Chapter 58 Consuming Inferno

"Now wait just a minute!" cried Josephine, as Curt came over to investigate what was going on. "You have to stop the human army? Have you been to the north?"

"No, not yet, but I can teleport as far as I can see, and maybe get there fast enough," said Aella.

"Have you fought against humans before?" Josephine asked, eyeing her.

"Not exactly," Aella admitted, wondering where this was going.

"Alfred, you can travel faster than her, and you have tons of experience fighting just about everything. Go with her, and come meet up with us when you're done. She can teleport the two of you back to this spot and you can travel faster than we can, to catch up with us. We'll keep heading east, and will wait for you at that small grove just outside of the training fields, if you don't meet up with us before then."

They all looked at Josephine as if she had lost her mind.

"You're alright with this?" asked Alfred, looking back and forth at Josephine and Curt, as if he couldn't believe her decision. Curt had been chasing after Josephine since before Aella had joined them, and leaving them alone seemed like a recipe for disaster.

"Alfred, I'm a big girl," reassured Josephine with a tilt of her head. "Besides, things don't work if it's cold enough."

"Alright," he nodded, turning to Aella. "You jump as far as you can, and I'll keep up with you, so I don't outrun you."

Feeling a tingle of the challenge from her cloak, Aella smiled and jumped. The truth of her limitations became obvious very quickly. She couldn't jump until she could envision where she was going to step. Looking ahead for high spots, where she could see a greater distance, Aella was able to travel farther, cutting the time down tremendously, but the moment she appeared in the new spot, Alfred was always right there.

Ignoring the random monsters she spotted along the way, and the scattered houses her people had built in an attempt to survive the harsh area, Aella soon found herself standing on a rocky ridge, overlooking a large open field. Below her, the human army the figure in the Spell Spire had told her about was steadily marching towards the other side of the field.

"If they see me, we can't let anyone survive," warned Alfred, looking down at the army.

"Why's that?" she asked. Aella didn't have any intentions of letting anyone survive, but his wording had her curious.

"These guys aren't from the Church. They are wearing the colors of one of the nobles to the north. The guy's a real piece of work, and I would rather not have word get back to him that I killed his troops."

"Wait, I thought the Church controlled all of the humans."

"Technically, it does, but there are politics involved. Whenever the Church doesn't want to take the blame for something, they 'give permission' for a noble to do the deed."

"I hate politics," grumbled Aella.

"But you're the king!" exclaimed Alfred giving her an exaggerated look of disbelief.

Laughing, she pointed at a group that was lagging in the back.

"I'll start back there, to take out anyone who tries to escape. You want to take out the ones from the front? With our hero abilities we should be able to wipe them all out."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Shield your eyes after you teleport, I'm going to increase our odds by blinding them all."

"By all means! I don't mind killing helpless people who had intended on slaughtering my troops."

"Not all of them will be blinded, but enough will be that this should be much easier," he said, nodding at her to go ahead.

Teleporting to just behind the guy in the back, she grabbed him from behind with a playful giggle, and buried her head into his back.

"What the?" said the guy, turning to see who had grabbed him in confusion, her girly giggle throwing him off, when a sudden burst of light had screams erupting all over the place.

Stabbing a dagger into the guys back, she shoved him at another guy who had turned to see what was going on, and had missed the blinding affects of the blast. The two went down in a heap. Stepping back to take in the situation, she smiled as she realized none of the warriors close to her could still see. It was time to call on her air and fire for the first time.

Feeling the two elements boiling inside of her, waiting to be unleashed, it was as simple as relaxing a muscle. A whirling firestorm erupted around her, reaching up into the sky, setting the grass around them on fire, but the trampled fuel was insufficient. The fire wanted more!

