“I am afraid we came by some crucial intelligence, sir,” Glaustro stated. “Discovered by one of my soldiers, who has accompanied us here.”
My commander kept his face perfectly still and serious under Crewe’s gaze, but I swear he would have been grinning if he could as I realized exactly what he was about to make me do.
“Interesting.” That was all Crewe said before turning his full attention to me.
I didn’t like it. Or take it very well. A shudder ran down my spine. To look into those pools of crimson was to know the lieutenant general’s true nature.
The only thing that stared back at me was pure Terror.
“Pulling on all your favors,” Crewe went on. “Making all those enemies. Just to make me converse with a mortal. A most interesting strategy. Let us see if it works out for you. Speak, mortal, and you better impress me.”
He didn’t say the words maliciously. They didn’t come out as a threat. They were a simple statement of fact, and I felt that knowledge take root in my very soul. If I failed to perform up to his standard, then I would be dead. Simple as that.
I tried very hard to avoid that route.
I admit I was quite impressed later with the way I handled things. I didn’t stammer. I didn’t make as many detours in my explanation as I had when talking to the brothers. I laid out the facts, as succinctly as I could, and then I performed my little show-and-tell.
Glaustro and Graighast had insisted we find the biggest grains of sand we could, and they spent some of their precious time to do just that while I was poked and prodded for my outfit. So, when the time came to slice through the grains, I did it easily.
Again and again, for a total of ten times.
With each perfect slice, I felt Crewe’s body language shift. He had started out with his back straight and head held high regally. Now, he was practically a hunchback, hunger etched into every line of his face. I could see the flash of fangs as his mouth slowly ripped open again.
To finish things off, I extracted a scorpion’s pincer from my dimensional pouch and ran my blade over it. Just like every other time, the sword made no impact on the sleek, compact layer of sand covering the creature’s exoskeleton.
Thankfully, Glaustro had chomped down on one of the scorpion’s souls as part of our preparation, so I had even more information to share with the good lieutenant general.
“We did some research on these critters, from one of their souls,” I explained. “They slowly grow their exoskeleton and pincers by devouring sand. They process it within their bodies into a form they can expel to their surface. It starts off almost melted, but quickly hardens into new armor layers. We believe that the process, whatever it is, removes a soul’s influence over the grains. This does hint that the sand’s properties are natural, so whoever is controlling the sand is merely taking advantage of it.”
“Or the sand is a part of their body, and the bugs merely stole a piece,” Crewe mused.
Though he wasn’t raging or ordering my execution, I still shuddered.
He was quiet for several seconds. Then, finally, he tilted his head at me. The motion was highly unnerving, since his neck bent far more to the side than it should have.
“Congratulations, soldier.”
I was so thrown off, I couldn’t stop the word that slipped out of my mouth. “Sir?”
The lieutenant general made some kind of an odd, clicking noise that I quickly realized was laughter. “I said you better impress me, and you did.” He shook his head, straightening his posture as he strolled back over to the globe.
I had to blink again. When had he drawn so close to me? I didn’t even notice, but I could have reached out and touched him. Not that I felt an inkling of desire to do so.
“Do you know how rarely I am surprised? Taken off guard? I’ve made my career out of slaughtering my enemies, yes, but few know how many resources I have invested into my intelligence agents. And they failed to bring this to me. Each. And. Every. One. It appears some changes are in order around here.”
He still sounded perfectly personable. Kind, even, if such an emotion could be ascribed to him. But I was under no illusions. Whoever those intelligence agents were, they would all die. Multiple times, if the good lieutenant general wasn’t feeling merciful.
“I am glad I could perform up to your satisfaction,” I answered sincerely. I didn’t need to lie.
Yay for survival, living to die another day, and all of that.
I realized my anxiety was getting out of hand and starting to eat away at my rationality, but there was little I could do to stuff it back into its corner.
“Of that, I have no doubt.” Crewe laughed again in that alien manner. “No doubt at all. However, you do not know how much you just changed. So many plans. Such careful calculations. I have suspected the jinn were watching. It was driving me mad, not understanding how.”
He caressed the globe. It spun, and he let his fingers drift through the clouds of sand that obscured so much of it.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Now that I know, it has rendered most of my methods moot. The plan was to bait the enemy into attacking our cities by feigning a major offensive on this base we discovered. I’ve had entire armies fake their journey here. We’ve used exceedingly rare and powerful magics, artefacts… even dummies crafted through the sacrifices of the local humanoids. And if things are as I now fear, those efforts are useless. One and all.”
I winced. This was the moment. He would spin around and lash out, and I would end up in a billion little pieces all over the wall behind me. To my surprise, he merely laughed and speared me with another look.
“All because of a single new soldier! Practically a recruit still. Funny, how things work out. Funny, but fortuitous. No, that plan will no longer work. So, if that’s the case…”
The lieutenant general spun the globe and stabbed his hand at one of the landmarks, a cluster of floating metal pyramids that hovered far above the surface of Lagyel. Then he repeated the motions again and again, spinning and stabbing, faster and faster until I couldn’t track the motions.
He stopped at some kind of massive pit that covered a truly gigantic swatch of land and stabbed his finger forward for the last time. I watched, fascinated, as the pit shook.
The effects spread quickly into the surrounding lands depicted on the globe. When the source of the disturbance revealed itself, my eyes widened in horror.
