Rose Estes - The Price of power

Lotus Blossom was determined to follow Hornsbuck and prevent him from throwing his life away in the name of that stupid Wolf Nomad code of honor.

Tam was determined to follow the princess and the man to whom he owed his allegiance, hoping that their purposes-and their paths-did not differ.

And Mika… ah, Mika. Mika was determined to go to the island and find the magic blue and red gems that would return his hand to normal, restore the princess to her human form, and remove the curse that was slowly tainting his manhood. And, when that was accomplished, he hoped that the princess would finally show her gratitude for all that he had done in a most womanly fashion. After all… what would she have done without him?

The Demon Maelfesh was happy. He had been amused for a time, which was a very unusual occurrence. Why, he had actually laughed aloud several times! He couldn't even remember the last time he had laughed-maybe it was the time he had roasted that fat demi-demon over the volcano. He had screamed for several centuries before the demon finally died. That had been fun, but it had also been several eons ago.

He had forgotten how humorous humans could be with their silly machinations, always trying to affect the outcome of their short lives.

It was too bad that the gem had been lost; it had provided quite a nice mirror onto the life of the human. He didn't suppose there would be much to interest him in the harpy's cave. Still, one could never tell.

The demon was so pleased that he snapped his fingers and sent down a shower of flaming meteors that fell on some thatched cottages belonging to a village of poor peasants on the outskirts of Yecha, setting the buildings ablaze.

Yes, humans were definitely fun. Maelfesh made a mental note to look in on them more often. After all, even a demon deserved a good laugh every eon or so.

But demon Maelfesh was also angry. Very angry, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He realized that the human Mika, that miserable excuse for a Wolf Nomad, had escaped his clutches. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more certain he was that he had been tricked. Maelfesh did not like being tricked. It made him angry, and when he was angry whole worlds trembled!

The demon scanned the Oerth searching for the man, Mika, knowing that he was alive somewhere, knowing that he would find him. When he did, the Wolf Nomad would remember the curse of the demon hand as belonging to the good old days.