Both girls turned to me. Once again, I was faced with Lucy and Ameri looking at me expectantly. They were both clearly were wondering what was going on.

I would just follow Serin’s instruction. “Celine, can you come out?”

“Are you sure that’s alright master?” Answered her disembodied voice.

The reply from thin air had already put Ameri and Lucy on edge. They were both poised and looked ready to act.

I glanced at the girls. “It’s okay…” I said calmly. “Yes, please come out Celine.”

“Okay master.”

She appeared out of thin air as if jumping from somewhere and fell straight into my arms.

“Master! I’m glad you called me back. I was starting to worry I would be left out for quite some time.”

I restrained the urge to pat her head. “Sorry, it should be okay now.” I looked up and towards Lucy and Ameri.

They were frozen to the spot. It was as if they couldn’t decide what action to take next.

I made a calm gesture with my hands. “It’s okay, she’s a friend.”

The pair both seemed to relax just from my words, but neither girl would take their eyes off Celine.

Ameri was the first to speak. “She’s a friend you say?”

I nodded. “Yes, she is.”

“But she appears to be a demon… A succubus by the looks of it.”

I nodded again. “You aren’t mistaken, she is.”

Ameri flinched. “But, but you’re supposed to be fighting the demon lord!”

“I am, we are and it’s complicated. Still, you can rest assured that Celine is on our side.”

Celine turned towards the girls for a moment. “I would do anything for master!” She said in support.

“Thanks Celine.” This time giving in and patting her head.

Ameri looked as if she didn’t know what to make of this. “And you aren’t being controlled by her?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”

Serin stepped in. “I can vouch for that, and so can the rest of the party.”

Ameri looked behind her to see the rest of the group nodding in agreement.

She turned back. Her expression changed from serious to relaxed. She smiled. “Oh, okay then. If you say she’s a friend Theo, then that’s good enough for me.” She glanced to her side where Lucy was stood.

I couldn’t tell from Lucy’s expression what she was thinking. She had remained silent the entire time. But with the everyone’s focus on her she realised we were expecting an answer. “I have to admit this is quite the surprise… One of the enemy, is your friend… Under any other circumstances I would struggle to accept this, but seeing it’s you…” Her expression softened. “I suppose I can accept that. You will fill us in on the details, won’t you?”

The skill had definitely worked. There was no other reason that their common sense, instincts, and upbringing should have been overruled so easily. Not just by the words of one man that they had only met a few hours previous.

I nodded. “Of course, I will.”

There was a barely perceptible sigh of relief from the rest of the party. None of us could be absolutely certain how this situation was going to play out, even if the girls did have faith in my abilities.

The explanation was going to require some mention of what had happened to them. From previous experience this wasn’t a problem. There was always the option of being resourceful with the truth. However, that would require a new explanation for why demons were happily following me.

We still needed to introduce them to the rest of group’s eclectic membership. At least they had already met with Aetherin.

Serin stood beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “You did well, that must have been concerning.”

I exhaled in relief. “It was.” Then laughed.

“With that out of the way, we should really get back on the road. We’ve lost a lot of time already today and we still need to find somewhere we can meet up with the harpies later.”

“I’m just glad we can still join up again…”  

Serin clapped her hands. “Come on, time to move out. We’ve rested for long enough.”

The short stop had turned into an extended stay at the side of the road. We all wanted to return to Dunshelm as quickly as possible, and no one complained as we packed up to leave.

Rosa went to the carriage to check on the horses before we departed, and the rest of the group picked up the gear from our break.

It wasn’t long before we were all following Rosa to the carriages.

Altria climbed up onto the and joined Rosa once again.

Serin paused and looked up as she went to climb inside. “You can swap out if you want Altria?”

She shook her head. “I’m quite enjoying the ride from up here. The weather is nice, and the view is better from up here.”

“Okay. Just shout if you want to come back inside.”

“Will do.”

With that Serin pulled the door to the carriage open and climbed inside. The rest of the party followed closely behind her.

Lucy and Ameri had returned to their own horses. They had walked alongside the carriage and were waiting for us to depart.

Rosa slid open the driver’s hatch and peeped inside. “Are you ready to depart.”

“We are Rosa, let’s set off.” Answered Serin.

“Okay.”

Rosa turned back to her horses and pulled on the reins. A moment later the carriage rocked forward. It was a little bumpy for a moment, but we soon re-joined the smoother road surfaces.

Once we did Serin shuffled up to the driver’s hatch. “Altria?”

Altria Stuck her head inside the carriage. “What’s up?”

“Keep an eye on our new members.”

“Already am.”

“Good.”

Altria pulled her head back from the hatch and sat back with Rosa.

Serin pulled the driver’s hatch shut.

I was a little surprised by her comments. “Don’t we trust them?”

Serin shook her head. “We’ve only just met them.”

“But it seems like the skill worked.”

“It does, but it won’t hurt to be careful. We need to be sure.”

Liz was nodding in agreement with Serin’s words. “After our reception at Silthorn with the guild master and the sudden arrival of these two, Serin is right to be cautious.”

I didn’t understand. “But we didn’t treat the others like that.”

“We didn’t but their arrival was under different circumstances. Consider this, what if Elsa was working with the alliance. It wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that they were sent to keep tabs on us. If they were, it wouldn’t be surprising if they played along.”

“You think they’re spies or something?”

“I don’t, I’m just saying it’s a possibility and that it’s sensible for Serin, all of us for that matter, to err on the side of caution.”

“I suppose so.”

“At least until, we’re sure.”

“I understand… I suppose we need to find out more about them before we make any assumptions.”

“Exactly. We should have plenty of time. Until then we keep an eye on them.”

It wouldn’t be long until we met back up with the harpies. That would at least provide another opportunity to see how they reacted. There would also be plenty of time for us to talk to them once we stopped for the evening.

If they were spies, us traveling with a succubus, a vampire, and a small flock of harpies would undoubtedly be something they would want to report.