The Demon's Game (The Guardian Series Book 4)

by Rain Oxford

  “You’re about to piss off your wife,” Mordon warned.

  “Nope. Divina loves me for my mind; she’s not going to get mad at me for being right. I’m correct in that a god cannot easily defeat a powerful Ancient.”

  “Which is your point because it’s exactly what I said when I told you about Xul,” I said.

  “Yes, because I often make points that have already been made. In that case, I should also remind you that you said an ancient cannot easily be destroyed outside a mortal body. My point is that five years ago, one of the Ancients got around Xul and tried to attack me. Regivus destroyed him easily.”

  “Regivus is more powerful than me.”

  “Yet he couldn’t take care of Xul?”

  “How do you know it was an Ancient? Maybe it was just a minor demon.”

  “It wouldn’t have bothered me for five years if it were that simple.”

  “This has been bothering you?”

  “All mysteries bother him,” Mordon said.

  “But this isn’t a mystery. Why did Vretial go ‘poof’ when we didn’t destroy him?” he asked. When we just waited, he sighed. “I think the Ancient was sizing me up. Regivus confirmed that I have backup, so the demon pretended to be defeated.”

  “So what do we do?” Hail asked.

  Dylan sighed again. “You two are going to be good for Mordon and leave this to us. Mordon and Xul, you are going to take care of the boys. Divina, get ahold of Erono and have him ask Edward to help Rilryn. For now, we will keep the weapon between us, Edward, and Rilryn. We don’t want the demons to know we’re onto them or that we’re after a weapon.”

  “Xul?” Mordon asked, suspiciously. The Ancient wouldn’t meet our eyes. “Demon, why do you smell guilty?”

  Xul shrugged and gestured to his mouth, then walked out of the room. Mordon moved to follow him, but Dylan gently gripped the dragon’s arm. “He knows something about the weapon. Right now, he knows something we don’t, and that means---”

  “It means I need to beat the truth out of him,” Mordon growled.

  “No. It means we want him on our side. He’s as old as the gods, so he has ways of getting his way. It would be very easy to screw ourselves over by trying to back the wrong person into a corner. He strikes me as someone who will clamp up if pushed too hard; someone who would take a secret to the grave just on principle.”

  “Then what do we do?”

  “Give him a reason to help us.”

  Chapter 6

  Edward

  “I did nothing wrong!”

  “You murdered three people and would have murdered fifteen girls if I hadn’t stopped you.”

  “It was self-defense!”

  “It was revenge.” I felt pity for Soda, still a child by law at the age of seventeen, for he was mistreated since he was very little. Soda’s parents were killed when he was just a baby, forcing him to be raised by his abusive aunt and uncle. Unfortunately, he first discovered his abilities with magic before he emotionally matured, so he never learned to control himself. By the time he was old enough to do serious damage, he didn’t care about the lives he took.

  Soda killed his aunt and uncle, who abused him, but also his cousin. Although Merda had only ever tried to help him, he killed her in her sleep and then he went after the girls who had teased him in school while they were all at a party. Luckily, I was able to stop him.

  It is the Guardian instinct to protect our books and our people, and we hated killing, but I couldn’t let him go. For the crimes he committed, the law would send him to Canjii, where he would kill many others. Of course, Duran law would consider that cleaning up trash despite the fact that there were several people who were banished to Canjii unjustly or for crimes they didn’t commit. Every government had flaws.

  “I just wanted them to be sorry!” the boy screamed, tears streaming from his eyes. He was on his knees in tattered, blood-soaked clothes. His situation was close to my heart, since Dylan could have gone down the same road. However; for all Dylan’s abuse and neglect, it only made him stronger in his kindness and mercy. Soda never really had a chance.

  It took days to track the kid down, and when I arrived at his house to see the brutal murders, I assumed he was entirely heartless. He ran to the house of a family friend, with whom he confided in. Fortunately for me, the friend’s parents were good friends of mine, so they pointed me in the right direction. By the time I found him, the authorities were after him.

