[Thank you Dan!!]

Chapter Four: Demons

The morning sun shone pleasantly; the sky was blue now, and the only clouds drifting in the sky were tufts of cotton.  There was a nice, cool breeze.  The meadow was peaceful.

Kali opened her eyes.

The meadow?

She slowly sat up and looked around.  There was a great oak tree in the middle of the field; there were patches of wildflowers.  In the distance, there was the edge of the cliff; the meadow was on the long, gradual slope down.

“Morning.”

Kali turned and saw Ryger just sitting down next to her.  In the dim light of the cavern, she hadn’t really seen his features.  He had dark hair and blue eyes; his face wasn’t pale, but it wasn’t really tan either.  She thought he looked rather nice, but she really had no one to compare him to.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

She turned and stared at the oak tree.

Her throat hurt, her eyes hurt, her back was sore, but she was jumpy with energy.  She surveyed the meadow again.

“Where’s… what happened?” She held her breath, afraid of the answer.

“Well,” Ryger said slowly, “You… ran away… and she found you… I guess… maybe you wanted… well, you went with her.  And she performed the spell.”

“I still feel… relatively normal,” Kali said.  She rubbed her neck.  “Sort of.”

Ryger scratched his forehead.  “I interrupted the spell.  When I saw you… I shouted your name.  Then you looked at me, and you came forward – I think when you moved, you broke her spell or something.  It didn’t quite finish…”

“What does that mean, though?”

“It means… you survived the lightning, but you didn’t become… one of her demons.”

“Demons?”

“Her army… it’s made up of demons.”  He stared off towards the cliff.  “She probably never told you… the demons… they’re kind of like us.  Sort of.  Only they’re more like animals.  Beasts.  They live around here.  We have to be careful.”

“She turns people into these…?”

“Well… some of them.  There are regular demons – that are born.  I guess they’re sort of like mages.  Then there are certain people – I don’t know how she finds them, she just does.  And she uses her magic… she turns them into demons.  They usually have a specific power or element… like wind, or fire, or water, or something.  In your case… it would have been electricity.”

Kali stared in amazement.  “But… I’m okay.  She didn’t get me.”  She lay back in the grass and stared up at the clouds.  “Is being a demon… would that be bad?”

“Yes.  They… become possessed by their power.  I don’t really know how to explain it.  There’s this lust in their eyes.  And they all follow her.”  He paused in thought.  “Oh, but not the free ones – the naturally born ones.  Some of them follow her, maybe, but I think… I think most of them just… stay out of it.”

Kali bit her lip.  Running away had brought adventure into her life; she escaped routine.  But had she just jumped out of the frying pan into the fire?

“What happened after… I was hit by lightning?”  She swallowed; she felt like she was choking on her words.  “Where did she go?”

“My grandfather and father showed up; I don’t know… they tried to attack her, but she got away.”  Ryger looked at the cliff almost like he was homesick.  “They told me to run away; to bring you with me.  So I did.  I didn’t really see what happened.”

Kali blew out some air.  “She’s still out there looking for me, then.”

“Yes.”

“Let me get this straight,” Kali started.  “My mother is this really powerful – really dangerous – witch who is creating this army of Elemental Demons.  I was going to be one of them, but the spell was broken and so I’m okay… except for the fact that she’s still out looking for me.  Is there anything else I should know?”

“Well, uh,” Ryger hesitated.  “She’s probably not really your mother.”

Kali sat up and stared at him.  “Not my mother?”

“Well, she looks nothing like you,” he told her, “and she… basically kidnaps people when she realizes what powers they have.”  He paused.  “Do you remember any time when you weren’t living in the mountains?”

Kali thought hard about this.  “Sometimes… I almost remember.  But before I can get a good look at anything… it’s like all my memories… fly away in the wind.”  She chuckled nervously.  “It’s silly.”

Ryger didn’t say anything.

“She kidnapped me… because…”

“You’re you.  You have this power…”

Kali glanced down at her hands.  They seemed to glow with a slight yellow tint; static jumped from finger to finger.  Her eyes widened in horror.

“What’s wrong with my hands?”

“It’s okay,” Ryger reassured.  “You got some of the electric powers from the spell.  You just didn’t get them all.”

“How do you know all of this?” Kali asked suddenly.

“My father taught me.” He stood up.  “My grandfather taught him.  I think… it’s sort of my family history, or something, to watch the mountains, make sure that nothing bad gets passed the cliffs.”  He stretched.  “We should get moving.”

Kali stayed seated.  She hardly knew this boy, but she hardly knew her mother.  She didn’t know which side she really should be on.  She didn’t know what was right.  But she was on her own now; she was… not quite free, but freer than she ever had been.  Which meant she needed to make her own decisions.  Even though she had just me Ryger… something about him made her trust him.  She hadn’t pinpointed it quite yet, but there was a feeling she got whenever she looked into his eyes.

She stood up.  “Where are we going?”

\\\

They were descending the slope, towards a city.  As the path winded down, it entered a forest.  The forest wasn’t very dense, but it provided somewhat of a cover.  There was a small footpath, but it was difficult to follow because so few had traversed through the woods.

“So is this part of… some kind of war?” Kali asked.

Ryger hesitated; he was always quiet before answering a question.  “Yes, I guess so.  It’s more of a private war.”

“Who else is on your side?”

Ryger shrugged.  “I really haven’t done much battle.  I’m just in training.  My father and grandfather head that training.  I think… the battles are small, and are so close that no side ever gets the upper hand.  That’s okay for us, because… well we just have to make sure she doesn’t destroy everything.  We know we can’t destroy her… she’s too powerful.  We just have to stop her.”

