Joan knelt down and drew the sword from its sheath, looking as best she could through the darkness. Once more she wished she could do Bauteut’s spell and be able to see in the dark.

Then again, she doubted it would have even allowed her to see in magical darkness like this. Even when she was the Hero she had never been able to see through this magic.

Finally light returned and she quickly looked around the area. Demons and humans running towards the front of the caravan, their weapons drawn. That was fortunate, none of them seemed focused on them.

Unfortunately, the burdensharer was looking antsy, shifting from massive leg to massive leg. She needed to get to it before it started rampaging forward. She ran towards the front of the cage only to realize something that, while not too much trouble, was quite inconvenient and made her feel incredibly foolish. She had to sheath the sword once more and drop it to the ground besides herself, she wondered if there was anything more foolish for a warrior than drawing their weapon only to have to sheath it a second later.

Once more she plucked a hair and quickly cast her spell, hardening it into a pick before quickly getting through the lock once more. She felt a swelling of pride when she shoved the door open. “Thank you, Chase. I owe you big for this,” she said before kneeling down to pick up her sword and run out.

Only for an arm to seemingly come out of nowhere and strike her across the chest, hitting her so hard she flew back against the cage, striking the opposite wall and crumbling to the ground, her sword still gripped in her hands. The world spun around her and her whole body ached in fresh, new ways, but she struggled to focus on who had attacked her.

Viglan.

Of course. Joan wondered if it was all some cosmic joke on her, some nefarious ploy to make her let down her guard for a second just so reality could drop kick her off a bridge or something. “I don’t suppose we could call it even after that one?” Joan asked before, very slowly, climbing to her feet. She had to grip the bars to keep herself steady but the world was, finally, beginning to stop spinning.

“What is that old saying?” Viglan asked. “An eye for an eye? I’d prefer two, though. Let’s make this quick, shall we?” the demon asked before stalking towards her.

“Don’t you have more important things to worry about?” Joan asked before she blinked a few times and tried to clear her head. He was coming right at her, but with only one uncovered eye, she had an advantage. She could even take some pride in knowing she called it correctly, the moment there was a big enough distraction her came right for her.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement and her heart filled with dread. Lamberto had gotten to his feet and was making his way towards the demon. Joan wanted to scream, of all the times to do foolish heroics, now was definitely not one of them. She saw Viglan’s good eye twitch towards the man.

“Please, de--” Lamberto started to say, but Joan could practically see the result. In a second he would be within reach, no matter what words he had to say, they’d fall on deaf ears and his throat would be slashed out. A part of her screamed that he’d brought this on himself, there wasn’t any hero to save him. She wasn’t even certain she could save herself.

But hey. She’d spent her whole life doing stupid things, why stop now? She drew the sword with her right hand and let the sheath fall from her left before lifting the now empty hand palm up towards the demon. It took her only a single second to cast the spell, but oh how she regretted it a moment later. Electricity shot from her open palm, searing her skin when it left before arcing through the air at the demon. Even if the hand was numb the pain was intense enough she could still feel it. Viglan barely leaped to the side in time to avoid the blast and she crumbled to her knees, clutching her left hand to her chest.

Bauteut was probably going to scream at her later for that one. Assuming she lived.

“You—” Viglan said, but he never got a chance to finish the sentence because the wagon suddenly jumped forward. The burdensharer startled and likely frightened by the bolt of electricity that had hit its hindquarters. Viglan hadn’t braced himself at all and was sent toppling towards her.

Joan barely managed to move aside in time so he slammed straight into the bars. She glanced up to see Lamberto and, fortunately for him, the old man had only fallen onto the ground, now clutching it as best he could. She tried to ignore the pain in her left hand aside and wrap her arm around the bars, steadying herself as best she could.

‘Sorry to be of trouble, but I don’t suppose I could get some help?’ Joan asked into the bond, praying that Andreas hadn’t broken the connection.

‘What did you do?’ Bauteut asked.

