Demonkin

by T. Eric Bakutis

  “Anylus was not kidnapped. He killed your men and took my daughter.”

  “What leads you to believe that?” Haven asked.

  “The same reason Anylus named me Demonkin ten years ago, and sent one of your andux orn to kill me. He's working with the Mavoureen.”

  “Why would he do that?” Haven crossed his arms and stood tall. “He has been my loyal friend for over forty years. Why betray me now?”

  Was Haven honestly this stupid? “The Mavoureen are on the move. He's been spying for them for as long as he's been with you.”

  Most tales of King Haven spoke of a shrewd tactician and skilled negotiator, yet all Xander saw was a tired old man. Had Haven lost a step in his old age? If so, Mynt was in trouble when the Mavoureen came.

  “Again, why?” Haven locked eyes with Xander. “I brought you here because I hold tremendous respect for your family, particularly your grandfather. Yet I've known Anylus for over forty years, and I do not know you. Now you name a man who was like my brother as a traitor?”

  “If only Anylus were here, we'd all enjoy a spirited debate!” Xander scoffed. “Summon a Bloodmender. We'll see who's lying then.”

  “There's no need for that. Spy or no, it seems obvious Anylus has been swept up in whatever happened with Kara and these doppelgangers. We must assume he's alive, and we may also assume he's with Kara.”

  “Holding her hostage,” Xander added.

  Haven turned on Traeger. “Leave us.”

  Traeger glanced at his legionnaires. “My king—”

  “Now, Captain.” Haven grabbed Erius by the arm. “You. Stay.”

  Traeger and his legionnaires filed out the door. The mortuary emptied save for Xander, Ona, Aryn, Tania, and Erius. That King Haven would be alone with them spoke volumes as to the trust they had gained today.

  “Xander,” Haven said, “I know you don't like me, but you must acknowledge I have done all I could to protect your daughter. Even after she broke the law. She aided a Demonkin and stole magesand.”

  “Well, I aided a Demonkin too, if you want to take it all the way back to Terras.” Xander was tired of arguing about who had done what. “What I want to know is what you're going to do now. Are you going after Anylus?”

  “Do you know where he is?”

  “I can find him.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  Now that there was no one in this room he did not trust, Xander could play his last card. “I can track my daughter through her blood. Her blood and mine are unique among all those walking the world. Torn's legacy.”

  “I see.” If King Haven was surprised, nothing showed on his craggy face.

  “While I do that, are you prepared for war?”

  “With the Tellvan. Not the Mavoureen.”

  “Then I'd get on that.” Xander glanced at Ona for confirmation, and she nodded. “My wife and I are going after Kara. We're going to save her, and if Anylus tries to stop us I'm going to put him down.”

  “I see you will not be swayed from this,” Haven said, “yet I must remind you more is at stake than your daughter's life. The Mavoureen walk our world and all signs point to another invasion. You are the only Honuron we have.”

  Xander snorted. “You imprisoned the other one.”

  “Regardless, you are the most powerful mage in the Five Provinces, and you have defeated the Mavoureen before. You have the knowledge of Torn to aid you. I would implore you to aid us.”

  Technically, King Haven was forgetting someone. Varyn Honuron, Xander's absentee father, was far more powerful than Xander and knew just as much about the Mavoureen. Varyn had helped Melyssa erase Xander and Ona's memories almost twenty years ago, and though Xander had not seen his father in decades, he knew Varyn lived. Somewhere.

  Xander saw no reason to bring that up, and why would he? King Haven's request was ridiculous. After forcing Xander into hiding to avoid the andux orn, imprisoning his daughter, and finally arresting him in the street, this king had the audacity to ask him for aid?

  “We'll help you,” Ona said.

  Xander felt like she had punched him. “What?”

  “This is bigger than just our family.” Ona gripped Xander's arm tightly, ensuring he understood how serious she was. “Kara risked her life to stop the Mavoureen, and her friends lost much. Some lost everything. We won't waste their sacrifices. We're united in this.”

  “I'm not giving up on Kara!”

  “Neither am I. We'll find her. We'll leave right now. But once we have Kara we'll return here, to Tarna, to aid our king and province against this threat.” Ona smiled at King Haven. “We face the Mavoureen together.”

