Rendering Nirayel - Demons Dreaming, page 7
A deafening impact rocked the entire building from below as everyone immediately came up from his cot.
They all stood motionless, waiting as their heads cleared of sleep. Selina spoke up first. "All right! What in the…!" She began, and then stopped as the entire building rocked again, this time to be accompanied by the sound of cracking timbers beneath their feet.
"What then by all the fiery gates of Abhoron!" shouted the jailor from outside as he rushed to unlock the door to the outer corridors.
"Here he comes, lad," Mekaleen whispered. "Ready, then?"
"I don't know, Mek," Jesse whispered, his tone indicating an uncertainty. "What's going on? This isn't part of the plan, is it? You said tomorrow…"
"Don't know what it is. I do know it serves our purpose. Be ready, lad."
"What underhanded mischief unfolds herein?" demanded the jailor as he entered. He wavered for only a brief instant while surveying all the prisoners, the majority of which bearing expressions no less confused than what was surely on his own face.
"Don't know what yer talkin 'bout, ya mutton-head!" Mekaleen shouted.
"Ahh! Then tis thee, Mekaleen!" the jailor accused while crossing quickly to unlock the cell door. "Shouldst I hath previously been made wary of thee, Varlet!"
"Begone Dejan!" shouted Mekaleen. "Yer foul stench interrupts me beauty sleep!"
"Oh, thou shalt surely sleep," crooned the jailor, pulling his club out as he swung the cell door wide open. Midway to his target, with his club raised above his head, the jailor was suddenly vaulted to the ceiling as the floor beneath him surrendered to a third and final impact. Wooden planks exploded upward in the following instant, followed closely by a heavily scattered mixture of soil and freshly crushed rock.
***
"You can't possibly be serious!" Borin shouted, "I'd rather stay here and rot!"
"Wouldst thee condemn thy good friend Marcus to a similar fate, Lord Krue?" queried Ariel expectantly.
"Let him put it on, then!"
"Terribly sorry, ole boy. Afraid it's not quite my size." Marcus illustrated his point by holding the female jailor's armor up to his slightly larger frame, and then turning it about, thus displaying the two protrusive accommodations in the armor's upper torso.
"Then you put it on!" Borin exclaimed, his attention coming to bear on Ariel.
"I wouldst do just that, if it didst only include a helm, or at least a face plate. As it is, I fear that mine is a face that all of Deja remain all too familiar with."
"No! I don't care! There's no way I'm…"
"Then thee wouldst include those others thou hast spoke of as well? For surely their fates would result from thy childish adversity."
***
Mekaleen slowly pulled the undercarriage of his cot away, but only enough to peek at what carnage had been wrought. What he witnessed was more than sufficient to cause him to pull the cot back over his head.
Jesse hadn't been quite as fortunate. Despite the menacing presence of the monster now emerging from the hole in the center of the cell floor, Aqua forced herself to reach through the bars to grasp his arm.
Noticing motion from the corner of its vision, the creature slithered further forward. It first sniffed the jailor's corpse, and abruptly dismissed it, other than taking a quick bite from the body's upper thigh, given that its captors had failed to provide nourishment for the second day in a row.
It paused again at the unconscious figure being slowly dragged backward. This was not a Receptacle, but it had a Receptacle's scent on it. Perhaps it was a Correlate. It resisted an urge to eat it, despite the fact the meat was yet alive, a decided plus when dining. Still, it might be bad form to consume a Receptacle's Correlate.
Then it sniffed the other creature, the one who dragged the first. A Receptacle! it sang inwardly while slowly moving closer.
"Leave them alone!" barked Sarah's dual warning to the monster as both Ezlea and Selina strained against their chains.
Momentarily distracted, the creature panned to determine what threat these others might pose. As it did, Selina instantly commenced waving her arms about wildly, thus further drawing the monster's attention.
"NO!" Aqua screamed as Ezlea grasped her about the waist, successfully yanking her back and away from the bars that served as their only defense.
***
"There it is." Ariel motioned toward the old Garrison while she, like Marcus, kept her arms raised above her head.
