Carnival of the Soul Read online

  Mila's thoughts became disjointed as she tried to catch up with the sudden shift.

  Asturial shrugged and said, "I see no reason to wait ... and there is at least one new reason not to. Remember that Terrence will give me a boon as well as receive one from me. I agreed to help you against that man, and if he is as powerful as he claims, I am inclined to take no chances. After all, this body is the only one I have."

  When the two came in sight of the yurt again, they saw Shy, Laina, and Halla lounging outside. Shy lazed in the morning sun, while the other two availed themselves of the wide, colorfully striped awning that overhung the entrance. As they approached, Shy spotted them first, smiled pleasantly, and waved.

  "We were wondering where you two had gone," she said. "And Yuri. Is he not with you?"

  "Yuri did not return to bed after Euryale's ... interruption," Mila said, trying to be politic about it but unable to completely mask her irritation. "He will be looking for another lodging for tonight."

  Halla and Laina glanced at each other, then at Shy, who gave a lazy one-shoulder shrug as she said, "You two didn't hear that? Tee made Euryale scream like a banshee last night."

  Mila noticed that Laina looked as bad as she felt. Her braids were undone and she had bags under her eyes. Next to her were two buckets, one filled with water and the other ... still blessedly empty. Halla looked her usual self, and Mila noticed that while she had initially been as bald as an egg, she now had a ruff of dark-red stubble across the top of her head that contrasted well with her indigo skin.

  "So long as she doesn't scream this morning," Laina grumbled. "If she cuts loose with one of those shrieks of hers right now, I think it'd kill me."

  Asturial said, "I am surprised at you, Laina. I would have thought your tolerance for alcohol would be high."

  "It is!" she replied, then winced and hung her head as she jerked a thumb at Halla. "Oooph. Her's is higher."

  "Booze is fuckin' great," Halla gushed. "I can't wait to go drinking again tonight!"

  Mila's brow crinkled and she asked, "Did not Terry drink with you both?"

  Halla and Laina both nodded, one enthusiastically, the other not so much. Laina said, "That man's got no bottom. Never seen anything like it."

  "Yeah," Halla had lost some of her good cheer as she said it. "He doesn't get drunk at all. It sucks."

  Mila and Asturial exchanged glances at that, and Mila silently mouthed, "Prada."

  The dragon nodded, but her expression remained thoughtful for a moment before she said, "I take it then that he and Euryale are sleeping in? Where is Prada?"

  "With them," Shy said. "I missed the dawn, but I needed some sunlight. I also need some milk, but Laina isn't up for that yet."

  "Please don't make me. I don't trust myself not to make a mess right now. I need to eat too and I know I can't manage that either. Urrf, Mmmng ... Hangovers are the worst."

  Laina glanced up briefly and pointed as she mumbled, "Just drink some from what we bottled. It's in Boss's pack."

  The minotress leaned forward with her arms across her knees, taking deep breaths.

  Shy nodded and stood, stepping into the yurt. Asturial and Mila followed her in.

  Mila watched as Shy reached in beyond the curtain and pulled out Terry's pack, then a bottle which she uncorked and drained. As she did so, even in the dim light Mila could see the whorls and patterns of Shy's woodgrain skin darken. She had tasted Laina's milk on a few occasions and found herself wanting a draught. At the least, it would ease her many pains, and she was startled that she hadn't thought of it sooner.

  I should have mixed some in my tea.

  Just as she was resisting the urge to ask, Shy drew out two more bottles and handed one to each of them as she said, "I presume you wanted to speak to me?"

  Asturial, never one to mince words, got straight to it. "You know what I want, Shy Willow. Terrence and I have spoken. I am willing to wait, but circumstances continue to accelerate, and I have decided to come to you for aid."

  Shy's luminous green eyes brightened a bit as she smiled and said, "What makes you come to me then? Tee is right there."

  She waved a hand idly at the curtain. "Go get him."

  "You know as well as we do that Terry is not a piece of meat that I can simply tear into whenever I please," Asturial said. "He is still uncomfortable around me and I accept that, but then Euryale returned, the Nightmare appeared ... and now there are other rather disturbing developments. Fate is conspiring against me. I need your help."

