Demon Queened Ch. 12

The blonde woman glanced over her shoulder at the thugs who, as if on cue, stepped toward the supposedly dark space. The green-haired girl's eyes were now flitting about frantically. I couldn't help but feel a little guilty. My glance hadled the blonde straight to her, and it didn't seem like they were friends. In fact, one of the men was drawing his arm back as I watched, while the hidden girl was trembling so much was honestly surprised that she could remain upright. It was possible that the thug would miss, since he couldn't see his prey, but I didn't think it would take many swings for him to find her. If she dropped the spell and ran she'd be found out all the faster. Even moving about within the shadows might reveal her location if her opponent had good hearing. No matter what choice she made, I didn't think the girl would escape these three unscathed.

"Excuse me," I called out before the man could complete his swing. "Can you tell me why you're after her?"

"Huh?" The blonde glanced at me, then snarled. The thug paused midswing, turning his gaze to her as if seeking additional instructions, but the blonde ignored him. "What's it to you? You stick your nose into every stranger's business? Get out of here, unless you're offering to pay her dues."

"I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of money, other than perhaps that 'shiny cross' you mentioned, but-"

"Then get going," the blonde growled, pointing toward the entrance of the alley with her thumb. Both men pressed themselves against the wall, giving me a clear path. "This isn't any of your business."

I stared at the blonde for a moment, unsure what to say. She was right. This was none of my concern. I wasn't a resident of these slums, a citizen of this city, or even a member of their species. I had no ties whatsoever to this green-haired girl, who could be in trouble for any number of reasons. Perhaps the actions of this woman and her thugs were even justified. Sticking around and getting into trouble would only cause me to break my promise to Abigail, and draw unnecessary attention to myself. 

By all rights, the proper move was to extricate myself. Thatwas the right move. 

It was...

My gaze shifted to the girl they were targeting. Her eyes kept flicking between me and her assailants, wide with terror. I was still in the midst of my hesitation when the blonde began to speak again.

"Looks like we have a new obstacle, boys. You two start punching the shadows, I'll take care of Miss Goody Two Shoes." Even as she spoke, the blonde casually withdrew a dagger from her belt. Its simple leather handle was well worn, and the confidence with which she held it made me think that she was well used to wielding it. While it was doubtful she'd be able to do any real damage to me with such a thing, I eyed it warily all the same. I didn't need rumors spreading of a woman whose skin couldn't be pierced by blades.

"W-Wait!" the green-haired woman shouted, raising her hands to guard her face. "You don't want to-ack!" The girl was forced to duck; her words were cut off as one of the men slammed a fist against the wall, hard enough to make it tremble, causing the brick he'd hit to crumble into pebbles.

"Do you really have time to be paying attention to someone else!?" the blonde demanded. I shifted focus back to my own fight to find the woman running toward me with her dagger out front. It looked as if she intended to ram the blade into my stomach; a simple, but effective strategy, especially if your opponent was distracted.

I didn't even try to dodge. Instead, I reached for my magic, allowing the familiar warmth of its energy to rise from within me, and then pushed the power down from the soles of my feet, through the heels of my shoes, and into the earth. I drew moisture from deep within the ground up into the earth beneath the blonde's feet, turning the tamped down dirt into far softer mud. My attacker's feet slid out from under her; she likely would have fallen onto her own dagger, had I not caused a tendril of mud to shoot out and slap it free of her grip. As it was, she ended up flopping face-first into the wet soil, with nothing injured but her pride.

The thugs had thankfully stopped their attack on the green-haired girl and were now coming toward me. Seeing little choice but to fight at this point, I hopped over the blonde and calmly walked forward. Avoiding the first attack was as simple as tilting my head to the right. The second blow was aimed at my stomach, meant to catch me off guard, but I blocked this one with my arm, catching the meaty fist with my relatively slender limb. I could feel strength behind the punch, but I might as well have been hit with a feather for all the good it did the thug. I turned his blow aside, then grabbed hold of his arm and swept him sideways into his brother. There was a solid thwack as one dense body met another, and I felt the force of the impact running through me. Completely unaffected, I repeated my trick of turning dirt into mud. The earth trembled beneath my feet as the thugs were reduced to a tangle of limbs on the ground.

