Kelda woke to feel hot sand burning her back. The sun was beating down on her, pitiless. Her mouth was drier than old bone. She tried to sit up, and realized that her wrists and ankles were bound.
"Shit!"
She struggled furiously, the events of the previous day coming back to her.
"It's no use," Fay said dully. "We're going to die out here."
"I'm not ready to give up!" Kelda snapped. "You heard that woman! They're going to try to attack him, and he doesn't know they're coming!"
"Don't you think I've tried?" Fay stared up at the sun. "Jewel did something to me. I can't use my magic. And I'm afraid it might be permanent."
Kelda tugged at the ropes that bound her.
"What are they going to do to us?"
"Let the scarabs strip our flesh, I think." Fay heard a hiss, lifted her head. "Oh, look. Here they are now."
"Damn it, how can you just lie there and let yourself die?" Kelda snapped. "Don't you care?"
The black bird was sitting heavily on her chest, so heavy that she could hardly breathe. Fay heaved a sigh, suddenly feeling very old.
"It doesn't matter," she whispered. "None of it matters."
"Sealshit!" Kelda snarled. "You shut your fucking mouth, fairy. The witch boy fucking wants you back, I know it, and that means I better fucking care about you too!"
"Why?" Fay demanded. "Why should you care?"
The scarabs were getting closer now, despite the snarls of the bound wolves, scuttling eagerly across the sands.
"Because..." Kelda hesitated, frustrated. "Because you're not Juno. Because you're graceful, and pretty, and clever, even if I don't like you. Because I love him, and because he bloody gives a damn about you!"
"No he doesn't. I'm just a conquest, girl. I'm nothing more."
"Oh, shut up, you sparkly arsehole! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Every bloody day he's after me, saying 'Kelda, is Fay doing alright? Kelda, is Fay happy? Is she settling in? How is she?' How the bloody hells should I know?"
"I..." Fay stopped short, shocked. "I didn't know."
"He's good to all his Mistresses." Kelda yanked at her bonds, angry. "Even bloody Juno, gods know why."
She gave another savage pull and managed to get her leg free, swung it over Fay's arm.
"Ha!" She exclaimed. "The bastards didn't find all my knives, after all! Quick, there's a dagger on my inner thigh."
Fay hesitated, flushing. The other woman glared at her, glancing at the scarabs, inches away.
"Hurry up!"
Fay slid her hand under Kelda's skirts and up her thigh, trying not to blush. Her questing fingers found the knife and yanked it from its sheath. She flipped it around and sawed awkwardly at the bonds that held her wrist, trying to ignore the skitter of chitinous feet over the sand.
"Hurry!" Kelda cried.
The ropes parted with a snap. Fay sawed at the rope that bound her other wrist, was astonished to find herself praying to the Mother Goddess. She heard Kelda shriek, saw the girl kick a scarab back with her free leg. She slashed the ropes that held her ankles and rose, looking down at her. The scarabs hesitated, scuttling back. Kelda stared back up at her, her sea-green eyes wide and frightened.
"No," she gasped. "Don't leave me here."
Fay started to turn away, but something made her hesitate. The girl's eyes were shut tight. The wolves were snarling, furious, almost strangling themselves on the ropes that help them.
"Fine," Kelda whispered. "Fine, you've won. Just...please. Please do one thing for me."
"What's that?"
"Please tell him...tell him I love him, alright? And take care of him."
"I don't think I can do that," Fay said slowly.
"What?"
"That's two things." Fay knelt, cutting the ropes. "And I think looking after an Overlord just might be a two-woman job."
She held out her hand. Kelda took it without hesitation, letting the elf woman pull her to her feet. She took the knife and cut the wolves free as the scarabs hissed and milled just beyond their reach, a seething mass of chitin and scything jaws.
"Good choice," she said, flashed a savage grin. "If you'd let me die out here, I would have killed you."
"What now?" Fay asked her, watching the scarabs worriedly.
Kelda looked around. They were in a sandy amphitheater, surrounded on all sides by craggy cliffs.
"I think we should run."
