The glow-fire of a sprite appeared before her. "I am here, as you summoned," it squeaked.
"Go to Besak, to a man named Gartanis—"
And the demon pounced.
It was over almost before it began. One instant the hazy glow was hovering in front of her; the next instant the demon's swooping dive had intersected it and it was gone. Quick and bloodless...
Leaving nothing but a horrible wail that rang in her ears long after it had faded from the room.
Knees shaking, Danae groped her way over to the bed and collapsed onto it. "You will have no communication outside this place," a deep voice told her.
She looked at the door, half expecting to see Melentha standing there. But it was only the watchdog demon. Ravagin had been right; they did all sound alike. "Go back to hell," she told him tiredly, closing her eyes.
"I do not accept commands from you," he said.
She glanced back at him, wondering if he was being sarcastic. But if he was, it didn't show.
Snap out of it, girl. Getting back to her feet with an effort, she walked over to the window again.
Posture affects attitude, her father had been fond of telling her, and she wasn't going to be able to work up much defiance while slouched back on a mattress.
For all the good defiance would do her. All right. The sprite incident had shown she would at least have time to do a simple invocation before the demon could interfere. Invoke the demogorgon again, see if it could or would help her? No; it took far too much time—and besides, the incense she needed was back in her own room. The manifold geas that she'd tried back in Coven? Melentha had even less reason to make her spirits subject to outside commands, but still—"Harkhonistrasmylikiheen!" she called. "Move aside."
The demon didn't budge. Well, that's twice now that hasn't worked, she thought bitterly. Still, she could hardly have expected Melentha to have left that big a loophole in her spirit protection ring.
Melentha was smart enough... but she was arrogant, too, and in Danae's experience arrogance usually led to carelessness. If she'd thought to close all the big loopholes, perhaps she'd accidentally left some of the little ones open.
Something simple, then. A dazzler or firebrat, perhaps? No; a demon couldn't care less about either of those. A doppelganger, then? It would depend on how demons perceived the physical universe, but it might be worth trying during a mad dash out of the house. At least it would slow down any of Melentha's human lackeys if any were around tonight.
Except that between her and that mad dash was the demon. And the post line. And no allies but Ravagin, who wasn't any better off than she was.
With a sigh, she leaned on the window sill and stared dejectedly outside... and so happened to be gazing directly at the post line when it flickered again with its red and green lights.
Danae caught her breath, biting down on her tongue to keep silent. Red and green flashes... the sign that someone had just done a spirit-detection. Ravagin? But he was closeted with Melentha somewhere. And there was no one else in the house who would be likely to do that spell just for the hell of it.
Which meant that there was someone prowling around outside the house. Looking for a way in.
Gartanis! Her heart started beating faster, even while her brain reminded her how unlikely that really was. More probably it was a bandit or group of same looking for nighttime booty.
But it almost didn't matter. Unexpected company of any sort would force a change in Melentha's careful arrangement, and if Coven was any indication, demons weren't very good at handling the unexpected.
It was time to try her best shot. Taking a deep breath, she turned back to the demon. "You realize, I hope, that Melentha will be furious with you if anything should happen to me," she told him.
"You will not be harmed," the demon replied.
"Glad you've got such faith." Behind her back, Danae's hands fumbled with the window's clasp.
"Because—haklarast!"
A sprite appeared between her and the demon. "I am here—" it began.
The demon shot over and engulfed it; and as that mournful wail split the air, Danae twisted around and shoved the window open.
It was a good five-meter drop down to the flagstones below, but she was counting on the demon to have faster reflexes than that. And she was right. Barely had she gotten one knee up on the sill when the view before her exploded with green light as the demon jumped into the window between her and freedom. The shock of its presence threw her backwards, reeling past the center of the room—
And without even pausing to regain her balance, she turned and sprinted all-out for the door.
She almost made it. She actually had a hand on the knob when the demon finally recovered and again dove in front of her. She pushed hard against him, trying to force her way past—
And without warning, a scream of rage split the air.
With a gasp, Danae fell back, her whole body tingling with the afterclap of that scream. Slowly, the tingling faded, and as it did so, she suddenly noticed that her entire left side was numb. A stroke!
was her first, awful fear... but a second later she realized the symptoms weren't quite right for that.
More likely, it was an effect of her close encounter with the demon.
The demon. He was still hovering in front of the door when she turned her attention back to him. For a moment they stared at each other... and then, abruptly, there was a second green shape in the room.
"So one paltry human is too much for one demon to handle—is that it?" she commented sarcastically, the words from her half numb mouth coming out oddly slurred. "Good idea—send for help. Not that it'll do you any good; I'm still going to get out of here."
Neither demon replied. Swallowing hard, Danae turned awkwardly back to the window, noting without surprise that the demon had closed it. Well, you got what you wanted, she reminded herself.
They've doubled the guard on you. Let's just hope that this whole crazy idea actually works.
And hope, too, that the numbness in her left side was only temporary. Listening to her heart pounding in her ears, she gazed out the window and waited.
Chapter 24
The dazzler usually situated in one of the conversation area's back corners was absent when Melentha and Ravagin arrived downstairs. The fireplate, too, was empty, leaving the room completely dark except for the faint light coming from outside through the uncurtained floor-toceiling windows. The effect was almost certainly intended to be unnerving; Ravagin found it more annoying than anything else. "Please sit down," Melentha told him, her shadowy figure gesturing to a large cushion as she took one opposite.
Ravagin did so. "You have something against light?"
"Does the darkness bother you?" she countered.
"Not really," he said, looking around. Somewhere along the way, he noted with mild surprise, they'd lost all but one of their demon escorts. The rest had probably been released to other duties, he knew, and could be called back at a moment's notice. Still, their absence gave him a badly needed psychological lift. An error on Melentha's part. "I just thought you might worry about me slipping out in the dark," he added.
Melentha snorted. "Demons don't see things the way humans do."
"And since you have a set of demon eyes to see through, you're all set. Right?"
"Something like that." She leaned forward slightly. "Now. What exactly are we going to do with you?"
"It's certainly going to be a problem for you," Ravagin agreed. "Danae and I disappear here, and the minute we show up overdue you'll have people crawling all over Karyx looking for us. If I were you, I'd turn us loose and hope that no one will pay any serious attention to us."