Eight days into the Expedition, things had hit a snag. Or rather, several snags, though the constant fights against packs of Blight Beasts wasn't one of them.
The first was that Tali’s own concerns had been validated, and it had nearly ended in tragedy. One of Allen’s own soldiers had fainted from exhaustion in the middle of the march, throwing off the other soldiers as they scrambled to catch him. Then, when they were off guard and out of position, they were ambushed by several packs of Blight Beasts.
That battle was much, much harder than it should have been, with Tali once having to abandon her sword to bodily throw herself at a Venom Wolf in order to save one of the other soldiers, but they came out of the fight with no fatalities. Which was something of a small miracle in and of itself, Tali was quick to note to the other Heroes.
She didn’t quite shout ‘I told you so’ during the meeting Allen had called after that incident, but it was a near thing.
In the end, Allen was forced to accept the troops’ limits, and after harshly scolding the soldiers for their lack of faith in God and His Saints had reduced their marching speed to a far more reasonable pace.
The second thing to crop up was that the flat plains they had been traveling on gave way to a massive forest, right in the middle of their planned path. Granted, the “planned path” was literally just a straight line from Frontier to the center of the Scarlet Mists, since no one had ever managed to make a proper map of the Mists, but the forest was still a very much unwelcome surprise.
It was a very thick and ancient looking forest, too. Massive, black barked trees with blood red leaves grew unrestricted and untempered by human hands, their roots creating uneven paths that, combined with the curtains of thorny, crimson vines and various forms of dark purple, pink, and red undergrowth of the forest, made for a very unpleasant trek.
Trying to go around the forest was an option, though it wasn’t a good one. While the Mists weren’t very thick, it was thick enough that they couldn’t see how far the forests stretched. Attempting to go around it might very well take more time than it would be to simply go through it. In the end, Allen had decided to go through the forest, even if their marching speed suffered for it.
The last, and arguably worst thing, was the lack of spices. While herbs still grew in the Mists, the amount of them the soldiers and even the Heroes could recognize as not being poisonous dropped the deeper they went into the Scarlet Mists. As a result, the food they had each day became blander and blander. Even the grain they had started with ran out on the fourth day. On the fifth day onwards? Unseasoned and tasteless smoked meat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a side of boiled water.
It went without saying that they were all very unhappy, though the soldiers took it better than the Heroes did. Much better, if Sarah’s constant complaining was anything to go by.
Still, it could have been worse. Tali wasn’t quite sure how, but things could always be worse. Varen always liked saying that.
Tali’s heart briefly ached with old grief, before she gently pushed it down.
They had been trekking through the forest for two days, now. Setting up camp in the middle of the forest was one hell of a chore, requiring much more time than doing so on the plains and thus cutting further into the amount of distance they could cover daily. Undergrowth had to be cleared, tents set up on uneven ground, and the four paths in the cardinal directions flattened in order to maintain rapid responses in case of attack.
Still, they were all disciplined, and with the help of magic the tasks that needed to be done were done. Now, it was the middle of the night, and Tali should really stop letting her mind wander when she was supposed to be looking out for trouble.
It was her fifth day of trying to help her platoon any way she could. So far, the only job she could convince her soldiers to let her help with was patrolling, so she made sure to do the best job she could. It was… a little frustrating, though, that only one soldier dared to patrol with her. The fact that Thomas was the oldest soldier in her platoon gave her a good idea as to why.
Still, at least the soldiers were warming up to Tali’s efforts to ease their burdens. Kind of. Maybe?
She still had no idea why other people were so scared of her, but she had been hoping she would be able to ask one of her soldiers about it. The awkward silence her patrols usually consisted of put an end to that idea, though.
Finally, after twenty more minutes of silence and squinting into the dark forest by the light of the torch Thomas was holding aloft, Tali decided that enough was enough. She had put off asking the damn question for five days, and she should really just buck up and ask already.
“Thomas?” She blurted out. “Why does everyone seem to be afraid of me?”
Her patrol partner’s steps faltered a little, but otherwise Thomas showed no other signs of surprise. “My apologies if that is your impression of us, Lady Taliene. I assure you, none of the soldiers are afraid of you.”
Tali sighed. “Thomas… if no one was afraid of me, you wouldn’t have been the one to accompany me all five times I helped with patrolling.”
