The otaurs are very loyal. Almost to a fault. Once they are committed, they remain devoted. Even at the expense of their own lives. You can never separate an otaur from its assigned task.

Igil's Complete Beastiary (Unabridged, Revised and Extended)

The early spring's night had fallen in that nether region between being seasonally normal and a little too hot to be comfortable. Perhaps it was her impatience and frustration that added to the sensation of heat rather than the actual weather. It didn't really matter. She was miserably uncomfortable, and that was what counted.

Unable to calm her mind enough to sleep, Cassandra instead took to pacing the distance inside her command tent. Back and forth, over and over, she passed by the disheveled, map laden table too many times to keep track of. Several of the parchment sheets had been discarded to the ground in haphazard piles.

The general had expected either Lady Noranda's demon to have reported back or, more hopefully, brought her sister to her by now. She had been assured it would do the job she had tasked unto it with precision and dedication. However, with each passing moment, the seconds counted off by the gradually increased chirping of long dormant insects waking from winter, Cassandra became resigned to both desires being an unlikely possibility. So when the shade appeared, eyes glowing red, bobbing just beyond the sphere of faint light cast by the oil lamp, she both was relieved and concerned simultaneously.

"My general." It spoke, eyes dipping down in a reverence that few mortals could ever expect to draw out of a demonic presence.

"Spare me the formalities." Cassandra's impatience spat out of her like the rain on the night she left her sister behind years before. "Obviously something is wrong. Where is Lady Noranda's latest pet?"

"My apologies, general. The Ancient One was dispatched."

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know he was dispatched. I was the one who dispatched him to hunt for signs of—"

"My further apologies, general." If the minor demon had any concern over cutting off the red-headed woman fuming with anger, it showed none. "A poor choice of words on my part. He was defeated. By your sister and her companions."

A raised eyebrow from Cassandra preceded her response. "Really? Interesting. Not that I should be entirely surprised, I suppose. I just never thought that my sister could prove so elusive. Or so capable."

"Her companions and her make quite a formidable team," the shade added. "I witnessed the battle. Apparently, she has come to possess a sword that is rather imposing, especially against those of us who stem from The Dark. I watched as with one stroke she severed the arm of the Ancient One without so much as a hint of resistance."

"You only watched?" The challenge brought forth by Cassandra had no effect on the demon. "You did not assist?"

"Begging the general's pardon, but I could have done nothing to reinforce the situation. If they were capable of defeating an Ancient One, I would have added nothing to the encounter—other than perhaps a momentary distraction. And then you would not know of what transpired, for I would not be here now."

Arms folded, Cassandra leveled a dose of silent judgement at the shade as it remained there, hovering just out of the lamplight. "Can you at least tell me something useful?"

"They had just entered the Eastern Woods when the Ancient One tracked them down. About a four days ride north of the Koroth Lands."

Cassandra nodded and then repeated the region's name with a sigh. "Koroth. Those lands are basically nothing but a sprawl of small hamlets, each abutting the previous for miles on end. The southern ones are firmly under Imperial control. But there are some pockets in the north sympathetic to the Rebellion." The general turned and paced around to the other side of the table and the maps placed upon it. She shifted the mass about until the territory known as Koroth was displayed for her on one in particular. Although she wasn't sure if the ever shifting borders of the various districts were still accurate since the time it had been drawn up. "Koroth Abal, Koroth Savo, and Koroth Ulin are the three most troublesome regions as of late. They also form almost a straight line through the Koroth Lands. Essentially a perfect path through to the mountains beyond."

"There is also something else." The shade added more information. "They've acquired a rather bizarre companion."

"How bizarre?" Cassandra did not let her eyes wander from the maps while the conversation continued.

"An otaur."

"An otaur?" That statment drew the general's eyes away from her planning and on to the shade. "I thought they were myths."

"No myth, general. Quite real and quite daunting. Although much rarer these days than even in the time of Hitithe."

