Chapter XVI

After that first seduction Deidra slept in Therion's bed every night, though it took several more nights for her to become brave enough and confident enough to copulate with him without the aid of daemons. Therion was quite patient with her, partially because he genuinely cared for her, and partially because since she slept with him either way he wasn't really losing out any just because she relied on daemons to give her the nerve. When she did finally give herself to him, though, without the aid of the daemons, she found that she enjoyed it far more even than she thought she would. In spite of his being so beastly to his fellow man, and generally being a cruel and ambitious king, Therion had a tendency to take his partners' needs into consideration into the bedroom rather than just his own. He was a little shocked at how much noise she made, how surprisingly aggressive she was, and how wild she could really be. She always seemed so calm and innocent, but in the bedroom with Therion it was like she transformed into a wild animal, and Therion, in turn, was as rough as she pleased. For Deidra it was as if a whole new world of pleasures she didn't even know existed had been opened up, and she wanted to experience everything there was to experience. She was always asking Therion all sorts of questions, some that put a blush even on that wild beast's bearded cheeks. Furthermore she was insatiable; morning, noon, and night she'd practically hound him for more. Before Deidra saw seducing Therion as a means to an end, that end being that she wanted Therion to like her more. Now the sex was an end in and of itself, and almost every moment she thought about the next time she'd be able to find herself in that beast-man's strong arms.

For Therion opening this new door for Deidra created a few problems. The least of which was that Deidra, being innocent as she was in some ways, would often talk openly about their copulation at inappropriate times. Like at the dinner table. Or in front of Therion's soldiers. Or in front of the children of courtiers who lived in the castle. She'd even thoroughly embarrassed Boanne with a phrase ending in the words “...while you were back there,” on one occasion. But again, this was the least of the problems the physical relationship between the two brought up. There was also the matter that Deidra was telling fewer and fewer prophecies recently. Sometimes she'd even jokingly act as if she was giving some sort of prophecy, only for Therion to realize that every word was an innuendo and she was consciously telling Therion what she wanted.

“The beast king will be akin to Sulaiman, the most comely King of Nihilus. Covered in a blanket, experiencing great heat, he will know paradise,” followed by Daedra shaking her head out of the supposed trance and giving Therion her most lustful gaze.

Worse yet, Therion was becoming attached to Deidra. To say he was in love with her would be to give the animal more credit than he deserved, but it was getting harder and harder for him to imagine life without her. He could hardly imagine enjoying any night or morning where he couldn't run his hands along her lithe figure, kiss her neck, and listen to the sounds of her ecstasy. A king always has to worry about his heirs, especially in Therion's case because so many others who could have possibly inherited the throne so mysteriously died. The thought did cross Therion's mind to make Deidra his queen, but this was problematic. From a political standpoint a queen was expected to be someone who could rule the kingdom in the King's stead, or someone who, at the very least, could make leadership decisions should the King be unavailable. The nobility of Nihilus would have quite a field day insulting Therion's chosen queen were it to be Deidra.

The religious folk of Nihilus, of which Therion counted himself a member, would be outraged at this as well. Certainly they would have no problem with Therion giving in to the desires of a soothsayer, in some ways they considered her a higher authority than him. The problem was that if he tried to marry her, to tie her down to just him, and legally bind her to him, that would be outright blasphemy. How arrogant was a man who considered himself worthy to marry a woman who was a messenger, a vessel for the daemons? One who might, one day, even become an Aeon. Yes, heirs conceived out of wedlock could be counted as legitimate, but their rule was often contested by the nobility and distant relatives of the previous king. In order to produce heirs whose rule no one would contest Therion needed to conceive heirs with a queen, and said queen had to be acceptable in the eyes of his people. Would such a queen accept Deidra as Therion's mistress? Therion could imagine few situations where he could not force such a queen to accept that he was intimate with Deidra as well, but more importantly to him he worried that Deidra would leave in heartbreak if he was not loyal to her.

This was the first time Therion had ever worried about being loyal to a woman, or about a woman being upset if he were disloyal. If any of the previous women he'd been with had taken issue with his infidelities then the Void with them. As far as he was concerned they should feel honored that they were allowed into the King's bed, especially a king who actually cared whether or not they had a good time. Now it was he who felt honored, in part because Deidra was a soothsayer, yes, a soothsayer was easily higher than a king.

