He did not relax until the royal castle was well out of sight and it seemed clear that Sorin would not be chasing after him. Koray had given up hope on making him see reason with the demons. He was not certain why he was so willing to give them a chance himself. Sorin's story about his family being slaughtered was not the only such tale. Koray at least had not been old enough to remember his family, merely the priest-run orphanage where he had stayed until he'd been thrown out as being too strange, forced to live on the streets until he was found by a necromancer.
As he had expected, it was dark when he reached the woods, but Koray hardly needed light to see moderately well in the dark. He dismounted and walked the rest of the way, not wanting the horse to come to harm.
He always felt the place before he saw it, the heavy cloak of sadness that seemed eternally wrapped around it. Koray was immediately reminded of the Lost Paladin's sword and knew that he had been right to believe the oak was what he sought—or where he would find what he sought.
As he approached the oak, Koray's skin began to prickle with that awareness of demons, though normally it kicked in far sooner. For better or worse, the delayed awareness encouraged him. Pushing back his hood, Koray called out to the dark, "Hello? I am here to speak with you, demon. Only speak." No reply, but he had not expected one. Speaking more softly, he said, "I saw the way Emel looked at you, demon. I'm here to help if I can."
The sound of movement came from behind him and Koray turned. A small bead of silvery light rose up from beside the oak, then flared brighter, spilling over just enough of the clearing that Koray could clearly see the demon.
He looked less demonic, somehow, though the black skin and horns and wings were all there. Not just a demon, he remembered belatedly, but a demon lord. "You're a necromancer."
"So I am often told," Koray said.
The demon's mouth twitched briefly, as though he were fighting a smile. "What did you mean about Emel?"
"You helped us with those white demons at the castle. As you were flying away, he looked at you like he was worried about you, like his world would end if he lost you."
"Oh," the demon said, and the misery on his face matched the misery that had lined Emel's. "Did he send you?"
"He doesn't know I'm aware," Koray said. "No one does. I wanted to make certain I was right before I tried to convince anyone else that a good demon exists and is in love with the second most powerful paladin in the castle."
The demon gave a sharp bark of laughter. "You came all the way out here because of a suspicion? Without telling anyone? Necromancer, if I was still lost in the demon haze that ruled me for too long, I would have already visited every evil imaginable upon you and sucked you dry. You are even madder than Emel, I think. At least he came out here believing I had likely died from my injuries and so was no danger to him."
"It was worth the risk if I was correct and I am correct so the point is moot," Koray replied. "How did you summon that light?"
"You want to know about a child's trick?" the demon asked. "It's a basic spell. Can't your lot do it?"
Koray frowned at him. "Perhaps I can, though I doubt it. But the others, definitely not. You drew upon my kind of energies to do that."
"Your kind of energies? Necromancer, I'm just drawing upon basic demon energy. I know you lot think we have none of our own, but we do. It is only that we must steal other energies to transform into our own."
"But I felt it," Koray said. "You tapped spiritual energies, the same sort of thing I use to communicate with the dead. The energy that allows me to see ghosts."
"Can't everyone see ghosts?"
Koray shook his head. "No. Surely you know that from Emel."
"It's never come up. What's your name, necromancer?"
"Koray."
"My name is Brekk. You said you wanted to help, but you must know there is no way to do that," Brekk said. "I wish there was, but Emel and I have never come up with a solution. I'm a demon—"
"You might be a demon in form, but I think it safe to say you not a demon in spirit. Nothing can be done if no one will do anything, and hiding here in the woods is not doing anything. So you can see ghosts and use spiritual energy to cast spells?"
"Yes," Brekk said impatiently. "Is that so strange?"
Koray nodded, thinking of all that Neikirk had explained in that chamber with the star. "Yes. We always knew demons could see ghosts in some way, since you so often feed on souls when ordinary energies aren't enough. But to know you in fact use the same energy as necromancers … I cannot use the same energy as the paladins and priests. I cannot use magic to fight or heal as they do. They cannot see ghosts, speak to them, or banish them. My energy is inaccessible to them." Except for the way that he and Sorin seemed to replenish each other, but he could not think of Sorin right then. "You're like me, except a soldier."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure yet, but it could be the key to everything," Koray said. "I am hoping it will help convince them that you are no longer evil."
