Taste of Blood

Leona could feel her heart starting to race as she heard Phoebe's words. An uncontrollable shaking took over her body as she couldn't stop thinking how she would help them if it came down to a fight. She had once harmed someone with magic, but it was a foreign concept to her to use magic to take someone's life.

"Stay calm, everything will be alright."

Neiliel's hand held hers tightly as she gave a confident nod to the Princess.

"We'll be here, just defend yourself if it comes down to it."

"R-right, thank you Neiliel."

She swallowed dry trying to control her erratic breathing as everyone around her were starting to prepare for a fight. Krieg had his sword out and was placing himself in front of Leona, if anything were to come after her they would need to go through him first. Neiliel and Luke flanked the knight, the priestess with her mace out and Luke twirling three orbs of crackling fire on each of his hands. Phoebe and Jonathan seemed to vanish into the vegetation around the group while Laslow took a step further behind everyone and started to give out orders.

"Don't be caught in a fair fight, group up and let them come to you, they can't use horses in this thicket."

Utter silence came over the group, aside from the sizzling sound of fire from Luke's hands nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the forest, the gentle breeze shifted the vegetation around and the pleasant chirp of many birds echoed between the rich green forest.

Laslow put his right ear against the ground and with a bit of lightning spell from the palm of his hand, he could hear rapid footsteps approaching their location.

"They are here!"

Thanks to Krieg's fast reaction, Luke wasn't pierced through by the large javelin thrown from the bushes in front of them, the knight cut the weapon in half before it could hit the young man.

"Ah! Thank you!"

Luke almost let the fire balls snuff out from surprise, but Krieg quickly shook him off with his shouting.

"Don't let your guard down, more of them are coming!"

Almost as fast as a loose arrow, a full steel plate armored knight came rushing from the bushes where the javelin had been thrown from with a battleaxe in hand, Krieg blocked the incoming strike with the blade as it was caught between the reinforced wooden handle and the axe head, the weapon was so heavy he had to take one step back as the opposing knight tried to force the weapon through his guard. Phoebe tried to strike the assailant's back neck with a bodkin arrow from the tree branch she was standing on but the projectile simply bounced off from what seemed to be a magical shield employed on him.

"Tsk."

She clicked her tongue as she once again vanished further into the woods. Seeing how ranged attacks were ineffective, Laura raised her greatsword above her head, she towered the enemy knight by a meter or so and a strike with her blade would most likely dent their armor or worse, however, a flying dagger hit her right shoulder, embedding itself about three centimeters into her brawn making her flinch.

"Argh!"

A cloaked figure appeared from the shadows and swung their blade against Laura who was forced to lower the sword in order to block the attack. The figure's sword was much thinner and slightly curved back with a tint of rainbow all over the sharp edge.

"Laura! That's an enchanted sword!"

Laslow yelled from the back while scribbling something on the air.

"Yeah I'm aware."

She brought her own sword back and swung it upwards forcing the figure to step back. On the other side Luke unloaded the fire balls he had summoned forth into the enemy knight but once again it was blocked by some sort of spell.

"It's a wind spell! Projectiles won't work against it!"

Leona yelled as she prepared a spell of her own. Her chant was surprisingly steady and focused as words came off her mouth in the heat of the fight.

"Oh graceful power of winds, unveil the magic that protects my enemies, Dispel!"

A vivid green gust of wind enveloped the armored knight and seemed to destroy the protective barrier that was around him. The moment that happened Luke charged more fireballs on his hand.

"Sir Krieg stand back!"

Hearing Luke's voice, Krieg promptly kicked the foe on their chest before shifting his eyes briefly at the assailant near Laura.

"Eat this!"

Luke started hurling fire orbs one after another against the knight. Each fire spell struck against the armor erupted into vicious flames that engulfed the enemy whole.

"Argh! Damn you magic caster!"

A distorted male voice filled with hatred echoed from the closed helmet as the knight tried to fan out the flames by smacking his own armor with his gauntlets to no avail.

"Marco!"

The other figure shouted, her feminine soft-spoken voice was unexpected from the way she fiercely fought. She jumped back out of Laura's overhead strike which promptly struck the ground with great force sending dirt and mud all over the place. With strange wide movements of both her hands, the figure started to chant under her breath.

