God of Discovery [high fantasy, slow build, mlm]

Arc 3 - 22. There are no demons, part 2

D'Argen crouched near the broken door of the small wooden house and looked out. The sight outside made him flinch back. The single demon they had seen was only one of many. It had feminine curves like Cana and long hair the same colour as Upates. The leaves on its wings were the same orange red as its hair, but as the sky turned to match them, they seemed to glow. It stood in a cluster of at least a dozen more just like it.

"We have to get them to safety," D'Argen whispered to Kassar as soon as the other was beside him. "Without our mahee."

"Why?" Kassar hissed.

D'Argen glared at the other, and Kassar rolled his eyes in response.

"I meant why without our mahee."

"The scents," D'Argen answered before he knew the words would leave his mouth. "And I want to test a theory."

"Come, come," the mortal woman behind them changed over her chant.

Both D'Argen and Kassar watched as she helped the others up, a young man holding the smallest child to his chest, the woman holding the hands of an elder man, and the elder holding another child. The woman had the disk in her palm. As one, the family ignored both D'Argen and Kassar and made for the door.

"Wait! They are right out there!" Kassar tried to stop her, but she shrugged off his hold and stepped out.

D'Argen watched with fascination as she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and started walking. The others followed like a chain. The demons all turned to look at them as one.

One of the demons, this one with a faint blue glow to its wings, stalked away from the group toward them. The mortal woman did not even flinch as she walked right past it. The demon reached out with sharp nails and touched the cheek of the older man, drawing a thin line of blood there. He did not respond.

Then, suddenly, D'Argen found a pair of glowing blue eyes focused on him. The demon sneered, threw its head back, and let out a scream so shrill that D'Argen's ears hurt. By the time the ringing faded away, the demon was flying right at him.

D'Argen dove out of the way as the demon flew into the house and he drew his sword. Kassar already had his drawn and he lashed out. The demon's piercing scream came again, and the scent of its foul blood filled the small house.

"Run, run!" Kassar ordered and did just that as he ran out of the house. D'Argen was hot on his heels.

The dozen other winged demons all went into the air, created a full cacophony of horrible screams, and then dove down at them. D'Argen rolled out of the way of one attack and swiped with his sword. He opened his mahee just enough to step around two other diving demons and cut at their wings. The scent must have driven the demons mad because they wall turned on him instead of both him and Kassar.

The mortal family out on the street kept walking as if nothing at all was happening.

As Kassar hit one of the demons away, it collapsed right at their feet. The woman leading the line hesitated, and the demon's glowing green eyes snapped up to her. It bared its teeth. D'Argen opened his mahee further and stepped in the way just in time to cut off the demon's reaching arm.

"Run! Get inside!" D'Argen ordered the mortal family as three more of the demons rushed at him. He fought them off, cutting limbs and slashing into the branches of their wings, trying to keep himself between the demons' attacks and the mortals that were now running.

A door opened on the other side and D'Argen felt relief for the family only for a moment. They rushed in, but out of the house rushed two armed mortals.

"They escaped!" One of them yelled into the air and a few other doors opened.

Instead of rushing to attack the demons, D'Argen had to dodge out of the way of an arrow aimed for him. A grunt of pain behind him revealed that Kassar had been unable to do the same. The arrow was in the shoulder of his sword arm, and he dropped the blade. The demons rushed him.