A Dretch did attack on the second day. In the middle of the day, broad daylight, where it ran from the main door straight for the food, right through one of Un's drills. It was simultaneously good practice and a spotlight on just how horribly unprepared the town guard was. Yuii, a sexy little whore on loan from Malex to translate Un's instructions, had been sitting on a barrel waiting for the next line to shout. The foul little demon had bowled over her seat as it rushed past, causing her to scream and curse as she hit the ground. As if it was part of the drill, Un commanded the guard to turn, they did and half of them stumbled backwards out of formation. One person caught the damn thing with his shield while his partner simply stared at it dumbfounded. It twisted with a hiss of anger, rounded the shield and tore its claws through the man's leg as it passed by.

It hit an actual shield wall as the guards that had fallen back reformed. Not a single person managed to skewer the thing with a spear before Un got hold of a net and caught the fucker. The splitting mauls made short work of the trapped creature. Alek hadn't been there to see the spectacle, but Un's report made him wonder if they should add a few more days of training before going in, but only convinced the sheriff to wait one more. Mostly so the men could rest.

Alek showed up in his full kit. It must have been jarring to see the random Tiefling asshole that had been yelling at them for the last few days go from simple tunics to a suit of dark leathers and burnished steel plates. It got a lot of looks as he walked through town and a lot of open mouths as he joined the guards. The armor, shield, short spear, and other accoutrements, reminded people of just who he was. The Harbinger.

With the main doors draped in netting and any nonessential help sent back to town, Abernathy gave the go to open the doors. After just a moment's pause, the bat-scorpion things began piling up in the netting. Their infernal screeching creating a headache inducing cacophony. Arrows cut them down in droves and thinned the numbers until the group could safely bring the net down and squish the final few.

"Well that worked better than expected." Someone said to a chorus of agreement.

Alek translated for Un. "Line up. Into the entryway."

The two lines formed, one for each corridor with Un, Abernathy, Alek, the guy's with the splitting mauls, and a grinning Red in the middle, though Red seemed to stay as far away from Un as possible. The sheriff hadn't been keen on inviting the kid in on this endeavor, but Red was.

"Two in the west!" Someone shouted and the line tightened into the shield wall before Un even gave the order. The creatures screeched and hissed as their clawed feet pounded against the dirty tiles before their bloated bodies crashed into the shields and spears.

"Net them." Alek reminded loudly. Unfortunately someone's thrown net managed to entangle one of their own men instead of the demons. Alek pulled the tangled man out of the line and started pulling at the strings.

"East side!"

Alek cursed the gods. "Red, get him untangled." Dropping the net and shifting over to the under-manned side of the entryway, Alek dropped his shield off his back, plamed his short spear and threw. The spear hit the diminutive demon with a meaty thud, startling both the creature and the skinny guard who was proving to again he the only competent fucker in the group. If he survived today, Alek should… No. Alek was retired now. He would focus on building his house, tending to his garden, and if time permitted, preparing a small plot for farming. Not training people.

The demon backed off while pulling the spear out of its flesh. Alek snapped his fingers, recalling his bonded weapon and leaving the now empty handed demon dumbfounded. The scrawny guard tried to stab it and a net dropped on top of it while it was distracted. Of course that was the time when the foul little monster disgorged a festering wave of stench that caused the guard to heave and fall back. Alek looked around to see who had thrown the net. Un apparently. "The mauls."

Right, she needed a translator. "Mauls! Take this one out." Monitoring the other side showed that things were taking a turn for the worse as those two also released their load of noxious gas in a cloud so thick it was visible. The guards fell back choking and in some cases, vomiting. One person being dragged along the floor and leaving a long smear of blood. Alek moved across the quickly shrinking middle ground. He'd give up every one of these fuckers for Wrath. How many fucking people did it take to keep the weakest of all demonic creatures back? Seriously?

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Alek dropped his spear, held his arms out, thumbs touching, and shouted. "IGNIUM!" A wave of flame rolled over the two creatures causing them the shriek and giving the guards time to regroup. Fun Fact that Alek was made aware of only moments before it became a sudden and unavoidable problem, the gas the little vermin spewed was flammable. A secondary bloom of fire bellowed out of the hallway causing nearly everyone, demons included to shriek in surprise in most cases, pain in a few others. Alek, somewhat resistant to the flames due to his infernal bloodline, but not quite resistant enough, winced at the smell of his own burning hair.

One of the demons, still screeching, ran face first into a wall. Alek noted the weave of subtler magic, and looked directly at Red, her eyes focused and mouth muttering. Well, one suspicion sated. He wondered if the sheriff was aware of the unregistered mage. If not, Alek wasn't about to bring it to the man's attention. He snapped his fingers, summoned his spear and threw it at the demon that wasn't disoriented. A missed net fell onto the scorched floor followed by a seemingly annoyed Un who laid into the demon Alek wasn't focused on.

