~~Day 66~~
~~David~~
Daoka clicked in his face and poked him with a claw. Someone had, apparently, ratted him out. A quick glance at the grinning Caera announced her betrayal.
"You could have at least woken us," Jes said, getting up off the pile of silk blankets.
"I think Acelina wanted to do something a little... private," he said.
"With the other spire mothers?"
"Kinda?"
Daoka clicked some more, frowning, got behind him, and hugged him. Hard. Her breastplate dug into his back, and he winced and half squeaked, but she didn't let him go. Death by bear hug.
Jes got up in his face and poked him in the forehead. "Your owner isn't happy."
"Sorry! Sorry. Acelina sounded like she really wanted--"
"Yeah yeah, I get it. Dao understands, too."
Daoka sighed, chirped, and rubbed her cheek on the top of his head.
The Las joined in, clicking and whining, and a few of them punched David in the leg. Gently. Tiny as they were, they were stronger than humans by a decent margin, but they were smart enough to not break his legs as they frowned up at him.
"I think Acelina wants to leave it at that," Caera said. "You know what she's like. Lilith forbid she ever relax around the group for half a second. But she relaxed with the other spire mothers, so, it was a good goodbye." Nodding, Caera stepped closer on all fours and nudged her head between Dao and David, saving him from asphyxiation. "Let's get ready. Who knows what Azailia's gonna do. I'm guessing she'll try and trick David into staying."
"Perhaps," Moriah said. "But Azailia has been known to be direct in the past." Right, Moriah probably had learned some history about what the spires had been up to the past century or ten.
"Whatever it is," David said, "we'll deal, right? We got a powerful angel with us."
Moriah glared at him. "Do you mock me?"
"What? No." Uh oh.
"I am still missing a wing, fool." She aimed her shoulder with the missing wing toward him. The second wing was still a stub, not even a meter long, underdeveloped and snug against her back. "And this shoulder..." She rotated the bad shoulder. Just watching proved it wasn't in good shape. He'd seen people favor a shoulder like that before, ones who'd had nasty dislocations that meant permanent issues. "My body spends every waking moment repairing the damage of hellfire, and you expect me to--"
Jes smacked Moriah in the ass with her tail. Everyone froze. Moriah sucked in a hard hiss and readied a nuclear salvo, and Jes put up her hands.
"We get it. The rider fucked you up. But we've all been there, beaten to fuck, injured and broken, and still found a way to make shit work. And hey, you're an angel. Even half an angel is stronger than most demons, right? Calm the fuck down."
Cue the glaring match. Everyone took a step back, and Moriah and Jes took a step toward each other. Sure, Jes was a great fighter. A gargoyle who knew how to kill and knew it well, working as one of Zel's enforcers. But the chances a gorgala could beat a one-winged angel in a fight were pretty damn small.
Moriah took a deep breath, stretched out her good wing, and nodded.
"Very well."
Jes smiled. "Great. Thought I was gonna have to kick your ass for a second there."
David braced for an explosion. None came. Moriah rolled her eyes and stepped away.
"I am well enough to use batlam and fight, at least somewhat," she said. "But I cannot fly."
"None of us can fly," Caera said.
"An angel relies on flight for superiority. Maneuverability is key."
Daoka nodded and clicked, but gestured around, picked up a piece of armor, and put it back on. No one had completely removed their armor, and the translation was clear: time to get ready.
They did. Everyone put back on what pieces of armor they'd taken off, checked their weapons, wings, hooves, and got ready by the door. Acelina had closed it for them, and someone had to open it.
Someone did. Azailia returned, with Timaeus, Laoko, and her right hand Silvain, and at least forty demons. No, wait, more. Some were from Timaeus's group, but plenty of others David had never seen; not that he was good at telling demons apart, but they sure looked new. Brutes and vrats and gargoyles, a tiger, and a satyr. All wore armor, bent chunks of black metal on random body parts, held to limbs by leather straps. All stared at David and Moriah like they were dangerous-but-delicious meals.
The new demons weren't just regular demons. They had more pieces of armor. Some had trophies hanging off belts. All wore more armor than the typical demon. Even the brutes, who usually went naked, had a few pieces of armor on them.
"Hello, my dear guests," Azailia said, smiling.
Jes snarled and stood in the front of the group. "That's a lot of demons to say hello."
Caera crept closer, got on David's side, and stayed there, tail deadly still behind her.
Azailia nodded. "Indeed. They are some of my best enforcers, and they will join you across the border. They will take you to the Scar all the way to Tarkissa, assuming Tarkissa's bailiffs do not give you trouble."
Daoka joined David's other side and clicked once into his ear. Again, no need for a translation. He didn't trust any of that.
"We going now?" Caera asked.
"After the feast. You must cross the Dead Lands and the Amisius Forest to reach the border of the Scar. And while there are pockets of activity where souls are frequently dumped, you must travel between them. We should eat before you go." She smiled, soft face wielding a scalpel of a little grin, and she gestured for them to follow.
