"Avaritia told me he found you in the Necrosilvam," Gula explained. "The quickest way from the Necrosilvam to Valefor is through the Weeping Waters. I couldn't manage that swamp myself, so I thought I'd wait for you on the other side. Nice job with that dragon, by the way."

"You saw me fighting a dragon but didn't step in?" Lux raised an eyebrow.

"You had it under control," Gula shrugged. "And I hate dragons."

"So do I," Lux muttered. "Where did you see Avaritia?"

"He tracked me down at the bar just to gloat about how awful you were doing. He said that Ira had beaten you to a pulp and you were working with a hag." He glanced back at Wick. "Sorry. Those were his words, not mine. I personally think you're much too lovely to be a hag."

Wick snorted at his compliment, and Lux laughed.

They walked on, but things were much easier past the Weeping Waters. Gula and Lux talked some, and Wick listened but didn't add anything. She kept her pace a few steps behind them and couldn't wait for all this to be over. Working with peccati made her edgy.

They reached a clearing with a clear stream running through it. Jagged rocks stood on the other side, and above that, the red tower where Valefor lived. The air smelled thickly of brimstone, and Wick held a cloth in front of her face to stifle the scent.

"That reminds me," Gula said when he glanced up and saw Wick covering her nose. "You need to get cleaned up."

"What?" Lux asked. "We're almost there."

"But you stink like the swamp," Gula said. "If you expect us to get past the ogres at the gates, we'll need have the element of surprise, and you reek like fish and sea dragons."

"Fair enough."

Lux was still covered in muck from swamp. His hair was even caked back with mud. Gula sat on a rock near the brook, and Lux waded down into it to clean himself off. He went a ways out into the water, where it was deep enough for him to really get washed up.

Wick stood off to the side of Gula, watching as Lux scrubbed the soot from the dragon's fire off his skin.

"Lux was never really that bad," Gula said, his voice quiet so Lux couldn't hear.

"What?" Wick glanced over at the giant man sitting on the rock next to her.

"Lux. He was never really cut out for this," Gula elaborated. "Not really. He liked nice things and pretty girls, but that's about as evil as he gets. And he's loyal. He's stood up for me to Valefor many times."

"He stood up to Valefor?" Wick raised an eyebrow.

"Well, n.o.body stands up to Valefor," Gula admitted. "But when Valefor would think of doing away with me, Lux would point out all the things I had done, and he would ask Valefor to a.s.sign me on missions with him, so I'd have something that made me look useful."

"Why?" Wick asked and turned to face him. "Why would Lux do that? Why would he do anything for anyone that besides himself?"

"He's my friend, and he has been for a very long time," Gula said. "We joined Valefor about the same time, and we've always had each other's back. We've seen a lot of other peccati come and go, but we've both remained."

"How long have you been friends?"

"Oh, I don't know." Gula thought and shook his head. "Centuries."

"Centuries?" She gaped at him.

Both peccati and virtus were immortal when in the service of their masters. They would not even age. The only way they finished their duty was if they were killed or bowed out, but bowing out was not an option for Valefor. n.o.body left him.

Wick knew that, and she'd even known that Iris was over a century old when she stepped out of her role as the castimonia to marry Lily's father and start a family. But from the way Lux had acted, she hadn't thought him more than a few decades as the luxuria.

"And he doesn't say it, but he had his heart broken," Gula said. "That's how he ended up here. He does have a heart. He's just been trying not to use it for a few hundred years."

Lux had finished washing himself up and stepped out of the stream. He shook his head, shaking out the cold droplets of water from his hair, and looked seriously at Gula and Wick.

"What do you say we go rescue Lily?" he asked.

The water left him feeling refreshed, and he started the trek up the jagged rocks with new fervor. Wick followed close behind him, though even she couldn't match his pace. Gula trailed behind, but Wick had to admit that he was rather agile for someone so large.

There was an easier way to the lair a road that led right to the front door. But if they took that path, Valefor would see them coming a mile away. The only way they stood a chance was to sneak in. So that's what they meant to do.

Lux led the way through a secret pa.s.sage that went under the moat. Valefor had made it for the canu, so they could sneak out and catch unsuspecting prey. The tunnel smelled of canu dung, and there were bones all over with meat hanging off.

Wick noticed with some disgust that there was a chewed up irin wing on the ground. Most of the meat was missing, but the feathers remained.

The pa.s.sage branched off in several directions, so the canu had many different places to exit. Lux chose the path farther to the left, because it opened up right below the bridge in front of the main gate. Valefor used it to get a jump on anyone trying to invade his lair.

But this time Lux had the upper hand. Now all he had to do was climb up on the bridge and get rid of the two ma.s.sive ogres blocking his entry to the tower.

18.

