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Chapter 32

Before I can react the harpy is flying at me with a loud screech causing all those nearby to cover their ears. I barely manage to duck out of the way of the first attack she has aimed at my head. Baring my fangs fully in a snarl, I draw my sword before throwing the sheath to land at my grandfather's feet while gripping the hilt of my sword tight in my right paw.

I watch as the harpy circles around near the ceiling before she starts diving towards me again. With a flick of my wrist I parry her blade hard enough to send her sprawling to the ground in a pile of feathers as her small sword goes spinning across the floor. As she gets back to her feet, her hawk-like eyes filled with fury, she spits in my direction, "You foul lizard! I will have you beg for your life before I rip that ugly head from your neck!"

With that she began to grow in size as a second pair of wings sprouts from her back below the first pair. Her head becomes a grotesque mix of woman and bird of prey with a half formed beak in place of a mouth and nose. Her taloned hands grow longer and scaly as she nears my height.

In response I unfurl my wings out behind me causing bystanders to step even farther back as the full width of my wings is revealed to be more than twice that of the harpy's. With a screech almost too loud for my hearing she runs at me swiping her talons with furious speed. Moving quickly I dodge and duck each blow blocking only when necessary, but never giving an inch of ground which only serves to infuriate her more. On one wild attack from her left talon I misjudge her reach, and it nearly costs me dearly.

My eyes go wide as the center talon reaches out and makes contact with my face just above my right eye and traces a path straight down. Pain flares out as the skin above and below my eye is ripped open and I lose vision in my right eye as blood begins to flow freely.

Howling in pain I jerk back and instinctively place my left paw over my injured eye only to pull it back covered in my black blood. Through the blood haze taking over my mind I hear a collective gasp come from around me. I focus my good eye on the harpy who is snickering in glee as she licks the blood from her talon, "Your blood tastes good, little lizard. I will enjoy tasting more."

As rage boils up from deep within me the world slows down around me as a voice from deep in my mind growls with a barely contained fury, 'Let me help guide your fury and strength!'

Without resisting the sudden force within me my arms begin to move both with and against my will in a strange sensation which was both alien yet familiar. Growling in rage I launch my first attack against the harpy. The speed and force of my blows quickly drives the gloating look from the demoness's eyes to be quickly replaced first by concern then by fear.

My blood boils as my remaining vision starts to turn red. I attack with speed and fury using both my sword and claws. Each strike has my claws coming back with feathers while my blade soon has the green slime of her blood on it. In one fierce strike with my left hand I manage to leave three deep gashes in her rib cage which causes her to drop her guard on her right side as she cries out. Seeing the opportunity I feel my right arm swinging my blade in an upwards arc along her injured side.

There are two brief moments of resistance before my blade rises through the air followed quickly by the loudest of shrieks yet as both wings on the right side of harpies body go spinning through the air in a spray of green blood. Before they fall to the ground I move behind the wailing harpy grabbing the back of her feathered head forcing her to her knees as I pull backwards while my blade swings down aimed at her now exposed throat.

"ENOUGH!"

My blade freezes mid-air a hair's width from slitting the feathered throat open. The single word command echoes around the room having frozen the entire room. Slowly, through my panting breaths the red fades from my vision as my good eye turns to find my grandfather standing before his throne. Slowly he steps down from the throne till he is standing before me with his hand outstretched, "Give me your blade."

For a moment I remained frozen in place before I slowly hand over my blade to my grandfather. As he takes my blade he examines it with a stern eye before wiping the gore off of it onto the arm of the harpy still wailing in my grasp. He looks at me with a hint of pride in his gaze, "You did well defending yourself against her. Though you have much still to learn about your own strength. You could have easily beaten her in the first blow had you chosen."

He looks down at the quivering harpy still kneeling in the pool of blood flowing from her missing wings, "Let this be a lesson to all of you. Never judge the strength of a demon based on what you see before you. Least of all the strength of one of my grandchildren."

As his words spread through the hall every voice that had started to murmur grew instantly silent again, even the harpy's wailing stopped as she stared open-mouthed at my grandfather. His gaze slowly lowered back down to meet hers, "Now what to do with you... You had claimed the right of vengeance from a perceived insult from one you considered a lesser. However, as all can see, this demon is clearly not your lesser in any form. He is, in fact, your better. He even went so far as to ignore the insults YOU gave to HIM."

The harpy queen's eyes go wide as she tries to shift her gaze up to me only to see my snarling bleeding face glaring down at her. I watch through my half-vision as blood from my injured right eye drips down onto her face leaving a black stain in her feathers where it begins flowing down her face.

Ignoring her new whimpers of pain Tribus continues, "We can all see who the stronger demon clearly is. As far as I am concerned the challenge has been answered to my satisfaction."

He offers my sword back to me which I slowly take. Turning from me he returns to his throne and sits down before saying, "Do with her as you wish. She is beaten, and her challenge now nullified."

