Book Two - Chapter Eleven

Lusya did not believe in jinxes, fate, divine retribution, or anything of the sort. Today, however, she was tempted to revise that opinion. When they had first entered the outskirts of the village of Nearfield, nothing had seemed amiss. They passed fields and farmhouses in perfect condition and even some livestock grazing without a care in the world. There had been no workers to be seen tending the fields or the animals, but there could have been many reasons for that.

Then, they had gotten into the town proper to see a short, burly man in leather armor herding a small group of villagers into a slaver’s wagon. Chained to the wagon were two creatures, about half as tall as a grown man on four legs, with slick skin black as night. They were broadly feline in shape, with long, whip-like tails, but they lacked any visible ears, instead having bone-white horns protruding from their heads. Their eyes were pure black, making it almost seem they lacked those as well. The creatures snarled and thrashed against their restraints but made no progress in escaping and lacked the intelligence to try a different approach such as trying to destroy the chains themselves.

Many of the villagers were bruised and battered. Some even seemed to be bleeding from open wounds, a few from claws or horns. The man held a shortsword in one hand and grinned as the villagers filed into his wagon, their heads bowed and shoulders slumped in defeat. Another man and two women with similar equipment were nearby. The man and the short-haired woman were restraining yet more villagers with cuffs, chains, or rope, but the other woman was in the midst of beating a man who was lying on the ground, unmoving.

All told, there were about two dozen townspeople present, and four assailants. With fewer of each, this could have perhaps been dismissed as a simple exchange between an unfortunate town and a slaver. A large number of debtors or an exceptionally unscrupulous slaver. But with these numbers, that seemed doubtful. This was the group of bandits that had been terrorizing the region.

Considering that, the town itself was remarkably intact. Most of the buildings Lusya could see had mere cosmetic damage. The worst of them perhaps had a broken window or a missing door. With the lack of smoke from elsewhere, it seemed that nothing was being burned to the ground just yet.

“They’re here?” Ander exclaimed, forcing the horses to stop. They neighed and reared in protest at the sudden halt. “I’m going!”

He sprang off the bench before the horses had calmed and ran at the group, tackling the long-haired woman off her victim. Ander and the woman rolled on the ground, before he managed to get to his feet and throw her into the outer wall of a nearby house with enough force that the wood splintered, the sound mingling with her groan of pain. The other bandits whirled on him, brandishing their weapons, and he drew his sword.

“You should help too, Lusya,” Ariya said. “You said you would if they attacked the next town.”

Lusya had said she would consider it. However, she saw no reason to refuse. There was no way out of this situation without inconvenience. She doubted they would be able to pass through unmolested, and backtracking and going around the village would take time. So, she might as well eliminate the source of the problem.

On top of that, Ariya’s Malice was already reacting. It was nothing to be concerned about yet, but Lusya had no desire to push it. Leaving this would almost certainly be a disaster.

“Very well,” she said. “Do not watch this.” She turned and lifted her pack, which was lying on top of Ander’s supplies. “Hide under here.”

Ariya nodded. “Yes, Lusya.”

She crawled under the bag and Lusya placed it back down. Looking closely might have revealed the pack’s position was rather unnatural, but Ariya herself was not visible, and a casual look was unlikely to result in suspicion. Anything could have been under it, if one did not know to look for a child.

“Do not move from there unless you are in danger,” Lusya said. “Find me immediately if that is the case.”

“Yes, Lusya,” came the muffled response.

Satisfied, Lusya disembarked from the carriage and turned her attention back to the scene before her. Ander was in the midst of fighting all four assailants, including the woman he had attacked at first. He was holding his own, but it was unclear if he would be able to win if this continued.

He parried an attack from the short man, but the long-haired woman was attacking before Ander had a chance to capitalize on that. He dodged her strike, then another attack from the other, taller man, and slashed at him, but the man blocked the attack, and Ander was forced to retreat in the face of an attack from the short-haired woman.

All five combatants were using motomancy. The bandits’ was rudimentary, far below the level of Ander’s, making them slower and weaker. Their movements were less refined as well. Every other attack was needlessly overextended, their stances full of holes. Even so, their numbers were enough to give Ander trouble regardless. Lusya dashed forward, reaching the group in an instant, and kicked the tall man in the side from behind, launching him away and through a wall into a house.

