He looked into her eyes – the black pupils at the center were taking up most of the colored part of both eyes. She was obviously suffering from some kind of battle shock, most likely from seeing two of her compatriots coldly dispatched.
“Where did these zagoths come from?” he asked, trying to snap her back to reality.
“I… I don’t know.” She seemed to be having trouble focusing. “We were… were on a routine patrol through the low quarter, and as we passed by the gate we heard sounds. We followed them into the area and then we were attacked. We hadn’t been here more than five minutes when you arrived.”
“Fortuitous timing on my part, then,” D’Arden said.
He took a step towards the soldier, and she instinctively took a step back. Her eyes were wide and glazed, and they darted down to the ground to fixate on the body of her fallen comrade, who had been split open like a ripe fruit by the demon’s blade. There was blood everywhere, lying on the ground and mixing with the coarse black fluid from the bodies of the zagoths.
“I’ve… I’ve never seen so much bl…” she trailed off, and D’Arden thought that she looked distinctly as though she were turning somewhat green. His suspicions were immediately confirmed as she collapsed to the ground and began retching.
He took a step backwards.
Taking a moment to realign himself, he looked around the area. There were no signs of any other demons in the immediate vicinity, and for that he could be thankful. That would give him time to get the young soldier back through the gate to the low quarter and on her way to giving her report on the situation they’d encountered. If there were demons living here in the Old City, Captain Mor would want to increase the soldiers positioned in the area before things got too dangerous for the people. If he had the men to spare.
“Have there been many problems with demons in the area?” he asked her as she finally seemed as though she might be recovering, having expelled most everything that she’d eaten that day onto the ground.
“You’re talking like… like this is just something that happens all the time,” she said softly, still staring at the body of her fallen comrade. “But that’s probably… probably true for you, isn’t it? Oh, poor Jadzen…”
“I have seen a lot of death in my time, yes,” D’Arden said, somewhat flustered and confused as to what that had to do with anything. “Death is, however unfortunate, a part of life. Your fellow soldiers died bravely fighting against an enemy that they had little hope of conquering even given proper time to prepare and plan.”
“We weren’t even supposed to be fighting,” she said, her voice weak and distant. “It was just supposed to be a routine patrol. Walk through the area, make sure the citizens aren’t at each others’ throats. There wasn’t supposed to be any danger out here.”
D’Arden frowned. He’d never seen a soldier so despondent at the loss of their comrades. It was painful, certainly, but this girl seemed to be in complete shock. He wondered if sending her off on her own to report back to the Captain was the wisest idea, especially if there were still zagoths in the area.
“How long have you been a soldier?” he asked, trying to bring her back to reality.
“A year, but we’ve never had to really fight,” she said. “We’ve had to… to put down a few of the touched, and we’ve had to keep peace among the citizens, but there aren’t any demons in Calessa! They’re not supposed to be here!”
He didn’t voice the idea that there was, in fact, a demon in Calessa, and it had been there for several years. The girl was obviously spooked already, and he decided that it would be wise not to make it any worse. Regarding these zagoths, though, she could be right. If they had not seen any demons before now, it would not make sense for them to be suddenly appearing now, unless the corruption was strengthening their resolve, making them braver.
“What do we do with their bodies?” she asked suddenly, looking up at him. Her eyes shone in the light of the Deadmoon, and tears were coursing down her cheeks. “We can’t just leave them here!”
“I’m afraid we have little choice,” D’Arden said as gently as he could. “There’s no way that we can carry them anywhere from here. We can do our best to arrange them, but they’ll have to stay here in the Old City.”
“It’s not fair!” she cried, slamming her gloved fists down onto the armored chest of the fallen man. “We were supposed to be going to get drinks together as soon as our patrol was done. We were going out to have a good time tonight… and now I’m the only one left.”
Unstable was simply not enough to describe her. These young soldiers were not battle-trained nor experienced enough to know how to deal properly with death. This was likely her first brush with death, or if not, certainly her first encounter with sudden and violent death. He remembered having felt like that himself, once…
“Come,” he said to her softly, extending his hand. “It’s not safe out here for you alone. I’m looking to find why it was that I was drawn here, and while I believe it may have been in part to save your life, I don’t believe that these demons are done, and that there are more lurking about. We should find them and destroy them so that they don’t harm anyone else. Are you a fair hand with your sword?”
“Not top of my class, but I’m not bad,” she said quietly.
“Good,” he said with a nod. “You should accompany me so that you might achieve vengeance for your fallen comrades. When it comes to people, vengeance may not always be the best option, but when dealing with demons…” he paused for a moment, watching her expression. “It is always the best option.”
As he watched, a fire seemed to alight in her gaze. Her eyes locked on his and she nodded. “Vengeance.” She climbed to her feet and drew the sword from the scabbard that hung at her belt. “Tell me what I have to do.”
“We can’t go rushing headlong into battle,” he cautioned, holding up one hand. “You’ll need to follow me and do exactly as I say. This place is dangerous and there could be zagoths lurking around any corner. If you rush in too quickly, all you’ll find is your own death waiting for you.”
She nodded. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
Good. This one had a reason to follow him, to listen. He hoped that it would turn out better than his last association with a young Calessan soldier. There was still a dull ache at the thought of having lost Mikel to something so trivial, so minor… but such was life, and the thought drove him onward.
If the Old City needed to be cleansed of simple, mundane zagoths, then he would do so – and he would utilize this girl’s sword to help him. He was fighting to save the population of this city, and it was obvious that they needed someone now who could fight an everyday problem as much as they needed someone who could fight the corruption that was spreading across their lands.
“Then we will find them, we will strike swiftly, and we shall destroy them,” D’Arden said, nodding at the girl. “What is your name?”
“Elisa,” replied the young soldier.
**
“Die!” she screamed as she dropped from several feet above the ground, a flying leap off of a crumbling stone wall. The steel of her blade flashed in the light of the Deadmoon as she descended onto the head of one of the unsuspecting zagoths, plunging the sword deep into the creature’s body mass. It stiffened and fell forward, hauling her to the ground with it. It was clearly dead.
D’Arden took that moment to come out from behind a stone wall of his own, wielding his manna blade as though it were as light as a feather. The demons that were camped in the square had no idea what had hit them, and began scrambling for weapons even as D’Arden cut down two of them before they had a chance to move. A spray of thick black fluid now coated both of them, but neither of them seemed to notice.