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

by Rain Oxford

  I fell out of tree, hit the ground hard, rolled onto my feet, and ran before the pain could register. By the time I was out of the naowen’s territory, my teeth ached from the sting surging through my body. My leg was burning. Eventually my strength gave out and I fell.

  It was light now, or as light as the forest ever got, so I rested against the trunk of a tree for a short time. There was movement all around me, but it was the movement of animals who were as cautious as me, who wanted only to survive the day. I felt safe for as long as they milled about.

  I didn’t realize I fell back to sleep until I woke to an odd huffing sound and hot breath blew across my face. Terrified, frustrated, and exhausted, I opened my eyes to what I was sure was my certain death. The creature that was sniffing me looked very much like an Earth horse… except it was snow white and had a silver horn on its head.

  I stared with shock until it huffed again and turned to walk away. “Wait,” I said softly. The… unicorn… turned back to me. I reached out to pet it and slid my fingers through its thick, smooth-as-silk mane. “My son would love to meet you.”

  The unicorn turned again and walked away. I let him go with regret that I would never see such a beautiful creature again. But the unicorn stopped, not looking at me. I went to it, stumbling on my injured leg, and it only started forward again when I reached for its mane.

  “You want me to follow you?”

  He tossed his head like he was nodding and nickered, so I followed the unicorn through the forest of monsters and wondered when the hell I took drugs. Creatures of the forest moved away from us, either because the unicorn was just that powerful or because they didn’t know what it was.

  I was just overcoming the pain in my leg when the unicorn suddenly stopped and stomped the ground nervously. I wasn’t fluent in horse body language, but I understood something was out there. I picked up a branch and threw it into the clearing ahead of us. Nothing happened. I picked up a fist-sized rock and threw it. As the rock landed heavily in the thick vines and moss-like grass, a large trap came up. The serrated teeth of the comatsuma resembled a bear trap. The comatsuma was a ten-legged creature with the body shape of a reptile, very similar to the komodo dragon, but with a powerful, jet black exoskeleton armor. Closely related to arachnids, the creature was extremely powerful and few things could pierce its armor, though it liked to bury itself to ambush prey.

  Realizing it had snared something inedible, it dropped the rock and reburied itself. The unicorn contemplated this for a moment before taking us on a detour.

  “Where are we going?” I asked. “I have to find…” The unicorn ignored me. As much as I trusted the unicorn not to lead me into danger, I knew Erono would become impatient. I stopped and said, “I think I will try another direction. Good luck to you, though.”

  The unicorn circled around and nudged me with his head. I was forced to either concede, use magic, or be skewered by the beast’s horn. I had to contort to get through the brush the unicorn guided me to, but I stopped when I lifted a huge leaf obstructing my view. I was standing at the edge of a beautiful creek with moss-covered rocks and vibrant blue flowers. To the north existed quite a striking waterfall.

  The unicorn gave me a sharp nip in the arm and tossed his head. I had to duck quickly to avoid his horn. “Be gentle with that thing! I’m not going in there.” I tried to get around the unicorn, but he resorted to stomping at me. I remembered my brother telling me that horses kicked hard and could do so from almost any angle.

  I backed away from both the water and the unicorn… until the ground disappeared beneath me. My heart beat out of control and all I could do is roll and hope I didn’t cut myself on anything before I made it to solid ground. I managed, miraculously, to avoid hitting my head on a particularly large rock.

  Finally, the ground leveled out and I only rolled another few feet… but I opened my eyes when a small yip greeted me. About an inch from my face was a tiny draxuni pup. Shocked, the puppy froze for just a second, then barked angrily at me. I scrambled away in blind panic until I backed into something solid… and breathing. I looked up to see the snarling face of an adult draxuni.

