Noah was glad he’d kept his face wrappings on. He’d been sitting around and fiddling with energy from Crumbling Space when the flap to his tent had flipped open. He and Moxie both looked up to find Violet standing on the other side, her face pale. Two smaller demons huddled behind her, one male and one female.

Violet’s eyes widened and she froze in place like a deer in the headlights. “I — sorry! I didn’t realize this was your tent.”

“It’s fine,” Moxie said. “It’s not like we’ve got it marked. Do you need something?”

The demon shook her head hurriedly. “No! No, I’m fine. Aylin just told me to take Edda and Torick to another tent so he could speak privately with Vrith. We’re completely fine. He has things handled.”

She didn’t sound completely convinced. The way she was rambling made it clear how worried she was for Aylin, but the news she brought made Noah tilt his head to the side.

He sent them off to deal with her alone? He’s starting to get bold. I hope the runes aren’t changing him too much. I didn’t really give him much more in the way of Demon Runes, most of them were normal. I’ll have to keep an eye on the kid. As badly as I need to research how Demon Runes actually work, I don’t fancy making him my test subject.

“Well, you’ve found a tent.” Noah nodded to the ground across from him. “Come in. It’s safe here, and I haven’t had much chance to speak with you properly.”

Moxie sent him a warning look and she nudged him with her foot. He would have been mildly offended if he hadn’t already established a bit of a poor track record. That was just the way things had to be done in the Damned Plains, though.

Giving the kids something specific to fear was a great way to make sure they didn’t fear literally everything else. Until he knew them better, there wasn’t much else he could offer without piquing their suspicion.

Violet hesitated for a second. Her eyes flicked from Noah to Moxie, then to the smaller demons behind her. She brought her expression under control and stepped into the tent, holding the flap open for the others.

Noah didn’t bother hiding his curiosity as the demons sat down across from him and Moxie. He really didn’t have much frame of reference for how demons aged beyond Lee. Aylin’s group were all clearly young, but he and Violet were the closest to normal humans amongst them.

Torick was a little less than a head shorter than Violet and had interlocking plates running just beneath his flesh. They didn’t look anywhere near strong enough to block much damage, but Noah suspected they’d grow as he grew more powerful.

He was pretty sure Edda was the youngest of the group, both by her appearance and by the fact that she was the least scared of the lot. Her gaze swept over the room in search of something that Noah and Moxie didn’t seem to qualify for.

If anything, she reminded him of Lee. Her horns were too large for her head — as were her eyes, which burned like two little embers.

Which is an interesting thought. I swear Lee told me that her parents produced asexually and she was just a blob before she took on a human form relatively recently. I suppose that was her talking about Skinwalkers and not Demons — that or Azel was into some really weird shit.

“Is there something we can do for you?” Violet asked as she shifted, trying to make herself comfortable.

Moxie lifted a hand and vines curled out of the ground, twisting beneath the demons to form into seats. The casual display of external magic caused their eyes to widen in shock. Noah arched an eyebrow in Moxie’s direction.

It doesn’t matter how soft the plants are when the only thing they’re going to be thinking about is if they’re going to be fertilizer. Actually, do they know what fertilizer is? I haven’t seen any farms in the Damned Plains.

“Not really,” Noah admitted. “But we aren’t going to hurt any of you. I already had this discussion with Aylin, but it genuinely just isn’t worth the energy. Moxie — that’s my companion, by the way — and I just have a set of standards. There are proper ways to treat people that we abide by whenever possible, and that includes making visitors comfortable.”

Violet nodded stiffly. Torick opened his mouth and she shot him a sharp look. His mouth snapped back shut. Edda remained silent as well. It wasn’t hard to tell who spoke for their group.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“You can speak freely. I really don’t have any need for terrified subordinates,” Noah said. He braced his chin against a palm and studied the demons as they tried to figure out what they could say without offending him. The longer the silence dragged, the more uncomfortable they became.

“Why did you choose Aylin for all of this?” Violet finally asked out of desperation to break the oppressive quiet. “Is it really just because he was there?”

“Yes,” Noah said. “Though he took to it well. A lot of demons wouldn’t have been able to do what I needed. A stronger one might have been too immalleable. He had a mixture of strong will and weak runes that suited my purposes.”

