Corwyn's House of Horrors
War's End Chapter 7
Leda
Mares were crafty little things. They had their own version of sight shields, which not only allowed them to sneak up on prey, but they also were able to grab onto their victims without them noticing. Even when they were being watched for.
The first hint that Leda had that something was wrong was a vague stiffness in her back. As if she were holding herself strangely. But in a familiar way. It was like when she had been Scent of Heather.
Then she realized that the floor was wet. With horror, she saw that the corridor was flooding.
"Oh Gods, no." she whispered. "Not again." The water level rose quickly, and before she could warn her friends back, something seized Karla, dragging her under the surface. Blood soon stained the water a dark red. And even as Leda screamed in horror, she could hear someone laughing in malicious delight.
And the laughter was hers.
Leda
The thing beneath the water came for Jimmy next. With a quick, savage assault it ripped his head from his shoulders. It was the same horror that had killed Stormy Waves, she was sure of it.
And again she heard the laughter within her head.
Don't be such a fool darling. It's better this way. These mortal animals are only standing in your way! With them gone, when you destroy Corwyn, this entire world will be yours!
Leda
"No!!" Leda screamed, swiping with her sword as the tentacles erupted from the water, sweeping hungrily at Momoko. "You're not me! I will NEVER be you! Never!"
But she was too slow. With a terrified scream, Momoko was pulled beneath the surface.
Leda
Always so stubborn. Scent of Heather shook her head. You never were very good at figuring out what was good for you were you?
But it was that statement that gave Leda a modicum of strength to resist the Mare's influence. "Maybe not. Maybe I've often had to rely on the advice of others. But you were never one who's advice was any good!"
Leda
The Mare's claws dug deeper into Leda's shoulders, securing it's hold, and the hallucination grew in strength again.
The water disappeared, as did the entire corridor. Instead, she was on a vast barren plain. All around her were corpses. Without having to be told, she knew who they were. This was everyone who had been killed in the war. There were armored figures, and farmers. Women, children. She recognized Smoke's body nearby, along with Dwarves, Merfolk, and countless others.
"Why Leda?" She spun, and when she saw who had spoken, she let out an agonized wail and collapsed. Polaris sat on the ground, cradling the lifeless figure of her daughter. "All you had to do was surrender."
Leda
"This is your fault." Polaris pressed, each word a small dagger in Leda's heart. "You did this. Your stupid, foolish pride killed all these people."
Leda
Leda fought back against the despair that welled up inside her. "No." she whispered. "No. Nonono, NO!" Fury replaced fear and regret. "This was Corwyn's doing! These people may have been my responsibility, but their deaths are Corwyn's!"
She reached back behind her, and her questing fingers found the coarse hair that covered the Mare's body. With a howl, she ripped it from it's perch, slamming it against the corridor wall that had reappeared.
"And I'm going to make sure he never hurts anyone else again."
James
James froze.
His bump of trouble started while still outside, and the hairs on the back of his neck kept standing out more and more the further inward he crept. Now, he could hear faint sounds, the whisper-tap of claws on hard floors. Many claws.
Slowly he crouched, staring at the bend in the hall, wondering if he had enough time to flee or climb; the rough walls provided easy handholds, and the corridor was longer than he'd like to flee something unknown.
He scanned the wall, picking out the easy handholds and footholds, and climbed up to the wood trusses along the ceiling, well hidden in the shadows. His scent would remain, but if the dogs or beasts could not look up, they might continue along the hallway. James waited. His eyes widened as he saw the 'dogs' round the corner.
Nidhogg
Nidhogg stopped at the corner, feelers from its ever hungry maw sweeping the corridor. There was meat here. And it was fresh.
James
That was not a wolf. Or a pack of dogs. Jimmy froze, wishing he had Martin with him. The big hunter was good with a knife and large creatures.
James could wait in one place for an unnaturally long time without moving, a trait that helped him survive the streets (and rooftops and sewers) as a boy thief. He felt confident he could outwait that...thing.
Nidhogg
Tasting the air, Nidhogg stopped just under James' hiding spot. It let out a long, wet hiss. Where was the meat?!
James
James pulled his jeweled dagger out of its sheath, hanging from the ceiling timbers from one hand and both feet. He closed his eyes to say a brief prayer to Ruthia for luck, and prepared himself. Opening his eyes, he let go of the timber and twisted, aiming to bring himself directly down upon the creature's back, with his dagger in its neck.
Nidhogg
The creature was faster than it looked. The moment it felt the meat strike it's body, it twisted and rolled, trying to dislodge it. Even as it did, it's head turned back towards him, feelers whipping out to grab hold and drag him into it's mouth.
James
James had not lasted as long as he had in the Mockers without being fleet of foot and hand. He tossed the dagger and caught it with his off hand as he drew his rapier, slashing at the feelers. Years of training with the Prince paid off as he attacked furiously at the monster.
Nidhogg
One feeler fell limply to the floor, eliciting an angry screech from the monster. Suddenly it lunged forward, jaws snapping.
James
James sidestepped, then lunged at the beast, aiming to skewer something important, like an eye or the brain, all the while still mumbling a prayer to Ruthia. He needed everything the Goddess of Luck could offer.
Nidhogg
While James aimed for the monster's head, its tail whipped around at him, a number of legs looking to skewer him. Meanwhile it jerked its head away from the sword.
James
That was unexpected. James was not overly fond of things with more than four legs, so he sought to rectify that problem, after he bounced off the wall and the floor from the force of the tail-end of the beast hitting him. The creature was quick? Jimmy would be quicker, using every dirty trick he knew.
He rose, bruised and bloody from the attack, using his dagger and sword like a set of hedge clippers at the nearest pointy-bit extremity of the thing.
Nidhogg
The legs themselves were rather tough, rather like the shell of a crab. But like many legs, the joints were the weak points. Also where they met the body.
One leg, then another fell to his assault, causing the wyrm-like creature to writhe violently. In an enclosed space. That also contained James.
James
Clearly, the best idea was to shoot the beast from the safety of the rafter timbers. As that time had passed, James faced the foe before him with what he had: steel and wit. And a lovely little surprise called distillation of naptha: a highly-flammable substance much like napalm or thick gasoline in the Fandom world. As the creature began the death-roll, James jumped into a wall-niche and jumped up to catch a brace for the wall timber, his muscles straining from the exertion, finding a safe spot above the floor for a moment. One-handed, he popped the cork from the metal flask of distillation of naptha, and emptied it on the beast and floor. "Ruthia, protect me," he said, hoping the goddess of thieves would still hold him in her favor.
Nidhogg
Nidhogg ignored fluid being dumped on it, and instead reached with it's feelers towards the meat that had been causing it so much trouble. It planned to slam it against the floor a few times before eating it.
James
James lit his smoke bomb (always carried, old habit) and dropped it square in the maw of the beast. As a rule, he had views on being pummeled and eaten, and this was not something he viewed as a positive occurrence or one he particularly wanted to experience (let alone right now).
Poor Nidhogg. First losing a feeler, then some legs, and now being on fire everywhere the thick sticky oil had splashed. This was not a good day to be a Corwyn supporter.
Blossom
Blossom wasn't sure, but that sounded like someone... eating. That doesn't sound good, she thought, sinking to hover just above the ground and clinging to the wall as she moved slowly closer. As she reached the corner, she peaked around to see...
to see...
...it.
Blossom drew back and took a breath, holding it a moment and hoping the monster hadn't heard her; this was supposed to be a stealth mission!
She needed to know if it was alone or if there were more than one of... it, so she moved a bit higher into the air and looked around the corner again.
Grendel
Grendel was alone in the hall. He was "cleaning" out the dungeons, a duty he particularly liked. Especially when the prisoners were still alive and well enough to scream. It wasn't much fun when they were all wasted away or resigned to their fate or what all.
He paused a moment to get a bit of dwarf out from between his teeth, using a bit of its hair as floss.
It had not, as yet, spotted Blossom. But it was in her way.
Blossom
Blossom had no idea why she wasn't with the others, but she was going to assume it was a magical thing. She trusted the others, too, so she knew if she had to take a few extra minutes to get there, the rest of the team could hold their own.
But she still wanted to find them. Soon. And that meant getting past the monster.
Still hugging the wall, Blossom pulled her yo-yo from her pocket, charging it with some of her White Light. It only took a few seconds and then suddenly she jumped around the corner and threw her weapon, aiming for the monster's head. With the extra energy charge, it would normally break through a wall...
Grendel
Grendel was faster than he looked. He didn't know what that thing was coming at him, but generally things shooting towards your head were bad things in his experience.
