Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) (76 page)

Jenn finished the last chalk markings on the floor
, the rose-colored light pouring through the tower window from the setting sun outside glinting off the bits of chalk dust still floating in the air.  Jenn had slept most of the day through, and when she'd finally gotten up and went to get some food, she'd been promptly summoned to the workroom.  Apparently, Lenamare and Jehenna were finally ready to make another attempt at opening the book.

She was still exhausted
; she’d gotten at most a half hour for dinner before being summoned.    She’d joined Gastropé who was eating with Maelen.  She wished she could have said it had been good to catch up with them; unfortunately, that had not been the case.

As if the thought of
multiple armies hiding in the basement wasn’t bad enough; apparently Tisdale had reported and Edwyrd, Gastropé and Maelen had all verified that the entire palace was infested with lower level invisible demons.  They advised her to be circumspect when in public regions. 

Seriously?  Jenn just shook her head.  She was getting sick and tired of demons.  The entire world was literally going to hell.  She wished she’d had more time to ask them the what and why of this, but admittedly they didn’t seem to have too many answers; so it would probably have just been gossiping.  Still, some venting would have been nice.

At least she was going to be busy for the next few hours with the stupid book.  That would take her mind off the demons.  In particular, she was the lead student on this since the other students present and assisting had no real idea what it was they were trying to do. 

Lenamare didn't think the other students needed to know what they were doing and he'd even gone so far as to order Jenn not to talk about it.  She glanced over to where Lenamare was consulting with Zilquar, wondering once again what was in the book that Lenamare found so incredibly important.  Some long lost spell? 

Even as she was musing, horns began to sound from the walls of the city.  Warning horns from the sound of it.  Was the Rod trying to attack the city?  So far they'd just sat outside patiently, not letting people in or out without very close scrutiny. 

"What is it now?"  Lenamare muttered impatiently as he and Zilquar moved to the west window, squinting into the sunset.  "Shit."

"What is it?"  Jehenna asked, getting up from the other side of the room where she'd been correcting some of Bromagni's work.

"What could possess those morons to show up now?"  Lenamare asked himself, ignoring Jehenna for the moment.  "I didn't expect them to come after me so soon after resolving the Exador affair.  I figured their infernal bureaucracy would slow them down enough that I wouldn't have to deal with them yet."

"Oorstemoth?"  Jehenna asked as she walked over to peer out the window.  All the students were staring at the wizards expectantly.  Lenamare simply nodded.  Jenn got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.  "Well, so they proved a little more resourceful in ignoring those false leads you planted."

"Apparently.  Unless Exador managed to point the finger at me after he cleared himself of the charges."  Lenamare turned slightly, shaking his head.  "This is ridiculous though.  An entire Sky Fleet?  For one book removed from Oorstemoth without the proper
permit.  For Krylnar's sake, they haven't even got the first clue in the Abyss what the book is, let alone that it's important.  Not even Exador would be so stupid or rash as to let them find that out, and none of those incompetents that retrieved it for me knew enough to tell them anything, even if they could have."  Lenamare started pacing in the limited space he had.  Jenn thought he seemed unusually distressed.

"Look on the bright side.  As I hear it the Rod and Oorstemoth are not on good terms at the moment, maybe the two groups will fight amongst themselves and we won't have to deal with them."  Jehenna suggested.  Lenamare glanced at her briefly
and gave a brief snort.

“Elrose,
” Lenamare turned to the sorcerer and enchanter who had arrived this afternoon with his wagon train completely intact. “Trisfelt and his students are stuck outside of the army.”  He reached into the pocket of his robe and pulled out his Telemirror.  “His Telemirror is linked to mine, contact him and help him get the students inside the city.  You’ll probably need to Teleport to them and then bring them back in to the city.  Once he’s back, have him come see me as I’ll need his assistance.”

Elrose nodded and took the mirror.  “I’ll take care of it now; I’m going to head to my quarters to make the contact so as not to disturb work here.”

