CHAPTER 7

One morning, nearing the third full moon, she was awakened by screaming.

She shot up from the bed. She had taken to sleeping in her boots. They had managed to treat most of the cases of what was being termed as Devil's Cough, but several villagers had still died despite their best efforts. Certain that a mob had formed ready to take revenge on Thanlos and herself for their failure, it took Tianna until she was nearly out the door of her room before she realized that the screaming wasn't the right tone for angry pillaging, but the true terrorized scream of some poor woman. Not only that, but it was being joined by more screaming and shouting coming from the town square.

She wavered for just a moment between picking up her sack and rushing to the windows at the front of the living space. The apartment was empty. Thanlos must have been below, tending to the newest patient, though it seemed as though this one would recover. Dawn was cresting in the east, but long shadows still filled the square and alleys between the buildings. Towns people were being pushed into the square by large, armored men, many on horeseback and carrying torches.

Tianna watched, uncomprehending, at the sight of armored riders, throwing off her understanding of the world. They pushed more and more of the towns people into the square. Men, women, children, none were spared. She watched as they broke down the doors of nearby shops and pulled those who had been reluctant to join the fray from their dwellings. One of the men sat on his tall chestnut, watching the proceedings. He scanned the buildings, pausing when at last his gaze landed on her.

Real fear stabbed her. She gasped and pushed away from the window, her scattered mind desperate for some sort of action.

Horns. The man had sported horns. Like the devil.

He couldn't have seen her, she consoled herself. The apartment was dark, he should not have been able to see into its interior.

Somehow, that didn't stem the panic. She dashed to her room, grabbed her bag, and made her way toward the drop-down stairs. It was time to leave; she had to find Thanlos.

But it was too late. Even as she started to lower the stairs, voices and shouts filled the building, including Thanlos' calm gentle tones.

“To the square,” a gravelly tone demanded. “Who else is in here?”

“No one,” Thanlos assured, his voice unwavering. “Well, just me and this fellow, and, as you can see, he is in no condition to move.” Tianna's heart sunk. He was trying to save her. After everything he had done for her, he was still trying to protect her.

“Search it,” the voice commanded, “and bring them, that one, too.”

Thunder pounded in her ears. She latched the ladder back up and looked desperately around. There was nowhere to go. She couldn't even crawl out a window because they didn't open far enough.

Heavy footfalls moved down the hall, opening the doors below. Wood groaned and splintered as they forced their way into the workroom.

There was nothing she could do. Fear fogged her mind from determining any other course of action and she stood frozen, awaiting her fate.

It didn't take the intruders—Daemons, she acknowledged in the back of her mind—long to find the rope that lowered the staircase. Fear had built itself into a crescendo...and while it had previously held her immobile, as the head of the Daemon rose above the level of the floor, her reactions took a different route. Before the man's eyes could light upon her, she was running forward, thankful for the three short months of kickboxing she had tried out two years ago while she was still in university. She leapt into the air and connected her foot with his head as hard as she could.

He let out a startled yelp as she connected and then his balance flagged, and his eyes rolled back in his head. He tumbled unceremoniously down the stairs and she raced to retract them with the upper rope. Desperately, she wrapped the length around the only thing she could find, the leg of the settee, and went in search of a better weapon. Thanlos had those heavy pots she could make use of.

The orders from below turned into calls, and then curses, as someone worked at pulling the stairs down again. The settee skidded across the floor.

Oh no you don't.

Tianna moved both chairs into place before it, tipping the second one so that she could prop the back of the chair against the wall and the legs could hold the rest of the furniture from moving farther. The stairs stopped in their progress and there was further cursing from below.

She peered through the crack that had been created in the floor and met a pair of dark eyes.

“Woman,” the man growled, “let these stairs down immediately.”

She didn't answer him but moved out of his line of sight. What she wouldn't give for her shotgun. It was the first time she had truly lamented it since she lost it in the grove. She briefly considered tossing coals from the stove through the crack at him, but she feared it would light the building on fire and she would be trapped in the upper level. Death by fire would certainly be as bad as whatever these daemons were planning. There wasn't much else in the small living space that was useful. There was a brief conversation below and then more muffled voices and cursing at the stairs. The chair she had placed as a prop began to groan with the force of resisting the intrusion. In desperation, she grabbed the lid off the kettle and sloshed the remains of Thanlos' morning coffee through the opening.

