Rise Up - Mage & Demon Queen

Chapter 5 - Same Old, Same Old

   The sun was barely visible when the demon battalion was up and moving again. Malori hadnt woken up with the general and was only shook awake by the light tap of Berkz claw on her back. Her small stature allowed just one of the demons fingers to be enough to startle her awake.

She had quickly gotten dragged along and tied up to the back of a storage cart, again. She could feel the sting of the cuts and bruises that littered her feet from the previous day of treacherous walking. Her body still ached and despite having been given food and sleep the previous night, she was still exhausted. Unfortunately, she didn't have much of a choice but to move with the demons, even with her fatigue.

As Malori tracked along with the demon army, dirt started to cake her feet in layers, making it all the more difficult to walk. The sky was a brilliant blur of golds and oranges as the sun continued to rise and illuminated the long path ahead. The mountainous route seemed to go on forever and the demons seemed to have unlimited stamina and walked for ages.

Malori could hear the chatter of those in front of her, they had their own conversations on the recent raids and how excited they were to return home as victors, but Malori herself dragged along in the back of the army, completely silent.

Despite some of Berkzs efforts to walk next to her and speak to her, she stayed quiet. She really didn't have the energy to talk, hell, she barely had the energy to move. Although, Berkz didnt seem to mind the silent treatment, he talked plenty for both of them.

The general mainly went on rants about the food back in their territory and how he wanted to get their as quickly as possible just so he could stuff his face. The very thought made the young demons charmers stomach growl. Her extra stash had been missing that morning, she suspected that Berkz probably stole and ate the rest of it but couldn't be sure. She was mostly just disappointed that her bag was gone.

   The demons walked until the sun was at its midpoint in the sky before Maloris legs finally decided to give out on her. She had already been falling behind the army when the mixture of heat and exhaustion caught up and she collapsed onto the ground. The demons in-front of her quickly took notice and and told the others to halt, they all glanced back at the young girl, having no idea what to do.

    Malori stared at the ground at caught her breath as Berkz came up beside her and looked down at her with a small frown.

   "Come on human! Its just a few more hours of walking!" He said before crouching down next to her poking her with a singular claw when she didn't respond.

   The demons ahead of them were clearly getting impatient with the hold up, the warriors desperate to get home after their long trip.

               ~

The demon queen waited from atop her steed for her warriors to begin moving again. It had only been a few minutes since one of her generals had called for a halt. At the time she didn't think much of it, perhaps it was simply some cargo that had fallen off one of the carts or an obstruction had fallen near her armies pathway. Those thoughts, however diminished as time ticked by and Velverosa found her patience growing thin.

She led out a low growl as she dismounted her demon-horse and started walking through the caravan of demons, those in her way clearing a path for their queen.

"Whats the hold up?" The queen commanded as she approached the last few carts.

"The human girl collapsed, General Berkz is trying to get her back up", one of the female demons standing to the side said. The queen gave her a simple nod and waved her hand as she stalked over to where Berkz was hunched over.