The Demon's Game (19 page)

“They are afraid.”

“I’m not going to hurt any of you. Trust me.” I
reached out my hand for her, which she hesitantly took, and then I stood,
pulling her up with me. When the unicorn snorted and stuck his head in between
us, the woman laughed and stroked his horn. “My name is Kiro. What is yours?”

“Ayir. Follow me.” She went towards the waterfall.

As much as I wanted to avoid the water, Ayir and her
people needed my help, so I followed her right into the water. The bed of the
creek was slippery and the rushing water was up to my knees, but Ayir had no
trouble keeping her balance. To my astonishment, she walked right through the
waterfall. Instead of soaking me, the water moved around me as I walked under
the flow.

We trekked through a short cave until it opened into
a sight beautiful enough that I stopped, still standing naked in the shallow
water, and gaped. The sun shined brightly overhead, the creek here was wide and
crystal clear, and skirting the water were vibrantly colored flowers. There
were ten more unicorns, including a unicorn pony, as well as about twenty women
and girls. Most of the women were naked, but a few women and all the girls wore
thin white dresses, which were obviously made by them with their limited
recourses. There was a startling sense of innocence about these people.

Everyone halted in their tasks when they spotted me.
Ayir took my hand and pulled me to the banks. Women approached hesitantly, but
the clearest sign of apprehension was their fluttering wings. While the
children all had pure white wings, not all of the adult women’s wings were
white; some were blue, some were iridescent, and some were even silver.
Everyone had snow white hair, had light or deep blue eyes, and were extremely
pretty.

Ayir spoke in a very smooth, lyrical voice, which
seemed to put some women at peace enough to reach out. Several of the women
stroked their hands down my back or arms. None appeared to care at all that I
was naked.

“What are they doing?” I asked Ayir.

“We have no males as large as you and they are
confused that you have no wings. Males from our tribe have wing length
proportional to their strength.”

One woman with iridescent wings inserted herself
between me and Ayir and gently placed her hand on my chest. Her long white hair
fell over her shoulders in large curls to shield her breast, but it was
excruciating to keep my eyes above her neck. She turned around and opened her
wings wide. The color caught the sunlight and gave the wings a spectacular
effect of being multiple layers of brilliant colors. I reached out without
conscious thought.

“Don’t touch her wings!” Ayir caught my wrist firmly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult anyone.”

“No, she wants to mate with you. She offers herself
to you and to touch her wings is to accept her as yours.”

The woman pushed Ayir aside and threw herself into my
arms. My focus was on avoiding her wings and not hurting her, so I could only
stand there awkwardly as she kissed me. Once again, I got the strange sense it
didn’t mean for her what a kiss meant for me.

She let me go and stepped back. “My name is Nemora.
Please choose me over my sister,” the woman begged.

“Did you just learn my language by…?” I pointed at my
mouth.

“Yes, of course. How does your tribe learn to speak?”
She studied me as if I were odd, but reached out to stroke my chest again. “And
how do you claim your mate with no wings?”

“Where are my clothes?” I asked Ayir. I felt like I
needed a shield, for I was being openly ogled from behind. As attractive as
these women were, I sensed that they were terribly innocent. Besides, Meri was
waiting for me at home.

“I took them to clean your wounds.” She turned to one
of the women and after a quick discussion, the other woman ran off with a
reluctant expression. “She will bring your clothes. Please, have some water.”

As if she had been waiting for the opportunity,
another woman brought a clay bowl of water to me. I checked it with magic to
find it completely pure and drank it down in one gulp. The bowl was taken and
another replaced it, so I drank that, too, and the third bowl.

“Thank you for healing me,” I said to Ayir.

“Hyoma brought you to us because he knew you would
help us.”

“I was sent here by Erono, god of Duran. That’s where
you are; in the Aradlin forest of Duran. I’m afraid you arrived on the most
dangerous lands of the entire world.”

“You were sent to help us?”

“Not exactly. Erono believes you are demons from the
void.”

