Offering
The morning sun burns against Ennui’s pale cheek. The injuries she had suffered from the scuffle with the creatures had left her exhausted. The moment she had secured Augustus in his bed, she had begun to drift from exhaustion. Her dreams were plagued with childhood horrors, of shooting stars, and roaring fires.
The tattered sheet around her shoulder hardly serves to keep her warm, but it still feels comforting against her skin. The tip of her finger runs along the length of the curtain as the sun fills the room with light. Augustus’ cheek rests against his shoulder, his chest rises and falls with his heavy, obnoxious snores. A smile flickers across her lips at a particularly loud, roaring snore. I slept through the whole damn night. It’s hard for her to admit how exhausted she was. Days of training had taken their toll, the evening of combat pushed her over the edge. The snowy courtyard had not changed overnight, the gate still shut.
Pulling the curtains closed, she pulls herself from bed. The stiffness of her muscles nearly beckons her return to the worn mattress. With an audible groan, she crosses the room and tosses the hallway door open. Mido sits a distance away, the back of his head against the wooden wall, a ratty cover pulled past his chin. His pointed ears wiggle with every footstep she takes, before stilling again. At the opposite end of the hall, a smudged window, which looks out over the city, filters dappled light into the hallway. The sky has an unusual gray tint, a smoky air about it. The door snaps shut behind her and Mido’s ears wiggle once again, his eyes flitting open.
Quietly, she saunters to the window. With a bit of the sheet, she rubs a pane clear. Her eyes widen, her mouth drops open. From what she can see of the, the city beyond the forest is gone. The ships along the docks have sunk into the harbor, their masts broken and bent. Homes as far as she can see are nothing more than ash. Her tail snaps through the air, unable to mask her emotions. Mido approaches her from behind, his light steps cause her to twist on her heels.
“What happened?” Ennui asks, disbelief lacing her tone.
Mido hums to himself. “We can talk about it later. Neither of them have woken up yet… I’ve been waiting all night.”
Ennui exhales sharply after another glance at the city. “Have you checked on them?”
“Yes. I have. Many, many times,” he replies, wrapping himself in the blanket. “I-I’m doing everything that I can, Ennui!”
Everything you can? You’re supposed to be a fucking acolyte.
Ennui shoves past him. “Do more,” she growls.
Mido grabs her wrist, his expression grim. “Ennui, I’m trying. Really.”
Ennui rips her hand away, her exhaustion melts into anger. The flat of her tail snaps between them as she enters Lumi and Khimi’s bedchamber. Quiet. Impossibly quiet. Any other time these two were together, they could never shut up. A faint crackle of flames breaks her stupor. Lumi rests on his side. Even from this distance, she can see his breathing is uneven and labored. Khimi still hasn’t moved, his back flat against the mattress, his chest rising and falling with calm, even breaths. She moves to the foot of the bed and shifts her gaze away, seeking something, anything to distract her from the sight.
“Hells, you’re absolute idiots,” she grumbles under her breath. “Idiots. We’re barely in the north, and you’ve both already tried to get yourselves killed.”
Mido stands in the doorway. “I think Khimi is on the mend. His skin doesn’t feel as clammy, and his breathing has normalized. I can’t tell you anything about Lumi. He’s hot to the touch.”
“Tell me what happened.”
Mido regales her with the tale of what transpired—how he had followed Lumi through the night and into the forest, keeping his distance so he wouldn’t be heard. He explains how he watched the whole scene unfold before his eyes, but he falters briefly when recounting his return to the manor. Ennui does not press him.
“My understanding of the Faith is limited at best,” Ennui whispers, her voice breaking at the end. “Can anything be done?”
“I think we just have to wait and see if he recovers…”
Ennui rises from the foot of the bed. Near the window, she glances down at the city. “I’ll go find us something to eat. I know everyone is starving.”
Mido remains quiet, his head bowed at his feet. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I should have stopped him.”
Ennui’s laughter escapes before she can stop it. “Mido, you couldn’t have stopped him if you tried. Not because you’re not strong enough, but because Lumi is a monster when it comes to getting what he wants.”
“What would you have done differently?” Mido questions, his ears twitching.
