“Allow me to rephrase my earlier statement,” Jehenna continued smoothly, Lenamare looking on grumpily. “What I should have said was: it would be best that the number of individuals knowing the contents of the book be kept to a minimum. The more people that know, the more likely the information is to escape and the more players on the field we will have.” Edwyrd refrained from saying that keeping the book a secret hadn’t exactly kept the field empty. “Now, let’s have dessert.”
The remainder of the meal continued in the same manner as the start of the meal, in silence. That was fine with Edwyrd. Less chance of himself blowing up and trying to incinerate Lenamare and Jehenna on the spot. Not that he felt he had an overwhelming chance of success, but it would certainly be fun to try; after all, he didn’t see any pentacles in the dining room.
As they walked back to their rooms that evening, Jenn finally spoke up. “You do enjoy a good argument, don’t you, Edwyrd?” Edwyrd just smiled and shrugged. “First me last night, and now those two. Obviously, I can’t agree with your weird attitude about demons, but I do have to admire you for bearding those dragons in their layer.”
“Well, I just thought somebody needed to put them in their place.” Edwyrd explained.
“Well, I think for the moment, you did,” commented Maelen. “I certainly enjoyed it. I’m not completely sure it was wise, but what you said about allies is true and neither of those two impress me as being stupid. While they may seethe at your temerity, I suspect they’ll also decide you were right and put up with it.”
Chapter 67
Sir Talarius rode through the cool night breeze. The heat of the daytime sun now left behind. The Rod’s calvary was camped back at the top of the pass. At their current fast pace, they should be able to reach Freehold at sunset the coming evening. Talarius was pleased with their progress; as always the men of the Rod excelled above all others. They were certainly one of the fastest and most mobile military units he’d had the pleasure of serving with. They were also exceptional warriors, down to the last man.
They had had the small delay to locate any invisible demons, but none had been found. The Arch-Vicar had moved priests to the outer edges and instructed them to continue scanning for cloaked and invisible beings around the Rod.
The Arch-Vicar General had concurred with him on the need for more extended reconnaissance. It was for this reason that he was even now approaching the outer walls of Freehold on the back of War Arrow. The city let off a great deal of light into the night’s sky. Obviously a prosperous town, with hope not yet overrun by evil. Along the way Talarius had scanned the road for signs of the Archaedemon’s forces, invisible or otherwise, but had seen none.
Aiding him in this process was the Holy Mirror of Erastimus. Talarius examined it even now as he approached the city. To the common eye it appeared little more than a fair-sized hand mirror with an incredibly large diamond set on the back of its finely wrought silver frame. However, to one blessed with knowledge of its use, it was far more. By holding the mirror between one’s self and an object or person, the mirror would show the image of that object. Overlaid upon that person or object would be a color coded indication of demonic influence. If only such a mirror existed for other types of evil, the evil in the hearts of men, for example.
In this particular instance, Talarius would fly over the city, viewing parts of the city through the mirror. Any demons would show up on the mirror as points of colored light. Even if they were shielded by walls or roofs. Further, the color of the light representing the demon would be indicative of its power. The colors were those of the primary spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Thus there were seven levels to indicate demonic power. Of course, there were only six orders of demons, unless one counted the Concordenax, which hardly seemed reasonable, thus the color-coding scheme would be a little more finally tuned than the nomenclature commonly used to describe demons. Actually, Talarius reflected, it was certainly finer, because in the past, the colors he’d seen had formed a continuum indicating the overall power of the demon. Thus, a powerful first order might appear as orange red.
Talarius had seen the lower half of the spectrum quite often. He’d never seen violet or indigo and only once, blue. He prayed to Tiernon he never did see any of the higher colors. That would surely be a test he’d fail. Overall, though, Talarius found the mirror to be indispensable in the war on evil. He only wished there were some way to incorporate the mirror’s powers into his visor so he could always spy demonic influence. It was simply not considered polite to walk up to a stranger looking at them through an apparently opaque mirror. It was also not safe, to walk up to an opponent in battle doing such.
He brought War Arrow into a circular flight pattern around the city. He remained at a fairly high distance above the ground. He wanted, first of all, to be able to sweep good sized portions of the city in a single pass, and secondly, to be above any ground attacks that might be launched by nervous guards or drunken wizards. He instructed War Arrow to go in an inward spiral at normal horse walking speed. It would take a while, but the thorough scan could prove worthwhile. He’d finish up with a surveillance of the wizards’ palace. He suspected that most likely an Archaedemon would be in the city somewhere, or near its outside perimeter. He doubted it would feel safe inside a palace full of wizards who would certainly detect it.
There appeared to be no demons outside the city walls. Inside was somewhat different. As he passed over the city, he noted several red and orange lights indicating low level demons. Not a horde certainly, but far more than the one or two demon’s one might expect in a city this size. Talarius, however was not alarmed. Given that Freehold was a city full of wizards, such activity was to be expected, even if it was blatant folly on the part of the wizards.
Unfortunately those fool wizards could never leave well enough alone. Always thinking they could overcome the will of the demons, control them and use their powers for non-evil purposes. All too often Talarius had seen good wizards slain by a mistake or corrupted by the very beings they thought to enslave. While they might believe they had control of the demon, in reality, the demon had subverted them, causing them to do ever-increasing evil, all the while believing such acts were their own idea. Talarius shook his head, wishing others could see what he saw so plainly. Perhaps it was his experience in being deceived that led to his clarity.
Overall, Talarius counted fifteen demons of first or second order in the city. Anywhere else this would have been alarming. As it was, Talarius shook his head. He wondered where the Archaedemon was. Surely, it wouldn’t be in the Council Palace. Nonetheless, it was time to pass over the palace. What the Holy Mirror of Erastimus revealed nearly unseated him.
Talarius had to circle the Palace of Evil several times before he could believe what he was seeing. How could it have gone so far? Had the entire Council of Wizards been taken over already? Through the mirror, the entire palace was lit with red spots. They must be virtually lining the corridors with first order demons! There were literally hundreds of them! While there were large areas, he presumed private chambers, free of the red; the spider work dot pattern of red lights seemed to indicate that there were demons spread throughout the halls.
That however, was the least of his worries. Intermixed in the red were several orange and even yellow lights. There were probably another fifteen or twenty orange lights in the building and maybe five or six yellow. To top this off, there was a definite bright green light moving through the castle even as he watched. This was unthinkable; he’d never seen so much activity in one place. However, all these lights paled before the final fact that made Talarius sick to his stomach, he felt his bowels rumbling.