Page 6 of The Demon God's Desire
I’m already ready to get out of here and it’s only been a few hours. I need to throw myself into battle, to fight one on one with some enemy orcs. I’m itching for it. It’s been way too long since I’ve seen a real battle. As a high ranking general, I spend most of my time strategically planning battles that other men will fight.
I need to get out there and rip a few heads off. Chop off some limbs. My purpose in life has always been to bring glory to our patron goddess, the Hearthkeeper. And besides, these men could use a good fight. If they’re resorting to such foul behavior as that one soldier did, they obviously need to work some aggression out.
Finally, the dinner ends and Lord Nokliso escorts us around, showing off his manor. The other high ranking men are given a few guest rooms to share but I’m given my own private suite. Being in charge comes with its benefits here, apparently.
“And here you are,” Nokliso says, opening the gilded door with a flourish. Inside is a colorful array of silk sheets hanging from the ceiling, draped around a low-lying bed on a wooden frame. Baskets are placed strategically around, containing pillows and blankets of every color. A gilded chandelier hangs from the ceiling, candlelight shining a soft glow over everything.
“Enjoy your room,” Lord Nokliso says with a bow. “Now, if you have the time...”
“Don’t. Sorry. Goodnight,” I tell him, shutting the door on his face. He gets the hint and leaves me alone and I walk over to the pile of pillows on the bed and collapse into it.
It’s been a long day and I’m all but ready to fall asleep but something is nagging at me. Something inside of me is urging me to pray to the Hearthkeeper.
I drag my tired body out of the bed and kneel, closing my eyes and bending until my head is touching the ground.
Oh goddess, I pray.Give me your strength, your wisdom. I seek your blessing on this mission. I ask that you bless me with protection in these coming months of battle.
Warmth trickles over my skin. The goddess and I have had a special connection ever since I was a child. She’s come to me in dreams and given me guidance and wisdom all my life. I pray that she continues to do so even now.
Something about this mission feels different than any other mission. Something itches under my skin in a place I can’t reach. It could be because I’ve been away from real war for far too long but something tells me that isn’t the only reason I’m on edge.
Once I’ve finished my prayers, I prepare myself for bed, giving myself a quick washing up at the gilded basin. I look around and wonder if everything here is gilded. Lord Nokliso must have quite a bit of wealth to have such fine trappings here.
I settle into the bed and let the stress of the day melt away. Whatever happens, I know I have the goddess on my side, here to protect me and to lead me when I don’t know the way.
Whatever the Hearthkeeper asks of me, I am her instrument, and I will do as she wills.
No matter how horrific her desires.
BRIDGET
SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO BLOW.
The feeling starts in my dreams.
I dream that I am in the desert. In the desert is where all my dreams start.
Usually, in these dreams, I am watching my mother dying. Sometimes the ghost of my father joins me too.
I am always lost in these dreams, with Camp Mythos only several miles away.
But with the help of my dying mother and the ghost of my father, I make it safely to the camp.
For the past few nights, my dreams have been different.
I am still in the desert. I do not dream of anything else, because the desert is all I know.
And for the first time, I am alone.
My parents have deserted me. And I do not know where Camp Mythos is. In my dreams, I walk, and I walk.
But the desert is endless and unforgiving and soon sand dunes rise up on either side of me.
The sand dunes come crashing down on me, threatening to swallow me whole, or drown me, or turn me into some kind of sand spirit.
There are old stories that people who wander out too far into the desert become spirits of themselves.
I never believed them.