Lenamare sighed.  “I think it’s a bit late for that thanks to my friends outside; but worth the effort.”

~

"So, your friends from Oorstemoth have arrived I see."  Ramses said to Exador as they stood staring out at the fleet of flying ships rapidly approaching the city walls, coming directly out of the sunset.  "As always a rather inspiring sight."  Ramses said as the golden sailed vessels became large enough in the distance that he could actually see figures moving about on the deck.

"I wouldn't exactly call them friends," Exador commented.  "However, they are no longer trying to arrest me for stealing the book from one of their crumbled ruins."

"Rather clever of Lenamare to have let all his agents be captured and then have them magically enchanted to say your name every time they tried to confess his name to the authorities."  Exador just scowled at his colleague.  "It did slow you down a bit."  Exador ignored Ramses.

"At least," Exador finally said, "I may be able to use this to our advantage.  To put more pressure on Lenamare.  Giving him all the more chances to slip up."

~

"More friends of yours, I take it?"  Damien asked Edwyrd and Gastrop
é.  The two just shrugged; neither had any idea what this was about.  They were staring at the arriving ships from the city's west wall.   They had all been in Damien's rooms discussing Ramses, when messengers had arrived to inform the Councilor that an Oorstemothian Sky Fleet was approaching the city, from out of the sunset.  

Damien had immediately
teleported them to the Telechamber in the nearest city wall.  The Telechambers, Damien had explained as they stepped off the platform were special rooms in the guard towers reserved for council members and city officials to teleport into in case of emergencies.  Thus, they were kept clear of people and objects to avoid people teleporting into something accidentally. 

Several
other Councilors had also arrived and were staring at the approaching ships.  "Oh, this is all we need.  The Rod at the gates, demons inside and now Oorstemothians above, and archdemons cavorting in the background.  Does it get any better?"  Councilor Davron asked.

"If you don't stop complaining, it just may."  Trevin D'Vils snapped.  "Well Damien, you
are the resident expert on this mess."  She turned to stare at Damien.  "Do you have any idea of what they want?"

"Maybe.  It could be several things.  Perhaps they've found out about the demon infestation and decided it
was a threat to their sovereignty.  It's really hard to tell what might be irritating them on any given day. "

"Well I can
count twenty-one ships," Davron remarked sourly.  "It only took thirteen to sink the entire Mierken fleet of eighty normal sailing ships twenty years ago." 

The ships had halted their approach and in unison had begun lowering large anchors towards the ground.   From the lead ship a deep and commanding voice rang out, apparently magically amplified to carry
over the distance.  "This is Heron of Treage, Wing Arms Master of the Oorstemothian Fleet, Lord Protectator of Oorstemoth and the Council of Justice, Duly Recognized Agent of High Justice, and Commander of the One-Thousand Four-Hundred and Thirteenth Sky Fleet of Oorstemoth."

"Bermuthian bowl droppings, its Heron himself.  This is really bad."  Davron muttered loudly. 

"I and my fleet present ourselves as the Legal Ambassadorial Representation of Oorstemoth, the duly appointed Commissar of the Hand of Justice and Judicial Committee of Oorstemothian Execution to the city of Freehold and the Councils of Wizardry and Magistrates as set forth in the Treaty of Harmonious Relations between Oorstemoth and The Council States of 1470. 

“
As such, in pursuit of a Legal and Binding Warrant of Forcible Extradition and Necessary Eradication 31234556 which demands that the following individuals:  Edwyrd the Animage, lately of Gizzor Del; Maelen the Seer, known to be of the Free City of  Seren; the Wizard Gastropé, late of the Command of the Mage Exador; Jenn Rean, Journeyman of Lenamare’s Academy of Wizardry; Rupert, Novitiate, also of Lenamare’s Academy of Wizardry and all persons seeking to aid aforementioned fugitives be turned over to this commission for the purposes of summary justice.   Additionally if present we would demand that the wizard Lenamare present himself to our High Council of Inquiry as required by Oorstemothian Warrant of Inquiry I1432179.

