Hero of Fire

by P. E. Padilla

  Peiros kept making sounds, but he nodded to Aurel and a huge arm squeezed the demon’s throat in a chokehold. Its eyes flared but never moved from Peiros’s. Finally, it nodded, a slight tilting of its chin. Aurel relaxed his arm a fraction.

  The demon began to spit sounds at the man in front of him, but they seemed to Kate to be nothing more than random vocalizing over the bit in its mouth.

  Again, Peiros nodded to Aurel, and this time the huge man loosened the rope holding the bit in the demon’s mouth.

  It spat the bar out and then spat again, green-tinged saliva landing in a puddle at Peiros’s feet. Then it began to screech as Peiros had.

  The two grunted and squawked at each other for a few moments, Peiros probably asking questions and the demon providing information. It was the only thing it could be. What else could they be talking about?

  Peiros paused for a moment and then asked one more question. The demon answered. With a firm nod, Peiros drew one of his crescents in a smooth, quick movement and tore the throat out of the creature in front of him. Its eyes widened at the last moment and then it toppled to the ground as Aurel let it go. A line of green goo splashed onto Peiros’s mask, and he took it off and wiped off the little bit that had gotten through the eye holes.

  “Now we must question the other one,” Peiros said, stepping over the corpse he had just created.

  Kate took one last look at the demon, and the widening pool of green underneath it, and followed Peiros and Aurel to where the others guarded the last surviving demon of the four.

  Once they woke the final demon, Peiros repeated his earlier performance, this time without his mask on. Kate watched him closely. He seemed to become a different person, something far removed from the polite, soft-spoken man she had come to know. Even his face took on the cast of a cruel, harsh, killer.

  It was one thing to kill in battle, but the persona she saw in Peiros’s interactions with the demons made her shiver.

  Once the second demon was disposed of, Peiros cleaned his crescent on a rag he carried for the purpose and walked over to Kate. As he stepped to her, his face transformed again, this time from the cold-hearted killer to the same Peiros she had known for the last few weeks.

  He stopped in front of her, looking deep into her eyes.

  “It bothers you, the mask I had to put on,” he said.

  “Yes. You looked like you changed.”

  “I did.” He blew out a breath. “The demons, they can sense our thoughts, yes? I learned long ago that I must give them the fear they get when they see our masks. I could have kept my mask on, but then they would only believe it was a mask. Showing them the same terrifying visage in my own face, that threw this one off its balance. It is a…tactic. For the gaining of information.”

  “It looked so real.” Kate hugged herself. “It was like you were a different person.”

  “Yes. I was. I do not hate the demons as some do.” He turned his attention to Benedict, who was inspecting one of the demons for something Kate probably didn’t want to know about. “Yet, they are my enemies in this war we are in. If it is to be a matter of our lives or theirs, I will kill them without hesitation.”

  “I understand that, but you looked those demons in the eye and tore out their throats while Aurel was holding them. That’s hardly fair.”

  “Fair, you say,” Peiros said. “Do you recall your interactions with the demons in Faerdham Fortress, Kate? Were they fair?”

  “How did you—?”

  “The Black are very thorough. Such a significant altercation would not be unnoticed. Regardless, were those demons fair when they killed your squad and took control of one of your number? I think not.

  “It is war, Kate. What would you have me do, take prisoners and drag them along with us on our mission so they could betray us at the first opportunity?”

  Kate squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “No. There was nothing else to do. I’m sorry, Peiros. This is all new to me.”

  He put his hand on her shoulder. “I know. You are doing well. I wanted to explain things to you. I also wanted to tell you what information I got from the demons.

  “I know where to find their army.”

  23

  “That’s great,” Kate said. “Now we can get back on track with the mission.”

  As she said it, she noticed Jurdan sitting on the ground some distance away. He had taken his mask off, and the dark circles under his eyes were plain even at a distance. Benedict was near Jurdan, considering him.

  The two injured members of the party. At least Benedict looked like he was getting stronger. Kate had seen him working his injured arm as they traveled, no doubt trying to get full mobility back.

  “We can rest a little first,” she said.

  “No,” Jurdan said, standing up. “Let’s go. None of these layabouts are going to make me rest while the trail is hot.” He smiled at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes, which were filled with a pained glaze.

  “Are you sure you don’t—”

  “Yes,” Jurdan said a little too forcefully. He put his mask on while taking a breath and added more calmly, “Yes. We have a mission to complete.”

  “Very well,” Kate said. “Let’s go, then. Peiros?”

  Peiros put his own death mask on and headed off slightly to the right of where they had been moving before they ran across the patrol. It was nice to have a confirmation that they were on the right track.

  Within two hours, they ran across another patrol, this one with five demons. They dove to the ground again at Peiros’s signal and surprised the monsters once again. It was easier the second time around because the terrain had changed, yet again, to rolling hills, scattered boulders, and rock formations dotting the landscape.

  Again, Kate didn’t see the demons until they were only a few steps from where she waited. After the one surviving demon was interrogated and disposed of, Kate remembered to ask Peiros about it.

