With the daylight fading Diana had ordered their forces to set up a camp at the edge of a small forest to spend the night. In all honesty they only had four tents to pitch, so it had not taken their servants long to do it.

With their task complete, the undead soldiers, who had no need to shelter themselves from the elements, took up positions surrounding the camp for a watch that was likely to last the entire night.

Must be nice never feeling exhaustion, Victorian thought as he eyed the death knights standing the closest to the center of their encampment. With their backs turned to him the undead horsemen gazed silently into the surrounding landscape through the narrow slits in their helmets.

“They are the perfect sentries,” Diana said.

Victorian nodded. “How well can they see in the dark?” he asked.

“Better than mortals,” Diana answered. “But you have the upper hand in daylight.

Would you like to see for yourself?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Victorian asked.

“Stand still,” Diana commanded and took hold of Victorian’s head. “Otherwise I might screw up your sight for good.”

The Devil plucked a single strand of her hair and pushed it into the side of Victorian’s head. Like a needle piercing cloth it passed through his skin and bone near effortlessly.

Victorian gasped in surprise as his vision faded. A veil of darkness settled over his open eyes, but a moment later his sight returned.

“What do you see?” Diana asked.

“Shapes,” Victorian answered. “Black shapes on a dim silver background.

The fires from the torches are glowing bright, but… they make it harder for me to see.”

“It would take you some time to adjust to your new sight,” Diana said. “The human eye really is a delicate tool – much better than the arcane sight that the undead are cursed with.”

Victorian observed the dark shapes of the Devil’s maidens as they moved through the camp. He could see their outlines well enough, but finer details were beyond his ability to discern.

“But it is a rather limited tool,” Diana continued. “You were, after all, designed for a limited purpose.”

“Designed?” Victorian asked.

The young paladin winced in pain as Diana released him. He could feel her pulling the lone strand of hair out of his head.

“I can’t leave you blind by daylight,” Diana explained as she curled the black strand of hair around her finger. “The ability to see in the dark carries with it a great cost. I think that you are better served by your own two eyes for the time being.

Now, come,” she said and took Victorian by the hand. “We should talk about your coming confrontation with the man that murdered your father.”

Victorian’s eyesight was still faulty when Diana led him into nearby tent. The interior was shrouded in dusk and barren, save for a pair of wooden stumps that were arranged around a fire pit.

“Please excuse the simple nature of these accommodations,” Diana said. “Since this is a short trip, I thought we should travel light. Not that I think you would mind the discomfort of sleeping on the ground for a few nights. I am sure that the Temple has taught you the value of modesty.”

“I will be fine,” Victorian said.

“Then shall I light the fire?” he offered.

The Devil snapped her fingers and the kindling in the fire pit began to crackle. The growing flames wrapped around the firewood in a rising vortex of heat. Soon enough it had turned into a roaring blaze, expelling the darkness from the tent entirely. The smoke from the fire pit rose up and escaped through the small opening in the roof of the tent.

Diana took a seat next to the roaring fire and gestured for Victorian to join her.

“At our current speed we are going to reach the Rotwald castle by tomorrow evening,” she said. “But I still have some questions that I would like to ask before we start planning the murder of Duke Steinfeld.”

“Murder?” Victorian asked. “He deserves to die for what he did to my family.”

Diana nodded. “Of course,” she said, “But it will still be murder.”

Victorian scoffed.

“I am merely stating the obvious,” Diana said. “You want to kill him, do you not?”

Victorian ground his teeth in anger. “Yes,” he admitted.

“I am curious, though,” Diana said. “Why were you attacked? Why the sudden betrayal?

Was there any reason for him to seek the demise of your house?”

Victorian was taken aback by her line of questioning. “I don’t know why he attacked us! Why does it matter?”

“It matters, Victorian. Justification always matters. Without a just cause a man in his position would not have risked such a dangerous move. It would be wise to understand his motivations, before we execute him for his actions.

