Chapter 46

  ‘Yay! Daddy did it!’ Flamey Elizabeth Hyde cheered as Tarashak told her the news of victory at Garoshek.

  She’d had no doubt he would succeed, no doubt he’d be victorious, no doubt the stupid minotaurs would pay with their lives for invading the Ring that belonged to Daddy. And to her. She was a princess after all, so this was her Ring as well. And as such, she had to do her part. Ah, she missed Daddy. Just how long would his campaign take? How long before the inevitable final victory, and before she could hug him again?

  ‘Flamey, what are you up to?’ Tarashak asked as she put Whirly back into the container after another successful flyaround.

  ‘What do you mean, Tar-Tar?’ she asked, looking at the general, radiating innocence.

  ‘You know what I mean. And don’t call me that!’ He scowled. ‘You and your personal guards are sneaking around. And some others. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?’

  Princess, the scouts are almost back with another two minotaur mages. We should leave. She heard Khartagar’s mind-voice warning her. She turned around to glance at her guard captain standing a few steps behind her and nodded to him. It was time to go, but to just ignore the general’s questioning would raise further suspicion. She felt a little bad keeping Tar-Tar in the dark about the plan she had hatched with her followers — the mage had been appointed to look after Scaragar after all, by none other than Daddy, but she doubted the grumpy old demon would approve. Perhaps he’d even try to stop her. She couldn’t have that.

  ‘We are working tirelessly for the good of the Ring, just like Daddy is,’ she said, smiling at him as she closed the container. ‘We can’t do anything less.’

  The lock on the container let out a beeping sound, and in a puff of Hell Mana she returned it to her storage.

  ‘And what is it you’re doing for the good of the Ring if I may ask, Princess?’ the mage inquired, putting an emphasis on the word “princess” rather mockingly.

  That was fine; he wasn’t a follower, and she couldn’t expect him to understand the grand and glorious role and responsibility the bearer of the best title ever had to carry.

  ‘We are … well, we’re working on a way to slow the minotaurs down. I mean, they’re trying to shovel the entire hill away. And on a way to leave town if it becomes necessary.’

  ‘A way to leave town? After your father had made it his Seat of Power?’ Tarashak asked, his eyes wide with disbelief. ‘We are to hold this town for as long as possible. To keep the enemy here. This was your father’s plan.’

  ‘I know, I know.’ Flamey nodded enthusiastically. ‘But Daddy wouldn’t want all of us dying here if the hill collapsed. Do you think he would?’

  ‘I don’t know. He’s human.’ Tarashak mused. ‘And even if he wasn’t, it would make sense for a ruling demon lord to sacrifice us all to achieve victory.’

  Well, Tarashak clearly didn’t know the first thing about Daddy. Yes, he would make all the necessary sacrifices, but not the unnecessary ones. Everyone dying here? It was unnecessary, and she knew deep in her heart Daddy would not only agree but he’d encourage her to carry on with her plan. Because Daddy was … well, Daddy.

  ‘Victory will be ours, he will make sure of that,’ she stated confidently. ‘And I will make sure we’ll be alive to see it.’

  ‘Admirable, but you still haven’t told me what you and your lackeys are doing.’ Tarashak sneered at her.

  ‘Lackeys?’ Flamey flinched theatrically in a princess-like manner. ‘They are Followers. My followers. And they are all wonderful demons.’

  ‘Just answer my question! I don’t want any surprises from you and your … followers.’

  ‘Well, we are digging,’ Flamey said, smiling at the general.

  ‘Digging?

  ‘Digging.’

  ‘What are you digging?’

  ‘A hole.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because it’s the plan.’

  Tarashak sighed heavily, and Flamey couldn’t force the grin off her face.

  ‘Are you going to tell me anything more?’ he asked, looking angry and annoyed.

  ‘Nope. It’s a secret plan. Sort of,’ she informed him cheerfully.

  ‘Is this going to cause me and the city problems?’ he asked.

  ‘It’s going to solve problems,’ she declared boldly, straightening her posture, trying to look as regal and reliable as any princess should.

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  The grumpy general sighed again, shaking his head and rubbing it with one hand just below his horns.

  ‘Just don’t cause problems. Our situation is dangerous as it is,’ he said.

  ‘I won’t. Princess promise,’ she said and she turned around to leave the walls, followed by Khartagar and the rest of her retinue.

  ***

  The two freshly captured minotaurs rose from the stone floor. The scouts, under Renet-Lidan’s close supervision, removed the ropes and shackles. The fire and ice-demons in the room forgotten already, the enemy mages had their eyes on their new and beloved princess and nothing else, professing their undying love and loyalty to her. Flamey wanted to sneer; the loathsome demons of the Third Ring standing in front of her throne made her angry. But they served a purpose, and she couldn’t just kill them. Yet. For now she had to be content with the knowledge that they would atone for their transgressions against the Fourth — which were many, probably — and their lives would be spent for the benefit of Scaragar and its residents. Yes, this was right, and as a princess she had a duty to see this through, no matter how distasteful the presence of the stupid minotaurs was. And she had to keep Tar-Tar away from them; she didn’t even want to think about the kind of scolding the general would give her if he found out her followers were going outside to snatch enemy mages on her orders. It would take days to explain it away, which would be a disaster she wanted to avoid. Luckily, she had enough followers — even among the general’s army not to mention town leadership — to be able to do most things under the grumpy old demon’s nose. Well, so far.

