The Survivor - Veil Walkers Book One

Chapter Ten

Denmark, 1387 CE - Deza

DEZA and Galen held their ground, and their collective shields, against the lingering threat as time dragged on. While they waited, Deza forced herself, her energy, to stay coherent. She wanted nothing more than to sleep.

The plump, possessed woman eventually emerged, stepping over the unconscious men as if they were wrinkles on a rug as she approached their position.

"You've sat here all night," the demon said in that horrible two-toned voice as she snapped her towel at their shield. "Will you hide behind this pathetic wall, or shall we parlay?"

Deza felt one finger move on her shoulder and understood Galen's intent. She lowered her arm, and the shield broke while Galen stepped alongside her.

"A demon who wishes parlay instead of battle?" Deza tilted her head. What fortune had brought her, specifically, to this meeting? It seemed too convenient, but yet, here they were, a demon and a negotiator, preparing to speak. About what, though? As Deza projected a calm she didn't feel, she slipped into her training and met the demon's eyes.

"We aren't all mindless savages," the creature retorted as she folded her arms. "Nothing would get done if none stopped to plan it."

"Which brings us to the concept of planning," Deza played off the demon's own words, watching its body movements as she crossed her own arms in response. "Is a plan in motion?"

"A plan is always in motion, always changing, always updated," the woman garnered no hesitation. "No plan survives the first engagement; you know this as well as I. To ask if a plan is in motion is akin to wasted words, and I haven't come to waste my time."

Galen took a step forward at the woman's change of tone, but Deza held out a hand to block him. He understood, thank God, which allowed the negotiation to continue.

"Even a demon's time is important," Deza responded.

"As is a Veil Walker's," the creature cut her off. "Perhaps doubly so, as you cannot linger in the timelines, nor Over Yonder, as we can. You exist beyond time, yet are ever trapped by its existence. Don't you find this troublesome?"

"And you aren't troubled by the absence of time in your own realm?"

"The absence of time provides plenty of time to plan, to plot, to raise forces, to create an army. Such are words you would be wise to remember."

A frown marred Deza's face. "Are such words said as fact, or in passing?"

"They are words said in warning, as much as can be given while still within the bounds of my purpose. I bear a message for Ming Yue."

"You know Ming Yue?" Galen asked, and Deza silenced him with a look.

The possessed woman smiled. "All know Ming Yue, as all know each of you. But the message is for Ming Yue alone."

"And it is?" Deza prompted.

The woman opened her mouth to speak, but a crack of yellow energy burst from their right, the woman's left.

Galen's shield went up too late, the ring-like yellow energy plowing beyond them both, slipping through their personal shields as if they didn't exist. The woman lowered her head as the energy washed over her, and Deza noticed that, for the blink of an eye, a familiar-looking symbol emerged on her forehead, glowing yellow, then vanishing again.

A voice from the opposite direction caught their attention. "Trouble, my children?"

They turned to find a hopelessly handsome man in monk's clothing approaching, lantern in hand. A large wooden cross hung around his neck and his simple brown robes were tied with the traditional piece of rope.