He dodged aside, and threw the remains of his meal at his attacker.
Blossom
Ew ew ew ew ew! Blossom was totally glad that she could fly, and she dodged the head carefully,twisting mid-air to send another yo-yo after the monster's feet. following the yo-yo was a small hairbow, charged and ready to explode on impact. It was aimed for the floor immediately in front of the big ugly.
She needed to get this done quickly... now! So he couldn't send an alarm or something!
Grendel
Grendel swatted at the yo-yo, but when the floor erupted at his feet, he fell back in surprise. Grendel didn't like surprises. His next move once he recovered was to jump at the flying intruder, claws raking.
Blossom
Raking? Raking at what, because Blossom wasn't there. She'd flown around and was now behind the monster, delivering a powerful spinning kick at his side as soon as she was sure he was within range.
Grendel
Grendel may be very strong, and disturbingly fast. But agile, not so much. The moment his target moved, he tried to twist around to get at her, but was staggered by the kick. He stumbled, then fell, growling.
Blossom
Stumbled? Great. Blossom had to get the totally super-strong monster... At least, she hoped she was the one who got the super-strong one.
As soon as she saw him stagger, Blossom followed jumped into the air, increasing her speed as she came back down and aiming her drop so that her feet would land on the monster's head.
Grendel
Grendel swatted at Blossom as she came down with the back of one forearm. It was the best he could do without the time to get to his feet.
Blossom
That sent Blossom flying back up, smashing into the ceiling. Ow ow ow.
Right. This guy totally needed more strength to shut him down.
She dropped a few feet and then flew back into the ceiling hard, causing more to shower down on the monster and giving her time to charge her yo-yo again. This time when she threw it, the power was radiating and she gave the throw a lot of force.
Grendel
Grendel had just been struggling to his feet when the rain of debris hit him, knocking him back down.
Then the exploding yo-yo caught him full on. He was no longer in such a hurry to get back up.
Blossom
Blossom hovered a second, then sent another yo-yo to his head. No defense came from the monster and she checked the hall to make sure no one was coming before landing to check on him.
Alive. Good. Sort of.
She reached into her pockets for gloves, fiddling until two pair were covering the monster's claws. She then used a pair of handcuffs (Tokyo City Police force issue! made to hold even the super strong Fuzzy Lumpkins!) to secure his arms behind him, and a piece of rubble was set in his mouth as a gag, tied with an unraveled hairbow, before hoisting him up on a yo-yo line to hang from the ceiling.
Confident the monster wouldn't be giving any sort of alarm for quiet some time, she did a bit of debris-tidying in case anyone came by, then moved on. She had to find the others fast in case there were more like this guy!
Karla
Karla found herself alone, walking through a hallway covered in mirrors of all shapes and sizes. Reluctantly, she dropped her sight shields; she didn’t want to miss her friends because they hadn’t been able to see her. The hall she found herself in was dark, no windows, no doors that she could see, just what appeared to be miles of mirrors decorating the walls. High above her, unlit chandeliers hung, crystals chiming as they moved in an unfelt breeze.
The only light came from the glowing witchlight that hovered by her shoulder, showing Karla's own reflection caught a hundred, thousand times, echoing into infinity. Deliberately, she turned away from her reflection as she walked. She felt as if she were being watched by a thousand pairs of eyes and if there were any eyes but her own watching her travel down the hall, she didn't want to know of it.
Mirror Slaves
...Karla's eyes weren't the only ones watching her progress. Far from it. Most of the eyes were begging, pleading with her to turn around, to run, to flee while she still had time. There were thousands of mirrors in this room and hundreds of them were occupied with the souls of mortal girls, trapped for eternity in their mirrored prison.
If they could, they would bang on the glass, wave for her attention, do anything to get her to notice so they could warn her away. But there was nothing they could do, save watch as one more girl joined their ranks.
Because there was yet another pair of eyes watching Karla's steps. And she wasn't going to let Karla leave.
Karla
Shivering now, Karla picked up the pace. The skin on her arms was covered in goosebumps and the hair on the back of her neck prickled in alarm. Her Black Widow senses were informing her in no uncertain terms that she was in danger, even as her psychic senses wailed that there was something of blood and malevolence in the room with her.
She didn't want to run. Running only enticed things to chase. But she was definitely going faster.
Bloody Mary
She drifted from one mirror to the next, following her new toy's path. For once, she didn't bother to play with the puling remnants she'd already trapped in her mirrors. She had her sights set on new prey. Living prey.
Her prey.
She smiled now, her teeth shark-like shards of glass set into bleeding gums and brushed cobwebby dark hair back from dead, white eyes. What a pretty girl, the new one was. Blonde and vibrant with life, the blush of youth still high on her cheeks. Popular and happy, with so much to live for. So much hope and joy and life.
She was going to enjoy rending the girl's face with her talons and watching that life fade from her eyes.
It had been so long since Lord Corwyn had let her out to answer the silly mortal girls who summoned her. So long since she got to travel into one of the mirrors beyond the borders of Faery and leave a trail of blood and terror behind, turning an innocent party into a bloodbath. This girl's presence must be a gift from him, to sate her constant hunger.
Karla
"Little mouse..." The words echoed up and down the hallway. Impossible to tell where it had originated from.
Karla stopped, whirling around, bringing her hands up. "Who's there?!" she demanded in a harsh whisper. "Show yourself!"
Only silence greeted her. Pursing her lips together, she spun back around and continued walking.
Bloody Mary
"Keep running, little mouse. Give us something to play with..."
She watched the girl from high above, through a giant mirror hung over an ornate, bricked-up fireplace. Good. The mortal was nervous and jumpy. She liked that, yes, she did.
Her nails scratched at the inside of the mirror, a high-pitched, painful assault on the eardrums. She grinned a little as the mortal flinched below.
Now to let her know who she was dealing with. A command whipped through the captive mirrors and they began moaning in unison, singing the song that had led to their own deaths. "Bloody Mary....Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary..."
Karla
Okay, so hundreds of disembodied voices suddenly chanting the name 'Bloody Mary' wasn't the creepiest thing Karla had ever been confronted by, but it wasn't exactly making her feel at home, either. And, unfortunately for Karla, folktales of Bloody Mary's sort weren't the kind to come up in slumber parties at Fandom.
"Bloody Mary?" she called, slowly turning around in a circle, trying to figure out where the voices were coming from. "Is that who you are? You going to keep whispering at me or are you going to come out here and actually try something?"
Bloody Mary
The captive souls whimpered. She'd said the name once.
From her current spot in yet another mirror, Mary smiled. In Faery, she didn't need to have her name called three times to be able to slip free of her mirrors. She could have leapt out and eviscerated the girl from behind long before her presence had been known if she'd really wished. But Mary fed as much on fear as she did on the broken bodies she'd left behind which was why she was playing games now.
She flitted from mirror to mirror, slowing down enough to let the mortal catch her movements from the corners of her eyes. Once the girl was facing a mirror fully, she appeared in it, replacing her reflection and slammed against the inside of the glass, leaving a spiderweb of cracks behind. Mary's cold, dead eyes caught the girl's bright blue ones and she let her tongue loll out between her teeth, black and limp.
Karla
Karla visibly started, but refused to give ground. "Charming," she drawled, keeping her voice steady. "You're Bloody Mary, huh? Not a lot to work with. Why not something better, like Evisceration Susan or Gore-Spattered Jill? You really need to work on your IMAGE!"
As she spoke, a flash of Sapphire energy slammed into the mirror, shattering it to pieces.
Bloody Mary
"Too slow!" Mary cackled, darting from mirror to mirror. "The mousie thinks she has claws, but it won't be enough to save her!"
Twice now, the idiot girl had said her name. In Faery, once would let Mary use her mirror-powers outside of the confines of silvered glass. Twice would give her incredible strength and stamina, letting her go up against some of the strongest creatures in the realm.
And three times...if she got the chit to say her name three times...she would be able to rend the girl into shreds of flesh before without taking any damage at all.
She slammed into another nearby mirror. "Do you know who I am, mousie?"
Karla
Duh. She was Bloody Mary. The chorus of the damned was still whispering the song out loud. But Karla was contrary and didn't feel like playing whatever game this creepy chick was up to.
"Sanguine Sarah?" she guessed with a snide smile. "Bleeding Mona. The Female that Toothbrushed Forgot?"
From the gasps breaking through the chorus there, Karla guessed that no one spent a lot of time tweaking Ichorous Indira's nose.
