During the first few days of travel things went by without any major incidents.
The cart moved along the dirt road at a slow but steady pace, while the fabric of the cover creaked softly every time a gust of wind hit it.
But that night, a cold, persistent rain began falling over the road.
The driver endured the bad weather for a while, but once the dirt turned to mud and the horses started slipping, he had no choice but to pull over to the side of the road.
Inside the cart, sheltered from the rain hammering endlessly against the canvas, James slept deeply, his breathing slow and heavy.
Beside him, Faust stayed awake, sitting with her knees drawn up, watching him in silence.
After a while, the elf finally turned her gaze toward the opening in the cover.
Outside, the rain kept falling without pause, but between the clouds a small gap had opened, revealing the full moon lighting up the night sky.
"...Did I really do the right thing?" Faust murmured to herself, barely realizing she’d said it out loud.
"Would you shut up?... I’m trying to sleep."
A voice broke the silence from the other side of the cart.
Faust turned and saw Rosalía leaning against the wood, arms crossed and eyes closed, completely calm despite having been awake for who knows how long.
"Sorry," she replied quietly.
For a few seconds, neither of them said anything.
All that could be heard was the rain pounding on the cover above their heads and James’s steady breathing between them.
But then Faust spoke again.
"...Thank you for helping me," the elf said, looking at her steadily. "You really didn’t have to."
Rosalía let out a deep sigh before finally opening her eyes and turning to look at her.
"Don’t get the wrong idea," she replied in a calm but firm voice. "I didn’t do any of this for you."
"..."
"James was the only reason I got involved," she continued, looking her in the eyes. "I owe him my life, so if he decided to help you, I wasn’t going to turn my back on him."
"...I understand."
"And honestly, if it weren’t for you, neither of us would be caught up in this mess," Rosalía confessed coldly. "All because of you..."
Faust looked down at her own knees.
"Sorry for being a burden," she replied quietly. "It’s the only thing I’ve ever known how to do for as long as I can remember... dragging others into my problems."
There was no emotion in her voice, and she wasn’t looking for pity either.
She was simply stating a fact she had accepted a long time ago, and it was exactly that which made Rosalía frown.
She had expected Faust to defend herself, to argue, or at least to get upset.
But instead, the elf had simply lowered her head and agreed with her.
And seeing her like that, so resigned, instantly took away all her urge to keep throwing it in her face.
Rosalía let out another sigh, softer this time.
"Look... I’m not asking you to disappear," she said, in a tone considerably less harsh than before. "Just try not to get us into any more trouble than we already have."
"I’ll try."
"Good... that’s enough for me."
Rosalía settled back against the cart wall and closed her eyes again.
"Now go to sleep," she added, letting out a yawn. "Tomorrow we’ll reach Crystal Lake, and with this whole demon business I doubt we’ll have a quiet day."
Faust kept watching Rosalía for a moment longer, until she finally turned her gaze back to the opening in the cover.
And little by little, without noticing the exact moment it happened, she ended up falling deeply asleep.
...
...
...
"AAAAGHHH!"
The following morning a loud, tortured scream jolted all three of them awake at once.
"What the hell was that?" James said, still half asleep.
"I don’t know," Rosalía replied, already on her feet with her catalyst in hand. "But whatever it was, it came from outside."
"The driver," Faust added. "That was the driver’s voice."
But before they could add another word, an impact shook the cart with unexpected violence.
The wood creaked under the force of the blow, and without giving them any time to react, the cart tipped over.
James crashed into Faust, and she in turn into Rosalía.
The three of them rolled through the interior amid crates, sacks, and everything that wasn’t tied down, until they ended up piled against what had been the side wall a second before.
"Ugh... everyone okay?" James asked, pushing a bag away from his face.
"More or less," Rosalía groaned.
"I’m fine," Faust said.
With some effort, the three managed to crawl toward the opening in the cover, which now faced directly toward the ground, and climbed out one after another.
The cart lay tipped on its side in the middle of the road, one of the wheels still spinning in the air.
And a few meters ahead, the driver’s body lay on the ground, though by now barely anything of it could still be made out.
Because on top of his body, and the bodies of the two horses that had been pulling the cart just moments before, several creatures were feeding.
They were beasts the size of a large wolf, red-skinned, ribs showing beneath the flesh, and glowing white eyes.
These creatures moved on all fours, growling at each other as they fought over the remains, blood-soaked pieces hanging from their jaws.
"Demons..." Faust murmured, her voice tense.
And then, as if they’d heard her, several heads lifted at the same time.
Dozens of red eyes turned toward them, and the growling, which until then had been over a corpse, suddenly went silent.
One by one, the creatures began to slowly surround them, closing the circle from every direction.
James clicked his tongue and extended his hand.
A handful of particles gathered above his palm, and an instant later his sword finished forming in it.
"And here I thought it was going to be a quiet day..." he muttered, getting into a fighting stance.