  “It is a feature of Hell. Something in the way the air shimmers or magic abounds, I do not know, but very often things disappear and reappear suddenly. It is not like magical cloaking, but rather the way Hell bends our perception. Especially living creatures may be invisible—though not always so—at a distance but then can be seen when they are closer. We have known about this for some time, but no one has been able to explain it. It helps us, at times making us disappear, but can hinder, too. It is not consistent. Sometimes, it does not happen.”

  Kate ran through what she knew about sight and magic and tried to come up with a logical explanation. As with so many things in Hell, she wasn’t able to do so. She shrugged and set it in her mind to remember it to possibly use it to her advantage in the future.

  The demon Peiros had questioned confirmed that they were on the right track. Maybe as soon as the next day, they should be able to see the army, once they got out of the rolling terrain.

  They stopped to rest a few hours later. When Kate called a halt, Jurdan dropped to the ground where he was. The man must have been exhausted, his body using up all his energy to fight the poison in him. Kate wished she could do something about it.

  Peiros was ahead of her. He mixed the contents of a small packet he took from his pack into some water, swirled it around, and handed it to Jurdan. The archer said something Kate couldn’t hear and downed the liquid, making a face that told Kate exactly how much he hated the taste. He grumbled something else and handed the cup back to Peiros, who slapped the poisoned man on the shoulder.

  As Peiros came back toward Kate, she said, “I’ll take a double watch tonight. I’ll cover Jurdan’s watch.”

  “That is kind of you, but it is not necessary.”

  “I want to do it. He needs all the sleep he can get.”

  “I agree. However, there are five of us remaining to watch, and tonight we need only three. We five can take the watches and Jurdan will not have to do so until he is recovered.”

  “Oh,” Kate said. “Of course.” She appreciated how Peiros said they
would do it until Jurdan recovered. She hoped they could heal him, but it didn’t look good. They were moving farther away from where they could treat his poison.

  After the night had passed—Kate had insisted on the middle watch, getting broken sleep on either side of her assigned time—they were up and on their way again. Jurdan had slept all night and looked better than he had the day before. Hopefully more sleep and not exerting himself too much would be enough.

  Within an hour of starting out, they ran into a group of demons who seemed to appear in front of them with no warning. Peiros hadn’t even heard their thoughts, not surprising since more than half of the eight were not humanoid demons but different types of demon monsters. They attacked immediately.

  Aurel threw himself at the demon grunts as everyone else targeted their own foes. The Black soldiers paired up to more quickly take down the enemies.

  Three of the creatures had eight spindly legs and plump bodies, shaped almost as if they were half spider and half beetle. They were disgusting. They were also at least twice the size of Aurel, making them giants from Kate’s point of view. The other two non-humanoid creatures were small, dog-like animals, but with teeth larger than they should have been for their body size. Kate rushed at them because they were closest to her.

  Jurdan had been carrying his bow, sometimes using it as a walking stick when it was unstrung. It was strung now, and he helped Kate by feathering the smaller monsters with arrows. They proved to be hardier than they appeared, but not tough enough to withstand Kate’s sword.

  The arrows distracted them and injured them, but her sword made quick work of them when she engaged. Within seconds, both were lying dead, one of them cut completely in half.

  “The ssanach,” Peiros yelled. “Take out the ssanach.” He must have noticed Kate’s confusion because he followed up with, “The spider things.”

  Jurdan had already shifted to targeting the monstrosities, and Kate followed suit. She noticed as she ran to attack them that one of the humanoid demons, a bit larger than the others, was waving his arms and pointing. As it did so, the other demons moved in a way that could only be in response to its gestures.

  The group’s leader. Kate thought for a moment of going toward it, but cast the thought out of her head. Peiros would have a reason for telling them to target the spiders—ssanach?—first. She skidded to a stop as one of the creatures swung a pedipalp at her.

  She jammed her shield up, deflecting the appendage, but as she went to swing her sword to lop it off, the monster sprayed something out of a hole near its mouth. It was a noxious mist, and Kate took it full in the face.

  And that was the last thing she remembered.

  24

  Kate groaned.

  Her head felt like someone had torn it off her body, filled it with lead and hatred, and put it back on. Backward.

  But she was alive. At least, she thought she was. That had to count for something, didn’t it?

  It was too late to act like she was still unconscious, so she slowly opened her eyes, a painful proposition even in the dim light of wherever she presently resided.

  She lay awkwardly, almost like someone had dropped her from a height and left her how she had fallen. Now that she thought of it, the other pains she felt—in her shoulders and hip specifically—suggested that was exactly what had happened.

  The others were scattered around her, unmoving, the lot of them seeming like toys cast off by some demonic toddler in search of newer, more exciting play.

  She didn’t like the imagery that invoked.

  “You are awake,” a husky female voice purred. “Excellent.”

  Kate snapped her head toward the voice, another mistake. The universe swam and acrid bile boiled up into her mouth. She clamped her mouth shut and swallowed it back, prompting a series of retches that threatened to escalate into full-blown vomiting.

  She wrestled back the taste and the urge to throw up, and moved her head more gently to consider the owner of the voice.

