Joan was slowly beginning to feel her confidence waning. The ropes hurt, her body ached, the food they gave her was dry or leathery and they weren’t allowing her much time at all to walk around or stretch. She didn’t know what Andreas had planned, but she hoped he would do it soon.

Unless he really had betrayed her. Unless this was the one time, after all of their lives together, where he broke that bond and turned out to be just as bad as Searle.

Joan shook her head and scrunched up into a little ball. That wasn’t a fair thought, Searle had been nothing but loyal to her in this life. Again and again he had stood by her, trusted her and believed in her even when nobody else did. He’d put his neck on the line for her so she could get the key, the least she could do was trust him. Despite all of her mistakes and errors in the past, she couldn’t allow herself to fall back into those same thoughts.

“You got stomach cramps or something, kid?” a voice asked.

Joan glanced up to the doorway and narrowed her eyes when she saw Viglan again. He gave a little gesture to the other demon watching her and he got up, leaving the tent. Viglan walked over and sat on one of the chests, grinning down at her. “What’s got you so happy?” she asked.

“Today is the last day we have to watch you,” Viglan said. “It’s good news for you. No more ropes, you’ll get a nice, roomy cage to move around in.”

Joan’s eyes narrowed and she gave a small nod, looking him up and down. Something was off and--

She let out a startled gasp what she finally noticed what he had slung over his back. Her swords. Why did he have them? Why did he bring them here?

“Recognize these, then?” Viglan asked, motioning to the pair before reaching back and pulling them off his back. “Nice blades, these. Got some really fine quality to them. Well… one of them does.” He then tossed down the one Searle had given her, the sheathed blade landing a few feet from her.

Joan glanced down at it, her breathing getting faster and her heart pounding. She was so close. A weapon. How many of them could she kill before they got her? A dozen? Two? She’d almost killed an army before, a small camp like this wouldn’t be hard. Her hands tightened into fists. All she had to do was kick the sword out of its sheath, cut her ropes, it’d take maybe four seconds. Roll forward, grip the sword, stab him through the chest. It’d only take a few--

Joan shook the thought aside. If she was the hero it would have been easy. But she wasn’t the hero now. She was just another civilian, another warrior. Like it or not, he was a demon and if she tried to fight him, especially as sore and sluggish as she was, she wouldn’t stand a chance. Even if she wasn’t tied up she doubted she could hold her own against him.

“That one is garbage. This one, though. It’s a fancy little thing. About the same length as that, but definitely better,” Viglan said before drawing the blade. Joan’s breath held when she saw the blade once more, metal that looked as if it was wrought of silver and iron. Once it was fully out he lifted his left hand against the side, letting the flat of the blade rest against his palm. “It really is a magnificent blade. I haven’t seen many humans with something like this. There’s no way a little kid like you would have something like this.”

Joan gave a snort but didn’t respond.

“You disagree?” Viglan asked.

“It is my sword, of course I disagree,” Joan said. “Not that you listen when I tell you that.”

“Didn’t we have a talk about that attitude of yours?” Viglan asked. “Here I’d heard you were getting so much better. I even heard you were crying when you had to pee before.”

Joan’s cheeks turned scarlet and she turned away. “So what if I did? It’s not my fault you people have me tied up all the time. Would you rather I pee myself? Maybe if you had just made sure I--” Suddenly the tip of the sword came into her vision and dropped towards her face. She let out a shriek and pulled back, instinctively closing her eyes and, despite her desires, shook.

After a few moments she opened her eyes and the blade was there, hovering a few hair’s breadth from her face. “Do you really expect us to believe this blade is yours?” Viglan asked.

“I was carrying it, it’s balanced for my size, it’s the ideal length for me,” Joan said softly, staring at the blade. “It’s light, powerful, deadly. But fine. If you want me to lie, I will. It doesn’t belong to me, I stole it from someone else. No, wait, that doesn’t sound like the right kind of lie, now does it?” she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “It isn’t mine, I was given it. By a fairy in a lake. After saving some pigs. There, is that lie enough?”

“You’ve got quite a mouth on you, don’t you?” Viglan asked. “Are you hoping people will think you’re an actual threat if you are rude enough?”

“Do you hope people will think you’re scary if you continue to threaten and torment a little girl a third your size who’s tied up?” Joan asked.

To her delight, that wiped the grin off his lip and made his eyes narrow. That delight quickly faded when he got to his feet and stepped towards her, stabbing her sword into the ground right in front of her eyes before reaching out. “Why you little bitch.”

