The Demon's Deal

Chapter one

“Seamus darling, not too high! You’ll fall and hurt yourself!” his mother yelled from down below.

Seamus was not afraid though. He never was. He pressed on, climbing further up the tree. He gritted his teeth as his small hands gripped the branches tightly to pull himself up, heaving his small frame up the next branch using all his strength. Small scrapes from the rough bark crisscrossed across the pale, grey-green skin of his arms, but he kept going, eager to get to the top. He gripped and pulled. Gripped and pulled.

After a while, Seamus glanced down at the clearing in front of their little house. His mother was down below at the foot of the tree, staring up at him with her hands on her hips. He knew that look on her face. It told him he was definitely in trouble. Yet he climbed on, further up the tree, higher and higher. He started to breathe heavily from the effort. A wide grin crept across his face, but then came a loud snap. The branches that a moment ago had been firmly under his feet were now empty air, up became down, and the ground rushed to meet him.

His mother was there to catch him though. She always was.

As she held his small form in her arms, she frowned at him. Seamus glanced up at his mother with a guilty expression. Her frown turned into a motherly smile as she hugged her son close.

“I told you so, honey,” she said, unable to entirely hide the worry from her voice.

Seamus nodded sheepishly at her. “I’m sorry, mama. I didn’t mean—”

She cut him off with a kiss on the cheek. “I will always be there to catch you if you fall, son. Always.”

Seamus opened his eyes. He could still hear the soft voice ringing through his head.

Always.

His mother’s voice. It had been over a decade since he had last heard it. It felt odd to remember something from his childhood so vividly after he had all but forgotten about it. He sat up in his bed and leaned forwards, elbows resting on his knees, before he took a moment to reflect upon the dream.

Almost twenty years ago, he thought,and it still seemed so vivid.

He sighed, lost in the past, and then stood up. The bed creaked precariously as Seamus pushed himself to his feet. He would have to remind Armin, their steward, about that sturdier bed once again. Not that he was ungrateful for the home the king had graciously given them. He just doubted that the masons and woodworkers had a half-orc in mind when building it. As he approached his desk to grab a mug of water, he noticed the commotion just outside his room.

Seamus walked towards his door and opened it. Peeking out, he saw Ivy pacing up and down the hallway, with Rux leaning against the wall next to a nearby door. “What’s going on?” he asked them, his voice still slightly raw from just waking up.

Ivy stopped pacing and immediately rushed towards him. Her long red hair flowed behind her, loose and unbraided, with her pointed elven ears just visible underneath. She frantically gestured towards where Rux stood. “Someone’s been in my room!” Her voice was shrill with panic. “The window was open, and my bag was not where I left it!”

The haze of sleep that had slowed his thoughts vanished abruptly. With his mind now clear and alert, Seamus gently stepped past Ivy and towards her room. Once inside, his old tracker instincts took over.

He sniffed the air and then walked towards the window to inspect it.No sign of forced entry.He absent-mindedly poked at one of the small tusks protruding upwards from his lower lip, a nervous habit he had picked up over the years. Then he knelt to check the floor timbers for any sign of footprints or scuff marks. Ivy and Rux had entered the room as well, their boots softly tapping on the wooden floor as they approached Seamus.

“Rux,” he said without looking up, “I assume you already checked outside to see if you saw anything?”

“I did,” the younger half-elf replied. “Didn’t see anything out of the ordinary though”.

“Nothing in here either,” Seamus admitted as he stood back up. “Except for the opened window and the misplaced bag.”

From behind them came another voice. “What’s going on?” Exadus asked, his tone serious as always. The bald, broad-shouldered man loomed in the doorway, his back straight and his arms crossed in front of the dark blue tunic over his chest.

Ivy hurriedly walked up to him and started to explain, while Seamus crossed the room towards the bag lying on the floor. As he picked it up, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end. He glanced towards the door and saw that Exadus had his eyes closed. In his right hand, he clutched the medallion of Talina that usually hung around his neck.

Moments later, Exadus opened his eyes again and looked at the window. “Something has indeed been in here,” he said seriously. “Something foul.”

Ivy gasped at the tone in Exadus’ voice, then looked pointedly towards Rux. “I told you so!” she scolded him. Before Rux had a chance to reply, footsteps came from down the hall outside the room.

“What in the Damned Halls is with all the noise this early in the morning?” Ashes demanded with his deep voice as he came into view in the doorway.

After all these months as a group, Seamus had finally gotten used to the idea of having one of the Outcast as a friend. Admittedly, the pitch-black skin marbled with thin lines of vivid orange, the bright yellow eyes, and the large horns curving from under the man’s long, black hair, had been slightly off-putting in the beginning. Yet the mage had proven himself a reliable member of the group in the months since they met. Moreover, he was particularly useful in a fight. For Seamus, those two things were enough.

As Exadus brought Ashes up to speed, Seamus walked over to Ivy, who was fidgeting anxiously with a loose strand of hair. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Ivy, is anything missing from your bag? Have you looked?”

The elven princess’ green eyes widened. “Oh, spirits!” she exclaimed, and then rushed past him. “I haven’t even thought to check!” She threw her bag on her bed and frantically started searching through it.

