by Rachel Aaron
She caught the Master’s kick right before it landed in her side. He stumbled and nearly fell. He caught his balance at once and stomped down as hard as he could on her fingers, but Nico did not let go.
“I know what you’re doing,” she said, turning her bruised face to stare at him. “You’re trying to intimidate me. To get me to surrender.”
“Get you to …” The Master thew back his head and laughed. “Why would I waste my time on someone so stupid? You need power to surrender. You have nothing.”
“No,” Nico said. “You forced me to awaken, but you didn’t beat me. I never surrendered my will. This is still my body.”
“So what?” the Master sneered. “You’re too far gone to go back now. You’ve eaten thousands of spirits. You nearly ate Josef and that horrible sword of his. Everyone’s seen what you are. There’s nothing for you out there. You belong here, with me. You’ve always belonged here. That life out there was a joke, a dream. Even if I’d done nothing, the end would have been the same.”
“No,” Nico said again. “Only if I’d let it. This is still my body, my soul.” Her crushed fingers tightened on the Master’s boot. “I am king here.”
She stood up in a fluid motion, throwing the Master back. He flickered in the air, landing perfectly several feet away, but the look on his face, the mix of rage and dis -belief, was as good as if he’d stumbled. Nico pushed herself up, wincing as her muscles protested. She ran her hands over her body, wishing she had enough light to see the damage.
The moment she wished it, light appeared. A beautiful shaft of yellow sunlight shot down from the air above her head, creating a wide circle around her. Nico looked at herself in the sudden brightness, examining her broken fingers and the bruises on her ribs and knees. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the bruises were gone. Her fingers were straight again, and the pain had vanished. She realized with a shock that it had never really been there to begin with. This was her soul, her world; everything that happened here, including pain, only happened because she allowed it.
She looked up at the Master. No, she scowled. Not Master, not anymore. The demon was looking at her cautiously now, circling just on the edge of the sunlight. Now that she had light on her side, she could see the thing behind his human form. A great, black shape lurking in the dark with a mouthful of jagged, glistening teeth.
Fear began to creep in and Nico tore her eyes away from the demon’s true self, forcing herself to focus on his human face as she said the two words she’d wanted to say her whole life.
“Get out.”
“Ah.” The demon chuckled. “You think that now that you’ve had a little revelation about the nature of the soul you can do the impossible? Sorry, princess, it doesn’t go that way. This might be your soul, but you’re still a demonseed. So long as there’s a piece of me in your body, you can’t kick me out.”
Nico narrowed her eyes. “You always lie. Why should I trust you now?”
The demon crossed his arms and gave her a sly smile. “If it were that easy, Nivel would have been free of me her first year. She was much smarter than you, and more determined. She had something to go home to. What have you got? Eli? Josef? You think they’ll take you back after what you did?”
“I don’t know,” Nico said. “But I’m going to let them decide that. You don’t get to say anything anymore.”
“Don’t I?” the demon said with a smirk. “Just because you know the rules of the fight doesn’t mean it gets any easier. You’re still the Daughter of the Dead Mountain. My mountain, my daughter. Your powers are my powers, and the more you use them, the stronger my presence becomes. You may have retaken control today, but you will never, ever be free of me.”
“Then I’ll have to live with you in a way I can handle,” Nico said.
She closed her eyes and pictured what she wanted. When she opened them, everything was just as she’d imagined. She was standing in a wide-open field, like the ones around Home. Noon sunlight blasted down from the clear blue sky, banishing every shadow, except for one. In front of her, the demon stood in a pit. The pit alone was still black, shaded from the sun by the boulder balanced on its end above it.
The demon stood at the edge of the light, staring up at her with a smug smile. “You can’t lock me away forever, Nico. The moment you are weak, the moment your control wavers, I’ll be back. And you will be weak. The longer we fight, the stronger I’ll become, while your power will only diminish. No matter how hard you struggle or for how long, the end will be the same. After all, you’re just a human. I, on the other hand, have all the time in the world. Sooner or later, you’ll be just like Nivel, alone and helpless in the dark. When that happens, I’ll be there, and you will crawl on your knees begging for what you just threw away.”
