Raising the next Demon Lord Chapter 4

Raising the next Demon Lord Chapter 4

 

Part 1

The warrior woman, Abagail Pewter stood encircled by Clayton and his band of blood thirsty demon hunters, hand itching at the chance to draw her sword. Timaios, son of the demon lord, cowered behind the legs of his would-be protector as she locked eyes with the monstrously bulky, one-eyed leader of the band of hunters himself. “Hey now, miss hero! You and your husband in need of a little assistance? Seems you got yourselves into a bit of a demon themed issue.” He laughed.

“…” Without a word, Abagail assessed the situation. (Five men, Kris is down and could be in serious danger, and…I’ve got the kid.) She chuckled to herself surprising the demon hunters. “I’ve been in worse situations. Out with it! You don’t need to put on a front anymore now that it’s just us.”

“Straight to the point! If not for the fact that you were a demon loving b***h, I’d make you my woman. First, let me say, I respect the hell out of you two. Making it this far in the Zeme forest is incredible. I’ve been running these woods since I was a kid and wouldn’t have been able to catch up to you guys otherwise.” Clayton clapped patronizingly. “Second, come on now, ma’am, hand over the kid.”

“…” Abagail simply stared at Clayton.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m being a really nice guy here. Most people would have you two drawn and quartered for keeping the Demon Lord’s brat safe.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Timaios’s small pale hand clasped Abagail strong leg tightly as he looked on in fear.

“Then why do it? If you hand him over now, we can just pretend like it never happened. We’ll go to Zeme, bring the kid to the knight captain and he’ll lop the little b*****d’s head clean off. Simple. We’ll get a reward and you guys don’t have to do a thing. Everyone wins!”

“…” Abagail thought about how easy it would be to go along with the plan Clayton proposed. It would be easy to turn over the demonic spawn she despised so much. Kris was unconscious, so he’d never know what truly happened. Every time Abagail looked at the crimson red hair, pale skin and pitch-black horn adorning his head, like his father, like Demon Lord Uzziel, she was reminded of the grievous wound that the Demon Lord had inflicted on her. It was the most agonizing pain she’d ever experienced nearly killing her and ending a dream she’d always had. (What if this boy…becomes like that?) The thought of all those who’d been killed at Timaios’s father’s hands flashed in her memory.

“I see it in your eyes, you know. What I said before about you loving demons, I take it back. Just like us, you hate them too.”

“No.”

“Huh?”

“No…to everything. Go f**k yourselves.” Abagail gave them an answer, to which the large vain in Clayton’s forehead reacted by looking like it was exploding.

“Suit yourself. Kill the b***h and her husband, then grab the kid.” Three of the other demon hunters brought out spears, while one pulled a crossbow. Abagail slowly drew her broadsword, pushing Timaios aside.

The man with the crossbow launched a bolt directed at Kris, but it was stopped by Abagail midflight. Abagail shot the man a look akin to a lioness protecting its own. “That how you want to play? Fine!” Abagail snapped the arrow in her hand and charged. With her sword held high overhead, she aimed to cleave the man in two, but an enormous shadow closing in caused Abagail to rethink that. Gracefully, she jumped back, barely avoiding the massive blade of Clayton’s greataxe.

“Hah! You’re quick, little lady. I saw how strong you were before, and I assumed you were just all upper body, but with legs like those, guess I should’ve realized.” Clayton joked with what was supposed to be a wink despite only having one eye. “This here bad boy is perfect for chopping up demons, but I wonder how it’ll work on a former hero.” The one-eyed man bellowed a hearty laugh while patting the axe’s head.

“You talk too much.” In from behind, two men thrust their spears toward Abagail. She jumped, dodging the attacks and landed back on the polearms while slaming the hilt of her sword into the face of one of the men, then ran her knee into the side of the other’s head, knocking him out cold. “This is YOUR last chance. Leave us alone.” Abagail pointed her blade at Clayton’s chest awaiting her answer.

“Hmm…? Let me think…no. Is no a good answer? I’d like to say ‘No’!” His grandstanding only served to annoy Abagail.

“Have it your-” Just as the warrior woman readied herself to attack an explosion of smoke shot up from beneath her. The man she’d hit with the hilt of her sword was still conscious as she’d played right into their hands. The demon hunter grabbed her from behind, holding her in place. Without a chance to defend herself, the huge blade of Clayton’s great-axe hung above Abagail’s head, ready to end her life in an instant.