  A woman was sitting on an elaborately carved wooden chair that might properly be called a throne. Even from twenty feet away, she was an absolutely gorgeous woman. So beautiful, in fact, that Kate felt ugly and deformed by comparison.

  She had long red hair, brighter and at least three times the length of Kate’s. She wore…well, almost nothing. Tiny leather cups that barely covered her nipples, descending into a V that joined them and seemed to hold them in place, though it would need to defy physical laws to do so. The only other bit of clothing was a minuscule triangle covering her groin area, making her slender, perfectly shaped legs seem longer than could be possible.

  She had horns, but even those were beautiful. They swept out daintily from above and forward of her ears, somehow making Kate wish she had some so she could be more attractive. Sitting in between them, centered on her forehead, was a jeweled diadem that brought out the red glow in the woman’s eyes.

  Kate stared at the woman—no, she must be a demon; why was it so hard to think?—for a moment before the rustle of a leathery membrane called her attention to the folded appendages barely poking out from behind the woman’s back.

  Yeah, a demon. A gorgeous one. The very epitome of sexiness.

  The demon formed her mouth into a moue and then a smirk, her glowing red eyes flashing. “Just one of you,” she said in a voice made of lust, “and all these males. Oh, you are a lucky girl.”

  Kate’s head was clearing slowly, but she still didn’t understand what the woman—no, the demon—was trying to convey.

  The demon’s beautiful face turned from Kate when Peiros moaned softly and rolled over.

  The demoness stood up and slunk toward them. Not too close, but closer than she had been. The way her body moved—Kate wished she could move with half as much grace. It made her body tingle to watch those perfect parts.

  “It has been long,” the winged goddess continued, “since I have seen a human. Since the gate, our…access points are closed to us. Oh, how I used to love to visit your realm and play.” She ran her pink tongue over perfect, white teeth set within the reddest, lushest lips Kate had ever seen. The fact that a few of her teeth were sharp, like a wolf’s, made her even more attractive for some reason.

  What reason, though? Kate closed her eyes and shook her head. Her mind was full of wool. Forcing thoughts through that was harder than anything she had ever done before.

  “My full name is unsuitable for ones such as you,” the demon said, “but you may call me Xylevera. Or mistress will do.”

  Kate’s eyes widened as her mouth began to form the word. She tamped down on the impulse and was able to refrain from speaking. Xylevera’s mouth rounded into a pretty pout and one delicate eyebrow raised.

  By now, Peiros was fully awake and staring at the luscious demon in front of him. Xylevera shifted her attention to him.

  “Hello, pretty one,” she said. “Did you hear what it is that you may call me?”

  “Yes, mistress,” Peiros said.

  Kate narrowed her eyes at him. Why didn’t he fight the impulse to follow the demon’s instructions?

  “Be a wonderful plaything and wake the others,” Xylevera said, and Peiros nearly jumped to his feet in his haste to obey. He went to the others and shook them, more roughly than Kate thought necessary. Soon, they were all squinting with headache pain, just as Kate still was.

  “Now,” Xylevera said, “we must determine how you will each serve me.” She swept her eyes over each of them in turn, scoffing when she saw that Benedict was injured and twisting her mouth into a grimace when her gaze found Jurdan.

  “You have been poisoned by a zaggash,” she said to Jurdan. “Your service will be performed out of my sight until you are finally overcome and die.”

  “Yes, mistress,” Jurdan said, no hint of his normal jovial attitude.

  “The ssanach ejected their cloud around you,” Xylevera said, tapping a finger on her lips. “You should all be dead. The ssanach vapor is deadly to your kind. Why
is it that you are alive?”

  Kate didn’t know and wouldn’t answer the demon even if she did. The men cast furtive glances at each other as if they wanted to answer but weren’t sure to whom the question was addressed.

  “The firestones,” Jurdan said, finally. “They help to mitigate demonic damage.”

  “Firestones? Those shining jewels you all wear?”

  “Yes, mistress.”

  “My minions were unable to remove them from you. They are anathema to us. What is their function?”

  “They give us protection and allow us to harm demonkind, mistress,” Visimar said quickly. He, like the others, seemed anxious to please the demon.

  “I see,” Xylevera said. “I do not like them. Remove and destroy them in front of me.”

  The five members of Kate’s team scrambled to remove the stones from beneath their tunics. All Kate could do was to watch as they began to pull their necklaces over their heads to carry out the demoness’s will.

  “No,” Kate shouted. At least, she had planned on shouting it. It came out more of a whisper.

  Xylevera cast a baleful glare at Kate. “You dare to say no to me?” Those glowing eyes drilled into Kate’s, threatening to remove all thought and will.

  “I do.”

  Xylevera tsked. “It is unfortunate. I so looked forward to playing with you. I cannot abide rebellion, however. Boys, kill her for me. The one who strikes the killing blow can be the first to taste the treats I have in store for you.”

  Kate felt a tugging, a desire to take her sword out and slit her own throat. She buried it deep in her mind and concentrated on something more important: the vision of her team drawing their weapons and starting toward her.

  Kate gripped her shield’s handle tightly and drew her sword. What kind of captor didn’t take a captive’s weapons? The demon must have thought her mind control to be more powerful than it actually was. Maybe the firestones…