  A smile softened Haven's face. “That does seem best.”

  Xander scowled. There was no point in arguing with Ona while she was like this — all brave and patriotic. He would have plenty of time to talk her around on the road.

  Once they found Kara, they were leaving. Simple as that. Ona would understand when he explained. For now, they had placated King Haven and learned all they could. They should leave Tarna while they still could.

  “So,” King Haven asked. “What do you need from me?”

  Xander glanced at Aryn, then Tania. She raised an eyebrow. She was willing. Xander turned back to Haven and told him.

  They would start by forming a dyn disc.

  KARA WAS LOST IN A DAY OF SAILING, with Trell, when her warding bubble tickled the inside of her head. She woke at once and rolled to her feet, snatching up her quarterstaff. She searched for Anylus by the dim light of their flickering fire. His bedroll was present, but he was not.

  Whoever had tripped her bubble would have seen her fire, and putting it out would only alert them she was awake. She backed from the fire and its treacherous light, waiting for her hunter to show itself.

  Kara knew it had been stupid to cook and stupider to sleep beside a warm fire, but she was just so tired of being cold. Anylus had not expressed any concern about the light, and where was he? Where was Anylus?

  Two figures crept toward the fire, people Kara recognized. Sera and Byn. Sera and Byn were in Terras, looking for a cure, not here.

  Kara had seen what she had believed was Byn once before, in the night of Highridge Pass, and the demon had damn near taken her head off. A doppelganger. How had they even found her? Could Byn track her?

  A hand touched her shoulder, so gentle it barely made her jump. Adept Anylus crouched beside her, staring at the fire. “Your friends?”

  “We can't know that.” Kara missed her friends desperately, which made their appearance all the more ominous. “What if they're doppelgangers?”

  “If they are,” Anylus said, “hiding out here accomplishes nothing.” Anylus strode to the fire, robes billowing. “Come. We'll ask them together.”

  Kara followed him. The royal adept wielded power equal to that of Elders Halde or Cantrall. Soulmages went into battle with the experience of hundreds of deceased warriors at their beck and call, and if the two at the fire were doppelgangers, Anylus could destroy them. Kara hoped.

  Byn spotted them and waved one hand. “Kara!” The wide smile on his face melted her heart. If he was a doppelganger, he was the best Malkavet had ever made.

  “Byn Meris!” Kara kept her pace even, backing Anylus up with her quarterstaff raised. “Remind me!” She thought back to something only he would know. “Who did you kiss at the Harvest Fair in Jarel, when we were twelve? After we stowed away on the Seaborne Gale?

  “I didn't kiss anyone that night!” Byn shouted back, “and we stowed away on the Maiden's Breath. It was also the Solstice Festival!”

  That was right. He was right. He was her Byn.

  “Also,” Byn shouted, “it was you who did all the kissing! Garel Smith and Palyn Rourke, one before the dance and one after! Did I forget anyone?”

  Kara blushed at the memory. It had been her first Solstice Festival, after all, and it had been the first time she got to be alone with boys. A warmth filled her as she realized Byn and
Sera were really here. With her.

  Kara sprinted to the fire and threw her arms around Byn, wet blurring her eyes as Sera hugged them both. Had they found their cure? She planted a kiss on Byn's cheek and clutched Sera tight.

  “Did you find it?” Kara asked. “Did you find the cure?”

  Sera shook her head.

  Kara felt all the warmth drain out of her. If there was no cure at Terras, there was only one reason for Sera to come here. To see her.

  Sera had come to say goodbye.

  Chapter 22

  KARA GRIPPED SERA’S HANDS. “I'm not giving up. You can't either. We're fixing you.”

  Sera smiled faintly. “Who says I'm giving up?”

  “You're here.”

  “Not by choice, and there's a story behind that.”

  Kara imagined a dozen perils: Abaddon assaulting them on the road, davengers harrying them through the Unsettled Lands, a harvenger leading an army of animated corpses. “What happened?”

  Sera pulled her hands away. “Balazel.”