So, do you have any idea why he attacked your father?”

“No,” Victorian said.

“Well, let’s see if we can connect the dots, then,” Diana said. “Maybe there are larger forces at work here that we should be mindful of.

Your kingdom is dying, Victorian. It has been on decline for centuries now.”

Diana took a charred piece of kindling from the fireplace. She then snapped her fingers and the fire spread across the ground beneath them, burning away all the grass.

Isn’t it still hot? Victorian wondered as he eyed the smoldering piece of wood in her hand.

Diana etched the crude outline of a map in the blackened soil.

“The kingdom of Leidemar is bordered by three lesser powers,” Diana said and drew three circles next to the outline of the kingdom. “The free cities of the Merchant Republic to the north,” she pointed at the top left circle; “The Morivera Dukedom, ruled by house Hansen, to the north east and the free state of Swerebor to the south.”

She looked up at Victorian. “Do you know what they all want?”

Victorian shook his head.

“Everything,” Diana said. “They want everything – more money, power and a purpose for their existence.

Always consider the ambitions of your fellow mortals. And always assume the worst. Only then will you live longer than you father did.”

“What does any of this have to do with my family?” Victorian asked.

“Everything,” Diana answered. “Everything is connected. From the lowliest peasant to the king’s court, your kingdom is a living and breathing organism. When parts of it suffer, the whole body suffers. Actions in one place have ramifications in another.

I don’t think that Steinfeld’s attack on your house was an isolated incident. I think that he was acting as a part of a greater plan.

Did he give a reason for his aggression?”

Victorian frowned. “Treason, he called it.”

Diana raised an eyebrow. “Treason?”

“Aye, treason. We were told that because of my father’s treason our house was to stand trial in the king’s court.”

“That is a grand claim,” Diana said, “But was there any truth to it?”

“Of course not!” Victorian objected. “Rotwalds are no traitors. We have served the crown for centuries. We have always paid our dues. We have always raised our banners to answer the call of the king!”

Diana gestured at Victorian. “Well, you betrayed your kingdom when you accepted my offer,” she reminded him.

“It’s not the same,” Victorian said. “I was betrayed! My house was betrayed!”

Diana shrugged. “Well, when it comes to crumbling seats of power, treason is the spice of the season.

It’s quite obvious that your house must have stood in the way of its preservation, or it had become a burden to it.”

“My father was not a traitor,” Victorian insisted.

“Maybe,” Diana said, “But if I had been in his place, I would have betrayed your king a long time ago.”

She once more pointed to the map on the ground before them. “Your kingdom is surrounded by hostile neighbors. Every harvest season the Dutchy of Morivera sends its mercenaries to pillage your northern marches.

The Merchant republic drains your kingdom’s coffers as it profiteers from the ongoing war between the two states, and Swerebor bides it’s time to reclaim the long disputed lands all the way to the Crescent lake.

You are being bled dry.

How many men has your father sent to their deaths? How many children have gone starving because he answered the king’s call? How much suffering has your loyalty to the crown cost to your subjects?

Why not betray the king? Why not help bring an end to the war? You cannot win.”

“Leidemar still stands,” Victorian said. “My father would never betray the king, because he would never trade in his honor like that.”

“Honor does not matter,” Diana said. “Weapons matter. Soldiers matter. Money matters.

The mercenaries marching under the Morivera banner are better armed and trained than your kingdom’s levies. They are well supplied by their dwarven allies and their forges. As for the dwarves themselves, they are no pushovers on the field of battle either.

Your kingdom might have the numbers to hold the Moriveran army at the border, but every year you return home with less and less men. Every year your farms grow more and more destitute for the lack of farmers.

You cannot win in the long run. One way or another, Leidemar will fall.

What I am interested in is how much of the kingdom will I be able to claim once it does inevitably crumble. But maybe it doesn’t have to…

Maybe you could save it from the horrors of war.”

Victorian scoffed. “What can I do in all of this?”

