Jeshin hated leaving a charge alone, even one so frustrating as Jay. It was her job to protect them, and even if they had agreed to part ways in Two Crosses she still had to get them there. Maybe she could even wheedle a portion of her payment out of the Ishkurites.

But there was trouble on the road ahead of Cilethi, and the Ufriq didn’t seem to notice. Trade had stopped in the town. Wagons were standing around, bleeding money, and there were a suspiciously large number of people wearing armor walking about, talking to the merchants, and drinking piss beer that could barely get you buzzed.

The wagons were forming a caravan, and hiring every local adventurer or militia person with more greed than sense to guard it.

So when Jay rushed forward to butt themself into yet another place they were not wanted, Jeshin did not follow. Instead, she directed Kitambaa over to the small handful of guards wearing mail lounging behind the merchant party. She dismounted at a safe distance and approached on foot.

"Here stay. Me chapter." Jeshin told the raptor in Lugha.

She had learned a few commands, but wasn’t sure she was pronouncing them right. Kitambaa seemed to understand at least, and flashed her crest before tearing the ground with a couple of stomps.

"Well aren’t you a rare thing?" One of the guards called as she got closer. A Rhin bee who looked nothing like Jay.

"An armored Ufriq. Next thing you know I’ll see a dragon, or an honest Doge." They said.

"Everyone knows honest Doges don’t exist, Uzo." Another said.

This one was an Athnat man who had a squashed nose and wore a pair of massive dangling gold earrings that would be completely worthless in a fight.

"But I’ve seen a dragon before," He said.

"Sure you have, Axe" Uzo replied.

"It’s true!" Axe complained, "I was guarding a caravan in Alv and I saw it flying over the Chips. Bronze scales gleaming in the sunlight. I only saw it for a moment, but it must have been bigger than a house. Scared me half to death."

Axe was lying. The last dragon seen in civilized lands had been the terror of the northern wilds, and that was years ago and half a continent away. Besides, the northern wilds were not nearly as civilized as Alv. Jeshin got close enough to interrupt the inane conversation with a grunt.

"I’m not Ufriq," She said, "I’m just protecting someone traveling with them. My name is Jeshin, Captain..."

She paused. The routine words had just slipped out.

"Former Captain of the Crimson Throats."

"Archon’s thugs?" Uzo said. "I’m surprised you lived through a contract with them. I heard there’s no one better in a scrap, though. Your defense of Mirrin is the stuff of legends."

Jeshin smelled dust in the air. Saw green eyes. She grunted again.

"Don’t want to talk about it," Jeshin said, as gently as she could.

She declined to mention that she was technically a deserter. Or wait, was she? Her contract was due to be renewed when the Throats arrived at Helgvik, and they could maybe have done so by now if they made good time. Perhaps Pussisolre would come through and cover for her again. He was competent, at least at some things.

"So, looking to ditch the Ufriq and earn some real gold?" Axe asked. "The Doge aspirant is buying up every merc, avvy, and fodder in twenty miles. She’s carrying some really important stuff up to Alv."

Jeshin grimaced at the term ’fodder’. It was a crass way to refer to levies and militias, people who had not seen real combat. Those armored in cloth and clutching spears in trembling hands, who wore a helmet only if they were lucky, and who were refused the training needed to live through a proper battle.

The term cheapened their lives, made light of knightly and magely butchery. But it was not wrong. They were the people who died in battles, fodder for that ravenous beast called power.

"Not unless she can match my current offer," Jeshin said, "Three hundred signets. Gold."

Uzo whistled at the sum but waited for her to continue.

"I’m just looking to trade information," Jeshin said, "What spooked the aspirant? Are there bandits around? Were any wagons hit?"

Axe and Uzo replied in turn.

"I don’t know anything for certain," Uzo said, "But there is a rumor going around that a couple of wagons went missing a few days ago, and there haven’t been any more arriving from the north since."

"But single riders make it through no problem," Axe added, "Pethia, that’s the Doge aspirant, had a long meeting with some monks yesterday. People say she asked them for a divination and they only gave her a vague warning."

That was unsettling. Wagons and only wagons disappearing pointed to an intelligent foe, not a mindless monster, someone who could pick their battles. Bandits, maybe. But gathering this many guards to protect against a few bandits seemed like overkill.

