Novel 1. Mercenary Company Bright Heads. Story 3. Where all paths converge

— Will there be more of these?

— Where there's one, there's ten, — the mage said sullenly. — The weakest demons are unable to create ethereal bodies, so they take possession of humans or animals whenever possible. It's a rare occurrence, since they want the bodies intact, but... left by the soul. This is why the little ones usually ride the tails of the stronger ones. That's exactly what they produce.

A gray smoke began to rise over the headless body. Mater unwrapped the chain of his guardsman's amulet and dispersed the cloud like ordinary tobacco smoke. He stated:

— This one won't come back. But I can't vouch for how many more there are.

— Couldn't you have called it in ahead of time? — Kneeling down, Valria freed the blade of her sword from the possessed man's corpse. — If such a one were to show up at the duchess and the others while we're gone?

— Usually the weak demons only crawl out of natural gaps, and when they're summoned, the demonologists try to cut them off so they don't get in the way," Carlson explained. — I just wasn't thinking... you're right, we should get back and tell the others as fast as we can.

They did not encounter any new threats in the second floor gallery and risked walking faster.

— How survivable are these things? — The elf-woman asked.

— No more than humans. Demons simply resuscitate the body, as if to substitute the soul. But they don't care about pain or injury. As long as the body can function, they will use it. And if you don't nail a demon on its way out of a corpse, it will find another one.

— Here! — The girl stopped in front of an inconspicuous boardwalk door. — It smells like food. And... there's someone in there. Ringing something, walking around...

Without waiting for the Master's reaction, the captain kicked the flap open and dived in. All Carlon had to do was to follow her. Beyond the door was the castle kitchen — a long, rectangular room, lined with tables and cabinets, with three large fireplaces along the outer wall. Two women and a boy cook were lying dead in puddles of blood between the tables. And in the open kitchen cupboard a man was rummaging intently, the last person the master would have wished to see here and now. Peter, the assassin from the other world, turned around at the sound of the broken door and raised his eyebrows in surprise... But he had no time to do or say anything. Carlon threw back his axe, snatched from his pocket a thin silver disc, marked with magical signs, broke it, waved the resulting halves, shouting out a full voice activation formula. The cabinet the alien had been digging into snapped out of place and crashed into Peter himself, miraculously not knocking him to the ground. The killer managed to bounce back without letting himself be crushed by the falling cabinet — but two heavy tables flew into the air. One slammed into the alien's left shoulder, and the other would have taken his head off if Peter hadn't collapsed on the floor and rolled over. Unfortunately, that was the end of the amulet's charge, and Karlon shoved the now useless halves of the disk into his pocket — silver can always be melted down.

With an elbow thrust, the assassin rose to his feet, drew a long straight dagger from its sheath on his belt — not his miracle knife with a firing hilt, but an ordinary imperially forged blade. He threw the weapon from hand to hand and grinned viciously. But Valria stepped toward him. The elfess immediately went on the attack, unleashing a hail of swift lunges on her opponent. The long, heavy sword in the girl's hands flashed with incredible speed. Peter, who had seemed invincible in close combat, staggered backward, barely managing to parry the blows with his dagger. The alien's attempts to counterattack were pathetic — he too was agile and quick, but the Captain skillfully exploited her advantage in blade length. She neither allowed her opponent to approach her, nor rushed to the side to attack her. Twice the tip of the sword touched the assassin's chest, leaving slashes in his gray shirt, the fabric around which immediately darkened. Clearly sensing that he was about to be cornered, Peter leaped to break the distance, intercepted the dagger by the blade, and swung for the throw. Valria instantly switched to a defensive stance, but her opponent threw his weapon not at her, but over the girl's shoulder at Carlon. The elfess still intercepted the dagger in the air with the blade of her sword, knocking it back into the wall. Taking advantage of a second's respite, the alien slipped his hand into his pants pocket. It was Carlon's turn to leap forward and shield Valria. The wizard struck his hands, letting the silver rings on his fingers touch, and then spread his arms apart, stretching the translucent membrane of the magical shield before him. The black object that appeared in Peter's hand spit fire, a shot rang out... and the bullet rang through the saucepan on the floor. Not because it ricocheted off the master's shield — the assassin had shot himself sideways. He smirked again, and said, stifling his breath:

— This thing... is called a "pistol." It's called a "Glock 18," actually. It can fire many, many times before it needs to be reloaded.

