Jeff Inlo - Chain of Bargains

Without wasting time, she knew she had to find and exploit some weakness. She would not only be careful, but she would be deliberate. Her first assaults were not meant to obliterate the monster or to exhaust her strength and magic. She would jab first, prod and watch.

With an elf's speed, she pulled an arrow from her quiver and fired it at the center of the draevol. She watched it slice through the air and wondered what it would do upon impact.

The demon sneered but made no attempt to dodge or to block. It cast no spell to shield itself or to alter the path of the projectile. It allowed the arrow to fly straight and true with hardly a care toward its target.

The arrow plunged into the demon at the center of its massive glowing chest. It did not splinter or burn into ash. It passed harmlessly through the demon and crashed into the bricks of the wall behind the monster.

It was not a complete surprise to the elf. Demons were not made of flesh and blood. They were spawned from the entrails of beast demons. They were entities of filth and disease, glowing hatred that took the shape of a colossus to instill fear. A pure demon had no heart, no vital organs. Physical attack would be useless against such a creature.

She would not, however, ignore her own physical abilities. She was determined to use her training as an elf guard to defeat the fiend. She no longer had to focus on defense, but she would utilize her speed and agility to confuse the monster, keep it off balance. She only had to find the proper weapon.

Racing about the roots and branches, she moved in a haphazard, confused pattern, as if trying to avoid rain drops during a light shower. She was not concerned about dodging an assault, but she hoped to keep her motives as puzzling as possible. With a quick twist and then a turn, she cut around to the back of the monster. She watched it carefully to see how the fiend reacted.

The demon did not move, made no attempt to turn. It seemed content to remain motionless. Wasting energy to face the elf was beneath it, like chasing an ant across the forest floor.

Holli wondered if the draevol suffered from over-confidence. Perhaps it thought it had nothing to fear from the elf, and she wondered if maybe that was true. If she couldn't attack it physically, it would come down to a battle of magic. That was a fight the creature couldn't lose, not to her. Disease, rot and decay overshadowed the emerald energy of nature, and Holli's magical prowess could not stand up to the overpowering forces available to the demon.

Not willing to give up, she returned her focus to the physical aspects of the battle. For a moment, she wished she still had Ryson's sword. She believed the enchantment might offer a way to destroy the demon, but the delver had reclaimed his weapon. She would have to rely on what was within her reach. Unfortunately, the weapons available to her couldn't harm the draevol.

With that thought, the spark of an idea formed within her mind. If she couldn't successfully engage the fiend in its current state, then she needed to change that condition.

The demon continued to ignore her, giving Holli time and opportunity to consider the dilemma, and she began to form a tactic of utilizing both magic and physical attack. It was clear to her that the draevol demonstrated properties of light. It glowed bright white and its form lacked true substance. Holli's skill over nature gave her enhanced command over both water and light, for it was within the power of nature to turn light into energy that would invigorate plants and trees. She wondered if she could reshape her inherent powers of the emerald magic to focus on the light and slightly alter the properties of the draevol.

Enin had taught her that utilizing magic was about finding the right state of mind, about building upon an abstract concept and using the magical energy to stimulate thought into action and imagination into reality. Control and depth of energy were important, but Enin advised her that it was creativity and open-mindedness that molded magic into its greatest power. She had to avoid casting doubt upon her skills and placing limitations on the energy within her.

Building upon her idea of light and nature, she let the concept flow through her perception of reality and placed it upon the state of the demon. She focused on turning light into something more, something of substance, and a new spell crystallized in her mind.

She quickly slipped the bow over her shoulder and threw her hands together. A green octagon formed about her fingers. She whispered words that brought clarity to her fledgling idea and then she cast the energy at the creature.

The emerald magic expanded as it flew through the air. It turned into a great sheet of yellowish green as it rose above the fiend's head. It collapsed down upon the monster and covered it in full. It fused to the monsters body, turning its bright white form into a lime green shadow.

The spell caused the creature no pain and the fiend remained indifferent to the activity around it. It showed no care or concern to the elf's actions, as if Holli was nothing more than some small, irritating child trying to call for attention.

Holli took hold of her bow and removed another arrow from her quill. Once more, she fired at the center of the creature, but this time she aimed for its back and she also expected different results. She was not disappointed.

The arrow plunged into the center of the demon and held fast as if it embedded into flesh. The creature howled in unexpected pain just as Holli smiled with satisfaction.

The draevol finally turned about, the arrow still sticking in its back.

"What have you done, elf?"

"Found a way to hurt you."

"Hurt me? No, you have annoyed me, nothing more. You think this magical shell that partially solidifies my substance is a true threat?"

"That shriek of pain was no mere annoyance," Holli noted.

She fired another arrow in a blur of motion that almost rivaled a delver, and a second arrow sank into the demon, this time into its chest. While the creature screamed again in both pain and fury, Holli ran across the cellar floor, steadied herself against a thick root and fired a third and fourth arrow. Both found their mark at the creature's side just below its arm.

The creature screamed again, but it also raged with anger. Its pale form blazed and the demon fire within it burned across its entire body. The flames devoured the emerald energy that surrounded it and the green tint of its body died away. The arrows that had once stuck in its form disintegrated into dust.

Holli ceased firing arrows as she knew her spell had been eliminated, but she took hope in the fact she had indeed found a way to hurt the demon. She had to build on that hope, discover something the demon could not fight.

The draevol turned to face Holli, acknowledging that it would no longer leave its back to the elf.

"I will give you a small amount of credit in becoming more of a pest than I imagined, but that is all you have done. That, and convinced me that I will be able to use you for far greater purposes once I have your service bound to me. You were a great fool to make that bargain and many will suffer because of it."

That would not happen, whether she could defeat the demon or not, but with the demon fully prepared to defend itself, Holli began to wonder if her death was the only way to ensure the creature's defeat. She placed that path in the back of her mind as a last resort, and continued to search for weaknesses.

"What is it you hope to gain from me if you win our agreement?" Holli asked, trying to distract the draevol as she began to wonder if there was some way she could use the creature's own demon fire against itself.

"You have surprised me with your cunning," the fiend admitted. "When you are fully within my service, I will demand you use it for my benefit. Do not fool yourself into thinking you can hold back. The bargain will guarantee that you use all your strengths to aid me in whatever cause I deem appropriate."