As I'd expected, it was a quiet night.

What was the game? When would Lucifer order the strike? How many would come?

Too many questions, none with answers.

On the bright side, he was giving me time to train Ashley. And she'd now seen me fight Eric twice. That meant she could examine his fighting style, hopefully better preparing her for the day she would have to fight him.

I hoped that day would never come. I knew it would.

And what about the others? There had to be others. The more I learned about Ashley, the more I read in the Book, the more convinced I became of that. There would be one from each race, a counterpart for each sara. Were the others children, too? Just because I'd been given this opportunity to train Ashley didn't mean I'd have the same opportunity with others.

The sara were all the same age. We all trained at the same time, in the same place.

I remembered the first time Lucifer called me sara. It was when we arrived at Hell. The black castle towered over the blackened, gnarled trees, the stonework unbroken by luxuries such as windows. There was one set of heavy wooden doors, and that was the only way in or out. A dozen demons pulled the doors open for us. The air inside was cold and dead. Lucifer carried me inside, using the same painful hold as before, both arms twisted behind my back. The doors slammed shut behind us, and he threw me into a wall. Again, I wished I had remained unconscious for longer, but his boot caught me hard in the side and woke me up.

"Get up, elf." Another kick. "Time to ruin more lives, sara."

My arms were still numb, my head still aching where it had connected with stone. I sat up, shakily.

"S-sara?"

"Child of the Devil. You are now Diane-sare."

I was the last of the sara to be brought to Hell. We were all left to our own devices for a few years - I'm not sure how many; there were no windows, no clocks. There was one way to keep track of time: Char, Hiama, and Rath. When the moon was full, the urge to transform was extremely strong for all of them, but they were unable to do so inside Hell. They suffered excruciating pain during that time, taking it out on each other and the rest of the sara. After a while, I stopped keeping track of the months, though. There was no point.

But Ashley's training was nothing like mine. She had guidance from an adult, and she wasn't constantly subjected to pain and torment. Even so, I should probably be careful in my selection for our training display tomorrow. Nothing with daggers - Ashley's parents were worried enough as it was. Any form of combat was probably less than ideal, actually. Speed training would probably be the safest bet. Watching her soar through the trees was breathtaking - she was fluid in motion now. That would impress them.

Of course, we would probably attract a crowd, in the daytime. I had so far only interacted with Ashley's parents and the pastor, with surprisingly favorable results. And I didn't get the feeling that the rest of the town viewed me as a curse, which was a nice change from what I had grown up with. Did they trust me? Absolutely not. Was there hope for decent relationships to develop? Absolutely.

"Diane."

She joined me up on the familiar tree branch.

"This is just another reason why I need to be here," I sighed. "You don't listen."

She smiled and shrugged. "Guess I'm just too stubborn."

We sat in silence for a while, looking out over the quiet town.

"Did you really mean what you said? About me being a liability?"

"It's not your fault. It's just because you're not fully developed yet, and that will only come with time."

"I want to be helpful."

I looked at her, the anxiety in her large green eyes. "You already are."

"I'm a distraction, aren't I? When you're fighting." She sounded so sad.

There was no use in lying. "Yes. But you also give me something to protect. Maybe I fight harder because of that."

"That was really intense, last night. You two were moving so fast, I could barely keep up."

I smiled at her. "You really made him mad." I ruffled her hair. "Twice now, you were saved by your own quick reflexes. Do you realize that?"

That finally brought a smile back to her face. "Not bad for someone who's not fully developed, huh?"

"Not bad at all."

We were quiet again for a few minutes.

"He's really intimidating," she said.

"That's Eric. He'll just be casually teasing, and then suddenly a switch flips, and he's deadly dangerous. And I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear that he enjoys beautiful women. He sees them as amusing toys for his entertainment. Sometimes he'll bring one to Hell, just to keep the game going - and then, when he's bored of her, he'll let the demons finish her off." And I'd never once stopped him. Or cared. The thought sent a cold shiver through me. "He's far too interested in you for comfort."

"Agreed, but I was actually talking about Rath."

I nodded. "It's strange to say, but I find him to be the most dangerous - and the safest - of the sara."

Ashley looked up at me quizzically. "That is strange to say. What do you mean?"

I thought about it for a moment. "I don't know. But if he'd gone after you, I wouldn't have been able to save you."

"He just stood there, like a statue. He never moved once."

"He was only here to watch. To give Lucifer an accurate report."

"That can't be good." She frowned, worry clouding her eyes.

