The Unexpected Demon

by Simon Waldock

  "I made breakfast, I hope you like it. I left those invisible things to clear up the mess. They seemed happy enough to do it, or at least not unhappy. I don't really care, provided they do it," she said.

  The breakfast was delicious enough that some might have said it was cooked by a servant of the gods, how little ye know . . .

  "Thank you Chessina, that was wonderful," I thanked her as the plates were cleared away.

  "Master," said Chessina, slightly diffidently, "you do know that demons do breathe, don't you; and I'm not that good at holding my breath."

  "I'll cast the breathe water spell on you, don't worry," I reassured her. "It lasts several hours and you get a warning before it runs out, there's a tingle in the chest."

  "Thank you, master. Are we ready to go?" she said, sounding eager.

  "I'll be a little while Chessina, I need to review my spells," I replied.

  "I don't understand master. When I want to do magic, I just do it." she said, looking slightly puzzled.

  "A mortal wizard learns so many spells that they can't keep them all in the forefront of their minds," I explained. "Wizards learn to section off a part of their minds and put the spells they expect to use that day in it. You can cast the spells on the fly from the rest of you mind, but those spells may fail if you do so. It also depends on how powerful those spells are and how often you cast them. I no longer have to think about casting the shaving cantrip, for example. All it does is shave my beard, and I've been casting it every day for twenty years. I once saw a foolish young man who immolated himself by casting a fireball on the fly. He was clucking like a chicken before the psychedelic purple flames engulfed him. The smell of burning feathers was most unpleasant. I'd like to talk to you about your magical abilities when I have more time."

  "Are we going on horseback, master? I know humans keep horses. I know a little about horses, they taste good," her words came tumbling out. I do believe she was really excited.

  "No, I don't have any horses," I was sorry to disappoint her. "Invisible servants aren't good at looking after horses and they need a great deal of care or they die in a variety of distressing ways. It's not that far, I thought we'd walk."

  "Very well, master," Chessina said. She had put on a kind of open belted robe as outerwear which had always looked rather ridiculous on Krissilla, but as everything did, it looked good on Chessina. She had even modified it to accommodate her tail. Ah.

  "Chessina, I think I'd better cast an illusion on you," I said, "if any locals saw you, they might get upset with a demon wandering around their neighbourhood."

  "There's no need, master," Chessina assured me, "I can change my appearance to whatever I like, provided it's the same basic shape and not too much difference in size. What would you like me to look like master?"

  "Provided you can conceal your horns and tail. I like you as you are." I said. That earned me a lovely smile.

  "They aren't concealed, they're sort of absorbed until I change back. Would you like me to keep them absorbed all the time, master?" Chessina asked.

  "No, there is no need," I replied. Chessina would look somehow . . . wrong without them.

  "Please wait for me, Chessina," I said, "I'll be in my study, the spell review should take about an hour."

  oOo

  It was very pleasant to be walking in the forest on a spring morning, made more pleasant by Chessina's evident curiosity about everything. The first thing she had asked however, as we left the tower was, "Are there many dangerous creatures about, master?"

  "Not really," I replied, "Most creatures are wary of humans and in the spring there is a lot of easier prey about. Besides, if anything dangerous did turn up I would cast charm on it, and tell it to go away. I'd rather not kill if I didn't have to, the priestess wouldn't like it. I suppose it's rather different on your home plane?"

  "Oh yes," Chessina said, "Unless someone is very powerful, we only leave the cities in groups. Mind you, the cities can be dangerous too. I can cast charm on things too, master, but it won't work on creatures that are too powerful. Like Fishface. Master, who's that?" Chessina turned, and looked behind her. I turned too, and saw a familiar figure.

  "It's the priestess," I replied.

  As we walked towards her, I took in more details of the figure. She was tall, taller than I and with flaming red hair that cascaded down her back, adorned with a wreathe of spring flowers. She wore a long belted robe of some homespun fabric over her slim figure, and held her tall oak staff in her right hand.

