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  Avia and the old mother looked at him askew, just as Kerkio had done earlier.

  "They are sweet," Dion said. "Relia will surely like it."

  "Let me do it," said Avia and she took the flowers from him. "Thicker batter?" she asked to confirm.

  "And more fat, to fry them better," said Dion but then he got his flowers back. Leut was awake.

  "You'll have to do it," said Avia and then left him alone in the kitchen with the old mother.

  "Leave it here," said the old mother after a grueling silence. He saw there was not much he could do so he left the kitchen and then the house as well.

  "It's safer out here," he said to Kerkio when he sat back on his bench.

  ✽✽✽

  Galinos returned with the night but without news. Dion and Kerkio had already abandoned the yard for the house and were sitting at the table in the southwest corner of the main room, to the right of the entrance. Kerkio was again sitting on a bench under the window. Dion was sitting on a chair on Kerkio's right, on the south side of the table from where he had view of the fireplace and the entrance to the house.

  Leut was tirelessly demanding attention, crying and laughing in turn. Galinos played with him on the floor of the main room, close to the fireplace, apologizing in the same time to the guests who didn't mind the baby at all. They were both happy that the baby made so much noise that no one heard how loud their stomachs now rumbled.

  "Baby, look how dad plays music," said Galinos and crawled away to Avia who was sitting in the rocking chair and playing with Relia and her wooden dolls. He sat down on the floor, turned his back to the rocking chair, and grabbed one of Avia's legs under his waist.

  "Leut," Galinos called the baby while Avia tried to release her leg from his grip. They could tell that she knew what was going to happen.

  "No," she said and laughed loudly. The baby looked at them when Relia yelled "Dad!" and jumped on his shoulders, but that didn't stop him.

  Galinos placed his thumb inside the white wooly sock and pulled it off Avia's foot so quickly that it flew away and landed on the floor next to Leut.

  "Daddy's playing," Galinos repeated to Leut and then stroked Avia's foot with the tips of his fingers as if he was playing a lute. She tried to free her foot, bit her lip, but she did not make a sound. But then he tickled her foot once more and managed to coax a burst of laughter out of her. The baby clapped with joy and started laughing together with the rest of them.

  Dion and Kerkio watched the young family in silence, smiling each time the baby screamed with laughter and clapped. Dion was feeling tired and relaxed at the same time, but hunger kept him sitting there and waiting for the old mother to finish setting everything up.

  "Dinner," the older mother said with a tone of voice that expected no disobedience. Dion was happy that he was already compliant and sitting at the table when he heard it.

  "While it's still warm. Hurry, hurry," she finished calling her family and then she sat down on the chair to Dion's right, opposite Kerkio.

  Relia quickly took her spot on the bench where Kerkio sat and made him slide over nearer to Dion. Galinos took a chair and placed it at the head of the table so that he could be close to Relia. Leut and his mother hid behind the rocking chair. He was also getting his dinner.

  "Cornmeal porridge," sighed Relia when she bent over the plate to see and smell what was on it. "Pooohhridge," she whined and moaned for a while but then suddenly stopped and sat upright.

  "No," she said with a determined voice and crossed her arms over her chest.

  "It's with fried onions," said her father while he was cutting away pieces of the cornmeal and putting them on his plate. "You like onions, don't you?"

  "No."

  "Be nice in front of the guests," added the old mother, but Relia just exhaled through her nose and continued sulking.

  "You have to eat your dinner or Roga will take you away." The older mother was persistent. "If you eat well for dinner she will not be able to lift you out of your bed."

  Dion was hiding his smile behind his porridge and sour cream filled spoon, remembering quite well how his parents and grandparents had tried the same tactics with him. He kept quiet, not wanting to ruin the old mother's negotiating effort.

  "I'm too old for these tales, grandma," replied Relia with a smirk.

  "Mother, don't scare her," spoke Avia from the other side of the main room. "Rel, you don't have to eat the porridge but eat a pancake please."

