Encounter with the Demon Prince

As the rumors suggested, we arrived at an oasis tucked away in the middle of the Dorns. It appeared like an apparition on the northern horizon, having retained all of its water during the Endless Summer, an absolutely beautiful sight to behold, with its deep fresh spring waters and a shoreline covered with date palms and land mussels. Truly, it was a miracle in progress, untouched by neither the advance of the desert nor the interference of people. I almost dared to not even touch it for fear of damaging some imagined natural frailty. I had not seen flowing water, let alone at such a scale, in so long.

Our intention was not to stay for long, maybe gather up some water and some fish for the road ahead. Freehold remained a day and a half away by Giorg's calculations, so we did not need much. I almost asked Giorg how we hadn't seen anything like this before, but it was well-understood that nobody ever bothered to map out the Dorns properly. Perhaps that was for the best. If word of these oases ever got out, it could cause any good will between our nations to disintegrate. It was our little secret.

Our arrangement was fairly simple. At the first sign of day's light or near to it, I would awake and Ipas would put herself to sleep. Late in the day, Giorg put himself to sleep. At the first sign of night's light, Ipas would awake and put me to sleep. In the middle of the night, Giorg would awake. And all the while, we would still travel onwards. A deceptively simple solution for the problem of needing to travel by day's light vs. needing to travel by night's light.

That night, as per our established schedule, I cast the sleep spell and the levitation spell on myself, knocking myself out instantly.

•

I awoke to horse footsteps, clipping and clopping away as it approached the shore. None of us brought horses; we all assumed doing so would draw unwanted attention towards us. The noise caused the sleep and levitation spells to wear off immediately, causing me to land very roughly on the ground. The visitor gave no indications as to whether they were friend or foe. Not wanting to be caught by surprise, I put a hand on the hilt of my sword, but hesitated to draw it.

The visitor dismounted swiftly, right in front of me. At first, I could only see their tall boots, made of charred leather, with strange pointed spikes at the heels. I imagined those must have been incredibly uncomfortable to walk around in, but the visitor made it seem so natural.

“So this is the hero my father keeps yapping on and on about,” the visitor said in a strange voice that sounded almost childlike. “You don't seem that impressive. Get up. Get up!”

I did as the visitor told me, granting me a better view of him. Even with the boots, the man stood just a bit shorter than me, thin, almost dangerously so, with a ghostly pale, yet strangely handsome complexion and hair to match. He wore a short robe, much too small, even for him, exposing his legs below the knees. And, of course, he had pointy ears, a narrow whip-like tail, and a pair of rotted winglets on each shoulder.

A demon!

A memory of the Demon Lord Ayya flashed across my eyes, standing before me as we commenced single combat. Ayya was covered head to toe in thick bronze armor, revealing only his ruby-red eyes. The Demon Lord pointed a finger right at me and -

The memory faded, leaving only the demon standing next to his horse. This visitor was roughly the same height as Ayya, though Ayya wore a stag helmet that made him appear much taller than he actually was. Shaken but undeterred, I made a hasty glance to my left and right. No signs of either Giorg or Ipas.

“Where are the others?” I asked the demon, getting some distance between us just in case he had any tricks planned. Not wanting to let him get the better of me, I drew my sword. If he even dared to approach me, I planned on skewering him right there.

“Is that any way to address the demon prince?” he asked in response. “And do put that toy away. Have you any idea how much damage you could do if you jabbed someone with the pointy end?”

I remained in my battle stance. He would not take two steps towards me. I was about to make sure of that.

“Actually, allow me.” The demon prince, as he referred to himself, used some sort of magic to rip the sword clean out of my hands. Instead of doing what I expected him to do (kill me right where I stood), he took a closer look at the sword. As he examined my blade, he actually provided some kind words about it. “Quite an interesting construction, this is. I don't think I've seen anything like it in all the realms.”

“Th- Thank you,” I replied. “I forged it myself. Designed the hilt and everything.”

“A metal hilt is rather uncommon around these parts, let alone one so intricate,” the prince commented. “I appreciate the creativity here. My father is absolutely obsessed with this thing; he won't quit going on and on about it. The blade that almost killed him, he calls it.”

When he was finished with his observations, he tossed the sword back to me. Trusting a sworn enemy with their sword? I found myself quite surprised by this rather unusual act of generosity.

