The Poison Princess (26 page)

The troll pointed at the pair of women and
smiled with his mossy, green teeth. “They stop attack. You do?”

Ruby nodded. “Yes, they’re under my control
now.”

The troll clapped his hands together, his
long, thin arms flapping wildly as he did so. “Magic! Magic you
do?”

Scarlett chuckled at the troll’s strange
excitement and speech pattern.

“Yes,” Ruby replied. “I suppose I do a bit of
magic.”

“You teach? You teach Gormp?”

“Uh… I’m not sure I can.”

“No?” The lumbering troll frowned. “Mean
goblin pack attack Gormp frequent. Need defense self. Not
safe.”

“I wish I could help more…”

Scarlett saw this as yet another opportunity
to both play with her newfound magical prowess and increase her
sway with the princess. “I think I can give you something to keep
the goblins at bay.”

“You can?” Ruby asked with a light smile.

The troll’s frown reversed into another mossy
grin. “You, yes? Magic too?”

“Magic indeed,” Scarlett said. The demon then
reached into the unfathomable depths of space and pulled out a
small whistle with a leather cord, allowing it to be worn as a
necklace, sized perfectly for the large creature called Gormp. She
approached the troll, shimmying past the circular line of goblins
and held out the item. “Just blow into this end.”

“Oooh.” The troll took the arcane artifact
and stared at it with his mesmerized, yellow eyes. Soon, he worked
up the courage to give it a try. Holding it to his pursed lips, the
troll blew into the metal noisemaker. The sound emitted was almost
exactly like that of a hooting owl. Neither Ruby nor Scarlett was
particularly bothered by it, but the same could not be said for the
goblins.

They cried out in unison, “Chee gah ahh!”

Each of the goblins flailed their arms and
wailed their inane screams with their wide-open mouths hidden under
their cloaks. They fled from the sound immediately, hurrying toward
Ruby and hiding in a long line directly behind her. The troll
stopped the hooting whistle and smiled with his big mossy teeth
again. The brave goblin at the front of the queue grabbed the
princess’ dress and timidly peaked around. When the troll spotted
him, he again screeched into the whistle, causing the little
creature to tuck back behind Ruby and cower there with his
brethren.

“Gormp thank!” the lumbering troll said to
the demon. “You magic good!”

“My pleasure,” Scarlett told him, taking an
elaborate bow. She couldn’t say that she had really done it for
him. Admittedly, she had no real concern one way or the other for
the large, mossy creature, but Ruby seemed to have taken to him.
For that reason alone, she had given him the whistle. She would vie
to increase that bond with whatever gesture she could. Scarlett
turned and walked back to join her princess.

“Thank you,” Ruby told her, when she
returned, wrapping her arm around Scarlett’s and locking it at the
nooks to their elbows.

“Gormp need go home now. You thanks!”

“You be good, Gormp,” Ruby told him.

“Gormp very good now!”

The troll turned and walked back into the
woods, continuing to happily blow into his hooting whistle. When he
had cleared their sight, Ruby and Scarlett turned back to the cart,
where Edwin still waited, quite in shock by what he had witnessed.
As they walked back, so too did the infected goblins.

Their cart driver looked down at all the
goblins surrounding around the cart. “I’m not sure we have enough
room for your… pets.”

“They can walk,” Ruby agreed with a nod.

She and Scarlett climbed back up into the
cart, while the goblins lined up behind it in a little formation.
They looked more like children playing a mock war game than
anything resembling real soldiers, but that was what they were to
her now. When the women were situated inside, Edwin jostled the
reins and got the horse moving at a steady trot.

Ruby leaned forward and asked, “Do you know
how much longer it will be before we arrive at the Cloister,
Edwin?”

“If we don’t have any more unscheduled stops,
we should get there either tomorrow or the next day.”

