by James Wisher
“You’re not even a warlord.” A slender man with deeply tanned skin and a trimmed and oiled beard leaned over Damien. “How could you even begin to use the demon sword?”
Though Damien had never met General Taos before today he recognized the man from descriptions he’d heard. The way he stood indicated he thought it possible to intimidate Damien into doing the impossible.
“Lizzy is a risen demon spirit. Her soul force is divine in nature.” Damien sounded like one of his teachers giving a lesson to a first-year student. If the generals resented the lecture they said nothing. “Divine soul force can be used either internally or externally. Therefore she can augment my powers just as well as a warlord’s, perhaps better as she was originally created by a sorcerer in the Old Empire to be his partner. In any event she’s chosen me to be her partner and unless you want one of the kingdom’s most powerful weapons to sit around gathering dust you don’t really have much choice.”
“There’s no record of the sword ever being used by a sorcerer,” General Taos said. “We have only your word. Unless you can prove you can use the sword I see no reason to allow you to have it.”
There were murmurs of agreement from the other generals at this suggestion. General Kord raised an eyebrow. “What do you say, Damien, are you willing to prove your claim to the sword?”
Damien shrugged. If this was what it took to get the generals’ approval he’d put on a show for them, though it seemed like a waste of time. “Would it be sufficient to pick her up and not get knocked unconscious?”
General Kord smiled at that. “It would certainly put you ahead of all the other contenders, but I think we’ll need something a little more dramatic. When your father used the sword he could kill a hundred enemies in a few seconds.”
“I can already do that, depending on the enemy.”
“Just use your imagination,” General Taos sneered. “I’m sure a sorcerer with your reputation can think of something suitable.”
The meeting ended with everyone following Damien back to the armory. Seeing the group approaching the warlords on guard duty hastened to pull the door open. Inside dozens of racks held thousands of weapons of all sorts, from dirks to great swords, longbows and crossbows with such heavy draws a normal person couldn’t even think of pulling one. All by herself, floating above a stone table, surrounded by smoke-colored flames, waited Lizzy.
The warmth of her mental touch caressed Damien the moment he entered the room. There were too many people around for her to bring him into her world, but the moment they were alone he looked forward to seeing her. Lizzy flew across the armory, causing the generals to flinch, and settled into his hand. He ran the first two fingers of his left hand along the length of her polished blade, soothing her and causing the flames to vanish.
“I missed you,” Damien whispered.
Chapter 10
With Lizzy comfortably settled into his hand, Damien turned to the generals. “I don’t suppose that’s enough of a demonstration that I’m an acceptable bearer?”
They all exchanged looks before General Taos and Admiral McAllen separated themselves from the group. “I need to see more,” the admiral said.
“As do I,” General Taos said.
“All right, but if we’re going to do this we’d better go outside.” Damien strode past the generals and toward the doors. Under his breath he muttered, “Any ideas what we can do to convince them we’ll be a good team?”
Perhaps a soul force construct? Something bigger than anything they’ve ever seen? I recommend a dragon.
That might work. “How do I use your power?”
When you draw power from your core I’ll add my power to the stream then you shape the combined energy just like you would your regular power.
That sounded simple enough. Of course talking about a thing and doing it were totally different. Well, if this was what he had to do to convince the generals then he’d do it.
The little group left the keep and walked across the yard. The students had stopped their drills and everyone turned to stare at the generals. It wasn’t every day that four of the most powerful men in the kingdom gathered in one place. When they were a good fifteen paces from the keep Damien stopped.
“What are you going to do?” General Kord asked.
Damien grinned. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”
One of the champions standing behind the generals snorted. Damien moved a little ways away from his audience and raised Lizzy over his head. Since he was going more for show than effect why not have a little fun?
Gray fire blazed around her. Damien drew power from his core. The moment he did a second stream of power entered the flow. Far faster than he expected a golden sphere streaked with gray the size of a small house appeared above his head. He shaped the sphere into a dragon, adding power constantly.
By the time the construct actually looked like he wanted it to the dragon’s wings blocked out the sun and it towered over the keep. He and Lizzy still had power left, but from the shocked muttering behind him he figured he’d made his point. Just to be sure Damien had the dragon throw its head skyward and breathe gray flames.
“Is that sufficient, gentlemen?” Damien asked.
Everyone stared at the dragon, seeming unable to speak. Damien absorbed the construct, separating his power from Lizzy’s as he went. When the dragon had vanished the four generals were gaping at him.
“I never dreamed such a thing could be done,” General Taos said, all traces of his previous disdain gone. “With such power at his disposal, why would the king even need armies?”
Damien had no answer for that and the general didn’t seem to expect one. General Kord scratched his beard. “I vote we let Damien keep the sword.”
The others quickly concurred, whether because they really thought the idea a good one or because they feared what he might do if they tried to take Lizzy away from him Damien didn’t know. The only thing that mattered was that they were together again.
The generals dismissed Damien and he flew back toward the capital. When he was well out of sight of The Citadel he found a small clearing in the Great Green, landed, conjured a chair, and settled in. The moment he was comfortable Lizzy brought him into her world.