"One problem at a time," Borin whispered. "Keep to thy march!" he barked in a higher tone of voice as they passed several soldiers.
When they were alone again, Marcus ventured a glance over his shoulder. "You know, ole boy?" he intoned, returning his attention to the front again as they crossed the street. "That filthy mop makes a rather convincing wig," he sniggered.
***
The creature surged forward. Opening its massive jaws, it locked onto the bars, and unceremoniously ripped that entire section of the cell away. The twisted scrap of metallic refuse was then spat behind to crash near an upturned cot.
The creature turned back toward the Receptacle. Now it would finish what it had started, for this was the conclusion of its ultimate purpose in life.
Chapter Five-Sacrificial Siren
"Wake up!" Borin shouted again as he continued to shake Selina by the shoulders.
"Wha…?" she asked in a sluggish tone. "Borin?" she blinked questioningly at his full-figured image.
"Come on, get up!" Marcus insisted as he and Ariel assisted Ezlea to her feet.
Abruptly, Selina's eyes focused sharply on Borin's. "Aqua!" she exclaimed.
"Where is she?" Marcus asked while stooping to retrieve the jailor's key.
"Thy two figures," began Ariel, indicating Selina and Ezlea, and then pointing toward the corpses of the creature and the jailor, "and they who shall never wake, were all to be observed upon our untimely influx."
"Where's Jesse?" Ezlea asked as Marcus helped her to her cot, unlocked her shackles, and tossed the key to Borin.
"As Ariel mentioned," replied Marcus. "Aside from the two of you, those corpses are all that was here when we arrived."
"First things first," Borin announced in an authoritive tone. "Let's start with Aqua."
"That thing!" Selina indicated the defunct creature while unconsciously reaching as if to shield her ears.
"Tis only the last Siren of Muse!" Ariel interjected angrily. "Dead it may be, but thing it is not!"
"It broke through the floor, and ripped out the bars," Ezlea offered while studying Ariel with a speculative expression. "Who's this?" she jerked a thumb in the angry stranger's direction.
"Oh, terribly sorry, Ladies," Marcus apologized. "This is Ariel. She helped us escape. Ariel? This is Selina and Ezlea."
"Charmed," Ariel curtsied curtly.
"Yeah…well, she sounds like Wilma Shakespeare," Ezlea sneered without returning the curtsy.
"It ripped out the bars, then?" Borin asked expectantly, hoping to return to more important matters.
"It attacked Aqua with some strange…" Selina continued, and then paused.
"Some strange what?" Borin urged.
"Sound," Ezlea supplied.
"Sound?" Marcus echoed.
"Music," Selina corrected. "Or, like music, but… Oh, I don't know! It opened its mouth and blasted her like a trumpet! Whatever it was, it was loud."
"Very loud," Ezlea agreed while banging her palms against her ears. "Loud enough to knock us out, I guess."
"Right before I passed out, I saw Aqua fall," said Selina. "The last thing I remember was something glowing through her pocket."
"It was the crystal, remember?" Ezlea added. "All our crystals glowed like that when we first gated to the beach."
"Are you saying she gated?" Borin asked.
"Well," Ezlea pondered, "either that, or the damn thing ate her. Take your pick."
"The Siren's purpose and deed may continue to reside in mystery to some," said Ariel, now standing by the hole in the floor and staring expectantly at Ezlea, "though answers of thy other companions may yet be at hand." She pointed at the floor below.
Borin strode quickly to the hole. Once there, he peered over the edge. Below him was the next tier down. In that tier was another hole, and below that was yet another tier with yet another hole. Below that was nothing but water.
"It must have really wanted out," he intoned. "It broke out of the aqueduct system, and then advanced up through three floors to do so."
"Look," Ariel pointed again.
Borin looked to the next tier down. Off to the side was a trail of blood, as if someone, either injured or dead, was being dragged.
***
"Wake up, lad," Mekaleen urged while slapping at the sides of Jesse's face. "I've done me part. The rest lay in yer hands…a Druid's hands."
"Wha… Huh?" Jesse asked in a sluggish tone.