"Thank you," Jeshin said. She flipped Uzo a silver signet, which he pocketed with a wink and a smile.

"I don’t have much to share from the south," She said, "It’s calm. Pleurian will be weary of outsiders for a while though. Expect higher rates if you are traveling through."

The guards nodded. The conversation died down for a bit, and a comfortable silence fell over the group.

"Want to join us for a meal tonight?" Axe asked, "Drinks are on me."

Huh, he was flirting with her. Jeshin examined the man in this new light. He had straight black hair, round cheeks, brown skin, golden eyes, and a trace of a scar across a set of very plump and kissable lips. Her first impression had been of his squashed button of a nose, but up close those ridiculous earrings drew her gaze away from it and towards his striking eyes instead.

"I’d love to," Jeshin said, "But I have a complete asshole I need to guard. The work comes first. I’ll keep the offer in mind and see if I can get away from them tonight."

She debated returning the man’s wink, but decided not to. It would be fun to see if she could fluster the guard. He was decently physically attractive after all, and had a good fashion sense, but the way he talked about militia was too callous for her to ignore.

Instead, she just gave the group a nod and remounted Kitambaa. She needed to investigate further. Speak to Pethia if she could, and scout the road ahead.

You also need an actual partner, Jeshin, Jeshin thought, Someone who cares for you. Meaningless sex is fun and all, but pursuing romance with someone like Axe or Jay...

She swallowed mentally. Jay’s complete rejection of her still hurt for some reason. A lot. Maybe because they kept jabbing barbs so expertly into her insecurities.

Is a terrible idea, Jeshin continued the thought. You have the chance for something better for you now that you aren’t under contract.

Jeshin returned to keep a distant watch over Jay, then rode into town when they safely left with the Ufriq. She made her way to the inn and stabled Kitambaa outside, instructing her in Lugha to not eat the horses. Well, that was probably what she said. If Pethia was anywhere she would be here, at the current beating heart of the town.

PIC [https://scythiamarrow.org/archive/SplinterGuard/Art/SectionMarkerJeshin.png]

Pethia was indeed at the inn, but was meeting with another merchant and so Jeshin had to wait. A sniveling fop assured her that she would be next in line, so at least it could have been worse.

She took a seat at the bar, and debated ordering a beer but settled on fresh apple juice mixed with honey. She was working, and was a professional.

After a few minutes of contemplation a hulking bear of a man clad in full plate sat down on the stool next to her. It groaned at his weight, and with every movement he made as he ordered two pints of beer. Both for himself, thankfully.

He had a shaven head, long, pointed ears, dark skin, and brown eyes. He had a neatly trimmed beard, a slightly hooked nose, and wore an orange scarf.

Jeshin shifted in mild discomfort as she recognized the cut of the scarf. It was the same fashion that Archon loved, though his were all red. She faintly eyed the maul strapped to the stranger’s back and the longsword at his waist. Both were well worn, and not in a way that suggested human enemies.

Adventurer then, not mercenary. Which was a relief, as a mercenary good enough to afford plate was incredibly dangerous.

"Ahh, that’s the stuff," The man said, taking a deep gulp. He glanced over at Jeshin’s drink. "Workin’ or teetotalin’?"

Jeshin instantly relaxed upon hearing his deep, heavily accented Rhina. The man sounded like he had escaped serfdom just yesterday, and Archon wouldn’t be caught dead associating with the lower classes.

"Working," Jeshin said, "But I won’t be working tonight if I can help it."

"Well then I look forward to tonight," The man said, "I’m Kieru, nice to meet you?"

"Jeshin," Jeshin said, "I’m waiting for a meeting with the Doge aspirant."

"Nice to meet you, Jeshin," Kieru said, "I’m actually working for her at the moment. She’s..."

Kieru cast around for anything nice to say about the woman. Uh oh.

"Competent," He finished, "She’ll treat you fairly."

"I see. Mind if I ask what she’s having you do?" Jeshin asked, "My client and I are traveling north, I want to scout out potential threats."

"Sure," Kieru chuckled, "She wants us to look into this ruined old Caeth keep a bit to the north. Says the monks pointed her towards it. These disturbances might have been caused by an intelligent monster holing up there. Monsters love nesting near old enchantments."

