Chapter 46: Desert, not Deserted

Lilly measured me for clothes when we arrived back at her home. I asked how any new clothing could possibly be ready by the time Seyari and I left in the morning. She seemed to pout at the fact I was leaving.

She said that nothing would be fitted for me, but they probably had some stuff big enough and could get it altered with magic before I left. I at least had the good sense to ask Lilly for an outfit without extra sleeves and an alteration for my tail.

I tried to find and read another magic book as the daylight faded, but I just couldn’t get into it. Lying next to me on the bed, Seyari lazily flipped through volume twenty of Atagor. Her heart wasn’t in her jokes, and she didn’t have my talent for bad puns.

“So about today…” I let the question hang in the air.

“What about it?” Seyari replied bluntly.

I started to move my tail to lay across her but stopped short. “I’m sorry about the nickname thing. I really should have told you I was okay with Renna and I didn’t like the name only because it made me feel like I was creating a false human identity.” My words just sort of all tumbled out.

“I’m not mad about that.” Seyari closed the book with a clap. “I’m mad that you’ve gotten so friendly with Lilly. Even she’s been trying to tell you how two-faced she is.”

I sighed and leaned back. My tail started to bend, too thick at the base for me to lay comfortably. I turned to the side and scooted back so I could see Seyari better. I thought about how I could sense anger, but not where the emotion was directed. There was some kind of allegory to be made there, but I wasn’t going to do it.

I looked at the ceiling before turning back to the half-angel. “I get that. Part of me wonders if she acts like she does because of some kind of self-hate or lingering regret. Maybe she doesn’t think she’s allowed to be a genuinely good person? I don’t know if I’d go that far, but maybe she’s changed from a morally bankrupt past or something?”

“I…” Seyari paused for a long time, but eventually met my gaze with her gold-colored eyes. “I really want to brush you off for playing demon psychologist, but this damn desert’s had us both thinking like that for a while now. I know you know this, but Lilly’s dangerous. Be careful.”

“I will,” I replied solemnly. “Do you think there’s something in the sand?”

I stared at Seyari with a mock-blank expression. After a moment, she groaned and punched my tail. I laughed and the tension shattered like a frozen spiderweb. From there, we did our best to enjoy the last comfortable night we’d have for quite a while.

***

The next morning was quiet compared to the last few days. No big revelations or tense conversation. Mostly, we talked about the weather. If we moved quickly, we might be able to beat the first snow in the pass to the far south. Lilly left after breakfast, but returned shortly with a pile of simple clothing topped by my carefully folded dress. I took it and looked through aura sight: it lit up to a noticeable degree. I wasn’t about to try to tear the garment, however.

Lilly handed me my clothes. “I beefed up the enchantment on your dress! Whoever made it did a stellar job, but now you should be able to repair it if you do manage to tear or melt it.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘beefed up’?”

Lilly tilted her head in confusion. “I took the enchantment that was already on the dress and made it stronger. Whoever did it was good, but I’m better!”

I tried to hide my shock. That the dress was enchanted certainly could explain how Elena was able to make something like that for me in a single evening. I vastly underpaid her. Someday I’d need to go back and thank her. And also ask her a few dozen questions that were now bumping around in my head.

“You didn’t know it was enchanted, did you?” Lilly looked at me with the smug grin of the cat who got the mouse.

“No, I didn’t,” I admitted.

“Curious…” Lilly mumbled something, then retrieved the rest of what she’d brought.

What else she brought amounted to a few changes of clothes, including a single set fit for my human form. Clearly, Lilly had priorities. More importantly, she carried with her a simple spear that my aura sight told me was enchanted. The enchantment looked much weaker than the one on my dress.

She handed the weapon to me and I transformed to my human form. I walked to give myself space and began to run through the practice drills Seyari had taught me.

“I have to admit, I’m surprised,” Seyari said with a hint of bitterness.

“Oh?” Lilly leaned toward the half angel. “Surprised why?”

Seyari shrugged. “You brought a practical weapon without frills or nonsense.”

“You wound me!” Lilly replied playfully. “But if you must know, Smith made it and I didn’t give any input to the design. A human weapon made by a human for a demon who wants to pretend to be one.”

Lilly’s comments stung. Despite speaking to Seyari she was absolutely talking about me. The obvious side eye was more than I needed to understand.

So far as I was concerned, Lilly could shove it. I was who I was: human, demon, didn’t matter. I imagined if I wasn’t going to be forced into it all the time, I’d use my human form casually, like my dress or a fun hat.

Maybe that attitude made light of my transformation and what it meant, but I didn’t intend to hide any longer than I had to. People had every right to know both forms of mine. I was no danger to the people of Ordia so long as they didn’t do something a normal human would get bent out of shape about. Summoning a demon, trying to kill me or Seyari, that was a short list of acts that’d make a person see a real wrath demon.

I brought out my other pair of arms and my tail to test the balance and froze. Oh, right. Humans have two arms.

