The Blade, The Spear, The Demon Crown Ch. 02

Author's Note:

This is a "men's fantasy romance" written to be reminiscent of the old Sword & Sorcery stories of the 20th century. There is explicit sex, non-consensual sex, and graphic violence contained in this story. This is set in the "City of Scum" setting created by the Literotica author StillStunned, and I thank him for allowing me to play in his playground so to speak. While reference is made to characters, places, and events that have happened in other "City of Scum" stories, you do not have to have read those to be able to enjoy this story. In the spirit of the old grimdark S&S stories, this DOES NOT have a happy ending. You have been warned.

We pick up as Eiristos and Theophania start out on their adventure.

Chapter 2

Eiristos checked over the gear that had been delivered earlier that day. It was everything he had asked for, and all the items were of high quality. Much higher quality than his old gear, actually. Besides the sturdy clothing, there was even a set of the dark hardened leathers the Waterfront Widows wore as armor. Somehow, Theophania had even found a sheath and belt that fit his sword. She had only left briefly that morning after they had eaten, after spending the night laying in bed beside him. When she returned, she had the sheath and a spear taller than she was. A dancer's spear if he wasn't mistaken. He had seen a group of performers from the Southern regions use these long ago when he was a child.

The morning had been filled with the two serving women, Marguerite and Nell, measuring him with pieces of string before running off. They both seemed crestfallen when Theophania had told them hands off for any activities other than that and bringing the tray of food. Now, with fresh clothes and bandages, Eiristos was feeling more himself.

The early evening sunlight was already coming in through the room's sole window, and he wondered if they would leave first thing in the morning.

"We leave this evening, too much time has already passed." Theophania pointed the haft of her spear at him as she spoke.

Shouldering her own pack, she walked through the door of the room.

Eiristos grabbed his backpack, picked up the satchel with the healer's kit he had requested, and made sure his lock picks were attached to his belt in their pouches along with the sword and his dagger. He followed Theophania as she hurried out of The Beekeeper and into the street.

The evening mist was already gathering in the narrow alleys, and before long the ghouls would start making their appearance. He wondered if they even had time to make it out of the city before it was fully dark. Still, the woman strode swiftly and confidently down Low Street, heading away from the waterfront and towards the distant city gates.

*************

Theophania let out a huff as she quickly walked down Low Street. They were passing the Neckless Nag. The Queen should have had that place burned to the ground after that incident in which some scum had attacked Gienna with the power of the queen's own dagger.

Gienna was still having nightmares about the incident, and while the queen had ensured that the rat who had committed the attack would suffer until the end of his days, the fact the Queen had even left him alive galled her.

Theophania huffed again at the thought. Not that the past two nights hadn't been enjoyable. Caeren's girls were well trained to satisfy her desires, but since they were not whores, regular assignations with those two weren't always possible, and she simply couldn't stand most men. However, the feel of a man inside her was something she often craved. While Eiristos was average in height and build, there wasn't an ounce of fat on him. His long dark brown curly hair, currently tied back with a leather thong, framed his lightly tanned face well. His beard was well trimmed and had felt quite good against her. Even though he was more distant and withdrawn than most others, he seemed like he might be worth keeping around for regular use.

She drew her attention back to her surroundings. The First Blade of the Waterfront Widows being taken unawares was not something she was ever going to let happen. The evening mist was thickening, but the city gates were now in sight. She continued up Low street for two more intersections, then turned into a narrow alley. She turned briefly to make sure Eiristos was still following behind her as she proceeded down the alley to a gate. Withdrawing an iron key from her pouch, she unlocked it and motioned Eiristos to go through. Locking the gate behind her, she turned to him. "Walk down the alley to the third door on the left. I'll be right behind you."

While the spare leathers she had found for him were not the best fit, as there were no men in the Widows. Still, they fit him well enough that she got a clear view of his ass as the armor pieces pulled his braies tight against him. Following her instructions, he proceeded to the correct door and stopped. She stepped in front of him, withdrawing a different key from her pouch to unlock the door. She hurried them both through and locked this door behind her as well. There was some dim light in the narrow passage they stood in from a window high in the wall behind them. She pulled an unlit torch from a bracket on the wall and handed it to Eiristos. "Light that."

