A Shadow Demon's work was never done. Make the Boss happy, fly out to the front of the orc army, supervize the pillage of the nearby towns, make the Boss happy, order the immediate seizure of Yarfell, stroke the Boss's ego, make it look like these worthless, pig faced creatures could actually accomplish something, and make the Boss happy.Admittedly, Shadow Demon was exaggerating to himself on two points. One, though the orcs lacked finesse, they could accomplish a lot just through the sheer mass of their ten-thousand strong number. Two, nothing made the Boss "happy." Shadow Demon considered it to be a personal victory if Venger was simply "not in a sour mood" by the end of the day.
Unfortunately, as Shadow Demon looked up at a black speck growing ever closer in the late afternoon sky, he realized that this was just not going to be one of those fortunate days. "Sour mood" was the understatement of the century.
"WHY IS MY ARMY NOT MOBILIZED AND MARCHING ON YARFELL?!?" Venger roared so furiously that all activity in the camp came to a terrified, dead stop. No one moved. Twenty-thousand piglike eyes widened as they stared in Venger's direction.
"Th-they are, Master," Shadow Demon tried to explain. "I have given the order to begin the march as soon as camp is struck. They are given orders to march quick-time and will reach Yarfell in about a day and a half."
Venger fumed for a moment, then muttered, "Very well. But if the army is not marching in ten minutes, I will incinerate every tenth orc, as a, shall we say, example to the others of what dawdling results in."
"Of course, Master," Shadow Demon hastily agreed, all the while beginning to wonder why Venger's Nightmare seemed to really want to get out from under him. The creature was too cautious to actually try to get away, but something was clearly unsettling it. Nervously, the animal pawed the ground and tossed its head, straining with itself to stay put, clearly knowing that Venger's wrath was far more terrible than whatever was upsetting it.
Then, Shadow Demon caught a faint inkling of what was bothering the Nightmare, and oddly, it only seemed to worsen as Shadow Demon drifted closer to the seething Venger.
Finally, working up his courage, Shadow Demon asked timidly, "Master? I...I believe I smell an angry skunk in the area..."
"SILENCE, YOU FOOL!!" Venger roared. Shadow Demon just barely managed to dodge the white-hot fireball that was hurled at him.
