Into The Abyss (Demons of Astlan) (53 page)

"How much do you trust this Verigas?
And his story?"

"Fairly well, we both did the Test of Truth on him while he recanted.  He certainly believes it.  Further investigation of the location of the subversion confirms Verigas' story, at least as much as possible."  Talarius nodded his head to the side, acknowledging what Barabus told him.

"Further, we have a brother who has had Visions."

"Visions?"

"Yes, the Visions came about a month before this incident.  Visions of major plots by the Lords of the Abyss, and by human wizards."

"Confirmation for something then."

"Yes.  As near as the brother could pinpoint, the Asltanian side of the activity would take place on this continent."  Barabus gestured to the floor. 

"So, you think then that the Princes are up to something?  They haven't dared anything in over a thousand years."

"I don't know.  I don't know if any princes are involved.  It may just be something at the Archaedemon level.  Some plot to overthrow the current establishment there.  There, except for the involvement of human wizards.  Apparently, there is also a power play going on here in Astlan.  Perhaps some wizards are aligned with the demons, or possibly opposed.”  Barabus shook his head in frustration at their lack of concrete intelligence.

"We do know," Barabus continued, "that a book is involved."

"A book?  What's in it?"

"A very old book.  We do
not however, know what's in it.  However, we do know that several demons have been destroyed for it and more than a few wizards over the course of the years."

"Interesting.  And you're sure that this
Archaedemon has come this way?"

Barabus leaned against the table, crossing his arms and looking down at the floor.  "We don't know about the
Archaedemon.  It apparently left its pets in Gizzor Del for some reason.  It will apparently meet them in Freehold.  What we do know, is that Verigas' wizards and one of the demons arrived in Hoggensforth yesterday.  We interviewed the captain of the ship that brought them."

"You've intercepted them?"

"Not yet, we believe they're taking the road for Freehold.  They aren't that far ahead, and we waited for your arrival before pursuing."

"Why are they traveling in this manner, can we assume the wizards are not very powerful?"

"I don't know why they're traveling this way.  At least one of the wizards, apparently the lead one, is extremely powerful.  Certainly world class.  Although, even there, we have discrepancies."

"
Discrepancies?'

"Yes the captain claims the one in charge is a Lord Edwyrd."  Talarius shrugged his
head; the name was unknown to him.  "However, Verigas claims that the one named Edwyrd, at least in Gizzor Del, was claiming to be the cousin of the youngest member of the party.  Said member either being an incredibly young wizard or a drug-clouded future human sacrifice."

Talarius shook his head in puzzlement.  Barabus continued, "So, Verigas says that this Edwyrd showed up after the
Archaedemon disappeared.  From all he could gather, this young man, Edwyrd, was a complete innocent.  This however does not at all jibe with what the crew told us."

"Really?"

"According to the crew, they were attacked by pirates, and, while for a short time, this Edwyrd allowed the other wizards to battle the pirate ship.  Eventually they were overcome by an extremely powerful group of wizards on the pirate ship.  At this point Edwyrd took a hand and single-handedly blew the entire pirate ship to dust and slew several very powerful wizards in the same blow."

"This doesn't add up."  Talarius said, puzzled.  "Why would a pirate ship have powerful wizards?"

"I know, I asked myself the same question.  The only thing I can come up with is that they weren't pirates."

"Who were they then?"

"The opposing wizards, perhaps."  Barabus suggested.  "Trying to intercept the Archaedemon’s minions?"

"You said another demon came with the ship, why didn't it fight the pirates?"

"Apparently it came later, after the battle.  It went away some place in Gizzor Del and then came back.   Verigas confirms that a demon of this description left immediately upon arriving in Gizzor Del.  That, however, also adds to the Edwyrd mystery."

"Yes?"

"Apparently, when the demon came back, the other wizards tried to deal with it, not incredibly successfully; the crew didn't hear what was said.  Then this Lord Edwyrd showed up on deck, and convinced the demon to do its bidding.  Further it was Lord Edwyrd that assured the crew that the demon would not harm them, that it was under his control."

"Obviously, this
Lord Edwyrd fellow is not what he pretended to be to Verigas."

"Not at all what he appeared.  My guess is that he is actually the
Archaedemon's chief mortal agent.  Naturally, such a demon would want the best possible human ally."

"There is," Talarius said frowning seriously, "another
possibility."  Talarius was very grim at this point.

"What?"

