She can see the effort of the fight on his face, but he does not slow down until there are none left standing around him. The Lua are all covered in the blood of their foes.
As if sensing Elina’s presence, Makaio turns to look at her with a knowing smile. “So it is done, their leader is dead then?” he sends to her mind.
“Yes, he was burned further down the mountain.” Elina responds back to him.
Makaio surveys the area around them with a look and sees Jake and his group break into the clearing. They immediately move to help clean up the straggling demons that are left from the battle. The creatures do not put up much of a fight, having spent most of their energy fighting with the Lua.
He hears the crack of Jakes pistol as he empties the last few blessed rounds into a group of demons. A last shriek of pain and they burn to dust. His Lau move about making sure every one of the vile creatures is dead and not moving.
Elina approaches Makaio and Jake, while looking around them at the piles of dead. Horror fills her mind as she sees they are already decomposing and sinking back into the earth, killing all of the plants around them. After being exposed to such evil she wonders if anything will ever grow in this area again.
She smiles at Jake, “It’s good to see you made it through this. I was worried about you, considering the number of demons we had against us. It seems that as the Mockers sons grow stronger, so do their armies. I almost hate to think about what we have ahead of us.”
Jake wipes some gore from his face, “With all of our forces together, we will be able to face them. The damn things stink though, don’t they?”
Makaio laughs. “They do stink, but they taste even worse!” and he spits on the ground trying to get the taste of their blood out his mouth from the spray caused by close combat.
The small group stands laughing as warriors do after winning such a battle. They turn towards the peak of the mountain when a human screams in terror.
With a look at each other they all say the same thing, “Scott!”
Elina steps up and grabs Jakes and Makaio’s hands. She ports them to where the screaming is on the top of the mountain.
When they open their eyes, they face another demon similar to the one Elina killed, except more animal like. It has Scott by the neck hanging him over the cliff face of the mountain.
The clawed hand is dug into the side of Scott’s neck, causing his blood to drip down his shoulders and chest. Scott’s eyes are bulging with the effort to not pass out from the pain and pressure.
Elina scowls at it, “Damn, he must have had a brother we didn’t see when all this started.”
“Release him demon and you can leave.” Makaio demands stepping towards the creature.
The demon smiles a mirthless smile at Makaio and dives backward off the cliff still holding Scott.
Makaio having anticipated what it might do had palmed a weighted cord in his hand. He throws it at Scott’s leg and it wraps around his ankle as they fall over the edge. Makaio braces himself for the shock of catching Scott.
As the cord tightens, Scott is jerked free, but the claws of the demon slices through his throat. Elina helps Makaio pull the writhing Scott back up the cliff face, leaving a bloody trail from his wound. The bleeding is severe and Elina rushes to try to stop it.
Jake warily walks to the edge of the cliff to look over and he is hit full force in the chest by the creature. It lands behind the others after flattening Jake to the ground in a heap of dust. He rolls and moans grabbing his chest from the impact.
Elina does not hesitate and leaps onto the back of the demon sinking the sharp edge of her dagger into its chest, where his heart should be.
It screams in agony tossing her from his back and spinning, like a prize bull in a rodeo. He leaps straight at her screaming when he lands on the empty dirt.
She ports away smiling and taunting the creature. “You’re not as fast as your brother are you?”
He leaps at her faster this time to the same effect. Some of the Lua warriors have reached the cliff side by now, along with Makaio’s sons.
They surround the area chanting prayers and cutting off any chance of escape for the creature. Each time he almost catches her, but she ports away slicing him with her dagger.
Elina notices his skin begins to change. The hair on his head starts to change, shifting to coal black. His beady black eyes, begin to lighten and turn turquoise. He stands up on bare legs and soon she is looking at an image of herself.
Stunned the warriors fall silent as the two Elina’s crouch to fight one another. The false Elina leaps this time to the left since she favors that direction and grabs a handful of her opponent’s hair slinging her into the line of circling warriors.
They catch her in a heap of bodies from the impact.
When Elina lifts her head she sees herself port, landing near Scotts bleeding body, she smashes a startled Makaio away from the injured man.
The demon mocking as Elina, bends down to grab Scott by his bloody shirt, and ports away mimicking her abilities and taking a dying Scott with him.
Jake moans and catches Elina’s attention. She rushes to his side to check him for injuries.
“Did he get away?” Jakes asks sitting up. Elina sits back not finding any significant injuries.
“Yes and he took Scott! Damn! This is bad!” She jumps to her feet, “The Mocker will destroy him and take all the information
