D’Argen crouched near the broken door of the small wooden house and looked out. The sight outside made him flinch back. The single demon they had seen was only one of many. It had feminine curves like Cana and long hair the same colour as Upates. The leaves on its wings were the same orange red as its hair, but as the sky turned to match them, they seemed to glow. It stood in a cluster of at least a dozen more just like it.

“We have to get them to safety,” D’Argen whispered to Kassar as soon as the other was beside him. “Without our mahee.”

“Why?” Kassar hissed.

D’Argen glared at the other, and Kassar rolled his eyes in response.

“I meant why without our mahee.”

“The scents,” D’Argen answered before he knew the words would leave his mouth. “And I want to test a theory.”

“Come, come,” the mortal woman behind them changed over her chant.

Both D’Argen and Kassar watched as she helped the others up, a young man holding the smallest child to his chest, the woman holding the hands of an elder man, and the elder holding another child. The woman had the disk in her palm. As one, the family ignored both D’Argen and Kassar and made for the door.

“Wait! They are right out there!” Kassar tried to stop her, but she shrugged off his hold and stepped out.

D’Argen watched with fascination as she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and started walking. The others followed like a chain. The demons all turned to look at them as one.

One of the demons, this one with a faint blue glow to its wings, stalked away from the group toward them. The mortal woman did not even flinch as she walked right past it. The demon reached out with sharp nails and touched the cheek of the older man, drawing a thin line of blood there. He did not respond.

Then, suddenly, D’Argen found a pair of glowing blue eyes focused on him. The demon sneered, threw its head back, and let out a scream so shrill that D’Argen’s ears hurt. By the time the ringing faded away, the demon was flying right at him.

D’Argen dove out of the way as the demon flew into the house and he drew his sword. Kassar already had his drawn and he lashed out. The demon’s piercing scream came again, and the scent of its foul blood filled the small house.

“Run, run!” Kassar ordered and did just that as he ran out of the house. D’Argen was hot on his heels.

The dozen other winged demons all went into the air, created a full cacophony of horrible screams, and then dove down at them. D’Argen rolled out of the way of one attack and swiped with his sword. He opened his mahee just enough to step around two other diving demons and cut at their wings. The scent must have driven the demons mad because they wall turned on him instead of both him and Kassar.

The mortal family out on the street kept walking as if nothing at all was happening.

As Kassar hit one of the demons away, it collapsed right at their feet. The woman leading the line hesitated, and the demon’s glowing green eyes snapped up to her. It bared its teeth. D’Argen opened his mahee further and stepped in the way just in time to cut off the demon’s reaching arm.

“Run! Get inside!” D’Argen ordered the mortal family as three more of the demons rushed at him. He fought them off, cutting limbs and slashing into the branches of their wings, trying to keep himself between the demons’ attacks and the mortals that were now running.

A door opened on the other side and D’Argen felt relief for the family only for a moment. They rushed in, but out of the house rushed two armed mortals.

“They escaped!” One of them yelled into the air and a few other doors opened.

Instead of rushing to attack the demons, D’Argen had to dodge out of the way of an arrow aimed for him. A grunt of pain behind him revealed that Kassar had been unable to do the same. The arrow was in the shoulder of his sword arm, and he dropped the blade. The demons rushed him.

D’Argen opened his mahee as wide as he could, letting the scent of the ocean fill the entire area. The demons that rushed Kassar changed direction and went for him instead. D’Argen was much faster though. He used just enough of his mahee to keep out of their reach, but not so much for them to lose interest in him.

And then there were the mortals, standing near their open doors and armed with bows and arrows. D’Argen dodged out of the way of the arrows easily, moving too fast to be a target, then started using the mortals to his advantage. Every arrow he dodged either lodged into a demon or made the demon swerve out of the way. Most of those that dodged ran right into D’Argen’s sword.

It felt like barely any time at all had passed when D’Argen slid to a stop. Not all of the demons were dead but all of them were on the ground. The sound of a bow string snapping had him open his mahee and rush the mortal that had just aimed at him. D’Argen took the bow forcefully from his hands and pushed the mortal back just as harshly, sending him sprawling back into the tiny house.

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Then came a scent that had no description at all but D’Argen knew too well. More demons were arriving.

“We have to get out of here,” Kassar said as soon as D’Argen slid to a stop beside him.

“I agree. But I want that staff,” D’Argen responded and looked over the man’s wound. Kassar had already removed the arrow, but the wound had not healed at all. “Same stone?”

“I think so,” Kassar tried to confirm D’Argen’s suspicions.

The village they were in had three roads crossing all in the middle. D’Argen watched all the open doors and the mortals standing there, glaring at him, as he made his way to the centre. He did not see Varuba anywhere.

“Kassar. I need your luck,” D’Argen informed.

Kassar nodded and opened his mahee. D’Argen strode right up to the first house with a closed door that caught his attention. He did not bother knocking and, as the first time, kicked the door open. Varuba was sitting there in a chair, facing the door, her stone staff resting across her lap.

