Demontech: Onslaught (30 page)

The Golden Girl struggled in Spinner’s arm. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded. “Where are you taking me?”

“I’ll tell you all shortly,” Spinner said. “Trust me for now.”

“Why should I trust you?” she replied, but stopped struggling.

In their haste and movement, they didn’t hear the footsteps behind them.

by Scholar Munch Mu’sk
Professor of Far Western Studies
University of the Great Rift
(excerpted from
The Proceedings of the Association of Anthropological Scholars of Obscure Cultures
, Vol. 57, No. 9)

On several counts, magic is a difficult topic on which to discourse. First, not everybody agrees that magic exists, or if it indeed does exist, how efficacious it is. To further complicate the discussion, those who agree that it does exist disagree most vehemently on the proper form in effecting it. Regardless of their stance on other questions, one thing on which the practitioners of and believers in magic agree is that all magic is in the control of demons. Beyond that sole point, the scholar finds naught but disagreement.

Nevertheless, a careful study of the literature and skillful interviewing of practitioners and witnesses have taught this scholar a number of things about the arcane arts.

First: the existence of magic and demons. Over the course of several years, I have undertaken an informal statistical study of belief in magic. There appears to be a distinct correlation between geographic location and belief. For example: Where I live and work, the University of the Rift, belief is so little as to be almost nonexistent; in the Kingdom of Matilda, in the unnamed lands, and in Bostia, belief is high. One might naturally assume that in the environs of the world’s premier university, belief in superstition and other nonsensical ideas would be scarce. Further, one might naturally assume that in more intellectually blighted areas such as the west of Nunimar that superstition and other nonsensical ideas would be more common. If discussing trivial matters such as a belief in men with heads in their chests, the hazards of walking under ladders, etcetera, one would be right. However, when one looks further and discovers that belief in magic and demons is only slightly lower in Skragland than in Bostia, slightly lower in the Princedons than in Skragland, lower yet in the Easterlies than in the Princedons; and that such belief is slightly higher in Apianghia than near the University of the Rift, and slightly higher in Ewsarcan than in Apianghia, a pattern begins to emerge. To wit: There is an inverse correlation between distance from the west coast of Nunimar and belief in magic and demons, and that relationship between depth and strength of belief and distance from the west of Nunimar leads this scholar to suspect that demonkind has a homeland, and that its homeland is somewhere off the coast of Nunimar, most likely in an undiscovered archipelago south or southwest of the Jokapcul Islands, if not in the Jokapcul Islands themselves.

(In view of the admission of personal belief in magic and demons implicit in the preceding sentence, this scholar must state here that he personally knows of entirely too many reputable persons, including highly respected scholars and philosophers, who hold such beliefs to be able to discount them as nonsense or superstition. Which is to say, magic and demons very nearly
must
be real. This scholar, having never personally encountered magic or demons, cannot state categorically that they do exist, but the evidence is so strong that allegations of their existence must be taken seriously.)

Second: form of control. Traditionally, which is to say according to legend and myth, magic is accomplished by means of arm waving, gestures, chanting in arcane languages, and commands given in such arcane languages. The literature on magic, both scholarly and popular, is heavy with examples of magical practitioners who effect magic through controlling demons by exactly such means. The literature is also filled with examples of magical practitioners who never use such traditional methods. The conflicting examples, roughly equal in proportion, suggest that either (1) the traditional accouterments are not necessary, or (2) that some demons require the gestures and language, and others will perform for humans without them.

