The Prison of Angels

19

In such a crowded ravine, solitude should have been a near impossibility, or at least that’s whatJessilynn initially thought. It turned out not to be true. Near the wolf-men encampment there was a deep crack in the side of the cliff, forming a thin cave. Not more than a few feet in it turned completely dark, lacking torch or fire. It was into that darkness the female took her, shoving her to the ground. Even with her age she still had impressive strength.

“Your bow,” she said. “Hand it to me.”

Jessilynn hesitated. So far they’d yet to take it from her, and it remained slung across her back along with her quiver of arrows. She debated drawing one. Surely she could kill an old wolf. But what would she do after? She thought of the creatures as they’d gathered below Dieredon, waiting for him to fall. She thought of the way they’d torn into the butchered cattle, or even other members of their own race. The fear paralyzed her.

“The bow. Hand it to me. Now.”

She did as she was told, giving over the quiver as well. The female held them to her chest, nodding.

“My name is Silver-Ear,” she said. “Though I let you live, I am not your friend. Remain here. If you leave the cave, you will die.”

With that she left Jessilynn to the darkness. She sat on her rear, arms curled across her knees, and shivered. What did the beasts plan to do to her? Was there something worse than being eaten alive? The other boys at the Citadel had often joked of the crude things wolf-men did, always to innocent maidens of course, but she’d never taken them seriously. It’d been easy to dismiss back then, but now she was so afraid it made every single outlandish story contain grains of truth. They’d rape her. They’d mutilate her. They’d feast on her flesh, then let her recover so they might eat again and again, until she was nothing but a sobbing stump. They’d force her to kneel before the moon and renounce Ashhur, lest the pack have their way with her.

Stop it, she told herself. Just stop it.

Rumors, jokes, stupid things that meant nothing. She knew that. Again she prayed to Ashhur, but in that deep darkness, it seemed he was so far away. Halfway through her first prayer she broke down. What had she been thinking, accepting a role beside Dieredon? He was one of the legendary heroes, and she was just…well…

She was just an exhausted, frightened little girl in a cave surrounded by monsters.

Movement from the cave entrance pulled her attention away from herself. Yellow eyes glinted, and despite her best efforts not to, she let out a gasp. It was the two identical wolf-men. She could tell just from their size. The cave was deep enough that they could stand side by side, and they loomed before her, peering down like she were an alien thing.

The one with the white around his eyes kneeled lower, then began to ask questions.

“What do you know of the towers beyond the river?” he asked.

Jessilynn felt a momentary panic as she struggled to understand what he asked of. The Wall of Towers, she realized. It did little to calm her panic.

“Nothing,” she said, forcing herself not to stammer. “I’ve never been there.”

“What of the boats, the patrols?”

Her silence was answer enough.

“The lands beyond the river, they have great armies. How many wear metal armor like you?”

Why did they think she knew these things? She thought to guess, but decided otherwise. She would not lie to them, no matter the convenience.

“I don’t know,” she said. The look the two wolf-men gave her was chilling, and it was clear their patience was nearing an end.

“Your armor. You are a paladin, yes?”

Jessilynn nodded, then realized the creatures might not fully understand such human gestures.

“Yes,” she said. “I am.”

“Where is the one they call Jerico? Does he still live?”

She did her best to hide her surprise. They knew of Jerico? Earlier they’d mentioned someone like her humiliating their father. Their father…

She let out a gasp, realizing exactly who it was that stood before her. One of her favorite stories at the Citadel had been Jerico telling of how he and Darius withstood an onslaught of wolf-men crossing the river to attack the small village of Durham. They’d been led by a vicious wolf-man named Redclaw. In the stories Jerico never told of what happened to the beast. Now, it seemed she knew. The hatred in their eyes grew all the more frightening.

“Jerico lives,” she said. “At the Citadel to the south, training more like me.”

“How many of your kind wait for us when we cross?”

Waiting? They had a few boats patrolling the Rigon, barely covering a few dozen miles of land. Ever since the Citadel fell, they’d relied on the elves to fill in the gaps, but with the orcs’ conquering of the east, even that had ceased.

