The Road to Magic (Book 1 of the Way of the Demon Series) (24 page)

The next moment the sleepy silence of the late morning was broken by cries filled with horror:

‘A monster!’

‘A shapeshifter!’

‘Help!’

‘Save yourselves!’

The queue ran off in different directions. Throwing down their goods and shoving each other, people fled in panic. The road emptied in less than a couple of minutes.

‘What was that?’ Ataletta asked, bewildered.

‘If I’m not mistaken, Arioch used some sort of dark magic spell for calling horror,’ Clairene replied with a disapproving look at Oleg.

‘Aha. A simple little illusion Viss taught me. Each of them thought that the person next to them had turned into a monster and was about to attack them. So the road is clear and we can go on.’

‘But why did you do it?’ The princess’s voice was full of bitterness. ‘They hadn’t attacked us! And now you’ve frightened the farmers, they’ve lost their wares and they might have trampled someone in the stampede. What did you do it for?’

‘I had to clear the road.’ It was beginning to dawn on Oleg that he hadn’t acted at all nicely.

Without answering, Ataletta spurred her horse on, quietly whispering as she rode past him: ‘You’re a demon after all, and I was beginning to forget it.’

Perplexed, Oleg rode after her. He thought hard for some time about what the princess said. Then some other words came to him: “... if you assume your demonic form for long enough, and people believe that you are in fact a demon, then you will be one.” He remembered a few episodes from his journey. The amazed look of the bandit gang leader and his whisper: “And I thought you were human” when he handed him over to the liches; the face of the village chief who had tried to arrest them and was instantly reduced to ash by the fireball; the cruel joke he’d played on the lieutenant, and now today’s incident with the farmers, whose only crime was getting in his way.

He remembered his former self—a kind-hearted student, lover of beer and pretty girls--and when he remembered that, he realized how little was left of him. Although… beer and girls, now that was something very good no matter how your character changed. But still, how easily he killed now; and without experiencing any particular emotion whatsoever. Although no, he did feel. He brought all those incidents back to mind again. Yes. It’s just that those feelings weren’t really anything like human ones. They were far more reminiscent of the sensations Heliona had called “feelings of a true demon of the dark circle,” the cruel glee at a wilfully harmed enemy and hatred towards those who dared to contradict him…’ It all stemmed from there,’ Oleg suddenly realized with amazement. ‘But when was it I changed? When did I start to think like a demon? Digging deeper into his memories, he found the answer to that question, too. After his visit to Oner, Oleg had stopped feeling repulsion at killing. Evidently, being in the skin of a demon for a long time and perhaps also the incredible stress he’d been under when he sang the incantations had taken their toll.

He should try to use his demonic body as rarely as possible, even partially. And he needed to watch his actions so as not to allow such outbursts as reducing the village chief to ashes. And get to Valensia as quickly as possible to study to be a magician. Otherwise he could become a demon and not even notice it! And there it was again: that kind of thought didn’t arouse the same repulsion as before.

Busy with his frightening thoughts, he paid no attention to Ataletta who had been riding next to him for some time, trying to attract his attention. She finally succeeded.

‘Hey, Arioch! Look!’

‘What is it?’

‘We’re coming to Brice. There’s a fair going on and it would be better for us to make a detour, unless of course you intend to chase away the whole town like you did those hapless villagers.’

‘Yeah, of course, we’ll go round. What’s the problem?’

‘The problem is that we’re almost through the gates! What’s the matter with you?’

‘I was thinking. You know, I was really in the wrong to jump at those hapless farmers like that. Thank you for pointing it out to me.’

‘You’re always welcome,’ said the princess, dumbstruck.

***

‘Well, you’re almost home now,’ Oleg announced when they had ridden up to the border of the Maidell Barony. A small group of guards was coming towards them, evidently a border unit.

To their menacing cry of “Who goes there?” Ataletta rode out in front.

‘It is I, Ataletta Kreghist, Princess of Fenrian, with my retinue. I am bound for Baron Maidell. I would ask you to accompany us and inform the baron.’

They were surrounded at once. One of the guards looked into the princess’s face for a long time and then nodded: ‘It’s her, Captain,’ he said, turning to the commander. ‘I saw the princess when I was in the baron’s retinue and he was visiting Velmint.’