He produced a metal striker from a pouch and hit it against the stone of the wall, making a spark that fell onto the unlit torch. With a moment of coaxing the torch blared to life, illuminating a stairway before them that led down underneath the buildings. Theophania led the way, while Eiristos held the torch behind her. This was just one of many passages she knew of and used throughout the city. The common rogues may have their rooftop highway, but she had more skill and knowledge than any of them. According to rumor, the man behind her was the only one that could even come close, and he had a very different skill set to hers. He was a troubleshooter, specializing in locks, traps, and crafting various tools. She bent forward as she walked, so the sheathed tip of her dancer's spear did not scrape against the top of the passageway.

*************

Her leathers held her long shift tight against her skin. While the material was dyed dark enough that the torchlight did not penetrate it, the shape of her body under the cloth was unmistakable. She probably thought the events of the past nights would have him drooling over her. But sex was just that, sex, a physical pleasure. Eiristos didn't understand everyone's obsession with it. Still, it was enjoyable, and a willing partner open to sharing with others and even providing additional willing partners wasn't something to be brushed aside.

He blinked, the smoke from the torch stinging his eyes slightly. The tiny bit of light from the window at the end of the passage they were walking away from provided more than enough light for him to see clearly, so he didn't need the torch. But he was under contract to the Widows, and if Theophania was indeed the Queen's First Blade, that meant she was the queen's personal assassin. A command from her was the same as a direct command from the Widow Queen. He was being given a second chance, and he was certainly going to take advantage of that.

His free hand dropped to his dagger. He had at least made it out of The Beekeeper long enough to retrieve the dagger and one of his inscribers from his modest home near the docks. A home that would be decidedly empty in the days to come, with the loss of his younger brother and his brother's wife. The witch had taught him some basics of enchantment and he had found some old tomes that he had learned more from. The recovery days at the inn had allowed him time to put some minor enchantments on the dagger, so he wasn't completely at the mercy of Theophania or the sword which he was somehow bound to.

The passageway they were walking through was narrow and somewhat low, but dry and ventilated enough that the smoke from the torch wasn't too overpowering. They had been walking for some time and were easily past the city walls at this point. Still, he kept his eyes on the passage and the slightly crouched figure of Theophania making her way down the passage in front of him. Watching her body move wasn't exactly unpleasant, and he felt his body responding to it. Still, they were now on a mission and that came first.

After a few more minutes, they came to an ascending stairway. Theophania withdrew yet another key from her pouch to unlock the door at the end of the passageway. Eiristos noted this. Three mundane locks, with three separate keys. Locks and traps were his particular specialty, so he made a note of every one he encountered. The passage opened into a shed a stone's throw from the city walls. It wasn't fully night, but the sun had set while they were in the passage. There was a small cabin just a few yards from the shed they emerged from. Theophania waved him forward, pointing at it. He guessed this was why she had them leave in the evening. The cabin must be a safe house reserved for the members of the gang as a staging point for missions outside the city.

Following Theophania into the cabin, he looked around as she barred the door behind them. It was sparsely furnished, with only two chairs and a table. There was a pile of clean rushes in a corner of the cabin's only room. While not uncommon, he much preferred having a privy like the small house he and his brother had shared in the city. Chamberpots regularly emptied were acceptable, but rushes... He shook his head. He could deal with it for a single night. Things would certainly get even rougher as they made the way to the old temple and the caverns underneath it.

"Use the torch to light the fireplace." Theophania was already placing her bedroll on the floor of the cabin as she spoke.

He walked to the small fireplace across from the cabin's door. There were small piles of firewood and kindling beside it. He tossed the torch into the fireplace and stacked a few pieces of firewood above the torch's flame. With the torch he didn't need any of the kindling for the firewood to catch. There was also an iron mesh screen beside the fireplace that he moved in front of it to catch any stray embers. Turning around from the fireplace he saw Theophania already had her leathers off and was in the process of removing her shift and hose. He took down the pack she had brought him to get his own bedroll.

"Do you not like dark-skinned women?"

He blinked, hearing her question. "What? No, dark-skinned women are fine, I'm just not one that goes out to seek women every night."

She walked over to him and he smoothed out his bedroll on the floor and began unlacing the leather pauldron from his shoulder. "Good, I'm not one to seek men every night either, but while I have you, I plan on making full use of you."

Eiristos grunted noncommittally. "I am at the service of the Waterfront Widows for my contract."

The corners of Theophania's full lips turned down only slightly at his flat answer. "Are you going to tell me you got no enjoyment out of the last two nights?"

Eiristos continued taking off the rest of the leather armor. "No, I enjoyed that. I just don't find sex as much of a motivation as some seem to."

