FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Alrighty, I am back in business. In honor of Halloween (Or All Hallow's Eve if you are not an American, or Samhain if you are of Celtic Ancestry, like me) which is this friday, I decided to put my other stories on hold for a little bit to finish this one in time for the holiday. I thought it appropriate, considering the subject.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story. As always, comments are appreciated and requested.

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Continued from "A desperate chance..."

Julianna came back to herself out of the dark dream slowly, her mind fuzzy. She was lying on a soft bed of down, and for a brief instant, she thought that the battle in Gulnia had all been a dream. There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, and she opened her eyes slowly, finding that she was in her room in the castle. The shutters had been drawn across the windows, and the room was dimly lit by the fire in the hearth. She seemed to be alone, which upset her for a reason she could not comprehend. She was dressed in a nightgown of clean white cotton, but something about it felt wrong. Shaking her head, she tried to remember details of what had happened that might explain how she got here. She could remember clearly everything up to the point where that cloying darkness had enveloped the small room where she had been hidden. She could remember screaming, then the sounds of steel on flesh around her as the Slayers that had been sent to protect her had been slain, and then the feel of cold claws grabbing her, but then she remembered nothing more.

She quickly checked herself for injuries, but this made the tight sleeves of her nightgown press against her skin and she was immediately aware of a band of warmth encircling her right bicep. She reached over with her left hand and touched her gown over the circle of warmth and found the hard outline of Galen's Ward of the Sun under her fingertips. It was warm to the touch and she realized that that meant the Jade was reacting to the touch of demonic powers. She wondered what that could possibly mean, but then her attention was suddenly drawn away, for she could feel that a presence had appeared within the room with her.

"Julianna, my daughter!!" Her father's voice called. And then, suddenly, he was before her, beside the bed, dressed in the same clothing he had worn to the feast. His arms were open wide, ready for her to come to him and hug her. "I am so glad you are alright."

"Father?" She asked, for he certainly looked like her father, but there was something about him that made her feel uneasy. Perhaps it was that she had only just noticed him because she was recovering from whatever had knocked her out, but she got the feeling that he hadn't been there when she had woken up and the door in the wall that led to the corridor outside had not opened. This place certainly looked like her room, but she felt that something was fundamentally wrong with everything around her. "Where are we?"

"You are safe," He replied, avoiding her question. He moved in to hug her, but she scooted back on the bed, away from him. His expression looked hurt when he next spoke. "Why do you not come to me?"

"Why don't you tell me where we are?" She countered, leaning away when he took a step closer to her. Then, she realized what it was that made her uneasy. His gaze was unnaturally intense, as if his whole being were focused on her. Her father never did that. She got up from the bed, stepping away from it and the man who stood before her. She knew that it wasn't her father, though every sense was telling her that it was.

"Daughter, why are you so cold?" He asked her, coming closer once more, "Do you not want to see me?"

"Stay away." Julianna commanded, her voice sharp. Her father jerked back as if stung, his face a mask of shock. She was surprised by her behavior; she didn't know why she had said it that way. And then, as he started walking closer to her once more, she felt the warmth around her arm growing and then it hit her. Her face twisted into a snarl and she spoke loud, anger filling her voice. "You stay away from me Demon!! I see through your tricks."

In an instant, the face of her father changed, melting away into nothingness. The melting continued, washing over everything in the room and then she let out a gasp. She was no longer standing, if she ever had been. Instead, she was lying on a slab of hard stone, her arms bound above her head with black chains. The room around her looked like the main chamber of a cathedral, but not one that one might find in her world. The stones of the wall were black basalt, and huge stained glass windows were set into it. But the scenes depicted on them were all horrible mockeries of those usually found in stained glass. Scenes of demonic worship, of horrible slaughters of humans and of other things far too horrible to imagine. The entire room was lit with a strange red-orange light that seemed to come from nowhere.

Julianna was clothed in the same green dress she had been wearing at the banquet, but it was stained with blood and soot. Some of the cloth on her arms had been torn by demon claws, and there were cuts beneath them that burned as she looked at them. But, when she shifted around, trying to see the rest of the chamber, she felt something hard and cool pressing against her back. It was so incongruous with the rest of the scene around her that she concentrated on it, trying to divine its shape. After a moment, she realized that it was the dagger Galen had given her, the weapon she had had laced into her gown. The demons hadn't found it. It gave her a moment's comfort to know that she was not unarmed, though she could not reach it right then. But, a moment later, a deep, evil voice came to her ears and she managed to turn towards it. She gasped, and immediately thrashed against her bonds for now she knew where she was.

