CHAPTER 19

As she stepped back out in the courtyard of the healing house, Samael was greeted by the perplexing sight of a soaked and very displeased-looking donkey. Slei’s fur clung to his body, and water dripped from him copiously. He seemed all-around miserable. Samael’s head tilted in confusion. “What in Hell happened to you?”

“Eeeeh haw! Eeh haaaw! Eeh haaw!”

“I knew I could count on you!” An elated grin broke the devil’s confused expression. “But why—”

“Eeeh haw.”

“Alright, I won’t ask.” Her expression hardened. “Show me where they went.”

“WAIT!!” an unexpected shout brought the two demons’ eyes to the courtyard gates. Lucian stood there, bent in two, red-faced, and out of breath. He was propping himself against the wall. His long brown hair was in disarray, and dried blood specks mottled his stubbled chin. “Wait… What… What happened… to Sophia…”

“She was taken,” Samael answered impatiently. She bared her teeth warningly. This time, if the man was going to be trouble, it would not be for long.

“Taken?! How? By whom?” Realisation dawned on him. “The pirates!”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m taking her back.” She turned to leave. “Stay out of my way.”

“Wait!”

She paused to glare at him. “Try to stop me, and you die. I’ve had enough of you.” Out of her human disguise, in broad daylight, and with the room to stand tall, the devil cut an intimidating figure, one that would have made most men think twice about angering her.

Yet, the inquisitor did not back down.

He did, however, raise his hands in surrender. He spoke fast, “No, I learned that lesson. I’m not enough to beat you alone. I won’t try again.” His golden eyes met her blood-red snake eyes squarely. “Take me with you. You’re strong, but you’re only one person– err… demon. I can help.”

“I’m not alone. I have Slei.”

“Who’s Slei? Are there more of you?” Lucian asked apprehensively.

The devil nodded to Slei, who cut a notably less impressive figure, especially in his current mimic of a drowned rat.

Lucian looked at him blankly, then stared back at Samael. “He’s a donkey.”

“He’d kill you with ease,” she assured.

Lucian cast another dubious glance at the beast, who glared back and bared his teeth as if daring the inquisitor to say something. Lucian shook his head. “Never mind the donkey. Listen, the Inquisition has been suspecting these pirates to have demonic assistance for months now.”

Demons? That titbit convinced Samael to give the man another minute. She crossed her arms and stared him down. “Speak. But be short.”

“We don’t have proof, but they’ve been evading the marine too easily. No one seems to pin them down. That’s what first raised suspicions. Then too few of the people taken from raided towns and ships turned up in underground slave traffics. The missing people are all children and young women!” He looked at Samael as if this should mean something to her. She only offered a confused frown.

Lucian tightened his fists, his face set into a scowl. “Exactly the kinds of people most used in demonic sacrifices!”

Samael rolled her eyes. “That’s stupid.”

He spat, “Now’s not the time to play ignorant! That’s what every demonic cult does! I’ve spent my life hunting down those bastards and fighting their pet demons! I’ve seen their altars!” He shook his head, disgusted, and turned to leave. “Never mind. This was a mistake. I’ll save Sophia myself. Trusting a demon… Foolish… I’ve been hit on the head one too many time…”

Samael exchanged a glance with Slei, who shrugged. Alright. I did decide to act more prudently. She sighed. As much as it pained her to admit, the man had some undisputable skills. And she figured, if anything, she could use him as a club. He was at least surprisingly sturdy. “Okay, sure, you can come.”

“I don’t need your help, demon.”

Samael’s eyes twitched. Why haven’t I eaten him yet, again? Oh, right, Sophia’s friend. Bummer. She groaned, “Are we back to this? Look, Slei picked up their trace. They must already be off the island, or he’d have brought Sophia back already. You won’t be able to find her without us.” Lucian looked back, still scowling. “But if you feel like trying, sure, have a blast.”

Finally, he turned around. The scowl was not gone yet, though. “Spare me your theatrics, demon. Where to?”

“You’re one to talk.” She looked at his empty hands. “Will you even be of any use without your stick?”

“It’s called a banishment staff.” He frowned. “I’ll be reduced to simple spells and hand-to-hand combat. It’ll be less than ideal, but I’ll manage. I don’t need your pity, demon.”

“So you use it as a weapon too…” Samael considered him then walked to her travel pack, still sitting outside of Meredith’s busted door. “Would any musical stick work?”

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“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lucian huffed haughtily. “Banishment staves are made of the purest elements, collected from the most sacred places in the world, and the metal for the hoops needs to be purified for at least eight years, eight months and eight days in the holiest sanctums of the Virtues to carry the exact tune and the power to smite Evil! This was a priceless artefact that you destroyed!”

Yeah, right. He’s still pissed I broke his toy. Samael rummaged inside the bag. She vaguely remembered what his staff had looked like, and quickly picked two items she thought would work as a replacement.

She returned and held her findings out for him. “Here, you can fight with this. You humans are fragile. I’m not having you die because you’re too proud and stupid to take a weapon. I don’t like you, but Sophia will be sad if you die, and then we’d have a funeral, and I’d like that even less. So try to stay alive.”

Lucian blinked, and looked uncomprehendingly at the thing she practically shoved in his nose.

“That’s a bone,” he commented flatly.

Indeed, what she held was a femur. It looked like a large wand in her hand, but it was easily the size of a human leg—except that it was a dark burgundy red, and the shape was somewhat off. Three tiny bells were attached around the neck of the bone.

“No. It’s a banishment stick,” Samael insisted.

“It’s a big bone with decorative bells. And don’t say ‘stick’. Don’t disrespect it.”

