by K J Taylor
‘There’s trouble up ahead,’ she announced. ‘Human-sized demons – two of them. They’re by the river.’
Ambit took his spear in both hands, holding it across his chest. ‘Moving?’
‘No, snacking,’ said Snarl. ‘You should be able to go around them.’
‘Great. Which side of the river are they on?’
‘Ours,’ said Snarl.
Ambit nodded and walked down into the river, wading across it to the far side. From there he moved on, making a wide circle up the bank and away from the water. Thankfully, there were plenty of rocky crags around, and when Snarl silently indicated that they were close to the demons she’d spotted he ducked behind cover and moved on more slowly, running from rock to rock. He was still close enough to the river to see the demons from a distance – two of them, sure enough, squatting at a cautious distance from the water and crunching away at something or other. Possibly rocks, or possibly human bones. Demons liked anything mineral. Ambit wasn’t going to investigate more closely.
He paused for a moment to watch them. They were about his size, but bulkier, with four horns each and shoulders like boulders. One had a yellow gemstone set into its forehead, and the other had green, and both had red eyes like Snarl’s, but much larger. Like all demons they were black and orange, crusted with stone armour. Ambit could see their steel fangs, jagged as broken stone, which was what they were best at making.
He quietly jogged to the next bit of shelter, stopped to rest, checked the demons hadn’t spotted him, and ran on. The gap between this rock and the next was the longest so far, but he was far enough away by now that the demons shouldn’t spot him. Fortunately, they didn’t, and he reached the last bit of shelter and ran straight into a third, much larger one.
Ambit skidded to a halt, and swore under his breath as the demon he’d surprised turned around. It was enormous; at least twice as big as the other two and far heavier. Its neck was as thick as the width of Ambit’s shoulders, the back hunched and craggy like one of the mountains the demons had first climbed out of. Thin rivulets of lava oozed out of the cracks in its armour, and the tips of its massive claws glowed like hot coals.
The purple gemstone on its head glittered as it peered down at him. ‘A human?’ it said, in a voice like a cliff face collapsing.
Ambit offered the demon a watery grin. ‘Er, hi. Don’t mind me. Just passing through.’
The demon took a lumbering step toward him. ‘Why’d a human come here?’ it asked.
‘I was too lazy to go around,’ said Ambit. ‘Sorry to bother you. I’ll just get lost now.’
The demon grinned. ‘Give me your bones first.’
Ambit had already started to edge around the rocky outcrop he’d been hoping to use as cover. ‘I’d love to, but I can’t walk too well without them.’
The demon followed him, slowly but insistently. ‘I’m hungry,’ it said.
‘Sorry, but I’m not in the business of helping people,’ said Ambit. ‘See you later.’ He put his head down and made a run for it, hoping the demon would take the hint and leave him alone.
A series of earth-shaking thuds behind told him it hadn’t. He swore again and ran faster. A moment later Snarl ran up beside him, bounding over the rough ground with surprising speed. ‘Now you’ve done it,’ she said.
‘Hey, I didn’t see you helping,’ Ambit gasped. ‘You could’ve said something. Like, I don’t know, “There’s a damn great demon with an appetite over there.” Next we’ll have the other two on our arses as well.’
Snarl glanced back. ‘We do,’ she said, ‘but they’re stuck on the other side of the river.’
‘How did you get across, then?’
‘I can jump further than them,’ said Snarl. ‘Hurry up, before they decide to give it a shot as well.’
‘I wouldn’t mind doing a few shots right about now,’ Ambit said with a touch of wistfulness.
‘Try doing it without your bones!’ said Snarl. ‘Stop talking and run faster, fleshy.’
Ambit was about to say something about how boneless a shot or three made most people feel, but at that point the giant demon caught up with him. He sensed its huge lumbering shape just behind him, and threw himself forward in a roll. Sharp stones jabbed into his head and back, but he vaulted upright and turned to face the creature. It was already reaching out to grab him, and he knew perfectly well that if its claws touched him they’d burn the flesh off his bones. A very handy thing for demons. Human bones were a delicacy to them.
