Mountain of Daggers (23 page)

Thick trees rose like church columns, holding aloft a dark canopy of gnarled branches. Leaves crunched under Ahren’s feet as he followed the twisting path over another hill and through a shallow valley. Tingles skittered along his neck. Something moved ahead.

Narrowing his eyes, Ahren peered through the woods to see a cloaked shape standing in the shadows crisscrossing the trail. It stood still, staring back at him with unseen eyes. Ahren stepped closer and the figure vanished.

Startled, he looked around, trying to see where the figure had gone. He spotted the stranger now to the left of him beside a broken tree trunk. A short curved blade extended from its hand. Ahren reached for his own dagger, but the apparition disappeared.

He whirled around, his heartbeat hammering in his ears. It stood to his right, not twenty feet away. Her pallid, wrinkled face stared at him from beneath the frayed hood. She raised her empty palm and then vanished.

Movement flickered in the corner of his eye and Ahren turned to see the witch beside him, her filthy-nailed fingers reaching for him. He jumped back, but felt a hand on his shoulder. Ahren spun to see the hideous witch behind him. Her hand shot to his throat, then lifted him off the ground.

“Ah,” she purred, ripping the dagger from his grip and dropping it to the ground. “Very nice.” She slid her blade under the neck of his shirt and sliced it open with an effortless caress.

Choking against the witch’s iron grasp, Ahren managed to look down. Inhaling deeply, she licked her thin lips. Her cool breath wafted across his chest. Citavnah ran her fingers over his skin. Veiny tendrils of flesh had grown around the knife’s bone handle, fusing it to her palm, thumb, and little finger.

“No wonder he likes you.” Her jagged nails dug into his neck, forcing him to look away. She twisted her grasp to the back of his neck and slid her bladed hand up under his throat. “Let’s go.” With a hard squeeze to the base of his skull, she marched him through the valley to a gray yurta nestled in a rocky clearing.

She pushed him through the leather door flap into the dark tent. The stink of stale smoke and rotted meat hung in the air. Ahren’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, making out the shapes of a small fire pit and several cluttered tables.

“He’s here, as you said,” she said.

Excellent.
A hollow voice answered.
Put him in the box.

Struggling against the witch’s grasp, Ahren tried to glimpse who had spoken, but Citavnah lifted him up. A dirt-caked sarcophagus lay along the far wall beneath a dusty cloth. She yanked open the thick lid and pushed Ahren inside on top of the brittle remains of a skeleton wrapped in rotted rags. Bones crunched beneath him as he fought against her. Her grip tightened around his neck, choking him. Futilely gasping, his head swam and his thrashing legs lost their strength. Still squeezing, she set a polished obsidian mirror at his feet, then slid the lid closed, plunging him into blackness.

Panting, Ahren pushed against the lid. The dry bones cracked under him, stabbing into his back as he pressed, but the heavy stone didn’t budge.

He drew a long breath, forcing panic aside. Slowly, he traced his fingers along the seam but found no gaps. He braced himself inside the narrow box and pushed his weight sideways against the lid, but it didn’t slide. Something slithered up his leg.

Hello Ahren.
The voice rasped from all around him. Airy tendrils, like darkness itself, wormed though his clothes and slid along his skin.
Do you know who I am?

Clenching his jaw, Ahren suppressed a scream. The darkness stroked up his neck, brushing his ear, quickening his panicked breaths.

Yes, you remember me.

As long as he’d live, Ahren would never forget the demon he’d seen in Dolch’s lair, the dark reflection of himself that smiled from inside a black mirror. The evil creature that had possessed the thief-master, giving him terrifying powers, was now inside the stone coffin with him.

You’re very clever. Strong, smart, passionate. I recognized it the first moment I ever saw you. I could make you powerful, Ahren. More than just human. More than anything that has ever lived.
Its seductive voice whispered in his ears like a gentle lover and unseen fingers traced along his lips.
Just let me inside you. Take me in, and I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted.

“You took what I want, bastard!” Ahren spat through clenched teeth. He kicked and twisted, trying to fight the demon from him, but the narrow coffin held him in place.

