Chapter 37

**Merianna**


As I was nursing the splitting pain on my head I also heard Noch cursing and complaining in front of me.

"Both of you stop your bickering! Meri, what do you mean you almost died?! And Noch, what is this about Rippers?! If you two don't give me straight answers right now, I'm going to lose my temper!" Nelia burst out from behind me.

I peeked around my shoulder to see her throttling a broken healer's wand in her grip. Her knuckles were turning white as she attempted to strangle the life out of the half that wasn't dangling brokenly in the air.

"You hit me over the head with your wand?!" I accused with tears brimming at the edges.

She didn't say anything. She didn't really need to. She just crossed her arms over her chest with a menacing glare plastered on her face, and waited for someone to start speaking.

I glanced over at Hezerial who seemed baffled at the exchanges that we were having.

"Why didn't you stop her from hitting me?" I accused.

He just looked at me with wide eyes. "There was no hint of blood lust, or any noticeable attempt to maim or injure. Thus it seemed unnecessary My Lady." He seemed completely bewildered by my sister, as if she were a walking conundrum.

Leave it up to Nelia to maim people without actually meaning to.

She took a threatening step closer to Noch and I. "Speak. Now." She demanded.

I forgot that Nelia could get very scary when she's angry. Noch seemed to agree with my mental note since he held up both hands in surrender and gave her his full attention.

"We should give you a wand made out of softer wood..." He mumbled as he rubbed his injured head.

"I can agree with that." I added as I straightened up too.

Nelia seemed to be on the verge of exploding at any second as we took our time giving her an answer. Her fingers that were wrapped around the broken wand started twitching and her neck started flushing red.

"We surrender Nelia!" I exclaimed before she could move to whack us again.

"Then start explaining." She gritted out between clenched teeth.

I sighed. "Noch sent me to this place without letting me know that it was a Ripper nesting ground. I was just gathering my herbs when a Ripper suddenly stumbled across me, then that one Ripper became two, then three, then four, then before I knew it a whole nest of Rippers were suddenly after me, as well as a few lesser demons. I was fighting them off as best I could but there were just too many and running for my life didn't seem to be helping after they caught my sent. I turned to fight them as my last resort and ended up getting bitten on my leg. Trust me, it was not fun.

"I was on my last straw when suddenly Zerial came out of nowhere and blasted them all into oblivion. Then he healed me, took me to the bottom of the mountain to do some more healing while I was unconscious, and now we are here. Thanks for warning me that you were sending me to the top of a mountain by the way." I threw to Noch with a glare.

He just shrugged his shoulders at me with a smirk. "I knew you wouldn't die. You're too indestructible for that, besides I would have saved your sorry hide once you were on the verge of actual death."

I gave him a look that said exactly what I was thinking. It said – I don't believe a word of what comes out of your lying yap.

"It's true! I put a charm on the reaper that lets me know when your vitals are low enough for possible death!" He defended himself.

His comment still didn't change my mind, nor my expression.

"Noch..." Nelia said sweetly from in front of us.

We both turned to look at her sweetly smiling face. Well, she was smiling sweetly right up to the point where she brought her arm up and whacked Noch over the head with her wand again. It seemed like she didn't even realize that it was broken. The half that had been dangling snapped off and went flying in my direction. Though this time Zerial jumped into action and snatched it right out of the air before it could hit me in the face.

"You IDIOT!!!" Nelia yelled at Noch, who was now crouched down and rubbing his poor head in agony. "She did almost die! She got poisoned by a RIPPER! Someone else appeared to help her, not you! Did your so called charm even give a hint that something might have been wrong?! Hell, was your so called charm even activated?! I bet you ten gold coins that it wasn't!!!" She drew back her arm again but Noch quickly jumped out of the way before she could land her hit.

"Calm down Nelia! Yes it was activated, and yes it did give me a hint, but it faded too quickly to cause alarm." He tried to placate as he dodged multiple well aimed blows.

She didn't seem to be listening though, it seemed like Nelia was going on a rampage and there was no stopping her.

I was amazed by what I was seeing. I've never seen Nelia so furious and... Brutal before. I've never once seen her going after a target like a wild banshee. This was a historical moment!

Looking around the ground I found a fallen log. I promptly moved over to it and plunked myself down on its rough wood. I wouldn't normally sit on rough wood with a dress, but this one was already ruined, and my body was still feeling tired, so I didn't really care what I was sitting on.

I made myself comfortable and watched on as Nelia chased Noch around the clearing with her broken weapon.

"My Lady? Is there no need to stop your sister?" Hezerial asked as he went to stand next to me with his arms crossed.

"No, not really. This is a historic moment Zerial! You should enjoy the spectacle while you can. It's the first time I've ever seen Nelia let loose like this." I added as I saw one of Nelia's hits connect with Noch's leg and chuckled at his yelp. "It's extremely entertaining as well."

"I must admit that I am slightly perplexed yet amused at all that is happening My Lady. I have not seen you with a group of individuals like this in all the time I've known you." Zerial admitted with a small smile playing on his lips.

"If you think that this is the limit to the madness, then you are sorely mistaken. Wait until we reach the Order, there you will meet some of the craziest people you might ever have seen in this realm." I said while laughing as Noch dodged yet another blow.

"Somehow My Lady. I'm finding that hard to believe. I cannot fathom individuals more insane than what I'm seeing now."

I laughed at his expression. He looked absolutely bewildered. He genuinely didn't think that anyone could be even more crazy than the two people he saw in front of him right then.

"Don't worry Zerial, you'll be safe."