Chapter 25
They had not gone more than a dozen yards before Raiya realized they couldn’t go any further. Azreth did not even have the strength to straighten up. He leaned on Raiya, his head drooping so that his blood-dampened hair obscured his face.
“We need to stop,” she said.
“No.”
“You’re still bleeding.” His weight was growing heavier, his arm crushing her shoulders. She couldn’t carry him like this, and even if she could, she didn’t know how much blood he had left to spare. “Lie down.”
He looked like he wanted to protest, but then he dropped to his knees. Raiya urged him onto his back and pressed her hands against the hole in his shoulder again. He winced silently.
“Get your baton,” he said.
She pulled it from her belt and placed it in his hand. “You’re going to be all right,” she told him. “You’re safe with me. I promise.”
His hand curled around the baton’s handle. “A poor excuse for a demon,” he murmured.
“Azreth,” she said firmly. “You’re not a poor excuse for anything. You’re just as you should be. You’ve done everything just as you should have. And I will fight anyone who says otherwise, including you.”
His bright, hollow eyes looked at her, blinking slowly.
She lowered her voice. “Do you trust me?”
His chest rose and fell beneath her blood-slicked hands a few times. “Yes,” he said.
“I’m not going to let any of them harm you. I will die before I let that happen. So worry about keeping still and conserving your strength, not about them.”
His brows twitched down, perplexed, and Raiya felt her face heating.
When she heard footsteps in the grass behind them, she spun. It was only Jai. The girl knelt beside them, holding a hand to her forehead to protect her eyes from the daylight.
“Here.” She handed Raiya a small bundle. “Some things to stop the bleeding. Is he going to be all right?” She stared, horrified, at the sight of Azreth’s body stained with blood. Raiya couldn’t blame her.
Raiya took a thick cloth off the bundle and pressed it to Azreth’s shoulder. “He’s going to be fine,” she insisted. “Thank you, Jai.”
“The humans in town are all in shock. They mostly just seem confused, but some of them are discussing taking weapons to confront you both.”
Raiya’s jaw clenched. Azreth had saved all their sorry lives, and they still planned to kill him.
“What was that thing?” Jai asked quietly. It was the sort of tone one might use in a hospice sickroom—soft and reverent and a little nervous.
“Azreth said it was a creature from the hells.” She turned to him. “Have you fought them before?”
He shook his head slightly. “I’ve seen them before. I have never approached one. Only a fool would pick a fight with a vythian.”
“A fool, or a hero,” Raiya said.
Azreth’s brows pinched together. “We must find the person who brought the vythian here.”
“Maybe no one brought it here,” Jai said with a shrug. “Heilune is full of monsters. It’s not that uncommon to encounter them.”
He shook his head again. “Not monsters from the hells. It is too difficult to escape the hells alone. The vythian was summoned here by mortals. Someone is responsible for this.” He looked up at Raiya. “What is the likelihood that this is a coincidence? Another creature from the hells? Why here? Why now?”
Jai and Raiya exchanged dark looks.
Raiya peeked under the corner of the cloth she was holding to his shoulder. She couldn’t tell whether the bleeding was slowing.
Azreth stiffened, his hand tightening on the baton. Raiya looked behind her. A group of people were approaching: several men and women whom she recognized as members of the Roamer clan.
She got to her feet. “Stay back.” She was surprised at how firm and confident her own voice sounded.
A tall, ochre-skinned sun elf woman, whose name she didn’t know, approached with her hands raised in front of her. “We wanted to help.” She looked uncertainly at Azreth, and her face paled. Azreth was baring his teeth at her. In an instant, he’d hidden all his pain and fear, unwilling to let this new threat think he was weak. The elf looked like she wanted to turn back. She looked at Raiya for support. “I’m a mage. Not the best mage, but I can heal a little.”
Raiya was stunned into silence for a moment. “Yes,” she said. “Yes. Please. Help him.”
Azreth’s eyes darted to Raiya’s, mistrustful. She gave him a look that was half reassuring and half reproachful. “Stop glaring like that,” she said under her breath. “You’ll scare her off.”
He continued glaring, albeit a little less intensely.
The elf warily approached, raising a hand that glowed with healing magic. “This may be a bit of an experiment. I’m not sure about how your biology compares to ours.”
Raiya looked at Azreth, who just shrugged slightly. Evidently he didn’t know, either.
One of the men who had accompanied the elf leaned down to rest his hands on his knees as he watched. “So… You’ve been a demon in disguise all this time, huh?”
“Yes,” Azreth said.
No one seemed to know what to say after that, and an awkward silence followed.
With the Roamers’ help, they patched Azreth’s wounds. He still lacked the magic to finish healing himself completely, so Raiya wrapped him in gauze and cloth to help keep his wounds closed and clean—a practice he seemed bemused by, but she insisted.
She felt proud seeing him wrapped in her inexpert but careful handiwork. She wanted everyone to see the proof that he was taken care of, that he was worth caring for, and she wanted them to know that she had done it. And, a part of her wanted them all to see that he had suffered in the process of protecting them, too.
By the time they’d finished, they still had not been accosted by a group of angry villagers, though Raiya could see the crowd still there, watching. The other Roamers had calmed the behelgi and were rapidly breaking down their camp.
Madira eventually found them. “The caravan’s moving on,” he said. “The matron just announced it. If you have anything to pack, you should do it now. The clan moves quickly and it doesn’t wait for stragglers. Ask us how we know.”
