Demon Hunter

by Michael P Calligaro



Kagi let her legs dangle over the edge of the ship as she stared out to the horizon. Clear skies, calm seas, and nothing to do--this was not exactly her idea of a good time. The warm sun glinted off of her dragonskin bodysuit, casting iridescent shadows that swayed about on the deck in time with the ship's gentle rocking. One of the crewmen walked by. He was a gruff, dirty fellow with a scraggly beard and a patch over his left eye. Kagi smiled warmly to him, but he responded by giving her a wide berth. With a sigh, she stared back out at the limitless expanse of water.
Another crewman passed. He refused to make eye contact. Shaking her head, Kagi gracefully rolled back over her shoulder, planted her feet on the wooden deck, and stood up. The crewman picked up his pace. Kagi followed him, placing her feet softly and distributing her weight smoothly. Though the deck planks creaked when the crewman stepped on them, they were silent for her. Visibly agitated, he picked up his pace some more. Kagi felt an urge to say "Boo," but she feared that doing so might kill the spineless wretch.
She followed him across the boat, but stayed on the deck when he raced down into the hull. Instead she continued on to the captain's quarters. The captain's door was solid and windowless. The only way to see into his quarters would be to climb over the side of the ship and look in through the aft windows. Though Kagi could easily manage such a task, it was beyond the capabilities of the crew. She rapped on the door.
"Come."
The captain was standing with his back to her and staring out over the sea. His cabin stretched across the entire aft section of the ship, and windows ran along the three outer walls, giving a 180-degree view of the horizon. "What can I do for you, Ms. Kagi?"
Kagi hoped the he didn't expect her to be impressed that he'd figured out it was her without turning around. She was the only person on board who didn't clomp about when she walked. She closed the door softly behind her and said, "Why am I here, Captain? I'm doing nothing useful, the crew won't talk to me, and I don't see any need for my skills in our future."
The captain turned around and grinned. Kagi suppressed a shudder. His grin caused his long scars to distort in such a way that his face looked ready to peel off. Most people squinted when they grinned, but the captain opened his eyes wider, making it impossible to miss their lack of color. This made him look just like the poor souls she didn't get to in time--the ones whose possession was so deep Kagi's only option was to destroy them. But the captain wasn't possessed. She had already checked that.
"The crew won't talk to you because I told them it takes a demon to kill a demon."
Kagi felt her forehead furrow. Just barely holding her anger in check, she said, "When you hired me, you didn't say anything about your intention to torture me on the trip."
The captain laughed. "No, my dear. You're the only woman on a ship full of lonely men. I told them that for your protection--"
Before the captain could finish his sentence, Kagi drew one of her short swords, shot across the room, grabbed him, and held her blade against his throat. In a quiet, unwavering voice, she said, "If you tied one of my hands behind my back and instructed your entire crew attack en masse while I slept, I would be in no danger. I need no protection from them. Understand?"
The captain nodded with his eyes. Kagi pulled the sword away from his neck and slid it into its sheath on her back as she stepped away. "Now, how far away is this island and what sort of demons will I be hunting there?"
Shaking his head, the captain said, "You're not here to protect us from demons at our destination. It is the trip itself that is dangerous."
Kagi scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. "But we're at sea! Demons can't cross water."
With a smile, the captain replied, "You've never traveled by ship before, have you my dear?" He waited for Kagi to shake her head before continuing, "The sea, she is a demon."
Before Kagi could match an appropriate response to her confusion, her thoughts were interrupted by a shout from the deck. Kagi and the captain rushed out of his quarters. The crewman on lookout in the high crow's nest was pointing ahead and yelling frantically in some language Kagi didn't understand. She didn't need to understand him, however. The cause of his fright was unmistakable.
Minutes ago, the skies had been clear to the horizon. Now the entire way ahead was choked in dark clouds. Rain came down as thick as a waterfall, but was whipped about frantically by strong winds. Waves chopped, crested, and smashed into each other, being driven by the same changing wind. Lightning struck the ocean. Two seconds later the deafening crack of thunder shook the ship. The storm was close.
The captain immediately barked out orders as he leapt to the wheel. "All hands on deck! Get those sails down! Lash everything."
Kagi stared in shock at the storm ahead. It couldn't have come over the horizon. It was too close. It seemed to have appeared from nowhere. If this was a demon, it was considerably more powerful than any she had yet faced. She joined the captain, who smirked and said, "See?"
After taking a deep breath, she and said, "This is one demon I can not beat."
He barked a few more orders before saying, "You can't beat the sea. The best you can hope for is that she lets you survive. If you're scared, you can go below."
