Please go give some love to holmesfapel who created my fantastic book cover! It means a lot to have such a wonderful cover created by someone who cares so much for my story!
To all my new readers, welcome to my story. I hope you enjoy it as well <3
The first thing I noticed about this town was the smell: a sick, decaying stench made the word plague immediately spring to mind.
Upon my arrival, I had walked around the high walls of the town three times in order to locate the smell and if it was truly inside the walls at all. My nose wrinkled as another foul odour hit me, this smelling of rats and carrion, and I knew immediately what type of demon it was.
Head high, I walked towards the open gates. The two guards looked tired and waved me through without checking my summons, but I saw their eyes take in my red cloak and the long broadsword on my back. They knew I was the hunter they had been waiting for, but I expected no respect. I had been sent here to do my job and that is all, though sometimes I would be offered a free meal before leaving.
As I walked further in, villagers stopped in front of their golden, thatched-roofed houses and stared at me. I heard their musings from where I was walking.
"He's a little young isn't he...?"
"It's one of the king's pets..."
"I hope he catches the beast..."
I chuckled derisively to myself at the thought of catching a demon instead of flat out killing one, but I bristled at the idea that I was too young. I was turning nineteen in two months, which meant I will no longer be under contract of the King and would be able to make my life as a rogue hunter, earning money.
As usual, there is always one sticky nose in every town, although this time it was a small girl asking me various questions.
"Why is your cape red?" She asked with one finger in her mouth, drooping the edge of her ten year old face, dribble sliding down.
"I'm a hunter." I answered, but I squatted in front of her, smiling to show her that I meant no harm. She was simply an inquisitive kid, and I remembered when I used to be like that. "I wear red to show that I'm property of the King's men."
Her eyes widened, and the finger that was in her mouth now pointed at me, "You're owned by someone?"
"Kind of like that," I laughed, shuffling backwards a bit to avoid her wet finger that was now swinging wildly. "My name is Incent. What's yours?"
"I'm Gem. What's that?" She pointed at my broadsword.
"That is a big, big, big knife," I said, smiling, "Nothing that you should ever want to touch." I didn't say the last part meanly, but the look in her eyes were as if I had admonished her about something, "Maybe if you're older you can get a knife," I said, and ruffled her brown hair. At that moment, a woman came past and grabbed the young girl by the shoulder.
"Shame on you," she hissed at me as I stood up, "putting such ideas into an eight year old girl's mind." Hmm, I thought she was ten; I was a little off.
I shrugged, trying to appear nonplussed about the situation, "Everybody should be able to defend themselves; even little girls. And if you had been taught too, I wouldn't have been called here to this job." I smirked at the woman who simply scowled at me, and began trudging down the road again.
The smell of the demon had been growing closer the longer I had been talking to the woman, and I knew that if I argued with her any longer, the town would be attacked again.
I took a sharp turn into an alleyway and took a deep sniff. Yeah, he was here alright. I began to slow my steps, shoes crunching in the soft, gold dirt, unsheathing my sword slowly from my back and holding it in my left hand while I used my right hand to begin feeling the smoothness of the pale sandstone walls beside me to see if they could hold up to a fight.
No sooner had this thought crossed my mind when, with a resounding roar, I was thrown straight into them by a strong force, and I disappeared into a cloud of dust and rock as the wall caved in with the thrust. I cursed as I felt a warm slickness travel down my leg as I stood and I looked down to see a deep cut that had ripped my pants, "They were my favourite pants, you bastard!" I yelled, trying to provoke the demon to attack again.
He charged at me, and I realised he was a lesser demon, nothing that should have taken me by surprise considering his lack of magic. This time, I parried his push with some swordplay, cutting along his right arm as he reached out to me with sharp talons.
I stabbed back at him with my sword, slicing right through his left side, even though I knew his heart was located on his right and lower down, where a human's belly was. He tightened and controlled his insides like only a demon could, yanking my sword out of my hands without needing to lift a finger. I grumbled slightly, and the demon seized me by my throat and pushed me against the wall. I struggled in his grip, acting like a victim, when really I was just trying to reach the knife in my shoe without being obvious about it.
The demon leant in and I froze, panicking. All I could see was his human-looking face with bright white eyes, which should have made him look blind and harmless. He began sniffing me down, and I saw a smirk overcome his angry features, "I would take your soul here and now, human," he hissed at me, "but another demon has already beaten me to it." He nuzzled my neck, sighing deeply. As he breathed out, he released me enough for my hand to catch at the blade in my boot before punching him in the jaw. I dug the blade quickly into his body, instinctively knowing where his heart would be. With a short scream, he began to burn. I removed my knife before the flames began licking too high, and I went to the alley to retrieve my knife that he had so kindly thrown down there. I picked it up and complained silently as I noticed a small scratch. I turned to berate the demon on his deathbed, but he was already a pile of ash. He smelt notably better though.
I sheathed my weapon onto my back and pushed the dagger back into my boot. During the struggle I hadn't noticed the cut on my leg growing incredibly worse, but now I felt the dull throb that would later turn into an avalanche of pain if I didn't act soon. Wincing as I tore up some more of my shirt (it was also one of my favourites), I quickly formed a makeshift bandage around my leg to staunch the blood flow, but I knew it wasn't going to help for long.
Considering troubling the town folk for a bit of help, I hobbled down the street, but obviously the sound of my fight meant that everyone had gone indoors to hide from the scuffle. I sighed and wound my way down the street, believing it to be a lost cause and allowing myself the hateful knowledge that no one was going to help me, until the woman I had argued with before poked her head out of her house. She pursed her lips at me, but her dislike was forgotten when she saw how damaged I was.
She scurried over to me, looked up and down the street, and then ushered me into her house. Limping badly, I made a lot of noise, but I realised by the look she gave me that she feared the demon attacking her.
"He's dead," I said softly, and she looked up at me, blinking slowly before she nodded in acceptance of the fact.
"Sit there," she ordered, pointing at a small red chair and I did. I squinted at her quizzically. She didn't seem to like attention, and yet she was wearing a long blue dress. Blue fabrics were expensive and I could see a touch of silk used, so I knew she was married to someone with wealth and possibly some power. Her blonde hair was wound up in a circular braid on top of her head so I could see her properly. She was only in her late twenties, still young, which means that she was probably a trophy wife of some rich old man who appreciated her looks more than her brains, so it was okay that she was so quiet.
I let out a short cry as the woman pulled back my makeshift bandage and pressed fabric with some kind of yellow liquid on it, "I swear, if that's your urine..." I muttered under my breath, and I saw her smile slightly before she shook her head.
"No. Lucky for you it is a simple antiseptic." She said, pouring some more onto the fabric before torturing me with it again as I grimaced, "It will stop infection."
When she was finished, she bound my leg in a tight white bandage and tied it on me. She inspected me for any more abrasions but I shook my head to tell her that there was none. "Thank you," I hovered awkwardly in her house before adding, "I'm sorry for what I told your daughter as well."
She shook her head, "Don't be. It's just that her head is already filled with thoughts of adventures. Last night I found her missing in her bed, and I found her in our backyard trying to find the demon to kill."
I understood and felt sorry for this kid who wanted to do something to help, but I knew that her protective parents were good for her and lead her to a life of happiness.
"Do your parents fear for you?" She asked me softly, biting her lip as if worried she had overstepped a boundary.
I flashed a wild grin at her, "Never!" I announced, before walking out of her house. Well, I was still limping, but I tried to make myself look like a proud hunter while stumbling out of the house before I left the town, only looking back once to see that the little girl was standing at the house's window, watching me leave with a forlorn expression.