‘Scold later, help now please. Viglan is here,’ Joan said, turning her focus to the demon. He had turned back to her but, fortunately, he was as unsteady as her.

‘On it,’ that voice she didn’t know said. ‘Hold on.’

‘Who are you?’ Joan asked. ‘Wait, no, never mind, help is good! Holding on!’

The cage bounced and shifted wildly while the burdensharer tore through the area, only to jump nearly a foot into the air when it took them off the road. When it landed she heard a loud creak and then crunch, before the wagon tipple dangerously to the left, nearly tearing her off the bars and, fortunately, sending Viglan flying in the direction opposite her. He hit the bars with a satisfying thunk.

Viglan let out a growl and turned a rage filled eye towards her before pushing off the bars and charging at her.

He was halfway across the cage before the wagon came to a sharp stop, skidding along the ground. This sudden stop caught the demon, once more, by surprise and he toppled sideways, falling down to a single knee.

Millennia of battles and training took over and Joan let go of the bar, sliding away from it and letting the momentum of the sudden stop send her towards the demon. Her burnt hand hit the bars on the way, but she barely noticed. Viglan had just a moment to raise his head towards her before his good eye went wide.

Only for her blade to cleave through his neck. Her momentum didn’t stop, though, and she careened forward into the bars, hitting them with a resounding clank and sending fresh pains through her body.

Even if she hurt all over she was alive and he wasn’t, that was a win in her eyes. Besides, she was now two for two against him, considering her recent record and the shape she was in, she felt that was something to be proud of.

“Oh, ew,” a voice said, making her look up.

Only to see a demon standing in the doorway of the cage. They were wearing dark, rune covered robes, but even though most of them was hidden there was no mistaking what they were. Worse, she could see the long dagger in their right hand. That and the dark green hand that held it.

Joan tried to use her strengthening spell to enhance her body, but her reserves were empty. The lightning spell, while it had likely saved them, was probably more than she should have done. For a split second she wondered if she should try to force it or, even worse, tap into the power of the key. Though the idea of using that kind of power and blowing herself out again made her quickly abandon that notion.

She just had to hold out until Andreas or Searle arrived. The demon was bigger than her, likely stronger, but her sword was longer. She kicked off the cage and swung at the demon.

“Whoa!” the demon cried, taking a step back and barely bringing the dagger up in time to stop the sword.

Joan didn’t hesitate, though, unleashing a flurry of strikes on the demon. To her relief, they were forced back and out from the cage.

“Hey, wait, don’t--” Whatever the demon was going to say didn’t matter, as it was then that they stumbled back and tripped off the edge of the wagon and fell to the ground below. They landed with a painful grunt, dropping their dagger.

Joan lunged forward, lifting her sword high.

‘JOAN! DON’T!’ Bauteut’s voice suddenly filled her head.

Joan continued her lunge, ignoring the voice. They were a demon, that meant they had to die. Obviously Bauteut didn’t realize that. Her eyes went wide and she narrowly redirected the tip of the blade in time, piercing the ground besides the demon and, unfortunately, landing on top of them. Her, as she discovered a moment later.

Despite her instincts screaming that she had to finish this, she instead stared at the demon. Bauteut had said not to, so that meant killing her would be bad. She struggled to suppress that urge, reminding herself she had to trust her friends.

“Joan, I take it?” the demon asked, before giving a light groan, her entire body tense. “If… you wouldn’t mind… your knee is rammed right into my stomach.”

Joan stared at the woman, unsure of what to do. A moment later she realized the correct decision was probably to get off her. She rolled off her and stumbled awkwardly to her feet. “I’m sorry, I thought you were one of the demons, I mean, one of the ones trying to kill me.”

“It’s okay,” the woman said, before reaching up to clutch her stomach and curl into the fetal position with a light whimper. ‘I got her, Joan. Ow. She’s okay, spirited little thing,’ the voice she didn’t recognize said in her head. At least now she knew who the other person was.

‘That’s one word for it,’ Bauteut said. ‘I saw that, are you okay?’

