Demon Hunt

Chapter 12 Part 1

Auren didn't sleep well that night and got up when sky changed to a lighter shade of blue. After folding the blanket Brock had given her to use, she went outside to get some fresh air. She didn't feel right accepting hospitality from these people. Kado said he would finish the healing before the funeral, and he intended on staying to pay his respects to those who had died. Maybe it was wrong to feel that way, but she had no desire to stay.

Preparing the bodies the day before had been the hardest thing she'd ever done. The job was easy enough, but part of her felt like the spirits of the people who had died were scowling at her from the grave. The rest of the villagers were so grateful to her for her help, which made it worse. She wondered what they would think if they knew she was the one responsible for freeing the demon that had attacked their village.

Kado had warned her not to say anything though. It wasn't that he worried about them retaliating. Most people in the Serpent Isles believed the shadow stalkers were dead, so to reveal themselves would have been dangerous. He said it would cause them to fear the power of the shadow stalker, just as Drevin wanted them to. Ultimately, it would draw the attention of the Galvadi Empire, and endanger everyone's lives. Still, she felt like they were deceiving these people.

Attending the funeral was worse than Auren had imagined it would be. The villagers spoke about the lives of everyone who had died, making their deaths harder to accept. She held back her grief until she and Kado left the village, then she fell apart.

Her foster father held her as she cried out in anguish. "The worst is over now."

"How do you know?" she asked between sobs.

"Because I've been through it before, Auren. Except in my case, I had taken the lives with my own hands."

"Oh," she said, then paused. "What about the villagers? Won't they discover you're a shadow stalker because of the healing you did?"

"Healers are a rare breed, but shadow stalkers are not the only people on this world with the ability to heal. In fact, it's a rare ability among shadow stalkers as well. I don't believe the villagers will come to that conclusion. They are so grateful for our help right now, our identity isn't all that important."

Aurennodded and spent the rest of the day walking in silence.