  I ducked out of the way as he tried to close his teeth over my head and struck with lightning. It was a reflex more than a conscious action. The beast dropped, injured but not dead. As another draxuni approached from behind the first, the blood red leaves of the thesper tree caught my eye. I reached out my magic for the branches and wrapped them around the neck of the draxuni. He easily snapped the branch, but the thick vines of thorns relentlessly tangled into his fur. The large animal rolled on the ground, whimpering as the vines tightened instead of releasing him.

  The pup barked, confused. A third draxuni came at me, but before I could do anything, the unicorn placed itself between me and the beast and reared up on his back legs. The draxuni only hesitated before it snarled and prepared itself to leap at the unicorn.

  I thought it was a trick of the light for the first moment as the unicorn’s snow-white fur darkened to black as space and his glowing mane became blood red. The horn lit with an eerie red glow. It occurred to me that I had been too trusting of this animal. After all, I did meet it in the Aradlin forest.

  The draxuni did relent this time enough to stand over the pup. The bold little pup tried to rush the unicorn, so the draxuni adult plopped down to lay over the pup. The draxuni couldn’t retreat, and the unicorn was advancing on it.

  “Stop!” I ran out in front of the draxuni and held out my hands to the unicorn. “Stop! He was just protecting his pup!”

  The unicorn relented and withdrew a step, doubtfully.

  I swatted at my leg instinctively when I felt the sharp sting. With horror, I realized my bandage had torn during my fall and my blood was exposed to the zeta flies. I pulled off what was left of my boot. Three flies swarmed my leg, but within ten seconds, there were ten. I reached one hand into my bag as I swatted at flies with the other. They started biting my hand.

  Finally finding the right bottle, I pulled it out and popped the lid off with my teeth. It had a special cap on it so that I could turn it upside down and the liquid would seep out by one drop at a time. I let my magic control the drop as the heat of the air turned the liquid to mist. With nominal energy, I fanned the magic over the flies. Though I tried desperately to avoid my skin, exposure to the chemical was certain. The flies reacted violently and dropped to the ground, frozen solid instantly upon contact with the misted chemical. Unfortunately, my aim was shaky as sweat ran in my eyes, so some of the mist burned my skin. I released the fog once the flies were all dead and surveyed the damage to my skin.

  Most of the skin between my ankle and knee was red, frost-bitten, and peeling. Worse yet was the sweating, the racing of my heart, and the pounding headache. I felt my heartbeat throughout my entire body. The venom of the flies was taking effect. If Erono had let me go home before sending me into the forest, I would have gotten the supplies I desperately needed. There was an antidote, but it had to be administered within the first thirty minutes.

  It seemed I was to die because my god was impatient. I curled up on my side to ease the sudden cramping in my muscles. It hurt to breathe, but I forced air in and out of my lungs despite that and resisted vocalizing my pain. The unicorn nudged my head gently. I felt the throbbing pressure on my eyes as my heartbeat thundered. Even as I closed my eyelids, I tried to think of a way to survive the next hour.

  * * *

  I woke to a soft trickle of water in my face. Eyes closed and holding absolutely still, I tried to get my bearings. There was a cool breeze with the warmth of sunlight. To my astonishment, I felt no pain. When I drew energy into myself, I sensed a powerful, nonthreatening presence nearby, so I opened my eyes.

  I was lying in a mix of grass and blue flowers, and unfortunately, right beside the creek. Water dripped on my face from the tree above me, so I sat up. Standing in the brook before the waterfall was the unicorn, which was once again white, and a young woman. The wo
man had white hair down to her waist and not a stitch of clothing on her body. If it weren’t for her wings, I could have mistaken her for sago.

  Her wings were large and thin. I assumed wings would be made of skin or feathers… but there was not a feather in sight and the wings were pure white. When they closed together, they faded to become completely invisible, only to become opaque again when they opened.

  Stroking the unicorn’s mane, she looked at me and smiled.

  At this point I realized why I was cold; I was also completely naked. My leg was covered in a green paste and “bandaged” with thick green leaves. Obviously whatever medical skills the woman had cured the zeta fly venom. Why she had to take off all my clothes to do so, I didn’t know. There were also patches of the green paste on my hand where the flies had bitten me.

