The Demon Lord And His Hero

An uphill climb that was as tiring as it was precarious took them to the house where a new victim had been possessed. Even before they got near the building, Syryn could hear the weeping of several women. The grief-stricken wails reminded him of a memory that made him uncomfortable. To feel more at ease, he cast an illusion on himself and it didnt go unnoticed by Dinah.

"Make way! The priestess is here!" The man leading them shouted at the crowd that milled around the house.

Several men with hard expressions on their faces turned to look at Dinah and Syryn. They parted for the three of them as the man led them towards the door of the house from where he could hear crying.

"The priestess is here," he shouted to the people inside the house before turning back to the two who were respectfully waiting outside.

An old woman with thin greying hair appeared at the door. The fine wrinkles on her face etched a story of long life and hardship. "Please, come inside. We've been waiting for you."

When Syryn entered the house, he realised how familiar the faces were. They were the same people he had seen several hours back in the funeral procession. The very same woman who had been crying during the funeral was still shedding tears. Her puffy red-rimmed eyes were quite telling of the suffering endured by her tear glands. Syryn couldn't believe she still had the strength to continue crying so much after the funeral.

"Where is the possessed person?" Dinah gently asked the old woman.

The woman turned her exhausted eyes to a little girl wrapped up in blankets. The child was placed on a chair and had a blank look on her face. She looked just like a doll. It was the same child who had tripped during the funeral.

Syryn and Dinah got closer to the little girl. After touching the child's forehead and looking into her eyes, the priestess appeared confused. She then knelt beside her and waved a hand in front of the child's eyes but there was no reaction. Dinah spent a few more moments observing the child before she made eye contact with Syryn.

"So far, I cannot sense a possession from her." Her words caused a commotion amongst the people who were gathered in the house.

"That can't be true!"

"Priestess, look again!"

"Her father behaved in the same manner just before he went crazy."

The woman who had been crying burst into a fresh round of tears. Another lady who shared a resemblance with her hugged the woman to her chest.

"We are still freshly grieving the untimely loss of a beloved family member who was buried today. We cannot lose Cami now. Please help her, priestess," The old woman begged them.

Dinah was helpless.

"If it isn't a possession then what could have happened to our uncle? We called you here because we thought you could help us! You're so useless!" A teenage boy shouted without restraining his anger. "If you can't help us then leave!"

Dinah who was subject to the teenage boy's harsh words had silently been observing the little girl called Cami. Syryn could tell that the priestess was perplexed by the child who she claimed wasn't a victim of ghostly possession.

"When did she start showing these symptoms you speak of?" Syryn asked the old woman.

"Who the hell are you?" The teenage boy rudely asked him. "If you aren't a priest then you dont have any business asking questions about Cami."

Syryn levelled the boy with a look that could have frozen hell over. The boy paled and stepped back like he had been bitten by a snake.

"I understand that you're grieving. I understand you're afraid, but you should also comprehend that you need all the aid you can get. If you can't help this little girl then dont get in the way of the people who are more qualified than you are." Syryn spoke with as much tact as he could muster. "I'm on healing business and I stopped by this village for a break. Seeing as to how you dont require the services of a healer, I'll be leaving right now."

Recognising how foolish it was to provoke a crowd of people running on heightened emotions, Syryn exchanged a glance with Dinah then he turned around and marched out of the house. He heard the sounds of footsteps behind him. It seemed he wasn't the only one who recognised the futility of staying any further.

"Not going to stay?" He asked her when they left the house.

"She's not possessed. I cannot help her," Dinah replied.

"How sure are you?" Syryn asked. Cami's sightless eyes hadn't blinked once when they were inside. Syryn would have taken her temperature and checked her vitals if the family had been more welcoming of his presence. None of them had stopped him when he tried to leave and it told the alchemist enough about their lack of desire for his help.

"Every other priest and priestess will tell you the same. There is no otherworldly presence inside her." Dinah's hand erupted into flames again and she led their path back down the steep slope. "She's sick and it's not a spiritual disease."

"Highly convenient for you to be here when people are falling ill mysteriously, don't you think?" Syryn tried to throw some shade at her but Dinah chuckled in response.

