12 The Hunt
Chapter 12
A messenger was on a crucial mission, he was running thru the city to the church. churches were generally famous for thier inquisitors. The messenger had heard a lot about the high-class holy knights of the church. He was excited to finally meet one, it was rumoured that only the Castoffs of the inquisition were here but the messenger didn't care.
The church was huge and ornate a three-story building expanding 5 blocks surrounded by a low wall. The messenger thought it looked like the mansion of a noble. Clearly no expense was spared on the lavish marble pillars and carved wooden doors. The messenger pushed open the metal gates and moved forward to knock on the doors.
Knock! Knock! knock! the messenger waited 5 minutes after knocking and no one answered the call it appeared the priest might have been absent from the building. Or maybe the man was still asleep it was half-past lunch so he doubted it. The messenger was getting annoyed and knocked louder. Bang! Bang! Bang!
The messenger heard a loud yell coming from one of the top floors of the building. It was a man's voice that shouted," Be right down stop knocking!!" Whoever they were they didnt come down for another 20 minutes the messenger was debating on whether to leave and come back or knock again when the doors opened.
A man who was extremely overweight opened the door he had a breastplate on and was wearing a scabbard that was missing its sword apparently, he was short richly dressed and seemed to have just woken up if his messy hair and bleary eyes were to anything to judge.
The messenger pulled out a letter and said, this is urgent news From lord Harish Darthan, his lordship wishes you respond to the crisis in the merchant's section of the city with all due haste. Having done his duty the messenger turned and walked out of the courtyard. In the messenger's opinion, the inquisition was not what the story's said about it.
The head inquisitor of Drent stared thru blurry eyes at the sealed envelope with the town lords seal. How dare the city lord summon him like a common peasant he was Kelvin the high inquisitor of Drent and deserved respect. In Kelvin's opinion, he shouldn't be woken up until at least 3 in the afternoon and even then the man should offer him a drink before sending him to work.
Kelvin decided to open the note before he decided whether or not to go back to sleep. He peeled open the parchment and read the contents. The letter stated" High inquisitor Kelven you are summoned to aid the city of Drent by his lordship Harish Darthan, Report to the merchants quarters where there has been an incident of something clearly demonic in origin a green fire has burned down the fell hunter guild house.
Bring all available personnel and come ready, two demons were spotted leaving the ruins by the peasants, Come armed and prepared to subdue the demons. Kelvin stared in disgust at the note this was surely a hoax he thaught, Kelvin was summoned every other week because some commoner saw something they thought was a demon. And to this day he had never seen one before in all his years. Kelvin crumpled up the note threw it in disgust and walked into the building to wake up his apprentice.
Kelvin walked into the grand halls and upstairs his armour was uncomfortable and made it difficult to move, he knocked on the door of his disciple's room while wincing at the loud sound. It really was to early, all the drinking he and his student had done last night had left a nasty hangover and needed to be slept off. If only Kelvin could ignore the personal summons of the city lord he would his head was too sore for work. It was too bad The lord would remove the funding to his church if Kelvin didn't go and check on creaky bords and unusual sounds that the damned commoners always would hear.
The man on the other side of the door opened it after a few pained sounds and much cursing. He low priest was an alcoholic and a lazy fool just like the high inquisitor, that was why they got along so well. Kelvin yelled, "Darin get your ass out of bed Harish wants us to investigate a fire that burned down the felhunter guildhall!". When Darin opened the door the foul smell coming off the man, made Kelvin queasy the man smelled strongly of spirits.
Kelvin said," Get in your armour we have a sighting of a demon its probably nothing but get dressed anyways". Kelvin waited around as his apprentice stumbled thru his room cursing and trying to put on his armour in the dark. Darin yelled, "Have you seen my sword"? Kelvin said, "I think you lost it gambling last week don't worry just bring your wooden truncheon no need for a sword".
Chances were that the two church members would go to the fire walk around look important for an hour and come back. Twenty minutes later after Derin had equipped his gear the man was short and his armour was falling off the man the straps couldn't hold the man's gut his stomach was sticking out of the breastplate. His clothes were expensive and ornate, but they didn't fit anymore 10 years of never doing anything physical had made both of the men overweight and their armour did not fit near as well anymore.
(Main character Pov)
Reskeme was making his way out of the burning building he moved towards the streets and alleys. After exiting the fire the energy of the fire left Reskeme's body. A man was watching the fire from the end of the alley the man had a cloak and was staring as Reskeme and the demon left the fire. The man turned and ran screaming at the top of his lungs yelling something about two demons. Reskeme ran the other direction to the deep dangerous part of the slums that weaved thru alleys that seemed abandoned this was odd as there were always people in allies.
Reskeme passed an old sack that looked promising he picked it up, IT was covered in dirt but after some inspection, he concluded it would do perfectly as a robe. Oh great, he thought not even a day back and im already covered in mud. Reskeme tore a hole in the top of the sack and two other holes one for each arm. Reskeme was glad he was small the sac was big enough to reach all the way to his knees.
The sac felt dirty and rough against his skin as he pulled it over his head, now all Reskeme needed was a cloak to cover his hair and hide his face. Reskeme jogged down the street checking corners before he left the alley he decided he had to put an illusion on himself and on his familiar. Reskeme only hoped that no one looked close at him and his new companion. Reskeme thought of his familiar asking it to stay still, when the demon stood up and patiently waited Reskeme moved forward and very cautiously put his hand on the demon's chest.
