“Look!” Lana said, pointing at a point close to the great door of the ice castle. A considerable amount of snow was up in the air at that spot and through it I could make out the outline of a lady.

A rather tall lady, perhaps as tall as the ice demons.

The snow settled.

I saw that the lady was in fact a succubus who possessed horns. Her skin was white as snow, and so were her eyes and her lips and her hair and even the bare clothes she wore.

Luna the moon succubus.

She held up her arms and let out a cry.

“Enough!”

Immediately the raging battle seemed to freeze all of a sudden. The tree people, lost in their quest to kill the last of the ice demons still standing had probably not seen the succubus until now.

The succubus bent down near a dead ice demon and then she wiped her eyes as though she was sobbing.

She looked up at the tree man who was closest to her.

“Why?” she asked. “Why do you kill my brothers?”

“Why did you kill our brothers and our sisters?” the tree man shot back. His voice sounded odd, something that could have never been produced by the throat of a human.

“Kill your brothers and sisters?” the succubus said and from the tone of her voice she sounded rather confused.

“Of course!” another of the tree men barked. “You are poisoning all the water in the moon. Many of our people have shrivelled. They no longer speak or communicate with us in any way and we do not know if they will live!”

The succubus gasped.

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“I-I was doing it only to take vengeance on the humans,” she said. “I did not mean to harm you. Look the ice trees are also trees and they are my friends! They have been so for all eternity.”

“But they do not require liquid water,” one of the tree people said, “unlike us. And if you want vengeance on the humans, then you should do something to harm them, not us. Water is required by every creature on this moon.”

“Why do you want to take vengeance on the humans in the first place?” I found myself asking tentatively in the loudest voice possible. I thought my own voice sounded odd for it was so much different from the voices of the tree people.

“Ah, humans!” the succubus said. She had probably missed us so far.

I felt all eyes that were nearby shift towards me, Lana and Danor.

The succubus began to stride towards us. There was a visible frown on her paper white face, or was it a glare?

Usually, I felt a pull whenever a succubus approached, even if it was a succubus over whom I had authority. However, I felt not pull of attraction towards the moon succubus. She didn’t seem to cast any charm spell either. However, I did think that the looks of the moon succubus were quite exquisite.

“One of you did it, didn’t you?” the moon succubus said and the anger in her tone was evident. Beside me Lana shifted ever so slightly, assuming a defensive position. I took a step closer to her. If the moon succubus tried to do anything to harm us, Lana could grab us and shoot to the sky where Modart’s ship awaited us.

“Did what?” I asked.

“Stole my moonstone,” the moon succubus said.

“Moonstone?” I said. It was the first time I was hearing about it.

The moon succubus was merely a few metres away from us now. Her face was so high up that I had to crane my neck to look up at her.

“Why pretend that you do not know anything about it?” the moon succubus asked.

“There are quite a few humans on the moon,” I said. “You should not assume that we are the ones who stole it. Why not enlighten us about the moonstone? Maybe we can help you get it back?”

I wanted the moon succubus to see us as possible helpers. I wanted to be on good terms with her. I did not know what kind of powers she possessed after all.

“If you are as innocent as you claim,” the moon succubus said though by the narrowing of her eyes I knew that she didn’t think that we were even remotely innocent, “then let me tell you that the moonstone is my most precious belonging. It is what gives me strength and helps me live on. A few days ago I went to the room in my castle where I keep it only to discover to my horror that it was gone. I was however able to find the footprints of humans in the room so I know without a doubt that it was one of you who did the crime.”

“Why didn’t you tell this to the human king and his followers when they tried to talk to you?” I said. “It would have helped significantly in you getting back the moonstone.”