“That may be,” Nico said. “But Nivel died with her soul intact.” She reached out and put her hand on the boulder. “And so will I.”
With that, she gave the boulder a push. It rolled sideways with a slow scrape and fell into the pit. The demon kept eye contact the entire time, smiling even as the boulder came down.
See you soon.
Then the boulder landed with a solid thunk, cutting him off completely.
Nico closed her eyes, feeling the warm sunlight on her skin, the wind against her bare shoulders, listening to the perfect silence of her world without the demon. She stood like that for a long moment, drinking it in. Then, with a deep breath, she turned her back on the boulder and began to walk across the plains, back toward the real world and the people who were waiting there for her, for good or ill.
CHAPTER
22
Time’s almost up,” Alric said.
Eli nodded, but didn’t say anything. It had been four minutes since he’d shouted at the demon, and about two minutes since it had suddenly stopped moving. Now it was just standing there, staring stupidly at the sky with its hundreds of horrible eyes while its wings flapped slowly. Eli wasn’t sure if this was a good development or a bad one in the long term, but at least it wasn’t screaming anymore.
“Time,” Alric said. “All right, Monpress, do it. Call the Shepherdess.”
“No need,” the Heart rumbled. “Look.”
Eli and Alric both stepped backward as the demon, now grown twice as tall as even the tallest tree, began to dissolve. The hideous body broke apart, collapsing like a dried-out sandcastle to the destroyed forest floor. The darkness became simple black as the glowing eyes winked out one by one. Once it began to fall apart, the demon was gone in less than a minute, and everywhere it had touched, the valley began to grow back. A great torrent of dirt filled the sundered ground. Broken rocks repaired themselves, and though the toppled trees could not be righted again, new growth instantly began to spring up from the felled trunks.
The last to dissolve was the demon’s head. It fell with a shudder, the jagged teeth breaking free before dissolving like everything else until only one part remained. Nico landed gently on the new grass where the demon had been standing only moments before. She was naked, but something moved to cover her as Eli watched, snaking over her body so quickly his eyes could barely keep up. It had covered half of her before he realized it was her coat stitching itself back together.
He started to laugh and ran to her, dropping to the ground just as she opened her eyes, which were no longer even slightly yellow, but a deep, deep brown.
She stared at him, confused. “Is Josef okay?”
“Yes,” Eli said, grabbing her hand. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Nico answered, smiling. “More than okay.”
“So I see,” Eli said. “You’ll have to tell us how you did it later. Right now, it’s time to collect. You just won a very nice bet for me.”
Nico frowned. “I did?”
Eli just grinned and stood up, turning to Alric, who was still walking over.
“Well,” Eli said, “I believe I just saved your bacon.”
“What?” Alric stopped and crossed his arm
s. “You put all of our lives on the line for a long shot and I’m supposed to fall over myself thanking you?”
“I never said anything about a thank-you,” Eli said. “I’m a thief, remember? I can’t use thank-yous. No, we made a deal, Alric, Mr. Deputy Commander. I held up my end, but we never set down what you would pay if I won.”
Alric gave him a dirty look. “And an uneaten world is not payment enough?”
“Of course not,” Eli said. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“Look,” Alric said. “I don’t think—”
Eli rolled over him. “There’s also the little matter of you threatening to kill me earlier. Considering you’re not even supposed to go near me, I think you should be more open to bargaining.”
Alric started to say something, then he looked away. “What do you want?”
“Oh,” Eli said, “just a tiny favor. Itsy-bitsy, won’t take but ten minutes of your time.”
“What?” Alric said, glowering.
Eli grinned from ear to ear and began to lay out his plan. By the time he was finished, Alric was ready to revisit the option of killing him.
