Touch of the Demon (Kara Gillian 5)

I exited my rooms and saw a reyza crouched in the corridor tracing wards and sending them off to places along the hall. He turned his head to me as I exited and bared his teeth in a smile.

“Kehlirik!” I nearly squealed, barely restraining myself from leaping on him and giving him a big hug. I really wasn’t sure how he’d react to that, even though it was a weird and huge relief to see a familiar face—even a demon one.

He gave a rumble-snort. “Kara Gillian.”

“It’s really good to see you,” I said fervently. “I was going to take a walk outside. Are you, um, assigned to me?”

He stood, stretched his wings out before settling them again. “Kri…yes. Your escort.” He began to walk down the corridor. “Outside is this way.”

Well, at least he wasn’t calling himself my guard. I fell into step beside him. “I owe you popcorn. I haven’t forgotten.”

“You may rest assured, summoner, I will not allow you to forget.”

I laughed. “I’m sure you won’t. And when I get back home I’ll have to summon you so that you can see a TV show a friend turned me on to.”

Kehlirik gave a heavy snort. “I am not certain of the wisdom of engaging in this tee vee practice.”

“Yeah, it totally rots the brain.” Then I gave him a sly grin. “I won’t make you watch reality TV, but did you know the Harry Potter books have been made into movies?”

That got his attention. He peered at me with interest as we descended the big-ass stairs to the entry area and to the doors leading outside. “That, perhaps, is worth the sacrifice of wisdom.”

It wasn’t until I got outside and away from the building that I could appreciate the massive grandeur of Rhyzkahl’s palace. All that I could see before me, I had seen from my balcony—the surrounding craggy mountains, patches of trees in the grove, the turquoise sea beyond the cliffs—but not the palace itself. Turning, I stared in awe, craning my neck to see its heights. Opulent, imposing, and magnificent, it rose in a symphony of white stone, spires, arched windows, and towers framed by deep blue sky veiled thinly with wisps of winter clouds.

Okay, I thought. That’s a damn nice crib he’s got there. Smiling, I continued to walk with Kehlirik and found myself discussing books and television as I headed down the path. Occasionally, he would pause and point out some feature of the gardens or architecture that he thought I might find interesting: a silvery-leafed tree he claimed was over five hundred years old, a stone arch carved in such delicate filigree I was stunned that it could support its own weight, a translucent boulder the size of my car with ribbons of an amber-colored mineral running through it.

I was mid-sentence when a tone rippled through me, touching my ears and my bones in an oddly pleasant way. I stopped walking, stopped talking, and looked over at Kehlirik. “What the hell was that?”

The reyza rumbled, then rumbled some more, obviously finding whatever it was highly amusing. “Tones to mark the time. Midday, that was,” he said, snorting. “There will also be mid-afternoon, evening, morning, and mid-morning, though only humans need such.” He lifted his chin in what looked a lot like pride. “Demons have no need of external reminders.”

I considered that. “So, is it a real clock or a magic clock?” I asked, grinning.

“Can it not be both?” he asked.

I opened my mouth to reply, but a zrila darted up to us and stood on its hind legs. A creature the size of a bobcat, it looked like a six-legged newt with skin that shifted in hues of red and blue, although its head was more like that of a hairless koala. It peered at me and gave a series of whistles.

“It wishes to measure you,” Kehlirik told me.

“Oh! Sure.” Mzatal had said something about how a zrila had made his tie, hadn’t he? “They make clothing?”

“The zrila are master textile artisans.” His eyes flicked over my current garb. “All of what you wear now was created in a zrila circle.”

I blinked in surprise. I’d always assumed that the zrila had fairly low intelligence. “That’s pretty awesome. So, uh, what do I have to do to be measured?”

Kehlirik took a step away from me. “Stand still and extend your arms out to your sides.”

I did so, then jerked in shock as the zrila leaped up to my shoulder. I began to drop my arms, and the zrila let out a sharp whistle that very clearly meant, “put those arms back out, missy!” I quickly snapped them back out and held them as the zrila proceeded to…well, run all over me, from head to toe, winding around my torso and arms and legs and back up again to my shoulder. The whole process took about five seconds, and then it leaped off and was out of sight within about a heartbeat.

I lowered my arms. “Um, that was it?”

Kehlirik gave a snort of what was obviously amusement. “You have now been measured.”

Amused and more than a little amazed, I continued walking. Clouds scuttled across the sky as the breeze picked up. I tucked my scarf around my neck, glad that I’d overdressed. Sometimes being a wimpy southerner paid off.

The path forked. I started down the one that headed toward the grove, but Kehlirik paused.

“Where are you going, Kara Gillian?” he asked.

I glanced back at him and smiled. “I want to go sit in the grove for awhile.” Already, I could feel a slight touch of its calm as it came into sight. “The past few days have been very shit-tastic. I want to chill for a bit, and it’s really lovely and peaceful in there.”