‘I’m fine. Just thankful she’s pretty light. Is it okay if I lay here for a few minutes? Andreas and the other one got it handled?’

‘Yeah. I’m on my way. I think most the demons got away. Speaking of, we should probably get going before reinforcements get here,’ Bauteut said.

Joan didn’t move from the wagon, instead staring at the woman. “Err, hello. I’m Joan. How’s your stomach?”

“Hurts,” the woman said. “Just need a minute. Got a really rough knee there, young lady. You’d do your parents proud with a strike like that.”

“I… uhh…” Joan said, not sure what to say now.

Thankfully, the awkward moment was shattered by running footsteps and Joan barely had time to look up and see Bauteut before the other girl nearly tackled her in a hug. “You stupid, stupid, stupid, incredibly stupid wonderful child! Don’t you EVER do that again!” Bauteut said, hugging her so tight Joan could barely breath.

“What? I had to startle it, I was likely going to die otherwise,” Joan said.

“Not that, this, all of this,” Bauteut said before shaking her head. “Never mind. We’re getting out of here. Isla, meet Joan. Joan, meet Isla. All good? Good. Let’s go. By the stars, Joan, what happened to your hand?”

“Huh?” Joan asked before looking at her hand and bracing herself. At least it didn’t hurt anymore. For good reason. The terrible burns were gone and the skin had mostly returned. Now it was just very red with black veins throughout it. “It’s a long story.”

“Of course it is,” Bauteut said. “Listen, if there weren’t three or four platoons of demons likely on their way right now, I’d be giving you a very thorough examination. As it is, that is going to have to wait for a little bit. Come on. Isla, grab the sword if you please?”

“Yes, yes, right away mom,” Isla said with a sigh. “Bossy thing for a healer.”

“If I can put it back together I can break it,” Bauteut snapped back at her, dragging Joan behind her.

It was confusing, chaotic and, in some ways, annoying. But it felt oddly comforting to be dragged around by Bauteut again. Somewhat familiar. She couldn’t help but feel she was forgetting something important, though.

“Wait!” Joan said before digging her feet into the ground.

“Joan, we don’t have time for this,” Bauteut said.

“There are two more in the cage,” Joan said.

That made Bauteut stop before glancing back, then looking back to Isla. “Can you…?”

“I’ll handle it. You get her out of here,” Isla said. “I’ll catch up. Just need a minute.”

Bauteut nodded before dragging Joan once again. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“Okay,” Joan said, no longer resisting. A part of her wanted to run back and help. Or take charge again. Or demand they tell her what was going on or why they had to rush or so many other things.

Another part of her decided that Bauteut and Searle had it handled. It was all going to be okay now. They’d come to save her. Her heroes.

------

“Come on, we’re almost there, just a bit more,” Bauteut said before giving her a small smile. “We’ll be there before you know it.”

Joan nodded, though she felt too tired to do more than grunt in response. She was finally free, but she didn’t feel like it. Still, they were now in familiar territory. Kind of.

While she had never been here in her current life, in her past lives she was pretty sure she had. A mountain path, narrow and dangerous to take animals, but on foot it was one of the fastest ways to get through the mountains and to Korgron’s home. Granted, even then it would likely be days, possibly a week, before they arrived. On top of that there were so many twists and turns in the tunnel system that it was, frankly, not a path humans would ever dare try taking. The wrong turn could take them straight into the jaws of the greater demons.

She closed her eyes and listened until, sure enough, she heard the sound of rushing water. Almost there. ‘We’re almost there I think,’ Bauteut said through their bond. ‘Searle, Andreas, Isla?’

‘We’re not far behind. Get ready to go, I see smoke,’ Isla’s voice came through.

‘How long do we have?’ Bauteut asked.

‘I don’t know, not long,’ Isla said.

‘Can I clean up Joan a bit? She’s so filthy I think her clothes might walk off on their own. Especially if we’re going to be stuck in a cave with her for the next few days,’ Bauteut said.

“Hey! I resent that,” Joan said.

