A Glimpse Beyond the Mists

The unusual couple exited the music room followed only by the two sentries that had stood watch by the door. The girl was more than a bit unsteady on her feet. She giggled and clung to Kane's arm. He slipped his hand about her slender waist and laughed. This simple act of frivolity was something the puritan had not permitted himself in a very long time indeed. Laughter was something as alien to Solomon Kane as manners were to swine. Immediately he felt a twinge of guilt but brushed it aside assuming his mood was induced by the strange and potent drink. Still, it was just as true that he'd never known a female quite as stunning as this one. The power and sway that a beautiful woman can hold over a man should under no circumstances be overlooked.

Despite her state of intoxication Neerininshia was able to lead them onward through the complex maze of rooms and corridors that made up the palace. She giggled profusely when Kane's long rapier banged loudly against a wall. Followed by their guards the couple entered a very long and not especially well lit passageway. As they walked past several darkened passageways some warrior instinct in the swordsman nagged at the suddenly sober puritan. Long experience informed him that this would be the perfect place for an ambush. He attempted to put these suspicions to rest as simply unwarranted paranoia. However, as they neared one particular portal the puritan tensed slightly and he allowed his free hand to rest on the hilt of his sword.

Suddenly and without warning a figure darted through the darkened opening. A dagger flashed a split second from Neerininshia's heart! Most men would have not had nearly enough time to react but Solomon Kane did. As the dagger slashed downwards it met only empty air. The puritan had jerked the girl violently backwards and out of harm's way while simultaneously drawing his own razor sharp dirk, daring not to waste the additional fraction of a second it would have taken to free the rapier from its scabbard. The long blade was hardly necessary as Kane struck the would be assassin with lethal result. Neerininshia screamed loudly as the dirk sliced effortlessly through the flesh and bone of the attacker's neck. Tendons, veins, and the spinal cord were all severed as the blood gushed and the failed assailant dropped like a discarded puppet. He lay on the cold stone gurgling, jerking, and choking in his brief death throes.

The man was well past dead when the queen's sentries leaped onto the corpse and used their long knives to hack with insane frenzy until the thing was little more than shards of red sausage. Their rage was an altogether frightful thing to behold. Such savage mutilation of the dead sent a chill down the spine of even Solomon Kane who had witnessed a great many red deeds.

"Cuarchi," Neerininshia hissed as an expression of raw hate marred her perfect features. She shook and trembled in Kane's strong arms. He sensed her discomposure was not entirely due to the close call but rather something born of extreme loathing if not near madness. The puritan suspected the word Curarchi was not the dead man's name, but more likely it signified some hated enemy of Neerininshia's people. He had many questions but lacked the means to ask.

Many more soldiers soon arrived at the gory scene. They were very angry and conversed in a highly agitated fashion. It appeared to the Englishman that the lone assassin was probably an infiltrator and his success at penetrating the security of the palace was the cause for all the anxiety. No one cast so much as a suspicious glance at Kane. The attacker surely belonged to some fiendish clan that lived beyond the confines of the palace. Perhaps he was one of those beastly creatures that so recently had nearly killed the gaunt Englishman. The assassin had not been deformed or filthy however....there was another possibility, Neerininshia might have political rivals amongst her own kind.

Kane mused silently that even here mankind continued to play his childish games and enjoy his pathetic intrigues. Whomever the attacker was, his assault on their queen had surely infuriated her followers. It was obvious Neerininshia was well loved and the puritan saw that as speaking well to the girl's character.

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A much more sizable and alert group group of soldiers escorted their queen and her quest to the dining hall. There the Queen and her quest seated themselves at a rather ordinary looking but sturdy stone table. Like many other things in the palace it had been skillfully carved out of solid rock. The gaunt swordsman could only guess at the age of the object. Doubtless it dated back centuries as opposed to years. Kane wondered whether Neerininshia's people had built this amazing complex and if not, who had? Certainly not the deformed, devolved wretches that lurked in the shadows near the edges of the glow projecting from the brightly lit palace. If only Kane knew the strange language of the cavern dwellers, what questions he would ask of them! His eyes met the presently very composed and warm gaze of the woman that sat opposite of him. The Englishman contemplated the possibility that he might tarry here longer than the time required to learn a new tongue....no matter how complex it might prove to be.

