Demonthorn 12

Samantha snored and it annoyed the hell out of Lara. Her sister had always been a light sleeper, almost a mournful ghost at night because of her insomnia. She had tolerated Kelli doing it, because she really kind of liked her. Samantha was intolerable.

She kicked the sleeping Fury on the hip a little with her bare foot. Samantha just snorted and slept deeply.

Lara wasn’t trying to be mean, but since she had gotten to Ravencrag everything had been a whirlwind pace to get everybody ready for some prophesied battle against the demons Below. Now that she had the powers she needed or at least close to it, everything had slowed to the pace of a glacier. It was time to get moving.

“Hey, Samantha!” She whispered loudly.

She got another snort for her troubles.

“Wake up!” She shouted, her temper getting the better of her.

Samantha’s eyes fluttered open. She shook her head and blinked rapidly, as if she didn’t remember where she was.

“I dreamed.” She mumbled as her eyes fluttered closed.

Lora shook her awake again and Samantha groaned in protest.

“What did you dream?” Lora asked through gritted teeth.

Samantha seemed not to notice.

“Everything was frozen solid except for me. The trees, animals and people were all dead and frozen.” Samantha shivered. “That wasn’t the worst part.”

“What was?” Lora asked, now actually interested.

“Samantha looked at her with her ice blue eyes.

“Everything started melting and everything that could run did. They ran past me. They ran from a wall of fire. I was frozen, I couldn’t move.” A tear leaked out of her right eye and slowly froze on her cheek.

“It’s ok, it was a dream.” Lora said, distracted.

“Then the fire hit, burning everything around me.” Samantha continued, not listening to Lora. “Everything burned except for me and I saw a figure with purple eyes in the fire, laughing. I think it was you.”

Lora was quiet for a moment, unsure how much to tell the suddenly emotional Ice Fury about her own dreams.

“I had a similar dream, where I lost control and fire burned everything around me, I walked the ashes of Arden in despair.” Lora choked back a sob. “I guess we aren’t so different. Same dreams.”

“We are the last two Furies, we should be on the same side.” Samantha said.

“I am on your side.” Lora said, narrowing her eyes.

“Our dreams say different.” Samantha said, her voice cold.

“Well, the only way to fix that is to prepare me as much as possible for what is to come.” Lora said sagely. “Whatever that is.”

“I suppose so.” Samantha said.

“So how are we going to bag me a demon’s head?” Lora said, a grin on her face.

“First, breakfast.” Samantha said.

“It is always food with you Samantha!” Lora said loudly. “We should be out there smiting or destroying and bring justice and all of that. Not eating brunch for three days!”

“If you don’t eat, you don’t fight.” Samantha said, yawning. “Plus I didn’t hear you complaining over the last 3 nights.”

Lora blushed. Samantha had been her only true sexual partner and had monopolized Lora’s time as they had spent the days in a stupor of luxury, food and sex. If she were to tell the truth, she felt ashamed. She wanted to use her power for the good of the people and spend time with Kelli, not the humorless Ice Queen in desperate need of a good humping

‘After we eat, can we go to a council or something to get everything started? I feel like we were in such a rush to get to this point and now we are moving so slowly.” Lora said, still blushing.

Samantha yawned again, the morning light shining all over her naked Fury’s body.

“We have a council meeting scheduled for mid-day. I suggest you dress for the occasion.” Samantha said, pointing at a mannequin in the corner of the room that Lora hadn’t seen.

On it was the finest armor that Lora had ever seen. It seemed to be made out of liquid metal, dazzling with rubies and inlaid in gold. It was made for a woman, the bust clearly visible and the helm designed to let her red hair flow free.

“It is beautiful.” Lora whispered.

“Who’s slow now?” Samantha asked, teasing. She had already started on her own armor, which lay where she had tossed it, three days earlier.

Lora laughed and she excitedly began to dress. Samantha had to help at times, as Lora had never put on armor before. The end result was breathtaking.

“You really are something else.” Samantha breathed as she spun Lora to look in the mirror.

Lora truly looked the part of the Fire Fury. She dazzled in the armor and the rubies glowed brighter when she took in breath. She could feel as well as see what everyone else had seen in her, the wonderful woman hidden within.

“Breakfast, then a meeting is all I have to do. I will be smiting by sundown.” Lora said as she cracked her knuckles.

“We’ll see.” Samantha said with a grin.

‘What do you mean by that?” Lora asked.

Samantha’s grin only spread wider as she moved to the staircase, her wings folded.

“What do you mean by that?” Lora called after her as she followed. “Samantha!”

“Ugggh this is the worst.” Lora groaned quietly.

“Bet you wish we were back upstairs alone, now don’t you?” Needled Samantha, who was seated next to her.

Breakfast had been longer than Lora thought could have been possible. It seemed that every sycophant for miles was there, ready to lick Lora’s boots to increase their status. She had to endure what seemed like days of congratulations, but in reality could not have been more than a few hours.

Then the meeting had started.

She had been hopeful that the business of smiting demons would be at the top of the agenda, but instead she had been assailed with crop outputs and steel import grades.

“How long do we have to waste time here?” Lora said.

