THE SUNDERING

DEVIL-DOG

Devil-Dog looked at the newest offering outside the castle, charred, sliced, and misshapen. Already the bodies were covered with the refuse of the skies and land, carrion picking at the remaining flesh, worms poised at eating whatever decay dropped to the ground.

Male and female, they hung from the castle walls. After punishment, it declared to the commoners not to piss off the Regent. Do it and share the same fucking fate.

Shame that the warrior, now rotting and strung to the wilds, hadn't the conviction to face his outcome proudly. Usually soldiers fought to the end, but this one fought for his wife. Surrey and Celena. What pitiful creatures, determined to flaunt their love. Dying because of it. Chained separately, they'd been strung side-by-side. Not that it mattered. Their death throes were terrible ones. They were hardly recognizable anymore.

The Regent kept the ugly reminders of her executions on the North side of the building. The northern towers and walls were her secret. Secret, except by them, and those ready to die. The commoners spoke of it, guarded, afraid to meet the fate of those gone before them. The place, the Regent's secret, wasn't so secret, after all.

Devil Dog sneered, then their face and body morphed, a slide of skin and slippery outer garments. What was first a warrior, with a name, with family, soon looked like an elderly man. They had many personas, all of them false.
Not once had they been suspected or caught. Even if they were seen, no one would believe their transition. That's why they, and not royalty, owned the land. That's how they decided the fate of those who assumed control over it.

Ancient One. Devil-Dog. Destroyer, and Judge. One of those who went bump into the night. One who knew everything.

They'd been hiding for centuries, incognito, a fury among the storm. They'd hide centuries more. No one suspected them-not even the queen. It was how they meant it to be.

Quietly, they faded into the background, tucking the one thing they always wore under their shirt. Shadow's Blood, the original conduit. Men fought for it. Died for it. The poorest of the land were the only ones who dared looking for it. What fools. They'd search until they died.

Devil-Dog finished changing, finding each wrinkle of loose skin, and adjusting it into place. They'd been summoned, so into the castle they went. With royal sanction, they entered the throne room. They bowed.
The queen lifted her fingers from the arm of her chair. They knew what that meant. Grovel. Kiss and not bite. They hid a gruesome smile and did as obligated.

She stood, coming before them and lifting their chin. It was permission to stand. They did. She took their hand, guiding them to come beside her. She sat. They took their place on the stool beside her chair. Their bones creaked. Their soul rankled.

One day, they'd see that her punishment was out in the open. For now, they watched, learned. Readied to make her pay.

Her eyes sharply examined them. If they didn't show appreciativeness for her words, she'd doom them to the same fate as the couple from the morning's debacle. Too bad, too bad.
They'd not die for anyone.

"I sent for my Assassin."

They were the proper sycophant, showing interest when they had none. "You employed him for a mission?"

She leaned forward, hovering over them, her obsidian hair teasing their nostrils. "Yes. A wonderfully impossible mission."

"He'll fail?"

She sighed deeply. "All of them fail. He will as well."

They lowered their head as if they respected the bitch. No one did, no one who guessed the truth at the monster she was.

"I beg, your Majesty. What did you ask of him?"

She inhaled vilely, a serpent's greedy hiss. "I want him to go through the portal and bring my enemy back to me. You are my precious one. You may know of it, but I trust no one else."

"The portal? Isn't that a failed mission to begin with?"

"Yes. He'll fail, and then I'll send another stupid warrior. If the people of Yrurra believed it to be real and not a story, I would have to fight others away from the invisible seal. In this case, I get to choose who goes... and then who dies."

This time they couldn't avoid the bite. "Why send him, then? I thought you approved of your soldier."

Her eyes hardened. "He's being married."

Of course. Jealousy. It was the reason so many hung from the castle's walls, and why the portal had become a gateway for her retributive rage.

"And you wanted him to die." This wasn't a question, and she didn't treat it as one.

"If he dies, it's his mistake." Her gaze was a terrible, dark thing.

"He'll suffer, that you know. But, if I may ask, why not take his bride-to-be and simply kill her? Do you want to lose your warrior?"

They saw her face change from cruel justification to ugly interest at their offering. Pride kept her from accepting it. "She's not worthy of my attention. Surely you know that."

"And if he finds the portal?"

The Regent gave a long-suffering sigh. "He's still dead. No one makes it back from the other side alive."

Truth, at last, spread from her painted lips. She claimed the portal. Shame it wasn't hers to own.

They delighted in how little she knew them. They were from time beginning. They would be until time ends. Like others of their kind, they executed life on both sides of the portal.

The queen didn't know who they were. They smiled.

After hours of playing her willing slave, they were dismissed from the court, easily transitioning to another skin, another name. Another lie to be told.
Time to visit the poor and beleaguered. Time to visit the bride-to-be, Mato.
They enjoyed her, for she hid from the world with smiling lips and careworn body.

They enjoyed her... and in this, their name was Ru.
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