Summoned to a Shattered World

Birthright Chapter 14 - On the Hunt

Lord Sarinknell was waiting for me outside his study and looked me over with a cold expression on his face. "Good. Now you're ready for battle."

I blinked. "Battle? What am I going to be battling?"

"Raiders from a neighbouring province, assuming you and the rest of my men can catch them. Your temporary companions are already waiting for you in the courtyard. One of my servants will hand you your sword as you pass through the gate." He gestured for me to go.

It took me a little while to find my way through the building but eventually I reached a long, crooked shaft leading downward. Was this how I was supposed to get out? Feeling uncertain, I descended using the steel rungs set into the wall and stepped outside before looking back.

The top of the building was a tall, square structure of stone which was more or less what I'd expected based on the inside, but below that were several twisted pillars of stone supporting the whole thing. They looked far too fragile to hold up the rest of the building, but as far as I could tell it seemed perfectly stable. Magic must have been involved in its construction somehow, physics seemed to function more or less the same here from what I'd seen so far.

Shaking my head, I turned from the Sarinknell's home to the courtyard around it. Surrounded by low stone walls, it was empty but for a pond of brown water and handful of soldiers milling about in a group. One of them, a woman, got up from where she'd been sitting and walked over. She wore a mixture of mail and plate with her helmet under her arm. "So, it really is you."

I tried to remember if I'd seen her somewhere before, but there was nothing familiar about her. She had dark blue skin and a pair of straight tiny horns like spikes. Nothing about her seemed particularly noteworthy compared to the other demons I'd seen but I felt like I'd have remembered seeing her. "Do I know you?"

Her armoured shoulders rose and fell. "In a sense. I was one of the soldiers you scattered after you jumped out of the tower."

"Oh." I didn't know how to respond to that. Meeting someone I'd tried to kill in close combat the day before wasn't something I was well versed in. Was she angry at me? Her expression was calm, unreadable. "Sorry about that."

She chuckled. "There's nothing to apologise for. I don't know what it's like where you're from, but ending up on the same side after trying to kill each other is practically an everyday occurrence in these parts. 'Course, same goes for killing former allies." She tapped the side of her neck and winked.

"Don't you care about the people I killed?" It seemed unbelievable, even for a demon. Was Elmidath this callous? "You must have known at least some of them."

"Yeah, I did. And no, I don't care. Ortyx called for them and they answered, you were only the instrument of her will."

What she was saying was insane but I was hardly one to argue with a demon over their religion in a fantasy world. Yes, if there was anything I was known for, it was not that. "Well, that's... good. There's no hard feelings between us then?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Where's your sword anyway? I hear it's the same one that belonged to the old lord, is that true?"

"Yeah. The new lord said his servant would give it to me at the gate."

The blue-skinned demon inclined her head in the direction of the gate and headed toward it. Figuring it was about time we got moving, I followed. Everyone in the courtyard gathered their things and got moving, most not sparing me a glance. They each went at their own pace with no real cohesion, not what I'd have expected of soldiers. I guess the demons weren't big on discipline.

Taking my sword on the way out, I fell into conversation with the demon who'd approached me earlier. "Have you served Lord Sarinknell long? It didn't sound like you knew the previous lord." We could do with more information about the Demon Lord's forces and there wasn't much else to do.