Chapter 188: Near Miss

My stop in Linthel went relatively smoothly. Sure, I got a few looks landing outside the city, but I was making great time and the sun still wasn’t setting when I’d left. Arden, the branch head of the Gelles Company in city, had taken my message of an attack in Astrye seriously, but he’d put up some resistance to my request for mercenaries for the pass.

Particularly with regard to the threat of greater demons.

However, despite Astrye’s dire financial straits, I was nobility. Or perhaps I was just a rather insistent demon. Regardless, I had a vague promise of “I’ll see what I can do” and that was going to need to be enough for now. Seyari and I could at least fly over every other day or so.

So, I flew along the pass, a little slower than my maximum speed. As soon as I’d left Linthel I’d burned away my ragged loaned clothing and brought out my armor again. It fit me like Elena’s dress; even better around the tail.

Perhaps halfway through the pass, I noticed a small group of travelers—three people it looked like. One had dark, short hair, another was a pale blond and in shining armor, and the third… She had skin much like mine, and wore the vestments of a priestess of Dhias.

Demon-blooded, then. And something about the paladin next to her was familiar, but I couldn’t see her face. Regardless, the third also wore armor, and I didn’t doubt their competence, but it would be best to warn them regardless.

Even if I scared them half to death.

Then again… I thought back to High Priest Grants. He’d shown no inclination to listen to a word I’d said, regardless of circumstance. This group didn’t seem like a punitive force, but even Paladin Warren, a man I’d grown a rather deep respect for recently, had taken much more than was reasonable to see my side.

But the woman in the lead was demon-blooded. Surely she’d be more open, right?

When I banked to descend was when I noticed the ambush. Aura sight picked up something in the trees, then my vision sighted a small group of wolf-like lesser demons. Wolf-like. That didn’t quite do them justice—they were wolf-like in the way a cloud could look like a silhouette. Bits of stone, wood, and rock were mashed together with the parts of all sorts of animals and assembled into vaguely canid shapes. Slight, gangly shapes with more eyes than they certainly needed. They didn’t strike me as wrath demons, but it didn’t matter.

My bank turned into a dive and my axe appeared in my hands with such a natural flexing of power that I wondered how I’d ever gone without it.

Looking closer, I saw a second group of the lesser demons, waiting on the opposite flank. There were perhaps ten in all, but more than enough to pose a serious threat to the group. Only the paladin was guaranteed to be able to handle her own—and that would be against one.

The first group noticed me before I landed. They started to scatter, but I sped up, axe down and fire whirling around me. Trees tore apart under me, and when I landed, a plume of earth, snow, and bits of fir tree blew up around me. Axe first, I flipped over it and dismissed my wings to land on my feet.

Pine sap rose over the smell of burning earth and blood. One of the demons hadn’t gotten away, and what was left of it lay in a crumpled pile by my feet.

The others… ran. For a too-long moment I was stunned by the sight of a group of lesser demons fleeing. Shit. I can’t let them get away!

So long as they were roaming the mountains, the pass wasn’t safe. And they were either smarter than average for lesser demons, or they were being controlled. Perhaps both.

I hefted my axe, focused my aura sight as much as I could through the trees, and launched myself skyward again. The other group was scattering as well, and they were fast. Can I even catch all of them?

I needed to try. These travelers, at least, would be safe so long as the demons were too scared of me to attack them.

***

Sonia gripped her walking staff tight enough that her knuckles paled. In the mountain breeze, the only sound was the faint jingle of her horn jewelry—and the echo of the impact in her ears.

Next to her, Paula moved her arm down from shielding her face. “Holy shit! What the everloving fuck was that?”

On Sonia’s other side, Inva slid her sword out of its sheath, but her posture was relaxed. “I don’t know… but I have an idea.”

“Then spill it already! Whatever the fuck did that isn’t something we can take on. Shit, we probably can’t even run away!”

Sonia stared after the trail of fire, glimpsing an armored figure within. They were moving away, staying low to the ground.

“Sonia?” Inva asked, taking a half-step between her and where the magical explosion had just gone off.

“I’m…” She shook her head, jewelry jangling, and relaxed her grip on her staff a little. Inva’s presence was comforting—and Paula’s too despite her foul mouth. “Paula has a point. What—or who—was that?”

Inva looked off up the pass, keeping her eyes on the trees. “Like I said, I’m really not sure. The magic reminded me of what Zarenna had. That’s all.”

“No way.” Paula moved to their flank. “She sure as shit didn’t do that when I saw her.”

“Did you ever see her fight?” Inva said, her voice getting a little quieter.

Sonia saw her gaze flick upward, like her thoughts were drifting elsewhere.

“Yeah, I totally… actually…” Paula frowned. “I know you told me a little bit about that night half of Riverside got destroyed. She didn’t make that crater, did she?”

