A Kingdom for Slimes Ch. 02

The sunrise's first golden rays fell across the castle's tallest spire like honey as the entire eastern horizon turned shades of palest cream and delicate yellow. Songbirds, those who had not yet gone south that autumn, danced through the lightening air. Xeralstalis perched on the spire and shaded her eyes against the light, her long, demonic tail swishing idly side to side behind her. She had climbed this high to get a better idea of where exactly she was, and all this light wasn't making that job easy for her.

Despite what the hedge wizards in the surrounding villages would have said, most demons didn't disappear in a puff of smoke at the first caress of dawn. There were those that did, of course, but Xeralstalis wasn't one of them. She was a creature made mostly of pleasure, not darkness, and pleasure could exist in any amount of sunlight.

That didn't mean the blasted light wasn't making her nearly blind, though. The ground below was a blob of shadow streaked with honey-sweet rays. As fair a sight as that was, it made picking out details next to impossible from Xera's perch. Aside from the thin trails of smoke rising from chimneys and catching some of the early life, she could hardly even tell where the nearby castle town was, never mind any villages lying among the forests and meadows in the distance.

The sun had risen higher now, turning the sky the same shade of pale blue as Xera's skin. Her cerulean hair billowed like silk cloth behind her and she had traded out her usual attire of provocatively minimalist armor for a more subdued black robe. She might need the armor again soon, considering the schemes she was forming, but for now the robe was more comfortable and there was nobody to impress except some ravens on the top of the castle spire. Putting the armor back on wouldn't be difficult anyway. For demons like her, conjuration magic was second nature. Among other things, it made mundane chores such as changing outfits as simple as a snap of the fingers.

Finally, Xera's dark eyes started to adjust to the growing light around her. Most of the land around the castle was rolling hill and farmland. The demoness grimaced in distaste at the orderly sight. There was little fun to be had in such lands. To the north, however, the landscape became far more appealing. Thick, vine-wrapped branches were broken periodically by pools of still, glistening water. To her eyes, the swamp and surrounding forest held much more promise. That was the sort of place her precious slimes could thrive. If only there was a way to spread that swamp, she mused. If she could cover all this kingdom in fetid water and colorful mushrooms, then it might be a place fit for her to call her own.

"In fact," she said to no one in particular, "I think I might just have half a mind to look into that. If those fops calling themselves magicians can turn an enemy kingdom into desert, then a being as mighty as myself should find making dirt a bit muddier a piece of cake."

Unfortunately, finding the information necessary wouldn't be quite so easy as using it. There was only one place within easy traveling distance that she knew of that might have some clues as to what the swamp-creation ritual might be without going through the hassle of making a return trip to the underworld. The place in question wasn't exactly friendly to demons and Xera wasn't thrilled at the prospect of having to pay the proprietor a visit.

She sighed and resigned herself to her fate. If she wanted to improve this kingdom - and there was no question that she did - she would need to get over her reluctance.

Xera stood and stretched, balancing expertly on the spire's point. After surveying the land one last time, she coiled her legs under her and lunged into the clear, cool air. Her wings unfurled as she started her descent and, catching an updraft, she glided easily away. As she did so, she muttered the quick, flowing syllables of a simple illusion spell. While illusions weren't her area of expertise, she knew enough to throw together a moderately effective disguise. Anyone on the ground looking up would most likely only see an especially large swan flying overhead.

The good news about her destination was that it wasn't far from the castle, meaning she would only have to remain in disguise for a short while. While it was simple to call up the illusion, that didn't mean it was simple to maintain. Already, she was starting to feel the strain of keeping up the veil of magic as a dull aching behind her eyes. At last, Xera spied the location she had set out to find and began to circle down into a landing.

The building didn't look like anything special to the untrained eye. A squat, L-shaped post-and-beam home propped up on a half-wall of brick stood surrounded by neatly trimmed hedges and flower beds. To the side was a small pond filled with lily pads and swans, making Xera's entrance all the more convincing. The house's owner wasn't going to be fooled, though. The demoness knew that without even having to see him.

