Joint Intentions (Book 9) (30 page)

Knowing Ryson would be able to hear her voice even over the clamor created by the pit demon, she shouted out a call for the delver to return to her side.

Once he returned, Ryson sheathed the Sword of Decree and questioned the change in the demon's behavior.

"Why is it going berserk?"

"I assume because it has lost me," Enin answered. "I have had the misfortune of speaking with Baannat. I know some of what has happened but not everything. Quickly, what has happened in my absence?"

Holli gave a very brief explanation, and Ryson offered a quick summary of his own experience in Demonsheol.

Enin wished for greater detail, but the pit demon remained a pressing problem which could not be ignored any longer.

"We can't leave it here to wreak havoc," the coreless wizard announced. "Jure, do you have sufficient magic to send it to Demonsheol?"

The elder wizard nodded, but Ryson wondered about the consequences.

"Won't it still cause damage there?" the delver asked.

"I doubt it," Enin replied. "We are sending it home, and if it remains dangerous, let this Rul Saattan deal with it. If Rul is a combination of Baannat and Reiculf, the pit demon is his responsibility." Enin turned back to Jure. "Send it back now."

The spell required a significant level of magic. Jure needed to open a portal large enough to allow the pit demon to pass through and then he had to force the giant into the opening. The portal opened without difficulty, but the enraged demon fought against the magical force pressing it toward the gateway. After one last surge, the dathit disappeared through the rift and Jure closed the gate.

With the demon gone, Vraya and Holli ended their spells which fed the trees and vines with power and aggression. The plants quickly returned to their normal state of decay. Ryson scanned the grounds and announced the dark creatures in the area remained at a safe distance.

"That was almost too easy," the delver offered.

"Sometimes a plan does work as it was formulated," Holli responded.

Enin was grateful for the opportunity he was given, and he offered sincere gratitude to his companions, especially the wizard who allowed him the chance to utilize the magic once more.

"Thank you, Jure. That was quite... stimulating."

"I'm glad it worked. Now we know you can still cast spells. Maybe this will..."

The elder wizard stopped in mid-sentence. The creation of a new and sizable portal grabbed his attention. A large figure broke through the gateway, and then the rift dissolved. The pit demon had returned.

"Can pit demons create portals?" Ryson wondered, as his companions stared at the dathit in disbelief.

The pit demon had ended up in the exact same place it had left. Being a fair distance away from the group, it appeared to be searching blindly for some signal, some beacon it could grasp which would lead it to its objective. It moved slowly through the twisted landscape of the dark realm. It turned several times as it remained unsure of which direction to take.

"It can use magic in certain ways," Enin finally acknowledged, "but an understanding of portals... that should be beyond its comprehension. It is a blind force, not a creature of such knowledge."

"But Demonspawn changed," Ryson pointed out. "Maybe the demons did too. If demons can now freely enter other realms, maybe they've been given the power to create portals."

"Do not confuse one issue with the other. The merging of realms would not necessarily alter the abilities of its inhabitants. Remember, I was in that pit demon's grasp when Reiculf combined with Baannat. I sensed no change in the creature."

"But your core is gone. Maybe you couldn't sense it."

"I may not have magic within me, but I still understand it, and I can still feel it. The dathit remains what it was; a faceless demon capable of mass destruction, but incapable of the critical thought necessary to connect two distinct realms with a magical incantation. Portals just don't appear because someone wants them to. If they did, they would be popping up all over the place."

"Then how did it get here?"

Enin offered the only alternative.

"Someone else must have created that portal, someone capable of understanding magical energy. It had to be someone competent enough to allow for the disruption of space without causing a severe counter reaction."

"Maybe it was Rul Saattan?" Jure offered. "He certainly would have the ability to create a portal."

"Why would Rul send it back at us?" Ryson asked.

"Because he doesn't like us."

"There has to be more to it than that. Look at it. It looks like its still searching for Enin. Rul said it didn't care about Enin anymore. Why would Rul Saattan send back a pit demon to search for something he didn't care about?"

"Maybe he didn't like me sending it into Demonsheol and decided to send it back," Jure offered. "Or maybe Rul lied to you. Maybe he still does care about Enin."

