Scales of the Serpent

15

Uldyssian awoke to find his limbs bound to the altar stone. That in itself was unnerving enough, but when he attempted to use his powers to free himself…nothing happened.

Then, he heard the familiar laugh again.

“My dear, dear sweet Uldyssian,” Serenthia cooed. Only, it was not Serenthia, the son of Diomedes reminded himself, but Lilith. “So naive. So trusting.”

A face appeared over him, but it was not the one that he expected. Rather, Romus glared down at his former friend. “You should’ve never come back, Master Uldyssian. Never.”

“Romus! Are you mad? This is the demon, Lilith, here, not Serenthia!”

The Parthan shook his head. “No…you’re wrong. It’s both of them. My Serenthia and my Lilith. I’ve both of them…”

Footsteps presaged the appearance of the demoness. Brushing aside some of Serenthia’s long, dark hair, she leaned lovingly against Romus’s shoulder. “And I have you, dear Romus! How much more a loyal lover than you, Uldyssian, who could not see all that was offered! I could have been anyone you desired, including what you see…but you spurned my love and my offer…”

“All you wanted was a puppet to lead the creation of your magical army so that you could take Sanctuary from Inarius!” Uldyssian looked to Romus. “When she finds someone even more useful, you’ll be tossed aside! Think, Romus! This isn’t you! This isn’t!”

“You know nothing of my life before your coming to Partha, Master Uldyssian! I answered to no one! I was feared by all! You took that away from me and made me one of your sheep! But she’s reminded me of who I really am”—he leaned close, his eyes wide and deadly. His expression was manic—“and I adore her more for it!”

There was no hope talking to the Parthan. Lilith had completely seduced him, seeking deep within that lingering darkness that had once entirely engulfed Romus…and now did so again.

Uldyssian tried to pull his left hand free, but the bonds held. Romus smirked. Lilith pouted her lips in mock sorrow for their prisoner.

As Uldyssian fought for time and some manner of escape, he asked, “So, has she been using you to bring forth the new edyrem? That’s all she really wants! She can’t do it so quickly herself. It’s the nature of the gifts; they’re a human thing and she’s not, Romus!”

His words fell on deaf ears. “She chose me. She chose me from all of them because she saw how powerful I was and that I could be stirred from the illusions you cast upon us. Since, Hashiri, I’ve shown others, both new and old, the same, and each day, there’s more.” He grinned. “They treat me like a god…”

Lilith leaned close, first kissing Romus on the cheek, then licking it. He responded to her action like a cat, rubbing his face into hers. The scene sickened Uldyssian on more than one level; not only for Serenthia’s sake, but the Parthan’s, too. This was not the Romus he knew.

“And after tonight,” the demoness murmured to Uldyssian as she continued her seduction, “they will all see the truth, dear Romus! Isn’t that so?”

“Are you going to use him ?” the former brigand eagerly asked.

She chuckled at his question. “Now that would be marvelous, but no. His blood would be no good. In fact, it might have the opposite effect, adding his taint. No…I need someone whose life force would magnify that which I desire, dear, sweet Romus…and there’s truly only one person in my mind for that.”

The Parthan suddenly gaped. His eyes widened even farther, to the point that they looked like those of a frog.

With a shiver, he slumped forward, sprawling over a stunned Uldyssian. As he did, his back became visible.

A long, crimson puddle oozed out of the wicked hole in his back.

Lilith held up the dagger that Uldyssian had noted before his betrayal. Romus’s blood dribbled down the blade and over the hilt. Lilith paid no mind as red spots formed on her hand. Instead, she used her free hand to stroke the Parthan’s bald head.

“He was a delight…I’m sure Serenthia enjoyed it, too. Pity he was so perfect for the role.”

“You’re mad, Lilith!”

