I spent a year sharpening my sword skills and holding in my ever increasing hatred of Mistress Isabelle, who keeps acting like what she has done for me was out of the kindness of her heart, even though I've never met my mother or father, I feel an even stronger desire to act on my revenge, I stare at the open book in front of me and rip off a page when I flipped it, I then grit my teeth.
"stop, getting worked up or you will activate bloodlust."
I take a couple of deep breaths and sigh to myself.
"I can't stand being in this castle anymore, I need to get the hell out of here."
my demon sense activates and feel something behind me and turn around.
"who is it?"
I see Mistress Isabelle is standing there smiling at me, and by reflex I frown.
"oh Mistress Isabelle, I thought is someone else "
she pinches my cheek.
"why are you frowning?"
I reply.
"sorry Mistress Isabelle, you should already know how I get when I get disturbed when I'm studying."
ever since Mistress Isabelle revealed to me that she knew my father, I wanted to be left on my own in the past year, and made sure to turn up my grumpinness level, I then ask her.
"am I needed Mistress Isabelle?"
she answers.
"I came to fetch you, since I'm gathering all of you for another important mission."
Frautz who has been silently studying across the table from me, asks.
"is it time already?"
even though I made it clear to Frautz that I wanted to be left alone, but his stubborn and straightforward personality didn't allow him to do that, Mistress Isabelle answers.
"follow me my children, and find out for yourselves."
as we sit up from our chairs and follow her out of the library, I think to myself.
"finally the time has come."
we arrive at the main entrance of the castle where the others are already gathered, with Captain Reenon and other captains, I look at Jillian and ask myself.
"I need to delay, her abilities to use her fire magic at the mountains enough for me to fake my death."
Mistress Isabelle gets in the center of us and gets
our attention.
"the time for another mission has arrived my children, we have been recieving reports about frost trolls attacking traveling merchants coming through the mountain path, over this past year or so."
she pauses to make sure we are listening and then continues.
"of course I have soldiers taking care of the problem, but I thought this would be the most useful test for all of you, especially since you have
increased your swordmanship skills, she then looks at Jillian and smiles.
"and some of you have discovered new found magic abilities as well."
confused I think to myself.
"what! this didn't happen last time, Jillian discovered her magic after we started to suffer from hypothermia and her desire to save us helped her."
I grumble.
"I don't know what I did, that changed this, but it looks like I'll have to change my approach on how I'm going to fake my death."
she points at Captain Reenon and the other Captains and said.
"they will be accompanying you to your destination and leave you to finish your mission."
she then pause and smiles.
"oh and you are not allowed to return back to the Captains, unless you have two Frost Troll's Big Toes from each of you."
I think to myself trying to come up with another plan on the fly.
"what if I suggest we split up and pretend that I'm being overwhelmed by the Frost Trolls and leave behind enough blood, to convince them that I was injured or killed."
Mistress Isabelle then said.
"I wish you good luck, my dear children."
we follow the captains and split up in two groups of four in the carriages, I sit in the same carriage as Frautz, Jillian and another female demon named Faye, she has shoulder length purple hair and purple eyes, me and her only ever talked when it came to strategizing plans of attack during the human-demon war, I make sure to sit down next to Jillian, who is surprised that I did so,
I then think to myself.
"I need to find out, how much fire magic she has learned."
after setting off to our journey to the mountains, Jillian takes the initiative to say something to me by asking me.
"is there a reason you sat next to me? instead of your buddy Frautz?"
I respond.
"well we haven't had a chance to talk."
she replies.
"it's hard to talk to you, everytime we tried to start any kind of conversation, you would always get moody and grumpy."
Faye and Frautz both agree by nodding, I grumble
to myself.
"I have no comment."
I then shift the conversation to a subject that I wanted to talk about.
"so when Mistress Isabelle was talking about someone, who discovered new magic abilities, she was looking at you."
I then ask.
"so did you find some new magic abilities that you didn't know you had?"
she replies.
"yeah, since my swordmanship skills hasn't improved too much, I was looking for alternatives and Mistress Isabelle gave me guidance."
I look at Frautz and came to realize that in the past, he spent a lot of his time sparring with Jillian instead of me, I then slap my face when I realized what caused the change.
"since she didn't have Frautz to help her improve like in the past, she searched for help in Mistress Isabelle."
I then ask, knowing full well what she has learned
"what kind of magic can you do?"
she answers.
"I learned that I'm a natural when it comes to fire magic."
she shows us her palm and chants.
"small flames."
flames that is the same size as her palms lights up, while Frautz and Faye faces light up with enjoyment, seeing her perform the fire spell, I sigh.
"well at least she'll be able to save them from hypothermia, when I fake my death and leave."
