by J E Mueller
I left those questions unasked for the moment. Lee wouldn’t know the answers yet. “What is with that town?” I groaned. “I hate everything.”
“It gets worse I can’t sense her magic at all. Wherever she went when they disappeared cut off her trail,” Lee replied trying not to let the pain of it take hold. “I’ve never lost a trail like that…”
“We’re not dealing with normal magic, and you’re not trained to deal with something this advanced,” I pointed out. “We’ll figure it out and we will get help soon.” I hoped my words were reassuring. There was no way to know for sure if we would run into help, and I hoped it wouldn’t become clear that we were on our own at the last moment when more lives were on the line.
“If I had known this was going to happen sooner, I think I would have taken Emmyth’s suggestion more seriously.”
“What did he say?” I asked, surprised that this was the first time I was hearing about this.
“He mentioned when you were still recovering that he could help train me. Emmyth would fully train me if I joined him and not just show me the basics. He went on about how things could take a quick turn back to the negative, that sometimes a demon will figure out why his brethren were slain and retaliate. It seemed unlikely to me at that time. He only brought it up once more and I shook it off since nothing had come up. I wasn’t expecting them to put effort into months of planning.” Lee sighed. “My concern was your recovery. Not the bigger picture of the future. I’m glad that demons can’t kill you with fire magic, and you’re much too strong-willed to be lured into their false promises.”
“I’m glad you think so.” I nodded approvingly. There were some days that I still doubted that.
“I guess we need to head towards Faraden and see what happens,” Lee stated.
“It’s the best idea we have…” I thought for a moment. “Can you sense demon magic? Maybe that’ll give us a better clue.”
Lee shook his head. “I’d have to have concentrate on remembering what the strand of magic was like in order for that to work. Kind of like a dog tracking things by scent. I need a moment to pick up on it, and it only works if I have the magical being there. It’s pretty limited in that aspect, but someone like you I wouldn’t be able to lose if you were on this plain.”
“So they took her to another dimension?” I questioned. He seemed to have learned a lot more while I was recovering than I had expected.
“Basically. Like the levels of hell, our lovely world has levels too. Demons can only access the lower ones and angels can only access the higher. We’re in the middle, the balancing point.”
“I swear the Order taught me nothing.”
“Or you were an uncooperative child who only wanted answers to the questions you asked.” Lee smirked.
I rolled my eyes at him. He wasn’t wrong on that part, and I had no way of knowing if they had taught anything about the levels of realms without going back to visit them. Someday I’d love to go back. With all that had changed in the last year if would be a fun place to see with new eyes.
“It’s something to keep in mind though,” Lee said as we continued on with our journey. “There’s a lot our gifts can help us with, but there's still so much we don’t know, can’t see, and can’t control. But hell if I let that stop me from this mission.”
“Just don’t sell your soul to get her back. That really defeats the purpose of this and they will win if you do that.”
“It hadn’t crossed my mind, but I won’t be surprised if that gets brought up again,” Lee replied. “Is there a way to break those contracts?”
“Not as far as I know. There’s a way to hurt the contracts, but then you end up with cursed children like me.” Shaking my head, I was at a loss. “I don’t think there’s a way to get your soul back once it’s gone. It’s not like a bad haircut. Much more like losing a toe. You can live without it, but it’s never coming back.”
“That’s not fair,” Lee muttered. “Do they even have to keep their end of the bargain? Aside from the curse being transferred in some cases, like promising them your child's soul, what if I was offering just mine and mine alone? If the contract wasn’t fulfilled would they be out of luck?”
“I think the only way around that is to lead a perfect and faultless life after that to redeem yourself, and you can bet they’ll not allow that and will kill you anyway to have your soul.”
Lee thought for a few moments. “Let’s not ever use that as a backup plan then.”
“I wonder if you could make contracts with angels,” I mused.
“That’s an interesting question…” Lee considered the question as we slowly started making our way through the woods. “Maybe we’ll find out someday.”