The startling realization hit that she was scared. Why? She'd once faced down two demigods intent on keeping her alive as they spent weeks slowly devouring her. How could she now be afraid of a lightning storm? Standing a little straighter, she said, "No thank you. I'll stay on deck."
The captain grinned and said, "Then hold on and stay out of the way of the crew. We're going to need every single man on the rigging. If you go overboard, we won't be able to do anything about it."
Kagi idly wondered how the captain would have fared at the top of Mt. Valador. The winds there blew so hard they tended to pick up rocks the size of her fists and launch them at her. Then there was the Disk of Anpal. It was covered in spikes and spun at wildly varying speeds, tilting as it went. She'd defeated a twelve-armed creature on that disk. It was hard to imagine what could cause her to go overboard here. But she kept these thoughts to herself.
A scream overhead drew Kagi's eyes back to the crow's nest. Either the lookout was trying to choke himself, or something had wrapped itself around his neck. He stumbled to the edge of the nest and toppled over the side. Kagi raced over to catch him, but he had a lanyard tied to his ankle. He was now hanging upside down, still struggling, with a face that was starting to turn red. Kagi tried to race up the rope ladder, but the way it gave under her weight slowed her down. When she finally reached the lookout his face was purple.
A translucent demon with four stubby legs and an undersized head had wrapped its long tail around the lookout's neck. The incongruity of there being a demon here at sea when demons couldn't pass over water only scratched at the outer reaches of Kagi's consciousness. There'd be time to think about such things later. She threaded her left arm through the rope ladder and drew one of her swords with the right. The demon ignored her and continued to strangle the lookout. Kagi sliced from the base of his neck all the way down to its tail, causing it to scream horrifically and fall to the deck below.
The lookout gulped in air in haggard breaths. "Grab the ladder," Kagi yelled over the rising wind, "I'll cut you down." The lookout, who was still focusing on breathing, ignored her. Kagi pulled her arm out of the ladder and climbed higher. Now even with his feet, she put her arm back through the ladder and grabbed an ankle. He was heavy. Would she be able to hold him? The ship lurched to port as the outer edge of the storm reached them. The lookout still wasn't responding. Kagi wrapped one of her legs around his waist, held on tight to the ankle, and sliced the rope.
The lookout fell a bit, causing the rope to bite into Kagi's arm. He was already starting to slip. She clenched her teeth and quickly returned her sword to its sheath on her back. Then she reached down with her free hand and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Releasing his leg and waist let him flop right side up. He almost slipped again, but she held on tight to his collar. She swung him around to the opposite side of the ladder, so that his weight was now pulling her into the ropes. This let her unwind her left hand and start to climb down. About halfway there, two deckhands met her and took him off her hands.
Kagi climbed a bit farther down and then leapt the rest of the way to the deck. She tried to find the body of the demon, but it was gone. "Captain," she called, "what happened to the demon?" He didn't seem to hear her in the wind, so she moved next to him and repeated herself.
He glanced at her for a second, worry showing on his face, then returned his attention to his steering of the ship. "What are you talking about?"
A wave crashed over the side of the ship. The captain frantically turned the wheel to try to face the next one head on. He was undoubtedly too preoccupied with steering the ship to have seen the demon. Kagi wondered what she could do to help. The crewmen didn't have the sails down yet, but they were swarming about them efficiently. She doubted she'd add anything there. And the captain didn't seem to need any help in holding the wheel. Should she climb up into the crow's nest to replace the lookout? That would be an extremely dangerous place in the lightning storm. And the captain probably wouldn't be able to hear her from up there.
Another wave hit their broadside, causing the ship to lurch. Kagi was able to stay standing, but the captain fell, dragging the wheel in the wrong direction. The ship turned its side to the next wave, which smashed into them and caused the ship to tilt halfway over. Kagi grabbed the captain and hefted him up. Then she helped him turn the wheel back so that they were sailing into the waves.
Someone was shouting something. Kagi stared forward to the men fighting with the sail. They'd gotten it most of the way down, but the wind was whipping the remainder about. It hit one of them in the face. He slipped off the mast and fell to the deck. Another wave smashed into them, washing him into the netting on the side. Kagi rushed over, but he slipped through the netting before she could reach him. "Man overboard!" she yelled. She grabbed the netting and leaned over the side. He was floating face down in the water beside the ship. There was a life ring tied to the side of the ship nearby. Kagi grabbed it hastily, threw it over her neck and arm, and dove over the side.