  More details emerged as we got closer, her face was striking rather than beautiful, and the expression on her face and in her green eyes was calm, serene and implacable. She took care of her folk, human and animal. However, you could see that when their time came, "the weak must die, according to nature's law, as old as they." She may have dressed simply, but she looked as regal as the Queen of the Forest, which was, more or less, what she was.

  "Castamir. What are you doing in the forest, you and your . . . companion?" Her voice was deep, melodious and, for the moment, neutral in tone. I bowed to her and Chessina made a curious little gesture, halfway between a bow and a curtsey, but oh, so elegantly.

  "Madam Oakheart," I tried to keep my voice equally neutral, though I'm not sure if I succeeded. "May I present to you my . . . apprentice, Chessina. We are on our way to Devilfish Pool."

  "Why?" I really didn't like the way she spoke to me, but the forest was in her care.

  "To retrieve a magical amulet dropped in it by the idiot Pennover." I replied, holding firmly onto my temper. "If the major denizen of the pool ate it I have no

  idea of the subsequent outcome but I doubt it would be anything good."

  "Very well. Please retrieve the item as soon as possible." When Oakheart had finished speaking, she turned, indicating the conversation was over, moved back into the trees . . . and vanished. That was one of the reasons I was afraid of her, I had no idea how she did that. It wasn't teleportation, I'd know the signs.

  "We'd better get on," I said to Chessina, "The priestess has given us her rather grudging permission."

  Chapter 4

  "Master," said Chessina as we approached Devilfish Pool. "You introduced me to the priestess as your apprentice. Was that just so you didn't have to explain who and what I am, or did you mean it?"

  I considered for a moment. "Actually I don't see any reason why not, if you would like that?"

  Chessina gave what I can only describe as a girlish squeal of delight, flung her arms around me and hugged me. Having her lithe body pressed up against mine, together with her wonderful scent, which did not appear in any way diminished by her changes. This led to the inevitable physical reaction, which made me regret wearing rather tight leather breeches for this morning's jaunt.

  Increasing Chessina's power this way might not be wise, but teaching her formally would be better than just picking things up as she went along, as I was sure she would.

  "I'm not really qualified to teach an apprentice, Chessina," I said, gently disentangling her embrace. "I still have so much to learn myself, but I will do my best. We had best not waste time, I don't want to annoy Oakheart."

  At the pool's edge I took the dagger from my belt and offered it, hilt first to Chessina.

  "This is made from dwarven rustless steel, with an eversharp enchantment. It's another favour that was owed to Harmon," I said.

  "I'm not entirely defenceless master," Chessina responded with some asperity. In an instant her fingernails had lengthened to become four-inch razor sharp claws. "Please cast breathe water on me master, while I finish getting ready."

  Concentrating hard while I muttered the words and made the gestures of the spell, I hadn't noticed that Chessina's preparations included, of course, stripping to the skin. She wouldn't want to spoil her clothes. It was physical reaction time again. I wondered if I could research a spell of protection from erection at the same time as I worked on my eternal genital itch curse?

  Chessina slipped l
ithely into the water and dived beneath the surface. I wasn't too worried about her. There would be no large predators save the giant electric catfish itself and electric catfish were quite sluggish creatures, relying on their electrical discharge to catch prey. An ability to which Chessina was, almost, invulnerable.

  We were as close to the spot where Pennover had dropped the amulet as I could guess from the description provided by one of the bodyguards. I doubt Pennover had much idea where he was at the time. As I waited I wondered if the bodyguards had retrieved the corpse of their fellow or if Pennover had just fled leaving the survivors to follow. Pennover cared not a jot for his underlings.

  In the event the retrieval was something of an anti-climax. In a little over ten minutes Chessina surfaced with the amulet grasped in one hand, its gaudy chain dangling.

  "Found it, master!" Chessina yelled happily.

