Demons of the Hunter (War of the Magi Book 2)

by Stephen Allan

  “Very well, you come with me, the rest of you stay on this ship.”

  Tyus turned. The boat had about another minute before it docked. When he was sure that he was entirely in view of the city, he raised his hands, his elbows at ninety degree angles, as if to indicate surrender and peace. The citizens of Dabira gave his ship space to dock, but they did little to suggest that they were about to let him enter the city of magi freely. Let your legacy begin here. Speak without fear, and don’t be an idiot like your father. Listen. Stand firm on your requests. And give a little to get what you need—in the long run.

  The ship docked and the guards quickly set anchored and tied it up. They remained on the ship. Tyus took a quick breath and stepped off.

  He had not even removed his second foot when he heard a furious shriek that sounded all too familiar. I’m dead.

  “You killed us all, you murderer!”

  It was Kara.

  Even if Tyus struck back, even if he launched his sword at Kara and struck her, he was as good as dead. There must’ve easily been a hundred magi in the area. He had less than two dozen soldiers. Even if every soldier managed to kill half a dozen magi before they fell, they would still lose.

  And even if the magi attacked, Tyus had grown tired of the unnecessary bloodshed. He would defend himself, but in doing so beg for the violence to stop. He would not initiate anything.

  Hearing Kara’s cries, he braced himself for certain death as the young woman stormed down a suddenly open path. The guards on the boat unsheathed their swords, as did the one next to Tyus, preparing for a massacre.

  But suddenly, a large man with a gray beard emerged and grabbed her, leading to her wailing in place.

  “Kara!”

  “Roland, get off me! In the name of Chrystos, get off me!”

  The two struggled some more as Tyus watched in amazement. Not only were the magi not an enemy, they weren’t even a unified tribe. Granted, every group had its individual differences from within, but this seemed less like a small difference and more like fundamental opposites. This might as well have been the magi and the empire.

  “You do not treat a guest like this upon arrival!”

  “Even after he killed everyone in the Shadows except me and Gaius? Even after he and his father slaughtered my entire organization without mercy? Even after he did it under the guise of honoring us? Even after he’s come here to kill us, including the girl you’ve taken like your new daughter?”

  All eyes leered toward Tyus. They wanted to know what he was doing here. Not even Tyus had a good answer to that question. He had an answer—to negotiate with the magi for the capture of the very woman in front of him—but that sure didn’t make it a good one. He already had his doubts about his task here—the sight of all of these magi did little to quell those thoughts.

  “You know the rules of the magi, Kara. We do not initiate attacks. It is not what Garo wanted when he founded this city.”

  “Oh, sure, you’re just the man who would know what Garo wanted, aren’t you?”

  The words did not do justice to the venom spat between the two of them. Even the magi who had trained their eyes upon Tyus and his bodyguard had turned to the two magi combating. If all of the soldiers of the empire had disbanded from the ship, the magi probably wouldn’t have noticed.

  “As a matter of fact, I am! I am the councilor of this town! I help keep the peace here! You are a militant fool! Blood and death follow you wherever you go!”

  “Oh, and now I suppose you’ll say that it’s followed me here with this little brat of the empire, don’t you?”

  Tyus briefly raised his voice in response but became silent in his better judgment.

  “You think that I have brought death upon this village now. I have news for you, Roland. The empire just wiped out my entire forces. They burned my base. They destroyed everything I had. They’ve probably killed every single man and woman who might even smell like a mage in Caia. And they are coming here next. No, not are coming. Have come. Look.”

  Kara moved past Roland, pushing his hand away from her as she stepped forward. She came about a foot away from Tyus. His guard stepped forward, but Tyus motioned for him to remain where he was. He could only hope that gesture was enough to buy a moment of conversation.

  “Tyus, the pathetic son of the emperor,” she sneered. Her contempt was so visible, it practically spat upon Tyus. “Where is your father? Was he too cowardly to come like the fat fool that he is? Tell me, son of the emperor, why is he scared? Is he afraid that his pristine image will fall and that he will not be loved by the people of Dabira? Is he afraid that the few citizens in Caia who still actually like him would turn on him if he came to Dabira?”

  Tyus didn’t answer at first. Kara stepped forward, bumping chests with Tyus. It was not lost on him that she was actually taller than him, shifting the paradigm of intimidation.

  “I said, tell me.”

  “My father,” Tyus began slowly so that he could find the confidence back in his voice. “Sent me here to negotiate with you. For you to return to Caia.”

  “Hahaha!” Kara laughed, directly on Tyus’ face so that her breath smothered his nostrils. “Amazing! Do you hear this, Dabira? He slaughters us in the street, our blood pouring out like a storm upon the roads, and then offers us a negotiation to return to the place of massacre. How holy! How fair! How cruel. Let me make something clear, Tyus. You killed all of my friends. Not just my men. Not just my women. My friends. I should kill you and your entire squad of guards where you stand right now. And don’t you think I couldn’t do it.”

  For several seconds, Kara looked like she was actually going to do that. Her hands clenched and unclenched, and her jaw grinded on itself. It felt like a certainty to Tyus that this is how he would die, towered over by a mage determined to exhume his soul.

