Valthar tried hard to calm Amber down and yet failed miserably.
Soon others too noticed the commotion and for a moment Valthar's heart skipped a beat as it seemed everyone was about to gather on the two.
Thankfully Lionel stopped the group before they assembled then made way to two himself.
"What happened? Are you okay Amber?" He squatted beside the crying mage.
"Ai'm O k aY, call… Bal tha zar" Amber said in between hyperventilating sobs, her words almost intelligible to Valthar.
On the other hand Lionel, who knew his companions very well, caught on not only her words but also the meaning behind them.
Balthazar was the fire mage of the group, a man Lionel had personally poached from the Church of Burning Light.
For Amber to call for Balthazar while this panicked meant they had a problem of demonic nature on their hands.
"Alright, open the passage and I'll send John to get him," He signaled to John with his hands before turning his head to Valthar. "Do you know why she is like this?"
Lionel's voice was casual with no sign of blame or worry, his life energy however pulsed with a suspicion so loud that Valthar was a little stunned.
Should I tell the truth?
Valthar hesitated in what to say, after reviving the worm he was confident his affinity was life energy.
At the same time what he did just now looked more like black magic then some special energy manipulation.
"You know how I can sense the foxes? So… I was fumbling around with this 'skill' and the results looked very darkmagey…" Valthar showed his hand covered in black worm blood.
"Yeah? Tell me more about it." Lionel asked even more casually, but the suspicion in his life force shifted into a deep mix of caution and dread.
Just then John came over and with a whisper from Lionel jumped back underground.
Behind his back Lionel made a few hand signals and an instant later Valthar felt the energy of every knight in the clearing pulse with dread very similar to Lionel's.
Valthar was speechless, from his eyes Lionel and Amber said nothing strange and yet somehow everyone from the caravan seemed to know it in seconds.
"If I tried explaining it it would look really bad Lionel, but trust me, I'm not a darkmage." Valthar stepped back and his eyes jumped from knight to knight.
In that moment all pretense fell as Lionel stood up and placed himself in front of Amber.
"This is not about you being a darkmage Valthar…" Slowly he unsheathed his sword eyes locked onto Valthar's. "Tell me straight, are you a demon worshiper?"
Surrounded, Valthar could feel the cold sweat pool on his back.
He wasn't one, but his panicked mind was lost on how to prove it.
"I'm not a demon worshiper Lionel, I swear on my life."
"Then you won't mind if we test it right? Balthazar is from the Church." Lionel's voice dropped into a cold threat, muscles tense and ready to react if Valthar lunged at him.
But contrary to Lionel's expectation Valthar relaxed instead.
"Sure, let's do it."
To explain how he revived a beast or how doing so was not black magic is simply impossible to Valthar.
To let the fire mage do the ritual to detect demons and come out as innocent was trivial, after all Valthar truly wasn't a demon worshiper.
"So you guys are okay with dark mages? Not that I am one by the way." He asked awkwardly, trying his best to ignore the loud distrust that pulsed from the knights.
"We worked with you even after the ambush night didn't we?" Lionel said in a joke voice, though Valthar could feel the dread on his heart solid as a mountain.
It was more than clear that the caravan members still thought Valthar is a demon worshiper.
Silence took over the clearing till John jumped out of the hole with the fire mage on his arms.
From there things moved fast as Balthazar didn't play around when it came to demons.
With his red scepter he carved a circle on the dirt ground, peppering drops of his own blood here and there.
All the while the knights kept Valthar pinned with their eyes, too suspicious to look away and too fearful of a reaction if they were right.
"Walk in." Balthazar said a few minutes later, his staff pointed to the ritual circle.
Having studied elemental magic for most of his life Valthar could tell with a single look this wasn't a ritual to detect demons.
Too many damage boosters and invocation based symbols.
A piece of him wished to take his time and interpret the circle fully.
Another whispered in his ear that he would die once he took the next step, the whole detection bit only a ruse to seal his end.
Still, I want to believe they won't kill me off like this.
A naive and simple thought, but more than enough for him to make his way to the circle.
A moment later Balthatazar raised his staff to the air and prayers to the Burning Light flew out of his mouth.
The sky darkened as the morning sun grew brighter for a moment.
The circle shone with bright light and from it a white flame enveloped Valthar completely.
But the fire didn't burn his skin nor pain flooded his body.
With a relieved sigh Valthar's worries finally subsided, things should be over now.
However, the next moment the flame didn't vanish, but instead it gathered itself into a white fireball right above his head.
As the white fireball grew larger and larger above his head, the knights, unsure of the results of the ritual, brandished their weapons so he wouldn't move from the circle.
For good or for bad the situation didn't last long, as moments later the light fireball launched itself at fast speed to the west.
"He is in the clear." Balthazar mumbled, with furrowed brows and eyes looking towards where the fireball flew."But the Burning Light found a filthy demon to the west."
In a moment they turned around towards the forest where the flame flew out though nothing seemed to move in the trees.
West?
Valthar paused for a moment as deja-vu hit him like a truck, he could swear someone had said there was something else to the west earlier.
It was then that he felt in his life energy sense a dozen shadow foxes started to rush to the clearing, their hearts pulsed with deep rage.
He paused for a moment before remembering what he should do, with rapid motions he raised the whistle and blew it, startling everyone in the clearing.
Lionel was the first to catch on.
"The foxes? How many?" He asked with a troubled look, his life force pulsed with a little shame.
da