Nial looked out the window and watched the moon set over the merchant quarter of Darien city. It wouldn’t be long now. Her father would be home soon, drunk with today’s earnings. He would be angry to find there was nothing to eat. Every day got a little worse. He spent less time at his anvil, made less money, and beat her more. The day he heard that smith Calderson’s apprentices were getting paid more for their work than he was himself, he had nearly beaten her to death. Her jaw still popped when she moved it side to side.

            Nial had borrowed all she could from their neighbours to help keep them fed. She did chores and ran errands for them, but the harvests had been poor this year. Prices had gone up and few families had anything to spare. The neighbours took pity on little Nial. But they weren’t willing to see their own families go without to feed a drunkard and his ten-year-old daughter. The box that had held her mother’s three silver spoons and her wedding necklace had been empty for months. There was nothing left, not a scrap of food. Nothing left, and no one to turn to for help. No one was willing to confront her father. A lifetime of work at his anvil had given him prodigious strength. His huge frame and drink-maddened eyes would give a rampaging bull pause. All in all I’m lucky he hasn’t killed me yet. Her mind wandered as she looked out the small window. Her father came back later these nights. The taverns in the merchant quarter had all barred him from coming back, so he stomped off to the slums to drink. Now he came back in an even worse mood, feeling humiliated and angry. Nial couldn’t quite bring herself to hate him for it. She could still remember clearly how he had been when her mother was still alive. A laughing giant, always kind to his little daughter and dotting on his beautiful wife. She could remember him boasting that they had almost saved enough money for him to be able to build a full forge. No more cold-hammering simple goods. He would be able to compete with Calderson or even Bran, the most famous smith in the city.

            All that had changed when her mother got a sickness in her lungs. Her body bent double with the force of her coughing, blood staining her lips. She wasted away in just a few short days.

Her father spent all their savings on medicines and potions. He then prayed in the temple of Helual, the god of science and medicine, until he was asked to leave when the priests realized he didn’t have enough money for a proper donation.

The door slammed and shook her out of her reverie. Nial turned away from the window and waited for him to walk to the bedroom.

            “Where’s my dinner you miserable brat?” he bellowed. His voice slurred from too much cheap ale. “D’you think I work all day to come home and starve?”

            Nial didn’t bother answering. She had learned long since that arguing with him was pointless. She just stood up and waited for the first blow to fall. Her lack of fear only made him angrier. He beat her harder and longer than he ever had before. When he stopped, his fists were wet with her blood.

             He stumbled over to his pallet, vomited and passed out in his own mess. Nial’s mind had gone numb with the first punch. She barely felt the beating, she was so lightheaded from hunger and misery. This time is different. Her body was going cold. But that was fine. The blood pooling under her was lovely and warm. It reminded her of the times her mother would heat pot after pot of water and they would each take a hot bath in the spare rain barrel. She couldn’t wait for the water to rise and warm the rest of her cold body. Her mind went strangely blank and she felt herself reaching out for the memory of her mother.

            Nial! She struggled to move. Was that her mother calling?

            My poor sweet Nial, answer me. It was a woman’s voice, but it wasn’t her mother. It carried a desperation of its own. Nial wanted to get up and warn the nice lady. Her father would be angry if a stranger came into the house. But it was no use, she was too weak. She couldn’t move. A warm feeling flowed over her whole body.

            I am like you Nial. Weak, and my family treat me harshly. Nial felt sad for the nice woman. There is strength within us both. If we share with each other, we will be strong indeed! Nial smiled. It would be nice to be strong. Our hearts will warm each other. We will never be cold or alone again. Just open yourself to me. Nial tried to ask “How” but her mouth wouldn’t work. She almost panicked. Would her nice new friend think she didn’t want to help her? Dearest Nial, don’t worry. I will never leave you alone. Now, open your heart and your mind to me. I am Zulaxrak. Take my name into your heart as I have taken yours. We will become one.

            Nial thought of the strange name. She repeated it in her mind over and over again. She offered all the love in her heart and desperately wished for Zulaxrak to love her in return. Then came a wave of ecstasy. Nial joined with another being in a way that few ever can. They shared consciousness, knowledge, and lives as the essence of Zulaxrak was drawn into Nial’s body.