"Given the timing of the departure and arrival of the Archaedemon and this Edwyrd, this 'Lord Edwyrd' could be the Archaedemon in disguise."  Talarius was looking as fierce and grim as Barabus had ever seen him.

Barabus was stunned by the possibility.  He'd never thought of such a thing being possible.  "Is that possible?  Can
Archaedemons do that?"

"I don't know."  Talarius began to pace.  "I won't put it past them.  We haven't had an
Archaedemon on this plane in nearly a thousand years."

"Holy Tiernon, if one could do it, others could do it, could already have done it."  Barabus was suddenly chilled to the bone.

Talarius was nodding his head.  "Certainly.  The most dangerous evil is that which you cannot detect until it is too late.  Sometimes, evil doesn't look like evil." Barabus almost thought he detected a small hesitation from the knight, as if remembering something.  "We know that short of the demon princes themselves, the Archaedemons are the most sublime and terrible forces of evil in the world.  If eternal evil can attain the guise of mortal man, then surely an Archaedemon could do it."

"These demons could be all over the place and we'd never know it!"  Barabus exclaimed.

"I think not.  It must not be easy for the servants of evil to do this.  If they had so easily infiltrated our midst on such a scale previously, we'd have already lost the battle."

"But if they can do this, why haven't they done it before?"

"The gods.  What ultimately keeps the powers of the Abyss in check anyway?  The gods.  Our Lord Tiernon in particular."

"But," Barabus argued, "
If the gods can stop the demons, why aren't they doing so now?"

Talarius smiled, a smile quite genuine, yet one that Barabus found incredibly chilling when combined with the knight's next words.  "What makes you think they aren't?  Why do you think we're here?"

Trisfelt gently cracked the reins on the ponies to get them to move a little more swiftly over some rough terrain.  As the wagon bounced
along, he glanced back at his charges.  The three of them were playing a game with their fingers.  Shears, vellum and rock it looked like.  Things were at last on a slightly even keel again.

For a while
, things had been rather hectic.  Their sudden departure from the wagon train had left the kids frightened out of their wits and crying.  The slight nausea that often came with abrupt teleportation didn't help matters.  He'd taken them to the place he'd known best, after the school, his own home town.  His brother and wife still had a cottage there.

He and his three students had imposed themselves for a few days while the children got rested and calmed down.  Trisfelt admitted that the rest had done him good as well.  The rest had given the children a chance to return their lives to some sense of normalcy.  It had also given Trisfelt the opportunity to enchant a small hand
mirror so he could contact Lenamare.

After contacting Lenamare and getting some information on the state of affairs, he and Lenamare had been able to work out a plan to get the children to Freehold.   Trisfelt had felt just too uncomfortable with his memories of Freehold to risk taking the children on what was essentially a blind jump.  If it had just been
himself, he wouldn't have minded.  For one thing, jumping by oneself was a lot easier and safer than taking a group of people. 

Thus it was they'd found themselves on the road to Freehold.  Trisfelt had purchased a new wagon and supplies for the four of them and they'd set off.  Last night they'd spent the night in Hoggensforth.  Today, they were on the road to
Yorkton, which would eventually lead them to Freehold.  As they'd left town this morning, Trisfelt had noticed a fairly sizable encampment of armed men.  Not quite as large as Exador's army, but this group appeared to be all cavalry.  A very large cavalry, by most standards, Trisfelt thought.  He hadn't recognized the insignia on the surcoats at first, but eventually he'd been able to dig something up from his memory. 

If he was not mistaken, these individuals were the elite soldiers of the god Tiernon.  They called themselves the Rod of Tiernon, hence the rod over the starburst of Tiernon.  Actually, the Rod weren't particularly common on this continent anymore.  At least not for the last few hundred years.  Trisfelt, having just escaped one small war, was extremely nervous about what these fellows were up to.  He hadn't stopped to ask though.

A short while ago, they'd stopped and had some lunch, the children, as children do, wanting to know how much longer would it be.  Trisfelt smiled, remembering his own childhood.  He also worried because while these children, for the moment, could be children, his fourth charge, Rupert, had been left behind.  He really feared for the child's safety.  Lenamare had informed him that while Jehenna,
the heartless bitch
, Trisfelt cursed, had made it to Freehold, no one else from the caravan had yet arrived.   Jenn and Rupert had still been alive when Jehenna had last seen them, and they were assumed still alive, but they hadn't been found yet.  The bitch had abandoned them to a greater demon!

