The first moments of awakening were quite pleasant. Argunthal was more than ready for another day in the city, full of energy to- right. He was most certainly not at home. Rolling over, he saw a familiar figure gnawing at a roll, sitting on a stool by the side of the bed.
"How long was I asleep?"
"Two hours, maybe? Time gets odd down here."
"I'll say." Argunthal halted, then asked the all-important question. "Where is 'here,' anyway?"
Erendiel smiled a bit, with the air of a veteran introducing the new meat. "We're in a small detention facility next to a mining camp. The only ones they bring up here are serious trouble like me, potentially important, like you must have been, or just insane. The latter usually die or are disposed of in pretty short order, and our lot get dealt with in pretty unpleasant ways. Luckily for us, all this means that nobody bothers to check in on the building much. I stayed here for a week once with my dear friend Nali, nobody went in or out the whole time. That means we can probably escape."
She turned around, smiling at him, but her face almost immediately fell to a worried grimace.
"Argunthal?"
He was a little worried at her sudden change.
"What's wrong?"
Erendiel didn't answer, but instead stared at his forehead. He tentatively raised a hand to feel his face, and recoiled in horror at the lump he felt on his left temple. There was a similar bulge on the right. No. No, it couldn't be!
He was sprouting horns. Rolling over to look at his crotch, he was greeted with a larger, redder version of his penis, with the foreskin now completely gone. He felt light-headed, putting a hand to the side of his head to steady himself.
Erendiel was pale, but still calm. Clearing her throat, she carefully posed a question. "Argunthal... you didn't do anything with a demon before you met me, did you?"
He shut his eyes tightly in exasperation at himself. He just had to be the tough guy with Zalana, didn't he?
"Ummm... actually, as it happens, I, er, sort of raped one in here. My jailor. After she blew me."
Erendiel laid her face in her palm, more as an expression of disbelief than despair. Lifting her head back up and letting it roll in a slow circle, she looked back to him.
"Really, do you have any judgment capacity at all? Completely strange female being, associated with pain and suffering in essentially all folklore, has you locked in prison, and where do you decide to stick yourself? Unbelievable."
The last commented was punctuated with her patented eyeroll, which was becoming more and more familiar to him.
"Alright, fine, never mind on escaping. I can't leave you here in good conscience, even if logic screams otherwise, and you'll probably lose your soul and kill me or something if we don't find a way to fix you."
She laid her chin on a fist, leaning forward in a way that was oddly picturesque despite the gravity of the situation. The mysterious spellcaster seemed lost in thought, steely blue eyes half-closed in concentration.
"We only really have one option. If a demon did this to you, she can probably tell us how to heal you. All we need to do is find her, if she's weak enough that you managed to rape her. Don't worry, I can be very... persuasive."
The whole resolution was delivered in a focused monotone, with a hint of sly enthusiasm creeping in on the last word. Argunthal was relieved to hear the news, relaxing a little as he eagerly pointed out that the demon in question was currently chained to a wall a few rooms away.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get up, unless you feel like keeping those horns for a bit longer."
Wincing and poking one of the nubs again, he quickly rose to his feet. He hurriedly led the way to the room where he had been imprisoned, gesturing to the wall.
A wall that held an empty set of manacles and a ten-foot-wide charred spot. Apparently, demons are good at breaking things.
"You used the chain, didn't you? Well, not your fault. Hey, it's not hopeless."
Erendiel attempted a reassuring smile, but an urgent focus was still clearly written on her face.
"See the floor? She left tracks."
Argunthal looked down to see a trail of blackened footprints. Erendiel shifted the small bundle of weapons that lay on her back, presumably acquired from some sort of storeroom. He was surprised that he had managed not to notice this, given that he'd been awake and looking at her for a few minutes.
"Where did you..."
"Closet in the bedroom. Sharp eyes."
Deciding not to press the matter, and discouraged by her sarcasm anyway, he closed his mouth and followed the trail. Looking back, he remembered what had happened in the chamber between his cell and the bedroom. The dead imps lay there, but Nali was nowhere to be seen. Noticing his glance, Erendiel nonchalantly explained that the succubus was occupying a seat of honor in a half-dug escape tunnel that the spellcaster had discovered. He barely had time to digest that fact before she held up a hand for him to stop. The hallway had reached its end, culminating in a rusty, heavy iron door.
"We're heading out into the open. Plenty dark, even in the daytime, and you don't really know what's out there. We're probably headed straight to the main mine, so be quiet. Difficult for you, I'm sure, but have a go at it."
He had learned by now to simply roll with the punches; her wit was a good deal sharper than his. However, as she creaked the door open, he couldn't help asking, "What do they mine in there, anyway?"
"Mostly iron, but they're digging for some sort of relic as well, I think. Heard an overseer mention it once, sounded important. Now seriously, shut up for a minute."
Argunthal was quiet, meekly following Erendiel as she sought out the burnt trail. A dim orange glow, presumably the mine, was visible not too far off. Surprisingly, Zalana's tracks went in a different direction. He couldn't help but feel paranoid, almost like the travelers in the old stories who sensed unseen eyes watching them. This seemed unlikely, given that thick brown fog was virtually everywhere, severely limiting visibility.
The mist made it all the more surprising when a small, open stone building emerged from the mist, appearing from the dimness in a slightly unsettling manner. The vaguely sinister structure revealed itself as a humble mineshaft cover, nowhere near as unnerving as the black pit that opened under it.
"Looks abandoned," mused Erendiel as she examined the stones. "I've never seen or heard of this before, yet here it is just a few minutes' walk from the prison. I'll be honest, I'm a bit suspicious."
Argunthal couldn't help but agree. Hairs stood up on his arms as a breeze of chilly air whispered from the pit. The darkness was dissipated a bit as Erendiel somehow lit a pair of sticks to bright torches, handing one to him as they peered into the blackness. No doubt about it, there were the tracks.
"Argunthal, I don't like this at all, but you don't really have a choice here. Go ahead, I'm right behind you."
This didn't really seem to fit her personality so far, and he asked why. She'd never really trusted him with anything important, or, for that matter, doubted her own skill. Her rather subdued tone was unnerving, although he tried not to show it. He had only known her for a short time, but she was already a very stable personality as far as he was concerned.
"Like it or not, you're sort of a demon now. You might be a bit less likely to set off traps, especially considering that I'm not really a standard human."
He shrugged, taking a long, deep breath and stepping forward. The tunnel wasn't too unsettling once he actually entered, solid-feeling wooden steps supporting his weight with ease and vaguely warm, pleasant torchlight illuminating his path. Erendiel's footsteps behind him made a reassuring padding sound, and he strode forward with a bit more confidence.