There was a giddiness flowing through the Witch not felt by her in more years than she could remember. Everything she had put in place, all her schemes and manipulations after so long a time would finally bear fruit! As she, her Nephew the King and the One descended the stairs, her tired eyes watched with particular glee as the group of red-haired, white-skinned slaves were driven before them by the lash. All was as her vision had repeatedly shown her year after year. With the help of her slave Hasim, the whip bearers quickly chained the sacrificial offerings to their corresponding places on the chamber walls.
The Witch then cast eyes from the still weakened Keybearer, to her prize chained to the natural column surrounded by the mixing river and sea water. Immediately, something amiss caught the witch's Sharp eyes. "Hasim, why is this child wet?" Swiftly the large dusky slave bent his knee before the much smaller Witch and exclaimed, "My mistress, the woman had fouled herself and I used the waters to wash her off!" With uncanny speed it looked as if the Witch's arm stretched out as she grabbed Hasim by the throat. As the slave's throttled cries rose above the sound of mixing water the Witch replied, "I told you, no man was to touch her!"
Seeing from her place at the column, Marta shouted in the Aesir tongue, "Let him go you hag! He poured water from his own shirt on me. His hands never touched me! Or do you want to come over here and stick your fingers in me again?" Behind his aunt the King chortled, "Ho, Ho! Where have you kept so impudent and beautiful a slave hidden from me my wizened aunt?" Stepping across the small wooden bridge to the chained woman the Witch replied sharply, "With good reason nephew! Had you seen her before now, she'd been fouled by you in all three holes."
While her nephew laughed in agreement, Aunt slapped the insolent wench hard across the face and then struck her a hard blow against her flat young belly. Marta felt the wind whoosh from her body amidst the mix of upper and lower pain. The Witch grabbed a full handful of her black hair and pulled her downward. That tinder dry voice turned sharp in Marta's ear as the Witch said in Marta’s language, "I will not tolerate such impudence child. You are mine to do as I will when I will. What happens after you fulfill your destiny, depends on my goodwill. Every rumor about my using slaves for spell ingredients and worse... are completely true. The difference between you ending up in a stewpot or as an amusement where degenerates pay to watch you get fucked by a gorilla, all hinge upon you keeping your place and you mouth shut!"
To emphasize her meaning, Marta bore the brunt of several slaps by the hag's near rock-hard hand. The One stood watching the scene with mixed emotions. He didn't care about slaves. Those who could not keep their freedom, often ended up losing it. However, for some reason he did not appreciate the unwarranted cruelty displayed by his employer. "What's all this for?" The One's sudden question stopped everyone in their tracks. Releasing the cringing slave, Aunt turned to face the One and said, "My dear, in a few moments all these hapless souls will help me open the gateway to the Sacred Land. The place where unlimited power can be found!"
Uncovering her cane and pulling the glowing yellow stone from her black sleeve, the Witch held them out as they pulsed with bright yellow light. Her rheumy eyes narrowed and she answered the One with vicious glee, "Do you see? These stones are the source of an unfathomable power!" Pointing her cane at one of the whip wielders, a crackling yellow bolt resembling a lightning bolt’s tail burst into his body frying him to ash. Without missing a beat, the witch pointed the stone at the remaining whip wielder and as his scream echoed in the cavern, his body was turned to yellow crystalline stone!
The Slave-Trader King stepped forth astonished by what he'd witnessed. Reaching out to touch the pulsing stone statue the King exclaimed, "Amazing! You knew this was the power to be had all this time?" Just as he was about to lay a hand on the statue, an arcing bolt of energy struck his hand. "Owww fuck!" Aunt's tinder dry laughter echoed in the cavern as she scolded, "What are you a child that you must touch everything before you know what it is? Yes of course. I have always known the true power of that which comes from the Sacred Land!
The energy in that statue alone could be harnessed to run great engines that could turn night in Aduni to day, pump fresh water into the deep desert and more for years! Should I give the command, that statue would release it's energy in a blast so powerful all of Aduni would be rendered less than dust! The surrounding desert would be turned to glass and the land rendered unfit for man or beast for all time. All that, from just two stones my king. Just two."
