Zalia dragged the unconscious demon through the door into the barracks, her armour entirely covering her figure which was now very slightly translucent.

Tristan looked up from where he was seated with a few other soldiers and stood in alarm.

“You there! Stop!” he called out, weapon appearing.

The other soldiers in the room all stood as well, the sound of weapons being drawn resounding through the space.

“It’s just me Tristan,” Zalia called out, allowing her helmet to disappear back to the Grove dimensional space.

“Zalia, what the hell is that?” he asked, stalking over.

“This is a good friend I just made with my boot. You need to start checking for the shapechangers at the gates,” Zalia said, dropping the leg she had dragged the demon by with a dull thud.

Zalia had told Ember and Boreal to take Aylie back to the park while she dealt with this, not wanting the young girl to be anywhere near this creature.

“Got anything to bind it with?” she asked, sitting down at a table.

Tristan nodded to two of the soldiers in the room and they ran off.

“So… what exactly is this thing? A little bit more information than a friend you made with your boot,” Tristan asked once more, poking it with the hilt of his axe.

“Right. Apparently, some of the demons have the ability to shape change and blend in with people. This is the first one I’ve met so far, can’t say I’m impressed. Though I guess I might have met more that were just better at hiding,” Zalia said as her arm went through the table she attempted to lean on.

“What the hell is that you’re doing with your arm?” Tristan asked as he looked over at her.

“Sorry, I’m still getting used to the armour's abilities.”

“What, your armour? Where in the worlds did you get that anyway?” he asked.

The two guards from earlier came running back and securely tied up the demon.

“Take a guess,” Zalia said dryly, managing to rest her arm on the table this time.

“Right,” he said in understanding, a grimace forming on his face.

“You really need to start checking people for this kind of thing at the gates,” Zalia pointed out.

“We didn’t even know about this!” Tristan protested.

Zalia raised her hands in a placating gesture.

“I know, but you should start doing so anyways,” she repeated.

“How do I even do that?” Tristan asked, pacing back and forth.

“Um, sir? Are we just going to leave that thing on the floor? It’s a little disturbing,” a man nearby asked.

“Well… what else are we going to do with it?” Tristan asked.

He looked around at the others that were crowding around and murmuring to each other but they looked equally as unsure how to act.

“Got a lockup or something?” Zalia asked.

“No, why would we?” Tristan said, looking back down at the demon.

“Because of criminals…?” Zalia said, trailing off.

She hadn’t really thought about it but she didn’t know what kind of justice system they used in Endaria. Did they use capital punishment here? She didn’t really know what could be done about a high ranked person that had committed crimes other than removing either them or their powers.

“Why would we imprison people?” Tristan asked with shock.

“Well I don’t know, the Morning’s Shade had a prison! Why wouldn’t you!?”

“Anyone who commits a crime is put under house arrest until the king's judgement can be rendered through one of his judges. Usually, that means they are made to work for the community. What use would there be in locking up a person who can provide for others?” Tristan said, looking closely at Zalia.

She guessed it worked a little differently in a community that would have been small enough that everyone would have known everyone. Obviously, that was no longer the case with the king being corrupted and Ostoss being cut off from the rest of the kingdom.

“Well, what do you do now?” Zalia asked.

“Well…” Tristan said, trailing off and avoiding eye contact.

He didn’t have to finish the sentence. She knew exactly what he was going to say.

They were stretched thin, only a few guards left to protect the town from the demons that tried to destroy it. He had said as much already and she had no doubt that they simply didn’t have the people to police the city. It was each to their own, she had seen that for herself already and should have known the answer before she asked.

“Well, maybe something can be made. I can control the stone to a degree, want me to see if I can make a prison for it?” Zalia asked.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Yeah, I suppose. It isn’t like this thing ever has any plans to contribute to our survival. One less mouth to feed at least.”

“Where can I put it?”

She stood and picked up the legs of the demon, now bound together.

“Just out the back,” Tristan gestured and the crowd moved apart.

He led her through a door out the other side of the hall where a toilet had been built in a small fenced area between buildings. She quickly worked, moving earth out of the way and filtering out stone until she could build a box out of it. She made the box around the demon, manipulating it into a sitting position where it had only a small opening where its face could be seen.

“Handy ability that one,” Tristan noted.

The other soldiers were crowding the doorway but seemed reluctant to leave the hall.

“Yeah, it has saved me a bunch of trouble,” Zalia agreed, admiring her handiwork with one hand on her hip and the other on her chin.

“So… why exactly is this thing still alive anyways?” Tristan asked, peering in on its smashed face.

“Well, I figure if it is able to disguise itself as one of us, it can probably speak our language right? This might be a chance to get some answers out of these creatures that we wouldn’t get otherwise,” Zalia explained.

