-Whatever situation the enemy most wants to avoid is what you should strive to arrange.-

It was dark regardless of it being nighttime. The sound of crickets chirping droned in the air. Clumpy mud stuck to Aewyn’s shoes, lined the walls, and hung over her head. She wondered why she could hear crickets even when she was underground, until one jumped out of the wall next to her.

“Eeek—!”

Cassius slapped a hand over her mouth, but her squeal still echoed up and down the tunnel. A pair of fiery brimstone eyes turned back to glare at her. It was a frozen gaze.

Aewyn looked up at her brother pleadingly, but he just held a finger to his lips and urged her to be quiet. His other hand held hers tightly.

They were a silent procession, marching through a tunnel that the monsters had been digging for almost a month. It started underneath a backroom in the library and opened up somewhere outside Limure’s walls.

They were abandoning the city together with Lord Astaroth and most of the monster army. The slaves aside from her had all been abandoned without knowing it, and their Devil master had left his palanquin and four troll paulbearers behind.

Aewyn didn’t understand where they were going or why, but it felt like they were in danger somehow. Fear and anxiety kept prickling her mind.

She clung to her brother’s warm hand.

At the head of the group was their master, Astaroth, riding a black cat monster now that his previous mount was gone. He had ordered them not to make a sound until he said so, and to follow him and the bird lady.

The bird lady was Aewyn’s second favorite warlock, after her brother. She wasn’t scary, she didn’t hurt Aewyn or the other slaves, and Aewyn thought that Astaroth had been paying her less attention since the bird lady arrived.

After what felt like a very long time walking tensely through the darkness, they reached the end of the tunnel. Cassius helped pull Aewyn up a sharp slope and out onto the grass. She saw the city about as far away as she expected, a few lights from lamps and fires flickering dimly in the distance. They had walked all the way to the woods underground. The monsters who dug this tunnel must’ve worked really hard, she thought.

Then, Aewyn gasped. A cold and strong hand held her jaw and forcibly turned her head away from Limure.

Pearly white fangs glittered in the faint light of two eyes, glowing like embers in the black of night. Aewyn felt tears spilling out involuntarily.

“If I hadn’t promised not to kill you, I would tear your head from your body for that stunt you pulled.”

He released his grip, and Aewyn held her face tenderly, feeling the usual blood flow return to it. She looked up to Cassius for help, but he was biting his lip without saying a word.

“Ca—”

She tried to call out to him, but he hurried to cover her mouth in a panic.

“That’s twice now you’ve disobeyed my orders,” an icy voice carried over.

Aewyn remembered. She wasn’t supposed to make any sound until Astaroth said so. That was why Cassius wasn’t saying anything to help her. She trembled once she realized what she had done wrong.

Aewyn felt Cassius swallow as he hugged her tight. The Devil smiled faintly, seeing the burning protective look in her brother’s eyes. Aewyn wouldn’t be surprised if Cassius’s eyes lit up like flames the way Astaroth’s sometimes did.

“You are all free to speak,” the Devil ordered.

Aewyn’s brother bit his lip. “According to our deal, as long as I’m your loyal warlock, you have to protect Aewyn and you can’t kill her.”

“And I have to give her a better life than the other slaves,” Astaroth nodded. “I remember. I didn’t abandon her as bait like the others, now did I?”

Cassius neither relaxed nor released his hold on his sister.

“But, you know,” Astaroth showed his fangs, “if I really want to kill her, I can end our pact from my side. If you were no longer my warlock, then I wouldn’t be breaking our deal.”

The Devil came closer to the sibling pair. He reached out a hand as if to grab Cassius by the face, but stopped a hair away.

“If you want to avoid that situation, Cassius… make yourself someone I couldn’t bear to give up.”

The hand retracted, and finally Cassius relaxed a fraction, if only because the extreme tension was exhausting him.

Astaroth hopped back onto his monster mount. “I’ll be watching your performance tonight,” his patron said before riding off.

Gradually, the mob of monsters returned to their march. Cassius and Aewyn fell behind. It took a moment before they could stand to let go of each other.

“I’m sorry,” Aewyn sniffled, her eyes wet and warm. “It was an accident.”

“You have to be careful, Aewyn,” Cassius said while hugging her tightly and stroking her head.

A dark shiver struck the boy. His master hadn’t said it directly, but the threat hidden in his words seemed obvious. If Cassius was good enough, Aewyn would be safe. Alternatively, if Aewyn was bad enough, Cassius would die with her.

The boy felt tired. This was different from walking ahead to protect his little sister: this was like being forced to pull and drag her with him through a swamp.

But Aewyn was all he had left, and he loved her. “Please be careful,” he begged.

***

Meanwhile, in the capital city of the Warren Republic, in councilman Mauvek’s home office, it was the dead of night. The general collapsed into his desk chair after another long day of war preparations. He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling, releasing a faint sigh.

A knock came at the door, and Horacio’s wife stepped inside. She was as crisp and intimidating in appearance as her husband, with the same black hair and eyes. Nevertheless, a gentle smile softened her appearance.

“Did the training exercise go poorly?” Fitella Mauvek asked consolingly.

Horacio shook his head and stood up, turning around to look out the second story window behind him. “It went as perfectly and as horribly as it could have,” the General stated.