Jillian closes her palm and the flames disappears.
"I can make the flames larger, but I don't want to risk burning the carriage and also that is only one of the many spells I can do."
I reply.
"that's good."
we spent most of the ride there talking to each other, on our aspirations and goals that we want to achieve while serving Mistress Isabelle, and they all seem to want the same thing, so I used the same reasoning as them but knowing that I want to get away from her and her castle as soon as possible, after a few hours the carriage come to a complete stop, Frautz looks around and asks.
"did we arrive already?"
the carriage door opens and we are met with Captain Reenon.
"get ready kids, we are here."
we get out of the carriage, and we are hit with the cold air coming down from the mountains, Captain Reenon inhales deeply and then exhales.
"do feel that? it's the nice mountain air."
I think to myself.
"too bad, they have no idea, that one the most dangerous blizzards is going to come through."
she then said.
"I want you all to take some emergency rations, and tents for temporary shelter, while we wait here and wait for all of you to come back."
the eight of us gather around together and Frautz tries to motivate us.
"we'll accomplish this mission easily just like we did with those hell beasts last year."
Captain Reenon waves goodbye to us as we head towards the start of the mountain path, that many traveling merchants go through, I take a moment to calm my nerves.
"you'll be okay, as long as your not too badly wounded, you can always go visit Troy Ildane."
while continue walking the path, I wonder in my thoughts about the great healer Troy Ildane, and how I managed to capture him during the war and
used his incredible healing skills on our injured soldiers.
"since the war hasn't started he's probably in his village with his wife and kids still and hasn't joined the human army yet."
the mountain path on it's own isn't dangerous, but
it becomes notorious for Frost Troll attacks, and in the future traveling merchants will start taking the long journey around the mountains instead.
"Frost Trolls may big huge and strong, but they are not very bright creatures, and usually attack the same way with little to no variation."
Frautz asks.
"how long do you think it will take us to arrive to where they attack?"
I shrug pretending I have no clue.
"maybe a little further ahead."
we keep walking until the sun starts going down, I then say to Frautz.
"we should set up our tents and get some shut eye."
he agrees.
"yeah, I don't think we'll be running into any Frost Trolls today."
I think to myself.
"good, if I remember correctly we run into two Frost Trolls before going deeper into the mountains."
after setting up the tents, Jillian starts up a fire on
the wood we collected, so that we can heat up the canned soup that was given to us, I then sit by the fire and grab a couple a rocks so that I can make some noises on some nearby bushes.
"hopefully they don't follow me, when I insist on checking out the noise alone."
I think to myself, feeling the impatience building up.
"fuck, I just want to leave already!"
at this point I can't make any mistakes, I have to execute my plan correctly, and as nobody is looking a throw a couple of rocks at a distant bush, Frautz asks.
"did you guys hear that?"
I stand up.
"yeah, I heard it."
I grab the hilt of my sword and said to everyone.
"you guys stay here, and I'll check."
Frautz replies.
"I'm coming too."
I shake my head.
"it's okay, I'll yell if I find something."
I head over to the direction where I threw the rocks and think to myself.
"now all I need to do is find the two Frost Trolls that should around this area."
I scan the area and spot my target a seven foot humanoid with white fur and long arms and I smile.
"found one of the Frost Trolls."
I take out my sword and say myself.
"take it off it's feet first."
I charge, and slice through it's thick skin like butter, it falls flat on it's back, whailing in pain, I then put it out of it's misery by stabbing it in the head.
"If this was a regular sword and not made by Mistress Isabelle, then it would have broken after cutting off it's leg."
but then suddenly my demon sense kicks in, but I was too late to react, as I'm struck in the face by a heavy force, I can already feel that my nose was broken and blood starts running down from my nostrils, I stand up feeling dizzy thinking to myself.
"damn this kid body, I got hit once and I'm already on the verge of passing out."
I come with the conclusion, that I won't last long and chant.
"bloodlust."
I charge the second Frost Troll that got me by surprise, and due the effects of bloodlust the Frost Troll didn't stand a chance as I slice at a speed that it couldn't keep up with, but I leave it wounded.
"I can't kill it, I need to leave it alive, and then stage my death and hopefully it's good enough to convince them that I was killed."
I hear Frautz.
"Darius, are you in trouble?! we can feel your bloodlust!"
I then look at my sword and say.
"I wish I could keep you, but this it good buddy."
I smear my blood on the hilt of the sword and throw it down on the ground, I then stand in front of then get out of bloodlust and yell.
"help!"
I immediately through the wooded areas of the mountain,leaving behind my sword, pieces of my clothes on bushes and the Frost Troll that I left wounded.
"hopefully my impatience doesn't backfire on me."