PART
IV
The
Moon
Chapter
31
Tolian lay there, racked by desire
and pain. Her eyes were wide and
transfixed upon the new nightmare that leered down at her. She held her nose in a vain attempt to
staunch the bleeding.
“What’s wrong, Moon Goddess?” mocked
the Demon’s head, foul and reeking.
“Nothing to say to an old friend?”
“You’re dead,” she mumbled, almost
incoherently. “I killed you.”
“A minor setback, nothing more. Now, not only do I have you at my mercy,
safely removed from interfering in my plans, but I have a whole new world to
twist and defile. And now there is no
one to stop me in the material world either.
You should have done a more thorough job, he-bitch.”
“Put that thing away,” Tolian
shouted at Dowbreth. “Or is it your
master, Dowbreth? How did you fall under
its thrall?”
Dowbreth grimaced but a second then
his confident sneer returned to his own ghastly features. He set the head on the table on top of the
bag, pulled one of the chairs around, and sat down (facing the chair back)
right next to Tolian.
“Dowbreth has no master,” he said
quietly, his rage steeping behind his words.
“Dowbreth is Lord of Faerie now.
The Demon and I have a mutually beneficial relationship—as equals. But if you are curious as to my tale, I shall
tell it to you. You should know,
really. It will help burn you up with
despair as you wallow in your own failure.
It is fitting that you should lose your divine powers; you are not
worthy of power. You are now the
worthless woman you deserve to be.”
“Hah-he-he-ha-hah, worthless woman,”
interjected Hertrid’s head from the table, “We are going to have such a fine
time with you. Hah-ha.”
Dowbreth shrugged off the
interruption and continued.
“I discovered my true destiny on the
battlefield of Lorm. It was I who led
the forces of the Sidhe to assist your puny Lormian men against the Demon’s
invading army. Thanks to our troops,
your palace was saved and your enemy defeated.
After we cleared the skies of dragons, we brought the fight back to the
ground. Soon, we were triumphant.”
Not exactly how Tolian remembered
it, but she did not bother to contradict him.
It was difficult for her to have him sit so close to her. Fear and lust for him battled for control of
her emotions.
“On the battlefield, I watched as
the Demon almost killed you even then, but for your lucky strike which felled
him. But then, when you could have made
certain of his death, you fled to the palace to rescue your beloved. I, at that time, assumed the Demon had been
killed, and I thought to add his head to my trophy belt, a memento of the
conflict. As I took my prize, the eyes
opened and the black orbs fixed upon me.
I remember that moment well.
“I asked the creature plainly, ‘What
are you looking at, villain. Your day is
done, your army here destroyed, soon the rest of your forces elsewhere shall
fall as well.”
“‘Is that what you believe, Lord
Dowbreth?’ it hissed at me. ‘You are
wrong. My defeat, my impotence—they are
a shroud to hide my true schemes from my enemies. One day all will be mine, mark my words.’
“I laughed at the head’s face,
‘Brave words for a defeated foe. I do
not wish to hear your false boasts.’
“And I stuffed the head in this bag
and proceeded with cleaning up the last of the Demon’s troops while you were
letting his other incarnation escape with your girlfriend. I supervised the establishment of the Faerie
camp on the perimeter of the palace and secured the arrival of my King and
Queen into your world.
“Once the fighting was over, I grew
restless. I had no desire to associate
with our human allies, so I spent most of my time in my tent awaiting orders to
move north against the Demon’s other incarnations and army. It occurred to me that I might be able to
gather useful intelligence from my trophy.
I pulled it out of the bag.
Again, those black eyes gazed upon me.
“‘Dowbreth, has found the wisdom to
seek my counsel,’ the head said.
‘Excellent. I will tell you what
you want to know, and more.’
“‘You may as well,’ I
responded. ‘You shall be defeated soon
enough. Tell me where is your other army
going to strike next? Reveal to me your
plans.’
“‘Indeed, I shall, Dowbreth who
could be Lord of Faerie. I shall reveal
all of my plans to you. I plan to devour
this world, twist it into a nightmare of beautiful chaos churning in the
infinite night. And I plan to use you to
help me, brave warrior chieftain.’