The water was warmer than she'd expected it to be. This far out to sea, it should have been too deep to be warm. She quickly swam to the crewman and flipped him over. After maneuvering herself behind him, she ran her arm around his body under his arms, and started swimming back toward the ship. It turned away from them and jerked over a wave. This pulled the rope connected to the life ring taut and yanked at her arm. Kagi held on tightly to both the ring and the crewman while the boat dragged them through the water. She couldn't possibly outswim the ship, she'd just have to hold on and hope someone pulled them in.
Suddenly the rope went loose. Kagi looked over her shoulder and saw that the ship had turned again, this time toward her. She immediately started kicking toward it while yelling, "Someone take in the slack!" Though she'd doubted anyone would hear her over the wind, miraculously, someone started tugging at the rope. She'd almost reached the ladder that dangled down to the water when the ship started to turn away again. Frantically, Kagi redoubled her kicking. She reached out for the ladder as it pulled away from her. Using all the strength she could muster, she thrust her legs outward and propelled herself to the ladder. She caught it just as they picked up speed again, dragging the crewman and herself through the water.
"Don't worry," she said to the unconscious crewman, "when the ship turns again, I'll transfer the ring to you. We'll get you out of this."
Her fingers were just starting to ache from the strain of holding the ladder while their two bodies sliced through the rapidly moving water when the ship turned again. Kagi immediately slid the ring off of her arm and around the crewman. Then she yelled, "If anyone's up there, pull him up." He started lifting up in slow steps. Kagi got both hands and feet on the ladder and just held on for a moment, resting. Driving rain now pelted her back, but she ignored it. She was already soaked and it wasn't moving fast enough to hurt. The only time she'd ever seen wind that could make rain hurt through dragonskin was when she fought Mobo, the king of the demons. But she'd banished him to the nether planes, and he couldn't return while she was alive. So she was unworried about the rain now.
Kagi shook her head. What had made her think of Mobo? Were the demons now starting to haunt her in the day as they did each night? After this job, she'd have to take some time off to clear her mind. She sighed and climbed the ladder. The crewman she'd saved wasn't on deck. They'd probably brought him below. She glanced to the captain, who continued to focus on the task of steering the ship. The rigging was now down and most of the crew had gone below. Unless the ship capsized, Kagi doubted she'd need to save anyone else. But she didn't feel like going below. Her efforts were undoubtedly unappreciated by the crew. After all, thanks to their illustrious captain, they thought she was a demon.
The thought repulsed her, but, with nothing demanding her attention at the moment, she could no longer hold the memories back. With a sigh, she walked to the front of the ship and sat down on the forwardmost spot on the deck. She laid her hands gently on the netting, ready to grab on if need be, and just stared out at the storm before them. As with the physical storm at sea, there was little she could do about the storm brewing in her mind but ride it through.
Though the events had transpired over twenty years ago, the images were still fresh in her mind's eye. This probably was a result of her seeing variations of them in her fretful sleep each night. At the time, she had been a ten-year-old girl living a carefree life with loving parents and a young brother she enjoyed watching after. Then one day her parents suddenly changed. They came into the room wearing black robes and evil grins. Their eyes were now all white. Back then, Kagi didn't know the telltale signs of demonic possession. She just knew to be afraid. "Daddy? Mommy? What's wrong?"
Her father grabbed her roughly by the wrist and dragged her out of bed. She cried, "Stop Daddy, you're hurting me," but he just tightened his grip. They went to Tsuyo's room and dragged him from bed as well. The stairway to the basement was glowing in an eerie yellow light. Kagi cried openly. "Mommy, help! Please." Her mother ignored her. Her younger brother also started to cry.
The basement was filled with candles, more candles than Kagi had ever seen in her life. Some sat on sconces, but most were pushed into the dirt floor. There was a table in the center of the room. They roughly tossed Tsuyo onto the table and lashed his arms and legs with blood-soaked leather straps. Kagi was thrown into the far corner of the room, far away from the stairs.
She didn't watch most of what they did to Tsuyo. Years later, when she learned the details of the horrible ritual, she'd needed to spend weeks meditating to force the imagined images from her mind. But nothing she could do could erase the image of the end of the ritual. Tsyou leapt up, his face wild and with blood dripping from his lips. He spun around a few times on the table, howling in delight. Then he turned to her and sneered. As much as she wanted to look away, she couldn't. He transformed before her, from a boy to a dark and twisted creature with long teeth, claws on his hands and feet, reptilian eyes, and a long tongue. She still heard his deep laugh as he bound up the stairs. Even now the memory of that laugh sent chills down her back.
The younger and purer of souls now perverted, her parents then turned to Kagi. She didn't know that they were only temporarily possessed. She didn't know that they'd turned her brother into a demon. She couldn't imagine what she had done to make them so mad at her. She only knew that they had hurt Tsuyo and that they were planning to hurt her too. "Please, Mommy," she blubbered. "Please." Covered in blood, they approached. Kagi backed as far into the corner as she could. They still approached. Every fiber of her body trembled in terror.