As he removed the last leather greave, Theophania moved to stand directly in front of him. The smooth skin of her body was clearly revealed in the firelight.

"Well, I enjoy physical love, and while I have the option, I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible. Now get your braies off."

Her tone, while commanding, wasn't forceful. He removed the dyed linen braies and pulled his chemise over his head. He stood and pulled Theophania into him for an embrace. She rested her head on his chest. She was over a full head shorter than him, and while her body was the size of a young girl's, her curves and face left no doubt that she was a fully mature woman. Theophania turned in the embrace to put her hands on his chest. Softly, she pushed him down to his bedroll and knelt in front of him. His manhood stood to full attention as she pushed him back on the bedroll and knelt between his legs. He felt her lips brushing the tip of his glans before she licked along his shaft from base to tip. She continued licking and kissing his manhood for several moments before he felt her lips surrounding his glans and moving slowly down his length. He ran his fingers along her braids as a groan escaped his lips. He felt the pressure in his body growing as she swallowed his length. The warmth and pressure of her throat, mouth, and lips against his manhood sending pulses of pleasure through his body.

"I'm about to..."

As he spoke she pressed sharply against his perineum, and the pressure building towards his release stopped. He was still achingly stiff as she released him from her mouth and moved astride his body. Guiding him into her dripping slit, she lowered herself on him. She rocked her hips back and forth in a steady rhythm as her fingers dug into his chest.

"I want to make you last enough to fully please me." The movement of her hips shifted to a more circular pattern while she continued to ride him. Eiristos groaned again as the pleasure and pressure built in his loins once more. Theophania leaned forward along his body, kissing his chest and neck as she increased her pace, moving her body up and down along his length, stroking his shaft with her tightening muscles. She raised up again with a sharp gasp and he felt her insides contracting, squeezing him inside her. His own release followed, and he felt the spurts of his seed painting the inside of her womanhood. She lay down on top of him as he was still inside her, resting her head again on his chest.

Slowly, he felt himself deflate until his member left her body of its own accord. She rolled off of him and pulled her bedroll closer.

Not bothering to clothe herself, she pulled tight against him and covered herself with her blanket.

*************

They had been walking for two days since leaving the cabin, sleeping only a few hours each night in turns. Eiristos scanned the thickening woodland around them. Off to his left, he glimpsed one of the markings he had made in the trees on the first trek out this way. He quietly tapped Theophania on the shoulder and motioned for her to follow. He wound his way through the underbrush towards the mark, a piece of bark scraped away from the trunk of a tree with an arrow carved into the wood of the tree trunk. While not great for the tree, it gave a clear visual sign of the path he had blazed the first time.

Reaching the tree with the mark, he stopped and listened, looking around in the shaded gloom of the forest. A short distance away, another trail marker showed the route of the heavily overgrown path towards the old temple. Leading the way, he began following the route that he had previously walked, to the doom of his brother, his witch sister-in-law, and their hired companion.

After another hour, the gloom deepened and what little sunlight came through the leaves faded.

"We should find a place to stop for the night." Theophania spoke quietly but clearly.

Eiristos looked through the gloom, down the path. If memory served, there was a small clearing not much farther down the trail, where his group had made camp before. The light, while dim, was still more than enough for him to see clearly. Though his companion seemed to have trouble as she grabbed on to him as they walked down the badly overgrown path.

"Are you a damn gloomseer?" she whispered harshly.

Eiristos kept his voice as quiet as he could. "Yes, I was born a gloomseer. I can't see in complete darkness, but I can see clearly in much lower light than most."

He kept going, trying to reach the clearing before it was completely dark under the boughs of the primal forest. As he approached the clearing, the sound of large animals moving nearby reached his ears. Theophania stiffened behind him and he pushed her into the clearing where the barest patch of moonlight reached the ground. Stepping into the clearing behind her, he drew his sword and stared out into the darkness of the forest. His enhanced sight could make out two furred forms heading directly for them.

"Dire Wolves!" He shouted while drawing his sword. Theophania lowered herself into a fighting crouch beside him with her spear pointed outwards towards the incoming creatures.