"Alek, move." Someone yelled and Alek bashed the demon in front of him with his shield before falling back. A net flew past, actually hitting its mark, and the mauls made quick work of the creature. About damn time. Surveying the entryway this time brought up almost nothing demonic.

"You and you." Alek pointed at a couple of the guards. "Get those barricades in here. And someone shoot that thing on the ceiling before it drops on someone."

Everyone looked up. Alek put his ear to the set of double doors that lead to the throne room. Papers being moved was the only sound. Odd. He cracked the door a bit and peered in. Of course every head in the room, at least the ones he could see, instantly turned to look at him. Alek pulled his head back. "Hold down the fort." He said to the sheriff before slipping into the room and firmly shutting the door.

The throne room was large and well lit. It was also clean and devoid of demons with a single notable exception. Decorated with tastefully done tapestries on the walls and a rich burgundy carpet that covered the dais. The room had three doors, one behind Alek and one on each side of the room. Three people, excluding himself, were present, all of them on the raised dais either in or near the throne itself. To the right, his right, the thrones left, a very young girl sat at a small desk near what might have been a mini-bar. She looked wrung out, stressed, and more than a bit terrified of Alek. On the left was a fucking elf. More specifically a High Elf. Tall and thin with long ears poking out of his damn near perfect golden hair and dressed in something of a butler's outfit. He stared, probably at Alek, with his large eyes. The same colored pupil, iris, and sclera, a solid mass of blue-green that was impossible to pinpoint where the man was looking. He sat primly on a stool. His uncanny gaze and motionlessness making him statue-like. Fucking elves.

Alek bowed low. "Lady Emixie Malssenin I presume."

Emixie sat on the throne, a long, paper covered, narrow desk sat in front of her as she had apparently chosen to use the room as her personal study. Her skin was pale and flawless with gently glowing tattoos of script that ran from her slender wrists, up her arms, across her delicate collar bones, and plunging down to disappear under her dress, only to reappear running down her shapely legs to her perfect ankles. The dress itself was perfectly acceptable fashion for a noble woman. Her face fucking perfect, and she was comfortably barefoot. Her hair, eyes, horns, wings, tail, dress, and painted finger and toenails were all the same shade of black. If this woman wasn't a succubus, Alek would eat the short sword strapped to his back.

"Ah… Alek Harbinger, at your service."

The fucking elf moved. It said something about the fey freaks that Alek was more unnerved by the butler elf than the baroness demon. He mumbled a few words into her equally pointed ear and the mildly surprised expression she had been wearing vanished. The woman's smile was the sun. A bright, almost bubbly thing that made the fact that she was a literal demon seem utterly insignificant. She moved a few papers to the side and leaned over her desk. The elf returned to impersonating a statue.

"Alek Harbinger? As in, the Hero known as The Harbinger of Wrath?"

"Yes my lady."

She clapped her hands together excitedly. "Excellent! I have a job for you."

Alek hadn't really known how this conversation was going to go, but this was a little… too easy. It put him on edge.

"I know it's a tiny bit cliche, but I may have a bit of a rodent problem in the cellar."

Alek stared at her. Seriously? "Does this roden problem have a terrible stench?" Maybe she was talking in metaphors.

"Mmmm." She tapped her lips while giving him an exaggerated expression of thinking. "It is the source of the scent problem."

"Ah, I see. No problem if we clean up all the rats then?"

"That would be professional, yes?"

Alek bowed again. "I'll see to it my lady." Alek put a hand on the door, but turned around before leaving. "Oh, ah. I'm not the only one here… and your… extra appendages are showing."

She giggled and it was disturbingly adorably.

There was a shuffling as several people no doubt had their ears to the door. The sheriff stayed the closest, his expression expectant.

"Did I hear something about a missing girl the other day?" Alek asked. "Little blonde?"

"Yeah."

"She's in there. And the Baroness is a demon. Succubus probably."

"Thrice cursed gods in hell! What do we do about that?"

Alek shrugged. "Contact a church? Was there a High Elf servant there before?"

"Yes. I forget the fucker's name."

"Well he's either in on the demon thing or she's considerably powerful."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because High Elves are exceptionally resistant to mind altering magic."

The sheriff shifted uncomfortably. "So what do we do about her?"

"Contact a church."

"Are you serious?"

"She's a succubus. This is way above my Paygrade. She doesn't seem to care if we wipe out the dretches and she seemed to imply the source was in the cellar. We can either head straight there or clear the place one room at a time."

"I don't like the idea of having these damn things creeping up behind us." Abernathy stated.

"I agree. Might end up with a harder fight downstairs, but your men can't handle being flanked."

I think the scrawny guard needs a name... any ideas?