"The ward is too strong, my lords." The voice said, emanating from a figure clothed all in black with bone white hair that stood nearby, its back to her. "While it is protecting her, our original plan will not work."

"Can she be tricked?" Another voice asked, and it was a voice that made her cringe away from it, though she could not see its owner. It echoed with power in the chamber, and was so filled with malice that the very air seethed with it.

"No my lord." The vampire said, bowing. "But she may be persuaded."

"Then proceed." The second voice ordered and the vampire nodded, turning back towards her, his eyes glowing with an eager light...

***

The light of the portal faded and I found myself in what looked like the very same chamber I had just left. But something was different. It was lit with an unclean red-orange light that seemed to come from nowhere in particular. And, there was also the fact that a pair of Fel Guards and a quartet of Oni stood in the room, their backs currently towards me. But, as the last light of the portal faded, I found another, much more wholesome glow suffusing the air about me, this one bright green, and it took me a moment to realize that it came from the marks of the priesthood on my body, the Jade paint protecting me from the demonic powers that surrounded me.

Before the demons guarding the portal could react, I drew my longsword and my dagger from their sheaths. Reacting to the sound of metal on leather, they turned about to face me, just in time to find my sword scribing an arc through the throat of the nearest Oni. That demon ignited instantly into green flame, its head separated from its body, dissolving away into ash in moments. However, even as one of their number died, the remaining oni were moving back, the towering Fel Guards advancing to face me. Both held huge, black-bladed swords that were larger than I was, each one covered in red runes that glowed with demonic power.

I smiled grimly, for this was going to be a tough fight, and stepped back a pace, the jade inset into my blade glowing a dull green. Fel Guards, unlike their smaller cousins, were actually fairly intelligent. That, and the fact that they were almost twenty feet tall, made them one of the most dangerous foes I had ever faced. The two Fel Guards were advancing together, side by side, refusing to separate, which would have made them much easier to kill. I feinted forward suddenly towards one of them, but they both stopped in place, blades raised into guard positions. I began moving again, circling slowly around them, keeping an eye out for the Oni as I did so. Then, I spotted a pillar of stone behind the two huge demons that reached all the way to the ceiling of the chamber and a plan formed in my head. It would be dangerous to pull off, but that had never stopped me before. My grin widened, showing a mouth full of sharp wolf teeth and began to feint to the right and left, causing the two demons to bunch even closer together. Gradually, they moved closer and closer to the wall of the chamber and when one moved in front of the other, I seized the chance in an instant. I sprinted forward as fast as I could, seemingly charging the nearest demon. They began to react the moment I moved, the demon I approached swinging its sword straight down, intending to cleave me in half as I came at him. But, as the blade descended, I dove forward into a roll on my shoulder, shooting beneath it and past the demon even as the blade stabbed deep into the earth.

Coming out of the roll in a crouch, I pushed off the ground hard, changing my grip on my dagger as I leapt upward. Five pairs of yellow demonic eyes tracked me as I soared through the air, landing on my feet against the pillar, more than ten feet off the ground. Pushing off again, I arced towards the Fel Guards, actually above their heads for a few crucial moments. A flash of silver and jade crossed the distance between me and the demon that had swung at me, my dagger whistling as it flew through the air, but the second demon was already swiping its sword up to intercept me. Quickly pulling my arms into my body, I changed the way I was moving, the blade passing so close to me that it shaved a few hairs down by an inch. But then, I was past the reddish arc the blade's runes had left in the air and with all the strength in my arms, I swung at the Fel Guard with my long sword held in both hands. I felt the sharply honed edge of the blade bite into the demon's flesh and then I was passed it, landing against the floor. Twin roars shook the chamber as I landed on my feet and turned back towards the demons, surveying the damage I had inflicted. Both towering Fel Guards were dissolving into ash, one's head held on by only a small scrap of skin, the other with my dagger buried up to its hilt in one of its eyes. The three Oni stepped back in shock, dismayed at the apparent ease at which I had slain their large comrades.