“Why would they wait for us?” Raiya asked. “Surely they won’t welcome us among them, after…”
Madira shrugged one shoulder. “She would have said something if the elders had decided to keep you out. She’s not shy about these things.”
Hope bubbled in Raiya’s chest. “And the other Roamers?” she asked, looking around at the people packing up the camp. “Won’t they be angry?”
“Perhaps. Some people objected when we first arrived, too. But they’ll adjust. Roamers are nothing if not adaptable.”
She retrieved her things from the stable, making sure she still had her bow and her notes and stylus in particular, because those were the only things she could never part with, and decided to find another bag later. She was a little curious about what had happened to the one she’d shoved down the vythian’s throat. Had it melted or burned or somehow remained whole? Perhaps the vythian’s saliva was acidic, or as hot as lava. She decided to ask Azreth later. But either way, she wasn’t interested in trying to retrieve it.
The clan packed up quickly and left Ontag-ul behind as the townspeople slowly descended on the dead vythian. Raiya spotted armored members of the town watch as well as a few Paladins at the front of the group. She frowned when she saw a familiar face in the distance.
“Is that Adamus?” she asked, nudging Jai.
“That’s him,” Madira said. His tone was flat, but lacked the hatred he’d expressed for the man previously. Maybe he was slowly learning to get along with others.
“For someone who claims not to be a Paladin any longer, he still spends a lot of time with them,” Raiya said.
“Do you think he’ll come after us?” Jai asked.
No one answered. Perhaps this was what it was to be among the Roamers—knowing that there was always a chance someone from your past would come calling, and accepting that running was a part of life. It helped that they had the clan at their backs, more or less. They were stronger together than they were alone.
Raiya put her hand into Azreth’s as they walked, squeezing it. He looked down at her, then squeezed back gently.
Raiya was not particularlysurprised when she heard a quiet argument at the entrance to the camp that night, and was even less surprised when the source of the argument turned out to be Adamus and the guard on watch, who was denying him entrance. His eyes locked onto her when she came into view.
“Lady Han-gal,” he said, dipping into a shallow bow. “I’ve been looking for you.”
The guard held out an arm to block his way. “I’ve told you, you’re not welcome. Leave before we make you.”
“You should listen to her,” Raiya said. “Nothing good will come of chasing us.”
“I need to speak with you. It will only take a few minutes. It’s about the monster at Ontag-ul. I saw you and your companion kill it.”
“So?”
“I think there are more of them coming.”
“More?” It sounded just like what Azreth had been suggesting. This wasn’t a random attack. But she hadn’t thought there would be more monsters.
She turned to the guard. “Will you give us a few minutes?”
The guard raised an eyebrow, but she nodded. Raiya reluctantly guided the ex-Paladin aside.
Adamus bit his lip, looking torn. “Ontag-ul is my hometown,” he said somberly. “I am indebted to you for saving it. I was at the gate when it happened. The battle was impressive to behold.”
“He is impressive,” she agreed.
“You were, too,” he clarified. “Although I thought you were mad to run at it like you did.”
“Thank you.”
“Where’s the demon?”
“He’s resting,” she said vaguely, not sure she wanted him to be aware of just how injured Azreth was. “As he deserves.”
Adamus flashed a friendly smile. “You’ll hear no arguments from me.”
Raiya came to a stop in a secluded section of the camp and turned to Adamus. “What do you want?”
He cleared his throat, his expression growing serious. “There have been other attacks,” he said. “Along the road to the north, I heard.”
Raiya stiffened as she imagined more of those beasts. How many more could they possibly take on? Just one had almost killed them.
“There have been at least two,” he said. “I don’t think they were demons, like your friend, but there’s no doubt they’re hellspawn. The rumors I’ve heard said they were smaller beasts, but fearsome nonetheless. If there have been three already, you can bet there will be more. They’re killing people. Destroying houses and farms. It’s only a matter of time until they get into the cities and cause even greater harm.”
“They came from the same place Azreth did,” Raiya said. “My husband brought them here. I don’t know how or why, but he did.”
Adamus looked both relieved and dispirited to hear her say it. “That was my suspicion, as well.”
The only other person she might suspect was Gereg, but she hadn’t seen any evidence that there was anyone at the temple besides Eunaios who had the knowledge to summon demons.
What was Nirlan’s goal? Why set monsters loose on his own land? Was he that desperate to get to her and Azreth? Was all this destruction her fault?
She could not run away with the Roamers and forget their troubles, as much as she wished to. They had to deal with this. There was no one else who would.
“I have to do something,” Adamus said. “But I don’t know if I or the other Paladins can handle this. This, ah, is the part where I humbly ask for your help.”
“You want the help of a demon and his mistress?” she asked dryly. “Are you certain?”
He smiled. “Not even a little.”
“Then why are you doing this? Why trust us?”
“To tell you the truth… it’s just a feeling I have. I think Paladius is telling me to believe in you. Even if I don’t understand it, I trust him to guide my heart.”
“And why are you so personally invested in this? None of the other Paladins care so much.”
He raised his eyebrows a little. “It’s why I became a Paladin. To help people. To try to, anyway. I don’t know if I’m doing a very good job.”
She looked him over. She saw no sign of deceit. There was something about him—he completely lacked bitterness. Somehow, he’d avoided becoming jaded like her as he’d grown into adulthood, and he’d held on to a childlike sense of hope. “I’m not sure whether I envy your optimism or pity your naivete.”
“That makes two of us, lady.”