by J E Mueller
“Here? Tonight?”
“No place like the present.” Emmyth laughed without humor.
Shaking my head, I mentally prepared myself, “Guess there was never a choice to begin with.” I was surprised they were so driven they would risk a public attack. Defeat was getting to them.
“Sadly not.” Emmyth stood up quickly, sword out before I could blink. He bashed in a demon’s face that had just become visible before I could even react.
The band of bards playing didn’t stop, but the others around us sprung into action as the rest of the demons appeared in that instant.
Kegan dashed out of the way but tripped, glass breaking and cutting her arm. A deep gash caused blood to spill down the side of her arm and onto the floor around her. A bard helped her up and moved her to the back. Event two was complete in the set event cycle.
With all the quick responses, the fight was over quickly. I hardly had a moment to step back and brace myself as it was being handled. One demon tried to claw at me, but someone grabbed me from behind while another pulled it back and impaled the creature before it could land its intended blow. It happened so fast I could only blink in surprise. Now safe, I was released and got my bearings.
Seeing no more demons to fight, I headed outside for a breath of air while I could hear the others cheer for their quick victory. The night was crisp and still. In the middle of spring, you couldn’t hope for more warmth, but it was soothing. It calmed me down for a moment and let me think. The abruptness of the event was handled so smoothly I couldn’t describe it. The only thing that bothered me was Lee’s absence. But I knew he needed to get this training done so he could save his mother.
Emmyth joined me outside. For a while he didn’t say anything. We stood and watched the clouds float by the moon, looked at the stars, and enjoyed the silence.
“It’s not going to get easier for a long time,” he said softly.
“It’s never been easy,” I replied in truth. “At least now I don’t accidentally kill people.” For a moment I let that thought hang in the air. “What’s going to happen next?”
“The most favorable plan involves using you as bait, again,” Emmyth said honestly. His bluntness surprised me.
“Wonderful.” I sighed. “So, I’m bait again. Can I learn how to slay them in the meantime?”
Emmyth smiled. “I can show you where to start, but there will never be one hit kills without being of Blessed blood.”
“Holding my own is better than whatever is going on now,” I pointed out.
“True. We can start in the morning, however, we’ll likely have to leave shortly afterward. They’re narrowing down some areas in which the realms are more closely connected. We’ll need to put any rescue plans into effect after that is decided on. We’ll want to lure as many demons out as possible to make their journey in easier. They’ll have much searching to do and a very limited time in which to do it.”
“What about the third fixed event?” I asked, remembering the bit about Lydia.
“It’s already underway.” Emmyth confessed. “There was nothing you could do, but Lee and the others are already working on it.”
“I thought the fixed events were going to impact me the most,” I said in surprise.
“Things are changing. While the fixed events cannot be stopped, the events surrounding them can. The biggest one did just affect you.” Emmyth shrugged.
“It’s going to be worse, isn’t it?”
“That’s very much a matter of perspective,” Emmyth explained. “With Lee joining in and not being up to par with our skills, we needed a good bait. The pieces of the puzzle are being moved into more accurate places.”
“It’s because he can’t hide his presence, isn’t it? How much trouble will this put him in?”
“I’m glad you’re catching on. A lot in truth, but not an impossible amount. Instead of a five person mission, it’s now going to have twelve.”
“Is that really enough for going into a realm full of demons?” It had me worried. Very worried. If I was being honest, I was scared for him. Then what of Juni? If anything happened to Lee, the demons wouldn’t need her around anymore.
“Three people just took down a handful of them without anyone being injured directly by the demons. It’ll be fine.”
“True…” I agreed reluctantly. “Think there’ll be more changes?”
Emmyth thought for a moment. “I was going to say no, but truthfully I can’t say that. There will be changes, and probably none I can guess. There’s too many involved for things not to get tricky or messy. Larger missions are always that way and never has a quest of this magnitude involved someone without blessed blood.”
“I’m the wild card it would seem.”
“Indeed.” He sighed. “I’ve no idea if it's good, bad, or both.”
“Pray for good, expect the bad, and maybe it’ll even out both without too much turbulence.”
Emmyth laughed. “Fair plan. Let’s go enjoy the band.” I could see he was trying to lighten the mood.
“I can’t believe they didn’t even stop playing,” I agreed. While I would rather be doing a hundred different things, I had no energy for anything difficult.
“Oh yeah, nothing can phase them anymore.” He waved it off. “We knew they were lingering and were ready. If they appeared closer to the group playing they’d have joined in, but with it being so far back and everyone being more than capable of dealing with the attack, there was no reason for pause. It hardly took a minute to sort out.”
“Why don’t you usually do things in groups if it’s so much faster?” I asked curiously.
“Simply because the stronger demons can sense us more easily. A group of us makes for a bigger target and they’d love to take us out. The same goes if we get wind of a large group of them.” He shrugged, “It’s always easier to hide smaller numbers.”
With that, we went inside.
37
The music was great, and the bards were wonderful, but in the end, I went to bed early. I was tired and missed Lee. This whole situation was strange and confusing. There were so many twists and turns, and the moment I thought anything was nailed down, it changed.
