The Healer and the General

Part 23

Demi was pissed. She'd been scared so bad she almost had another panic attack for no reason. Her father wasn't here and the generals that ran the camp didn't recognize her. Well, they could barely see past the curved ears and the Ura slave branding. The idiots had questioned her for hours, most of it was about Eric and the others. When they were done, and she had answered just about nothing, they'd locked Demi up and beaten her for 'disobedience'.

She had barely noticed, with the relief that filled her. Demi knew that it was a strange thing to be feeling in the situation, but with the generals thinking she was human, Demi could make her escape very easily. Though there was a small kink in her plan. Once they saw what they thought was a human, using magic, word would get to her father, and he would know that Demi was alive. But, she would do it. To save the kids she'd expose herself to her father and deal with the consequences later. And to get back to Eric, her mind added.

Demi internally groaned. Her mind had been bouncing back and forth between the kids, her father, and Eric. Well, mostly Eric. It was extremely unhelpful. Demi wondered what he would think of her magic, and of her being a witch. Part of her knew that he wouldn't care, but the other part of her that had been made from her darkest memories, that she knew was completely irrational, told her that he would hate her and hurt for it.

Thinking about her magic, Demi realized that she'd have to take some energy, either from people or plants. It scared her, what she could do, especially with all the power she was about to take in. Before she made a run for it, Demi first needed to find out why such a large clan was here, and what they wanted with the northern fae.

As if her thoughts summoned him, the weasel man walked in, whose name was Wesley. He had a sneer on his face that did nothing for his looks. Demi hadn't learned anything besides the male's name, but she could tell that he had a lot of old injuries that she could agitate. Demi smiled at the thought. It would be a piece of cake getting out of here. That meant that it would be easy. Demi had learned the phrase from Smed and still thought it was quite strange. He said many weird things.

Westly unlocked her shackles without a word. She didn't have any on her ankles, making this all the easier. The male gripped her arm and half dragged her toward what she thought was the war tent. The sun was just starting to come up, meaning she had a couple of hours until the kids would die. Trying to calm her racing heart, Demi thought of rain and earth. The scent filled her, and she instantly calmed. With her head held high, she walked into the tent.

The three generals greeted her. She knew them from their meetings with Elena, but they didn't know her. Each of them was from their own clans. She didn't remember their names but it didn't really matter. With the three of them here, she guessed there were about three hundred warriors.

Westly let her go and all of them looked at her expectantly. They were waiting for her to bow, beg, or cower. Demi almost laughed. When she didn't do anything, somebody kicked her knees, making her fall down.

"You will bow before your masters." Somebody said. Again Demi had to hold in a laugh. She failed. When she started cracking up, all the males in the room looked at her disgusted.

"I'm sorry," She said wiping tears from her eyes and trying to stop chuckling, "but that is probably the funniest thing I've heard in a long time." When Demi did stop laughing, a smile was still on her face, while amusement glittered in her eyes, "I think you have some things confused. Such as fae law. The northern fae attacked Ura, where I was a slave. You see, they took over the clan, which made me their general's slave. He freed me." Demi paused to see if they were following. It looked like only one was. "Which means that I am a free person." When nobody said anything she sighed. Of course, they were dimwits. "That means I bow before no one and take orders from no one, especially not you three."