Fable - Ask Monsters In A Cage

[Felice]

It was a lot simpler to approach Vix and suggest that she offer Doyle a contract in Felice’s mind. Faced with the real thing, the dream eater herself shouting before her, well… that made it a lot harder to put on a brave face.

Felice gulped hard before summoning the courage to speak, ”yes, um, ma’am, it’s as Harlowe says if it is to be said in your, uh, presence.” She was blowing this. Tripping over her words wasn’t going to convince anyone.

”The three of us,” her eyes and an index finger gestured to the bloodsucker and the icy giant, ”we um, floated the idea that maybe our captive would make a great candidate for the contract. If you please.”

The harionago straightened her back and felt the need to add, ”we all basically agreed it’d be a good idea.” That was mostly true, no one had outright shut the idea down. And if they had Felice had done her best to ignore it.

All the while Doyle continued shaking like a leaf.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

"Tunnels?"​

Vix echoed.

"We think finding them would be a good next step, other than that all we can do is search the city for any more of...his friends." Briefly Matias wondered how he had ended up here.

It always seemed like Felice and Harlowe somehow got him into trouble, even when he had just the best of intentions. Lips thinned for a moment, and he watched Vix as the Demoness cocked her head slowly. The woman's bright red eyes studied Felice, then turned towards Doyle.

Her mouth thinned, fangs showing pressed slightly against her lips. The woman did not need to eat real food, but her unsettling maw was more than enough to rend flesh from bone.

"Fine. Do it, maybe save a few of who you come across."​

The others were getting hungry too, after all.

"Him? This thing? He's likely to turn into a Lou Carcolh."​

Vix said the words with a strange accent that Matias didn't recognize. Her hand came up to pinch the bridge of her nose, and she let out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine, fine. I don't care, but you do know he has to want to sign it?"​

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe let out a quiet breath of relief when Vix didn't instantly cut them to shreds. As for Doyles fate she couldn't care less. Relaxing from her at attention stance she walked over to join Maria's on the sidelines whilst Felice and Doyle had The Talk. Looking at the state of the man she didn't think he would have the guts to go through with it. Of course... she hadn't had hers either when she had agreed to her contact but in a very different manner. Hers had been on the floor next to her.

"A silver coin on Doyle opting for death instead of the contract?" She murmured so low that only the frost giant would hear.

 

[Felice]

”He wants the contract,” Felice insisted as her hair tightened on the elevated Doyle. A single brown iris shifted upwards to catch the dangling captive in her peripheral.

She cleared her throat and as sternly as possible added, ”he knows the alternative is death and he doesn’t want to die.” Doyle’s shaky voice responded in kind, “I-I don’t want to die but I-“

”So there you have it!”

Her interruption was quick and calculated. That was basically an agreement and she wasn’t going to let the captured soldier talk his way out of not dying. ”Um, so, I suppose you can take it… uh, from here ma’am.”

With that, the follicle demon slowly lowered the whimpering man at Vix’s feet. They’d need to get on with the rest of their task quickly and while Felice was nervous she knew there wasn’t anything more she could do. His fate was in the dream eater’s hands now.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias frowned for a moment, looking at Vix, then at Felice. Then finally to Doyle himself. The man was violently shaking on the ground, his body quivering as he looked towards the Nightmare in front of him, then back to Felice.

His mouth opened in protest, and then snapped shut. "I'll take that bet."

The Frost Giant didn't care about Doyle, but he could read people fairly well. He understood that it was that most people feared; death. It was the unknown. What lay beyond. Few people had the conviction to stand in the Abyss and simply accept it.

Matias hadn't been able to.

None of them had.

He doubted that Doyle was any stronger than them.

"Well? Answer truthfully? Do you want a life beyond this? Do you want to be stronger? Faster? Live longer? Do you want to see the world with new eyes?"​

Vix offered the same sales pitch she had offered Matias, though there was far less enthusiasm now than there had been then. The Frost Giant watched. After a few seconds of simply laying there whimpering on the ground, Doyle cleared his throat. "Y-Yes."

The Nightmare reached down, her hand opening and seizing Doyle by his arm.

