Demon Lord VII - Dark Domain

by Southwell, T C

  “I have a proposition for you two.” Bane stopped a passing waiter and ordered ale for himself and a fruit drink for Mirra.

  As the waiter left, Nomard leant forward. “We’re listening.”

  “Sport. Lots of it, in return for your oath of fealty to me.”

  “Fealty, huh?” Nomard sniggered. “What makes you think you can trust us?”

  “I do not. But if you break it, you will forego a lot of fun.”

  Dramon said, “Tell us about the fun.”

  “I go to rescue a light goddess from a powerful dark god. You could play a part in it. You would have a purpose, and probably get to destroy a lot of demons and black mages.”

  “We could do that here,” Nomard pointed out.

  “To say nothing of getting our heads kicked in by a dark god,” Dramon remarked.

  “I have no intention of confronting him,” Bane said. “It would be a smash and grab mission. Besides, you two are all but indestructible, are you not?”

  “It still hurts,” Nomard grumbled.

  “I am not asking you to fight a dark god.” Bane sat back as the drinks arrived, and picked up his tankard. “Right now, you two are just about as bored as you can get, not so?”

  The demon gods swapped another glance. “There’s not much that interests us,” Dramon said.

  “Because you have seen and done it all, right? But have you ever been on a quest, with a purpose?”

  “Why would we wish to save a light goddess?”

  “You do not have to. That is my quest. Your purpose will be to help me succeed.”

  Dramon grunted. “We’re not fond of your kind. But you’re no ordinary dark god, are you?”

  “No. I am tar’merin.”

  “Ah.” Nomard nodded. “That explains a lot.”

  “So, what do you say?”

  “We’ll have to think about it.”

  Dramon quaffed his ale. “I think you’re just trying to stop us inciting the demons against the people in this world.”

  “That is part of the reason,” Bane admitted, “but I would welcome your aid on this quest.”

  “Had your butt kicked by a few dark gods, have you?”

  “I defeated them all.”

  “Truly?” Dramon’s truculent visage furrowed with puzzlement. “But you’re just a mortal god.”

  Bane shrugged and sipped his ale. “A powerful one.”

  “Hmmm.”

  Nomard leered at Mirra. “Who’s the pretty lady?”

  “My wife.”

  Nomard rose to his feet with a screech of chair legs on smooth floor and held out his hand. Mirra hesitated, glancing at Bane, who nodded. She placed her hand in Nomard’s, and he bowed over it with a mocking grin. “An honour, brave lady.”

  Mirra forced a somewhat brittle smile and retrieved her hand as soon as he released it.

  He flopped back onto his chair, making it creak, and turned to his brother. “I don’t know about you, old bean, but a quest sounds like just the ticket.”

  “It sounds like a good way to get us out of the realm gate to me,” Dramon replied.

  “I understand your suspicion,” Bane said, “but you will accompany us aboard a ship, so we cannot abandon you in the God Realm.”

  “What do your light god friends have to say about this little arrangement you want to make with us?” Nomard enquired.

  “They do not know about it yet.”

  “Ha! They’ll never agree.”

  “They will. You two are no threat to them.”

  “We do things they don’t like, though,” Dramon said. “They definitely don’t approve of us. Although being in your company must have inured them to some horrors, I imagine.”

  “Only Kayos will accompany us on the quest.”

  “You do realise that thwarting your little quest will be just as much fun for us as helping you, don’t you?” Nomard asked.

  Bane nodded. “I do, but let us be clear. Make one move against me or any of my companions, and I will destroy your demon hounds.”

  “Nasty,” Dramon commented.

  “I know they are the only things you value, and I must be certain you will not harm any of my companions.”

  “Or you,” Nomard said.

  “You would regret attacking me.”

  “But you have a pretty wife, just as mortal as you.”

  “You see,” Bane remarked, “this is where negotiations are going to break down.”

  “You started with the threats.”

  “You two are less trustworthy than a fegid dragon.”

