Chapter 5: Five

Janilari was intrigued by the panic on the faces of the humans around her. Apparently, as a general rule, humans were perfectly fine with eating other flesh creatures, but they drew a hard line on consuming their same kind. Well, sure, but why? Weren't they made of flesh too? 

While she was pondering this, the adventurers were frantically arguing against each other (again), trying to figure out a way to rescue the kidnapped farmers. Janilari tuned out their debate after her very reasonable suggestions were rejected over and over again without any consideration. 

Set the tree on fire so it would collapse and crush anything in the chamber? Too violent! Coming down and killing everything that wasn't a human? Too violent again! ... At least the criticism was consistent. Bored out of her mind, she was wistfully looking at the party below, half wishing she had been summoned by a goblin mage instead. 

"You are running out of time...!" She warned the adventuring party, even though the goblins didn't seem close to finishing their celebrations. 

"That's it, we are going down." Snapped Rida, much to the chagrin of Maesron. Janilari lighted up. 

"We are?"

"Non-lethally." The mage added, so the demoness rolled her eyes. Then Rida turned to the rest, a wild look on her face. "Unless you want to stay and watch."

"We have to rescue them." Agreed Brunai. "But we need to be smart about it." 

"I suggest you get smart quick, then." Warned the demon again, while amused by a couple of goblins who seemed to be in a dance-off. 

"Alright, we can do this." Sighed Maesron. "But we are going to need a plan." 

* 

A few minutes later the adventurers had finally put their plan in motion. Janilari stayed close to them, thrilled to see it in action. For some reason, the humans themselves didn't seem to share her enthusiasm. 

First, the group moved along the tree until they were directly above the captured humans. It was barely a ten feet fall down the cavern below. Of course, the plan was to take them up without harming any of the goblins, which in Janilari's opinion was a terrible approach, but whatever. She looked towards Rida, who by the way looked very good under the moonlight, and the mage's face portrayed both confidence and anticipation. 

The sorcerer stared back at her. For a second her eyes were almost pleading. The demoness just shrugged, as if that would calm her summoner. Even though Janilari wouldn't participate in the plan, surely Rida should know that she wouldn't let anything happen to her!

The first step was a distraction. Pendi took out her bow, grabbing an arrow in which tip they had tied one of Rida's potions, a small cyan vial. Taking a deep breath she drew her bow and aimed at the subterranean trunk of the tree below... Before her arms wobbled unable to keep the bow tensed for more than an instant. 

Janilari looked in shock at how the scout was in less than a second covered in sweat, her entire body shaking and her bow moving hazardly. The demoness wasn't an expert in archery, but even she knew the foxgirl shouldn't be using a bow she was too weak to draw! Predictably, when Pendi released the arrow it moved almost without force, pathetically falling into the cavern and hitting a goblin in the head with a dry thump. The impact wasn't strong enough to either stop the dancing goblin or break the vial. 

The worst part was that the other adventurers didn't even react, as if this was a regular occurrence. Maesron even put a hand on Pendi's shoulder.

"Good try, Pendi." He said, but the foxgirl didn't respond, and just looked below with empty eyes. "Let's move on."

So there wouldn't be a distraction. That was fine. The rest of the plan would go normally. 

Maesron put on his helmet, which Janilari had yet to see him with. With the extra piece of armor he was completely covered in metal, and with his face hidden, he even looked like an actual knight. The armored man nodded at them, the adventurers nodded back, and then Maesron jumped down the cave. 

The knight landed right between the goblins and the captured humans. The creatures that harassed the prisoners where instantly spooked, backing down and creating enough space for Pendi and Brunai to fall as well. The farmers immediately lighted up, abandoning their defeated demeanor. 

"Oh, you are fucked now!" Yelled one of them, clearly thrilled by the appearance of the rescuers. "Little squalid bitches!" 

But the shock of the goblins didn't last long, and with a deafening scream dozens threw themselves at Maesron. The goblin music didn't wane, in fact, it became louder as the creatures stopped dancing in favor of swarming the adventurers. 