Part 2

(This dream again…?) A small boy walked alongside a carriage, his dirty brown hair being covered in the falling snow as it made its way toward the ground, piling up beneath his feet. (These dreams - no, memories are the worst…) Alongside him was another small boy. They staggered as the other small boy slowly lagged behind until he fell to the ground. A large man came up to the collapsed child and began nudge him with his boot. The collapsed boy never responded. The man pulled a knife off of the dead boy’s belt and walked up to the dirty brown-haired boy, gifting it to him, regardless of how he felt. (I don’t want this. It’s not mine…) He wanted to say but it didn’t matter. The carriage continued on as the boy watched as the boy’s body disappear beneath the snow, fading into the distance.

A small castle came into view. The carriage stopped as men began unloading barrels and crates. The boy helped as much as he could, but for a child of his size, it wasn’t possible to lift much more than one thing at a time. They finished moving the supplies into the castle, but the boy was denied entry. (Someone must watch the cart? That’s unfair…) He sat out in the carriage, looking over his shoulder, readying a small bow and arrow. A sound came from the front of the cart alerting him. When he jumped to see where the noise originated, he was surprised to see a demon, a fire sprite.

The sprite was no bigger than a girl’s doll and just as pretty. Using its flaming fingers, the demon dug through a barrel of equipment that the men had neglected, with wistful fiery hair dancing about atop the creature’s head. The sprite noticed the boy as he readied his bow. As the creature backed away slowly, looking up with its large marble-like eyes. The dirty-brown-haired boy looked beyond it into the woods. He could see another fire sprite with far dimmer flames covering its body and bright eyes less lively. The boy lowered his bow as the sprite ripped off a piece of wood and ran back to the weaker sprite. It gave the weak fire sprite the wood, kindling it in the creature’s body; no longer seeming fragile, it stood up, regaining some strength. They danced away as the boy looked on, a little confused but satisfied.

A whistle rang out, and as the boy turned he noticed a group of people raiding the castle. They’d snuck up on him and there were many, many large soldiers. The boy unleashed his bow without a second thought. (Oh right…this is how it used to feel. I don’t like it anymore. It was…too easy.) The head, the chest, the head, the chest. The boy killed one after another as his group finally exited the castle, fighting for their lives. They were out numbered and unprepared. The man from before called for the boy, to which he responded by leaping from the carriage and rushing to his side. The boy killed two men on his way to the top of the castle; unleashing his last arrow on a man attempting to climb the staircases. He wanted to protect the man, so he drew the knife he was gifted and plug the blade into a soldier’s neck who was pinning that man down. The boy and the man were backed into a corner, the only escape was through an open window, and down four stories to the unforgiving ground.

The man pushed the boy forward into the crowd of soldiers and jumped through the window. A loud crash could be heard as the boy looked out and saw the man hobbling away into the woods. He felt no hatred for the man, as he knew what his fate was. A tool, just a tool, and he’d served his purpose.

Part 3

Short of breath, clothes tattered, and body bruised, Abagail stood criticizing and disappointed in herself. “I wasn’t prepared for this…it’s been so long since I’d last fought a group of people that I let my guard down.” Two men lay dead at her feet as Clayton sneered.

“Those men…” He groaned and then continued. “Are you telling me…that I lost two of my men because of a f*****g demon? Lady, you can’t be serious!”

“You lost two of your men because you refused to yield. I warned you that I wasn’t going to hold back.” She said, showcasing false confidence. The problem was the crossbow trained on her by one demon hunter, a man yet untouched with his spear drawn, not even counting Clayton and his giant axe, Abagail was at a disadvantage. (This isn’t good. Should I just give up the kid? No. Too late for that now. They’d just kill us anyway. Kris Pewter, I love you, but you get me in way too many of these situations.)

“B-boss…I don’t want to die…” One of the men said to Clayton.

Abagail picked up on the man’s words. “Then run!” She shouted. “Leave and I won’t give chase!” (Come on…run away! I just need to make this situation a little better.)

“Wait! She’s just playing with you! Soon as you turn your back, she’ll run you through!” The other man called over to his compatriot. “Get her! She’s a demon sympathizer! Lower than dirt!” The man charged, spear in hand. Abagail simply side stepped him thinking he was just being careless, but the man kept going.

“Oh no!” The demon hunter’s target was Timaios and Kris, who laid defenselessly behind her. Abagail got angry, more so than she’d gotten in a long time. She hiked her blade over her head and lurched it back, then with all of her remaining strength threw the broadsword at the man.

From Timaios’s point of view was charging toward him. There was no way to defend himself, so covered his head, scared of what would happen, but he waited though, nothing came. The young boy opened his eyes and saw the man’s body, laying lifelessly on the ground, decapitated. Gruesomely pinned onto a tree with Abagail’s sword, hung the missing head.

“H-Holy s**t, boss! I-I don’t want to die!” The man dropped his crossbow and fled as fast as he could away from the battle.