That night I had a dream. In the darkness of the woods I saw someone frantically running. Her pace magically fast, even for a dream. I quickly figured out that it was Tella. The image hardly needed to turn. It was abundantly clear that she was in trouble. No Horns, the demon from days before, was on her tail and chased her with its inhuman speed. Tossing and turning, I woke to the same strange change of wind that I had felt before when trouble was brewing. My instincts told me that Tella would be heading this way.
Grabbing my things, I tossed everything into my bag. It was still well before dawn and no one was in sight. I didn’t know where any of them were or where to find Emmyth to let him know something was wrong. Instead, I placed the room key on the counter where Kegan was always to be found during the day. She’d understand.
Without any extra searching, I left.
My heart raced as I rushed to begin my journey. Why would Tella come this way? I thought for a moment before the answer struck me.
To help.
It was really that simple. Tella wanted to help us. At this point, if she had in fact been practicing daily, she would be more than able to just keep up. Her magic had given her the extra edge needed to learn more quickly than normal. Tella would be better at combat than me. Her only misgivings were her age and lack of knowledge. She knew of demons, angels, and spirits, but not what they were capable of. She knew the stories told to little kids which were whispered around a campfire. I doubted she’d believe that one could literally steal her away to another realm.
The hours ticked by and I picked my path based on where my gut told me to go. As the sun started to rise, I heard a group of three voices. All sounded familiar and I just about died laughing. Relief washed over me after hours of worrying I’d be too late.
Clover, Mara, and Tella all ap
peared in my view. While my dream was only about Tella, I knew I had made the right choice.
“Is that?” I heard Mara yell in surprise as Tella rushed up to me.
“What are you doing here?” The look of shock on her face was priceless.
I smiled. “Nice to see you too.” I felt exhausted from the journey, but I was overjoyed to see that she was fine.
Clover and Mara ran to catch up.
“Why are you out here at such an unreasonable hour?” Mara asked.
“I can easily ask all of you the same.” I crossed my arms as I turned my attention toward Tella. “It was mostly because of you kiddo.”
“I brought them too! It wasn’t a rash decision,” she said, clearly proud of herself.
“But why did you come out here?” I asked. There was no guessing her reasoning. A hundred or more scenarios had played out in my head.
“Oh yeah.” She laughed hesitantly. “Juni’s gone. I know that’s why you and Lee left. I’ve been hearing whispers, and I can’t ignore them anymore. Ones saying they should nab me next. That’ll show him. Nab the kid next and he’ll have to fight…”
“That is their plan. I dreamt it last night,” It would be pointless to hide it from her. Not that me suddenly having dreams made any sense. She could still have a chance to get away.
“But you don’t have visions,” Tella said, confused.
“I don’t know what happened, but here we are.” I shrugged. Nothing made sense anymore anyway. “And we need to get back because in my dream I only saw you.” I looked at the others.
“Damn, does that mean the demons would have killed us?” Mara asked.
“Probably. We’ve no idea what we’re up against,” Clover replied, not looking as bothered as she should have been. “Where are we heading, then?”
“Faraden. There are people there who can actually slay demons and help,” I explained vaguely.
“Good, we need some demon slayers. They’re probably a secret order,” Mara agreed, heading in that direction as we all followed. “That’d be a fun story.”
“It’s a true story, at least,” I agreed and felt the winds change, freezing me in place.
Tella froze too. Her words were barely above a whisper. “I hear them.”
Clover and Mara turned to look at us and stopped. “What?” Clover asked.
“I hear them. Maybe five of them. Maybe six?” Tella turned in a slow circle. “Are we in trouble, Key?”
“I don’t have the talent or ability to kill them.” I nodded. “You can’t outrun them, but you can run at the same speed as them.” My dream showed that much, but she’d tire first. That last part she didn’t need to know.
“That’s scary,” Tella said, stepping closer to my side. “I’ve never not been able to outrun anything…”
Mara and Clover nodded at each other.
“Think we can hold them off and let the kid run for help?” Clover asked.
“We’ve no other choice,” I replied honestly to them. “But her getting help would be wonderful.” I turned to Tella. “Remember Emmyth? Remember how his magic felt? Can you find anyone like him and bring them? They’ll keep you safe.”
“But, what if the demons catch me?” she asked, rightfully scared.
“My dream wasn’t about you getting caught. I just saw you running. Running is in your blood; your best and strongest talent. If they ambush you, deflect the hits, use your sword, and then keep running. They can keep up with you but cannot outrun you. You just need to stay three steps ahead. Keep just out of their reach and you’ll be safe.” I hoped she believed me.
Tella took a deep breath and gave me a determined look. “I will be safe.”
“Good.” I gave her a hug. “When they appear, run. Until then, let’s cover some ground. Where are they?”
She pointed behind us at six different spots.
“Let’s go,” I encouraged everyone to continue forward.