Ambit pointed his spear at the demon’s stomach. ‘Fuck off, unless you want to find out what it’s like to have this little baby go through your guts and out your mouth.’
The demon only laughed at him. ‘Little human with a stick,’ it rumbled, and made to swat the spear out of the way.
Ambit ducked under the demon’s arm and thrust the spear into its stomach, twisting it at an angle that shoved the point upward and into the ribcage. The spear wrenched out of his grasp as the demon reeled away, but he didn’t make any attempt to retrieve it. He dodged out of the way and climbed up the nearest rock spire, where he found a safe perch and waited to see what would happen next.
The demon howled in pain as it backed off, lava trickling down the spear shaft and dripping onto the ground, where it hissed and steamed. The leather wrapped around the weapon had already begun to smoulder before the demon grabbed it and tried to pull it out.
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ Ambit warned.
The demon, of course, paid no attention. Whimpering, it took hold of the spear and wrenched it out. The barbed point ripped the beast’s body open, and a gush of lava followed. The demon screamed and fell to its knees, clutching at the wound in the hopes of stopping the flow, but it was too late. When it tried to get up it collapsed on its side and lay there, twitching.
Snarl emerged from her hiding place and prodded the other demon’s arm. ‘I think you’re safe with this one now,’ she said.
Ambit looked over toward the river, where the other two demons were now hesitating. They weren’t in any hurry to risk crossing the water, and there didn’t seem to be any obvious way for them to get to him otherwise, so he jumped down from his shelter and darted over to the spot where his spear had landed. It was already cooling, lava solidifying on its surface and coating it in a shell of rock. Ambit pulled a pair of leather gauntlets out of his belt and put them on, then picked the spear up and tapped the butt on the ground. The dried lava fell away and shattered, taking the burned leather strapping with it. Underneath, the spear was made from shining silvery metal, covered in strange raised designs which surrounded nine round hollows that looked as if they’d been made to hold something.
Holding the still-hot weapon gingerly, Ambit went over to the demon. It was already dead, and he stood over its head and stuck the spear-point into an eye socket.
Snarl winced. ‘I really wish you wouldn’t do that.’
‘Hey, she’s not using ’em now and I need beer money,’ said Ambit. He flicked the demon’s eyes out with a few twists of the spear, and stuffed them in his pocket before moving off along the riverbank. The two demons on the other side watched him nervously, and he shook the spear meaningfully at them.
‘Unless you want some of the same, leave me the hell alone, got it?’
‘We got it,’ one of them yelled back.
‘Great,’ said Ambit, ‘and you never saw me, right?’
‘Right,’ said the one with the green gemstone.
‘That’s my demon.’ Ambit turned his back on them and walked off, hoping it wouldn’t be too much further. One demon a day was more than enough, and he wasn’t about to spend the night here.
Two
Luckily the stretch of demon country didn’t go too much further. Ambit kept following the river, and by evening he could see green up ahead. Grass started to peek through the stone, and after a while the land gradually flowed back into trees and plants, all of them festooned with flowers. There was some fruit as well, and
Ambit picked a good meal’s worth of it and sat down under a tree to eat.
As for Snarl, several times along the way through demon country she had stopped to dig in crevices and other places, and had made a meal of the rocks she dug up. At one point she had even found a rough diamond, which she picked up with a rasp of triumph and carried with her for the rest of the walk – resting it between the spikes on her back.
‘Saving it for a special occasion?’ Ambit asked her now, watching her put it down and caress it with her claws.
Snarl looked up at him, her red eyes shining. ‘Something this fine you have to savour, otherwise it’s not special.’
Ambit dug in his pack for a roll of leather strips, and started to restrap the spear, carefully covering it from the butt to just behind the point. ‘You’re right about that,’ he said. ‘I’m still saving that bit of cheese I picked up in Fessifern. It’s probably even mouldier now than it was then.’
‘Disgusting,’ said Snarl.
‘You’re right. I’ll have to toast it if it’s too far gone,’ said Ambit. He finished covering the spear, and then put it aside while he dug out his map. It had been drawn on another roll of leather, and thanks to spending so much time in his pack it looked even older than it was. He untied the string holding it together, and a pungent odour wafted out, making Snarl cringe.
