Lesbians Fight the Demon Queen - Chapter 4

“Fuck, give him some space, Kesh; hell, give me some space.” If he’d had strength to spare, Byron might have bothered to open his eyes. Someone was speaking, obviously, their voice urgent and hushed.

“Forgive me for wanting to size up the person Nina decided she could just bring here without asking. You’re sure he was unconscious? Can’t have random people just wandering in off the streets.” At the sound of not one, but two new voices Byron forced his thoughts together enough to actually take note of his situation.

“You tell me, does he look lucid to you? Honestly would you just relax? I know what I’m doing. Besides, he saved my ass, couldn’t hardly leave him to bleed out.” Fortunately, the third voice actually was familiar. Memory, or at least what memory Byron actually had, seeped in with his growing consciousness and awareness. That was Nina, the woman whom he’d saved, who had done her own part in saving him as well. There was a swaggering, teasing lilt to her voice. Byron could picture the girl, leaning against a wall with a lopsided grin as she pushed her bangs from her eyes.

The first voice started up again again, bright and chipper. At least, it sounded like the sort of voice which would typically be chipper when not burdened by annoyance and stress. “Okay, for the last time, both of you need to step back. Go squabble in the alley, I’m working here.” A jostling sound, followed by rapid, scrambling footsteps, then a huff. “Alright, let’s see here. Yeah, I can work with this.” Above him, Byron heard a light rustling, a clink of glass, then a quiet hum. “This ought to do it,” the first voice mused; a moment later a damp cloth was being dabbed all over his body, leaving behind a cold, goopy salve. For a moment, his pain flared up; Byron just barely managed to stifle a groan of pain. Then, as quickly as the pain had come, a cool, numbing effect took over, dulling not only the new pain, but taking the old with it. Bandages were then tightened around each wound, and the voice above him exhaled a sigh of relief. For his own part, Byron was too exhausted to move. “He should be okay now. I’ve patched him up anyhow, kept him from dying, but we’ll need a proper healer if we want him on his feet and out of our hair anytime soon.”

“In that case, I know someone who can help,” the second voice—Kesh?—said. He had a low, booming voice, one that seemed to be reaching for calm, but was clearly unable to find it in the face of everything going on around him.

“The Ilhünni? That guy creeps me out,” Nina muttered.

“Thread is trustworthy. And he has no love for our enemies,” protested Kesh.

Before Nina could retort, the yet unidentified voice, the first one, belonging to whomever had treated Byron’s wounds, cut in. “I can feel the bickering about to start up again, so both of you be silent before you force me to whip something up that will make you be silent.”

“Sorry, dear.” Never had anyone with such a resonant, intimidating voice sounded so cowed as Kesh did in that moment. By this point, Byron was wondering if the people he’d unwittingly found himself guests of could keep their antics up all night. Taking a deep breath, he stirred, stretching lightly and groaning if for no reason other than to draw attention to his awakened state.

“Make it up to me later, I think our guest is waking up.” A clamoring sound arose in the silence, then a hiss. “What did I just get done telling both of you about space? Honestly.” With some effort, Byron blinked. For the second time in the same day his eyes fluttered open slowly as he came to, disoriented in an unfamiliar place—not that there was any place at all which was familiar to Byron. His eyes adjusted to dim light and he gradually became aware of his surroundings. Just above him hung a chandelier, and he seemed to be laid out upon a table. Rolling his head about, he realized he was in what appeared to be someone’s dining room. A few odd paintings adorned the walls, and a wilting potted plant sat beside a boarded-up window. Hovering above him was the silhouette of a person, presumably the one who had been urging Nina and Kesh to give them space.

Not much about them was easily discernible; they wore a pair of goggles with a number of different focusing lenses which appeared to be adjustable so as to ensure an array of magnifications or perhaps magical sight enchantments. At present, one lens was placed over their right eye; it pulsed a faint, but soothing baby blue. Their hair was short and voluminous, swept to one side and seemingly held in place by some sort of gel-like substance. An intricate tattoo of some exotic black bird bearing a deep red crest and diving downward with wings spread mostly covered the left side of their face. Their lips were painting a dark, almost black grey which shimmered in the flickering light. When Byron’s eyes met theirs, a broad grin stretched across their lips.

