Transformation
Exhausted from the long day and the more pleasant but equally tiring night, the two girls burrowed under the quilts of their borrowed bed and drifted off to sleep. Sue slept soundly, lost in the dreamless darkness that followed exhaustion. Clara, for her part, tossed and turned and found that sleep brought dreams...
"Wait," she called, desperation in her voice. "Don't go! Please!"
None of them heeded her. Oh, they listened. Thora looked back over her shoulder, dread in her eyes as Sigurd hurried her along. He didn't attempt to look, just increased his pace. She tried to follow them, but found herself moving slower and slower. "Please!" she called. "It's still me! It's Clara!"
Still, they ignored her. They plunged into a stream of fleeing men and women, joining others that she recognized. There was Sue, gripping a sword and watching her, terror etched in her features. There was Aunt Ingrud and Uncle Arthur, herding their children and focusing their attention away. "Please!" she called, "please don't..."
A lance of flame struck the crowd moments before a bat-winged shadow flickered over the crowd. The sinuous black shape of the Godslayer banked, belching acidic flaming death into the panicking mob. Clara screamed for him to stop, screamed until she was hoarse, but he ignored her. Finally, like a great bat, he settled among the smoking corpses.
"WHY?" she screamed at him, tears dripping from her eyes.
"They are merely human," he answered. "They hold you back. Limit you."
"I'm human TOO!"
Verrier cocked his head at her, amused. She followed his gaze, looking at herself. At the great white and gold scaled bulk of her body, at the arms that stretched outwards as mighty wings. "No..." she whispered, starting to shake. "No. No. No, it can't be. NO!"
She sat bolt upright, screaming the last word. Gasping in the darkness, she explored herself with her hands. Flesh. All of it still familiar human flesh. She was still human. Still herself. Still Clara.
She was nearly dressed before Sue woke up, sunlight catching golden streaks in her blonde hair and the pink blush on her skin. Pushing back against the terror of the dream, she sat beside her on the bed and offered a kiss on the cheek, “Morning sleepyhead.”
Sue yawned big, and blinked a few times before she registered Clara’s appearance, and what it meant. “You’re dressed already?
“Yeah, we really should get moving. Thora and Sigurd can handle themselves well enough, but they aren’t Paladins, like us,” Clara explained, smirking to herself as she said the word
paladin. Lady Aurianna and Lady Justine both agreed to their promotion. That was all she wanted to focus on, the pride of her upcoming advancement. Not the dreams that still flooded her vein with adrenaline and questioned her humanity. “Why don’t you get dressed while I grab us some breakfast?”
The trip back towards the mountain was, paradoxically, going to take less time. Monsford had been unable to spare any horses, since the few that had survived were needed to help drag rubble and generally assist with cleaning up. As a result, they were on foot. But both of the girls bore the Mantle of Afodisia, granting them strength and stamina greater than any ordinary human. They could keep up a walking pace that would carry them at the speed of a trotting horse and maintain that pace for hours without needing rest. Really, the only reason Clara had bothered with a horse the last time had been for the sake of simplifying carrying her supplies.
"How do we find them?" Sue asked, and Clara thought she detected a note of bitterness in the other girl's voice.
"This is the main western road," Clara answered, pointing. "Or, it was. Until the Sarn was flooded. We just parallel the river, heading upstream, for about sixty miles. Roughly halfway to Kirstad. Then we look for the tribute road, and take it west towards the mountain."
"Are you sure they'll be there?" Sue sounded skeptical.
"Not completely. But traveling on horseback and wolfback, with Sigurd's arm still healing? It would make more sense to follow the roads then to strike out cross country. And it's been... a day, since I got to the mountain? Two?" She peered towards the mountain. "I'd bet they spent a day or two trying to find a different crossing, then started back. So, we'll find them on the road. I'm certain."
Despite herself, Sue found herself curious. "What... what happened to Sigurd's arm?"
"He got it broken by a wolf, when it tried to eat him." She held a hand about shoulder height. "Big bastard. Big as a horse –the wolf, not Sigurd." Then she giggled, and smiled a sly smile. "Well, maybe Sigurd
too..."
Sue rolled her eyes, grunted, and focused resolutely on the road.
