Chapter 16: The Secret of the Scroll

Dulheim

         May’s lids were getting heavier as sun rays were making her feel blissfully warm and relaxed, the voices of Erik and the little Laismarans were like a lullaby to her. She barely noticed when Aedain left the children in water with Erik and got to the shore. The melody of splashing water and joyful laughter brought May to the verge of a dream – she swayed, falling asleep.

         “Woman.” May woke up instantly, startled by Aedain’s deep voice.

         She rubbed her eyes and inwardly cursed the demon for interrupting her nap. May furrowed her brows and closed her eyes again as she decided to ignore Aedain, until she heard him call her by her name. For god’s sake! If he called Baltar by his name, why would he keep addressing her as a ‘woman’? May heard an annoyed growling behind her when Aedain began to lose his patience.

         “Woman!” he repeated, his voice showing anger. May trembled slightly, but didn’t change her mind. She would just ignore him, the way he did it to her most of the time.

         Then, she felt a pressure against her back and lost balance, falling of the nice, big, warm rock she was napping on. Aedain shoved her into the river, and May landed in the shallow water. She got her head over the surface quickly, coughing and trying to get rid of the water she drank. May cursed loudly, pissed off at a demon, who just kicked her into the river. She got up slowly, soaking with water; her damp hair plastered to the face. She turned around to grace that bastard Aedain with the most elaborate insults she could think of, but stopped in mid sentence. May felt her blood rushing to her face.

         In front of her stood the black-haired demon, dressed only in his pants and the knee-high leather boots. His hair, usually gathered into a ponytail, now were let loose, falling on his back and reaching the waist, plastered to his wet torso. May felt her jaw dropping and blushed, as she looked on the half-naked man. And it was a sight to behold. She found herself admiring his astoundingly toned muscles – a perfection in every inch. May could feel her heart pound faster at the sight of demon’s demon's demon's naked torso – in her short life she haven’t really had a chance to look at many men’s bare chests and Aedain was undoubtedly the most attractive man she ever saw. And would see, probably, because he happened to be the one who planned to murder her sometime soon. May knew perfectly that he was her captor and the evil bastard, who was about to wipe out the entire humanity, but it was difficult for her to tear her eyes off him and ignore the sound of the blood crazily rushing through her veins.

         She looked elsewhere, but as soon as Aedain saw her attention to divert from him, he began to emit a low growling noise in his throat. May looked back at him and noticed that he was glaring at her, as though he wanted something from her.

         “Quit idling around and keep your eye on the children,” Aedain ordered and turned about.

         May clenched her fists so hard that the knuckles turned white. She didn’t know if she was shaking from cold or from anger at Aedain’s rudeness – probably both.

         “I needed some rest. I’m not your slave!” May hissed through the clenched teeth, clumsily crawling out of the river.

         Aedain looked at her over his shoulder with a dangerous glint in his eye.

         “I am in charge here. You will obey me,” he said with a smug grin and was on his way.

         May felt that Aedain just crossed the line and exceeded the limit to her patience. How dare he? She wouldn’t let him treat her like property! Without thinking much, or rather without thinking at all, she picked up a stone, a larger one, and narrowed her eyes, aiming.

         “I hate you!” she shouted and threw the stone at Aedain with all her force, fueled by anger and general frustration.

         She expected the demon to dodge or catch it, given his unnatural reflexes. To her surprise, the stone actually hit him squarely in the back of his head.

         “Damn,” May cursed, panicked. He’d kill her for sure for this.

         Aedain slowly turned around and glared at her. His eyes were expressionless as he started stalking towards her. She glanced nervously to the sides, looking for a possible escape route, but he appeared right in front of her in a heartbeat, using his demonic speed. May yelped, frightened, as her eyes met his intimidating glare. In a desperate attempt to get herself away from him, she pulled herself back, forgetting, that there was the river behind her. Accidentally, she stepped on something slippery and felt herself losing her balance. As she was falling back, she grabbed the first thing she could, to prevent the fall. However, she went down, while clutching Aedain’s black strands, pulling the startled demon along with her.

         “Ouch!” May whimpered, as her body made contact with the stony riverbed. She yelped again, when something heavy crashed into her, pining her to the ground. May lifted her head above the water level and opened her eyes, blinking, as her face was wet once more. At first, she saw only a lot of something black around her. Her body stiffened, as the certain something, which was sprawled atop of her, began shifting.

