Apostles of Doom

Demons quickly began to kneel. They all kneeled. That was not a big surprise. Lesteroth was sure many were just playing a game, although why you would do that when you could just walk away did not make much sense. He suddenly realized that Darflow was still standing.

“Darflow, kneel!” Lesteroth hissed at his commander.

The dark lord turned his gaze on Darflow, sizing him up. “You are the commander of these men?”

“I am.”

“And you will not kneel?”

“My lord, I may not.”

“Why? Are your knees broken?” the dark lord asked.

Not an unreasonable question, Lesteroth reflected, looking around at his comrades. He wondered how many demons missing wings or legs might have been forced to stay due to immobility.

“No, my lord.” Darflow smiled grimly. “But as a commander who has failed his queen, I must accept the consequences, as much as I might not wish to. Honor demands it.”

Several D’Orcs were nodding at this. It was a technical point of honor. Not something most demons were familiar with.

“What is your name?” the demon lord asked.

“Darflow Skragnarth, milord.” The greater demon sighed.

The dark lord nodded and seemed lost in thought. “You are a commander, a leader, yes?”

“I am, my lord.”

The dark lord nodded. “Have you sworn an oath with your demons to lead them and to protect them, even as they protect you? Do you have any responsibility to or for your soldiers?”

Darflow looked puzzled by the question. “Of course. They swear their loyalty to me, and in return I lead and guide them, and protect them as I can.”

“Which you have done today.”

“Well, I have led them, but perhaps not wisely.”

“But you do have such an obligation, yes?”

“I do, my lord.” Darflow nodded.

“This oath you cannot break to your queen? Was it a similar oath of loyalty to that which your demons swore to you?” the dark lord asked.

“It was.”

“And she ordered you here today to fight us?”

“She did.”

“Did she lead you here?”

“Clearly not, my lord.” Darflow gestured around him.

“Did she have any idea what you faced here today?”

“I cannot say, my lord. However, she is quite wise. I would think she did.”

The dark lord nodded. “So she sent you to die, hoping that you could take out as many of us as possible.”

Darflow shrugged at the obvious. “I suspect that she thought the Knights of Chaos might tip the balance.” He gestured to the region where the knights had been.

The demon lord grinned. “Were you protecting her, here today, by attacking us?” he asked.

“I suppose one could argue that,” Darflow said.

“So you believe we are an imminent threat to her, or she does.”

“My lord, I am not privy to her thinking. I know that your people were once considered a threat, or at least a rival to her. I know she fears similar in the future,” the demon commander replied.

“Given that she sent you here, essentially on a death march, throwing your lives away in the hopes of doing some minimal damage to me and mine, do you think she upheld her side of her oath to you?”

Darflow was silent thinking on that. “Perhaps not, but I am not in a position to judge her on this.”

“Why not? It was the oath the two of you swore; who else but you should judge whether or not she was true to you?”

Lesteroth nodded to himself. This guy was a true demon lord. This was true demonizing logic if he had ever heard it. He was nearly as twisty as Asmodeus.

Darflow shook his head. “I know where you are going, my lord.”

“Do you? I am more interested in the oath you swore to your soldiers. You say you are a demon of honor. If so, then you are required to hold your oath to your soldiers as much as your oath to your queen.” The demon lord shifted his stance to stare slightly more intimidatingly at Darflow, or so it seemed to Lesteroth.

“Your men are kneeling, prepared to accept my offer. However, if they come to me, they will have no senior commander. Yes, they may have cohort leaders or division leaders. However, they will not have their senior sworn officer, their overall leader to whom they have sworn. Is it not your duty to join them to ensure that I keep my side of the deal? Is it not your duty, on behalf of your soldiers, to ensure that I treat them fairly? That I do not simply feed them to the D’Wargs?”

The D’Wargs started yipping in excitement at this point, causing more than a few worried glances in their direction.

Darflow gritted his teeth. “I suppose it is, but I have my duty to my queen.”

“The queen who betrayed her oath to you? Who sent you and your soldiers to certain death? Death that even she knew was certain. And all simply to annoy a rival?” The dark lord shook his head sadly.

“It seems to me, Darflow, that you would be better honoring your oath to these soldiers, than your oath to your oath-breaking queen.” The demon tilted his head and simply stared at Darflow.

Darflow shook his head in frustration, and then stared directly back into the demon lord’s eyes.