“Where are you two off to… Oh, gods save us!” Peter rounded the corner behind them, pulling to a stop as he saw the same thing they already had. “What are they doing here?”
“Get the rest of the village,” Lynette told him. “Tell them to arm themselves.” It was a futile plea. This was not a town of warriors, but simple country folk, farmers and weavers and miners – not that any of the miners were available right at the moment. Any attempts to defend themselves against a hoard of demons would be laughable.
But Peter hurried off as fast as his ageing legs would take him. Lynette swallowed hard. What now? She thought of Paul, safe back in their home. But how long would he be safe if these murderous fiends got past the entrance to the village?
With slow, deliberate steps, Lynette began to advance down the road towards the demons. In short order, several more people joined her, gasping at the sight in front of them, and then more people, until half the village was at her back. She glanced to the left and right, feeling a tad ridiculous about her weaponised broom. To her right, Ann was wielding a rake – not a particularly sturdy weapon, but the sharp tines would do more damage than Lynette’s choice would. But to her left, Peter hadn’t managed to come up with anything more threatening than a metal bucket. Okay, so maybe she didn’t have themostpathetic weapon of all the people here, and was it prideful if that made her feel a smidgeon better?
Did it even matter? They were all about to die anyway.
They reached the end of the road, and Lynette drew to a stop. So far, the demons hadn’t moved. Several more people had brought lanterns, and she peered through the darkness to get a better feel for what they were dealing with. The demons were massive, most of them nearly seven feet tall, with broad shoulders, bulging biceps and thighs like tree trunks. All but one of them had thick tusks rising from their lower jaws, elongated canines about two inches long that looked like they could pierce right through a human’s flesh. They wore loose pants that seemed to be made of buckskin, though it was anyone’s guess what these foul creatures actually made their clothes from, and Lynette took the time to wonder why they bothered wearing clothes at all. They were demons, not people, so why did they care about such things as modesty and social convention?
Their skin was jet black, and over their chests, they wore gleaming breastplates. So the demons had blacksmiths of their own? It would have taken some significant talent to craft the pieces they wore. Even Lynette’s untrained eye could tell that the armour was well made. Four of the demons also had large swords strapped to their hips.
Behind them, giant lizard-like creatures stood on long, gangly legs, their reptilian eyes staring at the villagers like they were anticipating a tasty snack.
“Be gone from here, you foul beasts,” Lynette shouted, once she was close enough to be heard – though she was also keen to keep as much distance between her and the demons as possible.
One of the demons – the shortest one – stepped forward. He held his hands out from his body in what humans would have considered a gesture of peace. Coming from a demon, she didn’t dare believe it meant anything of the sort. “We come in peace,” the demon said, his voice low and gravelly. “We have no desire to harm you.”
“Get the fuck out of our village,” Lynette yelled at them, shaking her broom. “We want nothing to do with you.”
The demon took another step forward, then another. Lynette considered demanding that he get back, but it wasn’t like it was going to do any good. The demons were going to do exactly as they pleased, and there was nothing the village could do to stop them. He came two more steps forward, and she could get a better look at him now. This one had no sword, and he was also missing the tusks that the others bore. He only had one horn, the left one, curving up and backwards from his head. The one on his right had been broken off, only a couple of inches of the thick stub remaining. By mere appearances, he looked to be the weakest of the five. But the fact that they’d sent him forward to speak on their behalf suggested that he was actually their leader.
“We need your help,” the demon said. “We don’t want to fight you. Please, I beg you, just hear me out.”
“You can fuck right off back to hell,” Ann yelled from beside Lynette. “You’ll be getting no help from us!”
Slowly and deliberately, the demon lowered himself to his knees, keeping his arms outstretched from his body. Around Lynette, the villagers shuffled about awkwardly, seeming baffled by the apparent surrender. What the fuck was this demon planning to do? Lynette kept half an eye on the group behind him, still standing back past the last house, in case they were planning to use this first demon as a distraction to attack them in another way.
“My name is Koradan,” the demon said. “One of our dragons has been injured. I have come to respectfully ask for some medical supplies to treat his wound. We are prepared to offer any sort of service you require in return. We can farm, cut wood, build houses, clear a new road… whatever you would ask of us. We don’t wish to take from you and give nothing in return. We have come here peacefully, and we would like to negotiate terms that are favourable to both of us.”
“We’ve got nothing for you, demon,” Lynette snarled at him, hoping that pure attitude might make up for their lack of weapons. She had nothing else with which to intimidate him. “So you can go right back the way you came.”
“We cannot go back,” the demon said. “Our dragon cannot fly.”
Lynette braced herself at his refusal to leave. Surely now they would attack, taking whatever they wanted from the village and slaughtering its people in the process. How long would a broom handle stand up against a steel sword? What about their children? Their livestock? Would the dragons eat the goats and chickens? Burn down their houses?
The demon’s shoulders drooped and he finally lowered his hands, resting them on his knees. “Please, I’m begging you to listen to us. We don’t want to harm you. We just want to ask for your help, and to offer our help in return.”
An awkward silence fell. None of the villagers were game enough to attack the demons. It would be the height of lunacy. The very best weapon any of them had managed to come up with was a pitchfork, and no one had any sort of armour.
But the longer they stood there, the more apparent it became that the demons also had no intention of attacking the village. The one on its knees just sat there, seeming disappointed with the exchange so far. The others remained where they stood, watching the villagers intently, but making no move towards them.
Suddenly, one of the dragons gave a rough snort. Every head in the village turned to stare at the massive beast, everyone bracing for an attack.
But instead, the dragon simply sat down. It splayed its long back legs out on either side in a pose that looked markedly uncomfortable, but which the dragon seemed perfectly content with. In this position, its belly lay against the ground, its front end propped up a little on its shorter front legs, though it was more or less leaning on its elbows. Behind it, another of the dragons gave a rumbling sigh and sat down as well, seeming almost bored.
Lynette frowned, her eyes flicking back and forth over the group. They were demons. And therefore, no matter what they said, they were not to be trusted.
And yet…
“Why are you here?” she asked, still glaring at the group. “What do you want?”
“One of our dragons is injured,” the demon said again. “He can’t fly. We didn’t intend to land in your village, but we had no choice. All we ask is for some medical supplies to treat his wound. We have nothing to offer by way of payment, but we’re happy to do whatever manual labour would be suitable to help your village in return.”
Beside Lynette, Morgan took a very small step forward. “How many dragons do you have?” she asked. Lynette turned to stare at her, having no idea why she was asking, or what she had in mind.
“Five,” the demon replied. “But one of them is injured and can’t fly.” He was repeating himself an awful lot. But then again, Lynette supposed, the villagers hadn’t exactly been welcoming so far. If nothing else, the demon’s patience was commendable.
