Glisena shook her head. 'Promise. That you'll… take care…' she gasped.
Arvin touched her shoulder. 'I promise.'
The clerics gently lifted Glisena onto the bed, reforming their circle there. Marasa pulled her stool up next to the bed. Davinu opened Glisena's night robe, exposing her stomach. The lines Naneth had drawn on it were almost gone; only the faintest traces of white remained. Davinu picked up the knife. It was silver, the blade inlaid with gold in the shape of a staring eye: Helm's symbol. Davinu held the knife out, and one of the clerics poured water over it from a silver chalice that also bore a stylized eye. Then he held it ready, waiting.
Arvin manifested his power. Sparkles of silver erupted from his third eye and drifted down onto Glisena. The thoughts of those in the room crowded in on him: Glisena's relief that Arvin had located her child, Marasa's fierce love for Glisena and grim determination to bear her pain, Davinu steeling himself for the surgery he was about to perform, and the other clerics' fervent prayers, all overlaid with a tight clench of fear. Davinu had given them careful instructions about what was to happen; the moment the blood cord was severed, he would banish the demon. Arvin expected to hear Foesmasher's thoughts as well-his anguish at seeing his 'little dove' in such pain was clear for all to see-but something was shielding his thoughts. Was it a magical item, like Karrell's ring? Briefly, Arvin wondered where Karrell was-he hoped far from this part of the palace-then turned his mind back to the task at hand. Blotting out the overlapping babble of mental voices, he sent his consciousness deeper, and found the voice he'd dreaded hearing.
So tight, so confined… but I will be free soon. If only I had my swords, I would slash my way out.
Arvin shuddered. 'It's wishing it had its sword,' he reported. 'No, swords,' he corrected. 'Plural.'
Distantly, he heard the clerics murmuring to each other.
'A balor, then?' one asked.
'Too large,' another answered. 'And the horns-they would have torn-'
Ah. That's better. I can turn.
'It's turning,' Arvin said.
Glisena screamed as her stomach bulged. Something flickered between her legs then drew inside her again; it looked like the tip of a tail.
Foesmasher whirled, one hand on his sword hilt, his face twisted with anguish. Marasa clapped a hand on Glisena's stomach, drawing the pain into herself. 'Do it,' she gritted up at Davinu. 'Now. Before it-' Her face paled as another spasm of pain rushed into her.
Davinu touched Glisena's forehead with a fingertip. 'Hold,' he commanded.
Glisena's body stiffened. Her chest, however, still rose and fell. And her stomach heaved.
Davinu lowered the point of the knife to her belly then took a deep breath. He began to cut.
Foesmasher stood rigid, eyes locked on Glisena, barely breathing. One fist was white-knuckled on his sword hilt; the other was pressed against his mouth.
The other clerics crowded around the bed, hands extended toward Glisena, chanting. 'Guardian of the innocent, lord of the unsleeping eye, watch and protect this girl in her time of need…'
Blood sprayed onto Davinu's breastplate as he cut. The knife parted muscle, and something that glistened, and a layer of darker flesh that smelled of seared meat. Then came a rush of sulfurous-smelling liquid, and something could be seen writhing within. Arvin caught a glimpse of flailing arms and a long, serpentine tail.
Marasa groaned and swayed, nearly falling from her stool. One of the clerics steadied her.
I am wounded! It burns!
'You've cut the demon,' Arvin said. 'You've injured it.'
Him again! Where is he? He will pay for this!
Arvin felt a chill run through him. He swallowed nervously. 'It thinks… that I'm the one who hurtDavinu passed the knife to one of the clerics and grabbed the edges of the gaping hole he'd just cut in Glisena's bloody flesh. 'Now,' he shouted. 'Pull it free.'
One of the clerics plunged his hand into the wound and seized hold of the demon. He pulled, his free hand braced against Glisena's pelvis, and the demon suddenly came free. It was tiny, the size of a newborn child-but instead of legs, it had a thrashing tail fully twice the length of its body. It had six arms, a full head of sulfur- yellow hair and an upper body like that of a mature woman, with full, round breasts.
