(94) Good-Faith

Daedron stared, disbelieving what he was seeing. However, reality would not wait for his mind to catch up. The woman rose, still cradling the ground rabbit that had nearly gored him, and approached with that wide smile. She moved without a sound, despite her careless steps, though the thumps as other ground rabbits bounced off her were footsteps enough.

“You were chasing them, right? Now I’ve got one, too—” she said, stopping with wide eyes as she spied the rabbit corpse that Daedron still clutched by the ears.

Oh, shit, he thought.

She looked, her eyes wide and brows furrowed, between the carcass in his hand and the rabbit she cradled. Had he messed up? She was clearly powerful, and if she was fond of these things—

Crack!

With the same finger she had been using to stroke the struggling rabbit’s face, she flicked its head. Its neck bent unnaturally with a small snap, and it went limp in her arms.

“There, now you can have two to eat!” she declared, her brightness returning.

She offered the newly deceased rabbit to Daedron, gripping it by the ears, as he did. The other ground rabbits hissed and screeched, some darting off into the bushes, others ducking below the earth. Regardless of method, all fled with the same reckless abandon.

“T-thank you,” Daedron muttered, taking the rabbit corpse and holding it with the same hand as the other.

“You’re from Chicolua, right?” the woman asked, offering her hand.

“You know it?” he asked, surprised that anyone on the outside would know of his home, but especially a nuarch.

“Course! I was headed there. Wanna go together?” she asked, hauling Daedron to his feet with no visible effort, the way an adult might a child.

Only now, standing, did he realize how large this woman was. She must be close to seven feet tall. It was not just her strength, but her stature: he really was a child next to her.

“Sure,” he said, dusting off the back of his pants. “You lead.”

He was not going to take her at her word, of course. This would be a clever ploy to discover the location of his village. He was not going to be the one to reveal its location after generations of secrecy.

“Okay!” she said, cheerful as ever, starting off toward the mouth of the valley. “I’m Leia! Who are you?”

“Daedron,” he replied simply.

“Nice to meet you, Ron! Can I call you Ron? What are you doing out here? You came a long way just to grab a couple of rabbits,” she remarked, setting off at a pace that nearly had Daedron jogging to keep up.

“Oh, well…I guess I was just exploring a little. It’s my first time out—” he cut himself off abruptly.

Don’t tell a stranger your entire life’s story, fool!

Leia turned to him, her eyes wide.

“Really?! That must mean you passed the second brink recently, congratulations!” she exclaimed, clapping.

Daedron stumbled, taken aback. Maybe she was from the colony.

He studied her from behind, noting that, although hidden by her long black hair, she had two sharp horns that sprouted from her hairline and flowed in a curve that followed the shape of her skull back across her scalp. Did nuarchs have horns?

“Thanks,” he muttered.

She moved with a gait that must be some product of being high-level. It could not simply be familiarity with the area. Every step she took was confident but neither measured nor precise. She would step, and it was as if her body unconsciously adjusted to whatever terrain it encountered. 

When she set her foot down, it might be with the full flat, but if she found an incline, it might only be her toes that touched the ground. Such micro-adjustments did not alter her cadence at all, and were he to watch only her torso, she would seem to be walking on level ground. It was as if her body was unstressed by changes in stance or footing, unconcerned with the terrain at all.

“You must’ve gotten something good at 200. You took that rabbit down with a single shot, despite a 20-level difference!” Leia said, miming drawing a bow.

A chill ran down Daedron’s spine. How long had she been watching him? Maybe she was extremely high level, and her enhanced senses allowed her to spot him from miles away, but…

“I am satisfied with it, yeah,” he replied.

The two carried on through the valley until it ended at a steep ledge overlooking a canyon with a roaring river racing through the bottom. The trickle from the previous valley’s stream emptied into this ravine, though its waterfall was little more than a drip compared to the roaring rapids below.

This was the real test. This ravine was little more than sheer cliffs carved out by the torrent of water. There were no ledges, no level ground to walk on, and following the river banks was suicide. Many powerful monstrosities called the river home, and they could drag a person in faster than lightning.

Chicolua had long ago crafted a hidden path through this difficult terrain, and all residents were taught how to navigate it, even if only in theory, for many never left the village at all. If Leia was really from Chicolua, or a friend of it, she would likely know—

“Hup!” Leia grunted, leaping up the sheer wall, landing gracefully on one foot atop the smallest bit of stone jutting from the wall.

She leaped a dozen feet at a time from small foothold to small foothold, scampering across the cliffside far more elegantly than any scale goat he had ever seen.

This was the secret path Chicolua had constructed through the ravine. Tiny indentations and minuscule scratches in the side of the cliffs created a hidden highway that one could use to follow the river, safe from its dangers. 

Of course, it was perilous. A single fall would land one on the very banks they were trying to avoid, likely with broken bones. However, members of the hidden colony were expected to be beyond the second brink before ever leaving, so the treacherous terrain should be manageable by that point.

That said, one was meant to take it slowly and carefully, not bound across the cliffs, skipping every other foothold.

Daedron sighed and resigned himself to the arduous journey home. It was one he was going to take anyway, and he was returning with not one but two rabbits. He had every reason to be thrilled. For some reason, though, he felt tired.

