The Spirit Eater (Legend of Eli Monpress 3)

by Rachel Aaron

  She spun in midair, turning the demon arm away from Sparrow. The creature inside her snarled in frustration, but Nico ignored it, focusing all of her attention on her other fist, her striking fist, just as Josef had taught her. Sparrow was wide open as Nico’s human fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him back. He stumbled in surprise, and his hands let go of the rope around Eli’s neck just as Nico caught the thief’s shoulder. The moment she had him, Nico changed directions, kicking off the ground and throwing herself toward the collapsing wall. She glanced up and found what she was looking for, a glass window. She stepped into position and forced Eli down, covering him with her body as the wall crashed around them.

  The glass broke over her shoulders, and Nico grunted in pain as the shards sliced her skin. The ground shook under her feet as the wall landed, and then, quickly as it had happened, it was over. Nico cracked her eyes open. She was standing perfectly in the center of the window, surrounded by broken glass. Eli was choking and panting beneath her, grabbing his throat, which was bright red where the rope had cut in. Right beside his knee, buried by the broken glass, she could see Tesset’s hand, still wrapped in the threads of her coat. The rest of him was lost beneath the collapsed wooden beams.

  She reached down and helped Eli to his feet. “Are you all right?”

  “No.” Eli coughed. “I’m bruised, beaten, and bloody… and alive, thanks to you.”

  Nico smiled and bent over, reaching down for the thread of her coat. It woke when she brushed it, sliding up her arm like a snake. She winced when she touched Tesset’s skin. His hand was still warm, and she felt a twinge of guilt. For all that he’d been her captor, he’d been a good man. Too good to die like this. But she couldn’t think about that now. She kept her arm down, letting her coat reweave itself across her body until she was completely covered again.

  “Let’s go get Josef,” she said, standing up.

  “Right,” Eli said, rubbing his neck as he looked around at the wreckage. “I don’t suppose you know what that was just now.”

  “No,” Nico said, picking her way quickly through the debris. “And I don’t care. All I want to do is get to Josef.”

  “Fair enough,” Eli muttered, starting after her.

  Their building wasn’t the only one that had collapsed. The dirt roads were now more like tunnels through great piles of broken timber, and they had to change direction several times when the way was blocked. The air was filled with horrible sounds, mostly the demon’s horrible screaming mixed with explosions and the sound of buildings collapsing, though at this point Nico was surprised there was anything still left to collapse. But despite the horrible noises, she pressed on, letting the sounds lead her toward the center of town, where Josef was.

  They were almost there when Eli broke the silence.

  “Nico,” he said, quickening his pace until he was walking beside her. “Why did you do that?”

  His voice was soft, but Nico flinched anyway. “What?”

  “Save me.”

  She took a deep breath, pushing a fallen beam out of the way. “Because Josef would have saved you. And because we’re a team.” She stopped to look at him. “Comrades don’t leave each other in the lurch. Aren’t those your words?”

  Eli nodded, but his face was closed and expressionless, just as it had been during those awful three days in the cabin. Nico looked away, blinking back tears.

  Did you really expect anything to change?

  Nico shook her head. But then, just as she reached out to knock a broken beam out of the way, Eli grabbed her human hand. She froze, but he didn’t let her go.

  “Thank you,” he said, squeezing her hand in his.

  Nico looked up in surprise.

  He gave her a wide, genuine smile before letting her go. Nico didn’t move. She just stood there, staring as Eli walked past her and started pulling at a fallen window frame that blocked their way.

  “Are you coming?” he said, looking over his shoulder.

  Grinning wide, Nico ran to help Eli tear down the last bits of debris between them and the building where Josef had landed.

  The outer edges of Izo’s bandit town were completely destroyed. Great piles of wood and broken glass lay over the once orderly streets, and those buildings that were standing were little more than skeletons teetering on supports that still occasionally twitched in terror. But down on what had been the road to the canyon’s southern exit, the rubble was stirring.

