Half-Demon's Fortune

by Lina J. Potter

  I obediently followed the knight of the Church inside. They had set up a real camp there, in the almost-catacombs below the old temple. Outsiders would probably be distressed at that sight, but darkness and silence were right up my alley. The knight stayed quiet, as did I until I found myself in a big hall.

  It was built in the form of an amphitheater: a small arena with rows of benches stretching into the darkness. A white pedestal with a crystal overlooked the white marble of the arena. Revolting. I knew that thing; it was a crystal of truth, used to test the veracity of the claim. A powerful and exceedingly rare artifact. It was unpredictable, too; anything could happen to a liar, from bloodrot to being burned alive.

  Did they procure it especially for me? How cute.

  “Is this place old?”

  “Very old, Your Majesty.”

  I would have loved to take a closer look. What could the saints have collected over the centuries? Do they even know what they have?

  There really weren’t too many of them, white-clad templars sitting on the benches—a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty, no more than that. Yet all of them were warriors, and all of them...

  Ugh. I shivered as I saw their eyes, burning with the righteous fire of their faith. Zealots really were like rabid dogs. Curs.

  On the other hand, the King of Rats couldn’t touch true believers and not all of them were fanatics; otherwise, Rene would have been dead. True believers were...how to describe them? It’s hard for me to do so, but that servitor I met in the inn could be reasoned with. Maybe I could do the same with the templars? At least it is worth a try.

  “You wanted to see me, gentlemen? Well, here I am.”

  Whether zealots or not, they were well-disciplined. A barely audible whisper passed along the rows of the templars and one of them stepped out. He was still young, no older than thirty.

  “Lidarn, Knight of the Church. Your Majesty, you’re here because nobody else can answer our questions. Lay your hands on the stone of truth and swear in front of everyone that you’ll tell us only truth, in matters both big and small.”

  I smirked.

  “Aren’t you asking too much of me? I came here because of my friend, and I fulfilled the terms of our deal. But you’re no judges, as I’m no defendant.”

  “You know you might not leave this place, Your Majesty.”

  “I might not. And you might not, either.”

  “I’m not afraid of death.”

  Yep, a zealot, pure and simple.

  “And neither am I. So that’s how it is...” I pretended to sigh.

  “Your Majesty, either you do as I ask, or we’ll have to resort to force.”

  I shrugged.

  “You can kill me, but I doubt you could force me to do anything. And I’ll try to take you with me, as I’ve already told you. But I can agree with you, on one condition.”

  “Which is?”

  At least they didn’t tell me that I was in no position to set conditions.

  “A question for a question, an answer for an answer. And you’ll have to swear on the stone not to lie.”

  The knight shook his shoulders slightly.

  “I don’t need to lie in front of my brethren.”

  “But I’m no brother to you. Or are you afraid?”

  “No!”

  Two leaps over the bench rows, and the knight was right next to me.

  “I, Lidarn, Knight of the Church, swear that I won’t lie as I answer His Majesty’s questions, and let my blood smite me if I fail.”

  He put his hand on the crystal and it flashed. The knight removed his hand, but I saw the facets absorb his blood.

  I followed his example.

  “I, Alexander Leonard Radenor, swear that I won’t lie as I answer Knight Lidarn’s questions and let my blood smite me if I fail.”

  A moment of sharp pain and the crystal flashed once more. I had enough time to do something else, however.

  As I pulled my hand back, I clenched it in a fist, and a few drops of blood fell on the sand. Will that be enough? I hoped so. In the meantime, the knight didn’t hesitate to start talking.

  “Do you believe in the Bright Saint, Your Majesty?”

  “I do.”

  I wasn’t even lying. Necromancers didn’t just believe; we knew.

  “Then don’t lie in His face.”

  “I won’t.”

  When He showed His face, I really wouldn’t lie, no argument with that. But until then, sorry, templar, you’re no Bright Saint.

  “Your Majesty, are you guilty in the death of our brethren?”

