Chapter Fifty-One (Sin)

Furious, I headed back to the throne room, Merula was supervising the fixing of the gate and Amaya was probably with Abigail. I hated to leave them alone in the castle, but I needed to talk to Magnus about what we had discovered, unless I brought them with me. Amaya can talk to dragons, so she wouldn’t be in danger.

I looked around the room and motioned for a guard to come forward.

“Yes, sire?” he asked, looking at the ground.

“I want you to go to the stables, I want my nightmare saddled and ready to go as well as two well ridden and tame nightmares for my guests.”

“Sire, wouldn’t a nightmare hurt your guests?”

“Do it.”

“Yes, sire.” He bowed and hurried from the throne room. I headed over to Merula.

“Merula, I will be leaving the castle for a bit, keep an eye on things for me.”

“Yes sire,” He bowed.

I turned and made my way to Abigail’s quarters.

I was about to knock on the door when Amaya walked out into the hall, running right into me. I pulled her into a hug and smiled, “so glad you are happy to see me.”

“Sorry. I was distracted.” She laughed, backing up.

“She knew you were coming.” Abigail joked from behind her, winking at me.

“Can’t keep you hands off me, huh?” I teased.

Her face turned red, “You two together are terrible.” She scolded us.

“Why are you here, handsome?” Abigail asked me.

“I was wondering if you wanted to come for a ride with me, the dragons are not a threat to you with Amaya’s amazing abilities and I need to visit an old friend.”

“Leave the castle and explore hell?” Amaya smiled. “I wouldn’t want to pass that up.”

I smiled as Abigail nodded, “I agree I would like to see what kind of things grow in this strange place.”

“Great, we will be leaving right away. Did you want to change, we will travel by nightmare.”

“Nightmare?” Amaya asked, confused.

“Essentially a demonic horse that can torment anyone who touches it with nightmares, and before you ask, I have a plan on how you two can ride without the side effects.”

Amaya looked down at her jeans and t-shirt and looked up at me, “I’m good to go, Abigail, did you want to borrow some pants?”

“Sure, I have never worn anything, but this style of dress and I could use a new look.” She smiled as she followed Amaya from the room. 

A few minutes later, they were back. Abigail was wearing jeans with a knitted wool sweater her long grey hair was braided over her shoulders.

“Doesn’t she look great?” Amaya asked.

“Yes, she does.” I smiled at Amaya, she looked beautiful. She was wearing the same jeans as earlier that accentuated her curves and a t-shirt that clung perfectly in the right places. Her curly red hair was braided in the same fashion as Abigails.

Let’s get going. We headed to the kitchen, and I grabbed a large bag filled with the provisions I needed to give Magma.

We headed out of the castle and towards the stables, the stable boy was standing with Amdis and two other nightmares that were saddled and ready to go, their reins were tied to a hitching post.

I looked at Amaya and Abigail’s face to see their reaction instead of fear, like I had thought they were smiling.

“They are amazing.” Amaya smiled. She walked over to them and went to touch Amdis, but stopped.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize.” She spoke to him, she looked at me, “Amdis said not to touch their skin or mane unless we wanted to be tortured with nightmares.”

I nodded, “Here,” I handed them riding gloves that other demons used to ride to prevent the effects. “Only touch the saddle and reins and avoid touching them with your bare skin.”

Amaya nodded, “Got it.”

She walked up to the other two nightmares, “Hello, what are your names?” she paused. “Tanda and Daeva, thank you for your help today.”

As I watched her, I couldn’t help but smile at how kind she was and gentle. She seemed to bring light to whatever darkness was around her, seeing the beauty in everything it was something I wanted to protect.

She and Abigail mounted the mares without difficulty once they were up, I got on Amdis and led the way out of the Kingdom.

“So, where are we going?” Amaya asked, coming up beside me.

“We are going to see my mom's friend Magnus. He has been in hiding since my mother was executed for having an affair with him. Executed because lies.” I bit out angrily.

“I can’t wait to meet him, and I am sorry about your mother.”

“So how old is this demon, then?” Abigail asked, winking.

“Really?” Amaya asked her.

“What a woman has needs, even one as old as I.” She laughed.

I shook my head, laughing. “You can ask him yourself.”

“It really is beautiful here.” Amaya shared, looking around.

“It is.” Abigail smiled.

Two small dragons flew up, one landing on Amaya and another on Abigail.

“Why are there two dragons following us?” I asked them.

“Leviathan sent them to help guard us.” Amaya shared, “This is Cana, and that is Chusi. Cana is also helping me spy on Hellebore.”

“Thank you for trusting me, that is a great idea as you are the only one that can talk to them, they would make excellent spies.” I smirked.

I knew there was a reason I was drawn to her; she was smart and would make an excellent Queen of hell.

“Yeah, that was my thought.”

Different creatures slithered and crawled around us as we made our way towards Magma’s hideout.

“Are we going to be there soon?” Abigail asked, excited, “I want to see what kind of plants there are around here.”

“You do love your plants and herbs, I’ll introduce you to the royal herbalist, he knows all the plants and their medicinal and some not so medicinal properties.” I offered.

“Please do.”

We came up to the river and dismounted. Abigail looked at the water and frowned.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Two things, one the water is pink and two, if you plan on swimming across that would be a negative, I can not swim through lava.”

“There is a boat around here somewhere, I wasn't planning on making you swim.” I laughed.

We walked along the bank looking for the hidden boat, finding it hidden under a bunch of brush, we hauled it to the shore and set it in the water.

“Will this get us there without burning up?” Abigail asked skeptically.

“It’s made from Obsidian bark. It will last for centuries.” I laughed as I grabbed the bag off my saddle and put it in the boat. “Get in.”

Once Abigail and Amaya were in the boat, I pushed it into the water and hopped in, grabbing the boat's matching oars and started paddling towards the cave.