The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) (26 page)

Lenamare chuckled. “Not at all, my dear. I am always happy when people appreciate my efforts.”

“Well, the city certainly does. You are the talk of the town,” Hilda told him.

“Really?” Jehenna asked.

Hilda nodded. “Certainly no one has ever commanded so many demons so thoroughly before; not to mention the fact that Councilor Lenamare here commanded the demon that beat the Rod’s champion. In a city dedicated to wizardry, how could they not talk about such amazing achievements? Although, to be honest,” Hilda lowered her voice a bit, “I have noticed a rather large amount of envy and jealousy along with the admiration.”

Lenamare chuckled again. “My dear, it goes with the trade. Envy and jealousy are so often the traits of those who are unable to find fulfillment in their own craftsmanship.”

Hilda noticed Trisfelt rolling his eyes; she gave him a wink as Lenamare looked to Jehenna and Hortwell for confirmation of his opinion.

“So Trisfelt tells me you both have a passion for good wine?” Lenamare asked, turning back to Hilda.

Hilda grinned and said, “I fear we both may be a bit susceptible to a good bottle now and then.”

“Excellent; then you should join us for dinner this evening. I have a very rare House Trefalgaereon PV392 Meridel that I was wanting to bring out to relax with.”

Hilda’s eyes lit up with joy. “A truly rare bottle indeed. I would be greatly honored!” She looked to Trisfelt to ensure he was happy with the invitation. He clearly was; the House Trefalgaereon PV392 was a very expensive bottle of wine.

~

“You know, I think coups were a lot simpler in the old days,” Ramses observed just before sticking a large forkful of triceratops sirloin into his mouth. He closed his eyes to savor the flavor.

“Coups are never easy,” Bess told him as she took a drink of Denubian Choco-Coffee
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.

“Yes, but do new players have to keep getting involved?” Exador asked. “I think that is Ramses’ point.”

“Well, technically this mana-draining demon isn’t a totally new player; remember, he was playing around at Lenamare’s Academy before you managed to lose my army,” Bess reminded him.

“I lost troops as well,” Ramses said around another chunk of steak in his mouth.

“We all lost people.” Exador shook his head in frustration. “Those Dok Alvar of mine are particularly hard to replace. Being relatively long-lived, alvar of both sides are particularly averse to being vaporized. Once word gets out that you’ve had one alvaren legion reduced to ashes, it is damn difficult to get another.” He cut another piece of steak and promptly ate it.

“Okay, I am sorry I brought it up,” Bess said. “We have already agreed to move on from that incident. We should focus on the current issue, and whether or not Lilith is involved with this demon.”

“I find it hard to believe,” Ramses said, sipping on his blood wine. “This demon actually had the book. It took it from Exador’s camp with Lenamare’s student. If the demon had been working for Lilith, would it not have gone directly back to her, given her the book and then game over?”

“One would think.” Exador shook his head in frustration.

“So then, are we back to the demon being Lenamare’s?” Bess asked.

No one had an answer for that. It was a theory the three felt they had discredited. They ate in silence for a few moments. Exador poured himself some more blood wine. Ramses had a very nice wine cellar; they should dine here more often. He had not had triceratops in decades. It was a difficult import even to the Abyss, let alone hauling it to Astlan and finding a human chef that could adequately prepare it. One would almost need a jötunn chef to butcher it properly.

“What if,” Ramses began before taking a bite of his mashed parsnips, “we’ve got it backward? What if Lenamare is working for the demon?”

Bess simply stared at him.

Exador frowned and said, “You mean like a warlock?”

Ramses shrugged. “It might explain how Lenamare has been able to give you such a difficult time. We’ve often remarked on how unusually gifted the man is for a human.”

“So, you think he’s had help?” Bess nodded at the idea.

“It is a possibility. Isn’t it?” Ramses asked.

Exador was silent, thinking about it. “I suppose it’s possible. We just know so little about this demon. As we have discussed, he is clearly not newly bound as we had thought, nor is he simply a greater demon. He is at least an archdemon, if not a prince. Although how he could have remained hidden all this time is very odd.”

