Jimmy and the Crawler (8 page)

J
AMES YAWNED
.

William and Jazhara glanced around the common room of the Jade Monkey, which was quiet at the moment, as the workers were out securing materials. One table had been erected in the corner and three chairs provided, and Gina had had a newly hired porter fetch a meal from a nearby establishment.

‘You need sleep,’ said Jazhara.

‘I’ll get some, just not any time soon.’ James’s gaze travelled between the faces of his two dinner companions. ‘You ready to leave, Willy?’

William nodded. ‘I’ve found us escorts, and Jazhara’s family is camped at an oasis only three days away.’

James considered. ‘Who did you find?’

‘Izmalis,’ said Jazhara.

James closed his eyes for a moment. ‘They’re a little too close to being Nighthawks for my liking.’

Jazhara said, ‘They work for my uncle.’

‘Of course they do.’ His face took on a calculating expression. ‘How many?’

‘A dozen, all hard-nosed veterans, from what I can judge,’ said William. ‘We’re going to move as quickly as we can, but stop after a day’s ride to see if we’re being followed. If we are, we’ll continue on to Jazhara’s family and assume no one who means us ill will blunder into a camp of over a hundred desert fighters. And if no one follows us, we’ll send the Izmalis on without us, double back and be waiting at that wadi a half-day’s ride to the southwest.’

James nodded. He knew it well, having passed through it on his way to the Valley of Lost Men and the ancient fortress known as the Tomb of the Hopeless. ‘If I need you, I’ll send a message. You’ll know it’s me and not some trap because the messenger will tell you “James has lost his way”, and if he says anything else, kill him and flee. I will already be captive or dead.’

‘What are you going to do?’ asked Jazhara.

‘I’ve got this bad feeling that we’re dealing with the same crew we tangled with in Krondor when we were trying to get back the Tear of the Gods, the same lot who tried to grab that wrecker Kendaric, to get him to raise the Ishapian ship.’

‘Bear’s crew?’ asked William.

‘Bear’s boss, or bosses. There was a lot about that entire fiasco that really doesn’t make sense, and I’m not sure that magician who helped you was really who he said he was.’ Then he added, ‘There was something about that fellow . . .’

James shook his head. ‘It doesn’t matter, because what I know is that there were Nighthawks and demons involved then, and there were Nighthawks and demons involved down at the Tomb of the Hopeless, and if there are Nighthawks here, then we can probably expect a demon or two.’

James stood up. ‘I’m going to visit a couple of temples and see if I can find someone who knows more about demons than I do – which should probably mean anyone I talk with – and see if there’s some means by which we can find out if there is demonic magic at play. Then I’m going to see if I can do something impossibly stupid.’

‘Go looking for the Nighthawks?’ asked William.

‘First try, Willy.’

Jazhara said, ‘William, would you give James and me a moment alone, please?’

William glanced at her for the briefest moment and then nodded, and left the inn to wait outside. When he was gone, Jazhara said, ‘William will be anxious to return.’

James raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘He’s young and doesn’t want to be left out of the struggle. But why the sudden concern, Jazhara? Willy’s been through more than men twice his age.’

She smiled. ‘I know. But that encounter on the bluffs with Bear, when William was filled with the power of Kahooli . . .’ She shrugged. ‘He doesn’t speak of it.’

‘Willy spent just about his entire life on an island full of magic-users. He was used to seeing miraculous things by the time he was ten years old.’ He saw that she was unconvinced. ‘What is this really about, Jazhara?’

‘He . . .’ She sighed. ‘We were lovers some years ago on Stardock. It didn’t end well. I do not know what this . . . new thing between us is, but I know my feelings have changed. He was a wonderful boy then; now he’s a man. A man who’s seen much and braved much and . . . I think he has lived up to his promise. I just do not wish to see that cut short because of his unwillingness to be cautious.’

James nodded. ‘I’ll do what I can, but you must remember, first he is a sworn servant of the prince, and second he is a soldier. Danger is part of the bargain.’ Then he grinned. ‘Still, Willy’s not as foolhardy as Locky, who you’ll meet one of these days.’ His grin broadened. ‘And if he hasn’t changed much, he will be very pleased to make your acquaintance, though I’m sure that will seriously annoy Willy.’

