Legacy of the Devil Queen (Eve of Redemption Book 4)

by Joe Jackson

  There was wisdom in Markus’ words, though. Kari’s instincts were very good when it came to people, and she was a much better judge of character than Erik thought he would ever be. When he thought of how poorly he’d treated Kari when they first worked together, or more pointedly, how badly he’d treated Makauric, Erik realized he was potentially making the same mistake all over again. Sharyn was a werewolf, yes, but what little Erik knew of the woman told him several distinct things: Kari had trusted her; she had helped Kari fight demons; she was trustworthy enough to live with an Earl; and a paladin was courting her.

  At last, Erik nodded, feeling foolish that he had let the Earl’s words go unanswered for so long while he thought them through. “No, you’re right,” he said. “I should trust Kari, not to mention the three of you. It’s just…Kari never really told us much about Sharyn herself, so to come here and be greeted with the news that a werewolf was going to be working with us…”

  The Earl laughed. “I fully understand,” he said. “My first meeting with her was when I found out she and Sherman were interested in each other romantically. It’s not every day that one of my citizens, let alone one of my students, tells me that they will be courting a werewolf.”

  Erik joined the nobleman in laughing. “You keep calling them your students; how much longer will they be under your tutelage?” he asked.

  Markus waved off the question. “Ah, they will always be my students to me,” he said. “They have both completed their training under me, though. When I had heard that Katarina summoned a Shield of Faith in Barcon, I knew my work with them was just about complete. Now, it is up to them to decide when they are ready to pursue their own paths as paladins.”

  “Well, we could always use their help with what we do,” Erik replied. “Kari’s gotten herself tangled up in a whole bunch of underworld plots, and if my instincts are right, the demons are going to be coming more frequently and more furiously.”

  “Indeed,” the Earl answered grimly.

  Erik turned and saw his siblings chatting casually with the twins and Sharyn, and was glad that they were all getting along so far. Gabrius was with them, but he seemed to speak only rarely. He wasn’t aloof or withdrawn, but he spent a lot of time listening and not much speaking. Erik supposed there were bigger “problems” one could have, but he wondered how much of it was on account of Gabrius being half-brys. What little issue people sometimes took with Erik and his siblings being half-guardian was nothing compared to what a half-brys could expect, especially if they were the product of force.

  Glancing at Aeligos made Erik wonder about his brother’s relationship with Eryn. Eryn had to deal with the same stigma of being a half-brys, but Erik had little sympathy for the woman based on her life choices. Kari had a horrible childhood but became an incredibly compassionate demonhunter and defender of the people; Gabrius had followed the call of a paladin and become a holy warrior; was there any excuse for what Eryn had chosen to become? Erik couldn’t think of any, but like with the issue of Sharyn, he figured maybe he was better off trusting Kari and Aeligos’ judgments.

  They reached the city and proceeded through, and Erik noted the respectful waves or even bows people gave the Earl. Markus greeted them all with polite waves, and it was easy to see that the Earl was well-respected. It was little wonder that the Duke had requested Markus go and assume control of the County of Marsdale until full order was restored. Erik hated to lose the paladin to administrative duties, but he had to admit to himself it wasn’t really that big a loss: if they faced an army, then one blade would make little difference, and if they faced a single powerful creature, it would be tactics that won the day, not overwhelming force. And for tactics, Erik had Aeligos and Sonja, the bigger brains among his family, not to mention Gabrius.

  They passed the Satin Palace again, and the Earl looked at it briefly before asking, “Is Elias Sorivar still with Kari?”

  “Yes, he’s staying in DarkWind with a woman he’s courting…um, Danilynn Stahlorr, I think her name is,” Erik answered. “Kari asked them to stay behind and help her with another issue, else I suspect they’d both be here, too.”

  “A shame, that,” the Earl said, and he chuckled at Erik’s sudden glance. “There’s a lot more to Eli than his being the owner of a brothel might suggest. I know he has a history of working for and with your Order, and he was very helpful to Kari in her work in Barcon.”

