The warrior speeds through the darkened forest. I follow along, careful to stay hidden. The Arch Doxies give up on the lure and instead cluster around the fighter. Bat-like shrieks fill the air. My insides twist with worry. Arch Doxies only make that noise when chomping into their prey… And every bite is laced with deadly poison.
My breath catches. With that many Arch Doxies? That fighter doesn’t have long to live.
The warrior takes off at a run, the cloud of Arch Doxies following along. My throat constricts with concern. I push myself harder, trying to catch up. As I race along, I pull out my baculum from their holster.
Whatever I can do to help, I’m ready.
Suddenly, the sound of a great splash breaks the night air. There’s a lake nearby; the fighter must have jumped into it. Perhaps he was out of his mind with pain and poison.
My heart sinks. I can’t lose another warrior.
I break through the line of trees and scan the lake proper. A coppery tang fills the air. Blood. A trail of crimson drops leads up to the water’s edge. But is the blood Doxy or thrax?
Please, let it be Doxy.
I step up to the water’s edge. The lake’s surface stays unnaturally calm. That can’t be right. There was definitely a splash.
Could the warrior have drowned? With that much poison in his system, it wouldn’t have taken much to push him over the edge.
I scan the lake. It’s still. No bubbles. A weight of sadness settles into my soul. It must be as I feared. Another thrax warrior is dead. And we can’t afford to lose any fighter, let alone one with such knowledge of demon lore.
I cup my hand by my mouth. “Hello?”
No one answers.
“Anyone here?”
My only reply is the chittering of nearby insects.
I rub my neck and sigh. I’ll need to find the Earl of Striga. He has charms and spells that can levitate a dead body from the water.
What a waste.
All of a sudden, the warrior pops out of the water. It’s a girl. And not just any girl, the exact one from Zachary’s drawing. Although I thought she looked lovely in the image, now she’s even more beautiful in person. The mystery maiden is covered in demons and laughing.
My eyes widen. That’s right. It’s a little-known fact in demon lore, but water weakens all classes of Doxies, as well as nullifying their poison. How could I have forgotten? Leaping into the lake is not just clever, it’s brilliant. Who knew there was a thrax woman with such knowledge of demonic lore?
Now she takes after the Doxies. Her limbs are a ballet of movement as she crushes the demons with her bare hands.
I’ve never seen anyone like this before. She’s beautiful inside and out, and a fine warrior to boot. An electric sensation courses through my soul. How can someone like this exist, and I haven’t known about her?
The girl flips around, and I can see her eyes gleam red in the darkness as she laughs. Her tail lashes behind her. The thing is covered in dragonscales. She’s not a thrax then; she’s a demon.
And I thought her beautiful.
Demons kill my people. I just saw a Soul Slasher take down a hundred of my warriors. What would their loved ones think if they knew that I’d ogled a she-demon?
I pull out another gum charm and tear open the wrapper. Letters appear on the treat inside, reading quasi-demon. Those are the part-demon, part-human residents of Purgatory. They process souls and do the bidding of their ruler, the ghouls.
So, she’s a native of Purgatory. I suppose that’s better than being in the same general family as a Soul Slasher, but not by much. What does it mean that I still want to embrace this girl?
The mystery girl runs off. For a long time, I can only stand and stare at the spot on the lake where she’d broken through the water’s surface. One thought echoes through my mind.
Now that’s a girl I could be happy marrying.
I take a half-step backward. What is happening to me? I don’t know how long it takes, but I eventually find the strength to turn away and make the long trek back to my cabin. One there, it takes me a while to fall asleep, and when I do, my dreams are all the same: I picture that girl as she leaps from the water, covered in demons and laughing.