As she alighted upon the muddy shore of the holding pond, she shook herself and let the illusory magic fall away. "I always hate doing that," she grumbled, rubbing at her head.

"Your distaste for the art form shows, Xeralstalis," a smooth voice replied from the shade of a nearby willow tree. Beneath the tree's arching branches sat a slender, almost androgynous and timeless man. He wore a long maroon coat and, under that, a downy gray waistcoat and matching ascot pinned with a bright amber brooch. Beneath that, a simple pair of beige trousers framed his slim legs and were tucked into the tops of black boots. His hair was the sort that would make most women jealous, and on his lap he held a book and quill pen. "A true swan would have much more grace in landing, and would never land on the hard earth when still water is available."

Xera scowled at the man. "I didn't come here for you to critique my illusions, thank you very much. I came here to borrow a book." Each word was like poison to the demoness, dropping from her mouth like lead weights. If she could, she would have sneaked in and stolen the book without even bothering with all this stifling politeness.

The man closed his book and set it beside him in the soft grass beneath the tree. "Oh really? I didn't think you were much of a reader, Xeralstalis."

Somehow, Xera couldn't shake the feeling the man was laughing at her. "I only want the book for my own ends, Leith! Stop flattering yourself with all this nonsense talk."

Leith smiled guilelessly. "Nonsense talk? I would much rather call it exchanging pleasantries."

The demoness crossed her arms and turned away. "Wouldn't I have to be responding in kind for that to be true?"

Leith sighed quietly. "Very well, let's skip to the heart of the matter. What book were you hoping to borrow from me, and for what purpose?"

"I didn't have a specific book in mind. I need something to help with a... personal project. Preferably something dealing with transmuting a tract of land into a different shape?"

"Ah, that kind of book," he replied.

"Yes. Do you have anything like that?" Xera could feel her meager patience draining away.

"I might, but Xeralstalis, I think there's something you're forgetting."

"And what would that be?"

Leith quietly rose and stood for a moment in silence, staring out at the little pond. "Are you familiar with the term Fisher King?"

"No, and I hardly see how some uppity fisherman has any bearing on our conversation."

"It's an old story among the humans. I'll spare you the details, but the heart of the tale is that a kingdom's land reflects the heart of its ruler. Your personal project involved this kingdom, did it not?"

Xera scowled. This was precisely why she didn't like dealing with Leith. "It might have," she mumbled.

"No matter your intentions for this kingdom, you won't find any success so long as the current king sits upon the throne," the strange man said with a nod.

"Why are you telling me all this? If that fool of a king's my only obstacle between me and my goals, then I'll just go get rid of him. You know it wouldn't be the first time I've deposed a ruler."

"Yes, very true. However, I'm telling you this now because I know you'd find that this king is a step above the rulers you've dealt with in the past. King Jerome is well-acquainted with occult threats and has employed the best demon hunters and spiritualists in the land as a defense against this exact sort of scenario."

"You can't be serious." Xera should have expected something of that sort and yet in her eagerness to start spreading the sublime ooze of the marsh across all of the land, she had completely neglected to think of such potential scenarios. "Okay, okay. So the king's got some demon hunters guarding the throne. What kind of demon hunters are we talking about here?"

Leith smiled thinly. "If I told you that, it would start to sound like I was trying to help you succeed."

"If you don't want me to succeed, then why don't you just stop me now? I'm right here in front of you, after all. In broad daylight, no less. Aren't your kind supposed to be empowered by that?"

"Not quite, Xeralstalis. And as you are very well aware, I'm not stopping you because my hands are tied, so to speak. If I moved against you, I'd technically be breaking the Autumn Court's accord with your homeland." Leith sighed. The sound was full of regret and for a moment, Xera almost felt bad for him. Not because she wanted him meddling in her affairs, of course, but because the sympathetic magics radiating from his golden form were so strong. If he had been anyone else, she would have expected Leith to be deliberately attempting to manipulate her emotions. She had dealt with the powerful archfey enough to know this was just a side-effect of his mere presence, though. The knowledge made her supremely glad he wasn't directly trying to oppose her.