  Glass slid crashing to the ground as Tesset pushed himself up with a groan, tossing the splintered wood beams aside with one hand. His other hand was still on the ground, fingers dug into the dirt where he’d braced himself to make a shelter of his own body for Sparrow, who was curled in a ball on the ground, coughing and clutching his bleeding nose.

  “Do you see them?” he choked out.

  “No,” Tesset said, surveying the wreckage.

  Sparrow began to curse loudly, tearing off his ruined coat and using the silk lining to wipe the layer of dust from his face. “This is just bleeding brilliant. No thief, no demonseed, no legendary sword, and no missing Shaper wizard. Let’s just quit now, before Sara sticks us on file duty for the rest of our lives, how about?”

  “No need for that quite yet,” Tesset said. “We know where they’re going.”

  “The swordsman?” Sparrow said. He wiggled his tongue around before spitting the dirt out of his mouth. “There’s no way we can beat them there, and I’m not sure I want to. Just listen.”

  He hardly needed to point it out. The demon’s scream was everywhere. It reverberated through the air, horrible and unnatural. Despite his years of training to master such a basic human weakness as fear, Tesset couldn’t help the cold shudder that ran down his spine. Still, his face was bored and impassive as he stared down at Sparrow. “Do you want to be the one who explains to Sara why we’re coming back empty-handed?”

  Sparrow heaved an enormous sigh and held out his hands. Tesset yanked him up, and they began to clear their way toward the arena, now hidden behind the toppled buildings.

  Benehime crouched by her sphere, a wild look in her white eyes as she watched her darling boy run through the panicked city.

  Just one word, she murmured, clenching her fingers against the pulse of demon-born fear reverberating through the world. Just one plea. She smiled as she saw Eli trip. Things will only get worse, darling. How much farther can you go on your own? How much more can you suffer for your pride? She pressed her lips against her orb. All you have to do is say you need me. Submit, and all the world will be yours, darling star.

  But as she watched him, something blurred her vision. She blinked several times, but it was no use. A great wind was circling at the top of her sphere, deliberately obscuring her view. Scowling, Benehime crooked her little finger. The wind vanished instantly, reappearing in the nothingness beside her.

  Illir, she said coldly. You had better have a good reason for making a nuisance of yourself.

  The West Wind bowed deeply before her. “All apologies, Shepherdess. I knew of no other way to get your attention.”

  Benehime frowned. And why does a wind need my attention?

  “With all respect, White Lady,” Illir said, his enormous voice shrunk to a shaking whisper, “my winds are in a demon-driven panic. I would never presume to question your judgment, Lady, but it is hard to quiet them while you keep our protector, the Lord of Storms, blowing on the southern coasts.”

  Benehime’s eyes flicked to the tropical sea where the Lord of Storms was still raging, just as she’d left him.

  He disobeyed me, she said. I will not interrupt his punishment for something as small as this. Tell your winds the League will handle it.

  “The winds see much, Lady,” Illir said, trembling. “It is hard to put them at ease when Alric and the spirits who have come to his aid are so clearly in over their heads.”

  The Shepherdess’s hand shot out, grabbing the wind at its center. Illir screamed and began to thrash, but she held the
wind tight, pulling him close until his breeze ruffled her white hair.

  You are the Great Wind, she said slowly. Find a way to keep your subordinates in line, or I will find another wind who can. Understand?

  “Yes, Lady,” Illir panted.

  Good. Her grip tightened. Any other complaints?

  “Yes, actually,” Illir said.

  Benehime’s eyes widened. This had better be important.

  “It is the most important question I’ve ever asked,” Illir said. “Several days ago, an old, old friend and one of your strongest spirits, the great bear, Gredit, vanished. I ordered my winds to look everywhere, but they found no trace of him, not even his body. You would be within your rights to kill me for this impertinence, Lady, but if my years of loyal service have ever pleased you, answer my question before you do. What happened to my friend?”

  A slow smile spread across the Lady’s white face. She opened her hand, and the wind fell from her fingers, shuddering with relief.