“Quite a lot, actually,” Diana said. “You are a part of the Leidemari nobility, after all. With my support you could avenge your family and rise up above your station. There is so much you could do in the king’s court. With my guidance you could save so many lives from all this needless violence…”

“You would have me as a puppet,” Victorian said.

“You already sold your soul to me,” Diana said. “Don’t tell me that passing on my advice to the king would somehow be worse. We all serve a greater master, willingly or not.”

Victorian considered her offer.

“Once we regain control over the Rotwald estates, I will be able to supply you with an army. Once we have secured the whole duchy, I will provide you with more working hands than you could ever find a use for. And once you are in the king’s court, I will help you end the war with Morivera once and for all.”

“And what will you gain from all this charity,” Victorian asked.

“Everything,” Diana answered. “But don’t take me for a tyrant – I care not for the pittance of power that you attribute to your kings and priests. I am already far more powerful than any mortal being on this world of yours.”

“Then why do you need me?” Victorian asked. “Why are you telling me all this?”

“I am a thunderstorm, Victorian. It is very hard for me to move a single leaf in the forest and not uproot the rest of it. I need mortals like you; mortals who can use their own two hands and pick up the delicate tasks. I need mortal minds that can suffer anger and not risk setting the world on fire around them.

But most importantly, I need you because you are a part of my God’s plan. I am a prophet of Caldun, and I can tell you with certainty that the God of Death wants you to live; to grow and discover your place in the universe. And I am more than willing to raze entire kingdoms to help you along the way.

Consider my words carefully,” Diana said and looked to the entrance of the tent. “We all have our selfish desires, but sometimes the best thing to do is to set them aside for a common goal. Without such sacrifice no society can function.”

“Excuse me, Master…” a woman said from beyond the lowered curtains of the tent. “Dinner is ready.”

I remember that voice, Victorian thought. Leonora, was it?

“You may enter,” Diana ordered.

Two handmaidens entered the tent carrying with them plain wooden bowls of stew that they brought before Diana and Victorian.

“Thank you, Julia,” Diana said to her servant as she received her bowl from the handmaiden. “That will be all for tonight, you may retire to sleep. Tell the others.”

“As you command, Master,” the golden haired beauty curtsied before turning around and heading for the exit.

“I think that you will find Lemmy’s cooking to be… out of this world,” Diana said to Victorian. “For the life of me, I cannot understand why he finds it so captivating. Demons are not usually known for their cooking prowess.”

“Thank you, Leonora,” Victorian said as she handed him his bowl of stew. “I am sure it will be good.”

This time the woman did not blush, but she avoided eye contact. “I will pass on your praise to Lord Lemmy, Lord Rotwald.”

“Yes…” Victorian could not find the right words, so he watched in silence as Leonora left the tent.

“Has she caught your eye,” Diana asked. “She has a certain… charm to her, doesn’t she?”

Victorian shook his head, Snap out of it!

“It is nothing,” he said. “We should probably discuss our impending encounter with Lord Steinfeld.”

“If you say so,” Diana smirked. “Anyhow, I plan on first speaking to him in private, if you don’t mind. I think that having you with me might hamstring our options.”

“Do you expect him to attack us on sight?” Victorian asked.

“I expect him to die, Victorian. But there are quite a few things he might try before it happens. That is why I am setting out ahead of you to stir up some trouble before the rest of my forces arrive.”

“If I may ask, what do you intend to do?”

“Wither their numbers. Rile up the locals.” She paused for clearly dramatic purposes, “To set up the stage for our timely arrival.”

Diana stood up and left her bowl of stew on the tree stump. “We shall meet again on the morrow, Victorian. I trust you can lead my forces towards the Rotwald keep on your own from here on out.”

“The undead–”

“They will obey your command,” she said. “You are one of us now, after all.”

Victorian took a deep breath and considered how he should best phrase his next sentence. “You seem to have full faith in my loyalty, Lady Albrecht. Yet, you have only known me for a short while…”

“Does that bother you?” she asked.