Her expression tightened. “No…I am justified, dear Uldyssian! Justified! I saved the children and for that good deed I was cast out into emptiness! Inarius thought that I would never find my way back…but I did, I did!” She returned to caressing the dead Romus. “He was so determined to prove himself to me and her. He came right in and told me how you’d called him into the jungle and that he’d pretended to still be your friend!” Lilith smiled. “I will admit your timing startled me, my love. I smell another’s work in that. Have you been talking to my darling Inarius? Hmm?”

Even though Uldyssian had more than once thought Rathma no better than his parents, something made him hold back from telling the demoness the truth. “I had a short conversation with him. He misses you and begs your forgiveness. Then, he wants to kill you.”

The face above him contorted into one that held no sanity whatsoever, a spectacle made all the more terrible by the fact that it was Serenthia’s.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the madness once again vanished behind a mask of seduction. “Such a jest, dear, sweet Uldyssian! No, I don’t believe that Inarius would ever have use for you! He thinks himself without flaw, and thus, in need of no one but himself to set things as he sees them!” Lilith grinned. “And so he shall sit oblivious on his throne even as the walls of his glittering cathedral come raining down around him!”

Uldyssian doubted that the angel would be so complacent, but Lilith clearly shared Inarius’s megalomania. She could not imagine her plots unraveling, especially due to the interference of any mere mortal.

The trouble was, in that last case, it seemed that she was correct. Uldyssian could feel the power within him trying to burst free, but something held it in check. He could not sense any spell on him, but the work of the demoness could be very, very subtle.

“Still struggling,” she commented. “How admirable is your determination…or is it that you just wish to one more time hold me in your arms?” Lilith leaned close enough to kiss him, and although once Uldyssian had wanted those lips against his, he was now revolted. Not for himself, however, but for Serenthia, whose body was now the demoness’s plaything.

The lips moved to his ear, where Lilith whispered, “Not too long, my love, and you will hold me again. When I cast the spell using poor Romus’s blood, you shan’t be immune, either! You’ll finally see matters as I desire, then…”

He wanted to spit in her face. “Why didn’t you do this in the beginning?”

A throaty chuckle. “Because a dupe who thinks he is doing good is the best cover for my plan! But we’ve gone far past that point and you’ve gathered so many followers! When the opportunity arose, how could I resist? Now, you’ll gather new converts knowing exactly what is demanded of them—allegiance to me!”

Uldyssian tried to grab her, but his struggles remained futile. Lilith laughed again and backed up the better to admire his efforts. She brushed against Romus’s body, still half-sprawled over her prisoner.

With a weak growl, the Parthan abruptly pushed himself up. He grabbed Lilith by the arm that held the dagger. Blood splattered on Uldyssian.

Any hope by Uldyssian that the Parthan’s startling act would save both of them quickly died as the demoness twisted around and grabbed Romus by the throat. To his credit, the former brigand, his eyes bearing none of the fanaticism of her control, tried to burn her with his power. His hands glowed bright and smoke arose where they touched Lilith.

But she only laughed, and with one squeeze of her hand, crushed in his windpipe.

Already suffering a massive wound, Romus perished instantly. This time, Lilith let his still form collapse on the stone floor.

Both hands now awash in the Parthan’s life fluids, she turned back to Uldyssian. Her ghastly smile made even Serenthia’s countenance too terrible for Uldyssian to behold and he turned his gaze away.

“Such strong life! Yes, poor Romus’s blood will do spectacularly, my love.” Moist fingers forced his gaze back to her. “Don’t you think?”

When Uldyssian only glared, she patted his cheek—leaving more of the Parthan’s blood—and laughed again.

At that moment, Uldyssian sensed someone else in the chamber. He had no hope, though, that it was someone who had come to help him and sure enough the newcomer turned out to be one of the guards that he had earlier frozen.

The edyrem eyed Uldyssian like a vermin discovered in his food.

“The others are here, Mistress Serenthia.” He seemed unsurprised to find Romus’s body.

“They may enter. Then you and your friend keep the doorway sealed until I am done.”

The guard nodded, then vanished through the entrance.

