The dwarf stood before the fireplace; his hands extended close to the flames. Soaking in the heat while the frost on his long-braided beard rapidly began melting as well as the thick layer of ice on his armor. His exposed skin started to adopt a healthy color rather than the angry red of a few moments ago. He sighed with relief, glad to not see any real damage on it. Soon, he started to feel a little bit more like himself and not like an ice sculpture he was minutes ago. He muttered something unintelligible under his breath, then he spat curses about Lohse for sending her hail strike all across the room.
Beast turned his head to look at his silent companion. "Do you think Ryker would mind if we use his home? Just for a couple of days, I'd reckon."
The Red Lizard, who was occupied removing ice from his helmet, stared at the dwarf with an incredulous look. "Mind?... What difference does it make? The man is dead."
Beast frowned. "His presence is still down there, y'know!"
"So? He can't do anything against us." The Red Prince flickered his tongue in the air. The smell of sweet wine and the putrid bodies of the cemetery permeated the air in the living room. He sneered, begrudgingly resigning himself to accept that somehow these were the best accommodations they've found all across Reaper's Coast.
The dwarf gave him a complicit look that the lizard immediately understood. They were remembering the same thing; the human captain in the tavern on the verge of losing her mind because a spirit was haunting her. "I see. Yes, it might be dreadfully boorish if he dares to manifest and wake us in the middle of the night. Divines know, I need the sleep."
"Why don't you consume his spirit, then?"
His reptilian frills shook in a sign of disgust. "Was I the only one who saw how obscene his appearance was? I'm sure his spirit tastes worse than the food in Fort Joy. Dear Gods, I'm in need of source after this battle, but I'm not that desperate."
Beast hummed. "I must agree on that one with ye; his face had this greenish, putrid color that gave me chills." He shook his head "The man was sick in the head. I knew there was something very wrong with him the first time we met him."
"You guys talking about Ryker?" The young bard, Lohse, strode into the room. "Slimy bastard, trying to double-cross us. Got what he deserved I'd say."
"We were talking about consuming his spirit," Said the Prince.
"Too late for that, Sebille just ate it…" Lohse made a pause to take some grapes from the large dining table. "Then began to nibble his corpse."
"Ugh…" The Red Prince placed a hand over his mouth, pretending to feel a wave of nausea coming.
"Riiiight…" The dwarf cringed at the image in his head, thinking that he may never get used to the cannibalism of the elves. No matter their original purpose was —noble and rooted in old traditions rather than their own pleasure for the taste of flesh— It didn't stop to be plainly disgusting and unnerving.
"Doesn't it bother you?" The Lizard asked after a moment.
Lohse sat comfortably on the red velvety seat in front of the roaring fire, carefully placing her staff next to the armrest. "What are you talking about?" She turned her head to face the Prince, smiling at his mild horror mixed with something akin to supercilious. She couldn't help herself to release a small chuckle. Arrogant and perhaps mildly rude as he was, the Red Lizard had this peculiar way to evoke a feeling of good camaraderie from her.
"That she eats corpses, what else?"
"Aye, how can you kiss her?" Beast asked. He reached from an apple from the bowl nearby. His bite took almost half of the apple into his mouth, then began to chew quite loudly. The reptilian eyes gazed at the dwarf with a reproving look. Beast paid him no mind and continued chewing like a cow.
"With my lips?" Lohse said, looking all innocent. Her attention returned to the Lizard. "And no, it doesn't bother me. While cannibalism is not my thing, it is Sebille's."
"Really? Never bothered you that she might have remains of lizard or human skin between her teeth when she ki—" The Prince asked, revealing a short smirk.
"Please, I'll be more worried if I had to kiss you. Your sharp teeth might tear apart my entire face. The sharks have nothing on you, Chief…Maybe next time we face an enemy, how about you just bite them instead of swinging your sword."
Beast barked a laugh "She got you there, mate!"
Unable to contain any more, the razor-sharp teeth appeared, displaying a wide smile. Lohse trusted her nose forward in an exaggerated manner, smiling with the same intensity. "If you must know, Sebille is very conscientious with her dental hygiene; something about not wanting to be seeing random memories during battles or you know during—"
"—I do not need nor want to hear what's coming next!"
Lohse's smile became impossibly big, but before she could say something else, Beast interrupted.
"Oi, has anyone checked upstairs?" His body reclined under the threshold of the room and the corridor leading to the stairs.
"No." Said the Lizard. "but what better time to go and do it. Hopefully, we can find something of value. Even better, some silk duvets and goose feathered pillows to sleep in."
"Lohse, ye comin' or what?" Asked Beast, moving aside to let the Lizard pass by.
