LASARO

My chest ached as if my heart was being turned into stone. I lay still trying to gather my thoughts as every breath felt as if it would crush my heart. Was it possible that Fix was causing damage to our bodies as she healed us? Was it even possible for a creation of the Mistress to heal?

I knew without a doubt that the Gentle God could heal, after all she was responsible for the creation of life. My Grace was proof of her divine power. No matter how much damage it sustained, it would always repair itself. I was still surprised to learn that we could gain a new one if the original was given away. This meant that her blessing wasn't the Grace itself, but a passive force that encompassed all of my people.

I stared at Cleave and felt a heat in my face as anger began to build inside of me. My Mistress was hiding something, but I didn't know what it could be.

As I lay quietly I felt the ground beneath me tremor slightly. Dorotea and my father rushed into the barn somehow appearing paler. "There's an army coming," Dorotea said solemnly.

I, Melinde and Sol all sat up quickly. "Do you recognize their uniforms?" Melinde asked.

"Scarlet and white stripes with a golden eagle. They're Artusi."

"We should run," I said quietly. "We have no idea what they are here for."

Sol giggled. "Are you a coward? Why do we need to run when we can hide?" She covered her mouth as she snorted.

"This is not funny," Melinde said. "How are we supposed to cross into Illuria with an army trailing us?" The woman looked shaken and was twisting her blanket between her fingers. Small vapor clouds formed at her lips as she breathed out in the chilly air. Her body trembled and stilled as if she was trying to stop herself from shivering and I knew we would have to find a warmer place for her after we dealt with the current situation.

"I don't think it's funny at all," Sol replied as she smiled widely. She stood swiftly. "Where are running?" she asked me.

I looked at Dorotea. "Which direction are they coming from?"

"West. It looks as though they are conducting a patrol," she answered. I ran my right hand down my face as I tried to think.

"What towns are in western Artus?"

"There's a large border town with a garrison, Eppser," Melinde said. "I would assume that these soldiers would be from there." She was now staring at her hands, visibly shaking in the cold air of the barn. We would have to find warmer clothes and blankets for her if the temperature continued to drop.

I turned my attention to Sol who rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"So, what now?" she said.

"We wait to see if they pass us by," I said.

"Before you were saying we should run! Can't you make up your mind?" Sol grunted. I raised Cleave and pointed it toward her chest. I silently applauded her when she didn't flinch. Ryaa flew between her and the blade and Melinde grabbed her arm and watched me warily.

"Sol, I've put up with your behavior only because of the trauma you went through by my hand, but my patience is lacking at this moment. If you're going to continuously question my authority, you can leave, though I would advise against that. Battles are lost when forces cannot work together."

A cold look spread across Sol's face and my gaze hardened. Why had my Mistress chosen this girl to accompany us? She was untrained and ill-mannered, a perfect recipe for trouble. Was she a test? Should I have left her in behind? Delivered her to her husband the moment I found her?

"I'm not going to abandon Melinde," Sol said icily.

"Then I don't want to hear you mocking my decisions. I have been a warrior longer than you've held a weapon, and I've been trained by one of the best," I said pointing toward my father, who then smiled. "Our goal is to reach Naomi safely so that we can destroy the demon."

Sol rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said.

I hoped it would be fine, and she wasn't just saying that to placate me.

'You guys should hide. I saw movement on the road,' Ryaa called down from the ceiling. I gritted my teeth and knodded. We settled into two horse stalls. Sol and Melinde in one, and I in the one across from theirs. Our spirit companions stood look out while we crouched silently.

Ryaa

I spotted a scout coming down the road on horseback. He looked like he was going to pass the farmhouse, when he pulled the reigns back and the horse came to a stop. I floated closer when he turned the horse's head down the path that led to the house. He dismounted swiftly in front of the house then knocked on the door. After no answer he tried the knob and found the door locked.

