Chapter Two
“Keo,” said a familiar, harsh older voice above him. “Keo, you damned fool and son of a woodpecker, wake up.”
Keo's eyes flickered open. At first, his vision was fuzzy and all he could make out was a blurred, gray shape above him. He almost thought that it was the demon again before his vision cleared and he saw who it really was.
It was the face of an older man in his sixties, with a short gray beard covering the lower half of his mouth. The old man's eyes were sharp and intelligent, but also judgmental, like the old man was judging the way Keo opened and closed his eyes. Tiny, minute scars ran along the old man's forehead and cheeks, barely visible in the light of the cabin, which seemed to be coming from a nearby fireplace, based on the crackling flames he heard.
“Master … Tiram?” said Keo. He tried to sit up. “Where am I? What happened? How—”
Tiram pushed Keo down with surprising strength for a man his age. “Lie back down, you damned idiot. Your shoulder is still healing. Unless you want to end up like One Arm Ramas, you should lie down and rest. Doctor's orders.”
Keo rolled his eyes. “You're not a doctor, Master. You're not even much of a healer.”
“Even though I've bandaged and fixed many of your injuries over the years?” said Tiram with a snort. “Ungrateful brat.”
“It was just a joke, Master,” said Keo, hoping he did not offend Tiram. “Really, you're a great healer even if you haven't received formal training in the subject.”
“I know,” said Tiram. “But I really don't think now is the time to joke, especially after I found you half-dead in the forest covered in someone else's blood. And it wasn't even human blood, either.”
Keo looked down at his body. He was lying underneath a wool blanket, but he could tell that his old clothes had been stripped off him, probably to be cleaned. He was wearing some pants, but had no shirt on, and the reason for that was obvious: His right shoulder was heavily bandaged to the point where he could barely move his right arm.
“Tell me,” said Tiram as he sat back. He folded his large arms over his chest. “What happened out there? Mammoth bear? Knife-tooth wolf? Really angry cheep-chirp? The footprints and claw marks I found in the ground and trees looked nothing like any animal I know of in the Low Woods, so what was it?”
Keo tried to remember, but it was difficult for some reason. He suspected that the blood loss and exhaustion must have messed with his memory, but soon he remembered the demon's smiling face and shuddered.
“I was attacked by a creature,” said Keo.
“Very specific,” said Tiram. “I can see that all of my years of showing you how to identify the various animals of the Low Woods have paid off well.”
Keo scowled, but continued speaking. “I mean, it was a creature that claimed to be a demon.”
Tiram's smirk immediately vanished underneath his beard. “Continue.”
Keo did not like Tiram's sudden change of tone. That always meant that Tiram knew something that Keo did not, something that wasn't good. He wasn't so sure that he wanted to keep talking now, at least until Tiram explained why he suddenly looked so serious, but Keo remembered how Tiram never explained himself unless he wanted to, so Keo continued his story.
“I was walking along the path home after I left New Ora after buying the things you asked me to get,” said Keo. He put one hand on his forehead because his head was starting to hurt for some reason. “I was walking by myself when this strange creature that looked like a furry ball with a head and limbs jumped me. It claimed to be a demon and tried to kill me.”
“Is that all it said?” said Tiram. His tone was dead serious now.
“No,” said Keo, shaking his head. “It told me that its fellow demons were going to rise out of the 'heart,' whatever that is, and that the Kingdom of Humans is about to end and be replaced by the Kingdom of Demons.” Keo looked at Tiram curiously. “I didn't think much about it, but now I wonder what it meant by that.”
Tiram stroked his beard. Keo suspected that Tiram knew exactly what the demon meant by all of that, but he was obviously not going to share what he knew with Keo, at least not yet.
“How did you kill the demon?” said Tiram. “Or did it run away? I didn't see it anywhere when I found you.”
“I killed it,” Keo said. “I used Gildshine's magical ability to cut it in half.”
“Gildshine is a pretty sharp sword by itself,” said Tiram. “Any reason you had to use its magical ability? That seems pretty foolhardy to me, especially in your wounded condition.”
“I had no choice,” said Keo, shaking his head. “The demon's skin was impervious to Gildshine's normal blade and the demon claimed that normal human weapons can't hurt demons. I was forced to use Gildshine's ability just to survive.”
“Ah,” said Tiram. “Now I understand.”
Keo raised his head and looked around the cabin room, searching for Gildshine. He saw the sword in its green leather sheath leaning by the front door, which made him sigh in relief, as he had worried that Tiram might have left it behind. He then lowered his head back onto his pillow and looked at Tiram, who now seemed lost in thought, looking more like a Monk of the Old Order at the moment than a master swordsman living by himself in the Low Woods.
“Master, you know what that demon was talking about, don't you?” said Keo.
Tiram looked at Keo suddenly. “What?”
