Intro chapter
Tauriel knew they weren't ready for it, how could they be? Their forces consisted of a bunch of peasants, a squire with a dead master and her, the only mage in miles, though she wasn't a full mage yet, not even near, expelled from the academy for dealing with unholy forces. And now, said forces were going to tear them all a new one, the demonic legions were advancing in the name of the king of hell, slowly exploring their newly conquered territories and the city of Marekeith was in the way, it was an unimportant city, not even inside the kingdom's lands, but with the capital reduced to ash and rubble mixed with a little bit of gore very little remained, some cities like Marekeith had managed to stay hidden, but no longer would the forces of hell ignore their presence, they had sent scouts, so they had to be ready to kill them before they could relay back any kind of information, with some luck, that would buy them some time.
The citizens were armed with spears, pitchforks and gardening tools, ready to defend the city. Meanwhile the children had been taken to the catacombs' entrance. Luke the squire was armed with his lord's longsword and an armour that did not fit him while Tauriel was stuck with her old grimoire and a cheap wand she stole from her, now dead, magic professor, though it is just a basic wand.
A thick red mist now covered the city, announcing the arrival of the demons.
– I see one, behind the trees! –. Shouted Luke, and he wasn't wrong, a small demonic creature the size of a wolf could be seen peeking from behind a tree. Tauriel decided she'd draw the first blood. With an arcane gesture and the waving of her hand, energy coursed through from her to the tip of the wand, she aimed it at the creature and a green strain of lightning attached itself to it as it sprouted from the wand, then, after 2 seconds, it stopped and the creature fell dead to the ground, steaming as if it had been cooked for hours.
– Christ almighty –. Said Luke, with eyes like plates, who had never seen magic, as it was rare, this was enough to make Tauriel's ego inflate a little as she claimed proudly. – Yeah well, of course! Clearly my magic is superior to these… dogs –. She was proud of it, so much so that she failed to realize the demonic imp that came behind the scout, with charred skin, red eyes, pointy ears and fangs that could rip limbs out. Wings sprouted from it's back as it flew over Luke and Tauriel, straight at the crowd of men behind them, both of them stunned at the sight for a second, time the demon took advantage of by ripping a man in half and tearing another one's throat out, which sent the crowd into a panic, attempting to run away from it and hide, trampling over each other, making the monster laugh in a deep and gutural way. The creature was about to run at the crowd when it stopped, seeming stunned it looked at the treeline, its mouth slightly open as it observed past Luke and Tauriel. Luke decided to take advantage, sprinting at the creature and swinging his sword, slitting its throat in the process, it reeled back, gripping at its throat before falling backwards, dead.
Luke was left standing with a bloody sword, wondering what had just happened.
– Way to go Luke, you almost look like a knight –. Said Tauriel, almost impressed.
– Oh shut up Tauriel, all you did was kill a dog and… what is that? –. Luke took his sight off Tauriel and onto the treeline, a hooded figure walked out of it, a man, skinny as if starved, with holes on his body kept open by small silver rings, the only visible ones on each wrist, the man crossed the treeline and fell on the ground unconscious, leaving the pair wondering what was going on before they stumbled over to the moribund man.
– I bet he's dead, you should check his pulse just in case –. Said Tauriel, Looking over at Luke who looked offended at the very idea. – ME!? Why don't you do it? –. Retorted Luke.
– Oh, I'm sorry, I thought I was talking to a man, now I see it was a shapeshifted chicken –. Said Tauriel sarcastically. That made Luke give in. He checked the man's pulse, it was faint but he was still alive, so they took him to the infirmary… Well, Luke did, Taurield didn't even want to touch the man as he "Might have fleas", coming from the woods and all.