Quest of the Demon Read online



  All characters and situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental, unless stated otherwise. The author assumes all responsibility for the content herein.

  Quest of the Demon by M L Sawyer.

  All original content copyright © 2010 M L Sawyer. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author, the copyright owners.

  Original cover image and map provided by M L Sawyer

  To Mrs Hall, my high school librarian, who introduced me to my first fantasy novel at the age of 13.

  To my parents for their unconditional support, my brother for his honesty, and my fiancé Rob, for putting up with my late nights in front of the computer, and my incessant ramblings.

  Prologue

  The mighty dragon heaved a great sigh as he used his mind’s eye to observe the world. Not the world as mortals see, but the world as a balance. Often, this is generalised and simplified for the less worldly as the balance between chaos and order, or good versus evil.

  Darkness was coming. He could sense it in his weary, aching bones, as he had many times before. It was a burden that dragonkind had born since the dawn of awareness. He knew that other worlds existed, some void of life, while others were overrun with a myriad of strange and unusual species. Many beings on various stars considered themselves alone and all-knowing in the universe. The dragon’s teeth flashed in a grin. It was a vain assumption at best. No one truly knows what exists inside their own world let alone what possibilities exist outside of it, including him. The universe is infinite, and despite his considerable powers, even he could not see it all.

  The classic, good versus evil is often simply a point of view from the victorious. Fortunately for him, he had always considered himself to be good. What he felt coming though was most certainly evil. When two worlds collide the beliefs and understandings of both can be hard to reconcile. To progress two different ways of life, cultures must change, live in harmony or be forgotten. The events to come, however, would not simply be an exchange in culture.

  Evil was coming, and it threatened not only his way of life, but the life of all who inhabited his world. The wheels had been set in motion and the quest of the demon had begun.

  Part One

  Chapter 1

  In a two-court basketball stadium in a small country town called Seymour, a pair of young, avid basketball players intently watched each other, trying to figure out who would do what next. The taller girl was trying to defend the other, constantly flicking her hand towards the ball, attempting to dislodge it. This did not phase the ball carrier, for she knew her opponent well; she was not as able to defend on the left hand. With speed that came of skill, she faked right with a twitch before driving the designated lane. Her face held a grin of satisfaction as she took the final step towards the goal. Just as the ball was about to leave the tips of her fingers, a powerful force hit it from behind to knock it soundly from its course towards the basket. The young girl’s overconfidence proved to be her undoing as she was rejected from behind.

  “Got you!” yelled Kellie triumphantly. She hardly ever got the chance to reject her friend and she was planning to savour this moment.

  “Ah, cow!” puffed Darci. Despite her slight humiliation, she gave her friend a sly smile.

  Darci and Kellie were in the same basketball team, and they were both enjoying a friendly game after training ahead of the weekend basketball tournament in Bendigo. Normal training had already finished for that night; nevertheless, they had still managed to find the extra energy to continue their eternal game of one-on-one.

  Both girls were sixteen, although that was where their similarities ended. Darci’s blue eyes were distinctive, as was her thick, light-brown hair, giving contrast to her friend’s deep, brown eyes and thin black hair. Darci was average height with an athletic build that attested to the fact that she took her sport somewhat seriously. Kellie on the other hand, was half a head taller than Darci with a slighter build, which often allowed the physically stronger Darci to push her out of the way.

  “Only two more points to go,” Darci told her companion. It was almost time for them to head on home, not to mention the fact her stomach was grumbling, distracting her from the game.

  “You’re not going to win because it’s about time I kicked your butt,” Kellie grinned, brushing a strand of wayward black hair out of her eyes so she would not miss any tricks from her sometimes devious friend.

  Sweat formed on their brows as Darci and Kellie played hard for a couple more minutes, shoes squeaking on the floor as they dodged left and right in an attempt to get to the basket; no quarter asked or given. At last Darci hooked the ball in her hand, spinning swiftly around to float the ball up towards the basket. Kellie was defeated.

  After placing the ball that they had borrowed back on the rack, they both grabbed their drink bottles before walking out the stadium back door towards Darci’s house. She lived only a block from the Seymour stadium so, because it was easier, Kellie’s parents always picked her up from there. A brisk five-minute walk to warm down after their exertion took them through a small town alley, into the street where Darci lived and down the concrete driveway.

  Before they even reached the fence, it shuddered with force from behind. “What’s up puppy dog?” Darci asked as she opened the gate. The family Labrador’s tail wagged enthusiastically, as if it had a mind of its own yet felt no pain as it hit Kellie in the legs while sniffing Darci’s shoes.

  Darci, though happy to see her dog, frowned at his spirited reception because this meant that her parents were either not yet home, or that they were out for the night. Like most Labradors, if Indiana was left unplayed with for more than a few hours, his enthusiasm knew no bounds.

  Once inside, with Kellie close on her heels, the young girl checked the answering machine to find that her parents were doing the later of her thoughts, not to be back until sometime past midnight.