  “Which ones?” I asked politely.

  For a second, the knight froze like a statue. I had to explain.

  “For example, some templars once tried to kill me. It was a month and a half ago, in the bedroom of baroness...ah, it doesn’t matter. They stormed in and attacked me with their swords. Now their deaths really were my fault, but it’s not like I started it.”

  The crystal remained calm. I felt the threads of the spell envelop my skin, like an octopus’ slimy tentacles. Still, they were calm; after all, I wasn’t lying. I didn’t tell the whole truth, but...well, it happens.

  “True, but I’m talking about the plague that has recently spread all over the temples of Riolon and Radenor.”

  “No, I have nothing to do with the plague.”

  I was sure that the King of Rats didn’t spread any diseases. His methods were different.

  “And really, were I to attack the Church, I would have done so in another manner. Please, don’t be scared...”

  A ball of fire appeared in my palm. I tossed it in the air, caught it, and sponged it back.

  “I would have done it with my power, not plagues.”

  “Are you a mage, Your Majesty?”

  “Fire obeys me. Does the Church have anything against it?”

  It didn’t. The Church hated necromancers, witch doctors, warlocks, but elemental mages were...not quite favored, but at least tolerated. They were useful, after all.

  The knight shook his head.

  “Your Majesty, could you tell us what happened in Baroness Rattern’s bedroom?”

  “I can. We made love—”

  “Did you cheat on your wife?”

  “My wife was in the family way and I didn’t want to bother her with my lust. And then, the baroness clearly didn’t mind... I gave in. Guilty as charged,” I retorted. The crystal stayed quiet.

  The knight shook his head in disapproval. I shrugged.

  “If I slept with a beautiful woman, Liana slept with my title. Not sure if that’s any better.”

  Why didn’t I kill all of them then? Summon a demon? Flee? Nature abhors a vacuum. They were zealots, but I could use them for the good of the people. I remembered the pet demon of the Morales family. If I got rid of all the templars, who would fight such creatures? Would I have to attend to each of them personally? People needed both light and darkness.

  “And then, she knew what would happen. My wife was in on the assassination as well. When your people barged in—”

  “They broke the law and acted not for the good of the Church, but for their employers. That is a crime and we do not blame you for their deaths. But we want to know the truth.”

  “Fine. I didn’t want to die; I tried to fight them off—I’m a mage, after all. As a result, one of the templars cast some sort of spell on me, I don’t know what. I barely survived.”

  “What spell was that?”

  “I really can’t say, I was never taught that. I was only trained to control the fire element, so as not to burn myself.”

  True, I had had no teachers in that field. Necromancers had taken turns in training me, but we had had no fire mages.

  “What happened to you?’

  “I was sent to another place. It was in Riolon. I decided to wait and lay low until all the conspirators had revealed themselves. If even the Church—”

  The knight winced again. Oh, you don’t like it? Guess what, I didn’t
like getting killed either!

  “As I’ve already told you, they weren’t acting on the orders of the Church, Your Majesty. So were you transported to the capital?

  “No, a backwoods place. They were using black magic there, but I managed to escape.”

  “Where?”

  Once more, I became convinced that I shouldn’t kill them. All of them were as one...

  Their eyes flashed with anger, their hands clenched into fists...just give them evil, and they would tear it apart, into tiny little shreds!

  “Does the name Morales ring any bells?”

  “I know them!” A young man, almost a boy, spoke up. “It was a real nightmare. More than fifty of our brethren perished there...”

  I lowered my eyes.

  “That creature tried to eat me as well. It was a miracle I survived.”

  I still hadn’t lied even a little. You see, demons have a gift: they can...cut corners. Maybe that’s how I got that talent? Or was it Rick’s doing, as he had taught me logic and speechcraft since my childhood?

  The boy gave a fervent account of an unknown demon summoned by warlocks. The fanatics stared at me, and I folded my arms, smirking a bit. Templars? Whatever. At most, they can kill me. I didn’t want that, of course, but if I had no other way out...

