The Inquisitor Ch. 39

With a sigh and a slight groan, he began. "We have precious little time, but I shall try and explain what I can."

"As you discovered in the library of books deep below us, long ago we imprisoned a dragon in its hold 'neath the castle."

"We?" thought the princess, but said nothing as he continued.

"That should have been the end of it, the beast would have lain slumbering for all time, had we left it alone. But alas, dear princess... greed proved an even greater monster."

"The king desired the treasure stores of the dragon, and his consort brought him a plan to get it for him. As you already know, his consort was none other than our Queen. The woman whom you loved as your maid, was the rightful Queen at the time. But her sister was jealous, and desired the throne, and the King, with all of her heart."

"As you have already seen, Belladonna, who is now Queen, had grown to be a very powerful sorceress. Under the light of the moon, she practiced her powers, and somehow found a way to touch the mind of the dragon sleeping below. At first, it was only sleeping. But she at last woke it up, and it was terribly angry to find itself trapped."

"Together, their evil minds found companions, and dragon told her of a plan. As it turned out, the dragon whom we'd imprisoned was very, very ancient. Had we left it alone, it probably would have succumbed down there in the dark, and troubled us no more."

"But the dragon... She had other plans. All life wants to carry on, dreads the black journey into after-life. The dragon snared the King's consort, who went willingly to her destruction."

"Belladonna bewitched the King. She laid such a heavy spell upon him that his eyes beheld only her, and he granted her any whim."

"Digging was begun on a passage down, stairways leading deep into the earth... the very same which lies beyond that doorway." said He, motioning toward the door to the catacombs where she had so recently visited.

"So bewitched was the King, that he drove his workers like a mad man. What should have taken years was completed in the span of only months, at the heavy cost of many, many slaves. A passage was completed, but the chamber which held the dragon was not breached."

"Each night, Belladonna crept down the long stairs, and communed with the mind of the dragon. The two became thick as thieves, kindred spirits... damaged beyond repair."

"At last, on the night before High Moon, the wall was broken through by a single dragon's claw, and the King's consort crept inside the chamber. Once inside, she communed with the dragon face to face, and she paid her dear price."

"As I told you, the dragon... she was most ancient and near the end. So she passed to Belladonna a dark gift. I shudder now to tell the tale... she nursed from the dragon herself! O' what blasphemy!"

At this, the Inquisitor jumped up and began to pace as he continued his tale.

"She drank from her, dear princess. Drank the milk of a black dragon! The King's ancient master, Syr Va'ahl once told us how dragons had once been simple beasts, but the Last Dragon King of Old caused them to become inhabited by an evil spirit."

"That very spirit, the darkling, passed through each and every generation of dragons, growing darker and more powerful, its insatiable lust and hunger growing stronger hour by hour."

He saw the ever-deepening look of confusion on the face of the princess, and paused to explain further.

"Many cultures have myths about this dark spirit..." he continued. "But I think it's most fitting name is that of the Succubus. This is the name of the spirit that has raged within every dragon ever borne from then on, driving them for more and more gold and riches, as it was all they had ever known before the spirit took them."

"Such was true of our Queen, Belladonna. Through the milk of the dying dragon, this evil spirit inhabited her as well. Took her completely and destroyed any goodness and light which still remained in her black heart."

"Like the dragons before her, Belladonna now hungered. Not for riches or gold, but for release. Held captive by the barbarians, sex and lust and violence were all she had known, and when the spirit of the Succubus inhabited her, it was this hunger which consumed her."

"Ah" thought the princess, beginning to understand. This was why the Queen craved men and lust and desire. The Inquisitor paced back and forth, retelling the tale.

"And so, the consort Belladonna joined with the dragon. And the dragon... she had demands of her own. Too weak to claw her way from her deep prison, the dragon imparted a sacred trust to Belladonna, and demanded a sacrifice."

"As I said before, she desired the King most of all, wanted him all to herself. She was terribly jealous of Chrysanthemum, and plotted her destruction. And so it came to pass, that she convinced her sister to descend the long stairs with her, and meet the dragon face to face."