***
Thora looked up sky, wondering if they would see him again. The massive black and red shadow and blocked out the sun as it flew over, leaving in the morning and returning at night. They agreed it could only be Verrier. Whatever Clara had done to spur the dragon into action, and whether Lord Verrier arrived in time to protect any of the town, the answers to those question lied in Monsford.
Still, the trip back towards Monsford took a sullen turn for the teenaged couple, as they wondered whether Clara had survived meeting with the dragon, and whether she was brave or selfish to leave them behind.
At least it started off that way, until the group same across signs they were not alone. Animal carcasses, drained of blood littered the forest road. Nothing natural could have done that.
Nothing but demons. As the sun grew low in the sky, the caught sight of the overhead threat. A group of succubi, practically naked and wielding tri blade weapons. With five demons and only three of them, the couple and their wolf could only flee the flying scouts. They would have stood a chance with Clara, but they were alone now.
Sigurd lay back, peering up at the stars through the branches. "Do you think she's still alive?"
"I hope so," Thora grumbled. "So I can
kill her."
There was no shelter to speak of on the Tribute Road, and little cover. But with flying demons about, they needed
something. And so, they'd piled branches against the windward keel of a large stone and crawled beneath them, wrapped in their cloaks and blankets and huddled together for security. Sleep wouldn't come easily, the both knew.
"I miss her too," Sigurd murmured, shifting a little and trying to find a comfortable place for his broken arm.
"I don't want to talk about it," Thora growled through gritted teeth. She wiped at her eyes, fighting against a wave of sudden emotion. "Not now."
Carefully, Sigurd rested his wounded arm in her side and did his best to hold her comfortingly. He said nothing, though. What was there to say? And so, they lay for a while, brooding together on the hard-packed earth and trying to sleep.
And then the wolf growled.
"Shit!" Sigurd whispered. "Do you hear that?"
The sound grew louder –the shrieking cry of a harpy on the attack, and distant voices. Distant voices that sounded faintly familiar...
***
"I told you we should have stopped for the night!" Sue shouted, gripping her sword hilt and watching the star-strewn sky.
"All right, all right," Clara replied wearily, keeping her back against Sue's "I..."
"Plenty of cover in that spinny about five miles back," Sue continued. "We could have had a warm dinner..."
"I know, all right?"
"...and gotten a good night's –crap! Here one comes!"
They whirled, and Clara let fly with a fist-sized stone. It missed the harpy by inches but spoiled the demon's aim. It pulled out of the dive, screaming in anger. Clara drew her mother's sword. "Right. Next time, I promise I'll listen! But for now, can we concentrate in killing these bitches?"
Sue tried to concentrate on the battle, but it was hard to see where they were coming from. Hard to pull herself away from her anger. This was all Clara’s fault! Just because she was so eager to get back to her other lovers. Now they had to fight a group of flying succubi at night. Demons who had gotten the drop on them, fighting on their terms, instead of terms that would have been advantageous to the paladins. EUGH! She wished the stupid demons would just carry off Clara, and leave her alone. Except Clara would probably fuck with them too, just like her mistress slept with the traitor.
Sue let out an angry cry as she swung at the diving demon, missing her attack in her fury. She wasn’t used to fighting so heatedly. Everything just made her so mad right now! Clara, the demons, the other couple they were out here to save, even herself. Mad that she slept with Clara last night, and here they were, racing off to rescue the rest of her lovers. Dammit, Clara used her to keep her bed warm, and then ran off to find someone to keep her warm tonight.
Another succubus swooped low and hit Sue in the back. Her armor protected her from the claws, but not from the strength of the blow, knocked the air out of her.
***
“Thora,” Sigurd whispered, as they crouched low to investigate the commotion. “It’s Clara! She is fighting the demons with another woman.”
“Another woman? It’s barely been a couple days and she already replaced me?” Thora growled, putting her armor back on.
“I think she is a paladin, too,” Sigurd tried explain, helping Thora with her armor, “We should help them.”
“I’ll help them! You’ll just get in the way, with your broken arm,” Thora snapped, irritably lacing up her boots. Sigurd stiffened, visibly hurt by his fiancée’s words.
“Don’t take your anger at Clara out on me!” Sigurd countered volume increasing, “I swear you care more about her than me!”
The fighting brought the attention of a succubus, who came in low to hack at Thora’s head. Sigurd pushed her down to the ground, covering her body with his own.
