“Show me where,” Balderon said. As he walked, he noted the large amounts of magical residue about the room. “Your assailant, or at least one of them, was definitely demonic,” he said. “Furthermore, someone dealt it a nasty blow. It was dumping a lot of raw energy. The floor here is covered with mana particles.”
“Mana particles?” Landir asked.
“The components of magic, more or less. It is hard to explain to a novice. Think of it this way. Just as mundane fire leaves behind smoke and ash, magical fire leaves behind magical smoke and ash. From the amounts of energy, this being was a fairly powerful demon. But someone stabbed him right in his balon gland, because there are huge amounts of raw energy, right here where the floor is covered with ichor.” He smeared the ichor with his boot.
They reached the place where Clyne indicated Hawkblood had left from. Balderon concentrated and extended his consciousness into the area around the gate. He pumped energy into a spell, pushing his consciousness into the ethereal plane. There, he looked for the telltale trail that a gate left behind when it cut through. Although it was fading, it was still quite detectable.
He followed the trail to its terminus and then magically pushed his consciousness back into the primal plane. He found himself in a small closet near the front of the castle. As the closet was full of religious supplies, he figured it to be located in the ecclesiastical portion of the castle.
He could see the floor there was also covered with mana particles. The door to the closet was open to he followed the mana trail through the doorway and into the hall. There was a commotion nearby and he followed the sounds. He reached the ecclesiastical entrance and could see people rushing outside. But he was unable to see what it was they were running towards. A magical barrier cut off the outside of the castle from his consciousness. Balderon knew he could pierce the barrier, for he himself had constructed it, but he also knew that doing so would unravel it. He retracted his consciousness back into his body.
“Our assailant gated back towards the ecclesiastical entrance. There appears to be some commotion just outside, but I could not see it directly. The castle protections prevent it,” Balderon informed the others in the room.
“Sir,” the young mage spoke. “I just received word from Vanier. He says the assailant has been slain. They will bring him here shortly.”
Cheering erupted throughout the room.
Balderon examined the remnants of the magical portal closely. “It appears the magical wound affected the demon’s gate,” Balderon explained. “The remnants indicate it decayed much slower than normal. It must have lasted five or ten seconds at least.” He continued to probe the gate until he was interrupted from his examinations.
“My lord,” Clyne said to Balderon. “Perhaps you can help me make some determination. It appears from the battle that the assailant first attacked and slew the guards at the door. Then it appears he attacked the Urigrave next, however, we were puzzled as to why no one intervened. Of course, your telling us it was a demon answers it, but I was wondering if you would confirm it.”
They walked around the table back to where the emperor lay unmoving on the floor. Balderon stroked Rashel on the head as he stood over her. She reached up and squeezed his hand. “Space was definitely folded here,” Balderon said. “From the direction of the door.”
“Now it makes more sense,” Clyne said. “He slew the two guards by surprise, then transported to the Urigrave, who was caught by surprise by the demon. What I want to know is how the demon got in here without anyone detecting it.”
“That’s a very good question,” Balderon said. “However, from what I can tell of the room, it was done mundanely. Meaning, he walked in. I detected no breach of the castle’s protections earlier, and furthermore, there are only two gates entering or leaving this room. One is the demon’s escape. The second is my entrance. So it appears he merely walked in.”
“Batine had told me that an impostor was masquerading as Guardsman Hawkblood. Could that impostor have been the demon?” Clyne asked.
“Very possibly. It would explain a lot of the magical residue around here.” Balderon walked over and examined a portion of the floor. “Demons exude energy when they enter blood lust. As a result, they often leave magical footprints behind. The ones by their door are very faint. Those leaving the emperor, stronger. And the strongest are by the far side of the room. It generally does not take that long for a demon to reach full blood lust. So the only explanation I can think of for the increasing intensity is that the demon was not originally in its own form. As it went, and continued to revert to its natural form, the residues would become more intense.”
Balderon began to walk around the room. “It appears that after slaying the emperor, or at least thinking it had done so, it folded space to the far end of the table.” He paused as he followed the fold in space. “Presumably to slay this baron. It battled here and then folded space back here to slay these two guards. At some point it unleashed an energy bolt to kill that baron and his two retainers, and then moved over here.” Balderon stopped his tracing of the room. “It is a shame I must refer to them by ‘this baron’ or ‘that baron’ but I must confess I do not know their names. I have always disliked politics and left that to my good friend.”
He walked to the far end of the table and continued scanning the room. “It then folded space to the corner to slay the baron there. Or possibly the other way around – I’m not positive. The folds are already fading. It was involved in some combat here, and then folded space over to the middle of the room. There it unleashed an energy bolt and that’s when someone put a hole in its balon gland.
“Look,” he said, even though no one else could see what he was seeing. “There’s residue from Bracconius’ blade here. Whoever stabbed it used the emperor’s blade.” He traced a pattern on the floor and then followed the line he had drawn. “It looks like it used telekinesis to push someone across the room and then fired a bolt at him, but I don’t see anyone over there.” He walked over to that area. “This is interesting,” he mumbled.
