Divine War: The Lancasterian Chronicles

Nadjela opens the eyes, immediately closing them again because the pain is burning, and her body is throbbing like she just came out of a beating. Where is she? How long has passed? She needs a minute to remember her foray with Majani into the underground.

Looking to sit up, but "something" prevents her from pulling the arms away from the torso. A thick, warm material is wrapped like a cocoon around her shoulders. It is warm and comfortable... Until she recalls the legends of giant, hairy, red-eyed spiders that use their front legs to wrap their prey in cocoons.

Nadjela can barely control the shriek that rises in her throat. She spins in the dust, and unintentionally wanders too close to a campfire. The fire's lick startles her. She rolls in the opposite direction until she hits the back on a hard surface. She manages to sit up. Peeks to the right, no spiders in sight. Peeks to the left, sees a impossibly large foot. She peers up, and the vision of the giant startles her.

"S-Swear I didn't mean to hit you!" says the princess. From her position she cannot see the titan's countenance, who, unlike before, remains indifferent to her touch.

Nadjela takes a breath and regains some self-control. She notices that the material enveloping her does not oppress, it just hugs. Easily, she pushes the cocoon's mouth to get out. After freeing herself from the foreign matter, she hears a loud, masculine voice coming from the sky.

"Watch out below!"

Four pieces of something hit the ground. Nadjela squints to see the lumps. Ten paces away lies the lizard head with large gleaming teeth, blank eyes free of pity. Nadjela shrieks, and reaches for the necklace with both hands in longing for safety. Another figure drops to a crouch near the torn lizard, raising a dusty clap disturbing the fire.

Tall as Zell, but instead of bronze his skin tone is pink and creamy like the pulp mothers pull from El-nido-de-todas-las-plantas to feed the children. Strong arms and thick legs bulge his clothes with delineated muscles, and his broad back seems able to support the world's weight. The pants have three belts on each leg that fit snugly, and keep blood from pooling in the lower body as he flies. Boots are all-terrain campaign boots. Over an elastic shirt he wears a jacket with a leather exterior and synthetic fur interior that shows through the sleeves. On the collar of the jacket is embroidered an insignia with a silver star, on the right shoulder a rectangle with an X, and on the chest over the heart the emblem of a blue lion in a golden rectangle. Two linked bows of opaque glass cover his gaze, the visor has at the ends handles with curved tips resting on the ears.

Nadjela thinks that the firelight deceives her, because the subject's hair seems to be blue. The stranger shows a smile of whitest teeth, a friendly and charming countenance that contrasts with the sword sheathed on the side of his waist. A long, slender weapon with a slight curvature. Although La Cuna kept warriors more muscular than he (Like Bironte), none had such a look.

(A demon!) Nadjela deduced.

A demon, like those who, according to parents and nannies, disguise themselves in human skin to murder or abduct misbehaving children. Did that happen? Was she abducted...?

Something rolls down the middle her legs. Komodo's head, bigger than hers, lies between her thighs. Nadjela screams and jumps to get up. She kicks the head, sending it into the darkness beyond the campfire. A mob of crawling creatures with indistinguishable shapes, snarl and run after the loot. The man, crouched in front of the fire, speaks casually, his back to the girl.

"A hard time separating that head. Don't waste it like that, woman," he grumbles and gathers the hind legs and tail of the big predator. "Strong bones. But nothing cuts more than my sword, not even machetes"

Nadjela moves slowly, silently and with hands in front to steal the weapon from his waist now that he is distracted. If everything told about the demons is true, wouldn't be long before this man would seek to snatch her purity, and she would not allow that. With every inch less between her fingers and the handle, greater were her heartbeats per second.

(This is my chance. I stab him now, or...)

"Hey!"

The sudden exclamation causes Nadjela to panic and fall on butt.

"A sword is a warrior's soul! Don't take it lightly," The man turns the face to her. "What's wrong, did you stumble? First kicking the dinner and now this. You sure are clumsy"

The princess blushes. She wanted to open mouth and tell him that it wasn't unintentional, she wouldn't eat that garbage and she's not clumsy either. But remember that she is not dealing with a person, but with an entity foreign to the education of the good people of the tribe.

Nadjela is speechless after seeing how the guy uses the sword, his proclaimed warrior soul, to prick a piece of smelly komodo and put it to roast in the fire.

"Do you want a taste?" The demon holds out the thick lizard thigh, scales still burning. Nadjela covers her mouth with a hand and turns her face away. The man smiles. "Don't be fooled by its appearance. Looks bad, but food is still food"

Nadjela crawls back on all fours to get as far away as possible. The dragon is a scavenger and a poisonous creature, with a bite capable of rotting wood. Consuming this meat is dangerous, and Nadjela assumes that the demon knows that, and everything is a sadistic game to destroy her body and mind.

"Women are too picky about food, not everything can be fluffy sweets with colored cream. We men will settle for the simple cake if we have to. A cake doesn't need anything more than the cake to be good"

Nadjela covers her ears to protect from those unintelligible words that the demon uses to plunge her into a labyrinth of unknowns.

"That you are alive is a great relief..." Continues the man. "But why don't you say anything? The mouth is to speak, to shout everything you feel and let the world know. Come on, speak!"

The princess shields herself in silence. Anyway, she is stunned after witnessing how he sinks the teeth into the komodo's body, pulls back with his neck, and tears off a nice greasy piece of meat, which after a couple of bites disappears in his mouth. He must like the taste, or perhaps he lacks a proper sense of taste, because continues devouring.

No human would accomplish such a feat without dying! Nadjela turns her attention to the giant and prays again. But the giant maintains its silence.

"When I woke up and saw the sky, and then you, clinging to my Armored, like your life depended on it, I really didn't know what to think. I believed you were trying to rob me..." says the man without looking at her.

"Never!" Nadjela raises her voice, refusing to be labeled like a thief. She notices how the man's smile grows. The girl blushes as soon realizes that this is exactly the reaction he was expecting.

"Good voice! Sounds like metal!" Using the sword, he reintroduces the meat into the fire. "I maneuvered with style to catch you in the fall, and lower you to the ground before my buddy went to sleep. Exciting stuff"

Nadjela doesn't remember any of it, and from the bruised feel of her body she suspects there was more rush than style during the landing. Her caution helps keep guard up, and tiredness invites her to just the opposite and let the stranger's friendliness take over. Luckily, even in this strange situation, she takes into consideration the teachings of the honorable Zakary:

Every girl enjoys the attention of a handsome man with a pretty smile, but only a foolish girl would lose herself to it.

Until further notice, the princess is more a terrified and confused girl than a fool