Damien’s psychic image had barely solidified when she wrapped her arms and wings around him and started crying. He’d never seen her so upset. Damien stroked her hair as they drifted through the night sky. When she got herself under control Lizzy moved a few feet away. She looked amazing as always, with her black hair and wings and flawless figure.
“I’m so sorry, Damien. I couldn’t save him. I gave Fredric all the power he could hold, but it wasn’t enough. The demon was too strong and by the time we realized it, it was too late to escape.”
“It’s not your fault,” Damien said. “I know you did everything possible. Some things are simply beyond anyone’s control.”
They embraced again and when they finally came up for air Lizzy said, “I knew you’d understand.”
“Can you show it to me? The demon I mean.”
“Why?”
“Jen means to kill it and I have to help her. If this thing defeated you and Dad together then she doesn’t stand a chance on her own. Not to mention leaving such a dangerous creature to wander around is just asking for trouble.”
Lizzy frowned, but a moment later an insubstantial black figure appeared a few feet from them. The creature’s glowing red eyes were the only distinct feature on it. Damien flew around the illusion, trying to get a better look. He’d seen something like this before, in the books he read when they were looking for clues about Connor. What was it?
His eyebrows shot up. “It’s a smoke demon!”
Lizzy flew up behind him and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Her breath tickled his ear.
“They’re insanely difficult to create. According to a book I read in the library at The Tower, a warlock has to fuse a demon’s essence to t
he tiny particles drifting in a cloud of smoke. Its form renders it immune to any sort of physical attack. Outside of an actual demon lord, the two of you couldn’t have come up against a more difficult opponent. It’s almost like someone intended for you to fail.”
She flew around in front of him. “Do you think someone tricked that farmer into telling us about the demon?”
“Maybe, or maybe he was a willing participant in setting the trap. Either way, after we deal with the demon we have to have a chat with the good farmer.”
Chapter 11
Damien lingered in Lizzy’s world for a thoroughly enjoyable hour before returning to his physical body and flying back to the capital. He reached the castle around mid-afternoon. The guards all gave him searching looks as he walked across the courtyard with a bare blade in his hand. Lizzy had lost her sheath when Dad fell, but he figured she’d fit well enough in the scabbard he used for his ordinary sword.
He jogged through the halls to his room, Lizzy wrapped in an invisibility field so he wouldn’t scare the servants. Damien reached his room, shut the door and sighed. His sword sat on his desk where he’d left it the night before. He only remembered to grab it about half the time unless he was on a mission. Lizzy floated beside him while he yanked the old sword out of its scabbard and tossed it on the bed. She fit perfectly, just as he’d hoped.
Smiling, Damien sat in his soft chair with her across his knees and remembered the day four years ago when he first went to The Tower. How badly he had wanted to swap out his old sword and bring Lizzy with him.
He hadn’t been able to fulfill his wish that day, but today he had. They were partners now, he’d see her every day not just a handful of times each year. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if Dad had just retired and left Lizzy to him. But he hadn’t and Damien needed to accept that, for Jen’s sake as much as his own. Her almost overwhelming rage worried Damien. He feared she might do something she’d regret.
Damien yawned. He needed something to eat then he had to find his master. He hoped she’d give him permission to hunt down the smoke demon with Jen. If she didn’t he feared Jen might try to handle it herself and he couldn’t allow that. She was the only family he had left. Damien couldn’t let her throw her life away against an opponent she had no hope of beating.
He was about to get up when someone knocked on the door. Maybe Jen had heard he’d returned and come to find him. That would make things easier.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Karrie stood in the doorway, her normally smiling face creased in a frown. She stepped inside and closed the door. “So it’s true. Daddy said you’d gone to try and convince the generals to let you have your father’s sword. I see you succeeded.”
She didn’t sound happy for him.
“Yeah, it took a bit of doing, but in the end they saw things my way.” Damien stroked Lizzy’s hilt.
Karrie stared at his hand, her frown deepening. “When I agreed to share you this wasn’t what I expected. You were only supposed to see her occasionally. Now you’ll always be together. You hardly pay any attention to me as it is. How are we supposed to make this work if she’s always with you? It’s not fair.”
She had a point. It wasn’t fair, but Damien had no intention of spending less time with Lizzy. When this whole business began Karrie knew she wasn’t his first choice. If she had a problem with that he’d be happy to end their engagement. In truth he’d had nothing but second thoughts since the day he agreed to it.
“What do you suggest?” Damien asked. “If you want to call the whole thing off I understand.”
She stared at him. “Call it off? Would you really choose that spirit over me?”
Damien cocked his head. “I thought I made that clear when we first discussed this. I love Lizzy. While I don’t mind helping you out with Sig and the other noble boys that have been bothering you, I’ve never thought of you as more than a friend.”
She slumped on the edge of the bed, missing the razor edge of his sword by inches. “I’ve been lying to myself all this time, haven’t I? I kept thinking once our relationship became official, became real, you’d discover you loved me too. If I just kept smiling and gave you time you’d start to look at me the way I did you. That’s never going to happen is it? You’ll never see me as anything more than a little girl you need to protect.”
