Lev woke up to the feeling of his head painfully slamming into something hard. Dazed he tried to protect it with his arm, only to feel even more pain explode from all over his body. He opened his eyes but only saw blurry colors. Blinking he tried to focus his eyes, but before it could work everything shook, and he was flung against something hard again.

A hand gripped him by the shoulder and helped him up and after a moment, he saw that it was Taras. The young Rusin looked like death. His eyes were sunken, and blood crusted the hair of his temple. Despite that, there was success shining in his pupils.

Confused, Lev looked around. After a moment he realized that he was in a wagon. A moving wagon judging from the frequent bumping and the changing scenery he could see through the opening at the end of the vehicle. Next to him, he saw a figure splayed out over the bottom, crude bloodied bandages were covering most of the lower body. It was Jaro.

Huh. So, they had survived somehow. He tried to move, only to quickly realize that just staying still was probably best. Everything hurt and looking down he saw that his upper body was covered in bandages. Red spots contrasted sharply with the otherwise beige material. Right, he had been shot. Multiple times.

“How did we…”, his voice was weaker than he expected. He tried again louder.

“How di-“. “She killed them all.”, Taras interrupted and nodded over to the left. Lev glanced over and realized that there was another person in the wagon. It was… the angel, he noted to his own astonishment.

She was white. Well, her clothes were white. A white tunic-like garment with long, wide sleeves contrasting with the bright red tattoos that covered what was visible of her skin. She did not look over even as he mustered her, long brown hair falling down to obscure much of her face. The angel-

Wait no… that wasn’t right. Angels were male-

His eyes widened as he realized what she was.

“A devil.”, he muttered in disbelief. Taras nodded, his tired face showing subdued excitement.

“When you went down, she suddenly appeared from the storage and massacred all of the soldiers. Thanks to that I was able to give the signal and use the chaos to get Jaro and you out of there.” So, she had helped them. For some reason. Why would a devil help them? He was about to ask when he noticed something else.

“Where is Nehi?” Zhuja was dead. He had seen him fall. That Jaro was still alive was a miracle, but Nehi-

Taras shook his head darkly.

So, he didn’t make it. Lev could feel the realization hit him like a boulder.

They had known the plan was dangerous, suicidal even. Every single one of them could have died. Nehi and Zhuja did. They survived. For a while Lev sat in silence, trying to wrangle with the reality that his friend had died while he was still alive.

“We are heading towards Terje.”, Taras continued after some time. The man was cleaning a gun that looked suspiciously like the model the imperial army used. “I managed to contact some people to get us in front of the socialist council.”, a pointed glance went over to the devil who was still sitting in her corner of the wagon, seemingly ignorant of their conversation.

“A devil could change everything.”, Lev muttered as he realized the implications of what had happened. But that only brought up even more questions.

“Why did you help us.”, he addressed the devil in as confident a tone as he could manage under the circumstances. Considering the state of his body and the emotional turmoil he was experiencing it didn’t count for much.

Still, for once she did react. Her head lifted and turned to face him, long locks of brown hair falling away to reveal a tanned face. Two red symbols adorned her cheeks, underlining a pair of light grey eyes. The symbols almost seemed to glow in the dim light of the wagon.

“You have the command sigil. Your words are my command.”, she answered in a somehow melodic and yet utterly detached voice. Lev stared at her face, hearing but not understanding her words. Then he twitched his right hand, realizing that it was clutched around something.

He tried to open his palm, but the muscles had cramped. The shot that shattered his shoulder must have made him clench his arm. Trying to pry his fingers open he massaged it with his other hand until the muscles began to relax. Inside appeared a familiar, unassuming white clay tablet with a single red symbol painted on it. Just like the devil’s tattoos, it too seemed to almost glow in the dim light of the wagon.

The choked chuckles sounded wrong as they escaped his lips. Disbelief and confusion washed over him in alternating waves as he realized just how absurd it all was. How goddamn lucky did one person get?

Two people had died. Jaro was wounded trying to take the sorcerer down. Nehi had given his life to tackle the bastard. And that had allowed Lev to pick up a strange white clay tablet that fell from the asshole’s hands.

Taras watched him without a word as his laughter degenerated into a pained wheeze. Laughing hurt. Everything hurt. Tired and feeling drained, Lev let himself drop against the wooden plank behind him and closed his eyes.

He woke up sometime later. The occasional bumps that shook the wagon told him that they were still moving. Taras had laid down flat on the wooden planks of the wagon bed and was sleeping soundly. Turning to the right Lev saw that the light had dimmed. And there, right next to the early evening sky sat the devil. Still in the same position at the same place where he had seen her before.

She was beautiful. Terrifying but beautiful.

Lev stared at her for a while feeling lost in thought before looking down at the unconscious Jaro. The bandages around the wounded man’s stomach were drenched in dry blood and he could see that he was struggling to breathe. They would need to find a hospital soon or he would not survive.

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Moving closer to the injured man, stabbing pain reminded him that he was not that much better off. The bullets seemed to have missed any of the more important organs, but that didn’t change the fact that there were two big holes in his body. Still, he persevered and crawled over to feel Jaro’s forehead.

It was sweaty and cold. There was a good chance he would not survive the night.

For a moment, Lev considered waking Taras to try and get to a hospital. Then he remembered that they were somewhere between Maris and Terje, most likely hunted by all imperial troops in the province. Even if they were somehow close enough to a hospital, very unlikely considering that most of the former Khazar territory was only very sparsely populated, showing their faces would get Jaro killed even faster than his wounds already were.

Instead, he turned to the devil.

“Can you help him?”, he asked.

To be honest, he did not know if this was a good idea. She was a devil. A being of sin and greed subjugated by God and damned to be his servant for all eternity. A literal weapon of mass destruction that had ensured Kanis’ imperial power for centuries.