Without replying, the captain trotted up to Ataletta.

‘How can we serve you, Your Highness?’ he said.

‘I have already said that I request you to accompany me to the castle and to send someone to let the baron know,’ she answered.

‘Vinter!’ the captain shouted loudly. ‘Go on, nip over to his Grace and tell him about Her Highness’s arrival. The rest of you, fall into guard formation!’

One of the guards turned his horse around and bounded back along the road at a gallop. The others, surrounding Oleg’s small party, set off.

On their way to the castle they were met by the lord of the city himself. Baron Otto von Maidell, free baron and lord of the richest and most powerful of the Iron Baronies, good friend and agent of Freidrich IV and godfather to his daughter, was a tall, corpulent man who looked around forty.

‘Ata, my dear, how did you manage to escape?’ was his first question after the customary greeting rituals.

‘By a miracle, for which we must thank him,’ and she nodded towards Oleg.

‘I thank you, lir,’ the baron said, carefully looking Oleg over. ‘To whom do I owe the salvation of my goddaughter? And how may I reward him for his courage?’

‘My name is Arioch. I am a wandering minstrel and hunter of the Unclean, and you owe me nothing. But I would like to rest for a day or two before continuing on my way and I would be glad if you could recommend a good hotel.’

‘Not another word; my castle is at your disposal! I cannot allow the saviour of my friend and lord’s daughter to spend the night in some hotel!’

…And that evening there was a feast. It seemed that the baron did genuinely love Ataletta and celebrated her arrival with great pomp and circumstance.

Seated at the table for honoured guests, separated from the rest of the festival hall by a partition, Oleg thought hard. Once he had paid the hirelings, giving each of them a very handsome bonus on top of the agreed sum (they had earned it) he didn’t have that much money left. And Oleg still wanted to get himself a better quality weapon – thanks to the local market he’d seen some very handsome examples. Besides, he would need to buy a good chainmail as he intended to continue to play the role of an Imperial Hunter. That would leave him with a few pennies, barely enough to get to the Empire of Trir. In order to get to Valensia where the Academy was, he would have to cross a third of the empire, the largest state Oikumena.

But making his calculations, Oleg cheered up. It was still more than a month to the “Day of Students” when the Academy selected its new students. That was ample time not only to get to Valensia but also to earn a fair bit, too. After all, he had “in hand” two professions which were very highly sought after in this world.

Both minstrels and Hunters of the Unclean were treated with great respect in the empire and had a whole range of privileges. It was not without reason that Oleg supposed that he could shine in both professions. ‘Tomorrow I’ll buy a chainmail shirt, a bow and a handsome sword,’ Oleg decided.

Here his musings were interrupted by someone lightly brushing his shoulder. Oleg turned round. Ataletta was standing in front of him.

‘Can I have a word with you?’ Tiredness and slight tension could be heard in the princess’s voice.

‘Yes, of course. Have a seat.’ Oleg moved over, freeing the place next to him. ‘Won’t they miss you?’

‘No, they won’t.’ Smirking, the girl sat down on the chair offered to her. ‘Everyone’s already pretty drunk and no-one will notice anything.’ She fell silent. ‘You know, you’re an absolutely impossible person. I have the impression that etiquette is something you don’t care for. You really hate it and try to break it any time you have the chance! And you can’t say you don’t know how to behave… Sometimes you have splendid manners, but only once in a blue moon. At first I found it insulting, but then I realized that it was silly to be offended. It’s just your style, isn’t it?’

‘You guessed,’ Oleg didn’t bother to explain that in fact he simply didn’t know the local rules for good behaviour. Let them think he was an eccentric, there were worse things. ‘But you didn’t come to discuss my attitude to etiquette, did you?’

‘I just don’t know how to begin…’ Ataletta gave Oleg a searching look. ‘Tell me, is what you told my godfather true? Are you leaving the day after tomorrow?’

‘Yes. You’re safe, I kept my promise. Now I have other things to do. I think I’ve already told you I intend to go to Valensia and study to be a magician.’