Sending it around the outside edges of the army, she cut off all avenues of escape, and then climbing into the sky to oversee the carnage she was causing, she directed the fire to use the people as fuel. It obliged her excitedly, lighting on the oiled leather and unwashed bodies, sending a mixture of black smoke and screams of agony up into the uncaring air. A few arrows tried to fly at her, but they were quickly consumed by the ever-hungry fire. She lost track of the time as the fire roared around her, fueled by the winds when nothing in the valley was left.

A deep breath, and it all disappeared. The smoky haze faded as she shoved the fire and air deep inside again, wrapping them in the promise of future frolics, as they had just enjoyed. Feeling the fire flare up in her eyes, she looked over the blackened ground below her. Alfred stood at the front of the army, a few bodies littered the ground around him, ignored by the flames as she hadn't directed them to get too close to him. He waved at her, and she slid down a wind slide, landing lightly in front of him.

"That was a bit excessive, but accomplished the job. I'm not thinking you needed me after all," he said, looking around at the blackened landscape. "You have far better control of fire than Robert ever did. I'm impressed you were able to stop it so abruptly like that."

"I promised it more carnage later," she purred, surprising herself at her good mood.

"Oh, well, okay…um, should we go ahead and check in with your troops before we head back? It's barely been two hours since we left them. I don't want them to think they're less than us."

Aella almost said they were, but bit her tongue. She was sure Josephine would be scary if they were ever near water, but Curt would never instill fear in her. With a nod, they turned towards the rise at the end of the field, that the army was approaching. Aella stepped out beside a tree, and saw demon troops before her, rushing towards the rise she was standing on. With her appearance, seemingly out of nowhere, they slowed their rush.

"I am your King. Where is General Brimsey?" she said loud and clear.

Glancing at each other, one of the demons called out, "How can you prove you're the king?"

"Yeah, the king has never left the castle before!" cried another demon from further back.

"I ended the human army that was coming to slaughter you," she motioned behind her, where the faintest trace of smoke still lingered, as if the air were hesitant to let it dissipate.

They were still unsure of what to do, but one demon pushed to the front and took a knee, "Forgive my troops, Your Majesty, they have been in the fields for a long time. It is hard to take someone at their word after so long fighting," said the demon, not looking up at her.

She didn't recognize this demon, but knew he wasn't the general. The figure in the spire had said the general was her father.

"Take me to the general, and I will see to it your people get a feast and well-deserved rest," she said, looking at the hesitant troops behind him. They wanted to follow suite in kneeling, but she could tell they were too wary to place themselves at risk.

"That would be fantastic," he said, wearily, climbing to his feet and motioning for her to join him as he turned away.

Wondering where Alfred was hiding, Aella knew he was watching from somewhere, and probably listening in as well. That was fine. She had no secrets to keep from him any longer. Besides, she wasn't sure she could take the Hero of Light. Not in a fair fight, anyway.

"General Brimsey, the King is here to see you," said the demon leading her, moving to the side to expose a very familiar face.

Their eyes met each other, and Aella tried to swallow her heart. She had thought her father was dead. Seeing him again almost brought tears to her eyes.

"General, there are monsters in the mountains waiting to attack at any moment. They were waiting for the human army to arrive in order to coordinate an attack, but I just wiped out the army."

Her words were smooth, not giving away the turmoil she was feeling within her. With a nod, he turned to look out towards the looming mountains, just as a call of alarm was raised. Specks could be seen raising up into the air, preparing to attack.

"They must have realized their plans were ruined," said that familiar gravely voice from her childhood. "Prepare the troops for the attack, Colonel. Be sure the ballista is prepared."

"Yes, General," saluted the demon that had led her hear, before rushing off.

"Aella?" came his voice, soft and uncertain the moment they were alone. His eyes turned to look at her, and those traitorous tears were there.

"Daddy, I missed you so much!" she whispered, rushing into his arms.

"It's not safe. Compose yourself. Once we get through these harpies, I'll take you somewhere private where we can talk," he said quickly, pushing her away after a quick hug.

She would have been more upset if he hadn't betrayed his pain at pushing her away, looking away quickly to hide his own tears. "In that case…"