Seeker of Thrones 5-49
“Seeing his three wives draw ever closer and that his first plot to foil them had failed miserably, Prince Kassardis doubled his pace. Knowing he would never outrun the cruel Vastoki on open ground, he hurled himself into a sea of dead grass, and used up all his water trying to escape her grasp. A night and a day later, he emerged on the shores of the river Dal, and spent the last of his money hiring a fisherman to take him downriver.
The fisherman’s boat overturned in the town of Kol Varas, and there Kassardis did a very shameful thing. He sold to the first rich man he could find his fine silk headwrap, and his father’s silver dagger, and his waistcoat lined with sparrow feathers, which were marks of his lineage. With his sack of foreign coin he hired six strong men, belligerent knights from the wars of conquest, and hid himself in a wheelbarrow, hoping against hope that his ploy would be enough.
Vastoki arrived in the dusty town not hours later, and she was almost immediately set upon by the mercenaries that Kassardis had hired. From his hiding place, the young prince watched as Vastoki was caught in their ambush and fought desperately against stave and sword.
Vastoki was very fast, but also very slight, and no match against the six knights in close combat. Though beaten, she merely retreated to lick her wounds and set camp outside of town. One of the knights nearly lost his head to her long rifle when he ventured out to confront her, and that was that for a while.
As night fell, the knights returned to Kassardis. “Where wandereth thee, young one?” they said in their foreign dialects.
“To the land of Samura, where I may find peace and an escape from violence,” said the exhausted Kassardis, from his hiding place.
“Violence is inescapable,” guffawed the mercenaries, and robbed Kassardis of everything remaining that he owned, for they had seen he was a fool from the start. They threw him naked and beaten into the street, and spent their winnings on drink.
Kassardis, his swollen eyes full of tears and knowing his time was short, stole a woman’s garb from a washing line and a small hunk of bread and fled into the desert, the final words of the Very Wise Frog echoing in his ears.
The belligerent knights, for their part, died not hours later when they were squashed into a pulp by Littari’s iron cauldron. ”
– Tales of the Silver Prince
These devils have been long without their King. They have forgotten what it is like to be ruled.
Allison, it is time you reminded them.
Nay, their KING doth languish within a casket of adamant. For [Himself] presides over the Lords of the Deep, who are both warden and vassal to the Sarcophagus of the Black Flame.
And Al-YS-UN must petition [Himself] for a boon, for she is not of the Deep and the Hot Black Flame. Even the First Gods themselves dared not presume to reign over the Devils.
Stuff and nonsense. Was it not Zoss who masked and named the Devils in the first place?
They have become presumptuous in the absence of a True King.
What? David Bowie Incubus is evolving.
Congratulations, your David Bowie Incubus evolved into Sting Incubus.
There are a great many things to be said about Loabarrisleb, few of them good–but it cannot be said that he does not handle books with some care. Not that that substantially changes my opinion of him in any way, but he is not without one mildly favorable trait.
Once, in my time as a lowly mercenary for the Book Binding guild we enlisted the support of Loabamisleb, thinking we could use the wizenly ebon to vertically expand our guild’s work to the printing of books, as well as the production of paper.
This, as you well know, led to the long reign of the loathsome Publisher’s guild, as well as the fierce militarization and expansion of the Ink Maker’s guild.
The lesson here should be that though a demon might find redemption through a noble art like book keeping, he will always revert to his baser needs if given the opportunity.
Which is why one should be most wary of Cio…
Incubus doesn’t supply the fire, I think, he supplies the tinder. Whereas without the borrowed power She would need to learn to make a spark, here She is able to command it as if it were Hers for many cycles
This sacrifice is twofold, I think. First She sacrifices Her sovreignty over Her power, the kind of innate knowledge that would come with Her gradual development from a kingling into a true King
Second, I do think Incubus will expect payment in kind for his assistance
That, and he who sits unbound will demand blood for Her impertinence
Don’t forget all those poor souls begging for Incubus in his bloody pitt.
Alison is in danger.
Here we goooo.
“A flame knows not of loyalty” remenber that Alyshun.
It’s all a matter of timing,
sometimes it’s better to be
to better land the hammer-blow
*to be slow!
Fuck, y’see?
This is what happens when you rush.
Finally the nascent lord has had enough. Tis the fate of demons and fools that I see coming next- marvelous!
Is that another one of the living book men?
Man, they cannot catch a break.
It’s Cio’s fanfic diary, again.
Truly his life is one of hardship.
David Bowie is back to kick asses!
Nice to see Alice-UN is getting closer to r o i a l t i
It is just that they all attempt to take advantage of the “Rising King”, as they urge her towards destiny.
Now, flame and fire.
That… Seems like a bad idea.
Fools, do thou not know that so called thrall is the Rising King, those name is Kill 6 Billion Demons? Anger her at your folly, least you become part of the billions she will cleave with the Terrible Blade of Want.
Of which Loabarrisleb is at high risk of becoming a par of that 6 Billion at present.
As for Incubus, it seems he’s foreshadowing his own fate once the Rising King works out what the fuck he’s up to or is betrayed by him.
To be fair, the affairs of Lords and demons is seldom one and the same…
Thou hast confused allegory with reality.
“Good, good. Let the anger flow through you.”
Even devils ancient are as senile fools on their podiums to provoke Kings that can Cut.
(Translation: “Aw, shit, y’all done fucked up now, bitches.”)
I fear her hammer will not only drive the nail, but snap the boards beneath it.
~~I see a crown~~
What is the Lake of Abaddon?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abaddon
Not a good place, no matter how you read it.
Fearsome is the blade you see. Terrifying is the one behind thee.
“This is also for THY benefit.”
I can’t help but think that that means something important.
yea, tis significant. Forget not the sins of Dread YABALCHOATH.
Indeed so, Esteemed Besmircher of Loaves.
This one has little traffic with Deviltry, but they are more subtle and oddly beneficent than widely granted. If their hunger is not upon them, they can be even magnanimous, which we have seen in this tale before.
What is this mighty fiend warning the meager human Thrall against? Is it merely the echo of Yabalchoath’s rapacious past? Or something more current and sinister?
That said, I suspect this mighty Ebon is about to be the third whom the Rising Godking has touched in ways most profound.
They assume that Cio/Yabalchoath has fooled Allison and is planning on betraying her. And they may be right for all we know.
They dun goofed!
Carnifex has a very classic look about them.
The Lake of Abaddon, the forsaken lair of multiverse’s most wretched and dangerous creature…
whence the victims become ‘un-drawn’
erased with k’tarl and zed.
or whatever you use in this software
Anger is a sword with two sides, one turned upon the world and one turned upon oneself. Temper it with strong purpose and wield it with unbendable will, or you’ll just flay yourself.
The sword of anger has but one side. The error lies in assuming that oneself and the world are twain. Creation can only cut creation. In this way all cutting, in anger or otherwise, is in similitude of the divine suicide. Tempering is wise, otherwise the resulting universe will be soft and dangerous to wield.
RIP demons