Amadacia:

 

The road was open and clear for as far as his young eyes could see. Demus Nolorean had seen little of the road in his first 12 years of life except for the countryside around Amadacia. This morning would be the first that he would travel with intent to leave his native country. His mother sat at the front of the wagon already, her head held high though she wore the reeds of mourning still. His father had been dead two months and she had a hard time of it here, he knew. She was Domani and even when his father had lived he had heard men speak of what a Domani woman could do. The words were never spoken to his father's face, but there was never an attempt to hide them from his mother. Men that fought under his father, who respected and revered him, would say things to his mother that made him blush to think on it. With him dead, there was less to stop them, except a young boy with only his mother to comfort him in this world. Perhaps things might have been different if they had ever accepted his mother in Amadacia. She had tried to fit in, had tried to become everything that a wife of a Child of the Light should be, but she could never get rid of her walk, nor of the beauty in her face, nor the silkiness of her hair. It was his mother's love that made them hate her so and Demus was old enough to understand why she feared to remain in Amadacia any longer.

 

A man clapped his shoulder and Demus squinted as the sun blinded him, glaring off the bright breastplate on the man before him. "You're welcome to remain son. Your father was a good man. I'd be honored to take you in."

 

His father's best friend was a good man, if a little too straight laced and serious for Demus, but he meant it. He would take Demus in and help him as best he could amongst the Children of the Light. An honest offer and one that Demus had been expecting. He had thought long and hard about it after his father's death. If his mother wanted to stay in Amadacia he would have accepted but he wouldn't leave her now. She was all he had in the world and the Children of the Light were not enough on their own to keep him here. Although the common purpose and the disciplined lifestyle appealed to him, the hypocrisy of some of the officers made him all too aware of the frailties of such a brotherhood.

 

"Thank you sir, but my place is with my mother. She will need me in the days to come."

 

The man nodded. He had been a friend to her as well when it came right down to it and Demus thought perhaps she had meant a bit more but it wasn't something he could ask. "That she will. Take care of her and take care of yourself Demus. You always have a home here among the Children."

 

With a quick embrace, he was alone again. He took a deep breath and threw his pack up behind the front seat then joined his mother at the front of the wagon. "That's everything Mother." He said.

 

She looked back, her eyes clouded with emotion. He noted the way her eyes sought out her friend, then shied away quickly from it. "You are sure you want to leave Demus?" She asked again. "I know what he-"

 

"I am sure mother. We should leave now, before the day gets away from us. We have a long way to go before we find home again." Without waiting any further she started the horses on. Demus took one last look back at the people he had always called family and the place he had always called home, took a deep breath, then turned back to find his way to a new life.

Arad Doman:

 

There had never been a time in his life when Demus Nolorean felt more lost and yet more confident than he did tonight. His life was beginning to spin again, the way it had when his father had died 4 years ago, but this time he wasn’t a small frightened child. He was 16 and on the cusp of manhood now. He didn’t stand beside a group of men and wish he were a part of it all. No, he was a part of something else now, something darker and far more powerful even if he was on the outskirts of it. He felt his anger rushing again and took a deep breath to calm it. He needed calm tonight. He needed patience and all the things he had learned over the past 4 years on the streets in Arad Doman. He had learned thievery, had learned to play cons and to seduce the heart of his victims on his own selfish whims. He had learned patience and strength, humility and calm. Tonight he needed all those things.

 

Movement caught his eye and he watched as the middle aged woman walked out of the Inn and to a small house in the back. His home. At least, it had been his home for the past 4 years until his mother had died and the Innkeeper had dumped him out without so much as letting him pack their things up. The cook was younger and plumper than his mother had been but not near as good with the food. He had put on a disguise and walked in when the Innkeeper was out to market and tried it, just to see. That was when his plan had come into play. He could not blame her for her cooking, nor for taking the job of a dead woman. He could blame her for the jade bracelet that she wore, his mother’s bracelet that his father had given her years before.

 

She was in the house now and Demus moved silently across of rooftops and let himself down into the alley. It was a quick walk and he flipped the notch on the back fence that would allow him to enter easily. He listened to her as she moved around the house, waiting until she moved to the bedroom to perform her nightly ablutions. He stole into the house and pulled a small vial out, adding his poison to her nightly cup of tea then left without her noticing.

 

He was back to his rooftop within a few minutes as he waited for the woman to take her tea. When he was certain enough time had passed and no one had come by to ruin his plans, he made his way to the Inn. The Innkeeper was much the same as the new cook. He had a set pattern of things he did and Demus knew them well. Before bed he would have a night cap and he kept the bottle of his good brandy in a trunk in his room. Demus found his way back to the alley then found the window he was looking for. Climbing into the room he found it vacant. Not surprising since it was directly across from the Innkeeper’s and he kept the room vacant unless he had a full house. Demus left the room then knocked on the Innkeepers room. No answer. He smiled as he quickly picked the lock and found his way into the room. The brandy was even easier to access and he made quick use of the poison once again.

 

By the time the moon was high, both of his victims was truly dead and Demus felt his rage satisfied. The kitchen was empty that time of night and he was able to carry the Innkeeper out the back and into the small house. He dumped the man on the bed with the cook and smiled at his efforts. He’d pay for what he’d done and the woman had paid for her crimes as well. Let the world find them together and wonder what had happened that they died like that.

 

When morning came, it found Demus settling in for sleep. He was lost and unsure of his way these days. The Dark One was there and Dark Friends as well. He had never known what work he could perform for them but now he knew. He had killed and for a price, he knew he could kill again. With that thought in his head, he fell into peaceful sleep. His dreams were dark, his mother’s death destroying him night after night but it had changed slightly now and a smile crept on his face as he dreamed of the million deaths he would give to anyone that stood in his way