Page 14 of Red Demon (Oria #1)

“ Taam , if we’re ahead, can we build the bunk tomorrow?” Asher gestured to the loft. “We only got a spare bedroll in the meantime,” Asher said, looking at me.

I frowned, not understanding. Galen chuckled, the bench creaking under him.

“Best ensure the boy gets a bath first before you show him his bed, or he’ll pass out reeking.

” He laughed again as Asher smiled, then turned to me.

“Why didn’t you wash up before dinner? Ash already laid out some fresh clothes for you in the bath house. ”

“I can use your bath house?” My heart skipped. A full dip in the icy river still hadn’t been worth the hypothermia.

Galen looked bewildered at whatever he saw in my face.

“You’re working with us,” Asher explained. “This is home.”

A lump formed in my throat when he met my gaze. “Chaeten jobs don’t work like that. I… I didn’t know.”

“You thought,” Galen growled, “after a day like that, we’d send a dirty, half-starved boy back to the frozen wild?”

“How long have you been living in the woods?” Asher asked.

“Since the week before Solstice.”

The thin music in the air changed from string to flute.

My confidence built, and I cleared my throat. “Have you heard of the Red Demon? Have you seen her around here?”

Galen’s gaze sharpened; Asher’s grin faded. They both put down their spoons.

“He’s not working for the Z’har, Taam ,” Asher said.

“ Ae, Istaran trusts him, so will I.” Galen let out a breath.

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Major Mahakal doesn’t like people spreading … rumors about her,” Asher said, and when Galen coughed at the word “rumors,” he added, “Talking about her at all, really.”

Galen grunted, taking another bite of his stew.

“When I first met you, I thought you might be looking for trouble. Z’har hire beggars and desperate people to spy around towns, reporting back things that no one will say to a priest or a soldier’s face.

They check in on any empire contractors from time to time, making sure we are following the law. ”

“Oh.” I thought back to how Galen reacted when I entered his shop. “Well, I’m not a Z’har spy.”

“No.” Galen chuckled. “Most of them are academy born, unable to do a hard day’s work if their life depended on it. Clearly not you.”

I sat up straighter at the praise. “So you’ve heard of the Red Demon?”

Galen and Asher shared a look.

“Major Mahakal’s unit is looking for a Chaeten-sa, one with scars on her face,” Asher said. “But the weird thing is, the temple doesn’t have posters up or anything, like with other criminals. They’ve pulled people aside and asked about her though. That’s who you mean, right? The scarred woman?”

I described her as well as I could, the long straight hair that seemed to drink red light, the worn-out armor, how fast she could move. Then I slipped into telling them about Mal outside the mine, and when I saw their faces, it looked like they both actually cared.

“Is that what happened to your mother, then?” Galen asked.

So I told them about the rest of my family and my town. I tried to keep it factual, brief, but the memories still clawed at my throat on the way out.

When I finished with Iden’s fate, a heavy silence hung across the table. Asher looked as wounded as I felt.

“I’m very sorry for what you’ve survived, boy.” Galen spoke with finality, his voice rough but kind.

The pity his gaze exuded was more than I could bear. I looked away. “It’s going to happen again, to someone else, unless I stop her.”

“ You ? Stop her?” Asher said, more confused than disapproving.

Galen took that in with a nod. “I’ve discussed her with the elders from other towns.

More rumors than not, as there aren’t many who’ve gotten as close as you.

” He paused for a moment, his dark and gold-flecked eyes boring into mine.

“She’s attacked Asri too. Not whole towns like the Chaeten in the Bend, but she’s in the crossroads and wilds, picking off people as far as Baren Golkhi.

Until now, I didn’t know Mahakal wanted her for what’s happening in the Bend.

Never would have thought a Chaeten-sa would kill her own. ”

I looked at him, bewildered.

Galen sighed. “You should tell Major Mahakal everything you told me. He’s your best chance to do something about it all.”

“Taam ,” Asher said, in warning.

I drew out a long breath, thinking it through. “Why? Mahakal seemed more concerned with keeping the worst of what’s happening secret.” I gave Asher a side glance.

Galen shifted on the bench. “There’s no politics but dirty politics. The empire wants people to believe they have the situation under control, because that gives them the best chance of making that true.”

“If you are up every morning preparing to defend yourselves, you know no one’s safe,” I said.

Galen gave a tight, slow nod. “Queen Azara’s empire does less for the people of our town than the Attiq-ka council used to.

She can only wield so much power on the edges of the empire, and I don’t resent her for that.

Queen Azara did what she could and asked for little back—her priests enhanced the khels on our walls.

No ghost can enter this town, neither a malicious ruren-sa nor the rest.” Galen took another bite.

“We only need to concern ourselves with whoever is riling the ghosts up, and presumably they have bodies we can fight.”

Asher nodded in agreement, his face tight.

“Ghosts? What about the bioweapon, virus, whatever it is?” I asked.

He frowned. “No Asri has contracted SBO yet anywhere in Noé, to my knowledge, just Chaeten. Until now, I had no Chaeten in my town to worry about besides the barrack soldiers, and well, you’d be dead by now if you could catch it at all.”

I drummed my fingers on the table. “What do you think will happen when I tell Major Mahakal what I told you?”

Galen leaned back on the stool and scratched his curly black hair.

“With a story like yours, the sole survivor of Crofton, chances are he’d want to make sure others could question you too.

He’ll take you to his commander, and no one in the Barrack will tell me who that is, but I suspect he reports directly to the General himself. Seems we’ll be losing a worker soon.”

“Don’t do it.” Asher said.

I whipped my gaze to him.

He crumpled, looking between his father and me. “They won’t let you say no if you don’t want to go away.”

I smiled. “You’d miss me already, Ash?”

“Well, yeah,” he said, his brown and gold eyes wide.

That stark honesty took me aback. For a moment, I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Could your militia kill the Red Demon?” I asked Galen. “With Istaran?”

Galen finished the last of his stew and put down his spoon with a clank.

“With any blade. A Chaeten-sa is a difficult kill, not impossible. She’ll move faster, heal and mute her pain as she goes.

But it’s still blood in her heart and muscle connecting her head to her shoulders.

Outnumbered, she will die like anyone else.

” Galen made a gesture from his heart. “We won’t go roaming the wild looking for her, but if she attacked this town, we’d face her without mercy. It is no sin to kill a demon.”

I nodded, and those words fanned an ember of hope to flame.