***
“Tobart! Tobart, slow down,” Pulchra cried. “Put me down for just a second.”
Celisha hurriedly spread a blanket on the ground and Tobart lowered Pulchra onto it. Carmina knelt beside her and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
“Just…give me a minute,” Pulchra gasped.
“We shouldn’t stay long, mistress,” said Tobart looking back at the forest where several flying daemons were visible grappling with each other above the treetops.
“It’s Akaru!” Pulchra pointed. Akaru had indeed risen from the forest. As they watched, the long snout of a winged crocodile lifted above the treetops; its fang lined jaws snapped at the blond furred cat.
“And that’s Tykar,” Tobart said and stooped to pick up Pulchra again, but Celisha stopped him.
“Tobart, look,” Celisha said and pointed toward the town. A glow was coming from it. Hundreds of people carrying torches were stomping their way toward them. Tobart could see in the light of the torches that many of them carried blades, axes, and pitchforks. There could be no mistaking their intentions. The weapons they carried and the gruesome expressions on their faces told him all he needed to know.
Tobart drew his sword in his right hand and extended the claws on his left. He kept looking from the forest to the town wondering which way was safer. Tobart wished, not for the first time, that he was a greater daemon rather than a lesser daemon. If he could increase his size by many times like Lord Akaru could, he would easily be able to scatter even the most vicious mob of humans. As he was merely a lesser daemon, however, death seemed to be certain either way they went.
Pulchra had not looked toward Angustia. Her eyes were fixed on the sky above the forest where Akaru and Tykar fought. She winced each time the crocodile’s cruel teeth made contact with her husband’s flesh. Fortunately, Akaru’s teeth and claws and tail spikes tore into Tykar’s flesh just as frequently. Pulchra’s heart seemed to stop in her chest and only the pains of childbirth caused her to take her eyes off the battle.
The humans continued to advance with a singular purpose, still unaware of the battle before them. Tobart decided that their best hope of survival was to hide in the darkness of the fields and maybe the humans would pass them by. He sheathed his sword and quickly scooped up Pulchra again.
“Follow me,” he whispered. “Stay low.”
“Tobart, stop,” Pulchra shouted. “I can’t see Akaru.”
“Please be quiet, mistress,” Tobart whispered to her as he ran through the stalks of ripe wheat. “We must try to hide.”
“No, we have to help him,” Pulchra cried.
“Please, mistress, I assure you there is nothing we could do to help,” Tobart said as he again set her down and crouched beside her. Celisha and Carmina did the same.
“But where are all his supporters?” Pulchra wailed.
“Fighting against Tykar’s supporters,” Tobart said. “Please, mistress-”
“Tobart!” Pulchra yelled. “Are you giving birth in a dew covered field while you watch your husband dying?”
“No, mistress,” Tobart said sheepishly.
“Then do not tell me to be quiet!”
“Yes, mistress,” Tobart sighed in a defeated tone.
Pulchra’s cries had obviously been heard by the town’s people and they marched closer. Again drawing his sword, Tobart positioned himself between the crowd and his mistress.
“He’s done it,” Pulchra cried as a loud roar and a crash came from the forest. “He had him by the neck; he must be dead.”
Tobart looked to the forest but could not see his master or Tykar. He could not tell from Pulchra’s cries which had been victorious and which had fallen. The humans must have heard the roar as well. They continued to advance, but a little more slowly and fear began to show on many of their faces. Tobart wondered if they would flee if he charged them now. As he wondered what his next course of action should be, Tobart heard the sound of wings behind him.
“Pulchra,” Akaru gasped as he landed next to her, reverting to his human shape, and collapsing. “I am here, my love.”
“Oh, Akaru,” Pulchra cried. “You’re bleeding.”
“Let us help you, master,” Celisha said mournfully as she and Carmina pressed blankets against his wounds which were numerous and dripping copious amounts of blood onto the ground.
“My love, you have made me so happy,” Akaru said in a whisper.
“How can you say that now?” Pulchra asked.
“Aleckasia told me about the child,” he replied. “I was afraid I would not make it here in time for the birth.”
“You nearly didn’t,” Pulchra said, her own voice barely a whisper now. “You’re losing a lot of blood.”
“Tobart,” Akaru called.
“I am here, master.”
“Stay close, soon you will have to carry Pulchra into the forest.”
