All she knew for certain was that everything had changed.
*****
Kaern stopped along the ridge of the great wall, farther south from where he and Elan had crossed it to get to the city. Movement in the distance had caused his paranoia to awaken, and he dropped to a crouch and shifted back so as to avoid presenting a silhouette for any observers to spot.
He’d lived a long time, and while he had no particular worry of dying anytime soon, it was his rather sad experience that there were times when death might be more pleasant. So even he took precautions when he felt them warranted.
The movement was far off, so far in fact that he was initially surprised he’d noticed it.
Until he realized why he’d noticed it.
That is a lot of demons.
They were moving by day, which was highly unusual. That told him volumes in and of itself. Only the lord could force that many demons out into the sunlight. The white light of the sun affected their type badly, especially those who were still early in the change. Ninth and Eighth Circle demons would be burned by the time they arrived anywhere. Some hybrids wouldn’t even have made it as far as this group had.
Not that the lord would care. Kaern was well familiar with how much lower circle demons valued their less “evolved” brethren. Those that survived were strong enough to be of some value; those that didn’t were better disposed of than weighing the rest down.
He edged to the cliff and just waited, eyes sharp, even in the lowering light, and began counting.
It’s not a raid, Kaern decided shortly, sighing deeply. Too many by far, and too disciplined. This is a siege force, and if the lord himself isn’t leading this…one of his top commanders is. Damn.
They were moving on the city.
It was the only remaining target of value to bring out a force like he was seeing; there just was nothing else in any direction that he could think of. He’d hoped that they would have more time.
That she would have more time.
******
Venadrin marched.
The few humans, most of them little more than slaves, were vastly outnumbered by the demons around them as they moved, and the smell was enough to turn even his experienced stomach.
At least the commander has them marching in rank. Mostly.
Most of the force were Eighth and Ninth, of course, and thus nothing but fodder. Not that they seemed capable of understanding that. Those imbeciles thought they were the kings of the world, masters of the universe, and whatever else had managed to sink into their limited brains.
The Change destroyed intellect first, the body next, but the body recovered quicker. Intellect, well that didn’t come back. In a hundred generations or so, Venadrin understood from listening quietly to the lower circle demons talk, they would slowly re-establish some form of intellect, but from what he had seen, even then it was limited.
Stupidity and demons went hand in hand. They could be cunning, even clever in the way animals could be clever, but even the Master…even he was not what Venadrin would describe as smart. It galled all the more, then, that the beasts he walked with had won.
There was probably a lesson in that, for posterity, he supposed, but Venadrin couldn’t have cared less. In the moment was where he lived, and his moment had been destroyed by idiots long before he had been born. If they couldn’t be damned to care for his future, why should he care for the future of anyone else?
A grunt and a gesture from a demon ahead of him broke him from his thoughts and caused Venadrin to break ranks to move up to where the commander was riding.
“Orders, Commander?” he asked as obsequiously as possible.
Some demons, like the Master on occasion, were amused by a little fire in their human slaves. Some, like the commander, most assuredly were not.
“How far now to the city?” the Fifth Circle demon growled at him.
“If we march all day, we’ll arrive as the sun sets,” Venadrin answered.
The commander nodded thoughtfully.
“Then march we will,” the demon said finally, and with finality.
*****
Caleb and Elan returned to the farm an hour after the sun crossed overhead, the heat of the walk back drying any remaining water from their bodies long before they arrived. Simone welcomed them in, nodding to the counter, where food was waiting for them in covered dishes.
While they ate, Elan thought more about the temple and the lack of lighting and lights. She remembered the Redoubt signal board, as Kaern had called it, with lights lit up in green and red and a few points that looked like they should have lights but were dark. He had told her it referred to other Redoubts across the continent, and she wondered which of those lights represented the temple here in the city?
“Simone?” She spoke tentatively, still uncertain as to her place on the farm but driven to ask her questions all the same.
“What is it, child?” Simone responded, not looking over in her direction.
The response was casual, not really encouraging but not discouraging either. Elan took a breath to steel herself, still uncomfortable with…well, everyone really.
“Did you ever speak with Kaern about the…temple?” she asked.
Simone looked up then, eyes flitting to Caleb before settling back on Elan.
“Took you on the grand tour, did he?” she asked with a hint of a smile. “No, I don’t believe I ever did. Why?”
Elan’s eyes unfocused as her gaze drifted away from the woman, just staring off into the ether as she spoke. “Out in the desert, near where he found me,” Elan said, “there was what he called a Redoubt. It was almost identical to your temple.”
Simone was now focused on her much more closely. “Really now? Almost?”
“The lights there worked,” Elan said, “and the locks, and…everything Kaern showed me.”
Simone breathed out, her face shocked. “Intact? It was intact?”
Elan nodded, refocusing on Simone. “What are they? I…I don’t think they are really temples, at least that’s not what Mo…my mother described temples as.”
Simone shook her head. “No, they were not temples, originally, at least. I have seen three, none of them intact, but then I never ventured inland to the wastes. There are different types of the Redoubts, as you call them. The one here in the city and the one you describe in the wastes I assume was a transport hub built at the height of human power.” She glanced at the shirt that Elan was wearing, nodding knowingly of a sudden. “I suppose I should have guessed that you had access to one of the old repositories to be wearing that, but there are enough artifacts left that I didn’t think too much on it. Is that all?”
Elan frowned. “Actually I wanted to ask about the map?”
“What map?” Simone asked, puzzled.
“The one on the wall of the temple, the one that should be lit up,” Elan explained. “I saw the one in the…in the wastes, and it had lights on it. The one here is faded, but the places for the lights can still be seen if you look.”
Simone got up abruptly, crossing the kitchen and vanishing into her room. Elan and Caleb exchanged confused looks, but it wasn’t long before the older woman returned with a box in her arms. She dropped it on the table, pulled the cover off, and dug through it.
After a few moments she pulled out what she was looking for and carefully unfolded it to cover the table.
“Did it look like this?” she asked.
Elan hesitantly made her way over, leaning in to carefully examine the map. Lightly she reached out and traced the coastline before nodding.