  “Drown me,” Kara whispered. Other Mavoureen had entered the Five Provinces as well, just as she feared. Were Abaddon and Balazel alone, or could there be others?

  “Kara?” Anylus stepped closer, tucking his hands inside his long sleeves. “I've business at the Layn. Would you like to stoke our fire and offer our guests a meal?”

  “So you're Adept Anylus?” Byn asked.

  “I am. You both look quite famished, and a discussion over a hot meal is far superior to discussion alone. You’re welcome to whatever we have.”

  “That’s awful decent of you.” Byn eyed the royal adept. “You still cross about that magesand?”

  A smile split Kara's face. That was the Byn she knew.

  “Go.” Kara looked to Anylus. “I'll explain anything you miss.” She motioned to the fire. “Let's sit.”

  Anylus disappeared into the night as Kara stoked the fire for her friends. She unwrapped the last of their food: a half-eaten loaf of bread, cheese, and chunks of salted venison. So what? They could hunt tomorrow.

  Kara passed the food to her friends and wrapped an arm around Sera, hugging her close. “So Balazel came after you.” Kara shuddered despite the fire's warmth. “How did you find me?”

  “Balazel captured us,” Sera said, “and I thought we were finished.” She nibbled on a bit of cheese as Byn tore into a hunk of venison.

  Kara leaned close. “How did you escape?”

  Byn shrugged and chewed. “Sera saved us both.” He grinned at them both. “She's a bloody hero now.”

  “I got lucky.” Sera stared at the flames. “The demons had us for almost three days, locked in the grips of defilers. We moved at an incredible pace. Balazel and his demons move far faster than horses.”

  “Where were they taking you?” Kara asked.

  “Toward the Layn. That's all I could figure out. We entered the Valerun yesterday night.”

  Kara suspected she knew exactly where Balazel had been taking her friends — to Knoll Point, where Abaddon must be leading Trell right now — but she needed to hear everything from Sera first.

  “Eventually, they had to feed us,” Sera said. “While they did, I examined everything I remembered from my time as Ruin's Champion.”

  That raised butterflies in Kara's stomach. Ruin might have taken Sera as his champion to help them, but the master of the Five did not lend his power easily. No mage had scribed Ruin since the All Province War, and most thought his power as dangerous as the Mavoureen's.

  “Anyway,” Sera said, “I put it all together, and scribed what I felt would work. The Hand of Ruin.”

  “You're certain?” Kara asked. That glyph was known to none save Demonkin, and no one in Solyr.

  “I don't know what else it could be. I ended those defilers, Kara. I ended Balazel too. He's gone now, back to the Underside or somewhere else.”

  “You slaughtered them.” Kara could believe it. Ruin's power was absolute. “Byn, did you see this?”

  “I watched it happen.” Byn snorted and shook his head. “They came at her all at once, and they didn’t stand a chance. My heroine.”

  “How did you find me?” Kara asked.

  “I...” Sera glanced at Byn, who chuckled.

  “Tell her,” Byn said. “You have to tell her.”

  Sera's cheeks flushed. “I ... smelled you.”

  Kara stiffened. “What?”

  “Rannos the Wolf.” Sera turned beet red. “Please don't think ill of me for saying this, Kara, but you have developed a rather strong smell.”

  Kara laughed so hard her sides hurt. She couldn't stop laughing. After days on the road without a bath or a change of clothes, she must smell terrible. And so Sera and Byn were here, alive.

  “I've had a journey as well,” Kara said, after they all calmed themselves. “There's no help coming.” She filled them in on everything that had happened since Tarna. Abaddon's attack. Trell's abduction. Her imprisonment. When she was done, they had all sobered considerably.

  “So here's what I don't get.” Byn gnawed at salted venison. “If Haven's after you, why not head for Boon? My family can protect us, and I know a half dozen sailors who would take us on at a word. Haven can't find you on the open sea.”

  “That's where Haven would expect her to run,” Sera said, “but that's not why she's out here.” Sera fidgeted, staring at Kara. “You're going after the demons, aren't you? You're going after Trell.”

  “We're going to where these Mavoureen arrived,” Kara said. “Knoll Point, above Pale Lake. It's infested with Demonkin, and both Anylus and I believe they opened another portal there, somehow. If Trell's anywhere, he's there.” Kara would not let Abaddon murder him.