“Did you really just make him a Rank 3?” Torick asked. Violet winced, but Noah just nodded.

“I did. It was simple enough. I needed someone loyal to me and strong enough to protect my investment.”

“Could you do it again?” Edda asked. “I wanna be strong too.”

Violet clapped a hand down on Edda’s shoulder and sent the demon a sharp look. “I think it’s quite fine, Edda. We don’t need to trouble Spider any further than we already have, and you don’t have any way to repay that kind of gift.”

It would be a good idea to get all of these kids relatively powerful to protect them… but I’m already experimenting on Aylin. I can frame it however I want, but the truth of the matter is that I’m giving a demon more runes and rapidly accelerating their growth. That can do a lot of damage. Until I actually understand how much damage that can do, I can’t afford to just go around handing them out to random children.

Aylin will just have to be supervised closely to make sure he doesn’t change too much, too fast. He won’t be hitting Rank 4 anytime too soon anyway. It should be fine.

“How old are you?” Noah asked, cutting Violet off before she could scold the others any longer.

“Me?” Edda asked. She blinked at him with her wide eyes. “Fourteen.”

I would have guessed around ten. That must be because of how little food they’ve managed to until recently.

“You’re a bit too small to handle more runes right now. You need more meat on your bones,” Noah said with a shake of his head. “Having power also means needing the power to control it. You aren’t there yet.”

“Does that mean you would give it to us?” Torick asked hesitantly. “If we got stronger, would you help us too?”

“If you wanted me to. You’re all close to Aylin. That makes you targets for the other gangs.” Noah didn’t bother mincing his words. These kids had grown up in the Damned Plains. They were no strangers to the way life worked. “The stronger you are, the more help you can be to both me and Aylin. I just have no need to rush anything.”

“What about me?” Violet asked, finally giving up on her own reluctance. “I’m no weaker than Aylin was when you changed him.”

“I could do some for you. I don’t have the potion I’d like to use to do more,” Noah said slowly. “But before I did something like that — why do you want me to help? You were reluctant to accept anything before.”

“Because I’m worried about Aylin. He’s my brother,” Violet said. She swallowed but held Noah’s gaze. “And I can’t do anything for him the way I am now. When word spreads to the other gangs that Vrith joined us, they’re going to start testing us in true. There are going to be fights. People will try to assassinate him. The really dumb ones might go for you. And I’m sure you’ll be fine — but he might not be. He needs help.”

The more she spoke, the more determined Violet’s words grew. Her worry and concern for Aylin were stronger than her fear of Noah.

I can’t tell if I should be impressed at the level of passion someone this young can have to protect their friend or be depressed that they’ve gone through so much shit that they feel the presence of death lurking so intently.

She kind of reminds me of Isabel and Todd. Just… more intense.

Noah rose to his feet and Moxie sent him a surprised look. She knew just as well as he did the drawbacks of a demon advancing through the ranks.

“You’re going to do it?”

“Something tells me she’ll get herself hurt trying something else if I don’t,” Noah said dryly before looking back to Violet. “I take it you know the city to some degree?”

“Some of it,” Violet said hesitantly, some of her confidence evaporating when she realized Spider might be about to grant her request. Asking for power was one thing, but actually getting it was a bit more real.

“Your guess was absolutely right about other gangs coming for Aylin. I imagine it won’t be long at all. A few hours. Maybe days for the more patient ones. He could have one extra card in his back pocket — especially if he doesn’t even know he has it. I can make you into that card, Violet. I’m not promising it’ll be safe, but I can do it.”

Violet hesitated for a second. Then she swallowed. “Nothing in the Damned Plains is safe. I’ll do it. What do I have to do in return?”

“Not much at all,” Noah replied with a smile that she couldn’t make out behind his face wrappings. Violet would do absolutely everything he needed her to do entirely out of her own volition. She wanted the same thing he did, after all — she’d just never believe him if he told her that. “All you’ll have to do is show me to an apothecary.”

“And you’ll make me a Rank 3 in return?”

“Yes. That’s it.”

Violet’s jaw set. “I don’t think I — or anyone else — could ever refuse one of your deals, Spider. That scares me. A lot. Needless to say, I accept.”

“Then you’d best start marching,” Noah said, nodding to the exit of the tent. “Moxie will watch over your siblings. We have an apothecary to find.”