  You are very bold, Illir, she said. I like that. You are also loyal, and I like that even more. If you want to know, I will tell you. Gredit was an old spirit, far past his prime, given to fits of hysteria and insubordination. Even so, he was one of my flock, and so I tolerated his behavior. But then, in his delusions, he threatened one of my stars, my own favorite. Benehime grew very grave. This I could not forgive. I am a lenient mistress. I set very few rules. However, there is no place in my sphere for spirits who disobey. Am I making myself clear, West Wind?

  “Very, my Lady,” Illir said. “I will go and calm my winds now. I apologize for wasting your time.”

  Benehime nodded and went back to her sphere, sending the wind away with a flick of her finger. Don’t let it happen again.

  The wind vanished, spinning back down to the world below. She watched for a moment, and then smiled when she saw him fall back down to reassure the lower winds. Illir was a smart spirit. He knew the limits of his place, unlike the bear. Still, she had not known they were friends, and she made a note to keep a closer eye on the wind. Satisfied, she went back to watching Eli crawl across the ruined city. She’d let things go very far this time, but it would be worth it. This time for sure, he would call her. He would fall crying into her arms, pleading for rescue, and then everything would be as she wished. She need only be patient and wait for him to beg.

  Benehime smiled at this, running her white fingers gently across her sphere. Behind her, the claws began to press more fiercely on the walls of her world while, down on the ground, the demon grew larger.

  CHAPTER

  19

  Sir!” one of the League men shouted, grabbing Alric by the sleeve. “It’s no good, sir. We can’t hold him down.”

  Alric didn’t need to be told. He had his will on the demon as well, and he could feel for himself just how useless it was. The ability to command the spirits to hold down a demon regardless of their own safety was a power the Shepherdess herself granted to the League, but its weakness was that the command was only as strong as the spirits who obeyed it. Here, even with the bedrock spirits helping, it wasn’t enough, not for this demon.

  Down in the spike pit that had been the arena, the demon roared and batted at the League men who sliced at it. Whenever it touched their swords, large chunks disappeared from the blades, and the demon grew larger. Already, the monster was close to twelve feet tall and showed no sign of stopping. Alric sighed in frustration, shoving his own sword back into its sheath.

  “Stop attacking!” he shouted. “It’s no good. We’re only wasting our swords.”

  The League stopped its attack at once, forming a loose circle around the demon, who, now that it was no longer being attacked, turned and began to eat the bedrock spikes.

  “Sir!” One of his lieutenants ran over. “We have to do something. If it keeps eating like this, the demon will soon be too large to contain.”

  “It’s already too large to contain,” Alric said, watching the stone writhe as the monster bit into it. Rage washed over him. He’d faced hundreds of awakened seeds in his long years with the League, but this one was different. Different and familiar.

  “This isn’t a normal takedown,” Alric said. “This is the seed that was in Slorn’s wife. I’d know it anywhere.”

  His lieutenant grimaced. “I thought Slorn’s wife was contained.”

  “Apparently even the world’s greatest Shaper couldn’t contain a demon indefinitely,” Alric said dryly. “What I want to know is what it’s doing here, and why it’s in Sted’s body.”

  “Sted?” His lieutenant recoiled. “Berek Sted?”

  “Who else?” Alric said. “Stop panicking and you can feel his soul clear as day, what’s left of it anyway.”

  “But Sted was spirit deaf. How—”

  “I don’t know,” Alric snapped. “But it’s thanks to his not being a wizard that this situation isn’t any worse than it is. Though his being here with Nivel’s seed nicely explains what happened to our missing swordsmith.” He sincerely hoped Slorn wasn’t dead. Artisans like him were impossible to replace.

  “All right,” Alric said. “We’re dealing with a seed that spent ten years germinating inside the body of a powerful wizard, but is now trapped inside a spirit-deaf shell. That is our only advantage. The devouring force is already too strong for awakened blades or spirit commands, and because the seed is lodged in a human, directly commanding the host spirit is out of the question.” As always, he thought with a sigh.

  “We need the Lord of Storms,” his lieutenant muttered, his face pale as he watched the demon finish the stone pillar and leap to the next one. “Where in blazes is he?”

