Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Jigsaw ❯ A Heroes' Contest ( Chapter 6 )

CHAPTER SIX

"Have fun and try not to hurt yourself!"
-- Ga-ai'kale Jallen, How to Turn a Spoon into a Sex Toy

“Kao?” Geddon said. “Are you really him?” The prince was obviously faced with the meeting of someone unsavory enough to be exiled from a city and a demon at the same time, and trying to remain dignified.

Tione recalled the story of the student who was kicked out of the Sela Magic Academy for using Forbidden magic. This was him? The demon had an amiable smile spread over his dark face, his sharp canines protruding and pressed against his lower lip. He was actually quite attractive, she thought.

“Ha!” The demon laughed. “Well, it's a good thing I was just happening by at the moment!” He nodded. “Yep, you're a lucky bunch.”

“You can't fool us, demon!” Aleric squinted at Kao, who had picked up his discarded clothing and was in the process of dressing himself.

Kao uneasily poked his head through his dark purple tunic. “I can't, huh?”

Aleric shook his head valiantly, pointing to the trees Kao had emerged from. “You've been following us this whole time, haven't you?”

Kao's uneasy frown dropped, and he shrugged with a little smile. “Ya got me!”

“And you're still practicing Forbidden magic, I see,” Geddon squeaked, stammering occasionally. Tione got a momentary flashback of the sight of exploding boils and shuddered.

“Ahem,” Fastening his black cape, Kao cleared his throat, pointing to his own skinny chest. “Demon?” he reminded them.

Okay, that was understandable. The world was definitely big enough for a little of both good and evil. Tione finally decided she had to say something. She took a deep breath. She was going to be speaking to a demon! A demon, as in `lock up your women, men, children, livestock and small pets.' As in, `doesn't that burning village look gorgeous in the moonlight?' “Okay, so… what do you want us for?”

“Gah!” Kao rolled his gold eyes. “Are you still… after I… listen, I won't hurt you. Why would I bother to save all your lives twice?” he demanded.

There was a short pause. Twice? Tione knew Kao had killed the monster that had crippled Aleric, but she couldn't remember having seen him before. “Twice? What are you talking about?”

Kao walked over to where they were standing, stepping around the dead monster at his feet as if it were nothing more than a root or mound of dirt, his waving cape adding to his swaggering step. Tione felt her grip on Aleric's torso tighten. “Come on. Didn't you, for even a moment, wonder where the hole in the doors of Oh's temple came from?”

When Tione had noticed the hole, she had only briefly wondered about it, but never thought anything of it in all the commotion. He looked forward, directly at Tione. When he approached, he seemed to radiate a dark energy that made Tione's knees feel weak. Not many things could make her shudder, but just this demon being in proximity did it easily.

“You…” Aleric muttered. He sat up a little, wincing at the pain that obviously followed. He wiped a smear of blood off his face with his shirt. “You were one of the demons we saw in the temple earlier, weren't you?”

Kao looked down at Aleric and nodded. “Yes… I became a demon twenty-five years ago. I've become pretty popular with Émigré and have since become her adviser.” He chuckled indulgently. “Think she really took a liking to me. The other guy was Mynarik, her general. He's kinda...” he twirled his finger next to one of his long ears, indicating insanity. “Takes things too seriously, you know?”

Tione nodded, but was unsure why. She still had questions as to the conversation she heard in Oh's temple. What was all the talk of silver? Tribe, ruins, city? It made no sense but she was beginning to think it had something to do with her quest.

Kao rolled up his dark purple sleeves. “Anyway, it appears your friend needs healing…” He knelt down next to where Aleric was sitting, surveying the damaged leg. Thankfully, Aleric's trousers covered up the worst of it, but they were stained dark red with blood.

“Not to sound ungrateful…” Aleric said nervously, “but exactly why are you helping us anyway?”

Kao looked up again. “Haven't you noticed this?” He pointed to the fastener on the black cape he had just fastened, which was made of a familiar J-adorned brass circle.

“You…”

Kao nodded, smiling broadly enough to show his fangs. Tione took a moment to look at the outfit that the demon had finally finished dressing himself in. He wore heavy black leather boots fastened with large buckles, black trousers and a dark purple shirt, fastened in front with several tiny buckles. The top of his top was obscured by a thick wool shoulder cape, with his black cape waving lazily behind it, its slightly ragged ends stroking the grass. He'd taken so long to finish dressing because his costume was covered in straps that were fastened around his limbs as if holding something in—there must have been at least twenty, counting the two belts he wore and the satchel strapped across his chest and hanging at his side. He finally finished, pulling the straps tight on the black leather bracers he wore on his forearms. “That's right. You'll find us demons can make entertaining company. And you won't have to worry about little annoyances like that…” he nodded towards the monster's dead body. “… but first I get to take care of your friend.” He rubbed his hands together a little too contentedly, looking directly at Aleric. “I'm going to move your leg so that it heals right. It's kind of a slow process and it will be very, very painful.”