Most of her present day strength came from that moment. Nothing she would ever face could possibly compare to it. In later years, she would laugh in the face of actually much greater evils. To a ten year old, there is no force in the universe more evil than your own parents coming to destroy you.
She made a decision. The creature she'd just seen race up the steps could no longer be her bother. So these creatures could not be her parents either. They were just bad people intent on hurting her. And she didn't want to be hurt. She grabbed two large candles, one in each hand, and flung the melted wax at the bad people's faces. They screamed and clutched at their eyes. They fell to the ground, riling about. Their robes caught fire. Kagi ignored their screams as she raced up the stairs.
She spent every waking moment of the next ten years training to fight demons. She'd spent most of those years with the Alana Siphen, the most devout monks and the fiercest warriors in the land. Through sheer determination, she learned better than any other monk in the history of the Siphen. And, after years of training, she turned to hunting demons. It was impossible to destroy them all, but she had every intention of going to her grave trying.
On the ship, Kagi noticed that the skies had cleared. She heard people working behind her as the men raised the sails, but she knew they didn't want her help. After a time, she heard timid steps approach. Looking back over her shoulder caused the crewman to stop and turn pale. She'd saved the lives of two of the crew and they still thought she'd kill them. Kagi sighed. "Yes?"
In a weak voice he said, "The captain wants ... would like to see you."
When Kagi nodded, the crewman quickly backed away. She rolled over her shoulder, stretched a bit, and walked back to the captain's quarters. Her bodysuit was just about dry. After knocking on the door and getting permission to come in, she stepped in saying, "It appears that the sea demon is going to let us live this day."
The captain looked at her in overt fear. In a timid voice, he said, "Ms. Kagi, I don't want to anger you by questioning your motives, but it was very tough on us that you killed two of my crew in the middle of the storm. We'll take you where you demanded to go, but I need a full crew to run the ship effectively."
Kagi blinked and stared at him for a moment. When he didn't smile or give any indication that he was kidding, she shook her head and said, "What are you talking about?"
He cringed at her tone. Kagi took a deep breath, closed the door, and, in as comforting a voice as she could manage, said, "Please explain."
The captain started rubbing his hands together nervously. "When the lookout reported the storm, you raced up to the crow's nest and cut his throat. We were all shocked. Then, when the crew was having trouble securing the sails, you threw something at one of them and knocked him out. He fell into the water, so you dove in after him and broke his neck. I assume you had him brought back aboard to remind us what you'll do to us if we don't take you where you've demanded we go."
She frowned, causing him to back away. "Captain, that's not how any of this happened. I didn't demand that you take me anywhere. You hired me. I don't even know where we're going. And I saved both of those men. The lookout was being attacked by a demon. I killed the demon, not him."
In his most timid voice yet, the captain replied, "But you said that demons can't cross water. How could one have attacked the lookout?"
Kagi frowned. "I don't know. But I do know what I saw. Show me his body."
"It's down below, in the hold."
The covert glances the crew gave her as she walked through their midst were even more afraid than before. To them, she was no longer just a demon. She was now a murderous demon. But both accounts were false! Kagi ignored the glances and went down into the hold. As the captain had said, there were two bodies there. Kagi carefully inspected the lookout's neck. The gash went from ear to ear, precisely the way she would have done it, and was made by an exceedingly sharp blade. Kagi's swords were that sharp, but most of the knives she'd seen on board were old and not well cared for. A twinge of doubt started to nag at her. He hadn't responded to her after she removed the demon. And she hadn't been able to retrieve the demon's corpse. Was it possible that she cut his neck, not the body of a demon?
When she inspected the other crewman, her doubts grew. His neck was broken in a particular way that shattered the bones and sent them up into the brain. The technique required for this was taught only to a tiny fraction of the warriors who trained on the mountain of the Alana Siphen. And the majority of those warriors stayed on the mountain. Kagi was one of the few who had ever come down.
"Have I gone insane?" she asked the bodies. "I didn't kill you. I don't kill people; I kill demons."
She went through the rest of the day in a daze. The crew avoided her, and she ignored them. She ate alone and hardly noticed what she was eating. She spent her time analyzing every moment of her time with the two crewmen. She remembered it all vividly. There were no blackouts, no lost memories. She'd saved, not killed, them. But all the current evidence said otherwise. She slept in the far corner of belowdecks so as to not be between any member of the crew and the stairs up. It made them a trifle less uneasy about sleeping in the same room as she did.
