“Yes, you will also receive a report saying that the main demon army has started its march from its location in the Hawkwing lands,” Ash said in a bored tone.
“You think your small army can match the might of the great kingdom of Heluria?” the wizened old man asked his voice tinted in anger making Ash laugh.
“At most your kingdom has an army of twenty thousand, if you enlisted every person who could hold a weapon, you might gather a hundred thousand for a full scale war. The Hawking lands might not be able to stand up to such a force, but I think you have a misunderstanding about demons. Within our whole kingdom, we have just over a hundred and twenty thousand people, but unlike humans, every one of those people are built for war. Right now, forty thousand soldiers are marching and they will tear your feeble country to bits.”
“How?” The man asked, his knees going weak after hearing Ash’s words. “It takes months if not years to assemble such a large force.
“For human’s maybe. You have your forces spread out and have to call for them from your nobles. You must gather food and weapons, but when I order the demons to march, there is no one who will not heed the call. While we took our time reaching your capital, my people were amassing and preparing for war.”
“Then your words of seeking peace were nothing but lies,” the old man retorted angrily.
“Peace was my true intention, but I was not so foolish as not prepare for the alternative,” Ash retorted. “I am glad I did. “I was not only attacked by the king’s forces on my travels, but twice. I could have over looked that, but once I was within the capital, you even tried to have me arrested as if I was a lowly human commoner. Did you really think that you could treat the demon Maoh in such a way without any consequences?”
The old man began to retort again but the king held up his hand to silence him. “You must forgive our ignorance, but we have never head of a Maoh before.”
“It is the name given to the king of the demons by the goddess Altina. It means demon lord in the language of the gods,” Ash explained.
The king’s calm façade started to falter. It was bad enough that he ordered his knights to assault a noble of a different land, but to assault its king was far worse.
“What are your demands?” Forten asked shamelessly.
“Majesty,” the older man said, his face going white.
“Enough Galten. From the reports of the last battle with the demons, a force half our size completely destroyed our army. If a number equaling them is marching, then even if we win we will be left devastated and any of the other kingdoms could easily take of our lands.”
Ash hadn’t thought that it would be this easy to make the king of Heluria surrender, but he had given a great deal of thought to what demands he should make.
“We demand the lands of the Dukedom Roth as well as a thousand platinum coins in restitution,” Ash replied calmly.
“The coins are easily enough to supply but I cannot easily give up the Doth Dukedom. How about the Tigur County?”
“I don’t think you understand,” Ash said shaking his head. The Roth Dukedom was one of the three lands that was positioned next to Hawkwing and while not the largest, it was also not the smallest. The reason Ash had chosen it was because it was known to have a great farmland, but also a great deal of open land that could also be used as a buffer between the two countries. The Tigur County on the other hand was only a small part of the Roth Dukedom and it was not even the most desirable portion of it. “You will give up the Roth Dukedom or we will take it,” Ash declared.
“Foolish,” the king said standing up. “I was willing to give you some face and even a portion of my great land, but you refuse to see what is in front of you,” the king said practically spitting. “Let us see how well the demons fight when their Maoh is stuck within my dungeon.”
As soon as the king spoke, the knights that were spread across the room began to move as well as the old man who was now standing beside the king. Ash just laughed as he pulled everyone’s weapons from his storage.
“Watch out, he can use spatial magic,” Galten yelled.
“Ash just laughed as Tolarea cut one of the knights in half as if he was made of paper. As blood sprayed across the floor, the three women each took a hold of Ash’s arm as he activated dimension door and walked through. The four exited in front of the palace doors and began to run toward the palace gates. Ash could just use dimension door to move again, but he didn’t see the need to waste his MP just yet. There was no telling what would be happening over the next few hours.
A few seconds after they left the palace, a loud ringing sounded from the surrounding area. When they approached the palace gates, it seemed that Ash had not been the only one prepared for something as more than fifty knights blocked their way. Ash started to activate dimension door again but he was stopped by Tolarea. “My lord, would you please allow us to vent a bit of our anger.”
Looking at the large number of knights, Ash couldn’t help but feel slightly apprehensive but Seia quickly settled his thoughts. “Please my lord. We shouldn’t leave them without giving them a taste of our power.”
“Understood,” Ash said holding his sword tightly.
“By the orders of the king, if you lay down your weapons you will not be harmed,” one of the knights yelled lightly.
No more than a few seconds after the words left his mouth, a black hafted arrow seemed to appear between his eyes. Before the other knights could register what was happening Tolarea rushed them swinging her massive sword, cutting two of them down in an instant.
It didn’t take long for the knights to understand and respond. Quickly Tolarea was surrounded by more than ten knights while the others moved around her to attack Seia, Li, and Ash. Li wasn’t of much use in a fight and Seia’s bow was next to useless in close quarters so Ash put both of them at his back while he raised his sword at the dozen of men moving toward him. With an evil smile, Ash activated deadly finish and crushing blow then when the guards were within range Ash used wind slash.
