Demons, Mercenaries, and Other Complications Chapter 5

Hello again! Here is Chapter 5 in my Sci Fi/High Fantasy hybrid novel. I hope you are all enjoying it. If you missed Chapter 4 click here, if you want to go to Chapter 6 click here, and if you want to start at the beginning click here for Chapter 1. Since I missed last Friday's post I'll be posting chapter 6 tomorrow so make sure to come back for that. As always leave me a like, a comment, and don't forget to come back every Friday for the next chapter!

Chapter 5

Nightmares

Riath was floating in Sythis’ Void. Stars and space spun around her in an endless dance dazzling her already confused mind. She was dragged forward soaring past nebulae and galaxies till she was going so fast the lights blurred together into long trails. After a time Riath sensed herself slowing.

The light returned to normal letting Riath take in her surroundings. She was hovering around a planet covered in thick gold clouds shining bright against the dark backdrop. As she approached Riath saw several metallic rings spinning around the clouded rock.

Riath was shocked when she realized the rings were man made. One was still under constructed. She could see thousands of man-sized metallic wasps adding metal plates to the structure fusing the pieces together with torches in tight air bubbles.

Ships so large they staggered Riath’s imagination dragged rocks the size of small moons to the construction site. Once there the metal wasps used bright blinding lights to cut them to pieces. The ore inside was refined into metal, and then processed into plates. The plates were then sent to the unfinished ring, and the excess rock was launched into the void. Riath was mesmerized by the display, but then felt herself move toward one of the completed black rings.

Jagged towers attempted to skewer the golden clouds from the metal band. It kind of made Riath feel like the planet was being swallowed by a cosmic leech. In and out of the man made beasts flew floating platforms with all manner of establishments on their surfaces. Most of those held plush neighborhoods with similar tall serrated buildings for houses, but unlike the towers were painted all kinds of bright colors. One dais had a river that flowed around its outside parameter like a souring current. Riath could see swimmers diving out of one side of the water to land in a loop farther on. She didn’t know how it worked, but she wanted one.

Riath also saw an odd train traveling at breakneck speeds on a track that seemed to have no purpose or point other than to make the travelers vomit. If you’re wondering that’s a roller-coaster, but give the girl a break she’s never seen anything like it before.

Riath turned to see one of the neighborhoods fly directly into her path. At first she panicked thinking her little joy ride would have a destructive end, but instead she floated down to its surface right up to a green park filled with silver haired children.

They swarmed like shining ants over three longboat styled jungle gyms. They laughed and squirted each other with long streams of water that shot out of gargoyles. It seemed to be some kind of playground.

One lanky kid with bright purple eyes caught Riath’s attention. He was a brave little punk swaying gracefully up the mast of the closest ship with a simple lack of self-preservation. He made the mage nostalgic for her own childhood climbing the giant trees of Siaycon.

The brash boy yelled and waved at the stoic silver and violet headed grownups on the fringes of the park. Most of them gave the adventurous boy disapproving looks, but that didn’t seem to bother the tiny rebel.

A sweet female voice droned into the air in a language so harsh it seemed to be enraged at the very thought of cuteness in the universe. The irony wasn’t lost on Riath as she watched the dais turn around and latch itself to the inside of one of the rings.

She soon noticed that the children were being herded indoors by their uptight elders. It took a second or two, but Riath soon found out why. There was a thick boiling thunderstorm rolling across the metallic ring and serrated city. So they had weather on this metal hoop? What a strange idea.

Riath expected to be dragged off to another cosmic sight, but instead remained firmly in place. Or as firmly in place as one can be in an out of body experience. She was confused till she noticed the free spirited boy was still on the playground.

He was hiding on the closest ship’s figure head which resembled a spider crossed with a dragon. There was another silver haired boy on the far ship who looked just like the lanky kid, but was heavy set and would probably have a golem’s body when he grew up.

It didn’t take long for them to spray each other with the gargoyle heads. They enjoyed their water war till a third figure appeared. He was a few years older than the other two, and had jet black hair under his dark hood. The newcomer joined the battle with bright green mischievous eyes.

Riath couldn’t place it, but something about the intruder unnerved her. Something in his walk with its loose confident strides, something in his eyes that let out a foreboding glow, something told her he wasn’t what he seemed.