Eiristos lunged forward as the first of the wolves entered the clearing, making a quick stroke with his sword. The blade shimmered in the dim light, taking on a faint, almost immaterial appearance. As he swung, the familiar weight of steel in his hand vanished, adding speed to his strokes. A line of blood appeared in the beast's matted fur where it appeared this blade had completely passed through the creature. Eiristos braced himself defensively for the creature's reprisal. The creature lunged, snapping its slavering jaws at his leg. Eiristos twisted to the side, away from the lunge, bringing his now ethereal blade back down into the creature's flesh. A burst of pain in his lower leg told him he had not been quite fast enough, but he watched another line of blood appear in the beast's stinking matted fur.

The dire wolf backed away, growling and snapping, not yet defeated by its wounds.

In the corner of his vision, he saw Theophania tumble backwards, using the full length of her dancer's spear to thrust deep into the body of the second wolf. A high-pitched yelp marked the moment of injury as the beast jumped away, circling to move beside its companion. It lunged at Eiristos, but the strike fell short as he twisted away yet again. Theophania's spear flashed again and the beast she had previously injured whimpered quietly before breathing its last.

Eiristos fully faced the beast before him, striking as swiftly as he could. Again the sword seemed immaterial, but the dire wolf's yelp and retreat showed damage had been inflicted as more of its blood wet the ground underneath it. Lunging towards him, its jaws snapped around his already injured leg, teeth penetrating the hardened leather greave with crushing force. Eiristos turned his blade, bringing it down on the top of the dire wolf's skull. The blade of the weapon finally solidified, passing through flesh and bone to pin the creature to the ground. Eiristos stifled a scream as the creature's jaws clamped more firmly in its death throes before finally going still and slack.

Backing away from the corpses, he turned to Theophania. "Dire wolves don't travel in packs. This must have been a mated pair. They didn't move like they were rabid. There may be pups nearby. We should leave and find another spot to camp for the night."

Theophania nodded. "You should see to your wounds first."

Eiristos took the damaged leather greave off his leg, then pulled some clean cloths and a few healing herbs from the healer's kit he had been given. Wrapping the bandages around his injured leg, he put his greave in his pack and stood back up. Theophania still held her spear in her hands as she looked at him. "Lead on then, you're the one that can see."

Eiristos returned to the main path and began heading toward their eventual destination. Listening, looking, sniffing, taking the time to examine their surroundings he crept forward. The pain in his leg faded as the herbs took effect. He led them on for a few hours. The ground grew softer the closer they came to the swamps that housed the half buried temple. Finally he saw a rock outcropping with what looked to be a small recessed area where they would at least have some protection while they stopped for the night.

He motioned for Theophania to follow him to the outcropping. Carefully putting down his gear and opening his bedroll, he motioned for her to do the same.

*************

Eiristos woke to the feel of something warm, heavy, and furred laying on him. A warm, damp tongue licked his face as he opened his eyes to see a dire wolf pup.

"It must have followed us in the night, I think he likes you." Theophania's voice greeted his ears as his eyes continued adjusting to the morning sunlight filtering through the leaves.

Eiristos shifted his body to get up, and the pup bounded off of him, still staring at him with wet blue eyes. He grumbled and reached into his pack to get some of the dried meat from his rations. Breaking off a piece, he tossed it to the pup, who gobbled it greedily.

"Just what I need, something else depending on me," he grumbled.

"We likely killed his parent's last night. That would make the pup our responsibility. It is the consequence of our own actions," Theophania retorted.

"A lecture from an assassin about actions and consequences?" Eiristos scoffed.

Theophania gave him a hard stare with her deep brown eyes. "I am the consequence people face for their actions."

Eiristos groaned again, as he tossed more dried meat to the pup. Attaching his bedroll to his pack, he shouldered his gear. "Let's go."

They walked down the path he had blazed previously. The ground grew ever softer as they neared the swamps. Rivulets of water ran across the path and pools of still water appeared with increasing frequency throughout the forest underbrush. Eiristos' already cautious pace slowed even more as he checked for hazards. The pup followed at his heels and Theophania strode quietly behind them. They walked this way for hours until the light dimmed again.

"We'll need to find a dry spot to stop for the night. Tomorrow we should reach the temple, and below it the caverns." Eiristos began looking around for a suitable spot.

"Over there." Theophania pointed to a raised copse of trees surrounded by rivulets of water and some pools. "It looks like there should be dry ground inside the copse, and the surrounding water will help us hear any creatures coming close."

Eiristos trudged in the direction she pointed. It looked like the trees were on higher, drier ground, and close enough together to shield any light from a campfire if they made one.