Wind slash was still relatively low level, but thanks to the boost it got from his two abilities it was brought to a whole new level. Ash’s sword was still too far to draw blood directly, but a blade of wind about five feet long and as thick as one of Tolarea’s legs swept through the knights, cutting one of them in half and severing the arm of another.
Ash was not the only one attacking, Seia used her bow and deadly effect, quickly killing two of the elite guards and injuring a third while Li was currently using her magic to heal Tolarea from a distance.
Just as he was about to commence the attack, Ash heard a loud noise from behind him and looked to find almost a hundred knights on horseback thundering toward them. “Tolarea,” Ash yelled. “Time to go.”
Tolarea, hearing Ash’s command killed one more knight before quickly retreating. As Ash was fighting two of the knights off, Li held the others back with her shield. He felt two small hands and a large one touch his back. As soon as he did, Ash activated dimension door and jumped as far as he could see. As they came out the other side, Ash noticed that one of the knights had been brought along with them.
Seeing himself alone, the knight disengaged from Ash who he had been locking swords with and tried to run back towards his comrades, but before he could take three steps, Seia placed two arrows into his back.
“Did you have enough fun?” Ash asked Tolarea though his own face was sporting a large smile.
“No, but it will have to do,” Tolarea said.
11-8
After the fight with the knights at the gate Ash used his dimension door eleven more times in succession using up almost all of his MP before they reached a small bar at the edge of the city where the others were waiting for them.
Once they met up, Ash quickly explained what had happened. Once he was sure that it was safe, they moved to the cellar of the bar that was owned by a half demon that was currently working as a spy for the demon country.
Unlike a
full demon, those with blood ties of less than half didn’t feel the pull to pledge their lives to the Maoh, but with how they were treated in the human kingdoms, most agreed to live or work under the demons care. Ash was more than a little surprised to learn that thousands of non-humans worked as spies for them demons when the sage had first told him, but with the current situation he was happy that the previous demon lords had such a system in place.
The knight and two demon guards were not at the bar and instead were still at the inn. Ash knew that most likely they would be killed, but there was no way around it otherwise the king’s troops would find that everyone had left beforehand. A few men would die, but they knew beforehand what was going to happen. Even knowing that, Ash still had to force himself to accept it though he promised himself that he would never forget their faces or names.
Less than an hour after Ash had reached the safe house, Lath appeared in the small room Ash was using.
“My lord, it seems that it went better than planned,” Lath said with his normal greasy smile.
“If you say so,” Ash said in a deadpan voice as he turned in his chair. “How are things outside?”
“The knights currently have the inn surrounded and are demanding that everyone exit, but so far they have not sent anyone to enter. The rest of the city is under martial law and the streets have been cleared and the city’s gate guards have been tripled. No is being allowed to get in or out at the moment.”
Ash nodded his head, having already anticipated the king’s reaction. Ash could use dimension door to move a few people, but if he tried to move everyone he would quickly run out of MP. Their only choice was to wait until either enough soldiers had been brought in to attack the city or until the king ended the lockdown. “How is everything else going?”
“Fine my lord,” Lath replied. “The mages are working hard to bring over as many soldiers as they can over while the ones who are present are still raiding any village or two close enough. They had had a few encounters with the knights, but so far reaction to the attacks have been slow. It looks like we took them by complete surprise. As for how the rest of the army is doing…I don’t know. It will take a few days for the first report to come in, but I am sure that everything is going as planned. It might have been awhile since we have gotten in a real war, but in a way, this has been a long time coming and many demons are looking forward to showing our power to the wider world.”
“Have you learned anything about the other side?”
At this Lath’s face turned dark. “Yes and it is not good. The nobles are calling for a mass killing of anyone holding even the smallest drop of demon blood in their veins. If that happens then it will be impossible for us to stop their blades. Thousands of people will die, including the owner of this bar. Thankfully so far the king has rejected the idea, but I think it would be a good idea to start letting the populace know what is being talked about so those that want to can leave or fight when or if they come for them.”
“How could we do that?” Ash asked as he scratched his head.
“Easily enough,” Lath replied. “We just need to let our contacts know what is being said and which nobles are the ones supporting it the most. Demons might be the minority within the kingdom with only about 5% of the populace holding demon blood, but they still number quite a bit. It seems that our blood has spread a lot over the years we were not present.”
“Ok, have the news spread, but also keep a check on the other non-humans as well,” Ash said after making his decision. “I don’t want our war to make their lives more difficult if I can.”
“I agree if the humans can’t strike out at the demons, they might vent their anger on other non-humans,” Lath said nodding his head. “I don’t know why the gods saw fit to even make humans. Out of all the races, they seem to be the most detestable.”
“They are also the one that has the most prospects.”
“What do you mean my lord?” Lath asked looking slightly perplexed at Ash’s words.
