Vhok's foul mood soured any enjoyment he might have gotten out of inspecting his troops. The demons that stood before him, shuffling about in uneven lines, with their mismatched weapons and undisciplined demeanors, only infuriated him more. They stank, scuffled, and didn't seem to care one whit that they were supposed to be standing at attention.
'These wretches aren't fit to slop latrines,' he snapped at Vhissilka, who slithered along beside the cambion.
'I'll be certain to inform Lord Axithar you said so,' the marilith replied.
Vhok grimaced but said nothing further as he continued down the line. Finding out that morning that he would answer to Vhissilka during the coming battle had not improved his mood.
All the women in my life have brought me nothing but misery, he fumed. Mariliths in particular find such creative ways to spoil my fun. But it was Aliisza's face that would not leave his mind's eye.
He had retired to his opulent quarters as Lord Axithar's guest the night before, eager to partake of the luxuries the balor had provided him. The feast was delectable enough, more food than he could have eaten in ten meals, and enough wine to pickle a dragon. In truth, it wasn't the best Vhok had ever enjoyed, but he could hardly complain after the trail fare he had dined on for far too long previously.
Then musicians, entertainers, even willing concubines had come to his chambers, all desperately eager to please him. Vhok tried to ignore the haunted looks in most of their eyes as he partook of the sights and sounds.
But in the end, it had been Aliisza that had dominated his thoughts. The harder he tried to dismiss her from his mind, the more she lingered there, taunting him. She would never leave him be.
I should have killed you when I had the chance, he thought. But you'll be dead soon enough. If magic doesn't kill you, an enemy will. Now get out of my head!
'Your heart doesn't seem to be in this,' Vhissilka said. 'Perhaps I should request a different captain for my banner guard.'
Vhok forced himself to return to the moment. 'Staring at them for hours won't make them better soldiers,' he grumbled. ''I have no more use for this.'
'I agree,' the marilith said. 'Instead, let's return to Lord Axithar's keep. I have a surprise for you there.'
Vhok gave the demon a sidelong glance. Any time a demon speaks of surprises, it's usually unpleasant. What is she conspiring to do to me? But she had already turned away and was gliding toward the towering fortress. Shrugging, the cambion followed her.
Once inside the massive keep, Vhissilka led Vhok to a large courtyard with a parapet that overlooked the assembled hordes under Axithar's command. The gathering of demons stretched as far as the smoke drifting across the broken plain would allow him to see. It was an impressive army.
We'll need every bit of it to overthrow the angels.
Vhissilka drew Vhok's attention toward a small side area. A swarm of demons moved around something large, but the cambion could not get a clear look at it. Then, as they drew closer, a great, howling cry rose up and some of the demons scattered.
Enclosed within a stout iron cage, slamming against his prison in a rage, stood the abomination that had once been Micus and Myshik. He issued a piercing scream and lunged at one end of his prison, trying to catch a dretch that had drawn too close. The abomination caught hold of the demon's arm and ripped it completely off the hapless creature's body.
The dretch jabbered in pain and staggered away, spouting black blood everywhere. Two other demons pounced and rended it, feasting on its flesh. Others swarmed over it too, until Vhok could no longer even see the carcass.
'You!' Micus screamed upon spotting the cambion. 'Traitor!' He threw his misshapen body against the bars of his prison frantically, over and over again, trying to get at Vhok.
The half-fiend stepped closer to get a good look at the captured thing. Time, torment, or both had warped Micus further. He no longer bore any resemblance to an angel. If Vhok had not seen Micus before his transformation, he would not have guessed at his celestial origin.
Micus's skin had turned a mottled purple color and had begun to fleck off in places, leaving gaping wounds that festered a yellowish green color. His face bulged in odd places, and his eyes, once such an intense black color, gleamed red in the shadows of the cage. His dark hair had grown long and unruly and dripped with sweat as he thrashed around inside his cage.
At the level of his gut, Myshik's beady gaze still fixated on him, with its maw opening and snapping shut eagerly over and over again. Vhok saw no sign of anything greater than animal instinct in that stare. For a moment, he imagined what it must have been like for the angel to discover he had been fused with the half-dragon. He suppressed a shudder.
'We caught him shortly after you and your companions became my guests,' Vhissilka said. 'He has gone mad with rage. He shouts your name from time to time, even though this is the first moment he's set eyes on you since we seized him.'
'He blames us-me, in particular-for his condition. He thinks I led him into a trap just so he could be transformed into such a thing.'
'His mind is nearly gone,' the marilith said. 'We have made much sport with him and broken whatever celestial part of him might have remained. Now he only wants to kill.'
Vhok had a sudden, titillating thought. 'It is unfortunate that he appears so uncontrollable. What a nice, ironic surprise it would be to spring him on our foes today.'
'That's precisely why I brought you here,' Vhissilka said. 'You knew him before. Could he lead us to where the angels' defenses will be weakest today?'
Oh, you clever girl, Vhok thought. 'If his memory of the place is intact,' he said. 'But the question of control remains. How could we possibly force him to attack the celestials instead of our own troops?'
Vhissilka smiled. 'If you look closely, you will see that the creature now bears a steel collar.'
Vhok tilted his head down and spied the circlet of metal surrounding Micus's throat.
'This,' the marilith said, holding up a bracelet that matched the collar, 'is the means to dominate the creature before you. However,' she added with caution, 'once I place it on your arm, you cannot remove it save severing the limb, unless the abomination dies.'
Vhok took the bracelet from Vhissilka and examined it. It was a simple length of metal that appeared to have been crudely hammered into a rounded shape. The ends did not quite meet, providing just enough room for someone to slip the item over a hand. He held it up to the angry red light of the sky and considered.
'Are you offering this to me?' he asked. 'A secret weapon in addition to leading your honor guard?'
The marilith smirked. 'It is Lord Axithar's wish that you command the creature. He thought it fitting, given how much the creature hates you and how the very heavens from which he came will find him anathema.'
Vhok chuckled. He already had another idea, an even better way to make use of Micus. 'I accept,' he said, and he slipped the bracelet over his arm.
The band of metal closed, tightening itself and reforming its shape until it gripped the cambion's wrist snugly. When it stopped altering, it was tight but not uncomfortable.
Vhok could feel the link between himself and Micus that had formed. He felt the hostility from the ruined angel, the rage and despair battering against his mind, but the link held the forces at bay. The cambion sent a mental command to Micus to quiet down and, even though he felt the resentment, the abomination stopped outwardly raging, standing still and easy within the confines of his cage.
'Oh, this will serve nicely,' Vhok said, delighted. 'I can think of many things to do with him.'
'Your orders are to command him to lead us to the House's weakest points. He will know how they will attempt to defend against us. You will force him to thwart that defense.'
Vhok bowed at the marilith and said, 'As you command.' Silently, he added, he's going to do more than that for me. I have a Lifespring to visit.
Kael watched from the edge of the common as groups of soldiers assembled. Angels and archons, warriors