  Byn tapped his chin. “Rory Mason spoke about Pale Lake once. Visited with his mother. Said it was too cold to swim and looked like a giant mirror.” He tore into his share of the loaf. “I want to end these bastards as much as anyone, but taking on an entire town of them? And their demons?”

  Kara grabbed a small chunk of cheese. “We don't have a choice. Abaddon, Balazel, all of them ... they entered through a portal at Pale Lake. I'm certain of that, and more may be coming.”

  “Are you?” Sera asked quietly. “Certain?”

  Kara frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “How much do you actually trust Adept Anylus?”

  “He got me out of Tarna.”

  “Perhaps he did. Perhaps he wanted you somewhere his demon friends could abduct you, rather than inside the most fortified city in the world. Did you think about that before you fled?”

  Kara huffed. She wanted to be angry at the way Sera asked that question — of course she had thought about it! — but Sera was not berating her. She was concerned about her best friend. It made sense Sera would have trouble trusting Anylus, and his timing was convenient.

  Yet it couldn't be that simple. If Abaddon had wanted her, it would have taken her, not Trell, when it carved a bloody path through Tarna's streets. Who could have stopped a Mavoureen general?

  “Look.” Kara squeezed Sera's hand. “I understand you don't know Anylus, but I do. He's useful, and it's not like I had options. Anylus proved himself when we escaped. He sacrificed a great deal to help me.”

  “Like what?” Byn asked.

  “His career? His entire life? Anylus can never return to Tarna now. Freeing me has branded him a traitor in King Haven's eyes, in the eyes of all of Tarna, but he did it because he agrees only we can stop this.”

  “Even if he is on our side,” Byn said, “one mage isn't going to help us much. If there is a portal at Knoll Point, the Mavoureen are guarding it with davengers and Five knows what else. Why not summon Torn?”

  “Summoning Torn would require training,” Kara said, as Byn asked every question she had asked herself this past week, “and I can't know it would work. Soul glyphs are hopelessly complex, and Anylus has tried it. Wherever he is now, Torn's spirit isn't responding to anyone.”

  “How long
to Knoll Point?” Sera asked.

  “A day or two, if we march hard every day. I wish we had horses of our own, but it was difficult enough to get out of Tarna as is.”

  “We'll help you,” Byn said. “Between the four of us, we can smash these Demonkin. We'll rescue Trell.”

  “If you trust Anylus,” Sera said, “we will too.”

  Kara nodded. Sera had destroyed Balazel and his demons by herself. Even if Ruin no longer remained inside her, Sera had his power. A power that might kill her just as Life’s power was killing Trell.

  “Is this how it ends for us?” Kara asked quietly. “We all die together, saving the world? Didn't we try that already?”

  “Honestly?” Byn said. “If I have to die, there’s no one I’d rather be with when I do.” He wrapped a big arm around Sera and hauled her close. “But ... let’s do our best to not die, all right? I tried it once. Didn't like it.”

  “Hug.” Kara raised Byn's other arm and slid beneath it. She sighed and wrapped her arms around her big brother. Together until the end.

  “I never saw things ending like this for us.” Kara thought back on their horrific journey from Solyr to Tarna, all they had lost. “I feel so guilty.”

  Sera sighed heavily. “That's enough.”

  “Hmm?” Kara glanced at her.

  “We went with you to Tarna because you needed us,” Sera said, “and everything we did, we did to protect you. No one forced us. That's what family does, and you're our family.”

  “Sera—”

  “If you say one more word about how guilty you feel or how much we sacrificed, I'm going to punch you in the face.” Sera made a fist and showed it to her. “Not kidding. Knuckles, right into your nose.”

  “I love you so much,” Kara whispered.

  Byn squeezed Sera. “I just love having two gorgeous women in my arms.” He sniffed the top of Kara's head. “Even if one of you does smell.”

  Sera gasped and poked him. “Ass.”

  A swish of robes caused them to scatter, and a blush warmed Kara's cheeks. What must Adept Anylus think of the three of them, huddled together in the dim fire light? They were just hugging.