Demon King

by Bunch, Chris

  A throwing ax whistled past and thudded into the being’s armor with a clang. He was solid enough, at any rate. The spirit or demon turned away from the seer and rushed me, broadsword held like a spear. I parried, and felt solid steel. Then the warrior slashed, and I was barely able to turn his thrust aside.

  I struck at his thigh, and my blade bounced off his armor as if it were a foot thick. Again he, or it, brought his sword down, and I sprang sideways as the blade smashed into the stone floor, sparks cascading.

  I remembered a bit of what Tenedos had taught me of magic, and, instead of attacking the demon directly, I cut at the triangle’s edge, slicing through the chalk line as the apparition rushed me.

  Quite suddenly, as if a solid became smoke, I could see through him, see Sinait and the stone wall, and then there was nothing in the tower but soldiers, Sinait, and Edwy’s corpse.

  “So there were wards out,” I said, stupidly stating the obvious.

  Sinait shuddered. “But the emperor’s spell worked before … before that whatever it was, came,” she said. “I didn’t have time to write, but we have one bearing to our enemy.”

  She pointed at Edwy’s body. He may have been unimpressive in life, but in death he served Numantia well, for he lay with an arm outstretched, pointing not quite due east.

  “Where he points,” Sinait said, “is where that shade came from. One more casting, and we’ll have that seer.” She spoke without a tremor in her voice, and again I admired her courage. But a second casting would be almost impossible. This wizard had discovered our first attempt, and would be lying in wait.

  • • •

  The next day we held the death ceremony for Edwy and consigned his body to the flames. I gave the orders for three troops of Lancers to ready themselves as escorts for Seer Sinait, who was determined to make the second casting from the city of Cambon, about seventy miles to the south-southwest.

  I’d attempted to use the Seeing Bowl to report to the emperor, but without success. Sinait wondered if our alerted foe might not have counterspells out against any magic we might try. “I don’t know how powerful this wizard is,” she said. “Powerful enough, for certain. And he’d need little energy to prevent your Bowl spell from working, since you have little talent and no training. I’d suggest you not even bother trying again.”

  This worried me greatly. Tenedos had promised additional spells to help trap this wizard, and now we’d be forced to battle without them.

  We were less than an hour from departure when Kutulu found me in the busy bustle of the regimental headquarters. “I don’t think we’ll need any more magic,” he said. “Come, and I’ll show you.”

  We hurried to his office, which was cast in night, although it was a rare sunny day outside, for black curtains closed off the light. Spies abhor windows, unless they’re the ones trying to peer in. A huge map of Kallio covered one wall. It was dotted with large-headed pins, each numbered in red. From the castle a line of yarn ran to the east, which was the direction Edwy’s death had gained.

  “I’ll keep this very brief,” Kutulu said with authority, and I felt a bit of amusement. Now I was in his arena, and he was very much in charge. “For we have our villain,” and there was a flash of triumph in his normally calm, unexcitable voice.

  “First, we have the yarn, representing the line from the seers’ casting.”

  “I see it.”

  “Yesterday afternoon one of the clerk-drudges that I have shoveling through the paper ruins of Chardin Sher’s empire found this.” He picked up a piece of yellowing paper. “You’re welcome to read it, but you needn’t unless you wish. It’s a requisition for carriages and soldiers to escort Mikael Yanthlus, Chardin Sher’s magician, to the army’s camp on the far side of the Imru River. By the date it would have been just before our army was so badly defeated trying to cross that river into Kallio.

  “A paper of no interest to anyone but quartermasters,” he said. “However, I found it fascinating, since it included the names of the three aides to Mikael of the Spirits. The first is unknown, as is the second, but the third has an interesting family name: Amboina. First name, Jalon. Only son of Landgrave Molise Amboina, Prince Reufern’s most favored friend.”

  “Son of a bitch,” I said.

  “Indeed,” Kutulu said. “Especially since Landgrave Amboina’s made no mention of this reclusive Jalon’s profession. I thought this was very interesting, so I determined to ask some questions of your friend the philosopher Arimondi Hami. I asked them in the company of Ygerne, who’ll you’ll admit has a certain presence.”

