"Look out, a headless horseman is approaching!"

"Look out! A headless horseman is approaching!" The priestess pointed out towards the forest, which appeared to be completely empty in the encroaching darkness of night.

The gang all looked at one another, then burst out laughing, holding their guts. Even the ordinarily composed leader of the Ten Thieves couldn't believe she'd spring for such a ridiculous ploy. "A headless horseman?! The demon lord's got cyclopses and deathspeakers and hobgoblins and dragons, and you spring straight for a headless horseman?!" Gedd guffawed, pulling free the leather half-mask that covered the lower portion of his face so that he could laugh more freely without suffocating himself. "Ga ha ha ha ha! I'd heard the head of the church was naive like a little kid, but this takes the cake! You could'a even told us more bandits were coming and I'd have believed you quicker, stupid girl!"

Clara struggled more thoroughly against Lionel's grasp... her angel's eyes, slightly stronger than a human's even without a prayer aiding them, clearly saw a rider in black armor approaching the cart. The massive war horse they rode was also armored and utterly intimidating, with plumes of blue flame, growing increasingly visible through the darkness and partially igniting the undergrowth it trod upon. It was barreling forward like a rocket... if the men had any sense about them, they'd probably look- or listen- and see it now. The final two details of the rider were most alarming... they carried a helmet underneath their arm while a wisp of blue flames poured from their neck-hole. Last, but not least, they carried a wicked, black weapon like a pole with a long speartip, as well as a jagged scythe blade, designed either to stab or slice, but so heavy it could only be wielded by a being of unnatural strength.

The rider was slowly lowering their weapon with the intent to either spear someone or, perhaps just as worryingly, pluck off their head with that scythe!

"I-I'm deadly serious! A headless horseman is coming!"

"Ga ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"I-If you'll all close your eyes and pray for just a moment, Geod will see you through this!"

"Okay, now you're pissing me off! I ain't prayin' for Geod for nothing, let alone protection from your made up horseman!!"

"Then pray to the demon lord instead, you damned soul! Oh ho ho ho!"

The final female voice hadn't come from the priestess; in a flash, the knight had caught up to the cart. Their massive armored mount reared, causing the frightened horses at the front of the cart to begin bucking wildly and capsize the cart. As the thieves wailed and began to abandon the cart, scrambling off into the night, Gedd alone maintained his poise and hopped along the rotating side of the cart to stand on its side, holding his arms to either side for balance. One could applaud his skill and bravery in the face of the attacking demon... If it weren't for the fact that his new position left his neck perfectly **** for the attacker's scythe. The rider pulled the blade back and easily lopped off the bandit's head, cleanly cutting the neck.

"O-Oh my Geod!" Clara cried, watching in terror as the severed head was hoisted into the air.

"Oooooh shiiiiit!" the head wailed... then realized that it was still, somehow, alive. No blood fell from either side of the wound... instead, a trail of blue fire spewed from either end. The body began to paw at its missing head frantically, then threw its hands into the air and began running off with the other bandits.

"Ho ho ho... You're my latest trophy, sir," the headless female knight chuckled, fastening his long-haired head onto her belt by a silver chain, wrapped into the hair itself. "And this humble cleric will be a fine second trophy to join you. So foolish... So foolish, to leave the safety of your human dwelling and venture into the forest of demons!"

"Dammit! We weren't actually even in your damned forest yet!" Gedd shouted.

"Details!"

As she dug her way out from underneath the overturned cart, which the horses had broken free from, Clara felt utterly befuddled... but actually thought this might be a stroke of good luck. She couldn't expose her powers in front of ten inhabitants of the town of Merridan, but if she was to use her powers to obliterate the demon lord's strange dullahan, then restore Gedd's head to the proper place, then no one would have a place to complain, right? Then they could track down the horses- or use the warhorse- and reach the abbey the rest of the way! The time had come to flex her angelic muscle... without using a prayer to Geod, preferably.