Reskeme channelled mana as much as he could make his body tremble, he needed to make the spell good or the demon would get them caught. Reskeme focused on giving the demon long fur covering its whole body, and when he had channelled his mana for 30 seconds Reskeme wrapped his mana around the demon creating a 1 layered spell. Reskeme was smiling ear to ear and gasping for breath after the spell, he had never channelled soo much mana for one spell before and he felt happy and drained.
When the spell felt complete the mana almost looked solid to Reskeme amazement, after he stopped channelling mana the demon instantly was covered in fur that covered up its grey skin. The demon looked exactly like a feral dog with long fur big claws and huge ears. The only problem Reskeme could see was the horns were obvious if anyone were to look closely at it.
Reskeme was drained he could only channel one more spell that used that much mana, Reskeme decided to change his skin colour that was the most obvious. Reskeme channelled his mana focusing on changing his appearance to a dark brown skin colour which was very common in the city, Reskeme wrapped his mana around his entire body locking it in place.
Reskeme found some mud on the ground he had an idea, he used the mud and covered his hair rubbing it in running his hands over the two small bumps in the process. After Reskeme felt like his hair was suitably covered in mud he felt confident he and his pet would look like a street rat and a stray Reskeme only hoped he could get a bath or a chance to clean himself soon.
Well, Reskeme thought, soo at least they won't recodnize him until they got close to him and seen the horns on the stray dog and unusual claws on its feet. The two demons followed the ally in a jog, Reskeme wanted to get far away from the fire to avoid anyone wanting to ask questions. Reskeme heard a racket past the ally ahead he slowed down and checked around the corner. Down the alley, in the street, a patrol of guards was entering a building with a tall fat man in armour who had a sword.
The man had dark brown skin black hair and a well-groomed beard in Reskeme's opinion. The man had the emblem that Reskeme had seen one time, for the life of him he couldn't remember where he had seen it.
The man Yelled,"open up in the name of the church!" When the person didn't open the door a guard kicked it down before lining up with two others and entering with swords drawn. Reskeme watched as he heard shouting from inside before a man and woman were dragged out of their home. The fat man yelled at the man where is the demon! before telling the guard to hit the man upside the face.
Reskeme was shocked they were already looking for him and were searching thru the buildings of the slums. He wondered why the church was looking for him until he remembered that the gods were the eternal enemy of the demons. This was clearly going to be a problem for Reskeme as he had nowhere to go and if he didn't find a hiding place before his spells wore off then anyone would see him and his familiar for what they are.
The man on the ground was yelling, " We don't know were the hated demon is we would never let it into our house" The man seemed to believe him as he hit the man one more time before he waved at the guards to move on to the next house. One guard said after listening to the man, There is reports of a man who say the demon entering the alleys and heading towards the slums.
Reskeme Turned around and headed towards the slums the guards wouldnt in there as they might get stabbed in the back. Reskeme was in trouble he had to go thru the maze of alleys to the slums and when he heard clanking behind him he realized that the guards had started their search for him. Reskemes familiar followed behind not making a noise-making him glance back repeatedly to make sure it was still there.
Reskeme thought he had gotten away when a guard came around the corner spear raised. The guard was startled to see him and his pet but glanced passed him before the guard asked, "have you seen a demon boy?" Reskeme replied," no sir I heard about it and am running to the slums to get away I don't want to get eaten by a demon." The guard moved to get past Reskeme when he looked at the familiar, the demon began growling at the man while the tall guard glared at the dog.
The guard now had a close up look at the dog, he looked in confusion before yelling demon!! The familiar pounced towards the guard in the blink of an eye. His familiar demon startled the guard and bit down on the man's outstretched arm causing him to scream and drop his spear in pain. Reskeme stared in shock until he realized they needed to kill the guard or knock him out.
The man was struggling to free his arm from the mouth, the arm was torn from the demon with a spray of blood and another shriek of pain the demon didn't give the man time and leapt forward at the man who was now on his knees. Reskeme was horrified as the demon latched its claws into the man's chest climbed up and bit down on the man's throat.
The gaurd was gurgling and flailing at the demon as blood poured down the mans chest, the demon never let up mercilessly bitting the man.He was reaching for a knife by his side to stab the familiar, Reskeme realized he had to save his new familiar. Reskeme stepped forward and channelled his mana the boy was shaking bad sweating with terror and adrenaline. He channelled his mana focusing on the green fire and channelled it around his hand in a layer of mana before grabbing the man's uninjured arm.
The man renewed his screams at Reskemes touch, the gaurds arm began melting after his spell. Reskeme gaged at the smell the smoke smelled foul. Reskeme jumped back the mana seeped from his hand to the man's arm in an instant and was now dissolving the man from the inside out his flesh caught on fire. Reskeme was panicked and didnt have time to watch the man burn. he heard whistling of more guards coming their way. He thought furiously at his familiar that they needed to leave quickly.
The demon must have sensed his concern as it stopped trying to eat the man who was now dead on his knees and trotted with a happy walk as Reskeme turned and ran down the ally while cursing his familiar with a fiery passion and trying to get away before reinforcements arrived.
