Chapter 11: Demon

In a single heartbeat, not a soul remained between Seraya and the five elders.

The women who had crowded the fire moments ago cleared out so fast it was as if someone had dropped a viper among them.

Seraya remained by the hearth, roasted meat in hand, exposed to the heavy stares of the entire council.

She held their gaze in silence for a moment. Then she lifted the skewer in an awkward wave.

"Well, look at that... Still awake?"

Selka cracked her staff against the stone floor. The sharp rap echoed through the quiet cave.

"Insolent wretch! How dare you steal Vaelira's Holy Fire?!"

Seraya's grin dropped instantly.

"Look, elder, cut the crap. I didn't steal a damn thing from anyone."

Selka's fox ears flattened back, her knuckles whitening on her staff.

"You dare lie to our faces?! Raska told us everything! Only the shaman can summon the Holy Fire! Even we only tend it with her blessing!"

Seraya slowly shifted her gaze to the horned futa standing behind the elders.

Raska stood tall, her smirk so smug it made Seraya want to shove the burning skewer right between her teeth.

So that was it.

She went and tattled.

That insecure, horned moron really ran crying to the elders just because people laughed at her over dinner!

"Don't let her trick you!" Raska called out, taking a step forward. "That fire was stolen from Vaelira! Anyone who used it will be punished!"

An uneasy murmur rippled across the cave.

The women darted nervous glances at the meat in their hands. One jerked her skewer back from the coals; another dropped her cut to the dirt as if it had burned her fingers.

"She stole it...?"

"If the shaman finds out..."

"We didn't know!"

Seraya looked around in disbelief.

Moments ago, they had been thrilled. Now they glared at her as if she had dragged them into the cave by their hair, tied them to the hearth, and shoved roasted meat down their throats.

Several women stepped out from the crowd and scurried over to Raska.

Among them was the very hunter who had mocked Raska's "Evil Fire" just minutes earlier.

Now her head hung low.

"Raska, we didn't know," she said quickly. "We thought the warrior could truly summon it."

"You know we would never dare break the taboo," another chimed in. "We were tricked."

Raska waved a hand with sudden, magnanimous grace.

"Vaelira will forgive you."

The women began thanking her at once.

Seraya stared at the display with her mouth open.

Holy shit.

Since when did this horned idiot decide who the shaman forgives?!

The tribeswomen clearly had no interest in questioning it. Dropping their half-eaten meat, they hurried behind the elders, ducking to the safe side of the dispute.

Raska turned to Selka with a bow.

"You see, elders? She deceived everyone. We cannot let this stand."

"You did well to warn us," Selka answered, her glare fixed on Seraya.

Morra frowned.

She clearly disliked Raska's attitude and this sudden doling out of pardons in someone else's name. Still, she didn't speak up immediately, her gaze tracking between the fire, Seraya, and the women following their companions' lead.

One by one, they approached the elders.

They made excuses, apologized, and swore they had known nothing.

Raska soaked up their words with the look of someone who had just saved the tribe from ruin.

Moments later, barely a dozen women remained on Seraya's side - Niva, her mothers, and the families who had agreed to shelter the outsider earlier.

Niva rose slowly to her feet.

Her white rabbit ears pressed flat against her head, but she stayed firmly at Seraya's side.

Selka pointed the tip of her staff at the outsider.

"What more do you have to say, liar? You stole the Holy Fire and misled the tribe! Seize her! Crack her skull open!"

Niva blanched so fast that Seraya looked at her instead of the elder.

The girl dropped to her knees with a dull thud.

"No! Elder, please!" she choked out. "She saved me! Please, spare her!"

"Silence!" Selka barked. "You brought her to this valley! We will deal with you as well!"

Tears tracked down Niva's cheeks. She bowed low, pressing her hands together.

"Then punish me instead. Spare her."

The words hung in the silence. Even Raska lost her smug smirk.

"Niva, don't be stupid!"

Seraya set her skewer down on the stone and glanced at the woman closest to her.

"Wait. What does 'crack her skull open' mean?"

"With a stone... They smash your head. And then they skin you..."

Seraya bolted to her feet.

"Excuse me, what?!"

Her exhaustion vanished under a rush of adrenaline. Her shoulders tensed, her heart pounding against her ribs like it had against the python.

She glared at Selka.

"You want to kill me?! For what?! For cooking dinner?!"

"For stealing the Holy Fire and leading the tribe astray. Seize her!"

Two warriors stepped forward. Seraya backed away from the hearth, throwing her hands up.

"Hold on!"

Selka narrowed her eyes at the shout.

"What now?"

"I didn't steal fire from anyone! I lit it myself!"

Raska chimed in at once:

"If you didn't steal it from Vaelira, where did you get it?! Elders, she's trying to fool you again!"