"Heaven's fall, upon this blade edge, Thunderclap!"

A deafening sound of thunder came from Leona's left side, she turned to where Luke was standing but instead found Neiliel collapsed on the ground with smoke coming off her whole twitching body.

"Neil!"

Luke screamed as he tried to get a hold of her but her body was spasming out of control. Hearing her name being uttered out made Laura instinctively move her eyes towards her friend who was down on the ground.

"You-! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Her voice pierced through everyone's head as the barbarian left an ear splitting cry of rage, throwing everyone but Laslow and Krieg off their feet. Not even the female cloaked figure who had just harmed the priestess could stand up from the rage filled towering opponent in front of her. Laura's arms seemed to engorge as she charged down her foe, her objective was nothing more than to pulverize the young woman in front of her through sheer violence.

Before she could reach her opponent however, five bolts sunk into Laura's chest.

"AAARGH!"

She ripped the serrated bolts out of her chest which were coated with a murky green poison, but the toxins didn't seem to affect her as the source of her anger was at sword's length as she raised the sword.

Some ways ahead of the main group, Phoebe and Jonathan were skulking around to find possible supporting enemies on the backline, jumping from tree to tree.

"Pho, did you hear that?"

Jonathan had one dirk his right hand and the light crossbow on the other already loaded with a bolt coated with poison. His eyes were darting around the forest searching for more enemies but nothing caught his attention. The elf was still scanning the area with her longbow loosely drawn ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

"Something must have happened to Neil. We need to find the other guys and end this fight as fast as we can."

"I kept an eye out for movement but couldn't see anything."

"Maybe they have a spell shield cast on them. Though I would have heard it if they casted while in range of my Amplification. Wait… do you still have that powdered charcoal on you?"

The thief raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? Yeah, I still have some."

"Throw the whole bag out there, I think I know what spell they are using."

He unfastened a pouch he carried on the side of his belt and by swinging in a wide arc, he scattered the fine black dust in the air. The fine scintillating charcoal particles started to settle on the vegetation below them until the dust gathered around two humanoid silhouettes standing out from the natural terrain. Phoebe followed the human outline forming out of thin air with her bow ready.

"There!"

She shot the bodkin arrow where the neck would be and seconds later terrifying gurgling sounds came from below. Phoebe had hit her mark with deadly precision as the invisibility spell faded, a hooded young woman wearing white priestess clothes stained crimson red appeared on the ground struggling violently with an arrow piercing through the top side of her neck going down into the base. Her blue eyes were wide with pain and dread as she desperately tried to pull the arrow out, in front of her there was a grizzled man probably in his late fifties wearing a dark green cloak on top of leather armor, he kneeled beside her with his face full of desperation as the young woman tried to beg for help, but her words came out as grotesque groans void of meaning.

"Luna! I'll help you! Just- please try to stay calm! You won't die on me!"

The man's blue eyes were so focused on getting his medical equipment from the bag he didn't even notice Jonathan sneak up behind him until the woman tried to warn him with blood splattering from her mouth.

"Move and I'll gut you."

Jonathan placed the dirk against the man's back, slightly pressing against his clothing and the crossbow pointed at the young woman.

"Please… just let me save her. She's my daughter and I-"

The man begged, his rough voice filled with despair, as each second that passed the young woman slowly lost the color of her brow, from a healthy reddish pink to a pale blue which darkened each time she tried to breathe too hard.

"She won't be able to cast spells. Just finish the old man and let's rush back."

Phoebe started to run back to where the group was. Jonathan clenched his teeth, it was a bitter taste in his mouth to have someone's life on the edge of his blade once agai. He knew for a fact that man had a much deeper relationship with that young woman than just adventurers in a party, that much was obvious for the old man's course of action.

"..."

"I beg you-! I-"

The thief hit the back of his head with the pommel of his weapon and sheathed the blade. The man was knocked out unconscious and left on the ground. Her eyes went wide, as she saw him get knocked out, fear took her whole body as Jonathan approached with his crossbow still out, but instead of finishing her off, he kneeled down beside her.