  She swam easily to the bank and I took the amulet from her and then helped her out. Concentrate on the amulet, Castamir, concentrate, I told myself. I busied myself by putting the amulet in the leather bag I'd brought for the purpose. When I had finished and looked up, Chessina was dry, clean, dressed and immaculate.

  "I don't know how you do that Chessina. You always look so good," I said.

  "That's my magic, master" Chessina replied smugly.

  I handed Chessina the knife again, scabbarded this time.

  "Master," Chessina said with studied patience, "I told you I'm not defenceless."

  "No you're not," I replied. "But not many human women can change their fingernails into four-inch claws. That might cause undue speculation. Besides, a woman carrying a knife, who looks as though she knows how to use it, tends to get less unwelcome attention than otherwise. Take it, please."

  "Yes, master," she said. "Are we going home now?"

  Was it home to her now, so soon? Possibly.

  "Yes, Chessina, I need to change into something more formal, so I can take this blasted amulet to Pennover and be rid of the whole affair." I said.

  “Oh, no master. No, no, no you must not do that." Chessina stated unequivocally. "Going to him means that you consider him more important than you. And you are not. Let him come to you."

  "Are you sure?" I asked, not sure if she was right.

  "Yes. I understand how demons relate to each other and I don't suppose mortals are that different." Chessina said.

  "Well, I don't suppose Pennover will wait for very long," I remarked, "He's not known for his patience."

  "Master," Chessina asked, as we walked back to the tower, "Do you just not like Pennover's face or do you have a reason to hate him?"

  "No, I don't like Pennover's face," I said, "I don't like his haircut, I don't like his dress sense, I don't like his tailor, I don't like the way he walks, I don't like the way he rides, I don't even like the way he farts. And apart from that, yes there is a reason I hate him."

  "What's that, master?" said Chessina, intrigued.

  "It was the way he treated Harmon, my master; as though he was Pennover's servant, and less than dirt," I said, angrily. "My master was one of the wisest and kindest men I have ever known and I hate Pennover for treating him as nothing."

  "Then you must treat Pennover as nothing, master." Chessina said, "Don't let him into the tower, keep him waiting on the doorstep. There's a balcony overlooking the door, isn't there, master?"

  "Yes." I replied.

  "Then go out on that so you can look down on him." Chessina seemed really indignant on my behalf. Then again, didn't I feel the same way about Pennover's treatment of Harmon?

  "Can you lower his amulet down to him by magic?" she continued. "If you can't, I can."

  "Yes I can, with a featherlight spell," I said.

  "Good, and put some kind of glowing cantrip on it to make it look more impressive." Chessina then went on, "How things look is often more important than how things really are. Don't forget, you are doing this not just for Pennover himself, but for his bodyguards as well. If you can impress them, you can potentially impress everyone they talk to."

  Chessina was probably right. She had to be good at manipulating demons, which meant that she was probably good at manipulating mortals too. She was certainly doing a good job with me, and the scary thing was, I really didn't mind too much.

  oOo

  Pennover exceeded my expectations with his impatience. We hadn't finished lunch when I heard banging at the tower door and his dulcet tones raised in annoyance demanding back his amulet. I picked up the amulet in its leather bag and went down to the balcony.

  At first, all I could see of him was his blond hair as he was still banging on the door.

  "What do you want, Pennover?" I let the detestation I felt for him colour my voice.

  He looked up at that giving me a look at his face, suffused red with anger. His blue eyes, and regular features meant that his face could be called handsome, by the charitable. They wouldn't be able to do so for long, as the signs of self-indulgence were there in the plump cheeks and the lines on his face. I noticed that his figure, while still athletic was decidedly podgy. I found it hard to believe that he was ten years younger than I.

  "That's Lord Pennover to you, wizard." he yelled, "I want my amulet."

  "What, oh yes, the amulet," I said, sounding as bored as I could. "I have it here."

  "Well, let me in so I can have it," at least he wasn't shouting quite as loudly as before.

