The refugees from the village had been taken to a pub. They were seated in the common room, the barmaid passed around water.
Martial spoke to a few of the villagers, and they all told the same story.
It was the ground that first began to shake. The villagers rushed out of their homes and ran towards the open fields. But that was their mistake.
As the shaking stopped, it was in the fields that the ground caved. Heat began to rise, followed by burning lava pouring up all around them. The demons came after, dozens of them, jumping off the lava, they turned on the villagers.
Many didn’t make it.
Martial left the refugees and headed back towards Flittick’s mansion, deep in thought, Martha walked beside him, leading his black stallion and her own mare behind them.
If demons could now open up portals anywhere they wanted to, it would change everything. The outposts along the border where Immortal Queen Margaret’s soldiers stood guard, watching over the demons on the other side, protecting the narrow crossings, all of that would become pointless. The walls around towns and cities, they would become useless too if demons could open portals directly into the towns.
How were they able to do this? Was it more evidence that Satan really was back?
* * *
Later that night, Martial joined everyone else in the dining room of Flittick’s house for dinner. The dining table had been removed to make space for the sudden growth in inhabitants. The apprentices and the girls from the brothel all ate together, sitting on the floor, backs against the wall.
It wasn’t the most comfortable dining experience, but Martial had been through much worse. He took his bowl of stew, picked up a slice of freshly baked bread, and sat between Cassie and Michelle.
Both girls ate silently and quickly.
Standing on the balcony, Martial had watched the girls train a few times. They worked hard, pushed themselves, especially Cassie. Her skills with the sword had come a long way in a month. And she did it wearing her armour.
Michelle on the other hand, had picked a bow and arrows as her weapon of choice. It wasn’t the most common weapon a Legacy chose, to sit back from the action and pick out her enemies. But after watching her shoot arrow after arrow with perfect precision and speed, Martial wondered if Legacies had missed an opportunity to better utilise their talents.
As Martial dipped his bread into his stew, Martha came and sat opposite him. “What are you going to do, master?” she asked.
Call him old-fashioned, but Martial hated being called master. He usually told his apprentices to not call him that. Perhaps he’d forgotten to tell Martha. It had all happened so quickly, taking over the town, and not what he’d planned for. To be fair, he didn’t have much of a plan, other than, to kill Satan if the bastard ever resurfaced.
“Don’t call me that,” he said.
“Call you-” Martha stopped, uncertainty in her eyes, she glanced at Cassie and Michelle.
“Master. He doesn’t like being called that,” Cassie said.
“You don’t?” Martha frowned. “What shall I call you? Sir or… King?”
“Definitely not king,” Cassie scoffed beside him.
Martha’s frown deepened as her gaze lingeried on Cassie. She turned towards Martial, neutral expression, “Are we going to do anything about the demons?”
It was something Martial had given a lot of thought to. “From tomorrow, I want you to go out with some of the girls from the brothel and roam around the villages, provide security. The men at the mines already have a few armed men. Double that, and when the metal is shipped to the village, make sure the armed escort is doubled too.”
Martha nodded. “Of course,” she said, before adding after a short pause. “What about you?”
“I’m going to be leaving tomorrow with Cassie and Michelle.”
“Leaving? But this is your town…”
“Sure, it is. But it’s a small town. I need more,” Martial said. “There is a war coming, like none before it.”
Martha swallowed uncomfortably. “I don’t mean to correct you but… there have been some pretty horrific wars in the early twenty-first century, when the demons and angels arrived.”
“That was bad, and millions died. But it will be worse this time because Sa-” Martial stopped from saying the word Satan. It was stupid how everyone was afraid of the word. None of them had ever seen the devil, yet they feared the name.
“It’ll be worse this time, if what I think is true,” Martial said.
“Because the devil has returned?” Cassie asked.
Martial turned to look at her. There was fear in those deep eyes of hers, but her face showed determination. Could he tell them the truth? They needed to know the truth, didn’t they?
“I know its common knowledge that the devil resides in Hell, commanding his armies. But that isn’t true. Satan-” Martial sighed as there was a sharp intake of breath at the mention of his name, “died three hundred years ago. He died in heaven, along with God, and the Archangels. They were killed by an Immortal named Alex.”
“We know of Alex,” Cassie said, with uncertainty. “He was the first Immortal, wasn’t he? He led the uprising against the demons and angels when they invaded earth. He died in the Battle of York.”
“Sure,” Martial said. Totally inaccurate, hr thought. “He isn’t the point of the story. The point is, we humans barely managed to hold our ground with the demons because the devil was dead. If he is back, if somehow, he survived, then…”
“Then what?” all three girls, Michelle, Martha and Cassie asked in unison, their voices barely above a whisper.
“Then we’re fucked,” Martial said.
He wanted to be more optimistic, but it was the truth. With Satan against them, humans didn’t stand a chance. The devil was supposed to be invincible, truly immortal, not like the humans that called themselves the same.