Brekk sighed. "I look like a demon and so will always be seen as a demon. I'm not interested in your false hopes."
Koray said nothing, because it was true. But there had to be something they could do; the Goddess would not have led him to Brekk otherwise.
"Come on," Brekk said. "It is not safe to stay out here all night. I do not even know what compelled me to come when I knew Emel would not be here. There is no food or drink to offer you, but I can provide a warm fire and a roof for a time."
"I have food in my saddlebags, since I knew not how long I would be out," Koray said. "Lead the way."
Brekk nodded and turned around, leading Koray through the woods along a twisting route until they at last stepped out into a small clearing. In the center of it was the saddest little cabin Koray had ever seen, and that was even comparing it to his own.
He settled his horse behind the cabin, arranging the blanket he had brought for it over its back. Feeding it a dried apple and rubbing its nose, Koray then gratefully retreated to the house where Brekk already had a warm fire going. Sitting close to the fire, Koray dug into his saddlebags and pulled out the bread, cheese, salted meat, and dried fruit he had brought. He arranged the food neatly then pulled out a skin of mulled wine.
Going into the kitchens to request food for a short trip had made him nervous, stupidly so he knew, but he was still unused to his clothes being washed, his room cleaned, and food and drink available whenever he desired. He would never grow used to the way everyone called him High Necromancer and treated him with deference rather than fear.
How quickly would all of that change if—when—Sorin lost interest in him? But Koray had no desire to think about Sorin, not with all his comments on demons lurking and the uncertainty between them that seemed to worsen with every kiss. It had all become a mess and Koray had no idea how to sort it out.
For the moment, he settled for eating and warming up. He ate a piece of cheese and glanced at Brekk, curious despite himself, for he had never been so close to a demon unless it was dead or trying to kill him. Sitting there, looking so ordinary despite his appearance, Brekk was not wholly unappealing. He was no Sorin, but Koray thought he could see what appealed to Emel. He had a fierceness to him, and a somber air that belatedly reminded Koray of Sorin. It was something most paladins seemed to carry in fact. If Koray's growing suspicions were true, and Neikirk's theories on energy and how they related to each other were accurate … then Brekk was the key to finding the missing figure for the star.
He studied Brekk more closely and realized that the heat he felt when he stood close to Sorin, the fainter warmth he felt standing near the priests, was absent. No, when he really paid attention, when his mind moved beyond 'demon!' … it felt more like being close to another necromancer, and the faintest bit like being near a paladin, in that he could feel the power but not the heat.
Brekk was his match and Sorin's parallel. He was more certain of it than ever. "Do you feel cold all the time?"
"What?" Brekk asked, clearly startled.
"Cold," Koray said again. "Not like from the winter or whatnot. From the inside out, whenever you've used too much power."
Brekk nodded. "Of course. It's what happens when energy gets too low, when we have to pull too deep for it from the inside. That's when we get desperate, but stealing the energy of others only helps for so long. The black magic … constantly hungers, and if we do not feed it we die. But the cold is the first indication that we're beginning to go wrong. Cold and hungry is all we ever feel. Even now, without Emel around … and even he only helps the gnawing ache so much. I still do not know why the haze went away, but I live in constant fear that the hunger and cold will bring it back."
"If I had to guess about what freed you, I would say it was the combination of injury and being saved by Emel," Koray said. "If I am correct in how you two met?"
"Yes," Brekk said. "He saved me for no good reason at all. When I woke again, I felt … human, I suppose. But the demon is there, waiting to come out again. I'm not sure how to get rid of it once and for all."
Koray tilted his head thoughtfully, braid tumbling over one shoulder, nearly landing in his wine. He flicked it back over his head. "Perhaps you just need to be reminded—purified."
"Purified?"
