Demon Revealed (High Demon Series #2) (8 page)

I wanted a bath, but that wasn't to be. I was set to running
errands immediately, before I got breakfast, even. I was hungry, too—I hadn't
gotten any of the food I'd cooked the night before, and I hadn't gotten dinner,
either. That's why my stomach was growling as I handed a message to Alvis.

"You haven't eaten, and my guess is you haven't gotten a
bath, either." Alvis had given me a good sniff when I arrived at his
quarters. He had a small room down the hall from the Prince's suite.

"Yes on both, Master Alvis," I ducked my head
respectfully. He was older, with silver in his dark hair. His brown eyes, too,
looked wise to me, as if he'd seen many things during his life.

"Then come, we will go to the private bath together."
That frightened me into immobility. Alvis took one look at me, grabbed my hand
and led me along. We went into the Prince's private bath, which was decorated
with beautiful tiling and gold fixtures. The bath was large—at least twenty
people might have fit around the edges comfortably. A bit of steam wisped up
from the surface of the water.

"Little girl," Alvis hissed, "Never let those wizards
know you're female." He shot the bolt behind us, locking us in. If I'd
been inside the bath alone, that might have frightened me. Alvis was there, so
that helped.

"How did you know?" I muttered, keeping my eyes down
and not looking at him.

"I know a great deal. The others are fools and do not
look past the surface of things. That will be their downfall. Come, we will
bathe and then I will take you for breakfast. The Prince only thinks of his own
belly, most of the time."

The bath felt good to my still-aching muscles. If I were
anywhere except where I was, I might have fallen asleep. I stayed awake,
cleaned myself and dressed right alongside Master Alvis. We walked out of the
baths together and down to the kitchens, where servants were busily preparing
the noon meal. Alvis and I were served a decent breakfast, cooked fresh just
for us. I carried a message from Alvis to the Prince when we were done.

"Ah, Alvis, you are my conscience," the Prince
muttered after reading the note. "Re, you will remind me from now on if
you have not eaten." I nodded at the Prince Royal.

* * *

"These are the fields." Bel swept his arm out as
Tory and Ry stared. The drakus seed plants seemed to go on forever.

"And this is only one of many villages doing the same
thing?" Ry attempted to keep the shock from his voice. He couldn't see the
end of the drakus seed fields. Citrus trees were off to the side, but those
were the only other fields he could see.

"This is the largest, but there are other fields nearly
as big," Bel answered.

"How many?" Tory didn't like what he was seeing.

"Hundreds. Some of the villages were emptied by the
demons that we fought, but the High Commander sent out others to take their
place as soon as the danger was eliminated. They have worked to revive the
crops. There will be a yield from those fields as well."

"Not demons—spawn," Tory corrected absently.

"How do you know they were not demons?" Bel was
curious.

"He knows," Ry provided the answer.

"With the weather here, the fields can be replanted in a
moon-turn, with another yield in two. That means four harvests per full
turn," Bel whispered. "The plants need sun and a lot of water. We
have both."

"Were the plants native to this world?" Tory asked.

"No. They were brought in. The High Commander and his wizards,
I think." Bel didn't sound happy about that.

"What do you know about the wizards? The ones who were
imported?" Ry wanted to learn as much as he could about them—he might be
forced to fight them and needed to know what their strengths and talents were.

"We don't know much except they can do blasts of power
when they want—they'll execute someone that way if they're angry."

"And they can move about like I can—perhaps farther,
even," Max offered. "I don't know if they must have specific targets
as I do—I can't take people far and I have to have a fixed target in my mind. Moving
objects is much easier than moving people. If I'm too tired, it's
useless."

"So far, these wizards seem unimpressive," Ry
grumbled. "How did they get here to begin with? Were they transported in a
ship or did they arrive by other means? Have you seen them? Do you know their
planet of origin?"

"We're not supposed to know they're from somewhere else,
so the answer is no," Bel snorted angrily. "And if you haven't
guessed, we don't get a lot of space travel on Mandil."

"So, how did you get to Tulgalan?" Tory crossed arms
over his chest.

