The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 288: Crosswinds - Part 3

Chapter 288: Crosswinds - Part 3

A relatively warm afternoon was spent setting up their camp, with a fireplace right at the lip of the newly-magicked cave.

For the most part, the two wives let Amarena talk as she started her tale from the very beginning... Well, almost the beginning. She started around the point where she rescued Vatima, a Valrian Knight, and continued from there, not wanting to drop the fact that it was the Duke of Heresy working with her mother, the Duke of Wrath, that got her exiled to Ayther in the first place. Halie had made it explicitly clear not to mention either her heritage or any involvement with major figures in Hell’s circles.

It was, however, impossible to avoid the subject entirely.

"So wait, you said Kir beat you in a fight when you first met, but why was there a fight in the first place?" Darlae asked.

It was the first question to interrupt her narrative, and Amarena frowned as she realized that lying to them would bite her later should they ask Kir about her.

"He... indicated he was related to Maledict, not knowing I am of Wrath. I was tired from tending Vatima, he would not have won otherwise."

"Did he tell you he’s Maledict’s son?" Darlae shook her head as she adjusted a tarp, her back turned to Brigit and Amarena.

"It came up." Rena had a small set of flashbacks to every time she called Kir "Heresy-Son."

"Well I suppose I can’t blame you. We’ve had our own encounter with Kir’s deadbeat dad," Brigit said. "Sorry, please continue."

A few minutes later, the next question came. "Sorry, sorry, but you said he was traveling with adventurers? What was he doing out in the woods in the first place?"

"From what he told me, his travels began in a dungeon. Two teachers tried to kill him, and as a result he fell into a completely different dungeon. That is where he met the adventurers, who were enslaved at the time. I did not know the others well, except for Sam, the human, and Noir, the sheepkin..."

She tried to describe the others as best she could but had little to go on. So much of the adventure had just been haphazard decisions following the promise of civilization - or in Amarena’s case, the promise of power.

After that, there was respectful silence until the subject of Darlbridge came up.

Amarena’s description of the fight with the angels was vivid and lively, down to the hand motions she used to describe the exact positions of the fighters in relation to each other. Her scathing assessment of their abilities ended with "I have seen such amateurish fighting only from imps," she punctuated her sentence with a derisive snort.

"Sounds like Executioners instead of the regular Host," Darlae noted. "I saw a few in action during the last Heavenswar. They’re pretty hit-or-miss when it comes to tactics and skills."

"They did announce themselves as such," Rena clarified. "Where did you see Executioners before?"

Darlae shrugged. "Might have been on the Wolf Plains, might have been around the time I went on the expedition against Dis."

"We went on the Dis expedition," Brigit added. "Fat lot of good that did; sieged the city for weeks and then went right home-"

"Point is," Darlae continued, "we thought there might be some risk when it came to Heaven’s agents... but..."

"We thought Kir would be smart enough to stay away from them. Not... charge headlong into a fight..."

"Kir saved that town though. Darlbridge. The angels were the ones who set the slavers on the village, and if it wasn’t for him..." Amarena shrugged, not wanting to speak to the slaughter any more than she had to. Kir’s moms were clearly uncomfortable with the truth that their son was a killer. "He found something he was willing to fight for, and it became an Oath for him."

"What Oath?" Brigit asked.

"An impossible one. To end all slavery."

Darlae winced but Brigit grew pensive. "Not completely impossible... but how did he manage Oath magic on his own?"

"He didn’t. The Oath was shared with Noir. As far as I know, it would have ended with Noir’s death."

"Noir must have meant a lot to Kir," Darlae paused her preparations to look at Amarena, her gaze boring into the demon with silent questions.

Thus far, Amarena had steered away from discussing Kir’s... unconventional relationship style... but the silence almost demanded she fill it with something-

"We’ll find out when we see him next, Dar. The only question is if we should continue to Aaru or journey back..."

"That will depend on what Halie tells us... But as long as the Academy still exists, I’m sure Kir will be fine..."

Now it was Amarena’s turn to wince. "About that... there’s more to the story after we left Darlbridge. But to prepare you, I should let you know that the Academy was utterly destroyed when I left it, most of it stolen."

"Stolen?!" Brigit squawked, "How does someone steal an entire Academy?"

A slight snarl at the memory broke Rena’s composure. "It was Maledict. I know not how, but he claimed most of the building by portal, after infiltrating it and abducting many students."

"Infiltrating? A demon in the Academy would have set off alarms except... oh no..." Brigit facepalmed.

"What is it?" Darlae asked.

"We did this... when we sent Kir to the Academy... Lumin would have had to turn off the detectors. If not for us, Maledict wouldn’t have been able to get in without a fight."

"That’s hardly our fault. Lumin should have turned the alarm back on once Kir went missing," Darlae began to rub Brigit’s back reassuringly.

"No one would have been of a mind to, considering the city was under siege when we arrived..." Rena finally got to tell the end of her story, and the relief on both mothers faces was palpable.

"So he was sealed before the battle, but afterwards he was completely free of them..." Brigit pondered. "Did he say why?"

"Somewhat. It seemed his mother had predicted everything... She arranged events to put him in that fight with Maledict... but as to why, we could only guess. Whatever the truth is, he’s free of his seals. When I left, it was because I wanted to seek strength on my own, and to spare him the risk of having a demon like me around."

She had not intended to sound sad about the last, but she the emotion had escaped her control when Brigit reached across and touched her hand. "For what it’s worth, Amarena, we know Kir will be glad to see you again, someday."

"Thanks," Rena grunted, but she did not pull her hand away.