The Last Paladin: Ep1: Sacrificial Virgins and Hungry Pigs
Act 2: The Last March
The knights made Miriam carry the unconscious Eve. And Miriam struggled, the other girl’s body draped over her shoulders. Miriam was a farm girl and was strong for her size. And Eve wasn’t large, but she was a whole other human. Miriam carried the other girl for over an hour before Eve regained consciousness.
Eve was a little out of sorts when she woke. But their captors didn’t care and marched the girls onwards towards the Sundered Tower.
Their captors marched the girls all day. Stopping only once night fell and navigation became impossible. This close to the Sundered Tower, the clouds hid the moon and all stars. And the Shadow Across the Sun did not disappear at sundown. And the unnatural veil it lay over everything made torches and lanterns feeble in the dead of night. The night was nobody’s friend; not commoner or Imperial soldier.
They stopped to rest in a burnt out building that Miriam realized had been a slaughterhouse. Hooks hung from the ceiling. Dried blood painted the walls and floors. The building stood abandoned for a long time. Scrub grass pushed through the floor. Paint flaked and peeled from the walls. Bones lay, half buried by the woodland that was reclaiming the building.
The knights collected scrap wood and started a fire. They set watches. The night was hungry, and the things that dwelt within the darkness didn’t care if you served the Light or the Shadow. You were meat either way, and the darkness was hungry.
Miriam tried to sleep. But she had never dared sleep in the open at night before. And the sounds in the darkness kept jolting her back to full awareness. She would fade asleep, and the cry of some unfamiliar thing in the darkness would jar her awake. She found herself watching the Obsidian Knight currently on watch. He didn’t jump at all the sounds that Miriam jumped at. But certain sounds caught his attention. And when he heard certain cries in the darkness, he would stoke the fire. Or, sometimes, he would check the entrances to the ruined slaughterhouse.
He was checking the entrance at the far side of the building from Miriam when something happened. Miriam couldn’t see in the darkness. But the knight was turning to walk back towards the fire when a shadow rushed over the man. The darkness enveloped him, and then the darkness withdrew and the knight was gone.
Miriam screamed. The other knights scrambled to their feet. Miriam pointed, unable to form words. The knights drew swords and rushed to the spot where Miriam had pointed. They spent several minutes searching. One returned with the missing knight’s helmet, now spattered with blood.
The remaining knights conferred at the far end of the building. The priests joined them. They left the girls alone to huddle- chained together in the darkness by the fire.
“Serves them right for only having one person on watch.” Eve said.
“Whatever it is will eat us just as soon as it will eat the knights.” Another girl said, “Don’t sound too smug.”
“And that’s worse than what they’ve got planned for us, how?” Eve asked.
None of the girls answered. Eventually their captors returned. They said nothing to the girls. But the watch was now tripled. And three knights remained awake at all times.
The next morning the knights had the girls up and marching at first feeble light. The dim red dawn cast everything in a crimson wash as the girls trudged across the dying landscape. The knights kept urging the girls on. If a girl slowed or stumbled, the knights would yell or strike the girl in question.
Miriam noticed that Eve seemed to be slowing her pace. The other girl ignored the orders from the knights to move faster. As Eve took her time clamoring over a fallen log, a knight lashed out and kicked the back of her leg. Eve sprawled and howled at the blow.
“Great move, coward.” Eve said, looking up at the knight from the dirt. “You’re so scared of whatever is hunting us, that you’re slowing your captives down even more. What if I’ve sprained an ankle? That won’t speed me up, will it?”
The knight loomed over her, but didn’t say anything. Another knight smacked the first. They waited as Eve struggled to her feet. Miriam thought the other girl was laying things on a bit thick. But Miriam said nothing, she wasn’t about to come to the defense of the knights after all. Eve was making their captors miserable. And Miriam approved of the other girl doing that. Miriam found herself admiring Eve.
And so the day continued. The knights pushed the girls onward. Eve found every opportunity to slow them down. The knights yelled and hit Eve, and Eve mocked them for it. Miriam found herself watching their surroundings as they travelled. Something was following them. She would see shadows shift and bend, lengthen and contort. Something was moving within the shadows. It was hiding in them- inside the shadows somehow. And that something was following them. Keeping pace with them. She said nothing to the knights and nothing to the priests. Whatever it was, it was not confined to travelling at night. And that meant it was powerful. But she noticed it kept to the darkness, out of the light of the sun. Even with the sun as shrouded by the Shadow as it was now, it stayed hidden. Direct sunlight was too much for their pursuer.
