True Warriors Sing, Rowan Erlking [free ebook reader txt] 📗

to find its nest and eradicate them as soon as possible. He then explained to Ljev and LjuBa that besides being a magister he was also a demon hunter.

“A demon hunting demons?” LjuBa murmured, shaking her head. “Isn’t that…I don’t know, almost hypocritical?”

Smirking, Jonis shrugged. “That’s what magisters do, usually. Cordrils are famous for being demon hunters in Brein Amon. My father was one.”

“Are there many Cordrils in this land?” Ljev asked, pulling apart the soft bread to eat a piece.

“No.” Jonis looked dismayed about it too. “I think there about five left, actually. We’re dying out.”

Secretly, LjuBa was relieved by that.

Jonis continued, shaking his head. “I looked from end to end of this country for one of my own kind. And when I found Tia, well, I thought she might understand how I felt. There are no other Sky Children with the gift anymore. None except her anyway.”

Ljev looked to Jonis’s wife. The exotic looking woman smothered a smile, chuckling lightly. She was very quiet, her manners, graceful. Watching her made LjuBa feel as plain as she felt next to K’sjuSha.

“And why is that?” Ljev asked.

Blinking at him as if he expected Ljev to know, Jonis said, “Cordrils killed them all.”

LjuBa blinked, looking to Jonis’s wife again. The woman didn’t even flinch at it. Instead she was helping her toddler eat to keep a minimal amount of food from falling to the floor.

“So your kind are still sworn enemies,” Ljev said, looking to Jonis’s wife also. “Then how come she agreed to—?”

“You forced her.” LjuBa bristled, her eyes fixing on Jonis again.

“No,” Jonis’s wife replied.

Both LjuBa and Ljev turned, looking to her.

Gently nodding to them, the woman said, “He offered. I accepted. We both benefit from our marriage.”

“Besides the fact that she is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” Jonis said, grinning wide at his wife, “Tia happens to be a good match for me, as I hope that I am for her.”

“You are,” his wife said, her lips spreading into a smile. Her lips parted. Her teeth looked so beautiful, gleaming white—and humanlike. No fangs in any way LjuBa had imagined.

Their children all beamed, proud, with glances at their parents.

Ljev just blinked at her, still too astounded for words, then sighed. “Ok.”

Tia laughed, just as light as soft as she was. “Though he did hunt me when we first met.”

“Hunt you?” LjuBa repeated, that dread feeling more real than the strange romance she was hearing about.

Nodding, Tia said, “Yes. But I was running from the law at the time, and there was a price on my head.”

Jonis leaned in. “Tell that story for another time, dear. Right now what they really need to hear is what they are up against today.” He then looked to Ljev, ignoring LjuBa who was glaring at him. “You asked a great many questions, and you want to know how I as a magister can help you.”

“And you bragged that you were an expert on magic,” Ljev replied.

That caused Jonis to grin very wide. “Actually, I’m famous for it.”

“Famous?” LjuBa murmured, feeling sick in her stomach at the mention of magic.

Nodding to her, Jonis replied, “I wrote a book about magic, which has sold world wide.” He turned to Ljev with a smile. “It was a collaboration with two magician friends of mine in Maldos, though I did all the grunt work. In fact, there is this wizard in Jatte down south that I correspond with who runs a magic school based off of my book, using it as a text. I have a friend from the army there helping him.”

“Jatte?” Ljev stared. And so did LjuBa. “That far south?”

Jonis nodded, smirking. “Yes. In fact, he lives in an old abandoned KiTai watchtower with a whole bunch of characters, including former demons he cured, though I hear he has a demon friend as well.”

“Not counting you,” Ljev added.

Chuckling, Jonis sat back. “I told you. I’m not a demon.”

“But you’re a Cordril,” Ljev answered.

“Cordrils aren’t demons,” Jonis said with a nod. “We are half human half a species from out of this world, like I said before.”

Ljev stiffened.

Nodding once more, Jonis said, “This world is so much larger than you realize.”

LjuBa blinked then glanced at Ljev, hearing the same words he had said to her. Ljev peeked back her also, then chuckled, closing his eyes with a shake of his head.

“I see your point.”

Jonis smiled and rose.

Dinner was over.

Almost immediately, like a dance nearly, the children stood up to clear the dishes. There was a short scuffle between two of them, but their mother broke it up, hissing something under her breath at them. One of the children peeked at LjuBa with pop-eyes then inched away. Jonis beckoned the two KiTia warriors towards the large fireplace where another of his children was already setting up kindling for a blaze. He waved Ljev to the larger chair already there, drawing up a smaller one for himself, letting LjuBa sit in his wife’s chair.

“Here is the thing, you two have a number of things to think about as you return home.” Nodding to Ljev, “I’ll give you the gole wards you need for that village, free of charge. And you,” he nodded to LjuBa, “had better head directly home by the main road. I lend you two of my horses for the trip.”

It was not what LjuBa expected from this demon. Not at all. He had blown off all accusations, angry looks and petulance either one of them held towards him almost as if he were used to people hating his existence. That left her entirely disarmed. In fact, she felt guilty. And when he continued to speak, LjuBa remained subdued, introspective.