Aleric retreated his face a few inches from Kao's. “I wish you wouldn't smile when you say things like that. Don't you have spells just for broke limbs and stuff?”

Kao nodded, his dark bangs bobbing slightly. “Yes, but it's just beyond the level of magical power I can provide. Now…” Kao smirked, shifting part of Aleric's leg a little.

“Gah!” Aleric grunted, gripping the soft ground.

Tione turned her head away, trying to review everything she had learned in the past few days. She could now connect Kao's presence to the fact that Gramma Jirae had wondered if Tione was going to try and see Émigré. Still, there was one vital bit of information she didn't have: the purpose of the quest that she and seven other people were to fulfill. She put a hand on the demon's shoulder cautiously. “Say… what were you and Mynarik talking about before?”

Meanwhile, Aleric was tearing up the grass nearby and muttering curse words under his breath. Kao's actions were causing more blood to well up, staining the leg of his pants and the ground beneath him.

Taking care not to pause in his work, Kao answered, “Something that has everything to do with us. Now isn't the most opportune time—Tione, was it? I'll explain in Cognito.”

Tione nodded. “We'll stay there long enough to decide what we need to do next.”

“Don't forget,” Aleric grunted, still being tended to by Kao. “We also need supplies, Miss `I've got a spoon and that's all I need' … Aagh!”

“Shut up or I'll shove it in your ear. And you, demon! I'm fine with you coming with us, but don't try anything funny or it goes up your ass!”

Kao wiped blood from his hands to the grass next to him. “That a threat or a promise?”

“That's not how spoon combat's done, Tione,” Shani blushed from where he was putting the puppy back together.

Kao gritted his teeth, tearing an opening in Aleric's trousers over the wound so it was visible. “Anyway, I'm ready for the spell.” He knelt over Aleric and placed his hands close to the bloody wound—less than an inch away. “Don't move,” he murmured, “or your leg might heal crooked. Then I'd have to break it and start over.”

Aleric shivered.

A bright blue light radiated from his hands. “Sukri Sethu Shifti.”

Aleric gritted his teeth as the blue light intensified into white. He squinted at the slowly closing wound, digging his fingers into the ground.

By now Tione had sat down on the grassy ground. She'd already seen healing spells performed a few times on her journey, but it was always interesting. It didn't look like a reversal of the injury or even an accelerated period of healing. It was if the flesh itself became alive and pulled itself together of its own will. Tione's previous wound was nothing compared to what Aleric had suffered. What was he feeling? She combed through the long grass with her fingers as she watched.

He looked down again just as the wound closed and the skin began to return to its normal color. Shortly afterward, the blue glow faded and the blood that had dried onto Aleric's leg crumbled off.

Aleric moved his newly healed leg slightly. “Wow… that worked real good!” he grinned, holding out his right hand. “Hey, thanks.”

Kao shook it lightly, then stood up, straightening his tunic and shaking dirt and grass off his cape. “Well… it looks like I'll be with all of you for a while. I've introduced myself. Aside from the prince over here…”

Geddon blushed. It seemed that he got shy and nervous whenever someone was paying attention to him.

“… I don't know any of you.”

“Ah!” Shani said. “I'm sorry. It was rude of us not to introduce ourselves!” He bowed deeply. “I'm Shani, Prince Geddon's loyal apprentice.” He gestured to Aleric, who had meanwhile stood up and dusted himself off and was cooing to the disoriented puppy. “This is Aleric, from Florda.” Finally, he gestured to Tione. “And this is Tione, from Sheste.”

Tione wasn't paying much attention. “It just jumped out at something ten times its size; it's stupid!”

Hugging the puppy to his chest, Aleric gasped. “That wasn't being stupid! It was bravery? Wasn't it, Puppy? You're so brave!” It gazed blankly through Aleric.

“Ugh! Figures someone like you couldn't tell the difference. That's it! From now on its name is `Stupid!'”

“You can't do that!”

“I just did!” It was now draped over Aleric's shoulder with a look of annoyed puzzlement. “Aren't you? Aren't you Stupid?”

The puppy yapped once; Aleric sighed.

“There, it agrees with me!” Tione coaxed the puppy from Aleric's arms. “You're just a big pile of Stupid, aren't you?”

“Excuse me?”

