The Dark Hero Adventures

Demonic Knight, part 11

Kat hurried toward the base of the watchtower because she felt the need to be alone. She had grown tired of sitting by the large central bonfire, and not even Frey's presence reassured her. She felt very alone in the midst of all those busy adults; in reality, there was no one with whom she could talk, and for the first time she realized that she no longer knew anyone in this world and that she had no place in it. Her flames reminded him too much of the Kleinsdorf fires. The ladder barely creaked under her bare feet as she climbed toward the trapdoor with the agility of a monkey.

Elysia was sitting alone, and she was looking into the darkness. She had long since set the sun like a bloodstain on the horizon; the moon had risen through the sky, its silvery light bathing the surroundings. A gentle breeze cooled Kat's cheeks and made the forest whisper and murmur ominously. Elysia watched him mesmerized, lost in her own thoughts, and she hurried across the tower and sat down beside her, her legs crossed.

"Elysia, I'm scared," she said, and she looked down at her and smiled at her.

"Me too, little one."

"Stop doing that!"

"Do what?"

“Call me little. Same thing Frey does. He never calls anyone by his name, you only owe him from time to time, right? My name is Kat, and you should call me that.”

Elysia smiled again.

“Okay, Kate. Could you do something for me? Maybe it's important to all of us."

"If I can, yes."

"Tell me about your parents."

"I don't have parents."

"Everyone has a mother and a father, Kat."

"I do not. She found me Heide, Karl's wife, inside a basket that was where she always picked the berries."

Elysia laughed.

“Did they find you under a berry bush?”

"It's not funny. They say that in the surroundings there was a monster that the people of the town killed. They wanted to kill me too, but Heide didn't allow it."

Elysia struggled to keep her expression impassive, though she stopped laughing at how serious the girl was.

"No, it's true: it's not funny."

“They took me in and took care of me, and now they are dead.”

“Did Karl and Heide have any idea who your parents were? Any ideas, no matter how remote?"

“Why do you ask me all this, Elysia? Is it really important?

"Could be it."

Kat thought back to that night in the past when old Karl had gotten drunk, when he and Heide thought she was asleep. She'd sneaked up to the inn's kitchen to get a glass of water, and she'd overheard what they were saying. When he realized they were talking about her, he froze on the other side of the door. Then the memory of that night came flooding back to her mind. She had wanted to ask them more questions, ask them what they wanted to say; but she was too afraid, and then she realized that she would never have a chance to do it anymore.

"Once I heard them talk about a girl who was in the castle and had hair like mine," she began in a brittle voice as she struggled to remember it all. “She was called Jasmine, and she was a distant cousin of Earl Klein, or something like that; she a poor relative who had come to live with the family. She disappeared a year before I was born, and no one ever knew what happened to her."

"I think I do," Elysia commented quietly.

Footsteps approached the base of the tower, the ladder shuddered, and Messner poked his head through the trapdoor.

“I see you're still here, Miss Elysia. I have come to relieve you. Come down and eat something, and you too, girl. No sign of Rolf? He still doesn't show up."

"I haven't seen anything," replied Elysia.

"I wonder what could have happened to him."

♦ ♦ ♦

"What's your name?" Jasmine asked, and the man her scouts had captured spat at her.

She nodded to Malor, and the beastman punched her. There was a crack as his ribs snapped, and the man collapsed. Had it not been for the beasts holding him, he would have fallen to the ground.

"What's your name?"

The man gasped, and blood trickled down his chin, dripping onto his leather jerkin. Jasmine reached out a hand and moistened her fingertips with it, which she then licked. The blood was warm and salty, and the woman felt her strength wash over her.

"Rolf" he answered at last.

Then she jasmine knew that she would answer any question she put to her. She knew it wasn't the woodcutters who killed Tryell's party, since the tracker who had survived the attack on the camp had told her about the girl's guardians.

“There is a warrior in black armor who has a female beastman as a lackey, they both travel with a girl. Tell me about them.”

"Go to the hell that spawned you."

