Qualiksh’s eyes narrowed. ‘Sounds like Brebbam. He’ll be at the schoolhouse.’
Ceri’s eyebrows rose. ‘Pardon me, but a village this size has a school?’
Qualiksh grinned, a little proudly. ‘We do. Nedarish, about three miles south, is bigger because of the silver mine, but we were here first. Between the two villages and the surrounding farms there’s enough children to keep a school going.’
‘Impressive. Progressive. And thank you. We will be back later. I hope your food is as good as your rooms and your hospitality.’
School was obviously not in and word had got around that there was a stranger in the village, one with a slave no less. There were various children “playing” in the plaza outside the inn and they all stopped to stare at Ceri and Lily as soon as they emerged. Well, there was no sense in wasting the resource.
Walking up to a young female, naked aside from a pair of sandals, who was watching her wide-eyed, Ceri asked, ‘You, child, where is the school?’
The girl’s jaw dropped. She was being spoken to. By the stranger! Her friend, who apparently warranted a short, simple dress, but was wearing a black eye which was half-closed from swelling, helped her out. ‘It’s the stone building on the south side of the village, Lady.’ She paused, and then apparently decided she might have spoken out of turn by answering a question not directed at her. ‘Tooky’s shy, she doesn’t talk much.’
Ceri smiled. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Ooda.’
Ceri raised her hand, light sparkling around her fingers, and stroked the side of Ooda’s face. The girl looked as though she were trying very hard not to flinch. ‘This is for being so helpful, Ooda.’
The girl’s hand flew up to her face and she gasped as the bruise faded in an instant. ‘Thank you, Lady!’ she called at Ceri’s retreating back.
‘That was nice of you,’ Lily said as they walked down the main, southward street.
‘Nice, and good PR,’ Ceri replied. ‘I’d rather the villagers felt safe with us here, we may be around for a while.’
‘Rather be loved than feared?’
‘Yes, but it’s more practical. If I had an army, fear might be a viable option, but on our own… All it takes is someone sneaky enough with a knife.’
‘Mistress is very clever. A succubus couldn’t have a better mistress.’
Ceri glanced around to check that Lily was wearing a grin; she was. ‘Mistress will give her pet a good spanking if she keeps teasing like that.’
‘Promise?’ Lily replied coyly.
Ceri rolled her eyes. ‘You know, you didn’t used to call yourself a succubus. I noticed you started to do it back home, but you seem to mean it more now.’
‘I felt more like a succubus back then, and now… Now I’m more succubus than not.’
‘You still look like you. You still think like you.’
‘Not entirely. I feel different. And… Ceri, I can shape-shift.’ Ceri stopped walking and turned around to stare at Lily. ‘Not like Dad can. I can’t change sex or do clothes. It’s pretty much limited to human-shaped women, but…’ She closed her eyes and concentrated, there was a sort of shimmer through her body, and suddenly Ceri was looking at a girl with red skin and eyes, horns, and a long, pointed tail.
‘Why didn’t you mention this?’ Ceri asked, the shock evident in her voice.
There was another shimmer and Lily returned to normal, looking down at her feet. ‘I’m a demon, Ceri. I didn’t want you looking at me differently, but… but you have to know.’
Ceri looked at her for a second. ‘Pillock,’ she said eventually. ‘I crossed worlds to come find you. I don’t care what you are. If you’re a demon, then you’re my demon, and I’m not going to behave any differently toward you. And this isn’t the time or place to discuss it.’ She turned around and started down the street again, giving Lily’s chain a little tug to emphasise the point. ‘Besides,’ she added, ‘tails can be fun.’
‘Hiffy teach you that?’
‘Yes, she did. And if you can get as talented with a tail as she is, you’ll have a really happy mistress.’
Lily giggled. ‘Practice makes perfect, Mistress.’
‘Yes, well right now this looks like the school. Best behaviour, shekushka.’ Ceri felt the chain shake in her hand as Lily gave a little shiver, but there was work to be done. Pushing open the heavy, wooden door of the building, she walked in.
