Ria
" When are we getting to your castle?"
My question of how far away the castle was for the thousand time made Arsheus's eye twitch.
Good, I had won round one.
" When we get there"
" But when is that?"
Arsheus's eye twitched again.
This was fun. Now I knew why the kids always behaved like spoiled brats. Getting what you wanted by annoying someone was the best.
" You know, we would get there a lot faster if we just flew"
As with the other multiple times he had suggested it before I took the idea down pretty fast.
" What if they see you? They'll know there's a demon alive. Your wings don't exactly scream angel. Aren't demon's wings supposed to be black?"
Arsheus looked at me with curiosity, as if he couldn't understand me. Of course he didn't. He was lacking a lot of important information, like the reason why I was really shutting down his idea, which had nothing to do with his well-being. I didn't care about him at all. In fact if he were to just die and go back to being a spirit I could easily ignore I would be the happiest woman alive.
" What are you trying to hide?"
My brain went into overdrive and I spout out the first thing that crossed my mind.
" You"
Arsheus's eyebrows furrowed, but fortunately he let it go.
" Let's go. My castle isn't far away from here"
" You've been saying that for over three hours"
" That is close "
The expression of pure confusion on Arsheus's face made my last hopes that this time it was really close disappear. What did he think was far away then?
Even though my whole body didn't shiver form the cold now, whatever magic had been keeping me warm had come back, walking in a light chemise in the middle of winter wasn't the best. I could see my nipples poking through the flimsy fabric. I tried to hide them as well as I could by crossing my arms over them, but I was sure Arsheus had seen them by now. Fortunately if he did he didn't say anything, he kept his eyes straight up ahead as we continued walking.
Walking was hard, every step took all my strength. Unlike Arsheus, who seemed to be walking on grass from how lightly he stepped on the snow, I was a disaster. With each step I took I had to raise my leg to almost my hip to be able to walk and the more we walked the worse it got.
I didn't know where Arsheus's caste was, but I knew we were heading to the frozen mountain range, where the temperature never rose enough to go out without full winter gear.
People had died from frostbite being a few feet away from a raging fire. I could only imagine what would happen to me now that I was wearing just a light chemise. I was really thankful for whatever magic was keeping me warm. It was the only thing that was stopping me from dying from the cold. Although not dying was great I was so warm that I wanted nothing more than to get some sleep. The sleep and me were fighting and sleep was winning the race. The only thing worse that my urge to sleep was the hunger. I was famished.
My whole heart was hoping I was wrong, that we weren't really going to that desolate landscape of snow and cold, but each turn Arsheus took only confirmed my suspicions. We were definitely heading to the mountains.
" Where exactly is your castle?"
" I told you you'll see when we reach it" Arsheus's tone had changed from an slightly annoyed parent to full blown annoyance.
I was glad I had made him react, but I really wanted the answer.
" Where is it? Wheeeere?"
I had to hide my smirk when he stopped mid step and turned around, frowning.
Fuck, I hadn't thought about what he was.
My whole body quivered in fear as I looked into his deep red eyes.
I lowered my head and clenched my tights. I couldn't run away.
" Let's go" Arsheus spun around and kept on walking.
No more messing with the powerful demon, message received. Even if it was the most fun I had ever had I couldn't go around pushing a demon's buttons. He could snap at any given moment and then I'd be the one with a problem, not him.
" I'm hungry"
I was well aware that I was acting like a child trowing a tantrum, but I wasn't going to change it. I had been walking all night and now that the sun could be seen moving through the sky I was finished. I wanted to stop and rest, to sleep, but more than anything I wanted to eat something. I was famished. I wanted nothing more than meat, even if it was suspicious as fuck.
" I want to eat something"
Arsheus stopped on his tracks and looked me dead in the eye.
" Fine" He snapped his fingers and a table filled with food and a chair appeared in front of me.
