Demon Queened - Chapter 69

Lucy

Running through the forest with Dyona in my arms wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Eena never seemed to struggle with carrying me, but Eena could also blast aside any obstacles before they became a problem. I was pretty strong, too, but not to the point of terraforming the land around me for an easier trip!

It was still a lot faster than letting Dyona walk, though. Or taking a horse, for that matter - the dense forest wasn’t really the best place for riding one in the dark. Even if I was keeping a magic light lit!

“I think they’re close!” I told Dyona as I ducked under a branch. “I smell burnt things!”

“It smells like my Lady Grell’s attempts at cooking,” Dyona replied. “We’re likely getting close… though are you sure it was wise to leave the city? If the bird keeper was to send a letter during our absence…”

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to go against ‘the Heroine,’” I replied. “At least he seemed pretty scared of me once he realized who I was… and between that, and Grell being a duke’s daughter, we should be able to keep him quiet for at least a little!”

“We could have made that a guarantee if you’d left me behind to guard him,” Dyona pointed out.

“And leave you all worried about Grell? No way! It’s important to check on our loved ones!”

“That’s… I don’t… I mean…” Dyona trailed off, her cheeks a light red.

“Even if you don’t love her that way, you’re still travelling companions, aren’t you?” I pointed out. “You’ve been together so long, it’s only natural to worry about each other, right? Which means we need to know they’re okay so we can do our best work on this end!”

“I… suppose I could concede that point…”

“Though if you do love her that way, I think you’d make a really cute couple!” I added, ducking under another branch.

Dyona didn’t reply, right away. Then, when she did speak, it was so soft I almost missed it. “My Lady only cares for the strong. The weak have no place in her bed, let alone her heart.”

“There’s more than one kind of strength. I think the strength of your heart is actually the most important sort! I mean, anyone can get strong physically if they’re dedicated enough!”

“As much as I appreciate the concern, Heroine, I have no intention of fighting for my place by my Lady’s side. She’s already reliant upon me for her basic survival, after all. That’s more than enough for someone like me.”

“Someone like you?” I asked. I didn’t think Dyona had self-confidence issues, but she was speaking an awfully lot like Eena.

“A sadistic servant who wishes for nothing more than to watch her mistress squirm. Now, if you don’t mind, I believe we’re drawing close to my Lady, and it wouldn’t do for her to overhear this conversation.”

That… didn’t seem like a very healthy relationship dynamic to me! I didn’t say anything, though. Mostly because we broke into a clearing a moment later. Though I guess clearing might not be the right word for it? I mean, it was an open space, for the most part, but only because a bunch of trees had been knocked over. Even those that were still upright were charred black, their foliage completely wiped away.

“Heroine?” called Grell, from the center of the clearing. “And… Dyona? You’re… carrying… Dyona.”

The expression on Grell’s face looked pretty complicated for a moment, but then she gave us both a smile. “Well! Good to see you. Did you manage to stop any birds from being sent?”

“Any new ones, anyway!” I said. “They already sent out some requests for help with the dragon, though. I don’t think we’ll be able to hide what happened for long.” Not that anyone really seemed to know what had happened. There were definitely rumors flying around about the dragon being knocked out of the sky by a winged figure, but a lot of people were saying that the Goddess must have sent an angel down to save them. At least one person must have spotted Eena, though - there’s no way they weren’t keeping an eye on the dragon as it came down, after all! Which meant there was still a chance someone would connect my ‘travel companion’ with the ‘dark winged figure.’

There was something else bothering me for the moment, though… “Where’s Eena?”

“You mean the Demon Queen?” Grell asked, pointedly. “She rode off on her pest dragon a while back.”

“Her… what dragon?” I asked.

“Do you mean pet?” Dyona asked, at the same time.

I was pretty sure Eena didn’t have a dragon for a pet, though… and even if she did, she’d never call it down upon the city! Though I guess it never actually attacked anyone, even if it did cause a panic…

“I know what I said,” Grell replied, before I could think too deeply on the matter. “She said it was a pest. The dragon I wanted to punch… Give me back my dreams of valiant battle, dammit… Ah, but Jahara did promise I could arm wrestle her, some day, so there’s that!”