Victorian winced. “Of course it bothers me.” He gave her a questioning look, “Why? Why do you think you can trust me?”

Diana smiled. “I know that I can trust you because you have nothing left to loose, Victorian; and everything to gain by serving me.

Now rest,” Diana ordered. “We have a kingdom to conquer and not a lot of time to do it. Prove me your worth and I will grant you a purpose in life that will make all of your past deeds, good or bad, seem completely insignificant by comparison.”

Victorian watched her leave the tent. Left alone to ponder her advice, he looked down at the bowl of stew in his hands. I am not worthy of trust…

Why am I even doing this anymore? he wondered as he eyed the food before him. What reason do I have left to live?

Redemption? For what – my sins? Yes… I have committed many. But to whom do I ask for forgiveness? Who is left that has the authority to give it?

The dead? He considered it for a moment. They have no reason to listen. They have no reason to care for the fate of my soul.

He flexed his aching hand. The Devil? She offers me forgiveness, but it is not her that I had wronged. It is not hers to give.

Victorian sighed and downed a spoonful of Lemmy’s stew. His troubled expression was warped in sudden surprise, BY THE GODS, IT’S DELICIOUS!

***

Lemmy stood next to the fire pit in the middle of the servants’ tent, wearing nothing but his green velvet pants. He was in the company of ten of the Devil’s handmaidens. They had just finished their meal and were contentedly listening to Lemmy’s retelling of his past adventures.

“… So, there I was, standing on top of the ruined watchtower, thinking to myself: what am I going to do next?

I have the Urdokai gathered up in front of me and the Sword Brothers of the West riding down the mountain behind me. Their bloodhound mounts were probably already salivating as the dreamed about how they would take a bite out of my big red ass! I tell you, the things can eat their own weight in meat if you starve them for long enough–”

The canvass over the entrance behind him parted slightly as Julia and Leonora entered the tent.

“Ah, you are back. Come, sit!” Lemmy offered, “I was about to get to the best part.”

“Thank you, Lord Lemmy,” Julia bowed her head, smiling.

“The Master and Lord Rotwald wished of me to pass onto you their compliments for the meal you made, My Lord,” Leonora added.

Lemmy acknowledged the praise with a slow nod.

“Now then,” the half-naked man continued, waving his arms around as he spoke trying to paint a picture for the listeners, “Some sixty angry and drugged up Urdokai berserkers standing before me and a dozen mounted Sword Bothers at my back. Doesn’t sound like a fair fight, right? I mean, I knew they would not just come at me one at a time all honorable like. Even the Urdokai were not that high on arcane dust to try it.

So I asked myself: Who should I attack first?

The Urdokai are always fun, since they actually like being hit, the creepy little bastards. And the Sword Brothers almost never try to run even once they understand that they have no chance to beat me.”

Lemmy grinned, “Surrounded by zealots and dust sniffers just waiting to get slaughtered – a good start to any day in my opinion.”

It was a hard choice to make, you know – choosing who to kill first. So I was just standing there considering my options, all the while these two parties rushed towards me. But before I could come up with the decision, this guy – a war boss of the Urdokai or something; really chunky for an incubus – he came forward and started yelling at the captain of the Sword Brothers. ‘You will not claim my prize, weakling of the west!’

And the captain of the Sword Brothers – he was dressed all fancy like, so you could tell that he was the fanciest of the fancy men of the west – he replied: ‘His head is mine to take, barbarian! I have been tracking the Red Menace for two whole weeks!’

–I really liked how he called me there, by the way: ‘The Red Menace’,” Lemmy laughed.

“So, at this point the two of them resorted to debating each other’s ancestors or something, ‘Your mother, this and that. Your father was a something, something…’ I didn’t really pay too much attention to that part, but my guess would be that they were trying to determine who should have the right to fight me first, based on how many different creatures their parents… had bedded?

Strange, right?

