Chapter 54
Demon's powerful stride carried him quickly to the front of the caravan and away from the princess who dominated his thoughts. He didn't need the distraction while he planned, and he doubted his war-stained presence would help distract Zelda from the danger at hand. In fact, he was fairly certain that he stank like moblin, though he was so used to the smell he couldn't really tell.
The assassin snarled, causing several merchants to jump nervously, and tried to focus his mind. He, Zelda, Kashi, and the caravan had to reach Termina, the princess had left him no other way than to make sure everyone survived. He wondered if it was even possible to save the stupid, dull idiots that surrounded him. Sometimes the orders that princess gave made him just want to-
"Excuse me mister." Demon started as a small hand tugged at the back of his cloak. Turning, he found himself staring at a tiny child, no more than ten years old. The kid's ragged hair looked like it had been chopped off with a knife, and dirt was caked liberally on his plump face. "My name's Trevor. Are you actually a Demon?"
The assassin glared at him, annoyance blatant in his features. "No." he forced, and turned to leave.
Trevor refused to let go of his cloak. "Mother said you are! Is it true you killed a hundred moblins in the fight! And that fire shoots from your eyes when you're angry?"
"Go back to your mother!" Demon's voice was harsh as he twisted his garment free from the child's grasp.
The kid jumped, but didn't leave. He looked solemnly up at the assassin with round eyes. "My mother says you're in love with that beautiful lady who helped us today, and you saved her life!" His innocent face beamed excitement up at the disconcerted Demon who had suddenly forgotten his animosity. "Is it true?"
The assassin drew Trevor close to him as they continued along the narrow path down the mountainside. "Don't tell anyone," he growled.
The child nodded solemnly. "Never."
Demon straightened up, satisfied, and began unbuckling one of his small throwing daggers from his wrist. Once he'd gotten the strap off he looked back at Trevor. "This is a dangerous day for us," He began. "When the moblins come back, every man will need a weapon. Take this."
Trevor nodded again and carefully accepted the proferred dagger, excited beyond words by the charge which had been bestowed upon him. To be called a man by the Demon, the great killer! To be given a weapon! Happy beyond reason he streaked by to his wagon to reveal his new dagger to a horrified mother.
The assassin too rushed forward, but for a different reason. Mortified by the fact that he had given away one of his precious daggers, he shoved the incident from his mind. Maybe Zelda had achieved more influence over him than he had thought, he decided. The idea made him nervous.
If there had been more hours of daylight left, Demon would have continued to worry about it, but as he finally caught up to Omar and Kashi, the warrior within him took over. The Terminian captain moved quickly down the rough wash of stones and earth, but his face was lined with a barely concealed tightness. Kashi seemed relaxed, but Demon could tell by the way he gripped his spear that the man felt the tension as strongly as his companion.
"How much farther?" the assassin asked, measuring his step to stay even with them. "And how far have we come?"
Omar saluted awkwardly, and gave a cursory bow. "Welcome my Lord. I would give you answers if I knew them, but the twists and turns in this track throw off my instincts. It is seven leagues from the valley where my soldiers fell to the foot of the mountains, and two more before we could reach the town. How many we have traveled I do not know, but we will reach the cave before night."
"Then you still plan to make our stand there?"
"You Lordship," The captain said, his voice threatening to break. "I do not wish to die. The cave is our only hope."
"You are right." Demon agreed reluctantly "The few of us could hold that narrow entrance against hundreds of moblins. But you know that if we fail to hold the mouth, there is no escape from that cave. We could be slaughtered."
Omar looked at him, and the assassin realized that behind the fear on his visage, determination, the will to survive, could still be seen. "My captain used to say that victory is won by those who do not consider defeat. Suppose we survive the night, what then?"
Demon frowned, embittered by the man's optimism. "If we survive the night then the moblins will lay siege to our cave, not giving up till the last child among us ceases to breathe. No one knows we are here, therefore no one will save us."
Unperturbed, the Terminian disagreed. "The Maiden of the Moon has seen our plight. Her will is our fate."