“T-there’s a reason for it, Lady Taliene…”
“I’ve looked at the other patrol teams. No one else has had the same partner five times in a row.”
“T-That is…”
Silence fell between them again, with Tali pretending not to see Thomas fidget nervously as the soldier contemplated what to say. Seeing how uncomfortable he was, though, it didn’t take long for Tali to give up.
“It’s fine, Thomas.” Tali smiled weakly at the soldier. “If you can’t explain, I won’t press. I’ll just have to work harder to show everyone that I’m no one to be scared of!”
No sooner had Tali made that proclamation did the blast of a war horn shatter the silent night. The sound was abruptly cut off before the standard five seconds, but the screams of “Enemy attack!” made it quite clear what had happened.
Tali’s disappointment and social awkwardness immediately disappeared as her hand dropped to the hilt of her sword. “Thomas, now what?! What’s the procedure?!”
“We’re close enough to give them assistance, so we do so! Uh, Lady Taliene!” Thomas almost stumbled when he realized that ordering a Hero around might be perceived as a slight.
Tali didn’t even notice. “Let’s go, then!” Without another word, Tali ran, quickly covering the distance between her and where the horn had sounded from.
It didn't take long for her to arrive. Skidding to a halt, Tali was just in time to see a soldier be slammed into the ground by a massive hand around his throat. That hand was attached to a thick, muscular arm, which was in turn attached to a humanoid figure.
It was enormous, definitely taller than Tali, but the glow of the torch in Thomas’ hand wasn’t reliable enough to show more detail than that. Numerous other torches on the ground threw light haphazardly across the battlefield, revealing three of her soldiers each fighting against an opponent she couldn’t quite make out.
Drawing her sword with one hand and raising her other towards the sky, Tali drew on her mana, feeling it surge through her body. “
The first thing Tali noticed was that the humanoid enemy hadn’t been a vaguely human shaped chimera like she had expected. No, it actually looked entirely human, if you disregarded its blood red skin and the small pair of horns growing out of its head.
It, no, he was a bear of a man, nearly two meters tall and rippling with muscle. His chest was bare, a leather kilt around his waist and a pair of leather boots upon his feet. A massive spear was held in one meaty fist, his other hand rising to brush shoulder length black hair out of his eyes. When he smiled, Tali could see the pointed fangs he had for teeth.
It was the eyes that unsettled Tali the most. She had known humans could possess a wide variety of eye colors, even if she had only seen various shades of purple back in Frontier, but she had never heard of any person from any race having completely, entirely pitch black eyes. If the glow of her
The second, far more pressing issue was that this- this demon wasn’t alone. Three more demons just like him were the enemies her soldiers were struggling against, and what looked to be a dozen more of them stood a distance away, seemingly content to watch, cheering and throwing insults as their fellows battled for their lives.
“Thomas!” She shouted, her blade unwaveringly pointed at the demon before her while she cast a wary eye over the other demons. “Go back and tell the other Heroes, these aren't Blight Beasts! Hurry!”
“Yes, Lady Taliene!” Tali heard him run off, the thuds of Thomas’ boots impacting the ground fading away, but she didn't dare to take her eyes off her foe.
“Looks like the reinforcements have arrived.” The demon leered at Tali, still entirely relaxed despite her drawn blade. “And a Hero, too! I didn’t expect one of you so early. Good. I was starting-”
Tali surged forward, interrupting his speech with a two handed swing of her blade. The demon was deceptively fast, though, and his spear rose to bash her sword aside.
“-to get bored.” The demon finished, his malevolent grin widening. “How ru-”
With a thought, her
Unprepared for the
The demon’s
Tali immediately yanked her sword out and took a few steps back, her blade raising in anticipation of another attack, but none came.
By then, two of the fighting soldiers had fallen while the third was losing badly, but none of the victorious demons continued fighting. They just joined the group of cheering demons, laughing and grinning.
Putting that oddity aside, Tali ran for the lone soldier still standing, her
This demon was taller than the one she had killed, though not by much. He was a bit leaner, but his gaze seemed sharper, and he was already using
Her new opponent didn’t object to her interruption. In fact, his grin widened a little. “A Hero?” His eyes flicked down to her bloodied gauntlets, and he let out a hearty chuckle. “And I see you took care of that idiot Elz, too! Good! That soldier wasn’t enough of a challenge!”
