Chapter 10: An Important Question

When Eigis came back he immediately felt a sense of forbidding. The demon’s eyes were bright with hunger, and he moved quickly, scooping up the canister and circling around to stand behind Hiryu in the space of a breath.

The young warrior gritted his teeth in disgust, hands clenching into helpless fists, as the demon’s warm wet tongue licked the back of his neck.

“I’m glad you used the cream,” Eigis whispered. “Oh, and I forgot to mention, it’s made to make you smell really delicious.”

Curving his neck, he bit deep into Hiryu’s back, ripping off a large piece of flesh and muscle, snapping it up.

“Ugh.”

“Now, I have a question for you,” The demon said, once he finished chewing and swallowing (Eigis was nothing if not polite.) Turning to face his prey, he asked sweetly, “Which limb do you wish to lose first?”

Hiryu’s mouth dropped open. He stared at the demon in disbelief, unable to understand. “What?”

“Your. Limb.” Eigis waved his own hand up and down as an example. “Which one – do you – want to lose – first?”

“But I thought you said –”

“No, I never said I wouldn’t eat you. The test is whether you want to continue living while I’m eating you.” He smiled as a ghastly look crossed the warrior’s face. “Now choose, before I choose for you.”

Hiryu hesitated, taking a deep breath, thinking. Finally he waved his left arm. “This one, since you insist.”

“Your weaker arm. I expected no less from a warrior. You still have hope of living, I see.” Eigis remarked, swiftly chaining the young man’s feet to the floor again and cranking up the chains so the warrior couldn’t punch him. It also made it harder for Hiryu to struggle.

“Hardly,” Hiryu snorted. “I have no illusions.”

“Don’t you?” Eigis asked with a smile, but left it at that.

Unlocking Hiryu’s left arm, he jerking it down and holding it in his right hand. His left swept Hiryu’s head to the side, out of the way, as he bent down, his long blue tongue exploring the fresh wound on the young man’s shoulder, deciding where he wanted to bite first.

Behind the heavy talons that covered half of his head, Hiryu was glad he didn’t have to watch as the demon’s teeth finally sank into his flesh and started to chew. Sweat soon stood out on his face, and he moaned as Eigis bit deeper and deeper, working his way into his shoulder, to the bone. This close, at such an angle, the demon’s bites were smaller, and he paused often to chew and swallow.

The sound alone was nauseating enough to make Hiryu ill, the demon’s clashing, slavering jaws, the reek of his meaty breath, and the warm wetness of his own blood, sliding down his arm. Eigis was using him as a prop to lean against. He took a deep breath, shifting his weight to stand properly. Pain from his bitten shoulder and wrenched up right arm shot through him like lightning bolts. A scream tore from his throat.

Eigis continued chewing, enlarging a ragged hole near the middle of Hiryu’s shoulder, through which white bone showed. As he moved, something clinked, and Hiryu groaned softly as something hard jabbed him under the rib cage. The hilt of some weapon, but not his katana. That was on the demon’s other side.

Through the haze of pain, the young warrior remembered. Yes, the demon had a knife of his own, imbued with magical properties. The demon had used it to free himself from a magic box trap early in the fight. It had changed into a sword he fought with along with teeth and talons. It wouldn’t do much damage, remaining only a knife for Hiryu, but it would be something. If only he could reach it! He twitched the fingers of his left hand, then, whimpering, held still. If he was going to move, it had to be fast, at the best possible moment. He waited, the pain in his left arm growing.