Her dreams were worse than normal. She relived, yet again, the episode in the basement. But, this time when her parents completed the ritual it was her ten-year-old self that jumped up. She transformed into a demon, and then transformed again into her present self. "No!" she screamed. "I am not a demon!"
She awoke with a start, completely disoriented. It was dark, and the world swayed back and forth rhythmically. There was something wrong with her right arm. She couldn't move it. Struggling, she discovered that it was bound behind her back by a number of coils of rope. How could someone have possibly done this? She was too light a sleeper. "Am I still dreaming?" she muttered.
"No, demon," came the rough voice. "But you won't be awake much longer."
Kagi kicked her feet out, arched her back, and came up in a crouch. Though it was dark, a small amount of light came down the stairs. She could just see shapes moving toward her. The voice had been human, not demon. It sounded like one of the crew.
"Stay back," she hissed, "I'd rather not kill anyone."
"Too late for that," another voice sneered. "Get her!"
The shapes rushed her. Kagi had spent as much time training blindfolded as she had with full vision. She listened to the clomping feet, placing the men's locations almost as well as she could in the light. A kick to a knee sent one down. A sweep dropped another. She rolled through two people's legs, toppling them as well. She stood and punched one man in the gut with her free left hand, then spun and kicked another in the face. In this manner, she fought her way to the stairs. None followed her up. It was a clear night with thousands of stars present to provide a fair amount of light on deck.
After glancing up to make sure there were no attackers in the sails, Kagi drew her left sword, moved it behind her back, and cut the ropes that bound her right arm. Something warm dripped down onto her hand. Startled, she pulled the sword around to stare at it. It was covered in blood. She hastily drew her right sword, only to find that it too was bloody.
Shaking her head, Kagi said, "I couldn't have done this. My arm was bound." But she couldn't find the severed ropes on the deck. Kagi's hands started to shake. She flicked the swords to remove the blood and sheathed them. The stairs down seemed like a maw ready to devour what was left of her sanity. She grabbed a lantern and lit it, but paused near the stairs. Did she dare go down? Could she not?
After taking a deep breath, she slowly descended and shined the light around. The entire crew lay in heaps on the floor, each in a pool of blood. The lantern in her hand started to shake. "I ... didn't ... do ... this." Even to her own ears, the voice felt weak and unsure of itself, as if she was trying to convince herself, not to state a fact.
"But you did."
Kagi almost jumped. She spun around to see the captain standing behind the stairs. He frowned sadly.
"I watched it all. They begged you not to kill them. That one," he pointed to a corpse at the foot of the stairs with one hand on the lowest step, "tried to get away. You leapt over two of my men to get to him." He shuddered.
Kagi sat down on the stairs, set the lantern down, and put her face in her hands.
The captain continued. "I suppose you'll kill me now that I can't take you to your demanded destination. I'd need a crew to pilot the ship."
Shaking her head sadly, Kagi said, "I don't even know where I told you to take me." The admission startled her. So she believed him? How could she not? These men didn't kill themselves.
Suddenly the ship smashed into something, throwing her backward into the stairs. Without thought, she arched her back to keep from banging her head. The captain followed her up the stairs. A full moon had risen just over the horizon and cast plenty of light, revealing an island just ahead of them. "Where are we?" she asked.
"I don't know. Either we've gone horrendously off course, or this island isn't on the charts. It seems we've run aground on a sand bar. Without a crew, we won't be able to get off it." He turned to her and frowned. "May I make a request?"
Kagi nodded.
"If you're going to kill me, please do it now so that I can rest with my crew."
Closing her eyes, Kagi sighed. "I don't intend to kill you. I didn't want to kill any of you." She opened her eyes to see him staring at her distrustfully. She frowned and nodded. "Truthfully."
Still distrustful, he replied, "Then let's see what we can find on the island." They went to the bow and looked down. The sand bar was just thin enough to catch the ship. Beyond that, the beach was only about a hundred yards away. The captain said, "I'll cut loose a dingy."
"Go ahead if you'd like, but I'll have no more of this ship." She walked up onto the forward plank, went to the edge, and leapt far forward into a swan dive. She arched her back as soon as she hit, making the dive shallow. The warm water felt good around her, but did little to wash away the blood on her soul. She flared her legs and arms, staying under water and propelling herself toward the beach. Punishing herself slightly, she held her breath until it started to hurt, and then held it a little longer before surfacing. Having covered about half the distance to the beach, she swam the rest of the way on the surface. As she waded ashore she noticed that the night was warm, but that a cool breeze blew along the beach. She'd be dry soon. The beach was only about fifty yards across, where it turned into a thick jungle. A short mountain rose up out of the jungle. If she could have ignored the events that brought her here, this place would have seemed quite pleasant.