The room she entered was clearly a schoolroom. Ranks of small desks, each with a chair, marched up the room facing a larger desk and a slate blackboard. Each desk had a slate on it, with a piece of chalk laid carefully on top. It was, actually, quite impressive for a society which had little more than Dark Age technology.
Sitting at the desk was a grey-skinned man with no hair, but three ridges running over the top of his head. Grey, featureless eyes looked across the room at the two women who had invaded his classroom. He was neatly dressed, but his clothes looked worn. He looked to Ceri like a det version of Ed Perry.
‘Can I help in some way, ladies?’ he asked, his tone a little hesitant.
‘Are you Brebbam?’ Ceri asked, starting down the classroom’s central aisle.
‘Yes.’ He squinted slightly. ‘My apologies, Lady. My eyes are not what they once were. I did not realise your companion was a slave.’
‘No apology required. Lilith is more of a pet.’
The teacher smiled, showing yellowing teeth. ‘How can a humble teacher help you, Lady?’
‘I’m told that you have quite an understanding of magic. I was hoping to consult you on some theoretical problems.’
If it was possible, Brebbam’s skin seemed to go greyer and there was a hint of fear in his eyes. ‘I’m afraid you’re mistaken. I…’
‘You’re not that good a liar, sir,’ Ceri said, her lips curled into a half smile. ‘I’m not here to persecute you. I need your help. I’m not exactly what I seem.’
His eyes narrowed, first at Lily, then at Ceri. ‘She’s presumably a Lorril. You… I thought I knew every type of demon, but you… I’m not sure what you are.’
‘Human,’ Ceri said flatly.
‘Human?’ He looked disbelieving. ‘A human, from Earth? That’s not possible. I mean, I suppose it’s possible, but why would a human come here?’
Ceri nodded her head at Lily. ‘I came to get her back, but there’s a problem. I can work it out, but I need someone who knows some of the basic constants and how they are applied. I can’t exactly go to a higher demon.’
‘If I’m discovered helping you…’
‘No one’s going to hear it from me. If you’re worried about any of the villagers…’
‘No, even Qualiksh wouldn’t say anything, but…’
‘I know a lot about thaumatology, Brebbam. I’m sure I could help you in your studies as well. An information exchange.’
Brebbam frowned, though his lips were curled. ‘You are a very difficult woman to say no to.’
‘Yes, she is,’ Lily commented.
‘And if you still feel like saying no,’ Ceri added, ‘I’ll have Lil pout at you. No one’s ever resisted her pout.’
‘I believe I’d rather not try,’ the teacher said. ‘Why don’t you explain your problem to me and I’ll see if I can actually be of any assistance.’
Day 19
School was breaking up when Ceri and Lily returned the following day. They waited patiently outside as children filed out of the building, each of them surprised to see the couple standing outside, but all of them smiling, if timidly, when they saw them. Word of Ceri’s kindness to Ooda had got around faster than Ceri could have imagined. Qualiksh had heard by the time they had got back to the inn, and service had been with a smile from him and his staff.
They had left Brebbam to check some things. He was not exactly sure what the problem was with Lily, but Ceri had explained what she needed to know and he had gone off to hit his stash of books. They were, he said, hidden away where any demon looking for the
m would never find them.
When the trickle of children finally stopped, Ceri led Lily in through the door. Brebbam was not alone. Tooky and Ooda were still in the room, seated at desks near the front. It almost looked as though they were in detention, but since they were sat beside each other and paying rapt attention to Brebbam and his other visitor, Ceri suspected something else was going on. The second man was tall and thin, and he had the look of an accountant about him, though Ceri doubted there was much call for those in Nedarim. He looked slightly familiar, something about the long nose and the bone ridges in place of eyebrows… And then it hit her; Ooda had the same basic look to her face.
Brebbam noticed them standing at the back of the room. ‘Ah, Lady Ayasha.’ Ceri had told him her real name, but said that she was calling herself “Ayasha.” Brebbam had found the alias rather appropriate. ‘Please, come and meet Merada. He’s out village leader, Ooda’s father.’
