Andra reclined in her chair, looking over her friends gathered together in the same rooftop cafe where she had been sitting when the war had begun. She felt good. Better than she had in a long time. Even though Rampart City was currently suffering from a power vacuum because Riven had given up on her plans and the king and princess were still missing. Plus the Demon King was on his way to take control of the city. And her dreams were shattered and her life was ruined.
It was a mess, but when had life ever not been a mess for her? It had been a mess when she had been in charge of an army and it had been a mess when she had been in charge of a brigade. Before that, too, it had been a mess when she had bounced from party to party, unable to find a place where she fit. And before that, when she had lived out of expensive hotel rooms hedonistically spending the money she’d stolen from her father. And before that, when she had tried to hide her beauty and magnificence from the world to please her parents.
She could handle messes. The key was to push through them, focus on what you need and forget about the rest. And right now what she needed to do was kill a demon. It wasn’t even that difficult of a goal. She’d killed a demon before, after all. While dodging fireballs. This should be easy.
Riven placed a bowl of soup before her. Andra regarded it suspiciously.
“How spicy is this?” she asked.
“Don’t worry, I made it mild,” Riven replied. “I could hardly find any spices in that kitchen, anyway. I guess the owners took the good stuff with them when they fled.”
“Speaking of which, I’m not feeling great about breaking into a restaurant to make lunch,” Atworth added.
A number of people had fled the city due to the frequent demon attacks. A few more had fled due to the zombies roaming the streets. With the zombies gone, Andra had expected chaos and riots, but it seemed that most of the city’s systems continued to operate without leadership from the castle. As far as she was aware, the same was true for the war itself. The allied armies were continuing to operate without their central command. Andra chose to take this as further proof that she had made the right decision in not trying to reclaim it from Riven.
“It’s fine. We’re doing them a favor,” Andra explained. “When this is over, they’ll be able to come back to their restaurant without any fear of demons. Speaking of which, did you check with your contact, Raven?”
Riven nodded as she placed another bowl before Bessen. “I checked with Scrimmle. The Demon King and his entourage should arrive from the south in a few hours. I’ll be expected to meet them just inside.”
Since Riven’s own magic had been occupied with controlling Atworth, she’d had to hire some unscrupulous mage to contact Ember and make her plans.
“Good, and the zombies are gathered and ready?”
“They’re assembled at the southern gate,” Darren said doubtfully, “but are you sure we can trust this woman?”
He gestured to Riven, who had finished serving the bowls and was now sitting down next to Fiona.
“Raven? Yeah, I’ve known her for ages,” Andra replied.
“It’s just that until yesterday she was the one arranging for the Demon King’s arrival,” Darren continued. “Plus, and I feel weird that I even have to bring this up, she mind controlled me.”
Andra waved a hand dismissively. “She mind controlled me, too. And Bessen and Atworth. The point is, when you’ve worked with her for a while, you know when she’s done with her little betrayals and is ready to play nice again. Plus I don’t think we’ll have to worry about those any more.”
As if to illustrate her point, Riven wrapped her arms around Fiona’s elbow and rubbed her cheek against the larger woman’s shoulder like a cat, her glasses going cockeyed.
“And in her defense, she had just come out of an abusive situation,” Atworth added, stirring their soup but not yet taking a bite. It seemed that no one wanted to go first. “She wasn’t thinking straight.”
“The glamour didn’t help, either,” Riven admitted, eyes closed as she leaned against Fiona. “Turns out that stuff affects the user as much as everyone around her. With that magic filling me up, it felt like every thought I had was brilliant.”
Darren sighed. “Fine. I don’t know if I believe you, but stopping the Demon King is important enough to risk it.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on her,” Fiona said sternly. Riven grinned, eyes still closed.
“Speaking of which.” Bessen pointed between the two of them. “Are you two dating now?”
Fiona shrugged, Riven’s head bobbing awkwardly to follow. “I guess so? I certainly enjoy…” she paused as her face began to redden, “...pushing her around.”
“I have to admit, I’m surprised,” Atworth said. They were still stirring that soup. “I thought Fiona liked Andra.”
Andra grinned. “Well, yeah, obviously. Who wouldn’t? What I want to know is whether you’re planning to learn magic now.”
“I might. It would be fun to...recreate some of her stories.” Fiona covered her face with her hands in embarrassment while Riven squeezed her arm tighter before releasing it.