“Knocked him out, carried him back. But I don’t know if in this instance that would have even been viable,” she replies, passing Mido in the doorway. “I need to find a bow.”
She leaves the room in silence, skirting past Mido and down the stairs. A draft blows through the shattered manor. She bundles the wool jacket tighter around herself and pulls up the fur-lined hood. Bursting through the front door, she sucks in a sharp breath through her teeth and tilts her head to the sky. The cool air fills her lungs, the scent of smoke thick around her. The remnants of the manor loom behind her, casting an oppressive shadow over her.
“Not much longer now,” Ennui mutters at her should be home. “Hopefully, we never have to look at each other again.”
At the center of the courtyard, she turns back for a long, indulgent look at the ruined estate. What once had been beautiful is now nothing more than a shell of its former glory. There is a part of her that wants to raze the remaining parts—to see its memory burned to ash. She sweeps a hand across her forehead in thought. Khimi, you better wake up.
Through the snow, Ennui makes her way to the city. The scenes of destruction unfold before her eyes as she nears the top of the hill. Most of the fires had dwindled down to embers, leaving the skeletal remains of buildings in their wake. Only a handful remain unmolested, a few outliers that sit above the hill. From the base of the hill down to the docks, nothing but rubble and ash stretch before her. Smoldering embers and trailing smoke is all that remains. At the center of Cochon, in front of the shrine, Ennui kicks through the rubble. There has to be something.
Along the docks, she comes across the house they slept in on their first night. Fire has partly consumed the building. The door hangs ajar, black ash coating everything inside. Ennui taps her foot, racking her brain. She recalls the layout of the city from her youth. It takes a moment to align her sense of direction before she makes for her destination. Most of the building is destroyed, but the massive forge remains in the center. The wooden floor crumbles beneath her feet in places. Metal spear tips, half-finished swords, and arrowheads are all that remains of the forge.
Pushing deeper inside the forge, she finds what she’s looking for. The front of the metalworker’s shop still remains intact. A wall displays an assortment of weapons. Nothing extravagant, but practical all the same. There, among the assortment, she finds a shortbow without a bowstring. The bow is light in her hand, similar to the one that Mamir had wielded. She searches the shop, and eventually uncovers a quiver and a few dozen arrows. Rummaging through a mess of cabinets and drawers, she continues her search for a bowstring. She finds none. Defeated, she strolls through the ruins of Cochon. The devastation is unlike anything she has ever seen. Not even in her years as a mercenary, has she witnessed anything of this caliber.
The hours whittle away from her as she surveys the damage. By the time she returns to the center of the city, she stands before the ruined shrine. The entrance remains, though bits of stone and rubble lightly obscure the pathway. Her lips purse together, and a soft whistle escapes. At the center of the shrine she stops to take inventory of her findings: a stringless shortbow, twenty-six arrows, a leather quiver, two daggers, and a decent saber. She shoves the daggers into her boots, and slings the quiver over her shoulder, then continues her exploration.
“Now, Samael. How the hells am I supposed to bring you back under these conditions?” she mutters to the sky. “You wanted me to come to Cochon. Send me a sign. Or maybe you can get one of your other loyal followers.” She can’t help but laugh. “Samael, it’s not my fault this time… it was the aslan!”
A crow caws at the top of the shrine. Ennui rolls her eyes and looks up at the bird. It squawks again and turns its head towards the forest. Other crows join in from a distance, the racket piercing the quiet.
“Alright, Samael,” she mutters, following the source of the sound.
The crow flies before her, zigzagging from burnt timbers to rubble until they draw closer to the source. Soon, a clearing opens where a market once stood. Wooden stalls are burnt out, cobblestones charred. But what catches her eye is the murder of crows perched above.
A woman kneels on the ground, clinging to a corpse in her arms. At a glance, the girl in her arms has been dead for hours. Her skin has turned ashen, her eyes seem to be sunken into their sockets. Scratches along her neck and shoulder reveal the cause of her death. The woman’s wounds look just as grisly. Bites upon her neck and shoulders tell just how bad of shape she is in.
“Can you stand?” Ennui asks. “You should let her go… she’s long dead.”
