{ "submission_id": "3784781", "keywords": [ { "keyword_id": "743", "keyword_name": "adventure", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "6102" }, { "keyword_id": "678", "keyword_name": "anthro", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "239097" }, { "keyword_id": "1139", "keyword_name": "battle", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3470" }, { "keyword_id": "1668", "keyword_name": "bovine", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "9191" }, { "keyword_id": "1029", "keyword_name": "clean", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "10380" }, { "keyword_id": "603", "keyword_name": "cow", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "13047" }, { "keyword_id": "2193", "keyword_name": "fantasy", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "27875" }, { "keyword_id": "123", "keyword_name": "female", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1137582" }, { "keyword_id": "735", "keyword_name": "feral", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "100679" }, { "keyword_id": "5757", "keyword_name": "fight", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "5994" }, { "keyword_id": "1557", "keyword_name": "furry", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "132372" }, { "keyword_id": "26953", "keyword_name": "goblin", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3282" }, { "keyword_id": "165", "keyword_name": "male", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1251931" }, { "keyword_id": "542", "keyword_name": "mature", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "6264" }, { "keyword_id": "3754", "keyword_name": "non-anthro", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2637" }, { "keyword_id": "13974", "keyword_name": "sfw", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "31111" }, { "keyword_id": "7916", "keyword_name": "short story", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1266" }, { "keyword_id": "948", "keyword_name": "story", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "14993" }, { "keyword_id": "27881", "keyword_name": "swordfight", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "120" }, { "keyword_id": "884163", "keyword_name": "vodigriff", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1" } ], "hidden": "f", "scraps": "f", "favorite": "f", "favorites_count": "0", "create_datetime": "2026-01-02 18:09:39.067629+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "02 Jan 2026 19:09 CET", "last_file_update_datetime": "2026-01-02 18:08:12.090307+00", "last_file_update_datetime_usertime": "02 Jan 2026 19:08 CET", "username": "AmethystMare", "user_id": "25028", "user_icon_file_name": "372849_AmethystMare_91630_avatar.png", "user_icon_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/372/372849_AmethystMare_91630_avatar.png", "user_icon_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/372/372849_AmethystMare_91630_avatar.png", "user_icon_url_small": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/372/372849_AmethystMare_91630_avatar.png", "file_name": "5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.rtf", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.rtf", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.rtf", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.rtf", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "300", "thumb_huge_y": "300", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120", "files": [ { "file_id": "5856348", "file_name": "5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.rtf", "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.rtf", "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.rtf", "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.rtf", "mimetype": "text/rtf", "submission_id": "3784781", "user_id": "25028", "submission_file_order": "0", "full_size_x": null, "full_size_y": null, "screen_size_x": null, "screen_size_y": null, "preview_size_x": null, "preview_size_y": null, "initial_file_md5": "ca43ace52e2309b07afcd95d0bf8c55e", "full_file_md5": "ca43ace52e2309b07afcd95d0bf8c55e", "large_file_md5": "", "small_file_md5": "", "thumbnail_md5": "6ccc65d0914fe9015a80392ddc469760", "deleted": "f", "create_datetime": "2026-01-02 18:08:12.090307+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "02 Jan 2026 19:08 CET", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/5856/5856348_AmethystMare_ebaandina_-_saint_laila_draft_2.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "300", "thumb_huge_y": "300", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120" } ], "pools": [ { "pool_id": "105115", "name": "SFW, clean and mature stories", "description": "", "count": "1" } ], "description": "Saint Laila faces down Zierd, the goblin leader, to rescue the townspeople trapped within The Maker's Church as he lays waste to their stores and the lives they have led... But the bovine saint fights with holiness and purity on her side.\n\n\n---\n\n\nThis story has been available for early reading one to two months ago on SubscribeStar and Patreon (SubscribeStar contains extreme content while Patreon does not)! Please check the tiers on the following links if you would like to support!\n\nPatreon (no extreme content): https://www.patreon.com/arianmabe\n\nSubscribeStar (includes extreme content): https://subscribestar.adult/arian-mabe\n\n\nYou can find my paperback furry fiction & erotica (along with their accompanying eBook collections) via the below links to support an author!\n\nPaperback books Amazon US: https://tinyurl.com/arianmabeamazon\nPaperback books Amazon UK: https://tinyurl.com/arianmabeamazonuk\nPaperback books Lulu worldwide: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/arianmabe/\n\n\nMy erotic eBooks are available on Kindle, Smashwords and Commiss.io worldwide!\n\nKindle (Alis Mitsy): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GLWQZFP\nSmashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ArianMabe\n# https://commiss.io/amethystmare\n\n\nAs always, I am open for commissions starting at 32 GBP per 1,000 words - please e-mail arianmabe[at]gmail.com for more information or see my profile!\n\n\nI also create handmade goods via Amethyst Creations, which is set up for worldwide shipping! Hand stamped metal and resin products, also with customisable options! Furry and kink friendly shop!\n\nAmethyst Creations: https://amethystmarecreations.bigcartel.com/\n\n\nStory © Amethyst Mare / Arian Mabe\nCharacters © respective owners", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Saint Laila faces down Zierd, the goblin leader, to rescue the townspeople trapped within The Maker's Church as he lays waste to their stores and the lives they have led... But the bovine saint fights with holiness and purity on her side.


