by Joe Jackson
“You keep a fast pace,” Kari said. She’d always considered herself a fast walker, making trips between the major cities faster than most travelers, but Morduri’s pace put her to shame.
The elestram king considered her for a minute while he took off his cloak and laid it out as a bedroll. “I’ve been walking so you can keep pace with me,” he said. “You will find that my kind, and our erestram kin, are difficult to outpace or outlast when it comes to endurance. Under normal circumstances, I’d have been well into Pataria by now.”
Kari glanced back over her shoulder. “The Overking’s realm isn’t very big then, is it?”
Morduri chuckled humorlessly. “The entire world is his. Anthraxis and the land around it represent only a neutral ground where the rest of us are not allowed to fight.” He watched the women start to unpack their things, and added, “You needn’t bother with tents. It never rains here, and there is nothing living that will bother you within the Overking’s territory.”
Kari looked to Sonja and Danilynn, and each of them shrugged in turn; it wouldn’t hurt to sleep under the stars. The world seemed to be lacking a moon from what they had seen during the nights in Anthraxis, but the nights were gloriously starry, even under the hazy skies of the city. It hadn’t really occurred to Kari that a lack of rain was strange, since they’d only stayed in the city for a week, but if what Morduri said was true, it explained the parched ground and the grass that looked as though it had been dead and dried for some time. It only left her to wonder if the other realms were the same, though Morduri had described his own realm as being part farmland, so that seemed unlikely.
“What should we do in terms of watches, Your Majesty?” Danilynn asked.
Morduri made a dismissive gesture. “There are no wild creatures here, as I said. No one is stupid enough to attack a traveler, much less a king, when in the shadow of Anthraxis. You may keep watches if it makes you feel safer, but you would be better served getting a good night’s rest; I’m not certain how long you will remain in Moskarre, if at all.”
“Is that where we’re picking up this thing for Sekassus?” Kari asked. “And what exactly are we going to be bringing him, anyway?”
“King Sekassus,” the elestram corrected. “If you make that mistake in his presence, I expect you will have fewer teeth the next time we meet. In any case, you will be bringing him something you would not understand the value of, so what it is should be of little importance to you. But it is something valuable to my people, and I do not give it to you lightly. Accordingly, I will send forth one of my people with you, both to act as a guide and to safeguard what you are to bring.”
“It’s not something King Sekassus can use as a weapon, though, is it?” Kari pressed.
Morduri sighed through his nose. “No, nothing like that,” he said, then shook his head. He lay down on his cloak, folded his hands behind his head, and stared up at the starry sky.
“You miss Emma already, don’t you?” Kari asked, all too familiar with the mannerisms he was displaying. Danilynn and Sonja both beheld Kari incredulously, but their gazes turned as one to the reclining elestram king.
“That conversation is far beyond the bounds of our relationship,” he said in much lower tones than he typically used.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Kari said, laying out her own bedroll and blanket. She turned to meet the glowing, purple-eyed gaze of the elestram scowling at her. She was amazed that as alien as Morduri and his people were to her, there were still some things that were very much the same. Morduri was clearly longing for a bedmate, and whether Emma was his lover or just a plaything, Kari had little doubt she was what he was thinking about. “Despite how many times I’ve been called stupid in the last week, I’m really not.”
“Kari, don’t taunt the demon king,” Danilynn said.
“I’m not taunting him,” Kari replied, not breaking eye contact with Morduri. “I’m just letting him know I’ve been in that situation before, so I know from experience what it’s like to be in love with someone you can’t be with.”
Morduri snorted, but his gaze softened and he turned it back up toward the stars. “You have quite a heart, Kari, but you are far off the mark in this circumstance. In any case, as I said, it is not a conversation I want or intend to have with you.”
Suit yourself, Kari thought. Against her instincts, it came out more tactfully, and she said, “Then I apologize, Your Majesty.”
Sonja was staring at Kari when she turned back toward her friends. “Are you talking about Suler, or…?” her sister-in-law asked.