Trisfelt worried.  Jenn was a good girl, and would be a fine wizard
someday; surely she'd take care of Rupert, if she could.  That was what he was worried about, he didn't have much more confidence in Jenn being OK then he did of Rupert.  Jenn had been his favorite student; they seemed to share a similar sense of humor, and fondness, or lack thereof, for the headmasters.  Unfortunately there wasn't much he could do.  As a Thaumaturgist, making one end of a Telemirror was about as much sorcery as he could manage.  Finding lost people was out of the question.

Suddenly there came the sound of a large number of horses behind him on the road.  Trisfelt looked behind him to find the Rod of Tiernon rapidly approaching in a cloud of dust.  He pulled the wagon to the side to let the soldiers pass.  The long column, four abreast, quickly reached his position and
continued in smart order.  As the column moved on, Trisfelt glanced up in surprise to see a rider, wearing an incredible amount of armor, flying overhead on a winged horse.

Trisfelt shook his head to try
to clear it.  The knight, for there was no mistaking the man's calling, was more than a little bit awe-inspiring.  The children had stopped their game to watch the soldiers and were gazing upward with open-mouthed stares at the flying knight.  Flying horses were extremely rare; Trisfelt had never even seen one with his own eyes before.  He found it amazing such a creature could even fly, given the aerodynamics of horses.  Further, not only did this one fly, it flew with a man in full plate armor on its back.  As if that weren't enough, the steed was wearing full battle armor and regalia as well.

Talk about legends coming to life!  This fellow was straight out of some
storybook.  Trisfelt was a highly experienced wizard; even so, this fellow impressed the Abyss out of him.  As he shook his head in wonder, the knight flew overhead, looking down at the wagon and waving congenially to the children.  Awed that such a glorious presence would deign to notice them, the children waved shyly back.  Trisfelt had to stop himself from waving as well.

As the knight flew on, and the army rode past, Trisfelt followed both with his eyes.  Suddenly he was brought up short by the snorting of a horse nearby.  He turned his head to see a young soldier, dressed in a very clean and bright uniform nodding respectfully towards him.  "Excuse me sir?"  The young man asked politely.

Trisfelt was again taken by surprise. At the moment, Trisfelt looked nothing like the Master Wizard he was, yet still the soldier was being courteous and respectful.  This seemed extremely strange for soldiers, at least the ones that Trisfelt was familiar with.  "Yes, Rod member?"  Trisfelt answered.

The soldier smiled more brightly at Trisfelt's recognition of the correct term.  "Not many on this continent recognize the Rod of
Tiernon; I'm pleased to see we haven't been completely forgotten."  He nodded politely to the children.  "I'm sorry to bother you, but my sergeant has requested that I ask you a few questions.  If you don't mind."

"No,
I’d be happy to oblige." Trisfelt didn't mind, especially as the soldier was being so nice about it.  Very strange, really.  Were these fellows so polite to everyone?

"Have you by any chance seen any unusual looking
travelers along this road?"

"Unusual? 
You mean aside from the gentleman on the flying horse?"

The soldier smiled again, "Sir Talarius, Knight Rampant.  Certainly our greatest
knight and perhaps, Tiernon willing, the greatest knight in all of Astlan.  He is most impressive, isn't he?"  The children nodded in fascination.  "I find myself gawking at him all the time," the young soldier said to the children.

"So nothing else?" the soldier asked.

"No," Trisfelt shook his head, trying to remember.  "Maybe if you'd describe what you're looking for?"

The young soldier looked at the children for a moment, indecisive, then got off his horse.  Tying its reins lightly to a wheel, he then walked a ways ahead of the wagon and gestured for Trisfelt to join him. Trisfelt, puzzled, complied.

"Sorry," the incredibly polite soldier said, "but I didn't want to alarm the children. I shouldn't be telling you, but you look like a learned individual." 

Trisfelt nodded, "I have some knowledge of things mystical." 

The soldier nodded.  "Well, specifically, we are looking for a party of wizards."

"Wizards?"

"Wizards and demons actually."  The soldier nodded in confirmation.  "We are following a party of wizards with demons along the road.  That's what I mean by unusual."

"No.  I have seen no such thing.  What have they done?"

The soldier shook his head, "Not so much what they've done, what they're doing."

"Which is?"  Trisfelt was
beginning to feel alarmed; he glanced back at the children worriedly.

"Well, I shouldn't tell you this.  But," the young soldier frowned, "I have several brothers and sisters their age."  He pointed to the wagon.  "Where are you headed to?'

"Freehold."  Trisfelt answered truthfully.

"Don't."  The soldier said, suddenly nervous. 