A thin trickle of soul force moved his old sword to the corner of his room and leaned it against the wall. Damien scooted his chair over so their hands were almost touching. He reached out and lifted her chin until their gazes met. “It was never my intention to hurt you. I thought we both understood that this was an arrangement of convenience for you. While I knew you harbored some illusions that it might become more, when you agreed to share me with Lizzy I thought you’d made peace with our relationship. If you want to end this we should do it now. The longer it goes the harder it will be when you make up your mind.”
She sniffed back tears. “Do you want to end it?”
Damien wanted to shout yes at the top of his lungs, but he’d given his word. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Whatever you decide I’ll accept. I promised to help you and I won’t go back on that unless you say it’s okay.”
“I appreciate that, but what do you want?”
What did he want? He thought about Lizzy and how he certainly wanted to be with her as much as possible. He also thought about Imogen lying naked where Karrie sat now and how different his reaction to the older woman had been. Could he sit there and say he’d ever think of Karrie as anything but a friend? Even though she was sixteen, when he looked at her he saw the eight-year-old girl that used to chase him and John around when they were kids.
“I want you to be happy, but I can’t pretend I’ll ever feel the way you want me to. You should try and find someone who can love you the way you deserve. That said, you’re welcome to introduce me to any of the boys that don’t treat you properly. I’ll explain the error of their ways.”
She smiled and laughed. “This really was a stupid idea, wasn’t it?”
Damien brushed her tears away. “Sometimes you have to try the wrong thing before you find the right thing. I may not be the best husband for you, but I’ll always do my best to keep you safe and happy.”
Chapter 12
“Master?” Damien stuck his head in the archmage’s office and found her at her desk reading from one of the score or so scrolls littering its surface. Damien had walked Karrie back to the royal apartment before turning toward the stairs and heading down to find the archmage. As he’d walked through the halls he couldn’t stop smiling. Lizzy fit perfectly in the harness Dad bought him for his name day. It almost felt like he’d known Damien would end up with her. He shivered at the thought.
Once he reached the first floor he’d detoured past the kitchen to collect whatever he could wheedle out of the cook for a late lunch, making sure to collect enough to share with his master on the assumption that she’d forgotten to eat again.
The archmage looked up. “Come in. Is that stew?”
Damien had a soul force basket full of leftovers to share with her. “Yeah, chicken and sausage. I brought enough for both of us.”
He conjured a second surface above the tabletop and spread out bowls of stew along with crusty bread, a half bottle of red wine and mugs. They ate in silence for a minute before the archmage said, “How’d it go with the generals?”
“Good. They agreed to let me keep Lizzy.” Damien reached back and patted her hilt. “Not that she gave them much choice. Also I learned a smoke demon killed Dad. I need to find my sister and make preparations to hunt it down, assuming it’s okay with you. We also wanted to check out the farmer that led him to the demon and make sure he’s not involved in anything he shouldn’t be.”
His master frowned around a mouthful of stew. “I had a mission for you, but hunting down a demon is certainly a priority as well. Considering it killed your father I suppose it’s only natural for you to
want to deal with it yourself. All right, I’ll assign someone else to help Imogen with the other mission. Maybe Lon, they’ve worked together before.”
“Thank you, Master. What was your other mission?”
“Searching for missing sorcerers. Six inquisitors have stopped reporting in over the last month. It’s not unusual for one or two of them to lose track of time, but six is unheard of. If it’s nothing, fine, but I’m afraid it’s more than nothing.”
“More soul force eaters? Jen and I killed all the ones Eleck had, but who knows how many more there may be.”
She shrugged and ate the last of her stew. “Who knows. Anything I said would be total speculation at this point. Lon and Imogen will get to the bottom of it. Go find your sister and hunt down Fredric’s murderer. I need your mind clear and focused for when we find Connor. Good luck, Damien. And leave the wine.”
Damien bowed, gathered up the remnants of their lunch, and took his leave. Imogen wouldn’t be thrilled that he’d ducked out on a mission with her. He wasn’t certain how he felt. It might have been fun to introduce her to Lizzy.
I’d like to meet her as well. You’ve certainly thought about her often enough.
“For someone that doesn’t get jealous you do a good imitation.”
I’m not jealous. This is just the first woman you’ve ever shown any real interest in. I’m curious to see what makes her so special.
“For starters Imogen reminds me a little of you.”
Me?
“Sure. She’s beautiful, complicated, and about half the time I see her she doesn’t have any clothes on.”
Lizzy’s laughter filled in his weary mind like cool water on a burn. If anything would get him through this she would. He left the castle to find Jen. Maybe killing a demon would cool her anger.
Chapter 13
Karrie closed the door and leaned against it. It was over. She knew it, maybe in her heart she’d always known it wouldn’t work. Especially after Sig had tried to do to her what she’d done to Damien. She’d basically bullied, nagged, and cajoled him into agreeing to marry her. Even after she knew he didn’t love her, she’d kept at him. She’d been an idiot to think things would change.
