Jonis by Rowan Erlking (manga ereader TXT) 📕

The father answered the door with a glare, but could not refuse the soldiers of Brein Amon admittance. An uncommonly large group of people were gathered inside with him in the middle-sized front hall. His family perhaps. Jonis looked about the room. He recognized the faces of the seven fruit pickers as well as a few others. Most sat on pillows and on a collection of humble looking stools, gathered perhaps for an evening meal, though the table did not look like it was set. Several of the attendees were muscular men.

“Give us your spells and get out,” the father ordered with a growl.

Jonis took the forefront, stepping beyond his lieutenant. “No, sir. I am here to give you and all your family a warning.”

All eyes immediately fixed on him.

“I know everything,” Jonis said. He nodded to Mari. “I know of the attack on your daughter here. I know how those boys abused and raped her in the grove, in the same place where you left their bodies. I know how you killed them, and I know why.”

His entire demon hunting team stared at Jonis. Only the lieutenant knew the details, and he had remained silent.

“I don’t condone murder.” Jonis practically growled when he said it, keeping his hand on his sword to remind them he could behead them all if he wanted.

The men in the family hunkered down, gearing for a fight. However, they could see the other soldiers with Jonis were prepared to kill them, if necessary.

“But, considering your circumstances,” Jonis lowered his eyes, “How it was not their first attack on her, and you had tried to seek justice through legal means and were denied because those boys were from influential families of power, I will look away.”

The father stared at Jonis. He barely blinked.

“But if I ever hear of it happening again, for whatever reason,” Jonis drew his large sword, “I will hunt you all down and expose you. And you will have to endure not only public humiliation, but also death. Understand?”

Every one of them nodded their heads, shrinking back with a renewed sense of horror.

“Revenge is never the answer.” Jonis clenched his teeth.

He dropped the spell paper on the floor. “These are for you. Look like you care about demons. It was too obvious in the grove that you didn’t care at all that those boys died. Pretend to care now.”

He turned and walked out of the house. The other soldiers followed, with Lt. Gillway taking up the rear with a polite bow to the head of the home.

“Good day, and good bye.”

When they marched away from that village, Jonis kicked the ground in a sulk. “I can’t believe I am now an accessory to murder.”

The soldiers that walked with him remained silent.

Lt. Gillway extended an arm around Jonis’s shoulder. “Don’t think of it like that. Yes, they were wrong to take justice into their own hands like that. But what would have happened if those, uh, day stalkers, as you will, were allowed to roam free? In reality, they were doing their neighborhood a service.”

“Killing people as a service?” Jonis snorted, peering at him nearly nose to nose. “Merkam. I think you have been at this job too long.”

Lt. Gillway sighed with a tired shrug.

“Maybe.” He paused and let go. “You know, Jonis, a wire just came in. We have to go back to that town. Two Night Stalkers have attacked now. And get this, your prediction of whom the murdered was? The patriarch? He was killed and the stalkers continued their hunt. Then they got to his wife. They vanished after sucking her dry. Apparently she was the one. Rumor has it that she and the town patriarch were having an affair. She killed her husband for his money, and then married a richer man for his money. Can you believe that? They want us to come and find the Night Stalker that did it and exact revenge.”

Jonis shook his head. “Did you tell them we don’t do revenge?”

“I did,” Lt. Gillway replied. “They wouldn’t hear of it.”

“Did you tell them that it is nearly impossible to find a Night Stalker once it has finished its kill?” Jonis gazed at his friend’s expression. Lt. Gillway was smothering a tired laugh.

“I did,” he said. “They refused to hear that also.”

“So I guess that means we can linger, play around while you get to know that waitress better, huh?” Jonis asked.

“Don’t you start,” Lt. Gillway snapped, blushing up to his ears and rubbing Jonis’s head.

“Of all the demon parasites, the birds are the smartest.”

They spent a long time in town before they could convince the magistrates to give up trying to find the Night Stalkers. By the end of their stay, Lt. Gillway was reluctant to leave. He and his lady friend were already talking about a more steady relationship, mostly involving him requesting a transfer to a permanent post somewhere near her town. Jonis had to drag the lieutenant out to their next destination, which was in a mountain resort supposedly infested with bird demons.

They had to take the public bus to the location. It chugged slowly up the mountain pass on the partially paved road, casting a trail of smoke behind it from its tail pipe. The trip took forever. Meandering up and up winding paths hour by hour through trees, past hamlets, herding communities, and the occasional roadside inn, they eventually reached the gates to the resort. Jonis eagerly peered out the window to get onto his feet once more, reading the carved and stained wooden sign that swung over the resort archway. Everything was old style, fashioned so for tourist purposes, including all the ornate decorations—though some of the demon wards on the roofs were formed wrong, and the real ones looked battered beyond use. He half expected to see dead bodies on the curbs as proof of the infestation. However, as he looked, he observed the people outside lounging around and laughing as if no such demon problem existed. Some were hiking in the hills and others were playing games among the pinecones and the fresh green air.