Merada gave Ceri a graceful bow as she approached. ‘Lady, it is an honour to meet a demon of your obvious skill and power. And generosity. I must thank you for healing Ooda, though I fear it won’t last. She gets into too many fights.’
Ceri heard, ‘Gloidy had it coming,’ from her right as she passed the girls and gave Ooda a grin.
‘It was a fair exchange,’ Ceri said. ‘She helped me, I healed her eye. The spell cost me nothing and gained me much.’
‘It was more than most would have done,’ Merada replied. By most, he almost certainly meant most higher demons. Ceri gave him a shrug and a smile, and he smiled back.
‘I’m afraid I’ll have to delay our business,’ Brebbam said. ‘One of the children did not turn up today or yesterday. It’s not like her, and Merada and I are going out to the farm she lives on to check that everything is well.’
‘Occasionally bandits will attack the outlying farms,’ Merada added. Ceri was watching his face and saw the flickers of conflicting emotion passing across it. He was hoping for bandits and suspecting something else.
‘Do you mind if I come along?’ she asked. ‘If people are hurt I may be able to help them. And if you run into these bandits I think you’ll need some more assertive help.’ Merada opened his mouth, probably to say it was not necessary, and Ceri got in first. ‘Besides, I could do with stretching my legs.’
‘The Lady will not take no for an answer, Merada,’ Brebbam said, making a sort of coughing noise which Ceri believed to be some sort of chuckle.
‘In that case,’ the leader said, ‘it would be my pleasure if you would accompany us, Lady.’
~~~
The countryside around Nedarim was pretty typical of the countryside Ceri had seen so far in the demons’ world. Of course, she had not exactly been doing much travelling to see something different. It seemed like a fairly large amount of cultivation went on in the lands surrounding Shilfaris. There were large areas where you could see nothing but fields. The crops varied, and Ceri had no idea what most of them actually were anyway, but the landscape was made up of rectangles of cultivated ground with hedgerows set between them.
Occasionally there would be a line of trees or even a coppice. The lines usually marked boundaries, often with a track running beside them, or between two rows if you were lucky. Well, Ceri thought of it as lucky. Walking in direct sunlight was not one of her favourite activities and they were doing just that along the farm track they were following. Her only consolation was that Lily was soaking up the sun quite happily behind her so contented succubus was seeping over their empathic link.
Merada had persuaded two other men to come along for the walk. Rokta worked for Merada as a household servant; a big, stoic sort of det with reddish skin and firm muscles. Importantly, as far as Ceri was concerned, he had a pike and a short sword. There was also Bulfig, an even bigger man than Rokta, who spent his days lugging around crates for the local shopkeeper. Blue and tailed, like Hiffy had been, Bulfig looked like he could smash his way through a wall if needed, though he was not the brightest penny in the moneybag. When he had laid eyes on Lily, padding along happily behind Ceri, Bulfig had gone very sheepish. Demons of all kinds lacked a blush response, something Lily had inherited, but they sure could look like they were doing it.
The farm appeared ahead of them as they rounded a corner in the road. The signs were not good. The main set of buildings consisted of a low, wooden house and two barns, one fairly small. The other had probably been larger, but it was now a burned out ruin. The little group stopped to take in the scene, looking for any sign of movement among the buildings.
‘It’s far too quiet,’ Merada said, keeping his voice low.
‘Doesn’t look good,’ Rokta commented. ‘We’re going in anyway, right?’
‘Hang on,’ Ceri said, lifting her staff. The globe on the top of it began to glow as her eyes closed and she focussed her senses on the farm. After a second she said, ‘There’s nothing alive over there bigger than my head. We shouldn’t have trouble, but…’
‘If they’re there, they’re dead,’ Brebbam finished for her.
They headed for the house first. The door was hanging on one hinge and looked like it had been hit by something heavy. It led onto a single, large room which appeared to incorporate lounge and dining room. Or it had before a tornado had apparently jumped into it without touching the roof or walls. Chairs had been reduced to splinters of wood. The circular table the family had sat around was in four pieces. Pottery had been smashed and thrown around the room. A silver, three-fork candlestick had been snapped in two, the larger part embedded in a wall.
