Whoosh! Went the fire before them. He heard Jenn take an indrawn breath, and knew he must have what he needed. Opening his eyes he beheld the hole in the flames, opening up to his cave. “Who’s first?” he asked.
Rupert didn’t need to be asked twice. He dove through the hole in the flame, hearing Jenn sigh his name in frustration. He didn’t care though, he was going home again! Going back to where he belonged. He emerged into the dark cave; he willed his eyes to adjust even as he had the first time. Tom’s cave was just as they’d left it.
Not that there was much to change. The place was just a tad bit on the barren side. He suspected, however, that it was really just a stopping point of Tom’s. Hunting cabin sort of thing. He’d probably brought them there the first time because it was up in the mountains and thus cooler so Jenn’s and Gastropé’s spells could work.
As Rupert was looking around, Gastropé stepped through the hole. The young wizard groped blindly in the dark for a second and then produced a small ball of Were Light. Gastropé’ had put his cooling spell on before entering, but even so Rupert could see him sweating. Maybe he should think of sweating, too?
Following Gastropé through the hole was Maelen leading the donkey. Apparently, the healer had put the animal into some sort of trance to get it to walk through fire. The donkey stared straight ahead, oblivious to its surroundings. Jenn had to step sideways to get around the donkey who was temporarily blocking her way. She was muttering to herself, convinced that she’d let them talk her into something really stupid. As she hurried out of the way, Edwyrd stepped through.
As Edwyrd stepped through, he turned to face the hole and concentrated on it. As Rupert watched, he saw the light in the clearing fade as Edwyrd quenched the fire in the fire pit. The hole growing ever smaller as he did so. At last he shook his head as if exiting a trance, and smiled, “There, that should do it, and I’ve put the fire out so we won’t be responsible for any forest fires. Smokey would be proud.” Rupert wondered who Smokey was. Some demon with a fear of fire? It seemed unlikely.
Jenn had been staring around, tapping her foot. “Smart, real smart.”
“What?” Edwyrd asked her.
“You’ve brought us to the same place the big demon did.”
“So?” Edwyrd asked, clearly puzzled.
“So? What if it shows up? I doubt it’s going to be too thrilled with uninvited house guests.” Jenn said as if speaking to a small child.
“Uhm.” Edwyrd was at a bit of a loss here. “Well, it’s the only place Rupert knew.” He looked apologetically at Rupert for laying the blame on him.
“You could have asked Gastropé. He’s had the grand tour.” Gastropé looked rather embarrassed.
Edwyrd simply said, “You could have suggested that.” That caused Jenn to stop what she’d been about to say. Edwyrd was right and even though she wasn’t in a good mood, she had to admit it, Rupert thought.
“Hmm, well, what do we do if it comes by?”
“Say, sorry to bother you, but do you have a cup of sugar?” Edwyrd suggested.
Jenn smiled grimly and shook her head. “I don’t think so. You’ve never dealt with this demon. I suspect he’d simply bite your head off and then after he’d digested your brains, might think to ask.”
This time it was Edwyrd who shook his head. “Why do you hate this demon so much? From what I’ve heard, all he’s done is try to help you.”
Jenn looked at him skeptically. “You have all this incredible power, and yet you know so little about demons?”
“Apparently,” Edwyrd replied sarcastically.
“Demons are evil. E—V—I—L in all capital letters. Anyone stupid enough to trust one deserves to have their soul eaten.”
“Do you really think demons eat souls?” Edwyrd asked incredulously.
“It doesn’t really matter, does it? As everyone knows, demons have only one goal. Destruction. The destruction of all humankind, destruction of life, destruction of all Astlan. Destruction for the sake of destruction.”
“How do you know that? Did the demons tell you this?” Edwyrd asked.
“Hah! Like you could trust anything a demon told you. I can’t believe that you’re either this naive or that you can think to defend them.” Jenn paced back and forth a couple times. “It is taught to every child entering wizardry, as well as all children everywhere to a lesser degree, that demons are the agents of destruction. They rebelled against the gods at creation and have since done nothing but try and undo that creation.”
Edwyrd apparently came up with a different tact, “if demons are so evil, such agents of destruction, the why do wizards use them? Wouldn’t that make those who use them evil as well? People who summon or bind demons would thus be evil, people like Lenamare-or you?”
Jenn shouted indignantly, “I do not summon or bind demons!”
“Oh? Didn’t you participate in summoning and binding Tom with Lenamare?”
Jenn sputtered, it took her a moment to come up with a response to that. “That was just a learning exercise. Part of a class, I had to attend. Lenamare demanded all his students attend!”
“So you’re not evil, because you just did what you were told?”
“Look! I’m not evil, and yes I had no choice in summoning that demon; believe me, I’d rather not have.”
“So you had no choice? Lenamare forced you to do it? Sort of like how Lenamare forced the demon to go out and slay the demons, wizards and soldiers attacking the wards? Sort of like Jehenna ordering the demon to attack Gastropé’s people? The demon was ordered to do those things. Therefore, was it responsible for those evil acts? Wasn’t it just doing what it was told?”
Jenn was nearly screeching by this point. “That’s ridiculous!”
“Oh, and did Lenamare or Jehenna give the demon a choice? You know how this stuff works better than I. Do these spells leave the demon any free will?”
Jenn shook her head. “No,” she admitted angrily, “but that’s beside the point. It enjoyed doing those things. It enjoys killing and destroying things.”
“Really,” Edwyrd asked calmly, “and how do you know? Did you ask it?”
“Ask it,” she was staring at Edwyrd as if he’d just chopped his own head off and was sitting on it. “Ask it? Are you totally daft? Ask a demon if it enjoys destruction? Of course not! Ask the very archetype of Evil if it enjoys being evil?”
“Then how do you know?” Edwyrd persisted.
“Know! What’s this about know? Of course I know! It’s by definition. Demons are evil, they are anti-creation incarnate!”
“Ahh!” Edwyrd said softly, calmingly, “But Jenn? By whose definition? The demons’? The Rod’s or some ancient wizards’? Are the demons given any more choice in defining themselves as good or evil than they’re given a choice in any of their other actions dictated by wizards? Were they given any more choice in defining themselves than we were in the Rod’s definition of us?”
Jenn simply snorted. She shook her head. “You just don’t understand anything. You just don’t understand demons.”
“Maybe,” Edwyrd admitted quietly, “or maybe I just don’t understand wizards.”
Jenn looked at him, still somewhat as if he were insane, but also as if she just couldn’t understand him or where he was coming from. As if she just couldn’t fathom what drove him to such strange thoughts.