The Poison Princess (35 page)

When the princess picked up the orb rather
than just leaving, Scarlett asked, “What are you doing?”

“It’s power,” Ruby replied.

“It’s corrupted! You can’t wield it.”

The princess had a dark glint to her eye.
“I’m taking it.”

Scarlett openly admitted that she liked when
the darkness inside Ruby manifested itself, but this glowing orb
was just too much. She worried it would be her downfall, but for
the moment she let it go. They had to get out of there, and that’s
exactly what her princess had begun to do.

Ruby ran back to Scarlett, who stood at the
door. She handed her demon the bracelets and said, “Can you find a
place to store these in your, uh… wherever you seem to put
things?”

The horned demon took the bracelets back,
careful to not let them fall onto her wrists again. “Yes, my
princess,” she replied with very little inflection or
enthusiasm.

Ruby cocked her head to the side. “Is
something the matter?”

Scarlett shook her head. “Now’s not the time.
We need to get out of here.”

The demon took her princess’ hand and pulled
her from the room. They ran down the steps and onto the black and
white marble floor, but they had to stop before they’d traveled
very far. Ahead of them was what Scarlett easily recognized as a
demon, holding a blade pointed at the women in one hand and a musty
old tome, open to a specific page, in the other. Behind the women
finally came the old beast, beginning to bash into the walls of the
room it had been kept in, trying to escape its prison cell. Ruby
and Scarlett found themselves trapped between these two
dangers.

The thing that stood
before them was something that Scarlett wouldn’t have thought
possible. It was a demon, even Ruby could immediately see that, but
there was more. This demon was untethered. There was no human bond
or connection to speak of. She couldn’t imagine how this woman
could have accomplished such a feat, and she wasn’t certain whether
it would make the demon weaker or more dangerous.

The untethered demon was remarkably human in
appearance just like Scarlett, but she had a much more reserved
physical presentation. The untethered demon was quite beautiful,
but she didn’t flaunt it like Scarlett was prone to. She had dark
black hair that fell gently to her shoulders, but it was actually
made of feathers rather than strands of hair, and she had a black
line etched across her face and over her eyes that looked much like
war paint. She wore a red dress with a black leather under bust
corset atop it. In contrast with Scarlett, this untethered demon
seemed less eager to show her skin, as she wore a cloth fabric
under her dress that covered everything from her toes up to her
neck. Over the skirt, the demon had a black leather belt with
silver buckles, where the sheath for her sword hung empty. A pair
of leather gloves protected her hands, but over the gloves were
chain bracelets.

The sword the untethered demon held in her
right hand was quite unique. The hilt was wrapped in black
leathers, and the cross guard was metal shaped into a jaw, so that
it looked like the blade was a tongue sticking out past the teeth.
The blade itself was composed of jagged edges on one side and a
sharp, curved edge on the other. The metal looked strong and
sturdy, but it was a crimson red color, further giving the
impression of a tongue. Whether this was made of some strange red
metal or just colored that way was unclear, but it left an
impression either way.

In her left hand, she held open a strange old
tome. Scarlett recognized the power held within it, but Ruby
actually knew what it was. It was a book of spellcraft, quite
literally. Durin had told her of a variety of magics in the world.
Some were simply blessed at birth with an internal magic source
like he had been or like the demons that were brought into the
world, but most people were more mundane in that regard. A very
select few, however, found ways to overcome that magic deficiency
with the power of letters and words in a precise combination.
They’d found a way to unlock sorcerous power without actually
having any of their own. Just as with normal magic, however, there
was still the chance for the effects and power of the spells to
drive the individual into a maddened state. Durin had once
described the contents of those kinds of books as cheat words.

What the untethered demon held in her hand
was a collection of these cheat words. The book was a Rook’s
Lexicon. Before Leina took over the kingdoms, the tomes had been
illegal to have and use under threat of death, so they were
exceedingly rare for anyone to have except trusted members of the
court. Durin had one, and when Ruby was a child, he had even let
her see it once. There was no mistaking that book for any other.
Just being in its presence gave off a sort of aura of chaotic
energy that could make you sick if you weren’t used to it. The
lexicon was bound in black leather, and etched onto either side
were strange symbols not part of any language still spoken or
known. They looked not unlike the engravings in the door the old
beast had been behind.