“Did she say where she was going?” I asked. “I thought the plan was for her to wait here for me?”

“She said something about having to go back to the tower?” Grell replied. “Said she’d be back through the usual method, if you didn’t move it. Whatever that means?”

The teleportation circle! Maybe Eena had already teleported back? But… why had she left for the tower in the first place? Was she just moving the dragon away from the city? Or was there some other meaning to it?

“Did she say anything else?” 

“Not really,” Grell replied, shaking her head. “I mean, she arm wrestled me before leaving, which was cool and all - utterly destroyed me, by the way. And ruined my food. Totally worth it, though! Ah, but she didn’t look particularly happy about it? She looked pretty upset, actually, if anything… Not sure why.”

“Upset?” Why would Eena be upset? What had happened during her fight with the dragon? She hadn’t gotten hurt, had she? Or maybe…

No. I wasn’t going to spend my time thinking about potential problems when I could be working on definite solutions!

“I’m heading back to the city,” I declared. “Grell, can you carry Dyona this time? I’ll focus on clearing a path, so that we can get back as quickly as possible!”

“Sure,” Grell agreed, shrugging. “Does this mean you totally knew Eena was the Demon Queen, though?”

“Eena’s the nicest, sweetest, most self-sacrificing person I know!” I replied, turning back to go the way we’d come. Thankfully I’d already made something of a path just getting here. “She’s really strong, too! But she really hates herself, more than anything… all that’s way more important to me than her title!”

“But… Demon Queen?” Grell said, shooting Dyona a helpless glance. “Demon Queen equals bad, right?”

“I think the Heroine is claiming the situation to be a little more complicated,” Dyona replied.

“...Does that mean it’s okay for me to like her, too?”

Dyona nodded, which made me smile. I’d been ready to leap in for Devilla’s defense, but it hadn’t been necessary.

“Come on!” I declared. “I want to see if Eena’s back yet!”

***

Eena was not back yet. Not even after an hour of waiting. A lot of that was probably just her needing to travel to the tower, though - and I knew that! I knew it, but… I couldn’t help but worry.

“Maybe I could go check on her?” I reasoned, eyeing the teleportation circle. I wasn’t sure it was a really good idea - going to the tower unannounced, as the Heroine seemed risky… but it wasn’t like I needed to even step off of the teleportation pad! I could just take a quick peek into the room, apologize if I saw anything I shouldn’t, and come back again with relief in my heart! I mean, if nothing else, Abigail or Bailey would surely know what was going on, right?

With that in mind, I took a deep breath, stepped up to the teleportation circle, and closed my eyes. That last part was sort of important, because I’d learned that suddenly transitioning from one scene to another could be sort of jarring.

“Lucy?” a voice called out in surprise. “What are you doing back here?”

“Abigail?” I asked back, opening my eyes to see the succubus still in that same red dress I’d been admiring just an hour or so ago. “Do you know where Eena is?”

“Isn’t she with you?” Abigail asked, her brow furrowing as she frowned.

“She had to fight a dragon, and something about that apparently led to her going back to the tower?”

“She fought a dragon?” Abigail demanded, before pressing her fingers against her forehead and letting out a deep sigh. “Of course she fought a dragon. This is Devilla we’re talking about. She doesn’t even know the meaning of staying out of trouble!”

“I think that’s a bit unfair… It’s not like Eena called the dragon to her, or anything! She was just fighting to protect the town.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Abigail muttered, waving me off before letting out another sigh. “I know, alright? It’s not like she goes looking for trouble or anything - she just cares. A little too much for her own good, sometimes…”

“Does that mean you haven’t seen her, though?” I asked, next. “Since you didn’t know she fought a dragon, and all.”

“I haven’t,” Abigail confirmed. “Haven’t heard any news either - other than someone making a mess in the kitchen, anyways, but that doesn’t really sound like Devilla. Either she hasn’t made it back here, or she just didn’t make much of a scene…”

“Queen back,” came a new voice, coming from the opposite side of the bed as me. Slowly, a figure rose up, her dark black hair tumbling down over her shoulders as she moved, her red horn almost seeming to glisten in the light.

“Bailey?” I asked, to confirm. I knew she could take a humanoid form, but I hadn’t spent a lot of time with her like this.

