“Is Balderon planning an excursion to the plane of the demons?” Bracconius asked.
“Yes he is, sir. However, he is first rounding up an assault group to go with him, as well as making magical preparations. He feared it might have been a trap by a demon prince to lure him there unprepared.”
“I think he might be right. While I would rather he not go, I understand the need for what he does. Do me a favor, my friend. Urge him to continue to exercise caution. Finding the answers will do us no good if he is unable to return safely with them.”
“I will, my lord,” Vanier said as he bowed and took his leave.
Bracconius looked over to where his wife and daughter were sitting. Clarressa gave him a stern, I will talk to you later-type look and Rashel smiled, although her eyes were still swollen from crying. He smiled back, but it was a hollow smile. Bracconius was greatly troubled over the loss of the four barons he knew so well and the ten guardsmen he knew only by name and face. He had faced murder and massacre many times in his life, but this was a little more frightening because it was done in his own home. He also thought about his longtime friend and ally, Balderon, and wondered what answers, if any, he would find in the demon’s home world.
Chapter Twenty-one
The terrain changed as Esselles and Renamir continued on through the foreign landscape, the ground now primarily black gravel and boulders. As they walked, they neither spoke aloud nor communicated mentally. Most of the time, Esselles glowered about the twist of fate that had him wanted for killing the emperor and now forced to work with one of the people actually responsible for the act. He tried to keep his mind blank and allow his hate to feed on itself without forming any coherent thoughts. He was tired of Renamir picking up his thoughts and was determined not to let him do so again. He was not sure if this would work, but it was all he could think to do.
They had gone quite some distance before the black stone had given way to a strange green rock. In the distance, it appeared almost as brown, but up close, it had a green color similar to many ornate roofs. In some places, the green had run down into erosion gullies.
Something stuck up out of the ground and it took Esselles a moment to realize it was the first piece of vegetation he had seen since arriving here. Upon closer inspection, he was not certain it was in fact vegetation. First, it did not have any leaves nor bear much resemblance to any known plant, and second, it moved and reacted as they came near. Rather than worry about what it was, Esselles decided it was best to just avoid it altogether. Especially in light of his encounter with the demonic pet.
By now they were starting to tire, the stronger gravity and denser atmosphere taking its toll. They had pulled up alongside a large red boulder to rest when they saw a flash or two of light in the distance. Hopeful that it was demonic activity, they jumped up and headed in that direction. Esselles drew Bracconius’ sword and checked the position of his new found weapon, making sure it would not be too difficult to pull from the jerry-rigged harness he had made to carry it on his back.
As they drew closer, they could make out three figures. Two were large, hunchbacked figures with oversized jaws and muscular shoulders. The third was a larger, winged creature with hands that ended in three huge fingers that were more like daggers than fingers.
Those two smaller ones are the same breed as the demon you slew, Renamir told him mentally. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the larger type, but from memory of Malicar’s discussions on demons, most of the winged varieties are more powerful.
What should we do? Esselles asked back.
Move into a good position and wait to see who emerges the victor.
They each took cover behind different large boulders and watched the combat unfold in front of them. The two smaller demons were obviously working together. One would charge the winged demon while the other would fold space to land on its back. The winged demon would then fold space to move away, and would try to hit one of the smaller demons with an energy blast, before it could dodge. It managed to score a hit on the grayer of its attackers, but most of the energy just shed from its hide like water off a duck.
A couple times, the smaller demons failed in teleporting onto the larger demon’s back, whether through a fault of their own or through something the bigger demon was doing, Esselles could not tell. But they would disappear and reappear away from their target. When that happened, they would wheel around and teleport again. The winged demon was bleeding green ichor – although in the sky light it appeared as much brown as green – from a number of tooth wounds. The redder of the two smaller demons had a large puncture wound in its right shoulder.
Esselles was amazed at how quickly the wounds on the demons closed up. After a few moments of fighting the ichor no longer flowed on the smaller demon. However, when the winged demon managed to hit it with an energy bolt, the energy burnt into the newly closed wound, eliciting a scream of agony from the wounded demon.
The combat continued for some time with little change. At one point, the winged demon mentally thrust the small gray demon off its back and against a large boulder, eliciting an audible grunt along with the sounds of a bone breaking, but other than that, neither seemed to gain a clear advantage. The only real change Esselles noticed was that the energy bolts seemed to be getting smaller and that the smaller demons teleported less frequently.
Finally, at some unknown command, the two smaller demons retreated, each teleporting away from the larger demon. From their safe distance, they opened up a portal and disappeared. The larger demon seemed content to sit and relax a moment.
Now’s our chance, Renamir said. You come at it with the sword and I will keep it from gating away.
Renamir stepped out from behind his rock and charged forward. Esselles did the same. The demon looked up, surprised, and dropped into a defensive stance. A black swirl started to form in front of it, but it broke up a couple times and would not coalesce into a portal. Esselles held the sword in front of him as if it would ward off the demon’s magic.