The harpy's eyes go wide in terror as I lower my blade back to her neck before lowering my head so that my muzzle was as close to her ear as I could manage before I growled out, "Leave my presence now and never enter it again without my request. If you do so I will rip YOUR head from its neck before mounting it on MY wall and feeding your corpse to the beasts of the shadows."

With a quick motion I cut a mark on her face with my blade before releasing my grip on her head causing her to fall to the floor. Stepping over her body I move to stand before my grandfather standing as tall as I can manage before saying, "I have no need to continue dealing with such a lesser. Let the harpy find her new place in the world."

I can hear her scramble and whimper as she begins trying to make her way from the hall. The shuffling of feet and claws tells me that the crowd is parting to let her pass through uninterrupted. My grandfather watches her leave over my shoulder before he turns his gaze to me and says, "Before we were all... entertained, I believe that you were awaiting your own chance to address me were you not?"

I nod, "I was my Lord. I came to request a private audience to seek advice and answers."

The crowd gasps as whispers and murmurs spread like fire. My grandfather watches me for a long moment as I feel the blood run down my face and drip on the floor. Slowly he takes a deep breath before saying, "You make a bold request. One I would normally dismiss out of hand. But considering I know you would never make any request of me, let alone one so serious.... I will grant it."

He stands and addresses the crowd as the murmurs grow louder, "Today's court will be cut short as the business my grandson has brought to me is of great importance to me. All here now will have their matters attended to first at the next gathering before all others, on this you have my word as Lord of this realm. If any have issues which are time sensitive before that date leave your name as you leave, and we will do our best to address your issues in a timely manner."

We stood there staring at each other in silence as the great hall is slowly emptied to the sound of a great number of grumbling demons. Eventually the last footsteps echo as the doors slam shut. For a moment longer we stand there watching each other as the only sound between us is the slow dripping of blood falling from my face.

Eventually Tribus stands up and moves down to my level pulling a cloth from a pocket in his long coat, "Here put this over your eye. I don't need you bleeding out from a harpy scratch."

I take the cloth and press it to my right eye trying to wipe as much blood from my face as I can. When I pull the cloth away it's stained with my blood but I can see some light and shadow out of my right eye, "Thank you, grandfather."

He nods before he gently takes my chin in his hand and turns my face, so he can study my eye, "You will likely have a nice scar there now, but I don't think any permanent damage was done to your eye. Though your grandmother will probably want you to keep it bandaged for a few days to be safe."

At his words I notice that her throne next to his has been sitting empty all this time, "Where is grandma anyway? Doesn't she attend court with you?"

He waves a hand dismissively saying, "Your grandmother has no taste for these demon matters, nor do I to be honest, so she is in her training grounds messing with that new litter of pups she has."

His gaze grows more stern as he looks back at me, "But you didn't come here to ask about her did you?"

Shaking my head I look down to the sheath for my sword. As I bend over to pick it up I say, "No, Sir, I didn't. Something has recently occurred that is far beyond my ability to understand, and you were the only being I could think of who might know what is going on."

His eyebrows raise up as he leans forward in his seat, "Something beyond your ability to understand? I know you're young still for demons, but your education, while interrupted, was still among the best that our kind can get. Nothing should be beyond your ability to understand."

Swallowing hard I press forward, "Lord Tribus, have you ever encountered a being able to see your true face, no matter which form you took?"

For a long moment he stares at me with a confused expression before asking, "What do you mean?"

Letting out a sigh I try to explain, "Recently I have come into contact with an individual who was able to perceive my demonic form, as you see me now, while I was in my wolf form. This person was also able to see Ranger, the hellhound Grandma gave me, while he was cloaked."

My words cause his eyes to go wider than I have ever seen as his mouth parts open slightly. For a long moment he stares at me before saying, "What you say is impossible Ebony. No being that I am aware of can see a hellhound when they are cloaked. If you know what you're looking for you can see the imprint they leave on the ground, that must be what you're seeing them do."

I shake my head slowly before saying, "No, Sir, they reached out at thin air and grabbed hold of Ranger while he was invisible, not just once but many times. They were even trying to grab at both mine and Ranger's horns while we were shifted out of our demonic forms."

Tribus leans back in his throne as he rubs his chin with a hand lost in thought. Eventually he focused his attention back to me and says, "Ebony, if what you're telling me is true, and I hope that it isn't, then things are moving in a way that could be very dangerous for all of us, demons and mortals alike. I think it is time we had the chat I said we should have last time you were here. There are things you need to know..."

Soft footsteps echo through the hall followed quickly by a feminine voice, "Tribus, dear, is court over already? I thought you would be tied up the next couple days with all... Ebony! Is that you?"

I turn to see my grandmother coming from the side entrance to the hall and smile at her, "Hello, Grandma."

Celeste lets out an excited squeak before she hurries over to me and wraps her arms as far around me as she can, "Oh, Ebony, it's so good to see you! We didn't think you would come back for some time."

She pulls back and looks up at me and her face grows dark, "What on earth happened to your eye?"

