The Song of Roland Ch. 19

Just as he was about to hop the fence and begin his headlong charge, a hooting laugh arose above them in the mist. "Unhand them, Amphara's spawn!"

A shockwave burst like a bubble of air above the whole of the courtyard. In the space of seconds most of the Imps were blown back, knocked away from their would-be victims all in different directions. Some skidded across the ground, others were thrown into buildings; all were knocked momentarily senseless by the sudden onslaught of wind, as gusts and blasts of air began to pummel the Succubus and her entourage.

The Demon roared, standing up in a swift motion as her physical features returned to her normal state. She lifted a hand, pointing it skyward as a blast of blue fire shot up like a torch. It hissed in the night sky, the mist melting directly around it. There was a ghostly luminescence of light, before it dissipated to nothing. Roland stopped short, frozen in place as he saw the unexpected battle play out. The Demon's head turned this way and that, a black anger on her face as it pulled into a sharp scowl.

"You bitch!" She snarled, shooting a second blast of fire in to the sky. "I was just getting to the good part!"

The Air Godsman did not respond. A second plume of air swept down, disturbing the fog and scattering a small crowd of the Imps who attempted to rally. They were helpless before her prayers, and the Succubus' let out a dreadful scream. It was hatred personified, a will to strike out at everything beyond herself. Her eyes followed the trail of the wind, shooting forth yet another jet of balefire into the night. It had no discernible effect.

Three cuts of wind blasted apart her remaining creatures, their bodies splitting to pieces from the sheer pressure of the winds. The Succubus was hit by one, but merely leaned into the concentrated force. There was a momentary discoloration of her skin where the air struck, but then she was back again. Seeing her minions scattered or dead at the moment, Roland took his chance. He stood up, leaping over the small fence and charging at her, moving between the insatiate bodies that lay, sprawled in pools of sexual fluid all around him.

Another deluge of air wafted down from the clouded sky. The red-skinned woman leapt out of the way, rolling on all fours as she let out another screech of frustration. Her eyes were locked to the area above her. Roland had a chance.

Suddenly, the Succubus' hand raised above her head, pointing like a lightning rod straight above her. A final, spiralling blue flame erupted from her hand, reaching up like a fist to strike something far above them. There was a scream. The wind abated, a black, charred outline plummeting from the fog to strike the ground near her, motionless.

Roland did not have time to process, he was already committed. Letting out a roaring yell, he crossed the final few steps, the Succubus' focus suddenly snapping to him. She lowered her deadly hand to face him, but he kicked it out of the way, slashing downwards at her in an attempt to remove the viper's head. She rolled out of the way, his weapon striking nothing but air. "Ahrg!" She grimaced, "So many distractions in this town, tonight! Can't a lady lay with her chattel in peace?" She backed away, but Roland did not give her the time to recover, swiping his sword in front of her face and opening a cut upon her cheek. She hissed, flashing her fangs at him.

The Imps were regrouping. Roland did not have time. He leapt at her, slashing at her head, her midriff, anything he could bring within striking distance. This Demon was no mere novice like Kelsea was; she dodged him with an almost effortless grace, her body bending and twisting even as he swung, like she was presenting herself to him for sex rather than fighting.

"You're cute." She said, her words deceptively flirtatious, filled with counterfeit affability. "Where have the villagers been hiding you? I thought we killed or took all the strapping young males already. Nothing but slag and refuse left." She licked her lips as Roland moved to chop off her tail. It twisted out of the way, slipping around his front leg and getting a death grip on it, pulling him off his feet. Roland let out a huff of pain as he connected hard with the ground. "Ephraim will be jealous. He thought he'd hoarded all the good dick to himself."

Roland leapt to his feet, swinging at her face again as the creature laughed. "Oh, sweetie: you're lucky that little barbeque priestess left me so hungry, otherwise you wouldn't be worth the trouble." She hit him in the chest. Roland went flying backwards, his feet leaving the ground as he felt the sword fly from his hands, clattering away behind him in the distance. He slammed into an insatiate woman left drooling and twitching in the collected pool of a dozen Imp's cum, rolling across the ground as he struggled to stand. The Succubus strode with sultry steps towards him, "I prefer to not have to work for my meals."

