Give it up, Tom told himself, you really are going insane. “So, what are the chances these demons that grabbed Jenn work for the guy besieging the castle?” Tom asked Rupert.
Rupert stopped pacing abruptly. Tom had been quiet for so long, that his voice had startled him. “Well, I don’t know. Why would Exador’s people want Jenn? Do you have any enemies? Could it be some ancient feud of yours? Could they having been trying to sabotage what they thought was your assignment?”
“I doubt that. I don’t have any enemies that I know of.”
Rupert looked at him curiously. “Oh. You killed them all off? Little gruesome, but practical I suppose. Cuts down on revenge crazed maniacs.”
“No! I didn’t kill them, I’ve just never made any enemies that would be around here.” On Earth maybe, but doubtful, Tom thought.
“Really, in all those centuries, you’ve never made an enemy?”
Tom looked at the kid exasperatedly, “No. Just exactly how old do you think I am? Never mind, is there anyone else who might send demons to kidnap Jenn? Lenamare or Jehenna?”
“Lenamare or Jehenna waste that kind of magic on a student? Not even if the student’s life depended on it. Jenn didn’t have any enemies that powerful, that I know of. Her parents weren’t nobility or anything.”
“So then, it must be Exador. Would they have taken her back to the army?”
“You’re the greater demon. Where do you normally drag women off to when you kidnap them?”
“I don’t drag them off,” he looked at the kid, harshly, knowing what he was thinking. “No, I don’t just kill them on the spot either.”
“I didn’t say you did. But I don’t know. Seems as good a place as any.”
“Of course, if Lenamare nuked the army, there probably isn’t anything left to take her back to.”
Rupert nodded, he didn’t know much of anything about the spell, other than it was supposed to be powerful. He supposed Tom would understand such things. “I don’t know where Exador’s castle is. Thus the school is the only place they could have taken that we know where it is.
“Unless they took her to the Abyss...” Rupert added a second later.
“The Abyss? Well, yeah, I guess, but what would they do with her there.”
Rupert got kind of pale.
“Sorry, assuming they work for Exador, and he wants something from her, then what would they do with her in the Abyss?”
“Hold her there. It would be impossible for her to escape from there. She isn’t a good enough wizard to get out. Actually, I don’t think any wizards are that good.”
“True, but then, how would we find her? Finding her there would be just as hard as finding her here.”
“Would it? I’ve never been there. Would you take me some time?”
Tom looked at the kid askance. What the hell? literally, was wrong with this kid?
“But anyway, wouldn’t she stick out like a sore toe? After all, how many humans can there be in the Abyss?”
Everybody, Tom thought, but it wasn’t worth going into right now, he knew what the kid meant. “True, but even so, we can’t search every cave in the Abyss. It just isn’t practical.”
“Do you have any connections? Other demons that could tell if something like this was going on there?”
“I don’t think so...” Tom paused, thinking. He doubted Boggy or Tizzy would be able to find anything like this out. “No, not really.”
“Well then, I guess that means there is only one place to look.”
“Back to the castle. I guess I’ll carry you so we can go faster.”
“Ok then, but what will we do with the horses? They won’t let me get close enough to unsaddle them, nor will they let you. So just turning them loose is going to be a problem.”
Tom was tempted to say ‘Eat them?’ but decided the joke would be in poor taste, given the situation. He just shrugged and stared at the horses, pondering what to do.
Chapter 38
The courts hadn’t changed much since the last time Antefalken was there. Which, given that he was last there two weeks ago, was actually saying quite a bit. The Courts of Chaos tended to change with the moods and temperaments of the people dwelling there. Currently it was in the ever popular urban-punk mode. The Courts, which essentially comprised a small city, looked like the standard post-atomic, no nuclear war, societal collapse city. Antefalken believed the current in vogue phrase was cyberpunk, but since he didn’t know for sure what a cyber was, he wasn’t sure if that was the accurate term
As he wandered down the streets he noted the typical street demons dressed in blue jeans and leather jackets. Naturally, most had holes cut out of the human apparel to accommodate assorted demonic appendages. While, he supposed that they tended to look rather intimidating to the outsider, from years of dealing with the courts, he knew that most were simply gutless sycophants, and court lackeys and hangers-on who had nothing better to do with their immortal existence than to play dress up games. Which was fine with Antefalken, to each his own. He, however, would rather spend his immortal existence in bed with a fair damsel, or even the good old standby, lusty wench.
As he wandered down the street, giant crumbling steel, glass and concrete buildings towering over him, Antefalken tried to wander in the direction of the town center. It wasn’t always easy, as occasional burned out vehicles lined the streets and every now and then a car with a gang of street toughs would zoom by, trying to shoot him with lightning bolts or fire darts. Every few blocks he’d encounter a road block of some sort, either a collapsed building or toll trolls, and he’d have to detour on a side street. He wasn’t in any particular hurry though. It was always kind of fun to meander down the streets.
The vast majority of the demon punks he encountered were class two. A few threes were mixed in, now and then, as well as a few class ones. The class ones, tended to avoid the courts. For one thing, most weren’t powerful enough to handle the games that went on within the courts. The other reason was that many type one demons were essentially trapped full time in servitude, with very little free time.
Actually, many of the indentured demons tended to stay away from the courts. Most indentured demons were younger and less interested in playing games, even if highly deadly games. They just hadn’t become bored enough with immortality to want to meddle in court intrigues. Now and then, Antefalken would spy a limousine zooming by carrying some important fourth order or maybe even a fifth. Those individuals played power games that left the petty jealousies of the lower demons in the dust.
Unfortunately, it was just those power games that Antefalken was walking into. If he wanted information, he’d have to go to the top. Or at least close to it. Fortunately, there didn’t tend to be too many bardic demons running around, and thus Antefalken was held in fairly good esteem in the courts. By his own private admission, he wasn’t the greatest of bards, not that he’d ever let anyone else know. However, by the standards of this court, he wasn’t bad.
Eventually he reached the center of the city. The river Styx actually narrowed considerably and ran right through the center of the city. Since it did narrow so much, it moved incredibly fast. Often hapless individuals who fell in were carried completely out of the city before they could get out. While demons were largely immune to the effects of the Styx, it did tend to give them some short term forgetfulness for a year or two. On the opposite side of the river from Antefalken, on the far side of a large brown brick suspension bridge, stood the center of Demondom. The Palace of the Concordenax.