‘They trashed the place pretty well,’ Ceri commented.
She walked through to the kitchen at the back, only to find similar levels of destruction and no sign of the family. She did find a larder, cool and dark, and still full of stored food. She glanced around at Lily; the men were still out in the family room. ‘You think bandits would have left all this food?’
‘I doubt it, but they definitely wouldn’t have left that candlestick.’
Ceri nodded and waved for Lily to precede her back into the other room. As they emerged they saw Merada walking out of a side door, his face ashen. The man looked up at them. ‘We found…’ He swallowed hard. ‘They’re in the main bedroom. You probably don’t want to go in there.’
‘We’ve had some experience with this kind of thing before,’ Ceri said. ‘We might see something useful.’ Merada shrugged and waved them on.
Ceri thought she saw a tear in Bulfig’s eye as she walked toward the room which the bodies were presumably in. Rokta was stony-faced beside him, and Brebbam was standing outside the door looking in and wearing a look of sick horror. Seeing them walking toward him, the teacher held up a hand. ‘Ladies such as yourselves…’
‘Have probably seen worse,’ Ceri interrupted. ‘Let me see.’ He stepped back with a sigh and they looked.
In truth, they probably had not seen anything worse. Still they edged further into the room to get a better view of the scene. They were both police investigators though neither had been expecting to use those skills here.
The man’s body was, literally, nailed to the wall opposite the bed. He was naked, his arms were stretched out in a crucifixion pose, nails driven through his hands and shoulders. Someone had cut his fingers off, though there was no evidence of the missing digits that Ceri could immediately see. His legs were still there, but had been meticulously cut off below the knee. The toes were missing, but his feet had been disjointed before his knees, the parts dropped on the blood-soaked floor below his body. Someone had tied tight, leather thongs just above his knees. From the expression on his face he had been alive when the cutting had happened.
Ceri swallowed and looked toward the door before she moved on to the next victims. ‘Rokta, Bulfig, would you go to the barns? Check them for anything out of the ordinary.’
Rokta slapped his huge companion on the shoulder. ‘Gladly. Come on, Big Guy, we don’t need to see any more of this.’
The mother’s wris
ts had been roped to the rail at the top of the bed. Her ankles were held wide apart by a rope running under the bed. The reason for the positioning seemed obvious, but to add insult she had been gutted, probably slowly enough that she had been alive to see her entrails pulled out and piled into a corner of the room. Her daughter was a crumpled heap at the side of the bed. The blood coating her thighs suggested that she had been used as badly as her mother.
Ceri swallowed back bile and focussed her will. Alexandra, the leader of the Battersea werewolves, had taught her a spell to image a person’s body. It was supposed to be used to detect medical problems, but Ceri knew that it was used by forensics technicians to get quick estimates of cause of death. Focussing on the details, on finding out exactly what had happened and maybe even stopping it from happening again, that would keep her from thinking about what she was seeing. If she could see facts instead of people, she could avoid breaking down or throwing up.
As they returned to the big room, Rokta and Bulfig came back in. Ceri gave Rokta a questioning look. ‘Nothing in the small barn,’ he said. ‘Hay, a few stored root vegetables. There were animals in the burned one. They died in the fire.’
Ceri nodded and looked between Merada and Brebbam. ‘All right, what really happened here? This was no bandit attack.’
‘It could have been,’ Merada replied, though he sounded more defiant than certain. ‘A violent one certainly, but…’
‘Nothing was taken,’ Ceri said calmly, but firmly. ‘Bandits would have stripped the place of valuables, and likely taken some of the animals. The gashikagigi who did this came here to torture their victims. They pinned the man to a wall and made him watch while his daughter was raped to death, and his wife was raped and gutted. Then they chopped bits off him until he died of blood loss.’
‘They ligatured his legs so he would bleed slower,’ Lily added quietly.
‘They even burned the animals alive in the barn,’ Ceri finished. ‘This was the work of a group of psychopaths, not criminals.’
Thaumatology 10 - The Other Side of Hell Page 9