We continued on in silence for a bit, musing on our own thoughts. It struck me that a contract would be possible to make with angels. They did interfere, if only on a much more subtle level. To the everyday person they seemed to be bystanders, but to someone like Emmyth and the Blessed born on their crusades, was it possible that they got extra powers for smiting demons? Is that what a contract between them would look like? The more I thought about it, the more Emmyth’s manner made sense. I’d have to ask him if I saw him again.
Thinking of him reminded me of the sheet of paper he had given me. It had been all but forgotten until now. I was about to show it to Lee when we heard a rustling in the trees nearby. We paused and listened.
“Magic,” he whispered. “But I don’t recognize it.”
I tried sensing it myself but found nothing. “I’m not picking up on any magic,” I countered. It wasn’t my best talent, but I usually picked up on something.
Lee froze and glanced at me. “I’m sensing three of them. If you’re not picking up on any of them, they may be demons.”
He was right. “I couldn’t sense the last one’s magic until he was visible, and even then he was only part demon. He was still mortal.”
“We may be able to outrun them,” Lee suggested, picking up a good walking pace as I followed.
“We’re not that fast,” I replied, knowing the truth. It wouldn’t take them much effort to travel large distances. “And it’ll be a terrible fight since it’ll be me and them throwing punches that can’t kill, only hurt. No burns, just annoying amounts of dull pain until it adds up to be too much.”
“I’m glad I brought a sword, then,” Lee said pulling it free from his bag.
I did likewise. “Any idea on how to bless it and kill them?” Could he bless mine so that I could use it to kill them?
“No. I’m just running on hopes and dreams that I can make it work.” he replied.
My confidence dropped. We were off to a great start. He saw my look and tried to shrug it off with a smile. We were pretty screwed.
“We may get lucky. Isn’t that what my blood is about?” he said, trying to lighten the mood.
“And mine is the opposite. It’ll go one way or the other or they’ll just negate one another,” I replied, not adding how much trouble I thought we were in. Hopes and dreams. I said a silent prayer for help since it was as close to good luck as I could get. Afterall, it had played out well last time.
Lee started to get antsy. “They’re surrounding us,” he declared, coming to a halt.
“It’s odd being blind to them. You’d think I could easily sense them since we’re of kindred blood. Or is it because I have a soul and am not Blessed that I can’t see them?”
“That’s probably it,” Lee agreed.
One by one they popped up in a triangle formation around us. They were dark creatures, hunched over and ready to fight. Their bodies reminded me of coals slowly dying out. As they snickered at us I noticed they had long claws on both their hands and feet. One had three horns, another had five, then final had none.
“Is one of them the leader?” I asked, keeping my eye them.
Lee was at my back. “No idea yet, they seem fairly equally matched to one another.”
“How much stronger than
us are they?”
He paused. “If I kill them quickly enough it won’t matter.”
That was not a good answer.
They attacked. Lee and I dodged in opposite directions. Without a second thought I threw up my shield and pressed back against Five Horn who quickly broke my shield. The sudden discharge of magic was like a stab straight to the heart, and I felt breathless for a moment.
I cursed silently. I needed to figure out, my shields breaking point on my own so that I could release the magic without the nasty side effects.
Barely dodging claws in my face, I rolled away and got back up on my feet before being kicked from behind and falling flat on my face. Being outnumbered was very bad. Reactivating my shield, I felt claws on the back of it but this gave me time to get up and drop my shield before finally blocking another claw with my sword.
Lee looked like he was faring much better, but he was only fighting one of them. Still, if he could kill even one our odds of survival would be better.
Right now the odds were heavily against us. I managed a few blocks but couldn’t keep turning to block both demons and was knocked over again.
