NATHANIEL
"Why is there another demoness in my tent?"
"Oh Eve, how are you."
"Stop dodging the question Nathaniel."
Nathaniel turned to look at Eve, who had grown up to be quite beautiful, of course she still had her signature white rabbit with her. That rabbit had refused to die for some reason, and in the time that Nathaniel had known Eve, all that rabbit did was to eat, sleep, shit, and get carried around. It was totally useless, but it was important to Eve, so it was still alive.
"I want you to look after her for me."
Eve scrunched her face in confusion at his sudden and bizarre request, completely at loss why Nathaniel would ask something like this from her.
"Why?"
She asked
"Because of a number of reasons. One, she's like me, human but half, second you need to have friends outside of a rabbit, and third there are things I can't teach you, that you can only learn from another girl."
"But I don't need all these things you just mentioned, though it is interesting that she's part human, I don't see why she has to be put in my tent. Can't you just send her away like all the other women you've taken."
Nathaniel needed to figure out a way to get through to Eve, of course all this was part of a plot of his, but if it works, Eve would have someone who would protect her and guide her in Nathaniel's absence. Call him a hypocrite, but he wanted Eve to developed an iota of humanity, so that she could become more than just the bloodthirsty killer she was prophesied to be. Nathaniel pulled her closer and placed his hands on her shoulders. Then he looked her face and spoke gently to her.
"Eve many things can go wrong in Hell, and I can't always be around to help or save you. And yes I know you're very strong, and you're fast, and you have powerful magic. But I don't want you to have a reason to fight no matter what. I want you to be happy and have an as normal as possible childhood, which I know could be quite impossible in hell. I know how alone you are, how suffocated you feel.
Your eleven years old, but everyday everyone who follows us look up to you with expectations and worship, putting a responsibility which you should not be carrying yet on your head. None of them can treat you normally and just get along with you. So I need you to keep Khansiza by your side.
Because in the end she's just like you, and needs someone to really understand her too. The both of you can, and will be stronger, with each other."
Eve pouted as she muttered to Nathaniel in a low voice.
"You're just worried that I don't go crazy and kill everyone."
Nathaniel could not help laughing as he replied to her accusation.
"Yes, that's very true. Now I have to go plan our next step, having the king of Red tree city killed was more stressful than I imagined. Do you want to come along."
"No way, all those talks about strategy is boring."
"you know you have to learn all this someday right, I can't always be around to do this."
"Where would you go, bah! There's no need for all this drama, I know you're going to be with me forever, so there's no need for all the boring stuff, you can do those yourself. Now I'm going to go play with Khansiza."
And then she skipped out of the tent a little bit more excited than when she came in. Eve had a body that was growing and maturing way to fast, even for demons who had an insane amount of growth potential, Eve was abnormal. Which meant she was still just a child in the body of a teenager.
"Vane! Report."
Vane was a rare species of demon that Eve and Nathaniel encountered just six months into their journey, you could say he had been with them right from the start and was closest to them than any other demon. Vane was from the Infern species called the Anansi, a peculiar breed of spider demons that were quite good at tactical strategies, organization, and information gathering, they were also known as tricksters and completely untrusting. Vane was the one who kept their entire community running.
"My lord, I have reasons to believe that the purists, or as we have come to know them, the hunters have begun to raise an army deep within the confines of the Blood Oak forest. Part of the army should be about a years journey northeast from here."
Nathaniel was surprised, the fact that this was the first bit of information Vane had to give him, showed how important of a situation this was. Over the years, the hunters had tried attacking, with their target being Eve. Each time they were met with one devastating failure after the other until they finally decided to add another name to their hit list; Nathaniel's.
Of course it did not make it any easier, instead things became a little harder as both Eve and Nathaniel grew stronger, and not just in might, but in resources. Their strength had grown to the point that just sending hunters after them was no longer enough, now they needed to take it to the next level and make it a full blown war. It was the only way they could ever hope to get their hands on either Eve or Nathaniel.
"Well that's a surprise, and it could also be quite a problem. Have you found out anything about this army so far."
Nathaniel asked as he looked over a well drawn map of the grey mountains, compiled carefully over the course of their journey.
