The Tenth Ring - The Demon Plane

[Jelenis Tythe]

Sabre did not know how long he hung there on that rock after speaking to Kora, his back was sore, it felt itchy and crusted in places where his blood had dried.  He heard a shuffling to his left and then the voice of his grandmother as she tutted and come forward her gnarled fingers lightly touching his marred flesh.

"You are going to have to do better than this Saberion....Kondor does not suffer inept pupils for long." She said working on the knot to let him down.

"I am sorry I displeased him, I lost concentration, once when Abigor left the Rings and secondly when Lord Kora tried to contact me.  It will not happen again, please assure Master Kondor of this."

"Assure me yourself pup!" Boomed a voice from the direction Meridior had come, Kondor had been watching the pair.  He knew he had been hard on the younger demon but it had been for his own good.

Meridior worked free the knot and Sabre sagged to the floor but he forced himself to stand upright as a king should.

"I am sorry Master Kondor, such distractions will not happen again....please....we should continue." Sabre said his voice determined.

Kondor stepped forward and stared down at the King, such a pretty little thing, like Meridior's daughter.  He had watched them come far and wide to win her hand, only those that made in into the Warp were even considered.

His son had been strong, functional, easy to teach, Zenethor showed such dedication to the art of warfare to please his parents.  He had been sent out into the Rings long before the daughter had been born.  Meridior had chosen a rare sort of Incubus to lay with and father the girl and it had paid off.  Half brother and sister were unaware of each other....it was fate that they ended up in the Tenth.....or was it.

"You need to rest Saberion." Kondor said gruffly.

"There are deep hot springs from the left fork of this cave.....go soak yourself, the springs have power of their own, you will heal and then you will eat and sleep."  He gestured to the opening for Sabre to take.

As he watched the silver haired demon leave he looked sidelong to Meridior.

"He has spirit.....I give you that....but he needs to get rid of the emotions that govern him Meridior." He hissed softly.

"Love....friendships....he cannot have those things if he wants the Rings!"

Meridior shook her head.

"It is those things that have broken him Kondor....losing Abigor....I felt the disdain the General's son had when Sabre tried to confide that secret of the blood to him.....it is that which broke him.  Abigor did not even try to listen....he walked away."

Kondor snorted.

"Why did he tell him?"

Meridior's lips formed a thin line.

"Because he wanted no secrets...because he wanted to be with Abigor but feared he might harm him....that Priest has much to answer for as did Sabre's father....they should have been allowed to develop their love naturally and the 'Flare' would not have happened. It is a defence like the Runes....in time he can and will master it....when he masters his fear....his emotion."

[Jelenis Tythe]

He found the hot springs a short way down the left fork, they formed sizeable rocky pools with bubbling warm water.  Sabre stripped off his clothes and stepped into one of the nearest pools, the heat flowing through his tired bones, lapping over his sore and torn skin.  At first the water stung the wounds, but then it felt almost pleasant and he closed his eyes, the runes on his body glowing softly in the dimness of the cavern creating an odd purple glow beneath the water.

So Abigor had left.....Sabre had left the area so he did not have to.....but he had anyway.  Stubborn bloody fool....his heart ached for him though, try as he might to discard that emotion he could not.  He loved Abigor with every fibre of his being, how could he make him understand that.

He reached out tentatively with his mind, through the Warp and the Rings to the World of Mortals.

"Abigor....despite what you think.....I love you....I do not know why what happened...happened...but it did which is why I left to find answers so one day we can be together as we want to be." He said softly.

"You needed time to think....but I never got the chance to explain....you just left....my heart broke and I left to try and fix it...and us."

He opened the Ithior to let him feel his love for him....but felt something in return...a man....a mortal....not an ordinary mortal though....he felt like fire, his essence was bright and hot.  Confused Sabre closed the Ithior, and pondered this development....was he already seeking another?  This man was deeply in Abigor's thoughts.....Sabre felt a deep pain inside him and his throat felt constricted.