Bel coughed. "We, uh, dug up Reah's escape pod. We have a
few people loyal to the Prince who are good with technology. They recharged the
pod and equipped it for us. We're not sure how Nods made it to Tulgalan—but
when we caught up with him, we told him the High Commander sent us. One of
Pell's talents, besides creating big holes in the ground for people to fall
into, is convincing people that something was their idea. The High Commander is
pretty sure he told us to do exactly what we did."

Tory almost choked, he was laughing so hard. Ry, too, was
grinning hugely. "Man, that is epic," Tory slapped Bel on the back.

* * *

A hand was clapped over my mouth and I was hauled into the
kitchen after I'd slept two clicks. The Prince wasn't hungry but the wizards were.
The High Commander, too, had come with them. I was terrified the High Commander
would recognize me, but he barely noticed. Someone else was there whom I hadn't
seen before, and everyone was bowing to his every whim and calling him Arvil. He
seemed puffed up to me—like Addah used to act around someone he felt was less
important.

The wizards—three of them, plus the High Commander and the one
they called Arvil, all received flat bread with sauce, cheese and vegetables. I
had to cook it in a shallow iron skillet in the oven, and the trick was getting
the crust to the right amount of crispness. I ended up making two at a
time—they were eating the food faster than I could make it.

"This is excellent, I had no idea your food here was this
good," Arvil licked his fingers. The flat-breads were designed to be eaten
with your fingers, after all. I'd served a light wine with the late meal, too,
and it went over well.

"Most of the food isn't this good," the night wizard
grumbled. I called him the night wizard, since he hadn't given me his name—I
didn't know the names of the others, either. Nobody had introduced us. The
night wizard was the one with the cruel mouth. Another had reddish-brown
hair—he was the day wizard, while the third had gray hair. He was the evening wizard.
Delvin had taken the day wizard's place that first morning when I woke. Day wizard
had something else to do then, I suppose.

"We expect you to invite us over if you are having a late
snack from now on," gray-haired evening wizard grumbled.

"Everything hinges on whether the Prince is hungry or
not, and if this one keeps his mouth closed." Dark-haired, cruel-mouthed
night wizard had a kitchen knife pointed at my throat.

"You don't threaten your cook—you get awful food,"
Arvil took the last piece of flat bread.

"I'd better not get awful food," night wizard was
still threatening me. I wanted to snatch the knife away from him and do some
threatening myself. I'm sure the Director and Vice-Director would be extremely
angry if I killed anyone before they could spill information, so I held back
and nodded meekly instead. When I was allowed to go back to bed after cleaning
up, I sent tired mindspeech to Tory.

Reah, why are you up so late?
Tory's sending was weary.
He'd had a long day, too.

Tory, someone new came in tonight, and the others were
calling him Arvil. No last name or anything, and I still don't have names for
the three wizards
.

Tory didn't reply for a while and I wondered if he'd fallen
asleep. He hadn't.
Reah, don't give yourself away to that one—Arvil. Try not
to come to his attention, all right, avilepha? Promise me
. Somehow, that
made me worry. Tory had heard that name before, but he wasn't explaining it to
me. Maybe it was better if I didn't know.

All right,
I returned, sounding grumpier than I'd
intended.

Go to sleep, baby
, Tory's mental voice faded.

* * *

You think she heard right? She didn't mistake that name for
another?
Norian Keef and Lendill Schaff both had mindspeech, and Tory had
sent the information as soon as he'd told Reah to go to sleep.

I can't imagine why she'd mistake that name for another
,
Tory was tired and didn't want to get into a debate with Norian and Lendill
over it.

Did she know how long he's staying, or where?
Lendill
was getting in on the conversation.

Ask her yourself—I think she gave me what she had
. Tory
sent a mental yawn.

She won't talk to either of us
, Lendill insisted.

I wouldn't either
,
if I were in her place
, Tory
returned.

* * *

"As you can see—the harvest is nearly ready." The
High Commander had brought his visitor to the drakus seed fields. Ry's cameras
were sending vid feeds directly to Norian and Lendill the following morning,
and Norian could see for himself that Reah hadn't misheard—Arvil San Gerxon was
on Mandil.

