by Hickory Mack
The sun was rising when Alice reached the foot of the mountain, a cold stream ran to the left of her, the sky a beautiful pink, the landscape green and fertile. Weary and exhausted she began the climb, worried about the reception he’d give her now that she was so certain she was nearly there. Ahead of her was a double archway with the edges pointing skyward. It was painted white and constructed of large beams of wood with a rope extending from the middle, strips of paper with writing on them hung at intervals from the rope.
Alice crouched down, carefully inspecting a handful of tiny stone houses, nubby candles burning within. She refrained from touching them but was intensely curious about what they were. They drew her in, inviting her touch. Alice stretched her fingers toward the flame, stopping when she felt the heat, blinking hard she yanked her hand away. The head of a white snake peeked around the candle, flicking its tongue at her. Alice gave a little shriek.
“Sorry for disturbing you!” she yelped and walked under the archway. Everything was different on the other side. The air was clear, and for the first time in the forest she heard birdsong. Alice felt welcomed and comforted. There were no signs, nobody had to tell her, she just knew. This was the inner sanctum of his territories.
Chapter 6
Makkai stood in the middle of the lower falls, letting the rushing water pour over him, welcoming the sensations it brought him. The pounding water, the breath-stealing cold, the deafening roar of a river falling twenty feet to the pool below. His pointed ears lay flat against his head, protecting against the spray. Once he had stayed under the pulsing falls for three days straight, meditating and forgetting his isolation.
After the child’s intrusion, he'd regretted sending her away. She'd disturbed him so deeply it had taken every ounce of willpower not to go fetch her back. The frustration had left him with the unsettling desire to either work his way through every woman in every brothel he could find or destroy an entire nest’s worth of humans and hunters. He’d wanted to use them to blow off some steam, but neither offered the solution he needed.
The child had stayed on his mind for too long. He’d pitied the little thing and was angry on her behalf. Two days after he’d sent her away his thoughts had still been plagued by the bruises, the slices in her skin, the hollows under her eyes. It was driving him to violence. He’d almost struck an innocent member of his household that chanced to interrupt his brooding.
Disgusted with himself he’d sent out a call to the lesser demons in the area. A distraction. Females of every flavor responded, coming to offer their services. One of his men narrowed them down to an even dozen and Makkai had selected three. Each had their own type of beauty, and all of them were too far removed from him to be physically compatible, biologically incapable of bearing his offspring or sealing a mating bond. Which made them safe choices for playmates. Most importantly, none of them bore any resemblance to the child.
He’d taken the rabbit first. She was the prettiest and the softest, with smoke gray eyes. When he called she came to him willingly, trembling with excitement. She was young but like the others she knew how coupling with a fox was likely to end. They started with indulgent feasts and long nights of passion, and ended in a frantic chase through the forest, a fox and a hare.
He took sustenance from her, devoured her flesh and absorbed her gentle strength. Some demons were easily swayed by the immense pleasure of that transfer. They became addicted, eventually killing and eating mass numbers of lesser demons, accumulating power until they were eventually overwhelmed. The power they took would end up ripping them apart from the inside out.
Makkai was not like those weaklings. He had unknown potential still locked away inside, his body could withstand absorbing the power of a hundred lessers in a single night and still be ready for more. Addiction was not something he need fear.
The other two women spent that week in luxury. Makkai’s people catered to their every whim and nobody talked about the women’s willingness to die at the hands of their Lord. They were pampered and treated as honored guests, necessary sacrifices to calm Makkai’s sudden rage, a rage he explained to no one.
The next he called upon was the doe. Sloe eyed and lusty, she came to him just as willingly as the rabbit. Sweet and warm, she was expressive and open with her thoughts and her laughter came freely. Makkai had lost his head over her too quickly, she only lasted four days in his company. She drove him to the brink until he had to consume her. The hunt, from start to finish, had been exhilarating. She was fast, and smart and her hooves hit hard when he finally caught up to her. She’d given him a good fight.
