by J. Stone
The untethered demon that had attacked Scarlett was the first to stand, and she took the opportunity to try to finish her opponent off. Scarlett, however, still had enough power to cast one final spell. Raising her hand, palm outward, she released a heavy blast of energy that knocked Astrid back and into the wall of the chamber. The assassin hit the back of her head against the marble wall and fell to the floor in a heap. She didn’t get back up.
Ruby and her version of Astrid found themselves too preoccupied with the beast rampaging toward them to bother with each other after they managed to stand on the shaky ground. The eyes focused in on them, and the tendril that had been connected to the back of Daibhu’s head (when it had been in one piece) was arced outward toward them. The princess knew what it was after, but she still was unwilling to accept it or give it up. She held the orb up in the air and watched as the eyes covering its disgusting amorphous body followed along with it. Seeing how badly it focused on the glowing artifact, Ruby knew that it would never give up looking for her and this magical item. No matter how powerful it was, Scarlett had been right. The orb was cursed. She had to get rid of it.
Luckily, the princess found that Astrid was even more distracted than her with the oncoming beast. Reaching back with the war hammer, she brought it at a harsh angle into the untethered demon’s knee, cracking the bones out of place. Astrid released a shrill scream as she collapsed to the ground. Ruby tossed the glowing orb onto her fallen body, hoping it would draw the attention of the beast away from her. She left the demon there and set toward the door.
“Scarlett!” the princess called across the room. “Time to go!”
Her horned demon was still on the ground, but she managed to stand despite the shaking room and follow Ruby into the tunnel they had come in through. The princess turned back and saw the beast grab both the orb and Astrid’s body. The terrible thing shoved the artifact into her mouth and down her throat before attaching the tendril to the back of her head. Knowing that could have been her made Ruby sick. She felt like vomiting but found herself unable to perform the act. The beast didn’t seem satisfied with controlling Astrid, and it continued to shamble forward.
“Can you collapse the tunnel?” Ruby asked her horned demon, as they passed inside it.
She shook her head, catching her breath. “No power left.”
The princess looked down to her war hammer. “Back up,” she said, gently pushing Scarlett back with her other hand.
Her demon servant complied, stepping back. “What are you--”
The answer became transparent. With whatever poisonous might she still had flowing through her, Ruby swung the war hammer into one side of the cave’s wall. The ceiling overhead rumbled. She ran to the other side and repeated the act. Rubble and debris slipped down from the cavern ceiling. Satisfied with the progress, Ruby ran back toward Scarlett, while the beast slithered and pounded its body against the mountain, causing the rocks to shift even more. The women began to run down the tunnel as fast as they could, while the creature approached. By the time it smashed against the tunnel entrance, the rocks collapsed between it and the women, leaving them in the dark of the cave but safe from its wet limbs.
Chapter 34. The Way Back
They were in the dark of the long tunnel leading back to the cold Rashtalg mountainside once more, and Scarlett was forced to be their collective eyes. The horned demon had folded the scythe and war hammer back inside the hidden vaults, where she kept all her most important possessions, and she held Ruby’s hand and guided her through the cave. They’d left their coats back in the monk’s bedroom that they’d been staying in, so the demon pulled a couple new ones through the void. Even in that cave, the cold of the mountain pierced through. The darkness and relative moment of calm finally gave them time to speak of what Scarlett had uncovered in the nether realm.
“Tyran?” the princess asked.
“Best not to say it aloud for now, but yes. That’s what I found. He’d protected it well.”
“Is that why it took so long?”
“How long was I gone?”
“Five days. I was worried you wouldn’t come back at all. That I’d lost you forever.”
“Nonsense, my princess. I shall never abandon you.”
Ruby had seen a myriad of reasons to trust her demon, but there was always a curiosity rattling around in her head of what would happen if Scarlett no longer needed the princess. She was after all, essentially a slave to the princess’ desires. That concern had finally been tested by the untethered demon. The assassin had offered Scarlett complete freedom with the use of the bracelets, and she’d turned it down. They would be bonded for life.
The princess now had the craggy hand demon’s name, but she wasn’t sure how that would help her exactly. “How do I use this true name against him?”
“Quite simple, really,” her demon servant replied. “You just need to speak it in his presence.”
“What will it do exactly?”
“I suppose I’m not sure. I’ve never actually seen that act before. It’s kind of a horror story to all demons though, to keep your true name a secret, lest you be controlled by mortals.”
“It won’t kill him will it?”
“It shouldn’t, no. From what I have heard, it will only weaken a demon temporarily.”
“Enough time to get the bracelets on him?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“And when the connection to my sister is severed, I can kill him without harming Leina.” It wasn’t a question.
“Right. I think the plan shows promise.”
Ruby mostly agreed. She had already seen the bracelets in practice. When Scarlett had worn them, their connection had been completely severed. Nothing that the princess felt was transferred to her companion, and more importantly, whatever was inflicted upon the demon was not given back to the master. The craggy hand demon could be killed without sacrificing Leina if she could get the stony metal bracelets on his wrists. That part of the plan seemed unwieldy, however. It would require a weakened demon, and that meant using this true name, Tyran, against him. Even Scarlett had never seen this in practice, and she wasn’t about to rely on something that important without first testing it.