"The army is an alliance between six princes from the royal blood line of Astaroth, Beelzebub, Leviathan and Mephistopheles. According to my reports, the exact figure of the army is unknown since their forces were actually divided into three, and spread out into the Blood Oak forest for ambush at key important places. But one thing my Info was clear about, is that one of those forces, are about three times the size of our entire community. We're completely outnumbered and out matched sire."
He was right, Nathaniel has had to pick up a lot of important skills in his five years here, and one of them was the art of warfare. Now he had never gotten a chance to read that famous art of war book, but he had been in enough battles to be considered a somewhat capable commander and strategist. But things were not looking good at the moment.
Three forces, three times the size of his community, all of which were soldiers whereas only two thousand people, out of his three thousand followers could fight, and even then many of them were still kids undergoing training. It was very obvious that they were trapped, but what made this worse was that they were fighting an enemy they couldn't see.
"Vane do you have any ideas about how to deal with this unsavory situation?"
"My lord as of this moment, I can only come up with a few strategies for defense or a preemptive attack. But for any of these to work, we have to be familiar with the Blood Oak forest. We need somebody who understands the lay of the land, how to navigate it, and most importantly how to fight on it."
Nathaniel rubbed his hands through his white hair and blinked his suddenly tired eyes. Then he looked up at Vane and said to him.
"Get me Brutus."
Vane gave a respectful bow then left the tent to go fetch the prince. Brutus in a nutshell should not be called a prince again after his father was dethroned. But he was from a royal demon bloodline, so he had to be addressed that way. Brutus was a few hundred years old, and Nathaniel was made to understand that he had served as his father's envoy to the neighboring leaderships in the Blood Oak forest.
It was rather strange, because this whole situation made Nathaniel feel as if he had just arrived in hell anew. The grey mountains were more or less a more barbaric place, it was barren and everyday was a struggle for those who lived on it. The Blood Oak forest was not that much better, but at least it had a little more resources to spare. But unlike the grey mountains the blood oak forest worked and thrived on a different set of rules.
The law of the jungle still prevailed, because every demon here was like a pride of lions fighting for possession over the body of a dead elephant. But as such they all had to maintain a balance of power to make sure no body would have to answer to anyone else. And the moment someone came along that could and would threaten that delicate balance, they will all band together like a pack of wolves to tear this threat to pieces. And in this case, Nathaniel was the threat.
The curtain to the tent was swept aside as Vane led Brutus towards Nathaniel. Nathaniel did not really have much time for the prince's ass kissing, so he got down to business immediately.
"Brutus, there's an army of approximately twenty six thousand demons or less getting into position for an ambush on our community. They seek to put an end to our holy pilgrimage, so I would like you to tell me the most definite place that these armies would be holed up. Vane please explain the rest to him."
After he finished speaking Nathaniel turned to pour himself a cup of water as he listened to Vane explain everything he had told him to Brutus. The mention of the holy pilgrimage left a chill at the base of Nathaniel's spine. He did not really like bringing religion of any sort into his plans as it made things a whole lot more complicated and fanatical than was necessary.
But the people had coined their journey a holy pilgrimage, sort of like an exodus to the promised land. It was ironic to Nathaniel because the bible had depicted Zion as the city of God, the place where everybody went when they died or after the end was over. Of course you can only be allowed to enter if you were good or some other shit.
"My lord this is quite a dilemma we have found ourselves in."
Brutus spoke up after Vane finished explaining every thing to him. Nathaniel really admired Brutus, because for one thing the guy knew how to pick his words. By using the word we, instead of you, it showed that Brutus believed he was one of them. But Nathaniel knew this prince hated his guts, but Nathaniel was almost if not completely invisible, so he doubted Brutus could harm him in any way.
Brutus unfurled a huge map and placed it over the map Nathaniel had spent the whole of five years making. The map Brutus showed however was magic, as it showed hell in its entirety, while also showing things like weather patterns, trails, roads, cities, and even the dens of wild demons. This map was unlike anything Nathaniel had ever seen, as his journey here would have been a whole lot easier if he had it from the start.
