Edwin found the basement rooms to be as bad as he’d feared. Victims of the demons’ attack lay scattered in pieces all about him. Women and children lay dead among the brave priests and paladins that’d fought to keep them safe.

“May Imidean usher all of your souls to a better place,” Edwin said softly as he prayed for them and cleansed the area of demonic influence.

His prayers were little more than a temporary salve, and much more would have to be done to once again sanctify this holy place. But, for now, he couldn’t spare the time it would take to do more than this. As important as it was to look after the dead, there were those still living who were counting on him to keep them safe.

He finished what prayers he could do now and walked back up, promising the dead that he would return. That he would see them given a proper funeral that would honor their memory. Their bravery in the face of darkest evil. But, for now, he begged their forgiveness as he had other responsibilities calling to him.

“How is your beard so shiny, Lord Silverbeard?” Kira asked, her voice echoing down the stairs as Edwin ascended.

Silverbeard? Edwin thought, is that your name then, friend?

“Blessed Silver. It doesn’t rust, and it has a certain resplendent quality does it not?” the dwarf said.

“Blessed Silver? Isn’t that only for holy weapons?” Kira asked.

“Ha! And who told you that?” Silverbeard said.

“My mother…” Kira said with a soft voice.

“Ah…” the dwarf said sounding less boisterous than before, “well, she’s mostly right of course. But I think it looks good in my beard. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“It does,” Kira said with perhaps the most happiness Edwin had heard in her voice since he’d met her, “but if it’s used for holy weapons… does that mean you’re a holy weapon?”

“Me? A weapon? Goodness no! I’m just a humble dwarf. Some would say the humblest in all the realms,” Silverbeard said.

Edwin stepped out into the church once more and Silverbeard turned to him.

“Ah, Manling! About time you got back. What’s this leaving me to babysit? And in the rain no less! Shame on you! Shame I say!” Silverbeard said.

Edwin bowed slightly. “Thank you for your help, Silverbeard. I knew I was right to trust you with this,” he said.

The dwarf turned to Kira. “Do you see that? It’s like he doesn’t hear a word I say. Is he this bad at listening to everyone or is it just me?” Silverbeard said.

Kira giggled. “You’re silly,” she said.

“Silly? I may be many things, Young Lady, but silly is not one of them, I assure you!” Silverbeard said.

Kira hugged her rain-soaked bear to her chest and giggled again, something that caused a look of exasperation to play over the dwarf’s face.

“She’s as bad as you are! And you call yourself a cleric? You’re corrupting the youth!” Silverbeard said.

Edwin smiled graciously. “Your good humor lifts the burden from our souls, Noble Silverbeard. What have you seen of the city? Pray tell, is there anywhere that would act as a refuge for these good people?” he asked.

“Humor he says,” Silverbeard muttered before taking a long pull from his flagon. A flagon that Edwin could swear should be empty by now.

Silverbeard belched. “Aaaah. That’s better. Nothing like a little mead to make life more bearable. Now, what’s this you were asking of refuge, Manling? Do I look like I’d know where to hide in this damnable city? If I did, I’d go right there and drag the cowardly little demons out of their holes!” said the dwarf.

“Cowardly? Demons?” Edwin echoed, feeling more than a little puzzled by the dwarf’s strangeness, “surely there is nothing wrong with good people seeking safety?”

“Bah! What are you talking about? You make no sense, Manling! What’s this talk of good people? They’re everywhere. Especially in the taverns. No, it’s finding demons that’s the trick. They know how to hide I tell you. It wasn’t a problem at first, but only a little while after arriving in the city, it’s as though all the fight has gone out of them. Most disappointing! They’re hiding I say. I certainly haven’t killed them all yet! … well mostly sure. Probably. Maybe.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about demons hiding… but you say the taverns are safe? Have the remaining defenders chosen to garrison there?” Edwin asked, still feeling more than a little confused.

“Bah! Who knows! Wouldn’t surprise me. Probably drinking up all the mead too. Not like there’s anything else to do with the appalling lack of demons. Why I caught one cowering under a fish merchant’s desk on the way here. Said it’s all my fault they’re not on the streets ready to be killed like any decent demon. The nerve of that! Blaming me for their sloppy demon-ing?

“But that’s typical demon behavior, isn’t it? Always blaming others. Never taking responsibility. Do you think it’s because they’re not raised right? Maybe if the demon lords whipped them up into better shape, they’d put up more of a fight. You’re a holy manling, you must know about demons. What do you think?” Silverbeard asked.