Third: demon types. Careful study demonstrates that demons come in generally two types: intelligent and unintelligent, with many subcategories of each type. There appear to be limited numbers of other demons which are, for the most part, quiescent until called upon and are capable of performing one feat on only one occasion. With few exceptions, each kind of demon can perform one feat of magic—conferring invisibility, starting fires, speeding messages, explosive saliva, etc. Intelligent demons can be enticed to do the bidding of magicians, or indeed, according to numerous accounts, persons who are not even magicians. Intelligent demons have language, of a sort, and can, for the most part, understand human speech, though their own speech is frequently unintelligible to human beings. No one knows why the intelligent demons perform feats of magic for their human masters. Some suspect they do it out of curiosity, others that it is a form of perversion among them, yet others that it gives them an excuse to wreak damage on humans. A fortunately small number of intelligent demons appear to function out of sheer malevolence; payment is negotiated with such demons. Unintelligent demons have no known language, are never enticed, never perform on verbal command, must be imprisoned, and must be coerced to work their magic. Another point on which all sources agree is that demons must be fed. What they are fed appears to depend on the kind of demon, as the literature provides numerous recipes for feeding demons. Intelligent demons that are not fed will simply abandon their human masters; the unintelligent ones will die within their prisons or lose weight until they are able to escape said prison. The unintelligent demons are reputed, sometimes, to cause serious harm to their masters, even death, if they escape their prisons.

Fourth: the efficaciousness of magic. All demons must be treated properly in order for them to perform their magical feats. Many of the intelligent demons appear to form bonds with their human masters, which bonds are not necessarily strong nor positive. An intelligent demon may, on occasion, change allegiances without warning if its bond is negative. If its bond is momentarily negative—for example, if it hasn’t been fed recently—it might refuse to perform without actually abandoning its master. Or a demon might decide to perform at a level less than optimal. Malevolent demons may arbitrarily decide that negotiated payments for services rendered are insufficient and break their agreements, to the extent of causing severe harm, even death, to their masters. If inadequately imprisoned, unintelligent demons will escape, frequently doing harm to their masters. Ultimately, the efficaciousness of a demon’s magic depends on the appropriateness of its employment.

In conclusion: It appears to be possible, if not probable, that magic does indeed exist, that it is performed by demons under the (partial?) control of human masters, that the demons have a homeland, and that the frequency of their appearance is inversely related to the distance from that homeland. More study is required to come to firm conclusions, and it is fervently hoped that other scholars, perhaps those with closer affiliation to practitioners of magic, will contribute to the study.

The horses startled when running people they couldn’t see were suddenly among them, and the stallion reared then kicked out, barely missing Haft.

“Be seen!” Spinner shouted as he skidded to a halt. He wrapped an arm around the Golden Girl and jerked her to a stop.

The horses were startled again as three people suddenly appeared among them, but they settled down quickly. The mare gave Haft a love nip when he got in range. Haft tried to avoid receiving any other expressions of affection from the mare as he moved to untether her.

“You ride this one,” Spinner said, lifting the Golden Girl onto the gelding; the horses were already saddled.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the Golden Girl demanded. “You’ve sent everybody else off to freedom, and you’re keeping me as your own slave?”

“What? No!” Spinner said, shocked and perplexed. It wasn’t the reaction he expected for freeing her; she sounded as if she didn’t want to be with him at all. “The others will probably be safe in Oskul, but who knows how long it will take them to get home from there, or even if they’ll be able to get to Oskul with the Jokapcul invading Skragland? Haft and I are going back to Frangeria. Apianghia is right across the bay from Frangeria. I can get you home from there.”

Before either of them could say anything more, Haft softly called out, “Spinner!”

Spinner turned. Haft had his axe raised, looking back the way they’d come. Spinner readied his staff as three figures broke from the trees into the tiny clearing. He was about to swing at the nearest figure when he recognized Doli. Then he saw that one of the others was Fletcher. The third person was also a woman.

“What are you doing here?” Spinner demanded. “Fletcher, you’re supposed to be taking everybody to Oskul.”

Fletcher shrugged. “The other men can guard them. I have no desire to go the capital of Skragland. Besides, I think it will be safer traveling in a small party than a big one.”

“You treated me well at the inn,” Doli said. “You never treated me like property. And when you saw we were slaves, you both risked your lives to set us free. I’m going with you.”