Miriam considered what it could be. Demons didn’t care if the sun was out or not. Neither did the cambions, their half demon progeny. The undead was a more likely option. Most undead were either damaged or depowered by direct sunlight. Witches had more power at night, but were not hurt or depowered by the sun. All things considered, Miriam felt confident that this thing hunting them was undead. She suspected it had to be a more powerful undead as well, a vampire or another form of thinking undead. She shivered at the thought. Weaker undead, like zombies or ghouls, would hunt the living. But they hadn’t any remaining human intelligence. They wouldn’t stalk an individual group in such a deliberate fashion. This thing wanted something. Miriam did not know what, but she doubted that whatever it wanted was something they would want to give it.
That night, the group took shelter in an abandoned farm house. The priests set up warding spells to keep the perimeter secure. The knights kept the fire in the fireplace burning bright, and three knights stayed on watch at all times. The one bed in the modest farmhouse went to the lead priest. Everyone else slept on the floor. The girls slept huddled together, bound by the chains. Miriam found herself nestled against Eve and another girl as she faded off to sleep.
Miriam found herself in a bank of fog. She must be dreaming, she realized. And then she heard the voice.
“Welcome to my parlor, little bird.” The voice was masculine and dripped with honey and seduction.
Miriam spun, trying to find the source of the voice. The fog lifted and Miriam found herself in an opulent bedchamber. An ornate four post-poster bed loomed before her. On the bed reclined the most handsome being Miriam had ever seen. He was male and looked mostly human. He had coiling rams horns and crimson shimmering skin. His eyes shone gold and his smile was carnivorous. As far as Miriam could tell, he was naked, his groin hidden by the silk sheets of the bed. He was muscular, but lean. Miriam had never seen a man naked before, and she stared. He looked good. She liked what she was seeing. She couldn’t imagine any of the village boys she’d grown up with looking this good.
“You’re in quite the predicament, aren’t you?” The demon smiled. “Chosen for the sacrifice because of your virginity, and now hunted by something worse. Your death is looming on the horizon. You’re either going to have a sacrificial dagger jammed through your sternum and your heart torn out. Or you’re going to be devoured by some supernatural predator as you breathe your last. Neither option sounds nice. I can offer another way. I can offer you a path where you live beyond the next few days.”
“You’re an incubus. A sex demon.” Miriam said.
“Yes. Obviously.” The Incubus answered. “And you’re a sacrificial virgin who’s going to die in a day or two without a way out. And I have a way out.”
Miriam stared at him in surprise. Then her brain caught up with the conversation.
“You want my virginity.”
“I want to make a deal with you. I want to make you powerful. Your purity is a bonus.” The Incubus said. “As a sacrifice, you’d be used up and thrown away in an instant. But in my bed you’d become a witch, and a powerful one thanks to your purity prior to making the deal with me. You’d still serve the Shadow, but you’d get to keep living. Which I think you’d consider a bonus. And on top of that, I promise to make the process of consummating the deal extremely pleasurable. I’d say that it will be the best you’ve ever had, but that’s a given.”
Miriam squinted. “Won’t you get in trouble for stealing somebody already earmarked for sacrifice?”
The Incubus smiled. “Normally? Yes. But that thing hunting you is going to win. And you girls aren’t likely to make it to the sacrificial altar. I see this as an attempt at damage control. So, what do you say? Would you like to join me in this bed? Would you like to experience pleasure unlike anything you’ve ever imagined? And would you like to get rewarded with power unlike anything you’ve ever dreamed? Or would you rather die a painful death in a few days time, and possibly get eaten by a ravenous wild undead?”
“And I have to surrender my soul to the Shadow and serve evil for the rest of my days.” Miriam answered.
“When the priests sacrifice you to the Shadow, it will devour your soul. I’m not sure how my offer could be worse than that. I’m offering you a way out.”
“You’re offering a way to let me go from victim to villain. Villain is worse. If I give in to you, I will have to do to others what the priests would have done to me.”
