Reborn: Demons Trap Read online

  Ash looked around but only saw a few soldiers all who looked as if they hadn’t slept in days. Seeing the dead eyes of the soldiers Ash couldn’t help but remember the dream he had woken up from and a cold chill ran down his back making him shiver. Shaking his head clear Ash moved away from his tent to inspect the fortification that were being put up along the camps edge.

  The camp was set up in a special way and while Ash had a large tent it was the same size as Fay’s and the other generals. Not only were the tents the same size they also looked the same but the main thing was that they were scattered throughout the camp. Ash’s was not in the middle but more toward the back and while the tents around him looked the same, all quite ordinary tents most of which belonged to his wives and the ones that did not belonged to other expert warriors who were tasked with keeping an eye out for him while not acting as concealed guards so that they didn’t draw too much attention. With the way the camp was set up if one looked from a distance it was chaotic and no one could tell who or where the leader slept. The only way to know was to be inside the camp and since all the main residences of the camp were demons it was nearly impossible for a human spy to sneak in, but since it was not completely unheard of there were always guards walking among the countless rows of tents.

  As Ash exited the main tent area the land began to open up and Ash could see the rows of thick long stakes that were being fitted together to form a barrier. There was a large wooded area near their camp making getting the logs easy but even if there had not been it wouldn’t have made much of a difference since there was a small group among the demons that had the ability to hold a large amount of items with an item box like ability. If they were forced to use what was held in those boxes then it would be hard to completely cover the entire camp but they could make due in a pinch. This was also how they received their goods. Instead of sending out a long and easily targeted group of wagons they could send a few demons on the back of eagles to transport a large supply of goods.

  The more that Ash understood about the clans and their abilities the more he began to understand that they held a huge advantage to the other races. There were no families that could guarantee what abilities would be passed on. In truth it was very rare for more than one person in a family to have the same ability. In demons while there were some variances most the time their abilities were very predictable since they were more akin to monsters than humans. The only real difference they had with monsters was their intelligence. There was a downside to the full demons and that was they couldn’t hold jobs like humans and beastmen. Ash didn’t know why this was but he figured it had something to do with then inborn abilities. Their mind and souls were imprinted with the skills that they needed.

  When Ash reached the edge of the camp he noticed two demons keeping watch at what was the beginning of a gate for the camp. “Anything happening?” Ash asked after making sure to make enough noise so that his appearance wouldn’t catch either of them off-guard.

  Both guards turned toward Ash and gave a quick nod of their head. Unlike when he was back in the demon country no one bowed to him out of fear that he would be noticed and targeted by an unseen assassin. “Nothing my lord,” the soldier on the right said in a sharp yet clear tone.

  Ash walked over and looked out over the cleared area in front of the camp. On the road to the capital Ash could see a number of wagons in the distance moving forward. He could guess that the people on that road were looking in their direction with fear and trepidation. He also knew that it wasn’t an unjustified fear. “What clans are you two from?” Ash asked trying to distract himself from the morbid thoughts that had started to flood into his mind.

  “Ire clan, my lord,” the guard on the left said with a proud tone.

  Ash looked at the two guards and noticed that both of them looked similar though he doubted they were brothers. Each clan had their own look and it was obvious from looking that the two belonged to the same clan. “I don’t know much about all the clans so could you tell me a bit about it,” Ash said with a thin smile.

  “We are a small clan. We all live in a small village near the ocean. We are famed for our vision which is why we were given the task to man the posts watching for invaders from across the ocean. It is thanks to that post that none of the other clans have ever sat their eyes upon us,” the guard said with a hint of pride in his voice.

  “How far can you see?” Ash asked more than a littler curious.

  “I can see up to a mile clearly my lord but Glibreath here can see a mile and a half if not more,” the guard on the right said as he slapped the other guard on the back.

  The tension that the soldiers had felt when Ash first approached slowly melted away the longer they talked but it never completely dissipated. No matter how he tried all demons besides his wives and Fay never seemed to be completely comfortable whenever he was present. Not wanting to cause the men any more distress Ash dismissed himself and headed back to his tent.

  When Ash pulled back the flap of his tent and entered inside he was met with two sets of narrow eyes that looked at him like prey. “Where did you go?” Tolarea asked with a sharp tone.

  “Just walked around the camp,” Ash said trying to keep his voice steady as he cursed inwardly. He had hoped that he would be back before any of the others woke but it would seem that plan failed.

  “You should have woke one of us,” Mia said leaning forward her small peaks threatening to peek out of her thin nightgown.

  Small beads of sweat beaded on Ash’s forehead as he tried to advert his eyes. “I won’t do it again,” He said in a placating tone.

  “Humph…See that you don’t,” Tolarea said in a slightly annoyed manner.