            Nial gasped as the seemingly endless stream of images and memories flooded into her mind. She understood now that Zulaxrak was a demon. Zuly, she thought affectionately. A fledgling succubus. Bigger, stronger demons had often tormented her. She had fled her world into the void just as a great brute of a Scar demon was about to devour her. In Zuly’s mind, Nial saw the demon world she had come from. A dark waste. Stone, dust, and desolation. Various demons mated, or were raped and spawned young in the fetid pools that dotted the stony landscape. The demons that hatched were as varied in their forms as their parents had been. From the moment they hatched, the battle to survive began and never ended. Demons consumed, used, or enslaved each other to grow in power. They did not require food or water to live. But the hunger to grow, the hunger for more strength and power was more intense by far. The strong dominated while the weak ended up as dinner. With each new kind of demon they consumed, they would evolve. Gaining some of the powers of the fallen. The greatest demons were those that managed to find a way to a mortal realm to consume souls. The souls became bound within the demon—even if the demon was defeated and banished back to the demon world. A demon grew mighty with just a single soul. Amon Kareth, the Archdemon of this world had consumed thousands.

            Zuly shuddered in pleasure at the rush of power. She saw how Nial and her parents lived and how her mother died.  She saw the beatings in the child’s memories and understood. Their worlds were different in many ways, but the rule of strength was the same.  She had thought to offer the child all kinds of things to allow her to enter, to bind her wasted essence to Nial’s body to save herself. But Nial had pulled her in so deeply, had shared her body with her in an absolute way without hesitation. Pushed to desperation, they had each found a comfort and kinship in the other. The bond they had formed was a strange one. Zuly didn’t understand it very well. She thought they had each become the other’s familiar. Zuly herself was surprised by the fading of her hunger. For the first time in her existence she felt safe and almost at peace.

            Nial, you are a mage of great power. You might not have known what you were doing but you called me here. You helped me open the way. Our talents will feed off each other and we will become mighty. No one will ever hurt us again.

            Nial felt the blood being drawn back into her body. Your blood is far too precious. We mustn’t waste a single drop. Nial pulled herself to her feet and walked over to her own pallet. She drifted off to sleep with a smile on her lips.

            Nial woke up long before her father and started to clean the house as she did every day since her mother had died. She thought of the previous night, not sure if it had been a dream.

Her skin was unmarked. She looked at her reflection in the rain barrel and saw that her face wasn’t even bruised. She whispered, “Zuly?”

            I am here with you Nial. I will always be here. The voice came from inside her head.

            “Zuly! I was afraid you were only a dream.”

            I’m happy to say sometimes dreams come true.

            Nial sighed in relief and continued chatting happily with her new friend as she went about her chores. An hour past midday, as she was sweeping the leaves from their lane, she heard her father fumbling around in the kitchen, looking for food and drink.

            “Nial! Where are you? You worthless child!” She had never heard him so angry when he wasn’t drunk. Fear kept her standing outside.

            Don’t fear sweet Nial. remember, you are no longer alone.

            “Thank you Zuly! It’s just that he’s so angry.”

            You have nothing to fear Now let’s go inside and deal with your father where no one else can see.”

            Nial let the twig broom fall in the dust and walked into the house. She was not alone now. She would not be afraid, not ever again. Her father was breaking empty jugs and plates, building up his temper.

            “First no dinner and now no breakfast?!” Zuly looked back at him from inside their shared body not bowing her head as he had expected.

            “If you didn’t spend every coin on cheap drink, maybe I’d be able to buy food.” His bloodshot eyes went wide with surprise.  “And if you woke up earlier, I wouldn’t have to tell your customers to take their money somewhere else.” The girls could see shame and anger warring in his eyes. Anger won.

            “You snivelling little bitch! How dare you speak to me that way! I should sell you! Then I wouldn’t be wasting half my food on you.” The back of his hand cracked against her face. The girls stumbled back. Their mouth was bleeding, but they were smiling.

            “That was the last time you will ever hit me father.”

            Zuly came forward and showed Nial how to use the magic inside her. Invisible power reached out and grabbed her father as he was about to swing again. His eyes bulged as his arms were slowly twisted behind his back. Slowly she increased the pressure until he groaned in pain.