A loud screech cut the night like her swords through flesh. Kagi immediately dropped into a crouch and searched for the source of the sound. A black mass poured out of the woods and raced toward her. Demons, lots of them. They were kainies, a small class of demon much like a dog, but with sharper claws and teeth. Kagi had killed countless kainies in the past. They tended to be more of a nuisance than anything else. The sheer number of them charging at her, though, would make for something of a challenge. She drew both of her swords, crouched low, and waited for them to reach her.
The demons didn't slow their approach. If anything, they sped up. Kainies weren't the smartest of all demons. They basically just did what their master told them to do, and continued at it until the task was completed. Kagi appreciated their persistence, even if it was annoying.
She slashed out at the first two that reached her, cleaving their heads, and kicked a third, breaking its nose. Two more attacked, but were instantly dispatched. The rest paused in a semicircle around her. An alarmed voice came from the water behind.
"Kagi, what are you doing? Those are villagers come to help us. Don't you see the bowls of fruit and jugs of water they're carrying? Why are you killing them?"
The captain rowed the dingy ashore, jumped out, and grabbed her left arm. "Please," he pleaded, "they didn't do anything to deserve this."
Kagi stared at the beings before her. She saw no villagers. She saw no bowls of fruit. All she could see were hoards of hairy little demons. She clenched her teeth and tried to look again. Still, she only saw demons. "What is happening to me?" she cried as she sheathed her swords.
The captain said, "Let me see if I can appease them." He held up his hands and strode toward the semicircle. "Please friends, she's confused. Bring us to your chief, and I'll try to explain."
The circle parted, leaving a thin path through the demons ... villagers. The captain beamed and said, "Thank you," as he walked down the path.
Kagi hesitated for a moment. They still looked like demons to her. But demons would never have let the captain through unscathed. He had to be correct. He reached the far edge of them and turned to face her. "If you ever want to get off this island, please don't kill any more of them. It'll be hard enough to explain the ones you've already killed. I hope none of them were parents."
The thought that Kagi had just taken parents away from children chilled her to the bone. As if killing her own parents weren't enough. Hanging her head low, she walked into the throng of demons. About halfway down the path, however, they closed in on her. One tried to bite her leg, but its teeth didn't work their way through her dragonskin suit. Still the force made her jump.
Were they demons or villagers? Were they retaliating for her having killed a few of them? If she defended herself, wouldn't that only make matters worse? Another slashed at her leg. She thought back to the battle belowdecks on the ship. She'd thought then that she was just defending herself, when, in fact, she was slaughtering everyone. If she defended herself now, would she end up killing more villagers?
Kagi clenched her fists and crossed her arms in front of her. The throng went into a frenzy and stormed her at once. As they pounded into her legs she needed to fight to keep standing. Then one leapt off of the back of another and slashed her cheek with its claws. Pain shot through her face, causing her to clench her teeth. She felt warm liquid dribbling down to her chin. Did villagers have sharp claws? Or was this still part of her imagination? Was her insanity making her think a demon had cut her so that she'd go into a rage and kill all the villagers?
Another pounded into her chest as ten gnawed on her legs, trying to get through her bodysuit. Kagi reached up and touched her cheek. It burned, just as all cuts from demon claws did. When she looked at her fingers, they were bloody. She touched her fingers to her tongue. It tasted like blood. She held them under her nose. It smelled like blood too. How many senses did her insanity control?
Three more demons smashed into her chest. Kagi had been so absorbed in the investigation of the blood that these ones actually knocked her over. She easily rolled over her shoulder, feeling the spiny backs of the demons as she went by, and ended in a crouch. Another leapt up and scratched her face, this time right below the left eye. Another inch up, and she'd have been blinded in that eye.
Kagi stood up. She couldn't just stand there and let them kill her. One smashed into the back of her knees, toppling her back again. She rolled again and ended up at the edge of the shore. There, she found her hands on her swords. It took all of her will to not draw them.
Clenching her teeth, she said, "They're villagers, not demons." But all of her instincts, all of her senses, and all of her emotions said that she was wrong. What were the villagers doing? Lying on the ground, gnawing at her legs? Was her insanity so complete that even her back reported demons as she rolled across the villagers? Another leapt up, scratching the side of her neck. Kagi clenched her teeth harder, clearing her mind and ignoring the intense pain, just as the Siphen had taught her to.
But, while she succeeded in ignoring the pain, she couldn't settle the battle waging inside her. If she continued to stand here, these villagers, or demons, whatever the Hell they were, would eventually kill her. But what could she do? The horrible image of the slain crew haunted her again.