David looked at Laoko. Normally, the tetrad had her own little smiles and grins, but not this time. She frowned slightly, eyes pointed down in classic thinking mode, but she met David's gaze for a moment, and her frown only grew. But she followed her ruler.
Moriah sucked in a slow breath and stepped out in front. Demons backed away, nudging each other to get out of her path. They hadn't expected the one-winged angel to go first, especially without her armor, but Moriah marched on like she could incinerate every demon around her if they so much as looked at her wrong. She was smaller than every one of them, and yet, bigger.
Jes traded a surprised glance with Dao. Dao shrugged, and followed her. Everyone else followed, too, the Las taking the back and huddling together close to Caera's tail.
They went up a couple floors, and everyone, all sixty or seventy of them, stepped into a giant room of metal walls with flesh pulsating between ribs. Not nearly as much flesh as down in the hatching pits or lower, but enough flesh the room smelled of blood. And in the center of the room, a large section of the floor was wet muscle, slowly beating, and a pile of hearts waited to be eaten.
"Come, eat," Azailia said. "I cannot join you on your journey, but Laoko and Silvain will."
"Not Timaeus?" Jes asked, marched up to the pile, and took a heart from the top. Maybe she wanted to show off her ego, or be strong and commanding like Moriah. Either way, she didn't even glance back. Rude. David followed suit. If David had waited, or asked for permission to eat, that would have been showing weakness. He took a heart, too.
Moriah joined them, filtered through the hearts, and found a large one that couldn't have come from a human. She devoured it quickly. Maybe demon hearts were affecting her, because she was getting more comfortable eating them, and not being squeamish about it, either. She ripped through the flesh with her teeth all too much like a demon, and stared around at the other demons who slowly approached the pile like hungry pack animals, waiting for their turn.
Dao and Caera got their own hearts, but Caera also played caretaker and gave the Las a heart each. They cheered. It wasn't every day the Las got a whole heart for each, tiny as they were.
Laoko smiled at the little ladies and fetched a heart, too.
"It's a long journey to the Scar," she said. "But we must leave quickly before the rider attacks. Two days was probably too long a stay."
"Can he assault a spire solo?" David asked. "Last time he attacked a spire, he had a giant hellbeast and a couple dozen demons in aera armor with it. I mean, if he comes in alone, can you capture him?"
"Many have tried," Azailia said. "No one has captured the rider. He always escapes. No matter how many demons come at him, he always survives. But he is a wild animal, chasing whatever scent catches his interest. That scent is you, so it is best you stay on the move." She folded her four arms across her chest, and her tail flicked once to the side. "Not that I cannot fend off the rider if I have to, but I would prefer to not waste demons on a pointless affair."
"So Timaeus is going back?" Jes asked, and she threw the huge tetrad a squinting eye along with a small flap of her wings. He returned the eye squint, and the wing flap, grinned, and swallowed down a heart.
"Yes," Azailia said. "Ultimately, we decided he cannot leave his district for too long. Factions war and cause chaos without a shepherd to punish their misdeeds. You understand. Laoko will be your guide, as will Silvain."
The group looked at Silvain. Somehow, despite how similar he looked to Timaeus, a ten-foot demon with a tail, dinosaur feet, giant wings, and four enormous black horns, he looked considerably meaner. Maybe it was just the stoic attitude, but David immediately put him on the 'do not trust' list.
They ate, David's group, and everyone else. No one looked comfortable with each other. The brutes, in particular, looked at Moriah and David like they wanted a fight. Sure, Moriah could win that fist fight, but David couldn't, not inside the spire. Once they were out on the road, he'd feel more comfortable, but right now the tension felt like a wire ready to snap.
Nothing happened. Everyone ate and went down to the ground floor. David snuck some glances with Caera and Jes, and they both shrugged. Moriah couldn't stop glaring at the demons, daring them to try something; subtle, she was not. But no demon so much as got close to them.
They stood in the spire's entrance where the fog pooled. First out went Silvain, then David and his group, and then Laoko and her demon entourage. A lot of demons, ready for battle, ready to protect David and the group on their perilous journey.
Yeah right. What the fuck was going on?
Another fifty demons waited for them, all wearing armor.
"Uh..." David tilted his head.
"You must be protected," Azailia said. "A force this size will give the rider pause, at least."
"You're announcing our location," Moriah said.
"Hardly. Unlike angels, we do not need the sky to move silently. Make the effort to remain hidden, and the fog will hide you. Or did you not think there are forces of similar size between you and your goal?" Azailia shrugged and folded her four arms across her huge chest. "I know my province well. There are dozens of groups that could attack you, and no angel testing the fog could separate them from yours at a glance. You will be hiding in plain sight, in a sense."
It was like medieval Europe, or ancient Greece, or ancient China, or... lots of places, now that he thought about it. Small, warring states, who treated combat like a natural part of life. And they were going to pretend to be one of those states, just nomadic?
"My warriors," Silvain said, shot a hard glare at David over his shoulder, and gestured to his troops with a flick of his tail. "Respect them."