Ambit sniffed cautiously, and peeled the last curl of leather apart. Something green and furry fell out onto the grass, and he picked it up. ‘Wow, I was right.’
Snarl watched him buff the lump of cheese on his shirt. ‘You used the map for that?’
‘It’s waterproof, isn’t it?’ said Ambit. ‘Now, let’s see where we’re at.’ He pinned the map down with his free hand and inspected it, absent-mindedly biting into the cheese.
Snarl came over to look. ‘Which river are we by?’
‘That one,’ said Ambit, pointing to a spot which had been handily marked out for them by a greasy cheese stain. ‘We’re here at the edge of this bit of demon country – map shows we just left this area around one of the Nine Mountains – in Seberry, and the river should take us right into the valley where those monks live. Let me see if I can work it out.’ He worked his way around the map, using his finger to measure distances, and then nodded. ‘If we keep up the pace, we should get to the monastery around lunchtime tomorrow.’
‘Finally,’ said Snarl.
‘Maybe you can eat your diamond there, make a celebration of it,’ said Ambit.
‘Only if it’s good news,’ said Snarl.
‘It’d better be after all this,’ said Ambit. He rolled the map up and put it away, stifling a yawn. ‘But first we get to do my third favourite thing and get some sleep.’
‘We’re just going to make camp here?’ asked Snarl.
Ambit lay back against the tree. ‘It’s too far to the nearest village, and knowing my luck there’ll be another old coot going on about chosen ones. I’ll take the chance of getting rained on over that any day.’
‘And I won’t have to hide,’ said Snarl. She looked skyward. ‘It had better not rain.’
‘Yeah, here’s hoping,’ Ambit said sleepily.
Snarl left him where he was and waddled over to the next tree along. She wandered back and forth for a while, growling and muttering to herself, until she found a good spot and started to dig. The dirt steamed as she shovelled it aside with her claws, and in very little time she had disappeared underground. A while later she came into view again, squatting just inside her burrow and peering out for any sign of trouble.
Ambit, meanwhile, stayed comfortably stretched out on the grass with the spear still in his hand. Every now and then he opened one eye partway, but eventually he gave that up and went to sleep.
The night passed uneventfully, and fortunately it didn’t rain. Snarl woke up first, around dawn, and clambered out of her burrow to yawn and stretch. She paused to scratch her soft orange underbelly, before waddling over to see if Ambit was up yet. He was still asleep, but didn’t look very peaceful. A frown kept twisting his mouth, and his eyelids flickered. His blue eyebrows contracted as Snarl came closer, and he mumbled something in his sleep.
The small demon reached out to wake him up, but the moment before she touched him he woke up with a yell. She backed off hastily as his eyes opened, and watched him sit up and rub his face with one hand. The other hand was still holding the spear, a little more tightly than necessary. He looked blankly at it and let it drop.
‘Bad dream?’ Snarl asked.
Ambit stood up stiffly, wincing at the ache in his back. ‘Yeah, it’s called trauma. Is it morning yet? My eyes aren’t working.’
‘Dawn,’ said Snarl.
Ambit yawned and blinked until his eyes focused properly. ‘Good. Just let me wash and we can get going.’
He stripped off, unembarrassed, and dived into the river, leaving Snarl to guard the camp until he had cleaned himself and re-emerged onto the bank. Once he had dressed and taken some stale bread out of his pack for breakfast, the two of them walked off toward a glorious sunrise.
They were clearly getting close to the valley where the monks lived. The landscape on either side of the river had been rising steadily, and by mid-morning it had turned outright mountainous. Eventually, toward noon, they climbed down a small waterfall and found themselves facing a magnificent and daunting sight. The grass had thinned again, becoming rougher and coarser, and ahead the river flowed into a canyon between two steep, rugged mountains. Here, the stone wasn’t the same kind they had seen in demon territory; it was all soft browns and golds, and the shale down by the river was a rich blue-grey.