Jeshin’s eyebrows rose. Intelligent monsters were rare, and dangerous. Rare enough she had not even considered it as a possibility.

"So that’s what they are calling bandits these days," Jeshin joked, "I was always partial to ’two legged wolves’."

Kieru laughed a booming bark of a laugh.

"True, it’s probably bandits," He said, "If it is we’ll report back and help guard the caravan. The guild doesn’t like it when we hurt humans. Neither do I, for that matter."

Jeshin nodded. That was common knowledge, and a big reason why guild members could travel so freely across Loerma. Hearing him say it still put her at ease, though. Some adventurers hated that restriction.

"Jeshin?" A voice called. "Doge aspirant Pethia will see you now. She asked for your presence as well, Kieru."

Jeshin stood and waited for Kieru. The man shrugged and downed the last bits of his beer in another giant gulp. He glanced sadly at the one he couldn’t finish, then slid it down the bar to another patron.

"My treat," He said, and followed Jeshin.

PIC [https://scythiamarrow.org/archive/SplinterGuard/Art/SectionMarkerJeshin.png]

Pethia had converted the inn’s best room into a makeshift field office. Stacks of documents littered the place, and a military map of Phustreek spread out over a sturdy table large enough it must have been hauled up through the window.

The window shutter had been detached and lay awkwardly in the back corner, serving as an impromptu wooden coffee table, and the opening it had covered was now protected by a simple hanging tarp. Jeshin shivered. The office was warmer than the outside air, but not by much.

How did she get her grubby little hands on a military map? Jeshin thought, They are one of Varmyr’s biggest strategic advantages over her rivals. Only Doges can legally own copies. Even Archon can only afford to have a couple loaned ones on hand.

"State your business, Jeshin," The woman said. She didn’t look up, her eyes remained fixated on the map.

"I was planning to scout the road ahead," Jeshin said, "And would like to coordinate with you about where to focus my efforts. Kieru already told me about the Caeth ruins, and I would gladly aid his party, but in return I would like to know about other potential risks. Especially a bit further to the west."

Pethia clicked her tongue.

"You should not have told her about the work, Kieru," Pethia said, "I don’t pay you to be a blabbermouth. Loose lips sink ships."

Kieru shrugged, but did not respond.

"But yes, that sounds acceptable," Pethia said, "The keep is on the eastern side of the road towards the river, here,"

She pointed. Taking that as permission, Jeshin approached the table and studied the map.

"And the only noteworthy major feature to the west of the road between here and Two Crosses is the deep woods." Pethia said, "It was an old sacred site of the Caeth, and both logging and hunting are forbidden there by local custom.

It’s much further on, though. Thirty leagues past the blockage. Other than that: lots of small towns, rural roads, wetlands, and forests."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Pethia pointed those features out in turn. Jeshin studied the map intensely, both trying to figure out the Ufriq’s likely path and if Pethia had missed anything along it.

"What’s this feature?" Jeshin asked, "It’s worrisome, right on a bottleneck between these wetlands. And it’s not a town."

"Read a map before, have you?" Pethia asked rhetorically, "Good. Saves me some time. That’s a cave entrance, supposedly to a system that stretches all the way Under. Based on the survey notes, it’s narrow, steep, and barren. Not a likely place for either a monster or bandits."

Jeshin was impressed by how quickly Pethia had responded, and she hadn’t needed to look through the survey notes to do it. Competent indeed.

"Cave monsters rarely venture outside," Kieru explained, "Too bright. They prefer hunting downwards. Or preying on bandits stupid enough to set up camp below ground."

In Jeshin’s experience bandits were quite stupid, but not that stupid. Under was a hostile place to surface dwellers, and a cave exposed to it was a terrible camping spot. She would still check it out, just to be safe, but the cave was not the most promising lead.

The most promising leads would be the towns between here and where the blockage ended. It was remotely possible that a bandit group had grown large enough to take one over and operate behind civilian cover. Military term for taking hostages.

"I’ll scout it out, and these three towns," Jeshin said, pointing, "Just to be safe. But I do think that the ruin is the most likely lead. When are you heading out?"