The demon hissed something but Esselles could not understand it. He stopped when he was about ten feet from the demon. He did not know if the demon would understand him, but he held the sword aloft and commanded, “Don’t try anything.”
Do you really think that sword can protect you, human? it screamed inside his head. I will take great pleasure in sucking your lifeblood from your broken body.
Don’t listen to it, Renamir said. Shut your mind off to it. Think of your hatred and focus on it. Think only of your hatred.
Renamir came forward and stood beside Esselles. “I know you can understand us, winged one,” he said verbally. “We have a proposition for you.” Renamir then waited for the demon to respond.
It did not do so immediately. Instead it looked them up and down. Esselles could feel a tingling in his head as the demon probed him both magically and mentally. He wondered what the demon was learning from its probe. Try though he might to think of nothing but his hatred, Esselles was too curious a person to shut out all his thoughts. Fortunately, an image of his dead emperor came to his mind helping him to refocus his anger.
“What is your proposition, human?” it asked, spitting out human as an insult. Its voice was difficult to understand as its voice was more hiss than voice.
“We will gain you passage to our world in exchange for taking us with you,” Renamir said
“Stuck here in my world are you?” the demon hissed.
“Yes,” Renamir said. “As are you,” he added boldly.
The demon flared its wings and pushed forward on its haunches. Esselles dropped back into his stance a little, but Renamir held his ground, chin thrust defiantly forward.
“You are a confident little one,” the demon hissed. “And why would I want to travel to your world, potentially to be trapped there myself.”
“Power, prestige, blood-lust, escaping the control of the local demon prince, the reasons are your own. I have the ability to punch your gate through the ba
rriers. Once there, you may do as you wish. Our only demand is that you take us with you,” Renamir said.
“If you have the power to punch through the barriers, why not go yourself?” the demon asked, settling back down on its haunches.
“While I can fold space and push through the barriers, I do not have the strength to travel great distances through the ethereal plane. For this, I need your talents. To get through the barrier, you need my talents. Only by working together can we achieve our goals,” Renamir said.
“And what if I refuse?” the demon asked.
“Then I continue to disrupt your gate while my friend here kills you.”
The demon laughed, or at least that was what Esselles imagined it to be. “Him?” it asked in disbelief. The demon negligently flung his hand in Esselles’ direction and Esselles felt a force hit him square in the chest. At the same time, the strange white opalescence shot out from his chest, absorbing most of the blow. Still, he staggered back a few steps and had trouble gaining his breath. He fought hard not to let his ragged breath show.
The demon’s face held what could almost be described as a look of surprise when Esselles was not flung across the ground.
“Try something like that again, and we shall crush you,” Renamir said. How’d you do that? he asked Esselles at the same time.
Esselles did not answer him. He didn’t know if the demon could overhear, but even if it could not, he did not want Renamir knowing his secrets. Not that he fully understood it himself.
Suddenly, the demon’s head snapped up. It looked over in the direction from which Esselles and Renamir had come and focused in the distance. It looked off across the horizon for a moment then ducked back down to address Renamir and Esselles. “All right,” it said. “Link with me and I will open the gate.”
“Do anything wrong and my partner will kill you,” Renamir said, a little suspicious at its sudden change of heart.
“I will not try to kill you,” the demon said. “Now hurry. We haven’t much time.”
“What’s the rush?” Renamir asked.
“Someone is coming,” the demon said. “Someone whom I would rather not see right now. Hurry, before he pulls me to him.”
You’ll be able to eavesdrop through the link, Renamir said, and then sent out a psionic probe to the demon. Esselles could feel the demon’s strong mind latch onto the probe and pull Renamir’s consciousness into its mind. Renamir staggered and Esselles took a step forward to assist him, but Renamir waved him off.
*
Balderon looked at his assembled group. There were three other mages and eight strong fighters. All the fighters had enchanted weapons and various magical protections. He had also prepared them with spells that would negate the heavy gravity of the demon’s home world and give them the ability to shed demonic energy blasts.
“Ready?” he asked. Upon seeing them all nod, he began the spell to open the gate.
A black portal opened up before him and he extended it until it was seven feet in diameter. He then stepped forward, signaling the others to do so as well. He stretched the pocket forward and they shot out through the void. He slipped cleanly through the barrier between worlds and pushed the pocket forward towards the location at the far end of the tendril. As the demon’s home world came into view, he stretched the bubble to the surface and unfolded the space so they were now standing on the surface of the black rock.
He sent his consciousness out from his body and scanned the area for threats. Finding none, he produced a large ball of light and suspended it in the air high above them. Necin, the Uranthian tracker who accompanied him, was already analyzing the footprints on the ground.
“Two men went this way not long ago,” he said. “They walked around this area then headed toward the rim of this depression.” He paused. “Sir, they look like they were traveling together.”