Seraya whipped her head around, her hair whipping across her cheek.

"You saw me, you little…"

Selka waved a hand, and the warriors moved in again.

Niva scrambled up on her knees and caught one by the forearm, trying to hold her back. Her mothers hurried to the elders as well, pleading to let Seraya explain herself first.

Voices clashed over one another.

Someone told Niva to back off. Someone else shouted at her not to defy orders.

Seraya felt a hand clamp onto her shoulder.

"Wait, damn it! I can prove it!"

Morra looked up.

"Step back."

Selka parted her lips, but the burly elder repeated the command, much sharper this time:

"I said step back."

The fingers on Seraya's shoulder let go.

She pulled her arm free and drew a sharp breath. Her shirt had twisted in the scuffle, so she straightened it with shaking fingers, keeping her eyes glued to the elders.

Morra stepped in front of Selka.

"Can you prove you did not steal the fire?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I'll light it right in front of you. From scratch." Seraya pointed at Raska. "And this one is lying because she got her feelings hurt over dinner!"

Selka scoffed.

"Now you slander the one who exposed your deceit? You can summon fire? Do you think yourself a shaman?!"

Fear mixed with raw fury in Seraya's chest.

"And what if I can?!"

Morra met her eyes for a moment, then shifted her gaze to Raska.

The horned futa stiffened.

"If you show that you summon fire yourself, the charge of theft is a lie," Morra announced. "And for trying to send an innocent to her death, Raska will receive the same punishment."

Color drained from Raska's face.

Seraya eyed her, still breathing hard.

Just a second ago, the bitch was grinning while they got ready to smash my head.

"Fine," Seraya ground out.

She reached into her pocket.

Every eye tracked her hand.

She drew the lighter and held it up so the elders could see the small object in her fingers.

"Watch closely."

Click.

A flame bloomed above the metal hood, flickering in the draft.

Someone in the cave gasped.

Then came the dull thud of knees hitting stone.

One woman dropped to the ground. Then another. Those who had arrived late and missed the first lighting now stared at Seraya's hand in awe and dread.

"A miracle..."

"She really..."

"The Holy Fire..."

Morra went rigid. Selka said nothing either, her fox ears standing stiff, fingers frozen on her staff.

Seraya killed the flame and waited a beat.

Click.

She lit it again.

A whisper swept through the crowd like wind through dry grass.

Seraya looked at Raska, who had backed behind Selka's shoulder.

"Well? Still want to claim I stole it from your shaman?"

Morra shook off her shock, her expression hardening in an instant.

"Seize Raska."

The horned futa flinched.

"Elder..."

"You lied to us."

The two warriors who had moved to restrain Seraya turned around.

Raska tried to back away, but women blocked her path. Before she could react, hands gripped her shoulders. She wrenched back, lost her balance, and was pinned flat against the stone floor.

Selka bit her lip, but didn't stop the warriors.

She stared at the lighter in Seraya's hand with an unreadable, brooding gaze.

Raska's breath came in ragged gasps.

Her cheek ground into the dirt, ears trembling, all her earlier swagger gone. Terror made her wet her loincloth, though she didn't even notice.

"Wait! Hear me out!" she screamed.

Morra stood over her.

"You nearly had an innocent killed. What else is there to say?"

Anger flared among the onlookers.

The very women who had just apologized to Raska now glared at her with disgust.

"Liar!"

"She made us blame the warrior!"

"Crack her skull open!"

More voices took up the chant.

Hearing the cries, Raska shook harder.

Seraya stood motionless, lighter clenched in her fist. Her earlier triumph had chilled. The speed with which the mob turned from one victim to another sent a cold shudder between her shoulder blades.

Raska craned her neck as far as the grip on her arms allowed.

"She is no warrior!" she shrieked in panic. "She is a demon!"

The shouts cut off unevenly.

Someone trailed off mid-chant. Another hissed in surprise.

Morra frowned.

"What?"

Raska seized upon the hesitation at once.

"Think! Even Vaelira needs time to summon fire! She performs a ritual! But this outsider does it in a split second!"

Blood rushed to Seraya's face.

No.

Not this again.

"It's a demon's trick!" Raska shouted, voice rising. "Another tribe sent her! She wants to bring ruin upon us!"

Several women backed away from the nearest hearth.

One looked down at her empty hands.

"I... I ate that meat."

"We all ate it!"

"Was it demon fire?"

Seraya looked across their faces in disbelief and sheer horror.

I just showed them.

Right before their damn eyes!

A woman by the wall clutched her stomach.

"I feel sick..."

"Did she poison us?!"

Another wave of panic swept the cave.

Niva stepped in front of Seraya at once.

"That's not true! She is no demon! She saved me! She helped all of us!"

Her voice drowned beneath the rising shouts.

Fear turned to anger.

