Chapter 12

Sam woke up with a snort, snapping up in bed and staring wide-eyed at the dark room. A flower scent infused in the sheets tickled her nose. She was wearing a clean, beige tunic and unlike the last one, it didn’t smell like she’d slept in it for two weeks. Her shoulder hurt, but a light touch told her it was bandaged. Outside, moonlight shone through the windows lighting up a small mug and ceramic pitcher by the bedside. Sam grabbed them, filled the mug, and took a sip, to make sure it wasn’t dangerous, she coughed once and gulped down the drink as if she was just coming out of a desert.

“This is ale? Why ale? Why am I not dead? They could have killed me. Nadia, what’s going on? This is the Demon King’s castle, right?” Sam saw a lighter-coloured stone and a closed wooden door in the room, but there was nothing else. “Nadia? Where are you?”

Silence. After speaking with Nadia for the last several days, hearing nothing was worse than noise. Sam started chewing her fingernail and tightened her grip on the mug.

“Calm down. If they wanted to kill you, they would have done it, and they wouldn’t have given you ale,” Sam said, placing the mug down and wincing as her shoulder twinged.

“We see you’ve awakened,” said a high-pitched voice by the door as a brighter light from a lantern poured in. Sam spun around and clutched the pitcher, ready to throw it. She raised her eyebrows at the small, thin, stick-like creature walking through the door. It was dark brown, almost black and dry looking, with long thin fingers that flowed like they were moving in the wind. It stood about as tall as her chin and had brown leaves sticking out of its head. Looking at it framed in the light; it reminded Sam of some of those nightmare stories she used to invent as a child after Nadia’s mother left the room.

“What are you?” Sam stared at the creature. She couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. A new scent followed it into the room. It smelt like berries and vanilla.

“We are dryad. A species that lives with the trees,” it said. “We look like them, so it makes us easy to blend in. Your species never really look up, so you miss us when we go to your land to spy.” It lifted Sam’s arm and ran its fingers over her skin. “We also make very good healers.”

Sam perked up when she heard that. “I need to see a healer. I’ve been poisoned by something and I can’t get it out of my system. My friend was trying to help me, but he abandoned me…” she choked on her words. Why was she trusting this dryad? She’d just met it.

“Yes, we identified the poison and gave you the antidote. We’re not sure if it worked. The blood results look promising. You have been sleeping for the last two days.”

“You cured me? Two days? What do you mean by blood results?” Sam couldn’t stop the rush of questions coming out of her mouth even as regret filled her. If she was cured, then, the visions of Nadia were gone. She was going to miss those.

“We gave your blood to the Throg and it produced the antidote, so yes, we believe you are cured. That said we are unsure of humans. Lord Kale was afflicted with a similar poison after your battle with him. It was touch-and-go until we were able to identify it, but we were able to cure him. You were much easier. Maybe. Time will tell.” The dryad continued its examination.

“I see,” Sam mumbled. It was over.

“Your personal effects are over there,” it pointed to the wall. Sam saw her bag and old clothing. “Whoever told you to come here was correct. One more day and you would have surely died.”

“Thank you.” She bowed her head, confused. “Umm, what do you mean ‘come here’?”

“The note in your possession. It mentioned coming here. We are assuming that’s why you are here,” it responded.

“I see,” Sam said without looking up. Did Ayasse write that? “Umm, what do I call you?”

“You may call us Healer. We don’t have names like your species, but the orcs who live here like to call us something.”

“Orcs? What are orcs?” Sam raised an eyebrow at the name.

“You call them demons. They call themselves orcs.” Healer finished its examination and left as quietly as it came, leaving Sam in thought.

If I’m cured, that means I don’t need Ayasse’s Master Pill anymore. I never wanted to see him again. The man left me alone in the forest, just when I was ready to forgive him. But if he told me to come here, then he was trying to help me. Did he know that the Demon King could cure me? Why did he leave me?

Sam grabbed her head as she tried to wrestle with all the questions floating inside and flopped back onto the pillow. Usually, barrelling through everything fixed her problems, or caused some bigger ones to take their place and she could ignore the first one. This time she had no idea what to do. Ayasse was gone and she’d probably driven him away. Nadia was also gone. Sam bit her lip. Even under the memory spell, she knew something was wrong, something was missing. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it was probably Nadia.

“Why can’t you be here and let me hit you, Ayasse? Or at least so I can say I’m sorry.” No one answered, and Sam wasn’t sure who she was even talking to.

The next day Sam went into the sculptured inner courtyard garden. Here she could see a rainbow of colours, probably to provide some contrast to the blackness of the world outside. Healer said she could take a walk there and the fresh air may do her some good. The dryad suggested that she stick to one of the quieter areas though. The sight of humans in the realm could cause panic, and they didn’t want that. The guards behind her would make sure nothing bad happened. Sam nodded. Even with her shoulder and hands bandaged, her strength would prevail. This way both sides could pretend that they were there because they wanted to be.

