The Demon King's Hero Of Light 11 Chapter 11 A Hot Bath

She nodded as the other counselors made their way over, past the settling dust and escorted her off the arena grounds. She walked with them surrounding her, through halls that she had never traveled before. Behind the counselors were the guards, and behind them, the still living opponents from the compet.i.tion. Her shoulder blades itched and she wondered which counselor was planning to stab her in the back.

Climbing the stairs that they came to; two large heavy doors were thrown open and she stepped out into the suns.h.i.+ne for the first time in over 6 years. Feeling the breeze on her face, she couldn't hold back the joy that bubbled up within her, and took off running, away from everyone. Shouts behind her were ignored as she jumped up onto a large boulder and looked out over the edge of a cliff at the surrounding countryside. It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her entire life.

"Aella, we need to get you to the castle so we can begin the coronation proceedings!" called one of the counselors below her.

"Let her be for a moment, Gugrith. The girl hasn't seen the outside since she was brought to us 5 years ago," said a different counselor.

"6 actually," said Gugrith, with a sigh. "She was one of the kids from that group that all died in the Race, Tezra."

"She's that survivor?" exclaimed a third counselor. "No wonder she did so well."

Aella ignored their chatter, looking over the view for a few more minutes. She knew that she needed to go attend to her duties, but her last fight was called off, so she could spend a few minutes enjoying her freedom from the h.e.l.lish underground fighting rings. Turning to them, they cut off their banter in mid-sentence.

"I have duties to attend to, but first, I want a bath and clean clothes!" she demanded, marching towards the enormous castle before her. She had seen it long ago, but from a distance. As she approached it now, its beauty and splendor were enough to take her breath away. Tall black spires rose high into the sky, letting out a bluish glow between them. Immense walkways traveled to the castle from the four cardinal directions, overshadowing a mult.i.tude of tiers of the vast city below them. In the distance she could see several other smaller towers that mimicked the main castle with their sharp spires rising into the sky as well.

The counselors, guards and other demons that had been following her, all parted to make way for her. Eyes were darting everywhere as they were all trying to size each other up, along with the situation. She knew it was only a matter of time before one of them decided to attack her, and she was waiting for it.

Firion stepped beside her, as she marched towards the castle, placing his hand on his sword sheath.

"I could kill you right now, and claim the throne for myself," he said as they walked.

"You could, but we both know you don't want to be the king."

"Really?" he asked, a bit surprised by her comment.

"You enjoy hurting people too much. The duties of being king would bore you, and you would just a.s.sign them to someone else. The job for you should be royal a.s.sa.s.sin. You would enjoy that, I think," she said, thoughtfully.

He walked beside her, stroking the handle of his sword as if the thought of being allowed to kill and hurt people greatly pleased him.

"You would let me hurt people?" he seemed very surprised that she would do that.

"Why not? If I have need of people being killed, why bother to do it myself when you would enjoy it so much? Besides, I will have so many things to do that will keep me busy, I probably won't have much time to do any killing myself," she said with a frown, playing up to his fantasy.

He nodded eagerly, and dropped back a couple of steps, allowing her to lead the way again. She wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to allow Firion to live, but she would need someone willing to kill people. From what she had learned over the years, this business of killing children had been going on for several dozen years, at least, and she fully intended to put a stop to it.

The counselors had rushed forward and were just now catching up to her.

"You need to come this way, Aella," said the one she recognized the voice of Tezra. She gave Aella a soft smile, showing her fangs, and directed her along a side path away from the main road to the castle.

Aella could see that this path would take her under the bridge, and she sighed again. No matter what it took, she was going to get more time outside after she was crowned king. Following Tezra, Aella studied the counselor more carefully. She sported black horns jutting out from her forehead, that blended in well with her black hair and carried down to her black shoulder spikes. The demoness couldn't be very old, as she flaunted her hips with each step.

"There will be a private bathing area for you to get cleaned up, and then you will be sized for the outfit to be crowned king in. It shouldn't take much time for the outfit to be resized to fit you, since some of us didn't think you would make it through the compet.i.tion."

