When night fell I realized with no small amount of annoyance that we never actually got to sleep in the inn, nor buy supplies. Once more we were forced to lay directly on the grass under the stars.

There was a farm with a few little houses not too far away. Death-Bringer had tried to suggest asking for hospitality but the fear of being vulnerable around humans while still a bit injured and with Gale in sword form was not outweighed by the possibility of a roof over our heads. And so I fell asleep, one hand on the cold metal of Gale’s blade...

I woke up with my cheek pressed against warm, bare skin rather than dew-covered grass. I jerked fully awake, finding myself trapped in place by Gale’s tangled limbs. The bloody scraps of clothes that had been wrapped around his blade were now haphazardly wrapped around his body, not doing much to cover him at all. With my ear pressed to his chest I could hear a slow, steady heartbeat and soft, gentle breathing. My hands twitched as I shifted, moving slowly until I could press my palms flat against his back and feel smooth skin... not one sign that he had been stabbed so many times. Feeling my leg still throbbing with pain I couldn’t help but find it a bit unfair.

With the strength of purpose I managed to push Gale away and extricate myself from his limbs. Once free, I looked up to see Death-Bringer smiling knowingly at me. What she presumed to know I had no clue. ”What?” I snapped. Apparently too loudly since Piercing Gale started to stir on the ground next to me. He sat up abruptly, eyes flitting around, tension in his body easing slightly when he met my eyes and my heart felt a little squeezed. “What happened? Are the villagers alright? Night Lover? Is the demon dead?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Demon’s dead. Night Lover went his own way... The villagers are assholes.”

Piercing Gale raised an eyebrow, “assholes?”

“No one was seriously hurt.” Death-Bringer answered for me, “but they weren’t exactly grateful to us so we couldn’t stick around to get supplies, including...” She pointed at him, her finger slowly trailing down.

His eyes followed her finger and he looked down, his whole body twitching when he saw his nakedness. He hurriedly tried to arrange the shredded, bloody remains of his clothes to better cover himself, blushing deeply, “why am I...?”

“You were a sword.” I helpfully supplied.

Piercing Gale frowned for a moment before realization dawned on his face... Then he frowned again, “am I just supposed to walk around naked until we make it to the next town?”

I looked past him to the small scattered cabins where someone was hanging up laundry on a line.

Soon we were on the road again, Gale grouchily wearing a stolen outfit in style much more similar to mine than what he had been wearing previously.

After a few days of travel, we reached the border between Kon and Xoran, buying what supplies we could afford from smaller settlements along the way. The village that surrounded the bridge over the river to Xoran was the biggest town we’d been in since the demonically controlled one so of course... it had a similar, sinister presence.