“I think I am starting to understand what you’re trying to say,” Ghilanna said, “Your companion is unimpressive on his own, but his very existence is a mystery.”

“What else do you think you can get out of the guy?” Svinjko asked.

“Huh! As if I’d share that with an inquisitor!”

“It’s not like I can stop you once you go through that portal.”

“But you can still sabotage our deal.”

There was a slight pause in the conversation. One that Ghilanna didn’t want to ignore.

“Why aren’t you denying it, Svinjko?” She asked in a serious tone.

“Because he has a vested interest in not letting me get out of here,” the devil responded.

“Listen, listen,” Ghilanna outstretched her hand towards the devil, “You’re not going to spread any discord here …”

“I’m not trying to …”

“Yes, you are!”

“I’m just stating that your piggy companion has interests that conflict with mine and that he could act on those.”

“No, he won’t.”

“Alright! If you say so,” the devil leaned back, “But I’ll hold you accountable if he does.”

“Svinjko is a flawed adventurer, but I won’t allow him to endanger us. What do you think, why am I keeping him close to me ever since we’ve left the camp?”

“You trust him so much that you need to keep a constant eye on him?”

“I don’t trust him one bit, ok?” Ghilanna spat out venomously, “But we need him, and you won’t isolate him from the rest of us!”

“Alright, alright,” the devil raised her hands in surrender, “But I’m not under any obligation to reveal my plans to him. I’ve already told you much more than you deserve.”

“We were just having an idle conversation,” Ghilanna’s voice returned to its normally serious tone, “He was just curious, and you have no reason to sate his curiosity.”

“Oh, for Kurac’s sake, you elves …” The devil rolled her eyes in annoyance, “You’re the one who made a big deal out of him staying silent, not me!”

“I’ve asked him a question, and you felt like answering in his stead, incriminating him in the process.”

“You elves …” the devil shook her head, “You may be gorgeous, but you’re way too insufferable to bear.”

“Ah, yes. Let me start talking about your race instead of addressing the topic at hand. Show me how little of an argument you got.”

“Ladies, ladies, please,” Svinjko said pleadingly while moving his hands as if trying to keep something under the rug, “There’s no need for this, especially now. I understand both of you are prideful and want to have the last word, but can we please stop this?”

“For once, I have to agree with the pig,” the devil said, “This is a waste of time and a potential conflict we don’t need.”

“Then stop trying to turn us against each other,” Ghilanna responded.

“You’re just reading too much into it. There’s way too much riding on this for me to take the slightest of risks. Besides, if I wanted to hurt you guys, I would’ve already done so.”

“Then you’re doing it subconsciously, which is even worse.”

“Perhaps I am. But nobody forced you to make a deal with a devil.”

“Ladies, please,” Svinjko repeated himself.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“It’s ok, Svinjko,” Ghilanna said, “We’re not going to fight over this, we’re both mature enough. But some boundaries need to be set, and there is no way I’d tolerate an outsider talking shit about my companions … even if it’s you.”

All the other adventurers around the campfire nodded their heads in unison.

“Alright, I get it,” the devil said, “This isn’t about me being a devil but about me being an outsider.”

“Would you let me say bad things about your companion? Wouldn’t you challenge me on it?” Ghilanna asked the devil.

“Hmm … honestly, I don’t know. It depends on the context. I’m the first one who is saying bad things about him, right in his face, yet I could see myself getting angry if someone would be mean about it for no reason.”

“Do you now understand …”

“I wasn’t mean towards him for no reason!” The devil raised her voice slightly while pointing at Svinjko, “I have valid arguments! It’s just that you aren’t interested in them.”

“But do you have any evidence?” Ghilanna asked.

“For what?”

“Making an argument is easy. Everyone can do some simple logic and come up with arguments for the silliest of things. But providing evidence for your claims is hard. Do you have any evidence that would incriminate Svinjko?”

“Let’s just drop this subject,” Svinjko said, “We won’t get anywhere with this.”

