Peter V. Brett - The Great Bazaar and Brayan’s Gold - Stories from The Demon Cycle series

After their wards were secure, Arlen went to one of the firepits and laid kindling. He pulled a match from the drybox in his belt pouch and flicked the white tip with his thumbnail, setting it alight with a pop.

Matches were expensive, but common enough in Miln and standard supply for Messengers. In Tibbet’s Brook where Arlen was raised, though, they had been rare and coveted, saved only for emergencies. Only Hog who owned the General Store – and half the Brook – could afford to light his pipe with matches. Arlen still got a little thrill every time he struck one.

He soon had a comfortable fire blazing, and pan fried some vegetables and sausage while Curk sat with his head propped against his saddle, pulling from a clay jug that smelled more like a Herb Gatherer’s disinfectant than anything fit for human consumption. By the time they had eaten it was full dark and the rising had begun.

Mist seeped from invisible pores in the ground, reeking and foul, slowly coalescing into harsh demonic form. There were no flame demons in the cold mountain heights, but wind demons materialized in plenty, as did a few squat rock demons – no bigger than a large man, but weighing thrice as much, all of it corded muscle under thick slate armor. Their wide snouts held hundreds of teeth, bunched close like nails in a box. Wood demons stalked the night as well, taller than the rock demons at ten feet, but thinner, with barklike armor and branchlike arms.

The demons quickly caught sight of their campfire and shrieked in delight, launching themselves at the men and horses. Silver magic spiderwebbed through the air as the corelings reached the wards, throwing the force of the demons’ attack back at them and knocking more than a few to the ground.

But the demons didn’t stop there. They began to circle, striking at the forbidding again and again as they searched for a gap in the field of protection.

Arlen stood close to the wards without shield or spear, trusting in the strength of the magic. He held a stick of graphite and his journal, taking notes and making sketches as he studied the corelings in the flashes of wardlight.

Eventually, the corelings tired of their attempts and went off in search of easier prey. The wind demons spread their great leathery wings and took to the sky, and the wood demons vanished into the trees. The rock demons lumbered off like living avalanches. The night grew quiet, and without the light of the flaring wards, darkness closed in around their campfire.

‘Finally,’ Curk grunted, ‘we can get some sleep.’ He was already wrapped in his blankets, but now he corked his jug and closed his eyes.

‘Wouldn’t count on that,’ Arlen said, standing at the edge of the firelight and looking back the way they had come. His ears strained, picking up a distant cry he knew too well.

Curk cracked an eye. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘There’s a rock demon coming this way,’ Arlen said. ‘A big one. I can hear it.’

Curk tilted his head, listening as the demon keened again. He snorted. ‘That demon’s miles from here, boy.’ He dropped his head back down and snuggled into his blankets.

‘Don’t matter,’ Arlen said. ‘It’s got my scent.’

Curk snorted, eyes still closed. ‘ Your scent? What, you owe it money?’

Arlen chuckled. ‘Something like that.’

Soon, the ground began to tremble, and then outright shake as the gigantic one-armed rock demon bounded into view.

Curk opened his eyes. ‘That is one big ripping rock.’ Indeed, One Arm was as tall as three of the rock demons they had seen earlier. Even the stump of its right arm, severed at the elbow, was longer than a man was tall. One Arm had followed Arlen ever since he had crippled it, and Arlen knew it would continue to do so until one of them was dead.

But it won’t be me , he promised the demon silently as their eyes met. If I do nothing else before I die, I will find a way to kill you.

He raised his hands and clapped at it, his customary greeting. The coreling’s roar split the night, and darkness vanished as the powerful demon struck hard at the wardnet with its talons. Magic flared bright and strong, throwing the demon back, but it only spun, launching its heavy, armored tail into the wards. Again the magic rebounded the blow. Arlen knew the shock of magic was causing the demon agonizing pain, but One Arm did not hesitate as it lowered its spearlike horns and charged the wards, causing a blinding flash of magic.

The demon shrieked in frustration and came again, circling and attacking with talon, horn, and tail, in its search for a weakness, even smashing the stump of its crippled arm against the wardnet.

‘It’ll tire out and quit the racket soon enough,’ Curk grunted and rolled over, throwing the blanket over his head.

But One Arm continued to circle, hammering at the wards over and over until the wardlight seemed perpetual, the flashes of darkness like eye blinks. Arlen studied the demon in the illumination, looking for a weakness, but there was nothing.

Finally Curk sat up. ‘What in the Core is the matter with that crazy …’ His eyes widened as he caught a clear look at One Arm. ‘That’s the demon from the breach last year. The one-armed rock that stalks Jongleur Keerin for crippling it.’

‘Ent after Keerin,’ Arlen said. ‘It’s after me.’

‘Why would it …’ Curk began, but then his eyes widened in recognition.

‘You’re him,’ Curk said. ‘The boy from Keerin’s song. The one he saved that night.’

Arlen snorted. ‘Keerin couldn’t save his own breeches from a soiling if he was out in the naked night.’

Curk chuckled. ‘You expect me to believe you’re the one that cut that monster’s arm off? Demonshit.’

Arlen knew he shouldn’t care what Curk thought, but even after all these years, it grated on him that Keerin, a proven coward, had taken credit for his deed. He turned back to the demon and spat, his wad of phlegm striking the coreling’s thigh. One Arm’s rage quadrupled. It shrieked in impotent fury, hammering even harder at the wards.

All the color drained from Curk’s face. ‘You crazy boy, provoking a rock demon?’

‘Demon was already provoked,’ Arlen pointed out. ‘I’m just showing it’s personal.’

Curk cursed, throwing aside his blankets and reaching for his jug. ‘Last run I do with you, boy. Never get to sleep now.’

Arlen ignored him, continuing to stare at One Arm. Hatred and revulsion swirled around him like a cloud of stink as he tried to imagine a way to kill the demon. He had never seen nor heard of anything that could pierce a rock demon’s armor. It was only an accident of magic that severed the demon’s arm, and not something Arlen would bet his life on the odds of repeating.

He looked back at the cart. ‘Would a thunderstick kill it, you think? They’re meant to break rocks.’

‘Them sticks ent toys, you crazy little bugger,’ Curk snapped. ‘They can do ya worsen any rock demon. And even if you’ve got a night wish and want to try anyway, they ent ours. If they count sticks and it don’t meet the tally that left Miln, even by one, it’s worse for our reputation than if we lost the lot.’

‘Just wondering,’ Arlen said, though he cast a longing look at the cart.

It was quiet the next day, as they rode across the southern base of Mount Royal – the western sister of Mount Miln – whose eastern facing was filled with small mining towns. But the number of signposts dwindled as they made their way to the western face, and the road became little more than wagon ruts leading a path through the wilderness, with a few rare forks.