The demon woman wouldn’t woke up. Not when I hauled her all the way up to the earthen pillar. Not when I forced her to drink water and mushy food. Not when I splashed her face with water, treated her many injuries, and even warmed her up with fire magic at the expense of my own energy reserves. If I didn’t know any better, I might even have thought she was refusing to wake up on purpose.

But no, her injuries were terrible and her condition wasn’t getting any better, despite my best efforts. We were too high up and it was very cold. It was only going to get colder as the winter approached. And I had to return to Bek Tepe, too. I gathered my energy, took some deep breaths, and put the demon woman on my back once again.

The trek back was painful and slow. Even though the demon woman didn’t weigh much, having to lug around a whole other person was taking a toll on my body. There was no way I was going to be able to cross the glaciers with her on my back. I needed to wake her up, but how?

I considered just leaving her there. In a small cave or under a narrow overhang in a valley right before the glaciers. I could try to race through the glaciers, run back to the Oko tribe’s lands, and return with a large rescue party and supplies. But there was no way the demon woman was going to survive that long. If I could wake her up, maybe leave her with some food and water, then I might be able to rescue her, but that brought me back to the same problem: how could I wake her up?

Around a campfire in the valley before the glaciers, I ran a hand over my face. I didn’t have a lot of food left. I’d searched the surroundings for any signs of life, even small monsters and insects, but I couldn’t find anything. I had no choice. I had to leave her here and hope I could return in time. I let her off my back, breathed heavily, and left the last of my food with her in case she woke up. There was a glacial spring nearby, so she shouldn’t have any trouble with water. I bit my lips. I had so many questions to ask her. Well, really, only one that truly mattered.

I needed to know what ‘annihilation’ meant in her language!

I couldn’t let her die before I had my answers. I opened my mouth, and told her that I would be leaving her for now, but that I would be back soon. I’d found some scraggly, rough growing shrubs and plants somewhere in the valley, so I lit her a little campfire. There wasn’t any oil left in her glass lamp, but I had some monster fat on me that I melted down a little and put into her lamp. I lit the lamp, marked the location of the little camp on a duplicate map, and made a few landmarks around the area.

Running across the glaciers wasn’t fun. I had to strain my body to its absolute limits, using balance magic without reprieve, to arrive at the Oko tribe’s final mountain base camp. Nobody was here, since they should still be out hunting and gathering for the journey to Bek Tepe. I’d kept up my count of days, as well as the tribesmen’s estimates of when the solstice would be, so I knew where to search for the Oko tribe.

I met an Oko tribe scout just as my legs were turning to jelly and my chest began to hurt. They helped carry me to elder Konri, whose eyes widened when she saw me in such a terrible, and anxious condition. I managed to push a few words through my burning throat, and told her I needed a rescue party comprised of her best magic users.

The rescue party left as soon as I’d gathered some supplies and a tiny bit of rest. The elder still wanted me to stay back or wait, but I knew it’d be hard for the rescue party to find the demon woman without my help. And besides, my magic was still miles above everybody else’s. I wasn’t going to be the one slowing down the rescue party on the glaciers, that was for sure.

I ended up having to spend a ridiculous amount of magic energy rescuing the rescue party on the glaciers. Slips, ravines, and idiots who didn’t wear thick enough furs. I swallowed my curses and helped bring everyone over the glaciers, feeling a massive headache brewing behind my forehead. Still, we were finally at the valley. I led the party to the landmarks that led to the cave.

She was gone. And so was the food. My eyes went wide. Had she been waiting for me to leave before running away? If you didn’t want to come with me, you could have said something! I still had my translation magic. Did she not understand that I had saved her life and was still trying to rescue her?

I slumped to the ground and threw my hands up in the air. The rescue party searched through the cave a little but there were no signs of the demon woman. Even the fire had been allowed to run its course and never re-lit. She must have left almost as soon as she was sure that I had gone away.

What was that?

Nobody else seemed to have heard it. It was at moments like this that I thanked my weirdly long and pointed elfin ears. I stood up, against the wishes of my aching body, and walked around the entrance of the cave. Right. This was the way to the glacial springs.

Water splashing against rocks. It splashed against something softer, too. What was that? I walked around the corner and squinted.

The glacial springs were clear as crystal. The water flowed gently through the mountainside and into a stone pond before flowing further into a tiny stream leading down the valley. The rocks were full of multi-colored minerals, creating a kaleidoscope of colors that the water flowed over, taking the colors of the rocks below into itself. The whole scene was ethereal, like something out of a fairy tale.

And at the edge of the pond, was the demon woman, her hands cupped as she brought the water to her face and sipped. Her hair clung to her head, dripping water onto her clothes. Her eyes were closed and covered with drops of water. She sipped the water in her hands, pulled her head back, and let her wet hair swing wildly through the air, leaving arcs of water in the air. She wiped the water off her eyelids and opened them. She met my gaze.

“You’re awake!” I said.

Her eyes widened. “You were real!”

I frowned. “Excuse me?”

The demon woman rushed towards me. Before I could react, she fell to the ground, slammed her forehead on the floor and shouted: “Thank you, great elf, for saving my life!”

The corners of my eyes twitched. I laughed awkwardly. “You don’t have to do that. Please, stand up.”

The demon woman shot up. “Yes, great elf!”

“And you don’t need to call me great elf, either,” I said, scratching my chin. Wait. What was she saying? “You, you called me an elf!”

The demon woman nodded. “Yes, great—I mean, exalted elf.”

“But that means you’ve met elves before!” I said, excitedly.

“No,” said the demon woman, “but I have seen paintings!”

“Oh,” I said, slowly. “But other people have seen elves, then. The people from your homeland, correct?”

The demon woman nodded. “Yes, in fact, my great great great great…” She kept saying great for a long while, seemingly all in one breath. “… great great grandfather once dined with the king of elves!”

I frowned. “What?”

The demon woman’s eyes widened. “Oh, my apologies, exalted elf, I’ll repeat that. My great great—”

“No, no, you don’t have to do that. Also, don’t call me exalted elf, either. My name’s Caspian Holm, but you can call me Cas,” I said. “And are you saying the last person to see an elf in your family was a distant ancestor?”

“Yes, exalted elf—I mean, exalted Cas,” she said. “It was my great great—”

“No, that’s alright, I got it, thanks,” I said, cutting her off. I sighed. Judging by what this demon woman was saying, the people in her homeland knew about elves, even if they may not have met them personally. Still, I figured I could ask more questions later. But first, I had to get this demon woman to safety. Speaking of which.

“What is your name, anyway?” I asked.

“Oh, right, exalted Cas,” she said, “my name is Princess Kol Izlandi, and I come from the Kingdom of Izlandi, which lies across the Great Southern Mountains!”