Lord of the Night

Chapter 54: Battle

We passed the goat farm again, where goats now calmly grazed on wet grass. The farmers who had been corralling them had disappeared.

I slowed down to look over my shoulder at Isalio, who was running behind me. Demons were faster than humans, but not as fast as Guardians, and this Demon was far from full strength. "You ok?"

Instead of answering, he pushed himself harder, catching up to me.

By the time Isalio and I reached the courtyard, the black spots on the horizon had grown large enough that I could distinguish the Scouts' features; a dozen uncannily human eyes and ears wiggled across a slimy torso, two tentacles weaved, and wings blurred like a hummingbird. Behind them, the Demons ripped cloaks rippled.

The Guardians in the courtyard were staring at the sky, but when my foot hit stone, they spun toward me.

"Remgar?" Fraschkit's eyes darted between me and Isalio, who followed several feet behind. "The Morgabeast—"

"Isalio sent it away." I seized the Demon-slayer mace I had been using during practice. "But there are—"

"Demons following the Scouts."

"A rogue pack, here to steal lifeforce."

Manikbar cut in. "Leader, the High Prince is only wearing one cuff!"

"He's on our team," I said.

"But how can you trust—"

"No time, Manikbar," said Fraschkit, "And no choice. We need to take out all of the Scouts, but we also need to..."

Her eyes cut across the group, and she bit her lip. Two Guardians with crossbows, five of us with maces, and an unarmed Demon who looked ready to collapse. When her gaze lifted to the sky once more, she drew a shuddering breath.

At least thirty enemies rapidly approached the town.

She turned toward Isalio. "Can we all go underground? Wait it out?"

He shook his head. "Demons and beasts don't like to go underground, but they'll do it if they need to."
"Will the Demon pack report what they see to the palace?"

"They're outlaws, so probably not."

"Then we focus on the Scouts. Can you fly up there and pick off a few before they get here?"

Isalio sank one step back as if to hide behind me, and his voice dropped. "I can't fly."

A sick feeling squeezed my gut as he affirmed my fear. There's a reason I try to never transition. Just how badly were his wings damaged?

If anyone wondered why the world's most powerful Demon was incapable of something so second nature to Demons, no one was going to ask. Fraschkit just grunted in annoyance.

"Then what can you do?"

"If I hit a few Demons with an electric bolt, maybe I can scare off the pack."

I frowned at him. "Are you strong enough to summon electricity right now?"

Fraschkit didn't wait for him to answer, and he didn't bother. She barked orders at the group, assigning both arbalists to shoot at Scouts. The five of us with maces would advance on any downed Scouts. The single drained Demon behind me would be responsible for defending us all from the twenty about to swarm the village.

It was a bad plan, and I could see in Fraschkit's pinched expression that she knew it as well as everyone else did, but no one had any better ideas. So we gripped our weapons tighter, broadened our stances, and squared our shoulders.