---


This story has been available for early reading one to two months ago on SubscribeStar and Patreon (SubscribeStar contains extreme content while Patreon does not)! Please check the tiers on the following links if you would like to support!

Patreon (no extreme content): https://www.patreon.com/arianmabe

SubscribeStar (includes extreme content): https://subscribestar.adult/arian-mabe


You can find my paperback furry fiction & erotica (along with their accompanying eBook collections) via the below links to support an author!

Paperback books Amazon US: https://tinyurl.com/arianmabeamazon
Paperback books Amazon UK: https://tinyurl.com/arianmabeamazonuk
Paperback books Lulu worldwide: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/arianmabe/


My erotic eBooks are available on Kindle, Smashwords and Commiss.io worldwide!

Kindle (Alis Mitsy): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GLWQZFP
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ArianMabe
# https://commiss.io/amethystmare


As always, I am open for commissions starting at 32 GBP per 1,000 words - please e-mail arianmabe[at]gmail.com for more information or see my profile!


I also create handmade goods via Amethyst Creations, which is set up for worldwide shipping! Hand stamped metal and resin products, also with customisable options! Furry and kink friendly shop!

Amethyst Creations: https://amethystmarecreations.bigcartel.com/


Story © Amethyst Mare / Arian Mabe
Characters © respective owners", "writing": "Kinktober 2025\n\nSaint Laila\n\nWritten by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)\nCommissioned by EbaandIna\n\n\nThe goblins cackled and bounced: diminutive, little creatures with large ears and stout bodies. Some of them were rather plump too, after having gorged themselves on the food that was intended to feed the poor within the church. The goblin hoard, after all, didn’t care what the food they devoured was intended for, only on taking what they had deemed was rightfully theirs.\n\nHowever, The Maker’s Church had a strong following, even with the beastfolk who had, woefully, been inside when the Church was attacked. They stood fast, clasping hands, though their cloaks were torn and tattered while they held back, creatures of all species holding firm against the mockery of the goblins.\n\n“Hear ye, hear ye!”\n\nThe goblin leader, Zierd, clanged a tankard on one of the long tables, though the pews and benches had been knocked over and shoved to the side of the main hall of worship. The tables had been dragged in from other rooms, where The Maker’s Church aided those less fortunate and in the community, the stained-glass windows looking down forlornly on them as if they knew and understood what was happening under their eye.\n\nZierd smirked wetly, rubbing the back of his hand across his mouth as he stood on top of a table. Although he was taller than the goblins with paler skin as a demon, the extra height gave him a more imposing air, his dark eyes cruel above a softer nose that may otherwise have sat in quite a handsome face. Yet it was the way one acted that set whether they were ugly or beautiful – and his dark soul had done too much to be aided back to the light.\n\n“If one of you lacklustre fools,” he bellowed, spittle flying from his lips, “can face and defeat me in combat…I’ll release you. No one can say I’m not a fair leader – aye?”\n\nHe held a hand to his ear, listening to his followers whoop and cheering, half-drunk on ale already. The goblins roared and Zierd smirked. The beastfolk cowered. Just who could ever have expected to rise to the challenge, to stand up to him when he had defeated them all so easily?\n\nHe backed away, laughing at them, a hand on his toned abs. It was not a laugh to be contained when it rang with such cruelty, echoing through the Church as the beastfolk turned fierce eyes on him. He frowned, ignorant of the light slanting through the stained-glass windows, growing brighter and brighter. Spirit? Nah, no… That wouldn’t do!\n\nAs he raised his fist to them, a shrieking bellow came from outside, loud enough to rattle the windows, though not so much as to shake the foundations of the Church itself. Despite everything, the cry was of a living being and not an otherworldly one, after all. He snarled, whipping around with his hand still balled up into a fist.\n\n“Who dares challenge me?”