Roland faced the ground, grunting in pain as he tried to catch his breath. He laid flat upon the earth, counting the creature's footsteps as she made her slow progress towards him. His right hand drifted down to his waist, fingering the pommel of his rondel as he kept it hidden beneath his body. "No..." He said, looking up at her. She grinned as their eyes met, a tug pulling against his senses as she exaggerated her catwalk steps. "You prefer weak-kneed little gobshites with no backbone. Things that're just a hair's breath weaker than you." Roland pushed up on the ground with his left hand, lifting just enough to gain leverage. "Gods forbid you have an actual challenge, yeah?"

The Succubus hissed. "You're a mealy mouthed little mutt, aren't you?" She moved a bit faster to reach him, kicking Roland in the face. His head snapped around, his face smarting as he bit back a cry of pain. The Succubus put her foot atop his head, grinding him into the ground. "I love breaking in meals as sanctimonious as you." She said, twisting her heel this way and that. "Soon enough, you'll be begging me to let the Imps rape you, again." The pressure on Roland's skull was enormous, but he had his opening.

"Not... likely." He muttered out, reaching up with his left hand to grab her ankle. She chuckled at his impudence. However, instead of trying to pull it off of him, Roland merely used it as leverage. He rose his right hand and plunged the long rondel deep into her ankle at a horizontal angle. The Succubus screamed, ripping her leg free and stepping back, her hands subconsciously moving down to grasp at the wounded limb. Roland stumbled to his feet, half-leaping into her body as he landed a shaky knee into her chin. Now it was the Succubus' turn to crumple to the ground, knocked momentarily senseless by the unexpected attack. Roland turned and bolted for his sword.

"Raaaaagh!" The Succubus shrieked, lifting her hand and sending a blast of fire from her fingertips. Roland was able to leap out of the way, the sloppy aim of the Succubus' impaired vision preventing her from roasting him. Rolling back to his feet, he crossed the remaining distance, picking up his blade and turning to face her. Behind the wounded creature, the remaining Imps were regrouping. His chance had gone.

"Fuck." He muttered under his breath, deciding on prudence over foolhardiness. He couldn't hope to save the stricken bystanders at the moment, he could only try to draw off the Succubus and her horrid servants. "A memento to remember me by, ya cunt!" He shouted over his shoulder as he sprinted off, moving northwards towards the empty barns. An enraged yell responded his final taunt.

"Kill him!" She snarled. "Rape him! Bring him to me!"

Roland didn't look back, he just ran. The empty houses slowly gave way to abandoned sheds and deserted chicken coops that had been locked up long before he and his group had ever arrived. There were no lanterns here, no candles to guide the way. The heavy fog was such that Roland could only make out dark shapes and shades of grey and black and dull white. The snow was his guide, a narrow pathway of quasi-light between great valleys of void. Once or twice he hit a wall as he ran, his lungs burning and his body aching from pain.

There were Imps behind him. He could hear them, getting closer. He had to escape. Roland headed northwards, doing his best to remain in a straight direction as he moved across the wide boulevards between the large buildings. The creatures were hot on his heels, and the red-maned mercenary was forced to make several sudden cuts in direction to avoid being spotted. Their voices were all around him, at his sides and behind; he could only keep moving forward, clutching his sword tightly in his bleeding hand.

He tried to make for the northern gate, where he and Bogdan had endured their none-too pleasant conversation earlier in the day, but the sheer impracticality of avoiding detection was too much. If he was spotted, the Imps would overwhelm him through sheer numbers, to say nothing of the lack of effective lighting. His eyes had still not adjusted to the darkness.

Even as he thought this to himself, the world around gained a bluish tint as the telltale sign of unnatural fire being thrown about burst into being. It was only a few alleyways off to his left, nearer to the outer palisade. A loud, angry cry echoed in the air. "Show yourself, you little mutt!" The sound of rising screams told Roland that she had caught some unfortunate souls in the conflagration. He hung a hard right and kept running, diving into the night. The light faded, and he was in the dark again.

