The path sloped down between gray stones jutting out of the grass. To our right, the wind bent the heather toward a hollow; to our left, the hillside rose to a crag with two trees clinging to its cracks. Azeneth walked carefully where the damp earth still held wheel tracks.
My view from her hand shifted with every step. I gradually learned to focus farther ahead rather than follow the movement of her boots, and when she raised me to push a branch aside, I took advantage of the angle to check on her. She wasn’t limping anymore. That reassured me, but it didn’t tell me how much Health she was missing, so I tried viewing her profile.
[Azeneth]
[Title: Demon Queen]
[Level: ?]
[Health: ?/?]
[Mana: ?/?]
[Attack: ?]
[Defense: ?]
Is something broken? I asked the system, focusing on the two question marks where I had expected to find her Health.
[Your current capabilities don’t allow you to read those stats. Plenty of room for improvement!]
Azeneth swept one of her twin tails behind her shoulder and kept walking. The cut on her neck was closed, and she could put weight on her leg. My ten points of mana had healed her superficial injuries, though I couldn’t check the rest. I had to settle for watching her walk without pain.
When she looked down at me, I closed the window far too quickly. There was nothing wrong with checking whether she was still hurt. Even so, I suddenly felt I had spent too long staring at her neck, and I searched for something to say as soon as the terrain stopped forcing her to watch her feet.
“Is your kingdom far away?”
“Khalixtla borders Anymalia. We’re near the border,” she replied, pointing to the gap between two hills. “That way leads to our lands.”
I looked toward the gap with more interest than I had expected. Until then, her kingdom had been little more than a reason to call her a queen. Now there was a path leading to her home. I wanted to recover that staff even more, though I would have preferred someone to bring it to us.
“What’s Khalixtla like?”
“Wetter than here. We have swamps, canals, and plenty of trees. In some places, the roots rise above the water, so it helps to know the paths.”
“You live among swamps?”
“The towns are built on firm ground. There are bridges and walkways across the canals, and there’s usually mist between the houses in the morning.”
I pictured her pink twin tails on a mist-covered bridge. I liked the image until I thought about how easily I could disappear underwater if her grip slipped.
“Do the walkways have railings?”
Azeneth looked at me.
“Most of them.”
I would have preferred “all of them.” I still remembered the system’s suggestion of starting my new life at the bottom of a lake, and I was in no hurry to find out how long it would take someone to find me.
“I can see the main canal from my room,” Azeneth added. “At night, they light lanterns along the bridges.”
I liked hearing her talk about home without the tension that came with Lisandry’s name. I wanted to keep asking questions, if only so she would keep talking like that. I was picturing reflections among the roots when she looked at me again.
“When we get my staff back, we could…”
A stone fell onto the path. Azeneth stopped mid-sentence and raised me while I tried to work out where the noise had come from.
Something green emerged from behind a rock. First I saw the point of a knife, then a face with a flattened nose, long ears, and crooked teeth. Several flasks hung from his rope belt.
[Goblin]
[Health: 16/16]
[Attack: 16]
[Defense: 1]
Five. I was still at two, and his Attack was higher than my Defense. I stared at sixteen until Azeneth stepped back, forcing my attention back to the knife.
“A goblin,” she murmured. “They’re low-level enemies, but very crafty. They don’t fight fair.”
“That level doesn’t seem so low to me,” I admitted.
The goblin cocked his head and looked at Azeneth’s bag. When she tried to go around him, he moved to block her path. There were loose stones behind us; I didn’t want to imagine her running over them with that knife at her back. I searched for a gap in the bushes, but he followed her every movement. I ran out of ideas long before I ran out of fear.
“Shall we fight him together?” Azeneth asked, wrapping her other hand around my grip.
I wanted to ask her to find another route. Then the goblin bent his knees to jump, and I hurried to answer.
“Yes. But keep me in front.”
