The Demon King of the Desert

Chapter 23

His heart raced in his chest, the devil's tail thrashing from side to side as the moon blooded the sky all around them.

Belmertoh gazed out the carriage window at the sky now filled with madness. "This is why I insisted on transportation beyond just your wings, my Lord." His tone was a bit steady. He as well doing his best to ignore the rising urge to become territorial. "Both of us wouldn't be able to hold our ground in such a time."

Jaldabaoth counted his blessing that he didn't have anything to prove against the tailor. It still made him uneasy. "Taking to the sky would have allowed us both to cover more ground."

"At the risk of you fighting everything along the way, I would say this will make do for the night," Belmertoh insisted, narrowing his eyes.

Still, the instinct was there. "Perhaps if I hunt for something... That will quell my urge and also, I can offer it as a gift to my lady to be."

A sigh was stifled from the fellow demon, his eyes peering beyond the veil that attempted to cover the windows of the carriage to see where they were. "If you wish to, your Majesty, we can stop here. Perhaps you can hunt in this area? It is the Jungle Knoll, to my knowledge. At least, it was back in my time when I would gather different pigments around here for dyes."

It was a vast and thick jungle that was given its name because of the many hills that decorated the landscape. It was an ideal place for hunters. Not many humans recommended this part of the forest unless you were courageous. You never knew if you were the hunter or the hunted till it was too late.

The hooves of the hellsteed halted, allowing Jaldabaoth and the tailor to depart from the carriage. The wings of the false king spawned from his back, tearing ruthlessly through the blooded night before he took to the sky to follow the scent of game not far away.

Belmertoh expelled a sigh, one mixed with emotions as he witnessed Jaldabaoth fly into the night. His ear twitched, taking in the sounds around him before he turned to the noise emanating behind him.

But he was not afraid.

Even if it was The Night of the Hunt for demons, he knew what was around him.

Jaldabaoth was gone for quite some time.

It had been so long, that Belmertoh thought for sure he had possibly gone drunk on the thrill of the hunt. However, the silhouette of the demon king was soon coated by the moon's glow. The moment he landed, the devil showed the carcass of a lapowa—a creature nearly the size and shape of a horse that had four sets of horns atop its head with a longer neck and legs compared to that of an equine—slung upon his shoulders.

The tailor appeared as though he wished to say something, but he stopped himself. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he hummed in thought. "Where exactly do you plan on keeping that so it doesn't spoil along our ride?"

"Then perhaps it will be a strong enough incentive to find her faster," Jaldabaoth insisted, dropping the body of the beast in the back seat of the carriage.

Belmertoh sighed, shaking his head. "None of us are miracle workers, my Lord." Heading back inside of the carriage behind the king, he took his seat away from the meat—as tantalizing as it was. "Afraid even my sense of smell cannot pick up any trace of her that will lead me to her faster."

Jaldabaoth growled, unenthused by the response.

"Could you not smell anything in the air when you were hunting?"

"Only the scent of blood and meat."

Of course , he thought, stifling another sigh. "Let's just continue checking the surrounding area. If need be, we can stop and eat the meat ourselves. Maybe you can gift the horns to her instead."