Zepha was tired. Not just physically tired, but she was worn out physically as well. Ever since her mother and three brothers died from the plague a couple months back, everything just seemed to take more out of her than ever before. Part of it was because there was more for her to do, she was sure of that, but part of it was that she just missed her mother and brothers.
The amount of work her brothers had been able to do was part of what had made her father's farm so successful. Now because of that success, she was having to bear the brunt of it. Something no eighteen year-old succubus should have to do. Her father helped out where he could, but the plague had taken more of a toll on him than it had her. She did what she could, but had started to wonder how long she'd be able to keep it up before she wore herself down.
The main reason she never complained to her father about was because she knew how unfair that would be. Neither of them asked from the others of their family to die from the plague, just as her father never asked to be crippled by the plague.
Naturally, there were religious people who blamed the outcome on their pride, their prosperity, or even them acting like they were better than others, when Zepha knew that wasn't true. Her mother had made it clear that they were to work hard and accept what life gave them, for good or worse. The ones who struck Zepha as prideful were those in the town. They seemed to look for any opportunity to show or declare just how much better than others they were. Whether it was the latest styles they could afford, a new piece of expensive jewelry, or even a pure bred nightmare of impeccable parentage. In addition to finding excuses about why others who were able to do well were still trash or worse.
For Zepha's family everything had gone well for them, Their crops were coming very well, their animals were strong and healthy, and even her oldest brother was going to ask the smith's daughter to marry him. Yet, after he died, even she had turned her back on them. Even though Zepha had thought that they had started to become friends.
Zepha didn't really mind, she'd always felt like the others in town didn't like her anyway, even before the plague struck. She didn't act like it, but she had a sharp ear and could hear what others were saying, even from a distance away. She hadn't even told her parents about it, even though she was sure they'd be happy for her. Yet, while it was useful, it also made it easier for her to hear what those who would be friendly to her face would say when she wasn't there.
She might be a succubus, but that didn't mean she was the same as those in the seedier parts of town. Down by the docks on the river. Her mother had raised her to have more self-control than many of those in town had.
She also never understood why it was so bad for a succubus to sleep around, while an incubus were free to do that without receiving the same whispers and rumors about them. The babau in town were especially malicious with their rumors about succubi. Almost like they hated them for the fact they existed. The glabrezu that ran the docks had made it clear they wanted all succubi under their control, though they merely tried to go about it through financial pressures rather than force. The only other demons she knew of in her area were the mariliths and they were from the next town over, across the river. They were somewhat friendly to her, but they kept their distance from Zepha because of the rumors circulating about her.
As such, it didn't bother her all that much that she wasn't able to leave the farm that much, since she had so many chores to do and no one to really spend time with. She wished she had wings like her mother, but sadly, she was one of the ones born without wings. Something that most of the town seemed to hold against her, despite her not having any control over that.
As she filled the pot in the kitchen with water to start cooking a stew, she heard the hellhounds barking. As if they saw someone coming to their house. Zepha set the pot down on the stove, unsure what to make of it. There wasn't supposed to be anyone coming to pick up a shipment or anything, and no one would bother coming to see how she was doing, even her fathers friends would be busy at this time of year, so she couldn't imagine who would be calling on them at this time.
"Pa!" she called out to her father as she walked towards the door. "We have guests!"
However, the hellhounds weren't growling and their barks indicated they didn't feel a threat, so she at least had hope that it might be good. She walked over to the door and walked out. Whoever her guests were, she could a least be polite. Even if they were planning on letting her know how she would be better off working on the streets of the docks than on her father's farm.
She calmly looked at the people the hellhounds were eager to meet. At first it looked fine. Yet, as she looked at them, she couldn't tell what kind of demons they were. Everyone was always a specific kind of demon, no matter what their ancestry looked like. If she had a nalfeshnee or vrock as a father, a balor as a mother, and a grandmother as a succubus, she could easily be one of the three. She'd heard of some creatures that would mix, but never demons. So, she was at first confused at not being able to tell. Until they got just a little closer and she could tell what they were.
They shouldn't exist. They were supposed to be myths. They were pure evil and only sought to tempt demons away from what was right or to slaughter them without remorse. They were humans.
She was so petrified that she couldn't even tell where that sound was coming from at first. The sound that started when she recognized what the creatures were. The hellhounds were forgotten for the moment. When she realized where the sound was coming from, she was shocked to realize that it was coming from her. She thought she'd frozen in place, unable to do anything. Instead she was screaming. Because she knew death was coming for her and her father. Neither of them could escape it.
