Between my training as a prince and working on my betrothal sword for Callan's father, sleep was hard to come by. Working the forges was hard after so many years away from training with my father, but it all came back to me slowly after several tries. Finally, it was done and even Thekros was pleased with my work. I packed my horse and Demni and Ishtar did the same and we rode out towards the Melekeye tribe that was only a few days south of us.
That night, we stopped near the only marked oasis between our tribe and theirs and made camp. Ishtar cooked some of the Gandi meat we had and Demni busied himself pitching tents. Gandi was a type of what the northerners called goat that had short hair and one singular long horn in the middle of its forehead, but, unlike its kin, it was carnivorous. It tended to be an unusual meat, but my family's hunters had come back with four Gandi last night preparing for my trip to Melekeye. Gandi meat was good for travel because, for some reason, heat kept it from spoiling and it could keep for days without being cooked.
I sat reading one of the scrolls my father had given me about the first greater demo,n Cazami – the father to Iblis, the demon that had taken over me for a while. After this scroll was the scroll about Iblis the night terror and I was worried about reading it for I knew how reckless he was. As the prince I was expected to know of my origins, how the first Raksheesh came into existence, to act proper, and how to control my emotions. Sometimes it felt like I would never be able to fill Neo's shoes as much as people hoped. I knew my father believed I would never lead as well as Neo would have, though he will never say it.
"May I see the sword?" asked a curious Demni after both tents had been set up.
I nodded. "It's in my saddle bag."
My attention never left the scroll as I read about Cazami – the greater demon that I shared some blood with for every tribe's king shared the blood of the first known greater demon. Was this possibly why Iblis had chosen me? He had been drawn to his father's blood?
I heard Demni unsheathe the sword and whistle.
"You did a good job with this," he said. "Other than it needs sharpened more. Would you like me to do that, my prince?"
Even after a year, I still wasn't used to this title from Demni.
"Aye," I said, not looking up.
Ishtar must have finally glanced over at me.
"You're growing into quite the scholar, my prince," he teased.
I smirked. "Pretty soon I won't be fit to hold a sword."
Demni laughed, already busying himself sharpening my sword. "I will never let that happen, Your Highness."
Soon, the meat was cooked and we ate that along with fresh wild onions and watered-down ale. It was a decent meal, but I was excited to see Callan – I hadn't seen her in a year. What if things had changed? I was worried about our marriage – I had never dated, but somehow it felt out of place marrying someone I had only talked to for a few hours.
Somewhere within my thoughts, I heard a muffled voice and another consciousness seeming to want to come forward. I recognized it at once as the presence of Iblis.
"My prince?" I finally heard when Ishtar touched my shoulder.
I looked at him, shaking my head to clear my thoughts.
"Aye?"
"Your hair is turning white ... quite literally. Are you alright?"
I looked at my hair to see he was right- it was slowly turning back to black now though. I fell back into the sand as Demni and Ishtar exchanged nervous looks. Was this a side effect of being a Scortha ?
"What's ... what's wrong with me?" I stumbled out.
I felt Iblis slip out of reach and I sat in the sand shocked not knowing what was happening to me. Why had I felt that sudden rush of power and him slipping into my consciousness making me feel as if he was taking over me?
Ishtar quickly plastered on a smile that was supposed to be reassuring, but only worried me further and said, "Don't fret over it my prince."
No one really said anything more that night and I fell into a fitful sleep, several times hearing Demni and Ishtar changing posts. They both left me to sleep and I was fine with that.