\n\nEven though it was the demon who’d thrown down the gauntlet, figuratively, in challenge, he still stormed outside. It had been intended to be no more than a show of power, for he already had everything he needed in his grasp.\n\nThe glare of the afternoon, the sky cloudy with a threat of drizzle in the air, cast across his face and he shaded his eyes as Saint Laila descended.\n\nLaila would never be so crude as to show try anger in her expression, but she was close that day. Her stomach churned sickeningly for all the trauma the beastfolk had been put through, the holy cow anthro sitting astride, without any tack or support at all, a vodigriff. Clad in light, silvery armour, silken strands flowed from it in the breeze as it licked at her muzzle, offering her a refreshing glow before the battle began. For it would be a battle indeed, even if Saint Laila’s way, ultimately, was one of peace.\n\nThe vodigriff grunted and shuddered under her, massive, white wings beating to hover lightly in the air: a mean feat for any flying creature. As the demon glared up at her, drawing his longsword, Laila knew the time had come to do what she had to do, the beastfolk at the windows of the Church and the goblins at the door, spilling out like an infestation.\n\n“Easy, dear, easy…”\n\nShe stroked the neck of her vodigriff, the gryphon-cow hybrid chuffing lowly and licking their beak, though their eyes had a soft, kind glow to them. A vodigriff would follow their rider into the depths of darkness, for they held the light inside them that would allow them to bear back against it, where others may have fallen. \n\n“I accept your challenge, Zierd!” She called, sending her vodigriff, Kaela, to land on the grass, though it was already withering and falling fallow where the goblins had already laid waste to the fertile nature of the earth. “Leave the beastfolk, for I will send you back to the hole you crawled from!”\n\n“Hah… You talk a big game for a lousy cow, Saint Laila,” he mocked, swinging his longsword casually as she drew her own, leaving her lance with Kaela to guard. “A cow… Shouldn’t you be snuffling after blessings?”\n\n“Those that need me,” she said, her eyes harder than they’d ever been, “are here. They need me, here.”\n\n“Agh, talk like that makes me want to lose my breakfast,” Zierd complained, rolling his eyes. “Let’s get this done with, herbivore, I ain’t got all day.”\n\nThey lunged, as if one being, both expecting the other’s movements, coming together in battle. She held her longsword, glittering with holy energy, like an old friend, her fingers folded gently around the hilt. The clash of the swords rang out against her sensitive ears, but Laila pressed the attack, pushing away even her own gentle nature as she did what had to be done.\n\nThe life of a saint, after all, was not always a light one, a gentle one. She had to fight, had to defend those who had less than her, so she could see to it they never had to be put through what the goblins and demon had done to them. Even the goblins were a victim of the demon – and that too was something Laila had to hold in mind as she spun away and attacked again with a jab, bearing the weight of the longsword easily, as if it weighed nothing at all despite its size and otherwise formidable weight.\n\nThe longsword allowed her greater reach, but the demon, standing at about the same height as her, pulled her in closer, taking away the advantage. She twisted as he cut at her waist, avoiding contact, and grunted as she brought her sword up to block his, shoving him away. Zierd stumbled, not expecting such a move from her, but Saint Laila fought to win, not to meet the expectations others had of her. That wasn’t the way of a saint, though the world often had misconceptions of who she was and what she was supposed to do.\n\nShe took no pleasure in cutting at the demon, her gaze hard and unyielding. Her muscles may have been trained to fight, trapping his arm in under hers with his sword briefly useless as she put the blade of her own to his throat, wrapped around him, but they were merely functional. Her body was nothing more, in that moment, than a tool she would use to set the world of the beastfolk back to rights again, the goblins backing off, uncertain about the fate of their leader.\n\n“Yield!” She growled, in a manner quite uncharacteristic of a cow. “Yield and I’ll allow you to live! You still can change your life, find a new fate! This is not the one you need to take on.”\n\n“Agh!”