Demon Scroll

by Tim Niederriter

  “Intruders,” said the hulking humanoid creature, flexing the fingers of his free hand.

  Jaswei shook her head, smiling.

  “At this time of night? How dare they?” she said.

  The demon growled low in his throat.

  Saben folded the scroll under his arm. He glared at the demon, then raised his hand, the one bearing the seal of demon control. The demon laughed before Saben could activate the seal.

  “Mortal, you know nothing of my kind.”

  Saben opened his fist. The control seal flared with light. The demon chuckled, shaking his head, then raised a mace with iron rings all along its oblong length. Just like against the demons that destroyed his village, the seal did nothing.

  Saben Kadias knew hatred when it grew in his heart. He recognized the fury he felt and saw no reason to dispel it, and no way to silence the voices of his slain parents, his missing sister, his friends and village years ago destroyed.

  “Jaswei.” He grunted, holding the demon scroll out to her.

  She took the scroll, then stepped to one side. Saben threw down his baldric, drawing the great sword from it in the same motion. He hurled himself at the demon guardian. His roar of hate-fueled rage echoed through the halls of the library, shaking dust from shelves.

  Jaswei leapt backward, landing catlike to weather the force of Saben’s battle cry. She averted her eyes as they clashed, the demon blazing bright. Darting to one side, the towering greenish guardian swung its weapon at Saben’s head. He swung his sword overhead as he ducked, cleaving the demon mace in half. His muscles offered protest for only a second as he whirled to cut at the demon’s chest. His strike opened a long gash.

  The demon retaliated with the remains of its mace, flailing at the end of a chain that connected the weapon to his wrist. Saben caught blows on his shoulder and forearm. He staggered under the impact, feeling ruptures that would become bruises pulsing under his skin. The demon leered at him and brought the broken mace down in another strike.

  Saben’s blade cut the chain, sending the weapon flying into stacks of the library with a crash. The throb of internal bleeding ran through Saben’s right side. He pressed the attack. As the demon retreated, its meaty fist struck Saben’s cheek, driving him off-balance. Despite the blurring, bobbing world that he lived in after the punch, Saben’s sword severed the demon’s arm. The creature groaned. He spun to one side, then fell, trailing pale reddish blood.

  Jaswei crept to Saben’s side. His rage subsided, though he still seethed with unconcealed, uncontrolled temper. He picked up his baldric, breathing hard, and hung it on his back. Without a word, he staggered toward the window they’d come in. Jaswei caught up with him and offered her shoulder to lean on. He accepted, despite himself. Her firm touch told him she was still on his side.

  Good.

  They reached the window. He dropped to the ground outside, stiffening his legs with strength sprites to take the landing. The demon’s blood dripped from his blade. He cleaned it with a swish of the weapon through the air. Jaswei landed behind him. Rond trundled to meet them.

  “No one’s watching,” he said.

  “We should go,” said Jaswei.

  Saben nodded. The three of them disappeared into the night, carrying the two stolen scrolls. Rond could have his part of the take. The Azel scroll must be strong, but who could say what Saben needed to take on the demon without a face. The stars overhead reminded him all too clearly of the void of the abomination. That creature had been the target of his first bane roar. The act of crying out had saved his life then, but he doubted it would be enough when next he saw the monster.

  The scroll he unfurled when he arrived at the room where he was staying gave him hope. Next door in Jaswei’s quarters everything was silent. Rond was across the hall, probably poring over his prize. Saben Kadias, a man from a village taken by demons, focused on becoming one of them.

  The scroll’s jagged lettering and bizarre patterns filled his eyes, his mind, and shortly after, his dreams.

  Melissa

  Training as a mage began with tests.

  Melissa spun the spear and aimed it so the weapon’s tip pointed toward the ground. She stared across their stretch of training yard at Niu. The two of them were among many other student-mages training on the palace grounds. Melissa was disappointed by her lack of access to personal training. She already lacked any instruction on magic since she was a young child.