  A knock at the door that was followed by a belated woof and Kellie left with her parents, leaving Darci alone in the house. Quietly she went about doing her various chores before sitting down to eat her favourite easy meal: toasted spaghetti and cheese sandwiches. Time passed swiftly and she soon found herself in bed, drifting off to sleep.

  * * *

  A noise… something on the edge of her hearing. It seemed like only moments after she had fallen asleep when Darci’s slumber was disturbed. Was it her parents’ arrival home that caused her to wake? She rolled sleepily out of her bed to go see how their business function had gone. It was not until she had pulled on her slippers and had her hand on her door handle that she realised that something was wrong. She could not hear her mother’s voice saying something to her father, the dog or to herself. Also, none of the lights had been turned on, which meant that her parents had not yet returned home, but something had woken her.

  With a small trickle of fear down her spine accompanied by a rush of adrenaline in her chest, Darci became wide-awake. Her eyes peered into the darkness to find that her once familiar room had turned dark, with the shadows seemingly stretching off the walls to reach their sinister fingers towards her.

  Gathering up her courage she quietly snuck around her room to arm herself with an old hockey stick that was collecting dust in her cupboard. I’ll be buggered if I’m going to let someone sneak into my house at night, she thought.

  A cold silence, interrupted only by her breathing, surrounded her as she crept around the house, cautiously looking at any dark corner that could conceal anything. Anxiety had crept into her heart but
she forced herself not to think about what could lie in wait for her in the large house that, hopefully, only she occupied. Darci had to quickly squash her imagination as it began to flick through all the horror movies she had seen. An axe murderer, hiding behind the next door; Freddy Kruger creeping up behind her; an alien hiding in the roof, all of them ready to get her… She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing.

  From room to room she nervously opened cupboards and poked curtains. Suddenly she saw something in the corner of her eye. She jumped around, hockey stick knocking down her assailant!

  The tense teenager gave a nervous laugh as she realised she had assaulted her mother’s hat stand. Gently placing it back where it belonged, she gave the hat stand a quick look-over, relieved to find that she had done no damage, yet something was still not right.

  Like a frozen hand gently brushing down the back of her neck, Darci again felt fear as she turned around to face the rest of the house. She switched on the light for each room to look for the expected monster lying in wait, feeling a mixture of relief and anti-climax, and yet finding nothing to justify her apprehension.

  In the last room, her parents’ bedroom, she again found nothing. Indiana had not barked a warning, and she was confused that she did not find anything to explain her awakening. She switched off the lights; the light peach curtains covering the window in the room were still illuminated with a soft glowing light. A barely audible swishing sound tickled her ears, a result of the curtains moving, as if there were a light breeze.

  Darci audibly swallowed the new fear that began to rise up within her. She knew that all the windows were shut. Who, or what, could have moved the curtains? Quickly trying to rationalise what she saw, she knew that the light was not coming from outside. The streetlights in Seymour were not green.

  “Come out from behind the curtains or I’ll call the cops!” she said in a quietly threatening voice, even managing a humourless smile. She sounded a lot braver than she felt.

  When there was no answer, she squared her shoulders and then, with a karate like “Ha!” she lunged forward, swinging the hockey stick through the curtains, making sure of her length so that she did not accidentally break the window. She jumped back out of the way, in case of any counterattack, but she had hit nothing.

  Confused, yet satisfied that there was no one there, she cautiously opened the curtains with the tip of the stick. Her mouth fell open. There was nothing… not even the window remained. Her eyes widened. She could not believe what she thought she saw. Where the window was supposed to be there was an eerie, green tinted light radiating from a centralised green sphere. Then, the small circle of soft glow that had caught her attention seemed to grow.

  A small hole began to appear in the middle of the sphere of light causing the illusion of a tunnel. As she looked closer, the hole appeared to get bigger. Darci gazed around, falling over without actually landing on anything. Her parents’ bedroom was no longer behind her, in fact, the bedroom had disappeared altogether. Her feet touched nothing as she floated in limbo. Looking forward again as best she could, the light that surrounded her began to dissipate while the hole ahead was slowly becoming the same size as her.

  In one bright flash, the light disappeared and Darci found herself standing on soft grass in her pyjamas with the hockey stick hanging lifelessly at her side. Abnormally large trees hid most of the bright blue sky from view, leaving only a circle of light shining on the small hill of a clearing that she was now standing in. One thing was for sure; she was no longer in her parents’ bedroom. In fact, Darci was no longer in Seymour.

  Chapter 2

  Darci was dumbfounded. Multiple questions kept flying around her head, slowing down enough for her to catch a glimpse; what had happened? Where was she? Was this just a dream? That was it; she had to be in a dream.

  Suddenly, a twig snapped behind her. Quick as a flash she turned around, hockey stick held at the ready so that she could face whatever threat lay behind her.

  “Calm down, I do not wish to hurt you,” said a tall, young man.

  At the sight of the peculiar yet threatening stick he raised his hands to show the strange girl that he meant no harm. Combined with his smooth, sensitive-looking face and his gentle brown eyes, the frightened girl began to relax, if only slightly, as he allowed himself to be scrutinised.