  I remembered what the torturer had done to Slit-Nose.

  “I informed Hami that, unlike other Numantians, I had no particular interest in his continued well-being, and I wished to know everything about the Amboina family, and its relationship to Chardin Sher and Mikael Yanthlus. I told him it was utterly foolish to attempt either ignorance or vast bravery. Everyone will talk in time, especially when the questioner knows what queries to put.

  “He was wise, and told me what I wished. Briefly, the Amboina family has served Chardin Sher, his father, and his father’s father well, either directly as magicians when a family member had talent, or as go-betweens with other sorcerers, when those others used dark forces to accomplish their ends. The family’s daughters married wizards as well, when they could and when they had a touch of the talent. Otherwise, it was perfectly acceptable for an Amboina woman to become a magician’s concubine. Two of those girls, Amboina’s daughters from his first marriage, accompanied Mikael Yanthlus when he fled to the citadel where he was destroyed, and evidently died there.

  “Hami seemed proud that the Amboina family so gladly prostituted their women to be close to magical power, incidentally.

  “Hami also said Jalon had a great talent and might have grown to become Chardin Sher’s first sorcerer if the renegade Maisirian Yanthlus had ever left the office. I asked if Landgrave Amboina had any powers himself, and he said no, but he’d had an abiding interest in the art since Hami had known him.

  “I wonder if this is another reason the traitor Hami hasn’t been to the gallows. It could well be Landgrave Amboina interceded with the prince on his behalf.”

  I felt a bit ashamed at my kid-gloved questioning of Hami, but no more than a bit, which was why I was a soldier and Kutulu a warden.

  “As soon as I received word of the sorcerers’ casting, I laid it out on this map.”

  He picked up a long pointer, and ran it along the strand of red yarn, stopping about fifty miles from Polycittara.

  “Just here is the seat of the Amboinas’ holdings, their grand manor house, Lanvirn, where Jalon Amboina is supposedly resident. You’ll notice it’s exactly on the line, which, by the way, I had one of your officers check with a compass before we moved Seer Edwy’s corpse.

  “Another thing of interest. Look at the map. Those red pins mark anti-imperial incidents. You notice there are no such pins anywhere close to Lanvirn? The Amboinas were very clever, making sure their own lands and people were above suspicion. But, as you can see, once the problem areas are charted, this very absence of activity draws the eye.”

  I looked at Kutulu with admiration — he was, indeed, worthy of being the emperor’s spymaster and chief warden.

  “I think we should ride at once,” Kutulu went on, “with a small detachment. Perhaps two score of your Red Lancers, and I have six or seven men who aren’t unfamiliar with violence. Myself. The seer. Surprise can negate the need for large forces, which always broadcast their coming.”

  “Good. We’ll be ready immediately,” I said, eager for action. “But what about Jalon Amboina’s father, the landgrave? I have to assume that he can communicate with his son, so we must keep him ignorant of what’s about to happen.”

  “I have already told the prince of our discoveries, as my orders require,” Kutulu said. “I asked him to have the landgrave seized and imprisoned. The prince was horrified, saying he could do no such thing without proof of
the landgrave’s involvement in this treason.

  “I tried to argue, but …” Kutulu took a deep breath. “Instead, we invented an important errand. Amboina rode out of the castle two hours ago, with an escort of the prince’s troops. The officer in charge had orders to keep the landgrave out of Polycittara for at least two days, regardless of what it takes. I don’t like it, but that was the furthest Prince Reufern was willing to go.”

  Kutulu seemed to have thought of everything. Then a question occurred to me.

  “What about Arimondi Hami? Would there be any advantage in taking him with us? Perhaps he could tell us more about this Jalon Amboina as we ride.”

  “Unfortunately,” Kutulu said, “he died in the course of our conversation.” Seeing my expression, the warden held up his hand. “No, not under torture. Neither Ygerne nor I laid a hand on him. He appeared to have died of terror. His heart simply gave out. I’ve already made arrangements for the quiet disposal of his remains, with a priest whom I can trust to keep silent.”