  Yet, she also understood the need for Lady Nasibron to observe all the students at once to gauge their abilities. Abilities, Melissa thought, really what abilities?

  Giles, her brother, often demonstrated small magical talents when they were young. In the intervening years, Melissa never experienced directed magic for herself until her encounter with the vakari warrior in protecting the governor.

  Niu walked toward Melissa, staff in hand, the ends both blunt and reinforced by metal. Part of Melissa thought the situation slightly unfair, as she used the same weapon she trained with as a merchant’s guard. Niu picked the staff from among the training weapons but looked as though she’d never held one before. They closed the distance and circled each other, testing the distance with their long weapons.

  Naturally, sprites and banes as Lady Nasibron called them were most able to demonstrate their capabilities when stress drew them out. Melissa recalled such stress and wasn't pleased with the prospect of facing it again.

  She wanted to be a mage as much as she did before. The trials they faced would be difficult for all of them. Besides her fear of demonstrating a lack of magical talent, sparring barely qualified as a stress test for Melissa.

  Elaine watched from a distance beside her aunt. She seemed so naive, except when she was cold and aloof. Melissa disliked the other girl as much as she admired the opportunities Elaine benefited from her whole life.

  Opportunities like those could have been Melissa’s once. The governor may have favored Melissa with her current prospects but her blessings were more than the norm for Melissa. Niu and Melissa exchanged testing strikes.

  Despite having the spear pointed down, Melissa clearly understood the weight and balance of her weapon better than the other girl. She blocked Niu’s blows without much trouble. Niu kept the exercise interesting by changing tact more than once.

  At first, she used the ends of the staff interchangeably, mixing up which direction she would swing from. Melissa blocked them all. Next, Niu tried to dart past Melissa and strike straight on with the staff extended in one hand. Melissa ably defended the quivering blow.

  Niu’s extra effort offered Melissa little more trouble than her previous flurries of attacks. Melissa tripped Niu with the end of her spear and then pointed the blunt butt of the weapon at her opponent. Niu groaned, then shook her head.

  “You beat me again,” she said, “and without magic, too.”

  Melissa shrugged.

  “I think I’m missing the point of the training.”

  Niu frowned. Sweat ran along her brow.

  “This isn't a real fight. I don’t even know what we’re supposed to be doing. Does it even really matter?”

  “It matters,” Melissa said, “given our positions as favored among the candidates, if we don't demonstrate magical talent, perhaps we’ll be demoted.”

  Niu sat up and shrugged.

  “I don't like it, but if you think so, that may be true.”

  “Don't trust me too much,” said Melissa with a smile. Melissa withdrew her spear and offered Niu a hand.

  Niu laughed as she grasped Melissa’s hand, then got to her feet. She retrieved the staff from where it lay fallen on the grass. She planted one end of the blunt weapon on the grass and faced Melissa.

  “Honest to Mercy, I did notice something from you.”

  “Really?” Melissa narrowed her eyes. “What?”

  “I think...” said Niu, “...it seemed like you moved faster when I attacked but also they were louder.”

  “They?”

  “Mel
issa, your inner song,” said Niu, “It changed like you had a bane song inside.”

  “I couldn't hear anything,” said Melissa, “what makes you think you didn’t imagine it?”

  Niu shrugged.

  “Could have but I doubt it.”

  Melissa looked at the spear she held, its sharp end pointed toward the ground.

  “I don't understand,” she said, “shouldn’t I hear them too?”

  Elaine approached them, clapping her hands together.

  “I heard some mystic songs in this direction,” she said.

  “It was Melissa.” Niu motioned to her.

  Elaine turned to Niu.

  “Thanks but you made some noise too.”

  Niu furrowed her brow.

  “I couldn't hear anything.”

  “It may be neither of you is gifted. I had to train for years to hear my inner song.”

  “Is that so?” Melissa asked.

  “It is.”

