The Demon Children

Chapter 5: And So We Wait

Laina awoke to discover she'd been set well out of sight and covered with natural brush to hide her from predators. She got up, blushing even though nobody was around to see her naked, and ran quickly for her cave.

Once there she got some spare clothing out of her pack. "This is outrageous," she fumed. "How could I get beat by a demon mage?"

Why did he leave you alive… and cover you to protect you from wild animals? She tried to ignore the question that was beginning to nag at her mind.

"Only one thing to do… I'll go back to the village and see if anyone there saw them."

She quickly headed for the village.

~A remote forest in Fiore~

"Well, we're here." Gray said, taking his pack off and sitting down with his back against a tree. "This is where the demon is. Now what?"

"Now we wait for that demoness Mira and Natsu to get here." Mira said. "But that means we have to stay close to the demon, or we might miss them."

"Oh great." Gray said. "So now we have to find the demon and keep track of it?"

"Yep," Erza said. "And I bought some magic equipment to help us do that." She pulled out a small radar device. "This is attuned to demonic magic, so we'll be able to track the demon without it ever being able to see us."

It wasn't long before the radar picked up the demon's magic signature. It was northwest of the party about a half mile or so.

"We need to get a little closer." Erza said. "We have to stay close enough at all times to get there as soon as there's a sign of Natsu and Mira."

"Fortunately," Gray said, "the only way up here is through that gorge we walked through a while back. So if we stay between that and the demon, we'll be sure to see them."

"Excellent thinking Gray!" Erza beamed. "And I can mark that location on the radar map so we can always make sure we're in the right place…"

And so they waited.

~A small village in Northern Fiore, about a two day walk from Erza~

Izuul, I need to know if you saw any demons come through."

"No," Izuul responded truthfully. "I haven't seen any demons in this town.

"They must have stopped though," Laina growled. "I injured the she-devil. The male would've been looking for help…" She stopped, looked at the old man, and thrust past him into the hut.

Mirajane lay sleeping on a mat in the back of the hut.

"What is the meaning of this?" Laina glared at the old healer.

"Laina, she's not a demon. She's a human mage." The old man said. "And her friend was also a human mage. A human mage who exhausted his body to get her to this village before the poison's effects were irreversible. And who left you alive," he added.

Laina started to move toward Mira, but the healer blocked her path.

"This is a house of healing. If you cause death here, I will report you to the council."