  The old mother looked at the rocking chair and mumbled something for herself but she took the porridge away from Relia and came back soon with a single pancake.

  "Do you want to try the fried flower I picked?" asked Dion when he saw the pancake. Relia gave him a stare.

  "Bees eat flowers, not girls," she said and Dion laughed inside.

  "The jam," Dion remembered.

  "Wait a moment," he said while still swallowing and got up from his chair to go to the bag he set aside at the entrance to the house.

  "You must not speak with a full mouth," the little one replied to him.

  The older mother was dumbstruck with surprise and gasped as if she had just resurfaced from under water. Her eyes darted across the room, looking at Dion for a while and then at Kerkio who was choking with laughter.

  Dion returned to the table carrying a small jar.

  "What's that?" asked Relia.

  "Sweet apricot jam," he said while he removed the leather cover protecting the contents of the jar, and then he slid the jar to his left towards Kerkio.

  She looked at the jar with distrust as Kerkio scooped out the golden-red jam made of large chunks of apricot and covered the pancake from edge to edge. He folded the pancake in half and then once more to form a triangle.

  "Here," Kerkio said when he was finished, and since it came from him, she took it right away and bit the tip of the pancake. A moment later she jumped off the bench carrying the pancake with her.

  "Mother, mother! Try it. It's really nice," she yelled until her mother waved one of her fingers left and right telling her to calm down.

  The others got a few moments to eat in peace and then Relia was back at the table empty-handed.

  "More," she said not taking her eyes off Kerkio who immediately got to the filling and folding of another pancake. As soon as she got her hands on it both she and the plate with the pancake disappeared from the table again.

  Dion was first to finish eating and he felt a bit embarrassed when he saw that the others still had food on their plates.

  "More?" offered the old mother and already got up to serve him more porridge but he declined.

  "Your flowers then?" she offered and to that he nodded in acceptance. "I'll take one. I haven't eaten one in years."

  "And now not a bit more," he said after he finished his acacia pancake.

  "Don't hold it against me, but the only thing I am missing now is a bed."

  "No one minds," said Galinos. He went to the door, picked up his and Kerkio's belongings and then walked behind Galinos who took him down the hallway.

  The young father opened the door of the last room on the left side. The head of the only bed that took almost the entire room was pressed against the right wall of the room. Opposite the bed, leaning against the left wall stood an old oily chest, and next to the chest, away from the door, stood a knee-high chest.

  "This is the old mother's room, but you can have it for one night." said Galinos but then Dion and Galinos had to move away to let Kerkio get into the room. He was trying to get the rocking chair that he got from Avia and Leut through the door and after some lifting and rotating he managed to get it inside.

  "I'll be in the room across if you need anything," said Galinos and closed the door leaving Dion and Kerkio alone.

  Kerkio took the chair to the far left corner of the room, managing to walk through the small space between the chest and the bed while carrying the rocking chair. He took off his sword-belt and tied it around the rocking chair's left arm re
st. He threw one blanket across the chair and used the other one to cover his legs when he reclined in the chair. He took the tied sheath in his left hand and placed his right on his crotch. He glanced left towards the window and then forward towards the door. A "tsk" sound filled the room when he pulled the sword out of its sheath faster than Dion could even see Kerkio's arm move, and then a more silent "tsk" followed when Kerkio carefully slid the sword back.

  Dion gave him a clearly impressed smile, and then placed his standard and the bag behind the door before finally jumping onto a too high bed. He didn't want the pillow so he threw it to Kerkio who accepted it without complaint and placed it under his neck.

  "An unexpectedly pleasant evening," said Dion feeling the heat of his body overcoming the chill of the bed beneath him. "The little girl really likes you."

  "She liked your jam."

  "No, no. You could tell she grew fond of you when she met us in the forest. You are probably the first legionary she has ever seen, and certainly the first who called her a lady and later gave her jam filled pancakes for dinner." It was the last thing he managed to say before he fell asleep.