Demon bristled. "The Maiden cannot choose my fate Captain. I am my own master. If I die in that cave, it will be my own will."
Omar shrugged. "Maybe you are not a servant of the Maiden my Lord, but there are other gods, and other powers in this world."
Demon was about to snarl a retort when his eyes focused on his gauntleted left hand, and he fell silent. He knew full well the powers that guided his fate, and the cruelty of their hold over him. Who was he to deny the truth?
And yet he was still angry, if only with the futility of his denial.
"We shall see." The assassin retorted. "Maybe tonight we shall cheat them all."
"Or maybe their will aligns with ours." Kashi broke in for the first time. "Really, if you want to argue religion do it in a temple, right now we need warriors not priests."
His weathered face breaking into a smile, Omar bowed his head in apology. "Agreed." He turned to Demon. "If we do survive, I will be happy to extol the praises of the Maiden to you tomorrow."
The black-clad warrior's eyes sparked. "And I will be happy to ignore you. I think some of the moblin scouts tracking us need a surprise." He melted back into the convoy and disappeared.
Omar, who had gone pale, instantly regretted his forwardness. "I have insulted him." He confided to Kashi. "Of all the people to offend, I have chosen the most dangerous!"
The inn-keeper shook his head. "The Demon is a strange one, but as long as you don't harm his Lady, he won't hurt you. After he slits some moblin throats he'll be back in fine spirits, trust me."
Shaking his head in confusion, the captain kicked a large rock off the trail. "And yet it is still stupid to insult one whose title is 'Demon.' I have known Lords to kill for less."
Laughing, Kashi patted the man on the back. "First of all, he's not a Lord, so you can stop addressing him as one. Secondly, he is probably the most dangerous man you have ever met, but you're safe for the moment."
"Why?"
"Lady Ariana." The innkeeper reiterated. "His oath is to her, and he only does her will. As long as she lives, you… and I, remain safe. But," The innkeeper lowered his voice and stared off into the distance. "If she dies tonight, then the oath would dissolve and I doubt any of us, man or moblin, would survive till morning."
"Then he is a Demon!" Omar breathed, rubbing a small, crescent-shaped tattoo on his palm.
Kashi laughed again. "Maybe." He said, "I don't know. I'm only the guide."
***
The sun dragged across the sky, the desperation of those below waxing as it waned. The merchants watched with trepidation, trying to outrun the onslaught of night, and the horde of monsters that marched in its shadow. In vain they toiled, for even a galloping horse cannot keep pace with the sinking sun, but the time they bought with their toil was precious. They needed to reach the cave, and every moment longer they could stay ahead of the moblins was a step closer to refuge.
Running, plodding, painfully slow they descended towards Termina, straining to pierce the haze which concealed the foot of the mountain from their eager eyes. Eventually, the haze rose to engulf the caravan too, and the subdued colours and subtle hues of their surroundings faded to drab grey. Moisture condensed on the canvas of the wagons and dampened the hair of those driving the horses, but it was not the sudden coolness which caused the merchants to shiver as they walked in the small world between the walls of cloud. They shivered because the day had waned, and the night was bringing evil.
The initial determination the merchants had shown seemed to be flagging, as their will to survive succumbed to fear. Omar had set his guards to watching the wagons, to prevent the horses from slowing down, but even they were beginning to succumb. The battle, and then the flight coupled with the unseen pursuit was driving both guards and merchants to the end of their strength.
From his position at the front of the caravan, Omar looked back at the people under his command and sighed. The blankness in their faces was proof of how close they were to breaking. Omar wished he knew how far ahead their salvation, the cave, lay, but he could only be confident that they were close. He looked over at Kashi, who over the course of the afternoon had been revealed as a man much like himself, and also a fast friend.
"I don't like this fog." He muttered, rubbing his hands together. "It makes the trail seem strange. I don't want to miss the cave."
"I'm more worried about an ambush." Kashi grumbled. "Where in the Dark Realm is that blasted Demon?"