“I will… when the time comes,” Jasmine replied. "But you will be there to greet me."

The man screamed as one of the beastmen dislocated his shoulder, and his entire body stiffened with pain. His neck muscles stood out like taut wires. Finally, the story of how she had met the warrior in the black armor, the cat-female and the girl in the forest came through split lips. Finally, the man stopped talking and stood before her, exhausted by her own confession.

Hearing the description of the armor worn by the warrior, Jasmine hesitated. Another Demon Knight? Why was there another Demonic Knight? There was no mistake, the armor described was similar to his own, a Darkness armor, an armor granted by a god to be worn by a trusted servant.

At that moment Jasmine knew, her final test was to defeat another Demonic Knight.

 "Take him to the altar!" Jasmine ordered.

The man tried to fight as he was led toward the cairn of stones dedicated to Baal, but his efforts to escape from him were futile. The beasts were too strong and numerous, and the wretch wept in terror as he saw what awaited him. He was more cowed at the sight of the great cairn of stones and the altar that rested on it than when the beasts captured him. “You must know what is going to happen to you.” Jasmine thought. The sight of Count Klein and Hugo's heads seemed to terrify him more than anything else.

"Nope! Not that!" He shrieked.

She herself was in charge of tying him up and carried him easily to the altar, while the army gathered waiting for what was going to happen. As the moon came out from behind the clouds, she motioned for the drummers to start beating, and soon the great drum beat rhythmically, as slowly as her heartbeat.

He stood on the mound of stones and felt the force slowly gathering. She looked down at the sea of ​​upturned animal faces, eyes bright with anticipation, then drew her sword and swung it over her head.

The sword came down and parted the man's ribs. She reached out a hand encased in the gauntlet of armor, thrust it into the man's guts, and there was a horrible sucking sound as she tore out his heart, which she then raised above her head.

Somewhere, in a space beyond space, in a time beyond time, something awoke and she came to answer her call. Something floated into the present and came like a spiral from beyond. A throbbing red darkness gathered in the space above the altar, flowing into the heart she held aloft, and it began to beat again; Jasmine then put the heart back into the victim's chest.

For a moment nothing happened, and all was silent, but then a tremendous scream came from the throat of the inert body that had been Rolf. The flesh of the corpse's chest reattached and began to smoke, and the corpse sat on the altar. Her eyes widened, and Jasmine recognized the intelligence she was looking at from within. The body was temporarily possessed by the mind of her demonic patron, Salthor.

Smoke billowed from the corpse as the flesh moved under the skin, and a rotten, burned smell filled the woman's nostrils. The mind and power contained within her immortal frame were molding her into a new form, one that bore some resemblance to the Demon Lord's inhumanly beautiful form. Jasmine knew that the body would be consumed in a matter of minutes, unable to contain the power that pulsed within it; but that was unimportant. She only needed a few minutes to communicate with her lord and seek her advice, so she quickly summarized what Rolf had told her.

"I'm going to go to that place and kill them all."

"Do it, my love" replied the beautiful voice of the Demon Lord, like the tolling of a bell, from within the body in process of corruption. Once again, she noted the sense of security and adoration she always experienced in his presence.

"I will kill the girl and offer you the hearts of the Demonic Knight and the female beastman if you try to protect her."

“You better kill them quick. They are a fierce, unforgiving and deadly couple. The Warrior in black armor carries a weapon that was forged to be the scourge of the gods; and his black armor is superior to any armor forged by mortals. They are both ruthless killers.”

“You can count on them being dead already. I appear clad in armor in your prophecy. No warrior will ever best me in battle if what you say is true."

“Look into your heart, my love. You know well that I have never told you anything but the truth… and you must also know this: if you do what you say, immortality and a place among the Chosen will be yours without a doubt.”

"So it will be done."

“Then go with my lord's blessing. Spread chaos and terror, and leave none of your victims among the living.”

The presence faded, and the body fell headfirst to the ground as it crumbled to dust. Jasmine turned to her soldiers and motioned for them to move on.