“Makes sense, want me to go get a bucket of water to wake it up?” Tristan asked, standing back up from the opening.

“Hmm, no I might be able to wake it. I want to try something anyways,” Zalia murmured, crouching down.

She looked at the small demon’s expressionless features and tried to push her Healing Presence into it.

It awoke immediately with an ear splitting screech.

Her aura was enough to hurt it but as soon as it awoke, she was unable to affect it any longer. So a creature that wasn’t actively fighting against her aura was able to be affected by it, interesting…

It stared at both her and Tristan with a look that could kill a Tin ranker.

“Hey buddy, good to see you’re doing alright,” Zalia said cheerfully.

It hissed at her.

She hummed as she considered what to do next. She doubted it would be very forthcoming with information and she didn’t really want to torture it. In fact, she definitely didn’t want to. It might be a demon that was here to kill off the human race and take over not only Endaria but the world it belonged to but she just wasn’t one to perform something like torture. She was more likely to just kill it and be done with it entirely.

“If you answer our questions we won’t kill you. We might even let you out of the city if you tell us enough,” Zalia suggested.

Tristan looked at her sharply.

“I’m not even considering it, don’t worry,” she sent to his mind.

The demon didn’t answer and Zalia sighed. She didn’t know if it actually did understand her. That was just an assumption she had made.

“I don’t think it understands us, we might as well just kill it and be done with it,” Tristan suggested, picking up his axe.

Smart man.

“Seems like it. Want me to do it?” she asked, summoning her bow.

But she could see the twisted anger on the creature's face begin to turn to fear.

“Sure, you can kill it without releasing it,” Tristan agreed.

Zalia drew back the string of her bow, a glowing arrow of starlight appearing nocked and pointed directly at the demon's head.

“Wait!” it screeched, its voice like nails on a chalkboard.

Zalia slowly released the tension from the bow.

“So, going to cooperate?” she asked.

It glared at her.

“Wonderful. What the fuck are you doing in this city?” she asked, voice turning venomous.

“You’ll all die human,” it crowed, the voice still grating and cold.

She could feel the corruption from it now, its aura no longer being held within. She made sure to press down on it with her own aura entirely and could feel that she was stronger. Not by a significant margin but enough that she could maintain the suppression with ease.

“I have a good friend who would love to know what you taste like so I suggest you try an answer. What are you doing in this city?” Zalia tried again.

“You will fall and we will come down upon you as death comes for all,” it chanted.

Its eyes rolled up into its head and Zalia could see the veins beneath its skin begin to glow with a visible light.

“What is that?” Tristan asked, looking closely.

But Zalia thought she knew what was happening and quickly closed up the opening in the stone.

“Get away from it!” she yelled.

The soldiers quickly rushed away from the doorway and Zalia stepped back as far as she could in the fenced-in area. She summoned her armour and stood in front of Tristan who was only wearing some light clothes.

An explosion tore through the stone enclosure, breaking apart the earthen wall she tried to hastily erect in front of herself, before hitting her with a solid force. Luckily it was slowed enough to not harm her, the few bruises she would have received healed in an instant.

The wall of the hall was torn apart but luckily the soldiers inside had moved far back enough to be unharmed, the few scratches from stone shrapnel easily healed by her power.

“Shit, what was that!” Tristan exclaimed.

“I guess they really don’t take well to being caught,” Zalia muttered, stepping forward to inspect the damage.

She was pretty easily able to use the chunks of stone to repair the hole in the wall of the hall, cleaning up what debris was spread around by controlling the stone to flow back and repair itself. When she was done, it was as if the explosion had never happened other than the smoke still clearing away and a sulfurous scent in the air.

“I’m going to have to remember not to keep the next one alive,” Zalia said, now inside with Tristan.

“I would prefer if you didn’t bring an exploding demon into my soldier's home, yeah,” Tristan agreed, sitting with head in hands.

She could see how stressed the man was. Not only was he dealing with guarding the town with too few people but there was also an insurgent faction inside the city that undoubtedly had the goal of bringing down the town even quicker. It was a lot for one man to shoulder.

“We’ll find a way out of this,” Zalia promised him, leaning down and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s a lot to deal with,” Tristan said quietly.

“I know. Look, I can help deal with these shapechangers and I can also help feed the people. You focus on keeping the demons out and I’ll do what I can on the inside. Ember should be a good stopgap measure for starvation until we can get the farm up and running and I have an idea that might help take care of the shapechangers with the help of the Barrier Enchanter,” Zalia explained, hoping her optimism would help cheer the man.

“A plan?” Tristan asked, looking up at her.

“It involves a little something I learned how to do in Cormaine…”