Chapter 8
Demons have a reputation of being chaos incarnate; there actions being so unpredictable that mere mortals could never anticipate when or where the attacks would come. Their believers have traded upon this reputation to the point that the mere mention of a Demon Cult being in the area can spread panic and terror among a mortal community.
The truth is a little different. Oh, Demons are scary and tough to kill. However, their preferred method of attack had changed little since the cults rise during The Madness, and there always was a component to any of their actions which corrupted the local flow of magic.
Now Book Mages, like Keira, might have a better understanding of the flows of magic around them and in theory get more information from their examination: but they have to open themselves to the magical currents. They have to be looking for trouble in other words to see it.
Wild Mages, like yours truly, interact with the magical energy of the world on a much more intuitive level. We passively interact with it constantly. We feel the magic flow around us. So, when their attack began I felt the magic being corrupted precious seconds before they could take physical action.
The attack was a combination of demonic possession and transformation. In a magical ritual a piece of a Demon is implanted into a willing volunteer. Then several hours later, or at the pronouncement of a command word, the Demon transforms (emerges from?) their mortal host into a rage filled killing machine.
I was hit by the magical disruption of three of these rituals simultaneously; causing me to gag in response.
“Demons!” I managed to cry out as I rose unsteadily from my seat. Before the Red Death, most mortals reacted to the bladder emptying terror of a Demon by either fleeing in blind panic or freezing in place unable to move; and truth be told since the Red Death many mortals still react in those two ways. However, post plague; many of us have personal Demons that are far scarier than any physical Demon we may encounter. When faced with such physical Demons our instinctual response is to attack. All I needed now was to locate the targets.
Looking around I saw one server, a girl who was in her teens, in the processing of vomiting a Demon into existence. Her jaw had dislocated and much of her head’s soft tissue was already torn apart as a lizard headed Demon with three fingered claws pushed itself from its former host.
A part of me wretch at the site and for a moment I regretted the third glass of wine.
‘Throw up later, right now kill that thing before its ready,’ hissed the sellsword part of my mind. Then with a discipline born of constant hours of practise I opened myself to the magic and forced the raw energy into a bolt of electrical energy. I then flung the energy towards the two still combined bodies. Without Lightning my attack wasn’t as accurate but at twenty feet I couldn’t really miss.
The lightning caught the Demon dead centre, the creature screamed in pain and what remained of the serving girl convulsed as the lightning caused all of her muscles to contract. This had the unfortunate effect of ejecting the Demon from her body reducing her to an empty bag of skin.
Fortunately, I was too focused on killing what she had given birth to, to really notice. I followed up my first bolt of lightning with a second and third: striking the Demon while it tried to get to its feet. My attacks slowed the creature but I wasn’t able to unleash my full power against it for fear of hurting the other mortals within the room. However, the attacks were powerful enough for me to start feeling the backlash. The fingers on my right hand were burned a bright red and the scars along the back of my hand and forearm looked fresh and in two areas had started to bleed. This was the other reason why I used Thunder and Lightning; they channelled the magic better and greatly reduced the effects of backlash I would normally take.
“Sasha right!” shouted Riley breaking me of my tunnel vision centred on the Lizard Demon.
Just in time I turned and saw the second Demon, a mind warping mixture of a bear and Ogre as it smashed its way through mortals and the table to get at me. It was a fast and powerful creature but when I take in the magic my own reflexes become ‘lightning’ quick as well.
Instead of striking the big demon with another bolt of lightning, I gathered up as much air around me as I could in the second I had before the Demon’s bear like claws could rake me open. I then released the air in a thunderous blast that rammed into the creature’s chest, matting its bear like fur against its body and stopping the Demon dead in its tracks.
The attack only bought me a couple of seconds as the large creature shook off the effects of the spell. Screaming its annoyance at me, the Demon raised its clawed arm to strike me down.
But those two seconds were all that Keira and Roland needed. Suddenly the bear/Ogre Demon was bound in what appeared to be a silver/blue coil of barbed wire. The wire cut deep through both bear fur and Ogre like skin and into Demon flesh releasing black blood. Unable to move, the creature bellowed as much in pain as surprise with its imprisonment.
This roar was matched by Roland’s as loud, though much tinnier pitched, battle cry. The metal golem had jumped onto the table and in a running tackle slamming his weight into the larger monster knocking it onto the ground is a mess of chairs and serving dishes. Pulling his right arm back I noticed that our commander now sported a twelve-inch stiletto like blade from the back of his right fist.
‘Keira must have been upgrading him again,” the more academic part of my mind commented, as Roland slammed the blade into the back of the Demon’s head just above the neck’s connection. Driving the steel deep into what passed for the Demon’s brain. The other worldly creature convulsed once and lay still.
