Who does she even think she is? She just shows up now after all this time, leaving us homeless and offers some kind of half-baked pity story! Why would she expect me to believe any of this stuff! For all I know, she killed our papa anyway and then disappeared herself from the authorities. How can anyone just walk out on their children like that? What kind of cold-hearted, selfish bitch is she? She wasn’t even going to tell me...

Xellie stopped as she thought over Raye’s reluctance to reveal her identity.

“AAAAAAAUGH!” She screamed, picking up a rock from the ground and throwing it as hard as she could into the darkness.

The rustling of a bird taking flight responded to the rock throw. Feeling feathers against her ear, Xellie turned her head to make out the raven in the darkness.

“Why don’t you get lost, too?” She told it with a grimace, slamming her hands against the branch. “Shoo! Go away!”

The raven fluttered off into the darkness.

“You’re not even supposed to be out at night!” she called after it.

The slim crescent moon faded behind the clouds, taking with it the small light that remained. It had been dark before, but now it was almost pitch black.

Disorientated, Xellie scanned where she assumed the horizon was. She couldn't see any light indicating the direction of Hiraeth. It wasn’t long before, with a sinking feeling, she realised that in her hot-headedness she may have stormed off in the wrong direction.

Something fell on her head. Instinctively, she reached down, feeling in the darkness by her feet. It was a small tree branch. Why did that happen?

Then another fell from the sky, hitting her on the head. It was too dark to see what was causing it, but Xellie moved in the direction she assumed was away from the tree.

Another branch dropped on her head, this time accompanied by the rustle of feathers.

Squinting up, she could make out the silhouette of the raven once more.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She muttered, gathering up the sticks. They were dry and would make a decent fire. Setting up here for the night seemed to be her wisest choice.

Luckily, Xellie was adept at making fire. She had lots of practice from long chilly nights both with her brother, and when searching for him.

Poking at the fire with a long branch, she wondered what Raye was doing for the night. Raye hadn’t seemed inclined to follow her, deterred by a very weak threat.

That made it unlikely that Raye was being genuine about her feelings. A real caring mother would have chased through the darkness.

I shouldn’t be upset, I gained nothing and I lost nothing. Nothing changed.

It was such thoughts that kept Xellie from noticing anything happening around her. Something pulled her from her musing as a black fog enveloped the fire and reduced it to a puff of smoke.

Reaching out to the ground where her sword lay beside her, she grabbed the handle and pulled, unable to lift it. Someone, or something, grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

“Get off!” She grabbed pulled herself backwards away from her aggressor. Meeting no resistance, she fell onto her behind. “What the actual...”

Xellie grabbed the skeletal hand still wrapped around her forearm and untangled the fingers, throwing it aside with a clatter. This was identical to the demon that attacked Hiraeth.

“You again?” She asked, trying to sound cool and unimpressed as she got to her feet.

“Aaaaaactually.... I’m his brother.” The demon’s raspy voice replied in the darkness.

“Yeah... okay look, you nasty ass conjured up piles of bones don’t have relatives.” She replied, stepping back away from the voice quietly yet swiftly, hoping to find a tree behind her. “That’s not how it works.”

The demon answered her with something hitting her in the stomach, winding her.

“Don’t mock my family.” the demon said.

The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, in time for her to see a large bone flying at her face, as she looked up from coughing.

“Now... look... You’ve done it now.” she gasped, holding her hand to her bleeding head.

There was a large tree branch above her. She jumped up and grabbed onto it, wincing as the rough bark cut into her hands. “Come on, come on! Avenge your uncle or whoever it was I killed.”

“Oh.” The demon sounded disappointed as he spun another large bone her way... “You’re that really annoying mediocre demon hunter girl.”

“At least I’m something,” she answered, swinging her legs forward and letting go. She sent herself flying toward the demon to land on top of him so she could grab her sword.

“How about you wait here?” the bone pile vanished in a puff.

“You gonna bring friends?”

Xellie rubbed her temple in irritation. She knew the demon was recouping energy to come back. Feeling the blood on her fingers, she pulled her hair away from the wound and sat down, holding her hand against it.

She needed resources to fight on if the demon came back. But, Hiraeth was too far away to get back to and there was no knowing what direction Raye was in.

“Did you miss me?” The demon croaked.

Xellie turned her head in the voice's direction, only to feel something hit her in the back of the head. A second blow knocked her out.

When she came to, Xellie found herself spread-eagled on the ground unable to move. The skeleton demon stood over her menacingly. Glancing to her left and right, she could see identical demons surrounding her. If she had to guess, there could have been hundreds.

“You have a big family... you needed them all for me?”

“They’re all for you, yes...” the demon produced a large bone and poked her with it in the chest and face. “You could say... You’re boned.”

“You need to work on your punchline delivery.” Some demons could become emotional and lose concentration, causing their spells to drop. If she could hit a nerve, the spell pinning her to the ground could weaken. “Who are these, then? Your mother’s lovers?”

The demon smacked her hard across the face with the large bone he was holding.

“Your mother jokes? Really?”

This was bad! She couldn’t let the demon know she felt worried. Negative emotions could amplify his power. There had to be something...

“Death would be too good for you.” The demon laughed, his magic raising her into the air. The other robed skeletons approached, clawing at her skin, hair, and clothes.

“It’s not too... It’s not too late... You can stop... So you won’t regret this.” She gasped, squirming away from the grabbing hands.

“Do you want more bones in you? Or less?”

A bright green flash erupted in the sky, seeming to shoot down to the ground. Distracted by the light, the skeleton’s spell broke and she dropped to the floor. Spotting her sword nearby, she rolled over to grab it, getting to her feet and holding it before her.

Between the trees, a ball of golden light appeared from a tiny pinpoint of light, growing brighter. The ominous whistle of magic power draw filled the air.

Xellie dived to the ground as the golden ball flew toward her, and the skeletal demons. It hit the ground and exploded without a sound.

She looked up, expecting to see fallen trees and burning debris. Instead, all she saw were smoking piles of bones evaporating.

Sitting up confused, she noticed a golden glow from within the trees, getting brighter. Unlike the fireball, this was a more general light source.

Raye walked out of the woods, the light coming from the tip of her spear. She was now clad in delicate paper-thin white armour that shone with the same pearlescent quality as her dress. From her back, large swan-like wings draped from her shoulders, the tips of the feathers brushing the ground.

“Your mother jokes? Really?” Raye asked in a disapproving tone.

“They must have really smacked my head around,” Xellie muttered, as Raye knelt before her, laying the spear on the ground.

“Don’t try to stand up. Just let me heal you.” Raye held her hand out, bidding Xellie stay sat down. “You should lie down. You must feel really unwell.”

“Is it safe to pass out?”

“Go ahead.”