“I said, you know what the demon was talking about,” said Keo. “You didn't say that the demon was fake or that demons are just scary stories meant to frighten young children. You know that demons are real, don't you?”
Tiram looked highly reluctant to talk about this subject. Keo could tell because Tiram rested his hands on his knees and was looking around the room, which was a habit of Tiram's that Keo had come to recognize as what his master did whenever someone asked him a question about a subject he didn't want to talk about. That habit always contrasted sharply with Tiram's usual confident and tough self, which was why it always stood out to Keo whenever Tiram did it.
Finally, Tiram said, “I have heard … legends of the demons. My own parents, well before you were born, told me stories about the ancient times of Lamaira, about the times before the rise and fall of the Lamairan Royal Family, and before the Restorationists, Divinians, or Magicians existed. They said that in those days, demons ravaged Lamaira, stalking the land, killing humans and Dracones and any other species they found. Their power was unmatched and no one could stand against them, at least not for very long without suffering a horrible death.”
“I have never heard those stories before,” said Keo. “You told me the ones about the demons scaring little children, but never those ones about the past. Why didn't you ever tell me about them?”
“Because I never believed them and didn't think they needed to be remembered,” said Tiram. He shuddered. “The stories my father used to tell me were always bloody and horrific. While I've never tried to hide the ugly side of life away from you, Keo, these stories were awful. They always ended with the demons brutally slaughtering—and in some cases even raping—their human victims. Just awful stuff, even for a hardened swordsman like myself.”
“But what happened to the demons?” said Keo. “How were they defeated, if they were so powerful?”
“Well, according to my father, the demons ruled Lamaira until a human known as the Good King arose and challenged their rule,” said Tiram. “He was the first human to kill a demon, and he did it using a powerful sword known as Shadowbane. This demon's death shocked its fellow demons and created hope in the hearts of every other human and Dracone in Lamaira. The Good King taught these humans and Dracones how to make their own demon-killing swords and soon rebellions rose up all around the kingdom, with demons dying in droves every day at the hands of the people they had oppressed for so long, despite the demons' best efforts to crush the rebellions before they got too big.”
“So the demons were eliminated, then?” said Keo.
/> “A good chunk of them, according to the story I was told,” said Tiram. “But then the Arch-Demon, also known as the King of Demons, rose from the very depths of the pit that the demons were said to have come from and fought against the Good King in an epic battle that was said to have lasted seven whole days. The two fought to a stalemate because the Arch-Demon's armor and strength matched the Good King's own, so the Good King, in a final act of desperation, cast a spell to banish the Arch-Demon and what remained of his followers back into the pit from which they came. Thus, all of the demons were banished from Lamaira, supposedly for good.”
“What happened to the Good King after that?” said Keo. “Did he die of the injuries he sustained from the fight?”
“No,” said Tiram, shaking his head. “The story goes that the Good King was the first King of Lamaira. He founded the Kingdom of Lamaira and his line ruled for one thousand years until the recent death of King Riuno, which as you know splintered the kingdom into the three warring factions that fight over it now.”
“And the demon said that the demons were going to rise again,” said Keo. He sat up, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. “Then we have to stop them.”
Tiram's old but firm hands grabbed Keo's chest and shoved him back down again. “Sorry, kid, but those legends are just that: Legends. They don't mean anything. They're probably cobbled together by bits and pieces of other stories and history and likely don't have more than an ounce of truth between the whole lot of them.”
“But this thing was an actual demon,” said Keo. “It could not be harmed except by Gildshine's magical power and it claimed to be a demon. I think that means that the legends you just told me are true.”
“They may have some truth to them, but I don't think they are true overall,” said Tiram. “Besides, you are getting too excited and you need rest if your shoulder is going to heal.”
“The demon said that its brothers would rise in six months,” said Keo. “That means that the demons are close to breaking free again.”
“The legends also state that demons are liars who are not to be trusted,” Tiram said. “Even if this creature that attacked you was in fact a real demon, it might have just been saying that in order to scare you.”
“I don't think so,” said Keo, shaking his head. “You weren't there when it spoke to me. It sounded confident that its fellow demons were going to rise in six months. And it said they were going to attack all of Lamaira and attempt to destroy it.”
“But why?” said Tiram. “Why are the demons rising again, if that is indeed the case? The seal that the Good King was said to put on them was supposed to be unbreakable. How did this demon escape?”
“Who knows?” said Keo. “Maybe the seal is weakening and this demon managed to slip through. Or maybe there is someone else in Lamaira who let it out somehow. All I know is that we must stop them before it's too late.”
Tiram laughed. “By 'we,' do you mean you and me? Because the two of us, even together, aren't much against an army of demons, you know.”
“No,” said Keo. He looked at the ceiling. “The two of us by ourselves are too outnumbered to fight off the demons. But maybe, if we had an army of our own, then we could defend Lamaira against them.”