He lunged for her stomach. Azeneth brought me across in time, and the knife struck my blade so hard that I squeezed my eye shut.
[Durability: 119/125]
“Push!” I urged, opening it again.
I needed to see. Azeneth extended her arms to force him back. The goblin withdrew his knife but left his wrist within reach of my edge. She adjusted her swing and cut his lower forearm.
[Health: 12/16]
He squealed and crouched beside a stone. I thought he was going to cover his wound; I noticed him scooping up a handful of dirt too late.
“Watch your face!”
Azeneth turned her head as the dust flew toward her. The goblin charged behind the cloud, and I spotted his knife beneath our guard.
“Lower me!”
She obeyed. The blow scraped along my blade to my grip, and I let out a whimper that I quickly cut off, hoping she hadn’t heard.
[Durability: 113/125]
Azeneth tightened her grip. I wanted to tell her to keep going, but he was already raising his weapon, and I barely had time to tell her where to move.
“To his left.”
She stepped past him, drawing my edge across the goblin’s side. The cut forced him back, and he clutched the fabric over his wound.
[Health: 8/16]
Seeing him retreat relieved me. I even thought it might soon be over, but he took his hand off the wound to reach for one of the flasks. Azeneth was watching him, too.
“Don’t let him open it,” she urged, stepping forward.
“I’m trying, but you’re the one with hands.”
A little sound escaped her, somewhere between effort and laughter. Then she advanced and tried to strike the flask with me. We missed: the knife struck the side of my blade and knocked us off course. Pain ran through me to the pommel, but this time I kept my eye open.
[Durability: 107/125]
The goblin tugged at the stopper with his teeth. Seeing him so close to opening it while Azeneth struggled to lift me again made me rush to give my next instruction.
She lowered her arms and thrust. My blade struck his thigh; he dropped the flask and staggered against the rock.
[Health: 4/16]
Azeneth pulled me free, breathing fast. The goblin still had his knife. I saw him look at his leg, then at the hands holding me; he didn’t seem willing to step out of our way.
“He’ll attack again.”
He leaped before she answered. Azeneth blocked with me, both hands clamped around my grip, and the impact drove us back a step.
[Durability: 101/125]
“Now, forward,” I urged, spotting the opening his arm had left beside my edge.
Azeneth thrust with both hands. The goblin dropped his knife and fell to his knees. She pulled me free before stepping away, keeping me raised until he stopped moving.
[Health: 0/16]
For a few seconds, I heard only her breathing. I checked her neck, sleeves, and hands. She was in one piece. I couldn’t find a single new scratch, but I needed to hear her say it.
“Did he get you?”
“No. You…” Azeneth turned me toward the light. “Zaelia, your blade…”
A window opened before I could answer.
[Experience gained: 50]
[Total experience: 150/200]
[Usurpation has registered a new learning opportunity. Defeat two more goblins to acquire Potion Brewing I.]
I looked at the knife on the ground, then at the flasks still hanging from his belt.
Potion Brewing?
[Exactly! Current progress: one out of three.]
I have to kill three of those to learn how to make drinks?
[Very useful drinks. Do try not to mix them with wine!]
Azeneth ran her thumb close to a small nick, making me forget the reply I had been preparing.
“He hurt you,” she murmured.
It still ached. I nearly admitted it, but she lifted my grip so gently that I found myself noticing her worried expression instead.
“I’m fine,” I assured her. “I can take a lot. We should take a shortcut before it gets dark.”
I tried to sound convinced. I wanted her to keep carrying me so gently and stop looking at me as if she had done something wrong by defending herself.
She looked up at the sky, then at the hillside. She hesitated for a moment before nodding and bringing me close again.
“That way. We’re almost there.”
Beyond a rise, I made out a low tower, a gray wall, and a rooftop. The fort was close enough to make out the gate. Azeneth took a narrow trail down between the rocks. I kept my eye on the fort’s windows, grateful there wasn’t far to go and trying not to think about what awaited us there.