Improbable Heroes, Chapter II: Lord Aurelius
#2 of Improbable Heroes
Chapter two includes a further introduction to the Demon-civilisation and a bit of a setback for our daring adventurers. This will be a non-yiffy Chapter, but that won't be the case for the next ones. This one focuses on setting up the story.
Right then, the second chapter! A further introduction to the world of Demons, which I'm hoping is original enough to be interesting. I'm certainly not going for the old stereotypical "they are all hell beasts that try to get your soul" approach. Instead, I've attempted to give them a bit of civilisation and a feudal-like power structure. I'll begin by letting the narrator explain the general world setting a bit.
As always, any comments and criticisms are more than welcome!
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Improbable Heroes, Chapter II: Lord Aurelius
...what is this blinking green light on my desk for?... we're on live?! Blast it, tell me about these things next time!
*Ahrem!*
Following the events of the last chapter, our heroes found little excitement during their remaining travel, as they worked their way towards their goal. Before we join them again on the edges of the demonic civilisation, I shall be providing you, the reader, with a bit of background on how this civilisation is put together.
The Empire of Demonkind is a complicated place based on a feudal power structure. At the top sits the Emperor, the previously mentioned Bob The Destroyer. The Emperor is rarely if ever seen by his subjects, ruling through means of the "Voices of the Emperor", a dedicated and powerful order often referred to as the Inquisitors. They deliver the Emperor's will to his subjects and direct his armies.
Beneath them stand the Bloodlords, the greatest of the Demonic Lords. There are four of them and each of them rules over a large chunk of the Empire, divided as per the four Winds into Realms. They are ambitious creatures, more than willing to resort to underhanded tactics to gain advantage over their rivals. Civil war is not uncommon.
Another rung lower on the ladder of power stand the Dukes, vassals to the Bloodlords. Each Duke rules over several Counts and Barons and is entrusted with the management of important responsibilities, such as large scale mining and slaving operations.
Emily's dear old dad is one of these Dukes, Duke Aurelius. His lands are on the southernmost border of the Southern Realm, bordering the Wild lands. The region is known for its exceptionally rich gold deposits, meaning that Aurelius is a very rich Incubus indeed. Some dare say his love of gold is so great, he's gilded his own ehm....gentleman parts.
Armed with that information, I will leave you in the hands of the writer and his threesome of dangerously inept heroes and that wizard with the epic beard.
Thrashbarg stood up tall, his legs planted widely apart. His thrust his chest forwards and made certain his nipples were as far apart as possible. He held one paw over his eyes, to shield them from the glaring sun and held this dramatically perfect pose as he studied the obstacle in front of them.
After a minute or so, he lowered his arm and nodded gravely. "It appears to be....a wall."
The sound of palm meeting face was heard.
Ulm dared a question, "How do we get across?"
Thrashbarg pondered as he stroked his beard. "Perhaps there will be a gate or doorway further along?"
Emily shook her head. "There will be, but guarded heavily to keep the ferals and the tribes out. I say we climb it."
Fenrir looked at the great sandstone wall, at least ten times his height and smoothened by the sands of the desert. "I don't think we can just scale it, not without any equipment." He looked towards the old mage. "Have any tricks that could get us over?"
Thrashbarg's whiskers bristled furiously "Tricks?! I do not do...tricks...I am an ancient wizard of the Thespian order!...but no, shot of trying to break the damn thing I cannot help here."
Emily smiled mysteriously as she took off her boots. "Hey Ulm, you still have that rope?"
The charcoal warrior nodded "It's in my pack there. Not going to help unless you can get it up though, so what's point? You'll never climb that."
Emily took out the rope and draped the coil around her shoulder. She took a deep breath...and sprinted straight for the wall. She felt small bones crack and pop as she took her demon form. Her blood heated, her muscles tensed and shifted. Her hands and feet turned into powerful black-tipped claws. Her companions looked with raised eyebrows as she leapt up against the wall and punched her claws into the small cracks and fissures, forcing them open, creating handholds. She scampered up the wall like a lizard, swaying sideways with her tail lashing back and forth. As she reached the top she leapt over the battlements and tied the rope to a stone block, giving her companions a triumphant smile.
