The Paternus Trilogy by Ashton Dyrk

Author:Ashton, Dyrk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paternus Books Media
Published: 2020-10-16T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Tanuki takes the last of the stone steps that lead to the dungeon beneath Castle New Vanaheim. His ears perk as he listens. Silence but for the hiss of gas and huff of flame from the few sconces on the bare stone walls. No hint of the revelry that’s taking place in the great hall at the opposite end of the building. Not a breath of air moves. His nose wrinkles at the dank scent of sweating stone. The smells of prisoners are long past. All but one. The musky odor of goat.

Then a faint scrape of hoof on stone and clank of chain. Tanuki draws a breath, exhales deliberately, before setting off down the hall.

Stone to his left, empty windowless cells, one after another, to his right, their heavy doors of iron left open. There are no cots or sinks in them, only manacles and chains and tiny pits in the corner for excrement.

The last cell is different. This one has bars of Astra steel and the vitality of warded stone. Inside, on a bench attached to the wall opposite the door, sits Baphomet. Pratha’s chain is still around his neck, attached to a loop at the wrist of his right hand, the only hand remaining, which is attached to the chain at his feet, which are themselves strung together with chain. There are other bindings as well – manacles at his ankles, anchored by chains to the walls.

“Hello, Tanuki.”

“You swore Arges and Asterion would not be harmed,” Tanuki replies in a bluster, having finally worked up the nerve. Baphomet’s response is to look on in an inquisitive manner. “I only agreed in order to save them. You swore.”

“No, Tanuki,” Baphomet replies. “You did it because you’ve had enough of being a servant. In both holocausts, you served. In The Order of The Bull, you served. Before that, in your homeland, you were ridiculed.” Tanuki’s resolve falters. “All of your littermates, your brothers, served Father. And they were all taken from you in the wars, weren’t they? All of them gone, killed in wars fought to save the parvuli, who had nothing but disdain for you and your kind, whom they felt existed merely for their amusement.

“And you, a loyal, selfless Deva, you’d helped them in so many ways over the myria. Did they ever thank you? Did they ever help you? Freyja, and many of the others, you know it is true, look down upon you for abandoning your home, your watoto, during The Flood, for not staying to help them survive and rebuild. I understand, however. They deserved nothing.”

Tanuki looks up, able for a moment to meet the intensity of Baphomet’s bright pink eyes with his own of soft brown, wet with tears. “But my brothers...”

“Kleron changed the plan without my knowledge. I had no idea he was sending the likes of Ziz and Xecotcovach. There is only one way a confrontation such as that can end.” Tanuki looks on, perplexed. “Kleron and I are not seeing eye to eye, you see.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.