Interlude: Part One

Solana: Welcome back to Hidden Narratives. My name is Solana, and this week…well, it is just going to be me. *throat clearing* Since I’m alone this week, we will be going about things a bit different. I am tentatively calling this a transition episode. Essentially bringing in the perspective of some of that people who’ve been in the periphery of our story. Hopefully, it works out…or no one will be hearing this and you will hear from us next week. First up, we start with none other than the King of Etos himself.

Hester Vilrut stared into the mirror across from his bed on the chest of drawers and silently examined his scarred torso. The night had come and gone, leaving him restless and agitated. He stood, moving closer to his reflection as his fingers gripped the ruby socketed into his belly. He turned it slowly, hearing several soft clicks before pulling it out. A sizzling sound emerged from the metallic recess in his midsection along with a few gentle strands of steam. His other hand took a wire that was connected to the bottom of the fist sized ruby and disconnected it.

His bright green eyes drained of color, leaving black orbs with thin orange slits on either side of his irises. He blinked, one set of eyelids almost translucent covering his eyes first, followed by the second set looking much more human. He rubbed his eyes a moment, opening one of the drawers and setting the ruby on a large pillowed pad that held nine other identical gems. A fresh gemstone replaced the one he’d removed from his stomach.

He sighed softly and closed his eyes again. His inner eyelids vanished, and when he opened them, the vibrant green of a normal human eye was back. He dressed himself in a comfortable but presentable ensemble before fixing his hair, brushing his teeth, and leaving his chambers.

“My King.” His assistant, a young dwarven man called Mikhal, met him at his door and handed him a stack of papers. “Your breakfast has been prepared and is waiting for you in the dining room. An emissary from Ashoria arrived this morning hoping for a meeting with you..” The young man continued to refresh him on his schedule for the day. It was all incredibly dull. Not long ago, he had been excited to be king. Right up until he was assaulted by the everyday life of one. War had been exciting. Even the political intrigue that followed it as the nation was trying to figure out who would take the throne. This, though. He looked down at the stack of papers and sighed. This was all so boring. He sifted through several pieces of paper, separating out tasks for which his presence was unnecessary.

He offered that stack to Mikhal, who was eager as always to take some responsibility off his hands. “I trust you can handle those.”

“Of course, My King. If there is anything else, please let me know.”

“You’re dismissed, Mikhal.” Vilrut nodded to the man, who scurried off.

Vilrut entered the dining room, surprised to see it was almost empty. Only a couple of the staff moved silently through the room, making sure it was clean and ready for him before they, too, disappeared.

“Interesting.” he said and sat to eat his breakfast, reading over one of the papers again. After several minutes of peaceful silence, the door opposite the one he entered opened and closed quickly. Grandis, a beardless dwarf and one of his advisers, leaned against the door as if to bar it from the inside. “My King.” He bowed his head. “We may have a slight problem.”

Vilrut examined his face, though he didn’t need to. He could smell the fear coming off the man. “What is it Grandis?”

“A body washed ashore this morning.” He said, catching his breath as he left the door behind and approached. “It was the saurien that follows Penelope around. She is not taking it well.”

“Gregor is dead?” Vilrut took on a look of surprise as he scratched at his chin. “That’s unexpected.”

“Penelope is on the warpath. She’s gathered up a small group of Deviltouched and is getting ready to go into the city to find who killed him.”

Vilrut pursed his lips. The right thing to do here was obviously to try to calm Penelope. However, that was the boring thing to do, and Gods, he was so bored. After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, Vilrut nodded and waved him off. “Go find Penelope and tell her to meet me here.”

“My King?” The dwarf looked up at him nervously.

“Not alone.” Vilrut took in a sharp breath and whirled his fork around in a circle over his head. “Gather my guard and some Deviltouched.”

“Of course.” Grandis bowed his head and shuffled out the door.

Vilrut finished his breakfast over the next half an hour contemplating how he’d surrounded himself with so many lesser beings. A few minutes after that, the doors to his dining room burst open, bouncing off the wall as if an ogre had just ripped into the room. Penelope stood in the center of the splintered double doors, staring at him with utter madness in her eyes. He met her eyes, smiling a sympathetic smile, before nodding to the chair beside him wordlessly.

Of all the people he’d met in his reign over Etos, Penelope was his favorite. Vilrut was certain that he was the only one who could truly tell the difference in emotion behind that smile that was plastered to her lips at all times. The manic grin had shifted from its ordinary unsettling nature to completely sadistic as she stomped over to his side like a toddler throwing a fit and got herself up into the chair.

“I understand how you must be feeling.” Vilrut said softly to her. “I can’t have you burning Raven’s Crest to the ground looking for who killed Gregor, though.”

