The Warlord K'Sano swooped down the dark hallway toward his quarters like a creature of the night. Behind him, the skinless horrors that were his personal attendants scrambled to keep up with him. Their bare feet made wet, flapping noises on the cold, cold stone. K'Sano ignored the sound... he had in fact grown accustomed, even endeared to the noises his creations made. The Shriikes had began as harem-girls, concubines... the most beautiful maidens from the towns and cities that K'Sano had enslaved. When he grew tired of them, as he always did, he had them killed, skinned, and re-animated... destroying their beauty so that none could behold them after him. Then new harem girls would be brought in to replace them. The Shriikes numbered in the hundreds now.

K'Sano turned an corner and approached the huge double-doors that lead to his private quarters. There were no guards, as none were needed this far into the castle. K'Sano's fortress was the size of a large city. His unstoppable Horde surrounded it on all sides, and legions of misshapen, demonic horrors patrolled every dark corridor. The Shriikes were the most comely of the castle's gruesome inhabitants. And then there was K'Sano himself... his slight, unassuming form could crush the mightiest stone even *without* his enchanted armor and weapons. No amount of might or magic could threaten him here, or anywhere... unless he desired it.

"Dress Me!" He said as he burst into his room. He extended his arms and stood before the full-length mirror. The Shriikes removed his tattered, blood-soaked clothes and threw them away. K'Sano's pale skin was unmarked. He had just returned from the Pain-pits, where those who displeased him were tortured to the point of madness. Occasionally he would lock himself in a room with the most deranged of them and let them attack. The snarling man-beasts would try to tear him apart with nothing but their jagged teeth and bleeding fingers. They never succeeded, but their efforts were very entertaining indeed. And informative. Studying the insane was excellent military strategy... it forced you to break the chains of logic and learning, and expect the unexpected. A very worthwhile exercise. K'Sano rewarded them by ripping them apart with his bare hands.

Once naked, K'Sano studied himself as the Shriikes retrieved fresh clothes from his wardrobe. He pushed his short black hair back behind his ears and looked at his face in profile.

"So young," he said to himself. Indeed, this current body was only 14 years old. He had discarded his previous flesh after some 179 years. He had sustained it at its physical prime for most of that time, but he grew tired of the face and decided that it was time for a change. This new body lacked the bulging muscles and frightening stature of the other, but he had little need of such things. His voice alone was sufficient to strike fear in the hearts of his bravest generals

The Shriikes dressed him in ceremonial robes of purple, silver, and gold. He wore a silver medallion around his neck and matching silver bracelets around each wrist. With them, his most powerful weapons would be only a gesture away.

"Leave me." he said. The Shriikes departed silently, as they always did. They possessed no tongues or vocal cords, so a response was neither desired nor expected. When the door closed, K'Sano walked over to the far wall and pushed back the ornate tapestry that hung there. There was no secret passage behind it, but with a wave of his hand, an arched doorway appeared. K'Sano stepped through into the pitch-black hallway beyond. The only light was the eerie yellow glow emanating from his own eyes. He walked a short distance and descended the long, winding stone stairway that led into the Summoning Room. There, a tall, thin man dressed in red priest's robes awaited him. The man wore a symbol around his neck, but instead of the symbol of a deity, the necklace was engraved with the Crest of K'Sano.

"Brahan." said K'Sano. "Summon the demon KraHeil."

"We have tried before, my liege." said the man. The high-priest was shaking visibly beneath his robes. "He did not respond to-"

"Try it again. And if he does not respond, then prepare to send ME to the infernal planes to find him."

"Yes, my liege."

Brahan began chanting and walking around the small circular chamber. He waved his hands and threw fistfuls of virgin's blood and incense into the smoking pit that lay in the center of the room. The response was instantaneous. The air in the tiny chamber thickened. The stench of blood and brimstone billowed up from the pit, and the walls began to hum and moan as if in some infernal chorus.

The bottom of the pit was obscured by smoke, but K'Sano peered down into it nevertheless.

"He comes." said K'Sano.

The words had barely left his lips than a horrid, screeching *thing* erupted from the pit. It burst upward from the darkness and hovered before those who had summoned it. The demon was as black as the pit from which it had come. Its flesh was part smoke and part shadow, with the remainder composed of a thick, leathery pulp that bulged and twitched in unnatural ways. The thing stood 9' tall, with a wide body and long, spindly limbs that sprouted sharp, bony protrusions from every joint.

The runes around the edge of the pit glowed white-hot as they struggled to contain the beast.

"KraHeil." said K'Sano. "Why have you not obeyed my previous summons?"

"ssssSSSSSSssss...There are upheavalss...on the infernal planessss and the nether-worldssss..."

"What sort of petty turmoil is more important than the summons of your Lord?"

"sssSSSSSsss... forgiveness, masssterrr...sssSSSSSsssss....what issss your bidding?"

"My seers have gone silent. All of them. They were erratic at best, but now they say the visions will not come at all. I took the old fools and had their eyes put out, but now I want a prophecy. From you. Tell me what they cannot."

"sssSSSSSsssss... Thissss I cannot do."

"You deny me, KraHeil?"

"sssSSSSSssss....Yessss...."

"Need I remind you of your FORMER lord and master, the Pit-Lord who, even now, sits in chains underneath my castle? Perhaps I should release him and give him the names of his demon brethren who were responsible for his betrayal and imprisonment..."