Three more war horns sounded from behind her, and Tali flinched in shock, her head whipping around to stare back towards the camp. More attacks? So quickly? Did those demons plan this, attacking from all sides? What-
Tali almost fell onto her butt when the demon she had been locking blades with shoved, sending her stumbling back and severely off balance. She waved her sword wildly to try to ward off any follow up attacks, but none came. Her opponent just took a step back and shook his head in disappointment.
“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t have expected much. You do look rather young for a Hero.” He sighed, before his grin returned with a vengeance. “Oh well! Young pussy is the best, anyway! Right, boys?!” His audience whooped and cheered, hurling insults at Tali.
Tali’s face contorted into an affronted grimace, but she didn’t react more than that. She had endured crude insults before, this wasn’t anything new. Instead, she reset her stance, preparing herself for another attack.
Her opponent laughed merrily at the sight. “You didn’t run at me in a blind rage! Good! This might be entertaining, after all!” He twirled his blade skillfully between his fingers, a feat made more impressive by how his sword was large enough that Tali suspected she would have to use both hands to even hold it up, let alone swing it. The whirling blade came to an abrupt stop, pointing straight at Tali in a clear challenge. “I am Zir! You who have killed one of my kin, do you think-” Zir suddenly burst into laughter, as did his audience of other demons. “Oh damn, how do you Heroes say such ridiculous things with a straight face?!”
And then he lunged.
Tali hastily parried a downward stroke, ducked a punch, and jumped back from a return swing of Zir’s sword. A sidestep saved her from another slash, and she finally managed to throw out a quick front kick, which Zir dodged by skipping backwards lightly.
The reason she had taken down her previous opponent – Elz, was it? – so easily was likely because he had underestimated her severely, not taking the fight seriously or even activating his
Zir did no such thing. Every swing was powerful, precise, and would have taken off a limb if she hadn’t dodged or blocked.
Then the demon charged again, and she no longer had time to think.
Tali blocked another slash, the force behind it forcing her to take a step back. She countered with a thrust of her sword, and when that was sidestepped she tried for a shoulder bash. It was met by Zir’s own shoulder, both fighters bouncing off each other and both taking a step back to maintain their balance. Zir recovered first, his broadsword swinging in a vicious arc that forced Tali to block again in order to keep herself from being bisected.
Their blades locked, and Tali tried to use his own move against him, attempting to push him off balance with a sudden shove. Zir barely even budged, and with a laugh he pushed back. If Tali hadn’t leapt back when she had, she was certain that she would have been sent stumbling again, and somehow she doubted Zir would let go of another free shot.
Well, the most recent clashes showed that she was decidedly outmatched in strength. It was an unpleasant surprise to be certain, Tali hadn’t been so obviously overpowered since she was sixteen. Still, she had other options.
When Zir charged at her again, Tali took a hand off of her sword hilt and aimed her palm towards him. “
A wave of flames caught the demon right in his face, but Zir didn’t even flinch, plowing right through the fire like it wasn’t even there. Tali wasn’t fazed, though, and followed her magic with a swing of her sword.
Zir parried her attack aside again, his grin filling her vision as he reared his other arm back for a powerful haymaker.
And then Tali jabbed two fingers forward right in front of his face. “
In a display of prodigious speed, Zir wrenched his body aside before the arrow of ice could finish forming. While the act saved his eye, the magical projectile still managed to scrape a long cut along his temple.
Taking advantage of the opening, Tali swung at the off-balanced demon, managing to cut a shallow gash into his chest as he leapt back. Despite his new wounds, Zir was still grinning.
“Now that’s more like it! This fear, this pain, this rush!” He threw his head back and laughed uproariously. “We’ll definitely have to see who’s coming out on top! But eh, I suppose I should let you deal with the distractions first.” Zir sighed as he rested his sword on his shoulder. “What a pain.”
Tali cautiously stepped back, sword still ready, and glanced behind her. Sometime during her rapid back and forth with Zir, her platoon had formed up, and with a jolt she realized that a full half of her soldiers were missing.