Maybe Meridior and Kondor were right .....feel no emotion....then you could not be wounded.

[Parkway]

Kora was all business.

"Ulrich will you find Viola?  Please do not share anything we have discussed.  I trust you."  His eyes bore into the demon and there passed a loving look between the two.  They were far past the stage Sabre and Abigor were at, they had been lovers many years though both married.

"Yes General Kora."  Ulrich gave hi. The title he rightly deserved.


Kora turned to Master Zenethor.  "I know very little.  Just that she was more powerful than our Kings, well except King Sabre, but I knew it was his mothers side of the family."

[Parkway]

Bouli could feel things happening.  He knew something was amiss.  What he did not know.  Yet for her sake he would say nothing.  He could not understand why the King just left her?  She was so full of life and eager to please him.  Yet Bouli felt as if King Sabre and General Abigor hated her.  He could not understand.


"Queen Flori, how are you feeling this evening?"  Her guard asked.

She had been staring out the window.  Hoping to see him but he had not come to her.  A small part felt him leave but she was not wise in the way of demons to understand her connection to the King was deeper than just her feelings.

"I am well enough Bouli.  Tell me though..." She hesitated and looked over at him sadly, "does the King no longer love me?  Was I only something to pass the time?  A means to end his loneliness?"

What could he say? 

He looked towards the two nursemaids who for some reason were absent.

Ana having felt the leaving of both her boys was headed to Zenethor.  Lui had gone to check on the nursery preparations.


He walked over to her. 

"Queen Flori.  No, no...he gave you his child.  This is something a demon can control.  If he did not love you why would he have given you such a gift?  The ceremony, you told me of it, why would he have done that if he didn't love you."

Why indeed!  Bouli grew angrier with each passing day that the King ignored the elvish woman he bedded and called Queen.

Flori began to cry.  At first they were soft tears which grew heavier.  "I am nothing but a fool.  Yes he freed me from my prison with Lord Hernon, only to enslave me in his own."  Bouli wrapped his arms around her and slowly stroked her back, her hair, and soon his thumbs brushed her tears drops from her cheeks.

He realized he was doing the forbidden.  Falling in love with the Queen.

"Please don't cry Queen Flori.  Please, once your baby comes things will get better." 

Flori looked up at him and their eyes met.  It was a pull towards each other...

Standing in the cage of his arms, Flori felt the anticipation rush through her. 

Bouli's head dipped toward Flori. His expression was predatory, dominating.

His lips brushed hers, soft but not in the least bit hesitant. His touch was skilled, deliberate, as he traced the outline of her lips with the tip of his tongue, small caresses, yet with each stroke a fire broke out and flared brighter, arousal coursed through her, Flori trembled with need.

With a moan of surrender, She returned his pressure, his kiss, his fire.

Then Bouli made a sound in the back of his throat, a cat sound like a growly purr. A sound of satisfaction, of lust, hunger, desire.  It said he wanted her, needed her....she fed from it...drank it in...he tightened his hold as he broke his lips from hers.

"No Queen, not like this...I want you but not because I am second to him.  I want you free of him.  Or I will always doubt it."  He didn't let go of her.  Flori understood...and just closed her eyes and leaned into his embrace.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Zenethor paced as he listened to Kora, he knew nothing of consequence, Sabre was in the Warp, Abigor in the mortal world as far as they could get from each other.  He shook his head, he had to get to the bottom of this.

He had hailed from the Warp himself, not many actually knew that both his parents had been Warp demons, larger and more powerful than typical Ring demons.  Sabre's mother had apparently hailed from the Warp too, no creature that beautiful could have come naturally to two Ring demons.  Sabre had gone to his maternal family to learn a craft to help him rule....he had power, he had strength....so what?

A knock at the door made both he and Kora turn.....Zenethor sensed it was Ana.

"Let her in Kora." He said, still deep in thought.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Sabre huddled in the pool a miserable bundle, Abigor was with another, he should have stayed and spoke to him but he knew he could not accept a rejection from him again, the first time was bad enough...but he was the King.  His dark eyes narrowed and he opened the channel again.

