To be wrong is nothing unless you continue to remember it.

It was the eleventh hour and the castle was eerily quiet. Pepper had just sneaked out of the kitchen where the cooks and the kitchen staff were busy snoring after a hard day's work.

She went to the servants washroom where she removed the blade from under her shirt and instead slung it around her waist, so she could reach it easier. She also rubbed her face with soot and ash, so she would look like a dirty kitchen servant.

OK. Let me think this through. I exit this washroom, I go down the left staircase and right there, are the dungeons. There will be guards. I need to be quiet. I wonder if Tony and Happy returned to the inn yet.

She gulped, remembering the cheeky note she left Tony ... teasing him about escaping and how he wouldn't be able to find her.

I hope he doesn't get too angry. Especially since he was so mad about me tagging along.

She sighed pensively and exited the washroom. The corridor was dark and ornately decorated with statues and busts and tapestries.

She heard voices approaching. God's teeth ... quick, get behind that bust!

She lifted up the tapestry behind the bust, stepped into position right behind it and let the tapestry cover her. Her torso and head would be covered by the thick material and the bust should hide her legs.

It's very dark in this section. I hope they won't see me.

She held her breath as the guards approached and passed her, heading towards the courtyard.

Then she inched out from under the tapestry and crept quietly down the circular, winding staircase. It ended in an alcove that opened near the dungeons.

She pulled out a small mirror from her bag and used it, to peer around the edge of the alcove's wall. Tony had shown her this trick.

One guard was at the entrance. Another one was snoring in the corner.

Think, Pepper, think...

I got it ! The moonstone! I can use it as a distraction!

She gently rolled the stone away from the alcove, in the opposite direction of the dungeons, right where the patrolling guard could see it. Then she crouched down in the dingy, dark corner under the stairs.

The guard came to the stone and picked it curiously, looking it over. Pepper snuck up behind him and knocked him out.

Whoops, I forgot the sleeping guard.

She turned slowly.

Phew! He's a sound sleeper.

Then she dragged the knocked out guard to the staircase alcove.

She picked up the moonstone and crept past the sleeping guard, who was now snoring loudly. She was finally in the dungeons which were poorly lit.

The first few cells were empty. She walked up to a closed cell and gently opened its peep hole. A young woman was chained to the cell wall. She was asleep.

Pepper walked to the next cell. It contained two young women. And the next cell contained, yet again, three young women.

Why are there so many women prisoners?

She whispered to the inmates of cell 3. "Hey, pssssst..."

One of the women reacted loudly, "Get lost, you pervert."

Pepper glanced in fear at the other guard. Who was mercifully, still asleep.

She whispered, "I'm not here to stare. Why are you imprisoned?"

The young blonde woman said defiantly, "We did nothing wrong. We were kidnapped from our village of Boron two days ago. Since then, we have been chained up in here."

Another woman spoke up mournfully, "We haven't had anything to eat for two days."

Pepper felt sorry for her and rummaged in her bag, to see if she had any food. She pulled out two apples and pushed them through the peephole. "I need to carry on. I'll come back for you in some time."

She moved to the next cell and opened the peephole. This time she gasped, as the cell contained 5 more young women.

What's going on? Why are there only young women in these cells?

She moved to the last cell. The door was not locked. There was an extremely old woman chained to the wall. She stared at Pepper and smiled sadly.

Pepper came closer.

"Let me get you out of these chains, matron."

She took out her hair pin and started to work on the woman's leg chain.

The old woman caught her hand frailly and whispered in a tired, slow voice to Pepper, "Don't bother, I don't have much time. I want to tell someone what I know. Please listen to me. Perhaps you can save this city."

Pepper nodded and the woman began to speak.


Tony came to consciousness slowly, the metallic taste of blood in his mouth. He felt so groggy and heavy.

Where am I? What... did I faint?

His vision cleared and he looked around to see, he was in a small, cozy room with a fireplace. It seemed to be a ladies dressing room as there was a cupboard and a dressing table.

The fire was lit, so he was sweating lightly. He was also tightly strapped to a vertical wooden board, thick steel cuffs around his wrists and feet. A steel band crossed his chest and another one crossed his neck.

Tony, this time you are in real trouble. Where's Happy? Why am I tied up?