When the two demons were nothing more than piles of ash, I let out a howl, and began to stalk forward, my sword point up between me and the remaining demons. Two Oni stood their ground weapons raised, but the other turned tail to run for the arch in the wall, through which the bottom of a staircase was just visible. I knew that if the demon got away, I would very soon find myself fighting for every step I took forward, something that not even I would survive. So, I drew the jade knife that hung at my side and threw it overhand as hard as I could. It was a long shot, the demon nearly out of range and through the passage, but the throw was true, the hard edge of the stone knife piercing the demon's neck. The oni shrieked in pain, the jade dissolving its body away as it screamed. With my appearance in this world still a secret, I moved quickly, dashing forward with blade drawn. Though my foes were stronger, larger and much more powerful than I was, they did not survive long. A brief flurry of blows later and the two demons were dead, burning away into nothingness. Less than a minute later, the room had fallen silent, the last of the crackling flames fading away, and I paused a moment to take stock of where I was. The room was virtually identical to the chamber beneath the Gulnian castle where the portal had been found, with one major difference. While the chamber in Gulnia had been accessed by a narrow staircase that had been rough hewn through the stone, this one had a broad, cleanly carved archway that led to a seemingly endless stairway leading up.

Seeing that the jade in the blades of my weapons was still glowing, reacting to the world I stood in, I quickly sheathed them, for here, in this dark realm of demons, the power of Jade was my greatest weapon and the enchantments cast on the sheaths would protect the blades from corruption. I drew in a long breath, intending to seek for Julianna's scent in the air. But, in the silence and relative peace of the now empty chamber, I suddenly found that the werewolf inside my mind was thrashing about against it chains, trying to break through my rigid control. In this world, it seemed that the curse was much stronger than ever it had been in my own. Taking a moment to strengthen the bonds I had placed on it, I turned to the arch leading out of the chamber. The steps of the staircase beyond were carved with amazing precision, each one the exact same size as the next, though they were obviously meant for something much larger than I was. They had been worn smooth with the passage of many feet, but I put that thought out of my mind and began to run, the long stride of my transformed self easily covering the distance between each step.

While I was running, I tried to count the steps as they went past, but somewhere around two thousand I lost interest and concentrated solely on increasing my pace. The walls of the stairway were utterly featureless, and since the orange light that filled the air never dimmed or brightened, or changed at all for that matter, I almost felt as if I wasn't moving. But the air began to grow less dense, less stagnant and oppressive, and I knew that was a sign I was nearing the top of the stairs. And then, without any warning at all, I was there. The passage suddenly opened up and the stairs ended, leaving me striding across hard grey soil. I slowed down to a walk and took a look around me. I was standing in a space between two rises, what the ground must have looked like before the castle had been built. No plants lived here it seemed, for dry grey soil atop dry grey rock was all that was around me. The sky above me was a pale orange hue, as if the world was in perpetual twilight. I stopped for a moment, drawing in a breath through my sensitive nose, trying to determine where I should go next. However, this proved useless, since the scent of demons was omnipresent here, and I could not discern any distinct trail. Shrugging to myself, I strode up the rise to my left, intending only to peek over the top to get my bearings, but when I reached the top, I froze, staring.

I found myself on a hill overlooking a familiar landscape. The land, though colored only ugly brown and grey, could still be almost recognized as that around the Gulnian capital. The land was nearly the same shape, with a few minor differences. A hill out of place here, a black, dormant lava flow there. But what made me freeze was what was on the landscape. Covering the lands between the hills was a thin mist that flowed and shifted, as if a wind flowed through it, but the truth was far more terrible. At the base of the hill I stood on, I could see that the mist was actually many shapes close together. They were vaguely human in shape, their bodies ethereal and floating. And, to my horror, I knew what I was looking at. These were the spirits of the people who had died under the corrupt influence of the demons, those that had given themselves over to darkness, whether willingly or by coercion. But, running among the mists were packs of mujina and oni, sprinting all over the ground, going this way and that. And in the sky, an endless, swirling mass of winged demons could be seen, fluttering everywhere through the land. But worst of all was the sound. The spirits were moaning, lamenting their torment, an endless litany of pain and suffering. I had to put both hands over my wolf ears to stop myself from hearing it. I closed my eyes to the sight and turned from the landscape, looking up into the sky. When my eyes opened again, I found myself staring at the bluff that rose from the blackened fields across the way. Atop that mass of hard grey stone, the most terrible sight of all stood.