  I crouched in front of him and pulled both a vial and a dagger out of my pocket. “This poison is painless and quick, but you have to drink it yourself. The blade will hurt, but you can close your eyes and let me do it for you. You have to choose.”

  “I don’t want to die,” he cried.

  “I know, but I can’t let you go on killing people. You can accept your punishment and be at peace or I can do it for you.”

  He wiped his tears and stared at the blade for several minutes before turning his huge, weepy blue eyes on me. “Have you killed many people?”

  “When I had to,” I answered.

  “Then how are you better than me?”

  “I never killed anyone for personal gain.”

  “I know it was wrong to kill them. I just hated them so much. It wasn’t my fault they were mean to me.”

  “No, it wasn’t. If you know it was wrong, you should accept your punishment. This is your last chance for peace. If you cannot, I will do it for you, but you know you will never be forgiven.” To sago, peace in the afterlife was more important than peace in life. “Do you accept your punishment?”

  He nodded and took the bottle from my hand before gently taking the lid off, his hands shaking violently. “I’m scared. Will my aunt and uncle be there in the Land of the Dead?”

  “They will be, but Janus will protect you from them.”

  “Is Janus the god of the dead?”

  “In a way, yes.” I tried to be gentle and not rush him because I knew it was hard for him. It wasn’t that I was in a hurry; I just worried that he would choose the dagger instead.

  He drank the contents in one gulp and set the vial carefully in the grass. “What now?”

  “Lay back and try to relax. You will feel a little like you’re floating, then you will start daydreaming.”

  “Then it will be over?”

  “Very soon now. Tell me something good about your life. Tell me something that shouldn’t be lost.”

  “Merda. I didn’t want to hurt her. My aunt found out Merda had told the king what was going on. I thought Merda had betrayed me and told her mother that I had contacted the king. It was only after I killed Merda that my aunt told me the truth. She had been spying on Merda. My cousin had tried to help me… she was my only friend. I hope…” he trailed off as his eyes drooped. “she can forgive…” His eyes fell closed and his breathing slowed.

  I sighed, stood, and picked up Soda. He flopped lifelessly over my shoulder, but he wasn’t lifeless. Readjusting him, I twisted the emerald ring Divina gave me and focused solely on one place. It was a single-use only ring that would flash me to wherever I wanted to go. The bright white light engulfed us and when it cleared, we were in a familiar living room. Sitting on the couch was Hiroku.

  Akia’s home was sparsely decorated with soft tan and raw wood colors. The low, light peach couch was a new touch along with the two matching cushioned chairs. Couches were the latest thing sweeping through Anoshii. The table in the middle of the room with cushions instead of seats surrounding it was humble and worn, which just made the room feel more like a home.

  Hiroku, stunned by the flash, didn’t react when Akia came out of her bedroom. “Kiro!” she greeted me breathlessly. “Who is that?”

  “Well, I was hoping your new foster son for the next few years.” Obviously, I would never willingly leave my son and ex-wife with a killer or a dead boy.

  The exceptionally powerful potion that Divina gave me would render a person unconscious for several days, but the true purpose
of it was to remove the memories of the person. While memories were only the surface of Soda’s problems, this potion was strong enough to wipe even his personality away. He would start fresh; he would have to relearn how to eat, how to talk, and even how to do magic. Fortunately, his learning would be accelerated so that by the time he was old enough to be on his own, he would be able to function perfectly in society. That was why I wanted to leave his second upbringing to someone I trusted.

  I had kept the potion for more than a year, as Divina gave it to me for someone who I truly thought could be saved by it. The only stipulation was that I couldn’t tell the person I used it on; they had to admit their wrongs and want to change.

  When I explained to Akia that Soda had lost all memory, she happily agreed to take care of him. “Hiroku is old enough now that he can help me take care of his new younger brother,” she volunteered.