Did I?

The blackness opened before him, revealing Katze’s beautiful face. She stood on a rooftop, her cloak billowing in the night’s breeze. The visage dissolved and reformed to her lying naked on his bed, her skin glistening in the candlelight just as it did the first night they had made love.

Is this what you want?
Its amused voice continued.
Soft, vulnerable, adoring? I doubt it.

Katze’s image melted away, replaced by a slender, beautiful woman scaling a brick building along a watery canal. Her auburn hair whipped in the wind as she swung onto the roof and quickly dispatched a lax guard with a thrust of her glass stiletto. She turned toward Ahren, as if sensing his gaze, and smiled. She then ran and sprang through an open window and out of sight.

This is your desire. Your urges, your fantasies betray you.

Memories of Karolina played before Ahren’s eyes. She writhed atop him, her tight muscular body moving with his. He smelled her sweat on his skin and her firm hands squeezed his as she held him down. The scene changed to him wrestling with her in a dark cellar, fighting for their lives while hidden urges welled within them both. No one had ever touched him as she had. And his desire swelled as if time had never passed since last they’d met. Twice the beautiful assassin has escaped him, the second by his own consent.

Cunning, lethal, strong. Don’t deceive yourself, Ahren. You want her, you always have. And only I can give her to you. Let me inside you. Take me in.

“No!” he screamed, scrunching his eyes. The image continued to play before him. He twisted his head, trying to escape it, but to no avail.

You’ll be strong. Stronger than Dolch, stronger than anyone alive. Oh how he’ll envy your power.

“I killed him!” Ahren growled, still fighting the unseen tentacles prying between his teeth and worming inside his cheeks. “The bastard is dead!”

Is he?
The demon laughed.
“He’ll find amusement in that claim. He loathes you, Ahren. How he wishes your blood on his hands. But no, I forbid him. And when he arrives he’ll embrace you as his brother. His stronger, favored brother.

Ahren’s sharp breaths quickened. Living darkness pressed him down, seeping between his lips and up his flaring nostrils. He lashed, kicking against the lid and knocking his head back against the stone floor as he fought it.

Let me in you. Take me and we will be beautiful.

Bones slid and crunched beneath him as Ahren rolled over. Invisible fingers pulled his hair and squeezed his flesh. He struggled, banging himself harder against the stone walls.

You’ll see darkness as you can’t imagine. Power at your fingers. A god feasting on all your desires. Imagine it and it will be yours.

“No! No!” he screamed. He fought harder, driving bone splinters into his legs with each kick.

The darkness howled back.
Stop fighting!
I will have you. What’s yours shall be mine. Surrender yourself. Yield to me!

“Submit, Ahren,” Karolina soothed. The phantom image caressed his face. “Take me.”

“Never,” he cried, fighting away her hand.

Karolina’s pale face scowled and her eyes blackened to dark orbs. “
I will have you
,” she wailed in the demon’s voice. Inky tentacles writhed inside her mouth then cascaded out, splitting her face apart as they latched onto his.

Screaming in terror, Ahren bucked and fought, wracking his body against the stone prison. The slithering mass squeezed his jaw, prying it open, and hair-like tendrils poured into his mouth. Choking, and gagging, he threw his head back to escape, slamming it against the unyielding stone and knocking him unconscious.

#

Sweet fragrance and soft moans roused Ahren. Through blurred vision, he made out a pale slender form atop him. Copper hair cascaded over her shoulders. She slid up and down, grinding herself against him. His pulse strengthened and grew with her movements. She lowered her upturned face toward his. Strands of sweat-slicked hair hung across Karolina’s cheeks.

“Good to see you again,” she purred, her fierce eyes sparkling in the firelight.

He tried to touch her moist skin but couldn’t. Tight bonds held his wrists above his head.

She slid her hands up his arms until her firm breasts pressed against his bare chest. “Going somewhere, lover?”

