1 Prologue

"Drop your weapons!"

A shrill voice interrupted the silent night. There was no moon in the sky to illuminate the night. The ominous dark clouds filtered out the feeble light provided by the million stars that decorated the sky, casting a dark cloak around the lone house that was situated near the riverbank amidst the trees.

The lone figure which stood by the entrance of the house hesitated to obey the order. It knew the voice. It knew the implications of following the order. It knew its time was at an end. It knew now, it was nothing but a cornered animal.

"I never figured you people would be so judgmental," she said as she unsheathed her faithful sword.

"Drop your weapons, you treacherous demon!" the voice ordered again.

Treacherous, she mused on that word and laughed.

"You call me treacherous!" she spat taking a few steps in anger towards the assembled men. "I will tell you what treachery is you blithering idiot! After everything I have done for you; you come to my house in the middle of the night with fifty armed men and have the balls to call me a treacherous demon. It is you who are treacherous. I should have seen this coming!"

"Step back you vile snake! You can't talk your way out of this. We know who you are," the voice spat with distaste.

"Oh! Now you know who I am, huh?" her voice dripped with scorn as she stared daggers at the man who was her husband mere hours ago. "What about the nights you spent with me? What about the endless romps you and me had? You are telling that you didn't know me then, my sweet husband?"

"You enchanted me you vile demon! But, now I am myself. I will not let you enchant any more men. Today, you shall die!" he bellowed and the fifty-odd soldiers behind him roared their agreement.

The trees surrounding the house shook with their voices. For the first time in the night, she felt fear looking at the fanatical crowd. She had always known that she would die violently, with her sword in her hand. Such is the way of nature. Violence repays violence. But she knew she didn't deserve it from these people. Especially, her husband.

She knew most of these men. She had fought alongside them. She had shed blood with them and killed with them. The thought of killing these men brought a sour taste to her mouth. If at all there was any way to avoid this, she would avoid this.

As if sensing her distress, her baby let out a cry that pierced the silent night and her soul.

"Did you hear that inhuman cry, people?" her husband shouted to his fellow soldiers.

The others nodded with apprehension.

"We must eradicate that little demon too. We must not let it fester under our feet and poison our children. It must die!" he bellowed with passion prompting the men to shout back their agreement once again.

"How can you…? He is your child too," she spluttered with tears forming in her eyes.

"That demon spawn is no blood of mine!" he shouted back with madness engulfing his eyes. "Who knows whose it is? It may be one of your demon pal's."

"No! No! No! Please… please don't do this," her tears were flowing freely now.

"Spare me your fake tears demon! I will not be fooled by you again. I will personally feed that demon spawn in the house to birds and dogs."

A sudden silence engulfed the house and surrounding trees following his words. A soul-chilling silence like no other engulfed the house and its surroundings. No crickets made noise. Even the wind stopped its howling among the trees. The assembled men shifted uneasily as they felt the silence sear their hearts.

"YOU WILL NOT TOUCH MY CHILD!!!!" she roared.

The tears were gone from her eyes. As was the little bit of gentleness in her features that identified her as a woman. Rage burned through her eyes, making it fiery red. The sword in her hands tensed in anticipation for blood.

She didn't care about any of them now. She didn't care about the betrayal she had suffered. Though it was a dull ache in the back of her heart, the motherly instinct buried it deep. All she cared about now was her child's safety. Within a moment she had gone from a cornered animal to an enraged animal fighting to save its cub. The soldiers sensed the change too.

(*****)

He knew he had made a mistake. He knew, at that moment, his life was forfeit. She would hunt him down. She would never rest until the threat to her child was put to rest. It was one of her qualities that had attracted him earlier. But now, it scared him to death. For a brief moment, he wondered whether it was worth it to betray her for the fancy reward.

He knew deep down in his heart that she was moments away from attacking all of them. She had always been like that. Rash to respond with violence when threatened. She was a fool. A fool – then to trust him with a secret that threatened her life. A fool – now to fight against fifty men. But not him, he was intelligent. He knew she was good with the sword. He knew he could never kill her alone. So, he had brought fifty experienced soldiers. No matter how good a swordswoman she was she can't kill fifty men. Even then, he didn't take any chance. There were a dozen archers among the men. They will litter her with arrows before she even takes a step.

He smiled at the thought of the fancy posting he was going to receive in a remote town. He could take his pick of the ladies now. He would even have a respectable standing in the society. And most of all, he would be the lord of a manor-house.

Surely a man could betray anyone for all these things!

(*****)

She looked at the fifty men trying to kill her and her precious child. Her child's cry was increasing her rage. She had always controlled her rage. She had let it lose only once and it had terrified her. The horrifying memory of her sitting in a puddle of blood smiling from ear to ear flashed across her mind once.

A distant soothing melody echoed in her head. She had always been horrified with the melody that echoed in her head. She had rejected it always. But they had threatened her child. That could not go unanswered. Her rage increased with each passing second. As did the melody. An insane smile crossed her face.

