It seemed rather foolish what she was doing at the moment, and not to mention dangerous. But for some reason instead of feeling the pull of anxiety she felt the rush and the thrill of adrenaline begin to flood through her veins, spurring her further on. It was quite intoxicating like the gentle touch of a lover as he slowly brought you to your peak and left you balancing there for a moment of two, not wishing to relinquish his power over you. And the closer to the caravan she drew, the more the feeling began to seep into her.

With the relatively flat landscape that the Salvar wilderness provided her, the seductress found what she required relatively easy. It was a place where the dirt had hardened greatly in anticipation of the coming winter and the few growing plants sheltered amongst the rocks were nothing more than dried husks of their former selves.

Dismounting from Firnin, A’rai began a slow inspection of the area. Her long black and red skirt brushing against the ground as she moved about, kicking small rocks and ripping out the plants that would get in her way. When she was finished she had a small area that would be just big enough to do what she wanted and the ground appeared to be flat enough that it would not hinder her. If she screwed up though, that demon would break the circle and kill her within an instant. Of course, she did not plan on making any mistakes. She never did when it came to summoning, not unless it was on purpose.

Glancing to her right, she watched as the caravan came to a stop and felt her brows rise in confusion and surprise. Though the caravan had grown much closer to her, she could still not make out a great amount of detail. Voices carried on the wind as two figures emerged from the front caravan, but the words were far too mangled by the time her ears could catch anything more than the basic sound of what had been. Curious, she watched for a few moments longer as what appeared to be a battle quickly ensued. The one figure was throwing around the others as if they were rag dolls and then from nowhere came someone else. He ripped right through them and though A’rai could not be sure, she had the distinct feeling that everyone he came in contact with was utterly and irrevocably dead. Perhaps it was the way their bodies hit the ground. It was not the haphazard form of someone unconscious, but the skewed position of someone who no longer cared how they landed.

Where can I summon one of him? She thought with a smirk.

Turning away from the scene and walking over to her horse, she ran her fingers along his dark brown coat as her hand sought the satchel attached to his saddle. Once she had retrieved it, she quickly opened it and grabbed two things, a stick of white chalk and a book. The book was old, bound in leather that was worn around the edges and especially the corners. The spine was beginning to deteriorate and if it wasn’t for the fact that the name was embroidered into the front cover, it would have worn off long ago. It was the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum a book that Markus had in his library, hidden in the secret rooms that Kings and Shadows met in. She had liberated the book from the library the last time they had met and she highly doubted that Markus even realized it was gone.

Opening the cover, she took a deep breath as she felt that tingle of promise run up her arms. With great care she leafed through the worn and torn pages, yellowed with age. Some of them were worn passed the point of reading, which was quite disappointing considering the information that this tome concealed within it. Finally, she found the page she was looking for.

Belial…

He was one of her more favoured demons and she had summoned him before. The page contained the proper inscription needed to summon him and a suggestion on what kind of circle she should use. She disregarded it though. A’rai had her own circles and she certainly did not need the one they had drawn in here, it was slightly weaker than those she used to keep the demons at bay. She threw back the material of her cloak, allowing the cool wind to move along her constricting dress and dance across the tops of her breasts, eliciting a slight shiver from her. Her hood followed, dropping to her back, as it would only get in her way.

Kneeling, she held the book in one hand as she began to trace the circle upon the soil, making it no more than three feet in diameter. She would normally make it much bigger than that, but the landscape did not leave her much play. Not to mention the bigger it was out here, the more chance she had of messing it up. Belial’s incantation was relatively simple compared to the others she had done and so it would not take her too long. In fact, it took her less time than she thought. No more than a few minutes later and she had the circle with the inscription completed. To be sure it was correct, she went over it with her against again and again, looking for some kind of break in the chalk or even a misspelled word. But she found none.

Keeping the tome opened, she began reading aloud the ancient words written within it. The air around her shifted and changed and grew heavy with magical energy that flowed through her body and the circle in front of her.