Minor Demons

by Randall J. Morris

  Leech panicked as he realized what his opponent was about to do. Before he could finish his sentence with the word “quit.” Leech removed the axe from his back and split his opponent’s skull. When he looked into the audience again, Nightmare looked genuinely surprised. Leech flipped him off. As he retrieved his weapons and hobbled out of the death pit, Shadow met him with a smile.

  “I was just having a debate with my uncle on whether or not you were worthwhile. I guess you are. I didn’t see the kill coming. I thought for sure he was going to pansy out and quit. What pissed you off so much?”

  “He told me that Nightmare had sent some of his posse to kill you. He said he was coming for you. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I decided that I didn’t want to give him the chance.”

  “Oh so you’re my bodyguard now, Leech?”

  “Damn right, Shady. Damn right.”

  Shadow offered to help him, but Leech limped the rest of the way out of the death pit on his own.

  CHAPTER 8

  Leech watched as Shadow began his next match in the death pit. His leg still throbbed, despite his attempts to bandage it after his match and a full night’s rest. A few demons-in-training offered to hang around him and watch the match with him but he sent them away. The pain was hard enough without having to put on a brave face for everyone around him.

  Leech looked down at the crude bandage he had used to bind the wound on his leg. Shadow had offered to get him medical attention following his injury but he turned it down. Now that he had a minotaur’s axe, he would return Shadow’s daggers too if he felt he could be competitive without them. Though it ate at Leech to accept help or borrowed gear, he knew he needed it to stay alive.

  When he returned his gaze to the match, he saw that Shadow had already disarmed his opponent and had him running. Right before he delivered the killing blow, a messenger demon stepped right in front of him. Leech stood to see what he had missed. Shadow had killed his opponent and was celebrating his victory.

  “You made me miss the kill!”

  “Leech, General Cain requests your presence. Now.”

  Leech was shocked. He wasn’t sure why a major demon would want to speak with him. Of course Cain had probably heard of his ties to his nephew, but still. Leech motioned for the messenger to lead the way. Cain was watching the demons-in-training in the death pit from a private balcony attached to his office. He looked pleased with Shadow’s recent victory. He got up from his seat on the balcony and moved to the large throne-like chair behind his desk.

  “General Cain, Leech is here to see you.”

  “That will be all.”

  The messenger demon bowed and exited the room.

  “Come in, Leech. Have a seat.”

  Leech sat in a chair in front of Cain’s desk and folded his arms in his lap. If he was going to be honest, both Shadow and Nightmare intimidated him but Cain was an entirely new class of scary. While Cain looked a lot like Shadow, he was much larger. Leech doubted he could even carry the armor Cain was wearing. His eyes, like Shadow’s, were a deep shade of red. His dark red cloak and armor were also oozing blood. It was a mixture of human and demon blood. Leech had heard rumors that Cain had murdered to the point where he was always caked in blood and it was unsettling to see that the rumors were true. Leech’s eyes moved to the scythe neatly resting against the wall and wondered if this meeting was going to end in his execution.

  “Did you see my nephew’s most recent victory in the death pit?”

  “I didn’t see the kill because your errand boy got in the way.”

  Leech’s hands immediately shot up to cover his mouth. He had been so distracted by the scythe that he had momentarily forgotten who he was talking to. Cain’s laugh rattled his entire office.

  “I can see what Shadow sees in you. You’re terrified right now and you are still willing to speak your mind.”

  “General Cain... I am so sorry... I didn’t mean to blurt out...”

  “It’s alright. You family is infamous for speaking their mind. Your father is actually being considered for a promotion to middle demon of torture. None of the middle demons want him promoted but I’m still thinking about it.”

  “I didn’t realize that torture reported to you, sir.”

  “Torture almost always ends in a kill. The Dragon agreed that it should be under my jurisdiction, hence the new position. Malcontent might have been a middle demon a long time ago if he didn’t run his mouth off at his superiors.”