"Hmm. Interesting." Again her eyes were back on the maps. She'd processed what she needed once given the information. "They're going to need supplies. The Koroth Lands sympathetic to the Rebellion will be the most likely place to obtain them. But the otaur can't travel with them through the Koroth Lands. He'd stick out like a sore thumb. Draw too much attention to them. So, unless they have some way of disguising him, and I'm sure they don't, he'll have to go around. That would weaken their party. We will need spies and agents to begin moving on Koroth Abal, Savo, and Ulin. It's the perfect opportunity to weed out the rebel elements there, as well as intercept my sister and obtain her and her key. I want Major Halond to lead the mission."

"Major Halond was already previously dispatched by Lady Noranda on another mission, general. He's been gone for several days."

"Another mission?" Cassandra heaved a heavy breath at the news. "I was not told of this. I should be informed when my soldiers are being commandeered."

"I offer apologies on behalf of Lady Noranda, general. She wanted Major Halond to track down that thief Civn who you hired to find your sister. And who apparently betrayed us and warned her instead. She figured that Halond's previous experience with him would make him the best option to accomplish that task."

"Civn, even as a traitor, was inconsequential at the moment. I fully intended to deal with him once everything else was resolved with regards to my sister. I don't leave loose ends. Everyone knows that. Why did Lady Noranda take such a sudden and hard interest in that traitor?"

"To that, I cannot speak. I am sure she has her reasons, however."

"Indeed." Cassandra returned her attention to her maps. "She always does. I'll have to find someone else to lead the scouting party then. Have Lieutenant Corus provide me with a list of agents currently in the Koroth Lands. You can deliver the message and the mission personally once we have someone in mind. Then we'll assemble a flight of dragons from the ones we have here at the Sagon Wall and be there in four days to pay my sister a visit."

"I am your servant, general. As you wish."

Cassandra nodded. "My sister will soon learn the truth about who is responsible for deaths of our mother and father. And then she will turn on her rebel allies, and the Rebellion will topple without the fabled Child of the Storm."

Burlap sack covering the head of his prisoner, hands bound behind him with sturdy rope and knots, Halond shoved Civn forward. With a grunt, he continued to resist. But it was also obvious that most of the fight had been taken out of him. What remained was nothing more than a habitual defiance.

The dark of the room surrounded them. Lit only by the light from the hallway, everything was dark, dreary, and smelled like death. The tears in the fabric of both men's clothing, and the often visible wounds and trails of blood beneath and across their faces, told the story of exactly how fierce the struggle to reach this point had been. No words spoken could have done the obvious fierceness of the encounter between the two men justice.

Once Civn was on his knees, the soldier who had brought him placed his sword to the neck of his former friend in a warning to stay put. "You'd think you'd have learned your lesson after all these years. I'm better than you. Always have been. Always will be. No matter what petty tricks you might come up with."

"Dat so?" Civn's muffled voice replied from beneath the sack. "Dat why de general hired Civn? Not you? Ta find her sister?"

"This is the one?" Lady Noranda swooped out from the gloom behind a stone table covered in long dried blood. The maneuver occurred just in time to distract Halond from leveling an intended blow across his prisoner's chin for the insult.

"Sure is," Halond snarled, noticing an identical table to the first one not too far away. Its top faded into the darkness, and there was far less gore adorning its surface. Rather some other foul, almost puss-like substance coated it and the floor, also having since dried. Long stalactites of the material cascaded over the edge, hanging there. They almost shimmered in the small amount of light that reached them.

The red-robed woman left the mortar and pestle she had been using to crush up something vile smelling and smoldering to inspect the specimen brought before her. "Doesn't look that impressive. But I suppose he'll have to do. Remove his hood. Let me look at him."

The head covering was withdrawn with enough ferocity and lack of care that Civn's head snapped back from the force. Eyes freed, he stared back at the fallen angel, unwilling to look away, not unable to.

Noranda nodded. "He's got a certain feel about him. I'll give you that much. Still, I wonder if he'll be up to the task I have in store for him."

Civn spat on the ground. "Civn's services not fer sale. Not ta ya."

