"She"s the reason we took so long leaving the inn?" cried Robert, the fire Hero."I greatly enjoyed my breakfast, and wanted to savor it. You never know when we"re going to get food that good again," said Alfred, turning away from the man, so he didn"t see the smirk.
"It was good food," agreed Josephine, turning away from Robert as well.
Bridgette studied Aella for a moment in the sunlight, before turning to catch up with Josephine. Curt was sporting a nasty black eye, and didn"t seem to be in the mood to talk at all. Aella caught up to them quickly, and ignored the look from Robert as Alfred paused to study some marks in the dirt.
"The landworms were here in the night. We should be able to find them if we follow these tracks."
"I could care less about landworms!" shrieked Robert.
Aella looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Then what would you have us do?"
"We are the Heroes, destined to kill the Demon King! We should be heading towards the castle, to kill the king, not chasing after monsters!"
"But, why?" asked Aella.
The others stopped to hear what he responded with.
"What do you mean, why?" he said in confusion. Obviously, his statement wasn"t meant to be questioned.
"Why are the heroes to kill this king?"
"Well, because, the Church said so! The Demon King is evil, and killing him will restore peace and prosperity to the land!"
She tilted her head to the side and said, "I don"t know your church, but it seems like there should have been peace and prosperity after the last king was killed, don"t you think? I mean, if this is the way the heroes bring peace and prosperity to the land, then why do you keep trying to do the same thing, over and over?"
Robert seemed to be at a loss for words, confused as to why someone would question the church and not knowing how to respond.
"The tracks go this way, and they seem fresh over here!" said Alfred, taking off running across the field.
Josephine took off after him, and Curt, after a moment. Bridgette turned back to the two of them and Aella smiled at Robert with a shrug before running to catch up. She heard him curse behind her and held in her giggle, breaking into a faster stride, to get to Alfred before he caught up to whatever they were about to fight. She knew what worms looked like, but for some reason, didn"t think those were what they were heading towards.
A loud hiss gave away its presence as a large reptilian head rose 5 or 6 feet into the air, not 20 feet in front of them. Alfred pulled out his sword and was suddenly next to the thing, slicing at what had to be a forefoot. Aella knew he hadn"t teleported, as she could, but had used his super speed to attack before it could strike.
As it fell, he jumped onto its back and to its other side, slicing at the other front leg. Pulling out her sword, she didn"t want to be left out of the fight, so she jumped forward, slashing at its face, and cutting it in half, from just under its jaw, to just under its eyes. Needless to say, the creature didn"t care for that at all.
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Alfred had to use his super speed to jump out of the way as it began rolling and spasming from the damage it had already taken. Aella barely managed to jump over the tail, as it swiped across the ground, flattening the gra.s.s. Between the two of them, cutting and slicing what they could reach, and jumping out of the way when it got too close, they whittled the landworm down until it could hardly move. With a final sigh of defeat, the beast died.
"I found the eggs," said Josephine, as a loud crunching noise could be heard from a clump of gra.s.ses not far from them.
Robert stood back, his arms crossed like an upset child, pouting. Curt stood next to him, looking relieved he hadn"t needed to help any. Bridgette just seemed glad she wasn"t dirty or having to run away.
"Can we head west now?" asked Robert nastily.
"There might be more of those things around," said Aella, glancing around at the wide field.
"No, that species travels alone, looking specifically for a place to lay their eggs away from others of its kind, in order to ensure the young survive and aren"t eaten," said Bridgette, tucking a strand of hair behind an ear.
Aella shot her a look, knowing that Alfred wasn"t in a hurry to get to the castle, but he nodded.
"We can head that way now. There shouldn"t be any other monsters in the area, if that worm thought it was safe to lay her eggs."
"Finally," cried Robert, turning immediately and stomping away.
"He"s always like that," said the water hero softly as she drew in closer to Aella and Alfred. "Honestly, I"m hoping he dies to the Demon King quickly."
As she pulled away from them, Aella glanced at Alfred and softly said, "That could be arranged."
"The sooner, the better," he grumbled, shaking his head. "The problem is that he has a son that will inherit the hero powers once he"s dead, and his son is even worse. So, it wouldn"t do any good."
Aella understood what he meant. The man needed to be imprisoned, rather than just killed. She would have to think about that carefully. Did the palace have a prison cell capable of housing a fire hero?
They traveled for several hours without any significant events occurring, when they crested a hill and saw a town up ahead.
"Do you think they have another inn?" asked Bridgette, brightening hopefully.
"Even if they do, we won"t be welcome. We"re well inside the Demon Lands, and it would be run by a demon. Chances are that the innkeeper would run us off when he saw we were human," sneered Robert, tightening his belt so his sword would be closer to grab. "I foresee trouble. We should just go around and see how far we can get before we have to camp."
"I hate camping," groaned Bridgette, clutching her bag tighter against her.
"I can go ahead and scout it out. See if there is an inn and whether there are any rooms available," offered Aella, getting an idea. It was early enough, if she could get them all separated…
"As much as I hate to agree with Robert," began Alfred with a frown, but then he saw the look on Josephine"s face. "I think it would be wonderful if you checked out the town, Aella."
"What?" cried Robert in disbelief.
Aella smiled at Bridgette, who brightened drastically, and headed towards the town at a jog.
The guards at the gate eyed her cautiously as she lowered her hood.
"By order of the king, I demand you allow the humans behind me access to the inn for the night. They are guests and to be treated as such," she said, noting they didn"t look impressed, and had some pretty impressive muscles.
Flipping a coin at each of them, they both caught them, and their appearances brightened considerably. She had flipped silver coins at them.
"We have no problems with humans, if the king vouches for them. They better not cause any trouble. They"re not the heroes, are they?" asked one of the guards.
"Would the king pay for the heroes? What nonsense!" she scoffed, and the other guard hit the one in the back of the head.
"What are you thinking? That"s the stupidest thing I"ve ever heard. Of course friends of the king shall be allowed access. Do you think they need to be escorted to make sure there"s no trouble?"
"No, I"m just going to pop over to the inn to make arrangements and then I will escort them."
They both nodded, going back to guarding the gate as if nothing had ever happened. Shaking her head in amazement at how easy it was to bribe people, she hurried over to the inn to see how busy it was.
Inside, a thin person sitting in a corner, was strumming a musical instrument and humming along, obviously trying to get something to sound right. Ignoring him, she moved over to the bartender.
"Do you have a problem serving humans?" she asked, setting several pieces of silver on the counter, but not letting anyone but him see them.
He eyed them eagerly, and said, "I serve whoever comes in my door. If they be human, demon, or beast, as long as they pay their way. What are they needing?"
"Rooms for 5, and meals for 6."
"That would be 6 copper," he said, still eyeing the silver.
Aella added 6 copper to the silver and scooted it across the counter to him. He took it and after verifying it, slid 5 keys over to her.
"They"ll have to take their meals in their rooms, to keep the peace. The locals aren"t as understanding as I am."
She nodded and turned to leave. The heroes were all still waiting on the hilltop, though Robert looked like he had swallowed a lump of coal.
"I got rooms for everyone, but he said we would have to eat our meals in our rooms. The locals could be rather testy, and we don"t want to start a fight."
"Sounds good to me!" crowed Bridgette, heading off towards the town before anyone could change the plan.
Aella watched everyone from the hilltop, noting how Josephine seemed sad somehow. When Curt said something to her, she punched him, sending him flying into a tree. He climbed to his feet, rubbing his cheek and glanced back to see if anyone had seen him go flying. Aella pa.s.sed quickly, pretending she hadn"t seen anything. This group was very interesting to travel with, and it would be fun to pick apart.