  “Tolarea how are the new troops doing?” Ash quickly asked trying to distract her. It worked just as planned. Whenever it came to anything related to fighting Tolarea forgot about everything else. As Tolarea was reporting about the female soldiers training Ash noticed that Mia was shaking her head while trying to hold in a laugh that seemed as if it was going to break though at any moment. Ash gave her a wink which caused the pretty demoness to grace him with a fluttering smile.

  “I need a quick nap,” Ash said while diving toward his bed hoping that this time his dreams would not keep him from at least a few hours of peaceful sleep.

  Ash closed his eyes tightly but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t fall asleep. He didn’t know how long after he had laid down that he head a billowing call came from outside the tent. “Boy get up…Its time to work.”

  Tossing off his sheets Ash sat up and took a deep breath trying to clear his mind. Outside the tent Ash found Fay waiting on him with an impatient look spread across her face. “Sleep is well and good but too much will turn you worthless,” she said in a motherly tone. “Now follow me. The command tent has been set up and the others are awaiting our arrival.”

  Ash nodded his head but didn’t reply. After spending some time with Fay he knew that it was best to keep his mouth shut as much as possible as any reply could be taken wrong and her “justice,” was always swift and merciless. For some reason Fay’s reply the first time he had made a dumb remark to Fay flittered through his mind. “Boy if you want people to think you have a brain you should try to forget that you have a mouth.” Remembering the look on Tolarea and everyone’s face when she had berated him with that Ash couldn’t help but smile. His wives were all too quick to jump on him when he messed up by they wanted to kill anyone else who did the same. It both confused and humored him.

  “Boy you keep smiling like that while staring off into the sky and people will start to think that your brains have gone soft,” Fay said in a slightly stern tone though her voice also held a hint of joy nestled within it. She always seemed happiest when she got to use one of her derisive comments.

  When Ash entered the command tent he found the other demon generals and many of the lesser officers waiting on him and Fay. As soon as they walked through everyone stood from their seats and gave a s
light nod of their head and a prompt salute. Ash returned the salute before ordering everyone to relax as he moved toward the map table that was situated in the middle of the tent.

  Unlike before there was not a simple map laid before him but a large diagram in the middle of the large wooden table. Most of the buildings were made of nothing but wood and rock chunks but if one looked at it from afar it did resemble a large city. In the center of the map was a large castle that looked just like the one within the capital just over the horizon. Seeing Ash’s confused face Fay spoke up. “One of the earth mages is a very skilled sculptor so we are having him make the entire capital but it takes a bit of time and so far he has only been able to finish the wall and castle.”

  “Halret, show the young lord what we currently know about our enemy forces,” Fay ordered in a light tone and a tall well-proportioned demon with pale blue skin and a long grey hair stepped forward.

  “My lord currently the enemy is concentrating on the defense along the eastern wall,” Halret said as he pointed to one of the walls. We believe the reason for this is because it is the wall closest to the castle and the market district. As for the residential area where most of the lower classes live they are simply bringing down the houses and clearing the area. They are doing this for two reasons. One it creates an open area so that if we should break through the wall at that location they will have sufficient cover while the attackers will be left in the open. The other reason is for materials. The walls are manned day and night but most of those on the wall are children between the ages of ten and fourteen. Most of the real soldiers are near the gates and castle. For now that is the only important information that we have received.”

  Ash looked down on the city and thought hard but he couldn’t think of any other way then to break through the walls in a straight forward manner. It was true that he could transport a few soldiers into the capital but there was no telling what would await them on the other side. Ash had only been to the capital once and at that time he had not had much of a chance to look around. That meant that there would be a good chance that when they arrived they would end up in a very compromising situation.

  Without any ideas of his own Ash looked around the room. “Any suggestions about how we should move forward?”

  “We should attack the east wall and destroy it. It will weaken their moral and sow chaos among the soldiers,” one of the demon generals said in a firm tone.

  “Fool,” Fay said in an annoyed tone as she struck the back of the head of the general who had spoken. “Have you not been paying attention? The battle in front of us is not as simple as just winning it. If that was the case we could have done so in a quarter of the time we have taken so far.”

  Seeing that the demon general didn’t understand the hidden meaning behind her words Fay let out a heavy sigh then slapped him again for good measure before speaking further. “Not too long ago the humans believed that the demon kingdom was nothing more than a legend. Now that they know that we are not they are watching everything that we and the young lord does with rapt attention. If we are too aggressive and too many civilians are killed due to that then the other kingdoms could use that as a really cry. We have to move carefully and ensure that every life lost is due to the enemies’ cruel actions and not our own. Now do you understand why we can’t purposely sow confusion?”

  “Yes,” the general said with his head bowed to hide his slightly red face.

  “I think the best choice would be to attack the area where they have cleared away the slums,” Faye went on to say as she pointed to the area on the map with the most open area within the capital.

  “That is where we will face the biggest opposition,” one of the generals nearly shouted.

