Authors: Greg Curtis
Chapter Sixty Three
Terellion entered the Great Temple and immediately ordered the guards to stand at their posts and not bother him until he returned. He also ordered them to keep everyone else away for the rest of the day. Then he hurried to the antechamber and the stairs down to the dungeon.
He had to have her! It was madness. It was a mistake. But he had to possess her. And for the first time in years there was a chance to do it. More than a chance. With the elixir he could finally be once again the man he used to be. Young, powerful, potent! He could finally achieve at least one of his dreams and bed a fury. More than that, he could bed
his
fury. The one he had seduced. The one that hungered for him as he did for her. And maybe if the living essence was as potent as he'd heard it was, he could bed a few of the others as well. After all, there was no shortage of them locked away under the temple and the essence would heal him if they bit. And Varrious and a few of the other thralls were there too, locked up with them but able to control them – until the hunger grew too great of course.
For a whole day he had held on to the elixir. Keeping it safe around his neck. Checking that it was there every minute of the day. And trying to do the intelligent thing. To keep it safe for when he absolutely needed it. It was his best chance of survival. The problem was that it might not save him even then. It quite likely wouldn't. And until then there was one thing he absolutely needed to be doing. Day and night if possible.
Besides, it wasn't as if any of his other desires were going to be fulfilled. There was no immortality coming. His time as a king was ending. And he couldn't even have a good execution – not when he needed every man for the final battle.
The High Priestess' army was surrounding the city. The dryads were close. The war masters all said it would only be a matter of time before the attack began. Days, weeks at the most. And while none of them could say how the battle would work out, none of them looked particularly hopeful.
All of which meant that he could be dead in only a few short days. He probably would be.
That could not happen. It could not be allowed! Though how he could stop it he still didn't know. The wizards were busy setting up traps within the city, while the High Priestess' wizards were doing the same beyond it. But that just made the entire battle a nightmare for whoever attacked. If the High Priestess' army entered the city, they would be cut down. If his army left to attack them, it would be they who would be cut down instead. Yet the one thing all his war masters said was that to stay in the city was their only hope. To leave it was to die. Their best hope of victory was if the High Priestess' army entered Lion's Crest soon. Otherwise they would either be killed by their own chimera when they grew hungry, starved out themselves, or bombarded into non-existence by the High Priestess' war machines if they had the range. If they didn't – and the war masters seemed to have no certainty on the matter – then they would at best grow old and die in the city.
It wasn't much to place your hopes of living on. Especially when the High Priestess probably had war masters of her own telling her exactly the same thing. But it was all he had.
At that point in his thoughts Terellion reached the dungeon and saw her, and at that point everything else became unimportant. She was standing in her cage in the centre of the dungeon, looking bored. But then she would be. He hadn't been there to see her in months, and guards had been posted to keep her from wandering. However she had been getting out it wasn't happening any longer. Not when he had matters of state to attend to. Not when he had to concentrate on surviving the war.
But those months without her had done nothing to make her less desirable to him. In fact if anything she looked even more appealing than ever.
By the gods she was gorgeous! The very essence of seduction and terror in one womanly body. And seeing her standing there across the other side of the cage just drove Terellion crazy. He wanted her! He wanted her as he had never wanted any woman before in his life. But it was dangerous. Even with the essence it was dangerous. He was going to need both the elixir and Varrious' help. And Varrious hated him.
The miserable thrall was alive at least. Terellion hadn't known that he was until just then. But he showed the signs of the torturer's art. Broken fingers and missing fingernails, missing toenails too, a face swollen and bloodied, feet stained with blood and burns. No doubt what was covered up by his rags would be worse. He would not help Terellion. Not willingly.
Terellion could see the hatred in his eyes as he approached him. The demon king's first thrall was locked in the cell with his pet, like the others. But more than that he was chained to it, and by the looks of things he had been chained for some time. Long enough to have ribbons of dried blood and scar tissue from the manacles around his wrists. Ever since Terellion had ordered him to be chained in the cell with her he guessed. But at least he was still alive. And at a guess the torturers had given up with him some time before. Terellion hadn't checked after the first few weeks. It had been enough to hear the reports and know that he was suffering. And for the moment the fact that Varrious was alive was a good thing. It meant that he was still able to control the fury. And she did seem calm.
“Varrious.”
“Come to gloat?” The man seemed unhappy to see him. But Terellion had expected that. After all that he had had done to the man he was surprised Varrious wasn't screaming at him. But then he had probably been broken. All men eventually broke. That was the truth of torture that no one ever wanted to face. Even the strongest, the most noble and honourable, the most decent of heart, broke. And Varrious had been none of those things to begin with.
“I have come to offer you a deal for your freedom.”
Varrious' eyes suddenly widened in surprise when he said that and for the first time he actually looked at him. And Terellion knew he had at least got his attention though no doubt he didn't believe him – why would he? But he was listening because even the slightest chance that he might be telling the truth had to be taken.
“I'm listening.”
“You still control her?” Terellion indicated the fury.
“She does as I ask. Who do you need killed?”