Bloody Mary
Damn right, no one did! Especially no one mortal. Mary was a creature of fear and nightmares! She was not to be mocked.
Mary shrieked her outrage, exploding thirteen of the nearby mirrors outward into a hail of razor shards and shattered wood. The miserable teenage bitch threw a hand over her head as the torrent of mirror fragments slammed into her. Then the torrent became a whirlwind, a vortex of glass that momentarily eclipsed her from sight.
That would show her. A single arm wouldn't protect her from that storm. She would be shredded and bleeding and Mary would tear out her teeth one by one before she made her say her name a final time. She would--
That bitch!
Karla
Karla remained exactly where she'd been standing when the mirrors shattered, looking no worse for wear. Her arm was still up out of reflex, but not a single shard or splinter marked her skin. The glass at her feet sparkled in the glow of her witchlight.
"Shields," she said, shrugging. "But an A+ temper tantrum, I'll give you that. Shall we see if I can match it?"
She reached for the air in front of her, grabbed, and yanked. One of the large chandeliers shuddered, groaned, and was ripped away from the ceiling. Karla mimed throwing a softball, and as she did, the chandelier slammed into the wall.
Glass and crystal chimed against the floor like icy raindrops, while Karla looked on impassively.
Bloody Mary
GUESS WHO WAS NOT GOING ON MARY'S CHRISTMAS CARD LIST THIS YEAR, KARLA?!
No longer interested in making herself invulnerable to this girl's attacks, Mary dragged herself out of a mirror, her claws leaving gouges on the wooden frame.
"I will devour your heart," she hissed. "And wear your liver as a hat!"
Karla
"Tell that to the maenad," Karla scoffed. "Because I've already used that threat!"
Sometimes you just needed to indulge in a little bit of posturing before you kicked someone's ass.
"I'll use your entrails as a skiprope!" Mary snarled.
"Yeah, and I'll string your eyes on barbed wire and wear it as a necklace!" Karla snapped right back.
"I'll break your bones and suck out your marrow!"
"I'll tan your skin and make myself a pair of boots!"
"I'll grind your bones you make my bread!"
"I'll rip off fairy tales to threaten you with--OOPS, BEATEN TO THE PUNCH!" Which was followed by an actual punch.
Bloody Mary
Mary's head rocked backwards and a snap sounded from the back of her neck. Only, rather than the sound of breaking bones, it was the sound of breaking glass. A moment later, her head snapped forwards again and she glared.
"That's the only one you get, mortal" she said, tongue touching her upper lip where black blood dripped. Then she lunged at Karla, arms outstretched, planning to rip out the little bitch's throat.
Karla
Karla was slammed into the wall behind her, Mary scrabbling and scraping at her shields. She couldn't get through them, though she was doing an impressive number on them anyway. Her shields had already been damaged due to the mirror cyclone and it seemed like Mary was eager to shred the rest of them to ribbons.
She had a lot of power behind her. If Karla just cowered behind her shields, she didn't think they'd last more than minutes under the onslaught.
Not that Karla was planning on cowering. She didn't want to use her trick of passing through a wall, in case that somehow sent her into the mirrors, so she settled for slapping Mary instead. Only this time, her hand was full of witchfire.
Bloody Mary
Mary screamed again, her voice sending jagged cracks across the closest mirrors. She let go of Karla, clasping her hand to her burned cheek, where blackened flesh fell away at her touch. A trickle of sand fell between her fingers and drifted into the air.
With another howl of incoherent rage, Mary's hand shot back, trying to wind into the mortal's hair and rip it out by the roots. The shield saved her from that, so Mary tried a different tactic instead: grabbing the girl by the arm and flinging her down the hallway instead.
That worked, she was pleased to notice. She couldn't touch the miserable wretch directly, but she could find other ways to hurt her.
Good.
Karla
Karla sailed through the air, doing her best to stay limp for impact. Mary had discovered one of the workarounds when dealing with physical shields: they still obeyed physics.
Landing was rough. None of the debris that littered the ground had hurt her, but she still slammed into the floor with all the force of, well, getting flung by something with superhuman strength. She was a little dazed and she'd bitten her tongue when she'd landed. Karla lay still for a moment, making sure her extremities still responded and her tongue wasn't missing the tip.
Owie.
Bloody Mary
Mary didn't hesitate. The mortal hadn't even landed yet when Mary was diving back into her mirror, then scrabbling up to the ceiling. She was like a spider, scrabbling over to where her prey lay prone.
As soon as she was in a mirror directly overhead, she dropped, talons extended towards the girl's so-pretty face.
Karla
Karla looked up in time to see Mary drop on her. She wasn't so worried about those razor-sharp nails, but having something drop on her from that height could do some serious damage, perhaps even break a bone or two. She shoved herself out of the way, rolling over and pushing herself to her knees just as Mary smashed into the spot she'd just vacated, her nails punching through the floor.
Well, if the Darkness was just going to hand her opportunities like that...
Karla got to her feet faster than her body really would have liked, but ignored that in favor of kicking Mary square in the ribs. More of that crunching-broken-glass noise. Bringing her foot back down, she stomped on the heel of her boot. A knife-blade the length of her palm shot out.
"Thank you, Triela!" Karla snarled as she reached her foot back and kicked Mary again.
Bloody Mary
MARY WAS NOT BEST PLEASED RIGHT NOW!
By the time she had finally wrenched her hand free of the floor, leaving two of her talons behind, the mortal bitch had managed to do a number on her side. The knife in her boot was bad enough, but worse were the times when she ignored the possibility of stabbing in favor of stomping. Mary could feel the powdery grit of glass inside her, feel her bones broken and cracked.
More than anything she wanted to rip out the girl's throat and drink her blood in a hot gout of red, but that damned shield made it impossible to use her best tricks. Why hadn't she waited for the girl to say her name a third time? Why?
Free from the floor, she dashed back into a mirror to plot her next move.
Karla
"Let's go!" Karla said, trying not to pant. Curbstomping someone was a lot heavier on the cardio than she'd been expecting and her whole body throbbed. That really hadn't been a soft landing and while the Ethers had kept her Jewel from running dry, they hadn't really done much for her reserves or endurance. She took a few steps back towards the center of the room. "C'mon out, Mirror Marla! I can do this all day if I want to! Can you?"
She really would prefer not to have to do this all day. But she also wanted Mary's attention on her and not on the bright idea to run through mirrors until she found Corwyn and told him there was at least one intruder. She didn't even know if Mary could do that, but better safe that sorry.
"Let’s go! I thought you were looking forward to experimenting in haberdashery! My liver ain't getting any younger here!"
Bloody Mary
Mary stayed silent, waiting. Watching. Planning.
She shoved two more ragged pieces of glass into the nailbeds of her fingers, hissing a moment until the pain ceased and they became a part of her. Within her body, the glass was moving, shifting, reorienting itself, erasing the damage the bitch had done to her.
Steady....keep coming....now!
Just as Karla took another step forward, her foot landed on one of mirror shards that had fallen to the ground. It was relatively intact, as long as Mary's forearm and as wide as her torso.
She lunged up through it, grabbed onto Karla's waist, and dragged.
Karla
Karla screamed as she fell and screamed harder as she landed, badly, on an ankle. It rolled underneath her weight, not broken but almost definitely sprained. Without thinking, she called in a Potion--only to have it swatted out of her hands, the liquid spurting out of a hundred new cuts in the bottle.
"Ahh, ahh, ahh!" Bloody Mary said, smiling at her through cracked lips. "No more tricks for the mousie." Her arms were still around Karla's waist, a parody of an embrace.
"I'll show you another trick," Karla gasped out, and shoved a fist into Mary's chest. An old trick but a good one as her hand reached for Mary's heart.
Bloody Mary
Well, it would have been a good trick. If, you know, Mary's heart wasn't a lump of broken glass. That part really kind of sucked. As did the way it lacerated Karla's hand as she grasped it.
Mary laughed as the girl whimpered, dragging her bleeding hand back out. Two of the fingers hung limp, where the glass had cut into tendons and nerves in her palm. Good. It made up for the two talons Mary had left in the floor above them.
But now they were in her mirror realm and the girl had nowhere else she could go. She wondered--would the shields be able to stop her from exerting enough pressure on the girl's windpipe to collapse it?
Only one way to find out....
Karla
It was like Mary shoved an iron bar across Karla's throat. She couldn't touch Karla directly, but the pressure was enough to cut into Karla's breathing. She scrabbled at Mary, tearing hear and flesh, but couldn't budge the arm that was choking her. The useless fingers on Karla's right hand twitched and danced, but were as useless as the threats that still bubbled to the surface of Karla's mind.