“I’ve been looking for you two,” the
untethered demon said in an all too cheerful tone.

The beast slammed against the walls behind
them again, causing the thunderous noise to echo through the great
hall.

“Who are you?” Ruby asked. She palmed the orb
and moved it to her back, not willing to let anyone take it from
her.

“Astrid, at your service,” she said, taking a
mock bow.

Scarlett narrowed her eyes. “And
what
are you?”

Astrid smiled. “The same as you.”

Another clamoring smash against the wall
behind them.

Scarlett ignored it. She needed answers. “But
you’re not bonded. How is that possible?”

The untethered demon shifted on the spot,
deciding how to answer. “The bracelets you’ve collected aren’t the
only pair in the world.”

“How do you know of such things?” Ruby
demanded.

Astrid thumped her fingers against the book
in her hands. “I have my ways. I know what you’re planning, even if
your sister doesn’t. When I was much younger and my master still
alive, he placed a set on my wrists. I’m still wearing them.” She
nodded to the metal chains wrapped around her wrists. “Can’t get
the damn things off.”

Scarlett tilted her head. “When he was still
alive?”

Astrid smiled. “I killed him, just as I’ve
come to kill your master. Without the connection, I wasn’t forced
to share his death. I was allowed to live on. The same could be
said for you if you want it. Queen Leina has only contracted me to
bring back her sister’s head. If you put the bracelets on, I’ll
forget about you.”

Ruby wasn’t going to listen to Astrid any
longer. “Scarlett isn’t interested in--”

“Let her speak for herself!” the untethered
demon shouted, pointing the blade at the princess.

The beast slammed against the wall again. It
was nearly through the thick layers of rock.

Scarlett considered the untethered demon’s
words. Freedom certainly had its appeal, but she didn’t see Ruby in
the way Astrid had clearly seen her master. Scarlett felt joy to be
bonded with her princess. Rather than reply to the untethered
demon’s offer, she reached into the vacant space she stored things.
Astrid looked eagerly at the act, clearly assuming the bracelets
were on their way back out. That wasn’t the case, as Scarlett
retrieved the scythe she had used before as well as the war hammer
that Ruby seemed to have been comfortable using. She recognized
that they would have to fight their way out past this assassin
demon before the beast at their back came smashing through the wall
and claimed them all. Astrid frowned at the sight of the weapons,
but she didn’t appear to be too surprised.

Ruby took the weapon from her horned demon,
managing to wield the heavy thing in only one hand. The poison gave
her enough strength to effectively use it, while still clutching
onto the orb that the old creature seemed to be drawn to. “Like I
said,” the princess began. “Scarlett isn’t interested in your
deal.”

“So it seems,” Astrid replied with a shrug.
“I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

The untethered demon looked down to her book
and mouthed something neither Ruby nor Scarlett was able to hear.
They were clearly able to see what the words from her lexicon had
accomplished, however. A mirror duplicate of Astrid stretched out
in a translucent, glossy wave from her body, taking form just to
her side. Everything had been swapped in the spellcraft. The copy
held the book and sword in opposite hands, her clothes were
reflected, and even the part in her dark feather hair was reversed.
She had effectively evened the odds.

Again, the mountain cracked and crumbled, as
the old beast smashed its body against the chamber walls. There was
little time to deal with the assassin who had been sent to claim
the princess’ head for Leina and the craggy hand demon. Ruby and
Scarlett both moved forward picking their respective version of
Astrid to meet in combat.

Ruby spit some of her venom onto the end of
the hammer and held the orb tightly in her fist. The more she
clenched, the more power she felt permeating from it. Scarlett
placed both hands on the grips of the wooden snaith and catalogued
in her head the number of spells she thought herself capable of
producing. Not many, she discovered. The dual versions of Astrid
also prepared for combat. The one approaching Ruby spoke something
that made a wave of green energy wash over her body before
dissipating entirely, while Scarlett’s opponent didn’t bother with
any additional words from her Rook’s Lexicon, opting to focus on
the sword. She flicked her wrist, twirling the red blade about and
then brought it up to face Scarlett.