“I don't want her to kill anyone. I want her.” Terellion put it as plainly as he could and watched as the understanding slowly grew in Various' face. And then the calculation. That surprised him a little. That the man still had enough wit left to him to do anything other than babble surprised him.
“I can do some of what you want. I can keep her calm. But not completely. She may still bite. A little. But if you're careful I can keep her from using her fangs. If I have good reason.”
“If I die you'll be taken out of here and flogged to death with harpy feather whips. If I live you go free. Is that reason enough?”
Terellion put it simply. And he thought both were strong incentives for the man. After however many weeks or months he'd been down here, locked away, Varrious didn't want to die and he absolutely wanted to walk the city streets again.
“Yes.”
Varrious nodded and Terellion sensed no deception in him. He truly wished the man was susceptible to his magic – it had come as a dreadful shock to discover he wasn't – but still he thought the man would comply. There came a point in every prisoner's life where his principles and his hatred gave way to his desire to be free. After a while men, even strong men, would do unspeakable things to escape their cells even for a few hours. Things they would never have thought they would do.
“But are you … able?” The worthless thrall asked him, knowing the same stories as everyone else, and it annoyed Terellion. It annoyed him more because it was true. But he didn't really care when he was staring at the fury. His first conquest in so very long!
“Leave that to me.”
“All right. I'll explain what I can to her, and that may help. She may let herself be bound by you.” Varrious turned away from him to speak to the fury, muttering at her in some strange demon tongue Terellion didn't know. And she in turn was speaking back to him, not in words or a language, but with gestures and strange sounds that he assumed had some meaning.
Meanwhile Terellion was staring at the table, the site of his next conquest. It actually wasn't a table, it was a torturer's rack. Most of the cells had one. When the thralls had first moved into the Great Temple they'd decided they needed a dungeon of their own and they hadn't compromised on the facilities. It didn't bother Terellion that it was a rack. Just that it looked hard. He couldn't imagine that it would be very comfortable. His knees would rub against the rough wood, and he wasn't sure there would be much grip for his toes. But it would do.
“She says yes.”
Varrious suddenly spoke up from the corner where he was chained, surprising him. And from the look on his face the answer had surprised Varrious as well. But why was he speaking Terellion wondered? He was supposed to be putting all his will into keeping her calm. Into getting her to lie down on the table in the middle of the cell and allow herself to be chained to it. Ready for him. And what did he mean by telling him what she was saying? Could the furies speak? Was that hissing an actual tongue?
“She says yes?”
“She says she will mate with you. She has been waiting for some time.”
That caught Terellion by surprise and filled him with hope. He had seen how the others had fought their mates. How they had killed them. It seemed that they didn't enjoy the experience. And he wasn't sure he believed the thrall. But he knew the man couldn't lie. Not to him. He was completely under Terellion's control even if it wasn't through his magic. The man knew what would happen to him if he failed and Terellion died. He had absolutely no reason to doubt it. Besides, though he hadn't seen the seductress in some time – he hadn't wanted to when there was nothing he could do to her – she had once been completely under his control. She had been willing before he had sent her away. Maybe she still was. Maybe she hadn't forgotten that he was her true master.
“I don't – .”
“Not fear.” The fury spoke up suddenly, shocking him. She could speak, and that was something he had never imagined possible.
“Will not kill. Want mate you.”
And then she did something even more shocking. She smiled at him. An expression that was at once encouraging and terrifying.
“May bind me.” Unexpectedly she walked over to him, brushed her talons softly against his cheek through the bars and then walked back to the table in the middle of the cell. She hopped lightly on to it and then lay back down on her back on it. After that the only thing she did was to make herself comfortable. And then she lay there with her legs apart as if already ready for him. And she did it all without Varrious needing to force her. It was completely of the fury's own free will.
“Is this not right?”
The fury asked when he didn't come to her, and her question suddenly prompted him into action. Terellion wanted her then more than he had ever wanted any woman in his life. Her snake like beauty was beyond anything he had ever known. And the desire he felt was beyond understanding. If only his flesh could obey his will.
But it could! It would soon. And she was offering herself to him. He had to have her!
Desperate he struggled with the key, and the moment he had the cell door unlocked he pushed it all the way open and rushed into the cell and over to her. Then he frantically started connecting up the chains to her ankles and wrists, so eager for the bedding that he could barely think. Just the feel of her flesh under his fingers was pure excitement. It had been so long!
A few moments later he stood there before her, seeing his conquest laid out before him like a prize and he knew she was his for the taking. For a moment though, as he held the elixir in his hand and thought about swallowing it so that he could finally take her, he hesitated. He wondered if it could truly be real. But when she was lying there on the table, completely calm as she stared at him, he tended to believe it. He had to believe it, because she looked so pliant and he wanted her so badly. She even proved it with her words.
“Take potion. Mate.”
Terellion didn't need to be told twice, and he quickly downed the vial he'd brought with him. The only known vial of living essence in the five kingdoms. The last chance he had to know a woman before the final battle. A few days of bliss. Maybe if he was lucky, a few weeks.