  Appropriate, he thought. He always wondered if he would die by the fire of a dragon. Here, it was somewhat similar.

  But she seemed held back by something, something that Tyus would likely never know about. It certainly wasn’t Roland, whom Kara paid no attention to at all, treating him as she would a stray cobblestone outside her walkway. What mattered most to Tyus was that he could finally speak and say what he had come to do.

  “My father committed terrible atrocities, and I do not expect you to forget them or forgive them. To request for you to do so would be disingenuous and unfair. In many ways…”

  He paused, his eyes briefly cast down. He did not know if it was smart to say this in front of men who’d sworn their lives to his father, but he had to not just begin establishing his rule but also distance himself from his father.

  “My father did not just commit terrible deeds, he is a terrible man.”

  Noticeably, the tension in the magi dropped. An edge still remained, one that Kara or one of the guards could easily break at any moment, but the threat of violence had diminished. Tyus cleared his throat.

  “I do not expect you to forget what he has done and to make peace with him. But I am his son, and while I would never expect you to make peace with me upon my immediate arrival, I do ask that you at least hear me out. Believe it or not, I want to help you. I want this violence to end.”

  The lack of dissent—even the lack of a disgusted motion from Kara—gave him the answer he had yearned for.

  “All that my father has done is something that I will need to atone for,” Tyus began. “In the years to come, I will need to make amends for everything that he has done.”

  “So why not do it now,” Kara said, her voice cutting but not as vicious as many suspected it might be. “Why not show him that you are a man and can do it?”

  Everyone is questioning what kind of a man I am. My father. Kara. Probably Eric and Abe too, when they were around.

  Fine. I’ll answer them as strong as I can.

  “And when I return to see him, I will,” he said. He then turned and gestured toward the guards behind him. “My men—yes, my men, not the emperor’s�
�understand.”

  “So then tell me, Mr. Future Emperor,” Kara said, her voice a sneer. So much for the peace and quiet we might’ve had between us. “Why are you here? Do you really think I believe that you are here to apologize and make amends for the empire? Do you think I’m stupid enough to fall for that? You still have come to capture me and the others. How do you think you’re going to get out of returning to Caia without any of us?”

  Tyus feared for the lives of everyone in the area, nervous that one single misplaced action would turn this entire port into utter chaos, with more blood spilled than water near the beach.

  “Let me tell you something, boy,” Kara said, emphasizing “boy.” “Your father is evil and scum. Evil, however, isn’t just about snarling in your face and saying you’re going to die. Often times, the most evil thing a man can do is to convince his enemy that he’s really his friend, and then stab them in the neck. Now, I want you to answer me, and you better be honest with me. Why have you come?”

  Tyus didn’t see his life flash before his eyes, but he began to suspect that moment was nearer than it should’ve been.

  “You already said it yourself. If you want to ask me why my father sent us, it was so that we could take you, Gaius, and the two young girls home, but, but,” Tyus said, quickly moving to calm the widening eyes. “I am here. Forget my father. I just want to make peace with you. I will tell my father that we never found you here, and that I made sure Dabira kept allegiance to us. In return, we’ll let things be.”

  “So,” Kara said, folding her arms and snorting hard enough Tyus felt the breath of her nostrils on the bridge of his nose. “You are going to lie to your father and lie about this city’s honor and allegiances, and you think that is going to make you a man?”

  She laughed, a laugh done boisterously with the hope of becoming contagious. Tyus kept his eyes trained on her, hoping to bring her back down with a gaze that even he admitted was weak. Hopefully, though, this was the spot where he could use his gaze to calm a situation.

  “You are so weak, Tyus, even I have a shred of sympathy for you. I suppose you could not control who your father is, but you can control everything that came after that. You have allowed yourself to get so caught up in appeasing people that you are forced to lie. You dare not stand up to me, nor will you stand up to your father. You should leave. Now. Or I will make you all leave not just Dabira, but this world.”

  “I—”

  “Give them rest tonight.”

  Kara whipped around so fast her hair nearly slammed into Tyus’ face.

  “Are you mad, Roland? No, I don’t need to ask that question to know the answer. You are mad. These are soldiers of the Syrast Empire. I am amazed Tyus hasn’t unsheathed a sword to stab me yet. He’s probably in the process of doing so since I have turned away.”

  “If I am mad, then I prefer to live in madness. The sun will set soon, and sailing is always best done under the rising sun. Perhaps it will be inevitable that they do sail under the stars, but the less time they have, the—”

  “Save it, Roland,” Kara spat, her shoulders rising up to her neck. “If they attack anyone, the blood of the fallen is on your hands.”

  She turned one last time to Tyus, but she was so furious and so enraged that she could say nothing. She walked away, turned back, thought of saying something more, and continued on her way.

  “Thank you, Roland,” Tyus said, bowing his head. “Truly, we are grateful. The seas are never generous when you cannot see what lies ahead of you, and I am honored. We will remain close to the boat so as not to intrude on your way of life.”

  “Do not take this as a peace offering,” Roland said. “I am merely doing the humane thing and allowing you to spend the night here. I expect that you and the rest of your men will leave at dawn.”