“…Hmph…” Clayton shrugged. “Guess it’s you…and me, little lady.” He slowly strolled up to Abagail, who was weaponless and exhausted.

“…Fine. Come on!” Abagail took up a fighting stance then jumped at Clayton. He swung his axe as he backed away, but Abagail ducked beneath the blade and continued to move toward him. As wily as a fox and nimble as a cat, she moved out of the way of Clayton’s attacks with ease. A warrior by nature, the woman had forgone her sword in favor of hand-to-hand training on many occasions. With combat expertise specializing in swordplay it wasn’t ideal to challenge someone so much bigger, but left with no choice, the swordswoman rushed in.

“Damnit!” Clayton began swinging his great-axe with incredible speed. Abagail was surprised by how fast he was, but she was able to weave into the attacker’s blind spot on his left side. His missing eye was a disadvantage no matter how used to fighting with it he was.

“Got you!” Abagail had locked her thick legs around the massive neck of the demon hunter. She gripped her hands onto his huge chin hoping to end the fight by snapping his neck quickly. She gripped tight, but Clayton dropped his axe and grabbed Abagail’s hands. He threw himself back onto the ground, sandwiching Abagail between his muscular body and the ground. “Gahh…!” Abagail kept her legs firmly locked, but in her daze didn’t notice the man get back to his feet backing into a tree as hard as he could. “Geh…”

Clayton grabbed Abagail by her hair and slammed her onto the ground. “G-Geez…” Clayton coughed. He quickly jumped onto Abagail pinning her arms down. “You…gave me a lot of trouble…those men…were all close to me, you know that!?” He reeled back his fist, then gave her a shot to the face, dazing Abagail further. “…I’ll break your neck…I’ll paralyze ya’…then I’ll make you watch as I kill your b*****d husband.” Clayton gripped Abagail’s neck as she weakly pawed at his hands.

“S-S**t…” With one of her eyes beginning to swell, inhibiting her vision, along with what seemed to be a concussion from the previous head trauma, the situation was turning even more dire by the second. Abagail turned to see her husband laying defenseless; she wanted to fight back as stunned as she was though, it’d have been impossible. As her consciousness began to fade the cry Timaios made while charging toward clayton at full speed with his head down woke her back up.

“ARRHHHH! GET OFF MISS ABAGAIL!!!” The young demon child hollered as he drove his horn deep into Clayton’s side.

“GAAHHHH!!!!” The man released his grip on Abagail as he stood up. He writhed in pain as Timaios’s horn was lodged deep into his ribs. Timaios had jammed the jagged horn so perfectly as to get it caught in between the bones of Clayton’s ribcage. “F**k…off me!” The massive demon hunter reached to grab Timaios, but with his large muscular body, he was unable to. Timaios gripped tightly with his small hands to avoid being tossed off. “Enough of this!” Clayton stretched his arm back and grabbed the young boy’s cloak and his great-axe. He gestured to jam the blade into Timaios’s back; until he was stopped by what felt like he’d been hit in the side of the head with a mallet. Abagail leapt to her feet with fire in her eyes, slamming her knee into the man’s temple, hoping to drive it straight through his dome like a spear througha watermelon.

Timaios was swung off of Clayton, thrown to the ground alongside the exhausted Abagail, who’d spent the last of her energy on that attack. Timaios looked toward his protector as she lay on the ground gathering herself. Both Clayton and Abagail got to their feet, the demon hunter’s colossal frame towering over the warrior woman. “Run…boy, run!” Abagail reached for her broadsword that had remained stuck in a tree, pinning the decapitated demon hunter’s head. She pulled it from the trunk as the demon hunter’s leader grabbed his axe. Abagail fought violently, pushing ever forward, swinging her blade with reckless abandon as her footing got more and more uneven, while Clayton could only block her fevered assault. The blows she’d gotten to the head were taking their toll coupled with exhaustion she wouldn’t last long. “Stop standing there! Run away!” Sadly, Abagail’s act of bravery only yielded pain as Clayton swung his axe down, shattering the blade of Abagail’s broadsword and then charged her with his shoulder sending her flying.

“Mrs. Abagail!” Timaios screamed as Abagail rolled back to her feet, just barely stopping in next to Kris. She’d lost her broken sword during the fall and before she had a chance to respond, Clayton had caught up to her with the massive weapon over his head. “No!!”

