Demon’s King (High Demon #3)(26)
Author: Connie Suttle

"Go to your larger Thifilatha and take the house down," Teeg ordered just before we exited the forest we’d traveled through. A tiny clearing surrounded the cabin—designed to keep the trees from blocking sunlight for the solar panels.

Well, Teeg could have told me this to start with, only he didn’t. I wanted to kick him in the groin for refusing to give me information on this particular assignment. The ASD called it Need To Know. I called it callous, rude and unfeeling. Lendill and I had a few arguments about it through the years I’d spent working for him and Norian Keef.

Just for leaving me out of this part of our attack, I left Teeg hanging on a tree branch before going full Thifilatha and kicking an outside wall of the cabin, sending the whole structure falling over in a heap.

* * *

"Lendill?"

"Father? What do you want?" Lendill had to work to keep the heavy sigh out of his voice when Kaldill Schaff contacted him via communicator. Lendill leaned back in his chair with a suppressed sigh, waiting to hear what his father had to say.

"If Reah is returned to you, you must marry her immediately. Bring her here and the ceremony will be performed."

"What?" Lendill was shocked by his father’s demand. Before, his father had only requested a meeting with Reah. Now he wanted the marriage ceremony? Where had that come from?

"Child, I cannot elaborate at this time," Kaldill’s eyes were unfocused—a look with which Lendill was only too familiar.

"But father," Lendill shouted as Kaldill terminated the call.

* * *

Teeg had to kill two of the three with the ranos rifle he carried—the two wizards had nearly reached the perimeter of my spell-negating ability. The third had gotten trapped beneath debris from the cabin I’d destroyed and he was desperately attempting to spell his trapped leg away from the heavy beam that pierced part of it. Teeg lifted it off easily and slapped cuffs on the man before calling for Astralan.

Ordering me away from them so Astralan could do what he could to stop the bleeding in the wizard’s leg, I walked away from them, still feeling the wrongness through my Thifilatha’s bare feet. This world was leaking energy. I whirled swiftly to glare at the wizard Teeg and Astralan were attempting to save for questioning. It made me angry—I knew now who’d caused the energy leak—those three wizards. Now, all the planet’s energy would drain from the core if something didn’t stop it.

I was experienced with pulling energy from somewhere. But where? I couldn’t pull it from Shillverr—the planet was already losing it at an alarming rate. Glancing up at the stars appearing overhead, I realized there was more than enough energy there. All I had to do was tap into it. Could I do it, by latching onto the light energy and pulling it to Shillverr even faster from so far away? If I couldn’t, Shillverr would die.

Sitting down, I turned my head toward the stars, focusing on one. Stars and suns created energy constantly. They wouldn’t miss what I needed now, if I could force it to my will. Closing my eyes, I held the mental image of the star in my mind and Pulled.

* * *

"Perhaps you should come see for yourself, Norian. They were delivered two days ago." Ildevar Wyyld smiled at his adopted heir.

"But how did they get here?" Norian was bewildered.

"I am not inclined to question at the moment. You have been looking for these for a while. They conveniently have confessed nearly all their crimes." Ildevar walked ahead of Norian, through dark corridors flanking the cells in Ildevar’s dungeons. Ildevar seldom used them, unless it was to keep a prisoner until feeding day.

Norian stared and whistled at the three prisoners. He had been looking for these for a while. Thirty years, at least. The last remnants of Solar Red glared at him through the bars of their cells.

"Do we have to report them to anyone?" Norian turned to Ildevar.

"No, they were delivered straight to my dungeon while the note appeared on my desk. We are the only two who know they are here, other than the ones who sent them."

"Are we going to let anyone else know?" Norian smiled at Ildevar.

"Only if that is your wish, child."

"I don’t wish."

"Good. I think I’ll start with this one," Ildevar gave a nod toward the prisoner in the middle cell.

"When?" Norian was mildly curious.

"Two days."

"Good." Norian turned on his heel and walked away. These prisoners were never getting out of Ildevar’s dungeon alive.

* * *

"What did she do? What did she do?" Teeg was shouting and fretting at the same time. Reah had done something—Astralan had said not only was Shillverr’s energy drain stopped, but the core had been healed somehow. Reah was connected to this, only none of them could determine just how she was connected. Now, she lay unconscious on the grass, still in full Thifilatha.

"We have to get her turned back—we can’t leave her like this," Astralan was fretting almost as much as Teeg. Teeg was glad Farzi and Nenzi hadn’t come; they’d be having a breakdown.

"Reah, come on baby, wake up. Please. For me. Do this for me, all right?" Teeg was begging. He was about to promise anything to her when she moaned softly.

* * *

Waking up flat on my back in the middle of the wilderness while night insects sang in the trees around me wasn’t the best situation in which I’ve ever found myself. "Thank the stars," Astralan muttered from somewhere nearby. Teeg was standing on my left arm, peering into my face. "Baby, change back. We need to take you home so Jes can have a look at you."

"Teeg, I don’t feel good." I covered my eyes with my free hand—Teeg was still standing on my left arm; I couldn’t move it unless I wanted to knock him to the ground. My stomach was threatening to heave up its contents; if there was anything left to heave.

"I know, baby. Change back. We’ll get you home and Jes will fix it. I promise." Teeg sounded upset, for some reason. My mind felt fuzzy—cloudy somehow, and I had to think for a moment before I could recall how to change back. Teeg jumped down the moment things looked to go back to normal.

* * *

"What happened?" Jes was fretting the moment Teeg showed up with me wrapped in his arms.

"A little more work than Teeg wanted from her, that’s what," Astralan murmured. Lenden was there and looked as if he were going to lift me from Teeg’s arms. Honestly, I just wanted to spend quality time with the toilet. When everybody was talking to one another and leaving me out of it, my body decided to react in its own way. I heaved all over the floor, causing Jes to jump aside, Teeg to shout and Farzi, Nenzi and Jusef to quickly search for something to clean the floor.