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CHAPTER 43 - THE THRow of An AxE, THE LovE of A MAn

Logan lay on the ground, too stunned at what had just occurred toreact in any way. He looked at the beast lying on the ground next to him,and spared half a second to consider what he had just said. He supposedhe had known it for quite a while; thought about little signs he had seen;furtive glances,

eeting gestures, that sort of thing. But love? Nothing could

have been further from his thoughts.

Or had it? What drove him to keep moving in face of what he knew they were up against? Tarn had been right, he now saw. He couldn’t stop one of

these things, let alone two. And, in light of what he now saw sitting next to

him, and what he knew about the person the demon had been, he couldn’tpossibly kill this one, or let Tarn do it either. Tarn’s scream shattered Logan’s reverie, and brought him crashing

back to reality. “Logan! Do it now!”

Tarn had led the beast into the mystic circle he had drawn into the

ground minutes before. Grunting with effort, he pulled himself onto his feetand grabbed the little gem from the ground next to him.Looking at the beast, he noted with grim satisfaction that neither demon

seemed to be aware of its situation. Rather, the rst one –

The Master

–

seemed to be solely focused on killing the two mortals tormenting it. It

swept its claws out, and Tarn barely got his sword in front of him, parrying yet another killing blow. His chest heaving, he shouted again, “Now, Logan!Or we’re all dead!”

“Right.” Moving quickly, Logan raised the gem up and smashed it down,

crying out the words in the old tongue Tordek had told him to use.

“Kefelium Nofanti Prizanok

!” He stepped back and shouted, “It’s done!”Tarn and the Shaman stepped away from the circle, unsure of what would happen. The demon leaped forward to attack them, but was held,

Logan noted with gleeful pride, by the power of the binding spell he had just put on it. It howled at him, brandishing itsclaws, yet it was unable tomove closer to him. After several lunges, it stopped, thinking.“You mayhave bound me, but you are mortal. You will tire, and your spell will falter.

Then I will come for you.” The Shaman surprised Logan by speaking rst. “I think not, ancientone. What my sister has wrought, I will undo.

I will send you back to LordGrummish if it is the last thing I do.”

With an unearthly chuckle, it looked at him. “

Ah, little green mortal,

how will you stop me? Nothing you have done so far has even come close.

And now I see my young offspring is here, ready to join me at last.”It

motioned over to the thing that had been Nyla, still lying prostrate on the

ground. “Come, young one. Join your Master!”

Logan saw Tarn turn toward him, mouthing, “That’s Nyla?” Logansimply nodded. They both looked at her, sadness and fear etched on theirfaces, and then over at the Shaman. The orc seemed too tired to move, buteyed all of them – man and demon alike – warily. The other demon – Logan could not think of it as Nyla any longer –

seemed to be struggling with itself, but after a moment it started to stand.

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The imprisoned demon looked at it and

said “Good, gooood! Foolish mortals!

She will kill you, cleric, and then the two of us will nish your friends more

quickly than you can imagine.”

It turned to demon-Nyla. “

Young One!”

Demon-Nyla knelt down, bowing before the demon which had spawned

. “Yes, Master?” The stealer’s mouth split into a hideous looking grin. “The day of your

demonhood is at hand; you have but one more task to perform to make itcomplete. Kill the cleric, take his soul, and then you will be one of us!”

Demon-Nyla began to stand, its claws schniking out as it turned toward

Logan. It took one step toward him, then another, raising its arm high as it

did so. Logan, realizing that he couldn’t stop her even if he tried, droppedhis arms in surrender to the inevitable. “Do it, Nyla. But make it quick.”

It snarled at him, and the claws came slicing down… and then theystopped, a h

air’s

breadth away from his neck. It pulled back, and turningtoward the other demon, said,

“No. I can’t. Anyone but him.” Then it turned away from all of them, and it leaped into the air,

bounding away from its master, crying out,“I can not help you in this,Master

!” as it ed.

