RD 5 Ch 2

I sputtered as I sat up, struggling with the softness of the bedding beneath me. It was as if I could sink into the silk. 

"My lord," a concerned voice said from my side. I turned to look and found myself struggling as I realized both my sides were claimed by fantastically gorgeous women. 

Each time my eyes moved they found one better than the last. They were so beautiful that I had trouble believing my eyes. Especially when they began to rouse and rub their soft silken hands over my skin in a way that made my eyes flutter with delight and a craving begin to crawl down my spine.

"What?" I said, trying to rub the confusion from my temples. The dream had been too real and the urgency thudded in my skull like a team of smiths at the forge.

"Just come rest," another of the beautiful ladies tugged at my arm.

I was tempted, oh, how I was tempted. I wanted nothing more than to give in to that request and return to the luxury that surrounded me. 

One of the many women in the bed reached over and offered a pitcher of wine. She poured it into a goblet, the action filling the air with a sweet, delectable scent that flooded my nose and my head with temptation. "Wine?" she offered sweetly.

"Thank you," I was a moment from reaching out and taking the goblet, before an urgency to keep moving dragged through the back of my mind. I knew as sure as I knew my name was Bran, there was something that I was forgetting. 

"Bran?" one of the ladies asked curiously, running a hand over my chest and gazing into my eyes with devotion and promise beyond my wildest dreams. The look nearly melted my will and turned me into a pile of mush. 

"What are you thinking about?" she asked. 

I gave her the honest answer. "I'm not sure. I feel like I forgot something." 

She hummed and tugged me, pushing me back onto my back. "You can forget whatever you would like." Her eyes promised that I would like anything and everything that she had to offer me. 

"It's not that," I shook my head, the confusion only deepening. "I swear there's something I forgot. Something I need to do." 

I went to get up and a dozen soft, pliable hands gently pulled me back. When I went to stop them, another held the goblet of wine, putting it into my own hand and lifting it up towards my lips. 

"Stay with us," they tempted me. "Stay with us, my lord. The others can deal with your problems for you." 

"That's not how this works. That's not how anything works," I said, an edge cracking into my tone.

The near growl caused several of the women to jump back, letting go of me and allowing me to pull myself up from the bed as if it were a trap meant to keep in that place for all eternity. 

"Don't go," they pleaded as I threw on a robe and moved as if I were being chased.

I rushed to the door of the palace, realizing I did not even know if it was my palace I was inside. I tried to dig around in my head to identify what I considered home, but nothing made sense. This palace was the closest answer I had, but it felt wrong. It felt unfamiliar.

"Lord, there you are," came a man I had never seen before in my life, panting as he came to a stop by the door I had just cracked open.

"Do I know you?" I asked, only for him to laugh as if we had been friends for decades.

"Your jests go too far, my lord. Of course, you know me, unless the last fight with the demons has addled your head." He offered.

At the mention of fighting demons, he had my full attention. "Demons?" 

He scoffed. "They pushed the north gates hard." Unfortunately, his words meant absolutely nothing to me.

"The north gates?" I asked even as the women writhed on the bed, eyes begging me to come back and wine overflowing the lip of the cup, pouring down onto the breasts of one as she moaned and begged me to come help her with it.

"Yes, lord. The men would relish the chance to see you on the battlefield," he said, his tone suggestive of something that, once again, I had entirely forgotten.

"If they wish to see me on the battlefield, then they shall have it." I answered. The idea of slaughtering demons felt far more necessary than lounging in the bed of beautiful women.

"Come then, my lord. If we are to have at them, there is no time to waste." He told me, puffing himself up in the process.

There were no circumstances that made sense for wasting time, I thought to myself. But I didn't speak. I was still finding myself more confused by the moment. The urgency making me want to charge forward remained and was the only thing that felt truly right.

For the moment, I would deal with the problem in front of me. The rest I could figure out as we went. 

If there were demons attacking my palace, then certainly it must have been a nightmare, and one so profound that it has addled my mind.

I stepped out with my man, sweeping on a pair of ornate robes and tucking them into some simple boiled leather armor.

"Perhaps we should put you in something safer," he offered.

"No need. I prefer the mobility," I said, "besides, I'll heal.” Odd, I knew nothing about where I was, but I knew I had Immortal Body and would heal from just about anything.

“It's not good for morale to see their lord bleed, morale is low enough as it is…” He hesitated, but I was already determined to push forward, to do something about this urgency gnawing at the back of my mind. It felt like finding myself in a swarm of gnats, and to make it worse, they were the biting kind. I simply could not stand still.