With that sorted, I turned my attention to the green-haired girl. She was staring at me with wide eyes and an open mouth. Rather than trying to speak, it almost seemed as if she were trying not to scream.

"...Youdo realize I just saved you, yes?" I didn't think I'd gone particularly overboard while taking care of her assailants. I'd certainly done nothing to warrant this sort of reaction.

"S-Saved me...?" The girl's eyes darted to the blonde, who was slowly managing to get back on her feet, before shifting to the two thugs who were pushing against each other as they attempted to rise up from the muck.

"Perhaps I spoke too soon..." I tapped my foot against the ground, transmitting a stream of magic down into the earth. A massive hand emerged from the street, its fingers grasping hold of the blonde and slamming her against the wall, where it kept her pinned. She responded with an ungraceful squawk and began to hammer at it with her fists. Although the blonde's prison was constructed from nothing but dirt, my magic had compressed it to such a point that there was little difference between it and solid rock. All the same, flakes of it were coming off with each punch, and I was sure she'd be able to work her way out of it eventually.

I left her to work on her prison, turning my attention back to the thugs only to discover that they were already upright and booking it out of the alley as fast as their stocky legs could carry them. Perhaps they intended to report this to their boss? That would likely come back to bite me if I didn't take care of things here and now.

I turned back to the woman I had trapped. She was still pounding on her prison, her face twisted with anger as she let loose a stream of curses. She was making steady progress, but she was still at least an hour from her freedom, assuming she could keep up the pace. As I hardly had time for that, I walked forward to touch the hand that held her, forcibly loosening the dirt and allowing it to crumble. Unprepared for sudden freedom the blonde toppled, landing on her hands and knees.

"May I ask for your name?" I gave my former prisoner a polite smile, crouching down next to her.

The blonde glared at me, her green eyes narrowed in anger. "Look, I don't know what sob story Feyra hooked you with, but we're not the bad guys here - we're just collecting the money she owes."

"I already paid you back," the green-haired girl - Feyra? - sulkily protested from behind me. "The money I have left is for my medicine."

"You mean that nasty potion habit?" The blonde spat. "I don't care what you do to your body with that junk, but you forgot to pay the interest. It's up to three saints."

"Three saints!? There's no way I owe that much! I only borrowed five crosses..." 

I cleared my throat, drawing the attention of both women back to myself. "I'm not entirely sure as to the circumstances but, if I understand correctly, the issue can be resolved by a payment of money?"

"Hey, if you wanna claim that girl's debt, it's all yours, but I'm going to have to insist on payment upfront - Mama Marion doesn't take kindly to people reneging on what they owe. Understand?"

I nodded with deliberate slowness, trying to buy myself time to piece everything together. Crosses and saints were apparently a form of currency. From the sounds of it, this Feyra had borrowed a small amount and ended up owing a much larger sum. In other words, she'd probably gone to a loan shark to pay for her "potion habit".

This really wasn't my concern, then. Whatever trouble Feyra was in, she'd gotten into it on her own. Besides which, disputes involving money and debts weren't the sort of thing that could be resolved purely through brute force or magic power.

That said, if all the girl needed was money...

"Very well," I declared. "She will have what she owes by tomorrow, if not tonight. For now, I ask that you leave her in my care."

"Excuse me, I said I needed paymentupfront?" the blonde snapped, standing upright to glare at me.

I tapped the toe of my shoe against the ground. This time I drew up so much water that the blonde's feet and ankles sank into the muck. She squeaked, and fell forward, fear momentarily flickering across her features. I hardened the earth directly below her feet and placed a hand under her shoulder, pushing her upright.

"You..." The blonde trailed off, glaring up at me and gritting her teeth. After a moment of this, however, she reluctantly nodded her assent. "Alright. She has untiltomorrow. But after that, I'm gathering all Mama's forces, understand? It doesn't matter how strong you are, you'll go down under the weight of our numbers."