“Welcome back to the world of the living, kid.” That was a shit-eating grin if Byron had ever seen one.

“You say that as though he ever actually died,” Nina quipped. Beside her, Kesh chuckled. It was a low, almost lumbering sound.

“Honestly, and look at them, acting as though they’re any more than a few turns older than he is.” At the very least Kesh and Nina didn’t seem to be bickering anymore.

With mock incredulity, the one still hanging just above Byron whipped their head around to glare at their companions. “Oh, now you’re on the same team, hmm? I swear, if I weren’t here to keep you two in check, we’d all have died years ago.”

After a pregnant pause, Kesh snorted. “Should I remind them of that time I had to pull their unconscious ass out of their own damn lab after they set it on fire?”

Nina grinned. “Oh, oh! Or maybe the time I had to convince those guards that the incredibly expensive focusing rod they thought they could just casually nick and walk off with without anyone noticing had been theirs all along?”

“Or how about when they tried—”

Realizing there was no end in sight to this if he didn’t do something, Byron cleared his throat and spoke. “Wh-where the hell am I?”

“Uh, my, well—” their eyes shifted, and Byron followed their gaze to a the silhouette of a hulking man—presumably Kesh—whose actual discrete features were indistinguishable on account of his being very backlit by a bright magically powered lantern on the wall, “our house.” The man nodded in acknowledgement. To his left stood Nina, who gave a sheepish wave.

“Hey, friend, good to see you’re alive. Thanks for saving my ass back there.” She paused, mouth opening and closing as she searched for the right words. “Glad to see your uh, horns and such are all gone now.” She made a wide, sweeping gesture up and down in Byron’s general direction.

“Where am I? Wait, did you say—”

“Horns?” Three bewildered, incredulous voices erupted at once.

Nina nodded emphatically. “Oh yeah, not very big, still in the early stages, but they were there along with the color-changing skin and such. Were you two not listening at all? I told you he was tainted.” As the words left her lips Nina winced and cast her gaze toward Byron. “Sorry, kind of a rude term I know, but that’s what they call folks like you. Oh by the way, this is Kesh, and the one in the goggles who patched you up is Zelle.”

Completely ignoring their own introduction, Zelle barreled on ahead, appearing somehow suddenly struck with some unknown inspiration. “You didn’t tell us he had a whole second form though. I mean, that’s big, no, that’s huge. Do you two realize just how useful that could be for us?”

At that, Kesh strode toward the table, only for Zelle to hold up their hand and stop him in his tracks. He grumbled, but remained in place. That didn’t stop him from voicing his dissent. “No, fuck no. We can’t just. With him? We barely even know him. He could be a spy or something.”

“I’m right here.” Admittedly, Byron understood why someone who seemed to have secrets to keep might be hesitant around strangers, but he didn’t much like being treated as though he couldn't hear every single word coming out of the big man’s mouth.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with being a spy, hmm?” Nina winked.

Singing, Kesh threw up his hands in frustration. “You fucking know what I mean.” His gaze fell on Byron. “Look, new guy -- what did you say his name was, Nina? Byron?” Nina offered a quick nod in response and he returned his gaze to Byron. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean any offense, really. Just, we’re running a pretty delicate operation here and trust is in short supply.”

“Do you think they’d let a tainted operative into their ranks, Kesh?” Zelle appeared to have a way with shutting Kesh the hell up; at least, Byron had gotten that impression from what he’d seen so far. Even so, their ability seemed to only go so far.

“Spirits above and below, now you’re telling him my name? What if he really is an enemy?”

“Oh yeah, like if he didn’t know your name he’d have a hard time. Tell me, how many Orcs live in Geld? How about artificers with bird tattoos on their faces?” They rolled their eyes and faced Byron. “Besides the headache you’ve doubtless developed from having to deal with the maelstrom that is Kesh when worked up, how are you feeling?”

Contemplatively, Byron lifted a bandaged arm—he hadn’t even remembered being wounded there, just how much had he lost himself in the flow of combat? Tentatively, he flexed his fingers, then the muscles on the arm. A dull, but powerful ache radiated through him; he winced. Nevertheless, the arm worked. “Fine, I think? Whatever you gave me took the pain away, and I think I can move… so uh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome. And I’m sorry about him, he really genuinely is a good person, just looking out for me and Nina and all our comrades… elsewhere. He gets guarded, and has good reason for it, too.” A smooth hand attached to a strong, muscular arm reached out to hoist Byron into a seating position. With their free hand, the artificer lifted their goggles, revealing unusually large, round, violet eyes; they smiled wide, revealing slightly pointed teeth.