When he didn’t continue, Landir prompted him. “What’s interesting?”
“There’s Nekron energy here,” Balderon answered.
“What’s Nekron energy?” Clyne asked.
“Nekrons, Death Children, the offspring of Nekros,” Balderon explained.
“There was a Death Child here, too?” Landir asked.
“Not necessarily. The energy can be harnessed in magical items. The device that has kept the emperor alive uses it in fact.”
“Could it be from the emperor?” Landir asked.”
“No. Wrong signature. This was some sort of protection field that warded off the demon’s energy bolt.” Balderon scanned the room. “And no one here is wearing anything that could be the source.”
The door opened and four guards entered carrying a large board with a shroud covered body upon it. The end of a guardsman’s cape could be seen hanging down just below the edge of the shroud. They set the board down on the floor and Balderon walked over to it.
Chapter Nineteen
Esselles experienced an odd sensation and a quick, bitter chill upon passing through the magical portal. His sense of balance and location were thrown horribly awry and he had trouble standing.
Once Esselles regained his balance, he hurried out of the closet the portal had led to. He looked about to try to guess which way the demon went, and then heard a commotion to his left. He raced in that direction and found the entrance hall, filled with people. At the far side, the demon was leveling the guards with blasts of energy.
“Coming through!” Esselles shouted. “Guardsman. Move aside!”
The crowd for the most part separated, but some were too stunned to move. These he either dodged or bowled over.
The demon leapt onto the back of a guard and tackled him to the ground. Another guard rushed it and it fired an energy bolt at him, but Esselles noticed its intensity was greatly diminished from the one that was f
ired at him. He mentally projected through the link, I see you are weakening.
How did you get here? the demon shot back, looking in Esselles’ direction as it did so.
I have a few tricks up my sleeves, Esselles replied, closing in on the demon.
One of the last remaining guards plunged a sword into the distracted demon. The demon looked at the sword and instead of removing it, smashed it with its hand, snapping the blade in two. The guard stood stunned. The demon reached out and ripped out his throat.
It threw the bar off the doors and pushed them open. Before it left, it raised an arm and pointed at a child, unleashing a blast of energy that enveloped the young girl. That one’s for you, it said through the mental link.
The demon stepped through the barrier. Guards outside closed in on it, but it folded space to the far side of the compound. Esselles charged out the doors into the bright sun. He looked about the grounds and spotted the demon, crouched down near a wagon. Esselles began sprinting in that direction.
As Esselles raced across the grounds, he could see a small black spot forming in the air in front of the demon. However, this time, the circle grew much more slowly.
Someone stepped out from the wagon and turned toward the demon. “What the?” was all the person had time to say. The demon jumped and tackled him to the ground. It used its claws to slice open the man’s stomach and turned back towards its slowly growing portal.
The demon’s head whirled in Esselles’ direction. Another time, it said mentally. It turned to step through the portal only to find a guard had stepped between the demon and its portal. The demon struck the guard with a vicious blow on the side of his head, sending him flying in a spray of blood.
But the delay was long enough to allow Esselles to reach the demon. He tackled the demon away from the portal. It clawed at him and tore open his biceps. Esselles quickly disengaged and held the enchanted sword in front of him.
The demon paused, looking first at Esselles, then at the portal. It raised an arm and unleashed a bolt at Esselles’ chest. But the opalescence shielded him totally from the weakened bolt. The demon took two strides to jump through the gate, but Esselles stepped and swung, hitting the demon in the shoulder and driving him into the ground.
He jumped forward and plunged the sword deep into the demon’s chest, twisting it around as he did so. Blue sparks cascaded up and down the length of the blade and white bolts of energy sizzled from the wound, now freely flowing with green ichor.
The demon clutched at the sword and tried to free itself, but the blue sparks burnt into its hands and its hands began to constrict. Green ichor dripped from its mouth and even more poured from the wound in its stomach. It fell backwards, still clutching at the sword, but the malice was gone from its eyes. They were now just vacant, glassy orbs.
“And that one’s for you,” he said to the lifeless demon.
A cheer went up from the crowd and Esselles looked around him. He pulled the sword out of the wound, and then got a strange vision of himself doing so. The tingle in his brain was back and he scanned the crowd to look for Renamir, but could not find him anywhere. Yet, he could feel Renamir’s hatred and if was definitely close and moving closer. Then he noted a vague disturbance in the air in front of him. He’s invisible! he exclaimed mentally.
That’s right my friend, Renamir answered back. It was so nice of you to help us out so. We didn’t know how we would deal with the demon when this was over. You’ve taken care of that. You’ve also taken the blame for killing the emperor. We’d like to thank you for that as well.
Esselles then got a strange mental image of himself, except that right in front of him was a black, circular hole. It took him a second to realize he was seeing what Renamir was concentrating upon. He also realized Renamir was exerting energy to keep the gate open and was about to dive through.
Esselles rushed forward to intercept him.
Too late, Renamir said and then was gone.
I must be crazy to be doing this twice in one day, he thought as he dove through the closing portal.