But as I stepped out of my chambers, it was as if I had stepped into another world entirely. I frowned.

While I was lying in the lap of luxury in what I thought must be a grand palace, it seemed just outside those walls was hell itself. To one side of the small fortress, the sky and the land had been dyed red as if so much blood had been spilled. It had changed the world around it. On the other hand, the sky was grey, bleak, but still the sky that I knew. It was as if we were in the very center of. As if we were in the very path of hell expanding itself over our world. 

"Lord, the demons are rallying in the distance." He told me.

I gazed off, seeing a sweeping blot upon the ground, growing dark and ever closer. "How long do we have?" I asked, shielding my eyes and wondering when things would become clear again. 

Regardless of his answer, I knew the direction I sought. The urgency seemed to be directly pointed at the army in front of me

A system window opened at my side.

[Defend the fortress until reinforcements arrive.]

I frowned. The system did give quests. But the words were clear. Reinforcements were apparently coming. But no timer was associated. 

"Have we any word on reinforcements?" I asked my man. 

"No updates besides that the delegation for negotiation has been sent out." He reported.

"The delegation," I said, and then coughed quickly, covering my surprise. 

"Yes, sir, you finally got them to come to the table. If we can last longer, then perhaps humanity can bolster here where there's a far narrower passage," my man gestured and I could see water on the horizon in both directions.

Now I understood. We were on a small strip of land and that would be absolutely critical to stopping the demons before they went too much farther. If behind us was the rest of humanity, then we simply couldn't afford to lose. 

"Sir?" my man asked, standing beside me and waiting. 

"Just thinking," I lied. 

"While your wisdom is valuable, we are short on time," he hesitated to be critical of me. 

"Making a hasty judgment will do us no favors," I told him sternly. "It's only with a level head that we'll find the path forward. Sometimes it's best to review everything before planning." I made an excuse for him to explain what exactly was going on. 

"Of course, Lord. The demon army likely numbers in the tens of thousands and we have but six thousand men on the walls." He told me.

"Six thousand might be enough," I offered, unwilling to lose hope. But I could understand his concern; those odds were certainly not something to bet on. “Well then, let's walk the wall and prepare the men. The demons are coming and we must greet them with as much vigor as we can.” I put my arms behind my back and began walking. 

The man, whose name I still didn't know, caught up with quick, lanky strides.

“Would you like me to reiterate everything still?” he asked, clearly hesitant at the exercise.

“It's for the best. You never know what small grain of strength we can pull forward simply because it's been forgotten.” I was impressed with my own level of bullshittery. 

As we moved around, I was greeted by a number of worn, haggard men - the kind that knew every day brought them one step closer to death, if not at the end of a demon's blade, then by the bottom of their stomach. There was one achingly painful weakness that became apparent. Food was running out and every single one of them knew that fact. The men felt their deaths were a guarantee. It was no longer an 'if', it was a 'when', and I could see the defeat in their eyes before the battle had begun. 

I sighed and shook my head as we finished, my man looking to me for orders.

“Run a small ration of food to every man on the wall,” I said, putting my arms behind my back and overlooking the situation.

“Sir, we are low as it is.” He started, but I cut him off.

“We don't have an option. If they think there isn't a meal for them tomorrow, then why raise their blade today? Get them enough that they won't be thinking about their stomach while they fight, but not so much that they all become sluggish.” I ordered.

My man nodded and rushed away without waiting for another word, leaving me on the wall to watch the demons encroaching. 

Something needed to be done. I needed to see the eyes of my men spark. If there was to be any hope of victory, I knew just how to do it. I walked along the wall until I reached the point closest to the spearhead of the demon's formation.

“Sir,” an officer saluted me as I approached. 

“Ready the oil, the torches, and the arrows.” I told him.

The officer looked at me funny. “We're out of arrows, sir, and the oil's just about dry too.”

“We have stones, don't we?” I asked, hiding my mistake in noble frustration.

“Of course.” He told me.

“Drop rocks on their heads if they reach the wall.” I  ordered.

The officer noticed my 'if' and frowned, because the next second I unsheathed my sword, pointing it out over the oncoming wave of demons.

I turned back to him, a glimmer of excitement in my eyes. “We won't fall today. Of that, I am certain.”

With that final line, I launched myself from the wall, landing on the blood-soaked plains before me. I heard shouts from the men atop, saying that I'd gone mad, that I was committing noble suicide, but I ignored it all. The recent loss to the demon in my dream spurred me with a desire to crush some in reality.

With a smile and a desire to destroy some demons, I charged forward.