Part 4

Cold steel wrapping his wrists and the unsteady, rocky path needing to be traversed made the captured boy fear that at any moment he’d fall down the mountain slope with no way of protecting himself. (Looking back…they probably only kept me, since they thought I was going to be of use.) He wasn’t allowed to ride in the carriage, no, that was for the important cargo, being the spoils of their recently won battle. A man who was walking far too fast dragged the boy along by his chains. The soldier kept his gaze ahead, paying no mind to the child barely keeping up with him. Looking around, he saw other children, human and demon alike, all trudging along in a line, hands in shackles and silently following suit. The man turned and spoke with someone, a demon. The demon’s pitch-black body radiated small particles. Darker than night, the black face of the demon looked back at the boy and then whispered to the man. (That was the first time I’d seen him.)

The carriage reached a small village, hidden away on the side of a mountain range. After storing the carriage away, the boy was brought into a jail cell, leaving him alongside another boy with long raven-hair. Eventually, the all black demon - the shadowman came to the boys’ cell. With a wide smile on his face, every day the shadowman brought them food, then again, and again, each day with a joyous glow about him. (He was always nice to us.) The shadowman opened the cell after a few days and released the children. They were allowed to leave. The dirty-brown-haired boy led the timid raven-haired boy around a small convent built into the side of mountain. Another demon stopped the children as they walked about. A woman with squirrel ears and a squirrel tail, eagerly waving about as she hugged the children, lifting them off their feet. (Oh yeah…I missed this.) The shadowman and the beastkin woman both began caring for the boys. The shadowman trained with the boys, teaching them how to use weapons and the squirrel woman showed them how to climb trees and forage for food.

The boys began traveling with the group. Man and demon alike were a part of the caravan; it was an unbelievable sight for many. They came across a town that’d been burned to the ground during a battle between demons and men. Scorched ground ebbed beneath the boy’s feet as he walked about the village, slowly making his way to investigate odd sounds off in the distance. (Ah…this memory…of all the memories to think about…) A group of bandits suddenly attacked. There wasn’t enough time to respond and the boy’s group was captured. They were forced to kneel as a man slowly limped down a line of them. When the limping man reached the dirty-brown-haired boy, the boy looked up and was met with the man who abandoned him long ago. He smiled and grabbed the boy up by his arm. (He said that he was happy to have me back. Saying he’d paid so much for me and he was happy to have not wasted money.) The shadow man stood up and reached for the boy, but the man struck him down with the hilt of his sword. The tip of its blade was placed at the throat of the shadowman; the boys, the two of them tried to stop the limping man but were quickly shook off. The man turned his blade onto the raven-haired boy who backed away. (No…not him…my…brother…)

The boy’s brother screamed. The boy gripped his knife, the knife given to him, that he never wanted.

“No!!”

Part 5

(No…what do I do? I can’t block it! I can’t dodge because of Kris! Damnit!) Abagail raised her arms to block the imposing greataxe. (I’ll take it…if only so Kris doesn’t…) There was no way she’d survive such an attack and Abagail knew it. There was no greater plan other than a desperate woman attempting to protect her husband. Something leapt forth with a flash and latched onto Clayton. Out of nowhere, Abagail saw the back of her husband as he charged at the demon hunter.

Kris was barely conscious. “This…b*****d…again, huh?” He said while driving his knife into Clayton’s brawny neck. “I told…you to…go away, right?” His hands trembled as blood gushed from the man’s throat.

“Gah!” He wheezed and hacked as Kris continued to push the blade deeper. Clayton reached for the knife, but Kris drove it deeper and deeper, twisting it, unblinking and unabated without a single thought of remorse, falling to the ground, locking his bloodshot eyes with the man as life drained from his face.

“…Kris…” The ace archer looked up, gazing at Timaios who backed away in terror of the once warm-hearted protector having had changed into a stone-faced killer.

“I…” Clayton’s hand reached up toward Kris’s face setting off an unintentionally brutal side of the man. He gripped the knife tightly and with one fell swoop nearly severed the demon hunter’s head from his body. Kris quickly returned focus to Timaios; the young boy shook in fear. “T-Timaios…sorry you…had to see that…” Kris tried to get back to his feet, but a sudden wave of vertigo over and his still lingering fever prevented that. Without any warning he collapsed again.

“Kris!” Abagail staggered over to her husband, pulling his head onto her lap. “This is bad. His fever is getting worse…his temperature is going up! No, please no! Hang on Kris!”

“Hey, you all! What’s all this then?” A voice followed by several glowing torches came around one of the many trees. Abagail turned to see multiple men clad in knights’ armor.

“Please!” Abagail called out. “W-We need help! Do you have anything to help with spider venom? My husband…he…” She stopped when she noticed an all too familiar face. A tall, older man, handsome, clad in regal knight armor, with long blonde hair and a large sword on his back walked up. “Gerald!?”

“Abagail, Kris!?”

End of Chapter 4