The princess leaned back against the wooden
bench with her demon at her side and her little infected goblin
skirmishers following along behind. Her confidence in the road
ahead of her was growing, as she got more comfortable with her
powers and those of the demon she powered through their bond. All
that remained was to find a way of separating the craggy hand demon
from her sister. The answer resided at the Cloister, she reminded
herself, and she would have it soon.

Edwin’s estimation of their travel time had been just about right.
Though they didn’t arrive that next day, it had been very early on
the following morning that they spotted the tan walls of the monks’
home. The almost cream colored walls were roughly twenty feet high,
and behind them, little could be seen other than a few thin pillars
of smoke drifting into the air and a tall bell tower.

The princess had seen a painting that
depicted the Cloister’s impressive grounds sprawled out at the edge
of a forest, but the sight in person was just as staggering to
behold. No one was yet visible, though she was optimistic that she
would find the help that she sought within the monastery.

Scarlett, meanwhile, could feel a powerful
energy behind those walls. There was a metallic taste in the air,
and she had the sensation of being back home amongst other nether
demons. The princess had told her that they studied the nether
realm, but she wouldn’t have expected to actually find any of its
inhabitants tethered to human hosts there in Nabiria. Her keen
senses had detected several of her fellow demons behind those
walls. This caused her intrigue into what this monastery was to
grow immensely.

They soon arrived at an open arched gate,
where Edwin stopped the horse and cart. He hopped out of the front
seat and swung open the wooden door for the pair of women in the
back. The horde of infected goblins trailed behind and piled
themselves to the side of the gateway waiting for further
instructions. Once Ruby and Scarlett were out, Edwin pushed the
door back and latched it closed.

“Here we are,” he said, turning around to
them.

“Thank you for your help, Edwin,” the
princess told him. She then nodded to her demon servant.

Scarlett acknowledged Ruby and pulled another
bar of gold from the holes in the world, but this one was full
rather than the half bar it was supposed to have been. She shrugged
and handed it to Edwin anyway.

He seemed hesitant, but his good nature
prevailed. “This is more than we agreed upon.”

Scarlett shrugged again. “Eh… it’s just
easier this way. Enjoy.”

Edwin smiled and nodded. “Thank you both. I
hope you find what you’re looking for.” The young man climbed back
up into the front seat of the cart, placing the gold beside him on
the bench and under a blanket, and he then shook the reins to get
the horse moving again.

Ruby and Scarlett turned and walked through
the Cloister’s arched gateway, while the infected goblins sat down
outside the walls and waited. The princess suspected that she would
be better off if they were to remain out of the picture for the
time being. Inside, the women were able to see a better view of the
monastery.

The buildings inside were the same cream
color as the outside wall, but most of them were topped with a red
roofing or window shutters. Strange smoky smells roamed the
courtyard, as an abundance of fires burned in multi-sized bowls
littered throughout the temple grounds. Many men and women roamed
the grounds wearing mostly blue robes, and a select few had their
very own and radically different looking demons walking along
behind them. Even there in the Cloister, demons were not present in
abundance. Most of the demons in some way mirrored their human
counterpart, but many were also quite different. There was no
common theme amongst the demons, as each took on a visual image
derived from the mind of their bonded human. Ruby recalled Scarlett
having said that she looked that way only because it would appeal
to the princess. She realized that the same must be true for all of
the monks, though, looking around, very few of the demons she saw
were anywhere near as sexually provocative as her own. She wondered
what that said about her.

Walking further into the monastery’s grounds,
the monks paid them little notice. From what Ruby had read, the
Cloister was frequently visited and open to all who sought their
wisdom. Presumably, they were quite used to getting people randomly
entering their home. The princess needed some rather specific help
though, so she had to get someone’s attention. There was a young
monk walking by who she decided to approach and direct her inquires
toward.

“Is there someone here who could answer a few
questions?” Ruby asked him.

“We should all be able to help,” the monk
replied with a serene look on his face. “How long have you been
bonded with your demon?”

“We met over eleven years ago,” Ruby
explained.