In the suddenness of the attack, she had forgotten; her platoon was the one on patrol at this time, which meant those missing had likely fallen in the initial attack.
Pushing down the sudden spike of guilt, she held her sword steady as she continued to watch her opponent. “Report!”
“Lady Taliene!” That was Thomas. “Orders from Sir Allen! We’re to fall back and regroup!”
“What?!” Talk clenched her teeth in frustration. Falling back and regrouping… It was a bad idea. Right now, excluding the one she had killed, there were ten demons in front of her. Judging by Elz and Zir, at best they would be slightly weaker than her, at worst they would be much stronger, but regardless she was certain that letting the demons properly surround them was bad.
Hell, being surrounded by a superior force was a bad idea in general. Allen should know that, so was he intending on fighting to the death? Did he have a plan for dealing with up to four dozen demons? Maybe he wanted to group up so they could punch through the encirclement and retreat together? There was no way to know, so Tali fell back on her training.
“Retreat and regroup!” She shouted. “I’ll be right behind all of you! Go!”
“Leaving so soon?” Zir sighed, seemingly disappointed. “Oh well. Go on ahead, Hero!” His grin returned, teeth glinting in the magical light overhead. “I’ll see you again soon!”
Tali snarled, but the demon wasn’t wrong. As she took a step back, the demons didn’t move, merely laughing and throwing insults at her. Several steps later, she turned and ran. A quick glance back showed her that the demons didn’t start rushing after her like she had half expected. No, they merely started sauntering after her fleeing platoon, looking for all the world like a bunch of friends going out drinking together while simply stepping over the bodies of the fallen without a care.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
That sight sent a chill of fear through her heart greater than anything else she had seen tonight.
----------------------------------------
“Sir Allen, what’s the plan?” Tali asked as she stalked up to the other Heroes.
The four other Heroes had gathered around the central bonfire, and their respective platoons had formed up as well, each one facing a different road. Tali’s own platoon was standing closer to the fire, having followed Tali’s lead.
“We fight, of course.” Allen stated like it was obvious.
“What?!” Talk did not expect such a frank response. Did they even think?! “Sir Allen, this is madness! Those demons are not only equal in strength to us, they also outnumber us by at least two to one, most likely more than that! Even if we count the soldiers into our fighting strength, it would take at least five soldiers to fight evenly against a single demon!”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Taliene.” Sarah rolled her eyes. “Mere demons, being a match for us Heroes? I'd like to see how they’ll handle my magic.”
“Don’t underestimate them, Sarah.” Allen warned. “But she’s right, Tali. We will not fall to these demons, not with God and His Saints by our side.”
“That’s not going to help, dammit!” Tali snapped. “I’m serious! One demon alone could match me in a fight! I didn’t manage to retreat, he let me go!”
“And you are young, and inexperienced.” Allen reasoned. “They will not be a match for myself or Carlos, and I have faith that you and Irvin can overcome them. If not, Sarah will protect you with her magic.”
“Sir Allen, this is stupid! These demons are important! They could be why every Expedition before us had failed! We need to inform the Church of this!”
“What, you chicken, Tali?” Irvin laughed. “I’ll kill all these so-called demons myself, if you’re so scared.”
Tali ignored him. “Sir Allen! Please, we must retreat!”
“Enough of this insubordination, Taliene Feathersnow!” Carlos finally snapped. “You will hold the South road, as we have planned, and join up with Sarah’s platoon. Irvin will be on the North road, Allen on the East, and I will be on the West. Sarah will be staying in the middle of camp in an elevated position to provide magic support. We will beat back the demons, and drag one alive back to the Church for questioning. Now go!”
“I- You- Argh!” With a final growl, Tali whirled around and stormed off, her knuckles white around the hilt of her sword. “Platoon, fall in! Thomas, on me! I need to speak with you!”
“Yes, Lady Taliene!” Her platoon saluted her, then started marching in step behind her.
Thomas hurried to fall in beside her. “Lady Taliene, what do you need?”
“New orders from Sir Allen. We’re to stand and fight, beat up the demons, and drag one back home for questioning.”
Thomas didn’t even blink at that outrageous statement. “Yes, Lady Taliene.”
Tali looked Thomas in the eye. “Be honest with me. Do you think this is a good idea?”
“Milady-”
“Speak freely. Please?”
