by Joe Jackson
Kyrie glanced at Grakin, the only person at the table with them other than Little Gray, and she glanced around to make sure all of her other children and guests had left the area. “I didn’t want to say this in front of the others, because it’s not something that can be common knowledge,” she said when she turned back to Kari. “If you decide to go, if something happens and this turns out to be a giant trap, wherever you are, call upon Kaelariel.”
“He’d come for me?” Kari asked, shocked. It was an intriguing thought: if the gods could enter the underworld, why were there still demon kings?
“No, the gods are prevented from entering the underworld by whatever mechanism or trick of divine power that keeps the demon kings and their subjects from Citaria,” Kyrie said. “But the god of freedom can pull strings among those he knew in his younger days, and at the request of his high priestess, will do so gladly. Understand, this doesn’t mean we want you to go or think it’s a good idea, but if you go, my lord’s aid will go with you.”
Kari turned and looked at Grakin, and he smiled. She wondered if he knew that was true all along, and he was simply trying to talk her out of going anyway. With that in mind, she had to wonder if that was the real reason Celigus had advised Kari not to go: whether he was afraid Kaelariel might overstep his bounds and upset things in Celigus’ homeland. Whatever the case, Kari understood now that if she went, she would be as safe as was possible in the underworld. While there was the risk of being attacked, killed, or imprisoned, Kari, her contacts, and her mother-in-law’s deity had minimized that risk as much as possible.
“Well, I’d better get some sleep. I have a lot to consider,” Kari said, and she hoisted up her son as she rose.
She took Little Gray up to his room, tucked him in, and said his prayers with him. Once he lay down and closed his eyes, Kari closed the curtains in his room, glanced around briefly to see if she could detect any trace of “the Fuzzy Man,” and then joined Grakin in their bedroom. He didn’t bother saying anything to try to sway her decision, and they made love in the quiet of the deepening night. Given the anxiety of the decision before her, it was exactly the comfort Kari needed to get her thoughts straight and look at things objectively.
Chapter V – Preparations
It wasn't often that a full-blooded demon set foot on the campus of the Demonhunter Order. In fact, to Kari's knowledge, it had actually never happened. She supposed it might be possible that Celigus Chinchala had once walked the campus grounds, and perhaps some other demon had done so through guile – the Wraith could probably go anywhere he wished without attracting attention, she reminded herself. But whatever the case, when Kari reached the campus for work the next morning, not only was there a full-blooded demon standing in the campus' central square, but she remained completely unmolested by the hunters.
The last time Kari had seen Eliza Chinchala was in her prior life. She had met the girl once on a visit to the stronghold of her father, Celigus Chinchala, which at the time was in the badlands of southeastern Terrassia. Eliza had barely seen eighteen summers then, but she was bright and beautiful, with a strong grasp of the arcane that was only enhanced by the power she had inherited from her father. Kari had met Eliza only briefly before leaving Celigus' fortress, and that had been mere weeks before Kari perished from Dracon's Bane.
Looking at her now, Eliza had blossomed into a striking woman. She was voluptuous and curvy, sporting the beautiful figure of her mother, who Kari knew was a succubus. What intensified that, however, was the woman's stately dress and the way she held herself. She had her long, brown hair up in a high tail the same way Amastri seemed to prefer, exposing her long, pointed ears and the milky-white skin of her neck. While Eliza didn't serve in her father's court, she seemed to have all the dignity and grace to suggest she could if she wanted to. Dressed in a gorgeous robe of red, black, and white, she showed all the seductive charm of her mother along with the poise and strength of character that her father was so well-known for.
