“What the hell—?”
Druanna fell upon them.
She burst forth and demolished them with terrifying power. Elbows shattered jaws, foot stomps bent knees backward, headbutts caved in skulls.
The Hydra guards never had a chance. One managed a cry of alarm and turned to run. Druanna leaped upon his back and rode him to the floor, smashing his skull when they hit so that brains and blood spattered a yard down the hallway.
“Ah,” breathed the Pyre Lady, rising up to a crouch. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment for years.”
Scorio emerged tentatively from the cell, Nox squeezing himself through with surprising maneuverability.
“Scorio?”
“I’ve got some debts to pay.” Scorio considered the toad. “I’ll never be able to repay you for this. How’d you find me?”
“Scorio bathe in my Imperial jelly. Marked now as clutchmate. Nox returning from grim conquest of spawning pools. Scented your Coal burning Heart, aroma of sweet jelly. Came to investigate.”
“I’ve got no idea what’s going on between you two,” said Druanna, rising to her feet. “But that toad’s my new favorite friend as well. You both coming?”
Nox shifted his weight from side to side. Congealing Coal mana ran in great droplets off his legs and feet. He opened his mouth, ran his great tongue over his face, then bobbed up and down. “Nox come.”
“You don’t have to,” said Scorio softly. “It’s going to get very, very dangerous up there.”
“Scorio manual on Quantics change Nox’s life. Nox soon evolve to Emperor Wraith Toad. Many thanks to favorite friend. Nox come.”
Scorio grinned. “Then let’s go raise a little hell.”
Druanna’s smile was equally predatory. “Sounds like we both have a debt to pay toward Manticore and Praximar. Shall we?”
Scorio eased up into his scaled form, shoulders broadening, muscles growing dense and hard, scales rippling across his frame, horns bursting forth to curl up and over his head. He flexed his burning talons and nodded grimly.
“It’s time for vengeance.”
Chapter 64
They progressed unhurriedly through the lowest level of the palace. Scorio had his dark vision up, but there were lanterns every dozen yards in ancient wall sconces. The place reeked of damp and rust, of stone and soil.
“I’ve been down here for a long time,” said Druanna, limbering up as she walked. “What have I missed?”
“I was out of touch for about the same amount of time. Ydrielle threw me into the Crucible.”
“And you survived?”
“Barely. Became a Flame Vault down there. Came back up looking for revenge.”
“And got thrown in here? Didn’t go so well.”
“I killed Davelos and Evelyn before they got me.”
Druanna made a face. “Not bad. Though—”
They rounded a corner and emerged into a large room. It was the guard’s quarters. Lockers lined one wall. A game of cards was being played around a central table. A pudgy looking guard was turning sausages on a small corner grill.
Everybody stopped and stared.
“Hello, boys,” said Druanna. “I don’t recognize your faces, but if you speak I’m sure I’ll be able to place you.”
A hard-faced man rose from the head of the table. He had a head like an anvil, shoulders like a bull’s, and his Heart Ignited to burn Copper. “Sammy, leave the sausages and get help. Now.”
“Oh, uh—yes, yes, right away.” Sammy dropped his elongated forks and turned to race toward the backdoor.
Nox, who loomed massive behind both Scorio and Druanna, yawned open his mouth. His tongue speared across the room, glistening and muscular, and splodged into the center of Sammy’s back.
The young guard let out a cry of horror as he was yanked back off his feet, across the air of the entire room, between Druanna and Scorio who leaned aside, and disappeared into Nox’s mouth.
Everybody stared.
For a second Sammy’s form was vaguely visible through the toad’s gullet, arms struggling, muffled cries emerging, and then Nox swallowed and the angular shape disappeared.
“Fuck me,” said the captain. “Looks like we got to rough this one out, lads. Get your blades and no hesitating.”
“Yes,” breathed Druanna, stepping forward. “Please. Give me no excuse to hold back.” And when she exhaled her arms multiplied so that she had three a side, each clutching the hilt of an obsidian scimitar, their blades so sharp they didn’t so much as end as gradate into the air.
“You got this one?” asked Scorio.
He heard her snort in amusement. “Think of this as catharsis.”
The guards had all risen to their feet. There were a dozen of them, clad in Hydra colors, short stabbing blades in hand, faces pale, eyes wide.
“Well, come on,” said Druanna softly. “What? Not so eager to beat on me when I’m not handcuffed and blind?”
“Damn this,” whispered a husky man, his face already gleaming with sweat. “She’s a damn Pyre Lady.”
“Looks like it’s time to die, lads.” The captain stepped forward, his skin slowly rippling as it darkened and took on the rough sheen of granite, his arms extending into double-headed axes. “Let’s do it with dignity.”
Druanna’s arms interwove, her blades rippling up and down like a bank of weeds underwater, and then she strode forward as the guards attacked.
Druanna danced in their midst. Blades clanged on blade, men hacked and swung, but every blow either missed or was neatly parried. But even as she spun and crouched, rose onto one leg, or bent backward, men and women fell, throats slashed.
For that was all she cut. One after another she cut their throats, blood fountaining forth, spraying across the floor and Druanna herself, till she righted herself from an impossible backbend with a wince.
“Ow,” she muttered. “Still stiff.”
“Pyre Lady,” said the captain, clanging his axe arms together.
“Hydra scum.”
The captain roared and charged, axes swinging with power and skill, but Druanna had more than enough strength to contend with him. She blocked his blows with brutal force, driving each strike back, then pressed forward, unhurried, always knocking his arms wide open so that his guard was completely ruined.
The captain cursed, then laughed, then went silent as he strove to find an edge, any advantage.
There were none.
The end came quickly. Two blades cut through the captain’s arms just below the axe-heads, severing them neatly, while a third cut open the large man’s neck.
The man gurgled, coughed, stepped back, and for a moment he just stood there swaying. Druanna watched him then extended one blade, pressed its tip against his sternum, and gave a light push.
The captain toppled back and lay outstretched upon the floor, dead.
Nox burped.
Druanna raised her six hands and their blades faded from view, then four of her arms misted and were gone, and when she turned back to Scorio she was herself again, though now splashed in bright blood. “You were saying?”
“I, ah, wow. Well done?”
“This was but an appetizer. But vengeance is sweet. Let’s walk.”
Scorio and Nox joined her as they climbed a broad stairwell. “What’s your last memory? Before appearing in here?”
“Manticore betraying me.” Her voice grew hard. “Down in the Chasm. There were fiends enough, and potent ones. But as soon as I’d finished slaughtering them they turned upon us. I was taken by surprise. My last memory is of Simeon laughing as he reached out to touch my hand.”
“We flew to the Fiery Shoals together.” The stairs reached a landing, doubled back and up. “The artifact was a trap. It drained The Coffer’s mana and lowered its shields. Simeon then ordered House Kraken to attack. Ydrielle trapped me in her prism and threw me into the Crucible.”