Joan tried to crawl out of range, but handicapped as she was there wasn’t anywhere for her to go. He gripped her by her shoulders and yanked her up to her feet, narrowly avoiding hitting her face on her sword. She stared up into his eerie blue eyes and, despite herself, she started to shake. “I’m… I’m scared of you,” Joan said softly.

“That’s pretty obvious,” Viglan said, the smirk on his face returning.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m afraid of you or your kind,” Joan said, trying to hold onto whatever courage she could. If she was still the Hero she could have destroyed this man. But she wasn’t now. She was just a little girl. A skilled one, more powerful than most, certainly more capable. But she stood no chance as she was now. She knew that. She couldn’t help but feel more and more appreciation for all of those mundane people who had stood up to the demons when she had been the Hero and wished she had been a little more aware of just how hard it must have been for them. “It doesn’t mean I will cower away or hide just because you threaten me, hurt me or even endanger me. Just because you scare me doesn’t mean you have beaten me. That sword is mine and mine alone. You can search these woods all you like, but you will find nobody else who it belongs to. If you don’t think me worthy of it, well, perhaps I’m not. I never said I was worthy of it. But it is mine.”

“Hm?” Viglan said, glancing away from her for a moment.

“What? What is it?” Joan asked.

“You know what, kid?” Viglan said with a grin. “I think you’re right.”

“I’m right?” Joan asked, her wariness only rising.

“You’re liable to just keep causing us trouble because, as you said, you’re scared of us but not afraid. So I think it’s time you start to be afraid,” Viglan said with a grin that made her skin crawl. He let her go, but before she could pull away his right hand reached back and gripped her sword. A moment later he cut with it and she let out a shriek.

Except, instead of cutting through her it cut through the ropes binding her legs to her wrists, allowing her to move them a bit more. “You’re letting me go?” she asked, too stunned to move.

“No,” Viglan said. Before she could pull away, he had a hand on her arm and nearly ripped it out of the socket when he turned to haul her away. Her eyes went wide and she reached out with her other hand, trying to grab her other sword that he had thrown on the ground. Unfortunately she narrowly missed it.

Within a moment she was out of the tent. It was colder outside, but at least the air wasn’t as stale. She still didn’t know what he was intending though. Her eyes wandered to the sword held in his right hand. He was a lot bigger and stronger than her but he was also underestimating her, she bet she could trip him and get the sword. With it she could easily kill him and--

Then what? Kill the whole camp by herself? As much as she wanted to it was unlikely to be successful. Andreas was there as well, it wasn’t like she could kill him. Even if he didn’t have his abilities fully activated yet she desperately needed him to save the world.

“What are you doing?” Joan asked, trying to pull free from his grip to no avail.

“Do you hear that?” Viglan asked.

“Hear what?” Joan asked.

“Viglan, what are you doing with the tribute?” one of the demons asked.

“Dixon will be here soon,” Viglan said. “The kid was mouthing off, I decided she should get a nice, clear view of what’s in store for her.”

“In store for me?” Joan asked, feeling her nerves go on edge. Something was definitely up. “What do you--” The words caught in her throat when she heard it.

It was distant, hard to hear over the sounds of the camp. But it was definitely there. A heavy thumping. “Oh, you hear it now?” Viglan asked. “That’s the boss.” Finally, on the edge of the camp, he stopped and pointed off into the distance, through the trees. “You should be able to see it soon.”

“See it?” Joan asked.

“Look around, kid,” Viglan said before motioning around them. “Look at all those trees that were cut down.”

Joan did as she was told and felt dread beginning to rise in her. The trees near this edge of the camp had been cut down, at least she had originally assumed they were. Except now that she looked closer it was pretty easy to tell that they hadn’t been chopped down, they’d been torn off. Some had been entirely uprooted. In a line through the forest all of the trees had been either torn or knocked over and away, as if something massive had come through here.

“You’re starting to get it now, aren’t you?” Viglan asked.

“What did that?” Joan asked.

“You’re pretty brave when you’re around a demon like me, aren’t you?” Viglan asked. “But have you ever seen one of the big ones? A real demon, the things we draw our powers from?”

Joan didn’t answer, instead eyeing the trees nervously. Whatever had done that to the trees was almost definitely a demon of some kind. She’d seen plenty of them who could do such things and, as she was, she didn’t like the idea of running into one.

