When he left Liln within sight of the approaching wagons after a flight that in her mind, ended far too soon, Sadrahan faced her for only one moment and with her attention fixed on him he said, “Take no unnecessary risks, in order to rebuild all our lives, we’ll need every pair of hands we can get.”

Liln nodded, her sharp teeth bared when she smiled after raising her head again, “There’s nothing to worry about, I told you in the cave. I’m your demon. Just make sure my son is looked after while I’m gone.”

Sadrahan put a hand on her arm and squeezed. “Good,” he rumbled, “I will, and they should have seen us landing, so just wait here for them, I’d stay and talk but they know to expect you, and there’s nothing left to say until they make it back.”

“Of course.” She answered, and his wings sprang out, then he launched himself skyward again, unaware that Liln’s deep eyes were focused on his back, ‘What a woman she must have been, to captivate someone like that so much that no one else will do even after she’s dead.’

After he was out of sight and the short string of wagons with their abundance of horses came close, Liln raised her hand overhead and waved to the lead driver, the bat faced demon at the front waved back, and then slowly drew his wagon to a stop directly in front of her.

“You’re our guide?” He asked and put a hand over his slightly furry dark chest, “I’m Batagan.”

“Liln, and yes, Lord Sadrahan left me to bring you back.” Liln explained, then added, “He also gave me one other assignment, to bring back everything and everyone we can.”

Batagan sucked in air between his fangs, “So that is what he meant with his test… a truly deep thinker.”

“So he spoke to you the same way?” Liln asked and a little mirthful smile traced across her face.

“Yes, but I think we understand now, so if you would please,” he gestured past her, “lead on.”

She spun on her heel, “This way. We’ve got work to do.” She said, and began the long walk back to her mountain home.

When Sadrahan returned to his cavern, he found the young demon boy where his mother said he would be. Assamo, now that he had a few meals under his belt, was starting to look better, his red cheeks regained their color and his eyes had a luster growing in them that was previously lacking. He had his mother’s features quite evident, the high, fine cheekbones, and slender face were more evident than before. He wasn’t overly tall, but then that too seemed to be a trait of his mother, though what happened to his father was something Sadrahan wasn’t prepared to quite ask, his solid looking body didn’t seem to match his mother’s frame.

Assamo straightened up when Sadrahan approached the stone vessel that served as his daughter’s bassinet. “Your daughter is precious, Lord Sadrahan.” He said and bowed his head.

Sadrahan’s eyes lit up, “She takes more after her mother, lucky her.” He said and reached down to pick her up, “When did she last eat?”

“Before my mother left, she nursed Lamashi herself.” Assamo said, “Sarthas said he was worried about the available supply of goat blood, so-”

Sadrahan waved the explanation aside as she rocked the barely wakeful infant, “It’s fine, I hadn’t thought to ask something like that out of her, I didn’t even know she could do it, but I am grateful she did.”

“She said it was the least she could do for the man who fed her and her son. That’s how my mother is. She always returns what is given to her.” Assamo said, a note of pride was in his every word when he spoke about her.

“I’m sure. Now could you have Sarthas come see me, if he’s worried about our supplies then we have to do something about that.” Sadrahan said and went to sit on a stone outcropping at the wall.

“Ah- Of course!” Assamo answered, turned, and ran. As he did so, Sadrahan noticed the way his shirt was shredded in the back, and the brutal burns where his wings should have emerged.

‘It’s amazing she escaped captivity, carrying him like that, what a nightmare, village burned and then… and he’s so young, he’d probably barely even flown before. Now he never will again.’ Sadrahan shook his head in pity, and another thought came to mind. ‘The clothing we have is so ruined… we need to put people to making some before winter. If we can get enough sheep and goats… I can only hope the other villages listen to our warnings…’ Sadrahan’s worries caused his heart to pound as well as ache, and it left him lost in thought while he bounced his daughter in his arms and focused his eyes on her face.

The dim green glow of the cavern cast a radiant hue over her face, and over the rest of what he was starting to think of as his ‘Inner sanctum’ it was more comfortable within, the echo of little drops of water endlessly falling created a steady noise that Lamashi fell asleep to quite easily. “I know I should have a house out there, though this would make a better room, if only there were the time to work with it a little.”

Sarthas interrupted his idle utterance, a bundle of red leaves secured to his belt and one in hand ready to scrawl notes with, he said, “We’ll get on that as soon as we’re able, My Lord.”

‘Get on what?’ Sadrahan wanted to ask, but before he could, Sarthas asked him…

“Do you have something in mind for the food supply problem, Lord Sadrahan?” Sarthas asked, “I’m eager to hear your thoughts.”

“Ah, get more. Lots more.” Sadrahan answered, “There are a lot of goats out here, and they’re not really afraid of us, like they’ve never seen demons before. Plus they eat almost anything.”