\n\nZierd, however, kicked her shin and, to be fair, Laila had expected it. She wanted to give him, even as a demon, a chance to find another path, but she couldn’t change the lives of everyone. Some chose the path of evil regardless, despite their feet hardly being glued to it. \n\nShe had no control over the free will of others.\n\n“You’ll die here, cow,” Zierd taunted her as they circled one another, pacing slowly, waiting for the other to reveal something of their intentions. “In the dirt, in the mud, everyone watching… They’ll all see what becomes of the great Saint Laila, that you are no more than a common cud-chewer, weak and unholy, splattered in your own blood.”\n\n“And that is not what the hand of the Maker says.”\n\nShe took her chance while the demon took that in, slicing with her sword. Blood spilled from his shoulder as she whirled around him, knocking his longsword away with a cracking blow with the flat of hers. Metal sang and then she had him right where she wanted him, sending up a silent prayer in the same moment she plunged her sword deep into his stomach. Even a demon could not stand a wound like that, her sword imbued with holy properties and his life essence spilling in a hot sizzle to the ground.\n\n“Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh!”\n\nZierd howled, clutching at his belly, but it was too late. Laila had given him his chance and the demon had chosen not to take it, though she felt better for putting the offer out there. Sometimes, it was all she could do and she pulled her sword back as the hole in his gut gaped wider and wider, demonic corruption dragging him back to hell. It spread through his form, as if he was rotting from the inside out, from where the point of her sword had penetrated so deeply that the wound could never again heal, despite the demon’s enhanced powers. \n\nThe rot spread and with one last shriek, Zierd was gone, what was left of his form crumbling to the earth. She kicked it away with a frown, releasing the tension from her shoulders.\n\nWhen she turned to the goblins, they fled in fear, scrambling over one another in their haste to be gone, though Saint Laila hoped they would choose a kind path in life. She had saved them, in a way, from the clutches of a demon, but there was always a chance for redemption. She had to think that, had to hope, for it was where she drew her own strength from in her role.\n\n“Saint Laila, Saint Laila!”\n\n“Thank you!”\n\nThe beastfolk slowly climbed from the Church, emerging into the open air after their capture, blinking and hesitant, like they did not truly believe the demon was gone. Yet she took them all into her arms, one by one, soothing them as she held them tightly and stroked their hair.\n\n“Don’t worry, kind one,” she said to a squirrel beastfolk, quivering and shaking against her chest. “You are safe now.”\n\n“Thank you, Saint Laila,” a pair of fox twins said, bowing low and folding to their knees so their foreheads scraped the ground. “Oh, great and wonderful, Saint Laila… You have freed us from the clutches of evil!”\n\n“Oh… I…”\n\nLaila swallowed hard, gently brushing the backs of their heads with her fingertips in blessing, uncomfortable with the praise. Even after so many years, she didn’t know how to tell them it was unnecessary, that, even then, it made her uncomfortable. It didn’t fit her or her position, despite everything.\n\nBut all was set to rights as the beastfolk from the nearby town came up and Kaela returned with saddlebags filled to the brim with bottles of wine and cheese, which were to be shared out amongst the shaken beastfolk. They might have gone through quite a trial, but it was time then to settle their nerves and remind them they were among friends, that nothing bad would ever again happen to them while they resided there, under Saint Laila’s care.\n\nI vow to the end of my days, she thought, sending a prayer up to the Maker and beyond, always to care for those less fortunate than I, who do not have the strength I do. And I pray the demons of this world will seek a better way…\n\nThe last part sat heavily in her, but she didn’t want to think of her deep resentment of the world’s evils: that was something Laila would have to battle with, alone.\n\nWith the beastfolk saved and nerves eased with wine and food to fill their aching bellies, she smiled softly, laying her hand on the vodigriff’s neck. Her next mission would soon reveal itself to her. Until then, Laila resolved to be content.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Kinktober 2025