It was a building shaped like a vast cathedral or palace, taking up the entire bluff and dominating the entire world around it. It's walls were built to a height of at least thirty feet, all of black stone. High, crenulated towers rose from behind them, and demons of all shapes and sizes walked all over it. Even from where I stood, I could see the massive stained glass windows in each tower glowing from within, ablaze with fiery light. But the entire fortress was giving off a fel light, a light discernable only to my altered sight, as if the very stone was evil. It was so massive that I couldn't stop staring at it. And, as I stood there, I felt despair welling up inside me, for there was no way that any one person had a chance of conquering such a place. It was humbling even from this distance and no doubt, it was filled with demons; endless legions of them, more than I could possibly fight my way through. But, even as despair threatened to beat me down, my instincts told me that Julianna was held there within. When I thought of the smiling face of my lover, her pale skin shining in the moonlight, a steely resolve hardened within me, as if every inch of my spirit had coalesced into a solid mass of determination.

And with that thought, my look hardened and I pulled my grey cloak closer about me, hiding the glow of the priestmarks within its folds. I could feel in my heart that Julianna was still alive, and that alone banished the despair from my heart. If there was even the smallest chance she still lived, then I would go to her, and no force that existed in any world would stop me from getting to her. Even if it meant my life or my soul itself, I would go to her. My decision made, I dashed down the slope and into the mists, heading toward the huge structure on the hill...

***

Julianna lay on the slab still, bitter tears streaking her face. Corpses lay on the ground all around the slab, most of them those of her family or her friends. It had broken her heart to see them die, but through it all, she had the same feeling of unreality that had accompanied the vision she had seen earlier, and somehow, she knew they were not real. And it was that knowledge alone that that let her keep her sanity, kept her from giving in. The vampire that still stood beside her, his arms soaked in blood of the people he had slaughtered while she watched, was starting to look awfully frustrated. But then, she heard a commotion outside the chamber, then the sounds of clashing steel. Hope flared to life in her, hope that somehow, someone was coming for her. And then, a shape leapt through the archway, clothed in a twilight grey cloak. A smile came to her lips, for she knew of only one who had such a cloak. He had come to save her. His sword flashed in the orange light and the vampire drew a black bladed sword, and then they were fighting. The pair slashed, stabbed and hacked at each other with their blades for about a minute, and then, the vampire twitched his sword back and forth and Galen's sword flew from his hand. He went for the dagger in his belt but the vampire stabbed him in the shoulder with the tip of his blade. Galen screamed in pain as the blade's corruption flowed into him, the vampire twisting the blade cruelly.

Julianna cried out in anger, thrashing against the chains that bound her. She had to get free, she had to help him. The vampire extended his free hand toward Galen, casting a foul spell that burned in her ears. Her love cried aloud as his limbs were wrapped in dark magic, dragging them backward and freezing them in place. The vampire then yanked his sword from Galen's shoulder, and let it fall to the stone. Grinning maliciously, the vampire plucked Galen's silver and jade long sword from the ground where it had fallen and then laid its point on her love's chest. She knew that the moment the silver in that blade passed into him, he would be dead. It was the only thing wound he would not heal from. But the vampire did not strike. Instead, he turned towards her and spoke, his craven voice making her shiver in revulsion.

"Remove the ward," He ordered, "Or watch him die."

For a few moments, Julianna wavered, her fingers twitching towards the ward that wrapped her upper arm. She looked about for a while, trying to see a way out of this, but there was nothing she could do. Finally, her gaze settled on Galen and she locked eyes with him. She could see the pleading look in his eyes, pleading with her to save him from death. She wanted so badly to help him, but something held her back from complying. The feeling of unreality that she had had was still there, hovering in the back of her mind. Desperate, she focused on the blade of the sword, trying to find a way to push it out of the way with her mind. And then, she realized what had held her back. Though the stone intertwined with the silver of the blade glowed as if reacting to demonic powers, there was something wrong with it. It was the wrong shade of green, like that of the bracelets worn by the demons that had impersonated demon hunters from the Nightlancers back in her journey with Galen. And then she realized that it could not be Jade, for it was jade, the vampire would not be able to even touch the sword. Her gaze hardened and she closed her eyes before shaking her head. The vampire snarled and stabbed forward with the blade. Galen screamed, but, suddenly he and the other conjurations of the vampire faded away. That had been a close one. She had almost given in. The vampire turned towards her once more and spoke.