  Nomard inclined his head. “So are you.”

  “This is why minions of the darkness never band together.”

  Dramon raised his brows. “You’ve only just figured that out? How young are you?”

  “I knew it before.”

  A young man in a sparkling silver jacket and skin-tight black leather trousers lurched up to their table and grinned at Mirra, raking her with avaricious eyes. “Hey, gorgeous, wanna dance?”

  She shook her head. “No, thank you.”

  “Aw, c’mon, just one, I….”

  Bane glanced at the youth, whose face went blank. He wandered away, looking a little dazed.

  Nomard watched him with a smile. “Neat trick. Wish we could do that.”

  “I can show you more neat tricks if you come on this quest,” Bane said.

  Dramon leant on the table and banged his tankard down. “How about we cut out the threats, then?”

  “All right. All threats are off the table.”

  The demon gods swapped another glance, and Nomard nodded. “We’ll consider it.”

  “I still think you just don’t want us to start a demon war,” Dramon remarked.

  “I do not care if you do,” Bane said. “I am leaving this domain soon, and you two are no danger to the light goddess. Doubtless she will be grieved to see her people slaughtered, but they have machines that can defeat demons. In time, they may even learn to destroy them. Perhaps I will teach them how before I leave. The war you want to start will be long and devastating, and you might lose. Once I have created the wards that will seal off the Underworld, no more demons will be able to rise.”

  Nomard grunted. “You’re going to ward the domain?”

  “Yes. I have cast four dark gods into the Land of the Dead, and intend to keep them below.”

  “We could have a lot of fun stopping you.”

  “You will fail, and you will have more fun on the quest.”

  “What makes you so confident?” Dramon demanded. “You’re just a mortal god. I could crush you with one blow.”

  “And I will wager I could destroy you if I wished, and I can definitely destroy your hounds. Also, I have three light gods on my side.”

  Nomard growled, “Here we go with the threats again.”

  “You started it this time.”

  “True.” Nomard chuckled. “We minions of the darkness tend to be evil.”

  Bane leant forward. “How many dark gods would offer a pair of jokers like you employment?”

  “Most don’t need our help.”

  “I do not need it. I only wish to save myself some effort and get you to leave this domain.”

  The brothers glanced at each other again, and Dramon asked, “What about this oath you want?”

  “What about it?”

  “If we have to swear one to you, you must also swear one to us.”

  “Fair enough,” Bane said.

  “So if we need your help, you have to give it.”

  “Why would you need my help?”

  Nomard shrugged. “Who knows? Perhaps this dark god you want to steal from will try to destroy us, or our hounds.”

  Bane sat back. “And I will wager you will start a fight with him.” He shook his head. “I am wasting my time.” He turned to Mirra, “Come, let us go. These two knuckleheads are too stupid to be of any use to me.”

  As he started to rise, Dramon said, “Wait. We won’t start anythin
g with your foe, and if we do, you have the right to refuse your aid. Only if he attacks us will we expect your help.”

  Bane sat down again. “Very well.”

  “How will Bane know whether you started the trouble or not?” Mirra asked.

  “They will remain at my side at all times when we are in Telvaron’s domain,” Bane said.

  Nomard nodded. “Fair enough.”

  “Telvaron, huh?” Dramon asked. “You’re biting off more than you can chew, little man.”

  “You know him?”

  “We know of him. He rules a dark domain with the imprisoned light goddess you wish to save. It’s said that when he’s not tormenting her, he wanders the God Realm in search of light gods to kill.”

  “That will be a good time to steal his prized goddess, then.”

  “Indeed.”

  “So, do you agree to the alliance?” Bane asked.

  “We’ll think about it.”

  Bane snorted. “Just how slow are your thought processes? Perhaps a kick in the head will help?”

  Dramon raised his brows. “Insults, now?” He banged his empty tankard down and beckoned to a waiter. “I begin to like you, little man.”

  “At the moment, we are all the same size.”