Maesron advanced into the hostile crowd, diverting their attention as he was impervious to anything the goblins had. Brunai menacingly wielded her battleaxe, creating a space between her and the goblins, preventing them from getting closer to the prisoners, while Pendi frantically slashed the rope that tied them together. 

"Why doesn't he have a sword!?" Screeched the same farmer as before, looking at Maesron with a horrified expression. His previous bravado was entirely gone, and Janilari couldn't suppress a snicker. 

Of course the knight didn't even own a weapon. Janilari found the fact hilarious, and wasn't surprised when the adventurer was overwhelmed by the hordes of enemies. To be completely fair to him, he did better than she was expecting him to. He was strong enough to wrestle almost ten goblins at once, and managed to avoid hurting all of them, as if he was playfighting with a bunch of children. But there were hundreds of goblins in that cave, and he was soon covered in them, taking him down if not by strength, by just their sheer weight. 

With Maesron down, more goblins approached Brunai, whose muscles were bulging with the effort of keeping her battleaxe up. It was a feat all in itself that she was even able to lift the thing. But she was trying to use it as a spear, defensively, when in Janilari's humble opinion she should be crushing goblins with it. Seeing how the woman even struggled to not hit anything, she wondered why she even bothered to brandish that particular kind of weapon, considering her company policies. 

To make things worse, Pendi was struggling to cut the rope. She had started doing a lot of progress very quickly, slashing away with her hunting knife, but it was clear that the rope was more durable than she expected. Janilari didn't need to stare at her to notice that she was starting to get overwhelmed by the situation, and her own frustration made her incapable of slicing down effectively. 

"Pendi, hurry up!" Yelled Rida from above, her voice barely heard above the goblin music and screams. She and Huddinli were supposed to help the farmers up once Pendi was done, but it felt like they were far from that part of the plan. The foxgirl seemed to get even worse under pressure. 

Janilari snickered. "Don't worry, they got this." She said, amused, earning her a look full of hatred from Rida. 

Slowly but surely, the goblins gained space on Brunai, who was backing down herself. The goblins seemed understandably cautious around her battleaxe, but as they realized none of them had been hit yet they became bolder and bolder. One of them, a small youth, became maybe too bold, and jumped right in front of the blades. 

The small goblin would have been split in two right there, if Brunai didn't redirect her swing downwards with a herculean effort, hitting the ground instead. The weight and force behind the battle axe buried it deep into the earth, and when Brunai tried to retrieve it, she looked like she had run out of strength. 

Just like that Brunai was disarmed, and the goblins only paused for an instant before jumping on her. Without the armor that Maesron had, she was vulnerable even if the goblins didn't have much else than teeth and nails. 

But before they reached her, the fight was obscured by a rapidly expanding puff of cyan smoke. Just after she threw the responsible potion, Rida jumped into the brawl herself. 

Now, Janilari had no intention to let the mage get involved. But as the smoke diluted a little, she gained a glimpse of Rida holding a goblin by the neck and punching it in the face before kicking another one in the stomach, while the rest slithered around frightened by her potions. It was simply a too interesting sight to ignore. 

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With her mouth slightly agape, the demoness slowly descended into the cave to get a better viewing point. 

Brunai was on the ground, coughing slightly and retreating slowly, so it was only Rida there, now throwing a yellow potion upwards that turned into flashing lights when it hit the ceiling. 

Between the flashes, she saw how the mage fought off another three goblins. So much for company policies, she thought, because Rida didn't seem to hold anything back while wailing on a fourth. 

Slowly, Janilari approached her summoner until she was on the ground, a few steps behind her. The mage didn't see her there, and continued her streak of non-lethal violence. Mesmerized by the sight, the demon didn't even look away when a goblin tried to jump on Janilari's back, before the creature was sent backward and knocked unconscious as it hit a wall. 

Eventually, the mage turned in her direction and grabbed her by the shoulders... Like physically grabbed her, with her hands... Her hands... On Janilari's shoulders... A part of her was hoping that the mage would hit her too, but the sorcerer blinked as she noticed it wasn't a goblin, and then scowled. 

"Are you not going to do anything!?" She shouted. Janilari blinked as well. 

