The Godlost Land (52 page)

And that day was so close. After all these years it was at hand.

It was that which had finally decided him. The soldiers could not have them. They were his. All of them! It was time to start making decisions about the future. His future! No more dealing with the damned demon king. No more restraining himself. He was a king! Soon to be an immortal! A god in the making. And he had divine appetites.

“Soldier!” Terellion yelled at one of the men outside the door, and was soon rewarded by the sight of a worried face appearing in it. Worried because he was standing there with his arm around the waist of a fury. “Bring me the engineers.”

The man ran off, his feet thumping into the stone floor, his armour clattering, and Terellion smiled as he watched him run. Soon the engineers would be here and he could start making arrangements. The cells would have to be divided up into smaller ones. He couldn't have his guests sharing cages – that would be too dangerous. And then the beds would have to be built in each one, special ones that the furies could be chained down to. But the dungeon was big enough he thought. It might have been designed for people but there was no reason it couldn't hold a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty furies. However many there were. It could hold the thralls who commanded them too. They could be chained up somewhere, and kept ready to control their pets.

Of course it would need some work. Something would have to be done about the water trickling down the walls. The beds would need to be proper beds – he wasn't going to scrape his knees on cold hard stone plinths. Maybe someone could upholster a few of the torturer's racks? After all, they already had the chains he would want. More light would be good and maybe a fire for warmth. In the end the dungeon could become quite a comfortable place to while away a few hours.

But the location was what he really liked. Not only was it in his own castle, far from the control of Xin's thralls, but it was convenient. To have all the furies down here waiting for him! Ready for him whenever he wanted! Just a short walk down a few flights of stairs. His own private brothel and in time a nursery.

Maybe in time he'd start bringing other women down here. Real ones. The sort who might be missed by their fathers and husbands. After all, if a cell was good enough for a fury it was good enough for them.

Soon he would have everything back that he had lost through time and age. Everything and more. The war might be going badly. His soldiers might be worthless. The gods themselves might be upset with him. But none of that mattered. He would have everything and soon.

Just as long as he killed the High Priestess and no more of the Circle wizards died.

Chapter Forty Two

The dungeon was coming along well Terellion thought. The artisans were working night and day to craft the new cells. The leaks had been repaired and there were more torches on the walls. It wasn't as gloomy or damp as it had been.

But best of all were the racks! The first of them had been upholstered, and now with thick leather and lots of stuffing it looked almost comfortable. Even the fury would be comfortable he thought as she lay on it – not that that mattered. And he was also enjoying showing off the place where his temptress would be bedded.

“So what do you think my dear?” Varrious had told him once that she actually had a name, but he didn't know what it was. Nor did he care. It seemed like such a strange thing to do – naming an animal. But since he was going to not just enjoy her but impregnate her as well, maybe he should learn it. Eventually.

“You think you'll be comfortable lying here?” He didn't care if she would be or not. He only cared that she would be lying there, ready for him. Which gave him an idea.

“Why don't you try it out?” He invited her to do so not because he cared for her comfort but because it gave him a feeling of power to tell her what he was going to do to her. Even if she didn't understand. “You think you'll be comfortable lying here?”

She didn't understand of course, and he had to gesture a few times to get the idea across. And then her demon master had to help as well. Still, she eventually got the idea and hopped up on to the rack. She even lay down on it without any complaint and then let him fasten the restraints to her wrists and ankles. She didn't so much as hiss when he did it. She didn't flinch at his touch.

But then she trusted him. Over the time they had spent together she had learned to accept his touch. His mastery of her. In fact he suspected she didn't even need her demon master's control any more. She would do anything he wanted. Just like the other whores. But the enjoyable thing was that she wouldn't do it because he compelled her. Instead she would do it simply because he had broken her.

Seeing her lying there like that was a thrill for Terellion. She was at once so deadly, so terrifying, and yet so vulnerable. Submissive. At his mercy and completely ready for him. And when he caressed her, letting his hand glide over the soft smooth skin of her breasts and then on down her body she welcomed it. She responded to him as a woman should to her master. It had taken time but as she lay there, hissing gently, he knew he had broken her in completely.