It was only the exploding light of God that had destroyed him, that had supposedly finally killed him. But there was no more God to explode, no way to finish off Satan if he had returned.
“Lucifer,” Michelle said. “Lucifer will save us.”
“That’s right,” Cassie said, and Martha nodded too.
Martial opened his mouth to respond but stopped. Lucifer couldn’t save them. Lucifer was gone too. But, was it wrong for him to allow them to have hope?
His aim was for them to fight the demons, to give a good final show before they were enslaved for eternity. What better way to keep the humans fighting if they believed they had a chance, a hope?
“Let’s hope Lucifer hears our prayers,” Martial said.
Chapter 25
Dinner had been a sombre event, despite Martial sitting beside her for the first time. What he had said, if it were true, it went against everything Cassie knew about the devil, everything everyone knew about Satan.
Could he be right?
How could he be right?
How could he know these things?
The devil dying in Heaven? Somehow, it didn’t seem right.
But if he were right, if Satan had really been gone this whole time, and had now returned, their only hope was Lucifer, the first of their realm, their protector.
But Lucifer couldn’t do it alone. He never did. He worked with humans, sometimes being one with a powerful human, a worthy human. It was a fanciful thought, but Cassie wondered if she would be worthy.
She imagined having someone like Lucifer possess her, fill her with his power. It was a silly thought. Lucifer hadn’t been seen in over three hundred years.
After dinner, as Michelle, Martha and the others made their way to their rooms, Cassie headed out into the veranda. It was a cool night, a small breeze swept across the garden. With the moon shining in a clear sky, it lit the garden with a blue haze.
She would be leaving this place tomorrow, heading out towards the bigger towns, towards the city eventually. That was Martial’s plan. He wasn’t happy with a single town. He wanted more.
It was the only way to beat back the demons, he said. The more towns he had under himself, the more troops could be trained for the coming battle.
With a hundred years of relative peace with the demons, Legacies had forgotten what war was like, who their real enemies were. They squabbled with each other, always trying to increase their own power, their own wealth.
Cassie couldn’t help but think that by taking more towns, Martial would be doing the same, extending his own power. But she didn’t believe that. She believed in him. He had done good in Cornhill-on-Tweed. He had gotten rid of Flittick and Perry. He’d saved the girls in the brothel, given them all the opportunity to leave, given them the opportunity to work as soldiers and defend the town.
The former whores were now a competent force, and under the watchful eye of Martha and her two Legacies, Cornhill-on-Tweed could mount a respectable defence against aggressors, be they human or demons.
Cassie stepped out from the veranda and towards the weapons stacked against the wooden holders. She picked up a sword and moved towards the training dummy. It was round and had six long wooden legs sticking out from it. When you struck one wooden leg, the body spun around and another wooden leg came to hit you.
It was good for practice, but Cassie knew its limitations. Namely, it was predictably. If you struck the leg on the left, you knew the leg from the right would come around. But still, with everyone else in bed, Cassie battled with the dummy.
She was wearing her armour, the metal bra and panties. She was getting used to the two round bits of metal, one in her pussy, the other in her ass, to the point where, when she took it off to sleep, she found she missed it some. It was weird, but having something in her butt and pussy, it had been distracting initially, but now it kept her alert.
From her wrist to her elbow, she wore protective metal sleeves. They allowed her to use more than just her sword when attacking or defending.
Attacking the training dummy, Cassie picked up speed, striking the dummy’s legs with ferocity, blocking the incoming legs with her sword or her metal sleeves.
She was so into it, she only realised someone was behind her when she felt their warm breath against her exposed back. Cassie turned and swung her sword, expecting to stop it beside the person’s neck in a suitably threatening way for sneaking up on her.
But her sword didn’t hit go near the person’s neck.
It clashed into steel.
And the person holding the steel was Martial.
He blocked her sword with his own.
“Sorry,” Cassie gasped.
“It’s olrite,” Martial said. “You’re getting good,” he commented.
“Thanks,” Cassie replied, his compliment making her feel warm. “It’s just a dummy. It would be harder against a human.”
“True,” Martial said. “Want to go a round?”
“With you?” Cassie asked. “Of course,” he eyes lit up.
She’d wanted to go a round with him for a long time, ever since she felt she’d been competent, she’d been dying to go a round with him.
“Great,” Martial said.
He stepped back, his sword held before him, he gave a bow.
And then it began.
Eager to impress, Cassie moved onto the attack. She charged and swung her sword, aiming for his left shoulder. But Martial stepped back, out of the sword’s way. When she brought her sword down, he side-stepped, then turned around, coming up behind her, he spanked her bottom with the flat side of his sword.
It wasn’t a hard spank, but it was enough to remind her the armour she was wearing around her waist had two protruding bits of metal, one inside her ass, the other in her cunt.
Cassie stepped back from Martial, her sword held before her, she watched him warily. He was fast, damned fucking fast. Faster than anyone she’d faced in training over the past month. She hated not knowing what generation Legacy he was.
