The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) (12 page)

A day? He had been out for twenty hours? He shook his head. Argh, headache. “You cannot be serious, demon!”

“Uhm, yeah. Why would I lie about that?”

“Because you are a demon?” Talarius retorted as if stating the obvious.

Rupert sighed. “You really are a nut job.” Talarius had the feeling the demon was shaking its head. “Believe what you will, it’s been a solid day for the rest of us.”

Talarius sighed to himself. The demon probably was not lying; he was just so tired still. However, he had been in a lot of pain, so recovery would be slow. Further, the demons had said he would regenerate here. He had no idea how that would work, but he was a bit better now. “I’m going to light my armor so I can see. I’m not attacking, demon,” he told Rupert. Really not a good idea to accidentally start a fight at this moment. He could have used his visor, but felt that the fewer strengths he revealed now, the better his advantage later.

“Sure,” Rupert replied.

Talarius willed his armor to light the room dimly. He did not want to turn it to full power, lest he blind himself with the unaccustomed light. He looked around the cave he and Rupert were standing in. It was large, quite large, but very sparsely decorated. A giant throne crudely carved of stone, a horribly shoddy stone table; and a few objects that he guessed were carved shelves high up. There did not seem to be much on them. Hmm. Was that a dragon tooth on the top shelf? Odd. Of course, it could just be another demon’s tooth. It was higher than his reach, so he frankly did not care.

Talarius started walking stiffly towards the entrance. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look at where you’re holding me prisoner.” He glanced at Rupert.

The demon shrugged. “Not like you can go anywhere; we’re very high up and in a rather empty part of the Abyss.”

Talarius nodded and continued up the long, winding tunnel. He barely remembered coming down, he had been so beat. Eventually he reached the cave mouth. There was a reasonably-sized ledge outside the mouth. The demon had been correct. There was a very nasty precipice at the end of the ledge, and no easy route to climb down or up. He would not be leaving here without the sash. Praise Tiernon he had had it on. Of course, he nearly always wore it in full combat gear. One only needed to fall off a flying horse once to realize the need for a reliable backup plan.

Talarius shook his head. War Arrow would be nearly frantic at this point. He imagined Ruiden, his sword, would also be quite bothered. The sword would be very annoyed he had gone off to the Abyss without taking it. Ruiden enjoyed cleaving demons more than nearly anything else.

The knight sighed and looked around. They were very high up on the side of a mountain in what had to be one of the most rugged mountain ranges he had ever seen. Between that and the oppressive, omnipresent red light from the disturbingly surreal sky, the landscape was almost intimidating. He tried to rub the bridge of his nose, an old habit, but that didn’t work well when wearing a great helm.

“Ahoy there! Rupert!” A loud, accented voice came from the sky over his right shoulder. He turned to see a man-sized demon with large bat wings and an extremely craggy face coming in for a landing. Talarius backed up to the other side of the ledge. There was a very short, pudgy and hideous fiend behind this one.

Rupert came out, scowled horribly and then clapped his hands as if happy. “Boggy! Great to see you!” These demons had seriously weird emotional responses. He would have never guessed that that horrendous scowl was meant to be welcoming.

“I see you’ve got the prize!” The first demon landed on the ledge and patted Rupert on the shoulder.

“Unholy miracles!” The short, ugly little demon screeched, staring at Talarius. “Are you sure it’s safe to have that thing running around unbound? I’ve heard that Paladins are extremely dangerous.”

“I’m not a Paladin; I’m a Knight Rampant!” Talarius glared at the annoying demon.

“Who is this, Boggy?” Rupert asked, gesturing to the ugly demon.

“Oh, right-o! Sorry about that. Where are my manners?” The demon that Rupert had called “Boggy” shook its head. “This is an old friend of mine, Estrebrius. His accursed master has some sort of business proposal for Tom.”

Rupert looked at the demon named Boggy as if he did not understand; he then turned his gaze to Estrebrius, who was suddenly looking very uncomfortable. “You mean his accursed master, as in the wizard he is bound to, wants a deal with Tom?” Rupert seemed rather incredulous.