She nodded, thankfully. “Queen return little bit back. Came with red dragon woman. Queen sent to Kitchen, then went somewhere else… not sure where. Was sleepy, and Queen seemed too busy for play…”

“Did you have any idea where she might have gone?” I asked. Bailey shook her head, but Abigail frowned.

“I don’t,” she admitted. “But I know someone who might. Nobody keeps better track of what’s going on in the castle than her…”

“Is it Chloe?” I guessed, but Abigail shook her head.

“Okay, nobody except maybe Chloe keeps better track. The person we’re going to see is a lot less pleasant to be around, but I don’t think we have much choice if we want to know what’s going on, though.”

“We could try asking Chloe?” I suggested. “I mean, the person you’re talking about doesn’t sound like someone we should try asking favors from.”

“I don’t know where Chloe is,” Abigail replied. “I do know where to find Sylvanna. Assuming she’ll let us in without an appointment, anyways.”

“We could also just wait for Eena?” I pointed out. “Maybe she has everything in hand!”

“Maybe,” Abigail admitted. “But do you really want to risk it? We both know Devilla isn’t the sort to volunteer information on her problems, even if she will give it up when asked. If she’s actually in trouble, she’s probably going to try and figure everything out for herself without even thinking about maybe involving the people who care about her.”

“I guess that’s true,” I admitted, thinking back on my time with Eena. When it came to physical threats, I was sure she could handle just about everything! When it came to internal issues, though… it was less that she didn’t want to involve other people, and more like she didn’t seem to realize that her problems were problems to begin with! Whatever she went through, she’d just say it was something she deserved.

“Look, you can go back and wait in the inn if you want to,” Abigail told me, “but I for one am going to go hunt down Sylvanna. So are you with me, or not?”

Of course, there was only one possible answer I could give! 

“Of course!”

***

Getting to see Sylvanna, thankfully, wasn’t much of a problem. Her assistant let us right in!  Though she did give me an odd look - even though I’d gone through the trouble of changing out of my armor, and back into my date outfit. The General didn’t look very happy to see us, either…

“Well, if it isn’t Devilla’s little girlfriend, pet, and… whoever the hell you are,” Sylvanna drawled, looking over each of us in turn. “Let me guess. You’re here to berate me over being mean to Devilla when she was down, or something?”

Bailey - currently in wolf form - growled at the slime woman, but Abigail held up a hand to stop her.

“We’re here to find out where she is,” the maid said, through gritted teeth. “And it sounds a hell of a lot like you know that.”

“No clue,” she replied, shrugging her slimy shoulders. Which normally I’d want to marvel at, since I’d never met anyone made of slime before, but at the moment I was a little too focused! “She asked me about Doll, I gave her a stuffed rabbit, and she took off.”

“A rabbit?” Abigail asked.

“I think she told me about this! She had a stuffed rabbit when she was little! Her mom gave it to her.”

“Queen Grimmilla, huh?” Abigail asked. “I think I know where we need to go next… also known as the one place maids aren’t allowed.”

“I’m sure Eena will make an exception, this time!”

“Let’s hope she isn’t actually there and doesn’t actually need to,” Abigail replied, her tail slicing through the air. “Come on, girls. Let’s go.”

***

Devilla

***

“Eena!” came a voice - Lucy’s voice, and yet - in my shock - I failed to immediately register this. I was too focused on her outfit. The casual red top and short black skirt, shorter than anything I’d ever seen her in. The snow white sunhat that covered her head, large enough to potentially be covering a pair of animal ears if one did not know better. Her actual ears were hidden by her hair, meanwhile. Not that the disguise really did anything to hide her from me - it was just…

“You’re wearing casual clothes?”

“Uh-huh!” she declared, running through the door to scoop me up into a hug. For once, I could actually feel the softness of her flesh as she embraced me, the warmth of her skin and the heat of my own embarrassment as she spun me around while squeezing me tight. “It’s what I wore for my date with Abigail!”

“What are… what are you doing here?” I asked, confused. “You’re… I thought I told Grell you could simply wait?”

