Sorrentegra the Half-Breed

The demon continued to run and fly along the tree tops for another day and deep into the night. The wind didn’t let up from his fast paced running. She realized that if she leaned into his fur, whatever of his fur she touched stayed relatively warm. She tried her best to stay inconspicuous about it, and it was surprisingly comfortable.
A week ago if she was in this situation she would have chosen death over trying to keep warm with another demon’s fur, now her instincts just took over. He continued to run through the night and into the early morning. Finally, he dropped below the trees again and walked on the ground. He continued to hold on to her this time and he didn’t let go. Despite her nose being cold, she smelled a familiar scent, it was the healing plant she had found earlier. She looked up and saw it covering the ground. It was quite rare to see this much. The demon walked past it and into a clearing. Sorrentegra was surprised to see plenty of snow covered land and people scattered around it. She looked harder and realized that they weren’t people- but other demons. A few that were far away suddenly looked up and sniffed the air.
“Lord Traiga has returned!” She heard one of them say. A group of five or six galloped up the hill, their tails held high. The demon lowered Sorrentegra and she hid behind him.
“Lord, Traiga, you’ve returned!” the fastest one exclaimed. He had brown fur covering his shoulders and legs. His eyes were grey and shining. They suddenly skidded to a halt and started sniffing the air.
“I smell human,” another one said with grey fur. He poked his head around Lord Traiga.
“She smells like snow wolf too-“ a third demon said. He had patches of white grey and black.
A fourth peeked around and grabbed her tail. She squeaked and pulled it back, landing on the snow. Another tugged on her ear. Traiga growled low and menacingly at them. Instantly they jumped away from her.
“Aw, I didn’t mean no harm-“ one said jokingly.
“What’s she here for anyway?” The youngest asked, smelling her scent, “she smells good,”
“She can remove the devices.” Traiga said and began walking towards the camp. Sorrentegra went to follow him but she was soon surrounded by the dogs.
“You can remove devices?” the grey one asked, “but you’re a demon.”
She growled at them in defense as they got closer. They laughed at her. “I wondered why he kept you alive- but I see all his devices are off. He had the most of any of us. Well then-“ and he held up his wrist. It reeked of the blood and acid. His device looked as though it had sunken deep into his skin from long wear. “Lets see what you can do-“ he said.
Sorrentegra didn’t know what to do. Why should she help them? They didn’t seem too friendly. She was cold and hungry and scared. They surrounded her in anticipation. She had no other choice. She reached toward his hand and gently took it in hers. She pressed her fingers to the latch and it popped open sending the familiar shock through her hand. She spread it and carefully removed it so the needles wouldn’t drag any deeper. She dropped it to the ground and they all looked on in surprise.
“Well what do you know?” he said, rubbing his wrist. She didn’t feel like telling him to get the acid off so he could heal, though she couldn’t help but notice how his muscle was tightened below the skin. Maybe if she was useful to this tribe she could live here for a while and finally have a bit of acceptance.
“Look, if you want to heal up I’ll need those Baryn leaves- I noticed you have plenty of them right out there.” She couldn’t talk without the shiver in her voice. The grey demon looked at her oddly but was too happy to have the device off he ran off to get the leaves. As quickly as she could she unfastened the clasps of the others. A few of the others ran off to go gather the herbs. The final dog held his hand up to her. He was quite young and looked like he was in the most pain. He flinched as she reached for him.
“It will be over with in just a second-“ she said. He sighed and gave her his hand again. She grabbed the clasp and unfastened it. The more she did the less it hurt, though it was still bothersome. As soon as it fell to the ground she wiped away the acid from his hand. She felt bad that they would even do this to someone as young as he was. He flinched as she ran her fingers over his wound. Finally she was finished and he looked at it. He ventured so far as to touch it. He then looked at her and lunged at her. She threw her hands up to defend herself when she realized he was giving her a hug. He pushed her back in the snow.