Ryson shook his head. He couldn't explain how, but he knew Rul Saattan didn't answer his questions in Demonsheol with outright lies. Rul might have avoided revealing his full intentions, even purposely evaded some of the truth, but the beast needed to hold to a level of honesty.

Before the delver could say anything further, the elf guard made her own intentions very clear.

"We can debate this issue later!" Holli intervened in the debate. "We can not remain here. We must leave this area before the creature finally notices us. I do not know how this demon can sense its surroundings, but it has a level of awareness."

"So we're just going to leave it here?" Ryson questioned.

"We have little to gain by fighting the monster and we can not keep sending it to Demonsheol if it will only return. The creatures of the dark realm will stay out of its path, and there is little here for it to destroy. Our best course of action is to remove ourselves from its path. Jure?"

The elder wizard understood what the elf wanted, but he lacked the power.

"I don't have enough magic to get us out of here," Jure revealed. "I used just about everything I had left in sending that thing to Demonsheol. It'll take a while before I regain enough strength."

"Vraya?"

"I believe I have enough energy for a portal back to Uton. I assume that's where you want to go, but what specific destination should I place in the spell?"

"Connel, back to my home," Enin advised. "We have much to discuss. I need to know more about what has happened. I must have details about what Ryson learned in Demonsheol."

The delver looked back at the pit demon. As much as he didn't want to leave the beast rampaging through the dark realm, something else bothered him even more about their decision. Retreating wasn't always a bad strategy, but consideration needed to be given to the path of escape. Simply fleeing with complete disregard to other dangers was never a wise idea.

He thought of Connel; a large city with so many inhabitants. It reminded him of how the string of disastrous events began. He considered everything that had happened since Neltus showed up at the Church of Godson. What had started out for him as a search for spiritual guidance became a journey into chaos. So much had already occurred, he could barely fathom the potential consequences. He wondered what else might happen, what misfortune would fall upon them if they returned to the busy streets of Connel.

It was too great of a risk, and his anxiety over the decision to simply retreat to Connel doubled. An inner alarm, an instinct which kept a delver from racing off a cliff ledge or leaping into a nest of vipers while racing across the land warned him they were making a mistake.

"No," Ryson stated firmly. "We need to go to the Lacobian."

"There is little left in the desert for us," Holli replied.

"It's safer," Ryson insisted.

Vraya immediately agreed with the delver and before anyone could argue, she began to cast her spell.

"Very well," the sorceress announced. "Let us return to the desert of Uton."

Just as Holli was about to protest, the sorceress created the portal and teleported them all into the center of the gateway. They ended up in an empty section of the Lacobian, far from the sandstone cliffs which the algors used as a sanctuary. There was a great deal of sand, several rolling dunes, and little of anything else.

It was after midnight. The sky was filled with bright stars, and a peaceful quiet hung in the chilled desert air.

"Where are we?" Holli demanded.

"Slightly southwest from the center of the Lacobian. It is one of the most desolate areas of the desert. Ryson was concerned about our destination. I thought this would be the safest spot."

"Standing out here is not necessarily safe for us. Magic casters use the desert to practice many of their spells."

"Magic hasn't been used out here for days. Ask Jure."

"She's right," the elder wizard confirmed. "It's calm."

"Very well," Holli allowed, but then she turned to Ryson. "I would like to know why you chose the Lacobian."

Initially, Ryson ignored the elf's question. He gazed across the surrounding dunes, his delver sight cutting through the darkness. He smelled the dry air and turned his head in each direction to listen for any signs of movement in the distance. Confident they were alone, he finally answered.

"It's like I said, it's safer. I didn't think we should go directly to Connel. I thought it would be better if we wait in a place where there weren't any people around."

"What are we waiting for?"

"I'm not sure."

"And how long should we wait here?"

"I'm not sure about that either."

"Ryson, I do not like to question your instincts, but you have to be more specific."

"If I was able to be specific, I doubt we'd be in this situation at all."

Holli would not allow for such a cryptic response.

"Explain."

Ryson knew Holli remembered everything that had happened to them. He also knew she didn't need a quick review of their past, that she was asking for a defined threat, something of substance.

Unfortunately for the delver, it wasn't something he
could
define. It was a feeling of vulnerability; a sense they had been pushed, pulled, and thrown into one dangerous situation after another. All he could do was describe the sense of exposure which seemed to haunt them at every step.

