by Greg Dragon
“Listen!” Orwan shouted as he slipped from the grasp of one man and shoved another onto the floor. “That woman might have set us up to die out there in the crags. She is not who you think she is, and I implore you to let us collect her and question her.”
A large man with a nose so flared that he favored a pig spoke up. “All four of you, armed with edged blades, chasing after one little woman? You’re all wicked, and you slid into town in order to capture and do harm to her.”
“Your town proclaimed us heroes not too long ago,” Alysia said. “When we rid you all of the undead. Do you not rem—”
The pig man lunged at Orwan and someone smashed a chair across Alysia’s back. It happened so suddenly that she didn’t react and was on the ground, her forehead bloody where a gash opened when she hit her head. There were feet on her back, people pulling off her boots, and a gnarled hand was reaching for her sword.
Pain shot through her body as she struggled to rise, and her conscious thought moved over so that martial reaction could take hold. She pushed up off the ground and hopped to her feet, swinging a right cross into the jaw of the old man who had tried to steal her swords. She whirled with her elbow out and smashed the closest man in the jaw.
A crunch resulted and he reached up to check his teeth, but she whirled again the opposite way, landing a sidekick in his throat. He went down coughing, which gave her an opportunity. She vaulted over him, using his back as a springboard to land several more kicks at Orwan’s attackers. The Ert was on his back but had dragged one of them down on top of him, where he held him in a choke-hold, using his body as a shield to protect him from the stomps.
When the rest of the barkeep’s defenders realized how dangerous Alysia was, they decided against their original plans and chose to exit the bar instead. When they had all run out, she held out a hand and helped Orwan back to his feet. The battle rage had settled and she was herself again, but Orwan was fuming and made to chase the last few out to exact his revenge.
“Orwan, focus!” Alysia said. “We’re here for the barkeep. They were just trying to help.”
The Ert flashed a glance at her, looking confused. Then he nodded and ran back to the area where Bortex had gone. It was a corridor for three doors, the last opening out to the road. Orwan bolted through it and turned left, so Alysia did the same. Soon they were sprinting back past the gates of the town and onto the grassy plains where they could see several people in the distance.
They came upon Bortex and Cyrio a few minutes later. They had the woman bound and seated before them, and Amarah was trying to make a fire.
“Good, we’re all here,” Cyrio said when he saw them. “What happened? Did the people back there give you a hard time?”
“That’s a bit of an understatement,” Orwan mumbled through his teeth. “They came at us, the whole lot of them. They think we’re brigands, out here to collect their precious barkeep for gods know what. Maybe ransom?”
“Well, we’ve been having quite the chat, haven’t we, Emanti?” Cyrio nudged the woman with his boot but she just hung her head.
Bortex walked over behind Alysia and placed his hands on her shoulders. Cyrio watched him as he did this and then pressed a boot into the woman’s side. “Tell Alysia what you told us. We only want the truth. She’s the one who will decide your fate, so I would start from the top if I were you.”
Alysia glanced at Amarah for help, but the warrior was walking away to play lookout. If any of the villagers were to mount a rescue, she would see them coming in time to warn the group. Cyrio nudged his boot harder and the woman groaned. It seemed that she had been worked over before she and Orwan got there.
“My name is Emanti,” the woman started, turning her face up to look at Alysia. For a demon woman, she seemed very human, and she couldn’t see any part of her facial features that would reveal that she was from Yalem. She looked to be about forty, with olive skin and large, dark eyes that reflected the moon. Her hair was braided, pulled back and tied, and she wore a thick, purple woolen dress with an apron tied around her waist. The leather boots she wore looked oddly out of place. They were well taken care of, oiled and shined. Alysia took careful note of this detail.
Alysia said, “Who do you work for, Emanti?”
The woman smiled, and her large eyeteeth poked out from her ruby lips to give her a cruel look. “Work for? I work for myself, you foolish girl. Who I serve is what you mean to ask, and that I will never tell you. I just wanted to get another look at you, the troublemaker. We know of your plans and who set you on the path. Chaos lord and his minions are already being put to the blade as we speak—”
“We?” Alysia implored.
The woman chuckled. “We are legion, and what this one says to you now is what we all say to you, Alysia Knight.”
“V’Kosha,” Alysia said, but it was more of a statement than a question. She began to understand, this twisted woman, the purple dress she wore, and the hate that reflected in her eyes. She recalled the first time she had used a sword to slay a demon, it was back when they were in the bunker and the V’Kosha skin changer had snuck inside and slaughtered numerous innocents in order to seek her out. She had used a makeshift blade created by Donald, her father’s friend, and the demon woman had screamed her name when she died.
“Legion,” Alysia said, “you are legion. So everything that I have done to one of you, all the rest remember it. I slayed you in the bunker, with the help of my father, and I defeated you in the forest when you tried to kill him. Six of your leaders fell to Euphoria. I wonder if you remember it.” She drew the blade to show the woman and she recoiled from it as if in fear. “Show yourself, you sniveling coward, show us who you truly are.”
Emanti seemed to summon some strength, and her smile widened even though her eyes revealed her fear. Alysia looked up at Orwan and then Amarah. She wanted to see how they were taking the news. Bortex and Cyrio were talking to one another, and Orwan looked as if he wanted to explode.
“The V’Kosha remember me,” she said to him. “They remembered raiding my world and running into my sword. This fear of what I can do to them made them set up Arlan Fo in order to destroy me when I was asleep. If it wasn’t for Bortex their plans would have worked, and then they would have had Euphoria to move on Chaos.”
“Not just Chaos,” Emanti said under her breath. “Everyone you love, Alysia Knight.”
