“I know we look scary,” Kari said soothingly. “And I suppose we are Demons, if you want to get technical. But you know what, not all Demons are bad. Come on out.
There’s nothing to be afraid of. We’re not going to hurt you.”
“I’ve heard stories,” the boy cried. “All the monsters say that!”
Sighing again, Kari resisted the urge to climb in and drag the kid out by the scruff of his neck. It probably wouldn’t do much for his opinion of her status as a monster.
“Please come out,” Kari smiled harder. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. You’ll be safe with us.”
Hesitating for a second, the boy cautiously moved toward her. When he reached the light Kari saw that he was filthy as a child could be, wearing little more than rags.
His face was gaunt and hollow and his jade eyes had a vacant quality to them that nearly broke her heart. His hair was so matted, tangled, and dirty that she couldn’t tell what color it was.
“That’s it,” Kari soothed. “Nothing to be afraid of.”
Face twisting in anguish, the boy threw himself into her arms, sobbing loudly.
Hugging him tightly as she murmured comforts to him, Kari was horrified at how thin he was under his rags.
“That’s it. You’re safe now. Nothing to be afraid of.”
“Great, now we’ve got something to eat for dinner,” Jonathan said jokingly.
The boy went rigid in her arms and began shaking violently in fear.
“Jonathan,” Kari snapped. “That was not funny! Can’t you see that the poor thing’s terrified! Now is not the time!”
Shrugging under the force of her withering glare, Jonathan looked uncomfortably abashed and muttered an apology.
“It’s all right,” Kari soothed the boy. “The colossal idiot was only joking. We’re not going to hurt you.”
“Please,” the boy said weakly, his voice muffled somewhat with his face buried in her bosom. “Do you have any food.”
Rummaging through his rags, he removed a battered golden crown. “I have gold.
I can pay for it. Please. I can’t remember the last time I ate. I’ll do anything.”
Holding the crown out in a trembling, skeletal hand, he seemed on the verge of bursting into tears again. “Please. I don’t think I can go on much longer.”
Placing a hand over his, Kari gently pushed the crown back to him. “That looks very precious to you. We have food, and we’ll share it with you, as much as you can eat.
You keep that. Instead, you can tell us what happened to all the people, and why everything is in ruins.”
Clutching the crown to his chest tightly, the boy gave Kari a look of supreme
gratitude. “Oh thank you. Thank you!”
Throwing his arms around her, the boy burst into tears again.
Patting his back comfortingly, Kari held him tightly. “Everything is going to be just fine.”
“Aw, look at that motherly instinct,” Jonathan said with a chuckle.
“Her motherly instinct frightens me,” Michael said with a mock tremble in his voice.
“I’m Kari, and that’s Jonathan and Michael. They say lots of stupid and silly things because their heads are completely full of sawdust. What’s your name, little one?”
“I’ll have you know that it’s wood chips, not sawdust,” Michael protested.
“I think mine’s full of goose feathers actually,” Jonathan added.
Despite the sobs still wracking his desiccated body the boy laughed and gave a visible effort to stop his tears.
“My name is Keir, and I’m the last king of Alkazier.”
Chapter 12: The Fall of Alkazier
Bending over a pot hanging on a fire, Kari seasoned and stirred her stew. Her secret to making a good stew was to dump in everything you could get your hands on and hope for the best. It was usually excellent, but occasionally it became an abomination best destroyed before it became self-aware and tried to rule the universe. She was a natural at cooking with quite the knack for it, without having had much in the way of teaching. Making up new and interesting recipes of her own device was one of her favorite hobbies.
With a taste, she determined this batch was on the tasty side of edibility. Good thing, because poor little Keir didn’t look like he’d last much longer. He was horrifyingly thin, little more than a skin-covered skeleton. It was a miracle he was still alive at all.
“Hey,” Michael snapped his fingers several times.
Glancing over her shoulder, Kari was amused to find her brother trying to distract Keir from staring at her behind as she bent over the pot. Trying not to laugh, she wondered how old he was. Not a day older than seven, she decided, and already staring at women like that? He was making an early start to things.
“Hey,” Michael repeated. “Despite the fact they’re all completely crazy, women are people too. Don’t stare like that.”
“I wasn’t,” Keir protested.
“Sure,” Jonathan drew the word out to an annoying length.
“No, really,” Keir protested as Kari sat down cross-legged with her back to them.
Making a mental note to kick Michael for that comment later, she continued stirring.
“It’s just, why does she have two? Tails I mean.”
“Oh,” Michael said, disbelief heavy in his tone. “Is that what you were doing.”
“You know about foxes, right,” Jonathan asked.
“I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never left the city before, so I’ve never seen one.”
“Well,” Michael said. “Legends say foxes are the slyest of beasts, and have the power to create illusions. They delight in making as much mischief as possible with this power. You can always tell how old, and how powerful a fox is by how many tails she has.”
“How can she be a fox,” Keir asked. “They’re supposed to be like little wild
dogs! She doesn’t look very old at all. Must not take much for one to get a second tail.”
“First of all,” Jonathan said, “we’re Heretics. That’s what people call the
offspring of humans and Demons. Some people call inhabitants of the Netherworld Demons because of a war long ago, and it’s easier to say that extra-dimensional entities, but they’re just like humans. Some are good. Some are evil. The majority of them are somewhere in the middle. When they interbreed with your sort, our sort are born, half of each but not really either. No one knows why we’ve got tails, and fangs, and funny-looking ears. It just happens from mixing two things that were never meant to mix.
Amongst Heretics foxes, cats and wolves are the most common, but there can be others too. The same parents can have children with traits of a dozen different animals, and the child of a Heretic is always a Heretic. There’s no reason to be afraid of Heretics. Most of us are just normal people like you. We just look a little weird.”
Nodding at Jonathan’s explanation, Kari tasted the stew and decided it was done.
Filling a bowl, she handed it to Keir.
“Thank you,” he said, eyes welling with tears again. He was finished with the first bowl before Kari could even blink, and the second almost as fast. Pausing briefly halfway through the third, he looked slightly guilty.
“I’m sorry,” he blushed through the grime on his face. “What about you?”
“Oh, don’t worry about us,” Kari said with a warm smile. “This is all for you.”
Keir didn’t need to be told twice. Finishing the third bowl, he downed two more before he’d finally had his fill.