Of Master and Apprentice (Book 3)

Chapter 23

"So we're really going to storm the city?" Luna asked as she stood guard looking out towards the city.

"Maybe if we can, we'll even take down the Lord of Bones," Miranda said.

"Are you sure our numbers are enough?" Luna questioned. "A militia of refugees consisting of men, women and children against a legion of demons sounded like an unlikely chance of victory."

"Once we break into Kinderley, more of our fellow rebels will join the fight. I don't know about these people, but I sure hope they would follow us to besiege the castle."

"Well, we've never seen this Bone Lord fight. But surely to be ruling he must be someone powerful," Luna said. "I feel bad about leading these people to their doom."

"It's us who will confront the Bone Lord, not them," Miranda said calmly. "They'll only do so much as to handle his minions."

In the distant night, demons were flying across the dark sky like bats looking for food. The refugees in the camp were chatting while they wait for dinner to be served. The smell of mushroom stew freshly made from the mushrooms collected from the forest could already reach everyone's noses and make their stomachs growl.

While having dinner back at the camp, Luna saw Janus call his wife again, probably to say goodbye as he wouldn't know how the battle would play out. And by the looks of it, things can go south very quickly. She also found herself worrying about the girls' back at Europa's again. What if she was destined to fall in the battle? What if the last time she saw them would really be the last time they would see face to face? Are they even still alive after all that?

Luna looked at Miranda and saw that she her face was confident when everyone else's seemed dreary. "Are you nervous for tomorrow?"

"Me?" she swallowed one chunk of her food. "Not really. I've been through many battles."

"But these people have not," Luna said. "And I haven't as well."

That part was a partial lie. She had taken part in a battle, but not as a combatant. During her first battle, she was a helpless little girl fleeing for her life. Now, she was about to take part in a real battle.

"Remember the day when you came to Seabreeze Landing?" Miranda asked, rhetorically. "You have participated in a battle. I was there too."

Of course, the battle of Seabreeze Landing. How could she forget that?

"Or that one time in the woods where we struck the demon encampment?" Miranda added. "The one time you met that half-demon girl who you almost killed. Speaking of her, I wonder what happened. She fled the battlefield and we didn't know where she went. Maybe back to the Underworld?"

That night Luna was included in the first shift. Miranda had fallen asleep along with a handful of other people. She approached Janus, thinking that it was a while since they had bonded. Ever since she met Miranda, she'd been straying from him.

"You've changed, Lou," Janus struck up the conversation.

"I have? I what way?" Luna asked.

"The first time I met you, you were a whiny, helpless girl from Eldham who's afraid of demons," Janus explained. "But look at you now, a demon hunter and a full fledged member of the Resistance."

Luna had never realized her change. She started out as a baker girl who's never thought about leaving the confines of her hometown and going on an adventure, but destiny said otherwise. She was forced out of her comfort zone and had no choice but to confront her fears and evolve, learn and fight in order to survive.

"I've never thought about joining the Resistance, you know," Luna said. "But I know someone who would."

"Who?" Janus looked at her.

"There's this girl back home, we share the same roof. On the night before all this happened, she said she wanted to fight and join the Resistance one day," Luna answered her.

"Well now, you can drag her into it," Janus said. "Maybe she's having a good time with all the conscription going in the the seraphim colonies."

Luna chuckled, but at the same time she felt worried that someone younger than her would be dragged into war even though she had longed for it. She saw the demons still flying around while thinking about the next day - the day she would take part in her first siege.

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This is what I like to call a "Goodbye scene". An interaction between two characters before the events of a big battle. Some kind of calm before the storm if you will.

I dedicate this chapter to tummie07 another host of the Candlelight awards. Fun fact: this is the first award I've ever entered this book in.

-Zyrofern