Jehenna shook her head in frustration at her. “Who cares?” Jehenna turned away from the window. “That’s the least of our worries.”
Jenn nodded, her eyes suddenly got wide as she realized the other implication. “So no one or thing can get in or out, right?”
“That’s what I just said.” Jehenna glared at her in exasperation.
“So we’re all trapped in here with the hundreds of invisible demons?” Jenn turned a Gatropian shade of pale.
Jehenna looked at her as if she were drunk. “What are you talking about?”
Her tone really annoyed Jenn. “I mean the hundreds of minor demons that line every single corridor of the palace, and which are all hidden by invisibility spells, of course. I assumed you and Master Lenamare were aware of them. The rest of us know about them, and the council is trying to figure out who they belong to.”
Jehenna was rock still staring at Jenn. “How do you know this?” She asked coldly.
Jenn glared back at her. “Even a thaumaturge like myself can see them if I look.” She hadn’t looked but she wanted to stick it to Jehenna. “We: Gastropé, Maelen, Edwyrd and I discovered them and reported them to the council.” She was exaggerating, she hadn’t found any, but she was sick of Jehenna’s know-it-all attitude.
“I thought you were a member of the council? Don’t they inform you of these things?” Jenn asked, as innocently as she could, without gloating, as she watched a series of very bizarre emotions twitch across the woman’s face.
Jenn decided it was a good thing that Jehenna couldn’t breathe fire or Jenn would probably be roasted alive. “Of course, I know about this. I simply find it amazing that a lowly student could be privy to council business!”
Jehenna turned and stormed out of the room. Jenn smiled brightly; this had to be the best conversation she’d ever had with that woman. So, maybe demon hordes are useful, Jenn thought to herself.
“So what, or who, are these Oorstemothians?” Edwyrd asked Maelen and Gastropé as they stood atop the outer wall, peering through the wards at the sky fleet. A very impressive fleet, Edwyrd had to admit.
Gastropé shrugged and looked to Maelen. The Seer cleared his throat. “Oorstemoth is a nation-state south-east of here. To come out of the sunset, they must have flown through a western pass, keeping low to the ground to avoid attention. Which would make sense.” Maelen shrugged.
“They are a very prosperous nation that supplies a lot of food to both Norelon and Eton. They are also a huge bureaucracy, and unlike most states have no intrinsic lords, just higher and higher levels of office.”
“They’re also a pain in the ass from what I’ve heard.” Gastropé interjected.
Maelen nodded in agreement. “That is one way of putting it.” The Seer chuckled. “They believe in law and order and procedure to a rather inconceivable extreme.”
“Sounds very sluggish and inefficient. Bureaucracies are a big problem.” Edwyrd noted.
“One would think; they are elsewhere.” Maelen shook his head. “However, they’ve been around for over a thousand years and they pretty much have a rule for everything and so can be ruthlessly efficient when need be.”
“So why are they pursuing us?” Edwyrd asked.
“You don’t know?” Maelen asked, surprised. They shook their heads. “We sunk one of their naval vessels that was trying to arrest Asmeth and his crew. That would have annoyed them a great deal.
“They consider such acts illegal, crimes that must be punished.” Maelen told them.
“Why did they want Asmeth?” Gastropé’ asked.
“And it seemed more like they were trying to sink Asmeth, rather than arrest him.”
“He is, or most likely was, a smuggler and apparently wanted in Oorstemoth. He hired your group to defend his ship from the Oorstemothians.”
“He said we were there to fight pirates.” Gastropé responded in shock.
“If one is a pirate, or in this case a smuggler, a country’s navy, from your perspective, are effectively pirates; I should suppose.” Maelen gave him a thin smile. “And I am sure he’d been tried in absentia and been found guilty; and of course, anyone assisting him would also be guilty.
“And the words summary justice and eradication were used in presenting their warrant, so I’m pretty sure we too have been tried in absentia; and found guilty and sentenced to death.
The two young men shook their heads, trying to understand. “How on earth did they find us so quickly?” Edwyrd asked. Gastropé was looking a new, more nuanced shade of pale, Edwyrd noted.
“They have spies everywhere. I am sure they were boarding Asmeth’s ship and arresting its crew even as we scurried out of town. They may also have spies among the Rod and in Freehold” Maelen explained.
“Isn’t spying sort of an illegal activity?” Gastropé’ asked, “These guys are all law and order you said.”
Maelen shook his head, “Perspective lad, perspective. Spying to preserve the law? For the greater good? Completely legal, if you write the law that way.” Maelen shook his head, “Yes, they are very due process oriented, but if you aren’t an Oorstemothian, then well, anything against foreign threats is fair game.”
After what seemed like an interminable period of time, Lord Gandros finally opened his door, allowing Lenamare to storm in, uninvited, Jehenna behind him. Gandros stepped back in surprise. “Master Lenamare, Mistress Jehenna what a surprise; I was just sitting down to lunch.”
Lenamare shook his head in annoyance and Gandros’ protestations. “I’m sorry, but I’ve recently become aware that there seems to have been a change in policy in the Palace and I wanted to discuss it with you.”
“A change in policy? Whatever are you talking about?” Gandros asked.
“All the invisible demons lining the halls? Spying on people?” Jehenna asked sharply.
“Ahh, those.” Gandros said, relaxing a bit and taking a seat in a large overstuff chair. He gestured to the other two to sit down. “I take it from your irritated tone, that they don’t belong to you?”
Lenamare did a double take and looked back to the Archimage as if he were insane. “Me, why would I have hundreds of demons running around the palace. Not even I am egotistical enough to think I could control that many.”
“Hmm,” Gandros nodded and stared off in thought for a bit. “Well, that does narrow the field.”
“Since they aren’t the council’s and you know about them, why weren’t we informed of them?” Jehenna asked. “As Council members, we should be apprised of such situations.”
Gandros arched an eyebrow and simply stared at her for a few moments. “As a Council member, you also have a right and might I say duty, to show up for Council meetings? Other than hearings pertaining to your own situation with Exador, you two, along with Exador, Randolf and Zilquar, have all been absent from recent meetings. One should hope you’d forgive us for not posting public notice about the palace.”
Lenamare made a harrumphing noise, unable to refute the chancellor. “So,” Lenamare said after a moment. “What is the plan to get rid of them?”
“We are still working on that; if you have any suggestions, we are open to them.” Gandros told him. Lenamare went silent and stared at the unused logs in the fireplace, apparently thinking.
Jehenna took the silence to ask Gandros, “How long have they been here?”
Gandros looked a bit sour; “Unfortunately, we don’t know for sure, one should hope not that long, given that no one noticed. Your associates, the ones with the two animages, found them and alerted Damien shortly after their arrival.”
“Hmm, most annoying they chose not to inform us as well.” Jehenna snorted, ignoring, of course, the fact that Jenn had informed her. Gandros shrugged.