_
Charlie wasn't sure what to do when the girl screamed. She could only tell that the girl was scared because of the sheer terror she felt from the scream. Some of the dogs turned to look at her, as if wondering what she was doing.
Ralph went in front of their group and held out his hand to the dogs to sniff. They did so, first getting Ralphs scent before moving over to give him a proper dog's greeting, by licking his face. Ralph returned their gesture by scratching the heads of a few of the dogs while laughing.
Charlie was uneasy about the dogs, primarily because of the fact they had four eyes. She felt like she was somewhere that was forbidden and she shouldn't be. The girl screaming after seeing them also wasn't helping Charlie's nerves. She was of the opinion that they should just leave. It was clear their presence was a problem here.
"Hold on, Charlie," Beth said, as she pulled her arm free from Hannah's grip and tried to go back the way they'd came. Back towards the gate. "Let's first see what kind of world this is. You never know. They might be friendly."
Charlie looked back at the screaming girl and saw a man had left the house as well, but was pulling her into his arms. He had black hair and horns that curled around on themselves, kind of like a ram's horns, but with a few extra rounds.
The man was clearly trying to calm the girl down, but she didn't seem to be responding. Charlie watched as Amelia walked around the dogs and jogged over to the man and the girl. Charlie was sure she was going to see if she could help herself, but Charlie wanted to stretch her arm over and pull Amelia away and make a break for it.
This world was already weird enough. She didn't need to know much more. They weren't on a world that they should remain on. There had to have been two gates on the previous world for a reason.
"Hey, Charlie!" Tim snapped, pulling Charlie's attention to him. "Come on! Get a grip. The dogs might look weird, but they're friendly enough."
Charlie looked around frantically. She wasn't sure she'd be able to sleep very well if they stayed on this world. The four eyes on the dogs were gnawing on her last nerve. She was sure staying on this world was a bad idea.
"Charlie," Beth said, pulling Charlie's attention to her. "How about this. We talk to that man and, uh, I assume the girl's his daughter, I could be wrong, but I think that's who she is. Anyway, we could talk to him and if this world doesn't strike most of us as safe, we can immediately go back through the gate, okay?"
Charlie could only nod. She wasn't sure she could trust her voice to remain steady. She didn't want to give the dogs any reason to attack her and she was pretty sure a trembling voice would do that. She also couldn't figure out why her friends weren't freaking out either.
Though, she suspected it was the animals with four eyes than anything else that creeped her out. The horses that were partially transparent weren't so bad, but the four eyes made her feel like she was about to be devoured or something. That it touched something deep inside that she never knew was there.
"Hey, Earth to Charlie!" Hannah called to Charlie, bringing her back to their surroundings. It even took her a moment to realize one of the dogs was licking her hand. "You awake?"
"Uh, yeah," Charlie replied, pulling her hand away from the dog, part of her feeling like it was licking her hand to see if she'd taste good.
"Well, let's be friendly and introduce ourselves," Hannah said, taking Charlie's hand and pulling her towards the girl who had stopped screaming, but from the looks of things, it was more that she passed out rather than was able to control her terror. "And remember, we need you to translate for us, since you know how much Ralph likes doing that."
Charlie nodded as she allowed herself to be led towards the man holding the girl, while watching them approach. Charlie made it a point not to look at the dogs. She was sure she'd be fine if she just didn't look at them. She could even pretend that they were regular dogs and not four eyed creatures. Maybe that would help her.
As they got closer, Charlie could see the man had a beard on his face, but had shaved the mustache part as well as his neck. Maybe it was a style, but she couldn't help but think that it was weird. She'd never seen anything like that before, so she couldn't help herself.
"We're sorry we just appeared like this," Charlie said. "We travelled from another world and just ended up on your farm."
The man's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by 'another world?'" he asked, his tone sounding rather wary.
"Uh, that's kind of hard to explain," Charlie said, scratching the back of her neck. "It might be easier to show you if you're willing to let us."
"And have you steal my farm?" the man asked. "No thanks. Whatever tricks you have to end me and my daughter won't work. We're not leaving and nothing you can do can make us."
Charlie blinked in surprise. She didn't expect that kind of reaction. She glanced at her friends and translated what he said, letting them figure out how to respond. She certainly was drawing a blank of any kind of response.