"Come on, boyo!" he insisted with a serious tone. "I got ya outside the wards. Now it's yer turn."
"Where…?"
"We're in me tunnel, if ya must know!" Mekaleen informed him impatiently. "The Screws caught me, and then transferred me one tier up. That beautiful, glorious monster just saved us both the trouble of finding our way back down here!"
"Monster?" Jesse asked. Having been knocked unconscious by its explosive entrance, and having remained so until now, he had not actually seen the creature.
"We've no time fer this foolishness! Just gate us to the nearest Hub and I'll be happy ta yak yer bloomin ear off!"
"Hub? Jesse moaned. "But… I thought the Hubs were all…"
"GATE ME OUTA HERE, YA MANGY CUR!" Mekaleen screeched as he grasped Jesse about the throat.
"Not…leaving…others!" Jesse croaked.
"Unhand thy victim, Mekaleen!" a familiar voice from behind ordered.
Mekaleen released Jesse, who accordingly dropped to the ground in a coughing spasm while refilling his desperate lungs. "Aww, now, is that any way ta be talkin to an old friend?" Mekaleen crooned while turning half around. "Not long ago, ya called me Mek, among other tender things ya've whispered in the dark, me sweet Magi Thistle," he grinned widely, showing many teeth.
"Magi?" Borin began.
"Thistle?" Ezlea finished.
"Press not the memory of thy accursed flesh," Ariel hissed as her knuckles whitened with an increased grip on the jailor's club.
"Now don't be like that, Magi, darlin," Mekaleen soothed as dark auras formed about both of his hands, one of which he held before him as a shield against the Druid's would-be saviors, and the other of which he held but mere inches from the Druid himself.
"Dis'Errant," Ezlea whispered.
"That I am," he nodded. "And knowin that should serve yer understandin of the tree-hugger's precarious position." He illustrated as the aura near Jesse's face momentarily intensified.
"I think not," Borin interjected. "Unless I miss my guess, you just spent the majority of your mana in order to kill the Siren."
"But…what about the wards?" Ezlea questioned.
"The Siren song didst cancel the wards, then…"
"Then I cancelled the Siren," Mekaleen concluded while somehow managing to enlarge his shark-like grin. "But don't wager yer lives on spent mana. There's plenty where that came from," he warned.
Presently, the small inside pouch of Jesse's jester shorts commenced to generate light. Then, just as he glanced down, the contents of the pouch washed the entire tunnel in a white brilliance. As the light subsided, it was clear that Jesse was gone.
"Stand back!" Mekaleen warned them while backing up as far as he could and bringing both auras to bear.
"What is this magic that gates so strangely?" Ariel asked.
"I believe it's a sign of things to come," Borin offered, looking to Ezlea, thus confirming that she was of the same suspicion.
[Are you certain?] {There's no question about it. You have about five minutes.}
"Captain?" called Marcus as he ran the length of the tunnel.
"Report," Borin acknowledged.
"Voices. Sounds like quite a few. I believe they are coming down the same way we did."
"All right. Go and get Selina. We'll fall back to this position and set up defenses until the crystals activate."
"But how do we know…"
"We don't, but Jesse just gated. If he and Aqua are any indication, then we have to hope we'll all follow suit."
"Right, then," Marcus acknowledged as he started back toward the tunnel's entrance.
"Wait!" exclaimed Ezlea. "Marc should stay here. He can help you keep Mekaleen quiet."
"All right," Borin agreed. "Then you go and get Selina, and hurry. I want to be dug in before the Dejans reach this tier."
***
The Dejans were quite close now. Selina remained just inside the tunnel, but as she peered about the corner, she could now see the flickering of reflected torchlight on the wall of the farthest adjoining corridor.
"Aaack!" she blurted with a start as someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Sorry, Sarah," Borin offered softly. "Didn't mean to spook ya, but you need to join the others. I'll keep an eye on things out here."
"Damn near wet my… You called me Sarah," she whispered.
"Umm… Yeah…well…we'll talk about it later. Right now, you just need to join the others, okay?"
