Chương 74: Don't Let the Devil Inside

Ella stepped over to the scholar's desk. Sitting there in a basket was the source of the resonance that had drawn her to this cottage.

"My, you've been busy, haven't you?" The scholar seemed uneasy when she put her face close to study the details.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"How'd you learn to make this?"

"A client gave it to me." He didn't seem to be lying, but it wasn't the whole truth either. A payment, perhaps?

"The rune work is exquisite. Just feel that hum. So pure. The materials that went into producing the ink must have been hard to procure."

"I couldn't say." He clearly felt uncomfortable talking about the egg. Which made sense, as devil resurrection was taboo among humans. He was probably hoping she wouldn't recognize it for what it was.

"What did you come here for?" he asked. An attempt to turn her attention away to something else. She ignored his question and glanced over the other items on his desk. A sketch caught her eye. It featured a rabbit eating a cake.

"Oh! Is that supposed to be Mooncake?" She tilted her head.

"Might I suggest some drawing lessons?"

"You know what that is?" He stepped over to her.

"What's it worth to you?" She snatched the egg from its basket.

"Don't touch that!" he cried but didn't make a move, probably for fear it would be dropped in the struggle. She held it up to the ceiling, causing the bright orb there to fade as its mana was drawn into the egg. In the ensuing darkness, the runes on the egg became hyper-visible despite being inscribed in black ink, and Ella could feel the resonance strengthen in her chest. Whoever made this had a masterful hand. The orb lit back up when she moved to place the egg back in its basket. The scholar stood frozen.

He now knew that she knew. There was only one reason a human would be wanting to resurrect a devil.

"What wish do you have?" she asked. It took him a moment to respond.

"I'm doing it to save my home." It was the answer she expected. People often turned to her kind in desperation.

"And if the devil doesn't deliver?" she asked.

"She must." Ella smiled sweetly.

"There's no magic that binds a devil, and nothing in the world to enforce a resurrection wish. You understand that, don't you?"

"They have good reason to honor the wish," he replied.

"What use would an immortal race have for such trifles as honor?"

"Immortal? They can die." She twisted her mouth.

"A mere inconvenience." The scholar shook his head.

"Why do you think they're so vengeful? Death is unpleasant for them. Like everyone else, they very much prefer being alive. If they stop honoring the wishes, none would assist in their resurrection. So you can say the wish is enforced by the devil's own self-interest."

"You've given this a lot of thought," she said.

"But I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment. Nothing can save the peninsula. Certainly not Ella."

"You can tell this egg is for her?" He shook his head.

"Of course you can." After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Then who would you suggest?"

"I suggest you flee."

"What about Gneiss? He can surround the peninsula in cliffs."

"Trust me when I say that no safety can be found here anymore," she replied matter-of-factly.

"Pack that egg and any valuables you can carry and be ready to leave when the opportunity arises."

"Then I'll need Baggit. What would it take for you to teach me his ritual?"

"You don't need a pack mule, you need to leave." There was a reason Ella was one of the few devils that humans could name. Immortal the rest of her kin may be, even they didn't have the patience for a race who, knowing that their lives were in danger, still clung to their worldly possessions.

"I'm curious," she said.

"If you already had these two in mind, why did you choose Ella? She doesn't have any ability that could help in your circumstances."

"She's a fascinating devil, isn't she?" the scholar said.

"Is that so?"

"She was active until about a hundred years ago, when she disappears from the records completely. Well, that is if you discount the substantiated sightings. It doesn't help that the only surviving image of her is a child's drawing." Ella wasn't sure how she felt about being the subject of discussion among scholars like she was some sort of migratory bird.

"How does that help you save your home?" she asked.

"Because of what little we do know of her," he replied.

"She has a reputation for being the weakest devil, on account of how she never fights. But that's wrong, isn't it? She was in Hellholm when it stood against Annaconda. And she won. Against the most powerful lich to ever walk the earth."

"The threat against the Ygg Latten Peninsula is much greater than Annaconda ever was," she said.

"Against this power, the combined forces of Annaconda and Hellholm on that day would crumble like clay in a child's hands."

"It's the keystone, isn't it?" the scholar said.

"Someone has found a way to harness its power." She briefly considered how much she should tell him. That the keystone had been damaged, and the destructive forces they'd seen in the mucks and the decay field were only the beginning. But she didn't want panic to spread across the world. Instead she said, "I have an interest in the one who gave you this egg." To devil an egg this perfectly was a demonstration of immense talent and rare knowledge in arcane matters.

