Chapter 9: Chapter 7

I’m so glad I finally found you, Lina!” The girl was short, petite, and younger than Lina—about 15 or 16. What I had thought were horns were, in actuality, a pair of long pigtails that flopped around her ears as she leaned on a magic staff, which stood about a head taller than her. There was nothing demonic about her except for maybe her fashion sense.

This girl was all about the lace. And purple. Everything she wore, from the dress to the shawl that hid most of her upper body to even her shoes and decorative lace that lined her outfit, were various shades of purple. Even her hair was a deep violet, which made her sunshine-yellow eyes gleam all the brighter.

They shone down on Lina with the warmth of a summer day. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

The girl Lina called Gertie crouched down to look at us, beaming. There was something strange about her appearance that I couldn’t quite place. I was far too focused on catching my breath.

Gertie tilted her head. While her smile remained unchanged, her eyes regarded us curiously as we coughed. “Let me help you with that.” She waved her hand in front of us. Almost instantly, I could feel the smoke being sucked from my lungs. They expanded as I took my first full breath in the past ten minutes. My chest felt light.

I sat up and looked at a soot-covered Lina. She smiled her usual smile. Then I looked back at Gertie. “Thank you.” I tried not to let my suspicion reach my face as I looked about me. The flames had completely vanished. Not an ember remained.

Gertie stood, “Happy to help! My name is Gertrude von Beltzer. I’ve been Lina’s friend for a while now. Thanks for taking care of her.”

“I see. Well, I’m Anno. Third Prince of—”

“Anyway, Lina. Sweetie’s been so worried about you!”

“He has?”

The joy in Lina’s voice almost made me want to hack up my lungs again. Something about this Gertrude made me ill as well. And not just due to her egregious interruption of my title or her saccharine nickname for the worm.—it was almost as if she didn’t care that she was in the presence of a prince!

Gertrude nodded, “He sent us out to find you—me, Hilde, and Silva. It’s been over a month since we last saw you. What have you been doing all this time?”

“Shopping,” Lina said.

“Shopping?” Gertrude looked flabbergasted, “for a whole month?”

Lina nodded happily, “My darling only deserves the best ingredients.”

The mention of Silva’s name had pricked my ears, and my eyes sharpened as the two conversed. They caught the change in Gertrude when Lina said, “my darling.” It was slight, but her lips tightened, as did her fingers around that staff of hers.

Then I blinked, and she was as relaxed as ever. Lina seemed oblivious to it all as she, too, seemed at ease. I felt like the only sane one here! Had Lina forgotten that we had nearly been killed? Did she not realize who stood before us?

She stood and attempted to brush the soot off her dress. I looked down at my clothes, covered in mud and ash. One would think me a peasant. Perhaps that’s why Gertrude disregarded me so blatantly. It was to be expected for one so cleanly dressed.

And then my brain made the connection like a broken bone snapping into place. While Lina and I were absolutely filthy, not a speck of dirt or ash stained Gertrude’s dress.

Gertrude reached into her shawl and began to rummage through a hidden pocket. “Well, I hope you managed to find what you were looking for. Now that I’ve found you, we can go straight back to sweetie.” She pulled her hand out of her shawl. I half expected a weapon, but it was only a small blue stone.

“Where did you get a telestone?” I said.

For the first time, Gertrude’s eyes regarded me. There was nowhere near as much warmth in her them for me. “Sweetie gave it to me to retrieve Lina. He has loads.”

Loads, did she say? Telestones were exceptionally rare. And if her “sweetie”—a pet name far worse than darling—had loads, that would mean he possessed most of them, if not all.

Gertrude’s gaze returned to Lina. “So then, ready to go?”

“Absolutely!” then her smile faded. “Oh, but I left my shopping back on the road outside Pleasance. Could we stop there to pick them up?”

The purple girl nodded, though her face grew impatient. “Fine, then we can meet up with sweetie at the Demon King’s Palace—well, I should say, his palace.”

Lina clapped her hands in delight. “So, he did it? He beat the Demon King?”

“That’s right!”

“Amazing! I’m so proud of him!”

“Yeah! All that’s left is for him to choose which one of us to marry!”

I sputtered at that. “Choose whom he’ll marry?! Surely, you’re joking?”

“Not at all,” said Lina, “Darling promised us all that he’d finally choose a wife once he completed his mission.”

“How utterly ridiculous!” Silva would never agree to something like that! Being just one candidate of many would infuriate her to no end. As I’m sure was the case for Gertrude.

Lina seemed not to hear me as she clasped my hands. “Thank you, Prince Anno, for everything.”

I was not happy to see her go, mostly because she was my ticket to getting close to the boy. That, and I also had my suspicions about this girl. I did not trust her in the slightest. But I need to play my cards right. So, I smiled at her. “Anytime, Lina. May we meet again. We hadn’t known each other for long, but I couldn’t say that it wasn’t the worst hour of my life.”