  “I was just surprised you’d have anything to do with someone that owns a whorehouse, much less a half-demon,” Erik admitted.

  Markus nodded. “I understand, but my prejudices died in the Apocalypse. This city and its port had more than their fair share of serilis-rir and serilian-rir defenders, and just as Kaelariel said at the end of the Fifth Demon War, I fought beside people whose blood was red, silver, and black. We must always remain on our guard for treachery, but I try to remember it can come from your kind and my kind alike.”

  It was interesting to Erik to hear someone, especially a human, admit to such prejudices. Many people likely felt the same way Markus did; the beginning of that turning had happened about two centuries before, when Kaelariel led his loyal serilis-rir against Seril in the Fifth Demon War. But though some began to trust the serilis- and serilian-rir, many more were stuck in their ways and treated them all as demons. Though that had changed even more during the Apocalypse, there were still holdouts. At least in Erik’s case, being six-foot-ten and over three hundred pounds of muscle meant not many people treated him that way to his face.

  “He’s not what I’d expect from a half-corlyps, I’ll say that much,” Erik said.

  Markus chuckled and nodded his agreement. Soon, they reached the docks, and with only a word from the Earl, the captain ordered his crew to get them underway. Erik was glad for the noble’s authority, as it meant less arguing or debate with the captain and his crew. Once again, Erik offered to show the new arrivals to their hammocks and footlockers, and he and his siblings took their supper while they chatted lightly with their companions.

  Chapter VI – Family Rift

  Kari strode along the pockmarked path to her estate house, giving Ty a wide berth so he could more easily avoid the potholes with his wheelchair. She marveled at how fast things had gotten underway on her land: already there were stacks of lumber, bricks, and other supplies for building the row of flats for the workers, and still more carpenters and masons were gathering materials at the house itself. Repairs had only just gotten underway, so the place looked worse for the moment while the laborers pulled off damaged shingles, shutters, and doors. Kari could only imagine what it was going to look like in a few weeks.

  The workers in the fields looked up and waved politely to their new employer, and Kari waved back. She was used to having people under her command, but she had never owned anything substantial before in her life, and she reminded herself that these folks worked for her, and not with her. It was a different relationship dynamic, one she would have to explore over the coming months. Ty had already informed the workers that raises and living quarters were on the way, and it was no mystery, as Kari looked at them, that they were quite happy with her as their new employer.

  Kari’s mind moved on to other business. Eli, Danilynn, and Tor had apparently left the city without a whisper of their true mission circulating the campus. Kari had to leave certain parts of the plan completely in their hands, but they had served the Order well for years, and she was sure they would be able to manage. Kari hadn’t been able to contact Eryn, so they would be without her ranged support, but they were still a capable bunch, and that said nothing of the driver and guard Kari would select to meet them and escort the Se’sasha decoy. Now that Eli, Danilynn, and Tor were in place and Kari was reasonably sure their true whereabouts weren’t common knowledge, she could put the rest of the plan into motion.

  They reached the house, and a few carpenters asked Kari if she needed anything. She let them know that she and Ty were just looking around, and they returned to their work.
They were still drawing up plans and dividing up the labor, and just from listening for a few minutes, Kari could tell that Ty had found a capable foreman. Kari walked over and took a look at the plans the mostly human crew was going over, and though she tried to make sense of it, she really had no idea what she was looking at. The men tried to ignore her politely for a couple of minutes, but once they had their jobs detailed, the foreman turned and addressed Kari.

  “Good morning, ma’am, I’m John Schultz,” he said politely, and Kari shook his offered hand. “We’re still in the planning stages, but I have my men removing a lot of the old, damaged wood and beams so we can see what needs to be done. Typhonix said you might want to change the layout of the inside, though, so I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Change the layout?” Kari repeated. “Gods, I have no idea how to build a house.”

