Chapter 2
Two
N ot willing to risk lingering another second, I slipped out of the tent.
Outside, I rushed through camp, past towering tents, stacked weapons, and cold firepits choked with ash.
I kept my eyes down as I walked by the mangled remains strewn next to more than one tent—poor, defenseless creatures torn apart and discarded like scraps.
Things they’d eaten. Or tortured. Or both.
I always looked away.
If I stared too long, I was afraid I’d notice something too familiar in the leftovers. Something too human.
Even though a portion of my mind still suspected her, I couldn’t leave without Mira. She was my only real friend through this whole ordeal. And now that I was almost free, I refused to abandon her.
More demons lumbered toward the large pots of stew, most of them already in line. Huge minotaurs from Kingdom Terra Monstrum, the land walkers, to miniature imps from Kingdom Inferna, the underworld. There were even a few demons of mixed heritage, no doubt from Kingdom Misophae, the cast-outs.
I returned to Mira’s side. “Come. It’s time to go.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Go? Have you lost your mind? Most of the camp is on the other side of that tent.” She motioned to the large canvas that blocked our view of the pots. “Not to mention, as I said earlier, if we run, they’d find us and torture us for even attempting it.”
“Nobody will come for us if all goes well.” Reaching out, I gripped her hand.
“I know you don’t feel good, but the symptoms will wear off in an hour or so.
Until then, I’m afraid you will have to bear it.
” I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her to her feet.
She wobbled, and I used my body to steady her.
I wasn’t much bigger than her petite frame.
Her weight pushed against me, but I squared my jaw and kept moving. We hobbled our way toward the trees.
“In an hour?” The pitch of her voice rose with incredulity. “Denara, what did you do ?”
The sound of hacking reached our ears, and I couldn’t help but stop and look behind. A miniature imp bent double, a hand on his throat, the other on his abdomen. He stumbled and fell to his knees next to his empty wooden bowl.
Their size. Demons came in large and small sizes. I’d only calculated the time for the poison to work for someone close to my size or bigger. Poisoning a demon much smaller was similar to poisoning a child. Damn it. I hadn’t considered that.
A few demons in the camp laughed. “What’s wrong, little one? Choking on your spoon?” A random voice shouted. I let out a slow breath.
But they’d become alarmed when he didn’t get better.
“Let’s go,” I whispered.
Mira nodded, her eyes wide. “Yes, let’s.”
Now all we had to do was slip past the sentries. This was the changing of the guard, when those coming off duty were relieved and headed for food. I'd spent the past week watching their routine, making sure I knew the timing well enough to escape.
There was still a chance they'd spot us. And if they noticed our absence, even if we made it beyond the camp, demons could track prey for miles with their superior sense of smell. They’d hunt us down within hours.
But not today.
Now that they'd been poisoned, their greatest advantage was gone.
We passed where the sentries patrolled without a problem and pushed deeper into the forest. The black-barked trees stood farther apart here than in the crowded woods of the human kingdom, yet somehow appeared larger.
They loomed over us as we staggered between them, our shoes sinking into slick layers of wet leaves that clung to our feet with every step.
Dried crimson sap smeared down the side of one trunk. At least I told myself it was sap.
Mira looked ?at me in awe as we departed the camp. “How long have you been planning this?”
“I began thinking about it the night they took us, but I didn’t decide to act on it until they sold Gerand.”
Mira nodded, understanding crossing her face. “Thanks for not leaving me behind.”
“Never. We’re in the clear now.” The trees encircling me appeared entirely new, like a virgin forest. My plan had worked, and we’d finally escaped our demon tormentors. I scarcely believed it. I drew a breath that was life itself after months of captivity.
“Clear to do what?” Mira asked. “We’re still in demon territory.”
Clear to find my brother . But I was uncertain whether Mira wanted to accompany me on that journey. “We’ll discuss that once we locate a secure spot away from here.”
“Yes,” she agreed, her steps labored, but her jaw tightened with determination. “One step at a time.”
Behind us shouts and groans and movement in the brush drifted on the air. “Where are they? Where are they? Those bitches, those ugly humans—” Tricken snarled, followed by growls and more shouts. Coughing and moaning broke off his words.
Fear flashed across Mira’s face. “They’re going to find us. They’re going to find us!”
“We won’t be found. They’re too occupied with dying,” I said, even as a trickle of apprehension took root in the back of my mind.
“What if everyone didn’t eat the stew? They are going to realize?—”
“Keep moving.”
Despite her pale face and her breath coming a little raspy, she didn’t complain when we quickened our pace—the trees grew even larger, their trunks closer together.
We continued forward, the sounds chasing us for longer than I thought possible.
What if the poison had become too diluted?
What if I had misjudged the readiness of the venenum plant?
Mist slithered between the trees, its gray tendrils creeping toward us before coiling about our ankles.
The deeper we went, the thicker it grew—hungry, possessive—seeping up our legs until it swallowed us whole.
As it closed around me, I struggled to breathe, unsure whether it was the fog or the fear of our pursuers.
The sounds behind us gradually faded into nothing. But the mist seemed to cling to my heart, constricting it in a pulsing net of worry.