You know, those ones that she hadn't the air to say right now.
Darkness was closing in on her vision, but she couldn't gather the concentration to pass through the surface of the mirror, back to where the square of the real world waited. Her legs kicked out uselessly, but Mary ignored every blow with the same ease she'd ignored the scrabbling of Karla's nails on her arms. Dizziness rang in Karla's ears and her vision began to blur, then then she felt like she was falling...
The Inner Web
She fell into Darkness. Falling, falling falling forever, but with no Jaenelle to give her a pair of Craft wings, no Warren to catch her, no Raven to teleport in and save her. Streaks of light flickered around her, first the White, then the Yellow, the Tiger's Eye. No, not lights.
Webs.
She was in her Self, falling towards her core. If she broke through too quickly, she could shatter the Sapphire. Break herself back to basic Craft--or worse, nothing at all. Distantly, she was aware that her body was failing, that Mary's grip on her throat was too efficient at cutting off her air, but in here, it was like time had slowed. In the distance, deep below her, she could see the twinkling Sapphire light of her inner Web, stretched out and comforting. It sang to her, first a comforting lullaby, then changed to a call to arms, much like Leda's bards.
When anger, fear, or great need requires a fast descent to the core to gather power and ascend... Saetan's voice, but Draca's words.
Not a freefall, but a dive. Karla arched backwards until her head was almost level with her feet, facing the lines of Sapphire light that were rushing up to meet her. Her arms came up (down? where was the enemy's gate?), forming a spearpoint above her head, even as she kicked her legs up behind her.
Three...two...one...
Bloody Mary
Mary grinned at the limp form of the girl in her arms. Not dead yet, no, but her breathing was shallow and the pulse that beat at her throat was thready. Soon, she'd have another mortal toy to add to her menagerie and she would see this one suffer for a long time for what she'd down.
The girl's body convulsed once. Gleefully, Mary gazed down to watch the girl's death throes--
LIGHT
Karla
There was an explosion of light, of sound, of pure energy that poured from Karla eyes and nose and chest. Mary didn't so much fall backwards as was propelled, shoved away from Karla's body by the sheer force of power. Bones turned to dust, her shroud dissolved into individual threads, her skin peeled and flaked away and still the power poured from inside of Karla.
It was not enough. Karla cocked her head lightly to the side, the normal blue of her eyes subsumed by Sapphire and witnessed Mary's pummeling by the onslaught of her power. Even as she watched, the glass around her foe righted itself, tried to absorb back into the spectre and reform her.
Not enough. Mere power wasn't enough. And so with a thought, Karla turned the raw power pouring through her body into white hot witchfire.
Bloody Mary
Mary felt herself screaming, dissolving, turning to nothingness. Her hold on the other mortal slaves lessened and then tore away as she put everything she had into keeping herself together. No longer interested in winning, she turned to flee, but there was nowhere to go, no way to escape. No matter where she went, the blistering flames followed and she could feel them eating her away...
In a minute, there was nothing of Mary left, save a puddle that bubbled and cracked.
Karla
Every single mirror in the hallway cracked and fell into pieces at the same time, spilling Karla out onto her hands and knees. Her shields were gone, completely devoured in the psychic torrent she'd just unleashed. Her entire body was in revolt as it tried to respond to all of the stimuli at once.
Being on her knees was handy, though. It meant she was already doubled over when she was finally sick, throwing up blood and ropy bile.
In a moment, she would stop puking, would take every last Potion and Ether she had in her pack and drink them down with abandon. And then she would get up, find Leda and the others, and take down Corwyn. For right now, though, she was going to throw up the very last memory of food and swear to never, ever do anything that stupid again, even as she thanked the Darkness and every other deity she'd ever heard of that she had survived.
Leda
Leda's shoulders were still bleeding from where the Mare had latched on, and there was a trickle of blood leaking from her nose as well, from it's onslaught.
When she found Eli, he was so relieved to see her safe that he embraced her.
"Ow, ow, shoulders." she hissed softly.
Blossom
Blossom was flying down the corridors at top speed now, tackling anything that was in her way and leaving them with an explodey hairbow as she passed if they weren't knocked out on impact. She was in a hurry, people! Work to be done; a kingdom to save?
She rounded another corner and saw Leda and Eli gathered a short distance further, but didn't slow down. The illusions in this place were totally too good.
Stupid illusions.
Anyone who knew Blossom would know to duck as she came at them, right?
Eli
Eli saw her coming and shoved Leda out of the way, eliciting a few creative curses from her. He himself, though he'd had some martial arts training by now, still wasn't quite the warrior the others were.
He found himself an unwitting barricade to the flying Japanese girl.
Blossom
Blossom made sure to catch hold of Eli as they tumbled together, landing squarely over him when they cam to a stop. Her arm was raised and her fist was heading straight for Eli...
Better prove who you are, she is not a happy hero.
Leda
"Momo stop!" Leda cried. "It's us!"
Eli meanwhile was, well, cowering. And wishing he'd stayed in Bordertown.
Blossom
"Ah!" No one but her friends called her 'Momo'!
Blossom stopped her fist just inches from Eli's face. "Sorry! I thought you were an illusion at first, and then one of those guys that can change shape? Annoying and creepy." She floated off of Eli and helped him stand. "I should have guessed, but though they messed up you, Leda, they totally do a really good Eli."
Eli
"I lived here a long time." Eli said, gratefully accepting her help. "I guess they remember me."
Blossom
"Well, hopefully they'll remember you when they wake up again. After they break free and get back on the ground of course."
Karla
Karla had finished her stock of Potions and Ethers before she managed to exit Bloody Mary's hallway. It had taken several potions to fix the damage done to her hand, never mind the harm she'd inflicted on herself with that huge burst of Craft. She was deliberately not thinking about what kind of shape she'd be in if it hadn't been for Momoko's forethought. Certainly in no condition to go wandering through Corwyn's palace, looking for her friends.
"Kiss kiss," she croaked, limping towards the familiar figures. Stupid sore muscles. "And if you happen to be some kind of illusion of my friends, know that I will not be best pleased and will annihilate you with extreme prejudice."
Leda
"Did that happen to you too?" Leda asked.
Meanwhile, Eli was apologizing profusely for the confusion.
Karla
"Nope," Karla said, stretching her neck and getting rewarded by several pops. "I fought some bitch in a mirror. And will be shattering every mirror we see on the way, just in case."
She gave them a smile--or, rather, a bearing of teeth.
"Still haven't heard anything that suggests you two are the ones I know. Proof now, yes?"
Leda
"I still use you as the standard by which I judge kissing." Leda tried. Eli did a double take.
Karla
Karla grinned at that; tired, yes, but still a grin. "That's my girl," she said fondly. "And I still sing the dirty songs we made up by a campfire with Jon."
That should do for her own identity, should they have been worried.
"No word from the others yet?"
Leda
"We haven't found James yet." Leda said. "But Blossom's okay."
Karla
Karla nodded. "Then let's wait for James," she said, calling in a sandwich and taking a hearty bite. "It'll probably be easier if we wait here and let him come to us."
...She wasn't taking this as an excuse to rest. Shut up.
James
James looked a mess, walking slowly, blood and something else covering his clothes and face. He also smelled faintly of smoke. "Well met, my friends," he said. The grin seemed the only non-forced movement of his. His grip on his sword did not lessen in case this was yet another illusion.
Leda
"What kept you?" Leda asked, while moving towards him to help.
James
"Found a pet. It wanted to take me home. Luckily, I had a friend on my side who loves to dance," he said.
If this was the real Leda, she should remember that day with inanimate objects suddenly animate. If not? Then this false Queen would see how well he moved with his favorite dance partner.
Leda
It did take her a moment, but she did remember. After a brief 'buh' expression, she smirked. "Glad to see she hasn't lost any steps."
James
"I don't quite think she's danced the same after that," he said. He let out a sigh and relaxed. "Almost over?"
Leda
"I think we've just the final boss left." Leda said. Not that she was a gamer at all, but she did remember some of the terms from her time in Fandom and on Earth.
James
"Then let's make sure he's fired." Possibly out of a cannon.
Karla
And into the sun?
"I'm liking the sound of this," Karla said, pushing herself away from the wall with more effort than she'd thank Blossom for noticing. "Shall we let Corwyn know we've come a'calling?"
James
"Yes. With a knife in his liver instead of a knock on the door." Simple. Direct. Polite. See, his diplomacy and negotiation training paid off. "Ready, all?"