After a minute of quick discussion, Amelia called out softly, "Oh, I know! We can show him some of the books we have."
Beth nodded after a moment. "Yeah, that might be good. I mean, it at least would be in a language that he doesn't have and I'm pretty sure the technology used for making books in our world is a lot more advanced than it prolly is in this world," Beth said.
"Could you ask him about these dogs while you're at it?" Tim asked. "They're starting to creep me out."
Charlie smiled at that. She felt relief that she wasn't the only one who was having trouble with the animals of this world, even if it was probably for a different reason than how many eyes they had.
"We were wondering what kind of dogs these were," Charlie said, feeling rather nervous and confident that it was showing in her voice. "Are they a kind of wolfhound?"
The man at first looked like he was going to say something, but when she asked about the dogs being a kind of wolfhound, he stopped. He then looked closer at Charlie and she felt like he was looking at more than just how she appeared. She couldn't exactly describe what he was doing to her, but she wouldn't say that it was unpleasant.
"You're not in disguises, are you?" he asked, quietly. "Are you here for our souls?"
Charlie blinked. She had no idea what he was talking about. "Uh, we can prove we're from another world," Charlie said, adjusting her pack so she could open a pouch. Amelia's suggestion was the only thing going through her mind. Although, she had a feeling that fantasy books probably wouldn't be the best ones to use as 'evidence.'
Fortunately for her, she came across a sci-fi book that showed a good science fiction scene for the cover art. She briefly read the title: 'Honor Among Enemies' by David Weber. The picture showed a woman looking at a holographic display of a ship with another spaceship outside the window behind her.
She held out the book for him to see, though he'd have to approach them in order to do that, but he didn't seem inclined to do so. Instead his gaze at her turned into a glare.
"You're not going to get me to come down to where you can steal my soul and then my daughter's soul while she's defenseless," the man declared.
Charlie sighed. She had no idea what the man was talking about, but she had a feeling that he wasn't going to budge. So, she stepped away from her friends and walked over to allow him a closer look at the book without having to leave the front porch of his house.
He merely glanced at it before looking back at Charlie. "What? Is that supposed to prove anything? All I can see is that you have something that shows you're not from around here, but if you're not from around here, then that means you might actually be what you appear to be," the man said, a deep anger burning in his voice. "You will not steal our souls with your infernal ways. I don't know how you pacified my hellhounds, but you will not fool me, just as you didn't fool my daughter."
Charlie could see that they weren't going to get anywhere with this back and forth. So, she pulled on her magic, and started sifting through the man's mind. She had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but she couldn't think of any other way to figure out what it would take to get this man to even just listen to them.
Although, what she learned wasn't very helpful. All she could see was that he recognized them as human, except for them, humans were considered mythological creatures that fed on souls of demons. They either sought out demons to help them with committing evil acts or to merely slaughter demons. Which is what the man was scared that Charlie and her friends were there for.
On the other hand, he was also facing difficulties with all of his family, aside from his only daughter having been killed by a plague that swept through their area recently. On top of that, the others from the nearby town were spreading vicious rumors about him and his daughter, partly because they survived the plague when the rest of his family didn't.
So, she could tell that they weren't going to be able to convince him that they weren't evil themselves, although, it did bring to mind what was mentioned in Wizard's First Rule about evil. About how recognizing evil depends a lot on perspectives and opinions rather than actual acts. Not that she thought such a philosophical idea would help them out right then.
"Um, you might think of us as evil, but wouldn't a rabbit consider a dog evil because rabbits are a natural prey for dogs?" Charlie asked, already knowing she'd screwed the analogy up, but couldn't think of how to correct it. So, she took a deep breath and pressed on. "I have no idea what would convince you that we're not evil and that we're not going to, um, steal your souls, so we'll leave you be and help you as best we can."
Charlie knew she probably should have consulted her friends about this before agreeing to this, especially since she could already see that it was likely going to be rather dangerous for them to try and travel through this world to the next gate.
However, she couldn't say that they should just leave without helping this man and his daughter out. She'd seen what needed to be done for the basic chores on this farm, so she figured that she could help out with that. Even if she was the only one doing it. If nothing else, it could be useful to have this as a waypoint to have as a resting stop if they ever needed it again.
So, Charlie motioned to her friends that they should return the way they'd left, as she put the book away. She could feel the man's gaze following them as they walked away, pretty sure that he was still suspicious about what they were doing.