“I think that if the taverns are indeed safe and free of demon attacks for some strange reason, then that is where we should go. I thank you once again, Silverbeard,” Edwin said before addressing those he’d escorted to the church, “I’m sorry that we did not find the safety I promised would be here.

Silverbeard says the taverns are safe. I can’t imagine why this would be the case, but I do not know of any better options. I would escort you all there so that we may see if it is indeed safe. If you are still willing to follow me that is…”

“You’ve kept us safe this far. Risked your neck for us when you didn’t have to. I owe you my life so many times over, Brother Edwin. No matter where you lead, I will follow,” said one of the women, and the others nodded their agreement.

Edwin smiled. “Thank you for your trust in me. I will do everything I can to be worthy of it,” he said.

Silverbeard shook his head and turned to Kira again. “Did you see that? Typical holy manling behavior. You ask them an honest question and they just prattle on about some other nonsense that has nothing to do with anything. What do you think, Little One?” Silverbeard asked.

“Little? But I’m nearly as tall as you are!” Kira said.

“Ah, but height isn’t everything. And look at you. Where’s your tummy? It’s like you don’t even have one. You’re much too thin,” Silverbeard said.

Kira giggled at him and shook her head.

Edwin began leading the women and children from the church.

“And what’s this then, Manling? You’re all off to a tavern and you don’t even invite me? Where are your manners?” Silverbeard said.

“If you wish to accompany us, we would be more than glad to have you, Silverbeard,” Edwin said.

“If I wish? IF I WISH?! Bah! As if any sane creature would decline the chance for mead and mayhaps another snack?” Silverbeard grumbled as he followed after them, “not like there’s much else to do. All the damned demons hiding away in their little demon holes. No sense of decency. None whatsoever I say.”

Silverbeard led the way down the path he assured them had ‘all too few demons.’

How there could ever be too few of the foul creatures, Edwin didn’t understand. But, he felt eternally grateful for the dwarf’s help. As they followed the winding streets, they came across enormous piles of demons, carved into bloody chunks and littering the ground in every direction.

Edwin was impressed by the display and took heart that the city’s defenders were still fighting strong. Though, curiously, he saw no soldiers. Perhaps Silverbeard was right after all and they’d cleared this section and since moved on?

Some of the bodies were astounding in size. Including an enormous undead giant. Or what was left of the thing. Edwin couldn’t imagine what weapon had inflicted so much damage upon the monster, but he was grateful they didn’t have to face it themselves.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Then, Edwin saw a crater in the street with a peculiarly dwarf-sized hole in the ground. For a moment, he imagined that the giant had smashed Silverbeard into it. But, he quickly brushed off such a foolish notion.

Not long after that, they came to a tavern called the Ferret’s Flagon. The door to the building was nowhere to be seen, but the patrons inside were drinking and laughing together as though they’d not only survived but already won the war.

The tavern-goers seemed to recognize Silverbeard and gave a massive cheer at the sight of him.

“What’s this?” said one man, “saving my tavern and bringing me new customers? I’ll have to bring up a few barrels of mead just for you!”

A woman came up behind the man and hugged him with one arm as she surveyed the harried-looking group of women and children.

“You must be frightened out of your wits and cold to boot! Come in come in! There’s not much room, but we’ll make do. Come in and get warm. I’ve got a stew going, you’re welcome to some of it,” said the woman.

A relief washed over the group, but rather than immediately rushing in, they looked to Edwin.

He nodded. “I sense only goodness inside their hearts. It should be safe,” he said.

Smiles appeared at that and the group filed into the tavern with words of thanks cascading over one another until they sounded like the gentle burble of a stream rather than intelligible words.

Edwin smiled. “Thank you, Goddess, for keeping us safe enough to make it this far,” he said under his breath as a warmth blossomed in his chest.

“And thank you, Silverbeard,” Edwin added more loudly, “I… we wouldn’t have made it here without your aid.”

When the dwarf didn’t respond, Edwin looked at him and saw the dwarf guzzling mead from his flagon. Edwin doubted the dwarf had even heard his thanks and wondered if the dwarf would care if he had.

Sickly violet, orange, and black flames swirled into existence out of nowhere, surrounding Edwin and Silverbeard and coalescing into a group of fifty demons that radiated power on a scale Edwin had never encountered before. Just their foul presence made his head spin and his blood run cold.

