I glanced around, eyes flicking from the small village a half mile away to the brightening sky. An hour. That was all the time I had before the sun rose and I would be useless. But if I could secure the village at least for now, I would be taken in. And, according to Fuin, there were only five Trolls in the village at that point and none of them were the leader. The odds were nice. Get rid of half of them now, half tomorrow and I can be on my way. But I was still skeptical.
"What do you think?" I asked Fuin, not taking my eyes from the dead looking village. The most activity she had seen was sentries walking along the outer walls. Not even the cry of a child or the bark of a dog had traveled across the desolate distance.
"If your situation is as inhabilitating as you say, now would be an opportune moment to begin." He said, eyes trained on the village as mine were.
"Then I need you to begin an even more important mission for me."
His eyes snapped to me, fox gaze hard. "Which would be?"
"Emergency shelter. If the mission fails today, I need some place I can escape to. Someplace that's well hidden and safe." I finally looked away from the village and looked at the seething demon beside me. "Is that a problem?"
"No." He said slowly through clenched teeth. "But I would have preferred to stay with you and...observe for the Master."
"I'm sure your Master would understand as long as I come out alive. Plus there will be plenty of time for observation tomorrow when I actually take on the Trolls. Can I trust you to find me a safe place?"
"Yes." He snapped. "I will find a place where not even the smallest field mouse could find. Now go, my Lady, and prove to me how strong you really are."
"Best of luck on your search." I said, reaching to my pack and withdrawing the clothes that Jin had said were for battle. It was an odd material, very much like the material my skirts were made of, very light but near impossible to cut. The bottoms were like men's pants, loose and billowing, but smaller, ending at my shins. The shirt was very small and very tight, the back circling my torso and the front tying around my neck. But once I had slipped into the clothes, I was glad I had them. Compared to the skirts and shirts I wore on a normal basis, these were much easier to move in. And, the binding material of the skirt would make fatal wounds all but impossible to receive.
The last part of my ensemble had fallen out when I first opened the whole thing. It was a long scarf, thin and black. It wasn't anything really special but I had to admit that it with it tied at the nape of my neck, spread over my head in the front and falling down my back to my knees, I looked very powerful. Lastly, I pinched the small wooden pendant at my throat and held it out as the wood opened from the chain and swiftly grew to the staff I had first received from Jin. I slipped a dagger and a curved sword into my belt and checked the sky again. Time was running out. It was now or never.
I took the long length of cloth from my scarf and used it to cover my exposed arms, plunging me into almost complete shadows. And I was off, bent at the waist and running on the pads of my feet across the half mile of open space between the forest edge and the village. The first sound of alarm did not ring until I was more than halfway there. Even then, I was vaulting over the wall before I was actually attacked. A standing guard fumbled for a sword at his hip, but I knocked it away with the end of my staff. He looked from me to the sword and dropped down into a faint.
I blinked in shock. But moved on quickly, reminding myself that I didn't have much time. Surveying the area of the wall, I saw two men come running from either side, swords drawn and ready to attack. I probably looked suspicious with the unconscious man at my feet, so I quickly turned and launched off the wall, telling my wings to stay in and using my weight to move me across the distance to a roof top.
But as soon as I sent the message to my wings to NOT move, of course they started twitching and half way through my jump the left one opened. I was jerked around quickly, ending my forward momentum and plunging me down to the empty road below. I landed roughly on my knees, immediately thankful for the tough cloth that prevented my legs from getting cut up. I sucked in a sharp breath and the pain slowly ebbed away, allowing me to shakily rise to my feet.
"Over there!" A guard yelled, leading a group of five men toward me. I would soon be surrounded and the last thing I needed was for these people to think I wasn't on their side. A plan popped into my head and I quickly undid my eye clothe so I could see the men clearly and wrapped the dangling ends of my scarf around my face, hiding everything but my eyes and quickly collapsed the staff before replacing it on its chain. Then, I held my hands up in a sign of surrender as the men finally reached me.
As I guessed, they spread out and surrounded, sword tips pointed dangerously at me. Their leader, a middle aged man with a distinct scar running across his chin, stepped up and aimed his sword toward my exposed throat. "What business do you have here that makes it so that you have to break in?"
"Your freedom." I said softly but clearly.
That seemed to confuse him and his companions. "Excuse me, Miss, but would you repeat that?"
"I have come with the sole purpose of granting you and your village freedom from the Trolls."
He narrowed his eyes, piercing me with his glare. "Why?" He asked finally. "What benefit does our freedom, as you put it, have for you?"
"My patron simply bid me to free you. How he profits from it is of no importance to me."
"And I'm guessing you will not tell who your patron is?"
"You guess wisely." I said, eyes crinkling with humor.
"Sir, don't trust her. She is a Demon just like them!" One of the men behind me accused.
"I am, but I am also human." I said over my shoulder, keeping my gaze locked on their leader. "I have no more control over how I was born than you. And I have come for your benefit. Are you willing to listen to what I have to say?"
Their leader eyed me curiously, trying to decide whether or not I was to be trusted. "I go by Noken. I was...am the leader of this village. If you can see to it that we can gain our freedom again, then we will be in your debt, demon or not." He shot one of his piercing looks to the man who had spoken behind me.
"How do they keep you in servitude?" I asked Noken, pulling his gaze back to mine.
"They have some of our women and children with their leader, a Sacrifice for our keeping our lives as he put it, but more of a leverage. He took them from the fields one day and the next demanded that we do as they say or else their lives would end."
"You say he, do you mean?"
"Their half man, half troll leader that has caused us so much trouble. We've never had any qualms with the Trolls before he arrived." One of the men said.
"We have actually been able to live in peace with them. Some of them are our friends. But once him and his two companions showed up their personalities abruptly changed."
"So I can assume that you only want the extrication of three? Not the whole pack?" I mused, gently fingering the chain up in my ear.
Their leader's eyes studied my hand, but he answered all the same. "Yes, if it's possible. But I don't know if our friends can be changed back."
"I have a feeling of how that will work. But tell me, are any of the three here in the village?"
"One, and he is in a sense in charge."
A wave of exhaustion crashed over me and I turned swiftly to the east, startling a few of the men. There, just as I felt, the sky was now brightening as a steady pace. My eyes burned as I tried to look in the brightening direction. I had run out of time. My calculations must have been off. What I assumed was an hour was under thirty minute's time. And that time was up.
"Can I trust you?" I asked Noken hurriedly.
"I suppose I should be asking you the same question." He asked, defenses up at my distressed state.
"Yes, but right now I need to know that I can trust you with my life. I know we just met but if you want out, I need in."
"In?" He asked, brows meeting together in frustration.
"I need a safe place to hide." I urged, trying to stay standing as sleep weighted my eyelids.
"Then we will find you one. But I need to-"
I glanced to the east and a shock of horror mixing into the exhaustion. I had just enough time to look back at Noken, who took a hesitant step forward as my world started to spin and darken. "Too late." I breathed out, eyes closing against the bright light and my mind blanking into a dreamless sleep.