Everyone looked down the hill they had come out of the forest at the top of and saw a young woman dragging a cart behind her up the hill. The bright orange dress underneath her slightly worn apron shone in the sunlight that filtered through the lazy white clouds. She appeared to have been walking for quite a while; her rounded face was bright pink and she was panting from her trip up the hill. She was looking at all of them with mild curiosity.

Sweeping a lock of her shoulder-length, sandy brown hair out of her eyes, she said, “Excuse me… I don't mean to trouble you…”

“Ah! Let me help you with that!” Aleric was quick to dash down the hill to the girl and help her pull the cart the rest of the way up the hill, leaving Tione with Stupid. It looked up at her as if expecting something.

Geddon looked on, impressed. “Normally after the healing of a wound that serious, the person is still weak. He must be incredibly resilient.”

Tione sighed as Aleric spread on the charm. “No, I don't think that's it…”

“There you go,” Aleric said, smiling slickly. “I was just standing here, minding my own business, you see. I wasn't expecting to see such a cute little angel in a place like this. Would you be kind enough to give me your name?” He half-bowed, never taking her eyes off her.

The girl's eyes widened, as her gaze shifted beyond Aleric to the lifeless, bloody body of the Madas Beast behind him. “Th… that…!” she exclaimed in shock.

Aleric shifted his weight onto his right leg to try to move his face back into the girl's line of sight. “Right, right. We had a slight problem on our travels,” he murmured complacently, running a hand through his blond hair. Finding his fingers impeded by tangles, he yanked his hand away. “Nothing to worry about.”

“He was nearly killed,” Tione muttered.

“You defeated a monster like that?” the girl marveled. Her awe-struck face changed to a joyous one. “Oh! That must mean that you are heroes journeying to Cognito to compete in the Heroes' Contest!”

Tione was about to ask what she was talking about when Aleric spoke up.

“The Heroes' Contest… Cognito is the City of Heroes and is home to the largest number of worshippers of Merid, the god of heroes—and my family's patron deity,” Aleric said more to the girl than to Tione, with a saccharine smile. “The contest is held every year during the Festival of Heroes.” He looked back at his companions. “I've been here a few times… I'm assuming you're from Cognito?”

She nodded. “My name is Lime Green, and I live there with my father—he sells firewood. You see, this is the nearest forest, but it's at the top of this hill, and that's why I'm here.” She exhaled in exhaustion and frustration. “We suddenly started running low, since so many people are here for the festival. Everyone is here to see the legendary spoon and the legendary sword—”

“Legendary spoon?” Shani quickly interrupted.

“Legendary sword?” Aleric asked. “I never heard of a legendary sword in Cognito…” he muttered.

“Oh, you must see them!” Lime smiled. “After I'm finished here, I'll take you into town! First, I have to fill this cart with wood…” She gestured by pulling up on one of the cumbersome cart's handles with both of her tiny hands.

“And you were sent to do this all by yourself?” Aleric asked.

“Well, I usually go further into the wood to find trees that have already fallen. Since it recently stormed, I figured there would be plenty of fallen trees to chop up into firewood.”

Aleric raised a powerfully built arm into the air. “No worries, Lime! We're gonna help you out!”

“… we are?” Tione muttered.

“Oh, yeah!” Aleric flashed Lime a wink.

They spent the rest of the warm, clear morning helping Lime cut and gather wood at the promise of dinner at the house where she and her father lived. When guaranteed the heartiest soup Lime could prepare and fresh bread, the cart was filled by noon, and branches felled by the storm stuck out jaggedly from its top. Tione looked at the cart, filled to its utmost capacity, hoping her stomach would soon be in a similar state. Lime led, with Geddon, Shani and Kao close behind. Stupid brought up the rear of the party just behind Tione and Aleric.

“I'm telling you, work like cutting wood is no good if you use magic!” Aleric insisted as they walked down the hill with Lime guiding the cart carefully down the hill.

“To think I walked into the woods and met, of all people, magicians who would help me get firewood for my father!” Lime smiled, apparently oblivious to the conversation behind her.

Aleric sighed, lagging slightly behind the rest of the group.

Tione slowed her pace a little. “What's wrong now?”

Aleric scratched the back of his head, diverting his eyes into the sunny sky. “Having Kao cast some silly spell to cut the wood totally defeated the purpose of—”

Tione rolled her eyes again, letting a small smile creep onto her lips. “You're not even a smart playboy.” She pointed ahead of them at Lime. “Look. She's hauling that cart down the hill all by herself. What do you think you should do?”

Aleric glanced briefly at Lime, then at Tione. “Y'know, for a country girl, you're pretty sharp. See ya!” He ran up to join Lime.

Tione watched him run ahead. Why had she even given that kind of advice? Why not? She let the idea escape her thoughts as her eyes narrowed. “You're welcome!”

