Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) (67 page)

Therefore, Exador surmised, the demon must be acting as its own operative, looking for the book.  He could certainly understand that.  The question thus remained, where was that damned girl and the book?  He was tapping his foot impatiently as he thought.  Suddenly he noticed Yrbling babbling something at his feet.  He frowned.

"Yrbling.  Get your wings back to the Abyss and fully regenerate.  You're no good to me in this state you moron. When you've got yourself back together, contact me through the usual channels. I'll have a new assignment for you.  I think I need someone bigger down here from now on."  Exador turned and left the room, the door opening and closing behind him.

Yrbling stared after his departing master. He was not sure whether to believe his good luck, or worry that it was part of a more elaborate punishment on Exador's part.   Either way, for the moment he was still alive.  That was enough.

Edwyrd cursed to himself.  Tizzy had been right, there were demons all over. 
He was able to get a lot more practice in changing just his eyes today in order to search for demons.  It took a great deal of concentration but like holding the Edwyrd form itself, practice made it easier.  They'd retraced the corridors and exactly as Tizzy had told them, there were glowing lights visible only to his demon sight.  Concentrating on the spots of light for a few moments allowed him to make out the outlines of demons.  All of various shapes and sizes, but none very big.  A few of the glowing lights actually had no outline or form; these however were also visible to his Edwyrd sight as dark shadowy spots in corners.  Tizzy informed him that these were shadows, amorphous bodiless demons.

They'd gone through several dozen corridors, he and Gastrop
é counting well over a hundred demons in about two hours.  Gastropé could apparently do something so that he could see invisible objects also.  However, it seemed to take Gastrope' about as much effort as it did Edwyrd to do so.  They'd gone to dinner and peered around the dining hall cautiously, making sure they were far away from the ever present demons.  Even so, they had to sit in the very center of the dining room to avoid the demons in the room.

"So what do we do?"  Edwyrd asked Gastrop
é.  Gastropé just shrugged, frowning, as he sipped more stew from his spoon.  Edwyrd pretended to eat.  He was worried that with all these demons around, one would spot him for what he was and tell whomever they worked for.

"I don't know."  Gastrop
é told Edwyrd looking helplessly at his dinner companion.  "Tizzy pointed out the second and thirds also.  Those really make me nervous."  Certain areas in the lower regions seemed to have more powerful demons as well as the little ones everywhere.  There weren't many, they'd only encountered about four threes and a dozen or so twos.  Nonetheless, Edwyrd was pretty sure that if the general populous knew there would be panic.  "I suspect we should tell someone."

"Who?" Edwyrd asked him.

"I don't know.  Maelen certainly, but that won't do anything to get rid of them.  We could tell Lenamare, but I really don't trust him."

"You either, huh?"  Edwyrd said.

"Yeah, I guess that leaves Damien."  Gastrope' shrugged, unsure if it was a good idea.  Edwyrd wasn't sure either.  They didn't know this Damien, but he was a council member that wasn’t Lenamare, Exador or Jehenna.  The only other council members they knew of.  The only problem would be if the demons were Damien's.  He might not appreciate having them noticed.

"Well," Edwyrd began, "he is the closest thing we know to a local authority
that we even remotely trust.  This does seem like one of those things the people in charge should be aware of."  Gastropé just nodded.

The question it
seemed was to be taken out of their hands.  They had gone to see the wizard Damien, but no one had answered their knock.  "Apparently not in.  I guess we'll have to think of something else," Gastropé stated.  They headed back to their quarters, somewhat relieved to have the need of acting taken out of their hands.

Several minutes later as they were crossing the main foyer of the palace to get to the other side where their quarters
were; the question was put back in their hands.  Even as they reached the middle of the large courtroom, Damien came striding through the front doors of the palace.  The golden haired wizard was looking rather grim.  "Well?"  Edwyrd looked at Gastropé.  Gastropé just gestured for Edwyrd to precede him to the wizard.

"Damien." Edwyrd called as they approached the wizard.  For a
moment, the wizard appeared lost in thought, but then he noted the two young men approaching him.  He nodded to them grimly as they approached him.  "Councilor, may we have a word with you?"  Edwyrd asked.

Damien sighed, "I'm a little preoccupied at the moment
; could it wait until tomorrow?"