"Eventually you will do what we desire." He said. "Why not save yourself all this agony and torment? Why not just do it now?" Julianna said nothing, instead, she turned away from him and shut her eyes, seeking to block out the images that he conjured. The princess took a deep breath and prepared herself to endure the endless torment the demons had been forcing on her. She would hold out for as long as she could, in the hope that somehow, she would be rescued...

***

Three hours after I had arrived, I was only half way to the bluff. Right now, I was sneaking along as quietly as I could, for I had had to fight my way through three bands of demons already, each larger than the last. I had been lucky enough to avoid injury so far, but every encounter sapped my strength and I knew that the worst was yet to come. But in my journey across the wasted landscape, I had seen many odd things, but one of them had stuck with me more than anything else ever had, the memory seared into my mind. There were demons among the mists, demons of a kind I had never seen before. Unlike the other demons I had fought, all of whom were roughly humanoid in shape, these were like animated piles of slime. But most horrible of all were what they were doing. Every now and then, without any discernable reason or pattern, they would extend a tendril of slime and snare one of the floating spirits. Then it would slowly suck the spirit into its body while the face of the spirit screamed. Then, a few moments later, a mujina would emerge from within the slime creature. Now I knew where demons came from and I could not imagine a more terrible fate for someone's spirit, even a corrupted one.

But the horrors I had experienced so far were only the beginning of my growing list of problems. While I had expected to face demons and demonic magic, one thing I had not expected was thirst. The air was horribly dry, and it had a tendency to dry out one's mouth and throat rather precipitously. And, even if there was water in this world, I would not drink it, for who knew what darkness corrupted it. And even stranger, it was actually freezing cold in hell. It seemed that every moment I spent in this world, some power in the air sought to drain the heat from my body. And worse, I was feeling more and more tired as time passed. It felt like my life was slowly being drawn out of me, moment by moment, breath by breath. The hard gravel that made up most of the terrain made my bare feet ache, and every step was becoming harder to take than the last. I desired more than anything else to take a rest, but I forced my thoughts to remain on the world around me. It was very hard to focus on the same dim grey landscape for a long time, but I knew that if I wavered, I would falter and fail.

I walked up a slight slope to the top, looking around and trying to pick the best route through the mist. Just when I reached the top, my foot slipped on the hard stones of the slope and I let out an involuntary yelp. The stone I had slipped on had sliced right through the thick sole of my foot, opening a long jagged cut along its surface. Shivering slightly in surprise and pain, I looked about me and found a reasonably flat stone to sit on. Once I was seated, I took a look around to ensure that I was alone, and except for one of the slime creatures slowly oozing across the lower slope of the hill, I was. Finally, I lifted my foot off the ground and examined it.

The cut was ugly and jagged and black corruption was starting to creep around the edges of it, dark blood seeping through my fur. I grimaced at the delay this would cause and shook my head, reaching back and tearing a strip from the hem of my grey cloak. I tore it in half with my teeth and then draped the strips across one knee, reaching for the pouch of jade powder I had tucked into my belt. I quickly sprinkled a pinch of the pale green powder on the cut, and watched in fascination as the jagged slice glowed brightly, letting out a puff of acrid smoke and the black corruption faded swiftly. The slice instantly began to heal as the werewolf curse strove to keep me healthy, but I none the less wrapped one of the cloth strips around my foot, covering the bottom quickly. Once that was tied, I used the other strip to wrap my other foot, intending to prevent the same injury from hampering me in the future.

Just as I finished wrapping my feet, I found a terrible feeling of danger rising in my heart. Suddenly, without any sound to warn to me, I felt something slimy and icy cold encircle my neck from behind me. The tendril of slime around my neck tightened suddenly, choking off my breath. I reached up to grab the tendril, but before I could do so, two more encircled my wrists, tightening cruelly. I wanted to cry out, for the slime's touch was so cold that it was like bands of liquid fire around my limbs. I struggled to reach the dagger in my belt, or the sword across my back but the slime tendrils around my wrists suddenly contracted, snapping my arms out straight to the sides, forcing me to arch my back painfully. This creature was so much stronger than I was that it was all I could do to keep my arms from being ripped out of their sockets. It was about this time that I noticed the second slime creature coming up the hill toward me. While I struggled to draw breath despite the tendril slowly burning its way through my neck, the second creature threw out a pair of tendrils, wrapping themselves up my legs. Now, I could actually hear my flesh burning away and I knew suddenly what was happening to me. I was being digested. Revulsion for that fate welled up inside me and I reached down deep, bringing my magic to bear. I knew that in this world, the magic would drain some of the power from the protective marks on my body, and I knew that using it without speaking would draw even more power than usual, but I wasn't going to die having come this far, digested by foul slime.