“Why don't I help you with that?” Aleric asked, taking one of the cart's handles. Tione watched him proceed to chat it up with her.

“Why did he only take one of the handles?” Tione wondered aloud.

Kao looked back over his shoulder at Tione, winking knowingly. “If he offered to take the whole thing, she might have thought him to be chauvinistic… and this way she has to still stay near him.” He purred as if noticing a sweet, pungent scent. “Humble, simple city girls are the best! What I wouldn't give to find her alone in the woods or a dark alley.”

Tione looked up at the demon's smiling face and had second thoughts about traveling with him. If he tried anything, she'd beat his head in, but did she want to be associated with a character like that?

Shani, seemingly unbothered, said, “Kao… it may be radical in comparison to your usual way of doing things, but it never hurts to just ask. You're good looking enough to not have to resort to that kind of thing.”

Kao tilted his head, bemused. “Ask… now there's an amusing concept!”

The demon shuffled gracefully forward to Aleric and Lime, black cape trailing behind him. Tione figured Kao needed all the grace and dexterity he could manage; his willowy form betrayed his utter lack of brute strength. He looked slickly to the young woman and cleared his throat. “Ahem.”

Briefly diverting her attention from Aleric, Lime blinked at the demon. “Y- yes?”

Kao bowed respectfully. “Pardon me… may I rape you?”

Lime shrunk back, and Aleric took the opportunity to put an arm around her. “Aww, come on, Kao! That isn't funny!”

Kao chuckled and retreated to the back of the party. Demons will be demons, Tione decided.

“So, you wouldn't be some rich merchant's or mayor's daughter who can give us a preferential look at this legendary sword, would you?” Aleric asked, his mouth molded into an innocent grin.

“Oh, no, silly!” Lime giggled. “But you don't even have to get special permission to see it close! Both the spoon and the sword are stuck in columns of stone. You can try and pull the spoon out, if you want!”

Aleric's smile started to fade until he consciously jerked it back up. “Yeah… the spoon. What about the sword?”

Lime looked at Aleric for a moment, then threw back her head, roaring with laughter. “You're so funny!” She slapped Aleric's back. “You're going to make me drop this cart if you're not careful! No one knows for certain how long that sword's been there because no one can solve the impossible riddle!”

A legendary sword guarded by a riddle? Now things were getting fun. “What's the riddle?”

Lime Green looked serenely out over the hills. “'For a man to draw the sword, he must first lay down his own.'”

“Hmm,” Aleric continued to push the cart but wore the piercing stare of someone thinking very hard about something.

“Don't think too hard, Aleric,” Tione called up to the front of the party, seeing Aleric hunch over in contemplation. “You know what happens when you walk and think at the same time.”

Coming back through the woods was much more pleasant than the first time, the sun having risen and the safe, beaten trail of warm soft dirt being beneath their feet. Having not been attacked by a dragon in the past few hours helped the team's morale, as well. What's more, Tione would finally get to see a city other than Sheste—and a large one, as well; Cognito, she knew, was famous for having been the unofficial capital of Jigsaw before the monarchy was established. Elin had taught her that the kingdom was once wild and feudal, consisting of territories belonging to lords that convinced their people to work for them through competing benefits. The only thing that kept them from leaving were the threat of bandits, orcs and demons in the unclaimed lands. The feudal system collapsed when traveling warriors and mages began offering lessons in self defense in return for room and board. With the power to move wherever they wished, the newly-empowered public overthrew the system and something new was needed. This always seemed logical, Tione always wondered if there was something else to such a radical change in regime.

“…and that's how I defeated an entire Analerna crime gang using only a broken sword, a cartful of pawnapples and my bare hands!” Aleric was saying.

“What happened to the orphans and the crippled old lady?” Lime quickly asked, clearly engrossed in Aleric's tale. Tione had begun to occupy herself by studying How to Turn a Spoon into a Weapon of Mass Destruction.

“Is Professor Nettik still eccentric as ever?” Kao was asking Geddon.

“I… I wouldn't say eccentric… he is unusual, however…” Geddon answered. “He still makes students who misbehave wear that bucket with holes cut into it on their heads.” He laughed lightly. “I wonder where he ever got that idea.”

“Did you ever have to wear the bucket?” Kao asked in a strangely secretive tone.

Geddon blushed bright red yet again, shaking his head. “N- no, I never did!”

“How about you, Shani?” Kao jabbed Shani lightly with his elbow.

“Nope!”

“I see…” Kao murmured, looking ahead. After a few moments, he muttered, “That bucket smelled awful.”