  "Terry is obviously still not comfortable in his role," Mila added, doing what she could to help, for whatever it might be worth. "You know he will not make the next move, and while I could approach him, Asturial cannot."

  Mila paused meaningfully. "You know that neither of them is as powerful as both of them could be."

  Shy seemed to hesitate, then straightened. Mila could see the resolution within her, and felt something ease within herself. She knew that Shy would advance Asturial's cause.

  She pledged to support us in the Labyrinth, and demonstrated her willingness with Vlad. I could hardly do less.

  "Very well. It is past time that some organization was brought to this motley group in any case. We will have a gathering as soon as opportunity presents, and make firm our commitments."

  Mila's tail wove in satisfaction she had no desire to hide, and then stilled as she heard a muffled greeting from outside. Yuri stepped into the yurt a moment later and his own happy expression faded as he saw Mila's wide eyes and flattened ears.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  Mila considered lying, but she had never been able to lie to her brother, just as he could never fool her. She set the milk down untouched and turned to face Yuri.

  "Vlad."

  "What of him?" Yuri's tail had gone very still, and though he wore armor that kept her from seeing it, Mila could sense his hackles rising.

  "He is here."

  7

  Destined for Greatness

  Terry opened his eyes and the first thought in his head didn't even belong to him.

  'Good morning ... ish.'

  Morning, Prada. Why are you here?

  'You didn't tell me to leave.'

  His lips compressed as he sat up, thinking, That's because you knocked me the fuck out last night. You know I don't like it when you spend the night inside me.

  'Details. Did you sleep well?'

  Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he thought about that question for a moment, then glanced behind him.

  Isthil lifted a hand and waggled her fingers, looking very hesitant as she said, "Ah, mornin'."

  "Mmmm, morning Isthil," Euryale mumbled, reaching out to wrap an arm around Terry's waist as she said, "Master ... five more minutes?"

  "There are entirely too many people in here," he muttered, then glanced around and said, "Morning Isthil, Euryale ... Prada."

  Inwardly he added, I did sleep well, actually. For the first time in weeks.

  Prada wasn't actually inside him. As he glanced around, he realized that he was literally sitting on her. She'd apparently been his bed last night, and Euryale's too by the look of things.

  Prada spoke aloud as she said, "I'm too big now to fit inside you at your current size, so ... hope you don't mind. And don't bother to answer that because I know damn well you don't mind. Thank Isthil for your good night's sleep, Husband. It's only polite."

  As he looked at her with a quirked eyebrow, Isthil nervously said, "Euryale told me to see ye quietly through the night. She said after you two'd had yer fun I was to come back."

  "And with her around you have no reason to sleep alone anymore!" Euryale said, sounding unbearably smug. She lifted her upper body and yawned, then looked at him meaningfully as she added, "Right, Master?"

  "If she's messing with my head every night and traveling with us every day, when does she get to sleep?" Terry asked.

  "I sleep when you do," Isthil said. "Ye cannae be in a man's dreams and awake at the sam
e time."

  Terry considered that, then said, "Isthil?"

  "Aye?"

  "Thank you."

  Her nervous expression melted into a relieved smile as she said, "Oh thank you, Terry Mack. I've not dined so well in a long time. If ya dinnae mind me presence, I'll be happy to do this for ye while I'm here."

  Terry shifted, only to find that Prada was keeping him right where he was and Euryale was still draped across his middle.

  "Oh, come on! I've got all the usual morning problems that need taking care of. Leggo!"

  Euryale sucked her teeth and let him go as she leaned back and stretched, gloriously and unabashedly nude. Even her snakes yawned as her wings spread wide, curling in a bit to accommodate the walls of the yurt. Terry caught himself staring, felt a twitch downstairs, then shook his head violently before sliding — this time successfully — off Prada, who rose up and crashed down on him in a red wave before he could even think to protest.

  When his sight cleared, he was once more in the guise of a minotaur, and he felt like a bit of an idiot as Prada said aloud, "Going outside looking like ... well, you, wouldn't do us any favors."