When he returned that night, glutted on power and sex, he took the last to his bed, ready for more, the week and a half he’d already spent on lust and blood only fueling his need.
She was a match for him, this final woman. He’d left her for last knowing she would be most likely to satiate his desire. A ferret, her human form was tall and curvy, and she had a long bushy tail and small folded ears. Her animal form was six times the size of a normal ferret. She was not a soft, willing playmate. She was teeth and claws and sharp, knowing eyes, giving as much as she got.
Their passion had lasted another week and a half, and he was ready. Tonight was the night he would bury himself inside of her for the last time, and the hunt would begin. She sensed it as much as he did, and she was ready. If she got away, she’d make some ferret a fine consort. If he caught her, she would quench the fire in his belly.
Lost as he was in his musings, a niggling, nagging warning slowly tugged him back into reality. He didn’t recognize it at first, his mind moving lazily in the haze of meditation to examine what it was that felt off. Makkai figured it out and his mind focused dagger sharp. His wards had been crossed. Someone had passed through the heart of his territory. In all the years since he’d been banished here, not one creature had found it without his direct invitation, let alone managed to enter without permission.
He stood and stepped down from his boulder into the ten-foot-deep pool and swam out to the middle. Floating for a moment he took a deep breath and smelled nothing, the slight breeze carried no scent. He saw nothing out of place, though he was admittedly at a low vantage point. Listening to the trees his suspicion grew, they were uncharacteristically quiet. Trees were simple organisms, but whatever this was, they were hiding it from him.
His ears swiveled forward then lay flat against his head. Whomever it was, they were loud and walking clumsily enough to be, decidedly, a non threat. He couldn’t believe it was a coincidence, twice in such a short amount of time. His brow furrowed in irritated concentration. He still couldn’t see or even smell her. Until suddenly he could, and she was so much closer than he’d expected.
“E-excuse me, Mister?” she called out. Her voice was tentative, frightened. Familiar.
“This cannot be happening,” Makkai muttered with an annoyed moan he couldn’t hold back. He swam across the pool to a place he could touch the bottom. Makkai was in waist deep water, hair flowing all around him, when she finally spotted him.
They both froze, studying one another. His thoughts of eating the child were once again interrupted by the state of her. He’d sent her back to her people in rough shape, yes, but not like this. Makkai was openly glaring at her, and the silly creature breathed out a sigh of relief and ran toward him!
“Tch,” he frowned, his ears flattening. She ran to the edge of the pool, then stopped to breathe, folded over, her hands on her knees, but her blue-gray eyes looked into his black ones boldly. The threat he’d been about to utter died on his lips. She looked even worse up close and each breath she took was marked by a wheezing whistle of air. The girl slid to the ground, panting, her eyes round circles. Something else had changed, he could see it in those stormy eyes. The kid looked close to death, but this time, she had not come to die. In fact, she seemed happy to see him.
“I thought I threatened you,” he growled. She nodded.
“You did,” she agreed, breathless. “I fou
nd you.”
“Congratulations,” Makkai said dryly. The girl looked to her left and nodded. His brow knitted together in confusion, she saw something there and he didn’t sense anything.
“I’m sorry, Mister, for intruding. They let me go last night and I’ve been running here since. I had to warn you, it’s important and it couldn’t wait,” Alice panted. His tails twitched irritably under the water and his expression went blank. Her nest was slightly more than fifty miles away, it wasn’t possible for her to have run that distance in a single night, not in her condition. Something was off, but there was no lie in her. She believed what she said to be true.
“It’s Mister now, is it? At least last we met you had courtesy enough to use ‘Sir’. I’m a Lord, little waif, show proper respect for your betters,” he commanded. “How did you get through my forest?”
“I needed to. I told the tree you were in danger, and it was important I tell you what I know. It listened. The forest opened a path for me,” Alice said, looking at the unseen once more. He curled a lip, looking beyond her to the trees. The forest had magic and a mind of its own. It had acted to bring the girl here.
