Demon Daughter (Book I)

13.2 | A Helping Hand

Neptune sighed with relief that his friend was close by as he sensed Ravenna’s energy getting stronger. He was mildly surprised that in roughly a month she almost reached her goal, even though it only took him two days. However, Ravenna was travelling on foot, and it was likely the first time she had done so by herself.

The boy had been riding on a path through the forest that seemed to never end, and now he was only wading deeper into the thicket, where Ravenna’s energy was leading him. Suddenly, a shadow passed between the trees, causing him to stop his horse and leap to the ground. He wasn’t sure if someone was following him or Ravenna, but pulled his sword and crept further.

He spun around in fear as he felt someone close to him and automatically raised the sword that he held with one hand. His opponent’s knife slid off the blade and sank into the ground. Strong hands grabbed Neptune’s neck, causing him to fall down. The boy let go of the sword and made a valiant attempt to untighten the hands around his throat. He began to run out of air, his eyes dimmed, strength seemed to leave his entire body.

For a moment, Neptune thought he was going to die right then, but he grabbed the stone with his free hand and tossed it with all of his strength at the assailant before rolling onto his back and kicking him away. They rose to their feet at the same time. It was then that Neptune realised that the boy was only a few years older than him.

“Why are you loitering here?” he asked furiously.

In response, Neptune shot back, “And why are you following me?”

“This is a private area,” he gestured to the direction the boy had just come from. “If you got lost, the exit is over there.”

Neptune was already turning away, but with a rapid flash of the sword, he slashed the young man’s legs. He collapsed to the ground, groaning.

“Why are you hiding Ravenna?” With a furious expression, the boy knelt down and extended a sharp blade in front of his face. “I know she is here, I sense her energy. I’ll make you suffer much more if you don’t tell.”

The guy stared at the sword for a minute. He could have hurt his opponent a great deal even with a knife, but he was unable to move his legs and run away.

“It was Roger who did it, not me,” he declared. “He’s trying to get some information from her.”

“Roger?” Neptune raised his eyebrows. “What kind of information?”

“I don’t know, it’s none of my business, I’m just helping him.”

“How many of you are there?”

“Only the four of us, Roger with his brother, me and another woman.”

With the weapon still in his hand, the boy turned and left. Arriving at the old wooden house, he sought to observe someone in the yard by hiding behind the bushes, but no one was present. Neptune squatted down for a while and devised a plan because he realised he would never be able to defeat Roger and release Ravenna on his own. It would be best to sneak out without a fight and take Ravenna away secretly just like Gordon and Lynn had done with him, but first he had to find her and wait for Roger and his henchmen to either lose their guard or leave her alone.

The boy tried to sense Roger’s energy but failed; he was presumably masking it as well as he did himself. Smiling, Neptune moved closer to the house, hiding behind trees and bushes. When he reached the fence, he skilfully leapt to the other side and flattened himself against the wall, making sure that nobody could see through the windows. Subsequently, he moved to where the front door should be. Suddenly, voices echoed nearby.