  Hiroku snapped out of his haze at the sound of his name. “Dad? What was that light?” he asked as he took Soda gently to help me lay the boy out on the couch.

  “Just some of that magic stuff you never wanted to learn. This is Soda. He’s going to need a lot of love and attention. He will also develop some serious skills in magic. When he does, send me a letter and I will come back to train him. Just make sure he is accepted. I’ll be back to check on him.”

  “You don’t have to go now, do you?” Akia asked, flustered. “You just got here, and you haven’t been by in so long.”

  “I’m in a committed relationship,” I admitted. My visits with Akia always ended with both of us frustrated and disappointed. She was an amazing woman who I really loved, but we could never make it work for more than a month.

  She frowned, as if she had waited for years for me to return. She probably had, just as I had to restrain myself with great difficulty every time I went anywhere near Anoshii. “You can still stay for dinner. For your son if not me.”

  The more distance between us, the better. “Okay,” I agreed.

  * * *

  Hiroku and I were playing cards two hours later in the living room. It was late and I dreaded the travel home, but Meri as waiting for me. Akia wandered in to watch, as she normally did, and sat beside me. She leaned against me and I knew I should move away, but she was doing nothing provocative and I didn’t want to be rude. It wasn’t until Hiroku went to bed that the atmosphere changed.

  I stood to leave and suddenly found my arms full and my mouth taken eagerly. My arms wrapped around her even as my brain told me to push her away.

  “Stay the night,” she said, releasing my mouth long enough for me to catch my breath.

  I tried to push her away, but she held on tightly enough that I would have hurt her. “I told you, I’m in a relationship. You and I never work out.” She was very fun to be with and the physical side of our relationship had been fantastic, but our personalities and priorities clashed. Since meeting Meri, I realized what I had been missing.

  She finally let me go. “I’ve come to terms with your job. We could try again.”

  “Good night.” I kissed her on the cheek and walked out the front door. She made a wonderful mother to our son and would make a magnificent wife to the right man, but she didn’t like taking ‘no’ for an answer.

  After far too many failed marriages that ended in heartbreak, I tried to stay out of relationships altogether. Akia was one woman I always found myself returning to. Meri was a different matter. I was attracted to her at first, like I was with Akia, but I could never get her out of my mind. After everything settled down, I went to her world and told her to sign her name in my book so she could come home with me. Meri was subtle, unlike Akia, but she hid a great strength behind an innocent face. Actually, Meri was an adventurer herself and loved exploring Duran.

  Meri was the kind of woman who wouldn’t try to stop me from doing my job or complaining that I was gone for work a lot. It wasn’t that she didn’t worry about me, it was just that she understood what my job as Noquodi entailed. Being a Guardian meant that there was very likely to come a day that I wouldn’t make it home.

  Ronez had once told me being married to a Guardian was like being married to a cop; any woman strong enough to marry us had to be willing to be the second wife, because we were married to the job. At the time I was happily married to a sweet human woman, so I didn’t understand. Ronez was always my wiser half. It was times like this more than ever that I wished I could go see him.

  My brother had been dead for thirteen years and I still expected him to show up and complain about some human invention or a pushy woman he made a mistake with.

  I just reached the edge of town, heading towards the beach, when I felt my consciousness pulled away. None of the gods were mindful of the concussions they could cause their Guardians, but Erono was especially rough this time. All around me was white, not quite as bright as the flash, but fairly irritating.

  “There is a force gathering on Mijii.” Erono’s tone was brisk, as if he expected me to argue. Of course, the god himself was nowhere to be seen, for the god only showed himself to Dylan. “They have been badly masking themselves for some time now and appear to be a new form of demon from the void. Deal with them.”

  “How do I find them?” I asked. The whiteness of my surroundings faded and I found myself in the Aradlin forest.