“There’s no one waiting,” she said. “I promise, no one else knows of…of…all this.”

Other than Dieredon, of course, but she didn’t need to say that. They’d all seen him escape on Sonowin’s back.

“You lie,” the wolf with the white around his eyes said. His lips pulled back in a growl, exposing enormous yellow teeth.

“No,” she insisted, fear clutching her throat. “No, please, I don’t!”

“Then what good are you to us? You know nothing of man, nothing of his armies, nothing of what awaits us.”

His claws were reaching for her when Silver-Ear called for him to stop.

“Hold your temper, Moonslayer,” the female said from the slender cave entrance. The pair turned, and the white-eyed one sniffed her way.

“It is no temper, shaman,” he said. “I only seek a meal. This human is worth nothing to us.”

“You are wrong,” Silver-Ear said, shuffling closer. “She is everything. The other races lose their patience, and worse, their trust.”

“What do we need of their trust?” asked the other. “I am Manfeaster, son of Redclaw. Let them fear me instead. We have already slaughtered many to cow their spirits. Should the goblins or birds grumble, we will remind them of their fear.”

“You keep them here with fear, but even fear will not be enough when we cross the river into the land beyond. We must have something to make them listen, something to make them trust you long enough for us to secure a strip of land.”

“And that is her?” Moonslayer asked, gesturing to Jessilynn. “What does this runt know to help us? She is but a child, and lacks wisdom because of it.”

It was so terrible sitting there, listening to them describe her in such a way. These were the beasts they’d been taught about in the Citadel, led to believe they were just vicious, brutal eating machines. To be thought of as lesser by these creatures, as lacking any wisdom, was humiliating.

“She bears the weapons and armor of a man,” Silver-Ear said. “It does not matter if she is a child, for just as our own cubs still bear teeth, so too does she threaten us if we are not careful.”

“All the more reason to slash her throat,” Manfeaster argued.

Silver-Ear came up behind them, and at her beckoning Moonslayer stepped back, giving her room to kneel. Jessilynn curled her knees to her chest, watching, curious what the milky-eyed female wanted of her. What was it about her that the shaman felt was so important?

“Twice we have crossed the river in my lifetime,” Silver-Ear said. “Twice we were defeated by men with glowing weapons and silver armor. Your father was defeated. Those creatures you’ve cowed out there know this, and stay only because of fear. But if you can make them believe you, if you can make them accept you as kings…”

Silver-Ear rubbed a claw down the side of Jessilynn’s face. She flinched, but the shaman’s touch was strangely gentle.

“We hold one so similar to who defeated us before,” Silver-Ear said. “And you think she is nothing?”

She stood, turned to face the two.

“Humiliate her,” she said. “Enslave her. Parade her before all the races, and let them know we will not be stopped. And her use does not stop there.”

Jessilynn’s heart was in her throat when the female turned her cold eyes on her.

“You will deny nothing that we say,” she said. “Only nod and accept my words. Do you understand me, human? If you do not, then your mutilated body will serve our purpose just as well.”

Whatever defiant part of her that existed before that moment felt miniscule in the darkness, stared down by strange, bestial eyes.

“I’ll say nothing,” she said.

“Good.”

Silver-Ear turned to the others.

“I will begin,” she said. “I trust you two to continue when I stop.”

“One wonders who the pack leader really is,” Moonslayer said, his voice carrying a hint of a growl.

“I swore a promise to your father,” Silver-Ear said. “Do as I say, lest you insult his memory by preventing me from fulfilling his dying wish.”

She walked to the entrance of the cave, glanced back.

“The time is upon us,” she said. “Everything we’ve prepared for, it happens now. Bring her. And bring her bloodied.”

The two wolf-men turned to her. She felt the impulse to sob, but she fought it down. She would not weep before these monsters. Moonslayer lifted a hand, and there was undeniable cruelty in his eyes.

“Bloodied?” he said. “If the shaman insists.”