            “Now father,” said Zuly. “I will explain how our new lives will be. You will get up at dawn every morning. You will stand on the street at the end of the lane and shout out your services like a street hawker until two hours past dusk. Any and all coin you receive, you will hand directly to me. I will continue to clean and cook but I’m through doing it without you doing your part.” She dropped him in a heap on the floor. He stared at her. The voice and body were those of his daughter but the words were more mature by far.

            “Freak! Witch! Possessed! I’ll have the priests burn you alive!”

            Zuly just laughed. “The drunkard who beats his daughter is afraid because the child is making him do his work? Who would believe you? Now, enough talking. Get outside to the rain barrel and clean yourself up. You have work to do.” He just sat on the floor staring dumbly at her.

            “I wasn’t asking father.” Her power flowed out, gripped him around the head and dragged him towards the door. He was whimpering, urine stained his breeches and ran down to the floor. “And father, if a single drop of ale or wine passes your lips, you will suffer for it. Do we understand each other?” Without waiting for an answer, she opened the door and threw him outside. With a smile on her face and a spring in her steps Nial, went back to her chores.

            Nial, I’m bored... Let’s go out and play!

             “But I haven’t finished cleaning yet.”

             You clean every day. It’s clean already. And you need a break.

            “Father has been working hard; I just want to do my part too.”

            I know you’re a good girl Nial, but he did nothing for years. And the house really isn’t going to get any cleaner no matter how long you scrub it. We’ll only go out for an hour, all right?

            “I guess an hour would be fine. It would be nice to play in the sun.”

            As they left the house, Nial could hear her father’s hammer ringing clearly through the early afternoon bustle of the merchant quarter. It was a happy sound. It made her think of times when her mother had still been alive. He had taken her warning to heart and didn’t drink a drop. He worked every day until he was exhausted. With her permission he used some of his earnings to buy extra metals and worked them into a variety of shapes to hawk on the street while he looked for more customers. Word was getting around about the quality of his work, more and more customers came down the lane to see him. Building a real forge was becoming a goal again.

            “This was a good idea Zuly. We haven’t been out for anything but going to the market in weeks.”

            I want to show you something Nial. I’ve been exploring the city at night. While you sleep, my mind is free to wander. Memories played out for Nial of a small door at the end of an alley. All kinds of strangely dressed people were going in and out of the place. This is where I want to go.

            “Of course, Zuly.” Nial smiled and skipped down the street. Some of the people Zuly had shown her looked really funny. Passersby smiled at the happy little girl hopping down the street talking to herself.

            Zuly guided them down several smaller and darker streets until they came out into a muddy little alley. The smell was foul. Refuse was piled in the streets.

            “What is this place, Zuly? It smells bad.”

            This is where your father used to come drink. These are the slums, or the Muds. The poorest people in the city live here.

“The slums are a bad place. My mother always told me bad people live here.”

            Not all of them are bad sweet Nial. The really bad people mostly only come out at night when they don’t have to try so hard to hide what they do. But the place I sensed isn’t far.

            They walked through several more filthy streets. The ground was nothing but a squelching mess of mud and worse. The sewers didn’t even extend into this part of the city. Rats scurried around, darting away from mud caked urchins. Every second door seemed to be a brothel or a rundown drinking house.  Overly thin, tired women looked out of windows and tried to catch the attention of passing men. On the street there were few people. The children she saw moved quickly and looked over their shoulders often.  There were some older prostitutes, men and women both, past their best earning years and cast out of the brothels, wandering around with lost looks. They called out to the few men who walked by in threadbare clothing.

            Nial was shocked. Her home in the merchant quarter, modest as it was, had not prepared her for this squalor. How could these people be so terribly poor and sad just a few minutes’ walk from her house?

            We’re almost there, said Zuly. We just need to go to the end of this street and take the next right. Nial walked faster. Eager to get this little errand of Zuly’s out of the way. As she reached the end of the street and turned onto the little ally on the right, they saw a man looking at them strangely. He was wearing a brown cloak with the hood up even on this nice sunny summer day. Other than the mud stains around the hem, it looked far cleaner and newer than the clothes everyone else was wearing. They couldn’t see his face clearly but he made Nial feel dirty looking at her the way he was. They rushed past him and walked down to the end of the ally. It was a dead end. Only a single dingy looking wood door marked the muddy brick walls.