“But… if you don’t destroy her… won’t she eventually win?”

Ryger didn’t answer.

\\\

Later that evening, Ryger and Kali sat in silence by a small fire.  The night air was stiff and humid; the stillness of the darkness was suffocating.  The two only had one subject to talk of – recent events involving Kali’s ‘mother’ – and Kali was tired with that topic of conversation.

Eventually, Ryger heard a movement in the trees.  He glanced around, but Kali didn’t seem to have heard anything.  “It must be the wind,” he muttered to himself.  But he heard it again, from a different direction.  Something was watching them.

He cleared her throat, and Kali looked up.  “Maybe we should get going.”

Kali replied through a wide yawn, “I’m tired, though.  I’m sure we’ll be fine during morning.”

Ryger stood up.  “Let’s go.”

Wearily, Kali followed suit. 

“I think we’re near the bottom of the hill,” Ryger said, after they’d been walking for some time.  He looked up the branches of the trees towards the star-stricken night sky.  “It’s hard to tell, but the ground isn’t so steep here…”

Kali happened to be stumbling over a tree root when he said this.  “It’s just as overgrown, though,” she said with frustration.  “The sooner we get out of this forest, the better.”

“You got that right,” Ryger mumbled.  Then he glanced back towards her.  “Haven’t you ever been in the forest before?”

“No.”  Kali continued forward, but Ryger had stopped.  “What?”  She paused.  “Hey – what’d you say just then?”

“What?  I asked if you’d been in the forest before.”  He suddenly started rushing forward, grabbing Kali’s wrist as he did so.  “Simple question.”

“No – no, you said something before that.  ‘You got that right.’ ”  Kali surveyed the dark forest around her.  “Is there something I should know?”

Ryger sighed.  “I told you back at the meadow,” he hissed under his breath, his eyes constantly peering through the trees.  He whispered in her ear, “I think there’s a demon following us, and I don’t know which kind.  If it’s one of hers, than we’ll be safe when we reach the bottom of the hill.  She has spells up that won’t let her demons get too far away from her; at the bottom of the hill, there are even stronger wards.  She fears their escape, so she keeps them locked in the valley and on this hillside.  Her wards also block out – resistance.  Taking the wards down would take too much energy; I don’t think she’d risk that at this point.”

Kali’s breath shook with apprehension.  “Will I be able to pass?”

“I think so.  You’re not entirely a demon, and she never finished her – well… enslavement spell.  You should be fine.”

“If I’m not?”

“The force field would shock you unconscious, I think.  I’ve only heard stories.”  Ryger paused.  “Let’s hurry.”

As they rushed down the hillside, Ryger could hear someone else chasing after them.  They were full out sprinting – well, as fast as Kali could go, as tired as she was.  Ryger kept having to hurry her along.  Her sleepiness was not truly exhaustion; her body was mainly recovering from last night’s incidents on the cliff tops, and to make the adjustments, her mind needed rest.  Due to her training, she was able to force herself along, though.

Eventually, they reached the bottom of the hill.  The forest continued on for at least another hundred yards though, and Ryger could still hear the feet of whatever was chasing him.

Then, with alarm, Ryger suddenly remembered his grandfather’s explanation of demons.

‘At night, the born ones prowl the forest, waiting for unsuspecting prey.  Because they are very fragile themselves, they usually hunt for smaller animals, and sometimes they eat leaves, berries, or flowers.  Occasionally, one will be willing to take on a human – only if that person is tired or weakened already.

‘They are tall and skinny, with pointed ears.  They are very agile, but if they have been hunting for a long time, they will grow impatient and careless – they are very loud when running through the woods.  They use magic, but it’s very different from our kind.  They usually whistle – and their music lulls the listener to sleep.  They are very aggressive, and very, very quick.  Hard to kill.  They also fear the light.’

“Light!” Ryger hissed, staring pointedly at Kali.

“What?”

“Make some!”

Kali almost ran into a tree, but swerved out of the way just in time.  “How?”

Ryger growled in annoyance, but said, “I’m sorry, I forgot you haven’t been trained yet – okay, listen carefully.  You can make light, I think.  Clear your head of – everything.”

“I’ll crash!  I can’t – ”

A hand snatched at her back, and in fear she sprang forward even faster.  Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a tall, dark figure right behind her.  She screamed, and tried to run faster, but she couldn’t.  “Ryger!”

“Clear your head!”

Kali did so, though it was hard work, but she was desperate.

“Now… think of a source of light – a lightning bolt, for example.  Or the sun.”

“Got it!”

“Concentrate on that image – concentrate on that light, and focus on it.  Focus it into your hands.  Send the image to your hands.”

“What!”

“Just… try it… it’s hard to explain like this!”

Kali imagined the light coming from her hands, and deep down inside she felt a strong urge willing the light to appear.  Right before she was about to give up, thick bolts of static sparked around her fingertips; the forest around them lit up, and Kali heard the figure behind her fall back and yelp in shock.  Kali whirled around to face it, and though it had flinched before, it was now shading its eyes and advancing once more.

“What now?” Kali shouted in frustration, backing away.

Ryger grabbed her wrist.  “We keep running!”

They did; they sprinted down the hill and eventually, the demon gave up. Winded, they slowed to a pace, constantly glancing over their shoulders.

“I don’t know why it would give up,” Ryger said through gasps.  “Demons don’t usually – ”

But then he stopped, because they had suddenly reached a small hut.