At this point, demons began leaving in twos and threes. All departed successfully. Finally, no more were left. Lesteroth had counted over three hundred demons leaving, the majority being the reinforcements that had arrived right before battle.
Lesteroth wasn’t about to leave. He was not going to risk Lilith. He was not going to volunteer to die either. It was pretty much a no-brainer. It was doubtful this dark lord could be worse than his own current dark queen.
When it appeared that no more were leaving, the dark lord nodded. “Very well. Those willing to swear to me, kneel. Those who wish to die, please remain standing so we can shoot you.”
Demons quickly began to kneel. They all kneeled. That was not a big surprise. Lesteroth was sure many were just playing a game, although why you would do that when you could just walk away did not make much sense. He suddenly realized that Darflow was still standing.
“Darflow, kneel!” Lesteroth hissed at his commander.
The dark lord turned his gaze on Darflow, sizing him up. “You are the commander of these men?”
“I am.”
“And you will not kneel?”
“My lord, I may not.”
“Why? Are your knees broken?” the dark lord asked.
Not an unreasonable question, Lesteroth reflected, looking around at his comrades. He wondered how many demons missing wings or legs might have been forced to stay due to immobility.
“No, my lord.” Darflow smiled grimly. “But as a commander who has failed his queen, I must accept the consequences, as much as I might not wish to. Honor demands it.”
Several D’Orcs were nodding at this. It was a technical point of honor. Not something most demons were familiar with.
“What is your name?” the demon lord asked.
“Darflow Skragnarth, milord.” The greater demon sighed.
The dark lord nodded and seemed lost in thought. “You are a commander, a leader, yes?”
“I am, my lord.”
The dark lord nodded. “Have you sworn an oath with your demons to lead them and to protect them, even as they protect you? Do you have any responsibility to or for your soldiers?”
Darflow looked puzzled by the question. “Of course. They swear their loyalty to me, and in return I lead and guide them, and protect them as I can.”
“Which you have done today.”
“Well, I have led them, but perhaps not wisely.”
“But you do have such an obligation, yes?”
“I do, my lord.” Darflow nodded.
“This oath you cannot break to your queen? Was it a similar oath of loyalty to that which your demons swore to you?” the dark lord asked.
“It was.”
“And she ordered you here today to fight us?”
“She did.”
“Did she lead you here?”
“Clearly not, my lord.” Darflow gestured around him.
“Did she have any idea what you faced here today?”
“I cannot say, my lord. However, she is quite wise. I would think she did.”
The dark lord nodded. “So she sent you to die, hoping that you could take out as many of us as possible.”
Darflow shrugged at the obvious. “I suspect that she thought the Knights of Chaos might tip the balance.” He gestured to the region where the knights had been.
The demon lord grinned. “Were you protecting her, here today, by attacking us?” he asked.
“I suppose one could argue that,” Darflow said.
“So you believe we are an imminent threat to her, or she does.”
“My lord, I am not privy to her thinking. I know that your people were once considered a threat, or at least a rival to her. I know she fears similar in the future,” the demon commander replied.
“Given that she sent you here, essentially on a death march, throwing your lives away in the hopes of doing some minimal damage to me and mine, do you think she upheld her side of her oath to you?”
Darflow was silent thinking on that. “Perhaps not, but I am not in a position to judge her on this.”
“Why not? It was the oath the two of you swore; who else but you should judge whether or not she was true to you?”
Lesteroth nodded to himself. This guy was a true demon lord. This was true demonizing logic if he had ever heard it. He was nearly as twisty as Asmodeus.
Darflow shook his head. “I know where you are going, my lord.”
“Do you? I am more interested in the oath you swore to your soldiers. You say you are a demon of honor. If so, then you are required to hold your oath to your soldiers as much as your oath to your queen.” The demon lord shifted his stance to stare slightly more intimidatingly at Darflow, or so it seemed to Lesteroth.
“Your men are kneeling, prepared to accept my offer. However, if they come to me, they will have no senior commander. Yes, they may have cohort leaders or division leaders. However, they will not have their senior sworn officer, their overall leader to whom they have sworn. Is it not your duty to join them to ensure that I keep my side of the deal? Is it not your duty, on behalf of your soldiers, to ensure that I treat them fairly? That I do not simply feed them to the D’Wargs?”
The D’Wargs started yipping in excitement at this point, causing more than a few worried glances in their direction.
Darflow gritted his teeth. “I suppose it is, but I have my duty to my queen.”
“The queen who betrayed her oath to you? Who sent you and your soldiers to certain death? Death that even she knew was certain. And all simply to annoy a rival?” The dark lord shook his head sadly.
“It seems to me, Darflow, that you would be better honoring your oath to these soldiers, than your oath to your oath-breaking queen.” The demon tilted his head and simply stared at Darflow.
Darflow shook his head in frustration, and then stared directly back into the demon lord’s eyes.
“Come, Darflow. Hold me to my word. Force me to treat your soldiers the way you would have them treated, not the way Lilith would treat them. Hold me to the oaths I swear to them.” The demon lord shook his head. “These brave demons followed you to certain death today. You ordered them, and they followed you. They upheld their oath to you. How can you do less for them?” He went silent.
The two armies were both silent for several minutes. Darflow had closed his eyes. He opened them at last, shook his head. “You will honor your word, D’Orc Lord.” Their commander knelt before the Dark Lord Tommus.
Chapter 117
Jenn and Hilda stared after the running metal man that had just left them abruptly shouting something about a portal and finding someone.
Jenn turned back to Hilda. “Who was that?” she asked the healer.
“His name is Ruiden. He’s a metal golem that belongs — I guess that’s the word — to the knight Talarius,” Hilda replied, frowning in thought as she looked off after the sword.
“A knight of Tiernon owns a metal golem?” Jenn asked, puzzled.
A young man dressed something like a ranger said, “Well, technically, Ruiden is Talarius’s sword. He simply turned himself into a golem so that he could hunt for his owner.”
Jenn shook her head; that explanation made absolutely no sense. Neither, however, did Hilda’s presence here, thousands of leagues from Freehold. How had she gotten here so quickly? The Nimbus was the fastest ship Jenn knew of. Teleportation could not transport people these distances; even a runic gateway would be hard-pressed to span this sort of distance.
“How are you here? Why are you here?” Jenn asked, turning back to Hilda.
Hilda turned to look at Jenn and after a brief moment, smiled brightly. “Ah, my dear, quite simple really.” She did not say anything more for a moment, and Jenn wondered if the healer was trying to think up an excuse. Jenn simply stared questioningly at her.