  They were religious zealots. They could cause all sorts of messes: turn people against me, declare a crusade...

  Kill them all? I could have. But were there any guarantees that I wouldn’t fail once more?

  I needed my own puppet Church controlled by myself. Zealots would be a useful tool, overall: they could hunt evil, deal with situations such as the one in Riolon, and not demand too much power in return. Sooner or later, somebody like them was bound to show up, so let it be pet templars.

  There were drawbacks, of course. I had to stay in line. They would tolerate a bad king, but not a dark one.

  Still, I had never flaunted my necromancy. Few people knew about it. There were rumors, of course—but it could always turn out to be fire magic, couldn’t it?

  The mistaken belief that humans couldn’t use two elements at once played into my hand. I wasn’t human, of course, not entirely. Hmm, I hope they don’t ask me about that...

  “Your Majesty, how did you survive?”

  “I escaped in time. I didn’t have nearly enough power to fight that thing.”

  Again, not a word of lies.

  “By the way, what if the Church puts some necromancers on the payroll? If fire is used against fire, why not do the same with darkness?”

  “Necromancers are evil!” the knight blurted out predictably. I shrugged.

  “What does it matter to you if a demon eats some of them? Whose lives are more important to you—your people’s or necromancers’?”

  No, it was way too early for such changes. But the main point was to suggest an idea. Now it was time to approach him from a different side.

  “I’m no life mage. I can’t command plagues or animals. Why? Did you think that I was involved in the servitor’s demise?”

  Lidarn nodded.

  “Are you convinced that I had nothing to do with that? Was my word enough for you?”

  Some of them nodded, some eyed me suspiciously, but the stone still hadn’t burned me, which meant that I told no lies.

  “How else can I help you?”

  They exchanged looks.

  “Your Majesty, help us find whoever did it.”

  “What’s ‘it’? First, define what exactly was done and how, then explain it to me. After that, we can look for the perpetrator. Because finding something you can’t even describe...”

  My words caused the audience to grumble in discontent. Yet I had no fear; only heavy grey ice remained inside my soul. I felt lonely and apathetic, and they seemed to pick up on that because they calmed down.

  A crowd is like a pack of wolves. If you’re scared, they’ll tear you apart; if you lead them, they’ll follow. And if you’re unafraid, they will never touch you... unless they smelled blood.

  Maybe one day, they would rip me apart as well.

  “Have I answered all of your questions?”

  “Your Majesty, you have to help us restore the Church.”

  I shrugged.

  “I don’t have to do anything. I can help you, but I’ll do it on my own terms. I don’t want any scoundrels or unscrupulous men in the Church, nor those who profit from people’s grief and suffering. I don’t need scum who would use the Church to live like pigs in clover. The Church was created to save human souls and fight the undead and demons. These are my conditions. If you don’t like them, I can’t help you. The country’s a mess anyway; I don’t want to waste my budget and time on the Church on top of it.”

  Now that clearly peeved them.

  “How—”

  “How dare I? I dare a lot more than that! Who are you to judge me when the members of the Church were the first to try to assassinate me? Did you think I would help those who wanted my death?”

  That seemed to go over well.

  “Your Majesty,” Lidarn spoke up. He clearly was the most reasonable of them all. “May I? Brethren, I think that His Majesty has given us honest answers. Are you sure that he’s innocent of the deaths of our men?”

  “I killed those who tried to kill me.”

  “You’re in your right, Your Majesty. They broke our vows, and we don’t blame you for that.”

  Phew.

  Zealots were actually pretty useful if you fit into their system. Really, what was the original purpose of the Church? Not assassinating kings, that’s for sure. And the templars in front of me couldn’t deny my words. But if the king was a half-demon and a necromancer... Well. Nobody was perfect.

