“If you insist... mortal. However, know that I’ll have to take some of the window with me.” Tom warned Lenamare, actually he’d have preferred to just crash through it, without warning Lenamare; however, he felt he might just be taking too much of a risk of pain. At this, Lenamare looked definitely annoyed; apparently, he had not counted on Tom’s size.
“Hmm, very well. Follow me.” Lenamare went to another portion of the curtain and pulled it aside, revealing an iron bound wooden door. Lenamare opened the door and went through. Tom, as instructed, followed, he had to bend down, but he did make it through. Jehenna brought up the rear, looking extremely nervous about marching a demon through the building.
They went down a short corridor to a spiral staircase. “Remember, demon, if you so much as harm, however so slightly, or cause to be harmed, any person or thing that is mine, you will be severely punished,” Lenamare warned as he turned at the top of the stairs.
These folks are paranoid, Tom thought. Lenamare began the descent down the spiral, Tom following behind, being careful not to bump his wings on the stairwell. After about two revolutions, Tom heard an indrawn breath and quick scurrying. As they passed a small landing with a door, Tom observed a girl in a brown robe, drawn up inside the doorway. Not bad, Tom observed, too bad she was a wizard, he recognized her as one of the members of the circle. He turned his head back toward Lenamare, ignoring the frightened expression on the girl’s face.
Eventually they reached an open floor, where Lenamare left the spiral, even though it continued further down. Tom also got off the spiral and moved next to Lenamare, who was waiting for him. As he stepped off, Tom heard a couple glasses break, and what sounded like four or five people diving for cover. He looked up to see several women scurrying behind pillars and makeshift cots. He was in a large hall area, which was filled with cots and straw sleeping pallets. The only people in the room were the few women, who had apparently been doing odd jobs, and gossiping, but who were now hiding in terror.
Their fear, and the wizard girl’s, served to bring home just how different Tom was now. His mild enjoyment of the demon role was rapidly wearing off. This really wasn’t going to be fun, having everyone run from him. It brought a lump to Tom’s throat; he wished desperately that he could be back home in Harding. He was definitely feeling homesick, and he guessed, body sick. He just wanted to be like he had been.
As he stood, sadly eyeing the frightened women, Lenamare said, “Come along demon, we are almost out.” Lenamare turned and marched across the room, ignoring the women, to a large door set in the far wall. Tom followed silently. Lenamare opened the door, letting sunlight in.
For some reason, seeing that light made Tom feel slightly better. Perhaps it gave him a little hope, a little piece of home. Tom stepped through the door into the sunlight. Outside, men were building things and running errands; guards were practicing. As Tom stepped out, all motion slowly came to a halt as eyes turned towards him. A few children and men ran, but most just stood and stared. Tom looked at them, fear shone plainly in all their faces and eyes. He could almost read their thoughts, he imagined most feared to run because they didn’t want to look cowardly, or they were afraid of attracting his attention. As his eyes scanned them, they flinched from his gaze, as if he could kill them with a glance.
So much for the ray of sunshine, Tom thought, Enough. He pulled his eyes back to Lenamare; if they wanted to fear him, there was nothing he could do. Lenamare pointed over one wall of the keep and said simply, “south.”
Without saying a word, Tom climbed into the air and flew over the castle walls to the south. This was really going to be hard to get used to, thought Tom as he flew from the keep.
Back in the courtyard, the tension eased from the men as the demon flew out of sight behind the wall. Slowly men began to speak again, but not too loudly, since Lenamare and Jehenna were still there. As the work began again, Jehenna turned to Lenamare.
“Are you truly sure it was wise to send that demon to Zilquar? Wouldn’t a smaller one have worked, or a man, or a Telemirror?”
“No, we must bargain for aid from a position of strength. Having a fourth order demon deliver my request will reassure Zilquar that we have a chance of winning. If I had sent anything less, he might have felt that we were a lost cause, and not bothered to help, no matter how good a deal I might make. This will show him my strength.”
“Was it wise to parade it through all these people, what if Exador hears?”
“Did I have much choice? What sort of reaction would we have gotten if the demon burst through the tower wall? That would have been great for morale; it would have appeared that we couldn’t even handle our own demons. That surely would have gotten to Exador. No, this way they see the demon, and know fear, as well as hope. If we are lucky, everyone will be too scared to talk for a while. We don’t need much time. Exador may even be here before our messenger returns.”
“Impossible, armies only move so fast,” Jehenna assured him.
Chapter 16
Jenn stood, silently shaking in the doorway. Goddess, that had scared her. Who would expect to find a demon, let alone that demon, following Lenamare around the school? When she had been coming up the stairs and saw Lenamare coming down, she had started to respectfully bow, but then she had seen it. Her heart had nearly jumped up her throat. This was the first time she’d seen a demon that wasn’t in a pentagram. She’d dashed to first doorway she could find.
As it passed, it had looked straight at her. Jenn had feared then that she might break down crying in fear, but luckily, she’d managed to hold her own. The thing had been so huge, so horrible, and it had passed within one of its own claw lengths from her. If it had wanted to, it could have reached out and ripped her heart right out of her chest. She hadn’t realized when they’d conjured it, that it was so big. Then it had only been there for a short while, and on its knees. She’d known it was powerful by the way it had fought them, but that had been in a remote, abstract sort of way. This, this was real, and present in the stairway. Those huge claws, the horns and fangs, the creature were surely out of her worst nightmare.
The whole thing was incredibly huge and powerful, she just couldn’t get it out of her mind. She desperately prayed that those stories about women raped by demons and being forced to bear demonic children were false, and even more so, she hoped she’d never have a chance to find out. How Lenamare could let it roam the keep, even with himself and Jehenna, Jenn just simply couldn’t understand. If it escaped their control... Jenn would rather face Exador and his entire army.
She tried consciously to slow her breathing. Looking down at her feet, trying to get her terror under control, she noticed her hands clenched on her breast. Forcefully she put her hands to her sides and unclenched them. She ordered her body to relax. She was after all, a student of the magical arts. Someday soon, she would be a full wizard in her own right, how could she ever expect to conjure and control demons, if she feared them so. That was easy, another part of her mind answered, she didn’t. Jenn wanted nothing to do with the magic of conjuring demons. They were better left alone, anyone foolish enough to mess with them deserved whatever they got. There were plenty of other types of magic around; she could work with natural magics, healing and plants, the elements, things like that.