Devil's tale

Devil's tale chapter 6

"Stand down, devil!" The man shouted.

Avarice gulped, there was a heavy lump in his throat. "I think not, commander.

The man raised his sword at Avarice. "I said stand down!"

"Where are the rest of your men?" Avarice asked.

"Still looking for you, up in the mountains."

"You weren't with them?"

"I foresaw that the beacon was a ruse."

Avarice raised an eyebrow, then began to laugh. "Truely?! My gods, you must be a tactical genius!" He said.

"I am indeed, and if you can see that, then surrender yourself now."

"You're such a genius that you sent your entire force off on a wild-goose chase, despite knowing that it was unnecessary. It cannot be that in truth, you were simply afraid to confront a devil yourself, can it? I am beholding a genius, after all, and not an idiot." Avarice was now openly mocking the commander, and feeling he was on a roll, he continued. "And this Ursec-corpse you left here, did you know it was poisoning the waters of the river and causing sickness in the towns downstream? Surely you must have. A man of your intelligence must have known, and you must have then also foreseen that I would arrive just in time to ensure there were no casualties from the illness, meaning you'd have to do nothing about it and could simply relax, is that right?"

The commander finally seemed to grasp that he was being made fun of, because he scowled at Avarice, saying. "I'm supposed to take you in alive, but no one will care if I lob off a limb or two."

"You think you can?" Avarice said, trying to hide the soul-crushing fear in his heart. There was no way a minstrel like him could stand up to a military commander.

"I know it, by the light of Leto!"

"You strike me as a man of honour."

"It surprises me that one without it can recognise it."

"If you are such a man, the allow me at least a sword to defend myself."

"I do not make deals with demons."

Avarice shrugged. "It was worth a try." He put his hands in his pockets to hide that they were shaking uncontrollably.

"You mock me? Fight me seriously!" Said the commander.

"I'll take you seriously once you take your oath to protect the weak seriously." Avarice lied, trying to hide the tremble in his voice.

"How dare you!" The commander sprinted at Avarice and the devil was forced to release his magic over the fire before it was done burning the carcass. The orange flames burst out of control into a chaotic dance of light and heat.

"Wait! If it isn't controlled, it could burn the whole complex to the ground!" Avarice cried.

"You'd use fire to hold my men hostage?! I know good from evil when I see it, boy!"

"You mean like when you slew this beast?"

"Exactly!"

"You believe all heroes do is slay monsters, don't you?"

"Do not dare to lecture me on what it means to be a hero!"

"Honestly, I won't even bother anymore. I'm done trying to reason with you fools. If you see me as demon, so be it, but I won't let your idiocy keep hurting the ones you're supposed to protect! It makes me sick to my stomach!"

This conversation raged on while Avarice continued to dodge blows from the commander's sword. The man swung with great force and technique, and in a duel, Avarice surely would loose, so instead, he simply dodged and danced around the soldier's attacks. He used his knowledge of dance and footwork to keep his opponent at a distance, remembering Jazz's advice and training. He wasn't a fool, he knew the one dagger he had wouldn't be enough to get through plate mail and a shield. All he could do now was stall.