The Defiled Temple Ch. 04

At the centre of it all on a raised table was Pugward who was shuffling through several papers and reading their contents whilst occasionally barking orders out to the apprentices or listening to their questions about what to do with certain things.

"We need twelve sacks o' wheat from downstairs ta the kitchen!", "Raliel, drop that for fuck sake girl it's poisonous!", "Nah Valeska, I said the one with da blue cover." The imp shouted amongst other things before he saw Malika and waved her over.

As she approached she saw he was wearing a green visor hat and smoking one of his cigars.

"Pugward what are you doing?" Shanti asked curiously as she looked over the place.

"Just gettin' this hole cleaned up for y'all. I figured if da boss wants to turn this place around then we should get our asses movin' right?" He handed one of the papers he'd been writing on to an apprentice that had apparently been waiting for them and she took off with it toward the kitchens.

"What about the girls who want to leave?" Malika asked as she saw everyone at work.

"Uh? After yesterday? Babe, no one wants to leave. A few are thinkin' about headin' home after a month or two but for right now everyone's stayin' put. We got a shitload of work ta do an' everyone wanted ta lend a hand. I told 'em you were wantin' to head out there an' help people. Everyone's up for it." He told her as Valeska returned with a large tome that had a deep blue leather cover. "Aha, that's the one. Thanks, now you wanna get your cute ass down to the library an' tell 'em you found it?"

"Yes sir shorty." Valeska handed the imp the book with a naughty smirk and then turned to run off to the library.

"What is that?" Malika had long wanted to read some of the older books in the library but it was forbidden by the sisters.

"This, is what's gonna let me teach these ladies how to use magic." The imp replied as he opened the book and began leafing through the pages. "It's magika for beginners."

Malika looked at the cover of the tome and saw it was actually called Undying Secrets of the White Priestess. The imp was reading some of the things in the book and chortling to himself.

"Magika can be learned without demons?" Shanti asked, obviously very interested in the book herself.

"Oh sure, latching onto one of us is a cheap an' easy way to get a lotta power all at once. If ya build it yerself though then it's way better in da long haul. Boss, if yer up for it I reckon I could teach all these guys basic spellwork in 'bout six months." Pugward offered. Everyone in the room had suddenly stopped. Clearly they didn't know what Pugward had planned until now. It seemed his idea was happily endorsed however as everyone's hopeful eyes turned to Malika.

"I thought that perhaps we might go out and see some of the world first..." Malika started a little nervously. Of course she wanted the apprentices to be happy but she also yearned to go outside and start exploring.

"Whoa there toots, you gotta crawl before ya can walk. You start sendin' these guys out there with no experience an' no way of knowin' how to get by an' ya might as well just hurl 'em in a meat grinder." Pugwards words drew gasps of fear from the crowd.

"Oh gosh, then of course we will stay Pugward." She looked apologetically around the faces and heard the hoots and cheers that followed.

"Great! Help me down would ya?" The imp reached out his hands and Malika lifted him to stand on the floor. Around them the girls busied themselves once more with renewed excitement "Look boss I'm sorry about callin' ya out like that in front of everyone but I'm serious as shit about these guys not bein' ready to go out there. I mean they're all smart an capable but the sisterhood gives you a real crappy education."

Malika thought about that for a moment, other than the ways of demon worship and how Lagria was good and everything else was bad she had to admit she herself knew little of the world outside. So she nodded to Pugward though he could see she was somewhat disappointed.

"Hey cheer up! Just cuz we can't go globetrekkin' don't mean we can't head out the door. I'm just sayin' we gotta stick close to the temple for now. There's a few villages nearby. They're in da sisterhood's records. After livin' so close to this place for so long I'm sure as hell they'll need help if that's what ya got yer heart set on." Pugward took his cigar out of his mouth and exhaled a long snake-like stream of black smoke into the air.

His words cheered Malika up considerably, plus it wasn't like she was going to be short of things to do for those six months.

"So what can we do then?" Shanti asked, looking about to see where she could lend a hand.

"Well babe I got two gals in the kitchen taking stock of what we've gotta eat. More are comin' up from yer old rooms under this place so they'll need help." He suggested.

"I'm on it. Oh and imp?" She turned and looked back over her shoulder. "Stop by the kitchen later. I'd like your advice on cooking."

With a sultry lick of her lips and a suggestive sway of her round bottom Shanti left them to go to the kitchens. Pugward stared after her, his mouth hanging open with his cigar dangling from his lower lip.

"Pugward? What do you have for me to do?" Malika brought him back to his senses and he blinked before looking up to her.

"Oh right! Yeah well boss here's what's goin' on. We got the sister's down in their cells screaming up a racket. We're gonna need to decide what ta do with 'em soon. In the library we're sortin' out what's useful from the 'all hail Lagria' shit that's litterin' the place. I got a few girls goin' through the treasury because there's some magical crap in there that needs figurin' out before we start handin' it out like candy at Halloween. Plus I figured me 'an you might do some re-decoratin' to this place. Bits of it are fallin' apart and it could do with some fireplaces. I'm fucking freezin'!" He rubbed his hands on his arms to emphasise his point. He was wearing those old shorts of his still and nothing else apart from that strange little green cap. Both sorceress and demon nodded to each other resolutely, it was time to get to work.