  Leech hung his head. His father had been turned down every time he had applied for a higher position.

  “General Cain, let me personally apologize for my family’s... well... none of us have a filter between brain and mouth. It’s especially bad when we get angry or distracted.”

  “Your family has always been very direct with me. Malcontent supported me when I fought to keep my brother out of the lowest circle of hell. Let me return the favor. I’ll tell you exactly what I’m thinking and why I called you here. I think your entire family has been underrated. You’re ranked fourth in a class of hundreds. I know Shadow had something to do with that, but I wasn’t betting on you to win your first death pit match. You did it anyways. I saw the look you gave that piece of shit before you split his head in half. What did he say to you?”

  “He told me he was going to kill Shadow and he said others had been sent to kill Shadow as well. I assume he was lying, but I didn’t like what he said. I decided to end him before he pussied out and quit.”

  “Interesting. That’s some very intense loyalty. Why Shadow?”

  “I don’t like bullies. As talented as Shadow is, he isn’t a bully. He’s a winner. I want to win, General. I’m tired of everyone thinking my family is full of losers.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by a messenger demon who entered the room, bowed in front of Cain, and held up a scroll.

  “The daily birth and death totals, my Lord.”

  “Summarize.”

  “Murders, terrorism, and slaughters were all up. Birth rates have fallen in several key slum areas but the world’s population continues to grow.”

  “Send a message to Vixen. Tell her to get off her ass. We need more teen pregnancies, rapes, and whatever else she can muster. I’m tired of having to turn normal people in to killers because she can’t do her job.”

  The messenger wrote down what Cain had said and bowed.

  “The message will be delivered, General Cain.”

  “Good. Now leave us.”

  Cain turned back to Leech.

  “I’m going to give you a chance to prove that your family is worthwhile. Consider me your sponsor for the rest of your fights in the death pit. When my nephew becomes a minor demon after the trials, you are going to protect him. This is my way of saying thanks in advance.”

  Leech looked uncomfortable.

  “What’s wrong? You don’t want my help? You really don’t have a choice in this.”

  “I just have a hard time with being given things that I haven’t earned.”

  “Oh trust me, you will earn this. You’ll actually need what I’m about to give you.”

  Cain searched through a pile of scrolls on his desk and showed Leech what he meant.

  “Assuming you make it to the semi-finals, look who you’ll be fighting.”

  Leech gasped but then smiled.

  “Do you think I can take him, General Cain?”

  “I think you had better do some damage. If you find yourself about to lose, you shouldn’t quit. Keep fighting. Shadow will need you to have his back when he’s promoted but doing some serious damage is more important right now. I’ll give you the tools you need to have a shot.”

  “I accept your offer to be my sponsor. Thank you for this opportunity, General Cain.”

  Cain snapped his fingers and said, “Armory and weapons.” Several demons entered the room. Cain pointed at Leech. They immediately began taking measurements. One of them approached Cain, ready to take notes.

>   “Your specific request, General Cain?”

  “Make it like Shadow’s armor but less flashy. Sharpen the daggers and the axe and then see what the blacksmith can do with them.”

  “Would you like a shield to be made, General?”

  Cain looked over at Leech who was still being measured. He was still smiling at the news of his opponent in the semi-finals.

  “No, Leech is more of an offensive demon. No shield.”

  As Leech made his way back to the death pit, he had a whole new outlook on his situation. He may have been given a shitty lot at birth, but Cain had given him a chance to live like the other side. His new armor was a shiny shade of black and red and it felt solid. His cape no longer had holes or patches. He had a belt with the two daggers Shadow had given him, freshly sharpened. The blacksmith had also modified his daggers and axe to have shorter grips and weigh less, which made all three weapons much more useful to a small, quick demon like Leech.

  Shadow met Leech as he made his way back to the stands to watch the current death match. He was covered in blood.

  “What happened? Are you ok?”