"sssSSSSSsssss...your threat is falsssse. Hisss power feedsss your own, you will not releasssse him."

"Try me, demon. His power feeds mine, but it is only one source out of a great many. I was powerful enough to subdue and contain him, and I can do so again... after he has had his vengeance on the underlings that sowed the seeds of his downfall. I'm sure the first to feel his talons would be his prized Lieutenant... the demon who made a deal with a mere mortal to overthrow his lord... the Pit-Wraith known as KraHeil!"

"sssSSSSssss...our deal isss done... we gave you what you asssk! We delivered the sssSSiege into your hands, and YOU let it sssslip through your fingersssss."

"I did not summon you to discuss the particulars of our deal... Will grant me a prophecy, or do I unchain the Pit-Lord and personally drag him to your doorstep!"

"ssssSSSSSssss... perhapsss your sseerss wissh not to disspleassse you..."

"That is NOT a prophecy."

"sssSSSSSssss...a prophecy you requessst, and a prophecy you ssshall receive...sssSSSsss...K'Sano, Lord of Power, The Man Who Would Be A God... He Who ssSmites The Very Angelsss With Hiss-"

"The Prophecy, Demon!"

"sssSSSsss...Three timess you shall you Fall... but only Twice shall you rise...the Tools that shall bear your Blood... are even Now delivered unto to the Hands that shall Wield them...that which you Covet... and that which you Forget... shall be your Undoing...sssSSSSSssssss."

"What type of INSOLENCE is THIS! Speak AGAIN, Demon, but this time speak TRUE!"

"sssSSSsss... that isss all there isssss... all there sshall be."

"You foretell my end... but K'Sano is ETERNAL! I covet NOTHING and I forget NOTHING!"

"sssSSSsss... you're wordss are untrue."

"As are YOURS!"

"sssSSSsss...I speak true, my Lord."

"If you see my downfall, tell me MORE so that I can judge its truth for MYSELF. Who are the instruments of my supposed undoing."

"sssSSSssssss... The Two you know shall be joined by a Third. These Three shall see your End."

"Two I know? Betrayal? You speak of betrayal? No one betray-"

"sssSSSsss...the betrayal is past... the Fall is the future..."

"HA! You give away more than you know, Demon. Only ONE man has betrayed me and lived, so the first 'Tool' that you spoke of must be The Siege! What is the Other? Tell Me!"

"sssSSSsss...I see it not...but a Cold Hand shall wield it!"

"AGAIN your words betray you! You speak of that thieving insect, December! What does HE have that threatens me!"

"sssSSSsss...I see it not..."

"Your prophecy is False! My strength is such now that even the mighty Siege is but a child's plaything in comparison! And the sand-flea that is December could never HOPE to approach my power! I have slain ARMIES with but a wave of my hand! I draw power from planes that the OLDEST DEMONS know NOTHING OF! I have snatched the VERY ANGELS out of the sky and FEASTED on their flesh! These men are no threats...I MADE them BOTH, and I can UNMAKE them at my leisure!"

"sssSSSsss...sso you ssay..."

"Well, then, Speaker of False Prophecies, I ask another task of you."

"sssSSSsss...what iss it, my lord?"

K'Sano moved forward to the edge of the pit and placed his boot over one of the glowing runes.

"My Liege!" yelled Brahan. "Don't release the-"

K'Sano smeared the rune, destroying the containment field.

"Entertain me, Demon." he said.

"sssSSSsss-FREEEEE!"

Brahun whimpered in fear and fell to the floor, curling into a tight ball in the corner of the room. The hideous demon burst free of the pit , screaming with hellish glee and spewing billowing clouds of horrendous stench.

"These stone walls are enchanted, beast!" yelled K'Sano. "MY power still contains you... take your freedom THROUGH ME, or RETURN to the PIT!"

Insane with the thought of freedom, the demon leapt at its master. Its talons shot forward toward K'Sano's throat, but the pair of them were quickly hidden from view by the demon's black smoke. The room shook once... twice... There was a flash of yellow light that blasted large holes in the demon's stench-cloud. The room shook once more, and a blood-curdling scream filled the chamber. A black, misshapen lump flew up towards the ceiling, and then descended back into the pit in the center of the room.

Finally, there was silence. The demon was gone.

K'Sano stood, completely unharmed in the exact same spot he occupied before the demon's attack. His robe was torn and his hair was mussed, but his flawless skin was unmarked. In his left hand he held what looked like a tree-branch. It was crooked, knobby and black, and this branch had talon-tipped fingers that still twitched with the remnants of life.

K'Sano examined the demon's severed arm for a moment, and then turned to his priest, Brahun.

"Most entertaining, was it not?"

Brahun nodded feverishly, like a man insane.

"This demon tells strange tales. We shall summon him again soon and have him spin more lies for us."

"M-my Liege, the words of the demon-"

"-Are smothering blankets of lies and deception. But, nonetheless I shall redouble my efforts to recover the Siege. And I shall send an emissary to discover what secrets that frozen dung-beetle, December, is hiding. He thinks he is beneath my notice... but I overlook nothing! I forget nothing! I am K'Sano!... and I am hungry."

K'Sano turned and started back up the steps. He carried the demon's arm with him, and he was already wondering what culinary delights his cooking-Shriikes could make from it.

[End]

copyright 1998 by Marc Washington (Dark Icon)