63 Demon-Killing Methods

"Neleah?" Brightise asked in surprise.

That was the last name she had expected to hear out of the Queen's mouth. She had thought Zelna training her would be more of a possibility.

Maybe then the other Amazon would beat her up a bit and get over their previous fight.

The Queen nodded. "Neleah is just the right person for this type of training," she told Brightise before dismissing her.

Brightise had to wait a whole night to find out what she meant.

The next morning, Neleah woke her up at sunrise and led her out of the castle. Brightise followed her curiously as they walked out of the big guarded gate and into the outside world.

"Where are we going?" she asked eventually, unable to control herself.

Was this the Queen's way of banishing her without having to deal with a big fuss?

"Just a little farther away," Neleah answered enigmatically.

Their destination became clear when River Quost came into view. They walked along its bank for a while, until they stopped at a spot not too far away from where Brightise and Clober had first met Neleah.

Then Neleah suddenly turned towards Brightise and told her in her usual innocent, upbeat voice, "Let's fight."

Brightise blinked in confusion. She had expected the training session to include some kind of combat, but Neleah hadn't taken any equipment with her before they had left the castle. They might as well have gone out on a stroll instead.

"With what?" she asked her blankly.

"Your fists, silly."

"I thought we would be using swords or something."

"Fire Demons do not use weapons. They don't really need them considering they are walking fireballs."

Brightise guessed that was true, but she still didn't see the point in fist-fighting with Neleah.

"You have to push me into the river," Neleah explained. "If I push you first, I win. Don't go easy on me. I'm waterproof!" The Amazon laughed at her own joke.

"But why are we doing this?" asked Brightise.

"The Queen said you were afraid of Fire Demons. Throwing them into a source of water is a fail-safe way of killing them."

Brightise frowned. "My father fell into a river, but he didn't die. He became human."

"Did he fall, or did he jump?" Neleah asked.

"He jumped. For my mother."

"That makes all the difference. Intention is everything," Neleah said solemnly.

"But what if there is no source of water around?" Brightise asked. "What do you do then?"

Neleah laughed. "Why wouldn't there be? River Quost can't disappear overnight!"

"I guess so," Brightise said reluctantly.

There it was again. Hiding her intention to leave the Amazon Camp was becoming an obstacle in her training.

"But what if?" she insisted.

Neleah shrugged. "Then I guess you would just have to chop their head off. Or stab their heart. You know, normal gory things."

"Can you teach me those normal gory things?"

"Nah, that's not my cup of tea. Try asking Zelna. She would love to chop your head off. Now, let's fight!"

Brightise sighed.

Maybe a more practical solution would be to carry a pitcher of water all the way to Granza. She just hoped it would be enough to drench all the Fire Demons that crossed her way.