They decided to set up the trap near the edge of the village, away from the gatherers. It was rather an obvious one: Luija's shelf with her bread was left in the middle of the road. She made some additional ones to set up the trap. Lilynn wanted to see if they were dealing with a sentient or a wild demon; or a demon at all.
Her and Erwand hid in the shadows between two houses, the moonlight not lighting them at all.
"And we just wait here like hungry animals for prey?" Erwand asked himself despite knowing very well what they were doing.
"This is our best chance, trust me," Lilynn reassured him with a grin on her face, lightly touching his hand. It was not cold at all.
The light of the torches coming from the centre was barely visible here. Around half an hour passed when Lilynn started to get worried. Is this plan really stupid?
She could see the shadows of a few smaller trees between the houses move as the wind blew their branches. The shape on the ground almost looked like a dark, demonic monster.
And then, from beyond one of the trees, a dark mass started to move.
Lilynn held her breath. From the outline she could guess that it was the shape of a hunching human. This had to be the demon, judging by the odd moves it made.
It was going towards the bread, just as they planned. It was moving with small but fast steps, and as it reached the food, it started to sniff them, just as an animal would. No person would act the same, but Lilynn was sure that this was no demon. She could not sense any demonic presence at all!
Still, she had to believe that this was the demon they were looking for. She nodded at Erwand.
Erwand held up his left hand with three fingers up, letting down one by each second.
Three...
Two...
One!
Erwand suddenly threw a glass contained with a sleeping potion towards the demon. But, as it was about to land, the demon let out a deadly scream and jumped out of the way of the potion. It exploded on the ground, creating a fume smoke area, but by then the demon was not there to be affected.
"Damn it!" Erwand swore next to her.
Lilynn charged out of the shadows, with Erwand on her side with his sword ready for combat.
But the demon did not stop fighting them - it was escaping
And it was fast! The shadow was dashing from shadow to shadow between houses in front of Lilynn's eyes, who could barely keep up with the quick pace. Next to her, Erwand was also struggling.
He suddenly slowed down, and reached for his satchels attached to his belt. He grabbed a handful of yellow powder, and threw it on the ground, while he was chanting some sort of spell in the divine language.
The powder on the ground then started to illuminate. It then started to lengthen in size, slowly forming a thin line that seemed to track the demon's path.
"Quickly!" Lilynn shouted while trying to keep up. By that point, she could barely see the demon ahead, and only followed the spell's path.
She jumped through a tall barrel and hay bales, using her demonic powers. Erwand was no longer with her, but she had to keep going. Whatever that thing was, its speed was unnatural. Even with all the bread still in its hands.
It was finally ahead of her in a street, but Lilynn could still only see a dark, hunching figure running forward.
"You need more to keep me back!" she whispered.
Ahead suddenly was a young boy with a sack on his back in one of the alleyways. "Watch out!" she shouted, but the demon bumped into him, making him a living barricade right at the front. Lilynn used all her powers to make a massive jump, successfully getting above the boy, who was only gawking at the action with his mouth open.
Lilynn could feel the dark marks burning on her shoulders and legs. She hoped that boy did not see them. The demon was right in front of her, taking shortcuts through the streets like it knew them all by heart. It must have been taking these routes every day to steal food.
Then, they got out of the village.
Lilynn could see the demon disappear into the endless bushes and trees. Without the torchinglight of the village, she did not have much of a chance catching it. She slowed down and saw it only for a brief second for the last time, before it became one with the shadows again.
"You win now but... I... I will get you next time..." she was gasping for breath, saying it as if the demon could hear her.
Erwand caught up a few minutes later.
"I guess we underestimated this demon," he said. Perhaps he was right. What else could that thing be? A hunching human with animalistic behavior? Unless it was Kinib with some weird obsessions beside the heavy drinking.
"I guess we will need a small expedition tomorrow," Lilynn declared.