The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 285: Rising Gales

Chapter 285: Rising Gales

Amarena made swift strikes, batting back Halie’s staff strikes that came through portals all around her.

She was at the point in her training that she’d learned to minimize her movements, dodging by the narrowest of margins as she used her maven speed in tiny bursts.

"Wrong," Halie said, without elaboration.

"Huh?" A moment later Amarena was smacked from behind the head. Halie had put her staff through a portal and then immediately into another portal so that it wound up behind Amarena.

"Be faster."

"Grr-agh! I am!" Rena’s wrathful response was met with a smack on the shins.

"You play with your power like you’re shooting arrows. Be thearrow."

"I... do not... play!" With a larger burst of her power, Rena put herself behind Halie, striking out with the dulled practice sword-

Smack!

Instead of hitting Halie, the tip of the sword wound up next to Amarena’s head, colliding with her horn. It was dull, which meant she mostly wound up dazing herself.

"We are done sparring for the day," Halie announced, frustration in her voice.

"What? That was barely a warmup! You said you’d teach me!"

"I teach, and you don’t listen. I say what is true: That you resist your own power and that’s why it harms you, yet you do the opposite of everything I say. You control when I say you should guide. You tiptoe when I shout at you to run. If I tell you to go left you would smash your face into the dirt!"

"I... am... trying!" Rena ground out, frustration in each word.

"This is not something you try! You do it, or you die!" This was more frustration than Halie had ever shown before. "And if you die, I will have failed you."

"What are you sayi-"

"Demon Breaker!" a new voice yelled from along the wall, the slight pulse of magical amplification washing over Rena.

Shit!

It was the witch from the other day... Brigit. She was clad similarly to what she’d worn then, only with leather bracers on her arms and legs and a pair of daggers on her waist.

The slight clinks of armor announced another presence, as from the opposite side of the wall Darlae approached, this time in armor. A light breastplate covered the top half of a gambeson, and she wore greaves on her boots and gauntlets that rose to her elbows with their bracers. In her hands, she bore a massive quarterstaff capped at both ends with metal.

"Wives Gale... so you are finally here," Halie straightened herself to her full giant’s height, and with a tug on her gambeson, she turned back and forth, regarding each of them.

"You know who we are?"

"Of course. My apprentice told me of her encounter at the restaurant. I was expecting you sooner," Halie replied.

Since then, Rena had recalled where she heard the name "Gale" before, but it was likely too much of a coincidence to assume these women were related to Kir.

"Did your apprentice tell you she picked a fight with us?" Darlae asked.

"I did no-"

"I don’t care," Halie interrupted. "If you are here, it is because you seek information about Aeleas... and perhaps to avenge your son. You will leave without accomplishing either."

Darlae was the first to ready her weapon, "How do you know about our son? What did you do to him?"

Halie stored her quarterstaff and drew forth a hammer-headed axe. "I was there the day he drew his first breath. I judged the city that tore his mother’s wing from her body... And by my hand, I judged him weak, and made him pay the price for it."

What was Halie talking about? She clearly had a history with these women, perhaps as an extension of her duties?

Rena had yet to be brought into any of the duties that Halie performed as Warmeister of the Order Justiciam. In that regard, her only scholarly task had been to learn the general protocols of the Valrians, which earned her a begrudging level of respect from some of her peers.

Everything else was combat...

...just like this encounter was shaping up to be.

"As to what I did to him, I will let you discover that for yourselves," her eyes flicked to Rena for a brief moment, then she leveled her gaze on Brigit. "Worry not, though. He lives."

"Darlae," Brigit called out a warning, and her wife lowered her weapon. Rena could see she’d been gathering mana for a strike.

"Brigit the Hurricane," Halie spoke. "Witch of Darlbridge, and Darlae, Called Elf of Iron by the Direwolf Riders of the Plains..."

Darlae preened a bit and blushed at the moniker.

"...I have a task for you that will earn you some answers you seek. If you accept, you may ask me three questions... In three days."

"Why three days?" Brigit asked.

"It seems a nice, round number," Halie shrugged. "It will also give you time to cool your heads. No doubt at least one of my answers will make you wish to fight me, and if you come at me with anger, you are only more likely to lose," she looked at Rena as she made this last remark.

"How do we know you won’t just run?" Darlae challenged.

Halie was already reaching up and into her storage as Darlae said this. She pulled forth a shallow bronze bowl which was connected on two opposite sides by a length of bronze chain. The bowl itself was etched heavily with Common runic script in spell circles.

Once she was done, she tossed it to Darlae, eliciting slight clanks against her breastplate and gauntlets as it was caught.

"On all that I am as a Warmaester of the Order Jusiciam, by my soul and for the sake of all I care for," she paid a passing glance to Amarena, "I, Halie, called Demon Breaker, vow that I shall attend to my word as we have agreed. That if, upon the successful retrieval of my apprentice’s sword, you return to me in three days with three questions, you shall receive three answers. May my heart be sundered and my name stricken from all records if I fail to uphold my word and vow as a Valrian Knight, a Warmaester, and a woman of honor."

Reacting to her words, the bowl flared to life, its script glowing white before a small yellow flame formed into an orb above the plate.

"That scale carries my mana. When held by another, it will hold the mark of adjudication for as long as our adjudication remains unsettled. Take that to the Order Justiciam. If I break my word, they will use it to find me."

"Hmph," Darlae adjusted her grip, holding it by the chain. She tried to set it on a battlement, but a moment later it reappeared back in her hand. "That’s going to be annoying."

"It will stay with its bearer for one year or until a Knight of the Order Justiciam receives it," Halie explained. "I could withdraw the token if you like-"

"We’ll take it," Brigit interjected, her voice more curious than anything else. "What is your task?"

Halie smiled. "My apprentice has lost her sword. It is quite important to her, so I would have you retrieve it... from a matron joermagr."

"How did she lose a sword to a water lizard?" Darlae scoffed.

"I walked across the lake, not knowing what it was. The beast came at me from below, but as you can see, I survived," Rena’s scowl deepened and she turned to her teacher. "In the battle, my sword became lodged in one of its horns. And since it is my sword, I ought to be the one to retrieve it."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Halie chuckled. "Which is why you will go with them." Halie looked off to the east. There is a storm coming in. When you are ready, return here and I will send you to the lake. With luck, you will return ahead of it."

Darlae shouldered her way past Rena and Halie to join her wife. Together they entered the citadel through the west wall doors.

"You have questions, no doubt," Halie said without looking at Rena, having followed the two women with her gaze.

"What is your history with them?" Rena asked.

"I have nothing to tell you with that regard. This is the first we’ve met."

"But you said... their son..."

"I knew his birth mother, who is not one of those two. As I said, I judged the boy. Mayhaps you will find your answers from them if you listen to their questions."

Amarena could count the number of people she knew on Ayther with one hand. It was unlikely the boy’s name would mean anything to her, so she moved on.

"Why this... task?"

"You can learn much from these two mages, and I expect you to. Now hurry, you will need your camping supplies."

Amarena returned to the Citadel, and made ready.