The templars returned, even more annoying than before. The senior warrior rode up to me, disgusting even the grass with his presence, looked at me accusingly, and announced that they had been to the scene of the event, but it had been too late. No traces were left.
There had been a demon, that was clear. But now, it’s empty. Why?
“He’s probably left.” I was blatantly arrogant. I would have fed you to those tentacles, guys...or maybe given away for other things, if you know what I mean. It made them seethe with anger.
The templar wasn’t satisfied with my answer. They wanted to talk to Tom once again, but this time around, my friend felt better, and nobody stopped them. Nobody told the whole truth either, though.
Tom said that the tentacles had appeared as if from under the ground, he had pushed me away from the blow, tumbled, and then, he couldn’t remember anything more.
The scarred templar hissed in anger, but Tom stuck to his guns. Even if they knew that it was all lies, the templars couldn’t very well argue with that.
And finally...
“Tomorrow, we’ll go to the capital, Prince Alexander! We’ve received royal permission to interrogate you and your friend. We’ll talk there.”
I cursed inwardly with a complicated expression. It made sense. Tommy was my retainer, and I was a prince of the blood, the church couldn’t touch me, up to a point. Unless Uncle permitted them...and he could, the animal! Abigail could convince him! And that greedy bitch wouldn’t even think that she was setting a precedent and giving the Church too much power.
With those words, the templars signed their death sentence. I shrugged.
“If you have nothing else to do, you could get Uncle to give permission, and we’ll talk one more time. Maybe after hearing the same thing for the tenth time, you will finally get it.”
That was the kicker.
“We’ll talk again...about the truth...”
He stormed out of the healer’s tent and nodded to his party.
“To the capital! Forthwith!”
Which is exactly what I wanted. The day was running out. Their horses were already fatigued and couldn’t move quickly. They would probably find a house and stay there for the night, a tavern, or maybe break into somebody’s shack. It was important for them to demonstrate that they were a separate squad, not a part of the prince’s army.
It played into my hand. As soon as the dust from their hooves settled, I waved at my troops.
That’s enough! Make camp, settle in! Thankfully, the river was close, so they could wash there and water the horses.
I ran to Tom.
“Tonight, I’ll be sitting by your side, and we’ll be playing cards until dawn. Or you’ll have a bad turn and I’ll be wiping the sweat from your valiant brow. Got it?”
“What are you going to do, Alex?”
I grinned.
“Have a short walk under the moon.”
“Alone?”
“It’s not like there are any girls here, other than army whores, but they prefer looking at coins to stars.”
“Alex!”
“I’ll be careful, Tom.”
That wasn’t convincing, but Tom was unable to persuade me otherwise. And so, just after twilight fell, I left the camp and focused.
I couldn’t sense the templars very well. It wasn’t surprising; they had refused the gift the world had given them, and the world rejected them in turn. I heard it in the whispers of the wind, in the moans of the earth. All I had to do was get there and exact mercy on them.
Yes, mercy. Because of corrupted and alien teachings, because of the way they had been brought up, those men had abandoned their true natures and weren’t really alive anymore. They simply existed, just like anyone who had killed the spark of the divine fire inside themselves. Not people, more like humanlike creatures.
By killing them and returning their bodies to the ground, I would send their souls to the wheel of rebirth. Maybe next time, they would get lucky.
But as for reaching them... Oh, I’m such an idiot, after all!
Hastily, I drew a pentagram, spilled blood in the center, and started the familiar summoning. He appeared immediately, a small minion, something between a demon and a demonic creature. He had a wolf’s body with a clean human skull on top. He did, however, have a magnificent set of fangs sticking out in all directions.
Ak-kvir.
“What did you summon me for, necromancer?”
“Do you want the blood of eight people, fresh and warm?”
Ak-kvir considered my words for a moment.
“Yes.”
“Get me to them, and I’ll grant you their bodies and their blood.”
“What about their souls?”
“I can always summon another,” I hinted.
The demon growled, clearly unhappy.
“I will get you there, all r-r-right. Bodies and blood are mine?”
“Yes. A necromancer’s word.”
“Climb up.”
I laughed at his inanity.
“Should I take a whip? An oath, you beast!”
The demon growled deeper, baring his fangs, but I squeezed my arm, making it clear that he was about to get a sock in the jaw instead of fresh bodies, and he finally submitted.
“I swear on the blood and power of my kin that this night, I shall not harm the one who has summoned me.”
“And?”
“And I shall not harm anyone except for those he orders me to.”
“Until...”
“Until I leave this world!”
The demon was furious; red sparks appeared on his wolf fur, his skull gleaming with reflected moonlight. Had I forgotten that part of the oath, he would have found a way to use it against me. Demons are masters when it comes to such things.
I didn’t forget. Martha would have given me a good reaming if I had missed something, that’s for sure.
“I accept your oath.”
It was as if a silent thunder roared over us, shaking the ground beneath our feet, and we realized that the oath had been heard and witnessed. If Ak-kvir broke it, he would lose his power, and so would all his relatives. It’s not like demons valued family ties, not really. But for stripping them of power, they would hunt the apostate to the ends of all worlds and give him such a death, that even my revenge would be a mercy.