Edwin’s mouth turned dry as he stood dumbfounded by shock and disbelief as though he’d been punched in the gut out of nowhere.

We’ve come all this way… it was supposed to be safe… is nowhere safe? How could I lead these good people straight into this trap? Why would such powerful demons even bother to set a trap like this for us? Edwin thought, his mind racing to process the terrible sight before him.

A demoness stepped forward from the pack, her cloven hooves sounding impossibly loud against the cobblestones amid the deathly silence. Edwin’s already cold blood turned to ice as his jaw tightened so fiercely it ached. He’d spent long hours studying ancient texts in the chapter’s library, seeking to learn all he could about the enemy. But, he never thought he’d be face to face with the Dread Princess Cassandreth herself.

He looked her over a second time, but every feature matched his memory of the dusty pages perfectly.

From the elegant, almost innocent-looking tiara atop her head to the curved horns on either side of it, curling out from under her long black hair. Her wings were tucked close to her back, her whipcord tail raised in high the air and a smug smile upon her luscious lips.

But, the detail that assured Edwin beyond a doubt of just who this demoness was was the darksteel choker adorning her neck. Decorated with glittering gems, each of which was worth enough for a family to live on for generations and containing the trapped souls of her enemies that cried silently from within the depths of the gems. Their spectral faces howling for release from their endless torment, seeming like little more than a trick of the light playing within the gemstones.

She radiated evil on a level far beyond even the demons that surrounded them, her very presence seeming like a wound in the fabric of the realms. A black stain that tarnished everything around it.

Edwin steeled himself, gripping his glaive tight. Though he knew there was no hope of them ever defeating her, he would not give in to fear or despair. He would look for a chance, even the smallest one, to distract her for long enough so those in the tavern could flee. Even a single person getting out of this alive would be an incredible fortune now.

Beside him, Silverbeard belched loudly.

Cassandreth arched an eyebrow in disbelief and turned to a succubus with a scarred face as though she’d been badly burned.

“This is the dwarf you spoke of? The one killing my forces? The one that burned your face?” the Dread Princess asked, incredulously.

“Yes, Dread Princess. I admit he looks like a disgusting, oafish fool. But his beard is covered in blessed silver and his strength is beyond any I’ve ever encountered… except for you, of course, Dread Princess,” the succubus said with a low bow.

Cassandreth looked utterly unimpressed as she swirled dark red liquid in her wine glass. The liquid was thick and clung to the sides of the glass in a way only blood did. She took a sip and licked her ruby lips before turning her attention once more to Silverbeard.

“It seems you’ve impressed my minions and earned a death by my hand. Well done, Hero,” she said with a cruel smirk. A smirk that fell away when she realized that Silverbeard wasn’t even looking at her. Rather, he’d decided to take another pull from his flagon, finally draining it dry.

“Ah. Not bad stuff and we’re right near a tavern for a refill too. Excellent timing. Good call on coming here, Manling. Well done,” Silverbeard said.

“Coming here was your idea,” Edwin said, so stunned that the words spilled from his lips before he even thought of what he was saying. How they were talking about mead and taverns when the Dread Princess Cassandreth and an assortment of some of her most powerful minions encircled them made his head spin all the more.

“It was? Well, good for me then. An excellent decision. I’ve always been good with plans you know. Long-term thinking and strategy, that’s my strength, Manling. This just proves it. Not that it needed to be proved of course. But, all the same, it—”

“Do you ever stop talking?” Cassandreth snapped.

Silverbeard stroked his beard in thought for a moment.

“Once,” he said, “in the marshes of Kabazrik. What a miserable time that was. Fetid water soaking my—”

“Enough!” Cassandreth snapped before composing herself somewhat, “I will take a special pleasure in watching you die.”

She extended a slender hand toward the dwarf.

Edwin was already moving before he consciously processed what he was doing. He rushed the Dread Princess, calling divine magic into his glaive. With every step he took, he knew that he would die. That he would surely be squashed like an insect. But his body seemed to move on its own in a last, desperate attempt to protect his newest friend even as he knew their chances were utterly hopeless.

The Dread Princess didn’t even bother to look at him. She gave an irritated flick of her wrist as one might brush away a fly. A telekinetic force lifted Edwin from his feet before he’d taken three strides and sent him hurtling through the air. He smashed into a wooden cart, sending a shower of splinters flying in every direction as the dark power continued pushing him through the cart to smash against the face of a building opposite the Ferret’s Flagon.