Turning back to finish dealing with lizard Demon I saw that Heinrich and Sariel had that one well in hand. The creature was on the ground pierced by half a dozen of the Fey’s throwing spikes. Where Sariel had concealed them, I have no freaking idea. Heinrich was now over the creature bashing its head with a heavy candle stick while my fairy godsister, dress sword in hand, was stabbing it in every open space she could find.
Quickly looking around I realized someone was missing. “Riley! Where’s Miri?” I shouted to my familiar. Were both short even compared to other women and right now the dining room was chaotic jumble of much larger bodies.
That she wasn’t in my line of site during a fight sent a chill down my spine. Yes, Miri is more than capable of taking care of herself but we’re better as a team.
“Other side of the table, she’s keeping a third Demon busy letting others escape,” came his reply from the rafters.
Hiking up my dresses’ skirt, I started to run around the table: cursing the entire time as I tried to worm my way through the mass of people who were trying to get out of the room. I have several spells that can increase my speed and even allow me to fly. But they were useless inside an even large room like this one. As were most of my combat spells; yes, I can cut lose with small bolts of energy but my more powerful spells had too great a chance of hurting innocents.
Finally, I was able to catch site of my black and red lover. As Riley had said she was playing mongoose to a wolf headed snake Demon’s well snake. She had managed to rip a six-foot battle sword from its wall mounting and was more than holding her own against the Demon.
“Down lass!” boomed a distinctly Dwarven voice from the other side of the entrance way. Seeing that they now had a clear field of fire, half a dozen servants armed with muskets, and a book mage cut lose with shot and spell. A beam of cold struck the Demon slowing its movements which allowed four of the muskets to hit their mark. Seventy calibre balls tore into and out of the Demon upper torso causing what remained intact to collapsed into a bloody heap. The Dwarf doorman and several other house guards emerged from the dining room’s entry way; tap loading their firearms and looking for any other threats.
“There were only three, and we got them all,” I said to the Doorman.
“While I’m inclined to believe you lass, we’d ask that everyone move to the foyer w
hile we sweep the house for more threats,” he replied grimly.
I usually find it smart to comply with a polite request of musket armed servant but I was interrupted, by my feelings being overwhelmed once again by the rotting smell of demonic magic, but I’d felt this kind of magic before and suddenly I knew who we were dealing with.
“Everyone stop!” I shouted as the snake Demon started to clearly laugh despite most of its lungs not being there and more. It rose up like a puppet on a string, casting shadows far too large for the size of its body. Dead eyes staring right me.
“Hello Misery,” I said knowing who I was speaking with.
“Ah so the Storm Crow recognizes me, does she? Good, good it is proper that the condemned should know who her executioner is,” said Misery.
“So, this is the way it’s going to be, is it?” I asked trying to keep my voice as flat as possible. I wasn’t going let this Demon know just how scared I was right now.
“You two killed one of mine, and robbed me of a sacrifice. Weregild must be paid for such an offence,” said Demon.
“You and yours have no power to collect Demon. Let it go; or we’ll destroy every follower you have within the Reich,” I said. Miri didn’t say a word but she rested her newly liberated battle sword causally across her shoulder and gave the Demon a toothy grin her fangs down to emphasise the point. We weren’t scared by his treats.
Misery was about to say something but Keira decided end this conversation once and for all. There was a flash and suddenly smell of gun oil and steel filled my nostrils as the Book Mage’s banishment spell took effect.
Not only did the Demon collapse back into a dead body, but all three of the creatures burst into flames burning themselves to nothingness while not damaging anything around them. It that was because of Keira than she’d increased in power since the last time we’d met as well.
No one moved until the last of flames died out.
“Well Sasha it appears that you three have been targeted by a Demon Cult,” said Roland calmly as he looked at the carnage that had once been his dining room.
“It looks that way,” I replied.
“Well it best course of action for you then would be join a large body of armed individuals who are heading out of town as quickly as possible,” he said his voice as always unemotional.
“I agree. It’s a good thing we were already doing that,” I said back to our commander.
“Ah but there’s the problem you three actually hadn’t signed the formal contract. Now I’m more than willing to still have you sign on but given the risk we’re going to running I’m afraid that compensation will not be as generous as it could have been before this incident,” Roland replied.
I groaned Roland had us over a barrel, this attack just blew our chances with any other mercenary company for the season, and we’d be lucky to get half what we were worth with Roland now. Damn Misery! Why couldn’t he have waited to attack until after we’d signed the contract!
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About the Author
Sandy Addison has always been a story teller; either in the real-world or at the role-playing table. However, it has been only the past few years that he’s gained the courage to actually share his stories with others. He has written several adult novellas and two short novels under a pen name, but Sellswords is the first fiction piece that he has published under his own name.
Other books by this author
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The Red Death series
Sellswords (November 2017)
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