“Everything looks normal,” Cpl. Emas said, peering out also.

“Eyes can be deceived,” Jonis pulled his head back inside, murmuring it so that only they could hear. “But look at their necks. They’re all wearing high collars. Don’t you think it’s odd that not one person is shirtless or even without a collar? It is plenty warm right now.”

“That is odd,” Lt. Gillway said quietly.

“I’d say they are all waiting for us,” Jonis slid dejectedly back in his seat. “That last messenger said the place was infested. I think he is the only survivor.”

“So what do we do? We’ve only handled a few demon birds at a time. This is a horde,” one of the privates asked, trying to look like nothing was wrong. The tourists were already looking up at the bus with curiosity, pausing in their activities.

“We go in like normal,” Lt. Gillway said. “Don’t let them know we suspect things. We’ll see the village patriarch, rent a room, and go from there.”

“Will they even let us go that far?” one of the others asked him.

“I’ll bet on that,” Jonis said with a nod. “But make sure you all are wearing your steel collars correctly. Our uniform jackets can hide them. Of course, if I am wrong, you had better be ready to fight for your lives.”

The men all nodded, understanding clearly just by looking out the windows that this setup would not be even slightly as easy as killing demon worms.

Hopping down the steps of the public bus into the village square, they peered around to get a better look of the area. More eyes were already turning to stare at them, watching each soldier exit the vehicle onto the swept cobblestone road. Jonis fixed his sunglasses securely onto his nose, following them down the steps as the last one to debark. He turned to the driver before getting off, handing him thirty silver pieces.

“Don’t stop to pick up passengers. Just keep going. Got it?”

Nodding as he looked at the coins, the driver watched Jonis hop off the steps to the cobblestone. He closed his door immediately, steering around the fountain and back to the mountain road. The vehicle rumbled away, and not too late either. Three people chased after it, lugging their bags in their arms, screaming for him to stop.

“Where’s he going?” one of the resort patrons asked, peering down at the public bus speeding down the hill, and dropped her bags.

Jonis shrugged, heading back to his group. “Downhill, it looks like. You just missed him.”

The woman glared at him and strutted away. “Military.”

Strangely, she needn’t have said that. There were military officers vacationing there among the other patrons. Luckily, none of them were people Jonis knew personally.

“That’s General Yidslow,” one of the privates murmured.

“Old friend of yours?” Cpl. Emas asked.

Jonis nudged the private forward. “You’d better greet him as a friend. If they suspect any change in behavior, we’re done for.”

“But I didn’t like General Yidslow,” the man snapped back.

“Well in that case, I’m not sure what you should do. Nod politely?” Jonis said, watching the general come closer.

He had seen them.

“Hello, men,” the general said, making eye contact.

All the soldiers in the team saluted.

“Hello, General,” Lt. Gillway said. “Up here on vacation?”

The general smiled. “Yes. Sergeant Hybiss recommended this place to me. He said he had a fantastic weekend here.”

Jonis’s body tensed. This was the mountain retreat where the staff sergeant had gotten infected. It had been so many years ago. Jonis’s mind started to work, thinking in exponential numbers of how many eggs could have been laid in that time. Looking around, Jonis felt his palms sweat. Their group was dead.

But according to plan, Lt. Gillway led them to the village patriarch’s home. They had a small chat with him, casually mentioning the report of the bird infestation. He played it cool. “But looking around, everything seems fine. I think if we get a good night sleep and check things out in the morning, we can find the source of this rumor.”

The patriarch bowed graciously, glancing at each soldier’s face. He did not seem at all troubled by their presence, which made Jonis even more uneasy—knowing it was a sign of bad things to come. After all, logically speaking, if the arrival of a famous demon hunting crew did not stir up an infested area, then it was not a small infestation.

“That man has an unusual sword,” the patriarch said, pointing to Jonis. “May I see it?”

Lt. Gillway was about to say yes, but Jonis quickly spoke up.

“I am sorry, sir. But it was a gift from a magister. He put a spell on it so that only I can handle it. I give you my sincerest apologies.”

“How come all you do not have similar swords?” the patriarch asked calmly, accepting Jonis’s word for face sake.

Lt. Gillway faltered. He glanced at Jonis, wondering what was going on his mind. “Uh, sir, the magister was an old family friend of his. His father and the magister were old pals. The magister was retiring and merely passing on his sword.”

“I see.” The patriarch stood, still smiling.