The hooded kid threw his head back in a bodacious laugh that made Riath’s heart skip a beat. His teeth were sharper than the black skyscrapers! His smile made him look like a crocodile trying to copy its prey’s morbid grin.

Riath wanted to scream at the boys to run. She wanted to tell them to not trust those tempting emerald eyes. To stay away from those sharp incisors, but she couldn’t. She could only watch as the storm clouds drew ever closer over the black city.

Riath kept expecting the wolf in boy’s clothing to strike, but he never did. She was beginning to think that teeth like that were normal. Maybe all boys in this world grew teeth sharper then surge devil’s tusks. That was possible right?

The hooded kid suddenly stiffened sending an even sharper wave of tension through Riath’s conscious. He smiled a grin so broad it would have made a jack-o-lantern jealous. The lanky boy noticed too, and looked toward the entrance of the park. Riath followed his gaze to four men who couldn’t have stood out more if they had giant neon signs glued to their heads.

Three of them were in suits, and looked like they were bodyguards. The man in the center was in what Riath imagined was a running suite, but his expansive gut wouldn’t let him run properly. It didn’t help that they were at a kids’ park without any kids.

They “jogged” over to a bench next to a gnarled tree with yellow hanging vines. The man in the track suite left a brief case next to the tree’s roots then turned to leave. He stopped dead in his tracks when the hooded boy appeared out of thin air blocking his path.

Riath flipped her eyes back to the ships for an instant to see the silver haired children as confused as she was. By the time her eyes had returned the hooded monster had shown his true colors.

Riath gasped. The boy had gone through a terrifying transformation. His eyes were burning emerald flames; his jaws were three times their normal size but still couldn’t fit his overflowing dagger teeth. The track suite man was hanging like an overused rag-doll from those exaggerated jaws. If the boy had looked like a crocodile before he now looked like a demented raptor showing off its latest catch.

The bodyguards were all dead. One was nothing but a smoldering pile of ash. Another’s head looked like it had been ripped off by a rabid bear in a frenzy, and the last was completely drained of all his blood.

A sickening splat dragged Riath’s attention back to the hooded boy who hung like a grotesque bat from the tree’s branches. He’d chewed through his prey’s neck dropping the bag of meat. The impact sprayed gore all over the cement path, and his burning eyes seemed to bore right through Riath’s skull. It was almost like he could see her.

“Riath are you going to sleep forever?” the Saggin recoiled at the sound of Shial’s voice coming out of the monster’s mouth.

“Riath just wake up!” The monster spoke again. It was like it wanted to cry with Shial’s voice through the blood and skin stuck in its massive jaws. The air fizzled around the boy vomiting a new nightmare: a puppet like man with no face.

All it had was a white void of skin where its face should have been. Its presence stabbed Riath’s mind with searing pain like thousands of needles were boring into her skull.

“Riath,” the boy was in her face now; his flaming eyes hungry and wild.

“Riath… please wake up,” the boy licked his fangs making his leer ravenous.

Riath woke up screaming. She lunged with the wolf sword in her hand. Its scars burned a fierce blue, and electricity danced off the blade sparking through the tight ship cabin.

It took a second for Riath to recognize she was in pain. It took a little longer to realize she was still screaming, and it took far too long for her to notice she was pressing the lightning saber against Shial’s throat.

Riath dropped the sword with shaking hands. She would have fallen back into the tiny bunk in The Kiasha’s Wrath’s sick bay if Shial hadn’t of entangled her in a wild hug. Riath grimaced, and tried to not crush her bunk’s handles as her friend sobbed on her shoulder.

She could feel her ribs screaming, but Riath wasn’t about to kick Shial off. She couldn’t remember the last time the Man-Eater had cried.

“What were you thinking Saggin? Do you know what our Trianthan would have done to me if I had come home without you?” Riath smiled through the pain. The Trianthan was the Chief Priestess of the Esinali, and just so happened to be Riath’s mother. Eventually Shial’s grip slackened enough to let Riath answer without destroying her ribs.

“What? And here I was thinking you were actually worried about me Man-Eater.”

“As if! You’re such a pain in the ass! Yiolem had to carry you all the way back to the ship.”

