Demons, Mercenaries, and Other Complications Chapter 7

Hello everybody! Sorry for the late upload, but it's finally here: Chapter 7 in my Sci Fi/Fantasy hybrid novel. If you missed Chapter 6 click here. If you want to go to Chapter 8 click here. If you want to start at Chapter 1 click here. Hope you enjoy reading and make sure to come back every Friday for each new chapter!

Chapter 7

Bone Face

It was a dream again, Riath could tell. That didn’t make it any more pleasant, or feel any less real. She was being chased. No, that wasn’t right. The slim silver haired boy from her last dream was being chased.

Riath could feel him panting as he dragged his brother forward through the dark woods under the harsh golden clouds. It was unnaturally dark making them stumble over roots and ruts. Riath didn’t know how, but she knew they had to get to an old leaning water tower sticking up through the trees. They’d be safe there!

Riath turned with the boys’ eyes, and felt needles of pain fry her mind like thousands of angry wasps. There was the faceless man.

She could see him just standing there staring without eyes. The trees warped around him, and the darkness rived like tendrils reaching out to grab his prey. Riath screamed with the boy’s mouth and ran.

The larger brother pressed forward twisting whenever the giant nightmare appeared in front of them. He was everywhere. They just ran. When she thought for sure the monster would have them they reached the tower and everything stopped.

The darkness stopped writhing, the trees became solid once more, and the faceless man was nowhere to be seen. They panted and cried under the tower.

Riath could feel it through the terror. Fierce anguish pulsed through the boy. Something terrible had happened. She didn’t know what, but she knew it had something to do with the faceless man. But they were safe he couldn’t get them here.

The atmosphere fizzled and vomited forth the faceless man. Dozens of arms shot out from his back snatching the panicked children. Riath screamed with them. The pain seared bright and hot through her mind. Then they were sucked into darkness. The last thing she saw was a tiny hooded figure with burning green eyes.

Riath thought she’d wake up then. She tried, but couldn’t. She was just floating in nothingness. It seemed to last for centuries till Riath saw prickles of light appearing on the edge of her vision. The lights multiplied till Riath realized they were stars. She was drifting through space of Sythis’ Void.

A shadow passed over her dragging Riath’s attention to a monstrous vessel with a woman with snakes for hair painted on the side. Small fighters and lumbering drop-ships soared in and out of the space whale dodging the larger ships flanking the carrier’s advance. Riath had never seen anything like it.

She had to chuckle when she saw how over endowed the snake haired woman’s breasts were. Next to the ridiculous mural was the ship’s name: The Medusa. The words were written with the serpents flowing from the painted gorgon’s hair. The sight gave Riath a weird sense of longing almost like it was an old home, or her favorite climbing tree from childhood. She didn’t have time to think about that strange feeling.

With a harsh tug her mind was pulled into the ship’s bridge. An odd sight was waiting for her. Winged teenagers with equal parts stoic and playful expressions flew the ship. Their wings matched their hair. Some were dark others had a broad range of exotic colors and patterns in their feathers.

A set of silver wings caught Riath’s attention when a tall young man marched onto the bridge. His eyes were a deep purple, but his expression was marred by five vicious scars running down his entire face. He nodded to the other boys who seemed to respect him as a superior.

A giant bounded in next to the scar ridden youth. He had the same facial features, but his body was built with enough muscle to discourage tank fire. He was loud and boisterous. Riath could tell even if she couldn’t hear what they were saying.

It was strange. She seemed to know all of them even the boy with a lizard tail and reptilian eyes. Who were these kids?

The mood in the room shifted when all the teenagers turned toward her. No, past her. Riath’s vision followed their eyes. Sitting on a metallic throne with hand crafted space battles jumping off of its surface sat a young man with fierce green eyes. Riath felt her blood go cold as he smiled with pointed teeth.

Riath jumped up with a start. The now familiar demon sword’s scars pulsing in her hand. “This better not become a habit,” Shial growled from under Riath. She was trying to stab her again. What a pain. Speaking of pain Riath winced as a piercing headache jabbed her forehead. With a grunt Shial tossed Riath off her stomach an annoyed expression on her face.

“I’d rather you stop trying to stab me Saggin.”

Shial’s voice rose over the din of thrusters and vibrating metal. The racket was deafening. Their drop ship was fighting the mountain winds. The turbulence was so violent it felt like the ship would shatter across the snowy peaks.

They were delivering the sword. Riath had finally healed, and the client wanted his prize. Why said client wanted to meet in the middle of the mountains was beyond Riath. Maybe he was the dramatic type.