Well, their debate went on for a while, but the parents of the Urdokai war boss apparently lost by the merit of having coupled with the most beasts. Let me tell you, that war boss was not good with words. He should never have challenged a Sword Brother to a verbal duel – the shiny men of the west love to talk, after all.

But what did this guy do when his wits had failed him? The war boss of the dust sniffers decided to issue a challenge to the captain of the sparkly pants. He accepted, of course, and now I had to watch the two of them take up positions for a duel to settle their differences right before me.

Needless to say, I was starting to feel pretty left out at this point.

When the fighting finally began I could immediately tell that the dust sniffer had the upper hand in strength and stamina; wailing his two handed stone hammer around the way he did. But the fancy captain was also no slouch – he dodged all of the attacks, desperately trying to get close enough to reach the war boss with his sword.

Bam–swish, bam–swish, they went back and forth, trying their best to deliver a telling blow.

Now, at this point their battle had been going on for a while, moving back and forth across the field below me. The other guys were really into to it too, as they followed the two fighters wherever they went, shouting and cheering them on. Everyone was having a great time, apparently.

But I was getting bored by it, and when I get bored I also get hungry. So I noticed that the bloodhound that the fancy captain had dismounted to honorably fight the war boss had been left behind and – can you imagine that! – right at the bottom of the wall that I was sitting atop of.

So I went to grab myself a snack while I waited for their duel to finish. I whacked the bloodhound on the head with my arm and, naturally, he died on the spot. He never even saw me coming… But when I tried to tear off one of its meaty legs to bring back up the wall with me, the damned bones made a really loud noise as they snapped.

The battle stopped. Everyone was suddenly looking at me as I took a big bite out of the hound’s leg.

Form the funny expressions that they were giving me, I could tell that they did not approve of me doing that…

Oh, and the captain of the fancy pants had the funniest expression of them all, but not for long, as the Urdokai war boss used the distraction that I had provided to drive his massive war hammer down upon his head. I examined the guy’s head afterwards and it looked like it had been pushed inside his body – that’s how strong that blow was!

But the rest of the fancy men did not approve of the dust sniffer cheating like that. I mean, I would have been upset myself if someone had won in such a dishonest manner.

An all-out battle now ensued as the two parties clashed in a crazy fun looking melee, that I, once again was feeling left out of.

‘That’s it!’ I decided, ‘I’m having some of that fun as well!’

So I launched myself into the middle of the brawl, slashing left and right with my one free hand as I went. I only had one free hand because I was still hungry and the hound leg had turned out to be quite good. Though in retrospect I think it could have used some seasoning.

But guess what? Now that I was in the midst of the battle, showing them how things were really done, the two groups suddenly decided to join forces and fight me together!

What a glorious turn of events that was!

Unfortunately the war boss of the dust sniffers decided to ruin my fun as he tried to part me from my hound’s leg, that he in his little head had decided I was using as a weapon!

As if I would drag my food across the dirt of the battlefield before eating it. I am not an animal!

So he smacked me on my hand and the hound’s leg went flying. Naturally, the next thing he saw was the ground from really, really far away as I launched the fool high into the air.

Now this next part I am especially proud off: The guy dropped his war hammer when I hit him, right? Seeing the opportunity for a cool trick, I then proceeded to grab hold off the said hammer and launch it after the war boss.

– Oh, it was glorious! –

Against all odds, I managed to hit him in the chest mid-flight with his own weapon. BAM!” Lemmy punched his fists together, “Instant respect from the others!”

After that? Well, the brawl died down as the Urdokai tried to run away after seeing their leader get completely annihilated by my hammer throwing prowess.” Lemmy struck a pose for displaying his muscled body, “I say ‘tried’ since the remaining Sword Brothers were apparently a lot more pissed off at them than they were at me.” He shrugged, “Understandable, of course, since the dust sniffers did kill their commander. That is why I don’t count it as a retreat. Say what you want about the Sword Brothers of the West, but they have never run away from me, and I don’t consider this time to be an exception.

