Fina walked with me back to the others. Not seeing Lust when I got back helped my mood. Everyone was standing behind Mom and Lexia.

Lexia walked up and hugged me. “You know you can tell me anything, right sis?” She gripped me even tighter as she whispered her question to me.

I hugged her back. “Sorry, I just needed a moment to myself. There’s just so much that’s happened and that needs to happen it was hard for me to sort myself out. I need help. Yours, Mom’s, Fina’s, and everyone else’s too.”

Mom wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “You’ve always had ours. Just ask, okay?”

I gave her a smile. “I know. But sometimes it’s hard to remember that in the moment.”

Mom smiled as she scratched the top of my head. “We all have things we need to work on.” She stopped smiling and put on a serious expression. “But first things first. We need supplies, food, and a direction.”

“The Rider of Ruin sounded like it needed to be our first target,” Anna said.

Ecaeris turned to Anna. “It was headed south. Where do you think it's going?”

Mom hummed for a moment. “The two major points of interest I know in that direction are the goblin desert and the dwarven kingdom, Brentiveil.”

“The Goblins were destroyed by The Rider of Death, so that leaves Brentiveil.” Lexia flicked her ears back. “I’ve never met a dwarf before. Are they nice?”

I glanced at Mom who was chewing her lip. “Can you go there? You know, after what happened in that war?”

Mom chuckled, it sounded forced. “Right. I forgot Eleanah had told you how I received my title.” She went to chew her lip again. “I’ll be fine.”

I know you don’t expect me to believe that. But I’ll let it go for now. It looks like the ghosts of her past are coming back to haunt her. It was a war, and even if the dwarves can move on and forgive her, I don’t think she can forgive herself .

Lexia looked between Mom and me. “How did you earn your title?”

I held up a hand. “Later.” Mom’s already having a rough time even talking about dwarves.

“What about the rest of this kingdom?” Dinar asked. “Who’s going to warn them about what happened here? We have to at least tell Princess Evalana, or Queen Evalana now.”

I clenched my jaw. Oh yeah. One more problem.

Zenny raised her hand. I arched an eyebrow and waved at her. “She was last at Caska, according to the doctors that help us. Caska is on the way to the dwarven kingdom. We can pick up supplies there and tell her everything that happened.”

Dinar waved her hand. “It’s still two days to get there. We’ll need food before then.”

Ecaeris pointed to the ruins of Aquittemia. “We could search for survivors and supplies before heading out.”

“No.” I shook my head. “There are no survivors. Not with all the demons that spilled out from there last night. And after that fire, anything we find will likely not be of any use.”

Mom cleared her throat, but she stared at the ground. “I know a place we can stop. It won’t be pleasant. But we’ll be able to get what we need, probably.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. Why isn’t she telling us everything?

“Where is it? How far?” Lexia asked.

“A little more than a day away if we walk.” She pointed to our house. “But if the demons left our cart alone, Lucia could get us there faster. Probably just before nightfall.”

I nodded to the teal-haired elf. “If Ecaeris and I trade off, we can get there sooner.”

She placed her hand on her chest. “Me, pull a cart? Nah uh.”

I walked up and grabbed the front of her shirt. “You’re as strong as me. You can push a cart.”

She grabbed my wrist. “I’m not an animal.”

I grabbed the hand that she grabbed my wrist with and growled.

“You are the most infuriating, disorganized, clueless mortals I’ve ever come to know.” Lust was holding her head as she stat on a nearby branch. “If you all weren’t so powerful, strong, or useful, I’d have left all of you behind. If I make you some horses to pull your cart, will that shut you up? Will that make you guys finally get going? Time is not on your side.”

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Dinar glared at the demoness. “Make us horses, how?”

Lust waved her hand lazily towards the city ruins. Two skeletal horses trotted towards us. There were still some scraps of flesh clinging to the bones, and I could see the teeth marks on them too.

“I have the power over death now. Reassembling a couple of horses is nothing.” The demoness didn’t look at the bald elf as she answered. "Strap them to the cart, and you should be able to figure out how to steer them. But seriously, get moving already. I don’t have all day to sit here and listen to you bicker and argue about what to do. We need to stop Ruin before she gets too powerful.” She waved her hand to dismiss us. “Now, get going.”

As the skeletal horses came to a halt before Ecaeris, I couldn’t help but feel an eerie unease. Ecaeris reluctantly stepped closer to the skeletal steeds.

“Figures we’d have to deal with something so profane,” she muttered to herself. “If we didn’t need something to pull the cart, I’d shatter them in an instant.”

She turned to leave the undead creatures and headed towards our house. The horses followed her every move, their empty eye sockets seemingly fixated on her. Ecaeris started running from the horses, but they kept up with her. Even as she sprinted, which was surprisingly fast, the horses kept up.

