Chapter 82

  Bovinarros opened his eyes and found the dried-out head of a fire-demon staring down at him from one of the support beams. When had he ever got a fire-demon head? He couldn’t recall decorating his tent with enemy body parts. It was a habit among generals mostly, one he didn’t partake in; it was too much work, and getting the common soldiery to collect and prepare them for display was a waste of time in his opinion. Which meant he wasn’t in his own tent but in one of the generals’. But why? Why was he in someone else’s tent? He sat up, and as he looked around and took in the rest of the tent’s interior, two things happened: he realised where he was, and his head began to hurt as if someone had ripped his horns out. He lifted his arms to touch his horns — thankfully they were still there. After blinking a few times, he carefully stood up from the fabric sheet on which he had been laying on, making sure not to move his head too much to avoid making the splitting headache worse. This was General Oxiramon’s tent, he had no doubt about that. But what was he doing here?

  A guard peeked through the leather flaps covering the entrance, saw he was up, and rushed away immediately without saying a word. How strange. What was going on? Half a minute later, and before he could find an answer to the question, Oxiramon burst into the tent, rushing straight to him.

  ‘Look at that! I didn’t think you’d recover so quickly after that beating,’ the general grinned at him as he came to a halt a step away from him.

  ‘General,’ Bovi said, his voice hoarse, his throat aching. ‘What …’

  ‘You just had to go and deliver bad news to King Ox again, that’s what.’

  ‘Oh.’ Was all Bovi could say, as the memories came rushing back to him.

  ‘I agree: “Oh” is the right word,’ Oxiramon nodded sombrely.

  ‘General Bovirathek is dead. And he was level 40.’ Bovi recalled. ‘And General Taurenikhos is … injured. The Fourth Ring champion is there, at Orroth, isn’t he? This is bad news.’

  ‘It’s old news now; it’s been three days,’ Oxiramon said.

  ‘Three … days?’ Bovi’s eyes widened with disbelief.

  ‘King Ox was trying to kill you for real this time, I think.’ He sighed. ‘I got you out of there before he could do that. Again, I’m surprised you recovered this fast. Your constitution must be a lot higher than you let on.’

  Bovi started to feel dizzy, despite the headache subsiding. Three days since he had reported the ongoings at Orroth to King Ox? What had happened since? He had to find out and had to report, so he used his thought-voice to question General Taurenikhos, but … the connection his status as aide was supposed to provide just wasn’t there. He quickly checked all the other privileges he had been enjoying: access to maps, the generals, the statuses of their armies, their supplies, and a few other things. None of them were there anymore. He almost flinched as he looked at the general in front of him.

  ‘I regret to inform you, Bovi, you are no longer the aide to King Ox,’ Oxiramon said, guessing correctly what he was about to ask.

  ‘Who is?’

  ‘Torokharos.’

  ‘What? Him? He’s not going to last a day,’ Bovi cried out.

  ‘He’s still alive after almost three days, so I’d say he’s doing well,’ the general grinned at him. ‘Although, from what I’ve heard, he has quickly got into the habit of only delivering good news to the king and trying to solve and rectify bad news with the generals.’

  ‘I see. That’s not good.’ Bovi shook his head.

  ‘It is if an aide wants to stay alive.’

  ‘You know what I mean, general.’

  ‘I do, I do.’ He patted him on his shoulder. ‘But it’s no longer your problem. In fact, now that you’re not under King Ox directly, I took the liberty to take you on as a captain in my army, and we have some work to do regarding the missing mages.’

  ‘Oh? Have you figured something out?’ Bovi inquired.

  ‘They are alive, and they are in the city up on the hill,’ he said.

  ‘Prisoners?’

  ‘I think so, but that’s not all,’ the general said as he walked away to get a pair of stools for them to sit on, then took a jug of water from a travel chest at the other end of the tent.

  ‘Sit and drink some before we get into this,’ he said to Bovi, handing him the jug and taking his seat. The former aide took the drink, sat, then listened. ‘I had my highest-level mages investigate the hillside quietly. I had to get my workers and soldiers to work harder to compensate for their absence for the last two days, but it was worth it. My mages have been sensing Hell Mana movement from deeper under the hill, and even under our camps. It’s the kind of movement only earth spells can produce. And we all know fire and ice-demons don’t know how to gain or use earth spells.’

  ‘What?’ Bovi almost jumped up from his seat. ‘Are you saying our mages are aiding the enemy?’

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  ‘It looks like it.’ The general nodded, a dark look settling on his face.

  ‘Not possible. They’d rather die than to work against us. I’m sure.’

  ‘I’m sure, too. Unless the enemy has a way to force them. Their ruling demon lord is here, isn’t she? You’ve seen her at the Border to the Fifth yourself. She may be young, but who knows what skills she might have.’

  Bovi’s mind began to roll those words around: the ruling demon lord, the Fifth, skills, loyal minotaurs working for the enemy. He was sure there was something to this, he was sure he had seen or heard something in the past that could explain this. He took another sip of his water as he dug deep into his memory, trying to find and remember what could connect these things together to provide an answer.

  ‘Bovi? What are you thinking?’ General Oxiramon asked after minutes of silence.

  ‘General, have you ever been to the library in Boukephale?’

  ‘Ah, you know my clan: high enough status to produce generals, not high enough to get into places like that.’ He waved his hand in dismissal.

  ‘I have spent some time there,’ Bovi said.

  ‘And?’

  ‘The Fifth Ring.’

  ‘What about it?’