  Kerkio was awake for a while longer, smiling for himself in the darkness, listening to the footsteps and voices of their hosts before fatigue escorted him to sleep.

  Chapter 8 - The Rivers of Aquia

  "Dion," whispered Kerkio, grabbed him by his right toe and twisted. Dion instantly rose up and sat in the bed, awake as dawn. He grabbed his aching toe and tried to see through the darkness.

  "Is it morning already?" asked Dion.

  "Quiet," whispered Kerkio so quietly that even Dion barely heard him.

  When his eyes adapted to the darkness, Dion saw Kerkio's dark figure standing beside his bed with a sword in his hand. Dion got out of bed, trying to be as quiet as Kerkio and then unsheathed his sword as well. They could hear the baby crying in the room next to theirs, and thuds of bare feet in the hallway.

  "Kerkio, that's just the baby," Dion whispered, sat back on the bed and sleepily rubbed his eyes.

  "I have to be sure," Kerkio whispered and went slowly towards the door. He carefully opened them just enough to push his head out into the hallway. There was still life in the main room's fire and its light reached the hallway where it lit up Avia's figure. She was facing the main room and was slightly bent over, holding the baby in her arms. Kerkio was just about to close the door when Galinos appeared from the room opposite theirs.

  "The baby will go to sleep quickly," Galinos apologized somewhat loudly.

  "Quiet," said Avia to Galinos and turned to face him. "The baby is sleeping."

  Galinos gasped and Kerkio jumped from fright and struck the door with his sword.

  "Avia!" Galinos looked and sounded petrified. "What is that?"

  Frightened by Galinos' harsh tone, Avia embraced the baby even tighter.

  "You will wake him," she said through her teeth, but the thing she was holding in her arms was not her baby. Its tail was dangling over one of her arms, covered in charcoal black hairs like the rest of its body, including the head from which protruded two small whitish horns that looked like small pointy teeth.

  "A demon," gasped Kerkio and opened the door of their room all the way. He joined Galinos who ran after Avia into the baby's room. Dion looked towards the empty door in utter disbelief, struggling with what he had heard, and then jumped out of the room after Kerkio. Avia had already returned to the baby's room with Galinos and Kerkio running right behind her.

  The fire in the main room's fireplace now burned more strongly as if someone had put more fuel on it, but Dion paid no mind to that as he entered the baby's room that was lit by a solitary candle on a small table near the bed.

  "Avia, where is Leut?" shouted Galinos from fear and his deep voice trembled. Avia looked at him half in wonder and half in anger, still worrying that he will wake the baby up with his shouting. When Galinos came nearer, the creature she nursed turned its head and looked at Galinos over her arm. It bared its tiny sharp teeth at him and milk mixed with spit started dripping onto the floor.

  Dion stopped at Kerkio's side and just watched but Galinos charged towards the small demon that turned in Avia's arms like a wildcat and scratched her breasts with his claws, trying to escape the strong grip of a mother who still thought she was holding her baby.

  Avia screamed from pain and the spell that had clouded her mind broke apart. She now saw what was nursing on her milk. With a shriek of fear and disgust she threw the demon onto the floor and jumped away from it onto her bed. The demon screamed at Galinos and then a new voice came from the window that was opposite the door.

  "Dai! Berzo!" said a rough and squeaky voice akin to a goat's. They all looked towards the window and saw a contour of a horned head illuminated by the Nightlight. The figure had been watching them in silence the entire time.

  Tingles of terror passed through Dion when he understood that the creature was speaking in the old language. The creature had called the small demon to hurry to him. Once more the creature bleated the command "Dai!" to the small demon to hurry, and then it vanished from the window into the dark of night.

  The small demon tried to get to the window but in that moment some sort of light came between Galinos and Dion, and the room grew bright. In one breath the light was on top of the small demon and all three men jumped back seeing that the light that came to the room was unmistakably a figure, not much larger than the demon.