“Great, he’s seen your face too, there goes the last bit of secrecy,” Kesh grumbled, throwing up his hands in exasperation.

“Oh, come off it, you. Stop your whining, Byron saved Nina’s life. Honestly, we could use someone like him, good in a fight and tainted something fierce? So much so that he apparently has a literal demonic form he can take? That sounds like a gift with our names on it if you ask me.”

Clearing her throat, Nina timidly raised her hand. “Uhh, semi-demonic form, actually. I don’t know how much control over it he has, but he was in a sort of halfway state earlier.”

And with a hand-wave, that didn’t matter one bit as Zelle plowed right on ahead. “Either way, it would be ridiculously helpful, both for my own research and for, well, y’know, the whole thing.”

And like that Zelle had lit the spark that ignited Kesh all over again. “You can’t be serious? We just met the guy, who knows where his loyalties lie.”

“Well, to be fair, I don’t remember enough to really have any loyalties.”

“Exactly! How can we trust someone who doesn’t even know what we’re out there fighting for,” Kesh slumped against the wall and folded his arms, eyeing Zelle for their rebuttal. Though even they seemed at a loss for words after that.

The stalemate didn’t last long, however, “Oh, move over.” Huffing, Nina strode purposefully to the table, brushing aside Zelle and taking a seat. She peered down at Byron with a soft smile. “Listen, you saved my ass out there, why?”

For a moment, Byron pondered, but there really wasn’t much there to poder. “I’m not sure I have much of a reason other than that it seemed like the right thing to do.”

“So you don’t like it when powerful people prey upon vulnerable people?” That was a leading question if Byron had ever heard one, but Nina wasn’t exactly wrong.

“I guess not, no?”

Encouraged, Nina’s smile widened. “Okay, then how would you feel if I told you that the current government of Bhorial views tainted people, people like you, as potential threats to their rule and exiles them to the demon lands? That it spends so much money doing that sort of work that it can’t even afford to properly feed its people or secure its roads, leaving the sort of people desperate enough to turn to highway robbery and murder free to do just that?”

“Um, mad I suppose?” Admittedly, Byron was more still bewildered and overwhelmed than anything, but he followed her logic, most of it anyway. “One question, though, what’s Bhorial?”

“That would be a country, it’s where we are,” Zelle offered helpfully from behind Nina.

Gears started to turn in Byron’s head as he put two and two together. “So wait, that would mean, the country I’m in right now views me as a potential enemy of the state?” All three members of Byron’s newfound company nodded gravely. “Well, someone should do something about that! Aren’t tainted people or whatever, people like me, supposedly pretty strong? We should fight back!”

Clapping her hands together, Nina stood with the start, then pallet Byron on the back. “Congratulations! You’ve been radicalized. Any questions, Kesh?”

The orc sighed, “No, I suppose not. I’m still not so sure we can trust him.”

Smiling sympathetically, Zelle crossed the room and took Kesh’s hands in their own. “Look, darling, with a bit of practice Byron could maybe disguise himself as an actual demon, which would certainly make our jobs easier. And I most definitely need a living, willing subject if I’m going to further my research into the applications of demon magic. That’s ignoring the fact that he’s apparently a force to be reckoned with if it comes to fighting. He’s an asset, through and though.”

Nina offered a thumbs up. “Yeah, and if I’m wrong and he turns traitor, I’ll kill him myself.”

“Um.”

At that, Kesh broke into booming laughter. “Don’t worry, just don’t betray us and you’ll be fine.” He winked.

Byron forced a nervous smile. “So wait, what are you three planning, exactly?”

All three shared a look. Zelle spoke first. “Well, y’see, the three of us are part of a resistance cell trying to overthrow the Bhorialian government. And we got assigned this really important mission to, well... Uh.”

With Zelle at a loss for words, Nina saw the opportunity to finish for them. “We’re going to go form an alliance with the Demon Queen and use her army to overthrow the government.”

“Wait, the what now?”