In an adjoining room Kane could see an older woman stirring a large iron kettle over a hot fire. The enticing aroma of freshly cooked meat made Kane's stomach lurch in anticipation. More wine was served to him while he observed the cook using a large wooden ladle to pour the feast into a broad clay bowl held fast by a male attendant. Additional servants brought polished bronze eating utensils and carefully arranged them at the table.

The unnerving effects of the recent assassination attempt had seemingly deserted Neerininshia completely. She put her soft hand on Kane's and gently stroked it as if to reassure him that all was well. The dark and serene depths of her large eyes glowed with a not so subtle fire as she stared searchingly into the shocking gray eyes of the pallid Englishman. Kane reasoned logically that he was perhaps the first white man the woman had ever seen and that likely explained much of her infatuation with him. Whatever the cause, the puritan was struggling to deny that he was feeling thankful. The fanatically religious puritan's emotions were in a state of virtual turmoil. A tryst with this lovely girl, resplendent in all her naked savageness, could hardly be considered a worthy means to gaining favor in the eye of the Allmighty. On the other hand could any man be expected to be more than a man when faced with such an overpowering temptation? Could a man live a not go mad whilst denying himself everything except grace? Truly he was being tested....and the outcome was sorely in doubt.

Thus pondering deeply, the puritan paid scant attention as his food bowl was being filled. His hunger had been replaced by a inner hunger, a need for a nearly forgotten purpose.....a predetermined pathway, one not easily tread.

"Kane," Neerininshia said, breaking her guest out of his trance. She shot him a puzzled look before motioning a bit impatiently for the puritan to sample what was certainly a dish specially prepared for the occasion.

Kane sighed slightly, a goodly meal, fairly consumed, could constitute no offense he decided. His gaze did not return to meet that of the woman's. He was uncomfortable, concerned that somehow she might read his steel gray eyes and discover the ascending level of his tumultuous inner conflict.

Solomon Kane took up his eating utensils and peered into the bowl. Initially the sight that greeted his vision left him in a brief lived state of rare confusion....if not stunned disbelief. A seething red madness swept over the puritan not unlike the depths of the Red Sea when it fell upon and consumed the army of Pharoh. For the moment he sat absolutely motionless, but the aspect of his trembling glare was of the kind that had, in the past, given cause for strong men to quiver and experience the weakness in the knees born of sheer dread. The dish served to the puritan included a singular horrific abomination....the well cooked hand and forearm of a young child!

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The shocked puritan swore a rare black oath, "by the everlasting fire of Satan's own eternal damnation!" His deep voice roared like a maddened lion. With an awesome violence Kane hurled the bowl of ghastly stew against the wall. It shattered with a loud noise, spraying some of its foul, steaming contents onto Neerininshia. The puritan's grim set features changed from weirdly pallid to livid red. The girl's face registered an expression of utter, uncomprehending surprise. Her initial aspect faded almost instantly to be replaced by a seething rage, very nearly matching the anger displayed by Solomon Kane. She was first and foremost a queen and not someone prone to endure insults or temper tantrums by her guests.

Neerininshia screamed loudly and several soldiers came running....only to crash into the terrified kitchen staff who were in the process of fleeing for their lives from the rampaging puritan. Kane grasped the woman's meal against the wall before stomping into the cooking area and violently kicking the large kettle onto its side.

Disgusting, horrible objects spilled onto the floor. The puritans features had become as red as bright blood and he cursed freely. Then he became strangely calm and his eyes took on a murderous coldness. He drew the long rapier and it sparkled eerily beneath the odd green light. It felt good in his hand. "Someone will pay for this night's fiendish atrocities," he declared in a rumbling monotone. Unfortunately for the common infantry entering the kitchen at that precise moment all of volcanic fury of the puritan's rare wrath would fall first on them.