"I love you.....will always love you and I don't care if you hate me....I am yours Abigor.....it is your choice....if you love me one day you will return and we can truly be as one....If not then I know it was just all a dream."

He paused.

"I would give it all up for you if you ask....my crown....my throne....Flori...everything."

"I will give it all to you if that is what you desire...I will be your slave."

It was an impassioned plea....straight from Sabre's heart, he knew his grandmother would be furious if she heard him....Kondor more so.

"Please Gor.....just hear me.....just hear me."

He waited for the reply if any.

[Parkway]

Ulrrich hurried to find Viola.

She was with Jelenis.  He wanted to rip that boy apart and as he entered he snarled.

"Viola, please Kora and Master Zenethor seek to speak with us."

[Jelenis Tythe]

Sabre listened silently to Abigor and he still felt hurt at the words spoken.  He had never made Gor crawl or beg not in the whole time he had known him. The Fifth, the Tenth....none of it mattered without Abigor by his side. He waded from the pool, his torn back already healing and he reached for the leathers pulling on the breeches, the undershirt and the jacket.  Next came the boots and he shook his hair, he would go to the General with no pomp, no ceremony, just dressed plainly with nothing but his feelings laid bare.

He walked from the caverns out towards the main living space where he knew he would meet resistance from Meridior and Kondor.  He headed towards the main entrance.

"Where do you think you are going Saberion?" The old crone hissed softly.

"Back....to do what I should have done....it would be wise to let me leave." He said sharply.

Kondor rose like a dark shadow behind Meridior and growled.

"If you walk out boy.....don't come crawling back!" He spat.

"Go running to your lover like the cheap little slut you are you.....perhaps if he pulls the leash hard enough his silver haired bitch will bark for him!"

Sabre took a breath, he would not retaliate.

"Perhaps." He said softly.

"But I owe him!"

With a sudden flash he was gone and the two Warp demons glared at the empty space.

"That priest did not do his job well enough!" Muttered Meridior....as she turned back to her cooking pot.

[Parkway]

Kora opened the door for Ana who swept through.  More worry then anything on her brow.

"Zenethor, my boys?  I feel discord between them and they have left this plane.  I can fee...."

She was cut off by Kora literally falling forward.  Though he caught himself before completely falling.  "Master, Ana!  They are in the mortal plane.  Both!  Should we send someone to watch over them?" 

Kora was anxious he did not want to risk King Sabre out in the mortal realm unprotected.  Although Abigor was with him their defenses where compromised.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Zenethor frowned.

"What is Sabre playing at.....he was in the Warp....though time passes much slower there....now he is on the Mortal Plane....with Abigor."

"Ana....do you know what they are up to? Have you any idea of what has happened?"

Whilst he waited for the older female demon to answer he pondered Kora's question.

"Sabre spent many years in the mortal realm...he can take care of himself....Abigor is there too....let us give them some time....perhaps they will return together Kora."

Zenethor's look was like thunder.

"When they come home there will be my wrath to face...not to mention Ana's!"

[Parkway]

Ana shook her head no.   "I came to you looking for answers!"  The old demoness seethed.  "The Warp!  With his maternal grandmother, the one who just left him in the hands of his father?  No Zenethor!"  She cut off the master she was furious.   "You know I speak the truth of Sabre's father!  He never gave the boy a moments peace!  He was unfit to raise that boy."

She shook her head.  The Warp, why did he go there at all?

Ana did agree that Sabre could take care of himself and so could Abigor.  But they only just got Sabre back sh feared losing him again.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Zenethor was taken aback by her anger but he understood it.  He had never met Sabre's grandmother, he knew she was a Warp demon like his own mother, but that did not make her any better than Sabre's father.

"How do you know she would have been any better Ana?" He said softly.

"I understand how much you love Sabre, Abigor too.....as do I....but both have erred in these decisions and they will know it when they finally come home!"

He shook his head.

"He may be King but by the Underworlde my cane can still find his backside!" He grumbled.