The client had paid. Even gave a bonus for clearing out the Death groupies. It was nice to have a decent employer for a change. The last client ended up getting eviscerated for trying the snub the deal. Yiolem got a kick out of hunting the slime ball down. Not that he gave the great hunter much of a challenge.

“Hey ladies we’re twenty seconds out from the rendezvous suite up,” Shadow Shen’s voice called from the cockpit.

“Aw Sinbad you sure you want me to suite up and not down?” Shial yelled playfully back. Shadow Shen’s head appeared around the corner with the visor on his helmet up so the man-eater could see the irritation written across his face. “I’d rather not freeze to Death man-eater, but if you want to strip I won’t stop you.”

“You hear that Shial your iressen getting cold feet you going to let that happen?” Riath’s headache stabbed her conscious with each word, but it wasn’t everyday she got to screw with Shadow Shen.

“Nah, he just isn’t into the freaky stuff like you Saggin,” Yiolem winked at Sinbad who rolled his eyes. Without a word he disappeared into the cockpit. Riath just laughed with her two friends. Sinbad made things too easy. Still he was right it was time to get to work.

The mercenaries tested their equipment scattered around the “dump” section in the back of the drop-ship. Riath couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in one of these without a jump jet strapped to her back.

She would have wanted more comfortable seats now that she was using them. Was it so hard designing a jump seat that didn’t have metal husks driving into your spine?

The longer she sat in the torture device the more she wished they were jumping out of this bird. To be fair she always wanted to jump. There was nothing like that rush it gave.

“Ten Seconds!” The three mercenaries gave Shadow Shen the thumbs up sign. He joined them with a grunt. Good, Riath wasn’t the only one who hated the jump seats from Homen’s Pit. Of course Riath had never seen any position or furniture that Yiolem couldn’t fall asleep on. Speaking of which…

“Hey Crusher what you doing up ten seconds before touch down? I thought you died of sleep deprivation if you didn’t sleep to the five second mark.” Riath yelled over the increase thrashing. The ship was having trouble fighting the high altitude winds again. That pilot needed to get his head in the game.

“You’re one to talk Saggin I was up before you.”

“Laiyvan’s Fury you’re right! Shial save us the world’s going to explode!”

Riath leaned back pursing her lips at Yiolem’s tight chuckle. She could see her breath condense into cloudy wisps reminding her of the wraiths around the cultist’s alter. She fidgeted with the demon sword at the thought. Why did Crusher have to be so serious?

Yiolem was worried, and he never worried before an operation. It had to be the sword. He probably heard the Doc’s ghost stories about demon weapons.

Shial, Yiolem, and Riath had been through a lot together. The brother and sister could tell when their Chief Priestess to be was covering pain. They should calm down. It wasn’t that bad. Riath had felt worse.

If it wasn’t for the nightmares she wouldn’t have noticed. It helped that the demon sword had let her heal a few hours ago. The doc was wary of the drain starting up again, but the client said he knew how to separate Riath from the sword so she let her go.

If she was honest Riath was having a hard time thinking of the wolf sword as an “it”. Maybe it was the craftsmanship that seemed to bring the wolf head alive, or perhaps the sparking scars gave the blade character.

Whatever the reason was Riath didn’t want to see her new sword go. It was almost like she was parting with an old friend. It was a bittersweet thing since she also knew her nightmares had something to do with its mental probing. She could’ve had less of that whatever “that” was.

The faceless man was always there chasing the silver haired boy and his brother. Every time she closed her eyes the monster would appear in her dreams. Whatever it was Riath didn’t like it. She kind of felt like the demon blade was trying to tell her something. Hell if she knew what.

All she could make out of it was: “Don’t trust the creepy guy without a face.” That seemed a little unnecessary. Who wouldn’t run from that thing? Still she felt like there was more to it than that. Man she was losing it.

It’s a demon after all. It only wants energy or sacrifices if not both. Still it bothered her. She could feel the boy’s fear, his playfulness on the bridge, all of it. But one thing confused her. Okay a lot of things confused her, but that wasn’t the point. What bothered her the most was that green eyed boy with the raptor teeth.

Sometimes the dreams showed him as a monster. A beast that killed hoards of people with an insane grin plastered across his face. Other times he seemed to be a protector driving the faceless demon back. It was odd.

For some reason she felt like the demon sword wanted to find that kid with monster fangs. Was he the demon’s last wielder? Was he going to come for the sword? That’s just the kind of pain in the ass Riath needed. A cosmic custody battle with monsters and demons, what could go wrong?

Well, it wasn’t something worth worrying about. The sword would be the client’s problem soon enough.

