Lieutenant Priya took an oversized phone from her pocket and began typing messages at a frantic pace for the next five minutes. The look of consternation on her face was fun to watch, but it was clear that things were not going well on the other side of that conversation.
“Sylvan Coven Command gave us permission to base the next few weeks’ missions from this position. Morgana Coven Defense says there are still five thousand soldiers here. No, wait, they’re panicking now too. Give them a second to figure out what they’re doing.
My radio serves as a relay, so they would see that there are no other active command radios nearby. They say they’ll get back to us. Myrrh Coven says they found empty flank camps as well, but the Morgana main line says they are fully staffed.”
“Should you send a rider to the main line, you know, just to be sure it’s still holding?” Wolfe asked with his most innocent voice.
“Poor taste, Demon. If the main lines fall, so do the cities behind them.”
“But you are sending the rider, right?”
“She’s already on her way.”
The Lieutenant looked to where Mary was curled up with Pup and sighed. “I will get you a force of soldiers sent here if we can’t stay. One incomplete Pentacle of Witches isn’t enough to do anything without a single soldier.”
“The Pentacle is complete. I used Stephanie, the Familiar Cat, as the fifth, and it let them power share, as well as draw freely from my storage.” Wolfe offered.
“That is impressive, even for a Demon Lord. You must be at least halfway to the second rank, right?” She asked
“I don’t know what that means, but I’m doing pretty well. Good enough for them to deal with that undead horde, at least. With your spears and bows, we wouldn’t have had to let most of the Ghouls leave. The big things were a pain since they could walk over the defences.”
“I am shocked you aren’t all dead. But if you can deal with that alone, we can improvise our tactics to include you in the defence.” The Lieutenant noted.
When she finished speaking, the Lieutenant unrolled a map and spread it out on the table.
“We learned that letting the tide come to you is a bad thing, so groups like ours go out on intercept missions to thin their ranks and redirect the survivors to the main lines, much like you did with the Ghouls.
What we are currently planning and ordered to do is to remain here at night and scout these areas for more monsters and find clues as to what is causing the increase in their numbers.
They have to be coming from somewhere, especially the undead, but we haven’t found the source yet. The ones that we have found are wearing clothes that aren’t fully rotten yet. The war was three centuries ago.
If they were created near that time, they wouldn’t have any clothes remaining, but many of the ones we found still had items in their pockets that would have long since fallen out if they were even five or ten years old.
Unfortunately, many of the small Covens and the human nations aren’t in regular contact with us, so if something happened to them, we could see hundreds of thousands of undead without any real clues.” The Lieutenant explained.
“So, you thin them out and bring them to us for disposal? I think that could work, especially if we can get some reinforcements sent here.” Ella agreed, looking at the locations currently marked on the magical map.
Their location was at the far left, so this was a map of the Sylvan Coven assets, but the map said that they had some forces behind the main line still, and there was hope that they could be sent forward to assist the positions along the flank that the Morgana Coven had abandoned.
“Lieutenant, I have found something that you should see.” A voice came over the radio as they were making plans.
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“We will get to the details later. Do you mind sharing your ever-so-luxurious bunker with my command team? It’s customary for the three of us to sleep in shifts, and that’s safer to do in here than up above.”
“That should be fine as long as they’re not disturbed by our shared sleeping arrangements.” Reiko agreed.
“Since you’re from Morgana Coven, which is rumoured to have the remains of the extinct ancient Bloodlines living all through their city, you probably don’t know. In modern times, Pure Blooded Witches have ten daughters for every son.
We routinely share them, and in Sylvan, we rarely marry. We only casually date for procreation, so your little group is totally normal, if a little luxurious for the battlefield. But that’s to be expected when you got a humanoid Demon as a Familiar and then bound him for power sharing.”
Cassie turned to look at Wolfe. “Don’t start getting ideas about a second Pentacle, do you understand? You’ve got enough Witches already.”
Her angry pouting was absolutely adorable, so Wolfe leaned in to give her a kiss, then whispered in her ear.
“I am not nearly done with you yet, and I won’t ever be. But I think I can open the mana flow of some of these soldiers if they’re really Pure Blooded Witches. Nothing sexual, I promise.”
Now that she was ready to answer the request from the voice on the radio, Priya abruptly gestured for the other soldiers in the room to stay put and jogged out to see what was going on outside, with Wolfe and Cassie following her while the others lay down to rest after the battle.
“Leader, over here.” The same voice from the radio called and then led them to a spot in the middle of the tents, which had now mostly been stood back up and hastily patched where possible.
There was a small magical box, covered in dirt, sitting on the ground, open to reveal a half dozen radios like the one that Priya had.
“So that’s what happened. They left the units on the charger and turned them on. They’re not assigned to anyone, so my radio didn’t show anyone here, but the central command would still see six active radios at camp.” Priya explained before turning them all off except one that she handed to Wolfe.
“The Witches will be busy, so you get the radio. I must also ask you about one more sensitive matter. Since your Witches are so young, have they learned about the special characteristics of Demons that let them enhance a Witch’s strength?”
“We know I can transfer mana to their marks to be used in spells or absorbed to build their Aura. And that, um, certain bodily fluids can do the same, as well as strengthen our bond.” Wolfe replied.
“You power share through a Pentacle enhanced Demon mark? No wonder you could fight off an undead horde without soldiers. That is incredibly risky. What if the Demon tried to take the top position? You could have been enslaved.” Priya whispered to Cassie.
“He likes it on top, but Wolfe is special. He was convicted and cursed after we accidentally Summoned him. He’s not some ancient evil being, just a horny teenager from my neighbourhood.” Cassie explained.
“I will need all of the details later, but if you are certain that he won’t use the marks to humiliate and degrade you, then build your power as fast as you can. Who knows, you might even make it to the Second Rank.”
“That phrase again. What is the second rank?” Wolfe asked.
“For you, it will be when a second mana focus begins to form. For a Witch, it’s when their aura becomes solid and turns into a Witch’s mark. They can be many things, from a third nipple or black eyes to a simple birthmark in the shape of their family Crest.
Don’t think too much about it. There hasn’t been a second rank Witch in centuries. Our power has faded too much.”
“But if it forms, their aura will change, right?” Wolfe asked.
“Supposedly, yes. Everyone with magic should be able to feel it the same way they feel the difference in power between you and an imp.” She agreed.
“Thanks. I will do my best to get them there.”