The demon left the pentagram, and I leapt on his back.
“Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Don’t you sense it yourself? To eight forsworn.”
Ak-kvir got a whiff of the air. The skull shined in the light of the moon.
“Forsworn? A good hunt. Will you manage them?”
“Don’t even hope to get nine bodies,” I retorted, and the beast took off. He was much faster than the swiftest of horses. He raced like the wind, as if piercing the distance, and I wasn’t surprised when we stopped before a forester’s hut. Eight horses were tied to a hitching post, and it seemed deadly quiet inside.
Judging by the look of it, the house was inhabited. Yet... Ak-kvir sucked in the air, passing it through his fangs with a whooshing sound.
“Blood...”
We found the master of the house behind the shack, crucified on a tree. His hands and feet were nailed to the trunk, and his chest was bound with a rope that supported part of his weight. They hadn’t wanted him to die quickly. They had wanted to make him suffer. The templars believed that agony helps executed sinners reach the Bright abode faster, letting them atone for their earthly misdeeds.
So, what had been his misdemeanor? I took a closer look at the man. He seemed a common village loner, which I had seen more than my share of. He could have been a fisherman in Torrin just as well. Fine.
“Don’t touch him,” I ordered Ak-kvir. “Come on, let’s have a talk with—”
“With us, necromancer?”
They came outside, having sensed me, and were rapidly approaching us—eight blotches of emptiness and vileness, eight forsworn...
<
br /> But I had sensed them as well, and I was already gone from the spot next to the forester. Ak-kvir roared and charged, while I rolled over and threw my first dagger.
One of the templars grunted and clutched the handle that suddenly appeared in his throat.
Seven.
“Who are you?”
The templar’s shriek was interrupted by hungry crunching and a death rattle. Ak-kvir wasn’t going to wait for a necromancer’s mercy, having figured that he should fend for himself.
Six.
I didn’t have time for a reply; I was busy. A stream of flame flew from my fingers, and the third templar turned into a living torch.
Five.
The rest of them charged at me. I had to give them credit where it was due, they were no cowards, not by a long shot. However, they were not used to ones such as me. And I had already tasted their blood and wasn’t going to stop.
Blades clashed, drawing blood. I had a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other, but I could fight with both equally well. Not to mention that before coming to the templars, I had transformed to my other shape, which I was now using to the fullest extent, and quite successfully, judging by a long and painful scream behind my back.
Well, he really shouldn’t have tried to backstab a humble half-demon in the back. That was rather low of him. Where people have an unprotected rear, I have a tail. A poisonous one, with a barb, which is exactly what the insolent templar impaled himself on.
Four.
Ak-kvir, who was far from sated, leaped at another templar, knocking him down. That proved to be enough for me to reach him with a sword. Only the very tip, but I managed to get his throat, and a fountain of blood gushed out, much to the demon’s delight.
Three.
There were only three of them left, but those were the smart ones. They split up, surrounding me from three sides, and started slowly closing in, saying prayers. Apparently, they had been hoping those would affect me, and true, Ak-kvir even dropped a piece of corpse meat from his jaw, poor thing.
I wasn’t a demon, however. I was a half-demon with another form, and to me, prayers were like a swarm of gnats. All that buzzing and biting distracted and annoyed me, but it didn’t preclude me from acting. Or, more precisely, rushing forward, deflecting the templar’s blow—which made my hand go numb—and thrusting my sword right into his...yep, exactly that part of his anatomy. I sincerely sympathized with him as a man, but those scum would do well not to breed.
Two.
Even the zealous templars were finally realizing that they were going to be exterminated and had to go in for heavyweights. One of them charged at me, swinging his sword, while the other, the one I hadn’t seen eye to eye with, tore something away from his neck and leaped back. Hmm.
I really had to get to him, but at the moment, I had no choice. I needed to deal with my current opponent, who turned out to be a pretty good swordsman.
For about three minutes, we were fencing with such ferocity that Henry would have been proud of me. That was all he could manage, however. But when my sword found a weak spot in his defense, and the man collapsed onto the ground, the look on the last templar’s face burned me like a scourge.
“Got you, you wretch!”
He was holding a shining disk, and as Ak-kvir noticed it, he started howling, desolate. It was a demon-catcher. This cute trinket was able to unmake them, simple as that. Yes, it required power, but that one was charged, all right. Even from my spot, I could see the rocks embedded into its surface glowing red.
It shouldn’t be able to hurt me a lot...but what if it can? And I also gave Ak-kvir a promise. I shouldn’t break it.
Suddenly, it dawned on me. I fell to my knees.
“Uncle, no!” I cried out, switching back into my human shape, and the templar froze, as if thunderstuck.
“Prince?”
That was enough for me, and Ak-kvir.
Having overcome the prayers, the demon charged at the templar’s legs, biting off one of them almost at the thigh, while my dagger found its target in his chest.
The last one.
The templar writhed in pain, unable to believe that he had lost, and the disk dropped from his weakened arm. Each one of those injuries would have been enough to kill him, but both...
I turned back into demonic form.
“Are you all right?”
“What a toothy prey!”