“Also,” he said, looking to Ljev again, “Concerning your other problem, when you return to KiTai central to speak with the king, make it clear to him that it is a mistake to attempt to enter Brein Amon. I will give you all the proof you need to show him it is a bad move.” Jonis then rose, walking over to the wall where there was a strange belt hanging on a hook with several odd pouches on it, one in particular holding an unusually shaped object that had a handle with two narrow tubes resting on the top of it. He walked back, extending it to Ljev. “This is the a weapon that defeated the KiTai around two thousand years ago, upgraded. We also have cannons, bombs, vehicles that can carry people faster than horses without horses.”

Ljev cradled the strange weapon in his hands, stroking the wood and steel underneath is fingers and palm, then he looked up at Jonis. “Are you giving this to me?”

Chuckling, Jonis nodded. “I have others. Besides, it isn’t army issue, so the Patriarch won’t consider it sedition if I passed it along.”

“Not like that matters,” Tia muttered with a smirk, walking up to them. She handed LjuBa a steaming warm cup of familiar smelling liquid. LjuBa looked up, realizing it was the same stuff as what she had at the farmhouse.

“What is this?” LjuBa asked.

Tia smiled. “Cocoa. It’s imported from the south. They grow it in Maldos.”

Tia then handed a cupful to Ljev. Jonis stroked her hand before she walked away, and she smiled.

Ljev sighed. “Why are you doing this?” He lifted his eyes to meet Jonis’s.

The Cordril’s expression turned somewhat tired as he replied, “There is so much pain and distrust in this world. I have been working hard since I was a boy to change things. So when I see an opportunity to make a real difference, I take it.”

LjuBa watched Ljev nod.

“As a soldier, I would be forced to stand as the front line against an invasion,” Jonis continued. “As a demon hunter, I have already seen enough death. I’d rather not be an instrument in the death of innocents sent in the service of their king.”

That remark sunk in for both of them.

“Now, I’m sure the both of your would appreciate a hot bath and a warm bed.” Jonis said, gesturing to a doorway then a stairway. “Our beds aren’t KiTai style, but they are very comfortable. We can also wash your clothes, as you,” he pointed to Ljev, “look a complete mess.”

Ljev peered down at his demon-blood stained clothes. Exhaling, he nodded. He then looked to LjuBa. “Do you want to go first?”

Jonis chuckled. “We have more than one bathing room. It is ok.”

He then led the way.

 

The baths were something else. Not like home and not like the inn. First, the water came into the home, filling the porcelain-covered metal tub without a hand pump. All she had to do was turn a knob. And she didn’t have to boil the water or put in hot stones. Jonis called it plumbing.

Tia hung long warm robes for them to wear on the back of the doors when she claimed their clothes, but she left their pieces of armor, their swords still in reach, almost like a mother leaving a security blanket for a frightened toddler. Being among those two demons made LjuBa feel that small, and when she walked out to sit next to the fire now blazing in the main room, her mind swam over and over all the strange things she had been witnessing. The first was how Tia was washing their clothes with a machine the size of a rain barrel that spun a smaller barrel inside itself all on its own. Then the family shut all the windows and locked them for the night, some of it rattling due to the wind. It was strange how like humans they were.

And when Ljev emerged from his bath, well scrubbed to get rid of all the demon blood, red and smarting, he walked barefoot to the other chair and sighed with a look at them also. He whispered to LjuBa, “Are you all right?”

She shook her head slightly. “I don’t know. Father is not here, and we’re surrounded by demons. I feel…I don’t know.”

“How is your heart?” Ljev asked.

“It is beating steady,” LjuBa replied, not hiding that she had been worried like he had.

He nodded then leaned back against the padded chair back with his eyes turned toward the fire.

The wind whipped up, whistling and shaking against the glass windows. The glass rattled. LjuBa noticed the toddler suddenly grab on his mother’s hem, whimpering. It was hard to imagine a demon afraid of the wind, but the mother soothed the child like any human would her offspring. One of the younger kids also jogged down the stairs, hurrying past the two KiTai warriors to his mother. LjuBa overheard him call with anxiety also, his language hurried with a slightly scared tone.

“No wari. No demon go getta ya.” Tia patted her child’s back, rubbing it.

Ljev peered over, setting a hand to his mouth. He then leaned over to LjuBa. “Why don’t you sing the song to tighten everything down? That would help.”

Glancing back at him, LjuBa frowned. She wanted to, but being in that home made her feel uncomfortable. It was like the song around her was begging for mischief.

A harder gust whooshed by. With a howl, the wind whipped one window latch off, yanking it open—luckily without shattering the glass as it banged against the outside wall. LjuBa suddenly hopped up, rushing to it. The words to the song jumped to her lips, and the soothing melody came out of her throat, stroking the walls, windows and all loose boards. And as she pulled the window shut again, she gently sang for it to hold closed even without the latch to secure it. The moment after she finished, the hard wailing died down, making the home a calm quiet haven as it ought to be.

Sighing, LjuBa turned to go back to the fire.

She halted. Every demon, young and old, was staring at her, their eyes revealing honest astonishment. Only Ljev nodded with satisfaction. But Jonis, who was standing on the bottom step where he had clearly stopped in his descent