Love as a Form of Binding Ch. 15

Meazou leaned down to kiss him before she moved herself to take him into her mouth.

Zele leaned back until she lay beside Kerry and she grinned as her hand slid between her thighs for a moment. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Mmm" she groaned, feeling Kerry's semen on her hand, "Twice now," she sighed as she turned her horned head toward him, "Zele loves it when Kerry gushes."

She brought her hand up to lick and grinned at Kerry happily, "So sweet, my friend Kerry. Zele is happy now." He wanted to smile at the thick and sensual joy there in her voice.

"Zele always likes to help," she said with a sigh, "None can resist her."

The statement caused Toby and Maezou to laugh a little as they both nodded.

Kerry looked from Zele to the top of Maezou's head as she licked. She stopped and moved herself over him so that she could drag her furrow over the already hardening length of him.

"You – you care for me," he said in a little shock at the realization as he looked up at Maezou.

"Yes," she nodded, "It's very easy to care about you. We all feel the same about you."

Kerry smiled and reached up.

The demonlord gave it a thought as he looked down, realizing that his second consort was right. Kerry was still thin, a little weak and malnourished, but it was easy to see past that.

Kerry was beautiful.

Maezou leaned down to kiss Kerry. She could see that he still struggled with his memories and his long captivity, but the young destroyer looked so happy at being accepted that she felt as though she had little choice in it. It was really a rather chaste kiss, but it was enough to cause Kerry to sigh.

Kerry was just closing his eyes when the moment was ended by a sound which came to their ears. It began as a distant rumble or a dull and quiet roar, like thunder far off. But it didn't end.

The four demons looked around themselves. Far above them, Tisiphone and Alecto looked up in helplessness from where they'd been pushed aside by the unending stream which now ignored them. At the pool, the sound began to change somehow. There was a little less of the roar, and there was the beginning of a beat to the sound.

Other than that, all that they knew was that it was growing louder. They scrambled to their feet and began to hurry out of the cavern and out into the main long passageway.

The sound was even more pronounced out here, and they could make out the occasional single hoarse shout. It was never the same voice.

They rounded the last corner and stopped.

There was little else to do. They couldn't have walked much farther. The floor of the huge main hall below them could not be seen for the most part. Everywhere that they looked, all that they could see was darkness, a long dark river which flowed in.

Toby looked everywhere, and at last he saw the others. They were backed against walls with wide eyes in different areas of the hall where they'd been pushed by the tide. There was no way that any more of this could possibly flow in, but the sound went on. The galleries and balconies all around the hall were now showing where the overflow was going. When he thought that the place couldn't possibly hold any more, it went on just a little longer, but at last the noise stopped.

For a moment.

They now heard single voices barking out a word, and that word was followed by a crash. Time and again, a voice rang out and there was a crash somewhere in the large hall. It stopped eventually, and was followed by a long and braying call. The huge dark mass shifted as the individuals of which it was made turned toward them, every single one to finish up by bringing one hooved foot down in unison.

The sound of that in the cavern was like the short, sharp blast of a modern-day artillery piece. The walls and the high ceiling carried the echo of it for a few moments and then there was silence. As their eyes drifted over this thing, precise squares were visible with thin lines between them where the floor showed itself.

They were looking at an army.

An individual detached herself from the mass and approached Mother, who looked back with amazement. She pointed to an article. Mother looked back and saw only the old sword that she'd picked up back in the tomb. She stepped to get it from where it leaned against the wall. Holding it out, she offered it to the individual, who shook her head and turned to point at Kerry.

Mother began to walk.

As she approached, Toby began to notice details. Some sections were made up of heavy fighters, some were thinner, some taller, and some not. He began to pick out faces, and there were differences in color and hair, along with other features such as ears. They weren't completely uniform, but they were in how they were dressed, every single being in the hall wore coal black.

When Mother reached the place where the small and confused group stood, she stopped and looked back at the one who had walked with her. She raised her eyebrow, and the other one indicated Kerry with a nod, so Mother handed the sword to him.