“Really?” Bess asked. “How long have you known me?”

“She has a point,” Ramses said around another giant piece of steak.

Bess shook her head. “The Abyss is huge; infinite, in fact. After I had my falling out with Orcus, I took my minions and we headed to the far side of the Abyss for six thousand years or so. I’m still rather pissed that none of my contacts bothered to tell me he’d been offed four thousand years ago and that I could have come back sooner.”

“What was it you did again that got you on his wrong side?” Ramses asked as he took another drink of blood wine.

Bess shrugged. “I messed with his wand.”

The other two archdemons started laughing. “Ahh, so you had an affair that ended badly.”

Bess threw her napkin on the table. “Not that wand, you lecherous old perverts.” She shook her head in disgust, although she was obviously not that mad. “His magic wand—you know, the legendary Wand of Orcus.’”

Exador swallowed a bit hard and asked, “Whatever happened to that?”

Ramses shrugged. “I assume that Tiernon’s people took it. I had not yet arrived at that point. Never met the man. I only know what they say in the Balladae Orcusae.” He paused for a moment, a puzzled frown coming over his face. “Of course! I knew I’d heard that bard’s name somewhere.”

Bess looked at him, puzzled. “You mean the one in the demon’s entourage that provides the link to Lilith?”

Ramses nodded. “Exactly. It had a familiar ring to it, and that is why. He has played before the Triumvirate and their guests on a number of occasions. The only time I’ve heard the entire Baladae Orcusae was from him.” Ramses closed his eyes and rolled his head. “Concordenax, did that thing go on and on. The Triumvirate insisted on having the entire ballad played. I think they like savoring their former compatriot’s defeat.”

Exador shrugged. “I am sure Mephistopheles does. If Orcus hadn’t bit the dust, he wouldn’t be in the Triumvirate today.”

“Well, apparently those Etonians have some use.” Bess shook her head. Her dislike of the Etonians was not unknown to Exador or Ramses. It was something of a hobby of hers, apparently.

“Would an avatar of Tiernon even be able to pick up the wand?” Exador asked hypothetically as he took another bite of steak.

Bess grimaced. “I’m sure, if he or she were properly shielded. Look what Lenamare’s demon did with that artifact the Paladin had.”

Exador shook his head. “He’s not a paladin, he is a Knight Rampant. If you call him a Paladin, which is a lower rank, he will get rather peeved. They all do. You don’t get to be a Knight Rampant without having hubris issues.”

Exador shook his head, smiling. “It is so nice to see weakness in such otherwise insufferable people.”

Bess rolled her eyes; Ramses noticed and smirked in agreement. Exador was not one to talk about being insufferable. Although to be fair, none of them were.

~

Jenn watched Maelen and Elrose dancing with various denizens of the Grove around the large bonfire. Everyone was more than a little tipsy, including Jenn. Ugh, Jenn groaned to herself, she was so incredibly stuffed. She had no idea how those two could move, let alone dance. Furthermore, the world was spinning around her. Gastropé was reclining drunkenly in the embrace of two large-breasted nymphs, barely able to move himself.

Jenn was feeling so incredibly good and relaxed at the moment, she didn’t even mind Gastropé’s lascivious behavior. This afternoon, when he had gone off bathing with a bunch of nymphs and dryads, she had been quite peeved for some reason. She was not exactly sure why now, but she had been. She herself had turned down multiple invitations for carnal relations. She had to admit, now in her current state, that that might have been a mistake, but what was the point of staying chaste for that special someone, if you gave it up at the first real opportunity?

Oh, and what an opportunity. She glanced over to see the aetós sitting around in a group with various nymphs and dryads on their laps. She would not mind being the nymph on Danfaêr’s lap. Snuggled in his strong arms, his rock-hard chest pressed against her back, his rigid—Jenn shook her head, trying to clear it of such thoughts.

