The hooded figure barely flinches, patting scattered ash off his leather jacket. Steam rises around him, his black platform boots searing into the snow underneath him, a spray erupting with every playful kick. Silver chains and studs embellish his black pants, swaying slightly as he walks, a bounce in his step and a tune now whistling from his lips.
His seemingly casual disposition contrasts against his intimidating and hard-line appearance. No other greater demon has such an effortless intensity. He pulls back his hood, exposing his bony face.
Marxel.
Colours of red and orange surround his eerily split pupils, the white of his eyes a coal black. In a swift motion he scoops snow into his ashy palms, letting it steam away to nothing within his grip.
The barrier should hold. We’ve both been stuck in this place for as long as each other and he has not been able to defeat me yet. But something is different now. It’s not his control of fire that worries me so much as his cunning intellect. His charismatic sway comes from a confidence based more in his ability to weasel out of situations, than his ability to overpower them.
I can’t help but be on guard now that I have two handicaps. The demon boy has some merit, although in this case he would be gravely out of his depth, the human girl on the other hand, is dead weight. If I was able to leave her with Atargatis, this never would have been an issue.
Marxel looks around, calculating something sinister.
‘Well, friends, it seems that we’re in the right place.’ He chuckles, taking his hands out of his pockets to tie back the sides of his dark hair. The lower demons continue to yip and wail in response. I take in everything, anything that might give me a hint of his plan. A small silver chain dangles around Marxel’s wrist littered with small metal pendants. Each one individualised and meaningful, he’d once told me. A reminder of his family, home and self, something sorely needed after an extended time here.
‘There sure is quite a lot of you. This should be easy,’ he murmurs, low but still loud enough for me to hear despite the distance. His words are slow, calculated. ‘Now, how do I get you all to move?’
The demons antagonise each other. They snap and swipe at one another’s limbs, impatient for their long-awaited feast. Marxel smirks, an unhinged idea surely forming. ‘Ladies and gentleman, please,’ he calls, amused by the chaotic nature of the creatures. ‘I have something to say.’
The creatures turn, if only slightly. He is not their leader. They have no leader. He does, however, represent an opportunity. A chance to gain tremendous demonic power and satisfy their hunger, an opportunity to gain back their old selves and sanity. So they entertain him for the moment and listen.
‘Demons, nay, brothers and sisters, I have a proposition for you all. It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that there are simply too many of you to feed and even the great ice demon and his toad-boy counterpart wouldn’t have enough power to satisfy you all. So instead, I will grant one demon the chance to gain their power. All you have to do is defeat your fellow–’
Before he can finish, the creatures turn on each other as if that is what they were waiting for all along, an excuse to tear each other apart. Marxel rolls his eyes, unimpressed by their blatant rudeness. Huffing, he walks to the forest edge and watches. Too intensely, and too closely. He’s looking for something.
Leaning against a tree, he pulls out a cigarette from inside his jacket. Not needing to light it, he brings it straight to his mouth. The cigarette glows a fiery red. He exhales the dark smoke in a long slow breath, a small expression of relief flooding his face.
‘I have a feeling this is going to be a good day.’ He sighs, embodying a tranquillity. ‘Not for you though, you icy bastard.’ It’s unclear whether his words were intended for me to hear, or just mere self- dialogue.
When the numbers drop, Marxel throws his cigarette to the ground and grinds it down into the snow. Moving just out of my range, his voice murmurs inaudibly. I watch as the remaining demons swarm to him. With a quick motion, he alights them all. Their screams are short-lived as they incinerate to ash in seconds. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t caught off guard by his ruthless cruelty, though there is no demon that hates their own kind more than the one standing in front of us. Many have crossed him and many have failed. Looking up, I almost feel as if his gaze meets mine.
‘You have all been a big help’ he says, walking over their fallen ashes. ‘Your pathetic lives were not in vain.’ He strides to the edge of the barrier. ‘Here. You all avoided here.’ He raises his hand but stops midway. Knuckles white on the spear, jaw clenched, I stand in silence.
Marxel picks up a stone, dancing it in his palm. He picks up another. Then one more. My eyes narrow. He throws the first stone through the barrier; it hits the ground with a small thud a few feet away. Nothing. That’s to be expected. It’s part of the landscape and so isn’t repelled.
