Still flying, I dove towards her falling form as quickly as I could, praying to Iomedae for speed. I reached her just ten feet above the ground, catching her and landing safely.
“Thanks,” she said.
“Don’t mention it.” I gazed into her blue eyes for a moment.
“Um… Casimir?”
“Yes?”
“You can put me down now.”
“Oh. Right.” I set her on her feet and looked around for the vrock. It was nowhere to be seen. “Guess it teleported off. We should get a move on before it brings friends.” We quickly gathered up our supplies and started the hike back to Mendev. “You know, I’ve seen you teleport before. If you can get back there, you should go ahead. Don’t worry about me, I can handle myself out here.”
“Oh, and you think I can’t?” Her eyes flashed with indignance, but also a hint of playfulness.
“That’s not what I meant. There’s just no reason for you to walk back with me when you could be there instantly.”
“Of course there’s a reason. I need to look after you and keep you safe, big guy.” She reached out and ruffled my hair. I suppressed a smile as I flattened it back out. Her hand brushed my horn stubs as she brought it back. “I meant to ask about those earlier… if it’s alright.”
“Of course. I cut them off as a teenager, as a sign that I was more than just my demon heritage. A silly thing to do, really, but I still file them down - more because I’m used to it now than anything else.”
“I don’t think it’s silly at all,” she said softly. “I think it’s a great thing to remember. You are more than what you were born as.” Before she could continue, she stiffened in alarm and started looking around.
“What is it?”
“The vrock is back. And it brought friends.”
I followed her gaze up high in the sky. Three large, winged shapes were circling above us as they descended. I pulled out my sword, ready to fight. “You should go, Arueshalae. There’s not much hope for us to beat them, but one of us needs to return to camp.”
“I’m not leaving you to die, Casimir!”
“Don’t be foolish, girl. If they leave my body, you can bring back a search party and have me resurrected. If we’re both killed here we’ll be gone forever. Now go!”
She stood there a moment, her mouth open as if to protest some more, but as we felt the wind from the vrocks’ wings she bowed her head. “I’ll come back for you,” she said, and vanished.
The vrocks landed in a triangle formation around me, blocking any escape. “Come on then, you demon bastards,” I growled. “Show me what you’ve got.” Instead of attacking, though, the three of them started a strange dance as they circled me. My eyes widened as I realized what was happening - if they finished their dance, they would produce an enormous blast of electricity that would surely kill me. I howled a battlecry to Iomedae and rushed to the nearest one, delivering a fierce blow with my greatsword. I had resigned myself to dying here, but that didn’t mean I was going down without a fight.
The three vrocks kept dancing. I only had to kill one of them to interrupt it, so I kept waling on the injured vrock with my sword, alternating with magical blasts of fire and diamonds, but it became clear that I couldn’t kill it fast enough. In the last moments of the dance, I was about to lower my sword and accept my fate, but I felt something strange rise within me - some sort of powerful will I didn’t know I had. Raising my blade back up and shouting another battlecry, I took two more swings at it, and faster than I thought was possible, I cast an offensive spell in the same action, as if I was slowing down time to be able to act. The burst of diamonds tore through the vrock’s body, finally felling the creature and interrupting the dance of ruin.
The two other vrocks howled with rage at their fallen companion and lunged at me. I smiled, thinking that with this newfound power I might actually have a chance. I fought as fiercely as I could, throwing out blows at both vrocks and casting mighty spells, using my strange power as best I could - I even killed another one of them - but alas, I was overwhelmed by the last one. A claw tore through my gut, bringing my to my knees, and as I knelt there witnessing the fangs of my death approach, my last thought was of Arueshalae.
Incidentally, the first thing I saw when I woke up in the healer’s tent in Nerosyan was also Arueshalae. She was sitting by the side of my body as the healer worked, clutching my hand in both of hers. When my eyes opened, she shouted my name and lunged onto me with a tight hug. I wrapped my arms around her in return and looked around the tent.
To my surprise, Queen Galfrey herself was standing at the foot of my bed, in battle gear stained with black demonic ichor. “We thought you’d never wake up,” she said with a smile.
I thanked the healer and sat up, Arueshalae finally letting go of me. “What happened?” I said.
The Queen responded. “Arueshalae here appeared back in the city suddenly, saying we needed to get a search party together for you immediately. Once I calmed her down to explain what was going on better, I led the search party myself. She showed us where she last saw you. There were the bodies of two vrocks there along with yours - you brought them down all by yourself? I’m amazed!”
“Yes. Something… strange happened to me in that fight. Some sort of power from within me I didn’t know I had - it was like I was bending reality to my will, if that makes any sense.” The Queen’s and Arueshalae’s eyes widened; they both knew what I was talking about, it seemed.
The Queen dismissed the healer and closed the tent. “As you know, your mother served my grandfather when he was king of Mendev. He spoke to me of her sometimes, and said she possessed incredible power; those who witnessed her on the battlefield said she could perform feats that seemed impossible to most men.”
Arueshalae spoke up. “That power also has been said to be possessed by certain warlords and tyrants, though those reports aren’t verified. And… I know exactly what you mean, because I have it too.”
I stared at her a moment, then looked to the Queen. She nodded. “Maybe the two of us really could have taken them down, then,” I said with a wry smile.
“I’m glad we didn’t have to find out,” Arueshalae responded. “And I’m glad you’re back here with us, Casimir.” I smiled even wider at that.
“So am I,” said the Queen. After a pause, she continued. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Of course, your majesty.”
“The reason I wanted you to take Arueshalae on this mission is because you’re the best guard I have... and I wouldn’t trust anyone else to keep my new girlfriend safe.” She put her arm around Arueshalae, and I faked a smile.
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