Going Feet First Ch. 06

Their pelts were plenty soft, but trying to claim one was a death wish unless you had twenty men to back you. This one had fur as black as ink and murderous, red eyes... and someone riding on its back. The archer had to look twice, but then the rider, a woman, sat up. Her dark armor almost camouflaged her against the beast's back and had it not been for her white hair, he wouldn't have seen her at all.

She yawned aloud as she woke and stretched out her arms with a groan before mumbling, "Are we close, Xerivan?"

The creeger growled and kept moving.

"Good. I tire of this place already."

How in the Nether did she domesticate that?!

The archer was left wondering as he pulled his arrow off his bow and returned it to his quiver. Just to be certain he pulled his pipe out of his mouth and sniffed the contents. Nothing funny that he could smell, but just to be safe he dumped the ashes out and put it away. First thing in the morning, he was going to get a new source of tobacco.

...

There was another thud against Haru's boot as Xerivan's belly was struck from the inside.

"Ooooh, Xerivan, the child's kicking, what will we call her when she's born?" She laughed.

The shadow beast snarled toward its midsection before something shifted within its insides. There was a muffled scream, but the kicking stopped though the body within still continued to fight against her captor. Gentle fingers suddenly rubbed up along the beast's spine between its shoulder blades before the nails dug in to scratch its back.

As Xerivan groaned in contentment, its rider using both hands to satisfy itches it wasn't even aware of, the burden within its stomach didn't feel like such a bother anymore. Thoughts of morphing into a small dog and snuggling in its Matron's arms were growing ever more tempting as her fingers continued working up its back.

"Later, Xerivan," she whispered, as though feeling its intentions.

"I WILL DESTROY YOU!" screamed a Drow voice from under the demon's skin.

"Must've got the gag off... Sorry about this, Xervy" Haru whispered in her mount's ear before booting at his belly, getting a yelp of pain out from the woman within.

"Quiet or the humans here will kill you," the witch hissed. "Your rank means nothing to the people around us and you will suffer a good long time before they even consider killing you."

There was no response from the Princess trapped within the demon's belly though in the newfound silence the shape shifter huffed with relief before outright groaning with pleasure when Haru scratched behind its ears.

"We're almost there. Let's go stealthy and see who we're meeting."

Nodding, Xerivan exploded into a cloud of smoke that was quickly encompassed by a transparent sphere. In the time it took to blink one's eye, the witch, demon and Princess were engulfed in a bubble, invisible to all outside of it.

Haru clenched her teeth, her body shivering as she fought to bring the spell to full strength. Her creature of shadow kept them hovering just off the ground while his dark tendrils wrapped around the Drow Princess to keep her silent and restrained. It was far less painful to cloak when there was just the two of them, but the third body added a new challenge for the Witch to overcome.

His smoke-like essence flooding the space within the bubble, Xerivan carried his passengers to a rooftop across the street from the manor that belonged to the issuer of Haru's contract. He touched down on a flat roof and released Haru from his grasp. Before she could make a sound, the creature reshaped his shadowed form into a snake to wrap himself around the Princess's body.

With a dull white glow lighting up her irises and a flourish of hand motions, Haru stepped to the edge of her cloaking bubble and looked out over the compound across the street. Something was happening in the yard of Fretheim's home to bring a demeaning glare to her deathly, black eyes.

"Where are we?" Iim'treemay asked as Xerivan's neck pulled off of her mouth, allowing her to look at her surroundings with a wide-eyed look.

Haru was quick to shush the Drow and kept her focus on maintaining the bubble and watching the events unfold below. "We're in Redding."

"Redding?!" the Princess snapped, her focus snapping from the foreign world of the surface city straight to her captor. "You fucking surface whelp! If the Sun-Kissed don't flay your hide-"

"Xerivan."

There was a hiss and Xerivan's neck extended and wrapped around the Princess's head and force her mouth shut while he kept his gaze on the scene below. Haru's frown deepened as a shirtless man walked out of the front door of the manor onto his front lawn, to where two men held a nude woman's arms behind her back as she wrestled to get free. Mr. No-Shirt came to them and grabbed onto the girl's golden flow of hair and threw her down to the ground before dragging her screaming across the grass. Blood was flowing from stab wounds in his chest, and more steadily trickled from the skin across his stomach where he was sliced open.