  I looked hard at Kutulu. The Serpent Who Never Sleep’s expression was bland, calm. To this day, I do not know if the warden told me the truth.

  • • •

  “This becomes interesting,” Sinait observed, scratching her chin with a forefinger. “Taking a magician alive while trying to remain the same. Very interesting indeed. Now, let us assume he’s a better sorcerer than I am, or at any rate is more familiar with the terrain, both real and spiritual; which I think is the best idea, since I’ve never yet sent a vengeful spirit against someone who’s worked a spell against me.

  “Kutulu has the correct idea. We must close with him as quickly as possible, and use surprise as our main weapon. You must not tell any of the soldiers what mission they will be on. Not that I think Amboina, or any other magician, can read thoughts, but if all these men are thinking of him, planning harm, that could create … vibrations might be a poor word for it … he could feel and respond to.”

  “As a deer can sense a hunter’s presence if the hunter stares too closely at him?” I asked.

  “A good example. Now, as I suggested, we must get close to this wizard as quickly as possible. I think he should be completely immobilized. Bind his arms and legs. Gag him so he can’t begin any spells. Blindfold him so he can’t determine where he is, and then get him away from his familiar surroundings.

  “Perhaps I can sense any spells he tries and forestall them. It might be well to knock him unconscious at once and revive him once we’ve made our retreat.”

  I grinned wryly. “This, Seer, is going to be an undertaking. To break into a well-guarded castle without alerting anyone, especially Amboina, then bash him over the head and tiptoe away without anyone screaming blue murder.”

  “A task,” Sinait agreed. “But something I’ve noticed thugs accomplish all the time. Since we’re much brighter than any criminal, it should be easy.”

  That was the only laughter the day gave.

  • • •

  “Of course you’re going to lead this raid yourself,” Marán said.

  “Of course.”

  She shook her head, tried to smile. “When you first asked if I wished to accompany you on this posting, I was delighted, for we’ve spent too much time apart. But maybe I was wrong. Before, when you were miles and leagues distant, I always imagined the worst could happen to you, and was always afraid.

  “Now I’ve found that the truth can be so much more frightening. I’m concerned, my Damastes, my love, that you’re too peaceful a man.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “That sounds a trifle strange. Very few would consider a man who makes his trade as a warrior peaceful.”

  “Oh, but you are. If you weren’t you, you would have sent out both regiments and ordered them to strike hard at this estate called Lanvirn, and take no prisoners, not peasant, not lord.”

  “The emperor ordered Amboina to be taken alive.”

  “The emperor, although I revere him as almost a god,” she said, “is not the one who’ll have to creep into a magician’s chambers. Sometimes what my father called bloodyhandedness is a virtue.”

  “Sometimes it is,” I agreed. “But not here. Not now. I truly believe that one reason Kallio is in shambles is that my predecessors and their superiors were too quick with the sword and the rope.”

  Marán got up and went to a window. “We’ve had this argument before,” she said. “I have no interest in going through it once more. Not with you planning to leave me within the hour.

  “Come, Damastes. Let’s make love. Put some of your courage into me with your seed. And give me something to be glad about, and think of while you’re gone.”

  She wore a simple silk frock and quickly pulled it over her head, stripped off her undershift, then went to the nearby couch and lay down.

  “Leave your tunic on,” she said. “I want to see you make love to me as a soldier, so I can always remember what you are. Come to me, my Damastes. I need you so!”

  • • •

  A few minutes later I left our apartments. Standing outside was a calm Karjan and a irate messenger wearing the prince’s livery.

  “This babbler says th’ Prince wants you,” Karjan said. “I told him you give me orders to leave you alone. He wanted t’ go in anyway. I didn’t have t’ slam him one, but it was close.”

  “How dare you,” the man hissed at the lancer. “I speak for the prince.”

  “You!” I barked. “You have a message for me?”