Tione returned the book to her pocket, sliding out the map of Jigsaw between two fingers. With a flick of her wrist, she unfolded the yellowed piece of paper. From the Howling Woods to the southern jungles, and from the northern forests of the duchy of Greenstone to the towering Laviri Mountain… how much of it would she get to see on this journey? In her lifetime? From the map, they had barely moved in relation to the size of the entire kingdom. With so much to see, it would be a waste to travel nonstop clear across an entire kingdom without enjoying it, as Aleric seemed to have.

“By Xikji's loins!”

Tione noticed for the first time a shadow on the map she held along with the familiar feeling of apprehension that accompanied being close to Kao. She looked up to see that he had slowed his pace and was craning his head to look at it.

“Tione,” Kao said, frowning slightly, his eyes narrowed in interest. “Where did you get something like this?”

Tione gulped, feeling apprehensive for some reason. The demon's serious tone and the idea of possessing something that could bring even Kao up from his usual calm and cool conduct sent a tingle through her body. She gripped the old paper tightly. “It was in the book that great grandmother Elin gave me…” she said quietly. “Isn't this just a map?”

Kao stopped walking. “Hey! Hey, everyone!” he called ahead to the rest of the group. “Wait! Hold on a second!”

Geddon, Shani, Aleric and Lime looked back, concerned—except for Aleric, who seemed annoyed. The steady, rhythmic squeaking of the cart's wheels halted, and a few of the logs inside clunked against each other from the sudden stop.

Tione scanned the map as Kao called the others over. Besides obviously being very old, there didn't seem to be anything remarkable about it. It had clearly seen better days—besides being yellow and a little brittle, the paper was dotted with stains and smears. In the upper-right hand corner there was a hole the size of her little finger with burn marks around it, and the many creases suggested that it had once been crumpled.

“Prince,” Kao murmured. “Look closely at Tione's map.” Kao took hold of Tione's forearms and shifted them so that Geddon could see the map right side up. In her curiosity, she didn't bother to take offense. Instead she joined everyone in trying to figure out what Kao was referring to.

Geddon perused the piece of paper carefully. He squinted at it, leaned in closer and looked at it from different angles, and finally shook his head. “I'm afraid I don't understand.”

“All right, Kao!” Aleric demanded, trying to get a better look while keeping his grip on the cart. “Tell us what's so special about this map!”

“Well… look,” Kao said. He pointed at an area in western Jigsaw at the southern edge of what appeared to be a mountain range. His dark finger ended in a nail that grew slightly sharpened, like a claw. “Here, in the Silver Mountain range… this is Rahler Mountain. Inside that mountain is Kelorin, where we demons live.” He moved his finger northwest. “This is Silver City.” Northeast of that, he pointed out the two large, wide bodies of water that jutted out into the Garro Sea on the northern coast of Jigsaw. “These are the Eastern and Western Peninsulas.” Kao paused shortly, then finally pointed south to another place on the map. “And this is Sela.”

Tione followed Kao's finger until he was finished, trying to glean some meaning from his words. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Right, right. What's your point?” she asked impatiently.

Without another word, Kao grasped the top edge of the map and turned the paper over. On the opposite side were dark marks where black ink had bled through to the other side. “This map has become inaccurate since it was first created, and has hence been altered. Jigsaw's Eastern and Western Peninsulas had their names switched around when Jigsaw was invaded by the northern kingdom of Threed for the second time, about three hundred years ago.” He began pointing out the ink markings on the paper, where things had been crossed out, corrected and added. “Kelorin was founded far before that, and Silver City no longer exists. See? It's been crossed off the map. More importantly… this map predates even the capital city of Sela!”

 “Meaning that this map is at least five hundred years old! By Noll's wings…” Geddon uttered.

Where had Elin gotten such an old map? As delicately Tione folded the map back into the book, she tried to think of a possible explanation. Maybe it was just handed down from her ancestors, preserved by magic, and Tione was just the newest person to receive it.

“Wait. Wait. Something doesn't make sense here,” Aleric pointed out. “Why would Tione's great grandmother send her off with an ancient out of date map… especially when Tione is so inexperienced in travel she wouldn't know Sofia's Great Wall if it fell on her!”

Tione dumped the book back into her pocket and shoved her way over to Aleric, keeping her footing on the hillside. “Would you recognize my fist if it hit you in the face?” she growled, practically bristling.

“Hey, hey.” Aleric maneuvered to the other side of the cart. “Put away the scary face, I was kidding. We're all hungry and tired, and a little cranky, I'm thinking. Let's—”

“Aleric, the cart!” Lime cried as the cart full of wood began to roll forward, its creaky wheels whining.

