Chapter 33: Scream against the sky.
Hanna was not having the best of times right now, she was extremely stressed trying to escape certain death at the hands of the knights that suddenly appeared around the area, she was angry beyond belief because her property, her Adeline had been defiled by bunch of annoying pests that called her sister, furthermore she was even more angry because she had to kill almost all of them in her attempted escape, they were annoying, but having an entire army under your control was something she wouldn’t say no to and yet she had to sacrifice almost all of them to ensure her save escape.
Now she only had but a handful of them left and honestly it would be probably the best if she got rid of them, in such low numbers they weren’t worth anything and they made escaping a hell lot harder because of their intelligence that barley even surpassed that of a dog, sadly, that wasn’t an option because she needed them to do at least one more thing and that was carrying both the still unconscious Adeline and Luisa.
Yes she could have carried them herself, but that would slow her down immensely and she needed to be fast in her escape, so she chose to deal with the annoying little pests until she was in the safety of the forest, where she could get rid of them and save her last few nerves she still had, as they came dangerously close to breaking every last one of them.
She already snapped multiple times in her escape, gripping the nearest pest she could get her claws on and them throwing them into nearby walls or windows, at least 5 pests have already met their end that way and she assumed that was enough to get the rest of them to shut up, but life isn’t exactly a fair thing.
"Big sister, I‘m hungry Magek!"
“Big sister, my feet are hurting, is that normal Magek?"
"Big sister, how much longer are we running for Magek?"
Hanna felt her eyes twitch as she was constantly bombarded with questions and other things, that just really was making her so much angrier then usual, sure she wasn’t exactly one with a moderate temper, but just something about them was making her so much more angry, was it their high voices that bordered on a child that just downed gallons of helium? Was it because she knew they were the ones that defiled her property, or was it something else entirely?
Whatever the reason, it was certainly affecting her real good and she once again felt the overwhelming urge to kill them and get them to shut up and Hanna wasn’t about to fight that urge. So she suddenly and abruptly stopped, immediately being bombarded with questions as to why she had stopped and it was at this point she snapped again, she turned around and grabbed the two nearest pests her claws could get and then throwing them to the ground with all the strength she had.
She felt herself grew a bit calmer as she heard the satisfying crunch of bones and the shock yelps from behind her, the sound of blood splashing against the dirt and the feeling of fear in the air, she hadn’t realised until the first time she had killed one of the pests during her escape, but she had been rather hungry, so not only was this a perfect way to release some frustration, but it was also a way to have a quick snack, a win-win.
"Ooffff, looks like someone has quite the anger management issues right there, you should get that checked out soon girl."
"I don’t think you‘d want that, I know you like em more fierce, you little dirt bag."
Hanna‘s eyes shot up from the ground and was greeted by the sight of two people standing a few meters away from her, they both wore black body suits over which they wore some very light, leather like armor, they both had cocky smirks on their faces as they stared at Hanna with the most condescending looks imaginable. However, those weren’t humans.
They had a humanoid shape, with one being taller and lankier, while the other was smaller and more imposing in statue, however their skin, that was showing through gaps in their face masks, were both green and they both seemed to have horns perturbing from their heads, around the length of a baby’s arm. If Hanna had to guess, she assumed they were people of the demon race, she read about them in that old library she had appeared in and while the texts were probably old and outdated, these two seemed to be carbon copies of the way the texts had described the so called 'Imp Demons' to look like.
Hanna, initially surprised and somewhat terrified at the prospect of having been caught, now felt mostly annoyance and confusion, in the texts she had read it was made extremely clear to her that humans and Demons did not get along at all, she had read multiple texts denouncing them as pure evil and others talked about a great on going war between the kingdom of Demons and multiple other kingdoms, this one included.
So to see Demons in the heartland of this kingdom was quite the confusing sight, she knew the texts were old but she was sure that the two still didn’t get along, humans had the tendency to be idiots after all, however the confusion was only secondary to Hanna, her real emotion was annoyance, because not only were they looking at her like she was a walking piece of garbage trying to re-enact a Shakespeare play, but they also blocked her path of her escape and she really, really wanted to escape.
"I don’t know what you want here Demons, but I don’t care and you are standing in my way, so step aside and let me go, I am in a hurry and not exactly in the best of moods right now and I really don’t want to waste time killing you."
The two Demons‘ looks turned into one of surprise, but only for a moment before they both started to laugh out loud, their laughs sounded like a mouse being slowly squished to death and only worked to make Hanna more annoyed and agitated.
