Demonspawn Academy: Trial Two

by Annabel Chase

  “Climb on,” Dogan said. “They won’t bite.”

  “No, but will they burn us to a crisp?” Barris asked.

  “Not these kind,” Dogan said. “They don’t breathe fire.”

  “That’s a relief.” Barris approached the purple dragon. “How will they know where to take us?”

  “I’ll handle that part,” Dogan said. “You make yourselves comfortable and I’ll give them instructions.”

  I helped Barris on first, then put Sage in the middle. I flew to the front of the dragon so that I could steer. As Rafe and I were the only experienced fliers, it made sense for each of us to helm a dragon. Although I’d much rather have his breath on my neck than Sage’s, there were more important considerations right now.

  Once we were settled and the instructions given, the roof opened in two halves and the dragons lifted into the air.

  “I can’t believe I’m on a dragon,” Barris said. “Maybe the Nether isn’t such a bad option for a place to live.”

  “Let’s see a little more of it before we make that decision,” Sage said.

  I thought it was interesting that she said ‘we,’ but I kept my mouth shut. The dragon seemed to know which direction to go, so I held on and enjoyed the ride…until Sage’s fingers began pinching my waist.

  I swatted her away. “Hold the dragon, not me,” I said.

  “Barris is holding me. I thought that’s what we were supposed to do.”

  Rafe flew his dragon parallel to mine so that we could see each other. The Nether seemed to be miles of space, then a village or a small town, then more space. There didn’t seem to be many trees here. It was more rocky hills and barren earth.

  I wasn’t sure how far we’d flown when the dragon started to buck slightly. I gripped its smooth neck and tried to urge it forward but to no avail. It started to descend and I noticed the other dragon doing the same. There was nothing I could do except let it land.

  “What’s going on?” Sage asked. “I don’t see a village here.”

  I craned to look at her. “It doesn’t want to go ahead.”

  “That owner probably swindled us,” she grumbled. “We’re probably nowhere near the village and the dragons are leaving us to die.”

  “What would be his incentive to do that?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “I can’t know everything.”

  The dragons landed next to each other. They struck me as skittish, as though something further ahead spooked them.

  “What should we do?” I asked, looking at Rafe.

  He stroked the dragon’s head. “I think we should leave them here and go ahead on foot. If they don’t want to be in the air, maybe that’s a reason for us to stay on the ground.”

  Good point. “What if they leave us and go back to Dogan?” I asked.

  Rafe exhaled. “Then I guess we’re on our own.”

  If all went well, we’d find Yara and we wouldn’t need the dragons. As I looked at the horizon, icy fingers trailed down my spine. Although I couldn’t see anything distressing, there was something in the air. The dragons felt it and now I did too.

  “Let’s go,” Rafe said. “The sooner we find the village, the sooner we figure out how to question Luke.”

  “And then we can go home,” Zeph said.

  Rylan bumped him with her arm. “Aren’t you the one keen to live here?”

  He rubbed his biceps. “Let’s just say I’m having second thoughts.”

  We trudged forward in the direction of Enir. Along the way, the ground began to feel hot, as though we were walking on coals. Steam blanketed the path ahead.

  “Something strange is happening,” I said.

  Rylan lifted up the soles of her feet. “I feel it too.”

  “This must be why the dragons refused to go further,” Barris said. “I knew dragons were smart.”

  I scanned the burnt orange horizon. It reminded me of images of the desert I’d seen at the academy. Elder Asago was fascinated by earthly deserts. We’d learned about Death Valley and the Sahara, among others. Although he rarely talked about the Nether, maybe those places reminded him of home.

  “I see signs of life ahead,” I said.

  When we reached the entrance to the village, I realized how wrong I was. There were no signs of life here. Rather, whatever life had once been here was no longer. Most of the homes had crumbled to dust, but the demons—

  They were everywhere.

