The Pleasures of Hell

Chapter 02.029

~~Mia~~

"Don't kill that one?" Julisa asked. "Why? It's a cannam egg."

"Yeah, but... but it came out when I approached. Was, er, birthed." Mia patted the egg. Yeap, moist. Gross. It was over a foot tall, bigger than the other cannam eggs, and its leathery skin had bumps and grooves along it, like veins. The red blemishes on the nearly black skin were slightly see-through, just enough for her to see that there was something inside the egg.

"And?" Shrugging, Julisa approached, each step making a squashing sound as her gore-soaked T-Rex feet pressed down against the muscly floor.

"I don't know. I was... I don't want to say I was called, but... there's something about the nest that I can feel. It responded to me." Mia gestured around at the flesh walls and the orifices they held. None of them were moving, as if afraid to lay any eggs while demons were around, or maybe unable to, drained, and with time they'd birth a new swarm of hellbeasts to replace the recently dead. Probably the latter, if the history of this mountain was true.

All the demons looked between each other, confused. Even Vinicius raised a brow, though with his demony dragony face, he couldn't raise it very much.

"I don't know!" Mia said. "I don't know what's going on, okay? I don't know shit. All I know is, when I was in the spire, I didn't really feel much, but down here, I... kinda... do? It's so subtle, but it's there, and it took me here. I can still feel it."

"From the egg?" Faust asked.

"No! From the walls! From the... flesh." She reached out and pressed a hand against it. Just like the egg, it had the slightest bit of wetness, like a weeping wound, and was just as warm. "You don't feel anything?" The demons shook their heads. "Well, I feel something! And now there's this egg, and... and... I wanna see it hatch."

"No you do not," Julisa said, and she came closer. "Cannams are not goorts. Some provinces raise goorts to be ridden, but even then, that is a difficult process, and demons often die trying. But tamed cannams are beyond rare."

"Really? I mean, they're dogs, right? Sounds like they'd be easier to tame."

"They are not. Did you not see their ferocity mere hours ago?"

"I suppose." Frowning, Mia squatted down by the egg again and patted it again. "I can't just ignore this, though. It has to mean, something, right? I... wanna take the egg back with me."

Julisa snorted, like an annoyed bull. Every incubus winced.

"You sure?" Oudoceus asked. "It's not going to hatch a puppy."

"How big would it be when it hatches?"

"Smaller than the ones you've seen," Gallius said, "but demons and hellbeasts aren't born children. More like, half children, half adult?"

"Teenagers?"

"Ha, something like that." He and Faust both joined her at the egg, and they poked it with their tails and their devil spade tips. "It'll hatch and the hellhound will start at least as big as a... uh... what's that breed of dog people in the scrying pool say belongs to a queen?"

"Belongs to a queen? What—oh! A corgi! A Pembroke Welsh corgi!" Mia jumped up and clapped. "That's—"

"Not what it'll look like," Faust said. "It'll look like one of those ferocious giant beasts that almost ate you an hour ago. Black spikes, huge teeth, wolf-like?"

"But," Gallius said, "it'll start off as big as a, uh, corgi, judging from the size of the egg. And it will grow quickly."

Faust gently backhanded Gallius in the shoulder.