Chapter 24 – Obligations

Kairon strolled through the wrath district. From beyond it, the walls stood bare. Forty meters of empty space lay between the end of the wrath district and the city barrier.

Not for long…

Brood imps bustled back and forth carrying hunks of meat from the stockpile and feeding pit. Every chunk was slid onto a stick and then held at a distance above several smoky campfires.

“Shiny! I want to start the second ring ritual in two hours! Let’s do our best to get this finished up before please.”

“Yes master! Last batch almost done!”

“Good. Don’t rush it. Yes, yes. Don’t give me that look. I know I’m contradicting myself. But if we have to wait another hour, I suppose we can. Make sure we keep the flames at low burn. We want these smoked slowly to get all the moisture out and leave a protective skin on the meat,” instructed Kairon.

The charred and crude form of jerky it made wasn’t the tastiest in the world, but it would keep. The demon was following his recollection of a survival training program The Bureau required all employees to take. Something about potential field duty.

“I know. You said twice.”

He realized that he was, once again, micro-managing. “Sorry. You’re right. It’s just I learned this over fifty cycles ago. So… I’m a bit uncertain if we did this right.”

“It’s fine. No worry,” consoled Shiny.

Nearby. the warriors were back to running drills. More than a few unhappy glances were thrown their way, clearly not pleased about the smoke drifting into the wrath district.

Vorathrex had already raged about it earlier. Kairon had pitched it as a dash of realism.

Battles had smoke, yes? At least he’s back to himself again. Or so it seems.

After yesterday, Kairon had cleared him to be put in charge again. Vorathrex took back to training with a vengeful fury. One that the two newest warriors were taking the brunt of in the form of merciless practice duels. It was very clear just who those two were.

“Weak!” shouted Boney. In front of him an imp was smashed into the ground. It glared up, scrambling to its feet only to be knocked back down.

“Humans would trample you! Weak!” he repeated, winding up his stave overhead for another blow. The stocky warrior brought it down hard, beating the feeling of combat into his new comrade.

Two pairs down, today’s newest wrath imp was kicked for the third time in a row. It wasn’t getting up.

Kairon walked over, seeing the unperturbed look on his wrath councilor’s face. “Are you sure this is truly necessary? I will default to your judgement, but I don’t want my warriors wasted. We only have one a day right now.”

“Who fault is that? I’ve told you that you should make more spawn.”

“When we can, I will.”

“That is only half the issue. The new ones are weak without a training grounds or real combat.”

A squeal sounded, the downed imp crumpling and clawing at the hard district flooring.

“That sounded rather painful… Vorathrex, I must admit this seems a bit cruel.”

“Yes. Pain teaches strength. They may hurt now, but it will make them stronger later. It is important to know the feeling of an enemy’s weapon. You will see.”

Shaking his head, Kairon decided to show faith in his general. At least outwardly. “I see. Well, Vorathrex, I have every confidence that your training regimen will prepare these warriors properly.”

“What does the fledgling need?”

“Hmmm? Oh yes. The ring ritual will start soon. We’ll need to halt training during it. Before it does, I’d like you to meet with me and Veron.”

“The weak human?”

“The weak human has some very valuable knowledge. It paints a picture I’d like your help with.”

“Fine. Boney!”

The imp looked up, one foot on the downed imp.

“Take charge! Make sure teach the new warriors to fight.”

A cruel grin spread over the scarred imp’s face. Kairon cringed internally.

I really hope he doesn’t break them. In terms of time, these new warriors are rather costly.

The morning sun had grown uncomfortably warm, again making that unnatural drain on the black demon’s scaly form. He’d opted to host the impromptu meeting on the side of the tower, where its looming form cast a comforting shadow between the city and its walls.

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With Veron’s help, he’d drawn a crude map displaying the general lay of the continent. “So you see,” Kairon indicated the impromptu display made of sticks, stones, and dirt.

“We are here. From what I can tell, we have about five leagues or so of diameter from here to the Spines in corrupted domain. Our land, so to speak.”

“Yes. I already know this. Do you think I’ve had my eyes closed?” Vorathrex crossed his four massive arms. The remaining two stumps were growing back very slowly.

“Well the rest of this you won’t. Veron shared much with me that I think you need to know. For example, we don’t have two enemies as we originally assumed. We have three. The first is the Greenswardian tribes who are sporadically spread about our east, north, and west.”

“Actually,” cut in Veron. “The biggest concentration of tribes that I know of lies to our east. That’d be The Wardens. Think of them like a tribal capital. I wouldn’t be surprised if more than three quarters of all tribes folk reside in that region. More than a thousand.”

“Hmm. And these Wardens. Are they strong?”

Veron gave the big demon a cold look. “What? You want to battle them? Like my village?”

“Only the strong ones. Warriors can deal with weak.”

An ugly look came over Veron’s face. “So what’s your plan? Kill every human until only you remain?”