Jonis by Rowan Erlking (free children's online books txt) 📖

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Anything and everything can be altered with magic to suit a need.

The real question is, should you do it?”

 

 

 

 

 

“Where is this village? I don’t see anything but trees,” Corporal Wigg complained. For that matter, he had been complaining about everything since they left Ladis. That they had to go instead of the usual squad of privates… That they had to walk instead of taking a military issue automobile… That they had basic rations for food that morning… That there were too many bugs in the air… That his shoes pinched…. His spoiled city upbringing was obvious.

“That is because it is the country!” Corporal Higges bit back.

He had been irritable the entire day. No one knew the exact reason. The stocky man never explained himself. And Jonis did not venture a guess, though Lieutenant Gillway hinted that it might be because he hated Corporal Wigg, and everyone else in their regiment.

“Quiet you two!” shouted back Lieutenant Pratch. “We don’t need the whole world to hear you.”

They knew what his problem was. He hated leaving the city. In fact, the lean foppish man hated leaving his bed also. The captain had flat out called Lt. Pratch lazy, and the captain had planned on demoting him, until this came up.

Corporal Pegsley said nothing. In fact, he was trying his hardest not to run back to the city from fear. How Pegsley the Pimple got accepted into the Brein Amon army at all was a mystery. His family was not influential. A scrawny-looking tall man that hunched when he walked, and he was the biggest coward in the entire regiment. That did not come out much at all until they had to deal with demons. And, of course, Jonis scared him the most. Luckily it was Lt. Gillway that was in charge of the operation.

“Ok men, listen up,” Lt. Gillway said after glancing at his map. “The village is just down that road beyond those apple trees. We need to enter with the decorum of the Brein Amon army. That means knock off the bickering and complaining. Cap. Powal sent us to do a job, and we are going to do it right.”

“But what if a worm tries to inhabit our bodies?” Cpl. Pegsley whimpered.

Jonis moaned.

Lt. Gillway glared at Cpl. Pegsley, reaching into his collar. “You are already wearing a demon chain. You have already eaten an entire clove of garlic, and you have all the necessary tools to defeat a worm. What is your problem?”

“He’s a wimp.” Cpl. Higges snorted, tromping by.

Drawing in a deep breath, Lt. Gillway closed his eyes. “Try to be a team, would you please?”

“What for?” Lt. Pratch growled, stomping up to him. “The captain sent us out here to get rid of us. Isn’t it obvious? Here I am, in the middle of nowhere walking with Lieutenant Gamble-me, Mr. I-hate-everybody, Corporal Coddle-me, Pimple, and the demon boy. We have been sent into darkness to die.”

Jonis rolled his eyes and turned around. He had been walking at the head of the group with Lt. Gillway, but now everyone was lagging behind. “Well, if that’s how you are taking it, Lieutenant, then can I go on by myself with the other four? You can stay in the darkness and mope by yourself.”

“That is insubordination!” Lt. Pratch snapped, towering over Jonis with another stomp of his boots.

“No, that is pretty much on the mark,” Lt. Gillway said with a tilt of his head.

Both men glared at one another.

“I…I don’t want to die,” Cpl. Pegsley said, slumping more.

Peering at him, nonplussed, Jonis replied, “We are all going to die sometime. Don’t you think that at least we should be doing good when it happens?”

“What he means, demon boy, is that he doesn’t want to die today,” Cpl. Higges snapped, peering at him with contempt.

Jonis turned to look at him. “No kidding? And I thought he meant he wanted to live forever. Of course, he means he doesn’t want to die today! But are we going to just stand here and let others die today and not do anything?”

“Sounds good to me,” Cpl. Wigg said from the tail end of the group, prepared to walk back to Ladis right then.

Letting out a frustrated groan, Jonis grabbed Lt. Gillway’s arm and dragged him toward the village. “Forget them! Let’s go in there and handle the demon worms ourselves. We can do it. And if they are caught here alone and unprotected by some Gole, it won’t be my fault.”

Normally Lt. Gillway would have considered Jonis’s actions rash and insubordinate. But as he glanced back at the other men, he saw that the horror of being left behind in a dangerous wood without the protecting presence of the Cordril sunk in under their skin, stirring up gooseflesh all over their arms. They looked at one another for just a brief second. The next second they chased after Jonis and Lt. Gillway. Only when Jonis and the lieutenant reached the gates of the village did the others entirely catch up.

Jonis gave the lieutenant one sly smirk before playing it straight-faced again. “Now, let’s find the village patriarch.”

Lt. Gillway had to smother a laugh.

 

The village square was littered with red paper. They could see that firecrackers had been set off, the usual procedures for warding off a Gole—but not effective for driving away most other demons. Ash and black burns dotted the gravel paths. Besides that, the square was entirely empty.

“Where is everyone?” Cpl. Pegsley’s voice trembled. His eyes darted here and there at the shadows, looking for anything that could jump out at them at any minute.

“Dead and gone,” Cpl. Wigg said, nodding grimly at the charred spots on the ground.

“No.” Jonis sniffed, drawing in a deep breath. “The air is not so foul as it was in the city. In fact, I smell garlic brewing.”

“Smells like soup,” Lt. Pratch said, nodding.

They approached where the smell was coming from.