From the corner of his eye, Seamus saw a flash of red light coming from the door. On Ashes’ shoulder now sat a glowing red eagle. The wizard looked at it for a moment before it flew off, diving through the open window.

“I sent my eagle to have a look outside and around the neighbourhood,” he explained. “You never know if Rux missed something.”

Rux nodded and then walked towards the door. “I’ll have another look outside as well,” he said over his shoulder before he disappeared down the hall.

Minutes passed with Ivy searching her bag meticulously. Eventually, she sat down on her bed with a sigh.

“What is it?” Seamus asked.

She looked up at him, biting her lower lip. “Your letter... You know... the one you gave me all that time ago in case something happened to you? It’s gone.”

Memories rushed through his mind. He saw himself writing on a piece of parchment while sitting around a campfire in an ancient forest with his friends sound asleep near him. He remembered his heart pounding, his hands trembling...

“Seamus? Are...are you all right?” Ivy’s soft voice shook him out of his reveries.

“I am,” he said hesitantly. “Though I don’t think my mother is. Or will be.” Ivy looked puzzled. “I’ll explain downstairs,” he added, then rushed to the window to call out for Rux to meet them downstairs in the sitting room. The others followed him as he headed out of the room and down the stairs.

They all took a seat in the armchairs placed in a circle in the centre of the sitting room. Seamus leaned forwards again, elbows on his knees, and looked at each of them in turn. Not half a year ago, they had been strangers to him, and now he considered them his closest friends.

Exadus watched him with a serious face, sitting upright as always, his elbows resting on the chair and his fingertips pressed together. “Have you learned anything then?” he asked.

Seamus sighed softly and began his story. “You all remember when we first met Ordug in the forests of Corfellan, several months ago?” They all nodded, and Seamus noticed Ivy’s eyes hardening at his mentioning of that name.

“Well,” he continued. “After killing the band of orcs that he had set on us before leaving, you all went to sleep while I took the first watch. I was trying to come to terms with the fact that he was the filthy orc that had forced himself on my mother. That he was my father.” His own voice hardened and he shivered with anger at the memory.

“I made myself a promise there and then. I vowed that I would seek justice for my mother. Seek vengeance.” He smiled grimly, the image of his father’s head flying across the room flashing before his eyes. “Vengeance you all helped me obtain,” he added, lowering his head gratefully towards them.

When he noticed Ivy’s eyes glistening with tears, he quickly added, “Dark blind me, I’m sorry, Ivy. I didn’t mean to stir the memory of your brother’s...you know...”

She wiped her eyes, shaking her head. “No, it’s fine, don’t worry,” she mumbled with a slight tremor in her voice.

Seamus cursed himself inwardly for a fool and quickly hurried along with his tale. “I also thought that it might not be a journey I would walk away from, which is why I wrote a letter to my mother that same evening. I gave it to Ivy the next day and asked her to make sure my mother received it in case I died. In it, I explained what had happened to me over the last ten years, as well as how I died.” He gave Ivy a half-hearted smile. “Luckily, Ivy never had to actually send it. Yet in all the confusion that followed Ordug’s death, saving the kingdom and all that, we both forgot about that letter. Until now.”

Seamus rested his forehead on his hand and rubbed his temples. “It turns out that that letter has gone missing from Ivy’s pack. I suspect that whoever took it knows us and the fact that they broke into our home most likely means they are not friends either. So now, whoever it is, he or she knows of my mother’s existence as well as her whereabouts. I fear she is in danger.”

He lifted his head from his hand and let his eyes fall on each of his friends in turn. “I need your help. I want to go to Kiltermon and make sure that my mother is safe. And I don’t think I can do it alone.” Seamus nervously picked at his tusks again while he anxiously waited for an answer.

Ivy was the first to agree. “Of course, I’ll help you!” she said, the sorrow gone from her eyes and replaced by eagerness.

Exadus nodded. “Count me in as well.”

Seamus looked at Rux, who just gave him half a smile. Ashes kept quiet for a moment but eventually grinned widely. “Yes, yes, of course I’ll help you, you brute of a half-orc. I still owe you, remember?”

Seamus grinned back at him, then looked towards the others. “Thank you all. Really.”

Exadus waved his hand dismissively. “Bah, as if we would just let you go alone.”

Ivy beamed at him, practically bobbing on her seat. “So, when do we leave?” She sat still for a moment and her brow turned into a frown. “How far away is Kiltermon anyway?” she asked hesitantly.

Seamus had to ponder for a while. “Quite a distance from here, I think. Probably weeks of riding.” His mood went sour. “By that time, it might be too late.”

A silence followed before Rux spoke up, softly as always. “We could always teleport there,” he suggested. “We have the gold since the king was so gracious to reward us for our exploits in the Badlands.”

Seamus could not help but notice a brief hesitance as the young half-elf mentioned King Targon.Wrestling with ghosts of the past as well, he mused. “Teleportation would be the fastest method,” Seamus said in agreement. “Anyone in the city we know who would want to teleport us?”

The five of them looked at each other for a moment. They all knew exactly where to go.