Marxel pulls a hair from his head and ties it around the next stone, setting it ablaze. He throws the second stone. At the barrier, the hair forcibly separates from the stone, allowing the stone to pass through and the hair to be thrown out, disintegrating before it hits the ground. Marxel sneers.
With the quickest of motions, the third stone flies through the barrier, shattering the kitchen window of the cottage, the same one I had sealed over just days prior. Flames hit the side of the barrier in a tremendous use of force and heat. The barrier ripples around the cottage, dispelling its invisibility. My hand twists the spear in its lock, activating the portal. I glare back at the cottage. They need to get out now. Marxel’s fierce eyes land on me, a dishevelled laughter escaping his lips.
‘You’ve gotten weaker,’ he says. I swallow hard; he’s just trying to get under my skin. Xander scurries out of the cottage barely holding Siara in his arms, her legs dragging like anchors through the snow. Small groans mumble from her hooded face. How is she still unconscious? I thought Xander said she was awake.
Marxel’s resolve falters, eyes growing wide and flames weakening. ‘Is that a human?’
The blue rings from the portal light up around me. Marxel stares daggers at me, his fire resuming its unrelenting force.
‘Xander, hurry up,’ I growl.
Marxel snarls, his pointed canines unsheathing themselves, murder brewing a fiery hatred in his glare. Flakes of ash snow down from above. It only takes a quick glance to see the remnants of the barrier disintegrating before our eyes. It’s coming from above. The harsh hot wind whips at us as it rushes in, searing my face.
Xander reaches the portal in time, dropping Siara to the ground. A look of stunned disbelief plasters on his face as we watch the barrier strain with echoing groans. He shoots me a nervous glance but I keep my face unmoving, unreadable, despite the dread forming inside.
The dread incarnates as Marxel takes a step through the barrier, beaming triumphantly.
With a sudden jolt, the portal holds us in between space. Neither here nor there. The flaming barrier collapses and fire rains down from above. The world disappears, my held breath releases a staggered sigh as the roaring sound silences.
14
Siara
My chest thumps with a flailing of limbs to the hard ground, winding me of air. For a few moments afterwards, I struggle to regain my breath, panic ripping through me as I wake suddenly into the world. My hand moves to itch the tickling sensation on my face. Whacking it away, it flings back moments later with a vengeance. I open my eyes with a fury, eyebrows furrowing at the pestering blade of thin grass. Anger subsides to confusion. Grass. When was the last time I saw or smelt grass?
I take a deep breath, letting it fill up every corner of my lungs. It’s real. A bright piercing light streams from above, its rays hitting my face, a warmth I’d almost forgotten existed. It’s been so long since I’ve felt the sun. A singsong whistling and a fluttering of wings passes overhead. Birds. I know where I am. I’m home. I’m –
I sit up.
… We’re not in the ice world.
Nausea churns violently. Without the chance for further investigation, I crawl a short distance away and vomit. Too quick, I moved too quick. Which means I’ve travelled by portal again. I kneel, facing the earth, spitting out the horrible taste, not taking the time to check for the presence of others. I touch the scar on the base of my neck, three little lines like razor blades. I’m on land. They saved me from that place. I’m not so much relieved as confused, considering they’re the ones that put me there. The world spins. It takes all of my energy not to collapse into yesterday’s breakfast.
Xander ruffles through his hair, shaking small glowing embers onto the grass. I shake my head to stop myself, remembering the screams of the girl in the nightmare graced to me by Heret-Kau just weeks ago. Xander’s voice breaks the long silence. ‘I don’t miss that part of being human.’ Turning away, his eyes look up to the ice demon. Cold beads of sweat dart down my face. The ice demon’s eyes linger on me for a moment before Xander continues, ‘What happens now?’
‘Nothing,’ William replies. ‘We wait here for Heret-Kau.’
Xander’s nose crinkles. ‘What is in those food pills?’
My face flushes but the mention of food triggers my stomach to swirl again. My body convulses in response, a gagging noise escaping my lips. The demons turn away, an immediate grimace curling their lips as they stagger backwards. I take in their reactions with hope and calculation.
‘I’ll just be a second,’ I say, wobbling to my feet as if I’d forgotten how to walk. Like a newborn deer, I stammer through the grass, zigzagging here and there as if confused by my location. This new place that I should never have seen before.