“It’s a banishment bone, then.”

“Did you not listen to a thing I just said?!”

“Why are you humans all asking me that?” Samael rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “Take it, or I’m not taking you with me. I don’t have time to argue.” Without waiting for an answer, she threw him the bone.

Surprised, Lucian fumbled to catch it. The bell chimed wildly. He opened his mouth to complain—but suddenly froze. His eyes stared at the femur in mute awe. “What is this?” he whispered almost reverently.

“It’s Slei’s old chew toy. But he says he’s too old for it.”

“Eeh haw!?”

“Well, if you didn’t want me to give it away. You shouldn’t have said you didn’t want it anymore.”

“Eeh haw…” A pouting donkey was a weird sight indeed.

“Stop whining and let’s go. We’ve wasted too much time already.”

“Pfffrrrt-t-t…” Although grumbling, Slei spun and started running towards the back of the building. Samael grabbed Lucian by his leather coat, threw him on her shoulder, and took off after the beast.

“Haaa!” the man yelped. “What are you doing, demon?!”

“You’re too slow. And my name’s not ‘demon’. It’s Sam. Didn’t your parents teach you politeness?”

“My parents were killed by a demon!”

A beat of silence passed.

“…eh.”

“That’s your reaction?!”

“Why?” Samael shrugged. “I didn’t kill them.”

“……” Lucian opened his mouth, then closed it—then opened it again, closed it again. He frowned, then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter right now. But what is this bone? The amount of spiritual power it holds is unbelievable. And where did you get those bells?” Point in favour of his ability to adapt fast to new situations, the man was speaking stoically even while being carried like a bag of potatoes by a nine-foot-tall demon.

“Do you always ask so many questions?” Samael complained. He kept staring at her. She sighed. “The bone’s from some beast I killed. It was long ago. I don’t remember. I exchanged the bells with someone I don’t like, and I don’t want them anymore.”

“A beast? From Tartarus? Is this a bone from an actual demonic beast?”

“I guess.”

“Which level of Tartarus.”

“How should I know?”

Slei led them up a narrow path that snaked amidst the low vegetation between the town and the forest. Strangely, they were climbing the hill, going out of the cove, and away from what should be the only sea-level shore on the island. According to Sophia, every other side was an unclimbable cliff.

Well, Samael probably could climb it. And if she did, so might other demons—like the one whom presumably assisted Sophia’s kidnappers. Just more corpses to add to the pile, Samael thought grimly.

In any case, this was the right way, as she could smell Sophia, along with now three unknown scents of people who had taken this path not long ago.

“And those bells! How can they possess such a strong divine presence?” Unfortunately, Lucian seemed to share Sophia’s tendency to never shut up. But unlike the priestess, he lacked the decency to monologue on his own and leave Samael out of it.

The demon sighed. “They’re from that pigeon’s garden.”

“A pigeon?”

“That winged woman at Sophia’s home.”

“They’re from Goddess Rachiel’s personal collection?! That means they’ve been in her presence for hundreds of years!!”

“I don’t care. Please stop shouting…”

“Do you have no idea of the power contained in these two items?!”

“No. I don’t.” She glared at him. “Now shut up, or I break your teeth.”

That seemed to do the trick.

Humans respond well to threats of physical harm, she noted. Probably because they could not heal themselves very well.

As Sophia had said, they soon reached the top of a high cliff overlooking the sea far below. Samael decided not to comment on the four skid marks the breadths of donkey hooves that led to the edge. Slei sometimes forgot to look where he was going.

“Well, where are they? Where’s Sophia?! Why are we stopping?” Stopping also seemed to restart Lucian’s question streak.

Samael ignored him and glanced down at Slei, who glared out at sea.

“Eeeh haw.”

“The trail stops here,” she translated for the human and turned to look at the unbelievably vast expanse of water. She searched for signs of anything suspicious, but all she saw were small fishing boats, similar to the one of those three men whom she had definitely not stolen fish from.

“How is that possible?!”

“…the clouds,” Samael whispered, raising her gaze to the drifting white masses.

“What nonsense are you spouting now, demon?”

“The clouds. Barry said the clouds moved funny.”

“Who’s Barry?”

Samael ignored him. Her narrowed eyes moved from one bunch of clouds to the next.

Suddenly, her mouth curved up in a viciously hungry grin.

“Got you.”

In the south-west, noticeable only if you were looking specifically for it—or maybe if you were obsessed with bad omens—a small cloud moved in a direction different from any other nearby.

Lucian blinked at her. “What?”

She pointed. “That cloud. It’s going against the wind.”

“Are you suggesting the pirates are in the cloud? That’s not…” He started shaking his head but then stopped. “Well… there are theoretical designs for flying vessels… But none ever worked.”

“Sophia’s there. I can feel her.” The demon had known her priestess was still alive. The pact had lost track of her, but it had not been broken, which would have been the case had Sophia died. But now that she focused all her will in that specific direction, she could sense a hint of a response, despite whatever was shrouding Sophia. “I don’t care what you believe. I’m going after that cloud.”

Lucian still looked sceptical—but that seemed to be his default face. “Well, I don’t really have a choice but to… trust you.” He said it like the word left a bad taste in his mouth. “But how do you propose we go after a mythical cloud ship? Unless you also got one in your bag?” Despite his suspicious stare, he appeared almost eager, and he was clinging to the demon bone like it was his first-born child.

“No need,” Samael grumbled, she glanced down. “Slei.”

“Eeeh Haw,” the donkey acknowledged.

Then he started to grow.

Lucian’s eyes bugged out.

“What is this?!”

“EEEEEEEEEH HAAAAAAAAAAW!!!!”

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