Going beyond that, they must also have been aware of her recent death, which spoke of deep connections. But most importantly, she didn't think they were a friend of Annaconda's.

"I don't know their name," he said carefully.

"But I can pass your details along." This was probably the better way to go about it. A name or description wouldn't have done her much good. Anyone in the business of handing out deviled eggs would have left behind a false trail.

"Tell them to come find me at the animal shelter on Eltershay Avenue," she said, heading for the door.

"If they're of any value to me, I'll find and repay you later."

After the woman left, Juan sat down at his desk and fell deep into thought. It was obvious that the people who'd been coming to his cottage all had something to do with the muck invasion. The problem was figuring out which of them was behind it and whether any of the others was actually trying to stop them. He knew his own limitations well enough to understand that he had no chance of figuring this out.

It was one thing to read about characters picking their way through plots and conspiracies in a book, and another thing altogether to have to do it yourself in real life. Instead he fell back on some simple principles. The governor suspected the male elf, and he had to trust an accomplished leader's judgment on these matters more than his own. The two women were suspicious for their knowledge of devil magic, but at the moment they remained his best hope of salvaging something from the situation.

The half-elf would be returning in the morning. Seeing how much she wanted to learn about this rabbit, she would certainly offer him a better solution, if resurrecting Ella wasn't going to help. But that offer would only come if she believed he could deliver results. He needed something to show her. He looked again at the drawing. What did that woman call it? Mooncake? It was a strange name for a rabbit.

The cake part he could understand, because of what it was eating, but how did you get moon from— In a moment of inspiration, he took up his quill and drew a circle around the entire thing. This was how it had looked in the original rubbing, wasn't it? He'd thought it was just a boundary feature to separate the drawing from everything that surrounded it, like an embedded picture frame. But what if it was a part of the picture itself? Then it would no longer be a picture of a rabbit eating a cake.

It would be a picture of a rabbit eating a cake... on the moon. A moon rabbit. Mooncake. He hurried over to the shelf about astronomy. Astronomical mathematics... astronomical romance... there! Astronomical folklore. While plenty of stories had been written about the moon rabbit, only a subset would have discussed its dietary habits, and only a fraction of those would have anything to say about cakes. He shouldn't have too much to search through to find something out about that drawing.

Maelle woke up late that evening, which meant she was late for her meeting with Ella. As if her day wasn't already going badly enough, it was starting to rain, and dark storm clouds were on the horizon. Not being used to running on wet stone, she slipped and landed on her tail. Luckily a friendly bystander helped her up. As she continued on her way, she heard the whispering behind her.

"Hey, isn't she the one who blew up the waystation?"

"That was her? Well, I'm sure she had her reasons." By the time she arrived at the shelter, she had an entire apology rehearsed, only to find that Ella was still asleep.

"I'm dreadfully sorry," Ella said while pulling on her boots.

"Some other business kept me up this morning." The cat lover looked around.

"You didn't bring Boots?"

"I was meant to bring Boots?" In the end they decided it was okay to talk about him behind his back, since it was all good stuff anyway. And Ella wanted to combine their chat with her work, and took them down to the harbor, where she'd recently spotted a pregnant cat. The storm clouds gathering overhead were making Maelle nervous. They brought to mind some unpleasant memories. She shared stories about Boots.

His love for shoulder-riding, how hard he was to catch when he got excited, his tendency to run off out of nowhere. They went all the way to where the docks used to be. Nothing of them remained, having all rotted away in the water. They traced a path along the waterfront, where large warehouses dominated the large blocks. Inside they all sat empty, even their shelves having been stripped for parts, leaving behind giant echoey chambers.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. She didn't quite know what Ella was looking out for, and when she asked, it was hard to follow the detailed explanation of terrestrial scavenging patterns and predator-prey instincts.

"So, uh, it's something you learn with experience?" she said. Ella smiled.

"I suppose can you think of it like that." The rain was coming down hard, and the first rolls of thunder sounded overhead. The sky was so dark it was getting hard to tell how long they had until sunset.

"Maybe we should start heading back," she suggested, pulling her cloak tighter.

"There's just one more place I'd like to check," Ella replied. They made their way behind a detached office building. The logo with a wagon on the front suggested that it belonged to one of the logistics companies. The doors and windows were boarded up tight, except there was one where the wood had come loose. Ella pointed at it.