Talarius found it extremely odd himself; however, everything at the moment was odd. It was widely suspected that wizards had secret deals with these demons. This would of course, prove it. If he ever got out of here, the Rod would have good cause to take out all wizards when they were located. Although, thinking on it , taking out the entire city of wizards might be difficult. Clearly, they would have to plan carefully.

“I’ve never heard of wizards wanting ‘deals’ with demons before. Usually, it’s just do this or suffer!” Rupert said.

Estrebrius bowed deeply. “I assure you, Great One, my master has no ill intentions. He simply seeks to assist Your Lordship in his endeavors!”

Talarius raised an eyebrow under his helmet at that. Interesting, he had never been so privy to the direct machinations of the forces of evil. Intellectually, he supposed that it was interesting, but frankly, it was the sort of information that he had no need to know. Evil was evil; the how and why was not important. In the end, only the what, where and when mattered, so that one could be there with the right tools to defeat it.

“So anyway,” Boggy said to Rupert, “I told Estrebrius that I’d introduce him to Tom and at least let him pitch the idea.”

Rupert nodded and shrugged. “Sounds crazy to me, but what do I know?” Rupert said.

“Is he inside?” Boggy asked.

Rupert seemed to do a double take. “Oh, sorry—wasn’t thinking. No, he and Tizzy went zooming off that way.” He pointed over Talarius’s shoulder. “Tizzy started making all these weird faces and said something about buttah and a new arrival and that Tom would want to meet it. Whatever that is. What’s a new arrival?” Rupert asked.

“A new arrival?” Boggy frowned; this was very clearly a frown, Talarius thought as he suppressed a small discomfort in his spine. “Damn, I like to be with him for those!” Boggy shook his head in annoyance. “Really strange to have another one so soon.”

“That’s what Tizzy said,” Rupert told Boggy. “What’s a new arrival?”

“It’s a new demon,” Estrebrius told him.

“A new demon? You mean like a baby?” Rupert asked.

Estrebrius shook his head and looked at Rupert as if he were insane. “No, a freshly captured and enslaved demon.”

Rupert blinked. “I’m not sure I understand. You mean like a demon that wasn’t enslaved but now is? Just captured?” Rupert was twisting his head in thought, “so how do you tell that?”

Estrebrius started to open his mouth but Boggy interrupted him while staring at Talarius. “I’ll let Tom explain that to you. It gets complicated.”

“Why are you staring at me, demon?” Talarius asked.

“No reason. I just see no need to bore you with the details,” Boggy said.

Talarius squinted through the eye slit in his helmet. There was something this demon did not want him to know about these new arrival demons. Perhaps some secret in how to bind demons? Something that if he knew, he might be able to sabotage? A way to keep demons from being conjured to Astlan? That would be valuable. Although if they were talking about binding demons, was not a bound demon better than an unbound demon? Hmm, clearly more investigation might be warranted.

Talarius suddenly opened his eyes wide. Was this why he was here? Did Tiernon have a plan for him? Perhaps to uncover something that would allow them to defeat these evil creatures once and for all… Could it be that his downfall was the will of Tiernon? The start of a most holy of crusades? Dared he hope?

~

Antefalken made his way to the bar. He needed a drink. He had come to the Courts to hear the local gossip and ended up with more than he wanted. He had not been more than a few blocks into the city when these big goons surrounded him and provided him an invitation to see Lilith. They were friendly enough, but it was clear they were not taking no for an answer.

Admittedly, he had thought of visiting Lilith, depending on what the word on the street was. He just had not planned on it being his first stop. The goons had ushered him in to her quarters and then quickly left.

“My dear, sweet Anty!” Lilith cooed as she emerged from behind a curtain. Antefalken felt his shoulders slump. She was in her see-through form. That was never good. It was a very dramatic form where you could see her skeleton and a few select organs, while her body itself was a currently purple, translucent shell. You could see her skin normally; it was simply see-through. On top of that she wore a rather diaphanous skirt and back cape, along with numerous articles of jewelry.