"What am I supposed to do, then?" she asked, more out of frustration than any real expectation of an answer.

"You could always give up and go home. That's what I would advise doing."

"I'm not going to just give up now," Xera retorted, although all the fire of her earlier arguments was gone. As much as she hated to admit it, Leith was likely right. This kingdom was just a small speck on the map, really. Risking herself over a bit of fun was ridiculous.

Leith patted the demoness on the shoulder. "You'd best be off, then. The book you were hoping to find would only tell you the same thing I already have. No ritual is strong enough to change the whole kingdom right now. The hearts on the throne are too stern for that."

The return flight to the castle gave Xera plenty of time to consider her options. She could continue to insist on transforming the kingdom into a sprawling, glorious swamp for her slimy subjects to live in. She could give up, as Leith has advised her to. She could seek out that prince she'd transmuted and his knight friend and see what fun she could goad those two into. As much as she didn't want to admit it, though, the only option that seemed feasible at the moment was the second of the three. She had forgotten to include a way to track Stathis after the transformation and she didn't think her illusion skills were polished enough to give the guards patrolling the castle the slip.

With a great fluttering of her leathery wings, Xera landed on a balcony protruding from the spire she had started her day perched on. The double doors leading inside were left ajar. The demoness slowly strolled through them and into the former prince's bed chambers.

"We certainly had some fun here," she said with a bittersweet giggle. "Too bad that fun has to come to an end. And all because some fool of a king thought to hire someone capable for once."

As she lamented the end to her debauchery, Xera's gaze landed on Stathis' writing desk. The floor around it was still a mess of scattered papers and inkwells, but the magic quill he had used to summon her from her home in the underworld was somehow left sitting in plain sight and undamaged. She would have called it a miracle, but somehow doubted such acts of divine intervention commonly were handed out to her kind. Whatever it was, the sight was giving her a wonderful idea.

As any sage would agree, the trouble with demons was that the vast majority of them were skilled in summoning magic of their own. So if a sorcerer were to conjure one and allow his attention to slip for even a moment, he would suddenly find the one, relatively easy to manage demon had called all of its friends, neighbors, and rowdy siblings. Xera wasn't nearly as well-connected as that and had managed to burn a few bridges in the past, but there was one dear friend she could still count on to come to her aid. She took the quill in one hand and a loose sheet of paper in the other and quickly started to meticulously scribe the runes and patterns necessary to call the person she had in mind. Summoning wasn't difficult, but when the summoner wanted someone in specific, the process suddenly became much more demanding. Even a slight waver in the formation of a line could yield a wildly different result than intended.

Fortunately, Xera was much better at summoning than she was at illusions.

As soon as she had finished covering the entire page in arcane symbols, she tossed the paper into the air. The runes burst into a fierce ultramarine light as the entire paper crackled to life. The light grew brighter and brighter, pinning the paper motionless in midair and filling the room with the smell of ozone and brimstone.

The paper continued to glow ever brighter until there wasn't a paper at all anymore, just a blinding rectangle of magical energy pulsing in the center of the chamber. Strands of light arced off the shape and danced along the walls, making the shadows stretch and squirm with their passing. With the passing of each heartbeat, the rectangle grew larger. Soon it was the size of a window, and then a door.

The light flashed in a crescendo of brilliance. Azure sparks showered harmlessly around Xera, who had needed to shield her eyes from the grand display. As she blinked dark spots away from her vision, she saw that her call had been answered.

In place of the paper stood a second demoness. Her skin was the color of deep ocean water, her waist-length hair full of volume and an even more vivid shade. While Xera prided herself on her physical appearance, this new demoness clearly had her beat when it came to curves. A gold-trimmed black dress hugged her massive breasts tightly, slits in the bottom half showing off her hips and legs. Her tail, though shorter than Xera's, was much thicker and her limbs were all covered in a dark, scale-like armor that reached up to the elbows and knees. A pair of four curved horns crowned her beautifully-proportioned face.