“Pivoting back to the Demon King, there is a small problem,” Riven said. “Ember can’t figure out how to take control of his contracts. So even if we destroy his body, his followers will have all the resources they need to create a new one for him that’s just as powerful, leaving us back where we started.”
“We’ll need to exorcise his soul, then,” said Darren. “Send him into the Great Unknown.”
Andra waved a hand dismissively. “That’s no problem. We’ll grab some priest or priestess and have them take care of it. It’s too bad Kaylen isn’t here.”
At that moment there was a loud crash as a body collided with the table, sending soup flying everywhere. Andra felt gravity twist as her chair tipped backwards and she bashed her head painfully against the surface of the roof. A moment later, there was another crash and a grunt as a second body landed atop the first.
For a moment, it was quiet as everyone tried to right themselves and understand what had happened.
“That hurts so much,” someone groaned.
After a moment, Andra realized she recognized the voice. It was Kaylen. She scrambled to her feet, nearly bumping her head on a horn as she confirmed that it was, indeed, Kaylen and Nightingale who had fallen from the sky.
Nightingale, apparently the less injured of the pair, pushed herself up off Kaylen and hopped to her feet. “Bessen! Atworth! It’s so good to see you!”
“Nightingale, what the Hell?” Andra shouted. “You were supposed to assassinate the Demon King. Why were you in the sky?”
Nightingale turned to face Andra, grinning awkwardly. “Well, see, I got some news about Kaylen, and I figured her mission was more important so—”
“Liar!” Andra interrupted. “You just wanted to stalk her.”
“You were supposed to kill the Demon King?” Kaylen groaned, slowly pulling herself into a sitting position.
Nightingale looked awkwardly down at the roof. “A little bit.”
“Not okay,” said Kaylen.
Andra sighed. “It doesn’t matter. If I forgave Raven, I can forgive her. Anyway, the important thing is you’re here now. Those Demon King killing bullets are exactly what we need.”
Kaylen eyed Riven and Fiona, who were holding hands. “Geez, did Riven drink another love potion?”
“No, they’re actually dating now,” said Atworth.
The ex-priestess let out a short laugh. “Good luck with that, Fiona.”
“Good to see you, too, Kaylen,” Riven said with mock sarcasm.
Kaylen spotted Atworth’s bowl of soup, which had miraculously survived the pair’s crash landing. She grabbed a spoon and started shoveling the contents into her mouth greedily.
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“So am I the only one who doesn’t know why Kaylen has horns?” Bessen asked. “Or why they fell from the sky?”
“She formed a powerful contract with a demon and it made her grow horns for some reason,” Nightingale said. “As for why we fell from the sky—”
She was interrupted by Kaylen suddenly squealing with pain. The horned girl looked all around her for water but found none. Finally she opened her mouth and a burst of flame flew out, singeing Darren’s coat as he moved to avoid it.
“She also has a bunch of new demon powers that she doesn’t completely understand,” Nightingale explained.
She turned her attention back to Atworth and Bessen and pulled them into a hug.
“It’s good to see you, too, Nightingale.” Bessen smiled warmly. “It’s too bad Maxine isn’t here, or we’d all be back together.”
“Speaking of which, Raven, did you ever find anything out about her?” Andra asked.
Riven shook her head. “All I know is the day after I took over, some guy turned up claiming he was the new representative of the ISA.”
“Maxine’s in prison,” Kaylen wheezed.
Everyone paused, staring at her.
“I saw it when I was a god. She’s in some prison. I don’t know where.”
Andra considered this for a moment. “Did you say you were a god?” Fiona asked.
“There was an ISA auditor investigating her. But she knows how to cook her books, so I don’t see how he would have found anything,” Andra said, ignoring Fiona’s question. Whatever insanity Kaylen was talking about, it could wait.
“Oh, he was probably working for the demons,” Nightingale said matter-of-factly. “I imagine he just faked some evidence to have her arrested so that a spy for the demons could take her place.”
“I guess it’s possible, but that seems like a bit of a stretch,” Andra replied.
Nightingale blinked, surprised. “Do you think so? Even though there’s a faction within the ISA that supports the demons?”
Everyone paused.
“What are you talking about?” Andra asked, growing nervous.
“I heard a couple of demon-loyal alchemists plotting together,” Nightingale explained with a shrug.
Andra narrowed her eyes. “And why didn’t you warn me about this?”
Nightingale hesitated. “Oh, uh, I just figured you had a handle on it.”
