The Demon’s Savior

Cath Cathor knew there was no way back the moment he saw the greedy eyes of the woman approaching him from across the royal hall. She was an elegant creature with pale complexion in a white mourning dress, playfully contrasting with her coal black hair and golden eyes. Her steps echoed in the silence that stretched between them, the sound bouncing off the marble floor and back to Cath’s ears as the never-ending thump of the battle drums from a long-lost war.  Wrapped as a gift for her to play with, all chained and restrained, Cath wasn’t even trying to set himself free. Four heavily armed males guarded him closely and by the way they looked at him, he knew it was not wise to challenge them right away. He was outnumbered, his hands and legs - tied with iron shackles. All he did was wait. The demon queen walked slowly, her liquid gold eyes pierced holes in Cath’s skull, commanding his full attention even against his will, and he could do nothing but watch her back. Anya Seftha was a beautiful female with almond shaped eyes, skin white as milk and soft as a feather, pale plump lips and delicate high cheekbones. The lack of colour on her face suited her, as if even the smallest drop of read would ruin the impression of something godly and utterly pure. It was hard for Cath not to smirk at the thought as in reality the female in front of him was one of the most vicious creatures to walk the lands of the skilled folk. She stopped a few feet from Cath and made a dismissive gesture to the guards to leave. When it was only the two of them in the large hall, she smiled viciously, her gaze reflecting the fiery orange-blue light of the setting sun outside the windows.  Wrong, everything in Cath screamed the word. The fact that she could walk unaffected by the light, the way it danced on her frame not leaving any marks… so wrong. She was not meant for it, light didn’t belong to her kind. Yet, there they were, these forsaken demons from the underworld, proudly walking Gaia’s lands, basking in the last remaining drops of sunlight as if it were all natural for demons to not fear the goddess’s light.  “Such a rare specimen to find these days.” The queen said with a honey-dripping voice, which could never match the cold and calculating expression on her perfect face. She spoke those words in kabirian, the tongue of Cath’s tribe, without a trace of accent, and Cath thanked the goddess he was so well restrained, because the urge to snap her neck was suddenly overwhelming. Nothing of the show the queen was giving with her long lustful walk and the way she swayed her hips alluringly was even mildly impressing for Cath, who had seen plenty of shows from her people. This one here seemed as vicious as they all came, greed and guile seeped through her every move, and she was doing a sloppy job concealing it, which of course was on purpose. She was making a statement after all, one that only a fool would not catch and Cath was anything but. He knew the moment she decided she didn’t like the way he looked at her, he was done for, no matter what job she had in store for him. The white in her clothes, a symbol of grief and mourning among her kind, gave her away if nothing else did, because the Euphyr demons almost never mourned their dead, not unless they wanted to make a show. It was a fact and one of the reasons everybody else in the elven world mocked them and looked down on them – they were cold and vicious as snakes. Well, they did prove they were superior at the end though, didn’t they? Rumours had it Anya Seftha had inherited the throne of the Tower after she killed mercilessly her own father a few years ago, shortly after he proclaimed the end of the war. Yet, she still mourned him in her demon way, wearing white and honouring his name by making the enslaved humans light fires in his name every night outside the remains of their ancient city. In her actions she wanted to make of the late king the same martyr that was their first leader, Skaris Sefth, the Light Bringer. The traitor. Cath wanted to spit on the ground as just thinking about the legendary demon hero made him sick to the bones, his blood boiling and his heart filling with hatred beyond any redemption.  The rage bloomed heavily in Cath’s heart the more he looked at this self-proclaimed queen, which made everyone believe she was harmless with her wide eyes and feminine clothes, and carrying the unmatched beauty of her people better than anyone Cath had seen before. “Tell me, son of Kabira, what are you doing in my lands?” She dragged the words, humour lingering in her tone now that she smiled widely. In the next minute she started to walk in slow circles around him, her scrutiny plastered on Cath’s skin like a thick stifling smoke. Cath was almost ready to spit out all he thought of her kind and her lands and where they could shove it all, but he knew better. He had to control his anger and play along the dumb card, if he wanted to see the end of his desperate plan. He was not here to fight with her. Instead, she had him exactly where he wanted and it was not the time to lose his mind and doom himself and the hope to ever find his brother fade into ashes. The war was over, his people lost and the few remaining were scattered like ashes never to be found; the humans – demon slaves for eternity.  When Belar disappeared ten years ago, Cath was forced to grow up too quickly and take his place as chieftain of the most powerful of the elven clans. No one of his people believed the lies the demons of the euphyr tribe were spreading about Bel, and all of them were ready to fight for their land and the light. But they were too few in numbers and the demons had black magic. At the end, there was no peace treaty, the war just stopped when there was almost no one left to fight it anymore. The Sefth family now ruled the elven and human lands, draining the life forces of every living creatures they could find, and not even once did they acknowledge their wrong doing. They built their towers and their spiral cities and reshaped the whole world to resemble the hells they had crawled out of.  Cath himself was all alone now. He had fought almost to the death, blind rage and soul hungry for vengeance, but at the end he lost. They all lost. He was just one person facing an unstoppable army and he was so damn tired of it all. There was only this one last battle to fight now, before he allowed the darkness finally bring him the promised oblivion and he would not let his last chance go to hell because of his stupid temper.  “You are not answering.” The queen smiled again, still walking around him, the tips of her dress swirling at their feet. Her airy perfume left a sickening sense in Cath’s stomach, making him think how easy it would be to succumb to the impulse to get free and break her in half just for the joy of hearing her scream. “Well, well. Do you know why you are here now, kabirian?” She asked after a new pause when it was clear he was not going to succumb to her provocations. Cath finally let himself speak when she was again in front of him, her gaze locked with his. “Why don’t you tell me… madam?” He spat, not able to hide the venom in his voice.  Yet, he didn’t need her answer. He had a pretty good idea why her guards had tracked him down and dragged him here - the vile queen wanted one of his kind to do a job for her. The word had it that she was trying to catch one of the elven folk for years. She promised a gracious price for the first one to show at her gates and do her bidding. Yet, she wasn’t able to track any of them after the war made them almost extinct, the remaining of their tribes hiding in the mountains, as far away as possible from the euphyrs and their human slaves. What was the job remained a mystery and only a desperate fool such as Cath would make up this ridiculous plan to be caught and brought to her attention. Hopefully he was as good as her in putting up a show and making himself look desperate enough to agree to her offers. “Formally our tribes are at peace now.” He dragged the words slowly, deliberately emphasising every word in the language of the euphyrs, “But here I am ,chained like a pig for a slaughter and I remain completely unaware what I did wrong.” “Peace!” She spat the word as if it was toxic, the gold in her eyes turning into the same red colour as the one of the sunset flooding through the large windows behind her. “How could one be at peace with ghosts?” Cath could barely hold the cold ruthless laughter, yet he felt it carving its way through his chest and ready to burst free at the irony of her words and the entire situation they were in right now. Ghosts. It was true, they were all ghosts. The kabirians were not many in numbers to begin with. Even when the thin veil between the human world and the world of the skilled existed, the Kabira tribes were a few, but what they lacked in numbers they compensated with their long lifespan and their ability to become one with nature. Tree gods, lake nymphs, mountain ghosts, crop guardians and air whisperers, all responsible for the balance and the natural order of the world. Now the world belonged to the underworldly demons with their lust for bloodsheds and dark magic. When the euphyrs came on the ground, breaking the veil between worlds, the balance slowly but surely collapsed. Now the weak humans were enslaved, millions of them killed, their big stone cities destroyed, and the balance of the worlds was no more. Ghosts? Yes, the whole world had become its own ghost and there was no way back.  “My dear, we are not at peace.” The queen’s laugh sharply brought him back from his dark memories. “You killed three of my men on your way here and you look at me as if you would tear me to pieces had I had the stupidity to unchain you” “Well, your men were the ones who attacked me in the first place just because the blood in my veins still has the audacity to run red. But, please, your majesty, do enlighten me what do you really want of my people?” “I like you.” The queen murmured as if to herself. “You are not a coward like most of the kabirians I’ve met, yet… the only ones I’ve ever met were quite broken to begin with, thus how could I be sure?” After these words she laughed and went back to the bottom of the hall, where she climbed the few steps to the marble throne positioned there. She sat gracefully, her white gown flooding on the podium beneath her feet like a river of sparkling silver silk, her dark hair gleaming vividly catching the last beams of the sunlight.  She waved Cath to come closer and he did so unwillingly. “I’ll tell you a secret” she said secretively when he reached her again - he walked slowly as his iron chains limited his every step. “I have one of my own in my dungeon.” Cath blinked in surprise but said nothing, noticing how she suddenly seemed… mad. Well, all the euphyrs were kind of mad, but the fire in this one’s eyes? He was not sure he had ever seen anything like this before – it was pure hatred and will to destroy and bend and twist, all contained behind those wild eyes. It made the hairs on his neck stand. “He is so stubborn. He still refuses to tell me his most hidden secret, even though I did everything for him… So, I need to borrow one of your unusual skills to carve it out of him.” Cath felt his heart skipped a beat and looked her with wide eyes, disgust seeping through every inch of his body. She could not be speaking seriously. No, it was outrageous even for someone of her kind to suggest what she suggested. Yet, there it was, in her next words. “I want you to bring me his secret. I want you to enter his mind and search for it” It was called Joining and it was the most sacred ritual of the Kabira tribes – the one where two souls joined into one and shared all their deepest secrets and desires. It was only to be given and taken willingly. Never done with someone from another tribe, let alone a demon. What the queen wanted from Cath was impossible. The Joining was not meant to be used for stealing somebody’s secrets, no matter who this somebody was.  This was madness. Cath made a step back. And again, until he realized his restraints didn’t allow him to walk fast enough. The queen lifted her left hand, soft glimmer coming underneath her clenched fingers.  “Zastoi!” she screamed and suddenly Cath couldn’t move anymore. He felt as if his blood slowed down in his veins. He was not even able to blink with his own eyelids or open his mouth. Black magic, his whole being screamed in disgust. Anya Seftha was still in her throne, smiling as sweetly as minutes ago, as if she did not just use dark magic just like it was completely normal.  “You will do exactly as I say and when I know all this traitor’s secrets, I will think whether to tell you where to find your brother’s bones, Cathor Yaver.”