Chapter Six

The lone tower that stood after the Mage Council had destroyed it, with Felix in it, looked dark and haunted. It stood there like a single rook on a chess board as we approached. I could see the stones from the other parts of the college. Some looked as if they had been tossed by giants while others appeared melted as if from dragons. Felix stood on my shoulders staring at the decimated ruins.
"Are you okay Felix?"
"Y. . . Yes. I'm fine Jasper." He turned towards me and rubbed his face on my cheek, trying to reassure me but all it did was press the idea in my mind that he was hurt about what happened here. "Would you like to see what happened? As a familiar I am granted certain powers." I turned towards Jacks and we both nodded, and then my vision changed and we were thousands of years in the past and next to us stood Felix, the man, with the cat still on my shoulder.
"That's you?" I was astounded.
"Oh, should I have mentioned that I am an ancestor of yours as well?" I shrugged and smiled. The man before me was a little taller than me and had seen roughly the same amount of winters which appeared to be nineteen or twenty. His hair was cut short and I guess he had done it himself for a while as he had been staying here. His face had the same high cheek bones as me and small nose. When he turned more I could see his coal black eyes which was my family's known symbol and genetic mark. He began to walk to the tower and we followed. "This is the day before it happened." Felix mentioned as we followed him through the front gates which even back then were becoming covered by the forest which was slowly taking over.
We saw the stone guards that were summoned into place with darker magic because of the purple clouds around the joints. "What's the mark for a demon summoner?" I asked, I knew I didn't need to be quiet while being here but it seemed appropriate. But as we came into the great hall, Felix, as a man, took off his dark riding cloak and I could see he had not been wearing a shirt, which might have only slightly covered the mark he had received from the bottom of his spine, to the top of a gnarled tree, its branches flowing outward and down his arms and just touching his collarbone. "Well I guess that is the symbol."
"When I was brought before the council I was told the reason it had started as a sprout on my back as healthy, it would have grown right if I had used it properly which was to summon objects not demons. But since many back then were secretly mages, hiding their power and the council had just been formed, I did not know this." His head dropped as he remembered something painful, I assumed. The man in front of us took the knife from his belt and began to try and drag it across his wrist, along with the other marks he had made. Yet, because of how many time he had done this, nothing came out, after so many healing scrolls and ointments the skin would not bleed. I saw the frustration on his face as he brought it up further, to his bicep and cut. I saw him grit his teeth, I could see, as he opened his mouth slightly, that he had filed his teeth down to look more menacing is what he had told us. "Demons are ferocious fresh from hell, and anything that changed my body made them respect me even if I was human. . . I am not proud of this next part." We turned back to see him sucking on his own arm, long enough to realize he was drinking it, and finally as he stopped he spat the last of it on the floor, touched the tree on his back, which dropped a branch in front of my eyes. The blood began moving on its own into the demonic symbol of night.
"Felix. . ."
"Yes, you know that symbol Jasper, even Jacks will know that one too. One of the thirteen princes of darkness, the one in charge of Hell's army." And then we were pulled back to the present and we heard the wind whipping around us and the yell of evil from deep beneath the earth. "And that, is most likely what is trapped here, because right after that summoning I was summoned myself to the council and punished, they did not realize that the beast would live through the castle's destruction.
"Well, it is the 3rd prince of Hell" Jacks stated as he took his sword from his back and held its scabbard.
"That should not quicken your step Jacks." Felix snapped.
"It should do just that, Felix, Because we are protectors of this realm, and this is our job." We both followed his caped back to the tower and to its basement which held the most ferocious beast, second only to the one we kept as a pet behind us, which chuckled slightly as the demon roared again.

Chapter 5 (Cont)

Once the deal was made, it took about a week for Andras to make a complete list of the demons roaming the country as well as the way to lure them into traps, what bodies they were in and how to defeat them. It was a very detailed list and our guild at  The Witch's Broom soon was receiving more fame then we knew what to do with. The names that were on everyone's tongues were Jacks, the man who was thrown from the army for. . . Well there were many rumors on that. There was the "Cat-Man", which made Jacks and I laugh a little too much. His apparent story that everyone seemed to know was he was a man once and now had been turned into a cat, that he had angered a wizard and decided to fight all wizards who broke the laws. And finally, Jasper Huntsman. The man in the red cloak. The man known for killing twenty mercenaries with a single arrow, for the wrestling with two bears and winning, as well as the killing of the sheriff of Woodside. No one at the guild ever tried to denounce rumors, they seemed to enjoy the attention, no matter who it was on, as long as the guild was held in good standing because of it.
The next few days were hectic, Jacks, Felix and I decided to help out and clear some names off the list as well, and now we had Andras along with us. Though he usually kept quiet and would have Lilith speak for him, and had to be carried most of the time, in a fight he was invaluable. His skill with a small blade was tremendous and stealth was as easy as breathing. He always took care of Lilith, whether it was erasing her memory of what he had to do or bringing up she as hungry but too shy to say anything to us.
Although, it was still odd. At night I could sense someone watching me, and when I awoke, Andras' eyes were glowing from outside my tent and across the fire, smiling like he knew a great secret. Knowing I was being watched by a demon may seem like the biggest problem, but in due time, it would be the least, especially with what came next.
The harvest festival for the town of Oar had finally ended and we were allowed to accept jobs once more instead of participating in the towns traditions. When I finally was able to make it to the board there was but one more still there. All it mentioned was a tower in which there seemed to be someone living in it, but every time the villagers would try to find out more, some ghost or force seemed to turn them away.
I returned to the cabin while Jacks was resting underneath the tree by the cabin and showed him what I had taken he looked it over himself, so did Felix who had been napping on Jack' lap. "Do you recognize that tower Jasper?" Felix asked.
"Should I?"
"Take a closer look ad tell me you do not remember." I took the paper again, now that it had been mentioned, something in my mind was gnawing at me but I could not figure it out. "It has a history, but beyond that I don't recall. Why what is it?"
Felix looked at the page once more, "It is the old grounds of the Mage college in this country, and where I myself set up my summoning circles.."