Awaking once more with a loud scream, Sergeant Maresh sat up gasping and shuddering. Covered in sweat, he looked about confused as to where he was. What he saw in the low candlelight was a sumptuous bedchamber. Beneath him was a fine cotton-filled mattress and over his legs lay a soft stone-beaten linen sheet. He was still paying for his armor, there was no possibility he could afford such finery!
Maresh reflexively threw the sheet from his legs and examined them. The memory of hanging from a hook by his ankles was nothing more than a terrible dream! Relieved, the Sergeant lay back upon the sinfully comfortable bed and breathed deeply. Perfume and the heady smell of women filled his nostrils….
Looking to one side, Maresh saw the angelic sleeping face of a dark skinned woman next to him. Her threadlike braids fell as a cascade of woven black silk over her head. With the sheet having been thrown off, he could see the undulating curves, peaks and valleys of her dusky body.
A sudden movement on the other side of him caused Maresh to lay eyes upon a most unexpected sight. Also naked and sleeping, was the pale form of a female highborn elf! The Sergeant’s heart slammed against his ribs hard enough to make him grimace. A man in bed with a highborn female for any reason was punishable by death!
Languidly, the female placed her delicate hand upon his chest. Upon contact, his heart slowed. She snuggled close against him and continued her deep rhythmic breathing. It was then the woman put her arm around him and placed a dark sun-browned thigh across his loins.
Maresh ran a hand through the soft russet locks of the highborn and put an arm around the woman’s shoulders. Never had he known such peace. Though he was Pal-hadiin and sworn never to marry, his order allowed the occasional indulgence of women. Maresh had to admit, it had been quite some time since last he had the pleasure of a beautiful woman, but this was extraordinary!
The Sergeant tried to remember how he came to this place and who these two lovelies were. His thoughts albeit were clouded by the simple pleasure of lying in bed with so unique a pairing of females. It then occurred to Maresh that he must have made the ‘eight-legged monster’ with both, but to not remember the encounter was a crime!’ Maresh abruptly found thinking terribly tiresome.
The rhythmic breathing was infectious and he barely felt his head descend upon the cloud-like pillow. Just before he drifted off, he did feel a twinge in his ankles. It didn’t matter far as the Sergeant was concerned. When he next awoke, he would have at these two properly and no small pain was going to slow him down.
****
The Bug was good for its word... so far. Through the Faerie's still formidable power, we stood upon the precipice of what was an immense blast hole. I believed Titioniel’s story about how this ‘Trynaught’ had fallen from the sky for I had seen such holes created by similar bodies impacting the Uurth.
“Shit, that’s a big hole!” I couldn’t give more than a grunt of agreement at the Pal-hadiin’s statement.
Deep within the crater stood a smaller looking monolith, but that coppery glow was unmistakable. I then realized we viewed the event in Titioniel’s vision from the Faerie’s perspective. It was still large as a tenement, but far from the gargantuan monolith we’d initially perceived it to be! The most important thing of note was the feeling of cold dread I felt in the pit of my guts! “Do you feel that?”
Captain Ramallah nodded in acknowledgement and retorted, “Ugh! Feels like I’m standing before a horde of ‘bonehard’ Suorg with naught but a handmaiden’s shift between us!”
I’d never been in such a position. But if it felt like this, I wanted no part of it!
Titioniel backed away from the edge. I could see the fear on his tiny face as he said, “I can go no further. Between you two, the power to rid the world of the Trynaught and its minions exists. You mirror the opposite needs and desires of the Trynaught’s Agents. Together, you must defeat them and those they have influenced. Only then will you gain opportunity to inflict grievous wound upon the fell device!” Before the echo of its words faded, Titioniel bolted away in a streak of ruby light!
“Son of a bitch! Minions? What fucking minions?”
A tap on my shoulder halted the incensed rant I was about to start. I turned to look down the slope and laid eyes upon a high mound of dirt. Exiting from an unseen entrance were a group of naked people shambling towards the Trynaught.
“Oh, those minions. Why are there always minions?”