I watched as Lina walked towards Gertrude and stretched a hand toward the telestone. Gertrude moved her hand toward Lina; her face took on an expression that made my blood run cold.

“Wait!” I cried. The two women looked at me. Gertrude’s smile was back, as sunny as ever. “I request, as a prince, that I accompany you to at least Grenna.”

Lina brightened at that, “What a wonderful idea! It would be the least I could do to repay you for your kindness. Do you mind, Gertie?”

Gertie shook her head, “I do mind, Lina. I don’t like the look of this prince. I think he’s up to something.”

“Up to something?” said Lina, “Anno? Not a chance. He risked his life for me several times in the short time we’ve known each other.” She looked at me. “You’re not up to something, are you, Anno?”

I looked at her and thought about lying, but I remembered her words before we returned to Pleasance.

“It depends on what you mean by something,” I said, putting on airs. “If you mean do I intend to save my people no matter what it takes, then yes, I am certainly ‘up to something.’” I stared hard at Gertrude, who stared back at me. “You wouldn’t know of anyone who wishes to harm my people? Or any other people, for that matter?”

Sparks flew between we two with fake smiles, with Lina in the center looking from me to Gertrude with a genuine smile of delight.

I envied how she could remain oblivious to the evils of this world as I glared at the Fire Witch from behind a mask of pomp. I would not name her aloud, for Lina’s sake. And for mine.

However, Gertrude turned away and began to walk in the opposite direction. Her staff trailed along the scorched earth and made a most unpleasant scraping.

Lina tilted her head. “Gertie?”

But Gertrude ignored her as she said, “Why should you care about people? When they treated my sweetie so horribly?” She took the staff in both hands. “Not just this world, but in the world which he came from. They all treated him like he was lower than dirt. It’s so unfair! Why can’t they see how wonderful he is!”

“Darling is so wonderful,” said Lina, “The important thing is that we see that.”

“So then, why does he have to choose between us? Why can’t he just have us all?”

Lina blinked as her smile fell away, “What are you saying? We all decided—”

Gertrude cut her off with a stamp of her foot. “He deserves us all! We see him for how special he is! But no! We had to push him to pick only one! You had to push him to decide! And because of you running off to this back end of nowhere, sweetie’s delayed his plans until we find you!”

“Plans?” I said, wishing now more than ever that I was armed with a sword. I’d take a stick at this point. “What plans?”

“Where is this coming from?” asked Lina. “This isn’t like you!”

Gertrude ignored Lina and turned her head to give me a sideways glance. Her eye curled with sinister delight, as did her smile. The façade of sunshine was gone. All that remained was the inferno.

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“A world that treats someone powerless with such cruelty deserves to burn! So, burn with it, Lina!”  She whirled around and lashed out with her staff. A whip of flames sprang to life, shooting straight at Lina.

I acted before I could think. As Lina shielded her face from the oncoming fire, I ran forward; arm raised so that the whip wrapped around my forearm.

The pain was almost unbearable as the flame whip ate away my sleeve and began to burn my arm. But I withstood it as I took hold of the tangible fire and pulled it. The staff pulled from Gertrude’s hand and flew toward me.

As the flame whip disappeared, I stretched out my hand to catch the staff. Only to be met with another pulse of heat. I stumbled backward and tripped into Lina, sending both of us to the ground.

I threw out my hand and pushed Lina further to avoid landing on top of her.

“Sorry to say that little trick didn’t work, princey,” I heard Gertrude say. I looked at her and watched as she picked up her staff and then smiled down at me. “But I’ll admit that was brave of you. As a reward, I’ll let you watch as I burn your precious mud heap to the ground!”

The flames on the buildings roared back to life. Once again, we were surrounded. The heat made my burned arm hurt all the more. I clutched it as I tried to stand.

“Stupid prince!” Gertrude swung her staff and caught me square in the cheek. I fell to the ground again in a daze, lying flat on my back and looking up at the smoke-stained sky. Then Gertrude’s face appeared, her smile mocking and her mad eyes dancing with flames.

My first groggy thought was that, from this angle, I could see under her shawl. And that she was not as small as I’d initially observed. How did that boy manage to land such beautiful women?

Then I shook myself at yet another unprincely thought. I had to focus! I tried to move but found that my limbs did not want to obey me. But I had to try. Lina was in danger.

Again.

I could sense the bloodlust from this girl.

And then Lina’s panicked face appeared before me, blocking out Gertrude’s. “Anno! Are you hurt?” She looked up at Gertrude. “Why Gertie? Why are you doing this?”

I heard Gertrude laugh, “Because sweetie wants it! Don’t you get it? He’s waiting for you to come back. And when you do, he’ll unmake this wretched world! But I thought, why not help him to achieve his dream of decimation as I searched for you?”