I doubted that. Still, whileI would remain unscathed, I couldn't be certain that those around me would fare so well. If Feyra was to survive this, she was going to need to pay back the money she owed.

"Three saints, correct? If you try to claim more, in the name of a day's delay I will be... displeased." I mimicked her glare, trying to add weight to my words. The bluff seemed to work, as the blonde flinched beneath my gaze. 

"Fine," she muttered, turning her head away as if to hide her expression from me. "As long as she can pay the full amount by tomorrow's end, we'll call it done and everyone can go their merry way. But if she's even one virtue short..."

"I understandcompletely." I didn't even try to keep the irritation from my voice as I held out my hand. "I will get her the coin she needs. If she fails to pay you back despite my funding, it will have nothing to do with me. Agreed?"

The blonde studied my proffered hand for a long moment. The look upon her face, as if someone had forced her to suck upon a lemon, spoke to her distaste, but in the end she slowly reached out to shake my hand. The blonde's white knuckles made me think she was putting everything she had into her grip, but her valiant efforts brought me far closer to amusement than discomfort. 

"Fine," she muttered afterward. "But don't think I'll forget the humiliation you've dealt me today."

Spouting lines more fit for a cartoon villain than an actual person, the disheveled blonde yanked herself from the mud, marching past Feyra and out of the alley. It was only then that I realized she had never responded to my request for her name. Not that I particularly cared to learn it.

With that bit of unpleasantness taken care of, I at last turned my attention to Feyra, whose back was literally against the wall. I had made a deal on her behalf, but it wasn't out of the kindness of my heart. It was time to extract compensation.

***

Feyra

I stared after Kalice as she marched from the alley, silently wishing that I could follow. She might have been a bitch who treated me like I was worth less than the mud on her shoes, but even getting beaten seemed far better than being left alone with my 'savior'. As a fellow adventurer, Kalice must have hadsome idea of her opponent's terrifying power; otherwise she'd never have accepted such a one-sided offer. I doubted she realized the full truth, though. There was no way she'd be so calm if she knew that the brunette hadn't used even afraction of her true strength. From my perspective, it was obvious that she'd been toying with them from the start. Making them fall over each other, pinning them against the wall... If she'd been serious about fighting them, she could have reduced them all to ash.

And that monster was looking at me now, with a horrible smile on her lips. I swallowed hard and pressed my back against the wall. Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to flee, but I forced myself to remain in place. Just like Kalice had sensed that it was impossible to fight this creature, I knew that running from her would be useless. She wouldn't even need to chase me. She could just wave her hand in my general direction and I'd explode. Or maybe I'd dissolve into the darkness, and be reborn as one of her minions; a fitting end for someone with cursed blood like mine. 

I was a little surprised she hadn't done it preemptively. I mean, shewas the Demon Queen. She had to be! Sure, she looked human enough. Her single most distinctive feature, her snow-white hair, had been disguised, probably with some sort of dye. With her soft hands, which didn't look like they'd ever seen a day's work, and her finely crafted clothes, made of who knew what material, she could probably pass as a noble's daughter. At the very least, you wouldn't think she was the harbinger of all evil. I was likely one of the few people in all the world who could see her true nature.

"Is everything okay?" the monster asked. The softness in her expression, the way her shoulders had relaxed since Kalice left the alley... She clearly didn't see me as a threat. Why would she? She could end me with a flick of her finger. "You're trembling."

"I'm fine," I lied. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't keep my body from shaking. "Just a little freaked out by... uh... the whole situation."

The monster seemed to think her disguise was intact. That was good. There was no telling what she'd do if she knew I'd seen through her disguise. What was the Demon Queen even doing here!? Was she here to take the Heroine's head? There were tales of her showing up on the battlefield, but nothing about her just walking around like a normal person! If I told anyone about it, they'd think I was crazy just for suggesting it.