"Uh... You are doing great..." She replied, weakly. The sorcerer looked at her with a strange, confused look, but then they were interrupted by another wave of goblins that seemed to jump on them from every direction. 

It had been fun, but it was probably time to end it. The goblins that had jumped on them fell to the ground, as if frozen, and the loud music around them suddenly stopped. The silence was almost deafening in comparison. As the smoke around them dissipated, Rida looked around with a stunned expression, finding that all the goblins in the cavern were laying on the ground. 

The mage looked at the sea of bodies around them, in the sudden, unnatural stillness, and then turned to Janilari. 

"Non-lethal, I know, I know." The demoness rolled her eyes, and crouched near an unconscious goblin to hit it in the chest and make it cough out. "They are asleep, you see? I didn't forget!" 

"You... You could have done that sooner..." The mage replied, incredulously. 

"I didn't want to skip the fun." Janilari replied, then leaned over to look at the corner where Pendi, Brunai, and the prisoner farmers were staring wide-eyed, completely speechless and immobile. "Nobody got hurt, so...?" She shrugged. 

Maesron picked that time to slowly rise from a mountain of bodies, heaving loudly. 

"That's...!" The knight claimed, breathless, his voice distorted by his helmet. "That's a story to remember!" He looked around. "Is everyone good?" 

"All perfect!" Beamed the demon, while the rest were still speechless. One of the farmers, however, looked around wildly. 

"What the fuck did just happen!?" 

* 

Since they all seemed so tired and weak, Janilari opened a tunnel to the surface, opening the dirt around it, so they (mostly Rida) didn't have to climb out. After what they all had just witnessed, they didn't seem too shocked by the display of magic. 

The goblins would wake up in the morning, after a suitable night of sleep. With that, the party started a slow trip back to town, escorting the farmers to civilization. 

Yet, the rescued prisoners didn't seem too happy. One would think they'd be more grateful after being saved from getting eaten. Instead, they insisted that it was a "civic duty" to exterminate the cavern goblins, and it was irresponsible to let them roam around. Their complaints had no effect on the adventurers, however, and Maesron took the freedom to lecture them all the way back. 

Meanwhile, Janilari felt like she had enough information to reach a conclusion. She kept a close eye on Rida, who only looked forward with a stoic expression, ignoring any reference to her impressive use of violence down the cave. 

They got back to town in a fraction of the time it took them to find the goblin lair. After a small visit to the town hall, and after collecting a partial reward for the rescue of the farmers, the party had finished what seemed like their very first successful mission. 

Of course, Maesron wanted to celebrate. None of the other adventurers seemed too enthusiastic, but they still accepted the free food and drinks down in Ayila's tavern. All except for Rida, predictably, who didn't say a word before going up to her room.

Janilari was obviously already waiting for her inside, with an abundant portion of food and water floating in the air above her. 

"How you can forget to eat if you need food to survive?" She asked the mage.  "And I just remembered humans also need water! Seriously, how are you still alive?" 

The mage just sighed, clearly too tired to fight her, and just let herself fall into the bed. The plate of food slowly descended into her lap. 

"Oh, come on, cheer up!" The demoness insisted. "Things went your way, didn't they?" 

The sorcerer still didn't respond. Janilari hesitated and looked around the very same room where had been summoned this morning. The only thing that had changed since then was the now open window. The circle of salt remained on the floor, and the mess around the room was the same. 

The book Rida had spent ten years working on was thrown on the floor, as if it was garbage. The demoness grabbed it and started passing the pages again. But now she was paying more attention. 

While the book only talked about demons and incantations, it still told a story. A story of tenacity and hope, a story of ten years or more of trying and failing. A story that Janilari didn't know yet, but that she was willing to learn. 

She knew from the very beginning that Rida needed help. But there was a difference between the kind of help Rida wanted, and the one she needed. 

Janilari, hopefully, would give her both. 

After all, Rida knew what was she getting when she made a deal with a demon. 

"After you eat, we'll have to talk." Said Janilari. For the first time, Rida turned to see her. The demoness smiled brightly. "I know exactly how to help you."

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