It took a couple of hours of careful ambling across the cliffs for Daedron to reach a small overlook, the dried remnant of a waterfall that fed the river below. He hoisted himself over the smooth rim, finding Leia with her back against the wall, her eyes closed. 

She appeared to be asleep, which was not surprising. If she had maintained her previous pace, she would have arrived in under an hour and been waiting ever since.

Daedron stood motionless, contemplating. Should he just move on without her? That would be rude if she were from Chicolua. It would make things awkward if they ran into each other later. On the other hand, if she was trying to access the colony with nefarious intent, going first would effectively lead her straight there.

Although if she truly had nefarious intent, making her go first probably was not the right move either. She was obviously strong, way stronger than he, so waiting around in an effort to keep Chicolua safe might be counterproductive if her friendly facade dropped and she decided to interrogate—

“Ready to go?” Leia suddenly asked, standing with her arms crossed, as if she had been waiting like that the entire time.

“Wha—oh, yeah. Sorry. I thought you were asleep—” he started.

“I wasn’t sleeping,” she declared seriously.

“...sure,” he conceded, holding his hands up placatingly.

“Okay, off we go! To the hidden door, yo-ho!” she said enthusiastically, her wide smile returning as she marched.

To Daedron’s surprise, she walked straight to the edge of the steep wall that formed the base of the shattered cap, the mountain that Chicolua was built inside, and pushed the door open. It spun on its axis, opening inward while the other end opened outward, and Daedron hurried to follow her inside.

I guess she really is from—

The shink of steel leveled in his direction froze Daedron’s boots to the ground. Three men shoved speartips in his face, and he immediately held his hands up by his head, indicating he was not a threat. Leia did the same, though her smile never faltered.

The tunnel was narrow, no more than seven feet wide, and the guards blocked it with their bodies, using the chokepoint as intended to prevent any advance with their short spears.

“Daedron, what have you done?” a man asked.

A torch lit behind the guards revealed Broga, who stood with his arms crossed. His perpetual scruff darkened his face, and the eyepatch over his right eye, hiding a gnarly scar beneath, presented a fierce visage.

“I’ve returned. You were expecting me, weren’t you?” Daedron replied, confused.

“We were expecting you to return alone, not with a demon in tow,” Broga growled.

“A what?” Daedron sputtered, unable to make sense of the situation.

Only now did he notice that, while the guards’ spears were aimed to block the tunnel, their eyes were locked onto Leia. He saw sweat on their brows, and he even saw one’s throat apple dip with an obvious gulp. He glanced at Leia and saw she still wore her companionable smile, and his confusion only grew.

“This is Leia, a nuarch,” he introduced.

“Nuarch don’t have fuckin’ horns and slit pupils,” Broga spat.

“Ho! Good eye!” Leia said, her mouth making an ‘O’ shape as she pointed at Broga.

He did not seem to take kindly to the joke, his face somehow darkening further as he ground his teeth.

“And you led it straight here, you damn fool,” Broga accused, his expression and tone grave.

“He actually made me lead, wouldn’t bring me here himself. He was quite careful. 

“We already knew where Chicolua was, but we thought it would be rude to fly straight in,” Leia explained, lowering her hands and crossing them before her.

“We? Who the fuck is we?” Broga demanded.

“We are Nemesis, and we come to you with a proposal,” Leia declared, her smile taking on a more sinister hue.

Broga’s face paled noticeably, and one of the guards took a step back. Daedron had never heard of Nemesis, but their reputation apparently preceded them.

“Leave us alone. We don’t want any trouble,” Broga said, his voice suddenly hoarse.

“And you will have none from us. As I said, we merely have a proposal. Chicolua may accept it or reject it. That is not my concern. However, I will present it. That is my mission, and I never fail a mission,” Leia said, her smile falling. “Will you allow me entry willingly?”

Daedron glanced back and forth between Leia and Broga, the standoff tense, even if he did not understand the entire situation. His gaze fell to the rabbits in his hand, and he was suddenly overcome by a strange certainty.

“We should allow her entry,” he said, breaking the tense silence.

He recoiled slightly at his own voice, unsure why he had spoken up. It was like an instinct had overcome him.

“The fuck are you talkin’ about, boy? Didja not hear? That’s a godsdamnfuckin’ demon!” Broga shouted, gesturing at Leia.

“Not only has she not harmed me, but she also saved me from a pack of ground rabbits. She led the entire way here. I did not even mention Chicolua to her, yet she knew exactly where it was, including this door and the ravine passage. 

“She could have entered the colony on her own, but she arrived with a member to announce her. I think that shows more than just a good-faith effort. We should at least allow her entry to present whatever proposal she has,” he finished.

A thick blanket of silence pressed the group down, and Daedron could only curse himself. Why was he speaking up all of a sudden? This was not his affair!

“Be it on your head, boy, for whatever foul curse allowing a demon entry inflicts on our home,” Broga sighed, motioning for the two to follow.

The guards raised their spears and parted, pressing themselves against opposite walls to create a gap through which Daedron and Leia could pass individually.

“Thanks, Ron!” Leia said, her huge smile returned.

She patted him on the shoulder as she advanced down the tunnel, leaving him standing there holding his bleeding rabbits, which drip-drip-dripped on the stone floor. In all his haste and confusion, he had forgotten to bleed them.

What am I even doing?