With a roar, she launched at the fifty men in front of her house. The archers let loose a score of arrows at her. But she dodged them nimbly as her lanky frame danced away from the arrows as if she knew when and where it would hit her. Her husband watched with growing horror as she evaded the arrows and plunged into the fifty men as if they were mere children.

The melody guided her. She evaded the arrows and closed in on the men who stood at the front. She saw her husband scamper to the back ordering men around him to kill her. She laughed a throaty laugh at the fear present in his face. Without taking her eyes of him she plunged the sword into the first fool who came at her with a big axe.

It was a true kill. Blood sprouted from his mouth as she withdrew her sword from his heart. Fools! They didn't even wear any armor. They had thought her to be an easy kill. A lone woman against fifty men. But, she was different. Different in a way they could never imagine. They were right to fear her as a demon. But calling her a demon would invoke the wrath of any demon. She was entirely different from the demons too. But these people would never understand it.

She dodged a sword thrust, jumped over a swipe that was meant to fell her legs and brought her sword right on the head of the fool who was swiping at her legs. The sword got stuck in his head as it cleaved his head into two. She bulged her muscles and powered her arm to lift the dead fool entirely of his feet and threw him into the men near, causing them to stumble back in horror.

"She is a demon!" the mob muttered all around her.

But she didn't hear them. She was long gone into her rage and melody. The only thing that mattered to her was to kill each and every one of these fools who had dared to oppose her. She struck at the next man who was staring at her in horror right in his stomach and let his insides come out before passing on to the next one.

(*****)

He watched as she horrifyingly decimated the fifty men with ease. Fear grew inside him as she littered the ground between them with corpses of seasoned men with ease. There was no challenge to her. She was swinging her sword and killing people as a Blademaster would. But he knew that she was not a Blademaster. That left only one thing to be possible.

She was a demon!

That could only be the possible explanation. He strengthened his resolve. After all, he had only betrayed a demon.

Renewed by his conviction he yelled, "What did I say? She is a demon! Kill her! Kill her for your children. We must save our children!"

The mob's anger grew with those words and they started hacking wildly. Gone were the professional soldiers. Now it was an angry mob that surrounded her. They threw themselves at her with abandon. It became increasingly difficult for her to even raise her sword. She killed, killed and killed. But they kept coming. With madness engulfing their eyes, they hacked at her wildly, not caring whether they hit her or others.

(*****)

Swords licked her, axes grazed her skin, and small cuts began to form on her frequently. Blood flowed down her body from the multiple small cuts. The pain blossomed in her. It increased her rage further. She went further into her rage than she ever had. The melody became more loud and loud as she went further into her rage. She was not an animal guarding her cub anymore. She was gone into the violence like she had never been. All she cared now was to kill everything that stood in front of her.

Her killings became more brutal. She evaded only mortal blows. She walked into minor blows like they were mere insects and swatted the person delivering it with her sword. Heads rolled at her feet, arrows protruded from her back, limbs lay scattered across the floor, blood flowed from her body and moans of pain filled the air.

She drove her sword into a retreating figure on the ground with no legs and cut the head of the next figure pleading at her with one hand on its knees. Fear engulfed the mob as she stood delivering death after death, sporting cuts all over her body and arrows protruding from her back. They started to flee. But she didn't let them. She hunted them down with inhuman speed and accuracy.

She walked towards the last figure which was trying to retreat without attracting much attention. It was her husband. He looked pathetic. His left arm was gone. Blood oozed across the stump that used to be his arm. Fear was in his eyes. Pure terror reflected in his eyes as he pleadingly looked up at her as she raised her sword.

She stood with her sword raised and looked at the man she had loved with all her heart pleading for his life. Her heart wrenched. Rage left her reluctantly. Sadness and pity engulfed her. She lowered her sword and spat at his pathetic face.

"You fool! You betrayed me! You betrayed our child! I should kill you this minute. But, I can't. Leave from here! Tell whoever sent you that you have killed me and burned my corpse. You will get all your rewards," she spat at him once more before turning and staggering towards the house.

Her body throbbed with each step she took. She knew she would heal. But she had taken too many wounds. It will take some time. She looked around her and shuddered. Heads and limbs lay scattered across the floor. Eyes that were looking at death stared at her accusingly. Headless corpses were still twitching as she walked past them in horror.

She had done it again. She had vowed she wouldn't go there. To that place where she was nothing but a killer who enjoyed blood and headless corpses. But they had threatened her baby. That had caused her to snap. But nothing will excuse this. Nothing will change the fact that she was a killer. She shuddered once more before closing her eyes in despair and moving blindly through the corpses.

The melody was still playing in her head. It was still trying to get her attention. She ignored it. Normally it would fade. But now it was increasing. It was demanding her attention. It had never done that before. She listened to it. It was urging her to move. She thought about that for a moment before fiery pain erupted across her back.