“I already know who kill him.” Her voice was the familiar low snarl of a predator who’d honed in on its upcoming meal.

“Oh?” Vilrut looked into the burnt orange eyes of his companion curiously.

“Atania killed him.”

“What evidence do you have?” He met the anger in her burnt orange eyes with a calm that an ordinary man would likely not be able to muster.

“I sent Gregor to kill her. Now he’s dead.”

Vilrut nodded slightly and took a deep breath. “Well, while I believe you are probably right. That’s not exactly evidence, Penelope.” Her growing anger didn’t seem to bother him as he continued. “Can you tell me why you were trying to assassinate one of my best soldiers?”

There was a pause, but she finally answered. “She was going to hurt Yasha.”

Yasha. The child was certainly a problem. Penelope did not scare him, but there was something about that child that set his hair on end. He’d chalked it up to the strange aging experiments that Penelope was doing, but perhaps that wasn’t it. “Why would Atania want to hurt a child?”

“I don’t know.”

She lied. To him? Vilrut’s brows furrowed as he cocked his head and looked down at her. “What aren’t you telling me, Penelope?”

“Nothing.” She answered flatly, folding her arms over her chest and looking away from him like a scolded child.

“Penelope.” He repeated. His fingers took hold of her chin and turned her head toward him. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Penelope stared at him through narrowed eyes before pulling her chin from his grasp without a word.

“Okay,” he nodded. “You are not to leave the island. I will send a contingent of Deviltouched to search for and bring Atania back to me for judgement.”

“No! She needs to die!” Penelope snapped at him, and his eyebrows raised again.

“If you’re not going to tell me what is going on, I am going to handle the situation with the restraint that I believe is necessary.” He spoke in a tone meant to correct the one she was speaking to him in. “If you don’t agree, I am happy to hear why Atania wanted to harm a child, and adjust from there.”

“She was going to kidnap her.” Penelope started to eek out the truth, but he knew there was still more.

“To what end?” he asked. Penelope did not respond again. Her smile faded just enough for him to note the subtle shift in emotion. “You need to tell me the whole story, Penelope.”

“She was going to deliver her to father…” She mumbled out. “Not that she can do that anymore.”

Vilrut’s soft expression faded to stony stoicism in an instant. “Why would she be taking her to see your father?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Penelope glanced at the door and then leaned back in the chair. “I took care of that problem.”

Vilrut swallowed hard at the rage her immaturity was brew in his gut and closed his eyes for a moment before speaking calmly again. “I am feeling…woefully uninformed. You know what happens when people keep things from me. You’ve dealt out the punishment enough yourself. I need you to speak, and speak in full. What is going on with the girl and your father?”

Penelope rolled her eyes and shook her head again. “It doesn’t matter. I took care of him and I’m going to take care of Atania. Then no one will be in my way.”

“In your way for what!” Hester slammed his fist into the table, splitting the thick mahogany for several feet in front of him.

Penelope’s eyes went wide, her cheeks flushing slightly though her grin didn’t fade. “Father wanted to take her into the hells. Raise her as his own, I guess. Then Atania said she thought that me raising her was just as much hell as Father taking her would have been. She might try to kidnap her and run away. That’s why I want her gone.”

Vilrut blinked several time, deep, heavy breaths flowing in and out of his nose. The deviltouched was one thing. He could deal with that simply enough. The fucking devil in his basement was another. That deal was tenuous to begin with and had this insolent little shit fucked it up…

“When you say…you dealt with your father…what does that mean?”

“I killed him.” Penelope cocked her head looking far to pleased with herself.

Vilrut sucked his lips between his teeth and bit down hard. “He’s a devil…Penelope. You don’t just kill a devil. They keep coming back.”

“Not if you steal their soul...” she sang, lifting the chain from her neck to reveal the orb.

“Excuse me?” Hester eyed the little orb dangling from the thin chain, swirling yellow light radiating from it.

“I stole his soul. Can’t resurrect without that.” Penelope tucked the amulet back beneath her flowing blouse and shook her head. “You didn’t think I would go into a fight without doing my research did you?”

“You…” he pulled the napkin from his lap and placed it over the remnants of his breakfast. She truly had no idea what she’d done. The cascade of shit she’d created. “In all your wisdom…did you think to close the portal set up for him? Or are there hordes of demons primed to burst through onto my plane at any moment?”

The light dulled behind Penelope’s eyes. “I…”

“Did you consider what would happen to future generations of your kind? When they can’t get the enhanced gifts from a devil that I’ve made a deal with?” Vilrut slowly rose from his seat, fury building behind his voice like a crackling fire. “Tell me about how fucking smart you believe you are?!”