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Yeah, yeah, I know. I shouldn’ta done that. But when a cutie is flirtin’ so cutely, it’s hard t’ say no.
Fan Li concocted this image for me in the prime o’ my life, not as the old mum I came to be at the end, livin’ my last moments slowly wastin’ away. She did the same for everyone. Daq, Lydia and Lhan were in peak shape at their deaths, of course, but Fan Li, Kwelabi, Rugau, and myself all died as ancient husks, so she brought us back as our useful and spry selves of our youth.
And I’m proud t’say, my useful and spry self o’ my youth never turned away a willin’ wench!
<Don’t be proud of that! Show a little restraint!>
Haha. Her Highness still has a few complaints, I guess.
<Of course I have!>
The magic systems of the princess and Fan Li are too alien for me to use. My magic is nothin’ more than an ability that the people of Huade would call a ‘skill’, combined with the help that Wind spirits give a Windseeker like me as one of their kindred. They use complex techniques and spells and skills layered one on top of another in a way that I could never manage. But the princess already slipped into Shindzha’s head before switchin’ with me, so I could stay there just fine.
Her Highness wanted Shindzha to stop before she reached the town, and I felt we were gettin’ close to that point. She was followin’ a rough trackway, not really a proper road but faint wheel ruts where farmers ran their wagons along the same path repeatedly until they left a permanent scar in the soil, and we were now lookin’ at the town’s perimeter fence in the distance.
<Shindzha, we’re gettin’ close to town, so take a rest in that stand o’ trees up ahead.>
“Yes, Mistress!” she replied in a quiet voice. “You’ve changed personalities again, haven’t you?”
I woulda laughed if I could. <That’s right. I’m Sirth right now.>
She was silent until we reached the stand and she found a place to sit and relax. Then she asked in a tentative voice, “Mistress?”
<What’s up?>
“Why do you not show yourself here? You are a tremendously powerful being, so you have no need to hide.”
<I’m not hidin’, precisely,> I answered. <The formation my friends are checkin’ here might be very hazardous to me and my babies. I’ve promised t’not go near it. Visitin’ you like this doesn’t count, so here I am.>
“Even though it targeted mortals? Are you even in danger from it?”
<We don’t know that. It could target any livin’ bein’. Unless you know somethin’?>
“No, Mistress. I know nothing of this mystery. But I’ve heard of similar formations to drain mortals of their blood. I don’t think they work on non-mortals.”
I recalled the magic that Tiana ran into in Cara Ita. I suppose it would be a lower class of the same sort of magic at that.
<Yeah, well, without proper information, we can’t be sure that this formation has the same limitation.>
“So why do you hide out here? Or are we already inside the formation?”
<Accordin’ to the fairies, it’s barely bigger than the perimeter fence, so we prob’ly aren’t. But I don’t want any spyin’ gidim to spot me. Your old boss almost certainly has his eye out for me.>
She was quiet for a bit, then noted, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Mistress. We’re inside a repellant field that would be keeping them away.”
For several seconds, I simply puzzled over her words. A repellant field to keep out gidim?
Fan Li entered the conversation to note, <Certainly such a thing can exist. The Healing spell <Sanctuary> has that effect, for example.>
Mireia underwent trainin’ at the Central Shrine durin’ the last couple months and learned several sacred spells that only priests learn. How Rhea arranged that with a religion that doesn’t recognize her, I don’t know, but Dorian priests get messages from Heaven somehow or other. They consider her a novice priestess now, since they don’t have any rule against marriage in that faith. So we now know about even more Holy magic, that ordinary healers never learn or even hear about.
Unlike in the [Blood Effigy], I can’t use Tiana’s senses in this form. And Shindzha seems to have some demonic sense that I don’t know how to use, which was givin’ me only vague impressions that I didn’t understand.
I asked Fan Li, <Do you have some way to sense it?>
Instead o’ meetin’ my expectation that the old lady would have some trick or another, she replied, <This small one trusts the Servant’s abilities. If Shindzha senses it, it’s there.>
<I know that!> I shot back, <But…>
I woulda frowned here if I coulda. That ability’s not available in this form.
Fan Li agreed, <You want to understand what she senses for yourself. Grant this small one a moment to interpret Shindzha’s demonic sense for you.>
“Mistress? Are there two of you right now?” Shindzha wondered.
I tried to give her a reassurin’ smile in my thoughts. <You can think of Fan Li and me as sisters, or however you want to see it. You can hear us, is it?>
Tiana noticed before that Shindzha seemed to have a stronger link to us than the other Servants. Perhaps it was somethin’ to do with our takin’ over whatever hold her former master Durash had over her, but while we were with her, she would overhear our spiritual voice conversations with others, and now, it seems, our conversations between personas.
“Yes, Mistress,” she agreed. “Mistress Fan Li, thank you for your trust in me.”
<Your faith in us is eminently obvious, Child. This small one is grateful for it.>
Nobody spoke for a while, until Fan Li muttered, <How strange. What Shindzha senses is a weak magic field targeting demons. Does it not affect you, Child?>
“It does, Mistress, but I can easily tolerate it. It’s only strong enough to repel lower demons.”