“Nice to know we put the giant to use. I was afraid you had carried me. Now that would have been embarrassing.” Both girls laughed.

Shial backed off Riath’s twitching body much to the younger mercenary’s relief. Tears streamed down from the Man-Eater’s dark eyes mixing with a smile that crinkled her linith tattoos. Wait a minute!

“Shial, when did you get the crown of the Sythis Dancer, and why aren’t we celebrating?” Riath cried.

She pointed to the swirling blue tribal design on her friend’s forehead her hazel eyes sparkling at the sight. You wouldn’t be able to read them, but in the old Le Kia tongue it read “Unbridled Man-eater”.

Shial laughed before answering,” I got mine last night. And so did you by the way.”

The dark haired warrior pointed at mirror next to her friend’s bunk. Riath snatched up the mirror, and saw a swirling scarlet tattoo etched into her forehead and cheeks. Hers read “Untamable Saggin”.

“Shadow Shen said being in a fever dream was no excuse for missing the ceremony so we had it in the infirmary. You can thank him later. And let me tell you be happy you were asleep. Packing all those testosterone filled blockheads in here made it hotter than Siaycon in the summer.”

“Sweaty too by the sound of it.”

“Ug don’t even get me started about the smell.”

Both girls laughed in bliss. Riath felt like letting it go on, but she had a few pressing questions.

“Shial what happened? I remember frying that snake, but after that it gets fuzzy.”

“Well, Saggin. Maybe next time don’t grab the demon sword we were sent to steal eh? The doc says it melded with you. She thinks it granted you a wish or something like that. You must have really wanted to kill that snake.”

“Can you blame me? That thing was terrifying! Not to mention it smelled worse than Yiolem’s socks.”

“True, but the doc says there some kind of wraith or demon is in this sword, and it takes a toll for every wish it grants. In this case energy, and I’d say a lot of it. You’ve been out for three days.”

“Is that all? Seems like a fair trade.”

“It almost killed you.”

“But it didn’t,” Riath studied the ordinate blade. It seemed to glow brighter with the attention which was a little disconcerting. She had to admit it felt alive.

Maybe that had more to do with being in the doc’s office. She had a bad habit of strewing all her scalpels, test tubes, and nightmarish life mage equipment about the mini infirmary. It made the place feel like a mad scientist’s den instead of a medical ward.

Not that an insane doctor’s lab was far from the mark when it came to life mages and their “healing”. Regardless it made the idea of a demon sword coming to life feel more plausible.

“What could somebody do with a demon blade?”

“Don’t get any ideas Riath! Doc says whatever this thing is it’s dangerous. She could tell that it’s trying to connect with your mind. It might be trying to dominate you.”

“If it’s so scary why didn’t she take it away?”

Shial signaled with her hand for Riath to pass the cutlass over. Riath was surprised at how hard it was to let the sword go. Maybe this demon thing was effecting her more than she thought.

Growling into her mind Riath pushed through the resistance. She handed the saber over to her friend with a slight tremor running through her body. She blamed it on her healing ribs, and it wasn’t a complete lie. Her chest was still throbbing from Shial’s bear hug.

The dark haired warrior narrowed her eyes, but stalked off to the door without a word. Still glaring, Shial swung the sword. Before the swing finished its ark the blade dispersed into electricity reforming itself in Riath’s hand.

She blinked several times. Riath could feel her auburn hair stand on end from the excessive static, and jumped when a latent spark danced off the demon sword’s handle. Her eyes went wide. This thing can warp? Awesome!

“That happens every time we take it too far away or try to use it. Yiolem almost lost an arm trying to force it to stay on him. The doc and Sinbad don’t like it, but that sword likes you and it’s not letting go any time soon.”

Riath had trouble hiding her grin as she traced the sword’s electric engravings. She could have been crazy, but she could have sworn she felt the thing rumble almost like it was purring in response.

It was like petting a sharp metallic linux of legend. Of course, unlike those ancient winged felines this was a weapon possessed by a demon. Riath knew she should have been a tad more disturbed at the idea of a netherworld spirit getting so attached to her. They weren’t known for being civil towards mortals.

Not that it mattered. Riath was going to have to deliver it to their client. She doubted even an immortal from the void could consume her that fast. Still, Riath couldn’t help wanting to keep the possessed saber.

