Chapter 59

**Merianna**


“You really don’t need to carry me all the way back Zeriel.” I deadpanned as we reached the Gateway that had Fog’s energy vibrating around it.

“That may be so My Lady, but please indulge me as this makes me feel more secure in the knowledge that you are indeed safe.” He said with a tense smile. The encounter with that man and the demon must have been a little too close for Hezerial’s liking. What I couldn’t shake, and what kept replying in my mind, was the name that Noch called the man by, Dermon. Now, I could also put a name to the face. It shocked me that Noch knew who he was, now at least I had something good to ask him.

The moment that Zerial walked through the gateway and into the Atrium with me in his arms, we were thrust into a clamour of chaos. People were talking, arguing, groaning in pain as bandages and medicines were applied to wounds, and more. I was glad to see the coven members all safe and secure as well as the pregnant woman from the basement.

Hezerial gently put me down on my feet as Junnie suddenly came popping through the gateway as well. I waited for Thyrion to come barreling through after her, but frowned when he didn’t. “Where is Thyrion?” I asked Junnie.

She looked behind her at the gateway and just shrugged. “He will come through soon enough.” She waved off as she studied my face. “Does someone have a fancy?!” She teased and pinched my cheeks.

With a frustrated goan, I slapped her hands away and rubbed my stinging cheeks. “I’m asking because so far he’s been nothing but a thorn in my side, and a person would notice if that thorn suddenly went missing. Plus, it’s not me that fancies him.” I said indignantly with a huff. I would rather chew my nails off than grow a fancy for Thyrion.

Before Junnie could ask me anything, a whirl of white-blonde curls came flying at me. “MERI!!!” Nelia squealed as she crushed me and the reaper to her, which reminded me that I got stabbed in the arm.

“Ouch-ouch-ouch, arm! ARM!” I complained loudly as I struggled for freedom.

With a gasp Nelia suddenly let me go, which made air rush back into my starved lungs. I started falling backwards until Hezerial caught me under my arms and righted me back on my feet again.

“Meri! Are you alright?! You’re covered in wounds!” She quivered as she started looking me over.

“That’s a lie!” I protested. “I’m not covered in them!”

She gave me a raised eyebrow and pointed at my bandaged and leaking arm. “That’s a stab wound.” I explained.

She pointed next to the side of my head, which I assumed was probably still bleeding. “I don’t see or feel anything, so that doesn’t count.”

She next pointed to a rip in my breaches that had flecks of blood around the seams. “It’s not broken, so that also doesn’t count.”

“Meri!” Nelia exclaimed in frustration.

“What?!” I asked defensively. “I’m not gushing blood or comatose and nothing is broken or lost so I’m fine! Look behind you, those people need your help a lot more than I do.” I shrugged and pointed behind her to the injured Coven and Order members.

She glanced behind her but then just as quickly turned back to me with a frown. “I have already checked on them because they arrived before you. You’re the newest patient.” She said as she took hold of my uninjured arm and pulled me towards a bench.

She grabbed a clean container and deftly pulled moisture from the air into it. “Honestly Meri, you need to take better care of yourself when you go out in these battles. In the first one you exhausted yourself, with the Nirn’s you were lucky to end up unscathed, and this time you got stabbed and heavens know what else!” She rambled on as she soaked some herbs in the water, some of which I recognized to be lavender and mint cuts and grabbed a clean cloth.

“It’s really not that bad Nelia.” I argued half heartedly.

She merely raised her eyebrow at me and pointedly looked at Hezerial who was sticking to my side like a fungus. “Usually Zerial is back to the Ether by now, but he’s sticking to you closer than rotten teeth on a hag! Which must mean that something more was happening over on that side than you’d be willing to share.” She then turned directly to Hezerial. “Thank you for taking care of her Zerial.” She smiled sweetly at him.

“It is only my purpose to care for My Lady. There are no thanks needed, Miss Nelia. In fact, I don’t think that I will be traveling to the Ether again for a while. I would much rather keep my eyes open in this realm for a time.” He said seriously.

“But-,” Another whoosh of energy coming from the gateway interrupted what I was about to say and pulled our attention back to the archway. Thyrion emerged from the swirl of energy and walked straight towards us. 

“I’m glad to see you didn’t put up a fight when Hezerial brought you back home.” He said with a mischievous grin.

“What took you so long in getting here?” I asked instead of raising to his bait.

“I just hung back a little to make sure that Noch would be alright. He told me to scram before he ended me along with everything else in the area, so I heeded his considerate warning and came here.” He said with another grin. I could tell though that his grin didn’t match what he was saying. That man, Dermon, was definitely strong and if he knew how Noch fought, then he could very well have the upper hand.

I sat silently with a frown as Nelia started to clean the cuts on my head. “Don’t worry Merianna. Noch will be back here before you know it. Most likely cursing up a storm as he does so.” Thyrion quipped as he threw himself into the open spot next to me.

I made a noise in the back of my throat and leaned back against the wooden backrest. “I’m just wondering who that Dermon guy really is. Clearly you and Noch know him.” I said pointedly.

