A Hero With/Out Time

Chapter 13: Their differences. (Part 1)

Chapter 13: Their differences.

Three days passed by with no more trouble than a heavy downpour. The demon issue aside I decided to settle at home and watch for any suspicious movements. The time flew by quickly as I went back to my daily lifestyle. I helped Axel wherever I could, baking bread in the morning, crafting tools in the blacksmith, gathering reagents for the apothecary, avoiding Margaret's new mixture, sewing new clothes for the kids... it was like I had never left. The biggest difference however was Taylor and Ardent. Ardent had taken it on himself to teach the children rudimentary magic, something to be honest I was jealous of, especially when the children happily showed me their results. I couldn't even light a small flame without passing out. As for Taylor she hung around, mostly near me. She still wasn't used to town life and followed me around quite like a curious puppy. At times I even taught her a few things.

Beneath it all however my sword and bow were always close by and Ardent had set up his spells to detect trouble. We would be able to act at a moment's notice but that moment never came. On one hand I was glad, on the other I was dreading not being able to do anything but wait. About the demons I wasn't sure what to do. Taylor wasn't much help and I didn't want to risk telling Ardent. It didn't seem like we were moving anytime soon as on Greytree's end more and more problems kept popping up. In the end I decided to sit and wait as I settled my thoughts.

It was midday and I was teaching Taylor the basics of mixing potions when Ardent came into the apothecary.

"Rain I received a message from Ronalt," he said simply.

"And?" I turned my attention to him.

"He wants to know when you'll be ready to depart. As it stands our previous entry route is not viable so we'll most likely have to change paths. At the moment he will still be several days as they wait for correspondence from the Capital but we can't sit idle for too long, especially as we now know the Demon's offensive is close by."

I gazed out the door he came from, to where the outside of Axel was still visible, "Axel is still in danger. I need to find whoever it was who came here and make sure they're gone for good."

"I completely understand that Rain," Ardent nodded. "However they're in demon territory and we might never find them. For now at least it seems they're gone. If protection is what you want I can still ask Ronalt to send those knights."

"No," I said a little too quickly. "I mean, it's fine. I'll handle it somehow."

He looked at me concerned, "Rain don't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Come to talk to me if you need help."

As he turned to leave Taylor poked my side and whispered, "He's right, besides having a Master Wizard on your side is handy."

They were both right, at this rate I wouldn't get anywhere. I called out, "Actually Ardent can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead," he seemed quite happy and settled back into the room.

"What do you think about demonkind? Are they as dangerous as people say?"

He scoffed immediately, "Goodness no. Propaganda Rain. Since the dawn of civilisation us humans have been using the demons as a common enemy to attain peace and the same could be said for them. In saying that our relationship with them has never been peachy but if you ask me they're as much harm as an unknown man or women... though if you include the stigmatism between the two races it would probably be more dangerous... unless you had a disguise of course then they wouldn't care... then again you would still have the stigmatism against them so-,"

"I get it Ardent," I stopped him as he began to wander. "Do you have much experience with them personally? I remember you saying you visited them once."

"Did I?" he tapped his chin in thought. Damn was that from a previous life? "Well I have. They're fine as any person not trying to kill you, though that does depend on their subraces. Some of their cultures can be quite different to ours."

"Right.... Taylor you don't care a bit do you?" I turned to her to make sure.

She was holding up a vial that was fizzing suspiciously, "Nope. Demon, human, same to me."

I rubbed my temples, "Thanks for the input." There was a lot I needed to think about.

A sudden pop resounded next to me and glass shattered to the floor. The vial Taylor had been holding was gone.

"Oops," she said apologetically.

"What did you put in there?" I sighed. At least this wasn't as bad as teaching her how to cook.