For a long moment, Thomas didn’t say anything. Then, “It… is not, Lady Taliene. And if what the other men have told me is true, about how a single demon could fight you to a standstill, then we’re going to die.”
“Alright, so I’m not being stupid.” Tali nodded resolutely. “Thomas, I want everyone to fight defensively. I’ll be too busy fighting to do it, so I want you to keep an eye out. If you see an opportunity to escape, call for a charge. We’ll break through, make a run for it, and hopefully some of us will make it back to report to the Church.”
That got a reaction out of Thomas, nearly causing him to trip over nothing as his head whipped around to stare at Tali. “M-Milady?”
“You heard me. This Expedition had always been meant for finding out what kept stopping the previous Expeditions, something everyone else seems to have forgotten.” Tali drew her sword as she reached her position, standing at attention with her weapon held in a loose grip. “We have to make sure anyone that comes after us will be prepared to face this new threat.”
“What of the other Heros, milady?”
“If possible, I want them to run with us… but they won't listen to me!” Tali gnashed her teeth in frustration. “I… I can’t save them if they don’t want to be saved.”
Tali wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince, Thomas or herself, but as the first demon stepped into the light cast by the bonfire there was no longer any time to talk.
“Back to your position. And remember what I said.” Talk ordered, her eyes fixing on the lead demon. It looks like Zir wanted to finish his fight.
“Yes, Lady Taliene!”
----------------------------------------
The battle was going poorly. As she had expected, there were far more demons than the mere dozen or so she had faced. She would say there were more than a hundred, but she couldn’t be sure. Fighting for your life tends to take up a large portion of your attention.
Also as she had expected, the demons have pushed them back, hard enough and far enough that they were no longer fighting as four separate groups on each of the roads. Now, soldiers from all five platoons were standing shoulder to shoulder around the central bonfire, completely surrounded by demons. Allen’s plan, if it could even be considered a plan, had completely fallen apart.
The only reason why they hadn’t been defeated already was because the demons were playing with them. Tali wasn’t certain what it was like for the other Heroes, but she would only ever face one demon at a time. The rest to them were content to stand back and watch, not even attempting to attack the soldiers.
Zir had fought her first, but after a series of back and forths he had said something about letting the others have their turn, and had nonchalantly turned his back on her. Before she could strike him in the back, another demon had strode up and forced her to dodge a swing of her mace. Then another had taken her place, and another, and another.
Tali wasn’t sure how long she had been fighting. It felt like hours, though since the sun had yet to rise it obviously hadn’t been. Her legs trembled slightly with exertion, her sword felt like a leaden weight, and her breath came in harsh pants as she forced herself to parry yet another attack, this time from a spear.
Her armor was scratched up and dented all over, though it was still mostly intact. Her mana, however, was nearly gone. Her
Another streak of fire shot past her, impacting the demon before her. It was fast, sending the man stumbling back before he could even think about blocking, but not only was Tali too tired to capitalize on the opening, the magic projectile hadn’t managed to do more than burn his arm.
All that happened in the end was the demon complaining about wasted opportunities as he returned to the encirclement, another demon stepping up to replace him. Another part of the plan that had utterly failed; if Sarah tried using magic strong enough to kill a demon in a single hit, then it wasn’t fast enough to hit them, but if she used magic fast enough to hit, it wasn’t strong enough to be fatal. Their numbers also meant that any injury the mage managed to inflict was ultimately inconsequential.
Sarah had still managed to kill several demons for Tali using a barrage of fast spells, but judging by how her support fire had died off, Sarah must be running out of mana herself.
If they both survived this, unlikely as it seems, Tali was going to scream at Allen until she was hoarse, heal her throat, and then scream at him some more.
“You’re looking mighty tired.” Her new opponent observed casually. “Damn, why do I always get the leftovers? That’s not fun at all…”
Tali wordlessly raised her sword and steadied her breathing.
The demon before her grinned and readied his ax. “Good. Try to entertain me a bit before you go down, alright?”
Before the fight could begin anew, a particularly loud cheer came from the demons to her right. To her right… that was the West road, where Carlos was fighting. What-?
“And the first winner of tonight’s Hero Fight!” A booming voice announced. “Applause for Ortz, the first to slay a Hero!”