"I think you're right." A scarab skittered forward, bolder than the rest, and Fay kicked it away with a curse. "Go!"
They pelted for the rocks in a spray of sand, the scarabs chittering furiously behind them. They scrambled up over the rough stone, tearing their skirts, pulling the wolves up behind them. The scarabs hissed, burrowing back into the sand.
"Shit," Kelda panted. "I thought for sure they were going to follow us!"
"Those aren't ordinary scarabs," Fay said softly, watching a gold glow of magic settle back into the sand. "I think they're bound there." She shivered, rubbing her shoulders. The sun was setting. "What now?"
Kelda looked around, thinking. The Ruborian guards were nowhere to be seen- evidently they'd put too much faith in the strength of their knots. The desert stretched ahead to either side. A narrow, treacherous-looking path stretched across the sands, sprinkled with bones. She narrowed her eyes, caught a gleam of metal from a rocky island in the distance.
"I think that's a- a what did they call it?"
"A gyrocopter?" Fay shaded her eyes. "Yes, I think you're right."
"Think we can fly it?"
There were figures moving busily around the gyrocopter. Fay smiled.
"No, but I'll bet one of them can."
Kelda frowned, eyeing the terrain.
"There's not much cover over those rocks," she muttered. "And we can't walk on the sand, we found that out the hard way."
"If only I had my magic," Fay said, frustrated. "I could draw a glamour over us to hide us."
"Why don't you try?"
"It won't do any good, but...alright."
Fay reached deep into herself, was startled to find a bright, tiny seed of power. It had drawn into itself like some frightened animal. She reached out to it, felt it uncoil, spreading tentatively through her skin. She sighed as her aura flickered back fitfully, feeling like herself again.
"Perfect," she said. "Let me see what I can do."
She drew a glamour over them, obscuring them. Kelda felt her skin prickle, heard the wolves whine.
"There," Fay said, sounding winded. "Now, if anyone looks at us, their eyes will slide right off us. I don't know how long I can keep this up, though."
"We'll move fast," Kelda said, beckoned to her wolves. "Follow me."
They made their way across the treacherous path, scrabbling for purchase. Kelda had to fight the urge to duck for cover at every step, felt certain that she was about to get an arrow between the eyes. It was strange, walking straight towards the enemy, and her every instinct was screaming.
There were at least a dozen soldiers, armed with wicked crossbows and gleaming spears. Jade was with them, pacing, fingering the gold hilts of a pair of slender swords. She stopped short, staring straight at Kelda, and Kelda swallowed. There was nowhere to run- there was nothing but worm-riddled sand on every side. After a moment, though, Jade shook her head and resumed her pacing, her bare shoulders tight.
"I don't like this," she snapped. "They should be screaming by now. Mother should have let me kill them before we threw them in the pit."
A soldier shrugged.
"She wanted his whores to suffer," He said idly.
"I don't like it," She said again. "Go check on them. See if they're dead. Shoot them if they're not."
He rolled his eyes, turning to go.
"Yes, Princess."
He turned, walked a few steps, and then crumpled, blood fountaining from his throat. Jade turned, her eyes wide.
"What in the desert?"
Kelda and her wolves moved swiftly. A soldier toppled, throat crushed. Another fell to the sand, shrieking. Jade whirled, drawing her swords. Behind her, a soldier collapsed, hamstrung.
"I can't keep this up," Fay gasped. "Hurry!"
Jade backed against the bronze flank of the gyrocopter as her soldiers fell like leaves around her, cut down by some invisible force. Her mother had told her stories of desert ghosts and djinn, she thought frantically, but until now, she'd thought that they were nothing but children's tales.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
Her lieutenant backed up next to her, swinging his crossbow towards every sound, eyes wide.
"I don't know, my lady, but you need to get out of here!"
Jade nodded, sheathing her swords, climbing into the gyrocopter. Fay gasped, exhausted, dropping the glamour, as Kelda cut down the lieutenant and leaped up the ladder. Jade whirled, startled, and found herself staring straight into sea-green eyes. Kelda smiled at her, her wicked knife at her throat.