  On the other hand, I wasn’t sleeping around with women or men or wasting the treasury on parties, and I faithfully carried out my duties. Wasn’t that enough? Or should I have added something?

  “May I go and hope that you won’t stab me in the back?”

  “Your Majesty!”

  “An oath, Lidarn!”

  “I, Lidarn, Knight of the Church, on behalf of my brethren, swear that we won’t harm Alexander Leonard Radenor. There is no bad blood between us.”

  The crystal flashed brightly. I bowed slightly.

  “I, Alexander Leonard Radenor, swear to Knight Lidarn to help him in restoring the Church for the sake of faith and not personal gain.”

  The crystal flashed once more.

  We were witnessed and heard.

  Now I only had to run my hand over the edges so as to cut the skin just a bit.

  “I release you.”

  “I set you free.”

  The shining faded and I relaxed my guard. Now I could lie and do lots of other stuff... Although, I could have done it before, too.

  Were you really a match for a half-demon, zealots? You could never even imagine such arrogance. From your point of view, the murderer of your brothers should have stayed far away from you, but no! I wasn’t such an idiot.

  I was even more stupid.

  Lidarn escorted me to the exit.

  “Your Majesty, I hope you won’t hold a grudge...”

  I’ll forgive you after I kill you. Posthumously.

  “You didn’t harm Rene, even if you could have. Did I get it right? Was it an invitation to talk?”

  “We didn’t want to risk it. We are the last...”

  “In other countries—”

  “Your Majesty, you’ve said it yourself. Some of us serve the earthly powers, having forgotten their calling.”

  “But how did you manage to gather in one place? Find out who’s alive?”

  I really wanted to learn that.

  “There are certain ways. Light magic can do it...”

  Yeah, right. It was probably some air magic artifact, that would make more sense. They would mark some templars during initiation, or take their blood. I could have figured out dozens of ways.

  I had no use for that, though. Whom could I gather? A
personal order of necromancers? That wouldn’t work; all of us were loners by nature, unable to work as a team. Now elementalists could operate in pairs: fire and air, earth and water, even fire and light were all valid combinations.

  Darkness, however... Darkness was too selfish. It knew that it was and would ever be, in the beginning and the end. Because if it’s written that the Bright Saint came and said “Let there be light!”, then what was before?

  Only darkness and shadows. My darkness.

  I could see the templars’ point, though.

  “Weren’t you afraid that I would send a squad here to cut all of you down?”

  “You could have, Your Majesty, but that was an acceptable risk.”

  Zealots, what can you say?

  ***

  Rene and his people were waiting for me in the nearest town. Riding a horse given to me by the templars and escorted by them, I got there in three hours.

  “Alex!”

  Upon seeing me, Rene forgot all about etiquette and gave me a bear hug. Whoa, he has really grown strong.

  “Yes, yes, I’m alive...”

  “I was scared they’d kill you.”

  “They would have if they had wanted to. They’d start with you, though, or do you think that an illusion is hard to cast? They could send me a copy of you and at night...”

  “As if you wouldn’t notice that.”

  “What do I know?”

  Rene snorted and gave me a bump on the shoulder.

  “So, Your Majesty, what are we going to do?”

  I considered the question. Really though, what?

  “You’ll go home to your father. I’ll head to Riolon.”

  “Really?”

  “What does it matter? It is going to be my vassal state. Why not set things straight right away?”

  “The Riolonians might not like it.”

  “Will they rule on Prince Dimalt’s behalf?”

  “They might, even if he’s a halfwit.”

  True, Darius and Dariola’s younger brother was feeble-minded. He was ten years old physically and no older than three, mentally. They had managed to potty-train him, but otherwise...

  Such maladies were well-known. Why else would Dariola remain unwed for so long?

  People were afraid. A physical ailment wasn’t that scary; it could be dealt with, one way or another. But an illness of the mind? Dimalt was a cute and gentle child, but he would always remain such, even as he grew up. It wasn’t such a big problem for rich and noble people, but what about poor families?