Page 72 of As Above, So Below

Instead of reaping souls, I’m collecting eggs.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

I can hear the words in Vaelyn’s voice.

Any other demon would feel insulted considering the prestige of my recently vacated role as a Death Bringer. But the truth is, I’m happy to be collecting eggs. No one dies collecting eggs.

I’d found Cora first thing after leaving my room; she was on her way to tend to the hens. And I essentially begged her to let me meet the chickens.

Surprised by my enthusiasm, she agreed.

While I wouldn’t be able to see them running about the garden due to the rain, which is what I had hoped for, I could at least help her collect eggs. She’d introduced me to the hens, pointing them out and listing their names, along with any other little quirks in their personalities.

I don’t remember them all yet, but I will, come time.

Cora laughs from across the small coop as she watches me.

“Ignore her warnings, she won’t peck you,” she says with a dismissing wave of her hand. “Button is all beak, no brain.”

She reaches with seasoned ease under the hen she stands closest to, withdraws two brown-shelled eggs, and places them into the basket hooked over her arm. She makes it look so simple, and the hen seems undisturbed by her invasion.

Searching with my fingers as the hen sits on my hand, I brush against a single egg. Button, the hen, continues to make growling sounds as I carefully remove the egg from the box.

“These hens can’t produce enough eggs for the temple, can they?” I ask as I stretch toward Cora, setting the egg into her basket.

“Oh no,” she laughs with a shake of her head. “These girls aren’t kept for their egg production. That’s just a bonus. No, I asked Artemise if I could keep a small flock the day I became a Priestess. Typically, pets aren’t permitted here at the temple, but I made my argument regarding the benefits of chicken keeping and Artemise granted it. With the stipulation that I care for them, of course.”

I nod as I listen along while she continues.

“I’d always had chickens growing up. When I moved to Ollora, it was my first time living somewhere without them, and I didn’t like it. I missed having them around.”

“Where are you from?” I ask, genuinely curious as I step toward the next hen in the line of nest boxes. The gray feathered creature stares at me with a challenging glint in her red-orange eye.

“A small farming town south of here. Brilire,” she answers, shifting to the next on her left.

I wouldn’t know the town if it smacked me in the face.

After centuries of reaping, I’d visited nearly every town or city Eldoterra has to offer, which unfortunately, caused many of the smaller towns to blend together into an amorphous memory.

Reaching toward the gray hen, her head streaks out faster than lightning and she pecks the back of my hand.

Hard.

I yank my hand away, rubbing the sore on my pant leg, a string of Malbolge curses flying from my lips.

Cora begins laughing.

“Darla, unlike Button, will peck.” She turns back to the hen before her, again demonstrating how easy the task is.

How easy this taskshouldbe.

“What made you leave Brilire?” I’m more than curious now.

If I’m going to be spending time with these mortals, I should know things about them.

That means asking questions.

Right?