“Demonkin have excelled in a vastly different environment to the rest of the races, something that can be attributed to a large concentration of magical energy in their lands. They have learned to use the smaller, less sentient beings in their land, called Imps, as their workforce or fodder. The Imps themselves seem to obey simple commands if given food. A single Demonkin noble house can have ownership of several ‘colonies’ of various Imps, which can also be used as a capital for trading.”
̶ Races of our World, multiple authors, 560 AS
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The horses eat meat.
The horses. Eat. Meat.
“Master, it appears that the other bandits have escaped through the forest.” I look around the table, the Demon eating calmly, the servants carrying foodstuffs around.
“No need to run after them Kozzok, I don’t think we will have any issues with them anymore. Sit, eat.”
They are behaving as if this is a picnic, while a group of horses has just eaten nine corpses on the ground. Am I going to be like this in a while, just casually ignoring slaughter and bloodshed at every corner, while servants stuff me with food?
“You have to eat something, my wife. We have a long journey ahead, and I don’t plan on staying in your Kingdom. The dinner in Nimur will be cancelled, we will move throughout the entirety of the current day and night. This puts our arrival at…” He raises his head in a questioning matter, as if expecting the sky to answer his questions.
“Breakfast time tomorrow, Master.”
“Excellent, we get to have breakfast at our new home; I’m excited to finally see it.”
Wait, that sounds wrong. Shouldn’t we be going to HIS home, as in, the one where he LIVED?
“What do you mean, you want to see it, haven’t you lived there before?”
“No, I had them build us a new residence, away from the busyness of the big cities, in a small town close to the border of Leonia. It’s a lot more peaceful there, and you’ll have plenty more freedom than you would in the Capital.”
“I see.”
So, I am going to be living on the countryside? What exactly is a ‘small town’ to him? I don’t know whether to be excited or terrified of the prospect of being away from the big cities, their customs are new to me, will I ever get used to them?
“Where are we anyway? We haven’t been travelling for that long, yet you speak of Nimur being less than a day of riding away, and I don’t recall there being a forest this close to Frital.”
My husband shrugs, still stuffing his mouth with food. Is he eating that much because of that fight earlier?
“Mistress, I assume we are about two thirds of the way to Nimur, and for your first inquiry, the beasts you call ‘horses’ are extremely slow in speed, although we must praise their durability for long journeys.” The shadow Demon is once again at my side, his movements as silent per usual.
“What do you call those… things then? They look like horses to me.” I ask pointing towards corpse-eating beasts, now grazing on nearby bushes, behaving like you’d expect from a horse.
“They are Firemanes, we use them to pull carriages and carts. They can travel extremely fast when properly fed, and if we had appropriate feed in your Capital, we could’ve finished the journey in a single day and night without rest.”
“Appropriate feed?”
“Firemanes prefer food that has a natural attunement with fire, so Flame Imps are a natural choice.”
“What exactly are those ‘Imps’ you talk about? I have heard about ‘Plant Imps’ before, but I have no clue as to what they are.”
My husband chuckles, then stands up and walks to the carriages, grabbing something from one of them.
He comes back and puts a small creature, about three feet in height, on the table. It’s the Demon that was controlling the reins!
I observe the thing in front of me, the creature squirming to escape the grasp of the hands holding him down. It’s dull grey, with a small torso and comically long limbs for its size. The fingers end in small claws, but they look to be cut, the curve of the nails unnatural. The creature’s head is large and pointy, the nose dominating the landscape of its face, two beady eyes at its sides. The teeth are serrated and sharp, but it doesn’t even try to bite the hands holding it in place, likely knowing what would happen should it do so.
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“This is an Imp, a Grey Imp to be exact. They are commonly used as small servants, just smart enough to obey commands when there is food to be had as a reward. Grey Imps are the smartest of the bunch, often used to control the other Imps and take basic care of the animals.”
He then looks directly down to the squirming Imp at the table.
“Bow to your new Mistress.”
The small creature looks at my husband, confused. He then takes a look at me, beady eyes receiving a small glint of recognition. The creature stops squirming around and is released from my husband’s hands. It slowly stands up and walks across the table, stopping about an arm’s reach from me. It then slowly bows down, its face almost buried in the table.
My husband watches the entire sequence of events with glee.
“Take some meat from the table and give it to him. That’s how they learn. They obey, they get food; they don’t listen, they get punished.”
I look at the plate next to me and grab a slice of meat, as if it were alive. I put the meat in front of the Imp’s head, still planted on the floor. The Imp slowly looks up, and quickly grabs the meat as if its life depended on it. It then sits on the table, devouring the small piece of meat as if it were the tastiest thing one had in his life.
“You can give him a name if you want, but I don’t bother with those.”
The Imp looks scrawny, comical, cute; in a creepy way.
“Creeps.”
The small Imp nods at my words, still eating the meat, savouring every bite. I give him another. He accepts it gleefully, unintelligible blabber coming from his mouth. I’ll consider that thanks.
“What do I do with him now?”
“Whatever you want, he’s yours now; consider him your pet if you want to.”
So, my second wedding present is an Imp.
“Well then I’d say this was a good break. The Firemanes have been fed, and we can go home.” I will probably never shake that image out of my head.
The table is packed as fast as it was set, everything done in complete unison of the servants. The Firemanes are harnessed once again, the beasts neighing loudly as in protest. I go inside the biggest carriage again, my husband helping me up the step.
He sits across the carriage again and leans into the pillows that cover the interior. Is it just me, or is this carriage extremely comfortable all of a sudden?
“Ready to go?”
Is he asking me, or telling me? What decision do I actually have in that thing? Does he expect me to do anything here?
A small smile is suddenly nestled on my face, as I know exactly how to answer.
I try to be as loud and clear as possible.
“Demos har nos.”
The carriage starts moving. A huge grin on my husband’s face, a fiery glint in his black eyes.
We ride home.
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After what feels like a day’s worth of sleep, I am awakened by the carriage slowing down to a halt.
We have arrived.
I step outside the carriage after my husband, watching at the sight in front of me. A castle of grey stone with two large towers on its side, the castle grounds filled with ponds and plants I’ve never seen in my life. The gate is made of black metal, the statues of a Demon and a Human standing guard at the entrance. Demons group around us, slowly bowing down as they see us.
This is my new home.
No.
Our home.
End of Arc 1: The Bride and the Groom