“Liar!” Andra snapped suddenly, her face twisting into a scowl. “You were so focused on Kaylen that you didn’t even think about warning me and Maxine that our lives were in danger.”
“Seriously not okay, Nightingale,” Kaylen added, shaking her head with disappointment.
Nightingale looked back and forth between the two of them, looking frightened.
Andra drew in a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “Whatever. We just have to move forward from where we are. So number two on the list of things to do is break Maxine out of prison and number three is find Drake. But right now we need to focus on number one. Kaylen, you still have friends in the Sanguian church, right? We need a priestess to perform an exorcism.”
“Well, that’s going to be a problem,” Kaylen replied as she pulled herself to her feet. “There aren’t any priestesses anymore.”
“Oh no,” Riven muttered.
Andra pinched the bridge of her nose. “What do you mean, Kaylen?” she asked impatiently.
“I killed the gods,” Kaylen announced proudly. “Just like I said I was going to, remember?”
“Shit,” said Andra, frantically. “Kaylen, you really are a fool. Now how are we supposed to stop the Demon King?”
Darren, whose robes were stained with soup, barked out a laugh. “You actually believe her? You can’t kill gods.”
“No, it turns out you can,” said Kaylen.
“Yeah, I was there,” Nightingale added.
The necromancer looked around incredulously. “Come on, you all see how ridiculous this is, right?”
Riven shrugged. “That was what she set off to do.”
“And she did fall from the sky,” Bessen added with a nod. “Obviously something weird must have happened to her.”
“Plus it’s pretty typical of Kaylen to succeed at something at the worst possible moment,” Atworth agreed.
Darren scoffed. “If all the priests in the world were suddenly unable to use their powers, wouldn’t we have heard something about it?” He gestured to the city around them. “There’s nothing going on.”
“Oh, this literally just happened,” Nightingale explained. “Like, minutes ago.”
“If the gods were dead, the universe would be destroyed,” Darren protested. “They’re what holds it all together.”
“That’s getting into the subject of metaphysics,” said Riven, “which is all theory anyway.”
“It’s probably just propaganda,” Andra suggested. “The gods say that the universe won’t exist without them so that we’re all convinced that we need them.”
“Okay, but it’s at least a huge deal,” Darren insisted. “Why are you all acting like you just heard that it’s going to rain?”
Andra huffed. “Look, we can quiver in terror at the enormity of our folly later. For now we’re just going to have to destroy the Demon King’s body and hope Ember can figure out what to do about his contracts before he can regroup.”
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That afternoon, as Riven had predicted, a parade of demons arrived on the southern road. They were led by soldiers, all humanoid in appearance with sharpened horns and gleaming armor. Behind them were more bestial demons, enormous turtles and dragons and two-headed birds. Next were the mages, mostly of the partially-humanoid varieties such as arachnes, lamiae, and harpies. Behind them was a huge black carriage drawn by the same horse-like creatures Kaylen and Nightingale had seen in Hell. Behind that was various servants and supplies and so-forth, Andra assumed. She stopped looking when the carriage caught her attention.
The streets were lined with rows of zombies, to give the illusion of a welcome. Riven stood in the path, somewhere around where the outskirts became the city proper, smiling at the approaching entourage. As the soldiers at the head neared her, the entourage stopped, and a servant was dispatched to speak with her.
At that moment, Bessen, from somewhere out of Andra’s line of sight, let out a great bellow so loud it was impossible to ignore. Soldiers, servants, even Riven all looked in that direction as a huge pack of wild dogs came surging onto the street from the opposite side. The demons were caught off-guard, several knocked off their feet by the canines, but this advantage wouldn’t last long. The zombies, too, began lurching forward preparing to attack. Riven whispered an incantation which summoned a blinding flash of light. When the flash was gone, Riven had vanished with it.
This was Andra’s cue. She rushed forward from her hiding place by a stoop, making straight for the carriage. Fiona and Kaylen rushed from their spots, too, trailing after her. Andra wove between the confused demons and quickly climbed onto the side of the carriage, gesturing for the others to join her. They arrived a moment later just as the street surged upwards several dozen feet thanks to a spell from Darren, creating a wall all around the carriage and blocking out most of the demons, with only a pair of harpies ending up inside.