Removing the shield from her back Captain Rhamalla’s usual taciturn look grew sharper when she said, “We have to get down there. It may still be possible to break the spell upon them!”
Never having been one for the old ‘frontal assault’ approach I countered, “I’m not so sure there’s magic involved in this.” The Captain turned to me with an angry but quizzical look and snapped, “You don’t have the stomach for saving lives Bounty Hunter? Perhaps there will be a commission in it for you should we bring back more than your assignment?”
I’m not sure if it was my Little Voice or me who snapped back first and loudest. “You can go fuck yourself before flying head first into that pack of minions! You don’t know the first thing about that monolith or what it can do. So your plan is to rush it? That’s fucking stupid!”
The Captain’s dark eyes were on me and I waited for her to pull her weapon. It didn’t happen. “So what is your strategy Bounty Hunter? I for one have no intention of allowing that thing to continue to poison the land! I will do what is necessary to save the lives of my troops and the travelers enthralled by this... Trynaught!”
The Captain’s words burned like errant coals from a bed warming pan. They also sparked my recollection of something the Bug Titioniel said about us. After a pause, I had my course of action. “Fine. Go. I’ll cover your back.”
She didn’t seem convinced but replied, “All right then. Let’s put a stop to this monstrosity!” With a grin, Captain Rhamalla wheeled about with drawn long sword and shield at the ready then charged down the rocky slope. I stood there and watched her depart. “Pallies….”
****
“Awaken.” Sergeant Maresh burst upward from the pool of murky, foul smelling water with a barely human sounding gasp. Crawling out of the pool, he crashed upon the long ago burned ground raising a cloud of ash and dust.
Crunching across the ground towards him were two pairs of feet, one shod in worn out old-fashioned boots and the other bare. Looking up in the gloom, Maresh saw the faint shapes of two females draped in the tattered and rotting clothes of an age long past. “Who-who are y-you?”
In unison the pair replied, “Get up.” Unable to resist, the Pal-hadiin raised himself to his feet and felt a jolt of ‘white pain’ lance through both heels. To keep from falling, Maresh put his hand out to a column. Instead of stone or wood, his hand impacted upon the warm flesh of a nude woman hanging from her heels!
Recoiling from the sight of the unmoving but wide-eyed woman, the Sergeant bumped into another warm body. Pushing the also naked body of a highborn male away only made things worse for it swung back upon him with equal force. Maresh could not suppress a grunt of fright as the vision of untold numbers of bodies hanging about him was confirmed!
“What is this hell you have dragged me to?” The Sergeant’s words were met with the laughter of the two females. Fear quickly gave way to outrage as the Pal-hadiin remembered who and what he was.
“Fell creatures of evil! I am a sworn son of Osiris and I shall….” Suddenly, Maresh felt his very words stick in his throat like blocks of rough wood!
The dark skinned woman stepped forward and her eyes lit up with copper colored flames. Her voice caressed Sergeant Maresh’s ears as would a razor.
“You shall do what warrior? Pleasure us further? Or perhaps you wish to kill us?”
Likewise, the pale highborn came forth and whispered, “You tried to kill us many times in the bedchamber. Such ardor we have not felt in centuries….”
Without seeing the pair move, Maresh felt their hands and bodies pressed against him. Their sensual caresses enhanced by his wet flesh were more than he could bear.
In the copper light of their hypnotic eyes, the Pal-hadiin noticed one appalling detail. It was not filthy water which covered him. It was an unholy mixture of the body fluids and filth leaking from the hundreds of suspended bodies! “I am… unclean!”
The Sergeant could now clearly see they were in a massive cave and from its ceiling, numerous iron chains hung. Suspended among those many chains, Maresh’s horrified eyes saw the naked bodies of his troops alongside a young woman and man who fit the descriptions of who he had been sent to find!
The Sergeant tried to bring forth the effort to break free of this spell he was under. The desire to do so was strong, but his body simply would not respond! Close in his ear the woman teased, “You belong to us now lover for long as we wish it so.”
In his opposite ear the highborn breathlessly concurred, “You will continue to please us, but now the master calls.”