“True, nobody will win this argument,” Ghilanna continued, “but we will understand each other better after this. The devil needs to understand that just laying accusations won’t work here. She must provide evidence for her claims if she wants to be taken seriously.”

“And what kind of evidence do you want?” The devil asked.

“Any will do. I’m not picky.”

“So, you want me to provide the evidence, but you don’t even know what kind of evidence you want?”

“I said any will do. I’m being very generous with not demanding specific evidence, so why are you trying to make this harder for yourself?”

“Well, what kind of evidence can I provide for what is inside someone’s head?”

“What makes you think he has a vested interest in ruining this agreement we have between us?”

“Because he isn’t here to become rich. He is here to get revenge.”

“Do you have any evidence?”

“He and I have …”

“No, no, no,” Ghilanna cut the devil off, “I don’t care what you have or have had. I’m asking you for evidence that would back your claims up. I can say that I’m a princess, but would you have any reason to believe me? So, what evidence do you have that he is down here for some petty revenge?”

“It’s not petty.”

“Evidence.”

“I have none. He was too quick when running away for me to get any.”

“Then the conversation ends right there. I’m not going to trust a devil over one of my companions, no matter how dissatisfied I may be with them. But if you’d have some evidence to support your claims, I’d be very interested in what you have to say.”

“Ok, fair enough. I wasn’t the one pushing this conversation anyway. You have no reason to believe me … no, you have every right to hate me. Besides, we aren’t trying to become friends here.”

“That’s right. We don’t care about you, and you don’t care about us. We have a common goal, and that’s all there is to it. We’re parting our ways as soon as we’re done with this.”

“Just make sure your piggy companion doesn’t try to sabotage me, and we’ll all be fine.”

“Don’t worry, I have him on a tight leash. And if he does try something stupid, he will beg me to hand him over to you.”

“Good … then we have an agreement.”

“Yes … and that agreement doesn’t include you sowing discord in my party.”

“Once again, I wasn’t trying to do that, but I understand your point. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t trust myself either, so I will let this slide.”

Ghilanna’s facial expression didn’t change one bit, “I’m glad you understand. Just as you must protect your interests, I must protect mine. And since you’ll be teleporting away while we’ll have to fight our way back to the surface, I will need this party to function for a while longer. And just as you didn’t shy away from making one of my companions suffer a mental breakdown to protect your interests, I won’t shy away from annoying you to protect mine.”

“Look, what I did with your dwarf was good for all of us. We’d be waiting for at least one more week for him to finish that damn thing otherwise.”

“I’d rather wait for a week than work with an angry dwarf in life-threatening circumstances. But you don’t care about it one bit, do you? And that’s a generous interpretation since someone cynical would think you’re trying to undermine our odds of survival on purpose.”

“Ok, now that I’ve heard your case, I must admit you have a point. I wasn’t trying to undermine your party, but hey, we’ve already established that you have no reason to trust my words.”

“But you keep on doing it. Svinjko is far from perfect, yet we are stronger with him than without him. Especially against a devil.”

“Oh?” The devil’s eyebrow rose, “Is that so?”

“Do you disagree with that statement? If he tries to do something stupid, I can stop him. But if you try doing something stupid and he isn’t around …”

Ghilanna didn’t finish her sentence, waiting for the devil to say something instead.

“And you think that’s why I’m trying to incriminate him?”

“It’s certainly a possibility.”

The devil and Ghilanna stared each other in the eyes for a few moments. No one else dared to say a thing.

Finally, the devil broke the silence, “Alright, I promise I won’t incriminate your piggy any further.”

“I’d be very grateful if you’d do that.”

“But I want you to understand that’s a gesture of goodwill. If I did want to do something stupid, your little, piggy inquisitor would have no chance of stopping me, and he knows it. I will refrain from incriminating him any further simply to reduce the stress you’re working under because I need you and your companions at your best.”

“That’s all I’m asking for. Sowing discord may be entertaining for a devil, but it doesn’t help us achieve our goals in this case.”

“Alright.”