The Warded Man

dissection.
    “Creator!” Rojer cried, gagging. He ran back up the stairs, and they could hear him gasping for air.
    “Well, perhaps Rojer doesn’t have the stomach yet,” Leesha conceded with a grin. She looked at the Warded Man. “Did you know that wood demons have two? Stomachs, I mean. One stacked atop the other, like an hourglass.” She took an instrument, peeling back layers of the dead demon’s flesh to illustrate.
    “Their hearts are off-center, down to the right,” she added,“but there’s a gap between their third and fourth ribs. Something a man looking to deliver a killing thrust should know.”
    The Warded Man looked on in amazement. When he looked back at Leesha, it was as if he were seeing her for the first time. “Where did you get these …?”
    “A word to the cutters you sent to patrol this end of the Hollow,” Leesha said. “They were happy to oblige me with specimens. And there’s more. These demons have no sex organs. They’re all neuter.”
    The Warded Man looked at her in surprise. “How is that possible?” he asked.
    “It’s not that uncommon among insects,” Leesha said. “There are drone castes for labor and defense, and sexed castes that control the hive.”
    “Hive?” the Warded Man asked. “You mean the Core?”
    Leesha shrugged.
    The Warded Man frowned. “There were paintings in the tombs of Anoch Sun; paintings of the First Demon War that depicted strange breeds of corelings I have never seen.”
    “Not surprising,” Leesha said. “We know so little about them.”
    She reached out, taking his hands. “All my life, I’ve felt like I was waiting for something bigger than brewing chill cures and delivering children,” she said. “This is my chance to make a difference to more than just a handful of people. You believe there’s a war coming? Rojer and I can help you win it.”
    The Warded Man nodded, squeezing her hands in return. “You’re right,” he said. “The Hollow survived that first night as much because of you and Rojer as me. I’d be a fool not to accept your help now.”
    Leesha stepped forward, reaching into his hood. Her hand was cool on his face, and for a moment, he leaned into it. “This hut is big enough for two,” she whispered.
    His eyes widened, and she felt him go tense.
    “Why does that terrify you more than facing down demons?” she asked. “Am I so repulsive?”
    The Warded Man shook his head. “Of course not,” he said.
    “Then what?” she asked. “I won’t keep you from your war.”
    The Warded Man was quiet for some time. “Two would soon become three,” he said at last, letting go of her hands.
    “Is that so terrible?” Leesha asked.
    The Warded Man took a deep breath, moving away to anothertable, avoiding her eyes. “That morning when I wrestled the demon …” he said.
    “I remember,” Leesha prompted, when he did not go on.
    “The demon tried to escape back to the Core,” he said.
    “And tried to take you with it,” Leesha said. “I saw you both go misty, and slip beneath the ground. I was terrified.”
    The Warded Man nodded. “No more than me,” he said. “The path to the Core opened up to me, calling me, pulling me down.”
    “What does that have to do with us?” Leesha asked.
    “Because it wasn’t the demon, it was me,” the Warded Man said. “I took control of the transition; dragged the demon back up to the sun. Even now, I can feel the pull of the Core. If I let myself, I could slip down into its infernal depths with the other corelings.”
    “The wards …” Leesha began.
    “It’s not the wards,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m telling you it’s me . I’ve absorbed too much of their magic over the years. I’m not even human anymore. Who knows what kind of monster would spring from my seed?”
    Leesha went to him, taking his face in her hands as she had that morning they made love. “You’re a good man,” she said, her eyes welling with tears. “Whatever the magic has done to you, it hasn’t changed that. Nothing else matters.”
    She leaned in to kiss him, but he had hardened his heart to her, and held her back.
    “It matters to me,” he said. “Until I know what I am, I can’t be with you, or anyone.”
    “Then I’ll discover what you are,” Leesha said. “I swear it.”
    “Leesha,” he said, “you can’t …”
    “Don’t you tell me what I can’t do!” she barked. “I’ve had enough of that from others to last a lifetime.”
    He held up