Something happened there. Something passing between them. Matias couldn't remember what 'Signing' the contract had been like. He could vaguely remember standing in a world of darkness, a feather in his hand, a parchment before him. He could remember ice surrounding him, creeping in, but...that was not what happened here.

Vix simply grabbed Doyle, and then the man began to scream.

The sound of crunching bone and tearing flesh echoed out in the square, his whole body ripping and tearing into itself as the Contract came into being,

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe had never been present when a Contract had been signed. She'd asked others what it was like, what happened, and she'd heard various different tales. None of them had been the same twice. Some people were too at the edge of death to really react - like she herself had been - and apparently that had been a stroke of luck. Of mercy. Others had visions or their minds created some illusion of physically signing a contract. Others knew nothing but burning pain. She supposed poor Doyle was one of the latter.

The young vampire watched curiously with her head tilted like a hawks to an angle.

Her own transformation had taken days owing to the fact her body had been shredded to pieces by arrows and spears, swords and ballista bolts. Doyle's seemed to be going much quicker though the screaming made it seem longer.

"Do you think if we stuff a sock in his mouth it will be a part of the transformation?" she murmured low to her friends.

 

[Felice]

Eyes widened and remained transfixed on the wriggling and contorting man while his cries of pain filled her ears. Part of her wanted to look away, wanted to attempt to block out the sounds, but this was a window into an experience she likely had blocked out herself. It was impossible to look away, the intrigue was simply too great.

Of course, the sounds of bones re-locating themselves, of contusions forming and re-sealing, was all enough to make even her stomach turn.

"Ahhh-urghgh-rreorrrrrr," Doyle's screams eventually began to change into something utterly inhuman as his vocal cords only allowed for a high-pitched growl which culminated into an intense roar that likely carried through half of the city. His flesh grew yellowed and orange coarse furs from every pour. His legs re-aligned into muscular elongated figures, two horns exploded from his cranium while his spine lengthened and his arms came down to hold whatever he was becoming upright.

In a cacophony of breaking bone and squishing organs a tail erupted from his backside before the tip of it was filled with a myriad of spines that resembled a porcupine's back. A huge mane framed his lion-like face whilst leathery wings exploded out of his shoulder blades. The creature collapsed to the ground and panted after the ordeal finished, likely hoping to catch his breath.

"D-Doyle?" she asked nervously.

"Ah, it's been awhile since we've had a manticore join our ranks," Vix added.​

Felice stood there, immovable for a second, eyeing the beast up-and-down. Remembering where the whimpering creature had come from. How he'd be so frightened when he first met them an hour before. She wasn't entirely sure if they had done the right thing, seeing him now, understanding he likely would never speak again as a serious of high-pitched whines and roars came from his massive jaw. After a long delay she finally spoke up...

"He's beautiful."

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias blinked.

He had never quite seen a transformation like this one before. There were monsters of...a lesser mind within the regiment, but he had always assumed that they were tamed. Gathered, or perhaps simply came to the Regiment because it was something more familiar.

Now he understood. All of the monsters within the Regiment had signed contracts, even those who could not speak.

"Better than a slug, I suppose."​

Vix spoke with a slight musing, glancing over towards Felice.

"You're responsible for him. The Gorgon isn't here and I'll be damned if I look after another Pup so soon."​

She gave Matias a look, one the Frost Giant simply shrugged at in return. What the hell was he supposed to say to that? Vix had been responsible for getting his contract, but this was a little different. Doyle had gone from a man to a...

He wasn't sure what the fuck he was. "What...even is he?"

The Frost Giant asked, half forgetting the fact that somewhere in this city might explode at any moment.

 

[Harlowe]

Better than a slug.

She had thought the words at the exact moment Vix had said them and for a moment she froze thinking she had said it out loud. Felice probably wouldn't be too impressed to know her friend didn't support her in turning Doyle into a monster. As the others stared Harlowe glanced up at the sky and the hazy smoke that lingered still from the fire. The smell was fainted too but strong enough to remind her that they had far bigger fish to fry.

Though with the less annoying Doyle...

