D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

When they reached the stable, Kat's first thought was 'where are the horses' but the answer to that question became clear a moment later. The animals milling around the stables were clearly equine, even if they weren't what she'd consider 'horses'. Instead of fur the… 'horses' were covered in a thin layer of scales.

Unlike a snake's, they weren't interlocked at all, instead it was like someone had stretched a set of scales over something too big for them. Every breath the 'horse' took allowed gaps in the scales to show skin underneath.

Kat looked one of the closest horses in the eye and noticed they were… normal. Or rather, normal for a horse. No slitted reptile eyes, normal round irises for these horses despite the scales. Those scales also seemed to let up a bit around the front of their face, allowing for a lot more skin to show through by default, especially around the nose, eyes, and mouth.

As soon as their group got within about 100 feet the horses all stopped and stared at the group. Most of them focused on Hunter… who promptly vanished in place. Kat blinked a few more times as she stared at the spot Hunter had been… and even the trail Hunter made as she slithered along the ground had vanished.

*Ok what the FUCK? How! I get the whole 'vanishing from my perception' thing but why did her… well there's not footsteps but you get what I mean. Where is her… trail?*

[That's a good question. If you didn't have true sight I'd assume illusions… wait your true sight tends to be a bit better then just 'illusions' so how did Hunter vanish?]

Once Hunter vanished the horses seemed to blink in confusion and look around the area for something they could almost sense. Kat frowned at that. *Does this mean I'm losing out in detection ability to a bunch of horses?* Kat closed her eyes and opened her senses, reaching out with her aura mostly as a guess. As soon as she did… she could… something.

Kat couldn't investigate the feeling properly because apparently Kamiko had stopped moving forward so Kat bumped into the smaller demon. "Sorry," mumbled Kat as she opened her arms and looked around properly once again. Two of the horses were making their way over for Mekmr who smiled and greeted them with some neck pats.

"I see you're still popular with the horses," snarked Mzmr.

"Well I AM the one who feeds them every morning," added Mekmr. "That's not even getting into the fact that I'm responsible for a good percentage of their exercise and I clean them down quite often as well,"

"Wait isn't that Crmen's job?" asked Mermr. "As in, I am quite certain I'm paying Crmen to do that job already. So that means either I'm paying for a service that isn't happening, or I'm paying for a sub-par service… and this is the first I'm hearing of it." Mekmr winced and pointedly looked away from Mermr. "Don't force me to make it an order,"

"Fine, you're paying for a sub-par job," admitted Mekmr with a sigh. "Crmen means well but as enthusiastic as he is about horses… he just doesn't know what he's doing.

I don't know if it's a matter of poor training, a lack of attention to details or if he just signed up for the job without knowing anything… but somewhat regularly I come back through and wash the horses down when they're still dirty,"

"And why was this not reported to me?" asked Mermr.

Mekmr sighed, "Is this really the time? Right now? While we've got three demons that need to leave for an important royal contract?"

"We get royal contracts all the time even for routine stuff like extermination so don't try to make it out like this is a request from the king or queen themselves. Normally I would wait on something like this… except you've clearly been avoiding the issue. This has been going on for… fuck at least a year? Mzmr when did Srenem retire?" asked Mermr.

"She retired a year and a half ago sir," said Mzmr with a shit eating grin.

Mermr glared at Mekmr. "A year and a half I've been paying for sub-par work…"

"In fairness, you weren't paying anyone to do it for three months before Crmen was put on. I was just doing it myself," added Mekmr.

"That doesn't make it better!" insisted Mermr. "It's outside the scope of your responsibilities, and sure, I'm fine with letting you do something like this if it's what you want… but what does this mean for the materials? Where are you getting them because I know Crmen brings them all in on a wagon,"

Mekmr winced again, "Might have been paying for them out of my own pocket,"

Mermr growled, causing the horses to give him an unimpressed look. "Oh don't give me that. Your caretaker is causing problems. Shouldn't you be glaring at him? If it came out I was 'forcing' one of my attendants to do unpaid labour while handing out money for services that aren't actually being done I could get in a massive amount of trouble.

"Abusing your authority in the church gets SWIFTLY dealt with since the third reformation. Sure I didn't order you to do any of this, but they facts can get twisted awfully easily. Before that though… Kamiko, do you need to leave? I apparently need to address this RIGHT NOW and it's already turned into a bigger issue then I'd hoped,"

"Um… well… I'm not sure where Hunter's gone…" mumbled Kamiko as the three priests winced like they'd just been slapped upside the head. They were all looking around confused. If Kat had to guess… it seemed like they'd forgotten Hunter existed for a bit there. "And… I'm still not sure. I mean these are all beautiful horses. How would you have them returned if I borrowed one?

The contract had nothing about returning to this branch of the church at the end…"

"Don't worry about that Kamiko. The churches swap horses all the time, and they usually manage to find their way back to their favourite stable sooner or later. Not sure how they do it, but it just sort of happens. Not something on our end surprisingly. Heck, I'd bet that if you let one run free it'd make its way back here eventually. I've seen a few on the road without a rider.

Only rarely, but it does happen,"

"Um… I guess… hmm… Hunter what do you think?" asked Kamiko to the air.

Hunter seemed to materialise a few metres to the left of where she was standing before. "I have some concerns with these horses. Powerful and perceptive beasts they may be, I see no good way for them to be saddled without the saddle tearing itself apart on the scales…"

"Oh, that's easy," said Mekmr, completely ignoring Mermr's glare. "The saddles are enchanted to float just the tinniest bit above the scales to avoid grinding against them. It's always a set distance so it'll still hurt to ride if you're not used to it… well that and the straps are fairly hardy. Still have to replace them every few years, but what can you do,"

Hunter then gave a shrug. "Kamiko, if you are comfortable with a horse then I suggest we take them up on their offer. They are unusually perceptive and will likely help us avoid… delays travelling along the open road,"

Kamiko looked confused as to what the 'delays' could possibly be but Kat had a few guesses herself. It wasn't too important to her, no instead she was interested in the reactions the horses had towards Hunter. As soon as she reappeared their eyes went straight to Hunter's position and the herd was reshuffling slightly.

Ensuring that they were in a, mostly, straight line putting as many bodies between Hunter and the later hoses as possible. Kat had no idea WHY they were doing it, just that they were.

"Alright then," said Mekmr. "Which one of you lot want to go on an adventure with a demon?"

One of the horses towards the back of the line tried to run forward only for one of the others in front of it to block its approach completely. The smaller horse tried a few times to get past and respond to the command… only to be blocked every time. It clearly wasn't hard for the larger horse to do so.

While that was going on, one of the largest horses in the herd walked up. Its scales were slightly duller in colour and while its muscles were clearly visible, the horse had a sort of calm majesty to it as it approached from near the front of the line. "Seems like we have a volunteer," said Mekmr with a chuckle.

"Great, that means we can get back to the REAL issues here," stated Mermr.

"Ah… I was hoping you'd forgot…" grumbled Mekmr.