The following day found them leaving the military outpost. William was even more silent than usual, and had put Renault and Boris between him and Mina. He wasn’t a huge talker to begin with, but he’d only give grunt or short, curt answers if any of them tried to talk to him. 

They were headed for Byrming, and the air was beginning to grow cold again. Mina pulled William’s coat out of her bag and wrapped it about her shoulders. Boris glanced over at her and slowed his pace until he was walking next to her. His tail swayed back and forth as he walked. 

“Have you heard her again?” He asked. Mina glanced up at him and scowled, but shook her head.

He may know if Spirits could feel pain, right? She could ask him. She didn’t really know him that well, but she’d figured it was an insatiably curious creature, so if he didn’t know the answer, he could probably find out. “I’m not sure if I’m going fucking nuts or something. I heard her the other day, actually. I don’t know if it was her or not though. Can Spirits feel pain?”

Boris blinked and he tilted his head to the side, his ears perked forward. “Pain? Nyet. Not that I’m aware of. Not much is known about Spirits, though. So, is possible?” The blonde man glanced at his shoulder. “Percy that does not help.” 

He ran a hand over his face, “Percy is being tight-lipped about it too. For someone who likes sound of own voice, he is being very quiet.” he glared at his shoulder. “So, nyet. I do not think you are going insane, or are insane. She could be in pain for weird reason.”

“I’m not sure that’s better,” Mina muttered. She clasped her hands behind her back and stared up, watching the fluffy white clouds as they meandered across the blue expanse. 

“We’ll figure it out,” Boris assured.

She glanced over at him and frowned. He had to have another reason for coming along other than keeping an eye on Renault. There had to be something else, that was such a piss poor reason to put your life on the line like he’d decided to do.

“Why do you want to help me? You barely know me.”

“Because, want to know. You have weird thing happening. I want to know weird thing. And bastard owes me money.” He paused and glared at his shoulder and then winced.

She supposed that made some sort of sense, and it tracked for the little bit she knew of him. She didn’t trust anyone that would be claiming to help her out of the kindness of their hearts. There was always an ulterior motive. Always.

She glanced at William. She hadn’t a clue what his was, but she’d find out. He was a Knight of Lynden, so maybe he considered this as part of his duties, but there were far less capable people of protecting themselves out there than her. If that was the case he should go help them. 

Renault was easy. He was on the run from something or someone, and she was a useful scapegoat. He probably just hadn’t actually found a good enough excuse to leave yet. That, or he wanted company and didn’t want to admit it.

Speaking of Renault, he had stopped and held a hand up. His head swivelled back and forth and his hand went down to the hilt of his sword. Mina and Boris glanced at each other and walked over to him. The Fera’s ears twitched and danced around, listening as well.

“Listen.” Renault’s eyes darted back and forth between the opposing sides of the woods they’d entered a few hours ago. 

Mina frowned and blinked. She couldn’t hear anything. No birds, no animals rustling about, not even the buzzing of insects. Something else was there. Something dangerous.

Butterflies dripped from her fingers like super heated glass, fluttering around her lower legs. 

Renault spun, drew his sword in one smooth motion as a small, red creature erupted from the underbrush and launched itself at him. It didn’t make a noise as his sword cut it clean in two. More of the imps leapt from the bushes.

Mina threw her hands up as one of the imps turned on her. The butterflies flew from around her legs and into the face of the imp. It screeched in irritation and swatted at them. The action only caused them to dissipate for a moment before they reformed in its face. They wouldn’t do any damage, Imps – like fiends – were innately immune to fire. It would distract it enough for it to not be an issue to the others though.

She chanced a glance at the others. Three were dead at Renault’s feet, two around William, and Boris was slamming another’s head into the ground. 

Mina barely got her hands up in time to stop another Imp that she hadn’t seen from scratching her eyes out. Blood splattered across her face and the Imp’s body thudded into hers. She let out a breath and let it drop the rest of the way to the ground.

Renault stood before her, the creature’s life force dripping from his blade. “Pay more attention, wench,” he growled.

He whirled and caught another imp as it leapt at him, impaling it straight through the face. Two more came out on either side of the road wielding shoddily made daggers. The swordsman turned quickly to the side, the blades barely missing their mark.

Large fists erupted from the eart and smashed one of the imps into the ground, and another grasped the creature so that only its head was visible above the earthen mass.

The four of them waited – panting and covered in blackened blood – for twenty minutes before they began to relax. The imp was screeching bloody murder and struggled in the grasp of the rocky hand.

“Does anyone speak Demon?” Boris asked, staring at the writing creature. Mina frowned and then nodded.