"Hello," she said. "We need a pilot. Do you know how to fly this thing?"
"Go to the hells, you witch!" Jade snarled.
"Oh, how rude," Fay said. "Kelda, I'm afraid we might have to hurt her."
"Oh, do you think so?" Kelda asked happily.
Jade swallowed, trying to lean away from the knife.
"Guards!" she shouted. "Guards, help me!"
The soldiers only moaned in response. Kelda grinned.
"I'm afraid I've kind of inconvenienced them a bit. Sorry about that. Now, are you going to help us, or do I get to start cutting?"
Jade swallowed again.
"Alright," she said shakily. "Alright, I will help you."
"Good choice!" Kelda looked around, considering. "Fay, we need weapons. Grab those spears for me, will you? And a crossbow or two."
Fay opened her mouth to protest, almost reflexively- the idea, she thought, of a peasant giving her orders!- but after a second or two she closed her mouth and nodded. It was a sensible idea, after all.
They climbed into the metal contraption, the wolves following them reluctantly. Jade sat, placing her shaking hands on the controls, a pair of crossbows pointed at her back.
The machine powered up with a rattle of gears and lurched into the air. The wolves crouched, whining, and Kelda looked even paler than usual. Jade clung to the controls with grim determination, darting glares at the pair of them. Fay looked about the cabin, curious.
"The dwarves built this, didn't they?" she asked, gesturing absent-mindedly with the cross bow. She wasn't used to resorting to weapons.
"Yes," Jade said tightly. "Please do not point that around like that. This machine is delicate."
"I thought so," Fay mused. "I don't know of any other race with such a grasp of engineering." She leaned out the window, squinting her eyes against the sand, examining the blades. "Tell me, Princess. What is the Broken God?"
"We don't know," Jade said tightly, concentrating on the controls.
"What do you mean?"
"The dwarves..." Jade fell briefly silent. "They will not tell us," she said at last. "We just know that we give them bones. So many bones- mountains, even- scoured clean by the desert. And in return, they give us machines like these."
"I've never heard of a Broken God," Fay said slowly. "And I thought the dwarves worshiped gold alone."
Jade shook her head slowly.
"That's all we know," she said, sounding frustrated. "We've tried to find out more, but our spies have come back to us in bits and pieces."
"Hmm," Fay said, thinking.
She would have to do some reading, when- and if- she returned to the Netherworld.
"Look at that!" Kelda exclaimed.
Something impossibly vast was rearing up against the dusky sky. Jade smiled.
"One of the great worm-lords," she said.
"Gods, that's much bigger than the one we saw!"
"The worm-lords live out in the vast depths of the deserts. The one you saw was nothing more than a baby."
"Gods above." Kelda's eyes were shining. "Can you imagine hunting that?"
Jade looked back at her, startled.
"You are insane," she said. "The great worms cannot be killed."
"Oh, everything can be killed, you just have to find the right kind of weapon. Hmm, maybe with a gigantic crossbow, and a whole lot of-"
"Shh!" Fay snapped. She cocked her head, listening. "Do you hear something?"
Jade frowned, listening, and then she grinned savagely, recognizing the sound.
"Did you really think my mother would let you get away with this?" she asked.
Fay poked her head out the window, yanked herself back as an arrow whistled past.
"There's three other flying machines behind us, and they're gaining," she said tersely.
The gyrocopter lurched sickeningly as something impacted the hull. Jade's eyes went wide.
"They're shooting at us!" she cried, incredulous.
"Hmm." Fay perched on the seat next to her. "Tell me, child. How many other children does your mother have?"
The gyrocopter lurched again with a hideous shriek of gears. Jade swore, wrestling with the controls.
"She wouldn't do that to me!" Jade snapped. "She's my mother!"
The gyrocopter yawed to the side, smoking, spiraling out of control, slammed into the sand. Fay felt her head hit the back of the seat, tasted blood. Kelda swore, dragging herself up out of the twisted wreckage.
"Shit," she snapped. "Fay, are you okay? Mischief? Mayhem?"
Fay stood up slowly. She'd bitten her tongue, and she had a few scrapes and bruises, but otherwise she seemed to be mostly intact. The wolves whined, limping to their Mistress.
