Hard Reign (Quentin Case Book 3)

by John Hook

  Knightshade was in retreat. He was managing to stay aloft, which I had to give him some credit for, but he was being overwhelmed. Every time he hacked apart some of the monkeys, each part reformed into a new monkey and came back after him. It was as if they were protos that had a very quick recycle.

  So what the hell were they? Monkeys? Demons? Protos? Whatever, they seemed to focus on Knightshade and he had been caught off guard. He pulled away at higher speed, dislodging the monkeys rather than hacking anymore. Apparently they couldn’t fly, only leap. Knightshade was soon free of them, but he kept going.

  I heard in my head: “I’ll find you again, Case. Prepare to surrender if you ever want to see Rox again.”

  The monkeys were all scrambling back into the window.

  “Come on,” I shouted to Izzy and we shot into the building. However, by the time we reached the third floor, there was no sign of them. We went up to the roof, but there was nothing there. We paced along the periphery of the roof in different directions. Izzy stopped.

  “Quentin. Look at this.”

  I ran over to Izzy. Below in the courtyard was a cone-shaped collar with a six-foot-diameter opening cut in it. We ran down and over to the pit and peered in. There was nothing but blackness down there.

  “I’ve seen these around the city. I don’t know how deep, but a few tests I’ve made say they go pretty far down. If I drop something, the sound delay is extensive.” Izzy rubbed what little was left of his hair. Which seemed okay with Izzy since he determined what his glamour looked like.

  “What do you think they are?”

  Izzy shrugged. “Maybe a type of flood drain, but right now it looks like the only place the…”

  Izzy turned to me.

  “Monkeys,” I volunteered.

  “You saw that one,” Izzy asked.

  “It was a demon, wasn’t it?”

  “I think so. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

  “And that proto-like thing they do…”

  Izzy nodded. “Not sure how you’ld fight them other than running away.”

  “They didn’t seem to be after us.”

  “I noticed that.”

  “You think it’s a coincidence they pop up in Guido’s home?” I asked.

  “Nothing much here is a coincidence.”

  “I think it is a good thing we planned on moving on for now. We need to figure some things out before we engage Spidey again.”

  Saripha emerged from the shadows like a ghost emerging from a wall.

  “Ever seen those critters before, Saripha?”

  “No.”

  “Any thoughts?”

  “Kanarchan used to talk about an underground part of this city. They must live there.”

  “He never elaborated about this underground city?”

  Saripha smiled.

  “No. Of course he didn’t,” I said, answering my own question.

  Saripha smiled wider. “I think it’s a good time for you to leave here, since your whereabouts are now known. You need to find out where the rest of the diaspora ended up and pull them together.”

  “What about you? Aren’t you coming with us?”

  There was a fire in Saripha’s eyes and I already knew the answer.

  “I will stay here. I’ll be fine. You’ll have to return for the rest of your training. You’ll know when the time is right.”

  “You’ll be all alone.”

  “Quentin, I can handle myself.” A look passed over Saripha’s face. It left me with no doubt that she could.

  Then, in my head I heard: “We will not be as separated as you think.”

  Saripha kissed both myself and Izzy and went back through the alley, the shadows swallowing her up again.

  5.

  Izzy and I spent the morning searching the empty city for any signs of the strange, glowing fire monkeys. Occasionally we found burn marks in high places and could presume that meant the monkeys or demons or whatever had been there, but we could find nothing definitive. Certainly nothing that would tell us where they were or how to find them. And if there were an underground part of the city, we found no way into it. That left the sealed door and the open pits as the only way. The sealed door showed no signs that anyone had moved it in centuries.

  “We are not going to solve this one today,” I said as I loaded extra arrow bundles on my back. I tucked my short sword in my belt. Izzy had also made us short lances that doubled as walking sticks as long as you weren’t careless about how high you grabbed them. The points were carefully carved in the hard wood, but he also affixed fins of sharp rock, embedding them in the wood, making the tips very sharp along the edges.

  We didn’t want to go by way of Rockvale. I’m not sure if that was caution or that we didn’t want to be reminded that it was no longer there. We cut across fields and went up into the hills. We knew somewhere on the other side of those hills was the same route to Zaccora we used from Rockvale. As long as we kept our bearings, using the sun and various geographical landmarks, we should find our way.

  We made it up over the hills without too much trouble. There were odd creatures in the grasslands, but despite lizard-like appearances with jagged teeth and horns, they seemed to be plant eaters and mostly ignored Izzy and myself. I suspected they were quite capable of attacking if approached too closely, so we circled wide, but we didn’t seem to be on their menu.

  The side of the hills that faced Ohnipoor were rockier than the hills behind where Rockvale had been, so the trek up was tougher and slower than we were expecting. Also, we were trying to keep ourselves as sheltered as possible in case Knightshade was doing aerial reconnaissance, waiting for his chance.

  Shades seemed to be an odd lot. They were given talismans which, I suspected, had a great deal more power than they ever tapped into. At least mine had a lot of power that I didn’t understand. And, now, in an odd way, my body was the talisman. I didn’t know if all of the talismans had an entity inside them. At least, that’s how I related to the power in me. It felt like a very alien sentience cohabiting my body. Most of the time it was deeply buried. However, when I brought it out, I could sense it.