The dark power released its hold and Edwin fell to the cobblestones and the splintered wood and glass that littered it. Pain screamed at him from so many places at once, he couldn’t tell where any of it originated from. Just a sharp, shrieking throb shouting so loudly it all blended together. The edges of his vision darkened as he tried to rise but found his body wouldn’t respond.

“Are you alright, Manling?” Silverbeard called out, his eyes filled with concern for perhaps the first time that Edwin had seen.

Edwin tried to form words but couldn’t tell if his lips were even moving. He felt at once utterly numb and like every part of him was howling with a sharp, cold ache and it was all he could do to keep from blacking out.

Silverbeard turned to the Dread Princess. “That was uncalled for,” he said flatly.

The Dread Princess laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to comfort your little friend with the full extent of my tender mercies after I’m done killing you,” she said.

She extended a clawed finger toward Silverbeard and spoke a demonic curse. Black smoke boiled from her fingertip, it writhed like a living thing made of boiling pitch and smoke. It shot out as a large, screaming skull that flew toward Silverbeard. The skull’s jaws yawned impossibly wide as Edwin croaked out a divine spell. A feeble attempt to protect Silverbeard in the face of power that utterly eclipsed his own. Like a raindrop trying to fight the ocean.

It shattered his protections before they could even form, without even slowing.

The skull swallowed Silverbeard in a swirl of darkest magic and despair drowned Edwin’s heart.

An agonized groan came from amid the swirl and the Dread Princess smiled.

As the cursed smoke cleared enough to reveal Silverbeard once more, Edwin watched as the noble dwarf took a staggering step forward. Silverbeard’s axe fell from limp fingers and clattered on the cobblestones.

The dwarf clutched at his stomach and moaned, his skin white and beaded with sweat as his insides gurgled as though boiling within him.

“Do you like my little curse, dwarf?” Cassandreth asked, the corner of her lips curled into a sneer, “as you die, know that I will peel the skin off your friends and devour it strip by strip as they cry and whimper and beg like helpless, whining puppies. And oh, how they will curse you and blame you and hate you for every moment before their eventual death…”

Silverbeard collapsed to his knees, doubling over in anguish as Cassandreth laughed and sipped at the blood in her glass.

Seven demons drew closer to Silverbeard as though unable to resist the call of his agony and desperate for more.

Across the street from Edwin, people watched it all unfold, their eyes empty as the horror before them robbed them of all hope. Cassandreth waved to them with her fingers, her eyes glittering with delight.

Then, a sound like a hundred horns blowing in unison made the buildings, the cobblestones, and the fragments of shattered windows that covered the streets vibrate along with it.

For a moment, Edwin believed that some massive army had come to their rescue. Until Silverbeard raised his head revealing his eyes closed in a relieved bliss as he released a prolonged fart, expelling a thick black cloud of foul… Edwin sincerely hoped it was magic.

It accumulated around the dwarf and flowed out to the demons who’d stepped too close.

They choked and clutched at their throats as they collapsed to the street and spasmed, blood leaking from their noses, eyes, and mouths. Their spasming turned to feeble twitches and finally, the seven demons lay still.

After a long moment, Silverbeard’s fart petered out at last and the dwarf rose back to his feet, picking up his axe and rubbing his armored stomach. “Phew. That feels better. Sorry about that. Curses always give me gas. Now, where were we?” he asked.

Cassandreth took several steps back, as did all the other demons, their eyes wide as they stared in disbelief at the dwarf.

“What… are you?!” Cassandreth shrieked.

“Ah, that’s right. You were being a rude little demoness,” Silverbeard said as he swatted the palm of one hand with the flat of his axe, “time for you to get a spanking, I say.”

He lifted his axe and hurled it at the Dread Princess. She threw up her hands and flames engulfed her, teleporting her away an instant before the axe passed through where she was standing. Her wine glass dropped to the ground, shattering upon the cobblestones.

The axe spun back through the air before it even finished its journey and returned once more to Silverbeard’s hands.

“What’s the matter, Little Demoness? Don’t you want to play anymore?” Silverbeard yelled with a laugh before turning his eyes on the remaining demons, “well, at least you left some of your friends behind.”

Her remaining demon entourage looked at each other, then scattered in every direction.

“Oh, come on! Get back here!” Silverbeard cried, “what’s a dwarf got to do to get a fight around here!? Spineless cowards! The lot of you! Shame on you all!”