Hope pounced then, catching the demon out of the air and latching onto its shoulder. The succubus struck back, hacking at the wolf to get free. Hope responded with a yelp, and renewed fury, ripping the other arm right off.
“Are you okay?” Sigurd asked, trying to get up with using his broken arm, or hurt Thora.
Thora just nodded, suddenly embarrassed by her anger. Embarrassed, but unable to push it down or focus on the fight. She picked up her warhammer, and helped Hope finish off the demon pinned beneath her.
***
Clara cleaved at a harpy, who beat her wings back just in time for Clara’s swing to go wide. Goddess dammit, weren’t all the demons supposed to be dead? Did her and Lady Auri- Ari, did they kill them all when they took out Hydranes? Why were there still some left? And why did it have to be flying demons? Dammit, why didn’t they pack a bow and arrows? Why did Lady –errr, Justine have to use them all up? She helped kill Hydranes and Yarost’cherev! How were these bitches making her look so foolish?
Another attack missed it mark and Sue went down. Dammit! They faced down a demon lord and lived! Would they really perish to these things? She couldn’t go down like this. She was the Avatar of Love and War! Lord Verrier’s betrothed! But the thought didn’t bring as much comfort as resentment. These weren’t her choices. Things forced on her by the Gods. She just wanted to live a normal life, like a normal teenaged girl. But the goddess called upon her to be a paladin, and the dragon called upon her to be his mate. It wasn’t fair! What about what she wanted? Sue, Thora, Sigurd, Willam, Monsford. A simple life, as a human. Not as a dragon.
Another attack slashed as her back, ripping her armor in twain. Clara howled in rage now, fury overcoming her senses, and even her humanity, for the moment. Something burst from the wound, large leathery wings like Verrier’s. Like the dream she had, almost a week ago, when she dreamt Aurianna was a traitor. There wasn’t time to question it, or be concerned. All Clara knew now was that the succubi didn’t stand a chance.
***
Sigurd hacked and stabbed at the harpy with his sword, putting his own increasing anger into each blow. Damn her! He was glad she was all right, but maybe it would have been better if Thora
had gotten hurt. Take that attitude of hers down a peg or two. Make her remember that
Clara wasn't the only one she should be concerned with. Hell,
he hadn't abandoned her less than a day after pledging himself to her...
Hope tore a chunk of flesh from the thoroughly dead harpy and swallowed it. Moments later the dire wolf was retching it up, vomit splattering the mangled demon corpse.
"Fuck!" Sigurd snapped. "Your fucking wolf just
puked on me! Why the
hell did we keep it, again?"
"She's been more use than
you!" Thora snapped back. "
She's still some use in a fight, even after getting hurt!"
Licking her chops, Hope suddenly stiffened. A low growl sounded as the great, shaggy head swung back and forth, sniffing.
"Some use?" Sigurd shouted back. "You'd be fucking
dead right now, if it wasn't for me and my -
what the fuck?" The last happened as, with a snarl, Hope wheeled and bowled him over as she launched herself across the rocky ground.
***
Sue pushed herself to her feet, gasping in a desperate effort to refill her lungs. Damn, but that had hurt. She looked around wildly, trying to spot the next attack, raising her sword with nerveless fingers as she did. And then she froze at a blood-chilling sound. An inhuman roar of anger, far more like the deafening cries of the battling dragons than the shrieks and cries of the succubi.
Her heart seemed to stop when she realized where it had come from.
Clara.
She was in the air, carried aloft on great gold and pearl scaled leathery wings. They
should have been terrifying, should have given the dark-haired Paladin a demonic look, but they didn't. Instead, Sue could only see a dread and terrible avatar of war in her friend –a figure of wrath and vengeance, with a naked blade that shone silver in the moonlight.
The moment was broken by a harpy, diving at her with a spear. She batted the shaft aside with her own sword and then leapt, wrapping her arms around the succubus in a brutal parody of an embrace. The demon screamed in her face as its wings beat, lifting them both from the ground, and Sue tightened her grip with bone-cracking force. "You aren't getting away that easy
this time!" she laughed, smashing her forehead into the succubus' nose.
Sue and the succubus she was clenching went down, Paladin and demon hitting the ground at the same time. Sue was quicker to get up though, hacking at the wings of the harpy, ensuring a much closer fight this time around. The demon retaliated, slashing blindly with her spear, but Sue saw through the move, back stepping before stomping her boot on the shaft. The weapon cracked under the force, and the succubus stumbled back as her broken weapon broke free. Sue finished her with potent thrust through her heart.
