When the cambion reached the snake-bodied demon's side, she said, 'You have found a way to return my army and me home?'
'Yes. I will set out immediately. I will locate a portal leading back to the Abyss from the Astral Plane. Once I have found such a pathway, I will guide you and your army through it.'
The marilith snorted. 'You will simply depart and never return,' she said, waving one of her several arms in dismissal. 'I am no fool, cambion.'
'The thought had crossed my mind,' Vhok said, 'but there is much more to be gained by returning with you.' So much more, he thought.
'What do you gain?' Vhissilka asked, slithering around Vhok where he stood. 'What is your advantage?'
Vhok drew a deep breath. 'The angel that arrived with me has been the source of untold trouble for me. I want revenge.'
'And how will you achieve such?' the demon asked, still winding herself around the cambion. Her coils held his ankles tightly together and she began to work her way up past his knees, closing in on him.
Swallowing back any concern he had for his own safety, he calmly replied, 'The information I have gleaned at the angel's expense. I will sell it to the highest bidder when we arrive.'
'No one will listen to you,' Vhissilka scoffed. 'You will be slain and cast into a pit the moment you set foot within in an archdemon's territory.'
'Not if I am your ally,' he replied. 'Not if I allow you to claim much of the credit for the knowledge.'
'Why would you do that?'
'Because it's the end result that matters to me,' Vhok said. 'I want a chance to make all the creatures of the House of the Triad regret they ever crossed me. You can help me make that happen.'
'I accept,' the demon said, coiling herself mote tightly around Vhok, pinning his arms to his sides. 'But with one change. You will remain here as my guest, along with the angel, the human, and the half-drow, which I know to be the alu's son. You will tell me everything you have gleaned from the angel, right here, right now. I will also torture the angel until he is completely broken, and compare what he reveals against your own claims. If I am satisfied, I might allow you to live. In the meantime, I will send the alu out to find a magic portal. She will be the one to lead us through it.'
'But-' Vhok began, only to discover he had no air to finish his statement as the coils of the snake-demon suddenly constricted. He gasped and struggled, but her grip was absolute. Vhok felt himself growing faint. He could not get enough air. He opened his mouth to protest, to plead, but he had no voice.
Idiot! he fumed, fighting the panic that engulfed him. What have you done?
Just as he began to lose consciousness, he heard a deep voice from nearby. He recognized it as that of Grekzith the molydeus.
'Forgive me,' the creature said, 'but the others are not in the chamber where they were to be held. They have vanished.'
'What?' the marilith screamed, tightening her grip on Vhok. He thought his ribs were going to crack. 'Find them!'
'As you command,' the red-skinned demon replied.
Vhissilka loosened her hold on Vhok the tiniest bit. It was not enough for him to move, but he was able to draw in a shallow breath. He spent a few thudding heartbeats panting as the spots faded from his vision.
'Where are they?' the marilith demanded. 'What have you done with them?'
Vhok shook his head, cursing himself for leaving them to their own devices. 'I don't know,' he said. 'But they can't be far. They're all weak, dying. Let me help you find them. The alu doesn't trust you, but she will come to me.' It was a lie. One chance to slip away, he thought. That's all I need.
The marilith held him fast for a moment longer as she appeared to consider his request. Then she tightened the coils once more. 'I think not,' she said, crushing the air from him again. 'You are much too valuable for me to allow you to escape. How else am I going to entice the alu to return?'
Kael fought the urge to pace. He fingered the hilt of his sword as he watched Aliisza. The alu had been sitting very still, her eyes closed, for a long time. Though she seemed to be concentrating, her facial expression would occasionally ripple with frustration.
To pass the time, Kael would occasionally move to the exit of the chamber and peer out into the larger tunnel beyond. He stood there and tried to penetrate the silence, listening for some sign that there were threats nearby. He only detected something once, but whatever had made the noise, it never drew closer.
I cannot abide all this waiting, Kael thought, returning once more to stand by his mother's side. The longer we delay, the greater our chances of discovery. But he did not want to disturb his mother by voicing his concerns, so he instead turned his attention toward the other two refugees hiding with them.
Tauran seemed to be holding his own, though he was in poor shape. He sat with eyes closed, slumped against a wall of the fetid chamber, looking pale and drawn. Sweat trickled down his face and kept his once lustrous blond curls slicked down against his head. His wings drooped at his sides, and his breathing had turned raspy in his chest. Every time he suffered a coughing fit, Kael nearly went out of his mind with fear that they would be found and caught.
Zasian, on the other hand, did nothing. The priest had grown completely comatose, no longer responding to anything anyone said to him. Even touching him no longer drew his attention. He merely sat where Aliisza had led him, his eyes glazed. The glow he emanated had become strong and bright. It seemed to be the only thing about the man that exhibited any will to live.
Aliisza let out a growl of frustration. Kael turned to look at her and saw her open her eyes and frown. 'I can't do it,' she said, throwing her head in her hands and covering her face. 'I just cannot get the magic to settle on a spot. Damn!'
Kael's spirits plummeted. They had no other options, unless they physically walked back to the surface of the cave complex and tried to reach the boundary of the strange mini-plane that way. He voiced the idea, but Aliisza shook her head.
'We'd never make it,' she said. 'There are too many fiends about, from both sides of the Blood War. And where we arrived, it's an ocean. We would have to swim for it, and it's too far.'
'We've got to try,' Kael said, kneeling down next to her. 'We can't just sit here while you do this forever.'
'I'm doing the best I can!' she snapped. Kael could tell she was close to breaking. 'I never meant for it to come to this. I tried to stop you.' Her voice cracked. 'I tried to stop you.'
Kael shook his head. He knew she referred to the fight within the rotunda. 'It's in the past,' he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. 'You were doing what you thought was right.' He gave her shoulders a squeeze to reassure her. It surprised him how fond he was growing of her. He had spent some of his childhood lamenting his fate at not having a mother, but he had not truly missed such a presence in his life in a long time. To suddenly embrace Aliisza as such was… unnerving and exciting all at the same time.
'We need a celestial,' Tauran said weakly. 'Someone with plane-traveling abilities. It's a shame Micus is lost to us. He could aid us.'
Aliisza sat up. 'Does it have to be an angel?' she asked, a strange hope in her voice. 'Or just someone who can perform powerful planar-hopping magic?'
Tauran frowned and tried to focus his gaze in her direction. 'Anyone could do it,' he said. 'An archon, a high priest, a-'
'A wizard,' Aliisza added. A faint smile crossed her face. She moved closer to Tauran. Kael joined them both there. 'Tell me,' she said, 'How does a Living Vessel work?'
'I told you,' Tauran said, weariness filling his voice. 'An angel can sacrifice-'
'No, no,' Aliisza interrupted. 'Not how it is created. How it is used. What do you do to fill it?'
Tauran frowned. 'Usually, there is a ritual. The body of the creature is brought near so that the soul can shift from it to the new vessel. Sometimes, in battle, it is less formal. So long as the two bodies touch, it can be done. But why?'
'Does the original body need to be alive?' she asked, pulling her sword free.