She sat on a bench, stretched her legs out and stared at the orange sky. “The sky back home was blue, I know that. The trees were brown with green leaves, except when they changed colours in the spring, just like Relancia. I don’t know about these black things. The flowers…mmmm.” She put her finger to her lips as she tried to remember the plants and colours of her home world. From her earliest memories of this world, the strangeness of the colours gnawed at her. Here in the garden, she saw black trees with green sap. Yellow trees with orange leaves. Lush blue grass that smelled just like home. The roses were a bright purple, those she found to be better here than in London. It would be great if she could take those with her when she went back.

If she could go back.

Sam stopped thinking about the differences between the two worlds and frowned as the reality of her situation set in. Now, stuck here at Kale’s castle, she probably wasn’t going to get back home anyway. Damn, Akira. Damn, the King. Why’d they have to set that bounty on her?

Sam sighed and raised her head back up to the sky. All this trouble was her fault. What Nadia had said was true, even if she was a figment of her imagination. Sam always pushed her way through everything, without thinking of the consequences and giving vent to her anger. If she had stepped back and talked to Akira, rather than breaking his sword and jaw, maybe he wouldn’t have tried to kill her.

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“It was the poison. It made me go crazy.”

She punched her thigh the moment the words left her mouth. “Stop finding excuses. The rage was always there, especially after what they did to me.”

Sam sighed. “Why do I have to try and control everything? Trying to make sure everything was perfect never helped solve anything. It usually just made things worse,” Sam mumbled to herself. Nadia called her a gorilla and maybe that was true.

Did I do this to myself?

“Excuse me?”

Sam looked down and saw a young boy standing in front of her. He had small tusks and couldn’t be older than fourteen. He was cute with dirty brown hair that refused to stay flat. Sam thought she recognized his face, but she couldn’t place where she’d seen him before.

“Yes? How can I help you?” She put on her best smile. She loved children and would try to be extra kind around them. They could usually tell when you didn’t like them.

“Welcome to the castle, Blond Demon. I am Kuma and this is my garden.” The boy bowed low to her and straightened up. He was trying so hard to be serious, clenching his teeth and holding his hands at his side, that Sam wanted to pinch his cheeks. Resisting the impulse, she stood up and bowed back but not as deeply. She wasn’t sure of the protocol here, but it couldn’t hurt to copy what she saw.

“Please don’t call me Blond Demon. My name is Sam. Have a seat.” She gestured to the bench she had been sitting on.

“No thank you. I was on my way to my lessons and saw you sitting here. I came over to thank you for not killing my father. I know the death of a warrior in battle is sacred, however, I would miss him if he was gone.”

Sam was startled and drew back. “Your father? Who’s your father?” Her voice trailed off. She stared at his face and hair. It was like seeing a smaller version of the man. She pointed a finger at the boy. “Kale! Your father is the Demon King Kale?”

“Yes, he is one of the Demon Kings. He is often loud and angry. Likes to drink too much, but he is the only father I have. Again, thank you.” He bowed once more and continued on his way out of the garden.

She watched the boy leave. That was odd. I’ve never been thanked for not killing someone before. It was nice.

Sam walked through the garden, ignoring the guards standing behind her. They had been fingering their swords when Kuma was talking to her, but otherwise, they just let her wander. “Why aren’t there more guards around here? It was so much more difficult to break in last time.”

“That’s because your party killed many of the former defenders when you invaded,” Sam heard a high-pitched voice coming from somewhere. “Once Lord Kale showed how weak he was, the other Kings decided to abandon him, taking the rest of the elite soldiers with them.”

She saw a small brownish creature with big pointed ears and a long nose. He was wearing a small, black suit with a jacket with lapels on them. It was the first time she had seen that fashion design here.

“Who are you? What are you? Are you an orc too?”

“My name is Hobbi. I am a goblin, not an orc. Please remember that. I am Lord Kale’s steward. He heard you wished to speak with him.”

Sam stared at the goblin. This was the third kind of demon she’d seen since she came here. How many different kinds are there?

“Yes, I did. I needed some help with some poison. I appear to have gotten it, though, so now I don’t know what to do.” Sam sighed. In the last few weeks, she’d gone from trying to kill the Demon King, to getting poisoned by her partners, to running through the forest, to being saved by the same Demon King she had tried to kill. “I’m a bit lost.”

“I see. Well, if you are feeling better, he would like to see you at your earliest convenience. Please let the guards know. They will contact me and I will arrange it.” Hobbi bowed and started to turn away. Sam raised her hand to stop him.

“Hold on. You mentioned the other kings. What do you mean? I thought Kale was the Demon King?”