“Oh, shit!” Aleric pushed the cart back, but the handles were torn from Lime's hands as it began rolling down the hill, threatening to run over him. Aleric quickly leapt onto the cart, scrambling over the pile of wood and tumbling over the other side onto the grass.

“Dammit, Aleric!” Tione yelled, watching as the cart barreled down the hillside, its wheels creaking and wobbling. Stupid began to take off after it, yapping at it in a very commanding way for such a small creature, but was distracted by a butterfly and pursued it instead.

“Stupid…”

“The cart…” Lime said, clutching her dress anxiously. “It's headed for the city… someone'll get hurt if no one stops it!” She looked imploringly at Aleric.

“It's just a cart full of wood,” Tione countered. “It's not gonna—”

Lime dropped to her knees. “I can just see it…” She covered her face with her slender hands. “A little girl with her little dolly… she'd be no match for an out of control push cart…”

“Hey, hold on…” Shani said.

“Her mom will come home… her little daughter's dolly clutched in her hands, stained with her mother's tears…”

“Say no more!” Almost taking off directly down the hill, Aleric turned to Lime, his hands clutched into fists. “As a good man, and a hero, I cannot allow something like that to happen!” He pulled himself to his feet and took off down the hill after the speeding cart at an impressive speed, kicking up grass and dirt. “I'll save you, little girl!”

Tione watched Aleric dash down the hill. “He's fast, I'll give him that much.”

Geddon shook his head. “This can't possibly end well.” He turned to his apprentice. “Come on, Shani. We had better follow him!”

Tione felt Kao's gaze over her like a cool shadow. “Shall we go see what ensues?” he asked.

She sighed, feeling a little exasperated, and followed after Geddon and Shani, scooping up the smaller pieces of wood that had been bounced out of the cart. Besides, someone had to be the one to hurt Aleric if he didn't end up hurting himself. She could still see him, far down the hill; the sound of the cart rumbling down the hill had become faint. It looked like Aleric was actually gaining. From the foliage of the trees around it, the city of Cognito emerged as she ran further down the hill.

From Tione's vantage point, Cognito appeared as a large town with irregular borders. No fences or walls marked its edge. She was close enough to see that most of the city's streets were cobbled, culminating in two large plazas near the city's center. Wide streets spread out in concentric circles from there, connected by smaller paths and alleys barely visible through the crowded buildings. Between the two plazas looked to be a great shrine.

Funny how you can never seem to run as far as you think you can, Tione thought to herself, gripping her aching side. For a moment, her pace wavered and she slowed down to keep herself from stumbling and falling down the hill. Besides her increasing fatigue, her dress was hardly designed for running in; the contents of the apron-like pocket at the front thumped against her legs to the rhythm of her pounding heart. The stand of trees that she could now see surrounding Cognito was still hundreds of feet away and Geddon and Shani were resting just up ahead; it was time to slow down.

At about that time, Kao caught up with her. He sidestepped toward her while maintaining his pace until he was only about a foot to her right. “Let's surprise them!” he grinned, wrapping his left arm around her waist.

Tione turned to voice some kind of protest, but before she could a glittering flash of black and silver blinded her and she got the sensation of being pulled forward at a frightening speed. Her stomach lurched, her ears popped, and the bright flickering faded.

The hand around her waist slackened its grip and Tione crumpled to the ground, her head spinning to the shimmering dots swimming before her eyes. What had just happened? She looked around, disoriented. There were Kao's feet next to her… She looked up and saw the hill she had just been running down. Had Kao magically brought them there? In retrospect she didn't see how it could have been anything else, and she didn't care to speculate at the moment, as she suddenly felt the ground seem to shift under her one last time, almost sending her reeling onto her side.

The cart, much of its cargo having been bumped and bounced free in its journey down the hill, sped toward them. Wait a minute, she thought. He wasn't going to try and stop the cart himself, was he?  What a showoff! She looked up at the demon beside her to see how he intended to stop the cart, which was rattling and shaking loudly, making itself utterly impossible to ignore. It had to be with magic. Even Aleric wouldn't have been able to stop it moving so fast; it would completely overpower Kao.

With a flick of his wrist, Kao thrust his hand out, palm up. He had scarcely opened his mouth to cast a spell when Tione's view was blocked by what appeared to be a mass of tanned leather scented liberally with human body odor.

Tione shook the last bit of dizziness out of her head and stumbled to her feet in time to be struck on the head by something hard and fairly large with a dull thump. It wasn't until Tione was back on the ground that one thunderous crash followed by several smaller ones registered in her ears. She looked up, past pieces of wood that flew past her, to see a huge monolith of a man standing over the pieces of the broken cart, brandishing a great sword. She rubbed her head where she had been hit, trying to make the green and red spots dancing in front of her eyes go away.

