Chapter 5
The demon grabbed Eunaios with one hand, picked him up, and buried his teeth in the mage’s neck.
There was a spray of red, and a scream that abruptly cut short. Raiya’s jaw dropped. Blood cascaded down Eunaios’s twitching body, and the demon drank it down like he was starving.
The sun elf woman waved her hand, conjuring a ball of flame that shot toward the demon. It fizzled against his skin harmlessly, leaving no mark. The elf paled as the demon dropped Eunaios’s lifeless body and turned his attention toward her. She spun on her heel, only to have him grab her arm and yank her back. She screamed as her arm twisted and dislocated from her shoulder. The demon bent over to tear out her throat with his teeth.
Nirlan looked at Raiya, and outrage tangled with panic on his face before he spun and ran with the others. They’d clustered near the archway, all struggling to get through at once. Nirlan shoved them aside and disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.
Nirlan’s guards put themselves between the demon and the door, drawing swords, but as the demon stepped toward them, they both looked like they were regretting their courage. The demon grabbed the closest one, picked him up like he weighed nothing, and hurled him against the wall with a horrific crash that left a damp, red smear on the stone.
The second guard slashed at the demon’s chest, and there was a dull sound like metal hitting rock. Instead of penetrating the demon’s skin, the blade glanced off, like it had hit armor. The demon took hold of the guard’s breastplate, driving him to the ground, then pressed his palm against the man’s armored chest. The guard’s legs flailed as the breath was driven from his lungs. His armor creaked. Bones snapped. His entire chest crumpled inward, and he stopped moving.
The demon watched the remaining people sprint through the door. Shouts of terror echoed down the halls. Bits of mortal flesh and blood coated the floor and had even sprayed on the ceiling. Broken bodies and their parts were strewn across the room.
The demon turned to look over his shoulder at Raiya, his cobalt skin dripping red from his nose to his navel.
All the strength went out of her. Her legs trembled and then buckled, and she slipped to the floor, her back still against the wall. Her heart pounded against her ribs.
She had never known terror like this, so raw and all-consuming. She had thought she didn’t fear death. But she feared this. She feared him. It was like he had reached deep inside and grasped some ancient, primitive part of her, the part that instinctively ran from large predators with big teeth. But there was nowhere to run. There was no escape.
The demon’s eyes flared bright. Then he turned away from her and went silently out of the room.
Raiya let out a breath, shaking. She was still alive.
She glanced down at Eunaios’s broken body. There were pieces of him scattered across the floor. The demon had done that with his bare hands. Was that Nirlan’s fate?
She couldn’t stay here now. Everyone knew what she’d done. If the demon didn’t kill them all, they would come for her.
She had to run. Now.
Her legs were still trembling as she stepped over the puddles of blood on the floor. She paused to take the lightning baton from its hook on the wall, then followed the sounds of screaming down the tunnels.
She nearly tripped over another body in the stairway up to the castle. Leaning close to the wall at the top of the stairs, she peered into the dim halls. To the left, she heard the sound of metal hitting stone, and another scream. To the right, she heard Nirlan’s voice. She recognized it instantly by the harsh, snapping tone he took when he was angry. She strained to make out what he was saying.
“…getting out… find her…”
Her stomach twisted. She went left.
She moved slowly at first, afraid of making noise and drawing attention, but fear made her pick up the pace. Soon she was running.
She had nowhere to go, no time to gather her things. She hadn’t planned this far ahead when she’d released the demon. She had thought she’d be dead by now.
Gods, what had she been thinking? What had she just done? She’d upended her entire life in a matter of seconds.
She sprinted down the hall to the parlor. Months ago, she’d packed a tiny satchel and hidden it away there, where Nirlan wouldn’t find it—one thing she’d done right, at least. At the time, it had been more of a fantasy than a real plan to leave. She’d never thought she would actually be brave enough to do it.
Looking over her shoulder, she pushed aside the rug behind the sofa in the corner, then jiggled a loose floorboard. Her bag was right where she’d left it, nestled in a crevice beneath the floor. Digging out the gray, fur-lined cloak and a pair of warm boots that took up the majority of the bag, she hurriedly put them on and shoved her slippers back in the crevice, then slung the bag over her shoulder and slid the floorboard back into place.
It was a start, but she had no clothes other than the robe, trousers, and undershirt she wore. It was not enough to survive outside without shelter for long.
She paused at the doorway, listening. The castle had gone oddly quiet.
“I thought I’d find you here.”
She jumped. Nirlan emerged from the shadows in the hall. Raiya took a step back into the parlor, which had only one exit.
“Did you think I didn’t know about your little cache?” he sneered. He looked her up and down as if he’d never truly seen her before. “Why did you do it? Why sabotage everything I’ve worked for?”
Did he really not know?
Raiya clutched her bag on her shoulder, backing up another step. “The demon’s coming for you, next,” she said. “You should run while you can.”