“Come with me!” He said and grabbed her hand. He pulled her briskly down the hill and towards a cave. It was huge and glowing with nearly 10 fires placed through out. There were more demons in here with more devices on them. Some had multiple ones. The further in she got the more silver bracelets the demons had. Most were groaning in pain. How long had they had to go with these things on them? They lifted their heads and looked towards her as they caught her scent. One dog close to them had three devices on but jumped up in defense and growled at her.
“You reek of humans-“ he said.
“Back off, Ker, she’s here to help. “ the boy acted strong for his age.
“Help- what can a human do for us?” Ker was still growling.
“She isn’t a human- can’t you smell? She’s a snow wolf.”
Ker’s eyes lowered to slits as he breathed in her scent, they widened as he translated the scent, “She’s only a half-“ he accused. By now they had the attention of most of the cave.
Sorrentegra took a step back, so she wasn’t welcome, she never had been- why should she be? She was only half. She didn’t know she was a snow wolf, though.
“Get that thing out of her, Puk, what would Lord Traiga say if he knew you brought it here?”
“That’s enough, Ker.” A voice came from behind. Sorrentegra turned to see Traiga at the mouth of the cave. He was carrying a moose three times his size over his shoulder. He dropped it to the floor and walked in.
“Lord, Traiga, You’ve returned!” many whispers echoed around. Some of the demons started howling in delight, echoing off the walls. The ones that were able ran up to him in a greeting. Then they took the moose from him and dragged it into the cave.
“Lord Traiga, you’ve returned.”
“I told you he wouldn’t desert us!” a demon whispered to Ker. Ker elbowed him in the stomach.
“Do not harm the half demon-“ he said, “she can remove the devices.”
There were murmurs of disbeliefs echoing around the cave. Puk held his healing arm up to show that his device had been removed. Then as if on cue the other demons arrived with plenty of the healing herbs in their hands. It was easily seen that they too had their devices removed. Suddenly there was a scuffling of demons and suddenly she had legs, wrists, tails and necks thrust in her face. It was overwhelming how many there were. She didn’t know where to begin. At this rate the amount might just kill her from the sheer force of removing them.
“Settle down,” Puk commanded, “she can help everyone,” the clamor to get to her and have the devices removed didn’t settle. She sighed and just reached for the ones in front of her. Device after device began falling to the floor. Her hands tingled in pain as she quicky but gently tried to remove the devices without much injury.
She sank to the floor not even halfway finished. This was zapping all of her strength. It began to take all of her will power to just unhinge one at a time but they kept coming. Once one appendage was released another replaced it’s spot. Her head reeled in a blur of body parts. The pain of unlocking them didn’t just stay in her arms, instead it began to reach into her chest and down her sides. Sweat broke across her brow and she felt dizzy. Suddenly, the floor rose to meet her face and she blacked out. The last thing she heard was a growling from Traiga.
“Look what you’ve done-“ She heard Puk say, “you’ve killed her!”
“She’s not dead, you idiot,” Ker said. Their voices and all the noises began fading away, “filthy weak half-blood.”
The darkness embraced her. She didn’t feel cold or hungry. She just felt numb. She rolled over and felt like she was lying on something soft. A strong smell filled her nose. It smelled delicious. She awoke with a start. Her head hurt but it was dark all around. For a moment she wondered if she was blind again. It took her a moment to realize where she was. She sneezed and shivered. The more awake she became the worse she felt. Was she sick?
“Good you’re awake.” She heard a small voice whisper. She looked around and saw the little dog demon, Puk next to her. She was lying on something soft and warm. It smelled like Traiga, was it fur?
“You’ve been sleeping for two whole days. I thought you were dead.” He whispered.
“Where am I?” she asked and looked around the dark area. Many beautiful furs were lying around of different colors.