  "I wouldn't be so slow this morning if you hadn't fried my brain last night," Terry muttered.

  "I love you too. Get dressed."

  Terry mumbled his way through his good mornings, took care of his business at a nearby series of outhouses apparently built over a covered trench, and came back feeling a bit better. Though there was a stove inside the yurt, it was far more comfortable outside than in. The breeze was pleasant, though to Terry it still smelled like a stockyard. Everyone was gathered in a rough circle around the entrance, and as he took a seat on one of the camp chairs he looked at Yuri and said, "Sorry about last night."

  Yuri's tail flicked once. He nodded, then shook his head as he said, "Just do not expect me to run around again tonight reassuring the neighbors."

  "What are you apologizing for now, Master?" Euryale asked as she stepped out and joined them, dressed now in a white dress with a plunging neckline along with her leather belt and satchel, and a silver snake torc on one bicep.

  Yuri and Terry answered simultaneously.

  "You."

  The gorgon stopped and stood blinking in confusion until Shy said, "You were a bit loud last night, that's all. People around here can't tell your 'I'm cumming' scream from your 'I'm going to kill you' scream yet.

  "Second one's louder," Euryale answered automatically. "When I bother to warn people I really want to make sure they get the point."

  "Aaanyway," Terry said, glancing over at Laina. Her eyes were bleary and a bit reproachful as she met his gaze, as though she resented his lack of a hangover. He felt for her, but he wasn't about to tell her he'd cheated, so he turned his attention back to Yuri and asked, "What's the plan, chief? We staying here a day or two or heading straight out?"

  Yuri glanced at Mila, then back at him as he said, "Well, we had planned to stay a few days, but now I am not sure. Mila saw Vlad this morning, and apparently the man thinks we succeeded."

  Terry glanced at Euryale, who quirked a brow and smirked as she strolled over and sat down in his lap, resting her head against his chest as she wrapped her wings around the two of them.

  As he was wondering whether or not to protest the casual disrespect of his personal space, Mila said, "He asked for the exact words, and implied that I had misinterpreted the quest. What, exactly, did he tell you, brother?"

  Yuri blinked, then his ears flickered and tilted to either side as he thought. After a long moment he said, "Exactly? He said to bring home the head of the Madsee. I do not see more than one interpretation to that."

  Mila spat, then sourly said, "Technically, when we reach the village we will have done that. Our bastard shaman is oilier than fresh dog shit."

  Yuri shrugged, obviously much less upset than his sister. "It does not matter. If we succeed, I will be made chief and can oust him without violence. It is better this way. We will not have to kill anyone."

  "You mean we will not be able to kill anyone!" Mila hissed. "We wanted to get rid of Vlad, not loose him to cause more trouble! How do we do that now?"

  "Perhaps it is best this way," Yuri said. "For now, I am simply happy to have Euryale back with us again. Since we came here to wait for her, and now we do not need to, we should think about moving on. The quicker we can cross the plains, the less chance there is that having him with us will become a problem."

  He jerked a thumb at Terry, who grinned and shrugged as he said, "That is totally not my fault."

  "No one ... well, no one here, is blaming you. But we must still deal with reality," Yuri said with a rather feral grin. "You are a pain in the ass to travel with, Boss."

  "Less so now, surely?" Shy asked. "As long as Prada keeps him looking like ... that, we should be fine."

  Terry chuckled at the obvious distaste in Shy's tone and said, "First the beard, now this? What's not to like about this?" He reached up and flicked one of his horns as he added, "I mean, come on! I'm horny all the time now."

  Halla snorted with amusement while Shy, Asturial and even Laina gave him pained looks, the latter adding, "Ugh, Boss. That was sooo bad."

  Euryale didn't say anything, but Terry felt her claws playing over his pants and realized she was completely hiding what she was doing with her wings.

  Two can play that game, he thought, shifting the arm he had round her hip to drape his hand low over her belly. He pressed his fingers in at her mons and began rubbing slow circles.