As the demons around her broke out into laughter, complaints, and a mocking applause, Tali felt a dull ache in her heart. She hadn’t known Carlos well. She didn’t even particularly like him, straightlaced and stern as he was, but he was a fellow Hero. And now he was dead.
“Oh fuck!” The demon in front of her threw up his arms in apparent disgust, despite the grin on his face. “Ortz again?! He’s been getting all the good shit for two weeks already! His luck’s ridicu-”
“Now! Charge!”
Tali didn’t understand the command at first. Charge? What charge?
Then she realized that the rapid pounding of feet upon hard packed dirt was originating from behind her, alongside the roar of a hundred war cries, and it clicked.
‘Thomas you magnificent bastard.’
“Charge!” She shouted, and she barreled into the surprised demon before her. Her grip on her sword shifted, one hand coming up to hold the center of her sword’s blade, and in a move she had only seen illustrated in sword style manuals she jabbed the crossguard into the demon’s stomach, followed by a slash with the tip of her sword, guided by her hand on the blade.
The first strike connected, forcing the demon to wheeze as she knocked his breath out, but her second, more fatal blow was blocked with a single, blue-lined arm. The edge bit into his flesh, but not deeply enough to do more than inconvenience him.
So Tali dropped her sword, and in a burst of
As the demon fell back, clutching at his throat and choking, Tali stomped on his toes and punched him across the face. With her own foot pinning the demon’s leg in place, she unleashed a fast and vicious flurry of blows across his face and throat, deflecting his wild and frantic attempts to fight back much more easily than she had expected. A particularly heavy blow to the temple threw the demon onto his back, stunned and disoriented.
Bending down just enough to scoop her sword up, Tali continued her charge, making sure to stomp on the dazed demon’s neck as she did so. Her soldiers had run past her already, but she quickly caught up with where the front line was entangled with the demons.
She finally tapped into her reserves, her
And then, she broke free. She gasped for breath, whirling around to see the chaos the charge had caused, and it was only then that she realized it wasn’t only her soldiers that had charged.
Thomas must have somehow managed to convince the other platoons to help, because that was a lot more than twenty soldiers. Maybe the other Heroes would finally see sense and commit to the charge as well.
Before she could steel herself and dive back into the fight, more soldiers started breaking free themselves. Some of them immediately ran, not sparing her a second glance, but more made their way towards her.
“Thomas!” Tali sighed in relief at seeing the soldier. He was battered, his helmet missing and he was bleeding from one arm, but it looked like he got out fine. “Thomas, get everyone you can away from here! I’m going back in!”
“Wait, Lady Taliene!” Thomas grabbed her by the arm before she could dive back into the fight. “We have to run!”
“I’m not leaving anyone behind!”
“Lady Taliene, no. The chances of anyone getting back to Frontier is slim. Most of us don’t know how to read a map, and without a Hero we won’t be able to purify food or create more masks. We'll be dead in a week. And since the other Heroes won’t retreat, you are our only hope for reaching Frontier alive!”
“But, the others!”
“Milady, please! If you fall, none of us will survive!”
“Dammit!” Tali shouted in frustration. Thomas was right, none of the soldiers were actually equipped with the knowledge they needed to survive the Mists without a Hero’s assistance. Even disregarding the food problem, without Sarah’s
She ignored the stabs of guilt and shame as she turned her back on the brawl behind her and ran, her soldiers right behind her. The sounds of combat quickly faded as they delved deeper into the dense forest, their only lights the torches the soldiers carried.
They had to get further away, much further, before they could stop and rest. Tali was under no illusion that the remnants of the army left behind would be able to keep the demons occupied for long. And with so many soldiers gone, if the Heroes didn’t choose to run themselves they would soon be overwhelmed as well.
The feelings of shame and inadequacy crept up again before Tali ruthlessly shoved them back down. They were already losing badly, Sarah’s magic had little effect, and Carlos had already fallen. It was unlikely Allen or Irvin fared any better than her, either, because if they did Allen wouldn’t have let Carlos die and Irvin would have come to her rescue just to rub it in her face. There was no other option.
Maybe if she repeated that to herself often enough, she would actually believe it.
