Lord Sarinknell was waiting for me outside his study and looked me over with a cold expression on his face. “Good. Now you’re ready for battle.”

I blinked. “Battle? What am I going to be battling?”

“Raiders from a neighbouring province, assuming you and the rest of my men can catch them. Your temporary companions are already waiting for you in the courtyard. One of my servants will hand you your sword as you pass through the gate.” He gestured for me to go.

It took me a little while to find my way through the building but eventually I reached a long, crooked shaft leading downward. Was this how I was supposed to get out? Feeling uncertain, I descended using the steel rungs set into the wall and stepped outside before looking back.

The top of the building was a tall, square structure of stone which was more or less what I’d expected based on the inside, but below that were several twisted pillars of stone supporting the whole thing. They looked far too fragile to hold up the rest of the building, but as far as I could tell it seemed perfectly stable. Magic must have been involved in its construction somehow, physics seemed to function more or less the same here from what I’d seen so far.

Shaking my head, I turned from the Sarinknell’s home to the courtyard around it. Surrounded by low stone walls, it was empty but for a pond of brown water and handful of soldiers milling about in a group. One of them, a woman, got up from where she’d been sitting and walked over. She wore a mixture of mail and plate with her helmet under her arm. “So, it really is you.”

I tried to remember if I’d seen her somewhere before, but there was nothing familiar about her. She had dark blue skin and a pair of straight tiny horns like spikes. Nothing about her seemed particularly noteworthy compared to the other demons I’d seen but I felt like I’d have remembered seeing her. “Do I know you?”

Her armoured shoulders rose and fell. “In a sense. I was one of the soldiers you scattered after you jumped out of the tower.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know how to respond to that. Meeting someone I’d tried to kill in close combat the day before wasn’t something I was well versed in. Was she angry at me? Her expression was calm, unreadable. “Sorry about that.”

She chuckled. “There’s nothing to apologise for. I don’t know what it’s like where you’re from, but ending up on the same side after trying to kill each other is practically an everyday occurrence in these parts. ‘Course, same goes for killing former allies.” She tapped the side of her neck and winked.

“Don’t you care about the people I killed?” It seemed unbelievable, even for a demon. Was Elmidath this callous? “You must have known at least some of them.”

“Yeah, I did. And no, I don’t care. Ortyx called for them and they answered, you were only the instrument of her will.”

What she was saying was insane but I was hardly one to argue with a demon over their religion in a fantasy world. Yes, if there was anything I was known for, it was not that. “Well, that’s… good. There’s no hard feelings between us then?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Where’s your sword anyway? I hear it’s the same one that belonged to the old lord, is that true?”

“Yeah. The new lord said his servant would give it to me at the gate.”

The blue-skinned demon inclined her head in the direction of the gate and headed toward it. Figuring it was about time we got moving, I followed. Everyone in the courtyard gathered their things and got moving, most not sparing me a glance. They each went at their own pace with no real cohesion, not what I’d have expected of soldiers. I guess the demons weren’t big on discipline.

Taking my sword on the way out, I fell into conversation with the demon who’d approached me earlier. “Have you served Lord Sarinknell long? It didn’t sound like you knew the previous lord.” We could do with more information about the Demon Lord’s forces and there wasn’t much else to do.

“Yeah, I never met him or his daughter. I used to work for Lord Sarinknell’s brother-in-law, then he sent me here after the place changed hands.” Her tone was level, it didn’t seem like she much cared which lord she served.

“How long ago was that?”

The demon pressed her lips together. “Maybe six months ago? How long were you working for the lord’s niece?”

“Only a few days. I’m still working for her, we’ve just formed a temporary alliance with her uncle.”

“Uh-huh.” She didn’t look too convinced.

We walked for most of the day, stopping only after the sun set. Without tents or camping supplies, the demon soldiers didn’t have much setting up to do. They sat down and ate what provisions they’d brought. The demon I’d been speaking with earlier noticed I had nothing to eat and offered to share hers. I can’t say whatever dried meat she was eating looked too appetising, but it was better than nothing.