For a moment, the sounds below fell silent. Then, a terrifying and frustrated growl filled the space, making Tianna's legs quake and her insides turn to liquid.

That was it. That was all she had.

Still, she couldn't go down without trying everything, so she grabbed the heaviest frying pan she could find and placed herself next to the opening but out of sight.

It didn't take very long before the legs of the chair gave out and the whole jumble of furniture that she had created slid forward several inches. This was enough for whoever was below. With the slicing of metal, someone cut through the sturdy rope and the stairs crashed down.

It took a few moments before anyone braved the steps. Tianna swung as soon as the head was visible, but this time her foe was ready. He turned, impossibly fast, and latched onto her wrist before she could make contact. This left her in the awkward position of bending over the hole in the floor, trying desperately to scramble backward and regain her balance. When that didn't work, she opted for simply letting go. The release of pressure first dropped the pan onto the man's shoulder, and when she stopped fighting, his strength pulled her over and she tumbled on top of him, eliciting a startled grunt. They fell through the hole together, him still holding like steel to her wrist. She braced to impact the floor but somehow she ended up on top of him. Her arm bent at an awkward angle and she cried out in pain when something popped in her shoulder. Spots filled her vision, but before they had stopped moving, she was kicking and clawing at him. She managed to get her heel between his legs and kicked as hard as she could.

“Fuck,” he hissed. “Come and get control of her before she eviscerates me.”

She had forgotten that there was more than one. Suddenly, hands were hauling her upright and clamping her arms to her sides. The man who had come up the stairs let go of her wrist and rolled away from her, groaning slightly.

“Hellcat,” the man to her right was amused. “Never seen that in a human before.”

She gave him enough of a cursory glance to ascertain that he, too, had horns. She tried to kick him, but restrained as she was, he avoided it easily.

The man on the floor rose slowly, giving his head a little shake and moping the remains of coffee off of his armor. He made his way toward the front of the shop and the two that held her drug her along with him.

She knew real terror as she was dragged into the sunlight. The entire population of the village had been lined up in rows, patrolled by the Daemons. At the front of the square, opposite Thanlos' clinic, a row of three black carriages had been lined up. That was about all she could see from her position. She searched the familiar faces around her for Thanlos.

“Better keep a hold of her,” the man she had injured told the others. “No telling what mood Xor’annan is in.”

They said nothing, just held her firm at the back of the last row; they must have agreed.

For a morning that had started with such a vast amount of chaos, the square was innately silent. Tianna had given up the fight for the moment, her head hung low. Let them think she had given up. She did listen carefully, trying to discern what was happening.

From Thanlos' description of the Daemons, she expected the worst. Nothing happened for what felt like hours and then a cry, a female cry of distress, but not pain or horror, from the front of the square rose. There was some movement, but she couldn't see much beyond the backs of the baker's family. The square fell silent until the next cry, the blacksmith's angry shout, two rows ahead, but quickly silenced. Several more times noise erupted. What was happening?

When the commotion reached her row, she turned her head to get a better view. She was among the last of the villagers, so the man that stepped between the rows was a distance from her. Had someone drawn the devil as an agent of seduction, they would have come up with his picture. His armor was blacker than that of his surrounding comrades. His features were foreboding, and yet incredibly attractive. A strong jaw with thick, unsmiling lips. Dark brows slashed above dark calculating eyes. His hair was the color of coal and pulled from his face with two side braids and then left to flow halfway down his back in a straight cape. Like all the others, horns curled away from his temples and up above the crest of his head. They were carved with symbols she did not understand.

Tianna shuddered.

He moved between two of his guards and studied each villager he passed, as one might study chattel or horseflesh they were contemplating purchasing. Suddenly, she understood what was happening. They were taking slaves, or prisoners, or whatever Thanlos had warned her about. But that wasn't the worst of it. He had stopped before a stooped figure it took Tianna far too long to recognize. Thanlos.