“Alysia whirled on her. “What do you mean by that?” she asked, pulling out Bliss and holding it to her neck. “Everyone I love? What do you mean by that?”
When Emanti laughed something inside Alysia snapped, and she kicked the bound woman in the chest, causing her to topple over. “Reveal yourself!” she screamed at her, but the demon woman was still laughing between coughs and this only made Alysia angrier.
“What’s going on, CeeCee?” asked Amarah suddenly.
“More confusion that I need answers for,” said Alysia. “I keep getting mixed messages on Chaos’s role, and now I have a V’Kosha agent telling me that they are out to kill him. Aren’t the V’Kosha ruled by Chaos, and doesn’t he use them to attack the outer worlds?”
“No,” Amarah said, “not at all. We told you that Chaos used to be one of us, but left us with Ambriel to create a new order. Chaos is lord of the Bloody Garot, which is why he tried to recruit you, since you are your predecessor reincarnated. The V’Kosha have no lord, but now I’m not sure, if Chaos is their lord, why would he attack himself?”
“That’s why I’m confused. Everyone’s stories are different. Now I have this V’Kosha threatening me and hinting that they knew who I was this entire time. It’s making me think that there are no random attacks on worlds, no Chaos building an army, no cycle of doom for worlds not Yalem. I think that Earth was attacked because Lancert hid me there, and I am the reason why things are so messed up.”
“Isn’t that the case?” She whirled on Emanti, and grabbed her hair and pulled her up. She put the tip of Bliss on
the woman’s abdomen and pushed it slowly until it pierced flesh. The blade vibrated and she began to feel better. It was as if the blood of the demon was being absorbed in order to heal her wounds. She pushed it in farther and Emanti screamed, but Alysia was past seeing her as the woman whose skin she wore.
Like Arlan Fo before, Emanti’s mouth flew open, and a black demon pushed himself out, wriggling rapidly to free itself from the woman’s body. Bortex ran up and grabbed it by its neck, and Orwan swung his sword and took off one of its legs. It seemed to be slippery—it did look like oil—and wriggled free of Bortex to scramble away on the grass. Amarah raised her hands and the demon caught on fire, screaming loudly as it rolled about, trying to put it out.
“Kill … me,” the demon begged. “Stop this pain.” Alysia answered by hacking off its right arm. “PLEASE!” it screamed, and she knelt over it with her knee on its chest.
“The V’Kosha are marching on Chaos right now. Was what you said earlier true?” she asked.
“Yes, yes, the war has begun, and the traitor Chaos will lose.”
“Is Chaos V’Kosha? Has he ever been V’Kosha?”
“Lies,” the demon gasped. “We would never align with him. He…uses V’Kosha but pays us well. Souls, he gives us souls in exchange for following him to…to your world. P-please, sweet warrior, Alysia Knight, stop this pain, stop this pain.”
“One more question, then, and I will be merciful. Who else are you attacking to get back at me? You said that it wasn’t just Chaos that you were attacking but everyone I loved.”
“The…red…woman. She must die too, for helping Alysia Knight to find the relics. We know who you are, and we know what Chaos will have you do. Y-you started this war, Alysia Knight. Everything that comes from this is because of you.”
Alysia raised Bliss above her head and drove it deep into the demon’s chest. The wound erupted into bright white light, and she felt nauseous as vertigo set in. One minute she was delivering a merciful blow, and the next had her staring up at the brown sky with Orwan’s arms about her.
“What happened?” she asked him. “Why am I on the ground?”
He merely smiled as she sat up and saw that she still gripped Bliss. Next to her was a pile of blackened ashes in the form of the demon that she had killed. Amarah was kneeling next to her and so were the brothers. She felt rested, as if she had slept for fourteen days. “Bliss did this,” she said as she brushed dirt from her hair. “Euphoria robs life and Bliss pulls it in to heal its master.”
“You got a lot out of it. That was good, CeeCee,” Orwan said as he helped her up. “It mentioned the red woman, that she would be killed. Who is the red woman, CeeCee?”
Alysia thought about it, trying to make sense of the description. Her mother was dead and had been a fan of the color blue. Tracy, her first friend when the world had gone to hell, had been partial to green, which worked with her fiery hair. Fiery hair. Tracy’s hair was red, but why would the V’Kosha target her? she thought. The red woman, red like—the thought gave her pause as she realized who, and she sheathed Bliss quickly and dusted off her tunic. “We need to go. Orwan, is your wagon safe? We have to get going as soon as possible.”
Orwan seemed tired. He looked around, then moved in close, whispering the question they seemed to all have. “Why, CeeCee? Is it the red woman? Who was it talking about and where are we going?”
“The red woman is Lenorela,” Alysia replied. “They intend to destroy her along with Chaos. Lenny has the ruby ring, and the portals leading to my family. They will torture her and kill her, then invade Earth at an earlier time to kill my father and prevent me from ever seeing him again. If they kill my family before I am ever conceived … well, I don’t know the implications of that but they cannot be good. Someone needs to inform Lancert, wake him up to help. The war is upon us, and I’m afraid that rest will have to wait until Chaos and the V’Kosha are gone.”
Knights and Demons
The Complete 10 Book Series
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About The Author
GREG DRAGON has been a creative writer for several years, and has authored on topics of relationship, finance, physical fitness and more through different sources of media. In particular, his online magazine has been a source of much pragmatic information, which has been helpful to many. As a result, his work continues to grow with a large and loyal fan base.
This Florida author brings exciting action and drama to his written work. His storylines keep readers engaged with characters that come to life from the beautiful celestial scenes of science fiction, to the gritty world of urban drama.
See Greg’s author page at gregdragon.com or keep up with his latest books and appearances through email.
