Reborn: War's Nightmare by D. W. Jackson Page A

found that the smallest of the demons currently was pulling commander Herse by his ear forcing the much taller demon to bend down. Seeing the scene Ash couldn’t help but be reminded of thinking of a small child being yelled at by his mother.
    “Why in the nine hells didn’t you say something? If the Maoh was here you don’t just politely try to get my attention. What are you going to do if the Maoh got annoyed and went back to his own camp? Do you fools ever think?”
    “My lord,” Herse called out when he noticed Ash had reentered the tent.
    Twisting her hand, making Herse grimace again, the small woman let go of her hold on his ear and turned bowing deeply toward Ash. “Lord Ash, I must apologize. We were unaware that you had graced us with your presence earlier. I had feared that you left in anger. If there is anything I can do to alleviate this disgrace you only have to speak it.”
    Ash floated a warm smile while looking around the room until he noticed the sub-commander who had asked him to have the food sent over. The demon’s face had lost most of its color and looked almost as white as a sheet. Giving the demon commander a light smile before turning his attention back to the woman who was still bowing. “You can rise,” Ash said, his voice filled with warmth. “I just thought that you might wish to have your dinner within the tent since it did not seem like you would be able to finish your discussion before the sun fell.”
    “That is most gracious of you my lord,” the woman said, giving Ash a motherly smile. Looking at her, Ash would think that she was only in her mid-twenties, but Ash had long learned that it was almost impossible to judge the age of a demon merely from a look. There were demons that aged like humans, but for them it took a hundred years for them to age a year. At the same time there were demons that never age once they reached a certain maturity. Ash didn’t know if he would consider such a thing a curse or a blessing. Eternal youth sounded nice, but some of those demons never seemed to get past the age of what most would consider adolescence. Ash wouldn’t mind to be stuck in the body of a twenty year old, but being stuck in the body of a teenager didn’t sound that pleasant.
    “I always believed that no matter what status one holds that they should limit themselves to doing only what they can while trying to learn what they do not,” Ash said lightly. “It was easy for me to see that all of you are much more knowledgeable about war then I am so there was no sense in me interrupting and made much more sense to do what little I could to help.”
    The seemingly young female demon commander let out a loud laugh but it quickly came to a halt and her face took on an ice cold look that seemed like it could pierce though a person’s soul. “Did you hear that? The Maoh even with his status, who could stand above all of us, has instead lowered himself to a position of a servant. If any of you had half the brains and forethought of the young Lord then this old lady could die in peace. Instead most of you take your position for granted. Maybe I should follow the Lord’s example and make all of you work as servants for a few hundred years to train you in humility a bit more?”
    “General Fay, I think you are being a bit harsh. We are not nearly as bad as that,” one of the sub-commanders said, his shoulders dropping slightly.
    “Is that so Little Wren,” the general said with a heavy glare. “Was it not you just two days ago who had a fit because one of the soldiers brought his tent too close to your own so you couldn’t put up your prided canopy and hammock?”
    Seeing the much smaller demon lecturing the others who were all much larger, Ash couldn’t help but break into a fit of laughter. Holding his stomach, Ash looked up to find everyone looking at him. Even general Fay looked slightly stunned at Ash’s outbreak of laughter. “Sorry…Sorry you just reminded me of a woman