  "Grandfather?" they heard Avia ask amidst the screams of the burning demon. Her eyes were set on the walking flame shaped like a man.

  "What is that?" asked Kerkio. He squeezed his sword but was unsure what to do.

  "A house spirit. A guardian of the house," said Dion questioning his own eyes as he spoke, looking at the unbreakable string made of fire that tied the fire spirit to the hearth. The demon screamed as the house spirit wrapped the string around it to subdue him.

  Relia's cries now reached their ears. She was calling for her mother but the screams of the burning demon grew even louder as it was pulled away from the window by the house spirit. It scratched the floor, turned and twisted around to gnaw at the fire string and spit at the house spirit, but nothing could help him break away from the spirit's fiery grip. Finally, the house spirit lifted it off the floor and carried it out into the hallway. It almost ran into the old mother who almost feinted when she saw them.

  The men ran after the house spirit into the main room but they stopped when the spirit jumped into the hearth, carrying the demon with it. The fire burned even brighter and engulfed both of them as the demon screamed and clawed at the fire.

  A nose-pinching smell similar to that of a roasted pig that didn't have its hair singed off now filled the main room. The demon at last succumbed to the flames and the house spirit dispersed into the fire when his job was done.

  "Where is Leut?" they heard Avia's wailing as she ran from room to room, teary-eyed and panic stricken.

  "Gal!" she cried and shouted at the same time, and he shouted back. "I don't know!"

  "Go out! Both of you! Find that large horned thing! He took the baby!" shouted Dion and felt anger overpowering him.

  Kerkio and Galinos stormed out of the house into the yard, but Dion turned back and ran into the hallway. He burst into the room where they had slept, jumped over the bed and with a loud thud opened the window.

  "Kerkio!" shouted Dion out the window. "Your spear!"

  He came for it from the dark, grabbed it, and was gone in an instant.

  Dion turned away from the window and grabbed his bag and the battle standard.

  He went out into the hallway again and the old mother's cries, more sorrowful than the cries of Avia and Relia, followed his every step toward the house's entrance. "Find my grandson!"

  Dion said nothing, but the tone of her voice gripped his heart and made it pump ever more anger into him. He flew out of the house into the cold thick dark and then turned north.

  He ran through gard
ens and orchards but saw no trace of Kerkio, Galinos or the demon.

  "Where are you?"

  He strained his eyes in the darkness but caught glimpse of no one.

  To the left there was nothing but darkness and silence.

  "Damn," his mind shouted and then his mouth did. "Kerkio!"

  An answer came from his right. Two dark figures moving fast. Kerkio and Galinos.

  He ran after them, but then he heard shriekers. The first scream came from somewhere on his left. A moment later another scream came from the right, and then another from in front of him. They were everywhere, and he stopped.

  "How many?" worried Dion, hoping that Kerkio was following the large demon they saw through the window of the house, and that the demon was leading him towards little Leut.

  "Dai!" He heard the order once again and the screams multiplied.

  "Nosi diecu," he heard another order and it took Dion a while before he translated its meaning.

  "Carry the children!" Dion translated to himself. "That is the order!" His heart skipped a beat.

  "It wasn't only Leut! They have stolen more children from the village!"

  "Ujedi!"

  "Bite!" he heard a rough word in the old language that commanded someone, but more probably - something. It sounded close.

  He took the battle standard in both arms and placed its tip in front of him as if it was a spear. He turned his back to where he last saw Kerkio and started retreating. His eyes devoured the dark as they sought for movement in front of him.

  "Shadow," he tensed and turned the sharp tip of the battle standard left, in the direction of the shadow.

  "Right," he corrected himself nervously a breath later and pointed the battle standard to the right but again nothing happened. His own small, careful steps were deceiving his ears. He stopped moving completely, closed his eyes and immersed himself in the darkness that surrounded him.

  He heard the sound of gentle footsteps touching the earth both to his left and right. The footsteps on the left were whisper quiet and Dion was sure someone was stalking him. The footsteps on the right were more uncaring.