“Master, I fear that path is now closed to us,” Tobart said as he looked toward the forest. Daemons of all shapes and sizes were appearing from between the trees. The battle was decided the moment Tykar fell and the supporters of both daemon kings would be coming together to swear their allegiance to the victor. “Master, if they see Mistress Pulchra in this state-”
“Then take her and run,” Akaru hissed.
“I won’t leave you here,” Pulchra moaned. “Not now, not ever.”
“Master,” Tobart said looking back and forth between the approaching humans and the approaching daemons. “Where can I run to?”
Tobart’s heart pounded as the two groups stopped, each about twenty paces from where Akaru and Pulchra lay. Many of the men at the back of the crowd turned and ran in fear back toward their town.
“Look, citizens,” a tall man at the front of the crowd called. “Look at the force my sister-in-law has brought against us. Can there be any doubt now that she deserves death?”
“Is that the great Lord Akaru?” someone on the daemon’s side asked. “Look, brothers, that girl is birthing his spawn. I can sense the child’s nature.”
“He exiled Anjuin for a dalliance with a human and then he does this?”
“Does he expect us to recognize a half-breed heir to his domain?” another daemon hissed. “Or bow before this girl as our queen?”
“Never,” another growled. “Besides, see how weak he is? There should be a tournament between us and the victor will become our king.”
“Yes,” many hissed in agreement. “Leave him here to die along with his wench.”
“Have no fear, men!” the tall human called. “See, the beasts are leaving and we can then bring down the hammer of justice upon this traitor!”
Tobart was very near to panicking. What could he do? As the daemons turned back to the forest, the humans inched forward again. Celisha and Carmina cowered together shaking, but Pulchra and Akaru simply gripped each others’ hands tightly.
The tall man was a mere three paces from Tobart now. He would have to strike and take down as many as he could. But then the loud sound of large wings came from overhead. The tall man raised his hands over his face and Tobart looked up to see a ceiling of white fur spread over him.
“Don’t take another step,” Aleckasia hissed at the tall man. Then she turned to the daemons and added, “Not any of you.”
The men quickly retraced their steps, the daemons did so more reluctantly.
“Your father has disgraced himself, Aleckasia,” a daemon called.
“That is not what you were saying as Tykar died mere minutes ago,” she hissed back. “You hailed my father as the mightiest of all daemons, truly worthy of your undying allegiance.”
“It’s the beast that slew the magistrate’s son,” a man shouted but quickly fell silent as Aleckasia turned her huge head toward him.
“I will not answer the accusations of fools who cannot recognize the forces which have protected them for so long,” Aleckasia spoke in an even voice. “As long as my father rules these lands, he may continue to offer you
his protection, but I swear to you, because of your actions this night, during my reign you will fend for yourselves.” She then turned to the daemons, “Yes, you heard me. My father shall continue to rule us with me as his sole heir. You will not be asked to bow to my half human siblings born tonight or in the future. I’m sure my father will agree to this. But I swear to you, as I have sworn to the humans, if I ever see any of you show my stepmother or my siblings anything but respect, I shall harshly punish you.”
“You don’t have the authority to make such proclamations,” a daemon shouted and many murmurs passed through the crowd. “If we choose to withdraw our support from your father we likewise withdraw it from you.”
A greater daemon in the form of a gigantic snake with shimmering green and black scales slithered forward. Aleckasia watched it closely as it moved. The snake shrank into a tall, willowy woman with dark hair and eyes.
“I am Renanne,” the woman said turning back toward the daemons. “I have supported Akaru for longer than most of you have been alive and in that time I have come to trust him and his daughter unquestionably. I cannot forget the many times they have come to my aid and to the aid of other daemons I cherish as my friends and family. I will recognize none but them as rulers of these lands, and I further pledge my respect and affection for Akaru’s human wife, Pulchra, and her children. I will aid Aleckasia in punishing those who show them disrespect.”
Renanne turned and smiled at Pulchra who nodded her thanks. Murmurs again ran through the crowd of daemons, but one by one they each stepped forward and followed Renanne in pledging their loyalty to Akaru and his family. Most also made a separate pledge to Aleckasia as Akaru’s heir as if to remind her of her promise that they would not be asked to bow to any half-humans. Then they all disappeared to journey back to their own homes leaving the stunned humans nervously gaping at Aleckasia’s large form.
She turned a menacing gaze toward them and softly said, “Leave.”
