Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (32 page)

The fearsome demon Unique Horn raced down the narrow gravel path towards Ash as panic-stricken spectators dove into nearby booths to get out of the way. The half-human was plagued by paranoia and froze to the spot. Could the demons have sent this beast at him to get him to move elsewhere? Were they springing a trap? Or was this unique horn demon one of them? There were too many questions and not enough time for thinking. All Ash could do was back up as the beast approached.

Ash could smell the creature’s breath as it came close enough to assault his nose. The demon locked its bloodshot eyes on Ash and lowered its head. The trident tip of blade-like horns pointed straight at the boy. Ash stepped back until he hit a wall, the demon still closing in on him. His stomach began to tremble and his knees buckled.

He prepared to jump for it, and hopefully land on a nearby roof. That became unnecessary as the demon’s handler showed up and got between the demon and the boy. The unique horn handler held a long pole. The tip of his pole ended in what looked like a close replica of the same trident horn on the demon’s head. The handler locked his trident with the demon’s unique horn and used all his strength to hold the beast at bay.

“Sorry about that, boy!” the handler called to Ash as he struggled. “This wild beast is heading for the rodeo, and he’s not too excited about it!”

Two more handlers showed up, armed with their own trident poles. They helped surround the unique horn demon, poking the beast in his sides to make it submit. When the beast was more docile, the team of handlers led it away back down the side street toward the demon rodeo.

When Ash had caught his breath and ensured that his heart had indeed
not
left his body through his lowest opening, the boy made a mental note.
I’ve got to check out that rodeo
, he thought.
I’ve got to see who’s crazy enough to get on that thing. No way you’ll ever see me try to kill myself riding one
!

Though his breath had returned and his heart rate slowed, Ash’s legs still shook like towers of jello. He found a bench to sit down on only a few shaky steps away. He kept a trained eye on the crowd before him, observing the talents of the various festival workers. One trio of beautiful women performed an impressive juggling trick, passing flaming pins between the three of them like it was easy. Close by were tables where artists sat in front of their canvases.

An excited young man with a huge grin approached ash. The guy made an odd request that Ash join him for a picture. Confused about the process and too polite to decline, the guy dragged Ash over to an artist’s table where the two sat before the man and his canvas. The artist heated up his drawing tool, a wooden pen with a sharp metal tip at the end. The skilled artist then burned the thick wooden canvas like he was painting, etching in black burns the faces of the two boys.

The process took over twenty minutes. Longer than Ash would have liked to be sitting vulnerable. His eyes never rested for more than a minute. When the artist was finally done, the pair stood up and examined his work. The boy who requested the picture looked spot-on, capturing an almost life-like resemblance to the guy. Ash’s portrait was all mixed up, none of the proportions appearing the correct shapes or sizes.

“That doesn’t really look like me,” said Ash, giving the artist a skeptical look.

“Then you should have sat still during the process like I told you to,” the artist snapped. “No refunds.
Next
!”

“
Great
,” the guy who paid for the picture said sarcastically as the artist handed it to him and shooed the pair away. “No one will even be able to tell it’s you. What a waste of skorch.” The guy walked away, tossing the wood canvas into a nearby burning barrel for rubbish.

And thanks for wasting
my
time
, Ash thought.
Not like I’m busy tracking greater demons that could eat everyone here or anything
.

Ash reached the bottom of the hill and the end of The Fire Arcade. The boy stood at the back of the large gathering of people crowding the stage to watch a musical act. Some lady played a humongous stringed instrument while two men banged on drums, one steel and one wooden. The woman sang passionately in a language Ash was not familiar with.

The musical act competed with the nearby demon rodeo for audibility. The rodeo must have already started, because the shouts of excitement and applause from the crowd were loud enough to be heard even over the band. Ash decided to finish watching the band’s act, and then move on to check out the rodeo.

As he stood at the back of the crowd tapping his foot to the rhythm, the shadow of someone flying overhead circled him. Ash became aware of his stalker only after she landed next to him, grabbing him by the shoulder. The boy spun in shock, faced by someone he was getting to know well by now.

“Raley,” said Ash, surprised to see the girl. “What are you doing here?”

Aralia tucked her wings into her body and crossed her arms, averting her gaze ever so slightly. “Just flying around,” she replied, acting laid-back. “I don’t have much to do now that the team’s been
broken up
.”

Ash felt a sting of guilt at the girl’s words. He never liked the idea of leaving Aura to explain their team’s disbandment to her and Uverstarr. He’d hoped he could eventually talk to her in person about it, but now was not the time. Come to think of it, Ash was uncertain if there’d
ever
be a good time. He might not even last that long.

“Sorry about cancelling everything,” Ash said, forcing a weak smile. “Something incredibly important came up. It was totally out of my control.”

“You plan on making it up to me?” the girl asked, turning up her nose with a playful air of entitlement. “Or do you just want me to buzz off?”

The band on stage finished their final song as the crowd erupted with cheers and applause. For a moment, the demon rodeo could not be heard. But as the performers marched off the stage, waving and bowing to the fans, the noise died down and Ash could finally hear his own thoughts.

“I promise I’ll make it up to you,” the boy said, dead serious. “As soon as I’m done with my current mission. But for now, it’s really important that you leave me to it.”

“Oh, I get it,” Aralia replied, turning her body to the side. “You don’t think a punk girl like me could be of any help to you on your
super important mission
.”

“No, that’s not it,” Ash replied, distraught. “It’s just that it could end up getting pretty dangerous is all. I’m only looking out for Uverstarr’s and your safety.”

“Uverstarr and I can handle ourselves,” said the girl, facing Ash once more with a determined look. “We could help you. Five is better than three, right?”