Addonexus heard them coming first. He reared on his back legs again, and even Aeterna's soothing voice seemed to have no effect on him. Aeterna straightened himself up and tried to stand, but the lame wing made him off balance. Lily helped him up, letting him lean on her shoulder so he could stand.

By then, she heard it too. The clicking of their feet on the stone path to the dungeon, and the horrible hissing of their breath. She didn't know what they were, but she could see the fear in the unicorn's eyes. Even Edgar cowered back in his cage, doing what he could to hide.

"Be strong," Aeterna whispered, his voice in her ear. "Don't let them know that you're afraid."

"What are they?"

"Sonneillons," he answered, his eyes fixed on the gates, watching for them to come. "They are daemons of hate, lesser minions of Valefor. They thrive on torture."

Lily put her arm around Aeterna, helping to support him, and that gave her strength. Their footsteps grew louder, and Lily swallowed hard and held her head high. Even when the sonneillons appeared in front of the gate, and she bit her tongue to keep from crying out in horror, she refused to show any fear.

They were hideous creatures unlike any she'd ever seen before. They were tall, but they bent over. Even hunched like that, they were still taller than either Lily or Aeterna. Their skin was burgundy leather, though it appeared to be peeling in many places, revealing putrid green patches underneath. Small horns jutted out from their skulls near the front. Short, black hair covered their scalps and grew down the backs of their neck until it stopped between their shoulders.

They were thin to the point of being emaciated. All of their bones pushed against their flesh, and the b.u.mps of their spine looked like spikes down their backs. Small, bright yellow eyes seemed to glow from their sunken faces. Four rows of razor-sharp teeth filled their mouths, just below a long hooked nose. Though they had the legs of a man, they had the cloven hooves of a beast, making them stand more like a satyr.

But the thing that Lily found the most horrifying was their hands. Their fingers were unnaturally long, growing nearly a foot. At the tips were long black nails, looking more like talons than fingernails. One of the sonneillons reached between the bars, extending his long arms so they nearly touched Lily. The other one got the key ring from where it hung on a belt around his waist. He had a long, golden rope wound up next to it, and Lily didn't want to know what they meant to do what it.

"She smells delicious," the first sonneillon said.

His voice had a strange vibrato to it, and it was somewhat high for a creature so large. It had a vileness to it that sent chills down Lily's spine, and one of his sharp claws reached out, barely running down the bare flesh of her arm.

"I want to dine on her flesh," he added, and a narrow forked tongue flitted out of his mouth, licking his lips.

"We're not here for her, Cifer," the other one snapped, and the first sonneillon pulled back his hand. "We can have sc.r.a.ps of the irin when we're done."

"Yes, I suppose that will do, Beeze," Cifer said, and his hungry gaze went from to Lily to Aeterna.

Beeze had a large key carved from an irin's bone that twisted in the lock to open it. Lily knew it was irin bone because it was pure white but it sparkled like diamonds. It was one of the strongest substances on Earth.

"You will dine on nothing," Lily said, her voice as strong as she could make it. "You will starve to death before I let you eat anything in this room."

Both of the sonneillons laughed, a horrible cackling sound that echoed off the walls of the dungeon. Edgar crouched down and covered his ears, while the unicorn brayed and stomped the ground.

"Lily," Aeterna said quietly. "They are not here for you. Don't anger them."

"Listen to your friend," Beeze suggested and opened the gate. "He knows too well what we can do."

"No." Lily stepped forward, moving in front of Aeterna. "You will not take him."

"Cifer." Beeze narrowed his eyes at Lily, so they were merely slits of yellow light. "Move her."

"With pleasure." The sonneillon smiled widely, revealing all the teeth in his horrible mouth.

With surprising speed, he charged at Lily. He swung out at her, and she ducked his first hit. He growled in frustration and slapped her, his claws digging sharply into her face. She flew back on the ground, crashing into the skeletons near Addonexus. The unicorn reared, and Lily barely moved in time to avoid being crushed under the frightened animal's hooves.

"Get the beast before he kills her!" Beeze commanded. "The master will not be pleased if she is destroyed."

Beeze tossed the rope to Cifer, who walked cautiously toward the unicorn. He held up his hands in a gesture of peace, but Addonexus was not fooled. He slammed his ma.s.sive frame into the wall, attempting to escape that way. The unicorn was too afraid to think. He could only stomp his feet and neigh in anger.

"Leave him alone!" Lily shouted and scrambled to her feet. She ran at Cifer, jumping at his back, even though it revolted her to touch his peeling flesh. He knocked her off with ease and kicked her back with one of his hooved feet.

"Lily!" Aeterna yelled. He made a move to help her, but Beeze grabbed onto his injured wing, yanking it back. Aeterna cried out in pain and collapsed to his knees. "Lily! Stop! This is my time. I've made peace with that. You need to save yourself."