I hadn’t forgotten that, of course. I only forgot that I’d need to have two arms. Thankfully, the feeling of crushing disappointment at this realization was far better than the raw disgust I previously held. Small improvements!

I shifted back and returned to the others. “Thanks, Lilly” I gave her an honest smile.

“Oh, do thank me! But also thank Smith. He worked very hard on the spear, so I’ll give him your deepest gratitude!”

“Thank you both then,” I amended my statement with a short laugh.

“Are you ready to go?” Seyari asked grumpily.

I nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

We packed our old gear with the new stuff, including a pack overstuffed with food that Lilly insisted would keep. I won double pack duty. I get it: I’m large.

Surely, Seyari didn’t think four arms somehow gave me enough space on my back for two packs? I ended up slinging one over each top shoulder before strapping them around under my bust. Not the most comfortable, but the packs wouldn’t fall off and I could mostly move all my arms.

***

Once we had everything sorted, we said our goodbyes to Lilly and Isidore. Mereneth met up with us and we walked together to the edge of town.

We were walking toward the sand below when Seyari spoke up. “Hey Mereneth? What do you think of Lilly?”

The lust demon answered quickly. “She is my Sovereign. Flighty, eccentric, and far stronger than I am.”

The silver-haired half-angel frowned. “Do you think she’s dangerous?”

“Do you?” Mereneth asked sardonically.

I felt a pulse of anger from Seyari. She huffed and picked up her pace.

I wanted to be away from Sandmeadow more than I wanted to play mediator. I followed along and we passed into the wards in silence.

The odd, unnatural feeling was much milder than going in had been. I suspected that was because, after the first stretch, we were doing exactly what the magic was trying to compel us to do. After a long awkward silence, we made it again into open desert.

Mereneth gave us directions. “Go south until you can see the mountains. Head toward the largest peak, but stay east of it. Others and I have seen what might serve as a pass around that area. Watch out for titan scorpions.”

“You’re not coming with us?” I stated more than asked.

“Mistress told me you needed training.” She smiled wickedly.

I wasn’t about to argue the point. I didn’t particularly want Mereneth with us, and Seyari wanted her around even less. I needed to ask my half-angel girlfriend if she had ever used magic to weaponize that glare of hers. Her glowing gold eyes were uncanny.

“You can leave now.” Seyari said coldly.

“Ooh, frigid!” Despite the playful tone, Mereneth took a step back. “Bye for now, then!”

The crimson lust demon kicked off the sand and pumped her wings skyward. Both Seyari and I were hit by a rush of sand. Rude.

We started to walk south. Seyari checked over her shoulder again and again until the speck of Mereneth shrunk to a small dot in the distance. She motioned for us to stop and turned on her aura sight.

I did the same. Sometime later, Seyari seemed satisfied. Tension visibly left her shoulders.

“Sorry about all that,” I offered.

“Not. Your. Fault.” Seyari took several deep breaths.

“Was it that bad?” Suddenly, I was worried.

“I’ll be fine,” Seyari replied, then added in a softer tone, “Really, I’ve had worse.”

“Okay.” I gave her a side hug. “Want to hear about my life before I became a demon?”

“That’s… abrupt.” Seyari tilted her head at me.

“I want to get it off my chest, and you could use a distraction. Besides, it’s not like there’s anything else to do.”

Seyari glanced around the ocean of sand. “Sure, I guess. But you don’t have to tell me everything.”

“Wasn’t planning to!”

The rest of the day while we walked, I talked about my old life. Faces and memories I’d not thought about in years bubbled up into my mind. I talked a lot about my sister. And about Abby. The adventures we had around our city and the ones we dreamed of having when we all got older.

I spoke about my blacksmithing apprenticeship. Seyari asked if I’d enjoyed the experience. I realized I had.

Maybe I could try to find Bourick once this was all done? He’d never have to work to get a forge up to temperature again if I was around.

I cried a lot. But I also laughed. We also laughed. The experience was cathartic, right up until I got to the end. I would see Finley burn.

“Do you really think your sister is alive?” Seyari asked carefully.

I knew I should doubt that my sister was still alive. But I felt so certain she was alive. If Tania had died, what would happen to me?

Would I be able to hold myself together, or would my rage take over? Would Abby’s influence even be able to stop me?

“Hey, uh. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

I shook my horned head and glanced over at Seyari. Her angelic face held honest concern. I couldn’t help but smile.

“No, it’s fine. I need to be ready to accept whatever comes.”

I knew I had my answer. I cared deeply about Seyari. Even if my sister was no longer alive, I’d still have her. Together, we walked off into the sands until the sun began to dip low.

We were looking for a place to camp for the night, when we heard sounds of combat from up ahead. We took off toward the sounds. While it was certainly possible we’d find a Navanaean patrol, I’d rather help now than try to skirt the fight and hope we’re not found.

Cresting a dune, we saw a nearly familiar battle ahead of us. A group of people were fighting a titan scorpion. The massive arachnid was already injured—one tail hung limp and two legs were broken. The people, however, were not Navanaean. They weren’t human at all, in fact.