— Wonderful thing, — Valria agreed. The girl now stood behind the wizard, with her free hand on his back. She tapped her middle finger lightly, letting him know that she was ready to switch places with the Master at any moment.

— Anyway, don't move, okay? — The killer clicked something on his gun. — When I said I'd see you again, little elf, I didn't think you'd find me. But still, it's good to see you. Got your name, by the way. My employers helped me out.

— I'm flattered, — the girl replied. Carlon stood there, thinking intensely. The situation was stalemated. Peter could not open fire on them, but the master did not want to get close to the alien. Especially when he had both hands full, and his partner couldn't look out from behind the mage without risk. — Have you ever seen one of these things, with lots of arms and tentacles?

— I have, — the assassin hummed. Master had no doubt that he, too, was trying to find a way out at the moment. — They don't touch me for some reason. Probably because I'm not from around here. By the way, they're the reason I came here — somebody asked me to go get salt.

They were silent for half a minute. Then the alien grinned more widely than before:

— Elfie, do you want an idea? Come with me. I have a job to do — cover a man, and if he fails, I'll finish the job with your Duchess myself. Not a word about you. Back home, they think if you go to a parallel world, you get superpowers and a pretty girl to go with you. But I got some half-wit old man. Come with me and I'll help you get your friends out of here. I'd take those armored beauties out too, but they won't leave without their mistress, as I understand it. Pity, of course.

— I will consider your suggestion, thank you. — Valria stopped tapping her finger against the mage's back, and the man grew tense. It looked as if the elfess was ready to rush into attack without warning her partner.

— Think. — The alien stepped back without taking his eyes off the mage or the elf-woman. — We'll decide when we meet again. If you do not agree, I'll kill you. I do not want to do this, but — it's work. The reward is too good.

With his shoulder blades against the second door, the one reserved for the servants, which led into the back of the building, Peter fumbled for the handle, opened the flap, and disappeared behind it. Carlon mentally counted to ten, then nodded:

— Let's go.

The mercenaries ran to the door. The girl swung it open, stepped aside, letting the first mage through, who still held the flickering rectangle of protective field in front of him. The doorway beyond the threshold was empty. The intruder was gone.

— The bastard's skill at escaping is astounding. — Valria commented grimly as the master curled the field with a sigh of relief and shook his withered fingers. — He must have special schools of combat escape at home.

— I hope he's wandering through some secret passageway in the walls and doesn't run into our friends, — Carlon said. — They'd have to wait by the doorway to the keep, and that would be where he'd come from. I'd wager his fellows are in the Earl's chambers.

He and Velria hastily searched the ruined kitchen and soon had five small sacks of salt. They made their way back the same way they'd come. They could not avoid trouble, however. Halfway up the stairs, an odd-looking creature, a square pebble with a dozen arms, some of which served as legs, crawled with some difficulty out of the gallery wall in front of Carlon. After that, another creature crawled out of the gray stones, looking more like a human — at least in number of limbs. The demons crackled, rustled, and whirred as they spotted the man and the elf, and launched themselves at them. The mage dropped his axe, drew a leather pouch from his belt, shook a handful of paper wrappers out of the pouch, blew on them, and threw them at the fiercest creature, the one that looked like a stone with arms. The wrappers flashed with blue fire as they touched the beast's skin. In a second the flames engulfed the entire demon and consumed it almost instantly, to the accompaniment of the dying creature's choking howl. The second monster froze, as if stunned by its comrade's death, and Carlon went for it, unwrapping the amulet chain. It was pure bluff, an attempt to scare him. And it, alas, did not work. With an angry snap, the demon moved toward the wizard.