*
Balderon, Landir, and Rigalli approached the body. Balderon bent over and removed the shroud, closely examining the form underneath. The body was a hideously mutated human form. Its jaw was three times too large and extended well forward. There was about half again as many teeth as there should have been and twice as large as well. Its arms were much too long and ended in oversized hands with large claws. Its back was so overdeveloped that it was breaking out of the guardsman uniform and armor. In addition to being mutated, the body was somewhat mutilated as well. Some wounds had bled red blood while others were flowing green. The fatal cut appeared to be a large, gaping wound just below the rib cage.
“This confirms our suspicions,” Balderon said. “Someone went through great lengths to transform this demon into human form.”
Landir reached forward and ripped the badge off the uniform. “Esselles Hawkblood, Fifth Division, Second Squad,” he read aloud.
“So it was the demon we saw leaving the room?” Clyne asked.
“I don’t think so,” Landir said. “Hawkblood wasn’t in a dress uniform. Nor was he malformed like this. Could this have all happened since leaving the room?”
“I doubt it,” Balderon said. “The indications in the room are that he began reverting shortly after killing the two guards. A demon’s body naturally heals itself. And the more its energy is flowing, the faster it heals. It must have been regenerating its tissues damaged and changed by the spell.”
“Excuse me, sir,” one of the guards interrupted.
“What is it?” Landir asked.
“This demon was slain by a guardsman in a standard guard uniform. He chased it down and ran it through.”
“Where is that guardsman?” Landir asked.
“We don’t know, sir. He dove through the air and disappeared.”
“Again?!” Clyne exclaimed.
“Where did this occur?” Balderon asked, jumping to his feet.
“Right outside the ecclesiastical entrance. I can show you.”
“Come with me,” Balderon said. He opened a portal to the entrance hall and stepped through, taking the guard with him.
“He’s coming to!” Rashel called out.
Everyone in the room rushed over to the emperor’s side.
“His eyes fluttered,” she said to the amassed crowd. “I think the medallion has released its stasis.”
Slowly, the emperor’s chest began to rise and fall. His eyes darted around under their lids and his hands twitched occasionally. After about a minute, his eyes opened up. “Water,” he said through a parched throat.
Landir jumped up and grabbed a pitcher of water off the table, pouring a goblet for the emperor. He handed it to Rashel, who helped him drink. After he swallowed the entire goblet’s worth, he tried to sit up. Rashel assisted him, then handed him another goblet of water.
“Well, I’ve got to hand it to Balderon,” he said. “This crazy medallion of his did the trick.” He started to laugh, but ended up coughing instead. Rashel handed him more water to help with his coughing. “Now he just has to figure out some way to keep me from being so damn thirsty.”
“It is good to see you alive, my lord,” Landir said.
“It is good to be alive, my friend,” Bracconius said. “I haven’t been this close to death since my battle with Malustreure.” He stroked his daughter’s cheek. “And I had just as beautiful a face to greet me then as well. Speaking of which, where is your mother? I can’t imagine how you could have kept her out of here.”
Landir coughed in embarrassment. “By not informing her,” he said quietly.
“What?” Bracconius asked with a laugh.
“There are over five thousand guests and guards in the castle right now. News of the emperor’s apparent death would have caused quite a panic. As your wife was entertaining nobles in the Great Hall, we did not see how we could get word to her without alerting others. Everyone know
s there was a third order alert, but that’s about it. And it has already been dropped to a first order.”
“I suppose it is best,” Bracconius agreed. “However, my old friend, you are going to have to answer to her when she demands to know why she was not informed.”
“Yes, sir,” Landir answered. “I’ve had worse duties,” he said with a smile. “Maybe not as tough, but a whole lot worse.”
Bracconius looked about the room and the smile on his face disappeared. “Did any survive?” he asked.
“I am afraid not, my lord,” Clyne told him. “They were all slain by the time we arrived. Just one guardsman was alive, and he followed the demon through its magical portal.”
“Which guardsman?” Bracconius asked.
“Esselles Hawkblood,” Landir informed him.
“Are you sure it was him? The demon was in his form. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it was a demon until it popped right in front of me. Bastard got his sword in me before I could fully draw mine. But I managed to disarm him by holding on to it.”
“We are fairly certain it was him,” Landir said. “He was not in his royal dress uniform and was standing there with your sword.”
“So it was definitely a demon that attacked you and not Esselles?” Rashel asked.
“Yes. I’ve fought enough of them to know one when it stands in front of me. Too bad it hadn’t gotten closer to me before the combat ensued. But he was guarding Baron Toliver, the last one to the meeting. Toliver had just sat down when it slew the two guards at the door. The other guards moved to intercept when suddenly, it was right in front of me. Needless to say, none of us were expecting it.”
“So where was Hawkblood during all of this?” Landir asked.
“He was outside in the garden, heading this way,” Clyne said. “But I don’t know how he got to be there.”
“I think I might be able to reconstruct that,” Vanier said as he entered the room. He walked over to the group and pulled up a chair near the table. He was an elderly man with long gray hair that he wore tied back in a ponytail.
Demonified (Hawkblood Chronicles Book 1) Page 21