Eliza apparently recognized Kari and approached. Kari assumed the woman had heard all about her resurrection. It was still strange to Kari that an underworld demon stood on the campus of the Order without reservation or being under threat of arrest or harm. Most of the recruits and virtually all of the established hunters and teachers on campus knew who Eliza was and recognized that she was an ally regardless of her heritage. It was doubly strange to Kari since she'd fought a half-succubus just weeks before, but based on everything she had heard since her resurrection, Kari actually trusted Eliza more than her father. Eliza not only served Kaelariel, but she was a member of the High Council of Wizardry – which meant a group of the world's strongest archmages not only knew who she was, but had welcomed her to their circle. That alone spoke volumes to Kari, despite how little she knew of that Council or its workings.
The half-succubus' smile was disarming and genuine as she stepped before Kari and offered one of her delicate hands for a shake. “Lady Vanador, it is so good to meet you…again,” she quipped, her lips curling up and showing the succubus fangs that Kari had been thinking about just the night before. The laughter spread even to the pink eyes, and Kari felt reassured about her feelings regarding Eliza.
“Thank you for coming, but please, call me Kari,” she answered. She gestured toward the administrative building and then began walking toward it, and Eliza fell into step beside her. “Did you just arrive? Would you like to get something to eat?”
“No, thank you,” Eliza replied. “It's the middle of the night where I've come from, but I wanted to make certain I arrived here at a proper hour for you. Master Maelstrom passed along word of your intentions, so I wanted to come speak to you regarding your preparations for the journey, and to see if you had any concerns I might be able to assuage.”
Kari led Eliza to her office, but she marked well the looks on the administrative workers when she passed. People may have trusted Eliza and her father to some extent, but there was no getting around the fact that they were demons. It didn't matter that Eliza was considered an ally; the people working in the office were clearly nervous with the demoness around. Kari wondered if she should be to some extent as well, and if the fact that she wasn't pointed to her being more easily deceived. It reminded Kari of her previous life, when people started to trust Kaelariel and some of the serilis-rir, and how that had affected Kari's perspective.
They reached Kari's office and the demonhunter went and sat behind her desk. Eliza took the same seat Amastri had the night before, and Kari juxtaposed the two women in her mind. Despite the fact that Amastri was possibly completely mortal – or even half-angel, if she was to be believed – Kari didn't trust her at all. Yet Eliza was fully demon – her mother a succubus and her father a demon king – and Kari trusted her almost completely. It was so strange, and Kari found she had a hard time qualifying her viewpoint. The word demon bounced around inside her skull for a couple of minutes, and she wondered how much the word really meant in the end. If demons like Eliza could align with the forces of good and “half-angels” could align with the forces of evil, how much did the labels of angel and demon really mean in the end?
Kari decided to stop wasting Eliza's time being philosophical. “Let me start by asking you this: do you know Amastri D'al'cinyiore?”
“I know of her, but we haven't actually met,” Eliza answered. “She's a minor sorceress, so we keep an eye on her for activity, but I otherwise have little to do with her. I know she's a spy for King Koursturaux; I assume you've been using her for information about this trip to my homeworld you're considering?”
Kari nodded. “Yes, but I'm not sure how much I can really trust her. I'm nervous that this could all just be a trap set up by King Koursturaux to capture or kill me. At the very least, I was hoping maybe you could confirm some of what she's told me, and that you could also take me and several others to the underworld if we decide to go.”
The half-succubus chuckled. “Mehr'Durillia,” she said, and Kari tilted her hea
d. “Our world is called Mehr'Durillia, and despite everything you may have heard, it is far from being the underworld.”
Kari sat forward in her seat. “How much can you tell me about your world and its demons?” she prodded.
“If I wasn't interested in ever returning there, I suppose I could tell you everything,” Eliza said. She twisted her lips to the side and scratched absently at her cheek while she thought to herself. “In all honesty, I shouldn't need to tell you anything. Everything you want and need to know, you're going to find out rather quickly once you've gone there and interacted with some of its people. Your people have never gone there in numbers or spent any significant time there – not even your hero Turik Jalar – so you're fairly ignorant to what is quite blatant once you've spent some time on Mehr'Durillia. So maybe you should start by telling me why you're going there in the first place, and I'll tell you if what Amastri said can be trusted.”
