He could not believe this. It flew in the face of all established reason and orthodoxy. It must be a lie. How could he interpret such a thing? However, the thought that had woken him terrified in the middle of the night was the sudden realization that if this was true, then by killing Orcus, Sentir Fallon had left Tartarus with no warden for four thousand years! The most horrifyingly destructive individuals in the multiverse had been left unguarded for all that time? What if there had been an escape attempt?
Quite the screw-up on Sentir Fallon’s part! Ruiden intruded on Talarius thoughts.
The knight ignored his sword.
It was sheer unimaginable horror! Thus it could not be true. It must not be true!
But if it is? Ruiden thought at him. Talarius’s stomach curdled. He ignored the sword once more. He would force his captor to prove his claim. Clearly this was some sort of devious lie, a trick to unsettle him. To keep him off balance and unable to… to what? What was the demon trying to stop him from doing? It already had all the cards, and had promised, for whatever that was worth, to eventually return him to Astlan. It just didn’t add up.
Talarius sighed, squeezed his eyes tightly shut and rolled onto his side, bringing his knees up and pulling the covers over his shoulders, trying to bring on a bit more sleep to quiet his brain’s frantic chatter.
Tom was gathering together his local contingent in his sitting room to take them down to Tartarus as Talarius exited his room for the morning in his typical full regalia. Rupert, Fer-Rog, Reggie, Estrebrius, Antefalken, Boggy and Tizzy were all going down with Tom to see the Oubliette and Tartarus for themselves.
Tom was going because he and the two smiths had agreed they needed to train more operations people, particularly with the Kraken having become restless. Currently, only the first generation commanders and about half a dozen other first generation D’Orc soldiers knew anything about the TPCC (Tartarus Processing and Control Center). They had all agreed, as did Tom, that more D’Orcs needed to be trained, and so they were beginning training sessions immediately.
Phaestus had admitted that even he was rather rusty after more than a few millennia of neglect. They hadn’t actually processed anyone in about eight thousand years, and it had been almost seven thousand years since the last time the cloister bell had sounded. Obviously, he had periodically checked up on the monitoring D’Orcs and reviewed reports up until the incident.
After Orcus perished, things had gotten much more difficult, according to Völund and Phaestus. The Wand of Orcus was missing and the link to the TPCC broken. Also, of course, the Command Center was no longer powered. So they’d had to go the Oubliette on foot and go through the tedious ritual to open the doors without the Wand. They’d manned the center for the first thousand years, but by then attrition was setting in and nothing was happening, so they had gone to periodic monitoring, relying on the cloister bell for alerts.
It had been five hundred years since either of them had even been down there to ensure things were running smoothly. Tom had asked if this was safe, and they both rather uncomfortably admitted it was not ideal, but it had been so long since anything had happened. In essence, Tom decided, they had just decided to cross their fingers and hope. He was tempted to shake his head at such a strategy; unfortunately, he was in no position to do so, since that was also his entire strategy for everything. He was riding the tiger, or rather the Kraken, and trying to hang on by its tail. In any event, they had all agreed last night that they needed to step up the game. They would review all emergency procedures and make sure people were trained in them.
“Where are you all going?” Talarius asked.
“We are going to take a trip to see Tartarus!” Rupert enthused.
That gave the knight pause, and he stopped in his tracks as he was crossing the room. “Really?”
“Yep,” Reggie confirmed.
“I would like to go too,” Talarius blurted out.
Tizzy raised an eyebrow and pointed at him. “Aren’t you the enemy? Why should we let you into the most secret location in the multiverse?”
“Hmm, good point,” Boggy mused.
“I suspect this is a trick on your part, demon!” Talarius accused Tom. “I want to see for my own eyes that Tartarus exists and that this isn’t some sort of elaborate ruse on your part to trick me!”
Tom blinked and sighed. “Seriously? I did not even know this thing was in the basement until yesterday! How in the Abyss could this be a secret plot?”
“You demon princes — for surely that is what you are,” Talarius stated as a few others nodded in agreement, “are the most diabolically devious creatures in the multiverse. You have your reasons!”
Tom shook his head in disbelief. “Seriously? Talarius! How insanely big is your ego?”
Even in full armor, Talarius somehow managed to look visibly shaken by such an accusation. “How do you even conceive that this has anything to do with my ego?”
Tom sighed. “You just told everyone that I am a demon prince, something I don’t particularly agree with, but assume so. What kind of ego does it take for a mortal, a human from Astlan, to think that a demon prince with an army of four thousand D’Orcs and demons at his command, along with some of the most powerful weapons known to gods and men, has absolutely nothing better to do with his time than stage some elaborate hoax on you, towards some mysterious unknown end?”
“Good point, I suppose,” Tizzy agreed sourly.
“You seriously think I have staged this entire Doom thing, the Knights of Chaos, Lilith’s army, Tartarus and a potentially escaping Kraken just to… what… subvert you?” Tom raised his arms in frustration. “You think I’ve got four thousand-plus individuals all staged in some sort of giant play for you?” He shook his head again. “Talk about paranoia! I’m sorry, dude, you just are not that high on my radar!”
Tom looked to the others. “Are we ready to go?”
They all nodded and/or agreed verbally.
Talarius cleared his throat, and Tom looked at him. “You do have a point, demon. I may be overly cautious. However, I must admit, I would like to see this prison for myself. May I join you?”
Tom looked to Tizzy, who shrugged.
“On your honor, will you swear to never reveal the location of Tartarus to anyone outside this room? To keep this secret and not share it with the Rod, your church, your god or his avatars? And further swear not to do anything to harm the prison or risk releasing the prisoners?” Tom asked.
“First Rule of Tartarus,” Tizzy chimed in, “is never speak of Tartarus!” He grinned a bit maniacally.
Talarius was silent for a moment. “You would take my word? After the Freehold battlefield?”
“If you swear to me that your word of honor is redeemed, and that it is once more good and applies to me and mine? Then yes, I would.” Tom said.
Talarius sighed and nodded in gratitude. “Then yes, you have my word to you that I will keep my word of honor and that I will not reveal the location of Tartarus to anyone outside this room; nor will I seek to harm it, you, yours and this entire complex.”
Tom nodded. “Very well then. Let’s head out!”
Jenn and Gastropé were helping load the magical equipment used to scan the D’Orc’s staging site onto the transport carpet to take back to the Nimbus when Zed showed up, looking none too fresh from spending the night in the city. Gastropé chuckled at the sight of the rather greenish-looking satyr.