"It'll hurt like hell, but bear with it please."

He grasped the wooden shaft of the arrow and gently started to pull it out. Her body screamed in pain but she did her best to endure it until he pulled the dart off her neck, blood gushed out as he held it with a couple of bandages.

"Here, let me staunch it."

Back with the group, Laura was recklessly swinging her greatsword against the cloaked female figure who could barely dodge out of the way.

"Give the Princess back!"

The armored knight yelled as he charged at Krieg who parried them each time he was attacked. By keeping himself at close range, Luke nor Laslow could cast any powerful offensive magic that could possibly harm him, so they stayed each ready to cast a spell at the right moment. Leona tried to tend to Neiliel who was still not moving on the ground, thankfully not spasming anymore.

"What are you talking about… you were the ones who attacked the Crossford household."

Krieg narrowed his eyes as his fingers tightly embraced the weapon's hilt. Anger started to build inside of him, the pain Leona had endured up until now would've been for nothing if she was taken by them. The armored knight locked eyes with him as Krieg's words seemed to pierce right through him.

"I won't allow it… none of you will lay a finger on her."

Leona turned around when it happened, it was so fast her mind almost lost track of all the movements Krieg did. From the long point guard he held, he baited the enemy's sword with a feint lunge, the knight's blade was off to the side when Krieg shoulder tackled him full force, sending the fully armored opponent down on the mud.

"Piercing Flame!"

Luke rushed the incantation in order to make the most of the opening Krieg had made, as he flickered a wide flame onto his hand, the arrow-like spell was hurled against the knight. The moment it impacted against the armor the flames bursted into a cone against him, leaving only the scream of pain behind as he fell on the ground on fire, leather and cotton parts of the armor ignited with the second spell.

"Argh! My flesh!"

"Marco! Hang in there I'll help you-!"

The cloaked young woman had her hands full with Laura's wide swings, usually if someone brandished a large weapon like that many times they would become fatigued enough to not be able to lift said weapon, but her strength seemed endless.

"Just… run! They are more powerful than we anticipated…!"

The knight's voice was mostly silenced due to the lack of oxygen in his lungs, as though he tried he couldn't breathe enough to be able to shout. Leona had her right arm grabbed as she looked startled towards Neiliel lying on her arms.

"Princess Leona- I'm alright, just let Laura known that I'm fine… she should calm down-"

She was coughing dry, the lightning attack seemed to fatigue her more than it did damage.

"Just please, don't let her kill anyone- she doesn't deserve any of this."

Leona nodded.

"I will. Just sit tight."

"Thank you."

She left the priestess on the ground before standing up herself. On the other side of the field, Laura managed to hit the cloaked figure, luckily for her assailant, the blow was parried by the curved blade but the barbarian's strength carried the figure and thrown her against the trunk of a tree, hitting her back against it made her lose air and fall on the ground staggered.

"I WILL END YOU!"

"Laura! Wait! Neiliel's alive! Don't kill her!"

Leona's voice echoed behind her and thankfully before the swing that would ultimately decapitate her foe. The edge of the greatsword was dangerously close to her neck.

"Neil's… alright?"

Laura glanced over her shoulder towards the priestess on the ground behind Leona, she lifted her left arm and waved back to the barbarian.

"She's fine, just don't kill- watch out!"

Leona shouted as the cloaked figure tried a desperate attempt to stab Laura's stomach, but luckily for her the blade was parried between Phoebe's dual daggers, the elf quickly moved the weapon to her left side as she locked the woman's arm under her armpit and with the other dagger she threatened to stab her throat.

"Move and you die. Drop the weapon, now."

Under the cloak it was possible to see her golden eyes narrowed in anger with her teeth clenched.

"How about you cooperate? Otherwise I'll kill him."

Laslow was beside Krieg with purple lightning sparks above the fallen armored knight. He reached even closer to the helmet, killing intent in his eyes between the turban.

"I won't miss at this distance."

A dry thud as the curved sword fell on the mud. Laslow let out a chuckle before turning to his cousin.

"Good. Good. Luke go pick her weapon."