"Take that you demon bitch!" her husband roared in her ears.

She looked at him and found his hand holding a dagger that was embedded in her back.

"It's coated with White Scorpion venom, bitch. Now, I shall go take care of the demon spawn inside" he pushed her down and started towards the house.

She fell face first with a thud. The venom burned in her veins. She was not able to move. She watched her husband stagger towards the house. Her baby cried out for her. She tried to crawl towards her baby. Her muscles refused to co-operate. Rage filled her. The melody came along with it. It gave her strength.

Out of pure rage, she rose and staggered. Her legs gave away. She could hear her child crying for her. It gave way to more anger and she dragged her body a few steps before standing up again. She staggered towards the house. But her husband was ahead of her and he was nearing the steps. She ignored the pain in her body, grounded her teeth and let herself completely go into the rage again.

Melody filled her mind as she mentally saw the rage keeping the poison at bay. She knew she would die eventually. The poison was strong and her rage could not defeat it. It was giving her some much needed time. She understood it all too well. She willed herself into a run.

As she neared her husband she saw him turn at her stumbling footsteps. His eyes grew in horror and fear as he saw her stumble his way with a sword in hand. That gave her happiness. She loped into a quick run and swiped her sword at his legs before he could escape.

It was more of a desperate swipe than a precise cut. But it did the job. The sword cut through both his thighs causing his legs to give away. He fell on the steps and his head bounced.

"How!?" he asked in disbelief.

"I am a demon remember," she stuttered and gave him a wickedly insane smile.

He flinched back from her. She neared him and drove her sword right into his right hand, impaling it to the steps. She wanted to bite his throat out. But the melody insisted something else. She listened to it and let out a howl. But, something else came out of her mouth.

It was more like a call.

She then walked towards her baby. She found him crying in the cradle. She had wanted him to grow with a parent rather than to be an orphan like her. But, she understood it now. She gathered him and came back outside.

The scene she returned to was a horrifying sight. Crows were pegging at her husband's live body. His shrieks of pain filled the air. One particular crow sat on top of his brow and was picking at his eyes.

She shuddered at that and made sure her child didn't see it, but the melody rose in appreciation. Beyond that, there were corpses littered all around. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh before staggering away from the house, clutching her baby.

A pained sound escaped her as she saw the baby try to suckle. With a heavy heart, she prevented it from doing so by shifting its position. The baby let out a cry at that which sent an arrow through her heart.

She knew her body was filled with poison now. It would do no good to let the child suckle. As she thought of her pathetic condition, sadness filled her. Her child's hungry cry filled the air. Even when she was near, she could not satiate her child's hunger.

She felt miserable as she started walking towards the river bank. By the time she reached it, tears were flowing out of her eyes freely. Her face was now a mixture of sweat, blood, grime, and tears. The rage inside her was beginning to fade, sharp pangs of pain were shooting through her body. She rushed towards the boat at the river bank with faltering steps.

Once there, she bent and kept the child on their boat and tried to push it into the river. If she could make it to her friend's house a few miles away from here, she could save her baby.

But, unfortunately for her, her rage was beginning to fail and the poison was starting to act on her body. She fell with a thud. Her entire body erupted in fiery hot pain as the poison attacked her system with a renewed vengeance. Paralysis took her body to the ground beside the boat.

She struggled helplessly to sit up – her fading melody echoing sadly. More than anything, the loss of the melody bothered her. It had been always with her despite her despise for it. And in a moment where she needed it most, it was fading away. And that meant she could not help her child.

She wept uncontrollably as she heard her child's cry. As she struggled, the dagger fell from her back as she tried to move her body near the boat.

Frustration filled her. She could not feed her child. She could not protect him. It frustrated her. And the frustration gave way to rage-filled with defiance.

She would not die like a helpless woman. She was better than that.

The melody told her what could be done. She listened. It would cause her life. But did it matter? She was already dying as each and every moment passed.

She crawled to the edge of the bank near the boat with great effort and did as the melody instructed her. It filled her with an amount of pain she had never imagined to be possible. It felt as if her entire soul was being ripped out of her.

But she fought the pain with every bit of her will. Failure was not an option to her. She fought through the pain and the numbness spreading through her body for her child.

A brilliant light engulfed the child and it cried for his mother. She lay there helpless as she watched the light engulf her child. The baby cried in pain and hunger; cried for his mother's care and safety. Yet, she could only watch it cry with tears flowing out of her eyes. Even the child's form was beginning to blur in her vision.

The light ended abruptly. But the child's shrill cry still filled her ears as she sank into darkness. With a final ounce of willpower, she let out a call and died.

A single crow answered the call. It started to peck on the thick rope that tied the boat to the shore.

It took a long time, but the rope eventually gave away. The crow watched the boat drift away into the river with its black eyes emotionlessly. The river carried the boat and the child, who had a strange mark on his chest now, along with the current.