Saint of Thieves and Traitors

I am Ratheal.
It seems I am in a bit of a pickle, would you not say?

I mean, it is all very well for my brother, "he who sits on a throne made of starlight," et cetera, et cetera, to call himself the Saint of Dark Magicians and be done with it; or my sister to say she is Saint of Victims, Innocent and Guilty but me? They say I am the Saint of Thieves and Traitors, and that is all very well, but it so happens I am also the saint of Spies... Assassins... Murderers... Card Sharks... Rogues... Liars... Cheaters... and Lawyers.

Now, aside from the fact that that's rather a lot of words to string after my name (I asked Hell, "why can't I just be the Saint of Bastards?" but she just laughed and pulled half my hair out), the point of being someone's saint is to feel sorry for them. To be the one who helps them when nobody else wants to. Compared to my siblings, it seems I have got the short horns of the family, if you know what I mean. For it takes a particularly hard heart not to feel sorry for victims, and dark magicians are perhaps the most charming group of people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, but cheaters and rogues and thieves and... and lawyers?

I mean. Come on. I know I'm a demon and all that, but I've still got to feel sorry for them, and I tell you frankly, sometimes it's a wrench. Especially when they start begging on the gallows. Yes, now you're sorry, are you? Pathetic wimps. Not that they listen when I tell them that. Not that you have even understood a word I am saying, because this is just the incantation I have to write down in the Book of Summonings, and it's not as though any scholar is going to be able to translate a dialect of Hell, so I guess all that wonderful poetry my twin wrote is going to be wasted. Ha. And I could put something completely irreverent here at the end. Druseis thinks this is ridiculous, but I rather like that idea.

I am Ratheal.
NEVER LICK A DRAGON!

~From the Book of Summonings, Chapter Four: Demons and Fallen Angels, as translated by Azrül, a scribe of Heaven.

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Ladies and Gents, meet Ratheal, Mr. "Short-horns-of-the-family". He is the Saint of Thieves and Traitors (and Spies, Assassins, Murders, and...) as well as the twin brother of Macheval, the Saint of Dark Magicians. Both of them are Fallen Angels currently employed as Knights of Hell (Knights coming a little below Lords, and a lot below Dukes and Princes). Ratheal likes kittens (to pet, not, as some of his publicists would like us to think, to eat), and playing chess, which he is terrible at. He is one of the more friendly demons, although he does have a habit of turning people he doesn't like into mice for his vassal, Druseis, to eat.

Druseis is a white fox, and Ratheal's chief vassal. She can solve any puzzle and any maze, and has been known to pick locks just by looking at them.

Like his brother, Ratheal also as a somewhat magical cape, although I don't think many people will want one of their own. Messy blood. Also, it seems he is in the habit of loosing his little gold rings, as Druseis is obliged to carry spares.

And a small note: Ratheal and Macheval and their sister are all part of a religion I made up, called Etherealism, which is a widespread practice all over my fantasyland, Antellonia.

Pilot and micron pens with watercolors and white acrylic ink on 9"x12" Bristol board. Interesting note: the splatter effects on his cape I did by literally "splattering" paint onto the paper with a loaded brush and my fingertip. That was a lot of fun. Altogether this one took me about ten days, working on and off.

You can see his brother, Macheval, here:

Ratheal and Druseis and associated prose © myself, 2007.
Enjoy