Fan Li mused, <It makes lower demons avoid it subconsciously. A demon planning on going to Oseri could easily penetrate it. What would the purpose of such a thing be?>
“Isn’t it obvious, Mistress?” Shindzha wondered. “Gidim belonging to higher demons are always combing the countryside, bringing them back information. The town is supposed to be empty. If a higher demon didn’t want the others noticing that it isn’t, he could quietly repel their scouting gidim from here, and the lack of information about an empty town would not stand out as unusual.”
<Do higher demons do this often?> I asked.
“It will fail eventually, because it isn’t natural to hear absolutely nothing about a particular place. But if a demon wanted to hide their actions for a matter of days, or maybe months, they might do this. It takes time for the hole to stand out.”
I recalled that Shindzha had her own herd of gidim, back when Tiana first encountered her.
<Yer talkin’ from experience, right?>
“Well, yes and no,” she admitted. “Only top ranking demons maintain such large flocks that they can cover wide regions. Lord Durash has a whole company of tamers controlling and managing his gidim for him. My little flock was only able to cover my immediate surroundings.”
Fan Li wondered, <Why do they use a Dark magic field rather than Demonic magic for such a thing?>
“Dark?” Shindzha echoed, then concentrated on her Demonic sense. “That’s very strange. Demonic magic would be more effective, wouldn’t it?”
<You mean, this ain’t the spell you are familiar with?> I asked.
“No, Mistress,” Shindzha shook her head, still puzzled. “Now that I look at it closely, it feels quite different, actually.”
We all fell silent, I’m sure all ruminatin’ on the same matter, wonderin’ if it might signify somethin’ important.
“Mistress, are you sure that the mortals are coming here to be sacrificed?” Shindzha wondered.
<Well, I’m sure they don’t know it…> I suggested.
<That’s not what she means, Captain,> Fan Li corrected. <She’s wondering if the purpose someone is sending them here is in fact what we fear.>
“It doesn’t make sense,” Shindzha pointed out. “If the True… I mean, the Demon God already couldn’t get what he wanted in this place, and that… other god?…”
Fan Li supplied, <Erebos.>
“Erebos,” she agreed. “If he is just going to block it again, what would be the point?”
<Astaroth did gain a large quantity of ‘demonic substance’ from it,> Fan Li pointed out.
“Wouldn’t… um, Erebos, be looking for a way to prevent that as well? You told me he did as much as he could because he only noticed what was happening at the last minute, but he surely would be watching now. And aren’t your people already here to learn how to disable the formation? I’m sure the Demon God would expect these things. So why is he trying anyway?”
Fan Li noted, <We have no other suspect.>
But I could tell she was just as uncomfortable with that claim as I was. After all, we were assumin’ an awful lot. We had no proof that Astaroth, or Durash, or any demon actually did have the ability to copy the Elder Bond. And we had no proof that he was actually usin’ it or any other magic to make those people come to this town.
It was all speculation in the end. And despite what Fan Li said, we did have another suspect. We just couldn’t imagine any motive for that other suspect.
I realized the time the fairies were takin’ to find us was gettin’ a little long, and wondered, <If no gidim are about, do we need to keep the [Vampire Cloak] on her?>
<This small one had the same thought,> Fan Li agreed. <Shindzha, hide a bit deeper in the trees. We don’t want to alarm any mortals that come along.>
The Servant obeyed, movin’ to a new spot out of sight of the ‘road’, and Fan Li dropped the cloak.
Only a minute later, Shindzha sensed a hidden presence approachin’ and went instantly on high alert, jumpin’ to her feet and puttin’ her hand on the handle of her dagger. Her claws were battle-ready as well.
“Hohohohohoho…” Serera announced herself gently as she faded into view, at the edge of the stand. She pooched her lips and wondered, “Am I that scary?”
Shindzha did relax very slightly, but remained on guard. She had met Serera before, of course, but she didn’t have a lot of interaction with her.
<Shindzha, we called her here,> I told her. <Relax.>
The hellspawn girl finally did relax. She bowed her head, “I apologize, My Lady.”
“So, I understand we’re to disguise you,” Serera observed. “I could manage something, but it would be a pain, and I have a better choice for you to rely upon. She should be here shortly. We’ve been scouring the area looking for you, so we split up.”
<Serera couldn’t see through the [Vampire Cloak] after we weakened it?> I responded in surprise.
Of course, Serera didn’t hear me. But Fan Li observed, <Lady Tiana’s vampire magic has likely grown more powerful. She’s been working hard to refine her physical vessel all this time. We may not be a good judge of exactly how strong her innate magic is, now.>
Havin’ heard our exchange, Shindzha asked for us, “Fair knight, could you really not see me at all until Mistress dropped the stealth magic?”
“Not a bit,” Serera confirmed. “Your Mistress’s magic is remarkably strong, you know. If she doesn’t want to be seen, we don’t have a chance.”
I don’t know if it was Fan Li or me who immediately thought, But we did want you to see her…
It was probably both of us.
“Ah, here she is now,” Serera noted, just before a tiny second voice let out a happy cry.
“Pretty demon girl!”
