Page 37 of Demon Monster's Little Human

She is weak. She won’t last much longer without rest.

I could tell her that.

I don’t.

Instead, I follow.

Something is tracking us.

I feel it.

Not the gargoyles. They would be louder, hunting with fury and vengeance, eager for my head and her corpse.

This is different.

Patient. Waiting.

It’s been following us since the cavern, since the moment we first stepped into the tunnels. I knew it then, but I said nothing. And I say nothing now.

Liora doesn’t notice.

She is too busy fearing the wrong thing.

She keeps glancing behind her, scanning the ridges above, her mind still trapped in the past, still hearing Rhogar’s snarl, still expecting his blade to be the one that kills her.

She thinks it’s them.

It isn’t.

But I don’t tell her.

The sky grows darker, the cold heavier.

Liora’s breathing changes. Not enough for her to notice, but I do.

She is slowing.

Her steps falter, just slightly, her fingers clenching and unclenching at her sides.

She is trying to hide it.

I don’t call her out on it.

Instead, I scan the terrain, my eyes narrowing at a distant rock formation, a hollow carved into the mountain’s ribs.

A cave.

I don’t need it.

She does. She won’t ask for it.

So I stop walking.

She does, too, blinking up at me in confusion, as if she didn’t expect me to pause at all.

“What?”

I tilt my head toward the cave. “We rest.”

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