“FOUND YOU!”
Roth held Nadya in his grasp. She squirmed and sobbed, her face dirty but not scratched. Aeron looked hard at the creature, skin so pale it was practically lavender in color, hair stringy and matted with clawed hands, fangs, and a series of spikes protruding from his spine. What was done to him? Why?
“Danyel…” Aeron breathed out, only barely remembering to duck as the creature reached for him.
“Oh good, a game! I’ll find, you hide!” the creature hollered. “Here, take the soft one, it will make it more fun! I’ll count! One… two… three…”
Nadya was shoved at Aeron with such force that they both fell to the ground. Aeron did not wait, grabbing Nadya and yanking her to her feet as he threw an orb of energy at Roth. They got a swarm of butterflies instead. Typical.
“No! Be gone demon spawn!” Roth growled, swatting at the butterflies or trying to set them all on fire. Nadya slowed long enough to watch in confusion, until Aeron grabbed her wrist to tug her along. He did not want to know why they were spared, but was not going to waste the opportunity either. The stupid thing did more damage trying to kill the butterflies than it did trying to get them. They ran, dodging a few blasts of blown earth or ducking away from flying debris until finally ducking into what might have been an herbalist shop at one point. Dried twigs and flowers littered the floor and broken shelving. Some even hung from the ceiling.
“Why did it let me go?” Nadya breathed. Aeron saw her lips moving and felt the vibration of her voice but did not truly understand her. His head hurt, his ears making him dizzy. “Aeron?”
“I…” he began but still could not bring himself to tell her. “I don’t know.”
He lied to stall for time, leaning up from their spot enough to look out a window that was covered in broken wood slats. He could not see much, but what he saw made his blood run cold. On the ground near the shop was Kendall. The young queen, he noticed, used her body to shield someone beneath her, presumably Demyan, from something unseen.
“Demyan,” Aeron said, moving before he even realized he’d gotten up. If Nadya tried to stop him, he did not notice. His focus was Demyan, his friend. He startled Kendall, but quickly saw the relief in her face - - until he realized what she was protecting the king from.
A demon, tall and broad with four arms and wings at its back, a weapon in each beefy hand. There was no time to react or think as the beast brought all four weapons down on Aeron’s head. All he could do was flinch, listen to the vibrations of Kendall scream - and then breathe when nothing happened.
“ - up boy!!”
Aeron looked up, eyes wide with shock. A centaur stood above them, muscles straining to hold back the demon that had tried to smash Aeron to bits mere moments before.
“Na-vid?” Aeron breathed out right as an arc of ice ripped the demon in half. Everyone flinched then, turning to look at the source of their salvation. Nadya.
“Thank her later, highness,” Navid said as he hefted the unconscious king into his arms. Aeron looked to the centaur in confusion, unable to truly hear his voice. It was not possible for the centaur to be there. Aeron must be hallucinating. He could not move, could not think, only stare. He felt someone grab his shoulder and jumped. Kendall stood beside him, her face desperate to be away. Aeron looked at Navid again, the centaur still there as a sentinel above him and finally allowed himself to be moved.
They ran toward Nadya, ducking back into the herbalist shop and through broken doorways to a sub level with racks of glass bottles: a brewery then, not an herbalist - or maybe both. The Kormandi did strange things. Things in the sub level remained untouched, as if no one bothered to look beyond the main levels. A long, narrow pass was hidden behind one of the racks barely noticeable until Nadya pointed it out. Aeron stood in shock, staring stupidly until Nadya took his face in her hands and kissed him. Hard.
“What.. Was that for?” Aeron frowned.
“For you to wake up, Prince of the Flame. Focus! And, because the centaur did not come for Demyan. He came for your cursed pointed ears!”
Aeron only blinked. Nadya shook her head, making a vexed sound as she moved to help Kendall. Aeron, on the other hand, looked to the centaur looming over the fallen king.
“He’s alive, but badly injured. He needs Healing, even if it is a small amount,” Navid said. Nadya nodded, stooping to help as Navid rose to his full height.
“What are you doing here?” Aeron said. Navid smirked. He did not fit well in the sub-level of the shop, too broad and tall to be truly comfortable. “How did you even find me?”
Navid tossed something at Aeron, something sharp that left a tiny slice in his palm when he caught it. When he looked down his jaw dropped. It was a nearly- black stone with a single rune etched into the center. Eila made it and three others after their uncle disappeared. Aeron stole them when he left Damaskha and given them to Master Barth in hopes that the Itahli alchemist could replicate them. If Navid had them…
“Wait, Master Barth, is he-” Aeron began.
“Alive,” Navid cut in. “As was Baron Karov, though he was considerably worse off when I left. The stone they used took them both to your sister. She needs to work on proximity. They ended up in the temple proper. I landed on top of a broken wall almost two blocks over. You’re lucky the girl screamed - unless that was you.”
Aeron didn’t care if the demi-human landed in a vat of filth