  “Yes, Roland.”

  Roland did not acknowledge Tyus’ response as he, too, departed. He encouraged the citizens of the town—many of them young children, elders, all dressed in robes unlike that of Caia—to forget the scene, but many watched Tyus and the men with fascination. Tyus had seen magi many times in his life and saw them as human as much as the next person—or, at least since his father had so savagely murdered most of the ones in Caia—but to these people, to see a Syrast in the flesh and blood… who had seen such a thing before? The idea of his father ever stepping foot here was comical at best.

  He turned to his men. They all looked calm, their hands by their weapons but not actually in a position to withdraw them.

  “Find shelter close to this ship. We depart as soon as the sun crests the mountains to the east in the morning. When we return to my father, I expect all of you to follow my story. We arrived, we did not find the magi, and we earned the allegiance of Dabira. I understand that I said many disparaging things about my father, but sometimes, giving ground is important. Or, I should say, giving the appearance of giving ground.”

  Not that I’ve ever had any negotiations or bartering to support that idea.

  “I still love my father and will still love him until the day I die. What I said does not change that. Does everyone understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” the soldiers said, not quite together but with enough cohesion it satisfied the young boy.

  Tyus thanked the soldiers and found a small, unoccupied house about three houses from the docks that he curled up in.

  The words of Kara did not escape him so easily. What would it take for him to become a man? When would people acknowledge him as more than just the puppet of his father, held together by the string of desire to be accepted?

  And would his soldiers so easily accept what he had said?

  They would not dare to kill him, not when they would have to face Rufus Syrast and confess to their crimes. But Tyus knew that there were fates worse than death.

  The thoughts became overwhelming and he needed an escape. An escape from the empire, an escape from his title, an escape from his father, even an escape from the men he’d come with.

  After a few hours of trying to rest, he headed to the docks, looking for a quiet place to contemplate everything that had happened. If he could not find the answers with his people, maybe he could do so in the stars.

  CHAPTER 15: ZELDA

  As soon as the lone ship bearing the imperial crest came into view, Zelda felt the worst approaching. She feared that Tetra’s words would prove true. The empire had come to hunt them.

  But until they began the assault, she wanted to give them a chance. Her powers would overcome any soldier, no matter how skilled, strong, or well-equipped. Better, she thought, to react like lightning than to act on something that was not a guarantee.

  So as the crowd began to form near the docks, Zelda found Yeva and asked her to stay back. They’d already experienced full-scale chaos in an urban environment, and Zelda considered herself extremely fortunate to have escaped—she wasn’t about to press her luck with a second situation. This time, the swords would not have such inaccuracy, the civilians would not be roadblocks but more targets for the soldiers to take aim at, the spears and arrows would indiscriminately fly through the air, and the fires would ravage all in sight.

  If it comes to that. Please don’t let it.

  Unfortunately, Tetra had no such qualms about igniting a second battle. Her furious words, her body posture, her tone all seemed designed to provoke someone into striking first. All this town needed to turn into a war of the magi was a single wayward spell or a single drop of blood.

  “Stay back,” Garo said, his voice a harsh whisper.

  He had his right hand on his sword, prepared to draw it at any moment. His hand did not look tight, which gave Zelda hope that he did not expect his wife to commit the crime. But when Zelda thought of how far apart Garo and Tetra had become, she shuddered. He had no more control over her than any mage.

  Making matters worse, Zelda soon realized, was that Tetra had the crystal containing the power of Indica. She could easily tap into it and ravage this boat of soldi
ers. It might win them the day. But could it cost them their lives when the emperor learned what had happened?

  We’re all so close to war. When will it end? When will one side back down? Ever?

  “Are you going to stop her?” Zelda asked.

  Garo did not answer in words. He answered by moving a couple of feet forward and by his knuckles whitening around the sword. Zelda looked at Yeva, who had taken a step back toward an open alleyway. Zelda, conflicted between protecting Yeva and standing by Garo, remained in place, unsure of what she would do if blood spilled. When, not if, the way things are going.

  She looked to the citizens of Dabira, curious if the actions and words of Tetra—or, as they saw her, Kara—had infected their minds with the lust for death. Unlike the last time an imperial ship came, when Zelda thought of Garo as Gaius and three men had asked for several magi to aide their cause, the magi watched with curiosity, their eyes wide, their feet moored to the ground, their hands by their sides, far removed from any weapons they may have had.

  But Zelda could not help but wonder if, in the depths of their hearts, if they wanted the soldiers of the empire to suffer as their magi brethren had in Caia. Just because they did not believe in violence did not mean that some of them did not believe in suffering for the enemy; it was but a fairy tale of the man or woman who not only turned the other cheek, but wished success for his or her enemy.

  Even Zelda, after believing for so long that her and her mother would someday find peace and quiet, had slowly turned toward believing suffering was necessary for happiness. Even Garo, who had withstood the temptations of violent retributions for literally centuries, seemed poised to join his wife in the pillaging of the empire.

  Or Tetra makes for such a powerful figure and display that no one wants to take her place. No one wants to fight without her permission. Even if they fear her.

  Or maybe because they fear her.