         “On no,” she whispered, as she realized to whom belonged the black strands that were clinging to her wet skin. More, there was a half-naked man laying on top of her! May’s ears instantly flamed with embarrassment as her heart sped up. She felt like she was about to burn alive there from shame.

         Aedain pulled himself a little up, supporting his weight on his arms and brought his face closer to May’s. She flinched, noticing, that his eyes glowered dangerously. She wanted to apologize, explain herself, but she couldn’t stop her lips from trembling; she was terribly conscious of the red shade upon her face right now. May froze with fear, when she saw Aedain smiling wickedly, showing his teeth. The man was truly terrifying when he was smiling like that.

         “May!” She stiffened and felt the demon doing the same, as they heard Erik’s voice. The boy swam closer to the shore, accompanied by his two new companions – the mermaid girl and her baby brother. Erik was staring with curiosity while the Laismaran girl reacted instantly, covering her sibling’s eyes.

         May’s eyes widened and her face burned from embarrassment when she realized the position, she was in. Apparently, Aedain did as well. The demon abruptly pulled himself to the sitting position, yanking May up and hurriedly got away from her, as though she was poisonous.

         Erik’s eyes were wandering from May to Aedain.

         “What were you two doing?” he questioned, his voice almost too innocent.

         Aedain wasn’t answering for a while. He stood up, still silent. May decided to break the uncomfortable silence.

         “You see, Erik, I tripped and Aedain was helping me… his eyes followed the demon, who was already walking away, although escaping would be a better word to describe his behavior.

         “Sure…” Erik said, a smug face on his face. The boy’s face suddenly lightened when an idea popped into his head. He left his Laismaran companions and got closer to May so that he could whisper into her ear.

         “May, I have a plan,” Erik said quietly. “You could seduce Aedain and…”

         “I can hear that, boy!” Aedain interrupted Erik. The boy yelped, realizing that he forgot the dragons’ excellent hearing.

         “I liked that plan though.” Baltar voiced his opinion. “Aedain, why did you cut in? I wanted to hear the details.”

         Aedain didn’t bother to come up with a verbal retort and simply kicked his companion, sending him at a nearest rock.

         Aedain rested on a stone. The demon huffed, irritated. His wet hair was gluing to his bare skin. He frowned. At least, his armor and the rest of the clothes were dry.

         His eyes followed the idiot woman called May as she left the riverbank, water dripping off her soaked clothing. The demon couldn’t help but notice that her wet sleeveless dress clung to her body. It exposed her tempting shapes, when she climbed on her toes to hang the laundry, she just did. Aedain thought that because of her feisty temper and defiant altitude, he didn’t really realize how small she was. She could be mistaken for a child if not her womanly curves. The demon wondered, how clueless could she possibly be, to wander around in such an improper attire, especially in the company of men.

         Aedain kept observing May roam through traveling bags attached to Meirch’s saddle, searching for something. When she was doing it, the wet strands of her short hair were brushing against her shoulders and drawing Aedain’s attention to her neck, the very same delicate neck he wanted to snap several times. She had a unique talent of making him lose control, never showed him any respect. On the other hand, Aedain not once encountered a woman who had enough courage to speak up to him or throw a rock at him…

         “Looks something caught your eye.”

         Aedain flinched hearing Baltar’s voice. The black-haired demon scowled as his companion casually seated himself beside Aedain. Baltar flashed him an annoyingly satisfied knowing grin.

         “She’s quite pretty,” the bald muscled demon said quietly, apparently taunting Aedain.

         “She is a human, you idiot” the long-haired man retorted angrily.

         “She’s still pretty and you were staring at her.” Baltar didn’t intend to drop the topic.

         Aedain glared at his companion threateningly.

         “Cut your stupidity or I will murder you. And I will enjoy it greatly,” he growled.

         Baltar shrugged his shoulders, amused smile still on his lips. After a while, he went serious as something crossed his mind.

         “Those lizard bastards we met, they mentioned that someone much more powerful is after the Spear. Can’t lie, it bothers me.” The demon’s fingers wandered to his goatee.

         “I never knew you were so easy to scare,” Aedain said with a mocking smile on his lips. “There is only a handful of Laismarans who could match me in strength. If it comes to a fight, I will crush them without a thought.”

