“Bargains”
Prompt: But You Gave Your Word...
“Dracorians don’t usually come here, beastfolk,” the man said. “What brings you?”
The cloaked half-blooded fox sat at the shadowy table, ignoring looks from the tavern’s other humans. Her red fur revealed bluejay patterns as she took the offered mug. One foreleg seemed carved from solid emerald up to her shoulder, movement painfully stiff.
“I have no love for you, star-demons,” she said, “But I need your services. I’ll pay handsomely.”
The human scoffed, gesturing to the other two at their table, “I doubt it. Your ‘glazeberries’ are useless off-world. But if it’s any comfort, we don’t all like you freaks either.”
“I know,” she smirked, tossing a sack onto the table. “Half your payment.”
The man opened it, revealing oddly-shaped gemstones. Perfect replicas of body parts, the larger pieces smashed. All foxes, but beastfolk were double Earth-animal size.
The second man plucked a ruby heart from the bag, horrified. “Lady, you’re sick. I want no part of this.”
“More for us,” the third man pulled a sapphire head from the sack, spotting similarities to the living fox, “Literally selling us your family… And buying?”
The vixen gave a predator’s smile, “Greater treasure than you can dream of.”
* * *
The she-fox ignored their dying screams, eyes only for the dragon-lich feasting. She prostrated herself, earth magic holding black corruption at bay. “My Lord! I redeem my family’s honor! You are free!”
She gestured through the glass-like labyrinth, to the path bored by technology, braces keeping the magical walls from shifting.
The lich finished the last human of the excavation team and stared at her blankly and hungrily…
She backed away, confused, as its eyeless gaze drank her strength as it drank everything else. “My Lord? Will–will you not remove your bloodline-curse? Have I not done enough?”
Her god-king advanced, ashen tar pooling against her wards, silent except for its pulsing abyssal heart.
She fled.
Her demigod brother lay where she’d stabbed him, barely alive. He was a griffon-esque creature of bluejay and jackal called a canvid.
His pleading warning echoed in memory, “You’ll doom us all!”
What had she unleashed?
Comments