Then again, he had never been particularly religious, and having that sort of power on his side sounded like a great time.

So, he asked.

She looked up and turned to face him again. As before, he wasn’t sure if there were any movements in that beautiful face of hers.

“I can.”, her reply was as short as it was heartening.

“You can heal him?”, he asked to confirm. She tilted her head before shaking it.

“I can stabilize him. Make sure he doesn’t die.” He would take that.

“Then do it.”, he moved back a little as the devil rose from the ground and walked over. He saw her muster the unconscious man on the ground, hesitate for a moment, and then get down on her knees next to him. Using her index finger, she began tracing something on the exposed skin of his chest next to the bandages, glowing red lines similar to her own tattoos appearing where her finger had passed.

Lev remained silent as he watched her even though he felt some alarm at the sight. He did not know what she was doing or if she was really helping Jaro. Magic was something he had only ever seen from a distance or heard about in stories, well at least until he got to be face-to-face with a sorcerer.

She lifted her hand, seeming to have completed whatever she was doing. A strange red sigil was left on Jaro’s skin, glowing faintly before slowly losing its luster. As it did, the young revolutionaries' condition visibly improved. His breathing became less labored, and some color returned to his face. He was still injured and remained unconscious, but whatever the devil had done had obviously helped.

Lev felt relief. Losing two comrades was more than enough. He looked up to the devil and inclined his head. “Thank you.”

The devil did not acknowledge the gesture, simply turning back around and returning to her former sitting place. Well, if she did not want to talk, he wasn’t about to force her.

Then again, he had many questions that needed answering. Considering everyone else was either unconscious or asleep, she would have to bear with him.

“This-.”, he pulled out the clay tablet from a small pocket in his pants. “-is the command sigil?”

He could swear that there was a hint of annoyance in her gaze as she once again turned to face him.

“It is.”, none of it crept into her voice though. On the other hand, the briefness of her answers was starting to annoy him.

“How does it work?”

“Whoever holds the sigil, has command over me.”

She really wasn’t forthcoming. He only slightly rolled his eyes as he changed his question.

“Explain everything you think is important to know about this clay tablet thing and how it affects you.” This earned him the first openly shown emotion that he had seen from her. She made a labored sigh and explained.

“The clay tablet is only a vessel. The command sigil that binds me can be drawn on just about anything. As long as the sigil exists, my bindings compel me to obey the one that holds it. If the sigil is destroyed, control is passed to the sigil that is geographically closest.

That one is probably somewhere in the imperial palace.”, having finished her explanation she looked him in the eyes with a look that dared him to ask stupid questions. Lev remained silent for a while, thinking about what she explained.

“So, this sigil is some sort of magic that compels you to obey. If it is destroyed, you will be bound by another sigil that is located somewhere in the imperial palace….

Is there any other way for the empire to regain control over you?”, the thought terrified him the second he thought of it. Any second she could just-

“No. The only way for them regain control is to take your sigil or destroy it.”, a faint smile appeared on her lips. “I would suggest you keep it safe.” The implication remained unsaid but well understood.

Lev returned the tablet to the small pocket.

“So, what exactly was your plan anyway? I assume it wasn’t getting that tablet and using me to get out of there?” The unexpected question threw him off. The devil actually asked a question? Huh, so she wasn’t quite as disinterested in everything going on around her as she pretended.

“Get into the arsenal, barricade ourselves in the weapons stores, and give a signal to other groups to start the revolt. We were supposed to keep the rest of the garrison from arming themselves. Once our comrades stormed the arsenal, we would then distribute the weapons and fight off the garrisons of the fortresses.”, the plan had gone horribly wrong the moment they had encountered that sorcerer.

Actually… according to Taras, he had still given the signal, and since the devil had killed at least some of the soldiers there…

He would need to ask Taras what exactly had happened after he passed out.

The devil seemed somewhat amused. “It was a stupid plan.”

In hindsight, he agreed. They should have used the tunnel to storm the arsenal with everything they had. Then again, moving that many people would have been noticed long before they had reached the tunnel.

“And it wouldn’t have worked, even if everything went to plan.”, she continued.

“Because you were there.”, Lev agreed, feeling curious about that anyway. “Why were you there? We thought that all the devils were at the eastern front or reinforcing the borders to the orthodoxy. Why would they station a devil in Maris?”

“You were unlucky.”, she replied, then smiled. “Well, actually you were very lucky considering how it played out for you.” Lev agreed with a wry smile.

“I was protecting supply lines to the steppes from… well, your ilk. A couple of days ago, there was a large attack on a returning supply column. A lot of casualties. I escorted them back to Maris.”

Another strange coincidence that had somehow saved his life.

“What’s your name? You do have a name, right?”, he asked her. Addressing her as the devil in his head was becoming tiresome. She seemed to hesitate.

“Its…Yaril.”

“Yaril…”, the name felt unfamiliar to Lev. Then again, she was a devil.

“Well, I’m Lev. I guess you will be stuck with me for now.” Yaril didn’t care to respond to that.

For a while, they continued in silence until Lev felt the wagon turn off the road and slow down. A glance outside showed him that the evening had become late. There was maybe half an hour of sunlight left in the day, so it made sense to stop for the night. The wagon came to a halt with a final strong shake and Lev was barely quick enough to pin Jaro down before he bumped his head against a board.

Taras was not so lucky and the young Rusin woke up with a pained yelp followed by curses.

“-htack?”, he asked dazed, his new gun already in hand. Lev shook his head, before getting up and walking towards the end of the wagon. He changed his relaxed tune as he saw three uniformed men pass another wagon a little further back.

“Fuck me.”, he whispered.