The Count of Castle Rock

Chapter XLVI- The Hag of Hubris

The Queen waves her hand in a harsh gesture. Methuen's feet are taken out from under him, bringing him crashing to the floor. He pushes off the ground on shaking arms, fresh blood staining the side of his filthy garments.

"If I die, then you die. The symbiosis of master and familiar," he grunts, as he struggles to stand upright.

Her laugh is deep and throaty, joined by squawks and cackles from every direction.

"You are correct, Thueny, but you forget one crucial thing. There are many ways to hammer a point home!"

The screams of the blue giant are an unexpected addition to the sounds of Queen Shalafaral's chamber. Leesa chides herself for not thinking about him. His hulking form being a bulwark against every threat they've faced since entering the Felah Forest, she'd forgotten he too was in danger. Brachuka and Brigieza have him pinned between two cones of angry white lightning. A hag ducks under the spinning chains. Carlos stabs her foot and pushes her back with the blunt end of his weapon. He rolls aside, dodging a swipe of her killing claws, and the chains take her. She sails through the air to bowl over a pair of her peers.

"I have to help him," Hans blurts out..

"Wait, don't be reckless." Leesa turns to him, but he's already on the move.

He leaves the safety of Olivia's circle and runs over to the cackling hags. Raising his club, he smashes Brigieza's bad knee with all of his strength. Brigieza's leg buckles, disrupting her magic. She backhands Hans and he falls to the ground with a grunt, unconscious.

"Hans!" Leesa rushes towards him, all thoughts of caution forgotten.

The winds seem to close around the group and Olivia's chains suddenly freeze in place. Broomag hops into their protective circle, swatting The Captain's spear aside with her dagger. She grabs Leesa by the hair and wrenches her around, a hideous grin on her face. Switching the grip on her knife, Leesa unleashes a flurry of useless stabs into the hag's forearm. Broomag yanks her braids violently and Leesa screams, rising on her toes to avoid her hair being pulled out.

"I have your new girlfriend, Thueny!" Broomag cackles, whipping Leesa left to right. She presses a talon to Leesa's neck and the city girl stops squirming. "Should I peel a bit of the flesh from her face, my que-"

She raises Leesa into the path of Methuen's incoming attack, but the city girl pulls out of her loosening grip. It all happens too quickly for Leesa to register. She flies as flaming spears of magic rush past. The armored hag is blown backwards into the chains, screaming as the magic blasts through her. Leesa braces herself but instead of hitting the ground, she lands in The Count's arms.

"Thank you-"

"Forgive me."

Methuen kisses her forehead and Leesa's world explodes. A euphoric numbness makes her limbs weak as once more his lips pull something from deep inside her. As if swimming in a dream, Leesa sees the night she saved Methuen from his curse. The night he stole a part of her. This is similar, but different. She can still feel what he takes, swirling inside of him, spreading through him and somehow bolstering them both. Leesa feels herself entering him and filling him up. Her body thrums like a tuning fork, struck in all the right places.

He pulls away, the part of her inside him becoming rage and intent, and fires a third blast of magic at The Hag of Hubris. The Queen shakes her head at his impotence and is caught unprepared as the bolt of eldritch power hits her full in the chest. She cries out, a strange sound coming from a mouth that had no idea how to express it. Shalafaral stumbles back into her black glass throne, her robes burnt away where Methuen's magic connected.