  Niu glanced at Melissa.

  “What were we trying to do?”

  “Both you use sprites to enhance your physical abilities,” said Elaine. “However, Melissa uses her differently than you did, Niu.”

  “How so?” Melissa asked.

  She and Niu both looked curiously at Elaine.

  “Questions worth answering.” Lady Nasibron approached from out of sight behind Melissa. “I noticed the same among the other three. Promising.”

  Niu wiped sweat from her brow.

  “Does that mean? Are we all potential wizards?”

  Lady Nasibron nodded.

  “As potential wielders of sacra forms, you have more possible abilities than you can imagine. Much of the time sprites and banes are trained by your actions. They react to the way you learn.”

  “All those books,” whispered Niu, glanced toward Melissa.

  Melissa narrowed her brows.

  “Could that happen through books?”

  Lady Nasibron nodded again.

  “Likely, because if you learn from the written word you may understand partially the essence of a subject without the material. Without matter, sprites and banes grow as adaptive entities. Whatever they are exposed, to they adopt qualities from their environment.”

  “That explains the advantage Melissa has with her spear,” said Niu, “right?”

  “That or you just need to learn as a fighter,” Melissa said with a raised eyebrow and a twitch of her lip.

  “Hey,” said Niu. “I’ve been a library guard for a whole year. Why talk that way?”

  “Be calm. This isn’t a contest worth having.” Lady Nasibron turned to Elaine. “My student, though still in training, is skilled as regards wielding magic independent of physical training.”

  Elaine flushed slightly.

  “I understand matching fairly well at this point. You see when a sprite or bane matches the properties of a nonphysical object like an idea or concept from a book it inherits the user's impression of that material as well. We call that essence-matching.”

  Melissa smiled.

  “I read books about tactics and wars from history. I predicted a lot of Niu’s moves. You think my sprites helped me fight that way because I read so much?”

  Elaine glanced at Lady Nasibron. The elder witch put a hand on her niece’s shoulder.

  “Likely but such power is not their true potential. Though they learn, sprites and banes learn both more and less than what you understand consciously. You can begin accessing their real magic by remembering things you read in specific terms.”

  “So they know what I know better than I do?” Melissa said.

  “Yes, on an instinctive level,” said Lady Nasibron. “But they have limitations.”

  Niu exhaled.

  “They see what we see and share our experiences. Is all magic just tapping into our past experiences?”

  “Half-true.” Lady Nasibron folded her arms. “You should not give your instincts too much credence. Sprites and banes are particles you can shape to your will. Instinct only supplies the basic parts of your abilities. Training along different avenues, not just your inherent traits forms the basis of all mage craft. Many spells only work because of external sources or other training modifications to your instinctive energies.”

  Niu pressed a palm to her forehead.

  “Sounds complicated,” she said.

  Melissa nodded, energy pulsing with the thoughts racing in her head.

  Lady Nasibron’s description of sprites and banes excited her. She never heard before the nature of the magic’s abilities and limitations explained so deftly. Lady Nasibron might prove a good teacher. After the magister’s guild banned Melissa from study, no teacher in the south would have her until now.

  “Elaine,” said Lady Nasibron, “I want you to take these two to the library.”

  “Me?” Elaine asked.

  Lady Nasibron shrugged and smiled.

  “Student, you are now a senior mage except for your lack of confidence. Please take these two girls to the library and ask for a selection of mage scrolls. Bring them to the palace. I've heard of an attempted theft at the library over the night, so be sure to take this.” Lady Nasibron produced a letter from the governor, the flowering emblem of Lowenrane pressed into the waxen seal.

  Elaine took the letter. She nodded to Lady Nasibron.

  “Come on,” she said motioning to Melissa and Niu.

  Niu and Melissa followed Elaine from the training yard. They made their way into the city and across the bridges toward the library.