The individual cried out, not even turning around to look as the whole mass bowed as one. When they stood straight, they pounded one foot down again and the hall rang once more. Somewhere in the mass, a newer member began to move the wrong way, but caught his mistake, ending in the correct position, though his unfastened helmet fell to the floor, clattering for a moment like a dropped pot. He gave out a startled half-grunt when his commander backhanded him for the error.

The hall was silent once more. No one moved a muscle.

The one who had walked to them bowed to Kerry and said something.

"She says that they are all here," Mother translated, looking a little amused, "present and correct."

Kerry groaned a little as he looked up from the sword that he held. He looked as though he wanted to cry.

"It has been so long. I forgot about – I did not know what happened to you all. I thought that I had been betrayed - that you had all forsaken me."

"Well they certainly did not forget you," Mother smiled, very pleased at what she saw.

"We welcome the chance to serve again, Lord. It has been too long," the individual said, her eyes staring straight out the front of her helmet as though there was no one there. Only a very close look would show the emotion that she felt as she tried so very hard to hide it behind her spiked face-shield.

"And you are,...?" Maezou asked, taking in the muscled and toned form.

The response was a curt bow, "Brinack," she said, "The lord's general Brinack. All told, there are twenty two legates who lead. I lead and command all."

"Which lord?" Toby asked.

She regarded him for a split-second before she replied as she pointed, "Our Appolyon, Lord, ..."

She read the glyphs that she could see on him. "Lord Tobias." She bowed slightly out of deference to Toby. "We are the slayer legions of this one, sworn to fight beside him through whatever may come and protect him, if need be."

She looked down a moment in a lot of shame. "Though we failed in his protection once, it will not happen again."

"How many of you are there?" Maezou asked, as she stood on her toes to try to see to the back.

"Twenty-two legions of the dark realms," the soldier said proudly, picking up the differences in the speech, "We were spawned in the under-hells for this purpose, and bow to one lord alone. At this strength, we are ninety-two thousand, four hundred slayers."

"I thought that I held twenty legions," Kerry said, a little confused.

No one knew, but perhaps the one who had missed her lord the most was Brinack, who'd loved him from afar since she'd laid eyes on him when she'd accepted the task to lead the legions that had been assigned to him as a boy of fifteen. He'd been judged ready for testing then, and his position entitled him to this protection.

The error that had been committed was that they'd been assigned to him out of deference for his place. Given that she had a free hand, Brinack chose well for the assumed task - that the new Appolyon would need near-invincible slayers. She knew that some lords held more legions, so she was determined that her lord's fighters were more than a match for any others.

For five years, she'd advised, counseled cared for him, and yes, sometimes she'd acted as a mother to him when he'd needed encouragement. But she'd always maintained her professional distance during those times few and far between when they'd been together on the field as he learned. This had never been a ragtag bunch of demons for his use. They were killers, but they were disciplined slayers, every one. She'd made sure of that.

And then, she'd been misled and his fighters were far from him when he'd been tricked as well, but they'd never forgotten him, Brinack most of all. She was only a century or so older than he was, but that meant nothing to demons.

She'd never bedded him, but the hope still burned in her heart. Right now, she felt that her chance was farther away than it had ever been.

"We were sent away or you would not have been taken from us, lord. It will not happen again. We will never allow that, and take our orders only from you now," the general said, still staring straight ahead.

"What happened then turned us into renegades. We refused to be disbanded after you were gone, killing all who tried to force us. We have lived as an army of brigands, but I have always kept us to our purpose. We are still the most disciplined force in the realms," she said proudly.

Maezou grinned. "Please forgive me, general Brinack," she said in a little awe. I have heard of you all. The hells still talk of it. You are the Lost Horde? The ones who raid hells for supplies and then leave without a trace?"

Brinack smiled a little, though she maintained her distant stare, "We are disgraced, but we will not bow, and we have not broken our oath. Even so, we must eat sometime."

At last, she turned her head to look at Kerry sadly. "The fault lies with me, lord. I believed what we were told, that you needed us elsewhere.