Still clutching his hand the King walked round the statue and gasped, "What astonishing power! You have always carried that stone upon your cane Aunt. Why have you not used its power all this time? Aduni could stand astride the entire world instead of being hidden at the edge of the desert!" Now having moved near her nephew, Aunt gently passed the cane over his injured hand and chuckled as he looked on with disbelief when the burns began to suddenly heal. Within moments the King peeled off the dry damaged skin to reveal his unburned hand. "Amazing!"
Focusing her tired brown eyes on her nephew the Witch said, "I have held the stone's power for over a thousand years. During that time I have protected Aduni from storms from the sea, drought and invaders. In that time Aduni has grown strong. But the stone's power is not infinite. Little by little its power has been waning until the arrival of the Keybearer. Now with this second stone, I finally have the key to opening the gates of the Sacred Land!" Turning to the One the Witch then said, "So in answer to your question my dear, all this you see is necessary to summon the Gatebringer. Each of these slaves have been to the Sacred Land and this woman has the blood of one born there!"
Marta was confused. For some reason, she could understand everything the hag said. In response she shouted, "I was born in the Northlands, not some Sacred Land!" Without turning away from the One Aunt replied, "That is true. But her mother, father or both were born there. The touch of the Sacred Land flows strong within her and it will be hers and the others blood which will compel the Gatebringer to my summons."
With a surprisingly swift turn, Aunt faced the waters edge and lifted her hands to hold the cane and stone high. "When I summon the Gatebringer, something else may come to interfere. If you are truly what I expect you to be, you will prove whether the title of the One is truly deserved. As for you my King, prepare for your destiny!"
With the stones now pulsing in unison with the stone statue, all three burst once more into brilliant yellow lightning which connected one another. Aunt screamed in ecstasy as the power flowed through her making the tinder dry voice thicken with vigor. Her rheumy eyes now burning with yellow light looked into the swirling pool of mixing water and roared, "GATEBRINGER, I SUMMON THEE!"
Yellow light filled the now violently swirling pool and once more Aunt bellowed, "GATEBRINGER OF THE SACRED LAND... COME FORTH!" Even with the combined power of stones and statue, the Witch could feel the Gatebringer resisting her call. With one mighty draw upon the stones power, Aunt cried, "COME FORTH, I COMMAND YOU!"
Within the center of the pool a ray of red light shot upwards and its heat burned the condensation covering the stone to steam. Within the boiling waters a black-skinned man stood upright dripping and smoldering from steam. Upon his broad chest was a necklace bearing a giant fish scale burning with red light. With a countenance angry as the red glow flooding the cavern the man growled, "Who has dared summon me?"
Flush with the power of the stones the Witch replied haughtily, "I dare summon you Gatebringer! Now you will do as I bid and open the gates to the Sacred Land."
The Gatebringer turned his shaven head towards Aunt and leveled dark eyes which reflected the red and yellow light. With a sneer the summoned being retorted, "Why should I? Could you not find your way there like everyone else? Let me guess, you were thrown out on your ear and was banished? How many centuries did it take you to hatch this ridiculous scheme?"
Aunt did not like the Gatebringer's tone at all, but she could not risk forcing him to do her bidding. It was going to take all the stone's energies to keep the gate open long enough for her to get through. To waste power trying to coerce the demon would ruin everything.
Forcing her ire aside, Aunt took a more diplomatic tone. "Gatebringer, I offer fifteen souls which lived under the skies of the Sacred Land and the soul of one untouched woman bearing the blood of one born there as foretold in prophecy. Please take them at your pleasure and in return, I beg you open the gate to the Sacred Land!"
The demon cast about the cavern and took in the sight of the captives. His dark eyes fell upon Marta and held hers in thrall. The Witch knew the demon would favor the woman for she had foreseen it. Sure enough, the demon broke eye contact with the terrified Marta and said, "So be it. But I will open the Gate with fair exchange." Aunt was enraptured to hear the words she longed to hear over the centuries. Now looking only at Aunt the demon commanded, "Only those of the Sacred Land may pass through the gate. Reveal yourself so that you may pass!"