"As soon as our Holy, Swidar, gets back from Amalin," Kieru said, "She wanted to investigate why their divination wasn’t working."

"Oh, that’s not just a local effect," Jeshin said.

She probably should have mentioned that earlier.

"Divination has been acting strange since the new year everywhere on Loerma, as far as I can tell. It’s disrupted for at least another hundred or so leagues to the south."

She didn’t mention Amber’s suspicions or their quest. Pethia was right about information security.

"Then we can go right now," Kieru said, "Something on that scale is paladin work, not Swidar work. She’ll hate it, but I’ll drag her away from chasing red herrings."

"Good luck," Pethia said, "And work quickly. I’m bleeding money for every hour we stay in this wretched place."

What a charming woman, Jeshin thought, I’m sure she’ll become Doge in no time.

That was not a compliment.

PIC [https://scythiamarrow.org/archive/SplinterGuard/Art/SectionMarkerJeshin.png]

Despite Kieru’s fears, it did not take long for him to convince Swidar to abandon her investigation, it was going nowhere, and join the rest of her party.

A party which turned out to also contain an Okishina woman named Yumi and a Ukoji man named Cherie.

Yumi was a moody scout with pale skin, slightly pointed ears, and straight black hair she kept in a tight bun. Cherie was an energetic artillerist with long blond hair and gunpowder stained hands who did. Not. Stop. Talking.

During their ride to the Caeth ruins Jeshin learned more than she had ever cared to know about gunpowder weapons and their applications to monster slaying. It turned out that the inaccuracy of muskets and mobile artillery which complicated their use on the battlefield didn’t much matter against large, slow targets.

"It’s the large, fast monsters you have to look out for," Cherie explained. "That’s why I use this aiming glove. The enchanted base of the piece tracks where I’m pointing, so as soon as Kieru lands a solid hit and slows the beast, that’s when I can deliver the finishing shot."

"You missed the last three times you tried that," Yumi said. Her Rhina was clipped, and had an accent that Jeshin had never heard before.

Wow, Jeshin thought, She truly was born on an entirely different continent. And you thought Kieru was pulling your leg when he said she was from Okishin.

"It’s a work in progress," Cherie said, "I’ll get it right eventually. And then we could take on much more dangerous contracts."

"What I do not get right," Yumi said, "Is why you allowed the Ufriq to tag along. Our party is four. Our split is by quarters."

"I’m not Ufriq," Jeshin said, "And I’m only here to scout and act as back up. No fighting, no split."

"I am the scout," Yumi said, "So I scout. Not you."

"Peace, Yumi," Kieru said, "Jeshin is working for someone else. I know you dislike someone helping you without paying them, but she is getting paid for her aid."

Yumi nodded.

"Good." She said.

It was about an hour’s ride to the ruins and the party made good time. At a glance they looked completely ordinary. Stone walls, crumbled in places, overgrown with trees and moss, and picked apart by beast and human alike. No smoke or fire of a bandit camp, no obvious illusions or magical distortions like some monsters conjured to protect their lairs.

Jeshin sniffed the air. Nothing smelled out of the ordinary either.

After a brief discussion between adventurers, Yumi dismounted and slunk forward cautiously to scout. She returned only a few minutes later, shaking her head.

"The wagons are here, yes. They are broken and piled into a heap. There are no obvious signs of any monster I know. Only a woman investigating. Full plate, rapier, formula book. She did not see me." Yumi reported.

Nice report, Jeshin thought, Give this woman a promotion. Do adventurers even have ranks?

Jeshin did not know. They probably did. The group did not wear any insignia, but Kieru commanded the respect of the others. If they had a guild system, did that make Kieru the master and the others journeyers? She would have to ask them later.

The party, including Jeshin, made their way past the half ruined arch of the keep entrance. The fortress was of an ancient design, made of only a single layer of thick stone walls surrounding an interior courtyard, with an attached stone keep. The walls were overgrown, and the top of the keep had collapsed into the courtyard in a jumble of stone blocks.

Time and the elements had taken their toll on the place, but Jeshin could have done worse damage in under an hour given two cannons and a mage circle. A shoddy mage circle at that. There was a reason modern defenses used packed earthen berms. Or enchanted concrete, but that technology remained unproven on a real battlefield.