“Wow, it can talk and now it thinks it can kill us, didn’t know a child could be this blinded by it‘s own ego at such an age!"
One of them wheezed out in between laughs, serving to making Hanna even more agitated, her eyes began to glow a crimson red as she gave the duo a death glare, behind her she could her the pests growing nervous at her apparent upcoming rage.
"Look kid, I don’t think you know who you are messing with here, we are both knights in the service of the great Lord Pakoro, master of the Baredl Valley, we are here to get these little shitbacks behind you back to their rightful owner, after they ran away like headless chickens."
Suddenly one of the two was standing right beside her, a blade drawn and close to Hanna‘s throat, Hanna stiffened and couldn’t help her mind as it wandered backt to the time she had been in that exact situation before, a blade at her throat with condescending assholes looking down at her, last time it were a group of bandits, now it was only two Demons, however her mind also stopped her from doing what she really wanted to do right now, which was ripping both of the Demons arms off, and instead she made a proposal.
"If you want to take them with you, then we are on the same page, as I was about to ditch these annoying pests at the forest, before you so rudely stopped my path forward. So I suggest you let me go and I won’t hinder you in your quest anymore."
Hanna hissed the words through her teeth, she really just wanted to get rid of them, however she really couldn’t waste anymore time here, she could feel how, if she were to stay around for much longer it would spell her death.
Her patience was stretched to its maximum capacity as both Demons simply grinned at each other and softly cooed at her, like she was a child that just told an adult how it will save the planet.
"I‘m sorry my little baby, but that’s not how these things will be going. By all the available evidence you stole our lords servants from him and as such he will ask for compensation and I think I know exactly how you could repay him."
The Demon beside her grabbed her by the chin and forced Hanna to look at him, his eyes were filled with greed and arrogance, he believed he had all the power here and Hanna desperately wanted to show him how wrong he was and if she was lucky and this was going down the path she thought it was gonna go down, she could show him.
But in the back of her mind she could already feel the steel of the knights behind her catching up.
"Furthermore, you will have to repay us for all the trouble we had to go through, but don’t worry you won’t have to do anything that time, as think those two lovely ladies you are having the Margenko‘s carry will do nicely indeed. I don’t know how such a small child managed to both control a bunch of Margenko‘s and steal some ravishing looking females along the way, but I sure am happy you did kid. I think we are gonna have a lot of fun with them."
The look of greed and lust on his face and the way he spoke about both Adeline and Luisa left nothing to the imagination as to how they were supposed to be paid back, which would extend to Hanna as well once she was supposed to pay back their lord, at first Hanna had actually considered coming with them voluntarily.
She needed to get as far away as possible, as soon as possible going around to another kingdom would fulfil that part quite handily indeed and if she needed to, she could always kill her 'captors' and be on her own again, but now that entire idea disappeared as utter rage blinds Hanna completely.
Adeline was her‘s, Luisa was her‘s and as annoying as they were, the Margenko‘s were also her‘s. They all belonged to her and her alone, no one, absolutely no one would steal from her what belonged to her ever again and no one but herself would dictate what happens to her own belongings.
How dare these filthy rats even think they had the right to steal what belongs to her? How dare they look down on her? How dare they to tell her she would belong to someone? And how dare they accuse her of stealing the Margenko‘s when they rightfully belonged to her?
Then, the Demon touched Adeline and that was the final straw that broke the camel’s back, Hanna screamed with rage and anger of a thousand people and she swiped her claws at the Demons arm, that was still holding his weapon to her neck.
Blood spluttered everywhere as the Demons hand flew through the air and falling to the floor, the knife still in its grasp. The Demon wailed in both pain and surprise, but not for long as Hanna jumped upon him, claws flashing for but a moment in the afternoon sun, as she continuously raised her arms and back down again and with every swipe and slash blood and flesh flew off the demons body and onto the ground or Hanna herself.
The blood created a stench in the air that reminded of a corpse slowly decomposing in the summers sun, while worms have their feast on the last bits of flesh upon the body, but Hanna didn’t care, all what mattered was to keep slashing, to make sure not even his closest relatives were able to identify his corpse.
With a scream, the other Demon finally got out of his surprise and shock induced stasis and her ran towards Hanna in a mad dash to save his companion, he tackled Hanna off of his companion and wrestled her down on the ground, but he could barley hold on as he realised how much stronger Hanna was despite her small stature.