"They invited me to the village so that I could exorcise the possessed father but by the time I reached here, the man was already dead and buried."

"So you're leaving then."

"No," Dinah replied. "I'd like to hang around a while longer and see how the situation develops."

"There's a mob forming up there. It would do you good to stay away from them whenever possible." Syryn had seen the tragic results that came from charged mobs that were emotionally manipulated by a few leaders. The unlucky victims were always savagely brutalised for perceived slights that were never verified before lives were reaped.

"It won't be the last time I got chased by a mob," Dinah answered. Syryn was finding it difficult to dislike her. "How long are you staying here?" She asked him.

"Not too long. I'll be gone by tomorrow."

"Why dont you stay a while longer? Two brains work better than one."

Syryn shook his head. "They dont want our help." The overpowering stench of a sickly sweet flower wafted to his nose and it made Syryn want to gag. He hated strong floral scents that had no business being so saccharine - another reason to leave the village as soon as he could.

"Doesn't mean we shouldn't help," Dinah answered. "Cami will waste away like her father if something isn't done about her sickness."

"I was told he stopped eating," Syryn replied.

"From what I was told by the headman, Cami's father began to eat less and less and finally gave up eating and drinking. He was almost a skeleton when he eventually succumbed to his sickness."

"How then did such a weak man evade the eyes of his caretakers? If he was as wasted as you say he was then he shouldn't have been able to walk at all." Syryn found it highly suspicious.

"True. He was even found all the way down there," Dinah pointed with her burning hand. "Do you see the garden just before the forest line? His body was found at the edge of the garden. A few more steps and he would have made it to the forest."

"So there's something in the forest that was calling to him?" Syryn asked Dinah.

"I can't say for sure. He did keep telling his family that he had to go to the forest."

"Then it's worth investigating," Syryn replied.

"I'm going in there now. Wanna come with me?"

"You are too damn friendly with me, priestess. Haven't you heard of the horrors that my kind are known to inflict upon you humans?"

Dinah merely shrugged. "For a demon, I dont feel any malice from you."

"How dare you."

"So, are you coming?"

"No!" Syryn was scandalised by the notion that a priestess would try to get so chummy with him, "I have patients to attend to, and sleep to catch up on. I hope you have a good time alone in the spooky forest."

----

"Syryn! You're back." Emi hopped up from the bed. "Tell us everything."

Rei was seated at the edge of the bed, practising stitches on the membrane of a raw egg. Wen and Kai were eating from a bowl of what looked like salted nuts.

"You guys just left Riaku alone with Fei? How can you even call yourself guards?"

"No, we didnt leave him with Fei. Fei is with Gosan," Emi answered as if that made it any better. "Besides, brother is right next door. If anything happens, we'll know immediately."

"Riaku is too damn lenient with you people!" The prince was a demon, a being that could not be harmed easily. It was no wonder they were feeling relaxed about leaving him alone. Syryn had thought that the guards hadn't really known about Riaku's nature but from the bits and pieces he had gleaned from the guards, he realised they probably were aware. Were the people of Nua so open-minded about demons that their brains had fallen out?

"Just get to it already," Wen complained.

"Fine. Do you guys remember the funeral procession that passed us by this evening?" A series of nods answered him. "Well the guy who died has a daughter and now she's also sick from whatever illness her father has passed away from."

"Dont you mean possessed?" Kai asked.

"The priestess was confident that the child isn't possessed."

"Oh yeah," Emi replied. "How did she know you're a healer?"

"She overheard me talking about Lucien with Rei and concluded that I was a healer." Syryn couldn't tell them he had a stalker.

"Oh.." Emi sounded disappointed.

"What?"

"I thought she might have recognised you."

Just how famous did the female avian think Syryn was? He dipped a hand into the bowl of nuts and looked at the guards.

"Where's my alcohol and food?"

"There. Don't give us the stink eye. We didn't drink a single drop of it." Kai pointed to the opposite wall where a table held a tray on which was placed several covered dishes and a bottle of wine.

"So tell us the rest of it," Emi asked Syryn. "And dont miss out on a single detail."