The princess was the first of the four to
attack, raising the war hammer over her head and bringing it down
toward her version of Astrid. The untethered demon was a much more
capable fighter, however, and she simply moved to the side,
avoiding what would have been a crushing blow.

“Going to have to do better than that,”
Astrid mocked.

After stepping out from the path of the
swipe, the untethered demon slashed her blade across Ruby’s leg,
cutting the flesh and dress both. The princess hobbled backward,
getting some distance between herself and the assassin. Looking
down at her injury, she saw some of her poison-filled blood leaking
down her leg. It wasn’t too deep
,
she decided. Ruby spit her
venom down into the cut and watched as the skin mended itself.

“As will you,” the princess replied, rushing
forward once again.

Across the room, Scarlett felt the cut in her
leg that Ruby had received, but ignored it. She focused on her
opponent and had opted for a more subtle strategy than the
princess’ direct assault. She and Astrid circled each other, both
wary to step forward and attack the other. The assassin ultimately
made the first move, swinging her red blade horizontally toward
Scarlett. She met the attack with the thick wood of the snaith,
pushing back and causing Astrid to stumble several steps away.
Scarlett moved forward, swiping her scythe’s blade across the
assassin’s midsection, but she either moved too slow, or the
untethered demon moved too fast. Either way, she scraped nothing
but the air between them. The demons resumed their wary circling,
each waiting for the other to make the next move.

Ruby and her version of the assassin demon
continued to dodge one another’s weapon strikes, and the princess
was tiring of their game of misses. The poison inside her was
boiling, so she spat some out at the untethered demon before her.
The dark red spit hit an invisible field of magic causing the green
shimmering layer to reappear before her. The poison simply slopped
to the ground, and Astrid smiled at Ruby.

“I came prepared for you,” the untethered
demon informed Ruby.

The princess wiped her mouth clean of the
poison and clenched her fist on the grip of the war hammer,
continuing her former attacks. Scarlett, meanwhile, was casting a
series of spells against her opponent, but Astrid countered them
with the words in her book. Neither woman was getting any advantage
over the assassin that had been sent to collect the princess’ head,
and both worried that they wouldn’t have the time or energy to
properly deal with this new threat.

Both sets of combat were interrupted,
however, when the terrible beast smashed through the walls and into
the enormous cavern they now occupied. Rubble from the rock of the
mountain and ceiling overhead tumbled down and around the creature.
All of Rashtalg shook, causing Ruby, Scarlett, and both versions of
Astrid to fall to the ground. The old beast’s eyes shot all across
the room, as though it were searching for something or someone. The
dozens of eyes finally settled on the princess, and it began to
stomp and slither forward in her direction. Its sniffing
snout-tentacles shot out toward her, and the creature’s limbs
shuffled its terrible and undulating mass into the room.

The untethered demon that had attacked
Scarlett was the first to stand, and she took the opportunity to
try to finish her opponent off. Scarlett, however, still had enough
power to cast one final spell. Raising her hand, palm outward, she
released a heavy blast of energy that knocked Astrid back and into
the wall of the chamber. The assassin hit the back of her head
against the marble wall and fell to the floor in a heap. She didn’t
get back up.

Ruby and her version of Astrid found
themselves too preoccupied with the beast rampaging toward them to
bother with each other after they managed to stand on the shaky
ground. The eyes focused in on them, and the tendril that had been
connected to the back of Daibhu’s head (when it had been in one
piece) was arced outward toward them. The princess knew what it was
after, but she still was unwilling to accept it or give it up. She
held the orb up in the air and watched as the eyes covering its
disgusting amorphous body followed along with it. Seeing how badly
it focused on the glowing artifact, Ruby knew that it would never
give up looking for her and this magical item. No matter how
powerful it was, Scarlett had been right. The orb was cursed. She
had to get rid of it.