I dodged, I rolled, and got my shield up, but it was destroyed before I could regain my full footing and they knocked me back over. I was short of breath and the stabbing sensation between my ribs was almost too much. I dodged a kick from one of them as claws from the other ripped at my arm. I screamed out in pain as I was kicked back into the dirt. Just as soon as I hit the ground the demon stepped on my chest, slowly pushing the wind out of me. It hurt too much to scream. Too hard to breath.
Lee knocked No Horns off of me, but I couldn’t get up fast enough and was kicked by both of the others. I felt a stabbing sensation in my chest and looked up to see five horns had turned his claws for hands into a single sword which was now impaling me like a spear. I had a moment of horror before I tasted the blood in my mouth. We were going to lose and I was going to die.
Again.
Lee got knocked down, but was quickly back up on his feet and No Horns said something to him. The words sounded jumbled and foreign to me, but clear as day to Lee as he cursed at them and disagreed with whatever it had said.
I watched as he got knocked back, but didn’t lose his footing. The blood was making me cough now and he tried not to look at me as he attacked them instead.
Suddenly, I sensed why he didn’t stop his fight. I finally recognized some magic. Emmyth came at the demon Lee was facing from the opposite side and killed it. Together they were able to take down Five Horns, and No Horns fled.
Now frantic, Lee rushed over to me.
My vision was going dark and I could feel his hands on me.
Emmyth ungracefully shoved him aside. “You’ve really got to stop dying kid,” he said to me softly.
I could feel the magic pouring out from his hands. The warmth was welcome, and it made me realize how cold I was.
The blood stopped making me cough, and I closed my eyes.
“Hang on for a while longer. You’re not that close to death's door that you can’t survive this,” he said sternly.
“Come on, Key, we did it,” Lee encouraged now on the other side of me. “Told you it wasn’t hopeless if we killed one…” I could hear the worry still in his voice, but his voice was clear as day now. Emmyth’s healing was working.
“She’s coming back,” Emmyth told Lee. “This will take some time to heal before we can move her safely.”
“How long? Do you think that last demon will come back?” Lee asked, concerned.
“Oh he will, but not right away. He will need reinforcement since I’m here, and I’m sure he’d rather get you alone again,” Emmyth replied. “No use lying to you, kids.”
“You’re only a year older than us.” I coughed. It burned my throat much to speak, but I opened my eyes to see what was going on.
“Settle down. Don’t push it yet,” Emmyth said soothingly. “And it’s two years if I remember correctly.”
“Funny.” Lee rolled his eyes. “When can we move again?”
“Probably an hour.” He looked at Lee. “Want to learn some productive healing? That’ll help.”
Lee jumped at the opportunity. “What do I have to do?” He asked, ready for the task at hand.
“This will be easy since you already have a connection to her and she has a connection to you. Place your hands near the wound. With your magic you should be able to feel the injury. Pull the magic from your heart to find it, to see the injury within your mind's eye. Look at how deep it cuts and notice how I’m working the fibers back together, stitching them back into place.”
Lee looked surprised. “I don’t think those things should just be stitched together.” He breathed in mild horror.
“Organs just need light magic to start healing themselves. Too much magic and they’ll come to depend on it, and won’t work without it. Just a little is all you need,” Emmyth encouraged him.
Nodding, Lee seemed to copy what Emmyth was doing. I closed my eyes again. “Everything feels wrong and weird… and warm. So oddly warm.”
“That’s your magic meeting mine,” Emmyth explained. “To a non-magic person it feels cool and soothing. For a magic person it depends on what their strongest magic is based on. Fire is warmth.”
“Mkay,” I mumbled at him and coughed a bit, tasting a mixture of blood and dirt.
“This is going to hurt for a bit. We’ve got to push the demon venom out. You’ll cough it up, and it’ll be gross, like dirt. But once it’s gone you should be able to sit back up,” Emmyth warned me before turning to Lee. “Do you see what I’m talking about.”
“Yes, it’s an obvious foreign object.” He agreed.
