“Oh yeah? Well, my feelings were hurt.”
Augustin coughed into his fist, carefully pacing ahead of the party as if attempting to block Bones and his needling from view.
“Now that we’ve established that we’ve been led on a wild goose chase, perhaps it’s time we find out exactly why we’ve been lured here.”
The demon woman laughed again. “Oh, so now the wizard who is inexplicably bare-chested wants to talk shop before apologizing for loosing a banshee on us. We get it, you work out.”
“It was very, very hot back there,” Augustin sputtered, his cheeks reddening. “And anyway, you stole our friend from us first!”
Braiden sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “If we could please just get the nonsense out of the way? Let’s start with introductions and move on to explanations. Quickly. I’m Braiden Beadle.”
To Braiden’s surprise, Valefour’s snarky companions were quick to drop the sarcasm, introducing themselves in turn.
“Ophidia,” the demon woman said. “Valefour is my life partner.”
Braiden raised his eyebrows, but knew better than to comment. So demons took spouses, too? That was new to him.
He held his expression as his eyes turned toward the smaller demon. It would be easy to assume that this was their progeny, except for how even Braiden could tell that this was in no way a demon child. His proportions more closely resembled those of an adult dwarf or gnome.
“Newt,” the little demon said. “Imp private of the Vermilion Legion.”
Elyssandra narrowed her eyes. “I read some books on demonology back in my father’s library. You seem exceptionally large for an imp. Tall, that is. I mean no offense.”
The imp drew himself up proudly, somehow standing a few inches taller. “I’m the biggest in my litter. Mother raised me right.”
One of the brass messengers snickered. “Raised him right in her laboratory. They ran out of test tubes, so she used a pickle jar.”
All seven messengers laughed. Newt threw them a dirty look. Valefour sighed.
“We crossed over to this side with just the one messenger,” Valefour explained. “Somehow that one figured out how toreplicate itself, and here we are. They won’t shut up, but seven of these chatterboxes are still better than a single skeleton.”
Bones crossed his arms and stamped his foot. “So rude,” he muttered.
Braiden held up his hand. “Wait. Crossed over, you said? What does that even mean?”
“Follow us deeper underground,” Ophidia said, “and you’ll see for yourself.”
“And so you keep telling us,” Braiden said. “Haven’t you noticed by now that this cryptic nonsense isn’t leading us anywhere?”
Ophidia shrugged. “Seems to be the only way to get you to listen. Adventurers like this ‘cryptic nonsense,’ as you say.”
“And that’s where you have me wrong. I’m a middling mage at best, barely an adventurer. Tell me why we shouldn’t just walk away, now that we have our friend back? And don’t pretend you can take all six of us in a fight.”
Truly only five, with Bones still shivering in his cloak, and four, depending on Elder Bahul’s mood and possibly the phases of the moon, for all Braiden knew.
The elder was already dozing by the fire, his body comfortably arranged along the top of his treasure chest. He hardly seemed prepared for either fight or flight.
“Isn’t that why you have one of your elders with you?” Valefour asked. “The whole point is to go deeper. Wouldn’t you like to see what awaits beneath?”
The demon seemed to know more about Weathervale and the world above than he was letting on. Braiden cocked an eyebrow.
“And I suppose you’re just going to point us toward the treasure and precious mineral veins out of the goodness of your hearts.”
“Consider it a gesture of goodwill. You did come all this way, after all. Maybe leave the skeleton behind, though. My ears need a break from all the shrieking.”
Bones snapped back with something whiny and indistinct. Augustin took Braiden by the hand.
“Then it’s time for us to go. In the other direction, up to the surface.”