Fortunately, she had not eaten anyone recently. That was always disconcerting: to see her digesting some poor sap that had gotten on her bad side. Unless she was hungry? Antefalken shuddered slightly and bowed to her. “My Lady, so good to see you again.” He smiled brightly.

“And you.” She smiled, coming closer and wrapping an arm around his shoulder, drawing him over to her divan. “So, it seems you’ve had a near-final death experience?”

“My Lady, as always, is well informed.” Antefalken kissed her hand.

“It must have been very nerve-racking,” Lilith said as she wrapped herself around Antefalken on the couch.

He really did not find this form attractive. “It was indeed,” he said.

“Fortunately, this Tom friend of yours was a bit more than he seemed?” She smiled at the bard.

He could not determine what sort of smile it was, and that made him more nervous. “Very fortunate, my love.” He kissed her left breast , closing his eyes to avoid looking at her beating, glowing red translucent heart.

“So, I assume he has returned to the Abyss?”

“Yes, My Lady, along with the rest of his entourage and his hostage. I simply left them to come report to you,” Antefalken murmured around her nipple. He doubted he could distract her, but he would give it a try.

“So he’s at his cave?”

“He has nowhere else.”

“Well, that’s a shame!” She pulled back from him suddenly and gave him a wide smile.

“He’s bound to be hounded by who knows how many lickspittles trying to curry his favor! And the paparazzi will be insane. A cave just won’t do!” Lilith stood, marched seductively over to her diamond drink cart and poured two glasses of some blood-red beverage that did not look too much like blood.

She pivoted with the two glasses and came back towards Antefalken. “He must come visit me! I will provide him, his entourage and his hostage with appropriate accommodations!”

Antefalken smiled as best he could, taking one of the glasses. This was exactly what he had been afraid of. “My love! As always you are so wonderfully generous!” He raised his glass to hers in a toast.

She smiled sweetly. “So, when can we expect his presence? I shall have a feast prepared!”

“Ah…” Antefalken twisted his head slightly. “I will relay your invitation immediately upon my return. I am sure he will be… delighted.” He took a drink. “I can’t, of course, promise that he’ll accept—”

“Oh, Anty! Do not be so dismissive of your charms! You are the most persuasive demon I know. I am
sure
you can convince him to enjoy my hospitality.” Lilith sipped her drink.

“You flatter me, My Lady. I will do everything in my power to persuade him.” She smiled at this. “However, he is a greater demon and I’m simply me…”

Lilith’s eyes were steel. “Again, I am sure you will succeed. I have every confidence in you.”

Antefalken ordered a second cup of Denubian Choco-Coffee
TM
. This was not something he would be able to get out of easily. One did not turn Lilith down. No one did. Antefalken was sure that even Asmodeus would hesitate. However, he really did not think it a good idea for Lilith to host Tom and friends. For one thing, she hated Tizzy with a passion. He needed to get them out of the Abyss. But how?

~

“So, do you think he’ll succeed?” a tall, reddish-skinned gentleman asked as he stepped through a wall that had simply appeared in Lilith’s parlor. He had black, slicked-back hair with only a touch of gray at the temples along with two small, dark, pointy horns, and a Van Dyke beard and mustache. He wore a somewhat theatrical suit and cloak with large pauldrons. As soon as he had stepped through, the wall vanished.

“I give it fifty-fifty.” Lilith refilled her glass and poured a new one for her eavesdropping colleague.

“You did seem to incentivize the bard,” Asmodeus observed, taking the glass. He grimaced slightly as he watched the blood wine flow down Lilith’s clear esophagus. “Would you mind changing into something less see-through? You know I dislike that form.”

Lilith frowned at him in annoyance and allowed her skin to return to its normal porcelain white. A black full-length dress and cape formed around her previously nearly naked body. “I am not sure why I take fashion advice from a man whose own form for the last few decades has been taken from some book he found in the outer realms.”