Ak-kvir was clearly fine.
“Let me torture this one,” I smirked, as I came up to the last templar, and pulled my dagger from his chest. He was breathing...for the time being, but scarlet bubbles were already starting to rise on his lips. He would be dead in two minutes.
I raised the golden disk by the chain, like a rat by the tail. It was a bit cold to the touch and felt like something slimy and icy at the same time.
“I promise you, you won’t be alone. I’ll send your entire order to you.”
Hate shined from his grey eyes.
“Damn...you!”
I chuckled.
“You’ve rejected your power yourself. Your curses won’t hurt me. Farewell, forsworn.”
The man grew stiff, and I looked at him, content. He had it coming. That one, I had no pity for. Blood sang in my veins, and I smiled.
Ak-kvir closed his jaws on the corpse’s head with a crunch.
“Is your promise still valid?”
I pointed at the corpses, feeling generous.
“Help yourself. Do you mind if I loot them first?”
Ak-kvir nodded. I quickly went through the templars’ pockets. Yep, that was plunder. Yep, the bodies I was looting were still warm. So? It’s not like they would have treated me any better!
A small pile of various stuff was collected in the forest clearing near the hut. Rings, bracelets, weapons, some papers...I put everything into a bag to be sorted later.
Then I entered the shack.
Oh, so that’s why they had crucified the forester!
Herbs had been hung on the walls, and it was quite a sight. I knew a bit about that stuff, thanks to Rene. Some ingredients were essential for necromancy, like the mandragora root. The forester, apparently, was an herbology expert, seeing as all the stuff there had been harvested at the right time and positioned in such a way that no incompatible herbs were next to each other.
I went back to the clearing and pulled out the nails used to fasten him to the tree. Sorry, can’t stay here myself. But I’ll bring you to your senses, give you potions to drink, bandage you, and even leave something for you, like the money taken from the templars, as compensation. Fortunately, the man was still unconscious.
So, how to deal with the templars?
“Ak-kvir, can you eat them before three o’clock in the morning?”
“Oh, quite!” the demon replied.
I dragged the man inside the shack. All right, I’ll have to brew this and that, press this against his wounds...and is there any food here?
I was pretty exhausted. Killing templars was a tiresome sport. They should probably be captured separately, or maybe gathered together at once and promptly eliminated. Otherwise, it was a drag.
The man regained consciousness when I had almost finished dressing his wounds. His eyes were wide with terror. I didn’t let him up.
“Lie down. They’re dead.”
He didn’t seem to believe me, even if I was in my demon form.
“I won’t touch you, I swear.”
That didn’t help either. A slap, however, turned out to have truly mesmerizing healing properties, and a gleam of intelligence appeared in his eyes. I repeated everything, pausing between words.
“The templars are dead. You’re alive. I will leave soon, and you’ll stay here. Don’t tell anybody, and everything will be fine.”
The man lay down and stopped trying to resist. I guess he realized that if a demon was feeding him a healing brew and dressing his wounds, he wasn’t going to eat him afterward. At the very least, he wouldn’t be bandaging him, or
he’d have to spit out the fabric.
“Y-you...”
“I killed them all. It was personal. It’s not personal with you, and it won’t be, unless you try to get involved.”
Judging by the man’s face, he really wanted to ask what he shouldn’t be involved in, but he dared not. I clapped him on the shoulder.
“All right. I’ve bandaged you and cleaned your wounds with herb brews, here are the ingredients. Drink the brews, change your bandages. I can’t stay here myself; I think it’s clear, why. So long, then.”
And I darted off.
Ak-kvir was already finishing the last templar. What a glutton...
He had a human head, how could he eat so much? On the other hand, lower demons always had a ravenous appetite. That was how they replenished their strength.
“Are you coming?”
“Give me ten minutes.”
In the meantime, I took a walk across the clearing and took a handkerchief out of my pocket, drenching it in the blood of the scarred templar. I’ll summon you later, and we’ll have a talk.
The road back took just twenty minutes. Naturally, nobody had noticed my absence. I put all my trophies together with the demon’s remains and lay down on my bedroll.
Gah, where’s my swan’s-down feather bed with a duvet? Where are my pillows? I want to go home...to the palace?
Absolutely. Why not? I was the heir to Alethar Radenor, and that was my home. As for Torrin, it wasn’t home. It was a piece of my heart, the best, brightest, and lightest part of me.
As long as I had it, I remained human.
***
My return to the capital was rushed. Rudolph might have arranged a red carpet welcome, but that would be complicated, considering that the prince’s wife was in prison, the allies had turned out to be traitors, and something unholy had happened on the battlefield. So how would my uncle react to all this?
Abigail didn’t know, which is why he didn’t actually react, but summoned me straight away.
“Alex, what happened there?”
Obediently, I reported everything.
“And so, the Tevarrians cooked up a cunning plot. They killed our dear Andre,” I sobbed and wiped a tear from my cheek, “and had me marry their girl to make her a princess, all the while trying to pit us against Riolon. The Riolonians found out somehow and invited me to secret negotiations, which left me shocked, as they showed me the proof. Prince Andre’s assassin! The real one!”
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