The demoness gave the bed chamber a cursory glance. When she saw Xera, her face lit up in a smile and pulled her into a hug. "You were the last person I expected to be summoning me, Xera! It's been so long since we've spent time together. How have you been?"

"I've been doing well enough, Setsa," Xera said, returning the hug. She wasn't quite as enthusiastic as her friend, but she still was glad to see her. Even ignoring the fact that she needed the backup, she was glad for the emotional support.

Setsa pulled out of the hug and sat on the edge of the former prince's bed. "So, what brings you to summon me? I can't believe you would have gone to all the trouble just for a cup of tea and some small talk."

With a heavy sigh, Xera collapsed onto the bed beside Seta. "I don't know, I had an idea for some fun but I'm starting to think it's more trouble than it's worth. I was summoned into this kingdom we're in now to grant a wish, you see, and the summoner wasn't able to send me back afterward. That got me to thinking about making this whole place into a slime-filled swamp, but apparently the royal family's preventing that just by being on the throne."

"Is transforming the local royalty out of the question?"

Xera shrugged in frustration. "Apparently, the king's assembled some of the finest demon hunters in the land to work for him guarding the castle from supernatural threats."

"I see." For a while, the two sat in silence, Xera stewing in her defeat and Setsa gazing thoughtfully out the balcony doors across the room. Eventually, though, she turned back to Xera and said, "So, did you call me here to complain about losing your fun time, or to help you get around those demon hunters?"

"You know I don't like to give up that easily," Xera said. Just talking to Setsa was already helping her to feel better. The other demoness' presence always had a positive effect on her confidence. "I just don't know what I'm going to do."

"This is quite the puzzle," Setsa said. "Not many of us would try to topple an entire kingdom, especially with the threat of demon hunters around. But if you want to make the land into a swamp and the royal family's stopping that, then I suppose the first step would be to make yourself queen."

Xera cast a sidelong glance at her friend. "I don't know if I'd call that the first step, Setsa. You neglected to account for all the steps that we would need to take to get on the throne in the first place."

"Right, but I'm talking in terms of the big picture. You have to be on the throne before you can have any of your fun. As far as for the real first step, I have a plan in mind."

"What would that plan involve?"

Setsa grinned. "Don't worry, you'll see. Just follow my lead and everything should work out fine. I've had some experience dealing with so-called demon hunters in the past, after all."

Xera didn't like the look on her fellow demoness' face. Whenever Setsa got like that, some misfortune or another always seemed to befall Xera. Still, it wasn't like she had the ability to refuse this time around. If she did, she would be admitting the mortals had scared her off and if anyone else in the underworld found out, she'd become the butt of everyone's jokes for at least a week.

"Alright, let's hear this plan," she said, knowing full well that she might have just doomed herself with those words.

Setsa's grin widened. "I'm so glad you'll go along with me, Xera. It just wouldn't be any fun without you. Anyway, here's the plan..."

Setsa's plan was courageous to the point of being insane. Xera routinely interrupted her explanation to protest that following the suggested course of action would almost certainly result in the capture and subsequent death of one or both of them, but Setsa had simply waved her off and continued to insist they would be fine. "Sometimes, a little hubris will take you a long way," she had said with a broad wink.

In the end, Xera had given in and agreed to go along with Setsa's scheme. By all rights, something should go wrong, but as Setsa had pointed out, her plans had a history of working against all odds and she did have experience dealing with demon hunters that were most likely much more serious than the ones employed by this backwater kingdom. Perhaps things would go well for her, after all.

After their discussion had been resolved, the two demonesses temporarily went their separate ways. With a snap of her fingers, the crisp air shimmered around Setsa and, after a moment of wavering like a mirage in the desert, she disappeared entirely. "Don't worry, I'll be watching you," her disembodied voice said with a giggle.

"Stop acting like a voyeur," Xera replied. "That's my job."

Setsa giggled again. "It isn't right now."

"Yeah, yeah." Still grumbling, Xera climbed onto the balcony's railing and took off into the midmorning air. After circling the spire once to get her bearings and stabilize her flight path, she curved toward the gatehouse at the front of the castle.