Hobbi took off his glasses and wiped them with a cloth. “He is and he isn’t. The demon realm, like the human one, is composed of many different factions. Lord Kale’s realm was the closest to your lands, so he was appointed the defender of the Demon World from human incursion. The other countries sent weapons and soldiers to assist in that defence. However, because of his near defeat at the hands of your hero, and his decision not to punish you for your invasion, the other kingdoms have decided to close the borders and remove all aid. They are strengthening their lands and hoping they can hold off the onslaught to come.” He put his glasses back on his face and pushed them up his long nose. “Lord Kale took a big risk on your offer of a truce, and it has come back to haunt him.”

“What do you mean?” Sam didn’t know much about demon politics. All she had heard was that there was a Demon King and that he was destroying the land. She didn’t care to learn anything else. If King Eon and Akira had more information, they never shared it with her.

“Your human army is camped just a few days from here, and Lord Kale is preparing to defend against them. The attack begins in four days. Without the assistance of the other kingdoms, we may be quickly overrun.” Hobbi bowed once again, turned on his heel and walked away. Sam watched him go; her mouth hanging open.

***

“Report!” Akira said, slapping the truncheon against his hand. Ayasse curled up on the floor under a ball of light and winced at the sound. Mel had started the integration, but most of her techniques involved mind invasion and sensory manipulation. Akira liked to break things. Both of them were armatures compared to Thane’s training. But no pain was welcome. Ayasse took a deep breath and used Thane’s methods to shunt the pain outside of his body. He’d have to pay for it, but later.

Akira moved away from the ball of light blocking Ayasse’s powers and grabbed the soldier. Ayasse twitched. Something was happening.

The young soldier saluted, “Lord Akira, sir. One of the scouts saw the woman known as the traitor Samantha entering the Demon King’s castle three days ago.”

“Are you sure?” Akira asked. He gripped the soldier with both hands, shaking the young man. His eyes narrowed. “Why am I only hearing about it now?”

“The scout had trouble with the Demon King's patrols and had to wait until the way was clear. He reported a tall human woman with blond hair and huge arms fighting her way into the castle. She seemed to be alone and in good health. The scout was certain it was her when she ripped off the castle gates.” The soldier saluted again, and Akira dismissed him. He faced the entrance of the tent and Ayasse saw him shaking.

“That’s good news isn’t it, Akira?” Mel laughed from the chair in front of Ayasse. She gave her usual flat and unemotional response, but her personality had changed. Ayasse sensed there was a sadness in her when she looked at Akira, a tightening of her eyes and lips. Thane had taught Ayasse to understand the tells people give off. If he was right, Mel was shouting her pain.

That didn’t mean she was sloppy.

Ayasse was tied up and surrounded by her light spell that drove away every bit of darkness. It cost less mana than the shield spell.

Mel laughed. “You can still get your revenge.”

“Yes. Leave him.” He pointed at Ayasse. “There’s nothing else he can tell us about the rations. I know he did something to them, no matter what the sergeant reported.”

“Too bad. Things were getting fun.” Mel wiped her hands on a cloth and gave it to the guards standing outside as they left the prison tent. “Make sure he doesn’t escape. There may still be more he can tell us.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The guards saluted the two heroes and moved directly in front of the tent.

Ayasse gritted his teeth. It had been three days since they staked him to the ground. Mel hadn’t turned off the light spell once and Ayasse saw other mages reinforcing the magic. They knew enough to deny him direct access to a piece of darkness big enough to slide through. All he needed was something, anything, the tiniest bit of shadow would do. He could use it to slice the ropes and get out of this tent. He wouldn’t get far, but it was better than here. If he could find a big enough shadow to slide through, he could make it to Sam. The tracking magic was still on Sam, but it was fading. It was never able to pinpoint her exact location, but could get him close. He had a day or so left at the most left.

Ayasse grinned, Sam was alive! That was the best news he’d heard in a while. After they captured him, there was a small time when he could’ve escaped, in the beginning after Mel’s blocking spell wore off and before they started the light ball. His mana had been almost exhausted though. If he had tried to escape, he would have had to steal a horse. When he realized they were searching for Sam, it was perfect. He could regain his mana and they could find Sam for him. “Thank God for Master Thane. Mel’s a child compared to her,” he mumbled into the dirt.

The gamble had paid off. They found Sam, and she was near here. There was no stopping him now. He had to get her the Master Pill.

Ayasse wiggled his hands but the bindings were too tight. He was tired, still low on mana and Akira had beaten him. He was in no shape to destroy these ropes. Ayasse looked up at the light and shifted his hands. If he could create enough shadow between his hands and body, maybe he could make a sharp enough blade to cut the ropes. He’d done it once. “Maybe this time won't use up all my mana.”