"Huh? Alright…"

Some noises coming from the bushes behind Leona made her jump back with her hand on the short sword handle, but it was Jonathan carrying another young woman with a bandaged throat. He raised his hand to greet the rest of the group as he said.

"Hey. We got the backline."

After confiscating all weapons, healing the ones that needed most and tying them up with plenty of rope, Leona and Laslow were trying to get them to talk, but with little success.

The armored knight called Marco was staring at the Princess intently with his dark brown eyes, they had removed his helmet so the short light brown hair was completely visible, some soot was on his face from when Luke pelted him with spells. He didn't seem like a bad person, but was most likely misunderstanding the situation Leona was in.

"Why are you cooperating with them, Princess Leona? I thought your speech was more than just flowery words."

Now recovered from the burns, his voice could be heard clearly, he was in his mid twenties and was reasonably strong, being able to wield a battle-axe relatively easily while wearing full plate armor.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

The cloaked figure now without the cover of her clothing could be identified as an unusual sight in that part of the kingdom, long black straight hair, dark eyes, slim figure and sharp face with two small black thin horns protruding from her forehead, she was beautiful, yet very much deadly. Her hands were tied behind her back tightly with extra rope to prevent her from casting her strange magic. She seemed very angry with the situation at hand, especially at Leona as she yelled.

"Why have you betrayed us?!"

Laslow interrupted before Leona could retort, he seemed more than just upset with the misunderstanding the woman had just caused.

"Do you know the full scope of what happened in the capital? If not I'd suggest you stay your tongue, unless you want your friend Marco here to experience being burned a third time."

The mage's hand crackled with red flames bursting out of the palm of his hand, the knight recoiled ever so slightly from the display of arcane might Laslow possessed, being burned was itself a terrible experience with armor, now without his helmet it would be deadly. The woman turned her gaze to the ground in front of her. Satisfied with the results the mage decided to dispel the spell and kneel down.

"Alright now that you're willing to listen I'll explain in detail what happened so far."

It took more than half an hour for Laslow and Leona to explain the current situation they were in, accounting for what happened before they even came to know each other. With each part of her story explained in detail, both the knight and the young woman started to doubt what information was given to them before.

"I… I don't know what to say…"

Marco had a pained expression on his face as he started to talk. The fact that everything he knew was both a lie and a thoroughly weaved plan to capture the Princess made him feel betrayed.

"We were told that Princess Leona betrayed her own father in order to raise herself to head of the Crossford family. We thought we'd seek the true answer ourselves."

"Were you given a reward bounty from Alex?"

Laslow questioned, now more relaxed since they no longer showed hostility towards him. Emi, the tied young woman, decided to speak up this time.

"There was. But it was more… 'our' situation."

She emphasized as she hinted with her head towards Marco. The knight looked away with his face beet red.

"Let me explain. When Princess Leona gave her speech about uniting demons and mankind together to fend off the Death Angels, you could say I was taken aback. Me and Emi here have been working together for about five years now, with everything that happened with the demon war, we didn't think there would be a day that a ruler could possibly unite the two but with your speech and the victory from the battle of Lugna Plains it was clear that if anyone could do it, it had to be you Princess Leona, but when we heard you had betrayed your father we-"

Emi elbowed him before bluntly saying what their relationship was.

"Too long of an explanation. We just want to live together, as spouse and husband, but we all know Alexander is against demonkind."

She looked up to her horns.

"I can't really hide these either…"

Laslow raised his hand to stop her.

"No need to explain any further, I believe we understood your situation completely. Princess Leona, any input?"

He turned to her, but the Princess' expression was dark. The intricate lies would have stirred the hearts of many in the capital, from people that both supported and despised her family. It would surely create a huge hurdle in order to restore peace.

"Right, sorry. I'm glad you two came to answer your own doubts, even though it was a misunderstanding, but what about them?"

Leona turned to the grizzled man and the young woman behind them, while the man was tied up unconscious, the woman was being treated by Neiliel. The priestess seemed upset with Phoebe and was reprimanding her as she healed her patient, thankfully they were too far away for Leona to hear the sermon.

"Oh Luna and Samuel."

Marco started to explain.