"See that gap? A cat could climb through, couldn't it? Could you be a dear and make a [Light] for me?" Maelle cast the spell on her finger and held it up to the gap while Ella stuck her head through.

"Shouldn't you be more careful?" she said.

"What if there's a muck inside?" Ella pulled her head back out.

"Our furry friend's inside. I can see her wet paw prints." Maelle looked at the boarded-up door.

"How are we going to get her out?" Ella pulled at one of the boards. It came off with a bit of effort.

"Are we supposed to be doing this?" she asked nervously.

"We can't let her give birth here. Her kittens won't survive the decay field." Ella handed her one of the boards she'd removed. The wood had started to go soft, and the outside was slimy.

"You can feel it, can't you? It's spreading onto the land." She'd been feeling something prickly on her skin, but had put it down to the usual discomfort she felt during a thunderstorm.

"Wait," she said.

"Does this mean we've been attacked by the decay field all this time?"

"It isn't strong enough to get through your magic resistance," Ella said.

"But if you're concerned, Rufus knows [Minor Heal]. He can take care of us when we get back."

"So you knew all this time? Why didn't you tell me!" Ella gave her a strange look.

"You've been feeling it all this time and didn't think to mention it either." She didn't have a reply to that, and decided to set the matter aside until they rescued the cat. With the boards removed from the door, they made their way inside. Maelle moved carefully, remembering the ambush back at the waystation, while Ella proceeded quickly, following the wet tracks on the floor.

"Slow down!" she said.

"We don't know if there might be a muck hiding in here."

"We don't have much time," Ella replied.

"What do you mean?" She glanced nervously back the way they'd come. It really was dark as night out there. That's when the thought first entered her mind.

"Hey, Ella. If sunlight can't get through the clouds, the mucks won't start coming out, will they?" When there was no reply, she turned around to find that Ella had disappeared into one of the rooms. A faint wailing noise made her turn back to the doorway. She really hoped that was just the wind. Because if it was a ghost ship, then... She jumped when a hand landed on her shoulder. It was Ella, cradling a cat.

"Let's move." The two of them hurried toward the exit. A muck appeared in the doorway. Without thinking, Maelle blasted it with an elevated [Firebolt]. Luckily the situation wasn't quite like it was back at the waystation. The muck was wet from the rain, and it fell back away from the building. But more mucks were already gathering outside, stepping around the burning remains of their ally. She fired off more spells, but there was already a crowd of them outside.

The only things holding them back was the bottleneck of the doorway and their reluctance to step through the fires on the ground. But with the rain quickly putting them out, she had to keep up the stream of spells to maintain the status quo.

"We've got to hide," she said.

"Blockade ourselves in a room for the night."

"They'll break through," Ella said.

"They've got all night to try."

"Do we have any other choice?"

"We can climb onto the roof. They'll have a harder time getting to us up there, and we can make our way back to safety."

"Great!" she agreed.

"Lead the way to the stairs."

"What stairs?"

"The stairs to the roof." Ella pointed to the front door.

"I was thinking we could use the boarded-up windows as footholds to climb up."

"From the inside?"

"Outside, silly." If Maelle wasn't already pointing at the mucks in order to cast her spells, she would have pointed to them right now.

"There's a small problem with your plan!" She couldn't understand how Ella was able to remain so calm through all this. They were trapped in here by mucks, and her companion was treating it like a mild inconvenience.

"If you can land a [Fireball] right in the middle of that group, that should buy us enough space to get out and get up," Ella said.

"I wish I could, but I'm only Tier 2."

"I'll guide you," Ella said, like it was as simple as showing her how to tie a shoe. Maybe it was possible. She'd been feeling herself getting close, but she couldn't quite get there. There was a secret ingredient she was missing, and if Ella could help her figure it out, that would make it their best choice.

"All right. What do I do?"

"First, you'll need to keep the mucks back, so don't stop shooting. Instead we'll use your other hand. Point it where you want the [Fireball] to go." Two hands?

"You want me to multicast? I only have one mana channel." Most people didn't develop the ability to channel multiple streams of mana until around Tier 6 or 7, or the archmage threshold.

"You're using two mana channels right now." Ella grabbed her off hand and held it up to show the [Light] spell still active on her finger.

"Do you feel it?"

"That doesn't count," she said.

"It's just a passive feed."

"It's the starting point," Ella said.