“So we should send out some people to gather as many as we can and build pens for them and set a few people to take care of them so that we have milk, cheese, meat, and furs?” Sarthas asked and was rapidly ticking white fluid scrawls on his loose leaf.

“Yes, that.” Sadrahan said with a click of his thumb and foreclaws together.

“Wise, your majesty. Should I also make sure that we reserve a few for blood harvesting? I know it has its drawbacks, but we may need the extra resource.” Sarthas asked and tapped his white tipped claw against the leaf, ready to take his Lord’s command as if it came from a god.

“If we have the skins, we might as well use them, but we should get more bears and deer, to make enough skins and ropes. Then there’s clothing, that’s bad right now.” Sadrahan said and began absently stroking his daughter’s hair.

“My village had a fertility rite where all those of age went naked on the first day of winter, it… encouraged families to form and to have children, if it is your wish we can apply that rite here. I understand your concern about having enough people to do all the work, but I don’t know how the others would respond to such an unusual order…” Sarthas didn’t yet write the note, and Sadrahan coughed hard into his hand while he tried to compose himself.

“I meant we lack good clothing, not that we should remove what we have!” He said, leaning forward and looming over Sarthas, “Please do not write that down!”

Sarthas drew his finger conspicuously away from the leaf. “Of… of course not. I understand, until we have a steady food supply we shouldn’t encourage that kind of thing. And ah, yes I have seen the issue with our clothing, burned, ripped, some are little better than rags, we can do better.”

“Do we have anyone who knows about smithing, making metal tools of any kind?” Sadrahan asked, “We’ll need to make those ourselves, we can’t count on the humans and merchants will be a long time before they come this way again, if they do at all.” Sadrahan asked, and Sarthas cleared his throat with discomfort.

“Not… not exactly. Almost everybody was just a farmer, a hunter, and a few were cobblers or made clothes, we have only one who learned anything about smithing.” Sarthas answered and then added, “However, there are others who might be able to help.”

“Humans?” Sadrahan hissed and clutched his daughter closer to his chest.

“No, another race, dwarves. The rings used for trade, they are usually the ones who make them. There was a village of them a day’s flight from my former home. So, they are far, but if we send one to go to them, maybe we could ask a dwarf to come and teach?” Sarthas suggested.

“Ask for someone who is healthy enough, and send them right away…” Sadrahan rubbed one hand over his horns, “So many jobs to do, we’re stretched so thin.”

“I’m sure you will find a solution, Lord Sadrahan.” Sarthas said with a little knowing smile on his face as if he were privy to some secret.

‘I want to ask the meaning of that smile but… something tells me it will just give me a headache.’ Sadrahan told himself and nodded with pretend agreement, “Now excuse me, I need to spend more time with Lamashi.”

Sarthas immediate answer was, “Yes, of course. I will take care of everything I can and organize everybody into teams and get to work as fast as possible, before the others arrive.”

The fact that it was left in Sarthas’s hands left Sadrahan’s mind at ease, the constant weight of decisions and the seemingly random conclusions people around him came to about his every utterance had begun to wear on his nerves. Alone with Lamashi, he could simply look at her, remember what he wanted, and forget what he wanted, and for day after day as the work went on, that was a breather he deeply savored. Liln’s son attended to him as a messenger, allowing him to remain more withdrawn than he might have otherwise been while long homes rose, trees fell, and their herds increased.

Until Assamo came running into the cavern and his voice reverberated off the walls, “My mother is back! My mother is back, and she brought something with her!”

“Tools?” Sadrahan asked and placed his infant into the stone bassinet. “We need lots of those.” He said, ‘I’m probably getting my hopes up about that, if they’d diverted to an abandoned village it would take a lot longer to get back here.’

“Yes!” Assamo’s grin spread from ear to ear and he stumbled over his feet and fell forward, stopping in a crouch on one knee.

“And humans! Human prisoners! Bunches of them!” Assamo exclaimed with a vindictive, even savage smile spread over his face, teeth bared and the corners of his lips ticking back and forth while his clawed fingers twitched with anticipation.

‘Humans?!’ Sadrahan kept the cry of shock from his mouth and felt his legs go weak, he put a hand on Assamo’s head and said only a whispered, “Well done. Well done. Just take me to where they are, I have to see…”

And a beaming Assamo rose to his feet, the sudden ‘affectionate touch’ of the praising hand on his head was the first real warmth he felt from an adult other than his mother, and to get it from the Lord who rescued them. ‘He must approve of that gesture, I did it by accident but… clearly that is what he wants, it makes sense… I’ll do more of that from now on.’

He then shot to his feet and hastened to the exit with Sadrahan following hot on his heels and out into the light of day.