  I had previously visited the Aradlin forest four times, and each occasion I was fortunate to escape with my life. For someone to survive the elements of the forest, they had to be clever, quick, quiet, powerful, and very lucky. Obviously, I lacked at least one of those qualities, for I was standing directly in the middle of a gathering of about thirty serogou. Now, the brown and green reptiles may only have stood six feet tall, but the venom they could spit and ridiculously sharp claws weighed greatly against my magic. And there were thirty of them.

  The major weakness of the serogou was that their vision was based on movement. This did me no good when they saw me appear, as made clear by the fact that half of them reared up on their hind legs and flushed the hoods around their necks. I pulled upon the power of my book and struck the closest one with lightning. The beast fell heavily to the ground and one was bounding over it within an instant. I dived to the wet, damp dirt and rolled to the side.

  My agility paid off when three attacking serogou collided and turned on each other. This caused other reptiles to turn on the nearest beast and I was able to slip through. I ducked, jumped, and dodged teeth, claws, and dueling bodies, collecting a fair share of wounds on the way. Just before I cleared the fighting, a serogou landed on my back. I turned in time to see another beast dragging my attacker away, but in its pain, the serogou tried to claw its way back over me. The result was a long, deep cut from my knee to my calf. The beast’s claws cut right through my boot. I didn’t shout with pain; that would have been suicide.

  I struggled to my feet and ran for a nearby tree, then climbed. Bark scraped my open wound, but to stop would be to die. I reached a safe enough branch to perch myself on, tugged my bag free, and pulled out a cloth and water. It was painful scrubbing the dirt out of the cut, but infections were worse.

  After cleaning my leg, I covered the lesion with an antibacterial herbal paste, all the while knowing it wasn’t enough to adequately protect the wound and disguise the scent of my blood. Zeta flies would swarm me within an hour and if even one of the venomous, bloodsucking flies got a taste of my blood, there would be no end to their pestering. I tore the plastic seal of my last clean bandage, wrapped it around my leg, and secured it with two metal clasps.

  I wiped the mud and sweat from my eyes with the cleanest spot of my shirt I could find.

  Every time I visited the Aradlin forest, I was with other people, armed, and had a full medical supply stash. This time I would have to rely on my knowledge alone. The number one rule of surviving the forest was not to bleed, the second was to be absolutely silent, and the third was to avoid any body of water.

  I could live without food, but only had a miniscule supp
ly of water and Erono would never allow me to leave the forest before I accomplished what he sent me for. Realizing that the “demons from the void” had to be evil didn’t help the matters, and anything that made a home in this forest was the toughest of the depraved.

  After about ten minutes, I got my breathing and the pain under control enough to climb down. It was nighttime and trees blocked most of the moonlight. I hit the soft ground a little too hard for my injured leg, but stopped myself from voicing the pain. I had survived everything Erono threw at me for over two thousand years; there was no damn way I would die so foolishly as to shout in pain. If I did, my brother would never let me live it down.

  I stayed away from the sound of water, for the most dangerous beasts guarded the rivers, so I needed another source of water safe enough to purify. Two hours later, I found nothing. Furthermore, the zeta flies had found me. They would only try for my leg wound unless they actually tasted blood; then they would resort to biting me for it. One or two could be deterred for a while at least.

  Giving up on finding anything in the dark, I sought the safest looking tree and climbed it. Hiding in a tree was really no safer than on the ground, but the zeta flies stayed low. I trusted myself not to fall off the branch in my sleep and I needed to be able to get out quickly if something happened, so I didn’t secure myself… Not that I had anything to secure myself with anyway.

  A tiny sliver of Duran’s larger moon could be seen through the trees as I fell asleep.

  * * *

  I woke to a familiar hissing sound. It was so familiar in fact, that I didn’t realize at first why I was woken. It hit me like a ton of bricks and my eyes snapped open to find myself face to face with a naowen. The small creature was fluffy and could easily be considered cute if it weren’t the most venomous mammal known to Duran. It was said that the venom produced by one naowen could kill an entire world’s population. I never understood how Shinobu, Dylan’s pet naowen, could be so gentle with him. This one was spitting mad.