"I know not how it came to be, but your maid, Chrysanthemum, who was once Queen, went down into the darkness with her sister. Somehow, Belladonna convinced her it was the wish of the King that she join with the dragon, to nurse from it. The pair descended into the darkness... both were heavy with child then. They went down and drank from the dying dragon."

"Somehow, Chrysanthemum regained her senses, but it was too late. She had already drunk from the dragon's teat. Only but a little, but some of the darkness of the evil spirit inhabited her as well!"

"She would fight against it," He said sadly. "all the days of her life after that."

"She turned and fled from the dragon-hold, and the dragon was most wroth. It demanded its sacrifice, and took Belladonna's child in Chrysanthemum's stead. After that, there was nothing left of the poor girl rescued from the barbarians by the king. What remained was the Queen, the Belladonna you know now."

"After the dragon took his sacrifice, it passed on to another realm, and the Queen left it there until it's bones were bleached white. There in the dragon hold, she forged a temple, using the slaves of the King. There she practiced her black arts."

"Just after escaping the dragon, the Queen delivered her son... whom you know as Prince Tarquinne."

"In a jealous rage, Belladonna cast down Queen Chrsyanthemum. She stole her son and claimed him as her own, suckling him with her poisoned milk."

"She cast her down, and lined men up to savage her. After they had their fill, she degraded her still, putting her in stocks in the center of the courtyard, so the peasants, fearing the new Queen, pummeled her with trash, wretched men abusing her body every chance they got."

"Through all of this, the King remained bewitched, and allowed it to happen. Chrysanthemum was reduced to bondage, and forced to live in servitude to her black sister. And once Queen Belladonna had assumed power, she cursed her husband, and drained him of his spirit until he lay in a state such as death."

"Just before he fell, he regained his senses and bade Chrysanthemum, the true Queen, to bring his books and scrolls and magick below to the dragon hold, and seal it."

"Then Syr'va'ahl was banished from the realm, the Queen Chrysanthemum cast down, and Belladonna assumed her throne. That was twenty and five years ago, this very night."

His voice had a hard, flinty edge.

"Which is why we must hurry if we are to undo this evil, my princess!"

"If we cannot succeed before the High Moon has gone down, we shall lose our chance for another twenty and five seasons!"

"Which..." he said at last... "brings me to this box... this weapon."

He opened the clasp and lifted the lid. The princess's eyes grew wide as she beheld the device. It was monstrous!

There on soft padded silk, lay an enormous phallus. It was made entirely of clear green glass. It was filled with some sort of liquid, which sloshed within its glass encasement.

The liquid was dark and shimmery, tiny sparkles as a new facet caught the light. It swirled about inside the device, dark shimmery liquid, interspersed with flecks of bright green.

As the princess beheld it, the Inquisitor explained.

"I have constructed this using the stone of power that hung around your dear maid's neck." He said sadly.

"The Queen tore it off when she consumed her, and I have found it... and I will turn it against her!" His voice had an evil tinge that made the princess uneasy.

"As you discovered in the books below, the old wizard made a hiding place here within the castle. In this hollow, he secreted away the very last of the terrible mineral the King discovered in his captivity in the oubliette."

"It lies there..." he said, pointing to the dark liquid within the device.

"I have made from the black mineral such a terrible poison... and combined it with the green stone of power. None on this Earth could withstand it."

"You once told me of an attack on the Queen." said He, a terrible glint in his eye. "A peasant man tried to no avail to puncture her with a blade."

"T'was then my plan hatched. Our Queen cannot be harmed, can she?"

"No my Lord." Said the princess, still looking wide-eyed at the poisoned phallus.

"Her skin..." he said. "The poor man's blade did not even scratch it?"

"No, my Lord." said She.

"Yes..." he said. "Her skin has become as dragon-scale! Though it is soft and supple to the touch, like a dragon's, it cannot be breached..."

"Save...," said He, holding up the device with a small flourish. "from the inside."

As he spoke, his eyes alighted upon the huge device, and he smiled an evil smile... and the princess immediately understood.