have you been doing?”
“Hunting in the sewers,” Garet said. “I won’t say for what.”
The man nodded, glad the evil word had been left unsaid. His companion, a middle-aged woman, bravely lowered her hand and stepped forward to open the gate wider for the Banes.
“Thank you for your service to the city, Banes. We felt what you hunted.”
While such praise did not lessen the smell that followed them to the hall, it made the endless scrubbing and re-scrubbing easier to bear.
Chapter 5 The Other Demon
LONG AFTER GARET was scrubbed and asleep, another demon came to the city. From the north it crawled, single-minded in its hunger for those within. Unlike the Snake Demon, this one went on all fours, long-limbed and muscular. Its skull ridges were not serrated, but swept back and around like many-pronged ram’s horns. At each step, hooked claws tore up the ground, laying gashes across the furrows plowed just that day. Some scent in the night made it pause and open its short beak. The split tongue tasted the air, found nothing human nearby, and withdrew into the forest of teeth. The demon rattled in its throat like a raven, snapped shut its mouth, and continued its stalking journey to the Outer Wall of the Seventh Ward.
This demon needed no hole through which to slither; it set claws in the rough stone and mortar and climbed quickly for all its bulk, gaining the top in but a few breaths. The entire Ward now lay below it. The cows and sheep in their barns began to moan in their sleep and wake in fear of what they could not see. The youths who watched the livestock shivered and began to run towards the lanes and alleys leading to their homes. The gate guards came out, dropped their spears, then fell trembling upon the ground.
The beast scraped and skittered down to its business.
Save for the demon, only one other figure in the stockyards still moved. A young cowherd sprinted towards the first of the gates separating the stockyards from the Ward proper. She was but a step ahead of the full strength of the demon’s fear, and it clutched at her heels as she sobbed and ran. Her fingers fumbled at the latch, but too late. Terror caught up with her and ran along her bones, stroking each white length and twisting the attached muscles, binding them, and dropping her to her knees.
In falling, she turned and saw the demon approach. Even her eyes would not obey her chattering mind to shut and close off the sight. The monster’s beak was painted with the blood of her friends, others of her age that worked nights in the barns this season. One thick arm dragged the body of a guard by its armor. Seeing her, the demon flung it away. The corpse crashed through a paddock fence and off the haunches of a downed horse. The stallion’s eyes rolled, but it didn’t stir from the ground.
The girl by the gate whimpered. She had run the nightmare race every child of Shirath dreaded, and she had lost. Now, her mind could not turn from this terrible image. Red claws and teeth filled her unwilling sight, and she knew the last thing she saw would be her own blood spraying out and painting them anew.
The beast came nearer, and in her locked perception, she didn’t hear the latch open behind her. A hand grabbed her collar and dragged her through the gate. Figures in black rushed by, towards the demon. Lying stricken on the ground, she had no voice to warn them. If she had, she would have screamed, “What are you doing? You’re not Banes! You’ll all be killed!”
She could only watch them die. But they didn’t.
The first thrust a spear into the demon’s reaching hand. There was a bellow of pain, and the creature swiped at its attacker, only to be cheated when the spear-wielder jumped out of range. A second dashed forward, slicing down with a broad-bladed sword on the demon’s heel. When the beast rounded on him, he leaped back as well.
“Turn, run,” whispered the girl, but
“Hunting in the sewers,” Garet said. “I won’t say for what.”
The man nodded, glad the evil word had been left unsaid. His companion, a middle-aged woman, bravely lowered her hand and stepped forward to open the gate wider for the Banes.
“Thank you for your service to the city, Banes. We felt what you hunted.”
While such praise did not lessen the smell that followed them to the hall, it made the endless scrubbing and re-scrubbing easier to bear.
Chapter 5 The Other Demon
LONG AFTER GARET was scrubbed and asleep, another demon came to the city. From the north it crawled, single-minded in its hunger for those within. Unlike the Snake Demon, this one went on all fours, long-limbed and muscular. Its skull ridges were not serrated, but swept back and around like many-pronged ram’s horns. At each step, hooked claws tore up the ground, laying gashes across the furrows plowed just that day. Some scent in the night made it pause and open its short beak. The split tongue tasted the air, found nothing human nearby, and withdrew into the forest of teeth. The demon rattled in its throat like a raven, snapped shut its mouth, and continued its stalking journey to the Outer Wall of the Seventh Ward.
This demon needed no hole through which to slither; it set claws in the rough stone and mortar and climbed quickly for all its bulk, gaining the top in but a few breaths. The entire Ward now lay below it. The cows and sheep in their barns began to moan in their sleep and wake in fear of what they could not see. The youths who watched the livestock shivered and began to run towards the lanes and alleys leading to their homes. The gate guards came out, dropped their spears, then fell trembling upon the ground.
The beast scraped and skittered down to its business.
Save for the demon, only one other figure in the stockyards still moved. A young cowherd sprinted towards the first of the gates separating the stockyards from the Ward proper. She was but a step ahead of the full strength of the demon’s fear, and it clutched at her heels as she sobbed and ran. Her fingers fumbled at the latch, but too late. Terror caught up with her and ran along her bones, stroking each white length and twisting the attached muscles, binding them, and dropping her to her knees.
In falling, she turned and saw the demon approach. Even her eyes would not obey her chattering mind to shut and close off the sight. The monster’s beak was painted with the blood of her friends, others of her age that worked nights in the barns this season. One thick arm dragged the body of a guard by its armor. Seeing her, the demon flung it away. The corpse crashed through a paddock fence and off the haunches of a downed horse. The stallion’s eyes rolled, but it didn’t stir from the ground.
The girl by the gate whimpered. She had run the nightmare race every child of Shirath dreaded, and she had lost. Now, her mind could not turn from this terrible image. Red claws and teeth filled her unwilling sight, and she knew the last thing she saw would be her own blood spraying out and painting them anew.
The beast came nearer, and in her locked perception, she didn’t hear the latch open behind her. A hand grabbed her collar and dragged her through the gate. Figures in black rushed by, towards the demon. Lying stricken on the ground, she had no voice to warn them. If she had, she would have screamed, “What are you doing? You’re not Banes! You’ll all be killed!”
She could only watch them die. But they didn’t.
The first thrust a spear into the demon’s reaching hand. There was a bellow of pain, and the creature swiped at its attacker, only to be cheated when the spear-wielder jumped out of range. A second dashed forward, slicing down with a broad-bladed sword on the demon’s heel. When the beast rounded on him, he leaped back as well.
“Turn, run,” whispered the girl, but
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