[Preplayed with the usual suspects.]
Leda
Mares were crafty little things. They had their own version of sight shields, which not only allowed them to sneak up on prey, but they also were able to grab onto their victims without them noticing. Even when they were being watched for.
The first hint that Leda had that something was wrong was a vague stiffness in her back. As if she were holding herself strangely. But in a familiar way. It was like when she had been Scent of Heather.
Then she realized that the floor was wet. With horror, she saw that the corridor was flooding.
"Oh Gods, no." she whispered. "Not again." The water level rose quickly, and before she could warn her friends back, something seized Karla, dragging her under the surface. Blood soon stained the water a dark red. And even as Leda screamed in horror, she could hear someone laughing in malicious delight.
And the laughter was hers.
Leda
The thing beneath the water came for Jimmy next. With a quick, savage assault it ripped his head from his shoulders. It was the same horror that had killed Stormy Waves, she was sure of it.
And again she heard the laughter within her head.
Don't be such a fool darling. It's better this way. These mortal animals are only standing in your way! With them gone, when you destroy Corwyn, this entire world will be yours!
Leda
"No!!" Leda screamed, swiping with her sword as the tentacles erupted from the water, sweeping hungrily at Momoko. "You're not me! I will NEVER be you! Never!"
But she was too slow. With a terrified scream, Momoko was pulled beneath the surface.
Leda
Always so stubborn. Scent of Heather shook her head. You never were very good at figuring out what was good for you were you?
But it was that statement that gave Leda a modicum of strength to resist the Mare's influence. "Maybe not. Maybe I've often had to rely on the advice of others. But you were never one who's advice was any good!"
Leda
The Mare's claws dug deeper into Leda's shoulders, securing it's hold, and the hallucination grew in strength again.
The water disappeared, as did the entire corridor. Instead, she was on a vast barren plain. All around her were corpses. Without having to be told, she knew who they were. This was everyone who had been killed in the war. There were armored figures, and farmers. Women, children. She recognized Smoke's body nearby, along with Dwarves, Merfolk, and countless others.
"Why Leda?" She spun, and when she saw who had spoken, she let out an agonized wail and collapsed. Polaris sat on the ground, cradling the lifeless figure of her daughter. "All you had to do was surrender."
Leda
"This is your fault." Polaris pressed, each word a small dagger in Leda's heart. "You did this. Your stupid, foolish pride killed all these people."
Leda
Leda fought back against the despair that welled up inside her. "No." she whispered. "No. Nonono, NO!" Fury replaced fear and regret. "This was Corwyn's doing! These people may have been my responsibility, but their deaths are Corwyn's!"
She reached back behind her, and her questing fingers found the coarse hair that covered the Mare's body. With a howl, she ripped it from it's perch, slamming it against the corridor wall that had reappeared.
"And I'm going to make sure he never hurts anyone else again."
James
James froze.
His bump of trouble started while still outside, and the hairs on the back of his neck kept standing out more and more the further inward he crept. Now, he could hear faint sounds, the whisper-tap of claws on hard floors. Many claws.
Slowly he crouched, staring at the bend in the hall, wondering if he had enough time to flee or climb; the rough walls provided easy handholds, and the corridor was longer than he'd like to flee something unknown.
He scanned the wall, picking out the easy handholds and footholds, and climbed up to the wood trusses along the ceiling, well hidden in the shadows. His scent would remain, but if the dogs or beasts could not look up, they might continue along the hallway. James waited. His eyes widened as he saw the 'dogs' round the corner.
Nidhogg
Nidhogg stopped at the corner, feelers from its ever hungry maw sweeping the corridor. There was meat here. And it was fresh.
James
That was not a wolf. Or a pack of dogs. Jimmy froze, wishing he had Martin with him. The big hunter was good with a knife and large creatures.
James could wait in one place for an unnaturally long time without moving, a trait that helped him survive the streets (and rooftops and sewers) as a boy thief. He felt confident he could outwait that...thing.
Nidhogg
Tasting the air, Nidhogg stopped just under James' hiding spot. It let out a long, wet hiss. Where was the meat?!
James
James pulled his jeweled dagger out of its sheath, hanging from the ceiling timbers from one hand and both feet. He closed his eyes to say a brief prayer to Ruthia for luck, and prepared himself. Opening his eyes, he let go of the timber and twisted, aiming to bring himself directly down upon the creature's back, with his dagger in its neck.
Nidhogg
The creature was faster than it looked. The moment it felt the meat strike it's body, it twisted and rolled, trying to dislodge it. Even as it did, it's head turned back towards him, feelers whipping out to grab hold and drag him into it's mouth.
James
James had not lasted as long as he had in the Mockers without being fleet of foot and hand. He tossed the dagger and caught it with his off hand as he drew his rapier, slashing at the feelers. Years of training with the Prince paid off as he attacked furiously at the monster.
Nidhogg
One feeler fell limply to the floor, eliciting an angry screech from the monster. Suddenly it lunged forward, jaws snapping.
James
James sidestepped, then lunged at the beast, aiming to skewer something important, like an eye or the brain, all the while still mumbling a prayer to Ruthia. He needed everything the Goddess of Luck could offer.
Nidhogg
While James aimed for the monster's head, its tail whipped around at him, a number of legs looking to skewer him. Meanwhile it jerked its head away from the sword.
James
That was unexpected. James was not overly fond of things with more than four legs, so he sought to rectify that problem, after he bounced off the wall and the floor from the force of the tail-end of the beast hitting him. The creature was quick? Jimmy would be quicker, using every dirty trick he knew.
He rose, bruised and bloody from the attack, using his dagger and sword like a set of hedge clippers at the nearest pointy-bit extremity of the thing.
Nidhogg
The legs themselves were rather tough, rather like the shell of a crab. But like many legs, the joints were the weak points. Also where they met the body.
One leg, then another fell to his assault, causing the wyrm-like creature to writhe violently. In an enclosed space. That also contained James.
James
Clearly, the best idea was to shoot the beast from the safety of the rafter timbers. As that time had passed, James faced the foe before him with what he had: steel and wit. And a lovely little surprise called distillation of naptha: a highly-flammable substance much like napalm or thick gasoline in the Fandom world. As the creature began the death-roll, James jumped into a wall-niche and jumped up to catch a brace for the wall timber, his muscles straining from the exertion, finding a safe spot above the floor for a moment. One-handed, he popped the cork from the metal flask of distillation of naptha, and emptied it on the beast and floor. "Ruthia, protect me," he said, hoping the goddess of thieves would still hold him in her favor.
Nidhogg
Nidhogg ignored fluid being dumped on it, and instead reached with it's feelers towards the meat that had been causing it so much trouble. It planned to slam it against the floor a few times before eating it.
James
James lit his smoke bomb (always carried, old habit) and dropped it square in the maw of the beast. As a rule, he had views on being pummeled and eaten, and this was not something he viewed as a positive occurrence or one he particularly wanted to experience (let alone right now).
Poor Nidhogg. First losing a feeler, then some legs, and now being on fire everywhere the thick sticky oil had splashed. This was not a good day to be a Corwyn supporter.
Blossom
Blossom wasn't sure, but that sounded like someone... eating. That doesn't sound good, she thought, sinking to hover just above the ground and clinging to the wall as she moved slowly closer. As she reached the corner, she peaked around to see...
to see...
...it.
Blossom drew back and took a breath, holding it a moment and hoping the monster hadn't heard her; this was supposed to be a stealth mission!
She needed to know if it was alone or if there were more than one of... it, so she moved a bit higher into the air and looked around the corner again.
Grendel
Grendel was alone in the hall. He was "cleaning" out the dungeons, a duty he particularly liked. Especially when the prisoners were still alive and well enough to scream. It wasn't much fun when they were all wasted away or resigned to their fate or what all.
He paused a moment to get a bit of dwarf out from between his teeth, using a bit of its hair as floss.
It had not, as yet, spotted Blossom. But it was in her way.
Blossom
Blossom had no idea why she wasn't with the others, but she was going to assume it was a magical thing. She trusted the others, too, so she knew if she had to take a few extra minutes to get there, the rest of the team could hold their own.
But she still wanted to find them. Soon. And that meant getting past the monster.
Still hugging the wall, Blossom pulled her yo-yo from her pocket, charging it with some of her White Light. It only took a few seconds and then suddenly she jumped around the corner and threw her weapon, aiming for the monster's head. With the extra energy charge, it would normally break through a wall...
Grendel
Grendel was faster than he looked. He didn't know what that thing was coming at him, but generally things shooting towards your head were bad things in his experience.