  “But we can get bigger. A lot bigger.”

  “So can all demons, and I can channel enough dark power into you to fry your few brain cells, or whatever it is you use to think with. It is certainly not very efficient.”

  Nomard threw back his head and guffawed. Dramon grinned and leant on the table, extending his hand. “Shake my hand, little god, and we’ll consider the deal done.”

  Nomard studied Bane with glittering jet eyes. “I’ll wager he doesn’t have the courage.”

  “It is you who should be wary of shaking my hand,” Bane said.

  “And why is that?” Dramon enquired.

  Bane took hold of Dramon’s hand. “How much do you know about mortal gods?”

  The demon gods swapped yet another glance, and Nomard said, “There aren’t many of your kind around, except the occasional demigod, and they’re pretty weak.”

  “So you have never encountered a greater mortal god, then?”

  “Nope.” Dramon glanced at his hand, still gripped in Bane’s. “Are you going to let go any time soon?”

  “Certainly, but I think a demonstration is in order, just in case you two morons decide to renege on your oath.” Bane lowered his gaze to Dramon’s hand, and it turned grey.

  The demon god retrieved it when Bane released it and held it up to study it. Nomard reached over to tap it.

  “Well, bugger me,” Dramon muttered.

  “Neat!” Nomard said.

  Dramon glared at him. “Neat?”

  “Yeah, now you can use it as a club. Handy.”

  “It’s stone, you idiot. Now I can’t move the damned thing.”

  “Here, I’ll chop it off for you.” Nomard drew a double-bladed battle axe from inside his shiny suit.

  Dramon held his hand out of reach. “Bugger off.”

  Bane quaffed his ale. “When you two have quite finished….”

  Nomard tucked the axe away, and Dramon turned to Bane. “Okay, we get it. You have the power to change shit.” He held out his hand. “Change it back.”

  “Your oath?”

  Dramon sighed and rolled his eyes. “I swear fealty to you, Demon Lord, for the duration of your quest to free the light goddess Ashynaria. I shall offer you and yours no harm, and aid you.”

  Bane frowned. “How do you know her name?”

  The demon god shrugged. “We’ve been to that domain, and seen her.”

  “What about your oath?” Nomard demanded.

  The Demon Lord inclined his head. “I swear to aid you, Nomard and Dramon, should you require it and ask it of me, and will offer you and yours no harm.”

  Nomard nodded and swore the same oath as Dramon, while his twin brother held out his hand again. Bane touched it, restoring it to its former substance, and Dramon flexed it, smiling.

  Mirra leant closer to Bane and asked, “How did you restore it to life?”

  “They are not alive. They are essentially droges, but made up of all the elements, too.”

  “Oh, right. Can we go now?”

  “Of course.”

  The fop in the silver jacket and leather trousers reeled out of the crowd again and leant on the table, looming over Mirra. “Hey, gorgeous, wanna dance?”

  Bane shot the dandy a glare, and he straightened, wide-eyed, and marched off to collide with another table, sprawling over it into the lap of a brawny patron who jumped up with a shout of rage and gripped the offender’s neck, shaking him.

  Nomard chuckled and Dramon grinned.

  Bane turned to them. “Start a demon war in this domain, and our deal is off.”

  The twins looked surprised, and Bane took Mirra’s hand and Moved to their cabin, helping her to the bed when she paled and clasped her stomach.

  He sat beside her, holding her hands. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. It was just… That place was horrible; the music, the people, those awful demon gods and that wretched man.”

  “But most of all, the sight of me consorting with evil.”

  She snatched her hands away. “Do not read my mind.”

  “I did not. I know how much you hate it when I must deal with minions of the darkness.”

  Mirra sighed and took his hands again. “I should not have gone. I did not think it would so vile. It did not look so bad in the Eye, but the smell and noise….” She shuddered.

  “Evil always seems more innocuous and alluring from afar.”

  “Will you cast out the dark power now?”

