Where to take the body ? Aeony had intended to break up Silsk's remains in the temple where the urns were kept. Then she thought that seemed an insult to the deities. Turning the sacred place into an abattoir was wrong, she intuitively knew it. It had to be done during darkness, that she was certain about. It was likely to take two or three nights, so there was no time to lose.
"Oh Babaef, what have you done ?"
Aeony had liked the ancient human temple that lay the other side of the great river. She'd often gone there to think and be alone. Most people from the City, shunned anything of human creation. She hadn't seen the temple, since it had been destroyed and buried deep into the ground. It had seemed the perfect place, a deserted temple that few visited. Perhaps it still was the perfect place.
On the river bank there was an area of stone floor, with a mosaic of a serpent in the centre. Aeony had knives and hammers in her bag, but there were stones here, heavy stones.
"For better or worse Silsk, it shall be here." She muttered.
Aeony removed the top from the urn and the smell of corruption rose to greet her. She'd known it was going to be unpleasant, but she'd done worse. She'd fed on worse, during the famous bad winter a century of so before. Silsk had stiffened in death, her body was jammed into the urn. Breaking the sacred urn was out of the question, especially as it was needed to take the powdered remains back to the City. A creature of some kind was foraging in the nearby thorn scrub. It picked up the scent of a dark angel and fled whimpering into the night.
"Sorry old friend." Said Aeony.
She pulled at Silsk's arm, ignoring the sounds of snapping sinews and breaking bones. Her dagger sliced through flesh and bone and Silsk's arm was thrown onto the mosaic floor. The next arm was easier, there was now more space in the urn. The head came up out of the urn just enough for Aeony to be able to get at the neck. The bones of the spine were tough, but Aeony quickly added Silsk's head to the growing pile of body parts.
"Good idea picking somewhere near a river." She muttered to herself.
Upending the urn to get at the body had allowed the liquids inside to pour out and cover her from head to foot. Aeony's knife was now slipping about in her hands, so she washed them clean in the river. Not the rest of her, that was likely to become even grubbier and covered in more bodily fluids. She'd clean herself properly later.
Silsk's body had swollen up a little and was wedged, she had to cut it apart while it was inside the urn. Then the hip bones had to be broken apart and of course, the legs became jammed. Eventually Aeony was covered in foul smelling fluids and looking at a pile of dark angel body parts. She washed out the urn and left it upside down to drain out and dry. Now came the really nasty part and it couldn't be avoided. Maybe it was some kind of penance for killing her old friend and mentor ?
Everything had to be broken apart, crushed and eventually powdered. Aeony picked up a large piece of broken marble and brought it down on Silsk's head, then again and again...........
