If only, Heron thought, he had retired before this engagement. He was old enough. He could have gracefully bowed out a year ago, or any time up until this moment. He had accepted this command, and he could not back out now, not even if the Chancellors of Law determined he needed to pursue his warrant through the Gates of the Abyss and to the very Courts of Chaos themselves. Well, then... but... seriously? Serving legal warrants to the Courts of Chaos? Did these fools even listen to themselves talk, or did they, like the majority of their audience, simply tune the sound of their own voices out? Heron sighed. If the Chancellors so determined, then so must he prosecute the law.
A knock came upon the front post of the tent in which Arch-Vicar General Barabus and Arch-Diocate Iskerus were sharing a late night glass of wine. “Come in,” Barabus called. The tent flap pulled back and in walked Sir Gadius, who had arrived midday on Peace Bringer, his rather large, iridescent unicorn. Frankly, Barabus found the unicorn more disturbing than Talarius’s flying horse, War Arrow. At least he did not feel the winged horse was staring at him in judgment all the time.
The knight bowed his head to the arch-vicar general and the arch-diocate. “My Lords, no luck on the missing Rod member. We have gone over the entire area outside the city a league in radius and found no sign of him. Further, intense questioning under truth sight has yielded no additional information as to what happened to the two horses and tack that have disappeared.”
Barabus shook his head; this was all very disquieting. Apparently, at some point around midmorning, one of the possessed soldiers, still seriously wounded and recuperating, had disappeared without a trace. Vanished from a guarded tent in the middle of the Rod! Further, his tentmates, who had also been recovering from wounds — healing resources and spells had been devoted to the non-possessed wounded first — had all been completely healed and all signs of possession gone. Subsequently, two mounts, a mule and their gear had simply vanished from the stockade. Again, no one saw a thing.
Iskerus sighed. “I do not like this.”
Gadius nodded. “We have also interrogated, probed, Seen, scried, done everything imaginable to get information from the other soldiers in the tent. None, however, remembers a thing. All they can report is that they had been having horrible dreams, which they no longer remember, and then suddenly they felt peace, warmth and what they describe as the warm embrace of Tiernon. After that, they report peaceful slumber until we awakened them.”
“The peaceful embrace of Tiernon — a healing spell of some form?” Barabus looked to Iskerus.
The Arch-Diocate shrugged. “A very powerful one, by that description and given the level of healing that was done, particularly to the one named Mikael Rhys Barton.”
“So it doesn’t sound like demonic influence then,” Barabus stated.
Gadius made a snorting noise, “True, but then my examination of Excrathadorus Mortis shows no sign of demonic influence either. Quite the contrary.” Iskerus nodded in agreement.
“Damn it,” Barabus muttered aloud. “That damnable demon has turned the world upside down!”
Gadius nodded. “If only I had arrived sooner.”
Iskerus chuckled, but not pleasantly. “No offense, my good knight, but from what we’ve seen or witnessed, I’m afraid if you’d been here, you would be sharing a torture chamber with Sir Talarius. That demon was not at all what we thought initially. It was clearly an archdemon, at a minimum.”
“A minimum?” Gadius was too shocked by this admission to take umbrage at the observation of the value of his assistance. “I thought the energy requirements for a demon prince to materialize on the Planes of Men was too great — that all seers and those sensitive to mana and the supernatural would be instantly alerted? How could a demon prince have been on this plane and everyone not known?”
“Perhaps because it’s been here for a very long time?” A voice from outside the tent observed. The flap parted and Sir Sorel entered. “Perhaps it came during a period of great strife and upheaval, when no one would have noticed the power surge?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be the cheerful one?” Iskerus asked Sorel as he entered, the Arch-Diocate smiling and rising to welcome the newly arrived knight. Sorel laughed ruefully and the two embraced as old friends.
Gadius saluted Sorel, who returned it. “It’s good to have you with us, Sorel. It’s been a long time since we were able to do battle together.”
“It has indeed.” Sorel smiled warmly and clasped Gadius’s arm. “I only wish I’d been here sooner. I dare say the two of us working with Talarius could have tamed this beast.”
Barabus stood and Sorel saluted him as the arch-vicar general returned the salute. “Good to have you, Sorel,” the arch-vicar said solemnly. “We need all the expertise we can get. The level of infamy has risen to new heights on this battlefield.”
“So I hear.” Sorel nodded, looking concerned. “What’s this I hear about negotiations for an alliance with Oorstemoth?” Gadius shuddered, Iskerus frowned.
“Very preliminary at this point. We had good success working with them in eliminating demons fleeing the city, and their sorcerers managed to capture the battle on crystal ball, which has been immensely useful in dissecting what happened. You will definitely want to see it, and we should probably watch it again ourselves. However, first things first... have you eaten?”
CRASH! BOOM! SCREECH! SCREEEECH!
The extremely loud sound of a lightning strike followed instantaneously by massive thunder shook the entire camp. That was followed by a horrendous shrieking and screeching of metal wrenching that caused all within the tent to cover their ears.
“What the -?” Barabus bolted from the tent, followed by the others.
Upon exiting the tent, a large plume of smoke could be seen from several tents over. Barabus shouted, “Talarius’s tent!” They all charged towards the smoke plume where the tent had been.
Gadius and Sorel, swords drawn, had to push Rod members out of the way to allow Barabus and Iskerus through the circle of soldiers surrounding the former tent. A huge cloud of smoke and steam as well as the very distinct smell of a smithy permeated the area where Talarius’s tent had been.
The tent was gone. A few flaming pieces of canvas were all that remained, other than a few magically secured chests which were smoking. As the smoke and steam cleared, a figure about seven feet tall could be seen within the remains of the tent.
Several soldiers and priests made gestures of faith at the sight of the individual within the tent. Barabus blinked to see a seven-foot-tall metallic knight standing vengefully within the tent.
“Is he in plate mail?” Gadius asked, puzzled.
“I have never seen such a massive, complete set of plate mail.” Sorel shook his head in disbelief. The large figure seemed to be solid metal of sharp planes and angles. The outer edges of his armor’s arms and legs were razor-sharp edged metal.
Barabus shook his head. “I think he’s made out of metal?”
“A metal golem?” Sorel asked the vicar general.
“More like a sword golem,” Iskerus said, frowning.
“I have never heard of a sword golem,” Gadius stated flatly.
“This looks like no metal golem I have ever seen,” Iskerus said.
“You there, in Talarius’s tent!” Sorel shouted. “Identify yourself.”
A deep baritone voice spoke in a monotone. “The Knight Rampant Talarius has been abducted by a demon. He has been gone thirty hours. He has not returned. You have failed to rescue him. I shall retrieve him.”