“He wants us dead. You were sent here to kill us,”
Nemora sneered. She turned to the women around us and yelled to her people in
her language. Everyone except for Nemora and Ayir took a step away from me.
Ayir looked devastated.

“I would never kill an innocent population,” I
promised. “It’s not your fault you got stuck here. I will talk to Erono. Nobody
is going to hurt you.”

A tear ran down Ayir’s cheek. “If what you said about
Dayo is true, we would all be dead anyway.” A little girl ran by her and she
snagged the child up and held her in her arms. “Most of us died already. Please
let us live for as long as we can here.”

“I will convince Erono to let you live on Shomodii.”

“It does not matter. It is too late for us. Look
around; our males have died. These are the last of our children.”

“How did your men die?”

“They were not big like you. Women in our tribe are
providers. We had the skills to protect ourselves, but they did not. They
protected our children until we could protect them, but in doing so… We have
nothing left but our children.”

“The gods can help you. I don’t know how, but I know
they can.”

The young woman who ran off to get my clothes
returned with a bundle. I took my clothes and pulled on my pants, which were
torn where the serogou clawed through my leg, but at least they covered my
anatomy. The shirt was a comfort, as well; I didn’t like feeling weird for not
having wings.

“If you will take me to a place of peace and quiet, I
can contact Erono.”

Ayir guided me over the cave to the top of the
waterfall, where I could sit and focus against the sound of rushing water. Then
she left me to it. I reached through my connection with my book until I felt
the presence of my god. He must have been waiting for me, for my surroundings
instantly became the white walls I was used to.

“You have not done what you were told.” As usual, I
couldn’t see the god who gave me orders.

“These are a peaceful people who bring no harm to
Duran.”

“You base this on the fact that they healed your wounds?
How useless you have become. You are getting too old to be my Noquodi, and
spoiled. You believe it is your right to choose when to obey me and when not
to. Your nephew may be mated to one of the Iadnah, but you are still just my
servant. Destroy the demon invaders or I will find another Noquodi.”

Before I could respond, I was back at the waterfall.
He was my god and he did have the power to make me obey him, but if he did, the
consequence for him would be horrendous. Dylan was a force to be reckoned with
and he was quick to stand up to the gods… but I didn’t want to cower behind my
nephew.

My brother was the clever one. I usually just made
threats and intimidated people to get my way. The gods couldn’t be intimidated
by me. If it meant calling upon my nephew to fight my battle for me, it would
mortally ruin my ego, but I would do it to save these people. There was just
one thing I could try first.

“Vretial!”

“You don’t have to yell,” the god said, appearing
sitting cross-legged to my side. “Nice place.”

I took a breath to steady my nerves, for I had faced
this god as an enemy before. “Erono wants me to kill a population of innocent
women and children.”

“Then obey your god.”

“I will not kill anyone who is innocent. Dylan said
you could be trusted now.”

He grinned at me. “Your nephew is a brave one. Why
don’t you just call him to change Erono’s mind?”

“Because they deserve better than a half-life on a
world whose god ordered their death. I know you need people for Raktusha. These
people are survivors of a very difficult life and there are only women and
girls left. You can give them a home and a male population to keep their race
alive.”

“So could you,” he smirked.

“Not hardly. Dylan warned me you were a bit crass.”

He laughed. “Raktusha is not ready for people yet. I
figure it should take another ten Duran years. If your women can survive for
that time here, I will give them a home and the men they need. For now, I’ll
convince Erono to foster them until Raktusha is ready for immigrants. Knowing
him, he would demand they stay in seclusion, though, so I won’t bother my
brother if you can’t guarantee me they are at least very likely to survive.”

“What about Avoli? Will his world be ready sooner?”

“It will be, but he has decided he wants to make his
own race instead of importing. He gets like this sometimes. He wouldn’t accept
the refugees if he thinks he can do better.”

“I will give the Erame the promise of a better land
if they can---”

“The Erame?” Vretial interrupted. “The Erame are
mine. I created them for Mreje. Unfortunately, the men became weak. The women,
however… If your refugees are pure Erame women, they will survive and thrive
until Raktusha is ready.”

