A hand fell on his shoulder, startling them both.
“Go easy on the girl, Kaern. She’s young,” Simone said, holding him in place with a single big hand.
“She’s foolish,” he growled, “but that’s not why I’m hard on her.”
“I know, but your way isn’t always the right way,” Simone told him. “And the hard way sometimes is just abuse without purpose.”
Kaern snorted. “You always did like cutting through the crap, Simone.”
“And you always liked laying it on,” she countered with a bit of a grin. “Now, why don’t you tell me what’s really going on.”
He paused, thinking about that for a moment. “Honestly, I don’t know,” he admitted finally. “Something is coming.”
“War.”
The two looked over to where Elan was still standing, her hand still on the pommel of the sword she carried.
“You said war was coming.”
“War is always coming.” He shrugged. “That’s the nature of life. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Living things are born to kill. It isn’t in our nature; it is our nature. From the lowliest microbe to the most complex masterpieces of the universe, we’re all murderers to the core. Anyone who says otherwise is just a pathological liar as well.”
“Cheery as always, Kaern,” Simone remarked dryly, “but you’re dodging the question.”
“I told you,” he said, eyes fixating on Elan. “I don’t know what’s coming, but I can read the signs. I’m not blind.”
Simone looked annoyed. “How about you assume we are then?”
“In the last few centuries, do you know how many humans I’ve met who could access the Dreaming?” he demanded, eyes still locked on Elan.
The two women shook their heads.
“I can count them on one hand,” he said by way of answering his own question, “and still have fingers left over for several rude gestures.”
Simone glared at him, clearly not following his train of thought, such as it was.
Kaern sighed, slumping slightly. “Think about it, Simone. Humans’ last outpost in this entire territory is facing annihilation, and I just happen to find a Dreamer right before it goes down? It stinks of prophecy, destiny. I hate that filth.”
Simone turned her focus back on the girl, eyes narrowing. “You cannot be serious.”
Kaern just shrugged. He wasn’t going to get into it with her or anyone else. He’d been involved in such matters before and they rarely turned out well for anyone directly in the line of fire, no matter what side you thought you were taking.
He’d decided a long time ago to put as much distance between himself and prophecy as he could, the real kind, at least. Most times it was nothing but hype, but he’d been around the planet enough times to know when he was looking at the real deal. The odds of running into a Dreamer, especially a child dreamer, were astronomical on their own. To find her right before a pivotal event? No, that was outside his comfort zone.
Simone, however, was far from convinced.
She shook her head, repeating herself, “You cannot be serious. This child? What destiny could she possibly have?”
“I don’t know, and when I find out, I want it to be from a long goddamn distance off,” he said simply.
“What are you talking about?” Elan broke into the conversation, her hand still on the hilt of the sword at her side.
Kaern looked at her for a long moment.
He’d known from the moment he saw her in the Dreaming that she wasn’t going to be some random encounter. That didn’t mean he liked the fact that he was sitting at the center of the play. He’d been there too often in the past and wasn’t looking for more of the same.
“I told you, lass, living things make magic…” he said, “but in turn, magic can make or break us too.”
He knew that meant little to either of them, so Kaern sighed before going on.
“Destiny events tend to be…messy,” he said, “and I can see one coming to a crux here from a long way off. I won’t try and stop it, I’m not that stupid, but I dinna see any reason to be here when it happens.”
“You’re not making any sense,” Elan complained. “I barely know how to fight. How can I matter at all?”
Kaern snorted. “Lass, if warriors made destiny, we’d all long be dead. Could be you’re just here to die and piss someone off so they become great, but I doubt that. Whatever it is, however, it’s not my concern. This is human business.”
He turned and started walking again. This time neither of the two moved to stop him.
“Hey, Simone,” Kaern called over his shoulder, pausing briefly.
“Yes?” the big woman asked, eyes still narrow.
“Teach her,” he said. “I brought her to you for a reason.”
Then Kaern walk down over a hill and out of sight.
*****
“I think we have a deal.”
Venadrin smiled blandly, accepting the trinkets he’d bargained for as he handed over the iron ingots. Trading iron to humans was one way to prove you weren’t working for the demons, a fast way to gain trust. The way humans figured, no demon would trade weapons that could kill them with their enemies.
There were only two problems with that.
The first was that Venadrin couldn’t care less if a few demons were killed by his actions. They weren’t his people. He owed no allegiance to the likes of them, even if he were the sort to be loyal in the first place.
The second problem was that the lord didn’t give a damn either.
Eighth and Ninth Circle demons were a plague on the universe, only useful as shock troops and for what they might eventually become. A few extra dead now was so beyond meaningless that Venadrin doubted the thought had even passed through the lord’s mind.
Or what passes for whatever goes on inside that…thing.
He closed up the bag, still smiling blandly at the merchant as he noted the positions of the local guards on reflex. It probably wouldn’t matter, honestly. By the time the demon horde made it this far, the whole place would be in chaos, but good habits were good habits.
Out of the corner of his eye, he kept watch on his true target, the constable’s office. That would be the source of resistance once the fighting got this far into the community, once the first line had been annihilated. Likely it would fold quickly, but you never could tell with peacekeepers.
Unlike warriors, they weren’t the sort to go out looking for trouble, but when it came knocking they often took their oaths to extreme degrees.
Eight constables visible, Venadrin noted, then slowly looked around, and most likely half the people here have been authorized to support them in an emergency.
That meant, conservatively, they were going to be facing a moderate core of trained peacekeepers and at least three hundred part-timers. That wouldn’t be so bad, except that their forces were going to be tired and weary by the time they got this far.
Difficult, but workable.
The defensive edge would make them a force to be reckoned with, but the lord had enough fodder to roll over it even so. Venadrin doubted that the real elite would even need to blood their weapons this time around, but he’d been mistaken before.
He unconsciously traced a long scar on his face, a final gift from Damasc before the man had retreated back to the wastes. Hunting him down had been a personal vendetta, and a pleasure, on his part. Killing the big fool, well, that was the most satisfying thing he’d done in recent memory.
Unfortunate I couldn’t have spent a little more time with his daughter, but dallying with bored demons in your vicinity is just asking for more trouble than she was worth.
*****
Kaern paused on his way out of the sanctuary space, looking back at the sparse greenery that was out of place in the world now.