“Lord Traiga brought you here. He was so cool! I hope to be like him some day. As soon as you died- er- fell he jumped into the group and jumped you out. He growled at everyone and got all angry I didn’t really listen to what he said. He just said no one was supposed to come back here and bother you. Ker didn’t like that. He got so used to being in command around here, but he didn’t treat everyone like Lord Traiga did. He was mean. Anyway I heard your stomach growling so I thought you might like this. I couldn’t eat it all anyway.” He pushed a plate of food toward her. It smelled wonderful but she couldn’t tell what it was. She tried to sit up but her head exploded in pain. She figured she had been in too much cold weather.
She felt a hand on her tail, “You have really pretty fur, you know. No one around here has fur that feels like yours, except for maybe Lord Traiga. His father was one of the four great rulers of the whole world, you know. There was a Snow Wolf, Dog, Dragon, and Lion. They were all supposed to leave behind an heir before they died. Lord Traiga is really powerful. Everyone likes him. I’m so happy he came back. He got hurt real bad when those humans attacked us. They used us as bait to draw him out, it was a trap but I couldn’t get to him. They covered him with so many of those things but he continued to fight. They ended up dragging him away. They put that bracelet thing on my arm and it hurt so bad. I couldn’t move for a couple days afterwards, just like everyone else. But finally we had to help the really injured so I tried as best as I could but it still hurt constantly. Then you came and took the pain away. I had that thing on for probably two months. We tried everything to get them off, but it hurt too bad to touch it. It made things worse. Then you just did it so quickly. Doesn’t it hurt you, though? You are half demon after all. They are made just for demons, so maybe your demon half can feel it.”
Sorrentegra smiled. He sure liked to talk a lot, but she didn’t mind it. It somehow made her feel more comfortable.
“Here, eat! You’ve got to get your strength back. Lord Traiga told everyone not to bother you, but I’m sure when they find you’re awake they’ll come to you again. Besides, that’s the reason he brought you here. He usually doesn’t take kindly to outsiders. You must have done something really good for him-“ He pushed the food towards her. Sorrentegra propped herself up but sneezed again. She didn’t feel well at all. Her stomach, however, screamed at her to eat. She picked up a bit of the food and tasted it. It was like heaven in her mouth, finally food. She finished it quickly. After a moment or two the aches and pains seemed to die down, though she still felt a little sick.
“So- I bet your parents miss you. You’re young like me.”
“My parents-they’re dead.” She said.
“Oh- mine too. They died when the men attacked. Dad protected mom, and mom protected me- but I’ve got to be strong- I have to fight for them and make them proud.”
“You’re a strong little guy,” she said.
“Really? Everyone says I’m the weakest one here. Not worth my weight. If only I could do something to show them- they keep bullying me around.”
Sorrentegra wondered how to reply to him. She spotted the leaves and got an idea.
“I have an idea- how you can help your tribe mates-“ she said.
“Really? I’ve already tried fighting them to prove my strength but I always lose.”
“Do you see those leaves over there?” Sorrentegra pointed to the herbs with the spiny leaves.
“Yeah- Lord Traiga said not to bother your stuff- I was wondering what they were-“
“Could you bring me two of the leaves?” She asked. Eagerly he jumped up and went over to the plant. “Be careful of the spines,” she said just as he pricked himself.
“Owwie!” he whined. He pulled off two of the leaves and brought them over.
“I think I can teach you how you can help your tribe mates as well as me.”
“I’d like helping you, you’re really nice and pretty.” He wagged his tail and it thumped on the ground.
Sorrentegra laughed. His spirit was so free.
“These leaves are used for healing but you have to get them prepared first. The leaf is really tough, as you can tell, do you feel that?” She waited for him to feel his leaf and examine it. He was careful around the spines this time.
“It’s really tough.” He confirmed.
“To use it, we have to get what’s inside. So bite off the top of the leaf.” And she demonstrated how to bite just the top bit off using her front teeth. He did the same. “Now you open it wide and pull the wax out. That’s the medicine.” She pulled the leaf apart and showed him how to use his claw and get all of it in one piece. He accidentally broke it in half.”