The people were humanoid in shape, but insectoid in nature. Humanoid bugs, four-armed and covered in chitin. They also had suffered no casualties in the fight. They fought with crossbows and hafted weapons. The exception was one who had a massive hammer of some sort. As we watched, the head came down on one of the massive scorpion’s leg joints. The chitin shattered.

“Should we even interfere?” I asked Seyari quietly.

I didn’t think we’d been noticed. At the same time, if I was down there, I didn’t think I’d pay attention to anything that wasn’t a house sized bug trying to kill me.

“I think we should skirt around. Neither of us look Navanaean and from what we’ve heard I doubt they’d attack us unprovoked.”

I nodded in agreement and we turned to leave when a dune behind the hunters exploded outward. A second titan scorpion skittered toward the hunters. Quickly dropping my packs and spear, I dashed forward and down the side of the dune, barely able to keep balance with my tail. I wanted to try my spear, but the cabin-sized armor-plated monstrosity wasn’t the place for another few feet of reach.

Wherever I stood would be within range. Unless maybe I was too close…

Ahead of me, rather than chaos, I saw the group of insectoid people form up and move to defend against the aggressor. They’d been scattered, however, and several individuals were separated. Sharp intonations that sounded like no language I’d ever heard rang across the battlefield.

Maybe they could take on this new threat. I didn’t care—I wanted to help and I was going to.

I sprinted to the newly-arrived scorpion. I couldn’t get enough grip to jump properly, so I ran under its swinging tails into the mess of legs. I was still angry after thinking about my death.

I imagined the sharp limb in front of me was Finley’s sharp face. I grabbed hold and swung myself onto the thing’s back. The sand-polished chitin was slippery, so I heated my toe claws and punched into the surface for grip.

Still holding onto the leg, I grabbed hold of the thorax with my two lower arms. With my two upper arms, I pulled the top segment of the leg back and wrenched it as hard as I could.

There was a tremendous sound like crunching bone and the leg joint bent back and over the thing’s body.

A stinger shot down toward me. I smacked it away with my tail. I wasn’t done with the mangled leg just yet.

Next, I twisted the limb. I was surprised at how easily the limb severed from the body.

Around me, lances of wind cut shallow gouges in the titan scorpion’s armor, distracting it. Seyari had decided to join in. Somewhere further away, shouting from the insectoid people renewed.

Right now, I was focused on the target of my rage. I used my extra arms for leverage and pulled on the lip of the ruined leg joint.

The effort was massive. This thing’s chitin had to be as thick as Seyari’s arm. I heated my claws. The ones gripping the edge threatened to cut through, but the armor around the others softened. The scorpion’s exposed flesh bubbled and burned underneath my magic.

I cooled the hands I needed for grip and pulled with everything I had. My muscles screamed. I hadn’t found my limit yet, but this had to be close.

The sound of the massive scorpion’s chitin ripping apart was horrific. Like a chain shirt made of bones being ripped apart inside my head. Now, I’d made an opening to the thing’s insides. They were blackish-green, wet, and pulsing angrily. Except the bit I’d already charred.

I wasn’t happy with what I was about to do. I was extremely thankful to be wearing clothes I didn’t care much about.

I dove forward and begin ripping into the scorpion’s insides with all my arms. I tore chunks out and burned everything I came into contact with. Once I’d made a gory hole, I aimed and lanced a gout of white-hot flames inside.

By now, the scorpion, was shaking violently, trying to toss me off. Seyari had focused her wind blades and cut the bulbs of its stingers to shreds. From where I was sitting, none of the thing’s other limbs could reach me. The massive arachnid screeched in agony as I cooked it alive.

Seconds passed, and I could feel the drain on my mana from the constant flames I was producing. I’d used over half of my mana by the time the thing stopped moving and collapsed to the ground. The chitin I sat on was hot enough to distort the air around it. The flesh around the gaping wound had long since charred to ash, but I could still hear the thing’s insides sizzling. My heat had burned most of the gore off me, along with the sleeves and trouser legs of my clothing.

I took deep breaths to calm myself and stood up to look around. The insectoid people had finished killing their quarry and were arranged far away in a half circle. They were clearly wary. I know I’d be if I’d just seen a demon rip a massive scorpion open and cook it from the inside out.

I really should practice with the spear. I’d want to, even if the only reason was to avoid having to explain why I fought like a wrath demon. Besides, uh, being a wrath demon.

The tall person with the hammer stepped forward. Now that the scene had calmed, I could get a better look at them. They had dark reddish-black chitin and a face that was almost how I’d imagine a bug would look as a humanoid: two large main eyes of solid black, a few smaller ones to the sides, no nose, a mouth that faced forward but with mandibles in place of jaws, and a pair of antennae on top. Like me, they had four arms, but their lower pair were smaller.

I realized I was staring and looked quickly away. Hopping down from my kill, I strode forward slowly to meet them.