She shook her head. "Go ahead, I'll catch up with you later. I'll wait for Sebille."
With sword and shield on his back, The Red Prince followed Beast. As soon as the dwarf placed one foot on the steps, an ominous voice made itself be heard. "Beware. Death awaits above."
It came from the portrait with the head of a knight next to them. Beast and The Red Prince stared at it for a second. While they seemed surprised by the random voice coming from a painting, it wasn't the weirdest thing they had an encounter in these last days. A squirrel with a bone helmet on top of a skeletal cat has been following them since Fort Joy, nothing can get weirder than that.
The dwarf was the first to snort. "Ha! Gud one, mate. Seriously."
"Death has been waiting for a long time, and it shall wait even more." Said the confident Red Prince as both warriors climbed up.
Lohse watched the kindled fire cracking softly before her. The flames spat tiny specks of ashes over the floor, all the while making a soft tune, a lullaby. Music that she hadn't heard in a long, long time. She craved for a respite. Her body demanded it. But so her mind demanded to stay awake and alert at all times. She couldn't lower her guard, not with that thing lurking inside.
The demon in her head was unusually silent this day. Still, it didn't matter how silent it was. Its presence was there. She felt like standing in a seemingly empty room, but never being able to shake the feeling that someone was watching her. From under the bed, the closet or outside the window, always there observing and judging everything she did.
A couple of weeks ago, the idea of getting rid of the thing in her head sounded way easier than it was proving to be. How mistaken she was to think this was a normal demon.
At least to herself, she could confess how scared she was, terrified even. That thing had immense power. One that rivaled the very Gods of Rivellon. Granted, the Gods were weakened. A dying breed. But still, no mortal could stand against them even their actual state. To think that the demon had manifested the same spectacular godly capabilities, spoke volumes of how powerful he was. What was she going to do if she couldn't defeat him?
Will she die? Will she become a pawn of the demon? What if Jahan couldn't help her… What if?
"Hello, little bard."
Long arms snaked around her neck and upper chest; soft lips caressed the side of her face. The deeply worried frown that had settled on the Lohse expression quickly softened. Sebille's presence never failed to bring relief to her tainted soul. The mere touch felt like the anchor that kept her from jumping the dark abyss that was her thoughts filled with despair.
"Hello, darling." Lohse greeted back, visibly enjoying all the delightful feelings Sebille brought with her touch. The human female interlaced her fingers with her lover's hand, then brought the hand to her lips, leaving a tender kiss over it.
"What was on your mind?"
Lohse didn't want to place the burden of her fears on her lover. Never. She didn't need to hear every gruesome detail that flashed through her mind. "Nothing. I'm exhausted, that's all. Come, sit with me." She pulled her hand, leading the elf to step around the sofa "I promise I won't bite, much."
The elf assassin released a throaty chuckle. "I think I should be the one telling you that."
Yes, that something she could do. Easy banter. Lohse raised one defiant eyebrow. "Oh, really? You think you are the only one who has the right to lick and nibble skin?"
Sebille sat beside her, her arm draped across the woman's shoulders. "No. You are free to lick anything of mine if you so wish." The assassin's face was so close to hers, their noses almost touched. "However, I'm the one who can know your deepest secrets just by having a little taste." For a second, misty tar eyes focused on Sebille's lips. The elf's seductive smile turned into an amused one, displaying her pointy canines. A feature that Lohse secretly adore from her elf.
The bard resisted the urge to kiss her and instead, she asked: "Do you know my deepest secrets?"
Her amber cat eyes adopted a serious tone. "No; not yet. Only when you are ready to let me in."
"What if I'm never ready?" Behind the lighthearted tone of her voice, and the dark mist clouding the azurite color of her eyes, Sebille saw vulnerability and fear. It may be that the question that Lohse truly wanted to ask wasn't that.
"I'll love anything you are willing to give me," Sebille responded solemnly as she cupped the bard's face in her hands. The elf watched with marvel at how the dark veins surrounding the woman's face began to retract from her cheeks and jaw down to the lower neck.
The bard swallowed, feeling that her voice went somewhere else leaving an empty space where her vocal cords should've been. At that moment, Lohse recognized that perhaps her only deepest secret, the only one that held any value to her, was about how fast she was falling for Sebille.
"Kiss me, please."
The narrow space closed between them; born as a chaste kiss began to morph into something deeper and meaningful. The elf's touch was maddening. Lohse knew everything about madness, but this madness was different; her mind run with pleasure instead of torment. Her body craved for it more than it craved sleep, water or food. Their tongues tangled together. Passion and need irradiating from both bodies. Sebille's hand remained on Lohse's cheek, while the other snaked around her back, urging to be closer to her. Lohse's hands traveled up and down from elf's sternum to her long neck.
