Witch Your Tongue, Demon! - 1. Witch Your Tongue, Demon!

The conjurer Druella lit the final black candle and set it on the edge of the circle. She inspected the runes, scribed in white chalk, one final time before turning to the ancient tome in her hands. The leather-bound book held many dark secrets which had aided her quest for power over life and death, though lately a thorn had pierced her side and nearly driven her mad.

Several miles away lived a powerful witch, Priscilla the Wise. They had met in battle several times, and though Druella had youth and talent on her side, she remained no match for Priscilla’s experience. But she’d come across a beautiful summoning spell several days ago, as if fortune had finally smiled upon her. The wind had turned a page in the same tome she now held, and the moonlight struck the words in just the right way to reveal the name of a powerful demon she could summon for aid.

Since discovering the name, she’d spent her time gathering each of the ingredients she needed, and now had everything in place. A brazier full of glowing coals sat in the center of the chalk rune circle, an assortment of wild herbs burning atop the coals and filling her cabin with their incense. Five candles stood on the points of the pentagram which surrounded the rune circle, adding to the glow of the coals, the smoke wafting up from their wicks to twirl mysteriously toward the brazier.

The ritual could begin at any time now, and Druella sneered at the thought of Priscilla lying in a pool of blood, torn apart by the claws of a vicious demon. Then Druella would have complete dominion over the nearby lands, and none could stand against her. With a final review of the spell, making sure everything was in its proper place, Druella placed the tome at her feet and began the ritual.

She raised her hands high above her head, connecting her mind to the sky above as surely as her feet connected to the earth below. In this moment she became one with everything, and could call upon the primal forces around her to summon the demon from the nearby plane where it resided. Lifting her voice high, she reached into the ether with her mind and began the summoning. “By the power of Earth and Sky, the fire in my soul, the wind in my breath, and the water in my blood, I call upon you, Klovax, demon of fang and fire! Come to me and do my bidding!”

The remaining traces of herbs atop the coals incinerated in the intense flames which roared high within the brazier. The flames grew tall enough to singe the ceiling of her cabin, piercing through the hole in the roof she’d added to let the smoke out during her rituals. Reveling in the awesome power of the flames, Druella leaned forward, watching in ecstasy as she witnessed the beginning of her reign coming to fruition.

A black, clawed hand reached through the flames, parting them as if they were curtains, pulling the rest of its black-scaled body forward. The demon was smaller than Druella had imagined, but it made up for its size with its fearsome appearance. It moved with feline grace, despite sharing more characteristics with a reptile than a cat. It had two arms and two legs, both ending in wickedly sharp claws, black and dull as the midnight sky against the inky sheen of the scales. As it pulled itself further forward and up, standing on the edges of the brazier, it revealed its large bat-like wings, unfurling them and flinging embers to the edge of the rune circle. A spiked tail flicked out through the flames, lifting up and pointing around the room as if it had a mind of its own, then curled around the demon’s left foot, twitching slightly. The most fearsome feature of the demon was its horned head, two large horns pointing straight back from its temples, with rows of smaller spikes trailing down beneath them. A thick, bony plate with ridges of small spikes sat between the horns and above the eyes, a pair of glowing red embers which locked onto Druella.

The flames died as quickly as they arose, and the demon assumed a more relaxed stance. Druella cackled at the anticipation of what this beast could do for her, and opened her mouth to command it to kill Priscilla, but the demon spoke first. It leaned toward her and growled, showing a mouth full of sharp teeth which framed its forked tongue. “What do you want?” it asked, clearly more annoyed than awed by the witch in front of it.

Druella balked at the demon’s attitude. Such disrespect from her minion could not be tolerated. “Excuse me!?” she roared.

“I said, ‘what do you want?’,” the demon replied, then lifted its left hand in front of its face as if inspecting its claws for maintenance. “You called at a very bad time.”

“You’re a demon,” Druella said, her tone disbelieving at first, but her wrath grew with each succeeding sentence. “You answer to me. I cast the spell. I inscribed the runes. I built that circle which keeps you here. I spoke your true name! I command you!”

The demon snorted and the corners of its mouth turned upward. Druella didn’t expect to see a sneer on such an inhuman creature, but she felt the contempt behind the expression, and knew it for what it was. “Funny how you seem so bad at it, then,” the demon taunted.