"Oh, come now. After all the trouble I've gone through to bring you here? And this is how you repay me? By turning me down before you've even heard what my offer is?"

"Civn through wit da Empire. And soon, da world will be done with ya as well."

"So you think?" With a flick of her chin, she signaled for Halond to bring the prisoner to his feet. He complied roughly. "I assume you are referring to the legend of the Child of the Storm?"

"Dat be da one." Civn nodded.

"Somehow you don't strike me as the sort of man to believe in religion and its fairytales."

"Of all peoples, Red Witch, ya should know best what is ta come."

With a smile, Noranda took a step forward into Civn's face. She matched his hard look with one of her own backed by hellfire in her eyes. "Perhaps. But I stopped believing in those fantasies a long time ago. When I became aware of the harsh realities of those that we call gods." She pointed to the sleeve covering Civn's one arm. "I want to see it."

Halond tore the fabric free with several hard pulls, revealing the rough lines of green gem-like stone that made up what should have been flesh covering muscle and bone. With awe inspired fingers, Noranda caressed the cold crystalline surface all the way up to where it joined Civn's skin at the shoulder.

"That's impressive that you survived, my friend. How so?"

Back straightening, Civn's chest puffed out. "Civn killed da sorcerer before he could finish da chant and da spell."

"This is emerald," Lady Noranda correctly observed. "And you are, based on your peculiar accent and grammar, a Losannan. For your people, emerald means that you were betrothed. I wonder. Was she a scoundrel like you? Perhaps she was with you? Perhaps she didn't survive."

Civn flinched towards Lady Noranda, but Halond held him still with a firm hold on the ropes about his wrists.

Noranda smiled. "She was. And she didn't." Her smile widened. "Ask me how I know."

"Civn care not."

"I know because I found her wandering in The Dark during my most recent visit there to see my dark master." Noranda didn't abide by the undeniable desire that he didn't want to know. "I thought maybe you might like to realize where she ended up and the eternal suffering she is going through. Where you're going to end up too."

With a shrug, Civn sloughed off the taunt. "As ya said, Civn not one fer religious hocus."

"Oh, come now. Let's not play games." Wrapping her fingers around his chin, Noranda put a tight, hot grip on her captive that he could not break free from despite trying. The tips of her fingernails grew with a mere thought, piercing his skin and drawing warm blood. "You know what I am. To pretend that you don't believe in such things would be a bald-faced lie."

"There is a difference," Civn explained, "in knowing a demon who was a minion of heaven stands in Civn's presence, and believing dat da gods, or their hapless servants who can't even seem to control dere own fate, have some control over Civn's."

The slight drew a slap across Civn's cheek from Noranda while her nails gouged at his skin like the claws of a wild and mighty cat. Although about to reply, she was cut off by a spray of blood from lightning quick hands that tore open the thief's throat and sent him tumbling to the ground.

Standing there, his blue eyes glowing with the slightest hint of red, Lord Hedric watched as the man Major Halond had brought convulsed and died at his feet without a further word. "You should not play with your quarry." Then he regarded the now dead man. "I suppose this one will have to do. Not as impressive as General Kayzar, by any means."

Noranda wiped some of the blood from her hands onto her robes, along with that which had already splattered there. The colors blended seamlessly with its natural red hue from her own blood that stained her clothes long ago. "You want the demon back? You want that bond renewed?"

"I do." There was no hesitation to the Blood Lord's admission.

"Then we have limited options. This one is strong enough to contain the Ancient One, and I believe the transformation should be impressive. Considering what has been done to his arm."

"I hope so." Lars turned to take his leave. "Take your pick of sacrifices from those currently being held in the dungeon. It is my understanding that there are some that are particularly defiant and thus suitable. An unfortunate side effect of the Rebellion's growing influence as of late, despite our efforts. I had just found the means to fully tap that power from the demon when it was so quickly stripped from me. And I want it back. Escpecially knowing that there is someone out there creating new abominations like myself; another Blood Lord."