“I’d rather not risk your guy’s lives,” Ash replied, trying to avoid her puppy-dog eyes. He spotted a sign with an arrow pointing down a nearby path. The sign read Demon Rodeo, and Ash decided it was time to make his move. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll come talk to you later.”

The boy waved goodbye and turned to go. He started walking, hoping the girl wouldn’t follow. He moved across a narrow walking path that cut across an elevated cliff face like a catwalk. He passed over stone buildings carved right into the rocky landscape, passing shoppers and vendors, parents and children. Every couple minutes he’d glance behind him and spot the orphan girl still following several meters behind him.

“I think I can handle whatever a half-human can,” the girl said in protest after being spotted. “Tell me what we’re looking for. I’ll help.”

Damn it Aralia,
the boy thought.
Stop following me
!
I’m doing this for your own good
!

Ash sped on, not saying anything. He hoped to lose her in the rodeo crowd. They rounded a ridge that opened up to reveal a small valley. There were rows of benches carved into the cliff walls that surrounded the valley, offering spectators seating for the event. The stone benches were elevated behind a tall solid-looking wall to protect them from the wild demons. Some poor fool sat atop the bucking stallion of a unique horn Ash had encountered earlier.

The guy mounted the beast with the aid of the handlers as the demon stood trapped inside a small, gated pen. As soon as the gates opened, the wicked black unicorn demon shot out like a bullet and started bucking furiously. The guy managed to hold on for a whole two seconds before being tossed. He brought out his wings in midair and flew away to avoid being gored by the creature’s nasty trident horn. The audience cheered, whistled, and applauded like animals at the brave man’s efforts.

“Good effort, but not good enough!” the event leader shouted through a megaphone as he addressed the crowd.  “Now, do we have any more challengers
brave enough
to attempt riding this fierce specimen of unique horn?” The crowd exploded with enthusiasm, but volunteers were anything but eager to come forward.

“What have I got to do to prove to you that I can be helpful?” asked Aralia as she struggled to catch up with the boy. “Want me to ride the unique horn? Would that be enough proof?”

“Don’t be like that,” said Ash, trying to keep moving. “I just need some privacy this time, alright? If you want to help me out another time on a job, maybe make a little skorch, that’s fine. I’ll talk to my boss about it. But right now I need to be alone.”

“Does this new mission have anything to do with the greater demon that possessed that Noble?” Aralia asked.

Ash started to sweat. Aralia’s guess was dead on. He struggled to think of a way to deny it, while the commotion of the crowd once again climbed to thought-blocking levels. He couldn’t think with the rodeo commenter shouting through his megaphone. Something about a brave new challenger, and a special guest. He tried blocking out all the excess noise, turning to look at the girl instead.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” said Aralia, her face lighting up. “You guys are expecting more greater demons to show up, aren’t you?”

“I can’t talk about it now,” Ash replied, turning his back on the rodeo. He walked around the girl as the noise levels from the crowd became even louder. Ash had to shout to be heard, even though he was just feet away from her. “
I should go
.”

As the boy started to walk away he felt the warm trickle of something in his ear. He stuck a pinky finger in the ear and felt a sticky liquid. He inspected the finger to find a red substance staining the tip of his pinky.

Blood
.

Before he had time to process that information, Ash felt his stomach rock violently. He almost threw up right there, but gagged it down. Aralia touched his shoulder in concern. The boy broke away, his head starting to spin. He knew these symptoms could only mean one thing.

The demons were near.

After adapting to the loud sounds of the rodeo spectators, Ash could only assume something was wrong with his hearing when the noise suddenly stopped. It was like he’d hit the mute button on his TV remote. One minute the people are going crazy, the next it’s entirely silent.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Aralia asked, glancing around at the people.

Realizing he could still hear her, Ash deduced that his hearing was just fine. It was the crowd that had become deathly silent. The boy wasted no time pulling the small pillbox from his pocket. He opened it without hesitation and popped one of the black tablets into his mouth, swallowing it whole. If a demon was nearby, he wanted to at least be prepared to fight.

Finally, one by one, people in the crowd started to speak again. Ash listened to their confused reactions. His head started pounding like a gong and his palms were doused with sweat.

“
I can’t believe it
…” one man in the crowd said.

“
He’s really doing it
,” stated another.

“
He’s tamed the beast
!” a woman said in sheer amazement.

Aralia stared in the direction of the rodeo, her eyes glazed with curious astonishment. She pointed to the pen area where the untamed unique horn waited for its next victim. Only the once-feral creature was no longer bucking uncontrollably. Instead the beast stood still and docile, it’s long head resting in the hands of one talented individual.

Ash turned his weakened attention to the rodeo pen to behold the sight. He knew something was wrong from the moment he laid eyes on the so-called “talented” individual, stroking the beast’s snout with a gentle hand. It took only seconds to identity the man, especially with his black spiky armor.

“No way…” he said. “It’s
him
.”

“That’s
some
skill,” said Aralia, still within earshot of Ash.

They watched as Commander Stryd walked around the frozen unique horn, running his fingers over the stiff creature’s body. His touch made the once-fierce demon quiver with fright.

When the Commander reached the demon’s head again everyone watched in stunned silence as he gripped the beast’s face and pulled it close to his. Stryd stared into the trembling creature’s eyes before lowering his lips and placing them upon the creature’s long snout.

The unique horn fell into a calm trance. Stryd lifted his gaze once again and pulled the demon’s head down, low enough to grip the creature’s signature horn. The tip, a trident-like group of horns, sat on top like a hood ornament on a fancy car.