"He's our ride," she said. She didn't care what the fuck he was when it looked as though he could clear great distances very quickly. The vampire hurried over and practically hurled the once-human to his paws. "Find the humans. You can smell them now, can't you? Show us." Without waiting for a response she clambered onto his back.

 

[Felice]

An eyebrow twitched when Matias asked what Doyle was. If Vix hadn't already answered, Felice had given a perfectly acceptable one... he was beautiful. "It's as Vix said, he's a mammothscore, very rare." Felice said confidently as she followed her vampiric friend who had correctly identified how useful the new Doyle would be.

She extended a lump of hair and pressed it against the ground firmly enough to lift her up to the manticore's full height and took her place ontop the beast, slightly in front of Harlowe to grasp at the beast's mane.

"You can do this," she whispered into the creature's ear while bracing herself for Matias to climb on and the flight to begin.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias frowned as he watched the two women climb onto the massive beast.

"I am distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of riding Doyle." The Frost Giant stated plainly, looking up at Felice and Harlowe.

In the back of his mind he also filed away the fact that the Vampire now owed him a Silver coin, though he didn't feel it was appropriate to demand payment now.

He glanced over towards Vix, but the nightmare was already departing from the scene. She shouted something about the explosives, adding only that they would best be served to save some of the 'snacks' for the future. A frown touched his features, and he shook his head.

"How about you guys take off?" He suggest. "I'll catch up."

Matias glanced at Doyle, the Manticore's beady black eyes staring back at him.

 

[Harlowe]

"Manticore," Harlowe helpfully reminded Felice as the hair demon clambered into the front seat. The vampire didn't mind one bit - Doyle was certainly more likely to listen to Felice than he was her. Or at least... she hoped he was. The Manticore - Doyle - seemed to be settling into the beasts way of thinking quickly. Did you lose your mind when you took on that kind of form? She had a sickening feeling they did. Maybe it was for the best. It would certainly help one forget about their human lives.

When Matias announced he was going to walk Harlowe snorted.

"Doyle, pick him up," the manticore didn't even hesitate. He lunged forward and picked the frost giant up by the back of his shirt like a cat would carry her kittens. Then, with a word or tap or perhaps Doyle was just eager to be going on their mission, they were off bounding through the streets.

 

[Felice]

”Right, a mantiscore,” she said humbly after her friend’s correction. ”Let’s go!” Felice called out as the creature’s wings beat against the air and eventually it took off.

With a sudden groan and change in direction it moved off suddenly and did as Harlowe commanded. Doyle’s jaw firmly grasped the lump of cloth that made up Matias’ clothing. ”Good boy,” the demon of locks reassured her new pet.

They soared over the township, wind whipping against her hair and the squint of armies outside the walls. Until eventually the beast they had mounted upon sniffed heartily and began to circle around a specific outcropping. He zeroed in on the spot, slowly descending until they were meters from the ground.

After dropping Matias the creature that was formerly known as Doyle bent a leg to allow his two riders an easy exit. He gave a purr of satisfaction as they arrived at their destination and Felice rewarded him with a firm rubbing behind his ears.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias dusted himself off with a scowl. Going to have to kill that thing.

The Frost Giant told himself with a roll of his eyes.

He wouldn't actually do it of course, at least not unless he thought that he could get completely away with it. Felice would probably never forgive him though. A frown touched his features, and he decided to dismiss the thought.

One moment of abject humiliation he could stand, two? Well then he would think about it again.

With a shake of his head Matias began to look around, his gaze quickly flickering over towards what he presumed to be the shed that Doyle had spoken of. Asking him about it now seemed rather pointless, but he could make a guess.

"Must be it." Matias said with a jerk of his head, half-expecting enemy soldiers to worm their way out into the small clearing any second now.

 

[Harlowe]

Harlowe slid from Doyle's back and patted the creature fondly. In the space of ten minutes their new companion had risen to one of her favourites. Just above Matias. Felice, of course, would always be number one. The only problem that Doyle now posed was his very distinct odour. It was politely put overpowering and it made her sneeze when Felice scratched behind his ears releasing a smattering of fur strands. It was almost impossible to smell the explosives standing so close to him.

