Chapter 16: The Hairy Demons
When Aeshma, king of the daevas, broke off his duel of sorcery with the wizard Akar to rescue Hakem Rafi from the flames of the burning palace, he swooped quickly through the thick black smoke, cradled the thief securely in his massive arms, and flew off into the clear sky with him once more. The daeva had abandoned his form as a tower of blue fire and instead was in his more natural shape, manlike and gigantic with pitch black skin and glowing, fiery eyes.
Below them, the magnificent palace of Rashwenath—which had stood for thousands of years as a tribute to the greatness of its creator—burned like dry kindling on a summer’s eve. The magical powers of the two combatants were so fierce that nothing, not even such a splendid structure as that fabled palace, co
