The Demons of Rome

IV - The Test of Power

Dawn broke across the sky, illuminating the floor of the cell through the still open grate. Iatus stirred, groaning as he did, his muscles complaining at the top of their voice. The mage was down shortly and picked Iatus from his cell.

The door was still hanging off its hinges and Iatus could see charring all along the walls. A dwarf of a man was scrubbing the floor, moaning bitterly as he went.

When they got to the mage's room Iatus could see that an area of the floor had been brushed clear and a chalk circle had been drawn. It was about two meters in diameter and had two interlocking triangles drawn in it. On closer inspection there were little runes drawn around the circumference.

"So, my little wannabe escapist, today, despite your best efforts, you will be attempting to summon your demon. You understand that I take no pleasure in making you do this, it is just my job, if you had escaped last night I would have been reprimanded heavily," he began, Iatus not quite believing, "Now, to business, this is a summoning circle, it is required the first time you summon a new demon. You are to stand facing it, but do not get too close, that is where the demon will appear."

Iatus did as he was told.

"Now, simply recite the summons, but make sure you remain focused on the circle and direct your words there."

Iatus gulped then looked into the centre of the circle, with the focus of someone whose life was at stake, and began reciting. Nothing happened. Iatus finished his spell and the room remained still. Had he failed? The man looked about a bit then looked down at his notes in disappointment.

"Guess it is the gallows for you then, how disappointing."

The room shook and a thunderclap like noise reverberated around. A dark ball came spinning into being about head height in the centre of the circle, it crackled with lightning and hummed. Iatus was frozen in shock.

"Quick boy, the binding spell," the man said excitedly. "This is amazing, really amazing."

Iatus started the binding spell and the ball stopped spinning, with what looked like a flash of lightning the ball disappeared and a figure smashed into the floor in the middle of the circle, cracking it in several places. Landing in a kneeling position, a great gust of wind spiralled out from the figure, blowing papers around the room and making it hard for Iatus to keep going with his spell. Gold letters floated about the figure, as if drawn on the air. As Iatus finished the spell the runes floated down to the ground and burnt themselves into the wood around the chalk ring. The gust stopped and the figure came into clear view.

Iatus stopped speaking and examined the demon in front of him. It had the general shape of a man but had the wings, feet, head and feathers of a raven or a crow. Iatus looked at it with an open mouth. The man in the corner looked equally as shocked.

"Greetings, noble master, it is an honour..." the bird man started but as he looked up he saw Iatus.

"You're a kid!" it exclaimed, "You're nothing more than a scrawny chick! No way you managed to summon me? ME of all spirits! This is a fix, where's the real mage? I bet it's Barthelme, this is just the sort of trick he'd play. Ha ha, very funny Bart, now come out and let's get the mocking over."

The bird man looked about violently and laid his beady bird eyes on the man who had backed up into the corner, Iatus had been too busy to notice the mage's surprise turning into fear.

The bird man looked at him sceptically, he paused and cocked his head to the side like a hawk might, "Well, you're not the summoner to be sure, I'm not even sure you could deal with an imp, let alone glorious old me. Okay, as there is no-one else left in the room, I concede it must have been you. Now what do you want?"

Iatus opened and closed his mouth a few times.

"Okay, so, I take it from your silence that you didn't summon me for a purpose then. Brave, most people would topple over at this point in exhaustion. Ahhh, there we go."

Iatus felt his legs go wobbly as he got over the shock of being alive and collapsed to the floor.

"Good good. Now let's see if you are on the menu. These runes look powerful but did you get the wording right. Hmmm," The bird man said, almost like a school teacher, and began inspecting the runes and hopping from one foot to the other. He frowned a little, which made some of the feathers on his forehead stick out. Iatus might have laughed if he had not been scared out of his mind.

"Hmmm, this is all done incredibly well, for a newbie. I'm impressed. Oh? Wait a minute. A HA, got you!" the bird shouted with glee and leapt forwards.