            “Lost are you little bird?” They spun around. The man had followed them. He sounded like the few customers Nial’s father had who wore really nice clothes. But it made her feel dirty having this man even talk to them, even more than walking barefoot through all the filth.

            “How lucky for both of us that I was the one to find you.”

            “I’m not lost, Sir. I’m just out for a walk.” Nial said as she backed away from him.

            “Of course you are. Now come here little bird. I’ll take good care of you.” He sounded angry now. He stepped closer. They could see his face in the shadows of his hood. A normal looking man that she wouldn’t have looked at twice if he hadn’t been looking at her with such a scary, hungry, look. He dashed forward and tried to grab them but came up short. He looked back wondering what was holding him back but he couldn’t see anything. Zuly had stopped him with her magic. She tightened it all around him, forcing his arms to his sides.

            “What...?” He started to shout before Zuly snapped his mouth shut. His eyes were wide now. The hunger in them had fled. Nial could see only terror.

            I’m sorry Nial. I really thought we’d get here without attracting so much attention during the day. But I guess it’s for the best. This horrible man will give us something to trade with.

            “Trade with?” Asked Nial. Yes, this place is a store. A very special store. We have to hurry. We can’t be seen out here like this.

            Zuly reached out and pushed on the wood door with their magic. It swung inwards silently. They walked into the strangest shop Nial had ever seen. There were bundles of herbs and plants all around the room like in the apothecary she had visited with her father when her mother was sick. But there were all kinds of other strange things scattered around as well. Pieces of animals, dried or floating in jars like pickles, jagged pieces of stone or metal, small statues and even some jewelry hanging from hooks on the wall behind the counter. A man entered the room from the far side. He was totally hairless and wore only a pair of knee length breeches. The rest of his body was covered with a dizzying pattern of tattoos and scars. Seemingly random objects, glass, metal and even small tools pierced any patch of skin he could conceivably reach.

            His dark eyes were bright as he welcomed her to his store: “Welcome little lady. What can old Skeg do for you this fine day?” His voice was raspy, each word strangely drawn out. He seemed to be totally ignoring the man floating behind them.

            “Hello Mister Skeg,” answered Zuly. “We’re looking for a sphere of polished obsidian. About twice the size of my fist should do.”

            Skeg’s eyes widened slightly when Zuly said ’we’ and he looked at them intently for a moment before answering. “I think I have something that could do the trick. Obsidian is not widely used in this city so you’re lucky.” He stepped around the counter and through a curtain, “I won’t be a moment.”

He reappeared a minute later with a black glassy orb in his hands. The reflections off it were faintly green. “Will this do?”

            “It’s perfect,” said Zuly. “Do you have tools to carve it as well?”

            “I might have something here somewhere.” He ran his hands over his body and pulled two sharp little glass carving tools out of the skin on the small of his back. Both of the tools were faintly wet with blood. Zuly nodded.

            “Now about payment... I assume the gentleman behind you will be handling that part of our transaction?” Zuly nodded again.

            “He will, but only his body. His soul is ours.”

            Skeg’s eyes widened so much that Nial thought they would fall out of his head. “... and you can do that?” he asked.

            “We can. But we’ll need a safe place to do it. We don’t want to get noticed.” She stared at him.

            “Of course, of course. The back room is fully warded. You should be able to do whatever you need there.” He gestured for her to follow him and walked back through the curtain behind the counter.

             The backroom was musty and bare. The whitewash was mildewed and a small, rickety staircase was set against the back wall. A tattered straw rug covered the floor. Skeg knelt down and rolled it up. Beneath it, the stone floor had been carved with a wide swirl of strange letters and shapes that radiated out from a central point almost to the walls.

            “Some customers need to use this from time to time. It should mask near anything a single talent can whip up, should keep any noise in as well,” said Skeg. “Is this going to be messy?”

            “It might be,” answered Zuly. “If you bring me a basin, I should be able to keep most of the blood in it.”

            Skeg nodded, and rushed back out to the store. Nial was sure she had seen his hands shaking.