Hell was actually made of nine different rings or zones. The grey mountains which Nathaniel took five years to cross was actually the fourth zone to the center, with five other zones behind it. A word suddenly popped up in Nathaniel's mind, and he couldn't help but say it out loud.
"The nine levels of hell."
"Very close my lord, but they are known as the nine circles of hell."
Brutus corrected.
"The grey mountains is the six circle, while the blood oak forest is the seventh. I have no idea what the eight and ninth circles are called as I have never been there before, but I know that they are both places of you extreme heat and cold. Now if what Vane has said Is true, then you have enemies from the east, northeast, north southwest, and south east of the forest. In a nut shell you're surrounded. And there are only three of four places an army of the size you mentioned could be hidden without being discovered. And that's the red dragon canyon, Lilith's valley, and the burrows of the land wyrms. Unfortunately all these are places you would all have to pass through on your way to the next circle, unless you would want go around the soldiers, and spend a few dozen years navigating the forest. The way I see it, there's really no way to beat an army of this size, even if they are gathered in one place just like you said."
Nathaniel was really stumped about this, so far they had been unstoppable during their march through the grey mountains, but the Blood Oak forest was another matter entirely, and he was quite stumped about what to do about his enemies. Quite frankly he was a little scared, and this was an emotion he had not felt in a very long time, it was rather refreshing and annoying at the same time. It meant that there was still something or someone capable of posing a challenge to him here.
"You say there were four places an army could hide, what of the fourth."
Vane asked after a moment of silence. Brutus looked at Nathaniel for a few more moments before he tapped the map, and the entire displayed changed. The map still showed the circles, but now it was showing what Nathaniel suspected were tunnels that stretched from one corner and edge of hell to another.
"What is this?"
Nathaniel asked with a perplexed look on his face. Brutus began to speak in earnest as he explained why the map was different.
"Apart from the circles, Hell is also divided into three distinct levels, the sky level with its own circles and species of demons, the land circles which is where we are, and then there's the subterranean level with what I can only describe as the home of the most fearsome of hells demons. The subterranean level of the seventh circle is home to the dark elves who rule an empire that includes the Naga's, Lamias, imps, and a few other dozen species. Not to mention they have control over the wild demons there which makes them the most united, and the strongest faction in the seventh circle.
Their tunnels is spread everywhere, and if you can gain their support, you can launch attacks from every possible angle, ambushing your enemies and traveling relatively safely."
Everything Brutus just said seemed too good to be true. There was definitely a reason why the hunters did not go to the dark elves for help instead.
"There's a catch to thus option right."
Nathaniel asked Brutus, who nodded before he continued speaking.
"They don't like strangers or any demon from the surface, and not to mention, to get to their capital and receive an audience from their queen is a journey harder than crossing the grey mountains to get to this place. But if we can get their queen on our side, we will have a guaranteed path to victory."
Nathaniel was really considering it. This seemed like a rather viable plan, and he was on board with it, however Vane seemed to think differently.
"My lord we have to exercise caution, this plan seems to be a whole lot more riskier than just taking our chances. We're chasing a dream, there's no guarantee this queen will help us, and we could all die before we get to her. There has to be a better way, as this is to dangerous."
Vane was right, but Nathaniel would rather chase hope with a promise of certain death, than lead his people straight into death itself. Besides Nathaniel was not going there to ask for help, he was going there to do what he had done in five years traveling here. He conquered the entire surface area of the sixth circle. And if he could not conquer the surface of the seventh circle, then he might as well go below.
"Vane still your beating heart, there's no victory without sacrifice or risk. Besides this is hell, everyday you're alive it gets more dangerous. That is not going to change. Brutus go and prepare, you will lead me to this queen."
Brutus bowed his head and left the tent, then Nathaniel turned to Vane with a smile on his face.
"Prepare the soldiers as discreetly as possible, make sure Brutus does not know what you're doing. We're going to conquer this dark elf queen and her people. You're dismissed."
Vane made his way out of the tent leaving Nathaniel alone with his thoughts. Any body who was sane enough would call him stupid, because he had just chosen to run away from a pack of dogs, just so that he could conquer a lion. It was crazy, and it was risky, but ultimately it would be a challenge he desperately needed.