It’s awkward enough riding a horse for the first time. But doing it backwards just makes it strange. My back is against Olexandrya’s. The forest is whizzing by around us. Greens and browns blurring together.
Yet this bipedal lizard is keeping pace with us. It’s wearing silver armor over its orange scales and has a bow about as long as it is. Its head is angular and lined with bony nubs. Its feet are slapping on the ground in an amusing rhythm.
All of that almost distracts from the six-foot arrow it pulls from a tiny pouch on its hip. I feel the faint swirl of mana as the pouch closes.
“Oh,” I say as the lizard struggles to notch the arrow into its bow and draw. Does it even have to strength to draw while running at the pace of a horse? Beyond that, why’s it so close? Why not fire from a distance?
Sure enough, the bow draws and the arrow levels; aimed at my face.
“Olexandrya,” I say, grabbing her arm and yanking. “Duck.”
Olexandrya jerks forward and the arrow whizzes overhead, ripping through a massive tree as if it were made of paper. The tree turns slowly, trunk twisting.
“A bit of a late warning!” Olexandrya barks. “Where’s the archer?”
“Sorry,” I say, clinging to her back to right myself. “Your name’s just such a mouthful.”
“Drya! Just use Drya!”
Wood screams and cracks. I crane my neck and look past Olexandrya. Ahead, the struck tree is falling towards the path.
“Make the horse go faster!” I yell.
“I’m trying!” Olexandrya kicks the sides of the horse, and it lowers its head.
That swirl of mana draws my attention to the lizard; just in time to watch it notch another arrow.
“Moonlight Tranquillity.” I procure a thin stream of flames and direct it at the bow.
The string erupts into flames and the bow snaps out of the lizard’s hands.
The lizard waves its arms, snatches the bow out of the air, and starts beating it against the ground. All of this and it still hasn’t lost its speed.
A shadow passes over us as we reach the tree. It’s a cloud of branches descending on our heads.
Olexandrya leans, drawing a sword from the sheath at the saddle. She draws it, swinging the blade overhead.
Mana whooshes through like a river directed upward. The cloud of branches splits, and the tree slams down behind us.
I cover my face as bits of wood pelt me.
Olexandrya sheaths the sword.
I search the path for the lizard. Maybe it gave up.
I barely finish the thought when the lizard bursts from within the branches, spinning in the air. It kicks off a tree and produces a third arrow, leveling it like a spear.
Determined thing. It would cost it it’s life if I were out for blood.
I raise a hand. My flames spread, hitting the lizard and bursting. The lizard is repelled and lands hard, rolling along the ground.
We made it three days out of Wettes before we were ‘attacked’ in our sleep. Pepper, Rakel, and that silly envoy were all taken by presumably an army of these lizards.
And we have no clue where they went.
It makes no sense. I was awake until the first light reading that frog book. And when I closed the book and decided to get some sleep, everyone was there. Yet I was woken roughly by Olexandrya and everyone else was gone.
“They must’ve snuck through in the night,” she’d said.
“No. It just happened,” I insisted.
I hadn’t slept for long. It felt like only a few moments. And I’d like to think I’m a light sleeper. How could these noisy lizards get the jump on us?
“It doesn’t matter,” Olexandrya had said. “We’ve got to find them.”
I was just coming around to expecting competence from these people and now they’ve been abducted by lizards of all things. How can I be expected to take them seriously?
But now that I’ve seen that archer, I have a better understanding of these lizards. That pouch had some sort of enchantment on it. Teleportation or a portal of some kind. Could they have used similar magic to abduct the others? But why not Olexandrya and me? Why were we left?
Either way, we should capture it.
Olexandrya slows the horse and dismounts. I stare down at her, unsure what to do.
Up the path, the lizard rises slowly. The flames have gone out. Its yellow eyes gleam.
“How do I get off?” I ask. “Olexandrya?”
Olexandrya ignores me, marching towards the lizard.