“I grew impatient with the head, for
even as I demanded he give me the information I required, he kept telling me
that he would, but also that I was a part of his plans. In frustration, I once again stuck the head
in the bag and attempted to ignore it.
But I found I could not leave it long.
I was determined to be the master of the Demon’s head, a foolish notion
I now know, but at the time, it did not seem so. I pulled the head back out of the bag. I interrogated it for another two hours
without making any progress. I threw the
head around the tent, but that simply made it laugh hysterically. I held it still, for I did not want anyone
else to know of my prize.
“Finally, the Demon began to make
sense to me. It was not giving me the
military information I wanted, but was instead laying out the framework for a
scheme that would work to both of our advantages. He was right, I was meant to be Lord of
Faerie, and with my new ally, his vast knowledge, cunning, and yes powers, it
could be so. He made me understand. I had no love of my King and Queen in any
event, and he helped me see that there was no true honor serving them. I asked Kreel, who was my best lieutenant, to
take charge of the army of the Fay, while I tended some personal business. I told no one where I was going, nor did I
bother to ask leave of my Lord and Lady.
Who were they to Dowbreth now?
Dowbreth would conquer them in due time, the Demon promised, and he has
proven to be true, has he not?”
“I am Dowbreth’s truest ally,” came
a cackling outburst from the head.
Dowbreth paused a moment, then
continued.
“I decided to trust him and join
him. First, he needed me to obtain
something for him. Something rare. I set out in quest of it.
“It took me several months of
journeying across the wastelands of the North and beyond. To a land locked in perpetual winter,
somewhere so cold and bitter that it could only be located in your inhospitable
world. For three weeks, I saw nothing
but the whiteness of snow. I rode across
of the frozen surface of a sea to find what the Demon wanted. And find it I did.
“There was a witch who lived,
somehow, in that white desert, in an ice castle set upon an island in the midst
of the frozen sea. The crone was half
undead, and she had some power to her.
The Demon protected me from her spells, however, and it was with great
joy that I wrung her neck with my bare hands.
It felt good to do so, since it was some time since the battle of Lorm,
and I have always relished the giving of death.
She struggled futilely in my grasp, but she could not resist the
strength of Dowbreth. No one can. I searched the castle until I found that
which the Demon had sought. A dark metal
stone. Black and cold. It seemed such an insignificant thing for
such a harsh quest.
“‘What is this that you have had me
trek across the mortal world for?’ I asked the Demon. ‘In what way will it serve our ends?’
“‘This is the key to our
victory. It is the Dark Moon Metal.’
“I had not heard of it, so I
repeated his words, ‘Dark Moon Metal?’
“I see by the look on your face that
you have not heard of it either,” observed the faerie to the princess. “You make a poor Moon Goddess indeed. Listen and you will learn much.”
“The Demon explained it to me: ‘This
witch hath distilled this stone over three hundred years from the darkling rays
of the new moon. Her schemes for it are
irrelevant now, but through her craft she has delivered to us the means to
destroy my enemy and gain you control of Faerie. We shall use it as a weapon against the
druid’s champion.’
“‘A weapon?’ I asked, ‘Will we use
it as a projectile?’
“‘No, my friend. The Dark Moon Metal will absorb and nullify
the external manifestation of her lunar power.
We shall fashion it as a piece of jewelry, a gift, and bind her
forever.’”
“And he told me more of his plan,
much of which I am sure you have gleaned yourself. I stayed in that ice castle for another month
forging the Dark Moon Metal into the bracelet you now wear. The Demon carefully instructed me in the
proper techniques of manufacture. It had
to be perfectly designed and made. While
there, the Demon revealed to me that we already had an ally with whom I could
communicate using his head as the magickal means. Other dark secrets he taught me, and we
planned more together. He told me of the
defeat of the other demonic incarnations and the outcome of the war, but
assured me that it was not unexpected.
Now, more than ever we needed you out of the way.”
Tolian listened from her position on
the floor.