  “Corpses,” Sage whispered in awe. “Perfectly preserved corpses.” She touched the horn of a male demon. He cowered on the ground in the midst of a fallen hut.

  “Don’t get any ideas,” Barris said. “This isn’t a rakshasa playground.”

  Whatever tragedy had befallen these demons, they’d been caught completely off guard. The landmark clock tower was a pile of rubble.

  “They were just living their lives,” Barris said. He stared at a small demon child on the ground. She was huddled beside a woman—presumably her mother—and clutched a horned doll.

  “What could have done this?” Zeph asked.

  “I have no idea,” I said. None of us would. We had no experience with the Nether.

  Rylan cast a cautious glance over her shoulder. “Is it something we need to worry about now? What if it’s poison in the air or something?”

  I crouched beside the preserved mother and daughter. “I don’t think so. I suspect they’ve been dead long enough. Just well preserved.”

  “But how?” Barris examined another demon stretched across the ground with his eyes closed. He appeared to have been sleeping when the calamity occurred.

  “Something tells me this wasn’t an act of nature,” Sage said.

  I looked over to where she stood. Behind her was a stake in the ground with a demon tied to it. Although he was as preserved as the others, he also sported a dagger through the center of his forehead.

  “Looks like an angry message to me,” Rylan said. She scrutinized the part of the dagger that was still visible. “The handle has a symbol engraved in it.”

  “Don’t touch it,” Zeph warned. “It might be a trap.”

  Barris motioned to the rest of the scene. “I think everyone here is taken care of.”

  Sage stepped forward and removed the dagger from the demon’s forehead. His head lolled to the side.

  “Sage!” I tried to snatch the dagger from her hand, but she kept a firm grip on the handle.

  “Anybody recognize the symbol?” she asked.

  “How can I if I can’t see it?” I asked in a huff.

  Sage held out the dagger for inspection and the sight nearly knocked the breath from my lungs.

  “Looks like a blue star,” Barris said.

  “Never seen it before,” Zeph added.

  No, he wouldn’t have. None of my kenzoku had seen the birthmark on my torso nor had I mentioned it to them. Rafe caught my eye but said nothing.

  “Like I said, it’s a message,” Rylan said.

  “Well, I think it was received loud and clear,” Barris said.

  I looked around. “But by whom?” The town had been decimated. Who was left to get the message? Passersby?

  “Do you think your friend is here?” Rylan asked.

  By the devil, I hoped not.

  “If she is, we’ll see her,” Zeph said. “Everyone seems to look exactly the same as when they were alive.”

  Rylan rubbed her face. “This place gives me the creeps.”

  “Not me,” Sage said. “I think it’s kind of cool.” She wandered away, still holding the dagger. “I want to check out the rest of the village.”

  “Something is seriously wrong with her,” Rylan said.

  Barris stared after Sage, slightly dazed. “I know. It makes me feel like there must be something wrong with me.”

  “Why?” Zeph asked.

  Barris blinked. “Huh? No reason. Because we’re both cambions.”

  “We’re all cambions,” Zeph reminded him.

  As difficult as it was, I checked
every face for Yara’s. I recognized two faces from Faerie. They’d survived their time in the mountains of Faerie only to be killed in their own homeland. It didn’t seem fair. So many children with their expressions of shock and anguish. The images would haunt me for the rest of my life. When I reached the final victim, I dropped to my knees, relieved not to find her.

  Rafe placed a comforting hand on the back of my neck. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll recover. I’m just glad she’s not here.”

  He stroked the back of my head. “What now?”

  “I think I know where she might be, but you’re not going to like it.”

  “If it’s where I think, then no. I don’t like it at all.”

  I returned to my feet and faced him. “We have to go, Rafe. It’s our only hope.”

  “Look at what’s happening here, Cassia. This trip is now far more dangerous.” He glanced over his shoulder at the others. “I think we should go back. It isn’t right to endanger their safety.”