“Yea,” Kari said, though it was only part of the truth. She had no intention of telling Sonja that she sometimes still thought about Kris Jir’tana, and what life might have been like if she had accepted his advances during the War. Kari was happy with her life: she loved Grakin, she was thrilled to have had a child with him, and Little Gray was the light of her life. She loved being a part of the Tesconis family. She still thought about Kris at times, but she didn’t ever want to bring that up in front of her family and make them wonder; there was nothing to wonder about. “Anyway, let’s get some sleep while that’s a luxury we can afford.”
“That would be best,” Morduri said quietly.
“Unless you want to tell me why you think King Koursturaux decided to help me with this entire affair,” Kari said casually.
The elestram king laughed outright. “I could speculate, Kari, but King Koursturaux’ deviousness makes me feel like a pup. I don’t think it has occurred to you yet that when you deal with her, you are dealing with a being that is over twelve thousand years old. Whatever it is she’s after, and whatever plans you have become entangled in, you can rest assured they are probably older than your race.”
“She’s twelve thousand years old?” Danilynn echoed.
“At least,” the demon king returned. “Now, get some sleep. Your questions all seem to revolve around subjects I have no desire to discuss with you.”
Kari lay down with her friends, and they started to chatter lightly. A barked order to be quiet from the demon king put an end to all talk for the night. Kari stared at the stars above, and her mind wandered back to the tales she’d heard about how the humans had come to Citaria from among the stars. She wondered, staring out at all the tiny specks of light in the sky, if the world from which the humans had come was somewhere in front of her. And then an even stranger thought occurred to her: was Citaria somewhere in front of her?
Chapter X – Moskarre
They crossed out of the Overking’s land and into Pataria the next morning, and it was like crossing between two worlds again. They forded a narrow river, barely more than a stream that came around one of Pataria’s hills and, according to the demon king, formed much of his realm’s southern border. Crossing the river, the air lost the crimson haziness to it, and the way the sun illuminated the golden grasses on the side of the hill before them led Kari to look up at the source of the light. The sky, too, had lost its crimson hue, replaced by a blue expanse dotted by the occasional harmless, fluffy cloud, and what had appeared to be an angry red sun over Anthraxis became a warm, golden sphere.
Kari regarded Sonja and Danilynn, both of whom were taking in the spectacular change in scenery with the same sense of awe. Morduri stopped after several paces and turned back to watch the three women, but he said nothing. Kari decided treating him like a tour guide might not sit well with him, so she kept her questions to herself and nodded up the hill after him. Once Sonja and Danilynn fell into step behind Morduri again, Kari followed the demon king herself.
Kari heard laughter from further up, and her brow rose when a leather ball came over the crest of the hill and bounded down toward them. It was the size of a kick-ball typically used in that sport called football – or soccer, depending on who you spoke to. Kari scooped the ball up and continued to ascend the hill alongside Morduri, Sonja and Danilynn close behind her. She held the ball out toward the demon king. The corner of his mouth twitched i
n amusement, but he didn’t take the ball from her.
A mallasti appeared on the top of the hill, and for a moment, Kari thought the hill was much higher than it had appeared. The mallasti seemed to be much farther away than Kari first thought, but then she realized that wasn’t the case; it was a child she was looking at. Silhouetted against that bright blue sky, Kari could make out a lot of detail in moments: the child was only about half her height; its fur was a reddish-brown not unlike Emma’s; and there was a decorative bone and bead piece over its chest as the only clothing it wore. The child skidded to a stop when it beheld the three rir women, and after only a slight delay, it called something over the hill.
“Uh oh, what did it just say?” Kari asked over her shoulder.
Danilynn’s brow knitted in confusion. “I don’t know,” she answered, and Sonja shook her head negatively as well. “Whatever that language was, it wasn’t infernal.”
“He is calling the adults, just as expected when he sees a band of strangers approaching,” Morduri answered before the women could get too anxious. “Bear in mind that my people rarely see rir, if they have ever seen them at all.”
