“It cannot be true!”

“Do you accuse me of lying?”

Noviel watched Ayra with a half-amused half-angry-mad smile. She was still distraught at what Spartacius had requested from her, but Ayra could hardly accept the facts.

She sighed. Ayra's resemblance to her own was disturbing. It was as if looking into a mirror. A distorting mirror. Gone were her muscles. In front of her was a weak girl, a weak self a couple of years younger, plump and naive. Looking at Ayra, she understood why she had been chosen, which angered her even more.

Ayra had told her story, and Noviel had promised to help her flee to Lilitown, but in the end, the conversation turned back to Ayra's passion, or as Noviel had put it: to her very-fix-idea: Spartacius.

They were still inside the farm, in the only room with an almost intact roof, sitting at a table, eating from Noviel's supplies, whilst outside torrential rain was limiting the visibility to a couple of meters. Droplets were drumming on the tiled roof with more and more intensity. Ayra looked worried at the water torrents that were surrounding the building.

“No, no. I do not mean that. I mean...”

Noviel exhaled angrily and did not let her finish:

“Dany, Questa and Damia were there. Three of my old friends! And what does your Sir tell me? He told me coldly: kill them! Kill them! Is this not the act of a demon?”

“But,... but, I know Sir Spartacius, he would never...”

Noviel leaned on her hands, her head closer to Ayra's, looking straight into her eyes.

“Your Sir is a demon!”

Ayra leaned even more on her back, trying to avoid the intense glare but still shaking her head:

“Not true! There must have been something else there. He could not mean that!”

Noviel sat back on her chair, exhaling exasperated:

“What else can KILL THEM mean?”

Ayra took air into her lungs but was left for the moment speechless. After a while, she leaned her head on one side, looking askew at Noviel. She spoke softly:

“Can it be that it was a test?”

Noviel watched her, confused. She wheezed her answer:

“A test? A test? A test if I'll kill my friends? No, I will not kill them!”

She added with a dark face:

"Even if I have to die for it."

Ayra's left cheek trembled. A nervous tremor. She had heard Noviel's story; she knew she meant it. Nevertheless, Ayra still protested:

“But I know him!”

Noviel shrugged:

“You cannot know him! He may have liked you, but...”

Ayra's eyes were filling with tears:

“He did not ask anything from me! Anything! He freed me from the slavers! He risked his life bravely for me! Three against him! They almost killed him before his heartless mother deigned to help him!”

“Heartless mother?”

Ayra raised her gaze and spoke with a note of fear and disdain:

“Cala the Assassin, Tenebra's henchman!”

Noviel raised her brows and gasped, confused by Ayra's words:

“Tenebra's henchman? She cannot be his mother!? Nor Tenebra's...”

Ayra continued stubbornly watching a point in the air:

“He told so himself. He named her mom. I heard it. She was protective of him in her weird way. And the superior mother told me that she is Tenebra's henchman!”

She raised her eyes now to match Noviel's gaze.

“And you believe her?”

Ayra nodded, but barely:

“I… I… Maybe it is not true… but Cala has that… that aura… I could feel it...”

Noviel sighed and shook her head. She spoke now in a lower voice:

“That cannot be. I know Alice; she is my aunt, my only kin in this damned world. She would never fight for Tenebra's henchman! She even sacrificed her and Cala's reputation to save me using witches' potions!”

Ayra shrugged. She was now calmer but still convinced she was right.

“Who knows how their contract is. I think Alice was promised that they'd kill the great evils of this world. She even spoke of..” - she started to whisper - “of killing Lord Mephisto himself. I thought it was craziness, but now… I am not so sure.”

Noviel exclaimed:

“Oh, my poor aunt, what kind of a contract has she made? If this is true, your Spartacius is even more demonic than I thought!”

Ayra inhaled deeply.

“No! Don't say that about Spartacius! I am sure he did not mean for you to kill the guard. It can only be that he wanted to test you!”

“Test me? How? That I shoot and kill?”

“No. Only that you were ready! That was the test. Only that you've said yes!”

“But why would he do such a test? It does not make any sense?”

Ayra was starting to warm up at the idea. Yes, this was the only possibility!

“Who knows what he is up against! Who knows what he must be facing, what evil! He needed to be very sure that you take his word over everything!”

Noviel shook her head and repeated stubbornly:

“This does not make sense!”

But Ayra was now convinced that she'd found the solution.

“What if some spirits had taken over your friends? What if the evil spirits controlled them? You should shoot, not ask him for proof in such a case! Else it would have been too late!”

Noviel hesitated with her answer, still disbelieving.

“But they were not!”

“What did you answer? What did you answer when he asked you to shoot them?”

“I said no. I simply said no and turned my back to him”

“And what did he do?”

“He sighed.”

“That's all? He let you go away.”

“That's all! Yes, I went away to...”

Ayra concluded with a nod. She put her hand on her face.

“You failed his test. Oh, poor Spartacius, alone again!”

Noviel took her head in her hands.

“Poor Spartacius?! He forced me to … Oh, stop it. It is not true!… You know something?”

“What?”

“Now that you said that about Cala. Maybe you are right...”

Ayra watched her again askew.

“Why do you say that?”

“Look at this burned farm. All farms along this road have been destroyed. Burned by a dragon. The word goes in Lilitown that it was because Cala angered the witch in the mountain, and her dragon did this.”

“Cala angered her?”

Noviel nodded, resting with her left hand on the table. She leaned on her hand to come closer to Ayra.

“Yeah. I heard some rumour, but I could not believe it. However, if she is Tenebra's henchman, if this is true, it may explain why she allows herself to anger even the witch in the mountain with impunity. I did not believe those rumours, but now… they may be true"- she raised her head - "This does not change the fact that Spartacius is a demon!”

Ayra sighed and shook her head. She was convinced of her theory:

“No, he is not. And even if he were, he is a good demon!”

Noviel snuffled exasperated:

“There is no such good demon!”

At which Ayra tried again to protest.

“He did save me...”

Noviel raised her voice, her eyes again angry:

“Yes, I know. That does not change...”

However, she could not stop Ayra's fiery answer:

“He saved all those people from the outpost! He saved them all from slavery! He made his mother; he forced her to fight the empire and free them! The three alone against a raiding party! And they won. And they freed them!”

Noviel leaned back on the chair.

“I don't think she is his mother. It cannot be; she is too young...”

“She looks young. Do you know how old she is? There are old stories about her. I know one of the first stories I learned was about her. I was about six at the time. Do you know the story about High Vezir Kowak? The founding of our republic? When the Vezir was killed!? Do you know who did it?"

They both whispered:

"Calamity Lara! That's Cala the Assassin!"

"Exactly! She may be older than she looks!”

“It may be...”

“I'm going to follow him! I am going to find out! I am going to help him and show you that he is good; he is not a demon!”

Noviel tsked, amused:

“You're going to die after you take one step outside this farm. The beasts here are much more dangerous than those you had there around the outpost!”

But she could not convince Ayra:

“I'll learn magic! I have a book! Give me the book!”

Noviel sighed.

“Not now. We'll go to Lilitown. I need to find an enchanter to check it. The book may be tracked. In my inventory, it is hidden and cannot be tracked. Once we are in Lilitown, we will check. We will ask what they've done there, your Sir and his demonic mother. I am sure we will find mischief and crime. This is what demons do!”

“No, you will see that I am right!”

The horse raised his head and neighed softly. Noviel nodded:

"Yeah, we'll be quiet now."

She took her saddle, put it near the horse and leaned herself to sleep near the horse. A minute later, Ayra came and leaned herself against her.

Only the drumming on the tiled roof continued to disturb the silence.