“How did you know about them and not that they are
Erame?”

“They have the magic to hide their tribes. That was
my gift to them, and I guess I was a little too accommodating. The Erame were
sort of a project of mine; the perfect fae species. Don’t touch their wings
unless you want to end up mated to them. The fae pair up for life. In fact,
stay away from them when their wings are iridescent or red. White means the fae
is pure and silver means they are mated.”

“Was their species wiped out during the Dayo Blood
Cleansing?”

“When those who feared magic committed genocide? Yes.
Some of the most beautiful creations of the gods were destroyed by fear. Mreje
could have stopped them. I tried so hard to fix my brothers’ mistakes. To find
out some made it… I’m very pleased, and I will welcome them on Raktusha. If you
find any other refugees, don’t even bother Erono; call for me. Raktusha will be
a world of peace.”

“A world of misfits and outsiders? Sounds like fun.”

*          *          *

After Vretial assured me the Erame would be safe, he
flashed me to right outside the forest. Luckily, nobody was around to see the
event. I rented a room at an inn near the shore, because I certainly wasn’t
going to sleep in the sand while I waited for a boat.

The inn was run by an old couple hell-bent on being
the nicest people in existence, who kept offering me a free dinner and medical
supplies when the saw that I was limping. I did accept bandages.

I had just blown out the candle to go to sleep when I
felt the summoning of one of the gods. I was sure it was Erono calling me to
berate and punish me, until I opened my eyes in Divina’s cabin. We were not
really at the cabin, obviously, but the spectral illusion was comfortable
compared to the meeting places that most of the other gods preferred.

“What happened to your leg?” Divina asked.

I turned around to see her only a few feet away from
me. I glanced down at my leg, but it wasn’t bleeding through the cloth of my
pants. Only then did it occur to me that she could see through my clothes.
“Erono sent me to the Aradlin forest without allowing me to get any supplies.”

She sighed. “Well, you have obviously made it out
alive. Do you feel up to another assignment?”

“That depends. Is it for Erono or for you?”

“It’s for Dylan, really.”

“Then yes, I’ll do it.”

“Rilryn went to Dylan asking for permission to find a
weapon on Earth. I spoke to Mreje, but he doesn’t know what his Guardian is up
to. Rilryn believes this is a weapon from the war of the Iadnah and that it can
kill one of us.”

“And Dylan said no?”

“He said yes, because if it can destroy a god, it can
destroy one of the Ancients. It turns out that the demons are trying to form an
army against him, led by a female Ancient and possibly Nila’s father.”

“Nila’s father is dead.”

“So is Ronez. Death doesn’t seem to mean what it used
to mean. Anyway, Rilryn hasn’t updated us, so I want to send you to him to help
him. Whether or not this weapon is useful to us, we don’t want the enemy to
have it.”

“If he hasn’t contacted you, he could be in trouble.”

“That is possible. Can you handle it?”

“Yes. Do I have time to run home real quick and
get---” the cabin around me disappeared, leaving me in an odd predicament.

I was facing three large men, dressed in black
leather and jeans, with guns aimed at me. I felt a familiar presence at my back
and didn’t bother to turn.

“Hello, Kiro,” Rilryn said from behind me.

“Hey, Ry. Still getting into trouble I see.” My
opponents didn’t seem startled by the sudden appearance of a stranger, and
since I could feel that this was Earth, they should have.

Rilryn scoffed. “It was your brother who always got
me in trouble.” He backed up until we were nearly back-to-back. “There are four
more behind you, but they have knives. There’s a door to your left and that’s
the only exit unless you want to go out the window. We’re on the third floor
and the entire building if crawling with henchmen.”

“So, just like last time.”

“No, they don’t have tech weapons.”

“One of these days, I’m not going to bail you and my
brother out of your messes,” I said. I had made the threat a thousand times, so
it didn’t occur to me until I had already said it. Ronez was dead. Fortunately,
Rilryn didn’t comment. “Alright. Let’s get this over with.”