  "No, I haven't finished lunch yet. I don't want your face putting me off my food," I said, putting on an expression of faint disgust. I thought I noticed grins on the faces of some of Pennover's bodyguard, but as they all wore helmets, I couldn't be sure.

  "Give me back my amulet!" Pennover screamed at me.

  "I have it here," I said. While Pennover had been carrying on, I had surreptitiously been casting featherlight and a cantrip of a glowing green colour on the amulet and bag. I negligently tossed the bag over the balcony and enjoyed Pennover's expression of horror before he realised that the bag was falling remarkably slowly. I was pleased with my choice of glowing green when I saw how reluctant Pennover was to touch the bag when it had descended to the ground. In fact, he ordered one of his bodyguards to retrieve the amulet from the bag who was very reluctant to do so. It's odd, green is one of the most common colours in nature and the leaves can positively glow in the sunlight, but cause a green glow by other means and most people are wary of it.

  "There's your amulet, Pennover," indeed he was so eager to get it back on that he snatched it from the hands of the bodyguard who held it. I wondered what was so special about the amulet. If I had more time, I would have studied it. I continued, "Now, about my fee for the amulet's return, Pennover."

  "It's Lord Pennover, and I don't owe you anything, wizard," he spat out the words.

  "What do you mean?" I was nonplussed and angry. "I've been to some trouble and expense to get the amulet that you lost, and cost you the life of one man already."

  "Your tower is on my land. That means you are my wizard and you have to do what I say." The longer he spoke, the more he sounded like a petulant child.

  "You are wrong, Pennover, wrong on all three statements, and if you do not pay me my fee, I will have it out of you, one way or another." I was very angry now, but I was quite pleased with the way I kept my voice level. I turned and went back into the tower.

  "It's Lord Pennover!" he screamed, "I'll write to my father and he'll make you do what I tell you!"

  You do that, little man, and I shall do so too, I muttered to myself.

  When I went back into the dining room Chessina was waiting.

  "I watched out of a window, master, and you let him off lightly," she said critically.

  "I didn't want to push him too hard, at first," I said. "Not paying me a fee puts him in the wrong."

  "You should have told him that he doesn't own you, master. He doesn't, does he?" Chessina asked in sudden horror.

  "No, he doesn't," I reassured her. "I doubt he'd listen to me, b
ut he will listen to his father, if only because the Duke controls the little inadequate's purse strings. I need to ask the library to copy some documents and then I need to write a letter."

  I wrote,

  Your Grace

  I am compelled to write this letter because of the ignorance and contumely of your offspring Lord Pennover. He is under the mistaken belief that firstly, he owns the land on which my tower is situated, secondly that I am his wizard and thirdly that he can give me orders.

  I have enclosed copies of two documents with this letter. The first is an acknowledgement, signed by King Adalgrim I, the founder of the kingdom, in which he acknowledges that the lands around this tower belong, in perpetuity, to the owner of the tower.

  The second document is the last will and testament, properly signed and witnessed, of the wizard Harmon, leaving the tower in its entirety, together with all contents, and its surrounds, to me.

  You will also note that in the document by King Adalgrim, that the lands of the tower include the village of Fair Pastures. I agree that my predecessors have not made an issue of the village taxes of Fair Pastures, deeming the trivial amount insufficient recompense for the concomitant tedious administrative details. However, the village has never been officially given up and there exists the possibility of an interesting suit at law over the matter. Particularly as the sums accrued over the centuries reach a very large total.

  I suggest that Your Grace enlighten your whelp Pennover of the realities of the situation, for if you do not, I shall.

  Signed, Castamir, Wizard of the Tower.

  I placed the letter on the library table and went into the sitting room where Chessina was drinking tea.

  "You might want to read the letter to Duke Brandell," I said, "I'll be there in a minute, there's something I need to take care of."

  I went to the door of Harmon's old room, which was next to what had become Chessina's room. This might cause problems in the future but so be it. I entered the room and spoke firmly and clearly.