Sky Lord by Rowan Erlking (that summer book .txt) 📕

Tia frowned. No, he wouldn’t. She knew it. Even if that man could not get the treasure, he would still want to have her, if only to exact lustful revenge.

 “I have it,” Jonis at last said. “I say we offer the Patriarch the treasure.”

“The treasure?” Tia looked at him skeptically.

“I am sure beyond the Rocky Sea is a huge steamer waiting for the soldier crew to come back with us, and the gold if they can get it. I’m sure he’ll be so satisfied with the treasure he won’t care that he lost you,” Jonis said. His hand was tapping the hilt of his sword. He looked ready to hijack that steamer if he had to.

“We can’t go back.” Tia shook her head at him, embarrassed that anyone would fight to protect her. “I saw into his head, Jonis. He will not be satisfied with just the gold. His avarice is insatiable. If he could, he would kill you and take me back. He wants me to help him destroy the Underlord and gain further control of the nation through blackmail. I’d be trading one horrid life for another.”

Jonis frowned, rocking on the cot. It creaked with each move. “I see. Well then, we’ll just have to find a way to make him think that you are beyond his reach.”

She blinked at him. “How?”

He smiled in his calm self-assured way. “I think I have a plan that should work. But you have to agree to play along.”

“Play along?” Tia repeated, wondering what was up in his sneaky mind.

Jonis climbed off the cot and knelt in front of her where she had been sitting and kissed her again. His thoughts flooded her.

She grinned. “You are really sneaky!”

But Tia laughed, throwing her arms around him, returning his kiss ten-fold.

They did not leave the cave for another hour. Jonis and Tia had to pack their bags full of what gold and jewels they could safely carry without looking too weighed down. They topped their packs again with their food supplies. Jonis drew out a moneybag and filled it with jewels, letting that dangle at his side. He turned to her, giving her another passionate kiss after already so many that hour, pulling back with a wide grin. “Let’s do this. Now remember what you have to do.”

Tia nodded.

They broke open the door, tearing off the mechanism from the inside so it could no longer close, cramming rocks and gold against to make sure it stayed that way.  Stepping out into the sunlight, both of them squinted. Tia peered down at the sand then suddenly drew in her breath.

“Look, Jonis!” She pointed.

He looked. In front of the cave opening was such a sight. Not only had there been a battle, blood and bodies lay here and there across the ground, broken bones and gashed wounds. Shriveled shells of soldiers in saggy clothes lay on top of mutilated demons, shot multiple times and stabbed. There were a few Sky Child islander bodies also, but most of the dead were soldiers and demons. Jonis drew his sword.

“Should we run?” Tia whispered.

He clasped her hand in his, telling her without words for them to softly walk and keep their eyes open.

They traveled through the battlefield as quietly as possible. No demons were in the trees or in the ruins, but the birds had stopped singing. Continuing further to the shore, they passed more islander bodies and less demons. Only a few soldiers lay dead here. By the time Jonis and Tia reached the shore they saw the chief stabbed to death, yet still wearing the demon chain around his neck. Jonis bent down and removed it, breaking off the bell on the other end.

“There. That should end the spell.” He bent the chain then reattached the bell, throwing it over Tia’s neck. “How does that feel?”

She tilted her head with a glance over to the sea. “Like a regular necklace, but look. Our boat.”

Jonis peered over to where they had anchored their craft. It was burning on the water, the smoke rising up like a black cloud.

“How are we going to get off the island now?” Tia groaned. “Those demons are going to try to kill us, not to mention the islanders.”

“The islanders!” Jonis grabbed her hand, leading her over to where one of their small canoes lay on the shore at a run. “Come on! We can row out past the Rocky Sea. I’m sure the government steamer is still there.”

Tia followed, though not so sure the soldiers would stick around Demon Island for long.

They climbed into the canoe once they set it to water. Jonis dug an oar into the water and sand, ready to paddle, then handed one to Tia. He stopped midway, though, pulling the oar back from her when he looked over her head to the shore.

“Wait!”

Tia glanced back also. A Brein Amon soldier crawled over the beach on one good leg. The other one was shriveled to the bone.

“Take me with you! Please!” the man cried, groping the sand.

Jonis hopped out of the canoe, splashing down into the water back on shore to the solider. Lifting him up under his arm, they limped over to the boat, Jonis helping him in. “Come on. You can still paddle. Take an oar.”

The soldier just stared at Tia, glancing at the demon chain around her neck for a moment before he moved. Jonis hopped back into the boat, pushing off as hard as he could. “Come on! You are being pursued, aren’t you?”

Yowls answered him. The demons ran right out of the woods towards them, quickly on the soldier’s tail. Seeing the horde made the soldier paddle vigorously. Jonis stroked the water as powerfully as he could also. Tia was left to watch, knowing Jonis’s plan was now in effect. She had to play along, no matter what happened.