Lily lay on the ground, surrounded by the remains of others who had tried but failed to escape. She looked over at Aeterna. Beeze was behind him, and he threw a noose around Aeterna's neck. He tightened it, and Aeterna grimaced but didn't fight it.

"Get up!" Beeze told him, yanking on the rope so the irin would get to his feet. Beeze meant to take him away like that, walking him on the noose like a dog on a leash.

A great and glorious irin would be dragged around by a cackling sonneillon. The very thought of it broke Lily's heart.

As Aeterna struggled to his feet, hampered by the rope around his neck and his broken wing, Cifer continued fighting with the unicorn. Addonexus would not calm, and Cifer wouldn't move closer until he did.

"Everything will be alright, Lily." Aeterna tried to comfort Lily as Beeze pulled him toward the door. The irin's dark eyes were pleading with her, begging Lily to do nothing so she could save herself. "Just remember what I told you."

She looked away from him with tears in her eyes and turned back to Addonexus and Cifer. The unicorn was so terrified, and Lily had no idea how to help it.

"Cifer!" Beeze yelled. He waited just outside the gate with Aeterna. "Hurry up and get the beast! The master is waiting!"

"I am trying!" Cifer snapped. He stepped toward Addonexus, but when the unicorn stomped its hooves, Cifer stepped back again.

That's when Lily realized the sonneillon was afraid of the unicorn. She sat up, her eyes locked on the unicorn's.

"Addonexus," Lily said, keeping her voice as calm and even as she could. She wasn't even sure unicorns could understand her, or if Addonexus would listen to her if he did. But she had to try. "Addonexus, listen to me. He has no power over you. You are stronger than him. You can stop him."

"Shut up, you wench!" Cifer yelled and kicked a broken skull at her.

But Addonexus's black eyes stayed on hers, and he stopped moving. He stood still and snorted once, but that was all.

"Get the horse, you fool!" Beeze told Cifer. "She has him calmed!"

Cifer moved toward the unicorn, and Addonexus didn't move. He seemed transfixed by Lily. Cifer raised up his rope, preparing to toss it over the unicorn's head. Just as he did, Addonexus suddenly turned to look at him. Before Cifer could do anything more, Addonexus charged at him and ran him straight through with his horn.

"Vile wench!" Beeze shouted as Cifer's b.l.o.o.d.y corpse slid off the unicorn's horn and onto the ground.

Addonexus turned his attention to Beeze, who slammed the door shut before the unicorn could get him. Lily jumped to her feet. An irin skull glinted near her feet, intact despite Addonexus stomping it. She grabbed it quickly and ran towards the gate.

Aeterna saw that they might have a chance to escape, so he unfurled his good wing and batted Beeze with it. It didn't hurt him really, but it knocked him off guard for a moment. That was all the time Lily needed.

She threw open the gate, and Beeze turned to face her. He hissed in anger, opening his mouth wide, and grabbed onto her. His long, bony fingers squeezed around her waist, and he lifted her up. Before he could toss her aside or snap her in half, or whatever it was he meant to do with her, Lily raised her arms over her head. His yellow eyes glimmered with surprise as she brought the irin skull down onto his head with all her might.

They both fell to the ground, the sonneillon landing on top of her. The blood from his head wound spilled out into her, and Lily pushed him off her as quickly as she could.

"Did she kill him?" Edgar asked from the cage.

"No, I don't think so," Aeterna said, peering down at Beeze. "I think he's only unconscious."

"Are you alright?" Lily asked Aeterna as she got up.

"Yes," he nodded. "Are you?"

"Yes, but we must hurry." Lily ran over to the gate and pulled the key from the lock.

Edgar's cage hung from the ceiling by a rope attached to the wall. The irin key was cut with jagged ridges, making it almost like a serrated knife. Lily went over to the rope and started sawing through it.

"You don't have time to worry about me," Edgar said. "It won't be long before more sonneillons come looking or Beeze wakes up. You need to get out while you have a chance."

"I'm not leaving anyone behind," Lily said, gritting her teeth as she struggled to cut through the rope.

Aeterna stood by the door, watching for anyone to come. Addonexus shook his head, trying to get the blood off his horn. He stomped one of his feet, but he appeared much calmer than he had before.

Lily finally got through the rope enough, and Edgar's cage clattered to the floor.

"Edgar!" Lily exclaimed and knelt down next to it. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit shaken."

The cage was on its side but Edgar stood up in it easily. Lily took the irin key and opened the cage, and he ran out. Edgar ran right to her nd threw his arms around her, tears in his emerald eyes.

"Thank you freeing me."

"No thanks is necessary." Lily hugged him back, but only for a second before she got to her feet.