‘All right,’ Ambit said triumphantly, ‘this is it. We go between those two mountains and the monastery should be there. I reckon we should split up soon. You can hide out in a cave or something, while I go talk to the monks.’
Snarl was eyeing the changed landscape with interest. ‘I like the look of this place,’ she said. ‘I should be well fed, at least.’
‘That’s good, because I don’t know how long I’ll be,’ said Ambit. ‘They might keep me there for months, or they might tell me to get lost at the door. It depends.’
‘Depends on how much they know,’ said Snarl. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t know a single thing, but I’m not waiting that long. And I think you should leave the spear with me.’
Ambit gripped it tightly. ‘No, I’m keeping it with me. I don’t care if there’s a risk. It’s mine and I’m not letting it out of my sight.’
‘All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ said Snarl.
‘When have I ever said that?’
Snarl thought it over. ‘All right, never, but that doesn’t mean you never will. Anyway . . . let’s find a place to meet along the way. I’ll go there every afternoon for three days, and if you don’t show up by the third day I’m going to come looking for you.’
‘You’ll get yourself killed,’ said Ambit.
‘No, I won’t, because you’ll rescue me,’ said Snarl. ‘Won’t you?’
‘Why would I go and do that?’ said Ambit. ‘I’d get lynched if anyone saw me helping a demon.’
‘Because I’m all you’ve got left,’ said Snarl.
Ambit sighed. ‘A sarcastic demon is all I’ve got left – that’s depressing.’
‘But true,’ said Snarl. ‘Do we have a plan?’
‘All right; keep your eyes open for a spot,’ said Ambit. ‘Something sheltered would be good.’
‘Yes, of course.’ They had gone into the canyon between the mountains now, and Snarl climbed up the low cliff beside them and ran along the top, pausing sometimes to inspect a tasty rock. Not long after the monastery came in sight they found a good place: a hollow in the canyon wall, which would be able to hide them from view if anyone came from the direction of the monastery.
Snarl poked her claws into the softer ground inside the hollow. ‘I can dig a burrow here easily,’ she said. ‘This can be my hiding place, and I’ll co
me back here every night unless someone finds me.’
Ambit nodded. ‘If I come and you’re not here, I’ll leave something for you to find. Now I’d better go off and see these monks. Have fun with the digging.’
Snarl watched him from her seat on a ledge. ‘Good luck,’ she said, ‘and remember – no running your mouth off at them. You’re just a traveller who wants to learn more about demons.’
‘Young and naive, out on his first adventure – that’s me,’ said Ambit. ‘See you later.’
He left her there and walked toward the monastery, but though he moved unhurriedly he could feel his heart pounding. After so long, he’d finally reached it.
The monastery was a surprisingly unimpressive building; made from stone blocks between wooden beams, with a low, shingled roof. It was fairly large, consisting of a collection of nine semi-detached buildings, some of them joined by covered walkways. It also had a lookout tower that couldn’t be much good for looking out of since it was covered in a thick growth of flowering vines. Still, someone must have seen him coming, because before he got too close a bell started to ring from the tower-top, and as he approached the main entrance it opened and a couple of green-robed monks appeared.
They didn’t look much like he’d expected. One was middle-aged with pink-striped greying hair, and the other was young and muscular with yellow-spotted hair and silver eyes like his own.
The older one, whose eyes were metallic pink to match his hair, nodded politely to Ambit. ‘Welcome to the Valley Monastery, stranger,’ he said. ‘What’s your name?’
Ambit stopped and bowed. ‘Ambit Afterman,’ he said. ‘Can I come in?’
The two monks pushed the doors wide open and ushered him through. Ambit went in past them, the smell of incense immediately hitting his nose – rich and spicy. He breathed it in gratefully as he walked into the first section of the monastery: a big, square, open room where several monks were practising with weapons around a small pool set into the middle of the floor. Most of them barely glanced up at him, but he noticed a few people there who looked like newcomers; mostly young men wearing yellow robes instead of green, who appeared to be receiving some training from their elders. The novices were the most interested in Ambit – looking over at him and sometimes starting to say something before their instructors waved at them to get back to work.
