The afternoon sun was warm as Lupin stood before the walls of the city, coils of silver chain in his hands and a small branch of a rowan tree stuck in the earth at his feet.
Even though the chain was blessed and anointed by several priests, for the first time in his life he felt real fear gnawing like some parasite in his guts. They felt strange in his hands, warm and cold at the same time, almost as if they buzzed with a life of their own.
The field ahead was empty, newly tilled by a farmer and to Lupin the rich dark soil smelt alive. Several more rowan branches dotted the land in a wide circle around him. These had been carefully placed by the coven of witches less than an hour earlier, and he had been given strict instructions not to remove even one twig from their leafy limbs.
The ground thrummed and vibrated all around him. A heat haze rose, shimmering the horizon, as he waited. Then the wolves appeared from the distant grasslands, dozens of them bounding across the field towards him.
From the crumbling walls above Lupin heard a man cry out, "Captain, wolves! Shall I deploy the archers?"
Lupin turned and growled, a dangerous light flashing in his dark eyes.
"Do not fire on these animals! They are my kin."
The walls were lined with archers and priests, led by Lord Ness himself. Their arrows had been dipped into the holy fountain in the temple and the witches had performed a complex ritual over them; calling down the powerful blessings of the moon and sun. The sharp, metal tips were now luminous and sparkling in the sunlight.
The wolves raced into the circle unharmed, yapping and yelping excitedly.
Lupin knelt and touched heads with the white wolf as the pack surrounded them.
"You have done well, Brothers. The Demon will head right here into our trap, you have my thanks and the thanks of these humans. They have decreed it illegal to hunt wolves from this day forth. I have to bind this beast, and hopefully any more that follow."
"We will stand with you, Manwolf," the white one said. Lupin shook his head sadly.
"No, Brother. Your fight is over. Go now, lose yourself in the deep forests to the southwest. Live in peace, and may our bright Sister moon smile upon you always."
White growled but lowered his head in submission, and with a short bark the pack veered off to the southwest and relative safety.
*
Moments later a second cry went up from the walls above, but Lupin's sharp eyes had already picked up the shambling figure approaching. A piercing cry, thin and hungry, rang across the land as the Demon spotted his prey.
The stumbling became a half run and cries of horror rose from behind Lupin as the watchers above saw the creature in greater detail.
One thin arm was hanging off at the elbow, while the other had grown grotesquely huge, with a sharp claw where the hand had been. It no longer resembled a man, the face torn and raw with one eye missing, and it dragged an injured leg behind,using the remaining leg and the misshapen arm to move.
Lupin's breath came in short pants as the chain in his hands wriggled and writhed violently like a shining, metal snake.
He tensed, wrapping the chain around his knuckle on his right hand and hanging in a loose loop on the left. The Demon stopped suddenly at the outer limit of the rowan branches. The two nearest branches glowed a soft green, then a bright, white barrier formed between them. It took a stumbling step towards the light and the hiss of charred flesh filled the air.
"Archers! Legs only, legs only! Loose!" Lord Ness roared.
Twenty glowing arrows flashed though the air, half hitting their mark. The Demon's one good leg resembled a pincushion, before it stumbled and fell, face first, into the earth.
Lupin leapt into action, bounding across the field and pulling the rowan branches as he ran.
The Demon tried to stand but collapsed again, as Lupin planted the branches in a new circle around the stricken beast. Then he leapt upon its back and looped the chain around its neck and torso. The chain tightened and glowed a fierce white then tightened again.
The Demon screeched in rage, pain and maybe even fear.
Lupin tried to leap clear as it tried to reared up one last time. Amazingly, the long arm snaked out, and the hooked claw slashed a terrible cut across his back and shoulder. Lupin gave a gurgling cry and fell between the rowan branches.
The Demon sensed the injured Changeling within its reach and slowly began to pull itself forward with the terrible hook.
Lord Ness and several priests sprinted to the fallen man. T
hey pulled his arms as the hook thudded down on his foot slicing off the toe of his boot along with a couple of toes. The rowan barrier sprang to life glowing brighter than before and the Demon quickly retracted the arm. It lay there bound by magic but still deadly.
Its influence played on the minds of the priests but they wore amulets and wards protecting them from the worst of the taint. It slowly licked the bright blood from the hook and gurgled a horrible laugh.
"My Brethren will free me soon enough..."
"Post a mage on the wall, let nobody approach this monster, upon pain of death," Lord Ness commanded, as the priests took Lupin to the keep to tend to his wounds.
Lord Ness could feel the dark mind-tendrils of the beast probing the shield around his own mind, as it lay there waiting with infinite patience. As he walked away from the field he felt a sudden heart wrenching sadness, and a distant, terrible pain. "VE GEDDULAH," the word of power rang out.
A tremor ran through the land and thunder rumbled off to the northwest, and in the gutter the Demon began to laugh with a hellish glee; an insane titter that tore at Lord Ness's senses. "The Glory...," he whispered, leaving the Demon alone for now.
YOU ARE READING
Changelings Book1 Dragons & Demons
FantasyATEH-MALKUTH-VE GEBBURAH-VE GEDDULAH-LA OHLAM-AMEN Someone is slaying wizards and uttering the six words of power: Breaking the ancient magical bonds that bind the Demon horde to the Netherworld... Now evil stalks the land, seeking the magic of li...