Reaching deep inside, I brought forth the magic I possessed and pointed, twin needles of golden light shooting from my fingers, spearing the creatures. For a horrid second, I thought that my spell had not affected them, but then, the creatures let out a strange whistling shriek, and began to bubble and froth like boiling water. Moments later, they evaporated into nothingness, vanishing into pale mist that blended with the spirits that surrounded the small battleground. Panting, I sat back down on the stone and checked myself, drawing a hasty breath of the terrible dry air of this tortured world. The places where the tendrils had been were an ugly, burned red that was darkening quickly with corruption. I knew that my body could heal the wounds, but what worried me was that magic healing like that drained strength and that was something I was not sure I could afford. However, the corrupting power was a far more pressing problem than that, for if I didn't do away with it, it could rob me of control at a critical moment. I looked around me and found the small green pouch of jade powder that I had dropped when the creatures had seized me. Miraculously, it was still tied closed. Breathing a sigh of relief, I opened the pouch and poured the entire contents onto my palm. The powder formed itself into a tiny glowing mound in my hand, just barely enough to treat my injuries.

Before any of the jade could be corrupted by the world around me, I quickly rubbed the powder into the burns, grimacing as they smoked. The moment the burns had finished glowing, they started healing. The bright blast of golden light that had shot from my fingers had pushed the silvery mist back from me, revealing the terrain. And it was about then that I realized just how exposed I was sitting on the top of that hill. I leapt to my feet quickly and tried to head off down the slope of the hill, but the moment I stood up, a sudden wave of vertigo washed through my head and I slumped back down to the stone. I shook my head to clear it and the feeling passed, but I looked down at the marks spread across my chest with concern. Their borders had turned black, their power drained by my spell casting. It had been worth it, but it had cost me dearly, taking several hours of protection from the marks and a large measure of my strength. I sighed and got back to my feet, striding off down the hill quickly despite the tired feeling that had started to wash over me. I still had a long climb to go and who knew what waited me at the top, so tired or not, I had to keep going...

***

Julianna shivered slightly, the vampire's talon like fingers feeling like ice on her flesh. He was standing over her, restraining her while a second one stirred the coals of a pit of brilliant red fire with an iron rod. She had become numbed to the terror of the images that they had forced her to witness, fleeing deep down inside herself to prevent them from touching her. No matter what she saw, no matter how horrible the things had been that she had seen, she had clung to the knowledge that it wasn't real. Her hands were free of the chains that had secured her to the slab, but bands of magic secured her now, preventing her from fleeing. She delved deep inside herself, clinging fiercely to the ever crumbling hope that she would be rescued. The vampires, apparently assured that she would not break from the images alone, had decided to use more persuasive methods on her. Demons had been led into the room, lining the walls, each gazing hungrily at her. And, she knew, at the very least, that she was about to be tortured for their amusement.

And, somehow, knowing what was coming was calming. She drew upon every ounce of her strength, every tiny measure of will she possessed to resist for what was coming. She would not give in, no matter what they did to her. Somehow, though the hope was constantly being undermined, it did not leave her totally, for she knew somehow, in her heart, that help was coming. She didn't know how she knew that, or even how it was possible, but she knew that she had to hold on as long as she could. Finally, the second vampire rose from beside the pit and turned to her, the iron rod in his hands, the tip glowing white hot.

It approached still closer until she could feel the heat of the glowing metal on her flesh, and then she saw the aura around the rod. It was enchanted somehow, and she feared to know what the spell was. The first vampire spoke again the second bringing the rod close to her hip.