“Marilith?' the cleric holding it gasped. He had grabbed it by one of its arms and fought to maintain his grip on the blood-slicked flesh. The demon twisted violently, its tail lashing and flicking blood. A twisted pink cord spiraled down from its naval into Glisena's stomach.
Davinu seized the cord and motioned for the other cleric to cut it with the knife.
The demon twisted, knocking the knife out of the cleric's hand. As the cleric scrambled after the knife, the demon wrapped its tail around Davinu's neck. 'You annoy me,' it said in a voice deeper and more malevolent than any mortal man's. Then it constricted.
Davinu clawed at the tail that was choking him. 'Cut… cut…'
Behind him, the shields that had been circling through the air clunked to the floor.
Foesmasher drew his sword and lunged forward, slashing at the cord, but missed. His blade whistled through the air, narrowly missing the cleric who was holding the demon.
The demon slithered out of the cleric's grip, then thrust all six of its hands out at once, as if fending off foes. Tendrils of shadowy darkness sprang into being around it and coiled themselves around its body. Foe- smasher shoved the cleric aside and thrust at the demon, but the tendrils coiled around the weapon, halting it. The darkness slithered up the blade and licked at Foes- masher's bare hand, and the baron dropped his sword. Foesmasher backed away, his fingers moving creakily as he tried to force his hands to obey him.
These mortals want to play with swords? the demon mused, tightening its grip on Davinu's neck.
Davinu's face purpled.
Then swords they shall have.
'Swords!' Arvin shouted. 'The demon's going to use magic to-'
A loud whirring noise filled the air as thousands of tiny blades sprang into existence, forming a curtain of steel around the bed and enclosing Glisena, Marasa, Arvin, and Davinu inside it. The remaining clerics screamed as the blades slashed into them. The whirling weapons clattered off their breastplates but sliced into exposed arms, legs, faces, and throats; five of the clerics fell, mortally wounded. The remaining three staggered back, screaming, bloody but still on their feet. Foesmasher, well behind them, was still struggling to pick up his sword; the demon's magic seemed to have sapped the strength from his arms.
Outside the chamber, fists pounded on the magic- locked door. Arvin could hear the muffled shouting of the soldiers.
The demon, its tail still wrapped around Davinu's throat, glanced around the room. Which one, it mused, was I supposed to kill? It gave a mental sigh. All of them, I suppose.
Davinu leaned back-dangerously close to the whirling blades-pulling the birthing cord taught. 'Cord…' he choked. 'C-c-c…'
'You cannot banish me,' the demon gloated in a voice like thick, bubbling blood. Not while I am bound by' Shivis,'Arvi n shouted, summoning his dagger into his glove and leaping forward. The demon tried to twist aside but failed. With a clean stroke, Arvin severed the birthing cord.
Davinu staggered, the demon still wrapped around his throat. Blades clattered against the armor that shielded his back; one sliced through an unprotected spot near his shoulder, leaving a deep slash. He recoiled from the whirling curtain of steel and struggled to speak the words of the prayer that would banish the demon-Arvin could hear them echoing in Davinu's thoughts-but there was no air in his lungs.
'Marasa,' Arvin shouted. 'Banish the demon!'
Marasa, busy with Glisena, ignored him. She threw something to the floor-the afterbirth she had just pulled out of Glisena's wound-and pressed the two edges of the wound together, chanting a healing spell. She realized the danger-Arvin could hear it in her thoughts-but without a restorative spell, now, Glisena would bleed to death. Just a moment more, and Marasa would cast the banishing spell.
A moment they didn't have.
Davinu collapsed, unconscious. The demon released him and coiled its tail under itself, rising like a rearing snake, the lowermost pair of its six hands resting on its hips.
Outside the barrier of whirling blades, the three clerics who still stood were casting spells. One shouted commands at the demon while holding out a gauntleted hand; another had summoned a shimmering mace