At the same time that he knew he couldn't make Deidra his queen, Therion also loved the idea of conceiving his heir with her. According to the stories, oftentimes the children of soothsayers were born with human bodies but daemon souls, they were BORN Aeons, but unlike most Aeons they didn't struggle with a period of madness from the initial bond with a daemon. This made their magic tremendously powerful. There were stories of Aeons who could bring people back from the dead, create enough food out of thin air to end a famine, command the weather, slaughter angels, and summon thousands of thousands of daemons through the Firmament on a whim. Such an heir would create a dynasty so great that it could never be torn down. Even illegitimate heirs, if they were Aeons of that caliber, could not be questioned. Their wisdom would truly be otherworldly, and their power so great that those not won over by their wisdom would cower in fear and not dare question their rule.

So it was that Therion hadn't decided what to do about his relationship with Deidra yet. As he sat up in bed early in the morning, thinking about this, he stared down at Deidra's sleeping face. She was so beautiful, the way her golden curls fell over her face, tickling her soft, white skin, her lips just barely open, almost as if she were pouting or preparing for a kiss, her long eye-lashes against her cheeks. He thought to himself, “Never mind the future, focus on the moment!” but then he thought, “Focusing on the moment got us into this situation in the first place.”

In the mean time Qenneth and Cory were dealing with an entirely different problem, that of retrieving Sulaiman's ring. Their first encounter with an angel had cost them many men, and all the while their weapons seemed to do nothing to the angel. If any man or woman had ever discovered a way to kill an angel the means to do so were lost to the Nihilites.

During that battle, though, they learned the way to defeat angels, only daemons or magic invoking the power of the Void could harm them. As such, they needed a new plan of attack. Nihilus' generals had a certain right designated only to them and the King himself; conscription. Invoking that right, Qenneth went to various small towns and villages not far from their path and conscripted whatever witches or warlocks he could find there, anyone capable of summoning daemons. Gathering together warlocks and witches for the quest of retrieving Sulaiman's ring served more than one purpose too, it would also, hopefully, shut Cory up. He'd been boasting about his tremendous feat of defeating an angel ever since that day. He only stopped for an hour at a time when Qenneth had his fill and threatened to hit him if he didn't shut up. It wasn't that what Cory said was even wrong, defeating an angel was an amazing feat. Qenneth just couldn't stand Cory's arrogance, and hoped that once he had others along who could accomplish the same thing that Cory would finally realize he wasn't truly all that special and be silent.

Qenneth found many proud practitioners of daemon magic, though when they heard what they were going after many were less than enthusiastic about joining Qenneth in his quest. Of course most of them didn't dare refuse, because refusing conscription was punishable by death. Some agreed to go along with Qenneth just because they adored and trusted this handsome war hero, even if they questioned his goals. Still others wanted to believe that the stories were true, and that when they found the ring the daemon lord Malkira would join their forces on the battlefield against the idolaters. An end to the constant holy wars with Arx was a worthy goal.

Once he'd gathered them all together, Qenneth discussed with them his plan. “We are going after Sulaiman's ring, a relic from Nihilus' history that can win us our war with Arx. The problem is that the ring lies in buried ruins guarded by angels. This is why I recruited all of you. You all have the means of defeating these angels. By summoning daemons and by invoking the powers of the Void you will crush them, and they cannot stand before us. I know it is possible to defeat angels because I have already seen a warlock and his powerful Familiar accomplish it. I will see to it personally that once we have completed this quest songs of glory are sung in your honor, telling of your bravery and might. You will forever be known as heroes of Nihilus, as revered as the heroes Wode, Loftur, and Donar. What's more, if you help us to bring Malkira to the battlefield do you not think he will be grateful? Malkira has the ear of Prunikos, and in the Void you will be rewarded far better than any mortal rewards I can offer. Our great King has set us on the path to victory, to the destruction of this prison and the death of the idolaters' false God. With your help we will bring freedom and salvation to all humanity. We will be united with our daemon brethren amongst the stars.” And having said that Qenneth rode out with his new fighting force to claim what had once belonged to Nihilus' most wise, handsome, wealthy, and powerful of kings.

The conscription was fuel for the fire, however, for one Kalvyn Silverlocke. This dark-skinned man from Subra had spent the last few months secretly preparing the common people of Nihilus for a revolution. He hated tyranny. He'd fought slavery in the West, deposed sultans and emirs in Subra, and led several revolutions all over the world, each time known under a different name. He'd been known as Ilom in his homeland, Jezriel in the West, and finally as Kalvyn Silverlocke in Nihilus. Now, with the most beloved of King Therion's generals conscripting the common people for a quest that was said to be a fool's errand, Kalvyn knew he had a chance to recruit more followers than ever before.