Since the demons had plenty of fliers as well as beasts large enough to break down this wall, they had to move quickly. Fiona held out her palm and her weapon came flying out in the form of a spear, stabbing one of the harpies through the heart. She yanked the spear out, but before she could thrust it at the other one, the harpy summoned up a huge gust of wind, sending Fiona flying backwards where she landed roughly against the wall. The harpy dove at Kaylen, but Kaylen’s shadow arm caught her claws, holding her off. Andra leaped from the carriage to thrust her dagger down at the harpy’s heart.
Kaylen pushed the harpy’s body to the side, then her shadow arm grew in size and sharpness as it gripped the top of the carriage and tore it off. Once the crushed debris that had once been the carriage’s roof was out of the way, Andra climbed inside to find a terrified woman with fish-like features.
“The Demon King’s a siren?” Andra asked, grateful that Riven wasn’t here.
“The Demon King’s a woman?” Kaylen asked, clambering into the carriage to join Andra.
“It’s not that surprising,” said Fiona. “Riven says the goblins have a female king.”
“I’m not the Demon King,” the woman said quickly, cowering in her seat. “I’m just a duchesse. He sent me to secure Rampart City.”
There was a huge thud which shook the walls around them. One of the larger creatures was already trying to break through.
“Where is he, then?” Andra asked, pointing her dagger at the demon who squeaked with fright.
“At his castle, I assume. He never leaves it.”
Andra shared a look with her allies.
“Riven said he wasn’t at the castle when Ember took it,” Fiona said, doubtfully.
There was another huge thud, but this time the wall didn’t stop shaking. Instead, it was beginning to sink back into the ground. Darren’s spell was failing before the demons could even break through. Andra frantically tried to think of what to do.
“Look, if he’s not at the castle, then there’s one other place where the Demon King might be,” the siren said.
Just then there was a loud crack and blood splattered against the seat. The life went out of the demon’s eyes and she slumped forward. Andra cursed herself for forgetting about Nightingale’s role as backup in case her group failed to kill the Demon King.
But there was no time to dwell on her failure. The walls were now low enough that the flight-capable demons could be seen over its sides. Andra reached out and locked arms with both Fiona and Kaylen. From wherever she was hidden, Riven cast a spell and Andra watched as first the carriage, then the stone street rose around them until everything was black. There was a strange sensation of horizontal movement as Riven magically tugged them away underground.
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The party regrouped at their pre-arranged meeting place, the same rooftop cafe. They sat in their chairs, mostly looking dejected. Riven was laying her head on the table, exhausted from her magical exertion.
“So I think we need to change our priorities a little,” said Andra. “Maxine and Drake come first. Then we’ll figure out this Demon King stuff.”
“You still want to find the Demon King?” Bessen asked. “He could be anywhere. At this point, isn’t this whole thing a little bigger than us?”
Andra shrugged. “It’s only as big as we make it. I was trying to control the entire world, make everything follow a particular plan. I made it too big to handle. All we really need to do is kill him. That will mean the prophecy will fail and demonkind will be saved.”
“But we’ve lost Rampart City,” said Atworth.
“So what? What difference does it make whether Rampart City is controlled by one king or another?”
“So you don’t want to become queen any more, boss?” Fiona asked, sounding concerned.
Andra huffed with annoyance. “Do you have any idea what I had to put up with when I was running the war? The king, the generals, all the representatives are monstrous people. They didn’t care about who starved or who got slaughtered. They were perfectly happy with the idea of eradicating all the demons. It made me realize that leaders are the lowest of the low. Even Genevieve is a horrible person. She threatened my friend, you know. Not a great way to start off an engagement. Once I realized how awful leaders are, I knew I wanted no part of it. I’d much rather work with you, people who are only slightly inferior to me.”
Annoyed frowns circled the table.
“So who’s with me?”
“I’ll follow you anywhere, boss,” Fiona announced.
“I don’t know about finding the Demon King, but Maxine needs our help. We can talk about the rest later,” said Bessen.
Atworth nodded their agreement. “Right. We can‘t let her rot in jail.”
“I’m with you. I still want to help Ember,” said a drowsy Riven.
“I already changed the world once. Might as well do it again,” Kaylen said with a grin.
“It sounds exciting,” Nightingale agreed.
Everyone looked expectantly at Darren, who sighed heavily.
“All of my plans are ruined. And I can’t exactly stay here. So, yeah, I guess I’m stuck with you lunatics.”
Andra clapped her hands together. “Excellent! Anyone have any idea where the ISA takes their prisoners?”