Inva wrapped her free hand around her chin, her large gauntlet making the gesture look exaggerated. “I don’t know. I don’t think she did, but I think she probably could’ve. I didn’t think she could fly though.”

“So that might be her.” Sonia took a step forward, then another, walking in front of her friends and whirling to face them, giving her best reassuring smile. “Either way, we should keep going right? Whatever it was definitely saw us if it came from the air, so it’s not after us.”

“Yeah, but what was it after?” Paula hissed.

“We keep our guard up, then.” Inva moved between Sonia and Paula, looking between the two and then at the pass up toward the explosion site. “You still with us?”

Paula scoffed. “You think I’d go halfway across the damn Empire just to walk down a mountain by myself? Fuck no—I’m in.”

Despite her smile, Sonia thought she heard a little hurt in Paula’s tone. “She’s right, Inva. We’re all friends, so let’s go!”

Paula’s eyes widened, and Sonia smiled at her. Inva simply nodded and started up the road, vanguard for the others.

***

In the end, a few lesser demons escaped. Either two or three—I couldn’t be sure. They were too far away, and their auras too weak for that trick I pulled in Gedon. Not to mention the fact that I could feel mana exhaustion creeping up on me. It only made sense—I’d done more in one day that I’d have imagined possible, even a month ago.

Far enough away that I’d nearly gotten lost despite my familiarity with the surrounding peaks, I realized I had a choice to make. The sun was starting to set, and I could either make it home in time tonight, or I could risk both Seyari’s wrath and Astrye’s destruction by meeting with the travelers who may or may not try to fight me in my weakened state.

The choice was obvious, but that didn’t keep me from worrying. They’ll probably be fine, and I might be able to get Seyari to check tomorrow.

By the time I’d made it back to the castle, I could barely keep my wings from sputtering out. Seyari noticed as well when I stepped from the balcony inside our room. My lovely angel of wrath was sitting at her work desk in her nightclothes, quill in hand and desktop candle recently lit. Her crimson wings were folded neatly behind her, feathers recently preened, and their size almost made her look small.

She didn’t look up from her work immediately, instead sighing and asking, “What did you get into this time?”

I flopped onto the bed before I answered. “I killed Vivian again.” My words came out muffled, so Seyari looked my way.

“What on Varra do you—” She was just in time to see me dismiss my armor, and the rest of her words died in a long exhalation. “What were you just wearing? And why are you naked?”

I lifted my head up and flipped around on the bed so I was facing Sey, legs crossed. “Vivian came back as a demon. I think Envy pushed her toward killing people to lure me out for a rematch of sorts.”

Seyari looked up from my chest to my face without a hint of shame. “Did she challenge your title?”

“Yep.”

“You got stronger then.” Her eyes glowed briefly. “I can tell—it’s not by a small amount.”

I looked down at my clawed hand, clenching and unclenching it. “I definitely feel stronger. I’d not have been able to make the full flight home after a fight like that before—not even close.”

“That’s good news then.” She stood up and walked over. I expected her to sit beside me on the bed, but instead she sat down on my lap, facing me and looking up. “I have some more questions, but they can wait. I want to know what you were wearing and why you’re naked.” She leaned in close, so her breath tickled my neck and the resonance of her voice vibrated up and down my spine. “And you’re going to make up for distracting me, Renna.”

I returned her lascivious smile. “It’s an outfit—mmph!”

She silenced me with a kiss. With tongue. Her wings wrapped around us and she pushed me down onto the bed, straddling me, her evening clothes already down below her chest and on the way to her ankles.

The stars were old in the sky by the time we’d finished. We stayed together, partially under the sheets and basking in the afterglow. Starlight filtered in from outside, giving the room hints of color to cheeks and eyes and lips and wings and horns and claws. I explained the duchess’s aid promise, the fight with demon Vivian, and my new armor and weapon.

The latter, she asked to see, and I had just enough left in me to bring it out for a bit. Seyari ran a hand gingerly along the weapon’s shaft, golden eyes glowing brightly in the dark of the room even as my weapon’s light cast her face as red as her wings.

“It’s a fine weapon, love. Brutish…” She ran a glowing finger along the blade with a hiss, rising up to tap the spike at the top. “...But with just a hint of finesse. Very you, in a way. Do you know how to use it? Is it instinctual?” her voice shifted in pitch from sultry to excited, and her genuine, broad smile caused one of my own.

“Maybe a little,” I answered honestly, “but I was hoping you could instruct me.”

“Can’t say I’ve used many axes like this, but I know the basics. We’ll have some time after patrol tomorrow—for this and more. Want to go wreck another mountain?” Her tone shifted back, eyes growing a little lidded.

I blushed crimson and nodded.