"That will occur when I slay them with my own hands!" At that shouted proclamation, there was pandemonium in the hall as nobles and demon guards alike bellowed their approval and glee at the thought.
"I am unconvinced," Gord said loudly as soon as there was a lessening of the din. "With Theorpart opposing Theorpart, the opportunity to have your revenge is most improbable." There was a move by Kostchichie toward the three when Gord said that The guristhoi and skuda guards too made as if to attack Graz'zt was tempted, but he saw the one-eyed man's fingers touch the glittering silver of the kanteel's cords, the drow's knuckles tighten as she held the artifact ready, and the strange sword of the little man who dared to speak thus to him actually pulse as if with inner joy at the prospect of such an event.
The massive demon waved his black six-fingered hand. The lesser demons subsided, and the champion who faced him resumed speaking. "We are here to offer you the opportunity of stripping your adversaries of their ability to so oppose you."
"How?" Graz'zt asked simply, but there was ferocious sarcasm in his growled question.
"When your forces take the field against the foe again, the three of us will be there as well. You will mask our presence with Unbinder, and I will use our own powers to confuse the enemy too. With the Eye of Deception also in play, they will be uncertain as to just what is happening."
"The presence of forces such as you, the Theorpart and the rest — no veil will mask those emanations," Graz'zt said uncertainly.
"And what of the artifact held by Iuz, my King?" Vuron hissed.
Graz'zt ignored the urgent advice. He could guess well enough, but there was time for such things later. He would not let such thoughts into his mind now.
"Enough, Vuron. I will demand your words when I want them. Be silent," he admonished with a distracted tone. "Well? What of the enemy's awareness of your force?"
Gord noted the exchange and waited for the demonking's full attention. "You inquire most rightly, Graz'zt, but there is more than veiling possible. The presence of all portions of the relic is broadcast through the Abyss. It is evident everywhere in the multiverse. With effort, though, the many energies jointly commanded by us can give false readings as to the exact whereabouts of even a Theorpart. If we cooperate, the enemy will be duped into false assumptions. They will come out with all their force to do battle, and when that happens, I will be there to see they don't escape."
There was much discussion, but eventually Graz'zt silenced his counselors. Vuron was opposed, as was Palvlag. All the rest favored the plan. The demonking liked it as well. At the moment when the man was locked in combat with Iuz — or whichever of his trollops happened to be using the Theorpart — Graz'zt would intervene. It was a plan that would require the cooperation of Elazalag and the use of the Eye. Well, for the gain, he could give up a little. When the two sides were weakened and locked, then would Graz'zt strike. The whole of the eldritch relic would be his! The rest were scraps that his dogs could snarl and snap over.
"It is decided, champion of Balance. I command the whole of my demon hordes to take the field against the enemy. See that you and your . . . helpers don't fail!"
"When your forces are ready, Graz'zt, you can be certain that we three will be fully prepared," Gord said unsmilingly. "Many surprises lie in store."
Graz'zt did smile. He was quite in agreement with those last words, but he hid that concurrence most artfully.
Chapter 11
THIS WAS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!
"At last! The fool is actually coming forth to meet our advance!" That thought and cry of glee came from the cambion. Iuz was watching as his mother, Iggwilv, created a vIvid scene in the deep basin of the pool.
"Silence while I scry," the witch snapped. Her offspring was a trial, but she needed Iuz to further her ends, and all in all he was controllable — too much so, actually. She would have to watch that slut, Zuggtmoy, closely once the second portion of the artifact of Tharizdun was safe in their grasp. "You know, my dear Iuz," Iggwilv hastened to add sweetly, "I must concentrate so that you will have the most accurate picture of what the lumps of dung who dare oppose you are up to."
That mollified him somewhat, for what the ancient witch said was true. Being a half-demon had many advantages, but there were one or two minor drawbacks as well. Iuz couldn't properly scry — "see" what had occurred, was occurring, or would occur — even with the power of the Awakener. "I demand you show me the outcome, then," Iuz said with a sniff and a petulance that belled his bulk and demoniac visage.
"Leave your mother alone," the demon queen Zuggtmoy purred. "She is doing her best Come, let's amuse ourselves while she works." Instead of her monstrous, fungoid form, Zuggtmoy appeared as a billowy-bosomed human garbed in seductive raiment, and her suggestion was obvious.
"No! Get away! I will see all she can conjure up in the pool," Iuz said with irritation. "Time enough for such frivolity later," he added, seeing the frown on the demoness's painted face. "Lend her your assistance," he told Zuggtmoy with only a little of his usual despotic arrogance in his words. "I — we — should savor the scenes of our coming triumph."
"This troubles me," Iggwilv interjected, addressing the demoness. "The sneaking scum called Gord is here somewhere, but I am unable to pin down the location. See? the witch snapped, pointing to the abstract of planes and twinkling motes that now played above the inky stuff in the pool's recess. "There. There. And there, too! Three depictions, but two are mere phantoms, while one shows the true locale of the three and their Theorpart. Which?"
"Pish, dear Wilva," the demoness said with a wave of her hand. "You have the measure of the little man well. This time he will not manage to win," Zuggtmoy added, recalling the other time Gord had opposed them. Obmi had been lost then. That treacherous dwarf was of no consequence, but losing at all was annoying. "See there? That can't be where he and his two dupes finger. Tschyrtollkya is Kostrochie's sty. No reason to be there at all."
"Yes, that's so," Iggwilv agreed. "The bandy-legged moron is with Graz'zt, and there's nothing to be gained on his tier."
"The same is true for that place," Zuggtmoy simpered, pointing to another of the glimmerings cast by the scrying of the eldest of witches. "We saw what occurred when the three trooped into iyondagur and bribed that poxed doxy, Elazalag, with the Eye of Deception."
"That was a fortunate event," Iuz said heartily. "Now she will be worrying Graz'zt from behind as we march to finish that big pile of excrement gone sweet."
"Hmmm . . ." the witch ruminated, not quite so positive about that result. "What if they were with the Abat-dolor still?"
"We know that they penetrated the fringe of Mezzafgraduun," Zuggtmoy said with certainty. "Then the rede was confused, and three images show. If they are still with Elazalag, then it bodes even worse for Graz'zt, for it can mean only that the three aim to attack with the wild clans of the black demonlings at their back That isn't reasonable, though. . . .The glow from the depths," the queen of fungoid demons went on, indicating the strange light near the very lowest places of the portrayal of the Abyss. "That's where the trio lurks. There are things there that even I would hesitate rousing. The Theorpart gives them the ability to command, and with a pack of great brutes to act as soldiery, the one who is champion might actually be able to overcome Graz'zt's horde . ."
"Our own, too?" Iuz said with unbelieving tone.
"Never mind." Iggwilv spat. "He'll not have time. You must be correct, my dearest Queen," the witch said with a fale smile in Zuggtmoy's direction. "We'll have that Theorpart which Graz'zt thinks his own by the time anything can be mustered and brought from the depths."