  “True but it is also the place that is least likely to stir a problem with the masses and even if it does it will also give them a great deal of time to escape so that we will be mainly forced to face soldiers and not civilians. After we breach the walls my lord can strike at the castle with a small reserved force and take the king’s head. With the walls breached and the king dead it will be much easier for us to force the enemy to concede. ”

  “How do you expect to get me inside?” Ash asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “That is easy,” Faye said as a sly smile spread across her face. “If you use your warp ability it shouldn’t be that hard for you to get within the capital. We still have people inside who can hide you so that you can attack the castle once the battle start.”

  “I can get myself within the city as long as I can see a place to transport myself to but how would I get to a place where I can see. I could do it from the back of an eagle but then how would I bring others with me?” Ash asked trying to through Fay’s plan out without causing trouble.

  “That is easy,” Fay said with a dismissive wave. “One of the demon spies has the ability to show images of what he is watching to others of his clan. He can give you a clear vision of where to transport to from a safe location. This way you can bring others with you and it will also allow you to escape should southing unexpected happen.”

  Ash was left speechless as the blood started to drain from his face. The last thing that he wanted to do was be stuck behind enemy lines again. The worst part was that Ash couldn’t think of any way to refute Fay’s plan. His only hope was that using the vision to use the warp ability wouldn’t work.

  “If there are no other suggestions then we will break for the day. It will still be awhile before we can commence an attack but I hope everyone keeps on their toes. I don’t think that the enemy will be able to do anything considering their situation but it is better to be safe than sorry.”

  After the meeting Ash returned with Tolarea and Mia to where the others were waiting having already woken from their sleep. Everyone packed into his small room where Ash started to explain the plan for the upcoming battle. When he told them that he would be going behind enemy lines again a number of arguments against the idea popped up but Ash could do nothing but shake his head and explain that it was Fay’s idea. Once general Fay’s name was mentioned the tent went silent and almost all at once a giant sigh sounded as everyone sighed at once.

  “How many will you be able to take with you?” Li asked after a long stretch of silence.

  “I don’t know but I don’t think I will be able to take everyone with me. Even if I made more than one trip it would take quite a few to take everyone with me. We should pick the order that you will go so that we don’t have any arguments at the last moment,” Ash suggested.

  Not wanting to get in the way of the women talking Ash left the tent. When Ash noticed that Tolarea was following right behind him he was slightly shocked. “Don’t you want to make sure that you are one of the guards following me?” Ash asked with a confused look on his face.

  “They will make sure that I am one of the top three on the list. I have the highest combat ability so there is no way that they will not allow me to go with you,” Tolarea said without a hint of embarrassment on her face.

  Ash didn’t know if he should laugh or cry so instead he gave a slight smile and shook his head. Finding an open space not too far from the tent Ash tried to relax, knowing that it wouldn’t be too long before that stillness was over. Ash only hoped that once this battle was over he could enjoy some peaceful days with his family and child.

  “Do you think we can end this war without starting a bigger one?” Ash asked Tolarea.

  “Don’t know,” Tolarea said with a shrug of her large shoulders. “My dad always said we do what me can or must and the rest is left up to the fates.”

  Ash looked at Tolarea then leaned over and gave her a warm kiss surprising the giantess. Tolarea was not much for deep talks or comforting. Everything with her seemed to lead to training, so her words had surprised him a little. “I guess we can only wait to see what will come.”

  13-3

  Two days after they had made their camp Ash once again found himself within the command tent. Unlike before now
the entire city was represented before him in small model scale. Along with the buildings there were also small figurines representing the enemy soldier and king.

  “We should commence our attack in two more days,” Fay said calmly after everyone had arrived. “Waiting gains us nothing at this point. I had hoped that the idiot king would show a few of his cards but it seems that he is happy with doing nothing but hiding behind his guards and pissing his pants.”

  Pointing a long stick at the south wall Fay continued to speak. “We will use our main force to attack the wall here where it is the weakest. The enemy will be prepared for us but they only have limited numbers. Mostly their soldiers are untrained except for the few that are protecting the king so it shouldn’t be very hard for us to overrun them using ground forces and the eagle troops. While we assault the walls the young lord will mount an assault on the castle though his main objective will be the king himself. Once the king is dead it should be easy to force the rest to concede defeat so that we can keep from being forced into killing a massive amount of innocents.”

  Fay turned toward Ash her face hard and cold. “You will need to leave today so that you can be ready when the time comes.”

  “You still haven’t told me how many I will be bringing with me.” Ash said in a slightly annoyed tone. “I have asked you three times but you have only said you would have to think on that but you still haven’t given me an answer.”

  Fay let out a heavy sigh before rubbing her forehead with her index finger and thumb. “How many can you take on one trip?”

  “Three others including myself without causing myself a splitting headache,” Ash replied firmly.

  “How many trips can you take back to back?” Fay asked without stopping.

  “It depends on the distance. I don’t even know if using the method you have planned will even work once,” Ash admitted while hoping that it wouldn’t.