At last he found himself surrounded by the cackling madness of the Imps. Knowing he had nowhere to run, he opted instead to hide. Coming to a large two story barn, he leapt the shoulder-high gateway in one go. He sprinted down the hallway between stalls, his footsteps making a worryingly distinct knocking sound as he reached the ladder to the upper loft. Roland climbed the rungs two at a time, his breath wheezing out as he ducked against a bale of rotting hay that had been left to decay in the upper reaches.

Not content to merely hide in the loft, Roland jumped up and caught the latticework of one of the support beams. He pulled himself up with both arms, crawling forward on his stomach till he reached a point where he finally felt safe. Above him, separated by only a few feet was the pointed ceiling, and beneath him, a precipitous drop down into the lower reaches of the barn itself. Roland laid flat on his back, breathing deeply as he tried to silence himself.

No sooner had he settled in than the front door of the barn burst asunder, spilling forth a small wave of Imps who snarled and snapped at one another. They sniffed, moving between the individual stalls and overturning whatever they found, searching for the presence of the mercenary who had so offended their mistress' inclinations. They swept through the area like a plague, tossing and turning everything they could find, clambering up into the loft and burying themselves amongst the rotten hay in an attempt to suss out Roland's location. Thank the Gods, the stench in this place was such that they could not discover him.

Roland saw more flashes of blue outside the windows of the barn, the fires getting closer and closer. It seemed that the Succubus had resorted to burning down the better part of the area in an attempt to flush him out. Roland laid still, closing his eyes and thinking of Kelsea as he waited for what was to come. His breathing steadied, his nose exhaling silent air as the Imps searched the barn, then continued on their way, clearing the area as they moved on to other buildings. Roland stayed in place, allowing himself a moment of respite, separate from the madness going on outside. He did not know how long he'd have to wait to make a break for it.

He kept his eyes closed. Time was short, but he needed his breath. Roland sat within the darkness and thought of all that had just transpired, like a head flash receding in the distance. He reached down to nervously lift and lower his dagger in its sheath, but found the holster once again void of a weapon. He cursed. "Fucking Demons." He mouthed, his lungs filled with the stench of smoke and hay.

The world around began to fade. There was a strange, dreamlike feeling as Roland felt himself almost floating in place. His eyes fluttered, and he wondered if - in spite of all the madness - he had actually managed to drift off for a moment.

There was a weight on his chest. It was difficult to breathe. Roland grunted as he felt the pressure of another's body drape itself atop him. His eyes opened, and he found himself staring eye to eye with a Succubus, her red-rimmed irises looking back at him, her curling horns pointing like daggers at his throat. "Gah!" He blurted out, twisting in place before an afflicted sort of understanding settled in. His brow tightened.

"Roland?" Calexi said, swirling a nonexistent finger along the center of his chest. He blinked, and suddenly she looked like her human self again. "Are you alright, love? You were having another bad dream."

"Aye." He said, putting a hand over his eyes as a younger version of his voice replied like an echo in his head. "It's nothing, Callie. Just..." She had truly seemed a Demon in that moment: bluish skin and a curling, spaded tail. The image caused sweat to bead upon his temples. "Nevermind. It's nothing."

Her lips pouted. He could feel the shift of her form next to him, as if they were back in the tiny bed they'd shared in the servant's quarters of Loherhof Castle, a decade ago. "Roland, don't lie to me. I know it's been affecting you. You don't have to put up the churlish act for me; I'm not one of your men."

"Thank the Gods, yeah?" He replied, chuckling. His hand reached out to touch her chin and tilt it towards him. "'Tis a far fairer face I get to wake up to, each morning."

"Shameless flirt." She laughed, pushing his face away. He caught her hand and brought it to his lips.

"Aye. I am. But you started this, yeah?"

Her head lowered. There was an odd expression on her face, one that almost gave him pause. "I did." She said. "...What was your dream about?"

"Who knows?" Roland muttered, "Flying badgers and the like, maybe? I can never recall my dreams after waking."

"You're lying." She said, affixing him with a stare. She always unnerved him with her intense gaze, his mind tugging in a certain direction when the look became too intense. He could never resist her inquiries; it was almost otherworldly the way she could compel him to honesty. "Roland. Tell me the truth of it."