With a furious heave he threw the woman onto a stone path in front of him. When she tried to get up, he didn't hesitate to drive his foot into her face. Haru cringed at the sight, but kept silent as the woman fell flat on the ground with one foot planted on her back to hold her down. The bloodied man kept her like that for a few moments as he ran both hands over his head to smooth his blond hair back and suck in a deep breath.

"After everything I have done for you," he sighed, touching his fingers to one of his wounds and staring at the blood with a demon's rage in his eyes. "After all the gifts I bestow and the comforts I grant, you do this to me?!"

"You're... evil," she whimpered, drooling blood.

"Evil? No no no. No, my dear," he growled, leaning down to speak directly into her ear. "Evil, would be locking you in a cell until I wish your company. Evil would be constantly passing you among my men like a whore. EVIL would TORTURE you for trying to kill your lord!"

He pulled his foot off her back and knelt down producing a knife from the pocket of his pants. She squealed when he grabbed her by the hair again to peel her head back. When he had her eyes locked with his, he brought his weapon to the underside of her jaw.

"Evil wouldn't have granted you the luxuries that I gifted you and all my other pieces. Nor would it be as merciful as I. You betrayed my trust. You betrayed your other pieces. All I asked was your loyalty and obedience. By denying me this, you betrayed yourself. And now you will pay the price."

Before she had to witness the kill, Haru sighed and turned away. In a respectful silence Xerivan lifted their cloaking bubble off the rooftop to bring them back down to the ground. Even the Princess merely just cast a glare upon the witch in the aftermath of what they just witnessed.

When her feet left a solid surface, Iim'treemay shifted uneasily in the grasp of the foggy demon. Floating some distance in the air, she looked out over the human city, taking it in properly for the first time.

This is the place Mother wanted me to keep in check beyond Faerssune, she thought.

With thousands of her kind brewing and scheming on how to keep power to themselves after she arrived, she was also expected to deal with this place? The world underground was difficult enough to handle by itself, let alone with another surface cesspool thrown into the mix. But then again, her mother would not be failed. It wasn't an option. If the Princess Regent wanted her power and the favor of her Val'Sharess, she needed to get a grip on her outbursts. To be able to control her emotions even around the Witch and her demon would be a good testament to her perseverance, something one would need if she ever wanted to make her mother proud.

"I don't get it," Haru declared when Xerivan brought them to the ground just outside Fretheim's front gate.

The Witch turned to the Drow Princess and shook her head. "I mean, I get the bastard wants to get a point across, I give my kills a few words before I let them pass on, but why give a whole speech?"

Xerivan reassumed the shape of a creeger, his tail splitting in two while still wrapped around the Princess to keep her bound. He dipped down to allow Haru to climb onto his back while she continued to rant, "Tell them goodbye, tell them to rest in peace, but don't give a speech to someone who's on Death's doorstep. It's a waste of time and breath. Honestly, on Death's good graces..."

Haru cast her hands around her and the edge of the bubble around them shuddered. Fretheim had already returned to his house by now to let his men deal with the body in the yard. But he likely couldn't have made it very far from the door.

Quirking her mouth and frowning, Haru said, "I guess the only exceptions to the rule are the cute ones. But they don't get speeches, only parting gifts. Like the handsome, little soldier of yours I found in the tunnels..."

The Witch giggled as she looked back at a scowling Iim'treemay seated on the base of Xerivan's tails. "I was so saddened to kill him that I gave him a little kiss goodbye. He could have been a fine sire."

With a gust of air, the bubble of invisibility shattered around Haru and Xerivan. Every guard in earshot came to alert, every person with a line of sight readying their arms. And under the threat of drawn bows and arrows, the Demon and the Witch waltzed forward to get within arms-reach of Fretheim's front gate.

"Fretheim! Your men are dead!" Haru yelled. "But I brought my end of the bargain!"

She sat there on Xerivan's back for several moments, carefully eyeing the guards closing in around her. Given that this client's representative fell victim to the abilities of a Sun-Kissed elder, she didn't expect him to have much trust for her on their first meeting. Not that he had much choice. She had something he wanted, he had something she wanted, and she was taking what she wanted one way or another.