“I may be able to understand it. Most Demonic dialects aren’t too terribly different from each other.” She grimaced at the though of speaking a language that she’d learned years ago. It had been some time since the those grotesque syllables had left her lips, but she remembered every word of it.

She opened her mouth to speak as she made her way over to the small creature, a thud sounded behind her. She turned a small gasp left her. Renault had collapsed, a bright crimson spot blossoming across his shirt. His skin had become pale and sweat covered him; His breathing had become shallow and pain contorted his features.

“Shit.” Mina rushed over to him. She didn’t like him, but she didn’t want him to die. The journey would be boring without him, he made things interesting.

Her hands quickly undid the ties holding his shirt together and pushed it apart, revealing a large, nasty stab wound. One of the imps hadn’t missed? He hadn’t even looked like he’d felt pain from blade entering skin.

She looked up at Boris and William, her eyes wide. “What do we do?”

“Shite, look at that,” Renault coughed. “The wench is worried about me. I knew you liked me.” He laughed and then winced.

Boris knelt next to Mina, examining the would quickly. “Yeba. Nym nuzho kek mozho skorey okaza’ yem meditsikuya pomosh.”

Mina blinked and stared at him. Boris didn’t look at her, he pulled a cloth from his bag and placed it against the wound and put some of his weight down on it.

“Mina, cauterise the wound. William, how far until we reach Byrming? Do you know if they have a healer there?” Boris glanced between the two of them.

“Two more days at the speed we’ve been going, there is a healer, but not as good as Ada.”

Boris moved slightly out of the way as a butterfly appeared on Mina’s hand and she reached forward. 

Renault’s eyes went wide and a stream of curses left him as he struggled to get away. William grabbed his shoulders and pinned him.

“Fuck no! The wench is not coming anywhere near me with that shite!”

“It’s for your own good,” William muttered.

Screams filled the forest as the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Renault’s insults and curses cut off as he lost consciousness. That had been for the best, right? It had seemed like it just made it worse. 

“Will he be okay now?” She asked.

“He will have more chance now than if you hadn’t done that,” Boris said. He stood and dusted his pants off. 

“Let him forbear breath, thou art shall!” The imp’s nasally voice cut through the air.

Right. The fucking imp. Mina had forgotten about it. 

“We need to get Renault to Ada or Byrming, what do we do about that?” She gestured at the creature. 

“Bring it with us. It might know something. We question it at night or when we get to Byrming or Ada’s.” Boris glanced at the imp. “William, can you carry Renault?”

William nodded and gently picked the unconscious man up, careful not to jostle the wound.

“Nay! Thou shalt releaseth me this instant! Thou art nought but breeders and livestock! I shalt not be treated in this way!” The imps cries were so high-pitched that Mina winced away.

A second, small earthen hand covered it’s mouth, cutting its screams and protests short. 

“Thank you, William,” Mina said gratefully.

“So, Ada or Byrming? Byrming is closer, but you said that none of the healers there are as good as Ada, right? What do we do then?” Mina asked. She glanced over at Renault. 

“Ada is week away, Byrming is two days. It might be best to go to Byrming. Minimize chance of infection,” Boris said. 

“I could get Renault to Ada in two days,” William said quietly. 

Mina and Boris both turned towards him. 

“How?” She asked.

“I can use Jormund. It’s not something that I can do very often, but he’s faster and doesn’t need sleep or food.” William shrugged.

Mina blinked. He could do what now? Was Jormund an Ascended Spirit like Boris had spoken about before? Is that was William was saying?

“Ah, you can make him corporeal? That is impressive,” Boris nodded. “That would be better,  yes. You do that, I will make something to hold imp and we will question on way.” 

The armoured man nodded, “Alright. Give me a moment.” He stepped away from them and knelt, placing his hand flat on the ground. The earth began to shift and move; as though it was made of liquid instead of something solid. The ground took on the form of the largest fucking snake Mina had ever seen in her life. She didn’t think William would be able to wrap his arms around the narrowest part of it. It was so fucking long. 

Jormund glanced around and shook his head, pebbles and dust littered the ground. He nuzzled against William, almost knocking him over. The snake’s head was as larger than his host. He patted Jormund’s head. “Make the contraption to hold the imp and then we’ll leave.”

Boris nodded and dropped his bag to the ground with a metallic thunk. He started to dig through it, pulling out things that Mina couldn’t even begin to think about describing. 

It took him an hour, but he let out a shout of victory and held out a small device that was vaguely humanoid shaped. 

“The holdinator is done!” He announced. 

