“Okay,” Saija said with a smile. “I haven’t had a chance to stretch my wings much since arriving here. I do want to get a better look at the fight and flying seems a safe location. I’ll do it.”
Juliana sighed, letting out a small breath. “Excellent,” she said, giving a half-shrug to a thoroughly confused Irene. “Let’s head up to the roof then.”
Not willing to give the succubus time to reconsider or otherwise back out of her commitment, Juliana took her hand and pulled her along. Being a demon, Saija could probably break free with relative ease. She didn’t. After a few steps, she started walking along on her own.
A few steps more and Saija was practically dragging Juliana instead of the other way around.
Once they got up, Juliana paused.
A human—or human-like being in Saija’s case—carrying a human in flight seemed like it would be incredibly awkward at best, uncomfortable at worst. Well, not quite. Being dropped at a high altitude would be far worse than merely uncomfortable.
“So how are we going to do this?”
“Well, first I’ll wrap my tail around you,” she said, moving up close and wrapping the tail around Juliana’s chest, just beneath her armpits. “That way I will have a chance to catch you if you fall. Like a seatbelt in your car things.”
Juliana glanced down at the tail. It was a thin bit of leathery flesh, far smaller than any staircase handrail, with a spaded tip at the end. Not very long either. Even with Saija standing right up against Juliana, it barely made it all the way around her.
Given its size, Juliana wasn’t feeling very confident. If Saija’s much more normal sized arms couldn’t hold her up, what hope did the tail have?
But Saija had other plans. She bent slightly, hooking one arm right against the backside of Juliana’s legs. Juliana flailed as she fell backwards, eventually grabbing onto both of Saija’s shoulders just as Saija caught her back with her other arm.
“There,” the succubus said. She let out a short, slightly strained breath. “You weren’t kidding about your weight.”
Taking a moment to make sure she wasn’t about to fall, Juliana readjusted some of her metal to make the side closer to Saija a bit thicker. Moving their center of balance a bit closer to the center seemed a good idea. Still, she had to ask. “Too heavy?”
Saija tilted up her chin with a smug look on her face. She tried to puff out her chest, but it wasn’t as effective with Juliana in her arms. “Never. When I said I could lift ten of you, that might have been a bit of an exaggeration. One is still fine.”
She took a few steps forward, each more steady than the last as her confidence grew.
“However,” she said, pausing, “maybe think about a diet? Some of the people I was eating lunch with were asking how I could eat so much and still maintain my figure. I didn’t really understand, but I guess a diet makes you less heavy. So try that.”
“I’ll think about it,” Juliana mumbled.
Saija walked them right up to the edge of the building. Craning her neck, Juliana managed to get a quick view of the fight below.
Arachne was missing several more legs. They were lying scattered about the plaza. She had actually shrunken down to her humanoid form, perhaps because she ran out of legs to keep her bulky form mobile. Or even standing.
The hunter was actively trying to disengage. He kept snapping away from the demon and the doll. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t get away. Nearly the entire ground level had been webbed in like some sort of arena cage. Anytime he tried hacking away at the threads, Arachne or the doll made it to him before he could get through.
The doll would hound him relentlessly until he managed to get away again while Arachne just occupied his attention long enough for the doll to get over. She would stop fighting and repair the fencing.
Being less mobile, the golem would help keep him away from Arachne while she worked. Occasionally a rock would fly across the arena like a missile, sometimes missing and sometimes hitting but always forcing him to back away from the fence.
They watched for a few moments before Juliana remembered the whole reason they had come to the roof in the first place.
“Shall we take off now?”
“This seems to be a perfectly good view of the fight.”
“Well, if you can’t do it, I understand. I was just so looking forward to the flight.”
Saija didn’t respond. She tipped forward and stepped off the edge of the roof instead.
Juliana’s hands, already tight around the succubus’s shoulders, clamped down. Saija might survive, but Juliana wouldn’t.
The fall didn’t last long, however. Saija’s wings spread out, catching the air and turning their dive into a glide. A few quick flaps and an angle slightly upwards had them climbing and soaring straight over the battlefield.
“Please don’t do that again,” Juliana shouted over the wind.
“It’s more fun that way.”