  Ty chuckled. “That doesn’t mean you don’t know what you want it to look like inside. This place had a couple of libraries, and the layout of the bedrooms was a little strange. I thought you might like to have Mr. Schultz and his men change things a bit so they’re more to your liking. Here…”

  Ty heaved himself up onto the corner of the table they had set up to hold the plans. It creaked in protest at first, and he lay to the side awkwardly, but he was better able to see the paperwork. “I thought you might like to change the layout of the upper floor, at least. You can put the master bedroom at this end here, for you and Grakin, and put the other bedrooms at the far end. You should just need one for mom, one for Little Gray, and maybe one for Erik if you don’t kick his ass to the street. Mine will be downstairs, as you can see on this diagram here.”

  Kari chuckled. “Why would I kick Erik to the street?”

  “Pfffft,” the blonde intoned, making the foreman and some of the nearby workers laugh. “If you don’t, he’ll end up living with you forever, and he’ll never find a woman.”

  Kari smiled and shook her head. She wondered what Typhonix would do on that issue now that his mobility was more limited; would he give up completely? Or would he try to find someone, perhaps with the hope that one day, he’d regain the use of his legs? She supposed that wasn’t really her business, and that she’d be a fool to try to make it so for more than one reason. She had enough things to worry about, including her family, without trying to play matchmaker or stress over who was dating and who wasn’t.

  “What’s this room here?” she asked, pointing to the space between the master bedroom and the next closest bedroom.

  “A private water closet for the master bedroom,” Mr. Schultz said.

  “A water closet?” Kari echoed.

  “An indoor outhouse just for you and Grakin,” Ty elaborated.

  Kari looked more closely, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it would have anything resembling the indoor plumbing the elestram had in certain places on Mehr’Durillia. The plans detailed a pretty amazing-looking house, with a large, open fireplace room that was perfect for reading and chatting on a cold day. There was still space for another reading room and library on the lower floor even with Ty’s room, plus an open kitchen, a large dining space, and some guest rooms. It was a bit like Kyrie’s house in its well-executed arrangement, but though it was bigger, it lacked the porch or the open gardens with the fruit trees the priestess had so enjoyed. Kari thought perhaps that could be the next project after the living space was restored.

  A messenger approached while she detailed those ideas to Typhonix and Mr. Schultz. He straightened up and saluted Kari when he reached her. “Ma’am, your presence is requested on the campus,” the young terra-rir cadet said.

  Kari nodded and turned to Ty. “Want to come with me?” she asked, hoping to make him feel included.

  “Sure,” he answered.

  Kari dismissed the cadet with the answer that she and Typhonix would be there shortly, and the young man ran off to do as ordered. Kari just hoped it wasn’t bad news of the sort that would mean she had to come up with a new plan to expose the mole. It was too soon for it to be any sort of news from the rest of the Silver Blades, so she wasn’t too worried about them yet. She simply tried to keep her thoughts calm and composed as she made her way slowly to the campus with Ty.

  They reached it after a little while and headed for the administrative building. “What the hell?” Ty blurted, drawing Kari’s attention to him first, but then she followed his gaze as he added, “Dad?”

  He was an impressive sight to behold for the first time, and from that initial glimpse, Kari could see where most of his children got their size and builds from. Corbanis Tesconis was what most would probably call a prime specimen of half-guardian: about six-foot-eight, by Kari’s best guess; muscular, but not outrageously so; he had short black hair on the top and sides to better accentuate the curving horns that started behind his brow and curled down and under his ears to his jawline, and long, silky hair in the back that was gathered into a tail. His eyes were like ice, reminding Kari a little of her friend Trigonh in their color and intensity, but they softened as soon as he saw Kari and his son.

  “Ma’am,” Corbanis said in a voice that was just as deep as Kari expected, and he saluted her. “Devil Slayer Corbanis Tesconis, reporting for duty as ordered.”