He came back in with a large wood washbasin. “Where would you like it?”

            Zuly pointed to the centre of the circle. He nodded and set it down, then gave a little nod and walked back out into the store. Zuly used their power and made the man they had caught float over the basin. Nial? You may not want to watch this part. I’m going to hurt this bad man.

            “Is he really so bad?” Nial answered out loud. I can taste it off him my sweet Nial. I can tell what kind of person he is. He has caused a lot of pain to those around him, especially girls. Worse, he likes it. And wants nothing more than to do it again and again. Nial nodded, accepting what Zuly told her. Her mother had been harsh but fair. Punishment was something she understood.

            “Ok Zuly. I’ll try not to watch.” That’s good Nial. But even if you peek, remember what I am going to do to this monster is not nearly as bad as he deserves. Zuly relaxed part of her binding and released the man’s jaw.

“I will give you one chance to make this quick and painless.” The man stared at her, his eyes wild.

            “Please! Please!” He screamed. “I won’t do it again I swear! I’ve got money! I have rich friends! I could get you gold if you let me go!”

            Zuly looked at him impassively. “You will repeat after me: I grant you power over my soul.”

            “You’re mad!” The man screeched.

            “You will say it little man. And you will mean it with your whole being. I will know when you do. Till then...” She gestured and a small cut appeared across his cheek. Slowly the cut lengthened and branched into two. Each new cut branching again and extending down under his tunic. The man’s desperate screams changed pitch as the pain hit him. Zuly gestured impatiently and his clothes split along the seams and floated across the room to land in a heap. The cuts continued to grow and to multiply. Blood started to drip down into the wash basin. “Say the words and I will end your pain,” said Zuly.

            Skeg paced back and forth in his shop after the little girl had taken the man in the back room. He traded in some dark things, being one of the only merchants in the city who catered to unlicensed mages. He had also seen his share of corpses and even one or two people killed in front of him. But the child treating the man she carried around like nothing more than meat, and the intent to butcher him like an animal left him unnerved to say the least. He did not judge his customers. He wouldn’t have survived long if he had. But what was stopping the girl from doing the same to him? She said she didn’t want to be noticed. Maybe that would be enough to keep him safe. His own feeble talent was nothing compared to hers. He could barely move a cup of water across a table much less float around a grown man with barely a thought. He’d never turned on a customer before, but he might have to send a note to the Night Guard about this one.

             An interminable wait later, the girl walked back out. She had the orb clutched tightly in one hand. Skeg could see a spark moving around inside it. There wasn’t a drop of blood on her.

            “Mister Skeg?” She called, the voice now that of a child. “We’re done. We left things as neat as we could. You can keep his clothes and his purse.” Skeg nodded and walked them out. It was almost an hour before he worked up the nerve to cross through the curtain. He gaped at what he saw. The body had been left floating above the basin. Its skin removed in a single ragged piece and folded neatly next to the man’s clothing. Not a drop of blood had been spilled outside the basin. Skeg shivered and got to work. He’d have little trouble selling the dead man to one of the less official cults in the city or to any one of a dozen aspiring necromancers, but he could only guess how long it would be till the buyers would come to collect. He’d have to take him down to the cold cellar, but how was he going to get him down?

            Outside in the empty alley, Zuly lifted up the sphere and watched the spark dance around inside it. Look at it Nial! Isn’t it pretty? Nial traced a finger across the sphere following the light.

             “It’s very pretty.”

             Once I have time to carve and enchant the stone we can draw on its power. Each soul we claim will make us stronger. Nial could feel the hunger in Zuly. It had faded since they joined and was scarcely comparable to what she had felt from Zuly’s memories of before, but still it gnawed at her.

            “So we have to find another bad man?”

            Any souls will do my sweet Nial. But for you, we will only hunt the wicked. People like that man come to the slums to hurt people that no one cares about. The city guards don’t come to the Muds unless they have to, and people disappear around here every day. We can turn their game on them.

             Nial considered silently for a moment “All right Zuly. We can go out again. But not until next week and only if we’ve finished our chores.”

            Oh thank you Nial! I hoped you’d understand! The happy little girl skipped back home smiling, carrying a man’s soul like a firefly dancing in a jar.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3 - Salt