The Incubus stared at her with wide eyes. “You are telling me that you’d rather have your soul devoured by the Shadow? You'd rather that than enjoy the benefits of a night of pleasure with me?
He climbed off the bed and the silk sheets dropped away to reveal his naked body. Miriam gasped. She stared. The Incubus stood before her, hands on his hips, staring at her.
She could feel her own desire. She had been curious when Tyson had tried to awkwardly seduce her. She was not curious now. She was ravenous. She felt hot, like her skin was cooking. She’d never seen anybody, man or woman, who looked this captivating. She stared.
The incubus for his part, waited, shifting his weight occasionally. Miriam watched the muscles in his hips flex as he shifted. She licked her lips. The rest of his offer was tempting. Miriam didn’t want to die. But even leaving aside that, she wanted the Incubus on top of her. She wanted him to take her virginity. She wanted to offer it up on a silver platter. She shuddered as she stared at him.
She shook her head.
“It’s not worth it. I would rather die with honor than live without it.”
The Incubus sighed.
“Well, you will die. That’s the shame of it, little girl. You would have made a powerful witch. And I would have enjoyed getting you there. Now you will die. And regardless which way you go, it will be painful and horrific. Still. It won’t be a total loss. One of the others will take my offer. Remember that. I did give you this chance. You turned it down. You chose death. I offered you hope and you threw it away.”
Miriam nodded.
“Sometimes we must carry on without hope.”
A scream of pain woke Miriam. The farm house had filled with smoke while she slept. She looked about, and saw that something had smashed the chimney and that was the source of the smoke. The Knights had their swords out and were ready for battle, but Miriam couldn’t see an opponent. She shifted to a sitting position and bumped against the corpse of an Obsidian Knight. His helmet lay beside her, something had torn open his throat with massive claws. She stifled a scream and kept looking. Two more knights lay dead on the floor of the hut.
Miriam noticed one of the girls was still sleeping. She lay at the center of the pile, writhing and moaning. Miriam stared, the girl looked as though she were having the best sex of her life. She gasped and groaned and brought her hands between her legs.
Eve stared down at the girl, “Hell of a time for a dream like that.”
Miriam added things up in her head and realized what the other girl had agreed to do.
“She’s made a deal with an Incubus.” Miriam said.
The lead priest turned to stare at Miriam and then stared down at the girl on the floor. A shadow rushed through the smoke and knocked another knight to the ground.
“A witch will help us hold it off.” One of the surviving knights said.
“But the Incubus is taking too long.” The lead priest said.
The priest drew out a serpentine looking dagger and kicked one of the other girls back to the ground. He straddled the girl and, chanting in the dark speech, he rammed the dagger down through her breast bone. Blood sprayed everywhere and the girl let out a strangled scream. Miriam felt something push past her, an invisible wall of force that pushed the smoke and the air from the hut. She gasped for breath as the spell sucked the air from the building.
Miriam struggled to stand. As she struggled, she saw the shadow. The spell dragged the shadow out of the building along with the smoke and the air. Miriam wheezed in the darkness for a full minute before the spell ended and the air rushed back in. As the air returned the girl who had made the deal went still. Then she levitated into the air and to her feet.
The girl opened her eyes, and they glowed red.
The lead priest nodded to her. And then he indicated to the knights.
“Unchain her.”
Miriam watched as the knights freed the girl. That could have been her. But she had been too stubborn about her morals. She didn’t regret turning the Incubus down. But she felt jealousy as the newborn witch was freed from her manacles.
“What is your name, Lady?” The Lead Priest asked.
“Moll.”
“Welcome into the service of the Shadow, Lady Moll.” The Lead Priest said.
Miriam raised an eyebrow. To be called a lady even. She hadn’t realized she would be tempted by such a simple courtesy, especially not after the fact. But she was.
Miriam took stock of the situation. Their captors had been reduced to six Obsidian Knights and the original four priests. And with the sacrifice of the one girl and the conversion of Moll to the Shadow, the girls were reduced to five.
Their captors met outside the hut with Moll to discuss something they didn’t want the captive girls to see or hear. The other three girls remained quiet, unwilling even to look at Miriam or Eve. To Miriam, it felt like they had already been sacrificed and the dagger would be a formality.
