“They’re all bigger than me,” Briar said.
Relan nodded. “Yes, but size and strength are not everything, my son.” He glanced to the front door. “The sun will rise soon. Come watch with me.”
Briar hesitated. His father’s attention always seemed to be on his older brothers, and it was wonderful to be noticed, but he remembered the demons he had seen in the yard. A shout from his mother turned both their heads.
“Don’t you dare take him out there, Relan! He’s only six! Briar, come back to the table.”
Briar moved to comply, but his father put a hand on his shoulder, holding him in place. “Six is old enough to be caught by alagai for running when it is best to keep still, beloved,” Relan said, “or for keeping still when it is best to run. We do our children no favors by coddling them.” He guided Briar onto the porch, closing the door before Dawn could retort.
The sky was a lighter shade of indigo now, dawn only minutes away. Relan lit his pipe, filling the porch with its sweet, familiar scent. Briar inhaled deeply, feeling safer with his father’s smoke around him than he did from the wards.
Briar looked about in wonder. The porch was a familiar place, filled like the rest of their home with mismatched furniture Relan had salvaged from the town dump and carefully mended.
But in the false light before dawn everything looked different—bleak and ominous. Most of the demons had fled the coming sun by now, but one had turned at the creak of the porch door and the light and sound that came from the house. It caught sight of Briar and his father, stalking toward them.
“Keep behind the paint,” Relan warned, pointing with his pipe stem to the line of wards on the planks. “Even the boldest warrior does not step across the wards lightly.”
The wood demon hissed at them. Briar knew it—the one that rose each night by the old goldwood tree he loved to climb. The demon’s eyes were fixed on Relan, who met its gaze coolly. The demon charged, striking the wardnet with its great branchlike arms. Silver magic spiderwebbed through the air. Briar shrieked and ran for the house.
His father caught his wrist, yanking him painfully to a stop. “Running attracts their attention.” He pulled Briar around to see that indeed, the demon’s gaze was turned his way. A thin trickle of drool, yellow like sap, ran from the corner of its mouth as it gave a low growl.
Relan squatted and took Briar by the shoulders, looking him in the eyes. “You must always respect the alagai, my son, but you should never be ruled by your fear of them. Embrace your fear, and step beyond it.”
He gently pushed the boy back toward the wards. The demon was still there, stalking not ten feet away. It shrieked at him, maw opening to reveal rows of amber teeth and a rough brown tongue.
Briar’s leg began to twitch, and he ground his foot down to try and still it. His bladder felt about to burst. He bit his lip. His brothers and sisters would never tire of teasing if he went back inside with a wet pant leg.
“Breathe, my son,” Relan said. “Embrace your fear and trust in the wards. Learn their ways, and inevera, you will not die on alagai talons.”
Briar knew he should trust his father, who had stood out in the night with nothing but his shield and spear, but the words did nothing to stop the churning in his stomach, or the need to pee. He crossed his legs to help hold back his water, hoping his father wouldn’t notice. He looked at the horizon, but it was still orange with no hint of yellow.
Already, he could see his brothers rolling on the floor with laughter as his sisters sang, “Pissy pants! Pissy pants! Water in the Briarpatch!”
“Look to me, and I will teach you a Baiter’s trick,” Relan said, allowing the boy to step back. His father toed the wards instead, looking the wood demon in the eye and returning its growl.
Relan leaned to the left, and the demon mimicked him. He straightened and leaned to the right, and the wood demon did the same. He began to sway slowly from side to side, and like a reflection in the water, the demon followed, even as Relan took a step to the left, then went back to his original position, then a step to the right. The next time he took two steps in either direction. Then three. Each time, the demon followed.
His father took four exaggerated steps to the left, then stopped, leaning his body back to the right. Instinctively, the demon began stepping to the right, following the pattern, even as Relan broke it, resuming his steps to the left. He reached the far side of the porch before the demon caught on, letting out a shriek and leaping for him. Again the wards flared, and it was cast back.