Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) (70 page)

Damien snorted, "If I had any idea of what to do without them, I would.  Unfortunately, I seem to be just as up in the air as everyone else.  I hate being a spectator in my own home as unknown
combatants wage war in my kitchen."  Both were quiet for a while as Damien gazed out the window.  "Do you suppose this Tom fellow is behind it all?  After all he is certainly linked to Lenamare, and Lenamare is linked to the whole problem.  These could be his demons, or perhaps his demons at Lenamare's call."

"I really just don't know."  Antefalken shrugged.  "No one really knows who this Tom is in the Abyss.  I've checked a couple other leads.  I've only talked with him the one time."

"Any word on archdemons playing big chess games?"  Damien asked.

"I can go dig some more now that we are fairly sure we have three involved.  I can at least look for threesomes that seem to be up to no good.  Otherwise, just the stuff I heard the first time.  The rumored plans for an overthrow of the demon princes by a cabal of archdemons.  Standard stuff, doesn't mean much."  Antefalken shrugged.

"Standard stuff, huh?"  Damien asked, apparently preoccupied with something outside the window.

"Standard stuff, just talk.  It's not like anyone has that kind of power.  None of the archdemons
comes even close.  If they did they'd have long since been destroyed or assimilated."  Antefalken said.

"Well, I know that I certainly wouldn't feel like trying to deal with a demon prince."

"Not without a really big bag of magic tricks, a true name and a hell of a lot of luck."  Antefalken agreed.

Damien chuckled.  "An incredibly big bag.  The luck would mainly be in getting the right name.  I doubt even the demon princes remember their own true names anymore.  Getting the right one would be the trick.  I doubt there's that much luck in the world to go around."

Damien frowned slightly as he peered out the window.  "You know, I'm not sure, but there appears to be a lot more soldiers in the Rod's encampment than there were last night when I left them."

~

"Tolerable, it will do."  Lenamare approved as he looked over Jenn's shoulder.  "Next time try to be a little cleaner in your cuts though."  Lenamare stood up and looked at his other assistants.  Jenn was carving symbols into small amber spheres.  Each student was busy preparing another component for Lenamare's next major effort.

He had to admit to himself, that having students around was
occasionally useful.  It kept him and Jehenna from having to do a lot of tedious work.  Assuming, of course, that the students did it correctly.  It was for this that Lenamare still had to supervise them closely; nonetheless, it was still faster this way.  As he was stepping over to Bromagni, Jehenna entered the room through the door on the east wall.

"Well?" she asked.

"Everything is going well.  With good timing and organization, we should be able to proceed tomorrow evening with the spell."  Lenamare told her.

Jehenna nodded.  "Good.  It will be about time.  Assuming it works."

Lenamare twisted his mouth in a slight frown.  "It had better work.  We haven't got much more time.   I did some counting.  There are more Rod members today then last night.  Where they came from isn't clear, but their numbers seem to be growing."

"Growing?"  Jehenna asked.

"Growing.  That means that they feel that the situation is escalating and they need more manpower."  Lenamare failed to notice Jenn's frown of apprehension, or at least ignored it.

"You think the archdemon is preparing to move?"  Jehenna asked.

"Possibly.  Whatever the case, we can't keep an archdemon and Exador in the dark forever about the book's location.  We have to open it.  Use the information."

"Use it wisely.  We don't want to rush and get ourselves killed in the process."

"Naturally.  Nothing shall be done without a plan and a direct purpose."

~

Hortwell surveyed the countryside below him, over the edge of the rug.  Very nice actually.  Zilquar's invisibility spell was interesting.  It made the two of them, as well as Zargoffelstan flying above the carpet and their flying carpet invisible to the outside world, yet the two of them could see each other and the carpet underneath them.  The two wizards had decided to go try a little stealthy reconnaissance.  They were flying both invisible and close to the tree level.  Exador still had wizards with his army.  They did not want to risk being shot down.

As they came over the last rise and in sight of the crater,
Hortwell’s mouth dropped in surprise.  Apparently, they had had no need for invisibility.  There was nothing there.  Obviously no castle, but no army either.  The little peninsula that had contained the remnants of Exador's army was empty.  No tents, no soldiers, no sign of the army.  Where had they gone?

