Forest Demon
Lady Amanda was not best pleased. Her morning hadn't been going well as a whole, what with incompetent servants spilling her breakfast and yanking great clumps of hair from her skull in an attempt to brush it, but as she sat atop her horse with arms folded and a petulant pout etched into her pretty features, her annoyance seethed and bubbled palpably beneath the surface. Wise folk avoided the Princess when they spotted that look, but a few had been known to cross her path - or worse, speak to her! - when she was in a temper. Their remains were still hanging somewhere in the castle dungeons, as far as people knew.
The bay stallion tossed his head in agitation, and the servant holding the reins was hard-pushed to keep hold. Trust the Princess to pick the most spirited, difficult mount in the entire stables. Her father, the King, had bought her many beasts, most of which were docile mares, much more suitable for a lady to ride. Yet each and every time she'd stuck out her bottom lip, stamped her feet and thrown a fit until she got her way. Again.
Today's creature of choice was a great black thing whose eyes held a nasty spark and whose teeth had found their mark in several servants already. Much like Her Royal Highness.
"What's keeping them so long?" Lady Amanda asked aloud, and fixed one eye on a nearby boy. "You there, what's the hold up? Why haven't they come back yet?"
The serving boy chewed his lip and clicked his feet together in that infuriating manner her father insisted upon. "Ma'am, I'm sure they'll be back soon. The pheasants may just be a little bit dozy, is all, Ma'am. 'Tis very early in the morning still, if you don't mind me sayin' so, Ma'am."
Lady Amanda pursed her full lips. "I do," she replied haughtily. "Cheeky wretch. Get out of my sight before I send you for a lashing."
The dust hadn't even settled before she finished, and a small figure in a tunic pattered through the small wooden doorway back inside faster than the eye could see. Any reprieve from the Princess' company was worth it, even if it meant peeling potatoes for the rest of the day in the kitchens.
Lady Amanda 'humphed' to herself and readjusted her seat. Her long, azure skirts caught slightly on her spurs and she tutted as three servants were instantly at her side unhitching the fabric and checking for damage. Honestly. Why she wasn't allowed to wear breeches to go hunting was beyond her. Daddy defended his actions by saying it was unsightly for a lady of court to dash around dressed like a commoner, but she could see what he was really up to. He was just trying to spoil her fun, as usual.
She glanced at the line of trees that marked the edge of the royal forest. The pheasants should have been sent up ages ago. Nearby, a servant stood ready with her personal hawk capped and ready to release when the senseless birds hove into sight. A clutch of hounds stood by too, straining and whining to be off and pick up any fallen quarry they could. Everything was poised and waiting for those imbeciles to flush out the prey. So where were they?
"That's it!" she said at last. A flurry of wan faces looked her way, politely keeping their eyes averted from her own gaze. It wouldn't do to sully herself so by looking at them likeequals.
Surveying the assembled crowd, she picked a lone servant who held neither hawk, dog nor sack and levelled an arrow at him. "I'm bored. If those pheasants don't go up by the time I count to ten, I start target practice on you, instead. One," the servant quavered in his boots, knowing that she just might do it, too. The Princess had been known to punish lower orders in the quest to alleviate boredom before. "Two. Three. Four. Five. Si - "
Suddenly, a cry went up from the front of the throng. Amanda dropped the sight of her bow and called out irritably: "What's going on?"
A lone figure was streaking across the meadow that lay between the forest and hillock they were perched upon. He ran fast, and in practically no time at all the Princess found herself confronted with the unappetising sight of a young lad, cheeks red with exertion, breathing hard from his run and waving his hands around trying to tell her something.
"Majesty..." he gasped, "... Found it... stick... rock...:wheeze:..."
Amanda clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Slow down, you idiot, or I'll have your tongue removed and then make you talk."
He straightened up pretty quick sharpish at that, brushing the dirt from his filthy tunic and carefully avoiding her burning brown eyes.
Amanda blinked expectantly. "Well?"
"Majesty," the boy said again, breathing evenly and making it perfectly clear that it was taking some degree of self-control to do so. "We've made a discovery that we thoughted you'd like to knows 'bout."
'Could he be any more vague?' "What discovery? Tell me."
"Yer Highness," he grinned, corners of his mouth twitching as he tried to suppress it. "We dun' catchered the Forest Demon."
A gasp went up from around the crowd, and the servants began talking in hushed whispers. Amanda glared at them.
"Quiet, all of you! The Forest Demon, you say?" the latter was directed at the pheasant boy - as evidenced by the red bird emblem emblazoned across the front of his tunic. He nodded proudly. "Where? How?"