He felt very tired and his head was throbbing. Then it came to him: Being taken to meet the Queen and the ensuing confrontation.

Morganna. Crap, did it have to be Morganna?

Before Yin Sen, before Ryunn's flame, before the Battle of Nioh, Tony had been a debauched knight of the court. And one of his famous conquests was Morganna Debouis, the main Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Arianna, King Leoric's wife. Morganna was well-known far and wide, for her beauty and her wealth. But she had never married because as rumors went, she enjoyed living a decadent life in the court. With Tony's roving eye and her aggressive sexual appetite, they were bound to cross paths and they did so, by having a torrid tryst. It was purely sexual and short, just the way Tony liked it.

Tony grimaced inwardly. However, the lady didn't like it that I left her. Or rather, I let Jarvis tell her, that I left her. I conveniently left the palace and came back two days later, this time in the arms of the charming Lady Triste. I had hoped, Morganna would let it go but... I don't think she's forgotten what I did.

Tsk Tsk, the dragon whispered, Anthony Stark's past as a tom cat, comes back to haunt him. But this Morganna... she is no ordinary woman. There is some being, some presence that is within her, strengthening her magic.

"Magic!" Tony said aloud.

Yes, Anthony, she used very dark magic on you and there is a spell on the menfolk in this castle. I fear she has very evil plans for you.

He strained against his bonds but he was too weak and he fell back against the board.

The door opened quietly and Morganna slinked in, grinning evilly from ear-to-ear.

"My, my, Anthony, the sight of you tied up is bringing back so many memories... How long as it been? A year, two years?"

He glared at her. "I do not know what game you are playing here, Morganna, but let me go! Or I will..."

"Or you will what? Burn me away with your little blue flame?" She let out a tinkling laugh at his stunned expression. "Oh my dear Lord Stark, I know of your dirty secret. I know because you see, even I have been blessed with an unholy gift."

She pushed aside her robe, to expose the ruby, a blood red mass against her white, bloodless skin. Tony watched warily as the ruby began to pulsate as if it was alive, the redness swirling.

Morganna smirked at him and moved to a side table, where she poured herself a glass of wine. "Let me tell you about my benefactor, Anthony."

"Soon after your exile from court, King Leoric left me. Oh!" she made a moue at him, "That's right, you didn't know that I was sarding your precious noble King, behind your back. Yes, we were always lovers, even through all my trysts with other men. Leoric didn't mind my affairs as my reputation helped allay any suspicions that Arianna had. But he left me... for a younger woman. After all our years together. He poisoned Arianna's mind about me, making me out to be a slut who was after him."

Her face turned red with anger at this and the ruby also seemed to darken frighteningly.

"I was forced to leave the court. Finally I was fed up with being left by men, fed up of putting up with their rutting affections, only for them to move on to the next young thing. So I made a deal with the devil." She said flippantly.

"I had dabbled with magic before, mild curses, hexes here and there. But this time, I needed something powerful, so I approached a sorcerer, who lived on the outskirts of the city. He summoned a powerful demon from Hell, who was willing to help me as long as I helped him. Perhaps you have heard of him? Asmodeus..."

The dragon hissed loudly in Tony's head. A Demon Lord! You foolish woman!

"No? Doesn't ring a bell? Well, he is one of the seven Lords of Hell and his key interest is the sin of Lust. He thrives on feelings of illicit passion and sex. So we came to an agreement. He would gift me with endless youth and beauty and the power to entrap men with lust. In return, I provide him with the souls of those who succumb to their lust for me."

"Souls?!" said Tony in horror. "God's teeth, woman! Is there no limit to your desperation?"

Morganna looked at him, her brown eyes sparkling with glee. "The poor slobs, they have no idea what's waiting for them. I have passionate, torrid sex with them, in front of the Demon. They are so blind with lust, they don't realize till the end, that there's something else in the room. Watching and waiting, hungry for more."

"Do you know how the Great Asmodeus harvests souls, Anthony? He sucks the life out of their bodies, slowly..." She slurped at her wine, "And sometimes," she grinned maniacally, "He eats them alive, starting with their feet. And yes, he lets me watch!"


Asmodeus is one of the seven princes of hell, a demon prince and represents one of the seven deadly sins, Lust.