A silver-burning, translucent blade struck the creature in the chest, leaving a glowing white wound that caused it to stagger backward. Lady Jana emerged between the master and the monster without any glaring effects, flashes, or sounds. She was nowhere to be seen, and there she was, blocking the demon's path. The girl, who had been created out of thin air, sprang forward with her whole body, ducked under the monster's outstretched paws, stabbed it in the chest again, this time driving the blade to the hilt, yanking the sword up. The demon lowered its long paws, sinking its huge, curved claws into Yana's back. Where the claws pierced the ghost's blue cloak and silver cuirass, the white flames flickered, but Jana reacted in no way. She lashed the sword upward once more and simply hacked the demon's torso apart. Then she lashed out from left to right, blowing its head off. The otherworldly predator crumbled into ashes. The black flakes also vanished before they touched the gallery floor-but the scratched slabs left a charcoal-colored stain, like soot. Lady Jana walked past the stain, sheathing her sword, glancing over her shoulder at the stunned mercenaries. And disappeared as she had appeared — just melted into thin air. There wasn't even a cloud of silver dust this time.

— Um... Thank you, lady, — Valria exhaled belatedly. Carlon had no doubt that Jana had heard her, though.

* * *

The screams died down. Apparently, all the inhabitants of the castle, who hadn't gone to feed on demons at once, had hidden themselves away and were as quiet as a mouse. But in the distance horns were faintly blaring and drums were beating. Christina's escort was laying siege to the castle, and the cavalrymen had no way to storm the high, black walls.

The first thing that caught Carlon's eye when he returned to the third floor was that the corpses of the servants, devoured on the doorstep of the refectory, were gone. So were half their crossbows. What was missing, however, was quickly discovered at the far end of the gallery. A makeshift barricade of chairs and an overturned table blocked the passage. On one side of the flimsy "fortification" lay a pile of cut-up corpses, and on the other was a pair of guardsmen standing guard. Lady Kaya was clutching a loaded crossbow, and two other trophies were leaning against the table, ready to be fired. Lady Maria was armed with a single sword, and it had been shortened by half a finger — the tip had disappeared. Seeing the girl unharmed, the mage perked up, waving to the guards with a silly smile from afar. Valria shooed him away and asked seriously as she approached the barricade:

— Was there any trouble?

— Yes, — Maria nodded to the elfess. She turned her gaze to the Master, and he thought he saw a flicker of relief in her bright blue eyes. Maybe he just saw what he wanted to see, though. — The dead rose up and attacked us from behind. No one died, only I broke my blade against the wall. The sisters thought there was a necromancer, but they were wrong. I've read in books about demonic possession, more like it.

— That's right, lady. — Carlon stepped over the legs of one of the dead men, pushed back a chair that was in the way of getting behind the barricade. Valria simply skipped across the table, barely touching it with the palm of her hand. — I should have warned you ahead of time... Now if you come across an undamaged corpse, stab it through the heart or slit its throat.

— I'll remember that. Did you make it?

— We got the salt. — The magician patted one of the pouches in his bulging pocket. — But the bad news is... Where is Her Highness?

— Around the corner, — Lady Kaya, who had been silent until now, answered in place of Maria. Mater heard her voice for the first time, low and velvety.

— Then we go to her. And here, I return. — Carlon held out her amulet to Maria. She accepted the silver chain with a slight smile. Girl asked:

— Was it useful?

— Yes, lady. Very useful.

The rest of the group waited for them at a dead end, in front of a closed door leading into the donjon. Dallan stood as a column of silver and blue in front of the door, glaring frowning at the padded ironwork of the dark boards. Pale as a sheet, Lady Adela leaned against the wall beside the torch, eyes closed. The band on her shoulder had turned from white to black and red, and her face was streaming with sweat. Little Lady Emilia was talking to her mistress in a half-whisper about something. She greeted the returning mercenaries with the guardsman's signature nod.

— We have problems. — Immediately told the duchess Valria. — That is, more problems, new ones. In addition to those that have already been.

She recounted her encounter with Peter in the castle kitchen, and the demons that hunted only one floor below. Then she added:

— Lady Jana helped us out there, but she left at once. I don't know where.

— I think she's distracting the demons from the upper floors. — Kristina shifted her eyebrows. — Too bad ghosts don't talk.

— Well, she understands us, and that's what counts. — Carlon scratched his beard. He chuckled when he found a fingernail sized piece of pie between his fingers. — Things got even more complicated. This Peter saw that we came for the salt, and now he knows that we do not plan to escape the castle, but to defend ourselves somewhere. He might come up with something nasty. And if he's paired with a mage, together their possibilities for sordidness are almost limitless.