With shocking speed he slashed across her face. She felt the claws tearing into her cheek, ripping flesh. The impact sent her slamming to the stone, flooding the darkness with a sudden swirl of stars and light. She felt blood dripping down her neck as well as her throat, and reflexively she coughed. Her left hand brushed her cheek, felt the flesh hanging like ribbons. Tears from the pain rolled down her face as Manfeaster grabbed her neck and lifted her off the ground.

“Come, brother,” he said, carrying her as if she and her armor weighed nothing. “Let us show the rabble our prize.”

Once outside the cave, Manfeaster slung her over his shoulder like she was one of the cattle they’d brought in the night before. Amid her delirium she saw the entrance to her cave, saw her bow and arrows lying against the stone beside it. She felt a desire to grab it, not to kill others, but to send an arrow through her lower jaw and into her skull. This was torment. This was the Abyss. Sinful or not, she couldn’t help it, not when she thought of what her face must look like. Not while it throbbed with unbearable pain, dripping blood across the fur of her tormenter.

Wolf-men gathered around them as Silver-Ear and the two brothers led the way toward the center of the ravine. They parted easily enough, only a few nipping back. All eyes were on her, and she closed her own so she would not have to see them. She was only a curiosity, not a threat. On and on they walked, until she was violently thrown to the ground. The force of her head striking the dirt jarred her eyes open, and she let out a cry. Moonslayer put his foot on her chest, holding her down.

“Stay put,” he told her.

Jessilynn nodded, glancing around. They were in the center of the ravine, in a place sectioned off from the other camps. Every race had a place to be represented, she saw, from the goat-men to the bird-men to the diminutive goblins. In the very middle of it all stood the two-wolf men, with Silver-Ear nearby. The creatures howled and cursed one another, but when Silver-Ear threw her head back and howled, they quieted enough so they might hear her words.

“All you monsters of the Wedge,” she said, turning so she might address the races. “You know why you are here. You know of the land beyond the rivers, rich with game, with green grass and clear water. It will be ours, as it was in the days of old. And it will happen, because for the first time in an age we will be united. We will be free. We will serve kings!”

“Kings of the Vile!” roared the wolf-men, and scattered among the other races were a few who took up a similar cry.

“In times past we failed, broken and alone,” Silver-Ear continued. “Our greatest could not succeed, for our enemies were strong. But behold now their strongest.”

The female was at Jessilynn’s side instantly, grabbing her arm and yanking her up so they might see her armor.

“This,” said Silver-Ear, “this weakling is all that remains of they who once defeated Redclaw. Where once they sent mighty warriors, now they send whimpering girls. Where once they wielded swords and shields of light, now only a flimsy stick of wood. Look at her. All of you, look upon the greatest mankind may throw against us! Our age has come, the age of our kings!”

Louder now the wolf-men howled, and their excitement seemed to be infectious. Jessilynn clenched her jaw, determined to stay silent. The shaman’s words insulted her, but there was nothing she could do about it. The idea of her being weaker, inferior, burned deep in her belly, playing on fears she’d carried since those earliest nights listening to Jerico’s stories.

“But that is not all,” Silver-Ear continued. “This human, this girl, knows everything. She knows of the boats. She knows of the towers. She knows where the armies move against us, and what evil magic they will try to use to keep us imprisoned in this wretched land. This broken thing will tell us everything. By the words of a single human, we will crush all humans!”

She turned to the two brothers, nodding slightly so they might know she was finished. Moonslayer stepped forward, beginning his speech with an ear-splitting howl that seemed to go on forever.

“We have no reason to be afraid!” he cried. “We have no reason to kill one another. The strong must eat the weak, but none here are weak. It is the humans who are weak. Their flesh, their hands, their will…it is weak, and we will crush it. Together, we will forge a kingdom of the Vile, and we will be your kings.”

Manfeaster jumped in, his timing flawless.

“We do not ask you to kneel,” he shouted to the other races. “We do not ask you to serve. We only ask you follow us, listen to us, so that you may join us in this conquest. Let us together crush the humans, and go to a land so fertile, so grand, that our kind will never go hungry again!”