"I…I haven't had a chance to talk to you since all this started," Sarah began. "There's so much I want to tell you. So much you don't understa…"
Her imparting of those sentiments was abruptly cut short by means of Borin's sudden rush to embrace her. For a moment, she simply stared up at him in dumbfounded disbelief.
"I…I thought you didn't like Demons," she half stuttered, suddenly at a loss for breath.
"You're no more a Demon than I am," he informed her while tracing the curve of her lower back, a sensual tactic that only one person in all the world knew she was susceptible to.
"Dieter?" she whispered, tears welling in both eyes as he pulled her closer, and kissed her. As the kiss ended, Sarah momentarily pulled back. "It is you!" she confirmed, placing her cheek to his as her tears flowed freely.
"We'll talk later," he said while gently pushing her away. "Right now I need you to join the others, all right?"
"All right," she smiled, sniffling. "Don't stay too long though. They're getting close.
"I'm right behind you," he returned, an impatience rising in his tone.
***
He remembers! Sarah sang inwardly while making her way through the tunnel.
***
Yuck! Phooey! Can't believe I did that! Yuck! Icky! Yuck! Sarah shivered in disgust while taking on a new form.
***
"No," Borin insisted. I need Ariel to keep an eye on the Dis'Errant. The rest of us can form a defensive front right here. The depression in the floor should offer some cover while we wait for…"
"How did you get here before me?" Selina asked from behind.
***
{I hope you know what you're doing.} [As long as you can handle your end of the bargain, I do.] {Yes. I've got a solid lock now.} [Then here goes nothing.]
***
Ahead of them, Silhouettes waged war as torchlight cast elongated shadows of the battle proper. "Take the right side and stop at the inside corner," Borin commanded as they ran.
Selina nodded, though an oddly mixed expression of concern and disgust remained affixed to her face. I cannot believe she did that! She just … Yuck! Oh … Icky, icky!
***
"Then thee shall gate as well, shall thee not, my Lord?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so," Marcus said thoughtfully while turning to face her.
***
With the Paladin's back to him, Mekaleen moved toward him slowly.
***
"I suppose thy path be not of thine own choosing in this shrouded matter?" she asked as her club suddenly snaked outward, just over Marcus's shoulder, and immediately connected in a solid whacking thud as it struck the top of Mekaleen's head.
"Umm…uh…no," he answered absently while turning half about to realize the full impact of her apparently absent-minded action.
Ariel drew a deep breath, and then released it. "I am both woman and Warrior, Lord Goodfellow. As such, I fear myself bound by the customs of my people…and my own pride. I know naught of proper words to beg thee with, nor woulds't I use them otherwise."
"The world doth brim with peoples and customs," Marcus offered in an attempt to honor her dialect. "Besides, I wouldst never hear thee beg."
"Then are we so doomed, and without so much as the brushing of lips to mark thy parting," she lamented softly.
"Nay, fair Lady," he insisted, gently pulling her to him, and then kissed her as she returned his embrace.
As their kiss ended, she looked up to meet his eyes. Below their line of sight, a radiance commenced.
Marcus realized what was to follow. He could but watch her face as she glanced down, the tears welling in her eyes provided him with conformation.
As her eyes shot back to catch his, she suddenly found herself alone, left to hold naught but the emptiness he had occupied.
***
"Hold the accursed creature back!" shouted an officer from behind their front line.
"Ezlea!" Borin shouted from the darkness behind her. "I command you to withdraw! Fall back while you still can!"
"Go on!" shouted the Siren as her tail whip-crashed through half a dozen soldiers. "I think I can hold them long enough to give you all time to gate!"
"You're going to get yourself killed!" Selina shouted frantically.
"Sorry, Sister!" the Siren returned, and then nose-butted one soldier into five others to send them all sprawling back the way they came. "Kwibee's just about ready to switch the signal over! As long as you make it out, then Sarah Hoffman survives! How's that for a solution!" laughed the Siren through her teeth while snapping a spear in half, and grinning broadly at the weapon's wielder.
A series of loud plunks preceded a whispering volley of arrows. Most bounced harmlessly off the stone wall behind her. Two passed through her massive body with minimal damage. One did not pass through.