“So, do you think we can slip out of these cuffs?” Eve asked, wrestling with their restraints.
Miriam looked at her wrists. She had never been heavy, the farm didn’t provide enough excess calories for her to gain weight. But working the farm had left her strong and she looked it. She didn’t have the delicate wrists of a noblewoman.
“I doubt it.” Miriam answered.
One of the other girls spoke up. “If we try, they’ll hurt us.”
Miriam turned to look at the girl. Eve rolled her eyes and pointed at the corpse of the girl sacrificed the night before.
“They’ll hurt us anyway. Or didn’t you notice?”
The girl didn’t answer. Eve turned back to Miriam.
“Say?” Have you been having dreams?”
Miriam cocked her head, suspicious. “What sort of dreams?”
“I’ve been having weird dreams where a voice tries to talk to me.”
Miriam flashed back to the dream of the Incubus. “Like it wants to make a deal with you?”
“I think so. I can’t remember it clearly. It’s muddy when I wake up.”
“It’s probably a demon trying to make a deal with you. Like the Incubus did with Moll.” Miriam pointed towards the newborn witch as she spoke.
“Maybe.” Eve said. “I’m not sure.”
“What else would it be?” Miriam asked. “What else would want to make a deal with one of us?”
“I guess.” Eve said.
Miriam put a hand on Eve’s shoulder. “I like you. Don’t make a deal with a demon. It isn’t worth your soul. No matter how tempting it seems.”
Eve opened her mouth to speak, but as she did an obsidian knight leaned his head into the hut.
“Already girls, let’s get moving. You have a date with an altar stone.”
The day was muggy and the air was thick with smoke and smog. The light lay like smoldering embers on the landscape. They marched all day. Miriam was used to hard work and the march didn’t bother her. Eve seemed to manage as well. The other three girls struggled. Eve and Miriam found themselves both helping the other girls throughout the day.
They marched. And Miriam watched as the shadow thing kept pace with them. She didn’t know if their captors were aware of it. And she didn’t care. She felt as though she should be scared as the thing kept pace with them so effortlessly. But it had only killed their captors, Miriam had noticed. Perhaps the girls weren’t of interest to their hunter. Maybe it had other plans.
Dusk was creeping across the landscape as they crested a hill. They were now in sight of the Sundered Tower, their ultimate destination. The horizon was lit up like a line of melting gold and shadows stretched like victims on the rack. The landscape around the Sundered Tower was pure devastation. A city had stood here once. No longer. Building lay where the blast from the Sundered Tower had thrown them. Stones spread across the whole valley. And scrub grass was claiming those ruins.
Miriam realized that there was no safe building for them to hide within. They lay exposed as the sun set. The thing hunting them could do as it liked.
Eve leaned back. “It’s still talking to me, you know. The thing from my dreams. I can hear it when I’m awake now. It wants me. And it isn’t letting go.”
Miriam shook her head. “Ignore it. Don’t give in. It isn’t worth your soul.”
“What if it isn’t a demon?” Eve asked.
“What else could it be?” Miriam answered.
“Keep moving.” The lead priest commanded.
“It’s nightfall.” Eve objected. “That thing out there is going to eat you alive if we keep moving, and then eat us too.”
“She’s right.” One of the knights said.
“And where do you propose we stop?” The priest said.
Nobody answered, and the priest spread his arms to cement his point.
“Keep moving.”
The knights started walking again. Miriam saw a shadow lengthen from a chimney standing alone in the devastation. The shadow stretched and snaked across the charred landscape. And then the shadow rose up in a form that seemed bipedal.
“It’s here!” A knight cried, drawing his sword. The other knights turned to face the shadow, scrambling to draw their own swords as they did.
“Now’s our chance,” Eve hissed, and kicked the back of the nearest knight’s knee. The knight stumbled.
The shadow surged forward, coalescing into a human-like shape. Huge claws extended from long skeletal shadow arms and the thing tore out the knight’s throat.
The knight next to Miriam and Eve turned. He snarled and faced Eve. Miriam watched as he drew his sword and raised it above his head. Miriam tried to scramble away, but she was still chained to the other girls.
And then a sunburst exploded overhead. And the dim overcast light transformed into full daylight.
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