It was a pity. Her Trianthan would have gotten a kick out of her wielding a demon blade for the tribe. But a more pressing matter was at hand that Riath’s feminine ears latched onto faster than a leech on life mage steroids.

“What’s this? Are you on a first name bases with the Shadow Shen? He’s Sinbad now is he?” Shial smiled. She sat back down with satisfied light in her dark brown eyes before answering.

“That’s right. I can never pronounce that abomination his mother called him, but that charim isn’t my superior anymore. No more excuses left for my Sinbad. He’s coming with us to Saiycon to meet my parents. Oh wait, I mean to ‘overlook’ the jump jet transfer and help ‘train’ more Esinali, of course.”

Another wave of giggles filled the room. Their conversation went to the islands back home. They talked about the cliffs they would climb, which Esinali would be the best new Sythis Dancers, and what test Shial was going to put her now official irrasen through during their wedding ceremony.

On that note irrasen is basically a fiancé. Just for future reference irraseth is husband. We good? What’s that? You want to know what a linux is. Calm down, I’ll get to it. For now think of it as a leopard with phoenix wings that may or may not be a skin walker. Depends on the linux; anyway back to the infirmary.

The Doc came back after a while, and demanded a check up on the troublesome Esinali warrior. Shial refused to leave much to the purple skinned life mage’s annoyance, but there was no getting rid of the Man-Eater when she was being stubborn.

The normally high-mannered doctor almost put all three Esinali into a coma when Yiolim barged in. He shouted to the world in his most obnoxious voice that he knew the Saggin was going to pull through.

Riath couldn’t hold back her laughter at the giant’s pranks no matter how much it hurt her ribs. Come to think of it her ribs were way too tender. Was the doc holding out on her? Why hadn’t she used any Hazzel root or Hennel thorns to patch her up?

“Hey Doc, did I piss you off again? I didn’t mean to let that cluster of stinger urchins out of their cage I promise! You can patch me up really you can!”

“Saggin I’ve already patched you up. Try to be a big girl.”

“My body thinks you did a crap job doc. Talk to it not me.”

“Humph, if your brain had been smart enough to not grab a demonic sword undergoing a netherworld consumption ritual, you would be surfing missiles by now. You could at least pretend to think before you act every now and then. Crusher I need you to wait in the hall. I have to take off the Saggin’s shirt, and I don’t need you drooling.”

Yiolem crinkled his new maroon tattoos that read “The Crushing Devil.” He raised a single knowing eyebrow at Riath. She could feel another wave of painful laughter coming on. That look spoke a language only childhood friends could speak. This ought to be fun.

“Aw doc Riath doesn’t mind, and I won’t be doing any drooling. Unless of course you’re taking your shirt off. Cause if that’s the case I’m definitely staying right here!” To prove his point the boisterous giant crashed into a metal folding chair, and began studying the Doc’s robust figure with high expectation written across his face.

Both Shial and Riath snickered in the background. Doctor Himock crossed her arms putting her body into the most high class feminine pose Riath had ever seen. She could remember a couple of the other mercs hitting on the attractive doctor before, but Yiolim was the only one who did it more than once. Maybe deep down he was a masochist. Considering he grew up with Shial that wouldn’t be that surprising.

A few seconds later Crusher was running from the room. A swarm of winged fish with several serrated appendages sticking out of their rainbow colored foreheads chasing him from the infirmary. Riath wondered if the Doc knew that kind of reaction just made Yiolem come back for more.

If anything all three Esinalians loved to pester the doc just to see what other insane exotic species the high mannered lady had caged up in her office. Somehow Riath thought the Doc knew. She could always catch a half smile tugging on the life mage’s speckled violet face whenever Yiolim bounded into a room.

“Oh crap, Shial! This is nuts!” Riath said with mock horror on her face.

“What?”

“I just realized the Doc’s a sadist! I should have known.”

Both girls laughed again not letting up even when the life mage chased Shial out of the infirmary with a spider that had hairy crab pincers and tentacles to boot. For a second Riath was afraid her punishment would involve the monstrosity, but the nightmarish creature disappeared under the doc’s desk just before the life mage pounced.