“This is my wife,” Fletcher said, pointing to the other woman. “Master Yoel kept us apart. You have brought us together again.” Fletcher put an arm around his wife. “Her name is Zweepee.”

“But you can’t go with us,” Spinner insisted. “We’ll be traveling fast, and we only have three horses. You can’t keep up with the horses on foot, and they can’t go fast carrying six people.”

“We must get away from here,
now,
” the Golden Girl said. “Let them come with us.”

Doli pushed Spinner toward the stallion. “Get on!” she said. “I’ll ride with you.” Spinner mounted and pulled her up behind him.

Fletcher jumped onto the mare and lifted his wife onto the front of the saddle, where he could cradle her in his arms.

The Golden Girl gave Haft a glare that told him not to even think of doing anything, and reached a hand down to help him onto the gelding’s back. She kept her feet in the stirrups and her hands on the reins. “Watch where you put your hands,” she snarled as Haft adjusted himself behind her.

Then the three horses were pounding up the ridge side as fast as they could, around trees and dodging low branches. By the time they stopped, sheets of lather dripped off the horses’ flanks.

Spinner reined in the stallion. “Everybody off the horses before we kill them.” They weren’t near the road—or at least he didn’t think they were. “Let’s make camp and get some sleep. I don’t think anybody will come on us very soon.” His adrenaline rush was over and he was too tired to worry about how he was going to get rid of the extra people in his party.

But, unexpectedly, he did have another worry. The Lalla Mkouma on his shoulder piped,
“Veedmee!”

“What?”

“Veedmee!”

The other Lalla Mkouma chimed in with the same demand.

The Golden Girl chuckled as she returned her Lalla Mkouma to Spinner’s free shoulder. “They want to be fed,” she said.

Perplexed, Spinner looked at her. “What do we feed them?”

She shrugged innocently. “You’re the magicians with the demons. Why do you expect me to know how to control them?”

“But—” Spinner and Haft both yelped as the Lalla Mkouma bit their ears.

“Veedmee!”
they piped.

“But we don’t know what to feed you!”

“Oo naw niz!”
one of them said. Then all four clambered to the ground—Spinner’s pausing on her way down to bite his hand—and scampered off, but not before delivering surprisingly hard kicks to the Marines’ ankles.

The Golden Girl laughed; the others maintained an embarrassed silence.

Moments later they made their sleeping arrangements. Fletcher and Zweepee found a bush to crawl under for privacy. Haft looked from the Golden Girl to Doli. The former stood rigid and threatening, and the other looked longingly at Spinner. Haft made a disgusted grimace, then cleared a space at the foot of a tree and lay down alone.

Oblivious to her defiant attitude, Spinner stepped up to the Golden Girl and held his cloak open wide. “It’s roomy enough for two, Alyline,” he said softly, and started to close the cloak around them both.

The Golden Girl’s knee went to his groin. It wasn’t a kick, she simply put it there with more emphasis than a lover would use. “Aye. And if you wish to keep your manhood, you will give me that cloak to use by myself.”

Spinner flinched at the touch of her knee. Again he was surprised by her attitude. Her reaction was so different from her seductive pose the previous night.

“I . . . But—But I didn’t . . .” he stammered in a high-pitched voice.

“That’s right,” she cut him off. “And you won’t. The cloak . . .” She held out a hand in an imperious manner and made a motion as though to knee him more sharply.

Spinner hopped back another pace. “But—But—”

“I sleep alone. Give me your cloak so I can cover myself.”

He whipped the four-sided reversible cloak from his shoulders and held it out for her to take. She did and disappeared behind a tree.

Mumbling and shaking his head, Spinner took a couple of steps and sat down heavily. He sat muttering and shaking his head for another moment or two before wrapping himself in the silk cloak he’d brought for the Golden Girl and reclining. He didn’t even bother to clear the ground of sticks and stones. He rolled onto his side.