  Euryale shifted her hips, and one of her snakes lifted to face him dead on, staring into his eyes. He stared right back, all innocence as he asked, "What? Something on your mind?"

  The snake's tongue flickered out, tapping his snout before turning away. His eyes crossed as he looked at his unnaturally elongated face, then shook himself. Having hooves, a tail, horns, all this extra shit hanging off him was disconcerting, and he concentrated on what his hand was doing instead.

  Euryale had slipped her metal claw into his pants and was stroking his thickening length slowly, and his fingers dipped a bit lower. Her dress didn't have an opening, but it wasn't exactly thick cloth, and he leaned down and murmured, "If you don't quit, neither will I, and you'll wind up with a wet spot ..."

  She tilted her head up, kissed him, and then leaned to whisper sweetly in his ear, "If you don't quit I'm going to hike this dress up and fuck you in front of everybody."

  He blinked, blushed, and whispered back, "Umm, you win. Can I bow out with my dignity intact? Please?"

  She leaned away, grinned at him, and shifted his now rigid shaft back into his pants. She patted his length as though it were a favored pet, then smugly said, "As long as we can continue this conversation later."

  "Deal."

  Glancing up, he realized he'd missed some of the conversation, but was at the same time thankful that his own shenanigans seemed to have slipped under the radar.

  Yuri was saying, "We will plan on setting out tomorrow morning then. For today, we should relax and enjoy the carnival. Mila, is there anything left from Monsoon that we need to get rid of? We can probably unload most of it here."

  "Of course," Mila said. "Marcus gave me his pack days ago, knowing he would not be coming with us. Most of it has already sold, but I couldn't find a buyer in Florence who would give me a decent price on the dirks or armor, so I still have those."

  "Heads up," Halla said, her expression turning sour. "Shitstack's coming up behind you, Boss. He brought friends."

  "Shitstack?" Euryale asked, glancing up at Terry as several of her snakes wound around his head and neck to look beyond him. As she did, Terry stared at Halla with raw frustration on his face.

  "You're kidding."

  "Nope."

  Terry glanced at Yuri, who gave him an annoyed look and said, "This is your show, Boss. Handle it."

  Laina was groaning her way to her feet as Terry slipped Euryale off his lap, grateful that he'd at least been given time
to settle down. Turning around with full wood probably wouldn't have conveyed the right impression.

  Shitstack had come with friends. Twenty-some odd of them at a glance. He wasn't leading either, which put the brakes on Terry's annoyance.

  The leader wasn't as big, and had the fairly typical barrel shape of most minotaurs, but his clothing seemed a cut above that of the men around him, and Terry couldn't help but notice a collection of heavy maces and battle axes in the group.

  At a mere six feet in height, Terry was extremely short for a minotaur, and he'd kept his horns rather short so they wouldn't interfere with his balance. Therefore, despite the fact that his body was heavy with muscle for his size, he realized he looked a bit of a shrimp next to all these men, the shortest of whom still topped him by an easy two inches.

  The leader looked at Shitstack and pointed as he said with more than a hint of incredulity, "This is the one?"

  "Yes, Father."

  He didn't look happy to admit it either. Perhaps he'd already been a bit drunk the night before and had forgotten just how short the one accosting him was.

  Terry waited, and after a long look between father and son, the elder of the two turned and sighed as he asked, "You are Boss?"

  "Yes. Is there a problem?"

  "My son tells me that you attacked him last night."

  "I did no such thing. I did, however, correct your son's mistake."

  The big minotaur's frown deepened, and he rumbled, "And what mistake was that?"

  "He insulted one of my wives."

  There was a murmuring among the men behind the leader, who blinked and tilted his head as he asked, "Wives?"

  A rustling indicated movement behind Terry, and he tipped his head enough to see Shy, Laina, Halla, Euryale, and Asturial stepping up to either side of him. He found it interesting that Asturial was laying claim to the title, but at this point he wasn't about to dispute the point. What surprised him even more though was that Mila appeared as well. A few seconds later, Isthil literally walked right through the wall of the yurt to take her place next to Shy, gazing at the opposing group with blazing argent eyes as her hair drifted behind her.