The Daylight War

Dug grunted in agreement, but Thamos said nothing, staring hard at Arlen over steepled fingers.

‘We haven’t seen a fraction of what the Core has to throw at us, Merrem,’ Arlen said. ‘Less than a week ago, me and Renna met a demon a good sight smarter than either of us. A mind demon. It had a bodyguard, a coreling that could change into anything it wished, and when the mind was around, the demons started behaving different.’

‘Different, how?’ Dug asked.

‘Like soldiers with good generals,’ Arlen said. ‘It sent a copse of wood demons after me that attacked with clubs when their talons failed to pierce my wards.’

‘Night,’ Merrem shuddered, and Dug spat on the carpet. Renna looked to Thamos, but the count seemed not to have noticed. He had gone deathly pale, and she could smell his fear. She wondered what had happened to the powerful leader and savage fighter he had been just a moment earlier.

‘My mother must hear of this,’ Thamos mumbled after a moment.

Everyone looked at him curiously. Tender Hayes scowled. ‘Mother, Your Highness?’ he murmured. It was too quiet for the others to hear, but Renna heard the words as clear as day. Her senses were stretching farther every day.

Thamos gave a start, sitting up straight as some of the colour returned to his face. ‘Brother,’ he corrected. ‘My brother, Duke Rhinebeck, must hear of this immediately. Arther, ready a Messenger!’

Arther moved to comply, but Arlen raised a hand to forestall him. ‘I regret to inform Your Highness that there is worse news. Mind demons can reach right into your thoughts and eat them, knowing everything you do. They can even take over and work your body like a puppet.’

‘Creator!’ Merrem exclaimed. ‘How are we supposed to fight against that?’ The count’s face looked so green Renna thought he might slosh up at any moment.

‘The greatwards are proof against them,’ Arlen said. ‘And for the rest, there are mind demon wards.’ He produced a sheaf of parchment and a warding brush from somewhere in his robes. The brush seemed an extension of his arm as he quickly drew a large mind ward, turning it to face the others at the table.

‘This symbol can block their intrusion.’ He pointed to the same symbol tattooed on his forehead, and the one in blackstem that now adorned Renna’s. ‘Mind demons are even more sensitive to light than regular corelings. Even moonlight stings them. They only come to the surface at the cycling of the new moon. Those three nights, anyone outside an active greatward needs to be wearing this ward on their head.’

Darsy traced a finger along the curves of the symbol. ‘It’s simple enough. We can make stamps and put them all over town.’

Arlen nodded. ‘Do it.’ He looked to the Butchers. ‘And you’re going to need to step up recruiting and get the Cutters ready for corelings that know how to fight smart.’

‘Got recruits aplenty,’ Dug said, ‘but that just means there’s a lot of raw wood running around with warded spears and not a clue how to use them.’

‘They’ve got three weeks to learn,’ Arlen said. ‘I’ll help as I can, but this is on you, Dug Butcher. You and Merrem,’ he looked at Thamos, ‘and your count.’

‘Can’t believe you just gave up an army of demon hunters,’ Renna said as they went back to the horses.

‘Never wanted to lead an army, Ren,’ Arlen said. ‘These days, any army I lead is apt to have more red on their spears than black. Folk need to stand together, day and night. I’d only get in the way of that. Let Thamos have his throne.’

He looked at her and smiled. ‘I can always kick him back off it, if need be.’

Renna laughed, and a nearby wood demon glanced about excitedly at the sound, trying to find its source. She was only a dozen feet away, but in her warded cloak she could have walked right up to it unnoticed.

The cloak Leesha had so lovingly made for Arlen.

‘Knew there was a reason I never quite liked this thing,’ Renna said. She reached up, undoing the clasp and letting the cloak fall to the ground. The demon gave a shriek as it caught sight of her, coming in fast.

Renna let it come, standing her ground until the last moment before sliding aside, stabbing her knife into a fold in the demon’s armour as it stumbled past.

The demon clutched the wound, but it was not fatal, and already its magic would be healing the damage. It turned back to her and shrieked again. Renna met its eyes and spread her arms, waiting.

The demon was more cautious when it came back at her, keeping its distance and using the reach of its branchlike arms to full advantage. Renna bided her time, giving ground freely as she wove around its attacks. Occasionally she hacked at a passing limb with her knife, but those shallow cuts did little more than sting the demon.

Still she waited, until the coreling set its feet a certain way. She dodged its next attack and came in hard before the demon could recover, stabbing into the gap between its third and fourth ribs on the right side, as Arlen had taught her. She felt the beating as her knife pierced the demon’s heart, pumping raw magic into her as the light left its eyes.

Flailing, the wood demon clawed at her, but magic sparked along the blackstem wards on her skin, keeping it at bay. Finally, it collapsed.

She looked at Arlen. ‘That demon knows who killed it.’

Arlen looked down his nose at her. ‘It’s dead, Ren. It doesn’t know anything.’

He bent, picking up the cloak and shaking the dirt and leaves from it before folding it carefully. ‘Honest word, I never liked wearing it, myself. Don’t like hiding any more’n you do. Less, I reckon.’

He grunted. ‘Ever get a gift from someone and know they put a lot of thought into it, but you open it and your first thought is “This person don’t know me at all”?’

Renna nodded. ‘Like when Da would buy a keg of Boggin’s Ale to celebrate my born day, then drink it all himself.’ She shrugged. ‘Tanners ent ever been much for gift giving. Leastways not since Mam died.’

‘How’d she go?’ Arlen asked softly. ‘Heard it was demons, but they never told the tale in town.’

‘Couldn’t say,’ Renna admitted. ‘She was cored sure enough, but there wern’t a breach in the wards – she was out in the yard. Remember she and Da were fightin’ something fierce that night. Didn’t give it a lot of thought when I was little, but now I figure she ran out to get away from him. Night, thought about doing it myself a few times.’

‘Glad you didn’t,’ Arlen said. ‘One thing to run when you got something to run to, but if you gotta go out, better to go fightin’ than runnin’.’

‘Honest word,’ Renna said.

‘Cloak’s got its uses, though,’ Arlen said. ‘We might’ve both been cored without it.’

‘Guess I ought to thank Leesha Paper for savin’ us, then.’ Renna spat on the ground.

‘You saved us, Ren,’ Arlen said. ‘Wern’t the cloak or your da’s knife that walked up to that corespawn and put him down. Mind demon came closer to ending me than any, and I’ve had some close calls at night.’

He held the bundle out to her, and Renna nodded, accepting it. She smiled. ‘Can’t say I won’t enjoy when your Leesha sees me in it. Tells folk you put me first.’