Tom looked around the cave. The boy wasn’t in it. Apparently, he’d left the cave, no one had noticed. “I don’t know, he must have wandered out.”
“Curse that child!” Jenn said, shaking her head in frustration. “Rupert!” she yelled. “Come on! it’s time to go!” They waited for a response but none came. “Where the Abyss is he?” worry showing through Jenn’s voice.
Tom! Tom heard Tizzy’s voice in his head. That was strange; it was like telepathy, he guessed. How was that happening? Was it this link he had? Hurry up, the gateway is spilling light into the surrounding area; someone is bound to see it soon. What’s the matter, what are you taking so long for? Trying to make yourself another kid? Tom just grimaced at the little demon.
“Jenn, we can’t keep this link much longer!” Tom said.
“Well I’m certainly not leaving him here!” Jenn cried almost hysterically.
“No, no!” Tom assured her thinking quickly, “but I’ll stay and find him. You have to go through. I’ll find him and then bring us both back.”
“No, I’m not leaving without Rupert!” Jenn shouted.
Tom shook his head, “Jenn, you can’t go out and find him; your spell won’t hold up to the heat. Mine will. You go through; I can pull us both out the same way. You just have Tizzy repeat this summons in... I don’t know... three hours or so, at dawn say.”
Jenn looked at him for a moment, “No,” she finally said. “I can’t leave the boy in the Abyss.”
“Jenn,” Edwyrd pleaded. “Please, believe me. I can find him; he will be all right. I swear to you by all that I hold sacred that I’ll find him and bring him through. You have my word that I won’t leave the Abyss until I find him.”
Jenn bit her fingernails. Edwyrd knew she didn’t want to leave the boy, he hoped she realized that there was no choice. “You swear to Maera? On your heart, upon your soul of souls?”
“I swear to Maera, fervently and devotedly. May I be doomed to spend the rest of eternity here in the Abyss if I lie, or if I fail.” Rather a hollow promise Edwyrd realized. For one thing, he had no idea who Maera was, and for the other, he was already doomed to the Abyss for all eternity. Jenn just frowned uncertainly, but her brow was already lined with sweat from the heat. She had to know there was no way she could handle the outside temperatures, needed to find Rupert.
“RUPERT! COME HERE!” She yelled one last time with all her might. They waited several more moments but no Rupert came. Now Edwyrd was getting concerned. Biting her lower lip, Jenn stepped closer to the gateway. “Please find him, Edwyrd, not just for my sake, but for his own?”
“I will, Jenn; I swear it. Don’t worry, I will ensure his safety.” Jenn gave Edwyrd’s hand a quick squeeze then backed through the gateway, looking longingly up the passageway from the cave. Edwyrd watched her go through, feeling her fear.
As soon as she was through, he called to Tizzy, Tizzy, summon me again at dawn; I’ve got to find out where Rupert wandered off to.
Probably the courts, Tizzy replied, every kid wants to see those. See ya later! With that last thought, Edwyrd allowed the hole in space to fill itself in with reality. Rupert, that kid was more trouble, Edwyrd thought to himself.
With the departure of the wizards, the Were Light was also gone. The cave was quite dark. It had certainly not been that way before. Since he was going to be here for a while, there was no reason to limit himself in his search. He might as well be comfortable and have all of his abilities available to him. Quickly, Edwyrd stripped off his clothes and put them on the table. With that done, he let himself relax completely.
Even as he did so the room began to lighten. Within moments, not only had his viewpoint shifted upwards by five or six feet, his eyesight was able to see everything in the room as well as if it were day. Marching determinedly, he went up the passageway to the cave’s exit.
As he reached the small ledge that marked the cave’s mouth at the top of the mountain, he found a pile of human clothes. It didn’t take much looking to realize they were Rupert’s and it didn’t take much to guess what the kid had done. Kids, Tom sighed to himself. He scanned the red sky above, looking for any flying silhouettes. He didn’t see any. He then turned his gaze downward toward the valley.
He had to stare for a while, but eventually he found an unusual spot on the valley floor below. It was only a few hundred feet horizontally from him, but about a couple thousand vertical. His cave was on a very steep mountain. He swooped down off his perch towards the speck below. As he came upon the spot, he shook his head.
A small winged, burgundy humanoid was laying on the ground. It waved at him as he approached. Actually, it was sort of tilted over backwards. It’s lower legs, below the knee were stuck in the ground, his upper body bent over and resting on the ground, almost like sitting. Tom knew the position. “Legs hurt?” he asked Rupert.
Rupert smiled slightly and nodded strongly. “Like crazy. I’m also stuck.”
“Flying is not as easy as it looks, is it?” Tom said with the air of a learned expert. He had to remind himself that it had only been a couple weeks ago that he’d been in the same position. “Here.” He reached out his hands so Rupert could grab them. As the boy did so, Tom pulled straight upward, lifting the boy and his legs out of the hole. He met a slight resistance and Rupert groaned, and then popped free of the dirt.
“Oh...” Rupert moaned as Tom set him back down on the ground gently, before landing himself. He looked down into the boy’s eyes. “You know, of course, that Jenn went into hysterics when she found you missing?”
“I’m sorry.” Rupert said sincerely. “I just went out for a look again, and-well, I couldn’t help myself. I had to try.” He bowed his head. Tom sighed, he understood.
“Well, they’ve gone back to Astlan,” he pulled the boy forward, “we’ll follow in a few hours when Tizzy summons me again. I’m just glad you’re all right.” He gave Rupert a hug. Once again, proportion was balanced between them, and Rupert’s horns only came up to Tom’s ribcage. He hugged the boy tightly, patting him between the wings. Rupert smiled fondly upward at him. “OK, boy. No son of mine is going to go around putting holes in my front lawn. We’ll have to teach you what to do with those wings, aside from cooling yourself!” Tom shook his head and smiled as Rupert grinned back. Rupert’s smile didn’t look anything but what it was now, in no way was it frightening. Interesting, Tom thought.
Like most young kids, Rupert was a fast learner. Within a half hour, Tom had Rupert soaring over the valley with him. Showing him some of the finer points he himself had mastered just recently. After one extremely high dive, in which they nearly scraped the bottom of the valley, they pulled up to near the same height as the top of the mountain. There they rested for a moment, just hovering in the air.
“Wow!” Rupert exclaimed. “This is so excellent. I can’t believe how much fun it is.” Tom had to smile, flying was fun. It was even more fun when you had someone to enjoy it with. It was also fun to watch the boy’s enthusiasm.
“Ah-hem,” a voice said behind and below them. Tom started slightly. He looked down and over to the voice. About twenty feet away, standing in a respectful pose, was another demon. This was not a demon Tom had seen before. Instantly he was on guard.
The demon was actually quite small. Perhaps a little bigger than human Rupert, but thinner. Almost like one of the smaller Sidhe he’d seen in Hoggensforth. However, this demon had cat-like eyes, a small beard and mustache and rather small bat-wings. He was also dressed. The little demon was wearing some sort of leather vest and pants. How very strange.