As she sought out her next opponent, something whooshed in the darkness. Something big, moving quickly with a singular purpose. She readied herself for an attack she couldn’t quite see, but it ran past her, a massive wolf as big as a horse. Just like the one Clara had mentioned, before. But, where was it going? Looking up, Clara seemed to have the rest of the rest of the harpies under control, so Sue followed the charging lupine.
***
“Hope!” Thora called, not too loud, out of fear of attracting more attention from the demons. It was little use, the wolf had a mind of her own. Once she and Sigurd were out of cover, they saw it, the great golden wings flapping into the starlit sky. The being wielded a broadsword, and stuck down the other demons with overwhelming power. Even in the dark of night, Thora knew who it was.
“Clara...” she whispered, looking upon her friend and lover with wide eyes. Anger had turned into horror, as the girl radiated rage out of every pore of her body. Before her was an amalgamation of both Verrier and Afodisia, a child born of their fury and burdens.
Sigurd caught up to Thora now, and witnessed the same thing, complete with the dismay at her awesome and terrible form. What had happened upon the mountain? And was it better, that Clara had left them behind?
***
Flying was breathtaking. Clara had a taste of it before, as she clung to Lord Verrier’s neck as he soared over his kingdom, but this was different. This was of her power, at her own direction. Now it was her turn to twist and dodge the incoming attacks, mocking her attackers all the while. She hacked one demon in half, diseased legs twitched as they fell to the ground. Another swiped at her, howling her rage at the draconic paladin. Deflecting the blow, Clara drove her shoulder into the demon, knocking her off balance before cleaving her torso in from shoulder to hip.
The last harpy seemed to sense this was the end, fleeing in the opposite direction to escape with her life. Clara would be damned if one of these bitches would get away, propelling herself forward with all the speed her great wings could muster. A two-handed backswing took off the sucubus’ head, the body flying forward a few more feet before it’s death caught up with her. Surveying the surrounding around, she caught sight of Sue, following behind Hope, and Sigurd and Thora huddled into one another, just below.
Clara touched down before Thora and Sigurd, wings furling against her back. The euphoria of battle still sang through her veins, but the expressions of her friends was... troubling. "What's wrong?" she asked, stepping towards them. Both flinched back, and she stopped. "It's me...". Before they could answer, there was a flicker of firelight and a crack like thunder A howling sound of agony followed on its heels, and Clara whipped her head around.
"Hope!" Thora shouted, alarm in her voice. She threw herself into headlong flight, racing in the direction of the wolf's cry. Gritting his teeth, Sigurd followed after. A moment later, Clara's wings spread wide and she hurled herself into the air in pursuit of her friends. "Sue..." she whispered, sudden dread closing her throat. "Sue!"
***
Chasing a huge wolf might not have been the stupidest thing she'd ever done, but it was close. Sue leapt a large rock that the dire wolf bounded around, coming to a neat landing on the top just in time to see the wolf launch itself at something she didn't quite recognize. Something mummified looking, with skin like leather. Something that sang an atonal dirge that clawed at her mind and made thinking difficult.
Clara probably knew what it was. Clara knew everything, after all. Stupid bitch.
The demon sidestepped and lashed out, a line of fire lancing into the wolf's side. It stumbled and howled in pain and rage, and the sound momentarily cleared Sue's thoughts. The Dark
Choir! No
wonder she'd started seeing Clara for what a self-centered...
She shook her head. No! That was the Choir, not her! She wasn't weak, not like the others. Not like Clara's little bed-toys. She was a
paladin, damnit! Drawing her sword, she leapt at the demon.
***
Thora stopped in her tracks as she came upon the three demons, hurling infernal magic at her wolf. Taller than any man and as skinny as a skeleton, there was nothing natural about their countenance. Their skulls dripped with diseased pus and their skin was black as frostbite. Jaw opened impossibly wide, gleaming with row of jagged, broken teeth, and a maddening moaning seeped from their maws. Thora froze into the presence of their horrific visage, feeling her courage leave her.
It was the pained yelp of Hope that brought her out of her trembling, and the wrathful cry of a blonde girl, wielding a long sword and shield. Fingers gripped her warhammer, hammering it into the frail kneecap of the one fighting Hope.