Miranda sat on the edge of a broken building with Gin’s head in her lap. She kept her mind perfectly blank, letting her calm be an anchor for her terrified spirits. The demon had stopped screaming ten minutes ago, but it took longer than that to bring her spirits out of their panic after something like this. Deep inside, however, Miranda couldn’t help shuddering. She could still see the thing in her mind’s eye, the hideous wings reaching up to claw the sky. If that’s what it had looked like to her blind human eyes, she dreaded to think what her spirits had seen.
She had heard horrible stories of demons all her life, but not even in the most terrifying had there been anything like what she’d seen today. How could something like that even exist? Wasn’t the League supposed to keep this sort of thing from happening?
When her spirits were finally calm again, Miranda opened her eyes. The League men were moving around her, putting things back together, just as they had in Mellinor. They worked in pairs, walking down the destroyed streets putting buildings back together with a few hushed words and a wave of their hands. Slorn was still down in the crater working on Nivel’s seed with a pair of League men standing guard over him. Alric, however, was conspicuously absent. That bothered Miranda, but the League men didn’t seem worried. Maybe he was still dealing with the other demon? She bit her lip. That seemed like a lot for one man to handle. She looked north, studying the trees where the enormous creature had been scarcely an hour ago. The forest was deathly still now, but she could still see the monster’s shape above the trees, an aftervision burned into her eyes even when she closed them. Miranda sighed. She’d just have to deal with it for now. Things like this took time to fade away.
Anxious to be moving, Miranda left Gin where he was and walked over toward Slorn. The bear-headed man was handing the seed to the League men, who took it with gloved hands. One of them made one of their cuts in reality while the other put the seed in a black sack. When it was secure, they stepped through the portal, vanishing instantly. Slorn watched the space where they had been, his face distant as Miranda walked up to him.
“Did they make you give it up?” she asked.
“They would have,” Slorn answered. “But I handed the seed over of my own volition. I had learned all I could hope to learn from it.” He looked up, staring off at the snowcapped mountains. “That thing was never a part of my wife,” he said quietly. “Nivel’s soul has already been reborn. All I can do now is work to make this world a place that is worthy of her.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sealed letter. It was quite fat, several pages, and sealed with a large smear of wax. Slorn hefted it in his hand, and then tossed it high into the air. It spun a few times, and then took off like a bird, soaring through the air south and a little east.
Miranda whistled, impressed. “What was that?”
“A letter for my daughter,” Slorn said. “Explaining where I went and why I’m not coming home. I’m not sure where she is, but the letter will find her sooner or later. Preferably later. I don’t want her trying to follow me.”
Miranda frowned. “You’re not going home?”
“No,” Slorn said, walking past her toward his wagon. “I stayed in isolation for Nivel. Now that she’s gone, there is much for me to do. The world is changing, Spiritualist, and not for the better. A great demon eats an entire forest and the Shepherdess doesn’t even send the Lord of Storms to deal with it.” Slorn snorted as he pushed his spent cannon under the now dry and empty barrels. “I’ve dedicated ten years of my life to studying demonseeds, and yet the League has never asked for my findings, nor welcomed them when I forced the subject. Their Shepherdess has no interest in how to make things better. She only cares to keep things as they are, even as her world crumbles around her. So I’m taking my work to someone who will care.”
“Who?” Miranda said.
“The Shaper Mountain,” Slorn said, climbing into the wagon seat.
Miranda’s eyes widened. She’d heard stories about the awakened mountain, but she’d never been there. No one had, except Shaper wizards. It was rumored they knew more about spirits than anyone, and if Slorn was an example, she believed it.
“Take me with you,” she said.
He looked down at her, confused. “Why do you want to go?”
“Because I hate working for the Council with jerks like Sparrow,” she said. “Because I’m sick of going back to Zarin empty-handed, and because I’m sworn to protect the Spirit World.” She looked north again, tracing the outline of the demon that was still burned into her eyes. “After this afternoon, catching Eli Monpress to save the Spirit Court’s pride feels almost petty.” She turned back to Slorn. “Let’s just say my priorities have taken a pretty significant shift in the right direction. If you’re taking your knowledge of demonseeds to the Shapers to make sure things like that don’t happen again, then I’m going with you.”