“What is this magic?” D’Argen hissed and yanked the staff out of her frail grip. Immediately, the weight of his body and the sword in his other hand had him stumbling. It was so much stronger than the house before or the bracelet.

Varuba did not answer him and closed her eyes. She raised her chin, and it did not feel like the sign of respect the gods used. It felt like she was baring her throat for him to tear it out. D’Argen was tempted. He slammed the staff into the ground with all his strength and it shattered at the woman’s feet. The weight lessened but remained. D’Argen tried to open his mahee but it did not respond. A single piece remained in his hand.

He stalked out of the house where Kassar was waiting for him, and he dropped the staff fragment at Kassar’s feet.

“Why not the whole thing?” Kassar asked, eyeing the stone warily. There were carvings on it that were smooth and worn from time.

“I will not be responsible for their deaths,” D’Argen answered. He started tearing at the skirts of his robes, pulling out a long ribbon that he used to wrap the stone with over and over and over. It was not enough. When he held it, the weight returned.

A scream down one of the streets revealed that the rest of the demons had not only arrived, but that they had attacked the mortals. D’Argen panicked. Had the staff he destroyed kept all the mortals safe?

A young man was running down toward them, a demon with the shape of a hunched wolf but with grass instead of fur was chasing after him. D’Argen dropped the stone and opened his mahee. He cut the demon down just as it pounced to end the mortal. The man stumbled and fell to the ground. Three other similar demons were already rushing at D’Argen.

The scent of roasted pine nuts surrounded D’Argen completely and one of the demons slipped in the blood of the dead one and stumbled right into the second demon’s legs, sending them both toppling in a ball of teeth and grass. D’Argen stuck his sword into the third right through its mouth. Kassar’s scent once more surrounded him and his sword slipped out of bone and flesh without any resistance at all.

The two demons that had stumbled together ignored him in favour of attacking one another. But the shadows down the street revealed many were coming. Doors were slamming open, and mortals were running out, screaming in fear, and running right at D’Argen.

“Calm! Keep calm!” Varuba’s voice came in from behind him. She was supported by another mortal as she came out to the centre of the street. “They are not real. They do not exist!” She called out loudly, waving a larger fragment of her broken staff over her head.

“They are not real. They do not exist.” The man supporting her said with her when she repeated it.

“They are not real. They do not exist.” Another mortal joined in.

The young man D’Argen had saved sat up but did not move closer to her. He closed his eyes and started repeating the same thing. There was no stone disk in his hands. Those running slowed, gathered around either the fallen man or Varuba, and they all started chanting the same thing.

Kassar touched D’Argen’s shoulder to draw his attention.

“We need your speed more than my luck,” Kassar said and held up the bundle of cloth around the broken stone fragment D’Argen had taken.

D’Argen nodded, surrounded Kassar in his mahee, and then shot them both up and to the side. He landed them on a roof out of the way and immediately touched the wrapped bundle. It almost felt like the roof would not hold his weight at all.

It did.

And it held the weight of the demon that landed in front of them.

D’Argen kept his sword pointed at the demon as it sniffed the air. It had no eyes but three sets of nostrils that flickered opened and closed. It slunk around the roof, deemed it empty, and jumped back down.

Down, to where the demon hoard was rushing through the streets. Some stopped to sniff at the mortals, touch them, even lick them, but nothing else happened. The mortals kept their chants up.

A scream from somewhere drew D’Argen’s eyes just as a demon pounced on one of the mortals and tore him to shreds. Those around him visibly flinched and the demon turned to them, jumping on another. Another two demons appeared, and that small cluster of mortals became nothing but blood and flesh on the dirt. The rest of the mortals continued their chants.

“How is this possible?” Kassar asked in wonder.

D’Argen stared at the wrapped-up stone fragment in wonder. How indeed.

Varuba started walking. The crowd around her thickened. The demons formed a circle around them all, moving with them. She led the mortals down one end of the street and then back up to another, until every single door was open and what was most likely all of the mortals from the village were gathered.

As she did, the demons seemed to lose interest in them. They entered houses, jumped on roofs, fought amongst each other, but not once did they attack the crowd.

D’Argen crouched to watch the whole thing. By the time half the night had passed, most of the demons had gone and most of the mortals had returned to their houses. Varuba was still wandering the streets with different people coming to help her. The few demons that remained did not pay her any attention at all. The chant continued quietly.

One of the demons, a huge thing with the body of a cat covered in scales, crawled into one of the houses without a roof. It curled up inside it until only its tail was sticking out of the broken walls and then seemed to… fall asleep.

“I think we should go,” Kassar said.

D’Argen nodded and had to push himself into standing with hands on his thighs. He was still so heavy. “This will be very quick,” D’Argen warned Kassar.

Kassar nodded.

D’Argen let go of the stone and opened his mahee. He watched as the sleeping demon’s head shot up and slit eyes immediately focused on him. Before it could do anything though, D’Argen wrapped his mahee around Kassar and ran.

When the weight of the stone became too much, he slid to a stop and then had to hunch over and breathe. Even if he was not touching the stone, the weight of it covered his feet and forced his muscles to tense.