Chapter 13 – Org Chart

The camp went up two days later. From the purple void rose a small building made of timber frames, hellscape clay, and a canvas roof. Kairon thought the size was exactly perfect to snuggly house twenty-five imps.

Modest as the design was, his workers were thrilled.

“Front!”

“FOOD!”

“Brood imps. To front!” called Shiny.

“Fine with us. We take back,” replied a wrath imp.

“Window bunk mine!”

“Stop. Put feet there.”

“Ow!”

Rustling and scampering filled the living quarters as the imps made it their home. The wrath imps lounged on their bunks in the back, while the brood imps tossed and squabbled in their section near the front.

Ducking his head in the short doorway, he saw Shiny climbing into the very front bunk. The little creature had three rocks, each glimmering. All were placed atop his wooden bedframe.

Our art collection grows.

Stepping back, Kairon reviewed the city interface.

640 gold. The city lord whistled. Not only had Kairon cashed in on restitution for Vorathrex, but he had also sent a request to adjudication for bereavement last night. It went through with little fanfare, marking an additional 150 gold. That fact he kept very quietly to himself.

Combined with the trickle of gold Shiny was now earning from corrupted timber, the settlement’s balance sheet was drastically more encouraging. If they had the stone, they could have built the wall today.

As far as the humans go, we have maybe a week. A week to get fifty stone to build a wall, spawn as many wrath imps as we can, and make our preparations.

Using Sovereign Eye, Kairon surveyed his domain. From the spiral black tower, outlined by a stone circle fifty paces out. A line of sandy hellscape marred the border where the stone ring stopped. Beyond, the corruption had sprawled outwards with no regard for what lay before it.

Taking a top down view, he moved to where the tree line originally started. Around one to two hundred paces from the tower itself, depending on which side. His domain had felt like a speck in a sea of green. Now, it seemed like an island. A big island.

It had more than tripled in size, the corrupted terrain eating up forest and leaving only scorched ground behind. Kairon’s vision flew by dead trees, abandoned animal dens, rubble, and strewn earth.

Three quarters of the way through his search and he’d marked out three separate suitable locations for stone collection. Two places where what appeared to have been a riverbed was now laid bare, with the flats of rock and stone glinting in the morning sunlight. There was also one massive stone, but that he’d save for later. Without proper tools, the riverbeds would have to do.

Satisfied, he broke the connection and ordered Shiny to meet him at the stockpile.

“Good morning, Shiny. I’m pulling your five man crew off timber today.”

“Find shiny?”

“Sort of. We need stone. A lot of it. And we need it fast, or the humans I spoke of before are going to have free rein of our shinies. And we don’t want that.”

The little imp bared his teeth, tiny fists balling. Kairon nodded in approval.

“How help?”

“I’m going to have your crew stop getting timber for the time being. I need you to just focus on stones. The bigger you can haul, the better.”

“Heavy.” Shiny pointedly looked at the enormous form of Vorathrex off in the distance near the wrath imps. “They help?”

Every time I speak with Shiny, his intelligence keeps ticking up. I wonder what’s causing that? I haven’t seen anything like that from the other imps.

“You know what, Shiny. That’s a splendid idea. How about this. I’ll see about wrangling up a few of the wrath imps to hand you some help. Does that sound good?”

Shiny visibly brightened at this.

Is it just me, or is Shiny more excited at the prospect of commanding the soldiers than the actual help that represents? That sent a flicker of amusement through Kairon’s veins. Though it does raise some concerns. That type of attitude generally stems from systemic problems. Have I been missing something?

Kairon made a mental promise to himself to watch how the brood and wrath imps interacted from now on. If there was a societal problem, he needed to nip that in the bud now.

With his mind’s eye, he picked out what he felt were the five strongest of the wrath imps and ordered them to meet him in front of the tower. He watched as they trotted away from the loosely defined practice area and the others, single file, and grouped up where directed.

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The stocky imps stood single file, all looking at him expectantly.

He gazed at each and kept his instructions short.

“We need to get this wall built. For our city to survive, it is absolutely imperative. I hesitate to pull you from your training, but you’re our best and strongest. I’m assigning you to assist the brood imps in gathering stones for the next several days.”

The five wrath imps shuffled uncomfortably. Several of them narrowed their eyes, and one looked about ready to speak. None did.

“Oh come now. You may speak freely. I’m not a dictator.” Not exactly, anyway.

“Lord Kairon… The brood imps are weak. Why help them? We are warriors!”

Hearing their fellow speak up, the rightmost imp joined in. “He’s right! We want to fight,” another agreed.

Kairon held up his claws in a calming motion. “I know, I know. I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. When the humans arrive, you’ll have your fight. In the meantime, I will be authorizing each of you extra food rations tonight for your civil service. Understand?”

“Vorathrex says that strength is above all,” grunted another. This one, the city lord noted, had a bent bone on his left shoulder. “You say we are the strongest, but then why would you leave us to guard the village?”

Kairon gazed back. “The humans won’t arrive for a week. Who are you guarding us from? And, consider this. The other soldiers, those I did not call for, have not been here as long as you. Any of you, for that matter.” His eyes swept over the five. “They need to train. To grow stronger. You do not.”