Chapter Twenty-Nine: Coming Together Part Two
1336 Words
Luci shook his head. For the first time, the Hell Hound wasn't fighting him, and his Form stabilized without any aches and pains.
“Ah, it appears my pet has arrived.” Lugus' voice broke into his introspection. Luci's hackles rose and he growled. “Time for you to make yourself useful. Go then, see if you can find a key. Get me out of this place.” Lugus hissed. Lucian finally took a look around him and was surprised to find himself in a narrow passage surrounded by jail cells. In front of him was Lugus and Lugus' grandfather. Luci snorted. Like Hell he'd help them.
“I don't think your beast is planning to do as you asked.” Lugus' grandfather rasped a laugh, and Lugus gritted his teeth.
“Hound, I command you!” Lugus seethed. Luci sat down in front of him and tilted his head. Now that the Bond to Emma was broken and only one tie remained, binding his body to Lugus, he and the Hell Hound could come to an agreement. And the agreement was, neither of them liked Lugus very much. And since Lugus had never done a single thing to strengthen or continue the Bond forged between them, neither of them felt very much inclined to continue the relationship. It was rare, but a neglected Familiar could break a Bond of its own volition, and Luci let his tongue loll out in a dog-grin.
“I renounce you.” The Hound's voice rang through the hall. Lugus recoiled like he'd been slapped. Luci stood and shook out his fur, feeling the link he had to Lugus breaking as he tore himself away. Now to get to Emma before the last of the Bond expired or else he'd be lost to the gods only knew where.
---------------------
Luci skittered around a corner, his claws finding no purchase on the marble flooring away from the jail cells. He had nearly run into a pair of armed guards running away from him. One was yelling to the other one about a ruckus in the council's chambers.
“..some goddess and her niece, with her Familiar.. went rogue..” Grated out the guard and Luci's heart leapt. That had to be Emma! “They've called for all armed guards, go to the barracks, I'll go to the mess.” The two split up and Luci panicked for a moment. They would eventually end up where Emma was, but he couldn't just follow them around... Shouting drew his attention and he hesitantly crept forward. Peeking around a stone column, he saw a crowd gathering in a large square. They were packing around a large building and Luci had a really good feeling this is where he needed to be. Taking a deep breath, he bolted forward. There were shouts and screams as people saw the huge black Hell Hound running directly at them. Guards yelled and someone threw a spear at him, but it just grazed his shoulder. His growl of anger, however, split the crowd more quickly than any of the other commotion had, and the people parted before him in fear, stumbling backwards into each other to get out of his way. He leapt over the last one or two that nearly fell and crashed into the doors of the council's chambers. Damn it! They were locked! Luci threw his shoulder against the doors with an enraged howl. He had to hurry, he didn't have much time left!
---------------------
The Fox sat in invisibility on the tall desk between the gods and Emma and her family, thoroughly enjoying all the Chaos he was causing. Occasionally, he would transport to another location to soak up some of the mayhem there, but at the moment, he was distracted by the sound of scratching, banging and howling at the door. Well, this sounded like even more Chaos and that was always more fun. He floated his way down the aisle towards the door, but before he could get there, one of the guards opened the door like an i***t. A large black wolf threw himself through the doors and the Fox laughed in delight, doubling over as his laughter stole his breath. Well, the whole crew was just going to show up, weren't they?
----------------------
Bel snarled as he, Cern and Sage appeared in the courtyard outside the Council's Chambers and encountered a large crowd of people.
“No..” He ground out. “I've come too close..!” The sky darkened around him as he drew in the power from the sun. He was not going to let these people inhibit him. He started slapping his hands on anyone's bare skin he could reach as he pushed his way forward, and people fell like flies around him, deep asleep. He kept moving, still drawing on the sun, gathering as much energy into himself as he could, pulling it from the people he was putting into dreams, storing everything he could because he knew this was not going to end well. Even now he could feel another's power building against his, using the darkness he was creating to their advantage. “NO!” Bel growled, shoving another person out of his way. Cern tried to catch them as they fell lifelessly on those surrounding Bel, yelling at Bel to calm down, but Bel was too far gone to pay attention. When he reached the set of double doors, he didn't even attempt to knock, just used his power to blow the doors off the hinges. Cern gaped behind him, clutching little Sage against him. Everyone in the room turned to look back at the doors and the angry god whose hair was flying around him as his body lit on fire. The disembodied sound of laughter was the only noise in the room.
--------------------
“Emma!” Luci had roared just as the doors blew in behind him. He stumbled and nearly fell, whipping around in case it was some new threat he wasn't expecting. To his surprise, Bel was standing there with Cern behind him looking shocked. There was a gasp behind Luci that he immediately recognized as Emma's and he spun back around so he could race to her side. His hind feet were having trouble getting purchase on this marble floor also and he grappled with it for a moment, but Emma's face was in his sight and she looked surprised and almost happy to see everyone, and then her expression changed to shock and she held out a hand.
“Luci!” She yelled. This time the thrown spear didn't miss. It arced through the air and came down beside his spine, punching through several ribs, puncturing his lung and nicking an artery near his heart. He could feel the blood pooling in his chest as he stumbled and fell forward. Behind him there was a loud bang and the smell of burnt meat. Luci rolled his eyes enough to see Bel had impaled the guard, pinning him several feet off the floor to the wall with his flaming sword. “Luci no!” Emma tried to run to his side, but her chains got in her way and she stumbled and fell. Once she hit her hands and knees, she just crawled the rest of the way, sliding through the blood that was pooling around him. “Luci, our Bond is gone, what do I do to save you? How can I save you like this?” Her tears fell on him, and he felt the life contained within them, even as his heart tried to stutter, her tears hit his system and kept it going. He groaned.
“No time for that right now, my love.” Bel murmured, pulling her to her feet. “We have company.” Luci whined at the loss of Emma's hands on his face as Bel sheared the chains in half that bound Emma's hands and ankles.
- Writer