Zilquar and Hortwell exchanged glances.  This was not good.  From the sketchy reports they'd received via normal scouts, the army had been there last night.  They were gone now.  Hortwell scanned the campsite with his wizard's sight.  Nothing.  No magic, no spells, nothing, the army was really gone, not invisible.  Where had they gone?  Zilquar directed the carpet in a low level path around the castle site. 

As far as either wizards could tell, there was no appearance of a large migration of horses or men from the site.  One would have expected some large path of tracks.  But there was none.  Just the normal tracks that one would expect around a camp that had been there for a couple weeks.  Hortwell was puzzled.  He would certainly have to report this to Lenamare.

Lenamare would not be pleased.  Hortwell also supposed they'd best prepare to move out themselves.  He was pretty certain Lenamare would want them with him in Freehold.  Especially if a battle was coming.  Once again, Hortwell just shook his head in bemusement.

~

"Any sign of him?"  Edwyrd asked Maelen as the man seemed to wake from his trance.

"Not yet.  I've searched the upper levels of the castle and am working my way downward.  I've certainly encountered a lot of demons though.  You were right on that account.  I don't like the looks of this.  Too many demons and Rupert missing, plus other things."

"Other things?"  Edwyrd asked.

"Yes.  Other, disturbing things."  Maelen frowned.

"What other  things
?" Edwyrd asked.  Maelen looked around as if to make sure no one was within listening distance.  There was no one.  He and Edwyrd were in Edwyrd's room.  Gastropé had gone off with Tizzy some place.  Hunting more demons, apparently.

"I really shouldn't say.  I don't want to cause any unwanted and possibly unfounded concern."

"You don't want to cause any possibly unfounded concern?  We are trapped in a demon infested palace with two warring wizards, surrounded by the Rod of Tiernon that wants to hang us, Rupert is lost and missing somewhere in the midst of this, and you don't want to cause anymore unfounded concern?  Don't worry."

"Well, last night I wandered across a gentleman in a disturbing uniform.  I hope it is just someone trying to pull some sort of hoax, especially given the name I heard mentioned with this uniform."

"You found someone in a disturbing uniform?  Personally, at this moment, I find the Rod's uniforms disturbing.  What exactly did you see?"  Edwyrd was impatient.  He was getting very concerned for Rupert's safety and he didn't feel like beating around the bush.

Maelen frowned again, very grim this time.  "The uniform was that of a Time Warrior."  Edwyrd just looked at him straight in the eye, waiting for him to continue.  "The name that I overheard with the person in the uniform was Ramses.  As in Ramses the Damned."

Edwyrd blinked.  This really didn't make much sense.  "You mean like the Mummy?"

"The mummy?"  Now it was Maelen's turn to be confused.  "Well, yes he was noted for use of mumm
ies to destroy his enemies.   But really he was known as the Anilord in charge of the Time Warriors."

Edwyrd had no idea what Maelen was talking about.  The only Ramses he knew about had been a pharaoh in ancient Egypt.  Supposedly cursed with immortality and entombed as a mummy in the desert.  "Ramses the Immortal?  Cursed to wander the face of the globe, undying, for eternity?  Is this the Ramses you mean?"

Maelen was quiet, staring at Edwyrd for a moment.  Edwyrd wondered if he'd said something really stupid, something that everyone knew about, but him.  Finally Maelen blinked.  "You obviously know something about this gentleman that I do not.  Given that, if this really were Ramses the Damned, he'd be well over a thousand years old; calling him an immortal would certainly not be out of the question."

Edwyrd shrugged.  "All I know is that, Ramses II, known variously as Ramses the Great, Ramses the Immortal, and Ramses the Damned was a pharaoh in Egypt three thousand years ago.  Supposedly he was cursed for some reason, and doomed to wander the world for all eternity."  Edwyrd didn't add that all of this had happened in a different world.  If it was Ra
mses, he was wandering the wrong world.