I open my mouth to try and explain when Tribus interrupts me, "He called Belthanas a vulture."

Celeste looks from me to my grandfather and back before saying, "Well why did you do that? You know how easy harpies are to anger." She turns her gaze on Tribus, "And you allowed her to just attack our grandson without provocation?"

Tribus waves a hand in the air, "She used her request to ask for retribution by combat. I had little choice in the matter."

Celeste places her paws on her hips and gives him one of the most bone chilling glares I've ever seen, "Tribus, you know damn well you could have refused her request. Ebony is part of our family whether or not he has been here in centuries. Your protection still applied."

I can see him visibly strain under the glare as even the mighty demon lord is being brought to heel by his small wife, "Celeste, she is only a harpy, mid-tier demon at best. You know that Ebony was more than capable of beating her, and he did, rather soundly I might add."

She lets out a loud huff before turning back to me and pulling another rag out of her pockets while grabbing my lower right horn and dragging my face down to her level. As she works on cleaning my face she asks, "And just how badly did you beat her?"

I give a small shrug, "I cut off two of her wings, scarred her face, and told her to never get caught in my presence again, or I would rip her head off."

Celeste pulls back a second and looks me in the eye, "So you didn't kill her then?"

Shaking my head slowly, "No, Grandma, just maimed her. Even though her calling me a dumb lizard did get on my nerves a bit."

She stops her wiping of my face and asks, "She called you a what? Is that old bat blind or something, you're clearly more wolf than anything. I will just have to set her straight next week during our canasta tournament."

I raise my left eyebrow and look over at my grandfather who just rolls his eyes and looks away, "Don't ask. I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out your grandmother's social life."

Celeste lets out an unladylike snort saying, "Not all of us have to solve problems with fire and brimstone you know. Belthanas may be a royal bitch of a vulture, but she is still a damn good card player."

She finishes cleaning my face and eye up leaving my vision a fair bit clearer though objects are still a bit blurry. With a grunt of irritation she reaches down and tears a strip of cloth off bottom hem of the tattered shirt she is wearing and starts tying it around my eye in a makeshift patch, "Now Ebby hun, when you get home promise me you will keep this bandaged up for at least three days. You may have enhanced healing like the rest of us, but harpy claws are no joke."

Sighing I nod to my grandmother, "Yes, Grandma, I promise."

She smiles up at me before placing a small kiss on my nose, "That's a good boy." Turning she makes her way to her throne beside Tribus and continues, "Now what is it that has brought you back here so soon?"

Glancing at my grandfather I start my story again, "Like I was telling Grandfather, I have recently met an individual who can see demons and hellhounds in their natural forms even while they are disguised or cloaked."

Celeste's reaction is much like grandfather's was, "But honey that's impossible no mortal could do such a thing, and no demon that I know of can. You must be mistaken."

Before I can reply Tribus answers in a dark voice, "I'm afraid he's not dear."

Celeste and I both turn to look at him as he continues, "It's true that no one has had that ability before that we are aware of, but what Ebony has described fits with a passage in the book he left with me."

My eyes narrow as I ask, "What passage? I don't remember anything in there about something like this."

He gives me a humorless smile before he says, "You wouldn't have, not without the first two pages. When you have the complete text several passages change their meanings, some in very drastic ways. But the passage I am referring to says something along the lines of, 'A child born of snow and flower will see the truth through all forms. Born of one raised by another trained by a third, he will help bind all worlds as part of the three.'"

I just stare at my grandfather for a time before saying, "You think this person could be the one from the book?"

Tribus scratches his chin for a moment before saying, "I think it is a possibility. Being able to see both your true form and that of your hellhounds would fit with seeing the truth in all forms."

I start to pace back and forth in front of my grandparents, "But they were not born of snow and flowers, unless you count being born in winter or..."

I freeze mid-step as my eyes go wide, "Or born from a mother white as snow named for a flower....."

Tribus and Celeste both stiffen in their seats at my words as Celeste asks, "What did you say?"

I turn to look at them both fighting back a small welling of panic, "The person is a wolf cub, less than a month old now. His fur is white as snow just as his mothers is, and she was named for a flower."

Tribus stands and pulls out an amulet from his pocket. It is a small black figure of a dragon wound around a blood red gem hanging from a gold chain, "Ebony, I think we should go and meet this child. This amulet will allow you to open a portal from here back to your home any time you wish. I think we need to have a talk with this cub's parents."

I stare at the amulet then at my grandfather, and a deep suspicion crosses my mind as I take a step back, "With all due respect Lord Tribus, my trust in you and your intentions towards those I care about is tenuous at best, and you're asking me to take you to my home, amongst my pack, and put you in arms reach of my godson who has no defense against you?"

The words had all tumbled out of my mouth before I ever realized it. As soon as what I had said fully entered my own mind it was far too late to undo the damage I had done. My good eye goes wide as it flickers back and forth between my grandparents. Both of them share looks of surprise at what I had just said.