His breath stole from his lungs. Roland's jaw clenched as he twisted this way and that upon the barn's wooden beam. "A-aye..." He said, his face slackening. "I saw it again: us. That field outside of town. You were running through the sunflowers, and I gave chase. I caught you, but then you..." Roland felt a sharp pain in his head and he winced. "You changed." He choked up, shaking his head from side to side. "It's just a foolish nightmare."

"-But it won't go away." She said.

"No." He replied.

Calexi's mirage looked at him. "...Have you told them about me?"

"What?! No! Of course not!" He sat up, nearly touching his head against the barn's ceiling in a rush to match her height. He leaned forward, capturing her illusory lips with his own. "They won't have to know. After we're wed, we can-"

"Go on the run?" Calexi let out a humorless laugh. "I've been down that road before, my flame. No one will accept us."

"They don't have to." He said firmly, "I love you Callie; that's all that matters."

A sad look came to her face. "If that was all that mattered, neither of us would have to hide anything, Roland."

There was an indistinct sound of something in the distance. Shouting, or screaming or some such racket. Roland could not make it out.

"To hell with them, then!" He said, not grasping the irony of the words he spoke. "I want you with me." He touched her face, and Calexi sighed. "Here. For good... and damn the consequences."

"...You don't know what you're asking for, Roland." She said. How right she had been. "You don't know what it will cost you."

He laughed, an uproarious, booming thing that had bled away from his voice as the years had worn him down. "You think I care for titles and honors? I'll resign the Guard tomorrow, if you'll just say yes."

"What about your-" She began.

"I don't care." Roland said, sensing her query and cutting her off. "He can be as mad as he likes. My life is my own to live." He kissed her, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the feel of the moment. "With you."

"I'd like that." She said, but something was wrong. Her voice was not her own, anymore. It was coated in syrupy and saccharine tones that went beyond mere human intonation. Roland opened his eyes and the blue skinned thing with his lover's face was back, grinning at him with wide pupils, like a predator's stare.

Roland screamed.

He jerked in place, turning sharply atop the beam, nearly losing his balance and toppling down onto the floor two stories below. He tensed in place, scrabbling with his hands to find leverage and grasp against the wooden strut. His fingers clenched around the old wood, his heart hammering in his chest as the hallucination disappeared all at once like a murdered dream.

The red-maned man had little time to recover. No sooner had he managed to steady himself against the beam then something loud and massive slammed against the far wall of the barn. A fireball half the size of the building itself rocketed into the wall, filling the windows with blinding blue light as in an instant fire engulfed the building. In seconds the flame had spread to the roof, and Roland was forced to crawl for his life back towards the attic, dropping down on his feet even as the flames spread above his head. The lower stalls were burning on one side, and Roland dived down the ladder to avoid going up in flames alongside the moldy hay.

He ran up the central aisle, moving for the gateway as he shielded his eyes. A dark figure ripped open the door, casting it aside as she strode forward on sultry footsteps. "There you are!" The Succubus said, her gloating smile toothy and demonic in the blue light. She moved through a patch of rising flames like they were nothing, her nudity almost picturesque, were it not mixed with such devilry. Her tail curled and twitched maniacally behind her. "I thought I'd have to burn down half the town to find you again. You're so talented at scurrying, my little mutt."

Roland didn't answer her, drawing his sword and charging. She laughed, lifting her hand and shooting a burst of flame at him. The mercenary leapt aside into an adjacent stall, scalding his face as he felt the wave of fire shoot by him. He hunkered down, listening to her lilting laugh as she approached. When she was upon him he stood up and swung his sword, trying to behead her in a single strike. She leaned away from it, sweeping into the stall with her form, her body adopting a suddenly monstrous posture. She struck him with the back of her hand, knocking him into the wall with enough force to snap something in the wood wall behind him. Roland cried out, falling back on his rear as he struggled to stand up.

The Succubus planted her bare heel onto his chest. "Remember this?" She said, holding him with the same leg he'd driven a blade into. "Cost me a lot of fluid to walk again. Took even more to flush you out of hiding. You're going to give me back that fluid." She stepped down on his sternum, crushing weight clenching his lungs as his chest cavity bent from the weight. "Every. Single. Drop!"