With a languid lick from her long tongue, Maresh could no longer control his words. In acknowledgement of his mistresses Maresh whispered, “The Master calls….”
Within his mind, the Sergeant felt himself falling away. But as Maresh fought desperately to maintain his mental grip, he felt his body charged with malevolent glee! With each step upwards toward the cave entrance the copper glow outside grew brighter. Yet within his mind, each step towards the light caused Sergeant Maresh the Pal-hadiin to slip further into darkness.
****
While the Pal-hadiin Captain engaged in the traditional Pal-hadiin ‘head-on approach’ down the slope, I found an opening amidst the charred boulders. Once within the gloom, I was right at home.
For thousands of years, my Psaychaelien ancestors endured the harsh conditions of the Elven Uurtainium Mines as slaves. During those awful millennia, they became one with the darkness. Instantly, my nightsight revealed I stood upon a stone ledge over-looking a grisly gallery of bodies suspended by iron chains!
My first instinct was to mutter, 'Why do I always get the bizarre assignments?' I stifled the impulse because asking the question wouldn’t change anything. Working my way down the rocks took some effort, but I finally reached the bottom and the shoreline of a large pool reeking as only a cesspit could!
Fighting the urge to vomit due to the unuurthly stench, I set about looking at the bodies. All were naked and had a single large iron hook through their heels. From where I could see there were humans, elves all of types, even several giant Half-Oguhr and reptilian-like Suorg dangled similar to wares in a Butcher’s Shop.
Right off I could see the heat of the living present within many of the victims. Strangely, there were those who by their near skeletal condition should be dead. Yet, they still showed the dimmest traces of life!
I did only a precursory search around the gallery perimeter. No way was I voluntarily stepping into that filth! Suddenly, something among the ‘hangers’ caught my eye. Something... which absolutely should not be here!
My Nightsight was excellent, but at long distances it was difficult to make out fine detail. I had to take a risk to confirm that which I thought I’d seen. With a shake of my hand, the glowvial shone with the cold blue luminescent glow. Squinting at first as my dark seeing eyes readjusted, I viewed a most troubling sight. “Aw fuck….”
****
Captain Rhamalla cursed through gritted teeth as she stood beside the line of people filing towards the Trynaught. Holding her shield high to block the potent energies radiating from the multi-circular monolith it barely deflected the bone aching, stomach churning feeling the Captain experienced.
Though she drew near enough to the shambling line with sword drawn to be seen, no being acknowledged Rhamalla. All shuffled mindlessly towards the monolith.
The Captain watched in horror as one naked elderly woman outstretched her arms at the front of the line and was instantly consumed in a ball of light! That same light shot skyward at incalculable speed only to disappear among the stars. “Osiris help me!”
The ground rumbled and a voice which seemed to be everywhere all at once replied, “Your intangible god has no influence here.”
The sound rattled the Pal-hadiin’s molars to the roots and through pain squinted eyes she witnessed the line of beings stop and turn to face her! “Damn it.”
The mass of enthralled beings did not charge forth. Instead, two females dropped down from and unknown height before Captain Rhamalla. Dark plumed wings folded behind the backs of the human and elf to be hidden from sight as they strolled forward.
“Ooooh, look! There was one left over. How did we miss her?” The elf smiled at her human companion’s question and replied, “Does it matter? Now we have a complete set!”
Rhamalla kept her shield before the pair of what had to be Devils! She had fought netherworld creatures before and successfully driven them back whence they’d come. This pair was different somehow and that made them much more dangerous. Focusing her inner power, the Symbol of Osiris emblazoned on her shield flashed with green light.
“Stand away denizens of Hell! You approach a sworn Daughter of Osiris and Captain of Pal-hadiin. Release these people from your heinous clutches and return from whence you came!”
The pair abruptly halted their steps and raised arms to cover their eyes. “Ahhh! That is a most unpleasant device you carry warrior!”
Emboldened by the pair’s reaction, Captain Rhamalla stepped forward with greater vigor. “In the name of mighty Osiris, I command ye creatures of darkness to release your victims and quit the Mortal Sphere!” Upon her words, the shield flashed with green-white light bathing the two possessed beings.
