novelraw Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Three
“I tire of ye disturbing my sleep, witch. Nettling me with your incessant whine will only bring more pain and suffering to your mortal pets. Nagging will do nothing to make me leave.” Arach did not bother cracking open an eye slit. Why put forth the effort when the stench of the old woman so clearly announced her presence?
“Then meet the challenge and end this battle. If ye win, I will nettle ye no more.”
Arach rolled to his side and kicked at the lowest part of his belly with a stubby rear leg. Lore, he hated it when his scales itched in spots he couldn’t reach. With a jaw-cracking yawn, he groaned as he stretched and rubbed his itching belly across the rough flooring of the cave. “Why should I go to the trouble of seeking out your champions? If they’re so determined to return me to hell, let them find me.” Deafening silence echoed through the darkness of the cave. The only sound interrupting the eerie stillness was the rhythmic plopping of water at the rear of the fissure as it dripped from ceiling to floor.
Arach finished scratching his underbelly against the razor-sharp ledge then lifted his snout higher in the air and snorted in a great breath. “I know ye havena left, old woman. Your smell is still heavy in the air.”
“What will it take, ye wicked beast? What will it take to bring ye to the challenge at the portal?”
Arach chuckled as he slithered out onto the ledge. “‘Twould take a great deal more than yer willing to risk, old woman. Have ye no’ learned yer lesson about dealing with the devil?”
“Name it, beast. What will it take for the opportunity to rid ye from this world?”
Arach lumbered to a halt and half-turned his body to face the deepest fissure in the rear of the cave. “I will meet your champions on one condition, witch. If I best them, ye grant me unlimited freedom to move between all the worlds.”
“Ye already move between the dimensions at will. What are ye truly asking for, Arach?”
Arach chuckled and his grin widened to reveal his rotting fangs. “Unlimited power and ultimate energy for the rest of eternity. Even though I’m able to move through any portal I wish, it takes a solid millennia for me to recover once I pass through. Grant me control over the highest energies so mine will ne’er be depleted.”
Nothing sounded through the cave beside the familiar dripping sound of the perpetual moisture. Arach shrugged and resumed his slithering gate toward the sunny ledge when the old Cailleach finally spoke.
“Agreed.”