“Strange. I don’t like it, but let’s not jump to any conclusions.” He made sure everyone was in position to travel. “Okay, let’s move out. And I’ll keep reminding you. Everyone be on their toes.”
The dozen moved towards the rim wall then climbed out of the depression, the tracker in the lead. He found further signs of their quarry’s passage and led them to the small pool over the demon’s lair.
Balderon reached out, found the lair beneath them, and opened a gate to it. The team moved through, two at a time. As the room beyond began to fill up, the four team members in the back elected to stay outside.
Balderon did a magical sweep of the room, pointing out a few items and instructing people to take them. He then went over and examined a shelf bracket that had been cleaved in two. He looked at the strange magical residue and felt the edge of the bracket with his finger.
“This is fresh,” he said. “They were here less than an hour ago. Hopefully we should be able to catch them.”
They hurried out of the lair and traveled in the direction Necin indicated. They were heading toward a range of broken hills when one of the mages called out, “Spatial disturbance!”
“Where?” Balderon asked, bringing up his second sight.
“Over there,” the mage said, sending Balderon a mental image at the same time.
Balderon swung his second sight to that spot and saw the spatial disturbance forming. He determined it was too late to prevent the portal from forming and readied an attack spell instead. Lock the area down, he sent to the other mages.
A black swirl coalesced in the air and two powerful hunchbacked demons stepped through, one slightly redder than the other. Upon seeing the humans near their lair, they let out a wash of anger and leapt for the attack. Balderon was quicker.
He unleashed his spell and four balls of light burst in front of the demons, one striking the grayer demon directly in the chest. The balls detonated sending rock and debris flying. The demon struck by the ball of light fell backward with a large gaping hole in its chest that totally gutted its massive form.
The second demon was bleeding green ichor from a large number of wounds where shards of the black rock were protruding from its tough hide.
The Uranthians did not need any instructions. Four of them immediately charged the demon, letting out war cries as they did so. Balderon quickly cast a magical absorption net over the demon knowing that it had already failed to fold space when his first attack came and so would switch tactics.
Sure enough, as the Uranthians closed in on the demon, it unleashed an energy bolt, but the bolt was caught by Balderon’s net and cascaded to the ground. The four fighters came at the demon from every direction and attacked in unison. It did not last long. The demon was quickly disemboweled and beheaded.
“We’ve got to get moving,” Balderon said. “Magic attracts attention.”
Necin moved beyond the combat area to locate the tracks again. The mages resumed their probes and the fighters took the perimeter.
“The two were definitely walking together,” Necin said after examining the tracks closely. “Their footprints cross over each other.”
“Let’s move,” Balderon said.
They had only gone a short distance when one of the mages called out another warning, “Strong telekinesis in the distance. Do you want me to investigate?”
“No, I will,” Balderon said.
He concentrated and sent his consciousness ahead in the direction his assistant had indicated. When he reached the hills, he found the mental registering of three minds, two protected and one unprotected. He did not recognize any of them, the two human minds or the demonic mind. But he could tell they all had considerably powerful minds.
He pulled his consciousness back and looked at his companions. “Feel up for a battle?”
The mages’ faces were a bit hesitant, but the Uranthians’ were not.
“There are three powerful minds. One demonic and two humans. I’ll open the gate and we’ll charge through, two by two again, but I’ll be in the second group.”
He tried to fold space directly there but felt the demon
blocking it, so he folded space as close as he could and they ran the rest of the way.
“Damn it,” he exclaimed as he felt the gate open up. With the resistance gone, he opened a gate in front of him to bring them all to the spot where he felt the demon’s gate form. He immediately reached out into the ethereal plane to follow the gate.
“There was quite some battle here!” one of his assistants exclaimed. “And two additional gates leaving the area back in the direction we came from.”
“Hawkblood and the other were here,” Necin said, examining the ground. “And it looks like they left with the demon. Their footprints overlap with the demon’s and just stop here,” now standing next to Balderon.
“They are clearly heading out into the void,” Balderon said as he followed the trail left by the ethereal pocket. Then he noticed that the space around him was contracting and he immediately snapped his consciousness back into his mind and locked down the area.
“Incoming gate,” one of his assistants said at the same time he was doing so.
“I know. I’ve blocked it, for now. But I recognize the mind. Remember that demon prince I mentioned?”
He could see the faces blanch on half of his team members.
“Don’t worry. I promised Bracconius I would not put us at risk. We’re leaving. You three,” he said turning to the mages. “Take over the lock down.”
They did so and Balderon quickly inscribed a circle in the dirt around them. He charged it with magical energy then stood up to admire his work.
“Okay, when I say so, release the lock down.” He reached out to fold space and gave the order.
They were enclosed back in a sphere which he quickly stretched it away from the surface of the demon’s home world and back out into the void where it snapped back into the shape of a sphere. The only indication of the demon’s home world was the two red suns, now little more than large points of light in the distance. He propelled the sphere back towards home.
Demonified (Hawkblood Chronicles Book 1) Page 24
