Erin had been suspicious even before they’d been dispatched to track the army of qek, and she grew more certain with every passing hour she was right. Of course, even with all the hints and signs, she still couldn’t be sure. The cost of being wrong was too high. Making a fool of herself was not a fear she had left behind in her old life, but a worry that had traversed the in-between and every snow covered mile since her arrival. Still, she was certain. Kiran liked her.
The Monster Hunter walked close to her side, sometimes chatting and other times companionably silent, but always he was near. They had sparred against one another many times since her arrival in Dangole, and she counted him as the first friend she’d made who was of this world. She enjoyed spending time with him, but she knew that wasn’t the same as reciprocating his feelings, if he did indeed have feelings for her.
It wasn’t a concern she’d expected to have. They were thoughts that had been as far from her mind as anything could be while she’d been here, grappling with a bizarre new reality and the many dangers inherent to it. Who needs relationship troubles when you might be eaten by monsters?
[One could argue that the harder life is, the more vital strong relationships become.]
It makes things harder.
[Nothing worth anything ever goes down easy.]
What would you know about relationships, anyway? You’re just a voice inside my head.
Lisa said nothing, and Erin felt a twinge of guilt at her hasty retort. Her Liaison could be surly and unpleasant, but she’d never let her down in a moment of need. Erin valued her advice and her companionship. She knew she didn’t need to apologize. Lisa already knew what she thought, and what she felt, but Erin also knew the act had value, so she thought the words, anyway.
I’m sorry, that was a rude thing to say.
[Oh, you’re fine. I won’t even nitpick the fact that thinking things at me isn’t actually an act. No need to make me the center of your self-indulgent navel gazing anyway. It was more interesting when you were back and forth-ing about relationship problems you don’t even know you have yet.]
Erin rolled her eyes, but this drew her attention back to the man walking next to her, planting his spear with each stride, longer than usual as he matched her steps.
“Not much of an army anymore.” He spoke, and Erin's muscles tensed, her step faltering as he caught her off guard. She recovered smoothly and was thankful he hadn’t seemed to notice. Only after that did she register what he’d said, and her eyes dipped down toward the ground. What had been a broad highway of qek footprints smashed overtop of one another so thickly that no stretch of ground in between had gone undisturbed, had since been reduced to a half-dozen ever narrowing trails. Every few miles they’d find the corpses half-eaten and frozen. The qek force was tearing itself apart and Erin was frustrated at wondering what had ever prompted them to work together in the first place.
“I think we can say our mission is complete at least,” Liam spoke up from further back. “We know they’re not regrouping to attack. They’ve been marching hard into the mountains and murdering each other every step of the way.”
“Yeah,” Erin agreed. “But where are they going now? Is there another village in this direction?”
“Not that I know of,” Kiran said. “By now they’ve reached the foothills and are either moving along the base in either direction or climbing the damn mountain.”
“But why this way?” Erin asked again.
“Why have they done anything?” Kiran asked, still matching her step.
“Well, Liam is right,” Erin agreed again. “We’ve found out what we came to find out. This bunch isn’t coming back.” She stopped walking and turned toward the group, who moved closer, forming a loose circle.
“Why do I sense a ‘but’ coming?” Liam said as he crossed his arms, standing across from her.
“But,” Erin said, giving him a casual wink. “There’s a lot here that isn’t adding up, and I want to find out what. I don’t plan to turn back, but we-”
“Well, if you’re not stopping, then I’m going.” Kiran said immediately.
“If I am your ally, then now is the time to prove it. I will go on,” Arthur said, standing next to Liam, a head shorter but with the causal grace of royalty making up the difference. Liam turned a thoughtful expression on the prince and then shrugged.
“Sure, who needs soft beds and hot food when you can wander in the snow with friends?”
Erin was about to agree when a sensation of pressure washed over them. Like the magic that Mages exuded when casting, but this was distinctly foul, as if it were mixed with an oily substance that was pressed against her skin.
“Hide!” Kiran hissed. “Don’t cast!” He grabbed Erin by the arm and pulled her. They only hesitated for a moment before the group moved, heads low, they followed Kiran, running as quietly as they could manage. “No magic. None.” He whispered as they reached a small copse of trees. The winter-dead remains of undergrowth thick between the trunks. Together they crouched, as hidden as they could manage, with nothing but twisting branches. The pressure mounted, and Erin felt a core of icy fear form in her gut. The sensation was beyond anything she’d felt from Liam or Sigrid, even with their Bronze State active. Only Gurty had been stronger, and her presence had lacked this malice.
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Then she saw them. Blue-gray skin stretched tight over long, thin limbs. Their faces were flat, noseless and their heads sprouted short, twisted horns that ran in a circle, like a mockery of a crown. Two of them approached the frozen corpses of several qek. They moved casually, without fear or alertness, and Erin could guess why. If this magical pressure was anything to judge power by, then these monsters were far beyond anything she’d ever fought. A league above her own strength.