“Hey!” Kao shouted, his usual composed lilt becoming loud and harsh. “What did you do?” The long bangs that normally hung coolly by his cheeks almost seemed to bristle and his long demon ears turned expressively downward like an angry cat's.

Tione stood up, half expecting to be struck again and having a small amount of difficulty keeping her balance, especially on the uneven cobbled street. Despite the fact that her head was still spinning, she looked at Kao and the man who had just arrived on the scene, who was wearing heavy boots, studded leather armor and worn work gloves. 

The man picked a large splinter out of his dark, dull blond hair inconsequentially, leaning on the large sword that he had used to destroy the runaway cart. “Why, I've doubtlessly just now saved this young girl!” he proclaimed, turning his squared, chiseled face to Tione. His body mass must have been at least twice hers. She was almost intimidated by his bulk until he gasped and announced, as if to an audience, “Why, young girl! You've been injured!”

Tione curled her hand into a fist. When she thought about it, she was still a little confused as to exactly what had hit her on the head. Most likely it was a piece of wood, but it could have been him. “Yeah, I wonder who did it!” It wasn't bleeding, but it still stung.

“Tione!” Aleric came running down the hill followed distantly by Lime, Geddon and Shani. Aleric was holding his side with one arm; the other was swinging loosely at his side. He slowed down as he jogged his way, panting, into the stand of trees at the city's edge and walked over to where Tione was standing.

Emerging back out into the sun, Aleric interrupted his rough breathing long enough to swallow. “For the sake of my manhood…” Aleric puffed, “tell me you didn't actually run all the way down that hill.”

“By `manhood,'” Tione said, “do you mean the oh-so-crushable thing that guides your every action?” Smiling faintly, she stepped past the hulking man who had begun arguing with Kao.

“You saying you wanna fight me, pretty boy?” he was asking, glowering down at the demon.

“You know what they say about men who wield big swords…” Kao smirked, flashing a single sharp fang.

Geddon, Shani (carrying Stupid, whose little legs pumped through the air as if still running) and Lime stumbled out of the shadow of the trees, all looking fairly surprised to see Tione, Aleric, Kao and a man who looked intimidating enough to make an ilmy's fur turn white surrounded by the remains of a destroyed push cart.

“Horme!” Lime panted in exasperation. “D… did you do this… to… my cart?”

Horme took his hairy hand off the hilt of his monstrous sword. “Lime…” His lips turned up into a sly smile as he purred her name. “Have you made up your mind yet? I've been waiting for your answer.”

“Remember,” Lime said, “if I can find a group that can beat you and your men in the Heroes' Contest, you—”

Horme's barrel chest shook with laughter. “Of course, of course! But…” He scanned the strange party of people that had so suddenly come down the hill into town, “I hope you don't mean to tell me that this is the party that will defeat Horme's Heroes?”

What was at stake here? The feeling of being pulled into something Tione didn't entirely comprehend was becoming all too familiar.

“That's exactly what I mean to tell you,” Lime said with a simple nod, straightening into a poised posture fit for nobility.

“Lime!” Geddon murmured. “What are you—”

“Team, nothing…” Kao said with an aloof grin. “Alone, I could completely destroy—”

Tione grabbed Kao's shoulder cape and tugged down so that she could whisper into his ear. “We know you could. Just shut up!”

“Fine,” Kao shrugged. He stepped back and put his hands in his pockets.

Tione whirled to face Horme. “That's right! We're the heroes that will defeat you!” She pointed at Horme. From the looks of it this was the first time the brute had ever felt intellectually challenged by a concept.

“You?” He raised a thick eyebrow. “Putting the question of how you could possibly beat me aside, what name does your team go by?”

Oops… Tione swallowed, trying to suppress the lump in her throat. “We…” She tried to make her pause seem like a dramatic one, but it didn't sound very convincing. “… are…”

Aleric stepped forward with a stunning smile. “Confused?” he ventured.

Horme's smug smirk dropped abruptly into a small, puzzled frown. “Interesting,” was all he seemed to be able to say. He straightened up. “Well, `Confused,'” he chuckled. “I'll see you in two days at the starting line.”

“T… two days?” Shani muttered.

Horme dug a gold coin out of his pocket and flipped it Lime's way. “That should take care of the cart.” He turned and walked down the street, laughing.

“Fine!” Tione yelled. “You leather-bound son of an ogre!” After he'd disappeared into the crowd, with speed startling enough to make him go wide-eyed, she whirled around, took hold of the strap of Aleric's satchel and pulled him forward. “We're Confused?!” she hissed.

“You gotta stop grabbin' people,” Aleric pointed out.