"We've had very little control over anything that's happened to us ever since I left Burbon. I walked out of the Church of Godson and Neltus was waiting for me. It was like he knew I'd be there. And it didn't end there. Neltus teleported us to the Lacobian and a doppelganger was disguised as an algor, also apparently waiting for us. Then, we get attacked by a dathit of all things. Neltus tried to kill us, so we followed him to Portsans, and we end up dealing with a contrarian. My sword sent me to see Baannat, and while I'm there, the place was essentially swallowed up by Demonspawn; or maybe it's the other way around, I'm not sure. But I know what it's like to stumble into danger, and that's what we've been doing all along."

"But why are we standing in the desert now?"

"Because we've gone from one disaster to another, and I don't think..."

As if to finish the delver's thought, an extremely large portal began to take shape further out into the emptiness of the desert. As it swirled into greater definition, Ryson quickly glanced into the opening. He saw the chaos of the dark realm, and he knew what would come through the rift. It did not satisfy him to be right, but he could not claim surprise.

The pit demon stepped through, and its gigantic body towered up into the dark sky of the Lacobian. It stood absolutely still for long moments, even after the portal collapsed. It appeared like some giant red stone statue, a faceless colossus carved in red jasper.

It was Vraya who acknowledged the delver's foresight.

"You knew it was going to follow us, didn't you?"

"Actually, I didn't know what was going to follow us. I thought it might, but even if it didn't, I felt something was going to come after us... or something would be waiting for us. It's been happening all night."

Holli was grateful for Ryson's instincts. It had saved her from making yet another mistake, but there was no time to offer her thanks. She needed to assess their strength.

"Vraya! How much magical energy do you have remaining?"

"Very little," the sorceress responded, "but I'm recharging. With all the changes sweeping across the land, I'm building strength fairly quickly."

"Jure, what about you?"

"It'll be quite a few more moments before I can cast anything of significance. I certainly can't cast anything powerful enough to force that thing back into another portal."

"I do not believe that is an option," Holli replied, "If we send it back to Demonsheol or the dark realm, it will probably only return."

"Why is it just standing there?" Ryson wondered aloud.

"You were right before," Enin offered. "It's still looking for me. It's reaching out with its perception, just as you do with your delver senses."

"But we're closer to it than before. Shouldn't it already have spotted you?"

"It doesn't have eyes or ears. I don't think the proximity of its objective matters as much as potential disturbances to its awareness."

"What could disturb its perception?"

"Waves of magic. It's just been through several portals. It's gone through three realms in a matter of moments. Even now, it's standing in the remnants of a giant portal that has just collapsed. With all that magical mayhem, it may not even know where it is yet."

"That will only help us for a few more moments," Holli announced. "If we are to battle this creature, we will need Vraya and Jure at their full capacity. We need more time than we have."

"I can try to distract it again," Ryson offered.

"Even if we were at full strength," Jure considered, "what could we do against it? You said we can't send it away again, that it would only come back. How do we defeat it? Can we destroy it?"

Holli looked to her mentor.

"Enin, if you had the full force of your magic available to you, how would you fight this creature?"

Enin took one look at the motionless giant and offered the most straightforward solution.

"Alter its instructions. That's why it's here. It was ordered to guard me. It has to be convinced to ignore me instead."

"You mean send it new instructions?" Ryson asked.

"No, that would not work," Enin explained. "From what we have learned, the dathit became subjected to Baannat's will. It would not heed new instructions from an unfamiliar source over an order from its master. It is the last order from Baannat which would have to be altered."

Holli turned to Vraya.

"You hold great power over alteration. Can you do this? Do you have sufficient magic?"

"I'm not sure how. It's not simply a matter of magical reserves. How do I alter a message that's already been given? It's not like there's a spell currently affecting the demon. It's acting on an order it's already received. I'd have to alter history, and how do I do that without causing a major upheaval in every event which has occurred since that order was initially given?"

"She's right," Enin confirmed. "You asked me what I would do, but I had more than just ebony magic at my disposal. The spell would have to alter the instruction to the dathit while keeping everything else constant. That would be well beyond the inherent nature of Vraya's black magic."

"Would Jure be able to cast that spell?"