Slorn leaned back. “And what of your orders? What about Sara and the Council?”
Miranda rolled her eyes. “The Council can choke on its paperwork for all I care, and Sara can go back to her menagerie. The only command I follow is Master Banage’s, and he would tell me to go.”
Slorn smiled, showing his sharp, yellow teeth. “Yes, I believe he would. Very well, you can come if you like. I warn you, we’ll be moving quickly over hard terrain. I hope you’re ready.”
“Travel we can do,” Miranda said. “Just say the word.”
Slorn’s spider-legged wagon stood up with a creak, and he turned it back toward the cliff where his other wagon waited. Gin was already up by the time Miranda reached him, his long body pulled in a great bowing stretch.
“So we’re tossing our lot in with the bear,” he said. “Good. I like him much better than the idiot bird.”
“Glad you feel that way,” Miranda said, jumping onto his back. “Because we’re in deep now.”
“Like we ever do anything halfway.” Gin snorted.
Miranda gave him a friendly kick, and he bounded forward, hopping over the destroyed city after Slorn.
“There they go,” Tesset said, watching the ghosthound through a hole in the wreckage.
“You see?” Sparrow said. “I told you she would turn traitor.”
Tesset looked over his shoulder, but Sparrow wasn’t talking to him. He was talking to the ball of blue glowing glass in his palm.
“She is Banage’s little pet.” Sara’s voice pulsed through the orb. “I’d hardly expect her to do otherwise.”
“Well, what do you want us to do about it?” Sparrow said. “Eli’s gone, the Heart is gone, and now Slorn’s off to who knows where. Even if the Spiritualist hadn’t run off, this whole bloody mission would still be a disaster. I say we cut our losses and head back to Zarin before Izo finds us and sends our skins to Whitefall’s office as a warning.”
There was a huff over t
he orb that Tesset recognized as Sara blowing a stream of smoke into the air. “There’s no call for such drama,” she said. “And there’s no call for scrapping the mission. Honestly, you just got up there. Coming back now would be a waste. I want to know what Slorn is up to and what kind of mission he found to inspire Banage’s girl wonder. Follow them.”
“Sara!” Sparrow cried.
“Do it,” she snapped. “I’m cutting off now. Whitefall just sent a page. I have to go to some sort of emergency meeting in ten minutes and it will take me at least that long to get up to the hearing room. I’ll check in tomorrow to see how you’re doing, and I don’t want to hear any complaints, Sparrow. Don’t forget, there’s still a nice-sized bounty on your head I could turn in to Whitefall any time I like, and they don’t hand out prison sentences for what you’ve done.”
“How could I forget,” Sparrow grumbled, but the orb had already gone dim. He glared at it for a moment more and then shoved the Relay into the pocket of his ruined silk jacket. “Well, isn’t this just lovely?”
“It is,” Tesset said. “It’s been awhile since I had a good old-fashioned hunt.”
Sparrow harrumphed and ran his fingers through his dusty hair.
Tesset watched him, frowning. “Why didn’t you tell her about the demons?”
“Because I’m trying to get out of here, remember?” Sparrow said. “If I’d told her, she would have asked us to investigate that as well, and I’d rather her hand me to the bounty office on a platter than go anywhere near that place.”
“She’ll find out,” Tesset said. “And she’s going to be mad.”
“We’ll worry about that when it comes,” Sparrow said, giving up on trying to tame the dusty mess on his head. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
Tesset nodded and followed him out of the maze of broken buildings. He was grinning. A hunt, and a fine quarry too. Just what he needed to combat the city softness he’d been sinking into. He needed something to push him forward, because he wasn’t getting any younger. Somewhere out there, Den was waiting for him. When they met again, Tesset knew he would have only one chance to show his master that his lesson had been well learned. He had to be ready.