Reaching the ring of trees, he saw dry grass and scattered rocks inside. It would indeed make a decent spot to camp for the night. The wolf pup bound forward into the trees, claiming a particular spot by one rock where he circled and then lay down.

After setting their gear down and bedrolls out, Theophania stacked rocks into a ring for a campfire. Eiristos gathered some of the fallen sticks and branches from the surrounding trees to use as firewood. Setting the wood down in the ring of stones, he made quick work of getting a small fire started. Theophania pulled a small pot from her pack and walked off to fill it with water.

Eiristos heard a growl and a yelp, before the pup bounded over to him with a large dead snake in its jaws. Dropping the snake on the ground in front of him, the pup sat while its tail rapidly wagged back and forth. He reached a tentative hand out. When the pup didn't growl or move he scratched it behind its triangular ear. "Good puppy, you brought dinner."

He examined the snake. It was just a black rat snake, non-venomous. He set about skinning it, then draping the meat over some sticks to roast over the fire. Theophania set the pot close to the flames and began throwing some dried vegetables from her rations into the water.

"I see you found us some fresh dinner," she stated matter-of-factly.

"The pup found it."

She nodded, then set her pot further into the flames to boil.

"How far into the temple had you gotten before?"

Eiristos sat on one of the nearby rocks and looked at her from across the campfire. "There are some stairs in the rear of the main building, which go down to a built level before descending into the natural caverns. We made it past the first level, then spent two days wandering the caverns before encountering the creature. I can't say how far down the caverns go, but they seem to lead off to the east, away from the main swamp towards the mountains, a few days' travel from here."

Once the snake meat was cooked, he tossed roughly half of it to the pup who devoured it rapidly before wandering out of the copse to drink from one of the nearby pools. He and Theophania ate their meal of roasted meat and trail stew in silence as the sky fully darkened. Once they were finished, she went and rinsed the pot out before putting it away in her pack.

"What did you find before the creature?" Her eyes glinted in the dying light of the campfire.

Eiristos sighed. "Mostly empty rooms and a few of the wandering undead. Not the ghouls like in the city, but skeletons and similar walking corpses, a few wandering apparitions. You'll see as we get there tomorrow. I'll take the first watch."

The wolf pup yipped and twitched its legs as it slept between his bedroll and the dying campfire. Theophania loosened her leathers and got into her own bedroll for a few hours sleep. He turned away from the fire, staring out into the forest. There was enough light from the moon and stars filtering through the leaves that he could see well enough. Nothing notable crossed his vision, and the only sounds he heard were the insects and frogs that lived on the swamp borders. After a few hours, he gently woke Theophania for her turn at watch before settling down into his own bedroll. The pup curled up beside him so he felt its fur against him as he tried to sleep.

*************

The old temple was visible above the waters of the swamp. It had been built centuries ago, when this had all been dry ground, before the great landslide altered the course of the river flooding this region. The river's course had changed yet again, but this was all now swamp and marsh. Eiristos picked his way through the various pools and rivulets, trying to find the most solid ground to cross. Thick mud sucked at his boots with almost every step. The wolf pup followed closely in their footsteps. Theophania had already rescued it from the deep sucking mud twice today by letting it bite the end of her spear so the two of them together could pull the pup free.

Eiristos caught a fleeting movement near the entrance to the temple. He motioned for Theophania to get down while he moved to crouch behind a nearby shrub. "There's something by the temple entrance, I'm going to try to sneak up on it," he whispered.

Theophania nodded in response, and Eiristos moved off slowly towards the temple entrance. He moved in fractions of inches so as not to create noise in the water and mud, and kept himself close to the wet ground to minimize his profile. He was happy the dark leathers matched the dark, brackish waters. The sun was low in the sky by the time he reached the temple entrance. He saw that his caution had been warranted. A translucent apparition floated before him, seemingly oblivious to his presence. He drew his sword slowly, and again the blade took on an ethereal translucent form, almost matching the appearance of the apparition. But now the blade felt warm in his hand, and the runes etched into it glowed faintly. Eiristos stepped forward and made a strike at the apparition. The blade flared with light and heat as it touched the ghost's form and pale flames erupted from the apparition as its shrieks echoed off the temple walls, before fading into a pile of fine ash on the ground in front of him.

Eiristos raised his blade again as a second apparition came speeding toward him. He swung the blade in a horizontal arc at the incoming apparition, again the blade flared with light and heat, pale flames erupted from the spirit, and a piercing screech filled the air. Again nothing was left of the being but a pile of fine ash quickly being blown away by the soft wind.

