Demoness 2 - Chapter 47 - Salt (Patreon)

The screaming and panic was immediate.

For half a second, Elania thought that somehow, she had unconsciously called down permanent judgement on a bunch of innocents on accident.

The shock mirrored on their escorts’ faces seemed to fall in that direction as well.

The only one who didn’t think so badly of her was Yolani, who grabbed her arm to get her attention before pointing at a distant building.

A man in monk robes was standing on the roof, doing his best to mimic a golden lighthouse beacon.

Elania’s eyes flickered to the fleeing crowd. They had no regard for their fellows and one man was pushed to the ground and trampled by the others escaping.

A second pillar of light erupted halfway between the first and the carriage, neatly consuming his lower half. Wind whipped up and the taste of salt filled her senses.

Elania mentally corrected herself.

Not ash. Salt. The people had been turned into salt.

A third pillar began to form, this time directly above the carriage, just as the driver realized they were under attack and activated the artifice engine.

The vehicle was capable of accelerating quickly, but not faster than the speed of a [Divinity]powered attack.

Elania grabbed Yolani’s belt and solidified her feet on the roof of the carriage, then spread out her wings and projected a hemisphere of [Power] around all of them.

Little pillars of light connected the construction with the ground and the attack slammed into the shield, dumping all the energy into melted spikes in the ground.

A smell of ozone filled the air as Elania pulled back her ward to recoup the [Power] cost and then the carriage finally kicked forward. That would have flung them off the roof if not for her earlier precautions.

They ran right over the small piles of the people that had been obliterated, and nearly slammed into several people who ran through their path.

“Not that way!” Elania shouted at the driver. “Turn around!”

The man looked back at her with confusion writ on his face, but even that momentary distraction nearly caused him to swerve into a building. “What!”

“They are herding us closer!” Yolani shouted.

A pillar slammed into the ground nearby.

A musket went off behind them, but predictably the shot went off into who knew where and not even close to the monk on the roof. She wasn’t sure how the man had held on and braced for the shot, but now he had to reload.

“Hold your fire until you have a chance to hit!” Elania shouted.

Just because they couldn’t reach the target, didn’t mean the same for her, though.

Elania reached up above her head with her free hand and formed a mental construct of a spear. Well, a javelin, really.

Her [Throwing]skill was still S+ rank and the [Divinity]she used to form the weapon was more than happy to be guided by her aim.

Physically, mentally, and... spiritually.

The entire carriage lurched as she threw it forward with enough force to nearly rip the top of the vehicle off.

A series of curses filled the air, but Elania focused on her target. Her aim was slightly off, but she willed the projectile to arc in a way that made impact inevitable.

But that didn’t make it effective.

The spear slammed into a golden barrier and disintegrated.

From what she understood of the powers involved, that wasn’t possible for a normal monk.

Elder.

In front of them, she could feel the workings of another light pillar forming thanks to her familiarity with the repeated attack.

“Turn!” Elania shouted.

The driver angled the carriage to the right, but he most definitely did not turn the way she wanted.

She formed a second shield above them, this time a mobile version.

That made it weaker, but it was the best she could do while they were moving.

When the pillar slammed into the ground, the shield held. The same could not be said for the surrounding cobblestones, and the ride suddenly became extremely turbulent.

“Stop!” Elania shouted.

The driver didn’t listen, and the carriage continued to speed up.

Elania picked Yolani up into the air with a resulting yelp.

“I’m not a bag of parts!” Yolani shouted.

Elania reached down and sat her beside the driver. “You drive, this idiot is going to get us killed!”

“What!” the driver shouted.

Yolani reached for the reins to the artifice engine, but the man didn’t let go. “I’m not letting you take over!”

Elania slapped him.

He sort of flew off of the carriage, which wasn’t entirely her intention, but effective as Yolani grabbed the leather control straps as they flew up into the air.

Before another light pillar could target them, they skidded in a sharp right turn.

They were going to flip!

Elania reached down and grabbed the roof and shoved her weight down to counterbalance. It wasn’t like she was heavy, but the intention and force of [Power] she pushed with was more than enough to keep them stable.

“Careful!” Elania shouted.

“Why don’t you drive if you’re going to complain!” Yolani shouted back.

Elania grunted. She was not a backseat driver! “I’m not complaining!”

The buildings obscured them, and they were on a roughly correct track to take them toward the Magistry, but Elania felt like their escape was not going to go unchallenged.

She wasn’t wrong.

A trio of monks appeared on the street in front of them. No Elder in sight, though.

They each raised a golden bell and began to make their chant and hand gestures without hesitation.

Before Elania could plan a response, Yolani raised up a wand with one hand and held it forward like a sword.

Blue bolts began to explode from the crystal tip, arcing around to smash into the bells like an artillery barrage of arcane missiles.

The bells took the hits at first, but then they began to crack and then shattered.

Elania readied a ranged strike of [Power] to finish them, but the Monk scattered before the carriage could come closer.

“Can you create a shield to block the light pillars?” Elania shouted.

Yolani didn’t look back to answer her. “Only a few times!”

Elania grunted. “I’m going to go up into the air.”

“I’m not sure that’s a great idea!” Yolani shouted back.

“We don’t want to run into another ambush or let the Elder cut us off!” Elania shouted.

Elania flared out her wings as wide as she could, air rushing through the ethereal appendages and feathers like they didn’t exist.

Until she willed them to do so.

The speed they had already built up launched her as she jumped, and then the angle and [Power]assist shot her upwards like a rocket, clearing the rooftops in a few seconds.

A few things quickly became apparent.

There probably had been little fighting going on in the Artisan District because there weren’t any Guards to fight back.

There were groups of monks lining the streets ahead of the carriage as far as she could see.

They’d probably spent the entire time they were in the shop preparing to ambush their departure!

That, and she could clearly see the Conclave Elder jumping from roof to roof, outpacing the carriage and getting ready to cut it off.

“We’ll see about that,” Elania muttered.