Eighth Circle

Tom lay on his back and let events take their course. He wasn't fussed that his encounter with the guardians had gone badly and they hadn't invited him to have dinner with them. They were a boring bunch and he had far more agreeable company to occupy his time.

The girls had undressed and were drawing lots to see who would be first to sample his charms. The process seemed to go on forever. He watched as the lots were taken from a pot then put back in. It was as if the young ladies had forgotten what they were doing and had to start all over again. Their passion ebbed and flowed. One moment, they would be eyeing him lecherously. The next, they would be glancing around like frightened schoolgirls who had woken from a dream and found themselves naked in a room full of people.

It was as if a switch was being flicked on and off. When it was on they behaved like experienced woman lusting after a male body. When it was off they were the exact opposite. Their frightened glances unnerved him. They looked much younger and more vulnerable than before. He reached for his clothes and put them back on.

He was fully dressed and adjusting his yellow cloak when Dafne arrived, accompanied by two wild-eyed women. They burst in and the girls ran off screaming hysterically about the furies. Tom watched them flee into the bushes, surrounding the pool, and turned his attention to the newcomers.

Dafne was dressed in a guardian costume and looked half-presentable in her dark-blue gown and light-blue wig. The two women were unkempt and dirty. Tom guessed they were furies and wasn't surprised that their arrival had upset the girls.

They wore dark-green tights beneath a crimson tunic and looked like female versions of the Kougal Knight but without the yellow cloak. When they saw his cloak their nostrils flared and their heads went down like bulls about to charge. Tom got ready to ward them off and heard Dafne's shrill voice.

'Take it off!'

'Take what off?'

'Your cloak ... give it to them.'

Tom pulled off the cloak and threw it towards the women. In an instant they were upon it, yanking and biting. He had seen a fox torn to pieces by hunting hounds. This was something similar. They sank their teeth into the cloak and tore it to shreds. He was pleased he was not wearing the item and wondered what a pack of furies could do to an unsuspecting male.

He felt Dafne's hand about his wrist.

'You are summoned,' she said.