         Baltar sighed.

         “You’re probably right. You’re strong, Aedain,” the bald Laismaran warrior admitted. “But there always could be a stronger one.”

         May looked around, checking what Aedain and the rest were doing. Baltar seemed to use the opportunity to take a nap, snoring loudly. Meirch calmly devoured leaves from a nearby tree. Erik was building fire while Aedain, thankfully now dressed in his black tunic, was busy as well in the company of the Laismaran children.

         “You will depart at dawn and head east,” Aedain was telling the mermaid girl. “Remember to avoid humans.”

         May glanced at the demon one last time and made her way toward Meirch’s saddle, slowly, so as not to raise any suspicions. Before she had jumped into the water with the demon baby, she had managed to hide the scroll from Lavena’s tower under Meirch’s saddle. May’s forehead was sweating and fingers quivering a bit when she was retrieving a piece of paper from between the saddle and the saddlecloth. She pulled it carefully, afraid to tear the paper. Once she had the scroll in her hand, May hurriedly slid it under her dress.     She stood up and looked at Aedain, who was currently drawing a map on the ground, showing the mermaid children the route. May began walking toward the forest.

         “Where are you going, woman?” May stiffened, hearing Aedain’s voice. She tried to calm herself and not to show that she was almost caught red-handed. She turned around and forced her lips to twist in a light smile.

         “I just wanted to… you know what people do in the bushes.” May tried looking as innocent as ever.

         Aedain was studying her face for a while, before giving her a permission.

         “Do not wander off far,” the demon said dismissive. May gave him a small smile and nodded, before venturing into the forest.

         She got away from the camp as far as possible, but not so much to alert Aedain. Hastily, she took the scroll out and unrolled it. The original was written in Laismaran tongue, so May didn’t even bother to look at it. Her moves impatient, she crouched and straightened the translation scroll on her lap. It was a moment of truth – maybe this piece of paper parchment contained the knowledge necessary to get home, but it was also possible it was useless.

         “Here goes nothing,” May muttered and began reading Lavena’s scroll.

         The first long paragraphs dealt with history of portals. May learnt that they were created by Laismaran sorcerers and used by them to contact Earth’s inhabitants. It seemed that many of Laismarans traveled to the other side and decided to stay there. May furrowed her brows, coming to a conclusion, that all the fantastic legends about monsters like werewolves, Nessie or dragons actually could have been true at some point – those mythical creatures were none other than an alien race from this place. Then May read that the portals were taken over by the gael, the strangers, who came from the sea nine centuries ago. The scroll described the invading humans as a race that had been encountered before in most foreign places called Connacht, Bayern or Pomorze. Fearing that the gateways to another world would bring some unknown danger to Kal Laismarr, the humans destroyed nearly all the portals save two – Baigh Riada and Uaimth Dorchadais.

         “What?” May whispered as she read the name of the place Aedain was searching all along. She doubted that he had a slightest clue that he was looking for an ancient portal.

         May scratched her head, thinking that the name Baigh Riada seemed awfully familiar too. Where did she hear that words? Then it dawned on her – Baigh Riada was the Laismaran term for the Riada Swamp, the place where the witch Lavena lived. Was one of the portals there?

         With more optimism, May began skimming over the scroll. She glanced at a sketch map showing where the portals were located – one was indeed in the Riada Swamp whereas the other one was hidden in the south part of the Bradan Mountains. After the history part and the map, the semi-scientific explanation followed, describing magic that could tear a hold in the fabric of universe and reach out to another dimension through a barrier called the Veil. The descriptions of spells and forces at work were confusing and just as understandable for a layman like May as quantum physics.

         The girl felt overwhelmed by the amount of text she didn’t understand at all, and she felt relieved when she finally got to the part where everything was fairly clear to her.

         “There are two portals left in the world,” May read. The scroll explained that the gateways to the other world could be opened only during short time, according to certain unique astronomical phenomena, like eclipses or arrivals of comets. Uaimth Dorchadais was supposed to open solely on the night when the eclipse of the two moons took place, every century, whereas Baigh Riada could be passed through when a bright-red  star called “The Messenger” appeared in the middle of constellation referred to as the Table. May furrowed her brows, remembering this particular group of stars – the constellation stood out as it consisted of four bright dots in the sky aligned in a perfect square. From what was written on the scroll the Messenger appeared in the night sky every three hundred years.