"I'm fine," Fay said.
Jade coughed wetly, trapped beneath a length of metal. Fay glanced at Kelda.
"We should kill her."
"I don't know," Kelda said uncertainly. "It doesn't seem very sporting."
"I'll do it, then, if you won't."
The ground began to shake. Fay staggered back. The wolves began to snarl.
"Get down!" Kelda cried.
A massive, sinuous body burst from the sand, pincers flailing as the worm cast blindly about. Jade laughed.
"Oh, well done!" she cried, sounding a little mad. "You have called up a worm, and now we will all die. Are you happy now?"
"Wait, I think I've read something about this," Fay said, watching the worm warily as it cast about over the sands. "If we walk without rhythm-"
"Then you will just look awfully stupid before you die," Jade snapped.
"Oh."
"But please, do try it. I could use a good laugh before we all get eaten."
Kelda was digging in the wreckage. Fay glared at her- the scruffy little peasant was going to get them all killed.
"Stay still!" she snapped. "It hunts by motion."
"Aha!" Kelda pulled a pair of spears free and brandished them, grinning.
"What in the desert are you doing?" Jade snapped. "I told you, the worms cannot be killed!"
"I like a challenge," Kelda said, tapped a spearpoint to her forehead in a jaunty salute. "Wish me luck!"
"What are you-"
Kelda burst from the cover of the wreck, drumming her heels over the sand. The ground shook beneath her feet, and she hurled herself to the side as the worm burst from the ground, pincers flailing. She leaped onto its back, plunging her spears into its chitinous armor. It shrieked, bucking, as she clung to the shafts of her spears, laughing like a madwoman. It reared up, trying to plunge back into the sand, but she pulled back on the spears, snarling.
"Climb on!" She shouted.
"Are you crazy?" Fay demanded.
"Probably! Hurry up!"
Fay clambered on behind her as the worm writhed, howling. It shrieked, twisting, as Kelda twisted the spears to the side, goading it towards the portal. It plunged down towards the stones, trying to scrape them off. Kelda leaped from its back, dragging Fay by the wrist, followed by the wolves.
"Hurry!"
They dove through the portal. The worm screamed and came after them, pincers snapping. Fay summoned her will, hit it in the maw with a pillar, sending it tumbling back into the desert.
"We have to destroy this thing!" she snapped.
She slammed the pillar down onto the portal, fracturing the stone. The worm howled, diving forward. Kelda rammed her shoulder into a stone statue, hit it again, sent it toppling onto the gate. The stone portal split in two with a flash of blinding blue light. There was a terrific thunderclap that shook the cave walls, rocks tumbling from the distant ceiling.
"By the Goddess." Fay picked herself up slowly. "Kelda?"
The other woman sat up, coughing.
"Mischief?" She asked. "Mayhem?"
The wolves barked in response. Kelda wiped rockdust from her face, smiling.
"Well," she said. "That was fun."
"You and I have a very different idea of fun."
"Come on. We have to tell the witch boy all about this." Kelda grinned. "A whole new land to conquer! He's going to be so happy."
She rose, offering Fay her hand. After a moment, the elf woman accepted. Bruised and sunburned, they made their way back to the Tower together.
-x-
Juno sat beside the fountain in the private quarters, tuning a lute.
The Overlord hadn't said a word to her before he'd left. She twisted the keys absently, uncharacteristically flustered. He hardly spoke to her, hardly even looked at her, except when he thought she wasn't watching. There were men who would cut off their own hand to have what she was offering him, she thought angrily.
A string snapped, and she swore, threw the lute aside. She rose and paced about the quarters, minions scampering to get out of her way.
She had friends, she thought- a soldier here and there, a governor or two, stationed on the edges of the Empire. Maybe she'd go spend some time in Everlight, with the elves- let the Demon Lord realize what he was missing.
"Mistress!"
She pulled up short, startled. A pair of minions labored towards her with a heavy wooden trunk, set it down in front of her with a splintering crash, just barely missing her feet.
