Len’s eyes snapped open with a start. The earliest rays of sunlight were creeping in under the flap of her tent and the bed was empty. Every muscle she had screamed in protest as they realized they’d just spent hours on a hard wooden chair without any mobility. And to top it off, the girl wasn’t in the bed anymore. Whipping her head side to side, Len’s heart skipped a beat, then relaxed itself when it saw that the girl was still there, she was just rifling through her desk.

“See anything you need?” Len asked as pleasantly as she could manage, given the circumstances.

The girl jerked and looked at her, hand clamping around the mostly useless letter opener.

“Really? You want to go through that again? You think anything good could come from attacking me right now? Kid, there are a dozen Orcs out there and most of them probably wouldn’t think twice about killing you or worse if you actually managed to kill me. For what it’s worth, I told the guard to let you go without issue if you did it, but I’m not sure I’d bet my own life on him obeying that order if I were you. Just put the knife down and come and talk to me.”

Keseryn looked as though she might object, but some of the frantic energy had left her after getting real sleep in a real bed. There was a bit more rational thought playing across her face now that the pure adrenaline that had kept her going had faded. Maybe now they could get somewhere.

“You still up for taking me to your house so I can deal with those two? You could just draw me a map and I can deal with it while you stay here where it’s safe. Maybe we could arrange for you to join the rest of the humans now that you’re an orphan? Now that I think about it, it’s probably best not to be putting a child in harm’s way if I don’t have to.”

“I’m close enough to an adult that I’d rather you stopped referring to me as ‘kid’ and I damn well am coming with you. How the hell am I supposed to trust that you really did anything more than let them run away. I want them dead. Also…”

She paused for a long moment, then continued with a touch of sadness in her voice.

Also, they won’t take me. Mom and Dad didn’t say much about the banishment, but It’s permanent, and hereditary. No one from the clan will ever have anything to do with me. Ever.”

“Well that’s some bullshit. All right, fine. You can stay here.”

“What?!”

“Complain all you want, ‘close enough to an adult’ is not the same as BEING an adult. Winter is gonna be here before you know it and I’d rather not have your death on my conscience if I can help it. Besides, we could use another pair of hands around here.”

“Wait just a damn moment! You haven’t even convinced me that I can trust you, now you’re offering me a place here?”

“Oh, please. If you really didn’t trust me, you’d have tried for the exit. You wouldn’t have made it, but you’d have tried. Heck, you could’ve tried to attack me while I was sleeping instead of snooping. What were you even looking for?”

“I… don’t know. Anything? Maybe orders showing you sending them to kill us? Something…”

“Yeah, not gonna find that anywhere. We’re gonna have to work on your critical thinking a bit. If that were actually the case, there’s no way you’d still be alive. Even if they had turned on me when they sent you to try and kill me, that wouldn’t be a reason to leave you alive. Trust me, I’m not that sneaky.”

“You’re a dark elf,” Keseryn pointed out.

“Well, yes… but I’m a pretty crappy one. Can’t even use any of the magic that I’m supposed to. No talent for it.”

“You can’t use magic? I thought all you demons could.

“First, that’s a bit racist. We come in all shapes, sizes, and dispositions just like you humans. Don’t waste energy on preconceptions, it’ll only bog you down. Second… I have some tricks, they’re just unreliable at times. Maybe I’ll show you some day. That is, if you stick around.”

“I… let me think about it. I need to see what you do to those butchers first.”

“Fair enough. Are you ready to head out, or do you need-”

She was going to ask if the girl needed breakfast when her own stomach growled noticeably. Blushing a bit, she continued.

“Actually, let’s just go get something to eat. Murder and mayhem isn’t work to be engaged in on an empty stomach. Come along, then.”

The girl looked nervous but did as she was instructed. They made the short trek across the Hovel to the mess hall and took one of the tables that was empty. Most of the Orcs assembled had questioning looks on their faces, but none bothered to ask as cookie came out with a pair of pleasantly full plates. The fare itself wasn’t particularly notable except for the eggs. Len hadn’t seen ANY eggs since getting to the Hovel and was pleasantly surprised… and suspicious. Cookie saw her look and had apparently heard enough about the girl to guess at Len’s reasoning.