         May sighed heavily, feeling disheartened by the news – it seemed that Uaimth Dorchadais was her only chance and there were still months left until the eclipse. Such a long period… she shook her head, chasing the nostalgic thoughts of home and her family away. What mattered, was the fact that she had the door to Earth.

         However, the following paragraphs betrayed that the right time wasn’t enough for the portals to open. First, a person familiar with magical arts would have to perform a ritual, weaving all the correct spells and then a gateway needed a Key to open.

         “Key,” May whispered and smiled to herself. She had the Key already – it was safe on Erik’s neck. Her smile grew, as a plan was coming together: she planned on escaping with Erik anyway; she could find that witch Lavena and have her recite the incantations. Even if Lavena didn’t know the ritual, everything was described right there, in the scroll. It was miraculous; thanks to Aedain May obtained all the information and means to travel home.

         The girl rolled the scroll and hid it beneath her dress. Feeling hope fill her heart again, she made her way to the camp, ready to plot her escape in the due time.

         “Took you long enough,” Aedain greeted May with a scowl on his face, but she only smiled apologetically and approached the campfire, where Erik was baking some meat.

         “When you were in the forest, I caught a pig,” the boy boasted.

         May furrowed her brows, looking at Erik’s trophy.

         “Looks like a dog to me,” she said, making the boy pout.

         “It was a wild pig,” he insisted. “It was a small one though.”

         May ruffled Erik’s blonde hair, chuckling.

         “If you say so, snips. You’re an amazing hunter, aren’t you?” she said to the child, making him beam with pride. Erik nodded and straightened his back, before returning to watching the meat bake.

         May was about to talk to Erik some more, but she felt that someone was watching her, and it was a very creepy sensation. She didn’t have to turn around to know that Aedain was glaring at her.

         “You seem to be in a good mood,” Aedain stated the fact.

         May glanced at the demon and shrugged her shoulders.

         “Well, I’ve rested a bit. I suppose it made me less grumpy,” she replied, trying to sound casual. However, Aedain’s wary look began making May feel endangered – the demon was staring at her as though he wanted to read her mind.

         “You are too happy,” Aedain said, making a step toward the girl. “Did something happen in the forest?”

         May gulped, terrified of the demon’s insight. She had no clue that he was paying that much attention to her behavior.

         “Nothing in particular,” May replied a bit too quickly. Trying to be discreet, she wiped her sweating palms in her dress. Gathering all her courage, she looked straight into Aedain’s eyes. “You didn’t sense anyone else in the vicinity, right?”

         Aedain didn’t reply for a moment, studying May’s face.

         “I did not,” he said slowly and began approaching May. “However, you are hiding something from me.”

         “I’m not,” May answered, forcing herself to stand still. If she took a step back, she would land in the campfire, and if she tried to flee it would give her secret away for sure. Despite her all efforts, May’s body shivered slightly when Aedain closed the distance between them. She flinched as the demon grabbed her wrist and pulled it closer to himself, touching her hand with his calloused fingers.

         “Look at that, your palm is sweating,” Aedain said, his voice getting colder.

         May gulped, feeling her knees go soft from fear.

         “It’s just hot,” she said, but Aedain didn’t look convinced. When May yanked her arm, he didn’t let go off her wrist, as though he expected her to try running away.

         “Really?” Aedain muttered. His gaze lingered for a while on May’s green eyes before traveling lower. It stopped on an odd bulge in her dress. May sucked in a breath, realizing that he noticed the scroll. Aedain smirked triumphantly. “Show me what you have hidden there.”

         May clenched her teeth, her knees buckling uncontrollably. She couldn’t let Aedain see the scroll. She couldn’t.

         “Fine,” May said firmly and reached to her cleavage. Once her fingers touched the rustling paper, they ceased to shake. May grabbed the priceless scroll and swiftly pulled it out of its hiding place between her breasts. Aedain smiled smugly, but his grin faded once he saw that instead of handing the scroll to him, May threw it straight into the campfire.

         The flames quickly engulfed the dry paper. Aedain dashed forward and took a hold of the scroll, but when he pulled it out of the fire, it fell to ashes. The demon growled as he glanced at the tiny piece of paper which he salvaged.

