Rose

“Wait, Ms. Rose, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Bryce tried to stop me as I turned to leave. If we were planning on all going to find Lilith, then there were preparations to be made, so if the elf wanted to voice her objections, then she could do it on the move.

“We aren’t killing Lilith, and I refuse to hear any argument to the contrary.” I marched through the hallways towards the kitchen and the other three sprinted to catch up.

“How far does the influence of your grove reach?” Bryce asked. “I can’t imagine Raith established her hideout inside that range, and if it's outside of it, then you’ll be powerless in a fight against a very dangerous opponent.”

“Her grove reaches pretty far, but definitely not all the way to Raith’s hideout,” Thea answered for me, and I paused for just long enough to glare at the young devil. “Sorry Rosie, but it’s true. Besides, Bryce and I can capture Lilith without killing her. She’s just bringing up the worst-case scenario because that’s how her brain works and you gave her a tea that makes her speak her mind.”

“I’m also worried that whatever Malvoch has planned isn’t about Lilith or Esme or even Thea,” Bryce added, which caused Esme and Thea to look towards her in confusion. So she continued. “Planning to have Thea kill Esme made sense on the surface. But the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounds. Esme’s parents were both worried sick, and it was just a matter of time before Kai got impatient and outright killed Malvoch. Besides, if he really did just want to get revenge on Thea, then she has a lot of other family members that wouldn’t bring the wrath of two powerful deities if they died.”

“But the plan was never Thea’s to begin with,” Esme pointed out. “I was the one who came up with it, so it makes sense that he’d want to include me in the revenge. Plus, he was blocking my ability to communicate with Thea. Why would he do that if not to have me rush to the mortal plane in order to get killed?”

“Oh no, I still think he wants you both dead. I just don’t think it’s about revenge,” Bryce explained. “At least, not revenge on you two.”

“Regardless of the details, Lilith is still in trouble and the longer we wait here, the worse it could be,” I interrupted the elf before she could continue her explanation. “If you’re worried that Lilith isn’t the main target of this attack, then I’ll concede that it makes sense for one of us to stay behind. But before that, we’ll want to activate the wards.” Bryce and Esme nodded in agreement, but Thea had her brows furrowed in confusion. The child was always much more clever than she liked to let on, and I didn’t want to give her time to dissect what I had just said, so I continued. “Activating the wards can be rather straining. Bryce, would you lend me your mana?”

“Of course, I don’t—”

“Wait! Bryce, don’t!” Thea interrupted, but it was already too late. The elf collapsed onto the ground and I felt a swell of power as I drained the entirety of her mana. It was a lot. Way too much for my body to contain for any real length of time, which just meant we needed to hurry and find Lilith.

“Rose, what did you do?” Esme asked. She looked terrified, and I did my best to push back the wave of dizziness in order to respond.

“Nothing permanent.” I straightened my posture and tapped into the power of my grove in order to bleed off a little of the extra mana. It was only a temporary solution, but would suffice until I got out of range and had to return the mana back to my body. “Thea, take Bryce to your room and watch over her. She’ll recover as her mana returns, and it shouldn’t be long before she regains consciousness.”

She was busy fawning over the fallen elf, but stopped long enough to give me an icy glare. “Rose, if you hurt her.” She let the threat linger, and I simply nodded my understanding. It seemed as if Thea was truly infatuated with the mortal girl, and I was under no illusion that she wouldn’t make good on the threat.

“I understand, but as I said, she’ll make a full recovery as her mana returns.” I dismissed the devil and turned back towards Esme. “Please lead me to Raith’s hideout. We can activate the wards on the way out.”

“Thea—” Esme started, but stopped when she saw the expression on Thea’s face.

“Just go! We’ll be fine.”

Esme nodded silently, and I followed her out of the manor.

It was difficult to tell while standing inside of it, but the paved pathways that weaved their way throughout the courtyard created a ritual circle that powered and controlled the wards. They were set up in such a way that only those who were present in the center during their activation could freely pass through them.

It was still possible to overpower their protection, but doing so would be difficult and impossible not to notice. I figured it would be at least a full day before Bryce recovered enough mana to attempt it, which would give me plenty of time to return with Lilith. And for Thea to cool down.

“She will never forgive you,” Esme said, as I started channeling mana into the simple activation ritual for the wards. “Thea was already on the fence about coming home and you just made that decision easy.”

“Thea is still a child,” I explained. “She loves the children, but still needs time and space to grow. She can use her time on the mortal plane to do that. Eventually, when she’s older and more mature, she’ll return.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Esme asked.

