“Surely you can’t mean to advance with so few men,” Lord Nostlinum said, between bites of meat. Blood from the raw flesh trickled out of the corner of his mouth. “Do you truly mean to risk losing everything just for the sake of haste?”

Meztraxia had opted to receive him alone, but for their attendants. His underlings didn’t need to see them argue, nor did he think they had anything of value to contribute here. If he couldn’t convince Lord Nostlinum himself, then there was no hope of it.

“I can and I do. It will not be easy, but our forces are sufficient for the task ahead and the reward is more than worth the risk.”

“Is it now?” Nostlinum asked, setting down his fork and steepling his fingers. The yellow skin of his hands was supple and unmarked, a curious sight in a Demon Lord. “I hardly think the opportunity to put a few humans to the sword is worth losing our army over.”

“Our victory would be no small matter. None of the cities along the Arid Sea have ever been taken, destroying one of them would go a long way towards rallying men to our cause.”

“Toward satisfying your vanity, you mean. Do you really believe that to be worth courting disaster?”

“Courting disaster is an inevitability in war. If it were easy, I would hardly need so many soldiers.”

“That’s funny,” Nostlinum said, without a trace of humour, “when you proposed this alliance to me, you made it all sound so easy. As if our victory was all but assured.”

“And it would have been, had you brought the thirty thousand we agreed upon. Instead I am forced to make do with far less.”

Eyes cold, Nostlinum toyed with the silver ring on his index finger as he spoke. “Lord Azuren demanded I send soldiers, you’re lucky I came at all instead of answering our lord’s call myself.”

“He is no lord of mine; I serve only the Demon King.”

“Yes, yes, you’ve spoken at length on the favour our late king has bestowed upon you. Not all of us have the luxury of abandoning Lord Azuren on a whim.”

“Yet it appears you have no trouble straying from our agreement. It’s interesting to me that you would choose to honour your commitment to him, and not to me. Do you hold him in such high regard?”

“Of course, he is the greatest among us. I would be a fool not to.”

“Great he may be,” Meztraxia said, “but he is also very far away. And from what I’ve heard, he appears to be rather occupied.”

Overt threats would not serve for Nostlinum, his position was nearly equal with that of Meztraxia. Even if it forced his compliance for a short time, he’d be certain to betray Meztraxia the first chance he got. However, reminding him of the danger certain courses posed could be most useful.

“He is occupied for now. But Lord Azuren never fails to repay his debts. Or to answer insults.”

“I respect that you would not want to incur his wrath, and that you have been forced, by circumstances outside your control, to divert a significant portion of your troops. But I cannot respect your lack of faith in my cause, why have you come at all if you are not willing to take a risk? One way or another the humans will be destroyed, don’t you want a hand in it? It’s a far grander goal than Lord Azuren’s petty schemes.”

“Let us not mince words,” Nostlinum said, “you and I both know I never had any faith in your cause. I came because of the rewards you offered me, and if I stand to lose more than I gain by assisting you, then it makes for a rather unappealing prospect.”

Meztraxia wished to berate him and brand him a coward, but he supressed the impulse; it would bring no benefit to his cause. Instead, he tried a different tact. “Unappealing as it may be, it is quickly becoming the only course open to you if you wish a stake in this. If I cannot produce additional results soon, likely my army will melt away before too long and you will have gained nothing at all in exchange for displeasing Lord Azuren. And to my understanding, it would be during a time in which he very much does not wish to be displeased.”

Meztraxia raised his hand to silence Nostlinum’s reply, he still had more words to add to box be was building around his fellow Demon Lord. “While it’s true that your commitment of troops will deflect the worst of his ire, you would be a fool to think that you will reap any of the benefits. They shall all go to his loyal supporters that offered him everything they had without restraint or condition. The time for playing both sides has ended, you must make your choice now.”