  I straightened my shoulders. “I can’t go back. I have to find Yara and make sure she’s safe.”

  “And what if you make things worse?” he asked. He cupped my cheek in his hand. “Cassia, I don’t want to lose you.”

  I covered his hand with mine. “I don’t want to lose you either, but I’m not going back.” My gaze darted to Zeph, who looked ready to hyperventilate. “But I think you’re right about them. They need to go home.” My face turned to stone. “Where we’re going, it’s best they don’t follow.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sage was the only one to put up a fight. The others seemed relieved to be off the hook, not that I blamed them. Whatever had happened in Enir was traumatizing.

  We traveled back to the dragons by air, where our mounts still waited.

  “Are you sure about staying?” Rylan asked. “I bet another clue will turn up if you just come back to the city.”

  “And what if it doesn’t?” I asked. “Right now Luke is our only hope for answers.”

  Rylan chewed her lip and nodded. “Stay safe.”

  I offered a reassuring smile. “That’s the plan.”

  Rafe and I watched the dragons fly back in the direction of the port. “Do we know how to get to the palace?” he asked.

  “No, but I figure it won’t be hard to find someone to take us there.”

  He looked at me askance. “Why do I get the sense you have something in mind?”

  “I think it might work.”

  “It’s the ‘might’ that worries me.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Is any plan ever foolproof?” I flapped my wings. “We just need to fly long enough to catch somebody’s attention.”

  “Let’s hope that somebody doesn’t decide to attack first.” He inclined his head toward the village. “We have no idea what happened there. We could run straight into the perpetrator.”

  “In that case, I’d like to tell you this.” I lifted a few inches off the ground and hovered, just high enough so that our lips were at same level. Our lips touched and I melted against him.

  “It isn’t good to go into a fight with a weakness,” he murmured. “But I don’t want to be apart from you either.”

  I pressed my forehead against his, breathing in his scent. How I managed to smell a hint of raspberries in the middle of the Nether, I had no idea.

  “Whatever we do, we’ll do it together,” I said.

  He kissed me one more time before releasing me from his grasp. “I just want you to know—I’m so glad I met you.”

  “Tell me again back in Philadelphia,” I said, smiling. “Right now we have a shade to interrogate.” I launched into the air. I knew if I continued to stand there with him, I’d never want to leave.

  We flew back over the village and I kept my gaze fixed on the horizon. I needed to block those demons from my mind or I wouldn’t be able to function. I focused on my plan and hoped that I was clever enough to pull it off.

  I spotted another village in the distance. This one seemed unscathed. Buildings appeared intact and I saw flashes of movement. I swooped lower and Rafe followed. The demons were hustling and bustling, seemingly oblivious to the horrors inflicted upon their closest neighbors.

  One of the demons noticed us. He had small black wings and horns. He held the hand of a small child with matching wings. He spoke to us in a language I didn’t understand.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t look like you’re from around here. Are you lost?” the demon asked.

  “We need to get to the palace,” I said.

  The demon seemed taken aback. “You have business there?”

  Was that so unusual? “I’m looking for someone. The king’s daughter, Yara.”

  The demon brightened. “What a relief that Her Highness was returned to us. I heard the king was threatening war against the fae for holding a royal demon of the Nether as a prisoner.”

  So Yara had reunited with her father after all. That was helpful to know.

  “If you fly as far as the river, then turn and follow it north. You can’t miss the palace.”

  The child looked up at him and said something in the unfamiliar language.

  The demon ruffled the child’s hair. “Maybe one day you’ll get to see it, son, but not today.”

  “Thank you for your help,” I said.

  The demon eyed Rafe. “You’re not a seraph, are you?”

  “No,” Rafe said simply.

  The demon chuckled. “Didn’t think so. Couldn’t imagine what seraph would be insane enough to travel to the Nether, let alone the palace.”

  Rafe gave him an awkward smile before we returned to the skies. When we reached the river, we turned north as instructed. The rocky landscape became more dramatic as the palace came into view. The palace had been built into the side of a small mountain.