"Egypt?  I've never heard of such a place.  I am fairly familiar with history and I recall no such land."  Maelen looked puzzled.  Edwyrd just shrugged, it had been stupid to bring it up, but he'd opened his mouth without thinking.  He'd just carried it through.  Actually, it was really pointless at this point for finding Rupert. 
While Ramses had been a real person, he knew the whole mummy thing was just the stuff of grade B movies.  It was highly doubtful that a human from Earth would be wandering around Astlan, three thousand years later.

Tom paused at that one.  It wasn't completely impossible.  He was from Earth, and as had been pointed out to him on multiple occasions, demons were immortal.  It would not be inconceivable that he, Tom, would be wandering Astlan three thousand years in the future.  Suddenly he got a real shiver down his spine.  He'd never really taken that immortality thing much beyond casual face value.  The thought, however, that he, Tom, might actually still be alive in three thousand years sent goose bumps running all over Edwyrd's body.  The meaning of the word immortal hadn't really sunk in until that moment.  Someone a couple hundred years old was easy enough to imagine, but three thousand?  It almost seemed
unimaginable.

Maelen had seen somebody claiming to be Ramses the Damned though.  Whatever the case, Egypt's Ramses or not, Maelen said the man should be over a thousand years old.  It didn't seem likely that humans lived that long on Astlan.  True, Maelen was
very spritely for his age, but he wasn't the inconceivably old of a true immortal. 

A true immortal, thousands of years old, would need to be a demon, or an incredibly powerful wizard or something.  If a demon, then surely such a demon would have gotten good enough to be a big shot.  Especially if he really had already been a major power in Astlan, or in Egypt.  If a demon
then he would probably be an archdemon.  If one believed what Lenamare said, an archdemon was on his way, possibly already here.  Believing the Rod meant there were several unaccounted for archdemons already in the palace.

Edwyrd didn't like the way his thoughts were going at all.  He had to let them out though.  Maelen seemed about the most trustworthy person he could find for such information.  "Maelen," Edwyrd said slowly.  Maelen looked up at him, curious by the sudden change in tone of voice. 

"What if," Edwyrd paused for a second, getting his thoughts in order. "What if Ramses the Damned is literally that?"

"What do you mean?"  Maelen asked shaking his head.

"I mean, what if he really is damned, so to speak.  What if he's a demon?  More specifically what if he's one of the archdemons that are supposed to be hanging around here?  Wouldn't that explain how he could be over a thousand years old?"

Maelen said nothing.  He just stared at Edwyrd.  He stared for a very long time.  Eventually, Edwyrd shrugged.  "It makes some sense if you think of it, doesn't it?"

Maelen still said nothing for a moment.  Then he bowed his head.  "It makes very, very, good sense.  I'm just trying to figure out why it's not plausible. It can't be.  I hope it's not. I really don't want to contemplate that this fellow really is Ramses the Damned, Ramses the Anilord, the Time Warrior.  I don't want to think that that historical monster could actually be an archdemon.  It makes so much sense that I don't even want to conceive of it."

Maelen shook his head. He continued, "If, if this man really is Ramses the Damned and is an archdemon, then things are bad.  I know it looked that way before, but I just didn't comprehend exactly how bad. 

"We know that something is definitely up.  The problem is: we don't know what."  Maelen raised his hands above his head.  "We have to know what is in that damn book of Lenamare's.  The whole thing must revolve around that.  I curse now that we gave it back to him.  That's what Exador wants, that's what Lenamare says the archdemons want.  The question is: what the Abyss is in the damn book?!"   Maelen was looking extremely frustrated.  Edwyrd hadn't seen the man this upset before.  "We are sitting on the bull's eye of something much more explosive than that little incident at Lenamare's school.  I'd really like to know who is shooting what arrows before we all get killed."

~

Rupert was eating lunch.  It was a very good lunch for that matter.  Nothing fancy, but incredibly tasty trail rations for soldiers who appeared to be about to lay siege to a city.  Rupert had gone out earlier for a small stroll.  No one had stopped him, but one of the soldiers had followed him at a discreet but obvious distance.  So far, the Rod hadn't impeded traffic flow in and out of the city.  At least not directly.  It appeared that several merchants and individuals would see the Rod near the city and decide that entering the city would not be such a good idea, and skirted around it.