Rojer walked right up to him, tilting his head back to look into the eunuch’s dead eyes. ‘Wife, remove your gelding from my path.’
Rojer caught the flash of understanding, though it was gone in an instant. ‘Don’t speak our tongue, my red shorthairs. You big ball-less bastard. You’re getting every word. So either kill me or move aside.’
For the first time, the eunuch began to show emotion — a simmering anger that rivalled the look Kaval had shown when he came for Rojer. But Rojer was past caring, matching the stare with one of his own.
‘Enkido, step aside,’ Amanvah said. The eunuch looked surprised, but he did as commanded immediately. Rojer opened the door and stormed into the hall, making Gared jump.
Amanvah and Sikvah followed after as he strode towards the steps. ‘Just where do you think you are going?’ Amanvah demanded, but he did not bother to reply.
The taproom was mostly empty as they descended the steps, just a small cluster of townies left at the bar. They looked at Rojer in surprise, their eyes widening as they saw the Krasian women in their coloured silks.
‘Husband!’ Sikvah cried. ‘We are not dressed!’
Rojer ignored her, crossing the room and unbarring the front door.
‘Ay, what in the Core are you doing?’ Sim cried, but Rojer ignored him as well, stepping outside.
As in most Thesan towns, the inn was right at the edge of the cobbled town square. There were interconnected warded porchways between many of the buildings on the perimeter to allow folk to gather at the inn after dark, but the main square was too large to ward effectively. The cobbles prevented demons from rising there, but wind demons knew to watch the spot, and would swoop on anything they saw moving. Other demons would occasionally wander into the area from the road.
Outside on the inn porch stood Kaval and two other Sharum, all fully armed and armoured.
‘Out of my way.’ Rojer pushed past them as if their obedience was expected and his due, and the Sharum backed away as he stepped out into the square. Rojer spotted two small wood demons prowling the far end, testing the wards of the buildings, searching for an opening. They froze in place at the commotion, looking like nothing more than a pair of twisted trees.
Rojer heard the warriors gasp as his wives followed him onto the porch, and smiled as they all turned to avert their eyes. His wives were blood of the Deliverer and married. Looking lustfully upon them was asking to have one’s eyes put out.
Without his warded cloak, the woodies caught sight of him as he moved beyond the protection of the wards and began to stalk slowly his way. Rojer ignored them, not even bothering to raise his fiddle. Above, a wind demon’s cry split the night.
Amanvah and Sikvah stopped at the porch rail. ‘Enough of this foolishness!’ Amanvah snapped. ‘Come back inside!’
Rojer shook his head. ‘You don’t give me orders, jiwah. Come to me.’
‘The Evejah forbids women to enter the naked night,’ Amanvah said.
‘And to let other men see us unveiled and in colour! The Damajah has women stoned for this,’ Sikvah cried. He glanced back and saw her hunched over, trying to cover herself.
The demons were closer now, tamping their legs, muscles bunched as they prepared to spring. Unafraid, Rojer finally turned to them and lifted the bow in his crippled hand.
Demons were creatures of primal emotion. Manipulating those emotions was the key to controlling them. Right now, their entire attention was fixed on him. Rojer took hold of that feeling and enhanced it, projecting concentration in his music.
Here I am! he told them. Focus on this spot!
Then he stopped playing and took two quick steps to the side. The demons shook their heads, confused at the way he had vanished, and Rojer began to play once more, enhancing that feeling as well.
Where did he go? I don’t see him anywhere! he told the demons. They began to frantically scan the area, but even as their gaze swept over him, their frustration at being unable to find him remained. Rojer stepped carefully around them, keeping a casual air to his Jongleur’s mask.
‘I could say the Evejah also commands you to obey your husband,’ he told his wives, ‘but the Evejah hasn’t been where we’re going. Female Jongleurs wear bright colours, and you are in the green lands now. Inevera would have to stone every woman outside Everam’s Bounty.’
A crowd was forming at the porch rail. Gared was there, weapons in hand, as was Leesha and Wonda with her warded bow, a cluster of townies, and the three Sharum. The women hesitated, but then Amanvah huffed, drawing herself to her full height, and strode out to join him, Sikvah at her heels.
‘Dama’ting, no!’ Kaval cried.
‘Silence!’ Amanvah snapped. ‘It is your rash action that has brought us to this point!’
Gared and the warriors moved to follow them onto the square, including Enkido, who now held a spear and shield.
‘Stay behind the rails, Gar,’ Rojer called. ‘That goes for the rest of you, as well. We need no spears tonight.’ The Sharum ignored him until Amanvah whisked a hand at them. They retreated, but looked ready to ignore her command and leap into the night if the demons got too close.
The woodies did fix on the women, but they had tested the wards around the square and knew they were out of reach. Rojer took that feeling, and held it. He tilted his head, taking his chin off the wards in the demons’ direction to aim the music their way.
They are warded, he told the demons, even as his wives crossed into the open, unprotected area. You cannot touch them. There will be light and pain if you try. Seek other prey.
The demons did as instructed, and as Amanvah and Sikvah came to him, Rojer led his melody into the opening notes of the Song of Waning. Immediately they began to sing, accompanying Rojer’s lead in harmony, an echo and a highlight that increased the effect of his playing manifold. With that power, he wove a spell of music around the three of them that made them invisible to the corelings. The demons could smell them in the air, hear them, even catch fleeting glimpses, but the source of their senses was gone, their eyes slipping away from them again and again.
Safe from assault, Rojer added another layer to the tune, and Amanvah and Sikvah picked it up immediately, sending a call out into the night. Slowly, Rojer lifted his chin, revealing more of Amanvah’s wards. His wives put hands to their throats, manipulating their chokers in some way, and matched him as his volume increased.
The sound carried far, drawing first the locals around the square to their windows and porches. Lanterns appeared, shedding dim light over the cobbles. The folk looked on in stunned silence as the song did its work, drawing every demon in the area.
They came slowly at first, but soon there were more than a dozen corelings in the square. Five wood demons stalked, snuffling the air, seeking victims that could not be found. Two flame demons shrieked and cavorted, trailing orange fire as they raced from one end of the square to the other, unable to pinpoint the source of the music, but unable to resist its call. Above, three wind demons circled in the sky, their raptor calls echoing in the night. Two field demons prowled low to the ground, bellies scraping the cobbles as they tried to stay invisible for the hunt. There was even a stone demon — a smaller cousin of the rock, but still bigger than Gared, who was near to seven feet. It stood as still as its name, but Rojer knew it was extending every sense to seek them, and that it would explode into motion if he were to allow them to be seen.
Leesha had described the power of the mind demons, the vibrations in her mind forcing her to act at their bidding. Perhaps music had a similar effect, Rojer mused. Perhaps an attempt to mimic that power was why music was first created, why some melodies brought forth the same emotions in any who heard them.