Page 9 of Daemon Master

When Adrian spotted a bored-looking watcher leaning against a storefront, he hesitated before hurrying past. He’d had plenty of time to think through his next steps on the walk back andwas no longer so certain he should go straight to the Watcher Division.

For one, most of the watchers—thanks largely to Seymour’s influence—looked down on him. They thought the son of two fallen heroes should be, well…better. Even if Adrian secretly agreed, their disdain made them too likely to dismiss him. Spirits above, he’d lived through the events of the last couple hours and evenhebarely believed everything he’d seen.

That left reporting the threat directly to Arbiter Janice. She’d been kind, if pitying, that morning when she told him to come to her with any problems. Being hunted by a murderous daemon over a dead man’s secrets seemed to qualify. Letherrally the Watcher Division.

He passed the turnoff for the cozy home he’d inherited from his parents and glanced yearningly down the narrow street. The previous arbiter had allowed him to remain there after they passed, getting by on a combination of charity and odd jobs around town while he completed his education. It had become a sort of sanctuary for him even after his falling out with Seymour—the last surviving piece of his old life with his parents. What he wouldn’t give to lock himself away from the world there now for a few hours and freshen up after his adventure.

But as much as he longed to decompress or read through Crastley’s journal, he didn’t dare delay—not with Heartrender walking unbonded at his side and Shadowlash and its hypothetical master still out there. Best to meet with Arbiter Janice and sort this matter out as quickly as he could before he suffered another attack.

The steps of the Serene Hall proved blessedly devoid of watchers this time. Its polished stone façade stretched overhead, comforting in its solidity. He shuffled outside the entryway and glanced at Heartrender. Just because the daemon had cooperated so far didn’t mean it would continue to do so. Nomatter its odd behavior, it was still a wild beast. It would be prudent to restrain it with a bondstone before he entered.

Heartrender’s eyes narrowed, its expression turning reproachful.

Adrian gulped and looked away. He knew he was only projecting his own emotions onto the creature, but, well…Heartrenderhadsaved him, when he wasn’t certain many other people in this town would’ve bothered.

“Don’t make me regret this,” he muttered as he started up the narrow steps.

Heartrender followed, mewling softly with what might’ve been reassurance.

Scribes perused endless stacks of documents while their daemons ambled among rows of desks. At first, Adrian thought little had changed since this morning beyond the shift in the sun’s angle through the windows. Then, he glimpsed a commotion off to one side. Curious, he edged closer.

A cluster of daemon masters huddled with their charges. Aether surged around them, flowing into strewn-about materials. Arbiter Janice presided over the entire affair with a watchful eye.

It took Adrian a few moments to realize they were forging new tools. A reptilian daemon with six legs and a forked tongue breathed fire onto hunks of raw metal placed in basins. Another daemon, this one lumpy like a boulder, grasped the pliable metal in its four hands, twisting it into crude pots, axe heads, and a dozen other implements. It then handed these off to a bird-like daemon with an abnormally long neck that shaped its aether into gusts of cooling wind.

Still more daemons supported the process in their own ways. Among these, he spied the Arbiter’s humanoid daemon using its spindly fingers to warp wooden lengths into tool handles. The results of their collective craftsmanship lacked the finesse of trueartisans, but the aether invested in their creation would leave the tools more than sturdy enough to get the job done.

Usually, it filled him with optimism to see daemons use their techniques to build rather than destroy. Today, however, every flash of aether reminded him of Shadowlash’s writhing tentacles.

Adrian elected to wait rather than disturbing the Arbiter. He wanted her in the best mood possible when he asked for her help. Eventually, she noticed him standing there and walked over.

“Catcher Adrian,” she said in greeting. “I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon.”

He bowed deeply. “Please, pardon the interruption, Arbiter. If you have a moment, there’s an urgent matter I wish to bring to your attention. May we speak in your office?”

Arbiter Janice studied him with a slight frown. He resisted the urge to shuffle his feet. At last, she nodded. “Of course. I am here to serve.”

She recalled her daemon and led him to her office, ushering him into the chair set before her desk. Settling into her own seat, she regarded him with a calm air that lent him strength. Shut off from the rest of the world, he felt like he could finally breathe again.

Arbiter Janice steepled her fingers. “Tell me what happened and what I can do to help.”

Gripping the arms of his chair for support, Adrian launched into an explanation of his day, beginning with Seymour’s command to investigate Old Man Crastley’s cabin. When he got to his first sighting of Shadowlash, the Arbiter’s eyes widened.

She made him describe the daemon in exacting detail three times before, face pale, she finally said, “I see” and gestured for him to continue. He understood her reaction—a wild daemon that powerful near Hillvale was a disaster waiting to happen.

He recounted Shadowlash’s inexplicable retreat and his discovery of the entrance to Crastley’s underground lab—relived the sheer terror of Shadowlash’s return. Arbiter Janice’s startled gaze flicked to Heartrender when he described the hidden compartment. Until then, the feline daemon had remained unnoticed at his feet, curled into a tight ball. As if sensing the Arbiter’s scrutiny, Heartrender opened its trio of eyes and blinked. Its long tail swished lazily.

“You say it’sstillunbonded?” the Arbiter asked softly.

Wincing, he nodded and braced himself for a lecture about the responsible management of savage monsters. However, the Arbiter merely furrowed her brow.

“Fascinating. It’s unlike any daemon I’ve ever seen.”

He gave a vigorous nod. “That’s why I couldn’t bring myself to use a bondstone. It seemed worse somehow than pacifying a regular daemon. Well, that and the fact that it saved my life.”

The Arbiter raised an eyebrow. “Saved your life?”

Adrian concluded his tale with his mad dash up the stairs back to that deathtrap of a bridge. After he’d recounted Trailseeker’s last stand and Heartrender’s clever deception, he fell silent. The Arbiter’s reaction was impossible to gauge, though he thought her face paler than before.