He dodged aside, and threw the remains of his meal at his attacker.
Blossom
Ew ew ew ew ew! Blossom was totally glad that she could fly, and she dodged the head carefully,twisting mid-air to send another yo-yo after the monster's feet. following the yo-yo was a small hairbow, charged and ready to explode on impact. It was aimed for the floor immediately in front of the big ugly.
She needed to get this done quickly... now! So he couldn't send an alarm or something!
Grendel
Grendel swatted at the yo-yo, but when the floor erupted at his feet, he fell back in surprise. Grendel didn't like surprises. His next move once he recovered was to jump at the flying intruder, claws raking.
Blossom
Raking? Raking at what, because Blossom wasn't there. She'd flown around and was now behind the monster, delivering a powerful spinning kick at his side as soon as she was sure he was within range.
Grendel
Grendel may be very strong, and disturbingly fast. But agile, not so much. The moment his target moved, he tried to twist around to get at her, but was staggered by the kick. He stumbled, then fell, growling.
Blossom
Stumbled? Great. Blossom had to get the totally super-strong monster... At least, she hoped she was the one who got the super-strong one.
As soon as she saw him stagger, Blossom followed jumped into the air, increasing her speed as she came back down and aiming her drop so that her feet would land on the monster's head.
Grendel
Grendel swatted at Blossom as she came down with the back of one forearm. It was the best he could do without the time to get to his feet.
Blossom
That sent Blossom flying back up, smashing into the ceiling. Ow ow ow.
Right. This guy totally needed more strength to shut him down.
She dropped a few feet and then flew back into the ceiling hard, causing more to shower down on the monster and giving her time to charge her yo-yo again. This time when she threw it, the power was radiating and she gave the throw a lot of force.
Grendel
Grendel had just been struggling to his feet when the rain of debris hit him, knocking him back down.
Then the exploding yo-yo caught him full on. He was no longer in such a hurry to get back up.
Blossom
Blossom hovered a second, then sent another yo-yo to his head. No defense came from the monster and she checked the hall to make sure no one was coming before landing to check on him.
Alive. Good. Sort of.
She reached into her pockets for gloves, fiddling until two pair were covering the monster's claws. She then used a pair of handcuffs (Tokyo City Police force issue! made to hold even the super strong Fuzzy Lumpkins!) to secure his arms behind him, and a piece of rubble was set in his mouth as a gag, tied with an unraveled hairbow, before hoisting him up on a yo-yo line to hang from the ceiling.
Confident the monster wouldn't be giving any sort of alarm for quiet some time, she did a bit of debris-tidying in case anyone came by, then moved on. She had to find the others fast in case there were more like this guy!
Karla
Karla found herself alone, walking through a hallway covered in mirrors of all shapes and sizes. Reluctantly, she dropped her sight shields; she didn’t want to miss her friends because they hadn’t been able to see her. The hall she found herself in was dark, no windows, no doors that she could see, just what appeared to be miles of mirrors decorating the walls. High above her, unlit chandeliers hung, crystals chiming as they moved in an unfelt breeze.
The only light came from the glowing witchlight that hovered by her shoulder, showing Karla's own reflection caught a hundred, thousand times, echoing into infinity. Deliberately, she turned away from her reflection as she walked. She felt as if she were being watched by a thousand pairs of eyes and if there were any eyes but her own watching her travel down the hall, she didn't want to know of it.
Mirror Slaves
...Karla's eyes weren't the only ones watching her progress. Far from it. Most of the eyes were begging, pleading with her to turn around, to run, to flee while she still had time. There were thousands of mirrors in this room and hundreds of them were occupied with the souls of mortal girls, trapped for eternity in their mirrored prison.
If they could, they would bang on the glass, wave for her attention, do anything to get her to notice so they could warn her away. But there was nothing they could do, save watch as one more girl joined their ranks.
Because there was yet another pair of eyes watching Karla's steps. And she wasn't going to let Karla leave.
Karla
Shivering now, Karla picked up the pace. The skin on her arms was covered in goosebumps and the hair on the back of her neck prickled in alarm. Her Black Widow senses were informing her in no uncertain terms that she was in danger, even as her psychic senses wailed that there was something of blood and malevolence in the room with her.
She didn't want to run. Running only enticed things to chase. But she was definitely going faster.
Bloody Mary
She drifted from one mirror to the next, following her new toy's path. For once, she didn't bother to play with the puling remnants she'd already trapped in her mirrors. She had her sights set on new prey. Living prey.
Her prey.
She smiled now, her teeth shark-like shards of glass set into bleeding gums and brushed cobwebby dark hair back from dead, white eyes. What a pretty girl, the new one was. Blonde and vibrant with life, the blush of youth still high on her cheeks. Popular and happy, with so much to live for. So much hope and joy and life.
She was going to enjoy rending the girl's face with her talons and watching that life fade from her eyes.
It had been so long since Lord Corwyn had let her out to answer the silly mortal girls who summoned her. So long since she got to travel into one of the mirrors beyond the borders of Faery and leave a trail of blood and terror behind, turning an innocent party into a bloodbath. This girl's presence must be a gift from him, to sate her constant hunger.
Karla
"Little mouse..." The words echoed up and down the hallway. Impossible to tell where it had originated from.
Karla stopped, whirling around, bringing her hands up. "Who's there?!" she demanded in a harsh whisper. "Show yourself!"
Only silence greeted her. Pursing her lips together, she spun back around and continued walking.
Bloody Mary
"Keep running, little mouse. Give us something to play with..."
She watched the girl from high above, through a giant mirror hung over an ornate, bricked-up fireplace. Good. The mortal was nervous and jumpy. She liked that, yes, she did.
Her nails scratched at the inside of the mirror, a high-pitched, painful assault on the eardrums. She grinned a little as the mortal flinched below.
Now to let her know who she was dealing with. A command whipped through the captive mirrors and they began moaning in unison, singing the song that had led to their own deaths. "Bloody Mary....Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary..."
Karla
Okay, so hundreds of disembodied voices suddenly chanting the name 'Bloody Mary' wasn't the creepiest thing Karla had ever been confronted by, but it wasn't exactly making her feel at home, either. And, unfortunately for Karla, folktales of Bloody Mary's sort weren't the kind to come up in slumber parties at Fandom.
"Bloody Mary?" she called, slowly turning around in a circle, trying to figure out where the voices were coming from. "Is that who you are? You going to keep whispering at me or are you going to come out here and actually try something?"
Bloody Mary
The captive souls whimpered. She'd said the name once.
From her current spot in yet another mirror, Mary smiled. In Faery, she didn't need to have her name called three times to be able to slip free of her mirrors. She could have leapt out and eviscerated the girl from behind long before her presence had been known if she'd really wished. But Mary fed as much on fear as she did on the broken bodies she'd left behind which was why she was playing games now.
She flitted from mirror to mirror, slowing down enough to let the mortal catch her movements from the corners of her eyes. Once the girl was facing a mirror fully, she appeared in it, replacing her reflection and slammed against the inside of the glass, leaving a spiderweb of cracks behind. Mary's cold, dead eyes caught the girl's bright blue ones and she let her tongue loll out between her teeth, black and limp.
Karla
Karla visibly started, but refused to give ground. "Charming," she drawled, keeping her voice steady. "You're Bloody Mary, huh? Not a lot to work with. Why not something better, like Evisceration Susan or Gore-Spattered Jill? You really need to work on your IMAGE!"
As she spoke, a flash of Sapphire energy slammed into the mirror, shattering it to pieces.
Bloody Mary
"Too slow!" Mary cackled, darting from mirror to mirror. "The mousie thinks she has claws, but it won't be enough to save her!"
Twice now, the idiot girl had said her name. In Faery, once would let Mary use her mirror-powers outside of the confines of silvered glass. Twice would give her incredible strength and stamina, letting her go up against some of the strongest creatures in the realm.
And three times...if she got the chit to say her name three times...she would be able to rend the girl into shreds of flesh before without taking any damage at all.
She slammed into another nearby mirror. "Do you know who I am, mousie?"
Karla
Duh. She was Bloody Mary. The chorus of the damned was still whispering the song out loud. But Karla was contrary and didn't feel like playing whatever game this creepy chick was up to.
"Sanguine Sarah?" she guessed with a snide smile. "Bleeding Mona. The Female that Toothbrushed Forgot?"
From the gasps breaking through the chorus there, Karla guessed that no one spent a lot of time tweaking Ichorous Indira's nose.
Bloody Mary
Damn right, no one did! Especially no one mortal. Mary was a creature of fear and nightmares! She was not to be mocked.
