Page 99 of Red Demon

“Great idea,” I interrupted. “I’m sure Mahakal would be so grateful he’d offer you all quick deaths instead of slow. He might even skip some of the raping.”

Asher clenched his eyes tight. Telesilla studied me.

“What my brother means to say is we have a common enemy. I never meant to take the lives of innocent ka,” Asher said, with genuine emotion in his voice. “Oria knows my heart in this. If you want my life as payment, take it. But my brother has never killed ka. He wears only the blood of demons. Please let him and the Red Demon go. She sacrificed herself to save us, to do right.”

The room fell silent. And I could feel the mood shift with uncertainty.

“What’s wrong with the Red Demon?” Soren, the Chaeten rebel said.

Asher loosed a breath. “Oria is killing her.”

“Then Oria has already judged her; she dies,” Telesilla said, in a voice that almost sounded like she gave a shit.

I imagined cutting those self-righteous smirks and patronizing frowns off their faces with a blade. But I took a deep breath, looking to Ash for strength. “Oria is making a mistake, Master Telesilla.” I bit back my anger. “I will vouch for her before the ancestors, just as my taam Galen did for me. She’s been out there killing the ruren-sa standing up against Mahakal to make sure innocent people don’t die. There is nothing you can demand of me that I will not consider worth the price of her life. If you have a price, name it.”

The rebels murmured, the glow on their skin fading. The magical equivalent of a lowered weapon, I guess.

“You wish to kill Major Mahakal, Jesse Eirini?”

I gave a firm nod.

“My dahn tells me I can trust you, Master Telesilla,” Asher’s voice broke as he prostrated himself cold stone. “I stand with my brother. Guide us out of here, and we’ll help in any way we can.”

The air crackled with tension as Asher’s words hung heavy. The rebels seemed unsure, looking from face to face. This deferential humility trip of Asher’s was working better than anything I could throw at them. I had to give him that.

“I can accept the two of them, but the Chaeten-sa was bred for war,” one rebel grumbled, a stocky guy I would prefer not to mess with. “Her mind is not capable of living by Niire Mai, as Oria itself has judged.”

A mumble of agreement rippled through the crowd. Soren squinted to stare at her, at me.

Asher nodded, his voice thick with regret. “Disagree if you will, but just because it’s no sin to kill a demon doesn’t mean you have to. You can choose mercy. Let her continue the path she is on now and Oria will judge later. She will continue to help us and be a powerful ally.”

Telesilla seemed to deliberate. The rest looked to her.

“Asher knows the inner workings of Mahakal’s unit. All of us, the Red Demon too, will keep swinging when Mahakal’s tech blocks your magic. She will repay her life debt,” I said, hoping that was true.

They didn’t answer, just kept shifting their gazes between us. Finally, Telesilla spoke, her voice tinged with suspicion. “Your changed opinions on Mahakal I can understand, Asher Eirini. But why would you be so eager to offer information, to help kill the minds you served with?”

Asher closed his eyes tight. “No one will support him if they know the truth.” He looked around the cavern, his voice gaining conviction. “We also have a friend in Uyr Elderven, a modtech expert. Maybe she can help us if we can get her the right tools. She’ll figure out why some people succumb to the ghosts and others don’t. The ghosts can’t touch Jesse or the Red Demon.” He nodded back to me.

A long silence; the rebels looked among each other.

“Let’s talk, Asher Eirini.” Telesilla offered Asher a hand up from where he knelt on the ground. They walked off to a shadowed alcove in the far corner, entering a room that opened to their touch. One by one, the rebels stopped sending wary looks my way and walked off to join them. I would not risk leaving Faruhar’s side, even as the minutes dragged on. Faruhar’s chest rose and fell—rapid and shallow breaths.

Her eyes fluttered open only when we were alone. “They will only help us if you keep your mouth shut, Chaeten,” she whispered in Bria’s voice.

“Bria, where have you been?” I hissed back. “If you’re Attiq-ka, they’ll listen to you more than us.”

“I can’t.” Faruhar’s body shivered. “Reic can’t know I’m here.”

“Why?”

Her lips trembled, warbling with emotion. “He can’t mend me, but he’d try, even if that would break what heart I have left. He’d also want to kill Faruhar.”

I tightened my jaw, deciding that the killing Faruhar part was all I needed to understand. “I’ll keep your secret, Bria.”

It was almost an hour later when Asher and Telesilla returned, their faces grim but determined.

Telesilla approached Faruhar, her hand glowing. I pulled back, shielding Faruhar with my body. “No.”