"Abigor too!"

He nodded to Kora who looked tired.

"Take some rest Kora, Ulric can deal with this for a while under my instruction....Ana can you manage the Queen?"

[Jelenis Tythe]

Meridior stared into the small rocky bowl of water at the rear of the cave, she concentrated on her grandson to see where he was, she did not need to know with who...that was plainly evident.  Abigor, he was with Abigor, panting after the General like the little bitch that Kondor had insulted him as.  She smiled thinly, as she watched the pair at the tavern table, fingers entwined whispering sweet words to each other....the end would justify the means soon enough.  The High Priest should have done his duty properly and mounted him when he had been ensconced at the Temple, taken his innocence and bought about the breaking that would have turned Sabre into the Shar'Unitor much quicker than now.

Abigor though would do.....he had struck lucky had the General's son, finding the love of a Warp Incubus, he would be in for the most pleasurable night imaginable once the deed was first done. He would take Saberion's remaining innocence and turn him into a full Warp Demon, it was only that innocence that held back his greatness.  She cackled with laughter, a full Warp Incubus, charm and sexual allure personified, outstripping even his mother and her father in that respect.

Sabre had risen now  and was leading Abigor towards the rickety old stairs towards the back of the tavern.  She wished Saberion's father could have seen this, he would have died a thousand times over from the embarrassment of it.  A Prince of the Royal Blood getting mounted in a dirty mortal backstreet tavern by a demon lower than himself like a common cheap little whore.

"Yes my pretty." She hissed, touching Sabre's image, making the water ripple.

"That's it....do what your blood tells you to do.....what your nature insists on.....become what you are destined to be."

[Jelenis Tythe]

She continued to watch them in the scrying pool with the dispassion of someone watching to prize animals mate.  Kondor came into the cave and peered down at what she was watching and snorted.

"Why do you watch him Meridior, panting like a little bitch in heat after the lower demon?"

The old crone gave a thin smile.

"Because Kondor I want to make sure it is actually done this time.....Abigor is filled with desire and anger, he will not be able to help it, he will mount Sabre if it is the last thing he ever does!"

The old male shook his head.

"Plots and schemes....do you really think he is the one?"

Meridior nodded saying no more, it was so close now, she felt her grandson's apprehension and the potential for the Flare.

"Now Abigor!" She muttered under her breath.

"Make him all powerful!"

[Jelenis Tythe]

Meridior gave a cry of triumph as she watched the tryst between King and General in that dirty little mortal Inn.  It was done!  Abigor had taken the last innocence remaining to Sabre, deflowered him truly and properly and nothing remained in him that was innocent any more, he was a true demon now...a Warp Demon and it had begun already with the symbols forming on her grandson.  He bore the rune symbols for all ten Rings and now he had to come back here  to learn what he need for the Unity Rune.

Meridior called over the realms to Abigor, speaking softly in his mind.

"Well Done General....a job truly well done, you are an impressive demon but your work is not quite yet finished....bring Sabre to me.....make him come back to the Warp....make him open a portal and bring him to me."

The thought of reward might spur him.

"You too will train with Kondor, Zenethor's father....he will like you, yes indeed, his son's favoured pupil.....here you can have Sabre as much as you desire, no spies, no holding back....here you can experience him for the true Incubus he is...a Warp Incubus makes all others pale in comparison, you have will not have experienced true pleasure until you take him here and make him cry beneath you."

Meridior's luring call was powerful.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Though both Sabre and Abigor were in the mortal realm Zenethor could still feel both of them.  He had been carefully attuned to the pair since they were small boys and he felt it now what they had been doing there, the pleasure, the pain, the need.

This had to be handled so very carefully when they returned, it could not get out that the General was bedding the King of the Tenth, it would make Sabre look weak.  Then there was something else, more of a vague sense that something else was interfering with the pair from another plane of existence.  He had his suspicions but he could not be sure why.

"Ana." He said to the demoness who still waited angrily nearby.