We found you an age later and we have waited hidden since then for this night," she said, with just a hint of the smile that she was fighting off as she finished her reply.

"Twenty legions at the outset," she said. "It has been a long time, Lord. The fighters had to do something as they waited besides drilling and practicing.

Despite how hard she'd tried, Brinack lost the fight and her smile came to her face anyway.

"Therefore I give you eight thousand, four hundred more slayers to your service, Lord, spawned from among your own legions and as devoted to you as the rest."

She turned and bowed to kiss Kerry's right hand, wishing now that she hadn't given in to her urge back at the tomb after she'd seen the strangers leave. She hadn't been worried. She knew that she could track him anywhere, through anything once he was freed. It was the sight of him again after so long and how he was being carried so carefully by the large male lord.

All of it had given her thoughts, and the thoughts had turned into her allowing herself a little pleasure as the units and legions drew themselves together to move. It had been nice, but she'd had semen seeping out of her since then and it was a little distracting to feel it dried against her thighs even this long afterward.

---------------

"Who runs this place?" Brinack asked as she looked around from where she stood with Maezou. They watched Kerry and Toby as they walked through the ranks. The meetings were joyful for his legions, and it was plain that they were glad to only be near him again.

"It was a goblin hall," Maezou replied, "We took it for our use." She smirked, "Until now, it seemed a little too large for us. Now it looks so small."

"I must speak with my lord," the general said, a little reluctantly. "I have much to bow my head over. We failed him, and it was my fault, mostly. I believed the lies that I was told. I have carried my guilt for that over so much time. I now cannot wait to say my piece so that I can be killed as punishment and be done."

"Why is that necessary?" Maezou asked, "Just tell Kerry what happened, exactly the way that it did."

"Kerry?" The other looked over, tilting her head.

The red-haired one nodded, "Yes, my lord gave him that name today – or, I guess that it's yesterday by now."

"Kerry," the general mused, "A good name, I think, though it holds no meaning for me. I like the feel of it and I think that it is worthy of him." She began to turn away from Maezou, "I think that it is my time to die."

"Wait, Brinack," Maezou said, "Just tell him how it happened and then apologize. You don't have to die over that."

"You do not understand, " Brinack said. "We all swore our oath to protect and to serve him. I gave more oaths than any other, since I was chosen to build this horde into something. Even before he was spawned, I was at work at it. I saw that the one would have several needs.

Firstly, I knew that there would be lords who would want to kill him outright, only for living. They believed that his existence would spark the war with the other side. Some of the first Appolyons were killed by them even as they drew their first breaths. His mother had his legions around her until she spawned.

Second, I saw that there would be some who would want to use him for their own ends. He was very young then, and we sheltered him from those and their plans. When we learned of those schemes, we sought them out ourselves along with, ... Kerry, and we slew those lords and their legions. It was a fair test of both us and him."

"I see that you all survived the tests," Maezou smiled.

Brinack nodded, "We lost a few here and there, but never many. Mostly, we had little trouble. You see," she said, "If two hordes fight, there may be some who might come in for a harder fight than some others, but overall, if the fight is fair and the hordes equal in size, well then any one demon may expect to have to kill only his opposite. But there are lords with hordes much larger than this, and so I worked so that I knew that I could expect any one demon to be able to kill several and keep on slaying.

Lastly, the main thing was that he might have to battle the angel that the other side had. It was hoped that it would never happen, that only the knowledge that Kerry existed would be enough to force a stalemate between the sides. It was a foolish idea, and I knew it even then. There was no need. The balance that is at work has nothing to do with destroyers. It has to do with the trade of souls. They knew that it would be so. We were only a little slower to come to the idea.

So the Appolyons were never needed. But if Kerry ever was, one foul day, then our place was beside him, working to get him close enough for the fight. Whatever would stand between the two destroyers, it was our task to clear him a wide path."

