Free Jimmy and the Crawler by Raymond E. Feist Page B

is not one predisposed to trust.’
    James found the man’s candour refreshing. The high-ranking prelates of Ban-ath in Krondor were a sanctimonious lot who avowed that their god was as essential to the natural order of things as any other god or goddess. James took no issue with matters of faith. He had prayed to the god of thieves on more than one occasion when his life hung in the balance, and even made votive offerings after surviving a few lucky escapes, but he took that as a duty more than devotion.
    Gina appeared with a fresh tankard. ‘It’s a necessary thing, don’t you see, to accept all the whims of nature, and our god is as much a part of the natural order as any other. Those who are able take from those who are less able. It’s the way things are.’
    ‘Demons,’ said James, getting him back on topic. ‘Sneaky bastards?’
    ‘Yes,’ said the now red-cheeked cleric, after draining off the new tankard. ‘See, I had this brother who heard the calling to Sung, the Pure, and he became a demon hunter. Didn’t see him much for years, then we both ended up here.’
    James nodded.
    ‘We caught up on old times, some family lore, and over the years when he was in Durbin from time to time he’d stay with me at my hovel behind the shrine. Not much in Durbin for those pure of heart, don’t you see? Not a lot of support for that temple. Anyway, he’d tell me this or that about demons and their doings and the like.’
    ‘Sneaky?’
    ‘Ah, yes,’ said Brother Eli, waving Gina to bring him yet another tankard without bothering to ask James. ‘See, for reasons no one seems to understand, some demons want to be here, doing whatever mischief they can. Lots of theories as to why, you see, but no one really knows. The kind you spoke of – big, loud, angry – those are the conjured ones, the ones yanked out of the lower hell and brought here against their will to do the summoner’s bidding. Lots of stories about it all coming to a bloody end.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Nasty business, that. But some demons – the sneaky ones – they find a way here without being summoned. Now the lore says that each time a demon appears without being summoned and is unconfined, heaven sends an angel to hunt it down. If they come to blows, as soon as one is vanquished the other returns to heaven or hell as the case may be. Doesn’t matter who wins; they just cancel each other out, so to speak.’
    ‘Interesting,’ said James.
    ‘But that’s not what you were asking about, is it?’
    James shook his head.
    ‘See, those you were talking about, those are the corporeal demons, from another realm, and they need magic to survive here, either their own or the summoner’s. Some can rampage around a bit and cause a fair amount of havoc without it before they vanish back to their realm or an angel arrives, but there’s another kind.’
    ‘Another kind?’ Now James was very interested.
    ‘You hear of possession?’
    James thought back to his encounter at Haldon Head with the false priest, Father Rowland, and nodded. ‘I have seen something like that, but it was . . .’ James paused, then explained that the false priest of Sung had been an agent of a dark force, and that he had in turn controlled the townspeople, electing to dispose of those not easily controlled, and that with his death, his control vanished.
    ‘Ah, that’s a different kind of proposition,’ said Eli. ‘See, there are dark agencies that grant a man a power, and mind control is one of the darkest, but that’s not what I’m talking about. No, I’m talking demonic possession.’
    Gina brought the next ale over and removed the empty tankard, and Eli watched as she walked away. In a lowered tone he said, ‘Quite the shape on that one, right?’
    James looked at him questioningly.
    ‘We’re not a celibate order, lad.’ Eli pointed from Gina to James. ‘You two?’
    James sighed. ‘Demonic possession?’
    ‘Good,’ said Eli. ‘I mean, good about you