         “Uaimth Dorchadais will open when the shadow of Kal Laismarr is cast on the both moons, that are aligned. This happens only…” Aedain read aloud the sole salvaged part of Laismaran original scroll and crushed it in his palm. His hand began trembling. May tried backing away from the demon, but he was still holding her wrist. When Aedain looked at her, her heart stopped. She never saw him looking at her with such an enraged face. He seemed even more angered than in the morning, when he was humans about to murder Laismaran children.

         “You had the scroll about Uaimth Dorchadais,” Aedain said quietly, glaring at May. “You did not show it to me, you lying woman!”

         The girl flinched as she never heard Aedain yell before. She was scared out of her wits, but she decided not to let the demon terrorize her.

         “Of course I didn’t. We’re not exactly friends, you know,” May retorted. She winced when Aedain’s grip on her wrist got stronger. Suddenly, Aedain let go off her forearm and grabbed a handful of her hair, making her look up at his face. He was holding May’s tresses firmly, but not in a painful way. He snatched her shoulder using his other hand, holding her still. May tried to free herself, but Aedain didn’t release her. He pulled her to him and brought his face closer to hers, leaning over her. The startled girl opened her eyes wider and stared at the menacing demon.

         “I think I will kill you earlier than planned,” Aedain hissed.

 May stopped struggling as her frightened look on her face vanished, when desperation and unexpected courage filled her heart. Not showing any more fear, May looked Aedain in the eye confidently.

         “Fine! Kill the only person who read the scroll and knows where your precious Uaimth Dorchadais is. By all means, go ahead!” she screamed into his face.

The demon froze, expecting May rather to beg for her life. May felt the hold on her hair lessen as Aedain’s fingers flexed. As she expected, Aedain became intrigued. Instantly, he released her from his grip, and curiosity lit his golden eyes. It was obvious that he desired the power of that weapon above everything else.

         “Woman, tell me where Uaimth Dorchadais is,” the demon commanded harshly.

         May hesitated for a moment.

         “Speak, woman,” Aedain hurried her.

          “My name is May,” May reminded the demon.

         “Woman,” Aedain said, warning in his voice, as he sent May his intimidating glare.

         May looked back at him fearlessly; however, on the inside she felt like pissing herself from fear. If Aedain found out, that she was planning on misleading him…

         “Woman won’t tell you a thing about your precious Uaimth Dorchadais,” she said stubbornly, placing her hands on the hips, trying to appear confident. “However, May could.”

         Aedain apparently wasn’t in the mood to play May’s petty games. Without prior warning, he snatched her neck. He didn’t apply any pressure, but the trembling girl was aware, that he could crush her windpipe every moment. He brought his face closer to hers.

         “If you are smart, you will tell me now,” he said quietly, letting her feel his breath against her cheek.

         “Dulgard, the ruins of Dulgard,” May told him quickly, recalling some random name of an abandoned fortress in Dulheim Dukedom, she read about in one of the books back at Thoen Stronghold.

         “Are you certain?” Aedain asked, furrowing his brows.

         May gulped and nodded eagerly, praying that he’d take his hand off her throat at last. Aedain finally pulled himself from her and released her from his grip. His fingers slid over May’s neck, and his hand rested on her shoulder.

         “Good choice, May,” Aedain said, removing his hand from the girl’s shoulder. “If I find out you lied to me, I will kill you.”

         “I know,” May whispered.

         Aedain sent her one last glance before leaving to consult with his comrade. The commotion woke Baltar up. The massive bald demon smiled with relief.

         “It looks, we have destination now,” he said. “If we shift shape to our original forms we should be there before the sunset.”

         Aedain shook his head.

         “No, we cannot afford to alert every Laismaran and sorcerer in a radius of miles, Baltar. If we changed shapes, we would only attract unwanted attention to Uaimth Dorchadais. We have been careless enough lately.” Aedain said, deep in thought.

         Baltar didn’t look particularly happy with the idea. The demon sighed heavily and laid back on the grass.

         “But it will take three days!” he whined childishly.

         Aedain crossed his arms on his chest and rolled his eyes, annoyed by Baltar’s antics.

         “Who cares? We still have almost a year left until we can open it,” the long-haired demon muttered. Then his attention shifted to May and Erik. “Eat your meal and go to sleep, I want to head out at dawn.”