The Demon King And The Hero (Part One)

Chapter Seventeen: The Hero's Witch

Chapter Seventeen: The Hero's Witch

Shion sighed deeply, her body releasing her relief. The hills of Ardis had not been hills, no, they were mountainous piles of dirt. Giant, winding piles of dirt and rock. The path they were told to take wasn't much of a path, but a cliff that barely held the width of their feet. She wanted to choke the Chief that suggested it to them. Of course it would have been easy for him, he was half goat! She muttered to herself. This is a death trap. For a moment she wondered if the Demon King was going to swoop down and push her off the cliff, that it had been his scheme to set her up. She looked at Nemis' back. It was tight and taunt with concentration. She pushed away her wondering and told herself that Nemis would have known if the man actually meant them harm. He'd done it before, he wouldn't allow them, nonetheless, himself, to get hurt.

But it wasn't all that bad. They were now in Aros, the kingdom that bordered Ellithian.

"We should be nearing Abolan soon." She said, cheer in her voice. She was vaguely aware of their position and she knew that they would be reaching their destination within the day. They still had many miles to go until she reached her real target, but Abolan was their rest stop. Already they were down to the last of their provisions and she desperately wanted to sleep in a bed. The stay would be welcome.

Looking to a deeply harried and sweat covered Gaitis, she smiled with sympathy and then stole a glance towards Nemis. He looked slightly winded and kept yawning. She'd forgotten that he slept easily. It was something she'd begun to notice. He liked to take naps, but other than that, he never really seemed to sleep.

"Or we could set up camp?" She said to Gaitis' delight. Nemis just shook his head and softly sniffed the air.

Looking up, he snorted. "It's going to storm." He spoke up, but she could tell he wasn't really bothered. Gaitis glared with vehemence, keeping Nemis' eyes locked to his.

They decided to head on, spurred only by the fact that the base of the "hill" was beginning to accumulate a wet layer of hail and rain. In the end, Shion only wanted one thing, a bed. Needing something to take away the tired ached in her feet and the fatigue that was bearing down on her, Shion looked to Nemis and tried to figure out what he was hiding, but there was so many things and she couldn't come to a conclusive answer.

Nemis was different. There was no other way to describe him. On the outside he was extremely handsome, even elegant, and looked nothing like the farmer he pretended to be. And when he opened his mouth he transformed into something else entirely.

He was very intelligent. He shrouded it with his indifference and his daft grins, but he was. Actually, if Shion had to place it, he was more than intelligent. There was an ancient word she had learned from the elders- asjien- it meant godlike, and that was the word she would use to place him. She often felt dowdy and dumb when she was near him.

She closed her eyes and tried to tell herself not to think about him and waste precious energy. She needed to move and already she was feeling her body slow. Two days of sleep was taking a toll on her.

As they walked, flowers began to litter the area like pebbles in a stream. They couldn't move without stepping on them. Brightly colored, they were a fresh view. Shion had to concede that she would rather stare at the flowers like a daffy than walk a step more, but she promised herself that she would make it to a bed or die trying.