“I suppose I should introduce myself,” the demon prince continued. “I am the Mighty Bull of Wast, He of the Two Pillars Relishing in Victory, Divine of Appearance, The Only Truth is His Word, Tomosse the Vulture, Prince of the East and West.”

“That's quite a title you have there,” was the only thing I could say in response to that.

“Thank you,” he replied, showing such gratitude that I had never seen from a demon before. “The loftier the title, the better, as my father always says. For the sake of simplicity, you can just call me Tomosse.”

“Well then, what brings you here, Tomosse?” I asked him, still standing in place and debating whether to resume my battle stance or not. Surely, he was not here to kill me, otherwise he would have done that already.

“I come to you with two messages,” Tomosse explained, “one from my father and one from myself.”

“I suppose your father wants me to surrender and come with you to gods know where,” I told him.

Tomosse giggled, “You know my father well, but I will not allow that to happen.”

“What?!” I could not believe a word this demon said. To act in defiance of one's lord was dangerous enough for a human or an ogre or any species in the realms. I imagined the punishment for a demon to do the same was much harsher. Just who was this demon prince, actually?

“Don't take me for some fool, hero,” Tomosse said as he circled around me. “You've seen my father's madness first-hand. I tried to warn him. You can't rule over a crater, I told him. He didn't listen. He never will. What I want is an alliance. Help me defeat my father, and I'll help you restore what has been lost.”

It did not take long for me to answer. “I don't trust you.” Of course, I didn't trust him. He was a demon, and if he was being honest, a prince at that, just a step below the Demon Lord. I should have cut him down the first chance I had! But for some reason, I didn't.

Tomosse sighed in frustration. “I knew you would say that, and I suppose you have no reason to trust me. So I'll give you one. Continue to Freehold. Someone you hold dear will be waiting for you there.”

Someone I hold dear? There weren't many people like that anymore. I hadn't even the slightest clue if any of them still lived. The old king? Probably still young enough to be alive, but probably would have been killed when the city of Luwas fell.

My wife and son? Gods, I could only have hoped they were alive and waiting for me. But I had not seen them in so long. Whether they lived or not was impossible to know for sure.

Giorg? He was a good friend, true, but his disappearance could just have been a trick set up by the demon prince. Or maybe this all was just another weird dream.

Hilami? Maybe, but it would have been quite unlikely for her to make the trek all the way from Andawas to Freehold on her own.

“How do I know this isn't a trick?” I asked Tomosse. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't strike you down right now.”

“Because you won't,” he answered with a grim smile on his face. “You've gone through this entire conversation without trying to kill me. And if you can do that, then my work here is done. I've planted the seed that will make you at the very least consider my offer. But now, I must take my leave.”

Tomosse and his horse both started to fade away like the morning mist. I would not allow him to leave so easily.

“Get back over here and fight me!” I shouted, charging towards his fading body with my sword. But as he faded, Ipas came into view in his place. I nearly slipped and fell trying to keep myself from accidentally stabbing her with the blade.

“Watch where you're pointing that thing, hero,” she scolded me. “You've been waving that sword around and talking to yourself for a while. What is the matter with you?”

“What…” A quick glance to my left revealed Giorg had reappeared as well. Giorg was getting ready for the day ahead. Ipas had her seer stones arranged in her special pattern again, indicating that she sought to see something far away. We had stopped traveling. Tomosse, on the other hand, had disappeared, as if he had not been there at all. Could I have dreamed up the whole thing? If so, yet another strange dream to add to my collection. If not, what could have explained such a strange encounter, one that Ipas could only see my end thereof.

And just who was Tomosse, this strange demon prince?

“Ipas, do you see anything in the stones?” I asked her.

“I wish I could,” was her answer, “but the stones are cloudy tonight. It's as if someone cast a hidden veil around this place.”

“This is going to sound like a weird question, but did you see any demons around here?” I asked. “Or any horses, perhaps?”

“Nothing of the sort,” she replied quietly. “I've heard a lot of demons walking about, but none have strayed close enough to here. Just you waving your sword around.”

How strange…

A faint orange glow started creeping over the Dorns. Morning.

“You should probably get some sleep, Ipas,” I told her, trying to shrug off my recent encounter, or at least what I thought was one. “We should reach Freehold by the end of the day.”