“No, Joan, you resemble that,” Bauteut said, still tugging her along.

Joan glanced down at her clothing. It wasn’t that dirty, was it? Sure, they had a lot of dirt, dust, sweat and blood on them, but they weren’t that bad. Okay they were, but she just wanted a little rest.

The waterfall came into view and she let out a soft sigh of relief. It was so beautiful, a small waterfall flowing down from the mountains above, into a small little pond surrounded by poisonous, blood sucking ivy. She’d almost forgotten about that before digging her feet into the ground and yanking Bauteut back.

“What?” Bauteut asked.

‘Clean her up if you like, but don’t go into the water,’ Isla said. ‘The ivy around the edges is leech bane.’

“That,” Joan said.

“I hate this place. Does everything have to kill you here?” Bauteut asked. “Come on, let’s see what we can do without getting ourselves killed.”

Joan nodded, letting the other girl drag her to the edge of the water. No fish, no birds, no animal life around it at all, just the strange green moss. She snickered a little at a memory of Hardwin crawling out of the water, burning the stuff off him with a fury. He spent days itching after that.

Bauteut finally stopped and motioned to the water. “Here seems to be a good enough spot. That stuff won’t jump out and grab us, will it?” she asked.

“No, it’s pretty slow. It’d take a while to catch us,” Joan said. The nearest patch was far enough away she suspected it’d take at least a minute or two before it was close enough to touch them.

“Very well, sit down,” Bauteut said before motioning to the ground on the edge of the water.

Joan didn’t have much energy to argue, so she just did was he was told.

Bauteut then knelt down and swung her bag around and onto the ground, rummaging through it before pulling out a rather large metal tin cup. Joan sighed when the other girl knelt down to fill it up and waited. After a few moments she felt water dumped on her head and, while it was incredibly cold, it also felt incredibly refreshing.

“No complaints?” Bauteut asked.

“Mrggl,” Joan said in response, not moving to resist.

“Fair,” Bauteut said.

After a few impromptu dousings, Bauteut knelt down by her and gently ran a hand over her hair, down her shoulders, arms and then legs. As the hand moved down her the water flowed off with it, taking much of the grime off her as well. It wasn’t the most effective cleansing method, but she certainly felt better than she had. If more damp.

When Bauteut was finishing up the sounds of heavy footsteps could be heard. Joan glanced towards the sound and, sure enough, three familiar figures appeared after a few moments. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of them.

Andreas, his spear resting over his shoulders, the pole and blade so dark it was as if they absorbed the light from the world itself.

Searle, his shield smaller and attached to his arm, unimpeding his movements. Odd, she couldn’t be certain but he seemed taller than she remembered. Or maybe it was just confidence. He certainly looked heroic, wrapped in his travel cloak, his hair blowing slightly in the breeze.

Isla, the hood of her robe down and showing her short brown hair and gentle pink eyes. Joan had no idea who in the world she was or why she was here, but everyone else seemed to so that was good enough for her.

But there was someone else missing. She frowned, trying to look past them. “Where are the other two? Lamberto and Caius?” Joan asked.

“Huh? The ones in the cage?” Isla asked, glancing up at her.

“Yes, where are they?” Joan asked.

“If they’re smart, far away from us and getting further,” Isla said.

Joan blinked a few times, her mouth falling open. Finally, she worked up the ability to speak. “You sent them away? Here? In demon lands? Are you insane? They’ll be captured or worse, they--”

“Joan, right?” Isla said, cutting her off. “I get what you’re saying, really. I do. It’s sweet. You want to protect them and all that, right?”

“Of course, I--”

“Then that’s why I gave them some advice, some food and sent them away. Because just about everyone right now is coming after us,” Isla said. “Right?” she asked, glancing back to Searle and Andreas.

“Yeah,” Searle said a little sheepishly, his eyes lowered. “I’m sorry, Joan. But the only way for us to get here in time, well… they know we’re here.”

“Get here in time?” Joan asked. “Wait, know we’re here?”