Unlike Lath, Ash once lived in a world with only humans and he knew how far they could go. Without magic they created great things with science that Ash knew could easily match anything he had seen in this world so far. “The other races each have things that tie them down. It could be said that the humans are the only race with compete freedom. There are both good and evil in each of them and they can choose how they will lead their lives.”
“I think that can be said of all the races,” Lath replied. “There are both good and evil within all of them.”
“That is true, but they are the few outside the norm,” Ash said. “But with humans, it is just how they were made and that makes them unique in a way.”
“If you say so my lord,” Lath said in a noncommittal way.
Ash could see that he wouldn’t make Lath see what he truly meant. He had not seen the world Ash had come from or what the humans there had made of it over the years only starting with sticks and stones. In truth if they could see it they might want to wipe humans from the face of the earth especially the elves who had a deep tie to nature and with how humans in his world destroyed theirs, they might not take it too kindly.
Seeing that nothing else was forthcoming from Ash, Lath bowed his head then quickly disappeared. “I don’t like him,” Li said quietly as soon as the demon had left.
“Why?” Ash asked in an amused tone.
“I don’t know,” Li replied furrowing her brows. “I just don’t like him.”
“Fair enough,” Ash said cracking a smile. It was nice to see that Li was more than just a pretty flower to look at. Over the past few days Ash had seen more and more of Li’s personality come out. It was as if she was finally starting to relax around everyone and show her true nature. It was not only Li, his other wives were also opening up more and more with each passing day. Li was just the one that Ash noticed the most since she was mostly quiet and rarely did or said anything.
“So we are going to have a full war?” Celina asked, catching Ash’s attention. “I thought you would have taken the king’s offer of peace. I know you didn’t want to seem aggressive so… Why did you decide on a war?”
“You are right that I didn’t want the demons to look aggressive, but making them look meek or weak would be just as bad if not worse. What the king was offering was only a tenth of what I wanted. Hawkwing isn’t that large yet and to be a true kingdom it will need more land than it has, though I am sure Emelia could make do with whatever she has. That coupled with the way the king and the other nobles have treated us left me little choice. If I backed down, most likely there would be a war but it would be on their terms and timing. We are ready now so it is best to show the other kingdoms that we won’t be taken lightly.
“I thought you were worried the kingdoms would band together and try to wipe us out?” Seia pointed out in her normal strict tone.
“I was and still am, but we have already dispatched messengers to each kingdom that might aid Heluria. It is too early to tell, but after everything that has happened, we have a decent chance of it working in our favor.”
“I only have one question,” Tolarea said as she stroked the hilt of her sword. “Will we get to fight or are you going to withhold us from the battle?”
“You will get to fight,” Ash said trying not to laugh. “Once we leave here, we will be meeting up with the main army. It has been pointed out that demon lords do not hide when their armies march and are expected to stand at the forefront of the lines. I have no problems with this and in fact I think fighting will help all of us greatly. I just wish that I had more time to train before the battle starts in earnest, but looks like luck wasn’t on my side this time.”
“Good,” Tolarea said, nodding her head with a tight smile on her face making her look even more menacing than usual.
“How long do you think we will be stuck here?” Celina asked with a clearly displeased voice. Looking around the dark cellar Ash couldn’t help but agree. It was large enough for all of them,
but it left a lot to be desired. The worst part was the dull gray walls that seemed to scream despair.
“At most three or four days,” As replied. “Right now the mages are bringing as many people as they can, but until they have at least a few thousand, it would be useless for them to attack the city.
Eun let out a loud “humph,” when she heard Ash’s words. “The walls are thin and mostly unmanned. Even with the extra forces, I could take it with five hundred men if we struck at night.”
“I am sure you could,” Ash retorted kindly. “But don’t forget that this is the capital, they have thousands of troops and many mages. I don’t plan to have a full scale battle here, but instead it will let us escape and alert the city about the war. From what I understand, the king wants to keep the fact we escaped as secret so the attack will come during the day for all to see.”
“You just don’t want to look like a dog running away with its tail between its legs,” Eun quipped in a teasing tone, something she did far too often.
“True, escaping at night would once again make us appear weak while a daytime assault will show that we can attack anyplace within the kingdom at will. I think it is well worth the risk,” Ash explained.
“Well I know of one way to help pass the time,” Seia said as she moved next to Ash wrapping her long tail around his waist. “We haven’t had much time alone, but right now it is only us here so we might as well use it.”
“True, once we join the main army it will be impossible to have any time alone with our lord,” Celina said moving up to the other side of Ash.
Mia just laughed and clung to Ash’s back. Within moments Ash was under attack from an enemy he could do nothing about. He knew he would be defeated, but even kings must lose a battle from time to time and who better to lose against than his wives.
“So be it,” Ash said giving Seia who was currently closest a quick kiss.
11-9
Reborn: Flames of War Page 6