Cassie decided to hold back and let him do the attacking this time. After facing each other for a bit, Martial obliged. He was cautious in his approach, his strikes light. Cassie could have moved out of the way, but she parried the blows, and when she saw an opening, she swung her sword, aiming for his stomach.
But she missed.
Martial slid back, as if he were an expert ice-skater.
And then, he came again, this time his speed caught Cassie by surprise. When he brought his sword down, she raised hers to block. As steel clashed with steel, he raised his foot and kicked her in the chest.
Cassie went flying across the garden and crashed into the wooden archery targets mounted on three legs. Gasping for breath, Cassie reached back and unstrapped her meatal bra. As it slid off, her breasts hung loose and she felt them for damage.
There was nothing there, no broken bones in her chest, no bruising or blood. It still hurt like fuck though.
Martial, who appeared standing over her, held his hand down. Cassie took it and pulled herself up.
“You’re fine,” Martial told her. “The metal bra thingy actual does work some.” He picked it up from the floor and passed it to her.
Despite having been naked around Martial plenty before, Cassie still felt conscious with her breasts hanging out. She took the armoured bra from Martial gratefully and pulled it on, covering her breasts.
“Can I give you a tip?” Martial asked. “You rely on blocking too much. That should be a last resort. Always try to move out of the way of the sword in the first instance.”
Cassie nodded. It was good advice, and something she already knew, something humans did. Legacies did it less often. An arrogance thing that wasn’t sensible.
“We’re going to be leaving tomorrow, and we might not be back here for a while,” Martial said. “Once you’re done up here, there’s a sort of leaving present for you in your room.”
And with that, Martial turned and disappeared into the house.
Cassie wanted to train some more, work up a real sweat before having a cold shower and hitting the bed. But, after what Martial had just said, she found it impossible to do. She hurried into the house and up the stairs, coming to the first floor, she opened the door to her room.
But there was nothing in there.
The room was empty, save for Michelle asleep already, lying on the floor, her clothes on now that the nights were a little cooler.
And Martha.
The Legacy stood by the window, staring out into the night.
Cassie frowned. She should have stayed down in the garden and continued training. Whenever she ran into Martha, the bitch ended up getting her to do something she didn’t want to do.
But it was too late to slip out. Martha turned around and walked towards her.
“I assume you’re expecting your present?” Martha said.
“Uh, I don’t really need it,” Cassie said. If you’ve got anything to do with it, it’s going to be a shit present.
“I wish that were an option,” Martha said.
She began to unbutton her blue blouse. She didn’t stop there. Once it was off, she pulled down her leather riding trousers. Her red lacy bra and panties were the last to come off. Now naked, she dropped to her knees and lowered her head.
“Martial has decreed that I be yours for the night, to serve you however you wish,” Martha said.
This wasn’t at all what Cassie was expecting.
Seeing Martha, completely naked and submissive, her heart began to race. This bitch had been a complete bitch since the first day. She had made Cassie’s life fucking shit. And now… finally, Cassie could do something about it.
Could do anything she wanted about it…
“Oh,” Cassie said, trying to keep her voice measured, her voice calm. “Cool…”
Chapter 26
The following morning, after breakfast, Martial and a small company of the newly established forces set off from the town. Martial rode with Michelle and Cassie by his side. Riding behind him was Martha and Abby, followed by twenty of the girls from the brothel.
It was a nice day for riding, the weather warm and dry. Their first stop was the village that had been attacked. They could see the damage from the distance, when the village appeared as nothing more than large anthill mounds. Smoke was still rising, little wisps of grey amongst the clear white and blue sky.
When they came closer, they could see the charred fields with hardened lava. There were small holes in the ground, surrounded by rising rocks of black.
“Those are the portals?” Martha asked, as she rode up beside him.
“I suppose so,” Martial said, his eyes on them.
“They’re so small…”
She was right. They were much smaller than even the smallest portal he had seen before. “How many demons do you think got out?” Martial asked.
“Hard to tell,” Martha murmured. “There are seven holes. Depends on how many came out. It would have to be one at a time.”
Martial nodded. It was a good assessment. “I’d assume at least twenty demons,” he said. “They could still be roaming around this area. Take your girls and check on the surrounding villages. Keep up regular patrols. The demons might attack at night. If they do, you’ll have to patrol during the dark. Stay heavy in numbers, never send the girls out without a Legacy.”
Martha nodded her agreement. They parted at the fork in the road. Martha, Abby and the girls turned left towards the next closest village. Martial, Cassie and Michelle went straight, heading towards the next town, Learmouth.
Martial knew little about the town, though he did know it was bigger than Cornhill-on-Tweed, and that it had a good many Legacies in it. He didn’t have a strategy for taking over it. Usually, if both masters were equally matched in terms of number of apprentices, then they could duel to decide who would win.
Martial didn’t have enough nearly Legacies of his own to convince the town’s master to duel him.
Legacies Page 17