“Oh? Do you know that for certain? Was this your plan all along? To make a deal with the demon and have it kill me and serve you, instead? Clever. I wouldn’t have thought you capable of it.” He slowly moved toward her, blocking off her exit. “How long do you think that will last? The demon might not have killed you yet, but it will. You’re not strong enough to control it. Or do you think you can keep it satisfied with your body? I assure you, that won’t take you as far as you think it will.”
“Get out of my way.”
“You have blood on your hands, you know. Eunaios and the others are dead because of you.”
“It’s wrong to bind a sentient creature.”
“So they deserved to die?”
“Perhaps they did.”
He arched an eyebrow, surprised, and perhaps impressed. “I had no idea you were so bloodthirsty, Raiya.”
She snarled. “Nirlan, get out of my way. We’re done. I’m leaving you.”
Fury sparked in his eyes. “We’re done when I say we’re done, you treacherous, useless—”
He lunged for her. Raiya pulled her baton from the back of her belt and jabbed it toward him. The runes on the metal shaft lit up, and lightning exploded out of its tip with a blinding flash. Nirlan shouted and convulsed.
He collapsed on the floor, twitching, and for a moment, Raiya thought she might have killed him. But then his eyes opened and focused on her. He growled. Unsteadily, he rolled over and started to get up. Raiya leapt over him and ran, her arms and legs pumping wildly.
More blood spotted the hallways here and there, but she saw no one else. Everyone had fled. She was out of breath and clutching her side by the time she reached the front of the castle. There had been a point in her life, back when she’d been spending her time exploring dangerous ruins in search of old enchanting tech, when she could have run a mile without stopping, but it had been a very long time since she’d run anywhere.
She burst through the front doors of the castle, then skidded to a halt. In the middle of the bailey, visible in the bright light of the moons, stood the demon. The bodies of several more guards were scattered around him. He had stopped to stare at the iron portcullis that blocked the exit. Sensing Raiya’s presence, he looked up. She took a step back, drawing a quick breath and turning to run.
He was at her side in a few long strides, grabbing her arm. She struggled, but she may as well have tried to uproot a tree. The demon turned her toward him, meeting her eyes, and she went still, unable to look away. Her heart pounded so loudly that she was certain he could hear it.
There could be no doubt that he was not of this world. He was a good two feet taller than she was, and the horns curving up from the top of his forehead were bestial, but his face could have been carved from marble by the most skilled Auren-Li artists. His cheekbones were sharp, his nose elegantly aquiline. His skin was perfectly smooth, not with youth, but with magic—a kind of agelessness that was inhuman and unnatural. And there was something hypnotic about his eyes. Their swirling, pupilless glow was inexpressive, obscuring his feelings, if he had any. She stared at them, attempting to find a soul within, but she saw nothing.
There was a part of her that felt humbled to witness him, even if he would be her demise. He was like a volcanic eruption, or an eclipse, or a typhoon: a force of nature. Destructive but awe-inspiring.
Instead of ripping into her with his teeth, he merely looked at her, his eyes growing brighter by the second. And then, a spark glowed to life near his shoulder. She realized with alarm that he was casting a spell, channeling her fear into magic.
Traces of bright magenta-violet light ran along his skin, covering the scarred shoulder of his severed arm, and then burst out from his skin in long tendrils, weaving an elongated shape. It coalesced into a new arm, a ghostly apparition of a limb, made of transparent magenta light and nothing else.
Raiya tensed as he shifted his grip on her to his new hand. It felt just as solid as flesh and blood. He raised his other arm and pointed at the portcullis that blocked the exit.
“What will unlock this cage?” he asked.
She blinked, taken aback. She had not expected him to speak, even though she’d had a suspicion that he could. His voice was calmer and softer than she’d expected. It was as earthy and unyielding as one would expect from a creature of his size, but it held none of the rage and volume she’d anticipated.
A small crease formed between his eyebrows. His grip on her tightened ever so slightly, but the threat was hardly necessary. His hand was large enough that it could have encircled her calf; her forearm felt like a fragile twig beneath it. She was well aware of the danger she was in.
“Speak,” he said.
“I—I don’t know. I’ve never seen it down,” she stammered. “You could lift it. I’m sure you’re strong enough.”
“I cannot.”
Raiya looked at the portcullis, scanning for a mechanism to open it. “On the wall. There’s a lever.”
“Raiya!”
She jumped. Nirlan had appeared in the doorway to the castle, but stopped short when he saw the demon. His eyes darted between them both. He wanted her, but not badly enough to fight the demon.
The demon was the first to act. He picked up Raiya, and she cried out in surprise. He carried her against his chest, high off the ground.
“Be still,” he growled, his chest rumbling against her as he pulled the lever. She was startled into silence. She didn’t have much choice.
She watched Nirlan over the demon’s shoulder as the portcullis began to lift. As the iron bars clanked up into place above them and the demon carried her out into the wilderness, Raiya wasn’t sure which demon she’d rather be with.