“But this true name,” Ruby began. “I need to be certain it works.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have any way of reassuring you, my princess.”
“There is one way.”
“How do you mean?”
“I could speak yours… and we could see what happens.”
“Oh. I see.”
“Is that a problem, Scarlett?”
“Well, I can’t actually say it.”
“You don’t trust me with it?”
“No. I mean that literally. I can’t speak the name. No demon can utter their own true name to anyone, bond or otherwise.”
“Oh,” Ruby said with a tone of disappointment in her voice. “Never mind then.”
Scarlett was not eager to spread the word of her true name, but she absolutely did trust Ruby with such information. She knew that her princess would be just as susceptible to attacks should her true name find its way to someone else’s ears. They had both proven that their bond meant something to each other time and time again, so the horned demon decided that Ruby should have access to this last piece.
“Well, that’s not to say we couldn’t do it,” the horned demon eventually replied.
“Then there’s a way?” The hope returned to the princess’ voice.
“I’m still able to write it down. We would just have to be careful with the parchment I wrote it on. Neither of us would want anyone else to learn the name. They would have power over us both.”
“I guess we’ll have to wait until we make it out of this tunnel then.”
“Yes, my princess.”
The pair of women continued on in the dark in relative silence for some time with Scarlett guiding her master through the cave tunnel. As they moved back toward the snowy peak, the temperature
started to drop again, and they could hear the wind howling in the distance. Ruby still couldn’t see anything, but she knew the light couldn’t be much farther. After another half hour or so of listening to the wind screech past the tunnel entrance, she finally started to see the light veering down the cave. Traveling a bit further, she saw the light itself. The snow outside was too bright to look at after the dim monastery and the long hallway of total darkness. She shielded the entrance from her view, but she was otherwise now able to walk on her own.
“Finally,” Ruby said, rushing ahead and staring at the ground, too wary to look up at the white snow outside.
“Yes. Finally.” Scarlett was less excited to see the path open ahead of them. She knew that her princess would now want to learn and speak the demon’s true name. The experience of being brought to her knees in pain by a single word was not one she looked forward to, but Scarlett was willing to sacrifice nearly anything and everything for Ruby.
“Can we try it now?” The princess wasted no time once there was light enough for them to see clearly.
Scarlett nodded. “If that is what you wish, my princess.”
Ruby saw the hesitance and fear in her horned demon’s red eyes. They looked the same as when she’d asked Scarlett to wear the bracelets and go into the nether realm. She walked back to her demon, throwing her arms over her shoulders and locking them behind Scarlett’s neck. She smiled and asked, “Do I need to give you a little more encouragement?”
Scarlett smiled, her eyes rising to her princess’. “There will be time for that later. I know you’re in a hurry to return to your sister now.”
“Yes…” Ruby replied, staring off into the distance. “Leina.” She realized that she had almost forgotten why she had gone all that way. How is that possible, she asked herself. She shook off the thought and took a step back. “You’re right. Let’s do this, so we can get back to the castle. Leina needs me…”
Scarlett flipped her hand over and retrieved a parchment of paper from her divide between realities along with a quill dripping little ink droplets to the rocky tunnel floor. Placing the paper in the flat of her palm, she wrote a single word in signature fashion, scribbling it as fast as she could. Seeing it on paper was an odd sensation, but it had no ill effect on her like hearing it would. With a heavy sigh, the horned demon handed the scrap of paper to Ruby and threw the quill back to where she’d found it.
The princess looked at it, cocking her head to the side. If she had seen that combination of letters together for any other reason, she would have discarded it as nonsense or some unknown language. Given the context, however, she knew how important they were.
Ruby looked back up to her loyal demon, offering a wincing expression of an apology and asked, “Nyxia?”
Scarlett felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her, and she collapsed to her knees, gasping for air. An electric pain shot from her ears throughout her head, bouncing and ricocheting off the walls of her skull like it was trying to find a way out past the bone. Her finger and toenails felt as though they were being ripped backward, peeling skin as they went. Tearing its way down her gut was the sensation of a blade being drug through her organs. Her legs and arms went limp, and she fell forward, hitting her forehead on the rocky cave floor. That part, even the princess was able to feel because of the bond.
“Scarlett?” Ruby asked, rushing forward and joining her demon on her knees. “I’m so sorry! Is it too much?”
The demon twisted her head and looked up at her princess, blood dripping from her forehead. “Let’s not do that again.”
Ruby’s eyes were full of worry and concern for Scarlett. “What was it like? Will it work against the craggy hand demon?”
“I can’t imagine that not working on anyone.”
The princess helped Scarlett sit up, pouring her demon’s body into her own lap, where she brushed the hair from her face. “I’m sorry. I just had to know.”
Scarlett looked up and smiled, genuinely happy to have helped despite the pain. “Anything for my princess.”
