The Heavenly Host (Demons of Astlan Book 2) (74 page)

Teragdor was so busy being puzzled by Stevos’s comments that he was slow to answer Hilda. “Uhm, no. I usually camp a ways outside in the woods.”

“Can you name a good, safe, quiet inn?” Hilda asked. “We are paying.”

“Uhm, the Blind Orc’s Gut is about as reputable as any place in town, and they usually have a spare room or two. They are a bit pricier than some, which is why,” Teragdor stated, his attention now on Hilda.

“Excellent, dear. You may help guide us on the way.” She had him by the left arm and Stevos by the right. Clearly, the priest was nervous and confused.

“Are you with the Church? I am a reliable and honest priest. The Father Abbot can vouch for me!” Teragdor said nervously.

Stevos chuckled softly in a friendly manner. “Teragdor, you have nothing to worry about. We just need to work with you to understand and fully appreciate the report you sent me last night.”

“I only sent a report to the Father Abbot. I didn’t send a report to you.”

“Well, technically I guess it’s not exactly a report, but a Prayer of Dire Deliverance tends to work in a similar, if expedited manner,” Hilda chided him gently.

Teragdor inhaled suddenly and tried to halt in place. “What? You mean…”

Both Hilda and Stevos worked to keep him moving. “Yes. That’s why we think it best to discuss these matters in private,” Stevos said. “I am Stevos Delastros; last night you sent me a Prayer of Dire Deliverance, and now it’s being answered.”

Teragdor was staring at Stevos in shock. “Seriously? You are Saint Stevos Delastros? You are real?”

Hilda snorted. “An all-too-common reaction. Oh, ye of little faith. I swear, some of the priests are worse than the lay people. Tell me, why would you bother praying to a saint for intercession if you didn’t expect to get it?”

Teragdor turned to stare at Hilda. “Are you a saint also?”

Stevos grinned. “Teragdor, may I have the pleasure of introducing the Holy Saint Hilda of Rivenrock!”

Teragdor grimaced slightly. “Sorry, Your Holiness. I’m not familiar with you or your work.”

Hilda grinned. “I’d be highly surprised if you were! I’m from Eton and we are deep in the heart of Norelon, so it would be very unusual for anyone here to have heard of me.” She patted him on the back. “Don’t you worry, though. Who we are is nowhere near as important as what you saw!”

~

DOF +9

Late Third Period 16-06-440

Lilith entered her bedchamber planning to disrobe the old-fashioned way and take a nice cooling whirlpool bath. With a flick of her hand, she lit the lamps in her room, bringing light to the darkly curtained boudoir.

“Good day!” Lilith was so startled by the man’s voice that she nearly destroyed her bedroom with lightning bolts before realizing it was Sentir Fallon.

“What the Abyss are you doing here?” Lilith shouted at the avatar.

“Not pleasant having strangers just mysteriously popping up in your bedroom, is it?” the avatar asked in amusement. “Tit for tat.”

Lilith closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head. “You’ve made your point.”

Sentir Fallon shrugged. “You must admit, given that no one can ever be allowed to know of even the existence of these meetings, there are few better places for privacy and security.”

“Security?” Lilith asked incredulously. “You know you’ve just doomed a large number of my guards to certain horrible torture and death?”

Sentir Fallon shook his head. “It’s not their fault and you know it. You did not detect me in here, waiting in the dark. If you could not detect me, then how can you blame them for not detecting me?”

Lilith frowned and then said tartly, “Because I’m a psychotic, mean-ass, vengeful bitch?”

Sentir Fallon grinned and shook his head. “Now who is starting to believe their own press?” He wagged a finger at her. “I do recall having more than one conversation with you about the dangers of starting to believe your own lies… Do you?”

Lilith sighed and shrugged. “Fine. They’ll live.”

“Good. And besides, if you did kill them or torture them, then they and others would know that they failed to stop someone, and they would start to wonder whom they failed to stop. It might give others reason to try. In short, pretending this meeting did not happen is probably best all around,” Sentir observed.