Kari nodded and began laying out the tale of Se'ceria and her daughter Se'sasha. She left out only the part about Koursturaux setting foot on Citaria, but otherwise tried to include every detail she could. She relayed the tale all the way up to and including the attempted assassination in her home, the fact that the Wraith had saved her life, and then she laid out everything she could remember of Amastri's plan. Eliza was clearly intrigued by the story, but she never once interrupted, taking in everything with only a change in expression here and there to indicate surprise or understanding. When Kari finished the tale, she waited for Eliza to expand on what she knew so far.
“This is more complicated than I expected,” the half-succubus said at length. “At the very least, I can tell you that if King Koursturaux has an opportunity to aggravate or humiliate King Sekassus in some way, then you can trust that her involvement is genuine to see to that end. That doesn't mean, however, that King Koursturaux cares one whit about you or whether or not you survive: to her, you are just a tool to be used to barb one of her foes. By extension, though, you can trust that if she's chosen to involve King Morduri, she will have cowed him into doing exactly what she wants by some form of threat. That means King Morduri may not be pleased with helping you, though, so you may need to tread very lightly around him – more so than you already should around a king.”
“If your travels across Mehr'Durillia are going to last for a month or more as you think, then you are going to learn a great deal about our world and its peoples. I won't lie to you, Kari: you are going to be quite surprised by much of what you learn. My father, siblings, and I have been unable to tell you much of anything because of the threat of retaliation and banishment, but the information is not exactly a secret. If I may suggest something, do your best to befriend as many people as you can while you are there, and learn everything they can tell you. Then, when you come home, not only will you have this priestess to draw from, but first-hand experience dealing with the people of Mehr'Durillia. And then you will better know how its kings operate, and how to counter them.”
“So your father is already considered a traitor to the Overking?” Kari prodded.
“To an extent, yes,” Eliza answered. “For the time being, he has maintained a strict neutrality between our two worlds, and so the Overking still views him as a potential pawn. But if we were to betray the Overking's secrets or make it plain that we were feeding you information to foil the kings' plans, that would carry much more dire consequences. Banishment from our home world would be a best-case scenario; at worst, we might even be hunted down by the very creature who saved your life only days ago.”
“You mean the elestram, the Wraith?” Kari asked, sitting up a little straighter.
“Aye,” the half-succubus said. “I wouldn't be too sure he's an elestram; you're the first person I've ever heard confirm just what he is. He didn't earn the nickname the Wraith by being someone who's seen often or in his true form. But when he's been sent to execute someone by the Overking's orders, their death is all but assured.”
Kari considered that. “So he works for the Overking?” she mused.
“No, he's a mercenary,” Eliza corrected. “He works for whoever pays him. Doubtless only the kings can afford his services, though.”
“So can you take us to the…um, Mehr'Durillia and back?” Kari asked.
Eliza nodded. “Yes, I can do that,” she said. “And I can remain in Anthraxis until you've returned, and bring you home. Just make sure you understand that I am Celigus' daughter, and I cannot legally enter another king's domain without their express permission – which I'm unlikely to ever receive. So I will be useless to you in terms of helping with your overall rescue mission. I can, however, show you around some of the city and introduce you to both King Koursturaux and King Morduri.”
Kari shook her head. “Amastri said we're not to talk to or im…implicate?” she stuttered, and Eliza nodded. “We're not to talk to or implicate King Koursturaux in any way.”
Eliza put her hand over her mouth, and she blew out a long sigh through her nose. “I can tell you that means it's going to make King Sekassus very, very angry. I'm sure it already goes without saying, but make certain you're out of Sorelizar before the Seven Days' Grace expires.”
