Tom thought for a moment. That did make a lot of sense. The wizard would have to be really committed to wanting to do this. He would need to do the act of binding himself; he would thus be forced to feel the pressure of what he was doing and maybe rethink things. It would make the man’s decision and Tom’s acceptance of the bargain much more real.
“I think you are right. It would also make me feel better about this. He would have to really want to do it, and this would give him a way out.” Tom nodded his head, liking this decision a lot better.
Hilda helped Danyel get into bed; the poor lad was extremely deep in his cups, as they used to say. She smiled as she tucked the lad in. When they had arrived he had been led off to join the servants for dinner, and apparently, they were celebrating as well.
The evening had been quite taxing; she had really had to play the part. Lenamare and Jehenna were truly a handful, but the information had been quite worthwhile. She wished she understood wizardry better so she could have gotten a better handle on the wards; but hopefully she would be able to recall enough details to be useful.
She had gotten Lenamare and Jehenna’s side of the story about what happened at the school, and the summoning of the demon that eventually captured Talarius. A very odd story, yet while she had had to work to sift out Lenamare’s braggadocio, she was fairly certain that the base story was correct. It corroborated with what Trisfelt had said and he had not significantly objected to Lenamare’s telling, other than the occasional rolled eye or raised eyebrow.
She still had no clear idea of why Exador had decided to lay siege to the school; they were keeping that a secret. She did not buy the story of professional jealousy, unless this Exador was an even bigger egomaniac than Lenamare, which would be a feat.
This business about Exador and the two others on the flying carpet was quite interesting. Ramses the Damned? Obviously, she had heard about him and the Time Warriors, but they were well before her time, and had proved more problematic on Norelon than Eton. Nonetheless, his reputation was enough to make anyone nervous. As to this suspicion that the third was some defunct goddess? Hilda shrugged as she made her way to the bathroom to prepare her evening soak. Well, she would run it by the archons, but it seemed far more likely that it was just another archdemon that looked similar.
Hilda did not know much about the Nyjyr Ennead, other than they were a pagan religion that had been evicted from Astlan, as well as Etterdam and other surrounding planes. It just seemed inconceivable that any deity, no matter how down on their luck, would sink to slumming with demons, let alone pretend to be a simple archdemon. Pagan deities had even bigger egos than Lenamare; that was what made them and their avatars so difficult to deal with.
Chapter 93
Gastropé tried to carefully untangle himself from Ashea and Eshea, the two nymph sisters who had fallen asleep on top of him last night. As he stumbled out of the sleeping alcove, he fumbled with adjusting his clothes. He really wished he remembered more of last night. He gave the buxom, nude young women in his bed another look in the dim light of the fairy globe that had been lit by the youthful-looking alfar who had awoken him. He really, truly, wished he remembered more. Amazingly, his head did not hurt as much as he would have expected, given his lack of concrete memories of the night before.
He managed to get his turban in place and tied up his backpack. Fortunately, Trevin had suggested he pack it before the feast so he would not have to deal with it this morning. Gastropé was thankful she knew what she was talking about. It was excessively early in the morning to be thinking about packing, not after last night’s bacchanalia. Bacchanalia: that had been a new word for him. It was the word the people of the Grove used to describe feasts like last night. Apparently tied to one of the gods of the Grove. Gastropé grinned to himself. If that was a religious feast, he might need to consider getting a bit more religious.
He put his pack on and headed out through the curtains closing off his chamber and made his way to the small glade where Trevin had said they would meet. As he entered the glade, Trevin was just lifting a large kettle off a campfire grill. There was an enticing smell coming from the kettle. Maelen was sitting on bench next to a table, quietly eating some melon. Elrose and Jen had yet to arrive.
“Good morning!” Trevin smiled as she turned to face Gastropé. She was in a different colored outfit today: principally red silk, but still every bit as age inappropriate as her other clothes. “I just took the coffee off the fire.”
“Coffee?” Gastropé asked. He was not familiar with it.
“Yes, it’s made from the ground-up pit of a fruit similar to a cherry. They look like little half beans, so people often call the coffee beans, although they are really just seeds.” Trevin poured a good-sized cup from her kettle and offered it to Gastropé. “You might want to put a bit of milk, honey, or both in it to taste.” She gestured toward the table where there was pitcher of milk and a jar of honey.
“Ahh! Do I smell coffee?” Elrose boomed from the edge of the clearing as he came towards them. “It has been years since I’ve had a good cup of coffee. Very hard to get in Norelon.” He walked over to Trevin, who was in the process of pouring him a cup.
Gastropé took a sip. “Huh...” He made a face. It was hot and bitter. Honey would be good; he made his way to the table. Maybe some milk too. Maelen smiled at him.
“How are you this morning?” Maelen asked.
Gastropé grimaced slightly then said, “Amazingly, not as bad as I think I should feel.” Maelen chuckled. Gastropé took a drink of his adulterated coffee. Much better; surprisingly good, in fact. A loud shuffling noise came from the edge of the clearing; Jenn was coming in backward, dragging a very large sack.
“It looks like someone’s been shopping!” Trevin chuckled.
Jenn looked over her shoulder and grinned. “This place is amazing! I hope this doesn’t look as bad as I’m now realizing it probably does...”
Trevin chuckled. “Not at all, dear. We’ve had thaumaturgists here before; we are used to them going a little bit bonkers with their collecting things.” She tugged Jenn. “Come, place that here, along with all your backpacks. The aetós will put them on the cargo carpet.”
As people moved to pile their belongings, Maelen asked Trevin, “So, we are going by carpet?”
Trevin shook her head. “No, no, the carpets will just take us to the Nimbus. No way am I going to be cooped up on a carpet for thousands of leagues.”
“So the Nimbus is a ship?” Jenn asked.
Trevin rocked her head from side to side in a sort of yes-or-no way. “You can call it that — we do. You’ll see soon enough.”
“The Grove is landlocked. Is it an airship, like the Oorstemothians have?” Elrose asked.
Trevin shook her head. “No, no, nothing so primitive. I do not want to spoil the surprise. Come now, sit down and have some breakfast and coffee. Although if you have trouble with air sickness, I advise eating lightly.”
After finishing their breakfast, the group followed Trevin down to a larger clearing near a lake. On the shores of the lake were half a dozen large carpets. Two of them were piled high with baggage that had been tarped down tightly. Gastropé assumed this is where their packs had gone. Their group of aetós was standing nearby talking amongst themselves. There were a few other groups on the shores as well.