“I believe you, trees can be made to believe anything, but they should not have disobeyed my wishes. Speak your warning. After which I will send you back to your seedy little hovel. This time, child, you will stay there,” Makkai said. He would get the forest’s spirit involved if that’s what it took to keep the child out.
“You- you sent me to the wrong place,” she paused a second then tacked on, “Lord, Sir. It was a lot different than home. They knew things, like how to use the witches to cast a wall within the barrier. They caught me, wanted to know how I’d gotten in,” she touched the half-healed gash on her forehead and his eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“Before it was children doing these things. The adults of your kind did this?” he inquired, motioning at her from head to foot. The child nodded. “Why?”
“Because they said I reeked of demon, and they wanted to know why. At first they thought I was one,” Alice said, her cheeks coloring, she looked at the ground. “Dr. Pax said you marked me, and because of it they thought I was able to hurt them. It made them afraid of me, and they didn’t like that much.”
“No, I can’t imagine they did. I meant for it to help you, with your little death wish problem. Did your answers not satisfy their curiosity?” Makkai asked, cocking his head slightly to one side.
“I didn’t give them any answers, at first. You were different than what they’ve always taught us you’d be. You didn’t kill me, you didn’t even hurt me. But they did. So-”
“So they eventually persuaded you through other means until you told them what they wanted to know. Apparently you made them work for it, you withstood them for a little more than three weeks. You are an astoundingly stupid little girl,” he admonished, and she flinched. “Imagine allowing yourself to be hurt to protect a Lord.”
“What?” The girl had gone deathly pale and he thought she was going to keel over right there, leaving him with the burden of burying the little beastie. That would be an inconvenience. She did it again, looking at something he couldn’t see, as though seeking confirmation.
“Why didn’t you tell them what they wanted to know, so they’d release you?” he rephrased the question, his eyes narrow.
“No. Not that. The other thing,” she said, barely noticing the look of warning on his face.
“I’m going to need you to speak more clearly.”
“Has it really been three weeks? You aren’t joking?” The frown on his face told her he definitely wasn’t the type to make jokes. “I thought maybe it had been a week at the most. I lost track of time there, and nobody told me what day it was. They were so horrible, it all kind of blended together.” Tears welled up in her eyes and her chin trembled, but the fingers of her good hand balled into a fist. She wasn’t sad, she was angry.
“Turn around you silly creature.” Makkai demanded, walking toward her. Alice looked up then blushed and quickly did as she was told, covering her eyes for good measure. He exited the water and dried off, speeding the process along with magic.
“Yes, it has been three weeks and three days since I sent you away. Your injuries tell your tale as true, your honesty is not in question. And yet, there is the question why? Why did you come here as soon as they let you go? Why not hole up in your home, where you are safe instead?” he asked and the girl looked at the ground again, her cheeks coloring.
“Partly I felt responsible for what they’re gonna do. And because I was curious. I wanted to see you again and ask why you chose to help me,” she mumbled. His eyebrows drew together as his frown hit maximum depth.
“I cannot say I understand it, nor that I want to. Those do not seem reason enough to leave your home. Not to me anyway. Curiosity kills all manner of creature, little girl. Now, all that’s left is hearing your reason for coming. Issue your warning.”
“They made me tell them how to find you, at the tree. They told everyone they were going to kill you. Then, after the news conference I heard them talking. The elder wants the hunters to capture you and do experiments. They’re weaponizing demon powers, and because your mark was so strong, they want you," she said.
"They brought me back to my nest and told everyone you hurt me, that you’re a lesser demon and they will be hunting you today. They’re sending a squad after you. A whole squad!” Alice looked up and he stood before her, fully clothed in a blue silk kimono, a doubtful expression on his face.
“How did you come to be here with this information? They cannot have simply allowed you to walk free, knowing they lied to your nest mates?” he asked, his ears pricked forward. She explained her theory of the nurse switching vials to make her sleep instead of wiping her memories. They thought she was clueless. His lips drew back in a wicked smile and his tails lashed fiercely.