An adult appeared on the hill beside the child and its reaction was immediate. The adult yelled something else over the hill, again in the language neither Kari nor her companions could understand. It then scooped the child up and ran back over the hilltop. Kari regarded Sonja and Danilynn for a moment, but Morduri continued forward. Regardless of the initial response, Kari didn’t want to dally halfway up and make it seem like she was there for – or expecting – trouble. The hill was steep and her steps were slow, and Sonja and Danilynn kept pace behind her.
Two more adult mallasti appeared at the top of the hill: one was armed with a spear, the other carried no visible weapons. Each of these wore chest pieces like the child had worn, and their coats were highlighted in places by bright, colorful painted markings. They reminded Kari somewhat of the czarikk, but that thought fled quickly when the unarmed mallasti’s hands began to crackle with lightning. Despite the apparently hostile reaction, the lightning-wielder didn’t immediately strike, instead calling down the hill in that unfamiliar language.
Morduri called back in the same tongue, and among his words was his surname Irrasitus. The mallasti reaction turned suddenly excited, and both of the males at the top called over the hill in rapid chatter. Kari and her companions continued the steep ascent up the hillside behind the demon king. The two mallasti watched her and her companions skeptically, but they seemed much more concerned with the arrival of their king. When Morduri reached the hilltop, the two mallasti guardians bowed low to him and spoke what seemed to be a royal greeting in respectful tones. Morduri said something to them casually, and they stood up straight and took stock of the king’s guests.
When Kari reached the hilltop, she met the golden and orange-eyed stares of the two defenders. Both of them were a little taller than Kari, standing just over six feet. Just as Kari remembered Emma, the stares of the two mallasti were impassive: if they were angry, curious, distrustful, or any combination thereof, they kept it from their countenances well. Kari could smell their musky scents, more common among the furred demons, though it wasn’t unpleasant. They wore no clothing but for the decorative chest pieces, but their heavy coats made identifying their gender almost impossible but for the lack of breasts. The one holding the tasseled and feather-adorned spear gestured down the far side of the hill, and it was only then that Kari took in the sight of the village.
It was smaller than Kari expected. Moskarre was a collection of roughly two dozen large, animal-skin teepees and huts, arranged around an open central area with a fire pit. Kari took in the village with great interest, comparing it to that of the czarikk she’d spent time with on Tsalbrin. Their homes were similarly decorated with colorful painted designs and calligraphy, though all of it was lost on Kari at first glance. The area was tidy, and the village was ringed on its outer edge by totem poles, something Kari hadn’t seen before. She knew of their use among shamanic practitioners, but just what they did, she had no idea.
The most curious thing about the village, however, was the flat-grassed area to its east, wherein a couple dozen mallasti children and a number of adults stood watching the strangers with great interest. The field was arranged with markers and paint in some areas, and there were wide woven nets at each end. It took Kari only moments to realize it was a football – soccer? – field, but it took her mind much longer to process having found one in the home of demons. She hesitated for a moment, but soon got her wits about her and kicked the ball over toward the field. It had been some time since Kari had played a sport of any kind, but her drop-kick was good and accurate, and sent the ball nearly the entire way to the children waiting for it. The two males standing beside her regarded her with interested looks. Morduri laughed outright and gestured for Kari and her friends to follow.
Kari looked around more as they descended the backside of the hill. What she could see of the realm of Pataria was a breathtaking landscape of rolling hills and grassy valleys. To the west was a deep valley with a sparkling lake that fed the narrow river they’d crossed. The air was warm, as though in early summer, and a persistent but gentle breeze blew from west to east. Kari couldn’t see any other towns or villages from their vantage point, and she wondered why the village of Moskarre was perched on a hillside so close to the Overking’s realm. Given the desolate state of the Overking’s realm, Kari thought perhaps it had to do with being far from other people, but it was hard to know; did demons avoid each other in their own realms?