The woman does not respond, she only looks up to the sky, sobbing.
The crows cackle with mockery, drowning the sobs in their laughter. Ennui casts a look of reproach at the flock.
“You were bitten,” Ennui whispers, her feet carrying her forward thoughtlessly. “Is that your daughter?”
The woman does not reply. Her eyes glisten with unshed tears.
Samael’s return requires a sacrifice; a loss of innocence. I can spare you from the pain. She kneels beside her, and coaxes the girl from her grip. The pale corpse rests over the stony street. Based on the woman’s features, she is likely the girl’s mother. They bear similar dark hair and sharp features.
Without the corpse in the woman’s arms, Ennui can see the wounds across her shaking arms. Her ankle is twisted and misshapen, the bones clearly broken. Is this what you wanted, Samael? Ennui takes the woman’s hand and turns her palms over. Her hands are covered in burns and soot. Dried blood streaks her forearms.
“Devil,” the woman breathes, her eyes shaking with fear. She yanks her hand back. “You’re all devils!”
That’s right. I am a devil.
The crows drop onto the streets. They squawk uncontrollably, the screeching in Ennui’s ears is deafening. Just like with her first offering, her hands move to the back of the woman’s neck. She presses her cheek to her shoulder. The woman’s weak sobs mix with the cries of the crow. The dagger sighs ceremoniously while it is withdrawn from her boot. The screeching caws grow louder in her ear. The sobs muffle as Ennui forces the woman’s mouth against her shoulder.
Ennui’s lip quivers just once before she clenches her jaw. The woman’s resistance wanes. With a final scratch against Ennui’s thigh, she goes still. Ennui lowers her beside her daughter and takes a step back. The crows cease their cries in unison, a stunning silence after their roaring fit. Then, like vultures, they descend.
A Devil’s Return
Nearly an hour later, Ennui has secured a basement untouched by the flames. The stone walls around her are barren, no light touches the darkness. Outside, the gray skies return with the passing daylight, the midday sun hiding behind the heavy clouds. She steps back and surveys her handiwork. A circle of blood spans the length of the stony floor, its arcane sigil etched in symbols she first learned as a girl. Throughout her life, she has used it in times of need, but summoning Samael has never been something she enjoyed.
The circle on the floor is marked with intricate symbols and scripts. Written in the beautiful language of the devils, the writing petitions for the devil’s appearance. To complete the ritual, Ennui stands before it and drags her dagger across the tips of her fingers. She flicks the dripping blood across the sigil and recites the words ingrained in her since childhood.
“I am of the blood, and of the blood I will always be. Samael, my guardian,” she intones, pausing before the final verse. “I summon thee.”
She has always resented that her devilish heritage is tied to Samael. Just like the stories, the devil is possessive, controlling, but most of all—needy. On more than one occasion, he has demanded Ennui perform tasks simply out of sheer pettiness. A part of her is certain that his insistence to be summoned in Cochon is just another example. You’re too late, Samael. Cochon already got fucked.
The circle illuminates before her eye, pulsing with a violet light that spreads throughout the room. The air heats, the glow shifts to crimson. The stony floor inside the circle shifts to a seething sea of red. A pair of gnarled hands claw their way from the depths, grotesque fingers curling against the edges of the sigil. A grotesque birth occurs before her eyes as the devil claws its way out of the circle and back onto Talmus. Curved horns and snarled teeth emerge—goat-like features that once instilled fear in her but no longer do. His fur-covered haunches rise from the churning crimson, ichor dripping from his body. He stands before her, his neck bent to fit within the low-ceilinged room.
“My sweet, sweet, Ennui. You never disappoint,” he rasps, his voice, harsh as a grindstone.
Ennui closes her eyes and waves a hand dismissively. “I’m beginning to think you’re trying to get yourself killed, Samael.”
The gooey liquid drips down his body, pooling at his feet. He offers a horrific smile. “You have my gratitude.”
“Do I get anything more than your gratitude this time?” Ennui snips.
“Have I not given you everything you could ever want?” Samael growls.
