26. Confrontation

Neither predator nor prey wasted energy on vocalization. The huffing of breath and the rapid footfalls comprised the entire soundscape palette. Séa huffed with exertion. The half-seen cellar passages flew by. From time to time, unknown grime kicked up by Tash splashed her face.

A staircase up appeared at their elbow, and they pelted up the stone steps. The glow of luminous fungus gave way to a yellow glow that might be sunlight filtering down from unseen windows on high. A dark humanoid shape ahead darted to one side and disappeared from view.

"He took one of those," panted Tash, "narrow passages."

"Are we catching up?"

The rogue darted after the fleeing figure. Séa banged into the small entrance, mashing her shoulder in the process. "Argh," she muttered. "Torugg, lend me speed. I'm too wide for this."

She soldiered on, though the demon and Tash receded with every step.

The flat passage became stairs up, then flattened again. It zigged and zagged around three corners. Séa pounded past a kind of alcove on her left, but then skidded to a halt. The blot in spacetime that was the demon had gone that way. With a humorless grin, the paladin reversed course. Fabric backed the alcove. When Séa put her hand upon it, it billowed outward and light spilled from around its edges.

She pushed her way around a tapestry into a richly furnished chamber. Carved and gilded tables dotted the marble floor. Fancy chairs and floor-standing candelabras provided tasteful counterpoint. Tapestries painted elegant stripes on the tall walls. Séa recognized the towering ceiling. She must be in the great hall of King Pharing, but behind the throne in a separate chamber.

The paladin gripped her improvised club anew as her divine sense rang alarms in her head. More demons than one stood near, eating holes in the light of the universe. Draperies to the left and to the right hung to the floor, but the left-hand one billowed and settled. Apparently, they were partitions and not walls. Séa stood in the great hall, then, tucked out of sight from the main audience chamber.

She tiptoed to the drapery edge and peeked.

Several light-consuming demons milled around Tash, who knelt as if meditating. Her saber rested upon her knees. The pacing figures dressed like men-at-arms and wore human skins. Their rugged faces exuded trustworthiness, carefully constructed by their incubus owners to do so. Driven by the logic of vanity, the incubi wore no helms. Their appealing faces must be seen to be adored.

Séa searched in vain for blood splashes around Tash. She knelt unharmed! The paladin inhaled with a quiver, then whispered, "Mighty Torugg, sustain me in my time of trial."

Like a snowstorm during harvest, a chill voice rang out. "There you are. Come to us, Séa." Come to us.

Sarophax and the circlet of subversion. Séa's stomach clenched. Her feet moved without her command and carried her past the part in the curtain. The throne dais occupied the far side, with the marble-tiled main floor beyond. The succubus stood beside the throne occupied by a hollow-eyed King Pharing. Besides Tash, Séa, and Pharing, only demons occupied the great hall.

"Endurer, sustain me," pleaded Séa as her feet carried her to stand among the cluster of disguised incubi.

"Where have you two been, I wonder?" Sarophax raised an eyebrow. Currently, the succubus outwardly resembled the middle-aged Ophelle. The disguise featured graying hair, stooped posture, and worry wrinkles. But the circlet gleamed across her forehead undisguised.

Tash's eyes flicked to meet Séa's. Her lips twitched into a fleeting, rakish smile, and her eyebrow raised and lowered suggestively. A moment later, she looked dull as a lump of clay again. The paladin's heart leapt in her chest.

"Feel the wrath of the one-eyed god!" Her battle cry echoed to the ends of the huge hall. Her feet may be under a geas, but her arms remained free. She swept her iron club in a whirling circle of death that trailed a faint wisp of divine light. The squared base of the cork-stamp device plowed through two unhelmeted heads before its momentum abated. A third demon stood within range she seized it by the throat with her free hand.

"No!" screamed Sarophax. Her hands curled into claw shapes and she babbled, "Stop. Stop fighting. Stand still."