"If I can't defend myself," she muttered, "and I can't stay here, then I must flee." The beach stretched for a long way in both directions. The black mass was spread in a semicircle around her on the beach. She could race into the water, get around them, and then run back onto the beach. How fast could villagers be?
Then Kagi shook her head. Why weren't they surrounding her? She looked over the mass again. None were in the water. Surely villagers could handle getting wet? She took two steps back so that the water covered her ankles. The demons screamed, but stayed on the shore. Kagi stared at them as they ran back and forth along the beach in front of her, staying out of the water. She held her arms out and said, "I'm right here. Come get me." They didn't. She waited. They continued to race around chaotically on the beach.
Reaching down, Kagi scooped up a handful of saltwater and threw it against her cheek. It stung like a poisoned snakebite, just as a real cut would. Taking a deep breath, Kagi said, "And just how could I have gone insane so quickly? This didn't start until after I talked to the captain." The captain. The very strange, white-eyed captain. Why had she believed his accounts of everything rather than her own memories? It was very unlike her to distrust her own senses. They had saved her life so many times before.
With a sneer, she drew her swords and said, "Listen, villagers. If someone doesn't step out here and splash me in the next ten seconds I'm going to kill every last one of you." They had understood the captain when he'd spoken to them. So they were capable of understanding her. But only a demon would be unable to cross the water to get to her. Very slowly and clearly, she counted out loud. On ten, she charged into the mass of demons, not villagers, demons, with swords slashing. A good ten minutes later, they were all dead.
Breathing heavily and aching all over, Kagi inspected the bodies carefully. They stayed kainy demons. They didn't turn into villagers. "So, 'Captain,' you killed your own damn crew. I'll bury them after I take care of you."
He was not hard to find. A sandy path ran through the trees. The path led directly to a cave with flickering green light dancing on the walls. The captain had crashed the ship into the spot on the island closest to his destination. That made him either overconfident or lazy. Neither spoke well for his chances at continued breathing. She drew her right hand sword and crept silently into the cave.
It went forward a short distance and then curved. Kagi got down on her knees and peered around the bend at foot level. The captain was bent over an enormous black cauldron that was belching green smoke and flickering green light over the ceiling. The captain had his arms out and was intoning deep sounds. He tossed something into the cauldron and stood up suddenly, sweeping his arms upward in a gesture that seemed to draw up the thick black smoke that came with him. So, he was a sorcerer. That explained a great deal. He'd been enchanting her, making her see untruths, toying with her fears and emotions, poisoning her mind. But how was he able to command demons? Demons didn't tend to trust unpossessed humans, even traitorous sorcerers like this one.
The smoke didn't spread through the room, but instead seemed to hang directly above the cauldron. Kagi glanced around the cave. It did not progress farther into the mountain and there were no other beings here. Should she sneak up behind the sorcerer and run him through, or wait to see what he was doing? Part of her wanted desperately to kill him. He'd made her think she was insane, that she'd turned into something twisted and evil. But another part of her wanted to know why. He had hired her to come here. Was he just trying to kill a demon hunter, or was he after her specifically? Her curiosity won out over her bloodlust, so she waited.
Despite the fact that the cauldron still bubbled and spit green smoke, the black smoke above it didn't move. The sorcerer, now standing straight up with a ramrod back and arms that shook slightly as they strained to stretch outward, continued to intone strange sounds. Finally he yelled, "Speak to me, my Lord!" and slammed his hands together in front of him. The black smoke instantly dissipated, revealing a shimmering portal. Kagi became worried. Was he summoning new demons? Perhaps she shouldn't have waited.
All set to leap up and charge at the sorcerer, Kagi relaxed when she saw the face appear in the portal. It was Mobo. Since she was still alive, he wouldn't be coming through any portals. Inspecting his face was very gratifying. The king of the demons looked sickly and uncomfortable in his banishment.
The sorcerer prostrated himself before the image and said, "My Lord, our plan is near completion."
In a voice considerably less powerful than Kagi remembered, Mobo said, "What of Kagi? I grow weary of this place."
The sorcerer grinned and rubbed his hands together. "I have her so confused that she will let the kainies kill her. If they don't, she'll be significantly damaged as to be no difficulty for me."
"Only kainies?" Mobo roared. "Why didn't you use more powerful demons?"
The sorcerer touched his forehead to the sandy floor. "None with intelligence would consent to stand up to her. But it is okay, my plan will succeed."
Mobo gnashed his teeth, "Demonkind has grown weak in my absence. If they fear her, wait until I return."
