“How can it make more sense?” Jenn demanded, incredulously.
“Well, simple. He’s a lot older than he looks.” Maelen stated as if were the most natural thing in the world.
“Well obviously! That explains it!” Jenn said sarcastically, “nobody looks that much younger!”
“Really Jenn? It’s not that hard for a powerful wizard or animage to slow the aging process, or even reverse it. How old do you think I am?” Maelen asked.
Jenn just shook her head. “I don’t know! Sixty, sixty five.”
“I started healing people over seventy-five years ago. When I was only a little younger than you.”
Gastropé and Jenn both looked at him in surprise. “You’re saying you are like ninety?” Gastropé’ asked. He couldn’t believe that.
“Ninety-two next quarter month to be exact.” Maelen declared. “So you see, it’s not impossible that Edwyrd could be in his thirties or forties, or even older. He’s just good enough that either he doesn’t age, or he can make himself younger. It would certainly not be inconsistent with the other things I’ve seen him do. Worse come to worst, he’s just shape changed himself younger.”
“I guess,” Gastropé admitted, “that you could be right. After all, I know of a lot of wizards that are over a hundred. Human ones. Elves or dwarves would certainly be that old.”
Jenn looked rather defeated. “Yeah, I just find it hard to believe. You just don’t think of people that powerful, tramping around in the woods being hunted by religious fanatics. That’s for us little people to do. People like that are the Lenamares, or Jehennas. Always in charge, always in control, running things from a comfortable position.”
“Well, whatever the case, they’ll have some explaining to do when they get back.” Gastropé stated. “By the way, how are they getting back?”
“Tizzy is supposed to reopen the link at dawn.” Jenn told him. She looked up at the night sky. “I’d guess that will be in about three hours.”
“Well, since we aren’t going to get into the city before dawn anyway, we might as well camp here and try to get some rest for those hours.” Maelen suggested.
The morning sun shone brightly down into the private garden in which Damien was eating his breakfast. He broke an orange in two absently as he listened to Antefalken recount his encounter with the demon Tom. As he was preparing to pop a slice in his mouth, Antefalken finished. “So,” Damien said holding the orange slice before his mouth, “your opinion is that this Tom is neutral? Not in either camp?” He bit down on the orange slice.
“Yes. I truth read him the entire time and didn’t really catch him in anything. Some of the stuff towards the end was suspicious but not any outright lie. I’d have to say that as fourth order demons go, he’s a pretty decent fellow. “ Damien finished off another couple orange slices.
“On the other hand,” Antefalken continued, “the existence of a demon son pretty much precludes him being new. He didn’t come in from the outer depths just recently. Not if he has a son.”
“Well,” Damien said with a smile, “you are the expert on demonic children.” Antefalken smirked at him. “I’ll trust you on that one.”
“Well, it stands to reason. He would have had to sire the child since the time he was first captured. The probability of a father and son demon captured from the outer regions simultaneously is just too remote to conceive of. Thus, he’s been around for several years. I have no idea how old the child was, with demons age is very hard to tell. Even physical size can be deceiving.” Antefalken bit into an apple.
“What’s your guess?”
“I really don’t know,” Antefalken said as he swallowed his mouthful of apple. “Given that the kid looks identical except for size, and rather acted like a young boy, I’d have to judge by appearances and what I know of similar circumstances. First, the kid is probably no more than a decade, maybe two old. Second the kid is either pure bred demon, or if a half breed, then Tom is extremely powerful. Most demonic children split somewhere between the power of their parents. Thus, a fourth order demon and a human will usually produce second or third order children. Occasionally a completely normal human child or one with nonphysical demonic attributes will appear. Only extremely rarely would you get another fourth order.
“If Tom had mated with another fourth, his son would, of course be a fourth; however pure bred demons are extremely rare and always intentional. Very few demoness want to have a baby; and both parties have to supply animus. With half-breeds, the mother can supply the majority of the animus.” Antefalken continued.
“Appearance is also a puzzle, normally demonic children resemble their children about as much as human children. For the child to be a virtual clone... well, also if we go by appearances and this child grows up to be nearly identical in looks and power... In that case this Tom must be extremely powerful. Of course this all depends on whether Tom has any nonstandard demonic abilities, and whether the child will also.”
“Non-standard demonic abilities?” Damien asked.
“Well, not really nonstandard. No more than being a wizard, priest or any other mana wielder is nonstandard for humans. Essentially, I mean if the demon has any conscious mana wielding abilities. Many demons have certain talents, if you will. Lightning bolts, shoot fire from their eyes, etc., in general however, these are limited and one trick options. As you are aware, most of the truly powerful demons have conscious control of mana. Similar to a wizard or other human.”
“All the archdemons are essentially wizards, aren’t they? I mean they study magic like any human mage.” Damien asked.
“Wizards, priests, druids, animage you name it. Anything a human can do in terms of mana wielding, some demons can too. Not as many demons as humans, elves or dwarves or such, but some few are. The strongest ones are almost always mana wielders. Everything fifth order and above does something, and most of the more powerful fourth orders as well. Remember, this ordering thing is all a made up classification scheme anyway. Demons run in a continuum of power.” Antefalken sipped on a glass of wine that had been on a small table beside him. As usual, he was perched on the back of a chair.
Damien knew most of this. He just liked to periodically have it confirmed by someone on the inside. The demonic children, though, he knew little about.
“Actually,” Antefalken continued after a moment, “about any profession you see in Astlan, and some you don’t, are done by some demon or the other. When you’re immortal, you tend to pick up hobbies, and you become very good at them.”
“So, to get back to the matter at hand. What do you think about this Tom, his power? How much of what he seems is he?”
“Again hard to say. If I guessed by his friendly nature, I’d guess Lenamare’s claims to be correct. He’s a new fourth order demon. If I guessed by the kid... overall and assuming the kid is going to grow to be a fourth order... then most likely this Tom is really an archdemon. A fourth having a fourth order child is not totally out of the question, it does happen. A fourth having a fourth order child that is nearly identical stretches the imagination. For an archdemon such a thing is certainly possible. In this event, the lowest case scenario is a fourth so close to being a fifth that it doesn’t matter.”
“This assumes a pure bred. What about as a half-breed?” Damien asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.
“I’m not aware of any half-breed greater than a three.” Antefalken said. “That would be about as powerful as archdemon would likely produce.” Antefalken made a sucking noise on his teeth. “I don’t want to think what it would mean to have a fourth order half-breed.”
“Particularly if it’s running around anywhere near us.” Damien observed. Antefalken simply nodded.