“Hey!” she yells. “Can you talk?”
I massage my temples. Of course it can talk. It’s a demon, not a mindless beast.
The lizard raises its head.
“Yes,” it says with a strangely gruff voice. Definitely a man. “My name is Aurold.”
Olexandrya and I share a look.
“Will you leave? They’re gonna cook soon. I don’t want to miss it.”
“You attacked us!” Olexandrya barks.
“Yes.” Aurold folds his arms. “To make you leave.”
Seemed intent on killing, in my opinion.
“What about our people?” I ask. “Do you know about them?”
The lizard blinks.
“We’re gonna eat them. Obviously.”
“What?” Olexandrya barks.
“That’s why we took them,” Aurold says. “But we don’t eat fellow demons… and you are the hero. So we left you.”
Did they not realize that Pepper is a demon as well? I suppose she’s more human passing than I am. I’d bring it up, but I wouldn’t want to expose her to Olexandrya if I don’t have to.
“You know me?” Olexandrya asks, scrunching her nose.
“Of course. We don’t want to make an enemy of you.”
“Taking my friends is making an enemy of me!”
Aurold just stares at her, the logic doesn’t seem to track for him.
“How did you take them?” I ask, leaning forward. “With magic?”
Aurold nods.
“Our home is sealed away. Only way is by portal. We took the ones to be eaten by opening portals under them.” He picks up a rock and drops it. “They fall through.”
“We get it,” Olexandrya groans. “You can’t eat our friends!”
“Why not?”
“Because I said so!”
I shift my weight, considering sliding off the horse and letting gravity do what it will. It’s higher up than I realized.
“Hey,” I say, raising my head. “We’re pretty hungry, actually.”
“As am I,” Aurold says. “But I have been ordered to make you leave.”
“We have gifts for your… leader,” I add. “Will you invite us to dinner?”
“Aerida!” Olexandrya complains. “We are not…” She trails off as she meets my eyes. I can see the thoughts struggling to work in her head. Hopefully she’s putting together the pieces I’ve put together twenty seconds ago.
Their home is in some spacially displaced location. We need Aurold at least temporarily on our side to access it.
“Gifts?” Aurold taps his chin. “The great father does enjoy gifts. Perhaps he will welcome you.”
“Perfect,” I say, giving Olexandrya a smile. “Now. Get me off this creature.”
“Crusch,” Olexandrya says, raising a hand. “Return.”
The horse raises its massive head. Then, in a flash, it’s gone.
I shriek as I fall, but Olexandrya catches my elbow. My arm jerks up and I dangle a few inches off the ground.
The horse has returned to what it was, a three-inch wooden figuirune in Olexandrya’s hand. A strange magic.
According to Rakel, one of them women in the coalition has a talent for carving figurines capable of transforming into life-sized versions. It makes no logical sense to me.
“It’s just something she can do,” Pepper had said. As if that made it fine.
It seems like a sort of summoning spell to me. Maybe the figurines traded places with the creature? Maybe the creature is sealed inside the figurine? It doesn’t look heavy enough to have a horse in it. Olexandrya is holding it with two fingers.
Aurold laughs, throwing his head back.
“Is this demon your pet, hero?” He asks. “She seems foolish.”
“Will you put me down?” I grumble.
“She isn’t my pet,” Olexandrya says, still holding onto my arm. “She’s my…” she chews on her lip, staring off into space.
I stare up at her, my shoulder aching. The longer she takes, the weirder it’ll look. Might as well make it simple.
“I’m starving,” I drawl. “Can we move on, master?”
Olexandrya’s eyes snap to me. They’re sharp and they bore into my own.
But I don’t back down because I’ve already committed.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” I say. “You know how demons are about hierarchies. It’s good to have things simple.” I give her a severe look.
But Olexandrya has a strange look on her face. Her lips are quirked for some reason, and her brows are knitted.
“Alright,” she says.
“You must’ve thought we would be angry to see a subservient demon?” Aurold asks. “Fear not, hero. We don’t judge.”