Sebille's presence was the lighthouse in the raging storm inside her. She gave her will to keep fighting, to find the bloody demon and make him regret the day he decided to possess her.
The heat of their bodies was rapidly increasing at the same time the need for air was becoming unbearable. The separation lasted an instant, just enough for Lohse to catch a glimpse of her lover's blushed cheeks. Sebille jumped at Lohse's neck, licking and biting. "Oh Divines, Sebille. Please…" Please what? Never stop? Do continue? … Definitely yes. Nimble hands traveled up down, leaving small goosebumps over the bard's skin, increasing the delicious pressure in her lower abdomen.
When she opened her eyes, awareness hit her. They were in Ryker's living room and the guys were just upstairs. No doubt they'll soon come down. They needed to stop. She had to stop. But then Sebille licked the sensitive spot on her with that delicious cat-like tongue of hers and everything in her brain short-circuited.
She palmed one of the elf's petite breasts. A moan escaped from her lover's mouth, muffled by the creamy skin of her shoulder.
Sebille's abdomen contracted as soon as the bard lowered her hand to her lower torso. Her palm caressed all the skin that the armor allowed. Her thumb followed the patters imbedded in the elf's taut stomach. It felt like touching the veins of a giant leaf, or very smooth and tender bark. A very sensitive spot for Sebille judging by the sharp breath she produced. Quickly, the elf grasped Lohse's wrist.
"I'm sorry." Said Lohse, worried that she might go too far.
"No, no. It is fine, it just feels too good when you do that" Their faces were flushed and their chest raised slightly fast. "Which is why I think we should stop. Otherwise, I don't know if I could…"
"Hey, is ok." Lohse placed a short kiss on her elf's chin. "Just a moment we were talking about me not being ready. Thank you for stopping."
After a few moments, Sebille noticed how silent the room was. "Where is everyone?"
"They climbed upstairs."
Sebille's body suddenly tensed. Her cat eyes opened wide; the calm expression on her features morphed to worry. She bolted from her seat. "What?! When?!"
"A few minutes after you came in, why?" Lohse replied, disconcerted by the abrupt change.
The elf unsheathed her daggers. "Quickly! Grab your staff."
*****************************************************************
Beast had hated land most of his life; once he set his first foot on a ship, he never looked back. He hated life in land for many reasons. The royalty and lack of freedom that came with it, the pompous aristocratic families and their lifestyle full of excesses. Another one was that the dwarf kingdom had the largest population of bugs, while the elves and lizards had large animals. The humans and dwarves and humans had bugs. He despised any type of bug. Mosquitoes, cockroaches, worms… Spiders. There was something about them that just made his skin crawl and his blood curl.
"C—can y—you…I-I me—" The words stuck in his throat, as if the oxygen in his lungs had left. In all his travels he had never seen like this. This thing was as tall as a tree and wide as the course sail of his ship.
The red lizard rolled his eyes at the dwarf sputtering. "Either have a stroke, pass out or just speak properly." He whispered sharply. A moment passed where anything they could hear was the slow grating sound hisses and saliva falling from the mouth hitting the wooden floor.
"C—Can you speak to animals?" Asked Beast in a barely audible voice.
"Do I look like an elf to you?" Retorted the Red Prince, gritting between his teeth.
Lizard and Dwarf very slowly began to step backward, careful to not do any abrupt move.
"S—Someone told spiders can only feel vibrations but that their eyesight is terrible." As soon as Beast finished the sentence, the eight void black eyes glared at him. Quickly disproving Beast's words.
"I think you've heard wrong." The Red Prince raised his shield very slowly.
"Guys, where are you?" Lohse's voice echoed in the distance.
The Red Prince and Beast looked at each other. They had two options; it was fight or flight.
fight.
The dwarf took a deep breath, mustering all his valor and strength, he threw one his axes at the giant spider. Only that the handle of the axe hit instead of the sharp head. The weapon bounced as if had hit a balloon and not the spider's head. The spider remained unfazed, if anything, it was salivating even more.
The Red Prince turned to look at him with accusing eyes. "For Lucian's sake. Might as well just pet it, why don't you?"
A crack happened, like eggshells breaking. For the corner of his eye, Beast saw several cocoons being torn up from inside out by tiny spider legs. A leg, deadly as a lance, thrust between them, only missing by a hair its target. The spider raised its fangs at them, giving a full display of her gruesome mouth.
Beast's thoughts went to cursing Ryker that even dead, had managed to leave a little gift for them in the second floor.
"So, dwarf. Do you still wish to sleep in this house?"