Lilith stood over the Parthan as she spoke to Uldyssian. “You’ve no idea how many there were so easily turned to my desire, dear love! You were so gracious, accepting all who came to embrace what you offered, but even though your will buried what they were, it did not erase it. Turning them was even more simple than Romus here.” Dagger still in hand, she performed a mock curtsy. “For arranging things so well for me, I thank you!”

Still attempting to stall, Uldyssian looked around again. Despite there being only signs of Lilith in the chamber, he suspected that once the walls had been covered with markings dedicated to beings equally vile. “What is it about this place? You sought it out.”

“This? This place is a nexus, my love, important to the making of Sanctuary, all those centuries ago! Here was set one of the first points of reality—you might say hammered down—that allowed this world to hold together! There is power beyond belief here, the contribution of every angel and demon who built this refuge, including him. So strong are the forces inherent here that you see that even your kind sensed them and built this.” Indicating herself, she merrily added, “And this…more than three of your lifetimes ago…is where I found my way back to Sanctuary!”

It startled him to hear that Lilith had been in his world for that long without ever being noticed. That raised anew his fear that the demoness just might be able to accomplish all that she planned. If even the angel who had cast her out had not sensed her in all this time…

But before he could discover more, Lilith’s turned edyrem began filtering inside. So many of the faces—male and female—were known well to Uldyssian, which pained him further. He saw both Parthans and Torajians and assumed that a few Hashiri were also among the gathering. All told, there were at least a couple dozen.

“Stand along the edge of the room,” Lilith commanded.

Uldyssian used her distraction to try one last time to free himself. He had little hope of success, but could not bring himself to merely accept what appeared inevitable—

Then, to his surprise, he sensed the magical forces binding him weaken in a few places. Managing to cover his pleasure at this, he focused on those points…and then noticed that they were where Romus’s blood had splattered him.

Cautiously, Uldyssian sought to exploit them. He worked at the spell holding him, gradually feeling it unravel here and there.

But the effort went too slow. Lilith already had most of her pawns in place for whatever ceremony she had planned and now the demoness again positioned herself above the dead Parthan.

From her lips erupted sounds that no mortal creature could utter. They were evidently words of power, for he sensed the chamber immediately fill with invisible but potent forces rising from deep beneath.

Something else rose…blood from Romus’s wounds. It streamed up into the air, reaching at last the dagger. This time, Lilith desired far more than just enough to cover the blade; Uldyssian suspected that she would drain the corpse completely before her task was finished.

As she did this, her edyrem turned their palms up. Energies from within each sparked to life over the palms. The edyrem moved with such perfect coordination that he wondered if Lilith now utterly controlled them.

He felt her spell upon him fade more, yet still not enough to enable him to fight her, much less her followers, too. Time was against him. Lilith was nearly done with her grisly task.

At last, she held up for all to see the insidious dagger. Even though it was drenched in blood, there should have been far more of the crimson fluid present. Uldyssian did not want to even think where the rest had gone.

The binding spell continued to weaken. All he needed was a minute or two longer…

But it seemed that Lilith had no intention of giving that to him. She strode to where he lay, paying no mind to the droplets left in her wake.

“Now it begins, my love,” she whispered, reaching to the side to take the goblet. “Retribution begins…”

Her mouth contorted as out of it again issued those inhuman sounds—

One of the edyrem let out a cry and fell back.

Uldyssian at first thought it Lilith’s doing, that she had intended from the start to use her other puppets as she had Romus, but then he saw that which had slain the man.

An arrow through the throat. An arrow encrusted in dirt.

Before the first body stilled, a second follower also collapsed, a shaft through his chest exactly where the heart was located.

Lilith’s followers broke ranks as some sought shelter while others looked for the source of the seemingly magical bolts. Uldyssian was the first to recognize their point of origin, the narrow slits above. How the archer had managed to avoid the guards outside or to be sensed by Lilith was a much more major question.

