“Normally, I’d find another lucky lass to share my bed, but it seems Anna Leri’s told the other maids that I’ve got crabs to keep them from sleeping with me. Thus being out of luck, I’m free to do your bidding.”
“Thank you,” Damien said with mock gratitude, “I feel so lucky to be served so faithfully by a demon in such high demand.” Antefalken nodded, with a slight smirk, accepting the gratitude in the spirit in which it was given.
Damien got a puzzled expression his face. “Crabs? They won’t sleep with you over crabs? I can’t even think they’d be able to tell. They haven’t even noticed you’re a demon yet!”
“I don’t have crabs!” Antefalken finally stopped playing, “Anna Leri just told them that. And, of course, they know I’m a demon. That’s why they want to sleep with me. After all, being 753 years old gives me more experience than any other man they’re likely to meet. Plus you know how women always love an older man. Further, where exactly do you think all those legends of ‘demon lovers’ came from? I wrote half the book, and after one night, these maids know it! and they tell their friends.”
“So why didn’t you just tell them you’d gone to the Abyss and the crabs got burned off?”
“I tried, but apparently Anna Leri told them they were demon crabs and couldn’t be gotten rid of short of a miracle from the gods.” Antefalken moaned. Damien started laughing.
Chapter 34
Tom followed Rupert down the trail. Rupert was following the horses by several feet, and Jenn was on the first horse, as usual. Tom had given up talking to the girl. She was obviously as insane as any of the wizards. The only sane person in Astlan seemed to be Rupert, and if Tom was completely objective, he’d have say that Rupert was crazy for not being afraid of something as deadly as a demon.
Jenn continued to puzzle out the book in her hands. She’d tried several light probes but could figure nothing out about the spell that bound it. Whatever it was, Jehenna had gone to great lengths to secure it from prying eyes. Naturally this made Jenn even more curious. She was becoming convinced that whatever it was, it was probably the reason two masters had been assigned to the wagon train. Further, she was fairly certain it was what the demon was after. Why the demon just didn’t grab it, she didn’t know. Maybe it was waiting for her to figure out how to open it first, then steal it.
Jenn’s thoughts were interrupted by a brilliant flash of what appeared to be fire in front of her. Her horse reared and started screaming in terror. Unprepared for the horse’s action, Jenn went flying off backwards, onto the ground. “Whooooof” went Jenn as she had the breath knocked out of her.
“What the Abyss?” she tried to gasp, but lacked the air to do so. In front of her horse were two third order demons! Jenn would have screamed if she’d had the air. She didn’t, so instead she tucked the book into one of her large robe pockets and frantically began reaching for spell components.
As Tom noticed a flash of red light from in front of the horses, he suddenly felt his arms grabbed from behind. Startled, Tom tried to duck and turn in midair, but found his wings and movement impeded by two demons hanging off the back of him. Shit! thought Tom. Just what I needed. He reached awkwardly around, over his right shoulder with both hands and grabbed the demon on that side. He grabbed the demon’s head, poking himself on its horns. Without thinking he began to squeeze. The demon’s head was tough. The demon howled in pain, but didn’t let go.
Tom lost altitude and hit ground with the two demons still clinging to him. He heard Rupert shouting what sounded like obscenities, but didn’t have time to pay much attention. He concentrated, squash! he thought, focusing all his concentration and strength on squeezing the demon’s head. A red glow surrounded his claws. Suddenly there was a scream from the demon, and then a pop! as the demon’s skull caved in. The demon let go. Its headless body sank to the ground and began to fade from sight. Tom flicked his claws to let the fading pieces of skull fall from his hands.
With one of his attackers down, Tom had more room to move. He swung around trying to grab the other demon clutching his left side. It swung around with him. Annoyed he reached over and grabbed the demon.
Wham! Crash! A flash of light from behind him startled him momentarily. Quickly he looked over his shoulder to see where two demons were attacking Jenn. One of them was reeling and smoking. It looked for all the world like it had been hit by a bolt of lightning. It probably had been, he thought raggedly. He ripped the demon off his side. Its claws raked along him, causing him pain, but he didn’t have time to think.
He’d promised to protect these guys and he wasn’t doing too great a job at the moment. The second demon got on its feet and charged Tom. Angry, frustrated and in a hurry, Tom took a deep breath, concentrated all his ki in his right fist, as his instructor had taught him, and brought it back, preparing to strike. As the demon charged in, Tom released his fist with all his strength and put his body behind it. His mind was tightly focused on the ki in his fist. The demon came in, Tom’s fist moved forward. Tom imagined he could almost see the ki glowing in his fist.
Neatly, as if in slow motion, Tom’s fist came together with the onrushing demon’s face. As the two connected, Tom released the ki, with a loud “Kiya!” As the ki was released with the punch, Tom felt his fist smash into the demon, even as the demon was enveloped in a cloud of red light growing from Tom’s fist, expanding as he felt his kiya expand from his lungs. The demon screamed once, loudly. The next thing Tom knew, there was a smoking corpse laying at his feet. Even that faded before his very eyes.
As the demon faded, Tom heard another nearby demon scream in pain. To his right, he quickly noticed that a fifth demon had grabbed Rupert and was holding him in the air, by Rupert’s waist. The problem however, appeared to be that the demon was now bending over in pain while holding the boy. He was bending over in a way that Tom, as a male, fully understood. Apparently, having been lifted to the correct height, Rupert was able to get a good kick in to a critical anatomical piece of the demon. The kid must be a lot stronger than he looks to cause a demon that much pain, admired Tom.
As the demon was cringing over, Rupert, who’s hands were free, pulled his hand back, and jammed two fingers into the demon’s eyes. Once again the demon howled in pain. This time, however, in an attempt to cover its eyes, it dropped Rupert. Bringing its hands up to its face. At that moment, Tom heard a loud scream from Jenn.
He looked over to where she was. She’d been grabbed by the two demons attacking her. Apparently they were only trying to capture her, not kill her, because they seemed to be taking pains to hold onto her. Knowing he had to get over to her, but also knowing that he couldn’t leave Rupert alone, Tom decided that one good kick deserved another. With a flying charge, Tom moved into the demon who’s hands were covering its face. With another kiya, he kicked the demon with all his strength, in the same critical location Rupert had. The hovering demon howled in agony and was propelled upward and over through the air for several hundred feet.
Tom moved toward Jenn, trying to make his way around the screaming horses. The demons holding her looked up and saw him coming. One of them seemed to smile. As he did, the other spoke something and a burning ring of fire appeared in the air behind them. Tom came around the horses as fast as he could, but even as he rounded them, the demons stepped back through the hole. Tom reached out to grab them, but already the hole was closing around his fingers. The hole popped shut, leaving Tom grasping nothing.