Lust’s chuckle caused me to groan. “Looks like they’ve taken a liking to you, Ecaeris.”

Isn’t this supposed to be a demon with the powers of two riders? Why in the world is she acting like a child with a new toy?

Ecaeris skidded to a stop and scowled at the demoness. “Stop it.”

The demoness flapped her wings and floated away while turning invisible. Lust’s disembodied voice chimed in. “Come on, Ecaeris, lighten up. Tell them how to live a little. You’ll find they’re far more obedient than you expect.”

Ecaeris’s eyes rolled up into her head as she closed her eyes and clenched her fists. “Make them stop, or I’m going to pummel you into a bloody pulp. When you recover, do it again and again until you beg for mercy.” When she took another step, the horses didn’t move.

The demoness only laughed at the elf’s threat. She says we don’t have time, but she’s the one playing games. I really hope that Lust takes our deal seriously.

We left the horses behind for a moment and approached my family’s home. The sight of it tugged at my heart. The demons had ransacked the place, leaving behind a trail of chaos. Furniture was overturned and debris scattered, but miraculously, the structure itself remained largely intact.

Mom turned her attention to the damaged cart. “They did some damage, but it looks mostly superficial. I should be able to handle this.” With a deep breath, she began to mend the cart’s minor damages, her arms glowing with magic.

It looks like her magic is still not what it used to be. The demon could only heal her so much. She’s alive, at least. She’s slowly regaining her powers, and I hope that this doesn’t leave a permanent mark on her somehow. Even unleashing her full, unrestrained magic wasn’t enough to kill Death. If Lust is worried about Ruin, do we even stand a chance?

While I wanted to watch my mom work, we had work to do. Dinar, Gifford, Lexia, and I ventured inside the house. The rooms were a mess. Lexia clung to me. Her wolf-like ears perked up as they surveyed the damage. We moved carefully, examining what little remained untouched by the demons’ rampage.

My heart sank as I walked into my room. My water bed, miraculously survived the demons. I couldn’t help but chuckle. It was made to survive me, after all. “I wish I could take it with us,” I whispered to myself.

Lexia placed a hand on my shoulder. “We could put it in the cart, and everyone could use that to sleep on.”

I laughed. “That’s not necessary. Mom will probably say it’s impractical. But for now, let’s gather what supplies we can salvage.”

We collected some clothes, scraps of food, a tent, and a chest. We brought everything out and loaded it on the cart. What we had wasn’t nearly enough, but it was better than nothing. Ecaeris leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. Zenny was helping Mom into the cart. She was exhausted and barely walking.

I wanted to be angry, but I could only feel sad as I watched my mother suffer. Lexia flattened her ears at the sight too.

Dinar nudged my side. “If she’s come this far, I have no doubt she’ll make a full recovery. Just give her time. Trust me, time heals all wounds.”

There was something about the tone in her voice, or that she didn’t look at me while she spoke, but I didn’t believe her. It looks like we all have scars from last night.

“So how are we supposed to attach the horses to the cart?” Ecaeris nodded at the two skeletal horses still standing where she left them.

Lexia’s tail flicked behind her as she studied the horses. “Lust said they are far more obedient than we expect.” She patted her knee. “Come here.”

The horses didn’t move. Dinar whistled a sharp note. Again, the horses didn’t move.

“What if Ecaeris tells them to move?” Zenny asked as she sat next to my mother. “She did say for her to tell them how to live.”

Ecaeris stared at the horses, mortified. “What does that demon have against me?”

Gifford shrugged. “Don’t know, but I imagine it has something to do with your threat to her.”

The teal-haired elf’s head twitched to the side. “She’s working her way up the list.” She straightened up and put her fingers to the corners of her lips. A high-pitched whistle forced us three beastkin to cover our ears. “Get over here, you brainless beasts.”

The horses trotted over to Ecaeris. And despite the elf’s annoyance, we wrapped some rope around the horses and the cart and let her drive the two undead creatures. Mom told her where to go, and we began our journey. I walked next to the cart. Fina walked next to me while everyone else rode the cart.

As we started, Ecaeris couldn’t take her eyes off the ruined capitol. I heard Zenny stifling a sniffle as she couldn’t look back. Lexia wrapped her arms around Gifford as he held her close. Anna sat in the back of the cart alone, lost in thought. Dinar sat next to Ecaeris with a blank expression on her face.

“Hey Mom, where are we going?” I asked.

“It’s a village.” Mom’s eyes looked distant. “I’d rather not have needed to go there, but we need supplies. And all I can hope is that it’s not a complete waste of time. I doubt the demons could do anything to her. Especially if they are just fallen demons.”

Lexia poked Mom. “Mom, you didn’t answer the question.”

Mom leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “Don’t worry about it until we get there. I could be worrying about nothing. She might be gone already.”

Where is Mom taking us, and why doesn’t she tell us? Who is she talking about?