"That was work worthy of an assassin." Theophania's voice came from behind him followed by a soft yipping bark from the wolf pup.

Eiristos turned around to face her as she stepped onto the stone porch of the temple from the water and mud of the swamp. The wolf pup ran straight to him and began rubbing its face against his legs.

"The main portion of the temple should be empty, there's a small room attached to the far end of the temple that looks like it was once priests' quarters. When we were here before Evadne, the witch, set up wards on it to give us somewhere safe to rest. I suggest we head for it now." He turned and walked through the broken temple doors without waiting for a response.

The inside of the building was as he remembered it, fallen chunks of pale stone scattered throughout, and anything of value in this main portion taken away long ago. There were holes in the walls and roofs, allowing shafts of fading sunlight to illuminate the large empty area. Eiristos stepped slowly, not allowing his footfalls to make any sound as he crossed the cracked stone floor. Theophania was equally silent as she followed and even the pup seemed subdued as it trailed behind them.

He approached the wooden door of the small room his previous group had made their base. The glyphs his late sister-in-law had drawn were still on the door. Eiristos took a deep breath and tried to calm his mind. The feeling was subtle, just the faintest tingling of his mind and fingertips, but it was enough to sense the magic was still active. He could not cast magic, but could feel its presence and channel it into his creations as long as he had a guide to follow. As he pushed the door open, he could almost hear the voice of his brother Nicos, the soldier, and Evadne, the witch, from the days they had spent here exploring the temple and the caverns beneath.

As Theophania and the pup entered the room, he closed the door behind them. Letting out a long breath he let the tension in his body relax. "I can feel the wards still hold. We should be safe enough here, at least from the creatures that wander this place."

"That blade seems made specifically for fighting things like those apparitions. Did you not notice that on your escape from this place?" Theophania sat down on the remains of a small traveler's cot. It had previously belonged to Evadne. Eiristos remembered arguing with her about bringing it on their trip here.

He set his pack down, not even looking at Theophania. "No, I had not. Much of the flight from here is a blur. That cot you're sitting on belonged to the witch."

Theophania laid back on it. "Well, your late sister-in-law was a wise woman. Some comforts are worth the extra burden." She sat back up and drew a stiff bristled brush from her own pack. "We should probably clean our gear from crossing the swamp before we go on any further."

Eiristos nodded his agreement, and they both set to work removing and cleaning their gear.

After a cold dinner of trail rations, Theophania drew him over to the cot and pulled him down beside her. He felt her soft lips on his and let himself be guided into making love with her again. After she made him empty his seed into her twice, she pulled him down and he slept with the assassin in his arms.

*************

He left off the ill-fitting leathers and set them aside in the priests' quarters. Besides his inscribers and dagger, he had found a set of clothes his late sister-in-law had given him as a gift shortly after wedding his brother. They were enchanted, supposedly by her grandmother, an even more powerful witch. He could feel the enchantment vibrating against his fingers as he drew on the hazy black garments. A thick woolen tunic lined with linen and matching linen braies. He knew from experience that these were as protective as any leather and aided him even more in hiding in the shadows.

Theophania was already dressed in her dark hardened leathers that seemed to fit her more like a second skin each day. Her long dancer's spear held beside her. The pup was prancing and bouncing at the door, eager to leave the confines of the room.

He nodded to Theophania, then opened the room door slowly. The upper temple was still empty, and he motioned for her to follow as he headed farther into the back of the temple. Behind the crumbling ruins of what may have once been an altar to a long forgotten god was the doorway to the descending stairs. He guided them down, the pup staying close beside him. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Theophania lit a torch behind him. The flickering light showed a long stone passageway extending into darkness to his left, the opening to another passage also extending away.

"The passage to our left goes around to a closed portcullis, there should be another door to the same room just ahead." He kept his voice low and quick so as not to carry through the passageways. He walked a short way down the passage and found the remembered door on his left, leading into a large empty room. Turning away from the open door he continued down the long passage until it turned to the left. After a few steps, the stone corridor turned to his right, continuing on until it ended in a T intersection with a broken wood portcullis on the left and another corridor branching off to the right. He motioned for Theophania to stay there as he slowly made his way towards the intersection.