"Stay," she told the manticore firmly like one might a dog and then begun to wander over to the shack Within a few steps she could breathe something other than Manticore sweat and gave a sigh of relief. Even if the scent that it was being replaced with was one of brimstone.

And then there was...

"Humans have been here recently," she commented in the same casual manner one might say it was meant to rain later. She crouched not far from the storage shed and ran her fingers through a print, bringing her fingers to her nose and breathing deep. As soon as the scent touched her her fangs punctured her bottom lips as her hunger stirred.

 

[Felice]

The new Doyle was working out even better than Felice could’ve imagined. He was strong enough to carry Matias with ease, he could fly, and he followed orders as obediently as any dog she’d encountered in her first life.

At Harlowe’s issuance of a stay command he sat, keeping his eyes trained on the three in a protective stare.

”We have to keep as many alive as we can manage,” Felice offered with a grin. Doyle might need a snack, along with the rest of the entourage.

She followed in tandem with the other two monsters, towards the wooden shack, it’s hinges creaked as a lock of ruby hair gently pulled it open. The demoness held her breath with anticipation, expecting an ambush or a stack of explosive crates.

Instead… there was a set of crudely made wooden steps that seemed to descend into a cavern. ”Guess we go down?”

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias glanced down into the cavern with a frown. "I don't like this."

It all seemed rather...off.

He couldn't have put his finger on it exactly, but in the back of his mind something was forming. Harlowe said there had been people here. They had come here to check on explosives, and yet...lips thinned for a brief moment.

"We go down." He said with a nod. "Quickly."

They could be undermining the walls.

Worse, they could be set to take them down.

Was that why Doyle had been sent in the the first place? Why had been crawling through the sewers? It made sense, but Matias couldn't hep but feel like there was something they were missing. With a shake of his head The Frost Giant began to make his way down the steps, slowly, deliberately.

The wood creaked every time he moved, weight threatening to collapse the ancient steps.

 

[Harlowe]

The smell of humans was even stronger when Felice opened the door and the thin black veins begun to appear along her skin again. She could feel how her fangs wanted to extend and it caused a throbbing sensation spread through her jaw, her neck and up into her skull. One human hadn't been nearly enough after a month of starvation. With one last breath out of reflex than any real need she followed Matias down and held her nose.

The tunnel grew darker the deeper down the went but for the monsters such a thing was no problem. Harlowe's eyes adjusted quickly to the gloom and picked out the rough earth walls and the odd rat or two scurrying across the floor at their feet. A faint wind blew down the shaft from the left but to the right seemed to be a light of sorts. Faint and distant, but certainly the darkness there was a shade lighter than that to their left.

"Which way?" she asked.

 

[Felice]

Felice took a cautious first step behind the icy behemoth, figuring if the flimsy wooden stairs could support his weight she'd be fine. Despite the groaning protests of the steps it held up for the entire trio to make their descent into the darkness of the tunnel.

It was difficult to see, would've been impossible before her first death, but her eyes adjusted and could make out the vague shape of the walls. Felice's night vision wasn't as precise as her vampiric ally but it was good enough to make do.

As long as she followed closely she'd be fine.

A rat scampered across one of the redhead's boots just as they arrived at the crossing. The gentle wind shifted some of her limp hair and her vision greeted the faint light off in the distance. "Towards the light," she suggested after a brief pause.

"If there are still people in this tunnel, arming the... you-know-whats... they're likely there, right?" Felice assumed the windy part of the tunnel must have led outside of the city, the light possibly came from torches as they prepared to blow the wall open.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

"You would think so." Matias considered.

One of the gifts he had not received as a result of his contract was night vision. Wherever Frost Giants came about naturally they apparently didn't need to see in the dark much, or perhaps they simply didn't care to because they were so fucking hard to kill.

A hand stretched against the wall as they walked, his eyes focusing on the speckle of light at the end of the tunnel. "What does your nose say, Human Detector?"

Matias asked, clearly speaking to Harlowe.

Out of the three of them she was most likely to be able to catch the scent of other humans, that was why she had taken the lead. Well, that was what Matias had assumed anyway.

