Rupert nodded shyly. The knight smiled and opened the flap further and stepped in. Sir Talarius was still dressed in the same manner as the night before. In the daylight however, Rupert could see that the knight’s armor had both a goldish and a silverish tint to it at the same time. It almost seemed to scintillate those two colors. Obviously, it was made out of some nonstandard material.
As the knight stepped completely in, he held the flap for his compatriot. This individual was wearing the white robes of a priest. As the man straightened up, Rupert’s stomach fell through the cot he was sitting on. The priest looked up after dusting his robe slightly. As he saw Rupert sitting on the cot, his eyes got extremely wide. He raised one finger and pointed at the boy. “You!”
Rupert grinned, a wide, but rather embarrassed and definitely fake, smile. He weakly waved his right hand at the priest. “Hi. Long time no see.” Time seemed to freeze in place. No one said anything. Verigas just continued to point in shocked surprise; Rupert just sat there, grinning sickly. Talarius darted his eyes from one to the other, not understanding what was going on.
“You two know each other?” Talarius asked. Rupert said nothing.
Verigas gasped air for a moment then shouted. “It’s him! It’s a Minion of Evil! A Scion of the Concordenax!”
Talarius blinked in surprise, looking at Rupert. “What? He’s just a little boy. What are you babbling about?” Talarius looked at the priest.
“It’s one of the Archaedemon’s party! One of the puppet wizardlings that came in its entourage.” Now it was Rupert’s turn to blink. Archdemon’s party? What was the man talking about? Couldn’t the priest tell the difference between an archdemon and a greater demon? Well, actually, Rupert couldn’t either, he’d never seen an archdemon, and he only knew Tom was a greater demon because Lenamare and Jenn said so. “Slay it! Slay it before it wreaks more havoc upon the world.”
Rupert cowered back on the cot. Not that he was in the least bit terrified of the priest, but he felt it was probably the proper thing to do under the circumstances. Talarius had his hand on the priest’s shoulders, trying to calm the screaming priest down. “Relax, relax, it can’t be that bad. He’s just a boy.”
“No! No! He is a creature of the Abyss! A very pawn of the potentates of hell!”
“Stop it man!” Talarius urged. “He’s not hurting anyone here.” By this point another priest had entered the room. This one was older than Verigas and wearing armor as well as a robe.
“What’s going on here?” the man asked.
“Verigas here insists that this lad we found last night is one of the Archaedemon’s wizardlings, Arch-Vicar General.” Talarius looked briefly over his shoulder at the newcomer.
“Really?” The man called Arch-Vicar General examined Rupert as if he were some sort of curious art object. “Verigas did report that there was a little boy with the archdemon. Rupert, I believe was the name Verigas reported.” Rupert cursed to himself. Verigas glared at the knight in vindication, calming down slightly at the same time.
Talarius turned and stared pointedly at Rupert. Rupert decided it was time to sit up and be in a little better position to take action if need be. “So, Rupert, what have you to say for yourself? You’ve admitted to being with a demon last night. Verigas identifies you; in fact gave us your name in advance of your arrival. I suggest you explain.” While not exactly menacing, the knight no longer looked particularly friendly.
“Please sir... I have no idea what the priest is talking about.” Rupert tried to be completely sincere this time.
“He’s lying.” The Arch-Vicar General stated without batting an eye. “Very convincing sincerity, but a lie nonetheless, I can see it in his aura.” Talarius glanced at the Arch-Vicar General, then at Rupert.
“Look son, I don’t know how you got involved in all of this. But if you tell us the truth, you won’t be hurt.” Talarius looked seriously down at Rupert.
“Hurt!” Verigas cried. “He’s a total puppet! He’s probably not even a little kid! He’s got to be killed. Even if he is what he appears, he’s probably so steeped in evil as to be irretrievably damned!”
Talarius glared at the priest. “No living mortal is irretrievably damned, priest. I will ask you not to forget that.”
Verigas ignored the reproof in the knight’s voice. “You can’t trust him. He’s probably a possessed spy of the archaedemon’s!”
Talarius closed his eyes for a moment. “There is one way to determine that. If I prove that this is not the case, will you be quiet and let me question the boy?” Verigas nodded. Talarius walked over to a small chest in the tent. Rupert and the Arch-Vicar General watched his every move. Rupert was getting just a shade nervous, he was probably going to have to change and make a run for it. The knight pulled a key from his belt and without taking his eyes from Rupert, unlocked the chest. Apparently it was the knight’s quarters in which he’d stayed.
From the chest, Talarius pulled out what appeared to be a jeweled hand mirror. Without looking at it, he walked back over to Verigas. “Now, gazing at the boy through this mirror will reveal any demonic influences.” He held the mirror up so Verigas and the Arch-Vicar General could also see as he moved the mirror between himself and Rupert.
As the mirror came between Rupert and the knight, Rupert noticed a greenish light seeming to come from the other side of the mirror, illuminating the knight’s face and those of the priests. Rupert watched in fascination as the knight’s face went from calm to shock, to pure incredulity. He raised his eyes from the mirror to stare directly at Rupert.
Rupert didn’t need to be told what the knight saw in order to know he’d been revealed as a demon. Damn, he thought. No sense in staying here. Even as the knight’s eyes turned from surprise to grim determination, Rupert was changing. His clothes bulging and ripping as he gained mass. Rupert didn’t waste time to complete the change, he scrambled up and backwards to the rear of the tent. Intending to tear his way out of the tent. His wings began to beat, trying to free themselves from his clothes. As of yet they were still not fully formed for him to fly.
Almost faster than his eyes could travel, which was incredibly fast, given his incredibly quick demonic reflexes, Rupert watched the knight’s sword fly free of its sheath. So fast that it was only a blur as the knight lunged forward, faster than any man in that much armor should ever be. Rupert lunged out of the way. Rupert hadn’t even had time to complete his transformation. It was useless, even though he couldn’t see it, Rupert felt the sword.
Rupert felt the sword strike his still mainly human neck with a single mighty blow. Golden light seemed to flash from the blade. Strangely enough, Rupert felt almost no pain, only shock as his world began to tilt at a strange angle. As if in some weird dream, he saw his half-demon half-human body folding in the middle, falling to the ground, as if to sit, headless. A jarring sensation came next and the world tilted crazily again as his head bounced off the cot. The last thing he saw was the priest Verigas cowering away as all within the tent were showered with blood from Rupert’s decapitated body. Then all went black.
Chapter 72
Jehenna finished her inspection of Bromagni’s work. She was currently taking her turn at supervising the work of the students. Lenamare had gone off to deal with other matters. She shook her head; these students had to be monitored continuously lest they make a mistake. How nice it would be to have somewhat more competent help. One did with what one had, though. She walked over to the table in the corner to inspect her calculations.