“Oh, nothing like that, boss,” he said firmly. “Mister Fenris came through yesterday while you were busy and traded us some staples. Eggs, a bit of bacon, and a few other sundries. It won’t last, but Larry said that today was a full rest day, so I figured it was worth breaking out the good stuff. Raise the spirits a bit, you know?”

“Fair enough. Probably shoulda run it by me first, but I can’t argue with the reasoning or the results, so I’ll let it slide.”

He bowed gratefully and returned to his duties.

“Well, Keseryn,” Len said, emphasizing the name a touch after the girl’s insistence that she not be referred to as ‘kid’. “Shall we dig in?”

The girl had, in fact, had started eating while Len was talking to Cookie, and didn’t look the least bit guilty at that fact.

“Ungrateful brat,” Len muttered, then got to eating herself.

* * * * *

After taking a leisurely half-hour on breakfast (and exercising Commander’s privilege to get a second serving for both her and Keseryn), Len dropped their plates off at the front of the mess and made way back to her tent with the girl. She called for the Trio and Valkar to join her for an explanation of what was going on.

“So, that’s the story. We’ve got a pair of hunters that seem to have gone rogue. Right now, I’m operating on the assumption that Keseryn here is telling the truth about them, but I’m going to want to see it with my own eyes before I make a call. Nope, don’t even say it, Kes.”

The girl had started to object, but had the decency to be cowed by the glare Len leveled at her.

“Like I said, I believe you, but I’m not going to call for the execution of two of my number before I have a bit more than your word on the matter. Sorry if that’s hard to hear, but I’m not going to rush into this blindly.”

“You’re really going to execute them just for killing a couple of humans?” Valkar didn’t exactly sneer at the prospect, but didn’t seem happy about it.

“No, I’m going to execute them for killing a pair of noncombatants without my explicit orders and then sending the child of that pair to either kill me or force me into a situation where I have a child’s blood on my hands. And even if I were inclined to ignore basic decency and military discipline, there’s the fact that it could jeopardize our relationship with Fenris’ people. I don’t know about you, but I very much enjoyed having eggs for breakfast this morning. I’d rather not lose that do to a pair of murderous thugs.”

“Oh, they’re not that dumb,” said Valkar confidently. “If they’re doing what you suggest, they picked their target carefully. Girl’s a pariah, banished for a blood sin. The clan would no more care about them getting killed by us than if they’d been torn apart by wolves.”

“Oh, great, so they’re just out there specifically targeting the weakest possible members of society. That makes it a lot better. Look, we’re getting off topic. This was done without my permission, and is something I never would have allowed. They will be brought to justice. Period.”

“So what’s the plan, then?” Curly asked, his voice a touch darker than usual.

“Well, for starters, you’re staying here.”

That caused the other members of the trio to look up in surprise.

“I respect your stance on killing, Curly, really I do. But this is not a situation where that stance can win the day. I won’t ask you to betray your values, And this IS happening, but you don’t need to be a part of it. Stay here and watch the Hovel, I’ll be taking Valkar instead.”

“Why me?” the Orc asked bluntly.

“Because I think I can trust you and, one way or another, I’ll know for certain after this. You kept this camp barely above water and I know that wasn’t easy, but it needs more than that now. It needs proper discipline and… gods I feel corny even saying it aloud, it needs honor. If we’re going to survive out here, we’re going to have to be a different kind of Demon Army. And our Demon Army sure as fuck doesn’t kill civilians for the fun of it. If that’s too much for you to handle, you can leave or you can try to kill me right now, because that’s the only way you’re going to stop me.”

Valkar stroked his chin for a minute or so, not really betraying any particular thoughts.

“I still think you’re doomed, if I’m honest. You’ve been here all of a couple of weeks, managed a few moderate tasks, and you think you’ve turned everything around. I’ll grant that you’ve done better than many, but the bar is real low here.”

He paused and stared her dead in the eyes.

“But you’re right, if they did this, it demands an answer. If the kid’s telling the truth, and I’m not taking her word for it either, I’m fine with putting them down.”

“All right, then. Moe, Larry, you’re coming with us, got it.”

The pair nodded without objection.