Muttering under his breath he reached under his brown cloak and pulled out a rolled up cloth. Unfurling it, he revealed long thin picks and hooks. He selected two of them and laid the rest at his feet. Kneeling, he began working the lock until a click signaled that the door was unlocked.

Cautiously he pushed the door open and went inside. I followed him into the dark house. The floorboards groaned and creaked under the man's boots as he moved through the gloom from room to room, disturbing the thick layer of dust on the floor. He covered his mouth with a kerchief after he sneezed.

After finding only rotted furniture and rat droppings, the man collected his equipment and left the house. He looked toward the barn and I tensed. After a moment he mounted his horse and went out to meet the troop as it neared the farmhouse.

"Find anyone?" a soldier called out as they neared. The scout shook his head.

"No people here for a long time, and no bodies."

"That's a relief. Have you checked the barn yet?"

The scout shook his head. "Why bother? The house is abandoned."

"Doesn't mean there aren't any people about. Come on, just do your job. I want to get home just as much as you do," the man who seemed to be in charge, said. The scout grunted and turned his horse back toward the barn. I flew ahead of him and whispered to Lasaro about his approach.

I gritted my teeth then went to my sister. 'Make me solid,' I whispered to her. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Why?" she whispered.

'A scout is coming to search the barn. If you can make me solid, I can distract him while you make a run for the trees.'

"I don't like that idea. If we're spotted, they'll chase us."

'Not if I'm a good enough distraction.' I looked at Sol for help. Her lips thinned.

"It can't hurt," she said with a shrug. Melinde put out her hand and touched my shoulder. I felt my body become heavier and I sunk toward the ground. Instead of going through it I felt resistance, like a tarp laid over a hole. I stood swiftly and the heaviness remained. I put my hand out and moved the door of the stall then ran to the middle of the open area of the barn and curled into the fetal position as if I was hurt.

I heard the barn door slide open. If I had a heart, I was sure it would be racing in that moment.

"Hey, who are you? Are you alright?" the scout shouted. I gave a fake tremble before sitting up and revealing my face. “Sir?” the scout said cautiously.

“Sorry, just cold,” I rasped.

“You look more than cold, are you sick?”

I looked down at my pale hands and hid a smile. If death counted as a sickness then I was definitely afflicted. I shook my head and looked back at the scout while putting a wide smile on my face. “No, not sick.”

“Is this your farm? Where are you from?” The scout was walking toward me, his eyes scanning the barn as he did so. I slowly rose to my feet and he placed a hand on his weapon. “Stay where you are, let me come to you.” His voice was sharp as he spoke to me. Though he seemed lazy before by not wanting to search the barn, he now seemed diligent. His continued to roam the barn, but always kept me in his line of sight.

“I’m just passing through. I found it abandoned so I assumed there’d be no harm.”

“Did you know you’re in a quarantined zone? Where did you come from?”

“Tala,” I said using the name of the village we had gotten the horse in.

“Then you should have known about the quarantine, unless you’re lying.” By now the scout had drawn his sword. I felt excitement in my belly. Would he take me into custody or try to attack? “Are there any others here?”

I shook my head. “Just us two fools.” He frowned then reached into a pouch and pulled out a whistle. As he brought it to his lips I dashed across the distance between us, my movement unhindered by a flesh and blood body. I hit him in the throat, the sensation of his Adam’s apple against my knuckles felt like striking a stuffed animal. If I wasn’t dead I think I would have gone mad with my stunted senses. I then dashed from the barn as he wheezed, clutching his throat. I looked over my shoulder and found him pursuing me.

I made it to the door of the barn before he tackled me to the ground. “Hey!” he shouted hoarsely. “Stay still,” he hissed in my ear then yelled again. “HEY!” I saw his troop come running towards us. I let them get close enough to see me then released the tension in my body and allowed myself to sink into the ground much to the horror of the men around me.

I heard them shouting above me as I moved away and then surfaced.

