AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How’d the whole myth start?”
“Humans have the need to control each other. The need to subjugate. The easiest way to do that, they discovered, is through your species’ unerring need to have ananswerto everything, coupled with your idiotic insistence that all of you, no matter how small and worthless, has to matter.” Grinn clearly had strong feelings on the subject. “That makes religion the perfect way to manipulate your kind. The myth is oneyoucreated, not us.”
“I…” She wanted to argue. She really did. But she pulled up a blank. “Huh.”
“And to answer your other question, yes. We have families. We are not ‘blorped’ into existence. We are born. Raised. Same as you. The only ones who simply exist are the archangels and archdemons. They have been around since the dawn of time.” He shook like a dog, raining bits of gray ash as he did. She supposed that was probably where he got the moniker of Ash King.
“Neat.” She sat in silence for a second. “Do you have a family?”
“What did I just say?”
“I know, but maybe they’re all dead or something!” She threw up her hands in frustration. “I’m trying to get toknowyou, Grinn.”
“Why?” He turned his red eye toward her.
“Because we’re stuck together, and nobody gets born into the world being this much of a colossal asswipe without having a reason for it.” Now she was the one getting annoyed. “So excuse me if I’m trying to understand you.”
“Don’t bother. We will not be attached for much longer and then you will not have to worry about fulfilling this strange need of yours for idle conversation.” He turned his focus back to the road.
Shutting her eyes, she shook her head, biting back the rant she wanted to deliver about how maybe, just maybe, if he weren’t such a bastard, people might not hate him so much. But she figured it was probably a chicken-and-egg scenario—no way of knowing which came first. His bad attitude or his bad reputation.
It was minutes later when Grinn finally answered the question. Long enough that she had entirely forgotten what they were talking about. “I had a wife.”
That caught Gwen so much by surprise that she didn’t know what to say. She just stared at the demon. Grinn offered up no more explanation than that. Just simply,I had a wife.
And she supposed he didn’t really need any more.
Those four words spoke volumes. Frowning, she knew her reply was probably going to earn her another lecture about how he didn’t need her pity, yadda, yadda. “I know it doesn’t mean anything, but…I’m sorry.”
He grunted and said nothing.
She decided it was best to just let it go. They rode in silence for the rest of the day, with Eod trotting ahead and scouting the path. When they came to the next field, she looked up and whistled.
The mountain at the middle of the island had looked a lot smaller from the back of Mordred’s iron dragon. Now that she saw it in full, it really was something. It looked like one of the mountains in the center of a tropical island—jagged but covered in greenery. A white cloud ringed the top. To say it was picturesque was to put it mildly. Something was swooping around the top—large enough to be seen, even at their distance. Two smaller creatures seemed to be chasing it off, like sparrows attacking a hawk. “What’s that?”
“Griffin,” Grinn replied like it was no big deal. “Probably getting into the roc nests.”
“Whoa.” She laughed. It was still wondrous to her, even if it was no skin off the demon’s back. “What’s a roc?”
“A giant eagle.”
“Cool.”
“Yes, until they come down and eat you. Let’s try not to stay out in the open for long. We can reach the wizard by sundown if we don’t stop.”
It was such a strange thought. If everything went the way Grinn wanted it to go, Gwen would be powerless and home before the morning. Or powerless and still in Avalon.
Her shoulders slumped. She suddenly wasn’t excited about the prospect. But she kept up with the demon all the same.
Maybe I can learn magic from the wizard. Become a sorceress or something.She smiled at the notion. That’d be fun. She could learn magic, try to apologize to Mordred and…probably wind up murdered.
She sighed.
“What now?” Grinn glanced at her.
“Nothing.”
“It is never ‘nothing’ with you. What?”