Having hoisted the old mage over in a very undignified manner, despite his constant grumbling, the party took a moment to get their bearings. The terrain this side of the wall was still dry and stony, but the sands were gone. Paths were clearly worn across the stony ground, indicating frequent traffic.
Emily pointed towards the north, "The palace should be a few hours that way, but we're going to have to go around a mine first. We can't afford to be spotted so early."
Fenrir raised his paw "Yeah about that...do we actually have a plan? You know, other than charging in and killing this Aurelius?"
Ulm shrugged "Seems like a solid plan to me. Simple."
Emily clenched her fists, "I know how to get to him, don't worry. As soon as he's dead the rest of them will be too busy fighting each other to pay any attention to us."
The grey wolf looked bewildered "Why would they fight each other exactly?"
"Because the last Demon standing gets the Duke's title by right of power. At any rate, we should get moving before we run into any patrols."
After traversing a rather large amount of plain, uninteresting rock Ulm spotted column of smoke rising from behind a hill. He alerted the others. "I'm guessing that's your mine. "
They scampered up the hill, the view took their breath away. The landscape in front of them was marred by a massive pit, at least a mile across. Its terraced walls dug so deep into the ground that the slaves on the bottom looked like dots. And there were plenty of slaves. Thousands of them toiled away on all levels of the pit. Humans, wolves, foxes and every other species imaginable. Clad in rags and wielding crude tools, they hacked away at the rocks, encouraged by demonic overseers . The overseers were as diverse as the slaves, the only thing they all shared was the flaming whips they used. Massive columns of black smoke rose from large buildings at the top of the mine. It was a classic vision of hell.
Emily shook them out of their fascination. "Guys! We have to keep moving. Unless you'd like to end up down there."
They tore themselves away from the sight and fell in behind the Demon girl. Emily took them along a narrow path, hidden from sight by the hills on either side. They were all tense and on alert, watching for any signs of life.
They froze as the unmistakeable sound of hooves on stone came from around the bend in front of them. Ulm pulled them towards a cleft on the rock face to their right, a small cave shielded by some dry shrubs. They laid down flat behind their improvised cover, holding their breaths.
Glancing out, Fenrir could see flashes of gold. Though obscured, It seemed to come from a large wagon, being escorted by mounted soldiers. One of the black "horses" suddenly flashed fire from its nose. He felt Emily tense up beside him.
As the convoy passed, The Demon girl slammed her fist against the ground. "DAMN IT!"
Startled, Fenrir asked her what was wrong.
"The golden carriage....that was Aurelius. Father is going towards the mine." Her claws left deep marks on the rocks as she spoke. "We missed the perfect opportunity."
Thrashbarg put his paw on her shoulder "But now we know where he is at least. We can follow him and plan our attack accordingly."
The girl took a deep breath and got up on her feet. "You're right...we should go after that convoy. After he visits his precious mine, the Duke will likely take to rest in his tent....We take out the guards and force out way in, I kill him, and we'll be gone before anyone knows what happened."
The new plan steeled her nerves and she smiled. "I'll have my vengeance soon enough."
Several hours later, the heroes found themselves lying in wait outside the Duke's camp. He hadn't bothered with any defences at all it seemed. His men had simply put up the tents in an orderly fashion, giving the Lord's tent, a cloth-of-gold monstrosity, plenty of space. Another advantage. Two guards flanked the tent's entrance on either side, the Duke presumably being inside. The fact that the sun was always up (night only ever occurred further north) complicated matters, as they could not rely on the cover of darkness.
Thrashbarg came up with a solution to this problem. The old mage had been reading in a large book, which he conjured out of thin air, and had found a spell that might render them temporarily invisible.
"Well not actually invisible you understand, merely uninteresting."
Interpreting the confused looks shot his way correctly, he continued.
"Basically the spell will cover us with a layer of dull-ness, with a shell of uninteresting so overwhelming that any sane person will simply forget he ever saw us as soon as he sees us. It's a little something I worked on in my academy days. Best way to sneak into the archmage's quarters, right past his guards. The man was quite puzzled at the wheel of cheese that had replaced his copy of 'Edgar's transformative magic', I can tell you! Especially considering it was mostly about changing things into cheeses."