“I got worried,” Lucy confessed, slowing her spin to a stop and allowing my feet to once more touch the ground, before finally parting from me. “Maybe I shouldn’t have? I mean, it’s not  like I don’t trust you! It’s just… you’re the sort to try and face challenging things all on your own, even when there’s people who really want to help!”

“People like me,” Abigail remarked, walking in next. Bailey, who followed, nodded as well. 

“This is highly irregular,” Doll declared, frowning at my friends. My girlfriends… and Bailey. “Traditionally, only I and the designated Demon Queen are allowed to enter this space.”

“Yes, well, traditionally Demon Queens have apparently been little more than puppets for our ancestor, have we not? Perhaps it’s about time things started changing.”

“Wait,” Abigail said. “Wait wait wait… could you repeat that for me? Demon Queens are what traditionally?”

“Slaves,” Doll answered, her voice as cold and flat as always, despite the dramatic nature of her words. “To put it simply. They were bound by an ancient geas put in place by Luci, disguised as the Rite of Insight. Those who take it are forced to take their place in an ancient play, a charade of violence in blood in which the Demon Queen leads our forces to a slow but inevitable death.”

“Apparently my mother, and all those before her, were forced to fight and die at the hands of Heroines.”

“Huh?” Lucy asked.

“It’s a charade, Lucy,” I told her, my voice almost a whisper. “Heroines and Demon Queens? Humans versus Demons? It’s all a ploy. Something engineered by the supposedly fallen angel we’ve always looked up to. The true leader of Heaven. Your namesake, Luci.”

“That’s…” Lucy frowned. “Okay, that sounds really bad! But I’m sure the Goddess-”

“The Goddess left over two thousand years ago,” Doll declared. “I witnessed it. Personally.”

My head snapped around towards Doll. “What…?”

“Where did you think I came from?” she asked, frowning at me. “I am an artificial servant, initially created by the Goddess to serve Luci, her head angel. Though I was far from sentient at the time, I was nevertheless alive the day the Goddess left the divine realms behind. Although I cannot say I personally witnessed the departure, I was present as Luci cried and cursed extensively about her leaving. I believe her destination was… coding bootcamp?”

“Coding…” I paled. “As in, for a video game?” What did that mean? Was this, in truth, a video game? Was my entire life nothing more than digital data on someone’s computer?

Thankfully, Doll shook her head. “Divine Magic is often routed through something similar to the Earthen construct known as a computer. Rather than depending purely upon the imagination of the caster, it is preferable to program the exact results you wish to see from your spell. Holy and unholy magic is the same, for the record - your spells are preprogrammed features, activated by a password system.”

“Unholy magic?” Abigail piped up. “Like… the stuff my ancestors used to wield?”

“Indeed,” Doll agreed, nodding. “Unholy magic, also known as negative-aligned divine energy, is utilized by the demons of Hell, likely to this day. We are, however, getting wildly off topic.”

 “Well, perhaps I’d rather be off topic than actually confront the things you’re saying,” I confessed, frowning. “Such as the fact that my Mother was forced to sacrifice herself to the Heroine by one I once revered…”

“Yeah, that’s… pretty hard to process,” Abigail admitted. “And I’m not even directly involved.”

Lucy… didn’t say anything, for a long moment. Then… “Does that mean I… wasn’t picked by the Goddess?”

“You were likely chosen by Luci herself,” Doll informed us. “A girl who would not exist without Grimmilla’s help, chosen to kill the child of Grimmilla herself? The mixture of pettiness and irony was likely irresistible to her. I would not be surprised if Grimmilla was even forced to watch it happen.”

“Wait,” I said. “You know who Lucy is?”

“Of course. Do you think, with all the tower’s features, that it would lack the ability to detect a Heroine entering? You are lucky I suppressed the alarm before it could activate. Though as to why you, of all people, would bring a Heroine to your room I could not initially understand - it was only when I saw you and her talking peacefully together that I finally allowed myself to believe you had truly escaped the geas.”

“Wait,” Lucy said. “You’re saying… I was only chosen… to hurt Eena’s mom?”


~~~
Author's Notes

I wanted to keep this chapter going a bit longer, but... well, I really needed to change PoV, and the easiest way to do that was to end the chapter and start a new one! I think you'll all agree that the next bit needs to come through Lucy's eyes, after all, or it just wouldn't feel right.