“If you want terrifying, Keeper, I’m willing to oblige, but, for now, there are only two things you need to know.” Sitting back, he flicked a pale finger into the air. “The first is that you live now only because I have not ordered your death. The second…” A second finger joined the first. “…is that you have failed. You have not shut down the segue, and the darkness will gain entry through it to your world.”
“Okay, one…” Diana flicked the second finger on her right hand back at him. “…I haven’t failed yet,and I’m not the only one fighting you.”
“If you speak of your sister, we can defeat her as easily as we have defeated you. More easily, I suspect, as you have by far the greater power. It was your Summons; you were your world’s best hope, and here you are. If you speak of your little friend…” He inclined his head graciously toward Kris and then jerked it back a lot less gracefully as she spat a mouthful of blood almost into his lap. “…her companions, or the Immortal King, they are even now being dealt with. The Immortal King will die and after, as always happens, the fellowship of those he leads will not survive his death. That is, after all, in the Rules.”
“What’s he talking about?” Kris demanded.
Diana touched her lightly on the arm.“I’ll tell you later.”
“You may not have a later.”
“Up yours.”
A brilliant and speculative smile.“Perhaps.”
Was he hitting on her? He was hitting on her. Eww.
“But for now, let’s have a look at the weapons you brought to the battle.”
“What weapons?” Diana demanded. “Your bugs totally trashed Kris’ slingshot and dumped her quiver back in the access corridor when they grabbed us.”
He shook his head and pointed at…
She couldn’t stop herself from looking down.
…her belt pouch. So much for subterfuge. Still, in order to take it off her, he’d have to come close enough to grab. It was possible that direct physical contact could work in her favor—darkside and lightside canceling each other out until only the more powerful remained. While willing to admit that finesse was not her strong point, Diana was fairly sure that in a contest involving raw potential, she’d be the last one standing.
Unfortunately, it seemed that she wasn’t the only one who thought so.
The bug shoved one of its smaller serrated legs between the strap and her waist. A quick sawing motion and it caught the belt pouch in its pincer as it fell. A quick twist scattered bits of the pouch and her defensive possibilities over the base of the dais.
“A few keys. Some seeds. Thread. A watch face. All primed and ready to be used. Such a shame if these fell into the wrong hands, Keeper.” He laughed at the wand which looked even more pink and plastic than usual against the black marble. “Oh, wait; you also brought a toy sent out to spread discord amongst the great unskilled.” He shook his head. “You thought you could defeat me with this?”
Since it seemed to be a rhetorical question, Diana settled for glaring. He would have felt the power discharge when she defeated the dark elf, but he clearly didn’t realize the wand had directed it. That might give them an advantage later. If they had a later…
Frowning, he looked down at the last item, a white, paper-wrapped cylinder that had bounced away from the rest.“And what,” he demanded, “is this?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Kris snickered.
“On the contrary.” A gesture brought a meat-mind out from where it had been lurking, the torches throwing its shadow around the room as it moved. Another gesture had it bend and pick the paper cylinder off the floor. “Do you tell me, or do I have my minion use it against you?”
Diana sighed.“It’s a tampon.”
The meat-mind blinked, looked down at what it was holding, and dropped it, shaking its fingers free of any contamination.
“Oh, please. It’s not like it’s been used.”
“Guys,” Kris snorted.
“Really.”
“Perhaps,” snarled the man on the throne, his lip curled in disdain, “you’ll find the situation less amusing after a little torture.”
“With a tampon?”
The disdain became confusion.“What?”
“You’re going to torture us with atampon?”
Became distaste.“Stop saying that!”
“Saying what?” Diana asked. “Tampon?”
“Feminine hygiene product?” Kris offered.
“Maxi pad?”
“Cramps.”
“Bloating.”
“Clotting.”
“Yeah, I hate it when that happens.”
He stared at them for a long moment, eyes wide and disbelieving.“Nice girls do not talk about those kinds of things!”
“But torture, that’s okay?”
“Double standards of the patriarchy,” Kris growled.
His grip tightened on the arms of the throne to the point where already pale knuckles whitened.“Get them out of here!”
*
Diana yanked at the chains securing her wrist cuffs to the wall and sighed.“I hate to say it, but the nameless nasty was right; this is already less amusing.”
“Are they really going to torture us?” Kris panted, hanging limp and exhausted. It was fairly clear they wouldn’t be able to kick, twist, or thrash their way to freedom.