Mary shrieked her outrage, exploding thirteen of the nearby mirrors outward into a hail of razor shards and shattered wood. The miserable teenage bitch threw a hand over her head as the torrent of mirror fragments slammed into her. Then the torrent became a whirlwind, a vortex of glass that momentarily eclipsed her from sight.
That would show her. A single arm wouldn't protect her from that storm. She would be shredded and bleeding and Mary would tear out her teeth one by one before she made her say her name a final time. She would--
That bitch!
Karla
Karla remained exactly where she'd been standing when the mirrors shattered, looking no worse for wear. Her arm was still up out of reflex, but not a single shard or splinter marked her skin. The glass at her feet sparkled in the glow of her witchlight.
"Shields," she said, shrugging. "But an A+ temper tantrum, I'll give you that. Shall we see if I can match it?"
She reached for the air in front of her, grabbed, and yanked. One of the large chandeliers shuddered, groaned, and was ripped away from the ceiling. Karla mimed throwing a softball, and as she did, the chandelier slammed into the wall.
Glass and crystal chimed against the floor like icy raindrops, while Karla looked on impassively.
Bloody Mary
GUESS WHO WAS NOT GOING ON MARY'S CHRISTMAS CARD LIST THIS YEAR, KARLA?!
No longer interested in making herself invulnerable to this girl's attacks, Mary dragged herself out of a mirror, her claws leaving gouges on the wooden frame.
"I will devour your heart," she hissed. "And wear your liver as a hat!"
Karla
"Tell that to the maenad," Karla scoffed. "Because I've already used that threat!"
Sometimes you just needed to indulge in a little bit of posturing before you kicked someone's ass.
"I'll use your entrails as a skiprope!" Mary snarled.
"Yeah, and I'll string your eyes on barbed wire and wear it as a necklace!" Karla snapped right back.
"I'll break your bones and suck out your marrow!"
"I'll tan your skin and make myself a pair of boots!"
"I'll grind your bones you make my bread!"
"I'll rip off fairy tales to threaten you with--OOPS, BEATEN TO THE PUNCH!" Which was followed by an actual punch.
Bloody Mary
Mary's head rocked backwards and a snap sounded from the back of her neck. Only, rather than the sound of breaking bones, it was the sound of breaking glass. A moment later, her head snapped forwards again and she glared.
"That's the only one you get, mortal" she said, tongue touching her upper lip where black blood dripped. Then she lunged at Karla, arms outstretched, planning to rip out the little bitch's throat.
Karla
Karla was slammed into the wall behind her, Mary scrabbling and scraping at her shields. She couldn't get through them, though she was doing an impressive number on them anyway. Her shields had already been damaged due to the mirror cyclone and it seemed like Mary was eager to shred the rest of them to ribbons.
She had a lot of power behind her. If Karla just cowered behind her shields, she didn't think they'd last more than minutes under the onslaught.
Not that Karla was planning on cowering. She didn't want to use her trick of passing through a wall, in case that somehow sent her into the mirrors, so she settled for slapping Mary instead. Only this time, her hand was full of witchfire.
Bloody Mary
Mary screamed again, her voice sending jagged cracks across the closest mirrors. She let go of Karla, clasping her hand to her burned cheek, where blackened flesh fell away at her touch. A trickle of sand fell between her fingers and drifted into the air.
With another howl of incoherent rage, Mary's hand shot back, trying to wind into the mortal's hair and rip it out by the roots. The shield saved her from that, so Mary tried a different tactic instead: grabbing the girl by the arm and flinging her down the hallway instead.
That worked, she was pleased to notice. She couldn't touch the miserable wretch directly, but she could find other ways to hurt her.
Good.
Karla
Karla sailed through the air, doing her best to stay limp for impact. Mary had discovered one of the workarounds when dealing with physical shields: they still obeyed physics.
Landing was rough. None of the debris that littered the ground had hurt her, but she still slammed into the floor with all the force of, well, getting flung by something with superhuman strength. She was a little dazed and she'd bitten her tongue when she'd landed. Karla lay still for a moment, making sure her extremities still responded and her tongue wasn't missing the tip.
Owie.
Bloody Mary
Mary didn't hesitate. The mortal hadn't even landed yet when Mary was diving back into her mirror, then scrabbling up to the ceiling. She was like a spider, scrabbling over to where her prey lay prone.
As soon as she was in a mirror directly overhead, she dropped, talons extended towards the girl's so-pretty face.
Karla
Karla looked up in time to see Mary drop on her. She wasn't so worried about those razor-sharp nails, but having something drop on her from that height could do some serious damage, perhaps even break a bone or two. She shoved herself out of the way, rolling over and pushing herself to her knees just as Mary smashed into the spot she'd just vacated, her nails punching through the floor.
Well, if the Darkness was just going to hand her opportunities like that...
Karla got to her feet faster than her body really would have liked, but ignored that in favor of kicking Mary square in the ribs. More of that crunching-broken-glass noise. Bringing her foot back down, she stomped on the heel of her boot. A knife-blade the length of her palm shot out.
"Thank you, Triela!" Karla snarled as she reached her foot back and kicked Mary again.
Bloody Mary
MARY WAS NOT BEST PLEASED RIGHT NOW!
By the time she had finally wrenched her hand free of the floor, leaving two of her talons behind, the mortal bitch had managed to do a number on her side. The knife in her boot was bad enough, but worse were the times when she ignored the possibility of stabbing in favor of stomping. Mary could feel the powdery grit of glass inside her, feel her bones broken and cracked.
More than anything she wanted to rip out the girl's throat and drink her blood in a hot gout of red, but that damned shield made it impossible to use her best tricks. Why hadn't she waited for the girl to say her name a third time? Why?
Free from the floor, she dashed back into a mirror to plot her next move.
Karla
"Let's go!" Karla said, trying not to pant. Curbstomping someone was a lot heavier on the cardio than she'd been expecting and her whole body throbbed. That really hadn't been a soft landing and while the Ethers had kept her Jewel from running dry, they hadn't really done much for her reserves or endurance. She took a few steps back towards the center of the room. "C'mon out, Mirror Marla! I can do this all day if I want to! Can you?"
She really would prefer not to have to do this all day. But she also wanted Mary's attention on her and not on the bright idea to run through mirrors until she found Corwyn and told him there was at least one intruder. She didn't even know if Mary could do that, but better safe that sorry.
"Let’s go! I thought you were looking forward to experimenting in haberdashery! My liver ain't getting any younger here!"
Bloody Mary
Mary stayed silent, waiting. Watching. Planning.
She shoved two more ragged pieces of glass into the nailbeds of her fingers, hissing a moment until the pain ceased and they became a part of her. Within her body, the glass was moving, shifting, reorienting itself, erasing the damage the bitch had done to her.
Steady....keep coming....now!
Just as Karla took another step forward, her foot landed on one of mirror shards that had fallen to the ground. It was relatively intact, as long as Mary's forearm and as wide as her torso.
She lunged up through it, grabbed onto Karla's waist, and dragged.
Karla
Karla screamed as she fell and screamed harder as she landed, badly, on an ankle. It rolled underneath her weight, not broken but almost definitely sprained. Without thinking, she called in a Potion--only to have it swatted out of her hands, the liquid spurting out of a hundred new cuts in the bottle.
"Ahh, ahh, ahh!" Bloody Mary said, smiling at her through cracked lips. "No more tricks for the mousie." Her arms were still around Karla's waist, a parody of an embrace.
"I'll show you another trick," Karla gasped out, and shoved a fist into Mary's chest. An old trick but a good one as her hand reached for Mary's heart.
Bloody Mary
Well, it would have been a good trick. If, you know, Mary's heart wasn't a lump of broken glass. That part really kind of sucked. As did the way it lacerated Karla's hand as she grasped it.
Mary laughed as the girl whimpered, dragging her bleeding hand back out. Two of the fingers hung limp, where the glass had cut into tendons and nerves in her palm. Good. It made up for the two talons Mary had left in the floor above them.
But now they were in her mirror realm and the girl had nowhere else she could go. She wondered--would the shields be able to stop her from exerting enough pressure on the girl's windpipe to collapse it?
Only one way to find out....
Karla
It was like Mary shoved an iron bar across Karla's throat. She couldn't touch Karla directly, but the pressure was enough to cut into Karla's breathing. She scrabbled at Mary, tearing hear and flesh, but couldn't budge the arm that was choking her. The useless fingers on Karla's right hand twitched and danced, but were as useless as the threats that still bubbled to the surface of Karla's mind.