“Sure, I’ll have some.” I sat down on the hard ground beside her. In close proximity to this unknown woman I wondered if I was behaving appropriately. Sharing food wasn’t some kind of marriage proposal, right? I glanced over and saw she was focused on her meal, barely even looking at me. Probably didn’t need to worry about that then.

Was I even allowed to get married? I suppose I’d have to get my lord’s permission first. The thought of asking Elmidath for permission to get married was so ridiculous I burst out laughing. My outburst earned me an odd look from the soldier beside me. “What is it?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of something funny.” Clearing my throat, I looked off into the distance. “Are we getting close to where the raiders are yet?”

“Yeah, we should reach the last village sometime tomorrow.” She shrugged. “Why? You in a hurry or something?”

“Eh, not exactly.” I looked around at our complete lack of accommodations in the twisted wilderness. “But I’d rather be sitting around in the manor than out here.”

The demon snorted. “The same goes for all of us. But hey, we gotta earn our pay somehow. Better than being a farmer.”

I wasn’t so sure about that last part, being a farmer didn’t sound so bad. At least I wouldn’t get immolated as part of my work. I mean sure, their lives weren’t glamorous but I imagine they were left more or less alone. Like with raiders… Maybe being a farmer wasn’t so appealing after all. I felt powerless enough in this world as it was. As I tried to get comfortable, I heard a voice in my head. It was Elmidath. “Are you awake?”

I focused my thoughts and projected what I wanted to say back to her. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“How are things on your end?” she sounded tense.

“Fine. We should find the raiders in the next day or two.”

“I see. Be careful, those you’re hunting may not be your only enemy.” Like she had to tell me that, there was no way I was going to trust a bunch of random demons. Especially when they worked for Lord Sarinknell.

“I realise that.”

“If things get dangerous, you can always teleport back to me. Remember that.” And with that I felt the mental link break. I was surprised that she felt the need to express her concern, or that she was so concerned in the first place. It was probably just because I was one of the last assets she had left.

Still, it felt a little silly to be receiving warnings like that from someone considerably younger than me. I guess this was just the kind of screwed up world this was, where people of her age had to bear so much responsibility. I sighed and tried not to think about it, it’s not like there was anything I could do to fix things.

Sleeping on the ground was no worse than it had been the last few days but I was far from used to it. Maybe once this was done I could sleep in an actual bed. It would make for a welcome change. The sun dawned on the network of crevices snaking their way across the blackened earth. We woke with the dawn and got underway with little dillydallying.

Despite their apparent lack of discipline, the demons jumped to the work. Even without anyone to wake them up or order them into line, they got moving all on their own with remarkable speed. Maybe it was motivated by their fear of punishment, Lord Sarinknell seemed like a dangerous man to disappoint.

The same demon walked beside me again, I wondered if she didn’t get along with the other soldiers. Was it because she was new? “What do you think of working for Lord Sarinknell?”

“There’s not much to complain about really, it’s fine. What’s it like working for his niece?”

A good question. I hadn’t tried to evaluate the experience so far. “She’s reckless, to the point that she’s nearly gotten us both killed multiple times in the past few days.” Not that I could call anyone out on being reckless after what I did when we tried to lure in Lord Sarinknell. “On top of that she’s stubborn and inconsiderate. But, well, I can respect her ambition.” Not like me, who’d never done anything in particular with their life.

“You don’t make it sound so bad. Well, except for the almost dying all the time.” She chuckled. “You should probably work on that.”

I laughed along with her. “Believe me, I would if I could.”

She smiled at me with narrowed eyes. “I’m Korzan.”

“Cathal.” I wasn’t quite sure what was happening, the demon wasn’t falling in love with me, right? If she was anything like human girls… then, no probably not. But she did seem to have taken a liking to me. I could probably use that. The way my mind had immediately jumped to how I could use someone liking me to my advantage made me shake my head.

I don’t know if it was a result of my time here or if I’d always been more like the demons than I’d thought. It was a worrying, like I was growing more distant from humanity with each passing day. I guess it didn’t really matter, it’s not like I was going to be human again anyway.