Chapter 1 - The Execution

Corym had no fear of the creature's inhuman strength, but words had power, and Corym had no experience dealing with wizardry. But honor demanded that he allow last words to the condemned, and he judged even a demon was worthy of an honorable demise. Corym would not stain his dignity for the likes of this. He cast a wary glance behind him, to the guards who were spread out in a semi-circle. Each man stood in the moonlight and the wedge of shadow in which Corym and the stranger stood penetrated like a knife thrust into their midst.

Then the voice of the demon boomed out of that black helm and he saw his men tense, almost quail at the ominous depths of that voice. Like a rumbling of boulders or a bull moose's call from deep in the woods it sounded. Strange, foreign... inhuman.

"Thou art no enemy of mine, axeman." It spoke in its bass thrumming voice. The words too, echoed down the corridors of time. Corym understood them well enough, but they were wrong, old. Like the ancient foundations of this plaza where they now stood, those words too hearkened back to the days of myth. No man alive spoke that way.

Again that voice rumbled forth. "I am no demon. Thou need not fear me. Unchain me and I will be away. I have done no harm to thy people. My quest is no concern of man."

"Fear you!" Corym laughed as he swung his axe before him. "Do I look to fear you, creature, I with an axe and you, chained?" He slid his eyes to the side, finding the guardsmen who bound the stranger.

"Rodryk! Did you find this demon in our holy city?"

"Aye, lord." A distant voice called from the behind.

"And did he run when called upon?"

"Aye, he tried to climb yonder tower, the God's Tower. Erikine caught him with our hook and pulled him down. Three times the height of a man, he fell. Yet still he broke free to climb again." Rodryk fell silent as Corym turned back to the black-clad figure.

A step closer Corym came, his axe raised, poised to strike. "Go gently to your demise and I offer you a quick and painless death." He saw the creature strain at his bonds, the chain quivering under the pressure, and sensed it would not be so. "But resist and your last memories of this world will be pain. The choice is yours to make."

The creature seemed to calm. "Do thy work, axeman." He rumbled. He knelt, his neck positioned squarely above the metal ring atop the iron stake. He was on his knees and his hands were pressed to the ground on either side of the stake. He became utterly still, silent.

Slowly, warily, Corym circled to the side of the stranger. He was surprised a creature that fought so ferociously to escape capture would turn meek in his final moment. Perhaps, thought Corym, he knew the inevitable and would leave this world with honor. He looked above. The moon was almost completely behind the tower now, and high flying clouds raced across the sky. In the courtyard however, all was still. Even the circle of guards had fallen quiet. Corym raised his axe high above his head and it caught a moon's ray with a steely glint. He had promised a smooth kill and he would give one. The axe swung above them, hung in the air, then dropped.

In a flash the stranger, the demon, moved with a quickness to match, even to beat that of the descending axe blade.