The Warrior Caught by Flowers
Copyright© 2016 by Adraine Farris
Chapter 14: In the Demon’s House, Which Way Should You Go?
Even as Eigis was asking her brother which limb he would like to lose, Bells finally reached the demon’s house, sometime around dawn, having followed her brother’s tracks to it. It was sometime after the demon had gone upstairs to check on the time. She had walked practically all night, stopping at one point to catch a few hours sleep in a tree, and have breakfast. She was a little tired, but ready for a fight.
The gate, a heavy affair carved from stone and set with steel bars, was neatly sliced in two, the upper half now lying flat on the white stone walk beyond, washed pink and purple in the new morning light. Bells guessed that this must be the work of her brother.
“Baka,” She muttered, stepping over what was left of the gate. “Ruining a perfectly good gate. Never mind that it belongs to a demon. What a beautiful place.” She looked around appreciatively.
On either side a gently sloping garden let to Eigis’s brightly lit, many roomed house. The wall was wide enough for battlements, and three people could walk around with ease. Every few feet a round diamond orb held silver magic fire, flaming bright against the dying night. The scent of different flowers filled the air, and the music of falling water from several fountains.
“Well, I know he came here,” She said to herself. “And there’s no tracks leading out. So that means he’s around here somewhere. Ah! Here’s where his feet crushed the grass.”
Her bells at the ready, she crept after her brother’s footprints, following around the edge of the garden, leading off to the right. Doing her best to make use of cover and keeping to shadows, she searched for sign of her brother while keeping alert for the demon. The noise of the fountains was not loud, and she could hear larks singing in the trees, which meant that if there was a fight still going on, it was either quiet or inside the house, or the fight was over and whoever won was too tired to do anything but sleep. Which was often the case after a fight.
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