"Do you sense what has happened between them?" He asked softly.

"Did they plan to run away and do this?"

[Parkway]

Flori had been taken to a much smaller library.  It was nothing like Sabre's but was big enough for the queen.  Her husband even saw fit to give her an alchemy station, which was right down the hallway from her library.  She had taken to reading very late at night.  Sometimes being carried to her bed by Bouli.

Neither of them spoke of the intimacy they shared earlier that evening.  It was dangerous.

Yet tonight Flori as restless this evening.  Then she felt a strange feeling come over her.  Like he was breaking free from her.  She tipped the armrests tightly.  Pushing slightly off her chair.  He didn't love her.

She lit out a small sob.  Which Bouli and Lui noticed but neither hurried over, she was okay right now. 

Maybe he had needed her when they first met.  Maybe she gave him relief.  He was a demon, he corrupted her.  Now she carried his child.  Her child. 

"Bouli, I wish to go to my room.  Would you take me please."  She rose from the chair as her personal guard came to her.  Entwining his arm with hers Bouli led Flori to her room. 

"Queen, rest well.  As always I am right outside." 

"No Bouli, I want you to stay with me.  I sometimes have bad dreams and something tells me I might this evening."  Flori truly meant this she felt very uneasy as she headed for the dressing curtain and prepared for bed.

Coming round she slipped into the bed and reached for Bouli's hand.  Lui not far away.  She fell asleep holding his hand tightly.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Meridior used her voice with more power behind it to reach the General.

"Abigor....bring him."

She looked to Kondor and gave a thin smile, perhaps the voice of his Mentor's father might have more sway.

"Kondor...call to Abigor....make him bring Sabre to me." She hissed.

The large demon snorted but did as he was bade.

"General Abigor, Favoured of my son Zenethor, I call to you from across the Planes, come to me...learn as your mentor did.....learn to be a true protector of your king, let me teach you the combat secrets of the Warp that I did not even teach my own son......just bring Saberion." He growled.

"You can be with your King in peace until it is time for him to claim what is rightfully his...nights of passion in secret caves, bathing in hot springs together, by day you can learn, I want to test you General....to see what you are actually capable of." This was more of a direct challenge which he knew would appeal to Abigor's need to prove himself.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Jelenis had been taken back to his cell and sat huddled on the bed in one corner, he had been terrified when Abigor had come to take him him somewhere, bodily dragging him from the cell and carrying him to some place called The Pit.  It had been the one called Zenethor and Viola that had intervened and forced him to let his prisoner go.  Jelenis knew deep in his heart what Abigor had planned to do to him in that place, what he had threatened back at th Fortress and in truth as terrified as he was, part of him wanted the attention, pain or otherwise.  He felt so very deeply ashamed of this fact, that he might almost crave attention from Abigor he felt that deprived and alone.

He turned his head into the pillow and let out a soft sob....perhaps it might be easier if he were dead.  No more of this wickedness, this sin that he had been led to by Gen'pi that he so wanted...perhaps he was the names the demon guards called him.  Viola had now left with Ulric who had given him a look that might kill and another guard had been placed.  He just wanted to go home, to find Bel and Trayder and forget this whole nasty place.

[Jelenis Tythe]

Meridior felt it first, the crackle of energy that signified a portal being opened into the Warp.  She grinned to Kondor.

"You managed to reach the General it seems after all." She hissed.

"He is bringing Saberion back and he will be the one to make sure he remains here until the work is done."

Kondor snorted.

"You have far too much faith in that silver haired whore!" He growled.

"Just like you did in the Incubus you mated to get your daughter....he looks very much like his grandfather and has his abilities it seems too, moaning well between the sheets! The magic must have come from his Sire's side of the family!"

Meridior scowled.

"You concentrate on Abigor and do what you do best which is fight.....leave the intricate stuff to me...the boy is Shar'Unitor whether you like it or not....and my grandson is no whore, never use that term again in front of me and especially in front of him!"

She hissed at Kondor like an angry cat and he growled back in a low rumble of anger.