Chapter 6: I killed an Eduki

"What are you doing, human?" His voice, deep and rough, made her insides quiver. If it wasn't attached to a hideous-looking demon, she'd have thought he had a voice that could cause an angel to weep.

"Nothing." She pressed the cross flat against his back and prayed with every ounce of faith she possessed. Maybe if it touched his skin, he'd burn and drop her.

The demon kept running, and she hit his back with her fist in frustration. Melisende froze, but instead of hitting her back, he moved faster. The sound of horses thundering over the earth reached her, and she could've cried. Maybe she'd be saved this day, after all. She turned her head, trying to see their pursuers.

Robert the Brave sat forward in the saddle, determination clear in the way he focused on Melisende. He may not want to marry her, but at last, he showed honor in the way he pursued them. Even after the demon had soundly trounced him. She'd seen his face when her intended husband first saw her. Sir Robert probably wanted to keep the alliance with her family more than he wanted her back.

The sound of the horses pursuing them faded. Melisende pressed her hands against the broad back of the creature and lifted her head up as far as she could stretch. As she feared, the demon was slowly leaving the horses behind. She turned the cross and scraped it over the strange silver material he wore. Nothing happened, but she kept at it. If she could get to his skin, maybe the cross could do some serious damage to him and give the knights the opportunity to catch up to them.

"Ride faster, you fools. He is on foot and getting away from you," she shouted as loud as she could manage.

"You do not speak to him," her captor said. The knave did not even sound out of breath from all this running.

"Do not tell me oof - " He'd jumped again. "You did that on purpose," she accused. This time, when she managed to lift her head off his back and look for Sir Robert, he was only a small dot in the distance. "No," she moaned. Despair flooded her. Could this day get any worse?

The demon ran up the mountain, and she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed. Foolish of her to ask that question, even in her head. Things could always get worse. No one heard her prayers, and she feared she was about to see hell and confront the devil. Would the devil be a creature of reason? Could pure evil be reasoned with?

By the time her captor set her down on her feet, every bone in her body ached. His large hands slid from her ankle over her legs, to grip her waist. She gasped when he briefly touched her behind before setting her down. She slapped at his hands. "Knave!"

He didn't seem to feel her slaps or hear her insults; he glanced briefly down the mountain, in the direction where they'd left the knights behind, and then focused on the mountain in front of them.

Melisende forced her trembling legs to hold her weight. They stood high up on the mountain, on a smooth ledge that she judged to be about fifty feet long. She lifted her chin and stepped back from him. At the castle, she hadn't had time to notice his appearance beyond the fact that he looked like a demon. Now she noticed his green-and-gold skin and his bald head with the strange protrusion from the top of his skull to his forehead. Was it a horn? Demons had horns, two of them, so what did it mean that he only had one? He towered over her and had muscles bigger than the bravest knight. In spite of his fearsome looks, he had a compelling beauty, probably so that he could seduce innocent folk.

He grated out something in demonish, and the mountain in front of them turned silver.

Melisende crossed herself. She was doomed. They'd reached the portal to hell. "Please let me go." She was ashamed of pleading, had promised herself never to do it again that day when her mother had told her she was to stay at the abbey. But she hadn't imagined being taken to the fires of hell before she died. Was she being punished for being a female of reason? For being more learned than most men she knew?

He turned to face her, and her throat closed as if he'd dug his claws into it. As she watched, horrified, slivers, like blood-red embroidery threads, slowly wound through the black of his irises, the way they'd done during the battle at the castle. Was he going to kill her now?

"I killed an Eduki for you." He grated the words at her.

"You keep saying that, but I don't know what it means." Never in her life had she wailed like a feeble female. But she dared anyone to be abducted by a demon and not wail and weep. At least, he didn't seem intent on killing her.

He switched to his evil language, and the silver mountain parted the way the Red Sea had parted for Moses. Apparently, demons preferred to part mountains.

Melisende's heart beat so fast, she couldn't breathe deep enough. Her fingers clutching the cross trembled so much, she feared she'd drop it.

He held out a large, green-and-gold hand. The tips of his fingers had sharp, vicious-looking claws. Her stomach threatened to empty itself. Seeing them extend and retract had been horrific. "Come."

Melisende wanted to hide her own hands behind her back, but she didn't have any choice but to place her trembling hand in his. Was this a trick? Did she just condemn her soul by accepting his touch? His claws engulfed her, rough and as warm as the fires in hell against her skin.

Corbleu, she was about to enter the portal to hell, holding the claw of either the devil himself, or one of his minions.