My eyes gleamed with satisfaction when I sat down. The table was filled with all kinds of food. Some of them I knew, such as the potatoes and the meat, but other, brighter foods were beyond me. I had never seen such a big display of food, and much less for only two people. Back at the orphanage this would've been a great waste. We barely had enough for food for us as it was, buying more than strictly needed was out of the picture.
They, they bought. I had to remind myself they had betrayed me and that I was on my own. It still hurt, my heart bleeding from the wound.
" Thanks" At least I knew how to thank others, even if they were murderous demons.
I took a seat and begun placing plates in front of me.
Everything tasted delicious. They were even better than the versions that I ate back at home.
After taking care of a good portion of the food I got up, feeling full for the first time in a long while.
" Don't you want to eat?" I stared at Arsheus, who had stayed perfectly still, standing on the other side, not taking a seat nor touching the food as he watched me eat.
It had been creepy as hell if I was honest, but the food was too good to pass up. I could deal with a creepy demon if that was what it took to eat like a king. I had discovered my new passion. Food.
" I'm fine"
Arsheus snapped his fingers again and the food and table disappeared along with the chairs.
I stared in awe at the empty snow where the food had been a second ago. How did he do that? If it was magic it was the most impressive one I had ever seen.
The wandering angles with magic gifts that sometimes stopped by the town never did anything as impressive. All they did was play with water and other elements that were already there. They never created something out of nothing.
If I remembered correctly when I was still in school the teacher had said something along the lines that there were only four kinds of magic: air magic, fire magic, water magic and nature magic. What Arsheus did was something lost to time. It was something else entirely.
" Just how do you do that?" Curiosity took the better of me and I asked, already walking again.
" Do what?" Arsheus sounded mildly annoyed as he spoke. Whatever.
" The magic. It's....." It was certainly incredible and the best thing I had ever seen, but I wasn't going to say that to him. I searched for a substitute word to use instead of what I really thought"....not bad"
" Not bad?" Arsheus spun my way and faced me, his talk frame a head above mine. His eyes gleamed with amusement as he looked at me. " It's better than that"
" Sure"
The sarcasm must've been patent in my voice because Arsheus gritted his teeth and spun again.
" Come on. We're never going to reach the castle by nightfall at this rate"
" Just where is this castle?"
Arsheus didn't answer me.
Whatever, I could walk for a little while longer.
A little while turned into more and more hours of shivering when a specially strong gust of wind sent cold air my way and fighting against the terrain itself to take a step forward.
My body was screaming from exhaustion and my brain was beginning to fail too. Everything inside me was begging for a little rest.
I had been awake since yesterday morning and it was finally taking it's toll.
I had to physically keep my eyelids from closing and falling to the cold snow. That would be a bad idea, right?
" How much longer?"
Arsheus sighed and didn't even look back at me.
Asshole. If he was going to kidnap someone he could at least take care of them and make sure they weren't having a bad time. He even failed kidnapping basics.
" Auuuuuu!" The sound of several large animals hounding nearby made all my hair stand on edge and my heart race faster.
" What was that?" I finched and ran up to Arsheus.
" I don't know"
I looked at him with wide eyes. What did he meant he didn't know? Wasn't his castle nearby? Shouldn't he know what lived on his domain?
" Shouldn't you know? This is your place, right?"
" I knew some time ago" Some time ago? That was centuries ago. Even the elders had only being little kids when he was still alive. " It certainly sounds like Albayroo, but I'm not sure"
" Albayroo?" I paled and clung to him.
Better to cling to a murderous demons than to die at the hands of those awful human like beasts.
" Have you ever seen one of them?" Arsheus looked down at me, serious as fuck.
" No" I shook my head, still clinging onto him.
The spirit lurking behind the trees chuckled and ran off. I could more or less guess where he was going. Spirits liked to see other people suffering. If he came back we were going to be in real trouble.
" They are awful beast that hunt and kill for fun"
'Just like you?' The words fought to escape from my mouth, but for once common sense won that round. Angering the only person between killer beats and me wasn't a good idea.