  The woman approached me slowly, as if afraid to startle me. I stayed sitting both to keep pressure off my leg and to refrain from intimidating the woman. What I wasn’t prepared for was for her to lean down and kiss me. The kiss was gentle, but full on the lips.

  Strangely, I felt nothing for her. It wasn’t that she was a lousy kisser or unattractive, as it was quite the opposite on both accounts, I just didn’t feel there was anything behind it. She pulled away. “Thank you,” she said in Sudo with a fairly strong accent.

  “For what?” I asked.

  “For coming to our rescue. We waited for years for someone to come for us.”

  These were the demons I had to vanquish from the void? “How long have you been here?”

  “I cannot read your time well. The sun rises and sets. I have seen hundreds of sunrises here. We were all at home and at peace, when suddenly we were here. My tribe was a thousand strong… now we are less than a hundred. Not everyone made it here with the rest of us and half of the remaining tribe died in the first three nights. We can hide ourselves with magic, but the night brings monsters we have never even dreamed about.”

  “What are your people called?”

  “We are the Erame, a fae race from Dayo.”

  I had heard of the Erame in legends and Rilryn even told me he descended from the magical species. I also knew for sure that if they ever really existed, they died out over three thousand years ago.

  There was only one thing I could possibly be dealing with. “I’m sorry, but you have no home to return to. Dayo is very different from your day and I’m afraid you wouldn’t be accepted by the people there.”

  She looked startled. “We could not have been here for more than four or five years.”

  “I believe you have been here for five years, but the Erame are long gone from Dayo. There was a war against magic and all magical creatures a thousand years ago. Ten years ago, there was a problem between the walls of the universe… some beings were misplaced in time and space. I can only think that your tribe was transported here, thousands of years in your future.”

  She sat heavily in the grass. “Then we have fought to survive for nothing.”

  “No, I will still get you out of here. Duran welcomes magic. Maybe I can convince my god to allow you to stay. There is a lot of forest available on Shomodii that is safer than this forest. Show me to your tribe.”

  “They are afraid.”

  “I’m not going to hurt any of you. Trust me.” I reached out my hand for her, which she hesitantly took, and then I stood, pulling her up with me. When the unicorn snorted and stuck his head in between us, the woman laughed and stroked his horn. “My name is Kiro. What is yours?”

  “Ayir. Follow me.” She went towards the waterfall.

  As much as I wanted to avoid the water, Ayir and her people needed my help, so I followed her right into the water. The bed of the creek was slippery and the rushing water was up to my knees, but Ayir had no trouble keeping her balance. To my astonishment, she walked right through the waterfall. Instead of soaking me, the water moved around me as I walked under the flow.

  We trekked through a short cave until it opened into a sight beautiful enough that I stopped, still standing naked in the shallow water, and gaped. The sun shined brightly overhead, the creek here was wide and crystal clear, and skirting the water were vibrantly colored flowers. There were ten more unicorns, including a unicorn pony, as well as about twenty women and girls. Most of the women were naked, but a few women and all the girls wore thin white dresses, which were obviously made by them with their limited recourses. There was a startling sense of innocence about these people.

  Everyone halted in their tasks when they spotted me. Ayir took my hand and pulled me to the banks. Women approached hesitantly, but the clearest sign of apprehension was their fluttering wings. While the children all had pure white wings, not all of the adult women’s wings were white; some were blue, some were iridescent, and some were even silver. Everyone had snow white hair, had light or deep blue eyes, and were extremely pretty.

  Ayir spoke in a very smooth, lyrical voice, which seemed to put some women at peace enough to reach out. Several of the women stroked their hands down my back or arms. None appeared to care at all that I was naked.

  “What are they doing?” I asked Ayir.

  “We have no males as large as you and they are confused that you have no wings. Males from our tribe have wing length proportional to their strength.”

