Jonis by Rowan Erlking (manga ereader TXT) 📕

nobody,” the patriarch snapped impatiently. “Why didn’t you go into the grove after them?”

“And go into their den?” Jonis laughed with some bitterness. “Oh, no. That is just plain stupid. I’d end up like those boys, which, by the way, you never told us about. Who were they? What did they do in the village?”

“They are not on trial here!” The patriarch’s voice rose in pitch. “Why do you keep looking at my people when the problem is with demons out there?”

Jonis blinked tiredly at him.

“My apologies, Patriarch Erren,” Lt. Gillway quickly broke in to say, pulling Jonis in through the open door and out of the conflict. “The corporal’s questions are important. Sometimes demons are drawn to certain personalities and past events. Maybe if you told us what those young men had in common, we might be able to ascertain what has killed them so we can create a trap for the demons.”

Calming down, the patriarch nodded to the lieutenant. “Of course. I see now. I can answer all your questions.”

He led Lt. Gillway away from their room, chatting friendlier than anyone would with a Cordril.

Jonis sighed and gazed over to the square. There were five burnt corpses. The people were already taking the bones and ashes down to put into urns. He walked slowly through the village, shouldering his sword, listening to the villagers’ chatter.

Many of the women gossiped about the recent romances, over their weaving, sewing, and cooking. Some muttered about the state the soldiers’ uniforms were in. One even giggled about Jonis.

“You know if he weren’t a demon, I’d think he was rather handsome.”

“Are you kidding? That blue-eyed thing?” another remarked as if utterly appalled at the idea.

“Blue is a pretty color,” that first girl said.

“Not for eyes! That is a demon color,” the other bickered in a shrill voice. “He’d suck you dry.”

“I bet Mari would lay with him,” another girl sneered.

Jonis noticed the girl that had taken the gardening claw rise from the group with a mortified blush on her cheeks. The young ladies cackled while they stitched fancy embroidery on cloths, casting the woman snide looks as she fled.

“There she goes. I bet she had laid with every single man in the village,” the girl continued. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the demon that ate their hearts.”

Jonis did not linger around. As soon as the ladies noticed that he was listening in, they lowered their voices so he could not hear. He walked around the houses in the village, watching mothers pull their children away from him. He strolled around the gardens with a bored expression on his face and in his eyes. Nodding to the bootmakers, bowing to the wheelwrights, Jonis circled around the entire village until he stopped at a large gardening shed. He peered in at the wide collection of pruning hooks, ropes, and gardening claws. He glanced over at the stack of baskets then peeked his head in for a better look.

“What are you doing in here?” a gruff male voice asked.

Turning to find the source of the voice, Jonis politely bowed into the shadowy space. “I’m checking out the village. Some demons like to hide in dark places.” He stepped closer to the man inside the gardening shed with an intense look in his luminescent eye. “We recently hunted down a Night Stalker. They are very clever. Did you know they hide among the aristocracy? Some believe they are part of the aristocracy.”

That man’s expression did not change. He glared at Jonis the entire time, saying nothing as he maintained his distance.

Striding towards the open door, Jonis reached lifted one gardening claw from off the wall. The man’s eyes followed him carefully as he did so.

Tapping the claw in his palm, Jonis said, “I found one of these this morning in my room.” He held it up to the light. “Funny. It reminds me of those claws the demons had last night. Same long shape….” He knocked it against the wooden doorframe. “Same sound. In fact, I bet they’d fit into those men’s wounds. But we can’t match them up because the bodies got burned.”

“What are you implying?” the man said with bite.

Jonis hung the claw back up on the wall. “I think those demons have been using your gardening tools as dinner forks.”

He walked outside. Shouldering his sword, Jonis continued his walk as if he had merely chatted with a neighbor.

“Hey! Private!” Lt. Gillway shouted across the square when he saw Jonis several minutes later.

“It’s Corporal now!” Jonis snapped back. However, he was smiling when he crossed he dirt towards his superior.

“Come to lunch! We need to talk.” The lieutenant waved Jonis to a small café.

Jonis trotted over, sheathing his sword at his side. They found a cozy table near the open window. The other soldiers were also there eating and chatting about how impossible the job was, informing the new man in their group of all the impossible jobs they had taken thus far. They had never encountered a situation like this one in all their months working with the hunting team.

“So, what did you find out about the dead?” Jonis asked as they took their seats.

Lt. Gillway raised a hand. “Let’s order first.”

Jonis peered over the menu.

“See anything you have never eaten before?” Lt. Gillway asked.

Smirking, Jonis looked at the waitress. “I’ll have a mutton sandwich with as many vegetables on it that you can stack.”

“Jonis, why do you always fall back to sandwiches?” Lt. Gillway irritably set the menu down.

Shrugging as he passed the menu back to the waitress, also ordering a tall orange juice, Jonis said, “They are a full meal. Now tell me what you learned.”

Leaning in, waving for Jonis to do the same, Lt. Gillway whispered. “There isn’t much to say. The five men were friends. One was the patriarch’s son. Two of the others were sons of prominent men. They worked together in the groves, played together in the fields, and they were always seen laughing together.”

“No mischief they were up to?” Jonis asked, glancing around.

