Monsters

I Did Good, Right?

Now that winter was winding down and Dror was healthy, the little boy was allowed to play with the other children while Kilubansa worked. The blacksmith was about to get lunch for himself and Dror when he saw the town leaders standing around the fire where the matriarch of Kilika had just prepared lunch for the travelers passing through and those who protected the town. They all wore fearsome looks, and Kilubansa paused at the threshold of her open door. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”

The group turned towards the blacksmith quickly, the matriarch Selvana the first to shake her head. “No, please come in. I assume you’ve come for lunch for you and Dror alike. I have some all ready to go for the pair of you. Kilubansa, I’m afraid that you should leave town soon. We have received word from the next town over that a demon of some sort has been terrorizing the children, and that it will likely flee to another town soon. They’ve put up wards against it. Unfortunately, none of our magic users know the proper wards to defend against demons. As it’s specifically attacking children, we’ve just been creating a plan to evacuate our children. We don’t have the resources to hide every child though, so you and Dror should continue your journey as soon as possible to outrun the demon.”

Kilubansa froze, fearful for his son as Selvana put a bag with two sealed containers of shepherd’s pie in front of the man. “The town is about a week away; you do not need to leave now, and should be able to stay for two more days in order to gather everything you will need for the road.” He knew that with the way things were when a demon attacked, it was no surprise that they could not help them any more. He was about to thank Selvana for the warning when he heard the sound of children screaming in terror outside. Everyone rushed out in a panic to see the kids that had been playing now running in terror.

“Dror! Where’s Dror?!” Kilubansa shouted, searching for the little boy’s dark unruly mop amongst the running children. Still panicking, he heard a disembodied laugh that sent chills down his spine. Searching frantically for his son and the source of the laugh, he heard one of the mothers herding her child to safety shout shrilly. “Demon!”

A dark mass at the edge of the town peeled itself off of the ground where it had been trailing behind the children, trying to hide as a shadow. “You’ve identified me! How terrifying.” It jeered, reaching to grab at one of the fleeing children. Some of the mages tried to throw fireballs at the creature, which merely laughed and taunted them as it advanced on a fallen child with the fire going through the beast with no effect at all. “Oh, are you trying to tickle me? How touching.”

The air was filled with the shout of a warrior’s charge, and from out of the darkness the demon had come from, Dror used a walking stick one of the others had dropped to vault himself towards the demon, kicking the demon away and distracting it from the child now scrambling away from the creature. Dror stood up quickly and faced off against the creature, wielding the walking stick that was as tall as him like a bo-staff. He stood in between the creature and the town, and Kilubansa could see the brutally trained warrior the 8-year-old had been trained to be before escaping his family.

The creature snarled and attacked the child, only for Dror to block and fight back, turning quickly in order to keep momentum up as each of his blows landed, pushing away the demon. It snarled at him and Dror showed no fear, staring down the demon all others had run from and snarling back at it angrily. “Go away! Leave them alone!” The creature recoiled as if the words themselves hurt it and hissed as it fled the child, the darkness that had been encroaching Kilika’s edges receding with it.

Once it was gone, Dror put down the walking stick and turned around slowly to face the staring town, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as Kilubansa rushed to him to make sure that the little boy was uninjured. Even if Dror had probably been viciously trained by having to fight creatures such as that, Kilubansa wanted to make sure that he was okay. “Dror, you aren’t hurt, are you? I didn’t see it hit you, but I don’t know how their magic works.”