Saint Laila

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)
Commissioned by EbaandIna


The goblins cackled and bounced: diminutive, little creatures with large ears and stout bodies. Some of them were rather plump too, after having gorged themselves on the food that was intended to feed the poor within the church. The goblin hoard, after all, didn’t care what the food they devoured was intended for, only on taking what they had deemed was rightfully theirs.

However, The Maker’s Church had a strong following, even with the beastfolk who had, woefully, been inside when the Church was attacked. They stood fast, clasping hands, though their cloaks were torn and tattered while they held back, creatures of all species holding firm against the mockery of the goblins.

“Hear ye, hear ye!”

The goblin leader, Zierd, clanged a tankard on one of the long tables, though the pews and benches had been knocked over and shoved to the side of the main hall of worship. The tables had been dragged in from other rooms, where The Maker’s Church aided those less fortunate and in the community, the stained-glass windows looking down forlornly on them as if they knew and understood what was happening under their eye.

Zierd smirked wetly, rubbing the back of his hand across his mouth as he stood on top of a table. Although he was taller than the goblins with paler skin as a demon, the extra height gave him a more imposing air, his dark eyes cruel above a softer nose that may otherwise have sat in quite a handsome face. Yet it was the way one acted that set whether they were ugly or beautiful – and his dark soul had done too much to be aided back to the light.

“If one of you lacklustre fools,” he bellowed, spittle flying from his lips, “can face and defeat me in combat…I’ll release you. No one can say I’m not a fair leader – aye?”

He held a hand to his ear, listening to his followers whoop and cheering, half-drunk on ale already. The goblins roared and Zierd smirked. The beastfolk cowered. Just who could ever have expected to rise to the challenge, to stand up to him when he had defeated them all so easily?

He backed away, laughing at them, a hand on his toned abs. It was not a laugh to be contained when it rang with such cruelty, echoing through the Church as the beastfolk turned fierce eyes on him. He frowned, ignorant of the light slanting through the stained-glass windows, growing brighter and brighter. Spirit? Nah, no… That wouldn’t do!

As he raised his fist to them, a shrieking bellow came from outside, loud enough to rattle the windows, though not so much as to shake the foundations of the Church itself. Despite everything, the cry was of a living being and not an otherworldly one, after all. He snarled, whipping around with his hand still balled up into a fist.

“Who dares challenge me?”

Even though it was the demon who’d thrown down the gauntlet, figuratively, in challenge, he still stormed outside. It had been intended to be no more than a show of power, for he already had everything he needed in his grasp.

The glare of the afternoon, the sky cloudy with a threat of drizzle in the air, cast across his face and he shaded his eyes as Saint Laila descended.

Laila would never be so crude as to show try anger in her expression, but she was close that day. Her stomach churned sickeningly for all the trauma the beastfolk had been put through, the holy cow anthro sitting astride, without any tack or support at all, a vodigriff. Clad in light, silvery armour, silken strands flowed from it in the breeze as it licked at her muzzle, offering her a refreshing glow before the battle began. For it would be a battle indeed, even if Saint Laila’s way, ultimately, was one of peace.

The vodigriff grunted and shuddered under her, massive, white wings beating to hover lightly in the air: a mean feat for any flying creature. As the demon glared up at her, drawing his longsword, Laila knew the time had come to do what she had to do, the beastfolk at the windows of the Church and the goblins at the door, spilling out like an infestation.

“Easy, dear, easy…”

She stroked the neck of her vodigriff, the gryphon-cow hybrid chuffing lowly and licking their beak, though their eyes had a soft, kind glow to them. A vodigriff would follow their rider into the depths of darkness, for they held the light inside them that would allow them to bear back against it, where others may have fallen.

“I accept your challenge, Zierd!” She called, sending her vodigriff, Kaela, to land on the grass, though it was already withering and falling fallow where the goblins had already laid waste to the fertile nature of the earth. “Leave the beastfolk, for I will send you back to the hole you crawled from!”

“Hah… You talk a big game for a lousy cow, Saint Laila,” he mocked, swinging his longsword casually as she drew her own, leaving her lance with Kaela to guard. “A cow… Shouldn’t you be snuffling after blessings?”

“Those that need me,” she said, her eyes harder than they’d ever been, “are here. They need me, here.”

“Agh, talk like that makes me want to lose my breakfast,” Zierd complained, rolling his eyes. “Let’s get this done with, herbivore, I ain’t got all day.”

They lunged, as if one being, both expecting the other’s movements, coming together in battle. She held her longsword, glittering with holy energy, like an old friend, her fingers folded gently around the hilt. The clash of the swords rang out against her sensitive ears, but Laila pressed the attack, pushing away even her own gentle nature as she did what had to be done.

The life of a saint, after all, was not always a light one, a gentle one. She had to fight, had to defend those who had less than her, so she could see to it they never had to be put through what the goblins and demon had done to them. Even the goblins were a victim of the demon – and that too was something Laila had to hold in mind as she spun away and attacked again with a jab, bearing the weight of the longsword easily, as if it weighed nothing at all despite its size and otherwise formidable weight.

The longsword allowed her greater reach, but the demon, standing at about the same height as her, pulled her in closer, taking away the advantage. She twisted as he cut at her waist, avoiding contact, and grunted as she brought her sword up to block his, shoving him away. Zierd stumbled, not expecting such a move from her, but Saint Laila fought to win, not to meet the expectations others had of her. That wasn’t the way of a saint, though the world often had misconceptions of who she was and what she was supposed to do.