  If they connected with an intelligence in the talismans, the Shades never showed it. They used the power to levitate and perform displays of power, but they were more like circus tricks wielded by narcissistic sociopaths who kept giving themselves comic book names. Well, Janovic didn’t do the latter, but he had the outfit. I was thinking this said a lot about what type of human was likely to be selected to be a Shade. I was wondering how long it would take the Manitors, or whoever was doing the Shade selection, to realize they should maybe adjust their selection criteria.

  One of the stranger characteristics of the Shades seemed to be that they never invested a lot in hunting me down. They seemed to always wait for me to come to them. I had to admit it usually worked, but it seemed an odd strategy. They wanted the talismanic power I held inside me, but they couldn’t take it and they seemed just a little afraid of it. Or at least respectfully in awe of it. I was hoping when the time came, Saripha’s training would pay off. Then again, she had hinted that it hadn’t been completed yet.

  It was almost night again when we descended to the valley. There we picked up the road we took to Zaccora from Rockvale at about its midpoint. It was the only way to get there without traversing even more rugged mountains. These mountains were higher and would have more dangerous wildlife.

  “Maybe we should make camp and enter Zaccora in the morning,” Izzy suggested.

  “Seems like a good idea. I know we aren’t supposed to need rest, but that was some tough climbing before.”

  ‘Probably just our expectation that doing that much strenuous work requires rest.”

  “Does it make a difference if it’s all in our head?”

  “I suppose not.” Izzy shrugged.

  “We should find someplace off the road where anyone patrolling the area would be unlikely to see us.”

  There were
a couple of dull sounds behind us. I spun, spear at the ready, but not hoisted. Behind us, two Dark Men, as we called them, had dropped from somewhere onto the road, their wooden, bat-like clubs gripped in one hand and laying across the other. They were quiet, expressionless. Given the dark and their glamours, it was really hard to see their faces anyway. They tapped their clubs on their hands lightly but impatiently.

  There was the sound of footsteps behind us, in the direction we were headed. We spun again. About a dozen more Dark Men walked up, stopping about one hundred feet away, also tapping their clubs but saying nothing. Beyond them in the dark were other figures, but we couldn’t make them out.

  As far as we knew, we were on good, or at least reasonable, terms with the Dark Men. However, there was a clear sense of threat emanating from this group.

  “I don’t suppose you guys are from the Zaccora Chamber of Commerce coming to welcome us.”

  There was a crash in the brush above us and something hit me, knocking me to the ground. Sharp claws bit into my sides, sending fire into my ribs, and I found myself being held down by three large gray demons. Their mouths hung open in a grimace, exposing multiple rows of razor-like teeth. My head twisted and Izzy was also being restrained. Our spears were somewhere on the ground.

  The demons who had me were celebrating their victory too early. I got a leg loose and locked my legs around one. I squeezed hard and wrenched him around, almost snapping his neck, and then began crushing his throat. One of the other demons snarled and sank his talons into my side again. I tried to keep pressing down on the one demon’s throat, but the pain was too great. My legs unwound. I smirked victoriously at my captors, taunting them. The one whose neck I had nearly snapped got up and raised his hand, talons fully extended, a look of rage on his features.

  “Stop!”

  The demon stopped but he turned his head with a look that made it clear that the present chain of command was not secure between the Dark Men and these demons.

  The Dark Men stepped forward, clubs ready. Behind them I could now see a small army of gray demons such as those that had lived within the walled city in Zaccora. For a long time, the Dark Men had served them by exploiting the citizens of Zaccora. I had forged an alliance of sorts between the Dark Men and the Zaccorans and drove the gray demons out of their walled city. Something here wasn’t making sense.

  “Can’t say I care for the company you keep.” I spoke to the Dark Man who seemed to be in the lead.

  He didn’t say anything at first. He just stared at me with a glowering expression.

  “You ruined everything,” he spat out. “Gerod wants to see you, but he didn’t specify in what condition.”

  As the gray demons tightened their grip on me, the Dark Man swung his club high. However, before he could bring the swing down an arrow punctured his side. This surprised the demons that held me enough that I was able to break loose and pull out my short sword. In a single arcing motion I had slashed the throats of two of the demons. I kicked the other back. He fell over and flopped on the ground.

  Immediately, a volley of arrows hit the troop of Grays behind the Dark Men. The Dark Men stood frozen. I rushed to Izzy and attacked the demons holding him. He elbowed the nose of one, resulting in a cracking sound and a howl of pain from the demon. Izzy pulled himself up and had the bow off his back with an arrow loaded. The demons were already spinning around to run, but humans were rushing in around us. I recognized some of the Rockvale irregulars. There were also some Dark Men, which made the battle a little confusing. The others were probably Zaccorans. I stood there and just let them take over. A small armed group of Dark Men surrounded the party that had met us while the others surrounded and executed the gray demons. The Dark Men who had participated in the attack on us were herded together.

  “I must say, every time I see you there seems to be an awful lot of violence unfolding.”