Haru still made the mental note to meet the client personally before taking contracts next time. No more third-party deals.

Before long, the front doors of the manor opened up, a quartet stepping out. Right away Haru recognized blond Mr. Shirtless, only now he had a leather coat on over a bandaged torso and two escorts in full plate armor at his back. The fourth man, however, was wearing mithril and kept to blondie's flank. As he drew closer Haru could feel the magic coursing through her go cold. Worse than cold.

It was going dead.

Something was very wrong about that man in mithril, but very familiar as well. She just couldn't place it.

As the four men came to the gate of the manor, Xerivan gave a low growl that brought the two guards to alert. Haru chuckled weakly and stroked her fingers behind the ears of the demon's feline form.

"Calm, Xerivan. I think this is our customer, Lord Fretheim?"

She could sense the glower she received from the Princess behind her, paying it no mind as she dismounted. The men stopped at the gate, Shirt-less Blondie coming face-to-face with the Witch and presenting his hand through the bars.

"You would guess right, love," he announced. "You would be the Skull Wraith, my Magic Mercenary?"

Haru grinned and took his hand. "In the flesh."

Her smile was returned by Fretheim who brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. The Mercenary gave a girlish giggle and the lord turned his gaze to the Drow on Xerivan's back. "And this is the fabled Iim'treemay Relynviir, second daughter to the Valsharess?"

"Don't start," Haru griped. "She's the Queen's daughter, true, but she's a magicless whelp too young to play in Drow court by my opinion. More of a bull's-eye on your back than anything... I'm kind of helping you commit suicide here, when you think about it. Drow don't appreciate their royals being taken for political prisoners or being used as leverage."

To her surprise, both the lord and the man in the mithril gave her questioning looks, then glanced at each other. First it was Fretheim that started chuckling, then his armored friend joined in as they had themselves quite the reserved chortle. Quirking an eyebrow, Haru glanced back on the coal-skinned elf who still scowled at her with Xerivan's tail still wrapped over her mouth.

Facing the men again she asked, "What's so funny?"

Fretheim shook his head and quickly composed himself, "I have no political ambitions for the sweet Princess. I wanted to add more elven blood to my collection of divine beauties and she is the second divinely unique piece of Elven kind that I have had the opportunity to obtain."

In that moment, Haru's eye twitched. Her smile wavering. "Well... then... if that is the case, then I wish you the best in trying to hold her. I'll take my reward and you can take the Qu'essan. Ending my contract."

Fretheim nodded and motioned one of the men behind him. Haru shifted her attention to the knight who pulled a bag off his hip and presented it to her through the bars of the gate. She took the small package and opened it up, sifting through the countless gold pieces to a green, metal medallion buried within. Upon touching its smooth surface, the witch shuddered and closed both her eyes while giving a breathless chuckle.

"So you did have it after all. I shan't ask how."

She turned to Xerivan and motioned her head to the gate. The demon growled as it suddenly lowered itself to the ground, claws coming out of its paws. In one pounce it sprang clear over the high privacy wall of the estate and slammed into the ground beside Fretheim's group. Both the accompanying guards pulled their swords, but the oversized, twin-tailed tiger merely dropped the Drow onto the grass beside the lord and man in mithril before it exploded into a black cloud. Without solid mass, he passed back through the gate and reformed as a dark horse at Haru's side.

With a sharp look in her eyes, the witch gave Fretheim a smile and climbed onto her mount's back. The slack-jawed noble couldn't even blink as he awed at Xerivan, his mithril armored friend pulling a medallion out of his armor to inspect it while worriedly glancing at the demon as well.

"We are done, Lord," Haru declared. "Enjoy your peace."

Her mount exploded into smoke again and, along with its rider, disappeared into the night.

...........

Her sobs were likely heard by everyone on this floor, but Celia didn't care. If the whole house heard her she didn't care. Tears ran down her cheeks from puffy, reddened eyes as they kept locked on the lone window of her room. This was the only time she locked it and shut the curtains herself.

She didn't want to see the aftermath of what happened. The body that was now undoubtedly being dragged away.