“We are the sons of Redclaw,” Moonslayer roared. “Not just us, but all of us, and together we will finish what he began!”

Jessilynn was too tired, too delirious from the pain and blood loss, to take in the cacophony that followed. She’d listened best she could, her horror slowly fading into the background of her mind. It was all too much. The way the creatures looked at her, the goat-men with their long faces, the goblins with their strange, unblinking gaze, it was as if she were some entity from another world. Perhaps she was. All of them stared with a hunger, a sense of greed that she no longer wished to see.

“Your patience wears thin,” Manfeaster told the throng. “So know that the time to act is now. This pathetic human is the sign. Tomorrow, we march for the river! Tomorrow, let every human heart tremble with fear!”

This, more than anything, whipped them into a frenzy. The goat-men brayed, the hyena-men yipped, goblins laughed and clapped, and the bird-men squawked. Over it all howled the wolf-men, loudest and greatest of them all.

“To your feet,” Silver-Ear said as the two kings began howling to continue the excitement. “Before one loses control and tries to eat.”

The shaman’s hand took her own, and as if she were a child she was led back to the cave. Once inside she collapsed to the cold ground. The bleeding of the wounds on her face had begun to slow, but still the pain remained. Silver-Ear stared at her, then let out a soft grunt. Tied to her fur were thin strips of dried leather, holding small pouches made from skin. From within a pouch Silver-Ear pulled out a collection of leaves.

“Chew this,” she said, offering them to her. Jessilynn put the leaves into her mouth, then carefully bit down. The gashes in her face made any movement agony. The leaves were soft, yet when she chewed they were horribly bitter. Her eyes watered and her chest heaved.

“Do not vomit,” the female said. “Chew, but do not swallow.”

Jessilynn did so, striking the ground several times with her fist to help her concentrate. At last the shaman reached out her paw.

“Spit.”

She gladly did so. Silver-Ear took the disgusting mush, narrowed her eyes at it, and then grunted again.

“Lie on your back.”

Jessilynn slowly settled down, the ground feeling somehow comfortable despite its hardness. More than anything she wanted to sleep. A dim hope in her still clung to the idea that when she awoke in the morning everyone would be gone, and instead Dieredon would be there, cooking her breakfast. She closed her eyes, slowed her breathing.

Silver-Ear pressed the wet glob against her cheek. It was like salt poured into her open wounds, and Jessilynn let out a scream. The female easily held her down, growling at her.

“Stay still,” she snarled.

Jessilynn did so, even as the tears ran down the sides of her face. More of the substance pressed against her cheek. She gritted her teeth, choking down sobs. It burned like fire, but after a moment’s time, the sensation finally started to relent.

“Sleep here,” Silver-Ear said. “I will bring you food in the morning. Remember, step outside this cave, and I promise you nothing but death.”

With that, she was gone. Jessilynn breathed in, breathed out, as the din of roars and growls echoed inside the confines of the cave. Twenty thousand creatures, all ready to feed. They’d march west soon, crossing the Rigon and into the lands beyond. How many innocents would die? She couldn’t begin to guess, but the truth of it made her ache. And who would stand against them? Would Jerico be there? No, he was south in the Citadel, oblivious to the threat. Darius? Dead. The other heroes of old? All dead, all gone. The Wall of Towers was all that was left, and Jerico had made it clear what state they’d been in for years. She doubted things had improved since the Gods’ War. The towers had fallen before, retaken only with Darius’s help. But now?

Now the only paladin to stand against them was her, and she lay marred, broken, and weaponless. Worst of all, she couldn’t help but think it her fault. It didn’t make sense. It didn’t have to. Lost in her fear and pain, it seemed so blatantly obvious. Her pride, perhaps. Her desire to be better than others.

I’m sorry, she prayed as she waited for exhaustion to claim her. I’m sorry, Ashhur. Whatever I did to deserve this, I’m so, so sorry.

The only answer she received was blessed, dreamless sleep.