"It's not. But he kept his word - he didn't touch you. He always keeps his word."

"Really? Isn't that weird for a sara?"

"It is." I jumped down from the tree, ending that particular conversation. "You want to train, right?"

She jumped down eagerly. "Yes, I do!"

"We'll do combat training tonight. Tomorrow, for your parents, we'll do speed training."

She nodded. "That shouldn't scare them too much."

"Alright, let's roleplay. I'm Eric, you're me. We're going to recreate last night - without the daggers. No need to ruin more clothes."

"Don't you trust me?" she pouted teasingly.

"I need you to focus on giving this your all, without worrying about pulling your punches. Let's go."

She did give it her all, that night and the next day with our little demonstration for her parents. But then, she never did anything half-heartedly. Every setback was an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to learn. She had this tenaciousness about her that kept me on my toes. I couldn't slow down, couldn't back off. She needed to be pressing forward at all times.

The years passed far too quickly.

"You need to be serious," I chided. She was lying in the grass, looking up at the stars.

"I can hear everything, Diane. It's not like I'm going to just lie here and let something get past me." She was twenty now - and we were evenly matched in all but experience.

I sighed, standing over her. "Maybe not demons, but the sara can move in almost complete silence."

"Almost being the key word," she said, smiling up at me. She did sit up, though, stretching her arms over her head. "Have you seen Tsuki lately?"

I shook my head. Tsuki had been missing for over a week now.

"Masen took off this morning, too." She frowned. "I wonder what they're up to."

Masen was a full grown stallion - and he was massive. He was also completely wild. When he was two or three years old, he'd gotten away during exercise, and he hadn't been back in a stall since. He would tolerate no saddle or harness, and I couldn't even touch him anymore. Ashley was the only one who could get near him.

I sat down beside Ashley. "It's been a while since a sara visited."

She nodded, frowning. "Six years. I don't like it." She turned to face me. "They're waiting for something."

"They're waiting for me to leave," I said quietly.

"You're not going to, are you?" she asked, anxiety creeping into her voice as she studied my face.

I answered reluctantly. "I had a dream about another like you. A dwarven boy."

She pursed her lips. "Well, then you have to go find him."

Everything was so simple to her. "If we're separated, we're both at risk."

She shrugged. "So? If God's calling you to find him, you have to go. It'll all work out."

I couldn't help but smile. "You think it's that easy?"

"Isn't it?" She stood up, offering me her hand. "It was a risk when you changed. It was a risk when you came here. It was a risk for me to trust you. Nothing's safe, Diane."

I let her pull me to my feet. I was still taller than her, but it felt less and less like I was looking down at her. We were on even ground now. She wasn't the student anymore - she was my friend.

"Tsuki is marking the way," I said. "I'll leave as soon as he returns."

She tilted her head to the side, looking at me. "Sometimes I envy your visions."

"Don't. It's not like they're under my control, anyway."

We were circling the town, following the path now well-marked by bare, packed dirt from years of use.

"We can write to each other. Tsuki can deliver the letters," she said cheerfully.

"I'd like that." I looked up at the full moon. "Your mom won't take this well."

"Oh, definitely not. She's going to freak. You're basically her daughter now. Dad's not going to like it, either."

I smiled. "He'll pretend he doesn't care."

"But he'll probably lock your windows and doors to try to keep you here," she laughed.

We were passing the old church now. There was still a light on inside.

"Pastor Frank is up late," I commented.

"He's probably finishing his sermon for tomorrow morning. We're going to have to pray over you, before you go."

Even now, it was still hard to believe that I was an accepted member of this community. The people here were a tight-knit bunch, their numbers kept low by frequent attacks in the past, and they had only survived here because of the way they relied on each other. I guess it made sense - I didn't have to win over everybody individually, just a few people, to earn the trust of all of them. It also helped that there had been no fatalities since I arrived, and they were able to enjoy a measure of prosperity since they were free to focus on their horse-breeding program for trade to northern towns.

"We need to come up with an evacuation plan," I said quietly.

That startled Ashley. Her green eyes, expressive as always, were wide with surprise. "What are you talking about?"

I'd been thinking about it for a while, but I still struggled to put my thoughts into words. "I can't tell you why, but I feel like something big is coming. Something that even you and I together can't stop."

"Another vision?"

I shook my head. "No. It's nothing concrete, just...a feeling. But it's also more than that. I know - somehow - that everybody will have to evacuate north, if anybody is to survive."

She frowned again. "We've got a lot to talk about at church tomorrow."