  I turned. Roland was grinning as he strode up. With him was a redheaded woman we rescued in the tunnels under Haven. She clearly thought of herself as a warrior. She had powerful muscles and her eyes seemed almost as fiery as her hair. She carried a club on her back and a spear in her hands. She walked up to Izzy.

  “Nice bow work.” She gave him an easy smile. “I never did get a chance to thank you for the help in the tunnels.”

  Izzy beamed, puffing his chest just a little. “I’d say we were just more than repaid. Maybe sometime we can get together and thank each other.”

  She smiled a bit wider but said nothing.

  “I’m Izzy.” He held out his hand.

  “Anika.” Her eyes seems to shine for a moment as she looked at Izzy.

  I turned back to Roland. “For some reason I seem to be the target of aggression wherever I go.”

  “Understandable.”

  “Any idea what’s up here?”

  “Things have gotten complicated in Zaccora.”

  “I bet.”

  Roland walked over to the Dark Men, who stood in a group, glaring. They had been stripped of their clubs. He stood still, staring at them. They were clearly uncomfortable having their former commander staring them down. I was guessing at the “former” part, but clearly they had not been operating under Roland’s orders.

  “We observed you as you left the city. Figured we might be interested in what you were up to.”

  “Traitor,” one of them spat out and then stepped back fearfully.

  “I’m not the one keeping the company of demons.”

  The Dark Man who seemed to be more in charge than the others tried to hike his posture up. He was still half a head shorter than Roland.

  “We had a good life before you let these others interfere.”

  “You mean when we enslaved other humans so they could be tortured by the demons.” Roland’s eyes were cold. If he had ever had doubts about what we did together, he didn’t have them anymore.

  “You were our commander for most of it,” the other man taunted. Roland held his gaze without blinking. The other man’s confidence faded.

  “Yes.” Roland’s voice was quiet but firm. “Shame on me.”

  “Roland! Quentin!” Izzy and Anika seemed to be looking at something in the shadows at the base of a tree behind where the demons had been slain. Izzy had his bow ready, arrow aimed. Roland held the lead Dark Man’s gaze a moment and then his expression dismissed him and he turned away. It was clear the Dark Man felt the dismissal. His posture slumped and his eyes looked down.

  Roland and I made our way back past the gray corpses and into the shadows. As our eyes adjusted, I could just make out slight, jerky motions. It was clearly a demon, but if different physical appearances amongst the demons denoted different races and not just different tribes, this demon was a race we had never seen before. It was also tied up, with its arms roped uncomfortably over a branch carried on its shoulder. In addition, it had a fabric gag covering its mouth. It was slightly stouter than the Grays, but thicker and more muscular. Its arms were long and legs short. Most startling, its skin was purple. Someone brought over a clay pot with lava and, in the light, the skin was a deep plum color and its filmy eyes were like polished gold. What little we could see of the body with all the binding was covered with welts and cuts.

  I looked into the demon’s eyes. There seemed to be a good deal more intelligence and awareness than I was used to seeing from a demon. Tweedledee and Tweedledum had that, but it was different. They almost seemed half asleep, but there was depth and keen awareness. These eyes had fire and anger, but also control.

  “Do you talk with your mind or your mouth?”

  There was a pause and then, in my head:

  “None of the tribes have vocal tissue. We can make sounds, but not speech.”

  “Then why are you gagged?” I asked.

  I was surprised to see something equal parts playful and defiant in the eyes and I could tell it was trying to sneer behind the gag but it couldn’t get its jaw to open enough.

  “I bite.”

&
nbsp; “I’m guessing they don’t like you very much.”

  “They don’t like any of my kind. Have wiped out most of us.”

  “What is your kind?”

  “We are called Shawaz. We are older than some of the other races.”

  “Do you have a name?”

  “I am Azar.”

  “Why do the other demons hate you?”

  He paused, seeming in deep thought. Then his eyes rotated up to me.

  “I might prefer to tell you without all these encumbrances.”

  I looked at Izzy to see if others were hearing. He still had his bow aimed, but he turned to me.

  “Encumbrances.”

  “Maybe they play Scrabble.”

  I turned to Roland.

  “Must be some rivalry with the Grays. We have never encountered one of these.”

  I took out my short sword. Izzy looked worried.

  “Quentin, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to release him.”

  Roland stepped back and, without thinking, raised his club. “I’d have to agree with Izzy here.”

  “Normally, I’d be inclined to agree with you, but I’ve got a feeling about this. I’m going to go with it.”

  “Enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Izzy had lowered his bow and stepped back, but he was still alert.

  “Friend may be pushing it, but at least I’m willing to listen.”

  I cut the ropes. The demon, Azar, pulled his arms down awkwardly. They were obviously in pain from being bound to the branch so long. The branch fell to the ground and rolled. I cut the bindings on the legs and then brought my face up even with his. Somehow, I was no longer thinking of him as “it.” I stared him straight in the eyes as I brought my short sword up.

  “Now, don’t go biting me.”

  I could see a slight sparkle at the corner of its eyes. Again, the intelligence. A moment of humor in the pain. I made a quick but careful cut of the gag and stepped back.