Kari snorted. “There's one other thing I hope you can tell me about, something you and Amastri haven't really talked much about. From what Amastri's told me of this plan, we have to cross the realm of…Tess'Vorg, home of King Emanitar? Is there anything you can tell me about him, and whether or not crossing his realm is going to be a mistake?”
Eliza took in a deep breath and thought to herself for a minute. Kari figured she had to be careful just how much she said, but that she knew a lot about the subject. Kari hated to put Eliza in such a position, risking betrayal and its consequences, but she trusted that Eliza would know how to toe the line properly to keep herself safe while helping as much as possible. Again there was that strange feeling of trusting a demon to verify information given by a mortal, but Kari brushed it aside. She tried to simply look at Eliza as an ally, and not worry about what other label one could put on the woman.
“King Emanitar presents an interesting range of possibilities,” Eliza said at last. “No one is quite sure if King Emanitar is exceptionally cunning or if he simply has no ambition. You must understand that despite his relatively low station among the Council – he is eleventh among the kings, just outside those considered the major kings – he is possibly the oldest and certainly one of the most powerful among them. Some believe he is allowing the Overking to demote him again and again so that he can destroy as many kings as he likes – again, he is among the most powerful of the kings. Others – including the Overking – believe he is simply defeated in spirit, and that King Emanitar no longer has the ambition to advance his station.”
“Personally, I don’t know King Emanitar very well, but I have spoken with him from time to time when I accompany father to a Council session. I believe both sides may be wrong, and that King Emanitar is simply content with where he is and what he has, and so his rank means as little to him as invading or cowing his neighbors. My instincts tell me that the biggest danger King Emanitar will pose to you is in the realm of curiosity: you may, if you cross his realm, pique his interest enough that he may detain you, for lack of a better term, to sate that curiosity. He may take a great interest in you as a demonhunter, but then again, perhaps not.”
“You don’t think he’d harm us, though? Or make us go around his realm to avoid any sort of…implication in this plot?” Kari asked.
“Not likely,” Eliza answered. “Especially if he knows you’re going to do something that will make King Sekassus angry. I’m not sure of the details, but something happened between King Emanitar and King Sekassus many years ago, and neither makes any effort to hide their animosity. King Emanitar typically shows little in the way of emotion toward any of the other kings except for King Koursturaux and King Morduri, but his hatred of King Sekassus is no mystery to anyone.”
Kari tilted her head. “So they might
involve King Emanitar in this plan…?”
Eliza thought about it a few moments, but ultimately she shrugged. “I’m not certain. King Koursturaux was once kast’wa to King Emanitar…she was his mate, you might say, though the bond was not like what your people call being mated. A kast’wa is something unique among the kings; it is more a political mating, you might say, aimed at creating princes of power but with otherwise no ties between the pair. As for King Morduri, his father and King Emanitar were friends for many centuries, and as I have heard it, King Emanitar was as an uncle to King Morduri – a rare thing among the kings and nobles of my homeland.”
It was definitely surprising for Kari to hear. At the least, it eased her tensions about crossing Tess’Vorg and whether or not Emanitar could be trusted at all. She wasn’t sure what to make of the trio, but the fact that they were all interconnected posed another possible issue for Kari. Koursturaux and Morduri were apparently arranging some sort of plan to annoy Sekassus, and caught in the middle was Morduri’s “uncle” and Koursturaux’ former mate, or whatever they wanted to call it. And then there was the fact that Emanitar hated Sekassus with a passion. It made Kari wonder if all three of them were actually involved in this plot, regardless of what their feelings might look like on the surface.
Another thing that made Kari wonder was how Koursturaux and Emanitar had ever become lovers in the first place. While Eliza had said it was a political thing, that still didn't explain why a creature fitting the description Eli had given of Koursturaux would be in any way attractive or attracted to a mallasti, which is what Emanitar was, from what little Kari knew of him. That the kings might be able to produce children when they looked so vastly different was a shock, and the thought of what such children might look like or how powerful they might be was staggering.
