Chapter 14
EYES FORWARD, SWORD UP
Kalypso
“Spicy, stay close.”
Kaly snarled at the purple cactus. “Fuck you, I can take care of myself.”
But she also wasn’t going to move more than a few feet away from him and for good measure, flashed an obscene gesture at Tonomoch, who pretended he wasn’t watching their every interaction.
Ozirax grumbled something under his breath that sounded like stubborn pain in his tail, but at least the haunted look in his eyes had been replaced with one of intense focus.
She’d seen the state of the squad that returned, and while blood and guts had never made her squeamish, the state of two of Diaran’s company was enough to have her double checking her armor’s coverage.
It was important for them to be out here now, assessing the scene as quickly as possible. They were technically the squad on reserve, and it meant they could investigate what no other squad had noticed yet.
The lekguine—furry lizard things that were also somehow… slimy?—scattered the path with green muck, a result of the squad’s sharp weapons. But there were also splashes of black across the ground and staining a few fangs.
Demon blood.
“I’m new to this,” Kalypso said again at Ozirax’s silence, gesturing to the path around them. The other three had split off, studying their surroundings and monster guts while taking notes. “Maybe if you explained some things to look for I could actually be useful.”
He grunted, pushing up to stand beside her. “That smell?”
“Rotten eggs,” she confirmed. “You said it was a sign of summoning magic. How do you even… summon things?”
“Runes,” Ozirax said, gesturing for her to move out of the worst of the viscera.
He stepped over pieces of lekguine, nose in the air and spikes flared as his tail moved stiffly behind him.
“You’ve seen the basic ones at work, the ones that are universal to all demons, like heating and cooling water, but there are some that are more complicated.
They require an understanding of the celestial bodies in the sky, the placement of the moon, those kinds of details. ”
“Like your tattoos.”
“Almost,” he said, flashing her the inside of his arm and the inked runes there. “These are even more complicated because they are tied to the caster and designed only for them. Something like this would be useless if I was exhaling on a downstroke or if, say, Tonomoch were to try to cast it.”
“Rude!” came the shout in the distance. “That would look so pretty on me, and you know it.”
Ozirax smirked. “It would be a symbol, but not a rune—no magic would result. But what I’m trying to explain is, things like summonings with demon magic require that connection with the caster. And when you have that tie, you have a signature.”
Kalypso cocked her head. “So… if we identify the signature, we find the demon who summoned the monster?”
Something like admiration burned in his black eyes.
“With a summoning, there’s a… portal of sorts.
The rune would tear through realms and open wide and long enough to let out a monster, or monsters.
The Aldgate Scar was the original portal to bring us into this plane, but since it was made of sorcery, the forest was tainted and the scar remains.
This, however, would not be the case for our situation.
The traces dissipate upon closing, fading into the forest and making it impossible to follow. ”
“But,” Rand said, coming to join their standing huddle, “the caster would have to linger to keep that portal open, especially for an attack this large, but also to properly close it.”
“Which seems to be the case since we haven’t been able to track anything,” Ozirax added. “The fact that the Dreadmoor is not currently flooded with magic and monsters, and the timing, supports your previous theory, Kalypso. This is a targeted attack against the guard as a whole.”
“Not that Heck still isn’t in danger,” Garion said as he inspected the underside of a lekguine.
He let it flop back on the ground before grabbing a stick and drawing a jagged line in the dirt at their feet.
“One mistake, a crack in the portal that doesn’t fully close, it’s possible a creature could wedge a claw or tooth in and pry it back open. No rune required.”
Tonomoch reached down to mimic shredding the portal before leaning on the blue demon’s shoulder casually.
“But a portal itself is already a mess of magic. Not quite sorcery, but the casting is an arduous process. One of the longest runes known to demons, with dozens of steps that leave a remnant of taint. Some believe that’s the reason you can so easily be turned around in the Dreadmoor. ”
“It also leaves a fleeting trace of their magic,” Ozirax clarified. “That’s the signature piece. Someone would have to stand in this forest, open that door in time to intercept the patrol, and then close it.”
“While escaping before the scouts found them. So if you don’t find that in time, their signature dissipates, like you mentioned about the taint earlier? Which is why we haven’t been able to track anything?” Kaly filled in. When they nodded, she grumbled, “Of course.”