"Feel it. Test it." While keeping her main finger aimed at the doorway, she tried to split her focus to feel the mana feeding her [Light] spell. The passive channel had always been there, requiring no thought from her to maintain the spell. But what if she decided to push through more mana than it normally pulled? The [Light] flared. But there was a very low limit she couldn't push past.

"This is great and all," she said, "but I don't think I can figure this all out in a couple of minutes."

"It's enough," Ella said.

"Now point at the target." She had her doubts but did it anyway, lifting her off hand up in front of her and pointing out past the doorway where she wanted the [Fireball] to land.

"Now start casting [Fireball]," Ella said. She used the tiny mana channel to begin forming the spell through her fingertip. At the same time she kept her main channel active so that she always had a [Firebolt] ready to shoot down any muck that tried to get through the door. It took more than a couple of minutes, but she could feel the second spell beginning to form. But she was also reaching a point where the mana was leaking as fast as she could feed it in.

"You need a bigger channel," Ella said.

"This is as big as I can make it."

"Swap it with your main channel."

"But then the mucks will get through!"

"Prepare your [Firebolt] and then use your passive channel to sustain it. This will free up your main channel to feed the [Fireball]."

"Won't the [Fireball] spell disperse in that brief window when there's no channel to hold it?" she asked.

"Don't you sometimes hold both a [Light] and a [Shield] at the same time?" Ella replied. Of course! She had a second passive channel. Once her [Firebolt] was primed, she hooked the spare passive channel in and shifted the main channel over to her [Fireball]. After she had to shoot off her [Firebolt], she shifted the main channel back to prepare her next shot. Eventually she got a nice rhythm going.

In essence, she had a passive channel running down each hand, and the main channel moved to feed whichever spell she was focusing on at the time. It wasn't true multicasting, but it was closer than she ever imagined.

"Good. Your [Fireball] is forming nicely. You should compact the spell form a little bit. In your mind, it's probably the part closest to your right shoulder that needs adjusting." She did as Ella suggested and found that the leak improved. With this, the spell soon reached a point where she felt like it was going to backfire.

"Why did you stop? Keep feeding."

"I can't," she said.

"It'll blow both of us up."

"Your spell form is fine. It can contain a lot more mana without breaking."

"I've had spells backfire before," she said.

"This is how it always feels before they do." She felt Ella's hand on her shoulder.

"Do you trust me?"

"Not particularly?" Thankfully Ella didn't seem offended.

"Then try this. On your right hand, channel a [Firebolt] just to the point before you think it will backfire."

"You want me to try to elevate it to Tier 3?"

"If that's what it takes." It took her a couple of tries because she didn't have enough time before the next muck showed up in the doorway, but eventually there was enough of a gap that she got it done.

"There!" she said just before having to fire off the spell in question.

"That one was right on the precipice."

"I saw the problem," Ella said.

"Your focus points have a very slight medial bias. This results in an uneven distribution of pressure, causing a rupture in the spell form. If you balance your focus points properly, you'll find that your spell form can withstand more pressure than you think."

"But they are balanced properly," she said.

"You have a choice," Ella said.

"You can test what I've told you on your [Firebolt] until you're satisfied, or you can trust me and keep feeding your [Fireball]." It made sense to test it on the [Firebolt] first because if it backfired, the damage wouldn't be as bad. She shifted the focus points according to Ella's instructions. It didn't feel balanced to her, but it also didn't feel so wildly off as to be dangerous. Again, it took a couple of attempts before she had enough time between mucks to get her spell to the danger zone.

This time she kept feeding past it. The pressure made her uncomfortable, like she was blowing a really big bubble, all the while expecting it to pop, yet it just kept on growing and growing. Her muscles tensed, waiting for the inevitable backfire. But the spell form held. And then it began to harden. In all her practice, this was the point she could never reach. Excitedly she pushed in more mana, using the full width of her mana channel. A muck appeared in the doorway, and she fired off her spell.

It glowed brighter than any [Firebolt] she'd ever fired before, a white hot streak in her [Infravision]. It struck the target and burned away half the goop in an instant. The flaming remains splattered across the walkway, temporarily keeping the other mucks back. But the spell wasn't done. The bolt continued on until it struck a second muck, taking down two in one go. There was no question about it. That was a Tier 3 [Firebolt].

"I did it. I did it!" She turned her head toward Ella.

"Did you see that? I'm Tier 3!" Ella smiled.

"You had it in you all along." Another muck appeared in the doorway, but she blasted it immediately, this time using the focus points Ella had taught her.