  ‘So, are you two ready to do some work for me?’ Flamey stood up from her throne to address the minotaurs.

  The disgusting creatures immediately wanted to rush up the dais, only to be stopped by pair of her highest level personal guards, pushing them back with ease. Flamey knew this wasn’t an attack; they were mages, and if they had wanted to harm her they would have cast spells.

  ‘I am Tauralikon! What is your name? I will serve you forever, just tell me your name!’ one of them yelled excitedly, almost happily.

  ‘I’m Bovotharron, I’ll serve you even better. I’m a mage, level 22, I can do anything for you!’ the other one joined in, shouting over his cohort.

  Your skill works a little too well, Princess. Khartagar’s comment echoed in her mind. They’d drop down and start licking your boots if we let them.

  Ugh! Kharti! That’s a horrible picture. Flamey complained while trying to hide her disgust from the overenthusiastic, lovestruck minotaurs. Let’s take them to the Hole and get them to work. I want to see the progress.

  Khartagar nodded silently and got the guards to nudge the minotaurs to move, which of course didn’t really work until Flamey asked them with a smile to follow her and her demons. It was better this way, the stupid enemy mages had work to do, which they wouldn’t be able to do beaten up and with broken limbs.

  As she followed her guards out of the cellar, out of the house and through the streets, her followers made sure their route was unobserved by Tarashak’s demons, or any other residents not yet in the fold. Soon they reached a large house near the centre of town, the windows boarded up with planks made of the black, orange veined wood of the Wilds, muffled sounds coming from the inside.

  Khartagar stepped to the door and knocked on it three times, paused, then three times again. The door opened slightly, and a burly but low-level fire-demon’s head poked out, his horns almost getting caught between the door’s edge and the stone wall.

  ‘Ah, Princess. You’ve come to see how the work is going?’ Grathegar asked as he saw who his visitors were. ‘Come in and take a look. Oh, I see you’ve brought an extra pair of scum-faced Third Ringers. I won’t lie; their spells do make this a lot easier. Come in, come in!’

  The guards pushed the two minotaurs inside, Flamey, Khartagar and Renet-Lidan following behind them. Grathegar the miner ushered them into the largest room of the house, where a dozen demons worked a pulley system at the dim lights of lanterns, pulling up buckets filled with rocks and earth that had been loosened and dug up by the minotaur’s earth magic down in the large hole in the middle of the room. The miners put all the waste and debris in wheelbarrows and took them outside through a back door to dump at places Tat-Tar had no idea existed. It was good to have Erlakhan, the overseer of the city, in the fold; he knew every corner, every secret passage, every place large amounts of earth and rocks could be dumped without anyone knowing.

  ‘As you see, Princess, we’re making good progress,’ the miner explained, pointing at the hole while his workers all stopped for a moment to wave and grin at her. Flamey waved back at them all, giving them smiles while listening to the update from the miner. ‘We’re almost halfway down to ground level, the hole — or rather tunnel — tilting to the south.’ Flamey stepped closer to the edge of the hole and looked down into the darkness below. She bent down to touch the wooden structures fixed to the tunnel’s wall. ‘Oh yes, Irsherak and his boys are making the rails, the ladders and everything else. They have a stock of raw wood from the Wilds, at least for now, but they might end up having to use furniture, doors or window frames later. We’ll see.’

  ‘How long before I could go down there and try to slow the enemy’s work down?’ she asked.

  ‘Now that we have two other minotaurs … hm … six days until we’d reach a point where we can start tunneling to the hillside and make a few exit points somewhere above where the enemy miners will be. So, ten days total,’ he said, then glanced at the freshly captured minotaur mages, who were hanging on Flamey’s every word. ‘We can push them as hard as we like, but if Hell Mana is finished, they can’t cast no matter what we do. Without their earth skills and spells it would have been at least forty days to reach those points. And it will take at least that to dig deeper and tunnel under the enemy and to the Wilds.’

  ‘Good work, Grath, I’m so happy it’s going well,’ Flamey beamed at the demon, who was grinning ear to ear while bowing his head before his princess.

  Ten days until she could try a few tricks to slow down the enemy’s efforts, forty days until the residents of Scaragar had an escape route. It wasn’t bad, but …

  ‘How long do you think it will take the Third Ringers to collapse the hill? If they can do it at all?’ she asked the miner.

  ‘I asked the captives about that, but even with their answers in mind it’s hard to say,’ the man mused. ‘The best guess I have is between 120 and 150 days. Scaragar’s hill is a big one, but the cursed scum are working hard, so make no mistake, Princess; they know how to work earth and stone, and they will topple the entire hill eventually if they’re not stopped. I don’t want to be here when that happens. I’m a miner, but I have a few skills to use in a fight, and I’d rather die that way.’

  Flamey sighed. The sentiment the miner had put forward was one shared by everyone in the city, whether they were her followers or not. And if it came to that, she was sure she’d stand with them herself. She knew Daddy would want her to be safe, but how could a princess abandon her followers? A princess couldn’t do that, and she was sure Daddy would understand. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that, hence the plan she had hatched with her guard captain and the city overseer — the first of her followers. It would work. It had to. Because she was going to see Daddy again, alive and well, and she would make him proud.