Edwyrd thought for a moment, "I suspect it would be better if you knew sooner than later."

"Knew? Knew what?"  Damien looked wearily and suspiciously at Edwyrd.

"I think we better go
someplace private." Edwyrd told him, "and secure from prying ears."  Damien just raised his eyebrows and motioned the two to follow him back to his quarters.

Damien ushered them into his main room after unlocking the door with a wave of his hand.  "Be seated," he told them as he close
d the door behind them.  Edwyrd looked around then went to sit on a couch nearby, Gastropé' took a chair to his left.  Damien hung his cloak on a large cloak rack then moved to a small bar.  "Can I offer you anything to drink?"  He asked as he poured himself some golden liquid.  Edwyrd thanked him, but refused, Gastropé likewise.

"So," Damien said sitting down on the divan opposite Edwyrd, "what do I need to know that can't wait until morning
?" 

Edwyrd cleared his thro
at and looked to Gastropé.  Gastropé simply nodded at him to speak.  "I'm unfamiliar with Freehold, perhaps it's just standard practice, but in the event you were unaware, we thought it best to inform you."  Edwyrd paused; Damien just looked at him to continue. "Well, there seems, in my opinion to be a rather high number of demons wandering around the palace.  Perhaps you're aware of this and it is no cause for alarm, but..."

Damien started and shook his head, looking as if he'd been splashed by cold water.  "What precisely do you mean by a large number?"

Gastropé answered this time.  "Several hundred at the very least, one in every corridor and public room we've been in."  Damien rubbed his forehead resting his elbow on his knee and his head in his hand. 

"You're sure?"  Damien asked.

"No question, we both have observed them, as has our...demon."  Edwyrd told him.

"Well," Damien looked up, smiling rather grimly.  "You're the second group of people to inform me of this today."  He sighed and put down his drink.  "I went out to negotiate with the Rod, which is now camped outside the gates of the city.  Their leaders insisted that they
couldn't trust us to negotiate with them when we'd obviously been overrun by demons.  When I asked what they meant, they told me much the same thing."  Damien shook his head in consternation.

"I haven't noticed them, but then I haven't thought to look for them."  Damien said.  He looked around the room, as if searching for demons.

"There are none in here, I checked as we entered."  Gastropé told him.  "At least none that we can detect."  Edwyrd nodded his agreement.  Damien nodded.

"Antefalken!"  Damien called.  Edwyrd nearly jumped when he heard the demon's name called.  He didn't know what Damien meant
by the shout.  His question was shortly answered however as the little demon strolled into the room from an open doorway adjacent to the garden windows.

"Gentlemen," Damien said, "allow me to introduce my bard, Antefalken."  He waved an introductory hand to the little demon.  Antefalken bowed slightly in acknowledgement.  Edwyrd would have started sweating if he knew how. 
Surely, the little demon would recognize him?

"Greetings
, sirs."  Antefalken said as he hopped up onto the back of a chair to Edwyrd's right.   Damien looked to his demon.

"Can you confirm this?"  Damien asked.

"Well, I generally don't go about the palace much, and when I do, I don't usually make the effort to scan.  At least not recently.  However, I will certainly go check.  As I'm sure you will also."  Damien just nodded, obviously worried.

"So this is not standard practice for the council?"  Edwyrd asked.

Damien shook his head.  "No.  Certainly not.  We have some big egos on the council but no one has ever been quite that--irrational--to date."

Antefalken just looked at Damien for a few moments. "The real question, assuming they are there," he looked to Gastrop
é and Edwyrd, "is who's are they?"

"Well..." Damien said, "if you believe the Rod, they belong to a group of archdemons who've taken over the city."  Edwyrd and Gastrop
é shook their heads and just looked at each other in puzzlement.

"What?"  Antefalken said.

"Well, according to Sir Talarius," he looked Antefalken squarely in the eyes, "there are at least three archdemons in the palace, along with one or more fourth order demons."

"You've got to be kidding."  Antefalken stated.

Gastropé coughed, "Archdemons?  Are they serious?"  Edwyrd felt the same way.  They knew why the Rod was here, and it had nothing to do with archdemons.  At least he didn't think it did.