“Yes,” Andreas said before stopping in front of her and kneeling down. “I’m sorry, kid. But well, you gave me the ideal opportunity. I didn’t know if Searle would come through for me, or if what you said was at all true. But it seems he values you quite a lot. He and your friend even ran through the demon lines to get the spear and crown to me.”

“Spear and crown?” Joan asked. “Wait, they did? You knew? All this time… how long?”

“I contacted him that night you told me everything,” Andreas said. “I figured it was all a really convenient story. I didn’t think it’d turn out to be true. But, well, here we are.”

Joan stared up at him. “All this time? Since then?” she asked, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice. “Even when you stopped me escaping? Even when you tied me up?”

Andreas nodded. “Yeah. Sorry, kid. I didn’t want to lie to you, but I couldn’t really trust you to keep quiet. You really seem the type to run off and do something dumb if told to stay still. I didn’t even know if Searle was gonna pull through, either.”

Joan tried to come up with something to say, but couldn’t.

“You know, you’re almost kind of cute like this. You look almost like a half drowned mouse,” Andreas said with a small laugh. “No more lies though, okay? I promise. I--”

Joan punched him in the mouth as hard as she could, sending him stumbling back. Though her hand felt like she had broken it again, she didn’t care. Tears of rage began to form in her eyes. “YOU JERK!”

“Kid, I--”

“I can’t believe you! I told you everything! Do you have any idea how hard that was for me?” Joan asked.

Andreas stared at her, now sitting on the ground and rubbing his chin. “It’s all better now, isn’t it?”

“I thought you betrayed me! I THOUGHT YOU HAD BETRAYED ME!” Joan screamed, unable to keep the tears from falling fully now. “After… after everything else, after everything we’d been through, I thought you betrayed me. I trusted you. I trusted you and I thought you had betrayed me just like… like…”

“It’s okay,” Bauteut said softly, gently patting Joan on the back. “It’s going to be okay, Joan.”

“I just, I thought he, I thought he had betrayed me,” Joan said before reaching up to try and wipe the tears from her eyes. “I tried so hard. I tried to do everything right. I tried to be honest and right and fix it and he… he…”

Bauteut didn’t say anything, instead just pulling her into a hug and, very gently, pat her on the back. “It’s okay, Joan. It’s okay. It’s all better now. You’re safe. You did a very good job. See? Two more of the chosen are together now. Korgron is on her way as well. That’s three of them. You’re doing a good job.”

“I tried really hard,” Joan said again, trying to force the tears to stop but they couldn’t.

“I know. I know. We’re very proud of you. And I’m sorry he didn’t trust you, he should have,” Bauteut said.

“What? She’s a little kid,” Andreas said.

“She’s a lot more than a little kid,” Searle said firmly.

“Huh? I mean, okay, sure, she might have… Isla, you agree with me, right?” Andreas asked.

“Wellllll,” Isla said. “It’s hard not to side with the small wet mouse.”

Joan reached out and hugged Bauteut back. She was okay. They were safe. Nobody had betrayed her, her friends had come. The chosen were here.

“Joan?” Bauteut said softly. “I hate to do this. But we need to go. I just need you to be strong for a little bit longer, okay? We need to get out of here before any of the demons catch up. I wish I could give you more time to cry, if anyone ever needed it, I think you do. But I just need you to be strong for a little bit longer, okay? Can you do that for me?”

“Of course I can,” Joan said softly. “I’m the strongest.” Honestly, she didn’t feel like it right now. All she wanted to do was curl up on the ground and sleep.

“Good. We’re going to get out of here, somewhere safe, then you can rest. Okay?” Bauteut said.

“Okay,” Joan said. Slowly she let the other girl go, but Bauteut didn’t fully let her go. Instead she reached down and gripped her hand. She felt energy flowing into her, a small, but gentle burst.

“Good. Just a little bit longer and then we can rest,” Bauteut said before turning and gently pulling Joan towards the waterfall and the hidden tunnel behind it.

Just a little longer, Joan told herself. She could do it.

MelodyAvant

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