The Demon King's Hero Of Light

He nodded and stood up, looking around.

"I am the Hero of Shadows."

"What?" Aella wasn"t sure she had heard him right.

"I am the Hero of Shadows, twin to the Hero of Light, I suppose. My powers are very limited, so I don"t tend to use them. My father had them, and told me it was very important not to let anyone but my own child know the truth. I have kept it hidden all this time, so that the church would not find out."

Aella watched him for a moment, waiting for him to laugh and say he had tricked her, but his serious face told her he was sincere.

"Is that why you were reporting to the church?" she asked, "as a further way to keep your secret hidden?"

"I"ll admit, it was very dangerous, but it has worked until this moment. When I survived the storm, and no one else did, it was only because of my ability to use shadows. They surrounded me, and kept the monster from seeing me. I fear the church may suspect something further, but I don"t know what to report."

"So, when you die, I will gain your abilities?" she asked softly, wondering how in the world she would be able to handle another hero"s worth of abilities.

"Yes? I don"t intend to die anytime soon, daughter," he laughed, wincing as he pulled on the freshly formed scab on his collarbone.

"Father, I am both the Hero of Air, like my mother, and the Hero of Fire."

His grin dropped so fast, she almost thought he had died. "What?"

"What do you report to the church?" she asked, ignoring his question.

Giving himself a shake, General Brimsey said, "I report where I"m being sent, and with how many troops. I"ve never had a reason not to tell them the truth, in case they were also getting information from someone else. The problem is, my communications boxes were washed away, so I can"t report in."

"Why, exactly, is that a problem?"

"Well, it"s not, but if they send someone after me, it could be."

"I don"t think you understand what I"m saying. Are you my general, or a church spy?"

Aella gave him a look to let him know she wasn"t playing games. The fact that he was her father didn"t make any difference at this moment. Those emotions were pushed so deep, she would need a shovel to get them back.

Her looked at her for a moment, then straightened his back. "I am your general, my king."

Kneeling before her, he pulled out his sword and offered it to her. "I give you my sword, until the day I die, I will follow your lead, and never sway my loyalties ever again."

"I should kill you for being a spy. Because you have been so forthcoming, I will allow you the opportunity to prove yourself loyal, but be aware, I trust no one, General Brimsey."

She took his sword and checked its blade. He had cleaned and sharpened it recently, which she approved of. Handing it back to him, he stood and sheathed it.

"I have nothing more to say, other than, I remember a time when you trusted me," he said, glancing at her with obvious pain in his eyes.

"Yes, that time was a long time ago. A lot has happened since then."

Taking his forearm, she teleported them back to the throne room.

"General Brimsey, you will raise a new army, from those willing, among the many that have flocked to the city. They will be provided bonuses for their families, clothing and equipment for the duration of their service, and if any have children that they will be leaving behind, those children will be the first allowed in the new orphanage that is to be built. Until it"s completion date, they will be staying in the warehouses. I believe most everyone who was living there, has returned to the city at large. I will have people a.s.signed to care for them. There"s enough people in this city, it"s time they started doing more than expecting handouts."

"And where am I to take these new recruits?" he asked.

"Take them north, to the freshly cleaned areas, and have them camp there, until you have about 300 people. I want you to take them back to the mountains, to prevent the church from sending troops that way, around the wall. While you are stationed there, have them build a fort. There will be enough materials, from the torn down trees, and tumbled rocks. You can also work on training them. I will have food and supplies shipped to you every 4-5 weeks."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he said, bowing, and leaving the throne room.

"Destov, see to it that none of my promises to the general are ignored or forgotten," she said, returning to her table of papers. There were more here then when she had left only a few moments ago. She sat with a sigh.

He nodded, and started sending runners off immediately.

Looking over the estimated dates of completion for the sewers, she saw that the date kept getting longer and longer. The flood of water may have stayed out of the city, but it had still flooded the sewers, causing a lot more damage to the already damaged areas. More buildings had collapsed. The more she read, the more she started thinking they needed to begin building a new capital city. It would solve the threat the church promised, with the water and sewers. The infrastructure of the entire city was aged and crumbling.

"Varnin, I want the head builders brought to me," said Aella, not looking up.

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said, sending runners to fetch them. They arrived within the hour, flushed and out of breath.

"You summoned us, Your Majesty?" asked one, taking off his hat and turning it around and around in his hands.

"My city is falling apart, Head Builder. What does the other side of the river look like?"

"My King, I don"t think I understand," he said, looking at the other builders behind him.

"I want to know, how the other side of the river looks, for a new addition to the city. This one is crumbled around us, and I need a safe place to build more buildings."

"We can send someone to look right away, but I believe we never built over there because of the flooding the river does on a yearly basis," he said.

"Then design a sewer system that can handle the flooding. I want plans in place by the end of the week. Pretend you have all of the supplies you need, and that you are going to build another city, bigger than this one, on the other side."

"Yes, Your Majesty," he said with a strangled voice, looking horrified and panicked.

"My King, that normally takes months of planning," said Orolon, not as scared of her as the head builders were.

"Then do rough guestimates, as best you can, on what it would take to build the new city. But I still want something by the end of the week. Also, if you need more workers, grab people who are willing to work, off the streets. I"ll increase your pay, as needed."

The relief on their faces was instant. Bowing to her, they made a hasty retreat out of the room.

"Should I have all workers and attendants on the water lines, replaced?" asked Xathtak.

"No, it would be our luck that the spies the church has, aren"t a part of the work detail. If we change them all out, it may tip them off and cause them to trigger things. a.s.sign more to them, and have the lines inspected heavily. With them being so old, and everything else around the city failing, I want to make sure that they are in good working order. Plus, if we need to build another system, it would be nice if we knew how this one worked."

After several more hours of notes, Aella stood up. "I will be back. I need to stretch my legs."

Teleporting to the library, she spotted Bridgette furiously scribbling something down in a book, pausing to listen to something, then going back to writing.
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"What"s going on?" asked Aella, approaching her.

Felix was on the ground, staring blankly at the ceiling, muttering feverishly.

"Felix?!" she cried, jumping to his side and reaching to touch him.

"No! Don"t touch him! He"s prophesying. If you touch him, it could break the hold he has, and we"ll not get the rest of what he says!" exclaimed Bridgette, continuing to write the words Felix was mumbling.

Aella watched him, trying to make out what he was saying, but it was just gibberish to her. How could Bridgette be following what he said? Moving over to look over Bridgette"s shoulder, she saw that the words she was writing were in a language she didn"t understand. Maybe the language matched the words he was saying? It was too complex for her, so she sat down and waited.

The food box caught her eye, and she went over to investigate it. Could she get it to make her something to eat? Opening the door, she glanced inside, but it was empty. Shutting the door, she pushed one of the b.u.t.tons on the side, and waited as it hummed for a moment. Then, when it had stopped, she opened the door again, and found a bowl of soup waiting for her. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided she had eaten worse, and pulled it out.

The moment she set it down on the desk, Felix screamed and sat up, looking around wildly.

"Did you get it all that time?" he asked, spotting Bridgette as she set down her quill and rubbed her wrists.

"I think so. Come read it for me."

He took the paper from her and studied it for a moment, before sighing and handing it back. "I can"t read this one. Will you?"

""The heroes shall endure, follow the contour, make sure to secure, a new home is sure,"" read Bridgette, scrunching her brow.

"Is that all?" asked Felix with a frown. "It felt like a whole lot more than that!"

"There"s bits and pieces here and there about monsters and fighting, and every other intelligent race, in the whole world, is listed, but I don"t know why this part here mentions a world tree."

Aella"s head snapped up. "World tree?"