  At the library, Melissa approached the desk where a librarian waited with an annoyed expression on her weathered face. She glanced toward the inside shelves deeper into the library, where a group of soldiers from the city guard investigated damage to several fallen shelves by the entrance to a particular wing. Melissa and Niu approached the desk behind Elaine.

  “If you're here for any particular scrolls,” said the librarian, “I will have to ask you to wait until the guards finish investigating.”

  Elaine said, “Lady Nasibron wishes to see the scrolls of matching if we can.”

  The librarian hissed a low sound but nodded to Elaine.

  “Very well,” said librarian softly. She turned to Niu and Melissa. “Please follow me.”

  The three of them followed the librarian around a low barrier and toward guards and the fallen shelves. Blood had dried in places on the floor, looking pale as to be almost gray in the dim light.

  Melissa glanced at Elaine. Lady Nasibron’s student looked as aloof as usual. The scene among the shelves seemed beneath her.

  “This way,” said the librarian. “You may borrow the scrolls of matching from within. Will that suit the lady witch?”

  “I understand,” said Elaine. “That will do.”

  They picked their way past the guards and retrieved a set of large scrolls from the magic wing.

  The streets of Soucot were wet with rain when Melissa and the others emerged from the library. She poked her head out from under the eaves by the entrance of the library and held her arm out, feeling for raindrops. Elaine frowned.

  Niu glared at the gray sky.

  “I suppose we'll need to borrow a wagon or a covered cart if we’re going to get these scrolls to the palace.”

  Elaine tapped a foot, folding her arms.

  “Understood. Can you two find one? I’ll stay and watch the scrolls.”

  “Sure,” said Melissa.

  Melissa and Niu left with a purse of money Elaine gave them, looking for a cart near the library. Melissa looked back just as they turned the corner and left the line of sight of the front doors of the library. She glimpsed Elaine looking down at the scrolls they’d gathered.

  Niu and Melissa passed through rainy streets. They found what they were looking for a few blocks from the library. The covered cart rental with the sign out front in Kanori and Tancuonese told them the price, a few silvers.

  They approached the dealer and rented the cart with no troubl
e.

  On the way to rejoin Elaine, they encountered a side street with a barricade across its mouth. The side street looked dark, even compared to the main thoroughfare in the overcast gloom of low hanging clouds. Melissa glanced over the barrier, squinting to see better. Nothing but shadows presented themselves.

  Niu pushed the small handcart forward. Raindrops pattered off the covering overhead. Water splashed in places but the cart’s basket remained dry.

  The two of them proceeded to the street outside the library. A pair of large wagons turned sideways in the street blocked the way. People pressed against them, looking around for places to find a way through. The other pedestrians looked as confused as Melissa felt. We just came through here, she thought.

  Niu pointed through the intensifying rain.

  “That's a magister skilled emblem!”

  Melissa frowned.

  “You certain?”

  “Yes,” said Katie. “It's obvious, the trident and the scroll.”

  The symbol on the side of the wagon covering was indeed a trident crossing a scroll. It hung on a rope, gold-filigreed metal strapped to the side of the wagon’s covering. Melissa approached the symbol and reached for it.

  A voice spoke from within the wagon.

  “Don’t touch that.”

  Melissa paced back a step.

  “What’s going on here?”

  “The magister's guild,” said the voice within the wagon, “has its own goals to meet, Melissa Dorian.”

  Melissa and Niu exchanged glances. Niu grimaced, looking nervous. They retreated from the wagons, then turned to each other.

  Niu leaned toward Melissa.

  “They're blocking the road. They must be serious.”

  Melissa nodded.

  “They might be after Elaine as well.”

  “They should know better than to go after a noble,” said Niu.

  “Maybe they don't,” said Melissa.

  “Or maybe they know a way to get away with it.” Niu scowled.

  The wagons remained before them, implacable and impassable. That's why the blocked the side street, Melissa thought. This is all a plot to separate us from Elaine and those scrolls.

  “We need to get through there,” Melissa said.