By My Side - Sam/Aomaris Fanfiction

42) To Win a War

The room was silent, bar the occasional whisper from one of the incubi or Diana's companions. I wanted nothing more than to be back in my room in the human world. My own room, where I could hide in my den with Sam and pretend nothing else existed. The incubus had his arms wrapped around me securely, letting me rest my head on his shoulder and pressing the occasional kiss to my forehead whenever he felt shivers build up inside me. I wanted right then and there to fall asleep in Sam's arms and wake up back in the human world. Planning a wedding seemed very appealing compared to the civil war I'd been dropped in the middle of.

After a few minutes, Diana knelt in front of me.
"Are you feeling better, dear?" I sighed but nodded. As much as I wanted to pretend, there was no point. I couldn't shut something like this out of my brain. "Very well. If you will all gather around here." She cleared the table in the centre of the room and stared pointedly at Sam, who hadn't moved from my side. It took me pushing myself up against the wall for him to stand and help me. With his support, I was able to join everyone else at the table.
"You said you had a plan?" Sam asked shortly. Diana nodded.
"Yes. We plan to kill him in one week's time." The faerie let out a shriek.
"ONE WEEK?!" The rest of Diana's companions all frowned at her, confused. The succubus elaborated.

Diana pointed at the map that lay on the table, to a peninsula on the east edge of the map surrounded by water. 'The Decaying Sea' was etched into the paper in thin black lettering. Sam and his brothers stared at the map with curious expressions on their faces.
"We'll cast a barrier spell around the edge of the peninsula and around the castle. He and his army won't be able to move from that spot until we break it ourselves, which will be during the siege."
"Where would we get the energy needed for that kind of spell?" The guard asked her.
"We won't be needing energy." Every rebel in the room tensed up.
"My lady! You're not suggesting-"
"The Demon Lord has shown how far he's willing to go to win this war." She gestured to me. "It's only fitting we show him how far we're willing to go in response."
"What are you guys talking about?!" Matthew cried in exasperation. Diana sighed.
"I plan to put a barrier curse around the Demon Lord's castle and army. It's temporary, so it won't need the blood of a thousand demons, but it will need the sacrifice of at least one demon life."

"Wait..." I mumbled.  Diana paused and looked at me. "You said... The Demon Lord put a curse on me. D-Does that mean..."
"Yes, dear."
"Oh, god..." I put my hand over my mouth. The Demon Lord had seriously gone that far just to bring his sons home?
"Is this our only option?" James asked. The faerie pointed at the peninsula.
"We could form tall rock walls around the castle, box him in."
"What will stop the Demon Lord from tearing down the walls?" Damien interjected.
"I can imbue the walls with holy magic." Diana's guard answered. All of the incubi stared at him.
"How the fuck did you get holy magic? You look and smell like a demon." Sam asked him. The guard held up a hand.
"I've had the ability to use holy magic ever since I was taken in by my lady's family."
"So our options are a curse, which costs a life, and a trap, which costs energy." I summed up. Diana nodded.
"It does seem that way, yes."
"Then the trap. Obviously. Energy is recoverable. Life isn't and no demon deserves to die just as a means to an end. Yeah, demons will die during the siege, but at least there they have a chance of survival."

Diana turned to the rabbit woman.
"Are you quite positive this will work?" The woman nodded.
"I am very certain. Since it will be just three of us going, we can shadow travel there and be back by the morning."
"Very well. If you believe it will work, then I trust you to make sure it does." Diana then turned to me, the incubi and their spouses. "So, since you'll be here for a while and I can't imagine any of you will want to leave them-" She gestured to me. "-I may as well give you names to refer to everyone here."
"Ooh! Are we getting human names?!" The faerie floated up and down excitedly and I couldn't help but smile at the sight.
"For the sake of time, we'll use simple names. We have Rabbit, our magic advisor; Sergeant, commander of our armies; Shadow, leader of our assassins; and Fae, our nomadic forest ambassador."
"My lady, what shall they call me?" Diana's guard asked. She bit her lip in thought for a few moments before answering.
"You may call him Saero. He is my personal guard and he is always by my side. Call him only if your life depends on it. Do not abuse this permission." I nodded hastily. The last thing I wanted was to be on Diana's bad side again.