Kagi had heard enough. She did a forward roll over her shoulder and stood up gracefully in the center of the cave. With a grin she said, "Good to see you again, Mobo. You're looking healthy. I'm glad to see that they're treating you well down there. Though I'm afraid you've put a bit too much faith in this pathetic little sorcerer friend of yours."
Mobo's face turned even angrier for a moment, but it quickly cleared. He looked to the sorcerer and said, "Tsuyo, she doesn't know who you are, does she?"
Kagi suppressed a gasp as she too looked to the sorcerer. That name had to be a coincidence.
The sorcerer turned to her with a shocked and disappointed look on his face. "Ms. Kagi? Did you kill all the villagers? I'm with the chief here trying to explain the ones you've already killed, but their children's hurt expressions are draining my will to live."
Shaking her head, Kagi said, "Save your breath, sorcerer. I kill demons, not people."
"Tell that to mom and dad."
Though a tiny bit of doubt grabbed her heart, Kagi shook her head. "You'll not fool me again so easily. My brother is a demon. He could never have crossed the sea on that ship."
The sorcerer smiled. "You never did study the Ritual of Release carefully did you? I'll bet your Alana Siphen teachers tried to force you to, yet you refused. Too painful to relive, perhaps?"
He was trying to get to her, to make her lose herself in the horror of her parents' betrayal yet again. He was looking for an opportunity to strike. He wouldn't get it. She stood firm and drew her second sword.
The sorcerer continued. "I'm not a demon, Kagi. I'm a half demon. My soul has been liberated, just as yours would have been, and my body has been transformed into its splendorous self, but there is still man in me. And, because of that, if I wear the skin of a man, it shields me from the minor," he paused and grinned before saying, "annoyances we demons must endure."
He reached up, grabbed the side of his face and pulled. The skin peeled away, revealing a black lizard head with reptilian eyes. In a far deeper voice, he said, but that skin comes off as easily as it goes on. Hello, sister."
Kagi exhaled. Before Tsuyo could do anything else, she said, "Let me be sure I understand this."
Tsuyo nodded his hideous head.
"You're what used to be my young brother, before my parents were possessed and forced to turn you into a half-human, half-demon monstrosity--"
Tsuyo interrupted her, "Yes, right before you killed them."
Ignoring his attempt at a jab, she continued on. "And, for the last twenty years, you, like me, have been growing stronger and more skilled at killing, as well as improving your demonic powers."
Her half brother nodded again. "Though my training has been more intensive than yours." He was trying to scare her. Only one who had trained with the Alana Siphen could possibly understand how intensive it was.
Unfazed, she continued, "Until now, when your deception has drawn us together so that we can do battle." He probably hoped she'd feel some sort of internal turmoil over the thought of killing her own brother. In fact, that was not the case. She'd often felt that her continued nightmares were a result of her not being able to put closure to the whole affair. As long as the byproduct of her parents' ritual was still alive, she couldn't put it behind her.
With a sneer, he said, "I have been wanting to repay you for what you did to my parents." He reached up to tear off the rest of his human skin.
Kagi held up a hand and said, "Wait, I'm not done. Now you have the ability to mask your powers by slaughtering a human, skinning him, and donning his skin?"
Tsuyo nodded with a grin, but on seeing her own grin, his reptilian eyes became wide. He'd realized what she had just figured out. Nothing was free. If the human skin so masked his demon aspect as to allow him to travel over water, then it also masked his demonic fighting abilities. He frantically tore at the rest of his skin.
Kagi smiled ruefully, said, "Good-bye my brother," and raced across the room. He tried to slash at her with one hand as he tore at the skin on his chest with his other. Kagi easily ducked under the blow and ran two blades into him, one into the neck and the other into the abdomen. She slashed across with both blades, cutting off his head and almost cutting him in half at the waist. The body fell to the floor. Kagi bowed her head for a moment and sighed. Had this freed her dreams? Would she dream of something new tonight? She could only hope. She wiped off her swords, sheathed them, and turned to Mobo's image.
"I'm afraid you won't be escaping just yet."
Mobo sneered, "Your death will be long and painful."
With a smile she nodded and said, "But not today."
He laughed manically, "I hope you enjoy your solitude. No humans alive know about that island. It will be your home for a very long time indeed."
Kagi shrugged and knocked over the cauldron with her foot. As the liquid splashed against the rear wall, Mobo's image started to fade. Kagi said, "I need a vacation anyway."
She left the cave unworried. Her training was quite extensive. When she was ready to leave the island, she'd find a way to do it. Right now, however, she had a crew to bury. After that, some time on the beach would do her good.


The End


Copyright Michael P. Calligaro

All Rights Reserved


Back to Fantasy Stories