There was no sign of the demons attacking for the first five minutes. Or the next five. Half an hour went by and we were all on edge. Forty-five minutes and nothing. Then an hour. An hour and a half. Every snap of a twig or rustle of a bush made us jump, but we continued on.
Our nerves were fried. Our bodies tired from being on edge - knowing they were there was actually giving them the advantage. They only had to follow us to wear us down.
Finally Tella stopped. “We’re surrounded.”
It was a relief to finally be at this point.
No more wondering when we would be in trouble. The doom was here.
They appeared around us in a circle. Once again, the creatures looked as if the humanoid figures were made out of smoldering coals. Flickers of red appeared on or around them as if their magic was slowly dying out in this realm. I worried if it would be even worse in the levels below us.
They watched us, snickering all the while.
“It’s decided then? Make a path?” Clover asked.
“And let the kid run. Got it,” Mara agreed.
I nodded. “Straight forward it is, then.”
Together we rushed to the front and Tella slipped by us and ran. One demon pursued her, but I had no doubt of her abilities to evade it. Together we pushed the first demon we could back and I brought up my shield around us.
“They can break my shield,” I informed them as it was struck and I pumped more power into it.
“Guess we’re on our own then,” Clover replied as I dropped the shield.
Mara blocked the next swing with her weapon and we were quickly swept up into combat. Five versus three. We stayed as much in a circle as possible, but as soon as I fell back Mara and Clover were also knocked over.
Snickering, the demons laughed and contemplated their plan aloud. Their language not like one I’d heard before.
“What are they saying?” Clover asked.
“I’ve no idea. I don’t speak demon.” I replied. I was cursed by demon magic but all I got was this stupid fire.
“How did Tella understand them?” Mara asked, confused.
“I have got no idea, but if we live to find out that’ll be great.” I rebuilt my shield as a claw swiped my way. Together the demons struck it again, breaking my shield.
Gasping in pain from the sudden disconnection from my magic I had no idea what to hope or wish for. It was a struggle to regain my breath, and everyone soon knew just how weak I was. I hadn’t fully recovered from my last battle.
Mara swung to block the next blow and Clover stabbed an attacking demon but it didn’t do much good. The sword lodged in the demon’s gut and it looked like it was in pain, but only for a moment before laughing, and ripping the blade out of itself and tossing it aside. They snickered, cackled, laughed, and pointed at us. In their own language, they made what seemed to be snide comments and debated how to kill us. They seemed to want to toy with us.
“Well fuck,” Clover declared. “That was my favorite sword.”
Mara’s sword was ripped away before she could say anything, and the demons’ snickering continued. They were toying with us and there was nothing left we could do about it.
“I officially hate my luck,” Mara cried in response. “They just need to die.”
In response a spear came into view and stabbed through one of the demons.
The demon dropped, bursting into flames and vanishing. We all looked over to see two cloaked figures returning with Tella at their side. Unamused, the remaining demons changed targets.
The fight was shifted, in our favor, and soon the two new comers had defeated the demons. By then both Clover and Mara had retrieved their swords and I had regained my composure.
“I found help!” Tella skipped over to me when the coast was finally clear.
“Great job.” I hugged her tightly as I could. “You couldn’t have had better timing.”
“I’m so glad you didn’t die!” She squeezed me.
“Your friend found us pretty quickly,” one of the figures said. “But how did you get in
this mess?”
“Long story.” I didn’t bother explaining yet. “Valeon’s Lullaby is the saddest song, don’t you think?”
They both removed their hoods.
“Where did you learn that? You’re not one of the Blessed.” a guy, who looked like he was just a bit younger than me asked.
“That’s the long part. Emmyth taught me the phrase, and we’ll be needing to get back to him in Faraden,” I replied.
“Emmyth? He’s not the kind to say such things.” The girl shook her head. She was about the same age as the boy.
“Then let him explain for himself,” Emmyth said as he was coming out of the woods. “Looks like I’m late. Thankfully, it worked out.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know where to find you, and I knew I needed to go,” I replied, glad he didn’t seem mad.
“I’ve no doubts of that. Trouble always seems to find you,” he agreed. “Explain on the way.” Emmyth looked over at the other two, “Their story is true, Rosalie and Jareth. I don’t know if you heard me write back to the guild, but she’s one of the ones who put an end to the demon league attacking magic villages.”
“I did hear of that story.” Rosalie nodded.
“I didn’t.” Jareth shrugged. “We’re finishing up a quest though.”
“I’ll fill you in.” Rosalie nodded. “Be safe brother.”
Emmyth bowed to them and they bowed in return. “Many safe journeys on your horizon.”
With that, they went on their way and we headed back toward Faraden. On the journey back, I explained my parts of the story and Tella filled us in on hers. I was still struck by the oddity of my dream and the winds changing around me.
“It’s been going on since the time my brother Zarek was ambushed last year. We had just parted ways to meet up with Lee’s mother and I don't know…” I trailed off, thinking. “The winds just changed. Everything felt wrong and I had to stop. I made Lee check with his magic and he confirmed that I was right. We were off in an instant to warn them.”