  “Yes. Yes, of course. Just what this idiot said.”

  “Then stop yammering, and take me to Prince Reufern.”

  “But aren’t you going to do something to this, this …” The messenger read my expression well, clamped his mouth shut, and scurried off, his legs twinkling to stay ahead of my long strides.

  • • •

  “I told your domina I wished to accompany you on this raid,” the prince said. “He acted surprised, then told me I’d need to tell you my desires.” He pursed his lips. “Sometimes I feel less a ruler than a prisoner in this damned castle! Damnation, but I promised my brother I’d do the best job I knew how, and I am trying! I have no desire to be a peacock on a throne!”

  He glared and I stared back. I was surprised when he didn’t look away. Instead, his jaw firmed, and I saw a glimpse of that innate power his brother held in such great measure.

  “My apologies, Your Majesty,” and I meant what I said. “We became so busy in this matter we didn’t take account of your feelings. It won’t happen again.”

  “I’m not concerned about that greatly,” Reufern said. “Forget about it. I always prided myself on appointing managers and stewards in my businesses and leaving them alone to manage.

  “The point is that I propose to go with you. Don’t worry, I know I’m not a general, so I won’t try to interfere. But the people of Kallio will never respect me if I sit on my ass surrounded by my pack of pet fools and whores and let the real task of governing go to others.”

  “I’m sorry, Your Highness — ”

  “Stop!” Reufern barked. “Tribune, I told you what I propose to do, and I shall do it. I am giving you an order. Obey it, or I’ll summon the guard and have you placed under arrest! ”

  By the withered balls of Umar, there was some fire to the man!

  “I cannot obey that order, Your Majesty,” I said. “Arrest me if you will, but I would like to have a chance to explain.”

  “I have no interest in your explanations! Dammit, my brother told me that you tried to keep him from going with you once, back in that shitty border town you both almost died in! But he insisted, and he went along. I’m doing the same.”

  I maintained my silence.

  “Well?” he said.

  “I asked if I was to be permitted an explanation. If I’m not, then you must do what you will.”

  The color receded from Reufern’s face, and he rapped his knuckles twice on the table he was leaning on. “All right,” he said finally. “I’ll listen.”<
br />
  “Thank you, sir. Your brother did insist on going with me back in Sayana, and he was right. We sought magic, and he was — is a magician. This is different.”

  “Maybe I’m not a seer,” Reufern said. “But I can use a sword, and ride as well as any of your Lancers, Tribune. Don’t you understand,” and his tone became pleading, “I’ve got to feel I can do something, for Irisu’s sake! You don’t understand what it is. Laish was — is my younger brother, and I grew up taking care of him.

  “Now it’s the other way around. Now he’s the one with the power, and sometimes I feel as if I’m not much more than a hanger-on, kept around more for pity than because I can serve well. Sometimes,” he said, and his voice was not much more than a whisper, “sometimes I wonder if I didn’t like it better in the old days.”

  I almost let pity take me, but stiffened my resolve. “Sir, we’re after a magician once more. A very powerful one. Somehow who knows everything that happens in Polycittara. I’ll pose a question, sir, and you answer it as best you can, and if you still think it’s wise, then we both ride within the hour:

  “Don’t you think that this Jalon Amboina would know, almost instantly, if Prince Reufern Tenedos, ruler of Kallio, left his palace for any reason at all, especially without warning and in the company of a band of armed men? Don’t you think that might make him at least take alarm, and maybe even lay a trap for us?”

  There was a very long silence. The prince sighed, and his shoulders sagged. I felt relief wash over me — I’d hoped the shrewdness that had made Reufern a successful trader was still in him.

  “You’re right, Damastes,” he said grudgingly. “But I feel no warmth toward you as I say that. I’ll stay, as you wish. But don’t expect me to just smile and shrug this off as no more than a prince’s momentary caprice, easily cast aside. I was serious about every word.

  “You’re dismissed, Tribune. I wish you good hunting.” Without waiting for a response, he went out, and the slam of the door behind him was very loud.