"He should return. It would raise morale, and quiet the rumours that he has deserted us."
"At the right time, at the right place, he will appear." Muttered Kashi. "And probably scare the life out of us in the process."
Instead of answering, Omar drew in a harsh breath and stumbled frantically down an embankment at the side of the path. The scree grated beneath his boots as he half ran, half slid, until the mountainside under him leveled out once more. "This is it Kashi!" he cried, "I remember this place. The cave should be right through the fog."
The big innkeeper crouched down and peered into the swirling mist. "May the Goddesses be blessed! But how do the horses and wagons get down?"
"A little further down the path there is an opening easy enough for the wagons." He paused and tried unsuccessfully to clamber back up to Kashi. "A little help, my friend?"
The big man laughed, and bent over to reach out a hand. Omar grasped it gratefully and levered himself back onto stable ground. "Let us keep moving," he let the smile fade from his features. "I will not suffer us being out in the open longer than is necessary. I feel we are cheating the odds as it is."
After it was conveyed to the merchants how close they were to their destination, the final arduous passage from path to cave seemed to take no time at all. Everyone was grateful to trade the unnerving fog for solid rock, and the mood of the travelers brightened as they began to settle in for the night. The moblins threat seemed to recede a little under the glow of a bright fire, and the smell of food pushed it even further from memory. Only Omar and Kashi seemed to fully understand the gravity of the situation, and the fact that the merchants had not gained safety from their retreat, but instead just traded a hopeless situation for a slightly less precarious one.
Omar directed his soldiers to turn two of the merchant wagons on their sides, and use them to block almost the entire cave entrance. Then they piled all the rocks that could be found in the near vicinity around and on top of the makeshift blockade. The small passage left open between the two wagons was barely large enough for three of the soldiers to walk through abreast, and both Omar and Kashi were pleased with the addition to their defences.
"Will it hold?" The innkeeper asked the captain, after he dropped a veritable boulder into one of the wagons.
The other shrugged. "It depends how much of a beating the moblins give it. They could very easily rip the wagons apart if the idea takes them."
Grimacing, Kashi banged a fist into the side of the wagon, and then flinched at the noise it made in the echoing cavern behind him. "I haven't seen a Goddess-cursed thing since the last battle, and yet I know how many monsters lurk in these mountains. I wish they would stand and fight instead of skulking around!"
"You may regret that wish later on." Omar gave him a smile. "When you're up to your knees in moblin blood, and already broken four weapons on their foul skulls."
"And you may wish you had blood in your veins instead of cow milk." Kashi snorted. "The waiting is always worse than the fighting."
"You may be bigger than I, innkeeper, but…" His eyes widened and his voice went hoarse. "By the Maiden!"
Kashi followed his gaze and also froze, as he watched a black, red-eyed streak come racing out of the mist towards their cave chased by a single moblin. He had not realized the assassin was so fast, but what struck him most was that the legendary Demon was running away from a fight. He only had to wonder for a moment before a barrage of savage shouts provided an answer.
The mist boiled and frothed as a dozen moblins poured over the road towards the cave, followed by rank after rank of their brethren. Demon streaked past Kashi into the cave, followed by an over-eager moblin who was quickly skewered by the soldiers inside, but the innkeeper paid them no attention. He stared transfixed by the small army which sprinted towards him, and, in the heat of the moment, profoundly wished he had never left his inn.
Author's Note:
I was looking at the one of the Wolfess's stories and I realized that I should probably post my own comments at the end, not the beginning. Anyway, kudos to her.
I'm not sure if I like Omar the way he is right now. Personally, he seems a little too formal right now, so I think I will change that in later chapters. I sort of need a comic figure. As for the rest of the chapter, I sort of like it. I like being able to make up a new religion with this "Maiden of the Moon" crap, and I promise that she will be a major factor later on. Obviously I am going to focus on the Goddesses, but she's sort of a harmless addition.
I just can't believe how long this story is getting... :-)