“I saw him! It was a ghost! The place is cursed,” one man shouted hysterically. I took that moment to lift his sword from his scabbard and wave it around in the air. Their faces paled, some looked green, some looked gray, and others looked white as they scattered. I nicked the arm of one of them before the sword fell between my fingers, Melinde’s power spent.

Dorotea floated down next to me looking bored. ‘Crude,’ she said as she looked at the fleeing men. ‘But effective. We need to get the living moving to the border. If this place is really quarantined there will be others, and not so easily frightened.’

‘Do you think they can make it?’

‘It doesn’t matter what I think. They have to. I failed our Mistress in my duty, I can’t afford to let my daughter to as well.’

I gritted my teeth. ‘Do you think that saving my sister and her family was a failure?’

She reached out and touched my shoulder. ‘No, dying was.’

I sighed before going into the barn. ‘They’re gone, we should go!’ I shouted. Sol stood up, Melinde in her arms. My sister had fainted. I raced over.

“I think she used a lot of energy to maintain your solid form. Lasaro, help me put her on my back.” Lasaro used a spare rope to tie my sister to Sol’s back. After that was done, she picked up the spear and stared at him expectantly.

“We’ll avoid the main roads as much as we can. Dorotea, father, you will scout the area ahead of us. As soon as you see the enemy, find us and give this sign.” Lasaro held up his hand and curled his fingers into a fist. He did it twice. “I expect Illuria to be more dangerous than Artus. The miasma might even be thicker."

"Do you think our powers will weaken the closer we get to Naomi?" Sol asked.

"I don't know, but we should assume that it could happen."

The two looked at each other silently before Lasaro took the lead and left the barn through the back. Sol followed after and I hovererd by my sister's shoulder. I could hear her snoring softly. How much energy did she use to sustain my solid form? How would she be able to raise an army of the dead if I alone was too much for her strength? Or were her powers weakened because the Bone God could not break through the demon's miasma?

As we headed farther north, we saw thick clouds of miasma forming over our heads. The wind was weak which allowed them to thicken in the air and block out the sunlight. An orange haze settled around us making it appear as if we were looking at the world through a stained glass window.

I felt apprehensive as the only sound I could hear was that of my solid companions moving through thick grass of an overgrown field. I floated above them so I could easily spot any dangers that could sneak up on us.

For hours I spotted nothing, not even the insects that would have been prevalent in the fields we passed through. Had the miasma driven them away? What were we to expect the closer we got to Naomi?

THALIA

My sister and I could see Naomi in the distance, separated from us by a deep chasm in which a river ran through. I plucked a hair from my head and in my hands it grew and changed into an axe. "Are you ready, Sister?" I asked.

Damia leaned against her spear and regarded the crumpled form of our guide. I kicked at a hand that had fallen in front of my foot. "I'm ready," she said. "Don't stray too far from me. I don't know how powerful the demon's forces are within the walls."

"You worry too much," I chuckled. I closed my eyes and grew into a titanic form that was larger than I had ever been before. With one step I cleared the chasm then shrank into my usual titan form. For a beat of my heart, silence surrounded me, then the air was suddenly filled with the sounds of bells and horns as I approached Naomi's walls and leaped over them, my sister close behind me. With a wave of my axe I cut through the stunned group of soldiers that had been gathered together on patrol. Their bodies collapsed unharmed, but their souls shrieked in terror as they still stood in the place where they had died.

"Mistress grant you mercy," Damia mumbled behind me before opening her mouth and sucking the souls into it.

I felt my spine tingle in anticipation as more soldiers arrived and attempted to surround us. "Stop where you are demon! You have tresspassed in the sacred city of Naomi. Yield and be judged by the Gentle God!"

I sneered at the man who yelled at us. "The Gentle God cannot judge what is not hers," I replied. I waved my hand in front of my face and activated my glamour. My face began shifting between the faces of the men that I had slain. The soldiers paled as they saw the faces of brothers and friends. I could feel their morale plummet as I raised my axe swiftly and cut through them to add more faces to my glamour.