She laughed.

‘What?’

‘Willy. That name.’

James returned the laugh. ‘As I said, it’s a habit Locky and I picked up from the twins, Borric and Erland. We’re Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Locky, and William is Cousin Willy. It just sort of stuck. Some of the soldiers do call him Will, but mostly it’s William.’

‘Will?’ She considered that for a moment, then said, ‘I’ll continue to call him William.’

James laughed. ‘Whatever makes you happy, Jazhara.’

He walked with her outside and called, ‘Willy?’

‘James?’

James lowered his voice. ‘I want to amend something. If no message is forthcoming, don’t come looking for me. Come back here and see if I left anything with Gina and then, either way, return to the prince. If I vanish, that will tell us this Crawler is far more dangerous than we thought. The prince will need to know about the Nighthawks as well.’

William frowned. ‘I thought that went without saying.’

James smiled. ‘I just wanted to make sure. I didn’t want you attempting some ill-conceived search.’

William glanced at Jazhara, then nodded. ‘I see.’ He sighed. ‘I’ll do as you ask, James.’

‘Good,’ said James. He looked around. ‘Where are your Izmalis?’

‘At the east gate next to the caravanserai. We have horses and supplies there waiting for us.’

‘Then be of
f
!’

As they left, James let out a long sigh. He had no problem with the two of them falling into bed together, but he had serious reservations about them falling in love.

Returning to the Jade Monkey, he wondered at this improbable thing called love. He was certain that he’d only seen it once in his life, and that was between Prince Arutha and Princess Anita, and he judged this wonderful mystery was as rare an occurrence as those two people. It might be nice to feel that way about someone, some day, he thought as he caught sight of Gina coming out of her little office at the back of the inn, but until that day, he’d be content with taking his pleasure where he found it.

Gina noticed him watching her and smiled. He returned the smile and considered for a brief moment following up on the implied invitation. Then he realized he had too much work ahead of him, and headed upstairs to plan his next foray into the city that night.

T
HE MONK LEANED FORWARD
.

‘The thing about demons,’ Brother Eli said, then paused to take another draught from a large tankard of ale, ‘is they’re sneaky bastards.’

After Jazhara and William had departed, James had spent the afternoon at several of the temples in Durbin. By Krondor’s standards they were modest at best, hovels at worst, but their followers were as devoted as those in the largest temples in Rillanon. To James’s amusement and amazement, the man he sought out was made manifest in this rotund monk of Banath – Ban-ath, as he was called in Kesh, as opposed to Ba-nath as he was known in the Kingdom – patron god of thieves, liars, gamblers, as well as a few more socially appreciated trades. He was also the god of risk takers and those inclined to rely more on their skills and cunning than the random whim of Ruthia, Goddess of Luck.

In striking up a conversation at the shrine, James discovered Brother Eli to be an affable fellow, well disposed to indulge James’s curiosity so long as it was over a tankard of ale. Several tankards, if the progress of his story-telling was any indication.

‘What do you mean, sneaky?’ asked James. ‘I’ve had a few run-ins with demons and they were a little too large, nasty and loud to be called sneaky.’

‘Ah,’ said the portly monk. He pointed a meaty finger at the former thief. ‘I took you to be one who formerly trod the dodgy path, young sir.’ He fixed James with a squint which caused the two bushy red eyebrows above his pale blue eyes to wiggle like caterpillars. His almost-bald pate was surrounded by a ginger fringe, and apparently the hot sun of Kesh’s north shore had given him a perpetually sunburned scalp. ‘Come to better circumstances, by the look of you,’ he finished.

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Only the foolish – and you do not appear to be such a one – and those devoid of luck – and again you do not strike me as such – and those who are in the wrong place run afoul of demons.’ With a barking laugh, he added, ‘As we’ve already disposed of ill luck as a reason, you had to want to be in the wrong place.’

James laughed, remembering the three times he had run into demons, at a distant abbey, in an abandoned fortress full of killers, and in a basement. ‘I can promise you, brother, I had no desire to be where I found myself at that time.’

‘Why don’t I believe you?’

‘Given your calling, one can wonder,’ said James.