I even got to snack on some of their bloodhounds once it was all over as compensation.”

The handmaidens applauded Lemmy as he concluded his story with a deep bow. Their joyous expressions brought a smile to his own face as the demon basked in the attention of the twelve servants before him.

“That is a story I had not heard before,” Diana commented as she revealed her presence by parting the canvas covering the entrance to the tent.

“Ah, Master!” Lemmy exclaimed in surprise, “If I had known that you were standing there…” He looked to the handmaidens for an explanation, but concluded from their expressions that they had definitely not noticed her earlier either.

“It’s quite alright. It sounded like a fun story, so I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Diana opened up the entrance a bit wider revealing the darkness beyond it, “I would like to discuss a few things with you, if you would please follow me outside.”

“As my Master wishes,” Lemmy bowed and left the tent.

“Leonora,” Diana addressed the handmaiden.

“Yes, Master?” she replied.

“I would like for you to join me as well.”

“Yes, Master.” She immediately complied and followed Lemmy out of the tent.

As the last remnants of daylight had faded, the clear night sky was now covered by a thick blanket of stars shining down over the planet below. The fading moon cast a dim white light over the encampment that was being overshadowed by local light sources, most notably the few torches that had been set up throughout it.

Diana stood some distance away from the tent. She was dressed in black leather armor that covered her from neck to toe. Her long, raven black hair flowed freely across her back down to the waist line.

The material of the armor appeared to absorb almost all light cast upon it from the nearby torches as it maintained its darkness in spite of them. The large black feathered wings on her back reached out into the nightly scene as she waved them around like an athlete might when doing warm-ups before an exercise.

“What would you ask of me, Master?” Lemmy asked. He was mindful to keep his distance not to get in the way of her wings.

“Keep your eyes on Victorian,” Diana advised him, “There is a darkness inside of that man that even I cannot remove without destroying what makes him who he is.”

“A darkness, Master?”

“Every single one of us is the result of the choices that we make, Lemmy. Our past shapes who we are in more ways than one.

Men like Victorian, however, are beyond being shaped by their past – they have been misshapen by it. Deformed. Broken…”

“Is he a threat, then, Master?” Lemmy inquired with a stern look on his face.

“A threat? No… Maybe to himself–

Look after him, Lemmy. Talk to him. Ask him to train you. Keep his mind occupied. That way he has a chance to fight the darkness within him. More than anything else right now, he needs a friendly shoulder to support him.”

“Is that the only way, Master? Can nothing else be done to help him with this ’darkness’ that you speak of?”

“There is, Lemmy” Diana said as she folded her wings behind her back and turned around to face him, “What I am asking of you is only one part of the solution.” She shifted her look over to Leonora, “You might be the other.”

Leonora bowed he head, “What would you ask of me, Master?”

“What I would ask you about is Victorian.” She pointed one of her wings towards the rising moon, “Come, and let us discuss this on our way to the Rotwald keep. I do not wish for the precious few hours of darkness that we have to be wasted.”

“As you wish, Master.”

Leonora carefully removed her long, hooded robe revealing a much tighter garment below it. All of her clothes were in the same dark shade of blue and, though it did not look like conventional armor, the apparel was close fitting enough to allow for the ease of movement necessary if she was required to fight. There was a dagger on her belt and three smaller ones holstered inside a padded pocket on her left thigh.

As Leonora stepper forward the torchlight revealed two conspicuous elongated holes on the back of her shirt that exposed a portion of her soft skin beneath it. Standing side by side with Diana, she crossed her hands over her chest and closed her eyes. As she opened them once more a pair of dove white wings had appeared on her back.

Leonora looked up at the night sky, basking her wings in the moonlight.

Diana flapped her black wings a few times and took flight. Her handmaiden was quick to follow.

Lemmy observed his master and Leonora fly off into the night. He then carefully folded Leonora’s robe and headed back inside the tent.