"What do you mean don't?  What's wrong with Freehold?" Trisfelt was suddenly very concerned.

The soldier looked around to see if anyone was listening.  "You are a wizard
, yes?"

"A
thaumaturge," Trisfelt admitted, while not dressed formally, his clothes did give him away, and there seemed no point in denying the obvious.

The soldier nodded, "We are following the minions of an
Archaedemon."

"A what!"  Trisfelt said loudly.  Shocked was more than how he felt.  "A fifth order demon?"  He quickly did a small Lie detection spell.

The soldier just nodded seriously.  "It seems one has broken through from the Abyss and is headed towards Freehold.  It has several other demons and wizard allies, or slaves, with it.  We think it is going to raise a horde there."

Trisfelt was stunned.  This was unimaginable.   "I...I...find this hard to believe, why would an archdemon be doing that
?"

The soldier shrugged, "I don't know
. I'm just a corporal; they don't tell me everything.  But our people have had both Visions and physical sightings of the Archaedemon."  Trisfelt was turning pale.  They'd had physical sightings of an archdemon?  That would certainly more than explain the presence of the Rod on the continent.  One of the things that the Knights of Tiernon were famous for was hunting beings of evil: undead, dragons, demons.  Trisfelt rubbed his forehead.  The soldier looked on sympathetically.  "I'm only telling you this because I don't want to see the children harmed, and because you are a wizard and so will understand.  I don't think it's too good an idea to spread this around at the moment, it would certainly cause panic."  Trisfelt could only agree.

"Thank you for telling me."  Whatever the case, his spell told him that the soldier was telling the truth as he knew it.  The soldier nodded seriously and walked back to his horse.  As he waved bye to the children, riding back to join the now departed Rod, Trisfelt climbed slowly into the driver's seat.  He'd have to contact Lenamare on this.

~

"A what?" Jehenna shouted.  Lenamare made hushing noises at her.  He'd caught her in a side passageway, on her way to take her evening bath.  They'd stepped into an unused alcove
; fortunately, at this time in the evening, the entire hallway was relatively untrafficked.

"You heard me.  An archdemon."  Lenamare was staring intently into her eyes.

"This can't be right."  Jehenna was as close to nervous as she ever let anyone see.  She rubbed her forehead a couple of times.  "How sure is Trisfelt?"  She asked, angrily.

"He says he's convinced that the soldier believed it to be the truth.  At the very least, even if there is no archdemon entourage on its way, we'll soon have to put up with the Rod of Tiernon."

"I can't believe this," Jehenna said. Her voice cold with anger. "Sure, we speculated that the archdemons might get involved.  Eventually they'd have to, but it doesn't seem possible that they are already on to us.  If one is on his way here..."

"It means that things are really getting bad, and we will have to devote everything to finding the book before it gets here.  We've also got to adjust our plans."  Lenamare looked around.  "However, here is neither the place nor the time."  He whispered.  "Let's preserve appearance, take your bath,
gather your thoughts.  We'll pull an all-night planning session."

~

"An archdemon?"  Exador looked down at the small imp that had brought him the news.  It had certainly paid to have these things placed in all the public corridors.  If only he could get away with putting them in private quarters.  Unfortunately they would be too easy to detect, and too much a breach of etiquette.  "But, they didn't say which one?"  The small imp shook its head, trembling in fear.

"Damn," Exador cursed to himself.  "Just what I need.  Well, at least Lenamare's now confirmed what I already know.  He doesn't have the book."  He ignored the imp.  He looked to the large water powered clock in the corner.  He tried to figure out where his 'allies' would be at this hour.

Exador vanished from the room.

Exador reappeared in a long marble corridor.  Looking around, he saw no one.  Quickly he hurried down the long corridor, sparing not a glance for the large windows to the right and left.  Red light shown brightly through the windows, daytime, as usual when he arrived.  Down the corridor and up a flight of stairs.  The second door on the left, if he remembered correctly, which he should, the last time he'd been there was only week ago.

As he barged into the room, Ramses hurriedly stood up from the piano he'd been playing.  "Where's Bess?"  Exador demanded.

"How should I know?  I assume she's at her home."  He glared at Exador.  "Do you make it a habit of barging in unannounced to everybody's home?"

Exador ignored Ramses' outburst.  "Get her.  We've got problems.  More players."  Ramses stared at Exador for a moment, finally catching the import of what he said.  Ramses walked over to a nearby mirror.  Hurriedly he waved his hand in front of it a few times. Bess appeared in the mirror.