Devil Incarnates

Chapter 3: The Horned King

Chapter 3: The Horned King

Luckless few have seen the Horned King. But all have felt him, because all have felt pain. The Horned King's one virtue was his generosity of anguish, heartache, and despair. But to behold him, to actually be in the presence of the Devil....well, there was only one way to describe it.

It sucked. It rotted. It hurt. It sucked.

The sky shred where the Horned King walked, and acid burned the air. There were no more stars left in West Illtyde and the Devil would have crucified a constellation if it came back to life. His presence was psychotically still but somehow Captain Hook could hear children screaming as the Horned King spoke.

"Where..." The Horned King whispered, "....is the girl?"

Mr. Smee collapsed. He pulled his cap to cover his ears. The Horned King's voice was harsh and dissonant, like a buzzsaw through the brain.

"Where..." the Horned King repeated, stepping through the sails. "...is the girl?"

Captain Hook's spine knotted. The Horned King's movements were slow and dangerously deliberate, like a snake. Moonlight struck his horned crown then vanished into his eyes, which were nothing but empty sockets in a skull face. Crimson red robes dripped off him like blood, and with every other blink Captain Hook imagined that a Black Cauldron sat at the Devil's feet.

The Black Cauldron.

Captain Hook crouched, grabbing Mr. Smee for support. His chest pinched, as if a string attached to his sternum was pulling him into the Black Cauldron. His soul was in that cauldron. Captain Hook was a devil incarnate. He had sold his soul to the Devil and when he died, he was going straight to Hell.

The Black Cauldron was where sold souls were kept. The fat metal belly was gorged with sinners, and the cauldron never left the Horned King's side. Only when the devil incarnate died, his soul would exhume from the cauldron and descend into Hell.

Captain Hook sold his soul when Peter cut off his hand. Wretched and squirming, he begged the Horned King for a replacement strong as iron so he could rip out Peter Pan's heart. The Devil acquiesced but in the cruelest, literal sense: instead of a hand, he bestowed the captain an iron hook.

It was a wicked bargain. But, as they say, the devil is in the details. Even for the eloquent Captain Hook.

"Sire...sire..." Captain Hook began. "Sire...I had her. I -- "

The Horned King breathed. Bones rubbed in his throat.

"She is gone."

"...y-y-y..." Captain Hook knelt. His hook touched the deck. "Sire. I apologi...have mercy Sire...have--"

"Peter Pan recaptured the girl?"

"No!" Captain Hook cried, groveling at the opportunity for redemption. "No, Sire! But when he came for her, I told him the girl was dead! Fed to the crocodile! Pan believed the lie! He shall never suspect -- "

"Then where is the girl?" the Horned King said. "If not with Peter Pan?"

Captain Hook grappled for the crumpled ransom note.

"Here! A thief, Sire! A thief stole the girl!"

"It's true." Mr. Smee mumbled into the deck.

Captain Hook raised the ransom note, but it smoked from his hands. Instantly, golden words scrolled through the air, rewriting the thief's message as the Horned King silently read.

"Ahhhh." The Horned King hissed as the thief's signature appeared. He strangled the golden birthmark until it vanished midair. "Greed. A thief of Greed has the girl!"

"My pirates made chase!" Captain Hook insisted, gesturing to the shore. "They are searching for the thief and the girl now!"

"Your pirates have failed once." The Horned King said. "They will fail again. You will fail me again. Wrath is a flame in the dark -- combustive, but blinding. I cannot engage Sinners of Wrath to find her alone. Reinforcements, sinners of all breeds, will hunt for the girl. And her thief."

"Sire!" Captain Hook begged. "Sire! I assure you, my crew will catch the sniveling stoleaways! I will find the girl! And when I do --"

"You will deliver her to The Crossroads. You will deliver her to me. Should you find her. Dispatch your pirates. Continue your hunt. But first..."

The Horned King lifted a finger. "First, Captain Hook, you will rally the Neverland sinners. The Mermaids of Lust. The Pixies of Envy. The Seawitch of Wrath. The Hyenas of Gluttony, and the Beast of Wrath to prevent the hyenas from devouring the girl."

"Do not beseech the Crocodile of Gluttony." continued the Horned King. "Or the Indians of Pride. Their allegiance runs thickly for their own kin, but thinly for me. Much like Peter Pan..."

The Horned King clenched his skeletal hands. "Peter Pan. Sinner of Pride. Pride higher than the sun. Fool boy. His pride was the magic trick used to distract me. Well. It seems Peter Pan's trick has backfired. The girl will be mine. She must be caught..."

The Horned King caressed The Black Cauldron. "The girl...is too dangerous."

Captain Hook was incredulous, enough to question the Horned King.

"Dangerous?" Captain Hook imagined the little girl, a blue bow like butterfly in her hair. "Dangerous? Peter Pan's little wretch? Sire? How the...devil..."

Captain Hook gulped. He'd spoken the Devil's name in vain. Cursing his negligence, Captain Hook pushed through his blunder. "...how can it be so?"

The Horned King stared. Then he latched an icy finger beneath the pirate's throat.

"She may be the one."

"The one?"

"The clamshell."

"Sire! The clamshell?" Captain Hook gasped. "Of the apocalypse? Prophesized by the Blue Fairy? Doom's Day? Do you believe that the clamshell is...the girl?"

"Yes. And if she is the clamshell..." The Horned King said. "....described by the oracular Blue Fairy, then she must be found. And delivered...to me."

The Horned King squeezed his fingers. He felt the pirates' fear, and was envigorated.

Satiated, the Horned King faded to ash. "Serve me well Hook. And the girl's flesh, could serve as your new hand."

Captain Hook and Mr. Smee cowered far into the night. It was only until Mr. Smee -- bless his heart -- mustered the courage to ask:

"Capn. Clamshell? Prophesized? Blue Fairy? Doom? Oh Capn. What does it all mean?"

Captain Hook did not reply. It was unnecessary. Because a dark wind was running through Illtyde, the Blue Fairy's prophecy whispering on it's tail.

Ring a ring o' clam shells

Listen well as I tell

Sinner! Sinner!

We all fall down

---

Ring a ring o' clam shells

Damn the soul that you sell

Sinner! Sinner!

We all fall down

----

Ring a ring o' clam shells

In His Hell you will dwell

Sinner! Sinner!

We all fall down

---

Ring a ring o' clam shells

Save your soul from His Hell

Sinner! Sinner!

We all fall dead