Ambush

The stridulation of crickets and the faint crackling of fire were the only sounds that kept the night alive. Calum had his eyes on the starry sky, admiring the beautiful lights that dotted the heavens. The stars were never this bright in Calum’s previous life.

Kia cleared her throat. “Do you feel ready to fight the Demon Lord yet?”

He took his eyes off the stars and took a deep breath. “No. I have to get used to my new weapon before I can use it at its full potential. You took a scroll, didn’t you? What kind of scroll is it?”

She took the scroll off her belt, unfurled it, and showed it to Calum. Written in ink was the incantation for a long-forgotten spell.

“What does it do?”

“It’s a redirection spell. You can redirect any projectile or spell.” She rolled the scroll up and reattached it to her belt. “What about your talismans? What are their effects?”

“One of them is supposed to boost our strength when we are fighting demons, and the other one makes our spells consume less mana.”

“But you don’t use mana, right?”

“Yeah. It would really help Tilaya out, though.”

Kia suddenly narrowed her eyes and scanned the area. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Someone’s here…”

Calum leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Do you think it’s the same person that was watching us in the capital?”

“Positive. We’ve been being watched this whole time.” She put a hand on one of her daggers in case of an ambush. “Calum, I’m sorry for hiding my ancestry from you. I thought if you knew, you wouldn’t give me a chance.”

“It’s okay, I understand why you’d think that. But I’m not one to judge a book by its cover. Knowing that you’re a half-demon doesn’t change the fact that I trust you.” He smiled at her. “Even if no one else cares about you, I do.”

She leaned against his shoulder, still alert for movement in the distance. “I’ve been on my own all these years. Even when I lived among people, I never had an actual friend. I know not everyone here trusts me, but I’m glad you do.”

An arrow flew at Kia’s head from a nearby bush but was sent flying back the way it came.

“Assassins, huh? Do you really think you can sneak up on another assassin?” She slipped her daggers off her belt and charged toward the bush.

Calum unsheathed the Faestinger and followed Kia into battle. There were three hooded men on the other side of the bush, cursing their situation.

The assassins were skilled enough to survive an onslaught of attacks from Kia, but they stood no chance when Calum entered the fray.

Just as he and Kia each struck down an assassin, the third one whistled. Dozens of arrows came flying at them, but Kia redirected them with her new spell. A horde of men stampeded from their hiding places, weapons in hand.

The commotion woke Tilaya and Erik from their rest. They emerged from their tents ready to fight. Erik ran to fight several assassins by himself, while Tilaya began to chant an incantation for a powerful spell.

Around Calum and Kia, the assassins closed in. Some of them had daggers in their hands, while others held shortswords. The two stood back to back, eying their opponents. Calum's weapon began to glow a brilliant purple as he rushed forward to attack.

One of the assassins attempted to block with his shortsword, but the Faestinger broke right through the blade and slashed its target. The weapon's victim stumbled backward and dropped to his knees. Other assassins lunged to strike the hero, but he tumbled out of the way.

Kia parried the attacks that came at her and sliced the enemies near her. Fortunately, she was much nimbler than they were.

"How are you doing over there, Kia?" Calum blocked an attack and escaped to an area he would have more space to move.

"Doing great! This is a breeze." She flipped over someone, slicing them as she went over. When she landed on the other side, she kicked the person behind her and slashed the bowels of the foe in front of her.

Calum cut through another sword and severed one of the assassins' arms. He glanced at his new weapon that was still glowing. "I love this thing!"

"It's good that you two are having fun, but this is a bit of a struggle for me!" Erik had several assassins swarming him. His greatsword was sheathed and he was punching his opponents. "They're too fast for me to cut down! I'm forced to use my fists!" He uppercut an assassin in front of him. "At least this new armor is doing its job!"

The assassin immediately got up and attacked him again. Before he got to Erik, a bolt of lightning struck, traveling through him to the allies he had with him, then to the ones fighting Kia and Calum.

All of the assassins fell to the earth. Their cloaks were tattered by the lightning, and smoke rose from their bodies.

Tilaya joined Erik and stared at the assassins. "That spell always comes in handy."

One of the assassins that fought Calum struggled to get up.

He rolled him over and put his foot on his chest before he could stand. "Who sent you?" After a few seconds of the assassin not responding, he pointed his sword at him. "Answer me."

Fearful of what Calum would do to him, he answered. "It was… the Demon Lord's general…"

"That's not all that surprising. Were you following us all the way from the capital?"

"Y-Yes… we were told… if we failed… to tell the hero… that she is waiting for you… in the Demon Lord's castle…" His energy wore out, and the spark of life inside of him faded.

Calum returned to the others. "It looks like we have to fight the Demon Lord's general before we can fight him directly."

Kia stepped forward. "We're prepared to follow you into whatever danger lies ahead."

"I would tell you to turn back if I thought I could do this on my own, but I'm not strong enough to do that."

Erik slapped him on the back. "Calum, we're with you to the end. We all want to defeat the Demon Lord."

Tilaya nodded. "Even if certain death awaits us, we will go with you."

Calum smiled at his friends. "Thank you, guys. When we arrive in the southern regions, there is no turning back."