The wolf pup began whining and growling behind him as if it sensed something threatening. He tried to motion the pup back, but then the stench of rotting flesh reached his nose. Looking ahead, he saw four corpse-like, reeking, dog-like creatures wander into the corridor. The wolf pup's growling changed into a soft whine as it hid behind his legs. He drew his blade, now appearing as solid as ever, as a crossbow bolt flew past his shoulder and into the first of the creatures. A second bolt soon followed but flew wide of the mark.

The injured thing surged forward towards him, and Eiristos met it with his blade, severing its rotting head from its moldering body. The next creature charged and Eiristos thrust at its chest, scoring a hit deep into its decaying muscle. The stench of rot and decay was almost overwhelming. He felt his stomach lurch briefly, and behind him he heard the sound of Theophania retching, and the clatter of her weapon hitting the stone floor.

The stinking, undead hounds snapped viciously at him, but their jaws found no mark as he shifted away from their attacks. Theophania's spear flashed past him, stabbing deep into one of the dead snapping dogs, reducing it to a pile of flesh on the ground. He swung again at the remaining beast before him, splitting its putrid head in two.

A whimpering bark sounded from the wolf pup as the corpse dog-creature lay still in front of them. He turned to face Theophania, who was still holding her stomach as she picked up her dropped hand crossbow, reattaching it to her belt. The torch sputtered fitfully on the ground where it had also been dropped.

"Gods those things stunk. Give me a living target any day." The undertone of green was quickly fading from her skin as she stowed her spear in its cloth carry sheath and slung it across her back before picking up the sputtering torch. She carefully stepped around the rotting bodies they had sent again into death.

Eiristos held his breath as he followed her the short way to the intersection of the corridor. "Past the broken portcullis is an empty room. The other broken portcullis at the far side of the room leads back to the large empty room we passed coming in here. The doorway on the far side leads farther in towards the caverns."

He shook his head at the lingering smell and walked into the empty room behind Theophania. The hewn stone of the walls were as he remembered, still showing the brown patches of dried blood from his previous battles here.

The wolf pup began whining and growling as he looked around the room before running off in the opposite direction from where they were heading.

"What lies in that direction?" Theophania asked.

Eiristos shook his head, "I don't know, we didn't go that way before. Follow me at a distance so I'm not in your torch light."

He turned to follow the path the pup had taken. He walked slowly, ensuring his steps made no audible sounds and staying ahead of Theophania's torchlight so that his clothing kept him wrapped in shadow. The distant flickering provided just enough illumination for him to see clearly in the labyrinthine corridor he followed. He heard the wolf pup barking, growling, and scratching at something ahead in the distance. Through multiple turns he followed the dark corridor as it wound around in a serpentine fashion.

Past one final turn he saw the wolf pup running back and forth between a closed wooden door and a floating apparition. The apparition seemed focused on the pup, though it made no move towards the animal. He drew his sword slowly. The blade once again appeared translucent and incorporeal with its etched runes glowing faintly. As soon as he was in reach of the ghostly figure, he struck, and it again blazed with pale fire, reducing the apparition into fine ash.

The pup returned to scratching at the door, as if trying to get inside. Growing, flickering light harkened Theophania's approach. Taking a breath to steady his nerves, he sheathed the blade and examined the door. It did not appear to be locked, or trapped. He sensed no magic from it, and the metal hinges appeared to be rusted shut. He could probably push it open but it would make noise he wasn't certain he wanted. However, the pup's whining and scratching echoing through the corridors would have already alerted anything nearby. Looking down at the pup he spoke quietly but sharply, "Lycos, stop."

The pup sat on its haunches and stayed still.

"It listens to you, and you named it. I think you have a new furry son now." Theophania was smiling when he turned around to look at her approach.

"The word just means wolf. It's not a true name."

She kept grinning, "Well the pup seemed to like it. Let's see what's behind the door." She carefully set the torch down and took off her spear sheath to ready the long weapon.

Eiristos put his shoulder against the door and pushed. It slowly gave way, creaking and grinding in protest. Flickering pale light reached his eyes as the scent of dust reached his nose. Pale blue flickers of witchlight crystals shone from the hewn stone of the square room's walls at infrequent points, filling the space with a dim light. Scrawled on the far walls were the words "Stay right." A faint smell like that of a lightning storm could be detected past the thick dust. In the far left corner of the room Eiristos saw a closed wooden portcullis and in the corner opposite, a pile of dried bones.

