We landed on something big, with leathery hide and far too many
muscles. It bucked violently, sending us flying sideways to smack against a
wall of lighting. I heard Avilla scream, and found myself tumbling onto hard
stone with all my muscles convulsing.
I heard frantic shouts and chanting, but for a few seconds my wits were
too scrambled to make sense of anything. Something solid struck my shield,
and was thrown back with a frustrated snarl. Complex spells wove through the
air around me, hostile forces fighting one another.
I shook my head, and sat up slowly.
“Well, that was an unexpected bit of excitement,” Holger’s voice said
mildly. “It seems that the tales of your demise were a bit exaggerated, Daniel.
We’ll have to take care of that soon.”
The middle-aged priest was standing barely three paces from me,
surrounded by a group of priests and flunkies. All of them were armed, mostly
with long spears bearing elaborate runic decorations, and none of them looked
happy to see me.
The room behind them looked like a cross between a high school
chemistry lab and a medieval monastery. There were tables bearing elaborate
arrays of glassware, shelves crowded with jars and vials, and here and there
large books chained to reading stands or stacked in stone niches in the walls. A
handful of nervous-looking soldiers stood back against the walls, observing the
proceedings from a safe distance.
Unfortunately a swirling barrier of dense magic stood in the air
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between us, rising from a geometric design inscribed in the polished granite of
the floor. A circle enclosed by a triangle enclosed by another circle, all
heavily decorated with runes.
Behind me Avilla was sprawled on the floor, with a demonic-looking
creature looming over her. It was built something like a gorilla, but it was as
big as a horse and sported four arms and a tail. Its black and red hide
resembled a lizard’s, and it’s protruding snout hung open to reveal a mouth full
of sharp teeth. But the massive, erect phallus rising from between its legs left
little doubt about what it wanted to do with my companion.
Blocking its path was a much smaller figure that seemed equally
demonic at first glance. Her pale skin gleamed like ivory in the firelight, her
nakedness revealing an eye-catching beauty that could almost have been
human. But a sinewy tail lashed the air behind her, and her waist-length mane
of ebony hair floated in the air around her on a swirling vortex of black magic.
Then I looked closer, and realized it was Cerise.
Her slim hands had curled into claws, her eyes glowed red with
infernal magic, and she was dripping blood from half a dozen wounds. But she
gripped her silver daggers tightly, and stood crouched protectively over
Avilla’s prone form.
“Stupid wizard,” she hissed at me. “Not to bring honeylove into trap!”
“Yes, that could have gone better,” I admitted.
Holger chuckled dryly. “Indeed. Well, we were able to switch to a
dome configuration before the demon escaped, so no harm done. I’m afraid
you’ll be observing this little experiment from an uncomfortably close
distance, but perhaps that’s for the best.”
“Oh really? What is this, anyway? I have to admit, it’s not what I was
expecting.”
“It’s a bit of an experiment,” he explained. “I couldn’t bind Cerise
conventionally, since you had my only fragment of the Covenant Stone. But the
temple here in Lanrest has six demons that we’ve kept bound since time
immemorial, and your pet murder witch can’t help but feed on her kills. The
more of their essence she absorbs the more firmly their bindings apply to her
as well, and a woman is far more pliable than a demon. She’s already become
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fairly biddable.”
Cerise tossed her head angrily, exposing the horns that now sprouted
from her forehead. “Stupid priest. Too much demon. Go mad, eat your heart!”
“With the whole weight of our temple’s wards preventing you from
harming any member of the priesthood? I think not, young lady.”
The demon took one long step back from Cerise, and glanced at me.
Apparently it didn’t like what it saw, because it bared its teeth at me and
growled.
I ignored it in favor of looking around the interior of the prison.
Grinder was lying on the floor not far from where I’d landed. The blade had
deactivated when it left my hand, a safety feature I’d installed to keep it from
being used against me.
“I suppose that’s kind of clever,” I remarked as I eased my way around
the edge of the warded zone. “But what makes you think I’m just going to sit
around and let you do it, Holger? Any demon Cerise could fight, I can kill
easily.”
The priest favored me with a thin smile. “I think you’ll find that we’re
prepared for your heathen tricks, Daniel. You can’t reach outside the circle for
power, and the floor is quite thoroughly sealed against earth magic. Perhaps
you can beat one demon, but your personal magic will soon be exhausted. As
you can see, your golem and your blade have already failed.”
“Of course, that’s assuming that your own apprentice doesn’t kill you
first. She’s already fed on three of our prisoners, and I’m afraid she’s
becoming rather unbalanced.”
I scooped up Grinder, and glanced at Avilla. She was still sprawled
motionless on the floor, but from my new position I could see that she was still
breathing. One blue eye was half open, watching me intently, and the
oppressive pressure of the temple wards was nowhere near enough to crush the
bonfire of magic that blazed in her heart.
Cerise caught the look, and cautiously reached back to touch Avilla
with her bare foot. Something passed between them, a flicker of personal
magic I couldn’t quite read. But I thought I caught a hint of relief pass over
Cerise’s features before she scowled at me.
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“You fucked up,” she hissed. “Fix it.”
“I will. Last chance to back down, Holger. You’ve got a pack of
ungols roaming the town, and a clan of frost giants planning to attack at dawn.”
He frowned. “Do we? I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t take your
word for it, Daniel. Still, I suppose we’d best not draw this out.
Rathrenwisthet of the Devouring Horde, I charge you to kill that wizard.”
The hulking demon snarled, and rushed me.
I flicked Grinder back on, and braced myself with force magic. The
brute slammed into my shield, sending me sliding back a foot despite my spell,
and clawed frantically with all four arms.
I swung Grinder, and it tried to block instead of dodging. The violet
blade chewed through hide and flesh and the bones beneath with a snarling
shriek, spraying mangled bits of demon everywhere.
The beast staggered back, clutching at the cauterized stump where it’s
upper-right hand had been. Cerise took advantage of the distraction to leap
lightly onto its back, planting both of her daggers into its heavily muscled neck.
They didn’t penetrate very far, but there was a spray of black ichor from the
cuts.
I lunged forward, and brought Grinder down on its knee. The demon’s
flesh was tough as stone and its bones were even harder, but the blow