  ‘There aren’t many writings from when the Fifth Ring invaded all of Hell, and then later the surface, but they’re there,’ he explained. ‘They had unleashed unspeakable horrors and subjugated the Fourth very quickly, then the Third, and then the rest. Some of the creatures had aura skills that could break a demon’s mind and force them into obedience. Psychic skills I believe they were called. It took many years for the dreaded heroes of the Surface World to make their way to Hell and overcome those skills, and eventually to make their way to the Fifth. In fact, according to some records, some of those heroes had never returned from there.’

  ‘You believe the Fourth Ringers possess skills like those of the Fifth? Or worse, the Fifth ring itself is involved?’ the general asked, his voice deadly serious.

  ‘If not, it would mean our own kin is betraying us.’

  ‘And that is impossible.’ The general agreed.

  ‘Either way, it’s bad.’ Bovi nodded slowly. ‘And it makes sense: where was it that Ugrathar of the Fourth Ring fled when King Ox destroyed his armies? To the border of the Fifth. Granted, he died there, but then an enemy champion appeared. I saw him, briefly, and he did not look like a fire or ice-demon. He killed many of King Ox’ guards before knocking him aside to take Ugrathar’s heir.’

  ‘The champion then. Do you think he is of the Fifth?’ the general asked.

  ‘Maybe,’ Bovi said, sinking back into his memories, recalling things he had read about the times Hell was ruled by the Fifth Ring. ‘You know, general, I’ve read one description the champion might fit.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘A hero of the Surface World. All of them were slightly smaller than demons, but similar in many other ways. And powerful beyond anything any demon had ever achieved.’

  ‘And you said some of those heroes have never returned from the Fifth.’ Oxiramon nodded knowingly.

  ‘Perhaps until now,’ Bovi shook his head in disbelief at his own theory. ‘Do you think Ugrathar, in his desperation, has opened the gate to the Fifth?’

  ‘I suppose anything is possible,’ Oxiramon said, sighing loudly. ‘This is bad news: Fifth Ring demon or a hero, it seems possible he has those psychic skills you mentioned. He could have even taught Ugrathar’s heir how to gain and level such skills.’

  ‘I was thinking that, too,’ Bovi said. ‘We need to report this to King Ox!’

  ‘Ah-ah! Not so fast, Bovi, don’t give him another chance to kill you,’ the general said, standing up and holding out a hand to stop the former aide from leaving immediately. ‘Let’s adopt a little bit of Taurenikhos’ strategy here. We need to learn more, confirm this if possible, and then have a plan ready.’

  Bovinarros sunk back onto his stool, thinking this through. The general was right: King Ox was likely to lose his temper again upon hearing more bad news, and dying under his hooves would not be a solution to anything.

  ‘Alright. I agree,’ he said.

  ‘Good. The immediate problem is our captive mages doing something for the enemy. I want to figure out what it is and counter it,’ the general stated.

  ‘General, let’s take a look at the map of the hill and the surrounding areas!’ Bovi said, and in a second, through his new connection to the general as one of his captains, he could see the map in front of his eyes as if it was really there. ‘Can you mark how and where the earth spells have been occurring up to now?’

  ‘I can. My mages say it’s all very faint, but they can sense something is definitely going on under our hooves.’

  Bovi watched the black dots appearing on the map, somewhat erratically, and at first it didn’t make any sense. But as more and more of those markings came, each representing Oxiramon’s mages reporting their findings, it became clear that the enemy had been digging down inside the hill for some time, but later, the direction had changed.

  ‘They are tunnelling. First down, then under the camps on the south side of the hill. They’re almost at the Wilds behind our forces,’ Bovi noted.

  ‘Yes, that was my understanding too. But why? To attack us from behind? They should know that’s a hopeless endeavour.’

  ‘The ruling demon lord is trying to escape. She’s surrounded, and if King Ox indeed manages to collapse the hill, she’ll die and all cities in the Fourth might lose their defensive emplacements.’

  ‘All the while the champion is going around, breaking sieges and freeing cities.’ The general added.

  ‘It doesn’t matter if we give up on a few cities, we still outnumber their armies and King Ox can summon more from … wait!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘What’s happening at Orroth now?’

  ‘Nothing much. Taurenikhos says the enemy is still holding the city, and the army that broke out built a garrison at their backs, but “their feeble attacks will never break through his lines”. Or so he says. It’s quiet there.’

  ‘General, bring up the map of Orroth!’ Bovi told him, and as the map appeared in front of him, he saw the enemy garrison marked near the end of the only pathway an army could use to leave Orroth.

  ‘I see. Bring up the map of the Fourth Ring as a whole, general!’ he asked again.

  The map was replaced by that of the entire Ring, and Bovi squinted as he traced the champion’s movements since his emergence from the Fifth. The border, Scaragar, Garoshek, Orroth … oh, just like the enemy’s tunnelling here, the champion also had a direction and a destination in mind.

  ‘I think that fire-demon army has left Orroth completely,’ he stated.

  ‘Why would they do that?’ the general asked. ‘Wouldn’t they want to break the siege and claim the city?’

  ‘No, I don’t think so. They took Garoshek and then left it empty. I think the champion is gathering forces and is heading to the Gate to the Third. He wants to cut us off from home,’ he exhaled the words, hardly able to believe his own conclusion.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘As sure as I can be. And I think this might be the reason the demon lord is trying to leave the hills: to join the champion and fight at the gate.’

  ‘If you’re right, Bovi …’

  ‘We need to let King Ox know.’

  ‘Hold your horns! Not before we can offer a plan. Or something even better.’

  ‘Like what?’

  The general grinned at him and said,

  ‘If the demon lord of the Fourth is tunneling out as you say, then we know the rough area where she might surface. Which means …’

  ‘… we might be able to capture her and present her to King Ox.’ Bovi finished the sentence.

  ‘Exactly!’ the general nodded. ‘Bovi, let’s get to planning!’

  ‘Indeed. Let’s get to planning.’