“Now you listen to me, imp—”

“I’m listening,” the demon interrupted.

“Good, now—”

“Okay, done listening, now,” the demon interrupted again. “So, what do you want?”

Druella sucked in her breath. Demons were notoriously tricky, and she needed to remain calm or she’d lose control of this situation. In a calm but barely contained tone she said, “I’m going to tell you.”

“Then get on with it, witch!” the demon replied, throwing its clawed hand up in the air. “I don’t have all day.”

“Are you always this petulant?” Druella growled.

The demon met her question with a blank stare and asked, “Didn’t you have something you wanted to tell me?”

“You’re supposed to listen to me.”

“Who says?”

“I said so.”

The demon sighed and shook its head. “You never said that I was supposed to; you just commanded me to. And I did listen. I listened and then stopped listening. You’re going to have to be much more specific. By the way, you’re running out of time.”

Druella recoiled from that statement. “What do you mean, ‘I’m running out of time’?”

“Another question?” the demon asked. “Didn’t you say you had something to tell me?”

“Answer the question,” Druella growled.

“Yes.”

“Yes? That doesn’t answer the question!”

The demon shrugged. “Sure it does.”

“What do you mean, ‘I’m running out of time’?”

“Oh, did you mean that question?”

“Yes. I did.”

The demon laughed. “I thought you meant the question about my petulance. My mistake. I’m sorry.”

“You are infuriating me!” Druella roared.

“Good. I’ve done my job then,” the demon said, and then turned around and pantomimed opening a set of curtains as it had with the fire before. Afraid the demon really might be leaving somehow, Druella hastened to keep it here.

“No!” she yelled. The sudden sound startled the demon, and it stumbled forward, kicking out with its legs for purchase and knocking the brazier over. The coals spilled across the wooden floor of the cabin. At first Druella feared they’d set the floor alight, but to her surprise, the coals appeared completely dead, their heat spent.

The demon’s wings caught it and guided it safely to the floor, landing behind the tipped brazier. He looked at her curiously, as if wondering once again what she could possibly want with him, and Druella sighed in frustration. This ritual was much more complicated than she’d accounted for. When it seemed the demon had settled, she started from the beginning again. “If you’re quite done messing around, I have a different job for you.”

“Oh? Could we get on with it then?” the demon asked. “I’d really rather be somewhere else.”

Druella’s eyes narrowed. “You are not going anywhere.”

“I’m not? So the job you have for me is here, in this room, with you?” the demon asked. It looked down at the spilled coals and then back up at Druella. “Do you want me to sweep this tiny circle?”

“No,” Druella said through gritted teeth. “I want you to kill someone for me.”

“Oh . . .” the demon replied thoughtfully. Then it glanced around its surroundings again before looking at Druella like she was crazy. “In this tiny circle?”

“No! I want you to kill my enemy! The hexwitch Priscilla!” Druella screamed.

“Are you Priscilla?” the demon asked.

Druella whimpered in frustration. “Why would I hire you to kill me?”

“You’re the only one in this room. Wait . . .” The demon paused and leaned forward, eyes wide while asking hesitantly, “am I Priscilla?”

“You’re an imp, and you will answer to me!” Druella commanded.

The demon stood up straight and saluted Druella. “I will. Every time you say something, I will answer.”

“Good, now—”

“Yes, Mistress!” the demon interrupted.

“Excellent, we’re—”

“Yes, Mistress!” the demon interrupted.

“Wait, let me—”

“Yes, Mistress!” the demon interrupted.

Druella screamed, a screeching sound which echoed off the walls and made the demon cringe. “Stop that!” she roared when the scream had dissipated.

“Stop what?” the demon asked.

“Stop speaking,” Druella said. She met the demon’s gaze and asked. “Do you understand me?”

The demon remained silent.

“Well?” Druella asked. The demon continued its silence and Druella trembled with rage until she commanded, “Answer the question!”

“No, I do not understand you,” the demon replied, shaking its head.

“What? It was a simple command!”

“Yes, it was, but then you asked me a question right after and I couldn’t answer, because you told me not to speak. You don’t make any sense at all, Priscilla.”

“I am not Priscilla!” Druella screamed.

“Then tell me where she is, so I can get to her. I told you, I’m on a time limit here.”