The missing wagons were indeed piled up into a heap near the pile of blocks. Luggage, wagon parts, and animal corpses were strewn about the wreckage, all either slashed by claws or pierced by fangs.

There were no human corpses but the copious amount of blood, more than the animals could contain, indicated that whatever had carried the wagons here had not bothered killing the humans first. It had bothered cleaning up the corpses afterwards.

Odd. Perhaps it ate them.

A woman turned from studying the wreckage as Kieru called a greeting. She was short, broad, and white-haired with large golden eyes, broad nose, and a small mouth surrounded by an impressive beard that hung to her waist. Unlike Hazlet, the only other Tre woman Jeshin had met, she did not thread her beard with gold, nor hesitate to bare her needle-like teeth in a broad smile.

"Well met adventurers!" The woman said, "I am Pujunin, paladin of Ishkur and devoted of Neti. I was traveling south for an inquest when I heard of these missing wagons. Do you have any leads?"

Jeshin had never heard of Neti before. She would have to ask a Holy about the deity sometime.

"We know no more than you do," Kieru said, "But this is obviously the work of a monster. You must have scared it away from this nest it made, but we’ll track it down."

"Hmmm," Pujunin said, "It could also be the work of a demon. They have been unusually active recently. I’m currently traveling south to Helgvik to investigate a demon who may have slipped its contract to the Crimson Throats."

This was the inquisitor? The paladins had moved fast, faster than Jeshin had thought possible. The poor mail horse must have been ridden half to death carrying the request, and the paladins must have dispatched Pujunin the day it arrived in Two Crosses.

"Speaking of," Pujunin said, "Captain Jeshin of the Crimson Throats, we should talk about what happened in Pleurian."

"Former Captain," Kieru chimed in, "She’s not affiliated with them anymore."

The man gave her a look, a tacit offer to run interference for her. Jeshin shook her head. She already had her lies memorized.

"It’s fine, Kieru," Jeshin said, "I’ll answer the woman’s questions. You can help your team look through the wagons."

"I have already collected the letters and some precious personal affects," Pujunin said, "to deliver or return to next of kin. That was not the monster’s doing, if it matters to you."

Kieru nodded in thanks, then left to help his party.

Pujunin asked Jeshin a lot of questions she had already anticipated, and Jeshin gave her rehearsed story. She had to slow down and pretend to think at moments, the lies were so well practiced they came to her faster than the truth would have. At least they seemed to satisfy the inquisitor, until she went down a track Jeshin had not anticipated.

"Jeshin. Captain... Well, former Captain of the Crimson Throats. Honorary Knight of the Alv republic, sponsored by house Lyra," Pujunin said, "You were awarded a bronze scale for your actions at Mirrin. Why do you not wear it?"

Jeshin felt like she had been punched in the gut. Smelled dust in the air. She had forgotten the question.

"What?" She asked, weakly.

"Why do you not wear your bronze scale?" Pujunin said, "I have never met someone who received it but did not wear it. It is a great honor."

"I.."

I don’t want to talk about it, Jeshin thought, Which you damn well know.

"I don’t see how that is relevant," She replied, stiffly, "It was a long time ago."

"Two years is not a long time," Pujunin said, "And it speaks to your character, the determination of which is an important part of my investigation.

"But I will respect your privacy on the matter. Now, why did you leave the Throats?"

"I couldn’t..." Jeshin started, then stopped herself. She had been about to tell the truth. That she couldn’t protect her soldiers if she stayed. That would have ruined everything.

"Couldn’t?" Pujunin prodded.

Jeshin grit her teeth.

"Couldn’t stand fuckers like you poking about my business," Jeshin said, "I think we’re done here."

The inquisitor looked her up and down, expression unreadable.

"That we are," She said, "And it seems the adventurers have found a trail."

PIC [https://scythiamarrow.org/archive/SplinterGuard/Art/SectionMarkerJeshin.png]

The trail was a bust. It led the group further into the wilderness for two hours then ran between a collection of large moss-covered boulders and vanished.

It was getting late, so Kieru decided to call the search for the day and the adventurers made their way back towards Cilethi. Pujunin followed them, and as Jeshin did not want to spend time with the woman she politely declined an offer to share drinks.