‘I wanted to ask you to stay with me! Help me regain my throne! Now I shall gather an army. Sedition and crop failure are descending on Fenrian now, the curse of my forefather is a dreadful thing. Once I have regained my throne, I will reward you generously. You’ll be second after me…’

Oleg grinned. How quickly Ataletta had resumed her role as a powerful mistress!

‘You’ve already offered me that,’ he said quietly, interrupting the agitated girl. ‘Do you remember? There, in the cellar, when Albert invoked me. I refused then, so why do you think my position has changed now? I don’t need any of your dukedoms or baronies, I don’t need the power you can offer…’

‘But you did agree to help me!’ Ataletta exclaimed, interrupting him.

‘I felt sorry for you. I didn’t want them to kill you. And then, I still haven’t received payment for my last bill,’ Oleg said, and immediately regretted it. The princess went flat in an instant.

‘Yes, it’s true… You did the impossible and saved me. What is your wish, O my lord?’ She tried to joke but Oleg could see the fear which took hold of the girl.

He shook his head chidingly. ‘We’ve been together for quite a long time now, haven’t we? Surely you don’t think I could demand something bad of you? Calm down, you don’t owe me anything. Yes, and I’m turning you down not because of any debts but because I have to hurry. I have to begin to study human magic otherwise I’ll become a demon once and for all. They’re accepting students at the Valensian Academy in six weeks but it’ll take me at least two weeks to get there providing, of course, your map is accurate. And I doubt very much that you’ll manage to raise an army in the intervening time, attack Fenrian, defeat your uncle and crown yourself.’

‘I see. Forgive me, I thought badly of you. It’s just that I really hoped that you would join me. We could have really done with your help.’ She continued to look at Oleg with pleading eyes.

Oleg sighed deeply.

‘It seems you don’t understand. What do you think would happen if I forgot about all my plans and instead of getting a place at the Academy I started to help a beautiful but overly insistent princess to regain the throne of her forefathers?’

‘The princess would be really happy and would be very-very grateful to you! She’d regain her throne, you’d become a wealthy and important personage, after which you’d go and study at the Academy?’ Ataletta suggested, innocently fluttering her eyelashes.

‘If only!’ Oleg grinned. It seemed the princess kept strictly to the principle: “never give up”. A praiseworthy position in some regards, just not very appropriate in this case. In order for it to sink into this pretty little head that there was no point in trying to talk him into staying, Oleg decided to give her a detailed explanation of his reasons.

‘Now listen to me. If I stay with you, then in the process of winning your throne for you I will undoubtedly have to take part in battles. Since as I haven’t mastered human magic, and I’d be an abysmal warrior in my human body – don’t argue, the fight with Morron doesn’t count, I used a partial transformation – then like it or not, in the battles I’d have to use my demonic capabilities. And that would lead to an increase in my demon side until it completely stifled my human side. After which I, so good and kind, would all but disappear and instead of me there would be an evil, capricious and power-hungry demon. What’s more, I’d be virtually invincible in the territory of Fenrian. Are you sure you want to receive such a present? Oh, and did I mention that that demon would also be very strong, both magically and physically?’

‘I see.’ It seemed that Ataletta had really been counting on persuading Oleg to go to war for her, and that this new situation was not at all in keeping with her plans. Having thought for a while, she brushed his arm again.

‘And what if I wait? It’ll take three or four years to prepare the warriors. And the course in the Academy is five years. Then you can join us. Your help would be very useful!’

Oleg looked at the princess. ‘Seems I play some key role in her plans,’ he thought. ‘And anyway, is it in my interest to meddle in the internal politics of Fenrian? No, I don’t need that.’

While Oleg thought, Ataletta was nervously awaiting his reply.

‘You know,’ Oleg said, having made up his mind, ‘A lot can happen in five years. Your uncle might die, and then you won’t need to fight anyone. You might meet a mighty magician and no longer need my help. Or some kind of duty might call me which won’t allow me to come and help you. I don’t think it would be wise for you to wait for me.’

The princess threw back her head and her eyes moistened suspiciously.

‘I understand. Who am I to you? We met, you play a while, get my hopes up and then say farewell…’

Nevertheless, despite all her readiness to spurt tears, Oleg was able to sense her insincerity and this only served to convince him all the more that he played some important role in some mysterious plan of hers.