  “I will do it soon. If you are all right now, I must go and tell Kayos of my new alliance, and that the domain is safe from a demon war. It probably will not prevent its fall, but will certainly slow it down.”

  “I am well. Sherinias will be delighted.”

  Bane rose to his feet and bent to kiss the top of her head. “I shall return soon.”

  Kayos frowned at Bane across the gazebo, shaking his head. “That is not a wise plan. It is rife with pitfalls.”

  The Demon Lord reclined on his couch and summoned a cup of ambrosia. Evidently Sherinias was back in the White City, and Drevarin was in the mess hall as usual, his presence allowing the refugees to communicate. “It is a better prospect than leaving them here to start a war, and I think Drevarin is right about that. Why else would they choose to let themselves be trapped here instead of going back into the God Realm? They have already seen the potential to cause havoc with these unbelievers. Even though they cannot harm Sherinias, she will not enjoy watching them use her domain as a playground and ruin it.”

  “You cannot trust them to keep their oath.”

  “Of course not, and neither can they trust me to keep mine.”

  Kayos stared into the gardens, his expression distant. “So, you play the part of the true dark god.”

  “No, I have told them I am tar’merin.”

  “Then that is the only reason they took your deal. They think you will keep your side of the bargain. Tar’merin are supposed to be a little more trustworthy.”

  Bane shrugged. “Not me, when I am dealing with the darkness.”

  “I think it is too risky. They will cause endless trouble aboard the ship. No one will be safe from their petty pranks and nasty jokes. They have not sworn to obey you, so you have no control over them. You cannot even threaten their hounds now, since you swore to do them no harm, and if you break your oath while they are aboard the ship, they will retaliate. They do not control those Hellhounds. They will kill people.”

  “You think I intend to let them stay aboard the ship?” Bane asked. “As soon as we leave the domain, I shall evict them.”

  “How?”

  “Easy. I will banish and summon the hounds, and order them to follow the ship.”

  “That will work, I suppose,” Kay
os admitted. “But there have been far too many delays, and that is dangerous. They give Telvaron the opportunity to foresee your arrival, which will make this quest hopeless. It is unlikely that he will look at the future, since it is so changeable and hard to discern, and dark gods have little skill at foretelling, but the closer we get to our goal the more likely it is that, should he scry the future, he will see you coming and take measures, just in case. Doubtless he also has bevies of seers, who might foresee you and warn him to curry favour. Telvaron is ancient, one of the first dark gods to come into existence. The ones you have fought thus far are as minnows compared to a shark when compared to him.”

  Kayos paused, his expression sad. “If you cannot free Ashynaria without risking your life, we will be forced to abandon her. You are far too valuable to risk to save a light goddess, no matter who she is. Your potential cannot be squandered on a hopeless quest. I hope it does not come to that, but it is pointless to sacrifice a beloved son to save a beloved granddaughter. Telvaron will destroy you, and if you fall Ashynaria will probably be lost too. I must ensure your safety.” His voice softened. “Every so often, a warrior of the light appears. You are the fifth tar’merin, Bane. The light needs you.”

  Bane frowned at him. “You would abandon her after all we have been through to reach her domain?”

  “If it is hopeless, yes. That is why we must use extreme caution when we reach her domain, and in that regard, Nomard and Dramon will be liabilities. They are apt to give us away just for the fun of it.”

  “I shall not give them the chance. I intend to use them as decoys, if Telvaron is in the domain. I shall send a demon to warn him that his domain has been invaded by demon gods, and rescue Ashynaria while he is hunting for them.”

  Kayos chuckled. “That will make you most unpopular with Dramon and Nomard if they find out.”

  “I care not.”

  Kayos sobered. “You should. They will betray you to Telvaron. Also, they may choose not to lead him astray if you trick them, and they do not have to flee, being demon gods.”

  Bane sipped his ambrosia. “Then I shall require it of them, as their oath to help me dictates.”

  “It is still risky.”

  “True, but they are less likely to betray me if I have not tricked them.”