She needed to remind herself what a very productive day this had been. The Grove was a thaumaturge’s paradise. There were plants here, in this single location, from all over Astlan, and apparently several other planes because there were quite a large number she did not recognize. Moreover, they were almost all in season. It was very odd, actually. However, she was not one to turn down the opportunity to stock up on esoteric and nearly impossible-to-find spell components. She had ended up having to ask Danfaêr if he could find her some spare sacks she could use, as her backpack was getting too full. He cheerfully complied and she now had an extremely large sack filled with smaller sacks of precious ingredients for spells and some potions and remedies. Today had literally been a field day!

She had to admit, this place could be mistaken for heaven. Clearly, Gastropé was mistaking it for such. She glanced over at him as the nymphs were taking turns kissing him. Jenn shook her head, disgusted, yet feeling oddly disconnected and removed. She poured herself some more alvaren ice wine. It was so incredible!

Even the normally staid Elrose was enjoying himself out there dancing. He really was an incredible dancer. Maelen looked a bit shaky in comparison, although Jenn doubted she could have done any better, and Maelen was an old man. Not as old as Trevin, of course—and where was she? Jenn glanced around. Oh, there she was. The enchantress was giving this insanely huge satyr a lap dance, her fleshy, full, yet firm thighs undulating obscenely in the satyr’s lap. Her taut back with its supple skin was exposed by her too-tight, revealing outfit. She arched her back, bending over backward in his lap, revealing her large, firm breasts to the clearing. Her youthful cheeks were glowing red with warmth, her full, pouting lips smiling with lascivious delight.

Jenn fuzzily wondered why she had ever thought this young enchantress was old. The woman more than held her own against the nymphs and dryads. She had pitied Maelen and Elrose for being locked up in that underground meeting room with the enchantress and other elders of the Grove, but seeing her now, Jenn realized the two men might have enjoyed the close confines with the enchantress.

~

Tom and Antefalken sat on a boulder outside Tom’s cave. Reggie, Rupert and Talarius had all wanted to sleep. Talarius was still healing, Reggie was new and, Tom was sure, exhausted. Rupert just had bad habits; hopefully he would grow out of them. Although to be fair, Tom reflected, just going unconscious and letting the world go by without him sometimes seemed appealing.

Tizzy, Estrebrius and Boggy were about a thousand feet away, arguing about where to take Rupert sightseeing tomorrow. They were all going a bit stir crazy, stuck in the cave endlessly rehashing things, so they had decided to take Rupert and Talarius sightseeing. It would also be good for Reggie and Tom.

“So you think I should take this crazy wizard up on his offer?” Tom asked Antefalken.

The bard sighed. “I am conflicted, but I think it could be useful. You may need to get out of the Abyss in a hurry at some point, and having a warlock that you can directly contact via link and have summon you could be extremely useful. It is also a lot more reliable than hijacking random summoning spells.”

Tom gave a short laugh. “Yes, and it’s far less likely to scare the crap out of someone and get another army after me.”

“Exactly,” Antefalken agreed.

“However, why do you think I might need to get out of the Abyss in a hurry?”

Antefalken grimaced. “Well, it may be nothing, but Lilith was pretty insistent on your coming to stay with her. If she were to somehow locate you, fleeing to Astlan would be one of the best ways to avoid her.” He shrugged. “Of course, by that logic, you would probably want to find warlocks in multiple planes, make yourself even harder to find.”

“If that’s such a good idea, why don’t more demons have hidden warlocks?” Tom asked.

Antefalken shrugged again. “I don’t know that they don’t; not if they are hidden as you say. However, my suspicion is that the princes and archdemons have more reliable ways to get where they want to go on the Planes of Men than depending on warlocks.”

“I don’t suppose you have any idea how one links to a wizard to make them a warlock?” Tom asked.

Antefalken shook his head and laughed. “You are our resident expert on possession and such things.”

“Argh.   I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“If it helps,” Antefalken said, “from what I’ve read and heard, a warlock is to a demon not unlike a familiar is to a wizard. So that might be one route.”

“A familiar—you mean a black cat or something?” Tom asked.