But the answer to that was something with which he could concern himself later…if possible. The momentary interruption had given him the time that he needed to at last extinguish the spell keeping him bound and helpless.

One of the nearest edyrem saw him rise. The dark-skinned figure started to point at Uldyssian, but the latter, not needing to focus, sent his would-be attacker flying up into the wall. Uldyssian then glared at two more just registering his freedom. They suddenly flung against one another with such force that both were knocked unconscious.

Another of Lilith’s followers screamed. The arrow that had slain him stuck out of his back, which meant that it had come from another direction. Whether that meant more than one bowman, Uldyssian had no chance to consider, for Lilith, face monstrously contorted, had resumed her chanting. Uldyssian could only assume that meant that she still had hope of fulfilling her plan and turning the rest of the edyrem to her cause.

Whatever the cost, he could not let that happen. The chamber shook as pure force radiated from him in every direction. Edyrem went tumbling, some crashing into each other and into walls. Uldyssian did not care if they lived or died, for they had likely been forever tainted by Lilith. What was important was saving all the rest.

Lilith, too, had been thrown back by his brutal assault. But as he leapt off the altar, he saw her rise. Serenthia’s blood dripped from a wound near the mouth and a dark bruise discolored the forehead.

Unfortunately, the demoness was far from defeated. She raised the dagger as if to throw it, but instead uttered another of the incomprehensible words. Uldyssian swore, fearing that Lilith had yet succeeded…

To his shock, though, it was her followers who cried out, then fell still all around them. Uldyssian sensed Lilith quickly draw something from them into herself.

“My foolish, foolish love…” the demoness rasped as she stood up. “Always a little shortsighted. Always not doing quite enough. From these I’ll still have my way with but a moment more. You can’t stand against me enough to keep me from taking the rest of your precious flock with what I’ve grasped from these fools! A greater sacrifice than I planned, but their loss is paltry compared to what I gain!”

He did not speak, answering instead with a force that should have pounded her to the ground. However, although she shook, Lilith remained standing.

They both knew the reason why. As much as he wanted to, Uldyssian could not bring himself to slay Serenthia, the only certain method to stop the creature possessing her body. That hesitation meant that, despite the shift in circumstances, Lilith would still in the end win.

And Sanctuary would surely be doomed.

“Poor, sweet darling,” she cooed. “Always seizing failure at the moment of victory! Still, I promise you some delights with this body, once I’ve made you mine again…”

Something struck the blade of the dagger with such force that it ripped the weapon from the distracted demoness’s grip. Blood splattered the area around Lilith as the dagger and what had hit it clattered against the back wall.

And as both pieces stilled, Uldyssian saw that what lay near the dagger was another arrow…again covered in dirt.

“Serenthia…” a voice called from the entranceway, a voice that despite its grating, was so familiar to Uldyssian that it made the hair on his neck stiffen. “Serenthia…” it called again, closer now. “Come back…to us…to me…”

Despite Lilith still free, Uldyssian had to turn to the newcomer, had to see if he was dreaming…or living a new nightmare.

It was Achilios…Achilios, who was very dead.

The hunter’s too pale eyes gazed only momentarily at Uldyssian, as if just to acknowledge that the latter saw the truth. Then, Achilios, bow drawn for another shot, continued forward. Behind him, he left a trail of slightly moist dirt, the same which seemed to cover much of his form.

“Serenthia…” the dead man repeated. What little remained of his ruined throat twisted and shifted as if actually drawing the breath needed for speech. “You can…hear me…you…know me…”

Lilith had been oddly silent, but now she snapped, “There is only Lilith, dear decrepit Achilios! My! Love can be foolishly strong, can it not?” She spread her arms. “Would you like me to warm you for her, archer?”

“Spare…spare me…your pathetic…seductions,” Achilios replied, raising the bow to fire. “If I… can’t…free her one way…I’ll free her…another…she would…want that…”

“And perhaps when she, too, is dead, you’ll have the chance to win her again? How macabre and wonderful at the same time!” She leaned so that he had a clear shot at her breast. “Fire, then!”