  Alric wanted to know the same thing. The Lord of Storms had left in a hurry a week ago and hadn’t been heard from since. This happened sometimes, but never for this long, and never without a message. Still, Alric kept his mouth shut. Things were bad enough without panicking his men.

  “We can handle this,” he said, clapping his lieutenant on the shoulder. “We are the chosen protectors of the world, blessed by the Shepherdess herself. She would not have given us our gifts if we were not able to handle whatever situation arose.”

  “Yes, sir,” the man said, gripping his sword with renewed determination.

  Alric smiled and released his grip, hoping he hadn’t just told the biggest lie of his career.

  “Spread out,” he ordered. “We’re going to take the creature down in one strike, before it can eat our swords. I will deal the cutting blow to the chest that frees the seed. The rest of you focus on its joints. Try to take off the limbs, just like in drill.”

  “Yes, sir!” the men shouted, fanning out in a circle.

  Alric positioned himself at point, directly in front of the demon, who was still feeding with little attention to its attackers.

  Alric drew his sword with a crisp metallic scrape. It lay heavy and perfect in his hands, impossibly long and slender, the cutting edge glowing with its own golden light. He looked at it sadly. His beautiful Dunelle, Last Sunlight, his partner and treasure. If this strike succeeded, it would probably be her last. From the way the hilt pressed into his palm, she knew it. But she shone as brightly as ever, urging him to strike the blow. Alric tightened his grip. She had been his best sword; he owed her a valorous death.

  Sensing danger, the demon stopped eating. It coiled itself on what was left of the sandy arena floor, enormous claws flexed and ready, its jaw open and drooling around its horrible, ragged teeth.

  “On my mark,” Alric said, raising his glowing blade. “Three. Two. One—”

  As the word left his mouth, a whistling scream drowned out his voice. He threw his head back just in time to see something white crashing through the buildings behind him. It flew screeching over his head and into the arena, striking the demon square in the chest.

  The demon’s scream ripped through Alric’s mind as the ground rocked under his feet. The shock wave hit him a second later, knocking him over. Alric’s hands went instinctively
to cover his face as he landed hard on his side, buried instantly by the wave of dirt, rocks, and broken swords that flew out from the impact. For a moment, he lay there, stunned, and then he began to thrash, kicking himself to his feet and scrubbing the dirt from his eyes just in time to see something enormous, white, and sharp-toothed running across the ruined city toward him.

  “Alric, isn’t it?” said a familiar, female voice. “Are you all right?”

  Alric looked up to see a ghosthound staring down at him, and on its back was a redheaded woman with a concerned expression on her face.

  “Miranda Lyonette,” he said, coughing. “What are you doing here?”

  “Saving your neck, League man,” the ghosthound growled, nodding toward the center of the arena.

  Alric turned to look. The place where the demon had been crouching seconds earlier was now nothing but an enormous crater. He stared at it for a second, not quite believing what he saw.

  “What did that?”

  Miranda grinned and pointed behind him. Slowly, Alric turned around and his eyes went wide. Standing on the rim of the canyon that surrounded the bandit city was Heinricht Slorn. He was crouched on one knee, holding something on his shoulder that Alric didn’t have a name for. Nearly as long as Slorn was tall, it was metal and hollow, like a tube. It had two legs in front that dug into the ground at Slorn’s feet to brace its weight, but its back was a nest of piping that hooked to an enormous wagon, which was absolutely covered with water. Even at this distance, Alric could see the blue water arcing in and out of a dozen different containers, moving against gravity and glowing with its own watery light.

  Alric shook his head and sheathed his sword. Of course Slorn was here. He should have known it would all come together. At the canyon’s edge, Slorn lowered the metal tube from his shoulder and hopped into the water-filled cart. The cart began to move as soon as he was in, climbing down into the valley on spindly spider legs. It picked its way over the wreckage and came to a stop at the arena’s edge. The cart knelt and Slorn climbed down, landing stiffly beside Miranda.