Pataria held a certain charm, and Kari had to work to make sure her defensiveness in the face of that charm didn’t show. She didn’t want to give the mallasti the impression that she was expecting trouble, particularly in their home. While the beauty of the realm and its similarities to her own home put Kari on guard, at the same time, she allowed a part of herself to hope that the vast majority of her travels with Sonja and Danilynn would be through terrain such as this. The Overking’s realm was desolate and sterile, but hopefully the next time they saw it, their mission would be virtually complete, so they could look forward to simply getting home.
They passed the outer edge of the village, and Kari got a brief but close-up view of one of the totem poles. It appeared to be carved directly into a tree trunk, and there were four animal faces that made it up. The carvings were incredibly detailed, and from bottom to top Kari saw a bear, an elk, a snake, and a hawk – or at least, whatever the underworld counterparts of those animals might be. She supposed it was all the same regardless of how they were called, and she wondered again what the totem represented to the village. The carvings were painted and had an almost life-like look about them; Kari found herself impressed with the artistic prowess involved.
Kari looked to Sonja and Danilynn and saw they were similarly curious about the village and the realm around it. As pleasant as it seemed, Kari was sure neither of her two companions had expected what they’d found any more than she had. Danilynn in particular gave a confused shrug when her eyes met Kari’s. Sonja seemed aloof, but Kari understood her sister-in-law was likely using her empathic sensitivity to get a better feel for the reactions of the mallasti people. After being stared at a few moments, Sonja finally met Kari’s eyes and gave the barest of nods; Kari took that to mean that all was well for the time being.
There were a few mallasti in the village when Kari and her companions were led into it by their two guides and the elestram king. Most of these appeared to be females. They, too, wore nothing in the way of clothes, but several had woven pup carriers wrapped around them, and most of these had one or two pups riding around in them. Others sat in the doorways of their teepees nursing young, as many as three or four at a time in some cases; it seemed they had several smaller nipples along their bellies. Kari was astounded; she’d had enough trouble with nursing Little Gray. The females paid little heed to the visitors but to stare curiously, but they all dipped the
ir heads reverently when they saw their king.
Eventually, Kari and her friends were brought before the largest of the teepees, decorated in such a way that suggested it was the village elder’s home. The male with the spear called out to whoever was inside. They didn’t have to wait long before another male emerged from the tent. This one was clearly an elder: he had white-gray fur on his muzzle and cheeks, and he walked with a gait that suggested his legs had carried him through many, many summers. His yellow eyes took in the visitors quickly, but then he bowed as low as his aged legs and back would allow to greet his monarch.
The elder and Morduri had a brief conversation, during which Morduri gestured toward Kari and her friends several times. The reactions of the mallasti elder and the two guards were unmistakable: Morduri clearly asked them for something they did not want to give up. After a couple of minutes of this, he said something to the elder and the guards, and they all turned and fixed Kari with those stares, though now they weren’t so impassive: they were afraid.
“I thought we were going to be of more help to you,” Danilynn said to Kari when there was a break in the discussion. “But whatever language they’re speaking, I can’t understand a word of it. And frankly, that makes me nervous.” Morduri regarded the fures-rir priestess and said something to her in the imperious, gruff-toned language Kari had heard almost exclusively in Anthraxis. “Yes, I would feel better if Sonja and I could at least understand what you were talking about, Your Majesty.”
The elestram king turned to Kari. “You don’t speak the infernal tongue, do you?”
“No, Your Majesty,” the demonhunter answered. “I don’t speak any of the languages of Mehr’Durillia.”
Morduri nodded and turned back to the elder. He said something else to the elder and the guards in that other language again, but soon their conversation switched to infernal. The elder said something to the guards and gestured them away. The males left Kari and her friends in the presence of the king and the elder, who continued to study them with that same impassive look and an obviously discerning eye. “So, you are a hunter,” he said, surprising Kari when he spoke in the Citarian common tongue. His voice was clear and strong, but there was a tiredness behind it that Kari couldn’t quite understand, unless it was simply a product of his age.