----------------------------------------
It didn’t take long for the demons to catch up to them. Not that Tali really expected anything else, the torches carried by the soldiers were dead giveaways, but extinguishing them would have left them stumbling around in the dark, more likely to trip and break their necks.
Barely fifteen minutes after they escaped, they were discovered. A single demon stepped out right in front of them, ax already swinging for Tali’s torso and a wide grin on his face.
That grin was promptly wiped away when Tali parried the blow, and one of the soldiers, Darian if she recalled correctly, stabbed the demon in the chest with his spear. It didn’t do more than scratch the demon’s skin and push him back a little, but Tali followed that up by slashing his neck open, helped by a brief burst of
Unfortunately, the demons that caught up to them were not always so simply taken care of. The next one ambushed them from behind, forcing several soldiers to face him while the rest escaped. Tali wanted to turn back, but Thomas reminded her that they couldn’t afford to stop.
Ambush after ambush, their group of sixty shrank and shrank. Tali had ended up with a torch in hand, forced into her hand by another soldier, and she could still remember the unshed tears in Grace’s eyes as she threw herself at another demon.
Then Tali slowed to a stop, forcing the last twenty soldiers with her to stop as well.
“Lady Taliene, what are you doing?!” One of the soldiers, Alex, asked nervously. “W-We need to keep running!”
Tali drew her sword. “They’re in front of us.”
There was a moment of silence as the soldiers processed what she said, then- a slow, mocking applause as a demon stepped out into the light of their torches.
Tali raised her weapon, ignoring how her arms were trembling under its weight. “Zir.”
“Hello again, Hero.” The demon grinned. “I’m surprised you managed to spot us! Then again, we aren’t very smart. Or good at hiding.” Two more demons emerged as he spoke, one from either side and boxing them in.
“Thomas.” Tali ordered. “There’s only three of them. I’ll engage, you lead everyone out. Take my pouch, it has my spare masks and a map-”
“No, milady.” Thomas stepped past Tali, his spear at the ready. Beside him, more soldiers stepped past her, their own weapons pointing forward. Tali’s head whipped around in shock, taking in all of the remaining soldiers as they formed up in front of her.
“We won’t be able to survive without you leading us out.” Thomas reminded her grimly. “In that case, then you must get away.”
“But-” Tali tried to argue, but Thomas spoke over her.
“Please, Lady Taliene! At the very least, our fellow soldiers back in Frontier must not be sent to their deaths!”
Then the demons were on them, and there was no longer any time to talk.
“But- you- Argh! By the Saints!” Tali shouted, but she didn’t argue further, her sword returning into its sheath with perhaps a bit more force than necessary. “I’ll come back for you, for all of you, hear me?! Don’t die!”
Empty words, she knew. They weren’t likely to survive until she could return. Do demons even take prisoners?
Bracing herself, she ran straight through the fight. Zir tried to stop her, but a soldier leapt onto the demon, grappling his arm and pulling him away. And then she was through, her feet lighting up with the blue of her
She didn’t know how long she kept running. In the dark of the forest, it was all she could do to keep herself running in a straight line, tree roots almost tripping her up despite her
She didn’t stop for anything, not even as her mana ran dry and she was forced to run with nothing but her own flagging strength. When she stumbled she righted herself, when she tripped she hauled herself back up and kept running.
Until finally, she tripped one last time, falling flat on her face, and found that she couldn’t push herself back up anymore. Chest heaving and breath harsh and heavy, Tali forced herself to roll onto her back, staring up into the Mists covering the sky above her. Idly, she wondered if she would ever see the stars again.
Five minutes, she told herself. She would take five minutes to catch her breath, then she would keep moving. She would crawl if she had to. Reaching up, she fumbled with the straps of her armor, cursing herself for not taking it off earlier. She managed to undo the buckle after three tries, pushing the piece of metal off of her, before she painstakingly raised her hands up to pull off her helmet, tossing it lightly to the side.
After her breath steadied, she hauled herself up and looked around. She had, somehow, managed to end up in a small clearing in the forest. Without the dense foliage overhead, the moonlight actually managed to pierce the Mists somewhat, casting a dull glow on her surroundings and revealing a game trail on the other side of the clearing.
A game trail certainly beat the uneven ground she had been running through earlier, and as she started to walk she had to bite back a cry as her left ankle flared painfully. She must have twisted it earlier. Not surprising, considering how many times she had tripped.