“We did it.” Mira released a small sob.
I wiped the sweat from my brow and gave her a weary smile, trying to push away my unease. “Did you doubt me?”
She chuckled. “I did. Very much so.”
“Do you want to take a break?” It would be fine. Besides, Mira looked as if she needed it.
“Maybe briefly.”
I moved her to a nearby log, where she exhaled a long breath. She lay on the fallen tree and laughed out loud. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.”
Sitting in the dirt at her feet, I let my head rest against the dry, cracked log.
Within the mist, the trees had become ghostly towers that could pose as either innocuous plants or terrible enemies.
I wanted to feel better like Mira, but the hazy gray swirls gave an ominous impression as if I was still being suffocated by our demon overlords.
A foreboding crawled up my spine, driving me to my feet.
“We need to get going.”
“Already?” She regarded me with surprise. “I guess so.”
I walked over to help her up, but she held up a hand. “I’m feeling better,” she said. “I’ll walk on my own.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, breathing in. “The mist was a lucky blessing. It was as if the gods sent it to assist us in our escape.”
“I don’t know if this mist is from the gods,” I murmured.
“What makes you say that?”
I shook my head. There was no logical reason. But a growing darkness gathered inside me. Perhaps the gods refused to let me escape after causing the death of an entire camp.
Mira emitted a shaky laugh. “Goodness, Denara, we’ve clearly escaped and yet you seem more nervous than when we left.” She gave me a concerned look. “We are going to need food. I’ll be on the lookout for berries as we walk.”
I stepped forward, but my foot brushed against something. Glancing down, I spotted chickweed sprouting through the earth. Speaking of food—it was an edible plant. While kneeling to gather some, I noticed the fog had thickened, obscuring Mira from view.
Shit. Had she gone on ahead without me?
“Wait, Mira!” I shot to my feet and hurried after her.
“I’m right here, Denara.”
A flash of golden-blond hair flickered through the fog. I lunged toward it, only to grasp cold emptiness. “Where?”
Oh gods, I could lose her here.
I pushed faster, but not fast enough. A heartbeat later, her scream tore through the air.
No.
I broke into a sprint. A shape loomed ahead in the mist, and I drove myself harder toward it. Hands reached out from the fog, and I realized too late they were gnarled, twisted hands. Demon hands.
How did the demons from the mercenary army find me so quickly?
I tried to dodge them, but they snatched me up as if I weighed no more than a mouse.
The demon stepped forward. He was huge—a troll like Raxus, only older and bigger. Large tusks jutted from his lower jaw. His head was flat and lacking hair.
But unlike Raxus, grotesque black lines covered his body. Dark cracks in his skin made him look… off. His eyes, burning with an orange luminescence, glared at me.
This wasn’t just a troll. Could this be a demon from the fifth demon kingdom, Spiritu Malignos? I’d heard of the telltale black lines that marked these demons as dead—a spirit that had claimed a host body.
Who was he? Where had he come from?
“I scent death.” His gaze dropped to me in his grasp. “Are you the one who brought it, little human? You smell of death yourself.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I tried to struggle. “Mira!” I cried. “Mira, run!”
He merely laughed and signaled with his free hand. Another demon came forward with Mira grasped in his claws. He also bore the black lines across his flesh. His fingers dug into her skin, his hand over her mouth. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Still gripping me firmly, the troll stepped up to my friend and ran a finger over her cheek. “You, my dear, will be of use later.”
Something inside me snapped. “Let her go. Let her go, you evil bastards!”
A cruel smile split his lips. He waved a dismissive hand at Mira. “Put her with the others.”
“Yes, General Throk,” rasped the voice of the demon clutching her, and he backed off, disappearing into the mist.
I turned to the demon holding me—Throk. “Stop this, please.” Part of me knew my plea would do nothing to sway him. Still, the realization that my escape had failed crushed me all the same. I could barely breathe.
“I don’t think so.” Death flashed in his unyielding, glowing gaze.
“We’ve been tracking this army for days.
You’ve just granted us a magnificent gift.
And yet, I believe there is going to be an entire camp of demon spirits that will want your blood when we are through.
Your pathetic, insignificant life shall be a useful appeasement to their anger.
” Violent hunger filled his expression. He glanced behind him. “Keep her close.”
He shoved me away and into the arms of another demon. This one had a spindly, ant-like body with two arms that walked on two legs. He also bore the black cracks in his form. I’d never seen this kind of demon before, but its long, thin hands dug into my shoulder, holding me in place.
Throk faced the mist and shouted. “You know what to do. Soldiers move out.”
His words confused me. If he wanted to seize power from the mercenaries, surely he hadn’t consolidated power so quickly after my mass poisoning.
A figure surged past me within the haze. And then another, and another.
Their movements were slower, a bit more jagged. Their flesh hung off at odd angles, dark black cracks lining every part of them. Deadly beacons in the mist, their orange glowing eyes stood out. And they kept coming.
That was when I realized—this wasn’t only a couple of Spiritu Malignos demons looking for easy pickings.
This was a completely separate army.
An army of the dead.