The jump ship shuddered. With a harsh slam the dropship touched down. Riath reminded herself to pester the pilot later for the sloppy landing. She couldn’t remember the last time she had an opportunity to mess with the pilots. It was uncanny how good the Le Kia flyboys were.

Frigid air assaulted Riath body through her insulated suite. The back of the ship opened revealing a snow covered peak. Shadow Shen appeared next to Riath with his carbine, and signaled Yiolem to take point. The deal said only four people and one pilot could be part of the drop.

Riath knew Shadow Shen wanted a whole squad with jump jets, but the client had been adamant. All the same Riath could see The Kiasha’s Revenge circling like a predatory bird amongst the clouds. Any treachery and half the snow laden mountain would be annihilated.

The cus light was bright, and reflected off the purple planet above. It was a fun fact to learn in astronomy class: Myvraid was a moon.

The kids’ especially enjoyed hearing that there were two cus lights, suns or stars if you were wondering. One mammoth star sat at the center of their solar system, and another smaller one circled around the fringes. Without Sythis’ Shadow, the purple planet is Sythis, there would have been no night on Myvraid.

That was the odd thing about Sythis. Despite his violent nature the god of the Void was central to life. It gave the sunset true meaning, and Riath always enjoyed a good sunset. It may have been normal for her to see a giant purple sphere consume the sky, but that didn’t make it any less beautiful.

“Okay, I take it back Shadow Shen. Unless you got a hot springs hidden under this rock my pants are staying on!” Shial yelled over the ice filled wind making Crusher laugh. It was freezing even with their insulated suites, but it was also quite the view.

The highest point on the mountain range littered continent of Tao Chio the home of the Emerald Empire and the Yio Lin Dominion. The peak they stood on was called Mt. Holomos to the emerald junkies and Mt. Mi Onii to the flame boys. Pretty lonely place too since it was only accessible by Vapor Ship. This client sure liked the theatrics.

“Hey Shadow Shen where is this guy? He doesn’t sound like the type to be late,” Riath struggled to be heard over a fresh batch wind and snow flurries. Sinbad studied the mountain for a bit before pointing to a solitary figure on a neighboring peak. The second he did so the figure disappeared, and then reappeared a foot in front of Sinbad’s finger sending all the mercenaries scrambling for their weapons.

“Easy there lads I come in peace, I promise,” a thick accent broke out from under an even thicker bone mask obscuring the man’s face. It was featureless except for two eye holes that were darker than Homen’s Pit. The man’s long blond hair was being ripped by the wind which was weird since it didn’t seem to be effecting the man’s wide brimmed hat. Did he have weights under that thing?

“Ya brought me something right?” Riath couldn’t place the accent which was strange. There were few accents she wasn’t familiar with after all the traveling she did for the Le Kia missions and training.

“Yes we do,” Started Shadow Shen who stepped forward his weapon ready at his side,” do you have the remedy?”

“What? Speak up lad!”

“I said do you have the remedy!”

“Who’s ready?”

“Remedy!”

The dark clothed man chuckled. Riath had to give his mask a double look. It was featureless, but she could have sworn it smiled along with its master.

Creepy. What if that thing was alive like her sword? Riath shivered, but not from the cold. What would it be like to have the demon sword attached to her face?

Riath was so distracted she missed the stranger snapping his fingers. The next thing she knew all of them were inside a sleek metallic room blissfully warm with comfortable looking furniture.

Fancy food was spread out over several coffee tables, and paintings of strange worlds with even odder creatures littered the walls. If she hadn’t been dragged into the quaint little room without being asked Riath might have enjoyed the change in scenery.

Instead she snatched up her carbine like the rest of the mercenaries. A teleporter who effected matter outside of his own body was rare. Depending on how powerful this guy was they could be within a mile of their meeting sight or on the other side of the planet. Hell, some reports have even claimed that certain teleporters could warp to one of the other moons circling Sythis.

As much as she liked the idea of seeing one of those other rocks in the solar system’s cosmic game of chicken Riath would have preferred going under better circumstances. For all she knew she was in a prison.

“Easy there lads and lasses I just wanted to get out of the wind. Sit down eat some food and you there! The one with the Saggin tattoos. You’re the one needing a ‘remedy’ aye?” The masked man motioned an inviting hand to a cushioned stool across from a plush futon.

The mask man sprawled out on the futon with a content look spreading across his mask. Riath shivered again. That thing was disturbing.

Yiolem was the first to lower his sonic cannon. It might have been because that beast could have shredded holes through the walls like Swiss-cheese, and for all they knew they were in the inside of an active volcano. Maybe it was because he recognized they couldn’t kill an employer till he had tried to double cross them, but Riath thought it had more to do with the talsian venison making them all salivate.

