Dmitri awoke to Claudia shaking him awake. Blearily opening his eyes, he asked her what was wrong. She answered by pointing to the doorway. He turned and looked; standing there; arms crossed and with a smug expression on his face was Birkett. He sauntered in, “Well well,” he leered at Claudia, “It didn’t take you long did it wench?”

Claudia answered by spitting on him. He raised his hand to hit her, but Dmitri stepped in and caught Birkett’s arm. Birkett shook his arm free and was about to hit Dmitri when he saw the swollen eye where he’d be hit by Wayte the night before. Birkett barked a laugh, “Ah yes, that’s right; I heard that you angered Wayte a little. I would have liked to have seen that. But I was leading the personal body guard of the Lord’s advisor Arcaedus.” He looked at Claudia again, “If I am permanently reassigned there, I certainly shall miss the times we had,” he reached out to stroke her cheek but she batted his hand away. He laughed again, “Well, enjoy your meal. I know you are meant to get a higher quality food then this, but I got hungry.” He brought in a tray with two bowls of an unappetising sludge and then left.

After he had left, Claudia shuddered, “I hate that man.”

Dmitri put a hand on her shoulder, “You can relax now, he is gone. We can eat the food from last night; we didn’t even start on it.”

Claudia visibly relaxed and looked around at last night’s tray, “Now that you mention it, I’m famished.”

While they ate, Dmitri thought of something and asked Claudia, “You remember that you spoke of the runes that were keeping Akahaziel in a slumber?” she nodded, unable to speak with a mouth full of food, “I’ve been wondering why only put him to sleep? I mean he is a demon, there is no good in him, why keep him somewhere that he could escape or be let out of?”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Swallowing her food, Claudia replied, “Well, first of all, I doubt that people were expecting the runes to be erased. True an earthquake could break them, but on top of that, you said you used earth and fire magic in the mountain?”

This time it was Dmitri that nodded around a mouth full of food. Claudia continued, “Well, as you know, fire is a chaotic magic. It would have been that which woke him, especially since it was fear of that very thing that drove him into the cave in the first place.”

“But,” said Dmitri reaching for some more food, “I threw a ball of fire at him and it washed over him, it didn’t affect him at all.”

“Yes, I thought of that too,” replied Claudia, “you said that he wouldn’t enter the church because of the fire surrounding it. But wait, in the cave, the fire ball was conjured out of thin air correct?”

Dmitri nodded, unsure where she was headed with this line of thought.

“And the fire outside the church was on the ground instead of in the air?”

Dmitri nodded again and realised where she was going and finished it, “The villagers would have had natural fire too. So my magic in the cave didn’t work on him, but natural fire does, even if it’s started from a magical source!” he finished in a rush.

“We can defeat him with fire arrows!” exclaimed Claudia.

“But then,” he said slowly, “The remains of his fur, all the patches on him, some of those caught alight and would have done back in Alyosha’s time as well. Surely being consumed by fire like that would kill him.”

“Oh,” said Claudia disappointed, “So fire arrows wouldn’t work.”

“No,” replied Dmitri, “he’s just too powerful against magic, but that’s all we have.”

Someone cleared their throat from behind them in the doorway. They turned to see Wayte there, arms crossed. “If you’re done, Arcaedus is outside; he would like a word with you both.”

“Of course,” replied Dmitri, “Send him in.”