The old wolf grinned at the memory, ignoring the befuddled looks. "At any rate, it should get us in the tent easily."
Agreeing on a plan of action, they checked their gear and set off towards the camp. Immediately before stepping out of cover, the mage cast his spell of overwhelming dull-ness. The world turned grey around them. "A little side effect of the spell, just keep moving."
They slowly walked out toward the big golden tent, anxiously clutching their weapons. They froze as a pair of guards suddenly showed up to their right, patrolling the camp. They resembled man-sized black furred apes, with grotesquely large teeth and claws. As their eyes landed on the party, they glazed over and sought something more interesting to look at. Encouraged by this, the heroes pressed on towards their goal. The two guards flanking the tent, muscular black lizards wearing heavy steel armour plating, took no notice of them as they approached. Thrashbarg tapped both of them with his staff, putting them to sleep. They sank to the ground with a soft clattering of metal.
They pushed aside the tent's flap and stepped inside.
The tent's interior was lavishly decorated to say the least. Gold seemed to be everywhere, studded with sapphires, emeralds and rubies. There was a chess set wrought in gold and silver, a table gilded top to bottom, a rack of swords with gold and ruby hilts and much more besides.
But the only thing the heroes had eyes for was Duke Aurelius, standing in the middle of the tent with his hands behind his back. His partly scaled skin was as brown as the desert stone, his human-like features sharp and masculine. Horn ridges grew from his brow and chin, giving him a more reptilian look. His eyes were slitted vertically, coloured golden. He wore loose-fitting robes of black and gold.
He was looking straight at them, smiling.
His voice was smooth and calm, "And so the lost daughter returns. Welcome home Emily..." He spread his arms, revealing his gruesome looking claws. He laughed at their surprise " Oh don't you think you can sneak up on me. That was a clever trick mage, but not clever enough for me I'm afraid."
Thrashbarg seemed more intrigued than alarmed, stroking his beard.
Emily's bones popped as she took her Demon form, her eyes burned brightly. "It doesn't matter. It's four against one daddy. You're dead!" She lunged forward, slashing her claws at the Incubus' face. The Demon Lord laughed as he turned the blow aside.
Ulm and Fenrir charged, attacking from both sides at once. Aurelius brushed aside Fenrir's blade and dodged Ulm's axe, which hit only cloth. The Demon grinned and tore off his robes, revealing his nakedness underneath. His body was hardened, with large brown, ridged scales covering everything but his abdomen and chest. His member hung down large and heavy. The Demon lunged sideways and swung a claw towards his daughter, who was forced to fall backwards to avoid it.
"Come on daughter, I'm right here. Take your chance! My guards will be here soon."
His laughter was interrupted by a bolt of lightning, he fell to one knee. His grin turned into a scowl, a black mark smouldered on his chest. Thrashbarg took up another heroic pose as he charged his next attack. "Clever enough for you Demonspawn?"
Ulm shouted a battlecry and leapt forward, bringing his axe down overhead. Aurelius roared and jumped up. He grabbed the axe by the shaft whilst driving his other claw into Ulm's shoulder. The warrior screamed in pain, forced to release his weapon. Fenrir swung around from behind, going for a swing to the knees. Aurelius tossed Ulm back towards him, forcing him to break off the attack. He caught his brother in arms and went down with him.
Emily had nocked an arrow to her bow, aiming it straight at the Duke's chest. The string clacked against her armguard as she released. The projectile missed and struck the shoulder instead, glancing off the rounded scales.
Thrashbarg shot another bolt of lightning, Aurelius dodged at the last second, grabbing a weighty golden vase and slinging it towards the old wolf. It struck him on the head and he crumpled to the floor. The Duke leapt forwards and planted one leg on the wizard's chest, his claws ready to dig into the flesh.
"Am I worth the mage's life I wonder? Relent, or I tear out his heart!"
Emily aimed another arrow at him, glancing back and forth between her father and the struggling mage. She hesitated for a few seconds, long enough for Aurelius' guards to burst into the tent and knock her to her knees. The Duke laughed as they were shackled and chained.
"Bring them back to the palace with us. I have plans for them."
