Devil in Shepherd's Robes

Ch 13: Unexpected Guest

"My name is Restavel, I'll see you to your quarters." The gray-haired maid said dully, her gaze never leaving that of the grotesque rat creature before her.

The first thing she noticed about it was the crescent bone through its skull, looking like someone had pierced his head with a curved javelin. The creature smiled at her with the remainder of its yellowed teeth, but there was something odd about the smile. It seemed far too joyful to be coming from a deformed monstrosity such as this. It was dressed in a dirty and worn brown shawl tied crudely around its waist, just barely reaching below its decrepit bony knees. Its long and lanky body stood tall above her even with the abnormal hunch in its back due to the long curved bone it used as a makeshift cane.

"You may call me Pestarrem. It's a pleasure to meet you, Restavel. You have such a beautiful name..." He said, standing up straighter and slightly bowing towards the maid to show respect, "I wonder... how did you come to acquire it?"

"It was given to me by our lord." She said bluntly as she turned to face the palace doors, beckoning Pestarrem to follow.

The two of them made their way through the winding corridors of Palace Estella, passing through the hall next to Aberlain's study which overlooked the captive forest. The uneven clicking of her heels was drowned out by the sharp thuds of Pestarrems bony cane as she limped through the halls with the monstrosity in tow.

Such beauty had never blessed the eyes of Pestarrem who had always been trapped within a city of rage and distress. The flowing colors of the trees and bushes lit up his milky white eyes, almost causing a small light to flicker within them. Whatever heart he possessed had been cut out long ago, but the beauty of this world was still not lost to him. He recognized the forest below as a small portion of Hell untouched by the hands of demons such as himself, but soon remembered exactly who owned the forest.

Stopping for a moment to overlook the trees, he began to think back on his time in the sewers. The beauty of the world didn't matter in the slightest, it was just simply there. If he had to destroy everything beautiful in the world to exact his vengeance on those who took everything from him, so be it. He would do what's necessary to achieve his goal, taking victory into his own hands.

"Restavel, if I may?" He asked, looking towards the maid.

"What is it?"

"This forest... I'd like to get a closer look."

"Fine." She said, her voice never once wavering from its monotonous tone. Pestarrem found it peculiar how laid back and disinterested the maid was, but it didn't seem to just be a personality quirk to him. He decided to mention it later, not wanting to anger the maid in case she wouldn't show him the way into the forest below.

Following her once more through the hall, he noticed an interesting phenomenon. As they made their way through a different glass hallways and large staircases overlooking the forest, several other maids were working on the marble floor. They each had a mop in one hand while towing behind a tiny yellow mop bucket full of dingy gray water. What caught his attention, however, was the fact each maid looked nearly identical to the one he was now following. The only key difference was that every other maid seemed to be significantly shorter than the one who'd introduced herself to him. As they passed each maid, they hid their faces from him behind their long gray bangs as if they were afraid of him.

"I have... a question." Pestarrem said, his voice garbling a bit as he spoke. Ever since Aberlain had given him a name his voice had seemed much clearer, but his monstrous tone never quite left him completely.

"What." She said coldly, turning around a corner to reveal the large open archway leading into the forest. It was quite plain for an entrance, but what laid on the other side was much grander than any entrance could hope to achieve. The forest of Palace Estella stood tall and proud, its trees looming over the two demons with a certain nobility.