‘It’s true,’ said the monk, indicating that his tankard was empty. As Jimmy signalled to Gina to fetch another, Brother Eli continued, ‘We who serve the Trickster as well as we can, well, let’s say our flock is not one predisposed to trust.’

James found the man’s candour refreshing. The high-ranking prelates of Ban-ath in Krondor were a sanctimonious lot who avowed that their god was as essential to the natural order of things as any other god or goddess. James took no issue with matters of faith. He had prayed to the god of thieves on more than one occasion when his life hung in the balance, and even made votive offerings after surviving a few lucky escapes, but he took that as a duty more than devotion.

Gina appeared with a fresh tankard. ‘It’s a necessary thing, don’t you see, to accept all the whims of nature, and our god is as much a part of the natural order as any other. Those who are able take from those who are less able. It’s the way things are.’

‘Demons,’ said James, getting him back on topic. ‘Sneaky bastards?’

‘Yes,’ said the now red-cheeked cleric, after draining off the new tankard. ‘See, I had this brother who heard the calling to Sung, the Pure, and he became a demon hunter. Didn’t see him much for years, then we both ended up here.’

James nodded.

‘We caught up on old times, some family lore, and over the years when he was in Durbin from time to time he’d stay with
me at my hovel behind the shrine. Not much in Durbin for those
pure of heart, don’t you see? Not a lot of support for that temple. Anyway, he’d tell me this or that about demons and their doings and the like.’

‘Sneaky?’

‘Ah, yes,’ said Brother Eli, waving Gina to bring him yet another tankard without bothering to ask James. ‘See, for reasons no one seems to understand, some demons want to be here, doing whatever mischief they can. Lots of theories as to why, you see, but no one really knows. The kind you spoke of – big, loud, angry – those are the conjured ones, the ones yanked out of the lower hell and brought here against their will to do the summoner’s bidding. Lots of stories about it all coming to a bloody end.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Nasty business, that. But some demons – the sneaky ones – they find a way here without being summoned. Now the lore says that each time a demon appears without being summoned and is unconfined, heaven sends an angel to hunt it down. If they come to blows, as soon as one is vanquished the other returns to heaven or hell as the case may be. Doesn’t matter who wins; they just cancel each other out, so to speak.’

‘Interesting,’ said James.

‘But that’s not what you were asking about, is it?’

James shook his head.

‘See, those you were talking about, those are the corporeal demons, from another realm, and they need magic to survive here, either their own or the summoner’s. Some can rampage around a bit and cause a fair amount of havoc without it before they vanish back to their realm or an angel arrives, but there’s another kind.’

‘Another kind?’ Now James was very interested.

‘You hear of possession?’

James thought back to his encounter at Haldon Head with the false priest, Father Rowland, and nodded. ‘I have seen something like that, but it was . . .’ James paused, then explained that the false priest of Sung had been an agent of a dark force, and that he had in turn controlled the townspeople, electing to dispose of those not easily controlled, and that with his death, his control vanished.

‘Ah, that’s a different kind of proposition,’ said Eli. ‘See, there are dark agencies that grant a man a power, and mind control is one of the darkest, but that’s not what I’m talking about. No, I’m talking demonic possession.’

Gina brought the next ale over and removed the empty tankard, and Eli watched as she walked away. In a lowered tone he said, ‘Quite the shape on that one, right?’

James looked at him questioningly.

‘We’re not a celibate order, lad.’ Eli pointed from Gina to James. ‘You two?’

James sighed. ‘Demonic possession?’

‘Good,’ said Eli. ‘I mean, good about you two, not demonic possession. Ah, yes. See, there are these demon spirits. They enter our realm without a body, either by some agency we don’t know or because someone fouled up a summoning spell and got one of the spirit demons instead of one of the big and smelly corporeal ones. So this spirit is casting around, don’t you see, looking for a place to stay, and tries to take over some hapless person, the weaker the better.’

‘That sounds horrible,’ said James.

‘It is, lad. It takes an unusually powerful mind to resist such a creature. Even magic is no protection if it’s not the right sort. It’s why all the temples look down on demon-summoners. They’re like babies playing with fire in a thatched hut.’ He lowered his voice as if not wanting to be overheard. ‘But even more vile is the fact that there are those who willingly offer themselves as hosts.’