Besides, she had places to scout out before she made her way back to the Ufriq. Three towns and a cave.

The towns were unremarkable and not taken over by bandits. One had a neat little bakery and art gallery, though, for some unfathomable reason Jeshin did not bother investigating. She was running late, and was not in the habit of asking too many questions about something that let her eat good, warm bread on a cold evening.

The cave, however, was occupied by a twinkling firelight. That posed a real problem. She left Kitambaa behind a small copse of trees and proceeded on foot.

You are sneaking up on a bandit camp at night without your halberd, Jeshin,, She thought, You should have asked Kieru to spot you a spear at Cilethi. Even if you didn’t expect to participate in combat.

Jeshin had assumed that Kieru would lend her his sidearm if he needed her support against a monster. And that she would be able to scout for bandits from raptorback and not have to get up close. Sloppy on both counts.

She would just have to take the necessary risks this time and do better in the future. And get her godsdamned halberd back.

Jeshin crept closer to the cave entrance. She heard snippets of conversation carried by the wind as she approached.

"Nii et kas olete nõus?" A voice said.

"Jah.... Kes seda kannab, Röövel?" Another voice responded

"...Isik... vürstiriik riietus" The first voice said.

It was in a language she had never heard before, but seemed vaguely familiar to the Kieli that Hazlet sang songs in sometimes. If Jeshin had to guess these bandits were probably speaking in, well, that language spoken by the Leru people who made their home Under.

The only names Jeshin knew for the language were slurs. Hazlet was a bigot, though she assured Jeshin that all Tre thought ill of the Leru. Jeshin doubted Hazlet’s word, both about the true character of the Leru and Tre opinions on the matter, but she had not sought to confirm them by broaching the topic with Pujunin. Doing so would have been a mistake.

Jeshin finally got close enough to peek around a nearby boulder and into the cave. She was confronted by, sure enough, a Leru woman and... a Ufriq woman? But no one else, so if they were bandits they were a pair of shit bandits.

Jeshin could take them, even without her halberd. Probably.

The Leru woman was pale. Paler than even Hazlet, so much so that large parts of her exposed arms, legs, and midriff were fully translucent except for the faint outlines of bones and pulsing patterns of blood vessels.

She had long, pointed ears and two slits for a nose, and her teeth were far too numerous, translucent, and pointy for Jeshin’s comfort.

She looked like an ambush predator, an impression that was reinforced by the two vicious looking daggers she carried on her hips. They were serrated and wavy, made in that flamberge pattern popular in the west that Jeshin had only vague knowledge of.

Her eyes were small white orbs that obviously sensed something other than light as they had no pupils. Jeshin had seen such eyes before, and it took her a while to realize where. Stuck to Amp’s body. Gods she despised demons, but now was not the time to think of old hatreds.

The Leru woman’s hair was silver like Jeshin’s own, but it did not float up from under her helm by the power of the newly risen waning crescent moon and glint in the firelight. Shit.

Jeshin ducked behind her rock in time to hide from the questioning glance of the Ufriq woman. She was unarmed, of course, and carried a large yellow blanket that shone with golden embroidery. Her face was vaguely familiar, but Jeshin did not know her name.

Jeshin made a mental note to avoid the woman if she saw her around the caravan. She had stirred up enough trouble with the Ufriq and did not need more.

The Ufriq woman peered into the woods for a time before she shook herself and clasped her apparent trading partner’s outstretched hand.

The partner drew her left dagger and made a shallow cut in both of the women’s forearms before chanting something in her language.

"Kurivaim, sõlmima see leping" She said. A formula engraved into her hand shone with magic.

Their blood mixed, translucent green and opaque red, and dripped onto the floor of the cave. A black sprite rose from the mixture, dragging the blood along with it, and coalesced into the form of a tall Rhin man wearing feather earrings. The Ufriq woman shuddered.

That’s a demon of fear, or maybe trauma, Jeshin thought, Not at all fun to fight.

The demon reached out, grabbed the dagger from the Leru woman’s grip, and shoved it up under her throat, piercing the base of her skull. She died before she hit the floor, but not before she drew her other dagger and returned a small nick to the demon’s flank. It was an impressive, if futile, display of reflexes. And spite.