"I only got it thanks to you," she said.

"How could you tell what was holding me back?"

"It's a secret," Ella said.

"Can I trust you not to tell it to anyone?"

"I won't tell a soul," she promised.

"But with this skill, you could be famous!"

"It isn't as much of a blessing as you might think." She didn't understand how this could be a curse, but it wasn't her place to judge. She was grateful for the breakthrough and returned her focus to the [Fireball] while mentally making a note to give Ella all the cakes once they got back. With new faith in Ella, she was able to get through the next couple of hurdles smoothly and soon had what Ella assured her was a completely stable [Fireball] at the end of her fingertip.

"Take care with the timing, wait until you have a clear path to the target," Ella said.

"Be prepared to move the instant you fire. We'll have a scant few seconds to make it onto the roof."

"Will you need help with the kitty?" she asked.

"I'll be fine. Just focus on yourself." She'd never held so much power in her hands before. It was scarier than holding in a burp. She focused to keep her aim steady, waiting for the right gap. She popped off two mucks in a row with a [Firebolt] elevated to Tier 3—Tier 3! —and that created just the opening she needed. She released the [Fireball] and watched it shoot through the doorway and out into the dark. Rain fizzled into steam, shrouding the doorway.

But the [Fireball]—her [Fireball]—burned so bright she could see it through the mist. It struck the ground right on target. The resulting explosion blew the closest mucks apart. The ones slightly farther away were flung outward. Ella was running beside her. Maelle let her through the doorway first. Ella turned to the left, so Maelle turned to the right. It was hard to see through all the steam, but new mucks were already rushing into the space she'd just cleared. Her spell had bought them a few seconds at most.

It was going to be tight. The boarded-up windows they needed were right next to the doorway. Maelle used the boards to pull herself up. It was harder than she expected. To her right, Ella was already on the roof and making her way over, cat in one arm, and reaching down with the other. It got easier with Ella pulling her up. Something grabbed her foot, and the sudden weight caused a sharp pain in her ankle. She tried to kick it off, but it clung on tight. Ella had hold of her arm.

Maelle rolled around until she was facing the mucks. She pointed at the one that had grabbed on and shot it down. And then Ella was able to pull her the rest of the way onto the rooftop.

"How's your leg?" Ella asked. She tried putting some weight on it and cried out.

"Not good."

"You can't make it back like this," Ella said.

"There are more than a few jumps." And she knew they couldn't stay here through the night either. Sooner or later the mucks would find a way up. She did have one choice available to her. She had her wings. She could fly. But that meant revealing to everyone that she was dragonkin. Her cover would be blown. Her friends would feel betrayed that she'd been hiding such a big secret, and she would get kicked out of the party. Word would get back to the rebels, and assassins would come after her again.

And all the preparations that Marina and Virdis were working so hard to make for her would be ruined. But she didn't have any other choice, did she?

"Hold onto this little one for me." The cat was thrust into her arms. Ella stepped away and wings appeared on her back. These weren't the leathery wings of a Draegorian. Nor were they the feathery wings of a birdkin. These were wings in concept only. Webbed not in the sense of a membrane but of a spider. Maelle found herself almost breathless.

"You're a devil?" There was a sadness in Ella's eyes, which had turned completely black, like they'd been replaced by obsidian. Even when seen through Maelle's [Infravision], there was no light to be found in them. They were pure emptiness. Despite all this, Ella's voice remained gentle.

"I can carry you back. Do you trust me?" She didn't know what to say.

"A little bit?" The moment the reply left her lips, she knew it was the second worst possible answer to give. But it was too late to take it back. There was a tug at the edges of Ella's lips.

"Will you keep this secret too?"

"People won't be finding out from me," she promised. This, she was pretty sure, was the right answer. Ella came forward and lifted her up.

"Wrap your arms around my shoulders and hold on tight. Don't drop the little one." It was a bit tricky figuring how to secure herself to Ella while keeping a hold on the cat, but she solved this by removing a spare blanket from her inventory and using it to wrap the little critter up and tying it to Ella. She then cradled it best she could with her own hands. It was awkward but it worked well enough.

"Can you really fly with my additional weight?" she asked.

"Why not?" She didn't answer and instead looked around as they lifted into the air. The towers around the defensive perimeter were lighting up with spells. But quite a few were noticeably dark. Not all the defenders had gotten to their assignments in time. As Ella took her back toward the safe zone, Maelle wondered just how much longer that designation would remain true.