“What about Kiliordes? Aren’t you
afraid of him?” she asked at last. “He
is the other Champion, isn’t he?”
The Demon’s head began laughing with
malicious humor.
“There is no other Champion, my
sweet,” it hissed. “And we have no fear
of the conglomerate being. Don’t you get
it? Everything was part of my plan. I allowed Kiliordes to kill Perelisk. It bought me the time I needed to remove you
from the equation.”
Instinctively, Tolian shrunk up
against the balcony railing. Terror now
flowed wildly within her. She started to
shake.
Dowbreth stood up, tossed the chair
out of his way, grabbed the head, rather roughly by the hair, and stepped
towards her. “You need to be taught a
lesson for what you attempted with Kreel yesterday, and what you tried to do to
me today, wench.” He knelt down next to her.
She tried to squirm away from him, but he was too fast and far too
strong. He struck her hard again in the
face.
She was paralyzed by fear. She was helpless. There was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes and summoned the
warrior’s mantra to her mind. She
struggled to find the courage within herself to endure. Fear is for my enemy. Fear is defeat and the forerunner of
defeat. I will hold no fear.
“Mark my words.”
She could barely croak out a
shattered whisper.
“I shall kill you both.”
The head spat upon her.
“Understand,” said the faerie giant,
“with the Demon’s head I am immune to your transforming energies. You are nothing compared to the Demon.” He kicked her hard, several times, following
her body across the balcony.
The Demon screamed, “Kick her, kick
her like a dog.”
The last blow landed in her abdomen.
The pain echoed throughout her body, until her senses were overloaded
with it.
Dowbreth grabbed her by the hair and brought her face close to his. “In seven years, we will be married. You will not escape. There is nothing you can do to change
this. Remember, the injuries you
suffered today were the result of your own treachery.”
“Come, Lord Dowbreth,” said the
head, “Our business here is completed.”
Dowbreth stared down at her with
utter contempt. “Do not attempt to
escape. Do not attempt render yourself
useless to me. Or we will be back. Do you understand me?”
She tried to hold his stare, but she
could not. She looked away submissively.
“Capreesh,” bellowed Dowbreth. “Get out here.”
As the Elven girl hurried out to the
balcony and seeing Tolian rushed to her side, Dowbreth said, “Farewell, my
betrothed.” He turned and left.
The pain was intense. She could tell that some of her injuries we
extensive.
More servants came running out. Kreel was among them. She lifted Tolian and carried her with great
gentleness to the bed. “Quickly,” she
snapped, “get bandages, get pain suppressants, get the healing drugs. Hurry, she’s already lost a lot of blood.”
Tolian could barely maintain
consciousness. She looked into Kreel’s
eyes and saw genuine concern there. “How
bad do I look?” she asked weakly.
Kreel smiled reassuringly, “This is
not your best look, but you’re going to be fine. We’ll have you better in no time, okay?”
Tolian nodded slightly, before
unconsciousness engulfed her.
In the morning, she awoke to excited
voices.
“She’s moving,” Delotti said.
“She’s awake,” said Capreesh.
As she opened her eyes, Kreel’s
smile was the first thing she saw.
“Good morn,” the bodyguard said with
feigned cheerfulness. “How do you feel?”
“I don’t know,” Tolian replied. She felt remarkably
improved, physically. The wounds to her
face felt completely better, but she felt considerable discomfort in her
belly. “Yes, I do feel better. A lot better than I did last night.”
“Last night?” repeated Capreesh.
“You’ve been a sleep for a week,
dear,” said Kreel. “Most of your wounds
have healed perfectly. We still don’t
understand why, but you seem to have developed some sort of internal condition
that isn’t responding to our medicine.”
She was trying to sound as clinical
as possible. She was obviously deeply
distraught.
“You’re weeping blood from your
...um, female regions. It’s not just
internal injuries and it’s not your period— we have drugs that would
have worked, if it were because of either of those. It’s possible that since you are the Moon
Goddess, your exile from the Moon’s rays is causing the problem. At this point it doesn’t seem directly
related to Dowbreth’s attack.”