“What do you mean?” Lt. Gillway asked, he beckoned the waitress to them to get a glass of bourbon.

Jonis made a face. “Can’t you have dinner without a shot of something?”

“You are changing the subject, Jonis,” Lt. Gillway replied with a shake of his head. Seeing Jonis’s disapproving glare, he added, “I can’t work stone cold sober with all the things I see like you can. Now what did you mean by mischief?”

Sighing, Jonis explained, though he wished to stop his friend’s drinking habits. He was starting to think his friend was becoming an alcoholic. “What I mean is, did you ask anyone else about them? I’m sure that patriarch adores his son and is ready to set him up as a martyr, but I have been hearing mixed reactions from the crowd. I don’t think those boys were universally well-liked.”

“I’ve heard it said they were rambunctious.” The lieutenant shrugged his shoulders. “But nothing huge.”

Jonis frowned. Scratching the stubble that pricked out unevenly on his chin, he briefly contemplated returning to their room to shave. After that passing thought, Jonis spotted that one young woman. She walked by not far away, carrying a load on her hip.

Jumping out of his chair, Jonis rushed through the door.

“Hey! What about your sandwich?” Lt. Gillway shouted.

“Save it!” Jonis called back.

Dashing out onto the street, Jonis took hold of Mari’s arm. “Please, please, hold on a minute.”

Her face was red as if she had been crying, and tears ran down her cheeks. Ducking her face to hide it, she said, “Let go. You don’t know what you are doing.”

“I’m holding your arm to talk to you is what I am doing,” he replied. “I have some questions to ask you.”

“You don’t know how dangerous it is to ask me questions,” she whispered back, looking left and right at the faces of the people that watched.

“Yeah, I gathered that this morning when you said this ominous ‘they’ would kill me.” Jonis did not let go. “I can end this nightmare if you will just tell me why only those five boys were killed by, uh, demons, and not anyone else.”

She still pulled to get away. “You don’t understand. This nightmare will only end if you and the other soldiers leave this place tonight, so we can forget about it and get on with our lives.”

Jonis paused, still not letting go. “The village patriarch does not seem to think that way.”

“He does not control everything,” she hissed with panic.

Retaining his grip, Jonis leaned in towards her face, looking her eye to eye. “I cannot leave here without solving this problem. My reputation is at stake, and so are the lives of others.”

“Nobody else is at risk!” she whispered back. Tears fell from her eyes. “Just you. Leave and save yourself!”

“You know exactly what’s going on, don’t you?” Jonis murmured.

She clamped her eyes shut, trying to control her breathing. “Swallow your pride, and get out of here while you still can.”

Thinking as he peered at her, Jonis noticed other people approaching. He knew he was so close to the truth. And yet if he let her go he would never find out what really happened.

Risking everything, Jonis kissed her on the forehead, lingered just a moment and then pulled away, bracing her up so she would not faint. “Thank you.”

“What did you do to her?” the man Jonis had spoken to in the orchard shouted, pulling Mari away.

Jonis let go, shrugging. “Nothing. I just kissed her as thanks. I think she passed out from the excitement.”

“Keep away from my daughter!” the man snapped, raising his fist to land a hard punch.

“Never touch a Cordril,” Lt. Gillway said from behind, reaching to stop it. “Your punch would hurt you worse than him.”

The father lowered his fist, still glaring at Jonis. He helped Mari away, leading her by the arm. The woman blinked at Jonis as they took her—her stare full of wonder at what Jonis had just done.

Hissing in his ear, Lt. Gillway asked, “What were you doing with that girl?”

Jonis latched onto the lieutenant’s arm, pulling him towards their quarters, whispering lowly. “I know I broke the rules. But I had to use my Cordril abilities to find out what is going on, and she knew.”

“With a kiss?” the lieutenant said in his ear.

“Any skin contact works,” Jonis said. “I know I should be punished for it, but I was stumped. I could tell she knew what was going on. And if I couldn’t get her to tell me, I had to take it from her.”

“And?” Lt. Gillway asked.

Jonis dragged him into their room, whispering low. “It is really bad. We should leave here at once.”

“Run away?” the lieutenant recoiled, glancing about himself again. “We never run. How would this reflect on the army? Our group has never met defeat.”

“No,” Jonis said. He motioned to the outside. “We invent a story about the demon, say it got away. We put up demon wards. You name it. But first, we have to confront the murderers.”

“Murderers?” Lt. Gillway gasped.

Jonis paused, glancing toward the closed doorway. “Do you really believe in justice?”

Lt. Gillway nodded. “Of course. Why else did I let you negotiate with those Night Stalkers instead of insisting on you killing them? But if murder is the crime here—”

“No, there is a worse crime, and it concerns those five men,” Jonis said.

There was silence in the room. Even the outside chatter was muted.

“Go on. Tell me the whole story,” Lt. Gillway said.

Jonis took a breath, sure his friend would understand.

 

That afternoon the soldiers prepared the demon wards. One was made around the village. Jonis also had the fruit pickers hang red spell charms in the branches of the trees, telling them the demons would never enter their orchard again. Then, from house to house, they gave families a pack of red paper, teaching them how to make an anti-demon spell, good for Goles and their heart eating demons. They stopped last