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Description
The next page is here: faile35.deviantart.com/art/Boo… . For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .

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Spying on the intruder, a lone, young Scholar who was wandering through the Rat's Maze toward the Undercellar, Jervil listened to her words as she spoke of the Cat Witch and guessed the presence of a sorcerer. The rat-man had to make a choice--confront the Scholar and deal with her while he left Callista unattended in the workroom and let the potentially vulnerable Annalae slip away, or ignore the Scholar and let the labyrinth claim her if it may, while he managed Callista's captivity and pursued Annalae himself.

The decision ultimately rested on his discovery that Annalae's sorcerous connection to the Dreamstalker could be disrupted by water. Records and rumors of the distant past studied with Theonius and thereafter un-recalled now returned to Jervil's mind, describing the two immigrating peoples and their apparent disregard for each other. The northern folk with their Cult of the Cat relied heavily on the influence of the Dreamstalker, while those who moved eastward from the dust-buried west carried the mark of the Mother of the Depths. When they engaged the local native people on the battlefield, northerners and westerners were unable to coordinate their efforts before the Harbinger arrived and destroyed their forces. The properties and symbolic significance of water had been too wide a cultural gap to bridge, and that divisive nature of the liquid was echoed in the more personal relationship of Cat Whisperer and her sorcerous power.

Though his pursuit of a more appropriate form had been set back by injuries inflicted by Callista's resisitance, Jervil ignored the deterioration to a more rat-like appearance and concentrated on finding Annalae and using his new knowledge to get her in his power. Ironically, the Cat Shade herself did the work for him, running afoul of a cocooning cord net trap placed for Callista in Jervil's storeroom. Though she and her feline minions eliminated all but the last of the gremlins, Jervil was able to trick the Cat Witch into captivity and carry her to his boudoir to undergo the final, decisive action in his bid to gain an appropriate form.

"The rune's design is rather simple, now that I know this, your weakness," the rat-man explained to the woman chained on the bed. "And, you and your shady counterpart are due some of the credit for the idea, since our initial encounters when you slew my gremlin scouts and the Dreamstalker utterly consumed some of the psychic fragments housed within them. A siphoning rune, placed on the flesh above your womb quickened by sorcery, inscribed with cold water to both repel the Cat Shade and draw out the Dreamstalker's essence. Tuned to me, Cat Witch, it will provide me with more than enough constant energy to take whatever form I desire. No longer will you, nor the people of Dernhem, nor the Harbinger herself see this vessel of mine in a hateful, horrified light, for I will rise to the pinnacle of society..."

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Annalae was drawn using Lindsey's photos for reference. She has a wonderful "No, it can't be!" expression that I've found (and contrived) lots of places to use. Thanks, Lindsey!

Enjoy!

Note: Bookbinding and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones real mistreatment of this kind toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.

Description
The next page is here: faile35.deviantart.com/art/Boo… . For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .

***********************************************

Spying on the intruder, a lone, young Scholar who was wandering through the Rat's Maze toward the Undercellar, Jervil listened to her words as she spoke of the Cat Witch and guessed the presence of a sorcerer. The rat-man had to make a choice--confront the Scholar and deal with her while he left Callista unattended in the workroom and let the potentially vulnerable Annalae slip away, or ignore the Scholar and let the labyrinth claim her if it may, while he managed Callista's captivity and pursued Annalae himself.

The decision ultimately rested on his discovery that Annalae's sorcerous connection to the Dreamstalker could be disrupted by water. Records and rumors of the distant past studied with Theonius and thereafter un-recalled now returned to Jervil's mind, describing the two immigrating peoples and their apparent disregard for each other. The northern folk with their Cult of the Cat relied heavily on the influence of the Dreamstalker, while those who moved eastward from the dust-buried west carried the mark of the Mother of the Depths. When they engaged the local native people on the battlefield, northerners and westerners were unable to coordinate their efforts before the Harbinger arrived and destroyed their forces. The properties and symbolic significance of water had been too wide a cultural gap to bridge, and that divisive nature of the liquid was echoed in the more personal relationship of Cat Whisperer and her sorcerous power.

Though his pursuit of a more appropriate form had been set back by injuries inflicted by Callista's resisitance, Jervil ignored the deterioration to a more rat-like appearance and concentrated on finding Annalae and using his new knowledge to get her in his power. Ironically, the Cat Shade herself did the work for him, running afoul of a cocooning cord net trap placed for Callista in Jervil's storeroom. Though she and her feline minions eliminated all but the last of the gremlins, Jervil was able to trick the Cat Witch into captivity and carry her to his boudoir to undergo the final, decisive action in his bid to gain an appropriate form.

"The rune's design is rather simple, now that I know this, your weakness," the rat-man explained to the woman chained on the bed. "And, you and your shady counterpart are due some of the credit for the idea, since our initial encounters when you slew my gremlin scouts and the Dreamstalker utterly consumed some of the psychic fragments housed within them. A siphoning rune, placed on the flesh above your womb quickened by sorcery, inscribed with cold water to both repel the Cat Shade and draw out the Dreamstalker's essence. Tuned to me, Cat Witch, it will provide me with more than enough constant energy to take whatever form I desire. No longer will you, nor the people of Dernhem, nor the Harbinger herself see this vessel of mine in a hateful, horrified light, for I will rise to the pinnacle of society..."

***********************************************

Annalae was drawn using Lindsey's photos for reference. She has a wonderful "No, it can't be!" expression that I've found (and contrived) lots of places to use. Thanks, Lindsey!

Enjoy!

Note: Bookbinding and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones real mistreatment of this kind toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.