“She will.” I smiled at the demon. “Do you remember when you left over nine-thousand years ago? If you were willing to return after that, then Thea won’t have any issue coming back. Besides, it’s me she’s mad at, not you.”

“Fine, but if you’re wrong and you just pushed Thea away forever, then it’ll be me who won’t forgive you.”

I nodded my understanding. This was a risk to be sure, but it was calculated, and would hopefully solve multiple problems. We needed to bring back Lilith alive. If she was lost, then everything would fall apart. I also couldn’t allow Thea to stay.

She’d been volatile ever since she fell, and once her father died, it only got worse. I hadn’t intervened because she was good with the children and Esme was able to keep her in line. Now things were different.

Esme would need time to regain her full strength and while she recovered she wouldn’t be able to watch over Thea. Even after that, I wasn’t at all convinced that she’d stand a chance against the devil if Bryce was empowering her with mana.

Three or four millennia later, the elf would be gone, and Thea would have had a chance to grow up. We just needed to wait. Until then, we would get by without her help.

The activation ritual finished, and I motioned to Esme to lead the way. “Let’s go find Lilith.”

~~~~~~

Raith’s hideout wasn’t far, but it was still about a half-kilometer from the edge of my grove’s influence. As we approached that boundary, I stopped to move the excess mana that I had stored in my grove to my core. I wasn’t sure how Bryce had obtained this much mana, but I had a feeling it wasn’t through peaceful means. Power like that never came without a cost.

“Where exactly is Raith’s hideout?” I asked Esme.

“She’s set up in one of the old mines that was created before the quarry was dug. It’s in that direction.” Esme pointed to the north and I could barely make out a cloud of dark smoke rising in the night sky. It was a sure sign that Lilith had been fighting there.

“We need to hurry.” I ran in that direction, but stumbled after only a few steps. My body still couldn’t contain all of Bryce’s mana, and the sickness wouldn’t go away until I could use it. But if I used it all right now, then I wouldn’t have it in the fight that I knew was coming.

“This doesn’t seem like a good idea,” Esme complained. “Maybe we should go get Bryce and Thea. If you gave her mana back, then the four of us could find Lilith together.”

I shook my head. “That’s not an option right now. Just give me a moment.”

There wasn’t much vegetation outside the influence of my grove. Hel had dried up over the hundreds of millennia since it was founded and was mostly a desert plane, but that didn’t mean there was nothing growing.

I reached out with my senses and found dozens of root networks spread out beneath the ground. Forcing mana into them, I caused them to grow rapidly into a pillar formation a few meters wide and about half a meter taller than me. Then I placed a hand on the living pillar and felt for the mine that Esme had described. Once I found it, I created a similar formation about a dozen meters outside the entrance.

Next came the hard part. This wasn’t a spell that I would normally be able to cast without days or even weeks of preparation beforehand. But with the excess mana I had, it was possible for me to create a living portal of sorts between two plants that I was intimately familiar with.

Since I had just stimulated their growth, familiarity wasn’t an issue for me and I channeled even more mana into the roots before walking through the glowing green circle that appeared. Esme followed shortly after and we found ourselves standing in front of the entrance to the mine.

“That was…” Esme’s comment trailed off as she took in the surrounding carnage. “Well, we certainly found Lilith.”

I nodded solemnly. There were three demon corpses that were still burning with a black flame that I knew would never extinguish on their own. It would have been possible for me to put the fires out, but that would take more mana than I was willing to expend at the moment. Besides, if the fires were going to spread, then they would have already.

“Wait here, Esme.” Once I got her reluctant agreement, I walked past the dead demons and into the mine, where a trail of burning bodies made navigation easy.

Eventually, I stepped into a large natural cavern that was furnished and well lit. Lilith was standing alone in the center.

She was wearing her usual set of heavily enchanted ebony armor that contrasted her pale skin. Her black hair was floating gently in a breeze that didn’t exist. She was looking away from me, but I could still see a trail of dried blood caked against the side of her head near her ear. I stopped to consider my options before finally deciding to play it safe.

“Dae’Lilith’etfia—” Lilith disappeared, and I felt a sharp pain in my throat before I could finish saying her true name. Strong arms slowly lowered me to the ground as I held the wound, trying to slow the blood loss.

“Rose!” Lilith’s face came into view, and the fire seemed to disappear from her eyes. “What in the nine hells are you doing away from your grove?”