“oops-“ he said.
“That’s all right. It doesn’t matter. Now, I find it works better if you chew it, but you can also use rocks to grind it.” She placed the wax into her mouth and bit down. He looked at it oddly for a moment before putting it in his mouth.
“It’s really chewy.” He observed, “and it tastes weird.”
“That’s ok-it’s supposed to taste like that. Now, while you chew it, start rubbing your hands together until they get really hot.” She demonstrated.
“Oh I do this when I get cold!” he observed, “I can make my hands so hot they almost steam!” he rubbed his hands together furiously. After a moment he stopped.
“Now, put the medicine back in your leaves, close them and hold them until all the heat is gone from your hands.” She took the wax out and placed it between the leaves and held it. He did the same.
“That feels weird- it’s taking the heat from my hands. Just sucking it up.”
“Now, let me see your wrist.” Sorrentegra said. He gave her his injured hand.
“Usually I heal faster than this, but it doesn’t want to heal.”
“I think it’s because of that awful device!” Sorrentegra explained, “But that’s what the medicine can help take care of.” She gently felt around his wrist for any more acid. She found a bit of it under his hand. She turned it over to show him. “Do you see that? That is something that forms when the device touches your blood. It reacts with your demon blood and makes this acid stuff. If you’re going to heal someone make sure you get all the acid off.” She used her nail to get the plastic like substance off.
“Now we’re ready to use the medicine.” She announced. She opened her leaf to reveal that the wax had turned into a thick cream. He opened his in disbelief too. He was excited that his was also a cream.
“It’s like magic!” He exclaimed.
“Yeah-and now it’s ready to be used.” Gently she took his hand in hers and she massaged some of the cream around his wrist.
“I thought it was going to hurt but it isn’t that bad.” He said excitedly.
“It really works too!” She continued to gently massage around his wounds until they were completely covered. Slowly she dragged her fingers across the back of his hand. “Your muscles in your hand feel really tight. Do you feel how knotted and hard your muscles are in your hand?” she asked. She held out her hand to he could compare. He felt hers and then his own.
“Yeah- it hurts a little.” He said.
“That is because you have been in pain for a long time. When you are in pain your body sends a message to your muscle and it tightens to hold the blood in, but I am going to show you how to get the blood flow working again.”
“I don’t know- it sounds painful.” He said.
“It doesn’t hurt.” She assured him, “Just relax.” She scooped up the rest of the cream and smoothed it gently across his tiny palm. She worked her thumbs into his muscle tissue, pressing and squeezing the muscle. After a moment he spoke up.
“That feels really- wonderful,” he said, “you’re like magic. You know, no one has ever been this nice to me before- not since mom-“ He paused. She could tell he was carrying much on his shoulders.
She smiled and continued to work around his hand. She finished and held onto his hand, gently finishing the massage. He sighed, “I don’t care what anyone says, it is a good thing you’re here. I’m just so glad that the device is off- I’m sure Lord Traiga is happy too. I’m just glad he’s back. Did you do that to his hand to?” He asked, “Maybe that’s why he likes you.” He whispered the last part.
“Puk,” Lord Traiga said as he entered the area. Puk looked up innocently but realized he had been caught.
“Sorry,” He said and ran from the room, dashing out of the curtain of fur Lord Traiga held open for him to leave.
Sorrentegra sneezed and coughed as he walked near.
“I wanted to- thank you-“ She said before he could get any closer and she lowered her head, “for getting me away from those men. I-“
“I brought you here to help my tribe.” He said.
“Oh-of-of course.” She said, “I didn’t mean to cause trouble.“
He didn’t respond. Instead he threw something at her feet and left. She didn’t look to see what it was until he was gone. It was a multicolored fur coat. It seemed a little big for her but it would definitely keep her warm in this weather.