She took no pleasure in cutting at the demon, her gaze hard and unyielding. Her muscles may have been trained to fight, trapping his arm in under hers with his sword briefly useless as she put the blade of her own to his throat, wrapped around him, but they were merely functional. Her body was nothing more, in that moment, than a tool she would use to set the world of the beastfolk back to rights again, the goblins backing off, uncertain about the fate of their leader.

“Yield!” She growled, in a manner quite uncharacteristic of a cow. “Yield and I’ll allow you to live! You still can change your life, find a new fate! This is not the one you need to take on.”

“Agh!”

Zierd, however, kicked her shin and, to be fair, Laila had expected it. She wanted to give him, even as a demon, a chance to find another path, but she couldn’t change the lives of everyone. Some chose the path of evil regardless, despite their feet hardly being glued to it.

She had no control over the free will of others.

“You’ll die here, cow,” Zierd taunted her as they circled one another, pacing slowly, waiting for the other to reveal something of their intentions. “In the dirt, in the mud, everyone watching… They’ll all see what becomes of the great Saint Laila, that you are no more than a common cud-chewer, weak and unholy, splattered in your own blood.”

“And that is not what the hand of the Maker says.”

She took her chance while the demon took that in, slicing with her sword. Blood spilled from his shoulder as she whirled around him, knocking his longsword away with a cracking blow with the flat of hers. Metal sang and then she had him right where she wanted him, sending up a silent prayer in the same moment she plunged her sword deep into his stomach. Even a demon could not stand a wound like that, her sword imbued with holy properties and his life essence spilling in a hot sizzle to the ground.

“Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh!”

Zierd howled, clutching at his belly, but it was too late. Laila had given him his chance and the demon had chosen not to take it, though she felt better for putting the offer out there. Sometimes, it was all she could do and she pulled her sword back as the hole in his gut gaped wider and wider, demonic corruption dragging him back to hell. It spread through his form, as if he was rotting from the inside out, from where the point of her sword had penetrated so deeply that the wound could never again heal, despite the demon’s enhanced powers.

The rot spread and with one last shriek, Zierd was gone, what was left of his form crumbling to the earth. She kicked it away with a frown, releasing the tension from her shoulders.

When she turned to the goblins, they fled in fear, scrambling over one another in their haste to be gone, though Saint Laila hoped they would choose a kind path in life. She had saved them, in a way, from the clutches of a demon, but there was always a chance for redemption. She had to think that, had to hope, for it was where she drew her own strength from in her role.

“Saint Laila, Saint Laila!”

“Thank you!”

The beastfolk slowly climbed from the Church, emerging into the open air after their capture, blinking and hesitant, like they did not truly believe the demon was gone. Yet she took them all into her arms, one by one, soothing them as she held them tightly and stroked their hair.

“Don’t worry, kind one,” she said to a squirrel beastfolk, quivering and shaking against her chest. “You are safe now.”

“Thank you, Saint Laila,” a pair of fox twins said, bowing low and folding to their knees so their foreheads scraped the ground. “Oh, great and wonderful, Saint Laila… You have freed us from the clutches of evil!”

“Oh… I…”

Laila swallowed hard, gently brushing the backs of their heads with her fingertips in blessing, uncomfortable with the praise. Even after so many years, she didn’t know how to tell them it was unnecessary, that, even then, it made her uncomfortable. It didn’t fit her or her position, despite everything.

But all was set to rights as the beastfolk from the nearby town came up and Kaela returned with saddlebags filled to the brim with bottles of wine and cheese, which were to be shared out amongst the shaken beastfolk. They might have gone through quite a trial, but it was time then to settle their nerves and remind them they were among friends, that nothing bad would ever again happen to them while they resided there, under Saint Laila’s care.

I vow to the end of my days, she thought, sending a prayer up to the Maker and beyond, always to care for those less fortunate than I, who do not have the strength I do. And I pray the demons of this world will seek a better way…

The last part sat heavily in her, but she didn’t want to think of her deep resentment of the world’s evils: that was something Laila would have to battle with, alone.

With the beastfolk saved and nerves eased with wine and food to fill their aching bellies, she smiled softly, laying her hand on the vodigriff’s neck. Her next mission would soon reveal itself to her. Until then, Laila resolved to be content.
", "pools_count": 1, "title": "Saint Laila", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "text/rtf", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "0", "rating_name": "General", "ratings": [], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "f", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "0", "views": "1" }