the inclination of a voice.
It pissed me off.
“Oh, shut the fuck up.” I shouted, and then swung my hand full force towards the pillar next to me, smashing the ruby across its stone surface.
I’m gonna be honest. I really didn’t expect it to explode.
“Well, hello thief~”
The voice was very distinctly not the one I had heard before. But something about its tenor made me rethink that assessment.
Now, I’m about to describe a demoness to you. Maybe where you come from, such a thing looks very attractive. And I’m certain, I’m absolutely certain, there are hot chicks from hell. I’ve heard of succubi, I know there are cambions which are like… half fiends, or something. And I bet a lot of them look attractive.
This chick looked like you threw a sex doll with a bomb strapped to it into a BDSM Shop.
The skin on her chest, where her bare breasts would be, was the first thing I noticed. Because it’s where her tits should have been. Instead, the skin was torn open and peeled back. It looked like they had been stapled somewhere behind her back. Her ribcage exposed, I saw a beating red heart mixed with other somehow contained organs.
Her arms were covered in red latex, reaching up and wrapping around the middle finger of a seven fingered palm. They didn’t form full gloves, instead nailed through as though she had been stuck on a cross.
Her face was covered with a full leather mask, which blinded her but revealed sharpened teeth which clacked as she spoke in a language that certainly wasn’t my own, but translated itself into my head through the air.
She had one leg kicked over the other, completely bare, but ending in lizard like claws which tapped against the throne of viscera and bone she sat on, built about the structure of some blackish metal, the same that’d been used for her necklace.
“Struck by my beauty, aren’t you? I’m certain you’re eager to rape me to death.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Was the first thing I thought of, and thus the first thing I blurted out at the thing before me. She was a fucking nightmare on legs. Legs I had no interest in spreading, enthusiastically consented or otherwise.
“I am Ashkatort. Callum, my beloved, my dear…” She said, “I thank you for the orgasms of pain and suffering you have taken and inflicted tonight, it was a treat… as was the repeated fucking, you dog…”
“Uh. No problem?” I started, then I stopped. Yes, problem! I got fucking tortured! That shit was awful! I looked around. The space we were in was sort of blurry. A darkened red, like a dried bloodstain. I did not want to be here anymore. I didn’t know what brimstone actually smelled like, but I just assumed that that shitty egg smell was exactly that.
“And you have done the courtesy of freeing me…” She continued. Her voice wasn’t like a deer choking on the bones of a raccoon it just raped, it instead sounded very silky, smooth. It sounded like a drag queen’s over-enthusiastic attempted at a lurid woman’s voice.
“Uh.” I said. “That’s probably bad, right?”
“Mmm, as bad as anything in the hells… I will miss my time in the ruby and on the mortal plane, but there is… so much I can do back home.” She motioned to me, “Now, Callum, will you come with me? Will you pass into the Pit? Join me for eternity, with infinite pleasure and pain awaiting you…?”
It took me a few moments to properly formulate my answer. It’d need to be something very firm, but weaselly, maybe rubbing this chick’s ego a bit. I had no idea of how powerful she was as a demon, if she even had any power over me here. I couldn’t really take the chance, I had a fiancee to get back to. I took a breath.
“Fuck no!” I pointed, “No way in hell, no way on Mira. Fuck. No.”
“Hm.” She shrugged, “Worth a shot.” It seemed like she was prepared for this discussion to go on a lot longer, to show me the wonders of The Pit and its sex pits and torture chambers and whatever else the fucking demons did to you for all eternity.
She might have even been able to force it all upon me. But, then again, I was fresh out of a holy ritual. That shit mattered for something, right? What are the gods good for if not for keeping demons with knife strap-ons from violating you?
She waved a finger, “I’ll see you again someday, I’m sure, my little thief… and I will show you then what you’ve missed out on…”
She spread her legs.
I will save you the description. But suffice to say, I almost threw up there and then.
No, instead, I threw up the moment I came back into consciousness, pouring a load of hot reddish vomit, filled with Ashkatort’s glitter, onto the stones of the bell tower’s highest floor.
“By the saints!” Serene shouted.
Jill smacked me on the back repeatedly, “There you go big boy, let it all out… no- No! Not on my shoes!” she angled my head away from her as I wretched again.
It wasn’t until I was finally breathing again that I noticed I was holding an iron necklace with only the fragments of a gem. Glittering shards of it had sprinkled the floor.
I rose up, on one hand and an elbow, and looked into the face of Mittens.
Mittens glanced around, then said. “I hope you realize you’ve just forfeited your payment.”
I collapsed in a puddle of my own cold vomit.