The Demon King's Hero Of Light 144 Chapter 144 Covenant In The Mountain

"What happened?" asked the elven king, noticing her circling around and the lion missing his rider.

"One of my party doesn't seem to like flying. He will find another way to catch up with us," she called back, straightening her lion up to continue flying in the direction they needed to be going.

The king looked towards the ground thoughtfully, then nodded and turned in his saddle. Giving a sharp whistle, Aella noted the ears on her lion flicked towards him expectantly. The muscles under her quivered in readiness, but as he whistled the next bit, it seemed to relax and ignore the last of the whistle. Each lion must respond to a specific whistle. That was interesting knowledge to have.

As they approached the edge of the forest, she sighed, knowing that the ride was almost over. She would have to see about getting one of these for herself, even though she didn't need one. The feel of its muscles pus.h.i.+ng them through the air was exhilarating!

The king motioned for them to land in a clearing below, and Aella angled her lion to do so. As it landed, she vaulted off and hurried over to rub it under its jaw.

"Thank you for the ride, big boy," she purred, noting it seemed to greatly enjoy her scratches.

"I've never seen one of them respond like that before," marveled the king as her lion started purring in a deep tone that thrilled her.

"I have a way with wild things," she grinned, patting the cat one last time on the chest before turned to look towards the mountain pa.s.s ahead of her.

Alfred appeared next to her, looking a little less green and she raised an eyebrow.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"Heroes may not be affected by sickness and poisons, but that doesn't mean we're exempt from motion sickness," he said, clearing his throat.

"Heroes?" asked the king, stepping up beside them. "Are you a hero?"

"I am," said Alfred, glancing at Aella guiltily since she hadn't wanted to give that away. "I am the Hero of Light."

"That's amazing! I have heard that the heroes always attempted to kill the demon king, and here you have one working alongside you!" he exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. "I greatly look forward to hearing how that happened once you return from this quest. Thank you, again for doing this."
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"As I said before, Your Majesty," she said with a smile. "I was intending to visit with the dwarves anyway."

He nodded before returning to his lion and whistling for the others to follow. Aella paid particularly close attention to the summons and noted with amus.e.m.e.nt that her lion didn't seem very pleased with the order.

As soon as he was gone, she motioned for Alfred and Frederik to follow her, and headed along the mountain pa.s.s. It was obvious it had been traveled heavily, as there was a path worn into the rocks were many feet had pa.s.sed. As she went, she started noticing deviations in where others seemed to have left the path and paused at one.

"What's wrong?" asked Alfred, looking further ahead.

There was a curve in the path, around a large boulder that had fallen some time long ago from the cliffs above them. She let her eyes trail over the rock face, and noticed small depressions in the rock that matched up to the deviations in the path. Could there be hidden entrances to some underground pa.s.sage? Could that be where the dwarves had traps set or possible points to attack intruders?

"I think we should be grateful for the mercy of our hosts in the city ahead," she said, turning to continue along the path.

"What does that mean?" asked Frederik to Alfred softly.

"It means that they must have some trap or something that she found, that they haven't triggered," said Alfred.

"I imagine they're trying to figure out if we're spies for the elves," she chuckled.

"Why would the Demon King spy for the elves?" asked Alfred, figuring out that the dwarves must be listening in.

"I'm not, but they don't know that. I just hope that their love of alcohol I've heard about is true. I would hate to waste my time and theirs."

"I'm just glad the elven king didn't want us to stick around for very long," said Frederik. "I hope the dwarves are more entertaining."

"I'm sure they will be. Who doesn't enjoy a drinking contest every once in a while?" she asked with a grin.

Alfred laughed at that, but Frederik shook his head. "You are going to have to pay Bob quite a bit for all of this," he cautioned.

"I'm not worried about that. The royal treasury is well stocked," said Aella, turning the corner she had noted earlier.

Three dwarves stood in their path, apparently waiting for them.

"Greetings from our king, demons," said the front dwarf, eyeing them cautiously.

"Greetings, dwarves," said Aella with a guarded look of her own. She had fully expected this, but wasn't sure what they planned.

"Our king would like to request the reason for your visit at this time," said the dwarf, leaning over to see her companions behind her.

"I am the Demon King, Aella, formally from the kingdom north of the mountains here, but as you may have noticed, it doesn't exist there anymore. I have come to speak with your king about possible trade relations and share news with him of the goings on in the world," said Aella. "My traveling companions are: my regent Frederik, and my Hero of Light, Alfred."

The dwarves glanced at each other, as if to make sure they had heard correctly, before turning back to her. "We are servants of our king, and will escort you to the meeting place he had prepared. If you will follow us?"

She nodded and watched as they nimbly moved among the rocks that were scattered around. For such short squat beings, they could move fast. She would take note of that and not forget it if a fight occurred between them. In fact, as they moved ahead of her, not bothering to see if they were keeping up, she allowed her eyes to trail over their bodies, searching for possible weaknesses she could take advantage of in a fight with one.

A set of stairs appeared after several more twists and turns and they began to climb once again. As they made their way around the side of the mountain, the entrance to the dwarven city presented itself as a small stone building, worked into the side of the mountain. A small gate, just large enough for them to not have to duck opened to a tiny courtyard and then they stepped into the building proper. It was barely ten by twenty in square feet. Needless to say, her first impression was not that great.

"We were surprised when you chose to approach our kingdom from the side gate," said one of the dwarves after noticing her frown. "Our front entrance is much grander."

"I am sorry," she said. "I was not aware of another entrance. I merely traveled down the path in the mountains from my old kingdom site, to the elven forest, and they escorted me here. Next time I would love to come through your front entrance in order to see its stonework."

"We are known for our stonework, though, if you have the Hero of Earth under your control, as you do the Hero of Light, I doubt you will be very impressed with anything we have to offer."

She smiled as he let her know he was aware of some things going on with her. Following them down a flight of stairs, she noted the forms in the dark who waited for an order to attack. As the light dwindled, Alfred formed one over his fist, holding it up for her to see. The dwarves didn't comment, but she saw the guards much clearer now. They didn't seem impressed by her.

As they reached the room at the bottom of the stairs, she saw that a table had been set up and torches were s.p.a.ce all around the room, making it easy to see. Alfred lowered his light, to make sure they could see before allowing it to go out.

"Welcome, Demon King to my city. Forgive me for not allowing you entrance just yet," said a young dwarf, stepping out from a shadowed doorway with several guards all around him. "I couldn't help but notice that you arrived beside the elven king, and we happen to be at war with them currently."