Tolian flinched immediately as the
memory of her attack poured fully into her consciousness. An abyss of darkness, a scar across her
soul. A psychic pain radiated through
every level of her being. Tears streamed
down her cheeks. Kreel leaned over and
embraced her. She could not stop
crying. She sobbed and sobbed, clutching
firmly onto the feminized faerie.
“It’s going to be all right, Tolian,”
she said in reassuring tones. “I won’t
let this happen ever again. I promise
you, he won’t touch you again.”
“You can’t understand,” the princess
muttered. “It’s just not just what he
did to me, it’s what’s going to happen to everything. Dowbreth is in league with the Demon. He has the Demon’s head. Oh Gods.
What have I done?”
She knew she wasn’t making any
sense, but her three faerie friends seemed to understand her nonetheless. Crushing guilt. Now confusion. Fear.
And still a lingering desire for a man burning in her womanhood.
“Can you eat, Lady?” asked Delotti,
ever practical. “You do need sustenance
badly,”
“I’m not hungry,” she whispered.
Kreel released her, stood back a
little from the bed, and regarded her.
“Delotti is right, Tolian,” she said.
“You have to eat. We’ll do a
little something to get your appetite up, okay?”
Tolian wiped the tears from her eyes
with a handkerchief which Capreesh handed her, “I don’t know what.”
“Leave that to me.” Kreel turned to one of the attendants who
stood in waiting by the door, “Fetch the pipe weed. The Queen’s best.”
The girl departed at once. A few moments later, she returned carrying a
tray. Upon the tray: an ornate stone pipe, a pouch, and a lit candle. She handed the tray to Kreel, who sat down on
the bed, just next to Tolian, and expertly packed the bowl with the pipeweed
from the pouch.
It was not the first time Tolian had
seen pipeweed. Indeed, she had even
partaken of it at the Druid’s Temple of the Stars, Hyge Nuyt. Under the influence of the druid’s smoke, she
had traveled either astrally or in a dream (she wasn’t certain of the
difference) to the Queen’s Garden and first met Ymirisiva.
“Is this anything like the pipeweed
the druid’s use?” she asked.
Kreel smiled. “It’s similar, but, of course, better. You know how to smoke then?”
“Yeah, I did it once before.”
“Very well, let’s get started.”
Kreel used the candle to light the
bowl, took a big pull of it, and handed it to Tolian. She took it from the faerie and inhaled the
smoke deeply into her lungs, holding it there.
It burned and stung. With a
cough, she released it.
Immediately a feeling of euphoria
stole over her. Everything seemed
outlined in the faerie rainbow spectrum.
She was just enjoying these new sensations when Kreel handed her the
pipe once again. She was beginning to
relax, to feel more herself, but at the same time less so.
When they had finished smoking,
Tolian was hungry and laughing at a joke of Kreel’s that wasn’t really even
funny (besides which, she instantly forgot what it was). Soon she was eating breakfast in bed. She felt insulated from her problems. She definitely liked the faerie pipeweed.
She glanced over and saw Kreel
looking distant and troubled.
“What’s wrong?” Tolian asked her. “Brooding over your sex change?”
“Always, but that wasn’t it, right
then,” she replied. “If the Demon is
truly in Faerie, our world is in serious trouble. The effects of your presence here in
isolation seem to be minimal, well, except for me of course, but the Demon’s
evil will quickly spread and corrupt all of Faerie. With Dowbreth in charge, there is nothing we
can do about it.”
A calm certainty came to Tolian,
growing stronger as she spoke. “I don’t
want you three to leave our suite without me.
None of the servants are to leave; send Mesdor and Gredalon for supplies
or whatever. But, Kreel, rest assured,
someday, somehow I will free Faerie from the Demon’s evil and slay Dowbreth in
the process.”
And she knew that she spoke the
truth.
“Well, right now,” said Delotti,
“you’re going to soak in the tub. It
should help heal your wound, if that’s the right word. Lots of soaking is what you need.”
Tolian summoned a tiny smile. “More food first, please?”
Copyright 2004, 2015 Diana Hignutt
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