But he rarely did anything too drastic without first consulting his ancestors, and so, after hearing the news of the conscription, Kalvyn locked himself in his private quarters and began the ritual. He painted his dark skin with white paint, in the shapes of various tribal symbols. The people of Subra were no longer divided into various nomadic tribes as they once were, but they all thought it important to remember their tribal history, for doing so allowed them to better communicate with their ancestors. Kalvyn stripped himself down to the bare essentials of clothing, something his ancestors often did when going on a hunt, because of how hot the weather could be in Subra. Even in the winters the sun was so bright and hot that a man from Arx or Nihilus would find it unbearable. Kalvyn knelt on the stone floor, whereupon was painted a conjuring circle, with the symbol of Kalvyn's tribe and the various symbols of the tribes greatest leaders, heroes, and wisemen.

Kalvyn spoke in the Subran language, which was different from the common tongue spoken in Arx, Nihilus, and the city-states. Indeed, it was even different from the language the people of Subra spoke most of the time, but it was the traditional language, the language the ancestors spoke long ago. “My wise and powerful ancestors, I call upon you for guidance on my newest path.” Kalvyn placed his hands on the conjuring circle. “I have been following the path you set me on, and now I ask for your help in taking the next steps.”

The wind picked up in the room, blowing dust all around, and throwing Kalvyn's silver-colored locks back. The wind seemed to come from the conjuration circle on the ground itself, as if it had become a tunnel through which air could flow freely and there was a hurricane on the other side. When the wind died down Kalvyn could see several of his ancestors, dressed in their tribal garments and looking upon him with a sense of pride that would stir any man's heart. Kalvyn lowered his head, bringing his nose down to the ground, and let the tears of joy and pride drip from his one eye onto the stone tiles (Kalvyn had lost his other eye years ago, and an eye-patch now covered the spot where it used to be).

“Raise your head, Ilom,” one of the ancestors said to him, in the ancient Subran tongue, and in a voice so deep and reverberating that it shook the walls.

Kalvyn obeyed and looked up at the spirits of his ancestors, all standing on the air itself, above the ground, and all appeared as if they were made of smoke, fire, and dust. Another of Kalvyn's ancestors began to speak to him. “You have done well to sow the seeds of a revolution in Nihilus, but King Therion must not be killed by an assassin's blade.”

“If I may ask,” Kalvyn said. “Why not?”

“Because murdering him will only make a martyr of him, and the nobility will squeeze the common people far worse than they did before.”

“Then how can I win? How can I defeat the tyranny of Nihilus and free the people?”

“You must wait for Nihilus to go to war,” one of the ancestors said. “Soon they will bring their full military might down upon Arx, and then they will be vulnerable. The tyrant King of Nihilus believes that after he executed the last three assassins and their families that all rebellion within Nihilus has come to an end, let him continue to think so until his forces are already all in Arx. If he suspects rebellion within Nihilus then he will hold many soldiers back to fight off that rebellion, but if he does not he will commit nigh all of his warriors to fighting the idolaters.”

“Your force,” said another ancestor. “Is formidable, but nowhere near strong enough to defeat the full army of Nihilus. Were you to face the legions of the generals Meriel, Lorna, and Qenneth you would surely fail and your followers would be butchered.”

“We will not see the people of Nihilus die unnecessarily, Ilom, nor do we wish such a fate on you. Only with patience will you achieve victory.”

Another ancestor spoke. “Remember the stories of our battles. We did not fight the tribe of Kingu as soon as they began encroaching on our hunting grounds. Rather we let them feel secure, even pretended to leave the savannah, and when they had gotten lazy and careless we launched our surprise attack on their men. We crushed them utterly, and ensured they'd never be back to give us grief.”

“I understand, wise ancestors. When it does come time to strike,” Kalvyn asked, “Will I have you by my side?”

“Yes, Ilom. Summon us into the bodies of every enemy you slay and every ally who falls and you will have an army that gains as the battle progresses. Trap Therion in his own castle, make it as much a prison as a safe haven, and he will be defeated.”

“I shall heed your advice, ancestors. I thank you all from the depths of my heart.” With those final words the ritual was done, and the spirits of Kalvyn's ancestors soon faded away into the spirit realm.