The orange-yellow light of Theophania's torch pushed back against the pale illumination of the witchlight as she walked past Eiristos into the room, her spear held loosely in one hand. Following the walls to her right, she walked around the edge of the room towards the large pile of dried bones. The wolf pup, Lycos, as he had named it, following her closely. His tail wagging back and forth slowly. Eiristos followed more slowly, glancing at the portcullis on the other side of the room, through which came more of the faint witchlight.

"There's something in here." Theophania was crouched over the bones with her spear set on the ground beside her and the torch held high. "I haven't seen this much silver outside of the Queen's treasury."

Crouching beside her, his eyes caught the glint of metal. A large pile of silver coins lay buried under the bones, easily a hundred of them. They were dark with tarnish but enough of the pure metal was still visible to catch the light. The design of the coins differed from the silver nobles he was used to, but a pile of this much silver could still keep him in good stead for many years.

"And there's this." She held a round cut stone in her hand, just larger around than one of the coins, the surface showing a dark gray green in the light with flecks of a deep red throughout, bloodstone. He would recognize it anywhere. The nobility he used to work for prized it highly.

"I'm sure the widow queen will be pleased with this addition to her coffers." He spoke quietly while Theophania shoveled the gemstone into a pouch and the coins into her pack.

She turned to him with a surprising light in her eyes. "Your contract stated the finding party was entitled to half, and I'm your party so a quarter of this pile is purely mine, unless you want to share coins with Lycos." Her voice took on a lilting, almost childish quality as she mentioned the pup.

He walked over to the portcullis on the other side of the room. Testing it, he found it lifted easily. He stepped through and saw a rusted chain on the other side of the wall to secure the portcullis. This room was quite large, maybe fifty feet wide and forty feet deep. The pale glow of witchlight flickered from the walls shedding dim light throughout the room. As he stepped forward into the room, a lone emaciated ghoul stumbled forward from the far side, emerging from where several broken boxes and casks lined the wall.

Eiristos stepped forward, unsheathing his blade and striking in a single motion. The ghoul's head rolled free of its body, then crumpled to the floor, still and unmoving. He sheathed his sword before walking to the far side of the room. Searching through the broken crates and barrels, he found another pile of tarnished silver coins that he quickly scooped into his own belt pouch, along with a spear-like weapon. It had a triangular spade-like blade at one end and a forked blade at the other. The metal was dark like that of his sword when it appeared solid, and it seemed to balance well in the center of the dark wooden shaft. He could feel the tingle of a light enchantment as he held the weapon. It was also smaller and would work better in the close areas of the corridors than Theophania's long dancer's spear.

He turned and walked back into the room with Theophania and the pup. "Let's return upstairs to the priests' quarters. I found this, it may work better down here than your long spear."

Theophania looked at the object in his hands. "You found a Southern dueling spear?"

He shrugged. "If that's what it is. I feel some enchantment on it, and it seems to be the same material as my sword."

She turned around and began walking out of the room back into the corridor. Lycos stayed by him as he followed her. They retraced their steps through the maze-like corridor until they reached the foul stench of the dog beasts that had attacked them. Turning back into the long corridor that led to the stairs, Theophania kept walking, apparently less affected by the foul odor this time. Eiristos followed, taking note that witchlight crystals were appearing in the corridors where all had been dark before.

In short order they found themselves back in the priests' quarters they had spent the night in previously. The light in the main temple had shown it was late afternoon as they passed through and then entered the small room. Theophania set her pack and spear down on the cot before pulling some dried meat from her pack to toss to the pup. Turning to face Eiristos she spoke. "So you said you feel enchantment on this spear. Are you going to bond it to yourself like you did the sword?"

He shook his head. "That was not intentional. And no, this looks to be more useful to you. If we stay in this room for a day or two, I can study this and tell you more about what it is and does."

She drew a knife from her belt and sliced her hand, drawing blood. She grabbed the spear from him, smearing her blood on the blade and shaft. "Just in case. If it is bound to me, then it belongs to the Widows. I'll let you study this, while I take Lycos and hunt for some food."

Kissing him on the cheek, she picked her long dancer's spear back up and left the room, the wolf pup following at her heels.

Unsheathing his blade, he set it down on the room floor beside the dueling spear as she had called it and set to closely examining both with all his senses.

Endnote

For other City of Scum Stories please visit the tag page. I'm going to be trying to release chapters every two weeks-ish. I did recently lose my day job, so who knows what wrenches that will throw into my writing schedule, but I will try to keep the words flowing. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this story, please leave stars and comments.