Philip said. “She will do as I tell her or she will be fed to her creations.”
John shrugged. He produced a key from the folds of his robe, and upon opening the door, he stepped by the Fomorian into the subterranean.
The Mhydew spread out as far as Philip could see, a lake as black as obsidian, its depths lost to the imagination and the air filled with the rancorous combination of minerals and feces. The blue flame rose high, revealing giant cones of rock clinging to the ceiling like dozens of teeth frozen in place. In the middle of the lake, a pyramid of organized stone jutted, and at its apex his ancient prize sat, catching dripping water from the ceiling that overflowed into the cache below. Flickering torches set into wall sconces faintly lit their area and that was all.
The Mhydew was a dark world of sharp points and cutting edges, shut away from the emerald lush grasses and hills of Annwn above. Every time Philip entered the immense cavern he felt small and insignificant.
He hated the feeling.
Along the shore, dozens of men and women bound to the rock by thick chains poured water from the lake into large leather flasks with stoppers and straps. With grime-covered skin, hair, and clothing, they looked like nothing human. Disgust rose up within Philip. They were those of his subjects who had broken the law, from murder to petty thievery to sodomy. For their transgressions they had been blinded by red-hot pokers, tongues cut from their mouths, and brought here to serve. Some died quickly, the fire to live extinguished as soon as they entered the Mhydew; some served the witch in other ways he no longer wanted to know about.
Either way, there were always others ready to fill the shackles; lawbreakers were all too easily found in Annwn.
One of them reached out and touched his foot then.
Philip drew the sword his father had given him but instead kicked violently out, slashing the blind woman along her cheek with the heel of his boot. Initially stunned and grunting with pain, she crawled to the lake and lapped at the water.
The wound healed immediately, a scar forming until even that disappeared beneath the dirty, blood-smeared face.
“They learn quickly,” Philip observed.
“Even dogs can learn at a rapid rate, my king,” John pointed out.
Philip supposed they could. “The witch watches them still?”
“Through some art of her own design, yes,” John answered. “The fulfillment of your plan is upon us. The contraptions work splendidly.”
Philip picked one of thousands from the cavern floor, observing it. It was almost as large as a horse stomach, several pieces of cowhide stitched tightly together. Two straps hung limply from the leather sack while a cork closed off a long reed tube.
“The army will be invincible,” Philip breathed.
“It will indeed, my king.”
“What of the last few regiments?”
“The last batches are growing. The griffins currently roost nearby the portal and the houndmaster curtails the bloodlust of the wolves with some staff fashioned by the witch. Even the death rate among the maulls has dropped considerably, and many are growing to destructive maturity. With your lords having gathered and the efforts of the witch coming to fruition, your army is on the cusp of completion.”
Philip had waited a long time to hear John say those words.
Chilling screams of lust echoed from a staircase leading to the breeding pens in another cavern. The foul odor Philip had barely grown accustomed to wafted into the Mhydew from that dark exit.
“The Cailleach enjoys her work,” John observed.
“Too much,” Philip said with distaste.
“It is the only way,” John assured. “Turning sin against the sinners has a certain poetic justice to it, do you not think?”
Philip didn’t answer. He hated the abominations almost as much as he needed them.
“My king?”
“I want the witch at our side, John,” Philip said. “I want her to be in full control of the army we have built.”
“Whispers and rumors already swirl surrounding the halfbreeds,” John said. “My foray into Dryvyd Wood set the men under Lord Gwawl at unease. Rumors have spread. I think it wise to hide the creatures as long as possible.”
“That is why the witch is so important,” Philip said. “There will come a time when we will unleash the full army onto the world and those same men will be thanking it. Until then…”
“I will speak to the Cailleach now.”
“Watch the plains. If Ardall and the knight appear, I want to know about it. And ensure the security