The main hall was made entirely of wood. It had an old fashioned set of sliding doors, the kind that Jonis’s village had abandoned when technology reached there. This place was almost untouched by Sky Children, it seemed. The roofs were still made of wood or thatch. All the windows were opaque paper or frosted glass. Overhead, they saw carved awnings with old demon wards on them, still effective for keeping away certain demons, though not effective on others.

Jonis walked up to the steps and rapped on the door.

“Hold it. That’s my job,” Lt. Gillway said. He pulled Jonis behind him. Calling out, the lieutenant listened for voices and foot falls on the wood floor. “Hello? Is anyone in there?”

“Are you demon or man?” answered him in a booming base, almost promptly.

Jonis knew these were the beginnings of a protecting spell. He smiled.

The lieutenant shrugged and said, “I am a man. We have a Cordril with us though, and some may call him demon.”

The door slid open at once. An impressively large man stood tall in the doorway, hefting an axe in his hands. He glared at the soldier then looked right past to Jonis. His glare had changed to curiosity. “You tell the truth.”

Bowing politely, the lieutenant said, “I am Lieutenant Gillway. This is my team of demon hunters. We were sent from Ladis to deal with any worms in the countryside.”

The man with the axe nodded his head slowly. “Yes…. A magister came to help us with that. Unfortunately, as he was checking out one man in a demon circle he made, he was overcome and now the demon is stuck waiting for you.” He looked directly at Jonis. “There are others that are infected, but we do not know how to administer a cure. We have confined them instead.”

Jonis cleared his throat. “Um, Lieutenant, if I may speak?”

Sighing, Lt. Gillway stepped aside.

The man with the axe followed Jonis with his eyes as the boy came up the first step.

Jonis said with a respectful bow, “Have you burned the dead?”

The man shook his head. “No. Must we?”

Jonis nodded. “Of course. The worms lay eggs in the bodies.”

“We’ll do that at once,” the man said waving over to another man in the room to join him at the door. Jonis saw that they were administering the soup they had smelled to all the people. “What else does a Cordril have to suggest?”

Glancing at Lt. Gillway, Jonis said, “Well, I suggest we deal with the infected that can still roam free. Where are they?”

Pain was in the man’s eyes. He looked over at a building just off the square that was sealed with red paper and a spell. Jonis nodded at it, knowing that would also work as well as a demon circle.

“My brother came back with a worm inside of him from your city,” the man said.

Jonis blinked, staring at the tense brow on this man’s face.

“I knew something was wrong when I saw those yellow eyes. I had sent for a magister right away, but it was too late for him. That worm infected another of my men and left my brother for dead.” The man glared at the ground. “I was there when we buried him. His wife was inconsolable for weeks. And then one day, she just stopped crying, acting as if life was just fine. Then she had yellow eyes, and so did many of her children.”

The soldiers with Jonis glanced at one another, looking very uneasy. Cpl. Pegsley’s knuckles has gone white, his trembling hands on his sword hilt as he glanced back at the village gate longingly.

“Is the entire family sealed in their home?” Jonis asked.

The man nodded, still staring at the ground.

“Some of the children might be saved,” Jonis said.

“What?” Lt. Pratch snapped. “But you told us that if a worm enters the body, that’s it. He’s dead.”

“Yes,” Jonis snapped back at him. “But most grown worms don’t fit into infants. They aren’t stupid. They can’t inhabit some bodies. Most of that family I’d say is gone, but if her youngest were infants, I’d say they have either died of—”

“We took the babies away from her,” the man with the axe said.

Jonis sighed with relief. “Good.”

“They are fine,” the man said.

“Great.” Jonis turned and peered at the sealed house. “So what is your trouble? You have them contained. I suggest you burn all the graves so the worm eggs die, Let us deal with the presently inhabited people.”

“And what do you suggest we do about that?” the man said.

Lt. Gillway, slapped a hand on Jonis’s mouth, speaking for him because he knew what Jonis would say would not be taken well. “There are two ways. The first may satisfy people to see the worms so that it does not feel like we are killing the people, but that is a little sloppy and dangerous. The other—well, it is unpleasant to hear, but it works and is much easier.”

“Let’s take the easy route,” Cpl. Pegsley said with a vigorous nod. “I don’t want to confront another live worm, thank you.”

“Wimp,” Cpl. Higges hissed over his shoulder.

“I agree with Pegsley,” Cpl. Wigg said, looking just as uneasy with the confrontation.

“It isn’t up to us,” Jonis said irritably, pulling away from Lt. Gillway who started to look a little faint from having his bare hand on Jonis’s mouth. “It is up to the village patriarch. What would he wish for us to do?”

“Are you all right?” Lt. Pratch leaned over in a whisper to Lt. Gillway.

“I’m fine,” Lt. Gillway said, glancing appreciatively at Jonis for noticing his oversight. He looked up once more at the man with the axe. “What do you say?”

“Does the easy route consist of burning down the home with the family in it?” the man with the axe asked.

Jonis nodded sadly.

“Yes,” Lt. Gillway answered. “And it will not sound pretty. They make a lot of noise when they die.”

“Do it.” The man with the axe turned away, going back inside. “I don’t want anyone inhabiting that house again. It would