The short-haired woman turned and swung her sword, but Lusya stepped back, out of range of the attack, then drew her dagger and lunged, stabbing at the woman’s throat. The blade broke the skin, drawing blood, but it was little more than a pinprick, not serious damage. That was about where she had estimated their durability enhancement to be at.

The foolish woman smirked, apparently not realizing that attack had been a test, and swung her sword again. Lusya allowed it to strike against her neck and stop without so much as leaving a scratch. Before the woman could react to her failure, Lusya reached up and crushed the woman’s throat. She collapsed to the ground, clutching at her throat and gasping in a vain attempt to fill her lungs. Lusya sheathed her dagger and would have finished the woman, but the remaining short man cut off his attack on Ander to turn and stab at Lusya.

She put up a hand, stopping the point of the sword against her palm, then created a small barrier around the crossguard. When the man tried to pull his sword back, he found it stuck in place.

“Lunera,” Lusya said.

The instant the sword finished forming, she swung it and lopped off the man’s head. His head lolled back and fell to the ground with a dull thump as his body crumpled in a heap. Still trapped by her barrier, his sword hovered in the air for a moment before dropping.

She settled into a stance, Lunera held at her ready. Miudofay was better for combat, but she did not want to risk Ander hearing and recognizing the name. Besides, Lunera was plenty for the likes of these.

The tall man leaped out of the hole in the building he had made, sword raised to strike. Ander rushed in, batted the attack aside, and stabbed his sword deep into the man’s eye. Since eyes were relatively fragile to begin with, targeting them was a common strategy when fighting a motomancer without access to a Blade as, while they benefited from durability enhancement, they remained less sturdy than most of the rest of the body. It was likely unnecessary in this case. They might have been able to stand up to a restrained blow from the dagger Lusya barely ever bothered to sharpen, but Ander’s full strength and a well-maintained sword was sure to pierce their enhancement. Still, it wasn’t a bad strategy. The man screamed in pain for a fraction of a second before he went limp and collapsed to the ground.

Ander looked to the short-haired woman, still writhing and dying on the ground. If left alone, it would be another couple minutes before she succumbed to suffocation. He walked over to her, frowning. He sighed and closed his eyes as if in prayer. After a moment, he opened them and stabbed his blade into her eye as well, killing her.

The other woman, the one who had been beating the unconscious man earlier, was lying on the ground, motionless, but alive. Lusya had not been watching, but it seemed Ander had somehow knocked her out.

“Are you going to finish her off as well?” Lusya asked.

Ander shook his head. “It’ll be good to have someone to question if this isn’t all of them. Besides, I don’t want to kill any more than I need to.”

“Very well,” she said. Both his points were valid enough. She agreed with them, even, though she suspected their reasoning for the second would have differed.

“They’re using motomancy,” Ander said. “It’s not strong, but someone’s obviously taught them.”

She nodded. “I noticed. That is not all.”

She walked over to the creatures, still mindlessly posturing, and ended them each with a beheading. Again, she found herself cutting down her father’s forces. But there was no way to release them without causing trouble. They could be trained and commanded, but they were still too volatile.

“They are using minor-rank demons as well,” she said.

It was the first time she had seen mortals making use of them, though there were some historical records of such. The practice had never seen wide success, however, and Ysuge becoming dominated by cultures and religions that viewed Malice and demons as primordial evils had put a stop to it on the continent over a millennium ago.

Demons sometimes used them as underlings, who asked for nothing but to kill, but even then, it was rare. Only the Demon King, who could command them, made use of them with any consistency, and Father had been sparing with it. Left unattended, their thoughtless aggression could become a liability. She had not inherited his dominion over them.

“So that’s what those are,” Ander said. “I kind of suspected, but it’s my first time seeing them outside of books. These guys just keep getting worse.”

“It is not a problem,” she said. “They are weak, even for their kind. You should be able to handle them.”

“That’s good, but it’s not really what I was talking about.”

“I see.”

“To think you had a Blade, though,” he said, eying Lunera’s snow white form. “You’re just full of surprises. But enough talking, we should go take care of the rest.”

Shouts and clangs echoed from distant parts of town. Some of the villagers were trying to fight back, it seemed. There still wasn’t any smoke billowing up, or the acrid scent of burning wood, so it seemed the bandits had not gotten to torching the place yet. She suspected that would be their last step if left to their own devices.

