Redeemed Chernabog 3
The woman once known as Princess Celestina of Passhold strode into the throne room of the Ilkhan in Riverton. She interrupted the ambassador who was making a rather long and tedious speech about trade with some kingdom or other, by having her captain neatly decapitate him mid-word.
The Ilkhan glared at the guard. "What is the meaning of this?"
"My mistress wishes to kill you and destroy the kingdom."
The Ilkhan rose but her men force him back onto the throne and tied him down.
"You are going to feel everything that happens here, just like they will. You are going to die last, but you'll feel each one personally." The woman in black said quietly as sparkles flowed from the staff.
The woman approached the throne, the Ilkhan spat defiance at her.
The woman merely smiled. "I think we should have some fun first. A party. Yes, a party. Send to the kitchens, prepare all the food. Make music. Send to the harem, the women must all dance. Open the gates, gather the people. Let us enjoy ourselves."
Food was piled high on the tables until they groaned from the weight. Casks of wine and ale were broached. A jaunty hat was placed on the head of the Ilkhan. The people were herded in, they were deeply unsure of what was going on. The Ilkhan was an austere man, but the woman in black greeted them most cordially, and offered then large mugs of wine.
The Ilkhan did not do anything, so they cautiously began to enjoy themselves with the food, wine and music.
After some time the Ilkhan's wives and daughters came out and began to dance. From youngest to oldest they danced together and did not stop. The spell that hung over their heads kept them dancing as long as they could.
And so though the rest of the day and that night the party continued. They had danced off their clothes and now their only covering was their own glistening sweat. Finally, the six year old daughter of the Ilkhan fell crying to the ground. The others urged her back to her feet with their words and her mother tried to pick her up but the spell from the woman in black prevented her.
"Oh, how sad, she can no longer dance. Nang! Your duty." The call went out. The large man with green tinged eyes came forward and to the begging cries of the girl's mother and the other wives, but to the cheers of the crowd, raped the child to death, and the Ilkhan said nothing but he was panting as the woman in black nibbled some cheese and olives next to him.
It was near midnight when the hall was lit with candles and torches that the twelve year old, face red and sweat pouring down her lithe body grasped her chest and fell dead. "Oh, dear, she really did give it her all." The woman in black paused in eating an apple. The body was groped and desecrated as it was passed around the great hall. The Ilkhan glared at the woman in black, but said nothing.
The woman in black sat primly next to the Ilkhan making small talk and comments about what was happening. The party devolved into a debauched orgy where none were spared. All the children died of injuries night, neither their mother's nor the Ilkhan could protect them any more. One by one the daughters and the wives of the Ilkhan fell.
Finally, there was only Beatrice. Her feet left bloody prints on the table as she danced, she fell finally before the throne. As she lay limply on the floor she asked, "Just kill me, please."
"Oh, how nice of you to ask so politely. You were most gracious to one I knew once, so granted. Nang, throw her face down on that table and force yourself down her throat."
Nang lifted the exhausted woman and slammed her onto the table. Men and women held the limp woman down. A woman grabbed Beatrice's hair and hauled her head back. Beatrice struggled but she was far too exhausted to fight. Her eyes were wild as she tried to breath but could no longer. Her body bucked against the intrusion but she was held down by too many. Tears flowed down her cheeks as her face reddened, then purpled.
The woman in black came down, watching carefully, then at the proper instant brought her staff down on Beatrice's head causing her to bite through Nang.
"You have served me well Nang, but I am done with you now."
"Thank you, mistress," gurgled the man as he bled out.
The people cheered the entertainment.
The woman in black returned to sit next to the Ilkhan, but paused before him. "You know that hat of yours is really quite silly." She bopped him with her staff and the hat was now a jester's hat with bells.
The people began to laugh.
She smiled at the look on his face.
She bopped him again and then he had donkey ears.
More laughter.
Bop.
A donkey nose.
Laughter.
Bop.
Hooves.
Laughter.
She joined in the laughter.
The Ilkhan brayed in fear and horror.
The woman in black doubled over in laughter.
People were on the floor from laughing.
The woman in black stopped laughing, stood straight, twirled her staff over her head and brought it down with a resounding thud against the stone floor.
The laughter turned to screams as green fire rose from between the stones of the floor.
The woman in black watched in satisfaction as the people melted from the intense heat.
She returned the Ilkhan to his true form.
"You didn't kill me when you had the chance. I will not make the same mistake." She plunged her staff into him.
"What are you?" the Ilkhan gasped.
"What I am now no longer concerns you, but I was Princess Celestina of Passhold." She ripped his intestines out of his belly and looped them around the rope holding up the chandelier, then cut the rope.
The raven pecked out his eyes and feasted on them.
The Ilkhan's screams cut off when his lungs left his body.
She weighed his heart in her hand and threw it across the room and then savagely beat the rest of the body into a pulp.
She finally stopped when she was panting from the exertion and the Ilkhan was a bloody pile of shattered bones on the splintered remains of the throne.
She stood straight, waved the blood on her robes away and strode out of the empty castle.
The woman in black paused at the old guard shack and looked back at the castle and town. With an overhead twirl of her staff she released the magic at the town.
The town, the castle, and everything was blasted into a gently swirling dust.
The sun was setting as the woman in black and her raven reached the cave. Chernabog was waiting, his arms crossed.
"Your malevolence is magnificent, my mistress. All evil is at thy command." Chernabog bowed slightly.
The woman in black stood straight and tall before the rock monster, the wind billowed her black robes. "Then call me... Maleficent."