Damien shook his head, not sure what to think. “And naturally,” Damien looked back at the demon, “if he really is a powerful archdemon... or... more... then he could make himself appear to be a new fourth order demon with no problem.” Damien frowned at this one. He really didn’t like where this line of thought was going.
After eating a muffin, Damien asked, “What about this story about Exador and the Abyssal Switch?”
“Tom seemed to know all about it. Acted as if such things were common knowledge. I’m not aware of such a thing.” Antefalken told him.
Damien nodded. “I am, though. I’ve seen it mentioned in some really old texts. If Exador really did this, then he’s upped the power ante in this game. It’s at least as hard or harder spell than Lenamare’s little explosion. I find him doing it hard to believe. It’s one of those spells of legend. You know, supposed to exist but no one knows of anyone doing it. Used to be used, supposedly, for switching a piece of land into the Abyss and leaving it until the occupants were dead. So casual and frequent, yet well thought out, use by Exador for transporting so many men... well that indicates a lot more powerful a mage than Exador pretends to be.”
“None of what I learned from Tom seemed exactly comforting.” Antefalken commented.
“Nor the fact that your friend Tom knew so much about the Abyssal Switch spell. That would indicate he is a very powerful spell user.” Damien stated as he poured himself some hot tea.
“Really sounds like your friend Lenamare has bitten off more than he can chew. On all fronts.” Antefalken commented with a grin.
“Not my friend.” Damien corrected his bard.
Chapter 64
“My book!” Lenamare exclaimed grabbing the book right out of Jenn’s hand. Almost the first question out of the man’s mouth when he’d seen them was, “Where’s my book, girl?” Not, “Hi, glad to see your still alive,” but rather “where’s my book?” Edwyrd had to admit, he didn’t like the way the man treated humans any better than he liked the way the man treated demons.
The summoning at dawn had proven no problem. They’d come through on schedule with no problem. Jenn had sobbed with joy and hugged Rupert, before yelling at him for running off. After they’d gotten such amenities out of the way, they’d proceeded across the plane to the city gates.
They’d gotten there just as the gates were opening. The guards had questioned them about their business in the city fairly carefully. Actually, Maelen had told them the guards wouldn’t have cared at all except that they were bringing a demon in. Tizzy had presented something of a problem.
The demon had had no desire to wait outside, and couldn’t just fly over the walls due to some sort of wards on them. Thus he’d been forced to accompany the party. They’d decided they’d pass him off as Gastropé’s slave. Gastropé had donned a cloak, and Tizzy carried the tail of it above the ground. The guards, naturally, were leery of the demon, but seemed to have no major objections. As long as Gastropé signed in with his full name and promised to report his and his demon’s whereabouts to the city constable each day.
After that they’d marched down the main street of the city and up to the Council’s Palace in the center. It was actually a remarkable place. It was, to all intents and purposes, a large fortress composed of nearly a hundred towers of various shapes and sizes. There were several large cathedral-like buildings between towers, as well as just long buildings connecting the whole thing into a single edifice. It was certainly the largest building Edwyrd had seen in Astlan. Also given the sheer area it encompassed on the ground, it would probably count as the largest building he personally had ever been in.
They’d walked in and up to a central information desk. Jenn had asked the elf, Edwyrd was certain the being could be nothing else, where they might find Lenamare. Surprisingly enough, the elf didn’t even have to look that up. He knew immediately where Lenamare’s quarters were. Thus wasting no time they’d followed the elf’s directions and soon found themselves knocking on Lenamare’s door.
Edwyrd had wondered about such lax security. The front desks in all large buildings he was familiar with required ID’s to get into. Although he supposed one would have to be pretty sure of oneself to walk up and knock on Lenamare’s door.
The wizard had opened it himself. He’d taken one look at Jenn and shouted, “Jehenna!” The woman had come up to the door behind Lenamare. Lenamare stepped out of the way, indicating they should enter. They did and Lenamare quickly shut the door behind them. It was at that point, he’d demanded, “Where’s my book, girl?”
Jenn, apparently as shocked as the rest of them by the greeting, had simply reached into her robe and pulled the book out. She tried to hand it to Lenamare. He grabbed it out of her hand, saying, “My book!” Jehenna also was staring intently at the book. For a few moments both of them ignored the rest of their guests as they hungrily examined the book to verify its existence.
Jehenna sighed and looked at Jenn. “Girl. I am so happy to see this book safe back in our possession, that I am willing to overlook the fact that you caused the whole problem in the first place.”
“Me?” Jenn asked shocked.
“Certainly you,” Jehenna said unemotionally, “if you hadn’t switched your adolescent scribblings with this book, we’d have never lost it. You don’t know how Lenamare and I have worried and fretted over this book.” Jenn just opened and shut her mouth a couple of times, speechless.
“You’re damn lucky to get this book back to us, Jenn.” Lenamare said. “More people than you can imagine would be more than willing to kill you for it.”
“Kill me for it?” Jenn asked in a small voice, nearly dazed out of her mind by the reception.
“Certainly, Exador to name only one.” Jehenna stated.
“Exador?” Jenn said weakly.
“Not to mention, I don’t know how you avoided the archdemon.”
“Archdemon?” Jenn looked about ready to faint. Both Edwyrd and Gastropé propped her up with their hands.
“Certainly.” Jehenna stated matter-of-factly, “Trisfelt has reported to us most reliably, that as we speak there is an archdemon advancing on Freehold with its horde.”
“Intent on this book, I guarantee you.” Lenamare stated. “You don’t know how lucky you are to get it to us where we can keep it safe.”
“If either had caught you, this book would have been forfeit. Your life as well, of course.” Jehenna told her. Edwyrd had to swallow; he could imagine what was running through Jenn’s mind. Exador’s people had caught her. It was only blind luck Rupert had grabbed the book back. Further given Jenn’s opinions on demons she couldn’t like the idea of an archdemon hunting for the book.
Edwyrd wasn’t sure what an archdemon was, but he’d heard himself referred to as a greater demon, an archdemon must be like a fifth order demon or so. He really wouldn’t have wanted to meet one of those on the road. That would have been unpleasant to say the least. Much worse than the Rod. He wondered where the archdemon was and what it would do when it got to Freehold.
Lenamare and Jehenna both seemed to notice the rest of the party at the same time. They looked at Rupert, who they recognized. The rest of the party they didn’t know and were frowning over. “Who are your friends, girl?” Jehenna asked. She was staring at Tizzy most intently.
“Uhm,” Jenn could hardly think she was so stunned, so Edwyrd spoke up.
“I’m Edwyrd, Rupert’s cousin.” He stuck out his hand. Both Lenamare and Jehenna just stared at him coldly, making no move to take it. Needing to do something with it, he pointed to the others. “This is Maelen a Seer and Healer,” Maelen nodded coldly. Edwyrd pointed to Gastropé, “This is the wizard Gastropé who we encountered and was of great assistance in returning. And that’s his demon.” He pointed last to Tizzy. He didn’t want to give Lenamare any indication of Tizzy’s name, full or not.