"Luna's a priestess and Samuel is her father, they live together but since the church doesn't have much to give for the poor they were trying to raise coin to give the kids education, we met a few days ago saying they were interested in the bounty. The old man's good with tinkering, he made that crossbow of his and the elf… well, she's good with healing magic."

"I see."

Leona felt a sting of sadness when she heard about them. She nodded to herself before standing up, but before walking away she turned to Laslow.

"Untie them, there is no need for that now that we know their side of things."

The wizard nodded and pulled out a pocket knife from inside of his robes and started working on the ropes.

Leona approached Neiliel who had just finished healing the poor young woman. Princess looked concerned after hearing she was shot in the neck by Phoebe.

"How is she?"

The priestess turned her attention to Leona who was just beside her.

"Oh Princess, she's alright now. There's some recovering to do from the shock, it's not common to be pierced in the throat by an arrow, isn't that right Phoebe?"

The elf raised both her hands as if giving up on the argument.

"Hey I had to do something about it quickly, I didn't know I would hit her in the throat."

Turning Leona's attention to the blonde girl, it was possible to see the tip of her pointed ears through the short blonde hair. She was also an elf much like Phoebe but unlike the assassin, her features seemed less unique. Elfs were mostly portrayed in the books Leona used to read as prideful individuals but the one in front of her didn't add up for their fame.

'Well I guess you can't judge a book by its cover'

She thought as she looked at Krieg approaching her.

"Leona, are they trustworthy?"

The knight motioned with his chin towards the two untied in the back, she glanced at them over the shoulder before looking back at him.

"Yeah, it was all a misunderstanding after all, Alexander made me be the culprit of the attack at the mansion."

"He what?!"

"Apparently the information spread around soldiers and mercenaries is that I tried a coup against my father."

She gritted her teeth. Words couldn't express the anger swelling inside of her.

"That bastard…"

Krieg started to scratch under his chin, it was a habit of his when he was nervous.

"A coup… this is more troubling than I expected, this Alex fellow."

The atmosphere was heavy, the situation back in the capital could be much worse than what Leona previously expected, being signed as a coward was one thing, but she was accused of treachery against her own father. She closed her hands into a fist as she gathered her resolution.

"This… this will not stand. We must go back to Arcadia, faster than ever now."

Everyone gathered around as Leona prepared to leave. The demon woman Emi approached her before she departed.

"Princess, I must warn you, they sent a couple of the kingdom soldiers with us. They are stationed at the former Karna village."

The way she spoke made Leona raise an eyebrow.

"Former?"

"Yeah it has been burned to the ground, it was said to be your doing, 'a rebellion against the kingdom' Alexander said."

"What about the people there?"

"They… they were dead."

Laslow reached for the Princess' shoulder and shook his head the moment she turned around.

"Do not anger yourself over this. This is exactly what he's hoping to do to you."

"This leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, I can't believe this is happening…"

"I'm sorry Princess Leona."

Emi apologized with her head hanging low. The female warrior was more than ashamed for what happened to the ruler she respected. Leona turned around clutching her forehead.

"We need to go back. There is no other way, if he's using my father as an excuse to do these atrocities under my name, I will not have it."

Everyone packed their things and as the Princess was starting to leave, Emi once again reached out to her.

"Wait, Princess."

She turned around once again and saw the young woman hold out a strange looking straw doll with pieces of cloth sewed into it forming symbols she had never seen before.

"This is a protection doll. Keep on yourself for safety."

"Ah. Huh… thank you. I don't know what to say."

Leona thanked them before heading with the rest of the group, leaving behind the group of four adventurers.

"Thank the lord she is still on our side."

Emi sighed deeply, still upset about her own shortcomings. Marco stayed by her side as he put his helmet back on, his voice became muffled after that.

"I hope she stays safe."

The elf priestess stood up behind them, her legs still trembling from the terrible experience she went through earlier.

"Where… where is Princess Leona?"

Her meek voice was even more silent due to the straining in her throat.

"Luna you shouldn't be standing up like that."

Emi went to help her as her legs gave out, the demon woman shouldering half of her weight.

"No you must warn her… the church, they want… they want to kill her."