A
t this point Gandros stepped forward and raised his staff in his right hand before responding.  "And I am Gandros, Lord Archimage of the Council of Wizards, Sorcerer Supreme of Norelon, Proctor of Freehold and Bhurgermaster of the City of Freehold.  We hear your words, Oorstemoth, and respect your presence.  However, due to the large number of applicants seeking our attention on a variety of pressing matters," he gestured towards the Rod's main encampment, "we must respectfully request time to assess your request and determine whether we have in our custody such persons as you seek."  Gandros' voice was also amplified to carry his words to the awaiting ships.

After a few moments pause, Heron replied in his booming authoritarian voice.  "In recognition of Clause 32:21.56, subsection 42 paragraph 151, line 256, I Heron, duly appointed Oorstemothian Commissar of the Hand of Justice
, admit that your request has legal if not necessarily judicial merit and is provided for under the terms of our treaty.  Thus you are granted, in compliance with said clause, two days, a total of not more than 40 hours, in which to present any of the aforementioned fugitives currently existent within the environs of your legal domain.  We will await such actions at our present location."

Gandros spoke up again.  "We acknowledge your compliance with the terms the treaty, and thank you for your patience and understanding."   He then turned to look at Damien, carefully avoiding looking at either Gastrop
é or Edwyrd.  Speaking at a conversational level, he said, "Well, Councilor Damien, what do you propose that we do now?  These are, after all, your friends they've come asking for."

~

"This is getting out of hand."  Councilor Mien, the Archimage of Garandur stated as the members of the council seated themselves in their seats at the main table in the Council Chambers.  "First the Rod, now the Oorstemothians.  In my day, there weren't so many people foolish enough to lay siege to a town with over ten thousand wizards in it."

"Admittedly, that has always been a significant deterrent in the past."  Trevin d'Vils agreed.

"Well, it isn't now!  So what are we waiting for?  Let's hand them over."  Davron snapped in frustration.

"It's not quite so simple."  Damien told him.

"Oh really?"

"No, after all, the Rod wants them too. What do you think they'll say when we give them over to the Oorstemothians instead?  Also as I've already pointed out,
they are already up to their ears in this Lenamare-Exador thing, which is Council business that is yet to be resolved."

"Then I guess we need to stop sitting on our butts and resolve this Exador-Lenamare thing so we can deal with the other matters."   Trevin stated.

"What about the demons?"  Sier asked.

"We get whoever put them there to get rid of them."  Davron stated.  "We are the Council of
Wizards; we shouldn't have to put up with this kind of nonsense in our own city!"

"And what if
it was the arch-demon?  Are you going to be the one to order it to remove its forces?"  Davron asked sourly.

"Hmmpph.  We don't even know if and or what arch-demon is involved."  Tureledor grumped.

"Actually, we may, or I may...."  Damien said cautiously.  He hated to bring this up but he didn't know anyway around it.

"Really?"  Trevin asked, all the other councilors staring intently at Damien.  "And how do you know this?"

"More importantly, who?"  Davron added.

"Well, my new friends, whom the Rod and
Oorstemothians want, discovered his presence.  Like they did that of the lesser demons in the hall."  Damien tried to add another point in favor of Edwyrd and friends.  "It is looking like it may be Ramses the Damned."

"Ramses the Damned?"  Davron questioned.

"You mean as in the Anilord?"  Tureledor asked; Damien simply nodded.

Alexandros Mien added in a thoughtful tone, "Well there were rumors that the long line of Ramses
’ were all the same person.  That would certainly explain it, if he were a demon.  He was certainly evil enough."

Trevin snapped, "
Just because a wizard or an animage comes from a long line of people with the same name doesn't mean he or she is all the same person.  Look at Exador.  There's been an Exador for the gods know how many thousand years.  Certainly you're not going to suggest Exador, our fellow Councilor, is a demon?"