Rhamalla watched as the pair turned their backs in an attempt to protect themselves from the blinding light. Thin wisps of smoke began to rise from their skins and their rotted garments smoldered. With each step closer, the light of the Captain’s shield forced them to give ground.
Amidst the two females growing protests of pain, Rhamalla saw the light had a similar effect upon the thick line of people. Cries of agony and smoke rose from those within range.
The Pal-hadiin realized the many poor souls before her were too far gone. The best she could do for them was to destroy these fell females and let them all perish in peace. Her decision made, Rhamalla took in a heavy breath to summon forth the prayer required but felt the wind knocked from her from a powerful blow!
Clumsily, the Pal-hadiin rolled with the impact and stumbled to her feet. The light of the shield was greatly diminished from her broken concentration. Standing in the light remaining was a disheartening sight.
Naked and covered in a mixture of muck and ash was the Pal-hadiin Sergeant Maresh! His eyes were alight with the same copper colored light of the Trynaught. All about her longtime comrade Rhamalla could smell the unmistakable stench of evil.
“Maresh no!”
From behind, the Captain felt the weight of the elf-devil fall upon her back. Dropping to one knee, Rhamalla flung the creature to a hard stop upon the charred rocks and ash. An explosion of dust and dark feathers flew up into the Pal-hadiin’s eyes blinding her!
Instinctively turning towards the sound of movement, the Captain’s shield caught the brunt of the sudden assault from the woman-devil! However, the force of the devil’s body bashing against her knocked Rhamalla to the ground. Swinging her sword across her body from the prone position, the Captain heard the females laugh as they avoided the stroke.
‘Where is that damned Bounty Hunter?’ thought Rhamalla.
Still blinded, the Captain started to swing her sword in the opposite direction but her arm was halted at the wrist! Even with the protection of iron forearm guards, the strain brought her sword arm to the breaking point. Something heavy landed upon her shield pressing it against her chest. In a great ‘whoosh’ of air, Rhamalla found she could not breathe!
Welling tears from the strain of trying to break free did have the benefit of clearing her eyes. However, the sight of the possessed Maresh and his man-parts so close to her face, the woman-devil cackling in her ear and holding down her sword arm was something the Pal-hadiin could have lived without!
Unable to protest or get any leverage with her feet in the soft ash, the Captain saw the elf-devil squat upon the lap of her former Sergeant with her ‘woman parts’ equally in unwanted view. The elf ground her slender pale hips and buttocks on Maresh’s soiled lap and his manhood sprang to life!
In her ear Rhamalla heard the former human woman whisper, “You soldiers murdered our people, destroyed our homes and our lands! All because our people, elves and men chose to live together in harmony and would not take sides in your damn war!”
With Maresh’s manhood vigorously rubbing against her woman’s flower inches from the Pal-hadiin’s face, the elf continued the rant. “Your soldiers both human and elf hunted us down. They wiped out any trace of those who knew the peace which once existed between our races. You butchers cooperated in your hatred to destroy that which was good and decent!”
The pain in the Captain’s arm grew as the woman-devil’s taloned hands tightened with her angry addition to the tale. “We escaped your wrath soldier! We fled here into these dead lands and found salvation. Our master, the Trynaught has come to devour this world and we will feed it the souls of all who destroyed our people!”
Her breath having failed under the weight of the rutting possessed souls and unable to break free or call upon her god Rhamalla’s fading thought was, ‘Damn you Wolfwalker!’
‘WHHHHRING!’ was the sound that caused the pair upon her chest to stop their lascivious act. Rhamalla felt warm fluid splash upon her face as she started to lose consciousness. ‘Oh no. Please not that….’
Unexpectedly, the weight upon her chest fell away and Captain Rhamalla sucked in a huge lungful of air. Swinging her shield away from her body, the Captain heard and felt a satisfying hard impact connect with the head of the woman-devil! Rolling to her feet and gasping for air, the Captain saw a much welcomed sight.
“About goddamned time you showed up!”
To be concluded....
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