"Mmm," Koray said thoughtfully, wondering if it could really be that simple. Probably not with demons still lost in the haze Brekk kept mentioning, but maybe it would work with Brekk. "When necromancers push too hard, draw too deep for too long, we get too cold to function. Tired, achy, even unable to move. It doesn't happen often because we're careful, but sometimes there comes a situation that just proves to be too much. Our energies get … scattered, or bent out of shape. It takes another necromancer to remind the body how those energies should be. We call it being reminded, but it is a purification of sorts."
Brekk looked entirely unconvinced, but nodded. "I guess it cannot hurt to try. How do you do this reminding?"
"Uh—" Koray flushed suddenly because he had completely forgotten the details of the process. "Um. Remove your tunic and all. It requires touching the major points."
"Major—never mind," Brekk said, shaking his head but obediently standing up and stripping down to his waist. Free of his clothes—and Koray wondered idly how hard it had been to craft a tunic that accommodated for the wings—Brekk looked much more like a demon. Koray shivered, but pushed away the instinctive fear. Brekk was nothing like he looked, and getting along with a demon still did not seem as strange as the twisting, aching longing to experience everything he knew Sorin could show him, everything promised by those kisses.
Shoving those thoughts away as well, Koray closed his eyes and clasped his hands, drawing his power to the surface as he whispered soft prayers. He focused his power, then opened his eyes and placed his hands, shaking only slightly, against Brekk's stomach.
Brekk tensed and jerked under his touch, but then went still. Koray poured his energy into Brekk there and then moved in closer, sliding his hands around to touch the focal point at the small of Brekk's back. Next he placed his hands on Brekk's chest, repeating the pouring of energy, then slid his hands up to press them to the back of Brekk's neck, right where it met his head.
He moved his hands around and slid them up Brekk's face, feeling the way the purification was working, heart thudding from fear and discovery and triumph—
The door slammed open and Koray jerked back, whipped around to stare into Sorin's blazing eyes, taking in the thunderous—even murderous—expression on his face. "What have we here?" Sorin asked, voice so cold that Koray took an instinctive step back, bumping into Brekk, who steadied him reflexively with a hand to his shoulder. "I was told you had to do the Goddess' work, necromancer. But I don't recall the Goddess ever demanding one of her own consort with a demon."
"Stop jumping to conclusions!" Koray snarled, fear and dismay burning away in a rush of anger. "You have no idea what's going on!"
"I don't? What else could possibly be going on here? You sneak away to the woods, you speak endlessly of demons, you seem constantly distracted and as though you are hiding something—and lo, I find you in the middle of the woods rubbing yourself all over a demon!"
Koray wished he had something to throw at the idiot. "You're making assumptions! I'm trying to help him. I'm trying to help all of us! If you weren't such a close-minded, stubborn fool I might have confided in you. What's the point in talking to someone who has already made up his mind? So like a paladin, so like all of you, to think you know what is going on. You beat us and throw us out and knock us down hills without ever listening."
"I've been nothing, but good to you, necromancer—"
"Because it suits your needs!" Koray snarled, drowning him out, shaking with anger. "What happens when I'm no longer needed, hmm? When the Grand and Mighty High Paladin decides his little necromancer is no longer useful and interesting?"
Hurt flickered across Sorin's face, but it was almost immediately replaced with anger. "What happens when you decide you have endured us long enough? You've made it quite clear you barely tolerate me and think us all idiots—no wonder you think so when we're so easily deceived by you, claiming and even seeming to be of the Goddess while your demon waits here for you. What was your plan this entire time? Get into the castle and then get your lover and many other demons inside? Is that why he helped us the other night—protecting his interest inside in the castle?"
"He's not my demon!" Koray snarled, shaking off Brekk's hand when he tried to hold him back. He stormed across the room. "He did not help us at the castle because of me! He's good. I've been trying to tell you that, you bloody damned idiot! But no, the poor paladin knows demons and won't listen to anyone else. You never listen to anyone. You just assume that what you want lines up with everyone else, that you could never be wrong."