"What do you want?" she snapped. "I'm not cleaning that up."
One of them gave her an injured look.
"For you," it said reproachfully. "From the Master."
"From the Master?" Juno asked, surprised.
She opened the trunk. She was immediately dazzled by a pile of gold and gems and brilliant silks, and immediately changed her mind about leaving.
"Oh," she said, breathless. "Oh, look at it all!"
"He say..." One of the minions furrowed its brow, concentrating. "He say to tell you that it not...er...double hands."
"What?"
"Second hand, stupid," the other minion hissed, looking annoyed.
"Oh, I'm going to look fabulous in this." Juno sorted through the chest, pleased.
One of the minions tugged at her skirt.
"For you," it said again.
"What's this?"
It handed her a slender cedar box. Juno opened it, curious. The spider stone gleamed in the candlelight, winking from a setting of delicately-carved gold. She took it from the box, settled the gold chain over her neck, admiring it.
"Oh, he does care," she murmured. "I'll have to thank him properly, won't I?"
She heard the crackle of the portal, the grind of stone on stone. She straightened, smiling, stroking the stone.
"Well, no time like the present."
She swept into the throne room and stopped short. The little peasant girl and the elf witch were standing in the portal, arguing. Juno sighed. She'd been secretly hoping they wouldn't come back. She supposed it was too much to ask that they'd go off and kill each other.
"I still don't think we ought to have smashed the portal!" Kelda was saying, in her thick, uncultured accent. "How're we going to ever find another way into Ruboria?"
"What would you have done?" the elf woman snapped, arrogant as always. "Let them follow us into the Dark One's domain?"
"What's all this about?" Gnarl scurried to them. "Did I hear you say Ruboria?"
"We found a portal in the Dwarven ruins," Kelda said breathlessly. "It led into the Ruborian desert. I fought a sandworm!"
"But...Ruboria was wiped out in the Cataclysm!" The old minion blinked at her. "And...a sandworm? Mistress Kelda, are you insane?"
"Why does everybody keep saying that?"
"Nevertheless, we were there," Fay said coolly.
"How is that possible?"
Quickly, Kelda explained what had happened- the portal, the Ruborians, Queen Jewel and Jade, and the Dwarven machines. The old minion stroked his beard, contemplative.
"Well, well," he said at last. "That is very interesting, indeed. Jewel, eh? She had a run-in with the boy's father, years ago. And the Dwarves...hmm." He frowned. "Don't mention a word of this to the Master."
"But-" Kelda started.
"He hasn't told you?" He glanced between them. "He's taken the lands surrounding Empire City. Tomorrow, he will mount his final assault. I don't want any distractions, mind you. I'll set Grubby working on finding a portal into Ruboria, now that we know it's not a blasted waste, and I'll talk to the bo- the Master about it once he's conquered the Empire."
Fay inclined her head in assent. Kelda crossed her arms, looking reluctant, but after a second, she nodded.
"Alright," she said. "When's he coming back?"
Gnarl reached up to stroke his crystal, eyes going unfocused.
"Ah, he's just mopping up," he said. "Chasing down stragglers, burning a few fields, that sort of thing. He'll be back in no time."
"Send him up once he gets here, will you?" she asked. "I want to talk to him."
The old minion waggled his eyebrows.
"Of course, Mistress. As you wish."
The fairy woman was giving her a contemplative look. Kelda glared back at her.
"What?" she demanded.
"Hmm." Fay looked up at Juno and smiled. "I have an idea."
She glided towards the Imperial woman. Kelda trailed in her wake, secretly hoping her idea involved pushing Juno off a ledge. Juno eyed them warily.
"Can I help you girls?"
"Yes, I think so." Fay linked an arm through hers, and then, to Kelda's astonishment, took her arm as well. "Come with me, ladies."
"What's this about?" Kelda demanded, trying to tug her arm free. "He'll be back any minute, and-"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Fay turned to face them, smiling. "There's a...a very old Elvish custom. A ritual, actually. We haven't done it in ages...and in fact, I've never actually tried it myself, but I think it's something that might be useful to the Dark One. It's a way we can help him."