She might have judged the giant for crashing on one of the exotic pieces of furniture. She might have even warned the giant about cutting into the tender steak he’d never seen before, but all Riath could think about was how she wanted to tear into the baby salvid peach bowl salad seducing her from the low table. Damn how did they know her one weakness? Who could refuse the fruits lush innards and furry scarlet skins?

“Hold on there Crusher. What did I tell you about accepting meat from strangers?” Sinbad commanded. He was tense, but the Siashen also holstered his carbine and flipped on its safety. Still he kept it loose at his side, and tapped his fire sword with a raised eyebrow.

Riath had to stop herself from laughing when she realized that was the same face Shadow Shen made whenever Shial started flirting with him. It was equal parts curiosity, wariness, and expectation for the unexpected.

She’d have to needle the Man-Eater later about her man treating her like an untamed surge devil trying to convince him to pet her soft white pelt.

“Aw Shadow Shen he seems so nice can’t I trust him?” Yiolem asked still eyeing the meat.

“As a rule no, especially if he’s wearing a mask,” light laughter floated into the room. Their host leaned back into his pure white futon. Their host crossed his legs, and released a cool inviting air like the Devil to Faust.

Shadow Shen stepped forward, and pulled out a small sealed vial from one of his many pouches around his jumper suite. Riath nodded as she lowered her rifle, poison mice. Doc really was prepared for anything wasn’t she? Made the Saggin wonder what else she’d hidden in the Siashen’s pockets.

Sinbad gave a half smile then motioned toward the food. The masked man gave his consent with a nod. That was a good sign at least. In most circles it was rude to check for poison even in the underworld. It was nice to see their employer was practical even if he was a bit different.

Shadow Shen uncorked the vial releasing a small swarm of glowing green specs that flew around the room and into all the different dishes. They were tiny life mage creations with finely tuned immune systems.

If anything in the dishes could be harmful to the human metabolism a portion of the mice would die. It was a simple, but effective. Of course Riath always had nightmares about them after Doc had shown her an enhanced image of one of the gremlins. An animal should only have so many eyes, and only crabs should be allowed to have giant pincers.

The test was soon finished and the microscopic demons went back in their vile much to Riath’s relief. “Nice to know my cook’s not trying to kill me too. Guess I should feel sad you don’t trust me Shadow Beast, but I’d have trouble workin’ with ya if ya trusted me that easy.” The masked man said while the black voids he had for eyes studied the Siashen.

Their employer was well informed. Only Le Kia ever called the Siashen Shadow Beast. True his tattoos screamed his nickname to the world across his forehead. Not to mention the night stalker crypto predator edged across his back, but that didn’t mean outsiders would understand the connection or been able to read the words.

Shadow Shen’s eyebrow shot up again newfound respect on his face. Yiolem for his part started digging into his steak, and Shial lowered her weapon. Of course she also flanked her irassen with a half drawn sword, and a sweet smile that told Riath she might skin the masked man for sneezing. The Man-Eater had always been a tad overprotective.

“So you have my name teleporter do I get yours?” Yolem stopped eating and reached for his blaster at his Shadow Shen’s words.

“Why don’t you call me Bone Face?”

“Now I wonder why they call you that?” Riath said. She didn’t wait for an answer, and instead swooped in claiming a scrumptious salad bowl.

Her mouth started to water just looking at the white frosting mixed with the slightly fury skinned purple fruit. The Le Kia were amazing for teaching her how to jump out of vapor ships, but they had no idea how to make a fruit salad.

Bone Face’s void eyes turned to her. His mask conveyed curiosity through its pure white surface. Riath would’ve been creeped out again, but she had her frosted sugary goodness this time so she was fine. That is of course as long as she didn’t think about the poison-mice walking all over the scrumptious peaches.

“Spunk… aye metal walkers usually enjoy that in a wielder. Sit down my little Le Kia warrior and let’s see why this demon sword is so attached to ya.” Riath looked at Sinbad before accepting the cushioned stool in front of Bone Face. The Siashen nodded, and sat down himself watching the exchange.

He was relaxed yet tense. Riath had no idea how Shadow Shen pulled that off, or how he kept up his menacing air when Shial started feeding him chocolate covered salted seeds. Really though how did he do that?

Bone Face studied her for a time. Or at least Riath thought he did. For all she knew he was sleeping behind his mask. She couldn’t even see his eyes just those twin black pits. He wasn’t blind was he? She’d heard of stranger things happening in Life Mage cities, but she couldn’t help thinking something else was going on here.

“So let’s have it where’s this troublesome sword?”

