Page 72 of Inferno
“See, there you go!” Stanley sounded entirely satisfied as the unicorn deigned to stand peacefully beside Rimdolen. “Just another equine. Not so different, are you, you daft lad?” He stroked the unicorn’s neck as he said it, then quickly apologised via the mental link.Sorry for the terrible rudeness. I’ll explain everything when we don’t have a dozen warriors breathing down our necks.
No trouble at all,the unicorn replied.I’m very grateful for your help.
What’s your name?Rimdolen asked.
The unicorn shook his mane out a little.I am Rayata-Kendro-Mintal-Vash-Dorsa. I’ve been told that on this side of the gate, people much prefer shorter names, so you may call me Rayken, if you wish.
“For the gods’ sake, man, would you get that demon horse away from the cage?” Renfold all but shouted, finally finding his voice again after Stanley had well and truly stolen his thunder.
“Why?” Stanley asked, in his usual mix of belligerence and straight-forwardness. “He’s calm as a kitten. And the demon won’t pay us no mind. Come to think of it, that demon there’s been right peaceful since you set him up to be gawked at. No screaming, no thrashing about. I dare say most people locked up like that and put on display would behave more poorly than this creature.”
Yorin saw his trick now, comparing Nerik to the calm and ‘useful’ unicorn, in order to start bending the way people thought about him. It was a fine strategy, but…
“This demon is actually Nerik,” Renfold informed him.
That threw Stanley’s stride. “N…Nerik? As in Nerik the messenger boy?”
“The very same.”
Stanley looked genuinely shocked by that – shocked, rather, by the fact that Renfold knew, than by the information itself. He looked like he was about to deny the very possibility… then changed his mind, not knowing what had happened in his absence. “Well, I never!” he said in the end, rubbing a hand over his face.
Nerik admitted it,Yorin filled Stanley in quickly.They recognised a shirt he was wearing and a necklace he still has on. None of us really know what to do next.
“But he’s… Nerik’s lived here for years!” Stanley said, no doubt trying to grasp at some angle that would help them all. “He’d never hurt a fly!”
“He’s been entirely honest in his dealings with me,” Yorin added, not willing to stay silent. “Not one thing from any of my deliveries ever went missing. He was punctual. He was reliable.”
“He’s ademon,” Renfold insisted, as if it had escaped their notice.
“He’s a very odd kind of demon, though,” Kit said. “I mean, I’ve listened toa lotof stories about the demons that come through the gate. The warriors have new tales to tell at the end of every cycle.” She shot an encouraging little smile and nod to Henrick – keeping the asshole onside as much as possible. “But I’ve never heard one about a… well…this,” she finished, gesturing vaguely to Nerik.
“This is a shock to everyone,” Renfold said diplomatically. “And it’s only natural to want to think well of him. But we must face facts.”
“The fact is,” Stanley blurted out, “that we’ve had a demon living in our midst for years, and none of us had the faintest inkling of it. Which seems to say a fair bit about Nerik’s peaceful intentions.”
“Hear, hear!” Forlegard called out.
“We can’t go making any hasty decisions,” Gosta said, attempting to be the ‘voice of reason’. “Maybe we should take a few days to think about this. Hold a public debate, maybe?”
“To what end?” Henrick asked. “So we can just let the demon out and let it keep living like it’s a fucking human? You can’t be serious.”
“Henrick has a point,” Renfold said. “I can see no realistic outcome of this, other than killing the demon.”
“Killing Nerik, you mean,” Yorin said.
“Nerik is a demon,” Renfold said to Yorin, far more gently than he would have expected.
“And a damn good friend,” Yorin shot back. “Don’t hide behind labels. You would be killing a longstanding member of this city. Who, so far as we’re aware, has done nothing more dangerous than attempting to save a unicorn’s life.Thatunicorn,” he added, pointing. “The one that’s now standing peacefully beside Stanley’s horse.”
Sorry, he added swiftly to Rimdolen, not sure whether calling him a horse was rude or not, but very certain that labelling him as Stanley’s property was.
Not a problem, Rimdolen replied quickly
“Are you conspiring with a demon?” Henrick asked him, and Yorin thought carefully before answering. Conspiring with a demon was considered treason – punishable by death – and so he was on dangerous ground here, walking a fine line between exonerating Nerik and condemning himself.
“All I’m asking is that we take some time to think this through properly,” Yorin said, taking a cautious middle ground that, if successful, would at the very least buy them some time. “Death is a rather final condition, after all. I wouldn’t like any of us to regret a decision made in haste,” he said, looking firmly Renfold’s way.
Renfold looked back, unfazed. Then he glanced over at Nerik. “I’m starting to think you know more about all this than you’re letting on,” he said, still as calm and composed as ever.