  One woman with iridescent wings inserted herself between me and Ayir and gently placed her hand on my chest. Her long white hair fell over her shoulders in large curls to shield her breast, but it was excruciating to keep my eyes above her neck. She turned around and opened her wings wide. The color caught the sunlight and gave the wings a spectacular effect of being multiple layers of brilliant colors. I reached out without conscious thought.

  “Don’t touch her wings!” Ayir caught my wrist firmly.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult anyone.”

  “No, she wants to mate with you. She offers herself to you and to touch her wings is to accept her as yours.”

  The woman pushed Ayir aside and threw herself into my arms. My focus was on avoiding her wings and not hurting her, so I could only stand there awkwardly as she kissed me. Once again, I got the strange sense it didn’t mean for her what a kiss meant for me.

  She let me go and stepped back. “My name is Nemora. Please choose me over my sister,” the woman begged.

  “Did you just learn my language by…?” I pointed at my mouth.

  “Yes, of course. How does your tribe learn to speak?” She studied me as if I were odd, but reached out to stroke my chest again. “And how do you claim your mate with no wings?”

  “Where are my clothes?” I asked Ayir. I felt like I needed a shield, for I was being openly ogled from behind. As attractive as these women were, I sensed that they were terribly innocent. Besides, Meri was waiting for me at home.

  “I took them to clean your wounds.” She turned to one of the women and after a quick discussion, the other woman ran off with a reluctant expression. “She will bring your clothes. Please, have some water.”

  As if she had been waiting for the opportunity, another woman brought a clay bowl of water to me. I checked it with magic to find it completely pure and drank it down in one gulp. The bowl was taken and another replaced it, so I drank that, too, and the third bowl.

  “Thank you for healing me,” I said to Ayir.

  “Hyoma brought you to us because he knew you would help us.”

  “I was sent here by Erono, god of Duran. That’s where you are; in the Aradlin forest of Duran. I’m afraid you arrived on the most dangerous lands of the entire world.”

  “You were sent to help us?”

  “Not exactly. Erono believes you are demons from the void.”

  “He wants us dead. You were sent here to kill us,” Nemora sneered. She turned to the women around us and yelled to her people in her language. Everyone except for Nemora and Ayir took a step away from me. Ayir looked devastated.

  “I would never kill an innocent population,” I promised. “It’s not your faul
t you got stuck here. I will talk to Erono. Nobody is going to hurt you.”

  A tear ran down Ayir’s cheek. “If what you said about Dayo is true, we would all be dead anyway.” A little girl ran by her and she snagged the child up and held her in her arms. “Most of us died already. Please let us live for as long as we can here.”

  “I will convince Erono to let you live on Shomodii.”

  “It does not matter. It is too late for us. Look around; our males have died. These are the last of our children.”

  “How did your men die?”

  “They were not big like you. Women in our tribe are providers. We had the skills to protect ourselves, but they did not. They protected our children until we could protect them, but in doing so… We have nothing left but our children.”

  “The gods can help you. I don’t know how, but I know they can.”

  The young woman who ran off to get my clothes returned with a bundle. I took my clothes and pulled on my pants, which were torn where the serogou clawed through my leg, but at least they covered my anatomy. The shirt was a comfort, as well; I didn’t like feeling weird for not having wings.

  “If you will take me to a place of peace and quiet, I can contact Erono.”

  Ayir guided me over the cave to the top of the waterfall, where I could sit and focus against the sound of rushing water. Then she left me to it. I reached through my connection with my book until I felt the presence of my god. He must have been waiting for me, for my surroundings instantly became the white walls I was used to.

  “You have not done what you were told.” As usual, I couldn’t see the god who gave me orders.

  “These are a peaceful people who bring no harm to Duran.”

  “You base this on the fact that they healed your wounds? How useless you have become. You are getting too old to be my Noquodi, and spoiled. You believe it is your right to choose when to obey me and when not to. Your nephew may be mated to one of the Iadnah, but you are still just my servant. Destroy the demon invaders or I will find another Noquodi.”