“Indeed,” she said. “Stay with me. You are stronger than them and their demons, but their numbers may overwhelm you alone.”

He nodded. “Right. I’ll follow your lead.”

Lusya nodded and set off through the streets. Nearfield was large, as far as villages went. It might have been more apt to call it a small town. Buildings and homes were packed close together, and Lusya saw more people as they moved than many villages had in their entire populations.

Many were huddled between or inside buildings, trembling and clutching at each other for support. Others were fleeing, while others still were fighting the bandits. To be more accurate, they were being beaten by the bandits. Villagers armed with makeshift weapons like pitchforks and what appeared to be table legs might have stood a chance against brutish, untrained fighters by virtue of numbers, but they were no match for motomancers, amateur or otherwise.

Ander insisted they stop to help these victims, and Lusya did not object. Their target was not moving, so there was no harm in cutting down the enemy’s numbers. They never put up much of a fight, anyway.

Once they were done with a group, they continued toward the target Lusya was leading them toward. A powerful mortal, head and shoulders above the rabble, waiting farther into the village. They did not encounter any more minor-rank demons. She sensed two more with the mortal, so it had not been just the two with the wagon. It was hard to tell exactly what that meant, but it was a good idea not to be too liberal with them if the goal was to take live prisoners. Getting minor-rank demons to listen to basic instructions and kill specific targets was difficult enough. Getting them not to kill at all was like training a human not to breathe.

Finally, they reached their destination. It turned out to be something of a town square. The scattered splinters and fragments of wood, along with various goods from smashed fruit to broken jewelry strewn on the ground, suggested it had also been a market of some sort.

The mortal Lusya had detected, her target, was a woman, seated on the edge of a pedestal that housed a headless statue of a warrior. The marble head on the ground suggested it had not been made that way. The target had light brown hair and hazel eyes. She was surrounded by ten other bandits in a loose circle.

Corpses were strewn about the square as well, but the man lying on the ground in front of the target was still alive, as his heaving and Malice signature attested. The bleeding ash on his back soaking his jacket suggested he would not remain that way for long. He was dressed in finer clothes than the other villagers, The clothes looked to be made of expensive fabrics and crafted with skill.

Two minor-rank demons were in the midst of tearing apart one of the corpses. They were similar in size and appearance to the ones from before. One had spikes running down its back, another had ears and only one horn, but other than that they were all but identical. Perhaps this was what the bandits could handle controlling.

The target had her feet hanging off the statue, hanging low enough that she kicked at the man as they swung. There was a small metal ball resting beside her, which did not seem to be part of the statue. She was dressed in a leather cuirass over plain brown clothes, much like the other bandits, with a sword at her waist. As Lusya and Ander entered the square, the target was taking a bite out of an apple.

She looked up, sedately crunching her morsel.

“Who are you two?” she asked once she had finished. She grinned. “More fools come to lose some blood? Mister Mayor here just got done playing with me.” She gave the man a particularly forceful kick, and he groaned. “So?”

Ander scowled. “You have one chance to surrender.”

The target let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Really? I can tell you two are a little strong, but that doesn’t mean you can get cocky. Well, it’s your funeral. I’m not wasting my energy on idiots, though.”

She picked up the metal ball and tossed it across the square at Ander. It landed on the ground near his feet with a thud. At that sound, the demons looked up from their victim and focused on the ball, then on Ander, the closest to it. They snarled and hissed, then charged, bounding across the area in long strides. As far as beasts went, they were fast, but by Lusya’s measure they moved like slugs. A bit stronger and more violent though they may have been, minor-ranks weren’t much more dangerous than a bear or wolf.

Ander moved prepared to fight them. Lusya refrained from intervening. She did think he could handle it, and she was curious to see if that would hold. If he seemed to be in danger, then she would act. The first one pounced at him, and he deftly stepped aside and slashed, his sword cleaving clean through the length of the body and killing the demon. The next was close behind, undeterred, but it never got the chance to attack. Ander threw a punch into its side that drove it to the ground and sent it tumbling away, then chased after it and stabbed into its head. It struggled and thrashed, its claws slashing at Ander, but they could not pierce his skin. After a few seconds, it went limp, and he withdrew his sword. He returned to Lusya’s side and glared at the target once more.