My blood ran cold. Just how many villages had this girl burned down?

“And this isn’t even close to what sweetie is capable of. You’ll see soon enough.”

“No!” said Lina, her voice close to hysteric. “My darling is a good person. And so are you!”

Gertrude’s face blanched.

There was a sudden, sharp pain as her foot connected with my shoulder. “Stop. Saying. He’s. Yours!” Gertrude emphasized each word with another kick to my body. Lina threw herself over me and took several of the kicks herself. “He doesn’t belong to you! He’s all of ours!”

Lina grunted in pain as Gertrude kept kicking. But the more she kicked, the tighter Lina held to me. All I could see was her red hair falling over my face. But I could feel the impact of each blow as it pulsed through her body. Each kick made my temper grow all the more intense.

I would pay her back tenfold, no matter what it took.

Gertrude was screaming as she kicked. “I am sick of you! Acting helpless! Pretending to be some damsel! He’s always looking your way! Always doting on you like you’re his favorite! Waiting to end the world just for you! But you know what?” Gertrude seized Lina by the hair and yanked her head upward. My vision was cleared, and I could see Gertrude forcing Lina’s face to look at hers. “I think it would be better if you were dead! Then darling wouldn’t have to worry about you anymore. What do you think he’d say if he saw you like this? In the arms of another man? I think he’d be jealous, wouldn’t you say?”

Lina maintained a firm grip on me, even as Gertrude forced her head further back. I could barely see Lina’s eyes, but from what I could, she was staring at Gertrude with a mix of determination and profound sorrow. “What happened to you, Gertie?” she asked, her voice strained with the effort of holding on to me, “What happened to the sweet girl who looked up to me? Who helped others no matter what and wanted to be praised for every little thing. I loved that Gertie, but now I’m looking at a stranger!”

Gertrude let go of Lina’s hair, sending her face slammed onto my ribcage. “You’re stupider than I thought! You didn’t even realize how much I hated you! We all hated you!”

Lina’s face rubbed into my chest as she shook her head. “That’s not true! You’re better than this! I know you are!”

“Deny it all you want, but the truth is we all want you dead! I’m doing the others a favor!” She paused. “I was going to wait until there were no witnesses, but now…. You can burn together with your precious prince!”

Flames flared from her staff. Like three miniature suns looming over us. I managed to gain control of my arms and wrapped them across Lina’s back. With much effort. I flipped us over so that I now lay atop her. She looked up at me, face shocked.

“Anno, what are you doing?!”

I smiled down at her. “Protecting you. As I promised.”

Her eyes filled with tears. I could see the fireballs reflected in them, growing larger as they rained upon me.

I hoped I looked cool on the outside because, on the inside, I felt like a toddler screaming for his mommy.

I closed my eyes, ready to roll away as soon as I felt the flames sear my back. I could feel them getting closer, their heat intensifying the closer they got.

Oh well. I was still fulfilling my princely duty. I wish my adventure could have lasted a little longer.

Then a voice rang out. A loud, booming baritone gave a wordless scream from somewhere I could not identify.

Gertrude shrieked. I felt the heat on my back disappear. My eyes opened as I looked up and around.

A man stood between Gertrude and us, tall and pale with a mane of curly white hair. He was facing away from us, but I recognized that broad back covered in rags. Though they were somewhat singed.

“Don’t you dare hurt Lady Lina!” The Deborn turned his head to look down at me with silver eyes. “And this guy, too, I guess. Wassup.” He tipped his chin up as a greeting.

I must be going mad because I had never been more delighted to see a harbinger of death in my life.

“Sorry I’m late to the party,” said the Deborn. “I was helping the rest of the townfolk escape.”

“I think your timing was perfect,” I said, straightening up to grin at him.

He grinned back at me. “It was, wasn’t it?” He turned to Gertrude. “So, you’re the Fire Witch everyone’s been talking about.”

“What if I am?” said Gertrude, “You’re just another filthy Ash Fiend freed from the Demon King’s control. You’ve got no power here.”

Freed from the Demon King’s control? Was she telling the truth?

“That’s where you’re wrong,” said the Deborn as he walked toward her. Gertrude took several steps away.

“Stay back, you monster, or I’ll burn you where you stand!”

“Go ahead, Witch. See, I learned something about myself today while saving people.” He charged at her.

Gertrude aimed her staff at the Deborn and fired a fountain of flames that engulfed him.

I watched in awe and horror as his silhouette vanished.

The flames disappeared, and only Gertrude remained.

She flashed an evil grin at me, which vanished immediately as a large, pale hand closed around her staff.

The Deborn appeared from behind her, his rags on fire. But he didn’t seem to care as he leaned in to speak in her ear.

“Turns out I’m fireproof.”

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