The…holdinator. He was really shit at naming things. Did he think it made it sound fancy if he add ‘anator’ to it? She shook her head. Didn’t matter. Wasn’t her thing to name. 

William gently placed Renault on the ground and walked over to the imp that was glaring at all of them. The large hand that held it disintegrated, but the one that wrapped around its head and covered its mouth remained. He grabbed it by its thin arms and the gag turned to dust as well.

The imp immediately let out an ear-piercing screech. Boris immediately placed a piece of metal in its mouth and stifled the horrible noise.  The contraption he made wrapped itself around the creature, attaching to its spine, arms, neck, and legs. It tried to squirm from the grasp, but nothing budged. Boris gave a sharp nod. 

“Go. The sooner you get him to Ada, the better,” the raccoon man said. 

William nodded and picked Renault up from where he had put him on the ground. Jormund moved over to them and lowered his head so William could place him gently on his back, near the snake’s head. He got on behind and held Renault carefully and then they were gone, heading at a smooth pace back in the direction they had come. 

Mina watched them go with her mouth set in a grim line. She turned to Boris and then her gaze slipped to the imp. She should burn it. Why had they even captured it? What had been the point? It’s not like it would actually know anything.

“We’ll question it tonight. Would be best to start travelling back now.” Boris hefted the imp over his shoulder. It tried to struggle more against its bindings, but was not anymore successful than it had been before.

Mina nodded, “Sounds good to me.” She picked her bag up and winced as the strap brushed against the still tender scar on her chest. 

The next several hours were walked in silence. Mina had no idea what to say to Boris, and she didn’t really want to just have small-talk, she sucked at it. Anything else she didn’t want the disgusting creature to eavesdrop on. 

Boris would occasionally mutter something to his shoulder, but never in a language that Mina could understand.

They stopped as the sun began to set. Boris dropped the imp to the ground and turned towards it, his arms crossed and his ears and tail twitched sporadically. 

“I don’t think questioning it is going to help anything,” she said. She looked between the two of them. 

“Nyet, it may know something.” Boris shook his head and reached down, pressing something on the metal that rested against the imp’s head. The gag released and fell to the ground. 

It glared at the two of them, but at least it wasn’t screeching again. Its eyes went wide and it started to struggle against the binds. “Nay! Nay! Thou art wrong! I have none naught wrong! Nay! Plea-” the imps protests were cut off and its eyes glazed over and took on a crimson glow.

“Ah, so this is where you went.” The voice that came from it was like hellfire and brimstone. It glanced around, its eyes landing on the two of them.

“Who are you? You’re not the imp,” Mina demanded.

“Ah, right. Screeching. Should I do the screeching?” The imp chuckled and the sound brushed against her like sharkskin.

“Answer the question,” she snapped.

“Hm, maybe. I don’t really answer questions just to answer them. Give me a good reason to answer, and I will. Or don’t. This lowly pawn can’t hold my essence for long, even as small as this one is.”

“I don’t bargain with devils,” Mina sneered.

The imp tsked. “Oh, so very, very close. Not a devil.”

“What do you want?” She ignored what he said. Boris opened his mouth to say something and she held her hand up. 

“Oh, the usual. Chaos, death, anarchy, murder…cake.”

She blinked. Cake? Was he fucking serious? “You’re fucking with me.”

The possessed imp blinked and gave her the most disturbing try at an innocent look she’d ever seen. “Would I do that?”

She opened her mouth to answer and the imp through its head back and let out another of its ear-piercing screeches and dissolved into ash before. Shit. 

“Yeba. Yeba yeba yeba.” Boris’s ears flattened against his head and his tail puffed up and thrashed around. “That was arch-devil.”

Mina’s head swivelled towards him, “Are you sure?”

“Da. Do you know many things that can take something over? Arch-devil is only thing I know.”

Fuck.

“It explains why fiends are working together. We need to let someone know. If there is arch-devil behind this, we have bigger things to worry about.” Boris began to pace. 

“How do we know the imp wasn’t just a great actor?” Mina asked. She glanced down at the pile of ash, knowing she was grasping for straws. There was no way that had been acting. Fuck.

“Doubtful. Imps are all about self-preservation. Would not have set self on fire for bit. Would have done other thing.”

Of course it would have. Shit. This meant that Boris would most likely be detouring from travelling with her and helping her find orcs. William would insist on figuring out the arch-devil thing to. She didn’t have a clue about what Renault would do once he was healed up. 

She was going to be alone again. 

Or – counter point – she could go with them. What were the chances that the arch-devil was behind the strange behaviours of the orcs here lately? If it was behind that, it could possibly bring even more tribes of orcs together. That would be disastrous.