He could have taken her then and there he knew. Without the thrall and his charm controlling her. Without the restraints. She would have let him do anything he wanted to her. And had there been any justice in the world he would have. There was only one thing stopping him.

His decaying flesh.

He hated that. He hated it more than ever before as he played with her, caressing her, arousing her, wishing he could complete the job. How could this affliction have come upon him? It was as though the gods themselves had set out to destroy him. In fact he thought they might have. After all, they had allowed Artemis to give that foul bitch a divine bow to destroy his armies despite the fact that it was surely a breach of divine law. No doubt they had done so because they feared him. They had reason to. When he ascended he would punish them for what they'd done.

But first he would have this creature.

“Sir.” A soldier addressed him unexpectedly, and Terellion turned to look at him, somewhat annoyed. Didn't the man know better? He hated to be interrupted while he was playing with his pets. He'd made that very clear he thought. Still the man must have some reason for bothering him.

“Yes?”

“Lucara the Sage is in the Grand Hall wanting to see you. He says it's urgent.”

Lucara! Terellion's heart started beating a little faster at the news. If Lucara was back and wanting to see him then it meant he'd finally finished the translation of the first part of the tablet. At last! It had been months since he'd sent him away with the latest piece of translated writing, and he'd heard little back from the sage save the endless messages that he was close. Very close. And the last message had promised answers within weeks or even days. Now he was here? That could only mean he had the answer. The first part of the tablet had been translated. Immortality was soon to be his. And then finally his pet would be too.

“Come!”

Terellion started releasing her from the restraints. Since she was to be his first as an immortal it was only right that she should hear her fate. That she should know how soon she would be conquered. And it could be very soon. If it was just a spell, it could be only minutes away. She should be nearby so that he could take her upstairs the moment it was done!

But where? Did he want her in his bed? Or did he want to take her in the hall itself? In front of witnesses? People who could testify to his virility? Who could be awed by his performance? He couldn't decide. The only thing he knew was that it had to be soon.

Immediately he'd released her last restraint Terellion turned and marched out of the dungeon, heading for the stairs and his destiny above. For once the stairs weren't so much of an effort as they had been. The weakness of his legs was more than matched by the excitement coursing through him.

Immortality! To be young and vital again. To have the strength flowing through him once more. It was more than a dream. It was everything! The other answers, knowledge and power, and even ascendancy: they were exciting and he wanted them. But he wanted nothing more than to be young again. And this time it would be forever! He would cheerfully give up all of the other answers for that. And to bed the glorious creature beside him. It wasn't so much to ask for was it?

At the top of the stairs he turned and marched quickly into the grand hall, expecting to see Lucara there waiting for him. But he wasn't. Then again the hall like the rest of the castle was simply so large that maybe he was there and Terellion just couldn't see him? He could simply be in another part of it. That was one of the things he didn't like about the castle. It was just too large.

“Terellion.”

Terellion spun as he heard his name called.

Lucara stood there behind him in the grand hall with the tablet in his hand, and his face was a mask of pain. Instantly Terellion's hopes faded. He'd failed – again! Pain for the sage was always about failure. He had worn the exact same look a dozen times before and each time it had been because he had reached a point in the translation that he could not get beyond. And each time they had had to go back to the demon king to get whatever was needed; some ingredients for a spell, another translated tablet from the same ancient temple, the lost works of some other sage. Each time it had been bad. But this time his words were worse. He didn't want anything.

“It's completely worthless!”

The sage yelled those three words at him the moment Terellion asked. And then for some reason he kept repeating that phrase over and over again. As if it should take on greater meaning the more times he repeated it.