Lilith sighed again, relaxing more this time. “You are right. But that still doesn’t explain why you are here.”

“He’s moving fast,” Sentir stated.

“Fast?”

“It has only been nine days since he defeated Talarius, and in that time, he has found the wand, started the volcano and has begun reconnecting with the orc tribes on the material planes.”

That caused her to pause. “He is reestablishing his old connections on the material planes?”

“Indeed. They were spotted in Astlan yesterday. A combined D’Orc and orc hunting party came through a village called Murgatroy, where they were purchasing supplies. We have our people looking for similar situations on other nearby planes. We expect to find more examples.”

“He’s building armies in the material planes.” Lilith shook her head.

“Or laying the groundwork to recruit more D’Orcs.”

“That should take years, if not decades or centuries,” Lilith said.

“One would think; but on the other hand, before four weeks ago, no one had even heard of this demon.” Sentir spread his hands. “Now he is rocking everyone’s boat.”

“So what do we do?” Lilith asked.

“We need to have some understanding of what is going on inside Mount Doom. I’d suggest a scouting party, or maybe rattle their cage with a raid,” Sentir said.

“And if that pisses him off?” Lilith asked.

“Better to piss him off now, before he is at full power. Don’t you think? At this point we may still be able to bargain with him,” Sentir said.

Lilith looked at the avatar sideways. “If he’s someone new, maybe. If he is Orcus reborn, there will be no bargaining. He will be pissed. Very pissed.”

“In which case we are screwed already. We might as well find out how screwed we currently are.” The avatar grinned at her.

~

“Tiernon’s pauldrons!” Sir Lady Serah exclaimed when Gaius had finished relating the story of Freehold and Sir Talarius’s defeat. She shook her head. “I heard all sorts of crazy rumors, and of course that he had been abducted!” Her eyes were wide at this point. “But stealing mana and possessing priests and Rod members? This creature is fell indeed!”

“An unholy terror unlike any the Knighthood has experienced in our lifetimes,” Gaius stated.

Serah suddenly got an odd look on her face. “Yet you made no mention of an intercession?”

Gadius lifted his hands palm up, signifying it was a mystery. “We expected some word from upstairs after this heinous event, and yet we hear nothing. No instructions, nothing. So we are left to our own.”

Serah shook her head. “I could understand such a lack of attention for simply kidnapping Talarius. But stealing mana from the illumination streams? Possessing high priests, priests and Rod members? A demon of this caliber? I can’t imagine why there has been no inquisition or concern from above.”

Gaius shrugged. “One supposes. However, while we hear of such intercessions, has anyone we know actually seen a saint or avatar in Astlan?”

“Well, there are reports of saints all the time,” Gadius noted.

Gaius shook his head. “By a reliable source—priests, monks, Sisters, Rod members? An actual documented case?”

Serah shrugged. “Not in my lifetime that I am aware of. There is documentation of it from the last century, of course.”

“Apparently times are changing, and so are the attentions of the gods.” Gaius sighed.

“So what are we doing?” Serah asked. “We can’t abandon Talarius to this horrible fate!”

“That’s why we are here, in Keeper’s City,” Gadius told her.

“I’ve been wondering about that. There are rumors of an alliance?” Serah asked incredulously.

“Yes. Apparently this demon’s activities have deeply offended the Oorstemothian government,” Gadius said.

“Lawyers have been negotiating all week on the terms. We are here to see if they can back up their claims,” Gaius said.

“And they claim…?” Serah asked.

“They claim to have the capability to serve warrants, and thus justice, in the Abyss, as well as do judicial extraction, recovery, remedy and executions,” Gadius said.

“And how is that possible? Everything I have ever read or heard about the Abyss makes me question the feasibility of such a thing,” Serah replied.

“You are not alone on that one,” Gaius said.