An impossibly long arm and long claws returned the attack swiping across her torso and shredding her armor. Thora brought up another blow as the demon readied another attack, taking off the arm before it could strike. Its remaining fingers crackled with green flame, and discharged at her. Thora threw herself aside, just dodging the magic, and cowered as she began to doubt herself once more. Hope latched onto a leg, distracting the fiend just long enough for Thora to find her courage, and an opening, smashing her warhammer into its chest and splintering its ribs.
***
Sue blocked the unholy fire directed at her, bracing her shield and praying to the Goddess. This wasn’t nearly as terrifying as fighting Hydranes, or at least it shouldn’t have been, but when she faced down the demon lord, she had four paladins at her side. And it was day time, which helped so much! Being able to see her enemy, track their movements and ready counter attacks, it all made all the difference.
Still, she was a paladin! Lady Justine had said so. Killing demons was her duty; she couldn’t let something like darkness stand in the way of that. So Sue cleaved into her foe, her sword finding a bony, deformed thigh. It sent the demon down, but it wasn’t done fighting, swiping with its claws. Her sword stuck in the bony outgrowth, so she abandoned it, grasping her shield with both hands. The sickening thud of steel crushing bones sounded, drowning out the terrible song, and the demon fell. Following it down, she smashed her shield into its already cracked head, over and over again. Black blood splattered her and the ground. When its skull was no more than ebony mush, she yanked her sword free, and shards of femur splintered off.
***
One fiend remained, and Clara wanted nothing more than to rip it open with her own hands. Charging with the great speed her wings allowed, she tackled the demon into the tree behind it, likely killed it. Not good enough for Clara, however, as she dug fingers into its rib cage, and muscles bulged as she began to pull. Her efforts were rewarded with a shower of viscera as murky heart and lungs burst their infernal prison. Caked in black blood, she stood over its corpse in triumphant, and howled into the night.
“We won!” she screeched, turning to face her friends in celebration. But there was not cheer on their faces at they looked upon her. Only shock, and dread.
All of them stared at her Under the light of the moon, ichor glistened on her chest and face, and even splattered the large golden wings on her back. Clara stared back at them, the triumph in her eyes slowly fading as she took in their expressions. She could see as clearly in the darkness as if it were noon, and the shock and terror on their faces was perfectly obvious.
"Sue," she said, managing to make her voice sound normal as she stepped forward.
"Sigurd. Thora. It's... me. It's
Clara." But they gave way before her, stepping back and watching her with fear in their eyes. "I'm still..." she whispered, pain and fear in her voice. "I... I'm still... still...
me."
She raised a hand, seeing the talons caked with clotting black blood for the first time, eyes wide with shock as she turned them this way and that. She stopped when she saw her friends - the people she loved - had flinched back and raised their weapons. "I'm..." she whispered again, tears stinging her eyes, "I'm still... still..."
She couldn't finish. Her throat felt tight. Constricted. And her heart ached in her chest. And her tears blinded her to everything but the terror in their eyes. She threw her head back, giving voice to a roar of pain and rage, then spread her wings and threw herself into the air.
***
They stood in silence for a long minute, watching the winged figure disappear into the darkness. Finally, Sigurd broke the silence.
"Well, shit." He sighed, and carefully sheathed his sword. "We really fucked that one up, didn't we?"
Sue watched helplessly as Clara flew off, feeling her friend’s distress at their inability to understand her transformation. Clara flew towards the mountains, and it wasn’t long before they lost sight of her, their eyes much weaker in the darkness of night that Clara’s. With a sigh, Sue turned towards the couple.
“We have to follow her. She feels abandoned by us,” Sue insisted.
“She…abandoned us first,” Thora countered, under the lingering effect of the infernal song.
“Dammit, don’t you understand she did that for you!” Sue yelled, frustrated by Thora’s insolence, “She was trying to spare you her fate, and you can’t even forgive her? Be thankful she loved you enough to sacrifice herself for you!”
Thora stiffened, and sniffled. “But...but…we promised! All of us! We…didn’t want her to be alone…”
“Then don’t let her be alone now,” Sue ordered, firm in her tone. Looking over at Sigurd, the teenaged couple nodded and turned towards the paladin.
“Let’s go after her.”
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