"Remove the ward or experience more pain than you can possibly imagine." He said and she shook her head. He shrugged at her and then nodded to his cohort. The second vampire stabbed the end of the rod into her side. It was pain like nothing she had ever experienced. It washed through her entire body and her soul, wave after wave of agony that she had never imagined existed. She drew in a deep breath, biting her lip until she tasted her own blood, refusing to cry out. The second vampire pulled the rod back from her side and she was able to see that though it had indeed burned her skin black around the spot it had touched, the enchanted rod had gone deep into her, though her skin did not seem to have been pierced. She sucked in a gasp of air, drawing heavily on it, willing herself to ignore the pain. The vampire mercilessly stabbed her again and this time she could see the rod pass horrifically through her skin as if it didn't exist, piercing four inches deep into her. This time, she could not help it; the sight of the rod of metal stabbing into her was far too horrific. She screamed, the sound tearing from her throat. She screamed until no breath was left in her body. She screamed again and again and with each scream, the demons laughed and jibbered, foul slaver falling from their fanged mouths. But then, as she drew breath to scream again, a new sound worked its way to her ears. It was a sound that fueled the fire of hope inside her, though it did not occur to her why at first.

The sound had been the howl of a werewolf, deep and throaty. But what gave her hope was that she recognized the voice it belonged to. It was Galen's howl, the same howl she had heard so many times in their journey. Somehow, she knew that it was the real Galen's voice, not an illusion conjured up by the vampires. The feeling was akin to the one that had told her that the illusions were not real. And that feeling hardened her mind, giving her strength to resist. The vampires and demons ignored the sound, but even as she screamed in pain, new strength flowed into her. The pain that had swelled into her body was nothing, for she knew her love was on his way. And yet, even as she thought this, the pain redoubled, filling her every fiber of her body and mind. So, she screamed aloud once more, and waited, silent hope shoring up her flagging strength...

***

I paused in my ascent for a moment to try once more to moisten my dry mouth. I was currently half way up the side of the bluff, clinging to the rock face with a desperate strength, my arms quivering. There had been no way up the cliff that I had seen except to free climb it. I had climbed cliffs like this before, but my thinly stretched strength was beginning to fail. The stone was sharp edged and very, very cold. It was like trying to climb a glacier. It was becoming too much of an effort simply to reach for the next handhold. And every moment that I spent on the cliff was one more the fluttering demons to notice me. So, even though it felt like my muscles were torn to shreds, I forced myself onward.

But, then, as my hand found the next handhold above me, a horrible sound cut through the moaning spirits on the plain below me. It was a scream of pain and horror, a scream carried in the voice of my love. My imagination ran away with the sound, dredging up all sorts of horrid ideas about what they could be doing to her. I had seen far too many bad things in my life to hear such a scream and think of the best case. For a moment, I clung to the cliff in horror, my hands almost giving out, and then a second scream followed the first. The knowledge that she was being tortured had an odd effect on me. I had seen demonic tortures before, in fact I myself had been tortured a few times over the years, and I had known that they probably would torture her. However, when I heard that scream, something blindingly hot seared into my mind, filling my body. It was so intense that it took me a moment to recognize it as anger. I had never felt an anger that strong before, and I was surprised to be feeling it now. Part of Slayer training was learning to suppress anger, to control it. Anger did many things, including destroying self control and the ability to make rational judgements, two things one could not afford when fighting demons. But now, in the demon realm, with my strength nearly at an end, I found the heat of the anger comforting. The burning heat seemed to utterly wipe out my exhaustion. It was like raw energy flooding me and I eagerly drew it in, welcoming the strength it lent me. My limbs stopped quaking, and I felt a hot resurgence of strength into my muscles. It was a feeling that reminded me of a time I had found a natural hot spring way out in the wilds of the world.

The memory was a comfort all its own and I smiled. Suddenly, the cliff no longer seemed so high, the air no longer bone dry. My muscles were strong once more. My smile widened and I sucked in a deep breath. I let out a howl as long and loud as I could manage. With the new strength came a resurgence of resolve stronger than I had ever felt before. My love was alive and in pain and I would not, could not, stop now, not when I was this close to reaching her. I began to climb the cliff with the speed and ease of a spider, the burning in my muscles banished by the fierce wroth of anger that flooded me. The sharp surface of the stone cliff scraped away at my fur and skin, but with the fire burning within me, I didn't even notice.