"Yes," Kelda said immediately.
"How?" Juno asked in the same instant.
"In ancient times, we elves would use the ritual to lend a bit of our essence to our warriors. It made them stronger, and faster, even helped their wounds heal more quickly."
"Why do you need us?" Juno asked her suspiciously.
Fay shrugged.
"I could try it on my own, but the more willing souls there are in the ritual, the more powerful the magic."
"What do we have to do?" Kelda asked her cautiously.
Fay smiled, and then she told them.
-x-
Everything was in place.
Rose looked down at her map and allowed herself a slow, grim smile. She moved a pin and made a note in the margins.
The ranks of rebel slaves had swelled in the past few weeks, fed by Solarius' brutal crackdown. He'd instituted a curfew, and had sent soldiers stalking through the streets, arresting anyone who so much as looked as if they were thinking about rebelling. Each arrest just drove more willing fighters into her waiting arms.
Florian was scared, Rose thought. Solarius hadn't been seen in public since her son had burned the fields around the city, and people were starting to whisper. Marius still made bold speeches about the anti-magic shield and the Emperor's divine might, but no one seemed to be listening. There had already been a few riots in the market- the farmers had nothing else to sell, and no ships had been able to get through with their wares since the Overlord had taken the docks. Imperial citizens obviously weren't used to going hungry, and if the Emperor didn't act soon, his own people would start to turn on him.
She frowned, brushing a stray strand of hair back into her braid. She wished she knew what Florian and Marius were planning. Florian was an ass, and Marius doubly so, but she thought the two of them were smart enough to realize they couldn't crouch beneath the dome forever. Sooner or later, they'd run out of food, and then they'd have a revolution on their hands.
"Lady Rose." Janus knocked on her open door, gave her a respectful nod.
"What is it?"
"We found the boy from the palace, my lady. He says he wants to talk to you."
He stepped aside, and the slender slave boy gave her a shy bow, too shy to even meet her eyes.
"Oh!" Rose searched her memory for his name- now that he'd proven himself, she thought, he was worth remembering. "Tibus, right? Just who I wanted to see! Did you manage to find those plans I wanted?"
"Yes, my lady," he said softly, staring at his feet. "They had a map, and lists, and charts."
She set fresh paper and a quill in front of him.
"Write down everything you can remember," she commanded.
He bent over the paper, pen scratching. Rose frowned as she saw the Emperor's battle plan unfolding beneath the quill.
"Typical," she muttered under her breath. "I should have known."
"My lady?" Janus asked her.
"They're focusing on fortifying the palace. Solarius is running scared. He knows there's going to be rioting in a few weeks. He's leaving the city proper undefended, and it looks like he's deploying the secondary anti-magic shield around the palace."
"Perhaps he thinks that will keep him safe?"
"Maybe," Rose said dubiously. Her eyes moved lower, reading, and she frowned. "He's even recalled the guards from the Imperial shrines."
Janus shrugged.
"Like you said, he's running scared."
"Perhaps," she said, thinking.
It didn't add up. Florian used the shrines to store a portion of his stolen magic, kept the viscous ooze there for when he had to travel about the city. He was practically addicted to the stuff, guarded it so jealously she was hardly able to obtain any for her own use. It didn't make sense that he would leave the shrines unguarded, where anyone could wander in and-
"Lady Rose?" the boy asked her, interrupting her thoughts. "That's everything. I should get back to the palace before they realize I'm gone."
"Oh, yes," she said, gave him an absent-minded smile. "Thank you. You've been very helpful." She paused- she always tried to take good care of her tools. "Do you need anything before you go? Food, or anything else?"
"I..." The boy hesitated in the doorway. "I shouldn't-"
"I'm sorry. I won't keep you."
He fidgeted, and for a second or two it looked like he was going to say something, but then he turned and hurried away.
Rose turned back to her map and lit a fresh candle, glanced at Janus. He yawned.
"It's getting late, Lady Rose. I'm going to get some sleep. You should, too."
She gave him a humorless smile.
"I'll sleep when this is over," she said. "Right now, I have a revolution to run."