Her smile conveyed the fact that while she liked Aella, many of the other counselors obviously did not. Aella wondered how long it would take Firion to find out which ones were behind the rigged elements of the compet.i.tion, and did not return her smile.

"So, the human's send heroes to kill the king every time one gets crowned? Right?" Aella asked, noting how easy it would be to access the tunnel they had entered just under the bridge, and how hard it would be to patrol the entire area. Who ever built the castle was focusing on beauty, not practicality.

"That's right," said the demon she recognized as Gugrith. He was an old demon, who seemed to nod a lot. His purple-grey hair attested to his age, and made his red horns stand out in stark contrast. She wondered if he used makeup to achieve the dark black rim around his eyes, or if that was just natural.

"You will be briefed on all of that as soon as you are crowned king," said a third counselor, with a bored tone.

Aella stopped, causing everyone to come to a cras.h.i.+ng halt to prevent running into her. Firion was glaring at the demon as if waiting for her to let go of his leash.

"What is your name, Counselor?" she asked, looking at his black hair and the black spikes that traveled down his spine.

"I am Zalgor," he said, obviously not amused at her behavior. His frown grew wider as she nodded to herself and started walking again.

"That's good to know, because I don't intend for you to live very long after I am crowned king."
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The demon choked in outrage as someone behind her snickered. She thought it was Frederik, but it could have been Firion.

"There are rules, girl, that you have to follow. You can't just start killing people left and right!"

She ignored him, knowing that she may not be able to kill him immediately, but there would be a time.

"This is the bathing room," said Tezra, not making eye contact with anyone as she stared at the floor. "We will wait for you here, in the antechamber, as you clean yourself. There is a circle over in that corner that will measure you for the tailor to finish your clothing. If you would stand in it long enough for the glow to fade, you would be free to bath at your leisure. Once you are done, you will find a robe to put on. We will then escort you to the rooms where you will be prepared for the ceremony."

Aella nodded, stepping into the room. Until she was crowned king, she didn't trust anyone.

"Frederik, I would have no one enter this room. Firion, if anyone tries, I give you permission to kill them, in whatever fas.h.i.+on you wish."

There were murmurs among those behind her, but she shut the door without addressing them. Glancing around she spotted the magical circle Tezra had mentioned, and began to pull off the tunic she had gotten from someone in the crowd. Dropping it to the floor, she removed her belt next, and tossed it onto a bench along one wall. The steaming waters called to her, and she eyed them longingly. It had been a long time since she had enjoyed a hot bath. Thoughts of the ones her father had prepared for her rose in her mind, and she tore her eyes away before they overwhelmed her.

The rest of her clothes were quickly stripped away as she stopped to examine the magical circle before her.

The circle seemed very simple. She read the inscription, written in runic demonic, very slowly. Her father had taught her to read this language, because he didn't want her to stumble into any magical traps once he was gone, but it had been a long time since she had to read it.

"Measurements for the new king, Length and width and height, Nothing that can be boring, Only inspiring at first sight!"

She nodded and stepped onto the circle. She didn't want to be tricked so soon after winning the compet.i.tion, yet she couldn't help but wonder where the trap was going to be. As a soft glow enveloped her, she felt hands touching every inch of her skin for only a moment, then the glow faded.

Stepping off of the circle, she studied it for a moment before deciding to overlook it. Since she didn't plan on there being a new king anytime soon, there was no reason to throw a fit and have it destroyed immediately. Stepping over to the hot water, she knew no one else was going to touch her like that ever again, without her permission.

Just as her foot was about to sink onto the first step of the pool, a smell reached her nose and she broke out in a grin. Someone had put poison into the water of her tub. This was going to be fun!

Making sure to wash every inch of her body thoroughly, making liberal use of the soft soap left laying next to the pool, she rose from the waters to find a soft black robe waiting on a shelf by the door she had entered. Since she knew that Frederik and Firion wouldn't let anyone into the room, it must have been there since the beginning.

Wrapping it around her, she opened the door, and took note of whose eyes widened first.