" They take the skin of their preys and wear them until they begin to rot. If you ever find one you should run"
I shuddered thinking about it. I knew what Albayroo were, but I had never seen one in person nor heard from anyone that had ever encountered one of them. The protections cast all around the populated areas kept all the beast and animals away unless they were invited in, not that anyone would invite those flesh eating monsters to kill everyone.
" How do I know if they are a real human or a beast?"
" Do you want to know my personal motto?"
Arsheus's crooked smile made me shudder. I didn't want to know what it was.
" It's kill first and ask later"
Arsheus placed a petite yet sharp dagger on my hand.
" What do you want me to do with this!?" I all but screamed at his face.
When I saw him looking down at me and moving his hand to grab me I flinched. My heart raced thinking about what he was going to do with me. He was going to kill me.
My whole body quivered in fear, my eyes closed tightly.
" Shhhh" Instead of murdering me Arsheus placed his hand on my mouth and closed his fist around my lips. " There are monsters around. We don't want to give them our coordinates"
When I noticed he wasn't going to kill me I opened my eyes. He was right. I should probably shut up for now.
I nodded instead of answering, holding onto my dagger.
It had such a beautiful design that I was immediately enamored by it.
The handle had different flowers engraved onto it and on the actual blade there were ininteligible symbols written all over the shiny metal.
I rose my head to ask Arsheus about it, curiosity burning inside of me. When I looked up I saw he wasn't paying attention to me anymore. He was looking at some nearby trees, right were the spirit from before was lingering, his smile wide.
I immediately pulled my gaze away and hid better behind Arsheus.
" Do some magic" I was whispering by now, too afraid that the creatures would hear us to speak any louder.
" They're immune"
Fucking great.
" Can't you just burn their sorroundings?"
Arsheus looked down at me as if I was stupid. I felt stupid, but it wasn't my fault. I had never been gifted the gift of magic and had never known anyone with it at all. How was I supposed to know how it worked? How was I supposed to know what ancient demonic magic looked like and it's rules?
" Why not?"
Arsheus's eyes twitched and he didn't even answer me as he crouched low, his eyes never leaving the trees.
His hands were empty as he went into a fighting stance. He had given me his dagger. That was so sweet, or would've been if I didn't know he needed me for something.
Too bad.
He really shouldn't have given me a dagger.
I didn't even hesitate before plunging the dagger deep into his neck.
Arsheus twisted his body and looked up at me, his eyes cold and hard as he watched me take the dagger out. Blood poured out of the wound in his neck. I had severed his main artery.
Blood continued to dye the snow red as Arsheus died slowly.
I swallowed and backed away. This had to be done, he was the bad guy. Besides he was already dead. I was just restoring balance.
I told myself that time and time again as I took off, running away.
As I gave my back to that awful demon I could still see his eyes in my head, looking at me with something between confirmation and sadness. I pushed the thought back and ran faster.
From behind me I could still hear the hounding of the beasts. The must've smelled the blood and run to take care of Arsheus.
By when they reached him he would already be dead. According to Illiana, who had taught me how to defend myself, it only took a minute to die from blood loss. At least he wouldn't be devoured alive by the beasts. That was the best I could do for him.
The dagger felt heavy in my hand as I ran. My stomach was churning and wanted to empty itself. The only time I had ever seen a corpse was yesterday night, but it had been too dark to see properly.
Right now it was the middle of the day. I could see the blood perfectly well as it left his body. I could see his eyes as he died. I could see the white bones in his throat.
I had to stop thinking about it. I had done the right thing.
I kept running, faster and faster, hoping to outrun what I had done. Outrun the betrayal from everyone that I had ever loved. Outrun the dead officers. Outrun the demon that had saved my life but shouldn't be here. Outrun what I had done.
I ran faster and faster, not stopping even when my muscles screamed at me to stop.
I kept going at a random direction, hoping I'd reach a town and all this nightmare would be over.
Only when the cramps started, making pain bloom all over my legs did I finally fall to the ground, my whole body shaking from the sheer exhaustion.
It was only then, laying on the snow, that I realized the magic warming me up was gone. It was cold, too cold.