The Druid and the Igniad
Chapter 10
In some other part of the castle, Gern attacked Labolas viciously, but could not land a blow. He kept up his mental ward, wary of being placed under a spell, and tried to keep the demon on the defensive.
"You have brought war upon us!" Gern accused. "You have violated a sacred crystal grove!"
"I did not come here by choice." Labolas growled, deflecting another blow.
"I know in my bones that's a lie."
"Everything you know is a lie!" Labolas growled deeply. "You are a speck in the Weave!" He pulled an imposing sword of bronze out of the air, and with a beat of his wings, hewed at Gern with a mighty sweep.
Gern tried to block with his staff, but the heavy blade tore through the wood like a landslide snapping a tree that had stood stalwart for centuries. Gern narrowly tilted his head out of the blade's reach, and fear gripped him as he saw Labolas snapping the sword back around for second swing. He instinctually knew he didn't have time to dodge it, but he tried anyway. Suddenly, a power manifested around him, and the heavy blade narrowly missed Gern as the very air moved him by inches. Labolas swung again, but the airy power moved Gern aside with perfect anticipation.
Labolas growled out spells and tried to cut Gern down, but upon each attempt Gern was protected, physically and magically, and Labolas could discern in the air the beating of wings that were not his own. Gern felt the tingle of magic goose-bump his skin, and knew it had to be the spell Lu had placed on him the day before.
"Ragh!" Labolas barked, and threw his sword down, which fell into an abyss beyond the floor. "So, the igniad saw fit to protect her pet, and Garanus himself came to ward you from me. Only sex magic could have summoned so powerful a being. But even with such protection, you are not invulnerable."
Labolas beat his wings and glided into the darkness. As he vanished, flames leapt up on wall sconces that, a moment ago, had been cold and dark. Two sultry figures became visible in the room. They were bronze-skinned women of fine features, one with soft blonde hair and the other with a head of luscious red, both with petite dark horns crowning their foreheads. They wore strips of silver silk ribbons woven together like basketry into dresses from a hoodless cowl of chain draped over their shoulders. The snug ribbons conformed against their young, bronze-bright skin.
They walked around Gern, eyeing him hungrily. Gern assumed a defensive stance, and noticed he was in a very large bedroom. The domed chamber was scaled in obsidian, and red fabrics adorned the walls and the bed canopy. The sultry women converged on him, reaching to grasp his arms, but Gern grappled the blonde in a collar and elbow tie-up, then threw her into her companion.
Gern didn't want to waste time fighting minions. He ran towards the heavy door, hoping he could find Lu or their daughter. He had almost reached the door handle when he was caught in a waist-lock from behind as the red-haired woman leapt onto him. He was pulled down, and the creamy ribbons unwove themselves from her. They magically reared like striking snakes, then wrapped around his arms.
He rolled over and pinned her under him. The ribbons restrained him, but he mustered his strength. He yanked one hand back and was about to send his fist indiscriminately towards her face, when it was seized by ribbons from the other woman's dress.
He was pulled off the red-head, who got up and assumed control over his other arm. The two women held the ribbon-ropes and kept Gern between them like a tethered beast.
"Look, Isiri," the red-haired one said, "We've caught a wild thing!"
"He's all blue-swirly and face-pretty, Lilinthine," Isiri said, shaking her golden hair from her eyes.
"He looks like fun. Besides, he cannot know ultimate suffering until he knows ultimate pleasure."
"You can give me neither," Gern said, "you poor wretches!"
"We're not wretches, we're wenches!" Isiri exclaimed.
"I can think of a better use for your mouth, druid," Lilinthine said smugly.
"My bite is worse than my bark," Gern said, and chanted for the favor of He who sits in the First Fork of the Oak. His skin hardened with the strength of living wood, and he yanked the women towards him. He knocked Lilinthine over with a haymaker, but Isiri tackled him from behind again. Before her dress of ribbons could unweave itself further, he grabbed her leg, pulled her off his back, then swung her into Lilinthine.
To his surprise, Lilinthine's dress of ribbons had completely unwoven, and caught Isiri like an anemone grabbing its food. Isiri and Lilinthine's ribbons interlaced, and Isiri's smaller frame was spooned by the taller woman. They came at him like a four-armed, four-legged acrobat, and though he tried to wrestle his way to some advantage, he soon found himself pinned to the floor on his back, his wrists and ankles bound in the self-weaving ribbons.
Gern struggled to no avail, then recited a mantra to keep himself calm and keep his mental wards up, lest Labolas put a spell on him.
"What a pretty song he sings," Lilinthine said from her waist-lock over his thighs.
"I bet he can make us sing, too," Isiri cooed, and unwrapped Gern's war-kilt.
Gern felt a bead of sweat move across his temple. He tested the strength of the ribbons again, but they held like iron chain. He looked around the bedchamber for something that he could use. No potted plants, nothing that he could make grow. The whole room was clean and sterile. He could only hope that Lu could come to his rescue, but feared that she would lose against Evalyn without his help.