"Jus' north o' the Still Pool, Majesty. He were sittin' on a rock, bold as brass. Had 'is back to us, see, an' you know what he were doin', Majesty?" His eyes goggled in his head as if he couldn't quite believe what he was saying. "He were singin'. Jus' as plain as you or I, Ma'am. Words 'n everything."
Another rush of murmuring at this revelation that the beast could talk . It was one thing to have a demon roaming the royal estate. Every good court had one, or at least pretended to. Amanda's cousin Juni up in Hurum claimed to have three demons living in her father's forest. Not that Amanda ever believed her. Juni was a wicked liar. A curse from some fairy at birth, if she remembered correctly.
But a demon that could talk. Well, that was something else.
Amanda leaned forward in her saddle, bow forgotten. "How did you capture it, boy? Did you play music and lure it into a trap?" There was a sneer to her tone, but her gaze was interested. Her curiosity had been piqued.
The servant snorted. "Nah, nuthin' like that, Majesty. Like I says, he had 'is back to us, so one of our boys jus' crept up, quiet-like, and clonked 'im on the head with a rock. Went down like a sack o' tatties."
"Where is the Demon now?" Amanda asked slowly, aware that her heart was beating faster, and that the same glint that made servants quiver in fear had crept into her eyes.
The boy saw it, and faltered. "Uh... the boys is jus' bringin' 'im, Majesty. I comes on ahead jus' to let you know why we ain't dun' the pheasants yet, like." He twisted slightly and stared down the hillock. "Look, look! 'Ere they comes!"
The crowd surged forward, but Amanda beat them back with a sharp word and a stern glare. How dare they forget their place! It was only a dumb creature, after all. Still, she sat up a little more erect in her saddle and watched intently as the clump of four pheasant boys exited the forest and marched pompously towards them.
Two of them carried a long, stout stick between them. They walked at either end with it balanced on a shoulder each, and dangling like a dead deer from the wood itself was something swinging and furry.
They stopped in front of their sovereign and bowed as gracefully as their lowly upbringing would allow.
"Majesty," said one of them. "We present to you, the Forest Demon."
Amanda stared, open-mouthed. It was a lot smaller than she'd been led to believe. Its spindly limbs seemed almost skeletal as it dangled, tied up by its hands and feet with head flopped back and mouth open. It had fangs, though, just like the rumours had said, and a serpentine appendage tipped with a spade that could only be its tail dragged across the floor behind it.
Yet what held her most was its fur. It was absolutely covered in the stuff, from tip to tail. And what was more; the fur was blue. Blue. Ha! Let Juni try to beat that. None of her demons had blue fur.
Amanda snapped her head back. "Is it dead?"
One of the boys poked the Demon with the brush he'd obviously been going to flush the pheasants out with. The thing stayed prone, but its tail flickered briefly as if in retaliation. It was only the merest twitch, but it was enough to send the host of servants scurrying backwards like mice from poison.
'Ignorant fools', Amanda thought scornfully.
"T'ain't dead," the boy with the brush informed her. "Jus' outta it. Billy hit 'im really 'ard wiyat stone."
"Dun' know me own strength," said one of the stick-carriers, presumably 'Billy'.
Amanda wrinkled her nose in disgust at him and tossed back her hair. "Take the Forest Demon to the Menagerie," she ordered curtly. "Give it to one of the keepers and make sure it's locked up tight before it comes around. I don't want it getting away after we've only just captured it."
"Yes Ma'am," saluted the brothers pheasant, and made as if to go.
Amanda frowned, remembering a half-hearted rumour she'd come across not long ago concerning the Forest Demon. Something about it being able to move itself from one place to another instantaneously; through both open air and solid objects. She didn't really believe such a thing was possible, but called out as a precaution.
"Tell the court mage to set extra binding spells around its cage, too. Make sure he binds it to me, this time. I don't want another performance like the Harpy, last Winter."
"Yes, Ma'am," the servant boys responded dutifully, and trawled off to do as they were bade.
Amanda watched them go with a thoughtful expression. The Forest Demon was a prize indeed, and she wanted to make sure it was bound to her, and not her father or mother, as had happened with so many others of her pets. Those mages could be quite sneaky where her parents were involved, and she was determined they shouldn't have their way this time. She wanted the Demon to be hers, not theirs.
Purposefully, she yanked the stallion's reins into her grasp and commanded of the hapless servants: "Get this all cleaned up. The hunt is cancelled for today, but we'll start again early tomorrow morning. Make sure the hawks and dogs are taken care of properly, or it'll be your heads that roll."
The servants all sprang to attention and gave a myriad of hasty curtseys and bows before herding things together, and she purposefully turned her mount around and headed back towards the castle.
This day wasn't turning out too bad after all.
The first chapter was written by Scribbler. My writing begins here.