“I have been doing this for almost thirty years and I think they have actually gotten longer.” Samantha said with a sigh.

The meeting ended three hours later with no mention of demons or Furies. Lora was pissed.

“So they drag us out here for almost six hours and we accomplish nothing?” Lora said, the rubies glowing on her armor with an angry light.

“Lora, this is how the world works. It was almost 3 weeks before my first raid and even then they didn’t let me participate until my second one almost a month later.” Samantha said with a grin.

The two warrior women filed out with the crowd, Lora almost heartbroken at how easily things got lost in the bureaucracy.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have come here.” Lora said despondently.

“It wasn’t your choice.” Samantha said grimly. “Fate forced you out of the life you were living and put you exactly where you needed to be at the right time. There isn’t any use whining about it.”

“I was sold into sex slavery by my family, watched my sister waste away and die from an illness she wouldn’t have gotten if we had stayed at home, marched halfway across the world, was lit on fire and had to seduce an ice princess like yourself. I think there is a lot to whine about.” Lora snorted as the two of them climbed the stairs to the Fury Aerie.

“You had it easy.” Samantha said quietly.

“Seriously?” Lora turned to her, fuming. “You are going to be competitive with whoever has got the worst sob story? Goddess you are just the worst.”

“I am trying to put things into perspective for you. There is no need for you to bite my head off with those hick teeth of yours.” Samantha said, frowning.

“Fine, then regale me with the tale of how you got it worse than me with how the God and Goddess destroyed your life to make you a Fury. This is going to accomplish a lot.” Lora said sarcastically.

“I watched my village burn.” Samantha said simply.

“Was it bandits?” Lora asked, suddenly not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“No.” Samantha said, her eyes tearing up.

At this point they had reached the top of the stairs. Lora pushed open the door to the Aerie and Samantha ripped her armor off, leaving her dressed in nothing but a simple tunic and shorts. Lora did the same, although she carefully placed her armor instead of tossing it to the ground.

“Please, tell me.” Lora said softly as she sat in a chair next to the Ice Fury.

Samantha drew in a deep breath. This seemed to actually pain the woman and Lora felt terrible for belittling her in her own senseless rage.

“I lived in a town that was protected by the Paladins. It wasn’t really a village because we had a wall, but my family lived outside of it in a small hut. We sold trinkets to travelers and grew a few vegetables to sell inside the wall.”

“Why did your town get a wall? We never got anything like that.” Lora said.

“We were fairly close to an entrance Below, plus we had a live-in garrison of Paladins and they wanted where they lived to be better defended.” Samantha explained. “We were also a major rest stop on the Highacres road.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have lived in a town called…” Lora began.

“Yes Lora, my town was Northorton. The greatest sack in the history of the war with the Master.” Samantha said grimly.

“Yeah, you totally win this one.” Lora said, a wan smile on her face.

“It gets worse.” Samantha said.

“What could possibly be worse?” Lora asked, surprised.

“My sister was a captain in the Paladin Order. She worked hard to get where she was, so she stayed with her soldiers in the garrison. When the demons breached the gate, my parents rushed in after they had all gone inside. They wanted to find my sister and save her if they could. They left me with my grandfather in our storage hut in the woods. Only family knew it was there so it would be safe.” Samantha said.

“Did your parents find your sister?” Lora asked.

“I never found out, their heads were on pikes along the road in the morning. I was young, so young.” Samantha said.

“I am so sorry.” Lora said somberly.

“Yeah. I am just glad they never lived to see what had become of my sister.” Samantha said.

“Why would that be? Maybe they would have survived if they had a Paladin Captain to defend them.” Lora said, surprised.

“My sister was the one who fell for the demon and let them in. She is the reason that The Order hates women. My sister was Garesha, the greatest among Harpies.” Samantha said with bitterness in her voice.

Lora sat quietly for a moment.

“By the Goddess I had no idea.” Lora said quietly.

“It is nothing, ancient history. Although if I see her again, I will not rest until I destroy her.” Samantha said with a blue rage in her eyes.

“How did you get here?” Lora said, trying to change the subject.

“My grandfather was sweet, but he couldn’t make a living with just him and me. We journeyed here and he gave me to the Valkyries to be raised. I don’t know what happened to him after that.” Samantha said.

“So you must hate demons like nobody else before.” Lora said.

“You have no idea.” Samantha said quietly.

“So, let’s go find some.” Lora said with steel in her voice.

Samantha laughed.

“You sound like Jolie, Lora.” Samantha said. “All bravery, no sense.”

“Bullshit to sense!” Lora said loudly. “We are the two most powerful women in existence! We should be able to sneak out of here and find some demons to kill.”

“It is not that simple, mostly because you don’t have your wings. I could just fly out of here, but there is no way they would let you down the baskets.”

“Well, I can just climb down.” Lora said defiantly.

“You saw how smooth the wall was, Lora. There is no way you can climb down.” Samantha said, distractedly.

“I will find a way, you deserve vengeance!” Lora raged.

“I know how you can get down.” A voice said form the doorway.

The two women turned to look.

Kelli stood there a defiant grin on her face.

“Let’s go kill some demons.” She said.

THE END OF CHAPTER TWELVE