  “The blood isn’t mine. I killed my last three opponents and I didn’t have my little helper monkey around to polish my armor. I’m guessing your new armor and your modified weapons came from...”

  “General Cain. He made my position as your bodyguard official, which means you’ll need to find a new helper monkey to polish your armor.”

  Shadow smiled.

  “Fair enough. Do you want the good news first or the bad news?”

  “Let’s go with the bad first.”

  “Venom held your ranking and froze your place in the death match at my uncle’s request. That means the next three matches are all you, you have to play catch up. Venom is going to make you fight three demons-in-training in a row. It’s probably a ploy to get you killed off.”

  “The good news?”

  “Wait, you don’t seem very alarmed. You’re alright with three one on one death matches in a row?”

  “You uncle told me what the prize is if I make it to the semi-finals.”

  “You gonna clue me in?”

  “You’ll see when I make it there. What’s the good news?”

  “No one was counting on your new armor and modified weapons. Your first two opponents are cake. You only have to worry about the last one... mainly because he’s decently skilled and you’ll be exhausted. That’ll be it for the day. Most of the demons-in-training didn’t have decent enough times in the labyrinth to get them through to the death pits. The semi-finals are tomorrow.”

  “So you know my last opponent?”

  “Yes. Andras. I haven’t trained much with him but I’ve heard that he’s a wolf conjurer. You know how to kill conjurers, right?”

  “Nope. How?”

  “Kill them before they conjure shit.”

  Leech laughed.

  “Sounds good. I’ll kill him before he conjures shit.”

  Venom looked over at the two of them and motioned for Leech to enter the death pit.

  Leech’s first fight was over quickly. He pulled his daggers from his belt and threw them at his opponent. His opponent blocked both with his shield and then prepared to launch an attack of his own. Leech had used the time to cover the distance between them and was able to sink his axe into his opponent’s stomach before he could launch a counterattack. Leech removed his axe and hit him with the butt of the weapon to knock him over. Leech then attached his axe to his back, retrieved his daggers, and placed the daggers like a pair of scissors over his opponent’s neck. He moved his daggers in opposite directions and cut off his opponent’s head.

  Leech was about to leave the death pit when he was hit hard from behind and fell over. He saw a rock on the ground next to his head. Leech rolled to his right and kicked hard at his new opponent’s knee. Apparently he wasn’t even going to get a short break in between matches.

  Leech ran for cover behind one of the rocks jutting out of the floor of the death pit. His opponent followed and swung his sword at Leech’s head. Leech ducked and guided the blade into the rock, where it stuck. Leech would have loved to have ended the fight right there but he needed to catch his breath and he didn’t want to start his third match winded. He hit his opponent with two quick punches to the face, directly in the eyes, and then he ran to hide behind another rock. He was able to recover while his opponent regained his sight and struggled to pull his sword out of the rock.

  His opponent stealthily walked in and out of the spiked rocks. When he passed by the rock that Leech was hiding behind, Leech jumped out behind him, pulled back his head, and stabbed him several times in the neck. A black blood-like liquid squirted out of his neck like a water fountain. Leech laid down on the floor of the death pit, hidden by the layer of fog, and waited for his third opponent to appear.

  CHAPTER 9

  Andras, Leech’s third and final opponent of the day, looked like the conjurer that Shadow had described. He carried nothing but a simple staff and, unlike the other demons-in-training, he didn’t have a set of armor or weapons. His face was mostly masked in a shawl and his robes seemed to be glowing a shade of red that Leech was unused to seeing, even in Hell. Several wolf pelts hung from his belt and two were slung over his shoulders. He began chanting the second that he entered the death pit and Leech decided to take Shadow’s advice and end it quickly.