But she had forgotten to employ the magic of the circlet. With a joyous, "Oh, ho," Séa smashed the skull of the demon she had grappled. Abyssal anatomy differed from that of humankind, but a broken skull counted as a serious injury even so. A splash of acidic blood peppered the paladin's face with black, burning dots. With another battle howl she shoved the skull-crushed body away from her. Her other two victims mewled in shock and pain. Their human disguises melted away to fangs, claws, horns, and garishly-colored, leathery skin. Disoriented, they staggered as they fumbled longswords from their belts.

Stop fighting! Stand still!

Séa's body froze, as did everyone's, including Sarophax's minions. With a moment to take stock, the paladin saw more mayhem than what she could claim credit for. Tash still kneeled, but her saber had disappeared. A demon thrashed on the floor next to her. It gushed blood from a slashed throat with gurgles and splutters. The paladin glanced at Sarophax and giggled: Tash's saber protruded from the succubus's abdomen. The rogue must have thrown it like a javelin. The wound leaked dark red and the bodice of her stately dress smoked as her internal acids ate into its fabric.

Only two demon men-at-arms had escaped damage.

Sarophax's teeth bared as she grasped the blade with both hand and slid it free of her flesh. The second of Séa's victims fell to the floor. Its eyes bulged from its face as if they corked a bottle under pressure. The demon Tash had cut made the most fuss. It scrabbled senselessly with its clawed hands. It frothed its own blood as its lungs pulled and pushed air from its gaping throat.

The king stared with bloodshot eyes, his haggard face aghast.

Séa closed her eyes for a moment. "Endurer, you are my light."

Sarophax let Tash's saber clatter to the marble floor. In slow, deliberate motion, her pained smile transformed into a feral rictus triumph. She turned to the king and waved a casual hand in the air. "Your majesty. The time has come for you to retire to your rooms for an afternoon nap. You will forget the events which have just now occurred. Your kingdom is safe."

"My kingdom is safe," the man parroted. Stiffly, he rose from his throne and stepped down. He tracked through pools of blood as he plodded toward the massive double doors. His boot heels left U-shaped prints of demon blood, and smoke rose from the spots.

Demons are tougher than humans in any case, but those bound by the persistence spell do not, cannot, die. The throat-slashed fiend quieted and curled into a fetal position in the pool of its own blood. Two of the three that Séa had mauled lay in heaps, and the other stood listlessly with the space between ear and eye a misshapen, bloody pulp. The clack of King Pharing's boot heels became the loudest sound. ("Mighty Torugg, to you I stay true," whispered Séa.) But Sarophax waited, ignoring her wound. Given her Abyssal nature, the belly puncture would not impair her. The king's lonely march continued until he reached the huge doors. The right-hand one contained a person-sized inset door. The king unbarred it and exited.

Sarophax broke her silence and stillness and stepped forward. Her skin melted and flowed. It coalesced into an achingly beautiful vision in pastel blues. A frill of horns spiked from a nest of midnight blue hair. Redder than pomegranate seeds, her glossy lips curved upward as she glided forward.

Her alto voice purred low and throaty "Now, then, you delicious paladin." She drew her fingertip in a slow arc underneath Séa's chin.

The paladin shivered as unbidden desire warmed her below the navel. She mumbled, "One-eyed god, help me to see."

The prayer triggered a sneer that twisted Sarophax's delectable lips. "Your god can't help you, now. I suppose you're too unruly to keep around. You're too dangerous. It's a pity because, by the spider, last night was the best."

"Not that great," muttered Tash.

"Why can't we kill them?" hissed one of the nearby demons. Enthralled by his mistress's order combined with the magic of the circlet, he stood frozen.

"Shut up, Bextriax," snapped Sarophax. "I'm in charge, here, and you will obey."

"Yes, mistress."

Sarophax crossed to the kneeling rogue. The demon leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "You enjoyed it, half-elf. But I enjoyed it more. That holy aura. It's like every magic mushroom ever grown steeped into one mind-melting intinction. I drank of you, and tasted a world I'd never dreamt of. I'm quite sad to kill you, now."