The body of the girl that had brought her food. That had washed her bedding. Scrubbed what little she had for clothes. Celia remembered how calm she felt at the girl's voice, how soft she was in the words she spoke and how she never showed annoyance for the Elf's linguistic shortfall with human tongue.

And now she was gone. In the flick of a wrist she was gone. Celia didn't even know why. Sniffling, she pressed the first knuckles of her hands together and joined the tips of her thumbs. It was a traditional pose for her to hold as she prayed to Necela, Calia, and Moitri to keep her safe as she passed to the next life.

A time later, after her tears had dried and the voices outside went quiet, Celia was wrapped up in her blankets trying for a desperate sleep when there was a rap at her door. The Tree Elf sat up in an instant and drew her knees to her chest, quivering as her mind raced through all the reasons one would come to her at this time of night.

Nobody ever came to her door after she'd been given dinner.

The guard on the other side of her door shifted to one side. Steel boots could be heard shuffling across the floor with each movement. Cocooned in her blanket with only her eyes exposed, the Elf swallowed as her door opened and her visitor stepped into her realm.

"Celia," she was addressed immediately.

She blinked once. Then twice. Swallowing with a dry throat in a weak voice she asked, "Val?"

The door closed behind Pretayus' pet as she stepped over to Celia's bed. A dull orange glow, barely noticeable even in the dark, still weakly shone from her olive skin. Her smooth brown hair, once kept in the most elaborate, little braid Celia could wind, was now clipped short and flowing free down to just touch her shoulders.

And then there were her eyes. In a time before, Celia thought of them like the night: pure black with a twinkle of joy in them like a star above. Now they were just black. The sparkle she knew and the cheer that made it glimmer was gone. Like the last ten years stole away what a hundred had given.

"You haven't changed at all, have you, Sister?" Val asked, seating herself on the foot of the bed.

With watering eyes Celia swallowed the first words that had come to her mind. Val hadn't visited her or communicated with her in any significant way since her capture. No conversations, no notes, no explanations. What was the lost sister doing now? Celia tightened the blanket around her and tried to loosen her throat enough to speak.

"W-w-we are not..." A tear ran Celia's cheek as she quivered with the words on her tongue. "Not sisters. Not anymore. You're... You're gone."

"Am I?" the enslaved elf questioned with a smirk and incredulous look.

"Yes!" Celia cried, fresh rivers running her face as she pressed it into her quilt. "I don't know you! What happened to Val?! What happened to my friend?!"

Her breaths were short and shaky, though Val lifted her eyebrows and quirked her mouth looking none-too-impressed.

Gasping past her sobs, Celia let it all out into her quilt while she questioned, "Where was my clan-sister when my Galen suffered from Pretayus? Where was she when those brutes locked me away me in this room? Where were YOU when I spent all this time trapped in this prison?!"

The Elf's chest was heaving as she looked up from her quilt, her red eyes meeting an indifferent stare. Val slouched over, holding her head up with her arm braced against her knee. Then with her eyes unshifting and still locked with Celia's, she grinned.

"Downstairs, in the company of my master."

Celia's ears drooped, and she pushed her face back into her blanket before she broke down again. Val kept still and watched in silence as the sobs of the other Elf carried on.

"For ten years we wanted you back... we cried, we prayed for you..." she pouted. "We tried to sneak all four of you away in the night... We did everything we could..."

Val shook her head. "Why? Why waste the effort when I was finally set free?"

Celia hiccupped as her head snapped up, her eyes wide. "F-f-free? You were enslaved!"

A firm nod preceded the words, "A short chain to the soaring bird is better than the long leash to the grounded tree. Not living under Tanza, not facing the hardships of those primitive ways we lived with in those Goddess-forsaken woods. I got the chance to see unimaginable constructs, monuments of mortals, felt the love of men without having to wait ten turns of winter."

"You were enslaved..."

Val huffed a breath of a chuckle. "My dear, I would say rescued. Afterall, If the clan was so great, why did you go with your demon?"

Celia frowned and sniffled. "He is no demon. He is a gifted human who loves me as I love him."

"He didn't love you until after the first kiss, am I right? One lip touch and he was bound to you by the charms of our kind."