Holding the paper with the name on it up to Scarlett, she asked. “What about the parchment?”
“Destroy it and tell no one of the name. They would only use it to hurt us both.”
The princess nodded and held the paper up to her chin. She spit a special blend of her poison onto the parchment and watched the sludge cover and devour the note. Its work done, she flung her hand to the side, tossing the poison away, and she wiped her hand clean on her clothes.
The pair of women sat there together for some time, while Ruby attended to her demon. Scarlett was too weak to stand for more than ten minutes, and even after that, both women thought it would be a mistake to try to go down the mountainside in her fragile state. They waited another half hour with the princess occasionally looking out to the bright snow in an attempt to encourage her eyes to adjust to the light they would be traveling into. In part because of Scarlett’s weakness and partially out of fear of snow blindness, they ultimately decided to wait until the light grew dimmer before leaving the cave. They would stop somewhere along the way before the sunlight faded too much to see their path.
The journey down Rashtalg’s mountainside was easier than the way up. The storm had died down since the last time they were outside, and it made finding the blue marker flags a much easier task. They had to stop only a few nights due to lack of visibility, making better time than they did when they traveled up the mountain path.
Ruby was now eager to make it back to Lavidia. She had to kind of fight herself to feel that urgency though. Memories of Leina were beginning to slip from her, being replaced and rewritten by the dark ooze inside her. During much of her adventure over the prior eleven years, Ruby had followed the thought that the ends would justify the means, but she was now finding that the end didn’t appeal to her like it once had. She pushed herself to focus on saving Leina, saving that innocent little girl that was tricked into being corrupted by the craggy hand demon.
If her desire to save her sister had faded, her wrath toward Leina’s demon had only grown. Vengeance, she found, was the real reason for her eagerness to make it back to the castle. Thoughts of his death flooded her mind. Ruby fantasized about witnessing his last gasping breaths, as she forced poison down his throat. She smiled, thinking about breaking his bones and slicing him open. By the time they arrived at Rashtalg’s base and passed the final blue flag, she had catalogued no less than seven different murder fantasies for the craggy hand demon. None of them, she neglected to realize, even brought her sister into them. That element just slipped away in favor of satisfying her wrath.
“Which way now?” Scarlett asked, snapping the princess from her daydreams.
“Mmm. Right.” Ruby looked around, thinking about where they were. “Willow’s Wood,” she eventually said, pointing toward a nearby forest. “Through there is the fastest way back to Lavidia.”
“We haven’t exactly had the best luck in our travels,” the horned demon pointed out. “Wouldn’t it be safer to go around the forest?”
The princess shook her head. “Would take too long. Besides, Willow’s Wood isn’t dangerous. Scariest thing that’s supposed to live there are wood spirits. I can’t imagine they’re going to pose much of a threat.”
“If you say so, my princess,” Scarlett replied.
Chapter 35. Willow’s Wood
There was a well-worn path carved through the forest making the walk through Willow’s Wood easy to follow. After what they had endured ascending and then descending Rashtalg, it was a welcome change. After making it to the base of the mountain, the temperature had increased back to the heat of summer. The canopy of the woods, however, had cooled them down significantly, and they walked along in relative comfort.
The Willow’s Wood got its name not only from Ruby’s family surname, but also because that type of tree was the most prevalent among the forest. The lazy looking trees drooped down all throughout the woods, their branches nearly sc
raping the mossy ground. The whole forest was a drastic change in scenery and environment for Ruby and Scarlett. Ever since leaving the underground caverns beneath the Abyss, they seemed to have been plagued with frightening enemies and gloomy surroundings. In the Willow’s Wood, however, there was pleasant green grass, blooming flowers, birds chirping in the distance, and little animals of the forest scampered about, looking for nuts and berries in the underbrush.
Scarlett, frankly, found the setting to be off putting. The horned demon liked the darkness of places like Gloomport and the violence they had found at the Roof of the World. Despite the danger, she found those places to have been exciting and reason to exist in Nabiria. The forest was dull, safe, and predictable. She was eager to leave it and find something more interesting.
The princess didn’t think much of the woods either. Before she had been poisoned and bonded with a demon, she had come to the forest, escorted by her father’s guards. Back then, the place had seemed so much more interesting, but she found herself bored with the pleasant little critters and pretty flowers. The darkness within her craved the destruction and dire straits that she had found herself enveloped in over the past weeks. Ruby found herself wishing that there were something in the forest that might attack them, but she knew there were nothing but innocent creatures and spirits of nature dwelling there. She just needed relief from the unrelenting cheerfulness of the woods.
Eventually, they came to a clearing in the heart of the forest that was filled with a small pond. Little lily pads floated on its surface, and ducks skimmed along, quacking and flapping about. The pleasant scene was simply too much for the princess, who was so full of darkness that innocence and nature now seemed abhorrent and disgusting to her. She walked over to the edge of the pond and looked down at her rippling reflection below. A cruel thought occurred to her, and Ruby grinned at herself, glad to have had it.
Scarlett joined her master and noticed the smile. “What is it?”