There was no doubting it, though; not for me. My bloodline had the unique ability to see magic energy, and the sheer amount of it flowing through this woman wasinsane. Looking at her with my Sight active was like staring directly into the sun. I'd always wondered if the tales I'd heard about the Demon Queen's power were exaggerated, but if anything they weren't giving her enough credit. I was pretty sure every adventurer in the city could attack her at the same time, and they wouldn't even leave a scratch. Hell, thearmy could go after her, and it wouldn't do any good! 

"Are yousure you're alright?" the Demon Queen pressed, reaching out to touch my forehead, as if she was concerned that I was sick. "You've been staring at me for a while..."

"I-I'm fine!" I reassured her, forcing a smile. "See? Cheery, even! I mean, you're going to pay my debts, right?" I couldn't imagine what might have driven her to say such things, but I'd have to act like everything was fine if I wanted to survive the night.

"...If you're sure." The Demon Queen shook her head, folding her arms across her admittedly impressive chest. "Well then. I suppose we can discuss how you're to earn your three saints."

Three saints. Did this monster even know human money? Did she not realize how much that was!? Or wait... therewere rumors, among the adventurers, that the Demon Queen was sitting on a great deal of wealth. It wasn't worth storming the tower over, so far as I was concerned, but Ihad met quite a few adventurers who were willing to sign up for the invasion force, in return for a share of that theoretical treasure.

"W-What do I need to do?" I asked, unable to keep my voice from trembling. I didn't want blood money. If I was willing to hurt people, I would have been able to cut a deal with Mama Marion on my own. But I didn't want to die, either...

"Simple." The monster gave me a small smile, as if trying to reassure me. "I require a guide. First, you will take me to a jewelry store, then to the adventurer's guild, and finally you will show me to an inn. After that, you will be paid, enough to free yourself of your debts. A good deal for both of us, is it not?"

I couldn't stop my mouth from dropping open in surprise. A good deal? Three saints for showing her to three places!? It was ludicrously one-sided! Assuming she kept her word, at least.

"Alright," I replied, after pretending to think about it. Being a good guide was my one and only chance at survival. That meant taking her to a trustworthy jeweler. Someone who wouldn't cheat her, or otherwise anger her enough to go on a rampage...

As it happened Amessa, my potion contact, worked from the back of her father's jewelry shop. The old man was always giving me dirty looks over my choice of potions, but from what I knew he was serious about his work, and so far as I knew he wasn't in the habit of cheating his customers. Hopefully, he could be trusted not to send the Demon Queen into a rage.

Sending a silent prayer to the Goddess, I turned toward the alley's exit. "I think I know the perfect place..."

Author's Notes:

First off, I'd like to apologize for disappearing for so long. All I can say is that I never expected this hiatus to happen, and I certainly never thought I'd be gone for so long.

To be honest, I burnt out due to putting myself under too much pressure. I had this voice in the back of my head, telling me that I had to make every chapter perfect, because a single mistake would drive all my fans away. I knew it was irrational, but I just couldn't shake it. I also felt like I was updating too slowly, while simultaneously fearing that I would upset fans of my other works if I focused too much on Demon Queened. Eventually it reached the point where I couldn't seem to write -- and the longer I went without writing, the more anxious I became at the prospect of writing again. It was another irrational fear, this time claiming that the words wouldn't come even if I tried.

Thankfully, I seem to have recovered. I've also created a new writing schedule, designed to prioritize consistency over speed. I'm hoping that regular effort -- and scheduled breaks -- will result in more chapters and stories with less pressure and no burnout.

I know this chapter is short -- I wrote it right before burning out, which is part of the reason. It should have been released far sooner, but I didn't even have the energy for approving edits by the end. Chapter 13 will be a lot longer, though -- I'm currently about halfway through it. I'm about half of the way through it, and hope to have it edited and proofread within the next few weeks.

On a final note, I want to say a few words of thanks - Not only to my editor (paradoxicalWitchling) and my proofreader (FallingLeaf)but to all of you who patiently waited for so long. I hope that you'll continue to read, and enjoy, Devilla's adventures.

I'll see you again soon :)