It was still too early to take him—Norian had already sent
mindspeech to Ry and Tory. Too many others were involved in this—some Norian
and Lendill could only guess at. They were getting a good look at the High
Commander and his three wizards, however, and Lendill was running their images
through his comp-vid even while he and Norian watched.

"It's a good thing Ry is disguised—Arvil would recognize
Erland's son in a heartbeat," Norian muttered.

"What could Arvil do to Ry, even if he did recognize
him?"

"No idea. Probably nothing on a personal level. What
would he do to Mandil?"

"Something to think on," Lendill agreed.

 "On another note, where do you think all his usual thugs
and bodyguards are?" Norian asked as they watched the High Commander take
his guest through rows of drakus seed.

"Most likely back at Crown City—perhaps the High
Commander doesn't feel comfortable around them and ordered them to stay
behind."

"Or those wizards are on Arvil's payroll, and the High
Commander only thinks he pulls their strings."

"More than likely that's the case," Lendill agreed. "Have
you ever seen so much drakus seed in your life?"

"My friend, we've only seen small plots before, because
the punishment for growing this drug is so severe. I am astounded at the
breadth of this endeavor." Norian shook his head over what he saw through
Ry's vid feed.

* * *

"The seed is close to harvest," Alvis was kneeling,
massaging the Prince's feet and ankles. The massage looked wonderful—I'd never
had anything like that before. The Prince was dressed in gold silk and he and Alvis
were talking—albeit quietly, since the High Commander and his three wizards
were away, tending to a problem at one of the outer villages. At least that had
been their excuse.

The Prince was unaware of Arvil's presence until I informed
him quietly before running my morning errands. One of those errands had taken
me to the military station, to Station Commander Gorth's office. He didn't seem
to recognize me either, and I wondered about that. I was glad, but it still
made me curious. I'd seen Dane and Dory in the distance while on my way back,
and was extremely happy they were helping others patch the hole in the station wall
and ignoring message bearers. It might have been nice to talk to them, but I
had no idea if I'd frightened them the last time I'd seen them. Making contact certainly
wasn't a good idea.

"Re, I would very much like to take my midday meal on the
patio," the Prince waved an arm. "Invite my wives." I nodded and
he and Alvis were deep in quiet discussion when I went out the door of his
suite to inform the kitchen staff.

* * *

"You wish to visit the summer house in the mountains, do
you not?" The Prince looked at each of his three wives later over a meal
of spiced meat wrapped in flat bread with fresh fruit on the side. At first,
they looked at one another in confusion, before turning back to their husband. "Yes,
husband, that is indeed what we desire," the oldest dipped her head obediently
to the Prince.

"Well, it is early, but I suppose I must humor my
wives," the Prince smiled indulgently. Two of the kitchen staff stood
nearby, and I think the entire charade was for their benefit. I had no way to
tell who might report to the High Commander regarding the Prince's actions. "And
since it is such a fine day, why not gather your things and leave this
afternoon? You keep telling me you wish to stop at Hedil to buy silks."

"That is indeed what we wish," the youngest was
giving the Prince a heart-melting smile.

"Then that is what you shall have. Alvis will see that
you have plenty of money to spend. Go now—the light will still be good in Hedil
if you leave soon."

I helped load their things into the Prince's coach later—the
vehicle was solar powered and all three wives had guards, several attendants
and two drivers to take them on their way. The Prince waved fondly at them as
they drove off, then retired to his suite, pulling Alvis and me inside with
him.

"Re, the Station Commander will arrive shortly, asking to
speak with me regarding a thief he is holding in his cells. See that he is
brought to me promptly." The Prince breathed a troubled sigh and flopped
onto a chair laden with silk cushions inside his suite. The fabrics and rugs
that furnished it would have fetched a fortune on any Alliance world—all of it
had been handmade from the finest materials Mandil could supply, and in
beautiful colors. Mandil created some of the best natural dyes I'd ever seen.