Druella shook her head in dismay. “Tell me what this time limit is.”

“Three minutes,” the demon answered simply.

“You can’t get to Priscilla in three minutes! Why do you have this time limit?”

“All demons have expiration dates. Didn’t you read the label?” Druella raised an eyebrow, and the demon smacked its right palm into the bony plate above its eyes. “Shit! Wrong century . . ..”

Druella threw her hands up in the air, then bent to pick up the tome at her feet. She began flipping through the tome, moving beyond the page which held the demon’s name. “That’s it, I’ve had it. I’ll just summon a different demon.”

The demon clicked twice with its forked tongue and said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“Why?” Druella asked with a bored tone without looking up from the tome.

“They can’t be trusted. They like to play games,” the demon replied. “Wicked little games.”

Druella glanced up from the tome and gave the demon an exasperated look. “You’ve been playing games with me this whole time. How can it be any different?”

The demon raised its hands up in surrender and chuckled. “All right, I’ll cut you a deal, Ms. Priscilla.”

“I am not Priscilla. Stop calling me that!”

“Okay, Ms. P . . .” the demon said, grinning. “Can I call you Ms. P?”

Druella closed the tome and tucked it under her arm, staring at the demon. “What is your deal, imp?”

“Tell me where I can find Priscilla, and a witch will die today by your will,” the demon said, shrugging. “You summoned me, after all, and it’s time I fulfil my end of the bargain. You can’t blame me for having a little fun, can you? I am an imp, after all. We’re notoriously mischievous. All you have to do is let me out of this little circle. It’s what you called me here for, isn’t it?”

“Yes! Finally!” Druella said, setting the tome down on the table behind her. “It’s about time.”

“I’m glad we agree,” the demon replied, bowing humbly. “Now, where is Priscilla?”

“In a cave above Lake Luna,” Druella explained, sighing in relief. She would finally have her revenge on Priscilla. She’d won the battle of wills, and now the demon would obey. All it took was the threat to unsummon it.

“Excellent,” the demon replied. “Now, simply remove the runes, and I’ll do as you commanded me.”

Druella nodded and knelt down at the edge of the rune circle and brushed away some of the chalk, breaking the circle and freeing the demon from the confined space. The demon stood in front of her, stretching as it sneered at her.

“Why are you not leaving?” Druella asked, frowning. She watched its eyes as it stood its ground, barely a foot away from her.

“I have already completed my tasks, witch. I listened when you said to listen. I stayed when you told me to stay. I answered when you demanded an answer. I was silent when you asked for silence. And,” the demon paused with a wicked glint in its eye, “I stopped calling you Priscilla.”

“I told you, I’m not—” The sentence would never be completed by Druella, as the demon’s long tail wrapped around the unsuspecting witch’s throat, spikes grinding into her flesh as the tail tightened, cutting off her air.

“No, you’re not,” the demon finished for her as her life faded from her eyes. “But the real Priscilla summoned me last week and said I only had a week to kill you. I nearly ran out of time, since it’s hard for a demon to get so close to a witch, but since you were stupid enough to summon me after I placed the spell under your nose . . ..” It tightened its tail one last time as Druella expired, her body falling limp in the demon’s grasp. With a lighthearted cackle, the demon released the body to drop heavily to the floor.

“She never learned to keep a cool head,” an aged female voice said from the doorway of the small hut. A wizened old woman with a black cloak and shawl stood in the doorway, leaning into a knotted staff of dark wood. She stared down at the dead witch with an expression of pure contempt.

“Clearly not,” the demon replied, shaking its head in dismay. “I’d have thought a witch would know how to command, but it seems she was a poor player. A pity, I rather liked Ms. P.”

“You are free to roam, imp,” the old crone said, waving away invisible chains which held the demon bound to her will. “You have done as you promised, and our deal is fulfilled.”

“As I was bidden,” the demon replied, bowing humbly out of respect for a skilled player of the demon game. “Until you call upon me again, Wise One.”

The demon disappeared from sight, traveling through the ether to terrorize some new land and new people with its mischief, leaving the old woman alone with the corpse of her young and inexperienced foe. “Pitiful wench,” she muttered. “Do you not know that when dealing with demons, you must learn to play the game by their wicked rules?”