Fitella closed the door behind her and stood in front of it. “How so? … Ah. Was the weapon too powerful?”

Without turning around, Horacio nodded his head. “To think the church still had relics like that lying around.”

Fitella smiled demurely at her husband’s back. “Dear, please don’t stall anymore than this. Tell me about this Devil that’s turning the country upside down. What have they found out about it?”

“I’m not stalling, it’s just that I can’t get that spear out of my head.” Horacio shook his head ruefully. He looked over his shoulder at his wife with a determined gaze. “It’s Astaroth. A Prince of Hell has come.”

“Astaroth…” Fitella murmured into her lace glove. She looked up at her husband worriedly. “We’ll need to make immediate and thorough preparations.”

“I’m already doing everything I can,” the General assured her. “I have my hands full juggling the military, the church, and the mages.”

Fitella nodded and put a lovely smile back on her face. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle everything at home, so you focus on the front lines. Now come to bed, it’s late.”

Horacio stepped away from the window and held his wife gently in his arms. “We’ll live through this. Us, the kids, everyone.”

“It’s late,” Fitella repeated. Horacio held her desperately for a moment longer before agreeing to go to the bedroom.

***

Fennel was over the moon. Not literally of course, but she felt like her spirits were surely that lofty at least. High above the land, with the moon at her back, she soared. There was no risk or worry of getting lost at all—not when she had memorized map after map of this so-called Republic. The only thing that made the journey difficult was also what made it the most fun: she held her master in her arms as she traveled the skies.

“You’re free to enjoy being my pack mule, but quit that giggling, I don’t like a bumpy ride.”

“Yes, my prince,” Fennel beamed, holding her joy inside.

“I’m sure you’re tired, but bear with it. This may be the last chance we have to do something like this for a while.”

The birdfolk felt her heart sink a little, but she compensated by savoring the current moment more. “Yes, my prince. I’ll fly as quietly as an owl.”

“I doubt that.”

Astaroth and his warlock both used magic to make themselves invisible, then they swooped down on the humble city of Ptoly, landing right in front of its church. While Fennel stayed hidden, Astaroth snuck inside. Simple earth magic rearranged the mosaics and gems on the walls to spell out “Salvation” in Celestial, and a few minutes of effort saw a small mountain of glowing papers piled up on the floor below it. At one point, Astaroth heard footsteps, but he released a sleep spell in their direction and they stopped after a thud.

The Devil glanced over his work once before nodding and quietly escaping from the church. Fennel took him to the skies again, and they flew quickly to rejoin with the main army.

“It’s such a mean trick,” Fennel chuckled to herself. “Let them imagine that those contracts are from Angels trying to protect them when really they’ll just sell their children to you.”

Astaroth smiled faintly. “A trick is a good way to describe it: nothing but a childish prank. Still, I should try everything I can before my hands are tied.”

“What do you mean?” Fennel glanced down with worried eyes. “Do you think the human armies will defeat us?”

Astaroth faintly snorted and reached up to stroke the lustful bird’s chin feathers. “My simple little Warlock, can you take it with you to your grave if I tell you what I mean?”

She didn’t miss her opportunity to lean into his touch for the short time that it lasted. “I don’t want to be killed for knowing too much, my prince, but I wouldn’t share your secrets even if I was tortured for them.”

“And I’m sure you mean it too,” Astaroth hummed. “We won’t lose soon—not now—but a controlled loss is sometimes the best path to victory. Eventually, stomping around with a half-baked army of bloodless like this, we will be quashed, but I needed visibility, notoriety, fear. I needed it… but soon I will also need complacency. This army gave me one in its creation and the other will rise from its destruction. Once my spear is broken, all that will be left is to wait for the wound to fester.”

Fennel pouted. “Are you speaking so vaguely because you’re worried I’ll tell?”

“No,” Astaroth chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll figure out what I mean if you think about it some more. But you promised, don’t go around telling others what I told you just now. Otherwise I’ll hate you.”

“I won’t!” Fennel shouted as if her life depended on it. “I won’t tell anyone, ever!”

Astaroth reached up once again to gently stroke Fennel’s feathery cheek, “I know.”

They regrouped with the main army before sunrise. Preparations were already almost ready for the whole army to hide in an underground tunnel that they quickly dug. They had been very careful over the last few days to only move at night and take care to leave no witnesses to their march. Farther and farther west they roamed.

Giyeridon found the Devil as soon as they landed. And promptly gave him a report.

“My prince, we’ll be at Sieri’s gates by midnight tomorrow.”

“Good,” he nodded. “Fennel and I will cease this side operation and join you for the attack.”

Astaroth held up a hand to quiet everyone while Rahashik contacted him through their bond.

“My prince, can you hear me?”

“I hear you. What is it?”

“I’ve arrived in the Waren Republic’s capital city. When would be a good time to report back from now on?”

Astaroth glanced at the hole everyone was climbing into to hide during the high-visibility hours.

“Midmorning,” he replied.

“Understood. By the way, before even starting to look for information, I heard rumors about a super army combining the military, the mages, and the church. And also about a Devil-slaying weapon. Be careful, my Prince.”

Even after the bond went silent, Astaroth stood still, his pupils reduced to thin slits. “A what?” he mistakenly voiced aloud.