They quickly turned and sauntered back to Angustia in silence. As they receded into the darkness Aleckasia shrank into her human form. She pushed her long hair over her shoulders and ordered, “Celisha, Carmina hurry back to father’s house and prepare for our return. Tobart, take my stepmother and Renanne would you please help me with father?”
The two female daemons carefully wrapped Akaru’s wounds before lifting him off the ground. Tobart wanted to set off immediately but Pulchra refused to leave without Akaru. The group hurried through the forest, down the path to the clearing where Arb stood. The gatekeeper cheerfully welcomed Akaru and Aleckasia home, then grumbled a greeting to Pulchra. Despite her discomfort, Pulchra smiled when she smelled the rich nutty scent in the stairway which led to her home. Tobart carried her through the atrium and up the second flight of stairs to the bedroom. Renanne and Aleckasia were going to take Akaru to another room until after Pulchra had given birth.
“No,” he panted. “I will be there. Take me to her.”
They lay next to each other in the big golden bed with the two silver Cupids on the headboard gripping each other’s hands tightly as Tobart stitched Akaru’s wounds closed and Renanne, who had herself given birth to three children, tended to Pulchra. Celisha and Carmina came in and out carrying water and healing herbs and cleaning away the dust that had accumulated during their absence. Aleckasia waited in the garden, pacing while she listened to the cries of pain coming from the bedroom.
“It’s a boy,” Renanne reported as the child wailed his first cries. She wrapped the crying infant in a blanket and handed him to his exhausted but smiling mother.
“Look, Akaru,” Pulchra said. “He’s beautiful and he has your ears.”
The infant did indeed have pointed ears. Akaru lifted his head and smiled at his son and his wife. “He’s as beautiful as you are, my love. The most beautiful boy I have ever seen.”
“Of course your first child wasn’t much to look at,” Aleckasia said as Renanne ushered her into the room.
“Oh, you were the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen,” Akaru said smiling up at her.
“Come meet your brother,” Pulchra said and handed the child to Aleckasia.
“He is cute,” Aleckasia said. Her face stretched into a rare smile. She lifted her brother to her face and began licking his hair. Pulchra was about to object but in response to the feline bath the child stopped crying and instead began to purr softly.
“He needs a name,” Akaru said. “Bring him to me, Aleckasia.”
Akaru took his son who opened his eyes for the first time and looked at his father. Akaru met his son’s eyes, blue eyes that looked so much like his mother’s. He was gorgeous and needed a name to match his beauty and his status. “We will call him Felix.”
“That means happy,” Pulchra said.
“Because he makes me so happy,” said Akaru and he smiled at his wife.
“He makes us both very happy,” Pulchra said taking Felix from Akaru to feed him. “But what is he? Is he a greater daemon or a lesser daemon?”
“I don’t think he is either,” Renanne said.
“I think she is right,” Akaru said as he wrapped a tail around his wife. “When he was born his presence was as strong as any greater daemon’s and now it has all but disappeared. He is something extraordinary.”
“But then…” Pulchra started to voice her worries, but Aleckasia interrupted her.
“Did you not hear my oath to punish anyone who dares to mistreat him? He will have a good life in this house, or in mine, or in any one he may choose. I will see to that.”
Once again, something in the way Aleckasia spoke with such confidence reassured Pulchra. Felix was lucky to have Aleckasia as a sister.
The entire household was bursting with happiness for weeks after Felix’s birth. Celisha and Carmina couldn’t stop ooing and ahing at him. Tobart always had a smile for him and once had a rat for him claiming that it was never too early to acquire a taste for good rat.
Food was no longer a problem. Renanne brought them two dozen goats and Aleckasia returned to the house one evening with several sacks of wheat and a barrel of salted beef. Salted beef was very popular in the east and, though she would never admit it, Pulchra suspected that despite her oath to never help the townspeople, Aleckasia had disposed of the bandits in the forest and seized their rations.
Pulchra sent Tobart to find wild honey to treat Akaru’s wounds and he was soon strong enough to sit in the garden with his wife and children. Aleckasia stayed until Akaru was on his feet again and then returned to her home on the southern border, promising to visit again soon.
Pulchra never again saw her parents or her sister, but she could not imagine being any happier than she was in her home in the forest with her loving husband and their young son. They lived comfortably and happily together for many, many years beyond the sight of human eyes.
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