But Achilios did not rise to her bait. “When I am…ready, witch…first…I still want…her…to come to us…”

Seeing that Lilith was focused on the walking corpse, Uldyssian readied his own attack. However, Achilios shook his head.

“No…this is not for you to…do…”

There was that in the rasping voice that made Uldyssian listen. He watched as the archer lowered the bow.

“Serenthia…” Achilios murmured. “Serenthia…please awaken…”

Lilith stood as if frozen. Uldyssian thought that she planned some new mischief, but then the demoness’s hands clutched at her throat as if to choke herself.

She screamed. She screamed so loud and with such raw agony that it would not have surprised the son of Diomedes to see the rest of the dead in the chamber rise up to join Achilios. Lilith screamed without pause, the very building shaking from her effort.

And then…and then…something monstrous emerged from her upturned mouth. They initially looked like a pit of small serpents, but Uldyssian finally recognized them as fingers. Taloned fingers.

Serenthia’s face distorted, her mouth growing twice, then three times the size of her head. The hands pushed it wider, wider…and only then did it become apparent that the scream was issuing forth from whatever was emerging, not from the woman before them.

Fearing for the merchant’s daughter, Uldyssian started forward, but again the archer forbade him. “Do not…do not stop this…if we are…to have any hope…for Serenthia…”

If it had been any other—no, if it had even been a living Achilios—Uldyssian would have paid the command no heed. Yet, somehow, he realized that his dead comrade understood the matter more than he could ever begin to. Nerves taut, Uldyssian forced himself to watch things unfold.

A grotesque array of red quills erupted from Serenthia’s monstrous maw. They pushed upward. Upward…

And with one terrible push, the demoness Lilith burst full-blown out of the dark-haired woman’s mouth.

Still screaming—but from what seemed more rage than pain—the green-scaled siren flew around the chamber several times. Below, Serenthia—now normal again—teetered dangerously.

“Fools!” bellowed Lilith, suddenly hovering. “Little-minded mortal fools! Do you think this means anything ? Do you think you’ve won at all?” She laughed wildly, then thrust a taloned finger toward Serenthia. “Careful, dears! She’s about to drop!”

With that, the demon flew up to the ceiling, vanishing just before she would have crashed into it.

Neither Uldyssian nor Achilios dared watch to see if this were another trick, for Lilith had at least spoken true when she had warned them about Serenthia. Nearly as pale as the archer, Serenthia let out a slight gasp, then fell over.

Uldyssian intended to use his abilities to keep her from striking the stones headfirst, but somehow Achilios moved even faster. Gritty arms caught Serenthia mere inches from disaster. The archer gently set her down as if she were made of fragile glass.

Serenthia exhaled…and her eyes fluttered open. She gazed up at her savior, who himself looked to Uldyssian as if he suddenly wished that he were anywhere else at the moment rather than in her sight. The archer quickly put one hand over his throat in a futile attempt to cover the monstrous sight.

“A-Achilios…” she mumbled. “Achilios…” A smile started to spread, but before it could go very far…Serenthia passed out.

“Praise…be…” muttered the dead man. He stepped back from her, only then looking at Uldyssian.

The son of Diomedes could still not believe what he was seeing. “Achilios—”

“Take…take better care…of her…next time…if only so I won’t…be back…”

The archer turned to flee, but Uldyssian seized him by the arm. Ignoring both the dirt and the cold he felt, Uldyssian growled, “You can’t leave!”

This brought a harsh laugh from the dead man. “And…how could I…remain?”

Before Uldyssian could answer, yet another scream resounded in the ancient structure. Both looked to the entrance…where, unnoticed in the heat of things, a crowd of startled edyrem had gathered.

A crowd now seeing their mistress as still as death, their master returned as if from the dead…and a man the Parthans in the group knew had been slaughtered by a demon.