Dozens upon dozens of creatures crawled out of the pit. They resembled worms, except with giant maws all over their bodies All of them were gargantuan, squirming things, and they had wings. I watched as fleshy, alien limbs sprouted from their sides and launched them into the air. They appeared to be for short-distance flight only, but they allowed the monsters to glide at a speed that could devour miles in seconds.
“If they think to outsmart me, I’ll make it impossible for them to do so.” Crewe watched the spectacle with a placid expression. “If they choose to fight through guile, then I will crush them under my heel. Subterfuge was never a requirement. I merely… enjoy it. The buildup of terror. The crescendo of bitter hope. The quiet hopelessness of the epilogue… yes, there is much to enjoy there.”
I couldn’t say anything, because what was there to say? If the globe really was enchanted to show events unfolding in the present moment, then Crewe had just unleashed an army of titans unlike anything I had ever seen before. Not even the golem compared favorably to them.
“We are ready to fight for the legion at any moment, sir,” Graighast declared solemnly. He made a military bow in sync with his brother, and I scrambled to copy them. I wasn’t too successful, shock making me sluggish and uncoordinated, but the lieutenant general didn’t seem to mind.
“As are all my troops, I am sure. Regardless, you do deserve to be commended. You did bring this fascinating mortal to my attention. Glaustro, he is yours, is he not? We will discuss a suitable reward for this at a later date. Whether they have multiple watchers close to our cities or one being that can cover the whole world, we have much to plan for. Dismiss your soldier, then join my council. I will smooth over the feathers you ruffled and negate the favors you had to call on. You deserve at least that much, before we settle the score fully.”
Crewe waved one of his three left arms negligently in my direction, and Glaustro hastened to obey. He gripped my arm — not unkindly, more as support than anything — and quickly dragged me from the room.
I said nothing until he had led me all the way out of the building. I knew a demon as powerful as Crewe probably had the entire city under his influence, but I still felt a weight lift from my shoulders as the unremitting rays of Lagyel’s sun hit my skin.
“You handled that good, kid,” Glaustro whispered. He sounded oddly relieved for a man who had thrown me under the bus by making me present the whole thing. I would have glared at him if I had the emotional wherewithal, but he must have felt something from me anyway, because he chuckled. “Don’t resent me. You had to do it. We needed to use your sword for the presentation. Bound weapons work only for their owners, remember?”
“Why make me talk too, then?” I wondered, though with far less fire in my voice than I would have mustered even moments before.
“Because Graighast knows Crewe, and Crewe hates gutless hangers-on. If we just presented him to you as a mindless puppet to show off our discovery, he would have treated you as such. Now, he remembers you as someone promising. Someone with potential.”
I had to turn and stare at him. For the first time, it clicked that the brothers were doing me a favor.
Even if all my ascension ambitions bore fruit, I would still be just another young demon. Someone worse off than having no family at all, in fact, with Mercutio and his grandfather gunning to kill me.
The only way for me to succeed was to earn merits and make myself stand out. And Glaustro had just given up a chance to present my findings as his own, in favor of letting me do just that.
I felt… I didn’t know how I felt. Overwhelmed? Thankful? Confused?
It was all of that and much, much more. I settled on a simple, mumbled “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it, kid. You’ve pulled your weight and done your part. I take care of my soldiers when they put in the effort, and you’ve been doing that. It’s a shame you haven’t ascended yet, or you could probably get better rewards from the lieutenant general, but it’s better that you take your time. So long as you don’t get overwhelmed along the way, of course.”
I nodded and kept quiet, still stewing in my thoughts when he finally released me a block away from Crewe’s headquarters. “What’s going to happen now?”
My answer was a tired shrug. “Now, it seems like we’ll get that grand battle everyone thought would happen to begin with. What that’s going to look like, I can’t tell you yet, but it probably won’t be pretty. We’ll need to do our best to survive. So, go rest. Do some shopping for any essentials you might need. Train. Let your cat girl know what’s coming too, I suppose. I’ll most likely make an announcement tomorrow, but it’s always good to have important news early.”
Almost numb, I watched my commander walk away until he was entirely out of sight. Then, somehow, I got my feet moving again. My mind started to churn.
So. A major battle. In a ‘we-are-mobilizing-giant-monsters’ kind of way. What are the chances I get to sit this one out and look pretty at home while all the killing happens? Do I want to do that?
It felt strange to wonder whether I liked the idea of getting involved in a fight between titans, but I seriously considered it.
The answer, unfortunately, was ‘yes.’ I wanted to be there. There would be risk aplenty, of course, but also opportunity.
Most demons would not concern themselves with any mortal army the jinn chose to drag into things. Knowing demons, they would focus on killing jinn to earn honor and promotions.
That would leave a whole host of enemy mortals up for grabs. I didn’t relish the thought of killing intelligent beings again, humanoids especially, but… they were soldiers, and we were bound to clash.
And I needed the souls.
I would like to say I grappled with the moral dilemma all the way back to the compound, but I really just felt tired, and still mostly numb.
Thankfully, I had no trouble following Mia’s instructions from before we parted, and the cat girl had thoughtfully left a door open to help me find her.
She looked up irritably when I appeared in the door frame, then scoffed. “You’re late. You were making me worry.”
I huffed right back at her, though a smile was starting to tug at my lips. “I am. But do I have a story to share with you…”