The trader’s body exploded into dark grey sprites, and the Ufriq woman finally screamed. The demon advanced on her, savoring the sound and drinking in her fear. It swirled the pair of daggers theatrically, then thrust out and nicked the Ufriq’s face.

"I’m going to kill you polepole," The demon said in Lugha, "Nitaonja each scream. Run, mawindo. You might escape."

Ugh, your Lugha is terrible, Jeshin, Jeshin thought, But at least you understood most of it. Does that mean it’s a demon of hope? That would be a fun fight. But it doesn’t really matter. If someone needs help to not die, you help them not die.

Jeshin rushed out from behind her rock and jabbed her dagger towards the demon. It laughed and took the hit, then sank its own into its target’s back, piercing the heart from behind and above. The woman collapsed, unconscious and as good as dead. No one could heal that.

Jeshin twisted her dagger and tried to shove it up under the demon’s ribcage, but it grabbed her wrist and moved with the twist, giving her the choice of letting go or following it to the ground.

She let go and planted a kick towards its ribs, then rearmed by ripping the Leru’s serrated dagger out of the fallen Ufriq woman. She immediately exploded into faint yellow-golden sprites.

"You should run, girl," The demon said, in Rhina this time, "I may let you live if you do."

The threat was somewhat spoiled by the fact it was slow to pick itself up from the ground. The demon’s features shifted, and it suddenly wore plate armor and stared up at her with callous, murderous green eyes. A pathetic imitation of the real thing. All it did was confirm its true nature.

What’s the opposite of fear? Jeshin thought, Confidence? I have some poppy milk, which dulls fear and pain when used as a medicine. Maybe that would be effective against it?

When in doubt silver would work, at least for something this pathetic. Jeshin took out a small fold of paper from a waist pocket and passed it over her newly acquired dagger. The powdered silver she had picked up in Pleurian did not spread easily, the blood got into the way, but it would still serve.

Jeshin debated whether she should fight without the dagger, just bare gauntlets coated in silver. It would make this more even. More fun. But in the end, demons were evil incarnate. It would be irresponsible to fight one at anything less than her best.

"Well?" Jeshin goaded, "Didn’t you say you were going to kill me?"

The demon snarled and leaped at her, bare hands outstretched. It moved more quickly and precisely than a human possibly could, but it was nowhere near the speed and power Amp had displayed. As it got within striking range, it tore her dagger out of its side and swung it downwards towards her face, aiming directly for her eye.

Jeshin deflected the strike with her helm, making sure to move with the blow so she did not get concussed, then reached out and grabbed the overextended demon in an arm lock.

She twisted its arm behind its back and shoved its own dagger towards where a human would store their left kidney, then repeatedly stabbed it with her stolen silvered weapon.

By the fifteenth stab, the demon was dead. The sacrificed blood it used as flesh sloughed away from its core and dumped onto the ground, leaving behind a pale black sprite.

"Boo," Jeshin said.

The sprite hovered for a moment, seemingly indignant, then vanished into the night. I would search for another summoner to give it form, or sparing that a small animal to pupate in. Either way, it would not pose a problem to her mission for a while.

Speaking of problems to her mission...

Jeshin eyed the enchanted blanket. It lay on the dirty forest floor, and had been splattered with blood green, red, and black. It still looked perfectly clean, as if filth were repulsed from it, and it radiated a pleasant warmth.

Jeshin wanted to take it. It was warm, and soft, and beautiful, and it was even legitimate plunder. Hard won legitimate plunder.

It was also trouble. She could not be seen bringing it back to the caravan. Especially if, like the sprites indicated, the Ufriq woman would be alive again when she returned.

Jeshin sighed. She cleaned and oiled the flamberge daggers then wrapped them in the blanket and hid the bundle near the cave entrance. She would pick them up if she had the opportunity to come back here without the Ufriq in tow.

Kitambaa was right where Jeshin left her, waiting patiently and singing to the moon. By the time Jeshin got back to Gzoh’s wagon Jay was already asleep.

Good, they had been safe here. She had been worried.

Jeshin peeled off her armor, threw herself into her hammock, and promptly passed out.