You know, those ones that she hadn't the air to say right now.
Darkness was closing in on her vision, but she couldn't gather the concentration to pass through the surface of the mirror, back to where the square of the real world waited. Her legs kicked out uselessly, but Mary ignored every blow with the same ease she'd ignored the scrabbling of Karla's nails on her arms. Dizziness rang in Karla's ears and her vision began to blur, then then she felt like she was falling...
The Inner Web
She fell into Darkness. Falling, falling falling forever, but with no Jaenelle to give her a pair of Craft wings, no Warren to catch her, no Raven to teleport in and save her. Streaks of light flickered around her, first the White, then the Yellow, the Tiger's Eye. No, not lights.
Webs.
She was in her Self, falling towards her core. If she broke through too quickly, she could shatter the Sapphire. Break herself back to basic Craft--or worse, nothing at all. Distantly, she was aware that her body was failing, that Mary's grip on her throat was too efficient at cutting off her air, but in here, it was like time had slowed. In the distance, deep below her, she could see the twinkling Sapphire light of her inner Web, stretched out and comforting. It sang to her, first a comforting lullaby, then changed to a call to arms, much like Leda's bards.
When anger, fear, or great need requires a fast descent to the core to gather power and ascend... Saetan's voice, but Draca's words.
Not a freefall, but a dive. Karla arched backwards until her head was almost level with her feet, facing the lines of Sapphire light that were rushing up to meet her. Her arms came up (down? where was the enemy's gate?), forming a spearpoint above her head, even as she kicked her legs up behind her.
Three...two...one...
Bloody Mary
Mary grinned at the limp form of the girl in her arms. Not dead yet, no, but her breathing was shallow and the pulse that beat at her throat was thready. Soon, she'd have another mortal toy to add to her menagerie and she would see this one suffer for a long time for what she'd down.
The girl's body convulsed once. Gleefully, Mary gazed down to watch the girl's death throes--
LIGHT
Karla
There was an explosion of light, of sound, of pure energy that poured from Karla eyes and nose and chest. Mary didn't so much fall backwards as was propelled, shoved away from Karla's body by the sheer force of power. Bones turned to dust, her shroud dissolved into individual threads, her skin peeled and flaked away and still the power poured from inside of Karla.
It was not enough. Karla cocked her head lightly to the side, the normal blue of her eyes subsumed by Sapphire and witnessed Mary's pummeling by the onslaught of her power. Even as she watched, the glass around her foe righted itself, tried to absorb back into the spectre and reform her.
Not enough. Mere power wasn't enough. And so with a thought, Karla turned the raw power pouring through her body into white hot witchfire.
Bloody Mary
Mary felt herself screaming, dissolving, turning to nothingness. Her hold on the other mortal slaves lessened and then tore away as she put everything she had into keeping herself together. No longer interested in winning, she turned to flee, but there was nowhere to go, no way to escape. No matter where she went, the blistering flames followed and she could feel them eating her away...
In a minute, there was nothing of Mary left, save a puddle that bubbled and cracked.
Karla
Every single mirror in the hallway cracked and fell into pieces at the same time, spilling Karla out onto her hands and knees. Her shields were gone, completely devoured in the psychic torrent she'd just unleashed. Her entire body was in revolt as it tried to respond to all of the stimuli at once.
Being on her knees was handy, though. It meant she was already doubled over when she was finally sick, throwing up blood and ropy bile.
In a moment, she would stop puking, would take every last Potion and Ether she had in her pack and drink them down with abandon. And then she would get up, find Leda and the others, and take down Corwyn. For right now, though, she was going to throw up the very last memory of food and swear to never, ever do anything that stupid again, even as she thanked the Darkness and every other deity she'd ever heard of that she had survived.
Leda
Leda's shoulders were still bleeding from where the Mare had latched on, and there was a trickle of blood leaking from her nose as well, from it's onslaught.
When she found Eli, he was so relieved to see her safe that he embraced her.
"Ow, ow, shoulders." she hissed softly.
Blossom
Blossom was flying down the corridors at top speed now, tackling anything that was in her way and leaving them with an explodey hairbow as she passed if they weren't knocked out on impact. She was in a hurry, people! Work to be done; a kingdom to save?
She rounded another corner and saw Leda and Eli gathered a short distance further, but didn't slow down. The illusions in this place were totally too good.
Stupid illusions.
Anyone who knew Blossom would know to duck as she came at them, right?
Eli
Eli saw her coming and shoved Leda out of the way, eliciting a few creative curses from her. He himself, though he'd had some martial arts training by now, still wasn't quite the warrior the others were.
He found himself an unwitting barricade to the flying Japanese girl.
Blossom
Blossom made sure to catch hold of Eli as they tumbled together, landing squarely over him when they cam to a stop. Her arm was raised and her fist was heading straight for Eli...
Better prove who you are, she is not a happy hero.
Leda
"Momo stop!" Leda cried. "It's us!"
Eli meanwhile was, well, cowering. And wishing he'd stayed in Bordertown.
Blossom
"Ah!" No one but her friends called her 'Momo'!
Blossom stopped her fist just inches from Eli's face. "Sorry! I thought you were an illusion at first, and then one of those guys that can change shape? Annoying and creepy." She floated off of Eli and helped him stand. "I should have guessed, but though they messed up you, Leda, they totally do a really good Eli."
Eli
"I lived here a long time." Eli said, gratefully accepting her help. "I guess they remember me."
Blossom
"Well, hopefully they'll remember you when they wake up again. After they break free and get back on the ground of course."
Karla
Karla had finished her stock of Potions and Ethers before she managed to exit Bloody Mary's hallway. It had taken several potions to fix the damage done to her hand, never mind the harm she'd inflicted on herself with that huge burst of Craft. She was deliberately not thinking about what kind of shape she'd be in if it hadn't been for Momoko's forethought. Certainly in no condition to go wandering through Corwyn's palace, looking for her friends.
"Kiss kiss," she croaked, limping towards the familiar figures. Stupid sore muscles. "And if you happen to be some kind of illusion of my friends, know that I will not be best pleased and will annihilate you with extreme prejudice."
Leda
"Did that happen to you too?" Leda asked.
Meanwhile, Eli was apologizing profusely for the confusion.
Karla
"Nope," Karla said, stretching her neck and getting rewarded by several pops. "I fought some bitch in a mirror. And will be shattering every mirror we see on the way, just in case."
She gave them a smile--or, rather, a bearing of teeth.
"Still haven't heard anything that suggests you two are the ones I know. Proof now, yes?"
Leda
"I still use you as the standard by which I judge kissing." Leda tried. Eli did a double take.
Karla
Karla grinned at that; tired, yes, but still a grin. "That's my girl," she said fondly. "And I still sing the dirty songs we made up by a campfire with Jon."
That should do for her own identity, should they have been worried.
"No word from the others yet?"
Leda
"We haven't found James yet." Leda said. "But Blossom's okay."
Karla
Karla nodded. "Then let's wait for James," she said, calling in a sandwich and taking a hearty bite. "It'll probably be easier if we wait here and let him come to us."
...She wasn't taking this as an excuse to rest. Shut up.
James
James looked a mess, walking slowly, blood and something else covering his clothes and face. He also smelled faintly of smoke. "Well met, my friends," he said. The grin seemed the only non-forced movement of his. His grip on his sword did not lessen in case this was yet another illusion.
Leda
"What kept you?" Leda asked, while moving towards him to help.
James
"Found a pet. It wanted to take me home. Luckily, I had a friend on my side who loves to dance," he said.
If this was the real Leda, she should remember that day with inanimate objects suddenly animate. If not? Then this false Queen would see how well he moved with his favorite dance partner.
Leda
It did take her a moment, but she did remember. After a brief 'buh' expression, she smirked. "Glad to see she hasn't lost any steps."
James
"I don't quite think she's danced the same after that," he said. He let out a sigh and relaxed. "Almost over?"
Leda
"I think we've just the final boss left." Leda said. Not that she was a gamer at all, but she did remember some of the terms from her time in Fandom and on Earth.
James
"Then let's make sure he's fired." Possibly out of a cannon.
Karla
And into the sun?
"I'm liking the sound of this," Karla said, pushing herself away from the wall with more effort than she'd thank Blossom for noticing. "Shall we let Corwyn know we've come a'calling?"
James
"Yes. With a knife in his liver instead of a knock on the door." Simple. Direct. Polite. See, his diplomacy and negotiation training paid off. "Ready, all?"
[Preplayed with the usual suspects.]