Forty feet separated me from the top, twenty feet of grey and brown stone. Forty feet that moments before had seemed like a mile or more now passed in the blink of an eye. I hauled myself over the edge of the cliff moments later and into a crouch, looking up at the high wall of black stone before me. It was perfectly smooth, not unlike Redamarc's fortress, but this was twice as high as those walls had been. Not that it made a difference. With this mysterious anger's strength burning in my limbs, it might as well have been a foot tall for all the difference it made to me. I gathered my strength for a leap and sprang upward, surging into the air, my grey cloak snapping about me with the strength of the air flowing past me. While I was in the air, I looked down into the courtyard beyond and found that it was filled with at least a dozen Fel Guards and more than a score of Oni. One sharp eyed Oni, spotting me flying over the wall, called out a warning even as I landed.

As I fell into the courtyard, I raised a hand to my sword, grasping its leather wrapped hilt. The moment my feet touched the cobblestones, I looked up, gauging the odds of winning the fight that I faced by my sword and daggers alone. The answer wasn't good. I had never faced more than two or three Fel Guards at once and they were smart, much smarter than the Oni that accompanied them. I knew I didn't have a choice now. The only way into the cathedral was the arch in the opposite wall, through the ranks of the demons that were starting to advance towards me. I had to use my ace-in-the-hole on more time. While I drew my longsword and rose to my feet, I reached into a pouch at my belt with my left hand. Two oni were close enough to me to be able to kill me before I could use the object in the pouch, and I swept out my sword in an upward arc, catching the first by surprise. The silver and jade edge of my blade took the Oni's head off with ease and I strode a pace forward, shoving the dissolving body out of my way. The second Oni had its own sword up into a guard position. This demon seemed to be one of those that were mildly more intelligent than their brethren, which could be a problem, so I decided to short circuit the fight, doing something utterly foolish, but something that worked none the less. Using brute force alone, I body checked the Oni, trapping its sword against its body as it fell, then I stabbed straight down, my long sword stabbing through its chest, pinning it to the ground.

While that demon shrieked, I raised the object I had grabbed from the pouch. The globe of Jade glowed brightly as I raised it high, magic flaring to life within me once more. The Jade suddenly kindled to life, flashing brilliant gold. The light that flowed from the globe was so bright, it was like I held the sun itself in my hand. The brilliant golden light filled the courtyard, a light that was so wholesome and welcoming that I couldn't help but smile. But, what was wholesome to me, was death to any demon. The demons screamed in pain and rage, a shriek that ended all at once. Normally with this spell, the demons burned away slowly, but with the surge of power my anger had given me, the spell was so much stronger that the demons went from flesh and blood to ash in the barest blink of an eye. Moments later, the flash of golden light faded and I felt the jade globe crumbling in my hand. I looked at my left hand and found that the globe of stone that was once a milky green was now inky black, and even as I watched, it crumbled away into so much black dust, joining the ash of the dead demons.

But, moments later, I knew that the spell had cost me something I hadn't intended to lose. Exhaustion washed over me, an exhaustion so complete that I didn't have any power to resist it. I fell forward, going down on one knee, nearly shattering my kneecap on the cobblestones. But I didn't really feel the pain. The heat of the anger drained from me so fast that it left me shivering. I suddenly felt as though I had nothing left. The anger that had lent me so much strength coming up the bluff had vanished, draining away into the blast of magic. I groaned slightly, trying to force myself back up to my feet. I managed it only by using my sword as leverage. It felt like I had broken my knee, and my body strove to repair the damage, drawing yet more of my strength away. When I was up at last, I hung my head tiredly, looking down at the marks on my chest. They were more than halfway black now, but while I was standing there, another of my love's screams echoed out of the arch, working its way into my ears.

I could feel the bones knit together once more, but my leg was still too sore to carry all my weight. I took a few steps forward and found that I could still manage a limping walk, but not much more than that. Running was certainly out of the question, and I had not the strength within me to heal the wound totally. And then, as another, more desperate scream came from the archway, I came to a realization. Before this moment, I had been holding some of my strength back, saving it for my journey back to the portal, but now, I made a choice. Grimly I drew myself up to my full height, sheathing my sword.

I gathered all the strength I had left, forcing myself onward. And with one look back at the orange sky, I strode into the dark hallway beyond the arch, committed to reaching my love. Nothing else mattered, not even my life. All that was left was to go on, to fight on with every scrap of strength I had left. Even if it cost me my last breath, my last drop of blood, I would fight...