“A squad of hunters are coming to the Matriarch Tree, based on your word, and they have no idea you’ve warned me.” He touched the tip of his nail to her chin. “You have just become my new favorite thing. I’ve never been one to keep pets, I was going to send you back, but you deserve a reward little Halfling. For you, I’ll make an exception.”
Alice felt a thrill of excitement until she processed his words.
“Wait, what?”
He didn’t hear her, his eyes were unfocused, listening to his forest. The trees that had hidden the girl among them had a lot to say now. The men were hacking their way in, and the trees wanted to bar their way.
‘No, no, they’ll come anyway, let them through.’ He sent them an image of where to lead the hunters, the very place Alice had told them about. The trees parted begrudgingly, allowing a small path for the battle dressed men.
“Lord, Sir?” Alice questioned, still not understanding his words. He looked down at her, disapproval written all over his face. Not one member of his household dared interrupt him so casually. The girl would have to learn her place, later.
“Fen,” he said no louder than if he were speaking to her. Alice blinked then startled badly, crying out and clutching her heart when a small man appeared, bowing low to the ground at Makkai’s feet.
“Yes, my Lord?” he asked, his voice surprisingly low. The fox motioned to Alice and the man turned making Alice shake. He had small dark eyes with barely any lashes and short white tusks jutting out of his lower lips.
“You have one hour to make this little creature presentable. Leave her injuries for later, just scrape off the filth and get her something decent to wear. She looks ready to fall over, put some food in her as well. Hunters have entered the forest; we will meet them at the Matriarch. Your attendance is required, I will be too preoccupied to look after this one,” he said and moved to walk away.
“W-wait! What’s going to happen?” Alice asked and the man with the tusks looked at her with a shocked expression.
The demon turned and crouched so he was at eye level with her. Alice swallowed hard. He was even mo
re ridiculously beautiful up close, even if those almost entirely black eyes were a bit frightening. The shade her mind had created from memory hadn’t done him justice.
“You have given me an entertaining gift little beastie. I am not going to waste it. These men are a gift from you, they shall know whom you are before I kill them. You’ll have your revenge for what they have done,” he answered. “I can save one for you, if you desire the final blow be yours?”
“I don’t want you to kill them! I want you to run, leave this place!” Alice protested, hating the high pitched squeak of her voice.
“Don’t you?” he asked with the hint of a smile. “Are you sure about that?”
“I wanted to give you a chance to get away, so they wouldn’t trap you.” Alice bit her lip, he wasn’t listening to her.
“You don’t understand this yet, but I have my limits. I cannot leave this place. Running away is not an option, neither is being taken to some lab to be experimented on. By coming here, they have backed me into a corner, if forced to leave, I will suffer and die. Does my new pet prefer that I let them take me?” he asked, knowing full well he was manipulating the child. She shook her head, eyes wide.
“If I were to fight them and let them go, they would come back with more hunters. If I choose not to confront them, they will continue searching and harm my forest in the process. I will not allow either of these things. The protection of this land and these trees is my responsibility and I take it seriously," he glanced at the forest.
"Incidentally you can learn to speak to the trees if you wish, you have the talent for it, and apparently they like you. They’ll tell you all manner of things. Now, be a good little halfling and do as Fen tells you. I will collect you in one hour,” Makkai said, vanishing into thin air, cutting off further protest.
Chapter 7
Alice and Fen sized each other up for a long moment. She was intimidated and desperately afraid, but curious. He was only an inch or two taller than she was, though everyone said she was small for her age. The clothes he wore were simple, a gray top and loose fitted, darker gray pants, cut to show his generous muscles. Fen was a small demon, but he was solid, compact and strong. His hair was neat and black and long enough to cover his forehead. The smallness of his eyes gave him a shrewd, intelligent appearance, but they also made him look mean.