“Judging by that look on your face you’ve seen a few. Well, the boss has a very special one. Massive thing, biggest one I’ve ever seen. Could plow through a castle wall in a single charge. Knock out an entire battalion of knights all by itself. Humans like you? You’re not much more than something to be picked out of its teeth.”

Joan gulped nervously, though not because of his words. Now the ground was shaking and that thumping was getting louder and louder. Whatever it was must have been massive and deadly. She could hear it coming ever closer. She tried to pull away from Viglan, but he refused to allow her.

“Awwww, come on kid. Don’t you wanna see? What happened to all that ‘I’m not afraid’ attitude you had?” Viglan asked.

“Viglan, what are you doing?” Andreas asked.

Joan felt relief wash over her when she looked back and saw him walking towards them. Finally a voice of reason.

“I’m just teaching the kid who she’s dealing with,” Viglan said.

“Her ropes are cut,” Andreas said. “If she runs away then--”

“I have my grip on her, she’s not going anywhere,” Viglan said. “Even if she did, we could just track her down easy enough. She’s still got plenty of rope on her.”

Andreas eyes wandered to the sword and a look of annoyance washed over his features. “If a tribute gets hurt--”

“There are other tributes,” Viglan said. “Let the real demons worry about this.”

“Dixon—”

“Will be here soon. Relax. If anything goes wrong, I’ll deal with the consequences. Go away,” Viglan said before motioning him away with the sword.

To Joan’s horror, Andreas gave her a pity filled look before turning to leave her behind. “Andreas, please!” she pleaded.

“Sorry, kid,” Andreas said with a shake of his head. “If Viglan wants to get himself in trouble with the boss, that’s his problem.”

Viglan gave a light laugh before tugging on her arm. “Come on, kid, the fun’s just getting started. Look, it’s almost here.”

Joan looked over towards the loud, powerful thumps. She gave a small gulp and waited, unable to stop herself from shaking. Despite herself, her mind wandered to the dozens, if not hundreds of different, horrific demons she had faced over the years. How many got big enough to do things like that? To shake the very ground itself? How many had she killed? How many could she ever hope to hurt, let alone kill, as she was?

She gave a small whimper when the first massive foot came within sight.

Then, within a few moments, she felt relief wash over her to be replaced with shame at how easily she allowed herself to get scared over something so simple. “Wait, really? That’s it?” Joan asked.

The demon finally came within sight and, true, it was massive. Down on all fours it was more akin to a giant gecko with blood red spikes protruding from its body. Behind it a massive wagon was being pulled, on which a large cage was resting. The demon itself had a rather flat face, its mouth hanging partially open to reveal a row of long, needle-like teeth. Six small, red eyes blinked over a rather massive nose that dominated its face, just over the mouth.

They had a lot of names she had heard over the years, but she had always preferred the name that Korgron had known them as. Burdensharers. Powerful, but somewhat friendly by demonic standards so long as you didn’t antagonize them or let them see you as prey.

“What do you mean, ‘that’s it’?” Viglan asked. “It’s a demon! Powerful! Deadly!”

“Meh,” Joan said with a shrug. “It’s okay, I guess. I thought you had something a lot scarier.”

Of all the reactions that Viglan had expected, that apparently wasn’t one of them. He stared at her and, oddly, she felt a little pity. He looked so shocked and bewildered that his plans to intimidate her had been completely shattered.

“I mean, err, it’s a really fine demon,” Joan said quickly. “I’m sure to most people it’s quite impressive. Terrifying. A real threat. I’ve just seen bigger and scarier. I--”

“Don’t patronize me,” Viglan said, his eyes narrowed on her.

“No, really. I’m sure it would be a real danger to most people,” Joan said.

“Oh, but not you?” Viglan asked.

“I mean, it’s not--” Before she could finish the words her arm was twisted cruelly and she was lifted up. She let out a shriek of pain before she found herself thrown through the air and then crashed to the ground. Joan reached up and gripped her shoulder, letting out a hiss of pain. It felt like he’d dislocated it but, fortunately, it only seemed to hurt a lot and was still--

Joan’s thoughts were shaken when she realized the thumping was only getting louder and faster. She turned towards the massive demon and, to her horror, realized it was now charging straight at her. She cringed when its tail swiped out and sent a tree crashing to the ground.

Despite herself she couldn’t help admitting it looked a whole lot less friendly now.

MelodyAvant

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