The target grimaced as she looked at the beasts’ corpse. “Guess I still have some work to do with the beasts. Don’t get too full of yourself, though. Zuron, Ashash, Alima, Raol, Meranda.” Half of those encircling her stepped out of the circle, taking up position between the rest and Lusya and Ander. “Handle them.”

Zuron rushed forward. At least, Lusya assumed it was Zuron based on the order they had replied to her summons in. Not that she cared if she was wrong.

Ander surged forward to meet Zuron and their swords clashed with a thunderous clang. Zuron was a taller, bulkier man, with wild blond hair and a scar running down his face. Nevertheless, one on one, Ander had him outclassed. Ander shoved hard, pushing Zuron back and knocking him off-balance. Ander lunged, stabbing at Zuron. Zuron narrowly dodged, getting a shallow cut on his cheek for his trouble.

Before the fight could continue, Ashash rushed in and swung the greatsword he wielded at Ander. Ander dodged and danced away. A wise choice. Ashash was a tall tiransa man. While Ander may still have been stronger with motomancy accounted for, the difference in inherent physical strength made that an unsafe assumption. The blade of the greatsword dug into the dirt, sending up a small dust cloud.

“You almost hit me, idiot,” Zuron said.

Ashash scoffed. “Not my fault you’re—”

Lusya rushed forward and cut him in half at the waist. Now that she had seen Ander’s skills, she had no interest in playing around with these weaklings. The target, the seeming leader, was her priority. The leader wasn’t just stronger than them. She was comparable in strength to the Sacred Knight captain Lusya had fought just two months prior. The leader was the only real threat, and Lusya intended to eliminate her as soon as possible.

Zuron stumbled back in shock as Ashash’s two parts fell to the ground, blood and entrails slopping out. Someone was closing in from behind. Lusya turned and dodged the attacker’s first strike. It was the red-haired, spear-wielding woman Lusya assumed was Meranda. Zuron recovered from his shock and went on the attack as well. Lusya evaded his blows with ease.

“What’s the matter?” Meranda demanded, stabbing out with her spear. “Can’t fight when it’s not a surprise attack?”

Lusya swiped Lunera through the air, connecting the space in front of her to the space behind Meranda. Her next spear strike passed through the portal created and pierced straight through the back of her head. She slumped forward, and the portal sliced her corpse in half when it closed a moment later.

Zuron was stunned once again but recovered quicker this time. He roared and began lashing out with wild, unrefined blows. Lusya dodged and parried a few, then launched him back with a punch to the chest, shattering his ribs. He tumbled along the ground as he landed, then tried to stand, hacking up blood.

She slashed Lunera and was behind him, then sliced his head off.

The other two, Raol and Alima, were fighting Ander. He was in the midst of parrying a blow from Raol. Seeing their comrades dispatched shocked them enough that Ander was able to cut Raol’s throat open and knock Alima to the ground. She managed to roll with the fall and retreat before he could capitalize.

“Seems like I sold you short,” the leader said with a frown, pushing off the pedestal to stand. “Alima, fall back.”

“Boss, we can handle this,” one of the remaining men around her said.

“No, she’s mine,” the leader said. “Alima.”

Alima, a relatively short tiransa woman, glared at Lusya, then hurried to regroup with the the others. At the same time, Ander moved to stand near Lusya again.

The leader, meanwhile, strode outside the circle of her subordinates, making a show of stretching out her shoulders and rolling her neck. She stopped about ten feet away from Lusya and grinned. Everything about her lined up with the description they had been given. She was several inches taller than Lusya, a bit over average for a human woman. Other than the height difference, her build was not markedly different.

“You’re pretty strong,” the leader said. “I don’t suppose you’d consider joining up with us.”

“I am not interested,” Lusya said.

While being part of such a group may have had its advantages, they were far outweighed by the many demerits. Chief among which was that Ariya already knew what these people were, and would never have been happy with such an arrangement.

“That’s a shame,” the leader said. “I at least like to know the names of strong people I kill, so why don’t you tell me yours? I’m Gisala.”

“You will not be killing either of us,” Lusya said. “So, your request is moot.”

Gisala chuckled. “You’re so confident. Let’s see how long that lasts.”

“It’s going to last until we defeat you,” Ander said. “You’re terrorizing of these people ends today.”