"They
are deadly serious.  Moreover, from what I know of Sir Talarius' and his reputation, he does not lie about such things.  They, at least, believe this."  Damien told them.

"You have a point.  I've never met Talarius, but I've heard stories from demons who've been beaten by him.  He
has also permanently slain more than a few demons.  He's the epitome of the goody two shoes mentality. " Antefalken agreed.  "Unfortunately, if you also believe what I've heard, he's generally not wrong on such matters."

Damien put his head in both hands.  "I had that suspicion."

Gastropé didn't seem to be breathing well, the young wizard was his favorite shade of pale, Edwyrd noted.  "Well," Gastropé said weakly, "this would certainly confirm what Lenamare was saying about archdemons."

"And then some," Antefalken added.  "Shall we go for a stroll?"  Antefalken looked to Damien, who just nodded and stood up slowly. 

~

Maelen entered the large foyer of the palace.  He'd spent the
each of the last few days renewing his contacts in the city.   Today, at the local Seer's School, he taken the time to contact Johen and bring him up to date on the current affairs.  Johen had concurred on almost all points Maelen raised.  He'd also confirmed that the sorcerer, Elrose was one of Lenamare’s masters and thus the two assumed he should be coming to Freehold along with the rest of the school.  Given the current situation, Johen had also suggested arranging for some support.  Maelen had told him that it wouldn't be necessary for now, but Johen should begin preparations.

Deciding that he was going to be here for a while, he
felt it best to get a lay of the land, Maelen took a stroll around the palace.  For this pass, he wouldn't try seeing anything, just familiarize himself with the palace.  He'd wandered for about half an hour in an upper corridor when two voices arguing took him by surprise.  Almost out of habit, he stepped into the shadows in a nearby corner and allowed himself to blend in to the shadow itself.  He wasn't sure what prompted him to do so, it just felt right.  If there was something he'd learned about prescience in the many years he'd been dealing with it: if something felt right, do it.

It didn't take long for him to see what had prompted him to do so.  Two large men were coming down the corridor in heated debate.  They were arguing in some language Maelen didn't immediately recognize, but given time he
could figure out.  As he got a good look at the two men, deciphering the language became less important.

He didn't actually recognize either.  One man, the one on the right appeared to be something of a wizard.  He was wearing something like long red robes, yet with a
breastplate and other armor over the robes, the robes split for horseback riding.  The man had grey hair and a beard, streaked with white.  He was certainly a commanding presence, standing just over six feet tall.   However, he paled in comparison to his companion.

His companion was nearly a giant, almost a foot taller than
the robed man. His almost shoulder length black hair was swept back over his ears and held in place by a leather strap.  He was obviously a warrior of some form, of apparently incredible strength.  He appeared to be in his mid to early thirties.  None of this mattered however; none of this was what took Maelen's breath.

What caused his heart to crawl up his throat was the uniform the man was wearing.  A black
outfit made of leather straps.  Trimmed in purple and gold, with a short light purple silk cloak hanging from black metal shoulder pads.  Maelen had never actually seen this uniform before.  Not with his eyes.  Nonetheless, like any good animage student of history, he knew the uniform.

There had only been one group of people to wear that uniform in all of history.  While very few would recognize the uniform
; legends still persisted to frighten children.  Most children in Astlan still quaked at the stories of the Anilords and their feared storm troops, the Time Warriors.  Between the use of the Time Warriors and the dreaded Mind Reavers, the Anilords had conquered and ruled most of the world, two thousand years ago.

Until this moment, Maelen, like all of his compatriots
, was convinced all traces of the Anilords had been destroyed.  Wiped clean after the great Battle of Enfiel.  Suppressed and mythologized by the victors.  How could one have survived?  More precisely, how could the tradition have continued, since obviously no one could have lived that long, not even a Time Warrior.  Could a secret band of Time Warriors still exist?

Lost in his thoughts, Maelen allowed the two to pass almost out of sight in the other direction.  He'd completely forgotten to try and translate what they were saying.  He'd been taken more completely by surprise than he had been in two decades.  He tried vainly to catch one last bit of their conversation.  He could just barely make out a few more words as they faded in the distance.  He still hadn't translated them, but he swor
e his ears were playing tricks on him.  One of the few words he thought he had heard, was Ramses.