The adventurers spent the next day chained inside of a darkened wagon, mixed in with several slaves.
Fenrir glanced to his left, Emily's eyes burned dimly in the dark. "Don't worry...we'll get out of this." The demon girl remained silent. After they'd chained her, she fell into a brooding silence. If not for her Demon's blood, she knew she'd have burst into tears, but instead she turned her despair into anger. She'd never stayed in her Demon form for long, always uncomfortable at the change in her demeanour, but it was the only thing keeping her going now.
Thrashbarg had been given special treatment. His chains were made of solid gold, supposedly inert to magic.
They sat there in the dark, bones jarring because of the rough road, mostly in silence. The other prisoners actually seemed relieved. They were meant to be house slaves, saved from their toils in the mine to serve the Duke. They have no idea what Aurelius could do to them, thought Emily. Her father was nothing if not cruel and bloodthirsty.
When they finally jerked to a halt, they were dragged out and lined up in front of the palace gates, their arms chained behind their backs. These were massive gold double doors built into a sandstone wall twice as high as the one they'd crossed earlier. Fenrir couldn't help but look up in awe. Various scenes of lust were carved into this extravagant display of wealth, naked creatures of all shapes and sizes indulging just about every indulgence the wolf could imagine and then some. His loincloth strained to hold his erection in.
A hard slap across the muzzle brought him back to his senses.
"You will look at the ground you miserable worm!", shouted a particularly ugly Demon. The creature resembled some sort of fat boar more than anything else with shaggy fur and vicious tusks, but his eyes were those of a snake and instead of hooves he had large black claws. The beast snorted and punched Fenrir in the stomach, who crumpled to his knees. "That's better slave. Next time I won't be so kind."
At his command, the gates were slowly opened to reveal the palace. It was a complex and extravagant building, dozens of towers all competing for height were surrounding the main building, a tall domed structure, easily the largest building any of them had seen. All was built in sandstone and decorated with gemstones, silver, gold and marble.
The boar Demon stepped back and took in the line of new slaves. He shook his head sadly. "So this is the best they could get me, that's just sad. You'll have to do I guess. My name is Uzgorg, the Gentle. I am the wretched soul tasked with keeping Lord Aurelius' slaves in line. Defy me and I will strip the skin off your flesh and feed it to you. Defy me again and I'll not be so kind. When I call out your name, step forward."
He took out a scroll and unrolled it. "Goran, Fendor, Jolan, Karondir, Fenrir and Ulm."
The wolves exchanged a glance, stepping forward out of the line. All the slaves in the line were males and clearly the strongest of the lot.
"You will serve as personal guards for the Duke's courtiers, report to Captain Brutus for instructions....NOW!" He cracked his whip to emphasize the point. One of the guards led them out of the courtyard.
Grunting, the boar scratched the fur behind his ear and turned to the line again. He called off two more lists, cleaning staff and builders, before the only two left were Emily and Thrashbarg.
Uzgorg the Gentle turned to them, smiling. "Ah yes, you two are a bit special aren't you? "
He waddled up to the demon girl and cupped her breasts, squeezing them roughly. She came dangerously close to head-butting the overseer. "It is such a shame I can't keep you for myself...but Lord Aurelius has something special in mind for you I'm told. Guards, escort this one to the tower cell." She was dragged off towards one of the taller towers.
"As for you" He prodded the old mage in the chest "His Lordship's son has requested ownership of you. I have no idea why, but I suggest you pay a great deal of attention to anything he tells you. His servants have a way of disappearing. Escort the old man to the young Aurelius' chambers."
This Chapter turned out somewhat differently than I planned....which is to say it's completely different in nearly every way. :P
So if you were hoping for a good smutty section, sorry. I just couldn't fit it in here and it's been relegated to the next chapter.
Speaking of which, the following chapters will be taking an interesting structure. As you've seen, everyone's being split off from the others. I'm going to follow up on that by writing a dedicated chapter about every character in turn. This way I can describe events in detail, build the story while saving room for a bit of hanky-panky whilst at the same time offering more character development. So that's one chapter on Ulm, one on Fenrir, etc.
Comments and criticisms are most welcome.