Saban
I slept fitfully that night, chained as I was. Fortunately, demons typically don't need much sleep. I awoke to the light of dawn.
Dawn. I knew what it was, thanks to memories of this world I had absorbed from the wizard when she had summoned me, and others I had received when I pledged to her. But a memory of what a thing was, from the point of view of someone use to such things, did not do justice to this... this... This explosion of color and light. And, apparently, it happened every day, along with a mirror image of it known as sunset.
Days were another thing I was not use to. A regular period of light, followed by dark, followed by more light. There was a rhythm to it, like music, so totally unlike the chaos of the demon realm, where a darkness as black as pitch might be broken suddenly by harsh, blinding light for no discernable reason. Not that light was terribly common in the demon realm. Mostly, things were pretty dim there. Dim, and cold, or harshly hot. It was a land of chaotic extremes, where no mortal could survive for long.
My thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of a bell. Its simple tune echoed throughout the room. I closed my eyes, savoring the sound. Music. Yet another thing I knew only from another's memory.
My captor stirred under the covers. Her eyes slid opened, and she yawned and stretched. As she sat up, the covers slid away to reveal her naked breasts. Naked, and oh so tender. I longed to rend them, to make her scream, and beg for mercy.
Her eyes met mine. She frowned. "Have you been staring at me all night?" she asked testily.
I couldn't answer, of course. I just smiled with my eyes, trying to unnerve her.
She snorted, unimpressed, and slid out of bed to begin her morning routine. Once she was washed and dressed, she lifted a key off her bedside table and unlocked my cage. Another key undid my bonds. Finally, she slid the gag out of my mouth.
I smiled. "Good morning, mistress," I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I trust you slept well?"
Then I doubled over in agony as she clenched her fist. I gritted my teeth, determined not to give her the satisfaction of hearing me scream.
"Once again," she told me, coolly, "I must remind you only to speak when spoken to. Now, clothe yourself. We must go down to breakfast."
As a greater demon, I was capable of materializing simple inanimate objects, as long as they were touching me. It wasn't a power I had used frequently. It took me a moment to remember how to do it, and then it took me several tries to find clothing she found suitable. In the end I wore tight black leather armor. As I was mostly immune to physical damage, there was no real point to it, but it seemed to make the wizard happy.
"You look good," she commented, a strange, almost hungry, look in her eyes. "Now, follow. Stay two paces behind me."
Anita
When I entered the great hall with my new demon, all of my fellow apprentices went quiet, and stared at me. I smiled. No longer would they consider me weak for not summoning. No longer-
A sixth level apprentice whistled. "What spell did you use? Summon eye candy?" She laughed, and her friends joined in, and then the rest of the hall.
"Lonely night?" another apprentice called.
"Nice ass!"
"Can I borrow him?"
"Want me to come by later, sweetheart?"
I ignored them, and stalked over to my usual table, where Marian was already seated. She was almost the only one not laughing. "Sit," I ordered the demon, pointing to a chair, and, silently, he sat. His eyes glowed red, and he glowered around the room. "Don't even think about it," I cautioned. "You know the rules." Although, with Trev, vibrating with mirth, nearby, it was tempting to make an exception.
Soon the talk returned to normal. I began to fill my plate from the dishes at the table. They had bacon today, and the cinnamon buns I favored. I began to feel better.
Marian laid her hand on my arm. "Is that a demon?" she asked, frowning.
"Yes. My new familiar," I told her, grabbing another cinnamon bun.
"Why?" she asked, still frowning. "I thought you hated demons."
"Things change," I told her, and then explained about the attack last night.
She whistled. "Wow. I never thought Trev would go that far. The Council of Masters has to listen to you about him now."
I sighed. "No, they don't. There is no evidence Trev was involved. Just Antona."
Her pretty forehead wrinkled in another frown. "Oh. That sucks." Her clouded eyes cleared, and she leaned forward eagerly. "I almost forgot! How did the date with you know who go?"
"Nonexistantly," I told her testily. "He dumped me."
Her blue eyes widened in shock. "What? Why?"
"I don't want to talk about it," I answered.
"But-"
"I said I don't want to talk about it!" I snapped. It still hurt, the idea that I was somehow too good for Zek. The last thing I wanted was for Marian to get it into her silly head that the same thing applied to our friendship. We were both wizards, but I was by far the more powerful of us two. Marian was the best healer the kingdom had seen for some time, but healing was the only thing she could really do, while complex healing was one of the few things I was incapable of.
"Ok. Is that why he," she said, gesturing to the demon, "Looks like such a stud?"
"No! Well, yes. Sort of." I sighed. "I was trying to set his form, and I kind of got distracted."
Marian giggled. I glared at her. "Don't you start," I warned her.
"Sorry," she said. "It's just that you don't lose control like that very often. It's kind of sweet that, even though he dumped you, you know who can still distract you to that level."
I sighed. "Sweet it may be, but it's also dangerous. Any loss of control is dangerous, especially when you're dealing with demons."
She shrugged, and smiled. "I forget, sometimes, that your magic is so much more dangerous than mine. I mean, if I lose control, the worst that might happen is I heal a bit more than I intended to, and get tired. If you lose control, you could kill someone. Especially now that you're controlling a demon."
I frowned at my familiar. He glared back at me hatefully. All this time, part of my attention had been on him, making sure that he didn't do anything other than what I had told him to do. Another part had been on the hall, alert for attack. The only time I ever really relaxed was when I was in my own rooms. Now I couldn't even relax there, unless the demon was chained up. I sighed. Sometimes I really wished I hadn't been born a wizard.
Marian had it easy. She had to be a bit wary, sometimes, but since she was no threat to anyone, everyone left her alone. It helped that they knew that, if they harmed her, they risked my wrath. The master wizards might also intervene for her where they would overlook harm to another, because she was such a good healer. The kingdom needed good healers much more than they needed powerfully dangerous wizards like me. Sometimes I was jealous of her safety, but, most of the time, I was glad. It meant that she retained her cheerful disposition and overall positive outlook. Unlike me.
Marian noticed me staring at my familiar. "Think he'd like a cinnamon bun?" she asked, eyes twinkling.
I sighed. "He's a demon, Marian. He doesn't need to eat."
"That doesn't mean he can't enjoy it." Before I could stop her, Marian handed the demon an apple. "Try that," she told him.
He looked down thoughtfully at the red fruit. Then, slowly, he took a bite. His eyes closed as he chewed, and he smiled.
Marian giggled. "He likes it!"
"Wonderful," I answered. Only one small corner of my attention was on my familiar and the apple. The rest was on the master wizard who had just entered the hall.
There were only 13 master wizards in the entire kingdom. Any 12th level journeyman who wanted the title could challenge one of the current masters for their position and duel with him or her, or wait for a master to retire, and duel other 12th level journeyman wizards to the death for the honor. There were seven masters in the castle now. The one who had just entered the hall was Yurial, an elderly man who was close to retirement. In fact, many thought he should have retired a while ago, when his eyesight had begun to fail him. No one who had dueled him thus far had managed to replace him, however, so he retained his title.
The hall had begun to quiet down as he entered, and was completely silent by the time he had made it to the podium at the front of the hall.
"I have a few announcements to make," said the elderly wizard, using magic to make his quavering voice audible to the entire hall. "Firstly, you may have noticed that one of your fellow apprentices, Antona Liris, is missing from this hall today. She was killed last night when she attacked the apprentice wizard Anita Kirith." He paused for the murmur that ran through the hall. From a nearby table, Trev glared daggers at me. I wondered why they had asked Yurial to make the announcement of her death. It seemed cruel. She had always been one of his special favorites.