“This time,” Rand said, patting her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”
A few minutes passed as they cleaned up the path, then began their trek out of the Dreadmoor. Eerie chitters of monsters in the distance and snaps of brush followed as they walked along, until another question popped into Kalypso’s racing thoughts. “If the portal is a door, does it go both ways?”
“By that logic, Ozirax is a door,” Tonomoch whispered, sending a teasing jab into her side.
“Ha ha,” the purple demon deadpanned, loud enough to be heard over their laughter.
“Portals can be passed through in either direction, but when the humans opened a door to our realm and summoned our ancestors, the sorcery corrupted the pathway between planes. That’s the corruption spilling out into the forest, bleeding parts of the hells into human land and animals.
It created our safe haven, and we adapted to survive.
But, it also caused the poisoning and clash between realms, which resulted in the Dreadmoor and the corrupted monsters within. ”
Garion clicked his tongue. “That’s a long way of saying, yes, it goes both ways, but it would drive you mad if you tried to go through one.
Your body would be twisted by sorcery and magic, and your mind would suffer each agonizing second until you were no longer you.
It would dissolve your will until there was only the primal instinct for blood and death, usually your own. ”
“That’s also a long way of saying don’t step into a portal,” Rand teased. “At least one that takes you to another plane.”
“Not things, like the small ones used by the post, though,” Tonomoch reassured her. “That’s why your mail never grows teeth or a sudden appetite for flesh upon arrival.”
Kalypso’s stomach went sour as she leaned away from the gold demon. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t get letters.”
Silence fell, an awkward shuffle breaking their formation. Some to keep in time with her hesitation, others to avoid the thrash of Ozirax’s spiked tail.
Tonomoch was quick to clear his throat. “Kaly, I’m sor—”
A scream tore through the air, and the apology was lost to the wind. There was no hesitation as the warriors took off, drawing their weapons as they sprinted toward the noise.
Ozirax immediately outpaced the squad, sickle drawn, and while he seemed to have no care about the growing distance, Kalypso knew that with every step, he was calculating his own actions as well as assessing the safety of his squad in formation behind him.
She didn’t have demon agility, though, and maybe before it would have rankled her that Rand slowed his pace to run alongside her. But she was grateful for his presence when she discovered where they were running.
“Off the path?” she panted, not taking her eyes off Garion and Tonomoch ahead of them. Ozirax had already disappeared into the gnarled and threatening forest.
“Eyes forward, sword up,” Rand grunted. “Heart true.”
Kaly wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but it was a mantra that kept her grounded. Her eyes remained locked ahead, she never lowered her weapon, and… well, she said the words even if they felt empty.
The demons ahead cleared a trail for Kaly to follow, Rand never straying more than a foot away from her, and just as she thought this long sprint would be the death of her, she heard it.
The hiss was low, but the curses that followed were unmistakable.
The moment Kaly saw it, she froze. Six razor-sharp legs helping the winding body move, a vicious jaw of serrated teeth snapping at the three demons, and a thrashing tail with stinging spikes.
Sarthisci.
When this was over, she was going to burn that pathetic heavy bag. Rand, too. Neither had done this towering monster justice. This hissing, spitting beast that was easily keeping three demons from bringing it down.
But even those thoughts were lost as one of the beast’s legs sliced through the air, deflected by Ozirax’s blade. Despite the defense, his legs remained rooted in place, leaving him open and vulnerable as he crouched over—
Red.
That was red splattered across the grass, bright and shimmering against the darkness. Spilling from a small, pale body and pooling around orange curls.
“Brioni,” Kalypso choked out.
What the hells was she doing out here? How was she out here?
Something snapped within Kaly. She tugged herself out of Rand’s grip, unaware of when he’d started dragging her toward the other human, but…
Eyes forward, sword up, heart at least mildly true.
“Hey, you ugly piece of shit!” she screamed, sprinting toward the monster.
The beast at least paid her as much attention as the other demons, not recognizing her weakness in comparison, and swiped a sharp leg toward her.
Though if it was as smart as their research notes said, it was about to find out just how easy a target she was.