The Demoness reached the top, and seconds later Tarrin set foot at the top of the platform. He looked around, but all else was forgotten when his eyes locked on his daughter. Two boar-headed nalfeshnee stood on either side of his daughter, who looked unharmed, but was still wearing the same clothes that she had on when she was taken. They were badly torn and absolutely filthy, and her hair and fur were similarly stained, but there was little defeat in his daughter's fierce green eyes. She glowered at the Demons, stared defiantly at them, glared at the others on the dais, but when her eyes met his, there was nothing but boundless joy and relief. She made a move to run to them, but Tarrin put out a quick paw, and she nodded and bowed her head slightly, folding her little paws before her. She would wait. He was there now, and her father would make everything alright.
Tarrin tore his eyes away from his daughter and looked around. There were ten figures on the platform aside from him and Jesmind and Jasana, and seven of them were Demons. The two nalfeshnee and the marilith, as well as a single Cambisi, a four-armed glabrezu, and a hideous creature that looked like a gigantic fly with a hideous, vaguely human-like head. The seventh was a creature that towered over all the others, with a vaguely ape-like body and a canine maw, with burning red eyes. It was huge, with membranous, bat-like wings that had many tears and holes in them, and an aura of fire and heat seemed to shimmer around it. Tarrin recognized this creature as the mightiest of the Demons, a vicious, powerful brute known as a balor. These were the direct servants of the Demon Lords, the unique beings that held absolute power over their infernal realms in another dimension of reality. Phandebrass said they were quite smart and incredibly powerful, almost as powerful as a minor godling, but they lacked the refined cunning and cleverness of the marilith. The three humans on the dais looked extremely uncomfortable, and it was apparent that one of them was a slave of some kind. She was a quite pretty woman with dark hair and lustrous dark eyes, stripped naked, with a collar around her neck that had a chain attached to it, a chain whose end laid negligently on the floor, unattended, but that did not bolster the woman into jumping up and fleeing. She knew that it would be pointless. She knelt by the statue with her eyes on the floor, a look of utter defeated misery on her face, trembling in fear. The other two humans were gray-haired men wearing simple black robes, standing behind and to each side of the black stone statue with their hands in their sleeves, simply waiting to serve.
Tarrin's eyes fixed on that statue. That was the icon of Val, and within it, all of his power had been imprisoned by Spyder five thousand years ago. It looked remarkably nondescript, much like the icon of the Goddess didn't seem to be what it actually was. It shared her icon's detail in appearance, the individual hairs on the statue's head visible, but this statue wore a robe, where the icon of the Goddess was unclad. Tarrin realized that that had to have been how Val appeared in life before using the Firestaff to become a god.
The marilith slithered up to the statue and bowed deeply to it. My Master, as I promised, so I deliver, he heard her mental voice address the icon. The Were-cat. He brings the staff.
I am pleased with you, Shaz'baket, the voice of Val emanated from that statue, a voice that chilled Tarin's soul. As is promised, Lyselle is yours.
The woman kneeling on the floor moaned in pitiful despair, her head dropping to the stone as she curled over herself.
The marilith slithered aside and took a place to the immediate left hand of the statue, reaching down and grabbing the chain. She jerked it sharply, literally dragging the woman to her by the neck, and the woman made no attempt to resist. She settled into a submissive kneel at the Demon's scaly side, her head lowering and her hands resting on her knees. The Demoness' green scaled snake body coiled around the human, but did not crush her, as if to establish her ownership of the woman.
As I wanted, so it is, the voice of Val reached out and struck at Tarrin like a thousand hammers, the full power of the god lashing out with that communication. I wanted to look into your eyes as you die, mortal. And be assured, you will die today. Who dies with you is the only matter subject to negotiation.
Tarrin looked up towards the hole in the sky, and saw that Vala had already started passing in front of Domammon. The Twin Moons, Duva and Kava, were but moments from touching the edge of Domammon's white disk, Duva completely concealed behind Kava, already lined up with one another. That one glance told him exactly how much time he had, and it wasn't very much. The conjunction would occur in mere moments. As soon as the borders of the four moons mingled, even without them being perfectly lined up, the conjunction would be upon them. The instant Duva and Kava passed their edge in front of Vala's edge, the conjunction would be upon them, and it would remain so until the Twin Moons' edge passed clear of Vala's opposite side. A span of twenty minutes.
Bringing himself up to his full height as Jesmind's eyes stayed locked on their daughter, on the far side of the statue and with two Demons guarding her, Tarrin looked at the icon of Val with cold, dead eyes. "You already know the bargain," he announced aloud. "Release my daughter, and do not interfere with her or her mother as they leave this place. When they are free of here, and only when they are free of here, I will give you what you want. Double-cross me, and I'll make sure you spend eternity trapped in your prison, godling." He put a paw around his amulet and reached within, deep within, through the Cat and into the boundless power of the All. He caused the All to reach into the Weave, and the Weave somewhat startlingly responded to that summons, boiling out through the All and filling him with its power. Magelight appeared around his paw, around the paw holding the amulet, a clear indication that he was ready to carry out his threat the instant he felt that he was being betrayed. "It is a simple bargain. Accept or decline as you wish, but know that I'll carry out my threat the instant you backstab me."
Then the lives of you and your mate and daughter are forfeit, and their souls will belong to this one, Val responded, and the balor stepped forward.
"I'll go knowing that I forever denied you the one thing you desire more than anything else in the world," Tarrin hissed in response. "That will be sweet satisfaction no matter what torture you lay over me."
And you would condemn your mate and daughter to similar torment?
"If we're going to die, we may as well spit in your eyes on the way down," Jesmind hissed at the god vituperiously, surprising Tarrin with the raw emotion in her voice.
"Face it, weakened god," Tarrin hissed. "There is no way you're going to get all three of us and the Firestaff as well. I offered you a bargain. The Firestaff for the release of my daughter and mate. That choice is yours, but remember that you have a deadline," he said, pointing to the hole in the ceiling meaningfully.
And I think you fail to understand that you deal with a god, mortal, the voice emanating from the icon hissed, and Tarrin felt an explosive release of power.
Jesmind stepped back in shock and fear as darkness surrounded the statue of Val, living darkness, enshrouding it like a blanket of inky blackness that boiled like an angry stormcloud. The veil of darkness, the cloud of black swelled and expanded, lifting off the floor, took form a vague shifting shadow of darkness that seemed to suck in all light and heat, leaving the place cold and empty. Jesmind gaped at the shadowed visage before them, just as the marilith Shaz'baket stared up at it with something approaching adulation. That dark form, the true form of the god Val, his icon caught up within his form, looked down at Tarrin and Jesmind with hollow, dim white eyes, the features the same as the features of the icon, but now cast in shades and dimensions of solid shadow, of living darkness. The oppressive power of Val became almost unbearable as the god released his power into the room, establishing his godly presence. He felt that power crush down on him like an attack, using his divine power to smite at the will of the Were-cat, seeking to smother his desires and intent under a hooded mask of control, seeking to subdue his will and make him a puppet of the god.