 

[Harlowe]

"Both," Harlowe replied grimly, swinging her head back from left to right. "The whole place stinks with them," and it was hard to tell if any scent was fresher. Wherever they had come from and whichever way they had subsequently gone it had been recent. Very recent. "Give me a sec."

The vampire knelt to the ground and then bent her ear to it. Slowly she tuned out the noise of the two monsters breathing behind her. She tuned out the far off dripping of stale water onto the earth below. She tuned out the noise of rats and bugs scuttling. And there... just behind it all she could hear the muffled noises of a heart...

"That way," she murmured quietly and nodded to the gloom.

 

[Felice]

Human detector? Did he think that Harlowe was a dog? She was a human being! Or, well, a vampire-human being. Not his human sniffing detector lady. Felice shot him a look but didn't dwell on it and doubted he even noticed in the darkness.

And then, of course, her silver-haired friend identified that their prey was towards the darker and windier side of the tunnels. "Yes, that way," she said quickly in agreement. Had it been a few months prior she would've tried to pretend like she was testing them by suggesting the lighted path. But by now she was comfortable enough with the group not to worry as much about fitting in. She knew that she belonged here in the regiment. This was her home now.

"Think they're trying to escape?" Words came out quickly as the trio moved towards the breezy side of the caverns. If they were heading to the exit then it was possible they had already lit the explosives.

That could, uh, be bad.

Of course, they had to leave a few of their soon-to-be-victims alive so it wasn't unreasonable that they'd need to question one and uncover the truth. But a huge explosion behind them could potentially lock them out of the city. Or worse, kill them. Again.

It didn't take long for the three of them to spot a group of six men clad in leather armor shuffling forward.

 

[Matias Vaquero]

Matias raised his hand, reaching towards the sword on his hip with the other.

He did not know why he still used the blade, at this point it was somewhat useless. Perhaps it was a habit, a part of his other life that he still clung to. He could rip a man in half with his bare hands, but a blade simply felt better.

"Stop!" His voice boomed out through the tunnel. "By the order o-"

Matias found himself cut off as he realized that the men were not at all slowing down. What they had thought was a slow shuffle forward was actually a full on sprint. All six of them were running as fast as they could, two of them holding torches.

Panic pulled across their features as they ran.

Confusion pulled across Matias' lips. Why would they be panicked if they were running towards the monsters? Then something in the distance caught his eye.

A spark, a moving piece of light that ran across the ground. It rushed forward and away from them with every passing second, burning quickly across the curve of the ground. It moved faster than even Harlowe could catch up with, the fusing burning faster and faster with each breath. "Shit."

He said with a breath.

"Run." The Frost Giant said as he turned around and booked it the way they had come.

 

[Harlowe]

It was going to be such a waste if those six humans blew themselves up. Harlowe sighed at the potential loss of food but turned and took off after Matias. It always felt as though she were completing a funny slow motion run when she tried to keep her speed down to a human sprint. Even in dire circumstances such as this one she found herself practically giggling as she did it and she was still a good few paces in front of the others.

Which was lucky for them because just because the explosion ripped down the main shaft Harlowe spotted a side tunnel which she disappeared into. As Matias and Felice bolted into few a second later she hurled them both in a second before the fire roared past the alleys entry. Screams and the putrid smell of charred flesh filled the tunnel and Harlowe looked away from the sudden, brilliant light.

Up above there was a distant, deep boom.

"Shit."

 

[Felice]

Chaos erupted in those narrow halls.

Felice ran until her lungs burned. Until her legs felt like quitting. She moved as quickly as she could barley keeping up with the incredible speed of the vampire before her.

A rotating explosive charge rolled down the stone halls. A frost giant and a vampire beckoning her to run faster. Heat. Tremendous heat on the back of her neck and the follicles of her ruby-colored hair. It all happened so quickly until she felt her body give way to forced motion.

"Oh, hello there," she said to Harlowe and Matias after being forcibly tugged into the saving grace that was the small crevice that was her only lifeline between living and painful, fiery, death. Once the explosion overhead resonated into their little hidey-hole she looked at both of her companions with an expression of complete and total shock. "That... um, sounded kinda bad."