  “It’s more like a castle than a palace,” Rafe said.

  “Or a fortress,” I said.

  We landed on the other side of the river where guards stood sentry at the base of a bridge. We figured it was safer to stop here than try to fly directly into the palace. Somehow I doubted such an unexpected move would be welcome.

  The guards seemed surprised to see us.

  “We’d like to see Yara,” I said. “Can someone please let her know that Cassia and Rafe are here to see her?”

  The guards exchanged amused glances. “You’re here to see the princess?” the guard on the left asked.

  “That’s right,” I said. “We met in Faerie. I told her when I came to the Nether that I would stop in to see her.” I made it sound like the most natural thing in the world—to stop by your new royal demon friend’s palace.

  “Wait here,” the demon on the left said. He closed his eyes and fell silent.

  “What’s he doing?” I asked the guard on the right.

  “He’s telepathic,” the guard said. “He’s sending a message to the palace.”

  Oh, wow. Expedient.

  The guard opened his eyes. “Cross the bridge and make a left. Take the steps to the main gate. The chamberlain will meet you there.”

  “Great, thank you.” I hoped this wasn’t some kind of trap. I was surprised the guards didn’t make us leave our weapons. I figured there were so many guards inside, they didn’t find us sufficiently threatening.

  We chose to walk the rest of the way rather than fly. No point in bringing attention to Rafe. His white wings had a way of drawing the eye.

  Two more guards flanked the gate. They said nothing, but the gate creaked open to allow us entry. Under an archway stood a reedy demon with a leopard’s head, the body of a human, and gray wings.

  “You must be Cassia and Rafe,” he said. “I am Du, the king’s chamberlain.”

  “Thank you for seeing us,” Rafe said.

  “But of course. You freed His Majesty’s beloved daughter from Faerie,” he said. “You are most welcome here.”

  So Yara had told him that muc
h. What else had she told him?

  “Nice to meet you, Du,” I said. “Is Yara here? Can we see her?”

  “Yes, of course. She was so thrilled to hear your names.”

  I wasn’t surprised that she was thrilled. It was the king I was worried about.

  “You’ll find her in the south garden,” Du said. He started to walk. “I’m more than happy to escort you there. In fact, I insist on it.”

  The south garden was a lovely outdoor square with trailing red roses and a couple of stone benches. Yara was busy pruning the roses. She looked the same as when I last saw her in Faerie, except her brocade dress was more ornate, with red jewels and a thick gold sash.

  “The king tells her to let the servants do their job, but she insists on caring for the roses herself,” Du said. “They belonged to her mother, you see.”

  Yara turned at the sound of his voice. She broke into a wide smile when she saw me. “Cassia, child. I cannot believe my eyes.” She abandoned her task and crossed the garden to kiss my cheek.

  “You’re looking well, Yara,” Rafe said.

  “It is wonderful to be home again,” she said. “Where I belong.” She nodded at the chamberlain. “Thank you, Du. If you could ask Serena to prepare a drink for us, I would appreciate it.”

  “It would be my pleasure.” Du bowed his head and left the garden.

  Yara’s smile faded the moment he was out of view. “Child, this is a dangerous journey to undertake. Why would you come here after all that I told you?”

  “I had to. Lives are at stake.” I explained the situation with Luke and she listened intently.

  “You have come to the right place for that,” Yara said. “My father sits in judgment of all shades that pass through the Nether.”

  “I hate to put you in an awkward position, but can you arrange for us to speak to Luke’s shade?” I asked.

  “It is impossible without the blessing of my father,” she said. “He is the only one who can facilitate it.” A small smile played upon her lips. “Of course, I am back in his good graces, so he will be eager to please you if it pleases me.”

  Rafe and I looked at each other. I’d been dreading this part of the conversation. “Before we came here, I searched for you in Enir.” The color drained from her face.