“Which is why we are here. The fleet that came with us arrives tonight,” Gadius said.

“So will we see the proof of their power tonight then?” Serah asked.

“One might hope, but first there is a formal dinner and I am sure there will be all sorts of speeches,” Gadius said in a very dry voice.

“Speeches? By Oorstemothian bureaucrats?” Serah asked nervously.

Gaius and Gadius just smiled evilly at her.

“Why couldn’t I have waited until tomorrow?” Serah complained. “There is no way for all of them to finish their speeches tonight!”

~

DOF +9

Early Fourth Period 16-06-440

“That’s the last of the supplies. Including the late ordered tanning supplies,” Zelda said as they brought the last of goods from Ithgar through.

“Did you two have a good time?” Tom asked Rupert and Fer-Rog.

“The best!” Fer-Rog exclaimed happily.

“Beya was a great host!” Rupert said.

“Excellent,” Tom said. “Let me say goodbye to her.” Tom stepped back through the gate to bid farewell to the Olafa orcs.

“Wow. We need to figure out how to get back to her for more training,” Fer-Rog said.

“After we got back from the Crooked Sticks, I spent time looking at the stones in the temple. I think I should be able to contact her or Tal Gor through them and then use them as an end point to open a gate,” Rupert said.

“So how would we get back?”

“That’s the trick. But they have people manning the temple now for dream walkers,” Rupert replied.

“Tegdolar and Tegleesa!” Fer-Rog said excitedly.

“Exactly. I think we can make a deal with them to be on this side of the stones.”

“We just don’t want their mother to find out. She’s a good friend of my mom’s,” Fer-Rog said, and Rupert nodded in agreement.

Tom stepped back through the portal, waving to the other side. “I will contact you in about half a period for the ceremony, Beya!”

The shaman said something the boys could not hear, and then Tom shut the gateway.

“So Beya is coming?” Rupert asked.

“As is Tal Gor, Farsooth and Ragala-nargoloth,” Tom said.

“Vaselle and Damien too?” Rupert asked. Tom nodded and smiled.

“Excellent. I haven’t seen Damien in a week!” Rupert chimed in.

Tom grinned. “Let’s head back upstairs. There is a lot of work to do to clean up from the return and get the supplies put away before the ceremony starts and we don’t want to be in the way.”

“Okay, we can go see how preparations are going!” Fer-Rog said happily.

“Well, first though… your mother”—Tom nodded to Fer-Rog—“has had special clothes made for both of you.”

“Clothes? I hate clothes! Demons don’t wear clothes!” Rupert complained angrily.

“Yes, but D’Orcs do, and I do, sort of.” Tom gestured to his belt and kilt combination. “I probably should get some new clothes at some point as well.”

“I think my mom had some of your old clothes adjusted to fit you!” Fer-Rog said.

“What old clothes?” Tom asked, puzzled.

“Are you saying you never looked in the closets and wardrobes in your suite?” Fer-Rog asked mischievously.

“Clearly, I did not.” Tom admitted shaking his head with a smile.

~

Hilda set down her glass of barely palatable wine and smiled at Teragdor on the other side of the small table in their room. It was not much of a room. Two narrow beds, a small table, a chest and a single chair in a room about eight feet per side. Trisfelt’s camp in the woods had been far more comfortable, and the wine and food had been several magnitudes better.

However, she did have to admit she found Teragdor to be interesting company. They had finally convinced him of who they were and had him recite everything he had seen and learned from yesterday. Hilda had also been quite curious on his own background and dug a little bit there. Only enough to be polite, though; she would have loved to know more about someone with such a different background, but that would be rude and ungracious on a first conversation.

“So, I am thinking we might want to go out to this ‘wargtown’ place you mentioned. They seemed to have the best view and some of the longest interactions,” Hilda said.

“Uhm, I suppose. I did talk to them a bit, but did not want to appear too nosy. They are a rough lot,” Teragdor replied.