Jeff Inlo - Chain of Bargains

"That is only if you win."

"How can I not? You proved that you can sting me, but you are still nothing more than an insect. You cannot flee and you cannot accept the assistance of others. The only way I lose the bargain is if you destroy me or convince me to leave. Neither will happen."

"But I certainly have your attention."

"What does that prove? Prilgrat had my attention and look at what happened to him."

The thought of the steward sparked another consideration for the elf. Prilgrat had feared death, she did not, but she also began to see that the steward was short-sighted in his bargain, and in doing so, left himself open to a future of eternal suffering. In an ironic twist, he wanted endless life, but found only permanent torment.

She began to see her situation as a reversal of that twist. She was holding to a belief that death was her last resort, a path she could travel to avoid defeat. In doing so, she was failing to see the way to victory. She did not wish to die, but holding to it as some trump card was a way for her to avoid a more difficult path.

She was hiding from a truth. She saw the battle with the demon as vindication, perhaps even vengeance. When the fiend threatened to obliterate her with magic, her concerns matched Prilgrat's fear of death. She had the means to defeat the demon, but she doubted herself. She might have gone into battle determined to use all her talents, but deep down, she viewed them as inadequate against the demon.

She was wrong.

When she placed her magical talents in perspective, she focused on her connection to nature, but that line of thinking restricted her abilities. The physical aspects of her power shaped her concentration as well as the limits she placed upon herself. The emerald energy, however, represented far more as it encompassed life beyond the mortal existence. She realized she needed to reach deeper into the concept of life. The time had come for her to immerse herself into the depth of the spirit and invoke the power that could conquer disease, sickness and even death. That was the true strength of eternal life and the force of her magic.

It wasn't enough to simply accept what she had become-an elf guard and a sorceress-she also had to believe in herself, believe she had the power to overcome a demon. She shed the doubt, cast aside her fears of weaknesses compared to the draevol and turned her attention toward finding a way to overcome the fiend.

The image of Prilgrat showed her the way. She saw the steward in two lights. When she first met him, he was jovial and confident, full of life. He was brazen and garish, but he knew how to reach his goals, misguided as they might have been. His fault was in both his fear and his selfishness. He traded the lives of many for an escape from his fear, but his selfishness damned him.

Holli was neither fearful nor selfish, but she had been short-sighted. She believed in the demons self-proclaimed superiority. It was a lie, just like the lie that ultimately led to Prilgrat's ruin.

The sickness of the steward didn't mean the end for the valley. The people had been saved, they would regroup. The steward would be replaced and life would be restored to the valley. Prilgrat was the personification of the plague. He was doubt and fear, the very emotions that led to weakness and destruction.

Yes, plague and disease could destroy life, but not all life. The spirit would endure. Trees and plants succumbed to sickness, but new life always returned. Even people managed to overcome the worst of the plagues. Life persevered. That was in Holli's magic, and it was stronger than the draevol's.

She counted the arrows in her quiver. She still had over two dozen, more than enough. It was time to use all her skills and force the demon back into its dark realm.

She took an arrow in her hand, but before stringing it to her bow, she focused her magical energy into the tip and shaft. The arrow glowed a healthy green, and she fired it right between the eyes of the demon.

The arrow found its mark and plunged into the face of the creature. It did not pass through, but rather exploded in a cloud of emerald passion. The green energy pulsated through the demon and it fought against the plague magic.

The draevol did more than shriek. It threw its hands over its pale face and writhed in agony. It was suddenly confronted with a power it did not expect, an energy of life.

Holli fired several more enchanted arrows and all of them hit their target. She moved with swiftness all around the basement, firing from every angle.

After eight arrows exploded within the demon's essence, she changed her tactics once more. She pulled the dagger from its small sheath and placed a similar enchantment on its blade.

She focused on the perseverance of life, the will to overcome, the desire to heal. The strength of nature was in its ability to regenerate. She couldn't deny the strength of the plague, it could weaken and kill, end many lives, but only individual life, not life as a whole. Life was a gift from a power greater than sickness and disease.

The enchantment of the blade was not meant to heal the demon, but to oppose it. It held the strength of life, the essence of true hope, the true gift of eternity.

With the blink of an eye, she slipped through the roots that formed the cage around the demon. She thrust the dagger into the demon's form again and again. Emerald magic burst through the draevol, forced it to the ground.

Realizing the elf was within reach, the demon struck out with a gasp of rage. It erupted in demon fire, emitting nearly all of its energy in one massive blast. It dismissed the bargain as irrelevant, decided destroying the elf was the best strategy. It would have to flee and hide from the wizard, but at least it had a chance to survive. Against the pulsating attack of life, it had no chance. It strengthened the flames with the rest of its diseased magic as well, hoping to end the conflict in one swell of hate, which was exactly what Holli expected it to do, even wanted it to do.

Holli called on her speed and all of her remaining magical energy as well. She quickly placed a shield of life around her and held to the belief that her magic was the stronger. The world around her turned bright white. She felt nothing.

When her vision cleared, she saw that almost everything around her had been obliterated. The roots and branches were gone, not even meager ashes remained. The shelves and cabinets were reduced to nothing and a huge hole opened overhead all the way to the night sky. There were no flames, but most of the town hall had been washed away by the demon's flame. Only charred edges of the structure and the brick foundation remained.

The demon knelt upon the ground before Holli, its face pointed toward the dirty stone. It would not look up and lacked the strength to stand.

Holli still held to her dagger and it continued to glow green with the enchantment she placed in the blade. She waved it in front of the face of the draevol to get its attention.

"You have no energy left to fight me," the elf stated with certainty, "but it is always in your power to return to the dark realm. Leave now or I will end your existence."

"You don't understand. I have made my own agreement. To return to the dark realm means banishment to non-existence. I will be forced into nothingness."

"Face the consequences of your decisions or face my blade. That is your choice."

The demon howled as it faded away. No portal opened and no spell of teleportation whisked it to safety. An abyss of emptiness claimed the demon. Just as the draevol had forced the consequences of its bargains on others, it was forced to face its own deserved fate.

Holli climbed out of the burnt cellar and looked to the city. To the east there was darkness, but in that darkness she sensed safety and calm. The west, however, glowed with the fires born of inferns. She knew Ryson was fighting the half-demons. Despite being exhausted and nearly devoid of magical energy, she wouldn't abandon him to fight off the inferns alone. She ran off to find him.