“At least it's accurate,” Shani quipped, the first to begin retrieving the tossed firewood.

Lime cleared her throat. “Well, that's wonderful!” She clasped her hands as if in prayer. “Why don't you all come back to my father's house so you can eat and rest, and then you can go register for the contest!”

“Eat?” Aleric asked.

“Of course! You must be hungry, and I'm sure my father wouldn't mind having all of you at dinner tonight!”

They all decided that despite all the questions they had, it would be better to ask them with a full stomach, so they decided to follow Lime to her home.

Tione walked at the rear of the party with her arms full of firewood, exploring the street with all her senses. All of the streets were cobbled rather unevenly, and except for the occasional main street, they were all narrow and packed with buildings—and any alleyway that managed to squeeze out between the buildings was usually packed with shop stalls. Besides all the shops, inns and houses, it was impossible to go far without having to walk around a stall or kiosk. Unused to being in such large crowds, the loud murmur of the crowded streets of Cognito made Tione feel a little disoriented. Every couple seconds, she found herself turning her head to identify the source of a laugh, a shout, a crash. The noise of the city somehow combined with the smells of food to make her begin to feel dizzy again. Her mouth watered at the scent of some kind of spiced meat cooking; her stomach had stopped gurgling hours ago and it now ached from hunger. On top of that her legs and feet hurt from traveling so far. Was this an aspect of adventuring that she'd just have to get used to?

“Uhn…” she muttered, fixing her grip on the pile of firewood. She bowed her head, watching her feet tread over the ground. It was so different from her hometown in every way that the reality of her situation suddenly hit her in a way that climbing a jellybeanstalk, seeing a giant's castle and being attacked by a dragon somehow couldn't do.

Tione lifted her head abruptly at the sound of an abrupt splat and a startled yelp from Kao.

Ahead of her, Kao growled and wiped the seeds and pulp from a pometo that'd hit the back of his head. “Well, that was hardly called for,” he muttered, watching a figure in a red cape dart off through the crowds. “I suppose some people don't appreciate demons in their cities…” He delicately licked the thick wine-colored juice from his fingers.

Their destination turned out to be on one of the main streets of Cognito. Through the constantly shifting crowd and over the rooftops the spires and towers of a great cathedral could be seen, its bleached stone glaring against the green landscape of the fields and forests surrounding the city. It was impossible not to notice it.

“That's the Temple Square, where the Temple of Merid is,” Lime smiled as they approached the house. “Temple Merid is the starting and finishing point for the Heroes' Contest. On the other side of the church is the Park Square.”

Tione craned her head past an armful of wood down the wide street into the Temple Square. There was a stone column barely visible in its center.

“Would you like to come around to the back of the house to drop the wood on the pile?” Lime asked politely. Juggling her armfuls of wood, she managed to undo a latch on a crude gate next to the house, which swung open with a cheerful creak. Tione followed as Lime led the way into the shade by the side of the house, where a few stray sprigs of grass grew from the dirt.

There was a large pile of wood behind the house. After unloading all of the wood they had cut and dusting themselves off, Lime led them into the house through the back door.

“Father?” Lime called, still dusting off her dress onto the straw mat covering the dirt floor. “I'm home!”

Tione walked into the dimly-lit home, followed by her companions. The back door led into a small kitchen area centered around an uneven table with six chairs crowded around it. Warmth radiated from a stove nearby, fueled by wood from a wicker basket that hung on a hook next to it.

“Sit down if you like,” Lime said. “I'll make you all something to eat in a moment.” She walked into the next room. “Father?”

Tione sat down between Aleric and Shani as an aged male voice greeted Lime in the next room. She fished the dragon's tooth out of her pouch and fidgeted with it, chipping off dried blood as she turned her gaze to Geddon. “So, Geddon… would you mind telling us about what happened with the demons?”

Geddon sighed, bowing his head. “As much as I disapprove of the demons' actions, I feel that what happened to them was cruel and unjust. However, I feel that I am unqualified to tell the story with adequate accuracy, and my unchangeable status as an elf may add an unfair bias.” He turned to Kao, blushing. “You might know the story better.”

Kao nodded bitterly. “I do. While I hadn't been born yet, I am familiar with the tale of the betrayal of the demon race by the Silver Tribe that took place around five hundred years ago.”

Aleric leaned forward. “Five hundred years ago…” Aleric murmured. “So, yeah. A lot of important things happened then, right? What's the significance of that time?”

Kao turned to Aleric. “Nothing, inherently. The deeds that were accomplished during that time were all as a result of each other. Circumstances and all. And what's more, the story is not well known.” He smiled faintly. “By the time I am finished with my story, you will understand the purpose of our quest.”