Hanna tried to slash and bite her opponent continuously in her mad and rage filled mind, there was no plan and no strategy in her movements, all what matters what this person would be dead and so she thrashed about, all in order for the one above her to die already.
The Demon for his part, finally realised that this had not been a really smart decision, but miraculously he was able to keep Hanna at bay for sometime, but that was all meaningless, he couldn’t take out his sword from its sheath with his hands in a constant struggle to keep the wild slashes of claws away from his face, so what started as a rage and shock induced adrenaline rush to save his friend, quickly turned into a desperate attempt to stay alive, but he knew it was only temporarily, as he felt his arm losing strength with each passing moment, while Hanna‘s slashes and wild bite attempts only increased in ferocity.
It was at that moment, he realised, that this was going to be his end. But sometimes, fate can smile down at the downtrodden, even just a little.
Both he and Hanna were startled as loud cawing could be heard above, it was far to loud to be an ordinary bird or crow, but far more importantly, it stayed in place, continuously cawing at the same space just above their heads, both looked up and saw a large bird above them, releasing the sounds, on closer inspection however, Hanna realised it was a machine, rather then a living bird.
The Demon used Hanna‘s momentarily confused state to gain as much distance from her as possible and finally drawing his sword, now feeling somewhat saver, a little bit at least, he was still shaking with fear at the thing before him, in all of his many hunts he never came across any beast with such ferocity and hatred in it‘s eyes and those who came close, certainly didn’t posses the physique of a small child.
Finally Hanna realised that the Demon had escaped her clutches and had build quite the bit of distance between them, her confusion at the unusual machine in the sky gave way to her rage once more as she glared at the Demon and a loud growl came deep from her throat. She slowly stood up from the ground, both blood and small pieces of blood from the other Demon dropped down her frame and onto the ground, she took a single step forward, then another and then another.
Try as he might, the Demon was afraid beyond belief, he had stared down many a beast in solo combat during his early years as a simple hunter, armed with nothing but a sharpened wooden stake and he had come out victorious, but this was different, he had his magically enhanced blade and armor, leagues above what he used to kill many a beast before and yet he knew he was throughly outclassed due to the sheer difference in their personal strength.
He stared Hanna in the eye and gulped as he saw the predatory glint in her eyes his throat was dry and droplets of sweat caught in his brow, his arms were shacking slightly and his breathing was a lot more shallow and quick then any normal person would breathe, he was clearly and unmistakably terrified and yet he held his ground and despite his shacking his sword was still held up high and ready, he was deathly afraid and yet far braver then most others in similar situations, even in her rage induced madness a very small and quite part of Hanna couldn’t help but admire that sort of determination, but even that small part of her laughed, as it would all be in vain.
She took another slow and methodical step and then, she leapt at the Demon claws raised and teeth bared ready to kill. The Demon wasn’t able to react in time and raised his sword to defend himself far to late and he would only be able to block one of Hanna‘s claws, the other sank into his left shoulder, blood gushed out and onto both of their faces, the Demon screamed into the air a devastating scream of pain and he fell to the ground.
Hanna immediately grabbed the Demon by his hair and pulled him back up to her eye level and yanking his head back, exposing his neck to her and she laid her unoccupied claw onto it, with a single movement she could pierce his skin and neck and let him choke on his own blood until he died, or maybe decapitate him immediately? Hanna settled on the decapitation as it would be ensure his death and that no one would be able to heal him and find out about her ever being here.
She raised her claw, ready to tear the flesh on the neck away, until she could easily rip the head off of it connection to the rest of the body.
A flash of metal in the afternoon sun and a cry of anger and determination, stopped Hanna‘s claw from tearing away at the Demon‘s neck that day however, as a large fully armored man suddenly burst from behind a destroyed barn, his sword drawn and his eyes burning with a fire that blinded Hanna as she directly looked the man into the eyes, she quickly let the Demon drop to the floor and jump backwards, but she was incapable of escaping the razor sharp fangs of the blade completely and it slashed across the arm she had used to hold the Demon in place, black blood dropped onto the ground, smoke raised from where it made contact with the ground as all plant life around the small droplets suddenly withered and died, while the small animals unlucky enough to be inside the splash radius dropped dead as the black blood of the Dark Margenko burned away their bodies.
And for the second time that day, Hanna released a scream of pure rage and hatred into the sky.