Riath took another bite of fuzzy peaches to hide her glance at her Siashen. She almost sprayed the delicious fruit across the room when she caught him snap a roasted meat strip out of the air with his teeth.

His face stayed stoic as he lashed out at each piece of meat that was thrown his way by the grinning Man-Eater. The two friends shared a knowing look. Riath took the display as a sign that Shadow Shen hadn’t seen anything to worry about yet.

The Saggin drew the wolf blade, and held it up to the Scotsman. Its scars seemed to glow brighter than normal. She even saw them spark a few times when Bone Face leaned forward. Was she crazy or was the purple gemstone following her employer’s motion? It was almost like a solid Cyclops eye leering out at the world. She could almost see energy humming out of the sword. It seemed like it was responding just being near Bone Face.

For the first time Riath felt like she was holding a monster in her hands. Something terrifying living on her hip, and draining her life-force with each step she took. It was a good thing she had her peaches otherwise Riath might of felt uncomfortable.

“Have ya been havin’ nightmares lass?”

“…Hie.”

“They feel real, but not like anything you’ve ever seen?”

“Hie, do you know what’s going on then?”

“It depends.”

“He’s a pretty one that one is. Don’t you think Bone Face? Picky too by the looks of it,” All the mercenaries in the room jumped, and drew their weapons at the appearance of the unexpected voice. A woman stood behind the Scotsman in a complex flowing black gown with more frilly trim than a Goth culture addict.

Riath was more distracted by the mask that covered the dark haired woman’s face. It was splattered with dry blood and had two pitch black eye-holes, but unlike the smooth surface of Bone Face’s mask this one was covered in stitches.

“Damnit Stitch! I’ve told ya not do that! It’s annoying.” Bone Face yelled over his shoulder at the specter. The stitches on the blood stained mask moved and morphed into a grotesque smile that made Riath’s skin crawl. Too think she had thought Bone Face’s mask was creepy. This thing was almost as bad as that undead hydra snake guardian back with the Death mages. Maybe it was worse since this thing could talk.

“Bone Face you’re being dramatic again.”

“Yeah ya say that till the Le Kia start blow holes in the walls.”

“You can fix them, but I think you’ll need me to deal with our metallic friend here.”

“Aye you’re right, just try a little more tact next time will ya?”

“Yes Scotsman, so what do you want me to do? ‘Remedy’ it? Or make it worse?”

Riath felt her hands tense around her carbine. The demon sword seemed to be trying to imitate the cus lights themselves with how bright its scars were shining. Riath didn’t have to look to know the other mercenaries were spreading out behind her getting ready to strike. They’d never get the chance.

Riath heard the clatter behind her, and knew that couldn’t be good. Riath took several steps back with her carbine at the ready. She turned to see all three mercenaries passed out on the floor. They were still breathing, but they weren’t responding. Riath even jammed the back of her foot into Yiolem’s groin. No response. Okay that really wasn’t good.

The next thing Riath knew her carbine appeared in the Scotsman’s hands as well as her short sword, and crystal bombs. What was going on?

The Saggin could feel herself turning sluggish, but that didn’t make any sense. It couldn’t be the food that was for sure. Doc’s mice were eerie, but effective. So that left a telepathic attack. This was just getting better and better.

“Stitch I’d say it’s time to wake up this metal walker.”

Both masks formed wicked smiles on their smooth surfaces. That was far too creepy for Riath. She smashed the floor expecting the resulting tremors and destruction her rock magic always brought, but nothing happened.

Riath blinked several times then punched the ground once more. A slight vibration went up her arm, but she was pretty sure that was just her muscles screaming after being smashed like that.

What gives? Riath wanted to send rock spikes through those grinning demons’ faces. She’d never had this happen before. Then it struck her. The sword! It was draining her magic energy again. It was like the damn thing wanted to get her killed.

“Maybe I should have listened to the Doc,” Riath thought as her body crumbled to the floor.

She felt her body move, and looked up to see Bone Face carrying her limp form over to a futon. Riath wanted to grunt when she was dropped like so much wasted meat, but couldn’t make a sound.

It was maddening watching the Stitch character walk toward her with a strange dark aura seeping out of her mask. Her captors set the demon sword on Riath’s chest.

The blade started glowing even brighter, blinding even. Both masks seemed to come alive in the fierce light giving the scene a dream like quality. Was this how she was going to die? Paralyzed and surrounded by freaks?

“Relax wielder we’re not going to bite, much,” Stitch’s voice said through a gathering haze in Riath mind. The last thing she saw was the masked fiend’s aura consuming her whole.

_______

The story will continue in Chapter 8 Snakes and Harbingers next Friday.

Click here for Chapter 6.

Click here for Chapter 1.

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