She hobbled her way across the clearing, eventually untying her scabbard from her belt to be used as a crutch. Hah, if only her sword instructors could see her now, they would be frothing at the mouth in rage. Funny, “debasing” her weapon by using it like a walking stick didn’t seem quite so important right now.
Tali had no idea where she was going. There was no time to consult her map, and the most important thing right now was to find a place to hide from the demons. As she finally made it onto the trail, all Tali could think about was what now?
She had abandoned her fellow Heroes. She had left her soldiers behind. And now, she had no idea if all of that had been worth it. Had she truly managed to escape yet? Can she make it back to Frontier to warn everyone? And if she did, what would she do after that?
No, she already knew what she would do. Even if it was the last thing she did, she would rest up, prepare more provisions, and dive back into the Mists in a stupid attempt to save her comrades. To do any less would be no different from breaking her promise to herself, and if she did that she might as well just hang herself and be done with it.
She didn’t know how long she had walked, barely seeing the path at all with what little moonlight made it past the foliage. Her exhaustion screwed with her sense of time until it became pointless. She could have walked for a few minutes, or she could have walked for several hours, she had no way to tell. She simply continued on until she finally stumbled to a stop, bewildered at the sight that awaited her at the end of the path.
She closed her eyes, counted to five, and opened them again… and it was still there. The path led to another large clearing… and right in the middle of that clearing was a house. It wasn’t a very large house, nor did it look very well built, and it was completely overrun by vines, but it was there. Why was there even a house in the middle of the forest?
A step into the clearing surprised her further. She could feel a constant breeze brushing past her, a thin line of wind that likely encircled the clearing, and past that line she couldn’t see the Mist at all. Hesitantly, Tali pulled her mask down and took a shallow breath. Clean, fresh air. A
Tali hesitantly approached the door. It was a simple thing, rough planks of wood lashed together with vines and mud, attached to the doorframe by crude wooden hinges. It would have looked fairly normal, all things considered, if it wasn’t half again as large as a normal door. Still, it opened at her touch, with only a whisper of scraping wood to mark its movement.
She slowly limped in to find that the house… was empty. The living room she was in had a small pile of wood by a window, but that was it. No tables, no chairs, no furniture that she could see. She could see three more doors, one across her and two to either side.
After taking a moment to look around, Tali closed the door behind her and sat down carefully, leaning back against a wall. This was it, then. She couldn’t move any further. She was exhausted, her mana depleted. If they found her, she wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight.
In the best case scenario, though… she had maybe a day’s worth of food and water left, if she rationed it, but after that she would have to try hunting something herself. She still had her map, too, and if necessary she could climb a tree to get her bearings using the position of the sun. She could make it back to Frontier. Probably.
Tali felt her eyes sliding shut as she relaxed. She was tired. So, so tired. She could feel her consciousness slipping away, despite the danger of her current situation and the cold stone she was lying on.
A door creaked.
Tali’s eyes snapped open, adrenaline flooding her veins again as she tried to leap to her feet, nearly falling over when her bad ankle protested the action. Her sword cleared its sheath, swinging up to point right at- someone.
The person in front of her was holding up a candle, illuminating her face, and the first thing Tali noted was that the stranger’s skin was a pale, snowy white- something that brought instant relief to Tali’s mounting panic.
The stranger was short, too. Shorter than Tali was, though not by much. Her light purple hair was little more than a bit of fuzz on her head, barely long enough to see. A large scar that looked like it was caused by a burn marred her right cheek and stretched down her neck. Her eyes were a vivid crimson, almost shining in the light of the candle.
And she was thin. Tali had seen some pretty slim girls before. Most Heroes were already quite lean from all their work, but she remembered one girl in particular that was obsessed with having a perfect hourglass figure or something like that. This stranger was even thinner than that, so frail she almost looked emancipated.
The stranger looked her in the eye, then her gaze dropped to Tali’s sword, then back up. The grumpy frown on her face didn’t budge an inch.
First off, rude.” The stranger growled, her raspy but still distinctly feminine voice at odds with her waifish looks. “Second, you had better tell me what the hell you’re doing in my house before I throw you out of it. Maybe sans a few limbs.”