  Darci’s eyes began at the youth’s simple boots as she looked him over. A crude and cracked leather belt was holding up simple brown britches that barely covered his ankles. His dark green shirt not only revealed a lanky physique but also tell-tale patches of sweat that showed he had been working hard. He may have looked relatively truthful and harmless, but Darci was not convinced.

  “Where am I? Who are you? And how did I get here?” she fired at him in quick succession, scanning her surroundings while keeping the youth in her peripheral vision, but nothing looked familiar.

  “You speak Nahaba.” His hands fell to his sides as he breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I speak Na-what-ba?” Darci had no idea what he was talking about. Also, why was he talking? It was impossible to really hear sound in your dreams unless there was noise actually being made… wasn’t it?

  “You speak Nahaba,” he said again. “It is the native tongue in this land.” The youth waved one of his arms, encompassing the area, just in case his words were not understood. His brow creased and his expression became perplexed.

  “So I am in… Nahaba? Who are you? And how did I get here?” Darci asked again, exasperated. The strangely dressed guy was talking to her as if she were a few kangaroos short in the top paddock.

  “I am Taslessian, and I am the wizard Belderon’s apprentice.” Taslessian’s shoulders moved slightly back as his chest puffed up. However, the name and the position were lost on Darci. Perhaps, he thought to himself, she is a few branches short of a tree.

  “My name is Darci and I’m confused.” Darci noticed Taslessian’s shoulders move as he silently snickered. “Just five minutes ago, I was asleep in my bed and now…”

  “Yes, well…” Taslessian’s gaze lowered to the ground. “You are in the Jungle Dragon, which is part of the land Nahaba and, unfortunately, your current situation has been brought about by my bunglings in magic.”

  Either not understanding, or still too shocked to answer, Darci made no response aside from a muffled “Huh?” She continued to stare at the wizard’s apprentice.

  “Er,” he continued, “for lack of better terminology, I accidentally zapped you here from whatever land you came from. Sorry.” He placed both his hands together as if in prayer and inclined his head in apology.

  “Accidentally zapped me?” The explanations offered to her were beginning to pierce the fog of confusion that clouded her mind. She was having one strange dream but she was willing to play along. “Well, I think you’d better zap me back before my parents get home, otherwise there’s going to be hell to pay.”

  Darci stood squarely facing the apprentice wizard, placing one hand on her hip and digging the butt of her hockey stick into the ground to lean on while she waited.

  “Ahhh...” Taslessian’s eyes continued to look at the ground as he found a stone with which to occupy his foot. “I’m not exactly sure if I can. I mean, I’m afraid that I don’t even know how I got you here.”

  Darci’s knees folded as she plonked herself onto the ground. The action jolted through her body and bruised her knees with more shock than pain. How could she be dreaming when everything seemed, felt and even smelt so real? Her eyes rose from looking at the ground to see that Taslessian was still standing a couple of metres away from her, playing with that annoying stone.

  “I did not mean to zap you here,” he said in way of further apology. “I could try to send you back but I’m not making any promises…”

  “No!” Darci, not in the mood for forgiveness, cut his mumbling short. “I don’t think so. You probably think you are a pretty good apprentice, but looking at this mistake, I’m not having a lot
of faith here.”

  Taslessian did not deny this as he still avoided Darci’s attempted eye contact. Neither spoke. The breeze blew the grass against Darci’s bare legs, tickling her skin. Soon, the uncomfortable silence was broken. Taslessian was distracted from his stone as Darci began to laugh.

  “I thought that you would not find your situation funny,” he said, somewhat haughtily. He looked at the young girl he had magically brought to his world. This time, it was his turn to be confused.

  “Huh?” Darci looked up wiping a mirthful tear from her eye. “I just realised that I was in my pyjamas, with a hockey stick, sitting in a strange land, talking to a wizard – what’s there not to laugh about?” Small bubbles of laughter continued to shake her shoulders as one of her favourite thoughts in relation to difficult situations came to mind: if you don’t laugh, you cry.

  “I am an apprentice wizard and I find your humour… lacking.” Snarling at his stone, Taslessian kicked it away before he caught upon what Darci had said, and curiosity began to break through his defensive reaction.

  “What are pyjamas?” He had never heard of this foreign word.

  “Pyjamas are my nightclothes,” she explained as she pinched her shirt, pulling it away from the skin. Quickly she placed it firmly back on her chest as she realised how low cut her summer pyjamas actually were. She had no idea about the morals her new associate possessed, figuring it would be better to play it safe. Cross-cultural communications she could deal with, interplanetary however…

  “Are colourful sticks also part of your sleeping attire?” Taslessian asked.

  Darci took one look at the hockey stick still in her hand, before being overtaken by a small, slightly hysterical, laughing fit, which caused the young wizard’s brow to furrow. By way of explanation, she eventually managed to tell him about going to bed and being woken up by something, thinking it was an intruder, grabbing the hockey stick and then going through the window into this world.

  Taslessian held up his hand once she had finished. “We should go to my master’s cabin. There we could get you some clothes and some food.”