They were already out five feet from the shore when a demon took that suicidal leap to attack them. The demon missed the bow, his body slapping the water. The men continued to paddle to sea, but they all turned to watch as the demon’s body suddenly swelled up with water then sank to the bottom.

The other demons remained on the shore, shouting and screeching, clearly furious that they had lost not only their prey, but also the two blue-eyed creatures they loathed so much. Their cries sent shivers down their skin as they paddled away. Tia had to cover her ears until they reached the slough of the rocky sea. It blocked out the sound until only the waters and wind were to be heard.

It was long paddle back through the rocky shallows. The soldier wept, murmuring under his breath how he never wanted to set foot on Demon Island again. Besides his blubbering, they heard nothing but the hushing silence the sea made.

It seemed to Tia that Jonis had gotten bored because he peered over at her, sorry they weren’t alone, and then said aloud, “Are you sure you don’t want to go back? I opened the Sky Lord’s cavern and, boy, what a treasure is in there. I brought back a bit for myself, see?”

He laid his oar across his lap and pulled out his money pouch, showing the man his jewel collection. Tia tried to hide her smirk.

The man did not even bother looking at the precious stones. “I don’t care. If the Patriarch wants the gold, he can go get it himself.”

“Ooh!” Jonis put away his jewels. “That is very unpatriotic. They might even consider you a traitor for saying so.”

The solider looked up at him. “Traitor? That is what they say you are. We are under orders to take you and that Sky Child back to the Patriarch with the gold.”

“I know,” Jonis said with a shrug, putting his oar into the water again. “But what I have discovered will be vastly more important than the price on my head. Besides, the Patriarch cannot be serious about that. He only wants the Sky Child, whom I have caught and am bringing back to him.”

Tia pretended to glare at the bottom of the canoe for the benefit of the soldier. The soldier seemed to believe it.

“I see,” the man said. But then he looked up at Jonis sharply. “Still, that does not account for your action at the docks, nor for your move to take her here instead of back to the Patriarch.”

Jonis merely smiled. “Don’t be ridiculous. My actions at the dock were fully and completely in my own self-interest. I wanted the bounty, and I didn’t want to share. Is that so hard to comprehend? Besides, I decided I wanted to see the Sky Lord’s treasure myself. I had heard rumors enough, and we were so close already.”

Tia gave a huff for their benefit. Jonis smiled.

The soldier still looked at him with suspicion. “That doesn’t explain why you threw off those two soldiers from your boat.”

The Cordril hunter laughed. “That was for sheer fun.”

Tia laughed also. She couldn’t help it. The soldier cast a darker look at her.

“And I see it amused her as well.” Jonis said with a smirk. “Purely beneficial.”

The soldier said nothing after that.

They reached the end of the Rocky Sea well after dark. The steamer was already loading attack boats full of soldiers, better prepared this time to take on the demons. Shining their searchlight on their little canoe when an ensign spotted it, the captain hailed them.

“Ahoy there! Jonis Macoy, lay down your weapons, or we’ll blow you out of the water.”

Jonis stood up. “Well that isn’t very nice. I only came to say ‘how’de do’ and you decide to threaten me.”

The captain of the steamer snorted, calling back, “That isn’t going to work. Drop your weapons into the water, and we will see you are well treated, all the way up to Danslik where you will face judgement.”

The hunter sighed. “I would comply, but these weapons are heirlooms. It would be blasphemy to discard them in such a manner.”

Tia was finding it hard to keep from laughing, as well as from breaking down from stress. Jonis had that dry humor that was infuriatingly annoying at times. She could not figure out how he managed to take things so calmly.

“You will comply, or you will die,” the captain shouted again.

“Ah, then sink our ship,” Jonis said, dropping down. “I’ll take the secret of the treasure with me as well as the Sky Child the Patriarch wants so badly.”

They had to think about this now. It was true that sinking the ship with Jonis on it was a bad idea, but he was now a marked traitor of the Sovereign as well as renowned for being a deadly demon. They did not want him on board.

“Get a magister,” the captain murmured to his first mate. He then called overboard, “You will take that Sky Child aboard, and no nonsense.”

Jonis smiled to himself.

They let down the rope ladder. Jonis made them hoist up the poor shrivel-legged solder first. Then he climbed, letting the thin demon chain trail after him to lead up Tia. It was odd, but with the spell off the chain it barely tickled her neck. It was almost hard to pretend that it weighed and pulled as heavily as it had before. Strangely, the soldiers around them puzzled that Jonis could touch the chain at all. It was clear they were so sure he was a half-demon at least. His blue eyes reaffirmed it.

Jonis hopped right on deck. As immediately as he stood upright, a thin gold chain fell around his head and pulled tight.

The magister laughed. “Too easy.”

Huffing, Jonis yanked the thin chain, listening to the bells tinkle as he tore it off from around his neck. He jerked it out of the magister’s hands and crushed the end bell in his fingers. “This does not work on me.”

He then tugged the chain he was leading, stepping forward so Tia