All but the Gatebringer looked on in amazement as Aunt tore off her elaborate garments to reveal not the bent and withered body of an ancient crone, but that of a beautiful black-winged woman! Aunt stood up to her full height for the first time in hundreds of years. Her joints and muscles protested loudly as they expanded to their true lengths. With great relief, Aunt tore away the constricting mortal flesh withered with time to maintain her disguise and threw it into the brazier. Bright blue and red flames leaped high as the final remains of the woman whose body she'd possessed for centuries burned to screaming ash.
Turning to face her nephew, blood from the stolen flesh dripped from Aunt's youthful face and her eyes burning yellow as the stones said, "Come my nephew, you are the last of my mortal descendants. Together we shall go forth to our rightful home!"
Seeing his 'Aunt' for what she truly was scared the literal piss out of the Slave-Trader King. Divine creature or not, the King could only imagine a twisted hell in which his Aunt wanted to return. He coveted the power of the stones, but not enough to leave his kingdom!
Aunt could see the King's fear and said sternly, "Enough foolishness! You will gain power in the Sacred Land beyond that of anything you have in this pitiful mortal life." Waiving his arms and backing away the King screamed, "No! I'm not going! I am the Slave-Trader King! I rule Aduni the great City of Golden Towers! My word here is law and I will not follow you into some hellish place!"
"You will!" snapped Aunt as she snagged the King by his satin garments in her large hand. Dragging him kicking and screaming to her naked breast like a willful child, Aunt turned to the waiting Gatebringer and said, "Now..., open the gate!"
The swirling waters colored yellow and red from the mixed eldritch powers raised a column of water which toppled splashing in a great wave against the cavern wall. Instead of the waters receding, they held firm against the stone while continuing to swirl. An instant later, bright rays of daylight filled the cavern and bathed all present with the watery image of a clear blue sky over green fields. All who looked upon the vision gasped in astonishment as the image cleared as to not being water, but as a doorway to a green and fertile land!
"Do you see nephew? It is the Sacred Land!" exclaimed Aunt as she gazed upon her ancient home. Tears fell from her black eyes as the yellow irises burned bright with the excitement of looking upon her home after more than a millennium. As Aunt took her first heavy step towards the gate the Gatebringer said, "In fair exchange of the offered souls, I have opened the gate." Off to her side, Aunt heard the sound of chains falling from the sacrifices. All but two.
Turning towards the captives, Aunt saw the fourteen red-haired sea-travelers were gone, yet the Keybearer and the woman remained. Suspicious, Aunt stopped cold and her powerful foot cracked the stone beneath it. Still holding the struggling King, Aunt cocked her head at an inhuman angle back towards the Gatebringer. Her voice now the rumble of thunder demanded, "What treachery is this? The gate is open by fair exchange, yet you do not take all the souls offered. Why?"
Unfazed by Aunt's sudden ire the Gatebringer replied, "The Keybearer's soul has been claimed by another and the woman is with child. You were banished and now you try to cheat your way back into the Sacred Land? To enter now, you must face the Gatekeeper!" A strong wind flowed from the open gate and the beautiful blue sky grew dark. The sudden wind caused Aunt to bring her black feathered wings forward to shield her and her nephew. Angered by what she'd heard, Aunt lashed out at her once trusted slave Hasim as he screamed, "No Mistress, please...!" His cries were cut short by the yellow lightning flash which consumed him utterly.
Venomously Aunt faced the woman and spat, "Who among us did you spread your filthy thighs for?" Looking up at the beautiful yet fearsome being Marta held her courage and spat, "It was the Skull-Faced Man!" Aunt's countenance abruptly changed from wrathful to disbelief at the mention of the demon which haunted her visions.
With a snap of her head, Aunt turned to the now roiling waters beneath the still open gate. The once pure water was rapidly filling with what looked to be blood! Repulsed, Aunt took a step back away from the edge. She could not pass through the gate if tainted by blood and that was exactly what now swirled beneath the gate! Just as in her vision, the cavern became bathed in blood-red light and she shouted to the One, "He's coming child! Prepare yourself!"
© 2011 H. Wolfgang Porter. All Rights Reserved.
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