“And just where do you intend on finding an army, of all things?” said Tiram. “They aren't exactly sold at the market in town, you know.”
Keo thought about that for a moment. He hated to admit it, but Tiram had a good point. It would not be easy to find an army, but then, perhaps Keo did not need to make his own. An idea occurred to him that he decided to share with Tiram.
Looking at Tiram, Keo said, “Master, I think that if the three factions were united under one banner, with all of their armies and resources working together, then we could defeat the demons before they become too powerful or at least be prepared to fight them ourselves if they rise again.”
Tiram slapped his knee and laughed again except this time it was a much longer and harsher laugh. Keo felt flustered, but he didn't think that it was a bad idea and he didn't understand why Tiram apparently thought it was so dumb.
“What's the problem?” said Keo, as Tiram continued to laugh like he had heard the funniest joke in his life. “Don't you think that could work?”
It was a couple more minutes before Tiram managed to get control of his laughter, although he still chuckled every now and then. “In theory, maybe, it would work. The three factions, taken together, certainly do have enough power to form a formidable army. No doubt there.”
“Then what is to stop us from informing the factions about the demons so they can get prepared for the attack?” said Keo.
“The three factions hate each other's guts,” said Tiram. “They've been at war for a little over twenty years now, which is about as long as you have been alive, and every attempt at establishing peace between them has completely and utterly failed. I thought you'd know that by now.”
Keo frowned. “Well, it's not like I keep careful track of national politics. That was Nesma's job, before she left.”
“But you understand why your plan won't work,” said Tiram. “Right? You would need to convince the factions to put aside their differences and reunite after twenty years of separation and war. That's about as likely to happen as the Dracones returning to Lamaira.”
“But it's also our only option,” said Keo. He tapped his forehead. “As far as we know, no one else in Lamaira knows that the demons are about to return. Therefore, it is up to us to spread the word as far and wide as possible so that everyone will know and have time to prepare for the attack.”
“I'm still not convinced that this 'attack' is going to happen or that the demons are actually going to return,” said Tiram, shaking his head. “Even if you were in fact attacked by an actual demon, that doesn't mean anything. Maybe the seal isn't perfect and so the occasional demon is able to slip out into the world. Doesn't mean that any other demons are going to start following it through.”
“Unless the seal breaks,” said Keo. “What if there are multiple demons that have escaped and are working together to free their brethren? The demon didn't mention any other demons working with it, but I think it's possible that it wasn't alone, otherwise it wouldn't have acted so confident that its brothers would rise.”
“Well, that would certainly be kind of those demons to save their friends, but I consider it unlikely,” said Tiram. He scratched his chin. “And anyway, that still won't make it easier for you to convince the three factions to work together. You're not exactly a well-known or respected figure in Lamaira, you know. They'll just see you as a kid from the middle of nowhere who is saying crazy things that may or may not be true.”
“You're right,” said Keo. Then he brightened up. “But what about Nesma? She went to go work for the Magical Council, the leaders of the Magicians. She's my friend. She'll listen to me and help me get my message to the Magical Council itself. And from there, it should be easy to get audiences with the leaders of the other two factions.”
“You haven't spoken with Nesma in a year, though,” said Tiram. “Right? How do you know she will listen to you? What if she's too busy?”
“Nesma is my best friend in the world,” said Keo with a huff. “Of course she'll listen to me and do whatever she can to help me get my message in front of the people who need to hear it most. I just need to travel to Capitika and find her there. She'll be happy to see me, especially since it's been so long since we last spoke.”
“Capitika is a long ways away from here, though,” said Tiram. “Not to mention that I still haven't given you permission to go.”
“Permission?” said Keo. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked Tiram in the eyes. “Master, I am an adult. I don't need your permission to do anything. And besides, I won't be gone forever. I'll be back by next month, after I convince the three factions to unite against the demons.”
“That's incredibly optimistic,” Tiram observed. “You do realize that convincing swor
n enemies to put aside their two decades of accumulated differences will probably take more than a mere month to do, right?”
“You don't know that,” said Keo. “I just need to visit Nesma and let her know and then she can let the leaders of the other two factions know, too. And I am going whether you approve or not.”
Tiram clearly did not want Keo going anywhere, but he stopped arguing the point. He just shook his head, muttered something too low for Keo to hear, and then said, “All right. Do what you want. I'll hold the fort back here while you are away. But don't leave until your shoulder is healed, at least.”
“I won't,” Keo promised. He winced at the pain in his bandaged shoulder. “But I still have to leave as soon as I can. There's no time to lose.”
“Right,” said Tiram. “I'll help you get your supplies ready so you can be ready to go as soon as you feel better. For now, you should rest.”
Keo nodded, even though he wanted to keep talking. Still, he was starting to feel drowsy again and so closed his eyes and drifted into sleep then and there, although he was still making plans for his journey to Capitika even as he fell into a deep sleep.
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