The Demon King’s Hero Of Light - Volume 1 Chapter 140 140 The Glow On The Horizon

“I’m not sure this is such a good idea,” said Aella, tilting her head to the side and looking at them.

“I love it!” cried Ruth with a wide grin. Sitting on top of her head was a bright red bow.

“I’m not sure how I feel about this,” said Frank, turning to look in the mirror again.

Frank had a small black top hat perched on his head, and Louie had a grey fedora.

“Well, I love mine,” said Louie. “You just didn’t want to wear the bow tie that came with yours.”

“I still think the tie you’re wearing is ridiculous!” said Frank, shaking his head.

“Well, if you take yours off, you’ll be the only one without a hat, and I’ll still be able to tell you apart, I suppose,” said Aella.

“I’ll wear mine, I guess, and see if I can get used to it,” grumbled Frank. “I’ll probably forget it’s even there.”

“I’m just glad that extra head went away,” said Aella, turning and examining the lump that was still where it had been.

“Me too,” said Frank.

Ruth and Louie both nodded.

“What are you guys going to do now?” asked Aella.

“Do you have time to give us our room yet?” asked Louie.

“No, I have to get back to the throne room and talk to everyone so I can head to the elven lands. I’ll talk to Seifer about finding you a room and when I return next, I promise to assign you one.”

“Okay. So, do we sleep in the throne room until then, or just anywhere?” asked Frank.

“I can have a bed moved into the throne room for you until I get back,” said Aella nodding.

She headed back to the throne room with them following behind her, taking note of the attitudes of everyone they passed. Most of them were too stunned to move and just watched them walk by, while others turned and ran in fear.

“Can we still eat people who attack us?” asked Louie.

“I don’t want you eating people who might mistake you for a monster that’s evil. Just eat their arms and legs and when I get back, I’ll see if you can eat the rest of them.”

“Ruth not evil! Ruth buu-tiful!” said Ruth, moving her head side to side with a wiggle.

“You are beautiful with that big red bow,” agreed Aella, trying not to laugh.

As they entered the throne room, Varnin fought not to scream and run again, standing in the corner with a table separating her and the baby hydra, she vibrated as she clung to the edge of the table.

“Seifer, I want the hydra given a bedroom and inform all of the castle staff that it is our mascot. No one is to attack it or their arms and legs are to be eaten,” said Aella, giving Seifer a smile.

He raised an eyebrow, looking at the new hats each head wore. “Why are there tiny little hats on each of the heads?”

“To tell them apart, of course,” said Aella, sitting in her seat and looking over the others who were assembled.

“I want some of the people moved, if they are willing to go, to the human city to live. I don’t want this city too crowded. Also, the royal kitchen is going to come up with a drink called lemonade that everyone in the city will need to drink daily to cure them of the sickness. It will need to be distributed around the city daily, for the next week or so, while we fight the parasite that is causing the issues,” said Aella.

“I will see to that,” said Orolon.

“I plan to head to the elves this afternoon, after lunch, and Frederik and Alfred will be the only ones traveling with me. I will return here for us to rest, until we reach the elves. I don’t know how long it will take to reach them, or how long we will be there. Then I plan to head to the dwarves. Beyond that, I haven’t planned, since things can change so fast. I want everyone to continue working on getting people settled and life back to as normal as possible. Start making a list of things the people need, so I can address it when I get back and have a chance.”

The generals nodded, as did the rest of the advisors.

“We have a group of people heading out to the ore sites that have been found already. They are prepared to start setting up the sites for a village,” said Destov.

“Excellent,” said Aella, standing up. “Is there anything else?”

No one had anything else pressing to report, so she motioned for Alfred and Frederik to approach her, and teleported them to the portal site, in the southern mountains.

“Ahh!” screamed Frederik, falling to his knees.

Alfred fled along the path, further south, and Aella grabbed Frederik, teleporting them as far south as she could see, moving further and further away from the intense glow to the north. By the fourth teleport, the mountains blocked enough of the magic, that Frederik no longer screamed out in pain.

“I had no idea mana poisoning felt like that,” he gasped, on his hands and knees on the ground.

“That wasn’t poisoning so much as bombardment,” said Alfred, reappearing next to them. “That was from the palace crashing down?”

“Yes,” said Aella, glancing back to the north. She couldn’t die from it, but she wondered if she would still suffer the effects of it.

“Let’s keep heading south,” said Alfred, helping Frederik to his feet. “I don’t want to get mana poisoning.

As the sun started bleeding out of the sky, the glow to the north was even more obvious, but they had reached the edge of the mountains. Surprisingly, they hadn’t encountered any creatures along the path. Could they have all fled the area after the blast? Below them spread a thick forest with tall trees as far as the eye could see. Aella turned to the others.

“Let’s not share with them the fact that I can teleport or that Alfred can move so fast. We need to keep a few tricks in our pockets if they turn out to be hostile.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” said Alfred, turning to look at Frederik who nodded.

The walk down out of the mountains seemed to take forever for Aella, and the urge to just teleport them was almost overwhelming. Had she gotten so used to using her ability to teleport around, that she couldn’t go without it for such a short length of time? Maybe she should use it less, so she didn’t become so reliant on it.

It was full dark long before they reached the trees, and Aella wondered if the elves would find them or if they would have to camp in the edge of the forest for the night. Her fears were quickly resolved as five elves appeared the moment they stepped under the cover of the trees. Their bows were drawn and pointed at them, when they appeared.

Aella held up her hands to show she had no weapons, and stepped forward, ignoring the arrow that almost penetrated her throat as she did so.

“I am Aella, King of the Demons. I travel with two of my closest friends to greet and visit with the elves.”

“Why would the king come himself?” asked one of the elves, obviously not believing her. “There has never been a girl king before.”

“You paid enough attention to our politics to know that?” she asked, surprised.

Caught in a trap, the elf lowered his bow and nodded to the others. They lowered theirs as well, but Aella doubted it would take long for them to raise them and shoot.

“I will take you to our king, to visit and greet,” said the elf, looking unhappy about it. “Follow me.”

Aella followed the faint trace of movement as they led her through the almost pitch dark of the forest. She listened as the others followed as well. Neither of them was having much better luck seeing, as she was, and she wondered if the elves were doing it on purpose. What had she done to irritate them so?

“Could we get some light, so we don’t trip?” asked Aella as she stubbed her toe on a tree root.

“You cannot see?” asked the elf in surprise, stopping just ahead of her in a faint patch of light.

“No, not really,” said Aella, shaking her head.

“Not at all!” groaned Frederik, holding his wings in tightly against his sides.

“Then we shall create a light for you,” said the elf, holding up his hand and creating a ball of light in his palm that was very similar to the way Alfred made his light. Aella caught Alfred’s eyes widen imperceptibly in surprise, but didn’t say anything.

The rest of the trip was much faster, with fewer accidents, but Aella was exhausted by the time they reached the elven village. It had to be close to dawn. She could still fight if she needed to, but if they expected her to be diplomatic, she was going to need some rest.

“You will stay here until midday, when our king arrives to speak with you,” said the elf, pointing at a hut near the base of a tree.

Aella peeked inside and saw hammocks hanging from the roof of the small hut. Would Frederik even be able to fit in one of those?