Red Sonja and the Ten Levels of Hell
Part Two - Desert Hell
Red Sonja landed ass first as she tumbled out of the gate. Head still spinning and half blind from the flashing lights, she was glad she had at least landed on something soft, though after a few seconds it began to feel quite warm on her backside. In fact, as her head cleared, the realized that it felt like she had landed in an oven. Well, what did you expect? she mocked herself, this was supposed to be some kind of Hell according to that bastard Taurus. When Sonja's vision did clear she noticed four things. All of them were sharp, curved swords that were about an inch from her head on each side of her. As she followed the swords back to the arms that held them and to the bodies that the arms belonged to, she saw four men dressed in the traditional garments of desert dwellers everywhere. Long flowing robes, cloths to cover the head from the hellish heat and oh yeah the curved swords. As Sonja's gaze traveled past the men, she saw that she indeed was sitting on hot desert sands, hence her warm backside, and that the sands seemed to travel off in the traditional manner towards the horizon with no end in sight.
"Do not move or we will cut off your head!" shouted one of the four men in an agitated voice.
Four to one odds were nothing new or disturbing for the red haired warrior, but the disorientation of the gate had left Sonja at a distinct disadvantage for a fight. She coolly cocked a eyebrow at the speaker. "Would you mind pointing those things somewhere else?"
"Shut up demon," cried a second man. "You will stand up slowly and come with us. El Harrah will decide what to do with you." At that, the four men stood back slightly to allow Sonja to stand up, but she remained seated in the sand.
"I told you to stand up!" ordered number two.
"And he," gestured Sonja towards number one, "told me not to move or he would cut off my head. I am not moving until you get your act together and decide what you want me to do without making me lose my head."
The men began a hasty squabble about what to do and Sonja sighed. She was tempted to try and take the idiots out, but it would be iffy, even for her to go from a sitting position and fight four men who had their swords drawn while hers was still in her scabbard. As she listened to the four men, she realized that they were not speaking a language that she could understand, but somehow the meaning of their words was being sent straight to her mind. Sonja looked down at the silver chain that Taurus had given her. Hmmm, perhaps that was one of its functions.
"You will stand up and come with us to see El Harrah," said number one. "We have agreed on that."
Red Sonja decided she might as well go along with the men, at least for the time being and even allowed them to take her sword and the knife on her belt. The idiots didn't bother to search her any further so she stils had the daggers she kept in each boot, the garroting wire she kept hidden in hair and the lock pick clipped to the inside of her armor. In this rough and tumble world, a woman had to be ready to protect herself. It was a long hot walk over the desert back to the camp of these nomads which consisted of a dozen or so large tents baking under the desert sun. The four guards led Sonja to the largest tent in the center of the camp and rather rudely shoved her inside.
"Oh great El Harrah, we have brought you a prisoner, possibly one of the demons who have been plaguing us!" said idiot number one, coming smartly to attention.
Sonja looked around the tent. The man idio number one was addressing was sitting on a pile of pillows in the center of the tent. He was a swarthy looking man with a huge black moustache. Beside him were two identical women, dark haired and beautiful with large shining blue eyes.
"A demon Raziz?" scoffed El Harrah. "You and I have seen demons and I don't recall any demon having a pair of tits that huge!"
"But, but, she could be a female demon sir, and look at that fiery red hair of hers. I have never seen such hair before."
"Bah, if you were a male demon and your wife looked like that, would you bother going out to raid our camp? Of course not! You would stay at home and fuck her brains out and not care what mortals do. I rather doubt she is a demon."
Red Sonja decided it was time to speak up and took a step forward. "Great El Harrah, my name is Red Sonja. I am a traveler from far lands and I am no demon."
El Harrah looked surprised and Sonja realized that he too did not understand her spoken words, but that the silver chain had sent the words directly to his mind as well. "Hmmm perhaps I was hasty in my judgment of you," he replied. "There does appear to be something magical about you after all."
"Magical yes, but not demonic," insisted Sonja. "I am on a quest for a wizard who has kidnapped a friend of mine and a spell of his allows me to both understand and be understood by others who do not speak the same tongue as me."
"Perhaps that is true," admitted El Harrah, "but I must ask the advice of my two Shamans on this matter. May I introduce Jasmine and Jane," and he gestured to the two lovely women on either side of him.
Red Sonja blinked at the two mismatched names. "Umm, isn't that an unusual name for a desert princess?" asked Sonja looking at the two women, not sure which was which.
"Daddy was on a J kick that year," said the woman on El Harrah's right. "I was his eleventh child that year and frankly daddy dear was a bit drunk at the time of the naming so I ended up as Jane while my bitch of a sister got the good name."
"Why thank you sister," replied Jasmine. "Of course Jane in our language translates as 'desert whore' but I am sure that is just an unfortunate resemblance to your true nature."
