While the conversation gave me some answers, I still lacked a lot of knowledge about other archfey. Especially how their courts and politics worked. Adhira had avoided the more powerful fey and Shani was uninterested in politics.

What I did have was a good reason to visit the lady of the forest. I wondered what her actual name was, because everyone seemed to use her title. But for now we had to wait and see what information the Emperor revealed. Or what could be uncovered from the ruins.

Later that day, Lilith invited me to her tent. Lucy and our maids were busy introducing Ben to his new armour, so I went alone. I hoped that Lilith had some new information on our enemies.

“Greetings, Amaya.” Lilith said as I entered the tent.

“Hello, Lilith. You asked for me?” I replied.

“Yes, I wanted to introduce you to my new servant.” Lilith pointed towards the knight standing besides her. He was wearing a familiar armour. One that had belonged to the emperor not long ago.

“Oh, are you the paladin?” I asked.

The man bowed. “I was. Now I am Sir Francis, loyal knight of Queen Lilith. I must thank you, Lady Amaya. You and your allies have defeated me and shown me the error of my ways. I was blind, but my queen has opened my eyes.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Sir Francis is now utterly devoted to my cause. He will personally lead strikes against our enemies. He had far more knowledge than I expected.” Lilith said.

“Really? And he was not controlled?” I wondered.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I was controlled, by a corrupted faith. I was so certain that I was on the side of good, I committed many atrocities. I must atone for my sins. I know some of their laboratories. I know where I delivered people. Where I doomed them to a fate worse than death.” He sounded really remorseful. Of course, he was now serving a demon lord. He was simply a puppet with a different master now. Then again, Lilith was not as bad as the Inquisition.

“Do you have any other helpful information?” I asked.

“The mage, the necromancer, in my former party. He held a new rank, called overseer. They were deployed in a lot of groups. They had direct contact with the high inquisitors. They made everyone disappear who was not loyal enough. If you can capture one of them, they would know more. I also know where the high inquisitors reside, in theory. I do not know if they are still there.” He said.

“It would be good to take them out. They might only be puppets, but without them a lot of the regular soldiers might surrender.” I mused.

“Or fall to the cult.” Lilith said. “Do not forget Ashmedai. Beira has used the demons as a distraction but his cult has spread. With our weakening of Beira, they will act. I would estimate the Inquisition itself will have a civil war, soon. I would not be surprised if most of the south gets overrun by demons.”

I had not thought about the cult. If Beira did retreat to the fairy realm, and took her strongest people with her…

“They will try to summon Ashmedai, won’t they? With so much fighting and death everywhere, they will likely create another ritual.” I said.

“That seems probable. He is a brute and an idiot. We might be able to manipulate him. Or we could just deal with him.” Lilith suggested.

“He will cause a lot of people to die. Ideally we would stop his summoning.” I replied.

“Well, there will be a lot of battlefields and a lot of vulnerable cities. We can’t be everywhere. We should just focus on dealing with him. Between Lucy, you and me he should be easy to defeat. Then we can force him to pay reparations. He should have an extensive knowledge of the cult. We can use that.” Lilith said.

“You want him to be summoned.” I stated.

Lilith shrugged. “I would not go that far. I would be entirely happy to not see his face again. I am just realistic. There are too many foolish mortals to stop them all. We should just make the best of it.”

“I think we should contact the lady of the forest.” I suggested. I was hoping that another archfey could help us track down Beira.

Lilith nodded. “With Beira being an archfey I expected something like that. Fey politics are even more complicated than demonic politics, or so I have heard. I hope you will stay here long enough to help deal with Ashmedai.”

“Of course. We have to secure the remaining part of the Empire first. But once the situation is under control, we can leave it to the dwarves. We have to find Beira before she finds another artefact. If you want, you can accompany us to the faerie realm. We are allies, after all.” I offered.

“I would be delighted.” Lilith answered with a smile.