The women now stared at the flames as something unnatural, even while the warmth washed over their faces. Someone kicked an abandoned skewer. Another shouted that they must appease the heavens.

Selka raised her staff.

"Quiet!"

The clamor didn't stop right away, but it slowly died down.

The elder pinned Seraya with her gaze.

"Who are you? Where do you come from?"

"I already told you…"

"Answer!" Selka cut her off. "Hide your origins, and you will answer to the heavens!"

Morra opened her mouth, but a shout cut in from the side:

"Don't let her run!"

Several women snatched rocks from along the wall.

Seraya saw fingers tightening around the jagged edges.

Damn it all... Raska just makes up another load of garbage and they swallow it whole?!

A minute ago they wanted to kill me for stealing.

I prove I didn't steal it, so now they want to kill me because I can make it!

What else am I supposed to show them?!

She pulled her hand back on reflex, slipping the lighter into her pocket.

That small move was enough.

"She's doing something again!"

Two women lunged forward.

Seraya barely got an arm up. A hand grabbed her from the side, another yanking her wrist. She lost her footing on the rough stone and went down hard on her knees.

Pain flared across her fresh scrapes.

"Get off me, damn it!"

She tried to push up, but a heavy hand slammed onto her shoulder. Another warrior seized her other arm, twisting it behind her back.

Seraya was pinned to the floor.

Her cheek scraped cold rock. Her shirt strained across her back, breath trapped under the weight of the women pinning her.

Niva screamed in horror.

One of her mothers shouted nearby.

Raska had been released.

She got up shakily, still pale, but seeing Seraya pinned to the dirt brought ugly relief to her face.

"I caught her in time," she said, looming over her. "Otherwise she would have brought ruin upon the tribe."

Seraya tilted her head just enough to glare through her tangled hair.

She wanted nothing more than to bite that smug look off her face.

One of the women crouched in front of her with a stone. The heavy, jagged chunk hovered inches from Seraya's face.

Fury collided with cold terror.

"Speak!" the woman demanded. "Which tribe sent you?!"

Seraya yanked her shoulder, but the grip only tightened.

"I'm not from any fucking tribe!"

The stone shifted in her grip.

"You lie!"

Looking at the jagged rock edge, Seraya's heart hammered so hard against her ribs she could hardly breathe.

"I'm from Earth!" she yelled in panic. "From another dimension, tens of thousands of years away! Would you even believe me if I told you?!"

A sudden, confused silence fell over the cave.

The women looked at each other.

Raska frowned.

Selka tilted her head.

"What is a 'years'?"

Seraya went dead silent.

For several seconds she just stared at the elder, cheek pressed to the dirt, a knee grinding near her shoulder.

What is a 'years'.

They wanted to smash her skull, but apparently needed a lesson in basic timekeeping first.

A strangled sound tore from her throat - equal parts disbelief, rage, and despair.

"It's... It's the time when…"

"Disaster! Elders, disaster!"

A frantic scream from outside cut her off mid-sentence.

Every head whipped toward the entrance.

A woman ran in, her face white as ash. She stumbled at the threshold, caught the wall, and scrambled to the elders, panting so hard she couldn't get a word out.

Selka turned on her.

"What happened?!"

"Vaelira..." the runner gasped.

Morra stepped forward.

"What of Vaelira?"

The woman sucked in air, shaking her head as if struggling to believe what she had seen.

"She's wounded! Badly! So much blood... We can't stop it! Elders, she's dying!"

Morra's face hardened, Selka freezing with staff in hand.

"The shaman is wounded?!"

A tremor ran through the crowd, so sharp Seraya felt it in her bones.

The women began moving at once.

Someone asked where Vaelira was. Someone yelled at the runner for details.

Then one voice cut through the rest:

"It's the demon's doing!"

Seraya closed her eyes.

Are you fucking kidding me?! I've had it with this place... Everything bad is my fault, huh?!

"She harmed the shaman!" someone yelled from the back. "That's why she came here!"

"How else could Vaelira be hurt?!"

"Avenge her!"

The grip on Seraya's arms tightened.

She lifted her head and saw women surging toward her.

Their faces twisted with fear that had finally found an easy scapegoat.

"I was here the whole damn time!" she shouted over the uproar. "I haven't even seen her!"

Nobody listened.

Niva threw herself before the mob with arms spread wide.

"Stop! She didn't do anything!"

But someone shoved her aside.

The girl lost her footing and tumbled into the crowd. Her white ears flashed in the firelight before vanishing behind pressing bodies. The stampede of feet drowned her cry; someone stepped on her, shoving forward.

Seraya thrashed so hard both her shoulders wrenched in pain.

"Niva!"

Above her loomed the shadow of a raised stone.

"For Vaelira!" the woman roared. "Die, demon!"