Ennui rolls her eyes, tapping the wet blade against her palm. “Come now, don’t be greedy. I’ve always done everything you ask.”
“You’ve grown too confident in yourself.”
“Well… I mean, you have a whole slew of daughters and cultists, yet for whatever reason, you always come to me. Either you love me, or you need me,” Ennui replies, a glimmer of a smirk on her lips.
Cold laughter fills the cramped basement. “What do you need, child?”
“A bowstring. Or food. Coin for our journey? Horses?”
Dumbfounded, Samael steps outside the circle, the crimson glow fading, leaving only darkness. “For your efforts,” he murmurs. He rubs his hands together, then pulls them apart, spinning a fine string between his fingers. “If you’re so starved, feast on the crows.”
Ennui pushes her tongue against the top of her mouth, then whistles. “Wouldn’t want to eat your eyes now, would I?”
“I have plenty of eyes across Talmus, losing a few won’t do any harm,” he mutters. The bowstring slips from between his fingers onto the ground. “Anything else?”
“Some gold… ? I’ll take silver even.”
Samael scoffs, rubbing his hands together again. A handful of coins clatter to the group. “Will this suffice?”
Ennui’s eyes scan the floor for the coins. Not wanting to seem desperate, she remains still, her arms crossed. “If you planned to come take your vengeance on Cochon, you’re a day late.”
“Destruction is never my goal… did you locate the sun priest?”
“No luck,” Ennui snips. “Just a lot of vampires… but they aren’t here anymore.”
“B“Because of your…” Samael pauses, a cruel twist to his lips. “Lion.”
Ennui sighs, her fingers absently brush over the smooth curve of her horn. “Not mine… but sure. He’s a traveling companion.”
“Dangerous company for a devil. His gods may one day ask him to slit your throat.” Samael’s hooves clop over the stone. “You’re a devil, just like me.”
“As if I could forget,” Ennui responds, biting her thumb as he walks past her. “Samael, one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“Khimi was bitten… by one of those creatures,” Ennui whispers. The thought of asking Samael for anything else causes her stomach to squirm. “Can he recover?”
Samael’s silence is unbearable. The deep breaths, the clatter of his hooves. The dripping ichor over the stones.
His words are quick and pointed. “If the one who bit him expires first, he will not succumb to that fate,” Samael replies before he turns back to her. “It is unlike you to hold feelings for anyone, Ennui. Are you well?”
“Peachy,” Ennui says swiftly. “I just need to find a way to get us past Winterholt.”
“I would suggest taking a vessel to Rennes… or heading to the north and finding another harbor along the cape. Otherwise, you will have a long journey,” Samael replies as he ascends the stairs.
“Can’t you take us?”
Samael laughs, his body vanishing from sight while he exits the basement. “I can. But I won’t.”
“After all this?” Ennui groans and hurries behind him. At the top of the stairs, the basement exits into an empty alley.
Samael surveys the destruction, his curious slit-like pupils scanning the ruined city. “I’ll make the same suggestion I just made. North of Cochon, on the western side of this cape, is another harbor. It isn’t large like Cochon, but many of our ilk use the port for travel. You can secure passage there to Rennes.”
“And from Rennes?”
“You have gold enough to secure passage through most of the north, you can find your way from Rennes,” Samael whispers without looking back. “One of you must have a map.”
Ennui laughs softly, masking her unease. Did we ever have a map? “We were shipwrecked… I lost my blade, my gold, and just about everything else. But you have my thanks… for the hounds.”
“You’re thanking me? Something horrible must have happened to you,” Samael chides quietly, as they walk towards the shrine. “I know all about your little wreck, about your blossoming friendship with the minos and the aslan.”
“He’s really only part minos,” Ennui begins in a whisper. “Either way, he’ll make me plenty rich in time. I-I find them interesting, is all.”
“Lying to a devil?” Samael clucks, rounding a corner ahead of her. “Plucky.”
Ennui follows, rounding the corner only to have lost sight of the devil’s hulking form. She glances up and down the alleyway, searching for any trace of him.
“I wasn’t lying!” she shouts.
A flock of crows takes flight, their mocking laughter echoing through the desolate city. Hells if we’re going to any harbor!