“Perfect, now the best way out is up, so slowly push it up as you heal what’s below. Don’t stop healing what’s below in order to push it out faster. It won’t be pleasant, but if any of it is left behind that’ll cause problems later. It could even kill her.”
“How unpleasant?” Lee asked preparing himself.
“If you’ve heard the gargles of someone drowning, it’s much like that. She won’t be drowning. Key is in no danger. Ignore it, and she’ll be fine the moment it’s done,” Emmyth instructed sternly.
“Just do it already,” I complained, not wanting to hear any more about how much this was going to suck.
Part of me wished I had delayed. The pain and coughing was almost as bad as being stabbed. It was like adding salt to a fresh cut. My throat was sore, my head was dizzy, and I was breathless from a lack of oxygen and from coughing so much. Then it stopped.
My throat was fine, I could breathe normally, and I just had a twinge of pain where I had been stabbed.
Emmyth moved back. “Not bad. It will need some follow up, but we can move now and that is the main point.”
I sat up and watched both boys look off into the east with a surprising amount of hatred in their eyes.
“He’s back,” Lee just about growled.
“That was faster than I thought it would be, but he only brought one friend. Both are under my level.” Emmyth rose. “Take her to Faraden. I’ll meet up with you both later. I’ll settle this score.”
“Best wishes,” Lee agreed and helped me up. “Stay safe.”
“With the gods as my witness, these demons will not best me,” Emmyth declared and dashed off at a mad sprint.
“I won’t argue with him,” Lee said, steadying me. “Let's go quickly… or as quickly as you can go.”
“I’m uncomfortable, but I think I can make it at a steady pace,” I replied, waving off his worry as we headed off. Hopefully Emmyth would be fine against two demons on his own.
Chapter 35
The rest of the journey went by quickly, and thankfully was uneventful. When Lee would turn quickly at what I could assume was a sign of a demon, he would shortly nod and we’d continue on. I had no way of knowing what was going on, but didn’t want to ask. All the walking was causing my new injury to flare up painfull
y and I just wanted to be safely in town.
One near death battle was enough for one night. It was a small miracle that Emmyth had come along when he did. I felt part of it was because I had told him our plans from the beginning.
When we arrived I didn’t know where to go.
“I don’t want to involve Celia with this nonsense,” I admitted.
“There are plenty of inns here.” Lee shrugged.
“That’s the problem. The best inn around here is Willow’s Gate and that’s where Kegan is,” I pointed out. “I don’t want harm coming to her.”
“Sadly, those fixed points are out of our hands,” Lee said, looking tired, “But it doesn't matter when we show up, or if we’re there or not. She will get injured. We don’t know why or how badly, but there is something attached to it that has to do with the next chain of events. Eventually we’ll have to figure it out.”
“This way.” I sighed heavily, leading the way. He was right. It was best to get somewhere worth going and worry about the rest tomorrow. Hopefully the rest would wait at least another night. My body couldn’t take another fight.
My luck held on. Dinner was just finishing up when we walked in. I had put on a cloak to cover my blood soaked outfit but Kegan knew something was wrong when she saw me.
“Over here, child!” She beckoned me to an open space at the bar.
Lee followed me.
“Long time no see,” I said, trying to be pleasant.
“And you had a crazy ride from what I hear,” Kegan said, “No words when you left this time. That’s not like you. And now you look worse for wear. What is going on?” She eyed Lee suspiciously.
“It’s a long story,” I replied. “And I promise to fill you in on everything. Can I beg for a drink first?”
“Ha! You beg? I’ll be back, and your friend here had better sit down as well.” She nodded to the seat that had just opened up next to me.
“She doesn't like me,” Lee said, watching her vanish into the back.
“She hasn’t seen me since I accepted a job in town and I’m sure I currently look like hell after almost being stabbed to death. Of course she doesn’t like you. She doesn’t know what's going on and is a very protective friend… Or mother. I’ll accept her as a replacement mother.” I hadn’t thought of it much before, but Kegan was like family to me.