It didn't. It meant less. What meant more was that Terellion knew Lucara was one of the most learned of people in the five kingdoms. He had knowledge that no one else did. And given time he could translate anything. Even a tablet that was said to be ten thousand years old, from a temple that had vanished along with the entire race that had built it. It was one reason that Terellion had wanted the sage included as part of the binding, even though his magic was not as powerful as some. If anyone would be able to find a way to read the demon king's tablet it would be him.

After that of course he'd needed to encourage the sage. Encourage him as only he could. Left to his own devices Lucara would have spent twenty or thirty happy years with the tablet, slowly deciphering bits and pieces of the inscription and probably doing other things in between. But as part of the binding he had the same vested interest in deciphering it as Terellion. But even that wasn't enough. Not when Terellion could feel his body beginning to fail him more and more. He didn't have twenty years to spare.

So he'd used his gift to transform him. Once, the sage had had other interests. He'd had a family for some reason. Personally Terellion had never understood the attraction. Now though neither did Lucara. He was incapable of thinking about anything other than the tablet. It was the only desire in his heart. And just to make certain of it, Terellion had quietly had his family killed. There would be no distractions. That had forced the sage to become very knowledgeable about the tablet very quickly.

But there was of course a problem with using him like that. In fact there were several. And the first of them was what he was seeing in front of him. Every time he reached an impasse the sage became hysterical and inconsolable. Which was obviously what had happened again. Another setback. He was getting so tired of them.

“What is it this time Lucara? What can't you read?”

“Nothing! I can read everything. I can even read the translations the demon provided us with and find the lies!”

“Lies?”

The word filled Terellion with dread. But it couldn't be true. He knew that. Lucara knew it too. Everyone knew that. Demons were incapable of lying when they made their bargains. They considered the very thought a crime. They were incredibly tricky and cunning, but they could not lie. That was why they'd come as far as they had in their deal. Xin had worked hard to stall them, determined to get as much food out of the bargain as he could. But still, his machinations had been overcome one by one so that now they were incredibly close. Terellion told him that as calmly as he could. But privately his heart was beginning to race a little and he felt a chill.

“Tricks then, tricks!” The sage yelled it out for the entire city to hear. “The demon gave us a false translation.”

“He can't have – that would be a lie!” But even as he said it Terellion could feel sweat starting to collect on his forehead. Xin might not be able to do it, but he would want to. He would do anything to stop him ascending. To keep him from his immortality.

“It's not a lie because the translation is completely accurate. But the writings it's based on are different from the ones on the tablet. Just one character different. But that one character is everything.”

“Show me!”

“Here's the etchings we made of the entry tablet to the temple that we sent to Xin's thralls for them to transcribe.” Lucara gestured to an aide who came rushing to Terellion with a sheaf of parchments in his hand.

“Here's how the Xin's thrall transcribed those etchings on to basilisk hide that could survive in Tartarus for the scholars to translate. And here's the scholar's workings which he turned into his written ancient cuneiform. Here's his final translation of that.”

“And here's the one symbol that was changed between the etchings we gave to the thrall and the copies the scholar translated.” The aide gave Terellion one last piece of parchment with a bow and then backed away hurriedly.

“It's the tiniest thing and it's only in the one place, in the name of the ancient temple. But it's everything. This wasn't the ancient temple of the
ascendant
. This was the ancient temple of the
descendant
.”

One character was wrong. He could see that for himself when it was shown to him. So Terellion had to accept what the sage was saying. And looking at it, it wasn't even the entire character that was different between the etching and the scholar's copy of it. It was only in the tail of that one strange character. On one the tail went up, on the other it went down. But what did it mean? What could a tail on a character mean? Suddenly very frightened, he asked.

“It means that this ancient temple was never built by mortals. It was never for mortals. This is an ancient temple for the gods. And every piece of writing in it is for them.”

“He deceived us. The tablet is exactly what he said, a means of achieving ascension to the heavens. But it's also completely useless to us. It was never written for mortals to read, let alone use. It is for the gods to return to their realm should they have the need.”

“What?” Terellion felt the strength suddenly leave his legs and he thought for a moment about falling down. The world was turning very dark just then.