  Leech sprinted at Andras and tried to keep inside the cover of fog. While Leech was smaller than most demons, he wasn’t small enough to entirely hide himself in the mist. Andras saw him approaching and turned to face him. As Andras adjusted his stance, Leech jumped into the air and came down with what he hoped would be a fatal strike to Andras’ face. His battleaxe was instead caught in the mouth of a creature that emerged from Andras’ chest. Leech hadn’t been quick enough and Andras was able to summon the wolves that Shadow had warned him about. As Andras backed up, the wolf leaped from his chest and emerged in full form, with Leech’s axe still clenched in its jaw.

  Leech lifted his axe into the air with the wolf still attached and brought it down as hard as he could on the ground. The wolf vanished in a flash of black smoke. Another black wolf jumped through the smoke and knocked Leech down on the ground. Leech was barely able to get the shaft of his axe up to block the wolf’s bite that was aimed at his neck. The wolf continued to bite but with Leech’s axe stuck at the back of its jaw, it was still a few inches away from sinking its teeth in.

  Leech was finally able to shake the wolf off him, but it carried his axe away. Another wolf lunged at him, but Leech grabbed both daggers from his belt and stabbed upwards. His short blades entered at the back of its jaw and came out through its eyes before it vanished in black smoke. The onslaught didn’t stop. Another two wolves jumped at him from both sides. Leech took a step back and slammed their heads together and both vanished.

  For a moment, the continuous attacks stopped. It wasn’t quiet, Leech could still hear wolves circling and growling. He knew he needed to find Andras to end this. Killing puppets doesn’t earn you the head of the puppeteer. Leech ran to the edge of the death pit and sunk both of his daggers into the rock. He climbed slowly until he figured that he had enough height to see everything and then he jumped, spun around, and grabbed the daggers again so he could see everything in the death pit.

  It took Leech about a minute to spot Andras. He was riding one of the wolves he had conjured and he was wielding Leech’s axe. Dozens of wolves paced in between Leech and where Andras was. Leech saw only one possible way to get from where he was to where he needed to be. He set his feet against the rock wall and pushed off with as much force as he could produce. As he sailed through the air, he realized that he was going to come up short of his intended target. He looked for a place to land and roll but wolves were swarming the floor. Right before he hit the ground, he impaled the two wolves that were prepared to lunge at him and then rolled as he hit the ground. His daggers flew from his hands as he rolled.
Andras was there when he finally came to a stop. He swung the axe with a smile, sure that he had won the fight. Leech caught the incoming swing by grabbing the axe and then using the force of the swing to throw Andras off of the wolf he was riding. As Leech approached the now fleeing Andras, slaying wolves on the way with his newly returned axe, Andras crawled to get away. He used his hands to call several wolves to him for protection but Leech continued to cut them down. As Leech brought up his axe to finish off Andras, Andras called out, “I quit” and vanished with his wolves from the death pit.

  Leech dropped his axe and fell on his knees. He could hear the crowd applauding and making noise, but he was too exhausted to care. After a few seconds on his knees, he fell over and blacked out.

  When Leech woke up, he found that he was sitting with his back propped up against a large rock. His weapons were reattached to his belt and back and Shadow was pacing in front of him. He looked angry. Leech grinned up at him.

  “Not bad, right? I took down three in a row with crazy amounts of style.”

  “You fell off of a wall and almost got killed several times. What kind of style do you think that is? Is dumbassery a style now?”

  “Hey, calm down. I made it.”

  “I don’t know if you’ll be so lucky tomorrow. When were you planning on telling me?”

  “Telling you what?”

  “They announced the semi-final matches. I’m going up against Lilith. I’m guessing you know who you’ll be facing. That’s what you refused to tell me earlier.”

  “It’s Nightmare. You’re uncle told me when he gave me this sweet armor.”

  “I’m sorry, Leech, but you’re delusional if you think you can beat Nightmare. You’re leg looks like shit after you got stabbed and then jumped off of the side of the death pit. You passed out again for a good reason. What’s that now... the third time you’ve fainted since I’ve met you?”