  Kari had to respect the discipline that made him all but ignore his son while he greeted and saluted her. At the same time, with all she had heard of the Tesconis family and its issues, she wondered if maybe that discipline was part of the problem. Kari saluted the elder hunter and then held out her hand. “At ease, hunter,” she said. “It’s good to meet you.”

  Corbanis shook Kari’s hand softly with a slight bow of his head, and only then did he turn to his youngest child. “Typhonix,” he said somewhat formally, but after a moment, Kari could see he wasn’t sure whether to try to hug his son while he was in a wheelchair. He settled for a handshake after that awkward moment, and asked, “What happened to you?”

  “Lost a fight with a demon prince,” Ty said casually.

  “So this isn’t temporary?” Corbanis asked, concern in both his voice and his features, despite his attempt to minimize both. When Ty shook his head, Corbanis tilted his and asked, “Are you planning to cut your hair?”

  Kari’s breath caught in her throat. Among rir warriors, long hair was a sign of how long they had gone without being bested in true combat. When they were defeated honorably in combat but not killed, they typically cut their hair short and let it grow out again if they kept from being defeated again. Typhonix hadn’t cut his hair, and no one had questioned whether he would or he wouldn’t. Kari didn’t much care either way; he was handsome with his hair long, and she wasn’t sure if he would like the way he looked with shorter hair. The fact that he was in a wheelchair also made cutting his hair unnecessary. That his father would ask him that so soon upon seeing him again after so many years apart struck Kari as quite rude and out of place.

  “Not unless I ever get out of this chair,” the blonde said. “Otherwise, why bother? I’m not a warrior anymore.”

  Corbanis nodded grimly. “And the priests of Tigron have been of little help?”

  “They did what they could,” Ty answered. “They said the damage is too extensive even for their healing arts, though. So, I’m trying to find other ways to make myself useful.”

  “Good, good,” Corbanis said a little more lightly. “Where are the rest of your siblings? I haven’t seen hide nor hair of you since the Apocalypse started. I had to ask around to even find out if you’d survived, but then I’d heard you stopped some invasion on Tsalbrin.”

  Ty glanced at Kari, so she answered. “I have Jol, Sonja, and Aeligos helping Erik track down a demon in the south that apparently killed Earl Marsdale and sacked one of his towns,” she said, and Corbanis’ eyes widened. “We still haven’t gotten a lot of information, but they’re gathering a few more allies on their way. Your wife seems to think it might be something called a Tilcimer.”

  There was a slight change in Corbanis’ expressio
n when Kari mentioned his wife, but it was hard for Kari to read what he was thinking. “A Tilcimer?” he repeated. “What makes her think it’s another Tilcimer?”

  Kari glanced around, suddenly acutely aware that they were speaking of internal matters out where anyone could hear them. She gestured toward the administrative building and went to open the door. Corbanis helped Ty up the steps, and then they all proceeded to Kari’s office. Corbanis’ large form drew the interest of most of the administrative workers, but he followed Kari to her office without speaking to anyone, and Ty wheeled in behind them. Once everyone was comfortable, Kari regarded the elder hunter.

  Corbanis was a decorated hunter, even for having spent much of the last dozen years and more wasting his time watching one of their allies. He had accomplished much in the years before he married and had children, and the rank of Devil Slayer was one few hunters achieved, even with a lifetime of service. Much of that had to do with serving before the Apocalypse, since troubles with the serilis-rir were more prevalent then, but to have survived enough encounters and battles with their enemies to reach that rank said a lot. The fact that he had no visible scars to speak of said even more than his rank.

  “I’m not sure why Kyrie thought of the Tilcimer right away,” Kari said at last, putting her feet up on the edge of the desk to soothe her swollen ankles. “All the information we’ve gotten so far points to this being something small, yet powerful enough to sack towns. And we’ve also been told that it – or they – burns towns to the ground after it’s sacked them. Kyrie seemed to think it sounded like what you dealt with before the War.”