"Well," said Tash, "I mean, you don't have to."

The beautiful indigo demon heaved a soulful sigh. "You won't stay imprisoned, my dear. You escaped even my more enchanting snares. I have no choice." The succubus leaned forward seductively, her perfect breasts thrust forward. "But please do not panic. I'll make it last a while."

Sarophax combed through Tash's hair with her claws and bent to nuzzle her.

Almost too fast for Séa's eyes to follow, Tash's hands shot up and gripped the circlet. Séa's heart leapt into her throat. Could she strip the device away?

The circlet shifted, but the rogue failed to complete the motion. With glassy eyes, she went still as a statue.

Sarophax purred, "Nice try, you awful, pretty thing." The succubus unhooked Tash's frozen fingers and pried her hands away.

Without warning, the demon slashed across Tash's face with claws extended.

Séa screamed. But her hands and feet remained as still as if bound by actual ropes instead of a spell.

The two undamaged minions chuckled. The blond called, "Nice one, Sarophax. What else you got for us?"

Tash moaned and her head sank forward. Bright blood dripped from parallel slashes down the side of her face and dripped from her jawline. Tears streamed down Séa's face and she babbled, "Oh, please, no. Endurer, sustain her in her time of trial. Bring the peace of your presence." A sob interrupted her litany.

The dark-haired false guard scowled and muttered, "Why is the unhurt one crying?"

Sarophax raised a delectable eyebrow at him. "Don't worry your pretty head about it, Lazrax."

"I'm Hevinox."

"Shut up!" Sarophax snarled. She extended a clawed hand in his direction, and he flinched. The succubus regarded him with a self-satisfied smirk. "Whatever your name, place your sword in the kneeling one's hand." She swiveled. "Tash, my pretty, take the sword and do not use it. For anything."

Tash's hand curled around the ribbed hilt of the weapon. Droplets of blood collected on her leather-covered chest.

"Stand." Glee suffused Sarophax's pastel blue, achingly appealing face. "Point the tip of your sword at Séa's throat. Nowhere else, just there."

The paladin blinked tears away. The narrow, straight blade foreshortened in her vision until it resembled a long, straight, silver road. The road led to a blood-streaked horizon where Tash's pain-filled eyes floated like celestial orbs. Sometimes, Séa could see streaks of violet in the beautiful brown of her irises. She could see the color now, like the signature on a masterpiece.

The succubus warmed up to her game. "You're about to be noble, Tash. You will save your lover an infinity of suffering. One quick thrust, and she will know no pain. If you fail, then Hevinox, here will take charge. He's a naughty one, alas. Pain feeds him, and he knows how to milk his victims so that the pain lasts days."

Séa shuddered. "Deliver us from this evil, god of one eye. Lend us the sight of purity, lend us the path of light." Tash's eyes locked with hers and pierced Séa like no blade ever had. A gush of tenderness welled up in such a flood it overwhelmed all other emotions. "My love. Do what you must. I am at peace."

Truth rang clear in her voice. These last whirlwind of days with Tash had torn her from her cloister and tossed her into a string of dangers. But they had also opened her mind and heart in ways inexpressible. Always a peaceful soul, never had Séa known the sense of final calm that blew through her now. Death lay a moment away. But the silver road of death led only to the brown irises that had shown her a new transcendence.

"Stab her," commanded Sarophax. The gemstones in her circlet glowed with surge of devilish power. "Just her, mind."

The sword clattered to the marble floor.

"Oops," Tash drawled. "Clumsy me."

A/N: Oh, my.

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ONC recommendation: Try this historical adventure from Spruce_Goose :

After a chance meeting, old friends Grace Williams and Levi Edgeworth allow the flip of a coin to decide whether they live out their childhood fantasy of discovering just what lies at the end of a stream. Just when they think they have their answer, they find themselves stuck together, in a series of tunnels where old secrets are revealed.