Enraged now beyond all reason, the demon lunged at Logan, only to berebuffed yet again by the mystic barrier.“It will be back, cleric!”it snarled. “Once you tire, this barrier will fall, and then I will take you, and we shallfeast on your souls together!”Logan found he could not say anything, and so was grateful when the

Shaman spoke again. “She may return, great one. But tell me one thing.Why did my sister summon you?” The beast spun around. “Why? Why? After all this, and her death at your hand, you still don’t know?”

It laughed at him again.

“She summonedme here for one reason – to kill you, little mortal! I was to be her greatestvictory, to prove to “The People” that you and they were corrupt, and that

only she could lead them back to the service of Lord Grummish!”

The Shaman shook his head tiredly. “I should have known she couldn’t

be trusted. Give one such as her too much power, and this is how she

repays me. No matter, though. She is dead, and you soon will be. And I willstill be alive to lead The People back to greatness.”“Me, dead?”The demon scoffed.“All your best efforts haven’t doneanything more than annoy me. And you – you and your hew-man compan

ions can barely stand! What do you think you will do, bore me to death with your talk? You have nothing that can hurt me!”“No, but I do.” The creature spun back around at those words from the newly revived

Logan.

“Oh, little cleric? And what will you do? Spit at me?”

it taunted.

“You have not the skills to stop me, either, or you already would have. This

magic you have used to bind me is obviously not your own. Any fool can seethat much.”

Logan grabbed Tordek’s axe in one hand and raised it high over hishead. “No, you fool, you’re right. I might not have the magical prowess Ineed. But that doesn’t mean I can’t stop you.”

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Logan could see something new in the demon’s eyes when it beheld hisaxe for the rst time – something that would, in a mortal, resemble fear.“That’s right, hell beast. This axe may not be mine, but I can use it. I useit because it was given to me by something you will never have – a friend.

You have slain many mortals, this is true. You have taken the lives of my

friends – Sir Tonath, Shaman Deathcaller – yes, I would call him friend.But most of all, you have taken from me the one I now realize I care aboutmost. You have taken my Nyla, and for that alone, you will pay.”Logan shouted an old dwarven battle cry and ung the axe at the beast,swinging end over end through the air, cleaving into the demon’s skull with a solid thunk that sounded like a hammer striking stone. The demon

screamed louder than ever before as it collapsed to the ground, trying to yank the axe out of its forehead.A greenish-black ichor began to pour forth from the gaping wound, andthe demon struggled with the effort required to speak.“You have bested me,mortal. I return to Lord Grummish, for the plans of she who summoned me

have failed. But know this.”

It paused, chuckling through its pain.

“Thingsare not yet over, eshy mortals. You will pay for this with your souls, and

when you arrive in hell, I will be there to greet you.”

Then the beast collapsed, the smell of sulfur and brimstone perme

ating the air. Smoke began to pour from it, as did the ground around it wherever its blood had touched the earth. It began to howl a blood-lled,

gut wrenching scream that Logan knew he would never forget as long as he

lived – the howl of one eternally damned retuning to the hell from whence itcame. The sound of thunder lled the air, lightning ashing across the skyabove, and then with a ash of unholy darkness, the demon was gone.

Only seconds later, another scream echoed across the plain, this one

distinctly mortal and female. Logan and Tarn took one look at each other,and each mouthed the word “Nyla.” Both men tore off across the landscape

without saying another word.* * *

The two men ran across the plain in the direction they had heard thescream come from. Neither had any idea of what to expect; as complete as

her transformation had been, Logan feared the worst. Especially now, afterhe had admitted to himself that he was in love with the young woman.

He didn’t have any idea when these feelings had started; in fact, he wasn’t at all sure if he really was in love. He’d never been much goodaround women – human ones, anyway, for dwarf maidens shared the bluntpersonalities of their male counterparts. But human women? They were a

complete mystery to him. All his Uncle Grim had told him on the subject

of love was, “You’ll know lad. It’ll feel like ya’ve never felt before.” Well, that

much was true. He felt sick to his stomach now, downright queerish, in

fact. But that, he reasoned, could also be from dealing the death blow to a

soul sucking demon.

Well,

he realized

, I’ve got a lot to think about.

If nothingelse was true, she must at least feel

something

for him. It was impossible