Age Of The Red Demons

At The End Of The World

That night, Daerys and his men rode away from Maeve. While Percival and the rest went back to the villages where the river flowed to warn their people, Daerys and Smaragdus rode forward to the end of the world.

Jordan had seen a wounded man walking in that direction. That man must be responsible for the burning flame.

As they rode away, the wizard, Ul Thera, watched alongside Sa Trodden, the head of Maeve.

"Tell me more about this river" said Ul Thera to Sa Trodden.

The head of Maeve explained that the river in Maeve was their only source of water, but the people always took enough water from the river every three months and shared it among themselves. It would usually last them for the rest of those months, but if anyone ran out of water, they could buy at anywhere in the village.

Only the children and the old people who went frequently around the river had a reason to drink directly from it.

The water hold that Daerys used to test the fire flower contained water taken from the river more than three months ago, thus it still had the power to detect bad magic. Since it did not burn the flowers, then the sorcery was not in the flowers, but in the river.

"Hmm. He found that out all by himself". The wizard took a calm breath as the two riders disappeared.

When they got to the end of the world, they saw clearly the mountains from where the waters fell. They were tall and magnificent.

"The trails end here". Smaragdus said.

"Look!" Daerys pointed at a hole in the middle of the falling waters. "There seems to be a cave".

They got off their horses and swam to the area, against the waves of water that pushed towards Maeve. It was a hard swim.

When they reached the hole, it was truly a cave, and it had both man and animal tracks as the two men walked in.

Something was familiar about the animal tracks as Daerys bent to observe.

"Are these not wet boar prints", he asked.

"It would seem, your highness", Smaragdus replied.

The cave was large with huge spaces between its walls, and its path leading deep inside. It was the kind of habitat animals like that chose. Could it be a group of wet boars living together? That would be a disaster for both men as they would be outnumbered by the wild beasts.

Daerys intended to march forward but Smaragdus stopped him. "We should head back now".

"What?" Daerys scoffed, "Do not tell me the son of the great General Arthogan is scared of wet boars".

Hearing this, Smaragdus replied, his voice marked with intent. "I have been hunting giant lygas since i was 12".

Then Daerys faced him and put his right hand on his left shoulder, "I have heard that the lyga giants are ferocious and they prey on wet boars".

Smaragdus nodded slowly in the affirmative, satisfied.

Daerys then walked on into the cave. "Then we are men, you and I".

Smaragdus sighed in disbelief. "My Prince, it would be foolish for us to go deeply into these mountains, the gods know what other kinds of beast reside here".

"No two beasts stay together in one settlement," the prince walked on. "Did we not come here to find an answer to the plague?".

Smaragdus walked impatiently behind him, "I have sworn to protect you.."

The Prince stopped. "Did you hear that?"

His companion listened. Though they could not see through the curved depths of the cave, they could hear a faint sound. It was the growl of a wet boar.

Daerys slowly unsheated his sword as they moved towards the direction of the growls through the round paths of the dark cave.

Then Smaragdus realized something. "It is the sounds they make when you shoot them with an arrow. It is dying!" He said.

Just before the prince could digest these words, he was right in front of the animal. It was on its side and another one was above it, its fangs on the poor boar's neck.

"Is that a Lyga?" The prince mumbled in astonishment. For what was this? He thought. It couldn't be what it seemed.

Smaragdus, also taken aback in dismay, replied, "It is a man!"

Before they could make further speculations in the dimness, it raised its head from its meal and took a glance in the direction of the intruders. It was indeed a man, but his eyes were glowing red, and fangs were in the place of his canines. He also had long claws.

He had no clothes on except for some leaves around his manhood. For all it seemed, the prince and his general had crossed paths with a demon.

And as a demon would do, he did not give them the chance to react.

He rushed at the prince who was in front. Before Daerys could lift up his sword, the man jumped on him and pushed him to the ground. His sword fell from his hold.

The beast would have pounced further on him but for the swerving light of Smaradus' sword. Barely dodging the warrior's sword, he pulled back in retreat.

Now he faced Smaragdus and looked at him intently, as though he was looking for a weakness. They both walked around each other in a circle.

For a moment, Smaragdus found himself in wonder. Before him was a man who lived like an animal, he even walked like one. He could not stand straight like normal people do, and yet it seemed he was intelligent enough to choose his fighting steps wisely.

Could this be the Red King? Or one of his minions?

The young warrior was getting lost in these thoughts when the man attacked again. This time, he jumped high towards Smaragdus with his claws aimed at his face. Smaragdus raised his sword to strike him off the air, but he was able to evade the blade while delivering a scratch on the warrior's face.

Smaragdus reacted to this by kick pushing him, and the man fell backwards. He landed just before the prince who was still on the ground and their eyes met. Daerys' sword had fallen off his hand when he fell earlier, so, he had no reply when the man moved swiftly and bit his neck.

Seeing this, Smaragdus hurried towards the duo as they struggled on the floor. The prince was screaming as this demon sucked from his blood.

Suddenly, he pulled his fangs away from Daerys' neck and crawled backwards in agony. It was as if his mouth was burning.

"Arghh!" He screamed. "You!!" He pointed at Daerys, "You have the same blood! You have that blood!"

Smaragdus got to the prince who was still in pains. And before anyone could say another word, the man had crawled away into the cave leaving Daerys, Smaragdus and the dead boar in awe.