The qek had been dead for hours in freezing temperatures. What remained was hard as ice, and the monsters didn’t care. Thin, boney hands that tapered to sharp points ripped frozen chunks effortlessly from the bodies, stuffing them into wide mouths, where it cracked and crunched as if they were chewing on rocks. In a matter of minutes, the monsters had consumed everything, except the monster gems which they took in her hands, vanishing them into thin air. Then, without a backward glance, they moved on, headed back the way from which the group had come, hunting for the next batch of corpses. No one breathed easily until the pressure they exuded had faded away completely.
“What the hell were those?” Liam asked, still whispering.
“Winters March,” Kiran answered, his voice deadpan. “Winter Demons from the Wilds. “
“Why didn’t you tell us you had things like that just wandering around?” Liam accused.
“They don’t usually enter our territories.” Arthur supplied.
“You know about them?” Erin asked him, surprised. This was Arthur’s first time in this part of the world, he’d told her himself.
“After a fashion. The Wilds at every cardinal point are home to a different kind. One for each season. A pair of Spring Demons came into Strath when I was a boy, and my father mobilized the royal army to drive them off. It was a bloody business, by all accounts.”
“Winter Demons are the worst.” Kiran said, his tone matter of fact. “Winter is the season of death.”
No one argued, and the group fell silent for several minutes before Liam asked the obvious question.
“What now?”
“They’re headed toward the village.” Arthur pointed out. “They’ll be more than a match for what they find there if they decide to attack.”
“What about the weird mage people?” Liam asked
“I wouldn’t bet on them.” Kiran said. “Even Academy trained Mages rarely tangle with Demons unless they have an overwhelming advantage. The outpost commander is probably the only one who could take them in a straight fight.”
“Well then, we need to get back and warn them about what’s coming.” Erin said. She didn’t like having to set aside her questions about the qek, of course, but demons had a way of changing your priorities.
“Agreed,” Liam said. “You know, if they attack, Sigrid will try to fight them.” Erin nodded, and she was worried, but part of her had a hard time believing that Sigrid could lose, even to demons. Erin knew that was childish, but except for a brief period of shock after being reborn and captured by qek, Sigrid had been indomitable.
“Well, if we can get back and get everyone the hell out of their way, we won’t have to worry about anyone fighting them.” Cheddar chimed in for the first time.
“True, we’ll have to circle around them. If they’re following the trail, then it shouldn’t be too hard, and there’s plenty of corpses to keep them occupied.”
“Well, let’s stop talking and start moving.” Kiran said, pushing himself stiffly back to his feet, and turning to head south-west, moving at an angle to the qek’s trail.
As night fell, they hurried on, choosing not to camp since they couldn’t risk a fire now, anyway. At one point they felt themselves pass along the outskirts of the creature’s oily magical pressure, thankful the demons couldn’t sense them inside the range of their aura, though according to Kiran they would detect any magic the Mages tried to use instantly.
“Aren’t we expecting Mages from the outpost at some point?” Liam said, his breathing heavy as they jogged through the dark.
“Eventually, yes.” Kiran answered. “We sent a rider before the battle, but it’s hard to say how long before they arrive. Depends on what they have going on.”
“Academy City is in the middle of an unprecedented crisis. When my men and I passed by the outpost, it was mostly empty.” Arthur supplied.
“They’re out here searching the villages for you lost Mages, then. Could be awhile.” Kiran said, so focused he forgot to be rude to Arthur, for which Erin was thankful. As much as she liked Kiran, it troubled her to see that sort of meanness in anyone, no matter how justified they felt.
“You wouldn’t want them to show up, anyway.” Arthur said, “With Sigrid playing mayor and the rogue Mages staying in town.”
“Not to mention the Second Prince of Strath trying to poach Academy City’s recruits.” Kiran added. Erin would’ve sighed if she’d had the breath to spare, but Arthur just said.
“Indeed.” and the group fell into silence once more. Focusing on keeping their pace up. As they backtracked much more quickly to the village than they had left it, Erin wondered how anyone lived out here. If it wasn’t a horde of short beast-men trying to eat your friends and neighbors, it was demons following a trail of free food, like bread crumbs, right back to your house.
As the sun’s first light showed from beyond the mountains to the east, the wall of Dangole came into sight and the group stopped on the forest edge, puffing smoke-like breath into the cold air.
“I’ll meet you inside.” Erin said, as her eyes glowed amber. The others looked at her as large, semi-translucent wings sprouted from her shoulders, resting against her back like some sort of bizarre cape. Then she took off at a run and leaped from a small pile of snow. Her wings snapped down as her legs pushed off the ground, and she shot high into the air. With her ability to shape spells, she had made her wings somewhat larger than they were normally, increasing the surface area and improving her ability to glide, at the cost of overall durability to the magical construct. She sped through the air and was aware of Hax approaching.
The small dragon swooped in close to her side, tumbling and coiling through the air as if he were playing in water, his scales showing a dazzling rainbow of colors. Across their bond, she could feel his joy at her joining him in the sky. Short-lived as it was. She crested the wall and had to bank sharply to avoid smashing into the side of a large structure. She recovered smoothly and made her most graceful landing so far. Touching down in the muddy street, her momentum causing her to stumble a few steps before she got it under control. Hax dropped onto her shoulder. The dragon was already considerably larger than when she’d first seen him, able to coil his long tail around her middle to stabilize himself as she sprinted down the road, headed for Sigrid’s office.