Thyrion’s grin turned into a grimace. “Ah, well that is true. He… actually used to be the Head of the Council.”

I blinked as my brain struggled and failed to connect the man I saw and fought to the title of Council Head. Was that maybe why Noch seemed to have such a dislike towards the Council?

“I only know Ferina and Junnie, and they seem to be very nice people, although Noch doesn’t seem to like the Council itself at all. Has it always been that way?” Nelia asked as she took a look at my arm next.

Thyrion folded his arms behind his head and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. “Not really. He was actually on very good terms with the Council when Dermon was Head. They got along surprisingly well even when their personalities were so different from each other. It’s only now with Jernok being Head that things went sideways.” He went silent for a minute, as if contemplating something.

“Was this Dermon individual very different back then?” Hezerial asked from behind me.

“Yes, he was.” Thyrion let his arms relax on the backrest, but still didn’t look away from the ceiling. “He was a strong but shy person in the past. He always kept his affairs to himself and was incredibly fair minded. He never hesitated when someone needed help, and was a very good leader, in fact. I can’t pinpoint the moment in time when he changed his morals, or if his morals were ever really pure in the first place. In fact, it’s only now that I think back to some conversations we’d shared, that I believe there was an ulterior motive to the conversations he had with me”

I felt a frown wiggle its way onto my brow. I could tell that he was actually affected a lot more by what happened today than he would let on. He must have probably seen Dermon as a friend at some point and trusted him. To think of anyone I knew that well, betraying me in the same way made my stomach drop. I didn’t know how I would ever react to something like that.

My head snapped up as I heard footsteps coming from the gate and saw the bright luminescent energy wink out signaling its closing. “Glad to see you are still alive, Demon Spawn.” Noch said cheerfully as he waltzed out of the gateway. I raised an incredulous eyebrow when I saw that his clothes were ripped and singed in several places and covered in dust from head to toe.

“Alive and looking a lot better than you.” I quipped while pointedly looking at his clothes.

“Ah yes.” He pulled dramatically at his collar to take in his frazzled appearance. “The bastard seems to have gotten stronger over the past few years and thought he could get me with one of my own fire spells. Too bad for him, I’ve perfected that spell since the last time we met. Clearly he didn’t know that it was still a work in progress back in the day.”

“So what happened after that?” Nelia asked with raised eyebrows.

“I gave him a taste of the completed spell, and his guardian apparently decided that it was time to go.” Noch deadpanned.

All four of us gave him identically droll stares at that statement. Noch’s “work in progress” stage and “nearly complete” stage always tended to be on disastrously extreme ends of the spectrum. That’s not even mentioning the actual “complete” stage. I could just imagine what went through Dermon’s mind as Noch pulled that stunt.

“So what now? He got away, didn’t he?” I asked in annoyance. I couldn’t believe that Noch of all people would let someone like that go without a fight on their end.

He sighed heavily. “Now, now Demon spawn-,” Noch stopped himself for a second and frowned. “Actually I think that nickname must now be adopted by Dermon and not you. He actually has a full proof reason to be called Demon Spawn. You need a new nickname.”

I could feel the impatience starting to boil inside me and knew he relished the fact. “I know you didn’t let him get away without some sort of plan… right?”

He looked at me innocently and shrugged. “Well, there wasn’t really much opportunity for me to get something planned in the time between where he tried to kill me and I tried to return the favor. By the time the dust had settled after my attack, they were long gone.”

After he said that, he shot a look at my face. “You want to hit me in the face right now, don’t you? You’d like nothing more than to see me gutted and staked with my heart on a platter, wouldn’t you?” He asked with a smirk.

My eye started twitching, which only served to confirm his suspicion. “How will we stop him now then? More importantly, he clearly knew that we had separate forces at both the Trap and the Village.” Nelia piped up before I could boil over.

Noch’s expression turned serious. “It’s unfortunate that he managed to get away today, very unfortunate. But sadly, there is no way around what happened. I looked high and low through the area after he disappeared to try to find something I could track him with. A piece of cloth, a hair, nail or bloodstain, but I couldn’t find anything.”

I couldn’t believe that this was happening. We were so close! I couldn’t help but grip the Rune Reaper with my hand that was connected to the injured arm and felt the pain shoot down to my fingertips. I froze in the next moment though and looked back up at Noch. “You say even a bloodstain will help to track him down, right?”

He raised his eyebrow at me. “Well yes, any personal effects would work, but blood, hair, nails or skin will work even better if I could find any.”

Without warning, I swung the blade of the Reaper around and held it motionless right in front of his face. He blinked at me and waited for my explanation. I grinned up at him. “Will the amount on the blade be enough?”

His eyebrows shot up, and he grabbed the Reaper from me to give the blade a better look. He started grinning himself and glanced at me over the top of the blade. “Maybe we should let Demon Spawn stick for a while longer.”

He sprinted out of the Atrium so quickly that I missed him with the dagger I threw at his head next. At which Nelia hit me on the back of my head for moving while she was still busy. During Neria’s ministrations I glanced around for Junnie, but didn’t see her. She must’ve walked away while I was bickering with Noch.

Remembering the face she made at the village made me feel uneasy...