Ahren’s breath quickened Their bodies moved faster in their growing rhythm. He leaned up, running his tongue along her neck and kissing her jaw. A sour tinge of rot tickled his nose, but an intoxicating incense quickly washed it away. Pushing his arms back, he met her body with harder and faster thrusts. Moans of ecstasy, each one louder than before, escaped her lips.

Releasing her grip she sat higher, pressing down against him. He pulled against his bonds and kissed her rounded breasts. Their silky skin felt dry and spongy against his lips.

She bent down and kissed him, tugging his lips with hers. “I’m yours, Ahren. Tell me what you want.” Her acrid breath flooded his senses.

Blinking, Ahren’s vision cleared to see Citavnah grunting upon him. Folds of wrinkled flesh, slid against his. Purple spider webs of dark veins ran though her sagging breasts.

“Tell me,” she croaked through chipped yellow teeth. Dingy curls of gray hair hung across her hideous face.

Ahren screamed and struggled against the abrasive ropes at his wrists. The witch continued her movements, uncaring of Ahren’s realization. His sharp, panicked breath drew in more of the sweet incense wafting over him, fueling the arousal despite his horror. Citavnah dipped her curved knife into a shallow clay bowl beside the bed, coating it with runny black fluid.

“No, no!” he shouted, still fighting the bonds. She sliced his upper arm and increased her thrusts. An icy heat shot through Ahren’s body. Scrunching his face, he screamed and climaxed. Dizzying numbness swept over him and Ahren fell again into unconsciousness.

#

Ahren’s eyes flickered open, followed by a whirling vertigo. He still lay naked, bound to the filthy bed. Shadows danced and swirled across the yurta’s walls cast red in the light of dying embers. Drawing a long breath, he closed his eyes, forcing the dizziness to pass.

A pained groan gurgled beside him.

Breathe, child. Breathe.

Ahren craned his head to see Citavnah huddled near the wall, her wrinkled back toward him. She rocked back and forth with heavy breaths, then threw her head back with an agonized wail. The witch twisted her body, revealing a swollen belly. She maneuvered to her knees and dark blood exploded down her pale legs and pooled beneath her.

Terror seized Ahren’s gut as he watched the foul witch giving birth to whatever had grown inside her. He twisted the ring on his finger and jammed the small button along the side. The tiny hooked blade sprang open and he began cutting at the coarse rope binding his right arm. Citavnah’s loud breaths quickened. The fraying rope snagged the small blade. Steadying the ring with his thumb, Ahren furiously sawed faster.

Shadows writhed along the walls like hornets as the witch let out a shrill cry.

It’s coming. Wonderful!

The rope snapped in two. Reaching up, Ahren worked the tight knot still holding his other hand above his head. The harsh bonds loosened. He grit his teeth in pain and ripped his hand though the tight loop.

Citavnah screamed again, sending the animate shadows swarming toward her. They teamed through the air around her like whirling wisps of smoke.

Fervently, Ahren untied his ankles, chipping his nails until they bled. His pounding heartbeat hammered inside his ears a he tore the last of the knots free. Desperate, he scanned the dim room, searching for a weapon. His gaze narrowed on a crude cleaver lying on the table beside the bloodied remains of a plucked hen. He crawled to his feet. A sudden wooziness threatened to buckle his weak legs.

Citavnah cackled and a baby’s shrill cry filled the dim tent.

Forcing himself forward, Ahren snatched the rusted cleaver and charged the sweat-drenched witch straddling a glistening black pool. She spun her head toward him, her cracked lips twisted into a perverse, evil grin, and Ahren hacked the wide blade into her neck. Blood burst across the room, splattering over his naked body. She erupted in maddening laughter that gurgled and bubbled out from the jagged wound. Ahren swung again, cleaving through the side of her face, but the witch continued her roaring cachinnations. She lunged, driving her grafted blade at his heart. Leaping to the side, Ahren chopped the cleaver down. The heavy blade hacked through her wrist, sending a spray of blood across the yurta. Her gnarled hand fell to the floor, still clutching its cursed blade. Citavnah screamed and Ahren buried the cleaver into her head. Rage bellowed inside him. He chopped again and again until the witch’s still corpse lay silent at his feet.