Olexandrya sets me down and folds her arms.
“Just take us to your place,” she says.
Aurold’s yellow eyes gleam.
“These gifts better be good,” he says, clicking his scaly fingers together and extending his arm to the side. Electricity crackles between his fingers.
Then, a circle opens in the air next to him; like a pane of glass floating in the air. I see water and lily pads on the other side.
“Go on through,” Aurold says.
Olexandrya glances at me.
I scratch one of my horns.
“Lead the way, master.”
She straightens when I say it this time, and her eyes snap to the portal.
I follow her up to it.
While she eyes it, Aurold leans to the side and stares at me behind her back.
“What’s it like being a servant?” He asks under his breath as Olexandrya steps through.
“Exactly what you’d expect,” I say, following Olexandrya. I step through the portal.
It’s like passing through the surface of calm water. A wave of cold passes over me and the world passes like a turned page.
My foot comes down in ankle-deep water.
Before me is a swirling blue sky. Wooden huts are scattered about, sitting on stilts in the water.
Ahead, Rakel pummels a lizard. She hits it three times in the ribs before taking it by the head and slamming it into the water. Around her are dozens of bodies scattered about.
Beyond that, Pepper is scrambling out of a hut. She’s carrying several colorful bottles. An arrow is sticking out of her back, and two lizards are chasing her.
Even further ahead is a giant pot sitting on a small island. The envoy is inside, reading a book as the water boils around him.
“Have they started cooking yet?” Aurold asks, stepping in behind us.
Rakel whirls towards us.
“Pepper!” she yells. “Forget it, they found a way in!”
Pepper pauses and gets tackled by a lizard. Her potions scatter in the water. Pepper turns and kicks the lizard off.
“You made it!” she cheers, taking a potion and smashing it against the lizard’s head.
“It’s about time!” The envoy calls from his pot. “They’re trying to cook me!”
“What is going on!” Aurold hisses as the portal vanishes behind him.
Olexandrya holds up the horse figurine.
“Crusch. Here.” The figurine flashes, and the horse appears at Olexandrya’s side. The water splashes around it.
Olexandrya draws one of her swords from the saddle and levels it at Aurold. Rakel and Pepper assemble behind her.
“Pepper,” I say. “You’ve got an arrow.”
“Thanks, Aerida,” she glowers.
Behind them, the envoy climbs out of the pot. I realize he’s probably perfectly fine because of the Queen’s protection spell.
“Make us a portal,” Olexandrya says. “We’re leaving.”
“Great Father!” Aurold yells, looking around. “Where are you? How could this happen?”
“Aurold!” A voice cries.
I turn and find a lizard buried in the rubble of a hut. He’s wearing a golden crown.
“Help me, Aurold!” the lizard cries. “They’ve ruined everything!”
Aurold pulls an arrow from his pouch.
“I will not tolerate this,” he growls.
I share a look with Rakel. She just groans.
“I will kill each and every—”
Olexandrya kicks Aurold. He topples over and she starts stomping on his back.
“What took you two so long?” The envoy asks, walking up and snapping his book shut.
“Yeah,” Pepper says. “I thought I was gonna have to craft my own portal out of here.”
“You still might,” I say. “Unless Aurold here gives up, we may never get out.”
Olexandrya keeps stomping on Aurold.
It’s about ten minutes before Aurold finally yields and opens a portal for us.
We pile out into the forest.
“Now that that’s settled,” the envoy says while Crusch and Olexandrya come through. He turns to the portal.
“I will never forget this,” Aurold says. “You people are cruel and evil.”
The envoy raises a hand, palm out.
“Holy Grant: Brilliant Spear.”
A flash. A thick line from the envoy’s hand into the portal of solid white.
I don’t see what happens to Aurold or the village behind him. The light forces me to close my eyes. When I open them, the portal is gone.
The envoy shakes a smoking hand.
“Perfect,” he says.