She shook her head, "But it was all for nothing. I was told that he was far off and was about to be beset, and so I moved us there at all speed. With his legions gone, he was an easy mark, they thought. It was not until long after that I was able to go to the place where they'd captured him. He slew many legions all alone as he fought before he was caught by the command of the one that he listened to. They tried to keep him controlled, but I ended that nonsense when I murdered his commander. After that, I hoped to free him, but he was taken away because no one could command him then, and I was given a message.

It came to me bearing the seals of so many lords, and it said that if we tried to free him, then all of the legions in the hells would be sent for us. We are mighty, Maezou, but we were only twenty legions. We could kill many – and we have over the time, but that would be a tide that even we could not stem.

I found him after a time, but that was all that we could do, so we waited, so close that we could sense him, but we could not let him know of us. Now many of the lords who left their seals are gone, replaced by others but we did not act until now. Our lord is free once more, and we mean to keep him that way. Well, the legates who lead each of his legions do. I have brought us to him. Now I want to settle with him over what I did to fail him and then I want to die."

She sighed and shook her head. "I made it worse for him out of my love. He cannot understand it, but I have always loved him. He is my lord – until I go to him now to ask that he end my existence for my misdeeds. But to me, I always hoped that one day, he might have become my boy."

Maezou stopped her then, asking that they go where it was a little private. Brinack shrugged and followed.

At one point, Brinack asked if Kerry would be staying there, and Maezou nodded, "I believe so, Brinack. We've all accepted him and he's welcome to remain with us. If his legions have to be near him, then I guess this is a good place."

The general nodded and asked that they wait for a moment. She called out, and before long, a group made their way to her.

"I can see that there are other places than this hall here. Find places that may be used for lodging. We will be staying for at least a little while."

The others nodded silently and dispersed.

In one of the scullery rooms, Maezou asked to hear the rest.

"There is not much to tell," the soldier said, "other than my own foolish dream. Most of his legions have no souls. They are only fighters, though they are not stupid brutes and they love him in their way. The leaders have souls, as do I.

And also him," she said, "He has a soul and he has a mind. He knows little but how to destroy in his own way, and that is all. They kept him that way. From their view of it, what would he need that for? To them, he is as a sword, useful only when it is drawn out. I wanted him to have more, to learn about anything and to love me, but, ..."

She looked down, "I was someone who he knew that he could trust, who would never lead him astray. I taught him to fight with an army, or with only one sword. He learned how to act properly – something that he would never accept before. I taught him many things, but I was only the teacher, and we never had much time for anything else. We were always watched. I always had to act the right way to him. It was very important.

We are demons, but to be a fighting group, we cannot be loud and selfish. All must work together, even, " she sighed, "even the teacher and her student."

"Now, all this time later, he is free by your hand and those of your lord. I am happy for him and I hope that he goes on from here to a good life, as simple as he is. I have done what I swore to do and more, but I have wronged him, and so I seek to die and end my foolishness with me."

"Why do you say that he is simple?" Maezou asked, "That is not what I see."

"I did not mean to say that he is slow," the warrior said through the face-guard of her helm, "I meant that he has none of what most ones learn, and he has no drive. It comes from his lack of will. Without that, there are no desires, nothing that pushes him."

Maezou tilted her head at that. "Are you certain that we are both thinking of the same boy?"

The general looked at her and nodded," Yes. He was kept in a comfortable set of cells. It was where he was a little one all alone and where he grew up alone. But that is not to say that he suffered. He is of high birth, my friend. He could have what he wanted, but he wanted nothing.

Think a moment. At some point, the usual needs and desires would have raised themselves, no? If he wanted a demon to rut with, he had only to ask. He never did, because he never had the want in him. You cannot know how I ached to take off my armor and this helmet to hold him to me, the number of times when I longed to give myself to him.

I am a slayer spawned of a long line and I have never been bested. I was chosen because there were none better in the under-hells. From one end to the other of them, I was the undefeated at only twenty-six and no one came close to how I could run groups of fighters with my mind. I have killed thousands while I sharpened my skills, and after I was chosen to lead for an Appolyon who had yet to be spawned, I threw myself into the task and killed many more as I made my choices for him."