Soon she had needled Riath’s ribs so mercilessly that she thought her bones were trying to skewer her own heart. The Saggin crumbled back into her bunk defeated.

“Now off with your shirt savage before your little friends come back for more,” the doc said pushing her glasses farther up her nose. The Saggin complied wincing at the paralyzing pain. It seemed like her body didn’t want to raise her arms without ripping them off.

Doc sucked in a slight hiss at the black and blue bruises covering Riath’s ribs. With surgeon like precision the doctor’s violet fingers removed several bandages around the Saggin’s chest revealing the Shen Ni tattoos across her back and upper body.

All Le Kia tribesmen had them, and they were required to become a Sythis Dancer. You could always know a tribesman’s specialty from their tribal tattoos.

In Riath’s case she had the Le Kia goddess Kiasha riding a fierce saggin crow. The goddess battled the great three headed, winged serpent that Sythis had released on the world in one of his mad fits.

Kiasha’s presence on her flesh meant warrior. The fact that she was riding a winged beast meant she was a Jump Jet specialist, and the war with the serpent meant she was commando class.

“You’re lucky I’m here Saggin. Like it or not you aren’t one of those beast crows. That sword would’ve killed you by now if all I’d used were Hazzel herbs or even burned through our stock of Hennel thorns. This demon seems intent on draining you dry. Typical male, you’d think he’d at least buy you dinner before he started sucking.”

Riath might have chuckled if her ribs weren’t on fire. The doc applied some kind of mystery ointment and injecting Hazzel herbs into the dark bruises.

It was helping, but it still felt like she was the one being pestered by a swarm of flying saw fish. At least the crab-spider-squid thing was staying under the desk. Where in Homen’s pit had the doc found such a freak of nature?

“You do understand don’t you savage? Whatever subconscious deal you made with this demon has allowed it to drain your magical energy; no matter how much I pump into you it steals it before you can heal. It’s like a screecher leech possessed by a thousand wraiths. I’m not going to lie it’s frustrating,” Riath wished that the Doc would take her frustration out on Yiolem and not on her chest. To distract herself from the pain Riath started tracing the shining scarlet tattoos running along her body in the mirror next to the bunk.

The Saggin crow’s great feathered wings spread across her back and chest. Its featherless lizard head barred its rows of shark like teeth at the three headed cobra while its four clawed limbs ripped at the snake’s body. The saggin crow was known for being untamable, wild, and fiercely territorial something Riath and the great hunter had in common.

Life mages claimed that the beasts didn’t fight so much for territory or food as much as for fun. It had been her nickname ever since she helped her mother fight off a rampaging sea monster.

That Vianan crab was so big it had trees growing on its shell. Riath might have set said trees on fire, and watched the crab panic before her mother impaled it. So what if she liked to play with her food? All the dumb crab had to do was submerge and it would’ve put out the fire.

“You aren’t going to pass out on me are you wildling? Bet the boys would get a kick out of that,” Riath glared at the chuckling doctor. Doc pushed up her glasses up her nose again before wrapping up her patient’s wounds.

It still hurt so Riath resumed her tracing. This time she followed the lines making up the three headed cobra being skewered by a katana. The snake’s tail started at her feet, wrapped around her right leg and stomach before the heads met Kiasha on her shoulder blades.

Riath couldn’t help smiling through the pain. The tattoos were gorgeous. The Le Kia craftsmen were incredible, and it would be a fun surprise for her irraseth whenever she got around to finding one. Assuming whoever he was could survive the process.

“All done. You can stop grinning like an insane masochist now. By the way rest up, we’re delivering the sword tomorrow. The client said he knows how to break the demon’s curse so just stay alive a little longer.” Riath nodded.

Doc backed off with worry all over her deep blue eyes which were the same color as the fins running along the life mage’s arms and legs. Funny how the sail that followed her spine down the Doc’s back didn’t match the color scheme. Instead it was multicolored and shimmered in the light. Life mages were interesting creatures that was for sure.

“Did you hear me little savage? Another day and we’ll be rid of that over stimulated demon. So no stunts alright?”

Riath nodded and shrugged. She had mixed feelings on the subject. Still, Riath had to admit it would be nice to heal, and not be constantly needled by this greened haired sadist.

_________

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