“Mmm,” he mused, inspecting the horned demon.
“And how long has she been in the physical realm?”

The princess looked back to Scarlett for
confirmation. “Maybe a month?”

Her demon nodded.

The monk seemed upset by this information.
“She is far too powerful for such a brief stint in our realm.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He looked warily at the pair of them. “What
have you been doing with her?”

Ruby smiled and looked to Scarlett who
returned the expression back to her master. “Well…”

Before she could elaborate, the monk adopted
a horrified expression and asked, “You’ve debased yourself with a
demon?”

“Not the word I would use, but--”

“You are a fool! It is dangerous to give in
to what the demon wants. Their motives are their own.”

“My motives are my master’s,” Scarlett
interjected, grabbing and holding Ruby’s hand. “My desires are her
desires.”

The princess nodded in agreement. She was
quickly starting to dislike this curt monk.

The monk’s demeanor remained unchanged. “Why
have you come here?”

“I wish to know how to separate a demon from
its host,” Ruby explained to him.

“You wish to relieve yourself of your own
demon? That seems in your best interest due to your inexperience
and lack of willpower.”

“No, not my demon,” she stated flatly.
“Another.”

“Someone else’s demon?”

“Yes. Surely, you know how to do something
like that? With all your hostility toward bonds that don’t fit
inside your preconceived notions, I’m certain you would be eager
for such a thing?”

The monk clearly did not appreciate her
aggressive attitude but answered nonetheless. “There is, of course,
a way, but it is lost to us here at the Cloister.”

“What does that mean?”

“You will have to talk with our headmistress
for such information.”

“Can you take us to her?”

The monk mulled the prospect over a moment
before finally answering, “Very well. Follow me.”

The man proceeded to guide Ruby and Scarlett
further into the large campus and eventually inside a building at
its center. The monks kept the inside of the building immaculately
clean and clear. Red rugs lined the floors of the halls, and small
candles rested on wooden stands lined periodically along the way.
The building was rather large, and the monk guided the pair of
women through several twists and turns before ultimately arriving
at what each suspected was the absolute center of the structure and
the monastery itself.

Meditating there in the middle of the room
was an old woman dressed in the same blue robe as the others, but
hers somehow looked more distinguished. Around her neck, she wore a
series of wooden beads as a necklace, and her grey hair was in a
neat bun overhead. Seated directly behind her was another figure.
This one appeared to be the headmistress’ bonded demon.

The woman’s demon was tall and quite bulky.
His skin was steely grey, and he had no hair on his body, having a
completely bald head. He was dressed in a similar robe as the
monks, but his rocky muscles could be seen protruding through the
thin fabric. His eyes were shut, and he appeared to be in quiet
meditation just like his human master.

The monk that had guided the princess and her
demon into the chamber cleared his throat. “Excuse me,
headmistress.”

The old woman’s eyes opened and she looked at
him and then to both Ruby and Scarlett. “Yes?”

“These women have been asking questions about
demon separation. I thought I should refer them to you.”

“That is probably for the best.” The woman
stood and approached the three of them. Her demon followed suit.
“Thank you for bringing them to me, Martin. You may return to your
studies.”

The monk nodded and exited the chamber.

“You seem familiar to me,” the headmistress
said, narrowing her eyes and examining the princess. “Why is
that?”

“At one point in my life, I was the princess
of Lavidia,” she explained.

“Yes.” A wave of understanding washed over
the woman’s face. “I understand you’re supposed to be dead,
Princess Ruby. Instead, it seems you have survived for more than a
decade…” She looked to Scarlett. “And are now bonded with a demon.
Perhaps that runs in your family.”

“Perhaps,” she replied dryly.

“Apologies if that offends you, princess.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Niada, and this is my demon
Adamen.”

The demon nodded but said nothing, his face
remaining solemn.

“This is Scarlett,” Ruby said gesturing to
her own demon.

“He doesn’t say much,” Scarlett said, nodding
up to Adamen.